#if you haven’t already go watch the new ep
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Susan Woodings and Charles Brook, 1973 - “Post-Shift Smoke”
#you have no idea how delighted i was to finally hear charles speaking and get more information about him#the new episode was amazing#mlm and wlw solidarity#so real so real#but ya i drew this w a ref#very fun :3#art#digital art#my art#procreate#charles twf#charles brook#twf#the walten files#susan woodings#twf 4#susan twf#analog horror#if you haven’t already go watch the new ep#tumblr shat the quality bruhhh
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Touch Tank
Tara Carpenter x Reader
One-shot
Summary: Tensions are high when you go over to the Carpenters' apartment after telling Tara you would fix their sink; Sam isn't exactly what you would call your 'biggest fan'
Warning(s): Swearing, Tara & R aren't together, & no pronouns used
Notes: Another work based off of Gilmore Girls! Currently re-watching it and I'm slowly inching towards s3 ep 19... I'm avoiding it like the plague (I wanna stay in literali bliss just a lil longer 😔)
4/7 for Seven Days of Christmas
You made the mistake of agreeing to fix Tara’s sink.
Somehow Tara roped you into agreeing. Plumbers were expensive, and with paying rent in New York while also paying for college, they were already on a tight budget. You offered them a cheaper price, and you honestly didn’t mind giving Tara a favor.
That was before you remembered Sam would be there too.
You have known Tara all of five months, and in that time you haven’t exactly left the best impression on her older sister. Sam has already caught you sneaking in ten times—you got lucky every other time—and it didn’t help that you had an attitude.
Tara wanted nothing more than for Sam to get to know you—to not just go off the you she made up in her head. So, when Sam found out you would be coming to fix their kitchen sink… she figured it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to give you another shot. Besides, she was doing this for Tara. She wasn’t sure as to why Tara was so persistent on it, but all she knows is that Tara wants you and her to get along.
—
You walk up the stairs to the shared apartment after getting buzzed in by Tara. Once you get to the door you knock and the door opens.
“Hey,” Tara greets.
“Hey back,” you reply. Tara moves to the side, letting you in. Once you’re inside you look at Tara once again before smiling to yourself.
“You’re very punctual,” she remarked—watching as your eyes wandered.
“Yeah, well, it was either this or more apartment hunting with Danny.”
“You’re moving?”
You shrugged, “I don’t know. Don’t really get the point—the apartment’s fine. He says there’s ‘interior damage’ or whatever. Nothing I can’t fix.”
“Who knows; a new place could be nice.”
“I guess. He’s kinda eyeing the vacant apartment that’s not too far from yours.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… not saying it’s a sure thing but if we do move, can you promise you won’t get sick of me?”
“Sick of that face? Never…” She gently pinched your cheek teasingly; heat rushed to your face.
“Did you change your hair?” You asked suddenly, changing the subject.
“What?”
“Your hair looks…different.”
“So segway’s not your thing, huh?”
“Is it?”
“Uh, no. I wear it like this a lot. Why?”
“Just…” You shrug, “Different.”
“Oh. Bad ‘different’?” She tugged on the hem of her shirt, suddenly feeling nervous for some reason.
You smirk, about to answer her question, but turn your head when you hear a noise coming from down the hall. It sounded like Sam yelling a curse before Tara looked back at you with a light chuckle.
“The sink hasn’t been putting her in the best mood,” she elaborates.
“She’s usually in a good mood?” You quip with raised eyebrows, tone laced in sarcasm. Tara scolds you with a look, causing you to back down. “Alright, alright.”
“This fucking sink is driving me insane–” Sam cuts herself off, stopping in her tracks when she sees you.
“Oh. Y/N. You’re here,” she says and you simply nod at her words. “Refreshing to see you use the front door for once…” She murmurs but you and Tara hear it. Tara scolds her with the same look she gave you just moments before.
“If you want there’s Dr. Pepper in the kitchen,” Sam reluctantly offered. You looked at Tara then at Sam before briefly nodding.
After a few seconds of silence, Sam clears her throat. “Okay, well, everything’s in the kitchen if you want to get started. The toolbox, and gloves are all there. If you need anything else just call one of us.”
Tara looks between you and Sam before speaking up, “Come on, I’ll show you.” She extends her hand, gesturing to the direction of the kitchen. You begin to walk in that direction but before Tara follows behind, she gives Sam a look.
“I’m trying,” Sam huffed.
“Well keep it up pleasee,” Tara requested as she walked away to the kitchen.
By the time she was there, you were already setting up. “Question,” She states.
“Yes?” You put the pair of gloves in your back pocket, looking over at Tara.
“You come over. You seem to have a very firm grasp of the English language. You put together several full sentences—even using a couple of words that contain two or more syllables. And then my sister appears, and suddenly we need a thought bubble over your head to understand what you’re thinking. Can you tell me why that is?”
You looked down at the four-way silicone key in your hand before looking at Tara again with a response. “The verbal thing comes and goes.”
Tara sighed, lightly rolling her eyes. “I would really appreciate it if you would try to get along with my sister.”
“I took the Dr. Pepper,” you stated as a matter of factly.
She furrowed her eyebrows, “I know.”
“Personally, I think it’s a little crazy to put lemon in Dr. Pepper—buuuut I took it anyhow.” You reached for the bucket and rag as you heard Tara huff.
“Stop it.”
“Ooo, stern face,” you say as you lift the tool and bucket to place by the sink. Tara continues, following you as you crouched down by the sink.
“Look. I went out on a limb for you, trying to get my sister to give you the benefit of the doubt. Okay? So, I don’t think it would hurt you to try to be nice.”
You put down the wrench you had just picked up, now fully turned and standing to look at Tara as you spoke. “Why?” You simply asked, taking off your jacket.
“Why?” Tara mirrored.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because she’s my sister—and she and Danny are dating.”
“So?” You tossed your jacket on top of a nearby chair.
“What do you mean ‘so’?” She asked incredulously; her eyebrows stayed furrowed.
“So, just because she’s your sister or Danny’s girlfriend doesn’t mean that I automatically have to get along with her,” you stated with pure conviction, rolling up your sleeves.
“Y/N, my sister is a great person. She’s also my best friend—so if you care about me at all you will take that into consideration,” Tara was now crossing her arms as she stood her ground. “And you will be mildly polite to her.”
You couldn’t help but smirk, looking her up and down before responding. “What makes you think I care about you?” Tara didn’t need eyes to know you were smirking and enjoying this way too much.
She blushes, looking down at the ground and shaking her head as she grows flustered. “I–I don’t mean care-care. Like—care. I mean if you like me at all—not like-like! I just meant that–” Tara stumbles over her words, tucking in a loose strand of hair behind her ear. You watch her with amusement, a soft smile grazing your face as you let out a light snort.
“If you think of me remotely as the sort of person you could occasionally stand to talk to then you will try to get along with my sister. That’s all.”
Your eyes never pulled from her once, only looking at her with fondness as you finally said something. “Okay,” you nod.
“Okay?”
“Can’t guarantee that it’ll work but I’ll try,” you confirm.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome…” You glance at the sink then back at Tara. “Should probably get to work.”
“Right. Sorry—go ahead.” She turns to walk away, looking at you one more time before leaving the kitchen. You crouch down by the sink again, not meeting her gaze but feeling it. She doesn’t see how you grin to yourself; your mind being plagued with thoughts of the younger Carpenter.
Guess it wouldn’t hurt to make an effort.
—
Later that night, you decided to stop by Tara’s window for a surprise visit. You looked at her for a few seconds—admiring how peaceful she looked—before lightly tapping on her window. She turned to look at the window, a grin grazing her face when her eyes meets yours.
She lifted the window with a smile as you looked up at her fondly. “Hey,” you finally said after the window fully opened, expression never faltering as you leaned your head against the window frame.
“Hey back,” she replied. “Didn’t you say something to Sam about not coming through the window anymore.” Tara heard from Sam that you managed to hold somewhat of a conversation with the older Carpenter, actually making an effort to try with her. No matter how awkward it might have been on your end, at least you tried.
“You talk about me with Sam?” You asked smugly.
She rolled her eyes with an infectious smile. “Just get inside.”
“I didn’t hear a no~” You say in a sing-song voice. Tara pulled you in by your sleeve, roughly, might you add. “Watch the shirt,” you complain while you’re pulled inside her room.
“Quirk it.”
“How gentle,” you sarcastically complimented; you dusted your pants off with your free hand, not commenting on how Tara still held a grip on your other arm.
“So,” Tara began as she sat on her bed—dragging you with her, “What are we watching tonight?”
“I can’t do Freaky Friday again.”
“Fine.”
“How about Cursed?” You inquired. Tara was leaning her back against your chest; she looked up at you with those beautiful brown eyes.
“That movie’s terrible.”
“One-hundred percent, but Milo Ventimiglia is in it.”
“Doesn’t he only have like six minutes of screen time?”
“But in it, nevertheless.”
“You drive a hard bargain… Get the laptop?”
You respond by reaching over to the night stand, grabbing her laptop. You hand it to her and she opens it on her lap.
Tara would never comment on how she was the only one who got this side of you—the gentle, kind, and considerate side. Well, when she wants to see you squirm she comments on it. But for now, she’ll keep it to it herself.
-----------
A/N: the urge to write a paper on how jess mariano is a truly misunderstood character grows each & each day...
(I got beef with star hallows. we leave it at that.)
#tara carpenter x reader#tara carpenter x y/n#tara carpenter x you#jenna ortega x you#tara carpenter x gn!reader#gender neutral reader#jenna ortega x reader#jenna ortega x y/n#jenna ortega#scream fanfic
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This Week in BL - a shocking upset to the rankings
Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.
Nov 2023 Wk 4
Ongoing Series - Thai
My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 5 of 8 - It remains absolutely delightful. We already knew this pair does boyfriends damn near perfectly. It’s a pleasure to watch them as a couple, coupling all over our screen. The relationship does feel a bit rushed but frankly I like the pacing, it’s kind of Korean style which makes sense considering the original IP.
The Sign (Sat YT) ep 1 of 10 - You know what this is? It’s FUN is what it is. I haven’t felt this way about a BL in a while. Sure is has an uneven story, fight sequences, pacing, and acting but still… yay! Billy is great, he very good at thirst. It’s a crime Lee Long Shi isn’t in this, but otherwise weeeeeeeeee!
(Also was that Bangsean I spotted?)
Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 3 of 12 - The montage of them learning and training together was so stinking cute I can hardly contain myself. Plus a little language play? (Did you catch the added “na” on to thank you? Gah! So sweet.) Have mercy. I love the banter that these two can execute so smoothly. It reminds me the most of TayNew back in their Kiss days. Or Nanon & Ohm in Bad Buddy.
There’s this breezy casualness to friendships and long-term relationships that Asian BLs seem to find really hard to execute (I’m thinking about something like Hospital Playlist as the best example). It’s more a friend chemistry than a lover chemistry, although of course it can morph into that.
Anyway, I am waffling, but I’m loving this show. (The bit with the teacher made me cry.) I also really love how much actual Bangkok we’re getting from it for a change.
Finally... how much did @respectthepetty and I love the pink milk shirt moment? SO MUCH. Color theory, plot devise, fashion, food, and a trope reference all in one. Well done GMMTV! Very well done.
Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 4 of 10 - I would like it if we got onto the BL section of this BL. Please and thank you.
Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 2 of 14 - it's delightfully trashy, btu slightly less trashy than last week because they introduced AlanJeff who are my new babies of age gap delight and you cannot have them. THEY ARE MINE. Also Way. WAY IS MINE. Also, I decided to do a trash watch.
Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - It’s nice. It’s fine. Atmospheric and pretty and full of deserts. What’s not to love? Is it inspired? No. Definitely has an Antique Bakery (play it again, BL). But I do love food based cinema.
Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 3 of 8 - What’s annoying is that this could’ve been so good. It’s a poster child for squandered potential.
Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 9 of 12 - Because of the temporal paradox, and Thai BL not being all that great on narrative consistency anyway, this is a confusing piece as well as a painful one. Now Ongsa seems to be nothing more than a stalker who cries all the time.
Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 2 of 14(!) eps - This really feels like Thailand is trying to relive the gory days of Japan's pinks. I wasn’t into it then and I’m certainly not into it now. It’s a mess and weirdly mechanically not sexy. I’ll stay watching it but, like Only Friends, I don’t think I’m gonna warm to it. I just don’t like shows where there are no likable characters.
Also imma say it, so plug your assears. This is about as deep as a dildo can go. Which is to say, the size queens seem to be finding it more deep than the rest of us who are already bottoming out. Just make sure you're taking adequate lube prep with your psyches.
My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Friends Forever ep 14 of 24 - No thank you. 1/10
I've decided, for spreadsheet reasons, that each of these is going to be tracked as its own 2 part show.
Ongoing Series - Not Thai
A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 8 - The shopping together scene was absolutely darling. But I’m getting a little frustrated not knowing exactly what happened in the past.
VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 1-2 of 10 - Of course it starts with the crash into me trope, oh Taiwan. It’s cute enough, I love the support cast, and it’s always nice to have something from my favorite tiny island on my dash.
You tell me: is it safe?
One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - This one finished. It's an adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like and dnf'd) about a clerk who nearly dies and ends up cohabitating with an angel. Thoughts? Is it sad? Is it meh? TELL ME!
It's Airing But...
The Whisperer (Sun ????) 1 of 10 - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even that gives me the will. You can tell me how this goes if you can find it.
SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14 eps - I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all) even one featuring Singto and Fluke. I'm holding off. If told it's good, I'll binge.
7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk. Adapted from y-novel of the same name, directed by Tu (180 Degree) stars Jet (Why You… Y Me?). Giving me Luminous Solution vibes, so I'm waiting to binge if told it's safe.
Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep one. Waiting to be told if I should bother.
What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.
In case you missed it
I posted 20 BLs with the BEST Thirst! and decided to distinguish the different type son need in BL as follows:
Thirst wants to slide a hand under his waistband right tf now and grind.
Horny wants to rip his clothes off, and probably pop buttons and laugh about it.
Yearning wants to run both hands up his back while they kiss deeply.
Hunger wants to lift him by the ass and slam him against the wall.
Next Week Looks Like This
(Today) 11/26 Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - OffGun are back, trailer here. Adapted from the novel “Love Course! เสื้อกาวน์รุกเสื้อกุ๊กรับ” by iJune4S this is about Prem who runs a not-so-popular restaurant with 2 friends. About to go on a cooking competition with a huge reward, Prem gets involved with Ten, a stressed-out med student who wants Prem to teach him to cook.
11/30 For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 - high heat trailer From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night (please no) based on a y-novel, man nursing a heartbreak has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. It looks terribly trashy so I'm in!
Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).
THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS
Look at how gd cute they are!
Ah yes... (both Last Twilight)
We stan a supportive bestie/brother (orphans together? - not sure on the backstory)
It is a rule universally aknowledged that an cutie in a baceball cap must get his brim tweaked. (all from The Sign)
Way is the best.
I kinda love the BTS for Pit Babe.
(Last week)
#this week in bl#bl updates#bl review#My Dear Gangster Oppa#thai bl#the sign the series#Last Twilight#gmmtv#JimmySea#TayNew#ohmnanon#One Room Angel#japanese bl#pit babe the series#Twins the series#playboyy the series
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★ close to you | k.kh
▰ genre: fluff and some angst if you squint aka it gets a little sad but overall it’s fluffy
▰ word count: 1.9k
▰ synopsis: you aren’t aware you’re in love with your best friend, kai and everyone knows it but you (does kai know? stay tuned!) ft. taehyun
a/n: saw huening sleeping in to do ep #54 and boom. word vomit. sorry for being ia :( i’ve just been so disgustingly busy with school and work i could (and have many many times) cry/ed about it! also sincerest apologies to those who requested and still have received nothing. i’m scum for not having followed through with that ^^ i’ll keep doing my best to accomplish that for u ~ ty for taking the time to read this or anything i ever post. you’re amazing!
You toss and turn restlessly, thoughts on hyperdrive, senses filled and quite honestly overstimulated as you lay beside your best friend, who is fast asleep. Kai twitches a little, comforter bunched up around his chest and he smacks his lips, nose wriggling. You sigh a little under your breath and squeeze your eyes shut, body tense as if you’re doing military training.
The hum of the fridge can be heard all the way in yours and his room, even so the faint acoustics coming from Beomgyu’s nightly routine of needing music to sleep every night; the mechanical life reminds you that you aren’t alone. What does remind you that you’re the only one awake is the lack of organic noise.
It makes sense; why would anyone else stay awake, especially when practice was a bit grueling than anticipated? Their words, not yours.
In the back of your mind, you wonder if Soobin is still up, remembering how he enjoys staying up if he’s watching a drama or playing games, but he’d been the first one to head to bed, so honestly the chances for him to be up were fairly unlikely.
You’re brought back to reality because Kai turns towards you with two little jumps. Every time he exhales, his nose whistles, and you’re doing everything within your power not to turn over and look at him in all his cuteness.
But, you can’t resist; his arm is curled into his chest and he sleeps with a faint smile, his little spider plushie beside his head blends in with the dark of his hair. It seems all so serene and easy: air, noise, sleep, everything — but, you’re sweating so much even if the air con is already on. (Kai knows you sleep better this way.)
Your heart feels as if it’s been plugged into every artery like a speaker, and the bass of your bpm is pulsating and loud. It is unfettered, second to the noise pollution going on in your mind.
Nothing has changed, that’s what makes you think this whole situation is ludicrous. Nothing has happened recently. Every day has been the same. Well, life is still overwhelming at times, but that’s besides this new feeling. It’s additional.
It’s new.
You and Kai Kamal Huening have a history of deep friendship that goes way, way back. These years have involved sleepovers, trips to the store that involve either roaming and buying nothing or buying nearly everything, good food, laughter, and happy memories. It is easily the only thing you’ve ever done right — being his best friend. So, why in God’s name is he affecting you in such an unprecedented way?
It didn’t start out of nowhere, but you couldn’t pinpoint exactly if you tried.
When he laughed and threw his head back, especially at something stupid you said, he made it seem like the most revered thing in the world, and it wasn’t fair because you said a lot of stupid things.
When he felt too shy, sometimes he’d stand behind you and tuck his face into your neck absentmindedly, which is something he has always done, but lately, it made you sweaty and your stomach feel funny.
He has this one smile, you noticed, where his face angles down a bit and he smiles sweetly, that sweet, gentle expression bleeding into his eyes. It’s bashful almost, and sometimes he giggles. He’s been doing that for years, so you haven’t a clue as to why suddenly it was like he did that for the first time and suddenly, he was the most beautiful person to ever exist in humanity.
In the back of your mind, you’ve always thought of your Hyuka as the most beautiful person ever, but every time you think of him now, as of lately, that reminder just can’t seem to go away. It haunts you. His image is inked into infinity on the inside of your eyelids. He’s all you ever think about.
It’s strange.
Besides, all these things you’ve been taking note of, it’s the effect it has been taking on your body. Today, for instance, while you were in your hour long break between your classes at uni, and Huening was at his own work, he texted you lots and begged you to facetime, so you could play a game together.
This wasn’t new, but the invitation suddenly made you flustered, not to mention that you and he had already scheduled a movie night and dinner along with a sleepover.
So, this innocent little request made you panic over what you looked like, which was odd, considering not once did you ever really think about that in the presence of your best friend. He just made you feel that comfortable.
from: you
idk about facetiming, hyuka…….
from: molang
what do u mean ‘idk’ 🥺
from: molang
are u ok? whats going on?
from: molang
i love u <333
/You nearly saw stars with that one — as if he didn’t have a habit of telling you he loved you every night./
from: you
no haha sorry i just had to find a study room so we could chat sorry haha sorry
from: you
love u too though 🫶🥺
Even through text, the amount of stupidity beat off you in waves.
It was hard to come up with any excuse that didn’t fall along the truth, which was that you felt a little self conscious showing your face.
Of course, you obliged, but you did just about everything you could that could prevent making eye contact with him. He didn’t point it out, but that didn’t mean he didn’t notice.
When it came time to hanging out, you were buzzing with sweats and an adrenaline you couldn’t place an epicenter to. Whenever you went to the dorms, you and Kai just chilled beside each other either in his and Taehyun’s room, or in the living room: sometimes watching Tiktoks, cartoons, and sometimes, you just chose to watch the other guys all play a game. Everyone would help out once everyone got hungry, so that also kept you busy.
Today, you were in the room since everyone else was in the middle of a cleaning mood. Kai had insisted you stop by nonetheless; Taehyun had previously done his duties, so you spent some quiet reading time with him.
“You don’t have to hold your breath every time you’re with him, you know?” Taehyun had randomly spoken up in the midst of the quiet—muffled vacuum noises, shouts, mop sloshing this way and that, all in the background behind the closed door.
“Huh?” You blinked up at him, having cooled down completely from the brief cuddling session earlier with Kai.
“I’m just saying to relax. There’s no need to worry when it comes to Hyuka.” Taehyun ended his statement with a little sigh, eyes dropping back to his book.
“Oh, alright.” You said just to let him know you heard him, even though you had no idea why he said that. Taehyun is an observant genius, but you were too lazy (and a little afraid) to ask him what he meant by that. Of course, you didn’t have to worry about your best friend.
The rest of the night played out how it typically went, so nothing was new.
Yet, here you are: still awake and unable to relax, unlike how Taehyun had said earlier.
Taehyun himself is fast asleep, like your friend who is curled up nearly into your side, except that he is engulfed in darkness—considering you and Kai sleep in front of the window. Moonlight bleeds in through the partially open blinds, and it drapes over you two.
It bathes Kai in a light that illuminates his beauty, despite the dark of the night. His chest rises and falls, breaths tumbling out between his beautiful lips gently.
He’s so gentle. So soft. So sweet. So fragrant. Evergreen if he were a tree, but maybe if he were a flower, he’d be a lily of the valley.
Your heart is quaking in your chest as your hand takes aim to your best friend’s shoulder, pushing lightly but in quick patterns, a rhythm enough to wake him, which is your intention.
“Kai?” You shake him and all it does is move him a little, beautiful face still serene and loose. Since when did he get so enamoring? “Huening? H…Hyuka?”
“Hey, Kai, wake up…” He gets jostled a little more, your hand now in a loose fist around the hem of his sleeve. Distantly, your guilt of possibly waking Taehyun slows you down, but at this moment, Kai’s eyes flutter open like a princess, lids heavy as they blink and take you in.
He hums and blinks some more, adjusting to everything from his deep slumber. You feel so guilty your stomach hurts.
“Y/N? Hm?” His voice comes out loudly, but you slap a palm over his mouth, shushing him just as loudly as he’d spoken. The warmth of his breath on your hand makes you sweat a little. Once he sobers a little, his smile makes you drop your hand and as if he knew, he catches it, wrapping around your fingers.
“Sorry,” he chuckles quietly before looking back at you from his position on the bed, whereas you lean on an elbow to gaze down. Kai reaches and takes his other hand to run through your hair, from the furthest to the nearest point of your face. Your cheeks heat up further. “What is it?”
You blink at him, suddenly unsure of why you had even rudely woken him up from his slumber.
“Is everything okay?” He asks softly, starry eyes mirroring his voice.
“Oh, yeah, I’m okay, I just—“
“You can’t sleep?” Kai asks in a hushed tone. He still has your hand in his. You nod.
It’s all coming together in the back of your mind: why you can’t sleep, eat, behave the way you always have, the way you have before you knew the truth—and you don’t want to think about it. Moments like this and everything between you two, which has been the best thing in your tiny, crummy life: you wouldn’t jeopardize it, even for something as silly as your feelings.
You nod, and his smile elongates.
“I’m sorry,” he apologizes and your mouth is starting to curve into a frown. He intertwines your fingers now. “How about we watch some anime? Does that sound good?”
Your chest fills with something unfamiliar but somehow it’s a feeling you’ve always known.
You want to cry.
“That sounds great.” You whisper and come back down. This time, you lean your head on his shoulder, body facing into him.
“Let’s use headphones, so we don’t disturb Taehyun hyung,” he reaches a hand to grab at his desired items. “We can watch Cardcaptor Sakura.”
You say nothing the rest of the night, trying to savor this moment of peace, in the dead of the night, of serenity, and do your best to fall into the beat of his heart that beats against your ear in a loving measure. He hands you an earpod, to which he uses the other, and his screen glows with cherry blossom trees and sunshine.
You’re pathetically in love with Kai Kamal Huening.
You pray that this revelation stays in your mind, keeping you friends, keeping you here with him peacefully and happily for a lifetime—totally unbeknownst to the reality of your best friend already sharing those same feelings for you.
Kai smiles to himself once your body sinks fully into the mattress and into him.
It’s a shame, he thinks to himself. Smitten. He’s known it all along. He’ll wait for you to catch up; he’d wait as long as it takes.
#txt imagines#txt x reader#txt scenarios#tomorrow x together imagines#hueningkai x reader#hueningkai imagines#txt fluff#txt angst#hueningkai fluff#hueningkai scenarios#txt reactions
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HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!!!
Watch “TRASH FRIENDS” before reading. If you haven’t watched it and still read this, pls don’t say I didn’t warn you 🫠👍
Just watched “TRASH FRIENDS” and the thumbnail really made me think this was going to be an episode focusing on the way Mario has been treated by Smg4 and his friends (at least that’s how I see it) but I wasn’t expecting an episode about Smg3’s insecurities and fears (mostly insecurities)
I really was caught lacking because I was expecting something and I got the opposite lmao. I should be familiar with this guy’s content already and know that the only thing expected from these episodes is the unexpected xD, but anyways back to talking about the video.
In previous episodes we see that he gets a little bit of customers such as in the episode “You used to be cool” and “CEO OF RIZZ” but in this last mentioned episode he tries to advertise his café after Boopkins’s date works out in the end and so does the same in “SMG4’s NEWS.”
At first you think “Maybe he wants more than what he has” but after watching this episode you realize he’s actually struggling with his business and last weeks episode you change your view from his actions and see him as more desperate rather than greedy after watching this latest ep.
Constantly trying to get more people into his café and taking every single chance he can see to advertise no matter the place or time, like life depends on it.
And talking about chances ._.xD
(This goober losing the video to a basketball, I’m dead😭)
Smg4 comes to this guy’s café for his help to get his “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” back because boi lost it and he wants Smg3’s help because their “FRIENDS”
Of course Smg3 saw this as a chance to advertise his café because HOLY SHIT MICHAEL JORDAD!!! A famous basketball player that anyone would want to have the chance to meet and that’s a chance that Smg3 is willing to take because it means his business would BLOW UP *someone throws them a chair*
Btw when Mario shows up to offer his help, I expected Smg4 to be more happy that he has his avatar buddy always trying to help him but instead…
Don’t get me wrong, I know they got a little weirded out about the fact that Mario is a regular around the Junkyard due to him eating at that location but still, that dialogue still sort of hurt me man qwp
But anyways back to my review of this episode and giving my acoustic povs that nobody asked for.
They arrive at the junkyard and after being there for 5 seconds, they find the legendary pokemon that goes by the name of “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” (sorry for my weak ass jokes, I just woke up and my humor is a little broken rn)
After having the video on sight, Mario pulls a Yoshi and beats the crap out of the spaghetti plate where the video so happened to land on, in one go. Obviously, causing the other two to try and force the USB out of him but both failed as Mario did a BLJ through the trash and forcing 3 & 4 to dig through everything to find him.
Now… the part I was dying to talk about and hopefully I can let out my thoughts the proper way.
As the two spend an entire evening just digging through trash, they start a friendly conversation until Smg4 touches the Smg3’s CnB topic which causes Smg3 to get nervous and lie about everything being fine because he has something that every human being has unfortunately, ✨I N S E C U R I T I E S✨.
Which I understand because bruh, 3’s been seen as a bad copy of 4 who’s the total opposite of him for a good piece of his life, if not his ENTIRE existence and now that’s he’s going through a change in his life for the better, he’s going to face a lot of these insecurity episodes because he’s so used to being seen as the bad guy, the bad copy, The Villain. Always people seeing what 4 does and never looking what 3 does which got him into that dark path.
Is like the Sun and the Moon kind of thing. The Sun (Smg4) can shine the brightest while the moon (Smg3) is just a floating rock shining the least. I’ll bring this up again at the end of the review.
But yeah, Smg3 has insecurities and is more shown when they reach the entrance of Mario’s hiding spot.
-Part 2 🫠👍-
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**New Project Announcement** Kaleidoscope of Death Audio Drama S1 Ep 1 English Subbed
Hello everyone once again~! :D
We've picked up Kaleidoscope of Death Audio Drama!! 🎉
This is actually a solo project of one of our staff members. And she has done an absolutely fantastic job of translating and subbing the entire Episode 1 in just a single day!!!
This episode is already available from our discord server and all further episodes will also be shared there. To request an invite to the server, please fill up this >> request form <<
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#kod#kaleidoscope of death#audio drama#season 1#episode 1#english subbed#pure love#drama#psychological#supernatural#comedy#treasure chest subs
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HOTD S2 Teaser Trailer Thoughts
🚨 Spoilers for the teaser trailer if you haven’t already seen it 🚨
The first shot of Rhaenyra grieving for Luke near the ocean was…heartbreaking. She’s looking at the waves that swallowed her boy.
I assume Otto’s voiceover was him discussing what happened to Luke, rip.
Aegon walking into the throne room wearing Sunfyre embroidery? We love to see it. Tom is going to serve so hard this season.
The Hightower banners ahhhhh !
Alicent, the absolute love of my life is looking… grim as hell 😭.
Criston, what have they done to your hair? I actually didn’t recognise it was him until I re-watched the trailer, like that’s how FOUL it first looked. He’s definitely serving in the military but he’s not serving looks.
Aegon on the Iron Throne was so strange after only seeing Viserys on it for an entire season.
Rhaenyra with the dragon embroidery on her shoulders; Emma looks amazing omg.
I’m preeeeeety sure Alicent is in the Sept when she blows out the candle. I think you can see all the wax on the stone slab in the bottom right corner.
I’ll be very interested what aspect of the Seven she’ll be praying to. And this time, of course, she’ll be praying without a certain platinum blonde.
I’m also pretty sure that’s Seasmoke as well! Yes, my boi has returned!
Aemond (apparently) approaching the throne, I wonder if this is after Storms End; you can see it’s raining and thundering in the glass panes.
Alicent is by the LAKE?! Olivia must have been hooting and hollering that she’s finally left Watford. It’s actually really strange seeing her in a new location, like it feels so unreal after seeing Alicent in the Red Keep for an entire season.
Seasmoke again, my boi is on the beach. I hope we can finally get some close ups on the goofy boy because I cannot keep surviving off grainy images.
Dragonpit shot nice nice.
Helaena during the funeral not nice not nice. That shot is so beautiful though. Phia you are spectacular.
That old man touching Alicent WILL be appropriately dragged to filth by me when that ep airs.
Blood and Cheese I wish you both a very pleasant DIE.
VHAGAR is back bitches!!!
-
Overall, I’m very excited. My expectations for what they’ll do to TG is not optimistic at ALL, but at least everyone will look very hot.
#hotd#house of the dragon#alicent hightower#rhaenyra targaryen#otto hightower#aegon ii targaryen#criston cole#aemond targaryen#helaena targaryen#team green#my own#text
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dincember prompt 3: gloves
description: it’s cold, and you seem to be gloveless. mando is quite stubborn and won’t let your fingers freeze off.
pairing: din djarin x mechanic!reader
genre: fluff, friends to lovers (eventually?), mutual pining, slow burn (im sorry i didn’t mean for it to be this way)
word count: 1.2k
warnings: pre-canon, he’s probably ooc i can barely keep my eyes open
a/n: this is for dincember 2022! im starting a little late cause i only found out about this last night and this includes prompts 1 through 3 (even though it started as 3, it just ended up that way) god i haven’t posted a fic since august but i plan on writing more for pedro’s characters and cassian (once i finally watch the last ep of andor)
You wonder if they’re as warm as they look.
Orange tips that have browned with age and blaster residue, soft leather worn and broken in, and large. The thought makes your neck heat with embarrassment and a hint of something else you’d rather not go figuring out. No, definitely not. Not when Mando is your employer, and much more recently, your friend. You don’t need to go making things weird for yourself or for him. Things are good right now. You like the routine you’ve both settled into, you like being around him, you like…
You squeeze your eyes shut when the word appears in your head, throwing your head against the back of the seat with frustration. Ow.
You like his gloves.
Along with having to adjust to living on the Razer Crest, you’ve developed a rather mortifying habit of staring at Mando’s hands. You blame his mannerisms for being so hypnotizing. The way his fingers strain and stretch the leather of his gloves while hovering beside his blaster during an encounter about to go wrong, the times he’s placed a gentle hand on your arm to make sure you’re alright, that day he pulled each of the fingers on his glove one by one to take them off and feel your forehead when you were coming down with a fever. Maker, what’s wrong with you?
You spring up from the chair, leaving the cockpit to find something to repair. Anything to get your mind off this and off of him. The heating unit needs a look at anyway.
Turns out, that had been a very good idea. The filter needs replacing, but you don’t have an extra one lying around, so you’ll be adding it to the list of items to purchase when you go out. You scribble down a few other parts you need plus the ration packs you know Mando likes (they’re the same ones you do), warmer clothes, and thicker blankets since the thermal system is at risk of catching on fire. You’re not going to be able to turn it on until you get that new filter.
You jump when Mando rests a hand on your shoulder. You turn to look at him. “Kriff, you scared me.”
“Sorry,” he answers, pulling his hand away. “Are you ready to go now?”
“Yeah, just let me grab my jacket.” You slip on your winter coat, zipping it up. “You know, we need to change out that heating filter of yours. A few more days and it’ll burst into flames. When’s the last time you swapped it out?”
Mando thinks for a moment. You briefly wonder if his eyebrows are scrunched thoughtfully. “I’m not sure.”
You sigh dramatically. “What would you do without me?”
“Die, probably. The Crest has never looked better since you came.”
You grin.
You think he’s smiling back.
-
“Where are your gloves?”
Your eyes fall away from the filter selection and down to your hands. You glance at Mando. “Oh, I must’ve forgotten them when we left.”
Immediately, Mando pulls off a glove and slips it onto your hand. It doesn’t fit right, but it’s warm.
“What are you—?”
“You’re going to get frostbite,” he answers, slipping on the other glove. “Your hands are already freezing.”
“I have pockets. I can just leave my hands in them.”
“You need to be able to hold the starship parts. You like making sure they’re good.”
He noticed? Of course he noticed, you spend forever examining each part to make sure it’s good quality before buying it. You stutter, “But what about you? Aren’t your hands just going to get frostbite too?”
He crosses his arms to cover his hands. “We’ll buy some gloves.”
You grab his hands, looking into the pitch black visor of his helmet. “Can I?” He doesn’t say anything. You place his hands on the back of your neck, hoping to warm them a bit. The cold touch makes you shiver, but you keep them there for a long moment before letting go. “Okay, let’s go.”
It takes a minute for him to respond. He clears his throat. “You—you need to pick out the filter though?”
“I got it.” You grab a pack of filters. “They’re right here.”
After spending a slightly painful amount of credits on the filters (inflation is apparently just as awful on this planet too), you stop by a shop selling winter garments. There’s a table lined with gloves of all colors and sizes. A particular pair catches your eye right away, but then you see the price and wince. That’s a lot of credits. You try to find a cheaper pair, but they all seem to be about the same.
“Get them,” Mando suddenly says. It’s as if he can just tell what you’re thinking. “They’ll last a long time.”
“But they’re expensive,” you mumble. “We could use the credits for other, more important things.”
The Mandalorian picks up the gloves you were looking at and pulls off his from your hands, slipping the new ones on. They’re thicker than regular ones and warm.
“Then it will be a gift. For our first Life Day together.”
Oh right, that is in a few weeks. You’ve forgotten all about Life Day, having been so caught up in your work. But your brain holds onto one particular word: “first”. There will be more? Oh, Maker, you hope so.
It’s been a long time since you’ve received anything for Life Day. The loneliness has seeped into your bones over the years, numbing you from the inside out. This fills you with warmth, and it settles in your chest before spreading to the rest of you. You’re already wondering what to get him. What could a Mandalorian possibly need?
Your smile is much too soft to be for a friend. “Thank you, Mando.”
“You’ve done so much for me. It’s only fair I give you something in return for your skillful work.”
Your smile turns playful. “You pay me to do that, idiot.”
“You can’t be my mechanic if your fingers all fall off.”
“Shut up.” You laugh, gently shoving him with your hand. “I guess you’re right, I do like having all of my fingers intact.”
You pay for the gloves along with a few new jackets (that are fairly priced) and head out. You gasp, holding a hand out. “It’s snowing.”
Sure, the entire planet is covered in a blanket of snow right now, but you haven’t seen it snow in almost a full cycle. You can’t help but stare in awe at the beauty of it. The streets are lined with bright lights and decorations. It’s much more festive here than you’re used to. It’s beautiful.
You turn to see if Mando is looking at the decorations too, but you find his helmet already pointed in your direction. The beskar reflects the colors well, and you can see frost collecting on his armor. You think he’s just as beautiful. Your fingers twitch with the need to hold his hand.
“Are we done now?”
Your trance is broken. “Yeah, yeah.” You nod. “All finished.”
Your cheeks ache on the way back from smiling too hard. You have to pull your scarf over your mouth to prevent your face from freezing that way. You’ve never been so excited for Life Day.
#din djarin x reader#din djarin imagine#the mandalorian x reader#the mandalorian imagine#star wars x reader#star wars imagine#dincember 2022
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let me preface this by saying that I’m sure someone will come around with a better take or a much better way of saying a similar one, because as I write this I’m mainly running on frustration and spite, and even though I’ve cooled down significantly since the initial watch (believe me lmao) there’s always a chance someone will explain it in a new way that paints the ending in a much better light. but for now I want to get out my salty take on this.
(this is, specifically, about the ending. the finale episode as a whole I’m not salting about.)
the ending is, to start, unresolved. I know people are probably countering this kind of statement by saying that Ahsoka is likely going to get a season 2, so it’s Fine actually, but that isn’t my problem. I’m not really concerned with whether it gets a season 2 or not in regards to this, because my issue is with how the ending is presented, and how in and of itself it doesn’t seem to think it needs a season 2.
we’re saying “of course it does”, because it is unresolved! we know it is! Ahsoka and Sabine are still on Peridea, any arc for Baylan and Shin fell off of a cliff and they end the series/season just being vaguely There also on Peridea, Thrawn has obviously returned but I’m not entirely certain that won’t be resolved in a movie, and Ezra came back but we haven’t seen a true resolution/aftermath for that (yet). There are loose ends. but the finale ends on a hopeful note, on what it clearly wants us to feel is a happy ending.
Ezra is back, but Ahsoka and Sabine are stuck on Peridea in the far-off galaxy, in a reversal of their places in the beginning of the show. Huyang too. Hera doesn’t mention them when Ezra gets back. there’s not even a hanging “Where are they?”. nothing. it is all presented as good, fitting; both Ahsoka and Sabine are apparently satisfied with where they are.
AHSOKA: Ezra is where he needs to be. And so are we. It’s time to move on.
and they smile and walk down to the happy village, while Anakin looks on with a smile on his face. cut to black.
but why are they happy about this? why is Anakin happy about this? just… why. it’s all so fucking inconsistent, downright backtracking on the development from previous episodes, specifically 4 and 5.
parallel to start off:
[Ahsoka takes her lightsaber hilt from her hip, and Baylan responds by doing the same.]
BAYLAN: How inevitable.
[…]
BAYLAN: It didn’t need to come to this. But you know no other way. (ep. 4)
THRAWN: There’ll be no negotiating with the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker. (ep. 8)
already in ep. 8, Thrawn is making statements so similar to Baylan’s that it has to be an intentional choice, since both are fundamentally ramming the same thing in:
BAYLAN: Your legacy, like your master’s, is one of death and destruction. (ep. 4)
AHSOKA: But my part of that legacy is one of death and war.
ANAKIN: But you’re more than that. Because I’m more than that. (ep. 5)
death and destruction. Ahsoka’s fear and misbelief that she’s not more than that — that her past defines her, just as Anakin’s mistakes do. that Baylan is right. this fear is what’s holding her back, and the truth — that she is more — is what Anakin is trying to show her in episode 5. and if we go by “I choose to live” and Ahsoka the White etc, he succeeds.
so she’s developed! she’s realized that she isn’t just death and destruction, she’s more! Anakin agrees with this! great, wonderful. episode 8 seems to be taking this up again by having Thrawn tell her very similar things to Baylan, cool, hmm.
THRAWN: I know you because I knew your master. I concluded your strategies would be similar. One wonders just how similar you might become. Perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs. (ep. 8)
and then nothing changes. he says his line, meanwhile Ahsoka looks angry and tense but we aren’t actually Told anything specific about how she’s feeling or how she might potentially resolve this new conflict. it’s him trying to dig into her fears, but we never see her get to refute his statement, not to him or Sabine or even Huyang, and not to herself.
no. instead, Thrawn leaves, and Ahsoka and Sabine and Huyang are the ones left behind — but aside from a brief moment of shock, they’re fine. great, even. “perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs”, Thrawn says menacingly, and from what the show is telling us — yep. he’s right. hopeful music is playing, she’s smiling, this is apparently meant to be some kind of happy ending for her. therefore: she does, in fact, ‘belong’ here, and there is no need for her (and Sabine, and Huyang) to be brought back to their own galaxy.
and if Thrawn — the antagonist, in the show named for her — is right about that, is he also right that she’s “a ronin”? that she’s just like her master, so much so that he doesn’t even need to know her so long as he knows him? that all the ways she’d been shown to have learned and grown, they all meant nothing, because he’s stating the same shit that she was afraid of and no one says any different? that she will never be more than her past?
the ‘happy ending’ certainly doesn’t say no.
#ahsoka#ahsoka tano#ahsoka spoilers#it’s been several hours now i kind of just feel. tired at this point. idk.#but i did write it and i was Frustrated so. might be worth it to just post even if i end up regretting it#yeah alright#behold salt#ramblings#analysis#parallels#rant#star wars#ahsoka critical#star wars negativity
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happy thursday hoes. time for some law and some order
Well fuck…what an opening..
“but there are definitely still traces of blood” girl… that hammer is COATED wtf…
I would like to point out that the way Kate runs her squad is the legit way that squads run. The CO (whether it be captain, lieutenant or sarge) is gonna stay in the office, they’re piled up with paperwork, the brass, putting out fires, they’re not out in the field…. Like svu. Ugh. I’m already not prepared for svu tonight, I’ve been watching through velasco’s eps and his older seasons were so good, esp compared to this year…
So we’re really doing this Ukraine surrogate/adoption plot line again, hey?
(I mean it is slightly different so far but like, it’s the same idea, right lol)
Samantha crushing it in the wardrobe dept as per usual
I like this new DA so much more than mccoy. Sorry not sorry.
I haven’t been paying too much attention to what’s going on (surprise) BUT, wtf does this case have to do with the grand jury that was taking place at the beg of the ep? With the girl all “he doesn’t know I’m here, right?” like, that girl was the murder vic? Or am I on crack? What is the connection?!
Uugggh… saaaammm my baby just needs a HUUUGGG
Okay, im actively not watching Toronto, see ya in an hour for svu.
Starting off with some personal, at home comfort. This is what we’ve been asking for forever (now give us rollisi at home pls).
OHHH GOD WHY ARE WE ALREADY BACK TO THE MADDIE SHIT FFS.
“I googled you”
Oh booooyyy are we in for it now. HOW MUCH DOES NOAH KNOW?! CAUSE LORD KNOWS HE PROBABLY FELL DOWN A PIT OF NEWS ARTICLES.
NO
WHY
WE DO NOT NEED TO BRING WL BACK TO THIS SHIT LET US HAVE SOME PEACE PLS.
Okay so we finally did get noah discovering where he came from. Woof.
Olivia kinda sucks at parenting sometimes. Like… he’s a kid, he’s an *adopted* kid who already knows about gramma Sheila and ellie… he’s gonna be curious, he’s gonna wonder, also what kid HASN’T snooped through their parents private things? Like yeah it’s not ideal… it’d be best for him to ask you a question and you slowly reveal into things or whatever but we all know she just would’ve shut him down right away anyways.
Lowkey love those heart lights in noahs room, ngl.
I’m not gonna lie. If it was olivia I’d be more concerned about him knowing/reading about William lewis and all the shit that went down than finding out johnny d was his dad…
You know what I think? I think this would be a great time to call you bestie amanda and have her over for a bottle of wine while you talk this through and see what jessie knows about her dad/how amanda’s gonna approach that. Also like, does billie just think sonny’s her dad or does she know? LOL. But will that happen? Obviously not.
Okay you know what, carisi is the second best bet so I’ll take this.
Olivia really needs to catch a fucking break
Carisi you sit like a whore. But we already knew that.
Is there not a way to trace this call? Or like, I know the phone is about to die but like…find my iphone even works on dead phones…use the stepmoms phone rn to find out where she is. Easy fix. Use your brains.
Man… parents on these shows are always so fucking trusting of their kids and they think they know everything about them. Like...what world are we living in?
Awweeee lil carisi back in cop mode!
Girl… you barely looked in that one, that’s not clear
Me: where do I know this actor playing the step mom from?
Checks imbd: ah. She’s been on svu as a diff character before. Of course.
We love a good parent who immediately offers up all their money to pay ransom of their kids bff with no question.
I swear to god it wasn’t raining 5 seconds ago.. I get that these are likely filmed on diff days but that really came outta nowhere
Olivia’s drenched and velasco’s barely wet… wtf lol
Oh god she’s really about to go feral isn’t she? Like, even velasco’s nervous af.
That’s exactly what I knew he was gonna say. Like, liv should’ve just said she was dead.
Okay what about the other three perps? Where are they?
JESUS FUCK. Velasco… be mean to me. yell at me.. degrade me. jfc.
Okay I love that when she told Velasco to put the perp in her car he was all “uh… that a good idea boss?” kinda unsure thing but as soon as she started going feral he was just all “yup. Okay. I know how to do this.” And was totally on board. That’s my boi
“youre lucky im not in IAB anymore” damn right bitch.
That’s a cozy ass looking sweater liv has on and I want it
He already knows about ellie…why are we starting there?
I can’t wait until this conversation sparks a “hey… can we go see grama Sheila? Is she still sick?” and liv THEN has to explain that gramma Sheila is in fact in JAIL because she kidnapped him
Okay… that episode was honestly really good. It was a nice balance of the at home/personal lives and the case.
OC time.
Pls god have a last time on cause I do not remember what was happening… baby bro joe was doing heroine? That’s all I remember
Is this his apartment or elliots apt? it looks similar but also I like it better lol.
Bernie is a blessing to this show.
Elliot all “an intervention?” as if they didn’t host one for him like two years ago?
Also I JUST watched the ep with Muncy’s brother this week and that actor is baby boy joe stabler so this is throwing me off.
Is this an apt or a hotel? CAUSE ITS GORGEOUS!! HOW TF ARE THESE STABLER MEN AFFORDING THIS SHIT IN NYC?!
“we don’t do that…” jet. Another fucking legend on this show
SO glad Bell’s back.
Clearly im not paying attention to this ep in case anyone’s wondering (and yes, it is because it’s a stabler ep…)
Leave it to stabler to be there less than 5 mins before beating someone
OH MY GODDDDD BELL LOOKS SO FUCKING GOOD IN THAT BLUE SHIRT
Thank god bell had bobby with her cause homegirl had a cane last week, there’d be no way she should be on a foot chase rn. Lol
Omg jet and bobby UC yet AGAIN. I fucking love it.
Jet being absolutely the person that likely annoys the hell outta her, love that.
#law and order svu#svu#law and order#law and order special victims unit#law and order spoilers#spoilers#svu spoilers#law and order organized crime
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Hi if u don't mind I wanted to ask you how did gon saved yeong in ep 16 i mean what happened after he saved him how did other royal gaurds react . I know no information is given in the drama so pls if u can make something up or anything I think could have happened pls share this question has been bugging me for years
ooooOOh a very interesting question, especially considering I haven’t really gone back to watching Episode 16 in any great detail after I watched the show for the first time - and that was because it annoyed me how, as far as we know, Gon left Yeong to die there. He said in his internal monologue that he needed to go back for Yeong, but we never saw that on screen, and I was in a sour mood as I watched the episode all the way up until I saw Yeong alive again and realised that because the timeline reset it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
Do I want to watch Episode 16 again? No, not really, it will remind me of how angry I felt the first time, so this is going to be based on what I can remember from Cheonjongo in 1994 (Yeong got shot, he was lying with little Gon, and older Gon gave him a nod and left him to bleed out as he went to find Lee Lim) and what I can remember from the end of the show (Yeong was alive and well, and still working as the Captain of the Royal Guard. Also he had siblings).
After defeating Lee Lim and obtaining the whole Manpasikjeok, Gon went back for Yeong, as he said he would in his internal monologue. He sprints through the forests around Haeungung Palace back to Cheonjongo, praying to any deity that will listen that his Yeong is still alive. Maybe it should have occurred to him that Yeong would have lived in the reset timeline, but he can’t think about that. And even if he had realised that, since the timeline had been changed, who knew whether this reset Yeong would be the same as the one he loves now?
He has to save his Yeong. His Yeong has to be alive.
He storms back through the palace, not caring about the palace staff giving him odd looks. He doesn’t get stopped - Cheonjongo has already had enough chaos for one night, and he could easily be a member of staff running in to aid in the rescue efforts. No one gets a good enough look at his face, and they’re too exhausted to care. So Gon rushes in, yelling out for “YEONG!”
But Yeong isn’t there. Not many people are left, and those that are there are giving him weird looks. Gon then remembers a crucial detail: one of the first things that the royal guards focused on after the treason was getting the injured young king to hospital. If they took his younger self, they also would have noticed Yeong, and would have taken him too.
So that’s where Gon goes next. Again, it’s busy, it’s hectic, the royal hospital has never been this busy, but now there are injured and dying royal guards filling the rooms, and their worried loved ones milling around the rooms and the corridors.
Yeong is in one of the rooms, hooked up to some machines and sleeping peacefully. Gon can see the pulse of his heart beating steadily on a screen beside him, so he’s alive at least.
The problem is the guards standing outside his door, and his wrist that is cuffed to his bed frame. Because in 1994, Yeong wasn’t recognised as a member of staff, he wasn’t the renowned Captain of the Royal Guards… he was a stranger, and anyone that was a stranger must have been a traitor. As if he wasn’t comforting the new young king, and doing all he could to preserve his life when they found him.
Gon can’t take him, not like this. But he can’t leave him, either. He can’t leave him to be arrested and treated as a criminal for saving his king’s life, and more importantly he can’t let him stay in the wrong time. Gon has to take Yeong back to the moment they left, so the timeline can continue - just like how he himself travelled through time before, he needs to do the same thing with Yeong, taking him back to the point where they left so they can continue where they left off.
Praying that the doctors had done enough, Gon goes to find Yeong’s room from the outside, and uses his skills from entering and leaving his quarters undetected to get in through the window of Yeong’s room. He quietly picks the lock of the handcuffs, and gently wakes Yeong up, covering Yeong’s mouth when he’s surprised at the new surroundings. Gon knows that they won’t have much time once the people outside his room realise that his heart monitor is no longer beeping, so he keeps Yeong connected for as long as he can, helping Yeong up, finding him his shoes… and eventually they make a run for it. Yeong is slow, so until they’re in relative safety, Gon thinks it’ll be faster if he carries Yeong there.
It’s hard, but Gon hardly notices. All he can think about is getting Yeong back to the kingdom in their timeline, so that’s what he does. The Manpasikjeok feels this desire and helps him go where he needs to go: Haeungung Palace, 2020, the Kingdom of Corea that they call home. It’s certainly a sight - the security team watching the CCTV cameras are shocked to see Captain Jo leaning against the king, a bloodstain visible through the hospital gown he’s wearing, and they send out a team immediately to receive them and to get Captain Jo the help he so clearly needs. The staff try and ask what happened, but Gon won’t answer, so they eventually give in and accept that they won’t get an answer.
And after that… well, Yeong recovers, and things return to normal. Normal-ish. There are things that are different, but Yeong at least can blame his “amnesia” on his “mysterious accident.” And Gon… well, Gon is used to people telling him things that he’s expected to have already known, and he’s used to putting on a smile and thinking on his feet, and this is no different for him.
…is that any good? It’s nothing super in-depth, I’m not sure how much you wanted, but I think that’s a rough play-by-play of how things could have gone :D
#tkem#jo yeong#lee gon#of course if this was something I wrote properly it would involve a lot of complicated and difficult feelings from Gon#staring in a non creepy way at Yeong in the hospital and hating how he could let this happen to his oldest friend#but also knowing that there’s no way he could have stopped him#and vowing to make sure this never happens again#maybe with a dash of realising how much he’d been abandoning Yeong since he met Taeeul#realising how he was taking advantage of Yeong’s loyalty and friendship and realising that he can’t let things go on like that#because Yeong will always sacrifice himself for Gon in every way#and Gon realises that he needs to work harder to show Yeong how much he loves him#something something gonjo ensues but if this is a canon explanation then i can’t throw that in there and i think it works well enough as is#kitkat answers asks
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2022 BL Wrap Up - All The Shows I Watched... rated
I’m not going to talk about everything BL that I watched in 2022, that would be the longest post ever. But still, this is a really long post. Sorry, not sorry. Everything I watched got a pithy little review.
2022 BL - Watched & Rated
This includes any show that ended in 2022, including those that started in 2021. Alphabetical-ish order.
21 Days Theory (Thailand YT ) 6/10
Tropes: high school, cheating, secret crush, high angst
Initially I REALLY loved this little show. It reminded me of Blueming + Make it Right (never forget I’m the world’s foremost Make It Right apologist, and the lead even looks a little like Fuse). Why did I like it? 1. GAY UNCLE character giving GREAT advice!. 2. Boys in blue shorts are back! 3. Seme is already pining, uke is tsundere but with reason and conflict is set up and executed well as a result. 4. lots of linguistic discussion and flirting (they made the linguistically fascinating couples post). Everything about this show is in my wheelhouse and this would have jumped high in my rating (even at this length) if they had bothered to finish it like the YA romance it clearly was. But the ending was disappointing. I’m not mad about it, but I’m not happy either.
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED
The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube) 6/10
AKA 8.2 Byo no Hosoku
Tropes: secret admirer, food in love, soulmates
Very short BL about a schoolboy who makes magic candy for a series of handsome classmates, questing for a soulmate. Each ep is a new love interest and while the sweets help others, they keep failing to bring him love. Of course h's overlooking someone. The lead was very good and the theme, cooking, and eventually romance were charming, but it is a series of BL vignettes not really a cohesive story, no kisses or anything. Japan doesn’t give us sweet BL this short very often, so it was nice to see them try out the style.
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED
A Man Who Defies the World of BL 2 (Japan Viki) unrated
I consider this show a documockary, not really a BL. As with the first installment I loved it beyond reasons, I tagged the second season review onto the first. Review here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
About Youth (Taiwan GaGa) 8/10
It’s truly lovely little coming of age high school BL with classic YA low drama but high angst, I didn’t even mind the singing, and that’s saying a lot. It featured Taiwan's modern take on AePete: popular but painfully lonely rich kid, Guang (complete with evil pressure-cooker tiger parents) meets and is basically adopted by poor nerdy (secret rockstar) Qizhang. HE EVEN HAS AE’S TOTE!!! Side dishes are Guang’s adorable bestie, Ray, and even more adorable (also a rockstar) Jian. Lots of BL tropes but also this is quite queer and very Taiwan with an earnestness depth I haven’t seen since My Ride an almost real world authenticity. Not that I normally like that in my BL, but I’ll forgive Taiwan (and the Philippines) for their sticky almost dirty style if it is this endearing and engaging (see also Gameboys). I wish it had been given a bit more room to breathe, but all in all a great edition to the Taiwanese BL lexicon which was in dire need of just this kind of content. Full review.
RECOMMENDED
Ai Long Nhai (Thailand iQIYI) 6/10
Tropes: messy gay, trial relationship, friends to lovers
Look this show was just a typical Thai BL university pulp about a confident gay and a clueless manic pixie dream boy, that had potential, chemistry, and earnestness going for it, but no plot and not enough side dishes. In the end it was boring and you know I always rate boring lower than hot messes. Still it’s better than your average Thai BL, nothing happens but at least the nothing mostly shirtless, the gay dads are the BEST, and that’s about all I can say for it.
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED
Bad Buddy (Thailand YouTube) 9/10
Tropes: secret lovers, Romeo & Romeo, sunshine/tsundere, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, GL side plot
GMMTV’s flagship BL started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Juliet masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. GMMTV, we forgive you. More. Live blog of this one is here. Full review here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Behind Cut (Korea, Jan Viki) 8/10
Tropes: grown up problems, finding your dreams, friends to lovers
Better than average chemistry (for KBL) and a unique setting almost pulled this show into the realm of something quite special but it never quite managed to get away from the pacing and story structure issues endemic to KBL’s limited time frame and scope. Still It gets the job done. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
Big Dragon (Thailand Gaga) 7/10
Tropes: player love-rivals/enemies to lovers, rich/poor
This is a decent execution of true enemies to lovers, these two spy on and bully each other, exploring darker themes. The way the leads transition between anger, resentment, titillation, and flirting (and the way, with kinksters, this can all be the same thing) is really well done. This BL pairing proved itself to be a lot more sophisticated than I expected with nods at kink in a more respectful way than Mame could ever dream, plus excellent chemistry, but something was askew around plot, directing, and ending.
RECOMMENDED FOR THE LEAD PAIR, BUT NOT MUCH ELSE
Blue of Winter AKA Judo Boys (Korea YouTube) 3/10
Tropes: Bad boy/good boy, mad crush, reunion romance
OMG, is that..? Did Korea give us… a pulp? I do believe they did! The sound quality was poor, lighting sub par, even the filming and staging wasn’t on point (for Korea). Sadly none of that was the problem, this could have actually been good, the cast was excellent, but instead it was just really... odd. Focused on the wrong couple in the triangle and spent too much time on some elements and not enough on... ya know PLOT. Not terrible but not good either. in the end I didn’t know what I watched and neither did it.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Bleuming (Korea iQIYI) 9/10
Tropes: enemies to lovers (sort of), coming of age, self worth and self acceptance, lonely prince, sunshine/tsundere
It’s a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love for BL. I wasn’t into it at first, but both leads turn in solid performances and by ep 5 it got good, becoming a narrative about self discovery, as well as understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them. Ultimately, we witnessed two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection while that affection was never itself the conflict point. Instead, tension was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and self-worth. While production values were a touch lower than usual, Blueming included decent kisses and other forms of intimacy and a satisfying ending (all rare for Korea) plus there’s judicious and very elegant use of tropes, (which is expected). Full review here.
ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED
Check Out (Thailand iQIYI) 4/10
Tropes: office, second chance, high heat
Special episode 0 (prequel) filmed in 2021 was the only good thing about this show. Characters lacked motivation, there was no story, the leads were a fine pair but the sex scenes managed to be both good and boring. I nearly DNFed. Ugh.
FATALLY FLAWED
Choco Milk Shake (Korea Strongberry YT) 8/10
Tropes: reincarnation, fated mates, paranormal elements
Choco Milk Shake (Korea YouTube) Stongberry gave us a full length BL on YouTube! It’s a BL miracle and an endless delight. It was wonderfully cute, unexpectedly hilarious but expectedly silly, a little too poignant, occasionally gut wrenching and with a somewhat expected weird (but happy-ish) ending. The actors playing the two pets must have had the best time. As, indeed, did I watching it. Jealous Milk made me cackle so hard it scared the actual cat on my lap, Choco was perfectly cast, and the chemistry was ultimately decent. In Strongberry I still trust. Thank you thank you, may we have another, sirs?
RECOMMENDED
Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korea Viki) 9/10
Tropes: High school to college, cohabitation, stepbrothers, popular boy/nerd (shy, loner, bullied), orphan protag
Korea took on early Japanese sweet yaoi but gave it their signature softness and precise production style with a STUNNING color palette (beautiful pastels, sun-saturated over-exposure), manga framing style, some traditional BL character archetypes, that tiny edge of bullying roughness and out-of-control seme, plus FINALLY a palatable take on the stepbrothers trope and it was, in a word, classic. Sophisticated and understated CBAW is not slow, it’s just subtle. It's dream-like and atmospheric, as if the whole thing took place under cold water on a warm spring day. Is there plot or peril? Not really. Do we care? Also, not really. Look, I can’t help it, I’m old school and so is this show. I grew up reading sweet yaoi, and this was THAT YAOI just on my screen. There’s no objectivity with me and CBAW. It’s a beautiful pastiche and I loved it for how it made me feel and what it reminded me of. It’s not flawless, but it is a wonderful experience. Full review here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Cherry Magic the movie (Japan grey) 8/10
AKA Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!: The Movie AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii
Tropes: LTR, cohabitation, self acceptance, coming out
I liked it, not as much as the original, it lacked the humor. Again no kissing, these actors must be expensive, but some nice domesticity. Still with Thailand bringing the higher heat with such consummate casualness these days (licking ass and taking names) there really isn’t much of an excuse anymore for no kisses, it felt a little phoned in. Even Korea has buckled, come on Japan, grow up.
RECOMMENDED
Close Friend 2 (Thailand Viki) 6/10
Tropes: LTR, adult problems, the closet, coming out
It’s basically dealing with two kinds of closet: the one imposed on us, and the one we impose on ourselves. Honestly Pierce and Phoon are very mature characters for a BL couple - the kind of relationship that only OhmFluke could really portray, and they do it very well. That’s almost the problem - it is too well done and thus discomforting. if you don’t like realism in your BL avoid this show. I liked the celebrityhood vs fandom storyline, although I thought it was too generous to those fans. Both pairs did well but I wasn’t wowed by story or content, over all a bit dull.
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED
Coffee Melody (Thailand Viki) 5/10
Tropes: cafe setting, food is love, sing your feelings
Stars Pavel (my love) as a cafe owner (Forth in 2moons2) and Benz as a composer (Call it What You Want). This should have been my kind of BL - on the fluffy end of the spectrum plus honestly queer. Unfortunately, the slow pacing, manufactured angst, odd secondary story arcs, and a selfishly immature unlikeable wet dishcloth main character, Yi, meant its flaws outweighed its charm. Jean (flame on snark fairy) is MINE, I love him so much but in the end neither he nor Pavel in an apron could save it for me. It’s not bad. It’s not good either, tho. Ultimately so forgettable I’ve probably already forgotten it.
JUST DULL
Color Rush 2 (Korea Viki) 7/10
Tropes: crush, friends to (almost) lovers, paranormal, suspense, murder investigation
In this second installment the plot revolves around Yeon Woo searching for his mother (and, sort of, his probe) joined by Se Hyun, whose sister is involved. We’re right back in gay allegory territory only this time the question is: Can you miss something you never had? Especially when it has to do with your own identity? Also, has Sehyun switched his (supposedly) natural inclination towards obsession onto Yeonwoo? I liked it. I liked Hyuk a lot more than I was expecting too. Like the prior installment, Color Rush 2 was stylish and clever (although not quite as clever). Honestly, in the end, I don’t know what to say about Color Rush 2. Does it work as the second installment of a trilogy? Absolutely. Does it work as the final installment of a duology. Absolutely NOT. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Cupid’s Last Wish (Thailand YouTube) 6/10
Tropes: pining/tsundere, bodyswap, quest, road trip
Win is such an incredibly unlikeable character I really struggled with this show, no skin off Mix’s acting, but holy fucking irredeemable tsundere. Also I really do not like body-swap. The final ep tried (and for some it may have been successful) but combine this with bodyswap (my least favorite trope) and even EarthMix’s chemistry (which has improved since Thousand Stars) didn’t save it.
WORTH WATCHING FOR SOME, BUT FLAWED
Cutie Pie (Thailand YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: arranged marriage, age gap, secret identity, cohabitation, rich kid problems, he’s in engineering
Very high production and a lot of visual references to live action yaoi gave this show a whiff of Japan but ultimately it stayed firmly in Thailand’s BL camp veering from absurd to appealing to annoying and then back to absurd again. If you can roll with the arranged marriage conceit and very lifestyle D/s relationships, the chemistry is spot on even if the plot is naff and sappy and driven by miscommunication. Watch this one for the pretty, give it a pass on depth. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
Dear Doctor, I'm Coming For Soul (Thailand YouTube) 7/10
Tropes: PNR, grim reaper, enemies to lovers
This is a romance between a doctor trying to save his patients and a reaper who is both his enemy and (eventually) lover. Basically it’s the genius premise of a gay Doom at Your Service. High concept looks good on you, Thailand. I enjoyed it more than it’s ending deserved, and the best I can say is that it’s not strictly HEA but if you’re okay with Life: Love on the Line, you’ll probubly be okay with this BL.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
DNA Says Love You (Taiwan GaGa) 8/10
Tropes: secret identity, reunion romance, queer family, bisexual awakening, sunshine/broken, healing, quest
While this is one of those series (ostensibly) carried by the sunshine seme character (Taiwan is always weak in seme/uke) and he does a stand-up job, Erek Lin, who plays the love interest, Amber, is luminous. I found the twist entirely predictable, but knowing what would happen didn't spoil this show for me, in fact I think I sympathized more with Amber and understood his behavior better, because I knew. The exact way it’s handled (medically speaking) is a little disingenuous to a queer narrative (AKA they could have just GONE there) but I didn’t mind, because all the characters around Amber act with such integrity. Since this is a queer story arc that other shows have systemically mishandled and made depressing, DNA deserves extra marks for its uniquely upbeat approach. It’s full of queer found family representation and an unexpected amount of domesticity, plus it’s Taiwan, so the kisses are great. The last few eps really are special and life/love affirming - and the ending is big-grin charming. Full review here.
VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED
Gen Y 2 (Thailand grey) 5/10
Tropes: this is an insane soap opera
Exactly as chaotically messy as expected, possibly worse, as the four main couples apparently each decided they were acting in a different kind of BL. While I do believe that the world demands the excess Star Hunter provides, it is utterly exhausting to watch. No full review because I live blogged this one here.
WATCH IT ONLY IF YOU NOTHING BETTER TO DO
Ghost Host, Ghost House (Thailand YouTube) 7/10
Tropes: my ghost boyfriend, PNR, domesticity
This is a light horror plus family drama built around a well executed BL trough-line that felt honestly queer with fantastic chemistry from the lead pair. (I hope that we see more of them.) Pluem delivers the softest most seductive krap ever and watching them flirt over noodles is an unalloyed pleasure. Use of I/you pronouns is super interesting and cute. For me personally the surrounding cast, premise, and story didn’t resonate but if you like a touch of gothic in your BL this might appeal.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
The Eclipse (Thailand YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: sinister boarding school, haze the one you love, suspense, high school setting, coming of age
GMMTV does gay Blacklist with a good boy/bad boy pairing. Starred First & Khaotung plus the side dish pair from FUTS NeoLouis. This is a good show but the cast was excellent and the leads were absolutely flawless. They gave us a nuanced and multifaceted burgeoning relationship: philosophical (and socio-political) conflict contrasted to moments of empathy; flirtation contrasted to moments of genuine affection. This narrative is less about love than it is about courage and tenderness. However, near the end the pacing was off and the plot frustrating. Still, this is an enjoyable watch, with an ending that features verbal consent and a funny blooper reel.
RECOMMENDED
Enchanté (Thailand YouTube) 7/10
Tropes: childhood sweethearts, sunshine/tsundere, secret admirer with a touch of Cyrano de Bergerac and dose of Boys Over Flowers.
Theo returns from France and starts a written flirtation inside a library book (!) at his new uni with the mysterious Enchante. When he and his best friend Akk hunt for Enchante’s real identity, 4 senior boys step forward - all intersted in dating Theo, all with ulterior motives. Can’t fault the chemistry or the classic old school Thai uni BL and Akk (Force) was particularly sympathetic. But the twist over Enchantie’s identity felt disingenuous, manipulative, and unnecessary and the whole narrative was flawed as a result, Theo became unlikeable and irredeemable. GMMTV seems to specialize in squandering great chemistry on shoddy scripts. Honestly it probubly should get an 8/10 by my rating system but I was so disappointed I’m giving it a 7/10 and not bothering to write a full review. Live blog ep-by-ep recap here.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Eternal Yesterday AKA Eien no Kino (Japan Gaga) 2/10
Tropes: my ghost boyfriend, paranormal, kill the gay, dark
Smart boy in love with zombie incubus, keeps him alive with sex. This prevailing wistfulness between our leads about the future that they know they will never get to have. The way Michan is constantly listening and feeling for his Koichi’s heartbeat for a reassurance that is never going to come.Japan, king of thirst, gives us both that and PAIN: these 2 are drowning in yearning and loss. Careful with this one - you break it, you bought it, and it'll break you... wide open just to see what color your guts are. After watching, you too might be walking around alone, forgotten, and wondering why no one understands your loss. Not only does it not end happily, it ends hopelessly.
NOT RECOMMENDED (for newer BL fans)
Even Sun (Thailand iQIYI) 5/10
Tropes: vacation romance, enemies to lovers, sunshine/tsundere
The language is fun in this one (they also use chan/nai so I’m guessing it’s and organized crime thing), the cast is excellent, the boxers mildly interesting and BounPrem’s chemistry is unmatched, but... I still disliked it. It was unequivocally boring.
WATCH ONLY IF YOU’VE NOTHING BETTER TO DO
First Love Again (Korea Viki) 7/10
Tropes: fated mates, bodyswap
A popular novelist who remembers his past lives meets his soulmate who has been reincarnated in the body of a man. This one started out a touch mean spirited, but it pulled itself together and we even got a good kiss (for a KBL). Then they went from like to love to boyfriends in a red hot minute. The confession/rejection scene was justified and the reconciliation and ending was... fine. All in all the pacing felt rushed, and the romantic arc was underdeveloped, but that’s par for the course with Korea’s short form. If you don’t mind a heavy does of melodrama in your BL this one has a solid story with a strong concept that’s well acted and produced, making it a classic KBL with better than average chemistry but ultimately a touch forgettable. (Full review here.)
RECOMMENDED WITH A FEW RESERVATIONS
Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! (Japan Viki & GaGa) 8/10
AKA Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss! AKA Mr Unlucky Can Only kiss
Tropes: opposites attract, accidental relationship, cohabitation
Mr Chronically Unlucky (another adorable chaos muffin) and Mr Always Lucky end up dating after they meet at uni orientation. It’s JAPAN yet they kissed in the first episode. What freaky alt-reality did I enter into? That’s all they kiss tho, over which I was a touch disappointed (I know). Still I spent far too much of my time with this show biting my knuckles and squealing “THEY’RE SO CUTE!” Amusing story: I paused mid the most tooth-achingly adorable first date in the entire universe and Viki was like “something missing?” and I was like “MY HEART YOU BASTARDS” It is very slapstick Japanese style comedic (light) BL reminds me a bit of Kieta Hatsukoi or Cherry Magic. So if you like that style of BL you’ll adore this show.
RECOMMENDED
Happy Ending Romance (Korea Gaga) 8/10
Tropes: office romance, identity theft, cohabitation
As a BL it kinda isn’t (sorry to say). There’s no tropes dropped and no real romance narrative beats. This is about dishonesty and pride and there is an elegance to the theme. Which is essentially the idea that possession is not love, and therefore, those who love the Writer have to prove their love by letting him go. Honestly, I’m not sure how to rate this show as a result. This is a blog about BL and this wasn’t that. Full review.
RECOMMENDED (but not if romance is what you’re primarily after)
Hard Love Mission (Thailand WeTV) 3/10
Tropes: office romance, spoiled celebrity,
Phenomenally dull Thai pulp about a journalist sent to interview a celebrity who ends up his manager, only 4 episodes and it still could’ve been shorter. It’s a bummer, the concept wasn’t bad. ALSO Chinese censorship got its gross mitts all over it (thank you, Tencent). Do not waste your time.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT I’M WATCHING AND NEITHER DOES IT
In Your Heart (Mainland China GaGa) 2/10
Tropes: friends to lovers, codependency, amorphous ending
It’s very mainland China BL, which makes me feel a bit like we are back in 2016 being tormented by nostalgia. It hasn’t a single modern sensibility in it (to be fair neither does China’s het stuff). Which I don’t mind, but it felt off? Messy? Sideways? I was surprised that there was some high heat, but I wasn’t surprised that the couple ended up separated. And yet... If you expect to be disappointed, can you still be disappointed?
NOT RECOMMENDED
Kabe Koji (Japan Viki) 7/10
Tropes: celebrity romance, sunshine/tsundere
Basically this is A Man Who Defies the World of BL + Senpai This Can’t be Love (as @heretherebedork said) and equally painfully EXTRA. Nakao Masaki playing a sunshine bouncy himbo character is a fucking revelation, I didn’t think he had it in him. This should’ve been my favorite BL of all time (IT’S AN IDOL LOVE INTEREST!), but the tsundere is too tsundere for me, I really hate the stalker photograph thing it’s apparently a trigger I didn’t know I had until BL tried to romanticize it. I kept feeling like there were the bones of good story in this drama, and I got glimpses of it, but then it’s covered again - like tasty steak smothered in Kewpie mayo.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan grey) 7/10
AKA I Only Want to Keep Looking at You
Tropes: friends to lovers, coming of age, high school setting, introvert/extrovert
This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura (Kura Yuki from His the series) and outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). I felt like I was “supposed to like it” more than I did, ultimately I was left feeling like I had seen it all before. So for me it was lovely but slightly unmemorable.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Kiss X Kiss X Kiss - Perfect Scandal (Japan Billibi) 7/10
SHORT 5-8 minutes sample pack micro-romances: 2 featured BL-ish setups. One with idols in a group together and a secret relationship (Idol Kiss) and another featuring a reluctant boss and flirty subordinate (A Sweet Kiss). Both were cute but mostly just, ya know, kissing. (Reminds me a bit of Korea’s early Triple Do You Want). The interesting thing about the idol one, is one of the leads is ALSO in a het installment. He gives great chemistry with both his partners. And I think he’s a good example of an actor being just, ya know, an actor about the physical part of a romance. Which I take about in terms of never assuming queerness based on performance, here.
RECOMMENDED (for what it is)
KinnPorsche (Thailand iQiYi) 7/10
Tropes: bodyguard, mafia, cohabitation, BDSM, he’s a monster but he’s my monster
VegasPete were in one drama; KimChay were in another; KinnPorsche were in each of those randomly but then sometimes in their own extremely slapstick cheese-fest alt-reality + Tankhun. There were clearly 2 directors with 2 distinct and conflicting points of view, who apparently never had a single conversation with each other. Was this show good? Nope. Was it absorbing as fuck? Sure. Was it well acted, absolutely. Were the sex scenes great? Yes. We the fight scenes awesome? Actually yeah (special props to Jeff for the hand-to-hand stuff). Did I enjoy the kinky bits? Certainly. But all that said: the VegasPete universe of KP was the only universe I really enjoyed and would like to revisit, and I only got that 1/5 of the time. Mathematics is working against this one, for me personally. So I guess I, at least, am still waiting for the perfect mafia BL. I think it might be up to Japan at this juncture. As a result of fan fervor meets my own hearty indifference, I don’t really know how to judge this show but I have to go with my heart, and KP didn’t win it. No full review here on tumbr but I did post on to MDL.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Kissable Lips (Korea Viki) 2/10
Tropes: fated mates, paranormal, vampire, codified chase/stalker/ seme
Vampire has to decide between killing the boy he loves or living longer himself. Perfectly cast with a sexy, deadly, tortured vampire and the sweet uke prey who managed to be soft and appealing without being weak or inactive (props to the actor). Better kisses than your average KBL did not mitigate the fact that they killed 1/2 of the couple. Ultimately, one of my most disappointing BLs of 2022. Full review here.
NOT RECOMMENDED
La Cuisine (Thailand GaGa) 7/10
Tropes: crush, campus star, bully trigger, best boys, soft & sweet,
A sweet and kind of pure show, and like Thai desserts perhaps requires too much patience for a layperson. Because of the pacing and the focus on the bad girl character, I did dock it. But if you like stuff in the Oxygen vein, then this show is for you, and far better than most Thai BL pulps. That said, I suspect that I enjoyed it more than many would. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Love Area 2 (Thailand GaGa) 3/10
Tropes: I don’t know and neither does it
Look, it wasn't as bas as Bite Me, but it wasn’t actually good, either. This started out as Thailand tackles love triangles pulp style, but by season two lockdown had changed everything. Valen & Kaitoon dropped some great kisses but traded off crazy hair and makeup in a scene-by-scene whiplash that was clearly pickups done months after initial filming, and the second lead just... vanished. It was surreal. Side dishes jumped up screen time but tackled mental health... badly. A fantastic new queer side character was randomly introduced, June, who was the best thing to happen to BL linguistics in 2022 but had nothing to do with the rest of the cast, show, or plot. What a mess. Yes tehre was some very good chemistry and June is a GREAT queer character... BUT... In the end, I was just confused af. Full review here.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Love Class (Korea GaGa) 8/10
Tropes: university BL, forced proximity, unrequited love, crush, slight love triangle, triggers (outing, bashing, stalking)
This was a fast-moving, bloated, complicated little show with stronger than usual story structure, well-acted if lacking in chemistry, that managed to be very appealing and engaging despite itself. What it lacked in content it more than made up for in pacing. Both bingable and rewatchable.
RECOMMENDED
Love in Spring (Korea grey) 3/10
AKA Spring of Crush
Tropes: historical, soap opera, fake identity, hidden secrets, cross dressing
This drama was all over the place with uneven acting, narrative, and focus (sometimes it wanted to be a slapstick comedy, sometimes a depressing drama) which meant no one, actors or viewers, took anyone or anything seriously.... AND it’s a bromance. I was left wondering is SalHyung is now code for “they were roommates” in Kdrama historicals but otherwise largely apathetic and unimpressed. Korea, we now know you can do better. Watch Tinted With You or Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding instead. Full review here.
NOT RECOMMENDED, NOT BL
Love in the Air (Thai iQIYI) 7/10
Tropes: enemies to lovers, too stupid to live, stalker/obsession, university setting, grumpy/tsundere, sunshine/tsundere, abuse triggers
What’s it like? Two stories of aggressive player dudes pursuing innocent younger boys. Terrible. Also entertaining and engaging and kinda hot. Like all good dumpster fires. Recommended only if you know you like this kind of thing. Look, you remember in high school drama class where they make you “envision a basket, and put all of your worry, bad mood, and anxiety into that basket, and leave it outside the door”? Well, in order to enjoy this show, you have to do that, only with your morals. Some people have bigger baskets than others. Mame’s creature whipped me into a verbal frenzy, resulting in yet another trash watch.
RECOMMENDED WITH A LARGE BASKET OF RESERVATIONS
Love Mechanics (Thailand WeTV) 6/10
Tropes: messy disaster bi, out gay boy, cheating, drama llamas
My favorite messy cheeky drama-llama boys were back in spades. And initially I enjoyed it more than I should and more than it deserved. This whole series is basically a diatribe against cheating, with the sweet out gay boy reaping all the punishment a disaster bi can enact. YinWar are geniuses at chemistry and good actors, and their new high heat stuff is excellent, but the story was not improved by being given more time to hang itself. Full review on MDL.
WORTH WATCHING FOR THE ACTING BUT SERIOUSLY FLAWED
Love Stage (Thailand Feb-March YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: childhood crush, sunshine/tsundere, unrequited love, secret identity
This BL surprised me with its charm. The acting was good, the leads were appealing, support cast on point, and the production values high. It followed the original manga story arc relatively closely: boy falls in love with girl as a child, grows up to discover girl is actually a very pretty boy. Although there are some quintessentially Thai changes that mellowed, softened, and extended the romance arc. One of the things I’ve always appreciated about this story is that the climax is about coming out as a celebrity couple as well as gay. I like the examination of the nature of celebrity versus privacy, and the contrasting kinds of closets. And I love that they depicted two couples with two different versions of this choice. A solid and enjoyable show. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
Meow Ears Up (Thailand GaGa) 4/10
Tropes: PNR, catboy, broken characters, hurt/comfort
Adapted from the Korean manhwa Hey, Your Ears Popped Out. This is interesting, Thailand doesn’t adapt from outside their own y-novel tradition very often. This is a pretty classic version of catboy trope: a lonely orphan comic artist adopts a stray cat who suddenly turns into a human teaches him about love, chaos, and family. SO CUTE it hurts and I got very “indulgent daddy” vibes from Mr. DD, which I’m not mad about it. There’s surprising depth to this very weird little show. It’s touching and relatable, but I guess it was trying to be too Japanese/Korean about it while the set up was all sweetness and Thai style, because they fudged the ending. For me, that’s a fatal flaw. Full review here.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Minato’s Laundromat (Japan GaGa) 9/10
AKA Minato’s Coin Laundry AKA Minato Shoji Koinrandori AKA Minato Shoji Coin Laundry AKA Wash My Heart
Tropes: age gap, pining since childhood,
A high school student pursues the man of his dreams who happens to run a laundromat in this classic age gap BL. Minato’s Laundromat is so steeped in yaoi tropes and archetypes, not to mention a typical romance arc, that it will be and overload for some fans, but those of who follow this genre for its DNA will adore it. It made me very happy because it did everything I want a BL to do, and there’s not much more I ask of a show than this. It’s the closest Japan has come to perfect live action yaoi since Seven Days. Squee watch along (in lieu of a full review).
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Mr Cinderella (Vietnam YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: forced proximity, cohabitation, childhood sweethearts, opposites attract, good boy/bad boy, domesticity
Higher than normal production values plus experienced BL actors plus two charismatic smoldering leads with good kissing and comfortable body language make this Vietnam’s objectively best BL to date. Plus we got a fabulously (and quintessentially Vietnamese) domestic ending. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
My Only 12% (Thailand iQIYI) 8/10
Tropes: friends to lovers, childhood crush, out gay character, jock/nerd, cancer mom, side noona romance
Neighbors and codependent childhood friends, Cake & Seeiw, have opposite personalities but may be falling in love. Familiar faces include Prem (Between Us) and Peak (Make it Right). This is a complex, nuanced, and well done little BL romance (tailor made for SantaEarth) about holding onto first love and childhood, but it’s buried under waffling family drama and formless side characters so that it took a lot of digging to get at.
RECOMMENDED
My Ride (Thailand GaGa) 9/10
Tropes: sunshine/softie, friends-to-lovers, crush, bisexual identity, out gay, rich/poor
BL grew up with this pulp - a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine AKA the cinnamon roll couple. Mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles. Kindly overworked doctor meets broken hearted dimpled motorcycle taxi driver in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. With great friendship groups and family dynamics the support cast is excellent. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede the story, good friendship groups and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. In other news, I am a sucker for a single dimple.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
My Secret Love the series (Thailand YouTube) 6/10
Tropes: jock/nerd, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, reunion romance, secret romance, LTR
Lead couple had a tom/jerry vibe with the uke too stiff and serious and the seme a prankster immature arse - one of my least favorite dynamics (it always seems mean-spirited). They reminded me of My Boy (which I DNFd) X BonDuen from My Engineer (who I dislike). Other pairs include BearBomb, TimMai and ParkLee (LTR whom use ter with each other). The domesticity with the side couples was somewhat engaging, and the sex scenes were descent, but that’s it. The worst thing about this show (aside from leads chemistry) was that the chemistry of the friendship groups felt off too. Normally, Thailand can handle friendship groups fine. But these two different groups? I didn’t believe they were friends at all. Full review on MDL.
NOT REALLY RECOMMENDED
My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Gaga & Viki) 8.5/10
Tropes: childhood trauma, phobias, doctor/patient, age gap
It’s not love in Taiwan if one of them doesn’t stumble into the other.
From the producers of We Best Love, earnest dentist hottie with sad eyes who worries too much is smitten with an adorable sunshine neurotic bar owner with serious anxiety issues, they fall in love while courting each other with food, plushies, and naps. Then, shocker, talk about their feelings and try to actually sort out their problems so they can have an adult relationship. Bonus 18 year old poor little rich kid in mad crush with a much older man. I really enjoyed this show, it had a fun premise, killer dialogue, there was a solis lead pair with charming chemistry, soft flirtation, and delightful smiling kisses and stinkingly cute domesticity. All that said, I wasn’t wild about some of the darker themes it explored (abuse, panic attacks, abandonment issues), even though it did a good job with them. And while the crumbs and sides were v adorable they were chronically underused. In the land of May/December, baby boy kabedon is my kryptonite! Why so little of them? Kabedon is My Krytonite = also the name of my indie band’s first single.)
In other news: I identify WAY too much with the bartender daddy. He pretty much opens his mouth and says what I’m thinking 90% of the time.
MUCH RECOMMENDED
Not Me (Thailand YouTube) 9/10
Tropes: enemies to lovers, secret identity, identical twins, goodboy/bad boy
GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest) with established queer award-winning director Anucha and starring OffGun. THIS IS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience in the BL world - nerve racking but remarkable. But was it ACTUALLY BL? Not Me had a lot of BL elements, but in the end that’s not what the show was about, or even what it was genuinely trying to be. Still an amazing piece of Thai cinema certainly worth your time. Don’t worry, it all ends happily. Full review here. OffGun Eulogy here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Ocean Likes Me (Korea Viki) 8/10
Tropes: opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, impossible dreams
This is a solid little KBL, with a good premise and cast. Manic pixie dream boy can get old fast but when contrasted with awkward grumpy chef? Tasty combo that elevates both ingredients. Holland is a charming screen presence, baby boy is HYPNotiC. And while I wasn’t entirely sold on the chemistry with these two they gave us some very good kisses. I grinned through most episodes and I even didn’t mind the standard KBL 1 year separation at the end because it felt very true to the characters. Don’t worry they end up back together.
RECOMMENDED
Oh! Boarding House (Korea Viki) 8/10
Tropes: forced proximity, cohabitation, crush, love triangle
Spoiled rich kid in financial straights has to manage a boarding house full of quirky characters including: bratty cousin, wacko writer, adorable bestie with a crush, and the new hot jock (love interest). All in all, this show ended up being A LOT better than I expected. It was uneven in its attempt to reconcile early sitcom (slightly Thai) style with a serious love triangle and genuine romance but the quality of the performances and the kind and honest treatment of the characters make it definitely worth watching. (Full review here.)
DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED, a lost gem esp for Kdrama fans
Oh! My Assistant (Korea Viki) 7/1O
Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, himbo chaos bi, out gay
This is a very silly show that acts like it comes from a very silly yaoi. Reserved out gay younger assistant (we stan) pretending to be tsundere but is actually just v shy and smitten by his cheerful (seemingly straight) chaos bi himbo artist boss. I think the cross cutting in of old footage with the replacement actor after the re-cast did affect the chemistry with this pair. There was no way around it. Even KBL isn't usually this awkward and repressed. Although this show had the best bisexual awakening sequence ever put in a BL, and I really wanted to love it, I just didn't.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Oh My Sunshine Night (Thailand grey) 7/10
Tropes: university, sickness, fated mates, whipping boy, poor little rich boy, soap opera
Kim, a tsundere musician meets Sun, a transfer student with a weak heart. Also there’s his hot older brother + their household servant, and a couple of fencers for good measure. Initially this pretends to be a normal university, then it slips on wet tiles and falls right on trough multiple shower scenes into ludicrous soap opera territory leaving one with a sensation rather like trying to hold onto soap in a communal shower. Ultimately, everyone seems pretty happy they bent over, but no one actually got clean.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
Old Fashion Cupcake (Japan Viki) 9/10
Tropes: office romance, age gap, employee/boss, food is the love language, coming of age late in life
This show had me from the moment they broke the egg yolk with the chopsticks in the opening credits for episode one. It’s about a younger man with a long cherished crush on his boss (ten years older and going through a mid life crisis) who decides to save and seduce said man with pancakes. It’s wholesome, comforting, sexy, and a very necessary narrative about still having hope, interests, and openness to affection at any age. It’s coming of age/queerness packaged in a subtle critique of expectations around masculinity and love and loneliness... and it’s beautiful. Full review here.
ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED
Once Again (Korea GaGa) 2/10
Tropes: age gap, childhood trauma, tragedy, time travel, inevitable fate
JaeWoo lives with childhood trauma and gets a chance to travel to the past to fix it by saving JiHoon. But you can’t change fate. From Moving Picture (studio behind equally tragic Kissable Lips)) this one stars actors (not idols) including Moon Ji Young (also in The New Employee) and is very well performed with a great, but sad, actual PLOT. It was a little bit more creepy than romantic, kind of Gothic and tense, but also strangely amusing (this odd kid just keeps hugging JiHoon - that’s like 1000x weirder in Korea than most places) and more enjoyable than it had a right to be with a really interesting take on the childhood crush trope. Ultimately, however, it kills the gay and is very sad.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Our Days the series (Thailand GaGa) 4/10
Tropes: sports romance, messy gays be messy, cohabitation, crush, love triangle, tsundere
Enemies to lovers meets forced proximity (boarding house) in which I couldn’t decide if the unlikable main character was stupid or depressed (story of my life, see also Physical Therapy) but I can’t take yet another emo POV. There was no chemistry from the leads and great chemistry from the ex-friend/second lead. Saint’s dad punishing him, when he doesn’t realize it’s because Saint is gay and heartbroken, really had meat to it as part of a basketball story. But it was such a tiny part of the overall show it felt like eating a meal when all I liked was one ingredient. I’d like to see the actor who played Saint (Offroad) in other stuff but otherwise this one can fade and be forgotten. It was a mess, and not a hot one. Fatally flawed.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Paint with Love (Thailand Gaga) 6/10
Tropes: opposites attract, office romance, sunshine/tsundere, enemies to lovers, wierdo/rulebound
For me the mains were unlikeable and the actors had poor chemistry. So while this offered a lot of what I thought I wanted from a Thai BL - mature characters, office setting, adult themes - I’m wasn’t wild about the execution. I suspect Thai pulps are better when they stick to university/high school. This one felt like a better version of Loveless Society (but that’s not saying much). The side dishes (Yoon & Yacht) gave us more chemistry and a better kiss but had little screen time. It was interesting to see them portray BL actors being shipped and then confessing to actually dating each others I’m not sure how I feel about the handling of it but it was different from Lovely Writer. In the end, this show was nicely grown up but boring and became a matter of endurance for me. I can’t ever see myself rewatching it.
WORTH WATCHING FOR SOME BUT SERIOUSLY FLAWED
Papa & Daddy 2 (Taiwan GaGa) 6/10
I don’t have a good history with 2nd seasons, and Taiwan really likes to make a soap opera out of their queers. Witness that this one starts with a secret baby trope. There’s a lot of lying to each other and evil parents and, of course, 2nd lead syndrome strikes again. The domesticity was, of course, excellent (I love the gay siblings sharing tips on how to parent) and it was actually kind of beautiful to watch them explore ideas around infidelity, affection, lost love, and rediscovery. However, it lost me at episode 3 and never quite got me back, not even with the delightfully cheesy wedding. All in all, this was a serviceable follow up to the first installment, if riddled by unbearable parents, lack of story, and sappiness.
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED
Plus & Minus (Taiwan Viki) 8/10
AKA Plus and Minus AKA PlusMinus
Tropes: friends to lovers, LTR, office romance, (himbo) sunshine/tsundere, found family, himbo
This is a solid safe little BL about codependent besties of 20 years finding their way into a romantic relationship. A bit cheesy, with lots of domesticity and occasional dumb drama. (But gay boys and chaos bis? What can ya do?) It’s not groundbreaking but it is a solid sweet unassuming little show of a style that is perhaps a bit more Thai than it is Taiwanese but I’m okay with that. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
Rainbow Prince (The Philippines YouTube) 6/10
Tropes: disney princess, opposites attract, sunshine/tsundere
This long form MUSICAL BL is fucking LEGEND. Also it’s profoundly not good. The acting is absolutely terrible but that’s not the point, the point is that it’s a cheesy af fairy story. Possibly the gayest BL to ever BL and certainly the most camp and very Disney. Watch it of that’s your thing, otherwise hard pass. (Full review here.)
RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU ALSO LIKE DISNEY SHIT
Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korea Viki) 8/10
Tropes: rich/poor, boss/employee, enemies to lovers, office setting, cohabitation
This is a solid little office set KBL about a rich kid who ends up both the boss and tenant of a total sweetheart cutie, and falls madly in love with him. Although the show suffered from KBL’s shorter length, I love the kissable lips pair - they deliver solid all round chemistry despite limited screen time, which is rare from Korea. So I hope they stay branded and we get even more from them in the future. Special extra extended kissing scene.
RECOMMENDED
Secret Crush on You (Thailand YouTube) 7/10
Tropes: stalking, obsession, hottest guy on campus, multiple couples, queer affirming
Previously known as Stalker the series, and you can TELL. Co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces it was pure pulp and... I hated the plot. In fact I was ALL OVER THE PLACE with this show. SCOY drove me nuts and made me bush but had flashes of unparalleled genius. It had a ton of things I really did not like (e.g. the humor was crass and awkward, and the whole stalker thing was extremely CRINGE). It also had things that really worked: (e.g. representation of multiple different kinds of queerness, about which it very Taiwanese - in that there was no doubt that the characters really did want to bone). It was the opposite of sanitized gay. Honestly, if you can make it through the first half, and survive the never ending cringe-factor that IS this show, the second half is entirely unique - content we’ve never seen before in BL.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS, but not the usual ones.
Semantic Error (Korea Viki) 10/10
Tropes: opposites attract, enemies to lovers, bully romance, sunshine/tsundere, teasing & pranks
This is my favorite BL of 2022 won a Blue Dragon award. Korea hits it entirely out of both Parks (pun on the actors’ last names intended) by doing a university set BL with everything we might expect done exactly right, their signature quality executed perfectly, and added bonus good story, great pacing, yaoi style filming, and fantastic chemistry. You cannot ask for more from a BL, let alone a KBL. Full review here.
HIGHLY ETERNALLY OMG SO MUCH RECOMMENDED
Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! (Japan Viki) 6/10
AKA Senpai, This Can’t be Love!
Tropes: office romance, object of my affection, boss/employee
Adapted from a manga for the same name, it has a similar creepy worship stalking vibe Secret Crush On You. Look, I admit it, this dynamic (super awkward pining uke, rockstar seme) is one of my least favorites - high cringe factor meets navel gazing obsessive. Japan’s weird hang-up around physical expressions of affection in BL which I expect in their slapstick high school stuff, feels cowardly here. They don't leave out end kisses in their het office romances, time to stop desexualizing the gays, too. For a plot about courage, it’s a bummer that the narrative itself didn’t have any. I can’t imagine ever watching this show again or remembering its existence. When Japan drops the balls they drop all the way to the bottom of the well.
NOT REALLY RECOMMENDED
Something in My Room (Thailand YouTube) 2/10
Tropes: paranormal, cohabitation, my ghost boyfriend, sunshine/tsundere
Horror BL starring Nut (Oxygen) who was a revelation, still a little stiff but he handled a totally different character from Solo with aplomb. Essentially, this was a well done pulp lockdown project version of He’s Coming to Me (with hints of So Much in Love and Peach of Time) but it was its own creature at the last gasp. I enjoyed it when it got a bit creepy but it was so slow it never had a chance to maintain tension. The two leads were ultimately cute together, but, like Peach of Time, we all knew how this one was gonna end. The narrative never left us in any doubt and I don’t like unhappy endings in my BL. So even though the sad was predictable, I won’t give this drama anymore than 2/10. Don’t kill my gays, Thailand, even when they’re already dead.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Star & Sky: Star in My Mind (Thailand YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: university set, high school crush, jock/nerd, long term pining, secret crush, reunion
This is (sort of) a lost love reunion arc + freshy hotness contest giving it 2 Moons vibes. Look, this is one of those shows that I shouldn’t really like after 400 BLs. It’s not at all unique, just some classic Thai uni folderol driven by miscommunication (or just non-communication) and yet... I COULD NOT STOP WATCHING. Sure it felt like everyone involved with this show was mostly phoning it in, but it was a REALLY nice phone call. It’s basic BL. But honestly, don’t we all need that plain white t-shirt to wear under our engineering smock... in the end? Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
Star & Sky: Sky in Your Heart (Thailand YouTube) 5/10
Tropes: rural setting, country mouse/city mouse, rich/pour, enemies to lovers
A cheap 1000 Stars knock off about a doctor who goes rural and falls in love with a volunteer teacher. This show managed to be boring, corny, AND cheesy? I don’t know exactly how to write a review of this, as “dull” isn’t in my rating system but, it is a BIG SIN for me. I guess this should be added to my short list of BL‘s that are told from the seme’s perspective? Linguistically: these two are formal with each other using pom/khun. Also If you want to hear frozen register spoken, that’s what Prince’s maa speaks to tease Fah. Full review here.
WATCH ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO
Takara-kun and Amagi-kun (Japan GaGa & Viki) 9/10
Tropes: high school crush, chaos baby, high angst, classic seme/uke, secret relationship
I gnawed on my knuckles and squealed a lot with this show. Reserved cool kid who must lean to communicate to keep the tiny disaster nugget he’s madly in love with. It is beyond charming: soft and gentle, packed with cuteness and high school angst. Did anything actually happen? No. Was it emotionally tense and paced well enough for me not to notice? Absolutely. Was there plot? Not really. Did I enjoy the hell out of it, anyway? Oh yes. Full review.
TOTALLY RECOMMENDED
That’s My Candy (Korea Viki) 3/10
Tropes: magical realism, LTR, breakup, amnesia, reunion
KimCop vehicle from Star Hunter, about an LTR between a student Jing (Cop) + nurse Guy (Kim) who have been together for 3 years. Guy is busy all the time so Jing is starting to feel neglected and look elsewhere. KimCop are excellent (no surprise there) but I was not into the story, premise, or concept. Side couple Viking & TamTam stole this one for me but the final ep activates the amnesia trope so even they could save it. Honestly I was left, ultimately with a sensation of: What did I just watch? It was terrible. Full review here.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Tinted With You (Korea Viki) 8/10
Tropes: historical, portal fantasy, time travel
Fun stylish time travel portal fantasy with a likable cast, historical setting, and two actual kisses that mitigate a rough plot and issues around anachronisms. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED
To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories (Korea Viki) 7/10
Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, hurt/comfort, opposites attract, forced proximity, breakup/reunion
If you like angst, wallowing, and realistic relationship struggles in your BL, watch this. If you prefer fluffy comforting BL, avoid like the plague. For me the pay out was not sufficient to the pain. I enjoyed the performances, directing, and chemistry - the leads’ comfort with each other is unprecedented in Korean BL, but that’s not enough for me to rise above the pain of the narrative. This show is a home wrecking hussy, but like super classy about it. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED WITH SERIOUS RESERVATIONS
Triage (Thailand grey) 7/10
Tropes: time loop, age gap, medical drama, fated mates
I thought the plot was good if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likable (or unlikable as required). I feel much as a did with Manner of Death, which is to say: this feels less BL than it does gay time-slip suspense. If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot. But I’m in BL for the romance, and the rewatchability, and this had very little of either. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
The Tuxedo (Thailand GaGa) 3/10
Tropes: tsundere seme, enemies to lovers, rich/poor
GMMTV be like, “see us squander glorious chemistry on terrible scripts.” The Tuxedo be like, “oh yeah? Hold my beer.” Watching this was like eating a meal of just spices. the spice profile was great, but it wasn’t ON actual food. The show itself had no plot or story and MADE NO SENSE, but I really hope we see these boys again in something more worthy of them.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Unforgotten Night (Thailand GaGa) 5/10
Tropes: mafia, BDSM, not much of either
Adapted from the y-novel Mafia's Bad Love, (originally featured both a gay poly triad and a GL sub plot). Stared Yoon (YYY, Paint With Love, My Ride) as a mafia Dom and Ton (Y-Destiny) as the accountant sub. Kim has a one night stand with a random stranger who becomes obsessed with him. Pretty soon into this I began to think this show should be called Forgotten Kink rather than Unforgotten Night. There isn't any. Mostly there's faucets left on and shower heads used for tie points (don't DO that). But honestly this was just bad. There is a moral to this show but I’m not sure what it is. Don’t combine your BDSM-but-not-really BL pulp with plumbing? In the end, this dumpster fire was extinguished by a garden hose and all we were left with was leaky pipes and the smell of damp trash. The only kinks were in the hose. No full review but I did to a trash watch.
WATCH IT IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO, BUT I WARNED YOU
Vice Versa (Thailand YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: alt reality, bodyswap, soulmates AKA fated mates, portal fantasy
Jimmy (Puen the super flirt confident king) is insanely charismatic and takes up all the air in (the proverbial cinematic) room, but I warmed up to Sea (Talay the timid acerbic sweetheart) eventually. As a couple they read as more teasing and brotherly than sexy, but that’s GMMTV’s brand. I enjoyed the concept of this show (I’m big into magical realism and skewed reality - see my adoration for Color Rush) but JittiRain’s plot was contrived and weak (normal for them). I find the “writing on each other” habit quite cute. Look, here’s the thing, flaws and all I pretty much spent this entire show smiling. I didn’t even mind being so obviously manipulated. That said, this is never going to be one of my top rewatch rotations, so I’m calling it for an 8/10.
RECOMMENDED
Want to See You (Vietnam YouTube) 5/10
AKA Muốn Nhìn Thấy Em
Tropes: whipping boy, disability, secret love
Everyone’s favorite Vietnamese hottie Ba Vinh (O2 Productions: Mr Cinderella etc...) played an arsehole blind man (Jane Eyre feels) who hires a live in nurse and both get taken advantage of by a series of psycho femme fatales characters. The chemistry was okay but not Vinh’s best. Did they serve up prime domesticity? Of course. This is Vietnam, you get what you pay for. But tonally, this show was all over the place, hugely inconsistent in characterization and motivation. No clean narrative through line. Nothing anyone did actually ever made sense, it was mostly just frustrating.
WATCH ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO
What If (Thailand WeTV) 4/10
Had promised but was ultimately a complete letdown, not really BL either. It was, in the end, primarily about singing, so you know I didn’t like anything about this.
NOT RECOMMENDED
What Zabb Man! (Thailand YouTube) 8/10
Tropes: enemies to lovers, tsundere seme, rich/poor
WZM was better than we have any right to expect with decent pacing and a foodie theme threaded through the narrative as both love language and plot driver. Basically CEO falls in love with a street vendor’s food, recruits him to work in his hotel, falls in love with him, and that’s the beginning. Class struggles! Kitchen drama! Papaya pounding (not a euphemism)! Chef poaching (not literally)! Spicy scenes (yes literally)! It’s all so delicious. Full review here.
RECOMMENDED, especially if you like Thai food
You’re My Sky (Thailand Viki) 6/10
Tropes: sports romance, friends to lovers, jock/nerd meets sunshine/tsundere, cheating
A serviceable college-set pulp that focused on 3 sports romances with high angst, but was ultimately too slow moving for me, and with only one couple I liked (SaenAei). Main couple, FahThorn = basketball jocks, boring. DomeVee = track & field with a disaster bi cheating with your sister’s boyfriend storyline (by FAR the best sexual chemistry). SaenAei = jock/nerd with a younger puppy sunshine seme, best boys. Saen was my favorite character; relentlessly flirty but always clear about with his interest and steady in his regard, but who wants this many eps for one side character?
WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED AND YOU NEED PATIENCE
Work from Heart (Thailand YouTube) 4/10
Tropes: Romeo & Romeo, office romance
Pulp office drama featuring tons of couples starring Gameplay as rich kid terrible dresser Dee who forms an unfathomable and poorly depicted romance with his internship supervisor. Some nifty linguistic stuff and great lead pair chemistry, doesn’t compensate for one of the worst wardrobes and an ultimately unfathomable plot.
FATALLY FLAWED
THE DNF/DNW LIST
Shows I dropped, lost track of, never got around to or otherwise failed to complete.
2 Moons: The Ambassador AKA 2 Moons 3 (Thailand grey)
I hear that it’s pretty banal and I’m just waiting to collect them all and binge. I doubt it will get a high rating from me or monkey with the standings much so I’m not fussed.
7 Days 7 Boys (Thailand grey)
No subs and it is also profoundly not good. Do not bother.
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us (Thailand GaGa)
8 eps - This is a queer drama not a BL. It’s fine, reminded me oddly of early Taiwanese stuff, a bit slow moving and oddly paced. But I intensely disliked the lead character. He's a brat in the wrong way. Especially as a 20 year old.
Country Boy 2 (Thailand who cares?)
I barely managed the first installment. No thank you.
Fahlanruk (Thailand GaGa)
I found all the characters profoundly unlikeable. I don’t like any of the couples and the fujoshi framing is repulsive under the context of a narrative trying to be this authentically gay. I lost all patience and cut my losses at ep 5. @heretherebedork said it was BohnDuen 2.0 only worse and that’s my least favorite dynamic of all time, so yeah, not gonna bother.
Fudanshi Bartender no Tashinami (AKA Accomplishment of Fudanshi Bartender) (Japan Gaga)
BL Express posted a review and it sounds A LOT like another kind of Absolute BL thing from Japan, but focused on the fudanshi side of the equation and I could not be less intersted so I did not watch.
Gameboys 2
I have no idea what happened - to me or it. But I remember watching a bit, and then just got distracted or something.
Getaway (Singapore YouTube)
Based on an original story from a gay creator featuring an openly gay cast this vacation romance from Singapore set in Bangkok did nto work for me. The lead was fine but the muscle boy love interest's acting was just bad. Look, I’m the first to admit that there’s a lot of bad and awkward acting in this genre, but for some reason… it feels a lot worse in English. I like how unabashedly gay the show is but (how do I put this nicely, I guess...) if I’m gonna watch English language gay vacay shit – I’d rather watch Fire Island. Still, as one might expect, the heat execution is good (Taiwan still holds the crown, tho). But I eventually just gave up.
In a Relationship (Thailand YouTube)
Thailand’s answer to Gameboys (a bit late, kids). I’m generally not a fan of lockdown romances and this didn’t grab me.
My Roommate (Thailand YouTube)
32 eps of 2 minutes each with such terrible production values I couldn’t be bothered. Def not my thing.
My Tempo (Thailand grey)
A Thai BL movie about the Thai music industry. Yeah, no thank you.
On Cloud Nine (Thailand YouTube)
A country-set atmospheric series from MindTrio about afterlife and awaiting loved ones. Def not my thing.
Physical Therapy (Thailand GaGa)
Milk is basically a Mainland China-style super useless heroine type. He’s, ugh, so totally not cute. I just don’t think emo is sexy (sorry Japan). I don’t understand why anyone likes him: friends, crushes, lovers. And I couldn’t tell if the doctor was faking it or just a terrible actor.
Rak Dao (Thailand grey)
A real sit com that was just too much for me to take. I didn’t even survive the first 2 episodes. And I usually give a drama 3 eps.
Restart(ed) (Thailand grey)
Looked like Top Secret Together meets Y-Destiny but ended up being more like Club Friday. Glimmers of good chemistry and hella queer but even that did not save this from terrible sound and an incomprehensible plot full of completely random characters. An absolute mess.
Scent of Love (Thailand no idea)
Just couldn’t find it. Also it’s the lead pair from My Secret Love so could not be bothered to even try.
SELF (Thailand YT)
Is it sad? Worth watching? I don’t know, no one said a peep about this show but I got a bad feeling about the end so I never bothered.
The Promise (Vietnam YouTube)
Stepbrothers trope, enemies to lovers, high school, reunion romance, grumpy/tsundere. Narrative has a “memoir” framework. Sort of Cherry Blossoms After Winter if they were enemies.
The Miracle of Teddy Bear (Thailand grey)
Surreal drama series with dark elements. Nat's giant teddy bear, Taohu, miraculously turns into a young man but can't remember anything about himself. I found out this has what I COUNT as a sad ending and with it being hard to find i didn’t bother.
The Next Door Crush (Vietnam YouTube)
Reunion romance or something, I couldn’t be arsed.
To Sir, With Love AKA Khun Chai (Thailand grey)
I’m waiting on grey subs for this Thai historical gay soap opera that came outta nowhere. It’s more lakorn than it is BL (soapy) and word is it ends happily. It’s just taking me time to track down.
War of Y (Thailand Gaga)
Tropes: industry self criticism, messy gay, general chaos
COPY A BANGKOK brings us 20 episode of Cheewin’s nonsense starring the boys from Y-Destiny and SCOY. My initial thoughts? It was better than any of us have a right to expect but I hated it. I disliked it for the same reason I don’t like rockstar romances... celebrities (and their people) are assholes. This show features a bunch of actors behaving like actors, managers behaving like managers, all of them predators and victims and both. I’ve dropped before for less (Call It What You Want) and I’ll drop again. Then again I loved Lovely Writer - but I think that’s because Sib is meant to be a sinister dick who’s only an actor because it gets him closer to Gene, and i like that approach. War of Y is just a collection of fragile egos easily traumatized by their own desires (and the needs of others) - it’s brutal to watch. BillySeng are killing it, but.... it hurts, and not in a good way. I’m going to save it and binge all at once when I am feeling bored and resilient. Will I watch it eventually? Maybe? Probably not. I think we have an ITSAY situation going on here. Also BL Express was not best pleased, and I while we rarely share taste, in this instance I trust their reporting.
Ones I Could Not Track Down - Japan of course
Both Me and Him are the Grooms AKA Boku mo Aitsu mo Shinrodesu - Aired March 2022 on KTV & Tver, some see it on Gaga, but not me. This is a coming out drama rama. Ryosuke and Mizuki are getting married but on the wedding day Mizuki finds out that his partner didn't tell his parents, relatives, or friends that he's gay. Catastrophe results: furious outbursts, fighting between the two families, and then Mizuki's ex boyfriend shows up.
Grand Guignol - a horror, paranormal, high shcool movie that released in Japanese theaters middle of the year. Starred Rio Komiya (Eternal Yesterday) and Ryosuke Sota (Mr Unlucky) among others.
Kamisama no Ekohiiki - body swap, paranormal, country set. Amano Yashiro has a crush on his best friend, Nanahara Kenta. Yashiro died in a car accident after being rejected by Kenta. However, due to God's favoritism, Yashiro was reborn as a female student called Tendo Kagura, and lives a new life. Yashiro decides to make use of his girly look to have Kenta fall for him. While Yashiro and Kenta become closer, they were interrupted by Kenta's ex-girlfriend, Torii Rin, who told "Kagura" to stay away from Kenta. Furthermore, it was discovered that Yashiro's body is still alive. What is actually happening?
Melting Night: Secret Kiss - microfilm part of the Kiss X Kiss X Kiss series, featuring the stepbrothers trope that aired on Tiver. A and B are friends who are secretly in love with each other. They became stepbrothers after their parents' remarry. Even though they acted like family, their feelings overflow and when their parents were gone...
Yes I REALLY want to see this one.
Sing In Love AKA Miso's Koi Kogare Utae - movie adaptation of a PNR manga released in theaters, but no word on international distribution. About a teacher who encounters a mysterious man from his past, who is strangely obsessed with him.
2022 BL Announced but Never Aired or Otherwise Confusing
Eye Contact AKA មើលបានហាមសម្លឹង - Cambodia
Tie The Not AKA Under the Same Sky - The Philippines
Ghost and I Becoming Family - Taiwan
God's Military Officer - Taiwan
Melody In Me - Vietnam
The Lost Ring AKA The Ring Goes Missing reboot - Vietnam
KOREAN BL ANNOUNCED FOR 2022 BUT NEVER AIRED
Bon Appetit
Comfort the Boy AKA A Shoulder to Cry On - premiere postponed indefinitely due to actor contract conflict, rated R15+ due to topic & vulgarity
Eccentric Romance - was supposedly in production July 2022. Silkwood’s 2nd Thai/Korean colab but not their last.
Eul's Love
Follow The Wind - supposed to have released in the first half of 2022
Happy Merry Ending
Heesu in Class 2
Individual Circumstances
Jun and Jun - filming Dec 2022
Love Class 2 AKA Love Class Season 2 - filming was to start Nov 2022
Love is like a Cat - supposedly completed filming aug 2022 so I guess stuck in post? stars Mew.
Love Tractor
Secret Relationship - was to be adapted by Cradle Studio (a subsidiary of Kakao).
Space Bakery
Two Game Over
Why R U? Korean remake - supposedly filming Sept 2022
I am assuming most of these can be transferred to 2023 expectations but am not sure.
THAI BL ANNOUNCED FOR 2022 BUT NEVER AIRED
Art Adore En
Bitter Sweet
Boxer In Heart
Buddy Line Y Animal AKA Buddy Line Y(aoi) Animal
Call My Name
Cinderella Boys
City of Stars AKA Fueangnakorn
Destiny Seeker
Future the series
Heart by Heart
Imado Jinja
Intern In My Heart
Love at First Sight
Make a Wish
Mr. Bad Guy
My Broccoli
My Engineer 2
My Last Love
My Lucky Cat
Nilundon
Past Love In The Future
Past-senger AKA Pastsenger
The Sweet Robot
The Theory series
Trouble Maker
Does not include those announced for 2022 but which have since been officially moved to 2023. Those will appear on the 2023 forthcoming lists.
(source)
#all the bl that aired in 2022#no really pretty much all of it#this is MONSTER post#BL post not for the faint of heart#I should probably NOT be using tumlr for this#but I love tumblr#so like BL I am here until the bitter end#Thai BL#Korean BL#Japanese BL#Pinoy BL#Taiwanese BL#KBL#JBL#BL reviews#BL review#best of bl 2022#worst of bl 2022#bl 2022#bl summation#do i do another one of these next year?
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Just sat through the first three NATLA live els and have so many thoughts - the first thing I did was come straight over to your blog because why wouldn’t I?!?
A part of me LOVES Suki’s awkwardness. In fact, none of the gripes I have with Suki and Sokka aren’t about Suki and Sokka and their characterisation themselves, but rather just the execution.
But anyways — the vibe I’m getting is that Season 2 (Book 1? I’m not sure if they’re going by seasons or books) is laying down the groundwork for some of the characters. We know they’re doing that with Azula (and the Fire Lord fam as a whole), but it seems like they’re sort of doing the same with Katara, where they’re starting off with her being a traumatised, almost-shy 14 year old girl who comes into her own as the season progresses.
While I haven’t watched the show in it’s entirety — I probably should have before sending this ask in — I’m assuming this is all leading up to her confrontation with Pakku and role in defending the Northern Water Tribe towards the end of the season. And then that new found confidence in herself and her waterbending carries though to season 2, where we’ll (presumably) find a more fiery, outspoken Katara after I’m guessing a somewhat lengthy time jump?
Anyway — back to Suki. My question to you is, if I’m right in my theory about Katara (and all the others, tbh… I feel like what I said for K can apply to pretty much any of the gaang at this point), do you think the same could be said for Suki and her own development?
We see Suki at the start of ep 2 as a fierce yet slightly socially awkward, sheltered warrior who wants to leave her village and aid in the fight against the Fire Nation and travel the world. As it goes, she does leave her village, and perhaps becomes the confident and sassy (and awful at puns) girl we all know and love, all through her experiences aiding in the war and travelling the world?
Of course, this would mean that her development would largely happen off-screen… but even still, Suki was more familiar towards the end of the episode. She was the one who initiated the kiss, she made her feelings and mostly gratitude known to Sokka by giving him her fan, she told the gaang they had to leave.
It feels like that’s the route Albert Kim is going. He’s made it clear that it’s a re imagination and not a 1:1 adaptation. He clearly wants the show to have its own identity to some extent (e.g. the genocide actually being shown and basically being a mini prologue to the series) and this is his way of doing so through characterisation.
I’ve written way more than I intended, so sorry for this long winded tangent. But what I mean to ask is, do you think in season 2 we’ll see a Suki more similar to the og (while of course still being her own).
I’d love to know what you think! x
Ahh, this makes me so happy!! Thank you so much for enjoying this blog, and for sharing your thoughts and sending this ask! <3 (And absolutely no need to apologize for writing so much, either! Goodness knows I could go on forever about this stuff.)
I think you make a really good point about characterization in the LA, and the potential for certain traits (like Katara's fieriness) to develop more over time. And I've been thinking about it in terms of what we already know about LA Suki that could get built upon in later seasons.
I definitely think it would make sense for us to see Suki come out of her shell a bit more in season 2, although there are some things in the LA that make it hard for me to imagine Suki being quite as sassy as her animated counterpart, just because of the sort of foundation it gives us for her personality.
For one, there's Suki's interactions with her mother. If anyone were going to be on the receiving end of a teenage daughter's sass, even if that sass is buried too deep in shyness to come out around said daughter's crush, it would be her mother. And while we kinda sorta see Suki get a little petulant with Yukari (her delivery of "I'm not too young, I just haven't seen the world" is kind of a swipe? but is really very heartfelt), she overall seems like a well-behaved, obedient daughter. This isn't a King Triton/Ariel situation where you get the impression they've had this conversation a million times before and Yukari is exasperated by Suki always questioning her authority. In fact, it feels like the first time Yukari's even considered that Suki might want something more, and she seems pretty amenable to it, if the fact that she didn't storm into the dojo to break up Sokka and Suki's near-makeout session is any indication. So, even in these private moments where you'd assume Suki is more herself, there isn't much sass to be seen.
(Somewhat related to this, I had a funny sort of "Huh!" reaction to Yukari's, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet such a kind heart." Not that I don't think Suki is kind! It's just not one of the first words I would use to describe her. And not that I would've expected Yukari to say, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet also kind of a pill because you're always giving me lip." But that bit of dialogue is there for the audience's benefit; it was a choice the writers made to tell us what they think is important for us to know about Suki's character. So I had a moment of, "Oh, that's the takeaway we're supposed to have? Interesting...")
And then there's Suki's later interactions with Sokka. On the one hand, when they're training together, the romantic tension is through the roof; it's all very new and interesting for them and it makes sense that they'd still be a little shy about it. On the other hand, Suki gets comfortable enough around Sokka at this point to 1) remove her makeup, 2) have a deep conversation with him, and 3) touch him on the chest. We don't see her show the same awkwardness from earlier in the episode, but she also continues to be very serious. When Sokka pins her, and then she flips them over while he's mid-celebration, she follows up with a useful tip about fighting, and it's delivered completely straight (if a little breathless). No little jokes or jabs. No "Don't get cocky" or knowing smirks.
However, we are not completely without sass! There are a couple moments in particular that I feel have some of that familiar Suki flair.
First...
Lookit her smirky little "come at me, bro" face! That face 100% says, "C'mon then, let's see it, if you're so tough." There's a playfulness here, too, which we know is very much a part of her relationship with Sokka in the animated show. (This Suki up here? I could easily see this Suki saying, "😠I'm an elite warrior who's trained for many years in the art of stealth... I think I could get you backstage!😁")
And then...
The thing I love about this is that she's all, "Nuh uh, I don't think so" (her little head wiggle!), but a fraction of a second ago she was staring blatantly at that boy's mouth. Nice try, sweetheart, but you ain't foolin' anybody. (This Suki is the Suki who smacks her forehead when her boyfriend tells terrible puns to actor-Sokka but who later gazes at him adoringly when he absolutely loses his shit because actor-Sokka actually said "rocky relationship" on stage.)
So...I guess the tl;dr answer to your question is, kind of? I can't see LA Suki getting to "Sorry, Warden, you're my prisoner now" levels of sass, but that's not really the tone the LA is going for anyway. I think we'll see her being very bold (a la taking the initiative to kiss Sokka) and very compassionate (saving Appa—I hope!!), and it makes total sense that, next time we see her, she'll be way more confident than the girl who could barely say a single word to Sokka before attempting to strangle him by way of flirtation. I also hope we'll get to see more of her playfulness! Maybe even some successful flirting? Probably not as forward as "Look at you, sleeveless guy...been workin' out?" but I'd settle for a sly head tilt and a cheeky little grin. And based on what we know of her so far, I don't think that's too much to ask. ;)
#natla#natla spoilers#sukka#suki#gifs#my gifs#live action atla#netflix atla#spoilers#sokka x suki#suki x sokka#suki meta#meta#analysis#answered asks
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okay, so there was no new winchesters tonight, but I HAVE been listening to the @endofthebookpod episode from the last new ep last week (go listen!). I haven’t had a chance to hear the whole episode yet, but i wanted to type this before my brain let go of it... huh, memory magic
SO. Anyway, point being, the discussion around Lata learning memory magic, and the comments about how it wasn’t really a big part of spn canon so wondering how it was going to be used... my VERY first thought when Lata offered to remove Roxy’s traumatic memories was of Cas in s6 taking all of Lisa and Ben’s memories of Dean (ostensibly to protect them and to unburden them from the horrific trauma they experienced because of their association with him-- only partly for Dean to protect them from being used against him again, but because he HATED what he’d done to Ben, having to watch his mother killed (or near as), and Ben both wanting to become a hunter like Dean and then having to confront what that actually means as Dean carried his dying mother to safety and Ben had to shoot someone (yes, a demon, but still, a person-shaped thing).
Okay that was a lot of words to say that DEAN HIMSELF had made that choice for someone else in the past, and here’s Roxy confronting all the suppressed traumatic memories and CHOOSING DELIBERATELY TO KEEP THEM. (I already wrote a bit about that here)
But memory magic was also like... a core staple of Heaven’s power structure. Cas spent several seasons dealing with the aftereffects of heaven’s torture, which largely involved brainwashing quite directly. Not only can most angels Obi Wan humans (these are not the droids you are looking for level stuff, or even the level that Zachariah used on Sam and Dean in episodes like 4.17 It’s A Terrible Life), but Naomi had a specially built device to specifically dig into angel main programming and tweak the internal dials-- everything from behavioral correction to what we will learn in later seasons involved deleting specific memories of things (like the fact Cas was a participant in several biblical atrocities like the killing of the firstborns, etc.).
Sure, Naomi needed specially constructed tools to achieve that level of mental manipulation-- which Crowley and his demons were then able to duplicate to use on Samandriel and eventually Sam/Gadreel-- but Cas? Well, he had a Particular Specialty with memory magic himself. It was a major plot point in s13. Not just in 13.14 Good Intentions when he confesses to Donatello that he had a special ability that he swore to never use on anyone without their consent, but that he deems it too urgent not to use it on Donatello, for the sake of the world. He feared the corruption that Donatello suffered because of the Demon Tablet, and he needed the information Donatello refused to give about the alternate universe gateway spell.
This power was supposedly unique to Castiel, like many other angels were “specialists.” Specifically we know Uriel’s specialty was smiting towns, Zachariah’s specialty was... lets call it giving unique experiences to people directly. Whatever. Cas’s special power was not only reading people’s minds (something we saw him do a good number of times before this-- like tapping Rowena’s forehead and knowing the one person she felt love for, Oskar), but also specifically stripping those memories from people’s minds.
Which is kinda what we saw him do to Lisa and Ben. And what he did from Donatello here. Literally removed the memories so he could sort through them all himself.
Is that what Lata is learning to do now, whether from Tony or some other source inside her dreams? To access other people’s memories and then selectively strip those memories away from the person?
Because that’s like a Cas Special.
(even the broken AU Castiel was called in to use that special talent specifically, to strip the information the angels wanted directly from Charlie and Ketch’s minds... if that was a standard angel power, they wouldn’t have needed to call in Cas specifically, and I always felt that was a MAJOR reason that version of Cas was as broken as he was, that being forced to use that power is what damaged him, since Our Cas had REFUSED to use the power until it was the only option they had left...)
(I won’t even mention The Empty and the Entity’s interesting power to just... flip through Cas’s memories in 13.04... okay i mentioned it, but I don’t know what else to do with it yet lol, other than to suggest that whatever is happening in The Winchesters is adjacent to or being affected by the Empty... I wouldn’t be shocked if the Akrida turned out to be agents of the Empty actually so... off point mittens, get back to the point now...)
but then that also made me wonder... did Cas hold on to all those memories he stripped from Lisa and Ben? Did he flip through them when he was feeling sad? did it actually make him feel WORSE about everything that had transpired leading up to 6.22 and the choices he made afterward? his determination to obliviate himself into Emmanuel even? or to stay in purgatory? heck... i just made myself very fucking sad...
Okay. I just needed all this on record. Memory magic is a HUGE part of spn, and whatever it’s leading up to in The Winchesters feels very, very relevant.
And also very, very connected to Cas.
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The Daily Dad — Dec 23, 2023
Things you might want to know:
Ryan Gosling Unveils 'Ken The EP' With New Christmas Version
❝ The EP includes a seasonal spin on his Barbie soundtrack hit, “I’m Just Ken (Merry Kristmas Barbie),” along with a video of Gosling, Mark Ronson, and Andrew Wyatt in the studio. Additional “I’m Just Ken” renditions include “In My Feelings Acoustic,” “Purple Disco Machine Remix,” and the original.
Apple Wants to Partner With Major Publishers to Train AI - MacRumors
❝ Apple has approached several major publishers to establish deals that would allow the Cupertino company to train generative artificial intelligence...
“Fentanyl exposure” is not a thing
❝ Illicit use of fentanyl has been linked to overdoses since the 1970s. In this video, Dr. Marino explains why accidental exposure is highly unlikely. Learn more about fentanyl overdose facts in this blog post!
Google’s ChatGPT competitor Bard is nearly as good — just slower
💭 For now, Bard is my go-to LLM front-end. It’s frequently wrong or confused —like all LLMs— but provides enough value to pull me back from time to time. And it’s free, which makes its annoyances a little less annoying.
Police have unlimited warrantless access to Americans' medical records via Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and other pharmacies
❝ U.S pharmacy chains such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid provide police warrantless access to customers' medical records, reports Ars Technica. Some don't even have legal professionals review the requests,…
Raquel Leviss: Why the Heck Did I Return to Vanderpump Rules?!?
💭 Because you’re a fame-whore, honey. Because you’re a fame-whore.
The persistence of tradition: the curious case of Henry Symeonis
❝ Christmas is a time for tradition, and the University of Oxford is well known for diligently preserving its traditions for centuries. Many of these have long outlived the people who established the…
Surgeon punches patient during operation
❝ A surgeon in China is in trouble after punching a patient three times in the head during an operation. Viral footage of the incident has outraged the nation and already…
Joe Biden Pardons Federal Marijuana Possession Convictions
❝ On Friday, President Joe Biden announced that he's pardoning federal and D.C. marijuana possession convictions.
From the Depths of Wikipedia: none of the phrasing from the 2003...
❝ From the Depths of Wikipedia: none of the phrasing from the 2003 “Ship of Theseus” page on Wikipedia remains
Jan. 6 rioter nabbed in Bumble dating app sting pleads guilty to assaulting officers
❝ Her strategy, she said, was to say, "Wow, crazy, tell me more,” on repeat until guys gave her enough to send their information to the FBI.
South Park: Snow Day! Announces Release Date With New Trailer - IGN
💭 Given how bad the Beavis & Butthead games were, South Park has had it pretty easy… The Stick of Truth was actually pretty damned good. So there’s at least a chance that Snow Day won’t be complete dog-shit… but I’m limiting my optimism until something bolsters it.
Facebook Marketplace Is Being Ruined by Zelle Scammers
❝ I tried to sell a futon on Facebook Marketplace and nearly all I got were scammers.
Apple's Mac Mini M2 falls back to a low of $479
💭 If you’ve already got a monitor/mouse/keyboard, this is an excellent deal.
The Gilded Age renewed for a third season
💭 I was completely unaware that there’s a subset of the audience that hate-watches this show; I’m mystified. Is it great television? Not really. But it’s as good as any latter season of Downton Abbey, and I enjoy seeing Cynthia Nixon play something so un-Miranda. I can understand being bored by TGA, but there’s nothing actually bad about it.
Starfield will get updates every six weeks beginning in February 2024
💭 I’m left shockingly cold by the opening minutes of Starfield, and haven’t even bothered to finish lift-off from the starting planet. It all just seems so generic, in contrast to the weirdness of Fallout 4’s opening, or the world-building and Big Plot Stuff that occupied the beginning of Skyrim. There’s only so much they can patch, but I hope they improve it.
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❝ Bluesky remains an invite-only decentralized Twitter alternative, but now, you don’t need to be logged in to be able to see posts on the platform. The app has a new logo, too.
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Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I last talked about The Player’s Fate and my progress on it, so I decided to tell you guys what I’ve been doing lately (And you can probably tell what it is lol).
So, my current plan for TPF is making one whole season with around 6-9 Eps. I’ve already planned some things for the 1st season, but I am still not fully satisfied with a few things, like the lack of development in a few characters and the exploration of Chara’s “mysterious power”. So far I’ve already written 3 episodes, and I gotta say I am pretty satisfied with how they turned out! I had a lot of fun writing the scenes and dialogues, especially Chara and Asriel’s because they are a very comic duo and their dynamic is pretty adorable (I guess you guys will like them as much as I do).
But the only Episode that I’m 100% satisfied with is Ep 1, because it works perfectly as a first episode to introduce this crazy world of The Player’s Fate (specially the first and last scenes, but I’m not spoiling that!). I actually wrote a much shorter version of it originally but I decided to increase the world building and explore the region of New Home, a place that we barely spend time in the original Undertale and I thought of an interesting new approach to the region.
I know you guys must be very confused with some things that I’m saying! lol “Development?” “World building?” You may ask… But these are simply a few writing tips I learned to help increase the writing of TPF. But it is still important to remember that I am just an amatour, I don’t actually know how to write a perfect script of anything like that, but I am trying to make the best one I can with my basic knowledge.
Still, I am very confident with TPF’s 1st Ep, but you might be wondering why I haven’t begun making it yet, and I have a very special announcement to make… The Player’s Fate will have voice acting. Yes! I know! Crazy, right?! XD
I want TPF to have voice acting since I think it helps transmit the emotions of the characters and make intense moments being way more intense than if they were just by texts on a screen. I know it’s much simpler to add a text on a screen, but honestly I couldn’t find a good way of adding these texts to the screen without it covering too much of it, and when I usually plan a shot to animate I imagine it without any texts on it, so when I have to add the text it takes out the original emotion I wanted to show. And I also think voice acting and lip sync can help make the characters more alive and make you connect with them much easier.
I know I probably made you guys excited for the result, and I gotta say I also am, but I haven’t decided who I’ll be working with to create TPF, and also I will be paying these voice actors so I have to find a way of raising enough money to do so… I have a very long way to go before actually making the 1st Ep, but I know it will all be worth it in the end!
One last thing I wanted to say is that I think the 1st Ep will come out next year (2024) or the beginning of 2025. I know it’s hard to wait so much but I need to focus on my Youtube channel in the meantime, since the series will be posted there and I want as many people as possible to watch it (and also because I’ve been pretty inactive there in 2023 and I want to get back on track for that). It will be a bit difficult, since (if everything goes right) I’ll be dealing with college next year which will make my schedule very tight to work on TPF.
And I also plan on making a special video talking about everything I can about this project, like the series premise, the themes, the voice acting stuff, and a lot more, since I don’t think I’ve ever talked very openly about it. I want to do all this so more people can know about TPF and become interested in it. I know it may seem kinda dumb but TPF is one of the most important projects of my life, and I want it to work and be the best thing I can produce even being an amatour on the area.
Thank you so much if you read all that! XD
And thank you so much for your support, I can’t put into words how much this means to me. Thank you for keeping up with me until here. I’ll see you guys soon! :D
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[PORTUGUESE-BRAZIL]
Oi pessoal! Já faz um tempo desde a última vez que eu falei sobre The Player’s Fate e meu progresso nele, então decidi contar pra vocês o que tenho feito ultimamente (e vocês provavelmente devem saber o que é ksksk).
Então, meu plano atual pra TPF é fazer uma temporada inteira com cerca de 6 a 9 Eps. Já planejei algumas coisas para a 1ª temporada, mas ainda não tô totalmente satisfeita com algumas coisas, como a falta de desenvolvimento em alguns personagens e a exploração do “poder misterioso” do Chara. Até agora eu já escrevi 3 episódios e devo dizer que estou bastante satisfeito com o resultado deles! Eu me diverti muito escrevendo as cenas e os diálogos, especialmente os do Chara e do Asriel porque eles são uma dupla muito cômica e a dinâmica deles é muito fofa (acho que vocês vão gostar deles tanto quanto eu).
Mas o único Episódio que estou 100% satisfeita é o Ep 1, porque funciona perfeitamente como um primeiro episódio para introduzir esse mundo louco de The Player's Fate (principalmente na primeira e última cenas, mas não vou spoilar agora!) . Na verdade, eu originalmente escrevi uma versão muito mais curta, mas decidi aumentar a construção de mundo e explorar a região de New Home, um lugar onde que mal passamos tempo no Undertale original e eu pensei em uma nova abordagem interessante pra região.
Eu sei que vocês devem estar muito confusos com algumas coisas que tô falando! ksksk “Desenvolvimento?” “Construção de mundo?” Vocês devem estar se perguntando… Mas essas são apenas algumas dicas de roteiro que eu aprendi para ajudar a melhorar o roteiro de TPF. Mas ainda é importante lembrar que sou apenas uma amadora, e que eu na verdade não sei escrever um roteiro perfeito assim, mas eu tô tentando fazer o melhor que posso com meu conhecimento básico.
Mesmo assim, eu tô muito confiante com o 1º Ep de TPF, mas vocês devem estar se perguntando por que ainda não comecei, e tenho um anúncio muito especial a fazer… The Player’s Fate terá dublagem. Sim! Eu sei! Loucura, né?! XD
Eu quero que TPF tenha dublagem porque eu acho que ela ajuda a transmitir as emoções dos personagens e faz com que os momentos intensos sejam muito mais intensos do que se fossem apenas com textos numa tela. Eu sei que é muito mais simples adicionar um texto em uma tela, mas honestamente eu não encontrei uma boa maneira de adicionar esses textos na tela sem cobrir muito, e quando costumo planejar uma cena pra animar eu imagino sem nenhum texto, então quando eu tenho que adicionar o texto ele tira toda a emoção original que eu queria mostrar. E também acho que a dublagem e o lip sync podem ajudar a tornar os personagens mais vivos e fazer com que você se conecte com eles com muito mais facilidade.
Eu sei que provavelmente deixei vocês animados com o resultado, e devo dizer que também tô, mas eu ainda não decidi com quem eu vou trabalhar para criar TPF, e eu também vou pagar esses dubladores, então tenho que encontrar uma maneira de arrecadar dinheiro suficiente pra isso… Eu tenho um longo caminho antes de realmente começar a fazer o 1º Ep, mas sei que no final tudo vai valer a pena!
Uma última coisa que queria dizer é que acho que o 1º Ep vai sair ano que vem (2024) ou no início de 2025. Eu sei que é difícil esperar tanto, mas preciso focar no meu canal do Youtube enquanto isso, já que a série vai ser postada lá e quero que o maior número de pessoas possível assista (e também porque eu tive bastante inativa em 2023 e quero voltar com tudo agora). Vai ser um pouco difícil, já que (se tudo der certo) eu vou estar lidando com a faculdade ano que vem, o que vai deixar minha agenda bem apertada para trabalhar em TPF.
Eu também pretendo fazer um vídeo especial falando tudo o que puder sobre esse projeto, como a premissa da série, os temas, as dublagens e muito mais, já que acho que nunca falei muito abertamente sobre isso. Quero fazer tudo isto para que mais pessoas conheçam TPF e se interessem nele. Eu sei que pode parecer meio bobo mas o TPF é um dos projetos mais importantes da minha vida, e quero que dê certo e seja a melhor coisa que posso produzir mesmo sendo uma amadora na área.
Muito obrigado se você leu tudo isso! XD
E muito obrigado pelo seu apoio, eu não consigo expressar em palavras o quanto isso significa para mim. Obrigado por me acompanhar até aqui. Vejo vocês em breve! :D
#undertale#undertale au#au#alternate universe#the player's fate#undertale the player's fate#undertale tpf#chara tpf#chara#asriel#asriel dreemurr#asriel dreemurr tpf#digital art#photoshop#anouncement#animated series#progress#update#sorry for the huge text lol#mary mask
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