Watching 2025

Trying this again. It comes highly recommended from a trustful source.

Teens are charming and sweet and have oodles of chemistry. Their adult versions have none of those and the actors are badly chosen. DROPPED 21/01/25

Surprisingly interesting! It was likened to Queer As Folk so I am watching it as such an LGBT show not a BL. Trials and tribulations of a young man trying to find his place in the world, in the society, in life. How important is it that people know that you are gay? The ML is but he is not shouting it on top of the buildings, nor he is actively hiding it. Being gay does not define him, it is just a part of his personality. He is not an activist, is not bothered by LGBT agenda and fighting for gay rights; he just wants to have an ordinary life, work, have friends, have fun, love. Being gay is not the be all and end all. He seems to be sort of middle of the road. His first boyfriend is just like him only calmer so much so he found him boring. His second boyfriend is the closeted type: private is private, conforming to the society, hiding behind research. His attitude is understandable in a very homophobic Korean society. The third boyfriend is just like the first one, sweet and caring which eventually bores the ML. He is so lost, he seems to be fumbling in the dark looking for something but not quite knowing what. Sad and real. His boyfriends seem to be his mirror images and since he does not like what he sees, he does everything he can, probably unconsciously, in order to ruin the relationship. After 10 years of searching he finally grows up,moves on hopeful and confident.

What do you call stories written by a writer about a writer? Autobiography? Tongue in cheek?

Would this drama be as gripping if the main character were straight? Probably because the topics are universal. Because life is just a series of hits and misses, trials and errors, bad timings and wrong decisions.....

I like: opening credits (make me think of those 60s US films!), cinematography (many shots from above), music, acting (the ML is amazing!)

 Referencing, as for life lessons: Madame Bovary, Robert Capa, George Elliot, unicorns, Spinoza, astronomy, Kylie Wylde....21/01/25

I am still waiting for the BL bit but this is an interesting micro drama about a tech guy who got roped into making deepfake videos by his university crush. It is not vertical, the episodes have been seamlessly edited together and the subber made an amazing job of translating everything that appeared on screen. Very weird. Incomprehensible or just a story of a man driven to the limits of sanity by deepfake manipulation. Scary. This is not a BL, this is a horror story! 19/01/25

A cute web drama. I might even finish it!And an ML who does not condone drinking or find drunk people cute! Revolutionary for a K drama!!! Ok Taek Yon is cute not handsome and can be very funny. Talented guy! The plot is some outrageous insurance scam/murder conspiracy. A cute forgettable single watch. 19/01/25

I tried watching it twice: too weird for my taste. And that secretary dressed as a little girl is just too much. DROPPED 19/01/25

Bad, just awful and not even so bad that it is good. Unwatchable and chinese..DROPPED 19/01/25

Not a ghost story just somehow a parallel universe where people come back to life suddenly so much that there is a government service dealing with it. Lots of bad acting. DROPPED 19/01/25

Interesting concept but I fear too much stress and a predictable plot when you mix superpower of healing and politicians. Moreover, the healing guy in his transparent prison gives off the viba of Hanibal Lector. The video is of awful quality as well! DROPPED 19/01/25

Awful poster but cute actors and a silly story. A ghost needs to fall in love in order to be able to cross over....nice premise! Let's see what they do with it!

"I don't want to die a virgin!" the only thing young men think about!

This seems to be a typical OXIN drama OTT campy! And the ghost boy's horrible hairstyle! Or maybe it is a wig? He is ugly like that....18/01/25

I like the music and the adult feel to it: no teens, no school, no stepbrothers or robots and mafia but a bit of greek mythology and some bad acting/writing (the scene at doctor's office...) Certain indoor scenes would have benefited from less light: the brightness is blinding and therefore everything looks artificial. I like the animated sequences a lot.

The story is about an influencer slowly falling apart due to mental health issues and severe insomnia, while mixing past & present, reality & dreams. Halfway through, this looks like a multiple personalities disorder. Is it? All the characters have animal names: Raccoon, Kangaroo, Dog, Dolphin....and all seem to be connected to certain probably traumatic periods in ML's life. Every character is also dressed like the main character while they spend the time together and they all wear bead bracelets. Moreover, ML has Mommy issues: he suffers from being abandoned. BooHoo!

And after all this, we are left with more questions than answers. It looks like he decided to stay in his imaginary world and completely withdraw from reality. Excellent premise, terrible/unfinished/unclear ending. There is a longer version behind the paywall. Maybe that one is clearer? 

Actually the director clarifies the ending: they are happy together, visiting doctors regularly, having therapy and supporting each other. That is just one side but I still cannot get over the names, clothes and imaginary characters. I think that even his boyfriend is one, the last one and the only remaining one.18/01/25

KinnPorsche ripped off, shamelessly. The guy playing the idol has chubby cheeks, too chubby to be convincing....DROPPED 16/01/25

Holland plays the bad boy, a son of a rich politician and who is the head of bullying gang in their class. Everyone does whatever he tells them.

I hate bullying stories and Holland is not very convincing as a bully. I like the other guy, he is very very good looking and is trying to stay out but being forced in. DROPPED 16/01/25

I am liking this. It is a cute story between a rich spoilt brat and a poor deaf boy. Followed by a long suffering assistant who is trying to get him to be more adult, the brat falls for the poor boy who has a lot of difficulties finding a job.

But, the music is too loud and too overpowering and omnipresent. Too much, just too much of music....

I like those squirrels in parks...

Beside that we have:

• height difference
• fish kisses
• awful music
• world record of accidental almost kisses (the brat is clumsy)
• brat's harpy fiancée
• silly parents vs. horrible father and even worse brother/cousin
• brat is a businessman? Yeah, right, in his dreams!
• omnipresent loud music
• coitus interruptus
• both MLs have cousins interested in them, very very interested!Jealousy?
• sudden movements followed by long silences while staring at each other
• the brat's cousin has tight relations with the local mob and goes around waving guns
• the deaf boy's cousin is happy that he is happy even if it is not with her. She is making doe eyes with the fiancée! Promise of a GL couple?
• taekwando again?
• the second couple kisses better than the first one
• disappointment in love turns you gay or everyone is bi!
• the assistant's boyfroend looks like a reject from a vampire movie

Nothing to write home about! 15/01/25

Bert has a crush on his best straight friend. In order to drown his sorrow of impossible love, he has frequent one night stands. But his latest one turns out to be his professor. And his aunt's fiancé. Complicated? You bet! So this is basically a reels bl lakorn. Wicked!

The cast is universally awful: it seems like they chose the worst actors during the casting period. The production crew is just the same: awful camerawork, awful sound recording, awful editing, awful music and non-existent direction.

This squarely falls into the "so bad that it is good" category! Is this what they call a slap-kiss lakorn? 12/01/25

I am trying a lakorn again because I like the actor, Film. So far, so good! It looks promising! The story is the basic revenge between the wealthy families with the added bonus of soul swapping so this is fun so far. Stressful but fun. The actor playing the young version of the evil guy is the most beautiful actor in the cast. And a very talented one: those eyes are telling a thounsands stories...

The FL is smart and there are actually only three good cops here: everyone else is bought! Nice! The main cop is a straight arrow and his romance with Alisa is cute: that indirect kiss was ?

The FL does not know that ML is her dead fiancé: what right has the ML to be angry about FL trying to survive in their cutthroat world?

I am enjoying this crazy, senseless, exciting plot a lot. Basically it is a thai makjang, a soap with exaggerated, unrealistic characters made to make everyone's blood boil out of rage. Brilliant!

And the main pair have good chemistry. 

Now should I point out plotholes or,should we just suspend our belief and go with the flow? 

This drama is stressing me out: I want to punch the bad guy so much!! Can't binge-watch this! And yet I want to finish it just it is too long! The problem is that they dragged the plot out too much. Now on ep 14, things are finally starting to accelerate! I hope!

One thing I like here is that the FL takes about 10 episodes to believe the unbelievable, i.e. the soul switch, which makes this drama more credible, if you will. The FL is surprisingly smart and tries to avoid the usual drama complications: like SFL's jealousy. Refreshing! Moreover, an accident happens and she calls the ambulance first! Wow! 12/01/25

Hugo is too addicted to Hin to be reasonable. He is weak and Hin is using it to his advantege. Like always! Hugo has changed and Hin is starting to lose his beauty and appeal. Only Hugo still worships him. What a toxic relationship!

But after spending a night together, Hugo refuses to get into a relationship with Hin treating him just like a one night stand! Good for you Hugo! Hin must be wondering why his charms are not operating any more. But his charms now are soiled and wilted....

Victor has been in love with Hugo for a long time and when Hugo tells him there is never going to be anything more than friendship between them, Victor goes on an app to get a hook up and only gets drugged and raped. Hugo wants to comfort him but Victor refuses. They actually both suffer from unrequited love.

The ending is open again but we have finally seen the immature characters, especially Hin,  from previous seasons grow a little bit. We do not really know what happened with Oliver: he's not in the picture anymore and Hugo is very sad about it. 11/01/24

Hin is back from Taiwan with his tail between the legs, having failed to make his dream reality. He works in a bar and meets a new guy, Tony with whom he starts an affair. Hugo is heavily depressed and tries to kill himself. He is saved by his friend Cory. Afterwards, Hugo meets Cory's friend Oscar who's been interested in him since high school. (Why?). Yiu meets his ex Sheldon and that sends him into a tailspin abuse of BDSM...

Owan's hair is so bad: he really needs help to look uglier?!?!

Hugo is fascinated by Hin, talentless and selfish jerk. Yes, we do not choose who we fall in love with but Hin is not a nice person, handsome and charming, yes; nice?No way! Hugo prefers him over Oscar a talented, kind and generous man. What's wrong with you, Hugo?!?!? Get over your high school crush and move on with your life. God knows that Hin has moved on (if he ever thought about you in that way, to begin with!)! Or at least he thought he was only to get a taste of his own medicine when he is dumped and disregarded by Tony whom he liked a lot! So Hin, now at a lowest point in his life: no career, no friends, no lover ; calls Hugo, the only person who never said No to him. But Hugo is unreachable! Good for you, Hugo! Finally learned your lesson? 

This third season was very messily filmed, editing all over the place (flashbacks?I think?) and too many new characters just passing through. Still a worthy addition to HK BLs (considering it is under Chinese rule).11/01/25

Back in highschool, Hugo confessed to Hin but Hin, being selfcentered kind of guy, rejected him. Hin is looking for fame not love. Hugo is so disappointed that he goes on a rampage: from attacking potential love rivals to sleeping with anyone available. His father discovers he's gay and locks him up. Hugo leaves the house. 

Moreover, there are a few hot and steamy scenes....But the overall acting is rather bad especially the two main leads: Owan (who is so ugly...) and Pius (who has an interesting speaking voice. . but who cannot sing...)There is nothing much likeable about these characters which makes them all the more human. 11/01/25

This is a low budget HK production and it shows: messy storyline jumping all over the place, some bad acting and a lot of very bad subs which add to the overall incomprehension....

The plot: Hin meets two of his exes (Hugo and Yiu) suddenly after years of separation. That's it. This short drama is just the set up for the following seasons. 10/01/25

A JBL which has just finished airing:

• flashback (6 years) to high school days
• first meeting in slow motion
• the obligatory voiceover
• school rebel with an abusive father
• the actor playing the rebel looks too old to be playing a teen
• that first kiss...a dead fish kiss, of course!
• all these dramas give us the same message: teens are left to their own devices because the adults obviously don't care and cannot be trusted, be it parents or teachers
• ooooh, so romantic staying faithful to your first love 5 years later! NOT! Can we get some growth in these characters! The rebel had trouble recognizing his first love! But he never looked for anyone else....ridiculous! But romantic!
• it is so much more romantic to run to the person you love than to take a cab! NOT!
• the actor playing the quiet guy looks too young to be playing an adult: when he wears a suit and goes to work he looks like a kid dressing up! All round very bad casting!
• support characters are underdevelopped: Jin's friends: creepy, harrassing teacher; uncaring mothers
• so they took a bath together (naked, close to each other!) and just talked, then they got out, got dressed and jumped on each other's bones! What was the point of getting dressed? Actors' contracts?

Boring, trope filled, bad casting, not quite a waste of time but almost.... 9/01/25

Cute short film: an expat and a local boy meet and sparks fly. Can they work together? The initial problems were solved quickly...;so, it(s the happy ending! But I would love to see more of them! 5/01/25

Cute so far (ep 1): they brush their teeth a lot - probably a PPL! lol Story wise nothing much happens: one man has been having nightmares since he was 10. The other man, an actor, is hitting on him, apparently a crush (why?how?) and gets into a car crush by the end of the episode. This is turning out to be another: comatose person's soul/ghost asking for help .... DROPPED 5/01/25

First drop of the year: just not in the mood for this kind of quirkiness! 5/01/25

A cute short film promoting Chiang Mai and concert venues. And Teresa Tang. A local boy helps out a taiwanese concert organizer find an appropriate venue. And while speaking english, they fall in love. Nothing to write home about. 4/01/25

Widowed suspicious cold father, neglected and spoiled lying cold daughter, no trust between them...if the representation of kids in korean dramas reflect even a little bit the reality, then the low fertility in SK is self-explanatory! When you add loss of identity when women become mothers, bullying, cut-throat society etc. SK seems like hell on earth.

This drama is going to show us a bonding experience between a father and his daughter through a murder investigation. I hope it is not as predictable as this! (ep.1)Because of his job, a past incident and her refusal to talk to her father, he is so suspicious of his daughter: lack of trust on both sides of abysmal proportions!

This is proving to be a roller-coast of emotions: you understand, excuse, condemn, forgive their decisions and then start all over again! They are throwing red herrings at us constantly!  Moreover, the woman profiler has it in for the boss, doing her damnest to get him and his daughter down: so convinced she's right! Anyhow, the main culprit seems to be the landlady who manipulated everyone around her to conceal her crimes.

His daughter is investigating her best friend's disappearance and murder and that's how she got involved in the present case. And she is getting her father deeper and deeper into trouble, calmly and systematically. She seems to be manipulating everyone like a psychopath.

The actors are all amazing. But the way the main actor walks/talks is a bit odd, stilted, uncertain as if he's uncomfortable. I wonder if he walks like that in real life? I just don't like the female profiler's voice. And there is not a single likeable character....

The drama is very slow burn, nobody says much, least of all the father and his daughter; it is very gloomy, atmospheric, sad, the cinematography makes us really feel the heaviness of it all. I am loving those aerial shots! Music is amazing too. 4/01/25

What happens:  

• nice close up opening and the movie title written by a character
• very slow burn
• shy main character, cowardly, because of peer pressure, "best" friend
• first love but gay therefore scary
• homophobic and judgemental kids in the class
• great cinematography and camera shots: for example a lift mirror reflection of the shy ML
• cliché heart-to-heart talk in the empty playground's seesaw: points for novelty for not using the usual swings!

They eventually reconnect on the beach: the first one finally gives the gift and the poem he wrote and the second one shows up realizing that his "best friend" is more important than the pressure exercised by the other kids. Lovely, subtle and poetic. Lacking originality: we have already seen so many like stories. 4/01/25

A silly little movie about an airhead youtuber trying to get more followers by going to the gym and who ends up being swindled by a beefy trainer. Ridiculous and funny.

I am just wondering why none of the actors from this short film never made anything else especially the main actor who is cute and talented. A waste! 4/01/25

Cute vertical series ruined by invisible subs.

Misunderstanding trope which actually makes love bloom and not ruin a relationship. Moreover, the female character is not a crazy ex but a really good friend and we need more of those (though they are more and more frequent in BL so that's a plus!). 

Rather basic, chaste plot: an adult discovering he may be gay because another man likes him? We are treading on dangerous ground here going back to 2019? No, no, no! 3/01/25

One man hooks up with someone who looks like his ex. He turns out to be his ex's twin. Now they start a relationship all three of them together. Twins have very different characters.A friend tells the first guy to choose only one of the twins, the criteria being whose is bigger and who's better in bed?

Then the final twist arrives, and: there have never been twins! And that's when the whole story falls apart: they do not even try to explain what happened, why he imagined twins in the first place....nothing! The explanation for this imaginary twin is left to us, the audience, we can think whatever we like but nothing is logical. Everything is hanky dory, happily ever after. 

The film has a very interesting premise but it is too short and does not go beyond the premise. A wasted potential! 3/01/25

And another vertical bl. Beautifully filmed and excellently acted. They should have chosen the normal format.

The story is about being gay in the countryside. One ML has a terrible relationship with his irresponsible father, the other ML is orphan sleeping with his teacher who took him in when his parents died. Toxic and unhealthy. On top of that, there is the neighbourhood girl with a huge crush on the first ML who has a crush on the second ML. The girl tries to seduce the first ML but she fails repeatedly eventually provoking a scandal in a little quiet village. But the person who actually pulled the strings was the teacher who wanted to keep the second ML all to herself: evil but very pretty monster.

Eventually the father and the girl accept the relationship. The second ML finds the first in the water and even though he believs him drowned, he does not check the pulse or does any kind of CPR but only cries "Wake up!". Ridiculous. Happy ending. I think.

I want to see more of this director's works. This was beautiful. 3/01/25

A male prostitute's client showers him with kindness after a bad experience with another client. So much so he decides to quit this job. THE END The lengths people are forced to go in order to survive is tragic.

It is a short film but it is a bit empty.The story is interesting even though the depth is missing. Probably because it is a short film. Maybe I'm a cynic but the client's kindness seemed somehow fake. The hooker let himself believe it for a moment but he is realistic enough to know there is no future in this relationship. Sad and uplifting at the same time. 3/01/25

This was cute but rushed (it is the format!) with some acting and editing. I liked the story though: a happy go lucky kept man gets a job as a secretary to a stiff CEO and they fall in love. In the process the CEO gets to be more human. There is an evil secretary scheming to get the new man out of the picture (the actress is badly overacting!). 3/01/25

I am embarrassed to admit, but I have become completely addicted to these micro dramas. I still hate  the format but more often than not, stories and the production values are better than the mainstream BLs. I am repeatedly amazed how the producers on Vigloo manage to find actors in SK willing to kiss for real!

This one is unfortunately plagued by some bad overacting by everyone involved. The story uses some boring tropes: abusive family members and kids expected to pay off their parents' loan which is seen in so many k dramas. When the scandal breaks (they are outed!), provoked by their unruly bandmate, they rise above it, assume who they are and gain recognition for it.

I liked the fluffy ending and how they cut Alex down to size but the bad acting ruined it. Or I've seen too many of these? 2/01/25

Oh Tannenbaum as background music and it is not christmas?!?!? Come on! WTF?!? And it started so well....I like the salaryman, deadpan, serious and distant!

This was nice and cute. The actors have good chemistry. The story dealt with trust and self confidence and it was well written and filmed. It was a very good short drama. I wish normal BL dramas were as good. 

These micro dramas, both korean and japanese, have good natural kissing scenes. So much better than those ordinary dead fish kiss infested BL dramas. I want more!2/01/25

"Poor" little rich boy, rebelling against his father, unhappy, self centred and scornful towards others and a poor orphan boy who works for living and always sees the bright side of things - opposites attract! Cliché but it is sweet and cute. The poor rich boy will grow up and mature in contact with the brave poor boy. 

Another repetitive cliché but which says a lot about how "humane" korean society is, are the kids forced to pay off their parents' debts. Loan sharks are praying on the poor brave boy but he is too proud to ask for help or to accept it when it is offered. 

Just another cliché: poor but keep their pride even if it kills them. How stupid but it makes for a lot of dramas' main plots! And that's why we like them: so many recognizable tropes makes them our comfort minimal stress watch! lol

Eventually, the rich boy turned out to be mature and generous and the poor boy suffered from low confidence but they both solved their differences and...happy end! 

I love the actor playing the ppor boy, he's so cute and reminds me of someone else but I just cannot remember now...2/01/25

After spending the whole morning trying to make this work (finally ok.ru works better on chrome than on firefox...go figure!)....I am watching another vertical BL . No wonder they work: even I am watching it and I positively detest the format and keep wishing it would disappear. But I am currently just scraping the bottom of the barrel! And hoping this fad will end soon!

The idol does not look very idol-y....he is more of a chubby kid but maybe that's what an idol is supposed to look like, young and innocent, not hot and handsome. And what's with that hair of his? Just awful! On the other hand the actor dude is tall and handsome, a real adult with a body to match. (actually I wish the actor playing him would get more and better roles: so far we've seen him only in BLs and he's over 30: the clock is ticking!)

I like added animations : it is cute! 

Ths story was fine, told correctly without fillers (which is why these are gaining in popularity) but the main pair had zero chemistry together and in spite of hot kisses, the romance failed to convince me! 2/01/25

A cute and sweet time travel mini drama. Three lazy guys steal the teacher's book and find themselves 300 years into the future. A young women helps them figure out how to go back.

The guys are funny, constantly amazed by the modern world, trying to cook by adding Coke into the soup, trusting kind looking strangers etc.

One thing I don't like is the way they buried a  box in a very very shallow hole and nobody found it in 300 years? I am finding it hard to believe. 1/01/25

Sweet, cute, tender romcom. Funny and butterflies inducing. Who needs more?

The actor playing the brother pretending to be his sister is perfectly believable as a girl. The husband, after the initial shock, falls hard for him and even though he does not quite grasp the meaning of the situation, he is certain to care deeply for the guy. He fell for his kindness and intelligence.

And the best friend/policeman with his poetry and love letters was hilarious.

This is going to become my comfort movie. 1/01/25

Short, sweet and a bit boring: a typical JBL!

Three guys share a house: a cook and a model are gay while the photographer just broke up with his girlfriend. The cook falls for the photographer. 

The romance is far from convincing: the straight guy is too straight looking to fall in love with the cook. But love goes through the stomach so the cook makes the photo guy's favourite dishes.   And they end up together. 

The cook and the model have better chemistry. The actor playing the model is the most at ease with the role. The other two actor, much less. 1/01/25

Only starting this and the mood is the same as in the original version. I was hoping they'd give it a bit of j drama twist but actually, the original drama did not feel very korean to begin with. 

It is a story about a group of artists living in their bubble: apparently no family, no work, but have money and rather large flats and their main worry is their love life while pretending to worry about art and expression! Pretentious! Each episode is narrated(inner monologue) by a different character grappling with their feelings.

I love the music and the dreamy atmosphere all around. And of course the inevitable j drama voice over... But the actor playing ML does not know how to smoke: the cigarette in his hand does not look comfortable! And shoes with high heels? For a man or is he maybe gender fluid, being artist and all?

I remember liking the SML in korean version a lot. Not here: he's been in love with her for a long time but never had the courage to ask her out and therefore he does not deserve her! Now that she has fallen for the ML, is he going to make a move? It'll end up as a disaster for him, obviously!

After some soul searching, ML realizes what he wants and goes to get it. And of course she's waiting for him.... 1/01/25

Start as we mean to go on. Vertical BL. I am getting used to them....

This one was bad: low budget, low production value, low acting skills, low on chemistry but high in self investment (those kisses were hot!!!). The screenplay is half cooked and his "power" was left unexplained. 

I would love to know all four actors' names because one I saw somewhere else I just don't remember where.... 1/01/25