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fallloverfic · 7 months ago

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Censorship of panels in the Chinese print release of 再见, 我的国王/See You My King by Wen Yuan, Volumes 1-2

This has probably been brought up before somewhere because it's been out for a while, particularly in China, but the Chinese physical release of Volume 2 of 再见, 我的国王/See You My King/The King and Me/Til We Meet Again, My King by Wen Yuan showed up at last for me (there's no English physical release currently, though there is a Spanish release of volume 1) and it is a very pretty volume, it's high quality, the art is lovely, the included extras are pretty, but wow... I thought the censoring of the digital version was bad, but the physical version removes the Veelaveesa/Evtiti kiss and part of their cuddling in their bedroom, and that's not even the tip of the iceberg for how egregious the censoring is.

This isn't my first danmei rodeo, I know Chinese censorship of m/m is bad and worse than even I know, and getting worse, and I know that some cropping/removals happen even without that targeted censorship because of transferring comics made to be viewed on a phone to a book. But I didn't know that even the digital version that was allowed through would be censored for printing (I've seen the Chinese raws), and what's been removed is still really bad for such a relatively chaste comic. Just going through it on my own has been depressing. It's also weird in the sense that some of the official merch has stuff that's censored in the books on it (e.g., I've got cards from two different card sets with a cropped panel uncropped on it, and a shikishi of a panel that's been cropped).

Please support the digital release on Tappytoon and/or Tapas, and the Kuaikan app if you can manage it. I hope an English publisher gets it for physical release and restores the removed and cropped panels, because this is just sad. (I mean I already wanted a better English release cause the translation Kuaikan sends Tappytoon and Tapas is terrible, but this is worse than bad translation). And I guess support the official merch when you can cause at least in China that's the only way these are ever getting printed. My hope is that if they're willing to send the uncensored pages to be translated for reading presumably outside of China (both Tappy and Tapas are Korean companies), maybe a non-Chinese publisher would publish the uncensored release? The preview of the Spanish volume 1 includes a lot of the panels removed for the Chinese volume 1.

I went through and compared the Tappytoon to physical Chinese releases, because it's not just the stuff you'd expect, given this series is pretty light, in order to avoid, I imagine, further censorship online. Most of what's been removed is when the leads hold hands or hug/otherwise very chastely embrace. I don't include every instance of cropping because that would be way more. But most of what I found is beneath the read more:

S1E2 vs Volume 1, p.40-1: The physical release removed a panel of Zhang Li holding Rocky's hand (panel below)

S1E2 vs Volume 1, p.42-3: The physical release removed two panels of Zhang Li touching Rocky's face and Rocky smiling (panels below)

S1E3 vs Volume 1, p.45+: The physical release cropped one panel in half to largely hide the fact Rocky is sitting next to Zhang Li, and entirely removed 10 other panels, featuring Rocky and Zhang Li kind of cuddling and Zhang Li in bed with Rocky close to him (uncropped panel below)

S1E3 vs Volume 1, p.63-64: The physical release removed two panels, including one where Zhang Li is holding Rocky and another about their hands breaking free of each other, covered over part of a third to, I imagine, hide the fact they're holding hands (panels in full below)

S1E3 vs Volume 1, p.67: The physical release covered up a flashback panel of a scene that was somehow left in from earlier, to probably hide the kiss part (uncovered panel below)

S1E4 vs Volume 1, p.74-75: The physical release removed a panel of Zhang Li smiling as he pulls his shirt collar open and tells Rocky to bite him

S1E4 vs Volume 1, p.78: The physical release cropped the panel where Rocky puts the earring on Zhang Li so you can't see Zhang Li's expression

S1E4 vs Volume 1, p.86-87: The physical release removed seven panels of Zhang Li reaching out to catch a collapsing Rocky and then holding him, and later Rocky holding Zhang Li's neck tenderly and also putting the necklace on him

S1E4 vs Volume 1, p.88-89: The physical release removed eight panels of a slow and implied but not shown kiss between Zhang Li and Rocky, as well as Rocky holding Zhang Li's face (a nearly-identical panel where Rocky is gone is left in)

S1E5 vs Volume 1, p.106-107: The physical release removed a flashback panel of part of S01E04 that was also removed in the physical release

S1E5 vs Volume 1, p.108-109: The physical release removed two flashback panels of Rocky bringing Zhang Li water and a panel of Zhang Li smiling as he reaches for Mohemisi's hand

S1E6 vs Volume 1, p.12: The physical release cropped a panel where Evtiti grabs Zhang Li to hide the more intimate-looking nature of the embrace, particularly that Evtiti is holding Zhang Li's arm

S1E6 vs Volume 1, p.128: The physical release removed two flashback panels of previous scenes, one of which was a part of S1E04 that was also removed in the physical release

S1E8 vs Volume 1, p.154: The physical release removed a panel of Evtiti holding out his hand to Zhang Li (weirdly doesn't remove them holding hands given the propensity for this release to remove any men holding hands, including Evtiti holding Zhang Li's hand in S1E6)

S1E11 vs Volume 2, p.14: The physical release cropped most of the upset falcon out of the panel

S1E11 vs Volume 2, p.15: The physical release cropped out the borb entirely. This isn't exactly a censoring issue, it's just sad. (uncropped section below)

S1E11 vs Volume 2, p.18: The physical release heavily cropped a panel of Mohemisi facing Zhang Li

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.20: The physical release cropped out a flashback panel of Mohemisi and Zhang Li standing together

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.23: The physical release cropped a panel of Mohemisi having his face close to Zhang Li's so only Zhang Li's nose is visible

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.24: The physical release partially covered a panel of Mohemisi holding Zhang Li's hand on the wall so you can't see him holding Zhang Li's hand

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.28: The physical release cropped a panel to almost entirely remove Evtiti and Mohemisi, though you can still see the top of Evtiti's hair and Mohemisi's Anubis ears

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.30: The physical release cropped a panel of a guard pushing Zhang Li forward so you can't see the guard

S1E12 vs Volume 2, p.31: The physical release removed a panel of Zhang Li facing the audience

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.40: The physical release cropped a panel of Mohemisi holding Zhang Li so that Zhang Li + Mohemisi holding him is not at all visible

This iconic panel? Remember this? Butchered. And it's weird because it's been printed in full before on at least two official merch releases. They also cropped a close-up shot so you can't see Mohemisi's fingers on Zhang Li's face.

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.41: The physical release cropped a panel of Mohemisi pushing Zhang Li away (I imagine because Zhang Li is sitting between Mohemisi's legs)

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.44: The physical release removed four panels of Zhang Li trembling as he picks up the dead priest and Mohemisi observing

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.47: The physical release removed the close-up panel of other guards carrying out the corpse (this might be because China has certain rules about showing corpses, but it's my understanding this only has to do with depicting zombies, not dead people generally; there's still another panel where they're carrying the body out and Zhang Li/Mohemisi aren't doing anything else in the removed panel other than standing near each other)

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.48: The physical release cropped out most of Zhang Li's body

S1E13 vs Volume 2, p.49: The physical release removed a panel of Mohemisi's face (this might be to remove a sort of repeat panel)

S1E14 vs Volume 2, p.60: The physical release cropped a panel to remove the lower bodies of Zhang Li and Evtiti

S1E14.5 vs Volume 2, p.74: The physical release removed 14.5 entirely: this is the flashback where a guy and a woman try to seduce Zhang Li in the rain, and Rocky arrives to bring him an umbrella, and they go home, with a flash forward to Zhang Li in the water with the red crystal (that's 36 panels)

S01E15 vs Volume 2, p.75: The physical release cropped part of the panel to show Zhang Li is staring at the crystal, which the intruder tried to take (a lot of changes remove what you're meant to be focusing on in panels)

S1E15 vs Volume 2, p.88: The physical release cropped a panel to again remove Zhang Li in entirety (he gets cut out a lot when he's not doing anything?)

S1E16 vs Volume 2, p.93: The physical release cropped a panel where Zhang Li is holding the jealous guard so you can't see what Zhang Li is doing; also cut a close-up panel into pieces so you can't really tell they're connected and removes the closeness of them together, and removed a panel of Zhang Li touching the guy's throat

S1E16 vs Volume 2, p.94-6: The physical release removed another panel of Zhang Li holding the jealous guard, and cropped two panels so you can't really tell that Mohemisi and Zhang Li are together (Mohemisi is almost entirely cropped out of these panels), and removed four other panels, including two of the leads together (with Zhang Li pushing between Mohemisi's legs), and another of the guard seeing them together

S1E16 vs Volume 2, p.97: The physical release did a lot of cropping here

S1E17 vs Volume 2, p.121: The physical release cropped a panel to remove a good chunk of Evtiti's body

S1E18 vs Volume 2, p.134: The physical release cropped a panel so you can't see Zhang Li holding Mohemisi's ankle (you could on the previous page, though, and you can still see Zhang Li holding Mohemisi's foot with his left hand; there's been a lot of cropping in previous pages, cutting whole people out, this just might be more targeted)

S1E18 vs Volume 2, p.136: The physical release cropped the panel of Mohemisi lounging sexily in the bath >:( (this might just be an accidental victim of the medium change; there are other shots later of Mohemisi's chest + legs)

S1E19 vs Volume 2, p.145: The physical release cropped the panel of Veelaveesa kissing Evtiti but for Zhang Li's head; also entirely removed Evetiti (being kiss-dazed) from the panel where Veelaveesa is glaring at Zhang Li

S1E19 vs Volume 2, p.146: The physical release removed a panel where Evtiti is talking to Veelaveesa about the hypothetical scenario of Evtiti topping Zhang Li (nothing really happens in the panel, it's just chibi Evtiti holding Zhang Li while they're standing)

S1E19 vs Volume 2, p.148: The physical release removed the panel where Veelaveesa is holding Evtiti and warning him about being wary, and cropped Evtiti out of a panel with Veelaveesa

S1E19 vs Volume 2, p.152: The physical release removed Veelaveesa's hand on Evtiti's arm.

S1E19 vs Volume 2, p.156: The physical release removed the panel where Veelaveesa is cupping Evtiti's head while Evtiti hugs Veelaveesa

S1E21 vs Volume 2, p.191: The physical release removed the panel that shows Zhang Li is kissing Mohemisi's palm

There's a lot of other cropping I don't mention because this was not something I expected to spend today doing, but this gets the most egregious stuff. A ton of stuff is removed/covered... It's just sad. And for the record, while it still has a couple spots of censoring physical injury, there's still a decent amount of blood and violence left uncensored. They're mainly targeting any instances of m/m stuff.

Volume 3

#再见我的国王 #see you my king #goodbye my king #the king and me #til we meet again my king #zhang li #mohemisi #veelaveesa #evetiti #this is just sad #fallfthoughts #there's a lot of really lovely art that's just gone #even for a webcomic to book release ignoring the censoring this is so terrible

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fallloverfic · 1 month ago

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Censorship of panels in the Chinese print release of 再见, 我的国王/See You My King by Wen Yuan: Volume 3

This has probably been brought up before somewhere because it's been out for a while, particularly in China, but the Chinese physical release of volume 3 of 再见, 我的国王/See You My King/The King and Me/Til We Meet Again, My King by Wen Yuan showed up at last for me (there's no English physical release currently) and it is a very pretty volume, it's high quality, the art is lovely, the included extras are pretty, but there continues to be censorship issues in it. I shall list the more egregious examples of this for volume 3 just like I did for volumes 1-2.

Yes, no one is making me buy this. I am fully aware of that. But I would like an English physical release to come out one day, and supporting the main existing physical release is hopefully one way to get there.

I compared the Tappytoon to physical Chinese releases, because it's not just the stuff you'd expect, given this series is pretty light, in order to avoid, I imagine, further censorship online. Most of what's been removed is characters touching each other with their hands, and a few chaste embraces. I don't include every instance of cropping because that would be way more. But most of what I found is beneath the read more. There's also just some extra weirdness with this volume that I'll get to.

Also as a note, the Chinese physical release says it covers S1E23-32. It actually starts at the end of S1E22 and ends in the middle of S1E33 (at least in the English release).

S1E22 vs p.4: The physical release removes a bunch of flashback scenes of Mimi thinking of Zhang Li.

S1E22 vs p.5: This is almost comically stupid. The physical release takes a panel (below) and covers most of Zhang Li with a close-up panel of his face (from the opening of S1E23) to... I guess decrease the suggestiveness of Mimi holding him that way?

S1E23 vs p.12-3: The physical release cropped out half a panel to avoid showing Evtiti holding Veelaveesa's shoulder. It's interesting because the panel where Evtiti reaches up to pat Veelaveesa's shoulder is left intact. It's just that Evtiti keeps holding him that is apparently the issue. Also interesting in that some nearby panels on p.13 with Evtiti jumping into Veelaveesa's arms and staying there is largely left intact (some of Veelaveesa is cropped out, but just his back: you can still see them holding each other). But they also make up for it by cutting out Veelaveesa entirely from a panel where Evtiti is touching his face, so you can't see they're embracing still, or that Evtiti isn't watching Mimi walk away: he's staring at Veelaveesa.

S1E23 vs p.14: The physical release removed an entire panel of Veelaveesa holding Evtiti's wrist.

S1E24 vs p.24: This is more speculative, but the physical release put a speech bubble over Kaba holding Zhang Li's hand. You can still see them holding hands (the bubble is translucent), and it's not meant to be romantic at all. But they've done this kind of thing before (and many times in this volume) and given how far they go to get rid of even the mildest of stuff it's just... I feel like that's intentional.

S1E24 vs p.27: The physical release cropped Zhang Li entirely out of a panel. That might been for space, I guess, but the lengths to which the physical release has gone to make sure people aren't near each other is bizarre, which makes them leaving in some of the Veelaveesa/Evtiti stuff earlier (they didn't get rid of all of it) kind of odd.

S1E24 vs p.29: The physical release again put some text over the characters touching: Chibi Zhang Li is holding Chibi Kaba's arm, and there's a line of text right through that, nearly covering it up entirely. It's bizarre and pathetic. I cannot see how this isn't intentional.

S1E24 vs p.41: This isn't censorship, just some of the weird cutting that happens when translating a vertical comic to one read in a book: there's a panel where Mimi is walking away from his throne while Evtiti stays behind. The physical release cut the top of Evtiti off for its own panel, and then put the rest in a separate panel, so you see Evtiti, and then decapitated Mimi next to the throne. It's harder to get the sense of the scene this way.

S1E26 vs p.67-76: Again, it's not censorship, but the physical release has a lot of cropping. I think a lot is just making it viewable in a book. A lot of panels get cut in half or only 1/3 is left. A guard is almost entirely erased, which is sad because his expression is meant to be funny. You can't see if he has one now. Mimi gets almost entirely cropped out of a panel on p.72. I don't think someone reading this for the first time would even notice he's there. Akinatton gets cut in half on p.73, which kind of ruins the scene: it's meant to be him being worried while he stands between Veelaveesa and Evtiti. Now he's just sort of there. Mimi's been using the giant red stone as a nutcracker, but the nut bowl is cropped out on p.74, so he's just randomly holding it. But it's visible again on p.76, so I guess it's fine...?

S1E27 vs p.89-93: This is actually kind of bizarre. So the manhua randomly weirdly censors certain physical injuries, particularly stabbing. While Zhang Li is falling after getting "stabbed", the point where the knife is "in" his body is censored by a black circle on Tappytoon. The censoring is gone in the physical release. You can just see the knife "stabbing" into him.

(^How it looks online). Why was it "de-censored" for the even more heavily censored release? I have no idea. It's nice to see what it looked like before it was censored, I guess...? There's way more that's been censored, removed, or cropped, though! Case in point how this is not consistent at all:

The bird is covering Kaba's hands being cut off. There's a few instances of this. The bird is not actually there. It's just an alternate form of censorship the comic does sometimes. That is still present on p.90 of the physical release. The immediate panel after this in the digital release, showing Zhang Li being stabbed, is censored in the digital release. It's not censored in the physical release, though it is covered by a translucent speech bubble. The physical release also cropped out blood flowing out from Zhang Li.

I know expecting censors to have logic to their actions is ridiculous, but this is still so bizarre, particularly in that these panels are on the front and back of the same page.

S1E27 vs p.91: There are three shots of the knife "stabbing" Zhang Li. In the digital release, all three are censored. On the physical release, only the first is. The physical release also removed bloodstains/blood for two panels.

S1E27 v p.92-3: There are three panels in which the knife is stabbing Zhang Li. They're all censored in the digital release. None are censored in the physical release.

S1E27 vs p.94: There are three panels in which the knife is stabbing Zhang Li. They're all censored in the digital release. None are censored in the physical release. The physical release removed the blood.

S1E27 vs p.95: The physical release removed almost all the blood.

S1E27 vs p.96: The physical release removed almost all the blood, and cropped out Zhang Li visibly holding a knife. There's a panel where, again, Kaba's handless arms are shown, which is still censored in the physical release.

S1E28 vs p.98: The physical release removed all the blood.

S1E28 vs p.99: The physical release cropped Zhang Li holding Kaba entirely out of the first panel (but not the second) and removed all the blood.

S1E28 vs p.103: The physical release removed almost all the blood.

S1E28 vs p.109: The physical release entirely removed a panel of Sutter and Mimi embracing. Weirdly enough, there's a panel where Mimi is stabbed, and the digital release censors it, but again, the physical release doesn't censor it. It is covered in another translucent speech bubble, though!

S1E28 vs p.111: Another panel with Mimi being stabbed in the digital release is censored, but the physical release leaves it uncensored (but covered in a translucent speech bubble).

S1E28 vs p.113: The physical release removes all the blood.

S1E28 vs p.115: Blood here is fine!

S1E28 vs p.118: Sutter having his hand shot with an arrow is censored in the digital release. It's not censored in the physical release. But again, it's covered in a translucent speech bubble.

S1E29 vs p.121: The physical release removes all the blood.

S1E29 vs p.123: The physical release removes all the blood. This is extra bad because you can no longer tell that Mimi is badly injured. You can imply it, I guess, but it's incredibly obvious in one panel in particular. I kind of imagine, were it not for censorship concerns, Wen Yuan would have made it way more obvious. But even what little is obvious in the digital release is too much, apparently.

S1E29 vs p.129: The physical release erased an entire panel of Zhang Li holding Mimi.

S1E29 vs p.134: There's a flashback to a scene from S1E19/Volume 2, p.152, where Veelaveesa and Evtiti are walking away from Zhang Li. It's when the physical release removed Veelaveesa's hand from Evtiti's arm (Veelaveesa had his right arm wrapped around Evtiti's back; it's been erased).

S1E30 vs p.143: The physical release covered Veelaveesa grabbing Zhang Li's arm with a translucent speech bubble. It's the consistency of it that's just... bizarre. I mean the censoring is the worst part, but this pathetic half-attempt at it is just... why?

S1E30 vs p.146-7: The physical release entirely removed a panel of Zhang Li looking fondly down at a sleeping Mimi. There's also a panel of Zhang resting part of his hand and a hand on the bed next to Mimi. Mimi has been erased from the panel.

S1E30 vs p.147: The physical release erased four entire panels, featuring Zhang Li poking Mimi's face, and daydreaming about I think either grabbing his boobs and/or pinching him/his nipples, and then regretting the daydream. The pinch is actually censored in the digital release (there's a white bar over where Zhang Li's hands are, but sound effects and the rest of the panel can kind of show you what's happening). The physical release erases it entirely.

S1E31 vs p. 161: Part of the panel is someone showing off a decapitated head. The physical release mostly covered it with a translucent speech bubble.

S1E32 vs p.178: The physical release moved up a panel of Sutter to mostly cover Mimi's torn clothes and decrease the heavy emphasis on their brother attempting to sexually assault Mimi.

S1E32 vs p.180: In the digital release, there's an opaque white speech bubble over Mimi's lower body and part of his brother. It's gone in the physical release, allowing us to see more of the art. I don't know that the placement was originally an attempt at censorship, since he's clothed...? But another weird instance of the far more censored physical release "de-censoring" something.

There's a lot of other cropping I don't mention (Mimi in particular, I think because he's so big, gets cut in half in a lot of panels, erasing a lot of beautiful artwork). There weren't as many panel removals as volumes 1-2, overall, but what they did remove is still sad. And while there is a chunk of the story where blood is mostly or entirely removed for the physical release, there's a good chunk of the end where blood is left in, untouched (young!Mimi's neck is heavily bruised from nearly being choked by two people, that's left in). It's not consistent, it doesn't make sense. They typically target men touching in non-violent ways, particularly hand touching and embraces (but not always). It's a mostly homophobic hackjob.

This is why I think people encouraging comic makers to voluntarily censor their work for whatever reason is stupid. I've seen people praising Mojito censoring ENNEAD for the censored release comment that more BL authors should censor their work like she does, because... honestly I don't know. And the suggestion fucking disgusts me. The folks who made this stuff happen in SYMK's physical release will never be satisfied by whatever you think is okay, by whatever makes it "cleaner" or more "allowable" or whatever. Most of the censoring is of platonic or humorous moments. Characters were generally fully clothed. No one was kissing. There wasn't even caressing or sexual suggestion by and large (and there's no sex in this volume; the sexual assault is virtually left untouched; the violence was literally de-censored in most places for this release). Censors do not give a fuck. Even chaste, friendly moments are bad. They will always censor farther. Please stop encouraging it. Authors and artists in China literally get fined and arrested and serve prison sentences for making BL. I just... Sigh.

Volumes 1-2

#再见我的国王 #see you my king #goodbye my king #the king and me #til we meet again my king #zhang li #mohemisi #veelaveesa #evtiti #fallfthoughts #seeyoumyking #tilwemeetagainmyking #thekingandme #symk #再见我的国王 #sigh #we're never getting the wedding extra in the physical release #that Wen Yuan got that at all even temporarily and a merch run for it #is a fucking miracle

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