This week streaming service Viki answered many prayers when they officially started to stream the controversial 2017 Chinese BL drama Advance Bravely, starring Gong Jun and Jason Xu. 

Jun stars as Xia Yao, the son of an extremely wealthy family who is carving a name for himself as a top-tier fighter. His good looks and opulence attract socialite Yuan Ru (Li Qiao Dan), who refuses to hear Yao when he tells her that he’s not interested – even after he tells her he’s incredibly small and climaxes after three seconds. Giving a new definition to the term thirsty. Ru enlists the help of her older brother Yuan Zong (Xu) to “convince” Yao to love her. 

But nothing is going to change Yao’s mind. He’s just not interested in Ru, the way. However, he does start to develop feelings for Zong.


A LOT happens throughout the series’ 30 episodes; however, due to the Chinese ban on anything promoting “Non-masculine” men, the series became heavily edited – in some of the strangest ways in an attempt to remove any homosexual, leaving audiences very, VERY confused. Even still, it’s a well-produced action series with some incredibly beautiful men and with several romantic moments that still managed to slip past the censors, which could be why (for a time) the series was utterly wiped from the internet. 

This week, Viki has dropped two episodes per day. While they are presented in glorious (and logo free) 1080 HD, the episodes are the cut versions, so there are missing scenes. They’re not super essential scenes (though the ones I’ve noticed did add more humor to the story); however, as the series goes on (if the cuts are the same that were on YouTube), there will be a lot of confusion going forward – especially in the second half of the series. 

Still cut or un-cut, I am so excited to see Xia Yao and Yuan Zong back on my screen. 

More Advance Bravely soon so…

Stay Tuned! 

Advertisement