Hello, anon! Guardian 镇魂 is a Chinese live action sci-fi webdrama. It’s about a special investigative department that handles cases related to supernatural criminals from the underworld. The two leads are:
Zhao Yunlan, police chief of the department in question. He’s scruffy, charming, confident in the face of danger, and sharper than he lets on. Outwardly informal to strangers in a way that’s kind of rude. Also, when he’s into someone, he’s a huge flirt.
Shen Wei, university professor. He’s very mysterious and restrained, and tries his hardest to be all mild-mannered and polite. But he’s actually secretly ~THE BLACK-CLOAKED ENVOY~, an ancient powerful ambassador from the underworld who helps catch abovementioned supernatural criminals.
So, the deal is, Shen Wei has this epic crush on Zhao Yunlan. They have this 10,000-year-old connection that Zhao Yunlan isn’t aware of. Shen Wei would do anything to protect Zhao Yunlan, he’d kill for him and he’d die for him. He is so devoted and self-sacrificing, and you can just see the love in his eyes whenever he looks at Zhao Yunlan. And Shen Wei does this ridiculous stoic woobie thing, where he’s visibly pining and suffering and keeping secrets from Zhao Yunlan.
Zhao Yunlan is initially wary of Shen Wei..but he’s intrigued by him, and he can tell that Shen Wei is so intense about him even if he doesn’t know why, and their relationship builds over the course of several cases.
Guardian is based on a BL novel by Priest. The drama had to change many elements to get past the Chinese censors - it had to change all the supernatural/fantasy/mythological aspects into sci-fi. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are a canon couple in the novel, but the drama had to scale back the m/m romance also because of the censors.
But…it’s very much there. Like, it’s screamingly obvious that Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are in love and they’re a couple, even if it’s subtext-that’s-pretty-much-text. The chemistry between them is palpable, and you can tell that the writers, cast and crew committed themselves to make this as gay as they possibly could (here’s a fanvid for reference).
Caveat: this show is not high quality television and obviously had a low budget. Terrible CGI, bad voiceover dubbing, bad acting from most of the characters who are not the leads, the plot and worldbuilding is a mess, ridiculous villains, awful costuming of side and background characters, etc.
But it’s tropey fun if you’re like me and have nostalgia for shows like Torchwood and early New Doctor Who, and the love story between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan is one of the best things I’ve ever watched onscreen. This is a show that knows the BL fan id, which is ‘hot badass dudes getting hurt and having tender feelings for each other and gently touching each other.’
I’d like to note that this series has a sad ending that verges on being ambiguous, which sucks, but that can easily be headcanoned away. And it helps that Priest (who wrote the original novel) fixed it by connecting it to the novel universe, which does has a happy ending.
Guardian drama subbed on YouTube
Novel Translation on Wattpad
Novel Extras Translated on Wattpad
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