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beastranpo · 10 months

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please stop calling dazai/ranpo ‘souheki’

I posted this originally on twitter, but it unfortunately didn’t get a lot of traction, so I figured I’d post it on here as well in hopes it would get a little bit more traction and I apologize in advance for the fact I will be ‘clogging tags’ so to speak to get the word out.

I generally don't like to flood tags but people who tag Dazai/Ranpo (also known as Daran/Ranzai) as ‘souheki’, please don't. Yes, it is their team name in the japanese version of 55 minutes, but it not unique to BSD the same way ‘soukoku’ is for Dazai and Chuuya.

'Souheki’ in japanese is commonly used to describe an unbeatable pair or duo/matchless people, alternatively referred to as 'two treasures' or the lit translation 'double jade' as the japanese for heki is the chinese for jade.

This being said: MANY OTHER SERIES' USE THIS NAME FOR CHARA DUOS!! If you look up souheki, especially in Japanese, you will find everything from the Lan Brothers and Lan Juniors fom MDZS, Ferdibert from FE3H, Haikaveh from Genshin Impact, and even Fukumori FROM BSD. It does not belong exclusively to Dazai and Ranpo, so you are making the search all the more difficult for everyone involved, and you are burying and missing out on amazing, pre-existing content of them that has been around for almost ten years now.

I’ve been a big shipper of Dazai and Ranpo for that same amount of time, and the ship name has always only ever been Daran/Ranzai. The JP fans have never changed it, because ship names and team names are not equal or interchangeable. (Similarly, content intended to be shippy for them is tagged as Dachuu/Chuuda, never SKK.)

Additionally, soukoku was introduced the second Dazai and Chuuya were announced as a duo in bsd. The term souheki towards Dazai and Ranpo was not mentioned at all throughout the series until 55 minutes, which wasn’t written until 4 years after bsd was created and Dazai/Ranpo already had a ship name. (I’ve been here since 2013, trust me it has only ever been this.)

Once a ship name is created, it is not changed, especially in the japanese fandom where we borrow the ship names. (dachuu, kunizai, akuatsu as examples)

The JP fans never even brought much attention to the souheki concept aside from how it catered to the ship itself. The ship name(s) has not changed for ten years.

For further comparison, this is how the google search looks when you search soukoku / double black:

And this is what happens when you search souheki / ‘double jade’ ‘twin jade’:

This has reached so far that even Japanese fans are seeing this and being confused because, again, ‘souheki’ is not unique to just Dazai and Ranpo!! And it has been used for other ships!

If you are posting content for them, please please PLEASE tag it as daran/randaza/ranzai/etc. Please stop using souheki and muddying the waters to find content of these two.

if you want to find content for them, these are their tags in jp:

乱太 / らんだざ / randaza or ranzai (top ranpo content ONLY)

太乱 / だざらん / dazaran or daran (top dazai content ONLY)

太乱太 (content that can be translated either way / switch)

Please keep in mind that ships are tagged accordingly for who tops/bottoms or is the one who may have the more confident or dominant personality in jp fandom to filter content and those who dislike one dynamic will not be exposed to it. This is not an argument over top/bottom discourse. Jp fans do not have that problem. When you write/read a fic with top A, their actions/thoughts/etc will differ greatly from reading bottom A content 9/10 times. Some people have a preferred character interpretation like everyone else and are much more consistent with filtering.

While I am certainly happy daran/ranzai are finally canonically confirmed to be the agency's 'unbeatable duo/two precious treasures' (souheki), it is misleading and quite frankly incorrect to claim this is their ship name and to please keep tagging them as daran/ranzai so older content doesn't get brushed under the rug and completely ignored/missed altogether in this attempt to give them a 'special name'. They dont need to combat skk. They are unique and special as they are!

Please give attention to the content made by fans of Dazai/Ranpo fans that have existed for a long time now! We promise there is actually a TON of content, it is not lacking whatsoever. You’re just looking under the wrong name!

As a really big fan of Dazai and Ranpo for a very long time, who is friends with a majority of the Dazai/Ranpo fanartists in Japan and has spent a concerningly scary amount of money for content of them over the years, I hope you will consider this advice. I really want fans of Dazai/Ranpo to come together, enjoy content old and new, and make more in the future together. (〃＞＿＜;〃)

Please share this around if you could!

#Dazai Osamu #Edogawa Ranpo #bungou stray dogs #souheki #daran #ranzai #it pains me to tag it as souheki but i really want people to know about this cuz this misinformation is spreading way too far these days ;;

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stardust-falling · 21 days

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The Languages of Teyvat (Part One)

My partner and I both play Genshin together, but in different languages-- so we'll often end up chatting about some of the differences between them and how things can be interpreted. This combined with my general enthusiasm about linguistics made me start thinking.

What's the deal with Teyvat's languages?

We encounter a lot of different scripts in-game-- every nation has their own, plus a few others. But there isn't much in the way of spoken language variety. All of the characters we meet, no matter where they're from, speak the same common language-- which is consistent for at least 500 years, considering that there's no difference in the way Chlothar speaks in the flashback quest. I would argue that the common language (which I'll just call Teyvat Common) has been maintained in its current form for longer than that, though-- at least since the Archon War, but probably still earlier. This is pretty unrealistic, but... well, that doesn't really matter here.

But the common language isn't the only spoken language. Actually referenced in-game as different spoken languages, you have the language of the Aranara, as well as Hilicurlian.

I also think, however, that the various nations also have their own spoken languages.

My main reason for thinking this is the different naming conventions. Every nation has their own naming conventions for characters that match with various real-world languages-- and these names (barring certain special circumstances) are not translated between game-languages.

It's not just the names of people, though-- place names also do this as well-- which imo implies that people and many places (but not all) are named in the nations' own languages, not a common language across Teyvat.

Now, I don't know if these languages are used in daily life, as all of the dialogue that we see in-game is written in the player's set language, but that could also just be for ease of reading-- however, I do think it's implied that the traveler learns Teyvat Common, and doesn't automatically understand other languages. Some of Teyvat's people might grow up multilingual, depending on their upbringing and where they come from, but I think for the most part, Teyvat Common is more widespread while the national languages are used more in art and naming.

The artistic use headcanon comes from the musical performances-- Furina's performance in her story quest (in French/Fontainian), and Yun Jin's opera performance (which is still in Chinese in the EN version of the game-- which implies that it is not performed in the common language in-universe, but instead in a separate 璃月语)

I really love the idea of fantasy where even though the characters are presented as speaking the reader/watcher/player's language, they are instead speaking their own world's common tongue-- such as Tolkien's westron. Naturally, I will apply this to Genshin as well.

To properly analyze what is Teyvat Common and what isn't, we need a rule to differentiate the two since unlike Tolkien's languages, Teyvat's languages are analogous to real-world languages that can be applied to the game. My current rule to determine what is not Teyvat Common is thus: if the name is fully translated between game languages (CN/JP doesn't count for this), it is in Common, but if it is only phonetic, then it is in the regional language.

For this, the following headcanons can be determined:

The nations are named in their regional languages

Characters are named in their regional languages*

The proper names of most places are in their regional language, while the type identifier is in Teyvat Common (e.g. Luhua Pool, "Luhua" is in 璃月语，but "Pool" is in TC, because it is written "Luhua Pool" in EN and 渌华池 in CN) but some places are named entirely in TC (e.g. Galesong Hill, which is fully translated between game languages, 风啸山坡 pronounced “Fēngxiào Shānpō” in CN）

Traditional style/high art music is typically in the regional languages, while modern music and poetry is often in TC.

Fatui Harbingers' codenames are in TC. Their character names (e.g. "Tartaglia" "Arlecchino") are in a regional language.

*a notable exception to the naming rule is Sucrose, whose name is in TC! In CN it is 砂糖 (pronounced Shātáng). Personally, this gives even more support to my headcanon that most names are from regional languages instead of Teyvat Common.

Sumeru's Sanskrit names are a bit of a special case, since Sanskrit to CN translation and transliteration has a very long history to it that I don't know enough about yet to properly analyze tbh, I will need more study for that. Inazuma's names just being pronounced the way the kanji would be pronounced as hanzi is just its own thing that happens in the real world too so I wouldn't put that as "the names are in TC". I don't know what's going on with Snezhnaya's linguistics, but I honestly will probably need more actual content to start figuring that out.

Anyway, there are probably ten thousand holes in this theory, and a lot that I'm missing right now, which is why this is just a Part One and I'll come back to it later, once I contemplate more about how scripts come into play, what exactly Teyvat Common is if we take a purely in-universe approach, etc.

In the end though it's really just a headcanon-- there's just as much of a chance that we're not supposed to read so far into it at all, and I'm just noticing it because of experiencing multiple game languages + general nerdery. Who knows?

#xingxing's first genshin meta pls be nice to meeeeee~#genshin impact #genshin meta #genshin headcanons #if ppl are interested i'll write more #also i only know the CN and EN versions of the game #others might have different things going on too that i don't know

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scrollll · 5 months

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Hi there :) I'm sorry to bother you but this is very important because you are now the chosen Ace who can give me their perspective on Zouey. I have adamantly argued that Zouey can be read as being on the ace spectrum but some of my friends say that's not realistic. My arguments: - He gets aroused by things that are removed from reality (hentai) and in moments where there is no risk of actually having to be sexual with the person (Teena as a model) but he struggles to enjoy the "real" thing -> sounds very aegosexual to me. - He says sex is for everybody but him. Later he changes that to "sex might be for him if it's combined with love" -> that could either hint at him being demi or it could mean that he is willing to have sex out of love for his significant other (as many aces do). - He can give pleasure and touch others but doesn't like to be touched -> this feels ace to me but I can't really explain why - Even when he touches Teena, he often struggles with things that are "more" sexual (like touching genitals) -> could be that he feels strong sensual attraction towards Teena. He also seems to distance himself from the reality of the situation by escaping into the fantasy of hentai, another thing many aces do because the reality of sex actually turns them off. - He thinks he wants to have penetrative sex with Teena but then doesn't enjoy it

Their strongest counter argument is that Zouey gave Teena a bj in episode 1. Now, I see their point. And I don't think Zouey being acespec is the only valid interpretation of his character. I like some of the other interpretations just as much. BUT I hate when people tell me that he can't possibly be on the ace spec. We have so little representation as it is and telling us that a character who speaks to us actually can't be like us feels shitty. I'm ace myself but my experience with sex is quite different from his. From your post it seems that you can relate to Zouey a lot. So if you feel comfortable sharing your perspective, I'm sure that would be valuable not only for me but for other aces as well. Thanks for making that post! (Also that Chinese definition of asexuality is so badass xD)

For starters, my sweet love anon, thank you so much for this ask and a big warm hug through the internet for you if you feel comfortable with it :D

And it's no bother, I like talking and writing XD

And regarding Zouey... welp, you asked, so I will deliver but be prepared for a longer essay XD

Let's start with the basics for those who are not quite familiar with asexuality: asexuality is a broad spectrum with many different nuances, gray areas and so on.

In the asexual community (as well as in some others), a distinction is made between romantic and sexual orientation. It is therefore possible to love a person romantically and still have no or only very limited sexual desires.

So: Asexual people fall in love with others, they want romantic or platonic relationships, but mostly without feeling sexual attraction for them.

Asexuality doesn't always mean that a person doesn't have sex. Yep, it may sound strange at first, but it's true. Many asexual people satisfy themselves or have sex, e.g. because they want to have a child, but nothing more. Some asexuals who are sex-positive or sex-neutral, i.e. who are not repulsed by the idea of sexual activity or are simply indifferent to it, have had sex or participate in sexual acts.

So an asexual who has sex will not suddenly become homosexual or straight, they can still feel like they belong to the ace spectrum. There are a variety of labels that break it all down and all fall under the ace umbrella, like placiosexual, lithosexual, cupiosexual, but to make a long story short, for many of us it's just too complicated :) So many just prefer "Ace-spec" or Ace-spectrum, but that's a personal preference of myself and a few ace friends of mine. It's nice to know the labels, but usually just too complicated for everyday use XD

And I also rank Zouey's blowjob from EP.1 on the ace spectrum. You very aptly mentioned the point that Zouey gets aroused by things that aren't part of reality. I think in EP 1 the blowjob went in exactly that direction.

For Zouey, as we also find out later, Teena is first of all a beautiful work of art himself. In his imagination, he sees him more as a statue that he can touch than as a person. Only when he runs into the bathroom does this bubble burst for the moment.

Zouey seems very overwhelmed to me, which I can understand, because he normally only experiences sexual stimulation from two-dimensional figures. Teena, however, crosses the line. For Zouey, he is at first only a two-dimensional figure on his easel, but at the same time he exists in real life. Zouey, who only knows sexual attraction based on hentai or pictures, is now confused as to whether this means that he finds Teena or only Teena's picture (similar to Jump's) attractive.

At this moment, however, I don't think he really got anything like sexual arousal or desire from Teena himself. It was, as I said, initially only Teena's picture that aroused him, the confusion comes because Teena runs after him and Zouey is undecided whether he should treat him like an aesthetic art object or like a human being and whether he would still find him attractive as a human being at all.

Zouey decides in favor of safety. He wants to return to the art room, back in front of his canvas and the distance he knows and feels comfortable with.

The blowjob is initiated by Teena putting Zouey's hand on his crotch, making it clear that he is not just interested in a conversation and certainly doesn't want to go back to painting.

And Zouey knows that.

In a household like that with Captain and Porsche, it's pretty much impossible to avoid the topic of sex permanently. As an ace, we may not be interested in sex, but especially if you have friends who are very sexually active, you get a lot of information.

And you can't tell me that the baddie bunch hasn't talked about blowjob tactics and the like at least thirty times. Especially because really none of them can shut up and Captain and Porsche are very keen to get Zouey deflowered soon.

So Zouey presumably knows the stories from his friends and knows on a logical level what it means when someone practically hands you their dick on a silver platter. And he has the theoretical knowledge, so why not try it out, especially with an aesthetically pleasing man like Teena, who is a painting come to life for him from an artistic perspective?

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think it was a real sexual attraction at that moment, but rather an action-reaction. Of course, attraction can also play a role, but as I said, it doesn't have to be sexual, it can have an aesthetic origin, especially with Zouey's artistic mind.

Sex-indifferent aces are not repulsed by all sexual acts, so if our partner desires certain types of satisfaction and we feel like doing it, why not?

As the episode progresses, Zouey gives Teena another blowjob, but still dear people, Bj does not equal sex. Zouey still clearly shows his rejection of penetrative sex, or sexual acts that involve him. And that's pretty typical of us aces, or at least the ones I've met on the spectrum so far.

It feels okay to read about or watch sexual acts (mostly for aesthetic reasons rather than masturbation, but I don't want to generalize) because in 3rd perspective you are detached from the action and can look at it objectively.

You're not involved and that's nice.

By satisfying Teena, Zouey can still keep himself uninvolved. A nice term under the Ace umbrella for this is: Placiosexual (meaning a person that is okay and comfortable with performing sexual actions onto others but is uncomfortable having sexual acts performed onto them) This can still have limits and gradations, such as no penetrative sex in general or sexual acts under certain conditions.

As I said, also with the further development in the series and the way he deals with Teena and sexual innuendos, Zouey just feels very ace-coded to me. He moves on the spectrum, again, labels are nothing solid, but the vibes and the whole thing… Yeah, he is a fellow oft he ace for me XD

I wouldn't be surprised if he turns into Demi or Gray-ace, but his general view of sex and the way he's starting to expand his comfort zone bit by bit is very familiar to me from myself and my adventures on the asexual spectrum XD

However you interpret Zouey, for me he's chilling on the ace-spec XD It's my personal interpretation of him and I'll stick with that for now. I don't want to badmouth anyone's idea of Zouey, in the end he's a fictional character that we can interpret differently :)

But it feels very nice to have someone who thinks similarly :D

So, before this gets way too long, I'll make a cut here, but feel free to write me or send an ask if I should clarify anything :)

#anon ask #asexuality #i am nowhere near a 'pro' this is just my humble opinion and view #may have worded something wrong but i hope you get my idea XD #didn't want to go on a personal rant about my discover of asexuality so i tried to keep the focus on zouey #still #to my fellow aces we all experience different stuff that's why it is a fun little spectrum^^#don't let anyone tell you how you should feel or act to be considered ace #although i personally don't see it that strict with interpretations or headcannons. there are some i prefer. some i don't.#i prefer zouey being ace because yeah it fits this series about sex drugs and rock'roll XD #playboyy the series #playboyy meta #is it?#teena x zouey

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kairoseas · 5 months

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hi. <3 i'll never get enough of how you gush about sukuna being cultured and a lover of the arts, you consistently put out headcanons that also inspire me to write my own interpretations and i appreciate you so much for it.

but my main question is, what kind of art do you think modern man sukuna would like? in an alternate universe where he was born in the current era. so many fics about him being a chef, a tattoo artist, a history professor — but i'm eager to know what you think.

*cracks my fingers* I've stared at this ask for hours. Lets do this.

Basically, I can see him doing a little bit of everything. He's studied the proper way to produce haiku in canon, references thousands-years-old poetry, and shows himself to be something of a connoisseur of the arts by speaking in a flowery, ornate sort of language, using words like "uo" (Most notably: he references a Chinese poem in canon by the name of "Odes to Bei-jin gu (No. 4)" during the binding vow with Yuuji, uses "shiremono" instead of the modern "baka"when insulting Mahito, calls himself "datenshi" which in modern times means to strike instead of using it like he does for "fallen angel", etc. He uses outdated, ancient dialect borrowed from literature, essentially.) He's well read, refined, I dare venture to say he might have gone further and consumed Heian Era arts himself as a human being before becoming a curse, and he carried over the love of art as a result. (It scares anyone expecting an unrefined, unintelligent monster.) I even posed this to my groupchat to see what my writing partner thought, and they and I have never entertained the idea of him being a history professor, but with some thought, we could both see it. Listen. this is one of the things i want to express about him so much and in every world/au/verse: he's a man of culture. He's a man of the arts. Some arts more than others, of course, particularly the culinary arts as opposed to song writing or directing, but that's not to say that he doesn't have a vague interest in other things. Especially in a modern day sense; he is someone who consumed information on anything that he likes like a man starving. He'll know vague trivia, fun facts, and all sorts of things. Phones and Google tend to be great companions to him when he's engrossed in learning about something. But this is also where I feel like he is more akin to Megumi's interests since he also finds better company among books than in the company of other people. Or Gojo, who also consumes information at a rapid pace. In my writing, he tends to fall into being a tattoo artist (mainly because of the precision required to be good with needlework, and he's someone who can design free-handed as opposed to having a ready-made design to reference for every client. Not to mention that he gets to work in a little bit of everything as a result of different personalities coming in, and he's forced to scheme out and draw all kinds of things for the client's approval. Cats, calligraphy, in memoriam, cityscapes, watercolors (a favorite because it required prior knowledge of lighting and color theory), white ink, he's a wide-range artist that gets a good idea of the client's personality before he basically kicks them out to spend some time designing/sketching. It's also a talent forever being molded, and he can do it anywhere. That's not to say thats all he's up to though. Sukuna's got some talent in the kitchen for sure. He basically learned from consuming all kinds of information from books to video tutorials and watching others cook while he was younger and before he had a good idea of what he was doing. Megumi and Yuuji are his subjects for taste testing. It's the only time Yuu is allowed in the kitchen, frankly. Try to tell him how to work in his own damn kitchen though and he'll point a knife and tell you to get out. His kitchen, his rules. Don't like it? Eat shit then. I can see him liking a lot of arts. Painting, writing, haiku-making, music, composing, it can go on and on. Mostly because he can appreciate the time and effort behind those talents. Arts are the height of human capability.

#kore's posts #calamitouskings

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motsimages · 9 months

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I watched Joy Ride the other day and while it's entertaining and has some good ideas, it is not as original or fun as I thought it would be. I guess, for some reason, I was not expecting yet another americanada and I don't know if they are aware of it.

After the cut there is a list of things I liked and didn't like. Obviously, all of the spoilers are there:

Things I liked:

Actresses of that age when they start to disappear and that body type that never exists.

Lots of sexual jokes, some actually quite funny or well thought out and respectful (the assisted masturbation is chef's kiss), which is some stereotype breaking for women that age in the US, and Asian women of all ages in general. While it is a very sexual-based comedy, they are very respectful of the one who doesn't want to have sex. They are not mocked or ridiculed. They were given the instruction "have fun" and they all had fun in their own way.

A very gnc character that apparently is non-binary (I read it in comments, I missed it during the movie). Also very clearly neurodivergent with interesting moments and showing that her silly special interest actually helps.

Make up and costuming sometimes is eye candy (the k-pop costuming)

Some scenes are real gems, as are some dialogues. It actually threads quite well some things between them.

There are some international relationships commentary and some "get your head out of your ass, USamerican" (it still falls short to me but it is there).

Deadeye.

Things I didn't like:

As I already said, for a movie that spends quite a lot of time emphasizing about the difference between Chinese-Chinese and Chinese-American, it is still very American: the Chinese-Chinese star of a Chinese show looks very western and speaks in perfect English with his fiancée, his Chinese-Chinese co-star who studied in the US. He is Christian, which fine, there are Christians in China, but I am going to guess they are not like Christians in the US so what was all that "leave room for Jesus" thing? And also, we don't see other beliefs and how they manifest in real Chinese-China so we can't know that Christianity is a minority religion in Asia (unless we already knew).

As a matter of fact, for a story that happens partially in rural China, there sure are a lot of people who speak English quite well, including an old grandmother. Sure, the adopted one who doesn't speak Chinese is at a loss, but they mainly say "oh USamericans never learn other languages" and that's that. She had two friends who were going to serve as interpreters and we barely see that happening. And when we do, they just make up whatever translation they want.

They are all (except Deadeye) terrible people and not very good friends, generally speaking. They use "have a real job and make a career" as a way of showing that you are mature enough and old enough when they tend to behave like teenagers most of the time. They are all very self-centered (which is interesting because an Australian-Chinese makes the point of saying that Chinese people don't hold individuality as a rule, as opposed to USamericans BEFORE they all get angry with each other because of being self-centered).

I can suspend my disbelief for quick travels and no jet-lag for sci-fi and cyberpunk, but not for a more or less realistic set in the present movie. They go from the US to China with no jet-lag. In theory they are only 4 days in China but they travel around it in unsual means of transportation because they can't get on a bus or a train in a way that would take them weeks to reach their destination. They even travel to Korea in those 4 days.

Oh they get their passports stolen. Yes, the Chinese one living in China too, apparently because she worries as much as the others. They do not think of calling the Embassy to fix it as soon as possible, they just keep travelling. They even go to Korea without passports and back to the US. So basically, not having passports doesn't affect their trip in any way whatsoever.

They kind of insist on "respecting someone's decision no matter what" as a good friend behaviour but sometimes your friends make terrible decisions and your job is telling them. The one engaged to a Christian?? She loves sex, she just stopped having sex and pretended she never had sex to be with him. And he lied about that too. And they had been dating for 3 years. When one of them finally confronts her to that (in the worst possible moment and possible way, because as I said, they are all terrible people), another one says "it's her business!" as if it was not one big mistake to base an entire relationship on a lie. And we are not really shown why she likes him other than that he is very hot, so why is she waiting?

That rule, btw, applies to some things only because when it comes to the adopted one saying "I don't want to meet my birth mother", it can be pushed and manipulated.

The men are all eye-candy, which is not necessarily a critique for this kind of movie but they are also very hot according to the Western taste, including having rounder eyes or being bronzed. They criticise the adoped one for not liking Asian men and 1) dismissed her one-time fling with a guy from Kazakhstan because they don't know if that counts as Asia in quite a racist dialogue but I guess it's alright because they're Chinese-American! and 2) they seem to not like real Chinese men either if what we are given is the Western taste of men instead of the Chinese taste.

They constantly tell the Chinese who was adopted that she is so white and criticise her for it, but then they are unaware of their own biases towards other cultures (unless other Chinese people are being racists towards Japanese, for instance). Which could be a good point to make, the way we all have our biases and xenophobia and all that, but they somehow don't know how to make it because it really centers all around "the white one" (adopted). Even after it is found out that she was actually born from a Korean mother and a whole family that had previously accepted as one of their own now rejects her, her friends still mention how white she is. There is a whole story there with the Korea-China relationships and we miss it because it's more important to make jokes.

While they grow more accepting of Deadeye, the scene of bonding between the main character (who didn't like them) and Deadeye felt forced and out of the blue. And also, they are only superficially more accepting. When Deadeye suggest doing their annual best-friends travel to some very US place that they like, they quickly ignore them because it is not as fancy as Paris.

They spend the whole movie mocking the adopted one because she can't eat Chinese food but then they go to Paris and say that they don't have to try French food. It all feels so hypocritical that even comments as silly as this one just add to the whole mess with xenophobia and racism this movie is.

Also, how is the adopted one "so white"? Her white parents wanted her to study Chinese (which she did for one year or so), they introduced her to the only Chinese family so that she had a connexion with her culture. She could have practiced Chinese with them and learned more things about Chinese culture. I guess she didn't do it because she always wanted to fit in, but this is more me putting things together than an actual real explanation in-world.

The message of the movie in the end is basically the same US message of success and hard work. So going to China serves no more purpose than just doing shenanigans that they wouldn't do in the US because that's what travelling is for, I guess.

f you find yoursefl recognising you and your friends in the three girls of this movie, you better find other friends. They all use each other shamelessly, lie to each other, manipulate each other, can't listen to each other and accuse each other of whatever terrible thing instead of facing their own emotions.

#If there is nothing better on tv it works #but I wouldn't watch it on purpose

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casualtheoriesandthoughts · 10 months

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Honor and Shame in Avatar: the Last Airbender

So I rewatched ATLA (as one does) recently and in my nostalgia trip, I found myself focusing on Zuko's "honor" obsession, and also the way I've seen people react to it. I realize that ATLA as a whole has been fan-theorized ad nauseam (though it doesn't seem to stop any of us!), but I do want to reflect on the way the word "honor" is interpreted by fans. I don't want to meme honor too much, though.

Too late, I suppose. But at any rate, this is probably fan-philosophy more than theory. I should preface this post by saying that my contention is based mostly on anecdotal evidence. I have seen fans assume that Zuko kind of discards the notion of "honor" more than a few times, especially when people read Zuko's arc as a commentary on abuse (which it definitely is, of course). This post from Blackwell Philosophy makes a similar conclusion, even though it attempts to draw on Confucian sources to elaborate on the concept of honor: "...as Zuko’s character arc shows, the only authentic honor we can pursue is the honor that lies within us and that comes from our own actions."

But let's remember that honor never ceases to be an operative idea even after Zuko makes the decision to switch sides. Iroh even says that this choice is about honor: "You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation." Whether you believe Iroh is up to you, but I'm inclined to take him and the series' terms seriously.

The Blackwell essay discusses righteous and conventional honor and disgrace, both of which describe relative states of esteem or reverence that people have for themselves or others. Righteous honor/disgrace comes from an inner assessment of one's virtues, and conventional honor/disgrace comes from external assessments. While I cannot claim to be familiar with Xunzi or Confucian philosophy more generally, this discussion is useful for drawing out a potential ambiguity that the English term "honor" that I suspect arises in the minds of English-speaking viewers.

For a show that seeks to draw significantly on Asian (especially Chinese) cultural, religious and philosophical resources, the use of the word honor in ATLA seems to flatten multiple ideas surrounding virtue, respect and propriety into a single usage. I realize it's a children's TV show, but it is still one that directly portrays war and colonial violence. Nuance is not missing from ATLA, most of the time anyway.

There are multiple words that translate to different aspects of honor in Confucian thought. Among them are the Five Virtues:

Rén (仁, benevolence, humaneness);

Yì (義, righteousness, justice);

Lǐ (禮, propriety, rites);

Zhì (智, wisdom, knowledge);

Xìn (信, sincerity, faithfulness).

All of these, in my opinion, bear upon the idea of honorable conduct in some way. "Honor" in English generally connotes propriety in one's relationships and a solid sense of one's own values, especially when shared in community with others (think of a brotherhood of knights or the retainers of a king). "Honor" is also a verb, which conveys esteem or reverence paid to someone else (often for good deeds performed). It is the latter usage that the Blackwell essay calls conventional honor (勢 - shì), quoting Xunzi, and which it recognizes need not be associated with righteous or "honorable" behavior. Other words that may be associated with conventional honor are 榮 (róng, glory) or 尊 (zūn, reverence), even when paid to a genuinely honorable person. It is this tension which Helen de Cruz, the author, recognizes as the central theme of Zuko's struggle with honor.

My point here is less about the correspondence of English to Chinese concepts, than to point out the awkwardness of the uses of the noun "honor" and the verb "to honor". It creates a slippage between the notion of externally received esteem and the personal, moral propriety that one has (and which Zuko ultimately claims).

Consider, by contrast, Iroh's repeatedly being scorned by his family and nation. He never once wavers from his own values and convictions, all the while remaining loyal to the welfare of his people and his family. Two places this shows up are his claim that he is not, in fact, a traitor to the Fire Nation when he turns on Zhao at the North Pole, and again when he explains that he would not take back the throne of the Fire Nation from Ozai, as he believed that history and the people would only view it as a power struggle between brothers. Both choices involve seeming straying from his purported causes (the Fire Nation and the resistance respectively), but in reality conform to his values for balance in the world and righteousness in governance. It is why Iroh, despite being elderly, chooses to assist his nephew Zuko and even allows himself to be imprisoned because of it.

This raises important questions about honor and its opposite, shame or disgrace. In my experience in English-speaking circles in America, there is a great deal of resistance to the very ideas of honor and shame, especially nowadays with conversations about mental health and self-love. I imagine that it is because these terms conjure feelings and images of inferiority and humiliation before family and community, especially if the terms of the conflict are being stated hypocritically. I certainly don't hold these feelings against anyone, though I wonder how we might recover the more basic principles behind "honor" and "shame" for living our lives in the future.

Honor and shame exist in many Asian cultures, with merits and flaws alike. As an Indian American myself, I grew up with my own concepts in Kannada of ಮರ್ಯಾದೆ (maryāde) and ಸಂಕೋಚ (saṅkōca). These are not exactly the same as "honor" and "shame" per se, but were extremely functional in teaching me about the relationship between a view of oneself and others' views of the same, albeit somewhat problematically. ಮರ್ಯಾದೆ (maryāde) is generally glossed as "etiquette" or "manners", but is often associated with notions of a proper upbringing and treating others well. ಸಂಕೋಚ (saṅkōca) is a variety of shame, experienced when gifts are excessive or favors are too generous. It literally means "contraction", and was taught to me as the idea of feeling small because of someone's inordinate generosity. It is not a good thing to shower gifts, praise or support when it makes someone feel incapable or unworthy of the fruits of their own efforts.

Thinking about this in relationship to Zuko's own journey with the ideas of honor and shame, I believe it is possible to view honor more generatively. Honor isn't about getting accolades or validation from others (at the very least, not all the time), but living fully by one's values, particularly in relationship with others. Zuko wanted his father's love, but didn't realize that no amount of falling in line with his expectations would earn him self-respect, because it violated his own principles and severed his relationships with people he cared about, like his uncle. Insofar as honor serves to make one's relationships ethical, just and even loving, I think it's not such a bad idea. Similarly, shame for Zuko isn't about needing to be dehumanized or abused, but his feeling that he has strayed from his own values and done wrong by others. Speaking English, I think we can fall into a trap that "honor" for oneself and "honoring" others unilaterally are the same thing, and the same goes for the word "shame". Feeling that one's values have been betrayed or violated by one's own mistakes may or may not be called "shame", but it sounds right to me. The reason is that it comes with the ever-present possibility of redemption and restoration.

Zuko's journey toward recovering his own honor was about learning what he strayed from and thus what mattered to him, because it made him more alone than anyone in the world. In contrast to de Cruz, I think honor is about one's relationships to others and the values embodied in it, something that Zuko was ultimately able to restore in the end. It might not be the most original take in the world, but it makes me appreciate Zuko's arc that much more.

#zuko #aang #honor #atla #fantheory

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kafkaoftherubbles · 9 months

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话匣子：《致不灭的你》日语名与英译名的小小想法 - 后续（1）

The original post and bestbonnist's response: this one. This is a response-response!

(1) Localizing To Your Eternity/FnAe names in Chinese/replying to your tag-questions

I don't try to give Chinese names for East Asian characters/names, like Japanese and Korean ones, because they already have their own hanzi/kanji/hanja. On principle, I believe any self-respecting author (hacks, fucking move aside) has a rationale for the names they give. When I Chinese-fied a name, even if it's purely for self-amusement, what I'm doing is also translation—I'm trying to translate the author/writer's intent and meaning to its new language, and yet keep it aligned with the language's medium and context and culture itself. There ain't no need for that when it comes to East Asian names because their meaning is already spelled out.

But, you are spot-on that all that is thrown out of the window when the names are spelled phonetically; in this case, when it's written in katakana instead of kanji. I surmise it's to remind us that Fushi's world may "speak" Japanese to us readers, but they are meant to be not-Japanese. Their writing is different (kinda looks like Devanagari, the Sanskrit script, to me. But that's cause my knowledge of writing scripts is superficial and limited! Ha!), and even when their names "supposedly" sound Japanese, they are phonetic as though it's foreign to Japanese readers.

When things like this happen...

the safest way is to transliterate it. The same way things are done with a foreign name not based on kanji, like English names. Characters like March, Hayase, Parona, Kahaku et al. are translated (according to what I found) as 玛琪 (ma qi)，哈亚瑟 (ha ya se)，帕罗纳 (pa luo na), and 卡哈库 (ka ha ku) (I'd love to read it for you, but I can't here. So google's sexy robotic voice will have to do!).

Detour: Name translations surprisingly hinge on translators' and editors' breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding, innit? If I miss out on the context and meaning of a name, my translation/localization will lose that part of it. I know people say "things are always lost in translation" but I disagree. I think it's that "things are always a little different in translation", but what's lost may be gained in other ways, especially if the translator is skilled enough to do that—and that's not counting how readers themselves are essentially translating a work into their own knowledge when they internalize it, hence the whole "death of the author" shebang. I don't believe in a purist's take; the purist themself have already translated things their own way the moment they apply their interpretation. Nothing is permanent. Not even the meaning of words! WITTGENSTEIN!!!!

...YO SHIT WHERE WAS I? Oh, yea. There are, however, names that are localized into actual "Japanese authentic" names in FnAe, particularly those who appeared in the Modern Arc (prior to that, I think Fushi is the only one with an actual hanzi name: 不死. Undead). And that is when things get interesting—due to the lack of canonical kanji, it appears that the translators have taken the foreign-name approach and made up what they believe is the right one.

---

Satoru is easily (typically) translated into 悟, like how a certain cocky Gojo's name is written. It means "enlightenment" or "realization", and is thus my preferred translation given who Satoru is. But there was an instance of translating it into 聪, which means "intelligent, clever." Both seem right to me, but I'm partial to stuff like "enlightenment" for... reasons.

Mizuha is fun. You seem to interpret it as 水water羽feather. And I honestly think that's a good one given the things she seems to symbolically be tied to. But! There is one when she's translated as 瑞叶 (rui ye), which is a very beautiful and highly plausible Chinese name, dang. 瑞 means "good, prosperous, good omen" while 叶 means "leaf". Unfortunately, this will be a name that loses parts of the meaning "Mizuha" likely alludes to... in my opinion. And yet, it may not be wrong still because an educated parent typically DOES give names filled with good meaning and blessing to their child. Why wouldn't Izumi and her husband do the same?

Another more contextually correct translation, by another bunch, for Mizuha would be 水叶 (shui ye), "water leaf". I personally think 水 is the best allusion because of Mizuha's symbolic connection to water, and because Izumi is translated by the same bunch as 泉 (quan), "springwater." I don't have much to say about "leaf" because... well, it's poetic and therefore up to each reader's interpretation of why it's a "leaf". Is she a leaf in a current of water she cannot hope to control?

Yuuki is translated by the first as 勇树 (yong shu), "brave, courage + tree". His name is translated as 祐樹 (you shu), "protection, blessing + tree" by the second. Both are fitting in my eyes, as they emphasize two aspects of his character. The former on his valor, and the latter on his benevolence.

There are plenty more but this part is as bloated as it can be already!

I am not a JP-ENG translator by any stretch. My Japanese status is "I'm learning goddammit" and it's about as good as a pre-schooler's, and even then I think I'm overestimating myself. Anyway, that level can't clear the bar needed to be a good translator, so I don't attempt it at all. However, you can! What kanji would you give this modern arc bunch—or even some Previous Era bunch—that fit their characters?

Oof, looks like I need a part 2 for the others!

#fumetsu no anata e #to your eternity #fnae #tye #to you the immortal #response post #Lyndis is having fun!#re: translation

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shadlad24 · 2 years

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Babel

Hey, just a quick little idea that struck me out of nowhere: There have been complaints about everyone on XWP speaking the same language all across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, with little need for interpretation or translation ever. I, of course, felt that as well. But, what if, in the Xenaverse, there was never a Tower of Babel? Or, the show took place before that story happened?* It could work in the show’s historical and cultural blender, no? I think so. haha What do you guys think?

*Now, we did see instances of people speaking other languages, some sort of Chinese most prominently coming to mind at the moment, but it is not unheard of for military people especially to develop their own codes to keep their plans private. Even young twins often come up with their own made-up language before learning their family’s native one. Read: I’m not trying to say that multiple languages don’t exist in the Xenaverse, perhaps just that they were not common/known to commoners and/or that there was only one native language on the show? Hmm…

**Of course, Rome and its known-world-spanning empire might have something to do with the lingual homogeny as well, but there you go. haha Also, there being only one language does not necessitate a homogeny of cultures (which would definitely go against what we saw on XWP). Just look at US and its different accents and ways of life, let alone English across the world, even among native English speakers.

#xwp #xena warrior princess #xena #gabrielle #xena and gabrielle #fan theory #fan analysis

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titanicfreija · 1 year

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"Do you like to read?"

Freija blinked at her new roommate and bit her lips. "Uh. Not really? It feels like that's the wrong answer though."

Thomas smiled awkwardly. "I mean, there's no right and wrong answers with me. I am a little disappointed, and I'm gonna ask why not, but I'm not judging or anything. Plus you're always looking at the datapad."

Freija's mouth twisted to a side and she took a few deep breaths and sighed. "If you laugh, I'll kill you."

"Can't read well?" he suggested. "You won't be the first. Pretty sure half of everyone that died during the Dark Ages couldn't read at all."

Ghost and guardian exchanged glances and Friends relaxed into Thomas's sofa. "We don't know when I died, but I can read English. I'm getting better but I was apparently out of practice? Ghost said, and doing it more has helped. But I can read German, Russian, and Chinese about as well as I could read English."

Thomas blinked at her and looked at her ghost, who wheeled. "I have no idea," she admitted.

Freija seemed to find his confusion amusing. "I don't speak any of them and when I read them, I can only hear it in my head, I can't say it right, but I know the translation or interpretation most of the time. Signs, I can read a shitload of signs and words you see on signs. Might have other languages or words but we haven't found any. Ghost thinks any part of old Europe might have been my starting point, but we'll never know."

Thomas frowned with thought. "Sounds like travel," he said with a shrug. "So what are you reading on the datapad? You're on it all day when you're not working."

"Weapons stuff. Armor stuff. Occasionally Dreaming City stuff. But it takes me ages. So it looks like a lot but it's one thing really slow. I'm getting better."

"Is it really that hard for you?" He leaned over to see her screen, dominated mostly by stat bars instead of words, but it occurred to him that she might not have the stat bars memorized.

"Ghost reads for me when we're in a hurry, but we both think I need to practice."

"I might not be able to help," he admitted, "but I can try. I write."

"What, like. Books?" Freija snickered. "And I was afraid of the Titan joke. We're just both stereotypes, huh?"

"I had to relearn how to read, too, actually. The old German I woke up reading and speaking was a thousand years out of date during the collapse," he laughed. "There's even lessons in the Tower, you are far from the only one. Language lessons, too, there's been a few waking up speaking languages so old that no one has heard of them."

"What do the ghosts do when that happens?" Freija swiveled to her ghost with her mouth open."

"Oddly enough, I don't know," she admitted. "I've only had a little dealing with living people outside the Tower-- but I've been able to fluently speak and read everything I've tried to. Old and ancient and dead as well as alien. But I can't interpret from one to another, except by reforming what I heard into a separate thought."

"That would be interpretation. The thing you can't do is translate," Thomas supplied. "Narrow but very present difference in communications, the gap between translation and interpretation."

"Fair enough. Either way, it takes me time but I can do it well enough. I expected to understand my guardian, but I can't say I considered whether I'd have to teach them how to speak to others. Or read, actually."

The warlock smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Rex taught me how to speak English. And New German, actually, so we could go from old to new and then to current English. Reading, too, but as soon as he did that, I got into the library and the fighting started."

Freija and her ghost flinched for him.

"And that's where I met Rhys, so it's not all bad." He grinned again.

"That's the weirdo in the wrapped up outfit with the glowy green stuff on her arms, isn't she?"

"That's the one. She just looks creepy."

#destiny 2 #d2 #ocs #writing #freija #scribble #sunny #thomas

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chinesetutor · 2 years

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fozmeadows · 3 years

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race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.

#race #racism #c-drama #fandom #fan wank #fandom wank #microaggresions #culture #the untamed #bronies #whiteness #ficwriting #fanwriting #cultural bias #discourse

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shijiujun · 3 years

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Just A Few More Notes on MXTX EN Official Translations

SO...

1. Yes, MXTX IS getting money from this set of publications! However, as reminded from a friend in the industry, Seven Seas’ FAQ says rights holders and not MXTX herself, and it’s likely the contract was made with JJWXC so... we can only trust their word that money DOES go back to MXTX. Not casting any doubt, it’s just what it is based on what we can see on the FAQ page

2. ALL translators across all three books are fan translators that have been hired to do the job properly. This does include Suika and Pengie for TGCF and others for MDZS and SVSSS - So for all of you who shitted on fan translators, fan translators are making it happen for yall right now

3. ALL of them will be uncensored

4. Yes, there’ll be hard and soft copies! I KNOW that the EN copies are definitely way more expensive than those who can read Chinese and buy Chinese original versions are used to but there’ll be soft copies which should be cheaper - And hey if you want freebies and all that stuff, you can still buy the cheaper Chinese copies hahahaha

5. Any fan translations of these three books are NOW illegal basically, for real, since there are official ones coming up - I do feel sorry for proper actual respectful fan translators who were taking on MDZS and SVSSS who were doing re-translations and now have to stop etc.

6. SevenSeas will decide whether or not to do further translations of other popular danmeis based on this pre-order so do support if you can

7. Suika found SevenSeas to publish at least TGCF from what I can see from her tweets, so she made it work. With plenty of help of course, but she really, really made it work, even while people were hating on her during the entire translations and buying drama. Now you really can support so no more excuses!

8. What I said about there being no impetus for EN translations: This wouldn’t have been possible if Suika and other translators didn’t push hard for this, and if SevenSeas wasn’t willing to listen to the fan translators, and also give MXTX a proper cut of the profits. What I’m saying is that EN-speaking fandom now, in an economic sense, SHOULD be profitable for authors to want to have their books licensed in EN, and have proper and great translators we’ve seen doing proper work. I’m happy to be wrong definitely, if more EN official translations pop up from SevenSeas, but like I said, this was a concerted effort based on mutual respect on all parties, and we don’t get that very often, so now’s the time to support.

9. And am I ever so glad to say that once again MTL etc. really cannot compare to actual, proper translations, and I’m so happy for Suika and the other translators that they’re now ACTUAL translators and wannabe “I learnt Chinese for 6 months or 1 year and now will translate this terribly difficult novel because I am Smart” and everyone who’s given them trouble can now really shut up, because Suika really made it happen (along with many others yes!). She be all action and talk, I love that

10. Will there still be problems? YES, I think there will be. Despite everything going on official right now, we can all probably agree that troublemakers in the EN-speaking or international fandoms still exist. There’ll always be issues. Especially with new people joining in on the fun now that these super viral and hot titles are available in English, yes we can expect a lot more stupid questions and stupid people coming up. I don’t deny that overall it’s a huge thing, but as always, fandom is fandom, and with new entrants coming in? We definitely have a hell of a ride on our hands

11. Should you take the EN translations as honest gospel and it being THE one translation? I mean not in the sense of publishing or creating fan translations but if any people who speak CN and EN have different takes on translations in terms of expression I’d say those are equally valid and correct. I expect people might go “oh but the official translation version” blah blah but... language is nuanced. Although these translators for the books are the best there are out there, language can still be interpreted or expressed differently in translations! So yep, don’t go accusing smaller translators or content creators for “wrong translations” especially when they speak and lived Chinese all their lives thanks

12. The purest form of the content is still the Chinese version - I’m not being a wet blanket here, but the most, most original form of it is definitely the Chinese version, and things ARE still lost in translation regardless, so personally I of course still prefer the CN versions for all

13. Will novels like 2ha and SPL get official translations? I’d say it might be a bit hard for 2ha because there’re already so many haters in the EN-only speaking fandom for all the “immoral” stuff so yeah. SPL maybe? I honestly think Priest is not that interested in having EN translations for her books tbh unless the money is really boomz, so that one is up there for anyone’s guess as well.

14. In the meantime, Via Lactea does have licensed books for smaller danmei prints so do support them as well!!!

#mdzs #svsss #tgcf #mxtx #mxtx en print #AHHHHHHHHH

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sixteenthshen · 3 years

Photo

the captions are the best part of this special edition of 《快本营业中》 ❤️

some notes behind the cut (regarding the possibily confusing use of more than one nickname for GJ in this post and junzhe nicknames in general)

The nicknames for Gong Jun may be confusing here.

He is both Junjun (俊俊) and Junzi (俊子). I used three different names for him here (GJ, Junjun, Junzi) for "accuracy" purposes. Junjun is what He laoshi and ZZH address him by; the caption used Junzi and subtitles always use the person’s full name.

These are very common ways (Junjun and Junzi) to address someone with a one-worded first name. So if you're into RPS, ZZH calling Gong Jun “Junjun” doesn't really mean anything.

GJ's Nicknames:

laogong (老龚): It's the prefix lao- and his last name, a play on husband (homophone).

Junjun (俊俊): It's his first name x2. It's quite a cute nickname for people with a one-word first name. My nephew's name is Kai; we call him kaikai all the time. This nickname shot up in popularity when Ma Jie (then ZZH) called him this during the pre-Happy Camp livestream. Before that, laogong and junzi were more popuiar.

Junzi (俊子): His first name + Zi (子). "Zi" is only used for males, as it means son. (It can actually be used for women, but not advisable unless you speak Mandarin and can gauge the context better)

"junzi" (菌子): Homophone of Junzi, it means mushroom. Not much meaning behind it; it's just one of the more adorable options (and GJ is adorable!) that come up when you type "junzi" (pinyin input method).

doggy "gougou" (狗狗, 狗勾): Cause GJ likes dogs and kinda has a dog personality in that he's happy, cheery and adorable. He's associated with the doge emoji and ZZH, the cat version. (ZZH doesn't have a cat personality either, he's the cat because GJ said he likes cats - gif #2 calls ZZS a cat)

laopo (wife): Feminising, so this is the only one ion this list that I’ve never used.

(Also, some fans may use other alternatives for laogong, such as the actual husband (老公) and "lao" with the gong from gong/shou (老攻), but the last one is rare.

You won't normally use the above nicknames for someone with a two-worded first name, such as Zhehan. But there's no hard and fast rule. You can still do that, if you like. For example, we don’t normally use the prefix xiao- (小/little) for an adult, especially men, but ZZH's nickname is xiaozhe (小哲). And it’s not a "fan nickname" to sound cute. It's really what some people (e.g. Zhao Wei) call him.

ZZH's nicknames:

laopo (wife): When it was first popularised, I think everyone wanted a wife like Zhou Zishu, but Zhou Zishu is WKX's (wife).

Not feminising*. One of the most famous fan memes is, "although one punch from ZZH can defeat 10 of me, he's still (my/our/everyone’s) wife of destiny".

Fans have been calling their favourites "laopo" for ages, but it doesn't get popular enough to make it out of their small circle due to the feminising aspect of the nickname. ZZH is the first because he isn't feminine. So, no one feels like they're feminising him. Laopo's quite a "powerful" nickname, actually; someone even spread rumours that this nickname was costing him opportunities, so WoH/his fans would stop. ZZH's team had communicated via his official fan club that it's an unfounded rumour, and if there're any changes, his team will update everyone.

Princess (公主): Mostly not feminising. It’s mainly his character that started this nickname, but I have also seen it feminised (side note: I may hate Faceapp? I’ve seen way too many girl!GJ&ZZH). Main reasons for princess:

Firstly, it's his way or the highway. His fans often say, "the princess can do whatever he wants to do", "don't try to teach the Princess what to do" (used by everyone!). He famously deleted his Weibo when some fans tried to teach him what to do, they argued, he got angry and deleted. Many celebs don’t really have the guts to say anything that may seem rude publicly to their fans (especially when they’re not very famous). So if you’re stanning a B/C/D-list Chinese celeb who openly tells their fans off for unreasonable behaviour, you should be very, very proud :)

Also, he is insanely good at sajiao-ing. It just comes naturally to him (see the link for the explanation of sajiao, it can be a few different things. The exact meaning depends on context, but ZZH sajiaos in many ways).

xiaozhe (小哲): Explained above. But don't use it if you're younger than he is.

Han-ge (瀚哥): Han from his name and ge (older brother). Fairly self-explanatory, as with xiaozhe, age-specific rules apply when you're not close.

meimei (妹妹): Little sister. I think it's from ZZH's hairstyle while filming Word of Honor. Fans called it "妹妹头/meimei hair" and his current hairstyle, "寸头/inch-long hair".

“zhehan” (折汉): “Zhe” is bend, “Han” is man. It means he can bend any man. There's more than one interpretation to this, lol. I'm sure you can think of the non-PG explanation. The kid-friendly version is that he sajiaos a lot, and he can get his (very many) male friends to do whatever he wants.

"zhehan" (折菡): "Zhe" is bend, "Han" is a flower. I find this is feminising (based on the limited times I've seen it), so I'm not too fond of it either. But I suppose fans may mean that he can bend any woman (flower?) to his will.

As always with nicknames, the most important thing is whether or not the person you're addressing is alright with it.

If you're interested in how pinyin is transcribed, you can check out this link, like why it's Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing instead of Zhou Zi Shu & Wen Ke Xing.

Notes:

I tried subbing this first, but it was impossible to read both the subs and captions simultaneously. 😋 So gifs it is!

I use He laoshi (while using GJ and ZZH) because He laoshi deserves all the respect.

*When I say not feminising, I mean for the majority. There will always be some fans who are into feminising male celebs, especially young idols and those who have acted in danmei. I spent longer on ZZH because multiple nicknames may come off as feminising, and I wanted to clarify that most of them aren’t.

#word of honor #gong jun #zhang zhehan #junzhe #happy camp #i dunno the exact english title of this side series #this gifset is SO messy #but i had to keep the captions!#thie nicknames part got away from me #900 words o.o

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wedreamedlove · 3 years

Photo

Loving a Monster - Evan Character Study

E: After waiting for so many years, it is finally going to be over.

Fortunately, he already saw the end of the night.

As a character, if Mo Yi asks the question of "What is it to love as a human?" and Xu Mo asks the question "What is it to be human?" then Evan asks the question of "What is it to live?".

Hello, I'm jumping around fandoms and dropping character essays all over the place LOL. First, I want to disclaim that everyone is free to focus on aspects of a character that speaks to them and, as long as these are based in canon material, I don't think anyone's interpretation is wrong, we just relate to different themes.

In my case, I was blown away by the latest chapters in Light and Night because it confirmed my suspicions... which is that Evan is a nihilistic monster and I love him. Spoilers up to Chapter 9 of Light and Night, including all the released cards. All translations are mine. Also, just as a note, his Chinese name is Lu Chen so his surname is Lu.

UNSETTLING SIGNS

First, I want to share the initial impressions he gave off before Chapters 9 and 10 were released because it was after reading these that I went "Oh, hm... that's a bit disturbing in terms of implications".

[SR String Notes Resembling You DATE] Context here is that Evan went to London to attend the funeral of a professor whom he was close to and, as the heroine consoles him, he ends up saying this.

E: Actually, I am not very sad.

E: I forgot from which book I read this passage.

E: “Your encounter with the world will be a desperate wail; all you’ll be able to do at first will be to cry.”

E: “Everything will make you cry: light, hunger, anger.”

E: The suffering in life will forever be more than the pleasure, so is death not a type of release?

E: People in this world suffer from the loss of their close friends or relatives; the essence of which is for their own suffering, it is the suffering of life.

E: However, Professor Moran has passed away and will never again be disturbed by this kind of suffering, and this is also a good thing.

Quite a nihilistic view of the world, no? For brevity, I didn't include a lot of scenes but there were descriptions about how Evan seemed like he was separated by an invisible wall from the grief of others, such as Professor Moran's wife.

However, that being said, I love our heroine's words to him because she knows the book that he quoted from and there is more to it. She also points out that his act of rushing over to London to attend the funeral shows his feelings for Professor Moran, even if he does not feel the same grief as others.

MC: It came from a famous journalist, Oriana Fallaci, and her novel “Letter to a Child Never Born”.

MC: “Your encounter with the world will be a desperate wail; all you’ll be able to do at first will be to cry.”

MC: “Everything will make you cry: light, hunger, anger.”

MC: “Weeks will go by, months, before your mouth opens in a smile.”

MC: “Before your throat gurgles out a laugh.”

MC: “But you mustn’t get discouraged.”

MC: “And when the smile comes, when the laugh comes, you must give it to me.”

It's a very rousing speech and she ends this by saying that she will present another side of life to him. She will find these smiles and laughs and bring it to him. I also have a crack theory that because Blood Tribe members are rumored to descend from gods and the heroine seems to have the soul of one in her, she is basically Evan's great-great-great-great-ancestor telling him to live, much like the mother in that story writing to her unborn baby.

Moving on, during a camping trip, the heroine was just having a chat with Evan but the conversation takes this turn.

[SSR Secrets in the Shade DATE]

MC: When you're feeling down or that things are difficult, just fantasize about a wonderful life after achieving your goals.

[...]

E: After I achieve my goals?

E: At that time, perhaps everything won't be important anymore.

Do you see a trend here? Mr. Nihilism is just ever-present, but there is also a disturbing implication that he doesn't intend to have a life after he does what he's set out to do. So, I had these thoughts drifting around in my brain and when they released the new chapters all of these little incidences rushed to the forefront of my brain again.

[SSR Illusionary Light - Robot Humans PHONE CALL]

E: That people would not notice robot humans may not be because they truly cannot see anything unusual.

E: But that they see it and choose not to speak or ask questions, only using various excuses to avoid, distance, or conceal their own indifference.

[...]

MC: If there is a day where I notice something unusual about you, I also wouldn't "turn a blind eye"!

E: ... Even if that was the better choice?

Look, despite LYT being a terrible person, I have to admit he was skilled because the line delivery here was godly because it made me shoot up in my chair. This was the phone call associated with the chapter card for Chapter 9 and I can only say this is pure foreshadowing.

The last nail that settled all my suspicions of Evan's character were his lines in the PV itself.

[PV - FLAME AND ASHES] "Regardless of when you look outside, life is like a cage. Everything here makes you lose hope, including ourselves.

Do you still not understand? It is not because of disease and natural disasters, but our self-importance and dispassion, as well as our hate for each other, that makes this world fall into disaster again and again.

Expectations always makes people disillusioned, and so I choose to give up on expectations."

PAST

Now, hopefully your appetite has been whetted with those unsettling crumbs, and now we come to the main meal. To understand a character, we always have to look at their past and so much was revealed in Evan's case.

[CHAPTER 9]

He suddenly realized he was fighting an unwinnable battle against the world.

In his parents' eyes, he was a continuation of the bloodline.

In his grandfather's eyes, he happened to have some talent, withstood the tests, and could be used.

In outsiders' eyes, he was the blessed young master of the Lu Family who wanted for nothing.

Then what about in his own eyes? Who was he? Was he Evan? But who was Evan?

Letting the people who chased behind him bring him away, the young man discovered to his horror that this time he wouldn't resist anymore.

He is also the son of a traitor and so he was bullied excessively in the family. At 12 years of age, they are exiled into the wilderness and only those who survive get looked upon highly by the family head. They also undergo even more training, involving killing innocent people, and, yes, Evan did that too.

Terribly enough, Evan nonchalantly talks about an experience he had in the woods in a date before this chapter came out and, after hearing about this rite of passage, we now know this was what he went through.

[SSR Secrets in the Shade DATE]

E: Mm, it was when I was a child and driven into the woods for the first time.

E: I witnessed wild beasts hunting and escaped from a snake's mouth. I felt that the forest was full of dangers and only wanted to get out of there quickly.

E: And just when I was hungry and exhausted, I saw a bamboo mushroom.

E: At the time, I didn't know what it was and whether or not it was poisonous. I abandoned myself to hopelessness and thought that I might as well pluck it and eat it, resigning myself to fate.

Can you imagine a 12 year old having to make that decision? The matter-of-fact tone he had here and the words "abandoned myself to hopelessness" and "resigned myself to fate". I can easily imagine all these small moments chipping away at his sanity and will to live.

Two other major events happened. One was that he had a rabbit once, she ran up to his window while he was practicing the cello after escaping from a predator and he started raising her. It's implied that the head of the family found out and well...

[SSR Illusionary Light - 14 Years Ago Summer TRAJECTORY]

The third thing I lost was a rabbit.

She always looked at me with those compassionate red eyes, as if she knew everything about me. Her ears were like a pair of wings. After having her, I learned how to look in the mirror. I didn't understand why some red eyes could be so pure and have such strong, extravagant emotions. Even her absent look was fascinating, like two pieces of glass that reflected how barren and dirty I was.

She pitied me and I fed her. This delicate balance stopped me from bowing my head down in front of her.

Whenever I stroked her soft fur, there was always a deep melancholy in my heart. I was afraid that one day she would get tired of me because she saw through me. So, I started to work hard to smile in the mirror and practiced being a person who could give her a future. Occasionally, I would see my eyes become pure in the mirror, although only for a moment.

But then one day she died.

In the fall, he found her grave and dug her up because he didn't want her to lie directly in the cold dirt. But all he could find was the smell of rot and two bones. The story is a little scarily dark because he self-harms here and hallucinates the rabbit's voice, but this last exchange is significant.

[SSR Illusionary Light - 14 Years Ago Fall TRAJECTORY]

—Tell me, where have you been these days?

—Or, take me with you.

This time, no one could stop my footsteps and, when the blood ran out, I would be free.

The second major event is that Evan's mother died in an "accident" and when he visit her grave for the first time he has these lines.

[SSR Illusionary Light - 11 Years Ago Mid-Autumn TRAJECTORY]

E: Why does fate love to play with people? People who don't wish to live can always escape death, but those who want to live well are killed in an accident.

E: If I was the one who drowned, that would probably be best for everyone. I'm really not afraid.

PRESENT

So, what has he become now after undergoing all those experiences and training? He's become someone so controlled that there were rumors in the company that he's a robot. He's considerate and gentle towards everyone, but it's to such a precise degree, no more and no less, that it doesn't mean anything anymore.

Naturally, because this is an otome game, he does treat the heroine with more warmth and specialness than he does others. However, there was a part in Chapter 9 that sent chills down my spine.

[CHAPTER 9]

MC: I'll bring you out of here and we'll go outside.

[...]

E: Is there any difference between outside and inside?

MC: They're different!

MC: Outside there's the warm sun, a gentle breeze, lively crowds of people, and lots of delicious food...

MC: And if you're willing, I'll listen to you tell your story, and then—

I turned my head back, came into contact with eyes that were smiling, and suddenly all my words were stuck in my throat.

I clearly felt that he didn't care about those things at all. He disdained those things.

This time, the rousing heroine's speech did not work on a love interest and, in fact, at the end of Chapter 9 you realize that Evan was testing the heroine in this moment and made her legitimately feel like she was going to die in order to confirm his suspicions about a plot item.

In his second visit to his mother, which seems to happen at the start of the game.

[SSR Illusionary Light - Half a Year Ago Early Spring TRAJECTORY]

E: Actually... I didn't plan on returning to this country.

E: It's my wish to die in a foreign land.

[...]

E: Then can you tell me, whether the accident of that year was not just an accident?

E: This is probably the one matter I cannot set down.

E: In these past 20 years, I have been the blade in the hands of others and I don't want to go on like this anymore.

E: I am the only survivor left of that year. Those servants and doctors, those who could leave left and those who should disappear disappeared.

E: I want a truth.

E: If I was warped by hatred, would you dislike me?

Bringing back what he says at the very top:

E: After waiting for so many years, it is finally going to be over.

Fortunately, he already saw the end of the night.

Evan is a vengeful monster born from a family of monsters and, after all these years of waiting, he has come back to swallow them whole. It's pretty explicit at this point that he is on a path of revenge, which he does not expect to step out from alive, and will even use the heroine as a weapon. Even though he doesn't feel the expected happiness at discovering her, the best weapon, first before anyone else, he is still set on his course.

FUTURE

Honestly, I'm a little in awe of Light and Night's writing team for setting up his character like this because Evan has this terribly frightening side and yet his gentleness, consideration, and warmth to the heroine are not entirely fake either? It's genuine but it also runs parallel to his quest of revenge. I'm definitely looking forward to the moment where these two things actually come into conflict and he has to choose one over the other.

I am also looking for more philosophical clashes between him and his heroine, because as we can see from the heroine's failed speech, he doesn't actually believe in her words or care for those things. All I can say is that we have only taken the first step up the mountain that is overcoming Evan's nihilism LOL. He’s a monster made out of circumstances, but a gentle one.

Lastly, I'll leave everyone with this description of one of his card evolution items because, oof, it hurts.

[DEVIL'S TRUMPETS]

"Someone like him should not have light."

Devil's trumpets (or datura) is a poisonous plant belonging to the nightshade family. Such a fitting flower for Evan and ironic that it's frequently mistaken for another flower called angel's trumpets (just as poisonous).

#光与夜之恋 #Light and Night #LN Evan #LN Lu Chen #meta of light and night

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rainbowsky · 3 years

Text

Did DLS Out DD During a DDU Recording and Make Him Cry?

This has been making the rounds on Twitter and YouTube and even Tumblr, for a while now. Fancam footage of DLS making a boyfriend joke and then leaning in to a supposedly upset DD and trying to smooth things over.

This whole thing is based on fancam footage taken during the recording of the DDU 20190825 episode. In this episode dating was being discussed using four beautiful young women, DD and QF along with two handsome young guests as a backdrop.

The subtitles of the fan cam present a scenario where DLS supposedly refers to DD as ‘not needing a girlfriend because he already has a boyfriend’ and then leaning into a supposedly emotional DD and apologizing, trying to calm him down; saying viewers won’t understand what was said.

Let’s take a look at the video:

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The full fan cam footage that this out of context clip was taken from can be found here.

If you watch the episode and the complete fan cam footage, you’ll see that this happened during the segment where they were being asked to comment on various dating scenarios. An announcer would present each scenario in a multiple choice format, asking the women to choose between four options based on the type of guy they’d most like to date. For example:

How would you like the boy you like to invite you for a meal on the weekend?

A] Save your weekend for me. Do not say no.

B] You had breakfast at 7:50 this morning and lunch at 12:30. It’s already 7pm now. You have to eat meals on time. Why don’t I take you out for dinner?

C] I tried to explain my thoughts when I look at you, but I failed. So do you have time for dinner with me this weekend? Let’s talk about it.

D] Get out. Dinner.

My opinion

We should always, always be suspicious of anything that is presented without context. 99.9% of the time, when someone removes context they are doing so to mislead audiences. This clip is a perfect example of that. The video creator appears to have removed important context in order to make the clip better fit the narrative they’re trying to sell.

In this segment of the episode, the hosts and guests were seen commenting on the options as they were being read out. The comments DLS is making appear to be in response to something the announcer has said. I don’t think the comments have anything whatsoever do to with DD.

I also don’t think DD looks even remotely upset. Certainly not near tears. Some fans seem over-eager to claim DD is crying. We’ve all seen DD cry, but it’s exceptionally rare and only happens in very personal situations. This doesn’t qualify. It wouldn’t qualify even if everything the video creator claimed was true. DD would be more likely to get angry than cry in such a situation. He isn’t doing either of these things.

Whoever made this video simply doesn’t ‘get’ DD’s personality at all. The people who buy this are similarly unfamiliar with him.

I invite everyone to use your own eyes and your own judgment. Ignore what’s being claimed, ignore the framing you’ve been given of the scenario by me or the video creator, and instead just watch the clip. Does that look like a man on the verge of tears to you?

Second and third opinions

I asked the indispensable @potteresque-ire and @knivescharade what they thought of the clip. I didn’t tell them anything about my opinion, but simply sent the clip and asked their thoughts - are the subtitles correct, what do you think of the lip reading, etc.

@knivescharade

wow, for this person to put this analysis in i would say that lip reading is a very difficult skill. and to try and lip read someone like DLS, who speaks like a bullet train and doesn't really enunciate SUPER well (unlike Han-ge, for example) ... i would say the interpretation is only very vaguely possible at best.

i know both the cand int fandom have a major something for how WYB keeps swallowing around XZ, but honestly. WYB tends to get throat issues. i think swallowing has become one of his habits at this point. so... in conclusion... there are already lots of major, amazing, and irrefutable candies in the fandom already, let's not bother with such iffy ones :D

he is indeed saying that "this man has a boyfriend", but i cant quite remember which part of the show that was in. i watched that episode, it was something to do with love and having 4 guys paired with 4 girls or something like that, and listening to 'types of guys responses to etc etc' so DLS wasnt saying that WYB has a boyfriend - he was saying that 'this man', the one whose voice was playing in the audio, has a boyfriend.

That tracks with my interpretation of what was happening.

@potteresque-ire

Unless people have learned the dialect, Mandarin speakers cannot understand Cantonese, and vice versa. This is why I don't support or wash auditory candies, especially if it involves someone from Northern China (such as DLS, who is a Beijing native). Their local accents make their Mandarin even more difficult to understand.

This dialect restriction is actually not specific to a me, or other Hong Kongers. Someone whose family is entirely from Northern China would be equally prone to making mistakes if they're asked to lip read southern Chinese.

Lip reading also removes tonal consideration, which makes everything that much more uncertain. Have you heard of the Mr Shi Eats the Lion story? This is why, even if I hear some similarities, I'd hesitate to say X has to be saying ABC. Context is important.

Cantonese speakers are especially picky about tone. Mandarin have 4. We have 6 or 9, depending on who you ask. So... I may be more picky than I should be that way too. And I don't want to spoil anyone's fun 😊

The translation was correct in the sense that it was faithful to the Chinese words in the clip I saw, which replicated what DLS said accurately. But the video itself was from a fancam. Where that fancam happened (and got cut off) was at Q3 at the Q & A segment, starting ~9:34 of the official YouTube clip.

DLS said what he said half way through the voiceover of Option A (very precisely, right after the words "I'm the only one"). Technically speaking, therefore, he wasn't talking about DD.

However, it was also a little strange why DLS said what he said. If you watch that segment, all options have a certain personality attached to them. C was very talkative / pretentious. D was connected to DD because it was blunt and direct. A was the so called "overbearing CEO" personality... which is common in het romance dramas but isn't one that has been connected to the gay stereotype. And so, DLS's timing of saying that ... is curious.

Dd did look a little ... I wouldn't say upset, but tense after DLS said that. Maybe it's because that comment kinda came out of nowhere (because of its curious timing), and so it would be read as hinting at something. But that comment is harmless, wording wise.

Alternate theory

I’ve seen some talk from fans about a different theory for why DLS said what he said. Fans say the announcer for option A was Bian Jiang, the actor who did the voice of LWJ in The Untamed. They say that DLS was making a joke about LWJ not needing a boyfriend because he already has one. That actually makes a lot of sense to me as well, and if that’s really Bian Jiang, then I’d say that’s the most likely explanation for this entire thing.

Conclusion

It’s my firm opinion that DLS was not talking about DD having a boyfriend, nor was DD ‘near tears’ in this clip. Whatever DLS said to DD after that, it almost certainly wouldn’t have been ‘words of comfort to placate an upset DD’.

The Bian Jiang theory fits best, but we don’t need to know why DLS said what he said to be able to conclude he wasn’t talking about DD.

Cute DD candy from this episode

If anyone wants a better candy from this episode, look no further than when he emerges from “door #2″, chosen by one of the women as someone she’d like to date based on the food he’d picked out, and immediately launches into “I want to take a man back to my place and hide him.” A LWJ reference (which DLS and Wang Han clarify with him because they appear baffled by what he just said), but still a tactful, perfect rejection of this woman he’s being paired with. 😅

#bjyx #yizhan #ddu #ttxs #bxg fact checking #ggdd entertainment circle #ggdd signs #Youtube

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