BL Compilations

miscategorized and not compelling

Overall: this has the BL tag on Shortime which it is definitely not. The protagonist is the woman who runs the cafe. There is an established m/m couple that gets barely any screen time. 45 short episodes with episodes 1-4 being free to watch.

Content Warning: past bullying, harassment, homophobia, unwanted public outing, threats

What I Liked
- visuals

Room For Improvement
- the writers didn't make me care about the FL
- the homophobia (a character said "it's gross")
- love triangles

If you watch on Shortime, 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) and it should get you a bonus

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meta BL comedy

Overall: a fun meta story where the main character is in a BL comic/world. 4 episodes about 30 minutes each. Aired on Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/37904c-a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl and GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/2420/a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl-2021-s01e01

Content Warning: manhandling, spying

What I Liked
- awesome dance/music intro sequence
- the mini side couples/BL tropes
- the flowers and blinding light
- I chuckled a few times

Room For Improvement
- was going to say I liked the sibling relationship but in episode 3 Mob says goodbye to his brother and he also tried to take his brother's agency away
- lip press in episode 3
- not sure if it was an error in translation but Mob bordered on homophobic at times with how he talked about his brother being contaminated and not helping someone lest he get in a relationship with a man and be contaminated, on the flip side he wished other guys happily ever afters
- (neutral) normally I'd take off a half point or more for a cliffhanger ending; however, there was a season 2 (and season 3 though as of 2025 hasn't had an international release)

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an odd tourism ad (watch suggestions)

Overall: I would say this was a tourism ad with a paper thin BL plot but I'm not sure 4 people stalking 2 other people is appealing for people thinking of visiting a location...About 40 minutes long, aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/ccbor389y01264p-Bali%20Hai/g4100oasloe-EP01%3A%20Bali%20Hai

Content Warnings: stalking, vomiting

Watch Suggestions (takes out the stalking and focuses on the leads)
- watch 5:40-6:35, 12:05-17:15, 22:10-25:25, 27:30-33:50, 37:50-end

What I Liked
- the ocean/beach vistas
- gave some things to do for visitors to the area
- the imagined scenarios

Room For Improvement
- the caricature characters and their stalking
- normally I would praise representation; however, a character being mute felt like a gimmick, we didn't learn anything about him other than he couldn't speak
- did not feel chemistry with the leads
- open ending (if this turns out to be a series, then I'll update this review/rating)

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a decent special

Overall: 1 hour and 30 minutes continuing the story in Addicted Heroin (Thai adaptation). Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/pgahblq3qny0xuz-Addicted%20Heroin%20(Uncut%20Ver.) and via YouTube membership https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9gUn_WWWU

What I Liked
- the mom
- sweet moments
- the side couple

Room For Improvement
- the 9 minute recap (start at 12:45)
- Pop didn't tell Hero the truth about what happened with his brother? cousin?
- nonsense with the swat team, no one reported that to the police?
- odd moment with a random woman
- Hero had no character growth, still shown as hot tempered

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a ride (watch suggestions)

Overall: I was mostly entertained but the huge tonal shifts were not for me. I gave this a rating bump because they did attempt something different with the plot even though it was filled with nonsense. 12 episodes about 1 hour each (uncut). Aired uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/2elmpcfm17c?lang=en_us&sh_pltf=4 ; aired uncut on GagaOOLala in Germany, UK & Australia - US starting Dec 21st https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4985/the-heart-killers-2024 ; airing uncut? on GMMTV's YouTube channel not in the US, Canada or Japan https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI6Bo6a1yZ8iqQTM_A7AiYxQ&si=R4ODeKuWn7AV-SQh

Content Warnings: murders, blood, manipulation, non con picture taking, blackmail/coercion, non con kissing, harassment, homophobia, bullying, teacher/student relationship/grooming/pedophilia, stalking, beaten up, blood, intimate partner abuse, kidnapping, attempted murder, past murders, vomiting

Watch Suggestions (focuses more on sweet moments with the main couples)
- watch episodes 1-5 (likely won't go back for timings though I overall enjoyed the first several episodes)
- episode 6 stop at 1hr1min30s
- skip episode 7
- episode 8 watch 54-end
- episode 9 watch beginning to 16 and 30 to the end
- episode 10 watch 19-40 and 51-end
- episode 11 watch all or can skip 11:30-18:15
- watch ep 12

What I Liked
- an engaging start
- unique premise (non school setting and actors get to play characters closer to their real age)
- flirting/physical intimacy
- sweet moments
- how characters weren't blushing maidens
- styling
- glad they turned the teacher in and there were consequences for that
- that they subverted a very common trope in ep 12
- director cameo in ep 12
- overall wrapped up well

Room For Improvement
- the huge tonal shifts between sweet cinnamon rolls to cold blooded killers (the graphic dream murdering was too much), did not enjoy the amount of times characters pointed a loaded gun at their love interest and it made it difficult for me to root for the couples
- I've never seen a mechanic with that much grease on their face/body before, felt like a fictional way to say "this person is an auto mechanic"
- some of the sound effects/background music
- a couple of odd mouth/face close up shots
- crashed a grief support group and made a mockery of it on multiple occasions
- too much accordion music
- not a fan of the level of harassment, luckily it ended in episode 4
- random couple in episode 8 when they could have spent more time developing a third couple
- ep 12 poor communication lead to more hurt than if he had just said what his plan was
- a ton of nonsense plot stuff that pulled me out of the story also cliched things such as saying "let me explain" over and over again but not explaining, a character saying "trust me" and another character trusting them because of it

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a prickly guy and a flirty guy

Overall: I gave this an indie/it came from China rating boost. I'm pretty sure these are the official links https://space.bilibili.com/6371459/ Episode 1 is the video released on September 1st and then keep clicking on the videos to the left and then go to the row above (watch right to left). Episodes 11 and 12 are behind a paywall, but I was not about create yet another account.

Content Warning: non con touching, dub con kiss (was drunk, not sure how drunk as it was behind a paywall)

What I Liked
- the hug
- some cute/flirty moments (made the guy touch his abs, kabedon, etc)
- was more than bromance

Room For Improvement
- the near constant loud background music
- they both did voice overs so we'd know what they were thinking/feeling instead of letting their actions tell the story
- the quick recap of current episode at the beginning was confusing (though it did help with episodes 11 & 12)
- that the kiss was when 1 guy was drunk
- ghost subtitles (no background or outline, but at least they did hard code English subtitles)

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more of the same

Overall: I found this 23 minute lacking in showing relationship progression between the two protagonists. It was at least 6 months to a year into dating and that was a lackluster response to having a boyfriend return from a long trip. They felt more like roommates to me. The addition of the stalkery woman writer was cringey. If you want to watch it I'd suggest 6:50-9:42, 12:10-15:28, 16:45 to the end. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4520/takaras-treasure-2024-e11 Here is my review of the series https://mydramalist.com/profile/blcompilations/review/371693

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meh enemies to lovers micro series

Overall: Aired on Jinloe's YouTube channel first for members and then later went free for everyone (except episodes 9 & 10 and some episodes were missing subtitles) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIFuZIdAgzTjbXN2ypTCNBGNY0PQQTgxG&si=TmjC1-YF7k_mWZTd Also all episodes are on Jinloe's TikTok with hardcoded subtitles https://www.tiktok.com/@jinloeofficial/playlist/SomeSecretInHighSchool-7424306755129051921

Watch Suggestions
- skip ep 5
- start ep 7 at 1:25

What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- a couple nice moments

Room For Improvement
- "comedy" sound effects
- cliche female character took up too much screentime
- missing subtitles in some episodes on YouTube
- stupid plan
- episode 8 of 10 was too late to start falling in love
- kind of an odd stopping point for the series

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decent follow up to the series

Overall: this was not the follow up plot that I wanted but I think they executed it fairly well. I originally bought/watched on Amazon Prime Video in 2021, re-watched on GagaOOLala in 2024 https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4290/hello-stranger-the-movie-2021

Content Warning: homophobia, vomiting, punch, manhandling

What I Liked
- supportive friend group
- maybe I read too much into it, but I liked how Mico took the top bunk and said he was used to being on top and Xavier said that was okay and he'd adjust
- non cliche female love rival
- character mentioned having 2 moms
- Mico had self respect

Room For Improvement
- very confusing start based on where the season left off, and the timeline took some time to figure out
- we didn't get nearly enough time with them as a happy couple for me to want to really root for their relationship to succeed
- wanted Xavier to do a bit more groveling for what he put Mico through
- the guy love rival was unnecessary and I kind of wanted them to be end game
- cliche thing that happened to Mico

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shorter movie that focuses on bullying and discrimnation

Overall: although it's very low budget, I gave them points for trying to address serious real world problems in about 43 minutes. Aired on YouTube https://youtu.be/p3vl7la7-oA?si=OVtJfstzAUw1aF55

Content Warnings: near suicide, sexual assault, bullying including physical bullying, cyberbullying, non con picture taking/sharing, unwanted public outing, held against will, manipulation, violence/punch, homophobia

What I Liked
- the scene of them eating ice cream
- addressing issues like homophobia, marriage inequality, bullying
- friend called out the teacher and the bullies
- supportive parents

Room For Improvement
- they shouldn't have had the friend do that if they wanted the viewer to want two characters together
- bleeping the Thai swear words was distracting, they likely would have been fine with not bleeping them on YouTube
- not translating text messages
- subtitles, though I didn't really take off points for this because at least they added something
- an open ending with the m/m romance aspect

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an okay follow up to Ossan's Love: In The Sky

Overall: though there were some fun parts I felt this 2 part special lacked in some areas. This should be watched after Ossan's Love: In The Sky. 2 episodes about 20 minutes each and you need to watch both. Aired on GagaOOLala.

Content Warnings: manhandling

What I Liked
- funny parts (i.e. the pillow fight and the beginning of episode 2)
- hair drying was nice
- some good advice

Room For Improvement
- wanted them to split out the two couples, so 1 couple in ep 1 and the second in ep 2
- still seemed to lack resolution
- characters were antagonistic for too long

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another crack comedy in the Ossan's Love franchise

Overall: there is a lot of ridiculousness with the plot and characters but it's obviously intentional and I did laugh several times during the movie which is about 2 hours long (make sure to watch the very cute post credits scene at the end). Aired officially internationally on GagaOOLala in December 2023 when the platform picked up almost the entire Ossan's Love franchise https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/2118/ossans-love-the-movie ; also on Viki https://www.viki.com/movies/40296c-ossans-love-the-movielove-or-dead Note: the movie should be watched directly after the 2018 series, the Love in the Sky takes place in an alternate universe/totally different plot and is not a continuation of the 2018 series

Content Warnings: past death, threatened violence, kidnapping/held against will

What I Liked
- how the movie started with that chase/action scene and then another action scene towards the end
- fun comedy moments
- the actors made me cry towards the end with talking about marriage equality, the challenge of having a family and their love for each other

Room For Improvement
- how Maki wouldn't let him explain
- could have used a few more sweet moments before the conflict started
- how a character asked a certain person for permission to marry before asking her

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