Sunday, March 3, 2024

February Wrap-Up

This month's fixation is very obviously danmei. More specifically, Meatbun. I went to the Animate store earlier this month and very spontaneously bought a copy of Bing An Ben, since it's a new release and it looked so pretty on the shelves. Now I wish I had bought a copy of Yuwu too.


Books Mentioned

  • Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
  • Case File Compendium (Bing An Ben) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
  • Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 2 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: ★★★+0.75 (3.75/5)

Daisy Jones & The Six is a very unique story about a fictional band in the 70's. I picked this up due to Audible's current free 3 month trial promotion, since I've heard listening to the audiobook is better than reading it. I loved Reid's previous novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I am honestly a sucker for celebrity stories. I did not enjoy this one as much as Evelyn Hugo, but I still thought it was a very solid book. I adored the female characters in this book; Daisy, Karen, and Camila were amazing characters with so much depth and nuance. The male characters, however, I found either insufferable or forgettable. 

Overall, I believe what set Evelyn Hugo a bar higher was the fact that Evelyn Hugo, the character, felt real to me. That book gave me the feeling that I could search up Evelyn Hugo on IMDB and find her filmography listed out for me. Daisy Jones, on the other hand, was nowhere near as immersive. However, I thought the plot was written in a very compelling manner, and it is definitely worth the attention it gets.



Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Rating: ★★★ (5/5)

Meatbun does it again! I still remember attempting to read this story way back in the day before there was a translation. I depended on MTL and my own infant level Mandarin to read maybe 7 unlocked chapters on JJWXC. I am so proud of how far Meatbun and her webnovels have come.

Remnants of Filth is set in a fictional fantastical Ancient Chinese setting and follows Mo Xi, a high-born, well-renowned general of Chonghua. His once best friend and old flame, Gu Mang, has turned traitor, and is now being offered back to Chonghua as a peace offering of sorts. Meatbun really outdid herself with the angst in this one. I still remember the way Erha made me cry, and Meatbun hits you with the knives real hard in volume one of Yuwu. The tragedy of Gu Mang and Mo Xi's relationship is the highlight of this novel for me, and I love the subtle yet overwhelmingly clear way Meatbun writes Mo Xi's lingering feelings for Gu Mang, despite the spite and betrayal Mo Xi feels. Volume 1 feels like an introduction to this universe and a glimpse of the tragic yet tender parts of Mo Xi and Gu Mang's relationship in their youth. We get a glimpse of the plot that is likely going to be the driving force to uncovering the mystery behind Gu Mang's condition and his past actions, and it leaves off on a cliffhanger that is making me real tempted to abandon all my other current reads just to find out what happens next.

Overall, Remnants of Filth is a wonderfully emotional and suspenseful read, full of mystery and action centered around a tragic yet tender romance. Yuwu has the potential to be one of my absolute favorites, with its tragic lovers who have a terrible falling out plotline, and I really want it to prove me right. I'm really excited to be on the hunt for Erha easter eggs, though it's been ages since I've read Erha. It's actually been such a long time since I've read a single danmei, and I'm very glad (and also unsurprised) to say that Meatbun has gotten me back into reading. I'm sure everyone has heard countless praise of Meatbun's writing ability, but I truly think she deserves all the praise she gets for her masterful crafting of stories. 



Case File Compendium (Bing An Ben) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Rating: ★★★ (4/5)

I remember being very shocked (and admittedly skeptical) when Meatbun released Bing An Ben, since she is known for both Erha and Yuwu, which were both xianxia novels. I read a review once that said something along the lines of "Meatbun writes dark romances, they aren't for everyone," and I think reading a Meatbun work set in modern times really brings out that dark romance element, because that definitely is what Bing An Ben is. 

Case File Compendium AKA Bing An Ben follows He Yu who enrolls in the same university as the object of his affections, Xie Xue, who is the new screenwriting professor. All of He Yu's life he has been treated for an incurable illness, and Xie Xue's brother Xie Qingcheng was his doctor at the time despite being a student himself. 

I'm going to be honest: as a healthcare student the incurable illness isn't doing it for me. I'm still learning to suspend my belief when it comes to this made up illness and its affects on He Yu's mentality and physiology. However, the plot is very suspenseful and I really enjoyed this first volume despite my apprehension towards this illness. Another thing I noticed is how theatrical Meatbun's writing is in this one, maybe because it is a contemporary crime drama. There are some cheesy, dramatic villain scenes that I am not the biggest fan of. However, I have a lot of faith in Meatbun, and a lot of people have said that it will become painful, but it gets better, and right now I don't know how these two characters are going to end up falling in love with each other. So, I am very excited for the next volumes to see how Meatbun convinces us of this romance that she's written.


Remnants of Filth (YuWu) Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Rating: ★★★ (5/5)

I love when I prove myself right, and as of right now Yuwu is one of my favorite reads of the year. This second volume is a lot slower in pacing, since Meatbun prioritizes Gu Mang's current state and recovery over the plotline. However, I am a firm believer in the principle that every story hinges on strong, well-developed characters more than it does a good plot, so I was not mad at this development. 

As of right now, as much as I love Mo Xi's character, I found myself getting so angry at him over his treatment of Gu Mang. I try to jot down notes while I read so I can form coherent reviews when I finish, but my notes for Yuwu are all me hoping that Mo Xi feels bad for everything he's done against Gu Mang...but don't get me wrong, I am very much rooting for them. This volume also introduces more characters and character dynamics, such as Murong Chuyi, Jiang Yexue, and Li Qingqian. Even though they've just been introduced, I'm very excited to read more about these characters and see how their addition will shape the narrative moving forward.

I was hoping to drag out my reading of this volume until they released volume 3 in early March, but I blew through this in 48 hours. Now I'm going to sit here impatiently until volume 3 is released.



Case File Compendium (Bing An Ben) Ch. 30-95 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Rating: ★★★ (3/5)

This novel is such a rollercoaster ride, I'm not even sure how I feel about this story yet. It's no surprise that the same things that gave me pause in the first 29 chapters still bothered me as the story went on—I still can't get behind the make-believe illness, nor was I able to warm up to the theatrical tone the story took when the villains came to the forefront of the story. I also can't ignore the homophobia from the main characters; I can't find that kind of behavior tolerable at all.

I have a lot of grievances with the novel as it is now, but one thing Meatbun knows how to do is write a good plot. The plotline really saved my opinion on this story, especially since the main character He Yu lost a lot of credibility and sympathy in my eyes for the awful way he treats Xie Qingcheng. I don't really like what He Yu has become at all, but I still do see a sliver of the character he was at the beginning, which is why I am trying to hold onto the faintest scraps of faith I have in him. However, the way he treats Xie Qingcheng is inexcusable, and every time I hoped things would turn around and he would form some kind of consciousness for his actions as he emerges from this mental state brought about by his illness, he does something awful again. And the cycle repeats, again and again, so much so that it's become a bit tiresome. 

Why is the rating still somewhat satisfactory even though I have spoken curses about Bing An Ben? Because I still see the potential. I don't think this is going to be my favorite Meatbun novel, especially since I mostly have praises to sing for Erha and Yuwu, but with the recent developments in chapter 90 and beyond, I see an opportunity for a comeback that I think only Meatbun will be able to craft. And so I will wait another year or two for the official translations to catch up to where I am, and then I'll hopefully have a better crafted opinion on the story. 

⸺ ⁕ 

I can't believe I've forgotten how fun reading danmeis is, and I'm looking forward to doing more reading this next month!

—璇

 

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