#but also knowing that people are apparently still trying to cancel 边江 in 2022?? presumably over wishing 肖战 a happy birthday in 2020??

[hunxi-after-hours]

hi hunxi, just wondering if you have thoughts on the weibo blowup over the tgcf audio drama? from what i've read, people are upset about the following:

there's negativity surrounding both lead voice actors, but the majority consensus seems to be that 双儿's voice isn't suitable for xie lian. there's also a screenshot circulating of a comment in an anonymous discussion forum posted in march 2022, which accuses the production company of 内选 and of using the ip as a “捧人的垫脚石”. aside from the very loaded language, the predictions in the comment seem mostly to have come true (which has led some people to speculate that it was actually released by someone within the company itself, either as a "whistleblower" situation or to test out reactions beforehand).

fans of the book dislike the way that mentions of mxtx + new tgcf content were apparently dragged into the behind-the-scenes video to ... quell public outrage? i personally don't see a problem, but weibo posters put a lot of emphasis on the fact that 新修 chapters were underway BEFORE the audio drama and therefore not "exclusive" audio content or written for the express purpose of the audio drama's production.

there's a whole lot more that won't include here (hot search/rankings allegedly being bought, voice actor fans shading book fans, etc), but i really hope this isn't an insensitive or overly negative ask. i'm just surprised that chinese vs international fandoms are having such wildly different reactions.

hi anon! honestly, looks like you've summed it up pretty well — I came to the TGCF audiodrama to have a good time and was surprised by how much negativity there was in CN fan circles about it?

(post got long, throwing it under a cut)

I assume there's probably some history/drama surrounding these supposedly contentious aspects of the TGCF AD production, so I suppose qualifiers are in order: I've got legitimately no idea where the anti-729 sentiment is coming from (?? they do good work???), or about the history of nepotism/favoritism in voice actor circles (?????). truly, everything I know begins and ends with 《我是特优声》 and my misadventures on 猫耳, so I'm doubtlessly missing out on any drama from like, before 2021

that being said, I can't say I understand the anti-casting sentiment because, well... 苏尚勤 is a legitimately experienced and lauded voice actor who's familiar with MXTX's work, and while 陈张太康 is a somewhat newer face, anyone who's watched 《我是特优声》 or listened to his audiodramas knows that he's got an extremely impressive range that I personally think is very suited to the dynamic aspects of Hua Cheng's character. from the very little I've spotted on weibo/the 猫耳 评论区, it seems like people are taking issue with... how young 苏尚勤 sounds? which is like. fam. you know what voice actors do for a living, right? change their voices to embody different characters? you truly cannot judge how well a voice actor performs in an AD based on a five minute trailer alone. give it a few episodes/a season since they're apparently giving out the entire season for free for two months, and then we'll talk

I think a lot of the “声音不贴角色” complaints come from, well, fans of the book expecting these few lines we've heard so far to truly embody the breathtaking complexity of these characters all at once, which is rather impossible. the thing about Xie Lian and Hua Cheng is that they are young, and old, and tired, and passionate, and faithful, and trusting, and cruel, kind, but all at different times. so Xie Lian sounds young now? give the voice actor a chance to show how exhausted and jaded and tired he becomes later, in the flashback arcs. so Hua Cheng doesn't sound like the badass ghost king we know him for? that actually 100% makes sense, he's in San Lang mode right now, and if you watched 陈张太康's rendition of 《灵笼》, you KNOW he can do arrogant, vicious royalty when it comes to it

also, looking across the cast list for the AD, this doesn't seem to be 内选 unless it's like... 内选 within the 京圈 voice acting circle?? which to be fair is like. maybe 200 people total asldkfjadlsf (look if you want to diversify your voice acting cast then let's see some 沪圈 rep huh?? #give毛毛老师anotherbitroleagain). the voice actors in the TGCF AD cast come from a vast assortment of different voice acting studios, from 729 to 边工 to 翼之声 to 光合积木 to unaffiliated with professional studios at all, so I'm??? confused??? at allegations of unfairness in casting??

I also saw some of those 弹幕 complaining about how they kept bringing up the MDZS production in the 制作谈 and I'm spectacularly baffled as to why that's a problem considering that much of the production staff had worked on the MDZS AD and it's. by. the same. author. and anyway, much of their discussion of the MDZS AD in the TGCF 制作谈 was specifically about shortcomings in the MDZS AD that they were learning from and seeking to improve this time around, which feels relevant and not particularly 刷好感 to me

tl;dr I think the TGCF AD production team worked very hard on this and are genuinely trying their best, and that all judgment should be reserved until after the season airs. there really is no point in trying to offer a holistic critique based on five-minute trailer alone, and like, I don't know how many morality points one would get from boycotting an AD but tbh it seems kind of. negligible. so let's all just kick back and enjoy this absolutely stacked production while it's being generously offered for free, shall we?

#to be totally honest all the negativity I'm seeing seems like 黑粉/水军活动 so I'm inclined to discount their validity #but also knowing that people are apparently still trying to cancel 边江 in 2022?? presumably over wishing 肖战 a happy birthday in 2020?? #反正有些在网上活动的人是不带脑子的 #I've seen a lot of complaints about the casting but very little suggestions for who SHOULD have been cast beyond the donghua voice cast #which I respect! having different voice casts between the donghua and the AD can be jarring! #but like...... different production teams have different interpretations of text and characters and that's just fine? #idk I'll believe that 苏尚勤 is a bad choice when someone offers me a better alternative who isn't 姜sir #I've said it before and I'll say it again: I WILL 为太康老师打call if I have to #I feel pretty neutral about 苏尚勤's casting but I feel STRONGLY POSITIVE about 太康 #我这个人是离不开《特优声》的坑