auroraexecution

I can confirm what Lelly9102 said. Lists have been published on Chinese socials showing that JITD had its broadcast license for Q1 2023. A lot of people I've seen on weibo are blaming youku for this.

My other 2 cents - while I'm not involved and can't say for certain, my general observation is that censorship changes actually ebb and flow with time. Despite what MDL seems to think, the ban (which included a bunch of other things too) wasn't ever a law, just a trend that the broadcasting ministry wanted people to follow, with implications that shows not following would struggle to get a license. However...that does leave room for things to change later, and I have actually seen similar orders in the past that went from something people took more seriously to something people just forgot about. When 2023 started, people started speculating that the previous "ban" would be loosened up this year, so that's probably actually why the companies started testing things.

Another misinfo I've seen spreading on MDL is that 张公案 was not related to BL at all - there is a complicated explanation but basically the author sees the novel as a mystery (not a BL, which implies romance), but has also confirmed she sees the two male leads as a couple. However, due to that show being basically rewritten, plus the original novel being arguably "not BL", this was an obvious choice as a first test show this year, and it aired okay.

Guardian was one of the first BL adaptations, and it (imo) helped demonstrate that BL adaptations could make money and get popular, and even make an actor's career. However, since there was only 1 other show that came before it at the point where it was made, you can tell the production team was struggling to figure out how to deal with potential issues - the original mythological/supernatural theme was changed to be sci fi, and the end was changed. The production values themselves are also that of an older web series (aka, not that amazing, but they tried with what they had). The saving grace is that most of this is relatively modern, so they were able to make do with real life things (e.g. the actors used their own clothing).

I would say the strengths of this show are:
- The bones of the writing are good. The changes make it a bit weird, but the underlying story was created by an author, which helps make the whole thing feel like a continuous story.
- The acting is really really good. Even the side characters do a pretty good job imo. The two main actors obviously know what kind of show they're in (as in, while there is no explicit romance, the actors CLEARLY know their characters are in love) and really do their best to sell the characters.

Lol this article is hilarious, and also I'm loving the Johnny Bai rep. I didn't think I'd love his facial hair so much but Guardian changed my mind right quick.

Also just gonna leave this here: https://kisskh.at/photos/RARwY

I haven't actually read the manga, but from articles it sounds like they were not a pair in the original manga. Instead, Chong Liming was paired with Hua Jiu Qing, who was changed to be female in the manga. Plus they created a completely new female love interest in the drama. All based on stuff I've read, though, so take it with a grain of salt. :)

My guess is the severe changes are because Forward Forever was actually filmed in 2017 before Guardian and Untamed came out and were successful. The good news is since Immortality is expected to start filming this year, there's a higher likelihood imo that they won't push love interest changes as hard as Forward Forever did, and will instead use the template of Untamed.

I don't know if they plan to have more bromance with Ah Yi, but the original BL romance was with the prince and Hua Jiu Qing (who is female in the drama), not with Ah Yi.

I don't have confirmation on that, just something I saw in fan comments while looking up the show.

For anyone who is coming into this because it's based on a BL manhua - just as an FYI the prince's original love interest in the manhua is Hua Jiu Qing, who was male in the manga but is now female in the drama. It was NOT Jackson Yi's character (and there are rumors he only filmed for about a month with the cast). The actual love interest in this drama for the prince seems to be Yu Chu, who I've been told is not in the manga at all and is an original female character in the drama.

Just wanted to help clarify things since I was pretty confused about this.