Shang Qinghua! He is a fan favorite in general and boy, I loved that the infamous author Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky was reincarnated into his own novel. And as an insignificant side character to boot. Poor guy had to work his ass off just to survive in the shitty stallion novel he himself wrote, regretting not having written it better at almost every step. His wish is fulfilled at the end though! ヾ(˵☆□☆˵)و

His banter with his "Cucumber Bro" Shen Qingqiu is also first class! Here is my favorite example: "'The stallion novel protagonist you wrote turned gay,' said Shen Qingqiu. 'Shouldn't you be angry?' 'It doesn't matter,' Shang Qinghua said sincerely. 'Either way, the one he's got his eye on isn't me.' Shen Qingqiu gave him a cordial middle finger, then looked back down to polish his sword." - From Volume 3 of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Shen Qingqiu's relationship with the Bai Zhan peak lord  Liu Qingge, his Shidi. Their love-hate relationship is also something that I found enjoyable every second!

I liked Shen Qingqiu's (the original flavor's （˶•̀ ᎑-˶）) backstory. It was very consistent and shed light on his complicated relationship with the sect leader, his childhood friend.

I think it was generally a good call to have the final arc involving Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang. It shed light onto Luo Binghe's familiy history and gave him the chance to deal with his complicated childhood trauma. Technically, it was also a chance for him to bond with Shen Qingqiu and to resolve their past misunderstandings but that didn't really happen, or at least not as much as I would have wished for.

Generally, Zhuzhi-Lang was a character that I bonded with a lot. He is torn between his eagerness to repay Shen Qingqiu's kindness and his loyalty towards Tianlang-Jun. In the end, he chooses to be loyal until death. Even though his death is sad, I kind of expected it and found it a befitting end for such a torn, wavering character. I really appreciated the extra that narrated Tianlang-Jun's story with Luo Binghe's mother from Zhuzhi-Lang's perspective. It gave me more of a character whom I liked but who had a comparatively short time on screen.

Finally, let me grace you with my absolutely favorite quote that I think really embodies the book's spirit: "What could be more absurd than discovering that the person from whom you'd exhaustively plotted to flee, and had indeed fled from for so many years, hadn't actually wanted to kill you at all but wanted to do you instead? Though whether the desire was to kill or to fuck, the result was the same: Shen Qingqiu would still run away with all his might." - From Volume 2 of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

First of all, why did Gongyi Xiao have to die. Why?!!? \(”˚☐˚)/ 

He was a good guy, he got Shen Qingqiu out of the water prison. And I get it, he was not that important... But I liked him! 

Regarding the original Shen Qingqiu's backstory: I mentioned before that I liked it, which I'm not going to take back at this point! However, what bothered me is that transmigrated Shen Qingqiu watched the whole thing as a spectator without being really involved. I would have wished that he had some kind of tether to the original's backstory, so that it would've had more of an impact on him beyond just thinking: "Oh, this guy had a tragic past and that's the reason he became the scum villain later." 

Maybe there could've been a similarity to something that happened in the transmigrated Shen Qingqiu's past and that would be the reason why he was chosen by the system to enter this character specifically? Also, I think there should've been a proper heart-to-heart between him and his sect leader Shixiong. I mean: "I understand, let's not talk about the past anymore" is not enough! (╥﹏╥)

Speaking of hear-to-hearts, the one I was missing most was one between our two main boys! I mean, it is clear that their communication is terrible and basically non-existent, especially after Shen Qingqiu pushes Luo Binghe into the abyss. 

That is the central conflict the story that their relationship revolves around because Shen Qingqiu's judgement is clouded by the strong preconceptions he has from knowing the original story and Luo Binghe is terrified of being rejected. But in the end, we only get some more implicit clearing up but no in-depth direct talk about their feelings. Which would really have been necessary after all that miscommunication!

And Mai Gu Ridge, oh Mai Gu Ridge! I get that Mo Xiang Tong Xiu wanted to write a horny scene but that... was a bit too much in my opinion. It was too sudden and too explicit. Don't get me wrong, we like some nice smut (at least I do) but the way it was written didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the story. There should've been some more build-up. And I get it, "This master knows. This master was willing." But still, that was too harsh on Shen Qingqiu!

Finally, I want to close with the fact that I didn't really like Tianlang-Jun. Too domineering, stubborn and ruthless. And I mean, it's justified that he would be like that in the beginning because he was betrayed and imprisoned by the woman he loved and now only wants revenge. However, we don't really get much development from him before he kicks the bucket in the end which is unfortunate. He is a character who had a ton of wasted potential on being deep and multi-faceted.