BL Compilations

fantastic premise with an annoying love triangle (watch suggestions)

Overall: fantastic visuals and a good premise, but let down by the writing. 10 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on Oxin's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcQaxIPsTWdOdHERhq5DyEKas3feZWfhN&si=HjUrflha-ymt6YbE

Content Warnings: past death mentioned, slaps, kidnapping/held against will (multiple times), non con kiss, abuse, manipulation, sexual assault

Watch Suggestions (to focus on sweet/steamy parts and cut out all the over the top villains/love triangle stuff)
- episodes 1 & 2, you're on your own
- ep 3 part 1 watch 12-end
- ep 3 part 2 watch 2:45-6:05
- ep 3 part 3 watch 11:50-12:30
- ep 3 part 4 watch beg-4, 10:30-14:30
- ep 4 part 2 watch beginning-50s
- watch episode 4 part 4
- ep 5 part 1 watch beg-4:30, 12:35-end
- ep 5 part 2 watch 3-4:40
- ep 6 part 3 watch 3-4:05, 8:10-end
- ep 6 part 4 watch 8:50-9:35
- ep 7 part 1 watch 6:10-8:30, 11:20-end
- ep 7 part 2 watch 2:50-4:20
- ep 7 part 3 watch 8:50-end
- ep 7 part 4 watch 5-10
- skip ep 8
- ep 9 part 4 watch 1-1:45
- ep 10 part 3 watch 3:15--7
- ep 10 part 4 watch 10-end

What I Liked
- Chuk Chuk
- visuals
- premise
- the scales/tails were well done
- second couple
- music

Room For Improvement
- world building dump
- way too much time spent on a love triangle, needed to focus on the main couple's romantic development
- most comedy didn't work for me (sniffing underwear, innuendo taken too far/cringey stuff, the fireworks out of their mouths towards the end)
- likely AI intro
- I didn't take off points but can YouTube channels please put their episodes/parts in the correct watch order in their playlists?

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3rd Time Is Not The Charm

Overall: I debated even starting this because of the production company (google Motive Village controversy and you can learn about it). But I wanted to support the actors.

Content Warnings: flashback to non/dub con sex (drunk)

What I Liked
- the Forth/Beam kiss was decent
- (neutral) animations

Room For Improvement
- the reboot (season 2 aka season 1 plus extra plot line) ended on a major cliffhanger so I expected this to pick up where it left off but instead we have 2 new characters as the leads with a totally different plot
- the 6 of them sitting around and re-creating their stories was an exposition dump
- there are 3 established couples that didn't really do anything and don't have chemistry/they don't feel like established couples, i.e. an established couple who had a dead fish lip press kiss
- two seemingly straight guys starting as rivals who will eventually fall into the 'gay for you' trope
- production value (odd camerawork, goofy background music that didn't fit)
- effeminate guys stereotyped as boy obsessed/shrill
- boring, they even put a flashback in 27 min to earlier in that same episode
- a stupid competition
- what a weird thing for a person in an established relationship to do when someone asks for his phone number
- no official international release

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slice of life

Overall: I really wanted to like this slice of life, but it never hooked me. Based on the book "Love and Punishment by the Unnamed Lake" by Ni Lv Zhu Ren which I haven't read and am reviewing the series on its own merits. 8 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on Viki https://www.viki.com/videos/1270086v ; GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6540/feel-what-you-feel-2026 (not available in: Japan, Korea, Americas, Europe, Oceania, India or Middle East) & Heavenly (South Korea)

Content Warnings: bullying, non con/dub con kiss, attempted murder, blood, non con kiss likely turned consensual

What I Liked
- the premise
- slice of life vibe
- second couple

Room For Improvement
- the voice over start and more voice over later
- the main couple pacing was too slow and then rushed in the finale with a few minute montage
- knowing this is set in 2001 and the location, it pulled me out of the series that there were 2 queer couples (even though I enjoyed the 2nd couple)
- odd ending for the second couple
- the finale went soap opera (can skip episode 8 2:40-13:30 to skip past it)
- snooping in the diary wasn't romantic

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crack comedy to very dark at times

Overall: I was a bit nervous with the premise, but they did handle that aspect fairly well. The tone however was jarring at times. Aired on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI5aWDfcMptZ4BC9dSSljMGa&si=lqhtFN5MkArH3W5w
(available for some countries in Africa, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and SE Asia) and Viki viki.com/tv/41430c-love-you-teacher

Content Warnings: past death, past mental health struggles, current mental health struggles, manipulation

Watch Suggestions (if you want to focus on their relationship as adults and cut out the darker parts)
- watch episode 1 to get an overall sense of the story
- episode 2 watch beg-10:10, 25:40-28:20 and 36-end
- episode 3 watch 3 15:10-18:40, 30:10-35:20 and 50:35-end
- episode 4 watch 11:30-17:30, 23:30-25:40, 35:30-41:40 kiss
- episode 5 watch 9:15-10:45, 27:25-30:15, 41:40-end,
- episode 6 watch 32:40-35:20, 42:40-end
- episode 7 watch 42:20-end
- episode 8 watch 2:10-3:40,15:30-18
- episode 9 watch beg-2:40 and 36-end
- watch episode 10

What I Liked
- chemistry
- an established couple
- supportive friend and boss
- theme of how challenging it is when your romantic partner has a health crisis
- good Solar put parameters until he was fully recovered (though wasn't quite sure why he removed them early)
- laughed a couple times*

Room For Improvement
- the comedy and darker parts did not always mesh
- a character lied for way too long
- a mom was positioned as an antagonist when she had completely legitimate concerns
- wish they hadn't gone with the feel good discovery in episode 9 and left it the way it seemed originally
- there was a ton of nonsense, and it did pull me out of the story a few times
- *most humor didn't work for me

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abuse

Overall: abusive characters were abusive. 18 episodes about 5 minutes each. Aired on 欧芝居 YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNYcOUpIAiIkfPSoVrxOT8YDD3V2rjs-m&si=MymiwAhc6uAAmY_X

Content Warning: multiple slaps, held against will, sexual assault, past child abuse, coercion, repeated rape, drugging, suicide shown, past deaths/murder, blood

What I Liked
- episodes 10, 11 and 12 up to 3 minutes
- I did chuckle when the bodyguard interrupted 2 guys kissing and the 1 guy punched the bodyguard

Room For Improvement
- the side couple was terrible, repeated abuse then a ray of niceness and even after the guy is awful the other guy suddenly loves him, super sad that he killed himself
- a main character is 17 years old and the other character destroyed something he loved on purpose, slapped the 17 year old and treated him like crap for a lot of the series
- are they biological brothers? step brothers? (hoping it's step brothers, update, I was never clear what they were)
- character shows up in episode 17 to do an exposition dump

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Your Dear Tea Farm that went off the tracks episode 5

Overall: from the trailer I thought this would be spicy, from episodes 1-4 I thought this was a slice of life but then in episodes 5 and 6 it became a soap opera. Based on a book which I haven't read and I am reviewing the series on its own merits. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Airing on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/your-dear-daddy-episode-1-v94mtn7i5g?lang=en_us

Content Warning: non con picture taking/sharing, past (intimate partner abuse, suicide), mental health struggles, attempted murder, blood, beaten up

Watch Suggestions (to focus more on the m/m couple and less on tea farm life)
- watch episodes 1
- episode 2 skip 20:20-24, skip 40:10-46
- episode 3 watch 18:15 to 20:40 and 40:15-45
- episode 4 watch beginning-1:25, 11:30-17:50, 22-35, 37:15-45
- skip episodes 5 and 6

What I Liked
- Saitharn knew what he liked in the first episode
- easy to understand premise
- get to see Fluke again!

Room For Improvement
- comedy sound effects did not make things funny
- this was sold as a romance but the leads didn't talk until 18 minutes in of episode 3 and only had a few minutes together for the entire episode, suddenly it veered into lakorn territory in episode 5

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First Impression: A Dog and a Plane

Overall: curious to see how this Thai romcom goes. 10 episodes about 45 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala (in U.S., U.K., Germany, France) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7706/a-dog-and-a-plane-2026-e01 ; Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/41492c-a-dog-and-a-plane?qId=696ca5913d3ce7f6d9fbb4e32c8cc3ce#episodes and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI5osb5iHqLGUEBq7Ca7C-y1 (available in several countries in Africa and Southeast Asia but not Thailand)

What I Liked
- chemistry
- easy to understand premise
- I chuckled a few times*

Room For Improvement
- *did not laugh at all of the humor and the comedy sound effects detracted from the humor
- nonsense stuff that sometimes pulled me out of the story
- nervous that a character is going to keep things from another character 2

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a soap opera (side BL couple)

Overall: I saw this on a BL list and decided to watch it although it doesn't have English subtitles. I watched the first 2 episodes and the last episode. Unfortunately the sweet established m/m couple breaks up in the final episode (at least they both seem to move on/be happy) but that made me not want to go back and watch all of the episodes especially because I didn't understand most of what they were saying. Watched (not subtitled) on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh45VQur4AvofKLgui5nvD9m96BiIlu8V

Content Warnings: murder/death, held against will, attempted kidnapping, intimate partner abuse, violence, blood (likely more)

M/M couple scenes (from episodes that I watched)
- episode 1 part 5 4:15-end
- episode 2 beginning-2 min
- (they broke up at the beginning of episode 32)

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second half was better

Overall: the second half was better with less forced comedy. This is based on a book of the same title which I haven't read and am reviewing the series based on its own merits. 12 episodes about 1 hour long each. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/love-upon-a-time-episode-1-21xrp4m8-0blk?lang=en_us

Content Warnings: murders, attempted murder, punch, blood, manipulation, harassment, manhandling, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, bullying, beaten up/fight, held against will

Watch Suggestions (to focus more on the romance and take out most content warnings)
- episode 3 watch beginning-10:30, 28-36
- episode 4 watch 14-27:30, 40-54
- episode 5 watch 8-23, 24-25
- episode 6 watch 12-20:30, 24-26:45, 31:30-36, 49-1hr2m35s, 1hr 6-1hr 7m
- episode 7 watch beginning-16:30
- episode 8 watch 1hr 3min-end
- episode 9 watch beginning-5, 8-13:25, 20:40-34:35
- episode 10 watch 37:05-53
- episode 11 watch 41-52:05
- episode 12 watch 9:05-end (skip 1hr 16-1hr 18m 30s)

What I Liked
- the premise/setting
- sweet moments
- the side couple
- I chuckled a couple times*
- supportive servants
- plan in episode 11
- solid ending

Room For Improvement
- the trans woman/non binary character as comedy stereotype
- *comedy sound effects did not make things funny and not all of the humor worked for me

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Ji Hun - you can do better!

Overall: follows a couple who dated for 5 years and then broke up. Aired on Shortime as part 1 with 3 episodes about 8 minutes each. My referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) which should get you a bonus.

Content Warning: vomiting in episode 3

What I Liked
- visuals
- acting

Room For Improvement
- Ji Hun needs to leave his ex in the dust and get with a nice boyfriend. When he ex filmed them having sex and then left right afterwards it was so gross. His ex couldn't even say "I love you" when he knew it was important to Ji Hun? Trash behavior. Really hope in part 2 Ji Hun ends up with a boyfriend who expresses his love.

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overcoming fear to love

Overall: I enjoyed their different personalities, but wish the tutor character had been handled differently. Based on the manga Contrast by itz which I haven't read and I reviewed the series based on its own merits. 8 episodes about 22 minutes each. Aired on GagOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6368/contrast-2026 (not available in Korea or Japan) and FOD in Japan.

Content Warnings: tutor/student, over 18/under 18, possible grooming, past bullying

Watch Suggestions (I think this takes out the creepy tutor and focused more on the 2 leads)
- watch episode 1
- episode 2 skip 3:30-4:20 and 20:45-end
- episode 3 start at 3:15
- episode 4 skip 7:30-12, and stop at 21:40
- episode 5 start at 15
- episode 5 stop at 21:45
- episode 6 start at 4:30
- episode 7 skip 3:45-8, sip 13:20-18:30 and 20:30-23:40
- episode 8 start at 1:20

What I Liked
- easy to understand premise
- different personalities
- layered characters

Room For Improvement
- felt the writing was saying it was okay what the tutor did, they mention a 5 year age gap and guessing they are now 18 & 23, they mentioned the tutoring started at the end of middle school which goes 3 years (and then high school 3 years) so the younger guy was likely 15 and the older guy was 20 which is super gross, the older guy knows it was wrong which is why he never told the brother
- multiple cliche running scenes
- rushed ending
- dead fish lip presses

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