coming of age, self worth and self acceptance, lonely prince, sunshine/tsundere

Honestly I wasn’t sure about this going in, and I’m still not entirely in love with it. It’s a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love for my liking. Not enough of a BL fantasy.

I found the main character, SiWon, pretty unlikable for the first half of the series - even with a believable backstory guiding his superficial behavior. Even knowing that the way he acts covers up insecurities. I would’ve like to see the director take strides to SHOW US the things that DaUn later says he admires about SiWon - kindness, cuteness, softness with perhaps more gentle treatment of his sister? Even his mother? As True Beauty did.

As is often the case with an unlikable uke, I’m not sure why the seme is courting him at all. (See my problems with the first few eps of Secret Crush On You, too.)

DaWoon’s backstory of lonely prince is a bit too typical to the romance genre but it makes for a good contrast to SiWon’s warm, if superficial and slightly dysfunctional, family life. Sunshine to cover pain is a solid archetype.

Both leads turn in solid performances and by ep 5 this show turned the corner and got really good… for me. The bad guy was really well drawn, all of the characters and portrayals we dealt with honestly and were super believable. Every character was flawed in a different way and I liked that. So this became a narrative about understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them, and there is nothing wrong with that message.

Korea gave us decent kisses (2022 is the year Korean boys learned how to kiss each other… apparently, I blame the unexpected popularity of To My Star last year). There was even an elegant, and very Korean, sex scene. Not to mention a nice mature apology and makeup sequence. So that, for me, I found the ending quite satisfying.

Ultimately what this show showed us was two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection. And that affection was never itself the conflict point (coming out or being gay isn’t really addressed - again, normal for Korea). Instead conflict was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and self-worth.

In the end, I actually really liked Blueming, it’s a solid BL. As is expected of Korea, there’s judicious and very elegant use of tropes, but production values are a touch lower than usual.

I was delighted that it had a longer treatment than most KBL, it has about a 3 hour run time, which really allowed the characters time to grow. And also grow on me.

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Tropes: time loop, age gap, medical drama, fated mates

Tin, a doctor, gets stuck in a time loop where he must stop a college kid from dying and expose a sinister back-market organ trade, in order to escape the loop. I am NOT a fan of time-loop narratives (I think I’m the only person on the planet who actively hates Groundhog Day) but I DO like a strong premise and the way they unfolded the plot was more like a mystery. In this Triage worked better for me than the actual mystery did in sister-show Manner of the Death. It was smart, I liked that. Also Fiat blond is v cute.

One of the greatest things about Triage was that all of the characters were complex but not necessarily likable, more pleasingly flawed. TinTol gave a great mutual kiss. (Look some of us have been waiting 5 years for it!) And the twist around who has to fix the timeline was elegant. Jinta = The ultimate BL Shipper: turns back time so his boys can be cannon. Also teaching Tol a lesson in forgiveness and communication.This is a CLEVER show.

Where Triage falls down, for me, like Manner of Death, is going to be in rewatchability. Once the element of surprise is removed, there isn’t enough romance holding this show together to make me want to rewatch it. But I think the story is a lot stronger for having not been all that romantic. It’s just, I happen to be a romantic at heart.

Ultimately, I liked Triage a lot, I thought the plot was good if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were great. Still, this felt less BL than it does gay time-slip suspense. If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot. But I’m in BL for the romance, and the rewatchability, and Triage had very little of either, so I’m giving a lower than expected score, knowing this is going on many people’s best of the year lists. And I can totally understand why.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

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Bad boy/good boy + sunshine/grumpy, + younger seme pairing, bully romance

A college kid (part-time tutor) confronts the leader of a gang (Noey) who then turns out to be his next student - falls in love with him.

Bad boy/good boy + sunshine/grumpy + younger seme + bully romance? Noey has a baby Dom thing to his bully behavior which is oddly cute. Lots of tropes I enjoy and YET I never resonated with this pulp. (I think Noey uses ter because he’s younger, and doesn’t want to use phi.)

The costumes in this show are insane and I kinda like them. There’s a Grease thing going on, and thus I keep expecting them to break into song (and being grateful t hat they don’t). The wardrobe is like the plot and the acting: loud and obvious and not very good but weirdly entertaining.

Did I like it?
Not really.

Did I mildly enjoy watching it?
Apparently.

Ultimately, I found the romantic chemistry inauthentic (especially from the uke) these two just never seemed to actually like each other, let alone want to be together, plus a terrible dead fish kiss.

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I don't know what's going on but I liked it

Korea decided to remake, of all possible Thai BLs, Why RU? And that is exactly what we got: a short form, clean & pretty, uneven chemistry, slightly confusing, all the same tropes KBL that kind of cliff-noted the original but with none of the heat or complex relationship dynamics. I just … what world is this? Because it is BOTH bizarro land, and EXACTLY what I expected.

SaifahZon (no matter what country) are probably the softest enemies to lovers ever put on screen. Yes they are very cute, and I like them better than the original. However, no one can out do ZeeSaint for the count down kiss on the rooftop.

All in all, I liked this remake/parody/annotate/whatever a lot but I’d love to know what somebody thought who hadn’t seen the original.

How do I rate something like that? In the end I have to go back to simple questions: did I like it, would I rewatch it, and would I recommend it? Yes. Probably. And probably not. What the actual hell? 8/10 

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Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed, just all my favorite tropes. This show was basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home and I’m not even slightly mad about that.

But (and you knew there was a “but” coming) something about the cringe of the final 2 eps and the impermanence of the ending (both of which highlight the fact that ultimately these 2 are I’ll-suited: too different and too far apart) left me with the feeling that they probably won’t last as a couple. However, in this case, rare for me, I forgive it this finale for my love of the rest.

I did dither a lot though, it’s not an 8 but not a 9 either. Better than Love Mate (8/10) not as good as The New Employee (9/10) but in the end I’m value adding up for the premise and the cast, which earned it a 9/10.

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office romance, boss/employee, grumpy/sunshine, age gap

Sweet & innocent (and out) Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams. On his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved (and also gay) boss. As you do.

Directed by openly gay and queer activist Kim Jho Gwang Soo (Just Friends?) partly set in the same neighborhood as the To My Star house! This show reminded me a little bit of that one, same kind of energy.

Frankly this is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG. Fantastic. A darn near perfect nugget of an office romance, sweet and much gayer than we have any right to expect from Korea. Rainbow rice cakes forever! Gotta love WATCHA (also Semantic Error, Light on Me).

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sinister boarding school, haze the one you love, suspense, high school setting, coming of age

BL does gay Blacklist with a good boy/bad boy pairing (paladin/rogue). Starred First (The Shipper) & Khaotung (Tonhon Chonlatee) plus the side dish pair from FUTS NeoLouis (neo was shockingly good). This is a good show but the cast was excellent and the leads were absolutely flawless. They portray a nuanced and multifaceted burgeoning relationship: philosophical (and socio-political) conflict contrasted to moments of empathy; flirtation contrasted to moments of genuine affection. This show has the sophistication of Not Me and balance of Bad Buddy - the best we can expect from GMMTV. Aye is so damn pushy but with emotions as well a physical affection, he exposes his own vulnerability as a kind of benevolent attack on Akk to instill trust and self-worth and safety. Akk is just so scared and closeted. This whole narrative is less about love than it is about courage and tenderness. Whether that is courage to live or courage to love. The eye contact with these 2 is beyond eye fucking into something more like eye soul-mating.

However, 3/4 of the way through, the pacing started to feel off and I got frustrated with the plot. I don't think this show will hold up to a binge watch, with the twists both predictable and totally out of no where (in a bad way) and the resolution rushed. It felt like the first half of this drama rested on
Khaotung’s acting and the second half rested on First. In both cases, the actors remained entirely in control of the narrative, it’s just that First got shafted by the fact that his section of the story was curtailed. Despite these flaws, this is an enjoyable watch, with an ending that features verbal consent and a funny blooper reel.

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messy disaster bi, out gay boy, cheating, drama llamas

Delayed from 2021 this is a reboot, retcon, retelling, expansion of the original short miniseries En of Love - Love Mechanics (VeeMark) from Wabi Sabi featuring the most popular and enduring pair to come from that series, YinWar. (They also stared in high school sad BL mini series: The Best Story.) Prom (Nuea also from En of Love series) and a few other familiar faces returned plus some of the same characters portrayed by new actors. Directed by Lit (SOTUS).

Our favorite messy cheeky drama-llama boys were back in spades. And initially I enjoyed it more than I should (and more than it deserved). This whole series is basically a diatribe against cheating, with the sweet out gay boy reaping all the punishment a disaster bi can enact. I don’t like any of these tropes or implications, and yet I couldn’t stop watching. YinWar are geniuses at chemistry and good actors, and their new high heat stuff is excellent. When they are together as a couple, VeeMark are a GREAT couple, like FighterTutor level, only slightly less sappy. But the rest of time is just chaos. It’s hard not to get mad at the messy, whether it be characters, story, or script, but when it’s performed this well, it’s occasionally fun to wallow in the agony.

I really loved the class conflict introduced near the end and what it says about the characters and their families. Why did it only came into play in the last few episodes? Honestly, it could’ve been the plot for the whole drama and it would’ve been so much more absorbing if they had dwelled in the Heirs sphere, rather than the chaotic messy bi-slut cheating space.

In the end? YinWar win the Great Chemistry in Bad Thai BL Wars of 2022 (TM), even over BounPrem. YinWar were great, and they were great in this, but the story was not good, and not improved by being given more time to hang itself. I like the shorter En of Love version better (yes I think they can and should be compared) and I’m was left simply hoping YinWar get more work in the future, they can clearly handle anything that’s chucked at them.

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enemies to lovers, secret identity, identical twins, good boy/bad boy

(Thailand, Jan-March 2022 on YouTube)

Starring very established holy trinity pair, OffGun in possibly their final BL. Also Mond (Water Boyy), First (The Shipper), Gawin (Dark Blue Kiss), Puimek (SOTUS S), Gigie (2gether)

Another one that is joining the growing cornucopia of shows that I’m not sure I should really review as a BL fan, because I’n not not sure they’re really BL. (For me, Manner of Death really started this trend and dialogue with myself. I see Not Me as its successor.) GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest) with established queer award-winning director Anucha and starring OffGun.

Let Me Be Perfectly Clear

THIS IS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience in the BL world - nerve racking but remarkable. The politics of it rather overshadowed the art (just like for Dan’s character) and certainly overshadowed the romances. But the dialogue it generated was cool. This is the dark, gritty gang-set BL series we all expected from Motorcycle (before it disappeared from the radar) with some supped up soap opera tropes (twins, secret identity) and some crazy talent behind the wheel.

But was it ACTUALLY BL?

Not Me had a lot of BL elements, but in the end that’s not what the show was about, or even what it was genuinely trying to be as a show. (A BL series MUST use the main relationship arc as the plot driver.)

In fact that’s an issue I have with it. What was this show ultimately about? What did it want us to take away? Because as a piece of queer cinema and activism it was fine, but VERY heavy handed and clumsy. I can’t rec it to my cray queer artist or film industry friends they’d find it laughable, but I can’t really rec it to my BL friends either, it’s a lot for the sweetness-and-light crowd to swallow. Who was this for? What market? A few of us in this one corner of Tumblr? But who else? Netflix isn’t going to pick this one up, that’s for darn sure. And does that ultimately matter critically? (I think yes actually, because it won’t be profitable without an audience. But that’s an issue arthouse cinema has struggled with for a very long time.)

I DO think Not Me will have impact on BL as a genre going forward. Whether it technically belongs to it or not.

This is a lot of waffling from me, already a champion waffler.

Oddly, some of this is because I feel a lot about this show as I did about Bad Buddy. (Let me be clear: Bad Buddy was definitely a BL.) I appreciate both for the same reasons. And I will not be re-watching them often, if at all, for the same reasons. And that’s why I am not able to give either show a 10/10. Rewatch value is a huge deal for me.

So I’m going to say, 9/10. Just as a rating. Let’s move on from numbers and just talk more about this show.

Production Values Assessment

If I have one major critique of Not Me it’s that far too many scenes were filmed too dark. I get that we are meant to take this show super seriously, but when will filmmakers learn that serious doesn’t have to be executed by forcing us to squint? Metonymy has a lot to answer for.

Otherwise the staging, music, and all production values were high, if not pristine. It was closest to 3 Will Be Free or A Tale of Thousand Stars (which also had the darkness issue) than anything else from GMMTV.

Style and filming it matched to the best that Taiwan can do, so not as high quality as Korea or Japan, but then neither of those cinematic styles would have suited this narrative. But for Thailand, we can consider this top tear.

Story, Characters & Pairs

If you go in expecting this to be BL then the pacing is off on the romance arcs (but not the rest of the narrative). They’re rushed and uneven (like a Korean BL). For example Dan crying suddenly was... odd and jarring. The first SeanWhite kiss came outta nowhere. However, this was definitely OffGun’s best kissing ever. It only took them 6 years the get here.

Like Bad Buddy, Not Me seems to be pretty explicitly and intentionally going against problematic narrative choices that prior GMMTV series made/highlighted - from consent, gay-for-you, husband/wife language, heterosexual dysmorphia and more. They made certain to have explicitly queer characters positively represented (not for comedy).

I loved Not Me’s queerness and grit. I liked that it dealt with things that other BLs (let alone Thai BLs) haven’t. And I was prepared to forgive it a lot because of this stance.

DanYok

For me the DanYok couple, despite limited screen time, outshone SeanWhite (as a PAIR). Their chemistry is superior in almost every regard. They were so well acted and I appreciated their story as a true representation of enemies-to-lovers. It delivered on ideology, class, and social position conflict in a much more humane way that ToddBlack. They had an excellent arc and ending, if, at times, their romance felt a bit rushed - the intensity and suddenness of it suited the narrative and the characters.

SeanWhite
OffGun did a fab job on a romance story that, to be fair, wasn’t much of one. But that’s because it also wasn’t the point or driver of the narrative. Them being comfortable boyfriends was great and this was very much a queer relationship.

But to have truly ended this show narratively full circle, it actually should have concluded with the White & Black scene.

But instead it ended on a BL moment, or, to be more precise, on an OffGun goodbye moment.

Do I think that ending was for us… for the fans? Yes, I really do.

Am I grateful? Yes, I really am.

It’s been a wild ride.

Do I think you should watch Not Me? Yeah. Yeah I really do.

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Korea gives us the msot Korean BL ever in a brilliant friends to love triangle

There were some who thought this BL a little slow, and I get that, but really it's just subtle and quiet. With Light on Me, Korea gave us an honest to goodness high school set BL with some classic old school yaoi tropes almost like they were doing a bit of a, “now that we’ve hit our stride, let’s perfect the vanilla sheet cake BL style.” It was great, of course, but very refined and elegant which some found off putting.

It’s what Korea does, repackage and perfect vanilla cake into this pretty glowing confection of precision joy. I’m cool with that. By all means, please include BL in the Hallyu take over. This is the K-pop of BL En-Hyphen style, manufactured super-powered cute but... restrained.

But that doesn't make it any less gut wrenching. In fact, it makes every subtle tentative movement of care that ShinWoo takes that much more telling. It makes every fear of exposure that prevents DaOn from taking action that much more traumatic. It makes every moment of TaeKyung’s brutal honestly and blunt communication that much more powerful.

The filming in this show was precision engineered. The frame was kept uncluttered, characters appeared exactly in the center, there is was little unnecessary visual noise, and the lighting is full on, even in night shots. To me this reflected the character of TaeKyung - honest and almost stilted in his mannerisms. I feel like the director filmed this show in a similar way, very careful and clear and specific.

This may have come off as one-note or simplistic to a casual viewer but it’s actually quite difficult to film something so precisely and still make it interesting to watch. So I believe it’s intentional. It forced the viewer to focus almost entirely on the actor’s faces, their nuanced emotion, and their interpersonal relationships to the exclusion of all else. There is literally NOTHING distracting about this directing style. It’s like the camera lens was a neutral white room, a well-lit gallery in which the narrative hung suspended for us all to stand and stare at in hushed silence.

A love triangle has never before looked so perfect or been executed so perfectly, and it never will again. All BL love triangles that come after (and we will get them now) are going to be unfavorably compared to this one.

Korea is VERY strategic and clever with romance tropes. Light on Me is a master class in how to use BL-specific romance tropes to manipulate audience sympathy so we can’t decide which pairing we prefer. They never just throw a trope in without purpose or calculating its impact on story structure. Basically, this is how you infect fans with Second Lead Syndrome. It’s SO GOOD.

So yes, it was cleverly engineered, but it was also SPECIAL, and here’s why:

Light on Me gave us a small cast of beautifully acted complex and sympathetic characters and dwelled on their different motivations, communication, and narrative roles. It gently explored not what it means to love, or even be in love, but what it means to act on love, and what that says about integrity and emotional courage. In doing so, it managed to treat its characters with integrity too. And not just the three main characters but the mentor, the faen fatal, and the best friend support characters too.

For me this BL was classy, a real winner, not the least of which because they NAILED the landing. Korea is DOMINATING 2021. Like seriously. What’s going on here?

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secret lovers, Romeo & Romeo, sunshine/tsundere, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, GL side plot

GMMTV’s flagship BL started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Juliet masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. GMMTV, we forgive you. More.

The bar has been raised, Thailand.

An adaptation of the y-novel Behind the Scenes with established BL director Backaof (1000 Stars, He’s Coming to Me, Dark Blue Kiss) who took steps (strides even) to correct for some of GMMTV’s own past BL mistakes with regards to queer rep. Production values were high (if more workmanlike than cinema-licious). Heat levels were pretty low but Ohm had his shirt off a lot (thank you) and the acting was absolutely stellar.

In the end I loved Bad Buddy.

The family struggles and toxic friendship group made it a little bit difficult for me to take at times so I am not certain how much rewatch potential it has. We shall see. However the ending was unexpectedly satisfying if not typical for romance.

Live blog of this one is here.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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workplace romance, friends to lovers

Thailand gave us Korean style slowly simmering ultra soft and sweet BL only at a Thai length so the pacing was... not good. Slower than molasses and full of insane subtext, long gazes, missing dialogue, abrupt mood swings, and one very pretty kiss.

It curdled around episode 8, the sauce split, and there was no saving it.

It did have some of the best food porn I’ve seen in my life, and I watch cooking shows. It was beautiful, the leads were decent, it should have right up my alley, and yet... it left me with a feeling of disaffected ennui - bland and boring and unsatisfying.

11 courses of tasty tasty pacing issues.

SERIOUSLY FLAWED BUT RECOMMENDED WITH... RESERVATIONS...

(reservations... restaurant set BL.... GET IT? Ha.... Ha....zzzzzz)

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friends to lovers, tsundere/sunshine

Other tropes: self acceptance, self worth, high school BL, live action yaoi, soft romance, kindness

The moment I finished binging this show I was thinking about writing about it and re-watching it. This is a sure sign that I adored a piece of media. 

This is a wonderful BL.

Truly well executed, with smooth filming and lovely acting, both of a simplistic style that felt slightly more Korean than it did Japanese. It reminded me a little bit of Seven Days and a little bit of Takara and Amagi, and since these are my two favorite high school JBLs obviously I was bound to adore ICRY.

But what it reminded me of more than anything was Cherry Blossoms After Winter. Odd for JBL and KBL to be so closely linked. Like CBAW show, ICRY is classic live action yaoi.

Like the MOST classic of CLASSIC. There is even a “seme looses control to desire” scene which leads to dub con. There is an abject apology after but still - you’ve been warned. 

The premise is: smart sporty hot (and hella gay) Yamato has a long standing crush on his silly sunshine sweetheart bestie, Kakeru. Yamato is also stiff, self isolated, shy, and has only ever really managed to get along with Kakeru. I love this kind of pining seme so damn much, it probably biased me.

Unlike most uke, Kakeru starts to slowly figure out that his best friend is in love with him by ep 2 (let the chaos bisexual identity crisis commence).

So do some of the friends around them.

The story thus revolves around Yamato trying to unsuccessfully suppress his desire, and Kakeru trying to figure out if he can return Yamato‘s affection.

This biggest barrier is actually Kakeru's feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness (when compared to Yamato). Bu this is tempered by his genuine kindness which forces him into act with integrity around his dear friend's love and strive to fix everything (even himself) to prove worthy of it - whether he can ultimately return it or not.

Kakeru's struggles are pitted against Yamato‘s repressed need that keeps bubbling over and figuratively (sometimes literally) attacking Kakeru with romantic, emotional, and physical intensity.

Quick pitch:

This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen. Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way. This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt almost honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen.

I’m not gonna lie, I dithered over whether to give this a 10/10 and nearly didn’t. But there is nothing wrong with it AS A BL.

And it's so GOOD to ALL of its characters and they are so good to each other. It's quiet and because of its goodness it will get overlooked, but I LOVED IT.

It's not one of those that BL outsiders will understand, and you must like Japan's style to enjoy it. But I'm in it. It's for me.

What am I hung up over? Even the kisses are good.

10/10

I CAN'T RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY ENOUGH

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celebrity romance, sunshine/tsundere

Basically this is A Man Who Defies the World of BL + Senpai This Can’t be Love and equally painfully EXTRA. Nakao Masaki playing a sunshine bouncy himbo character is a fucking revelation, I didn’t think he had it in him. This should’ve been my favorite BL of all time (IT’S AN IDOL LOVE INTEREST!), but the tsundere is too tsundere for me, I really hate the stalker photograph thing it’s apparently a trigger I didn’t know I had until BL tried to romanticize it. I kept feeling like there were the bones of good story in this drama, and I got glimpses of it, but then it’s covered again - like tasty steak smothered in Kewpie mayo.

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