#(...... other than ossan reasons)

[dirtyoldmanhole]

i'm screenshotting the shit out of everything with this second rev playthrough for slowburn references (also hoping to keep pace with the fic as a very gentle way for it to nudge me into finishing fic chapters in order)

and like

i feel like this ^ is the kind of line that makes my headcanon of 'gunter being the security head of the whole northern fortress' pretty much textual canon? versus say like uhhh xander barking orders at everyone.

which has implications for Silas' (almost)-execution :')

[jasmineoolongtea]

coffee jelly and parfait ― chapter 1: caramel pudding

pairing: bodyguard!toji x baker!reader (f), toji is 38, reader is 22

summary: after working towards and succeding in accomplishing your lifelong dream working for one of the most famous bakeries in tokyo, you decide to go out for a night of celebratory drinking. however, the next morning, you wake up and find out that you're now married to a total stranger and an older one at that! but, turns out, this accidental marriage of yours might be more useful than you think.

contents: a sesame salt and pudding!au, age gap relationship (16 years - everyone is completely legal here!!!), marriage of convenience/accidental marriage, fluff, angst, slice of life, nicknames (toji is referred to as ossan by reader which is an informal way of referring to a middle-aged man in Japanese and this is taken directly from the manga inspo behind this)

warnings: drinking/alcohol, smoking (from toji)

word count: 3.9k words (much beefer than i was expecting ngl)

extras:

⤷ mood board/pinterest board

a/n: ahhh i'm so excited to finally be able to work on this series since it's been workshopping in the back of my mind for a while shdhahwj hope you guys enjoy this and hope you have an amazing day/night !!! sorry that this chapter is so exposition-heavy rip djasd, i promise later chapters will get better. as always, any likes, comments and reblogs are always appreciated <333

It's normal for weird things to happen after a night of heavy drinking, right?

You've heard all sorts of stories from your friends and family about the strange antics drunk people get up to once they get a certain amount of liquor running through their veins. It can range from small silly things like trying out a new skill in public due to a sudden burst of newfound confidence to more extreme ones like running away from an angry mob of people that you've accidentally incited somehow. Despite the difference in their severity, the common thread here remains: all are mostly harmless things and nothing that is possibly life-changing.

Much to your dismay, however, you seem to be the outlier in all those cases. Actually, it appears to be that you've managed to outdo almost everyone this time as this one definitely has to take the cake right here or whatever award they give out for things like this.

This morning, as you wake up and open your bedroom door, you suddenly find yourself face to face with a complete stranger, who very much appears to be an older guy, standing right outside in your apartment.

And to top off this already weird trajectory of events, as if things could not possibly get even stranger, it also turns out that you've apparently married said stranger last night.

...What!?!

-

To say that your memory of last night is hazy would be a massive understatement in all senses of the word. But what you do remember clearly is the reason why you went drinking in the first place, which was to congratulate yourself for finally achieving your lifelong dream up to this point.

After years of blood, sweat and tears spent at the Tsuji Culinary School where you fought with tooth, fist and nails against hundreds of other culinary hopefuls to win the highly coveted and only place available for the exchange programme to Le Cordon Bleu institute in France, your suffering was not all for nought as on your glorious return back to Japan, you've managed to land your dream job of working at one of Tokyo's most famous bakeries, Pierre Hermé.

If that was not a perfect reason to celebrate and drink the night away completely carefree then you don't know what was.

However, there was one tiny little snag in your plans for a joyous night out. The moment that you returned home to give your roommate the good news, still trying to come down from the high of hearing the good news, it seemed that she apparently also had a similar genius idea of her own and decided to inform you that she was leaving you to search for somewhere else to live closer to her job.

For most people, that wouldn't be a problem as they could just be able to leisurely search for a new roommate at their own pace. But for you, this was not the case as you were facing a different set of circumstances. For you, your move to Tokyo was entirely conditional on the fact that would stay with someone and this was explicitly set and outlined by your dad. Now roommate-less, you suddenly had a ticking expiry date placed on all your ambitions that you had barely scratched the surface of by this point.

This was probably the worst case of whiplash you've ever had, going from an extreme high to an extreme low all in the span of less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately, it seemed that the odds were very much not in your favour. But how could you let that waver your resolve? If you had learned anything from your years of existing is that you weren't going to give up and relent that easily.

So, in actuality, it was somewhat a lie that you were only out drinking for one reason. In reality, it was for two reasons; one, to congratulate yourself on achieving your dreams and two, to try and forget your newfound problem through the power of alcohol. And this was how you found yourself complaining to a bunch of strangers at a local izakaya, surrounded by several empty pints of beer.

A loud drunken sob echoes through the small confines of the bar which is accompanied by the thud of an empty glass cup slamming against the wooden countertop of the bar.

"It isn't fair at all! Do you know how hard I've worked to get here? I've basically given up everything for this and now it's going to all disappear?" You bemoan out loud to whoever's around you, signalling to the barkeep to fill up another pint for you as you're clearly intent on accomplishing your plan of drinking away your problems.

There's a lady and her boyfriend, whose face you can't really remember or recall in any particular detail, sitting next to you on your right trying to comfort you with sympathetic coos and awkward back pats. While they're trying their best to comfort you, or as best as drunk people can, their efforts are seemingly in vain as you can only sigh in defeat at your current predicament.

Taking another swig of the freshly poured pint, you continue on your rant. "And you know, my dad is only letting me stay in Tokyo if I either have a roommate or if I'm married even if I'm happy here as is!"

The lady nods in an empathetic manner as if to say she's gone through the same thing as well, commenting, "My dad's the same way as well, he's kinda old-fashioned when it comes to stuff like this and it's awful."

"If only alcohol could cure problems like this," You muse. "My roommate and I used to come here all the time and everyone we met here is always so nice."

At your praise of the other bar patrons, there's a murmur of agreement and cheers from all around. The frothy foam of your drink has bubbled down by now but as you stare into the half-drunk glass, you're suddenly hit with an outrageous idea. "Hey, what if I get married to one of you guys tonight, right here right now?"

Boisterous laughter immediately erupts at your words. One dishevelled salary man from the other side of the bar jokingly remarks, "If you do that, you won't even be wanted back home!"

However, once the laughter dies down there's a genuine pause from everyone, including yourself, as if you all were genuinely considering carrying out this ridiculous and definitely impractical idea. Following the brief silence, the other patrons turn to their neighbours and begin to talk and discuss amongst themselves, their heads swivelling left and right in what seems to be an attempt to size up and judge the men at the bar as potential candidates.

"I'm already married to a wife I love dearly so I'm going to have to turn down that offer." Announces a middle-aged man from opposite you, with other similar comments and statements soon chiming in to eliminate themselves from the running based on a variety of different reasons.

Before the lady's boyfriend can even open his mouth to volunteer himself, she sends a withering look and an accusatory finger his way as she warns him, "Don't even think about it." At her stern warning, he quickly sinks back down into his seat.

An elderly man sighs wistfully to himself. "Ha, maybe if I was 20 years younger..." He then turns to his side, nudging the guy next to him with his elbow to get his attention before asking him. "Hey, what about you?"

You can't really see the other man's face since he's pretty much on the other side of the long table and your vision might have been slightly hazy on account of all the alcohol flowing through your system at this point, though you hear his gruff voice ring out as he shrugs his built shoulders and responds, "Me? 'M single I guess."

From all the other voices you've heard tonight, you don't recognise his, guessing that he might have been relatively silent throughout most of the conversation. Although you can't see much of him, you notice even sitting down, he's about two heads taller than those around him and his broad shoulders and well-built physique are accentuated by the tight-fitting black shirt he's wearing. God, it looks like he's basically vacuumed and sealed into that thing as the fabric shifts with every flex of his muscles.

Maybe it's the dim lighting of the izakaya but you're sure you catch a brilliant flash of green from across the table looking you up and down with vague curiosity and interest. You think to yourself, he doesn't look half bad.

Suddenly filled with a renewed sense of energy, or rather you're getting to the point on your drunkness scale where you feel comfortable enough to throw logic out of the window, you leap up from your seat and point at the man as you shout at the top of your lungs,

"Alright, you in the black shirt! Let's get married!"

After hearing your declaration, the lady starts to furiously flip the magazine in front of her until it lands on a certain page before picking it up and showing it to the others. "Hey, look! This magazine I bought has a marriage registration form at the back."

"What an amazing coincidence." Someone mutters from beside you with a few other voices soon relaying their own hums of agreement.

"We can all be witnesses! Come on and sign it!"

Chants of "Sign it." start to fill up the bar as the other patrons begin to cheer you two on like a crowd at a live stadium sports match from the sidelines of their seats. The moment your pen clatters against the floor, the crowd bursts out into celebratory shouts and cheers, with that being the extent of your memories of last night with whatever after it fading into black.

-

Now back in the present, you feel your face start to burn with a renewed sense of embarrassment as memories and small recollections of last night start to flood your mind. Any chance of even possibly denying the events of last night goes out the window as turns out, your drunk self decided that it was the perfect opportunity to apparently take a commemorative photo of the event with the marriage license at the dead of centre of it, your names unmistakably written on there in bold.

As you examine the form, still slightly gobsmacked, you spot his name next to yours. Fushiguro Toji, huh? You think quietly to yourself, his name sounds kind of nice. But before you can find yourself getting lost in thought, a husky voice snaps you back into reality.

"Now, do'ya remember?" The man, or Toji as that's what appears to be his name, quirks an inquisitive eyebrow at you.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how you ended up in my apartment." Eyeing him up and down, you pause for a second as you take in your equally dishevelled appearances, something suddenly clicking in your head as your overactive mind begins to draw its own conclusions about what happened after the events of the izakaya. "Oh no. Di-did we..?" You gesture frantically at the two of you, hoping that he understands what you're implying with your question.

Toji shakes his head, a slightly irritated or perhaps even amused sigh leaving his lips, you're not sure. "No. Yer insisted that you should take me home since I mentioned that I didn't really have a place to stay for the night."

A sigh of relief escapes you.

You take this time to now fully examine him since you didn't get much of a chance last night, or rather you had forgotten all about it. There's an unquestionably intimidating aura about him with his shaggy black hair, incredibly muscular physique and piercing emerald green eyes that look like they could kill a man where he stood with a single stare. His all-black clothing and what appears to be a vertical scar situated on the right corner of his lips do him no favours to make him look less like a gangster straight out of an action movie.

Although there aren't the typical tell-tale signs of ageing on him like obvious wrinkles or a head of grey hairs, there's a faint imprint of more permanent creases starting to form in the middle of his brows and if you look closely enough, you might even notice some small sprinkles of white starting to pop up amidst the rest of his raven locks. This all points to the fact that he's definitely older than you but you're unsure by how much from your initial assessment of him, probably at least ten years older than give or take.

Though, besides this outright menacing factor to him, you can't help but admit that he's also strikingly handsome in a rugged way. You realise that you might have been caught staring at him for too long when he clears his throat and gives you a pointed glance with those sharp green eyes. Just having his gaze on you is enough to send a tingling sensation down your spine.

Deciding to brush it off, he huffs to himself as he leans his weight against the white walls of your apartment. "It's probably too late to cancel it since we already signed and submitted it last night so the only option we have now is to divorce."

He fishes around in the pockets of his pants and produces an already half-empty and slightly crumpled cigarette box. Before taking one out, he turns towards you and silently asks for your permission with a tilt of his head. You nod at him, expecting him to crank open one of your windows to smoke but instead, he walks towards your kitchen and turns on your kitchen hood. Curiously, you follow behind him and see him use a dingy lighter to light up the cigarette, the pale glow of the flame illuminating the harsh lines of his features, as he takes a deep puff of it before blowing the smoke up the hood.

So he's a kitchen smoker, huh? Obviously, you want to know how he's developed this peculiar habit but you decide to bite your tongue for now as there are more pressing issues on hand such as the undeniable elephant in the room.

There's a brief moment of silence before Toji starts speaking again. "Y'know, I kinda feel bad for last night 'cause you're going to be a divorcee so young."

"Hey! I'm not that young you know, Ossan!" You protest in return, crossing your arms over your chest in a slightly childish display of annoyance. That earns you what sounds like a breathy laugh from him as one corner of his lips tilts upwards in a somewhat crooked manner.

"Oh yeah? Then how old are ya?" There's a teasing lilt to his voice, almost as if he's slightly amused by your antics.

You huff. "22. What about you?"

"You really can't remember much from last night huh? I'm 38." If he's 38 then that means there's a 16-year age difference between you two. Not the worst-case scenario that could happen when it comes to marrying a complete stranger by accident, you think to yourself.

It seems that your apparent lack of reaction, only giving out a half-hearted hmm, to finding out his age is surprising to him. If he was going to be honest, he wasn't ruling out that you might have started bolting out of your apartment at the mention of it and in that case, he wouldn't blame you.

You state, "Besides, you're not the only one to blame here. It's on me as well since we both signed it. So don't feel bad. We'll get it taken care of as soon as possible." You send a reassuring smile his way, waving off his concerns with an easy-going wave of your wrist. For some reason, he feels like he might even believe your assurance for a second.

Much to your public embarrassment your stomach starts to grumble loudly with what some might say is impeccable comedic timing. "Or well, as soon as I get some food." You comment bashfully, your previously carefree attitude fading away relatively quickly as a new priority has emerged.

As you make the move towards your fridge, you look over at him from your shoulder as you ask, "Oh right. Do you want something as well? I don't really cook meals that often so all I have in my kitchen is basically just baking ingredients."

Toji does a quick look around the kitchen, examining the clear state of mess and disarray that it's in and scoffs offhandedly to himself. "Didn't realise you could call this mess a kitchen."

"In my defence, my roommate used to do all the cooking and cleaning whilst I mainly covered the bills." You point back at him, a wooden spoon in hand as you wave at him warningly.

"What happened to them then?"

"Oh, you know, suddenly deciding to move closer to work even though your roommate has already paid the lease for the year for two people and stuff like that." There's an edge of annoyance to your tone, clearly, you're still annoyed at your roommate for putting you in this predicament, but Toji decides not to comment on it.

After watching you struggle to turn on your gas stove for what seems to be like the tenth time in the span of 2 minutes, a loud sigh of exasperation escapes him as he places his calloused hand on top of yours. stopping you in your tracks. "Come on, just let me do it." He states. As he moves closer to the kitchen counter, his body is positioned so close to your left side that you can feel the heat radiating off of him.

He starts to busy himself with various ingredients as it seems that he's now begrudgingly taken over cooking duties from you, no protests from your side by the way. Before you go to take your seat at the kitchen table, you hear him mumble under his breath. "Can't believe you have the time to go out and get drunk and not even to clean your place."

"Hey." You turn around to face him once again, your voice stern. "You don't know me, alright? I wanna stay in Tokyo because I just got my dream job and I'm not planning on leaving any time soon."

"...Yer job? What d'you do?"

"I'm a baker. Have you ever heard of the bakery, Pierre Hermé?"

He pauses, bringing a finger up to his chin as if deep in thought. "Think 've walked past it a few times. Why?"

There's a renewed sense of excitement to you, passion very much evident in both your words and expression as you launch into an animated spiel at his question. "It's one of the top bakeries in Tokyo and I've spent my whole life working towards being able to get a job there." You look out at the window, quietly contemplating and contrasting the crowded and bustling streets and skyline of Tokyo with the sleepy and relatively isolated atmosphere of your hometown.

"Back in my home town, there isn't really much opportunity to work somewhere like this, especially since it's a foreign bakery specialising in French pastries so this is basically my only chance to fulfil my dreams." You can't help but let a wistful sigh leave your lips, thinking about how hard you've fought to get to this point now. Unbeknownst to you, Toji suddenly sits up straighter, his back pressed against the cool ceramic countertops as he stares at you, seemingly studying you in a new light after your words. Before you can realise it though, he quickly adverts his gaze elsewhere, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"What about you?" You ask him, a sense of interest clearly present in your voice. For someone like him, you don't even know where to really begin when it comes to guessing what a guy like him could do for a living as it could range from semi-realistic to wildly fantastical like straight out of a TV show.

"...I'm a bodyguard for hire." Compared to you though, his tone is devoid of the same energy and passion present in yours with him even pausing slightly before answering, as if he was hesitant to reveal this aspect about himself.

"Wow, that's cool." There's a small sense of awe at his response. Being a bodyguard would definitely explain that muscular physique of his, you remark quietly to yourself.

A tsk sound escapes him at your comment, shrugging it off with his shoulders as he turns to the side. "All I care is that it pays well. Nothin' more."

You deflate a little at his words. To you, he sounds more begrudging than anything and you think that there's probably a story behind that as well, like many other things about him like that lip scar of his, but you choose to avoid prodding him even further as well in his defence, you've technically just met each other last night. All of a sudden, you're hit with an idea, a crazy idea just like last night, but this time now sober, and it might just be crazy enough to work or you two might just be desperate enough to make it work. You clear your throat before you call out to him.

"Hey, Ossan." Toji looks back at you, and clearly, you've managed to pique his curiosity by the amused expression present on his face. If you were a lesser person, you might have shrunk under the intensity of his gaze so intently trained on you but you don't, there's too much of your future dream riding on this now for you to back out before anything could have even begun. You look into his eyes, maintaining eye contact before you continue. "I have an idea, actually, it's more of a request. The next time I go back home to visit my parents, can you come with me as my husband? If I'm married to someone who lives in Tokyo, my dad can't tell me to move home anymore and he'll definitely believe that it's real once he sees your name on the official family register."

Before he can even say no or offer any protest of his own, you add, "Plus, this deal will be beneficial to you as well since you'll get a place to live until you get your own apartment. So, let's hold off on the divorce until then."

There's a hopeful look in your eyes with a look of determination painted on your features. Evidently, even without his input, it appears to be that you're dead set on this plan if it means you get the slightest chance of staying here. He contemplates a future where he says no, imagining another week of being forced to couch surf on his boss's stale office couch and living in a constant state of uncertainty for who knows how long. Sure, it's not like he's so sure about what going to happen now but at least if he agrees to this, he's not alone in dealing with whatever uncertainty is thrown his way.

He shakes his head, stubbing out the burnt end of his cigarette in the sink and takes your hand in his.

"Alright fine, yer got a deal."

taglist: @catobsessedlady , @aluvrina , @thulhu , @sn1perz , @meowmeew , @hprnx , @r0ckst4rjk , @dianakisses , @lashaemorow , @cinnabooonn

[chthontoya]

Urahara-taicho interrogates<time-traveler> Ichigo.

Ichigo's reason for time-travel is to kill Yhwach and only then Aizen.

In the battle with Yhwach, Ichigo kills Jugram Haschwalth with Tensa (Ossan) which allows him to gain ability-exchanging connection with Yhwach. Ichigo's ability is inverted and instead of altering future, Ichigo travels to the past. Ichigo kills Yhwach and discovers his new ability. He travels back in time to reverse deaths of many, including Kisuke. Unluckily, Ichigo's not so good at navigating at such distances (he was going to kill Yhwach right before the quinci king would kill his mother). Ichigo ends up in times of Urahara's captaincy.

Ichigo knows he alerted everyone just by landing in Soul Society (he hoped to appear in the Transient world or Soul King palace). The only place that would properly hide Ichigo's reiatsu after he accepted his hollow side was the 12f labs wards, specifically Kisuke's. (Ichigo hadn't got more reiryoku by absorbing other quinci with Tensa because a quincy have barely more reiryoku than spiritually aware human). Kisuke have shown Ichigo how to enter his wards even without invitation not long after Xcution events, practically giving Ichigo key to his soul, not that Ichigo have known about it.

Urahara returns to the restricted area/his personal lab after strange reiatsu flash somewhere in Rukongai made many high-ranked shinigami go to the place. There's intruder in his lab with the same signature he had felt not so long ago. Despite dare situation Urahara puts his jovial act on. The intruder, Ichigo, seems more embarrassed of entering without invitation than consequences of invading Seireitei, especially restricted zones of Gotei 13. Urahara quickly understands why, when Ichigo explains how he entered the lab. Now Kisuke is really ready to listen rather than buying time. His face quickly grows from careless to serious (why wouldn't he act more naturally with a person who already has a key to his soul). Ichigo reacts the way Kisuke would hope from his, possibly, lover, blushing and obviously liking his other side and the way he switches between them. Lovely.

[twig-tea]

TWIG! Friend! I couldn't help but notice your tags in my excitement post about getting to La Pluie -- I see that you and I are YYY mutuals. :) Let's call YYY... say... zany or offbeat -- off the beaten path of the usual romance-dominated field of Thai BLs. What are some other "zanier" BLs (not just Thailand, but everywhere in Asia) that you love and would recommend for an off-the-wall experience? And, why?

@waitmyturtles I'm so sorry you sent this a million years ago and then I kept letting it languish. And it's extra rude because I love this question! It's so hard to add something like YYY to a rec list without a billion caveats, so this is a great chance to shout out some of the series & shorts that don't get as much attention. A few of these I know you've seen but I have to include them for completeness.

First, for the sake of other people reading this, as Turtles has written about, Cheewin brings his own kind of zaniness to almost everything he works on; my faves of his other than YYY are Make It Right and Secret Crush on You (the exception is Bed Friend, which is not in any way zany but I still liked it).

Also going to mention that since Turtles asked for off the beaten path zany, I won't be mentioning any of the popular comedies (in case you're wondering why I Became the Lead in A BL Drama or Man Who Defies the World of BL aren't on this list).

Alright now that's out of the way, let's get into the other recs!

Zany lesser-known BLs other than YYY

Ossan's Love Franchise (Japanese, 2016-2024, GagaOOLala)

It is... less true now that this series is lesser-known than it was when I started writing this draft (in uh... August 2023) but I shall persist! The franchise details alone for this series are complete crack:

A 2016 45-minute short [skippable imo];

The 2018 original series which builds the short into a zany 7-episode comedy series about a man in his late 20s who suddenly finds himself the love interest of his older boss (in his ~50s) and his coworker/roommate (in his mid-20s);

The sequel film Ossan's Love: Love or Dead (2019)which turns into an action film halfway through for no clear reason but also remains a romantic comedy in which the mains from the original season decide if they want to stay together

The AU season Ossan's Love: In the Sky (2019) which has the same characters of the lead and his boss from S1 and the short, but this time they work in an airport and all of the surrounding cast is different and leads to a very confusing love rhombus. Incredible 10/10 no notes [people hate this because they like the mains from S1 & the film but I loved the mess]

The sequel season to S1 and the film, Ossan's Love Returns (2024) which you can absolutely watch in isolation and is about the main couple re-establishing their relationship and their found family friend group after being long distance for a few years.

It's truly excellent comedy, and gets better every outing; there are some barriers that might prevent some enjoying the earlier seasons but the most recent one is really delightful. You can hear me talk more about this series with @bengiyo and @shortpplfedup on The Conversation podcast!

Diary of Tootsies (Thai, 2017, grey/Netflix (for the movie))

I love Diary of Tootsies and the follow-ups so much. SO much. One of the best laughs of my life was the opening to the movie, and I cannot be in a long car ride without thinking about the purse incident in s1. This show doesn't get a lot of BL fandom attention because the romance arcs are not typical for BL (but that's one of the things I love about them). And the friendship in this series is truly what sells it. Season 1 is self-contained, a lot of people dislike the romance plot of S2; I really like the arc across s2 to the movie (as established above, I tend to be less invested in a particular ship across a franchise or multiple franchises). The movie plot is all about reconciling who you thought you wanted and who you are with (amongst all kinds of shenanigans).

HeHe and He (Hong Kong, 2018-ongoing, YouTube)

This mockumentary sitcom-style series does tackle some serious topics and is also absolutely hilarious nonsense across its 3 seasons. The very simple premise is that a gay guy ("hehe" is slang for gay) and a straight guy who are old friends become roommates when the gay friend breaks up with his longterm boyfriend and needs a place to stay, and hijinks ensue. They do direct-to-camera confessionals spliced in with scenes from their lives. I love this show so much, and it would actually be high up in my indie BL rankings if it were completed. I lose it at least once an episode. It's very queer (if you want a show that tackles everything from hookups to turning everything into a joke to being so, so mean to each other while also loving each other dearly to even chemsex, look no further), and I am in love with all of the wacky characters that have formed a love-hate found family that is deeply relatable. The creators posted a video a few months ago saying they're struggling to end it in a way that they're happy with so I'm not sure we'll ever get an ending for the show. But if you like comedy and queer content it's worth a watch even incomplete! I've been very patiently following this project since 2018 and it's legitimately one of my favourite shows.

Rainbow Prince the Series (Filippino, 2022, YouTube)

This is a musical; it is a lot of campy nonsense. There is royalty, political intrigue, a dog, kidnappings, and so. much. singing. The songs are surprisingly catchy and it's all extremely good fun. Also a lot of the dialogue is very clearly improvised.

Hey! First Love (Vietnamese, 2019, YouTube)

This series of shorts are mostly just silly fluff. The very tenuous plot is that these shorts are slice-of-life moments from a young established couple, but it's all really just excuses for Vietnamese comedy and BL romance tropes. If you haven't watched anything from Vietnam, this is a very low-stakes commitment (I think it's under 30 minutes of content all told; there are 4 "episodes" which are spliced together shorts, each of which has a tiny plot but there is not much of an overarching narrative, and then a Q&A with the actors at the end) and gives you a sense of the Vietnamese sense of humour. Both of these actors have gone on to continue to be in other Vietnamese BLs, so if you have watched Vietnamese BL you may recognize them! The production quality on this is charmingly low.

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (India, 2019, Amazon Prime)

This film was such a joy to experience in a live theatre. Billed "the first Gay Bollywood RomCom", this movie was a riot of chaos, dance numbers, shenanigans, hilarity, and cuteness. I loved the way this film incorporated the very real legal change to decriminalize homosexuality in its story. Arguably not "BL" as it very much fits in the bollywood tradition not the BL tradition, but OP did ask for all of Asia!

Like Love (China, 2014-15, grey)

And no I don't mean censored--this is from before China started censoring its BLs. This show has kisses as shown in the gif, and even (poorly cropped) sex scenes. It also is super bizarre. I was so confused by this show, the characterization, the fourth wall breaks, and how disjointed it was so I went to read the source material and...it turns out it's one of the most perfect adaptations I've ever seen, the book is in fact exactly like this. The characters are caricatures, there is no bridging between scenes, and the plot is the most absurd take on 'loserfail no-thoughts-head-empty character who doesn't admit he's gay but still ends up in a dedicated and loving relationship with a rich handsome domineering man ' I've ever seen. It's a bewildering experience. Note the sound quality on this one is suuuper miserable. I like s2 way more than s1 (s1 is getting together and includes a lot of the bullying-teasing and I'm-not-gay-I-just-need-him-to-pay-attention-to-me stuff, s2 is the honeymoon phase + getting the homophobic parents on board) but S1 is definitely the zanier of the two. That being said, if you wanted, I think you can dive right in to s2 (there's a direct-to-camera explanation of what happened in s1 at the start of it). Note that they set up a cliffhanger at the end of 2 in anticipation of s3 which was going to be made in 2016 but was cancelled because of the political changes in China in 2016 (this is one of the reasons I went to read the source material; they do get a happy ending in the books).

This is an extremely silly but also touching franchise with a lot of tropes I don't love, but also a lot of things I do (and just neat to see some stuff so early in BL: Underwater kiss? Helicopter ride? Femme fatale becomes friend of the faen? Supportive grandparent? It's all here). There are some fantastic speeches in s2 about supporting your gay children; I liked how in this the kids didn't give up on their parents but try to reconcile their filial piety with their dedication to each other. If you do watch S1, highly recommended you watch the series version rather than the film. For "S2"/the follow-up film, make sure you look for the uncensored film version.

The Lover Room 709 Cut (Korean/Japanese, 2016, grey)

This starts extremely silly, plays with BL tropes, and gets a little bit serious at the end but is mostly just full of puns and innuendos. Includes one of the most hilarious takes on kabedon, and egregious use of the soundtrack from Brokeback Mountain. Also: fart jokes. Folks worried it was going to stay teasing the audience but it does commit and we do get an actual resolution that is satisfying. I admit I've never seen the whole series (which includes stories of 3 other couples in the apartment building) but the BL cut is readily available if you search. Make sure you look for the deleted scene with the lotion application--this scene walked so IFYLITA could run (I'm kidding, but it's very funny seeing this scene now and thinking about that one).

The Boy Next Door (Korean, 2018, YouTube)

This is another older series playing with censorship (similar to The Lover) in which the two characters end up in BL romance tropes but are not actually in love...or are they? The shenanigans are very fun. This one is left more ambiguous than The Lover, which is one of the reasons it's further down the list.

Go! Go! G-Boys (Taiwan, 2006, grey)

I debated between this and another quirky comedy from Taiwan in the early 2000s, Formula 17, but while that's unequivocally a better movie, this one is lesser known and more zany, so it technically better fits the bill for this ask (but if you haven't, go watch Formula 17!). The plot is a bit cringe--straight boy signs up to gay beauty contest to pay off his girlfriend's debts (accompanied by his gay childhood friend who is in love with him) and finds his truth. Meanwhile a homophobic police officer has also infiltrated the contest for investigative purposes. Amongst all that admittedly not great setup, however, are several bizarre sequences including the incredible Lord of the Rings recreation scene (complete with Gatchaman of course), a killer soundtrack, a random delivery of poultry, someone slapping a cake, and, most absurdly unbelievable at all: police taking harassing death threats to the gay contest seriously. It does a great job of setting up what should be a dramatic scene and then immediately undercutting the tension with something absurd. It's not narratively good, but it is a fun ride! And yes, there is a happy ending. Stick around for a fourth wall break (literally) after the credits.

Something Crunchy Crunchy (Korean, 2018, GagaOOLala)

Extremely bizarre little musical short in which snacks are anthropomorphized as hot guys and they sing songs about being eaten and wanting to be eaten. Played entirely sincerely, but the concept is screamingly funny. Fascinating. Also, kind of poly?

Dom (Korean, 2016, GagaOOLala)

Another hilarious and weird Korean short, this time in which we see the protagonist's sex life from the perspective of the condom boxes that are anthropomorphized and given personalities based on their brands.

And since we can't leave out the ladies,

A few zany GLs:

Lily Fever (Korean, 2015, YouTube)

I wrote about this one a little in my GL rec list; it is absolutely bonkers nonsense. There is not really a plot, it's a fever dream of a show. Chaos! Not so much a romance as an excuse to see cute girls flirt and make out.

Legend of Yunqian (China, 2020, grey)

I debated including this one because only the middle is really the zany part, it's sandwiched with more serious xianxia drama. But in the middle of this miniseries is an extremely cute interlude in which xianxia characters time travel to present day for ~reasons. It's censored but there is very little uncertainty about feelings, and manages to be absolutely charming. Worth the short runtime for this kitten quickcut (subbed "Whomst?!" in the show for ultimate comedy). Warning for character death (but it's ok because time travel to reincarnated character!) Subtitled by the indispensable @douqi7s [see their pinned post for links].

BetCin (Filippino, 2022, WeTV)

A lesbian couple with a YouTube following decide to break up but then find out there's a contest for couples, and they decide to pretend to still be together to try and win the contest rather than tell their fans they've broken up. This series does some really interesting things by starting with a breakup and then looking at how two people who are no longer dating manage BGP while also managing their feelings. There's a lot going on in this show, and the hijinks definitely ensue!

Perfect One Night Stand (Korean, 2020, GagaOOLala)

This is a cute Strongberry GL short in which a friend agrees to help her other friend find a girl to have sex with before the day is over; they go through several quirky candidates looking for the titular perfect one night stand.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Hi, since GMM has many Thai BL series, just wondering, do you have favorites from them? If you do, do you have 10 you like most so far?

Hello. Gmmtv does have A LOT of bl's. So as much as they've been disappointing me lately, they have produced some of my favourite thai bl's. So, in no particular order.

A Tale of Thousand Stars

Probably my most rewatched thai bl. It's one of my comfort watches. I love EarthMix as a ship, and will watch anything they do. As I'm writing this I'm remembering that they'll be in Ossan's Love Thailand later this year and I'm both excited and scared in equal measure. Please don't fuck it up.

Theory of Love

Such an incredible show. It's friends to lovers done well, and it's very underrated imo and it's written better than a lot of shows that have since graced our screens. I've also rewatched this one way too many times. Last time was last year so it'll be time in for a rewatch soon. Perhaps when things calm down a bit.

Bad Buddy

I'm sure with a quick look through the tag you'll find about 53654 reasons why this show is on this list. It's great. Very much one of my first recommendations if someone asks for thai bl.

Moonlight Chicken

This show is stunning. I really cannot say that enough. The cinematography is well above what we are used to from gmmtv or even most of thai bls in general. I really enjoyed all the different relationships and the way it portrait family.

Cherry Magic Thailand

I love this story. From the manga to the anime, I love them all. So I was nervous about this one. I love TayNew so that was definitely a point in its favor even before it started. And they delivered. This was such a clever adaptation, with the right changes and a great choice of cast. And Karan is perfection.

Cooking Crush

Another underrated show with OffGun. Here's a show that I wish more people had watched. It's so good. Like both couples communicate, can you believe? No silly misunderstandings because they actually talk to each other? Amazing. And now I wanna rewatch it. This is why I can't make these lists. Cause then I wanna watch them all again. But really, this show is a gem, and the side couple has some incredible moments as well.

And since we're talking about OffGun I'll end this by saying that right now there's a gmmtv show with them and it's amazing so far.

The Trainee had its sixth episode today and with only four left I'm cautiously optimistic about it. So if you need something to watch that's airing now, this is definitely my choice from gmmtv.

Thank you for dropping by and have a wonderful week. Tomorrow is monday again, how did that happen?💜

[respectthepetty]

GMMTV 2024 Part 1 - Hot Tops

I did this last year, so I guess I'll do it this year too even though I'm salty like the Great Lakes in Utah about not getting JoongDunk, release dates for the remaining 2023 shows, nor Midnight Museum 2. Even though I have questions like if High School Fremeny is gonna be queer and why GMMTV is determined to make Earth seem old (Ossan's Love, really?!), there was a lot that I liked about this lineup like . . .

#1 - ON SALE Peaceful Property

I don't know if this show is a BL or not or what its name is, but I don't care. I'm gonna watch the hell out of it regardless. After enjoying New in The Warp Effect act wild, then Tay in Midnight Museum (thug tears!) be unhinged, I'm excited to see them play to those strengths in the Thai edition of one of my favorite shows, Los Espookys, because we have the rich kid who needs the help of the poor ghost hunters. It looks like a funny (and heartwarming) take on los espookys, so I'll be scared, but it has color coding which makes it a HOT TOP for me. - For the Heart

#2 - Wandee Goodday

Great was queer in Manner of Death. It was canon to me, so I followed him to Catch Me Baby where he clearly wasn't queer, but NetJames as the support were, so it was a win. So I'll be damn sure to follow this fine man on this wild adventure with Inn where he is playing an actual queer. Like he knows "he is queer and is already having casual sex with a guy" queer. It also features THOR, DRAKE and POND, while being directed by GOLF with the possibility of color coding, so who am I to argue with perfection. - For the Kinks

#3 - My Golden Blood

I don't like vampires, but I love camp, and nothing gets campier than this pilot trailer even if was unintentional. I laughed so many times during it that I'm going to treat this as a comedy whether it is or not. It had Neo and Mond while also saving some space for potential "older" vampires to show up (Papang anyone?). Fluke Gawin continues to take one for the team, yet stays winning, so thank this babygirl for his service, while Joss serves body. Amen. - For the Laughs

#4 - The Trainee

Everyone looks miserable in corporate America Thailand, which is realistic because it is soul-sucking and never-ending, but OffGun are getting to play adults AGAIN, and like I wrote last year - They are Kelly Clarkson. Even at their worst, they are better than every one else, performance-wise, and they have View, Piploy, and Sea with his beautiful side profile as supports. Because it is an office BL, I'm already rooting for it, and it features Gun crying which is only rivaled by Khaotung tearing up, meaning it's marvelous. - For the Adults

#5 - Kidnap

Both Ohms are in it with Title and a newbie, but I'm only showing up 42% for them and 58% for PAPANG! That's it! That's the reason. - For the PAPANG!

Honorable Mention - Pluto

It's really shitty of me to put a picture of the bully, played by THOR (again!), as the image for this when it is a GL, but the entire reason it isn't even ranked is because . . .

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?!

There are twins? One gets in a car accident with her husband right after the wedding or on the way to the wedding? The other twins takes her place to figure out what happened? But falls back in love with her bestie? Or were they already in love? Or did the chick actually love the other twin? Make it make sense, Mary! All I truly understood was Thor & Baseball Bat. Everything else was confetti. - For the ???

Everything Else

As usual, I'm showing up for everything queer, so even if I'm not looking forward to them I'll watch them.

But Ossans' Love . . . really, GMMTV? *eye roll for making me sit through it again in another language*

[crispybonkeggllama]

I've been watching Ichigo edits (mostly with manga panels) and just suddenly had a thought-

Watch these edits with Mugetsu/Vasto Lorde/Shiro&Ichigo and just imagine Ichigo being a VILLAIN.

I was awe-struck.

Honestly, he looks attractive, handsome, somewhere even soft with longer hair (I'm talking about Dangai look, yes), he has his moral code, he is protective (imagine if he actuallly was a villain and then we got to see him with his sisters, how much of a caring big brother he is with hints that not everything is steady in Kurosaki household).

He still would be a villain, doing evil things and crimes. But judging by his personality we would question his reasons, his motivation, we would ask ourselves if the "good guys" are actually good? Why exactly did he target those people, that building?

Then we would get a snippet of Shiro and Ossan. Thus being able to somehow sympathize him with his struggles in gaining control over his body, asking ourselves "who are you? You're so kind, you're hurting, you don't act evil yet do evil things. What is your goal? What makes someone like you choose the path of a villain?"

And then there would be the a supposed fight scene between him and Urahara, but neither of them making the first move, ending in them simply chatting, albeit with Urahara's teasings and strange humor and Ichigo's flustered face.

But then Ichigo would stop, getting something out of his pocket, leaving it in the ground while looking straight into Urahara's eyes.

"Hide it better this time, I might not be able to retrieve it back again." He disappears in shunpo.

It's Hogyoku lying on the ground. Stolen by Aizen not long ago (he very much bragged about it during their recent fight).

The first interaction we've seen between those two, no hints or anything that they know each other.

And they don't.

Urahara shocked, thrilled and intrigued at the same time.

And we would be struck by realisation that Ichigo is more complicated. That he is the third party in the game represented by Ichigo and Ichigo alone.

A soft, caring brother, pretty handsome young man whose motives or goals are unknown, whose next step is unpredictable, neither all his powers.

Who acts and looks more like a rebellious hero than a calm, cold-hearted villain.

Yet is being one.

[innershoesuitcasebiscuit]

So I'm back again, I'm taking my time right now reading the manga, not because I'm starting to grow tired of it. It's because I'm now in the Marine Ford War Arc.

We know this arc was great and it also triggers our depression 😰.

To cope up with it I'm checking for the screenshots that I have taken and have myself a Zorobin therapy.

So I've actually noticed a somewhat connection between Zoro and Robin. I realized that we can compare the two of them to 'start & end of a bridge'.

For example with this scene in the manga:

The Bell was actually discovered by Robin when she actually read the inscription she found in Shandora. Enel while observing Robin realizes that she could read those words.

Then at that scene above Enel yelled that he was going to take the Bell. While Robin was explaining the location of the Bell Zoro was reminded of what Luffy said to them.

Then they saw a leaf fall down with Nami instructions to cut the stalks. Zoro proceeded with the task but he only cut down one of it.

We will also see here in this scene that Wiper disagrees with ringing the bell as this is their will or their duty. As Usopp continued the attack on the stalk, Robin told Wiper the tale of Montblanc Noland.

Please pay attention to this scene as it is very important.

Robin then told him the reason why Luffy is insisting on ringing the bell at a cost of his life. She also told him the name of diamond-ossan.

Which gave the push so that Wiper can destroy the other stalk. As he might have believed that this is the will of Kalgara.

As I said before Zoro and Robin are like the start & the end of the bridge right? Then that makes Luffy crossing that bridge.

For Luffy ringing the bell would make Cricket-san know that the city of gold is actually at the skies, but it also has a deeper weight than that. As ringing the bell also signifies the reunion of friends 😭.

We know that Cricket-san is Noland's descendant and Wiper is Calgara's descendant.

Calgara also promised that when Noland will come back to Shandora they're going to ring the bell. Noland through his descendants fulfill his promise of returning the only one left is for Calgara to fullfill his.

Wiper at this scene is in a bad shape, using the reject dial took a toll on his body (he's also on the verge of death).

Zoro said he doesn't understand what Wiper's goal.

Zoro added that he's an honorable warrior (the reason he's saying this is because he heard Montblanc Noland's name and the fulfillment of a promise.)

It would have been sad if Kalgara's descendant would have died while Noland's descendant lived. It would be a tragedy.

Robin discovers the bell and the location, which helps Luffy to decide to ring the bell to notify Cricket-san. Zoro partially made possible by cutting half of the stalk.

Robin told Wiper about Montblanc Noland & Cricket. Making Wiper helps them in bringing down the stalk indirectly saving Wiper as well. Zoro upon hearing what Wiper said decided to help him live by making Chopper tend to his wound.

So that's it there are also circumstances like this one but. I think this is very long already so I'll end it here.

As for the freebies:

Here I offer an inquisitive Zoro.

(admit it you like hearing her talk Zoro 🥹)

💜💚🌸⚔️

[randomnameless]

Epilogue wise!

Or the credit roll, where only Alain gets an ending based on who got enough convos (+ a plot gizmo) with him, when the other characters do their thing!

Sure, as a FE player, the lack of paired endings based on the rapport convos was a bit annoying, but to be honest, given how the endings for each character have them at least share a screen with 1 or more other character, it's more... telling than shipping X and Y to see what comes out of it.

I mean, before getting Travis and the Tricorns' ending, we have a scene of them mock fighting/training together in the arena ft Amalia, and it's way more interesting and revealing about their character than some random "Bruno married Yunifi and opened a library in Bastoritza, with Travis visiting from times to times".

Sure Monica doesn't... rekindle in her ending her relationship with Clive (FE15xFE16 crossover?) in the ending, but in the playable epilogue aka where Alain can talk to the characters who are next to others and talk to each other... Clive is asking Monica, without any other thoughts, of course, if, y'know, they can meet her grandpa together but, uh, if she would accept to accompany him just because, uh, reasons.

Some ending background scenes, even if they're not in the textr proper, reference support/rapport convos (Mordon and Jerry drinking or Bertand and Govil chilling together) and I like the Cornian Ossan All Stars team practicing together, with Lex - the childhood friend - popping up in the background to watch them, even if we already got/saw his ending in city 1.1 earlier!

It helped depict this world and the characters as alive and interconnected, Lex is said to travel around the world after the war after all!

I regret not being able to use Sanatio more in the game - but that's the way it is lol - because he's kind of adorbs in his rapports, but maybe it's because he's turned in a butt-monkey who buttmonks in his Melisandre and Ochlys rapports lol (also his class is completely stupid) but yeah, called it, Sanatio being the only one who cared about the Orthodoxy, its people and Albion becomes the new Pope after Scarlett ditches her title to make flower crowns with her friends.

Hm.

IIRC the only pairing we have - regardless of the rapport convos - is Virginia and Gilbert, but tbh, if the "plot mandatory" convos tried to sell it, as I noted during the Drakengard saga post, the optional rapport convos (but not only between the two of them! see Aramis and Virginia's!) and the optional "yay we rebuilt Drakengard! Let's talk about the future of the country but wait Gilbert why are you talking with Virginia who's still basically at that point the Princess of another country and not talk to your retainers or even your totes-not big bro?" so their ending doesn't come off as a surprise, and to hammer it even more, the devs have them standing together in the playable epilogue talking about competing again.

I wouldn't say they're as hamfisted as Scarlett being the supposed canon love interest - because Alain marrying his cousin can throw a wrench in that marriage lol - but, uh, yeah. Random Drakengardian NPC foreshadowed it with his "wow Princess Virginia is so cool she rekt'd Giethe! We admire her a lot!" -> Gilbert's approval/opinion/wishes notwithstanding, Drakengardians NPCs like her even if she's from Cornia.

I also liked how Virginia and Gilbert's son will later be doted on and tutored by Leah, Gilbert's vassal who officialy became Virginia's and I found it was a nice callback to her support with Amalia - Leah wants to become stronger so she'll train everyday to defeat her, maybe she will use those polished skills to teach the future Drakengardian prince, since House Zelchesm is busy Tricorning around?

"And Minerva becomes a nun" -> I feel the execution is better here, because Hilda - who rides a flyin lizard and has a younger cleric sister - wants first and foremost to atone for her role in the "keeping the lockdown tight" during the plague, so if she can help by healing people this time I think it's plausible enough that she takes it, even if it means not being a wyvern knight anymore

(will she pioneer a new type of unit in Fevrith, the flying healer, but instead of being on a pegasi, flying healers would ride wyverns???)

As for the elves...

I liked how Eltrinde, to mirror maybe her rapport with people from each land (save for Drakengard?) is said to have travelled around the continent of Fevrith to finally break Elheim's policy of isolationism.

Rosalinde's last rapport convo with her vassal/knight Ithilion was cute, he was angsting about pursuing his romance with a human and being at her service and wanted to break up with his human, so she fires him for around 100 years, so he can live his romance, and then return to her if he wants - and in the ending BG, Ithilion is with his human :) (even in the cover art of the upcoming artbook!)

I'm not going to replay it so soon - but I'll definitely restart a run before the end of the year, on a higher difficulty to get the memetic fish stew ending or to get the utterly depressing Norbelle one.

(i want to try new shenanigans with units damn it like find a way to optimise Gloucester's damage input, do something so Berengaria doesn't die to a breeze and learns how to use her shield and/or make thematic teams like the "drunkards" with Mordon, Jeremy, Gilbert and Eltrinde)

[bl-bracket]

Most Unhinged - Loser's Bracket Round 1: Kurosawa (Ossan's Love) vs Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor)

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Kurosawa: none submitted

Zhou Zishu: "it’s more understated cause he’s next to Wen Kexing but he is also unhinged. his main problem with Wen Kexing’s big revenge plot and killing a bunch of people is that 1) it’s messy and causing a lot more collateral damage than even WKX fully wants. If it was up to Zhou Zishu, he would have a much more effective and targeted plan that only killed and destroyed the lives of the people he wanted to do that too. 2) he just wants to retire from being evil but he can’t retire if his husband is still actively doing his evil stuff so he just wants WKX to calm down with all the villainy already so they can start their international wine tour. These aren’t the thoughts of a normal well adjusted person with all their hinges intact! Part of their whole deal is being evenly matched soulmates who are suited to each other in all things, if Wen Kexing is unhinged, then Zhou Zishu cannot be hinged based on that alone!"

[wolame-o-ccx]

Watched Mr. Bride for Nakamura finished every episode crying because he was so beautiful.

LIKE YES PLS???

But on a more serious note I actually really loved this show I like how they could continue to put problems in Hayamoto's relationship and continue to frustrate me even further to a level I did not know was possible. But it was good. I love Hayami and I love Yamamoto they're so cute together.

The Yamamoto older brothers are so silly 😭 Masami and Kaoru 's banter is so entertaining to watch and how protective they are of Chihiro and Hayami is so cute.

This actually kinda reminded me of both Ossan's Love and Our Sister's Soulmate in a way too.

For Akamine and Hanazuma oml they was so fucking annoying but I love them so much /srs like Akamine is so silly and so me even though she was annoying I really love her. I love Hanazuma's complexity and how genuine of a person he is. He's really cute - not talking about the way he acts. I love when these two interact with Masami and Kaoru I just wish it happened more. The wedding planning episode was genuinely so fun to watch even though they were all being annoying for no reason. Poor Koga though 😭

Koga was so special to me because one, NAKAMURA AOI, and two I genuinely really love his character. I like how annoying he can be and causing unnecessary problems when he actually means well and nothing is going on. He's smart but stupid for being so oblivious. I like that even though he's practically perfect as a husband, he lacks in housework abilities and even keeping up a good diet. I think over the course of the series, with how many times the other characters have brought him out to eat, he got a little more healthy. For me it feels like he lacks the feeling of wanting to be in a romantic relationship or any romantic setting so everything he says just sounds like it has a deeper meaning but really he's just being friendly. That being said I am so glad he didn't actually have feelings for Hayami in the end. Also bi aroace vibes are off the charts. Also think he should've held Hayamoto's hands THEY ALL HAVE TWO (not really Hayamoto is good on their own and Koga would not be the type to get in the way ((even tho he has multiple times)) of that unless they all agreed)

I also really enjoyed Hanazuma, Akamine and Koga's friendship. I'm kind of glad Akamine didn't get together with either of them BECAUSE HELLO??? LESBIAN?? and the three of them were just platonic but like they were so cute. I want more of them. Like that scene where Hanazuma is showing Koga his plan over the phone is soooo cute and then Koga telling him he worked hard in the end OH MY GOD HAVE MY HEART. I also love how Akamine does have her own genuine side like she can tell when Hanazuma is feeling really upset and doesn't say anything but manages to cheer him up in the end and she did that on purpose and I oh my god they're so special to me. When Koga came to the office and they got so excited to see him OH MY GOD MYEHEIWUWI THEY ARE SOOOO CUTE

10/10 will watch again for several reasons more than just to watch Nakamura on the screen.

She is so me

[projectjasper]

time for me to gather all my thoughts together!

out of the 15 announced series, i am - to various degrees - interested in 10, which is a pretty solid amount!

i will definitely be watching:

we are! it's yet another uni drama, but you know what? i don't give a shit. i like me a uni drama. pondphuwin are definitely the mains, with satangwinny either being a secondary couple or also mains - it is not entirely clear from the trailer. my vote is always for marcpawin, who are playing a background couple here along with aouboom. so a very solid cast for me. incredible news.

my love mix-up! i adore kieta hatsukoi, i adore fourth, i adore gemini. feels like a recipe for success to me.

wandee goodday! a bl about actual fucking adults? wow. sign me up right away please. i am not familiar with the main actors, but thor is a part of a secondary couple, and podd is also there, so that's great.

my golden blood! GAWIN as a main character? gawin with JOSS? joss is a VAMPIRE? i want it NOW. like TODAY. exciting af!

pluto! seems like a very dramatic gl with many twists and turns, i am also very excited.

the other five series i am unsure of, for different reasons:

ossan's love th. it's actually likely i will end up watching it, but i (shock horror) haven't actually seen ossan's love, and i feel like i can't say that i will or will not be watching it with as much certainty as those who have seen the original. i will definitely get to it at some point soon though. if i like the original, i'll watch the thai version too.

the trainee. at the moment, i don't feel necessarily excited for this series, so whether i watch it or not will depend on either me having enough free time when it will be coming out to just kind of casually enjoy it, or people really raving about it while it's already coming out and me deciding to spend time on it because of that.

kidnap. pretty much the same exact situation as the trainee. did not grip my attention that much, but we will see if that changes. there is, of course, also the chance that the real trailers for either of the two will change my mind. mock trailers can be a bit clumsy sometimes.

only boo. it did not particularly intrigue me and - unlike the trainee and kidnap - the leads cannot recommend me the series just by virtue of being themselves, because i don't know them. so i am even less inclined than i am with the trainee, knowing how great offgun's chemistry is, and kidnap, because... well, ohm. if something convinces me to watch this - i will. otherwise, it's a pass.

high school frenemy. is it deep platonic love or do they want to stick their tongues down each other's throats? the second i know for sure, the decision will be made. in which direction, i'm sure you can imagine.

some random thoughts:

leads of the series that are coming out right now are clearly taking a little break after this (some of them do have prior comittments for series that haven't come out yet, but from what i remember - it is all secondary/background roles). this makes sense, especially because this is just part 1 of the announcement. so, i'm waiting for whatever news we will get from neo, mark, first, khaotung, force, book, perth, and chimon later.

considering the previous point, i can only Really be mad about the noticeable lack of fluke pusit. my man is clearly in the basement. oh, and aj and jj, who are only playing a background role in one of the series. there is actually a fucking series, where the characters are twins, and they cast ONE GUY to play BOTH, when they have literal fucking twins in their casting pool. wild.

my one real complaint is that i'm getting marcpawin crumbs once again. and i don't mean to anger the gods, because crumbs are better than nothing, but when am i going to fucking get the full loaf of bread? i deserve it. they deserve it. p l e a s e. generally, they seem to still be reluctant about giving current secondary couples the main stage, because satangwinny are either mains along with pondphuwin, or potentially even secondary to them in the drama. let them shine on their own please :(

[everythingblreview]

Laughter Land Review Part 2

I wrote too much had to cut in two parts

Dag

Dag’s route pretty much goes exactly like Gregs until the moment when they confront the stupid bitch and fucking Zachariah, only this time Greg really dies (Noooooooooo) and Dick is capture and sold as a prostitutes for perverted men (They show the abuse on screen for way too long). At some point the constant rape breaks Dick and he turns basically into a puppet. Meanwhile Dag is worried what happened to these two and by chance learns about Dick being sold as a prostitute and basically manages to buy Dick with the help of a shop manager. Dick is still broken inside, so Dag takes care of him, like they did with Aby. At some point Dick heals and for some reason starts liking Dag, after Dag takes him to see the sunrise or something. In the final choice you can either confess or not if you do, they will have very illegal sex (which is honestly a crime to look at, I’m not a pedo, thank you) or just stay friends (a way better end than the random confession out of nowhere). It felt more like Dick was attracted to Dag and not really in love with him, because of Dag freed him from his nightmare. Also, why would you fall in love with an ossan who is like 40 when you yourself are like 14. Please someone call the police. But yeah, that’s the whole route, Greg is dead, we don’t hear about the others and Dag and Dick start have a very pedo relationship, nothing else really happens. That’s why I consider it the worst route of the game.

Guillered

This route start after Dick was stabbed and lost his memory of what happened before. He wakes up in a strange blue room with no memory and Guillered explaining to him who he is and asks him to help him protect this world from people who are jealous of it. Then he gives Dick some kind of spell, tells him they have similar souls or something and that he wants to introduce him to a friend, before he leaves. Meanwhile we learn that Cornel gem colour turned blue, and that he is now on the run from his (sex doll) brother and the iron soldiers, because he himself turn into what he hated the most. Dick on the other hand is chilling in Guillered’s place when he stumbles across a model of the city and wished to play in it, so the gem (which is blue at the moment) grants him that and he shrinks into the model but goes back to normal again shortly after. When Guillered comes back, he shows him the exact model and tell him this is where he likes to go when he wants to be alone. Then he tells Dick he wants them to be best friends (after stabbing him before mhm sure), they play for a bit and Guillered fucks off. Dick decided to stay overnight at Cornel’s model mansion, but suddenly the scene of Cornel fucking his robo bro(from all memories why this one????) flashes before his eyes. The next day when he becomes his normal size again he meets Master Northbrook aka Ioan in his adult form (which I 1000% prefer because he is not this awkward shota anymore). He is the friends Guillered was talking about before. Master Northbrook tell him that kids who have a blue gem, have reached maturity and that they need to drive them out because Guillered wants that. Cornel, who has been on the run for days now, collapses but is luckily found by Roddy who takes him to his house.

Meanwhile Dick begins to have weird dream about Guillered’s past, where it shows that he was the son of a crazy cultist bitch, who was scared of satan or something and that Guillered had a sister and brother. When the police found the cults house all the adults took poison and killed themselves, letting only the Guillered and his siblings alive, who were then taken to a children’s home, where they were bullied because they were different. Oh, and his brother is Dag btw. When Dick wakes up Guillered tell him how he found a red gem stone with his sibling and wished for a world they can be happy in and this is how Laughter Land came to be. Then he tells him that he wants to be deeply connected and gives him a footjob tf???? (What’s even with this crazy shota, go back play in the sandbox). The next day Guillered asks Dick to do him a favour, so Dicks walks around Laughter Land and starts to slowly get parts of his memory back. Then comes across some brats who are about to shoot a man on Guillered’s order, because he is blue, (what is it with everyone being a psycho in this game?) but luckily, they get distracted by someone telling them, that he saw Roddy hide a blue in their house. Dick then hurries and frees the poor guy so he can run before psycho shotas notice it. Then Dick goes to Roddy’s house and tries to see Cornel but then Cornel’s brother arrives and takes him with him, with baby Roddy trying to stop it. Dick returns back to Guillered place and is all in distrust of him now. After a talk with Master Northbrook he decided to rescue Cornel, which he does the next day, but not before Cornel’s brother puts him through hours of rape (of course). They rescue and hide him in one of the houses in the model. Meanwhile Guillered is suspicious of Dick and starts getting mad, but Dick insures him that everything is alright, then Guillered asks him if Dick likes him, and Dick is like “…Sure of course I do” and Guillered is all like “If you like me kiss me”. Dick is unsure of that, but his gem suddenly begins to glow, and he is suddenly in the mood to bang, so they have very illegal looking sex for way too long. A few days after Cornel heals, he wants to go to the Forbidden Zone since he is blue now and can’t live in Laughter land anymore. They make a plan to see him off at night, but when Dick tries to sneak out at night, he gets caught by Guillered, who is in even more distrust now and used the gem power to read Dick’s heart, then tricks Dick into walking right back to his place and goes super psycho mode on him. He screams at him how he trusted him and got deceived, then stabs a sword through Dicks throat, and carries his corpse to the jungle to feed it to crocodiles. After the credit he goes to Leesha to cry about how no one wants to be his friends and everyone just deceives him….Well no wonder you’re a narcistic piece of immature brain who thinks killing anyone who is more mature is fully acceptable. Guillered is clearly still under the influence of the crazy cult he was born in, despite his two siblings not being like him. In one flashback you can see him whip one of the kids from the cult. He was already a psychopath back then, who think growing up is some kind of curse that removes all the fun out of people, but by staying a stupid and immature child he is only hurting himself. Also, I find it strange that sexual activities aren’t considered a “mature” activity and don’t having any influence on the gem of the person. The route has no good end, there is only a bad end and a sad end, and looking at this psycho child I’m glad there is no.

True route

The true route is basically a continuation of Guillered’s route. We start after Dick had become crocodile dinner. The sky turned red which is caused by Guillered himself. Greg notices it and know that the phenomen from 20 years ago is repeating again (the one where Sergi was born and Laughter Land got attacked by monsters), he goes to Dag and meets there with Sergi who wants to leave the Forbidden Zone and go to Laughter Land, so Greg (and everyone else) decides to go with him.

Meanwhile Master Northbrook is on the search for Dick. With the help of his gem he is brought to the jungle, where Dick became the crocodile’s snack and noticed that Dick had died so he wishes for Dick to be alive again, but is instead sucked into Dick’s gem which emerges from the water of the swamp. There he meets an old lady who tell him where Dick is. Dick is unconscious and hanging upside down from a bar, with people throwing stones at him. Master Northbrook somehow manages to wake Dick up and revive him again, but as they are about to leave the swamp, red-gel like monster jump out of the water. Then the games shows Dag, Sergi, Aby and Greg as they are riding a carriage on their way to Laughter Land, where they get attacked by these monsters.  Dag, Greg and Aby decided to stay and die, letting Sergi escape because he is on the search for his mother. Segi meets fucking Zachariah and finds out that he has the ability to turn these monsters into water. Master Northbrook tell Dick that these monsters are called “nightmares”. Apparently, they evolve from the gem everyone has and act like parasites, where they multiply by the wishes a person makes. And the one creating these nightmares is Guillered himself. Meanwhile Sergi reached the “tree of the end” which is where Guillered is and where these nightmares are being born. Th next day Dick and Northbrook want to go confront Guillered but Dick tells Northbrook he wants to go alone because only he can save Guilllered. Sergi on the other hand has the “luck” to encounter Guillered and get stabbed and pinned to the tree just above Risha, who Guillered is using to create the nightmares from (she is somehow fused to the tree). Once Dicks shows up its final boss battle time. Here we find out that Dick’s special power isn’t actually reviving lost memories but to copy and manipulated others power, which he uses to win against Guillered. We also learn that the person he got the power from was from his grandma, who is the sister of Dag and Guillered (so Dick had been fucking the sibling of his grandmother……okay). In the end Dick has no choice but to kill Risha because she is too fused with the tree and if she continues to live, she will create more nightmares. After that Dick confronts Guillered once more, Guillered, now all old and wrinkly, tell him that all he tried was to make children, who had a terrible life, happy and that he only ever had one wish and that is to have a real friend, Dick regrets not being able to make the wish come true and Guillered dies. *Credit roll* In the post credit scene we see two boys, with one having moved to a new town running to play with other kids, these being of course all the main characters who now live together in the real world free from any difficulties they had to face.

(Why does Dag still has a beard though?)

I really like the ending and the general message of the game, even if most main characters of this game were children, if didn’t feel like you were playing a games aimed at children(well makes sense, since this is still 18+ after all, but the H-scenes beside it was dark in its own way). I honestly wasn’t expecting to like this game so much, so I’m glad I give it a chance. It always surprise me how good such old games can be because often people (myself included in the past) think that older games=bad. If you read up to this point, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading. See you for the next review.

[motionjames]

I have created a new blog for no reason other than I am a terrible weeb kyahhh

It's called @okaeri-ossan and it's for super weeby visual novel eroge stuff. Its 18+ cos I'm going to be covering eroge but I'm not gonna be talking super explicitly so like dont worry ^_^ its definately for dorking around. I'll be writing my impressions on whatever I dig up. Okay THATS ALL!

[contrarynonsense]

I felt like sharing my thoughts on the gmmtv 2024 lineup (so far) since I ended up watching the livestream last night. Without further ado:

My thoughts on the gmmtv 2024 (part 1) line up! (Dramas only)

My Precious: Congrats to the cast but I did not watch the movie (which like literally just came out it feels like) and I don’t have a high interest in watching the drama adaptation.

Ploy’s Yearbook: I was slightly confused on the plot but as long as it’s not time travel I might give it a try. The girl lead ensemble cast seems real enjoyable.

We Are: Not gonna lie, I have some mixed feelings on this one. I love all the pairings but four couples in one series with low plot is far too many. I don’t think the screen time balance will be good and this feels like they are wasting some strong talent. Best I can phrase it is they are using the popularity of the couples to carry the show rather than have it be a story that can stand on its own. :/

The Trainee: I will always love OffGun and I’m most likely going to watch this, though I find it a little silly to announce another show for them when Cooking Crush hasn’t even aired yet. They really do need to let Gun spread his wings a bit more though imo. Also people keep saying there were no subtitles on the trailer but there definitely were??? So I don’t know what that’s about.

Only Boo: Love the fresh faces and the cast seems pretty good, but I have a very strong distaste for idol dramas. So unless this gets some seriously good reviews I’m probably going to give this a pass.

Pluto: A GL!!!! I’m not super sold on the plot, seems reminiscent of Not Me with the whole “pretend to be your twin while they’re in a coma” thing, but the girlies be stunning and working, and we need to show gmmtv that there is a market for this! So I will definitely be watching and supporting. 😤

Summer Night: They had me in the first half, I really thought they might be mixing couples and giving us DunkPhuwin. I was sold on that in seconds. But alas, it’s a messy heterosexual love square… thing? Honestly I got very lost on what was happening as the trailer went on. Love triangles/squares are overdone and really not my cup of tea, so I’ll skip this one and dream about what could have been.

Peaceful Property: I’m really, really excited for this one!!! Idk if it’s BL or Bromance but honestly I don’t care. The found family with ghosts and slapstick had me sold, the casting is incredible and TayNew with a dynamic swap is sending. Probably one of my favorite offerings on this list.

Ossan’s Love: while I love and respect the original for what it did for normalizing a lot of lgbt+ media in Japan, idk how I feel about them doing a remake. Even if neither Earth or Mix play the Ossan (which I doubt they will), they are still a bit too young for the other roles. I doubt doubt their skills, but these two are my age and they keep casting them (especially Earth) as these older aged characters. Like, these guys aren’t even 30 yet. I know they are very popular in Japan but… I will wait and see on this one. We didn’t even get a trailer so maybe it will surprise me and surpass my expectations.

My Golden Blood: This one I think caught ALL of us by surprise. Gawin bringing back a retired BL actor in a new pairing for a cheesy vampire romance? Amazing and honestly a little hilarious. I’ll be giving this one a watch most likely, mostly because I think the premise is very amusing.

Kidnap: While good for Ohm (possibly? little unclear on if this is BL or not, it might just be strong friendship) being in a new pair after the mess that was the fan base for Bad Buddy, I cannot stop laughing at the line “for some reasons, I have become a kidnapper.” I’m not supremely interested in the plot, but I hope it turns out good for people who are excited for it.

High School Frenemy: Apparently this is a remake of the Korean show School 2013, but I have not seen the original so I didn’t notice. Lots of gangs and fighting, as well as new faces. Don’t honesty have a strong opinion on this? Again, not my cup of tea. I lean more into comedy than I do angst and high drama.

Wandee Goodday: Yo this one was a ride. I had to get out of my chair and squat to the side for several minutes to recover. I’m not into high heat but damn were they committing and very unabashed about, like, anything. I also love the comedic timing of a lot of it. I don’t know if I’m personally going to watch this one but God I hope it succeeds and goes as good as the trailer.

My Love Mix-Up: GemFourth are back! Little sad that it’s not an original story but I love Kieta Hatsukoi and I know they will kill it. And they have (as far as I can tell) clarified that this is a new adaptation based on the manga, and not a remake of the Japanese drama. As such, I will not be comparing the two and waiting to see what their take on the story will be. Hopefully they will adapt further into the story than the JBL did (though no shame on that version, they did spectacular).

Enigma Season 2: I did not watch season 1 and I will not be watching season 2. Sorry.

Those are my thoughts on the lineup from part one! Missing some big names like FirstKhao and ForceBook, but honestly they are probably gonna be in part 2 in December so I’m not too worried. Overall the announced shows are kinda… meh? Like there is some standouts but overall not super sold on a lot of them. Plus a lot of them probably won’t even make it into 2024 with how behind schedule they are with this years shows. (Where is 23.5 gmmtv? Where?) We shall see what the offerings will be in part 2!

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

There were more than a couple of shows ending this week. And when that happens I go to my mdl page and click that box that says completed.

Sometimes it's with the feeling of "finally,it's over", and sometimes just that little action makes a bit sad. Playboyy is in the first category, I will not elaborate. I will just say a few words about the shows that this week are part of the second category.

I ticked that box twice yesterday and once just an hour ago. My heart is full, the joy is overwhelming and the bit of sadness that comes from the end of something I love has settled a bit (not really but let's pretend).

Perfect Propose was a gift. I didn't see it coming, and I was hooked from the first minute. Even with the shorter running time, Kai already occupies a special place in my heart and will join others as one of my favourite bl characters of all time. I don't think it's any secret for anyone that follows me that jbl has a special place in my heart. Maybe because it was my first, or maybe just because it's better my taste. But in 6 short episodes we got to see these characters confront their own issues and grow into themselves and each other, and still managed to have a story that incorporated workplace criticism without detracting from the love story which is super impressive. I wanted more because I could keep watching them but it felt complete.

Ossan's Love Returns was another surprise. Because I wasn't planning on watching. Mostly because I thought it wouldn't be my thing (crazy talk) and also because I would have to go back and watch everything that came before. But then, @twig-tea, as usual being the voice of reason, told me to just watch this season. And, not that they are on the same level in my heart, but this show filled a little bit of the hole left by WDYEY. It wasn't a perfect season. And I liked some characters more than others but in the end, this family had me in tears. This episode was beautiful. The speeches for Haruta got me so emotional, and then the cherry blossoms and the last fight between Maki and Kurosawa ending with the "We are family" left me with tears in my eyes that came back today as I was giffing it. It's amazing to me that this show has the success that it does and it gives me hope that we might get more stories like this. (Would also like to take a moment to thank @isaksbestpillow for subbing the episodes and giving us more cultural context so we can fully appreciate this show)

I LOVE cherry magic. All of it. I love the manga, I love the japanese version, the thai version and the anime version. Give me all of it. Forever. And so I was cautiously optimistic about this one. Optimistic because I really like Tay/New, cautious because in my brain I could only see how they could ruin one of my favourite stories. I didn't have to be. This was wonderful. I really wanna re-read the manga in its entirety because I wanna see how it compares now that it's over. Not to criticize it or be able to spot what they got wrong but to appreciate the changes they made and why it worked so well. Because the things that I noticed were really well done.

Not to repeat myself but... I LOVE Kurosawa/Karan. All the versions. I need more of him. I think from the main four, he's the one, that I notice changes more from version to version. And I love them all. I mean, Tay Tawan is a beautiful human. And his Karan had me practically swooning on a weekly basis. And I'm not a swooner. I loved New as Adachi, I think he embodied the character really well and I thoroughly enjoyed all his facial expressions. I loved this version of Minato and Tsuge more than the japanese version. I think it was more fleshed out and more balanced and obviously it was helped by the longer runtime. Even Pai and Rock had my heart by the end. It was so good.

_

I need more shows like the ones above and I'll be waiting for the next one that consumes me. In the mean time, I guess I'm gonna go watch some kids being awful to each other. Balance is good. 💜