#2024 stop giving me character development

[swanprincessodette]

Not dead!

That is the update. Light and the internet are wishy-washy. I'll be more active during the weekend or starting of next week. Can always ask for discord if we're mutuals.

[dangoulains-devotion]

every time I have to wade through inane ship wars where people are willfully ignorant to the depth and facets of cloud strife's character, circumstance, and story just so I can find some cool screenshots or fanart my 'cloud is ace' agenda simply grows more potent out of spite

[starkwlkr]

Omfg I need like early on in the relationship between Hugh and marvel!reader where their relationship isn’t public and their papparazzi of them on set together coz they’re visiting eachother and everyone’s thinking xmen X mcu when in reality it’s just them together dating

no spoilers! | hugh jackman

an: ok since their first son was born in 2000 (it’s canon idk what date but it’s canon now lol) and the mcu started in 2008 I’m going to change a few things JUST TINY THINGS like the mcu being in development early on and marvel actress!reader being casted in the early 2000s. does that make sense?? idk this is fanfiction

2005

Getting a call from Marvel was something you never expected. Like many people, you grew up reading the comics and watching the tv shows. But now you had the chance of a lifetime. You were being offered a role in the first movie in the Marvel cinematic universe.

After having a meeting with the marvel executives and your manager, you were asked to keep the news of your casting a secret. The media was already wondering who was going to portray what heroes on the big screen and your name was being thrown around.

While your relationship was still a secret, you often visited Hugh on set of X-Men with Alex and Reese. You tried to keep your little family from the media as much a possible. You would watch Hugh get into his costume and do his stunts. You were always amazed at how much fun it would be to portray a superhero and now you were finally going to be able to.

A few months after you met with Marvel, you found out you were pregnant with your third baby. A girl. Thankfully you weren’t set to film yet since the film was still in development. When it was finally time to film ‘Iron Man’, you were more than ready. Your kids were a bit older so they finally got to watch you beat up bad guys like their dad did.

It was during the filming of ‘Iron Man 2’ when your secret was finally revealed to the world. You didn’t really know how it even happened . . . Your guess was that paparazzi somehow snuck in. Hugh was always careful when visiting you on set. Rumors were already circulating on the internet about a potential X-Men and Avengers team up. It didn’t help that Hugh was sporting his signature Wolverine hair when he visited the set. At least the kids weren’t with you.

“You look much better than me,” Hugh looked at your costume. He couldn’t stop staring, it was starting to make you weak in the knees. “at least you get comfortable suits. Remember the black suits from X-Men? The most uncomfortable shit ever.”

“The kids thought you looked cool.” You reminded him.

“Okay, that makes me feel better.”

As you and Hugh talked, some paparazzi were secretly taking photos. All they could think about was how well they were going to get paid for the exclusive photos. The X-Men joining the mcu? That was big news!

When the photos were published on every magazine, you couldn’t help but laugh. What a way to reveal your relationship. You definitely didn’t want to share the news this way, but you also didn’t want to lose your job.

“Maybe in a few years it’ll come true. You, me, X-Men and the Avengers.” He told you, giving you your morning coffee. The kids were still sleeping so you and Hugh took advantage of the quiet morning. You set the magazine down on the table and drank the coffee.

“It would be nice. Imagine what the kids will think. Mom and dad beating up the bad guys together,” you smiled at him. He took the opportunity to give you a kiss. As he pulled away, you whispered to him. “or it could be me kicking the wolverine’s ass.”

Your characters wouldn’t share the screen until 2024 when Deadpool & Wolverine premiered. Your kids were more than excited to see their parents fighting together.

@kellyxo1 @barnes70stark @ru-kru @flyestvenustrap @evasmlp

[celestialalpacaron]

Ayo, someone by the name of Curly-B-Blog is redlining art of yours from 2020 (while pretending that it's actually Sai Scribble's work), and kind of being a dick about it. just thought you should know.

You know, originally I was just gonna brush it off, but then I went back to look at my old SU art from 2020 and did so much self reflection from then till now.

I think this was around the time I was just learning how to do perspective and tried to use the perspective tool on Procreate for the first time? :0 and I remember telling Sai “Sai I have this STUPID idea, I CANT believe it this stupid joke it’s so DUMBBBB, it’s living rent free in my BRAIN I SWEAR THIS IS GONNA BE SO STUPID DCIUWHEFIUWHIRFUIW4F” and being super excited to show her the finished product. People still think Sai created the Cursed Skin Gloves comic and I think it’s hilarious wjhwnuhwijwuiw

The comic was received very well and it made LOTS of people laugh and I’m still proud of this comic to this very day! :D and tbh if it wasn’t for my obsession for Sai’s Switcheroo AU I never would have found my passion in comic work! (love you you stinky hoe @saiscribbles 🩷)

HOWEVER…. I definitely still had lots to learn! I wasn’t very good at perspective at the time I’ll admit, but I was definitely having lots of fun learning :3

And throughout the past 4 years, ALOT has happened.

I graduated from college with TWO fancy pieces of expensive papers in Visual Development in Animation and Illustration learning from Will Kim and Jeff Soto, and as a I was working with the funny voice man Cougar MacDowall as a comic/story artist and reached in total around 7 million views for my fan series FNAF Security Malware Breached (it was even #21 on the trending list around the time of my birthday 🩷 what a lovely gift), had an insane opportunity to work with Mike Geno and with the voice cast from The Amazing Digital Circus for a fan song as a background and character asset artist, Vivienne Medrano liking and sharing my silly Overlord Husk AU comics, currently on my route to getting my certificate from Aaron Blaise’s Character design program and graduating from Marc Brunet Art School, and now I am completing my first year as professional colorist and art assistant for my storyboard and comic mentor Michelle Lam, aka Mewtripled! (Also I’ll be heading out to Lightbox Expo 2024 on October 26 with Michelle and the team so if y’all ever wanna meetup hahahajaj wink wink wink wink wink)

So you can say I learned ALOT and I enjoyed every minute of what I do :D I try to be humble about my accomplishments because blah blah being humble good yes yes but this time I wanna be selfish and say HELL YEAH I DID ALL THIS!!! AND IM SO EXTREMELY PROUD OF MYSELF FIUGEIURGERGGRS

Now here’s my most recent comic page that I posted like 2 days ago without the text.

That’s pretty freakin wild to me, I can’t believe I used to draw Steven Universe art like that back in 2020 LOL LIKE GUYS I DREW THIS!! WITH!!! MY HANDS!!! IS THAT NOT INSANE!!!???

Anyways moral of the story:

Learn from everyone and everything! Yes, even then mean ones too! If you can learn to work with anyone, I promise you’ll get to where you want to be faster. People can be a little mean on the internet, but that shouldn’t stop you from being where you want to be in the future. I’m so EXTREMELY grateful for all the opportunities and to all the kind professionals who were willing to give me a chance. Seriously, I’m so graciously thankful for everything, and I hope everyone here will support me and my silly little comics I will do now and in the future!

And one more thing:

Don’t be a jerk. Be to be nice to everyone :D nothing good comes out when you’re bad to everyone.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - THERE IS SO MUCH ON RIGHT NOW, it's crazy-making!

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

July 2024 Week 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Goodday (Sat YT) ep 10 of 12 - I am with Dee, noodles do solve everything. The brothers were SO GOOD together. I’m getting to really love a back drop in BL, it’s like the mic drop of gay boys smooching. This is such a good show. I had a big grin on my face while also crying a bit. Everything I want from a BL is happening right here, in front of my eyes.

Did they gloss over the trauma a bit? Yes. Do I care? No. I don't like dwelling in trauma in general, mine, friends, online, or in my BL.

The Rebound (Weds Gaga) ep 2 of 12 - All Thai mafia is gay… again. Yes, it’s still great. No, I have no idea why they’re dropping so many eps at once. That’s not normal for a Thai drama. But I’m not gonna complain except there’s a lot on right now. I like the side couple too. I also like Frank’s poor little rich kid side dish action. I mean, Meen is an ult for me, but Frank is giving excellent second lead syndrome. Suspiciously aggressive and a touch stalker, but I don’t mind a boy that sus if he that cute. And of course, with the mafia involved there is kidnapping.

Look, is this the best show currently airing? No. Which is why it slid a little in the standings. But that's only because Wandee hit it out of the park this week. Frankly, this may not be the best BL airing right now, but it’s the best BL for me.

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 - That oppa bit was fucking genius. (You get it right? If you don't, I can explain.) And I immediately adore the secretary character as a result (I typed that as "reslut" and that works too.) Pleased to have such a "rich man and his spoiled boy" dynamic it going already. A dynamic I am personally IRL familiar with from the 90s. Also, kiddies stop filming adults at play! Sheesh.

I pretty much love all the couples in this show. It’s lots of fun. SamYo’s cat and mouse thing is delightful. Meanwhile, the mains are so sweetly hesitant about kisses and everything (hilarious coming from this pair). I love them and their awkward first time, or whatever is going on.

Do you know what? After that "oppa" comment this lead pair makes me feel a little bit like I’m watching a gay K-drama, similar style of personalities and everything, even the random martial arts ability. And the outing. I'm getting Business Proposal vibes. Nothing wrong with that, I was weaned on K-dramas.

All in all, great episode.

My Stand-In (Fri iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - Yet again I spent the entire episode saying "poor Joe" over and over again. This time I didn’t cry though.

The pat way to end this is to have Joe walk through that door and then wake up back when he was about to get into the motorcycle accident. So that none of it ever happened. I suppose we’ll see what they do next week but I hope it isn’t that.

We Are Cute (Weds iQIYI) ep 14 of 16 - Do you know what this friendship group reminds me of the most? The old Love Sick music club boys. This is just the college version... 10 years later. (Love Sick was one of the few shows where I mostly didn’t yell “no singing” at the screen (also Ingredients). In my defense, I didn’t know any better back then.)

As boyfriends, PhumPeem are even more puppy/cat paring. And I am even more delighted by it. And them. In fact, this show is ALL puppy/cat pairings. I’m not mad about it.

"I’m hugging you so you won’t feel hungry" is the weirdest pick up ever. But Phum is weird. 

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 8 - The PittBabe team behind a new restaurant set BL full of hidden agendas and starring my new favorites SailubPon. I’m reminded so much right off the bat of PokeTongue’s side dish couple in What’s Zabb Man. Interesting, considering that came from Pon’s former studio. Love the call out of obnoxious content creators (not to mention corporate property developers). I like the chef character, he’s nicely complex. In fact, so far I like most of the characters, it’s a good range of different personality types. The plot is a little contrived and complicated but I don’t mind because the characters are such fun.

The Trainee (Sun YouTube) ep 1 of 12 - Reported on this last week already but here's what I said:

Gun still looks like he’s just out of high school. Madness.

The set for the print shop reminds me of Mork’s dad’s place in ‘Cause He’s My Boy? I swear GMMTV has only 3 sets.

I wasn't looking forward to this show at all. Maybe I just needed more of a break from OffGun? Cooking Crush happened yesterday.

Whatever, because I was absolutely riveted by this first episode.

I’m enjoying The Trainee a lot. Like, a lot a lot. It's not higher up just because there is so much good content from Thailand airing right now.

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 5 of 12 - Still a chaos muffin no matter which country. So earnest. So cute. Talking stage commence!!!

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - I got so bored I started looking up ways to organize my sunglasses. Trash watch here.

Knock Knock Boys (Thurs Gaga) ep 6-7 of 12 - The exes are odd. I like that Latte finally got some backstory.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) Ep 2 of 10 - I’m still enjoying this quite a bit. It’s paralleling the manga quite closely, which is nice. But it’s not gonna be a particularly exciting drama if this continues. The manga is rather quiet (pun intended to amuse not insult).

Takara's Treasure AKA Takara No Vidro (Japan Mon Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Look, if some kid followed me to college and changed the whole course of his life because I was nice about his dead bird? I'd be skeeved as fuck too. It's odd and uncomfortable, in that way Japan loves. Visuals are on point but can't say I'm enjoying it as yet. Still, it is JBL, and so I am intrigued and open to all possibilities.

It's airing but...

The Last Time (Thai Fri YT?) - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Can't find it.

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ???) 10 eps - I've put the search on hold for and y'all can let me know if it's worth tracking down once it ends?

In case you missed it

Blue Boys finished it run. I like it quite a bit. This felt a lot like a Strongberry short series. It’s very curtailed and could’ve used some legs but I've been trained into ignoring that for Korean BL. Short has always been their thing. Essentially, two boys who were acquaintances in high school are reunited and it turns out always had crushes on each other. It’s definitely an extrovert meets introvert scenario, and this being Korea, they can’t resist a tiny love triangle in the eleventh hour. But it all came out fine in the end. It has great kisses and higher heat than is normal from Korea. All in all, a surprisingly charming offering. Recommended with some reservations around the brevity of plot and character development. 8/10 

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. Devastated this hasn't had international distribution. I demand you tell me the moment you find it!

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

July Releases to Come

7/10 Century of Love (Thai Gaga) 10 eps - trailer here, DaouOffroad are back, this time as fated mates in a quasi historical paranormal moment. San has spent many lifetimes waiting for his lost beloved, to reincarnate from her death a century ago. But if he fails to find her within this century's time window, he will succumb to a tragic death. And this time she's a boy. Very much Director Who Buys Me Dinner meets First Love Again, hopefully better than both. I love this pair and think they can handle the premise, it's whether the storytelling is up to the challenge. I'm curious to see but I have reservations.

7/24 I Saw You in My Dream (Thai Weds WeTV) - Dee Hup is behind this one so I have high hopes. Younger boy chronically teased his whole life by the older boy next door suddenly starts having horrific prophetic dreams about his bully and must save hime.

7/26 4 Minutes (Thai Netflix or iQIYI?) - Great is a university student from Faculty of Business and the son of a wealthy business owner. Out of the blue, he gains the supernatural power to see four minutes into the future.

7/29 Battle of the Writers (Thai ????) - trailer here, TutorYim return and while I adore them, I really hope this is better than Middleman's Love. Won't be hard. However: that premise! Ugh. Something something authors fighting - save me. Why don't writers understand that nothing is more boring than writers?

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Product placement du jour! Also the only product placed in a BL that I regularly enjoy myself.

Yes I cried. I'm a sap.

The faens in the wive's positions! So cute.

All Wandee

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember.

[lj-lephemstar]

Progress Checkup! (Nov. 2024) | Scratchin' Melodii Devlog

​​Hey again guys! Sorry if it's been a bit since the last devlog. With how much I've been up to, it sure feels like it!

Let's get right into it. For starters, the 3rd rival battle of Act 2 is complete! I'll likely be showing a gameplay preview of it sometime soon. This is the first song to use the new framework that I'll be using for all the other stages going forward, which also means I've had to spend the past couple weeks getting the previous songs working with this new system too... Did you know that in the demo builds, if I wanted to change something about the gameplay, I'd have to manually go back and change it for EACH individual song one by one? Well now, imagine all the songs had like a peace treaty to just share one good, clean, and organized system that I can easily tweak and add to as I please. So development is gonna be smoother than ever from here! This is how most games are SUPPOSED to work, but I was a liiittle too stupid to figure out how to do this until recently!

While I was moving Cream Cheese Icing over to this new system, I took the opportunity to make the chart a bit more beginner-friendly! For example, the first line went from this...

To just this!

As you can see, it has less notes, therefore it is less scary for new players. Believe it or not, I actually never intended for Cream Cheese Icing to be so difficult for new players in the first place! Naturally, being too good at my own game can make gauging the difficulty curve a bit tricky at times, but I think I'm figuring it out!​

You may have also noticed that the characters have new UI icons too! I felt like the old ones were too flat and boring, so I did a new take on them, aiming for more dynamic shapes and angles, not to mention how my art style's just kinda grown a bit in general since I last drew the icons. I also ended up leaving out the circles behind them. I was a little worried I was gonna run out of unique colors for all of them at some point, plus SOME of these guys can have really big hair and/or hats that pretty much just cover up the whole circle anyway. (hi rensa)

Speaking of artwork, here's a little look at some of the updated animation I've done for Stir & Mix! (Try to imagine it in not highly-compressed-gif-form. I promise it looks better in-game!)

When working on Stir & Mix related stuff, I can't help but feel a bit of a sense of dread knowing how people may react to it... Honestly, sometimes I kinda wish it never got as popular as it did in 2022. But hey, doing my own thing regardless of what's expected of me is the most Scratchin' Melodii thing I could do!

Speaking of which, Mia learned a ton of new stuff while doing the VOCALOID tuning for the last rival battle we worked on, so we might revisit Stir & Mix's vocals again at some point before release to give it even more style! (By the way, Mia and 2cada are the same person! Sorry if I refer to both names interchangeably! She's been the one doing all the VOCALOID tuning and vocal mixing for the game since 2023.)

Well, I think that's all for now! Here's another friendly reminder that there will NOT be anymore demos of the game. Any new content will be saved for the full game's release. I know I've said it before, but I probably won't stop saying it until people stop getting confused about it LOL. Thanks for reading!! I appreciate you. - LJ

[azulazenin]

Her Sweet Boy

Kinktober 2024 | Pegging

Paring: Adrian Tepes/Original Character (Mihaela Karnstein)

Summary: Mihaela pegs her sweet husband for the first time

Warnings: Explicit content, pegging (obviously). Minors DNI !

A/N: This is an extra for my story The Blackest Day, and its sequel Swan Song. Be mindful that in this particular universe, Alucard was born in 1451, not 1456 like the show, and Mihaela was born in 1453. However, they are both dhampirs and they develop faster, by the time this excerpt happens they are physically, emotionally and mentally adults.

1470

Mihaela was having the time of her life, delighting in the sounds of her dear love beneath her. Adrian was a sight to behold, so beautiful in his white sleeping shirt that resembled a very tiny chemise, the tissue perfectly hugging his body and enhancing all his best spots, lifted up to his waist level and lowered on his chest, exposing his full breasts.

Mihaela had one of his nipples in her mouth, sucking and licking circles around it as she moved on top of him, in and out, in and out, the phallic, rubberized toy on the strap she wore, in and out of his tight hole. Penetrating him was nothing new; more often than not, giving him head included having two of her fingers shoved deep into his ass, but it was the first time she had him like this, writhing and moaning under her as he begged to be fucked harder, for her to push the fake cock deeper.

“Honey, p-please...” Adrian whined, his cock hard and throbbing against his belly.

His nipple slipped off Mihaela’s mouth and she looked up, never stopping to rock her hips against his. “Please what, my sweet?”

“L-Let me t-touch myself… please, I-I need to touch...”

She chuckled, so grateful for having taken the little trip to the Turkish market at the coast of the Black Sea where they found all sorts of peculiar stuff, from aphrodisiacs and questionable pieces of underwear to the toy that had him whimpering like a maiden on her wedding night. “But of course, my sweet boy, anything you need.”

Adrian thanked her and grabbed his cock, a relieved sighed escaping his throat when he started to jerk off.

Mihaela smirked, kneeling in between his wide open legs and squeezing his thighs, increasing the pace of her movements. She was dripping wet, both from Adrian’s reactions and the base of the toy brushing against her cunt, causing her to thrust harder, pursuing both his and her relief.

“Fuck honey, y-you’re s-so good… a-ah!” He moaned, his face flushed and eyes burning with desire when he looked up at her body hovering over his: the image of her naked body, tits bouncing and curls glued to her forehead as she fucked the rubber cock into him would forever haunt his wet dreams. “I’m so close...”

She leaned closer to him and grabbed his chin, capturing his lips on a sloppy kiss, his desperate moans muffled by her mouth on his, his legs caging her waist and his free hand scratching her back, the notion of the inversion of roles driving them wild. Mihaela wasn’t much of a exhibitionist, but in the heat of the moment, she couldn’t help but imagine how scandalized some people would get if they knew she was pegging her husband on their marital bed.

The thought alone caused Mihaela to clench around nothing, thrusting impossibly faster, moaning into his mouth whenever the rubber hitted her clit. Adrian’s back arched in pleasure, his hand moving up and down his length until he couldn’t take it anymore and reached his climax in an explosion that painted his abs white. But Mihaela kept thrusting, fucking into him until her bud was red and swollen from the stimulation and she reached her orgasm too.

She gasped, laughing her high off when she withdrew, untying the strands of the strap and tossing it aside before falling on top of Adrian. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her against his chest, kissing her forehead with a smile on his lips.

“Thank you for doing this, my love. You were amazing.”

Mihaela chuckled. “I should be the one thanking you, you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this. Actually, maybe we should do it again… think you can ride me next time?” She suggested with a devilish smirk on her face.

Adrian blushed, her boldness during their intimate moments would never cease to amaze him. “We’ll see, my darling, we’ll see.”

[gggansey]

good pookie i don’t want to share my tl with racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and sexist who supports a character with same behavior played by an actor who also is pro-life, pro-trump, zionist and fatphobic who took pics of women at the gym to make fun on them when he was a 30 YEARS OLD FULL ADULT WITH HIS FRONTAL LOB FULLY DEVELOPED

im so full of you and your excused that since he is a queer character he can be forgiven when he didn’t even apologized to hen and chim and you can’t even say that he did it because off screen scene are just fanon HEN DIDNT EVEN KNEW THAT TOENAIL WORKED FOR THE HELICOPTER DEPARTMENT SHE ASKED FOR LUCY and when she saw him she wasn’t happy

i don’t think that this are two people who are friends and talk to each other lmao the last time she saw him was at his party when he was leaving the 118 so fucking 5 years ago but some of you want to hc tortilla babysitting Henren child???? LMAO touching grass isn’t enough you need to touch a fucking forest

also the only scene they had together was cut from the episode because his interaction with Hen and Karen aren’t important, Tim could’ve shown us him apologizing or them interacting but they don’t give a fuck about all that because trolldemort is just a plot device

stop using the queer card to defend him im a queer woman but if tomorrow in acting like a shit human beings people have the right to drag me because being a gay man doesn’t mean that you are excused and can do anything

we are allowed in not liking tombstone because he is a shitty person and personally i don’t like this queer representation im allowed to feel lime this i don’t have to like everything just because it’s queer IT ISNT 2000 ANYMORE WHEN THERE WAS LITTLE REPRESENTATION AND EVEN SHITTY ITS 2024 I CAN FIND GOOD REPRESENTATION EVERYWHERE AND SAYING THAT THIS IS BAD AND YOU CANT CALL ME HOMOPHOBIC BECAUSE I DONT LIKE A RACIST

also liking him and justify him makes you a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and sexist

making meme about eddie queerness being buried makes you an homophobe, saying that ratings will drop when eddie will coming out it’s homophobic

[leaderpinhead]

Leona - The Naughty List

Day 15 of Fluffcember 2024 Prompt: Naughty List (Fluffcember) Rating: Teen Characters: Leona, Cheka, Yuu Pairing: Leona/Yuu (Hinted)

“Unca Leona!” 

The solid weight of Cheka landing on his stomach earned a genuine grunt of pain from Leona. He cracked an eye open to glare at the grinning face hovering above him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in daycare?” 

“Mama let me come home early!” Cheka started bouncing where he straddled Leona’s stomach. Leona snarled and grabbed Cheka under the arms. Cheka boyishly laughed when Leona tossed him to the other side of the bed. The boy rolled back towards Leona and latched onto his side like a flea on a hyena’s back. “Play with me!” 

Leona sighed. He put his hand on the top of Cheka’s head and attempted to push him away. Cheka’s grubby little hands held his shirt in a vice grip. “Go bother Kifaji.” 

“Kifaji is helping daddy.” Cheka tugged harder on Leona’s shirt. His cheeks inflated to the size of Leona’s fist. “I wanna play with you!” 

Leona grabbed Cheka under the arms again and pulled the boy over him. Cheka giggled more when he flew through the air. It was enough to get him to let go of Leona’s shirt, and Leona didn’t waste anymore time throwing Cheka off the side of the bed. He put his hand on the boy’s forehead to keep him from jumping back onto the bed. “I’m too busy to play.” 

“But you’re sleeping!” 

“Exactly.” Cheka huffed and crossed his arms in disgruntlement. Leona didn’t loosen his grip, knowing Cheka would quickly take advantage of his freedom. “I only have a few hours left before returning to Night Raven. I’m not going to waste that time playing some stupid game of yours.” 

Cheka grabbed his wrist and tried pulling his head free. Leona maintained his grip long enough for Cheka to understand who was in charge before releasing the cub. He propped himself on his elbow. Cheka stepped backwards and stared at Leona through squinted eyes. Leona matched Cheka’s stare. 

Leona wasn’t expecting Cheka to pull a small sticker pad from his pocket. He peeled off a sticker. Before Leona could see the sticker, Cheka jumped up and slapped the sticker onto Leona’s forehead. Cheka pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re on the Naughty List, Unca Leona!” 

Leona blinked. In his stunned disbelief, he didn’t think to stop Cheka from running out of the bedroom. “I’m gonna go tell Ms. Yuu!” 

Leona continued blinking. The sticker pulling his hair broke his shock. He tugged it off and stared at it. A cartoonish version of Grim’s face smugly grinned up at him with two little horns sticking out between his ears. Under Grim’s face in red lettering was NAUGHTY LIST. 

Leona rolled out of the bed and chased after Cheka. It wasn’t difficult to follow his trail. He passed several servants with similar stickers, men looking confused by the similar stickers on the back of their hands and women giggling over stickers that had Grim looking like a freaking angel. 

Leona found Cheka in one of the sunrooms, his mother’s phone in hand. He waved the sticker pad in his other hand. “I’m putting lots of people on the Nice List, Ms. Yuu! Uh, huh. Uh, huh. And I tolds them how nice they were! One lady told me hi and another patted my head. But lots of people are on the Naughty List! Unca Leona—hey!” 

Leona ignored Cheka’s whines and tucked the boy in the crook of his arm. While Cheka struggled to get down, Leona stole the phone he waved around. He thumbed the screen and switched the call to speakerphone. “How did you give Cheka these stickers?” 

“Mostro Express Mail,” Yuu immediately answered in her deadpan voice. “The mer mail system is crazy efficient. I’m guessing you’ve made the Naughty List.” 

“What have you corrupted my nephew with this time?” 

“I’m just helping his socio-emotional development.” Yuu paused. “And encouraging him to stay off the Naughty List like his uncle.” 

“What is the Naughty List?” Leona asked. He flipped Cheka upright, making the cub gasp. Cheka wrapped his arms around Leona’s neck and rubbed his head against the bottom of Leona’s jaw. “And how did you make these dumb stickers?” 

“Mostro Express Printing—print three sticker pads, get three for free.” 

“That damn cephalopunk is monopolizing every arbitrary thing he can possibly get his grubby tentacles on.” 

Cheka gasped and pulled back from Leona. “You said a potty word!” Cheka peeled off another sticker from the pad he still held. Leona noted the several sheets along with the number of missing stickers. The angel-Grim's stickers read NICE LIST in bright golden letters. Cheka slapped another “naughty list” Grim sticker on Leona’s cheek. “Naughty List!” 

Leona growled under his breath. Yuu’s snorting laughter emitted from the phone. “You’re getting more tics on the Naughty List. If you keep this up, you’ll never make it onto the Nice List.” 

Leona ignored Cheka’s high-pitched Ooohhh. “I could care less whatever list you put me on.” 

“Everyone on the Nice List gets nice stuff!” Cheka exclaimed. He peeled off a new sticker and put it on his own forehead. It was, of course, a Nice List sticker. “Ms. Yuu says so!” 

“That’s right,” Yuu agreed. “Everyone on the Nice List gets a nice gift.” 

“And what about the Naughty List?” 

“I hunt you down and wake you up from all of your naps.” 

“So nothing really changes?” Leona countered. He smirked when he heard a muffled shuffling through the phone. “Doesn’t sound like much of a punishment for being on the naughty list.” 

“Unlike you, I’m on the Nice List.” 

Leona’s smirk widened. “Is that an admission to enjoying my presence, herbivore.” 

“No. I just enjoy throwing water on you and watching you sputter. Stay sweet, Cheka!” 

Cheka happily acknowledged her demand, and the screen flashed to signal the ended call. Leona snorted and allowed Cheka to slip out of his arm after more wiggling. He tossed the phone onto the nearby end table. “I’m going back to my nap.” 

Cheka latching onto his leg stopped him. “Play with me!” 

“No.” 

“But you’re not napping now!” 

“Still not interested.” Leona shook his leg, but Cheka stubbornly held on. “Let me go, brat.” 

“I’m gonna put you on the Naughty List again!” 

“Go right ahead.” 

When Leona managed to escape Cheka, his entire leg from the knee down was covered in Naughty List stickers, but Leona only found himself annoyed with having to waste his time peeling them off and less with hearing Cheka calling Yuu again to inform her how naughty his uncle was. 

[mirai-e-jump]

Digital TV Guide, April 2024 Issue ft. Iuchi Haruhi Interview (translation below)

Publication: February 24, 2024

Iuchi Haruhi -BoonRed's design leaves an impact!-

Iuchi Haruhi plays the role of Taiya Hando (BoonRed) in "Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger." We asked the 19 year old about his enthusiasm for playing the lead role in the historic Super Sentai series.

"How did you feel when it was decided that you had been chosen to appear in the show?"

Iuchi: I went to the office after I received a call from my manager saying, "I'd like for us to talk face to face," and while making small talk, he suddenly said, "You've been chosen to appear as Red in the new Sentai." It didn't seem real at first, it felt as if I was listening to the decision that my friend had been picked, and that I wasn't involved. I played multiple roles at the audition, not just Red, so it didn't really feel as if I had been chosen as Red.

"What kind of character is Taiya Hando, who you were chosen to play?"

Iuchi: He's a genius in development and modification, is wealthy, and has a passionate heart but doesn't show it. Boonboomger is initially made up of three members, Red, Blue and Pink, but he's the most mentally mature out of all of them. However, I couldn't express it well at first, as Director Nakazawa Shojiro, who was in charge of episodes 1-3, always just told me to, "Up your mentally. Be less childish." I have the image that he's 5 years older than my actual age. It's difficult, but I think I'm gradually becoming able to express this, and I get the feeling that I'm starting to grasp Taiya's character of being "calm but not cool."

"Please tell us your impressions of BoonRed's design, Taiya's form after transforming."

Iuchi: I thought, "They're going with this, huh?" (laughs). I kept thinking about the tires being stuck on the front of the face. There's been Sentai with car motifs in the past, but these designs are way different from those, so it leaves an impact.

"What are some memorable moments from the episodes that have been filmed so far?"

Iuchi: We've had clear weather since filming began, but on the day when all five members of Boonboomger assemble for the first time, it snowed and filming had to stop. While we were waiting, everyone played around and made snowmen.

"For the next year, you'll be playing the role of a hero."

Iuchi: I talked with Mori Hirotsugu-san, BoonRed's Suit Actor, and asked him to show me the poses he does in action scenes, which I would recreate, and I also asked Mori-san to do the poses that I came up with to match the dialogue. I'd like to continue to work together to create the hero named Taiya Hando. I want to do my best so that children who watch the show will think, "The Boonboomger's are my heroes." _

-What are the conditions for being a hero?- Iuchi: Yuuri-san and Eve-san (singers) are the ones who have my back. Whenever I feel like I'm lacking confidence and want to give up, I listen to their music and become encouraged. For me, the conditions for being a hero are……I guess it's to never ask for anything in return.

[logansandersisbabygirl]

Theory about Orange Sides connection to logan sanders:

(In our year 2024? More likely than you would think!)

Okay hear me out! Yall know how many of the sides represent things that can be described as conflicting? Patton is my main example. Because as has been examined many times before Patton represents Thomas's emotions/feelings and his moral compass. These two subjects are very complicated and- again as has been discussed- conflicting at times.

This is to say, what if Logan represented something other than logic originally? another thing that conflicted with his learned knowledge/logic shtick. And what if Logans insistence on focusing on only logic/learned knowledge messed up some kind of balance. And so this conflicting trait is straight up splitting off into another side so it'll be acknowledged.

("Stop ignoring me!" Anyone?)

Basically my thought is, logan neglected a key part of what he represented as a side and so as consequence a new side is forming in order to make up for said negligence.

(He in more recent episodes like the gift giving episode acting "out of character" is him trying to acknowledge the traits he's been ignoring and to try and reverse oranges development.)

[qilingxiong]

四樓的天堂 | Heaven on the 4th Floor (2021)

One drama has crept into my life during the last days of 2024 to become my favourite one I've watched this year, and I barely know how to start talking about it. But let's give this a go anyways.

Heaven on the 4th Floor (四樓的天堂) is a Taiwanese drama starring Anthony Wong, Hsieh Ying-xuan, and Fandy Fan. I would call it mostly slice-of-life with some melodrama, as there's no strongly focused overarching plot. Rather, it follows a cast of characters and the struggles/hurdles in their lives they have to face, all of whom are helped/guided by the something all of them have in common— seeing a tuina masseuse named Tianyi (Anthony Wong).

I don't quite know how to describe the way this show develops, as everyone's arcs separate and overlap at different times, but I would say Heaven at its core is about healing. First and foremost about healing the relationship one has with their body and oneself, but also those with other people, with the past, and with the present-day world around someone. There's some interesting juxtaposition between the physical healing Tianyi can offer his clients, and the mental healing Hsieh Ying-xuan's psychologist character provides for her own, with a look at how one cannot do the work of the other. Some characters are recurring throughout the show, others you get to watch take a step forward in the span of one episode, but eventually, no one remains where they were at the beginning.

The character who has the most growth throughout all this, in my opinion, is Fandy Fan's Yuzhou, a young graffiti artist. It's by meeting Tianyi that he gradually manages to stop hiding from the past, but also start looking with hope toward a future, and find a way to be better in tune with himself, his body, and the art he creates.

Aside from healing, Heaven is also about loss, and how someone reckons with it. Past loss (the disappearance of one's loved ones, the yearning for something you never got to have), present/recent loss (the death of a family member, the ending of a relationship), and loss that inevitably lies ahead (the destruction of one's home and the fight to resist it, even if it's all in vain). Characters war with their grief and are forced to find ways to release and gradually accept it, and while my heart ached for different people at different points in time, it was beautiful to watch.

I cannot stress enough that with all this combined, Heaven is one of the most cathartic pieces of media I've ever seen. I cried an unexpected number of times, from the beginning of the show to the end, and it was never, ever in a bad way. The three leads especially did a truly incredible job bringing the viewer into their lives, taking them along for the emotional ride, and I wish all the actors had won awards for that (only one of them did, but she truly deserved it).

Production-wise, I also adore the quality of this show. It's somehow very soothing to watch, visually, and the accompanying soundtrack made me tear up several times. I had to shake myself out of a daze every time I took a break from watching; it both felt like I'd run a marathon, but also had been sitting still, head quiet, and had had someone tell me not to worry about anything else in the world for a while. (It also made me feel more physically present in my body. My shoulders haven't been un-tense in years, and I think thanks to Heaven I'm going to have to do something about that.)

In addition, this isn't the main focus of the show, but queerness is worked into it in wonderfully ordinary ways. There's more than one queer character and a trans character who show up in this, and one protagonist who is either heavily coded as or possibly explicitly aroace spectrum, depending on how much you read into it. Her arc ended up being one of my favourites; the show deals with her relationships lining up with aroace experiences in a way I haven't really seen onscreen before.

Overall, I'm absolutely going to rewatch Heaven in the future, when I feel that I need to return to that story. If you want a grounded, very character-driven show to get gently lost in for a while, this is it.

(Though admittedly, I know this drama definitely isn't going to be for everyone. It's a little bit sleepy-going, and not everyone is interested in or is braced to deal with the emotions of the story. Normally even I'm not, but here I am. However, if you're interested, here's the trailer for Heaven on the 4th Floor:

And I don't tend to do this, but I'm also going to toss out two tracks that sound how this show feels, to me: In My Breath Again from the soundtrack of After Yang, and 披星戴月的想你 by Accusefive. Sit with those for a while and see what you think, if it helps you decide whether to watch or not.)

Note: Unless you have Taiwanese Netflix, you're gonna have to jump on the pirate ship to find this show. However, as far as I'm aware there have never been English subtitles made for it on any site, so if you can't read the Traditional Chinese in the episode raws, then you may have to sit this one out for the time being.)

[seo-julie]

Natsu Kanna - The Child Mechanical God Ep 2

Characters: Kanna, Makoto, Keito, Kanata Release: 25/7/2024 Proofreading: leen Translation: seo-julie

Season: Spring Location: Seisoukan courtyard

✧

Kanna: Sigh… Senpai, you don't know anything, do you?

This is the latest sleeping device I developed, and I call it “Sleep Peacefully Anywhere-kun”.

Keito: What's with that name? It sounds something like that of an unsuccessful comedian's name.

Makoto: (Hasumi-senpai, your straight man¹ act is prompt and precise… I need to learn a thing or two from you.)

Kanna: The name doesn't matter. It's not like I'm the one naming it. 

Based on the latest ergonomics research, this bed is perfectly constructed so that anyone can get a good night's sleep instantly.

In addition, there is also a function that increases the effectiveness of recovering from fatigue by several dozen times. If you doubt it, would you like to give it a try?

It seems like both of you couldn't sleep, just like me. If you use “Sleepy-kun (abbreviation)”, then you'd be in a dream in no time. 

Makoto: Ah, I might be a little interested.

Hehe. I buy all those latest gadgets even when I'll probably use them only once and then throw them into the closet.

Kanna: As long as there are such curious customers, my job will not disappear.

Makoto: Job? If you're at Seisoukan, doesn't that mean you're an idol as well?

Kanna: For the time being, yes. But my main job is something else.

Kanna: Calling myself an inventor might sound shady, but that’s what I do. 

Makoto: Ah, I think I've heard of it somewhere. I see, you're that "Deus Ex Machina²", aren't you?

Keito: What is with that name? It sounds like a name made up by someone with chuunibyou. 

Makoto: (As expected! Your straight man act is so good, please let me call you master!)

Keito: Why are you looking at me with such sparkling eyes…?

Kanna: I didn't come up with that nickname for myself. "Deus Ex Machina" is not a very promising name. 

Keito: A mechanical god…? Are you actually an ingeniously crafted robot that looks like a human?

Makoto: Ahaha, he does give off that same vibe.

Kanna: …People often said that.

Anyways. Everyone, why don't you try using this bed for a while?

As an apology for causing you both concern, I'll give you two a good night's sleep.

Makoto: Ah, as I said earlier, I'm interested~♪ Do I just lie down here? And sleep peacefully until morning?

Keito: H-hey, wait, Yuuki, don't be so careless now–

Kanna: Alright.

Keito: Woah!?

(W-what? I was suddenly pushed from behind…!?)

Makoto: W-whaa, please don't crash on me, Hasumi-senpai! This bed was probably made to fit only one person!?

Kanna: –Good night, seniors.

Please sleep in peace. This way, you'll forget all the troubles of reality.

Location: Makoto's Dorm

Makoto: ……

(Ah, huh? I, was I sleeping? Was it all just a dream?)

(That was such a strange dream… But, yeah, it had to be a dream. It was so unrealistic.)

(I had a weird conversation with a weird kid under the moonlight. It's a dream, and no matter who you talk to, they'll all say, 'So what?' Such a trivial story.)

Ahaha. I must be having all these unrealistic dreams because I play these games all the time. Stop having weird delusions, I need to face reality–

Keito: Yuuki! Are you there?

Makoto: W-whoa, what a surprise!? H-Hasumi-senpai? Is there anything I can help you with?

Keito: Do you remember what happened last night?

Makoto: Yes?

Keito: I wonder if that was a dream after all… A dream is a dream, my memory is getting hazy and I can't remember much anymore.

Didn't we see a strange machine and child last night? 

Makoto: Um… No but, it was a dream, right? But, huh, did Hasumi-senpai have the same dream as well?

Location: Seisoukan courtyard

Kanna: …

(Sigh~... Looks like by interfering with their cranial nerves, I was able to erase their memories, but it seems like there was something I forgot to subtly erase.)

(Not yet, it's not yet perfect.)

(If the results are lower than what the developer expected, if the product does not perform the desired functions, then it is an utter failure…)

(...Just like me.)

(Commercialization would be difficult. There's still room for improvement.)

Kanata: Hm~m h~m?

Kanna: Is there something troubling you?

Kanata: ? Yes, well, you know, I like taking “cold baths³”. But this, “season” is a bit too cold and I'm afraid I might catch a “cold”–

Kanna: I see. Well then, why don't you try this invention.

This is called, “Kettle that Makes Everything Hot-kun”.

(Humans find things that are alike in only appearance to be ominous.)

(This uncanny feeling… Even so, I too want to overcome it.)

(I'm…)

(Not… a machine.)

Kanata: ? What's wrong~?

Kanna: No… Sorry, it malfunctions sometimes.

Kanna: (As of this moment, not yet.)

(But, I'm sure someday...)

¹ The original word used for this was “tsukkomi”. It's from what I think is a troupe(?) known as boke and tsukkomi. Boke and tsukkomi are loosely equivalent to the roles of "funny man" or "comic" (boke) and "straight man" (tsukkomi) in the comedy duos of western culture. Which is why I have opted to use straight man for the tl. ² Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós) “god from the machine”. The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought on stage using a machine. ³ The original word used was “mizuabi” which literally translates to “bathing in cold water”.

Directory

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

who is, in your opinion, the most well-written female atla character? and whose character was least affected by 2000s misogyny?

I think they were all written pretty well. If you ask me which one had the most/best character development, then the answer would have to be Katara simply because she got the most screentime (she's literally THE first character we're introduced to after all).

When it comes to female characters, Avatar is one of those kids shows from two whole decades ago that aged REALLY well. You have a few moments that would not happen today (the jokes about Sokka being all embarrassed for wearing a dress, Iroh taking advantage of June being paralyzed to hold her on top of him) but overall the girls were given equal treatment to the boys.

Like I said, the show literally starts with Katara's backstory, yet we don't know Aang's until chapter 12. "The Beach" could have easily been another "Zuko Alone", but instead the writers took the chance to give Azula, Mai and Ty Lee their time in the spotlight next to him. And don't let me get started on the awesomeness that is Toph Beifong and how she's one of, if not the absolute, best representations of people with disabilities we've ever seen in media in general, let alone just kids show, or I will literally never stop rambling about how great it is to see a disabled character that isn't an ableist stereotype.

More importantly, while they get to be badass and call people out on their bullshit, they are still allowed to be vulnerable, flawed, and they make mistakes, without being demonized for it (until we get to the comcis at least, when the writers decided to throw away all the praise I'd give them for Toph and went "Azula is always a threat and evil even when she's not doing anything because mental illness be like that").

Avatar's writting wasn't perfect and some arcs were sped up, or practically skipped like Ty Lee's, but I don't really think it was the result of the writers not caring about female characters in particular. Bryke wanted 3 seasons, one of each of the elements Aang would have to learn, and while that's a neat little idea, I think the show would have been even better than it already was if it had gotten a fourth season, like the lead writter Aaron Ehasz had pushed for.

If you want to see some misogyny that immediately dates the show as being from 2005, you can see the 2024 Netflix version and how it was both "bold" enough to cut a "problematic" arc about Sokka learning to respect women AND too cowardly to just let him wear a dress, without being made fun of this time, and also didn't trust the audience to understand that Katara being hot-headed doesn't make her a bad person, and thinks that the only way to show Azula is also a victim of abuse is to remove her claws and teeth.

This is your casual reminder that I wake up everyday telling Netflix to go fuck itself.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - it was a pretty darn good time, frankly

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun in the fight sequences. I’m very happy for them. I’m not surprised they shot Khem and Chart. A little shocked it wasn’t also Yai, TBH.

I found this final episode rushed. According to rumors, The Sign was originally slated to be 14 eps, and it probably should’ve been. And I don’t say that often about Thai BL. But we all knew it was getting too bloated for its britches, so I'm not surprised they fumbled the ending. For me personally, it just wasn't that bad. It was fine and I was fine with it.

Tho, Billy does not look good with facial fur, messes up those gorgeous angles.

I was ultimately amused that the solution to the mythology thread was simply to talk to the river god and persuaded him to give up... off screen. It felt very old school wuxia. Or like Aeschylus or something. I did adore the stinger, Saint was basically like “I want wings too”. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage? Yes. Yes it was. Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together? No it did not. Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment? Sure thing. I think this show is basically my KinnPorsche, and frankly I’ve been chasing that dragon naga since KP aired. Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN and that gets a 9/10 from me.

I'm thinking of doing a full recap review (partly because I have so many great screen shots.)

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 10-11 of 12 - Since this series is following the yaoi so closely, I knew these were the separation eps. (Also I knew with would be a soft non-doom ep 11, Japan rarerly does these.) I like that they used it to show improve communication and development in all relationships, but, frankly, TayNew are just best when they are TayNew together on screen. So yeah. Let’s keep them back together, please?

Meanwhile, TayNew gifted us a gorgeous loving sweet sex scene. Thanks OG for doing us a solid. 

I wanna add, it sure is fun to see New play as soft and vulnerable character, I feel like he hasn’t done that since SOTUS. 

(Read all about distribution issues here.)

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 12fin - 1/3 of this is a sweet romance about a student doctor falling in love with a student chef, and the rest of it is utter dross. Look the OffGun bits were GREAT.. In fact, I think they’re better AS A PAIR in this show than in any of their other BLS. And I'm a hard sell on any OffGun being better than PickRome. Saying that, how can I review a show where I could only tolerate 1/3 of it? Because I didn’t like any other aspect of this show, no other pairs and no other plots. That gives me: 9/10 for the OffGun bits, 5/10 for everything else. Frankly it probably should be an 8 but I gotta go with my gut and it's upset about this so 7/10. Sorry boys. It’s GMMTV’s fault. Your heart was in this show, mine wasn’t. 

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 - These two are so good at making heart eyes at each other. It’s ridiculous. They don’t need any cartoon images or noises. Moot crush but "I wanna flirt and court more" is so flipping awesome. I love this for them… and us. 

1000 Years Old ep 2 of 12 - It’s very silly and we have been gifted with the dorkiest vampire ever. But... the smell thing makes me so happy. And I like that the vamp uses chan/nai or tan = v old fashioned. Nahlak. I love our ghost girl. Did you notice she wasn’t in the room with them but they left an empty chair for her? Also nahlak.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 6 - Kai was pretty much just “you're a workaholic but I basically married you whether you like it or not.” SMOOCH. What can I say? I'm a sucker for this dynamic.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - How is this show so cute? How do they both love and hurt each other so much. They are both just scared of loosing each other. Gah.

Unknown (Taiwan Sat Youku YouTube) 1 of 12 eps - Youku dropped the first ep to their YouTube channel but I doubt we can expect that to continue. Still, it was nice to be able to watch it in a convenient way. I enjoyed it. But I am cautious about it. Of course this is possibly two of my favorite tropes of all time (stepbrothers or a variation + hyung romance). So I’m looking forward to the romantic thread, but from the gritty style, it feels a lot more like a Taiwanese short. Which means it could go very dark and may not end happy. 

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - I just don’t know if the main couple should be a couple. But when they finally get around to talking to each other, they sure are lovely. Also how great is it to see a uke initiate a kiss? Even if it’s not a very good kiss. 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 2 of 8 - I am still not sure about this one. I am not contesting its quality, just saying it’s not for me. Also I’m not wild about what amounts to basically a redo of everything that already happened in the first episode from a different perspective. I know it’s a tall order with Japan, but I would like (when it’s a short series) for each new installment to actually move the plot (such as it is) along in someway. Am I asking too much?

It's done but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - rumors are it's interesting but full of unlikable characters. I'm waiting to know how it ends.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far. Ends next week TF.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - I tried but I can't get into my WeTV account anymore and I'm way too lazy to figure it out. Should I bother to go grey for it?

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand YT) - High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite when both of them have full time jobs but coming out is still a problem. You can watch this on YT but it has no Eng Subs.

Next Week Looks Like This:

We're light on content right now, but frankly I'm so busy with work I don't really mind.

3/6 Born to be Y (Thai ????) 10 eps - 14 contestants who audition to compete in Born To Be Y, a program that searches for the best couple of the year to work together on a giant project. Described as semi-reality series. So I probably won't bother.

3/7 Deep Night (Thai iQiyi) 10 eps - Multiple romances set in a host clubs. Nice to see First back on my screen but this is not my favorite setting.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The eyes have it.

Your random BL moment brought to you by my ult-bias being a hyung smartass to his maknae.

(Last week)

[harocat]

2024 Cdrama Year in Review

Overall Favorite Show:

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

Funny, charming, sweet, warmhearted, tender, touching, clever, and just all around a delight. Was it perfect? No. Did it make me happier and give me more brain worms (of the good kind, not the RFK kind) than any other drama this year? Yes.

Favorite Character:

Mu Sheng/Ziqi from Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

This man is crack to me. Put a bunch of tropes Haro loves in a pot and stir them up, then add Ding Yuxi's sad baby boy yes and you get Ziqi aka 'this character was made for me.'

Runner up would be Miaomiao:

But since I want to use another series for the runner up...

Favorite character runner up:

Zhao Yuanzhou from Fangs of Fortune

Zhao Yuanzhou my beautiful tragic demon boy who deserves the world. The epitome of ‘Do you understand the violence it took to become this gentle?’

Favorite Ship:

Miaomiao and Ziqi from Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

Such a tender, quiet love that develops from a strong friendship into something more. I love that they never stop being cute, teasing BFFs once they hook up. The story that ties it all together in the last episode is so beautiful. I'm content knowing that even though they might not have cool powers any longer, they are going to live happily ever after. Everything that happened to them was real. 💖

favorite ship runner up:

Zhuo Yichen/Zhao Yuanzhou from Fangs of Fortune

In a word, gorgeous. The way pure hatred can transform into uncompromising love, two people who couldn't seem more different on the surface can find a singular understanding, and the way that love is sacrifice, but it's also taking on a burden for someone who has spent his whole life doing so for others (choosing someone who has never been chosen, and when the time comes, his soul sings and comes back to you).

Other runner up would be Xiaoyao/Tushan Jing from Lost You Forever, but they were on last year's list for the first season so.

(Skipped fave canon since Miaoqi is canon)

favorite supporting female:

A'Nian from Lost You Forever S2

This princess has some of the strongest character growth in the series, and definitely the best arc in season two. Just delightful to watch. Strong subversion of the evil SFL trope.

favorite supporting male:

Nitian Erxing from Burning Flames

In a generally kind of overstuffed and simplistic cast, this devoted demon king stood out to me. Not just his cunty styling, but his nobility and surprising level of complexity.

If you bring in 2023 dramas that I watched in 2024, add in Wang Ye from I am Nobody to the above. He's such a mood, and he's very pretty. He was by far my favorite part of season one. Can't wait to see him again. .💖

favorite antagonist:

Princess Wanning from The Double

Not sure about favorite because I wasn't that invested in her specifically, but as far as 'best' antagonist, it was probably her. Legend says that Li Meng is still chewing the scenery to this day.

(Format stolen from @exitvelocities)