Yellen

I always found fascinating how our life experiences make us see same works of art and entertainment in so many different ways. There is no wrong answer.

Ooops! Let's agree to disagree!

I discovered that indian BL through your site. And that one, I agree with you completely! It was so great! Thank you for that gem!

I am looking forward to more of your reviews!

"And we also knew from the very beginning that both were deeply in love with one another."

No, I do not agree! It was never obvious. One was in love, the other one had a lot of affection for him but just as best friends and there were never any signs that those feelings were ever of the romantic kind. Until he was assaulted by his "friend" in the toilets and he confusingly realized his "friend" was hiding things from him! Very romantic!

I love reading your reviews they are superbly written. Most of the time I do not agree with your take on these series but since we are not watching them from the same perspective, it is understandable that we see different things in each drama.

After your rave review of Unknown, a second Taiwanese rave review with the same theme is turning into a pattern! In both series we have one character hero worshipping the kindness of another character mistaking it for love and manipulating and bullying that character into accepting that "love" even though the second person never seemed to feel anything but friendship. It is pure and simple manipulation (here, the tall character actively stopped his friend from ever having romantic relationship with girls! And when they start dating, he doesn't even want him to be friends with them?He does not have much confidence in his boyfriend's feelings!) not love, and it definitely is not romantic. I don't understand how you can find this acceptable?

I know this is fiction. And in the grand scheme of things, it is not important.....

Agree! Imagine what it would have been like if they actually filmed and released originally planned 16 episodes? I remember when it was first released, it was a ratings disaster so much so they had to cut the drama short.... I liked the music in this but do not remember much else! Just that it was pale and misty....

I have just finished ep 5 and I am not feeling this BL any more. SO I decided to read your review and see if I should continue watching : thank you for saving me from wasting any more of my time on this, every word of your review passed through my head during these 5 short episodes!
And to think that I really liked it after a couple of episodes! It was very very cute and then it went downhill extremely fast. And the red flag her is not one of those (like TharnType) I enjoy watching!

This level of toxicity is not romantic....

I guess that they will tone down the smut to a minumum or just allude to it: like "something is happening behind the door, use your imagination!"🤣

Interesting list! I had no idea this criminal behaviour is still so widespread today! Anyway, most of these actors have been cancelled, haven't they? I have never heard of any of them (with 2-3 exceptions)!
And what do you mean when you say "tons of"? How many is "tons" when one is already too many?

You have seen the whole series: you marked 9 out of 9? How did you manage to do it? I thought only one episode was released...

Recently, every time a KBL is a bit good, people in comments would bring this one out as an example of a well made KBL. And every time, I fall for it and try watching it, cannot stand the characters so I drop it. It's been 5 times and I do not know why I keep insisting...
This is my sixth time: I cannot stand the clichés of the aesthetical heteronormativity: the top is always dressed in black, tight-fitting clothes, the bottom is small, dressed in oversized pastel coloured cardigans and shorts and of course cold in a thick sweater so the top gives him his jacket and stays in a short sleeved t shirt claiming to be hot. Moreover, how can anyone believe he is a gymnast: he looks so weak. Or did he just lose all his muscles due to an injury?
On the upside, the tall man comes out as gay to his friends, which is never heard in a KBL....

I hate the ending.

Pretty drama with some bad acting (Taejun) and many plotholes/missing explanations (color blindness, Taejun, time) but worth the watch.

This drama was one of my first K dramas ever. And even then I could have written exactly, word for word, what you wrote in your review. Every...single...word! I never understood the appeal of this drama. Maybe it's cultural? Who knows?

When I first started watching K dramas, there were a few things that struck me: the hierarchical society, heavy drinking and focus on beauty. The first remark characters said to each other (especially older: parents etc.) was always: "You are so pretty/handsome!". I really hurt my Western upbringing where personal remarks of that kind are considered rude and intrusive. I could never get used to in dramas, to this shallow idea of superficial beauty that is of a paramount importance in Korean society.

Your paragraph about beauty in this drama (that I have not seen) reminded me of one of the reasons I am rarely watching K dramas these days....

Beautiful cinematography with blinding sunlight! Watch on gaga!

Very cute story between a robot and a kid with the usual JBL problem: the dead fish kiss! Frankly I thought that my computer screen was malfunctioning: their lips touched and then everything froze! Not a muscle was moving during long seconds! Very passionate! Not!🤣🤣🤣 I don't need kisses etc. in my romcoms but if you do it, do it properly please!
Still very cute plot, very pretty sights, very lovely background score and very, very, very slow burn....🥰🥰

Finally an article about dramas that are neither chinese nor korean. We need more of these editorials! Thank you so much Soju!

Yes, you are right about Korean BLs. I think better kisses started in those first vertical BLs about 2 years ago: I remember being thoroughly shocked by the unexpected event of a non dead fish kiss in a KBL! Then there are those short web dramas on youtube also doing their bit recently! If they continue like this, they'll catch up with Thai BLs in no time!;-)

They kissed on the roof in episode 4...trademark japanese (and korean)dead fish kiss. Still, a kiss!

How come these high school kids never have parents in these BLs?

Japanese BLs? Trust me, I know of them and are definitely my favourites even though they also make a good amount of bad BLs. The problem with Thai BLs is too much skin not enough plot, while with JBLs the skin is not good enough (mostly fish kisses when there are some!) and the plot is very slow. Nevertheless, I prefer them because there is a story in them. Currently watching Contrast and liking it a lot!

Why do you keep watching Thai BLs? Still hoping for a hidden gem? In the meantime, they keep on churning out slop for teen girls....until they run out of pretty actors?