Asian BL - BL/Gay Dramas and movies 1980's to 2021

This series has been outclassed many times over, since it came. But it deserves a spot on any list, because this was what started the insane BL-craze in Thailand--which, in turn, has revived it in other countries as well. 

It was the first drama focusing on a BL couple, and a risky move on behalf of the creators. But it became a massive hit with a huge global fanbase--and paved way for everything to come.
It's flawed in many ways and it's a light-weight and nothing to take all that seriously--but it's sweet, it's lovable, it's happy and fluffy and above all; it's iconic. 

A must-watch.

Season 2. See S1 for comment.

If this is indeed happening--it's probably a very bad idea... We shall see.

Upcoming adaptation of the super popular classic BL manga with the same name. 

(Which I haven't read, since it's not my cup of tea. Whether I will watch the movie depends on the reviews, I guess.)

Upcoming June 5th 2020.

It's seriously questionable whether I should include this title on the list, or not. I still haven't quite decided. Yuck. 

If you have a serious story to tell--any content is justifiable. But this seems to be 100 % gratuitous catering to fangirls/boys that really should book an appointment to a psychologist.

Mini-drama.

Not BL, but supposedly has gay character(s?)

Mini-mini-short film connected to the drama "Love By Chance".

Mini-mini-short film connected to the drama "Love By Chance".

Mini-mini-short film connected to the drama "Love By Chance".

This isn't all that good, per se. But it's so charming... 

Upcoming 2021.

Listed as having gay character(s?)

Special episodes for drama "Make it Right".

Okay, this isn't all that qualitative, but in those first years of the recent BL-mania, we took what we could get--and it's not bad either. A lot of moronic content and filler crap, but some parts are nice, with cute relationships and fair acting. Quite daring for a high school BL, even by 2020-standards.
And... worth watching even if just for Ohm's BL debut... 

Season 2. See S1 for a comment.

I was debating with myself whether to include this, or not--but decided to.

Not BL, it's a super cheap and tacky series of horror-parody flicks. (Three of them.) 

But there is a BL-trope-couple in the gang of guy friends. 

It's not very clearly stated if they are an ACTUAL couple, or just a pretend one--it's purposely presented that way. Are they an actual couple, under the cover of a pretend one--or are they just insanely tight buddies (teetering at the edge of friendship vs. romance) who aren't afraid to display extreme bromance?
It doesn't matter, it's not really the point. Which is, more like, making fun of the whole BL craze. 

(It's not offensive in any way, the whole premise of the movies is to make fun of everything and everyone--and the couple just represent a ridiculously clichéed and exaggerated stereotype of stupid BL boyfriends. They're fully included in the circle of close friends, and their shrieky-gay-clingy behaviour is "normal" in the eyes of the others.) 

There are two sequels, but I'll settle for including this first one. All three movies are utter crap,  I only watched them because I love Asian horror, but somehow, I'm kind of charmed by this bunch of idiots... The flicks are so stupid that they border to actually retarded, but... well... And I kind of enjoy watching BL being made fun of, when it's in a way that's not judgemental.

Hmm. I like it! (I would like it no matter what--since I've been waiting a long time to see Max and Tul reunited in BL...) Can't say yet if my 8/10 will hold--I suspect it won't--but it's decent. More so than I expected.

The genre is tricky to navigate if one has been working in BL (director behind "The Love of Siam" and "Dew, Let's Go Together")--especially when giving a love story equal space. One will have to yield and here it will be the thriller part that gives in to the romance. Which is sad--and awesome--depending on how one sees it.  It's hard to mix and find the balance and it doesn't turn out that perfect here, but perhaps that's because of the original novel, I don't know. I plan to read it. Eventually.
I wasn't expecting thriller quality á la South Korea, so I wasn't disappointed. It works. So far, at least. 

I'm a bit split about that part above--since we're talking my two fav genres, BL and crime, I don't want either to fall flat. But I'll choose to see it this way; this is a BL thriller. Not a thriller with BL. And then it's fine. And I'm SO HAPPY that we finally get gay content in other genres than sappy romance and/or heavy dramas. So even if I'm critical, just that simple fact makes me love it.

Well, two eps in--one can't say all that much yet.
But one thing is certain; Max and Tul belong together in front of a camera. Their chemistry is still superb. Both as co-actors and in terms of "spark". Their close friendship truly is an asset for them. And I have to admit--even though I'm interested in all aspects of the drama--I can't fricking wait to see them get all hot and dirty. :P

Just a nerdy side note; As a life-long criminology/forensics buff + worked in human and vet care--I spot quite a few annoying little technical stupidities and errors in procedures and whatnot... but... who cares...

Not BL, more like; about BL fandom and crazy fangirls.

Mini-mini-drama.

This was one of the most fascinating things I've seen in a while. (Why have I ignored it until now?!)

I have to rewatch it, since I'm not sure if I got everything right in terms of dynamics. I'd say that definitely was an intentional move by the script writer--to enhance the theme of reality and play blurring. Ingenious--as well as confusing. But thought-provoking and exactly what made this such an intriguing watch. Is the audience, along with the lead, duped by the seemingly innocent character, who is truth was a splendid actor already to begin with? Or was he indeed innocent, but learnt too fast and too well--ending up outplaying his teacher?

Mysterious, hypnotic, demanding one's attention. But its true strenght lies in the exceptional acting, atmosphere and score. 

Not entertainment--but psychology wrapped in art.

Short.

Short.

Mini-drama. (Kind of. Fair number of episodes but short runtime.)

Supposedly has a gay character.

Based on Marukido Maki's manga "Indigo no Kibun" which in both comic and drama form is a sequel to "Pornographer", but chronologically a prequel. 

Warning for VERY explicit content. (Or a plus--depending on your level of tolerance for R-rated content...)

Both installations are good, but as a separate piece, I consider "Pornographer" more solid.

Short.

Was supposed to be released in May 2020. Dunno' what happened...

Mini-mini-MINI-drama, (10 episodes but with just four minutes of runtime, each.)

Mini-drama.

Special episode for mini-drama "Mr Heart". 

I'm  generally not interested in behind-the-scenes stuff--but it's not bad, nor good. It just is.

A commercial worth watching. Such a thing does actually exist. 

Okay, to be fair, the story is far from WOW, but it doesn't really matter--the reward here is the guys. Every minute of Singto and Krist together is awesome and most BL fans would agree on that since they're among the most beloved BL couples ever.
(Btw, one can't really avoid comparing the story to Singto's actual ghost-BF-story "He's Coming to Me"...)

I do love the characters they're assigned here because we're not really used to seeing them like this. Krist being a joking spazz and Singto being a serious nerd. They also get to show off their comedic sides and they really do have those even though we haven't seen all that much of them in their previous work. Even the actual commercial parts are kind of hilarious because they're so exaggerated. 

So yeah, it's a bit retarded. With a run-of-the-mill type of story. But for 17 minutes, it still has quite a lot of substance. And even if it didn't... it's 17 minutes of Krist and Singto, right. And since they are good enough actors to make even the worst crap watchable--this is pretty nice.

Mini-mini-drama. (7 x 7 minutes.)

This one is overrated--I wish it really was as good as the MDL rating indicates. It had potential, and the two Flukes really did a good job, even if Fluke the P' didn't quite have his shit together at all times, when acting. It could have been a mellow and tender little coming-of-age love story, but the huge chunk of unnecessary over-the-top melodrama ruins the whole thing--pulling down the quality several notches. I recently rewatched it, since I'm kind of curious about the sequel coming up 2020--and revised my previous trashing of it, slightly.  The acting, in parts, as well as the first half of the movie--is what makes it better than the average BL flick. The second half drags it below that line. 

Drama-version of the movie "My Bromance". Supposedly vastly different in storyline.

Mini-mini-drama that has nothing to do with the Thai "My Bromance". (12 x 7 minutes.)

Upcoming sequel for the "My Bromance" movie.

A short connected to the movie "My Bromance".

This is actually decent. The BL storyline is smaller and not as well developed as the straight one, but it's still rather nice and the couple is sweet. I actually, for once, enjoyed the straight storyline just as much--or more--than the BL one. 

It's kind of stupid and cliché, but it's entertaining and well done.

You can see more of In and Sun in the BL anthology "Our Skyy", in which they have a special episode.

Short.

In general, MDL ratings are crazy because nutty fans are too trigger-happy with the "10"s. I thought the case was the same here. 

It wasn't. This one deserves a top score.

It's that good. 

What really impresses--is the production. This is CLASS. The difference between this, and 95 % of other BL dramas--is that between heaven and earth. And class is about careful and talented work from the crew. Standard tv-shows vs. movie quality. Here, you have quality techs (sound, light, visuals etc), seamless editing and well planned writing and directing that create dynamic scenes and shots. 

But everything else is great, too. (If I had paid attention to the director--I would have guessed. This guy made "SOTUS"... The music gave me a "SOTUS" feel. I checked. And yeah, it's Lit Samajarn...)

The cast is excellent--compare ALL these guys to most BL actors. These dudes can ACT. Most are great and really make their characters come alive. And as icing on the cake; hot. (Especially Lay... so beautiful...) 

OST/score is not awesome at all times--but always fitting. Sometimes; great. I seldom like mushy love songs, but the ending (also in instrumental score) theme got to me. Love it. 

The storylines of four (!) couples, all fit in the time given, which is rare. I.e. = well planned. One couple is superfluous, but have their charm, still. All others are equally endearing and interesting. 

The is corny, yes--but this is true BL, and it's executed so well that it works even for crass BL fans like me. The humor is often (really) silly, but it's tongue-in-cheek and doesn't take itself too seriously. It even seems like it's going to angle the whole top-bottom-trope a bit differently; sarcastically. (Yay!)
The syrup is cute--not unbearable, and all guys have superb chemistry. 

It's light and cheesy, but sweet--and makes you fangirl. Hard.

Sequel season for drama "My Engineer". 

Upcoming 2021.

Special reality-show-thingy episodes connected to the drama "My Engineer". 

Not good, not bad. Just... well... The actors are there, the actors joke around, the actors talk and blahblah. Not my thing.

Behind the scenes episode connected to the drama "My Engineer". 

Not good, not bad. The actors babble about the drama. Period.

Short.

Upcoming sequel for short-film "My Friendship".

Short.

Another Korean short worth a watch. However, I don't like it as much as many others do. It's good film-making, but the story just isn't entertaining enough to make me fall for it as hard as many seem to have done. 

Upcoming August 2020.

Short.

Short of the longer kind. (47 minutes.)

Mini-drama.

A mini-drama that could have had potential, but kind of belly-flopped. When you have this short a time to work with, you really need to make a clever script, and this unfortunately wasn't clever. It tells what it aspires to do, but it just doesn't make the best possible use of the time it's given. It turned out rather shallow and forgettable. 

Old school. Not very good. But back then we just couldn't afford to be picky.

Doesn't have the best of ratings, but I think it's a fairly decent adaptation of the classic BL manga "Doushitemo Furetakunai" by my House Goddess Yoneda Kou.
It's low-budget and simplistic, but a good effort. Definitely one of the more qualitative of Japanese BL movies. 

Mini-drama.

W.T.F. 

I wanna' watch it.

Short.

Very short full-lenght movie (or a very long short.) (1 hr 7 minutes.)

Short.

First version of the "Ossan" series, a shorter special. Also see the two drama versions plus special plus movie.

Second version of the "Ossan" story, here in a drama version as opposed to the previous version, a shorter special. Me like! 

Hong-Kong remake of the Japanese "Ossan"-franchise. Could be nice!