![]() ![]() ![]() The line between comedy and tragedy can be quite fine. (Which just goes to show how open-ended the second edition ending is.) Whereas I took the most light-hearted interpretation possible, Ma Wing-shing took the darkest interpretation possible. Ma Wing-shing has a very different take on the second-edition ending-he presents it as being creepy and scary. My first reaction to the ending of the novel was “what the !” and then I chose to be amused. I also happened to read the second edition of the novel. The manhua is based on the second edition of the novel and has the second-edition ending (different editions have different endings). The only humor in this manhua is unintentional-such as the wedding scene described above (to be fair, I thought the wedding scene was quite funny in the original novel too, and I do not think that was Jin Yong’s intent). For example, the socks scene is utterly serious-and I don’t mean that it is done deadpan style. Yǐ Tiān Tú Lóng Jì has less humor than the other parts of the trilogy, but whatever humor the story has, this manhua manages to kill it. Yes, some of the moments which are missing are my personal favorites, but that’s always going to happen and I can always re-read the novels if I so wish. Like every other adaptation of the Condor Trilogy, some details are left out. However, while the pacing of the manhua is completely different from the novel, the plot is pretty much the same. While I will not say that the last three chapters are the best three chapters, the last fourth of the novel is certainly the best part, so I cannot exactly argue with this either. The last three chapters of the novel, however, are covered in about 6 volumes, which allows much more room for nuance. Even so, the sheer speed did make me a little dizzy. Considering that the first half of the novel is about as brisk as rush hour traffic, this is not exactly a bad thing. ![]() Even though this manhua is 25 volumes long (Taiwan edition), the first 75% of the novel gets covered in the first 5 volumes, though some of the early scenes in the novel appear later in the manhua as flashbacks. The manhua is paced very differently from the novel. Mongol empire princess: 1 Chinese people bride: 0. Too bad that this couple seems to be fighting for real.Īpparently the wedding is now messed up beyond all repair. You know, I think most weddings would be improved if the bride and groom decided to break out into a kung-fu match in the midst of the ceremony. Given a choice between a Mongol princess who is trying to ruin his wedding and previously tried to kill him and his companions, and a woman that he loves and wants to marry, the groom is of course siding with the Mongol princess. *sigh* Bride, you’re not going to score any points if you beat up a helpless princess who … poisoned and kidnapped a bunch of the world’s most powerful martial artists … is the best schemer in the story … can get Zhang Wuji to crack a joke (before the Mongol princess showed up, I was under the impression that Zhang Wuji didn’t have a sense a humor) … okay, bride, if you take down the princess, you score ALL the points. Hey, Chinese people bride, it’s time to PROTECT YOUR COUNTRY MAN FROM THE MONGOL INVASION PRINCESSS! Whatever it is, it makes the Chinese groom change his tune. The Mongolian princess seems to have something in her hand. The groom says that if he did that, he would be a jerk. The Mongolian princess asks the groom to jilt the bride. … aside from a Mongolian princess barging in. ![]() This must be a happy scene where nothing goes wrong… Speaking of Zhang Wuji and female attention, let’s check out his wedding. She kept on asking me what I thought about him as I read the novel (“Isn’t he wonderful?” “Ummm, he’s still twelve years old” “Just wait until he becomes a man!”) Whereas the other novels in the trilogy have been adapted multiple times into manhua, this is the only manhua adaptation of Yǐ Tiān Tú Lóng Jì. This manhua is by Ma Wing-shing, who is Hong Kong’s next most significant wuxia manhua artist after Tony Wong. The previous posts are Introduction, Fighting, Tony Wong’s The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, and The Legendary Couple. This is part four in a series of posts about the Condor Trilogy in Manhua. ![]()
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