If you haven’t checked out the original author’s two other series Scum Villain or Heaven’s Official Blessing I’d check them out as well! (Both just started running in Sept and Nov respectively!)
Now for the genre rec, if you like the part where these weirdos can fly through the air and do weird ass crap with swords and stuff as well as beating the crap outta each other- I have some wuxia recs for you!
[If you like WangXian and would like to watch what I dub the “proto”-WangXian couple]
The definitive work of the wuxia/xianxia genre- and I’d even dare say a big inspiration for most of MXTX’s works. You can see that she took a lot of inspiration for the characterisation of LWJ and WWX from the characters of the ice cool jade beauty with a poker face but deep emotions, Dragon Girl and orphaned/fostered/unwanted gremlin boy Yang Guo.
(the prequel to this- The Legend of Condor Heroes is pretty much proto-JFM and Mdm Yu’s (aka Guo Jing and Huang Rong) getting together story except they actually do love each other. It’s worth a watch if you’re a completionist and are interested in watching the complete condor trilogy, but as expected from a proto-JFM, the main char is as boring as a block of wood imo lmao. For the curious, the last part is Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre- lots of cool fights though the main char is kind of an emo baby lol)
[If you like the 3zun and would like to see something similar to their dynamics]
It’s hard to explain what happens except 3 guys from very different backgrounds, somehow come together, decide to become sworn brothers and somehow stop a war from happening. There’s always something happening in the story, and plot twists are a plenty. Also features proto-JGS who is not nearly as terrible, though still a slimey creep.
For eng subs, turn on captions and auto translate the mandarin > english!
Features a tragic bromance, 4D mind games, beautiful costuming. There’s very little actual romance here, but lots of strategising, soulful gazing at your once-best friend as you try to will him into being less of a righteous dunderhead.
And if you like the mindgaming part (which imo, is one of the best parts of period drama when done right- do take a look at the the Advisor’s Alliance / 軍師聯盟 which tells Sima Yi’s rise to power- sorry can only find an english dub for that lmao)
If you still have an itch after all these- do also look into Hong Kong wuxia movies! They are considered the cream of the crop for the genre, and even movies made in the 80′s and 90′s are still highly rewatchable (Stephen Chow’s stuff in particular lol - here’s one of my fav scenes of his) though the main issue is finding English subs for them.
If however, you’re more into the animation rather than live action aspect:
If you like the cultural world building and the semi-fantasy aspects! Features a diverse cast of characters and it’s also the main inspiration behind my pick for Sizhui as a qilin haha...