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absolutebl · 5 months

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Best Angsty BLs with Family Drama & Bad Home Lives, or Past Trauma

That still end happily. Requested by the incomparable @winterswhumpblr (Warning these all have tiggers in them mostly suicide, rape, and/or child abuse.)

Until We Meet Again

Thai 2019 YouTube

UWMA is, without question, a work of narrative genius with a powerful and cohesive romantic backbone driven by family drauma and betrayal and stellar performances. It is (to date) the only Thai BL that I’ve rated a 10/10 predominantly on the basis of story structure. That said it is also very well cast (and it’s a BIG cast), with solid production values, and enduring pair branding. Discussion here.

Spin off, Between Us, also satisfies this criteria.

Blueming

Korea 2022 iQIYI

Hwang Da Seul directing this angsty BL that's a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love. But if you want your mind ever-so-slightly messed with and your intimacy hellishly sweet, this BL will do it for you in a coldly distant manner, while bitch slapping you with self worth issues. I wasn’t into it at first, but the leads are solid and by ep 5 it got really good, becoming a narrative about self discovery meets understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them. Ultimately we witnessed two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection, without that affection becoming the conflict point. Instead, tension was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and childhood trauma.

Tokyo in April is AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

Japan 2023 Viki

Two young men with a shared tragic past reunite and fall in love all over again, but the past will not stop hunting them. Based on a manga, this office set reunion romance is GREAT… damn it. It’s Japan in full on soft focus which means it gets emo, abusive, and chewy. These two characters are giving parts of their souls away in a desperate attempt to shape themselves to the expectations they have of each other.

The Eighth Sense

Korea 2023 Viki

This feels more atmospheric gay coming of age romance than strictly BL. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?) This one deployed BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but front loaded them with painful backstory and tons angst drives the 2nd half. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it does have a glorious ending and that counts for a lot.

Bad Buddy

Thai 2022 YouTube

This was GMMTV’s flagship BL and it started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Some of the friendship and family dynamics are overworked, but it has great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. The whole set up is build on family drama so, yeah.

Bed Friend

Thai 2023 YouTube

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged. NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, could have been spectacular but was the story is overworked, especially at the end. Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down.

Lovely Writer

Thai 2021 YouTube

What Lovely Writer does, at heart, is reexamine Thai BL has done to queerness, but in a very gentle way that has more to do with Thai BL growing up than any actual queer authenticity. It’s not parody or pastiche, but it is self reflective and trying to correct for some chronic mistakes. Whether it is ultimately successful in this matter is going to depend on the watcher’s relationship to BL and queer identity. But that’s what makes this show beautiful, interesting, and thought provoking. And I, for one, applaud the effort even if I didn’t personally connect to the characters. There is both family trauma and dram and childhood stuff.

Happy Merry Ending

Korea 2023 Viki

Stars Lee Dong Won (KNK) as an ex-idol turned wedding singer with an abusive ex and a panic disorder + the sunshine pianist who falls in love with him. Timid tsundere & sweetheart gay is an interesting match. They’re gentle together, almost kindly, and there is a calm ache to their pairing. However, it lost its way as a BL, being more about the main character’s struggle than the romance. It had a strong finish but ultimately the premise & characters meant this was never going to be one of my favorites. But if you like angst, well...

Given

Japan 2021 grey

Boy joins band, falls in love with other boy. The singing is terrible, fast forward through that but with the possible exception of the hair styles, this BL could have been made in 2015 and no one would be surprised. As such, it wasn’t ground breaking, but it didn’t disappoint either. Very much a tortured past for our singer. (More here.)

The Eclipse

Thai 2022 YouTube

GMMTV does gay Blacklist with a good boy/bad boy pairing. This is a good show but the cast is excellent and the leads are absolutely flawless, which elevates it beyond just good. We got a nuanced and multifaceted burgeoning relationship: philosophical (and socio-political) conflict contrasted to moments of empathy; flirtation contrasted to moments of genuine affection, plus plenty of angst. This narrative is less about love than it is about courage and tenderness. However, near the end the pacing was off and the plot frustrating. Still, this is an enjoyable watch, with a finale that features verbal consent and a fun blooper reel.

Love Class 2

Korea 2023 Viki

3 couples form within a semester of university: 1. a hyung romance reunion of exes, one of whom has a dangerous past, 2. a friends to lovers romance, and 3. a one night stand between a mature student and a TA (many aspects of which had me laughing). I enjoyed the characters and dialogue of this show immensely. It was a little bit more breezy and friendly than I was expecting after the first installment, Love Class (to which this bears little resemblance and no connection). I’m not entirely sure Korea can handle multiple couples like this because it definitely felt disjointed, especially with the 3rd more mature couple (also my favorite) who probably should’ve had their own series. But I enjoyed something different from Korea.

About Youth

Taiwan 2022 Gaga

A truly lovely little coming of age high school BL with a classic YA low drama but high angst and an earnest depth. I didn’t even mind the singing, and that’s saying a lot. A weak seme/uke dynamic but tons of BL tropes (both rare in a high school setting but common for Taiwan) makes this one feel both sweet and colored by an almost real world authenticity and grit. More here.

Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de

Japan 2020 Gaga?

Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, and stunning.

DNA Says Love You

Taiwan 2022 Gaga

DNA deserves extra marks for an upbeat approach to a queer story arc that other shows have systemically mishandled with sadness (in the guise of realism). There is a twist, which I found predictable, but knowing what would happen didn't spoil this show. The leads are luminous and engaging, and it’s full of queer found family representation and an unexpected amount of domesticity, plus it’s Taiwan, so the kisses are great. The first few eps are rough going but have patiences, it's worth it as the last ones really are special and life/love affirming - and the end is big-grin charming.

My Tooth Your Love

Taiwan 2023 Viki

Earnest dentist hottie with sad eyes who worries too much is smitten by an adorable sunshine neurotic bar owner with serious anxiety issues. They fall madly in love while courting each other with food, plushies, and naps. Then, shocker, talk about their feelings and try to actually sort out their problems so they can have an adult relationship. Bonus crumbs = 18 year old poor little rich kid in mad crush with a much older man. I really enjoyed this show, it had a unique premise, killer dialogue, there was a solid lead pair with charming chemistry, soft flirtation, delightful smiling kisses, and stinkingly cute domesticity.

Where Your Eyes Linger

Korea 2020 Viki

Ostensibly high school set about a poor kid whose been raised in a mafia kid’s family specifically to protect him (whipping boy trope, attack dog variant). Themes of codependency and survival with pretty classic Korean style romance ending.

TharnType

Thai 2019 Viki

This Thai BL has everything: university setting, great acting and complex characters, interesting friendship groups, enemies to lovers, angsty coming out, high production values, AMAZING chemistry, and multiple BL side couples with all the issues. But when I said everything I meant it because there's also: damaging queer rep, strong seme/uke and husband/wife language, classic tropes and lots of them, child abuse, bullying, mental illness, rough play, dub-con, non-con, and statutory rape (by the seme/gay character).

and its spin off: Don't Say No also qualifies for this post.

In fact most Mame stuff will involved trauma & drama, specifically.

Love By Chance 2

Love in the Air (Part 2)

Wedding Plan

Some others but I'm getting tired:

I Told Sunset About You et al

You Are Mine

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Your Soul

Ghost Host Ghost House

But frankly there are a ton more depending on how you look at it. I mean, what about Why R U? FIghter's dad is the issues with him coming out, but it's not really in the plot until late so ?

Lakorn BL drama llama soaps & similar

Moonlight Chicken - review here

Laws of Attraction

To Sir, With Love - review here

Sirs not appearing on this list

Our Dining Table is driven by childhood trauma but not angsty, similar to Oxygen. Not Me is angsty and dramatic and family stuff, but that's not really the driver of the plot. Life Love On the Line is all angst but he brought it on himself.

(source)

Updated Nov 19, 2023, no intention of adding to this so if you want more, look at the comments. Someone is bound to get annoyed their favorite isn't on the list.

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crimeronan · 2 months

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One day Camila forgets to replenish her stock of coffee, leading to a very sleepy Hunter lying on the sofa, a very happy and content Luz that is right there with him, and a confused vet who needs to confront what she is hearing with her knowledge of the exact anatomical reason for why humans can't purr.

FKSDJH. camila going from gaslighting herself about hunter like "you are exhausted and crazy, camila. this is just a boy with genetic differences. you're being a discriminatory asshole and have to get a grip" to "i..... really think this boy might not be human" to "....is he an escaped secret government lab experiment. does he have cat DNA" to "....is LUZ an escaped secret government lab experiment?????"

someone help this woman.

#bonus points if luz is kneading on him like a cat. she has no cat DNA she's just autistic #camila who already doesn't trust the cops being like well! i have more things to be paranoid about now #i like to think this is where her sci-fi nerd heart would go. she doesnt default to fantasy elf she defaults to alien chimera experiment #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #camila noceda #horrible mindscape trauma pals

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frecklystars · 3 months

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Also tysm to the people who sent nice messages regarding my new F/O I haven’t named yet (I’m just worried about jinxing my ship with him since he’s very very different from the other characters I normally ship with, and idk if I want to keep him on the F/O list or if I need him to be some completely separate category). at some point I might post self ship art if my feelings remain steady hehe. just silly stuff. I like making him uncharacteristically flustered and nervous…

I think it’s funny some of you are trying to guess who it is, nobody has guessed correctly yet but you’re giving me ideas. hi camp counselor Jason I’m looking directly at you. Too bad I can’t handle horror movies at all 😂

Anyway. The deleted scene I vented about yesterday. I feel a lot calmer today; that scene canonically didn’t happen, since it was deleted, and even the director said “yeah, this scene was too cruel even for him, so we cut it”. Seeing it shook me up very badly, but I know My Version of [redacted] would never do such things anyways. I rewatched the ending scenes for his source material, I watched funny videos/memes about him, his canon stuff is absolutely nothing like the deleted scenes and I feel better knowing that.

And I suppose when I self ship with him, he’s very different anyways, regardless of what is on screen. He falls in love with me before he can commit half of his crimes. I can be the first meaningful human connection he ever has. I can save him from his own stupidity. I have never genuinely had the “I can fix him” mentality about any villain F/O until I started shipping with this guy. Rolling up my sleeves. I can fix him. I AM fixing him.

And in turn he’s helping me feel a little bit better about practicing self love without conditions: if I can genuinely believe someone as scary as this dude would love me unconditionally, then maybe one day I can ship with TF characters again ;w;

#if I didn’t have trauma I wouldn’t be shipping with him at all #but it’s helping. the other day it helped a LOT I was genuinely weeping with relief when I realized #I’m giving him a hug. baby doll we are erasing 90% of your murders. isn’t that nice!#we are taking the basic DNA of this character and rewriting it

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rucapable · 1 year

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r u capable of expressing your inner world?

Last Friday was the opening of my solo exhibition called “P.T.SS.D Generation 3.0″.

Curator: Shahar Dor

I was working on this project for almost 2 years, expressing my post trauma as a 3rd generation to the Holocaust, dealing with the qeustion of intergenerational trauma and the possibilty of breaking the chain of the Mental DNA.

The Exhibition will be open until December 10th and its in Haifa, Israel.

You are most invited.

#r u capable?#Idan Golko #alternativeart #ptssd #soloexhibition #mental DNA #intergenerational trauma #Auschwitz #holocoust #mental #heal #plasticart

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mushroom-for-art · 10 months

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I was having feelings and thoughts, uh pretty sure I didn't actually get my thought dialogue into this but hey ho XD i tried, little mewtwo, Meau and Noe belong to @phlurrii

Discussing Amber

Slightly away from the anomaly the ancient mew and her counterpart conversed in hushed whispers discussing what needed to be done as Noe occasionally glanced passed Meau simply to keep an eye on the foreign visitor to make sure they didn't try escaping.

The darker hued adult mewtwo stood, tail swaying and swishing blue faded fur shifting in the motion and breeze. He was watching the strange mews as much as the dark one watched him. His hand touched at the metal armor still fused to his body at his wrist unconsciously, a cold comfort of sorts as he could make out the eyes of the darker one watching him closely as though suspicious or not appreciating him being there. His own eyes fell into a tired glare, the corner of his lip lifting into a mute sneer flashing a bit of teeth. If they wanted to have issue with him he'd rather they said it to his face so he could smash their judgementful false innocent expression into the dirt. He could feel his fluff prickling in assumed malice.

"E-excuse me?" a small voice, he turned his head quickly downwards onto the small Mewtwo that looked up at him. He looked over their features quietly for a moment, despite this not being his world and this other two looking vastly different to him, smaller lighter different patterns, he could tell it was himself, just a different form. Usually he'd be a lot more hostile with other mewtwo and he knew he should've chased the little one away but they looked up at him with such earnest soft inquisitive eyes he couldn't help heave a sigh feeling as though he was looking at a curious mewphew or mewiece.

"Yes small one?" He paused to cringe at his own voice and tone, not having meant to come off as so impatient, he steadied his breath moving instead to rest on one knee lowering himself to the younger twos height, his voice softer as he repeated, "yes, small one?"

He could see them watching him with big eyes as they fiddled with their hands seemingly thinking up the correct words.

"Mewma said, well I heard her say something about us being the same?" the small one asked and he nodded his head slowly.

"Something like that, yes." He could see the small one look at him up and down, frowning a bit to themselves, "but, I'm not from here, so I'm not a future vision, you won't end up looking exactly like me." He noted the relief and for the aches in his bones he didn't blame them. "I think it was something more, we have similar stories similar origins of sorts but we still branch off from one another becoming different individuals."

He watched them blink as they nodded their head seeming to understand what he was saying.

"Did, you know Amber?" They inquired, he could hear a little plea in their tone as he blinked more than a little startled that that was a common detail, but by their expression he felt even that interaction was different.

"I did, yes."

"Do you remember what she was like? Can you tell me about her? Is, is she okay?" He felt a level of guilt at their tone, clearly they did differ severely. He sighed a bit to himself glancing over unsure if the other mews would come to stop him.

"She.." he in honesty struggled for words. He didn't hold the same admiration for her that the small one clearly did, his Amber could've been completely different to the one from this world, he didn't really want to spin a false tale. He looked away with his eyes, "she was Amber, she seemed smart I guess, knew things about towns and cities I didn't.. I'm sorry little one I don't really have anything else to say. My memory has been made quite unreliable since, what happened to me..and I have my own personal gripes I'm sure you don't want to hear." He wasn't lying about his memory issues.

The little mewtwo blinked at him tilting their head, "did, you not get on with your Amber?" He could see the confusion across their face and he didn't really want to tell them the truth. With a soft grunt he moved into a sit, his legs not thanking him for the kneeling especially not with his armor.

"It's, more complicated than that I guess, I think I met my Amber in a different circumstance to you meeting yours.. I have mixed feelings on her but that's because of what I went through.." He glanced away before glancing back at the smaller two, "but don't let my bad experience sour your Amber okay? Yours was probably nice huh? Did she show you towns and street lamps? Did she show you her favorite field?" He watched the small one blink as they processed his words before they nodded, moving to sit down on their knees in front of him paws in the dirt nodding along wanting to hear more from him as they made an absent-minded, "uh huh uh huh she did."

Despite his usual temperament he continued to amuse the smaller one, recounting what he could recall at times stopping to struggle for words and finding the smaller one filling in blanks on what was shared. He could see their tail swishing slightly, despite the difficulty they seemed to enjoy hearing someone also talk about Amber.

"Your fur reminds me of her, it's blue like her hair was," They mentioned casually at one point and he had to fight the expression he was going to make, suppressing that down offering a slightly wonky smile.

"I guess it kinda is like her blue hair.." Not having the heart or the malice to tell them how right they were, they didn't need to know.

By the time Noe had figured out how to send the foreign Mewtwo back to his home dimension the smaller two had fallen asleep with their chin on his leg, having been previously mumbling incoherently about flowers from the previously mentioned field and drifted off thinking of Amber and sunflowers. The larger two wouldn't have usually allowed the touch let alone from another two but something about this one made him a bit gentler, his hands gently slipped under the sleeping two as he lifted them up off the ground and his leg uncertainly handing them off to the strange large pink mew. Noe watched the hand off and upon receiving a confirming nod from Meau that the young one was fine they pulled their digits down through the air and rippling through the realities of space time opening a shimmering portal gateway. The adult two stood and after an awkward nod to both the still strange to him mews he stepped through the shimmer to return to his own world, Noe sighed closing the rift.

"Those really need to stop opening." They grumbles as Meau quietened a giggle for the sake of not waking the baby. Noe drifted close casually and Meau leant to reach them nuzzling her cheek and face against them fondly letting out a soothing purr.

"I know, but you did an excellent job." Noe would've huffed in play had they not been so distracted by nuzzling Meau back and purring in turn. Once they finally settled their nuzzling Noe moved and touched the sleeping twos forehead who breathed heavier but stayed asleep.

"At least the little one had a good time.. That other one had me worried.." Meau nodded at Noes words glancing at the sleeping angel and smiling moved to take them to the nest with Noe following closely behind.

#My writing #my oc #Axel the Mewtwo #Og mewtwo oc #@phlurris Meau #@phlurris Noe #@phlurris Mewtwo #@phlurris ocs #Noe: *looks at Axel just making sure he's not gonna run and cause more problems*#Axel the most insecure mf with mew insecurities: you wanna fucking go #Just assumes Noe is judging him. Noe probably couldn't care less l #@phlurris mewtwo like did you know Amber oh my gosh someone who knew her!#And axel is just *trauma and resentment due to lore and struggling* but like hell is he gonna tell the kid that #I just love the one of them loves Amber and the other is *struggle* bit of diversity in the twos but he tolerates his younger alt self #Mewtwo: ur furs blue like Amber's hair!#Axel: *has fugi dna so yea it is blue like Amber* haha wow you don't say #Also Meau and Noe in loooooveee getting a cheeky nuzzle in #Again I just like that oops complexities and axel just sparing little two the truth of his Amber keeps little twos happy memories unchanged #Wasn't sure how mewtwo would speak so just made him somft innocent vibes

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probablyaparadox · 3 months

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Ok like, I know Toei probably doesn't know more than the average manga reader does about where the story is going/future chapters and plotlines but. Man. I've been rolling this around in my head all day.

You really put this between Bonney and Kuma and did not expect me to think about it so much. With the strong connection the two characters have, why place a seraphim in between besides cool visuals??? Why not slightly after and use anything else as a transition? Why would you choose S-Shark??? Why do we see this motion of him falling into the water eyes closed, and then once in the water eyes wide awake??? Is he going to have some sort of mental awakening from their "kind of a kid, kind of obedient robot" to "full kid?" This further leads me on the spiral of "Hey remember when S-shark lost his arm" and "Does it hurt? Are their pain sensors numbed? King could endure a lot but they're only half him-" Anyway that little thought tangent aside, I hope that people can see my thought process in this: With recent events, I've heard some people saying the seraphim are probably going to show up to fight Kuma and the straw hats. What if Kuma freed them from having to obey orders? It would be incredibly fitting in my opinion for him to protect children inherently, both Bonney, and the children the government is using- one of which is a clone of HIMSELF. That's gotta bring back some memories for the guy, even if his mind is gone, I think it would trigger something. Even though they're Vegapunks, the seraphim are loyal to the government by force, by programming. And I don't think he could bring himself to fight kids. (UNLIKE SANJI- Dude you ripped off his arm- I mean with your understanding of what's going on I guess I get it but damn) Solution? Freedom. Again, I know it's probably just "pretty visuals" But my analytical brain says just as Bonney reaches out of the water, as she sorts out her baggage, The awakening minds of the seraphim plunge them DEEP into baggage, both that they gained as minions for the government, and the ones seemingly imprinted on their lineage factor, as we see with S-Snakes trait of "Being in love with Luffy"

#That was actually pretty funny #weird but funny #one piece #one piece seraphim #s shark #s snake #bartholomew kuma #realizing that sanji literally ripped s-sharks arm off was crazy #It makes me question their anatomy #especially since their anatomy heavily impacts their story #but the lineage factor is like dna but if you're dna let you be traumatized #which I mean it's kind of a thing but y'know #s flamingo s croc and s bat (or gecko?) sitting on a beach waiting to fight a clown #meanwhile the rest of these guys are off getting ENLIGHTENMENT #and trauma #you win some you lose some ig #one piece spoilers

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