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absolutebl · 1 year

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Hi, I was wondering if you could rec some bl for me? I like all variations of enemies to lovers and the whipped seme + tsundere uke dynamic but I think i've watched most of it already so it's been hard finding new ones. A couple things that kinda fit what i'm looking for that i liked would be wbl, tharntype,bad buddy,semantic error,word of honor,be loved in house and kinnporsche. It's totally ok if you don't want to but i'd be so grateful if you could help me out. Thank you!

I can try! First here’s:

Top 10 most epic LTP in BL (long term pining)

10 BLs to Watch if You Love Bad Buddy

Top 10 Enemies to Lovers BLs!

enemies to lovers, whipped seme, tsundere uke

(examples: We Best Love, TharnType, Bad Buddy, Semantic Error, Word of Honor, Be Loved, KP)

The spreadsheet of doom has a sort criteria for these so here’s what I got:

SOTUS

My Sweet Dear

Addicted

Capture Lover

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Your Soul

Gen Y

My Engineer

Kiss Me Again (PeteKao cute, watch guide here) they also go back to enemies for a while in DBK

Why R U?

Once in Memory

Love Mechanics

Cupid’s Last Wish (former boyfriends)

Fingers After (Korea short)

My Type (Taiwan short)

Qualify but not recommended

My Secret Love

Fish Upon the Sky

I Am Your King 2

Love Area

Beloved Enemy

Fanatic Love

The Best Story

Sky in Your Heart

HIStory 3 the BL that shall not be named AKA Make Our Days Count

The Effect

Double Mints

I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)

Not (quite) enemies to lovers but the seme is totally whipped and uke is tsundere (maybe?)

Cherry Magic

Takara & Amagi

Color Rush

HIStory Obsessed

Lovely Writer

Blueming

Fahlanruk

Light On Me

My Beautiful Man

Given

Love in the Air

River Knows Fish Heart

Takumi-kun

HIStory Stay Away From Me

21 Days Theory

I don’t know which ones you have seen or not seen so drop a comment in if you need more info on any of them.

#asked and answered #enemies to lovers but make it gay #whipped seme #tsundere uke #bl tropes #bls by trope #BLs like:#We Best Love #TharnType #Bad Buddy #Semantic Error #Word of Honor #be loved in house i do

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wanderlust-in-my-soul · 3 months

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A gentle touch, a tingling sensation

Kiseki: Dear To Me

A Shoulder To Cry On

Wedding Plan

Lovely Writer

Stay By My Side

Big Dragon

Love In The Air

Love Mate

Love By Chance

Kiseki: Dear To Me

Touching Lips (2/?) as part of my favorite bl-tropes collection, in no particular order.

#kiseki: dear to me #a shoulder to cry on #wedding plan #lovely writer #stay by my side #big dragon the series #love in the air #love mate #lita #love by chance #thelipsthataretouched #tvtropesedit #bl drama #bl series #myedit #multi bl #multibl.edit #bl tropes

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khaoray · 29 days

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I will. I will bring you back. And we will see each other again. I promise.

@asiandramanet april bingo: tropes & lgbtq+ rep

#triage the series #triage #tintol #thaidrama #thdrama #bl drama #asiandramasource #asiandramanet #userdramas #lextag #*gifs #*bingos #idk how to encapsulate the entire timeloop trope but i live breathe and die for it love me a tragic timeloop!!!!!

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chicademartinica · 5 months

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Aof when I catch you Aof WHEN I CATCH YOU !

#bl tropes #thai bl #last twilight the series #last twilight #aof noppharnach #jimmysea #mhokday #mhorkday #we’re on episode 6 Day #It’s an Aof show Day #bad buddy

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jimmysea · 19 days

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There's nowhere to escape to, and I already conveyed my feelings. It's unfair.

彼のいる生活 (2024)

#living with him #彼のいる生活 #jdrama #jdramaedit #Kare no Iru Seikatsu #childood friends to lovers trope my most belovedddd #marigif #haven't giffed in ages so sorry for the coloring </3 #japanese bl

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daydreaming-stargazer · 2 months

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Shout out to Unknown for demonstrating that serious injuries do have long-term affects on your body and your mind.

There isn’t an episode that goes by where we aren’t reminded of everything Qian has gone through to get to where he is. And it’s not just from flashbacks. It’s in the scars that remain on his body. The nightmares that haunt his sleep. In his interactions with women. His fierce protectiveness of his family. Qian’s triggers and responses to them make sense and don’t just appear out of the blue for dramatic effect.

So much of the emotional and physical trauma that Qian has experienced continues to impact his daily life in a way that makes him feel less like a character with a tragic backstory and more like an actual person with lived experience.

#usually characters in dramas get insta-healed from injuries that almost kill them #but not Qian #and we are also blessed with the magic healing bl sponge bath #best of both worlds one could say #qian you deserve to be loved and protected #and yuan is right there #the acting is superb #unknown the series #the like brothers to lovers trope is hard for me to enjoy #but so far I’m really liking this show!#qian x yuan #taiwanese bl #bl series #itsybitsybabbles

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heretherebedork · 1 month

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The waltz! The beautiful, formal, waltz!

#the next prince #the next prince the series #thai bl #bl tropes #thai bl series #bl series #thai drama #thai bl drama #asian lgbtq dramas #asianlgbtqdramas #thaibl #thai series #bl boys #bl drama #bl waltzing #my favorite trope

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rayandgay · 26 days

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the one where we're all kram

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liyazaki · 9 months

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nothing hits quite like "I despised the very air you breathed until I was confronted with your humanity, complete vulnerability & it somehow touched my own, & oh, fuck- there's a permanent you-shaped crack in my heart now & the hands that wanted to throttle you are moving to protect you, all on their own."

#enemies to lovers my beloved #this show is so simple but utterly satisfying so far #i can't gif till much later & my sincerest apologies go out to my fellow giffers b/c that last scene was filmed on an actual potato #dangerous romance #dangerous romance the series #perthchimon #kanghansailom #enemies to lovers #bl tropes

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lurkingshan · 1 month

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I saw this great post by @respectthepetty this morning related to Unknown and other Taiwanese dramas that depict pseudo-incest romances, and it reminded me that I've been meaning to write up some thoughts about why this trope is so interesting to a lot of us.

Let me just set some boundaries first, because it's a big potential topic. Depictions of incest or pseudo-incest are plentiful and occur in media from all corners of the globe, and there are lots of different forms it can take. I'm most interested in the version of it currently being depicted in Unknown, which is a relationship change narrative about two people who are not blood related but grew up considering each other family only for those feelings to morph into something different over time. This trope can be hard for some people to stomach because the lines we maintain in our heads about what types of feelings we are supposed to have for the various people in our lives are firm, and it's uncomfortable when they're challenged. But that's what makes the story so interesting. And it's not the only romance trope that wrestles with this kind of change.

Two of the most popular romance tropes of all time are also rooted in a relationship change narrative: enemies to lovers and friends to lovers. When these tropes are executed well, the thrill in the story is watching the characters come to a realization of their changing feelings (never at the same time), wrestle with the angst and uncertainty and external strife that causes, and finally decide to fight for the relationship they want despite the risks. Changing the way you think about someone, and changing the way they think about you, is hard and scary and can feel like a huge threat to the relationships you already have. Sound familiar? It should, because these are the same core beats of a pseudo-incest romance.

But this trope adds an even more intriguing layer on top of all those already juicy dynamics, which is the cultural taboo. Pseudo-incest is seen as wrong and considered by most cultures to be a violation of family norms. To put it bluntly, you're not supposed to want to fuck your brother. And so these romances have a whole added challenge on top of all the internal conflict, because the couple not only has to come to terms with their own feelings and struggle through the pain to get on the same page with each other, they also have to deal with the judgment of everyone around them who feels their relationship is morally wrong. The cultural taboo means that everyone else in their lives has to change the way they think about their relationship, too.

So why do we love these stories? Because the character dynamics and relationship development at the core of them are fascinating. When done right, these are the kind of romances you really firmly believe in, because the feelings are so deep they can't be ignored and by the end you've watched the characters fight like hell to be together. A drama that takes this trope seriously will depict the whole journey with the respect the characters deserve and tend to all the relevant relationships surrounding the couple. Unknown is not finished airing yet, but so far it has been a stellar example of this kind of narrative and that's why so many of us are singing its praises.

#unknown the series #taiwanese bl #romance tropes #shan shouts into the void

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gunsatthaphan · 4 months

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"maybe we should stop."

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absolutebl · 4 months

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TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on.

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL.

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table).

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023.

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like... okay, back in familiar territory.

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023.

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit.

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan.

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like...

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age.

And yeah... it totally worked.

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting.

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork�� was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely.

Never Let me Go

My School President

Bed Friend

The Day I Loved You

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down.

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV.

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us.

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV.

5. Cameos are the norm now

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.)

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular.

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters.

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.)

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain...

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year.

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it.

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand's price range (even GMMTV's) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic).

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that's much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn't be too surprised.

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn't think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan.

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this.

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.)

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea?

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it.

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense.

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding.

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it.

9. BL got trendy

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay.

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not.

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do.

10. The Vampires are coming

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR.

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened).

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV.

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.)

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either.

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline.

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field.

FYI we had approximately

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27