#review is their best show...

[blortch]

another banger from Jay ''there's a very homoerotic scene in this movie'' Bauman

love when their description of these scenes takes up a good portion of the video/discussion. they're Very Important

[absolutebl]

Best 24 of BL 2024 - Quirky Awards

ONLY shows that ENDED their runs in 2024 are up for awards.

SHOCK & AWE AWARDS

1. Biggest BL surprise of 2024:

Cherry Magic Thailand. TayNew's version was truly a lovely experience and very much its own take on the original, an adaptation rather than a remake. I'm so relieved and grateful that GMMTV managed to pull it off, and sad it wasn't more widely available.

2. The “that country did WHAT?” award:

Meet You At the Blossom from China. From start to finish it is exactly as it claimed to be, wuxia BL, including more than the expected amount of sexual claiming (dubious consent to the point of rape) and actual kisses, wife language, floaty sleeves, you name it. FROM CHINA!!!

3. Biggest casting whoa! where did you come from? award:

Up & Poom in My Stand-In. I mean, WHERE did you two come from and how did this happen? Holy smokes. My goodness are we grateful!

4. That studio did WHAT now? award:

Youku putting Unknown out wide and easily avaiable on YouTube (for most of us). It's just really rare for a Taiwanese BL to get any kind of distribution. And to do that with arguably the best TaBL of the year and not some sad little mew mew? Amazing.

5. I’m sad you were ignored award:

Sugar Dog Life - such a charming JBL, so hard to find. I'm so sad it didn't get distribution. It's charming, one of my favorites of the year, worth tracking down if you can.

6. 2024 BL That Actually Made Me Lose My Mind Award?

I gotta be honest, it was The Sign. I was such a chaotic mess of a show but never once was I bored. It was the only one that drove me into memes and captions and silliness.

I did go a bit feral for a while over Love for Loves Sake and Wandee Gooday not to mention The Only One (until it went tits-up).

NARRATIVE AWARDS

7. Best story 2024:

Cherry Magic (Thai remake). I know, but it worked just as well in another country, if not better. I always enjoy this kind of magical realism concept (after all Color Rush is one of my all time favorite BLs) and despite the increased length, the pacing was solid on this one... even from Thailand.

8. Best narrative structure 2024 award:

Love For Love's Sake. A KBL isekai about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness. I drowned in this show and liked it that way.

9. Best 2024 dialogue (script) award:

We Are, it was just so much fun. And so FUNNY.

10. Favorite scene 2024:

Like anyone needed to ask. Unknown, of course.

11. The most rewatchable BL of 2024 award:

We Are

It's just all the couples are so cute and the core friendship group is so charming and endearing.

ACTORS & CHARACTERS AWARDS

12. Best performance of a queer actor in a leading role:

no award this year, yeah the whole damn industry should be thoroughly ashamed of itself

13. Best pining 2024:

The Time of Fever. That feeding him orange while lying on the floor scene ALONE.

14. Best wingman 2024 (The Namgoong Award)

Yai in The Sign.

15. Biggest OMG I LOVE you boys together, YAY!

SailubPon from Pit Babe & This Love Doesn't Have Longbeans, from the softness of one to the health code violations of the other. Sure their shows are bonkers, but man are these two good at bonkers (and bonking).

With a nod to BigPark from Monster Next Door.

16. Most unexpected return of a BL pair? award:

OffGun. There were rumors that Off was out at the beginning of 2023. And then they came back with 2 shows in 2024 (Cooking Crush and The Trainee)!

17. Well aren't you two just the prettiest? award:

I dithered a lot (Babe's damn waist and OMG The Sign's sex scenes hawt), but in the end it had to go to GreatInn. They were just so good at showing their characters having FUN together. There is a lot of beauty in enjoying sex and another person's company. It's so rare to see that portrayed in a BL (and it shouldn't be rare).

18. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

I'm actually giving it to OffGun. Ya know, where others falter, these two just keep going. It's kinda amazing.

RANDOM PICKS

19. Favorite Linguistic Moment of 2024:

The general flirtatious banter from Last Twilight.

20. Biggest disappointment of 2024:

Addicted Heroin (Thai version). Some of the very best original material + one of my favorite Thai actors (who I've been waiting eons to see in a BL again) and THIS was the result? They could have fixed China's worst BL mistake, instead the made everything worse. I'm gonna be bitter for a really really long time.

I gotta sat The Only One comes a real close second tho. And I'm still mad about Last Twilight, too.

21. Best Wardrobe/Prop Use 2023

Meet You At The Blossom - I love a pretty boy pissing contest over who has the biggest sleeves. Twirl you beautiful bastards, TWIRL!

22. Best Queer Rep 2024

Again, not great this year. I loved the fun sex and play in Wandee, but there were precious few femme characters, and in general it felt like we took some steps back from queerness this year. So I'm gonna give it to Deep Night, because at least they gave us honest poly for the first time.

23. Best Meta Trope call out

Love for Love Sake - Korea taking to task the Dead Fish Kiss when they are often the worst offender was...... amusing.

But Deep Night having male sex workers having to act like they were in a BL for a couple chicks...... literally gay for pay depicting gay for pay and just, well, that's frankly a gut punch. There was some sarcastic clapping on my side of the screen.

24. Well aren't you getting all Live Action Yaoi retro with your bad self?

Dominant Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave gets my vintage af award. I flipping LOVED it. Would I recommend it? Only if you, yourself, are a bit vintage.

Final question: which of the 24 was the hardest for me to pick?

20 Biggest disappointment of 2024. Look I had some pretty high expectations of some returning pairs, some great ideas, and some intriguing remakes. 2024 was full of disappointments.

2022's Version of the Quirkies

2023's Version of the Quirkies

Remember I only pull from shows that were completely finished by the end of 2024.

(source)

[mono-blogs-art]

23.5 - Sapphic Highschool Fluff Done Right

You'd think that a "classic highschool romance" is easy to do - but sometimes what seems easy takes a lot of effort to pull off right. 23.5 is simple, silly, lovingly crafted fluffy excellence with a fantastic cast and will give you butterflies like you didn't expect it to! Here's my full review - totally spoiler free this time!

Summary: Overall: 9/10 - I really, really loved it! Genre: Highschool Rom-Com Watch if you're looking for...: tooth-achingly sweet fluff, a wonderfully diverse and well-developed queer ensemble, a classic teen rom-com that will still get you in your feels Watch out for...: no warnings necessary Length: 12 episodes averaging about 45 mins each Where to watch: GMMTV's YouTube channel, all episodes are available with subs in multiple languages!

Full title "23.5 องศาที่โลกเอียง" (The Earth's Axis Tilts by 23.5 Degrees), based on the novel of the same name by author Blue, the show strides new territory as production company GMMTV's first major lesbian/GL show. It stars "Milk" Pansa Vosbein and "Love" Pattranite Limpatiyakorn, who have previously played sapphic side couples together on other GMMTV shows and now get their time to shine as 23.5's main characters.

Ongsa just moved from Phuket to Bangkok and knows no one at her new highschool - except her older sister, her weird cousin, and Sun, a girl in her new class who she's had a crush on for months. While incredibly awkward in real life, Ongsa's online persona "Earth" is able to communicate with Sun effortlessly and soon, Sun falls for Earth - thinking it's a guy, and not knowing that it's actually Ongsa. At the same time, Ongsa and Sun get closer at school as they try to revive the school's astronomy club with their friends.

If I could just sum up the show in one word it would be silly. It's funny, cute, and whimsical like you'd expect what happens when you revolve around a mostly nerdy and/or awkward cast of teenagers. There are tons of goofy sound effects, cute music ("Tilt", the shows opening title sequence, is the best opening of any GL show I've watched this year), and we get all the classic teen rom-com tropes happening. Just gayer. It was cringey in some parts - mainly why I feel like I can only give this show a 9/10 - but inoffensive to me and I still really enjoyed it.

Ongsa: One of the strongest points this show has is that it has an excellent heroine - Ongsa is incredibly fun and relatable. Whether it's watching her spiral when she gets into something too deep, or fearing for her as she traps herself in an increasingly greater net of lies, she's entertaining and captivating and I found myself really rooting for her through it all. Her decisions feel real and even when she fucks up, you can't help but want to help her. She's kind, but incredibly scared and cowardly too. Milk is great at physical acting, it really makes Ongsa feel like this awkward, lanky teen that wishes nothing more than to have a quiet life but keeps getting into Situations™️. She's just a baby closeted lesbian stuck between her first romantic feelings and the pressure of everyday highschool life, and badly equipped to handle either of those things. Even though she has no idea what she's doing, ever, ultimately she decides to be better and admit that she needs to work on herself, for herself. Ongsa is one of my favourite protagonists of this year, and I think she really deserves it.

Sun: Much like her namesake, Sun is a ray of sunshine. She's popular, pretty, smart, and kind to everyone, not to forget confident and selfless. Also, she drives a cute yellow scooter. You immediately understand why Ongsa has a huge crush on her: she's the classic crush in any highschool rom-com. In the beginning, that's all we really see of her - the way Ongsa sees her through her rose-tinted glasses. But what really makes Sun interesting is what we see in the second half of the series. When things start to go wrong, Sun starts to really open up and becomes touchable. She's easily jealous, irritable, and a bit of a crybaby. Just like Ongsa, communication is hard for her (even if she is doing marginally better than Ongsa), but unlike Ongsa, she thinks she's straight. Seeing her start to put 2 and 2 together about her feelings towards Ongsa is wonderful to watch, and I could watch her little face of queer joy any day on my screen. Sun's side of the story is given just as much thought as Ongsa's is and I'm incredibly happy that we got to see it. She's just too damn cute!!

Side Characters: In my opinion, 23.5 especially shines in its supporting characters - and this is never more true than with Aylin. I think I'm not exaggerating when I say you should watch this show just for her, because she's the best character of the show. I off-handedly referred to her in my summary as Ongsa's "weird cousin" but Aylin honestly deserves an entire essay of her own - I love her so much. Aylin is alone, and she's alright with it. The only people she talks to is her family, and she refers to everyone simply as "human". Aylin is obsessed with finding aliens and spends all of her time with her gadgets trying to receive signals or crafting and researching in her room. She involuntarily gets dragged into Ongsa's love troubles as she becomes her confidant, and although Aylin is stand-off-ish at first she begins to really start caring about Ongsa and the others. What I like about Aylin is that her loner nature or strange hobbies aren't mocked or fixed by the show, she only expands into unfamiliar territories she was too scared or hurt to do before. She starts making friends, she starts sharing her interests, and she falls in love.

Other than Aylin, the most fleshed-out side character is Alpha, Ongsa's older sister. Her little arc of trying to take care of her sister and her younger cousin but also being frustrated at always being left in the dark was nice. Alpha's friends from the student council - Marwin, Ton, and Luna - are also fun, especially Luna, who gets her own sideplot as the first person to befriend Aylin. In Ongsa's class, we also have Tin and Charoen as her first friends at the new school, who quickly figure out that she likes Sun and support her. Each character is distinct and meshes well into the ensemble. And having so many fun characters together makes the show lively and feel real.

I could not leave this review without talking about the side couples. And we get 2 entirely separate sapphic sidestories, additional to OngsaSun's main story.

Nida, Ongsa's English teacher, and Bambam, who is the astronomy club's supervisor, have their own little romance when the kids are asleep. Although both of them are adults, the characters are goofy enough to still fit well into the show's tone - and they are just so stupid and CUTE. I was utterly obsessed with their scenes and I'm glad we got to see them. The actresses are also both trans, so to have a middle-aged, sapphic sideplot about two trans women was heavenly. I could watch a show just about them.

I could say the same thing about the other secondary romance plot, which revolves around Aylin and Luna. In a really interesting way, they are the mirror pair to Ongsa & Sun, fulfilling the Popular Girl X Weird Girl trope, but the dynamic is completely different. Seeing Luna claw her way into Aylin's heart and then have Aylin come out by herself and let Luna in all the way was just kind of a show-stealer. Whenever we got to the two of them, I got giddy. Not to bash OngsaSun in any way - but AylinLuna was my top pair of the show.

Visuals: 23.5 also looks great. The colors are nice, camerawork is good, and like I said, the opening title sequence is amazing also in visuals. It's the one I actually go back to watch and don't mind not skipping. The theme of the solar system, particularily for the Earth & Sun metaphors and the recurring alien theme give everything a nice framing and allows the characters to come together organically. I thought it was used pretty well. We've got so many space lesbians this year, man.

"Is it for me/you?" - Conclusion

Now I'm gonna be totally honest: I've been out of highschool and lost interest in highschool stories for a while, whether it's manga or dramas. I'm just not 17 anymore, and I don't need to revisit my own 17-y.o. drama via proxy. When 23.5 was recommended to me, I wasn't sure if I'd actually end up liking it. And don't get me wrong - although I'm not the target audience, that doesn't mean I don't love that shows like this exist. Quite the opposite actually. There always needs to be more queer stories told for all different kinds of demographics!

All that being said - I went in with low expectations and was blown away just how much I loved 23.5. It is so well made, characters are relatable and taken seriously by the narrative enough for everyone to enjoy, even if I don't have the problem of failing my classes anymore. While all things around highschool anxieties are discussed - your first love, first kiss, bullying, clique anxiety, and what you're going to do after graduating - and maybe that won't be relatable for you, I personally found it all packaged up nicely within the different stories of 23.5. Things like sex and homophobia don't really come up. So if you're looking for something spicier or more angsty, then I suggest you go looking elsewhere. For everyone who's on board though: I highly recommend giving 23.5 a try!

I've been extremely impressed with GMMTV's shows so far - I'm currently watching Pluto and impressed and obsessed with it - and so I'm already excited for Milk & Love's next projects together that have already been announced. 2025 is looking delicious, and I hope they can keep improving further. Until then, my time with 23.5 will remain in good memory.

Thanks for reading! Go enjoy watching, and if you do, leave me a message. Cheers!

^ me when I'm born swagless but forced to be a natural girlcharmer

[rinabirgul]

i am not a obsessive person

sent from my iphone

[spiltcandycoatedpunkblood]

so was that legitimately fake outrage at Watcher being "greedy capitalists" that people are now gonna go watch the try guys who are doing the exact same thing?? where's the outrage at their wealth and how they spend their money? why does Keith get people just watching him eat at expensive restaurants, but it's terrible seeing Steven go to expensive restaurants to eat food? it's got nothing to do with "the try guys did it better!!!" it's the fact that you got so outraged because of how much the economy is in shambles and people can barely afford food, let alone another streaming service, and now suddenly it's a great thing seeing the try guys be able to improve their situation with one!! I thought the whole point was that we didn't need another one!! what is it???

it's just obvious that they've both done similar things, but people are taking more issue with the creators of colour for daring to grow and move forward. EVEN AFTER THEY ALTERED THINGS AND GENUINELY APOLOGISED even whilst being fucking eviscerated online. and instead of being helped and understood by their white friends, they get fucking shaded by their friends with a sofa joke and "not to name names" bullshit

what is it with people of colour being left in the dirt by their white friends and/or costars???

[llamaisllama777]

THE DAILY*/WEEKLY* LAES,TSAMS,EAPS REVIEW SHOW!!!

Off the bat with an amazing episode.

I LOVED this episode. We're finally getting into all the trauma Moon has faced. Everything he's ever done. Everything he ever did. It's all coming back, and he's really not doing well. He was too afraid of Nexus to help Sun.

Moon was afraid. MOON. WAS. AFRAID.

I never thought I'd hear those words.

This episode also made me realize that Moon's sacrifice really did mean nothing! Moon died for nothing. Killcode got to live for a bit, but he still died. Moon's death led to the creation of New Moon/Nexus. If Moon had just accepted his killcode instead of trying to get rid of it, none of this would have happened. Moon's death really did do more harm than good.

Earth really came in clutch here. This was basically a pseudo-therapy episode. (I miss those episodes. Those episodes were always neat)

Earth, you say you may not know what to say sometimes or you don't know what to do but when you do you really do!

I'm also glad Earth and Monty are being more honest with the other cause they are really cute, and I want these characters to be happy.

NEXT EPISODE...

Jack and Sun? Hanging out? YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved this episode a lot, too. It's nice to Jack and Sun finally getting a chance to bond while Solar, Moon, and Monty battle the little barbershop of horrors plant outside. Sun and Jack actually make decent friends. I hope we get more of them hanging out and their dynamic. I loved how Jack finally was able to tell Sun that he felt threatened by Sun's friendship with Dazzle. I was hoping they would eventually talk that out, and I'm so glad it happened!

Things I learned in today's episode

1. Jack doesn't like ranged weapons like guns. (He likes throwing knives, though)

2. Jack has seen every James Bond film. Jack is a Bond fan.

3. Jack can kill a man with a pencil

4. Monty can build anything out of anything

Also, I really hope someone draws a picture of Jack dressed as V from V for Vendetta! Please, someone, draw that! I beg of the!

Also, I thought that scene where Jack was singing Walk the Moon's "Shut up and dance with me" when they were watching the ballroom fight scene from one John Wick movies

And lastly...

Welp. I'm glad they're friends. Shame it took the death of a kid for them to do so.

Jake was nice. He seemed so innocent. I actually felt super sad and worried when they said he died. I was like, "Oh no! Did the killer get to him?!" But no. He just passed..... I honestly think that's sadder for some reason.

Moon, Sun, and Eclipse are working through that loss, and I'm glad to see F.C. and Andrew are working through their own thing.

Yep, as I suspected F.C. is traumatized by what he saw. Seriously, Eclipse, a heads up would have been nice. I'm happy to see F.C. and Andrew get along. They have come a long way since well everything. I also thought it was funny when F.C. said he hated Andrew. I genuinely expected Andrew to be the one to hate F.C. not the other way around.

WE GOT A CLUE ON WHO THE KILLER COULD BE!!!

When F.c. and Andrew was leaving parts and service. Andrew found an open spray can of yellow paint.... the same yellow as the bunny suit the killer wore. The killer is indeed an employee or The Mimic (I will die on that hill till proven otherwise), so the Killer's suit isn't actually yellow, and he has access to the parts and service room. The Killer's identity is closer to being revealed! I. CAN'T. WAIT!

I loved today's episodes. Especially TLAES one.

12/10 👍👏

[catastrophicalcat]

I've been really hesitant to watch Harley Quinn since I first read reviews and TV tropes and didn't love its take on Catwoman. But now I'm sitting here binging the show in an attempt to power through work, and it's better than I expected, which is yet another lesson in giving the actual work a chance rather than attempting to judge it based on summaries or other people's perceptions of it.

P.S. Still super annoyed about Selina in Caper Crusader though!

P.P.S. Haven't gotten to S3 of HQ so maybe I will change my mind lol

[mrsreinhart]

They’ve took Hal & Harper off of Letterboxd 😔

[archiveofliterature]

ppl are like "rf kuang uses a lot of telling" okay but are you listening? and would you have listened if she had done what you prefer and shown practically everything?

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Please pray for me as I attempt to get 3 SSRs in 2 weeks with 60 pulls saved up 🥲

UPDATE:

BOOM SHAKALAKA!!!

[nanoa1foryou]

The artist I saw the most times live this year was Jambo, and can I just say, Jamiblr, y'all don't know how desperately we need that live album. His live arrangements are so wild.

Guitar solos. Weird offbeat dance breaks and outros. Fröbelin palikat break. A lot more drums. A lot more bass too.

The band is a good look on him.

[giuhina]

Just finished watching chernobyl(hbo), really enjoyed it. The show really makes us realize the crazyness of this world we're living in. Why is the power of a country, the hegemony of a ideology, more important than the lives of the population living in it? Lies made Chernobyl the disaster it was, just to prove the greatness of the soviet union, but actually showed the flawed system of a secretive country. Every government should care for their inhabitants but, as seen in the series, they dont want to focus on it, its never their priority and this was one of the elements which resulted in the end of the ussr. All of this inertia, present in the delay of the evacuation and many other aspects of the disaster, is still existent nowadays when we see people suffering on the streets and there are no political actions to correct this misery. For me, all of this, besides telling the history of the disaster, reminds us of the reality we are, unfortunetly, living, full of injustice and absolutely no care for the people who make society work.

[dandelion-network]

Review: The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

You know what the world needs more of? Unhinged women of color who commit murder and cannibalism. Additionally, the spot on commentary on race, racism, fetishization of Asian women, and misogyny. What a read.

This book isn't that long so it goes rather fast and that worked in its favor. I really liked how Kim gave us examples of how manipulative Ji-Won has been in the past with people she cares about so when she manipulates people in the present, it feels incredibly in-character.

There's also these moments where Ji-Won tells us she's worried or shocked or anxious in interactions with people in specific scenes but her face is completely devoid of emotion. So to the people she's speaking with, to them she's stoic and in control, but we as the reader know this woman is slowly descending into eye-eating madness.

I had a lot of fun being in Ji-Won's vengeful head.

[pluurankeli]

I don’t know why a certain type of guy claims to love anime so much when everything they seem to get from it are the power fantasy and waifu titties

[lady0lunamoon]

Okay! My honest opinion on "Miraculous World: Paris"?

It was AMAZING!!!!

Lot's of action, some funny moments, very emotional and lots of tension!

One thing I especially love is how the Special wastes absolutely no time with getting straight into the action!

Something I hate about many movies is how they just waste so much time setting up the plot that by the time it finally gets to the good stuff, half the movie is already over!

The writers really have my respect for not doing that here! After the opening, they waste no time and immediately get straight to the actual plot!

Another thing i really love about the special is the way they handled Shadybug and Claw Noir!

I kept saying that Shady and Claw have the potential to become the best Miraculous villains ever, even if they get redeemed, and as far as I'm concerned, i was totally right about that because these two are officially my favorite Miraculous villains!!! 🖤

[WARNING!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!]

For one, I love villains like Shadybug who are driven by a desire to not be hurt anymore!

I felt so bad for her when she cried while reading Marinette's diary! 😢

And I found it so touching how she first acted cold and rude towards Sabine but quickly backtracked on her attitude, when Sabine continued to speak kindly to her!

It showed that Shadybug wished she'd have a loving mother like that and she'd actually be grateful for it!

I am truly touched by how vurnerable she looked throughout that entire scene!

💔💔💔

🖤And I absolutely love how sassy and unhinged Claw Noir is!🖤

The guy freaking cataclysmed himself ON PURPOSE FOR NO APPEARANT REASON!!

At least I can't think of a reason why he did that! And even while cataclysmed, he still managed to put up one heck of a fight throughout the entire special!!

And It's very interesting how his motivation is a lot like Monarch's, but at the same time not!

Claw Noir does want his mother back, but he seems more hurt by the fact that his father doesn't seem as upset as he is!

Although it's not that hard to read the signs that Shadyverse!Gabriel infact is impacted by his wife's death!

If I had to guess, it looks very much like Claw THOUGHT his father easily moved on and continued to focus on his work as a fashion designer and forgot about Emily, while what he was really doing was using the butterfly miraculous to create superheroes and trying to stop the Supreme, most likely to create a safe world for their son!

I also love how both Shady and Claw wear different masks to hide their sadness : Shadybug acts cold and unfeeling while Claw Noir is more outgoing and unhinged! Claw is basically that one character who is a little b*tch but is just too charismatic to hate!

[SPOILERS OVER]

There might've been a few things I had hoped to see in the special that weren't there, but that's okay because a lack of one or two good possible elements is still better than the presence of multiple bad elements — which mind you was NOT present in this special at all!

The show often has some moments that really made me cringe, but I couldn't find a SINGLE bad moment in this special!

[SPOILERS]

So the fact that we didn't get much personal father-son drama between Batterfly and Claw Noir (Which was justified since, contrary to what i assumed, they don't know each others secret identities) or the fact that neither CelesteCat's white suit and hair nore Claw Noir's giant Cataclysm triggered Ladybug's Chat Blanc PTSD (because we don't talk about this enough in Season 5) don't bother me much!

My worries about Ubiquity, despite being featured heavily in promotional material, barely appearing in the actual special (because she only had one appearence in all the trailers) were also put to rest! Even though Alya isn't Ubiqity for long at first, she still gets turned back into her a few times! Giving her enough screentime that I see no reason to get mad over her being promoted so much even though she doesn't actually stick around throughout the entire special!

[SPOILERS END]

Whoever says this show lost it's touch should definetly watch this!

Which is another little meta detail I really love in this special :

'Hope' is a central theme in the special, and it was so good that it also gave me hope that the show can return to it's former glory!

Despite a lot of controversy surrounding the show for quite a while now, this special proves that, just like Shadybug, Claw Noir and Batterfly's world, the show itself can also still be saved!