List of BL series viewed

Notable for, amongst other things, the sustained performance by 7 year old Maeyama Kuuga as Tane, who anchors the drama in its real world consequences of how the adults in our lives influence our growth as children.

A light romantic BL comedy sustained by the chemistry between the two leads. 

A light romantic comedy that could have been more but for an unusually clumsy directorial effort from the home of Kdrama and a bad habit of overlighting the interiors like tv soaps often do or Thai BLs.  I felt sorry for the No. 2 couple; neither writer nor director nor actors quite knew what to do to make that relationship come to pass.

The strengths of "Love Class 2" unfortunately invite mention of its single weakness. Strengths: strong cast, technically first-rate, in turns amusing and dramatic. The weakness: 10 x 20-minute episodes are not nearly enough to explore properly the territory Kdrama strides the world's small screens with the more expansive 16 x 60 minutes format. The result: enjoyable but felt rushed.

A high-quality production.  The directors seemed to have learned from their Kdrama peers in the use of time, silence, glance and gesture, in a scene for maximum impact.  Although there is a strong fantasy element,  in parts it felt more like an adult drama with its serious treatment of how divorce can destabilise the happiest of families.  The star of the "La Pluie", however, is
Title Tanatorn Saenangkanikorn, who displays an assuredness in both the light and dark aspects of the show. 

The achievement of "My Personal Weatherman" is to take two characters, unlike each other in so many ways and seemingly so incompatible with each other, and by sleight of hand almost, show them understanding themselves and each other more, so that, by the end of this modest 8 episode series, their relationship evolves beyond the initial physical connection to more solid love and respect. Worth every minute of watching.

A stand out drama from beginning to end. Not one scene is wasted or out of place; the end credit scenes alone are worth watching for the innovative treatment. Hard to believe this is Hashizume Shunki’s first drama; his direction is sure throughout, even allowing for his lead cast being highly experienced actors and a screen-adaption from the mangas by Asano Taeke who has 60 scriptwriting credits to her name.

Heart-breaking and gut-wrenching in slow motion as this story of friends and lovers plays out over 8 years of their lives together, and apart. A piece of LGBTQ+ storytelling so good it merits an exceptional quality award.

But a word of warning: those who wish for clean tidy resolutions should know that “More Than Words” is true to life, and aspects of the story could easily yield a follow-up. Instead it ends with the certainty that while we live there is no end point to the emotional knots these characters have consented to being in. And yet, over 340 minutes, their story held me captive with their love and care and desire to not let go of each other.

An interesting concept (can gay parents successfully model happy relationships to their gay children?) fails to get off the ground in the hands of an inexperienced team (writer and two leads). 

A pleasant enough office romance BL comedy. Its chief highlight is Hsiao Hung as the young new employee who captures his boss' hard-to-please heart. Hsiao Hung's resume is thin but he displays considerable comic flair and timing as well as being capable of physical pranks; later in the show his performance hints at dramatic potential as well. Production values are good and the story moves along at a good clip. 

This felt like reading a Reader's Digest abridged version of Dostoyevski; the plot convolutions suggested a far more psychologically difficult drama, but 13 episodes forced a lot of emotional shorthand as a result. I counted 5 gay pairings in this setting of criminal gangs at war with each other. Is this a Taiwan thing or did the producers decide to do Kinn Porsche on steroids? Good in parts, so-so in others; the family scene after Zong Yi's release from prison felt more authentic than much of the romance, perhaps confirming the screenplay went overboard on criminal gang homoeroticism.  The presence of so many actors from earlier shows in the HIStory series was amusing at first before becoming irritating and ultimately unnecessary. In the end, the best of Kiseki was spoiled by blanc mange elsewhere.

Nine and Mill are persuasive as the members of a newly formed duet who fall for each other while under constant media and public attention.  Although the tight budget makes this particular K-pop world look at times like a desert island, there's no mistaking that the two leads bring their real-world experience as idols to the task with the consequence that their performances enlarge this modest drama with conviction.

Who hasn't thought about what they'd do different in life if given the chance to go back and live it again? The answer provided by this hugely entertaining, high quality Kdrama is that it's not if we could change our fate, but it's what we do afterwards with the fate we've been handed. The cast is remarkable, given their young age for the most part, but the standouts are Seol In Ah as Choi Se Kyeong and Choi Hyun Wook as Han Yi Chan. The music, which underpins a fair amount of the drama, is good overall, and the directing is first class with barely a scene that sags or loses tension. Almost certainly one of the best dramas of the year, and while it has no right to be in the list of BL's, it gets a mention because excellence always deserves recognition.

A very cute high school love story told with impeccable taste and economy within an 8 episode format, notable for featuring the fraternity of students, both helpful and irksome, but especially for the good looks of Maedo Kentaor in the lead as Yamato, which on occasion the DOP had to suppress, least he visually overwhelm the action.

This follow-up series to the pairing of Meen & Ping in "Ai Long Nhai" shows improvement in acting skills of both leads, although Ping could benefit from doing improvs in front of a mirror to reduce his squishing of his eyes for most emotions. The show is very much a hybrid of mafia and romance and its production bifurcation is reflected in having two DOP's. I suspect one was chosen to apply the lush cinematographic effects to certain critical scenes, most especially the romantic ones, while the remaining scenes feel stock standard Thai soap in character. The action scenes are plentiful as entertainment if one ignores the equivalency of portraying a man who kills without compunction with a faithful lover willing to sacrifice a lucrative life in crime for a gay nest. Balancing all these factors causes the storyline to be rushed with the result that critical life decisions are raised and resolved in the time it takes to order at a restaurant, which is a pity because this show has a supporting cast many would envy. Winner as the third wheel in the relationship comes close to tipping the scales away from Guy's boyfriend, Thiu. Tonlew looks as if she could handle roles with more meat. Tinn is clearly working below his class in this show while Nitta and Paam are worth seeing again in other projects. Tommy could be the find of the year if he improves on his acting, but this series is based on a webtoon, and much of it felt cartoonish anyway.

Student crushes on a young teacher is a favourite topic, especially among the students doing the crushing. But the realisation of a teacher entering into a relationship with that student is more tricky to pull off, and here it's not helped by a lack of anything between the two leads as well as the casting of Hachimura Rintaro who never quite finds the one moment to convince  us he is playing a gay character.

VIP Only fails to overcome its low budget constraints despite the jaw-dropping good looks of Stan Huang in his first lead role. Supporting actor Tim Cheng as Da Ren generates more interest than the beige portrayal of Liu Li, the love interest, by Chen Xuan Yu. The notion that Kurt Huang and Stan Huang would fight over someone as sex-less as Liu Li is just not believable.

If this was a genuine attempt to deliver a long form series (24 episodes instead of 8/12/16), it missed its mark. Some beautifully shot, sensitively acted, real tear-jerking stories are bundled with shallow, crass flops. Milk Natchanon Supravorawong in "Right Time, Right You" is a standout, as is Sandwich Parnupong Chaiyo's sure directorial hand sustaining the dramatic tension. On the other hand, giving newbie director Jedi Suriyan Dangintawat four episodes to show how little he understands drama, spends any credit the series might have built up till then. 

Sorry to say, the only reason "Love for Love's Sake" will not outrank "Semantic Error" in popularity is that the cast, perfect otherwise, are comely more than beautiful. In every other respect, this series is firstclass and even more to its credit, with writer Kwon Cho Rong and director Kim Kyun Ah both credited as debutants in both categories. The device of dovetailing Tae Myung Hae's personal journey to self-love with his immersion into a role playing game of saving Cha Joo Wan from his depressive downward spiral is as clever and fascinating as it is structurally pivotal to the plot's development. Naturally a happy ending has to be contrived - or else this show plummets from a BL to a Kdrama - and its conclusion is duly if a little confusingly reached.

A more than capable director (So Joon Moon), a lead with a beautiful singing voice  (Jang Do Yoon), an experienced co-star (Son Hyun Woo) and a debutante handling the villain role with considerable skill (Kwak Tae Hyeok) are not enough to make this storyline sustain interest till the end. First time screenwriter Lee Do-Ah-I serves up a plot line so unlike the usual high quality of anything out of Korea that, IMO, this script would go down well with producers  in Thailand instead. There are serious issues at play here, specifically the threat of derailing a nascent career by being exposed as being gay, plagiarism within the Kpop industry and fan violence, but it doesn't thread together. 

A seemingly simple love story of two neighbours in an apartment building who fall in love. The surface simplicity conceals a high production value series with one of the largest casts seen to date in a BL. The elements of college acquaintances, family legacies, work pressures, business aspirations, are spiced up with an ex who won't let go and a new love interest who hangs around who together with the two leads make for a brief "Boys in the band" moment. The resolution is sweet and heartfelt. 

Although compressed into short episodes, this series, almost despite its combination of Joseon dynasty back story and modern setting, still manages moments that transcend both. There are some odd elements such as a very large cast of extras and a very poor set build, but the show is worth it for the main lead, Park Jeong Woo,  who is a standout in his debut.  He plays the transtion from ingenue to confident bf and also manages a convincing villain spirit who inhabits his body. His body, btw, is superbly muscular, which the director has had to hide with oversized wardrobe.

Part of a series of (extremely) low budget short episode series produced by Jaturong Yuankarthok for the recurring sweet boy lead,  Golf Witchayapong Krungsrimuang. 

Long on atmospherics, short on substance (like character depth) and minus any real spark save for curiosity whether the two strangers thrown together into a shared hotel room at New Years will give in to their mutual attraction.

A sweet if short JBL, its happy ending not entirely erasing the dark scenes of oppressive working demands inside the corporation where one of the leads works. However, counter-balancing that was the group of workmates who were so supportive. 

Could have been, should have been, but it isn't. Director Park Sun Jae (Color Rush, Mr heart, Peach of time) and talented Kim In Sung as co-lead ought in most instances be enough to pre-ordain this a worthy production. But the newbie writer, Jung Hyun Woo, couldn't fit the multiple plot points into an 8 x 15min format, and the casting of idol Zuho as the other co-lead nullified any reason for making this, let along watching it. (Zuho's heartfelt defence on Instagram against criticism for taking on a BL role had the depth of sincerity to it missing from his performance as Jo  Yoo Jae.) 

A final note: Park Tae In was wasted in this series; he showed enough, in my view, to demonstrate he is worthy of much meatier roles. In fact, the whole supporting cast was very good indeed.

Writer Song Soo Lim's second BL effort teams her with another newbie, Director Kany Hye Rim, with Ji Ho Geum in his striking acting debut as one of the leads. Song's earlier debut BL, "A Shoulder To Cry on" comprised 7 x 30-minute episodes. Reflecting the accretion of popularity of KBLs, "Jazz for Two" is 8 x 40-minute episodes, as the genre gains further momentum towards Kdrama proportions.

While ostensibly located with a university-setting, "Jazz for Two" employs a music school background to set the meeting of pianist Se Heon and trumpeter Tae Yi. The notable entry of idols (present and/or recent past) into BLs as the avenue of choice to onscreen acting roles is boosted by playing characters that require practical musical skills for credibility. (As a side issue, perhaps gay idols see KBLs as a shortcut to lead acting roles in the competitive field of Korean drama.) Three of the four leads are or were idols; the fourth member in the couples is Kim Jung Ha, whose acting chops are convincingly portrayed despite the limited screen time he's here afforded.

Unfortunately, the role that holds the layered plot together, pianist Yoon Se Heon, is in the hands of the pretty but slight Kim Jin Kwon. His acting, already well demonstrated as a side character in "To My Star", is good, but his pairing with the more mature Jin Ho Geun is questionable. Also from "To My Star", Ko Jae Hyun makes a critical appearance; he brings an ambiguity to his performance that would have been useful had there been more episodes. As it was, his subplot was one of several left unresolved, although this did not detract from the overall happy ending.  Song Han Gyeom showed enough to suggest more roles lie ahead for him.

The creative team responsible for "We Best Love" team up again for "Unknown", a BL that juggles a traditional BL fantasy setup with a more socially realistic conundrum of non-biological family members falling in love. Director Ray Jiang has two likeable leads and a talented camera team (some of the setups are movie-class); the oft-seen theme of how traditional Chinese family values can still fit into gay family situations are here persuasively drawn, even if it means the action drags somewhat in the middle, but the payoff at the end is worth it, and  the writing in the last episodes results in scenes that are worthy tearjerkers.

Within its tight 5 episode low budget format, the gradual tense negotiation of Yoon Dae (Lee Jae Bin) and Soo Hyuk (Jang Woo Young) to agree they might have a solid basis for a relationship plays out through the sort of misunderstandings, miscommunications, uncertainty and confusion that accompanies many who are asking themselves, "is this guy the one? will it work for us?" before finally committing to the power of the emotional forces pulling them to each other.  Simple but effective storytelling.

Relative newcomers Director Lim Hyun Hee ("Our Dating Sim") and writer Lee Shin Won have created a fairy floss fantasy utilising to the full the considerable charms of all four cast members. "Boys Be Brave" eschews the standard tropes of youths falling in love or the equally common 'enemies to lovers' scenario. Here, everyone is in love from the get-go, but, even so, there are hesitations, doubts and misunderstandings that have to be overcome. Within an 8 x 28min framework, happy outcomes are satisfactorily achieved, although the second couple are teasingly left with the suggestion their romantic consummation might be in a 2nd series. Production values are of the usual high Korean standard.

A seemingly simple but really quite sophisticated work by the director/writer team of "Old Fashioned Cupcake" who here turn their lens on to two young university students who are in love but don't know whether it would be right to fully express it. Cultural conventions of being diffident and considerate of others take precedence in normal discourse as the young would be lovers tip toe their way to understanding  that they both feel the same way about each other. Well shot, very well directed and sweetly acted, this gradual progression of a love story belies the talent and skill behind its construction.

Beautifully shot with one of the best ensemble casts seen in a Thai BL, "Bake Me Please" is a tautly drawn story of how we can be profoundly affected by the people around us. Blessed with two quality acting performances from Guide Kantapon Chompupan and Poom Phuripan Sapsangswawat, the triangular relationship is completed by Ohm Thitiwat Ritprasert, in one of his rare forays apart from regular co-lead Fluke, but still playing to his good looking bad boy image. The crisis in the kitchen that provides the angst is sufficient to provide a milieu, although the upmarket houses and establishments on show here must have had other unknown sources of income to support the visible wealth on display.

Ultimately a disappointing series, primarily because of Talay's character. Casting Sea to play the reticent Talay set up expectations that conflicted with the writing. Sea projects far more physicality and assuredness than Talay does with his repeated hesitancy about displays of affection in private and public. Talay feels much more like a character an actor such as Mick Monton could play. No question Sea performs to his best but here he's playing against type throughout.

Odd that MDL has the movie (which I haven't seen) but doesn't list the series (which I have seen) in their dropdown menu although it appears in the MDL listings. The storyline runs close to being a light weight romance rather than a BL given that the plot is arguably realistic in a busker being scouted from the street and the scout being musical as well. But its BL qualities are assured by Kang In Soo's good looks and Lee Sang's demure charm plus the obligatory happy ending.

A remarkable early (2017) BL series because it foreshadowed the crossover of crime/hitman/mob series into BLs years before it reached the prolific Thai sector of the industry. The key to this tight production is the chemistry between its two leads and the insertion from Kdrama of the unpredictable element, albeit not enough to prevent the appropriate happy ending.

One of the least satisfying BLs of 2024. The search for successful cross cultural commercialisation of BLs does not have a candidate in this series. The budding romance of the two leads, a Thai and a Korean student, would have made for an interesting study on its own, given they've known each other for almost ten years prior to discovering their attraction to each other. But Save Saisawat as Jay brings with him to the part the essentially melodramatic acting of Thai lakhorns which clashes with the more realistic acting of the Korean cast and in particular Yoon Jun Won as Seong Han. Much could have been made of these differences but the plot sets their short journey to love into a triangle instead and then overlays it into a crime mystery. Production values are good but the script hits and misses in equal measure. I note MDL provides no script or Director credit, for a reason perhaps?  

Excellent production values in this JBL with a crime/courtroom drama edge to its main characters. It's another example of the crossover of genres or the opening up of BL traits to otherwise well understood mainstream drama tropes. The actors are good; if the frisson of excitement between them is lacking a bit, I suspect it's because that's true to their storyline personalities. The Happy Ending, however, is assured, which is A Very Good Thing.