Office romance, second chance, cozy BL

I loved this little gem of a show. This is my ideal BL: a classic second chance meets office romance of two nerds in love with a workplace reunion and good kisses. I’ve been waiting for KBL to give us this for a long time. I enjoyed every aspect from the casting to the very simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s very low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a warm fuzzy blanket of a story. The thing it reminded me of most was To My Star.

Do we call this cozy BL? Why not? This one is going to live in my rewatch pile, I can tell already, and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent, so that it perfectly suited KBL’s short-length tendencies. I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

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kink components, established relationship, cohabitation, miscommunication, celebrity romance

These two have such a great DS dynamic. Only Hira would apologize for banging and wanting to bang his own bf, but do it anyway. Talk about a service top with a humiliation fetish. Sheesh. The masochism is strong with this one. (Since I do not deal with humiliation fetishists well, the cringe factor got to me a little.) Still, pouty jealous Kiyoi is the cutest. [One flaw: The photographer dude should have been played by Kenta. Just a little joke.]

All in all, this second season didn’t blow me away the way the first season did, it was quieter and more uniform in its narrative and messaging - thus more predictable.

The basic relationship misunderstanding remained the same as Season 1 - all about value and self worth and how that’s assessed. The result is a performance that is a dialogue between imposter syndrome and a parasocial relationship. If these two only had the language and framework of BDSM to understand each other than they would, but they don’t so the story is us watching them suffer for it. But that’s part of the fun. Part of their fun too, I think, as if the fighting and misunderstanding is just another one of their many kinks.

An engaging and solid second installment, that was so consistent, I’m ended up keeping the rating consistent too.

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Tropes: fated mates, reincarnation, PNR, office romance, boss/employee, kill the gay

A new employee whose director claims to have lived 300 years and insists that they have to date (eat, hug & kiss) if baby doesn't want to die. Office, fated mates, and that’s kinda my jam.

It has a lot of Japanese elements to it not the least of which is the office setting, but also the personality of the uke character. Is every character in this show slightly insane? Yes. Is every actor in this show slightly too pretty for my emotional well-being? Also, yes.

I did not expect Korea to go there with the lipstick mark AND an actually gay idol. What alternate reality are we currently living in? Oh. Right. One where they kill the gays. Of course it is. No HEA.

Featuring a gorgeous & stellar cast, TDWBMD should have utilized them less for melodrama and more for chemistry. This BL is a unique twist on an office romance if NOT a unique twist on a doomed red thread trope, resulting in it feeling less than the sum of its parts and ultimately unsatisfying. Possibly this had to do with the fact that this was one of those KBLs where I felt how very short it was the whole time, like I was missing something constantly, in every episode.

Worth watching for some but seriously flawed.

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I don’t know what this show wants to be and neither does it

Love Area started out as Thailand tackles love triangles BL pulp style, but by season two lockdown had changed everything. Valen & Kaitoon dropped some great kisses but traded off crazy hair and makeup in a scene-by-scene whiplash that was clearly pickups done months after lockdown, and the second lead vanished. It was... surreal. Side dishes jumped up screen time but tackled mental health... badly. A fantastic new queer side character was randomly introduced, June, who was the best thing to happen to BL linguistics in 2022 but had nothing to do with the rest of the cast, show, or plot.

I’m not saying the kisses are worth suffering through this show, but almost. And if you are intersted in the Thai language June is something pretty darn special. But honestly? What a profoundly big mess yet simultaneously dull show.

In conclusion? Some very good chemistry in a few episodes and June was a GREAT character. BUT. Look, it wasn't as bad as Bite Me, but it wasn’t actually good, either. In the end, I didn’t know what I was watching, and neither did it.

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Shows early promise and it's good, I just wish it were more

Better than average chemistry (for Korea) and a unique setting almost pulled this show into the realm of something outstanding. Unfortunately, it never quite managed to get away from the pacing and story structure issues endemic to KBL’s limited time frame and scope.

Behind Cut stars hugely charismatic Bum Jun (model & drummer in Kpop band 2Z) and Eom Se Ung (formerly of Kpop group The Man BLK) and is set in the fashion industry. Gi Jin is a designer chasing his dreams who lives with top model Lee Bin. They’re good friends, although Lee Bin would like more. Then Young Woo, a cheerful delivery boy who is a little lost in life, stumbles into their lives.

It’s sweet this idea that a dream can be a person. And Gi Jin is one of those talented sunshine characters hiding pain, so we can see why he inspires devotion in others. The vibe between him and Young Woo is very good and the actors brought a lot more physical affection to the table than is normal from Korea. With a better story and pace this show could have worked itself up to being something special, like To My Star, but a weak love triangle and the old “break ‘em up for a year in the final episode for no good reason” trope (a K-drama specialty) fubbed the landing.

It’s good BL, serviceable, I’m not going to punish it for failing to live up to its own early promise when “slightly too short and faintly unsatisfying” is basically Korea’s BL wheelhouse. If KBL is your thing, this show will work for you. Just don’t expect it to be anything more than that.

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Foundational Romance Trope: Friends to Lovers

Normally I don’t review microfilms but Strongberry has been perfecting the BL microfilm genre (and, let’s be fair, kind of OWN it) since 2017. They are true masters of their craft. And still this is one of the best things they have ever produced so I had to talk about it.

It’s two episodes of about 8 minutes each that mange to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers story ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot. How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time?

It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. You are a ridiculous human if you haven’t spent 16 minutes with these two boys. Go watch it now. Or go watch it again. It’s time VERY well spent.

ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED

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GMMTV's most under-appreciated BL

A boy who can see ghosts and falls in love with one. They move in together and try to uncover that ghost’s murderer.

I love Love LOVE He's Coming to Me. It's is probably one of the most under appreciated GMMTV offerings (right up there with 3 Will Be Free). This is one of the BLs I foist on people who aren't already into the genre as a kind of teaser to get them hooked.

It's a paranormal romance which is one of my favorite romance genres, so combining it with BL always makes me happy. I love everything about this show, the friendship group, the parents (good and bad), the mystery (there is one!), the coming out sequence (both of them are gay ya'll, not gay for you).


Look, Singto is good, but Ohm is a revelation. He's ah-mazing. I mean Frame is a fun character (Make it Right) and Ohm does a great job with the higher heat they foisted on him in that series at what, 16 or whatever he was (shudder). And Dew was a great part to show off his range, but he is FANTASTIC as Thun.

The part at the end where Thun has to confront Mes's grandfather? That breaks like EVERY Thai society code: linguistically, socially, all of it. Doesn't matter if gramps is a baddie or not, the fact that Thun would go into someone else's house and fight for his man against not just an elder, but a rich patriarch? It's INSANE. Thun is such a bad ass. Like bigger bad ass than Tan in Manner of Death.

Anyway, conclusion, more people should watch this show.

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Q: Is SOTUS worth watching despite the bullying?

So I was recently asked: Is SOTUS worth watching? I couldn't get past the first episode because the bullying was so disturbing.

A: I love it, but bullying isn’t a trigger for me.

It’s a really slow burn so you’ll have at least 6 episodes of the hazing before the tables turn, but then they really do turn. You’ll learn at least WHY Arthit is doing it, even if you maybe will never truly understand. But I would say that this is used to justify the bullying, so be aware of that.

You do get to see Arthit and his defenses crumble - in the context of being head hazer. He will also crumble for Kong... but that comes much later.

In Defense of SOTUS
The dynamic is really interesting because Kong is not only being hazed, he is younger than Arthit and thus supposed to be culturally submissive due to Thailand’s prescribed familial codified age dynamics. I happen to really love it when the seme character is younger because of this obstacle. As the one doing the courting, Kong has a lot to go up against, not just a gay relationship and the hazing, but also an age dynamic that restricts his agency.

So what justifies watching SOTUS despite the hazing?

1. The killer chemistry.

Krist and Singto don’t have much physical attraction (I like to think of KongArthit as an ace homoromantic pairing), but their emotional and chemical feedback is seriously glorious. But if you prefer high heat like TharnType or Why R U, this is not your series. Gen Y has many of the same dynamics in place but without the hazing and KimCop show better physical attraction. Try that instead.

2. Enemies to lovers.

If you really like this trope and you love it when the seme has to WORK to earn his uke, then this is the dominate drive behind SOTUS. There is even a kind of quest narrative, where Kong has to win all of the freshy games in order to win Arthit’s heart.

3. Fantastic coming out sequences.

Arthit publicly comes out to their friends/colleagues 2x in the 2 series, and each time is glorious. (Although family coming out doesn’t come into play.) Also Arthit has most of the sexual agency, he tends to incite what few kisses there are, which I like.

4. A consistent longer series.

The follow up series, SOTUS S is also really good, as is their Our Skyy installment. This makes SOTUS more consistent than many Thai BLs. SOTUS S has a “secret office romance” foundation. I really like that we get to follow them out of college and into the workplace.

5. Great friendship rep.

Both Kong and Arthit have wonderful surrounding friendships. SOTUS is also the first BL to at least have consistent, present, female friendships, and a lesbian character.

6. Heritage.

If you’re interested in the foundations of BL, SOTUS is important because it took Thai BL mainstream internationally in a way that its forerunners (like the truly special Love Sick) couldn’t. It’s also the pilot for GMMTV to get seriously involved, they have the production values and $$$ that previous (and current) Thai BL outside this parent umbrella doesn’t. SOTUS also established some BL specific tropes, like Engineering = gay, gear and gift exchange symbolism, and pink milk (although technically that’s originally sourced in 2 Moons).

7. Lack of OTHER damaging tropes.

Aside from the hazing and a certain amount of sex negativity that seems endemic to low heat BL SOTUS is pretty safe in other arenas, like statutory rape, non-consent situations, and queer femme vilification and mockery. It does highlight gay-for-you, but many don’t find this as objectionable as I do.

Frankly, there is a reason SOTUS is one of the pilot BL’s picked up by Netflix USA. It’s sanitized for a wider audience. I don’t object to popularization in my queer media (on the grounds of pro-normalization as part of the queer acceptance battle), but some queer folk have justifiable objections to this and to SOTUS.

In the end what I love about SOTUS is that what it does well, it does REALLY well and where it’s successful it’s REALLY successful. Thus it’s a stand out in several categories and only concerning in a few. Frankly, there’s not a lot of BL I can say that about.

Alternatives?
However, if bullying is a serious trigger for you but the OP trigger of suicide is NOT then you should 100% watch Until We Meet Again instead. It’s got killer chemistry in all couples, and is unquestionably one of the best written, paced, and plotted Thai BLs.

And if all you want is some intensely fluffy uplifting nonsense where all the offenses are bog standard to Thai BL and all the tropes are equally bog standard, then you want 2gether. It’s what I would call archetype BL, and ridiculously adorable on the strength of the charisma of the two leads.

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Enemies to lovers + forced proximity with a boss/employee grumpy/tsundere pairing, damaged seme

Following in We Best Love: Fighting Mr Second and HIStory 4: Close to You’s footsteps this was Taiwan’s 3rd office-set BL in as many months. They’re horning in on Japan’s territory and I’m DELIGHTED, it’s not like Japan is doing anything with it. (Can you tell I’m STILL bitter over Docchi mo Docchi? Seriously it’s been 7 years! I gotta let this go.)

This one was super soft, and Taiwan doesn’t normally do soft which made it slightly awkward for everyone concerned, but lovely and sweet in the end. The plot felt quite contrived, but that was really its only flaw. Everything else was pitch perfect.

By far BLINID’s best quality was that the tsundere uke’s tsundere-ness was entirely sympathetic, he was utterly likable from the start. As the narrative progressed the seme’s grumpiness becomes more sympathetic too (as we and the uke learn more about him).

This meant that audience and tsundere were on the same journey, softening towards the seme at the same time. Taiwan isn’t usually this clever about BL (that’s Korea’s jam) but this one was smart, and leaned on some great acting and beautiful trope execution to carry it. (There was a LOT of crash into me, though.) Grumpy/tsundere is a HARD pairing to execute well, so I was impressed.

A cute classy little BL with a few plot raised eyebrows, but no other concerns. It gets high marks from me, I loved it.

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Viki lists this as HIStory 1: Ep. 3

I'm an H1O apologist but you should know what you are in for with that title. It has a stalking theme meets fated mates and quite a bit of dubious consent. Uke obsessed with seme to the point of losing himself and his identity dies after being rejected, and then has a chance to reboot his life. He decides to save himself by never falling in love. But destiny is a bitch, and this time the seme becomes obsessed with him.

This one owes a lot to dark Chinese and Japanese BL, but kind of corrects for the expected death and sadness by ending happily and playing with a ton of BL tropes.

The leads have good chemistry, it's higher heat and the first time Taiwan starts to push that, and VERY DRAMATIC.

There is a side dish pairing of disaster bi uke on an enemies to lovers track who also end happy.

If you liked China's Addicted you will probably like this show. RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

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It's not that great but it has a decent story

Assessment? Not great.

Quick thoughts:The Eng Subs are really bad. It’s as near to google translate as makes no difference. If you don’t understand enough Thai to at least self correct pronouns in your head as you watch, it will be difficult to follow.

The plot, however, is pretty decent. Or at least THERE, which isn’t always the case in Thai BL. It revolves around two sports teams (Volleyball & Swimming) at an “institute” which I guess is a boarding high school or junior college of some kind.

Main Couple Plot:
Ongsah is a super introverted new transfer student on a swimming scholarship. He meets a ghost who’s haunting the locker room, North. North recently drowned and his backstory, friends, and family guide the rest of the story. His friends don’t know where he is. His mom is the principal of the institute and very suspicious. His body is nowhere to be found. Ongsah is on his own trying to figure out what happened to North and why. Meanwhile, the two boys meet up every night and slowly fall in love. (Slow burn, low heat.)

Don’t worry it all ends happily. This arc is actually really solid and the leads have good chemistry and are decent actors. The denouement happens halfway through with Ongsah figuring everything out. And then there’s a nice twist and this couple’s narrative bisects with the overarching sports homophobia plot in a very clever way.

If you like He’s Coming To Me, you’ll like this take on a ghost theme.

Overarching Plot:
Meanwhile, North’s mother the principal of the institute is a crazy homophobe and is trying everything she can to shut down the volleyball team because there are too many queers. The queer rep in this story is actually really decent, and the femme and trans characters are not played for laughs, nor are they jokes of the narrative, nor are they depicted as predatory. So, that's different. The homophobia as a plot devise is a bit ham handed and tired, though.

B Plot:
There is a second ghost and a second investigation conducted by senior students Jedi and Indy. Jedi and Indy used to be close but something caused them to become enemies. They follow an enemies to lovers arc. This pair is okay, but not much chemistry, medium heat level.

B Plot:
Wan and Mai have been dating, sort of, for a while. Wan is North’s best friend. This couple seems to exist in the narrative only to provide a high heat level. It’s pretty awkward and shoehorned in. Mai is also on the swim team. They don't really have an arc.

B Plot
Arm and Ten are best friends and roommates. Arm has been trying to get together with Ten for ages. They are the defacto leaders of the volleyball team since North is gone. They have a cat and mouse friends to lovers thing going on, and I really like that Ten is playing an out gay femme character, and Arm is REALLY excited and into that aspect of him. (Reminds me a bit of Yok and Mo from Make It Right 2). They’re cute, but never really get together.

Final Thoughts
Aside from the main couple, the acting is awkward across the board, the heat levels extremely uneven, and there are too many superfluous characters. The eng subs are abysmal so I can’t judge the script. However, the plot was decent. Finally, the actor playing North had a really long pinky nail which I kinda hyper-fixated on. (I spend too much time worrying about what this industry does to younger actors ANYWAY, throw possible drug use in and I just... can’t.)

If you’re a huge fan of Make It Right, you might like this one. Or if you really like a high school-ish narrative and/or He’s Coming to Me.

Otherwise you can probably give it a pass.

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cohabitation, crush, love triangle

(Korea, Feb-March 2022 Viki)

At first I wasn’t wowed by this show but then I realized this is just a very Thai style BL being executed with Korea’s signature pristine style and shorter length, so I was experiencing a disconnect. At the beginning, it also felt like Korea was attempting to grace us with the dubious pleasure of a BL sitcom (fortunately, no laugh track) and that just doesn’t work for me. Even the premise screamed sitcom: Spoiled rich kid in financial straights has to manage a boarding house full of quirky characters including: bratty cousin, wacko writer, and the new hot jock (love interest). There’s also an adorable bestie with a crush (of course, my favorite). It’s not as slapstick as I was expecting but more a comedy of errors, for me, in the wrong way - I suffer from terrible 2nd hand embarrassment.

And then, suddenly, half way through, it drastically improved. I’m not a fan of uke as pursuer, so for me this happened when the seme started to soften - bonus DIMPLES! Plus an actual date and research! In fact, the second half did everything right.

The 2nd lead’s confession was actually to his love rival (about what a sweetie their mutual crush is, which made the seme then like his uke even more) - an interesting twist on the love triangle. Then when our hottie finally confesses to his boy, it was killer: great communication and expressed desire and interest. Very mature for the characters, and for KBL, and I liked it a lot. Their first kiss is a bit dead fishy but it turns out that was for a reason. So that when their feelings finally become mutual at the end, then it’s a mutual kiss as well. It was VERY well done, because we can compare the two kisses, and so their physical synergy becomes a representation of the acceptance of their own feelings. The final ep was a bit sad since Korea really enjoys slapping us with 2nd lead syndrome but I enjoyed that the narrative was decent in its treatment of all three characters. (I was reminded of True Beauty, in a good way.) I will probably do a rewatch, now that I have faith in the ending.

All in all, this show ended up being A LOT better than I expected. It was uneven in its attempt to reconcile early sitcom style with a serious love triangle and genuine romance but the quality of the performances and the kind and honest treatment of the characters make it definitely worth watching.

RECOMMENDED

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workplace romance, sunshine/tsundere, rivals to lovers

Fantastic chef, but a bit of a stick in the mud, is challenged when the owner of his restaurant brings in a new hot shot chef into his kitchen. She pits the two against each other (even though she’s already decided the original chef is out). The new bad boy is pretty darn flirty. There is an impressive courtship, but the characters are a little underdeveloped. The tsundere softening journey is well done, and the tension given but the foundational rivals crisis (one having to lie to the other) is a good simple plot arc for a K-BL, but ultimately this show was still a little thin and some of the scenes seemed out of order. Still I enjoyed it and I look forward to the movie rewatch.

RECOMMENDED

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A Stepbrothers BL romance + multiple side dishes

Super rough going and uneven just like similar 2020 High School offerings Thank God It’s Friday or So Much In Love. Line seems to keep churning these BL Pulps out in some futile effort to recreate the questionable magic of Make it Right.

In trying to be edgy, Brothers was just super awkward. The pacing was way off, story arcs convoluted and fragmented or nonexistent, and post production particularly poor through the later half.

The older couple, KhunKaow, was the only good pairing and I liked them so much I considered rewatching for their arc, but that meant I’d have to rewatch the whole thing and I couldn’t STAND the idea.

So yeah, it’s bad. The actors deserved better and so did the audience. Line should be thoroughly ashamed of itself

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