Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 1, part 1

[china_shop]

Hi, and welcome to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Join us to watch half an episode a week (at your leisure) and then come and chat about it here in comments. If you already know the drama, of course you can jump in without rewatching if you prefer!

Episode 1, up to 22:28

Summary
The prologue explains Haixing's history. Professor Shen Wei presents a public lecture and turns down a job offer. Guo Changcheng reports to the SID in the middle of the night, where Zhao Yunlan is outrageous and the rest of the team scares Changcheng into fainting. Twice. An unseen threat chases Li Qian through the night. Zhao Yunlan investigates a murder at the university, where he and Da Qing dangle Guo Changcheng out a window while they discuss the case. Guo Changcheng's cries draw Shen Wei's attention. Cat!Da Qing gets strokes. Shen Wei is very intense, and Zhao Yunlan notices. Afterwards, Zhao Yunlan interrogates Li Qian about the murder; Shen Wei comes to pick her up for class and further arouses Zhao Yunlan's suspicions in the process. Zhao Yunlan sends Guo Changcheng to tail Shen Wei.



Quote
ZYL: By the way, I'm Zhao. I'm handling this case. What's your name, sir?
SW: No "sir". I'm Shen. Shen Wei. I teach here.
ZYL: Shen Wei? A good name.

Detail
I love the contrast between:

Zhao Yunlan: Damn Fatty.
Li Qian: What a fat black cat!
Guo Changcheng: It can speak?! *faints*
Shen Wei: *strokes* This is a very intelligent cat.

:D :D :D

Questions
Do you have any thoughts or feelings about the prologue? What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy? First impression of Zhao Yunlan -- would you trust him? Do you empathise with Guo Changcheng's fear? (If someone turned into a cat in front of you, would you be terrified, delighted, or both?) When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? From Zhao Yunlan's POV, what is the most suspicious thing about Shen Wei at this point?

Do you have a favourite scene or quote? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation starts? The absolute perfection of the casting? :D :D :D Anything else?

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

And here is our schedule, where you can sign up to host a post!

Comments

[salamandras]

I'll try to put my thoughts down later after re-watching, but I want to say how excited I am about this slo-mo re-watch!

[china_shop]

Yay! Me too! :D :D :D

[trobadora]

Me too! *flails*

I'm going to watch and comment tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it! :D

[china_shop]

Drama, my beloved! ♥ ♥ ♥ This was like coming home. *loves everyone in this bar, srsly*

A few reactions/things I noticed:

1. There are different translations in the various subs when Professor Ouyang alludes to dark energy:

VIKI: Shen Wei, we are both people who're in contact with top secret information. I will speak frankly. You clearly know that the genetic variations you mentioned have already occurred in reality, and it had occurred since a long time ago. What if I ask you to join the research team that your teacher and I work with?

Original fansubs: Shen Wei. You and I both got the information first-hand. I won't beat around the bush. You should be clear, your supposed genetic mutations have already appeared in reality. They've been here for a long time. If I told you that your teacher and I are in the middle of investigating this, will you be willing to join us?

I'm really curious i) how much Professor Ouyang knows about Dixing, Dixingren and dark energy (presumably quite a lot), and ii) how much he (and Professor Zhou) knows Shen Wei knows. They're only speaking of genetic variation, not different species from another planet, but is the latter implicit? Also, iii) is this information that's widely known in biology academic circles -- was Li Qian sent away to stop her hearing that, or just so Prof Ouyang could make the job offer in private (not something you'd do in front of a student!).

2. Aww, GCC speed-metabolising his ignorance to the point where he loses consciousness twice! He's still afraid after that, but he accepts the others and learns fast. <3 <3 <3 (ZYL is so disreputable in this scene, I love him so much!!! And the others are just being themselves but maybe turning the dial up to 14. ;-)

3. There's a theme of people's identities/authority/connections not being recognised: so far, we have a) Guo Changcheng initially being taken for a random noob and then being discovered to have political connections, b) ZYL being denied entry to the crime scene because a newbie cop doesn't know about the SID, c) LQ mistaking Da Qing for an ordinary cat. And that's only the ones a first-time viewer would know about, but it's enough to make Shen Wei's ~weirdly intense~ reaction to ZYL take on extra significance, I think. (Is this a case of mistaken identity? Who is ZYL really? Who is SW??) There's even more to come in the second half of the ep!

4. Shen Wei turns down a job offer. That's going to happen again. He doesn't want to work for a secret Haixing government agency. Just let him teach! <3

5. It was incredibly hard to choose only one screencap for this post!! Other things I considered: close-up of DQ as ZYL & SW pet him; ZYL and DQ leaning out the window; GCC dangling from the window; the extended handshake; group shot from the interviewing-Li-Qian scene, with SW & ZYL looking at each other challengingly. But this one of Shen Wei is so iconic, in the end I had to go with it. ♥

ION, I've set a goal for myself (which I'm unlikely to maintain for the whole rewatch) of reading the subs in Korean as we go. I had to skim most of the prologue and Shen Wei's lecture, lol, and even then, I've forgotten all my vocab, but that's fine. If nothing else, it helps me pay attention to incidental dialogue. Unfortunately, the subs I have access to are translated from the English, so I'm not getting new info on the original Chinese text.

[china_shop]

> Do you have any thoughts or feelings about the prologue? Horses! I wish there were horses in YOHE. ;-p
> What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy? Dangerous guy. :-)
> First impression of Zhao Yunlan -- would you trust him? I adore him, but no. He comes across as cynical and insincere.
> Do you empathise with Guo Changcheng's fear? (If someone turned into a cat in front of you, would you be terrified, delighted, or both?) Both, I think. Like, "this is not the world I know! what happened to reality!!" but also "aahhhhh, kitty!! :D :D :D"
> When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question.
> From Zhao Yunlan's POV, what is the most suspicious thing about Shen Wei at this point? a toss-up between the extended handshake and SW's being so calm about the murder.
> Do you have a favourite scene or quote? "I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs
> If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation starts? I appreciate the prologue for context and sci-fi-icising the story. <3 <3 <3 And interesting that the prologue leads in to a conversation with Ouyang. I think that supports the theory that Ouyang <=> Shennong. :-)
> The absolute perfection of the casting? SO PERFECT, ALL OF IT!!

Lin Jing as Super Saiyan

[amedia]

Eeeeee, I started reading the comments here and then I went and followed china_shop's link to an earlier discussion and suddenly it was half an hour later! I love this comm and its insights SO MUCH.

There was a brief discussion in the earlier post of the saiyans from Dragonball Z, but unless I missed something, it didn't explain WHY Guo Changcheng would refer to Lin Jing as such. Getting to be a Super Saiyan is a big step up for a character, and one sign of it is that their hair goes from ordinary scruffy black hair to a fancy blond spiked do. Well, in that scene, the explosion has left Lin Jing's hair sticking up in the air and it's been considerably lightened by all the particulates in the smoke, so he *does* look kinda like a Super Saiyan! And he clearly recognizes the reference and takes it as a compliment (rightly so).

Based on the GCC's reference and LJ's recognition, I decided that somehow, on the faraway planet of Seastar, the characters were familiar with anime, which is why I figured it would be plausible for GCC to write Boku No Hero Academia fanfic about CSZ in a story I wrote that spun off from a comment thread on china_shop's delightful Transformative Work.

My source for this info, btw, is that when my son was a kiddo he watched Dragonball Z every freaking day, and we lived in a pretty small place, so I wound up seeing a lot of it too.

[amedia]

What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy? Dangerous guy. :-) Pretty guy! But I was also *very* uncertain about him.

When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle? Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question. Ooh! I think I read that in a fanfic at some point and it instantly became my head!canon. (Or should I say ankle!canon?)

"I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs Hee hee, I think something like that is the title of one of facethestrange's yummy (and definitely NSFW) series on AO3!!! Found it! Giving Zhao Yunlan more things to put in his mouth .

[donutsweeper]

Some thoughts:

Shen Wei's got a vaguely "other"ness to him when we first see him - not just the comment about not being good with tech but he's also holding himself stiffly, I wonder if it was due to not just being in front of his students but also Professor Ouyang etc.

I always thought the intro of the team is a bit meanspirited. Zhao Yunlan knew he was Minister Guo's nephew and still throws him to the wolves with that kind of intro (pushes him into the room and lets everyone have their fun until telling them everything after Guo Changcheng's passed out) which is kind of mean but also does set up the whole Unit pretty well, even if they aren't really explained who is who/what they do - but that's fixed pretty much right after. It was sneaky to have the first cop at the murder scene have to be schooled in who Zhao Yunlan is and whatnot since it lets us know as well.

Zhao Yunlan's reaction in the window to being spotted by Shen Wei doesn't really make much sense? He doesn't actually know Shen Wei here/now, the reaction seems a little more extreme than it should be in that case.

*sighs at the business card* Mark Stewart? WHY show, why

and last but not least... the handshake and grab, THAT SCENE. sighs happily

[facethestrange]

Eeeeeeee, the rewatch is here! :D :D :D *BOUNCES* ♡♡♡ (I literally wouldn't be in this fandom if it wasn't for the original rewatch, even though I couldn't keep up with it at all and watched most of the show nearly 2 years later. xD)

Unlike the readalong, this time I'm not liveblogging anything, lol - in my experience visual media takes a whole lot longer to liveblog than books, and the novel regularly took ~4 hours a week. xD So my plan for now is to list a bunch of my favorite things (maybe 5 but I'll probably end up with more xD), and maybe some novel comparisons and other things I haven't noticed before (idk if I notice something new every time, but it's not unlikely :D), and then whatever the questions of the week are. :D Let's see how it goes. :D

Favorite things (in the order I thought of them, lol):

- XIAO GUO, alllll things Xiao Guo, he's the sweetest permanently terrified (and therefore extremely brave) cinnamon roll, I adore him and everything he does to pieces. ♡♡♡ His opening scene is one of my favorites in both the drama and the novel, and it's such a fantastic adaptation of it despite so many details being different! (And what I think I haven't noticed before is how it directly cuts from creepy-dark-scary to domestic Lao Li cooking. :D)

- Zhao Yunlan who needs to have something in his mouth asdfgfhdjskldfjkl;; I feel like don't even need to say this because it's obvious, but I can't just NOT. :D :D :D

- All the SID people being mean chaotic, hee and how there is something happening everywhere around GCC - the weird stuff just doesn't stop, no matter where he looks! (Also I didn't notice that DQ shifted during the conversation on the couch, and apparently GCC didn't either because he was only terrified of the cat speaking - I feel like shifting may be at least equally concerning, but maybe he's somehow used to that already. ;D)

- Shen Wei's YEARNING. The picture in this post ^^^ SO MUCH YEARNING.

- Shen Wei's slow-motion opening scene, and Zhao Yunlan's slightly-less-slow-motion one. :D

- Zhao Yunlan getting off the motorcycle at the crime scene, and brushing off the invisible dirt from his jacket, and measuring handprints with a lollipop. :D (Did he throw the lollipop at Da Qing?? xD)

- Da Qing's YOHE self in the prologue! :D

Also: I can't unsee professor Ouyang as novel Shennong now, and his conversation with Shen Wei doesn't even have much to do with that, so idk where exactly I'm going with this, but liked this scene in this light. :D Like, it's both the opposite re: who is doing the asking, and sort of similar re: the other person accepting Shen Wei's argument.

---

Questions!! :D

Do you have any thoughts or feelings about the prologue?

I like the animated style and how elaborate it is sometimes (and now I'm thinking that the landscapes/scenery are very novel-like :D). And I still don't know who some of the characters are meant to be, if anyone (are only the Yashou actual named characters and everyone else is an OC?). And, as I said above, I like that is has Da Qing's YOHE self. :D

What was your first impression of Shen Wei -- good guy or bad guy?

I don't remember anymore, but it was either 'he knows a lot more than he's saying' or 'he's the alien', but probably the former. :D I don't think I ever considered 'good or bad'.

First impression of Zhao Yunlan -- would you trust him?

It really depends what I'm supposed to trust him with, lol, but I wouldn't find him suspicious or anything, he's just an ass who's also absolutely gorgeous and fun to be around. :D

Do you empathise with Guo Changcheng's fear?

SO MUCH, but even more about going to the completely unfamiliar place to do something he has never done in the middle of the night than about the supernatural. xD

If someone turned into a cat in front of you, would you be terrified, delighted, or both?

If there was any hint that it's possible, I would be delighted. :D (I'm assuming GCC hasn't heard anything about Dixing/Yashou powers, not even as rumors?) If I knew for a fact that it's impossible, I'd probably be terrified of what happened to my mind, not of the person who turned into a cat. :P

When Guo Changcheng falls from the window, is he unhurt or does Shen Wei surreptitiously heal his ankle?

I've never considered this possibility and I've always just assumed that he's unhurt and panicking, but now I'm adopting this interpretation immediately. :D (And maybe the pain going away helped with the panic too. :))

From Zhao Yunlan's POV, what is the most suspicious thing about Shen Wei at this point?

Hanging around crime scenes like it's the most natural thing in the world? :P (The suspicion storyline is not something I generally focus on/follow well. :))

Do you have a favourite scene or quote?

See above for more favs, but my favorite quote is "Good name!" (there's a post somewhere on tumblr that says you can see the moment when Shen Wei dies inside, lol, and yeah, you can; and I just love how much meaning this line actually has!), and my favorite scene/FACT is Zhao Yunlan needing to have things in his mouth. ;D

If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation starts?

I always focus on GCC's first scene here (I love both versions of it so much, and they're sort of the same scene to me despite the differences - the adaptation of the vibe is PERFECTION), but I also want to mention Weilan's first meeting that immediately establishes that Shen Wei's touch is not harmful to Zhao Yunlan - novel Shen Wei withdraws his hand as soon as possible, and drama Shen Wei does the exact opposite. :D

The absolute perfection of the casting?

It's not just perfect, it's better than what I would imagine, especially for Zhao Yunlan. :D (I read the novel after watching the drama, so I guess ymmv if you read it first. But while reading I always lowkey wish that he looked more like his drama self. xD And Shen Wei already does. :D And GCC's entire body language is SPOT-ON!)

[facethestrange]

Eeeeeee, thank you so much for linking my series! :D *SQUEE* ♡♡♡♡♡ (I am very predictably going to be weird about this line at every opportunity. ;D :D)

"Pretty guy!"

It's so funny to me now that I didn't see the pretty in Shen Wei until I saw the pretty in Zhu Yilong, which took a while?? :D (My instant 'pretty guy' reaction was definitely Zhao Yunlan. :D) Srsly, this is SO WEIRD and cool and wtf. *gestures at self* xD

"Or should I say ankle!canon?"

Hee! :D

[china_shop]

Pretty guy! But I was also *very* uncertain about him.

Hee, yeah, he definitely has a "something's going on" vibe. :D

(Or should I say ankle!canon?)

Hee! <3

I LOVE facethestrange's oral fixation series!! It's the BEST!! :D :D :D (Thanks for linking! :D)

[china_shop]

(My instant 'pretty guy' reaction was definitely Zhao Yunlan. :D) Srsly, this is SO WEIRD and cool and wtf. /gestures at self/* xD*

*high fives forever* For me, it was partly that I've always had a weakness for scruffy, I just do, and partly that I'd watched a lot of Kdramas, and the clean-cut pretty mysterious possibly-evil guy was a common trope around then. But I'd never seen a scruffy "bad-boy aesthetic" guy, so he really stood out to me. (I have since found one other instance, in a horror Kdrama called The Guest, and I love him too. ;-p)

Re: Lin Jing as Super Saiyan

[china_shop]

and suddenly it was half an hour later!

Hee! Sorry! :D

Thank you so much for the Saiyan explanation. It all goes right over my head, but it's good to know! :D

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[facethestrange]

*HIGH FIVE* :D ♡♡♡ The 'Zhao Yunlan is attractive' part is not the weird part, hee - he's the only one who's actually my type character-wise, and that has never changed. :D (I'm not going into more actor stuff. :D) And his aesthetic definitely helps (the tight jeans, asdghfdjsklfg), but it's like 95% his face and facial hair and body language AND ORAL FIXATION to me. :D

[china_shop]

Shen Wei's got a vaguely "other"ness to him when we first see him - not just the comment about not being good with tech but he's also holding himself stiffly, I wonder if it was due to not just being in front of his students but also Professor Ouyang etc.

That might be it. Though he doesn't seem nervous exactly. Maybe it's because he's talking about Dixingren (even if he's not calling them that) in public in Haixing?

Zhao Yunlan knew he was Minister Guo's nephew and still throws him to the wolves with that kind of intro

I think that ZYL probably doesn't realise the connection until after he's thrown him to the wolves. My guess is he either made a call or went and found GCC's paperwork, and suddenly started taking him seriously. I doubt he would have messed around with the lollipop business as much if he'd known GCC was so well-connected?

And everyone else is really just being themselves...

It was sneaky to have the first cop at the murder scene have to be schooled in who Zhao Yunlan is and whatnot since it lets us know as well.

Ha, yes, good exposition skills. :D

Zhao Yunlan's reaction in the window to being spotted by Shen Wei doesn't really make much sense?

I was thinking of doing a poll about that! I wonder if it's because SW just looks so respectable, and he's staring, and ZYL knows that dangling young men out the window isn't really a good look? g

the handshake and grab, THAT SCENE. sighs happily

Yessssss! :D

[facethestrange]

"I LOVE facethestrange's oral fixation series!! It's the BEST!! :D :D :D"

Eeeeeeeee! ♡♡♡ *BEAMS SO MUCH* Thank you! :D :D :D

Making it an art-only series was a deliberate choice so it is smaller than it could be (I don't feel like choosing which fics ~count~ - just about everything I write will be oral-fixation-adjacent at one point or another ;D), but this quote is very, VERY inspiring in so many ways. ;D :D :D

[china_shop]

Eeeeeeee, the rewatch is here! :D :D :D *BOUNCES* ♡♡♡

:D :D :D :D :D <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

So my plan for now is to list a bunch of my favorite things (maybe 5 but I'll probably end up with more xD), and maybe some novel comparisons and other things I haven't noticed before (idk if I notice something new every time, but it's not unlikely :D), and then whatever the questions of the week are. :D

Yeah, same here. I'm sure we'll find plenty to chat about! :D :D :D

XIAO GUO, alllll things Xiao Guo, he's the sweetest permanently terrified (and therefore extremely brave) cinnamon roll

*pets him forever* (He hadn't quite won my heart at this stage, but he definitely did by the end of the ep. :D)

And what I think I haven't noticed before is how it directly cuts from creepy-dark-scary to domestic Lao Li cooking. :D

Oh, true! And the entranceway of the SID is quite cheery, really. Except that ZYL is creeping all over GCC in such a weird, inappropriate way, lol. :D

Zhao Yunlan who needs to have something in his mouth asdfgfhdjskldfjkl;; I feel like don't even need to say this because it's obvious, but I can't just NOT. :D :D :D

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!?!?!? What a gift!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

the weird stuff just doesn't stop, no matter where he looks!

Exactly! (But I don't feel like they're being mean? They're literally just being themselves. *pets everyone*) (I'm pretty sure DQ only shifted at the bottom of the stairs, before GCC's first faint? Omg, you're right! I never noticed that shot of human!Da Qing at 11:28 before!! Ha, I wonder why he changed and immediately changed back again?!)

but maybe he's somehow used to that already. ;D

Like I said in my comment, I think GCC is metabolising his fear really fast!! *g*

Shen Wei's YEARNING. The picture in this post ^^^ SO MUCH YEARNING.

Yesssssss! AFTER ALL THIS TIME!! :D

and brushing off the invisible dirt from his jacket

That makes me scream internally Every. Time. :D

Da Qing's YOHE self in the prologue! :D

Aww, yes! (And great point about the canon Yashou characters in the prologue, vs all the OC Dixingren. Weird!)

It really depends what I'm supposed to trust him with, lol, but I wouldn't find him suspicious or anything, he's just an ass who's also absolutely gorgeous and fun to be around. :D

Ha, yes! :D

Hanging around crime scenes like it's the most natural thing in the world? :P

"I'm just an ordinary person. Super ordinary! Nothing to see here. It's all just a coincidence. Good day to you." :DDDD

but I also want to mention Weilan's first meeting that immediately establishes that Shen Wei's touch is not harmful to Zhao Yunlan - novel Shen Wei withdraws his hand as soon as possible, and drama Shen Wei does the exact opposite. :D

Yes!! I love that! Thanks so much for pointing it out on the readalong, and again here!! <3333

it's better than what I would imagine, especially for Zhao Yunlan. :D

*high fives* :D

[china_shop]

*showers you with extra kudos*

[facethestrange]

"Drama, my beloved! ♥ ♥ ♥ This was like coming home. *loves everyone in this bar, srsly*"

YAYYYY! ♡♡♡

"Also, iii) is this information that's widely known in biology academic circles -- was Li Qian sent away to stop her hearing that, or just so Prof Ouyang could make the job offer in private (not something you'd do in front of a student!)."

All very good questions, but I have nothing to add to the other two, lol. Re: this one, I assume it's not widely known and definitely not by students, otherwise Shen Wei's lecture could be more open about it?

"Aww, GCC speed-metabolising his ignorance to the point where he loses consciousness twice!"

:D :D :D This is such a fantastic way to phrase this! :D

"ZYL is so disreputable in this scene, I love him so much!!!"

Saaaame, and I love that post too! :D ♡♡♡

"There's a theme of people's identities/authority/connections not being recognised: so far, we have a) Guo Changcheng initially being taken for a random noob and then being discovered to have political connections, b) ZYL being denied entry to the crime scene because a newbie cop doesn't know about the SID, c) LQ mistaking Da Qing for an ordinary cat."

Ahh, that's a fantastic list, I don't think I would have put these together! ♡ And yesss, it ties in so well with the Weilan scene and so many later reveals! :D

"He doesn't want to work for a secret Haixing government agency. Just let him teach! <3"

AW!! ♡

"It was incredibly hard to choose only one screencap for this post!! Other things I considered: close-up of DQ as ZYL & SW pet him; ZYL and DQ leaning out the window; GCC dangling from the window; the extended handshake; group shot from the interviewing-Li-Qian scene, with SW & ZYL looking at each other challengingly."

I love how many of these are from their first meeting (and I can definitely see how hard it would be to choose just one)! :D

"ION, I've set a goal for myself (which I'm unlikely to maintain for the whole rewatch) of reading the subs in Korean as we go."

*cheers you on* :D

Also I entirely forgot to appreciate this part of the post:

"Zhao Yunlan: Damn Fatty.
Li Qian: What a fat black cat!
Guo Changcheng: It can speak?! *faints*
Shen Wei: *strokes* This is a very intelligent cat."

xD :D :D I don't think DQ minds anyone's reaction, but this is a wonderful contrast indeed. :D

[facethestrange]

"Horses! I wish there were horses in YOHE. ;-p"

Hee! I'm sure there are, we just don't see them. :D

"Idk, he does fall quite a long way, and Shen Wei does briefly touch his leg. Healing isn't out of the question."

As I said, I like this idea a lot! :D But now I suddenly have a different question - why did GCC fall? xD Like, he stopped holding the wall, but he had the harness thing too, why did that stop working? (Or it didn't stop working and he fell slowly, and only panicked from the unexpectedness of it?)

"Do you have a favourite scene or quote? "I just quit smoking. I need to have something in my mouth." /fansubs"

Asfghdjksfjhjkdljkl *ALL THE HIGH FIVES* :D :D :D

"And interesting that the prologue leads in to a conversation with Ouyang. I think that supports the theory that Ouyang <=> Shennong. :-)"

Yesss! One of my favorite adaptation theories. :D

[facethestrange]

♡♡♡♡♡! :D

[facethestrange]

Saaame. :D ♡♡♡ As someone who literally got into this fandom because of the previous rewatch (even though I was only around for about 2 posts before I fell behind), I'm so excited to be a part of it this time! :D

Re: Lin Jing as Super Saiyan

[facethestrange]

Oooh, thank you for the explanation! :D My subs say it's a Dragon Ball reference, so I just always assumed it's because they have weird hair like that (I've never watched Dragon Ball, but I know the general imagery from fandom osmosis), and apparently I wasn't entirely wrong, lol. I like that it's also a compliment in-universe - I thought Lin Jing liked it because he's a Dragon Ball fan. :D

"Based on the GCC's reference and LJ's recognition, I decided that somehow, on the faraway planet of Seastar, the characters were familiar with anime, which is why I figured it would be plausible for GCC to write Boku No Hero Academia fanfic about CSZ in a story I wrote that spun off from a comment thread on china_shop's delightful Transformative Work."

This is a fantastic implication that I didn't think of at all! :D I probably won't grab it for my own fic anytime soon, but who knows. :D :D

"My source for this info, btw, is that when my son was a kiddo he watched Dragonball Z every freaking day, and we lived in a pretty small place, so I wound up seeing a lot of it too."

Best reason to know things like that, hee, I still know so many Digimon transformations because my nephew loved it. :D

[facethestrange]

"It was sneaky to have the first cop at the murder scene have to be schooled in who Zhao Yunlan is and whatnot since it lets us know as well."

Very neat exposition indeed! :D

"Zhao Yunlan's reaction in the window to being spotted by Shen Wei doesn't really make much sense? He doesn't actually know Shen Wei here/now, the reaction seems a little more extreme than it should be in that case."

Yep, I always wonder about this too! I guess it's something between 'oops, now we pissed off the professors' and 'a hot guy is staring at me'. xD

"and last but not least... the handshake and grab, THAT SCENE. sighs happily"

Saaaaame. ♡♡♡

[facethestrange]

"I think that ZYL probably doesn't realise the connection until after he's thrown him to the wolves. My guess is he either made a call or went and found GCC's paperwork, and suddenly started taking him seriously. I doubt he would have messed around with the lollipop business as much if he'd known GCC was so well-connected?"

If it's anything like in the novel, he indeed doesn't know at first (“Tell me, whose relative is this, that he just got shoved under my eyelids? What a pain.” / “Apparently an important leader who recently arrived in the ministry is this kid’s uncle,” Daqing said.) But then again it's already different because novel!ZYL doesn't participate in scaring GCC, it's mostly just the ghosts being ghosts. :P

"I was thinking of doing a poll about that! I wonder if it's because SW just looks so respectable, and he's staring, and ZYL knows that dangling young men out the window isn't really a good look? g"

Ooooh, I'd love a poll about it! :D I threw in my two interpretations too (in a different comment), and I'm sure there are many more! :D