1
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labcat
This review may contain spoilers
Silly humor (that some will like), but awkwardness result from censoring the BL
The translated title, "The Birth of the Drama King", seems not only inaccurate but also rather absurd. This is not unlike the series' brand of humor, especially at the start, before the story gets a tad more serious.
I actually did enjoy the ridiculous humor quite a bit, though part of it may not exactly be intentional. Take for instance the way Zhao Qing Feng is tries to follow the instructions of a self-help manual to make friends with Ji Chuan, the evil sect's leader. The book, however, is more like a book of cheesy pick-up lines. You can imagine how silly this would be in the original novel where Qing Feng is supposed to be trying to seduce Ji Chuan and not merely befriend him. However, the absurd nature of the interactions is amplified as Qing Feng uses the same sort of lines to make friends without any intention of seducing him. The censoring of the BL, in a way, made the scenes funnier.
The censored BL does make the whole series rather awkward though. Firstly, the two main characters are turned into biological brothers. Yes, not they sort who have entirely different biological parents but become brothers by the marriage between two parents. Not the "bromance" or brotherhood sort of friendship. However, the affections also seem to be more like romance than brotherhood at times, especially when intimate friendships are depicted in the series quite differently. Ji Chuan has a very close relationship with A Fu and Wei Qi too, but the dynamics are too different. To make matters worse, there are parts when the two brothers seem to be mistaken for lovers, which is quite unnecessary when the BL has been censored. For instance, when the two men wake up in the same bed after a drinking session, it should actually be something trivial--even if one of them seems to have woken up with his shirt removed, right? But, no, it's made to seem as though it's scandalous, like the sect leader has just had sex with a man.
A better way of censoring the BL would have been to leave the relationship ambiguous or turn it into bromance between friends, and avoid making the characters end up with girlfriends.
Physician Yan's presence, however, makes things interesting. No matter how many times he refers to his relationship with Ji Chuan as brotherhood, his unconcealed jealousy when he sees Ji Chuan with Qing Feng (especially when the two are caught waking up in the same bed) makes the romantic affections quite blatant.
Despite the problems, the series doesn't take itself very seriously and isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's not great, but it's still entertaining in its own way. I guess it could still have been better overall if the BL did not have to be censored.
I actually did enjoy the ridiculous humor quite a bit, though part of it may not exactly be intentional. Take for instance the way Zhao Qing Feng is tries to follow the instructions of a self-help manual to make friends with Ji Chuan, the evil sect's leader. The book, however, is more like a book of cheesy pick-up lines. You can imagine how silly this would be in the original novel where Qing Feng is supposed to be trying to seduce Ji Chuan and not merely befriend him. However, the absurd nature of the interactions is amplified as Qing Feng uses the same sort of lines to make friends without any intention of seducing him. The censoring of the BL, in a way, made the scenes funnier.
The censored BL does make the whole series rather awkward though. Firstly, the two main characters are turned into biological brothers. Yes, not they sort who have entirely different biological parents but become brothers by the marriage between two parents. Not the "bromance" or brotherhood sort of friendship. However, the affections also seem to be more like romance than brotherhood at times, especially when intimate friendships are depicted in the series quite differently. Ji Chuan has a very close relationship with A Fu and Wei Qi too, but the dynamics are too different. To make matters worse, there are parts when the two brothers seem to be mistaken for lovers, which is quite unnecessary when the BL has been censored. For instance, when the two men wake up in the same bed after a drinking session, it should actually be something trivial--even if one of them seems to have woken up with his shirt removed, right? But, no, it's made to seem as though it's scandalous, like the sect leader has just had sex with a man.
A better way of censoring the BL would have been to leave the relationship ambiguous or turn it into bromance between friends, and avoid making the characters end up with girlfriends.
Physician Yan's presence, however, makes things interesting. No matter how many times he refers to his relationship with Ji Chuan as brotherhood, his unconcealed jealousy when he sees Ji Chuan with Qing Feng (especially when the two are caught waking up in the same bed) makes the romantic affections quite blatant.
Despite the problems, the series doesn't take itself very seriously and isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's not great, but it's still entertaining in its own way. I guess it could still have been better overall if the BL did not have to be censored.
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