#in a year where we've had some truly amazing bl

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Classic BL Watch: MasterPost

Namaste besties. @waitmyturtles started a challenge watching Older Thai BLs and it got me thinking as well. I've seen a few, I've DNF-ed a few, but I wanted to see the progression with my own eyes. Thus we be here.

The basic premise is to watch and review Thai BLs from Love Sick 2014 (which I believe is the first Thai BL) to present time.

I'm going to make a few changes to the format and include BLs from other countries as well, including China (if I can find it).

This is a long post so I divided it into chapters: - Some History - The Method to Potential Madness - List - Rating System I've made individual posts about each under #org: subcategory

I've been fascinated with BLs for over two years. To find that there was an entire world of queer content out there which A) existed and B) didn't queerbait or bury the gay, was a revelation. How could this be? I'd watched Yuri!!! on Ice in 2017 and I guess assumed that BLs would be the same (E7 blocked kiss). So while BLs were on my radar for a while before I started I didn't get into them until relatively recently. I got so into them that I started a YouTube Channel about it.

See I'm a writer and watching art transform in front of your eyes is a relatively recent phenomena and it makes my brain go brrr...

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Some History:

I'm Indian. I'm queer. We didn't have any rights until 2018 when the ban on homosexuality was lifted. We've had queer movies but they were your traditional Oscar-bait type things until very, very recently. By that I mean until last year where we had Maja Ma, a Madhuri Dixit starrer movie about a mom coming out as a lesbian which shocks the family and makes trouble for the son's marriage. It's a brilliant movie with one of India's best actresses as the lead. But it was a Netflix Original. Before that there was Subh Mangal Zyada Savdhan and Badhaai Do, which are both good queer movies which aired in cinemas from 2020 and 2022 respectively. All to say, queer media is very very very new in India. As such, what was a young queer to do but follow the Indian Dream and go to America. Which I did, in a literary sense. In fact watching Nyssa Al Ghul kiss Sara Lance was my queer awakening. (I love Ava but this ship was really something.) Between the good writing and queer chars being present, I wasn't coming back to India like any typical NRI.

I've mentioned before about how for the story I started writing at 15 there was no other love interest for the female lead except for another girl. It just won't make sense. This was before 2018, mind you, so not a chance in hell this would be published in India. I consoled myself with 'We'll publish in America. It takes place in space anyway, so it's fine.' But then came a story that just won't work in America. Think: what if Succession's terrible people protags were queer and Indian but it's written from a 'truly believes in romance' pov. Confused already right? I'd already given up hope. I love this, but it won't be anything more than a webnovel.

Par kahte hai -

(It is said, if you love something with all your heart then the entire universe will conspire to get it to you.)

And somehow I found BLs. A world of queer stories the likes of which I'd never seen before, brimming with love and support and honest and real and queer. The Bollywood fan in me lived again after a decade 6 feet under.

I love BLs. There's no two ways about it. I love them for the love they give, the hope they have, the cringe, the drama, the stupidity, the honesty, the realness. It's everything I ever wanted queer media to be. To start it from 0 and learn what made them what they are would be an amazing learning experience and to share that with other people... well how can I not?

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The Method to potential Madness:

My tastes are a little peculiar. I have seen media from all over the world, the good and the bad, what it has taught me is nothing is every going to be perfect and I will miss things that are important to other people but what else I've learned is that I don't really care about something being good. If it's broken, a little difficult, a little cheap but made with love. I am all in.

See when I was young during Janmasthami every year these guys from an organization called Yogeshwar would come in white kurtas and perform nataks(plays) in our society. They didn't have sets, 2-3 props, just that white kurta and pants as outfits and yet it was entertaining. It was fun. I loved it. So money and pure intentions have never been barriers for me.

(an example of Janmasthami natak)

What I do care about is competence. That the writer understands what they are writing about. The best actor can't pull off a bad script but a bad actor can be tolerated in a good script.

To get you an idea of my tastes some of my favorite medias are Legends of Tomorrow, Guardian (Cdrama), Supernatural, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, Chains of Heart, Kinnporsche, LITA, The Eclipse, The Devil Judge, Crash Course in Romance, SRK movies from '00 like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Main Hoon Na, Kabhi Khushsi Kabhi Gham, etc. As you can see, very widely ranging. I love competence and I love heart. Everything else I can live without. To that end some shows I didn't like/DNF-ed: Bed Friend, Step by Step, Big Mouth, Eve, Game of Thrones, most Netflix things, Mr. Robot, Supergirl, The Flash, Elite, Witcher, Coffee Melody, War of Y. If you get too PC without the narrative backup I'll leave; If it's too nihilistic, I'll leave; If it's too monotonous, I'll leave. I have Psychotic Depression, I don't have the time to deal with this shit.

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List:

To borrow from @waitmyturtles, a list of shows I'll cover:

ThaiBL: 1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 2) Make It Right + Make It Right 2 3) SOTUS + SOTUS S 4) Together With Me 5) Love By Chance 6) He’s Coming To Me 7) Dark Blue Kiss 8) TharnType 9) Puppy Honey 10) Theory of Love 11) Until We Meet Again 12) 2gether + Still 2gether 13) I Told Sunset About You + I Promised You the Moon 14) Manner of Death 15) A Tale of Thousand Stars 16) Lovely Writer I will group these into either productions i.e. all GMMTV or by writer i.e. all MAME, all Jittiran, all Sammon, etc

Korean BL: 1) Where Your Eyes Linger 2) Color Rush 3) To My Star 4) You Make Me Dance 5) Nobleman's Ryu's Wedding 6) Light On Me 7) Peach of Time 8) Kissable Lips 9) Long Time No See 10) Cherry Blossoms After Winter 11) Blueming 12) Our Dating Sim 13) The Eighth Sense Others like The Tasty Florida, Where Your Eyes Linger, Semantic Error, etc. I've already seen and don't include on this list.

Japanese BL: (from @absolutebl's recs) 1) Seven Days 2) My Love Mix-up 3) Restart after Come back Home 4) Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice but to Kiss! 5) Life: Love on the line 6) Man who defies the world of BL 7) Takumi kun 8) Boys Love 9) Cornered Mouse Dream of Cheese 10) Eternal Yesterday 11) Ossan's Love 12) Given Others like Cherry Magic, Old Fashion Cupcake, Minato Coin Laundry, etc. I've already seen and don't include on this list.

Taiwanese BL: 1 - 5) HIStory Series 6) Be Loved in this House: I Do 7) See you after Quarantine? 8) DNA says I love you 9) We are Gamily 10) Your Name Engraved Herein 11) Papa & Daddy 12) Plus Minus 13) Love is Science Others like We Best Love, About Youth I've already seen and don't include on this list.

Chinese BL: (If I can find them) 1) Addicted Heroin 2) The Untamed 3) Advance Bravely 4) My Esport Genius Brother 5) Like Love: I love you as a man 6) Mr. CEO is falling in Love with him 7) S.C.I 8) Irresistible Love 9) Mr. X and I Others like Guardian and Word of Honor I've already seen and don't include on this list

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Rating System:

Range: 3 Wonderland to 3 Wasteland. Wonderland = Good. Wasteland = Bad. 3 Wonderland = Best Ever. 3 Wasteland = Worst Ever. Categories: Writing/Script (character work, world building, pacing, etc.); Production (technical stuff, camera work, visuals, etc.); Acting; Joy Levels (how much I enjoyed it); Feeling (satisfied, confused, angry, etc.)(totally subjective, grain of salt metric) and a Final Rank.

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Tags: classic BL watch; [show]; fork watches; fork report;

[16/06/2023]

#classic BL watch #org: masterpost #type: masterpost #thai bl #asian bl #korean bl #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #chinese bl #youtube #fork report #fork watches