A Brief Introduction To 'Fool In Love'

With the new release of the teaser for Fool In Love, the Thai Adaptation of In Love With An Idiot/My Beloved Fool by Shui Qian Cheng, I thought it would be nice to give an introduction to the story and its other adaptations.

In Love With An Idiot (ILWAI) or its official Chinese title 你却爱着一个他 is part of the infamous 188 boy group series written by Shui Qian Cheng (Beloved Enemy, My Stand-In, Meet You At The Blossom etc.). ILWAI is arguably the most popular 188 work and has a huge dedicated fandom. Due to this, it has many adaptations, and I'm happy that we're getting a live action that (so far) seems like it will be faithful to the original source material.

Plot summary from Novel Updates:

>When the proud, arrogant, and daring Jian Suiying falls in love at first sight with Li Yu, his brother Jian Suilin’s classmate, he actively showed his affections. But his supposed “chasing” only caused humiliation due to Li Yu’s hostile attitude, stirring up this noble young master’s animalistic and insane nature. Desires and emotions mixed together, making it difficult for them to separate. And what should’ve been a competitive chase between the two became a forbidden secret to tell. And because of Jian Suilin’s ulterior motives, it gradually out of control, and ultimately, the hidden dangers burst out loudly. In the end, all of them will not escape the judgment of fate…

Do check the tags before deciding to check it out. I love ILWAI (if my Jian Suiying pfp isn't indication enough) but it's not for everyone. As you can see from the NU reviews, views on it are pretty mixed.

Novel

Currently there is no official translation of the novel. There is a completed fan translation on Chrysanthemum Garden but it is unfortunately censored (all the NC scenes are removed) as it was probably translated from the official raws. If you are interested in reading an uncensored version of the novel, let me know.

Manhua

The manhua is very popular, some of you might know it as My Beloved Fool. There is an official translation on INKR comics that's pretty functional (and it's uncensored so that's a plus). The art is gorgeous and it's very obvious that the drama is drawing its aesthetic influence from it (so I am less worried about the styling than My Stand In).

Audio Book

This one is more recent, a neat trivia about it is that Jian Suiying's voice actor is the same as Chi Cheng's from Revenged Love. So if you ever want to know what bottom Chi Cheng sounds like I guess you can go check it out at either Manbo or Ximalaya.

Audio Drama

Also fairly recent, there's actually a few audio drama adaptations, but I'll choose this most recent one to highlight because the voice actors also dubbed the teaser in Chinese (at this point I'm not entirely sure if we'll be getting the drama fully dubbed but that would be cool).

AD Theme Song 1

AD Theme Song 2

u/Ok_Economics_2165 — 3 days ago

▲ 22 r/boyslove

Casting Announcement: Fool In Love (Adapted From My Beloved Fool)

I haven't seen anyone talk about this yet, so let me put this here first.

This will be the 2nd Thai adaptation of one of the 188 novel series by Shui Qian Cheng, the first being My Stand-In. Plot wise they're unrelated but all the novels in the series do take place in the same universe. For more info, some have talked about the series here and elsewhere. I've also talked about it a bit but not in much detail.

I admit of all the novels Thailand would choose to adapt, I didn't think they'd touch My Beloved Fool/In Love With An Idiot. It's one of the earlier 188 novels, written in 2011 so you can imagine how rough and unpolished the writing might be. It is one of the most popular works in the series though, mostly because of the main character and the manhua adaptation, which recently finished. It also has multiple audio dramas, an audio book and many fanworks (in Chinese). It's a big IP and more importantly the plot, characters and relationships are very messy, even messier than My Stand-In.

The reason why I'm interested in this project and reserving judgment until a trailer comes out, other than just being a general 188 fan, is that My Beloved Fool is what got me into the series in the first place. I mean the main character is my current pfp lol. The way I'd describe the appeal of this BL is how trashy it is that it becomes entertaining. The main characters are so flawed and deeply unlikable but also so human (and funny to be honest), that some of their actions will make my jaw drop at the sheer audacity then laugh out loud when their reactions or ensuing actions loop right back to being entertaining.

If I had to guess, the Thai drama will probably soften the characters quite a bit, which is a concern for me. One of the best things about this BL is the main character, Jian Suiying/Ing. He's an unconventional MC, openly gay from the beginning, is a top at first but then bottoms for the love interest, rude, violent, vulgar and is just an all around asshole. He's also super hot, and he knows it. The story and any adaptation lives or dies by Jian Suiying and I can't really think of a BL MC quite like him. The closest equivalent I can think of is Brian from Queer As Folk (slutty, an asshole, has a questionable relationship with a high school student).

So, we'll see I guess.

u/Ok_Economics_2165 — 2 months ago

▲ 24 r/SQC_188+1 crossposts

Yet You're In Love With An Idiot Is Getting a Thai Adaptation

https://preview.redd.it/g0xhxwdqmm9h1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ebeeaea27f4bc0a2fda2ad508cacad00f29fa8b

https://x.com/iQIYI_Thailand/status/2070379026490020061?s=20

This will be the 2nd Thai live action 188 adaptation after Professional Body Double. No other details yet. To be honest I wasn't a huge fan of the 1st Thai 188 drama, so I'm skeptical that this will turn out good, ILWAI is even more bonkers than PBD. But at least the cast looks fine.

Left to right: Li Wenxun, Li Wenxun's brother, Li Yu, Jian Suiying, Jian Suilin, Bai Xinyu & Li Xuan

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u/Ok_Economics_2165 — 2 months ago

▲ 31 r/DanmeiNovels

Help Me Genuinely Understand 7 Seas's Published Danmei

I'm not sure if Seven Seas have ever shared anything about their sales or business model but I'm guessing that their licensed catalogue is based on what sells best in the market. I do have to ask, are they planning on primarily licensing gufeng (historical), xianxia and wuxia danmei for the forseeable future? Most published danmei in China are not in those settings, so what are they planning on doing when they've exhausted the popular titles? Just stop?

Right now at least they're licensing popular authors albeit their historical titles like Musuli and Huai Shang. 7S also primarily license works from Jinjiang Literature City, are they ever thinking of branching out to other sites like Changpei or Haitang? Changpei is unlikely, judging from their most popular titles, it mostly hosts modern works. But since the topic of arrests on Haitang was a huge thing last year that even BBC reported on it, are people not curious about what kind of titles even get published on there? The only Haitang title that I know at the top of my head that's licensed in English is Beyond The Snowstorm, and that's by Rosmei.

Nobody is really talking about it, but there is also rising anxiety on the state of book publishing in general, and with the current state of the world those problems will probably be exacerbated with rising costs and supply chain disruptions. So treat this as me trying to get a feel for what Danmei in English will possibly look like in the near future.

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u/Ok_Economics_2165 — 3 months ago

▲ 25 r/boyslove

https://preview.redd.it/aeefwz0xkqxg1.jpg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f21a733d35d236140ff4ebeef6b071bb4dc7d7e

AD titles under machine translate lmao

I recently came across this post on Xiaohongshu/Red Note and got amused because I recognised almost all of the titles mentioned. Even though I don't directly hang out in Chinese BL audio drama communities, it seems that we all share the same brain cell. What compelled me to share the post here even though most people in this subreddit don't listen to Chinese BL audio dramas, is that some of these have been or are planned to be adapted into live action dramas. I think it will also help give a better idea of what the Chinese BL landscape is like in Chinese fandom. Audio dramas are kind of under the radar in international BL fandom's understanding of the genre, but they are just as formative. This post is going to be a rundown of all the titles that I recognise in the image from top to bottom, and you'll see what I mean.

Note: I have not read/listened to all of these, there are those that I know of but either are in my TBR or am not interested in but know due to its popularity. This isn't a definitive guide, similar to the original post being a fun opinion shared by OP. I might also miss some LA announcements, information for these is hard to fine. Basically cut me some slack. Also there will be content warnings depending on how much I know.

Basic Introduction

If you want a primer on Chinese audio dramas, this article does a good job. I got the title of this post from it. Since the article was written the audio drama landscape has undergone a few crackdowns. That's why in the first linked post you see OP talking about "uncut" or "minimal cuts". Most of the audio dramas listed have likely been taken down at some point and reuploaded with edits and cuts. Despite this the industry is still persisting somehow.

1) 入戏 - Deep In The Act (LA Announced)

Premise: Two actors enter into a situationship while filming a gay movie together. There's 2 parallel plotlines, IRL and fictional.

Basic Thoughts: I heard most of the plot is smut, so good luck to the LA.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/82289

2) 狼狗 - (Don't know the English title, something like Wolf Dog) CW: Incest between biological brothers

Premise: Uhh I know nothing. They're full blooded brothers.

Basic Thoughts: The audio drama is basically porn, possibly one of the most pornographic Chinese BL audio dramas I've listened to. I heard the plot of the novel is good though. You can only find it through saved copies shared privately.

3) 情蛊 - Love Gu/Poison (CW: Non-con, violence, manipulation among other things) 4/5 stars (personal rating)

Premise: College student goes to the mountains with his friends for a research project, he meets a mysterious young man, bad things happen.

Basic Thoughts: I listened to this one last year and it altered my brain chemistry for a few weeks.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/86178

4) 反差 - Contrast (?) Idk (CW: NON-CON, violence, attempted suicide among other things)

Premise: Guy enters into a sex contract to save his father's company and proceeds to become the universe's punching bag.

Basic Thoughts: Yeahh this one might be too dark for me and I love a good toxic yaoi. The novel is super explicit but the AD is very censored.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/86684

5) 黄金笼 - Golden Cage (CW: Incest between half-brothers)

Premise: I have no idea

Link to AD (actually an audio book): https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/87606

6) 从万米高空降临 - The Approach (English translation license announced by Haitang) 10/5 stars (personal rating)

Premise: Modern slice-of-life between a pilot and an air traffic controller.

Basic Thoughts: First green flag title on this list hallelujah. Honestly a masterpiece, I've talked about this danmei a few times in this subreddit already, including analysing the first NC scene in the audio drama.

Link to AD

7) 封建糟粕 - Feudal Dregs (CW: Harem, Intersex MC, Non-Con, Incest between Stepfather and Stepsons)

Premise: Guy marries into family as a male concubine, has three stepsons who all want him.

Basic Thoughts: The plot for this is actually quite dark, though I think most people didn't read/listen for the plot lol

Link to audio book: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/87589

8) 四面佛 - Four Faced Buddha/To My Shore (CW: Basically everything laid out in the drama) 3.5/5 stars (personal rating)

You don't need my thoughts, you know what To My Shore is about.

Link to AD

9) 我乘风雪 - Beyond The Snowstorm: A Windborne Love (English Translation license announced by Rosmei)

Premise: General has a one night stand with a courtesan, courtesan turns out to be an important court official. Politics ensue

Basic Thoughts: This has been in my TBR until the official translation is out, what I know of the basic premise and plot is very much my shit.

Link to AD

English preview (it's basically all smut): https://rosmeihey.top/pages/preview-awindbornelove

10) 我的病弱老婆 - My Sickly Wife (CW: Omegaverse, Mpreg, Chronic illness) 4.5/5 stars (personal rating)

Premise: Alpha general is forced to marry a Beta merchant. Politics ensue.

Basic Thoughts: Actually quite green flag. I can't believe this and Feudal Dregs are written by the same author.

Link to AD

11) City of Angels (LA Announced) 4/5 stars (personal rating)

Premise: Guy has a one night stand with his tour guide while on a vacation in Thailand. After going back to China for a year he decides to move to Thailand to pursue him. Hijinks ensue.

Basic Thoughts: I really like this one. A review described it as not really a conventional love story, but more of a story of how to love. If the drama is made I imagine it'll have that indie film vibe.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/87409

12) 将进酒 - Ballad of Sword and Wine (English Edition by 7Seas)

Premise: Guy almost gets executed as compensation for his father's military failure but survives and comes back for revenge. Has beef with a general who hates him for being his father's son. Politics ensue.

Basic Thoughts: Personally not a huge fan but this one is super popular in the danmei circles, both Chinese and English.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/25944

13) 顶级掠食者 - Alpha Predator (CW: Omegaverse, Non-Con, Mpreg) (Might get an LA though I doubt it) 3.5 stars (personal rating)

Premise: Omega enters a marriage contract with Alpha to pay off his family's debt and becomes the universe's punching bag.

Basic Thoughts: Part of the 188 series. First novel that I read written by the same author of My Stand In, Beloved Enemy and Meet You At The Blossom. I understood the hype, very trashy but well written. Now Shui Qian Cheng is one of my favourite danmei authors.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/81858

14) 一颗苹果 - Apple (CW: Incest between biological brothers, suicide)

Premise: Uhh I don't know how to explain without spoilers. Shit's wild though.

Basic Thoughts: China what is with you and incest.

Link to AD: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/90818

And that's it! Phew

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u/Ok_Economics_2165 — 4 months ago