#it's all bl/bl adjacent but i don't even care

[thepancakelady]

share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order, then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice) 🎥🎬📺

Sean (Not Me)

Tol (Triage)

Tang Yi (History3: Trapped)

Win (Cupid's Last Wish)

Din (Chains of Heart)

Kurosawa (Cherry Magic)

Khai (Theory of Love)

Togawa (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Joe (The Warp Effect)

Wen (Moonlight Chicken)

[doublel27]

I thought joong was straight? He is quite into dunk lips but beyond that i thought straight. I don't even read him as bi?

Look, I neither actually know nor care what Joong’s sexual orientation is. That’s between him and whomever he chooses to tell. And most of my Joong knowledge is adjacent to my knowledge of FKT, AouBoom, EarthMix and DaouOffroad because he’s close with all of them. I more know of him then know him, so I could be missing stuff.

I would say, in regards to your ask, Joong doesn’t appear to have the painful knowing that often comes along with growing up queer in a society that doesn’t want you to be that a lot of other queer people use as a tell to identify each other. The thing that makes us, as queer folx, hesitate or get shy when it comes to things straight people wouldn’t think twice of. And while I do use that in my analysis sometimes, I also know members of Gen Z across the world actively work to resist that shyness and that shame that comes with internalized homophobia and honestly the real-world consequences that can come from being proudly out.

What I do know is he is 1000% into the fanservice portion of his job. Now either it’s his job and he’s having the best time being gay for pay, its his job and he’s excellent at pretending to have the best time pretending to be gay, or he is just shamelessly queer and has said fuck the knowing.

This man is out here yelling into full concert audiences “where is my teerak” and when the audience yells back saying SHHH! he didn’t ask for them, he asked for Teerak! He’s hugging and kissing Dunk at every opportunity and posting various shots of Dunk’s bare waist in crop tops during this THK filming area. He strikes me as the kind of man who reads the RPF about himself. In The Heart Killers book fair panel this past week, he talked about his love of reading BL novels and imaging himself and Dunk in the lead roles. Take that for what you will.

He also expressly stated in an interview alongside Dunk this week that he insisted on being paired with a partner the same height as him. Specifically stating, he thinks it’s a stereotype that one member of an imagined pair/branded couple is always bigger than the other and he didn’t want to lean into it. He wanted to go against that narrative.

As @firstkanaphans and @respectthepetty pointed out, he has a shit ton of queer friends and has close relationships with the members of GMM that are most likely to be clocked as queer (whether they are or not is also not expressly public knowledge and some folx that people clock as gay are straight because femme isn’t exclusive to gay men) Which again, either he’s the most down for the cause straight dude that exists or he’s also queer. My stance is considering he and Daou talk about how close they were to starving trying to make their first shot at being idols happen, I hope they’re having the best time in Thai BL fanservice land being shameless and getting that money.

To end, let me paraphrase my beloved Kit Harrington: to believe you can tell the level of queerness someone embodies just by looking at them or listening to their voice or looking at their hobbies, you’ve missed the entire part of Heartstopper.

Which is why I keep all my speculating to mostly private convos and tumblr where I can pretend celebrities don’t live because we’re all mostly anonymous on here and this site is hell to search. Don’t @ folx on Twitter or on their IGs or their TikToks. Don’t try and out people with YouTube videos. Let the Schrödinger’s Gays enjoy their boxes.

I know I have other anons (I see you. I am maybe coming soon) but this required less work on my end to compile my answers.

[hiranospiercing]

back in 2022 i made a post recommending my favourite bl mangas and it's probably one of my most popular posts on this blog like people still reblog it and whenever i see a notification reminding me of the existence of that post i'am instantly filled with such embarrassment because how could i have been so media illiterate back then, i made that post to encourage people to read more non-smut focused bl mangas as i believed that it was fetishising and disrespectful towards gay men not realising that i was not in a place to decide what is fetishising or not, smut or not, yaoi or shounen ai, at the end of the day they are stories marketed towards straight women and you are not a saint just because you don't read the porn side of the things, honestly i have realised that there shouldn't be a sense of moral superiority just because you read something specific, i did not save gay men by making that post honestly i don't even think actual gay men care about yaoi they have actual lives to deal with, another thing is how i was actually not well read back then, i mentioned how i shifted towards bl as a genre because I found shoujo repetitive which IS SO INFURIATING TO ME NOW BECAUSE IT'S NOT. IT WAS ME WHO DID NOT READ ENOUGH. okay i was like 16 when i made that post but it's totally on me. please bully me for that post. back then i only read highschool adjacent romance shoujo mangas and never explored outside of that, did not do my research and reached the conclusion that shoujo is boring, i have read such great shoujo/josei stories in the last 2 years that it makes me feel so bad that there might be some people who will read that post and agree with that sentence. honestly i've reflected and learned two things: a) read whatever you want and be chill about it, you are not morally superior for liking or disliking something

b) if you think something is repetitive, it's probably because that's all you read and you haven't expanded your horizons towards multiple sub genres and authors in general

bonus: c) good shoujo will change your life. please read more shoujo.

[gillianthecat]

Do you have recommendations similar to to my star 2 or love mechanics in term of angst? i like angst within the relationship but also angst that comes with a little toxicity (like lm)

BL Recommendations with Toxicity and/or Angst:

Hello Anon, thanks for this ask! 😊 I went through my list of all the BL and BL adjacent shows I've watched and these are the ones I've pulled out. I'll just list them here, and then discuss each one below the cut.

Higher Angst and Toxicity:

War of Y: War of Managers

War of Y: Next Ship

Lan Yu

Lovely Writer

Fahlanruk

The Devil Judge

Kinnporsche

Seems to have High Angst and/or Toxicity, (but I've only watched the beginning):

Word of Honor

Tharntype

Lower Angst and Toxicity:

Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man)

Theory of Love

Why R U? (the FighterTutor cut)

Not Me

Semantic Error

High Angst but Low Toxicity

Guardian

Untamed

I Told Sunset About You

I Promised You the Moon

Where Your Eyes Linger

Once Again

The Eclipse

(I made a section for Toxicity with No Angst, but there was nothing in it)

You've probably seen at least some of these, but I'll write about them as if you haven't. I haven't posted about everything, but I tagged them all so you can search my blog to see what I have written. Most but not all of these have happy endings - feel free to ask for specifics. Or if you have any other questions about any of these shows!

War of Y: War of Managers Very toxic. Probably not actually a BL ( I still haven't seen the last episode.) I would have found it angsty if I cared about the characters more. I don't really recommend it, except as an object of bizarre fascination, or if you like extreme melodrama.

War of Y: Next Ship A much more coherent story, though still flawed. Higher angst, less toxic but still quite toxic. Like Love Mechanics they have amazing chemistry. Recommend if you're in the mood for dramatics.

Lan Yu (藍宇) A 2001 Chinese queer film, very difficult to find, but I highly recommend it to those who can handle the angst. I'll link the one secret YT version I found in a reblog. Very high angst (ask again if you want spoilers). Unhealthy relationship dynamics. I suppose it's toxic, except that I think of that word applying to shows with a more pulpy tone, so I wouldn't have called it that.

Lovely Writer Confession: I still haven't finished this one, I disliked Sib too much. Comedic in many ways, but with strong through-lines of angst and toxicity. Others probably found it less toxic than I did. Many people list it as a favorite, and I can see why.

Fahlanruk It's still mid series, but already lots of toxicity and from the trailer I'm predicting at least some angst. It's not good, but I've been enjoying it as a trash watch. Everyone here loves to hate on Fah.

The Devil Judge Not a BL. I loved it. I really liked the experience of watching it totally naive so I won't say more, but ask if you want more specifics.

Kinnporsche I'm sure you at least know about this even if you haven't seen it. Toxic and comedic and angsty in turns. I'm glad I watched it.

Word of Honor I've only watched a few episodes, but seems at the very least angsty and has the potential for being toxic. Looks very good, many people love it, I just didn't have the patience for complicated sect politics at the time.

Tharntype Too toxic for me, I noped out in the first episode. I get the impression there's angst, but couldn't tell you for sure.

Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man) It didn't actually feel toxic to me, but it might hit some of those same toxicity buttons. Kinky boys falling in love and fumbling painfully through figuring out their kinks together. Medium angst, I would say. I loved it, highly recommend.

Theory of Love I adore many things about this and hate others. The beginning is rough - high angst and toxicity, plus moments of frat boy style comedy, and it's hard to root for the couple. Most of the second half I thought was amazing and the painful set-up pays off. My biggest irritation was with the use of misogyny in many of the "comedic" scenes, plus a few other flaws I won't get into here. I feel like reactions are so personal to this one, but I would recommend at least checking it out.

Why R U? (the FighterTutor cut) I wouldn't call it high in either angst or toxicity, but they're definitely there. Their chemistry is insane. Riveting. I fast forwarded through everything that wasn't related to Tutor and Fighter, which works as standalone story, so that's an option if like me you find all the other characters annoying. Recommended.

Not Me I feel like whenever I try to write anything about Not Me I don't know how to start. I definitely recommend watching it. There's angst and toxicity but they're not always related to the romances. Ask if you have more questions about it and I can come up with more specifics.

Semantic Error The lowest in either angst or toxicity on this list, it's mostly sweet. Toxicity depends I think on how much the bullying bothers you (it didn't bother me). Angst is the typical romance angst as characters are finding their way to each other. I highly recommend it in general though.

Angst but Low Toxicity:

Guardian Censored Chinese BL. Very high angst. The romance is amazing. The rest of the plot is kind of nonsense but fun (the show suffered from censorship on several fronts and a sudden huge budget cut halfway through preproduction.) I loved it. Amazing acting. Recommended, if you can tolerate censorship.

The Untamed Also censored Chinese BL. High angst - some as part of the romance, but mostly about other things. A much more coherent plot than Guardian. I loved it. And it's partly what got me into watching BL. Recommended, if you can tolerate censorship.

I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY) A queer romance and coming of age story. I loved it. Delicate angst, gorgeous cinematography (same DP as KinnPorsche, which is how I found it in the first place), really well acted. Highly recommend.

I Promised You the Moon (IPYTM) Sequel to ITSAY. I liked it a lot, many hated it. Not really a BL, more like a continuing of the ITSAY characters growing up. Lots of angst, but of a different tenor. Some might consider it toxic, but it didn't feel that way to me. It had some flaws for me, but I'm really glad I watched it. (Definitely a sequel, would probably not work on its own. Or even if it does, it's worth watching ITSAY first.)

Where Your Eyes Linger Hwang Da-seul's first BL, so you've probably seen this one at least. It's the least skillful of her work - you can really see how she's grown, but I still liked it a lot for its moody vibe. Angst from pining and from external constraints on the relationship. Recommend

Once Again Short Korean BL that just finished. Very high angst, but also many moments of humor and fluff. I can give more spoilers if you want. Very well acted. Many people loved it. I liked it a lot, but not quite as much as I wanted to. Recommend.

The Eclipse What can I say about The Eclipse? I'm sure you at least have heard of it even if you're not watching. I adore it. Plenty of angst, along with plenty of other stuff. I suppose it could fumble at the end, but so far I highly recommend it.