#cherry magic thailand meta

[waitmyturtles]

1) CHERRY MAGIC (episode 2) IS SO GOOD, I HAVE TO COVER MY MOUTH AND KEEP MY MEEPS FROM BEING TOO LOUD

2) GOD, TAYNEW! New is SMASHING THIS.

3) The wonderful @so-much-yet-to-learn and I had a discussion a couple months ago about the stylistic and rumored decisions to not have Kurosawa and Adachi (Machida Keita and Akaso Eiji) kiss in the Japanese Cherry Magic adaptation. The rumors (only seen online and not at all confirmed with primary sources) were that Machida's and Adachi's agencies were not supportive of the two having an on-screen smooch. We also considered the public vs. private taboos of public displays of affection in Japanese society and art, which differ from those in other Asian countries (like Thailand).

It's not known if the two actors felt differently about not kissing. At least Machida's agency, Gekidan Exile/Exile Tribe, has provided quite the number of actors in other Japanese BLs who have acted out many more deeds on screen, from Candy Color Paradox to Tokyo in April Is..., and more.

But I think part of the campy gloriousness of the Japanese Cherry Magic adaptation was, in fact, the lack of kissing, and the sensual acting around the indication of that kissing, from Kurosawa's eagerness and his constant struggle to control his emotions, to Adachi's discomfort-to-acceptance-and-happiness journey. There was tremendous communication in their body and verbal language that got them to their happy ending in the series, and to not have the actual kiss was, for me, dramatically satisfying for how that decision was supported through the excellent acting and the painstaking details of the show.

So, for so many of us, as we learned that TayNew would take up this mantle in Thailand last year, we were like -- alright, NOW we are going to get the kisses, right?

And at least for now, we haven't, which makes me wonder a bit. We saw Kurosawa's lips touch Adachi's forehead in Japan,

and Karan's lips were hidden by Achi's fluffy bangs in Thailand.

Does New need some texturizing, or was this on purpose? (I'm CACKLING, poor Tay, look at that hair in his FACE, omg.)

If this was a stylistic nod to Japan? Then... well done, because at least I noticed it, and kinda loved it. We know (WE KNOWWWW, heh heh, thank you, Kiss Me Again and Dark Blue Kiss) what TayNew are capable of, and I just loved this little moment of subtlety here in Cherry Magic, because we don't actually know what we're going to get later this series.

Because I am a fucking simp for all things Cherry Magic, I also noted the slight changes in how Karan approached Achi on the rooftop later that night, as compared to Kurodachi. Honestly, I am SO ENJOYING these different approaches, and only note these simply by way of how I'm loving Machida's acting versus that of Tay.

Kurosawa on the rooftop was a ball of NERVES, man.

Whereas it almost seemed like Tay's Karan was silently joyful, with smiles playing at the edges of his lips, to be so close to Achi and having this conversation about the dinner game.

These are NOT the greatest screenshots, but if I could gif, I would try to capture how the corner's of Tay's mouth in that last screenshot just uplifted slightly. This wasn't a moment of shock and nerves; this was a moment of OMG OMG OMG EEEEEE THIS IS MY TIMEEEEE.

(EDITING TO ADD: I’m such a dunce! I should have known the gif makers were already on this — and the gorgeous deity @liyazaki captured Tay’s mouf perfectly. That giddiness in the last gif!)

And in their acting? I love BOTH APPROACHES so much. Because both approaches are well within the emotional range of the moment that we're experiencing with them.

We're departing from the Japanese dorama next week in content, and I cannot wait to see where we go. GMMTV gave us some holiday gifts in Last Twilight and Cherry Magic airing on Fridays and Saturdays, no?

#cherry magic #30 sai made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni nareru rashii #cherry magic japan #cherry magic thailand #cherry magic th #machida keita #akaso eiji #kurodachi #adachi x kurosawa #kurosawa x adachi #taynew #tay tawan #new thitipoom #karanachi #karan x achi #achi x karan #cherry magic meta #cherry magic thailand meta #cherry magic th meta

[bl-inded]

A part of me absolutely loves the utopian non homophobic world that BLs exist in. But when they draw that bar of acceptance with that subtlest undercurrent of thoughts every queer person has had multiple times in their life, oof it hits.

Cherry magic TH especially is doing wonders to make my little queer heart so extremely seen. Internalised homophobia doesn't always manifest as self hatred but more often as a means of "understanding". There is willingness to forgive rejection because you can't assume acceptance. Which sucks. But it's so true to life.

Karan had done it so many times before him and Achi got together but Achi with his new colleagues in episode 11 made me feel some kind of way 🥲. Especially this specific scene.

Yeah. I've told myself this exact thing soooo many times. They don't need to know me, I don't need to make them feel uncomfortable if I can avoid it. And Achi doesn't do this because his colleagues are hateful, it's just not another problem he wants to think about- because acceptance is not a given.

I love soo many things Cherry Magic TH has done different from the Japanese version, especially the cultural adaptation. The Japanese version starts and ends with their relationship being a secret. This version is more hopeful, and these little moments nod to that struggle and make it more appropriate to the setting and let us see the characters overcome it.

#i honestly dont know why this adaptation isn't more popular #new and tay did sooo amazing #maybe its the whole not being freely available on YouTube thing #im just emotional about them okay 😭 #gmmtv #thai bl #cherry magic thailand #cherry magic th #cherry magic #karan x achi #tay tawan #new thitipoom #taynew #bl meta #thai bl meta

[twig-tea]

I CANNOT BELIEVE

IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2024

I HAVE ON MY SCREEN

TAY TAWAN AND NEW THITIPOOM

SHIRTLESS MAKING OUT

ROLLING ON A BED

IN AN ADAPTATION

OF CHERRY FUCKING MAGIC

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

SINCE 2019/2020

AND IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT

#cherry magic thailand #bl meta #sorry for the yelling #but i feel very strongly about this #tay and new not doing scenes like this in kiss and kiss me again made sense #in dark blue kiss it really did feel like it was missing #in cherry magic the show i forgave them some but the tease of the kiss was just rude #and then in the movie it felt worse #this feels like they've righted multiple wrongs in one go and i am so here for it #typed so that i can stop thinking it #i'll be more coherent about this show later maybe no promises

[happypotato48]

Cherry Magic TH: The Dreaded Big 3 0, The V Card, And L O V E.

disclaimer: this post gonna draw a lot from my personal experience. buckle up ya'll, this gonna get cringe and sappy.

Soooooooooooooooo, i'm a gay man who still a virgin and will turn 30 this year. i swear to satan if i'm not getting a magic power on my birthday i'm gonna be so mad.

now let me gush over how much cherry magic th work so much better for me as a show about a 30 virgin than the jp version. as much as i loved the jp version there is something undeniably frustrated about how that show depicted intimacy to me, i even joke tweeted when i finished it and a couple other jp bls that i want to fly to japan and suplex someone who won't show these gays kisses.

i view cherry magic as a story about someone who is scared and reluctant about love and intimacy because he stuck in his way of thinking, of how he undeserving of love just cause he view himself lesser than peers his age. so when the jp version barely showed adachi and kurosawa being intimate even in the movie after they worked and grew so much to love each other. it left sour taste in my mouth on a show i love dearly, and then come achi and karan, the kiss on the rooftop, the bed scene that left me breathless. this is how you do it!

as someone who only been romantically intimate with one person in my entire life and still have some aversion to physical intimacy. i imagine when i met and work hard to love and be with someone. i would behave like achi, scare as hell but will do anything to show the person i love how much they're meant to me.

there's two sayings that come to my mind when i watch this show. first "only when you start loving yourself that you'll be able to love others." and "when others start loving you that when you learn to love yourself." i don't think either of these phrases are right or wrong. maybe achi start to changed himself after he received external love from karan, but i think that changing yourself is an act of love to those around you and especially to yourself. achi changed because he acknowledged that he deserved to be love by both himself and karan.

i'm forever grateful for the th version for giving me the catharsis of this relationship. how not just love itself but the acts of love that changed both achi and karan for the better. sometime bls in general will tell you that characters are meant to be togerther while do the bare minimum. cherry magic show that it's words, actions, and how much you willing to fight for your relationship that matter.

#cherry magic th #thai bl #bl drama #bl meta #cherry magic #cherry magic thailand

[williamrikers]

Some Personal Favorite BL Moments of 2023

this is inspired by @lurkingshan's post, thank you for that 😊

Best Show

be my favorite, hands down. this show hooked me right from the very beginning, and each week it kept outdoing itself. the kindest, most compassionate storytelling mixed with some absolutely amazing character journeys and a strong message at its heart, bmf will stay with me forever (and not only because i managed to snatch one of the utterly gorgeous box sets for my collection). 12/10 puffball music boxes

Best Scene

alan and wen pre- and post-breakup at the start of episode 5 of moonlight chicken. i've rewatched these nine minutes more times than i can count. both first and mix do some incredible acting here, and it's such an utter joy to watch. 5/5 crying firsts sliding down a wall

The Scene That Came For My Life The Most

look, i've talked about only friends episode 6 [4/4] before. you all already know that i desire mew carnally for what he did with that audio tape. i have also rewatched this scene an embarrassing amount of times. 96/69 illicit sex tapes

Most Rewatchable Show and Best Main Couple

this one goes to a boss and a babe. i have already rewatched this show twice this year, and i love it more on every single rewatch. i regularly lose my mind about how much i love this silly little show and start waxing poetic about how much this love story means to me, how much i adore gun and cher's weirdness, their communication, their commitment, their gentleness, their mutual respect, the way they help each other and heal each other, the way they make each other feel safe and loved, which my friends from the bl besties server can attest to. maybe one day, i'll put all of my ramblings into a coherent format, but for now please trust that this show is absolutely wonderful and extremely special to me. 1000/10 gaymer friends sleepovers

Best Premise (That Was Utterly Ruined By The Show)

i've got to say dangerous romance, although step by step comes in at a close second. after the second episode of dr, i was out here writing hundreds of words worth of meta, and then... well, then the show became what it unfortunately is, now. i still want to see the show that i was promised (a thriller about two poor brothers who get into hot water because of money issues and end up having to turn to crime to survive, all while the younger brother slowly falls in love with the biggest bully at school, and over the course of the show the bully needs to learn to become a better person and help sailom overcome the trust issues he should have had from growing up constantly threatened and sometimes physically abused by members of the mafia.) -20/10 stupid fucking windmills for ruining something that could have been amazing

Best Side Couple

tiwpor, you will always be famous to me. my school president itself might just have given us crumbs, but i licked those tiny crumbs right off the floor with delight, and when our skyy 2 made it canon, i lost my entire mind. i could not have asked for more. 2/2 couples t-shirts

Best Date

yang and phumjai on their practice date in episode 4 of love in translation was probably the sweetest thing that happened on any bl in 2023. in the later episodes, they had many more beautiful moments together as well as some incredibly amazing physical intimacy (plus, in the extended iqiyi cut, one hell of a foreplay scene), but their sweet date before they had even confessed their feelings has stayed with me. 11/10 slices of pandan

Best Beach Scene(s)

never let me go wins this one. no other show was as devoted to showing off their beautiful beach locations as nlmg this year. watching this show made me yearn for the sea. 1/1 tattoo of your boyfriend's name

Best Rooftop Scene

despite the stiff competition in the form of bmf and cherry magic thailand, last twilight has this one in the bag. the pain, the pining, the heartbreak, the complicated feelings, the desperate kiss... they even lampshaded this trope in the dialogue. stellar scene. 12/10 sunflowers

Best Sensuality

we've had a lot of high heat bls this year, some of them still ongoing, and since billy infamously said "a lot and deeply", i feel like the next episode of the sign might just blow all of our minds. i'm not awarding a best sex scene here so i won't have to eat my words in a few days—however, i feel confident in saying that when it comes to raw sensuality, no one is going to beat ray and sand in only friends this year, no matter how hard the characters on pit babe, playboyy and the sign might be trying. truly, nobody embodies sensual attraction like first and khaotung do. 69/10 sausages that represent blowjobs

Best Minor Character That Stole The Show

gotta agree with the masses here and say nawin laws of attraction. what a guy. every day i miss him. ∞/10 unhinged ex boyfriends

Best Viewing Experience

this is not bl, but it might as well be: midnight museum still feels like a fever dream, i have no idea what the plot even was, i understood maybe 10% of what was happening at any given moment, and i've never had more fun watching anything. this truly is the show of all time. 5/3 roles played by gun atthaphan

Wildest GMMTV Moment

also not a bl, but the piploy pissing in the car scene as an act of revenge in wednesday club would go down in history, if, you know, people had actually watched this show. what can i even say. 3/3 gratuitous pissing scenes

Most Anticipated Show Of 2024

i just had to find a way to mention my golden blood in this post. i am yearning for this show with an intensity i cannot describe. i literally need to see joss bridal carrying gawin as much as possible, it is on the baseline of my hierarchy of needs. no matter whether this turns out to be trashy fun, high camp, an actually serious show, or all three, i win. gmmtv could not have given me anything better to look forward to next year 💖

#bl stuff #*mine #be my favorite #moonlight chicken #a boss and a babe #only friends #my school president #love in translation #never let me go #last twilight #midnight museum #wednesday club #my golden blood the series

[lurkingshan]

✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @dribs-and-drabbles, thanks dribs! It's kind of fun to go back and see what I was on about at various points this year.

January

This blog was a mere bebe this time last year and I hadn't started posting anything substantial yet, so nothing of note here.

February

most popular — Making fun of Hira in Utsukushii Kare 2 (affectionately)

favorite — Praising Moonlight Chicken's character writing

March

most popular — The Glory does revenge right

favorite — Whining about people using the friends to lovers label wrong

April

most popular — Celebrating Queen Ae Ri from The Eighth Sense

favourite(s) — Making sure people understand Ji Hyun is a drama dork, helping to kick off the most batshit week of discourse in T8S fandom, and of course the first (of many) appreciation posts for Porsche's sweater

May

most popular — On Step By Step removing a scene critiquing BGP because of fan outcry

favorite(s) — 10 Things I Love About WDYEY and 10 Things I Love About Khun Chai (please watch them if you haven't yet people!)

June

most popular — Having a ball with King the Land

favorite(s) — Breaking down Pat's effect on Phupha in Our Skyy 2, the complexity of family trauma in Our Dining Table, and Jeng's reaction to his failed confession in Step by Step (ugh remember when this show was good). And of course this was the month that the La Plue meta round up was born.

July

most popular — Bitching about romance discourse (it was about King the Land at the time but it's quite widely applicable lol)

favourite(s) — Hysterical praise for La Pluie's conflict writing, kudos for Be My Favorite's character work for Kawi, breaking down where Step By Step went wrong

August

most popular — Ah the good times when we were still so amped about Only Friends

favorite(s) — Every moment of the My Ride rewatch, great moments in subtitlery from Laws of Attraction, and praise for Sing My Crush

September

most popular — That one time I actually liked a Mew thing in Only Friends

favorite(s) — Trying to get y'all to watch Love in Translation, comparing Someday or One Day and A Time Called You, clarifying the differences between Boston and Brian Kinney

October

most popular — Boston and Nick my beloveds (it would be shocking if they didn't make this list they are responsible for many of my most popular posts)

favorite(s) — A couple I Feel You Linger in the Air breakdowns: why the romance works despite being underwritten, and Fong Kaew's excellent character arc

November

most popular — Goofing on the unseriousness of Kiseki: Dear to Me

favorite(s) — Breaking down how the writing choices in Only Friends sent toxic messages and final thoughts on the IFYL finale

December

most popular — Japanese BL starter pack

favorite(s) — Simping over Mohk simping over Day in Last Twilight, yelling about Cherry Magic Thailand, kicking off bl superlatives 2023

--

In addition to all the people dribs tagged that I am double tagging because I want to see your answers (@wen-kexing-apologist @grapejuicegay @btwinlines @twig-tea @rocketturtle4 @waitmyturtles @telomeke and @respectthepetty) I am adding some other folks I know wrote/created a lot this year because I'm curious what stuck with you most: @bengiyo, @ranchthoughts, @jemmo, @chickenstrangers, @chicademartinica, @slayerkitty, @my-rose-tinted-glasses, @colourme-feral, @blmpff, @liyazaki, @wanderlust-in-my-soul, @troubled-mind, @benkaaoi.

#tag game #tumblr stuff #bl superlatives 2023

[hughungrybear]

Me while watching Cherry Magic Thailand Ep. 1:

It's finally here!!!! TayNew, my beloved 😭😭😭😭 I guess while everyone (who saw the original Japanese series) would be comparing this remake to the original, I would just bask in the glory that TayNew is back 😭😭😭😭

1. I must say, I love how we are getting all these amazing views of Thailand during the introduction. Most BLs centred on cityscapes are mostly filled with buildings, modern architecture, and urban traffic - not Thai suburbs. It's a nice change of pace.

2. I will always be amazed with how multilingual Tay Tawan is. The man does not have any problem learning a new language as opposed to myself who would turn the subs on irl if I could because I can never absorb foreign words even when I wanted to 😭😭😭

3. I think it's a nice touch that they have brought a Japanese guest in the mix. It's like a meta (official) hand-off of this Japanese series to Thailand.

4. I have the same question when I first watched the original - how "virgin" are you supposed to be to gain a magical power like Achi's? 😅😅😅 Absolutely no kiss, touch, or anything of that sort (even, y'know, "self-support")??? Curious minds would like to know 😅😅😅

5. I know it is a remake but I am just rolling with laughter looking at Achi's face when he realised he is Karan's crush. 😂 I have to be careful not to make too much ruckus as it is literally dawn where I am and I might wake the whole fam up 😅😅😅

6. Again, so meta (and cheeky) of this series to show the actual wiki page of the manga 😂😂😂

7. Junior looks so young in this series compared to when he played the professor in Midnight Museum 😄 Also, romance novelists are definitely the last person one would want to ask advise on love. Either they are too idealistic or too jaded. Neither will give good advise 😅����😅

8. That cat is either pregnant or badly needs an exercise 😅😅😅 Either way, it looks very cuddly 😭😭😭

9. Sing and Jan. I have been shipping these two irl for a long time now 😅😅😅 Also, Asian office curse is effing real. Everyone is expected to work more than what they are being paid for. You'll get more than a few raised eyebrows if you dared go home at exactly 5PM even when you have finished all your work on time.

I think I have read somewhere that if your crush does not fade after six months, then it might just be love. Karan's "crush" has been going strong for seven years. It's obvious that Karan is so far gone now 😂 Anyway, so far so good with this remake. It gives me the exact ridiculously good feelings of the original. 😊

#cherry magic thailand #karanachi #karan x achi #taynew #tay tawan #new thitipoom

[celestial-sapphicss]

nobody asked but I'm finally watching the gmmtv 2024 part 2 trailers and hence some incoherent thoughts

ossan's love thailand: KAPOOK 😍. I haven't seen the original ossan's love but this seems like an HR Violation. how come two people like this lousy person???????? what is this show LMAO it seems so unhinged (not in a good way yet?) but i have my trust in Au!!!!!!!

leap day: WHAT THE FUCK OMG. GUN HELLO

the heart killers: joong khao brothers HM. now this show is hidden agenda pls. there is going to be so much angst here im still so hurt from only friends but another jojo project, interesting 👀

friendshit forever: someone needs to be fired for these names. MOOK LOOKS SO PRETTY. ngl i thought this was a GL until new showed up but boy did the trailer take a dark turn. listen im all for this betrayal angst but isn't it a little cliche to have girls fight/backstab because they're jealous of each other? maybe i misunderstood the trailer hm.

perfect 10liners: how are forcebook back in uni again???? but enemies(?) to lovers???? perthchimon roommates HAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAH. oh i loved MarkJunior in cherry magic!!!? how much is jittirain making i just want to know. seems very cliche but i eat it up every time. also new siwaj!!!!!!!

us: GL GL GL GL BRAIN GOES BRRRRRRR. pining delicious 🤌 angst delicious 🤌 cinematography reminds me of an indie production somehow. 2 FON KANITTHA GLs YEAH GIVE THIS SHOW TO ME RIGHT NOW!

hide & sis: PIPLOY & JAN & GAWIN. FUCK YES. this is giving the player vibes and i dig that. gotta love fucked up rich people. who is directing this though?

thame - po: is this the lykn dance group? PLEASE NOT THE Y/N FANFIC. cute

breakup service: GODJIIIIIIIIIII. it's giving midnight motel vibes. but hmmmmmmmmm

revamp: im not really a wabi-sabi or vampire girly but im always here of villian kay!!!!! & santa my beloved 🫶 the vibes are immaculate.

sweet tooth, good dentist: who is deciding these names????? but also MARK & OHM YAY. the fanfiction of it all smh. jittirain strikes again. not mark singing the last twilight ost pls. this doc is So invested in this patient im sure he follows his lives. FLIRTY MARK MY BELOVED!! ALSO VIEW & JIMMY HELP. if this isn't sappy as fuck what's the point. also the Pepzi, the AD for bad buddy is directing this, nice 👀

the dark dice: love the annual supernatural weird-high school gmmtv shenanigans. 'loser like me' and its Gemini, be for real pls. PRIMMMMMMMMM. I don't really understand what's happening with the plot smh but it's a LOT

the ex-morning: exs to lovers and a hell lot of pining and angst? yes. i didn't get firstmix but I'm happy with this. also the meta commentary also GODJIIIIIIIIIII.

scarlet heart: THE CAST ?????? TU, TAY, NANON, PERTH, FOURTH???????? I'm here for it. i haven't seen the Chinese or the Korean version but the teaser sure is interesting AND FON KANITTHA

14 shows DAMN GMMTV

#gmmtv 2024 #vi.txt #they should really add the directors in the trailers i had to check MDL so many times 🫠

[weizhiyuan]

The first episode of cherry magic Thailand was great!! I loved the little meta reference to the og novel and taynew (+ the rest of the cast) are playing their roles well!! Can’t wait for the next ep

#I forgot that I a skam fan enjoy remakes lmao #this is gonna be fun #we r already getting the pajamas next week hehe #cherry magic thailand #b.txt

[manogirl]

GMMTV 2024

I've already done the 'what's airing next' post, and I've seen a couple people do GMMTV2024 hopes and dreams posts, so in a desperate attempt to fall asleep with a cold, I started making a list of what I think it likely, what is unlikely, and what I desperately want from GMMTV in 2024 in bed last night. This is the result of that.

Likely

8-10 QLs; maybe 8 BLs and 2 GLs?

Winny and Satang get a BL lead. Come on, this is a easy slam dunk, given the popularity of MSP. I don't know if they're ready, but I think they're gonna be given a chance.

P'Aof directs something queer

P'Jojo directs something queer AND a BL (so two projects)

P'Au gets another BL directing chance

PondPhuwin get a BL

MarkFord get a side couple gig (again, they're SO popular from MSP)

ForceBook get a BL

Neo gets a BL lead, but with who?

FirstKhaotung get a BL

Mick Metas gets some sort of BL role; they are not gonna let Win's little brother sit on the shelf if he's back in Thailand

Less Likely

MarkFord get a lead in a BL

EarthMix get a show in late 2024. Mix is doing his internship over the next year, so it'll have to be late in 2024 if it happens.

GeminiFourth get a BL; I think they're gonna be busy with school and so I think it's less likely

Fluke Pusit gets a BL lead, but with who? Thor?

PawinMarc as leads in a BL? Seems more likely they keep getting side couple jobs though.

My Hopes and Dreams (that won't happen)

Lookjun gets a GL lead. I freaking love her.

A butch lady gets a GL role with GMMTV

K'Nuchy comes back to direct something

OhmNanon hahahahahahaha just kidding I know it's never happening again

Neo gets a BL lead with Louis.

More shows with trans roles!

Foei gets fired/yeeted into the sun.

Find more for Mike to do, dammit. Give him a juicy supporting role in something.

Bright in a BL again, without Win. Both things are equally as unlikely.

All of this will probably need an update as things air and get lost in the shuffle or get big. If Dangerous Romance does really well, I could see Perth and Chimon doing another late-in-the-year BL in 2024. I also think it's highly likely Cherry Magic is moved to 2024, or even outright cancelled. But then I think they're gonna try to get TayNew into something, lest all this branding they've been doing go for naught. Anyway.

#gmmtv 2024 #thai bl #predictions #hopes #dreams #pie in the sky #thai ql #thai gl #gmmtv2024

[legendaryrooftopscene]

on November 27, 2021, I started watching bad buddy out of idle curiosity, given a mutual's long meta post about the greatest first kiss in cinematic history. i watched all 5 available episodes and fell ass over teakettle for not only the show, but thai BL as well. it is now November 27, 2022. here's everything I've watched, ranked out of 10 (including BL from other countries and some non-BL as well). final count: 116. (92 finished. 18 started/in-progress but did not finish. 6 actively watching that are airing now). I kept copious notes about all the shows I watched so if you're curious why I ranked a certain show like I did, please feel free to send me an ask :) I love talking about my thoughts about things

10/10 (i had fun 100% of the time I was watching or it made my brain produce happy static to think about)

Kinnporsche

Manner of Death

Tale of 1000 Stars

Until We Meet Again

HIStory 3: Trapped

9/10 (great show, great characters, but there was 1 or 2 things I didn't like about the writing/acting/production)

Bad Buddy

Not Me

A Man Who Defied the World of BL

Lovely Writer

My Beautiful Man

A First Love Story

Semantic Error

Cherry Blossoms After Winter

The Sound of Magic

DNA Says Love You

Triage

Old Fashion Cupcake

Roommates of Poongduck 304

8/10 (same as above, with slightly more egregious errors)

He's Coming To Me

Cherry Magic

Keita Hatsukoi

Where Your Eyes Linger

Kei x Yaku

The Eclipse

You Make Me Dance

Long Time No See

Tinted with You

Please Tell Me So

You're My Sky

Love and Leashes

My Only 12%

TharnType Special Episode

HIStory: Obsessed

HIStory: Stay Away From Me

Secret Crush on You

Plus and Minus

Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss

Love Stage (Thailand)

We're Both Grooms

Hey Rival! I Love You

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai

On Cloud Nine

We Best Love

7/10 (flawed but I enjoyed it. a pulp that is a 7/10 has a much higher score than a high-budget/polished show that has a 7/10)

Cutie Pie

BeLoved In House: I Do

SOTUS

Color Rush

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding

Light On Me

Wish You

To My Star

7 Days

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul

HIStory 4: Close To You

Because of You

You Are Ma Boy

Gameboys

Love from Outta Space

Blueming

Tonhon Chonlatee

Cupid's Last Wish

Close Friend 2

The Ring Goes Missing

About Youth

Mr. Heart

Zero Photography

Takara-Kun and Amagi-Kun

Love in the Air

6/10 (seriously flawed and/or disappointing. usually in the 'I can fix it' range)

Star in your Mind

Theory of Love

Golden Blood

Why R U?

My Secret Love

My Tee

Mood Indigo

Senpai This Can't Be Love

Want to See You

5/10 (everything here I got through on 1.5x-2.0x speed)

Together with Me

Close Friend

Kissable Lips

Puppy Honey

Puppy Honey 2

Love's Coming

Meow Ears Up

The Promise

En of Love: Love Mechanics

Zero Supporter

4/10 (I finished it so i must have liked something about it)

Love By Chance

3/10 (hatewatch)

The Pornographer

TharnType

DFN (did not finish for various reasons. sometimes shows I enjoyed greatly are on this list. some I am still watching at my own pace)

3 Will Be Free

7 Project

Ingredients

Love is Science?

Enchante

War of Y

Ghost Host Ghost House

Lovesick

Big Dragon

Second Chance

The Gifted

Miracle of the Teddy Bear

I'm Tee, Me Too

Even Sun

Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Love Between Fairy and Devil

Coffee Melody

Ocean Likes Me

Still airing

GAP

Choco Milkshake

Between Us

I Will Knock You

Remember Me

My Tooth Your Love

#59/116 are thai! I counted bc i was curious #original #not tagging all these shows that would be insanity

[waitmyturtles]

OMFG. In the World Cup of Cherry Magic, Thailand vs. Japan, WHEW, YESTERDAY'S EPISODE, AN EPISODE 11 (!!!!!), Thailand went deep into double overtime territory to pull out this GOAL, BABY:

If I may continue with the sports metaphors, this was like the sickest bat flip out of Korean baseball that anyone's ever seen, Karan just hammering Achi's magical power over the metaphorical Green Monster:

I have so much more to say about this episode, including thoughts on the beach scene from earlier in this episode -- I have a whole list of CMT meta that I've been dying to write. But I just need to applaud:

1) X Nuttapong and the CMT writers for continuing to allow Achi and Karan to be so direct in their communication, and,

2) Tay Tawan. This was Tay Tawan's best episode by far. He's been playing Karan perfectly, a deeply simped-out dude for his man Achi, but especially on the beach, I felt like we saw the kind of depth of connection, wonderment, honesty, and emotional connection that Tay demonstrated as Shin in 3 Will Be Free, and even during many moments of emotional confusion as his Pete in Dark Blue Kiss.

I had been wondering to myself, during this series, if this series had allowed Tay to demonstrate his best acting: because Karan is so locked into simp mode, that mindset that Tay would have to click into seemed almost a touch one-dimensional for his talents (not that that's a bad thing, I think he's clocked into it wonderfully).

It was a different set-up, obviously, in Cherry Magic Japan, particularly when Kurosawa sat in Adachi's apartment after Adachi’s hospital scare. Kurosawa was scared shitless — he and Adachi both were concerned for Kurosawa’s stability in that moment.

My drama friends and I have commended CMT for a different kind of equity in communication and emotional connection between Karan and Achi vs. Kurosawa and Adachi. I don't fault CMJ at all -- both Adachi and Kurosawa are drawn more internally into themselves as opposed to Karan's and Achi's outward and empathic presentations, and that's just by way of different interpretations of these couples and the Cherry Magic framework among nations.

Karan’s tack of both remaining utterly calm at Achi's bedside after his fainting spell, and his physical demonstrativeness towards Achi on the beach and in the bedroom -- these are moments where we see a lot more nuance from Karan, as opposed to Kurosawa, in Karan's controlling and then letting go of his desire, and I'm just a little obsessed right now that GMMTV had Tay Tawan be able to act all of this out, and Tay is just eating it.

I have SOOOOOO MUCH MORE to say and think on regarding comparisons to Karanachi and Kurodachi, all good stuff, nuanced stuff that I'm just OBSESSING OVER between Thailand and Japan, but for now, I am giving Tay all my flowers and Korean baseball fan dances, because this episode 11 was just FUCKING AMAZING.

#what i mean to say by all these sports metaphors is that this episode was a winner #what a hell of a turn for a GMMTV episode 11 #god this was a work of art this episode #OH ALSO #GUY SIVAKORN! #guy sivakorn #if papang can make a surprise appearance #so can guy sivakorn #cherry magic th #cherry magic #cherry magic thailand #cherry magic japan #taynew #tay tawan #new thitipoom #karanachi #karan x achi #achi x karan #kurodachi #kurosawa x adachi #adachi x kurosawa

[absolutebl]

BL Foundations Syllabus

This is it. My BL master post to end all master posts. The culmination of my journey & obsession. 

Basically I constructed this to be: 

BL 101 Film Course - An Introduction to the Genre 

I got to thinking, if I were to teach a full course on BL? What would I pick and why? So I constructed this list of 30 core BLs which represent a tasting menu of BL trends, styles, and themes from source countries. I chose what I chose for reasons of history, establishing taste by country, and representative range in story structure and filming technique. 

The idea is that if you’ve watched these 30 shows, you should have a good grasp of the history of BL as a cinematic tradition through time and space. Also know why the different countries produce different kinds of BL and what distinguishes them from each other.  

Please ASK questions if you have them. 

THE WATCH LIST 

These are not the 30 best BLs, but they are the 30 BEST REPRESENTATIONS OF BL. 

JAPANESE BL

1. Takumi-kun - 2007 

2. Boys Love - 2006 

3. Junjou Pure Heart - 2010 

4. Seven Days - 2015 

5. Cherry Magic - 2020  

6. Restart After Come Back Home - 2020 

SOUTH KOREAN BL

7. Just Friends? - 2009 + A First Love Story - 2021 

8. The Lover (BL cut) - 2015 

9. Wish You - 2020 

10. Light on Me - 2021 

CHINESE BL 

11. Like Love - 2014 

12. Addicted - 2016 

13. The Untamed - 2020 

TAIWANESE BL 

14. Pair of Love - 2012 

15. HIStory Obsessed + Faded - 2017 

16. We Best Love - 2021 

17. HIStory 4: Close to You - 2021 

THAI BL

18. Love of Siam - 2007

19. Love Sick (BL cut) - 2014 

20. SOTUS - 2016 

21. 2gether - 2020 

22. Love By Chance - 2018 

23. Until We Meet Again - 2019 

VIETNAMESE BL 

24. My Sky - 2017 

25. You Are Ma Boy - 2021

26. My Lascivious Boss - 2021

PINOY BL 

27. 4 Days - 2016 

28. Gameboys - 2020 

META BL 

29. Lovely Writer - Thailand 2021

30. A Man Who Defies The World of BL - Japan 2021 

I arranged the watch list by country for trend and influence reasons, but you could also watch these in historical order if you’re a chronological loyalist. Only the final two, which are both self-reflective commentaries should be consumed at the end. 

What’s Not Here?  

There is some early BL from Hong Kong. I haven’t included because they just have so few offerings, less than one a year. Cambodia has recently started producing BL as well, but really recently. 

Also, as this is BL, while I’ve included some queer cinema (film produced with a queer lens for a queer audience) I have not included most of it because historically isn’t that much influence between the two genres (this is changing as of 2021). BL is mostly produced with an indifferent lens and a straight(ish) audience in mind. 

I also haven’t chosen any stand out BLs that were noted exceptions (like I Told Sunset About You from Thailand or Udagawachou de Matteteyo from Japan or Your Name Engraved Herein from Taiwan) because while they may be unique and impactful on a broad scale, they didn’t necessarily have reverberating impact on the BL genre itself. So I think of them as exceptional exceptions.

THE BL SYLLABUS

In which I go into what to watch, together or apart, why this order, why they’re significant, and what to take away for a solid understanding of the genre.  

JAPAN 

Japan is the origin of yaoi manga and yaoi is the origin of BL. So Japan is basically responsible for everything. You can read about the history of Japanese live action yaoi (what would come to be called BL) here. 

DAY 1: Double Bill - Japanese Roots & Story Bifurcation 

 Takumi-kun 1 (2007) & Boys Love (2006)

I chose Takumi-kun 1 to start because it was one of the very first true live action yaoi and, to be fair, it is a faithful adaptation of the source material (which is, erm, not good). By all measures Takumi-kun 2: Rainbow Colored Glass (2009) is better. It continues the story but has a superior cast. Either way, this show represents Japan adapting their light yaoi (AKA yaoi with more romantic elements that ends happily). Initially, these live action yaois were produced as “made for TV style movies,” sometimes in multiple installments. Japan hasn’t done BL multi-episode series until recently. 

What to note when watching it? The chaotic nature of the story comes from a lack of concrete narrative structure combined with themes of miscommunication and secret pasts, all common to the yaoi genre and Japanese BL to this day. It’s a highly typical BL seme/uke archetype couple. A dominant and caring but obsessed and aggressive seme chasing and owning a weak, delicate, fragile (damaged but saved by the other boy’s passion) uke. Also the beginnings of the blushing maiden trope. 

The bright clear filming style and staging of scenes comes directly from manga, as does the crazy hair. Also the use of a high school setting and uniform is typical of the genre as a whole. Also we can see with Takumi-kun many of the tropes that are most seme/uke dysmorphic. 

On the other hand Boys Love (2006 or 2007) represents the other side of Japanese BL: the dark side. The side that Thailand chose to ignore and, since they came to dominate the genre, it’s Thailand who dictates modern consumer taste. So this kind of BL, although still around, is rare in 2021 and mostly comes from Japan and Taiwan. 

Watch Boys Love knowing that BL can be very very very dark indeed (don’t push Japan, believe it or not they've gone even darker). In fact most Japanese BL stil runs at about 50/50. This kind of BL is depressing, deals with highly triggering content/tropes (obsession, the murder gay, suicide, mutilation, rape, incest, abuse) and almost always ends unhappily with at least separation if not death of one or both characters. Boys Love 2006 hits up pretty much every single element. Lucky us. China picked up this style and ran with it for years and Taiwan is still working out this kinda damage on screen for us. This style of BL may be less common, but it still exists. 

Yaoi manga set up this story style bifurcation in Japan (people often forget how dark the early erotic yaois were) and that’s why Japan produces BL of both kinds in equal measure. Stuff like Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese and the Pornographer series pretends to be queer cinema but really is just live action yaoi erotica in its modern form - pushing kinky and high heat boundaries in an explicitly Japanese way. 

Industry wise, it’s also interesting to note that the Boys Love duo might be considered the first example of a committed acting pair in BL. Which is to say actors who do BL as a couple playing different roles. Thailand is the main proponent of this now. Japan also has a history, in its early days of pigeonholing actors into gay roles because of BL. They don’t much anymore (now they mostly just do this with heat levels - see Takezai Terunosuke) but Thailand, China, and (possibly) Korea also have a history of slurring actors in such a way that it becomes difficult for them to get roles outside of the BL genre. 

DAY 2: Double Bill - Japanese Traditions & Filming Bifurcation 

Junjou Pure Heart (2010) & Seven Days (2015)

I chose these two BLs because they show the evolution of Japanese live action yaoi filming style from Takumi and Boys Love and into two traditions of cinematography and setting - which Japan latches on to and continues to produce to this day. 

FOR CLARITY: 

Japan has 2 BL story styles: dark & light. 

And also 2 BL filming styles: manga & atmospheric.  

Junjou is an atmospheric hard fought dour romance, featuring grown up tortured characters with complicated backstory and tons of introspection. It’s handling themes if miscommunication and cohabitation - ones that Japan will pick up and explore again and again. It’s emo BL filmed with a soft lens and sweeping shots (which owes a lot to classic Japanese cinema, e.g. Kurosawa) and very little of its framing or staging reflects manga. 

Japan will do this style emo BL a lot, especially during the 2010s. They trade sharp focus and graphic linear styles of yaoi for this intimate fuzziness. They use adult characters, one or both of whom are salary men, and lots of apartment and office scenes. 

On the other hand, Seven Days is one of the few to come out during this time that stays true to its yaoi roots. It features high school students and teenage angst with a relatively simple story of misunderstanding that is well acted and executed. It keeps manga filming but trades out dark history, secret sorrows, and a mysterious past for more “ordinary” teens with mundane problems. You can trace this filming style from Takumi-kun to Seven Days to Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man) which is airing as I write this. 

Japan will pick up light yaoi style BL again after Seven Days but not until... 

DAY 3: Double Bill - Modern Japanese BL 

Cherry Magic & Restart After Come Back Home (2020)

(alt: His the movie 2020) 

These are examples of the best of what Japan can do with BL now, but both remain quintessentially Japanese. We don’t get this kind of BL from any other country. 

Cherry Magic gave us a pitch perfect live action yaoi, but with this mix of slapstick and acting chops (not to mention production quality) that we’d never really seen before, not to mention a solid magical realism story that was really a journey of self actualization. It’s elevated yaoi using the same style started by Takumi-kun but with superior story structure. 

Restart, on the other hand, uses all the best of Japanese sweeping atmospheric cinema combined with the yaoi deprived archetype of jaded salary man but elevated by family drama and self discovery. Sure there’s still a little dark mysterious past, miscommunication, and self worth issues, but it wouldn’t be Japanese BL if it wasn’t a tiny bit emo. 

SOUTH KOREA 

Korea has been in and out of BL for almost as long as Japan, but with a distinctly different take on the genre. You can read about the history of Korean BL here.

While Japan will push boundaries, especially in the area of high heat, kink, and cinematography (and hair), Korea does not. In fact they’ve gone the opposite direction, establishing a strict sandbox, and then stayed inside it like good little children. Their BL now is almost all bright, clean, and slick (no, not that kind) with excellent but workmanlike production. However, they didn’t start out that way.

DAY 4: Double Bill - Korean BL Roots & Strongberry 

Just Friends? (2009) + A First Love Story (2021)

Just Friends? was Korea’s first true BL and I paired it with a recent offering because these two go together so well (A First Love Story could be the prequel for all it came over a decade later). While Korean BL is no longer really like Just Friends? with its gritty queer-friendly realism and higher heat levels (that’s now Taiwan’s purview), Strongberry is still producing BL of exactly this type, frequently and well. So it is still coming out of Korea, just in very short form. 

Which is something to note. Both these dramas are SHORT. That is something Korea will stick to and has not altered. While they consistently produce long form het romance Kdramas (12-16 episodes of 45 min each), they have yet to give us anything BL with real meat to it. Instead, they tend to produce BL in shorter from with a total run time of about 2 hours. 

DAY 5: Korea Gets Pretty Prudish 

The Lover BL cut (2015) 

One of the only long form offerings from Korea during the 2010s (there were a LOT of microfilms), there is a distinctly Japanese feel to this BL, especially in the slapstick humor. Korean dramas will move away from this comedic style in general in the later half of the 2010s. It also starred former ballet dancer Lee Jae Joon opposite Terada Takuya, Jpop idol, who was to be the first in a long line of idols in KBL. 

What’s distinctly Korean about The Lover (of which the BL is a shared plot in this 4 couple series) is how drawn out and slow burn the romance is. It showcases Korea moving away from the higher heat of Just Friends? that only Strongberry really continued into the modern age. The leads in The Lover didn’t even get to have a kiss, but it still is a romance. This BL established a president for Korean sexy: slow burn, low heat, maybe a smooch near the end, and rarely anything more than that. 

These boys are awful pretty though, which is another thing Korea likes a lot in its BLs - pretty. There is a reason, with the recent rise in BL production, that Korea keeps casting idols: Korean BL has an AESTHETIC. That also started with The Lover. 

DAY 6: Double Bill - Korea Finds Its Stride 

Wish You (2020) & Light on Me (2021) 

Let’s be clear, To My Star (2021) is better, but Wish You was first. But they are both absolutely typical modern Korean BLs. Korea has settled into this style of short form intimate romance that applies BL tropes strategically but doesn't depend on them. Modern Korean BLs exist in a “gay safe bubble” fantasy world and produced to further Hallyu, they are a product.

The characters are soft with each other, the story structure is simple, and the casting is sparse, but the acting is on point and production levels are very high (beat out only by Japan). Physically, the actors tend to be slightly stiff with each other, but these BLs are so well made and easily digested that they continue to rise in popularity despite somewhat questionable chemistry. There is usually little/no coming out drama (one or both are self actualized gays, see the bubble) and when featuring adult characters a seme/uke dynamic is rare.  

On the other hand, when Korea adapts something set in high school (and now college) or a manwha, they let themselves dwell in yaoi traditions. A traditional manga (comic book storyboard) filming style is applied as well as seme/uke dynamics and teen messiness, see Light On Me (or Color Rush). Korea still stays very clean (especially in the arenas of color palettes and staging), relatively short, and quite pretty, but these offerings will feel more traditionally yaoi then (for example) Thai BL.

Light On Me is a prime example of the very best that Korea can do, and it also highlights a Kdrama romance’s speciality... the love triangle. It also picked up and showcased quite a few BL tropes that owe their popularity to Love Sick and Thailand’s BL traditions (the field trip, symbolic gift exchange, shoulder sleeping, boys on phones, significant hand hold). Showing that (as we would expect from Hallyu) Korea is PAYING ATTENTION to what other countries are doing best in BL and why. 

Korea is seriously clever and strategic with their trope use, probably the best in the biz. If Light On Me is too long, check out Semantic Error (Viki) which is pretty much the best of the best. 

CHINA 

Chinese BL started out with most of its early stuff owing its style to the dark side of Japanese BL. Not quite as high heat but they were definitely into gayness as a tool for punishing characters with obsession, murder, suicide, mutilation, and death. Much of their early stuff explores very depressing themes and those very few times Chinese BL got fluffy it was hella weird. 

A note: I have personal and professional issues with Chinese BL so I do not cover it here on my blog as much as other BL, but I do think it’s important to know that there WAS an established relatively vibrant BL tradition in China before the government started seriously repressing homosexual representation in 2016.

A history of Chinese BL is here.  

DAY 7: Chinese BL Before Censorship, Story Style 

Like Love (2014) 

Like Love (AKA I Love You If You Were a Man) exists in 3 parts, only the first 2 are really of interest, and sadly all of it is hard to find. For a good alternate try Irresistible Love: Secret of the Valet (2016) which exists in two parts with two different endings (a sad one and a happy-ish one). Both these offerings showcase how high heat China was once willing to get. These BLs deal with obsession to the point of ownership (and the whipping boy trope) as well as masculine aggression in the arena of consent (there is none). Like Japan, they often pushed that dub con into destructive behavior beyond rape into murder, suicide, and mutilation. These shows almost always ended amorphously (we aren’t shown what happened to the characters at the end, or they are separated) or with the death of one of the leads. They’re DARK. 

Like Love is China’s first real BL, it features a rich kid obsessed with a poor kid plus a bit of jock/nerd. China loves this power play dynamic and puts it into most of its BLs in some form or another. Chinese BLs (and bromances) also tend to be somewhat seme/uke with the seme character being taller, emotionally repressed but more aggressive about pursuing a relationship, while the uke character is usually very tsundere about the whole situation. 

Apart from the high heat content, China carries the story traditions and ambiguity established with these early BLs (and companion archetypes) through censorship and into their wuxia bromances to this day. 

DAY 8: Chinese BL Gets Censored 

Addicted (2016)

With both the critically acclaimed and much beloved Addicted Heroin and the much less well known Advance Bravely (2017) we got to witness the direct impact of Chinese censorship on BL. Addicted was shaping up to be a classic Chinese BL with higher heat levels but such excellent acting that it could have been China’s SOTUS but... The quality of the production, its popularity, and the great chemistry of the leads caught the CFA’s attention and Addicted was was abruptly cancelled, and its actors (particularly the one playing the uke character) pretty much blacklisted because of it.

It was a mess.

Advance Bravely was even messier. It was clearly filmed as a relatively high heat pice, but because of what happened to Addicted it got chopped up and cut down and edited (read: mutilated) into something that would pass censorship, but which most people watch with a profound feeling of betrayal and confusion. 

Both these shows have what amounts to cliff hanger non-endings. And Advance Bravely would pretty much mark the end of the heyday (such as it was) of Chinese BL. China went through a phase in 2017 & 2018 where they still produced some uncensored stuff (well, the boys kissed) but these had to end badly for the characters (punish the gays trope) a hallmark of homophobia in film. Since then the contemporary Chinese BL arena is dominated by extremely censored bromances, mostly around competitive sports teams (like Precise Shot) and... Wuxia adaptations. 

DAY 9: Wuxia Long Form Bromances (Danmei)

The Untamed (2020)

I prefer Word of Honor (2021) but Untamed was the one that broke the media world. Both of these LONG shows are bromances in the new sense of the term, by which the BL universe means: 

coded gay acting, but censored dialogue, and negligible physical intimacy

Everyone in China pretends these shows aren’t actually gay and everyone outside of China pretends they’re a whole lot gayer then they are. It’s a little game we play. 

Technically speaking, I think you could cite Guardian (2018) as the beginning of this style. It is almost (but not really) wuxia but definitely a bromance and definitely LONG. But it was Untamed that put the eternal pining sexless soulmates front and center. (And by sexless I mean they aren’t actually allowed to have it, not - as Kdramas seem to think - it doesn’t exist at all.) 

These 30+ episode series are to be watched for the pining, for that one tiny touch every 6 hours, and the lingering glances that never stop - don’t expect any pay out. It’s all a tease. They will never kiss and there is a very good chance they won’t end up together, either. In China the gays don’t get happy endings, not in this lifetime. But they will be impossibly beautiful and high production about it - gorgeous flowing sleeves will be cut with all the euphemism that entails. 

In fact, everything will only ever be alluded to. Chinese BL now dwells in graceful traumatizing euphemism, lodged and slowly drowning in a mire of lotus flowers. 

Pretty pretty censorship is still dangerous and deadly. If you’re queer, keep a tight hold on your psyche with these dramas, they can do real damage with their messaging. 

TAIWAN 

On the other hand, fighting for the title of queerest BL producing country is Taiwan. Technically speaking Taiwan’s first queer movie to even approach BL was in 2006′s Eternal Summer, which means they started as early as Japan, but it owes absolutely nothing to yaoi and is more a commentary of masculine struggles with identity around intimacy and romance than anything else. It’s very high heat though, so I guess Taiwan comes by that habit from the start. 

However, it would take a decade for Taiwan to pick up the genre and really start playing with it. 

Still, this tiny island comes by its BL honestly and produces it with a genuine affection that comes off as less market savvy and Machiavellian than Thailand or Korea. Taiwan is the only country in Asia (as of 2022) with marriage equality and queer rights, and their BL will not let you forget that. Nor should it. 

As a result, Taiwan has worked itself around to producing some of my favorite BL. It also remains very attached to the questionable tropes and darker sides of BL that China adores and Japan started - probably because of its intimate cultural connection to both those countries. Also it has a marked preference for muscled BL. It’s all a matter of taste. 

Because they are so small (both by population and film industry standards) they also do not produce very much BL, but here’s Taiwan’s history with the genre. 

DAY 10: Taiwanese BL Has Questions 

Pair of Love (2012)

Taiwan is my favorite BL producing nation but it is all over the map story-wise, for good reason. Its closest political and trading partner is Japan, but its closest cultural/historical connection is China. Also its thriving queer community and high seat at the global tech and corporate table that have resulted in active (intentional) westernization. All of this plays into its BL and it all can be seen in Pair of Love. 

The only BL on this list that also contains a GL couple, Pair showcases the grittiness and the honestly queer nature of Taiwanese BL, a realistically harsh story, and also its generally indecisive choices around happy endings. (One pair ends happily, the other does not.) 

Taiwan has a near constant back and forth dialogue over the nature of what their BL should be and so does this offering. Combine that with very few shows at all (to even establish a pattern), and Taiwan manages a signature style but its BL trope use is inconsistent, and again we see that in Pair of Love. 

DAY 11: Double Bill Taiwan Has Answers 

HIStory Obsessed + Faded (2017)

The hotly debated HIStory franchise actually started with 3 hour-long offerings, from which I chose Obsessed because it showcases the most classic tropes, specifically those favored by Chinese BL. In fact, Obsessed could be a kind of short form remake of Like Love but with an interesting twist on story, and a softness to its heat that allows it to end far more happily than its BL heritage might suggest. Also it’s much more honestly queer about it, and gentler with its leads (despite the obsession theme) so watching this after seeing Like Love, it makes for an excellent contrast. 

You can see, with this pair of actors, the thing Taiwan becomes justifiably famous for: higher heat and fantastic chemistry. Korea shies away from gay kisses, Taiwan embraces them. Only Thailand ever comes even close to what Taiwan can do to burn up a screen. Also watch for the crash into me trope which is, without question, Taiwan’s favorite trope - they will slot this into EVERY BL. 

In short, Obsessed manages to cram in most of Taiwan’s favorite BL tropes from China as well as a seme/uke dynamic that’s quintessentially Japanese, highlighting the two traditions Taiwan draws from the most, but with Taiwan’s unique brand of realism (if not realistic) story and signature chemistry. 

DAY 12: Double Bill Taiwan Goes All In And Does it All 

We Best Love & HIStory 4: Close to You (2021)

The 1st installment of We Best Love, WBL: No 1 For You, is a short run university set BL combining the best of Thailand’s modern take with Japanese light BL traditions (and a touch of Thai uni BL-ness). The 2nd season, WBL: Fighting Mr 2nd, moves into the office, and employs darker Japanese and Chinese BL style in terms of setting, obsession, and mature concepts. 

WBL thus successfully managed to pick up and combine some of the most popular aspects of all BL right now. Couple that to the insane chemistry from the leads (Taiwan’s speciality), and I consider WBL one of the best BLs of all time, cooking to a recipe I doubt anyone else will ever be able to replicate since only Taiwan is this flexible. It manages to showcase all the things Taiwan is best at: higher heat, chemistry (again, it’s their THING), interesting (if short) story structure, excellent acting, and some seriously old school yaoi derived tropes. Plus there’s that gritty little edge of darkness from China’s obsession with... obsession. WBL is supersaturated with BL roots, however it’s ALSO openly queer AND mature with its concepts. 

If you want something similar but easier to get ahold of still demonstrating Taiwan’s versatility, Be Loved In House: I Do is almost as good but a lot softer. 

If We Best Love represents the best that Taiwanese BL can be, HIStory 4: Close to You represents what it actually still is, the questioning reality. H4CTY is two strongly contrasted storylines and couples: 

One a soft friends to lovers office setting, slightly absurdist, fake relationship romance full of saccharine sweetness reminiscent of lighter Japanese yaoi, it’s even filmed that way on occasion (not something Taiwan often bothers with). 

The other is a darker story of stalking and obsession, seriously fucked up family dynamics, using the always contentious stepbrother trope that owes a lot to early Chinese BL. 

H4 is, in a way, Taiwan’s internal dialogue with its own style of BL and where it wants to go. Whether it is willing to go up against Korea in the arena of shorter run strong concept but ultimately bright and happy new wave BL, as it did with Be Loved In House, or whether it wants to continue down the shadowy path of amorphous endings which risk a discontented fan base but garner critical acclaim as they did with HIStory 3 and Your Name Engraved Herein.

I suspect this is a back and forth we will see play out on screen from them for a while longer. Taiwan, it seems, refuses to pick a lane. 

THAILAND 

The juggernaut of BL, Thailand now produces 20+ BLs a year and does not seem to be slowing down. Their tradition is for bright cheerful BLs with guaranteed happy endings that owe very little to yaoi roots and more to their own literary tradition of y-novels (and therefore the romance genre). 

Because they produce the most BL by a landslide and are readily accessible online, their style dominates the genre (and watcher expectations). Most new watchers enter into BL via a Thai series (e.g. Love Sick, SOTUS, 2gether, TharnType, KinnPorsche), and so the Thai style is coming to dictate taste more and more. You can read about the history of Thai BL here. And I have a master post talking all about watch lists etc.. here. 

DAY 13: Thailand, the Juggernaut’s Sad Beginnings 

Love of Siam (2007)

This is a beautiful piece and one of the earliest BLs we have from Thailand. It has more in common with Love Sick and I Told Sunset About You than what we think of now as typical Thai BL. It’s darker, sadder, and much messier. There are lot of genuine struggles around being a teenager and coming out as well as family drama, complex friendship groups, and an amorphous, in this case quite sad, ending. Oh no one dies, but it’s not happy either.

Thailand would never really dwell in darkness the way this (and their few other earlier pieces) do, but they would also never be as gritty or as realistic again, either. Still there are tropes in Love of Siam (post-it love notes, sleep cuddling, head touching, and singing of feelings) that hint at what Thai BL ultimately becomes - but it would have to produce Love Sick before really developing the industry. 

[It behooves me to point out that the first time we see a lot of Thai BL actors on screen together is in Grean Fictions (2013) but while it features some gay characters it is not, in fact BL. While a complicated interesting piece of Thai cinema history, Green Fictions is has numerous issues. It seems to have started the unfortunately grand (and enduring) tradition in Thai BL of punching down humor with regards to femme and trans characters. So there’s THAT.]

DAY 14: The BL of All BLs 

Love Sick BL cut (2014) 

Love Sick is, to this day the Thai BL with the longest run time that I know of. It got two full seasons and that second season was crazy long. It was insanely popular in Thailand and is single handedly responsible for the beginning of Thailand’s mass production of BL. It is the BL that spawned a hundred high school set BLs, most particularly Make it Right. And Make It Right would spawn the Thai BL pulps - lower production value, non-adaptation, poor quality BLs that now make up over half of Thailand’s BL production. 

Love Sick is a messy messy soap opera, complete with cast changes (same character different actor), that centers around a musical club in an all boys school. The lead singer falls in love with another boy but things are complicated by the fact that they both have girlfriends. So yeah, we have two sublime origin disaster bis plus the faen fatale archetype (plot device character, often female, who exists solely to drive a wedge between the main couple). 

It’s the charisma of the leads and well written dialogue that carries this show, and it does end ultimately happily. Also, it established many of the tropes that Thai BL loves the most: sponge bath, field trips (both beach and forest), symbolic gift exchange, feeding each other, drama in the water, shoulder sleeping, boys on phones, significant hand hold, faen fatale, sing your feelings, and so many more it’s hard to keep track. (And is why I started this blog.) 

Love Sick is also responsible for something we rarely see in BL outside of Thailand & the Philippines (although it actually can be traced back to Takumi-kun) the secondary BL couple, AKA the side dishes. Thailand now almost always has at least one secondary pair, and will include multiples in one BL, because they have the cast (big, cheap talent pool) and length of time to do so. 

DAY 13: The BL That Launched A Thousand Ships 

SOTUS (2016)

If Love Sick started it all within Thailand, SOTUS took it international. The first in a (seemingly) endless series of y-novel adaptations, this show made Thailand production houses (particularly GMMTV) realize they had a cash cow on their hands if they could just get the formula right. 

SOTUS established a few BL tropes particularly germane to university set BL: pink milk, the engineering student is gay, haze the one you love, gear symbology, and also started to perpetuate romance tropes common to many Asian countries like under one umbrella, forehead kisses, eating together, and so forth. (Also clumsy product placement.) 

SOTUS had a clean sharp story and much higher production values than previous Thai offerings, with grown (or at least not teen) characters/actors and an enemies to lovers traditional romance foundation that pushed it to perform well outside of Thailand, becoming popular first in Southeast Asia and then northwards, eventually hitting Europe and the Americas. But it would take it a few years to spread that far. GMMTV posted and hosted SOTUS on YouTube for years and that was a genius move, eventually Netflix picked it up. 

It helped that the leads were willing to provide fan service (pair branding) in a way that hadn’t before been seen in BL (or indeed fandom) that would eventually do far more damage than it would good in the arena fan expectations, parasocial relationships, obsession (fan feelings of ownership) and IRL shipping. But probably did substantially increase its popularity. 

Thailand would latch onto this, their best shows are almost always y-novel adaptations written as traditional romances (and owe very little to yaoi story traditions except with certain archetypes like seme/uke). 

DAY 14: The BL that Broke the Internet 

2gether (2020) 

If Love Sick started it and SOTUS pushed it forward, 2g made Thai BL a phenomenon. It represents peak new BL of the kind that Thailand is famous for. 

It’s gentle with its characters, 

provides service seme/uke (by story if not appearance), 

has low heat but good couple chemistry and nice kisses, 

uses a traditional romance foundation (fake dating) with a comedic bent (but punching down humor), 

has miscommunication and BL tropes as narrative drivers, 

is in a university setting with fun friendship groups, 

and everything turns out charming in the end. 

It released at exactly the right time (lockdown) to the right platform (YouTube) for an international audience (mostly trapped at home) and it was HUGE. A sensation. With this series BL became a soft power for Thailand. It’s likely single-handedly responsible for more fans discovering BL than all three of its core predecessors combined. It’s still one of the most popular Thai BLs (by the YouTube watch numbers and MDL reviews and ratings) than any other. And possibly the most popular BL of all. 

This is not the first time we see it, but 2gether is also a heavy hitter in the arena of product placement and sponsorship deals. Featuring leads with model training and model looks, BrightWin skyrocketed their couple brand into major marketing deals. It should be said, however, that the kings of BL pair marketing to beat were MewGulf (TharnType series) who caused an absolute sensation and crashed websites with their shoots. However, OffGun (Puppy Honey, Theory of Love, Not Me) and MaxTul (Together with Me series, Manner of Death) remain the eternal kings of co-branding, with years of endorsement deals based on their comfortable working relationship as a pair. 

Still, it was 2gether that really got called out for its admittedly egregious product placement. 

Filming wise, 2gether showcases the Thai BL standard - sparse, brightly lit, lots of tropes, and a warm color palette. It has GMMTV’s mark on it in terms of higher production values (for Thailand, this is no Korea), although that is not to be expected from Thai BL in general. But that saturated, bright, open, almost airy feel is typical of Thai BL as a whole and its unique stamp.  

2gether isn’t perfect by a long shot (I openly struggle with it’s punching down humor), but it is Thailand’s solid gold money-making industry standard. And represents the magic they are constantly trying to reproduce. 

DAY 15: Thailand Struggles with Origin Yaoi 

Love By Chance (2018)

TharnType is the one I talk about the most, but Love By Chance came first and it certainly had its issues. AePete as a central couple were great, and very Thai BL of the Love Sick style, softly subversive seme/uke, gentle and eager, struggling with self worth issues and identity. But they were surrounded by seriously problematic tropes in all the many side dishes from stalker behavior, to stepbrothers, to dubious consent statutory rape, making this, ultimately, a difficult series to swallow. 

Mame, the y-novel author responsible for this series (and now many others) has a history of using some of the most problematic yaoi story traditions and tropes (she must have grown up reading manga). She also has a history of inconsistent characters portrayed by great actors, higher heat levels, and is, in general, a mixed bag. But her stuff does showcase what happens to Thai BL when it remembers it came, originally, from Japan. 

DAY 16: Thailand Gets Sophisticated About Story 

Until We Meet Again (2019)

One of the things that distinguishes Thai BL above all others (except maybe some Pinoy stuff) is the length of treatment. Started by Love Sick, Thailand is willing to spend 10-17 full 45 minute episodes on a story (although its kinda settled on 12 these days) with a full cast and multiple different couples. (Possibly because it’s comparatively cheap to do so in Thailand, as opposed to Japan or Korea.) 

Thailand production houses are also willing to give 2nd seasons (thank you again Love Sick), spin off series featuring side couples (thank you Mame), and specials (thank you Our Skyy & GMMTV), in a way that, is pretty rare in the BL world and largely vested in Thailand’s ability to raise additional product sponsorship on the back of a first season’s success.

But because they are adapting from novels (half the time), Thailand can also get more sophisticated with story and narrative structure in long form than any other country (except maybe the Chinese bromances). UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN PERFECTLY HIGHLIGHTS THIS. It is a masterful piece of long form story telling, with twists and reveals, loop backs and discoveries between past and present that also manages to link (and make necessary) it’s side dishes. 

Good story can’t be expected from all Thai BL, but it can be expected from at least half a dozen every year. And that’s pretty darn good in this industry. 

VIETNAM 

Very new to the BL scene Vietnam nevertheless has its own flavor and is doing interesting things with the genre already. I don’t have a history of Vietnamese BL post, because there isn’t much, but I do have a master post here. They have an SEO issue, their stuff is often hard to find because their naming conventions are odd and inconsistent between episodes. Also they are not yet listed on MDL (as of 2021). I dithered over putting them after the Philippines because of this, but style-wise they bridge Thai and Pinoy stuff.  

DAY 17: Vietnam’s Difficult Launch 

My Sky (2017) 

AKA BẦU TRỜI CỦA KHÁNH

With a really very odd ending, this is nevertheless a good insight into how Vietnam started it’s BL journey (triggers on homophobia, abuse, possible incest, humiliation). You can see some things it will become known for: home settings, slightly messy staging, and a sweetly combative core relationship. Also Vietnam uses real people, or actors that look real, and doesn’t have as strong an aesthetic preference as Korea or Taiwan. In this, Vietnam more like early Chinese BL or current Pinoy stuff. In fact, this piece has a distinctly 2013 Chinese BL feel to it, which is a direction Vietnam will quickly abandon. 

You’ll notice this BL feels immature. This has to do almost entirely with production values. Vietnam just doesn’t have a strong studio system in place. This is VBLs lack the background talent (editors, sound engineers, lighting technicians, wardrobe, makeup props dep, stagers, etc...) Production in general started out low quality with My Sky and remains what we can expect from this  industry. 

Also the limited cast, home setting, and sense of family life started here, and are elements that VBL will preserve throughout its offerings. Domesticity is by far their strong point. However, their acting is earnest and honest and tender, and the physicality can be sweet and authentic in a way that Taiwan can do, but tends to push a lot harder and more aggressive. VBL has a lot in common with the Thai pulps, but generally their acting is less stiff. 

DAY 18: Double Bill - Modern Vietnamese BL

You Are Ma Boy & My Lascivious Boss (2021)

EM LÀ CHÀNG TRAI CỦA ANH YAMB and ÔNG CHỦ, ĐỪNG ĐẾN ĐÂY MLB 

These two are good examples of the current state of VBL, and you probably don’t need to watch both if you don’t want to (also you could go for Mr Cinderella if you want to meet Bah Vinh current reigning King of BL - he has starred in the most of any one actor). 

These exemplify Vietnam’s marked preference for a home setting and the authentic domesticity that goes along with this. I keep using the word “authentic” and I think that’s what like about this BL tradition. VBL feels homey and real and warm - a bit cluttered and clumsy and awkward. Even if it can get a bit... odd, and the story structure is simplistic at best. 

VBL is also getting better at femme, trans, and cross dressing rep without punching down (as Thailand is prone to do) which is, again, a lot more like Pinoy stuff. In fact, Vietnamese BL forms a pretty tidy bridge between Thai BL (at Korean length) but with Pinoy sensibilities. So let’s touch on that tradition next. 

THE PHILIPPINES 

Also new to the BL scene. Because of its background as a Spanish and then American occupied nation, the Philippines offers up a distinctly different flavor of BL. Let’s be blunt shall we? Catholicism has made its mark. Combine that with a language that is now wrapped in and around English, the Philippines has culturally incorporated western concepts, words, and ideology around queerness that permeates their BL, and simply does not exist in other BL producing nations. Only Taiwan even approaches it. What this means is that Pinoy BL feels the most western to many international watchers. 

But, it is a young industry so extremely messy in production and awkward with story, while being gritty and realistic with performance and setting. I don’t have a history of watching Pinoy BL because I don’t enjoy any of these aspects. And because they (now) tend to produce long form and don’t always end happily, the buy in is high to watch all of them. 

DAY 19: The BL Bridge 

4 Days (2016) 

The first Pinoy BL that I know of is high school set Geography Lessons (AKA Lisyun qng Geografia) from 2014 which is a nostalgic little microfilm that actually has a lot in common with early Japanese BL in content if not style. It’s not dark, but it doesn’t end happily either. 

University set BL 4 Days is similar, with a happy ending, so it’s the one I suggest to get a taste of early Pinoy stuff. You should be able note, at this juncture, that it feels a little like the early Chinese or Taiwanese stuff in its grittiness, but is not as dark. It’s almost a one act play, in that most of the content is the two leads in their dorm room together. It’s a simple friends to lovers concept with a disaster bi archetype (the Philippines likes these two tropes a lot and will constantly reuse them), but you’ll notice the unformed staging and lighting and inconsistent sound. 

Pinoy BL has not yet outgrown any of this, it’s sort of sweaty and sticky and homey feeling. BL from the Philippines always feels homemade. The acting is usually better than Vietnam or the Thai pulps, but the story structure is even more raw. Some Pinoy stuff can just drift into complete soap opera narrative nothingness - like the  worst of the Thai BL pulps. 

DAY 20: The Indoor Kids 

Gameboys (2020) 

Alternatively you can also watch Like In The Movies AKA Gaya Sa Pelikula (2020), a great offering. Both these showcase Pinoy BLs’ move towards more queer affirming narratives. Also they both prove that the Philippines can handle story (just not very complicated ones), but likes to stick with the home setting. 

(The only major offering not of this type, with any legs, is my favorite Pinoy BL My Day. But My Day is one of those that seems to be more of an exception than a rule, and is basically the Philippines trying to do Thai BL.) 

Back to Gameboys. As a quarantine project, this was well suited out the gate to the Pinoy BL style. And they did it first as a result, breaking ground and getting known because Gameboys got wide distribution and the international audience liked the realistic feel (and forgave amateur production values because we are used to that in a queer narrative) when married to the zoom-style reality of a C19 setting. (Thailand and Taiwan would both go on to produce quarantine projects like Gameboys, unquestionably inspired by it.) Also the characters were endearing awkward self affirming honest queer kids, played with charming authenticity by a wonderful cast. When Pinoy BL gets it RIGHT, this is were it excels. 

SELF CRITICAL BL 

Lovely Writer (Thailand 2021) 

Lovely Writer is an excellent BL in the classic high quality Thai BL style, but it is ALSO Thailand examining what 7 years of BL fandom has done to them and their industry. It tackles adaptations, writing BL, and the pressures of the y-novel industry on creatives as well as actor issues and stressors, not to mention obsessive fans and disgusting shipping practices. It’s meta and there would go on to be many more BLs of this type. Call it What You Want (2021) does this as well, only it’s even rougher going. Lovely Writer is kind about it, no triggers, CITWYW is bitter. 

This idea of self analysis and reflection is not, however, unique to 2021. The Effect a Thai BL from 2019 takes seme/uke and obsessive love to task in a big way. It’s seriously traumatic and I don’t recommend watching it as essentially it is a BL that stands up and decrees: if people really did act this way in real life, these are the consequences. And do we really want our little fantasies shattered like that? No, we don’t. 

Lovey Writer self reflects without breaking us or its characters. It is thoughtful about what it means to be a BL in Thailand, without punishing the watchers for their love of the genre. Just, perhaps, encouraging all of us to think about our behavior as fans. 

A Man Who Defies The World of BL (Japan 2021) 

AKA Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko

If Lovely Writer was about the BL industry, Absolute BL is about the BL narrative, or more precisely, the tropes and archetypes of origin yaoi. It’s Japan 2021 bringing us back around to the origin of everything, and then ruthlessly trotting that everything before us and poking hard core fun at it. This show will not make sense at all if you don’t have a familiarity with the genre, or it might, but it won’t be as funny or insightful. It’s a work of parody gold and genius, and I love it more than is strictly reasonable. 

Is it a good BL? Not even a little bit. But after going through this syllabus you should know why. 

But that is also NOT THE POINT. 

Instead, this show is the perfect cap stone to the journey that the 30 BLs on this list will take you on. Because you will finally understand every moment and every nuance it’s highlighting and it will, I promise, blow your mind in that regard. This show only could have come from Japan, and only Japan could have executed it so well. The only way to fully understand why, is to have watched the other legacy shows that came before it. 

Absolute BL was made for us, for the fans, and only for us. Absolutely no one else could possibly understand it. It was a thank you gift (and friendly mockery) from the ones who started everything. And that is the reason I would end on this gem. 

If you want a country-by-country breakdown and direct comparison which highlights the strengths and weakness of each (in terms of both story and production) that’s here:

BL Breakdowns by Country

BL Master Post 

(includes what you can now expect from BL produced by each country)

BL Docs & NonFic Resources on YT

BL History

Strongberry on BL (Korea)

Thai BL

TED Ex BangKok (growing up gay in Thailand)

Chinese masculinity

Perth on working on a BL show (Thailand, Aussie perspective)

(source) 

#long post #master post #teaching bl #film studies #film course #queer cinima #film critique #asian bl #thai bl #korean bl #K-BL #japanese BL #live action yaoi #vietnamese bl #pinoy bl #A Man Who Defies The World of BL #Lovely Writer #My Day the series #gameboys the series #you are ma boy #my sky the series #until we meet again #love by chance #2gether #SOTUS #Love Sick #Love of Siam #HIStory 4: Close to You #We Best Love #Taiwanese BL

[twig-tea]

Cherry Magic Thailand Exceeded My Wildest Dreams

This series really surpassed all expectations I had for it. I've already yelled a few weeks ago about how this series righted years-long wrongs both with TayNew and with the Japanese adaptation, and encouraged everyone to watch this show. I'm so happy that the finale didn't let me down, ending its run as a near-perfect series!

The series as a whole did so many things right and only really stumbled slightly on one of the mid-series filler episodes that didn't affect the arc of the main characters or the story overall, so it was forgivable. Everything else in this series is a joy.

Cherry Magic Thailand has perfect character arcs, with relationships that all champion communication all the way through. There's a reason why Kurosawa and Adachi experienced the penultimate episode breakup in the Japanese adaptation but Karan and Achi did not; Karan and Achi worked so hard for this relationship all the way through this series, and that makes them feel so solid that a breakup would not have felt believable or true to them.

I loved how quickly and fully Karan embraced Achi's magic, and used it to be as embarrassing as possible about his feelings. This worked so well in the Thai version; For a man who is not super worried about homophobia, and is not as worried about being seen as less than perfect (the way the Japanese version's Kurosawa was), but who instead is mostly certain that he's Too Much, finding out that his every thought has been heard by the man he loves and that he fell in love with Karan because of those thoughts must have been the hugest relief. Karan's energy after the confession scene is consistently: I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have this.

And that's why it's so critical that Achi already has a ring in his pocket in this finale when Karan proposes. There are of course the reasons why this works as an ending to Achi's arc; The story starts in a way that feels like Karan is leagues ahead of Achi; Achi struggles with feelings of inferiority at the beginning of the series, just like he did in the Japanese version.

I already wrote in a response to @lurkingshan's ep 11 post about how Achi's arc on this was so good, he managed to gain enough self-confidence to build a workplace friend group, move forward in his career, and proactively move forward his relationship. For Achi, proposing is a perfect end to his arc of coming into himself.

But Karan was already self-actualized. If anything, his fear in this relationship has been that Achi would never love him the way Karan loves Achi. Before they ever get together, Karan organizes his day at the office to Achi's schedule, making sure to reduce minor inconveniences and discomforts without ever expecting to be noticed, never mind reciprocated. Karan lies to Achi all the time about how far out of his way he went to do things for Achi (from buying drinks to braving Songkran crowds to bring him medicine). When they first start dating Karan over-plans their first date, and Achi has to remind him that small moments are also good. During the dreaded episode 8 confrontation with their boss, Karan takes the responsibility of their relationship on himself alone. When they were preparing for Achi to be leaving for a month, Achi straight out told Karan he was worried about Karan's ability to handle the separation. He hung out outside Achi's house secretly, and designed a new krathong for them to release at Loy Krathong, but was willing to let go of their Loy Krathong date at the first sign Achi might have to skip it.

This is the first time Achi really steps up in their relationship, but it's still following Karan's lead--he knew celebrating Loy Krathong was important to Karan, so he prepared a surprise for a different day so that they could still celebrate together. While Achi is on his work secondment, they both prioritize staying in touch, but Karan takes a surprise trip out to see Achi before the month is over. And they have sex, and so Achi can no longer hear Karan's thoughts.

This means Karan is able to keep secrets from him again, like a proposal. And so Karan buys a ring, retaining what he thinks is his position as the one who does the work to move their relationship forward. But Achi surprises him by asking him to meet his parents as soon as he comes back from his secondment. And then he overhears Achi tell Karan's mother that he is making sure Karan isn't the only one putting effort into their relationship.

And then Karan is so overwhelmed with happiness that he can't hold back and asks Achi to marry him, and because he's Karan he has the ring already and is carrying it with him. And Achi tells him yes.

And this is the critical bit: Achi then tells Karan that he was also planning to propose to Karan, and proves it by pulling out his own ring. This is physical evidence that Karan is not alone with the intensity of his feelings; that Achi is doing what he told Karan's mother he would, and is putting effort into their relationship himself outside of steer from Karan; that Karan is allowed to love as hard as he does and he will be met halfway by a partner who is a partner in every sense of the word. When Karan says to Achi "I really love you, you know?" And Achi says "I do", it's not just about Achi knowing the depth of Karan's feelings intellectually, but about him knowing the depth of Karan's feelings by reciprocating them. It's about Karan knowing that Achi won't just coast on Karan's love, but will make sure Karan is being taken care of too.

[The part that breaks my heart about that is that Achi's kindness is the thing that attracted Karan to him in the first place; but Karan is so used to not being taken care of that he never expected Achi to turn his caretaking skills on Karan, even after they started dating. Quietly devastating, nbd]

Let's talk about happier parts of this last episode I noticed instead. The parallels in this last episode are so stacked on top of one another that I find it almost overwhelming; We have the two Karan/Achi bench scenes in CMT, from when they become a couple and when they get engaged; there's the proposals between Karan and Achi and between Jinta and Min, and how complete opposites they are (in the contrast between each individually having planned rings and having them on their person even for a mutually unplanned proposal, and how that contrasts to using a pen to draw on an engagement ring because neither of them had prepared at all); there's the use of pens as a proposal tool in Jinta and Min's story and in the Japanese adaptation's Kurosawa and Adachi's story; the perfect reverse parallel between the heat levels of the couples in the Japanese adaptation and the Thai adaptation--I love that Thailand flipped this rather than keeping them both moving faster, it makes the universe feel more balanced somehow--and (as @liyazaki illustrated in her post) that final fake-out parallel that ends the Thai and Japanese versions.

Love the decision to honour the Japanese adaptation while keeping to the manga on which it's based by giving Pai a story that has a clear aroace read while building the foundation for a start to a relationship with Rock that is believable and one I can root for.

I can't talk about Jinta, Min, Rock, and Pai without talking about how much I love these ride-or-die friends that Karan and Achi have acquired. The way Pai drops everything to get Achi to the airport; the way Rock kidnaps Karan without knowing why; the way Jinta and Achi talk to one another using their powers; the way Jinta looks at Achi and Karan when they have dinner together. All of these things warm my heart so much. The way Duj is the most intense busybody in the office but it comes from a place of caring.

And I cannot end a post about this show without talking about just how funny it is. Karan's internal scream, Jinta being able to hear the cat's internal voice, Pai's shipping constantly being misinterpreted by Achi and Rock, these jokes landed every time.

This post got out of hand, again. TL;DR I LOVED THIS SHOW. I loved the humour, the friendships, the relationships, the character arcs, and the scenery. I loved seeing Tay and New absolutely slay on my screen again, I loved seeing another adaptation of this stellar source material, and I loved watching something so well put together week to week. It's been such a good run of shows!

#cherry magic thailand #bl meta #typed so that i can stop thinking it #long post

[happypotato48]

Cherry Magic Episode 11

First of all, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I love everything in this ep so much. from way it display the most wholesome long distance relationship, or how karan respect and understand achi reluctant to be open about their relationship with just a tiny gaze, and the intimacy at the end, and achi with no regret at all about his magic power.

i'm deceased, gone to heaven, and now reincarnated as a tiny happycherries keychain.

also min and jinta continued to be excellent.

oh and the way it is football that bonded achi and his coworkers. speak from my own personal experience, playing football is one of the most quintessential ways thai men and boys bond to each other.

this ep is very excellent and i can't wait for the final ep with thier families. hopefully we get a wedding, but i'm also ok if we didn't get one, maybe save it for the special ep after thailand legalised same-sex marriage would be awesome.

#cherry magic th #cherry magic thailand #thai bl #cherry magic meta #bl drama #cherry magic ep 11

[negrowhat]

10 Day BL Challenge

Kay so I as well as another mutual am doing a little BL challenge and then maybe moving on to a 30 day one. So here we are, Day 1 of a 10 Day Challenge.

(clearly this is old because that backdrop is TakuJae from The Lover and that came out in like 2015 but whatever)

Day 1: Favorite BL

Okay so I don’t really have a favorite drama anymore so let me just do my faves rn.

Color Rush (Korea): Such an intriguing story. The soulmate trope has become a favorite of mine lately and these 2 were soulmates in every sense of the word. Can’t wait for s2.

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan): I’ve never seen a series based around cuddling before but that’s basically what this was, enemies-to-cuddle-buddies-to-lovers. I even liked Jin Yu Zhen’s little back story with his ex. It was just a good drama.

Cherry Magic (Japan): A romance with amazing and relatable characters. Healthy relationships with great dialogue and there’s no true villain which is great.

Lovely Writer (Thailand): The entire concept of Lovely Writer was refreshing. I love how meta it was. A BL within a BL and the way they took digs at the industry and fans. The mains had great communication and pretty much stomped on every annoying trope out there.

Gameboys (Philippines): LOOK! Again great communication and loveable queer characters. THE ACTING WAS SUPERIOR! I loved that it was set during quarantine. I love that it had an interactive social media aspect. I love that it was shot entirely on an iphone. It’s so perfect.

#10 day bl challenge #10dayblchallenge #day 1 #bl series #bl drama #thai drama #thai bl #pinoy bl #pinoy drama #jdrama #japanese bl #Taiwanese bl #kdrama #korean bl #color rush #blih #be loved in house #be loved in house: i do #cherry magic #lovely writer #gameboys #gameboys the series