No, they still don't. With good or enough financing, these dramas CAN be filmed, but there's zero chance they…
In my country... they have laws against illegal drugs. But they're only making the use of them punishable - you can "have" them, if you don't use them. Kind of mind-boggling, but oh well.
It's like that in the mainland too. You CAN film anything you want, BUT you can't air it without the license given by the censorship bureaus, and they will NEVER allow official danmei with kisses and all to be released. Still, as I said, it appears you can film it in the Chinese sets however you want, if you can afford it, just as long as you never release the product somewhere the Chinese public can officially access it. And outside danmei, there are a LOT of Chinese-made dramas that would totally fail to get licensed. Youtube is chock-full of them - rebirth-revenge, ghosts, criticising the regime, defying authority etc abound in mini-dramas. Most of them never make it on the mainland, just the outside of China, LOL, even if they're straight and involve no BL.
These small-time production might not even have used mainland sets, though, even if it wasn't forbidden (or not yet, keeping fingers crossed). The sets aren't so ample they couldn't make them in Taiwan or Thailand, like they did with Meet You at the Blossom or others. It's just that even if they have the money for it, they won't be able to make known actors act in them, so they rely on newcomers or people who will try to make a career outside China. Even those who were in one, won't go back if they can get out of the contract. That's why we're very likely never to see 2ha - I imagine even if the producers are dying to air it, LYX and CFY's respective studios would join the censors to stop the release. Danmei is considered toxic lately, given the latest rules.
But at least they're allowing the small outside productions, and other countries have managed to make a few adaptations already. We can only hope something changes in the future...
I really don't like the voice they used for him in Go Ahead (that was my first drama with him). Maybe it was his own voice, maybe it was a VA, but the thing is - it imprinted in my memory and I just... can't. And THEN I watched Young Blood (also, maybe it was his own voice, maybe the same VA - I cannot. There's something about it that hits all the wrong notes for me). And then there's his specific face contour. I don't know if you've watched Star Trek DS9. He reminds me of Odo, ALL. THE. FREAKING. TIME. Which is strange, 'cause I actually liked Odo. But he was one strange-looking alien, TBH.
I took a detour around Mo Du because he's a ML there. (I mean, I already don't like Priest's novels, and now I'm buying the SSE volumes at a kinda large price just to encourage them to publish more danmei in English official editions, having to watch it when I actively don't like a ML and I actively don't like the author's works... I wanted to give the novel a chance.)
DYX - him, I like. He's played childish characters and seems bouncy LOL, I like bouncy people. They bring up my mood.
But yeah... bro-cest only works in hentai. Or yaoi, rather, LOL. If "work" is even the right word for it.
Step-bros then. LOL, my mind went immediately to that hentai meme :D
(Myself, I won't go watch it though, I don't really like Zhang XinCheng, through no fault of his own. It's something I can't explain. I would go watch it for Ding YuXi, buuuuut... eh. Life is hard.)
Without the "good friend" shield though - Tai isn't putting him down. He's providing the other party's…
I'd still stand with (drama) Tai.
Look at what they were (before Wayu decided he could go back to school). They were basically prostitutes - yeah, we didn't see it after the first ep, but I still remember the meet-cute was caused by Wayu having to go with a client to a room (that still exists somewhere in that club) to be raped with sex toys or something... and that his friendly (and now tuition-paying) boss sent him to that room, and that Wayu, who had worked there for a while already, was completely aware of what happens in it.
Then again, their whole job is to make clients spend money on them (I don't put any blame on what they're doing, we all do what we have to in order to make a living and survive). When their looks are gone, or their livers fail, what's left for them? Tai is just pragmatic/realistic. This is not something to recommend one for a long-time relationship, even if the other person isn't a rigid cop brought up in a conservative family with political intentions.
Even Wayu - who, while lovable, isn't the brightest bulb in the room at times - is aware of the optics of it. Love isn't enough to overpass something like this, so he puts his act together and goes back to school, in order to get a more "respectable" profession and be a good partner to Krit (who, for reasons of his own, decides it's the perfect time to dump him, in order to "protect" him - I hate the noble sacrifice trope, at times there's no excuse for it.)
If I were Wayu, I'd want my friends to be cruelly blunt with me when I'm into something way over my head and ready to dive deeper. At least to be aware of the dangers and prepare myself, even if I take the plunge.
In short, I think Tai isn't lying to himself that "this is fine", and is very much aware of how it looks to possible love interests. I wonder if there's no GF or BF for him (of if there were, how were they relating to him). Poor people who have to struggle for their money and status every second of their lives don't get easily over the crisis mentality, if ever. If they have some pride or self-consciousness, it hits doubly bad.
If there's any progress I'd totally suspend disbelief for in this series, it would be Rose getting together with Tai and him taking another way out of his now-place.
Before I watched the drama, I thought the ending would leave me traumatized like most Chinese bl out there, partly…
No, they still don't. With good or enough financing, these dramas CAN be filmed, but there's zero chance they will ever be airing on the mainland. And I seriously doubt they could ever get well-known (or at least established) actors to be in them. Some of these dramas are airing only under the condition the mainland never gets to them (they probably know how to use a VPN, but officially there's no way to get them), others are produced and aired outside China, some are made in Taiwan or Thailand, etc.
Since none of these would be allowed in the mainland, the actors would probably not consider having a career there either. Maybe in the future, if the censors liven up a little or the public policies change. (Small chance of that, though, what with the party trying so hard to make young people birth more children, 'cause they're facing the same demographic decline all first world countries do, only multiplied by a factor or ten or more.)
PS Not even the already filmed, TU-era danmei won't be airing, probably ever (unless some charitable soul "messes up" like they did with The Spirealm and leaks the whole 2ha or Seizing Dreams or Eternal Faith etc...
Without the "good friend" shield though - Tai isn't putting him down. He's providing the other party's…
I haven't read the novel, so I don't have any impression on the characters as they should be to compare it with as they are shown in the drama, so I can't say anything on what the writers messed up about it...
I haven't watched a Thai bl in a good while....if this is 8.9....the highest rated bl....then is everything else…
Don't take the ratings here for the standard. This is an int'l site for fans, anyone and everyone can give ratings to a drama based on their own enjoyment.
Myself, I find this one cute but over-doing it at times, so it's not really my cup of tea. But there are others that are very good, and still BL. Your list isn't too populated with dramas, so I can't tell what you've already watched, but I'd recommend, in no particular order
1. Reset 2. Spare Me Your Mercy 3. Top Form 4. I Told Sunset About You 5. My Stand-In 6. Goddess Bless You From Death (this more for the horror than for the romance) 7. Wu (I'm cheating with this one, it's not supposed to be BL, but there are plenty of hints and it's amazing anyway).
Those shows and their "time passed so we must paint the idea of a beard". Just... could every show stop…
It's not the barely-there beard that kills me.
Did anyone else notice the orange tulips on the nurses' station side, every time Wayu comes with his flowers? They're not JUST the same orange tulips... they're in the SAME position. Over and over and over. Days of orange tulips that never move, LOL. I don't know if they have a continuity person in the team or not (I always thought there would be someone doing that check) but it seems they were out on the day they filmed the hospital visits, LOL.
Even though I’m still crying about writers making this awful parallel, but I still gotta mention that Tai saying…
Without the "good friend" shield though - Tai isn't putting him down. He's providing the other party's POV in a safe environment, where Wayu is able to come up swinging if he needs to. He's well aware of how society works - let's not pretend love conquers all - and is practically giving Wayu a vaccine against hearing the same things from someone he's hoping NOT to hear them from.
Each of them comes with family baggage - now imagine the distinguished over-straight-laced family sitting at family reunions with Wayu's gambling-addicted mother. And neither wants to give up their family, rightfully so - you take love where you can get it. There ARE things that will come between them if they're not strong enough or willing to fight for it. (And Krit made unilateral decisions that he's not going to fight his father over keeping their relationship, so it's not even in the word-preparation stage anymore, Krit took actual action about it).
I don't like over-idealistic lost stories between Cinderellas and princes. I think the writing is good enough on that part. The fighting scenes and how they came about, though... I could have words about those, LOL.
What's going on after Krit waking up and even he's waking up is one of the things I hope no writers happen to…
Bullets do bounce around if they hit the body at some funny entry point, so his spine could have been affected, not a lot. That's how I think they imagined it could go. Though - against that explanation - that was a ridiculously low caliber (toy) pistol, it's a mystery the bullet didn't expire on the 3-meter journey to Krit's side, LOL, more even less chance it wouldn't just die on impact and never scratch his skin hahaha~
Anyway, that's what suspension of disbelief is for.
The drama is incredible, as are the acting and the story itself, although I have to say I don’t like the ending…
Watch the Special Edition - the ending of the last ep is the originally intended ending sequence. Then they decided some mind-f!ck was in order and made it a bit more ambiguous (though I think it's pretty clear anyway).
For the drama, I like the original drama's ending, twist and all, but yeah, the novel's ending is the canon and it's never going to be anything else for the two of them.
Let's promote Tai as Dr. Love. He has all the insights and the answers LOL.
This was such a throwback to the final eps of MSI, LOL. Gangster armed shooting ML - check, hospital stay until dad mellows a bit about the relationship - check, whole family pitching in so that the ML and MC find love - check.
I didn't get how a side-wound would lead to him needing to learn to walk again, but we'll pretend the bullet bounced around inside as they do sometimes and did some damage.
The balcony scene would've made a whole different impact if there was an orange cat there, too LOL. Such a Romeow+Juliet show-stealer hahaha~
I'd LOVE to see little legitimate brother go all up in arms against his father because he thinks he had his bro…
If they have the general set of rules for palace women as most all costume dramas, a palace lady wouldn't have had the right to marry right off anyway. And if he did respect her, he wouldn't have had a son with her outside of marriage. This guy is simply a snake.
3 
It's like that in the mainland too. You CAN film anything you want, BUT you can't air it without the license given by the censorship bureaus, and they will NEVER allow official danmei with kisses and all to be released. Still, as I said, it appears you can film it in the Chinese sets however you want, if you can afford it, just as long as you never release the product somewhere the Chinese public can officially access it. And outside danmei, there are a LOT of Chinese-made dramas that would totally fail to get licensed. Youtube is chock-full of them - rebirth-revenge, ghosts, criticising the regime, defying authority etc abound in mini-dramas. Most of them never make it on the mainland, just the outside of China, LOL, even if they're straight and involve no BL.
These small-time production might not even have used mainland sets, though, even if it wasn't forbidden (or not yet, keeping fingers crossed). The sets aren't so ample they couldn't make them in Taiwan or Thailand, like they did with Meet You at the Blossom or others. It's just that even if they have the money for it, they won't be able to make known actors act in them, so they rely on newcomers or people who will try to make a career outside China. Even those who were in one, won't go back if they can get out of the contract. That's why we're very likely never to see 2ha - I imagine even if the producers are dying to air it, LYX and CFY's respective studios would join the censors to stop the release. Danmei is considered toxic lately, given the latest rules.
But at least they're allowing the small outside productions, and other countries have managed to make a few adaptations already. We can only hope something changes in the future...
I took a detour around Mo Du because he's a ML there. (I mean, I already don't like Priest's novels, and now I'm buying the SSE volumes at a kinda large price just to encourage them to publish more danmei in English official editions, having to watch it when I actively don't like a ML and I actively don't like the author's works... I wanted to give the novel a chance.)
DYX - him, I like. He's played childish characters and seems bouncy LOL, I like bouncy people. They bring up my mood.
But yeah... bro-cest only works in hentai. Or yaoi, rather, LOL. If "work" is even the right word for it.
(Myself, I won't go watch it though, I don't really like Zhang XinCheng, through no fault of his own. It's something I can't explain. I would go watch it for Ding YuXi, buuuuut... eh. Life is hard.)
Look at what they were (before Wayu decided he could go back to school). They were basically prostitutes - yeah, we didn't see it after the first ep, but I still remember the meet-cute was caused by Wayu having to go with a client to a room (that still exists somewhere in that club) to be raped with sex toys or something... and that his friendly (and now tuition-paying) boss sent him to that room, and that Wayu, who had worked there for a while already, was completely aware of what happens in it.
Then again, their whole job is to make clients spend money on them (I don't put any blame on what they're doing, we all do what we have to in order to make a living and survive). When their looks are gone, or their livers fail, what's left for them? Tai is just pragmatic/realistic. This is not something to recommend one for a long-time relationship, even if the other person isn't a rigid cop brought up in a conservative family with political intentions.
Even Wayu - who, while lovable, isn't the brightest bulb in the room at times - is aware of the optics of it. Love isn't enough to overpass something like this, so he puts his act together and goes back to school, in order to get a more "respectable" profession and be a good partner to Krit (who, for reasons of his own, decides it's the perfect time to dump him, in order to "protect" him - I hate the noble sacrifice trope, at times there's no excuse for it.)
If I were Wayu, I'd want my friends to be cruelly blunt with me when I'm into something way over my head and ready to dive deeper. At least to be aware of the dangers and prepare myself, even if I take the plunge.
In short, I think Tai isn't lying to himself that "this is fine", and is very much aware of how it looks to possible love interests. I wonder if there's no GF or BF for him (of if there were, how were they relating to him). Poor people who have to struggle for their money and status every second of their lives don't get easily over the crisis mentality, if ever. If they have some pride or self-consciousness, it hits doubly bad.
If there's any progress I'd totally suspend disbelief for in this series, it would be Rose getting together with Tai and him taking another way out of his now-place.
Since none of these would be allowed in the mainland, the actors would probably not consider having a career there either. Maybe in the future, if the censors liven up a little or the public policies change. (Small chance of that, though, what with the party trying so hard to make young people birth more children, 'cause they're facing the same demographic decline all first world countries do, only multiplied by a factor or ten or more.)
PS Not even the already filmed, TU-era danmei won't be airing, probably ever (unless some charitable soul "messes up" like they did with The Spirealm and leaks the whole 2ha or Seizing Dreams or Eternal Faith etc...
Myself, I find this one cute but over-doing it at times, so it's not really my cup of tea. But there are others that are very good, and still BL. Your list isn't too populated with dramas, so I can't tell what you've already watched, but I'd recommend, in no particular order
1. Reset
2. Spare Me Your Mercy
3. Top Form
4. I Told Sunset About You
5. My Stand-In
6. Goddess Bless You From Death (this more for the horror than for the romance)
7. Wu (I'm cheating with this one, it's not supposed to be BL, but there are plenty of hints and it's amazing anyway).
Did anyone else notice the orange tulips on the nurses' station side, every time Wayu comes with his flowers? They're not JUST the same orange tulips... they're in the SAME position. Over and over and over. Days of orange tulips that never move, LOL. I don't know if they have a continuity person in the team or not (I always thought there would be someone doing that check) but it seems they were out on the day they filmed the hospital visits, LOL.
Each of them comes with family baggage - now imagine the distinguished over-straight-laced family sitting at family reunions with Wayu's gambling-addicted mother. And neither wants to give up their family, rightfully so - you take love where you can get it. There ARE things that will come between them if they're not strong enough or willing to fight for it. (And Krit made unilateral decisions that he's not going to fight his father over keeping their relationship, so it's not even in the word-preparation stage anymore, Krit took actual action about it).
I don't like over-idealistic lost stories between Cinderellas and princes. I think the writing is good enough on that part. The fighting scenes and how they came about, though... I could have words about those, LOL.
Anyway, that's what suspension of disbelief is for.
For the drama, I like the original drama's ending, twist and all, but yeah, the novel's ending is the canon and it's never going to be anything else for the two of them.
I didn't get how a side-wound would lead to him needing to learn to walk again, but we'll pretend the bullet bounced around inside as they do sometimes and did some damage.
The balcony scene would've made a whole different impact if there was an orange cat there, too LOL. Such a Romeow+Juliet show-stealer hahaha~
(For anyone not knowing, look up Izmir Romeo and Juliet ballet cat :D ETA nevermind, here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3oK7w8Mw3I )