#Sotu Productions

[absolutebl]

tangentially the seaweed product placement in Bad Buddy, 10 fave product placements disguised as flirting? 10 worst? (the bread scene from Kinnporshe haunts me, I'm too asexual for that to be anything but awkward af lol)

Another tough one, hum. Not sure I can answer this one with a full 10 list so please leave a comment with your picks either way.

My Top Product Placement Moments

Gen Y - the dance performance queen B squeezy-food offerings, they didn’t try to fight the awkward they just took the awkward and pushed it into this crazy chaos arena - but that’s Star Hunter for you. I thought it was a stroke of absolute genius.

UWMA - the lays potato chip, never has a chip been that sexy

Bad Buddy - the seaweed, same as the above only with nori

SOTUS S - the seaweed original (this was opened by a MAN), another comedic take

Ingredients - our emotional support grocery store advertisement

Lovely Writer - the pocky stick hamster of cuteness

ThanType - suki sauce weaponization jealousy

Ones I really don't like

2gether - anything to do with drinks

My School President - the chicken sandwich (sorry, it made me wince)

KP - the white bread in bed, no thank you

anyone, but mostly the pulps, when they do personal hygiene bathroom related (toothbrush, face wash, ski cream etc...)

Ones I'm indifferent to

anything makeup removal or face mask-ish

cars

resorts

That's pretty much all I can pull of the top of my head, there are more I'm forgetting but this isn't something I log in the spreadsheet so...

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

We Are and the evolution of Thai BL tropes

The QL discord started a rewatch of My Engineer a few weeks ago, and damn, has it been an interesting experience. At the time I originally watched My Engineer, there was little that stuck out to me, because so much of what happened felt so incredibly common in a lot of the (admittedly rather limited) number of BLs being produced. It felt like pretty standard fare.

But going back and watching it in juxtaposition with We Are airing has been so fascinating. This genre has been evolving, y'all.

As much as we all joke about always getting more university BLs, there is something to be said for a format that can be used as something of a metric for the genre. And though there's only four years between My Engineer and We Are, seeing them both at once gives me such an incredible appreciation for the direction the genre is going in, the impact of having more queer voices involved in the creation of QLs, and how there's a lot of good we can find in seemingly simple spaces.

Obligatory disclaimer: This is just my perspective and subjective interpretation of what I have seen as a BL viewer of some time; also I don't have time to go in and do a university deep dive, so this isn't a real analysis, but more of a brief writeup of observations.

Trends are not black and white, of course, there is a spectrum. I'm sure we'll suffer through more Dinosaur Loves. At the same time, having such predominant production companies as GMMTV putting effort into hiring queer creatives and subverting old cliche tropes is an encouraging thing. (Especially as they were the creators of the original university trendsetting BL with Sotus).

Note: For newer QL viewers, I highly recommend @absolutebl for brushing up on trope history. For university BLs in particular, this post and this post are great starting primers.

Let's talk tropes!

Ok, one more note - some tropes are being what I would consider subverted, some more adapted to a newer framework, and some just played with - I'm going to talk about how they appear to me, but I'm not going to be super pedantic over it, because this is just for fun.

Trope: Bullying/hazing behavior

This did not age well in My Engineer, and I would guess hasn't aged well in a number of BLs (and other media, because the whole "he's mean to you because he likes you" bullshit has been around forever). Not just because the behavior was shitty, but because it was played off in the script as cute, and implied that it was completely justified for the seme to do whatever he wanted in his pursuit of his uke.

(There was also quite a strong tone of internalized homophobia, with the lead feeling more comfortable in expressing his interest through harassment than honest emotion, but the show never actually engaged with that in any meaningful way.)

We Are sets up a very traditional enemies to lovers/bullying start to the story, with Phum taking advantage of Peem's economic situation to make him his "slave".

And yet... there's some important elements here that make this more than the standard use of the trope.

Phum keeps it pretty light in his bullying behavior, and clearly is using it more to keep Peem around as company, versus the kind of bullying in My Engineer, where Duen is literally hit by a car, and yet still expected to keep jumping to Bohn's whims.

As soon as Phum realizes he really upset Peem by leaving him waiting at the mall, he genuinely feels awful about it. It's clear that his intent is not to cause harm, and that he has a conscience. He wrestles with his feelings on it quite a bit, and it ends up being the thing that gets Phum to finally express an honest emotion with Peem.

And most importantly, the script does not let him off the hook. His behavior is bad, and is identified as such by the writing. Peem pushes back and is shown to be right to do so, Beer openly says he disapproves.

So instead of a cliche story beat that's used just to start the action, or a seme who's allowed to do whatever he wants because "passion" (blech), we're seeing it used for characterization, giving us important beats about who both Phum and Peem are in how they engage with each other through the use of the trope.

Trope: Obsessive/jealous behavior

Oh, this one was painful in My Engineer. Duen couldn't even talk to another human being without Bohn getting jealous and angry and dragging him away.

Phum gets jealous, particularly around Kluen, but what makes it feel so subversive here are two key things.

Phum's jealousy has a purpose here, it's not just for drama's sake. It's not the cliche seme doing whatever he wants and being treated as justified. It's deliberately being used to explore his insecurities, and give him a challenge to overcome. Phum doesn't stomp over and drag Peem away, he retreats, he hides. When his jealousy causes him to lash out at Peem, he is immediately aware he fucked up.

And again, the script is making it clear that this behavior is not ok. Peem chides Phum when he acts unkind to Kluen, and Beer makes it clear that the solution is not petty behavior, but actually figuring out a way to communicate his feelings with Peem before he misses his chance. This is portrayed as a barrier for Phum to overcome in order to be with Peem, not an expected part of a romantic relationship.

Trope: Friendship group

There are not enough words to express how much I love the friendship group in We Are. To be fair, this is one of the better historical tropes. We've gotten a lot of amazing friend groups, even in mediocre BLs.

But it's still different in We Are, for one simple reason. In most university BLs, the friend group is a supporting structure. But here?

The story lines may be about the romance, but the point of We Are is the friendship.

I will die on this hill, y'all.

I don't have enough time to go into it fully here, but this show is a love letter to friends. It's a tribute to finding the people who see the real you and have your back unconditionally. Who cheer your successes and commiserate over your defeats, who pick you up when the world knocks you down, who call you out when you make mistakes, and push you to be better.

And romance is lovely, but all of these budding relationships are about being friends first, and then lovers, because that friendship is just as important as everything else, if not more.

Trope: Pink milk

Lol, ok, kinda kidding, kinda not. I know we all got mad over the drink wastage, but also check out these visuals - it's about diversity baby!!

TanFang speed round

My two little trope-busting bebes. These two are already so beautifully non-traditional in their composition, but I love how frequently they are used to make fun of and play with tropes just on their own.

Introduced as pining crush/friend's older brother pair, but actually secret enemies to lovers.

Grumpy/sunshine pairing, where the sunshine used to be a fighter, and grumpy smiles when he thinks no one is watching.

Wound-tending where they keep poking each other instead of acting soft.

Openly mocking the jealous boyfriend trope.

Setting up the possessive trope when Tan doesn't pick up Fang's calls, only to immediately have Fang question if he's being unreasonable.

Setting up their own cute eating scene for kicks.

"First time" sex scene making it clear this is anything but their first time.

Tan holding Fang down in the cliche possessive pose, only for Fang to take the agency of kissing Tan. (And overall saying eff off at the cliche top/bottom roles old BLs were such a fan of).

In Summary

I'm sure there are more tropes that will come to me, and we do still have 5 episodes left of We Are, so there are some potential trope uses that I am keeping an eye on. This is by no means an all-inclusive list.

But I wanted to write this, because I was genuinely shocked to realize how different my My Engineer watching experience was this time compared to my first time. How over the last few years I'd come to expect more thoughtfulness in my QL media, even in the ones that seem shallow on the surface.

Considering how fast and furious the QLs are coming these days, it's easy to forget how recent it was that we were much more starved of content. And I think sometimes we forget to take in the big picture, of how far we've come in just a few years.

Critique is always going to be important, of course, it's part of what helps us make progress. At the same time, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to look around and see some good in where we are.

@sailorbryant thanks for the push to get this written! Feel free to add thoughts!

[maybe-boys-do-love]

SOTUS Review: Engineering the Bridge To BL

I'm not exactly a sucker for teen dramas. Miss me with Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. Even less soapy shows like The OC or Dawson's Creek that I checked out because of their critical status in the genre were not shows that I felt compelled to finish after watching a few episodes. However, teen dramas were a rare space in media where queer characters were allowed to exist as secondary or tertiary characters, so in my young gayhood I searched amongst less popular shows for gay storylines like in Canada's Degrassi. I binge-watched Australia's Dance Acadamy until they killed off the gay character and sought out lists about groundbreaking shows from before my time like My So-Called Life.

The latter is not simply exceptional for its gay representation but for aiming higher than its teen soap peers for realist complexity in its characters. Later, shows like Freaks and Geeks and the UK's Skins would take up that torch, then Friday Night Lights, which had the genius to bring in the institution of American football culture in the South of the the US to ground its commentary on American racial and economic politics. Norway's Skam arrived in 2015 using the "Russ Bus" tradition for similar purposes--and used the strength of its writing to depict a globally celebrated queer story the same year as SOTUS. These elevated coming-of-age teen dramas I count among my favorite series ever in any genre.

I bring up all this TV history because I found no review yet that adequately conveys SOTUS's equivalent storytelling goals and prowess, nor do they fully indicate that SOTUS is one of the most compelling BLs to this day. Historically important, they read, but mediocre production values, primarily for straight women and homophobic, with a hazing setting that might be triggering for viewers, all implying its a relic of a less enlightened time in BL history that later shows will improve upon. While I'd recommend reading them to learn more about the history of the series that I'm less interested in covering here, these are not exactly rave reviews. What a surprise to begin the series and witness right out of the gate precision, complexity, and depth to its queer depictions that's equal to any Thai BL that followed in its groundbreaking wake.

The series manages to engineer (wah wah) bridges to blend the naturalistic elements of those other elevated teen drama precedents with the tropes and styles that populated Thai BL novels (like the pink milk from 2Moons2) and will define Thai BL series in the years to come. In Thailand, the series Love Sick came first in its BL focus, but, as lovely as Love Sick is, it sprawls across flatter characters in its focus and fails to celebrate the breadth of queerness in some harmful ways. On the other hand, SOTUS, in pacing, casting, characterization, and theme development, links BL to a plot-driven Western style and decidedly queer perspective. There's a reason it was the show to begin the more intense global interest in BL series.

Below the cut, you'll find my review about the qualities that made SOTUS so outstanding to me.

SOTUS initially struck me with the tightness of its dialogues and cuts, especially compared to many other Thai BLs that I've seen, which have a bawdy theatrical spaciousness in their tempo, more in line with broad comedy or soap opera, telenovela, and Thai lakorn. Not so in SOTUS. It gives time enough for its actors to emote but orients toward storytelling precision. Plot-forward Thai BL comparables I've seen so far might be Not Me or Moonlight Chicken. Unlike those series, SOTUS won't be any cinematography nerd's dream, clearly limited by its budget in this matter, but it works hard to keep the limits of a small budget from distracting. The cheaply licensed scoring music, for example, is surprisingly effective, its repeated pulsing dread adding to the momentum ignited by the SOTUS initiation of the freshman at Thai universities.

Senior year of high school, I selected universities for application based on my fear of hazing. No fraternities near campus for me. The gendered organization and reputation for homophobic cruelty were existential threats to me as a closeted teenager. For many gay men, including myself, frat houses and initiation ceremonies were also sites of homoerotic fantasy. Thus is the duality of gay experience.

The Thai hazing context differs from the US (no gender segregation, for example), but the series mines the same psychological tension between danger and eroticism with its controversial use of the real-life SOTUS hazing induction system--the abbreviation stands for Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity, and Spirit--to ground its queer romance. The actual implementation of it at Thai universities has more issues than the show depicts and, while the series' hazing is a form of bullying that can trigger some, the mildness of the abuse depicted ought to be stated, especially when compared to American ideas about hazing abuse and queer media's depictions of homophobic violence. SOTUS portrays shouted verbal instructions and physical endurance trials as the means of degradation, with no physical violence and reprimands with consequences when its believed seniors have disrespected their charges or put them at risk.

Rather than a critique of the SOTUS system itself, the system provides the organizational hub for the series' broader societal commentary, and itts treatment elevates the show to the likes of Friday Night Lights or Skam. Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice title was taken from a line in Fanny Bruney's Cecilia about the two faults being both the cause of miseries and the reason for their termination. The series treats the SOTUS system and everything else within in the same manner: with complexity rather than binary keep-it-or-leave-it moralism. The S.O.T.U.S. values parallel the confines of a deeply imperfect society that when seen as strictly authoritarian pass down rules and pain from the elder generation to the the next. However, when viewed and practiced as the series encourages by the end of its story through a more nuanced understanding of the Asian filial philosophies at play, the values of seniority, order, tradition, unity, and spirit also invite compassion and affinity flowing in both directions across the generations.

The slowly emerging slight but significant age-gap romance between righteous freshman Kongpob and head 'hazer' Arthit is the central device for this exploration, but every element and scene, from the side couples to the food orders, develop our sense as viewers of the social order that the show wants to address. And the scenes move like well-lubricated assembly-line machinery toward their final purpose. It's obsession-inducing.

Despite the machinery of SOTUS's pacing, it delicately fashions its character and an environment gently permeated by homophobia and misogyny. Celebratory moments occurred to highlight themes without drawing attention to themselves, heterosexual coupling and marriages, for example, or a classmate coming out. Slurs surfaced casually, too, and old-fashioned masculinities were performed not as major plot points, spectacles of violence, or lessons for characters to immediately learn from, but to illustrate how inherited ignorance and constraints bear down almost invisibly on the characters. No one was demonized or ostracized for their ignorance, not because the writers view their actions positively but because they view their ignorance as a product of systematic failings, failings each generation can and will attempt to improve upon as they inherit the reigns. No one generation will make it all perfectly right. They are only human.

You can feel that humanity in the way the characters are written. All of the characters are distinguishable and interesting. They're written well and performed with heart. We have actual girls just chilling and being friends in a BL series, which was historically novel. Ingenues and horny girls and shy lesbians. The guys are recognizable guys, which is another feature Thai BL does exceptionally well. There are some dorks, some bros. The best friend in the freshman group is shy with strangers but open with his friends and fierce on the basketball court. I've known people like these. They are characters that are broad enough to recognize from a distance (or less screen time) but not simple stereotypes.

Then, on top of this you have the casual trans, gay, and nonbinary inclusion of bit parts and side characters that, to this day, only Thailand is doing in its shows to this extent. Its just impressive to see that their BL industry started off from the get-go at this level. But in SOTUS its not simply casual inclusion, either. These characters, unlike comparable characters in Love Sick, delineate moments of queer kindness that blur the understood hierarchical order of the initiation system and the heteronormative order holding our romantic leads back. In subtle ways they offer queer guidance and a model to Kong on his journey.

Then there's Kongpob and Arthit at the queer center of it all. Ugh! These two characters! These two performances! In Singto's watery sphynx-like eyes, in Krist's clinched jaw, in the electrified space between their bodies that the characters must restrain themselves against crossing, these are the heights of longing the romance genre can reach at its peak. There's an inner pain in these characters. That pain is old-school romance and its old-school queer pain.

I've read complaints about the physical intimacy in this show that I realize after watching the series are ignoring the characterizations of repression and inexperience that impact every interaction between Art and Kong, even their kisses. They aren't on the het timeline, instead having their first kiss and relationship in college, which is why SOTUS aligns with the teen drama genre so well despite its university setting. The greenness of their physical affection (we see it grow more competent and comfortable as the show progresses), however, belies an emotional chemistry that's intense, erotic, and intimate. Many more explicit BL scenes feel tame compared to Arthit grabbing Kong's shirt in rage or whispering in his ear in front of a waiting taxi.

I'm looking forward to SOTUS S and its Our Skyy episode to see more about KongArt's partnership, because their characters resist the seme/uke categorization of the BL genre they emerge from (which are also basically the stereotypes of top and bottom that gay men placed on themselves lol). Their ages and behaviors are reversed from the expected, first off. Kong, the younger, pursues, making him technically the seme and Arthit the uke, character definitions that also indicate sexual preferences of top and bottom. This wasn't unheard of in BL texts from what I've read, but less typical. Then there's the matter of Arthit being the one who initiates physical affection, partly due to Kong's regard for his challenges with internalized homophobia. Apparently, even the pronouns used between the pair are an intimate negotiation rather than an accepted order, returning us to the more complex ways the S.O.T.U.S. acronym can be enacted.

Plus, Kong's played by Singto with impressive power and confidence that's still soft-spoken, slippery, sibilant. To my trained eyes, its a character with mannerism and speech that are legibly gay. Not so legible that all his peers will notice, but he's clockable for queer eyes and worrisome for those afraid of deviation from the norm. For me, this is Thailand's biggest BL breakthrough (and its persisted down this path*) because, for many in the LGBT+ community, challenges begin well before anything to do with sexual attraction.

Gender deviance is the key issue. I was teased by a classmate at 8, well before I had a sexuality, that when I walk I move my hips like a f*gg*t. Don't worry. He wasn't totally wrong. I have a killer strut and I own it now. His antagonism wasn't about who I liked; it was my swish, my non-masculine behaviors. The hatred of gender deviance (and its misogynistic reasoning) is the underlying bogeyman for much of homophobia. Even plenty of men who are perfectly happy to have sex with men, at least where I live in the US, take issue with effeminacy. (Try finding the most overt lesbians on tv outside of OITNB, too!) That applies to audiovisual media, too. Unless comedic, consumers have tended to be more excited about queerness when the bodies and expressions appear in-line with gender expectations. The power of Thai BL and Singto's performance of Kong is how it opened space in the market and audience's minds to take queer affects seriously in young adult romance.

It's no surprise, then, that Kong forges friendships with the characters who are overtly LGBT during the series. The associations made between Kong and the fullness of the LGBT spectrum provides a more complex context for the show's choice to include him expressing the BL trope of 'only gay for you.' While it's a harmful concept broadly, the show seems to be using it subversively. How much more regressive it would've felt coming from Arthit! With Kong and all of his queer associations, it plays as the words of a gay romantic. With the diversity of coming-outs and identity-naming we now have in BL, Kong's moon-eyed statement made on the night his boyfriend comes out for him holds less of a harmful influence on the whole.

Context is just as important to the oft-critiqued scene where Kong says that he'll make Arthit his wife. Based on what I'd read and how impactful and problematic people felt it was, I thought the statement had been a romantic declaration late in the series. Imagine my surprise when it occurred in the first episode as an attempt by Kong to disrupt the patriarchal power of the seniors. Rather than illustrating the show's belief about gay relationships being the same as straight relationships, the scene points to the patriarchal assumptions the series intends by its end to disrupt. The exchange gets reenacted when the freshman decide to act it out at the faculty beach outing for everyone. The seniors interrupt, and the freshman fear they're about to be punished for disrespecting their elders only to find out they're being invited to finally celebrate their inclusion into the faculty. It's denied fruition as a tool to dis-empower and a true testament of Art and Kong's relationship.

It's at the beach where the freshman are given their gears, one of the many examples of how the series used symbols with significantly more depth than the copy-cats that tried to make bank by using the exact same motifs later. The proceeding BL engineers owe not a debt but an apology to SOTUS. The engineering faculty fit perfectly with the show's questions about systems and how individuals fit into them. We have these gears, which could simply be cogs in a machine that forces you to fit in and lose your humanity, but SOTUS envisions the gear as a heart, something unique, attempting to find its place and fit its grooves within a greater purpose. Its a symbol of authentic belonging.

The pink drink, which could've simply served--and has served in other series since--to be a symbol of pink gay girly tastes, is more fully used to emphasize Arthit's stubborn desire for familiarity, his inexperience (in trying other drinks), and a certain childishness in his preference for sweetness, a childishness that humanizes him to his freshman paramor. A trade even occurs with the drink, shifting all these meanings onto Kongpob as he begins to face his own prideful assumptions about his own righteousness.

Beyond all the English teacher symbolism and queer value, though, SOTUS is just the kind of well-told romance that will make you swoon. Despite a low budget and simple plot, its performances, editing, and most of all its script mesmerize. People shouldn't watch it as a history lesson. Its too entertaining to be relegated to that. Labeling it as simply historically important doesn't do it justice.

SOTUS stands tall among teen dramas, a literary work in a genre that doesn't require those heights; SOTUS stands tall among queer media peers, paving new lanes for queer storytelling and performances to walk down; and SOTUS stands tall among its BL peers. Clearly many of the greats in Thai BL, like 1000 Stars, Bad Buddy, and Until We Meet Again, aim to evoke their predecessor, more out of love and awe than an apology (as has been suggested by others). The ways they differ seem to be additions and diversification of queer narratives rather than a critique. SOTUS is simply one of those Great Stories. It inspires binging, revisits, investigations, and, most importantly, the biggest feels. Watch it now if you haven't. Watch it again if you have. Its not a piece of history. Its the kind of story that doesn't get old.

*Thank goodness for LITBC bringing Korea some overtly gay characters. Japan's got a few options--KENJI!--but not enough for my liking yet. I haven't seen enough of the other country's output to make a judgment.

Tagging @dropthedemiurge for being the biggest supporter of my new-found SOTUS obsession and @respectthepetty for the petty watch that got me over my lack of motivation to watch this series! Petty was half-joking but also so right about the kink undertones to this relationship!!!

There are certainly more versed BL history experts so feel free to let me know about any mistakes I made with my history! I'm just a broad and casual tv history and queer fiction and history fan tryna share my new-found BL joy.

[thebroccolination]

THE WAY KRIST INCLUDES WOMEN

[left: Krist and Namtan; right: Krist and his sister]

Once, my friend had the opportunity to work with a singer from a group I used to follow. When the project was done, I asked my friend what she thought of him, and she said, “He’s fine,” but I could tell something about the experience bothered her. After a few minutes of talking about the job itself, she said, “You know what it was about him? He doesn’t care about women. Like, he wasn’t rude to me or anything. He didn’t say anything negative about women, and he didn’t treat any woman on the project poorly that I saw. He just doesn’t think about us. At all. Whenever I met with him to discuss the project, or whenever we’d have small talk about culture or society or whatever, it just became abundantly clear that his whole life and worldview is very male-centric. I’m used to men being openly patronizing or downright malicious, and like, this guy’s whole career has been female-facing, so I went into those interactions expecting him to be either extremely cool with women or a total misogynist. But nah. He’s just, y’know. A man who doesn’t include women in his world. Other than that, he’s fine.”

I thought about that for the rest of the week. I’d been a fan of this guy’s group for years, and his group had been all men in a company of all men. He’d been on TV shows with women, of course, and I remember him being friendly with some former costars, but all the people I knew from his inner circle were, in fact, men. I was in my late twenties at the time, and I remember thinking, “There’s something inherently odd and exploitative about famous men who make their career off the money and support of women but don’t include women in their personal lives.”

It’s something I’ve paid attention to ever since. When I became a fan of Boun, for example, I noticed that he has female friends from university, and that he was extremely protective of all the girls in Wabi Sabi, which made me feel confident that he was a good egg. By that same token, I’ve also noticed when other actors are predominantly friends with men, and when they only seem to view women as support systems or sources of personal validation.

Krist is just…comfortable with women. And more importantly, women are comfortable with Krist.

[Krist and Mook]

Back in 2020, I noticed two things about Krist regarding women: 1) he had a crush on Namtan (don’t we all), and 2) after SOTUS, GMMTV steered Krist away from BL to star in lakorns opposite women.

That was fairly standard. Just a famous dude existing around women for work. No red flags, no green.

What I noticed over time is that Krist is still close with a lot of the women he worked with, and that his inner circle includes women.

And when I say those women are comfortable with him, I mean that not just in a, “He’s fine,” sort of sense. They’re comfortable goofing around with him, being physically close to him, and hanging out with him. They speak highly of his character, about how he treats them as a senior, a junior, a coworker.

[left: Krist and Mook; right: Aye with Krist and Gawin]

Last year, Aye went so far as to say that in all of GMMTV, she felt closest to Krist and Gawin partly because they made her experience making Be My Favorite so warm and comfortable when usually these male-oriented productions can alienate the women involved. She’d also worked with Krist before, and she said she feels completely at ease with him.

The work part I had backed up recently by a woman my friend spoke to: she said Krist goes out of his way to include every single person involved in a production. Not just the actors, but the crew and the staff as well. Rather than form a small clique with the people he already knows, Krist makes everyone feel like they’re in his clique. He treated everyone with respect regardless of age, gender, or role in the production.

[left: Krist and Godji; center: Godji’s birthday message to Krist; right: Jennie’s birthday message to Krist]

He’s famously devoted to his mothers, both his industry mother Godji who’s been looking out for him for years, and his birth mother pictured below from an episode of ArmShare (with English subtitles) in which Arm features Krist’s mother and shows how lovely and supportive their relationship is.

In the late 90s and early 00s, Krist’s family went into debt, and he took thankless jobs in university to try and help them out of it. The success of SOTUS is what got his family all the way into the green, and to this day Krist freely gives his parents access to the money he makes so they can live a better life. They still work (his mother’s office is pictured above), but because of Krist, they’re able to relax into their older age.

He’s also been actively protective of MilkLove over the past several months. When he interviewed them for Livehouse, they were noticeably open and confident in their answers. And yesterday, when MilkLove, KristSingto, and JoongDunk arrived in Singapore for their fan meetings today, the chaos in the airport created some genuine panic among security and the artists themselves.

In the video, you’ll see a man in a red shirt who was dogging MilkLove with his phone stretched out to capture himself with them. Krist, in gray, stretched his arm out to shield them from him. He and Singto did their best among the madness to protect MilkLove from the overzealous fans and from the confused security guard who pushed Milk out of the way thinking she was a fan, too.

Surging crowds like that are terrifying enough for anyone, but especially for women when they’re being actively pursued by larger men with no respect for their physical space. Krist and Singto both understand from personal experience how wild these situations can get, and I’m relieved they were both so quick to act for MilkLove’s safety.

I thought I must’ve made a thread or a post about this before, but I only really mentioned it once in a tweet a few months ago, so after this incident with MilkLove, I decided to zero in on one of my favorite things about him. Because these days, it’s not enough for me that a man is neutral about women. For me to support any man’s career, he has to be actively kind, actively supportive, and actively sharp with the men who aren’t.

The days of neutrality as the standard are firmly in the past, and it’s important to hold expectations for men high—especially famous men.

[singto-prachaya]

Poll time!

So I saw a poll with multiply rounds going around on twitter and I was less then happy with how it was going so far. So I decided to make a same poll here for tumblr. This is just a single round poll tho. Poll is limited in answers so no Ultimate Troop here. Do share this around.

[respectthepetty]

Pride Petty Watch (SOTUS) 2/5

Since so many people voted for the two blacklisted shows I was supposed to watch during Pride, it unlocked the wild card of me rewatching my sworn enemy SOTUS. I don't remember anything about the show, and the only thing I truly took away from it was hating Krist for the last eight years, so I'm settling in and revisiting the past to figure out why I forgot about every single plot point of this show including that Jan was in it and that Kongpob x M were the perfect ghost ship.

I left off praying that Arthit gets meaner before he gets nicer, which I consider as getting better before he gets worse, but since I'm getting Dangerous Romance flashbacks flash forwards, I doubt Arthit can commit to bullying Kong much longer before he turns full simp.

How am I not supposed to root for Kong x M when M looks so devastated every time Kong leaves his side to go talk to May. I know M likes May, but the way these scenes are set up, it's hard not to think that M likes Kong and he is in pain when everyone else gets his friend's time since he has known Kong SINCE JUNIOR HIGH!

Thrilled that Wad is always ready to lay hands first and ask questions later. Also excited that he is motivated by pettiness just like me, so the only reason he is playing in the tea product placement game is just to spite the seniors. Petty work makes the dream work. Amen.

The pink milk in this series needs to be studied because on one end of the spectrum, we in BL Land know the pink milk is a staple of a Thai BL (which is slowly coming back in Last Twilight, Only Friends, Addicted Heroin and I Saw You in My Dream), but on the other end, the show itself treats the pink milk like those dumb hot takes from people asking if drinking fruity cocktails makes a man a fruit, or if sucking on popsicles makes a man want to suck a dick, or if eating food in general makes a man queer. It just feels as if this show treats Arthit that way every time he orders it, like "GOTCHA, QUEER!"

If I were that food vendor, and Kong started popping out with these little nuggets while Arthit just kept threatening him, their business would be all up in the group chat because I'd be messaging all my friends that these two gay guys were practically foreplaying right in front of my salad pork skewers.

So of course Arthit would show up to the game just to stand there and glare at a man drenched in sweat from playing a hard game of basketball like the internalized-homophobic asshat he is.

God, some things never change.

WE GOT COCA-COLA MONEY?!

I gasped not because of the note on this conversation but because of the comment coming from AN OPENLY GAY MAN on the hazers squad. I am not Thai, so the only way I can relate to the hazers is through Greek life (fraternities and sororities), and even a long long time ago, I knew openly gay men in frats, and they pulled ALL the girls since girls felt safer around them than the straights, but the look Prem and Arthit are giving Tuta when he says this is what I'm laser-focused on because they show toleration rather than acceptance. I'm taking those looks personally.

Arthit continues to say Kong's face is annoying, but he never says it's ugly. Sir, I see your gay awakening on the horizon.

AND M WITH THE FUCKING LOOKS AGAIN! He is looking at Kong on stage then looking at May looking at Kong on the stage, and I know where this is going, but my god does it feel like M is sad because he believes Kong is straight and wouldn't reciprocate the feelings he has for his best friend SINCE JUNIOR HIGH!

I have made it clear that I do not like Krist (I believe his acting is flimsy but I can't even act like I like people, so who am I to judge), but I don't think the people behind the filming of this show liked him either because these opening title cards between the parts of the episodes are doing him dirty.

Excuse me, little stage presenter, I need to know what the fuck was going on with this performance that they had a western theme with modern guns. Was it Big Sean's "I Don't Fuck With You"?

And why is Jan looking like Taylor Swift in "Teardrops On My Guitar"? This show was in 2016, but the styling and hair are in 2003.

Now the judges are coming for Kong, and Lord knows he is going to answer in the most uncontroversial way because Kong refuses to pick a side against hazing and the boy he likes being punished by.

*eye roll* I did not think I'd make it here this quickly, but I'm on Arthit's side because Kong IS annoying. Jan's character looks full-on Stockholm Syndrome into the camera when Kong is answering, yet homeboy is just over there giving the most ridiculous reason of "our hazers have their reasons for hazing us" and now I see the direct line to GMMTV forgiving parents for abuse (Double Savage!).

Kong can play basketball really well. He remembers everyone's name. The whole class wanted him to be president. He is great in school. Now he is the Freshy Moon. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. I hate this kid.

M, my most beloved, now I see why you're quiet a lot.

I appreciate M for also stating that Kong is just great at everything without trying, but it also feels that he is hyping up his boy because he has been IN LOVE WITH HIS SINCE JUNIOR HIGH!

In a room full of people, only Kong notices that M is unhappy, and now I see the direct they-are-married-but-not-a-couple line to Peaceful Property. New understands these roles well.

THE QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS! Can you run 54 laps, Arthit? Can you squat 200 times, Prem? These freshmen won everything, yet Arthit is still being a dickwad, and he just got his ass off of school probation. Bold move, sir! I want the juniors to suffer. Except for Bright. My boy has never done anything wrong, and if he did, he didn't.

I saw an umbrella in The Ex-Morning pilot trailer, and if that show doesn't give me a scene of these two arguing in the rain over the dumbest shit, then what is the point?

All those people watching Arthit, and none of his boys could run with him? If the purpose of hazing is unity, obviously the juniors didn't get that memo when they were being hazed as freshmen, so why continue the traditions that they don't even abide by?! Arthit is better than me because I would have crawled my ass back to my dorm before accepting their help SINCE THEY DIDN'T EVEN RUN LAPS! And now this little freshman wants to be up in his face. What's the point of the umbrella now?! He is a boy in a BL who has been in the rain for hours. HE IS ALREADY GOING TO DIE NO THANKS TO YOU UNHELPFUL DOUCHE NOZZLES!

I was just on Arthit's side, but then the show decided to tell me that entire seniors-hazing-the-juniors thing was a setup, and mixed with most of the images on Arthit's door being black-and-white, and one of those images being Charles Manson's Rolling Stone cover, I'm back to hating him again. So in case anyone is still following along, I now hate both of the leads. Can I get M and Bright back?

Kong says several times that Arthit can punish him, then he irons Arthit's clothes. If this show would just lean into the kink of it all, I would embrace everything about it. If Kong could just be a masochist dom, I would be delighted. JAPAN, COME HERE RIGHT NOW! Fuck remaking Love in the Air! Remake this kinky shit instead!

This is what a sado sub looks likes and Japan would know exactly what to do with him. Now I'm mad that I'm watching the babygirl-fication of a perfectly good jerk.

Well hello there you two! You wanna make out before going to the hospital? Maybe keep it all a secret from everybody else? I'm so pissed that I can't remember this plot now because I don't think they will be a thing BUT THEY WOULD BE PERFECT!

And I'm still rooting for my boy M to get his best friend since unlike Arthit, M can at least acknowledge that his friend is pretty to his face. No internalized homophobia here but probably because M isn't even a homo. I've sailed ships with less.

😬🥴🙃 Thank you subtitler for keeping the word. It's important. So are the looks that I'm taking personally. And BRIGHT IS THE ONE TO SAY IT! So I like M now and only M. Everyone can eat dirt and choke.

Arthit's nickname means warmth? I'm starting to remember why I forgot this show. Like Celine Dion, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"

And I hate it.

[cornyonmains]

Just saw the news about fangirls on life support because Mile is dating a woman. Love it when people chase some of the best actors from the scene because they can't distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Guys, BL is a soft power for Thailand. Of course rich Thai families with good looking sons are going to have their fingers in that pie, and it means very little else save that they have good foresight. Mile entered BL, likely because his family saw a market releasing dogshit product and still posting numbers, realized they could inject cash and actual talent and make bank, and probably make good with their government in doing so. Mile is guilty of nothing save delivering the fantasy so well that people got lost in it.

People need to take a deep breath and let these men have personal lives. Women and queer audiences are historically under-served, and we're finally getting some media catering to our deranged tastes. And after years of aggressively straight male actors refusing to so much as move their mouths when they kiss, we're getting actors willing to take these roles seriously and create depth. And look, I get it, we went from a fucking desert right into an oasis, and nobody was there to tell us to drink slowly the first time. But we've had a few years, people should know how to act at this point.

Like honestly, how fast would people have their claws out if this was happening to female actors? Goddamn people, be the standard you want the world to set. Do you guys really want to go back to the days where the best we could get was SOTUS? Do you want to go back to the high fives? Because high fives are what you guys are gonna get if you don't learn how to act. We're not in a pandemic anymore. You won't be able to convince yourselves 2Gether was good again. Mark my words.

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: November 2023 ~ 

🎅🏻 Happy December!!! 🎄

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Twins - November 3rd (Thailand) 

🌟 Last Twilight -  November 10th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Middleman's Love - November 10th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 A Breeze of Love - November 10th (South Korea)

🌟 Beyond the Star - November 11th (Thailand) 

🌟 Playboyy - November 16th (Thailand) 

🌟 Pit Babe - November 17th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Wheels and Axle - November 17th (Thailand)

🌟 Bake Me Please (starring Ohm Thitiwat) - November 19th (Thailand)

🌟 7 Days Before Valentine - November 22nd (Thailand) 

🌟 My Biker - November 24th (Thailand)

🌟 VIP Only - November 24th (Taiwan)

🌟 The Sign - November 25th (Thailand) 

🌟 Every You, Every Me - November 25th (Thailand)

🌟 Cooking Crush - November 26th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 The Whisperer - November 26th (Thailand)

🌟 My Biker - November 27th (Thailand)

🌟 For Him - November 30th (Thailand)

🌟 Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun - November 30th (Japan) 

Monthly likes/dislikes

👎🏻 Love Senior - This isn't a BL but I had to include it anyway because it's horrific lmao. I peeked in bc I was interested in what Starhunter could bring to the GL genre but I should've known better lmao. It's the girl version of Sotus but so much worse. Anyone who watches this and genuinely enjoys it, please unfollow me sdhfkd.

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Your Dear Daddy - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 My Stand In (starring Up Poompat) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 My Boyfriend is a Captain - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Teach Me Touch Me - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 To Be Continued - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I Love/Kill You - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Gray Currents - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Lost on the River (adapted by Sammon's novel) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Shadow Confession - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Mr. Doctor (BMS spinoff) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I Became the Lead Role of a BL Drama - Coming January 1st (Japan)

🎥 The Hidden Moon - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Universe of Love - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Battle of the Writers - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 YZilla - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 You and My Stars - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Monster Next Door - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Love For Love's Sake - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Jack & Joker (starring YinWar) - Date TBA (Thailand)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ At the streaming event of the final episode of I Feel You Linger in the Air, the cast announced a second season of the show. Details are unknown.

❗️ The Taiwanese historical BL My Stand In is getting a Thai adaption. Up Poompat and Poom Phuripan have been confirmed as the leads, Porsche Tanathorn, Mek Jirakit and Inntouch Naphat have been confirmed as part of the cast as well, along with others. The series is currently in pre-production and has not disclosed any further information. 

❗️ LINE TV and TAICCA announce “Be Love, Go Love”, a project that will include 6 Taiwanese BLs/GLs, produced & realized by multiple cross-country BL producers, screenwriters and directors from shows like the HIStory franchise, To My Star, Bad Buddy, ATOTS, 2Gether, Semantic Error and more. The project will launch in the 2nd half of 2024.

❗️ MeenPing (Ai Lhong Nai) were announced as the leads for AllThis Entertainment's upcoming BL The Rebound. Further details are unknown.

❗️ After Manner of Death and Triage, another one of Sammon's novels will be adapted into a series titled Lost on the River. Further details are unknown. Regarding the adaption of her novel Euthanasia, Tor Thanapob and JJ Krissanapoom were announced as the leads. The show will be called Spare Me Your Mercy. The production stated the reason they delayed the filming for more than a year is that they wanted to make sure to get Tor and JJ as the leads.

❗️The Korean broadcasting network KBS announced the period BL Shadow Confession. This is the network's very first BL production, giving it a huge relevancy as KBS is Korea's leading television- and broadcasting system.

❗️ MaxNat's upcoming BL Two Worlds has begun filming. The show will air in early 2024.

❗️BrightNonkul (I Feel You Linger in the Air) won "Most Charming Y-Series Actors of the Year" at this year's Starlight Awards.

❗️ Studio WabiSabi held their 2024 lineup event "Next Page" on November 23rd. The following BL productions were announced:

Sunshine in the Wind (BL/GL)

Star Scope

Fourever You

The Vampire Project (formerly known as "My Broccoli", starring BounPrem)

❗️ The Thai BL Be Mine Superstar is getting a spinoff revolving around Mueng and Ning, played by Boston and Kavin. The drama is titled Mr. Doctor and will air in 2024.

❗️ Actors Yin Anan and War Wanarat announced a new upcoming project titled Jack & Joker; a BL series of a still unknown genre. The sidecast includes Prom Ratchapat, Mark Siwat and others. Yin and War said the show is an original by their agency and they will act as producers as well. The pilot trailer will be released on December 2nd. Further details are unknown.

Upcoming series & movies for December

👉🏻 Chains of Heart: The Movie - December 7th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Cherry Magic Thailand - December 9th (Thailand)

👉🏻 It's Complicated - December 14th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Dear Kitakyushu - December 14th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Colorful Melody - December 16th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Dead Friend Forever - December 23rd (Thailand)

👉🏻 Wuju Bakery - December TBA (Thailand) 

👉🏻 Intern in My Heart - December TBA (Thailand) 

👉🏻 Night Dream - December TBA (Thailand)

[boozles]

48. If you could switch a BL actor pairing to a different production company, who would you move and to which production company?

Okay, so I know people will be like WTF at this, but I'm gonna say it: GMMTV is my favourite company. Like, 90% of my favourites are with them, and I mostly watch their shows over other companies. That's not to say they are the best, because we all know that they can be hit or miss, but when it comes down to it I feel like they are the company that's doing the most.

Therefore I am constantly wishing people were with them - or would return. When Singto came back I literally lost my mind with joy (and I've never even seen SOTUS, okay? I just love Singto). I wish Frank would come back. I wish Mek would come back (although I 100% agree with Mek's reasons for leaving - he was not being managed properly and breaking up his ship seemed to take a bit of a toll on his mental health). I'm sad over those who have left in the last two years, BUT I do understand and accept their decisions, of course.

My main reasoning for wanting everyone with GMMTV is so everyone can just work together XD However, I would like GMMTV to take on some new managers, and pay attention to all their clients and not just the biggest ones.

[cherrylite17]

Perfect 10 liners ep 3 (spoilers)

I swear to god i thought i made this post like 3 days ago wtf.

first note, even though i have not posted anything re: the first two episodes, I will say that i currently like the show. I am fully treating this show as three shows packed up in one show. (I'm thinking skam where the seasons were following the same people but different main characters each season except this show does not have seasons)

I originally was not sure if i wanted to watch this show, aside from force and book I dont really know much about the other two ships and even still i havent really watched many force book shows fully so i was fully convinced i wouldnt like the show

Theres still a chance i wont like the show but right now the first two episodes have been funny. yeah I know, im a sucker for silly goofy sound effects and cuts and this show is doing it. its also (i think) the same director as we are and I LOVED we are so we'll see!

I think it is interesting that Arc likes Arm and is actually going for it, unlike most shows where theyll beat around the bush around this, I cant wait for Arc to "find out" that Arm was the one who posted that photo of him because i am fully convinced he already knows and is so ready to mess with Arm when he "finds out" (though i hope hes not too mean about this)

ANYWAY, ONTO THE THIRD EPISODE!

not me saying that i was interested in the arm arc storyline only for the show to IMMEDIATELY switch off of their story line sigh

nvm i spoke too soon, back to arrmarc! NOT PUN AND JET KNOWING LOL THATS SO CUTE

also not the new car being a product placement

i also find it lowkey INSANE that this man got you into an accident, said he would never hurt you again, and then all of a sudden youre so fine with it. Like not even a little bit of "you know what, give me like a week before i get into your car" i know this is probably for us to see and assume that Arm already likes Arc even though he won't admit it but like… girl this man is being lowkey (highkey) rude af and mean to you and i get that youre idk,,, pushing it off because hes your senior but like i do not CARE how senior someone is to me and how much i like someone, if they got me into an accident, im probably not going in their car for a while.

NOT THE AGGRSSIVE TYPING "dont forget to apply the medicine :p"

I also found this restaurant part so out of the blue? I know hes all like "well you said youre getting to know me now" but like bro you are in a sweaty ass jersey right now like go to either home or a street stall where there isnt an expectation on being dressed fancy.

fish on the balcony? 😭

poor po being stuck between two lovesick boys (bro is literally me)

if Arc thinks that this heart rate is "racing" bro would probably think i was dying if he heard my resting heart rate.

oh 😃 thats one way to end an episode. bro really said, yeah im gonna give my gear to you (because we will be dating) Im lowkey getting sotus vibes from their relationship at least right now. Like one mean guy who is the older senior and also has the explicit (kinda) role of taking care of the junior in terms of academics and school life and then a stubborn junior and also the giving of the gear (which ive heard is like a cultural think kinda so i cant really see that and be like OMG

ITS SOTUS!!!) but uh (cultural may not be the word im looking for but i feel like in canadian eng programs (dont wanna be to general and say all canadian university programs) we dont really have something like this, where you get something from the school and give it to the person you are dating as like a cute thing, maybe a canadian can correct me if im wrong tho) the confidence on this man i wish i had even half of that

FINAL THOUGHTS

once again another engineering show making me (an engineering student) feel lonely and sad about my own life 💀

i feel like i dont have any insight on this episode (not that i ever have) but maybe as the show goes on and i get used to making these posts again i will

that being said, I am sick and gosh darn tired of this fucking trope (?) where you can be mean to someone as a way of "flirting" with the other person. I mean even po and sand were all like "if I didnt know any better i'd think hes flirting with you" like maybe its just difference in cultures but if a friend came up to me and talked about someone in the way that Arm was talking about Arc in the first two episodes i would stongly encourage that friend to stay the fuck away from that person, like why are we making it okay again to bully people as a way of flirting with them (i guess you could argue that in this case its less bullying and more like teasing (which whatever) but my point still stands, i wish that shows would do this trope less or at the very least have some genuine consequences to this bad behaviour. and NO getting Arm hurt in the car accident is not a consequence to Arc for his bad behaviour, like sure he felt guilty about it but obviously Arm had no grudges held against him for that (i'm talking i want genuine serious like… idk how to put it. and this show may not be the best example ( again, maybe this is more teasing than it is bullying) but if someone treated me as bad as some main characters treat their love interest they would not be getting a chance from me (to which you might argue, "well if you like that person before then even if theyre mean to you they would get a chance" but thats often not the case in these shows, like main character 1 is mean for no fucking reason and main character 2 is like i hate you…. wait a minute I LOVE YOU!!! and there is no real consequence to main character 1s actions, they have no real reason to change)) but anyway thats neither here nor their as i am currently liking this show but given the time that the show is taking place (2 main couples are already established) i am wondering i… idk i forgot what i was gonna say

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I'm DELIGHTED by so much goodness, also I lust after a boy's robot's pants

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

Feb 2024 Wk 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 11 of 12 - I support the fact that the producers seem to have decided that even in uniform Yai never needs to wear sleeves. Hear hear.

No sleeves for Yai ever again!

On the other hand, why doesn’t anyone ever wear gloves? Going around touching evidence all willy nilly like that.

No to sleeves. Yes to gloves.

People. Sheesh. Get with the program.

Anygay, this is such a fun show. I could watch 50 episodes of this abject nonsense. I’m sad it’s gonna be ending. And I don’t say that often about Thai BL. 

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 12 of 14 - Oh has Jeff been kidnapped again? Here, let's throw fruit at Babe and think about it for a bit. Tra la la. Trash watch happening here.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - They are such very good boyfriends. Also, this is a ton of kissing for OffGun. I’m at a loss as to how they are going to turn this into a decent 12 ep show. Unfortunately, I’ve foresee it going off the rails - pacing seems off. 

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - We have our little No Comebacks twist. The sides are growing on me, but now the mains are boring me. The sudden gun-toting new characters are just weird. It’s like they took the script and just threw it down a staircase, gathered it back up again, then filmed that. 

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 - Fueang is an actor in the midst of crisis and scandal. Normally I don’t like Thai BL when it’s tackles celebrity and this is... yep, the same. Our actor is pitted against an older worried nerdy app developer, Krom. And I feel that dynamic - hyung romance, jock/nerd? Very nice. But it’s also very Star Hunter. Never met a trope they didn’t wanna do a million times over - in the very first episode. Also I think I’m not a fan of the actor playing the lead. 

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 24fin - The blond who comes to get his hair shaved looks just like Fluke T (SOTUS et al). And even more like him after the shaving (My Bromance et al). Is that him? MDL doesn't say.

Anygay... something something: Orphan. Cancer. Kisses. Dream. Death. 'Bout what I expected. 2/10 even with a decent kiss I don’t do dream sequences and I don’t like death in my BL 

All in all, I’m relieved that that’s over. The series is a slog. And in general I don’t recommend it. I plan to promptly forget its entire existence. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love For Love's Sake (Korea Weds iQIYI) eps 3-4 of 8 - There is so much to adore about this show. The two younger guys who are suddenly in competition for the one older one. You know hyung romances are my favs. A hyung love triangle? COME ON. Also, I got to say this one’s giving me second lead syndrome. I do love me a brat. Add in all this on honorific play and linguistic flirting (as their should be in age gap). This is just THE BEST show. 

Look I gotta say this: the "Who did this to you?" trope (AKA who hurt you?) is the single most popular romance trope right now, remarkable to see it turn up in a BL. And pleasing. Trust Korea to be ON TREND. It's their national agenda. *respect*

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) eps 1-2 of 6 - From Fuji TV (who brought us the Pornographer series) adapted from Mayo Tsurakame’s manga, production team includes Tadaaki Horai (My Love Mix-Up!) and Takeshi Miyamoto (scriptwriter for Old Fashion Cupcake). Hiro’s so stressed at work he barely has time to eat so he passes out on the sidewalk. An unfamiliar face saves him and insists that they once promised to marry each other.

Ready?

Oh I fucking love it. Sullen, out gay, younger seme with serious grumpy overprotective tendencies and beautiful possessive cat eyes? Well, it’s not dimples, but it’s still my catnip. Also they are moving very quickly. Hand jobs already? + dub con seasoning? Say it with me everyone:

Oh Japan, must you? 

Apparently, you must. And I must enjoy it. Carry on.

Please reread those producer creds and understand what we are in for. Okay? I would urge you to avoid this one if you get squeamish when JBL does what... JBL does.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) eps 1-2 of 10 - I really enjoy the character of an OCD intellectual automaton professor, contrasted to a warm and sunshine actual robot. Out the gate, this is oozing Taiwanese domesticity, we can only hope they juice it with their usual standard of heat too. 

All puns aside: It’s charming and I’m charmed. Does Taiwan finally have another winner on its hands?

I do adore Taiwan's aesthetics: The house designs, the suit designs, the human designs. I wouldn't say no to the robot’s pants either. Very cool. Can I order them in black?

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - The birthday confession was a bit much. But I love how mature the reactions were. It reminded me a little bit of I Cannot Reach You. Always a good thing. 

Girl: I like you. 

Sakae: sorry, not intersted 

Girl: what am I lacking? 

Sakae: a dick 

What you mean it didn’t go that way?

Happy Ending (Korea Tues YT) 2 of 3 - Oh it’s lovely, exactly as I expect from Strongberry.

I gotta say all of the above are pretty neck & neck for top spots for entirely different reasons. BL is seriously giving right now!

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 8fin - In the end this is mostly a piece about courage, and the rewards and disappointments that being courageous entails. Sadly, I personally didn’t have the courage to enjoy it. Featuring a chaos nugget bad boy student who falls madly in love with his teacher, this should’ve been My Thing. But Japan failed me. It happens sometimes. The leads had no chemistry, and the age gap rather than being a narrative driver and source of conflict, was just ignored. 7/10 

It's Done

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 so I assume it's on YouTube. I never even noticed. Anyone got a link?

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - Is TRUST Entertainment bringing us the first ever Burmese BL? I don't know if it's really the first, but @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch through.

The Whisperer (Thai Horror) - @all-you-had-to-do-was-neigh commented with the following: "MASSIVE content warning for extreme ableism, homophobia, and rape plots done for shock value. I don't recommend it, and if any of your followers decide to watch it proceed with caution."

So... yeah, I won't be watching it.

It's Airing But...

[NO INTERNATIONAL] Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - yeah Japan put the smack down on our boys. Sadness. You can use a VPN if you like. Read all about it here.

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.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 12 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if safe.

Dead Friend Forever (Thai Sat iQIYI) 12 eps - horror, meh, tell me if it's worth my time?

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

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still Coming in Feb

2/17 A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - Khonprot, a third-year head hazer of the engineering faculty, has a secret crush on Pluem, a tsundere fourth-year head hazer. Over the years, he's seen Pluem cycle through many girlfriends. Recently, after a public breakup, however, Khonprot thinks maybe a boy has a chance.

2/24 Unknown (Taiwan Youku) 12 eps - Older brother tough guy criminal breadwinner looks after his sister and defacto adopted little brother. Little bother falls in love with him and is sent away after a stolen kiss. But when he comes back…

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

GMMTV is officially stalking me.

I do love OffGun's particular brand of domesticity. It's fun that they and TayNew are both getting to be so soft on our screens. It's very comforting, like a family favorite warm toddy. (Cooking Crush)

Korea, what's gotten into you? Are you feeling okay? Such bold weaponized gayness isn't like you at all. (Love for Love's Sake)

The Sign, forcing me to ask the eternal question.

I LOVES THEM YOUR HONOR. (Pit Babe)

(Last week)

[mikuni14]

2023

Three clarifications: 1) all my opinions are completely subjective and based entirely on my feelings, 2) I definitely left out a lot of what I wanted to write, and I will probably remember it after the New Year lol 3) The Sign wins all the best categories, BUT the series isn't over yet. I included it in my list anyway (I also included Twins)

Unfortunately, 2023 is me continuing the trend started in 2022, i.e. dropping the series, sometimes even just before the finale. There are about 35 series I dropped this year (!!!!!). Some of them I literally stopped watching the moment MLs appeared on the screen, like Dinosaur Love. Sorry but nope. Why is this happening? Perhaps because of the huge number of series. Before, I watched everything, even the worst productions, because I simply had no choice. Now there are so many new series, also so many great older series that I can come back to with pleasure, that I don't regret dropping something, that in the past I would have forced myself to watch until the end. Life is too short to waste it on mid series 🤷‍♀️

My list:

Perfect relationships: Our Dating Sim, Jun&Jun, The 8th Sense, Love in Translation, MickTop - My Universe, The Sign, Twins, Our Dining Table, Sing My Crush, um, Destiny Seeker 😄

Perfect relationships minus this one thing (usually an awkward kiss, sorry, this is very important to me): Unitentional Love Story, Laws of Attraction. WHY. These are not Sotus times, it's 2023, there are no excuses, learn to kiss, it's the easiest thing to DO

Many series disappointed me, but most of all, the one in which I had such great hopes: Chains Of Heart, come ON, this series had EVERYTHING to become one of the best series this year!!

Characters most harmed by the plot: Boston and Babe. I will also never forgive Between Us for what they did to the most awesome couple ever: WinTeam

Interesting series that pleasantly surprised me with how different and unique they are: Be My Favorite, Bake Me Please

Series that I have watched until the end, that are a complete waste of time and that I have bad memories of: Step by Step and La Puie

Characters that were just plain awful and that I would avoid in real life: first and foremost, of course, that EUN JI bitch and Tae Hyung (The Eighth Sense) also Sangin (Sing My Crush), practically everyone from Only Friends, Phat and Saengtai (La Pluie), Pat (SBS), Wen (Moonlight Chicken), Charlie. I'm not writing about terrible parents, there were a lot of them this year

The craziest series I've watched anyway: Till The World Ends 🥳

It's been a year of shows about workplace romance, but only a few managed to portray it in a good, even cute way without creepy power imbalance: Jun&Jun, ODS, Love in Translation, probably Cherry Magic (still airing)

New stars✨ that rocked my 💖: Daou (LiT), Babe (The Sign), Frame (Twins), Guide (IFYLIA, Bake Me Please) and Mark Pakin, my king 👑

My obsessions this year: Jae Won (The 8th Sense), Charn (LoA), Yang (Love in Translation), Im Han Tae (Sing My Crush), Sprite, THARN and Phaya. Overall, 2023 was full of characters who were a wonderful mix of pathetic and crazy in love and who made me feel like 🥺😍😭🥳. These were the men (and boys) mentioned above, but also Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), Cheng (Chains of Heart), Pisaeng (BMF), Tinn (My School President), Mick (My Universe). I love all of them 💖

Hot guys 🔥: ok, there were a lot of them this year, but definitely Chi Jun (Jun&Jun), Yang (LiT), Im Han Tae (SMC), Palm (NLMG), Songkhram (Destiny Seeker), Way and Alan (Pit Babe), Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), Mark Pakin in all his roles, obviously Tharn and Phaya ✨

Characters that I always look at with fondness, that I watched with real pleasure,, who brought only high-quality content and made this year better for me: Tharn, Phaya and their friends (YAI), Tinn, Charn and their friends (NAWIN and the girls), Mick (MU), main couples from SMC, Jun & Jun, ODC and LiT, Our Dining Table, Yoon Tae Joon (Unintentional Love Story), MR. TIWSON 👑, Peach, Sprite (every time I write the names Peach and Sprite I crave a fruity drink 🍹)

Hottest scenes 🔥: everything that is happening in the PhayaTharn universe so far, and

With so many series from Thailand, surprisingly few made a huge impression on me, the same in the case of characters or couples that I was obsessed with and which I would happily rewatch many times. I was even more surprised by Korea, which, with an incomparably smaller number of series, still created real gems, fantastic couples and interesting, liked characters. It was Korea that gave me probably the most interesting character this year: Jae Won. Although Thailand shot a Tharn-shaped arrow straight into my heart at the very end of the year 💘

It was a very good year, hope 2024 will be even better. What I wish for myself and all of you, my lovely jellyfish bolsters 😘😘😘😘😘

I wanted to thank everyone here for being so awesome this year, everyone who wrote great reviews and funny posts and notes, everyone who worked hard to gif the best scenes and who promoted the series fiercely. I watched many of my favorite series only thanks to your gifs. I love you all so much, you are the best! 🥰

[hughungrybear]

Well, despite its problematic theme (gay-4-u trope), I have always been very vocal of my love for SOTUS (and SOTUS S). I also believed that BLs like SOTUS, along with Love Sick, Make It Right, Gay Ok Bangkok, and Club Friday has undeniably shaped the BLs that we know and love today.

Likewise, despite its flaws, I believe Last Twilight will also open the door for other queer stories to be told: those that involved unconventional heroes (and heroines) and more realistic plots. Sure, the series went the fairy tale route with its last few episodes - however, I do think it's not a bad start for production companies to look at a new wealth of possibilities, plot-wise.

Who knows? Maybe eight to ten years from now, we will fondly look back at these episodes and tell new BL fans that this series started a whole slew of fantastic never-been-told queer stories that we all deserve. 🤓

[thebroccolination]

CHARACTER ARCS IN THAI BL (featuring examples from SOTUS, Be My Favorite, and The Ex-Morning)

So, Krist's done two BL series so far with another one on the horizon, and it looks like The Ex-Morning is going to have the same thing that made SOTUS and Be My Favorite so strong: The Character Arc.

One of my biggest complaints about Thai QL series is that most of their protagonists don't want anything. They just kind of walk on camera, act cute, and fall in love. Some sad stuff happens to them, and then the good stuff happens to them again, and then the story ends.

We all know these series are made as a vehicle for the actors. They include just enough fluff or spice (or spicy fluff) to trend, then companies lean on the ensuing hype to sell sponsored products, concert tickets, merch, ten-minute fan calls, fan signings, fan meetings, and top-spender events.

But most series lose me when their protagonists don't even want something that drives the story. And then there's no obstacle to that want.

Want: Arthit wants to hide behind a persona. Obstacle: Kongphob wants Arthit to allow him behind the persona.

I think SOTUS is such a successful slow-burn because it's a well-crafted story of push and pull between two well-developed characters in direct conflict with each other (in personality, philosophy, life experience, class, etc.).

And that conflict builds with each of the three installments:

The conclusion in SOTUS happens once Arthit is fully himself around Kongphob: shyly smiling and laughing while he does a dramatic reading of Kongphob's written account of his hazing experience.

The conclusion in SOTUS S happens once Arthit allows himself to be seen as Kongphob's boyfriend by the outside world (represented by his coworkers).

And the conclusion in their Our Skyy episode—as well as their story overall—happens when Arthit allows the world to see him as Kongphob's fiancé (represented by a ton of passersby in an airport).

By contrast, a lot of other series feel to me as if they haven't been edited or explored beyond a first or maybe second draft. It's difficult for me to get emotionally invested in a story when the characters are just pretty people who say things to each other. And I mean, in all fairness, considering the breakneck speed these are made and released at, writers probably don't have enough time to make anything more profound than that.

That's why I admire Be My Favorite director Waasuthep for requesting more time to work on his script. He was so passionate about that project, and he says to this day that it's his favorite of his works. He basically took apart the original novella's plot, carved it down to a handful of elements, and built it anew from scratch. Last year, he said on a podcast that fans were complaining because they wanted to see the series as soon as possible, but when presented with the choice of "make a worse series faster to appease fans" or "take as much time as possible to craft the story as it deserves to be told," he bravely, boldly, and correctly chose the latter.

As a result, Kawi has arguably the most dramatic and well-executed character arc of all the Thai series I've seen. In episode one, he's self-isolated, timid, avoidant, and selfish. In the last episode, he's a confident, openly queer, and affectionate member of a found family he built alongside the person he loves.

And even better than just having a want, Kawi has a conflicting need.

He wants to be with someone (Pear, then Pisaeng). But what he needs is to be vulnerable enough to let other people love him. Pisaeng tells Kawi in episode two that he's being bigoted against other people for assuming they won't like him and automatically shutting them all out. Then Pisaeng reinforces that point later by telling Kawi that people would like him…if he actually showed them who he is.

And since Kawi's want is at odds with his need (he wants to skip the vulnerability part, which leads to his ruinous potential future with Pear), he's not just externally challenged by his father's illness, his lack of social skills, Not's general unpleasantness, and the inherent dangers associated with changing time, he's also challenged by himself every step of the way.

Seeing Kawi go from self-isolation, in which he assumes the worst of everyone he meets, to warmly hosting a cheerful Christmas party with the beloved people he chose is immensely satisfying as a viewer.

And now in the upcoming Ex-Morning we have an entire series seemingly focused on Pathapi's character arc of challenging the person he's become in order to rekindle his broken relationship with Tamtawan. I've been craving a good exes-to-lovers plot, and I love that it's KristSingto who'll deliver that to me.

Ultimately, it delights me that in all three of Krist's BL series so far, his anxious, reactive characters are forced to self-examine and become calmer, gentler, and happier. SOTUS and Be My Favorite are just as much about self-love as romantic love: Arthit is happiest when he's self-confident, Kawi is happiest when he's vulnerable, and we'll see what Pathapi's whole deal is soon.

Ex-Morning director Lit (who also directed the first SOTUS installment) said in a recent podcast that in the early days, Thai BL directors used to only compete with each other, but they're well aware that their work is on a global stage now. Considering the amount of work that's gone into the script for The Ex-Morning, I'm tremendously excited for the story he helps to create. \:D/

Strong, nuanced characters are what I need from a series, and for them to be at their strongest and most nuanced, they really need that character arc to land.

[waitmyturtles]

I shared a gif of this video earlier today, where Perth Nakhun from KinnPorsche was talking about gay marriage not being legal in Thailand, but -- I just took the time to watch the entire video, and it’s a GEM. (And he’s DARLING.) He answers great questions about shipping culture/ghost ships, the behind-the-scenes production process of a BL, how being cast in a BL might have affected an actor years ago versus now, and much more.

(@miscellar -- I think you’d really enjoy this one.) (Maybe even @absolutebl, too.)

I referred to Perth’s pink milk video when I was watching SOTUS a few months ago, and I hope he continues to do these English-language explainers, because he REALLY gets into Thai culture in a way that’s very easy to digest for us international fans. I think this is a must-watch for fans who want to be reflective of our experience watching dramas, and understanding what we’re watching between the lines of fiction and the real lives of these guys. 

[lurkingshan]

If you could rant about one thing in BL, what would it be? (This could be either a complaint or a soapbox)

Thank you for the invitation to climb on my soapbox, I love it up here. Something that’s been on my mind recently is bl second seasons, so I will take this opportunity to talk about why I both anticipate and dread them in equal measure, and what makes for a strong second season in a romance narrative. I would apologize for this being so long but it's you, Emperor of the Long Post, so I don't even feel bad.

First of all, let me just say that part of the reason I love Asian dramas in the first place is because they don’t have multiple seasons. Unlike American TV, you don’t have to invest literal years in a show only to have it blow up in your face when it (nearly always) goes off the rails for one reason or another. The vast majority of Asian dramas are one and done–they tell a complete story in one limited run, and afterwards you just get to move on to the next story. As a result they tend to have a higher hit rate because they’re not trying to stretch their story beyond its limits to keep it going and going, and even when they fail you only spent a few days or weeks on it so it doesn’t feel like you wasted a lot of time. There are a few exceptions of course (lately kdramas on Netflix have started splitting into two “seasons” that are really just one standard kdrama episode count split in two and airing a few months apart–high key annoying IMO), but by and large that’s how it goes. 

So the bl genre’s propensity for second seasons already goes a bit against the grain of what I love about dramas, and add to that the very nature of bls—they are romances, which typically end at the point that the romantic conflict has been addressed and the characters decide to stay together. So in general, I am primed to be suspicious of second seasons in this genre. Many second seasons are clearly driven by capitalism more than anything else–the pairing is popular and so the production company is looking to cash in while their commodity is hot, and whether or not they actually have any more story to tell is a secondary concern. So my first questions when approaching a second season is why was this made and what is it trying to accomplish? 

I think there are a few buckets here:

Continuing the narrative season 2s: These are the shows where the story was not complete at the end of season 1, and season 2 is actually necessary to provide some resolution. Love Sick 2 and Make it Right 2 are prime examples; those narratives were incomplete after the first season and season 2 finished them. What Did You Eat Yesterday? 2 also falls in this category but for a different reason: it’s a slice of life show and the narrative never really ends. They could make 10 seasons of that show and it would make perfect sense (not that I am begging or anything).

Cash grab season 2s: These are the ones with little or no real narrative purpose. They’re more like long specials, and their purpose is primarily to provide additional fluff for the audience while they sell products (including the actors, they are also products here). Cutie Pie 2 You, Still 2gether, TharnType 2 are all good examples of this. Now I am not saying these shows are inherently worthless–they gave Aof the reins for 2SG, for instance, and he managed to make something of it and even repair some damage from the first season–but they are definitely inessential. 

What happens after the HEA season 2s: My favorite kind, these are the ones that move into the next phase of the romance, once the characters have decided to be together, and take a look at what their relationship would actually be like. Their purpose is to deepen the relationship and character development and examine the types of conflicts that would naturally come up between the two personalities. Gameboys 2, I Promised You the Moon, Minato’s Laundromat 2, SOTUS: S, Together With Me: The Next Chapter, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all fall under this category. Some of these are more successful than others, which I will unpack below. 

Something like Our Skyy and Our Skyy 2 runs the gamut between these three types, with each installment fitting into different categories. The Eclipse OS2 is a great example of category 3, whereas My School President OS2 is more of a category 2, and you could make a case that SOTUS OS is really a category 1, since it puts a nice cap on the narrative of that whole series.

So, with that said, what I actually want to talk about is category 3, because these are the shows I am most interested in and where the decisions made in the writing are most crucial. Because this type of second season has real potential to either strengthen or damage the couple and how we see their relationship. The best second seasons of this type build on the established characteristics of the characters and take us through some natural conflicts that would arise as they continue their relationship. For instance, in Gameboys 2 we see Cairo and Gavreel spend prolonged time together in person for the first time after maintaining a long distance relationship and work through what physical intimacy looks like for them as well as how they intend to keep their relationship strong despite distance. I Promised You the Moon, SOTUS: S, To My Star 2, and Utsukushii Kare 2 all build on their characters’ well-established flaws from the first season to explore how that would manifest in conflict as these relationships continue and offer plausible scenarios for how the couples might make it through those issues (and it ain’t always pretty!). All of these are very successful second seasons, because they build naturally from what came before and directly address the doubts we had when those shows first ended about whether the couple can actually make it long-term.

Where this type of second season goes really wrong is when the writing violates character or the established patterns of the relationship in order to create conflict. In Together With Me: The Next Chapter, the show uses cheating as a plot device, having Korn cheat on Knock in a one-off hookup with a shitty villain character, and to add insult to injury, they juxtaposed it against Knock finally coming out in a poor attempt at dramatic irony. The reason this sucked was not just because it hurt our feelings; it sucked because that behavior was contra everything we knew about Korn, his devotion to Knock, and his well-established patience with Knock’s internalized homophobia. Now, don’t get it twisted: I do not believe cheating is an inherently bad plot device. It was actually used very well in I Promised You the Moon, a decision I will defend to the death (in fact, you can tune in to the conversation pod in a couple weeks to hear me do just that!). But its use in TWM:TNC did not make sense for the characters, and thus rather than deepening their relationship development, it irreparably harmed it. 

Another way a second season of this type can go wrong is when the writing is not committed to the narrative or leans too hard on first season nostalgia rather than dealing with the current iteration of the characters. Minato’s Laundromat 2 just did both of these things, which was especially frustrating because for nine weeks it was on track to be a very successful version of this type.The show started out tracking the painstaking and slow process of Minato dealing with his internalized homophobia and becoming a decent partner to Shin, but for reasons I can only speculate about, the show balked in the final act, backing away from finishing its narrative in favor of an amnesia plot and several episodes of first season nostalgia bait, ending with a happy resolution that felt wholly unearned and thus deeply unsatisfying. This was especially infuriating because the show got us invested in the growth arc before failing to complete it.  

So what is my point here? Second seasons can be very worthwhile, but only if there is a clear vision for what the story wants to explore about the relationship that is rooted in what we already know about the characters. There are rumors about other second seasons coming our way from shows like Big Dragon, Blueming, and The Eighth Sense, some of which have more potential to add to the original story than others (T8S is particularly primed for a solid second season IMO, because it left so much character development and natural conflict for the next stage of the relationship on the table). But regardless of where they decide to go with the plot of these additional seasons, the thing that will be most crucial is whether they keep fidelity to who the characters are and how their relationships work. That is how you successfully build from an origin romance in a way that feels meaningful and worthwhile.