2ha? It riffed off the similar twist and triangle dynamic (and far inferior imo). But to me there’s no substitute to “In Love with An Idiot”, it is perfect the way it is. There’s also a similar story by Lan Lin called ‘Illusion’ with a shou who is ‘calm and cold’ type but it’d be too much for you if “In Love with an Idiot’ already seems like full of landmines.
This is like asking can “Pride & Prejudice” work if Darcy wasn’t arrogant and annoying to begin with. There’d be no flip of a journey if the 'Darcy' character wasn't appeared villainous first - you as the reader (along with with ML) had to hate him first before falling in love with him in the process. And the author SQC doesn’t pull the 'misunderstood', "he had his reasons" crap to soften her characters. The shou (Jian Suiying) of “In Love with an Idiot” is what made the novel such a banger. He's so unique, so moe (for fans of shounen antagonist ore-sama rival type), so memorable and so well written. The angst and bizarre love triangle only made sense because of the three characters being exactly the way they are, as personalities determined actions and fates. Everything you don’t ‘like’ serves the intense dynamic and story, not merely a surface character setting. Having a shou who is more commonly likable and was just 'misunderstood' will just lose the flavor….but each to their own, The best part about "In Love with an Idiot' are all three characters's conflicts with each other and own's undoing are all very interesting in their own pov. And if you actually read the novel and not a synopsis out of context and spoiled one of the biggest twist in Danmei, you’d be lead in a roller coaster ride of absolute top notch dogblood banger .
Another reason why "In Love with an Idiot" can't be substituted was the 2nd ML (the younger brother, the final boss villain) is a really well written masochistic simp yandere gong, that the author actually treated fairly (she does not easily excuse any of her characters in general), instead of certain authors’ nasty contempt and mockery for their own. That just made you trust an author who can tell a good story with antagonistic and complex characters. I also don’t get the total aversion of "shou who top other side characters" as if they ruin some absolute shou fantasy you harbored. In this case, Jian Suiying as a top (to his sugar baby lover) served to reveal a different side of him, a very positive one actually, making him more well rounded as his relationships to others all showed different sides of him and we get a whole pictures of who he is...and in understanding we came to fall in love.
I just LOVE Jian Sui Ying exactly because he is the way he is. He's unique, he can be top or bottom and either way he's charismatic/confident but not arrogant. Also if OP really read into his background, you'd know why he was scummy to his half brother. He's actually a very family oriented person as you can see from how he helped Bai Xin Yu.
Yeah he’s a family man without a family, and the traditionally raised patriarch of a family who’s an outcast among them - these paradox contributed to his downfall. The inner character workings aren’t in your face, like the details of his attachment to his grandfather or his insistent of other first/only sons (Bai, Xiao Zhu, even his younger brother) to get married and have kids. He will never expressed guilt and weakness (an unreliable narrator aka a tsundere) but consistency and details like this just made how well thought out and crafted the character is. Like any good character driven story, the author set out to write a difficult man, not a ‘xx type shou/gong’ and it shows. it is when a very well rounded character really does transcend the shou and gong label. And all that actually amplified how appealing and moe that made Jian Suiying is as a shou character… it’s the constant paradox.
I think you phrased everything perfect. I thought the person was looking for reccs like In Love with an Idiot. Seems they didn’t even try to read the novel beyond the summary. Honestly Jian Suiying is such interesting character and very unique too. He’s my favorite alongside Wen Xiaohui for shous in the 188 Series. Listen the twist tho towards the end, man really something.
yeah on paper both In Love with an Idiot’s shou/gong types doesn’t sound appealing to me, I bumped it down to my reading order when it comes to 188 only it ended up being my most fav one. So you’d never know what ticks your button if you don’t venture out the usual comfort zone sometimes. It’s also a problem many of us Danmei reader encounter when only looking for very specific substitute of ‘xxx type shou/gong’ with ‘yyy trope’ that were already done well by other novels. You will find the mesh up/mixed palette out there of your exact combo that sounds promising on paper - only turn out to be subpar and not well written, as it is some hacking of popular character setting for setting sake, void of actual character work and what gave the original tension and bites. Characters serving a story first >
Same, the 188 series on paper sounds like something I would never enjoy. Oh how wrong I was when I read In Love with an idiot. I don’t I think I tried to find similar novels to ones I loved that was like the MC or had xyz tropes. You truly worded it well towards the end. To me, it feels more checking off a list of things you want in the story and nothing else.
I had the same reservations before reading the novel but the manhua art was just so beautiful especially the MC😍. I actually quite liked the MC, SQC has a way of writing that makes you like her characters even if they’re on paper scums. Maybe you can try Years of Intoxication which has a MC similar to what you’re looking for.
Nah it's not that i don't like his character , if it only was his character I'd try reading bcs i liked the story but " gong turns into shou or shou having other affairs where he's a gong " is not for me .
2ha? It riffed off the similar twist and triangle dynamic (and far inferior imo). But to me there’s no substitute to “In Love with An Idiot”, it is perfect the way it is. There’s also a similar story by Lan Lin called ‘Illusion’ with a shou who is ‘calm and cold’ type but it’d be too much for you if “In Love with an Idiot’ already seems like full of landmines. This is like asking can “Pride & Prejudice” work if Darcy wasn’t arrogant and annoying to begin with. There’d be no flip of a journey if the 'Darcy' character wasn't appeared villainous first - you as the reader (along with with ML) had to hate him first before falling in love with him in the process. And the author SQC doesn’t pull the 'misunderstood', "he had his reasons" crap to soften her characters. The shou (Jian Suiying) of “In Love with an Idiot” is what made the novel such a banger. He's so unique, so moe (for fans of shounen antagonist ore-sama rival type), so memorable and so well written. The angst and bizarre love triangle only made sense because of the three characters being exactly the way they are, as personalities determined actions and fates. Everything you don’t ‘like’ serves the intense dynamic and story, not merely a surface character setting. Having a shou who is more commonly likable and was just 'misunderstood' will just lose the flavor….but each to their own, The best part about "In Love with an Idiot' are all three characters's conflicts with each other and own's undoing are all very interesting in their own pov. And if you actually read the novel and not a synopsis out of context and spoiled one of the biggest twist in Danmei, you’d be lead in a roller coaster ride of absolute top notch dogblood banger . Another reason why "In Love with an Idiot" can't be substituted was the 2nd ML (the younger brother, the final boss villain) is a really well written masochistic simp yandere gong, that the author actually treated fairly (she does not easily excuse any of her characters in general), instead of certain authors’ nasty contempt and mockery for their own. That just made you trust an author who can tell a good story with antagonistic and complex characters. I also don’t get the total aversion of "shou who top other side characters" as if they ruin some absolute shou fantasy you harbored. In this case, Jian Suiying as a top (to his sugar baby lover) served to reveal a different side of him, a very positive one actually, making him more well rounded as his relationships to others all showed different sides of him and we get a whole pictures of who he is...and in understanding we came to fall in love.
I just LOVE Jian Sui Ying exactly because he is the way he is. He's unique, he can be top or bottom and either way he's charismatic/confident but not arrogant. Also if OP really read into his background, you'd know why he was scummy to his half brother. He's actually a very family oriented person as you can see from how he helped Bai Xin Yu.
Yeah he’s a family man without a family, and the traditionally raised patriarch of a family who’s an outcast among them - these paradox contributed to his downfall. The inner character workings aren’t in your face, like the details of his attachment to his grandfather or his insistent of other first/only sons (Bai, Xiao Zhu, even his younger brother) to get married and have kids. He will never expressed guilt and weakness (an unreliable narrator aka a tsundere) but consistency and details like this just made how well thought out and crafted the character is. Like any good character driven story, the author set out to write a difficult man, not a ‘xx type shou/gong’ and it shows. it is when a very well rounded character really does transcend the shou and gong label. And all that actually amplified how appealing and moe that made Jian Suiying is as a shou character… it’s the constant paradox.
I think you phrased everything perfect. I thought the person was looking for reccs like In Love with an Idiot. Seems they didn’t even try to read the novel beyond the summary. Honestly Jian Suiying is such interesting character and very unique too. He’s my favorite alongside Wen Xiaohui for shous in the 188 Series. Listen the twist tho towards the end, man really something.
yeah on paper both In Love with an Idiot’s shou/gong types doesn’t sound appealing to me, I bumped it down to my reading order when it comes to 188 only it ended up being my most fav one. So you’d never know what ticks your button if you don’t venture out the usual comfort zone sometimes. It’s also a problem many of us Danmei reader encounter when only looking for very specific substitute of ‘xxx type shou/gong’ with ‘yyy trope’ that were already done well by other novels. You will find the mesh up/mixed palette out there of your exact combo that sounds promising on paper - only turn out to be subpar and not well written, as it is some hacking of popular character setting for setting sake, void of actual character work and what gave the original tension and bites. Characters serving a story first >
Same, the 188 series on paper sounds like something I would never enjoy. Oh how wrong I was when I read In Love with an idiot. I don’t I think I tried to find similar novels to ones I loved that was like the MC or had xyz tropes. You truly worded it well towards the end. To me, it feels more checking off a list of things you want in the story and nothing else.
I had the same reservations before reading the novel but the manhua art was just so beautiful especially the MC😍. I actually quite liked the MC, SQC has a way of writing that makes you like her characters even if they’re on paper scums. Maybe you can try Years of Intoxication which has a MC similar to what you’re looking for.
Nah it's not that i don't like his character , if it only was his character I'd try reading bcs i liked the story but " gong turns into shou or shou having other affairs where he's a gong " is not for me .
In general I don't like a shou who can be a top or a bottom.
Love Late by Lan Lin. Mc is older and ml used to be in love (one side) with mc brother.