PSA

[trobadora]

Guardian seems to be gone from Viki at the moment, at least in most regions.

But it's available on Youtube in what at first glance seems to be the uncensored version, here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTB73Ibi_X3GpNtpbVYxO5b_h9LUxyai6

There are English hardsubs. Only episode 23 is missing, currently not public.

(Thanks to oracularmayhem for the link!)

Comments

[cyberbrain]

*panics* Well, fuck. I hope it's something simple, like, it's license expired or something on viki.

Thank you for the new link!

[trobadora]

Yeah, I think that's the most likely explanation. Here's hoping it'll come back quickly!

[donutsweeper]

Thanks for the head's up and the link!

[trobadora]

I'm just glad it's still (mostly) available somewhere, uncensored!

[aturnofphrase]

That playlist has been missing episode 23 for a while.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvpAVnYN4lb2Gfz6Feq3KA1r5trkUxMU-
This playlist has episode 23 visible

[trobadora]

Thank you for the link! That's the playlist that has some weird elements cut, IIRC - see here - but at least episode 23 is there.

[aturnofphrase]

oh hey good news which is wild: the playlist you posted has episode 23 visible now??

[trobadora]

Not that I can see? Here, I still see only 39 available videos. Is it different in different regions?!

[aturnofphrase]

???? I saw it earlier when I replied, but now it's gone again????

[trobadora]

Wow, how bizarre!

[velithya]

I wasn't aware there was a censored/uncensored version! Do you know what was changed, and if I watched it on Viki which version I saw? (If you don't know that's fine of course!)

[satsuma]

As far as I know, there are three versions of guardian floating around because Chinese censorship is just Like That sometimes.

This is whats missing from the first version: https://foxghost.tumblr.com/post/181002746478/so-remember-when-guardian-was-taken-off-youku-and

And this is whats missing from the second: https://sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org/304041.html

[velithya]

Woah, how interesting!! I remember watching scenes that your links say were censored so hopefully that means I watched the uncensored version!!

[trobadora]

Like Satsuma says, there are two censored versions. Immediately after Guardian first aired, it was taken down on Youku and had to re-pass censorship in China, and when it came back in China it was missing some important parts, which foxghost describes here. The version available on Youtube was unaffected at that time.

Much later, the Youtube version suddenly was missing some parts, too - but completely different, unrelated and weird parts, see cyberbrain's post. The speculation has been that it had to do with music rights rather than actual censorship.

Going by the runtime of affected episodes, the playlist I linked above has the complete versions. Apart from, apparently, episode 23...

[velithya]

Thank you so much for explaining! I remember I started watching on Youtube and I found that sometimes the sound just cut out and it was complete silence for a while while the subtitles had music lyrics going, so music rights definitely sounds plausible! I switched to Viki to watch the rest of it but since I remember watching at least some of the scenes in the censored list hopefully that means I got the full version before it vanished! *crosses fingers*

[trobadora]

Fingers crossed, yeah! But looks like you watched most of it in the full version at least. :)

(I forgot to mention this above, but the Youtube version initially went down as well when it was pulled in China, so for a few months - July to October 2018, IIRC - it wasn't officially available anywhere. But when it came back on Youtube, it was uncensored. Until the later edits.)

[velithya]

Yeah it looks like most of the changes happened later in the series and I was definitely on Viki at that point! I think I swapped to Viki somewhere between the NorthWest Mountains and the Reunion Festival...

[trobadora]

Yeah, that sounds like you're on the safe side!

(On the other hand, a rewatch never hurt anyone ... *g*)

[velithya]

ahahaha, I only just finished watching it the first time around!! And I still have 520 fic to finish.... :D

[trobadora]

Haha, fair. *cheers you on*

[velithya]

I don't know if you're participating as well as modding but if so, good luck for your own fic too! ♥

[trobadora]

I am! Thanks muchly, I can use it. ♥

[mekare]

Oh no! Thank you for the alternative. <3

[trobadora]

I'm really glad the uncensored version is still available somewhere!