Guardian thoughts, part 1
Oct. 13th, 2019 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiThe first reason, okay, Shen Wei. To be specific, Shen Wei as portrayed by Zhu Yilong; it's the exact combination of actor and character that does it for me. Fragile/vulnerable and dignified/strong, reserved (with dry humor) but with deep wells of emotion, very beautiful.
I like the other characters too--Zhao Yunlan, though not my type personally, is a terrific character and a terrific foil for Shen Wei, and Bai Yu does a wonderful job with him. I enjoy all the SID members and their weirdness and warmth too.
Also, I have a thing for...is there a word for this? "Modern AU" isn't really it, and though I used "urban fantasy" above it often refers to other tropes. Dragon City, essentially: a setting which is recognizable as basically somewhere on modern-day Earth in terms of culture, technological level, arrangement of society, etc. etc., but which has magic, and/or takes place in an imaginary country, etc. Catnip for me in terms of worldbuilding interest.
Also the people in the fandom are lovely!
Random question: is there any interesting Guardian-related material in Japanese? I have a quasi-niece who is currently going through the usual troubles of fannish shy girls in high school, and have recommended it to her to cheer her up (she's also fond of Yuri on Ice, Queen, etc. ...), but her English is minimal and I don't know where to look for most of the Japanese stuff.
My orchestra has been rehearsing Rachmaninoff's Third Symphony, which seems like pretty good Guardian background music to me: wildly romantic, sometimes tragic and sometimes joyful, occasionally humorous or bombastic, with solos from various instruments dropping in...
Due to severe technical ineptness, I've been amusing myself watching with Chinese subtitles only. Between background knowledge from various lovely rewatch posts, a few Chinese phrases from my last job, and overlaps with Japanese (which I do read), I can follow maybe two-thirds of what's going on. It's surprisingly fun and exciting.
Part 1
The SID building is extremely gorgeous. Guo Changcheng doesn't seem to be in the right mood to appreciate it.
Li Qian is also kind of gorgeous, with her hair up. Professor Shen... oh dear.
Part 2
It drives me nuts that the University fails to capitalize "city" in its text.
Guo Changcheng with an armful of cat!Da Qing is too cute.
Part 3
(I only am not writing many notes for every episode about how beautiful Shen Wei is because nobody needs to read it that often)
Guo Changcheng sensibly wears a face mask around his sneezing boss; I think they could have made it less China-like by using a white or blue one or something instead of black? (In Japan, wearing a black mask instead of a white one is like wearing a sign saying “I am a Chinese tourist” around your neck).
Crowd control in Dragon City is really terrible; they need a constable to yell “move along, move along!” and some blue tarps to hang up so that not everyone gets to stare at the corpse(s).
Part 4
“Go to hell, Lin Jing!” “Okay okay, I’m not laughing. –WAHAHAHA!” I love these two and their siblingy relationship, although Lin Jing is being kind of a jerk.
I thought for an instant that Guo Changcheng was screaming “I’m scared!,” since a 小心者 in Japanese is a coward, but no, he was yelling “Watch out.” Chinese is on his side.
Part 5
The popcorn scene is too sweet. Guo Changcheng/chivalrous; Zhu Hong/takes it as her due.
“You’ve changed” to Chu Shuzhi, who looks as if he hasn’t felt embarrassed in so long that he’s forgotten how to not look embarrassed.
Lin Jing is handsomer without his glasses, and I am a big fan of that purple shirt; however, in general he needs a lesson from Professor Shen in sharp dress, elegant glasses frames, and standing up straight. (It amuses me that an actor whose height and good looks seem likely to get him typecast as a romantic lead here plays the official science/IT nerd.)
I feel like trying to teach Guo Changcheng to be sneaky is a misuse of personnel. Let Zhu Hong do the sneaking around after people and keep Xiao Guo for the good-copping. I very much approve of his ever-present notebook, though.
Part 6
The mirror case just makes me sad; I feel like everyone loses.
Shen Wei, even on you I do not approve of plaid suits. You deserve to have your apartment broken into, at least by semi-well-meaning neighbors.
On the other hand, the grey suit and tie are just about enough to redeem it. Oh dear me.
Shen Wei: Yes, here is my cash. May we call this transaction over with? Thug: …wait, what?
Part 7
My theory is that Shen Wei does his bears-trolling thing in order to recover a little of his equilibrium, after his intimate chat with Zhao Yunlan in his apartment: see, my emotions are not completely and utterly at your mercy…yet. I don’t even need to understand the subtitles to see that Zhao Yunlan, unaware of this personal subplot (?), is basically responding “Give me strength.”
Lin Jing and Chu Shuzhi are the worst witness interrogators in the world.
(Poor Lin Jing—his thrilled description of this novel he loves gets met with a flat “You’re sick” or maybe “You’ve got something wrong with you” from Chu Shuzhi, while Zhao Yunlan is 50% napping. Chu Shuzhi is not fannish, unless maybe you count the Black-Cloaked Envoy as a fandom.)
After his passionate speech of rejection, Lin Jing closing the dead writer’s eyes is actually kind of moving.
Part 8
Shen Wei certainly is a fashion plate. The printed…scarf? ascot? cravat? at his throat is delightful, also a handy way to conceal his necklace; the beaded wallet chain (?) seems a little foppish.
Part of Shen Wei’s, er, multifaceted appeal is also the unexpected pitch of his voice; his slight build and youthful face suggest a tenor, but he’s got a deeper voice than Zhao Yunlan (or Zhu Jiu, I think) and it’s a nice callback to his aura of authority as the Envoy.
It’s a good episode for emphasizing names: is this the first time Shen Wei just says “Zhao Yunlan” instead of “Zhao所長” and so on? (Does Chinese pronunciation elide n against l the way Korean does? It almost sounds like that.) Also Zhao Yunlan’s “Shen Wei, ah Shen Wei…”.
(God forbid Shen Wei should, you know, sit on the couch like a normal person to read his book and wait for his host to wake up; no, he has to be right there where he can check on Zhao Yunlan every time he turns a page.)
Poor Guo Changcheng, failing his Luke Skywalker test.
Poor Zhu Hong also; there seems to be a “You’re a woman, she’s a woman, comfort her” rule, but she’s so bad at it and it obviously makes her super uncomfortable (you can hear her thinking “Wang Zheng, please wake up and get back to your usual self so I don’t have to deal with this any more”).
Does the ill-fated rural policeman have a heavy accent, or do I just think he ought to?
Part 9
Lin Jing: “I’m a scientist, Jim, not a car mechanic.”
I’m sorry we didn’t get a shot of Jiajia glaring at Zhao Yunlan: You are DRINKING PROFESSOR SHEN’S WATER. I gave it to HIM and now YOU are drinking it… As a short, straightforward woman, I approve of Jiajia.
Zhu Hong is not really my type physically, but she comes into her own in her quasi-snake black leather, with the signature lipstick; and also keeping her head in a crisis.
Part 10
This is a good episode for unusual clothing (although we will say nothing of Shen Wei’s sleeves; it was very thoughtful of Zhao Yunlan to lend him a jacket to conceal them). Wang Zheng’s red dress is gorgeous (is the color supposed to represent a wedding dress?), and while I don’t know where Zhu Jiu’s obsession with purple comes from, I would love to own his double-breasted purple vest/jacket thing.
Shen Wei’s eyes are so light.
I like the three-very-annoyed-men-on-a-picnic scene (or two annoyed men and one nervous one), but in a society with, like, cell phones and computers and weird Lin Jingian inventions, don’t they have…you know…more up-to-date and precise maps than pretty hand-drawn ones?
lol, Guo Changcheng and his shoulder bag remind me of Joris from The Homeward Bounders: oh, as to that…
One way and another Zhao Yunlan is having a very bad day, it’s nice that he gets to punch a monster and relieve some stress.
I’m disappointed there are no subtitles for Zhao Yunlan’s cheery “Wow!”: if he’s gonna say it they should be able to write it in kanji, I mean hanzi…
I can’t even imagine what the censors were supposed to make of Sang Zan’s little revolution.
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Date: 2019-10-13 11:25 am (UTC)Jiajia is lovely. Have you read Frith-In-Thorns' series about her acting as Shen Wei's aide?
Lin Jing is handsome, indeed, and cast against type, but I like that a lot.
I was reviewing a bunch of screencaps last night, and it's fun to see just how fast Zhao Yunlan falls for Shen Wei, who's lived on memories, and now is having to wrap treasured precepts around a real person (Kunlun was real, of course, but that was however many years Shen Wei's been awake for ago). Zhao Yunlan's first intrigued by Shen Wei's instant-seeming attraction to him, and by his suspicious proximity to every case suddenly, and moving in across the hall (really!???), but he's clearly falling for him at the same time. Like, you know he's thinking, "Please don't be a serial killer! I cannot date a serial killer!"
The SID HQ is a lovely building! I'm building a map of its interior and exterior. All of those big furnace or pump machines, and the piping throughout, it's a weird industrial accent, but visually interesting.
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Date: 2019-10-13 02:02 pm (UTC)(I know, I only ever come up with out-of-universe explanations for what went wrong. I'm sorry.)
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Date: 2019-10-13 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-13 04:08 pm (UTC)(I've been trying to find proof for half an hour but tumblr is a mess as always and I can't even find it in my dw comment mails, so I'm giving up now. :/ )
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Date: 2019-10-13 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2019-10-15 02:35 am (UTC)I just rewatched this episode today, and having just learned this from you means I couldn't stop staring at the sleeves. His poor arms! (Zhu Yilong, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH METHOD ACTING.)
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Date: 2019-10-13 11:42 pm (UTC)I have! I love them! (My list of "AO3 fics I really need to leave enthusiastic comments on" is literally years long... :(
Zhao Yunlan's first intrigued by Shen Wei's instant-seeming attraction to him, and by his suspicious proximity to every case suddenly
Yes! (I figure he's thinking "Well, I'm a cop, I would notice if he were a serial killer, I'm sure he's just strangely ubiquitous...and attractive...er, right?").
The SID HQ is a lovely building! I'm building a map of its interior and exterior.
oh wow! Would love to see when it's done. I'm a sucker for that kind of red-brick, exposed piping, repurposed industrial building; I wonder why they chose that aesthetic for the office.
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Date: 2019-10-13 12:52 pm (UTC)Hee! I always think he's so lucky to be in Asia and be able to wear a face mask around all the sneezing.
(It amuses me that an actor whose height and good looks seem likely to get him typecast as a romantic lead here plays the official science/IT nerd.)
Oh yes, that's a great observation! I really like that, and he plays it very well.
I’m sorry we didn’t get a shot of Jiajia glaring at Zhao Yunlan: You are DRINKING PROFESSOR SHEN’S WATER. I gave it to HIM and now YOU are drinking it…
Ha, that would have been great. I adore Jiajia; she's a delight and I would have loved to see more of her.
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Date: 2019-10-13 11:49 pm (UTC)I suppose it's kind of a meta-joke in this drama where literal and figurative masks are such a big theme... ;)
Maybe it was fun for Lin Jing's actor to have a character part to get into for a change.
(I would totally take a spin-off series of "Professor Shen and his various students investigate weird academic phenomena, with occasional help from the SID." I guess this is why we have fic.)
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Date: 2019-10-13 02:08 pm (UTC)Oh we do. We're all in the same boat here. :D
(Does Chinese pronunciation elide n against l the way Korean does? It almost sounds like that.) Also Zhao Yunlan’s “Shen Wei, ah Shen Wei…”.
In fact, I think Chinese *always* elides the n when it's not the first character in the syllable. I only realized that during Guardian, as well, though.
Zhu Hong is not really my type physically, but she comes into her own in her quasi-snake black leather, with the signature lipstick; and also keeping her head in a crisis.
I underestimated several characters in Guardian, Zhu Hong among them, and it is especially great to be proven wrong about her because I didn't expect such a good female character in an Asian fandom.
all in all: yay new fan! (Sorry I don't speak Japanese, but
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Date: 2019-10-13 11:54 pm (UTC)Good to know. I can read snatches of Chinese but have never been able to retain the pronunciation of even the simplest phrases. It's not coincidence that I've only studied Japanese and Korean, basically the only two East Asian languages without a tone system...
Zhu Hong is great. I like that when Zhao Yunlan leaves her behind in episode 10 (is it?), he's got an actual reason for making it her, not just keeping the woman off the front lines.
We're all in the same boat here. :D
Indeed. Or possibly the same ship ;)
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Date: 2019-10-13 02:14 pm (UTC)“You’ve changed” to Chu Shuzhi, who looks as if he hasn’t felt embarrassed in so long that he’s forgotten how to not look embarrassed.
Oh, what a very perfect description! LOL
I don't know if it would be useful to you, since it sounds like you're reading the Chinese subtitles, but I've been creating hardsubbed versions of the HD English subtitled episodes. In other words, the episode has English subs "burned in" (but no Chinese subs) so there's no need to mess about with a separate file. If you're interested, let me know. I'll send you the dropbox link. :)
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Date: 2019-10-13 03:25 pm (UTC)As another person whose #1 reason for becoming this obsessed with Guardian was Shen Wei-as-played-by-Zhu Yilong, I am totally with you on this!
I only am not writing many notes for every episode about how beautiful Shen Wei is because nobody needs to read it that often
Oh, no, please, feel free! ^_^
Zhao Yunlan, though not my type personally, is a terrific character and a terrific foil for Shen Wei, and Bai Yu does a wonderful job with him.
Agreed! I honestly expected to like ZYL a lot less than I did, but Bai Yu gave a stellar performance, and in the end he turned out to be a much more admirable character than I predicted.
The SID building is indeed gorgeous. Definitely my favourite set in the whole show!
So much <3 for Li Qian and Jiajia! Jiajia's crush on her Prof is so gosh-darned cute. I was tickled pink by how Zhao Yunlan got info out of her re: the "research trip" and Shen Wei's "Argh!" reaction to this XD
Lin Jing is one my favourite secondary characters; his actor really does a fantastic job with him. (Btw - any idea which one is taller: him or Guo Changcheng's actor?)
...Chu Shuzhi, who looks as if he hasn’t felt embarrassed in so long that he’s forgotten how to not look embarrassed ... Chu Shuzhi is not fannish, unless maybe you count the Black-Cloaked Envoy as a fandom.
These are some of the most apt descriptors of Chu Shuzhi I've ever seen :D :D
I so enjoyed the Shen Wei vs. muggers scene! He's pretending to be powerless, but he refuses to feign fear, and nobody can convince me that he wasn't on the verge of dislocating that thug's arm. It definitely wasn't Shen Wei that ZYL rescued by showing up when he did.
I, too, love Zhu Yilong's unexpectedly low-pitched voice. Just one of the countless ways he's perfect for the role.
Ahahaha Zhu Hong is so not the comforting type! She'd much rather be flirting with Zhao Yunlan, intimidating the SID kids, and making passive-aggressive remarks towards Shen Wei than having heart-to-hearts with Wang Zheng. I really like that about her character.
GCC in a panic, zapping ZYL with his baton, and getting an approving thumb-up from CSZ for it: one of the best scenes in the arc, tbh.
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Date: 2019-10-14 12:30 am (UTC)Yes, exactly! I mean, the scruffy beard and the lollipops and the smelly fridge (poor Shen Wei...), but even just in day-to-day work and interactions, Zhao Yunlan is actually a super responsible, mature person, and Bai Yu's performance makes sure the contradictions hold together as a single character.
I was tickled pink by how Zhao Yunlan got info out of her re: the "research trip" and Shen Wei's "Argh!" reaction to this XD
lol, Shen Wei facepalming (literally or otherwise) is highly enjoyable.
Lin Jing is one my favourite secondary characters; his actor really does a fantastic job with him. (Btw - any idea which one is taller: him or Guo Changcheng's actor?)
I haven't looked up the heights, but from what I've seen so far (and ExtraPenguin's great rewatch posts), I think Lin Jing is taller. Both of the characters are terrible at standing up straight, so it's hard to tell!
Ahahaha Zhu Hong is so not the comforting type! She'd much rather be flirting with Zhao Yunlan, intimidating the SID kids, and making passive-aggressive remarks towards Shen Wei than having heart-to-hearts with Wang Zheng. I really like that about her character.
Ideal summing up of Zhu Hong!
GCC in a panic, zapping ZYL with his baton, and getting an approving thumb-up from CSZ for it
It's funnier because it's played quite realistically, with minimal slapstick. "God damn it, Xiao Guo!" or words to that effect from ZYL, and and poor GCC not knowing whether to bend double apologizing or be pleased that he's actually managed to entertain CSZ... ;)
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Date: 2019-10-13 07:50 pm (UTC)Aww! This is such a great observation! <3
Ahaha, right? They're so confused, they have no choice but to double down.
(I appear to be the only person on earth who likes Shen Wei's top with the plaid sleeves. Hee!)
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Date: 2019-10-14 12:22 am (UTC)(I appear to be the only person on earth who likes Shen Wei's top with the plaid sleeves. Hee!)
Well, you and Shen Wei himself, clearly; so that means you're in good company!
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Date: 2019-10-14 02:11 am (UTC)I know what you mean. I tend to read them as (eventually becoming) each other's primary person, and I enjoy that insofar as they both clearly benefit from it, but I don't personally have any investment in them as a romantic pairing. *pets them anyway* :-)
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Date: 2019-10-14 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-13 08:41 pm (UTC)... I see I'm not the first to say this but yes, there are many of us who do not reading about this at all, at great length...(and yes Zhu Yilong's voice is almost as beautiful as the rest of him! I'm so very glad he wasn't dubbed in Guardian; he was in some of his other shows, and they always give him a higher pitched dubber too...)
That wallet chain is so gratuitously gorgeous! XD
And yes I'm pretty sure ep 8 is the first time Shen Wei calls him "Zhao Yunlan"...
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Date: 2019-10-14 12:20 am (UTC)The joke in Japan is that men look 30% better with suits on. I think Shen Wei has taken this to heart very seriously, accessories and all!
And yes I'm pretty sure ep 8 is the first time Shen Wei calls him "Zhao Yunlan"...
Good to know. I'm always fascinated by the way people use names.
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Date: 2019-10-14 08:35 pm (UTC)Maybe Shen Wei has been taking all sorts of fashion seriously,all those layers of clothing,he could be wearing a hat and be part of an Agatha Christie novel. :3
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Date: 2019-10-16 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-14 02:39 am (UTC)even though almost all my fannish thoughts and activities are in book fandoms (plus the occasional manga), I have somehow become obsessed with this Chinese live-action urban fantasy drama.
I'm in a similar-ish position. Guardian is magic! (But it's also my gateway c-drama, so it seems entirely possible that I'll fall for more to some degree. *g*)
To echo many people, yes, do keep mentioning the glory of Shen Wei! ^_-
Random question: is there any interesting Guardian-related material in Japanese?
I don't have a link offhand (and don't know enough Japanese to search usefully), but I believe a Japanese audio drama was announced not too long ago. I expect when more info is available,
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Date: 2019-10-14 06:09 am (UTC)Yes, I read a bunch of reaction posts for this fandom before actually watching any of it, and got hooked from the wrong end ;)
yes, do keep mentioning the glory of Shen Wei! ^_-
Well noted! :)
Thanks for possible Japanese info too!
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Date: 2019-10-15 02:41 am (UTC)Ah! Are you still on your first time actually watching it, then?
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Date: 2019-10-16 01:22 am (UTC)(I should stay lurking really until I've finished watching it properly, but it's too much fun to join in the schmoozing here and there.)
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Date: 2019-10-16 03:47 am (UTC)And this is SUCH a good fandom to just dive into. *^^* I tend to be shy about this sort of thing (anxiety=no fun!), but everyone's just so lovely.
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Date: 2019-10-17 07:44 am (UTC)now I'm want to read crack fic about something like a Black-Cloaked Envoy fandom existing in Dixing and what it would be like (similar to RPF fandoms in our world?)
I love fannish reaction posts, thank you!
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Date: 2019-10-17 09:42 am (UTC)omigod, I hope somebody writes this, that would be delightful.
:)