Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Are You Addicted?

I don't know about you all but I'm totally addicted...to a Chinese web series and its novel. To be more specific, the novel is called Are You Addicted written by Chai Jidan. The web series that was made from the book is called Addicted/ Heroin; the web series only covers 1/4 of book 1. They couldn't continue the series after episode 15 due to China's ban on homosexual content.

I came across to the web series on an ordinary night in February when I was surfing through YouTube, looking for something interesting. Only one episode in and I was absolutely madly in love. It was a school night and I stayed up the entire time binge-watching the series. Episode 15 ended on a cliffhanger and upon discovering that the series was discontinued due to the ban, I was utterly devastated. I can't tell you how many nights I went to sleep hoping that I'd wake up to find that they secretly continued the story. The idea of one day dying without being able to learn the rest of the story stung my heart. It's ridiculous, I know. This is how attached I was to this story.

Anyway, a week ago, I stumbled upon the English translation of the novel. The happiness and excitement I felt...I can't measure the level or intensity of it but I know I haven't felt so happy for many, many days. From the moment I found the translation to yesterday afternoon, there was only one thing in my head: Addicted. Despite this being my spring break and despite my AP exams being merely a month away, I couldn't get myself to do anything but read the novel. I finished Book two yesterday and even though, I liked the ending of the story, there was an unexpected hollow feeling in my heart. Addicted was my happy little pill and I never wanted it to end. Still, all good things must come to an end so yeah, I don't have many complaints, only a tiny shade in the corner of my heart.

Now, let me give you a sneak peak of the story. As I've already indicated, It's a homosexual romance story. The crazy love story of two crazy boys- Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai. They both have their own flaws and weaknesses but regardless, they support and complete each other. What I love the most about this story is how genuine and stereotype-free it is. Most Asian LGBT content tends to fetishize same-sex relationships and impose some disturbing and disgusting fantasies on the characters and the relationship, making is absolutely absurd. For example, having one male character act as the "women" in the relationship or one girl act as the "man" in the relationship when the relationship is not straight! There are so many other things like this, but that's another day's topic. What I want to say is that Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin's love story is one that defines perfectness.
(my favorite picture of the two fools: Da Hai and Yin Zi)

Oh, it's not just the two MCs that make Addicted addicting, but all the other characters in the story as well. There's a side pair in the story too (hint: the other two boys on the cover) All 13 episodes of the web series are on YouTube. I recommend reading the translation by Sae on Wattpad. However, she hasn't finished translating and currently in Book two Chapter 57 I believe. There's another translation on WordPress which has both of the books as well as the spin-off story of the side pair.

P.S. I'm crushing on Gu Hai's ex lolol. She's EXtremely attractive.



No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.