The Ultimate Guide to Starting Danmei | Reading Recommendations ✨

Always wanted to try danmei novels? Afraid of where to start? Watch as I try to demystify the genre and recommend some beginner friendly places to start!

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:41 - What is Danmei?
02:09 - Recommendation 1
04:59 - Recommendation 2
07:29 - Recommendation 3
09:58 - Recommendation 4
13:09 - Recommendation 5
17:47 - Bonus Recommendation
19:50 - Outro

[geekygirl]

Happened upon this video because I love danmei. My first one was Heaven officials blessing (the donghua (chinese anime is called donghua). I decided to watch it to see if I still hated romance. Now, I have like 12 danmei I'm reading lol (needless to say I don't hate it anymore haha). I love the complex plots and details that actually matter. Even better that one of my own favorites is getting published next year. Its called Mistakenly Saving the Villian and is another "isekai" Song Qingshi is me in a guys body I swear. And him and Yue Wuhan have my heart. So manym funny moments and just as much angst. The only thing I would say is definatly familiarize yourself with common danmei and xianxia (chinese fantasy) terminology, but this story is going to have a ton of it and you will miss out on things if you dont know what the terms mean.

[Candytuft_]

My first novel is Tianbao Fuyao (Legend of exorcism) and my top 1 favourite novel is Dumb Husky and his white cat shizun (2ha). I'm still reading Silent Reading (Modu) the series name is Justice in the dark.

[cloudjumpur]

I’ve recently gotten into Danmei, and I’ve already read TGCF and SVSSS, and have been searching for recommendations. Amazing video, I love how passionate you are, and thank you for the recommendations!

[PrincessFarron]

I love the story of Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation (all iterations of it)!

[krina]

tgcf is great, no shade but imo 2ha has plot twists so jaw dropping it sends me into comas so maybe i think 2ha is actually better and the slowburn hits sm harder knowing that even though he had the flower he loverboyed so hard his love ended up in such a twisted way but tgcf is great too!

[BBGXIELIAN_Lilzzz]

I love watching danmei creators! I’ve been into danmei for 2 years now. My first danmei was heaven officials blessing, then I read all the rest of MTXT’s novels. My most recent buys were Guardian, remnants of filth, and the 2 hardcovers of heaven officials blessing(I have the third one on preorder right now) I plan on getting peerless and ballad of sword and wine. I am a younger female reader(I’m under the age of 15 as I write this)so I have to keep it on the low, especially at school. I do enjoy reading danmei and I recommend it to others(mostly the people who are the age for it) I do try to get people my age to read it, but I start them off with tgcf cause it’s pretty chill-ish(nothing too freaky) But danmei is my favorite type of books and I love to talk to people about it!

[larayelendiaz]

You are just so right ❤ TGCF is everything ❤ it has all you are looking for in a book and even more 😊
I haven't read the last one you mentioned so I will give it a try thank

[bread-olld]

2ha is the best! its realy amazing especialy when you read the entire series and start rereading and you notice a lot of things you wouldnt have on the first read, i could say it gets even more painful! bc you understand why the characters say or act a certian way its crazy i realy recomend reading 2ha more than once for full experience

[hettybobcat]

Heaven Official’s Blessing is an example of the purest, most wholesome, truest romantic love I have ever seen. I loved everything about that story.

I have also read SVSSS and really enjoyed it a lot.

Grand Master of Demonic Cultivation was good but so very convoluted, with the mystery so twisted, I felt anxious reading it.

I am in the process of reading the Husky and His White Cat Shizun and I agree that this early in the book, I am confused at how a romantic relationship will develop between MoRan and Chu Wanning when MoRan seems to be so in love with ShiMei. But I’m very early in the book. Just chapter 30 and Im very invested.

[shizunslostpeach]

I love 2ha so much. I also really recommend Yuwu, Casefile compendium, QJJ and The disabled tyrant’s beloved pet fish. There is a lot of amazing ones but these are among my favorite.

[revelintheblue]

You are so passionate! I love that.

I just started reading danmei in the past year & half. i've read tgcf, mdzs, svsss, golden terrace and am currently reading Peerless & Thousand Autumns.

Mdzs is my fav so far. I just love wei wuxian.

[Cioco_Lunely]

Ooo, ok, hearing that about MDZS made me more intrigued to start reading it!
I started off the year by reading all of TGCF, and I just finished volume 3 of SVSSS. I also got MDZS volume 1, I will buy the rest of them and the last volume of SVSSS.
I really like the whole idea of gods mortals and ghosts, spiritual power and stuff. It's really entertaining. I also really like the tension between the characters, angst and storytelling!
What bothered me was- the way both Hua Cheng and Luo Binghe were OBSESSED with their respective lovers- It gave me a weird feeling and made me change my opinion on them. Both which started off as my favorite characters, ended up with me having mixed feelings about them. The teacher - student relationships also came as a shock to me-
I barely watched any animes or read any books, so everything is pretty much of a 1st to me. All I can do is look more and figure out what else I could read next, but it feels kinda hard since I'm not familiar with them TT
These more detailed descriptions you gave really help with knowing what I like about these stories, thanks for that!
I really enjoyed reading both of these stories and even found some favorite background characters. Shi Qingxuan, Quan Yizhen, Gongyi Xiao, you have my heart.
Omw to look for even more recommendations ✨️

[adrianaschzh]

Thank you! I just read MDZS because The Untamed and I love it! Then I tried to read TGCF because I watched the Donghua first and I couldn't to follow... dropped the first volumen... I tried then ERHA and I finished the first volumen in one week, I read the whole novel in one month. Now I am waiting my 7 volumen, but I have read the whole story in spanish. Trying now with YuWu but still in the first volume. I love this Danmei world. 😍🥰 Thank you for this video, I will try later SAVE and Guardian. 😊

[halleysrainbowlibrary]

I’ve been SEARCHING for a guide to danmei video for ages so I was so excited to come across this one! I own several of MXTX’s books bc I love the aesthetic of danmei but I swear no one talks about them on YouTube so this was a godsend!

(I also just binged a bunch of your videos and subscribed as well, and shocked that you’re under 1k subscribers 👀; I also have a booktube channel and love finding smaller creators around the same sub size as me 💜)

[omocatomo]

I didn't know there was a Kinn Porsche novel!! I watched the show, but would definitely love to read that version too

[zpurplejade]

I'm so, so happy that I recently found your channel (The first video I discovered on your channel was your Dark Heir read! I gave up looking for CS Pacat related videos a long time ago and was so glad I recently started to look again! I just needed someone to fangirl with! And I love your theories. I am with you!) I LOVE danmei. I am so fascinated by the Chinese writing style and storytelling. I've started and read many of the ones you mentioned. My first read (and forever favorite) was Mo Dao Zu Shi (I've reread it so many times and I love the drama!). I am on book six of The Husky and His White Cat Shizun. Like you, I was not a fan of MoRan in the first novel; I felt he was cruel, crude, and I didn't know how the author could turn it around. At the same time, I was intrigued by his story and I wanted to figure out what in the world was going on. By book 2, I was hooked. I've been OBSESSED! I started The Heaven's Official Blessing years ago, but stopped because life happened. You have me wanting to pick them back up and get into them! Especially if it is peak MXTX. I've read the first 2 of Guardian and I've really enjoyed them. My next read is actually KinnPorsche! There is a KinnPorsche drama and it is one of my favorite dramas of all time!! I actually just found someone who likes the show and we may plan a buddy read. If you ever start a danmei buddy read, I am there!! So, sorry that this post is long, but I just had to share because I don't know any danmei readers. If you ever want to talk danmei or CS Pacat, hit me up. Lol I was "conversing" (like a crazy person) with you during both videos.

[mariannafrank]

Nice video! 😊 Erha became my all time favorite series, no joke. It is funny, it hurts and is emotionally draining. But very..I mean very romantic. Chu Wanning is the best man, he must be protected. Mo Ran is a very complex character, but I think you will like him after the first half of the 3rd volume, no spoilers. He has such a good character arc. And there will be not 9, but 11 volumes 😊. It has 350 chapters, main story ends at 311, the others are extras. Erha, as you said is very complex, it explores many dark themes (3rd volume 1st chapter, 7th volume last chapter major TW for SA), it was disturbing, but necessary to show to make contrast to the later "version" of RanWan. Which is so sweet, hot and romantic, but is hurts so much in the meantime. I'm caught up to the official translation (vol 7 atm) and oh, my god, you are in for a ride. Let me tell you, though, it will be so worth it at the end. The plot twists and character backstories just blew my mind and we are not even finished yet. And Meatbun can write like poetry, uses many beautiful metaphors and her strength lies in portraying emotions so well. I could really feel and understand them. Hope you will like the rest of the series 😊. Btw Meatbun wrote Remnants of filth (Yuwu) as well, that is my second favorite next to MDZS.

[irissu]

I need to get back to TGCF as i was reading it back when it was just a fan translated work and then i wanted to wait for all the volume of the official translation but i seem to not have the time those last few years 🤣🤣 (though i did just re read MDZS for the third time recently but 🤫🤫 it's a more comfortable read when it's a re read and i needed it)

[aspengrey]

Untamed unravelled me to Danmei world...I started with Mo Dao Zu Shi, then HOB, Sha Po Lang, Guardian, Yuwu and 1000 automns (which I didn't finish because online translators weren't easy) then 2HA (the hunky and his white cat Shizhun. My all time favourite) I want to read Scum Villain and reread Yuwu, Sha Po Lang? Guardian and 1000 automns

[lufnpey]

Priest's (Guardian's author) books are literature level, like I as a critic would very much even recommend them, specifically Mo Du, to ethic studies and academics!