BL Drama Lovers Club

 Jadeheart:

desperately lacked romanticism and a breadth of LGBTQ+ content and stories in general in the west, Asian BLs were like finding what I had been desperately searching for since forever.

Yes, plus also the positive, feel-good, feel-normal factor in Asian BLs - although some of the recent Western gay-themed productions like "Heartstoppers" and "Love Simon" do indeed have this, too. But yeah, through most of my life, western gay-themed productions (from the breakthrough "Boys in the Band" in 1970  through the height of the Aids era, all the way to "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005) were almost entirely negative and leave me feeling bad.

 Jadeheart:

I also completely understand how a lot of BL dramas can recycle plots and have near identical story lines and an overuse of tropes in them can start to made them really lose their luster super fast.

Fine with me so long as they have lots of cuties.

 Jadeheart:

I can see why.

I had no business laughing out the way I did when I read this line LOL SCREAMING!!! DWL

 RXinw:

Anyway, I know not all remakes suit fans so this time around I am the fan not satisfied.

I could tell just by the 4 minute trailer that it was going to be a skip for me. I'm not even basing that on having seen the original Addicted and SWM previously as the reason why, although I can't help but see the parallels. On it's own merit it was not at all something that was going to pull me in. I normally will watch something at least for the first 2-3 eps before I make any comment about a series whatsoever, but I just didn't like the goofiness and comedic sound effects, although, there are also many sweet and endearing moments in it as well that I see from the trailer. I'm sure it will be a fun watch for many. Who knows maybe one day far in the future I'll be like wth I'll watch it when there's noting else I'm feeling at the time.

On a more positive note, the cast seems to have a lot of newer younger actors that have very very few previous roles, and this is their second main role or had only been supports and guests in lots of other dramas but finally got a main lead role here etc., so maybe this will at least be good to have in their portfolio as actors to have more experience under their belt.

 p43425:

Yes, plus also the positive, feel-good, feel-normal factor in Asian BLs - although some of the recent Western gay-themed productions like "Heartstoppers" and "Love Simon" do indeed have this, too. But yeah, through most of my life, western gay-themed productions (from the breakthrough "Boys in the Band" in 1970  through the height of the Aids era, all the way to "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005) were almost entirely negative and leave me feeling bad.

Fine with me so long as they have lots of cuties.

Agreed. I love the sweet moments, the tender intimate moments, the romance, the flirtation, sometimes the insanely saccharine overload cuteness in some series, and the more often than not happy endings. Although, I do like tragic heart ripping stories or a tragic ending on very rare occasion. When it comes to NC scenes, I have a love hate relationship with it. It really comes down to how far they go with it in a scene and how much is injected(no pun intended lol) into the entire series. The reason I get adamant about it is because if it is NC heavy, it starts to feel like I'm back at just watching hedonistic-centered productions from the west again.

I'd say that 4Minutes, as an example, pushed me to the limit of how far I care to go with NC scenes in my dramas, but it was exactly the kind of intense sultry scenes you'd expect in that type of series. It didn't offer much in the way of what I like to watch that I stated above, but it was a gritty series and I accepted watching it as that and I didn't project my wants onto it to be something that it isn't.

 Jadeheart:

I also pace myself so that I don't burn out.

You know, I think that's what happened to me with BLs. I burned out because I watched too much in a short period of time. I did the same with anime in the past and now I don't watch it anymore either. Though I guess at my age I should be doing something else other than watching anime lol

 Jadeheart:

I hope you enjoy your new chapter of content discovery! ♡

Thank you, I appreciate your well thought out response to my rant. I will try to do my best! I had over 280 titles in my ptw list (most of them GLs) and just went through all of it discarding what doesn't spark joy. Now I can say (after adding 100 more GL titles to it from a MDL list I keep on hand), that I definitely have plenty of dramas and movies to watch in the upcoming future. I will pace myself with these titles this time though, so as not to burn out again.

Basically, I might go back to BL or I might not, it depends on whether I find a BL series that really makes me interested in it, to the point of not only starting watching, but also finishing it. Lately I've been starting series but not finishing them and that becomes annoying pretty fast.

I just want to thoroughly enjoy whatever I'm watching, therefore I'm going to watch only those series and genres that spark joy for me at the moment. While BLs used to do that, nowadays I can't feel the same dedication I had for it all these years. I mustn't forget the fact I first started reading BL manga back in 2008 and since then I've been on and off with BL ever since. I have an OTP for anime, I like many BL dramas and in general I had a good experience with BL. For some reason I'm unwilling to watch anymore though. Let Hidamari ga Kikoeru be my last BL. It's a really good series and it spoke to me in ways other series didn't. I will probably read its manga original, if I have the time.

@everyone, Do enjoy your BL time and be careful not to overdo it and burn out.  >_< See ya later for October challenge! (Yeah, I'm still going to do the challenge even if I'm mostly lurking around here).

 Jadeheart:

so maybe this will at least be good to have in their portfolio as actors to have more experience under their belt

Yes. It is good to find the positive and this is indeed a positive.

 p43425:

I'm usually bored by the NC scenes. Not kinky enough for me. Haha! (Actually, not kidding.)

 Jadeheart:

LOL nothing wrong with that. I have other content sources to go to for that when I need to. *grins*

*Chants in mind* "Don't say anything!"

It feels kind of weird to have no ‘popular’ BLs airing on Saturday…