Brand New to Danmei? Get Started Here

If you’re a true danmei novice and don’t know where to start, this article is for you!  I’ll talk about some of the common entry points along with common pitfalls and challenges.

What is Danmei and Why You Should Give Danmei a Try

If you’re brand new to danmei, there are a few things worth knowing up front.  Danmei is the Chinese equivalent of BL, yaoi, male/male romance.  Danmei are often complex stories written by Chinese authors (mostly women) featuring romance between two men.  The genres vary widely—everything from futuristic science fiction to political historicals to steampunk to modern slice-of-life and so much more.  In some, the romance is front-and-center.  In others, it’s more subdued and secondary to the plot.

I love danmei (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, since I run a blog about it and all).  For me, it serves several needs extremely well:

• Complex, multi-layered stories that immerse the reader in interesting worlds
• Three-dimensional characters that have rich inner lives and face fascinating challenges
• Explorations of morality, humanity, virtue and ethics woven through the plots
• Romance that runs the gamut from sweet and sublime to blisteringly hot to intensely epic

Common Pitfalls and Challenges

Most danmei is originally published on Chinese web novel serialization platforms (jjwxc is the most popular), and tends to be much longer than American or British novels.  When published in English, they’re broken into multiple volumes. These feel a little different than many English series do, with different story beats tuned to a much longer narrative.

Also one thing I like to tell people new to danmei is: expect it to be confusing at first.  This is for two reasons:

1.) You will likely encounter a lot of new terminology and concepts with which you may not yet be familiar.  Thankfully Seven Seas, the biggest publisher of English-language danmei, does a fantastic job with glossaries and footnotes. Please check these out, as they provide excellent entry-level information to make the stories more accessible.  Wikipedia is often my friend when I need to dive deeper.

2.) These stories often are intentionally opaque at the beginning.  The stories become progressively clearer as new information, characters, and motivations come to light.  I think this is a hallmark of the complex storytelling in most danmei, but can be a little alarming for newcomers at times.  Don’t worry!  Keep pushing forward—your confusion will ebb and your tenacity will be rewarded.

Which Danmei to Read First

Most danmei beginners have two entry points: either Heaven Official’s Blessing or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation both by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (墨香铜臭).  There’s good reason for this—these are among the most popular danmei titles in China, and were some of the earliest to be fan translated and then officially licensed and published in English.  They are both fantastic stories and good entry points into the genre.  So which one should you try first?  Here’s a quick breakdown:

Heaven Official’s Blessing: this is an epic romance that features a fantastical version of Daoist cultivation, ascended gods, ghosts, feats of derring do, betrayal, morality, noblesse oblige, high highs and very low lows.  It’s also a longer story—8 volumes in English.  This was my first danmei and I think I read through it from start to finish in a week, but I have heard others complain that there are slower parts.  There is also a an exquisite but incomplete (but probably still in-the-works) donghua (animated series) that’s available on Crunchyroll in the US and other platforms around the world.  You can read more in the spoiler-free review here.

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: this story also features a fantastical version of Daoist cultivation, but it stays a little closer to earth.  The story involves sometimes-allied, sometimes-competing cultivation sects, questions of justice vs. rule-following, devotion and redemption, a lot of humor and a fair dose of necromancy.  It’s a little shorter than Heaven Official’s Blessing, clocking in at 5 volumes in the English translation.  There is a donghua for the show, but many fans favor the live-action version called The Untamed.  You can read more about The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation in the spoiler-free review here.

What’s Next?

Though these two are excellent starting points for a new danmei reader, there will be a number of other good options… eventually.  For now, there are a limited number of stories that are fully published in English, and I hesitate to recommend any of the completed ones as a very first foray into the genre.  Look soon for a follow-up post on what to read next, along with some recommendations based on what you’ve loved so far.