Wuxia... Wu-What? [An Introduction]

[MadKatters]

So, I heard you nerds liked that Anime and Manga crap? Well, guess what. I got something else for you. It's called, typically, Wuxia. If you can believe the internet it's 'literal' definition is "Martial Heroes". Some nerds like to call it "Webnovels" and "Chinese Light Novels" Well, those guys are discount weabs. It's that thing that SAO started off as... with less (or even more) harems. It depends. Who doesn't like a good Harem amiright KC? They do tend to range from PG-13 to Hard R+, so, beware. Unless explicitly stated, it's usually 'referenced' as actions off screen. Like how Sex is handled in PG-13 movies, etc. I'm not introducing hardcore content to minors. Nor am I condoning it.

 

 

In all seriousness, You all should take note of these things. They're insanely long at times series that you can get lost in. Well crafted and built worlds with a multitude of characters and often times utter-ridiculousness and power creep. You all thought Naruto was bad? The protags in Wuxia tend to become literal gods, or even higher tiered beings that control reality. Chuck... are you god? These series are huge and the writers in Asian countries are like rockstars. The guy that wrote the premier/gateway Wuxia for most Western Audiences, I Shall Seal The Heavens (ISSTH) has a wardrobe that makes James Bond look like a redneck walmartian from your worst nightmares. The kind of money they can throw around is pretty obscene as well. Their popularity in their host countries tends to exceed fandom levels of Harry Potter and GoT over here in America.

 

Being the nerd that I am, I stumbled upon this genre from a Manhua on my typical Manga reading site. (Manhua being a chinese adaption of these Wuxia into Manga/Comic form.) It startled a long spiral to the point where I have read literal THOUSANDS of chapters and dozens of novels that are either fully translated or partially translated.

Translated I say? Yeah, It's like a Manga. It's done by scanlating/translating services. In all but 99% of the circumstances however they have actual licensing agreements with the Asian distributors. There's an insanely popular series that pulls in 20,000 (Yeah, that's the right amount of zeroes) a month to translate a series on Patreon. This stuff has a passionate fanbase. Most of these translators make a full-time job out of it because of their fanbases via Donations, License agreements, or Patreon.

 

But that's enough about all that fancy money, this is a Utopia we don't care about that!

 

The Sub Genres!
Innumerable to count! Just like Manga, Novels, and other forms of Media you can't create blanket genres for the series. They do however tend to fall into a series of things:
Daoist Style Cultivation.
Magic and/or Ki(Qi) Cultivation.
Enlightenment gaining power. (Magic, Qi, Daoist, etc.)
Martial Arts series with little to-no supernatural element.
VR/MMO style series are a hugely popular style at this moment. With many series beginning to take a 'level' element even if they aren't in a VR/MMO setting.
Western Style Magic (Wizards, Witches, Demons, etc.)

Now, hold on, what's "Cultivation" you ask? Well... that's not an easy answer. To sum it down into TL;DR terms (Why are you even bothering. Maiya) It's a character's growth/power as a cultivator/being. Think of.. cultivation as training and accumulating XP until you 'level up' in Game terms. Series tend to have tiers, and those tiers have levels. Take ISSTH that I mentioned above for example. It has the following levels: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing, Dao Seeking, Immortal, Ancient, Dao, Transcendence, and Ancestor (Seriously, Chuck, are you god?) for levels. Each of these stages having sub-levels beneath it. In most series you can see this boiled down into an "Early, Mid, Late, and Complete" Stage. With the occasional "Half-step to next level" realms. Or, in many cases, a simple 1-10, and hitting '11' is the next tier.

 

 

 

Getting it now? Good. I don't like to repeat myself.

"But, Maiya, what do you recommend then?"
Well, Junior I'm glad you asked this Ancestor for guidance!

Here's a few starting recommendations!


ISSTH The Granddaddy of them all. The big Puba. The hype before the storm. Best of all? It's a complete translation. Coming in at a whopping 1600+ Chapters (Averaging about 2000-3000 Words a chapter.) it's a daunting task, and a bit weird of a start, but a good staring point. However...

Desolate Era Remember that series where I said the guy made 20k A month? Yeah, it's this one. By far the most popular series for the longest time, until ISSTH picked up it's translation at a proper pace and outstripped it last year in popularity, this series has been going on for some time. At 1450 Chapters it's a Quintessential read and the second series that I read for Wuxia and what finally got me addicted.

 

Stellar Transformations Not the best written series to ever exist it has it's cliche moments and starts out with a Deus Ex Machina and yet... Something about the Protagonist in all his Naivety is interesting to me. It might be that he's one of the few out there that settle on One Girl and follow her alone rather than unintentionally creating harems, creating them intentionally, or forsaking all of them. It's essentially a story about a young man who strives to prove himself to others and grow strong enough to protect those he cares about.. and along the way just so happens to become a badass. Whodathunk it?

 

Warlock of the Magus World Another top-tier fan favorite series. I have.. yet to get far into this (Give me a break, did you read above where I said THOUSANDS of chapters?), but I've heard good things. TL;DR is taking a Scientist from a Gundam-esque timeline and throwing him into a world with Magic/Wizards... and a system where Science can break that magic. He also tends to be a less Naive Protagonist, so if that's your thing, go for it.

 

And, Lastly, one more recently begun but hugely popular series I can't get enough of. The Book Eating Magician. Ah, BEM, you just don't care that you go all in on tropes, do you? Beware, the tags on novel rating/finding website Aptly Named Novel Updates that tracks updates/series tell.. a good story for this. In particular, "Cheats", it's unabashed in how unusual for his world the Protagonist is and how.. fun that can be. It's also the second most popular KOREAN LN right now.

Special Mention to the most POPULAR Korean LN at the moment Overgeared A VR/MMO Style story with a protagonist that just so happens to share that "Cheats" tag when the butthurt fans don't downvote it into oblivion. (He's as h@x as h@x can be.)

 

 

Just know this, if any of you all decide to pick any of this up and make stuff based on it, I get dibs on it too! Kidding, not really, maybe, sorry not sorry.

 

 

 

For those of you that actually read all of this, thank you!
I do hope some of you at least try it out. It's.. not the most well written content in the world, but most of it is free. *Unless you're going to Qidian International in which case fuck QI* And... It's better than Fan Fiction (Usually), and a great way to suddenly look down at a clock and see you need to go to work in two hours and haven't slept yet!


If anyone has questions, recommendations, etc, let me know!
If you'd like to try some series out and none of the above catch your eye, view the NovelUpdates website and you can search by popularity, tag, etc. Or WuxiaWorld will also be a good starting point with a few dozen series to begin with!


Happy Trails folks!