#parallels in qls

[colourme-feral]

OLD FASHION CUPCAKE (2022), EP 3 vs EP 5 Old Fashion Cupcake parallels・Other parallels

[heretherebedork]

Two very different times that Fadel hugged Style and wept because both times he is weeping for love lost but the first is love lost without comfort, betrayal and pain and the second is a hug that is meant for comfort, a hug that is desperate and needy and filled to the brim with love. The first hug was about letting go, about nothing being left but pain... and the second hug is about knowing that he is not alone even facing down a loss he never imagined.

[scarefox]

Anyways have my favorite Taiwanese BL OSTs as Spotify and Youtube links

The On1y One [yt]

Kiseki: Dear to Me [yt]

The Unknown [yt]

[liyazaki]

alright, people: I want to make another manga/BL parallel edit ala this set this weekend.

I’ve felt crappy all week & challenging (read: torturing) myself in PS is my idea of a good time.

what are some manga to BL adaptations you’ve liked? it can be current, it can be older- I don’t care, as long as it’s a show I’ve seen (my MDL). & don’t worry if you haven’t read the manga.

I’ll tag you if I end up using your suggestion 🖤

[quantumleapt]

Your local bookseller recommends this 400 page murder mystery QL fic as your next read

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Rose Recaps QL 2024 - Favourite Kisses

Continuing my lists using @abstractelysium prompts. I skipped favourite scenes because they will be on my favourite shows by country recaps (posted Korea already), and favourite lines because my memory sucks. I might go back to that one later if I have the time.

I know I'm repeating myself but it's not like I could leave it out. So I'll start with THE KISS - The Time of Fever

No need to say anything else.

The rehearsal - At 25.00 in Akasaka

The editing and the acting in both of these scenes is amazing. I'm still unwell about it.

The Magical Kiss - Cherry Magic Thailand

They kiss so pretty. I screamed, I cheered, I died. The fact that Achi initiated it was perfection.

Stolen Kisses - Let Free The curse of Taekwondo

Domesticity my beloved. They are too cute. The matching pijamas.The food giving. The music player. And all the kisses. I love them.

The Under the Bed Kiss - Boys Be Brave

What a glorious first kiss.

The Proposal Kiss - Perfect Propose

"It feels like a proposal, doesn't it? It is." I need more of them. 6 episodes is not nearly enough.

The Truth or Dare kiss - Jack & Joker

We waited for so long and were well rewarded. This was an outstanding kiss. YinWar just have amazing chemistry.

The First and the Second Kiss - Love is Better the Second Time Around

I love a good editing moment. And although the kisses are different, there's a nervousness in both of them. I love how these scenes play out parallel to each other.

The long awaited and the softest of the kisses - She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat

I love them. This moment was perfection from beginning to end.

And... I wanna include two shows that are still airing but that kept coming back to me while I was making this list.

The Under the Covers Kiss - Caged Again

BEAUTIFUL.

Smiling Kisses - See Your Love

These two bring me so much joy. What a glorious moment this was.

I'd like to thank all the gifmakers, @pharawee @pothame @wanderlust-in-my-soul @jimmysea @itsallaboutbl @hantaebaram @chinzhilla @theside-b @forcebook, for all the beautiful gifs I used for this post. You are all so talented and you inspire me everyday with your beautiful work. As do so many others here. I invite you all to share your favourite kisses if you are so inclined. No pressure of course.💜💜💜

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

Coming in hot this week with a new show plus an ongoing favorite. We also have Takara no Vidro and Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko! next week--we are back in the jql flood (yay!). Look forward to those and pray for international distribution so we can all watch TNV soon.

I Hear the Sunspot

I am so hype for this show. Twelve whole episodes to tell this story properly! The film version, Silhouette of Your Voice, is very cute but suffers from its short runtime. This one seems like it will be a more faithful adaptation of the full manga and I am thrilled. We started strong this week with the introductions of our main characters, Kohei and Taichi. I really love the way they are calibrated in this version, and Taichi is an instant blorbo. I also liked the choice to open with a look at Kohei's despair in the future before going back to the start, as it grounds everything nicely in the stakes for him. The show is also already doing a great job of unpacking Kohei's perspective on his hearing loss and the way others treat him as a result.

@nicks-den is also planning to fan sub this one, so look out for those updates. I recommend watching on Gaga when it comes out to give it the views and then revisiting with the better subs later in the week.

Bonus: Ossan no pantsu ga nandatte ii janai ka

Episodes 7 and 8 have been made available on @isaksbestpillow's blog, and this show continues to be glorious. Highlights from these episodes include the return of Hasegawa (with newly glowing skin) and Kakeru continuing to make friends and settle on a career path in makeup, Mika learning to let her family appreciate her, Makoto's confusion about whether Kakeru likes boys or girls, Kakeru's frustration that he's trying to figure that out at all, Daichi's anxiety that he is making Madoka's life more difficult, Madoka's fear of losing him due to his inability to come out, Makoto's continued efforts to confront his senior and change his workplace for the better, and a lot of hard won bonding and connection at the festival. Phew, this drama packs in so much in every installment and it all feels so natural.

My favorite thread in these episodes was the parallel they drew between Makoto and Kakeru and their struggles with communicating effectively. Kakeru's impatience and dismissiveness toward his parents' attempts to connect with him at the start of the story are akin to Makoto’s own former impatience and dismissiveness about anything he didn’t understand, and it was such a huge moment of growth for Kakeru to recognize that. Part of growing up is developing empathy for your parents and recognizing your own similarities to them, and I love that he is starting to open up and give Makoto grace as he earns his trust back. I also loved the conversation between Makoto and Madoka and the way they helped each other understand their respective situations better. This show keeps surprising me with how attentive it is to all of these relationships and connections.

Passing to @bengiyo for a manga update.

[fadelbison]

here’s an opinion that you can leave or take or call me puritanical over but I feel this strange sentiment come from the thai QL fandom here that equates explicit content as progress in queer representation.

am I even reading the vibe right? idek because that life view is so unreachable to me lol but if you ask me the most progressive queer representation to have been released in the last couple of years is this

I understand that different people have different markers of progress and you don’t have to ascribe to or even understand mine but you must acknowledge that it exists.

SOTUS and A Tale of a Thousand Stars are older BLs that have very few parallels to me BY modern standards because to me progress is being able to watch a queer show with my family.

I’ve had a lifetime of watching queer as folk, grainy old school Japanese BL, lipstick jungle, weird french movies about gays with mommy issues in the dark, in the middle of the night; alone.

A lakorn like To Sir, With Love is something I can watch in the light with my whole family. Queer retelling of quintessential asian love stories like ATOTs or Moonlight Chicken that I can show my mom and have her understand queer love in the narrative language that she understands - that’s progress. That is what I have spent my entire youth praying for.

Don’t get me wrong I love buttcracks and the threat of male pregnancy just as much as the next person but dear god do I also need offgun to make 57 more heartwarming shows where their lips touch for 3.1 seconds so I can share this part of my life with the people that matter to me.

[cirphu]

Hi my lovely Rae! If you've watched ep 3 of TBNW PLEASE tell me you got PayuRain vibes when Phu told Cir he liked when he smiled?!

Eboni, my dear! I was wondering if you would pop in to discuss today's ep. You had a couple of hours before I was gonna show up in your inbox like🧍🏾‍♀️XD

But yeah fam I did aaaaaaaaaand I am in distress lol My mind was already running back and forth between TBNW episodes because there are still 3-4 scenes I want to gif from ep. 2 (sorry in advance for messing up the main tag timeline orz) BUT I couldn't wait until I was finished doing that to watch today's ep which was SO GOOD!!! Case in point the scene of Phu trying to cheer Cir up which, as you said, is similar to the first racetrack scene (and the deleted scene) in our beloved LITA ep. 6 where Rain does the same for Payu. Both Rain and Phu love when their men smile and "love when they're happy."

I'm not usually in favor of typecasting but you know what? Give me a brooding, distraught character played by Boss and a quirky, adorable character with a cheerful disposition played by Noeul any day and I will be seated front and center to watch. When it comes to tapping into that insane BossNoeul's chemistry, MAME and her team have truly perfected the formula.

Back to today's ep! Can we talk about the COLOR STORY?!!! Because I am ABSOLUTELY LIVING 😭 Hints of Phu's warm yellow (sometimes orange) lighting up Cir's cold blue world. The pops of Cir's blue in Phu's room (painting, dreamcatcher etc.). The chat bubbles! Phu's dark turquoise cardigan during his conversation with Wim. THE BALCONIES!!! Phu's light blue cardigan. THE KISS!!! Hints of yellow and orange all about the room, but then you have blue of night sky looming behind Cir with only Phu's warmth holding it at bay. AND THEN Phu's cardigan in the final scene where he decides to be with Cir until they figure out a way to send him back to his world: the green (his yellow + Cir's blue AND HEARTS) and pink (blooming love) stripes. I need someone from ql color theory tumblr to get on this right now because the layers in this story telling are delicious!

Now a question for you: Where are you on the parallel world to psychosis spectrum? After today, I am leaning towards psychosis 80/20. That 20% is because (1) just like Phu, I want to believe Cir (because the alternative i.e. whatever trauma led to this is for sure HEAVY and I am not fond of angst) and (2) Jin still gives me pause.

[colourme-feral]

PARALLELS IN KOI WO SURU NARA NIDOME GA JOTO / LOVE IS BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND AND OLD FASHION CUPCAKE Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto parallels・Old Fashion Cupcake parallels・Other parallels

[atlaskrr]

YINGDU FINALE

OK IM FINALLY OUT OF MY TEST NOW. WHEN I TELL YOU IVE NEVER FINISHED A MATH TEST THAT FAST TO EXIT THE ROOM I MEAN IT.

ok so first of all. THAT ENDING??? i was about to close it when suddenly- VEINS ALIVE???? so when director li says someones gonna die.... NOBODY DOES. BROS FUCKING WITH US. also xf's reaction to vein's death 😭 STOP THIS MADNESS. i feel like this is setting him up to be someone who goes agaisnt lg.

ok and when the movie said "i feel like the mastermind hasnt shown up yet" its SO refrencing lx.

next, the whole story both vein and wang qing tell OMG ITS THE HIDDEN CIPHER. THEY FINALLY BROUGHT IT UP. i wonder what charas can connect to which animals.... also, while i my answer is like cxs' i feel as though lg's is def different since they hid. i think its either man or the detective. ykwim. yea.

anyways, the whole thing with cxs' mom. WHAT. so cxs' mom is tryna save his dad.... and LU GUANG IS TRYNA SAVE CXS. THE PARALLELS??? she would so approve of her son in law. anyways i love her. a bit of an unexpected personality but lovely nontheless. it makes the earthquake ep hurt so much more cause cxs DID interact with his mom again. and the fact he changed the photo studios name because of HER. STOP THISSSS. anws now both lg and cxs are hiding secrets from eo lol.

moving on, VEINS DEATH??? like. the. what happened??? does lg have a 3rd power??? it was kinda like he was puppeting wang qing. actually, scratch that does he have 4??? how tf did vein get a fucking heart failure from THAT. HUH.

anyways, cxs mom a baddie, amazing fighter just like her son. and also im so happy i got to hear my girl qls voice again. i cant wait for s3! shits abt to get MESSY.

oh additionally the beginning exchange was so funny lmao. ay, proves cxs isnt homophobic atleast (hes gay asf). the fact he just went "i didnt know i was also this appealing to men" and the way lg was lowk jelly lmaoo.

omg i almost forgot. WHAT WAS THAT ABT XF AND THE OTHER DUDE BEING MISSING. HUH???????? emma flashbacks right then and there. SOMETHINGS COOKING. hopefully vein and xf reunite. lowk love em. also that other dude wtf is going on with him? also dark skin chara apperance for like 5sec but a wins a win.

lowk have more thoughts but thatll come ltr.

edit: OMG THE PHOTOGRAPHY SCENE theyre so cute like tryna carry eo and lg smilingggg

[scarefox]

current QLs I am enjoying~

Every You, Every me (Thailand) : alternative universes, drama, soulmates, boss x assistant, car mechanic x customer, guitar teacher x students brother, BL actors, falling in love in every universe, humor, struggles, fluff, death, loss, abusive ex partner (not between the mains) See Your Love (Taiwan) : crime, thriller, drama, rich brat x caretaker, mafia business, mute + deaf main, martial arts, hurt / comfort, attempted murder, rich brats assistant x mafia assassin, dysfunctional family, loving family, friendship

Caged Again (Thailand) : mystery, drama, humor, animal to human transformation, boarding school, bullying, shy x feisty, animal trafficing, spirits, swim tournament, school clubs, friend group, nerd x dorky Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! (Thailand) : action, humor, debt collector x thief, poverty, (friends to) enemies to lovers, time jump, mafia, dysfunctional family, costuming & cross-dressing, from parents disowned children, heists, betrayal, secret relationships, wound patching, social injustice, martial arts, rich snob x poor thief, child adoption, rich to poor, violence, false friends

Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu / Our Youth (Japan) : high school, nerd x delinquent, abusive parent, secret friendship to lovers, hurt / comfort, opposites attract, wound patching Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru / Love is like a Poison (Japan) : investigation, humor, lawyer x conman, court battles, cohabitation, stern x playful, power couple, blackmail, trauma, abusive parent, talking with succulents (lol), street kids, underground gang, corruption

Petrichor (Thailand) : thriller, mystery, serial killer, forensic investigation, detective x forensic pathologist, crime investigation, enemies to lovers, autopsy, gore, incompetent police, feisty x cold, corruption, lovely siblings, coworker friend group Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring (Thailand) : thai prison setting, strangers to lovers, rough environment, prisoner x prisoner, homophobia, sexual harassment, based on a real story, hookups

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan) : Love in the Air remake, students, senior x junior, bike racing, auto mechanic, dominant x submissive, friendship, seduction, sexual abuse in the past Bad Guy My Boss (Thailand) : boss x assistant, mutual pining, power couple, possessiv, business life, multiple hookup partner, dubcon, attempted murder, shady business, jealousy, so many HR violations, blackmail, cheating, abusive side couples, spying, scheming, miscommunication, slightly dark romance

recent finished ones I rec to check out:

Affair (Thailand) : childhood friends, rich vs poor, family tragedy, time jump, friends to lovers, possessive, mutual obsession, stalking, rich to poor & poor to rich, abusive ex, divorce, secret relationship, suicide attempts, doctor x musician Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (S. Korea) : martial arts, strangers to friends, friends to lovers, bullying, unrequired love, abusive parent, time jump, stern x dorky, poor vs rich, hurt / comfort, misunderstandings The On1y One (Taiwan) : enemies to friends, mutual pining, cohabitation, nerd x nerd, power couple, dorm life, exam phases, not blood related soon to be step-siblings, forbidden love, secret love, coming of age, yearning, teacher x teacher side couple, hurt / comfort, unrequired love

4 Minutes (Thailand) : crime investigation, mystery, alternative realities, time jumping, patient x doctor, mafia, shady business, murder, hookups, drug use, corruption, death, violence, criminal x cop, hallucinations, cheating, blackmail, abusive lover (not mains), abusive parent, fixing mistakes Battle of the Writers (Thailand) : romcom, childhood friends, writer x writer, fictional parallel universe, secret relationship, friends to lovers, editor x writer, writer collaboration, BL writing, social commentary, childhood trauma, strangers to lovers Eccentric Romance (S. Korea + Thailand) : mystery, crime, romcom, childhood friends, friends to lovers, mutual pining, murder, bilingual, language students, working out, school club, friend group, investigation

Meet You at the Blossom (China + Thailand + Taiwan) : historical, fantasy, humor, dark romance, magic, rich noble families, playboy, crossdressing, noble son x assassine, fake identity, intrigues, fuck or die, royalty, doctor x servant, betrayal, childhood friends, misunderstandings, hurt / comfort at times, abduction, obsession, jealousy, abuse, imprisonment, torture, illness, implied unrequired cousin crush, abusive parent, dubcon My Damn Business (S. Korea) : office romance, short series, humor, boss x subordinate, misunderstandings, fluff, jealousy, teasing, drinking buddies, BL comic, talk about exes The Hidden Moon (Thailand) : historical & present, ghosts, mystery, horror, unrequired love, death, murder, accident, different era time jumps, ghost x human, time loop, friend group, enemies to lovers, forbidden love, f/f m/m m/f side couples, violence

[wen-kexing-apologist]

2024 Recap: ✨A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

@lurkingshan tagged a post that I was a co-author on and thus I am feeling inspired to also do this post.

January:

most popular: Comparison of Tharn and Phaya irl and in fantasy

favorites: Top 5 "Oh" Moments Ask || Feelings Made Visible: Design Choices in The Sign post.

I loved getting asks, so answering the "oh" moment question was really fun! And as disappointed with the quality of The Sign by the end, I still really love the essay I wrote reading way to in to the color and lens flare choices and how they relate to the animals Tharn and Phaya are associated with.

February:

most popular: Symptoms of a System Error: The Manifestation of Myungha’s Depression in Love for Love’s Sake

favorites: Symptoms of a System Error: The Manifestation of Myungha’s Depression in Love for Love’s Sake || The Ways Non was Failed in Dead Friend Forever || DyFy Body Language Breakdown

Love for Love's Sake was fucking incredible, and I had so much goddamn fun writing this post about the ways in which different video game structures are implemented in this series. Dead Friend Forever may have stumbled right at the end in my eyes but holy hell was the writing around the abuse Non suffered strong! And you know I love me some Fire and Dynamite.

March:

most popular: Pitch to get people to watch Love is Better the Second Time Around.

favorites: Trans Allegory in Cupid's Last Wish, co-authored with @lurkingshan and @so-much-yet-to-learn || Unknown Episode 6 Breakdown Breakdown || Top 5 (or 3) Seme & Ukes Ask

CUPID'S LAST WISH IS A TRANS ALLEGORY EVERYONE AND EVEN IF THE NARRATIVE IS NOT THE STRONGEST I THINK IT IS WORTH WATCHING FOR THAT REASON. Ohhhh Unknown how I loved writing essays about you...And of course, I am going to love any opportunity I am given to talk about 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

April:

most popular: Episode 10: The Couch

favorites: Episode 10: The Couch || Parallels in Unknown Episode 9 || Losing my mind over Unknown Episode 8 || Unknown, Episode 10: Qian and Yuan || Favorite Body Language Indicators Ask || Favorite Physical Acting Performances

Y'all. I wrote SO much in April and so much about Unknown in April. I am beginning to understand why my writing petered out the next couple of months. But damn if Unknown did not go hard for so long, I had so many worms in my brain about it.

May:

most popular: Episode 12: Ties

favorites: Episode 12: Doors!

June:

most popular: How in character Dee and Dr. Devil's research was

favorites: And the Hands Have It!

It felt like it had been forever since I wrote about hands/body language so I was very excited to have some inspiration to actually write again.

July:

most popular: I Love Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko and I think everyone should watch it

favorites: I really enjoyed doing the Asian QL Ask Game

Ohhh how the mighty have fallen. I loved so much of Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko and I'm glad I was so passionate about it at one point, but I was sad about how it ended. I love when the tumblr community does the tumblr community thing and we get to spend some time passing around tags and asks and getting to know more about people's likes and dislikes in different aspects of BL. I feel like it encourages people to write more about shows and I love seeing new analytical posts about the shows I am watching.

August:

most popular: I’M BACK BABY! Takara’s Treasure, Ep. 7 Scene Breakdown

favorites: I am being so so sincere when I say that Episode 10 of The Miracle of Teddy Bear has just secured a spot as one of my favorite BL episodes of all time. || I'M BACK BABY! Takara's Treasure, Ep. 7 Scene Breakdown

GOD I LOVE THE MIRACLE OF TEDDY BEAR, definitely one of my favorite posts of the entire year. But I can't not thank Takara's Treasure for giving me enough to work with to write my first scene break down in a fourth month time gap.

September:

most popular: Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus: The Watermelon Woman

favorites: Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus: The Watermelon Woman

lmfao this was the only thing I wrote in Sept.

October:

most popular: praise of how The Legend of Vox Machina adapted The Chroma Conclave Arc from Critical Role

favorites: Love in the Big City Ep 1-2 || Love in the Big City Ep 3-4

Spoiler alert: Love in the Big City was such a fun viewing/fandom experience and I loved every minute of watching and writing about it with the book club people!

November:

most popular: Literal Heart Eyes

favorites: Love in the Big City Ep 5-6 || Love in the Big City Ep 7-8 || Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus: The Handmaiden

December:

most popular: Random QL Superlatives

favorites: Random QL Superlatives || QL Grievances

I loved giving awards to the most ridiculously niche moments in TV shows. I had so much fun coming up with the superlative categories!

It's funny because I feel like my writing really dropped off a lot this year. But doing this 2024 Recap was super enlightening for me to see that maybe I just do not understand the passage of time because I did actually write stuff every month!

You can go here to find your top 10 posts of each month.

[blue-grama]

The Sign finale probably should have disappointed me, but... didn't?

It's been a heck of a run lately with Thai BLs that haven't quite stuck the landing, and it's got me pondering why The Sign worked for me despite sometimes feeling like a storyboard for a longer, better show.

I don't think they pulled off the emotional payoff they needed, despite that last reunion scene being so pretty and well-acted, simply because too much happened offscreen, from Khem's recovery from a gunshot wound to the entire multlifetime Tharn/Chalothon dynamic getting resolved without us seeing any of it. But somehow I wasn't that mad about it? And ultimately I think it's because this show did so many things well and so many things I'd love to see more of that I'm just like, yep, I enjoyed that ride sirs, please show me something this gorgeous again. In that sense it's joining something like Manner of Death or Kinnporsche where it's like, plot holes? Yes. Bizarre tonal shifts? Absolutely. Occasionally insane writing choices? Uh-huh. Love it anyway? You betcha. So here's what really, really worked for me:

Premise

I am always going to be onboard with QL that isn't solely coming-of-age or coming out. I'm not against those stories, of course, but give me gay romance with adult characters who know themselves and are doing adult things. I'm also a partisan for romances with high external stakes, so the mixture of crime and reincarnation was catnip to me.

Do I care that none of this training makes any sense? No.

2. Setting

Listen. Is The Sign the reason I have a document on my laptop titled "Imaginary trip to Thailand without ever seeing a beach?" Not exactly. But it's also not not the reason.

I am being willingly manipulated by the Thai Tourism Authority.

Kidding, kidding, but I do love when my Thai shows feel Thai or my Korean shows feel Korean, etc etc. I want to be driven to Wikipedia to learn more! Half the fun of watching stuff from not your own country.

3. Chemistry

I think @biochemjess covered what was underwritten about the romance in The Sign. Billy and Babe carried it on their backs and it was hard to dislike their romance, even when the series skipped over key beats.

Any time the pink lighting came out, you were gonna be in for a good time.

4. The camerawork

I don't know enough about film to speak intelligently about this, but the camerawork and aesthetics of this show were just so lovely to watch. It was really doing a lot. @chaos0pikachu wrote about it better than I ever could.

LOVED THIS. LOVED IT. So good.

We had some really lovely storytelling and visual parallels, too, like the first episode and finale both having a big action warehouse scene, or the multiple times that Phaya and Tharn ended up overlooking the Mekong river.

5. It was always kinda off the rails

I know some people felt this show started out with a strong premise and didn't live up to it, but I gotta say, I didn't have that experience. It was always kinda a bonkers watch for me. There were long training montages, random bodies in the shallows, missing genitals, extended performance art, that comedy flashback to Khem and Thongthai's college years... I never knew what I was going to get each Saturday. And I kind of loved that? I'm into unhinged. I was comparing this in my head to Last Twilight, which did disappoint me in the end, and I think it's because Last Twilight was NOT always bonkers and DID set itself up to tell a straighforward story, then dropped the ideas it had been juggling in the last episode. The Sign always felt chaotic to me, so a chaotic ending was par for the course. This is where I'd compare it to KinnPorsche, which had the weirdest fucking ending, but like, okay??? Why not!

End result? I see the flaws, but I'm giving this show tender forehead kisses anyway. Here's hoping for more like it.

[pinkkop]

This week’s recap is brought to you from a train!!! Also in case anyone missed it I made a post with some tips and tricks on how to use the Tumblr Search Function which you guys might find helpful.

QL Recap for Week 5

The 27th of January to the 2nd of February

🇹🇭 Your Sky

Episode 12 of 12 || Watching on: iQiYi, Sunday

Really liked this show and it kept me invested all the way 'til the end. All three couples were great and weirdly the one who I'd love to see the most in another show in the future is Save. Thomas and Kong were great but I'm not sure how easy it would be for them to pull off other dynamics than this one at least at the moment. They definitely delivered in this show though! The NC scene in the final episode absolutely blew my mind and I’m really happy they had it in the episode because if there’s one thing I find frustrating it’s the Blushing Maiden trope and this scene showed us how Rak absolutely wasn’t a blushing maiden. Sure, he was hesitant in the beginning of their relationship but he was still very much into Fah both romantically and sexually. I loved seeing him taking charge and Fah’s reaction was just great.

🇹🇭 The Boy Next World

Episode 5 of 10 || Watching on: iQiYi, Sunday

This show is still confusing but it helps that we now know that Jin can read minds and that there is no parallel world(?). I feel like there must be some kind of other supernatural thing going on with Cir though because some of the dreams Cir’s having seem like they aren’t normal. Boss and Noeul though are fire as always and that bj scene was mind blowing. I’d like to send a fruit basket to Boss (or whoever gave him directions) for giving Noeul’s legs some attention once again. I’m a big fan of some body worship and when they focus on other body parts in BL NC scenes so I was thrilled to see it. It can get pretty repetitive when the shows always do the classic “kiss him down his chest and then up again”.

🇹🇭 Perfect 10 Liners

Episode 15 of 24 || Watching on: Youtube, Sunday

I’m really liking Santa and Perth in this so it's safe to say that I'm on board with their pairing. It was very satisfying to see Yotha finally figure out what’s up and then get to experience a loving family. Not big on relationships that seem to be so magical that they fix all your trauma but it seems to be a theme this week so I guess I have to live with it.

🇹🇭 Sangmin Dinneaw

Episode 6 of 8 || Watching on: iQiYi, Sunday

This show keeps being so weird and just an odd mix of plot and genre. As with the past weeks I’m still enjoying Sangmin and Dinneaw’s part and for the most part also Tor and Athit but I don’t care for Pony and the third couple at all!

🇹🇭 The Heart Killers

Episode 10 of 12 || Watching on: Youtube, Wednesday

Finally Fadel and Bison know what’s up with their "Mom"!! I loved seeing Fadel dealing with the knowledge that his ex had been killed by “Mother”. His breakdown and the following desperate attempt at pushing Style away was delicious. Just standing ovation to Joong. Is it clear who my favourite character is?!

🇹🇭 ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat

Episode 8 of 13 || Watching on: Youtube, Friday

I’m still enjoying this but I’m starting to feel a little frustrated with some of the characters. I was ready to slap Thame when he almost suggested that they should basically compete for Po’s love. Also I’m very much of the opinion that Jun definitely has feelings for Po and just decided to step aside when he realized that Po has feelings for Thame because if not then what the fuck was he doing this episode?!

🇯🇵 Futtara Doshaburi

Episode 4 of 7 || Watching on: Gagaoolala, Friday

I’m still on the fence about this show. I’m intrigued by what it’s trying to say and I really like the production but I’m still worried about where it’s going. All the relationship problems in this show are in part due to inaction and missing communication and maybe a dash of denial about the state of their relationship which I can’t quite figure out if that’s my cup of tea or not. Especially Nakarei straight up annoys me because he just keeps trying to sleep with his partner even when he’s been told no many times that he doesn't want to. Like you basically started this relationship knowing that it wouldn’t have a physical component so why the fuck do you keep throwing yourself at your partner?! Also he just has this air of superiority which irritates me.

🇹🇭 Petrichor

Episode 10 of 10 || Watching on: iQiYi, Saturday

I liked this show and I definitely think it’s worth the watch. Sammon writes some cool stories, but it does often come at the cost of the relationship which is a pity. Don't know if it's because they workshop the shows differently, don't pay much attention to it during production or if it's because the plot outside the romance gets priority in post production.

🇨🇳 I'll Turn Back This Time

Episode 4 of 6 || Watching on: Gagaoolala, Saturday

I’ll be honest, this show isn’t good enough for me to enjoy plot points around homophobic parents, so I wasn’t a big fan of the turn this episode took. I’ll definitely watch this 'til the end but my enjoyment and investment took a bit of a dive this episode.

That's it for this week!!

For links and airing schedule check out World of BL (Only for BLs)

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Peaceful property is a bl even if it's not. It's also about so many other things although not really delivering on a consistent message.

I thought about adding my thoughts to this thread but it was getting long and I started to get sidetracked so I decided to just make my own post about it and share my thoughts on it. @lurkingshan @bengiyo and @twig-tea all made good point about why this show is faltering with its own themes, and @respectthepetty made a compelling argument that the show knows what its doing.

I think no one is wrong and I land somewhere in the middle with it. As in, depending on what I choose to care about. Much like @respectthepetty, I am bias about this show. For different reasons tho. I like Tay and New a lot so I lead with that instead of my critical thinking. just as a personal aside, I tend to do this when my brain and heart don't align. I ignore when my brain tells me that the show is doing something wrong so that I can enjoy the rest. This works particularly well with QL for some reason. I am after all a person who liked Dangerous Romance even when my brain kept trying to damper my enjoyment with logic. And also sometimes I'm a hypocrite and there's no reason for why I like a show and not another. Ok, there's usually a reason but it's most often not a good one, or a rational one at least. That's just how it is.

Anyway. Because of all the excellent points made by that post I decided to fully engage my brain and I've been thinking about what this show is trying to say and I agree that unfinished business is the main thing in the ghost stories but I would have to shut off my brain completely to not see how class factors into all of it as well.

The ghosts up until now, except the chef, were all lower class and one can argue that it played a part in how they died or what happened after. I'm not including episode 7 for reasons that I will explain in a bit. Even if Ride's unfinished business was about love, the fact that he was the only rider doing deliveries in the rain, at least to me, read as he was driven by the need to make money in the first place. Even in the chef's case, the customer that Peach basically poisoned was rich and it was a part of the headlines about it and the reason for the restaurant getting shut down. Also most of the individual stories didn't get deep into these issues, case of the week usual issues, but it was always an underlying theme. Also as @twig-tea said all the parallels work even better because this disparity also exists between Home and Peach.

All this gets me to how I started this post. This is a bl even if it isn't. The choice to include the tragic bl storyline in the middle of this, in my own brain, can only be explained if I believe this is a bl. (The tragic bit was thematically consistent with this show.) Specifically a gmmtv bl. Cause ultimately they have a tendency to forsake narrative consistency if it stops serving the main romance. It's also the only way I can explain having a bl pair mirroring the other bl pair on screen. So in that way it's consistent with gmmtv. Just brush aside anything that can get in the way of the couple not having a happy ending. This is also how I explain my biggest issue with it. Pangpang. She's the shipper. She's been the shipper from basically the start.

Home basically killed her brother, why would she be the driving force in getting him forgiven? Because of my previously admitted bias, I forgave Home almost immediately. It's New and he didn't mean it, it was an accident and he wanted to call for help and do the right thing but his family interfered and.... I could come up with a lot of reasons because I want to forgive him. So everything else can be ignored. But all this obviously doesn't apply to Pang. So it can only be the bl in the not a bl show.

Now, on full brainy mode, this last episode makes no sense with everything else this show has been saying until now. They used a branded pair to ignore any class disparity between our mains, since the last ghost story didn't really parallel that, and over the forgiveness part, and jump straight into Peach has forgiven Home and will probably now become his saviour. Don't even get me started on the fact that Peach is still broke but saving the rich dude that turned his life to crap will be the most important thing right now. I wonder if gmmtv has ever ignored class disparity between a main couple and instead focused on the richer dude's drama while ignoring the struggle of the other one, all in favour of the main romance and lovey dovey moments 🤔. But I guess I'll reserve full judgement on that until the next episode.

yeah, so basically this is where I am at with this show. My two sides are fighting but come next wednesday my brain will take the back seat for 45 minutes so I can enjoy Tay and New and after that maybe I'll think about it some more.