#i dont really gush about BL that much

[toixxx-ace]

i got the chance to go to a bookstore yesterday and could not find any copies of mp100 BUT i did find a new BL series by Rihito Takarai. well its not really new since it was published (in english) in like 2020, and it was originally published in 2011 i think. so not a new series but new for me. i recognized the mangaka's name and i was wondering from where and when i looked it up i realized Rihito Takarai also did Ten Count! which was one of the first BL series i read

it also reminded me to look for copies of the new I Hear The Sunspot volume! i think it was published in english not that long ago, its the second volume to the four seasons storyline. i couldnt find it at the store though so i may have to order it online...

[mommyzhilla]

Bad Buddy and its aftereffects

Disclaimer: this is just going to be a word vomit. Something I had been meaning to do since ages but being down with flu finally gave me the time and mindspace to do it.

My first tryst with Thai BLs started with Love By Chance and I tried.. I really tried.. but the script.. the acting were just not clicking with me.

Then came the wave of 2gether the series and that was much better.. I was at least able to complete watching the first season even though I didnt get the hype around it.. It was my second time giving up..

My third effort was ITSAY and gosh what a show that was.. I was recommending it to anyone who would listen to me gush about Billkin and PP and the director. The show was heavy on my heart.. I needed to brace myself every time I wanted to rewatch it.. I guess I have rewatched it 3 or 4 times in all these years.. It just is that emotionally heavy show for me.

But the music.. Gosh the music.. the songs.. Billkin's voice.. When I tell u Skyline and untold answer were on repeat.. Specially untold answer.. I still listen to it..

Despite my love for ITSAY and my tolerance for IPYTM.. I again took a break from Thai BLs.. and BLs in general..

Throwback to exactly 1 year back.. When I rediscovered thai BLs... let me be specific.. I discovered Bad Buddy..

My first watch.. awesome.. loved it.. listened to the songs a bit..

my bestie then suggested me Not me.. kinnporsche.. eclipse.. liked them all.. and I thought thats it..

But then I rewatched Bad Buddy.. and rewatched it the next time.. and the next.. I was literally rewatching those 12 episodes almost till April and May of this year.. for almost 6 months.. I didnt consume bad buddy.. bad buddy consumed me..

I was watching MSP and never let me go and other BLs too.. but an episode of bad buddy everyday became a need.. and this perplexed me.. I kept on having conversations with my bestie about my obsession with Bad Buddy. This level of obsession.. where I was crying listening to the BGM.. crying over a 3 min trailer.. after watching the show multiple times.. had never happened to me ever..

And apart from all this.. bad buddy was responsible for a couple of firsts for me.. first time joined tumblr.. for bad buddy.. explored ao3 and read way too many pat pran fanfics.. and also made me explore Thai music.. and my spotify wrapped is the proof.. its full of thai songs.. Bad buddy instrumental BGM.. is in my top songs..

I guess the obsession was a consequence of my failed past relationship.. which finally ended right around the time I discovered Bad buddy.. where things were very similar.. I used to call him soulmate.. but family issues made us break up after 10 yrs.. Every time I rewatch ep 11.. where Pat says to Pran that you dont leave me and fight alongside me.. I cry buckets over this one scene.. coz I didnt have anyone to fight alongside me.. may be its that.. may be it was the characters.. may be it was the magic created by p'aof.. but somewhere.. something struck such a cord that the show still has the ability to bring out emotions that I didn't know existed.. I always describe it as emotions bubbling and trying hard to break the wall and spill all over.. thats what I feel.. and sometimes they spill over.. and m left a crying mess.. No other show has made me feel this way.. No other form of media has made me feel this way.

Is the obsession still there? Not as much.. I still love a good patpran fanfic.. My top song is Just friends by Nanon which I listen to this day.. I still cry over the instrumental BGM.. But I no longer have to watch bad buddy every single day..

I dont know how much bad buddy has helped me overcome my past.. but I know its still a safe space I can visit when things get tough.. Funny how a random piece of media can have such an important share in your life.. A random show on the internet can heal you more than the living people around you.

Now that I have talked about it so much.. I may as well watch ep 6 (3/4).. fyi.. that beach scene is my fav..

P.S.. I know there would be typos and errors but I am not going to read it all back else I will not have the courage to post this.

[disaster-j]

Hello! I know you love Theory of love so i have a few questions about it for you.

1-Favorite episode 2-Favorite scene 3-Would you date Khai? 4-Favorite ost of the show 5-Did you watch any of the movies referenced/mentioned on the show? and last one 6-Did you learn something from this show?

I just finished watching the full thing including the special ep, ost mvs and bts clips and i really loved it but dont have anyone to talk about it:(

Hiii! I'm always happy to gush about tol it's my favourite romance ever after all 😌😌

1. Has to be ep7 when they finally flipped the perspective and we got to see just how desperately Khai needed Third in his life. Khai's love for Third was a bit more obvious from the start in the novel but for the show we were left wondering for a long time if Khai cared at all. So to see how messed up he was over hurting Third and possibly losing him was such an Experience. I also hadn't watched the trailer and had no knowledge about OffGun or even BLs in general at the time so I'd been sure there was no way they end up together because I was used to the pining guy ending up with someone new. But then we switched to Khai and he was so in love with Third without even realising it and it just made so much sense ugh it was so good 😭😭😭😭

2. I haven't really thought about this. There's a lot of iconic scenes in this show like the crying in the shower scene, the wrong group chat scene, Khai almost crying when he watched Third's confession ahsjkeks SO MANY AMAZING SCENES!!! But probably my favourite scene ever was Khai's confession to Third at the play. It was so sweet and romantic and just so THEM. It didn't feel like a flowery grand gesture with little depth, it truly represented their relationship and their bond so well and it was just so well done. Incredible scene 👏

3. Hmmm yeah, given the opportunity I'd date him. But not seriously ofc. He's hot and a fun date for the week or so you have his attention and I wouldn't mind having some fun with that. I think as long as you go into dating Khai knowing it's not serious it's probably a fun experience. He doesn't get THAT MANY girls just bc he's pretty yk.

4. Oh Fake Protagonist hands down. I still listen to it regularly it's so good!

5. Hm. I think some? Most of the films are classic english language romcoms and ones that I personally was never into. Before TOL I was into romance as a genre at all bc I often felt like the character being in love didn't really make sense to me. I probably have watched some of them but I know I didn't like them. If I gave em a try now I still wouldn't bc to be honest I feel hollywood is just bad at romance.

6. I definitely learned to appreciate a well written romance that's for sure! The show tackled the theme of showing different kinds of love so well. Both romantic and platonic. We had the inevitable love with KhaiThird where it builds slowly but surely and takes root in your heart in a way that you could never let go of it and you don't want to. Where ending up together isn't a question but the natural conclusion. Then you have the doomed from the beginning love with Bone's crush on Paan where we all know it will only lead to heartbreak but there's no changing your feelings. There's that long lasting infatuation that Two has for Lynn where you love someone from afar for so long that you start loving the idea of them more than the person and once you finally have what you've wanted for so long it quickly fizzles out because you were holding onto the memory of love more than the feeling itself. There's the long lasting unrequited love that turns requited when you least expect it and you feel so glad to finally have the person you loved love you back with AhnTwo. And ofc there's the platonic love the savage gang share for each other.

Feel free to drop by if you wanna talk about tol again and if you're interested I have a million khaithird fics on my ao3 that you could check out!

[jemmo]

thank you to everyone that tagged me!!! i’ve never felt so popular in my life this is not good for my ego lol but im nosy so very much enjoyed reading all your responses @praninlove @nongnoopran @dribs-and-drabbles @santinie @ohmnomnom @patshoney

1. your all time favorite bl and why

ummm yeah its bad buddy. a bl has never really come close to this nor do i think it ever will. bc as well as all the billions of ways I and everyone else has gushed about this show, do you ever feel like a show has been hand-crafted just for you?? like it contains everything you love, all your favourite plot beats and character traits and storytelling devices. even the styling, the music, the sets, the cinematography, like its so up your street, it hits all the points, checks all the boxes, even the ones you didnt know were there. yeah, thats bad buddy for me. its like the holy and omnipotent p’aof plucked my dream show out of my head and just made it for me. and it is everything. 

2. that one bl that scarred you for life

yeah probs MODC, not even bc the ending broke me bc i was so invested in the story and characters, more so that it just felt... wrong? like bad and poorly done, and i’m more scarred that the show decided to leave me with the message of you will never be happy all good in the world is temporary when there could’ve been such a positive and uplifting ending... yeah, it sucked. 

3. is there any bl that made you feel very single?

bad buddy. their relationship dynamic is truly my dream. and not even just bc of their beautifully easy intimacy, or all their effortless cute moments. its more that i’m never gonna have a forced rival turned friend turned fake enemies turned maybe friends turned lovers turned husbands soulmate ever in my life. and thats a crime.

4. if you could change one thing from a bl, which one would it be?

this one took me too long to think about bc there’s a list of things i’d like changed. but one of my absolute pet peeves is over the top jealousy. and dont get me wrong, i do like jealousy as a plot point if its done well. but i cant stand when all it takes is a character breathing next to another guy for his partner to get pissed. and even worse when he tries to make them feel bad and guilty about it when they literally did nothing wrong. thats when its just excessive and unnecessary drama and plain bad writing and i hate it. 

5. that one bl you detest (don’t hold back)

this isn’t exactly detest but i’ll say it here bc i feel like its one of my only *controversial* opinions. i dont like light on me. where other korean bls aren’t long enough and rushed, light on me just felt unnecessarily dragged out. the plot moved at a snails pace and was just bland to the point that i cant really recall what happened. i wasn’t invested in the love triangle bc the only character i really liked was shinwoo, and i just didnt get anything much from taekyung, like i never felt that he really liked either of them. this is probably bc i dont care much for k-dramas in general and light on me felt very k-drama-ey but yeah. i very much appreciate it for what it did for bls in korea, but it aint for me. 

6. your top five:

1. bad buddy (you stay there you aint going anywhere)

2. wbl (and s2 bc i actually liked it)

3. itsay (and ipytm bc again i actually liked it)

4. he’s coming to me

5. atots

7. that trashy bl that you lowkey like

probs futs. i wasn’t around as it was airing but i hear ppl didn’t vibe with it. but binging it idk it was kinda just some harmless, dumb fun. i ddin’t get amazing chemistry between the leads but it wasnt the worst ive seen by far, and even though the drama was kinda contrived and messy, i kinda live for that mess. 

8. your favorite korean bl (it’s important we know)

to my star by farrrrrrrr. it didnt do anything genius but its easily the best chemistry ive seen between leads in korean bls. 

9. But also your top 3 for kbls:

1) to my star 2) where your eyes linger 3) you make me dance

10. season 2? which one?

i will say bad buddy purely bc i am biased and want to live in their world for as long as they’ll let me. i love pat and pran more than i could say and they could do a whole s2 of them just going to work, eating out and doing household chores and i’d hail it as a masterpiece.

but also, if i’d trust anyone to handle a s2 and not make it messy and unnecessarily dramatic and about cheating, it’d be p’aof. i just feel like he’d have the ability to create a storyline that was interesting and engaging and with stakes without having to separate the main couple and i’d love to see what he could come up with. 

11. a bunch of dramas will air soon. which ones are you the most excited for?

kinnporsche, between us, to my star s2, vice versa, the eclipse, moonlight chicken, never let me go

12. tag them!

if you see this and wanna do it then go for it, consider yourself tagged by me. but i will also tag @thecookiemonster77 i dont know if you’ve done this yet but i wanna see your responses 👀👀👀👀👀

[clarespace]

oh god, i just saw the official mv and my heart is screaming. it’s also 2am and im gonna gush about pete and ae with quick and dirty gifs, so watch out: 

ugh, i love these scenes so much. wait, i love every scene, but these first ones are so important. ae is presented as the typical confused guy but get this, he’s so soft and expressive with his feelings, and he’s. not. ashamed. of. it. quite a contrast with pete, whose been internalising his shame. the wonderful thing with ae is that he’s so honest and direct. he says what he feels and thinks. more importantly, his actions coincide with what he says. often, that just doesnt happen in bl stories. the guy feels something for another guy? he goes out with girls and avoids the guy, etc. not ae. the boy just dives right in after a few moments of self-reflection. what an awesome dude. 

and pete. our sweet, shy pete is saying, while looking into ae’s eyes, that he’s liked ae from the beginning. how cute is that? but more than cute, there’s the impression that he’s reached the point where he feels really safe and secure with ae that he can openly say this. wasnt it only a few episodes ago where he was still worried about bothering ae, and ae has done so many things to affirm pete’s trust in him that they’ve reached this point. which episode this will be, who knows, but they get here, hopefully with as little fuss as possible. 

look. at. THAT. that’s one of the cutest things i’ve ever seen and it just screams ‘couple in love’. i gotta say, the body direction in this drama has been SPOT ON by the director and the actors. they’re horribly in love and it should SHOW. they should have their own couple language, their sweet gestures. see how tender ae is, and how content pete looks, especially with the way he closes his eyes when he finally rests his head on ae’s shoulder. just...the way their bodies are positioned is so so so good. boys sit like that! and the way they are subtly turned towards each other shows openness and interest...hear me heave my biggest, happiest sigh. 

idk what happens in this moment except i want more of it. study date? sleep over? moving in together?? okay, the last one is too soon but i have a weakness when my otp spend time sleeping with each other and doing their nightly routines and just living life in love. also, ae, dont be extra. pete is really cute when he’s asleep but that’s no reason to look at him as if he’s literally doing cartwheels and you’re so proud of him...ugh, fine, i take it back. look at him with love ALL THE TIME.

ok it’s so hilarious to me that pete was smiling his dumb ‘ai ae’ smile and then the next frame he’s all serious as ae pushes him down slowly on the bed. also. fooling around in broad daylight? i approve because it’s so ridiculous when dramas only seem to portray that sex happens at night, in the dark. definitely not. also, they could just be cuddling here and i wont object to that either. ae just really dives into this whole thing, huh? 

once again, no context except that ae is so happy and pleased to see pete. get you a man who looks at pete the way ae does. look at the fondness in those eyes. he’s so expressive, i love it. kudos to the actor for his portrayal! also, pete looks...hesitant? surprised? that ae is waving at him? and like he’s leaving in a hurry? hmmmm also i love a guy in a football kit so much

wow guys, just show off your love, huh? like i said, one of my favourite things is watching a couple actually be a couple. what they do, how they act, their own gestures, their rituals and it looks like ae and pete are the kind of ridiculously soft, touchy feely, sweet af couple who love to spend as much time as possible...and that happens to be my all time weakness, my ultimate goal. it’s like, pete is either making a joke or telling him something funny and ae gives that little huff and everything is smothering me with joy. 

i am surprised, though, by the implication that they spend a lot of nights sleeping together. it’s something i dont come across often in asian dramas. western, yes, when they’re dating and spend days and nights in their own world, and this is what i see happening with ae and pete. it’s modern and new and accurate. or am i just surprised because in kdramas they dont even hold hands and they flinch whenever they look each other in the eye? maybe. 

they’re so freaking DOMESTIC and i am so here for that shit. who sleeps on what side of the bed? who wakes up first? do they sleep all cuddled up?(remembering ae sleeping on top of pete, that’s a big YES) who makes breakfast? who fixes the bed? I NEED TO KNOW

hands down my favourite moment. not only is it a great shot, it’s just so...normal. they’re just ordinary boys with an extraordinary love that they’re not afraid to show. look at that body language. the familiarity, the softness, the smoothness of the action. is this the end where they’ve fully accepted each other? told each other all of their stories? cleared away the misunderstandings and are now just basking in the joy of being together?

also, it’s quite telling that ae is being presented as the top. now, i do have my own preferences for top and bottom but i dont really care who does it, tbh, and it doesnt matter. you could have your own headcanons about it and that’s fine as long as you’re not being toxic. i’ve seen so many people refuse to read/watch something if this or that person is placed in a specific role. on that note, i like how they’re showing that the one who’s physically larger isn’t the top, as is the case most of the time. they’re going there. 

there are a few more moments but now it’s 3:30am as i type this, my eyelids are getting heavy (even though my heart is still going kyaa kyaa) and im gonna end this with the two biggest things that the drama is going right with pete and ae: 

1. you dont have to be a jerk and use tricks to make someone fall in love/pay attention to you. 

2. being soft and in love is nothing to be ashamed of. 

i hope that there wont be the usual misunderstandings with the girl, or unnecessary, or break ups. i’ve noticed some people say that pete and ae dont have a complex story and therefore their love isnt complex or strong, and i’d just like to correct that assumption. just because a love story isnt full of angst and bloodshed doesnt make it a lesser love, just like a love story full of hardship and pain makes it somehow more worthy. there is nothing romantic about pain or break ups or messy love triangles. yes, these things happen because the characters are idiots and make such choices that lead to these things, but ae and pete seem to make choices that are good and healthy for them and there is nothing wrong with that. there is nothing wrong with falling in love, getting that person, and living a happy life. it’s so rare to get this sweet, soft gem of a love story between two sweet, soft boys. let’s enjoy it and not wish them to break up or go through silly misunderstandings. if that happens, then it happens logically and not just to throw unnecessary angst in there. 

happiness is not boring. we’ve (or at least, i have) been waiting for so long for a main couple who gets that smooth-sailing love while the secondary ones go through all the mess and have that role model of good, healthy relationships as the focus. again, not saying they should be in a perfect, conflict free relationship but the meddling third parties? the miscommunication? nothing in their personalities makes those things possible long-term, tbh. ae would just be blunt about it and tell the truth. pete would probably agonise a little bit and then ask. if you find dark, angsty love stories as your thing, good for you, but dont wish for that to happen just for the sake of it. 

please let them be happy. look at these adorable children! they should only know happiness and cuddles and sweet kisses.

come talk to me about ae and pete! i am so down with talking about them!

(seeing as there are several volumes of the novel, it would seem that pete and ae do go through some stuff but they remain steadfast and true, as much as i can gather. just no avoidable bullshit, please.)

(also 4am. if you read all of this word regurgitation, thank you and im sorry lmao)