#KhunKaow

[absolutebl]

Hello! I am impressed by your extensive knowledge on media and BL, and by the way you convey your thoughts on it. I learned a lot, and it made me appreciate some sides of this industry that I never really payed attention to. Thus, I would like to know what are your theories/opinions on why the phenomenon of the side ship(s) being more engaging that the main ship is so prevalent in BL. Thank you 💕!

Hi! And thank you.

Theories/opinions on why the phenomenon of the side couple being more engaging that the main couple is so prevalent in BL

Ah...

Side Dish Addiction Syndrome Explained

@heretherebedork and I feel your pain on this one.

1. My pet theory is that since the side dishes have so much less screen time it allows fans to imagine more about them and identify more closely with them. But there’s mroe than that. 

2. They have much less rope to hang themselves with in terms of cliche tropes and dialogue and archetypes. They can be somewhat pastiche (or slap dash, as characters) and we, as watchers, give them more depth than they would (if that had more screen time) actually have earned. 

3. Many script writers are actually better at relationship development in short form rather than long form, because romance as a narrative driver is under-studied and under-appreciated, a lot of people in the film industry just do not understand how it works. Therefore less screen time is actually better, fewer outside voices to fuck it up.  

4. The side dishes are an opportunity to provide a foil to the main characters. 

WinTeam are a great example. Win (outgoing, flirty, cheerful, gregarious) is the opposite of Dean. Team (outgoing, tsundere, tough) is the opposite of Pharm. Sometimes we like them better because of this. They look even better by comparison because they exist as a kind of narrative break (relief) from the relationship style of the leads. 

5. This also means the side dishes can explore archetypes that are not part of the main plot, but might really appeal to a very vocal element of fandom. 

So like hard core BDSM (VegasPete), bad boy flirt and rebellious uke (WinTeam, PitchBank, ForthBeam), new romance rather than preexisting (Cutie Pie’s 3rd tear), younger seme older uke (KhunKaow in Brothers). 

The main character are most likely to lean into the most popular (and therefore safest) major tropes, while also toning it down to makes those characters as palatable as possible to a wider audience (this is the big problem with PhaYo in the 2 Moons franchise = they are colorless and overdone). 

Where as the side characters can go other places, be more edgy, be more mysterious, be more kinky, be more extreme, more sexually liberated and adventurous, be women (!), be more queer AKA be different and unique (to the BL universe). 

And therefore we are more likely to see ourselves in them, to identify with them, or just think of them as special and love them more. 

I don’t think it’s a bad approach, multiple couples. 

It means we have different ones we like and identify with in any given show. Honestly I think the fact that Thailand leans into this partly accounts for the popularity of Thai BL. 

At leaves it always gives some of us some kind of crumbs to latch on to. 

More on this topic:

Rewatch for side couples? 

Top 10 BL Shows Where There is NO Side Couple

Thai BLs Best Side Dishes (prior to 2022)

(source) 

[heretherebedork]

Goddamn Brothers, how did you make this last episode the first one where I actually like PrabChol to any extent? Seriously. Way to bury the lead in the LAST EPISODE.

Kaow and Khun continue to be adorable beyond measure, absolutely adorable beyond all knowledge and logic. How dare they be this cute in this bad of a show.

I think Tri and the twins have shuffled off to somewhere far, far away where they are hopefully secretly dating. I should write the fanfic I have plotted in my head for them.

Oh, wait, they do get to exist for a second! And be adorable. DAMN. I want to write so much about them Why do I not do it?

Delivery driver and Q deserved a better plot but they were pretty cute as well!

WTF is this show going to do with a second season?

[absolutebl]

BLs where sunshine baby goes from shy to enthusiastically GAY

So this dynamic specifically eliminates tsundere characters (probubly the most popular archetype in BL) and focuses in on cinnamon rolls who reveal their soft squishy centers through the course of the narrative going belly up for gayness/sex. (Okay my analogy got away from me, but you’ll see what I mean.) Since a lot of BL is still somewhat sex negative, partly as a result of the seme uke dynamic my temptation was to lean entirely on Taiwan for this, but surprisingly Korea, Japan, and Thailand also had examples. 

Cinnamon Rolls who (eventually) Go All in for Their Boy 

TAIWAN

HIStory 4: Close To You - Muren is a tiny bit more confused and tsundere than shy, but he is definitely a sweetheart won over by his absurd himbo in the end. This is a character arc Taiwan loves, the himbo who discovers he is bisexual and just carries his clumsy excitement for life into gayness. Himbos are, however, by their nature NOT SHY so they don’t qualify themselves for this. 

HIStory 3: the BL that shall not be named - Oh this is a pitch perfect execution of this trope, and another shy sweetie/himbo pairing. But the end of this show is ALL pain. Watch at your own risk. There is no HEA. Stop THE MOMENT they move in together or be prepared to suffer. 

HIStory 3: Trapped - the side couple probubly qualifies. Sunshine bad ass mercenary assassin pursues shy (okay more horny and repressed) nerdy cop. They are a fantastic couple and, eventually, very mutually enthusiastic... shall we say? 

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong - an oft neglected one in the franchise but our adorable baby boy Fei Sheng Zhe is kinda shy but more just does not like his boss/teacher/tsundere seme (eventual lover). However, once sex is on the table it is ON THE TABLE... literally. 

DNA Says Love You - I adore this BL and Amber is shy and careful and luminous and perfect, but when he’s convinced Le loves him, he is super game and they have lovely final sequence together. 

See You After Quarantine? - their is a shy admiration that comes from an age and culture gap, and our sunshine baby Bo Chun is also coming out. But with a confident gay for the seme this dynamic is executed perfectly. And yes they clearly want each other once they finally meet. And yes, you get to see it but mostly in the credit sequence. This is a SHORT show. 

THAILAND 

Love Sick - is Noh shy or just oblivious or just a very confused teenager? Whatever the case, he actually fits the criteria perfectly. He is both a sunshine and a cinnamon roll and he fucking adores Phun but really struggles to show it. That’s Phun’s fault, though. This is a long hard fought messy series and the chemistry is weak, but when they finally end up together it is clear that they are TOGETHER.

Love By Chance - OF COURSE. How could I forget them? BEST BOYS!!!! Pete is the ultimate shy boy, painfully injured lonely out-gay and Ae sweeps in and adopts him. Ae is clearly demi and has to figure himself out, but Pete is never once not willing to stick by him, and when they finally get together Pete is completely willing, just still shy about it. The side couples are a problem and the ending is not good, but AePete remain one of my favorite Thai pairs of all time. 

Brothers - this is a terrible show and I can’t in good faith suggest anyone actually watch it, except for KhunKaow. Kaow is absolutely a shy cinnamon roll (baker) who comes around to his insistent younger med student boyfriend. Kaow is older than Khun, and they fulfill my favorite “young gay identifies elder gay as MINE” trope. But they are very much a side couple and even though I adore them, it’s probubly not worth watching this terrible show just for them. 

Love Stage!! (Thai version) - Anda is basically a shy introvert, he goes from reluctant to tsundere to all tf in for his celebrity boyfriend, including high heat.

Secret Crush On You - this is not my favorite BL and I have many quibbles and very mixed feels, but I Toh def starts shy (about a relationship) and then goes all in. Like very high heat and very clear these two really want to bone... like ALL THE TIME. Although I think of Toh as a more a creep than a sunshine or cinnamon roll. You could probubly put side character Jao (def cinnamon) into this category too. And this show is nothing if not sex positive.

Others I contemplated: NueaSyn side couple in Cutie Pie, WinTops in Ingredients, RamKing in My Engineer, IttPai in My Gear and Your Gown, TeeFuse in Make it Right, SoloGui in Oxygen, KluenDao in Star in My Mind, ChampDoc (both, poor things) in TharnType 2, the main couple in My Ride. 

KOREA 

Cherry Blossoms After Winter - it’s Korea so they left out the good bits but Haebom absolutely goes from total shy sweetheart to literally jumping into his very tall boyfriend’s arms, also defending their relationship to their mother (who’s against it). Look this is the stepbrothers trope, Haebom is a foster brother. I love this show, it’s VERY old school yaoi, but it’s also classic Korea so a little too short, a bit sex negative, and confusing in what they choose not to show. But it meets the criteria. 

First Love Again - Jeong Ha Yeon is just a sweetheart, earnest and hopeful, and a bit of a fanboy. His other half is a total asshole but for very understandable reasons (what if the great love of your life, who you remember perfectly and have lost multiple times already, suddenly turned up in the body of the “wrong” gender?) Don’t worry they both get over it, but this is Korea, so it’s all paced odd and fast. Good kisses tho. 

Wish You: Your Melody in My Heart - Sang Yi is gone on In Soo the moment they meet, but he is so painfully shy, he is also kinda acting the part of the seme in this narrative but constantly thwarted by his own shyness. Thus the second he is given a green light he is all in, but it might not be quite the right arc for this dynamic. Still he remains one of my all time favorite BL characters because of this painful shyness - he is heart-wrenchingly sweet. 

Others: Some More (Strongberry short), Behind Cut, Love Class. 

JAPAN

Seven Days - Seriyo probubly qualifies, although he is a confident poised person he’s very shy and cautious about Yuzuru because he likes him so much so quickly and unexpectedly. The moment Yuzuru confesses you can see the relief and joy in him. This is Japan so it’s all quite reserved but great about it and a touch kinky. 

My Beautiful Man - this is a whipping boy dynamic, but Hira is shy (or maybe just worshipful and reluctant to embrace reality). This one is very kinky but might, kinda qualify? I adore this CLASSIC live action yaoi, but I am warped. And oh yeah are they both VERY into each other by the end. 

His the movie - Shun is not just shy and a cinnamon roll but bitter and rejected and alone. This is a complicated gay drama, not really a BL, but so very good. Of course he crumbles, because he has crumbled before, but it is hard fought, as it should be. 

Old Fashion Cupcake - it only comes RIGHT at the end, but at least the implication is entirely there (they they are into each other physically). I would call Nozue a cinnamon roll, although not necessarily sunshine or shy, more repressed and reluctant. Still it’s one of my favorite 2022 BLs. Worth watching no matter what. 

The Philippines and Vietnam don’t seem to like this dynamic. 

More posts tangential to this topic: 

adorable angel peanut sweetness bean nuggets 

Favorite BL Himbo Characters! 

My top 10 Cinnamon Roll Seme Characters in BL 

Top 10 Uke Cinnamon Roll Characters in BL

Seme Becomes A Marshmallow Archetype! 

Updated July 2022. Not responsible for new entries after this date. But leave a comment if you have suggestions. This post if for @renafire 

(source) 

[absolutebl]

I would like to formally congratulate Thailand. As of July 2021 they have now produced more BLs in a year than they have in previous years. Also more BLs than any other country ever. 

Go Thailand! 

Here’s the list as of July 2021.  

Country Boy 

Hidden Love 

Love Poison 2 

Call it What You Want 

My Bromance 2 

Siew Sum Noi 

Hometown's Embrace 

My Boy 

Top Secret Together 

Golden Blood 

The Yearbook 

The Best Story

Love Machine 

 The Cupid Coach 

 Close Friend 

 Brothers 

 Fish Upon the Sky 

 Evening Cafe 

 Once in Memory 

 Tonhon Chonlatee 

 Gen Y 

Y-Destiny 

 Second Chance 

 Nitiman 

 Manner of Death 

 1000 Stars 

 Lovely Writer 

I Promised You The Moon

(I count year of production by when the last episode aired, AKA award eligibility year.) 

[absolutebl]

I think what didn't work for me with Gameboys was that it has my least favourite dynamic: the aggressively flirty one meets the super reluctant one. Which is pretty typical for the genre but isn't always my cuppa and definitely didn't work for me here. I liked Hello Stranger a lot more, and I'm enjoying See You After Quarantine as well so far.

Oh that's an interesting trope, flirty player and shy tsundere. @heretherebedork and I were just chatting about it since it JUST showed up in My Sweet Dear. 

Of course, I'm ALL IN.

Let's see if we can find some...

BL Pairing: Flirty/Player Seme + Tsundere Uke

[heretherebedork]

Kaow and Khun being the best pairing of all time and adorable tiny baking boys and sneaking pictures and generally being the best boys ever.

[heretherebedork]

Watching Brothers right after ATOATS is like going from a perfectly comfortable couch to sitting on a sidewalk. You're not horribly uncomfortable, it's okay, but it might start raining or get too hot and, honestly, there are way better places to sit.

... Look, I'm still watching this show and it's better than The Cupid Coach and Stranger's Kiss. But that's mostly because of Khun and Kaow, tbh.

I wanted Maping to be such a deeper character. I wanted him to still struggle, I wanted him to try to do something and not succeed but get supported by the teacher ANYWAY so he can pursue his real talent with plants.

I want Prab and Chol to be... I don't even know, honestly. I wanted something that I didn't get and I can't quite put it into words. There's too much brother/sibling energy and not enough romance energy, I think. There was definitely more romance at the beginning.

Khun and Kaow are my perfect babies and the only thing they lack is screentime.

[heretherebedork]

All Khun and Kaow need to do is smile at each other and the entire episode is perfect.

They are my favorite couple and they're so soft and gentle and flirt so nicely.

And we got so much flirting! SO MUCH FLIRTING with the soft bakery boy and his tutor and I love them together.

[heretherebedork]

I love Tri and the little junior twins who are outrageously flirting with him.

Kaow continues to be the cutest little baker ever.

Khun is the sweetest summer child.

Prab's a slimebag.

I feel bad for Nick.

Chol is just kind of... there.

Maping is cute but bland and all the depth he could have had is taken away by the tutoring working effortlessly.

I wish Mhok had more character, honestly.

Basically, Brothers is definitely better than The Cupid Coach but that doesn't mean it's actually good.

[heretherebedork]

Prab is the most awkward, strange little teen and, also, since when do you treat sprained ankles with medicine and/or lotion? That's... that's not how it works?

Also, Khun is a better older brother than Prab could ever hope to be and Khun has his baking bae so he won't even be creepy at Chol!

... Khun and Kawo are literally so cute every time they smile I die and they are why I'm sticking with this show.

[heretherebedork]

Kaow and Khun are maybe one of the cutest couples ever and all they did in the last episode was text back and forth.

But the adorable comes across so strongly there’s canonical teens arguing about their ship name.

Sunshine/sunshine couples are adorable.

[heretherebedork]

Khun is the CUTEST LITTLE SWEETHEART.

Who gave him permission to be this cute?

Seriously.

This BL is... so wild.

But outgoing sunshine/shy sunshine is ADORABLE and I am here for it.

[heretherebedork]

Kaow and Khun are the cutest side pairing I've ever seen and I have no idea how they ended up in this mediocre show.

Kaow sneaking pictures and them both being covered in frosting and Khun pretending to read about them getting together on his palm and I just... who gave you the right?!?!!?

The AUDACITY of these two to be this cute.

[heretherebedork]

Prab is such a scumbag, seriously.

And then there’s Khun and Kaow giving such strong couple vibes that the teens are already arguing about their ship name.

And then there’s Chol, who’s just trying to figure his life out while having an ass of a stepbrother, a sweet tutor he doesn’t know is taken and a bunch of seniors planning to flirt with him.

Also, why are they all topless in all the little ad breaks?

[heretherebedork]

Kaow and Khun are still just about my favorite couple of all time, okay? They're delightful and adorable and just so, so sweet. Who let them be this adorable? Khun loves him so much and Kaow is falling for his charms so beautifully.

Tiny baker and tiny tutor! Best!

[absolutebl]

2021 BL Archetype Awards

The archetype awards are character and actor based awards (as opposed to the trope awards). Only includes shows that completed their runs in 2021. 

Best Seme 2021 

YooHan from Color Rush. 

Best Uke 2021 

TaeKyung from Light On Me 

(seme/uke defined and discussed here) 

Cutest Bean Nugget 2021 

Doc from TharnType 2

Best Visual 2021 

(AKA stepped out of a manga) 

MuRen in HIStory 4: Close to Me 

Best Ghosts of Archetypes Past 

(AKA we thought that was left behind in the yaois of our youth) 

Hira & Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare AKA My Beautiful Man (whipping boy meets spoiled prince) 

Best Tall Dark & Handsome 2021

Chief in 1000 Stars 

Best Meme Disguised as a Drama Queen 

Aoki in Kieta Hatsukoi AKA My Love Mix-Up 

Best Kitten Disguised as a Human 2021

Nampu in Top Secret Together 

Best Puppy Disguised as a Human 2021

SeoJoon in To My Star 

Best Tsundere Seme 2021 

JiWoo in To My Star 

Best Tsundere Uke 2021 

ShuYi in We Best Love 

Best Piner 2021

ShiDe in We Best Love

Best Psychopathic Stalker 2021

YongJie in HIStory 4: Close to You 

2021′s Too Stupid to Live Award 

Tian in 1000 Stars

Best Side Dishes 2021 

CopyNampu in Top Secret Together 

Best Friendship Group 2021 

Thon & Chon’s friends in Thonhon Chonlatee

Best Gay Rep in a BL 2021 

Both & Newyear in Top Secret Together

2021′s We Didn’t Deserve You but We’re SO Grateful Award

OuWen & Mark in Love is Science?

2021′s WinTeam Award 

AKA the side couple we secretly wish were the main couple 

PitchBank in Golden Blood 

I’m Your Huckleberry Award 2021

Named in honor of Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday in Tombstone, this is the only good performance in an otherwise irredeemable show. 

KhunKaow in Brothers. 

2021′s You Are So Gay Award 

YoHan & GaOn in The Devil Judge. 

(source)