BL Compilations

awesome styling with some lackluster writing

Overall: the writing was not what I hoped for, but I still enjoyed the different premise. 14 episodes about 1 hour each. Aired uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/the-next-prince-episode-1-1bv2jjiv65o?lang=en_us ; 1st episode cut on YouTube (not in Japan or South Korea) https://youtu.be/5wUsrm8lZcI?si=_ZOtV42qRgEUm8Ia

Content Warnings: past deaths, manipulation, fights, blood, dub con kissing , slap, violence, child abuse, sexism, attempted murder, murder/deaths, torture

Watch Suggestions (to focus on the romance and less politics/competitions)
- watch episodes 1 and 2
- episode 3 watch 33:40-37:40 and 48-51:30
- episode 4 watch 8:30-9:40, 16-17:50, 22:50-23:45, 32:50-33:50, 42:30-45:30 and 48:30-49:45 (also extra scene after the end credits)
- episode 5 watch 29:50-31 (I'm conflicted about this scene) and 45-end
- episode 6 watch beginning-5, 8-21:45, 25-26:55, 38:15-39:30 and 42-end
- episode 7 watch beginning-11, 1hr3-end
- episode 8 watch beginning-27, 30:10-33:50, 34:35-35:50, 43-58
- episode 9 watch 22-28
- skip episodes 10-12
- episode 13 watch 43-47:15
- episode 14 watch 26-end (you could watch the fencing at the beginning if wanted)

What I Liked
- dynamics/chemistry
- enjoyed the beginning fight sequence in episode 1
- commentary on gender roles/sexism and environmental justice
- Chakri
- kissing/intimacy
- production value* (i.e. set design, styling)

Room For Improvement
- started with a world building exposition dump
- a ton of nonsense plot stuff: a dad didn't show any anger about being lied to about something, no bodyguards around protecting royalty, a very long hold in episode 4, nonsense plan in episode 4 (should have known dad would know what he did), a bunch of people perfectly spaced on a field in episode 12 and a lot more
- a character acted like a privileged brat for too long
- wish we would get a sane, safe and consensual BDSM relationship, I guess their ending was okay
- not enough of the side couples/relationship development, felt shoe-horned in
- *the camera was too shaky, wanted more stable shots

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An interesting plot ruined by choppiness/too broad scope

Overall: There was so much potential in this story, but the scope was too broad and the sequencing was jumpy/confusing. It is based on a short film which I also found confusing (it was like an art film).

Content Warnings: non con/dub con*, 2 punches, past trauma (kidnapping, maybe molestation? shown off screen)

What I Liked
- acting is good, the 1 actor switches well, the glasses help distinguish them
- production value is good
- music is nice

Room For Improvement
- *does this mean that Yu Shi has the mental age of a 5 year old? And they had sex together??? Ummm, I'm not a doctor and don't have any friends with this medical condition but that seems ethically wrong.
- a big issue is the choppiness/not knowing what was going on most of the time. Finally in the 3rd episode (of 4 episodes) we get some brief explanations for things (but he was just randomly attacked, when did the 1 month flashback end?) however, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Even at the very end, I wasn't sure what the 1000 day thing was until after they got home and it was more clear.
- I was disappointed at the resolution with Noah
- the doctor was super unethical, I don't think doctors can share medical information with non-relatives/spouses. Also later his boyfriend looks at a patient's chart/notes. I think Noah could have been the one to explain the situation earlier to Wu Zheng.
- the side couple was totally unnecessary, they came out of nowhere in the final episode with a few sentences about the cliched miscommunication and spending years apart
- once again we have a female character just thrown in to cause drama, she was totally not needed to the story, there's enough drama that could come along with dissociative identity disorder
- I dislike punches/slaps between romantic partners or really anyone unless in self-defense

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did not work as a romance

Overall: there was no redemption arc after what we saw in episode 4 and what happened afterwards. 10 episodes about 1 hour each. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/obtd828nav226mm/e4101k2fgrj-EP01%3A_Yesterday_(Uncut_Ver.)

Content Warnings: murders, attempted murder, sexual assault, implied rape off screen, blood, kidnapping/held against will, stalking, manipulation, beaten up, violence, near suicide off screen, blackmail, self harm, non con kissing, gaslighting, past murders

What I Liked
- chemistry/intimate scenes done well
- different type of plot
- styling
- two smart and capable women

Room For Improvement
- the continuous time jumps back and forth made it confusing/choppy even with over an hour per episode (finally more clear in episode 4 but that was way too long to be confusing)
- after a character who supposedly loved another character attempted to murder, (I can't believe he said "I tried to hold him back") his best friend, cut his face so no one else would find him attractive/want to be with him and then raped him in episode 5, the romance was ruined, there was no redemption arc that could make me want that character to be in a romance with anyone and the near instant forgiveness felt fake
- nonsense plot and character actions continuously took me out of the story, a few examples: a character didn't find it odd he had no verbal/video communication from a certain person, turned out he had his phone the whole time?!, cameras were everywhere until they weren't
- did not care about the business drama

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lackluster vertical micro series

Overall: 40 total episodes for about 1hr 15 minutes runtime (a little under 2 minutes per episode). Episodes 1-10 are free to watch on the Alwayz Shortdrama YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNSRcn2apDarHe7Tml51AIxwuqIE1SAO7&si=RWE6BtHqjZdxkdSV - on Dec 6th I watched all 40 episodes for free with a special livestream https://www.youtube.com/live/zNQiDd3UiY0 ; March 14th it was released on the Shortime app https://shortime.app/en/content/cb1f4cf (my referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus.) It was later released on the iQIYI app and GagaOOLala which have several BL verticals.

Content Warnings: past suicide, grief, mental health struggles, suicidal thoughts, near suicide

What I Liked
- caring moments such as first aid, piggyback ride
- good kissing
- that 1-10 are free on their YouTube channel and they did give a short window to watch all episodes for free instead of needing to download their app

Room For Improvement
- love triangle
- slow pacing
- didn't feel connected to any characters or their relationships with each other
- too many flashbacks
- night scenes needed more light on the actors' faces
- the band aids were much more distracting than whatever they were covering (scars, freckles, tattoos)
- the pool was so shallow that characters could all stand in it and yet a character said "how did you get to me, oh you swam"
- ending left something to be desired, after being so determined to do something a character seemed to make a strong 180 turn

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evenly matched MLs

Overall: I really enjoyed the mutual attraction and evenly matched MLs (it wasn't one was constantly abused and the other the abuser or one was super innocent and the other wasn't). Seems to be patterned off the Chinese BL vertical "Caged Bird". 55 short episodes (vertical). Aired on iQIYI app or Shortime app (can eventually watch for free by watching ads, My referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus. You can view the first few episodes for free on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0vtefTLhn0

Content Warnings: past murders, attempted murder, attempted rape, torture, violence (including choking, slaps, hits), manipulation, drugging, kidnapping/held against will, non con recording

What I Liked
- the characterization of the 2 MLs, I didn't feel that one was a horrid bully and the other a victim
- intimacy, pretty spicy for a vertical (and included mutual want)
- cliche evil woman who wanted to be his wife (but I did not see how that would end so bonus for doing something different)
- the reason for the past split made sense and their actions based on the information they had in the present

Room For Improvement
- nonsense plot stuff, but that's kind of baked in to this style of vertical so I didn't really take off points for it

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dancing and romance with some serious parts

Overall: there are aspects I really enjoyed about the series such as the ex and how it was handled, but there was a very jarring part at the end of episode 7. Based on a book with the same title which I haven't read and I am reviewing this series based on it's own merits. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on Let Me Into Your Heart YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAtoaKETK9k

Content Warnings: vomiting (episode 4 part 3), murder, blood and grief (episode 7 part 4)

Watch Suggestions (to focus on the main m/m couple and side m/m couple sweet moments)
- watch episode 1 all parts for the set up
- watch 2/3 beginning-7:45
- watch 3/1 if you enjoy watching dance
- watch 3/2 beginning-7:30
- watch 3/3 3:20-5:10 and 8-end
- for episode 4 stop part 4 at 9:30
- watch 5/2 and 5/3
- watch 6/1 9:50-end
- watch 6/4 beginning-3:15
- watch 7/2 10:45-end (is emotional but explains some things)
- watch 8/3 5:30-end
- watch 9/4 3:20-8
- watch all of episode 10

What I Liked
- the costume/dance aspect
- clear premise
- non cliche ex, and another non cliche love rival
- Jack was mature about things in episode 7

Room For Improvement
- did not always feel the chemistry between the two
- the side m/m couple dynamic switched very fast and then they disappeared for several episodes
- Ja could have communicated more clearly with Jack
- what on earth was episode 7 part 4, it did not seem to fit with the rest of the story and came out of nowhere, I took .5 off my rating for this
- very cringe to have a tribute concert to someone who has died and then say what Jack said
- nonsense, some people would support them from the announcement
- not sure who that woman was in episode 10 but fairly sure she didn't deserve such fast forgiveness
- unsure of what the ending left us with, he could definitely still perform if he wanted, it didn't need to be the end of his career
(note: I watched episodes 9 and 10 with auto translated English subtitles)

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interesting premise with underwhelming execution

Overall: I really liked the fantasy elements, but the rushed/choppy storytelling lowered my score. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/the-story-of-bihyung-enchanted-master-of-goblin-episode-1-1zvs3hjpsvs?lang=en_us (in the Americas Oceana, Spain, UK and Portugal); GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5817/the-story-of-bihyung-enchanted-master-of-goblin-2025 (in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau or the rest of Europe); Heavenly & Watcha (South Korea) and FOD (Japan)

Content Warnings: non con kiss, dreamed sexual assault at the end of ep 2, slaps, attempted suicide (it's complicated), jump scares/scary make up

What I Liked
- premise
- though I didn't love world-building/exposition dumps, the drawings/animations were nice
- visuals
- quirky vibe

Room For Improvement
- many characters introduced, confusing start
- started with the present and then jumped back 36 hours
- didn't understand why it was bad that a ghost didn't get the 1st guy
- between 1 pair, have they not communicated in hundreds? thousands? of years??! then towards the end, more bad communication and suddenly they make up
- didn't feel the chemistry with the main pair, I think goblin was reluctant for too long
- should have shown the background earlier than halfway through episode 9 so I could better root for them as a couple
- 1 year time jump for the finale, rushed/things not fully explained

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could have been a 9 or higher

Overall: once again needed to focus on the leads and their relationship development and this time give a trash character some consequences. 60 episodes 1-2 minutes each, episodes 1-10 are free on the Shortime app and you can watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMzx8JLRJA Aired on Shortime app which also has: Double Play, Please Teach Me, Falling For My Boss, Summer Indigo, The Secrets of Male Students, Accent, Influencer Love and Buddy Boy. App information is below. My invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i)

Content Warnings: physical abuse, bullying, near self harm, blackmail/coercion, punch, manhandling, non con recording/sharing, unwanted public outing, slap, cyberbullying

What I Liked
- dream kiss in episode 1
- sweet moments
- martial arts backdrop
- the bully did apologize

Room For Improvement
- there is a truly awful character who seems to have zero consequences, he should have gone to jail
- really stupid plans, is the team a gang, why can't people just quit?
- two noble idiot/refuse to communicate tropes
- a camera angle blocked kiss

My Watch For Free Plan (updated Feb 2025)
1 friend referral code = 20 (1 time bonus) My invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i)

On the Rewards (popcorn bag icon page)
- check in = 5 (increases over 7 days up to 25)
- turn on notifications = 30 (1 time bonus)
- create a login = 20? (I did create a login because otherwise you only get 1 Always Win box instead of 3 per day, I think this was 20 popcorn)
- do the 3 random popcorn from the daily Always Win box = 30 (I'd normally get 5-15, around 30 in total)
- Watch Ads, watch all 10 ads each day, have to wait 30 seconds in between ads = 110

When you run out of popcorn while watching, you can watch 5 episodes each day with ads

Note that there are other 1 time bonuses like following on social media

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great to see Boss & Fort again

Overall: seeing Boss & Fort was a highlight in what should have been a fun vacation special episode. Aired in 2 parts about 1 hour total on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4936/love-in-the-air-2024-e09 and https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4937/love-in-the-air-2024-e10

Content Warnings: maybe non con touching/kissing (it's complicated)

What I Liked
- intimacy
- cute moments
- Boss & Fort

Room For Improvement
- 7 minutes was too long of a recap though if someone wasn't feeling the series I guess they could just watch that
- directly after the recap there is a random character and what felt like a random scene (does make sense later)
- the cliche thing at the end of part 1 was confusing with how Fuma & Arashi acted as if it was on purpose, so I ended up disliking them most of the special until that was explained
- the woman playing ping pong part
- Rei and Kai who generally feel like they have less power in their relationships continued to have less power during most of the special
- Fuma's hideous suits

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what a special episode should be

Overall: we had 27 minutes of new content that was a progression of their story and fluff which is exactly what I was looking for in a special episode. Available on GagaOOLala & Viki (country dependent).

What I Liked
- sweet/fluff moments
- intimacy/physical affection
- styling
- continuation of their story

Room For Improvement
- the 2 cringey fall, catch and awkward holds
- some of the camerawork felt low budget/shaky
- needed the production to include the 2 characters at the end into the special's intro sequence to refresh viewers' memories, per the review comment they are the cousin/colleague and the driver from the series, I'm likely not the only person who had no idea who they were so their appearance felt random

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rushed with some cute parts, loose adaptation of Why R U (Thailand, 2020)

Overall: This is a remake of the 2020 Thai BL Why R U (which in turn is based on a book) but I will review it on its own merits. 8 episodes about 25 minutes each. Note: there is an extra scene after the next week's preview in some episodes. Aired on iQIYI & Viki (depending on your country). Idol Romance also produced: Roommates of Poongduck 304, The Tasty Florida and Kissable Lips.

Content Warnings: manhandling, non con touching, non con kiss?, slap (part of acting)

What I Liked
- I did laugh a few times (swearing at each other with their fingers)
- cute moments
- Max & Nat cameo
- the original Why R U series playing in the background in a scene
- the perspective change in ep 2
- Sun Woo & Yoo Kyeom (up until the end of ep 4 when that reaction made zero sense to me)
- good kissing

Room For Improvement
- the intro felt like a trailer/exposition dump, it didn't hook me
- another bad "plan" that belongs in middle school (from Ji Oh), however Ji Oh had a personality change around episode 5 and I liked his character more/the dynamic
- confusing, did not clearly differentiate the flashback from present (the widescreen is flashback, full screen is present), several fast cuts
- was too choppy/rushed, should have cut out the sister/book thing entirely
- interjecting women/love triangles, (she had such a stupid plan, why wouldn't she tell her friend?)
- why didn't Yoo Kyeom tell Sun Woo about the girlfriend situation, he knew that they are friends
- cliche overhearing something and not telling the person what is wrong, and then a few days later he says he believes in being clear and finally tells him
- long recaps

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a different kind of love story

Overall: fans of season 1 will enjoy season 2 as it has the same vibe (it's not a fluffy romcom). 4 episodes about 20 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala and Viki.

Content Warnings: shove/kick/hit, suicidal thoughts, manhandling

What I Liked:
- recap at the beginning
- the intro/song
- domestic bliss moments
- acting
- character styling
- really liked the last episode and wish we would have seen more of this earlier
- relationship between Kiyoi and the actress
- the parallel with photography/that conversation with the photographer was nicely done in the final episode
- production value

Room For Improvement:
- the descriptions of this series and the series itself position that it happens over a year from where we left off in season 1. However, Hira and Kiyoi's interactions don't feel like two people who are an established couple. It very much feels like we left off at the end of season 1.
- I struggle with their character flaws/this plot isn't really my thing but I think the acting is very good and it is nice to see flawed characters

note: I struggle with Kiyoi calling Hira gross and disgusting. I've heard that that word in Japanese can be translated as several different words including creepy. So I wonder if it's more like Kiyoi calling a weirdo, but kind of more in an affectionate way and not in a negative way...

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a more realistic countryside BL

Overall: this is a shorter movie (first part was 30 minutes) in two parts from a small production company Wayufilm. Their stuff is kind of hit or miss for me, I did enjoy Country Boy (both parts) and Country Boy 2 (second part). This ended up on my 'hit' list. I graded a bit on a curve because this is a small budget production. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: fight, vomiting, past tragedy

What I Liked
- the actress for the mom did a great job and I appreciate how a mom character doesn't look like the moms we typically see in series/movies. Was also really happy with her response at the end.
- I think they acted realistically drunk (though not sure about sobering up that fast for the one character)
- a nice 'getting to know each other' montage
- the color grading
- the countryside setting and music (one of the actors sings the OST)
- the behind the scenes clips (though they were unsubbed)

Room For Improvement
- I am not a fan of toilet humor
- it felt a bit close to "I don't like men, I just like you" trope but that line was never specifically said

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Plot Rushed

Overall: They tried to make the plot too complex for a short runtime and I don't even think I'd call this BL. Because they did a 'Yoo Han is kidnapped' plot, Yeon Woo is not available to pair with anyone else romantically. Watched on Viki.

Content Warnings: bullying, side character deaths, fight scenes

What I Liked:
- good production value
- good acting

Room For Improvement
- very confusing/rushed/overly complicated plot - there's a secret bar, tea, pills, vantablack, fake candy factory, grayscale, probe surgery, a bunch of new characters introduced
- I really enjoyed season 1s vibe that was kind of dangerous/obsessive, this does not have that same vibe
- that kiss was mostly camera angle tricks and it was in a dream
- what idiot characters take drinks or pills from very shady characters, at least one could have faked taking the pill
- odd/non logical things such as: Yeon Woo just happens to leave around his very important notebook, also his aunt leaves something really important in a place that Yeon Woo can easily find (when has keeping secrets ever worked out well btw), if telling her bullies about her brother would stop her from being bullied why wouldn't she do that?, she suddenly dies (I'm sure there's a plot twist in that but it felt so random), the grandpa would know the truth wouldn't he tell the classmate? better to say nothing at all then a totally unhelpful "run away", the brother knew his sister was being bullied wouldn't he intervene?, no way the mom's headband would look brand new after years in the water, what exactly even happened with the mom? why would they do that elaborate candy factory thing when they could just go and kidnap monos?

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Well that took a turn....

Overall: I'd rate the first part (until 8min 25sec, just end it there, trust me) an 8. It felt a bit contrived but the NSFW was done well and steamy (no fake kissing there). But the 2nd part just took such an unfortunate turn. Also I think a better summary is "a security guard meets a bartender and things go down south" (or was he actually a police officer? I don't know the uniforms...). Watched on Gagaoolala.

Content Warnings: stealing, trespassing, violence, murder?

What I Liked
- the first 8min and 25sec

What I Disliked
- everything past 8min and 25sec, this all seemed so unnecessary and done for shock value

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