Yellen

Can someone explain this to me please?

So the Japanese invented bls or rather yaoi mangas. The number of BL mangas published is staggering.

So why do they go looking for Thai BLs to remake?

They have their own spicy content they could adapt. Most (not all!) of japanese BLs are on the tame side, no or dead fish kisses being the ultimate NSFW content. Why aren't the japanese adapting their own yaois more?

I have seen more make out scenes in two episodes of this drama than in 20 japanese BLs I had watched before.

It is on gaga. I watched it on my usual site kisskh and it is 10min longer than announced here or on gaga but it is still the version poached from gaga....go figure!

Loved it. But why are the actors credited with their western names: Kerry Hu and Tim Liu? Because they are chinese in a "singaporean" BL?

I love you being wordy like this!
I was actually confused by the term "queer".
I once discussed the same topic with another user here a long time ago but what you all call queer now was called LGBT content and the difference was basically the same (happy fantasy vs. sad reality). I compared BLs with Hallmark movies. I think it somehow fits: unrealistic love stories or Disney style fairy tales.

Great article! Thanks for the link!
I remember a gay man here telling me once that BLs are just queer productions with a happy ending. What do you think?

Not at a quick glance! When you really look at it , it obviously is a hoodie but not at a first glance at a small thumnail!

I have to get this out of my system!
Every time I see the poster for this drama my first thought is, why is there a woman wearing a hijab in a K drama?🤣🤣

And yet there are some amazing LGBT films coming from India which are not tragic but rather uplifting. I recently watched a couple of Indian BLs released a month ago (https://www.youtube.com/@lastleafpictures). Things move slowly, very very slowly but they move in the right direction. And like anywhere else in the world, the LGB acceptance takes hold in the cities first before moving on to the rest of the country (smaller towns, countryside etc.).

Maybe this is a stupid question, so please forgive me, but what is the difference between a BL and a queer series? I always thought that BLs were a kind of queer stories just like GLs... I suppose I got that wrong?

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.