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.
