Endless Merch for Thrice Married to a Salted Fish Chinese Edition
Thrice Married to a Salted Fish is one of my favorite danmei. I’m thrilled that it has been licensed for an English-language edition and I’m pleased as punch about the gorgeous cover art. I’m also impatient, and I really wanted to see more art and merchandise for the story. Even searching through fan art tags didn’t reveal enough to satisfy me, so I’m commissioning a new piece right now. But I wanted even more! So I did what any self-respecting danmei fan who has illusions of being able to read Chinese would do… I bought the Chinese edition from Funimecity to see what merch came with it (I made the same choice with Guardian too.
So. Much. Merch.
As a U.S.-based reader, I’m used to going to the store to buy a beloved book and coming home with… a book. Thankfully for my inner crow, Chinese editions of danmei novels are not only gorgeously designed, but you get a book and then basically a whole separate box of merchandise. And it’s so good for this story! So many beautiful scenes illustrated, so many different views of the two main leads.
So find a comfy spot, maybe grab a snack. There’s so much to see, so sit back and enjoy the show. Without further ado, here we go.
Slipcover
First, let’s check out the slipcover holding the two volumes. It’s pretty, although not particularly sturdy or functional. I struggled to get both volumes back into it without ruining the dust jackets, but I loved the illustration.
Volume 1
Next I pulled out the books and started examining volume 1. It has a beautiful dust jacket, similar in style to the one for To Rule in a Turbulent World from Via Lactea in that it opens multiple ways to show surprise illustrations.
Diving in to the interior of this gorgeous volume, there are several full-color illustrations at the beginning of the book (thought sadly no interstitial illustrations throughout the story).
As I opened vol. 1, merchandise came tumbling out as well. Here’s what was neatly tucked between the pages of this book (but don’t worry, there will be more!):
Volume 2
On to volume 2! This volume also has a beautiful dust jacket but with a different (and simpler) design that wraps around the book. The richly saturated dark blue color stand out beautifully.
Similar to volume 1, there are also beautiful full-color interior illustrations at the front of the book, along with a beautiful note from the author.
When I opened this volume, merch also fell into my lap, starting to obscure my form at this point. Here’s what came in this volume:
More Merch
But that’s not all. Along with the carefully packed books and accompanying merch came more packages!
Shikishi
First came the shikishi boards with art from the interior of the books plus a few new scenes. I’m also adding in one additional shikishi board I thoughtlessly ordered at the same time from the audiodrama art, not realizing just how many shikishi boards I would soon have.
Trading Cards
Next, we have the polychrome trading cards of characters plus the card holder. I apologize–these are incredibly tricky to photograph. They look much better in-person!
Postcards
Several postcards came with the merchandise. There is a chibi pumpkin scene, an illustration, and my personal favorite: a postcard-sized imperial edict that I can’t wait to translate (cursive historical language not being my strongest translation skill).
Buttons
We also have buttons galore! They’re adorable, but also fastened by safety pins that easily slip out of the backing cards.
Acrylic Standees
And finally, last but not least: two acrylic standees of our leads.
Conclusion
I got everything I wanted and more with this order–my crow brain is delighted with all the shininess. My logistical brain is overwhelmed with what to actually do with most of it. But that’s definitely a good problem to have.
