Guardian: The Small-Budget Urban Fantasy That Gave Its Two Leads a Mass Following

Why this one

A detective who runs a government office for the paranormal, and a university professor who knows more than he says: Guardian (镇魂, Zhen Hun) pairs them and sends them after cases that sit between the human world and an underground one. Zhao Yunlan (赵云澜), played by Bai Yu (白宇), is the head of the Special Investigation Department (特别调查处). Shen Wei (沈巍), played by Zhu Yilong (朱一龙), is the professor who becomes its part-time consultant.

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The series aired on Youku in 2018 as a wangju (网剧, "web drama"), made on a small budget and without established stars in the lead roles. It is adapted from a popular web novel, it turned two actors into household names in a matter of weeks, and its production values and its audience reaction pulled in opposite directions. English-language reviewers were still writing about it in 2019 and 2021.

The setup

The story is set in Dragon City (龙城). According to Soompi, the world dates from 10,000 years after a peace between three groups, one of them the Dixing (地星, "Earth Star") people, an underground race with supernatural abilities. Some of the Dixing want to rule the surface, and the Special Investigation Department looks into the unexplained deaths that follow. Zhao Yunlan leads the unit with a carefree manner that covers a sharp eye. Shen Wei is a bioengineering professor with a hidden past tied to Zhao Yunlan. Zhu Yilong plays three roles in the series, each with its own mannerisms.

The early episodes work as case-of-the-week mysteries. A 2021 review in The Geekiary found those cases easy to solve and the pacing uneven, and said the central villain does not appear until more than halfway through. The series runs 40 episodes of about 45 minutes, according to English Wikipedia and TMDB. Prime Video and IMDb list 39, so the count varies by source.

Cast and crew

• Bai Yu (白宇) as Zhao Yunlan (赵云澜)

• Zhu Yilong (朱一龙) as Shen Wei (沈巍), who also plays two other roles

• Xin Peng (辛鹏) as Guo Changcheng (郭长城)

• Li Yan (李砚) as Da Qing (大庆)

• Gao Yu'er (高雨儿) as Zhu Hong (祝红)

• Jiang Mingyang (江明洋) as Chu Shuzhi (楚恕之)

• Liu Minting (刘泯廷) as Lin Jing (林静)

Zhou Yuanzhou (周远舟) directs. The credited screenwriters are Ye Fangzhou (叶方舟), Qi Xiaoyu (齐晓雨) and Hua Liang (画梁). The source is the 2012 web novel Guardian by Priest. Filming took place in 2017, mainly in Shanghai. TMDB lists the English title as Guardian.

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From the novel to the screen

The source novel is a danmei (耽美, "indulgence in beauty," male-male romance fiction) web novel, and the series presents the two leads' bond as a friendship with romantic subtext. English Wikipedia, Soompi and The Geekiary all describe it that way.

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Director Zhou Yuanzhou said in a July 2018 trade interview, reposted on 36Kr, that the script was altered in places because of content restrictions and a short production schedule, and that he could make only modest adjustments in the time available. Soompi describes how the show carries the relationship instead: through glances, mirrored movements, strong reactions when the other is hurt, and other characters remarking on how close the two are. Chinese commentary from the run uses the phrase xiongdi qing (兄弟情, "brotherly bond") for the same thing, and analysts at Zhiwei Data listed it among the most frequent words in online discussion.

Some changes were practical. The novel does not describe Zhao Yunlan with facial hair. According to Zhou, the beard came from Bai Yu, who had stubble when they first met; the director liked it and asked him not to shave. The casting announcement drew criticism over the look, and Zhou says opinion softened later.

Youku took the series down on August 2, 2018, and restored an edited version on November 10, 2018, according to English Wikipedia and Chinese Wikipedia.

Two leads and a fandom

The series is mainly remembered for Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong. Zhiwei Data reported that Zhu Yilong had been gaining around 100 followers a day on Weibo before the premiere on June 13, and gained more than 60,000 between June 13 and June 15. Bai Yu, who already had a following from the campus drama Suddenly Summer (忽而今夏), had been gaining around 10,000 a day. By the time of that report Zhu Yilong had more than 6 million Weibo followers and Bai Yu more than 4 million. A 2023 Tencent News retrospective says Zhu Yilong's fan base roughly doubled from about 4 million in under two months.

The fandom named itself. People's Daily Online ran a feature on 29 June 2018 asking readers whether they were one of the Zhen Hun nühai (镇魂女孩, "Guardian girls"), and Chinese Wikipedia credits those fans' memes and fan works for much of the show's reach. The 36Kr interview, published when the series ended, says both leads had become strong sellers of products they endorsed.

The two actors then went in different directions. The Tencent retrospective describes Zhu Yilong as moving towards film after a supporting role in a period drama, and Bai Yu as staying mostly in television.

English-language reviewers consistently single out the pairing. Soompi's 2019 piece calls the leads the highlight, and says they read the novel, got on well and improvised scenes that stayed in the final cut. The Geekiary review also praises the chemistry between them.

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A small budget, visible seams

The 36Kr interview describes the production as a small-budget web drama with no well-known cast at the start of its run. Zhou said the crew had limited shooting funds and put its effort into sets, costumes, props and music. For each of the key artifacts in the story, he worked with the art director on about ten sketches and chose the one closest to the novel's description.

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The music is the most praised element in English-language coverage. Soompi singles out the opening theme "We Won't Be Falling," sung in English with orchestral backing, and the ending theme. English Wikipedia says the opener was produced by an American team and performed with the Budapest Art Orchestra.

The visual effects are the weakest point in the same coverage. Soompi criticizes the computer graphics, along with plot holes and continuity errors, and notes that some sets look like those of a Republican-era drama. The Geekiary calls the effects a little hokey but does not weigh them heavily, and objects more to an audio track that switches between the actors' own voices and dubbing, sometimes mid-line.

Chinese viewers noticed the same gap. Zhiwei Data reported a Douban score of 6.6 during the run, and said it slipped as general viewers joined and complained about production quality and supporting performances. English Wikipedia records that China Entertainment News praised the show's realism, that People's Daily Online praised its storyline, and that Yangcheng Evening News called it unsophisticated. Play-count figures from the run differ by source, from 1.8 billion on Youku by August 2018 in English Wikipedia to 2.7 billion in the 36Kr interview.

Where to watch

In mainland China the series is on Youku, in the edited version restored in November 2018. English Wikipedia says the series was licensed to Viki for the United States, and a 2019 Soompi guide linked to the first episode there. Amazon Prime Video carries a listing for Guardian with the same lead cast in at least some regions, with IMDb showing 7.6 out of 10 from about 102,000 ratings when we checked. Availability varies by region, so search for the title and the leads' names in your country's services.

What overseas viewers are saying

The most consistent point in English-language coverage is the chemistry of the two leads. Soompi and The Geekiary both treat it as the reason to watch, and The Geekiary describes the relationship as the main draw, carried almost entirely by subtext.

The reservations are about everything around them. The Geekiary finds the plot interesting but weak overall, finds the villain's motives unclear, and reports that the audio is inconsistent. Soompi's view is that the plot is simple and the graphics weak. On IMDb, the audience score stands at 7.6.

These are published reviews, written one to three years after the premiere, not forum comments.