Currently Watching: The Story of Ming Lan
Could these romantic ‘ironic’ comedies be the next Chinese Drama?
I am not a fan of romantic comedies. In general, I find them overly fluffy with cringeworthy plots. That said, here are a few comedies with just enough dark to make them attractive to me, and perhaps you as well, readers. Not to mention they are chock-full of so many tropes that it makes you wonder if they are a parody.
1. Doomed To Be Cannon Fodder
by Whistling Night Rain/潇潇夜雨
Genres: Comedy, Historical, Slice of Life, Dense Female Lead, Cold Male Lead, Transmigration, Ancient China, Misunderstandings, Male Lead Falls In Love First, Devoted Love Interests, Realistic Leads, Overcoming Archetypes/Typecasting
Summary: Where to begin? I said I don’t like fluff but this has so much fluff that it falls into parody/cruel irony. Our female lead is not anyone with any particular skill beyond gardening. Because she is, well, a gardener. After receiving a minor injury from a cactus (yes, you read correctly), she is transported into the novel she is currently reading. And she knows that the character she has become is destined to be killed by the hero and suffer a violent end because she has become a villain. Oh yes. She is the VILLAIN. Her main goal is to: 1) avoid the male lead at all costs and 2) figure out how to get home. This novel is 'fall out of your chair' funny. It is almost a satire as the internet is flooded with novels featuring a female lead who is essentially awesome (like a spy or a doctor) being sent back in time where she amazes everyone and impresses the male lead with her skill. Not so much here. Can she change destiny? Can she avoid becoming cannon fodder? (I couldn’t resist).
For: Anyone tired and exhausted with plots of revenge, bullying, and cultivation. Our female lead - who isn’t the lead - who isn’t the hero, wants to stay low, avoid anything resembling the female lead, and put all of her efforts into being an awful villain (awful here means a villain who is bad at being a villain) and avoid the hero at all costs.
2. Meow, Meow, Meow
by Ju Hua San Li
Genre: Transmigration, Dense Female Lead, Character Growth, Comedy, Tragedy, Adult Situations
Summary: Our character was just an ordinary house cat. For reasons unknown, she is transported to another universe, a magical one, and into the body of a beautiful purple-haired demoness with a reputation for violence. But she is a cat, and everyone is stunned when she begins acting like a cat. It is a hilarious novel, with many adults almost cringe-worthy situations as she struggles to understand why she must wear clothes, what sex is, why she must not allow certain people to take certain liberties with her, and what it means to be human. She learns feelings and emotions. And she eventually becomes the student of the god of war (the male lead). It is at times adorable, and at times made me cry because some awful things happen that she cannot understand but in doing so they teach her more and more about what it is to be human.
For: Anyone looking for a comedy, anyone interested in learning what might happen if you put a cat in a human body, and looking for extreme character growth.
3. My Disciple Died Yet Again
by Mrs Ago/You Quian
Genres: Transmigration, Time Travel, Reincarnation, Comedy, Slice Of Life, Death, Rebirth, Dense Male Lead, Character Growth, Tragedy, Romance, Gender Bender, Xianxia, Appearance Different From Age, Misunderstandings, Paradox, Male Yandere, Cruel Irony, Clever, Serious
Summary: Yu Yan is, in many ways, like Bai Zu Hua from Journey of Flower (hence the photo I selected). He is the most respected, the most revered, most beautiful and wise number one cultivator in the universe. Finally, he has taken a disciple. He trains her and watches her grow… except she dies. And this repeats itself several times (I think there are seven different story arcs) in which he trains our female lead, who tries to avoid being near him as she begins to associate him with her demise, although sometimes she makes the effort to learn and to train. She is reborn countless times, sometimes she grows old before she meets him, sometimes she begins as a baby. Sometimes she is a guy. And sometimes she isn’t human. But every time seems to end the same way. And every time her path seems to cross his.
For: Anyone looking for a comedic version of Journey of Flower. Or anyone who enjoys dark comedies.
4. Little Phoenix is Not Immortal
by Shu Ke
Genre: Ancient, Comedy, Romance, Time Travel
Summary: Essentially our female lead has a bit of bad luck. She doesn’t have a human form at first and is bullied by chickens. She eventually encounters the prince of the realm, eats the essence of the Phoenix, and obtains a human form. In the end, she enters the realm of the gods where things seem to be going great… until that ends. I dropped it but I added it for anyone who might like it.
For: This novel is 50/50 with me. It is like a lot of novels in the genre, but a little different. Some of the humour is more slapstick/dumb and I wouldn’t exactly call anyone in this novel ‘subtle’. But if you want something that is still in the genre with comedic elements, I would recommend this.
How the World Perceives Jiang Hu /// How Jiang Hu perceives herself/
5. Jiang Hu’s Road is Curved
by Ying Zhao
Genre: Transmigration, Comedy, Dark Humor, Betrayal, Confident Female Lead, Tragedy, Dense Female Lead, Female Lead Who Makes You Genuinely Question her Sanity
Summary: The female lead, Jiang Hu, lived in a universe that is very much like Disney Land. Everyone has a specific role and people don’t deviate from it. This is Mary Sue Land. Here she is the female lead, and she was adored and loved by many men. She is transported to this new world and born into the body of a girl who is the heir to the Clan of Evil (basically). Her father wants her to be serious and inherit, her brother thinks she is demented and tries to kill her, and her only wish is to find her hero. She is an extreme narcissist and has a skewed perception of the world: she thinks all men who meet her are in love with her and struggles with how she will ‘let them down’. She finally must leave to kill someone, and prove to her clan she can lead but she ditches that and searches for love. She will meet lots of people, but three men stand out, who may love her (or not) but only one of them will be the ‘one’. Guessing is fun. But there is a turning point in the novel where things become more serious, and I shed a couple of tears, so don’t read ahead! The ending was very refreshing.
For: Anyone looking for character growth, a good laugh, and some dark comedy.
I encourage you to give these a shot. All of these are great reads, but because of their genre category, I think it would be difficult to make any of them into a show. They would have to be very selective in who they pick to be the leads and who they pick to direct it because anything with comedy and romance very easily turns into an awful, cringeworthy show that makes one wonder if the two can ever go hand in hand.
Please leave comments and tell me what you think! Anyone interested in finding links to these novels can go here. All images were taken from Pinterest. I do not own or make a profit from any of these images.
