I would love for Viki to buy Immortality and other such C-Dramas based on danmei novels. Immortality is based on the Danmei novel 2HA by Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat and stars Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu. It was supposed to be released in 2022, but the censors in China won’t let them release it. So far they’ve cut it down from 58 to 40 episodes and turned it from a danmei story into a heteronormative one. If Viki picks it up they can do what they did with Meet You at the Blossom, which is awsome, and sacrificed very little from novel to screen.
We would all love that honestly, but it is basically impossible.
Meet you at the blossom is a completely different case. It was never meant to be censored and it is a co-production that is basically the reason why it got released without any problems.
China will not sell Immortality. The only way it would be possible is one if there are ZERO possibilities of it airing in China and two if it gets leaked like what happened with The Spirealm.
Immortality is a huge project. They invested tons of money on it and the two mains are extremely famous actors right now. By selling it they will not gain back the money they invested, since most viewers are Chinese when it comes to Cdramas. International audience is not that important.
Immortality is a censored adaptation of a same sex relationship novel like The Untamed of Word of Honor. I wouldn’t really call it heteronormative until I watch it.
Now, if you are talking about Viki buying the rights to make their own adaptations, then I truly hope not. They do not have the budget to adapt the book and if they do and it ends up being like Meet You at The Blossom, then I prefer to never watch it. MYATB is an effort that I am supporting by watching it on Viki, but objectively it is a very bad series in almost all aspects, and the book of Immortality deserves something much better than that…
I wouldn’t like to have the book ruined by a very bad adaptation. Hopefully the chinese adaptations of 2ha will see the light of day one day like many other danmei adaptations that have been shelved for ages like Winner is King, Eternal Faith or Chasing the light
P.S. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to request it on Viki!
The reports that I have read tell me that, in an attempt to get Immortality past the censors, the story has been changed from danmei to a heteronotmative story already. I honestly doubt that anything Viki could do to it would be worse than that. I loved The Untamed and Word of Honor, but China has cracked down a lot since then, from what I’m told. You’re right thoughh, it doesn’t hurt to request it on Viki.
It is definitely censored, but I can’t call it heteronormative. There were rumours that they added some non existent straight couples and many other rumours, but most of them were proved to be rumours or were simply theories.
They definitely have cut a lot of things from the original story. The source book has a lot of trigger warnings like r@pe, violence, gore, there is even a corpse orgy tw lol so yeah they definitely have not made the final cut -and they couldn’t honestly-.
That aside, even though things have greatly changed since WoH and the Untamed the series was filmed ages ago, so I don’t really have low expectations in terms of writing. Even though WoH and TU were both censored, it was obvious who were the main couples and despite the censorship they managed to get released having tons of romantic elements. Lastly, the two main actors is one of the main reasons many people want to watch Immortality. They fit insanely well with what the book describes.
Viki would definitely ruin it imo for multiple reasons, but currently it is not something it really matters since it is just a theory.
I truly hope we get to watch it as is and a miracle happens and this along with all the other adaptations get released. You never know with the chinese government. Things change every day and honestly I am having hope since it is a drama that constantly has -or had- release date rumours and it is always on the spotlight.
