#and now I'm halfway through s2 and very invested

[billpottsismygf]

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m invested in Succession now.

[twig-tea]

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

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

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

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

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

Zany lesser-known BLs other than YYY

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

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

A 2016 45-minute short [skippable imo];

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rainbow Prince the Series (Filippino, 2022, YouTube)

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

Hey! First Love (Vietnamese, 2019, YouTube)

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

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

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

Like Love (China, 2014-15, grey)

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

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

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

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

The Boy Next Door (Korean, 2018, YouTube)

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

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

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

Something Crunchy Crunchy (Korean, 2018, GagaOOLala)

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

Dom (Korean, 2016, GagaOOLala)

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

And since we can't leave out the ladies,

A few zany GLs:

Lily Fever (Korean, 2015, YouTube)

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

Legend of Yunqian (China, 2020, grey)

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

BetCin (Filippino, 2022, WeTV)

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

Perfect One Night Stand (Korean, 2020, GagaOOLala)

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

[tantei-armin]

ANIMES I'VE WATCHED - WINTER 2023

I'm going to make these from now on, just for fun. This is about the animes I've watched this season, my short opinion and my rate on each. This is just my personal opinion.

-

DROPPED SHOWS: Tomo-chan is a Girl! (2 eps), The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Collegue (3 eps) and Kaina of The Great Snow Sea (1 eps).

First, let me be clear that none of these shows are bad. I will not rate them, coz I don't think it's fair since I've watched less than 3 episodes of each.

Tomo-chan was funny, but after 2 episodes it just felt generic to me. Ice Guy is a super pretty show and rly cute, but I just got bored and not rly invested to want to know more. Kaina, idk. Obviously the CGI animation can't be compared to Trigun Stampede, but it's not by any means bad. It wasn't the animation that made me drop the show, it simply did not hooked me at all, and after the first episode I completely forgot about it. Let me know if you think I should give them a second try.

Now here are the animes I've finished and my ratings for each (in no particular order). Beware for a few spoilers!

High Card

This one was good, but tbh, I couldnt really connect with any of the characters in the show. I actually enjoyed the episodes where it was just dumb fun with getting to see new characters and their weird powers, more than the episodes with actual plot. So the whole thing with Chris at the end, didnt rly appeal to me much, I felt like I barely new anything about him to actually care. Would I watch it again? Probably not, but I did enjoy it and will most likely give S2 a try.

Rate on MAL: 7/10 (Good)

Bonus: Favorite ED this season.

-

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

I didn't expect to like this show as much as I did. I assumed I would lose interest quickly like it happened to Ice Guy and Cool Colleague. But the show, aside from being visually super pretty, have a nice (even if not the most creative) premisse and I rly liked the characters. It was one of the few anime that I was actually excited to watch a new episode every week. The only downside for me, is that the plot became repetitive halfway through. Ann gets screwded over by others, coz she is a girl and they are jealous of her talent. That made it get quite tiring near the end. But I am still excited for S2 and I hope the plot moves on a bit more.

Rate on MAL: 8/10 (Very Good).

-

In/Spectre S2

Tbh, I feel like this show might be better in manga form than anime. Because there's A LOT if talking. This season (so far) did not have much of a plot, more like 3-4 episodes arcs, that you can watch in random order and it will not affect the experience at all. I like the puzzles and the mystery, but thats about it. I actually waited for each arc to end and watched those episodes on a row, rather than watch weekly. I didnt have to force myself to watch the show and I quite enjoyed each arc. But I wouldnt rewatch it, specially since I know the answer to the mysteries now.

Rate on MAL: 6/10 (Fine).

-

Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari

Went into this one completely blind. I actually kinda loved it. Unlike other shows that I started losing interest by the end, with this one I started to enjoy more as it went. The first episode gave the impression that it would be just another dumb shounen. I didnt expect the romance and actually rly liked it. The characters are very endearing, and it was refreshing seeing a MC that started as an edgelord and turned out to be a complete awkward dork instead of the other way around. Whats so funny to me is that practically nothing big happened by the final episode. It started as classic shounen and kinda ended like a Slice of Life. Would watch it again, and will definitely check out if theres a S2, since it's clear this was just the beginning of the story.

Rate on MAL: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

-

Revenger

Another show I went in completely blind and enjoyed it... for like half the show. Would not rewatch it. It's okay, I'm not big on historical shows, but it was interesting for most of it. To be honest, I would have rated this show higher, wasn't for the last episode. If tristamp had the best finale of this bunch, this show had the worst.

(Major spoilers ahead)

There was a whole lot of complicated built to the finale only for it to be SUPER BORING. The villain was so generic and during the entire show he was like this super smart guy, always one step ahead of the heroes... only to die in the dumbest way possible. Seriously he literally standed in front of the guy trying to kill him and say "hey come on join me" and got murdered. And then there was this whole thing during the entire show about having the main dude, forgive himself and find another reason to live and whatever. It kept building up and then in the last moment he was just still depressed and got killed by a character that appeared like twice and they never explained why the kid even did that or why he was so angry at him to begin with. Look, I'm all for sad endings and stuff, but this one just felt like the ending basically made half of the show's point completely useless.

Rate on MAL: 6/10 (Fine)

-

Buddy Daddies

This one was great! Very wholesome. It was a lot of fun, but also with some quite good drama. Not gonna lie, I teared up more than once. I expected it to be just dumb comedy, but it turned out to have quite the right amount of fluff and angst. A lot of people expected it to be SpyxFamily Gay Edition, but thats not it. I do have to say though... probably unpopular opinion, but I do NOT like Miri. Honestly she annoyed me to no end. Which makes her more realistic as a kid I guess. Do not go into this if you are expecting some homoerotic tension between the two guys. It's not about that, it's about found family for all parts involved and it's absolutely wholesome. I'll definitely rewatch it some day. Highly recommend.

Rate on MAL: 9 (Great).

-

To Your Eternity S2

Aw man this is hard. I absolutely adored the first season, it have probably the most beautiful first episode of all anime. Unfortunately... S2 did not do it for me. I desperately wanted to love the show as much as I did the first season, but it just didn't happen. By the end of the season, I felt detached from it and also disappointed. It didn't give that rush of feelings from season 1, and by the last couple episodes I felt like all the things about loosing people were thrown in the trash with all the revivals. The big reunion was kinda boring too, I was so excited for it, and yet it was just, meh. There were definitely some great highlights, but overall this season was incredibly inferior to S1 imo.

Rate on MAL 7/10

Bonus: Best character development of the season: Bon.

-

Trigun Stampede

Listen. LISTEN! If you follow my blog you know. But listen. This show! I'll say it right now: Anime of the Year. Haven't hyperfixated on anything this hard since Banana Fish.

No, I did not watch Trigun, I tried years ago and dropped after like 3 episodes for a bunch of reasons that I''ll not gonna go into rn. Tbh the main reason I decided to watch Stampede was over the visuals. I am a big fan of Studio Orange. I find their shows visually beautiful and just really pleasing to the eyes (where's my Houseki no Kuni S2, Orange!??), and I was instantly attracted to it when I watched the trailer. So I hopped on the first episode for the eyegasm.

But boy, oh boy this show is gorgeous. After the first episode I was hooked solely for the visual experience and the fun ride. By episode 3 I was hooked by the plot, and by episode 4 (with Wolfwood's introduction), I was in love with the characters.

I love the visuals, the designs, the story, the music, everything. Some of the changes people complained about werent actually changed, just postponed (which I theorized would happen halfway through the show), and some of the stuff that is actually different from the 1998 anime are actually the things I did not like in Trigun 98. And thats just a personal preference. But I do think that the fact I didn't watch the 98 show as a kid (it wasnt even released in my country) gave me the opportunity to fully enjoy Stampede without nostalgia getting in the way and clouding my opinion on it. I'll say that I agree that the pacing was quite fast, but I also understand why Orange and Kenji Muto did that, specially after we realized this entire season was a prequel. I do hope S2 slow down the pace a little bit.

But guys. The finale. Holy shit. The finale. I was rendered speechless. The final episode alone was a masterpiece. That's how you raise the bar on how to do a finale. The second cour of 86 had an AMAZING finale, but this here was something else. The animation was stunning, the music (ohmygod the scene they fell from the tower holy shit, when Vash's wing appeared), everything was absolutely incredible.

This was the show I couldnt wait for a new episode. This was the show I kept rewatching the episodes over and over while waiting for the next. And every time I did, I would find a new detail that I didn't notice in the previous watchs. Look, preferences aside, it is crystal clear how much love and passion was put into this show. From the gorgeous animation, to the character's expressions, to the small details everywhere, to the way the studio's staff interacted with the fans on twitter, this show was put together with a lot of effort, passion and thought.

I can say right now that Trigun Stampede easily became one of my favorite shows of all time, and this is coming from someone who have been watching animes for over 20 years. I'm not really planning to try watching Trigun 98 again, but I am planning on starting the manga, specially since I already got spoiled about some big events.

Bonus: Favorite OP of the season.

Rate on MAL: 10/10 (Masterpiece)

Anime of the Year for me 100%. I do not see any anime taking Tristamp's place, not even SnK's finale, and this is coming from an originally SNK obssessed blog. Thats how much Tristamp impacted me.

-

That's it!! If you think there's an anime I missed this season and should check out, pls leave it in the comments which is and why I should give it a try.

[tetrakys]

Hello tetra

I see that many players are not satisfied with Lance's route. It's understable but...!

You say that he has changed a lot between s1 and s2. I would like to know how you think that. Because with 2 hours of episode and 5 minutes of interaction with him... That's a very short time to really get to know who he is...

Indeed he has changed but how can we know if the Lance of TO has really disappeared ? What did you expect with s2 ? That he's still sassy (because he's still sassy huh...less than before but still...) ? Or that he pulls our hair ? I don't get it

I agree that the relationship between Erika and Lance is going TOO fast (given that beemoov only plan to do 20 episodes sadly) but to say that Lance's route is dead in the first season when he wasn't a crush (i know he should have been) isn't it exaggerated ? It depends on the point of view ofc but I still can't understand your point

What I meant is that the original idea of what Lance's route was supposed to be, died with TO. And I mean things like him sneaking up into HQ and meeting her in secret. Him tattling on the guard and testing her allegiance. Pushing her up against a tree to hide or against a wall to threaten and then things turning hot 😌 you know... all the enemies-to-lovers things we started to get and then couldn't anymore. This dynamic died with TO.

Now Lance's route is the quiet mentor type, much more similar to Valkyon's route than what his was supposed to be in TO. And I like this type of route, I'm just sad it's not what I wanted with him.

Also, I don't agree with him still being sassy, he has given very little proof if that. I can believe he still is in his mind, that maybe he thinks about sarcastic things to say and then stops himself because he's trying to behave. I've been hoping that he will eventually let himself go, these were my thoughts at the beginning of the season, I was just waiting for him to get used to Erika, to being accepted, and be comfortable to be who he is, openly. But we are halfway through the season and it hasn't happened yet, so I'm not sure it ever will. Because with 5 minutes spent with the crush in each episode, we have 50 minutes left to spend with him. More than half of which will probably be plot related talk. So... I'm just resigned, that's it.

To clarify, I think there might still be old Lance in there, I just think that with the little time the game invests in romance, we will never fully see it, and it's a damn shame.