The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) fandom starter kit

Useful links, where to watch, some meta commentary, and other things that will hopefully get you started in this fandom.

written by Caroline aka avawtsn in 2021, last reviewed and ported into website format 24.12.08

table of contents
  1. getting started: recommended reading and references
  2. canon and adaptations
    1. the Untamed / CQL / the "web series"
    2. the Untamed Special Edition
    3. the Untamed movies / Fatal Journey and the Living Dead
    4. Founder of Diabolism / MDZS animated series / donghua / anime ← you are here
    5. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / MDZS comic / manhua / manga
    6. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, the original MDZS novel
    7. MDZS audio drama
  3. selected fic recs
  4. cast on social media

Founder of Diabolism / MDZS animated series / donghua / anime

availability

So through whatever censorship magic, the animated series is just somehow allowed to just be gayer an adaptation than the live action. So it’s a closer adaptation to the novel, which allows for some very queer beats, like Wei Wuxian's canon attempts to gross out Lan Wangji into gay panicking.

One thing this adaptation has over CQL is that the production value is amazing, and the truly scary, impressive things from the canon can be genuinely scary and impressive. While I love CQL, it was made on a shoestring budget, but the donghua doesn't suffer from this so much.

There's two notes I'd say are drawbacks to the donghua, one of which is manageable.

  • First, the manageable: the show goes very fast. The dialogue, the plot, it goes by very very quickly. But apart from playing parts over again, watching at 80% or 90% speed also helps.
  • The thing that can't me remedied at all is that there's no Xiao Zhan bringing actual sunshine smiles to the role.
And personally, I prefer the voice actor for CQL's Wei Wuxian over the donghua's, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's a whole downside to the show.
Gay rating
I'd give it a strong 8/10. There isn't kissing, there isn't a specific confession, there's no canon bathtub-breaking scene from the novel, but there's one red wedding robe scene that gets me emotional, and listen, it's gay. A+.

manhua >>

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