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Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben (Novel) Vol. 1
by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
Trigger Warnings: Arson, blood, drugs, gore, mental illness, murder, explicit sexual content/assault, self-harm mention
I want to start off with the positives of the book before I go into the negatives. One thing I liked about the book was the prose/translation. There were some parts where the longer sentences were translated without structure, which led to confusion while reading, but it was few and far in between; It didn't ruin the flow. Other than those small things, I was able to follow along and see how well everything flowed. From what I read before from them, the main POV is usually the main character and then in other volumes the POV changes up. In this one, the POV was evenly split between He Yu and Xie Qingcheng and it flowed perfectly. You can tell which POV has been read and when it switched.
I also liked how the usual romantic tropes of seeing the love interest at the lowest, only one bed, being stuck somewhere alone was done by enemies. Usually at any of those points, there'd be a point of having feelings they can't explain and then it's pushed to the side. In this, the main leads hate each other and made it their mission to poke and prod at each other during those moments, which was funny. Each moment made them hate each other a little more and that amused me. This is my first time reading an enemy to lovers where there's not even a flicker of love, so it was refreshing to see something different and subverting the tropes. I'm not sure how I feel about them being homophobic (more on that in the dislikes section on the characters) but something about then trying to prove to the other they are worse and having an essential contest was amusing. It's amusing they want to prove how much they hate the other.
In terms of characters, I love Chen Man and Xie Xue. They both deserve the world and to be around better people.
Now, onto the negatives. I hated the two main characters. None of them were likeable enough for me to care. If they were to show how devastating and damaging toxic masculinity is, they certainly did that right. If we were supposed to like them despite it, then I certainly don't. They both kept saying they were straight and yeah; I can believe it. He Yu and Xie Qingcheng have zero chemistry. Yes, this is an enemy to lovers, but even though there are enemies, there needs to be just a tiny deep-down sense of caring. Even during their past, it seemed they didn't even like each other. The Joker and Batman are enemies but even they seem to care more about each other as enemies than He Yu and Xie Qingcheng are. In 2HA, the Mo Ran and Chu Wanning are enemies to each other, but they are both likeable. Chu Wanning is a cold character done right in terms of Meatbun's works (I haven't read Yuwu so I can't say if there's a cold like character there). To me, it seems Meatbun is more comfortable in a cultivator setting, at least in terms of characters. While their little contest to one up each other was funny, the comments on being homophobic made me feel a bit weird. Maybe it's because I've never read or seen any BL content where there's a grey area of homophobia in the relationship, but this really didn't work for me.
The plot is. . .well thin. I really don't know how to describe the plot. I know there's going to be a murder mystery side plot that seems more interesting but in terms of the main characters, as of now, I can't really say. It could be that since it's a slow burn, this volume is more getting to know the characters before going deep into it.
The mental illness aspect has left me. . .conflicted. The main character, He Yu, has a degenerative mental illness called "psychological Ebola" and he's one of 4 cases because it's that rare. There are descriptions of monster, deranged, psycho, madman toward He Yu and the disease and those are definitely derogatory but do show how dehumanized those with mental illness are. Mental illness, as well as sexism and toxic masculinity are put under a microscope and shown how devastating it can be so in that regard, it is good that it's there. On page 161 of the Nook eBook, there's a question on how mental illnesses arise and Xie Qingcheng's answer is a more humane approach: That "the vast majority of mental illnesses are normal people's responses to abnormal circumstances. . ." and that they shouldn't be locked up unless there's no other option is definitely a minority thought, but one that humanizes those with mental illnesses. In that regard, I think it was well down. I may hate Xie Qingcheng, but he sees He Yu as a human, an annoying one he hates, but one nonetheless and I give him a point for that.
However, it all goes downhill with the reveal that the psychological Ebola (which is a name I really hate; It could've been called anything else than that) also has a supernatural element to it. It's that supernatural element I don't really like and seems ridiculous. If the whole setting was an urban fantasy with a healthy mix of fantasy to a modern setting, I think that would be better. But the work tries hard to be grounded in "reality" that the sudden element was jarring. It was mentioned there was sci-fi elements, but that element was thrown halfway in with no lead up (at least, I don't remember a lead up) and was placed in a background of real illnesses (i.e. the psychiatric hospital). It could've been done better.
I fought hard between 2 star and 3 stars, but ultimately, I ended up going for 3. Despite of the big and small flaws, the murder mystery plot I did enjoy, and I was able to pick it up again after breaks. In my opinion, Meatbun does better in cultivation works but I do want to see if the other volumes recover and get better.
I want to start off with the positives of the book before I go into the negatives. One thing I liked about the book was the prose/translation. There were some parts where the longer sentences were translated without structure, which led to confusion while reading, but it was few and far in between; It didn't ruin the flow. Other than those small things, I was able to follow along and see how well everything flowed. From what I read before from them, the main POV is usually the main character and then in other volumes the POV changes up. In this one, the POV was evenly split between He Yu and Xie Qingcheng and it flowed perfectly. You can tell which POV has been read and when it switched.
I also liked how the usual romantic tropes of seeing the love interest at the lowest, only one bed, being stuck somewhere alone was done by enemies. Usually at any of those points, there'd be a point of having feelings they can't explain and then it's pushed to the side. In this, the main leads hate each other and made it their mission to poke and prod at each other during those moments, which was funny. Each moment made them hate each other a little more and that amused me. This is my first time reading an enemy to lovers where there's not even a flicker of love, so it was refreshing to see something different and subverting the tropes. I'm not sure how I feel about them being homophobic (more on that in the dislikes section on the characters) but something about then trying to prove to the other they are worse and having an essential contest was amusing. It's amusing they want to prove how much they hate the other.
In terms of characters, I love Chen Man and Xie Xue. They both deserve the world and to be around better people.
Now, onto the negatives. I hated the two main characters. None of them were likeable enough for me to care. If they were to show how devastating and damaging toxic masculinity is, they certainly did that right. If we were supposed to like them despite it, then I certainly don't. They both kept saying they were straight and yeah; I can believe it. He Yu and Xie Qingcheng have zero chemistry. Yes, this is an enemy to lovers, but even though there are enemies, there needs to be just a tiny deep-down sense of caring. Even during their past, it seemed they didn't even like each other. The Joker and Batman are enemies but even they seem to care more about each other as enemies than He Yu and Xie Qingcheng are. In 2HA, the Mo Ran and Chu Wanning are enemies to each other, but they are both likeable. Chu Wanning is a cold character done right in terms of Meatbun's works (I haven't read Yuwu so I can't say if there's a cold like character there). To me, it seems Meatbun is more comfortable in a cultivator setting, at least in terms of characters. While their little contest to one up each other was funny, the comments on being homophobic made me feel a bit weird. Maybe it's because I've never read or seen any BL content where there's a grey area of homophobia in the relationship, but this really didn't work for me.
The plot is. . .well thin. I really don't know how to describe the plot. I know there's going to be a murder mystery side plot that seems more interesting but in terms of the main characters, as of now, I can't really say. It could be that since it's a slow burn, this volume is more getting to know the characters before going deep into it.
The mental illness aspect has left me. . .conflicted. The main character, He Yu, has a degenerative mental illness called "psychological Ebola" and he's one of 4 cases because it's that rare. There are descriptions of monster, deranged, psycho, madman toward He Yu and the disease and those are definitely derogatory but do show how dehumanized those with mental illness are. Mental illness, as well as sexism and toxic masculinity are put under a microscope and shown how devastating it can be so in that regard, it is good that it's there. On page 161 of the Nook eBook, there's a question on how mental illnesses arise and Xie Qingcheng's answer is a more humane approach: That "the vast majority of mental illnesses are normal people's responses to abnormal circumstances. . ." and that they shouldn't be locked up unless there's no other option is definitely a minority thought, but one that humanizes those with mental illnesses. In that regard, I think it was well down. I may hate Xie Qingcheng, but he sees He Yu as a human, an annoying one he hates, but one nonetheless and I give him a point for that.
However, it all goes downhill with the reveal that the psychological Ebola (which is a name I really hate; It could've been called anything else than that) also has a supernatural element to it. It's that supernatural element I don't really like and seems ridiculous. If the whole setting was an urban fantasy with a healthy mix of fantasy to a modern setting, I think that would be better. But the work tries hard to be grounded in "reality" that the sudden element was jarring. It was mentioned there was sci-fi elements, but that element was thrown halfway in with no lead up (at least, I don't remember a lead up) and was placed in a background of real illnesses (i.e. the psychiatric hospital). It could've been done better.
I fought hard between 2 star and 3 stars, but ultimately, I ended up going for 3. Despite of the big and small flaws, the murder mystery plot I did enjoy, and I was able to pick it up again after breaks. In my opinion, Meatbun does better in cultivation works but I do want to see if the other volumes recover and get better.