Nicky And Joe From The Old Guard Is The Ultimate Gay Enamies To Lovers Couple.

Daomu Biji Watcher’s Guide, May 2024

A few new entries have been popping up lately, and I’m always hopeful new fans will stumble into the pits and never leave so I thought I’d paste up a rough map.

(Obviously the best watching order, like the best reading order of Discworld or the Aubrey-Maturin books, is ‘whatever first comes to your hand’ but for the people who don’t like that…)

tl;dr:

Daomu Biji is a series about tomb raiding. Think Indiana Jones or Lara Croft but much, much longer. The protagonist Wu Xie is deeply in love with BFF1 Zhang Qiling, a hundred-year-old cryptid, and BFF2 Wang Pangzi, who was stolen in a raid from another book series. It’s comic, tragic, horrific, zany, prone to musings on life, love, desire, attachment, and has many, many piss jokes. (‘Journey to the West but modern’ is maybe the other comparison I’d make.)

Notes:

– This guide is not talking about “quality”. All of the adaptations have their own strengths and weaknesses and tone can vary a great deal, which is to say, if one of them doesn’t suit you it’s likely something else will.

– Wacky endings, and plot threads that disappear unfinished and get picked up a long time later, are as inherent to the franchise as the piss jokes.

– It’s common for the dramas to introduce characters and subplots a lot earlier than the books do. Sometimes we’ll see a character introduced ‘for the first time’ on multiple occasions and strangely familiar scenes. I’ll try to point out the biggest continuity clashes as I go.

The Soft Entry:

There are a few movies that are entertaining as standalones but will introduce various characters and background. I would recommend:

Escape from the Monstrous Snake + Mystery/Grave of the Abyss – two monster movies featuring Hei Xiazi, a supporting character. He’s a pragmatical mercenary who’s going blind in kind of a weird way, and goofy as hell when he isn’t tiptoeing over a vast abyss of existential dread. So many fun action scenes.

Time Raiders (2015) – so there are some textual clues that late in his career Wu Xie wrote this story as a memory-jogger for an amnesiac friend. The plot is a freewheeling wild ride which doesn’t directly match any book plot but introduces some major characters and how they relate to each other. It’s colourful and fast-moving. Enjoy, enjoy.

Conjuring Curse and Misty Creed are… theoretically set late in the series even if the actors look about twelve. Both work as stand-alone adventures, though Misty Creed is maybe a little deep in the lore. Again, colourful and fast-moving.

The Chronological Order

You could honestly start with most of these – they tend to come with a ‘what has gone before’ at the start or a newbie character that things get explained to. The only one I wouldn’t start with is Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, which is lovely but also the second half of a set and things won’t make sense if you haven’t seen Lost Tomb 2 first.

Lost Tomb 1 – a highly digestible 10-12 episode version of the Seven Star Lu Palace arc, ie. Baby’s First Adventure. Introduces A-Ning, Xie Yuchen, and Huo Xiuxiu early and a couple of og characters for Wu Xie to talk to instead of monologuing to himself. The restaurant scene at the end was raided from a later arc and you’ll see it again in Ultimate Note. A book character, Da Kui, was cut which is a small problem because how he died is a minor plot point discussed in Lost Tomb 2. 

Lost Tomb 2 – covers Raging Sea, Hidden Sands (underwater tomb) and Qinling God-Tree (weird bronze tree in the mountains) plus a whole lotta side stories and original content exploring the world and foreshadowing later plots. Mooostly in continuity with Lost Tomb 1 (see Da Kui above) and made as a set with Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – they share resources and a lot of actors, and some threads begun here are finished in Heavenly Palace.

Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – covers the Mt Changbai arc, a journey up a mountain to find a very old, very grand tomb. This was made so close to Lost Tomb 2 that LT2 borrows shots from Heavenly Palace and not the other way around, which is fascinating because it pointedly contradicts the last five episodes of LT2. It also brings forward some plotlines originally from the Tamutuo and Zhang Family Old Pavilion arcs (San-shu’s past in the underwater tomb, and the Huo Family videotapes) dragging some characters on-screen and forcing them to talk about their feelings, which they would clearly rather die than do. Given those plot-tweaks and the early, deliberate continuity clash, I’m tempted to call this a Canon Parallel Universe. Got some interestingly chewy character dynamics and luverly, luverly set design.

Mystic Nine – This is a prequel about Zhang Qishan – Fo-ye – and his peers, but later dramas expect us to know who Fo-ye was so I’m sticking it here. Kinda… picaresque? Lots of action scenes and Republican-era flavour and various factions jostling for power – kinda feels like an old-school wuxia story, only set in the 1930s with all that glorious Republican-era styling. Has some unfortunate cut scenes – the details of how Fo-ye recovered at his family’s house don’t make a lot of sense in the aired version, and there are a couple of missing fights in the penultimate episode. Shrug. Still a lot of fun. Comes with four side movies about supporting characters.

Ultimate Note – Covers the Tamutuo arc (a trip through the jungle) and two-thirds of the Zhang Family Old Pavilion arc (investigating Zhang Qiling’s past is like kicking a hornet’s nest). Very, very flirty and has some zippy-zip action choreography. Politely ignores Lost Tomb 1–Heavenly Palace continuity (Xie Yuchen is, once more, introduced for the first time, now with a romantically coded friendship arc) and brings in a lot of cameos from Mystic Nine and Sand Sea, which it was filmed after. Kinda tiptoes around parts of the book plot, which I suspect would be hard for anyone to film, re: Fo-ye’s actions in the 1960s. Fair warning, this ends on a cliffhanger. This is also where the Xinyue Restaurant scene appears again – two cakes!

Tibetan Sea Flower – If Tibetan Sea Flower ever airs, it will go here.

Sand Sea – Based on the Sand Sea novel. After Tibetan Sea Flower, Wu Xie goes into a bit of a decline and makes that the world’s problem. We the audience, plus Li Cu and Liang Wan, EDIT: a lovely doctor, are pretty much dropped in media res into a number of ancient conspiracies and complicated plots coming to a head in the manner of a boil. It’s weird; it’s messy; it’s mad fun. Like Mystic Nine, has a lot of factions jostling for power and colourful jianghu characters. We will, once more, see the Xinyue Restaurant scene. Also has some side movies.

Time Raiders – The textual hints that suggest Wu Xie wrote this, suggest he wrote it around Sand Sea-era, when his life was a bit complicated. I’m putting it after Sand Sea because I believe it caps a conversation that, ah, doesn’t quite make it into the drama. But notionally this is where it should go. Ah…. at one point, someone tells a story about an ancient ruler, King Mu of Zhou, who sought immortality from the Queen of the West in Tamutuo. The longer book conversation suggests that a) King Mu of Zhou engineered a “trap” for someone like Wu Xie to fall into in the future, and b) that Iron Mask Scholar, a villain from Lost Tomb 1, was an alias that King Mu of Zhou used in the Warring States Era. Which makes some of Iron Mask Scholar’s appearances in Time Raiders… interesting.

Reunion: Sound of Providence – sometimes known as Reboot. Having peaked in badassery in Sand Sea, Wu Xie has to consider what his life is going to be now, and also, he would like to track down a missing family member. So this was tweaked to make it more accessible to new viewers (so some parts of the back-story are not mentioned or conflated for simplicity) and that mostly works but I did find watching this first and then picking up the earlier dramas a bit of a mindscrew. Zhu Yilong is, however, a powerful draw and the rest of the cast sparkles. Probably best to think of Season 1 as two short seasons jammed together, which is to say, once the Warehouse 11 arc starts there are a number of characters who won’t reappear until Season 2. It’s a fun arc even so. Season 2 ends with a badass action scene and then a big party, which I think is a great way to end a story.

Escape from the Monstrous Snake, Mystery/Grave of the Abyss, Conjuring Curse, Misty Creed – these are all theoretically set around or after Reboot-era, though they can certainly be watched as stand-alones.

Hello. I’ve created a discord server for MXTX novels discussions as I miss talking about them. Feel free to join here if you’re over 17. https://discord.gg/v7d6GFb5

History 3: Make our days count. (Spoilers included)

I loved everything about this show apart from the last episode.

I mean yeah, Haoting bullying Shigu them trying to date him is a bit weird but i think it was well explained. He didn’t do most of the bullying, that was his friends being overprotective. Then when he stopped Shigu from attending his exam, he realised the severity of what he had done. Yeah, he could have done better but his character is immature and selfcentred. It fits well with his character. He then goes through a regret stage where he realised that his actions were wrong.

He is a immature teen boy whose never had to deal with responsibility. That shows. So yeah, he could have done better but these flaws make his character so real and interesting. Shigu learns through him to enjoy life and have fun. While Haoting learns from Shigu how to take things seriously. They both go through so much character development and I love it. It makes everything so real and potent. Like yeah, Haoting made Shigu moss and exam. But Shigu forgives him and doesn’t hold on to grudges. They both learn together, which is realistic and wonderful.

Then there’s Sun Bo and Chigang. Yeah the age gap is a bit weird. It took me a while to warm up to them because of that. But I’ve known people with larger ages gaps in their relationships. Sun Bo is seventeen, turning eighteen in the show so he becomes legally of age. Chigang does not pressure him at all, he actually refuses to start a relationship with him because of the age difference. He is not with Sun Bo because he’s younger. It’s not like that. In every one of their shows, History explores real romance. The age gap between Chigang and SunBo is smaller than the age gap in History2:Right or Wrong.

Both Chigang and Sun Bo love each other as a person, not because of sexuality. SunBo even mentions that Chigang is the first man he’s ever liked. And if it was just about sexuality on Chigang’s part, he would have turned Sun Bo down due to his age (which he technically did anyway).

In all, I think both relationships are human and realistic. Relationships, in any given form, are messy. If I was to hold a grudge against everyone whose ever been mean to me, I would have no friends. Haoting realises his mistakes. Shigu learns to live rather than just survive. Sun Bo learns how to love and fight for his love. And Chigang learns how to let himself be loved.

The only thing that I don’t like is the last episode and Shigu’s death. But death is tragic and sudden and unexplainable. Somethings accidents happen. Yes! Shigu shouldn’t have died and it was a shitty ending, but death doesn’t care about life. Tragedy happens all the time. The History company aim to show life like and realistic shows, and that means tragedy and shitty endings.

What I always love about History shows is that it feels real. Like these are actual stories. (Not including trapped or any history 1. That is all a fantasy. Amazing, but the most unrealistic of their shows despite the epicness of the dramas). It makes me connect with them more. The banter, the flaws, the character development. All of it is golden and poignant.

All these boys deserve the world. No matter what mistakes they make.

I thank History for all their dramas.

Man from uncle-

Gabby: Hi I’m gabby and this is my boyfriend Illya.

Gabby: .... and his boyfriend Napoleon.

The Witcher-

Yennefer: I am Yennefer and this is my boyfriend Geralt.

Yennefer:... and his boyfriend Jaskier.

(This applies to so many fandoms).

I’m gonna do this all at once.

Peggy: Hi, I’m Peggy. This is my boyfriend Steve.

Peggy: ……And this is Steve’s boyfriend Bucky.

Padme: Hi, I’m Padme. This is my secret husband Anakin.

Padme: ……And this is Anakin’s step Master and boyfriend Obi-Wan.

Leia: Hi, I’m Leia. This is my husband Han.

Leia: ……And this is Han’s boyfriend and my brother Luke.

Every friend group should include...

A himbo,

A mean bisexual,

An even meaner lesbian,

She/theys and he/theys

A token straight that’s on thin ice,

An astrology bitch who has everyone’s birth chart memorized,  

And a short king

[ENGSUB] Wuliang | HERE | Pass: wuliang

YinWar will be switching in Jack & Joker, and we all cheered!

I'm not even exaggerating when I say these two have been going against industry standards since the very beggining, when they took the piss out of fanservice so hard that they became known for capsizing their own ship, and now they'll further deviate from the BL fixed pair norm and reverse roles as a way to tackle certain queer topics. Just last year @poetry-protest-pornography and I were talking about YinWar having both the willingness and the range to pull off something like this since they weren't held back by any company, and of course these men will deliver given that they have the luxury of doing whatever the hell they want as independent artists and producers of their own series. Dreams do come true!

[Eng trans.] Yin: I mean, people, let's say fans, will focus on "YinWar". By definition, "Yin" is the top in terms of roles, right? Y: So, I listened to the writers' ideas. They said that they intentionally reflected this issue, and that, in reality, it's not something fixed that way. Yin/Seoul: It switches. Y: Right. S: So it can be WarYin or YinWar. Y: Right. War: They wanted to convey that it's a matter of preference, and that it's much broader than that. It's broader than we think. The fact that two men should have fixed [sex] roles, only that way, or that people can only have one specific preference, it's not true. It's very flexible. It's something normal. Y: If people intend to be open-minded, we really have to be open-minded in the sense that they wanted to convey. After listening to it, it's brilliant. It's right. It feels like how it should be.

Could you imagine?

This was so good. Highly recommend.

Review of Gameboys

I know I am late to the game, but I been a little busy. For starters, my aunt moved to another state just a couple of days ago, so I helped her pack stuffs and get everything set up. I was pretty much with her 24/7. Then I helped my cousin moved out too, and I was also busy with my own work. But, that didn’t stop me from watching some BL during my free time, and one that really got my attention and I think deserves all the hype is GAMEBOYS

Gameboys is the story of Cairo and Gav. Cairo is a gamer who streams his games, and Gav was one of his followers. After Gav wins a match againts Cairo, he sends him a friend request in a platform I feel its like facebook (lmao). Gav doesn’t waste time, and tells him that if he wins another match againts Cairo, he is going to start flirting with him. Gav wins the game and he starts flirting with Cairo. 

However, although this is all cute and all, what got my attention was not just their love story, but where and how their friendship ( and later relationship) starts, but how the director and crew incorporated what some of us are living during the pandemic. For instance: 

1. Lockdown

The majority of our countries, states, and cities, are in lockdown. Although some of our countries are moving faster than other in reopening again everything, we are still limited in the number of times we can go out, or we have curfews. The majority of us are trying to keep ourselves busy, trying to forget a little than we are living in the middle of a pandemic and that doctor, nurses, and essential workers are putting their lives on risks for us. We see can Gav and Cairo talk about how they are trying to live their lives in lockdown, and how their whole lives changed. Moreover, every time we see how they get into social media there are posts about how essential workers are doing, what their government is doing right or wrong. I think in a way, the director is making a wake up call to some governments that are not helping or protecting their people. For instance, I do not know if I mentioned this but I was not born in the United States, I was born in El Salvador, and although the president of El Salvador did an amazing job to try and stop the spreading of the virus before it hit our country, a lot of other countries did not, like Mexico, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador. I am not saying that other politicians did not do what they could to protect their people, but right now, as far as I know, are hot spots in South America. Even here, Texas right now is worse than what New York was when the pandemic started, our governor Cuomo, is trying to stop people from Texas coming to NY, because we barely got out of the worse. 

2. Essential workers

Through the whole series we see how Cairo and Gav supporting essential workers, whether it is by reposting a status, or by preparing meals. More than once Gav was preparing healthy meals for the essential workers. I think this dynamic is helping us to appreciate what these people are doing for us. THEY ARE HEROES, and Gav and Cairo are helping us see that what we can do is staying home. In the later episode we see different doctors and nurses helping people, covering themselves with masks that look like those in scary movies. It is just a wake up call for us too. 

3. Families fighting the virus

If you watched the show you know that Cairo’s dad has the virus. All through the series we see how Cairo seems sad because of it, and I am not giving spoilers but we know now why. If you guys had families, friends, or people you just knew around your neighborhood that had the virus, you know how hard it is for their families. My mother was exposed to the virus, to the point that myself and my father experience the symptoms. I lost some pounds because I was not eating properly due that you literally do not have taste or smell. However, I am thankful to God that our condition was not too bad to go to the hospital. My mother and father did not experience fevers at all, but I did. I had fever for two weeks and I was in the middle of finals at my College too. Either way, when I watched how Cairo’s life was put upside down because of his father having the virus, and how much he cared for him, I really felt for him. 

4. Friends and Love

I think this is a story that has everything in it. I do not have words to explain enough how Gav and Pearl helped Cairo to be happier in his little and small world where he felt so alone. It is just so magical to see their friendship blossom, as well as the love between Gav and Cairo. 

5. Acceptance

I cannot explain either this theme in the story, but I can say the words that Cairo’s mom said to him “Don’t apologize for being who you are.”

I hope you give this BL a try. In this lockdown, Gameboys is literally something I look forward every Friday. I CAN’T WAIT FOR EP 9 

Side note: 

I been having some ideas about a fanfic involving the 4 pillars of GMM, each one having their little story, but they have been friends since high school. I have like an idea, but I do not if you guys would like it. Each couple will face little obstacles like

Kris and Singto would like to adopt a child

Bright and Win having a hard time with their coworkers to accept 

Off and Gun trying to marry 

Tay and New trying to come out to their parents. 

And I have like little guest in each episode like Mew and Gulf, and other people from different BLs… I have like the whole plot of the story of Krist and Singto, but just let me know guys if you want to read something like that 

All love, 

Lullaby