#as a person who was into GL first and started with BL because there wasn't enough content I AM THRIVING

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 6 October 2024

I haven't been as good at posting about shows as I wanted to be, so I'm trying a round-up format instead because it feels like a lot of GLs skirt under the radar. It's exciting that we're in a time when there's enough GL airing that it's worth doing a round-up! This was a great week for the lesbians to figure themselves out, so it feels like a good week to start. No idea how regularly I'll do this, need to figure out a cadence that makes sense.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to Oct 6):

Reverse 4 U 5/8 (Thai, Tuesdays 1:00 PM EDT, Netflix / YouTube) This week the girls finally sorted themselves and we got set up for the main plot to start next week. I was initially really stoked about this one and then a little bummed that it's not taking it's very cool premise and the stakes it establishes as seriously as it could be, but I'm still hoping it will start to have real stakes in the main plot stretch.

The Two of Us s2 ep 6/6 END (Thai, 29 Aug-3 Oct 2024, YouTube) It was so great seeing women in their 40s being romantic together but I did not love the plot of this one; I find their romantic conflicts too juvenile (lots of easily-triggered jealousy). The moments they're being sweet are great though.

Unlock Your Love ep 4/8 (Thai, Wednesdays, GagaOOLala / YouTube [cut version]) This is the first episode that this series felt a little more assured; I liked the series this production company produced with a short run time, it feels like this series has been worse off for its longer episodes. That being said, when these couples get to do their thing like in this episode, they have good chemistry.

Chaser Game W s2 ep 3/8 (Japanese, Thursdays 12:30 PM EDT, GagaOOLala) @lurkingshan is already doing a great summary of this week to week in her JQL weekly round-up!

Affair the series ep 6/8 (Thai, Fridays 11:15 AM EDT, iQIYI/ YouTube) Finally! I liked that it was Ek pointing out that Wan was unhappy the entire time she was gone that finally got Pleng to give in to her desire to be with Wan. This show is so melodramatic but the emotional threads follow and the character motivations are clear and consistent; I'm enjoying it in spite of not loving melodramatic storylines in general. It helps that the acting in this one is excellent.

The Loyal Pin ep 10/16 (Thai, Sundays 12:15 PM EDT, YouTube) Glad we finally got confirmation of Patt's history! And I'm relieved Anin knows she has an ally, though I feel like it's given her false confidence that worries me. These two are stressing me out by how bad they are at being careful but I do love how desperate they are for each other, as well as how beautiful this show is.

Red Whisper ep 2/8 (Korea, Wednesdays and Sundays, YouTube) Starting with cheating is not my fave but is par for the course with these SukFilm short series; my fave so far has been their first GL so if you haven't seen that yet I'd honestly recommend that instead.

Recent One-offs

Out of Breath (re-release in a bingeable version; Korean, YouTube) Highly recommended! Also the creator, Soo not Sue, announced she's working on another series to hopefully air before the end of the year, which I am super stoked about.

The Suffering of Xiqing Mountain (Chinese (censored), YouTube)

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so

Recently ended that I haven't had the wherewithal to write about:

Hoshikuzu Telepath (fansub) Thank you to @yuiyuihan for your hard work making it possible to watch this series! I I haven't read the original manga but I do know they changed the kiss communication to a forehead rest; Unsurprised that this adaptation, starring idols in the same group, would be left ambiguous in terms of whether their feelings are friendly or romantic. I liked what this series was trying to say, but in all honestly didn't love the execution. It's too bad because I absolutely love the concept of an alien being helped by girls obsessed with building rockets.

The Secret of Us 8 eps [complete] (24 Jun-15 Aug 2024, YouTube) I first included this in my recommendations from the summer and then retracted, but I ended up liking this series and then never updated again. So to set the record straight: Though it lost me in the middle, the ending on this series won be back over. I really appreciated the way this series handled filial piety and balancing that against personal happiness. I appreciated SO MUCH that the main characters decided together how to handle Lada's situation with her mother. I finally understood too late that Earn believed the lies Lada's mother told her in ep1, and that affected some of their decisions in the middle of the series. I still think the execution was wobbly, but the acting and chemistry between the two leads carries this series through. This has some of the best domestic fluff in any GL, as well as my favourite GL counter lift to date. And it's gorgeous. Tentatively recommended with the caveat that you do have to either enjoy or power through the melodrama in the middle.

Starting soon:

Apple My Love, Thai, 12 October, GagaOOLala

Pluto, Thai, 19 October, VIU

The Nipple Talk, Taiwanese, 1 November GagaOOLala

My Ex's Wedding [in theatres in Thailand 14 November]

Petrichor, Thai, 23 November, TBD

[muninnhuginn]

Hi Mun!!! I wanted to ask if you have any other kdramas or cdramas you would want to recommend? :0 I still need to catch up with Stranger/Secret Forest, but I’m curious if there are any others I should check out too!

That I do.

Okay so I'm trying to decide how much to factor in enjoyment vs quality here because I have a few shows I really enjoyed but are, um, well, you have to let some stuff pass.

I will mention that my tastes in terms of romancey stuff tends to lean towards non-existent or subtle and so that's largely reflected in my recs. The only exception to this on the list is Flower of Evil. (I didn't intend it but this list doesn't actually have any main BLs/GLs either. A lot of people ship various combos of the main three in MLC and WCL though.)

Shows below cut in no particular order:

Flower of Evil

(modern kdrama)

I wasn't sure how to start with this one so I'll just nab the description from Wikipedia as it's actually fairly accurate here:

Baek Hee-sung is a man who hides his identity and past from his wife Cha Ji-won, a detective. On the surface, they appear to be the perfect family: A loving couple with a beautiful six-year-old daughter who adores her parents. Cha Ji-won and her colleagues begin investigating a series of unexplained murders and she is confronted with the reality that her seemingly perfect husband may be hiding something from her.

I don't want to spoil much about this, but it's very cat-and-mousey. It's evil with the cliffhangers. At one point, it briefly becomes a buddy comedy between a guy and another guy he kept in his basement. And there is one scene where people just sit in a car crying for two minutes. So, like, it has the range? I think of it as a guilty pleasure kinda show personally, but it's probably the closest to Beyond Evil of the shows on this list.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

(historical cdrama)

Full disclosure: I have only recently finished this and it has somewhat taken over my brain so I can't claim to be in any way unbiased here. Li Lianhua is a lying liar who lies who may or may not be the fallen hero Li Xiangyi (he is). He wants to get by pretending to be a doctor and minding his own business, but unfortunately, the plot is out to get him. And so he, along with Fang Duobing, end up investigating various crimes as Li Lianhua tries to find the body of his former senior to lay him to rest before his own body gives out on him.

My favourite thing about this show is a) Li Lianhua, and b) the dynamic between the main trio. The levels of trolling and identity porn at any one time are through the roof. It's a comedy until it isn't.

Reset

(modern cdrama)

This is the incredibly rare type of show known as a decent *modern* cdrama. It's a timeloop show and is fairly short at 15 episodes. It's about two strangers who are trapped on a bus that keeps exploding and their attempts to uncover why and how it keeps happening. Being a modern cdrama, some of the police stuff can be fairly... heavy-handed, but I think the writers do what they can despite that, and it does use the different bus passengers to explore different societal issues, which is neat.

Overall, it's a bit of a mystery show, a bit of a character drama, and a teensy bit of romance which is for the most part nicely underplayed.

White Cat Legend

(historical cdrama)

This is waaaaaay more down the enjoyment end than quality but I'm having such a good time here. This is originally based off a manhua (I've only read pieces of it myself) but mainly just takes the characters and some story beats and does its own thing. I watched the donghua first and tonally that was an interesting experience in how it raced between funny cat shenanigans and reckoning with the nature of war crimes (though the donghua stuck much closer to the og source overall). But the live action so far is staying firmly silly (I'm midway through so it will shift at some point, I'm sure, just can't see the tonal whiplash being as bad as in the donghua).

Anyway! To explain what the show actually *is*, it follows a guy who has been cursed to become a cat (in the manhua/donghua this means he's like a walking furry but the live action has it more of a werecat/shapeshifter deal which is good because I could not handle that cg 24/7) and his attempts at running investigations as part of the local court. This is not helped by being the only competent guy in the entire place. Still, at least his underlings are *incredibly* entertaining in their failures. So, most of the show is investigating crimes against a backdrop of Li Bing (catto dude) trying to uncover the origins of the curse and why the old court and his father died. There's also a purple dude with whom he has History and an italian vampire. And vice president shangguan, who is one of those rare female characters you get in historical cdramas where the show is actually normal about her existence *without* just entirely brushing over the implications of her being in her position as a woman.

Move to Heaven

(modern kdrama)

This is a genuine rec where I'm not going to say you have to let quality pass or whatever because it's objectively good and doesn't have a high entry barrier. It may be good to watch an episode at a time depending on your mood though rather than trying to marathon it or anything.

This show basically follows the 'move to heaven' team, who are summoned to clear out the belongings of the deceased. Each deceased person has a story associated with them and as part of tidying the belongings away, there's an element of investigating to find out what their story was. It can be a tearjerker at times, but it can also be incredibly sweet. Also, it has a canon autistic character where it actually strikes a really good balance in terms of not infantilising him whilst still having it make sense why he wants help with certain things.

Nirvana in Fire

(historical cdrama)

This is my beloved. My favourite cdrama of all time. But I suspect it may not fit for you if Secret Forest doesn't. Still, I'll mention it and say to look up the diagrams to keep track of all the characters in the early episodes (...yeah, it's that type of show).

Anyway, this show is about a terminally ill man who takes on a secret identity or two as he plots to take revenge/bring justice (depending on who you ask) for the crimes of the past. This is part of the 'lying liar who lies' subgenre. It's much more serious and complicated overall than Mysterious Lotus Casebook despite the superficial similarities, but it does have its lighthearted moments.

Misc. shows that didn't make the list

I'll mention Signal (kdrama) and Kairos (kdrama) because they both have neat time travel mechanics, but with huge stipulations here. Signal is the objectively better one of these two and the male mc in Kairos is unbearable at times but at the same time Kairos has enough good points to keep me watching. The friend trio of female mc (they're just besties frfr) and the villain romance subplot especially. Signal had potential to be amazing, but for me, some of the time travel mechanics fell through and it was almost BBC Sherlockian at times with some of the 'profiling' deductions.

Signal's premise is that there's a walkie talkie that links the past and the present between a current day consultant profiler (with a distrust of the police despite now working for them) and a past police officer who is dead in the present day. It follows various cases between the past and the present that are interlocking with each other, with the overarching mysteries being present day profiler's backstory and past cop's death. I feel like this started out decently, went hit-and-miss, had a few episodes where it was absolutely amazing, and then lost steam somewhat, though the ending hit the main points.

Kairos' premise centres around a mobile phone. When a phone is disconnected, the number ends up being assigned to someone else. So, the two main characters, living a month apart in time, have the same number and thus can communicate with each other. The male mc in the future has recently found out that his wife and daughter have both died and the female mc's mother has gone missing. So they've both got a scenario they need the other person to help them with and as they change things, more new problems keep cropping up. It's a show where the premise is super interesting, but I personally found it a very frustrating watch, not least because of characters making decisions that were in-character, but incredibly stupid and *not* in the entertaining way.

Also, as I didn't include any BLs/GLs, I'll mention that I cannot in good conscience recommend Guardian (cdrama), but it's such fun trash and it has Shen Wei. It's a bit like shows like Torchwood and Buffy in that it's ostensibly modern era but there's magic (sorry, 'aliens') and a team that's meant to be keeping on top of it all led by Zhao Yunlan. He meets Shen Wei and then proceeds to *keep meeting him* at various crime scenes because Shen Wei sucks at this whole low-key deal.

On a similar note, Couple of Mirrors (cdrama) is a republican era GL. The two leads are well-written, but it's basically like two different shows mushed together (a soap and an assassin/cat-and-mouse chase). It has Yan Wei though! It's about a popular writer meeting a photographer (who is also an assassin) and them both discovering that the writer's husband really and truly sucks.

[becauseimanicequeen]

I've been busy painting lately and haven't had the time to write much about the stuff I've watched or answer the asks that have appeared in my inbox. So I thought I would gather some of it in one post. Let's go!

Why am I Watching QLs at 30+?

Let's get the shit out of the way first because I have better things to do than to focus on ridiculous shit (unless it's a show that entertains the fuck out of me by being ridiculous). But, since this is an opportunity for me to (hopefully) broaden the perspective of this particular Anon, I will take it now that I have some spare time.

To give some context: This ask dropped into my inbox during the Olympics (when I was busy having fun watching gymnasts be superhuman and swimmers in their 30s winning gold medals rather than answering asks), where an Anon asked me why I, a grown-ass 30+-year-old person, participated in the BL space and said it was embarrassing, blah blah blah.

Short answer: I didn't know people stopped being queer at 30...

Longer answer: I've intuitively known I'm queer since I was a teenager. It's just that I had to focus on surviving my teens and twenties (mostly due to grief that kept piling on) rather than exploring who I was.

I didn't find the opportunity, time, and space to go inward until the pandemic when my depression released some of its hold on me (I know that sounds weird given the global situation at the time, but that was my personal experience during 2020-2022). Then, when I found the Asian QL world about 14 months ago, I started to understand myself even more. I've learned more about myself in 14 months than the two decades before that.

The core of what I'm saying here is that not everyone realizes they're queer in their teens. And no matter what age someone is, we all deserve to see stories we can relate to. The QLs I've seen have given me so much, even the bad ones (and especially the very bad ones, lmao). I'm sure there are others out there with the same experience.

BLs/GLs/QLs don't have an upper age limit. Got it? Great. Moving on...

What Happened to My Color Posts?

Another Anon sent me an ask about my color posts a week ago, asking me why I wasn't writing them anymore and if I'll be writing more of them again.

The honest answer is that I'm busy using color (painting) rather than writing about them.

I'm currently working on a project with some other artist friends and paint around 8-10 hours/day 5-6 days/week (at least at the moment). The project won't be done until sometime during April next year, and I'm loving it here.

Will I write about color again? Sure. If I get the time and feel like it. But, at the moment, I don't have anything I feel like writing about and I would rather just throw color (paint) on canvases instead.

What I'm Currently Watching

Another Anon asked me what I was currently watching since my tumblr seemed to only be filled with 4 Minutes (which clearly showed my obsession with that show, lol), and which of those shows was my current favorite (excluding 4 Minutes).

I'm basically watching these shows, minus the ones that have ended (4 Minutes, Happy of the End, I Hear the Sunspots, The On1y One, Seoul Blues, and The Trainee), and plus Bad Guy My Boss (Thailand), Jack & Joker (Thailand) and Love is a Poison (Japan).

On paper, I should devour Jack & Joker, crumbs and all. Also on paper, Bad Guy My Boss and Live in Love should only be an entertaining escape for me to turn off my brain.

I guess I'm in some weird kind of mood at the moment because it's the complete opposite. Jack & Joker is an entertaining escape, but I'm so deep into Bad Guy My Boss and Live in Love that Sunday has become my favorite day of the week (because I get both of them on Sundays).

I'm sure I'll get more into J&J when I get more Zorzo, though. I'm just surprised about my own chill reaction to it.

Anyway...

Other than those shows, I have to mention First Note of Love (Taiwan) which is amazing. I've got Charles Tu on my screen every week (which makes me suuuuper happy), Michael Chang is amazing, James and Liu Min Ting are amazing, Kaia Lee and Amanda Liu are even more amazing, and Mos and Bank have made cameos as themselves in two episodes. And I haven't even mentioned how great the music and the story is! (Btw, I've listened to the theme song about 100 times already.)

Then there's obviously I Saw You In My Dream (Thailand) and Monster Next Door (Thailand) as well. I would write posts upon posts about these if I had the time (which I don't).

Let me just say that I'm so happy I jumped into I Saw You In My Dream even though I started watching it for a ridiculous reason. The chemistry between the four boys is amazing as well. I definitely get the sense that these characters have known each other and been friends for years, and I love how that could develop into something more for them.

And Monster Next Door is making me love an introvert and an extrovert so much at the same time that the previous episode personally attacked me from several directions.

(Btw, I intentionally told myself to not go to this show's page on MDL because this world built for extroverts is waaay too harsh on the judgments of introverted characters. You won't find that bullshit here, though, I promise.)

As an 80%+ introvert (which I've been every time I've retaken the test in the past decade or so) who can pass off as an extrovert since I'm often around a lot of people (more often than I would like because it drains my energy), I love Diew soooo much. He's such a down-to-earth boy who knows his boundaries (a lot better than I do anyway, lol), and, yet, he agrees to go and play basketball with God and his friends because he wants to spend more time with his boyfriend. It's too bad that Dr. Asshole got to God first, though.

(Dr. Asshole should just focus on healing animals rather than interacting with humans, tbh, but, I digress...)

I just hope God realizes the story he's made up in his head about Diew and Dr. Asshole is just that, a story he's made up in his head. Their communication has been great so far and I'm sure they will solve it soon enough. That doesn't mean seeing God so sad and seeing how badly Diew was treated in the past (by his then-boyfriend, Dr. Asshole) hurt any less, though.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

*signing off to throw paint at a new canvas because I can't wait until tomorrow...*

[mytragedyperson]

So ever since I found mlm and wlw stories (especially fanfics and BL & GL media), my interest in het romance decrese a lot, and what I search for is just the dynamic between mc (male) and male lead or mc (female) and female lead...

Like, I don't want to read mc (female) and male lead or mc (male) and female lead...And what I want to read mostly are just mlm or wlw stories for romance....

What do you think is happening to me? Is it really weird?

I don't know what's happening but i personally don't find it that weird. I went through something similar. I can't speak for you but I can explain some of my own experience and see if it resonates and, if not, you'll know that you're not alone.

So, first, a lot of the animes I watch are very male-domimated. Because they're sports animes or quite action focused, there's typically more men in the show, and the women there may not be as developed. So, for me, it's harder to ship some of the female characters with the male characters because I don't really know them or their personality so deciding who they'd look good with is hard. It's not the same as shipping two characters who never met, because, even if they didn't meet, they usually had enough scenes that you know their personalities and can go 'yeah they'd work well together', whereas, for me at least, girl characters who said maybe two lines, isn't really a clear personality. I'd be doing a lot of the legwork myself.

The second element of this is chemistry. So it's not that I have zero straight ships. Its just that every character I have a straight ship for, I also have a gay or lesbian or both ship for. I'm gonna use Kiyoko x Tanaka for this, because I ship Kiyoko with both Tanaka and Yachi, and while I'm aware canonically she ends up with Tanaka, I don't see much to show it mutual through a lot of canon. I'm sure it is, I just don't see it. Meanwhile, with Yachi and Kiyoko, even if it's mostly platonic in canon, there is an element of mutual care there. Kiyoko is very protective of Yachi, and I feel like Yachi could very much be attracted to Kiyoko. The second element of this is that one is canonical, it happens in canon, whereas Yachi x Kiyoko and, honestly, a lot of the other ships I have, are not canon. And, in fanfiction, I kinda prefer to read about non-canon ships. That's just my preference, really.

Also, at least when I started reading fanfiction, I was mostly reading x OC fanfiction, and most OCs were female, were women, etc. So, I read a lot of het fanfictions then, but around the time I was getting into AO3, I was, at first, in the Harry Potter fandom, and then, after a short but passionate Harry Potter phase, I got into anime and Haikyuu and, well, Haikyuu had a lot more fics, a lot more ships, a lot more headcanons, less canon ships so anything eas possible and it wasn't necessarily against canon, and I do think the fandoms you're in influence it.

If you're watching or reading something with significantly more women than men, or vice versa because I'm pretty sure the opposite would be true, I think its only natural that, sooner or later, those mostly male or mostly female characters are gonna end up being shipped with each other. Similarly, if the men are better developed or the women are better developed, or the women or men have better chemistry with each other, again, you're going to ship them. And, to an extent, fanfiction is kind of a mix of escapism and kind of putting ourselves in the mind of someone else. And, in a way, there's an element of, if I want to see a straight ship, there are a million shows I could watch that have straight ships, some good, some bad. And it's not some sexual "I wanna see two men kiss" or I wanna see two women kiss. Honestly it's usually I wanna see this character happy and I feel like they'd be happier in x ship. Also what can't be denied, and this isn't hate on straight ship fic writers, but what can't be denied is how well written some MLM/WLW ships are.

But yeah, I don't think it's wrong or anything. I think like everything else with fanfiction, it's a preference. Maybe there's something about the specific ships or fics you're reading that call for you, maybe it's themes that often show up for those ships or in those fics. I don't think you're alone in this. As I said, I don't read much straight ship fanfiction myself. And its not like I sit and think I'm not gonna read straight fanfiction ever. They just don't call to me as much and that's fine.

Also, having a preference for a type of ship is not wrong. As long as you're not randomly insulting others or attacking them, there's no incorrect way to read fanfiction. Are you having fun? Are you enjoying reading the stuff you're reading? Because if you are, that's all that really matters. Fandom is supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be enjoyable. So, as long as you're respectful to other fandom members, you're not doing anything wrong

[ultfreakme]

Can I ask for advice? I read your answers to ask, and it seems about random thing too (not just fandom characters)....So, I just got into JJK this year, and my friend is estatic (they were a fan for almost 3 years). They ship yuuta/maki, choso/yuki and gojo/utahime (I think the first 2 ships are cute and I don't mind either ships, too). But when I told them that I ship gojo/getou, they become defensive and told me, "but they're only bffs and it's only platonic relationships and bromance. It's not BL you know..." and I was iritated like, it's okay to ship what we like right? Do you think I should hide my love for this ship from my friend and preted only like het ships, too?

P.s Love your analysis on JJK (especially satosugu and itajun). Now I get more of the story, because of your blog. Thanks to you I also ship ItaJun 😄.

Also your answer to that anon (who loves BL /GL more than het romance), I kinda get their feeling. I'm so grateful to found your blog... Hope you have a wonderful day...

Absolutely not don't hide your love for satosugu! A ship doesn't have to be from the BL section to be mlm. Someone sent me an ask talking about how Blue Flag's end couple is two boys and it was published as a shonen manga.

I'm gonna be a bit of a bitch....and say well Gojo/utahime, Choso/Yuki, Yuuta/Maki can't be shipped because JJK is shonen, it's not romance or shojo. Also they're all bros and friends too! None of those couples said I love you, none of them kissed or really hung out all that much and none of these are canon(although tbh I would argue that based on subtext and a billion comments from anime production and creative staff it practically is) so......

Okay bitch moment over.

You're nice to your friend and their ships despite being ambivalent about one, they have to show the same courtesy to you. They don't have to start shipping it too but like it's just good friend behavior to be accepting. If it's a point of tension, it's best not to argue over it, or try to convince the other person of something. If your friend can't hear you out and dismisses you entirely, THEY are in the wrong, never you.

Also, I've often hid my own interests and loves in the past because my friends were super judgemental(like, "oh ew how could you like anime?" or "oh gross that's two boys/girls that doesn't work"). None of them stuck around me long and I wasn't happy being friends with them. I was miserable pretending to be something I'm not, even if it was something as silly as my interests.

Nowadays though, I do have friends who don't get shipping but they're respectful about it. End lesson; Don't ever change yourself, how you express yourself or your interests for another person. You are totally valid for liking the things you do and if others can't accept that, that's their problem. If they can't let this go or keep telling you to not talk about it or try to change your mind....well I hate to be extreme and this is worst case scenario, but, ditch em, there's better people out there who'd take you as you are.

Thank you so much!!! I love doing metas and analysis like it makes the experience so much richer and there's new depths to enjoy~~ glad you enjoy it!! This is super sweet <3<3 (\^_^/)

The BL/GL thing is so relatable and I think more recently, a pretty common experience for people in the anime/manga fandoms. I used to feel super alone with it but hopefully because of social media we can all feel a lot better in knowing we're not alone. When it comes to fiction, just do what's fun and makes you happy.

Have a nice day too anon!!!

[hermioneismyrealname]

Ok everyone.

Let's put some chronic internet buffoons in their place, shall we?

Let's first talk about the OG thai bl. Love sick. I was there. Let's talk about the one that got thai bl some traction. Love by chance. I was there. How about the one that put thai bl on the map, tharntype. I was there. Now KinnPorsche. The one that got global attraction from (mostly) everyone. Here still.

Before Asian bl, I was here for hannibal, supernatural and fucking merlin since day 1. Yuri on ice, been waiting for that movie for how many years now? And don't get me started on banana fish, given or all the bl manhwa, manhua and Manga. Call me fujoshi? Yeah aight but I'm here for the gl series (give me more) and the well written straight shit too.

The difference between the two kinds of media I present to you is deliberate fan service and fan acknowledgment.

If I were to categorize shows like merlin or Teen Wolf, I would put it as unfortunate writing. Supernatural and hannibal were not really a romance focused genre. Considering how early game these shows were, I wasn't surprised with the ending of all 4 of these series. Which is why good omens, heartstopper, young royals, and our flag means death is refreshing. These four bring a genre where LIFE is portrayed with romance being the center of it. They don't always give a happy ending. They have a realistic ending. I cannot always say the same for asian dramas.

In the early days of Asian bl, Thai especially, it focused on plot, actual plot, not hot guys who look great, but great actors. A good example is SOTUS and Until We Meet Again. A recent addition that I can add is Your Name Engraved Herein. It was also about getting society comfortable with LGBTQ+. Also, it tackled the ridiculous education system and challenged it. Up for some football anyone? This used to be a art form of portrayal and storytelling. Taiwanese drama has maintained a good story plot throughout most of it productions but it is a shame that it goes underrated most of the time.

Now, I observe the market for bl. I do blame KinnPorsche of this, but if I were to truly put a pin in it, I would stab it at tharntype. The thai entertainment industry is going to suffer. The primary reason for the inevitable doom is the unfortunate marketing ploy the actors have to do off-screen. Take tharntype, an unfortunately perfect example. While mame (previously) never re-used the actors in her universe, post tharntype, mew and gulf were expected to act again together. Why? The off-screen fan-service. Behind the scenes show actors being comfortable at their workplace. On stage in front of screaming, fans is just another act. If they did love each other, they wouldn't flaunt it as they did. Even now, there are wanjaai still thinking gulf is mew's affianced. It took mew to personally address the fans' ridiculous behavior and yet, here we are; bubbles mourning and the... I can't remember the ohmnannon fan base. I saw the panic when saint wouldnt be with perth again, and then when saint wouldn't be with zew. HAHAHAHA. Remember pretty recently when Freen's privacy was invaded and fans felt betrayed? pathetic.

Just thinking about it makes me laugh because even the japanese actors have their boundaries. Take Keita Machida for example. Not only did he get featured in Alice in Borderland, but he is also married. There was some backlash but not as much as Cha Seo Won from Unintentional Love Story and definitely not as much as any Thai BL actor. These are talented actors who are capable of so much. Take Fluke Natouch. He is a wonderful actor and is trying not limit himself to a ship/pairing/couple. Talk to me when you have seen Red Wine in the Dark Night. Imagine what the industry could truly be if markets wouldn't limit them.

If however, this is about the comfort of the actor, then FINE! But don't condemn them when they suddenly aren't paired up with each other again. For this, I put forward PremBoun (yes i just did that), NetJames and TutorYim. I will not mention FortPeat or BossNoeul because I can see all four of them going independent and succeeding whilst maintaining a brilliant friendship. Peat and Noeul especially. Cant wait for that to rock people's boat.

Need I remind these people that THEY ARE ACTORS! NOT DOLLS OR PUPPETS! Heck need I remind the public of the 227 scandal?

As fans, shouldn't we support the actor for acting? Not the ship for putting on smiles?

Now I sip my tea as I watch the ships. Actually, my eyes aren't on the ships; they are watching the idiots who can't take nuance and are chronically online. I watch them cry when their ships sink as me and my fellow veterans relax on our sundeck enjoying our teas, coffee and martinis with those tiny little umbrellas. Been through this all before and this whole manifesto was completely useless because nothing is going to change. Looking at the idiots in Macau for Bible's recent fanmeet.

*lifts my half empty teacup* Perhaps I am just @absolutebl but more chaotic and less diplomatic. Do I care about how many shippers this hurt? Considering some of their bullshit behavior, I'm gonna say how it is. I've been dealing with death threats since 2012 and the threats of chemical castration from my own government, I cant seem to fucking care. Cheers to chaos.

[waitmyturtles]

I was reading your meta posts on how you're watching older thai bls to get an understanding of where they come from and looking at the works you've seen and yet to see, it makes me really see that somehow i managed to be there for the start and kinda rise of thai bl dramas, where we used to get (1) bl a year, skip seeing a lot of the growing pains drama live and now am back to bls when they're doing some of their best works and also so much quantity in bls to choose from and also finally start getting gls???

Like when you're like oh how it must have been to watch these dramas in 2016, I'm like not 2016, but 2017, but I WAS THERE with regards to sotus and sotus s.

And gods was i OBSESSED WITH KONGART at the time. And i personally think that sotus wouldn't be as fondly remembered for me personally, if sotus s didn't exist. Because for me, i really liked sotus s more and it's still the part (along with the our skyy ep) I've rewatched more over the actual SOTUS drama. That's also probably because i love seeing more established relationship in dramas lol

And while i can't comment on krust acting because it HAS been quite a while since i last rewatched sotus or sotus s, I'd say with regards to arthit, i like him a lot better in sotus s than in sotus. Do with that what you will lol

And i think it's a large part of how it was my first thai bl and the nostalgia of it is part of why i still look back on it fondly despite all the problems i can see in it now, looking back. Same with petekao in dark blue kiss and love me again.

Like when i came back to watching bls in 2022 (after a lengthy break of not watching them 2019-22) you what blew my mind the most? Not the quality of bls because that, i realised, AFTER i watched the shows. But the SHEER QUANTITY of them.

Like if you told the me that was watching sotus that something as awesome as February of this year where i had quality ongoing bl dramas to watch from MONDAY TO SATURDAY I'd be like don't be delusional that wouldn't happen EVER.

Oh how i love to be proven wrong and i see I'm yet again going off on an unrelated tangent.

I think that's part why ppl who started watching bls with 2gether look back at it so fondly despite i personally finding it a good bl but not worth rewatching.

Because that 1st bl nostalgia is a heavy drug.

And i think part of WHY i fell so heavily into sotus is BECAUSE it borrowed from the ye olde yaoi tropes, which i personally, liked reading about at that time. Plus it was what dominated the stories in the yaoi manga at the time! So as a naive teen, it was what I'd like because i had NOTHING ELSE in the yaoi section. I also read shoujo manga at the time and let's just say it wasn't doing too much better lol

And speaking from the perspective from an asian, living in an asian country myself, I discovered the existence of queer people via these yaoi manga (my country was and still is pretty queerphobic and it didn't help i was brought up in a kind of smaller town. Small by my country standard, western ppl would probably be shocked at the population in our small cities lmao) and eventually leading to my eventual discovery of my own queerness, these manga are a large part of at least the younger gen who have read such stuff in my country being at least less queerphobic. But that's a rant for some other time.

I'll stop with that train of thought before I go off more than i already have in your ask lmao.

Thanks for reading this slightly incoherent rambling in your ask lol

But anyways i hope you enjoy watching these dramas and I'll be looking forward to more of your drama reviews!

Oh my GOODNESS -- thank you SO, SO MUCH for sending this reflection my way! I so appreciate it!

As a kid of Asian immigrants in the States -- I SO appreciate hearing the thoughts of other Asians (and especially Asians in Asia!) watching these amazing shows that we love. And thank you for sharing your perspective in regards to your realizing your own queerness -- and how these dramas, and yaoi manga, helped you realize that and gave you artistic support. I think that's so incredibly important. Sending so many hugs to you -- art is amazing.

Regarding KongArt -- I am there with you. If it had been 2016, and I was a BL fan then, and I was LOOKING for a BL drama, I would have been ALL OVER that ship, and totally obsessed with it, because it was the first BL central/solo plot of a drama. (I likely would have also been far more obsessed with Phun and Noh in Love Sick, too, ha.)

My first ever-ever BL was 2019's What Did You Eat Yesterday/Kinou Nani Tabeta, and the ship of Shiro x Kenji will forever remain my favorite (not even withstanding that they're played by two of Japan's best actors of all time). I totally understand that the "1st bl nostagia is a heavy drug." Bad Buddy isn't my first Thai BL, but it was the first that truly wrapped me up in an analytical spiral, and I literally think about Bad Buddy and WDYEY on a daily basis. I love the feeling these shows give me by way of how smart and equitable they are.

Thanks so much for diving into my OGMMTVC project with me. I'm always taking recommendations. I may very well pick up SOTUS S and the SOTUS Our Skyy episodes, but only after I finish my main list -- I know that the fandom generally thinks those two pieces are better, but I still need a touch of a break from Krust, ha.

HUGS. What a wonderful reflection to read this morning. I so appreciate your note!