Kochase

Lol you don't know how China works do you... they're not going to spell it out for you. All Chinese netizens know to read between the lines. If BL isn't banned, why is there still a massive backlog of highly anticipated dramas still not dropped? And it's censored adaptations even, not even any explicit BLs.

There has not been any BL (in the sense of uncensored adaptation) since Addicted airing in Mainland China. There have been some shorts / verticals, as well as as BLs produced by Chinese production teams that then streamed through international platforms or other countries, but no. Not a single uncensored, proper length BL has streamed on a mainland platform since Addicted. That is what we mean by banned. They are not allowed to air on mainland platforms. (Ofc, Chinese fans find a way around it all, but the fact remains it's not technically allowed)

In general discussions of CBL from a production angle, sure there's been plenty, and this has been a bountiful year. But from a policy angle, mainland does not allow BLs (uncensored adaptations). Now, normally, I'd say it doesn't matter. As long as CBL's keep being produced somehow, who cares about the technicalities of the policies. HOWEVER, it would be extremely concerning if they start punishing the actors, because then it would affect productions of CBLs entirely. Also announcement is nothing. Production is even nothing. Until that stuff drops in our hands, you can't count anything.

Bruh, I was into CBL probably before you even know it existed. Like, 2016 when the first wave came out. CBLs are my FAVORITE among the BLs. I don't know how far it's come? Lulz. My most anticipated drops are all CBLs and it kills me that they're still sitting there not seeing the light of day.

I would LOVE for nothing more than to be absolutely wrong. But I've been through ten years of policy whiplash so I know how this goes. The government does *not* like the influence this brings, so they are constantly finding ways to manage it. China's governance model works differently from Western countries'. You *cant* only rely on official policies. That's not how the culture works. At this point, my hopes are pinned more on a regime change than the NRTA suddenly deciding to permit uncensored BLs.

Do you have reading comprehension issues lol? That's the last thing I want, but you need to keep expectations realistic. And it's rumors and leaked memos... it's not going to be in any official policies yet. Unfortunately, it does concerningly line up with some incidents like how they censored one of the actors from Revenged Love out of a variety show they had filmed. I hope it's not true, but it's definitely a real concern.

Where the heck are you getting your info from? Here's the reddit megathread on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/CDrama/comments/1mtax6r/megathread_online_rumours_about_chinas_nrta/

And yeah, I did glance at the NRTA post too. It's basically what folks have summarized. Some good news about restrictions in general, some... seemingly positive, but could still have negative consequence updates around encouraging quality content, but definitely says nothing about BL being un-banned.

Uh... not sure what policies you're referring to, but definitely not to allow BLs for China. The workaround they found (for now) was releasing dramas through other countries / international platforms.

I wouldn't get too excited there. There's rumors that NRTA is preparing a policy that will punish actors who participate in BL dramas going forward.... so the latest workaround where they distribute the drama through a different country might be at risk.

It's still a rumor based on a supposedly leaked memo, but I would not be surprised at all. Revenged Love still caused crazy amount of impact, and the NRTA doesn't like that.

It’s not. Last I heard it’s likely q4

Actually, by story, I do mean the character development too. Story is both plot and characters. Omegaverse was born from fandom culture, where because it was mostly fanfic, there wasn't necessarily a need to focus on the story aspect, since everyone knows the stories. Hence, it frequently became a trope / fetish thing.

Now, that's certainly not to say it's only that. And I have loved a lot of omegaverse stories that have an MC who is strong-willed, challenging gender norms for omegas, etc. But the classic omegaverse tropes are often very shallow and kink based. So it's not... totally incorrect to make assumptions about omegaverse content.

So yes, when it comes to fanfics and amateur webnovels, it's often a looooot of kinks and fetishes and shallow writing. Which is also totally fine as content! And that said, I do agree it wouldn't be fair to stigmatize it and determine that omegaverse content can *only* be tropes and fetishizing.

I think there's two groups of critics - people who just want to hate on things and will throw around the word fetish as a pejorative term, and people who just prefer deeper and richer content and don't find shallow plots and characters in which you can interchange the characters from another story and have it work appealing. No need to bother with the first group, but the second group might be persuaded to give it a shot if the story is good; you just need to actually explain that it's omegaverse with good story, since there's a default association of omegaverse with pregnancy / breeding / bdsm kinks without elements of a real story.

I'm not a hater so can't speak to everyone but... I will say omegaverse has a *tendency* to be very very very potentially cringe. As in... tropes and cliches with paper thin personalities. Just because the gender is something different now, doesn't mean there aren't very traditional gender roles being portrayed (e.g. the 'omega' just is the traditional helpless damsel in distress)

I only like omegaverse stories where there's social commentary on gender roles, but I have definitely seen a looooot of omegaverse stories / fanfic where it's.... well, you know. And look, I get it. It's a kink thing and totally fine, but the result of it often means the characters are carbon copies of the typical omegaverse roles and dynamics and have zero appeal to anyone who's looking for a good story.

I'm certainly rooting for this drama to go well and am excited for the fact that this exists. Personally, I expect to find it too cringe for my tastes (which are on the higher end.... I find most BLs to be at least somewhat cringe). If this drama has a good story, you'll probably have better luck starting off the convo with 'it's omegaverse with good plot'. Otherwise, people very much assume it's gonna be a trope fetish thing with little to no substance.

Ok this second trailer looks more serious and more promising : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6_-mARamRQ

Lol was not at all the vibe I expected. Hopefully it's not just comedic... and truly hopefully the sister is just a sister... people are definitely concerned they're going to pull a bait and switch. If they do though, it would be the ultimate betrayal from the director that brought us WoH.

That's not what matters in China. You can be rich but piss off the gov and you're outta luck. It certainly opens doors, but not nearly as meaningful as in other countries.

Ok PSA in case anyone doesn't know this already and might be affected - The original Youku 8 episodes have more scenes than some of the later versions that got put out.

I'm not sure which ones the sub teams use or if they use it at all (I don't need subs, so I used other CN sites), but I watched the first 8 on Youku and the rest on a different site and realized that the version on the site had scenes missing that I remembered watching on Youku. Example is episode 6 at the ~40min mark... there's a bit of manhandling going on that got cut in the other version.

Search the Discussions section for instructions on how to watch / where to find

It's a vibe and dynamic that works quite well 🤣 I do like the added element of PS being as frail as a flower though. Makes for both some nice angst but also some comedic commentary

Omg idk what some people are complaining about... would a totally uncensored version be better? Yes, of course. I mourn the scenes that were likely cut.

But to say there's nothing left? Were we watching the same drama??? Or are certain viewers just media illiterate? Unless they're kissing or confessing, there's no satisfaction? PS and LWZ clearly deeply care about each other, and while a censored drama leaves it on the platonic side, I don't see it as a totally closed door. You can easily see they are each other's most important persons through numerous actions and decisions. The drama certainly gets a little over the top at times, but the angst left me very satisfied.

The latest (rumor? change?) is that it may be aired by Thailand... https://movie.douban.com/subject/30249029/

I still can't do vertical dramas. They're good for the budget they have, but it's still too choppy / surface level with no build-up of plot tension and depth of character dynamics. I'd still rather take a show like this over vertical dramas. I just think they really could have done without the BG elements and it would have been fine.

Sigh... they really had to go het / BG on this. Tbh the bromance parts are quite good, and at times, it kinda felt like they just overlapped two scripts - the story between the mains (bromance), and then their respective 'romances'. Maybe this was the only way to push through a double male lead adapted from a BL manhua nowadays...

... but then they really did lean into the BG plot and that kinda soured it. Otherwise, I would have been fine with the BG smokescreen given China's current climate.

The cast did great though. Loved the characterizations.

Interesting... so the director aims for soap opera type BL projects? Because in some cases, it's evident that the script itself calls for very fast paced melodrama, so idk if any amount of good acting can 'save' it from coming across as a bit cringe unless you're familiar with / aiming for that style.

I don't find Zee's characters particularly melodramatic though, but I guess he's usually got the aloof persona.

Then you're probably right... I don't think most of us are used to the soap opera style. 😅 Does that mean these are more popular / highly rated in Thailand? So it's more successful by Thai standards?

Honest question about the project(s) and really not being anti for ZeeNuNew but... normally I find that the acting and script outpaces the budget (or, gets limited by what the budget can offer)... why is their projects consistently higher budget but with... overly dramatic / sub-par writing (and acting gets affected by writing, but I've never been blown away either)?

Does someone have connections / money? But the writers were different for both? Is it the director's influence? How is there continuously larger budget but the writing + acting is... meh?

I'm glad they made this series but... the discrepancy just really confuses me. Someone must have connections or something, because I thought the entertainment industry was pretty ruthless and even when you're an outstanding talent you may not find the opportunity.

Lol they had mountains in the background from Khanin's villa. (I mean, forget for a second that they have a villa neighborhood).

This got me curious though... is there actually a backyard house pool somewhere in London? Like.... I guess there must be someone rich enough to have some sort of pool up on some balcony, but as a ground level pool?

But hey London gets pockets of great sunshine! Just... don't count on it sticking around for more than half an hour at a time 🤣 It was all pretty comical indeed though