AbsoluteBL
chronic traveller
One of my favorite 2021 BLs
Foundational Romance Tropes? reunion + long term pining + sunshine/tsundere pairingThe story line is compressed and watered down because each season is so short. The couple’s breakup, occurring between the two seasons, is only in flashbacks. But the acting and production values are top notch, and in the end the performances are so good they entirely sweep away a flawed plot and thin narrative arc. It’s rare for me to like a show DESPITE the story, We Best Love stands with To My Star as one of the few. The full circle pool kiss was adorable and this series is officially a favorite.
All told this series is GREAT, theyactors are wonderful, and the chemistry is killer with all three pairs. I was particularly pleased to get Shu Yi and his dad talking Japanese. I love it when Taiwan makes use of bilingual actors (see Because of You) almost as much as them flexing their marriage equality muscles (which they also did in this series).
* A word on Sam Lin. His acting is INSANE. Season 2 ep 2 was so good I actually just sat and stared a blank screen for ten minutes after it was over, processing. I don’t think BL ever has or ever will again produce a drunken heartbreak like that. All future episode 11s ~ eat your hearts out. Oh wait, no, I forgot, we have no hearts left to eat, Sam Lin got there first.
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Timeslip, paranormal romance, JittiRain strikes again
Adapted from a JittiRain y-novel (author of 2gether & Vice Versa) this was a “rewrite the past to fix the future” PNR.It featured a wooden Krist and revelatory Gawin (I was never a fan until this show), some good rep of things like queer struggles with rights to partner’s medical and life decisions, but awkward chemistry. It certainly wasn’t as bad as I expected.
With Jittirain, one of her main characters is going to be a manipulative liar or extremely unlikeable or both. In this case: unlikeable.
As a result I didn’t particularly enjoy this show, but with Gawin’s performance and some appealing side characters, like Max, I also didn’t hate it.
A rollercoaster of content & characterization packaged in a meh narrative sausage casing left me feeling unmoved but fine. It was fine. I was fine with it.
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Tropes: university, sickness, fated mates, whipping boy, poor little rich boy, soap opera
Kim, a tsundere musician meets Sun, a transfer student with a weak heart. Also there’s his hot older brother + their household servant, and a couple of fencers for good measure. An absolute soap opera that pretends to be a normal university BL at the start, then slips on wet tiles and falls right on trough multiple shower scenes into ludicrous soap opera territory leaving one with a sensation rather like trying to hold onto soap in a communal shower. Ultimately, everyone seems pretty happy they bent over, but no one actual got clean.Was this review helpful to you?
office romance, object of my affection, boss/employee
Adapted from a manga for the same name, it has a similar creepy worship stalking vibe Secret Crush On You. Look, I admit it, this dynamic (super awkward pining uke, rockstar seme) is one of my least favorites - high cringe factor meets navel gazing obsessive. Japan’s weird hang-up around physical expressions of affection in BL which I expect in their slapstick high school stuff, feels cowardly here. They don't leave out end kisses in their het office romances, time to stop desexualizing the gays, too. For a plot about courage, it’s a bummer that the narrative itself didn’t have any. I can’t imagine ever watching this show again or remembering its existence. When Japan drops the balls they drop all the way to the bottom of the well.Was this review helpful to you?
opposites attract, accidental relationship, cohabitation
Mr Chronically Unlucky (another adorable chaos muffin) and Mr Always Lucky end up dating after they meet at uni orientation. It’s JAPAN yet they kissed in the first episode. What freaky alt-reality did I enter into? That’s all they kiss tho, over which I was a touch disappointed (I know). Still I spent far too much of my time with this show biting my knuckles and squealing “THEY’RE SO CUTE!” Amusing story: I paused mid the most tooth-achingly adorable first date in the entire universe and Viki was like “something missing?” and I was like “MY HEART YOU BASTARDS” It is very slapstick Japanese style comedic (light) BL reminds me a bit of Kieta Hatsukoi or Cherry Magic. So if you like that style of BL you’ll adore this show.Was this review helpful to you?
enemies to lovers, fake relationship, one sided crush
I had a hard time finding this one so initially I dropped it as a DNF, then it turned up with fan subs so I decided to try it again. (I have found I often prefer fan subs for the Thai stuff.)Frankly it’s better then we have a right to expect from this sort of Thai BL pulp, especially if you can make it through ep 4. I like the northerner vs Bangkok and how the different characters handle the classism of it. The side couples once we get up north are super cute. There’s even an out gay character. The actor playing IG is great at pining. Only Ruk didn’t really do it for me, too tsundere without purpose or reason. And he’s the main character so the drama rather sags because he can’t take the weight of it. It reminded me of Hometown Embrace or Friend Forever, only, frankly, better. Ep 8 where the friends cover for Rak by all kissing each other was very funny.
Still we are in serious pulp territory with ALL THE TROPES including “the homophobe faints.” Objectively it’s not very good and the terrible singing in every single episode made me dock a whole point. Sing your feeling is one of my least favorite BL tropes.
RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU’RE WILLING TO PUT WITH SINGING AND ALL THE PRODUCTION ISSUES OF A THAI PULP
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This review may contain spoilers
office romance love triangle comedy
This is a remake of the Japanese original and while I found the cast in this one superior, for me it didn’t correct for any of the pacing or squick factor flaws of the central romance of that original. There were new side characters and new depth given to original side characters which I did like and Tin is a little bit more endearing. Tin was still touch adverse and overly freaked out about everything, the old dude was still a creepy office predator, and the break up and engagement timeslip still felt uncalled for and jarring. I must conclude that this franchise is not for me.Was this review helpful to you?
Is this BL?
I like this movie a lot, even though I'm not wild about the ending.I think it is an excellent piece of queer cinema, although not necessarily BL. It doesn't use any of the tropes, archetypes or narrative beats I would expect from the genre.
I would recommended it as queer cinema. Beautifully filmed and acted, thoughtful and thought provoking. Although it is more likely to make you cry than smile.
It's one of Taiwan's few queer film pieces of this type, and stylistically it owes a lot to early Japanese queer cinema. Which, in turn makes me think of the new Japanese stuff we've been getting that harkens to those roots like Restart After Come Back Home or His the movie, but less cerebral as it has Taiwan's signature excellent chemistry and visceral passion.
Your Name owes a lot to its sibling source (?) project 2017's Red Balloon. So If you enjoyed YNEH then you should track that one down, it shares a main actor. You'll probably find it worth watching. Korea's Just Friends? also tackles enlistment but is way more BL.
I feel like if you're a big fan of YNEH then you probably also enjoyed (or would enjoy)
Love of Siam (Thai)
I Told the Sunset About You (Thai)
Present Perfect (Thai)
Life: Love on the Line (Japan)
Junjou (Japan)
Does the Flower Bloom? (Japan)
Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (Japan) v. explicit
Gaya Sa Pelikula (Pinoy)
Papa & Daddy (Taiwan)
Goodbye Mother (Vietnam)
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slice of life, struggles, other side of the tracks romance, great side dishes
I enjoyed this complicated little show, even though it’s spectacularly messy gay with lots of shrapnel and authentic pain (normally not my style).I thought EarthMix turned in their most compelling performance to date, yes better than Thousand Stars.
But it was GeminiFourth who stole my heart. What a wonderful side romance that was!
That said, the most interesting central relationship was that of Jim & Li Ming, their father-son angst mixed with evident affection made me tear up. This was more slice of life than it was BL, but it ended happily so I’m not mad at it.
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This review may contain spoilers
friends to lovers, boss employee, CEO romance, time travel
High concept of a man from the past traveling to Covid times and getting involved with a spoiled rich kid soon to be CEO that ultimately made for a dull story. Sides were stellar but intentional miscommunication as a narrative driver never works for me. But at least there were only a few damaging tropes in this HIStory installment. Good chemistry from both pairs and some nice sex scenes, and an extremely cheesy ending - 90% of the time this is Taiwan’s BL brand. I expected nothing less. But there is a little part of me that hoped for something more.Was this review helpful to you?
Forgotten Plumbing - mafia, BDSM, only not really
Adapted from the y-novel Mafia's Bad Love, (originally featured both a gay poly triad and a GL sub plot). Stared Yoon (YYY, Paint With Love, My Ride) as a mafia Dom and Ton (Y-Destiny) as the accountant sub. Kim has a one night stand with a random stranger who becomes obsessed with him. Pretty soon into it I began to think this show should be called Forgotten Kink rather than Unforgotten Night. There isn't any. Mostly there's faucets left on and shower heads used for tie points (don't DO that). But honestly it was just bad. There is a moral to this show but I’m not sure what it is. Don’t combine your BDSM-but-not-really BL pulp with plumbing? In the end, this dumpster fire was extinguished by a garden hose and all we were left with was leaky pipes and the smell of damp trash. The only kinks were in the hose.Was this review helpful to you?
friends to lovers, coming of age, high school setting, introvert/extrovert
This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura (Kura Yuki from His the series) and outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It features multiple confessions in multiple languages (and ways) and is basically a slice of life but pitch perfect look at coming into identity as a teenager. It directly talks about liminality and occupying transitional spaces (which I talk about in this post about age gap).It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). The undy scene made me hoot with laughter. There are only 4 episodes and one of them is mostly six people sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories that could (and should) have been cut, making about 1/4 or is unnecessary.
I liked it but I felt like I was “supposed to like it” more than I did, ultimately I was left feeling like I had seen it all before. So for me it was lovely but slightly unmemorable.
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This review may contain spoilers
crush, friends to (almost) lovers, paranormal, suspense, murder investigation
Same director but altered cast as Hwall/Hur Hyun Jun (Yoo Han) is out. This time the plot revolves around less monos & probes and more just monos. Yeon Woo searching for his mother (and, sort of, his probe) joined by Se Hyun, whose sister is involved. As in Color Rush this BL is stylish, but it’s not as narratively innovative as the first installment.We all kinda saw the reveal of SeHyun’s identity coming, but it does mean we’re right back in gay allegory territory for obvious reasons (they are both the same identity AKA same gender). This time the question is:
Can you miss something you never had? Especially when it has to do with your own identity? Also, has SeHyun switched his (supposedly) natural inclination towards obsession onto Yeon Woo?
I liked it more than I was expecting to. And I liked Hyuk a lot more than I was expecting too, actually. And it was clever, notice SeHyun in the Yoo Han style hoodie, but carefully not a color Yoo Han ever wore?
Honestly, in the end I don’t know what to say about Color Rush 2.
Does it stand alone as a BL? I don’t know that’s not how I watched it, and I doubt others will.
Does it work as the second installment of a trilogy? Absolutely.
Does it work as the final installment of a duology. Absolutely NOT.
So yeah, what else can I do but say, for now..
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
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Thai Bl Pulp featuring a love triangle: tsundere/sunshine\piner in food service setting
Food service is one of the better premises I’ve seen taken up by the pulps in particular in 2021 (although it seems to be leaking into a lot of BL). This love triangle started off strong but went askew by ep 6. It gave me a terrible case of second lead syndrome (and not in a good way - in a True Beauty kind of way.)It’s interesting to compare this BL to Light On Me, which handled the love triangle so well. In this one, audience sympathy became weighted too strongly towards the 2nd lead, and Kaitoon looked like a jerk because of it. Light On Me managed to keep all 3 sympathetic, understandable, and endearing. Love Area waffled. It’s a bit unfair to compare a Thai pulp to a Korea BL so I’ll stop now.
It is all apparently a moot point because this BL ended abruptly on ep 6 and a cliffhanger. Because this is a pulp there is no knowing if we will ever actually get a Part 2. My low rating is partly because of this.
RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO AND CAN TAKE A LOVE TRIANGLE + CLIFFHANGER
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Another Thai BL Anthology Sampler Pack
This show used the same basic model as CLOSE FRIEND in which each couple was only given one 1-2 hour episode. All were established actor pairs (well I think of SantaEarth as established even though this was Santa’s first). I think we already get enough short BL out of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan I don’t want it from Thailand in this sampler pack form. I only watched and reviewed the BL ones.SantaEarth: bullying at boarding school = 5/10
BounPrem: LTR break up because of the closet = 5/10
BoomPeak: 6/10 I JUST LOVE THEM OKAY?
SammyPeniere: GL but it’s all about a boy = 2/10
BoomPeak’s installment gave me nostalgia for days. You will pry my unreasonable adoration for Make it Right from my cold dead hands. Boom is always and forever the prettiest. Look, this was a bromance more than a BL, they ruthlessly borrowed UWMA’s music, they did not kiss, but I DON’T CARE. It still left me with a big grin on my face and I will rewatch it so, it was the winner of the seres for me.
But overall Seven Project was disappointing.
NOT RECOMMENDED (except BoomPeak’s ep)
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