#ql things

[respectthepetty]

Hi petty, so I came across an interesting conversation on reddit. It's about how the BL screenwriters are not getting the credit for their work. From what I understand it's because the director is basically the showrunner and they are the ones responsible for 'creating' the show and OP pointed out something that I agree with: even if that is true the screenwriter has contributed labour and thus they deserve to at least be co-credited for their work. Someone mentioned that because most BLs are novel adaptations the screenwriters aren't doing much work but OP points out that that is not true. Most BLs change the novel in some way, whether to extend the story or to soften it or to shorten it. And like yeah, I see that.

I hadn't thought about this thing until OP pointed it out and now I'm like: have we been making a mistake by not crediting the screenwriter? That feels iffy to me.

I feel that we should be crediting the novel writer, screenwriter and director for the work they do in the scope of their jobs and not let one or two people hog all the credit, you know.

And I think this is a fandom issue.

So, what do you think?

[I know this is a heavy question but I've always respected your opinion that's why I wanted to ask you.]

The Trainee did a great job of demonstrating the production around filming, but in TV and film, screenwriters aren't usually spotlighted in the same realm as the director regardless of the genre. Directors are very important to a film or series because their direction is what guides everything else. They set the tone and the pace of a series, and everyone else has to figure out how to make that vision come to life, and sometimes, screenwriters have to rewrite scenes while filming is happening based on a shift in the director's vision.

However, I'm showing up for the cinematography usually rather than the directing, so I agree with you, and many other people do as well, which is why we have awards and databases that acknowledge the work others put into a series or film beyond the actors and the directors, but at the end of the day, it's usually the director being praised or berated because they are the one in charge.

For example, we have Jojo and Aof, two directors with resumes full of excellent shows like 3 Will Be Free, Moonlight Chicken, and Bad Buddy, but some people believed they fumbled their last series, Only Friends and Last Twilight. Should we blame the screenwriters Bee, Best, and Den who have also written for My Stand-In, Never Let Me Go, and Playboy (which others also felt had issues with the stories)? Last Twilight just won a Maya TV Award for Best Screenplay, so . . . no.

Another example is Chao Planoy who has written the novels for most of the GLs we have in 2024. Idol Factory got GAP and My Marvellous Dream is You (Dream), Change2561 took Affair, GMMTV has Us and Pluto, Blank went to Nine Star Studios, Mate is with Zensee, and Apple, which is being produced by Kongthup will probably go to WeTV. Each company uses its own directors, so Idol Factory used the same director for GAP and My Marvellous Dream is You. Both shows also had the same screenwriter. Everything should have been solid for both, but Chao has gone on record stating she disliked the adaptation of Dream, and she felt it was messy. Who's the issue then? Chao wrote the source material. Patty wrote the screenplays for both. Natthaphong directed both, but his vision wasn't as cohesive for the Dream like it was GAP and it shows in the series and ratings.

JittiRain is another popular BL writer. Her works include 2gether, Theory of Love, Fish Upon the Sky, and Be My Favorite, which have all been bought and filmed under GMMTV. When turned into shows, her pieces have had different directors and writers, but her lastest, Be My Favorite, was written and directed by people outside of GMMTV's usual roster of professionals. Be My Favorite also didn't use a branded GMMTV pair, yet it is consistently her highest rated series on various platforms, and that could be the result of all these listed reasons, but the praise is put on the director. I agree with this because I think the director, Waa, knew what he was up against and steered the series accordingly. He directs Club Friday, which is a show with the messiest plots, but he knows how to make those stories coherent. He had a vision and saw it through.

We heard awful things about the director's behavior on the set of Century of Love, but Wo directs several One31 series like Laws of Attraction, To Sir, with Love, and the upcoming Spare Me Your Mercy, so this might hurt him (which it should) while others who worked on the set and contributed to the toxicity will merely get shuffled to other projects.

There are so many examples that I could give, but as important as it is to acknowledge all of the hard work that goes into these series from everyone involved, at the end of the day, it's the director who is directing not just the series, but the set. If they mess up, we blame them. If things go right, we praise them. Their vision can make or break a series, so when we see a show work really well or fall apart, we normally look at the directors because that is their job.

Directors give direction to the story. Directors direct the set and all the departments. Directors directly impact the story. Directors are the captain of this ship, and they have to make sure it doesn't sink, and even though they have a lot of help making sure that doesn't happen, it takes a strong person to carry that burden of responsibility.

Which is why they get (the bulk of) the credit.

[thisautistic]

The Heart Killers vs 10 Things I Hate About You

[happypotato48]

This Is A Gay Asian Rant About BL Comments Made By Some Queer Westerners I See Sometimes.

So you know of those gays (usually white) that made dumb tiktok dancing to list of countries that legalized same sex marriage and list of countries that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ poeple as a way to say something racist. yeah i kinda got the same vibes from some comments regard how asian BL is homophobic just cause they don't live up to queer western standard. look, i'm not saying that some BLs and their creators don't deserve criticism regard how they capitalized/exploited queerness for an easy cash grab.

But people need to understand that Asian countries despite recent progress are still very much culturally conservatives. so when people says that thai bl is homophobic and all the characters looks like bunch of straight guys, which is true for some olders thai BLs i'm not gonna denied that. but after all this time and newer BLs generally being very queer and most of creators being out queer themself and poeple still making these comments, i'm annoyed.

And don't get me start on the actors. you don't know them! why are you making assumption and calling them queerbaiter just cause they acts in bl. like maybe they're straight, maybe they're not but what they're definitely doing is making queer content for you know, queer people here. so when you made halfass comments about their sexuality what do you think that made other queer people who still in the closet feels. and when you add the nationality to that, "these thai bl pair are this and that, this korean actor is so ungrateful for his bl past", etc. when our societies are still very much still in progress regard LGBTQIA+ acceptance. it make us living here feels fucking awful like somehow we're lesser queer than people in the west just cause we don't have citibank at pride or some shit.

And the shittiest in my humbled opinion are comments regard censored chinese bls. people do know like, that the creators making these bls are risking their livelihoods for this. that these shows getting make at all are miracles. yes it sucked that they're censored but they're still very much queer shows making by queer people who want to express thier queerness despite the chinese government being the chinese government. when people dimissing these shows as not belonging in queer media, you're also dimissing their creators and audiences as not belonging in the community.

Look what i want to say is that we're trying our best over here, and maybe our best are not up to your liking. the ways we talk and express our queerness maybe still can be perceived as problematic by western queer standard. but these media are our house and you're the guests. for people aren't shitty we appreciated that you're here engaging and loving our media, this is your home too and you're welcome in it. i can speak for myself that i very much love being here on tumblr and interacting with people from all over the world who love BL. but for people who are being shitty sometimes about asian bl.

YOU'RE THE GUESTS, BEHAVE!

[chezlalune]

#protect him (from himself)

WE ARE คือเรารักกัน (2024) EPISODE 11

[curapicas]

Yandere Lu Guang I love you yandere Lu Guang

I promise to not overlook your complex character, nor your tragic greek hero status - nor the fact that yingdu chapter as a whole explored your state of mind and the stakes that it takes for attempted murder to be on the table, nor the fact the light started really leaving your eyes once it was done, nor that you put high value in kindness and is motivated by devotion

But boy. Your answer to the story was "the detective is the culprit", wasn't it?

[khaoala]

❝I just... want to be your comfort zone. That's all.❞

HAPPY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, BE MY FAVORITE!

[doublxpresso]

Face-off

Part 1 - Lu Guang & Qiao Ling

page 17 - 18

page 15 - 16 < . > page 19 - 20

main post

[psychopomp-namine]

cheng weimin and shao yuanyuan abandoning cheng xiaoshi at the tender age of 8 years old gets even more fucked up when you think about how they know about the photo diving ability and that bahati is a school related to abilities

like okay listen. one of you has the ability to go back in time by clapping your hands while looking at a photo. presumably you know that abilities are passed on to children. they can activate at any time, perhaps during traumatic moments like with the twins. one of you went to teach at a school for superpowered kids so presumably you know how this works.

and you think you can just abandon a kid with unactivated powers?? leave him with trauma ripe for awakening abilities? what if it wasn't the bridon photo that triggered it huh? what if cheng xiaoshi, at the tender age of 8, cried so hard wondering about his parents and then he accidentally claps himself into a random photo (IN A PHOTO STUDIO! A SHOP ABOUT PHOTOS!! WHERE HE LIVES!!!) with no one to guide him? what if he gets stuck there??? as a kid???

like okay yeah lu guang discovered his ability at 7 years old but apparently someone was there to help him. and also his ability doesn't like, harm him physically. he's not possessing someone or anything. so we're all just lucky cheng xiaoshi never discovered his powers until he was an adult because like. if he discovered that as a kid, lonely as he was?? he'd be so fucked. oh my god. just thinking about it gets me heated like what the fuck cheng weimin. shao yuanyuan. what the fuck. what if your 8 year old kid with abandonment issues got stuck possessing some random person and he doesn't know what's happening. he doesn't know anything. his parents left him and he's not even himself anymore and he's not home and how does he fix this, how does he go back. the horror of it all.

[scarefox]

[guzhufuren]

First 2 episodes of chinese/taiwanese BL Uncle Unknown are now out on YouTube and PPeach app!

EP1 / EP2

"If you had told me earlier that you didn't like puppies, I wouldn't have pretended…"

[dramalove247]

Favorite Things: Our Youth part 1

Instantly wanted to re-watch this series, but not emotionally ready for that. Pretty sure this is one of those stories that will cause me more pain the second time around. Even putting this post together caused a lot of feels. We fell in love with the story of these two broken and abandoned boys that make each other their home.

Apparently this will be part 1 of 2 because we had more than 10 posts we wanted to share and refuse to cut any more of them than we already had! So enjoy some of our favorite posts (spoilers ahead):

Starting with the end. It gave us so much sweet comfort, but there was also a layer of pain just under the surface. For us, it was perfect. It felt real and deep and complicated and matched the tone of the entire show. We love how Minase and Hirukawa have found what they needed in each other and it's the start of their healing.

Though the choice to stay in the closet, and the weight and emotional toll of that decision, may not have been the ideal ending people wanted, we think it was beautifully honest. We agree with @small-dark-and-delicious that the way this unfolded in the story fit the characters. We think the show did an amazing job of portraying the complexity of the situation and we are grateful for it's inclusion and the emotions and conversations occurring because of it.

The testing of the waters in their friend group felt like Hirukawa trying to open the door, no matter how small. We agree with @aceoflights that Hirukawa intentionally did it in a way that would protect Minase.

@putterphubase put together a beautiful post of 😍 GIFS containing some of the sweetest moments from episode 10

"Shit. That was some serious foreshadowing." We knew more pain was coming, so it only made this scene hit even harder. We were definitely with @pigglepiephi on this one.

This show sucked us in hard and fast. But this scene, WTH?!? We watched that SHIT BEFORE BED!!!! That was a mistake of epic proportions. It was way too late to feel these emotions, forget trying to confront the tailspin that was caused by this seriously toxic red flag desperate act of self endangerment for the sake of connection being romantic as fuck. How do you sleep after that?!? answer is you don't, you watch an episode of Fourever You Thanks for the screenshots of this scene @respectthepetty

And 😍 GIFS by @wanderlust-in-my-soul of just after the admission. Kill me again.

Continued in part 2:

[respectthepetty]

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow Awards 2024

2023 was the first time I gave these awards, so I'm excited to deliver my 2024 version to the QLs that gave the best visual narratives this past year. In order to be considered for these awards, the series 1) had to air during 2024, and 2) had to finish airing by December 31, so out of the 114 QLs I watched this year, 13 are still ongoing and cannot be considered for these awards. Out of the remaining 94 QLs, 69 had some degree of consistent color coding

*For reference, in 2023, I watched 108 QLs, 14 were still ongoing, and 67 had consistent color coding.

Now for the ceremony to begin!

Petty Award: Last Twilight, Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo, and Spare Me Your Mercy

This award goes to a show or shows that had great visual narratives but I refuse to write about it because I'm petty, and these shows know what they did to me!

I've aired my grievances with these shows plenty, so now they can officially join last year's winners, Only Friends and I Feel You Linger in the Air, plus several other series in my Grudge Garden. May beauty bloom from the cruel love you gave me.

Stats Awards [These awards are based solely on numbers]

Most Popular: Black Brooder

This award goes to the color that was most popular in a pair, number-wise.

The stats: A Black Brooder was part of a color-coded pair 27 times in 2024. 2023’s was a Blue Boy with 26. The next color-coded boy in 2024 was a Blue Boy who was part of 21 pairs. 2023's was a Black Brooder who was part of 15 pairs.

The Best Black Brooder was Happy of the End’s Haoran. The show explicitly stated he was mysterious, secretive, and seductive which are all key characteristics of a Black Brooder. He had a dark past that haunted him and the narrative the entire show, so the black color appropriately emphasized the darkness within him. Even at the very end, he was lighter in his life, but it did not take away from what he went through to get that little bit of happiness and color. Haoran is the epitome of a Black Brooder, and that’s why he deserves the title of "Best Color-Coded Character of the Year."

Most Popular Pair: Light x Dark

This award goes to the color-coded pair who were used the most in the year, number-wise.

The stats: The Black x White dynamic won in 2023 with 12 couples, but in 2024 this dynamic almost doubled by being used 22 times. No other color-coded pair came close.

The Best Light x Dark Couple: Myung Ha x Yeo Woon from Love for Love’s Sake perfectly represent why this dynamic is needed, yet it wasn’t clear why until midway through the series. Black Brooder Myung Ha was sent into a game to save Heavenly Human Yeo Woon, but as the story unfolded, we realized that Myung Ha was the one who needed to be saved by his Heavenly Human and for a very good reason which adds to his dark color. The colors were there the entire time, yet the reveal of why those were the colors still shocks me almost a year later.

The Outlier: Wandee Goodday

This award goes to a series that delivered a colored-coded pair that no other series did.

When this show was first announced, I was elated that I was getting a Yellow Yal x Purple Person pairing which had yet to be done, and my excitement only grew throughout its airing. Even though I didn’t get the proper color exchange I dreamed of at the end, the show had outstanding visual rhetoric (bunny x tiger, anyone?), and it gave me a pair comprised of complementary colors, so it deserves this award for doing something different, and doing it well.

Visual Rhetoric Awards

Honorable Mention - Peaceful Property

This award goes to a series that had a great visual narrative but could not be considered for these awards because it wasn't marketed as a QL (even though it's canon to me).

The show’s “Cok Long” sign alone would have received a visual rhetoric award, but the characters were also color coded and gay af. The dance pose for love. The steak in the shape of a heart. The food in general! Home dreaming of Peach in bed to comfort him. The tears and strings in the hospital tying them together. The stories about Thansai x Ride and Vicha x Phoom!!!! The color exchanges! This show used all the visuals to bury the lead, literally and figuratively, and dealt with people facing the ghosts who haunt them in an unexpected and tender way, so it was a show with a lot of heart and the visuals to back it up.  

Best Boundary/Barrier/Bars - My Stand-In

This award goes to a series that best displayed an internal conflict with a physical barrier between the two leads.

This show’s visual rhetoric skills were vicious. I was personally attacked every time Joe’s back was only shown. I was shaking in rage each time Joe and Ming were shown behind bars, with barriers between them, and with Joe being lower than Ming. But nothing hurt more than when Joe 2.0 finally gave into Ming, and we visually saw Joe’s body split in two. Previous to that moment, they were each standing on opposite sides of the line, then slowly, Ming pushed Joe against the glass leaving Joe exposed to the world, so he could focus on Joe’s back, and the line was right there to show us that nobody was fully in that moment. They were both in their bodies, yet out of them. They were in the present, but also in the past. They wanted this, and simultaneously were disgusted. They were conflicted, and that line cut right through them. And me.

Best Balance - Jack & Joker

This award goes to a series that best used the scene to outline the balanced dynamic between the leads.

In a hospital room, standing in between the light and dark curtains, next to the red couch and the blue bed, two color-coded boys hashed it out and showed the audience why balance is always needed in a relationship. Jack became darker because he shouldered everyone’s burdens, yet there was Joke begging Jack to let him carry some of his sorrow and relieve him of his darkness. Then, the black and white colors and those dual smiling/frowning faces were right there to reinforce what Joke was saying — We need Yin & War Yang.

Best Background (Noise) - Marahuyo Project

This award goes to a series that best used the background details to strongly reinforce the ongoing plot.

It was a story about sea creatures that beautifully connected to the overall queer theme of the story, and King (of the sea) wore several sea-themed items. The show also focused on trans acceptance and solidarity with all characters wearing the trans flag colors at one point in the show, and the use of butterflies to signify the harsh yet necessary transformation we must experience to become better versions of ourselves. Oh, and the religious icons! Basically, this show did not waste one moment of its screen time, and it’s a feast for the eyes because of it.

Best Use of Clothing - 7 Days Before Valentine

This award goes to the series that made the best use of clothing to show the evolving dynamic between the leads.

Sun, the main character, was 🎶The Worst🎶 when this story began. The show looked the audience in the face and said that man was the devil with his horns and black and red outfits. Then, an actual demon showed up, in white! After that, this demon took on more of Sun’s darkness as an act of salvation while the demon’s clothing transitioned from white to gray then black. In the end, the demon was actually an angel who needed to see that redemption was possible for his own sake. It was a story about how nobody is really good or bad and how people deserve a second chance, which was a consistent theme in most QLs this year, and beautifully highlighted in this show.

Colors Awards

Best Color Exchange - My Love Mix-Up (Thailand)

This award goes to a series where the leads were color coded and switching their colors demonstrated more than their love being mutual.

The original Japanese version of this show is one of the best color-coded BLs and features the best color exchange EVER in the form of a well-lit kiss, so I was watching the Thai version with a critical eye. The Thai show had the pink = love moments and other subtle visual rhetoric, plus it included the traditional color merge of Kongthap’s blue with Atom’s developing yellow into green which they both wore for their first kiss. The show was following all the normal steps, but at the very last moment, after the boys decided their love was worth the fight and came out to their parents in teary confessions, they met in the place it all began merging Kongthap’s blue and Atom’s strong orange into a couple’s brown and kissed, and I have never been happier seeing the color brown as a symbol of love.

Best Kiss - Only Boo!

This award goes to the series that best used a kiss to support the color narrative of the story.

This show had no competition in this category. Its only competition was itself. Every kiss either was color-coded, included the Blinding Light of Love, created a color exchange, formed a color merge, or was lit with the Pink = Love lighting. Every. Single. Kiss! So this award isn’t for just one kiss, but all the kisses in the series, but the grand kiss in the finale had the boys in their respective colors, kissing under a pink light, while their colors were part of the background decorations as everyone cheered around them, and It. Healed. Me.

Best Red (Thread of Destiny) - Unknown

This award goes to the series that best used the color red to symbolize two characters being connected by fate.

Century of Love, a story of lovers meeting again a century after tragically parting, gave Unknown good competition in this category, but ultimately the story of two kids finding family in each other and building a life together is the winner, and it’s all because of that damn red railing! The red was there when Qian fed Yuan on the street, and the moment Qian wrapped Yuan’s hands in the red boxing tape, he secured the bond between them. However, the scene where Yuan stood at the bottom of the stairs before leaving the house felt like the connection was severed as he walked out the door leaving a dark room behind only for the camera to slowly move up the red railing to reveal Qian standing at the top of the stairs looking at Yuan’s room. They were still connected, and I’m still emotional about it.

Best Pink - Bad Guy, My Boss

This award goes to the series that best used the color pink to demonstrate the love between two characters.

This was the most competitive category in 2024, and Deep Night with its pink poly dream held the top spot for most of the year until this ridiculous Wattpad BL entered the group chat and crushed everyone with this single shot. In the show, Run was basically being manipulated into a relationship with Fei Long for ~evil reasons~ that included an incarcerated brother, a ploy to gain more power, and an ex-boyfriend, yet the pink kept showing up around Run until it surrounded both of them. And it was the softest pink. It was slightly surprising that they did both genuinely love each despite the circumstances, but it was even more shocking just how kind that love actually was. They might have been crazy for that, but they were also crazy in love!

Best Rainbow - 1,000 Years Old

This award goes to the series with the best use of a rainbow.

Pun was a dark-color coded vampire, and Yo was the colorful human he fell in love with, yet Yo thought that Pun brought color to his life. Before Pun showed up, Yo was lost in the world chasing aliens with his friends, but once Yo encountered Pun at a pork blood soup stand, both their lives became filled with adventures that were revealed to be centuries in the making, and Pun’s rainbow umbrella symbolized the whimsical nature of their relationship. Both brought color to the other’s life. In every life.

Best Heart - 4 Minutes

This award goes to a series that best represented love by using a tangible item to symbolize a heart.

Color-coded boys in love deserve color-coded plushies to represent their love. Great was white-color coded, and Tyme was black-color coded, so when they went on their adorable arcade date, the color-coded cat plushies with hearts on their sides were the perfect prize to celebrate the guys’ developing feelings for each other. However, the date never really happened and instead was part of Great’s redo timeline as his heart was dying after being shot. And somehow, that made it even better! In his last moments, all Great wanted was for Tyme to keep winning his heart over and over again, and Great would have given it to him, again and again. In another life, he’d enjoy just playing a claw game with Tyme.

Best Accessory - Addicted Heroin (Thailand)

This award goes to a series that best used a color-coded accessory to support the ongoing plot.

Everything in this show was color coded from the cotton swabs to the nail clippers, but the series wins this award for The Audacity™. In any version of this story, Hero’s character is going to be batshit bananas, but in the Thai remake, the show decided to include color coding in the craziness. When Hero had Pop(py) kidnapped, Hero tied him up with color-coded green rope because even as Hero had taken his boyfriend hostage in the dumbest turn of event, he needed to prove he knew Pop’s color was green. But not only did Hero do that in the show, the folks behind the show, who seemed determined to be wilder than the show itself, started selling figurines of the moment! It’s meta, but like really bad, which means I LOVE IT!

Best Blinding Light (of Love) - Deep Night

This award goes to the series that best used a blinding light to emphasize the overwhelming feeling of being in love.

Deep Night had several amazing moments using the Blinding Light of Love, but Wela and Khem had liked each other since the first episode, so this moment visually presented what it felt like for them to realize it actually might be something more. They were nestled between the pink of the club lights with the window bathing them in the streetlight; then, the light from outside became blinding as Khem admitted to being jealous and wanting to be something more with Wela. It truly was the point Khem realized he was deeper than he thought, and for Wela to see that his feelings were real. It was a moment of lustful escape that turned into a moment of genuine love.

Best Lighting - The On1y One

This award goes to the series that best used lighting to support the story's narrative.

Using dark, cool lighting for the moon and bright, warm lighting for the sun are not new techniques, but the way The On1y One used those lighting treatments for its characters was a reminder that the professionals behind the scenes are truly experts in their field. In the first episode, Jiang Tian, the moon, emerged from the darkness of the street, and the warmth of Sheng Wang’s light cupped his face as he stood outside the gate. As they interacted, each retained their respective lighting, but slowly, slivers of the other’s lighting began to merge with their own until the audience could no longer tell where their individual light ended and the other’s began. And neither could the boys.

Best Cinematographer: Jim Picharn - I Saw You in My Dream, Jack & Joker

This award goes to the cinematographer who best supported the story through visuals without distracting from the ongoing plot.

In 2023, Jim of Dee Hup House was on the shortlist for this award due to him being the cinematographer for Thai BLs Step by Step, Hidden Agenda, and I Feel You Linger in the Air, and in 2024, he was back with I Saw You in My Dream and Jack & Joker. The reason he is getting this award now is because both his 2024 offerings looked completely different. Jim has a certain hazy and dreamy style to his cinematography which fit perfectly in I Saw You in My Dream’s narrative, but his style shifted to something harsher and a little bit grittier in Jack & Joker. There were still specific Jim elements in both pieces, but it was clearer how his style served the narratives in each story differently. Not only was it interesting to see, but it was also a beautiful addition to the stories being told in both shows, so I’m looking forward to what new visuals he will be gifting us with in 2025.

Best Surprise - The Trainee

This award serves as a catch-all for a series that delivered a color-coded surprise while still incorporating it well within the plot.

I am not egoistical enough to believe the folks behind these QLs are reading my little ol’ Tumblr blog, but I’m also not humble enough to rule it out as a possibility. Normally, I have to watch behind-the-scene specials, find translated interviews, or follow cinematographers’ and directors’ social media to get confirmation about colors, but in 2024, several shows simply posted the information on main! Two Worlds, Love is a Poison, Peaceful Property, and a few other shows openly stated how the colors were being used in the show, but The Trainee did the most and made graphics to announce the color coding of its characters and posted them on Twitter and Instagram! The graphics also featured key aspects of the characters’ personalities which aligned to their color. For eight weeks, I had been determined to prove that Jane was a loyal Blue Boy and Tae was a wise Brown Boy, and, magically, the show just looked at me one day and said I was right. I will never forget that rush, so in case someone who does work behind the scenes on these QL is reading my posts, thanks for the best present 2024 could have given me!

Best Group Effort - Pit Babe

This award goes to the series that best color coded a majority of its characters.

I watched this show with no sound, no subtitles, and no idea what the hell was happening. And yet the colors got me through! I might not have any clue who is the Alpha, Beta, or Santa Maria in this show, but I know who is red, blue, and royally evil because the colors were coloring the entire time! I cannot write more about this show because I still don’t really understand what it was about, but I am super excited to watch the second season the same exact way I watched the first — with the colors guiding me the whole way.

Best Consistent Color Coding - Chaser Game W

This award goes to the series that had the most consistent color coding throughout its run.

Two celestial maidens in a video game. Two penguins in a book. Two women in a toxic workplace romance. No matter what form the leads took in the show, they were color-coded in every version of their characters. They were part of the reason the Light x Dark pairing was the most popular in 2024, and in the first season, they exemplified that dynamic with kind Heavenly Human Itsuki being stuck working for her demanding Black Brooder ex-girlfriend Fuyu. Then, the second season gave us the women swapping clothes and colors as they became a more established couple. Even their daughter took part in the color-coded hijinks, and in the end, Itsuki and Fuyu found the balance in their work and their love life, together.  

Best Overall - Idol Factory

This award goes to the series that did it like nobody else to claim the ultimate prize.

I refuse to pit two bad bitches against each other, so that’s why both The Sign and The Loyal Pin get this award. And I’ll even throw the Factory’s third offering, My Marvellous Dream is You, into the mix because regardless of which show I write this about, Idol Factory gave me rainbows of colors every single time!

I didn’t just get the pink = 💕love💕lighting. I got the pink lighting getting more intense as the love between the two characters intensified.

I didn’t just get color-coded clothing. I got the patterns of the clothing showing each character’s personality, so when they started to swap patterns, it was obvious they were in love.

I didn’t just get color exchanges. I got color events with blinding lights of love, color exchanges, and color merges.

Basically, I got everything I wanted and more, so even though Idol Factory has only produced five shows, all of them have excelled in the colors and visual rhetoric department, and I’ll be patiently waiting for its 2025 (and 2026) shows to air because I know they will be visually stunning, as always.

Congrats, winners!

[thisautistic]

[hotasfahrenheit]

AYYYYYY it's me your neighbourhood florist girl with the flower knowledge again!

of COURSE the hydrangeas in the opening credits of the first episode of Spare Me Your Mercy caught my eye and i went "hmm if there's more flowers in this episode then i'll have to make a post" then we just got more hydrangeas but with an obvious focus on them so here we are!

hydrangeas are native to both Asia and the Americas, and while Japan is notorious for having cultivated them, there are ancient fossils of hydrangea blossoms from North America which means they grew in a variety of places and spread from there.

in Japan, hydrangeas traditionally symbolize heartfelt emotion, apology and remorse, because of a legend about an emperor giving hydrangeas as a gift to apologise for neglecting a lover. in Europe, where they were brought in the 18th century, they symbolised boastfulness, bragging and vanity because they produced many blooms but few seeds, and were sent by men to women who had rejected them. in Korea, they represent perserverance and resilience.

the general meaning of blue hydrangeas specifically now lays somewhere around serenity, apology, gratitude and understanding.

hydrangeas are a neat flower in that some varieties can act as a pH gauge for your garden soil- higher acidity leads to blue petals, but alkaline soil will change the petals to pink. by changing the acidity of your soil, you can adjust the colour of the petals. (white varieties can't be manipulated because they don't have pigment.)

they grow from early spring to late autum, and though most grow as shrubs around 1-3m tall, some are small trees and others grow as lianas, which are a long stemmed woody vine that climbs other trees; these varieties can reach up to 30m tall.

if you have cut hydrangeas at home, you can help maintain their bloom or restore wilting by immersing them in hot hot HOT water- even boiling- to help them freshen. the petals can also absorb water since they're technically actually a type of leaf, so you can also dunk your hydrangea blooms into room temperature water petal-first to help them rehydrate. this is a thing i've done at work as a florist- at the grocery store chain i started doing floral at, we always put our hydrangea bunches into buckets of steaming hot water, the hottest we could get from the faucets, when we processed incoming shipments and had given them fresh stem cuts before putting them out for sale.

in both Japan and Korea, some varieties of hydrangea are used for tea, while in the Americas, the Cherokee used the root as a diuretic and the bark as pain relief for muscle pain and burns, and as a remedy for stone and gravel in the bladder.

hydrangeas are also known as hortensia. the name "hydrangea", which derives from the Greek words for "water vessel", comes from the shape of the seed capsules, which resembled a water pitcher. they're called hortensia, supposedly for the name Hortense and after French astronomer and mathematician Nicole-Reine Lepaute, who was not actually named Hortense at all. she was named Nicole-Reine. someone tried to name them Lepautia or Peautia after her, but since they ended up being called hortensia (probably from hortus, which means garden) it's reversed into people thinking Hortense was her name instead of them being actually named after her.

so yes, with the associations with apology, remorse, serenity, understanding.... i'm not surprised to see them here, especially in the episode itself, but i am very intrigued, especially since being in the opening credits means we'll see them there at least through the whole show even if they don't show up again in the actual narrative. the fact that they symbolise remorse and grow around Tiu's mother's house, when he wasn't able to be there to see her before her death, is not lost on me.

hope this knowledge dump was fun and interesting to at least someone! i'll be back with another of these posts next time i catch some significant flowers in another show 🌸🌼🌹🌺🌷

[chezlalune]

If you're not okay, you can always tell me.

OUR YOUTH 未成年 (2024) EPISODE 04

[spicyvampire]

This show started with Cherran catching the bouquet and Tul hearing about the news of Thailand legalizing same sex marriage on the radio so I'm expecting a wedding by episode 10