#thai lakorn stuff

[gunsatthaphan]

#keep your enemies closer but only if they're clowns.

[sailorjisunq]

the girls of 23,5

[pharawee]

Today during their line-up for 2025 One31 announced "Love Carved in the Moonlight", a new historical BL with Pearl Satjakorn (Laws of Attraction) and Peak Peemapol (Make It Right), and the pilot trailer is glorious.

Oh, and then there's:

A NEW DAOUOFFROAD BL (aaaaaaa!) as part of the same line-up event. Let 2025 be the year of partners in crime BL! 🙌

[dropthedemiurge]

There was a coup show in my country today, u know, mad insane violent people trying to bite and scare each other without care for normal people, steadily but surely erasing our hope for future

And there's me, still thinking about my silly little gay men in their silly little thai shows that say that we just have to be kind to each other and ourselves amidst the madness that is world

[yourstormthlaylirahh]

.

[absolutebl]

BLs with Strong Historical Elements

Costume dramas, historical BLs, and BLs with time travel or flashbacks to historical locations & times.

These are in order of my personal preference, best at the top.

I Feel You Linger in the Air

2023 Thailand

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). It's about a gay man from our time who falls into the past, becomes a servant to a noble house, and falls in love with the heir. It turns out this has all happened several times before. Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but not as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy soulmates BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and as individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show could easily have earned a 10/10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls in the final quarter. Argh. Whatever.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding

2021 Korea - WeTV

A boy cross-dresses to take his runaway sister's place as a bride to a shy scholar, turns out they like being married. A historical setting allowed this BL to use some seriously old fashioned romance tropes (arranged marriage, evil step-sisters, Cinderfella) but also modern BL stylings like fake relationship & secret identity (drag) plus some cute gay panic. It reminded me of 12th Night more than anything else which just happens to be my favorite Shakespeare play. For all these reasons, I adored it.

(the ghat kiss!)

Tinted With You

2022 Korea - Viki

Fun stylish time travel meets portal fantasy with a likable cast, historical setting, and two actual kisses that mitigate the rough plot and issues around anachronisms.

Word of Honor

2021 China (censored) - Viki/YouTube?

I don’t rec Chinese stuff often, because I believe in censoring the censors, but this show is one of my favorites of the post 2016 censored bromances. It’s two murder-gay assassins (pining sunshine/tsundere), and they are so insanely gay for two boys who will never be allowed to kiss. Tropes include: wuxia, soulmates, paranormal, historical, and fantasy elements.

To Sir, With Love AKA Khun Chai

2022 Thailand - YouTube?

This is a true lakorn (basically Thai tellenovella or soap opera) with scenery chewing performances, especially from the mother characters. Gone With the Wind + Days of Our Lives but gay. That said? I loved it: A glorious central brother relationship (the best, made me cry), het romances, class divide + gay *gasp* main romance - oh my word, the campy drama of it all! Arranged marriage, rebellion, cut sleeves, over-the-top death with curses and regrets, beautiful if inaccurate costumes, secrets unraveling, cover ups, sparkle murder, sex herbs, coils within coils including snakes and murderous green metallic sequins (is anything gayer on this earth?). It’s a WILD ride but it does end happy for our gay boys. A man cries when he finds DEATH GLITTER. Come on! You haffa watch it. That said, like Manner of Death I struggle to rate something on a BL scale when it patently isn’t a BL. So I ended up giving this exactly what I gave that show, 7/10 I enjoyed it a whole lot, but not as a BL.

The Untamed (Special BL Edition)

2020 China (censored) - YouTube

Censored wuxia bromance, amorphous ending. Probubly the best known BL of its kind out of China and responsible for bring many fans to the BL side.

Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go

2023 Thailand - YouTube

I was nervous to watch this PondPhuwin vehicle but I liked it a lot! Doomed soulmates + paranormal time travel to fix the past. I’m happy for the outfits and the dancing (if not the singing). It’s not a bad premise and it’s nice to see GMMTV lean into its high production values for a change. I'd adore a full historical starring these two and this was definitely the best of the second series of Our Skyy. I don't think you have to have watched the original Never Let Me Go to enjoy this.

Legend of Long Yang: Rebirth

2017 China

Gaga

Whipping boy trope... literally, servant character takes the strap for the prince, who then makes him his bodyguard and lover when he becomes king. Low budget historical, comes off as kind of cosplay wuxia version of Irresistible Love, but we get (in the credits) an actual kiss, and they both live. So yay for small mercies.

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner

2023 Korea (historical flash backs)

iQIYI

A new employee at a film company encounters a director who claims to have lived 300 years and insists that they have to date (eat, hug & kiss) if baby doesn't want to die. It has a lot of Japanese elements, not the least of which are: an office setting, the fact that every character in this show is unhinged, and a killing of the gays. Featuring a gorgeous & stellar cast, TDWBMD should have utilized them less for melodrama and more for chemistry. This BL surprised me by going there with a lipstick mark AND an actually gay idol. But (you knew there was a but) while it's a unique twist on an office romance it is NOT a unique twist on the doomed red thread trope, resulting in it feeling less than the sum of its parts and ultimately unsatisfying. This might have also had to do with the fact that this was one of those KBLs where I felt how very short it was the whole time I was watching, like I was missing something constantly, in every episode. Worth watching for some but seriously flawed.

First Love Again

2022 Korea (historical flash backs) - Viki

A popular novelist who remembers his past lives meets his soulmate for the third time, only to find she has been reincarnated into the body of a man. This one started out a touch mean-spirited, but we eventually got a good kiss. The confession/rejection scene was justified and the reconciliation and ending was... fine. All in all, the pacing felt rushed and the romantic arc was underdeveloped. They go from like to love to boyfriends in a red hot minute. But that’s par for the course with Korea’s short form. If you don’t mind a heavy does of melodrama in your BL this one has a solid story with a strong concept that’s well acted and produced, making it a classic KBL with better than average chemistry but ultimately a touch forgettable.

Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush

2022 Korea

This show was all over the place with uneven acting, narrative, and focus (sometimes it wanted to be a slapstick comedy, sometimes a depressing melodrama) which meant no one, actors or viewers, took anyone or anything seriously.... AND it’s a bromance. I was left wondering if SalHyung is now code for “they were roommates” in Kdrama historicals but otherwise largely apathetic and unimpressed. Korea, I now know you can do better. Do better.

Mermaid's Jade

2019 China (censored-esk) - Gaga

Kills the gay.

The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao

2016 China - Gaga

Kills the gay. Schrodinger's BL, both a BL and entirely not one at the same time.

Diary of Heong Yeong Dang

2014 Korea

Kills the Gay

I was gonna do a top 10 list, but there aren't enough by my metrics, so many end sadly.

This post at the behest of @verymuchof thank you for the idea!

Dated April 2023, includes only BLs that had finished their run by that date. Not responsible for cool costume flix that come after that. But you should check the comments to see if any have been added by others!

I might have missed a few that only have time historical elements since I don't always track those.

Also I would like to point out a decided lack of Japan on this list. My ninja yaoi consuming tiny past self is VERY upset about this void.

WHERE ARE MY GAY NINJAS??!!!

(source)

[waitmyturtles]

hiiii turtles 👋 i love reading all your critical posts about gmmtv and their business models. just wanna share one interesting information about the recent lineup. maker y - a popular production company that usually only makes series for CH3 (like parbdee for gmmtv) is announced to be the production company behind My Magic Prophecy (JimmySea medical drama). Unlike GMMTV which has no trouble finding sponsors, CH3 has too much trouble finding sponsors and their stuff hitting low ratings these days -> so many of their filmed lakorns are just shelved and I think it's leading to this state where CH3's usual go-to production company branches out to find more works/projects. i just thought it's interesting to share since you mentioned CH3 in one of your answers 😅

HI @clairedaring! Wow, thanks for dropping this in my inbox! (Hey @flowerbeasblog, this might be something you're interested in!)

Okay, so this is interesting. Channel 3's stuff (mostly het, mostly mainstream) isn't rating well these days... but I always have to remind myself that comparing those ratings to GMMTV's shows' ratings isn't fair, because GMMTV is so niche and small-market. (I use @flowerbeasblog excellent ratings guides to understand this context!)

But still, Channel 3 is shelving shows.... and that's interesting, I wish we knew why. I can't imagine GMMTV being the channel that's gaining market share against them, since GMMTV is so small. Competition with One31, maybe? And intense streaming competition, as well. I'd love to know more behind this, I should research it.

So what you're positing, @clairedaring, is really the continued growth of the soft power of QL in the Thai production market place. If QL is a genre that continues to grow, and production companies are losing business with major mainstream channels, to the smaller channels they'll go, and that includes GMMTV/GMM25. Super fascinating. We are seeing that power emanate in real time!

Re: the sponsorships -- I read in Dr. Thomas Baudinette's "Boys Love Media in Thailand" that early Thai BLs, while not modeled on the lakorn scripting structure, were indeed intended to be modeled on the in-show sponsorships that many lakorns featured. So I wonder if the huge growth of QLs in Thailand has also affected the advertising market place, leaving mainstream channels struggling more than they used to.

I love talking about this business stuff! Thanks so much, @clairedaring, for letting me know about this piece of news!

[ineffable-opinions]

Top 20 BL Live-action of 2024

Here are the top 20 of 2024: live-action BL that I watched and enjoyed this year. I haven't watched everything that came out this year (I'm saving up some for the upcoming year) and did revisit a lot of older stuff (not listed) when there was nothing enjoyable to watch. This year, I realized that I am able to tolerate, if not enjoy, when I'm not too familiar with the content it is adapted from with some exceptions. I don't treat BL like fables or life lessons. I don't bother with moral validation from the choice of media I consume either. But there are certain real-world killjoys in media that may affect my enjoyment, like what happened with The Sign. Please feel free to ask for content warning.

20. Love Is a Poison - This series made my wish to see Hama Shogo in a BL come true. I loved his character in Koisenu Futari (2022) and wanted more of his character’s interaction with Takahashi Issei’s character. Also, the series leaned into the surreal with the squealing, sparkling succulents. While the legal drama part of the series was light, it was the first time I was invested in the character’s careers since Beloved Enemy (2017) [which is going to have a Thai remake/adaptation]. I absolutely enjoyed the dynamics of a neo-super-darling seme paired with a devoted, kuudere uke. But, I wish there were fewer flashback/compilation scenes.

19. Unknown - I never thought Priest’s Da Ge will become something like this. I am impressed by the meticulous cultivation that source material underwent. That little carp really crossed the gate to become a dragon. The Unknown managed to tone down the golden finger bits and keep things realistic to an extent, fit the whole business venture arc neatly into Taiwan’s SME-heavy capitalism. It fleshed out Le ge, and his relationship with both his underlings and his junior and made him interesting. It gave me one of my favorite mob characters in a BL – an ex-gangster with his blacked-out tattoos running a street food stall. In line with Taiwanese tradition, this series not only employed high BL literacy but also dedicated time to educate. (more on it here)

18. Cosmetic Playlover - I was hesitant to watch this show since I had enjoyed the first few volumes of manga and lost interest in later volumes. I knew they were going to censor the hell out of the first volume. While I am still bitter about that fact, I still enjoyed the series.

17. Love is Better the Second Time Around - this had some of my favorite moments from a BL - two-faced seme employing all sorts of methods to seduce and ensnare the uke, return of the alone-at-the-railway-station trope, seme using helpless, feverish face and acting coquettish (some seriously charming gap moe), teasing a seme's seme (this one did it better than At 25:00 in Akasaka which fumbled it by choice) and kishōtenketsu - 4 part traditional East Asian narrative structure (which appeared in many series this year and the last) with family negotiation aiming at adoption reversal. (I wanted seme to recommend uke in his place to his native household - that way they can also get married, if and when it gets legalized.)

16. Living with Him – The reason why this series is on this list is pretty unique. I never understood Japanese focus and fetish of nape (the way navel is in south India) before this series. The camera managed to capture the uke's neck, especially when he had his head bent slightly, in a stunning manner. Overall, the camera language was very intimate without being bawdy, perfectly suitable for the domestic setting of this BL. I loved the series more than I did the manga.

15. Century of Love - Gave me Hindi serial style BL complete with a red cloth enveloping the main couple during their fated encounter. It is a lakorn, so that's to be expected. I felt that the pair's romance progressed at an uncharacteristically fast pace given the initial resistance. (In other words, I wanted their romance to progress slowly, like over 400 episodes.) I thoroughly enjoyed the characters including the villains.

14. Healing Thingyan – this BL from Myanmar is no longer available at SKY Production’s YouTube channel. I had a good time watching this BL set in a village in the context of New Year where friends become lovers after much hesitation and an interrupted confession from the year before. My heart was pounding when the couple poured water over the left side because that's where their hearts are at. Also, the religious restriction (I am a little weak to this trope) to physical intimacy as a tactic to skip kiss scene - I would have been irked if it wasn't for the execution - the couple standing under arching bamboo, wearing sarong and acting all sweet. It is set in 2019. Later, I came to know that allegedly (I would appreciate if someone can help me gain more clarity on this matter), SKY production could be a proxy of 7th Sense Creation, an entertainment company cofounded by Kin Thiri Thet, daughter of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces and Acting President against whom the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed an application for an arrest warrant, alleging his involvement in crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya population. (source))

13. The Time of Fever - I'm not very sure if this one can be considered a complete story in itself but even if not, it is immensely satisfying. Age-blind casting shouldn't have worked so well but it did. 

12. Gray Shelter - this one made me feel as though I read a nice short story or a novel. It was viscous like honey, the way such types of Korean BL novels (like Picked Up In Winter) tend to be. It had a very masculine vibe with underlying unease of depending and being depended on. 

11. Hitochigai kara Hajimaru Koi mo Aru aka Love Can Sometimes Start with the Wrong Person [fansubs available at Drama Otaku] - substitute lover trope but this time the substitute is two-faced. Everyone has their own agenda but this love is a zero-sum game. (I wanted 3p ending though – not possible since one actor is playing both the twins). I loved all the scheming and all those little lies. This one had explicit use of BL terms like seme and uke by a main character.

10. Perfect Propose - workplace that brings workers to tears, corporate slave uke who decides to quit (without starting a job hunt 😔) and an untethered seme who grows hydroponics tomatoes in their balcony. It is adapted from a single volume manga and not a novel, yet it uses every minute it's got to make you feel ALL THAT. 

9. High School Return of a Gangster - I was sad that they meant it as a bromance and worried for the future of BL creation in South Korea since it was Number Three Pictures, the company that created popular BL Unintentional Love Story and The Time of Fever, by its own admission struggling financially with limited recovery of production costs (more on this here). When I started watching, I couldn't care any less about their intentions. It was an absolute delight. I was still immersed in the exhilaration of Aavesham (2024) and had wished to see such things in the context of a BL. And this one delivered. I was shipping the underboss with his main lackey (they have history between them and reminded me of the relationship between Ranga and Ambaan) at one point and the next moment, shipping him with his foxy classmate. The series toned down the bully-loves-bullied aspect in the novel, and humanized and contextualized the main bully with his life in the underbelly of the economy, so much so that I felt bad when the bullies were prosecuted (what will happen to Hong Jae-min's sister😟) while gangsters and the rich who hire them went scot-free in the live action. The face-slapping part left a bitter taste in my mouth with the secretary facing the brunt (and the misogyny embedded in the socio-economic fabric that breeds such hatred) while the father isn't retaliated against enough. I read and enjoyed the novel, but face-slapping was even more makjang. It is tough to get accepted in live action form as it is, in South Korea, since the gangster is middle-aged and it is only towards the end of the novel that the characters are finally out of high school, unlike in Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding with a significant age gap but both are adults and are in a Japanese BL. Gong (공, Korean for seme) (a suspected psychopath, raised under constant surveillance by his father) consciously falls in love with the middle-aged su (수, Korean for uke) inhabiting the body of a high schooler, going as far as visiting his previous residence and pursuing him as one would an old person. 

8. My Damn Business - From the first episode, this one had me hooked. Week after week, I was eagerly waiting for those 8 minute long episodes. It acknowledged the manhwa side of BL and hinted at their iconic smut pages (in a way New Employee live action couldn't). It executed stalking horse trope, with Park Min-jae (R. I. P) playing the stalking horse, in a manner that had me giddy with excitement. I also appreciate GND STUDIO for casting darker-skinned actors – in this one and in Fake Buddies. GND studio also has decent BL literacy as is evident from the above-mentioned series. In the third episode, Fake Buddies used the East Asian tradition of representing gay and lesbian relationships through rose (from barazoku (薔薇族)) and lily (from yurizoku (百合族)) respectively to hint at the BL and GL couple.

7. Boku to Boku ga Sukina Kare to, Kimi to aka Me, Him, and You [fansubs available at Drama Otaku]- Honestly, I didn't expect to be this impressed by this one going in. I had such low expectations. I absolutely love the pairing between Higashi Keisuke and Hiroki Iijima, much more than Higashi Keisuke and Nakajima Sota in Ossan no Pants ga Nandatte Ii Janai ka! and Hiroki Iijima and Inukai Atsuhiro in Our Dining Table. The series played with my heartstrings a lot. I fondly remember several of the scenes and all the emotions they evoked in me. At the end, there was a longing for something, maybe some more time with those characters, especially the model and his uncle. 

6. Pit Babe (2023) - omegaverse with enigma - Japan has like 1 manga but through PitBabe I discovered that enigma has become a popular secondary gender in Thai BL space. I love buff uke and I got one paired with a two-faced, loyal loser seme in this one. Super pretty villain, Tony, had me wishing for him to be an omega (I love megalomaniac omegas). I also enjoyed reading the book – every time it rained, that silent phone call, Babe's jealousy towards omegas, the suspense and the pregnancy scare.

5. Love Sea - MAME lifted me out of a BL slump with this one. I also enjoyed the GL pair a lot - there is nothing I like more than performative cuteness/winsomeness (കൊഞ്ചൽ konjal, aegyo, sajiao, kawaii) and benevolent sexism weaponized and employed for emotional manipulation. High EQ manipulators are so rare, my favourite type of yandere (especially when paired perfectly with someone who gets swept up in the moment easily, like Techno). I wonder why MAME doesn't write Janus-faced men that way too. And the men who perform winsomeness such as Tongrak, Kengkla and Tharn, when they do so, have motivations that aren’t Machiavellian enough.

4. Heavens x Candy - OP Pictures is bringing to screens BL that are otherwise tough to get made. This one explored otaku culture, loneliness, family and love through fan pilgrimages, cute and horrifying family dynamics, adult entertainment avenues and love hotels with those transparent walls of bathrooms. It healed my heart after the blow dealt by I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama. 

3. Love Syndrome: The Beginning – I didn't expect this but I'm glad to have received it. I want more but now that the director, F Nontapat Sriwichai, has passed away, I don't expect anything anymore. If only his legacy would inspire someone with the ability and mettle. I prefer meriba endings over happy endings. So, when Love Syndrome III was the first to get an adaptation, I was drawn into Yeonim’s universe. The movie focuses on Gear and Night’s relationship and spends relatively less time on Day and Itt. Yet, it is not hesitant to portray the beginning of their relationships, especially the eroticized violence and the morbid conditioning (調教), showcasing exceptional BL literacy.

2. Kubi (2023) – [Fan-subs] I must praise the excellent production quality before anything else. It is about multiple legendary figures in Japanese history such as Oda Nobunaga, Araki Murashige, Akechi Mitsuhide, Mori Ranmaru and Yasuke. The movie has historically accurate ending with specifics changed to fit the narrative. It is based on Honno-ji Incident and Battle of Yamazaki. Those who died then, dies in the movie too but who killed who and why are fictional. (meta here)

1. Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (2023) – this one and Kubi came out last year but I got the chance to watch them only this year. Thanks to fan subs by @furritsubs. I read and re-read those chapters from the novel and I'm still basking in the magic of Shinobu Gotoh's storytelling. First time since Unni R's story and screenplay for Charlie (2015), I got immersed in a love story where the couple barely even interact and the romance unfolds in a thriller-like fashion. While a lot of character motivation gets lost on the way in this live action, most important of them were impossible to miss when snow fluttered around in a bottle, when a delirious Takumi sought Gii in a crowded stairway landing and when Yoshizawa jumped out to stop Takabayashi from hurting. (ongoing meta series here)

-

• An iconic scene from bonus chapter 2 of The New Employee aka The New Recruit manhwa adaptation (web novel written by Moscareto and illustrated by Zec) ahead.

Gong comes home to find su in a sexy position at the doorway, fingering himself according to gong's instructions over phone.

[bl-recs-and-reviews]

Hellooo! May i ask your help for something rather silly? Hahahaha. The thing is that i have just finished my internship at a hospital, i was there for a full year, barely existing at all and without seeing my family nor friends, but now i'm a doctor yay. And before that, BL helped me so much with my mental health because it was so light and helped me clear my mind, but since july 2023, when i entered the hospital, i lost total connection with it and i wanted to see if you could tell me what happenned ever since hahahaha, what were your favorite series since then? was there some groundbreaking series like "I told the sunset about you" or "180 grades of solitude passes between us"? What happenned with GMMTV and their actors? like i used to know everyone on the agenda, and now i see that the 2025 pilots are on and i feel lost I used to have full knowledge of your schedules and the shows on air (thanks to you, also. You were my main source of recs) but now i don't know where to start. If you can help me it would mean the world to me :))

Hi anon!! Of course, I'd love to help. This message made me super happy :)

If this was your source of recs then it means the blog is working as it should. So it'll be a pleasure to help you ❤

First things first, welcome back! And congrats on becoming a doctor!

BL recs from July 2023 to now

A lot of things have happened. There's so much BL out there that you'll have to pick and choose what to see. So I'll give you my favorites and I'll highlight some that have gained attention and praise

BL-recs-and-reviews picks

Laws of Attraction

You might recognize them from the bl lakorn Khun Chai. They had a very nice comeback with this legal adventure (or however you wanna call it) show. It has a righteous mourning uncle, an unhinged and shameless lawyer and a very nice grandma. Nice side couple too. A crazy lawyer works together with a righteous man to get justice for the killing of the righetous man's niece.

Be My Favorite

You might already know this one. We were all pleasently surprised by Krist's BL comeback. A great show overall. It was one of the interesting ones that stood it's ground until the end from GMMtv. A man gets a time traveling decive and ends up getting a partner.

Taikan Yohou/My Personal Weatherman

One of my favorites of 2023. To this day I'm still obessing over them. A Must Watch. Japanese BL with BDSM dynamics between the leads. Great and amazing overall. If you don't know what to start with, start with this one! A porn manga artist cohabitates with a weatherman. He takes care of the house chores in exchange for not paying rent. And they have sex whenever it's sunny outside.

I Feel You Linger In The Air

This one has become a classic. It's historical, it has angst and it makes you feel things all the way through. An architect gets thrown into the past and falls for an aristocrat. Time travel and reincarnation stuff is happening.

Love in Translation

The first series that gave us the amazing pair that is DaouOffroad. Lakorn vibes with some iconic NC scenes. A chinese immigrant needs a Thai patner to open his conveniece shop, but they don't really like each other. Shenanigans ensue.

Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite mo ii / If it's with you (aka NaraKoi)

A nice and warm Japanese mini series. These two are the sweetest and cutest babies. They deserve everything. It's once again Japan doing its thing. Teenager love in a very fluffy way. A young gay boy moves to his grandmother's house and gives a chance to love when he meets the nicest local boy.

Utsukushii Kare Eternal - The Movie

If you're a fan of UtsuKare, know that the movie was released for international audiences. It was a great watch and a nice ending for this series.

7 Days Before Valentine

This one I think you might like. It's has the same director as 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us. Similarly not a lot of people watched it, but those who did had quite a treat. A supernatural being appears in front of our protagonist when he's heartbroken and tells him he can erase whomever he likes from this earth.

Ossan's Love Returns

Talented, Brilliant, Incredible, Amazing, Show stopping, Spectacular, Never the same, Totally unique. We LOVED this show. No need to have seen the first season to watch this one. Just about people and their relationships, and loving each other. Big BIG recommendation. Haruta and Maki have trouble adjusting to living together as a couple and end up getting a helper in the house, who just happens to be Chief Kurosawa.

Love for Love's Sake

Lately Korea has been doing great things. This was tiny show that broke and healed our hearts. Pain and happiness hand in hand, with a happy ending. Very deep messages about loving oneself and others. A guy enters a game where he has to make the main character happy.

Unkown

I haven't seen it yet but everybody was loving it on tumblr. It seems to be a solid show that nails the landing. We say "thank you Taiwan". The love story between two brothers (not by blood) who struggle with their feelings for one another.

25ji Akasaka de / At 25:00 in Akasaka

Another Highlight form Japan (am I biased?). It's got 2 emotionally stupid men feeling big feelings and hiding them constantly. Misunderstandings of the good kind and a satisfactory ending. It's so good. Two actors that used to be in the same Uni are now playing lovers in a show, and decide to pretend to be lovers to get into the roles.

Century of Love

We got DaouOffroad back at it again. Giving us a great lakorn-y fantasy show. With some iconic side characters and everything one can love and get from a reincarnation love story plot. A young man's lover dies protecting him on the night they were escaping her imposed marriage, so he uses the power of a goddess to stay alive for the next 100 years vowing to find her again and fulfill their love. Or he dies. But when he finally founds her, she is now a man.

Mr Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Another Japanese highlight. We got a great cast, great food, great characters, and a great plot. Great stuff overall. We have an age gap romance with a charming middle aged man and an earnest young man. A newbie magazine reporter gets to eat the food made by the renowned cook who's articles he's publishing. Feelings ensue.

4 Minutes

Another iconic show. It was the latest Be On Cloud project. Great production and interesting premise. The ending was a bit weak but it did give us some unforgetable scenes. Involving Bible's things. Pretty nice. A rich brat suddenly has the power to see 4 minutes into the future. There's also muder mysteries.

Happy Of The End

Japan being great again. Another one to the pile of unforgetables. This was such an amazing show. Sad hopeless people finding one another and giving each other a reason to live. A guy who sleeps around to live in his lovers's houses get beaten up by another dude and ends up deciding to follow him.

Jack & Joker

The long awaited return of YinWar. It ended recently, so you might be aware of it. Based on an MV they did a while ago they finally got to produce the series. Despite it not being perfect it was great and a fun time. Joke is a thief and cons naive Jack in his youth. Years later after getting out of prison he want to make it up to Jack, but he wants nothing from him and is now a ruthless debt collector.

Let Free The Curse of Taekwondo

The new series from the one and only Hwang Da Seul, Korea's bestest (to my star, etc). A show that had us stuck to the screen for weeks. Here we have a painful love story between two flawed people who despite their surrounding dificulties manage to find their little bubble of peace with each other.

Love In The Big City

This one is a rare thing from Korea. Based on an (almost?) autobiographic novel of the same name it shows us the love life of a gay man in Seoul, and the hardships that come with it. Pretty groundbreaking.

Other remarkable series from Thailand

Wedding Plan: a series from Mame, that has a very different vibe from her usual stuff.

La Pluie: A great show with an interesting side couple. I didn't love it all the way throught but it was a great production and has been widely discussed on tumblr. 🌟

Only Friends: you probably know of this one in one way or another. P'Jojo's show about messy gays. It gave a lot to talk about and everybody has different opinions on the ending. But, for me, the particular highlight was Neo's character, Boston. 🌟

Be Mine Superstar: If you're a fan of JaFirst, know that they did another show. It was cute but not as intense as their other stuff, with very different characters.

Naughty Babe: The long awaited story of MaxNat's couple from Cutie Pie. It was exacrly what was expected and had some iconic CGI and plot points xD

Twins: A less-known and smaller production. FrameRyan gave us great chemistry in a volleyball court with some questionable plot points. But hopefully we will see them again in something else. (also height gap)

Last Twilight: P'Aof's latest project. Looked very promising but the ending was very unsatisfactory. It did the rounds on tumblr but we were all left with a bitter taste in the mouth because of some plot choices.

The Sign: An ambitious project with fantasy and the police. Genres that require a thourough planning and might not have been totally up to the task. However, no other BL has had this type of mythological fantasy before and we got a lot of iconic characters, good and evil, and iconic butts in showers. BillyBabe are now a well know ship. A great watch too. 🌟

Pit Babe: The 1st live action Omegaverse! Wow, what a ride. It was a lot. The omegaverse traits were tweaked enough for it to work out. Unforgetable for many reasons. Pretty good. 🌟

Playboyy: This show was about sex workers and sex. And a dissappearance. I ddin't get to watch it but it was another one of those shows we won't forget for a while.

Cooking Crush: One of the 2 OffGun shows we got. It was cute and fluffy. Not my cup of tea but a lot of people seemed to like it.

Cherry Magic Thailand: The return of TaiNew. It was a great success and they managed to tell the story in a very Thai way, with some very funny scenes.

Dead Friend Forever: Be On Cloud's other project that was released. It shares a lot of its cast with 4minutes and we got a bunch of interesting pairs and actors from it. Drugs, murder and revenge. Interesting to say the least. 🌟

1000 Years Old: Another small production. Featuring a very nice vampire that only wants to find love and show off his umbrellas. It was very cute. Similar to IWKY in vibes.

Knock Knock Boys: Another show that made the rounds around tumblr. The couples were cute and we now love Almond and Latte. Recomended if you want nice fluffy times.

Love Sea: The show that features FortPeat (from LITA) as the main couple. It's adapted from a Mame novel so it has her usual tropes. I think it was overall liked.

The Trainee: The 2nd OffGun show we got this year. It was a great ride with a somewhat ok closure. Very nice way to learn about filming productions.

Two Worlds: Another show made by MaxNat, parallel dimensions, incurable sicknesses and gangsters. It was fun but also confusing. Had a bunch of nice parts.

I Saw You In My Dream: Small production with a bit of a supernatural plot. I haven't finished it yet but what I saw I liked.

The Hidden Moon: Another small production, that I think only one person I follow was posting about it. It has ghosts and supernatural stuff, and it seems to have been pretty great and emotional.

Monster Next Door: This show is a very traditional boys in uni type of show between an introvert and an extrovert. It gave us the pair BigPark who are now getting a second show.

Every You Every Me: Also finished recently it's a show that tells a lot of different love stories but with the same actors. Pretty interesting watch.

Other remarkable series from Japan

One room angel: A heartbreaking story of 2 people finding each other. An angel with no memories and a lowlife. It made us cry, and holds a special place in my heart. 🌟

I Became The Main Role in a BL: Cute, short and fun. Lots of pinning. The happy comedy version of At 25 in Akasaka

Perfect Propose: A cute show about an overworked salary man and his childhood friend who's crashing at his house. It was cute.

Cosmetic Playlover: The story between 2 make up artists and their rivalry turned love story. It had some nice moments, but isn't the best ever.

Takara's Treasure: This one also made the rounds on tumblr. Hiking, a social awkward junior in love with his cool senior. Cute overall, with some deep feelings as Japan knows how to do.

I Cannot Reach You/ Kimi ni wa Todokanai: A guy discovers his closest friend is in love with him and panics, but might also be ok with the idea. It was very cute and emotional. 🌟

Living with him: Two childhood friends who move in together to attend university. One has been in love since forever and the other is discovering feelings. Similar vibes to I Cannot Reach You. 🌟

Hidamari ga Kikoeru/I Hear the Sunspot: Had a solid start but kinda fell apart towards the end, sadly.

Other remarkable series from Korea

Sing My Crush: I haven't seen this yet, but I've seen it be praised over and over. Teens and music. It looks great. 🌟

Love Class s2: This one is not related to its first season, and it has a bunch of couples and a lot of iconic scenes. It is also pretty short.

Why R U Korea: I haven't seen this one yet either, and despite the low buget it seems it's pretty good.

They also have been doing a lot of reel format miniseries, and webseries like Blue Boys and Grey Shelter.

Other remarkable series from Taiwan

Kiseki: Dear to me: This was pretty talked about, the second couple ate.

First note of love: Cute, seen before faces making a comeback.

The on1y one: Made everyone insane. The ending was open, hoping for a second season. Some people were pissed.

Currently Airing

If you want a full schedule I recommend checking the website World of BL. Here are some of the series that are currently airing and that you probably have seen or will be seeing on your dash these days.

See Your Love (Taiwan) (cute and fluffy, pretty unserious)

Love in the air - Koi no Yokan (Japan) (it's a very nice remake and the second couple's story just started)

Caged Again (Thai) (they cuties of the month, animals that run human. We're having a blast)

Your Sky (Thai) (another pair of cuties, very fluff. Has a lot of people writing about it. Started recently)

The Heart Killers (Thai) (We are all OBSESSED. Do tune in, it's fun and silly. It's 10 Things I hate About You thai bl version, sort of)

Fourever You (Thai) (it has Earth and Bas)

Miseinen (Japan) (THE Japanese show right now. I am obsessed and we're all losing it every week)

Perfect 10 liners (Thai) (I don't even know why I'm watching but I'm watching, it's fun and lighthearted but will have too many episodes)

Spare Me Your Mercy (Thai) (Adapted from a Sammon novel, it's murder, euthanasia and gays. It just started and we're seated!)

Things that have happened since July 2023

I recommend checking the tag doreen's monthly bl breakdown where you will find, at the end of every post, the news of the month related to the BL industry. But here are some news I think are pertinent to recent days...

Big unforgettable stuff

The same sex marriage law passed in Thailand!

We're getting a second season of Pit Babe! And everyone is equaly curious and worried.

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 started as a very nice season until halfway through it went sideways because of an amnesia plot.

In a surprising turn of events Tul (from MaxTul who left for the US) and Mew (from TharnType) revealed they were dating and recently got engaged.

GMMTV actors stuff

JoongDunk (who I'm assuming you know of), our guys from Hidden Agenda (which was an ok show with some great scenes but a bit forgetable) have been getting a lot of traction are getting a lot of series. I am loving them in The Heart Killers.

There was a sudden transfer of most of the WabiSabi actors to GMMTV. BounPrem, Ohm and Sammy are there. GMMTV also took charge of some of their projects, like the vampire BounPrem one.

The couples in My Rommance Scammer are Ohm (form uwma) and Fluke (from My Ride), and JuniorMark (whothe side couple in Cherry Magic Th and are starring in Perfect 10 Liners.

Dangerous Romance looked promising but it got lost in itself and not even Chimon and Perth could save it. Unfortunately a disappointment. Also, Chimon is on leave for mental health issues, so now Perth is paired up with Santa (from My Only 12%). They're starring in Perfect 10 Liners (where Chimon was supposed to appear but not anymore) and have their own show for 2025: Love You Teacher.

The mains in GMMTV 2025 Head 2 Head, SeaKeen, debuted previously on Only Boo this year. And it was particularly well received, hence why they got a second show.

The main leads for Memoir of Rati are GreatInn who previously starred in Wandee Goodday. Solid start. Weak end. The highlight was the side couple with ThorFluke. Fluke is also starring in one of the stories of Mu Te Luv.

GeminiFourth, from MSP, did the Thai adaptation of My Love Mix Up Th but I think most of us dropped it halfway through.

Recently the show Kidnap ended, featuring Ohm with his new partner Leng. The show was silly and unserious but I think a lot of people dropped it. I didn't watch, but I think it had some success. They appear in GMMTV 2025's OF: Dream on and Mu Te Luv.

Singto is back in GMMtv and scheduled to have a show with Krist again called the Ex Morning.

P'New has made a bunch of show that were disappointing and for GMMTV he had made to ensemble shows: We Are and Perfect 10 Liners. Featuring a lot of couples. In We Are we had PondPhuwin, WinnySatang (from MSP, also have their own show in GMMTV2025), AouBoom, and MarcPoon. In Perfect 10 Liners we have BookForce, PerthSanta, JuniorMark and MarcPoon. Marc got paired up with Poon after the Pawin got accused of physical abuse.

We're still waiting on a lot of shows that were announce in GMMTV 2024's event, so I'm sure you can check the trailers of the ones that haven't been released yet. Or wait until we get the official trailers.

Domundi's stuff

Bed Friend was a success and we got the ship NetJames from it. Until James decided to pursue other things and Net is now with a new partner and they will appear in The Next Prince (the new ZeeNew show, with european royalty looks we're all looking forward to. Also Jimmy is back with a new partner too)

Middleman's Love and Battle of the Writers are 2 shows that starred TutorYim, who were a side couple in Cutie Pie. They've gotten pretty famous.

Other news

We were all hyped for the show Shadow, starring Singto and Fluke (from uwma). The first half was promising but iirc the second part was a little disappointing. I couldn't finish it due to Real Life interruptions.

Ohm (from uwma) starred in a show called Bake me Please, with Guide (who played a side character in I Feel You Linger in the Air) which was ok. In that show we also got to meet Poom, as the rejected second lead.

Poom was the main character of a show called My Stand In, paired with Up (from Lovely Writer) and they play the toxic love between a stunt man and a selfish rich guy.

Tunku Shower no longer exists, it became a different project. No we get our montly japanese bl throught different companies.

China dared to do Wuxia BL with Meet You At The Blossom.

Derived from the succes of Pit Babe, the side couple got they own show in This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans. It was okey.

Thailand did some more adaptations of other countries BL like Addicted Heroin Th. And a remake of Lovesick is still airing.

Ending remarks

If you made it until here, thank you for your patience. I had to do a lot of pick and chose, so I did not include any GL in this post. Just know that there is a lot of that going on too. There are a bunch of posts on tumblr with all the current and planned GLs, and I've reblogged some of them. If you're interested browse the tags #gl news or #gl stuff on my blog.

I think, despite everything, I managed to cover most of it. I'm sure there's some shows that I've missed and we might have different tastes on which shows are better or worse, so do check whatever chatches your fancy. My blurbs are very summarized so do check the pages on MDL or even the trailers if you're curious about them.

This is a lot on information so I hope it's not too overwhelming and it can help you get started on your journey back to BL .

Good luck! And enjoy!!

[lurkingshan]

10 Things I Love About Khun Chai

I did it, y’all. I watched my first lakorn, and let me tell you, I had a fucking fantastic time doing it. Now that’s not a blanket endorsement of the genre, because I understand Khun Chai aka To Sir, With Love is pretty unique, particularly in that it’s a period queer love story with a happy ending. But as a different kind of Thai drama than any I’d previously seen, it was truly a great watch.

It has some flaws, sure. It’s a soap opera, so melodrama, repetitive story beats, overdramatic acting, and slow pacing are par for the course. If you go in understanding that, you’ll be fine. And the episodes are long af but don’t be shy about increasing the playback speed - I watched a lot of it at 1.5x and it was perfectly smooth. Now that I’ve finished it, I think the time investment was totally worth it (@bengiyo my final rec - worth going back to finish! It worked better for me when I broke it up in chunks of 2-3 episodes at a time).

Without further ado, the top ten reasons I loved it:

1. TIAN MY BELOVED

Look at him. Just look at his beautiful traumatized face!! I hold that it’s impossible to watch this entire show and not come out absolutely loving this man. He is so believably flawed but at his core he is good. He is generous. He is loyal. He is brave. And he looks very good in a three piece suit.

Honestly I could do a whole top ten list just about Tian but let’s move on and give some love to the rest of the show.

2. Did I mention this is a PERIOD ROMANCE??!! Something we get so precious little of in bl. I asked @absolutebl a while back if they knew of any other Thai period bls, and this was the entire list. So good thing it’s excellent!

The show is set in the 1930s and 40s in Japanese-occupied Thailand, and it centers on a powerful Thai-Chinese family (currently leading a cooperative partnership of five families) and the power struggle over who will be the heir (Succession, but make it Asian and queer). The show digs into really interesting family structure, politics, and class struggle stuff.

3. The brotherly bond is unmatched and undefeated. The plot centers on two brothers, Tian and Yang, who love each other so much, like I cannot emphasize enough how willing these brothers are to protect and die for each other. If someone was shooting at them they would both try to dive in front of the bullet. Their bond is so touching and provides an emotional through line when the plot gets wacky.

4. The classic soap opera plots are truly brilliant, all your favorite tropes are here. This show has everything - family secrets, nefarious schemes, murderous maids, mystical poisons, faen fatales, even sex pollen! As I believe @ginnymoonbeam put it at one point - everything is happening so much all the time. It’s truly a delightful romp, especially after the halfway point when the plot machinations really kick into high gear.

5. The queer love story is the main romance and emotional heart of the show. There are actually two romances in this show - each of the brothers gets a love interest. And both of them are lovely. But rather than the typical move where a het drama features a queer side pairing, here the entire story is driven by Tian’s sexual identity, the burden placed on him to keep it a secret, and how increasingly impossible that becomes once he meets Jiu. Over the course of this show, we get to watch Tian fall in love and finally live his truth and see how that changes him. It’s truly beautiful, and the romance between Tian and Jiu is so sweet (and a bit racier than I expected - the show does not shy away from the sexual aspect of this relationship). The romance between Yang and Pin is also very sweet - they are adorable tbh - but entirely secondary.

6. Every frame of this show is absolutely gorgeous. The scenery is lush, the costumes are beautiful, the tailoring is impeccable, the hair and makeup never misses. It’s truly a feast for the eyes.

7. There are so many good female characters in this show, y’all! Tian and Yang have not one but 4 or 5 different mother figures. They are all flawed, complex, and a little nuts. They get up to so much trouble and drive a lot of the plot with their scheming, hijinks, and prolific wielding of murderous sparkle dust (don’t ask, you have to see it to understand). Pin, Tian’s would be fiancé turned sister-in-law, is a total sweetheart, but she’s also smart and fierce with a steel core and not afraid to tell her man when he’s being stupid. There’s even a lady boss at the head of one of the five families.

8. Relatedly, there is so much complex family drama in this show, and so many interesting dysfunctional parental relationships. @waitmyturtles you will have a field day when you finally get to watch this. Both brothers have fraught relationships with their various parent figures, for very different reasons. The various relationships and resentments that form between the wives and the sons in a polygamous family unit (did I mention that yet? there are three wives in the mix here and the brothers have different biological moms) are absolutely fascinating.

9. The resolution to the succession plot and ultimate defeat of the Big Bad was so satisfying. I won’t get into spoiler territory, but let me just say that the characters went through a lot together and to see the way they ultimately had to come together and let go of their baggage to survive was very cool. It felt earned.

10. IT ENDS WITH A BIG OLD HEAP OF GAY DOMESTIC BLISS!!! I will get into spoiler territory here because you deserve to know that if you put in the time to watch this show you will be rewarded with a very happy couple forming a family unit and living peacefully on their own terms. I was so pleased with this ending, I can’t even tell you. The final scenes made me cry real tears, I was so touched. And they even put a literal rainbow in the sky at the end. A literal rainbow! Come on!

Watch it, friends! It’s worth your time.

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: November 2024 ~ 

❄️ Happy December!!! 🎄

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Bad to Bed - November 2nd (Taiwan)

🌟 Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (remake of Love in the Air) - November 3rd (Japan)

🌟 Our Youth - November 5th (Japan)

🌟 Episode 9. Nineteen, Eighteen (special ep) - November 9th (South Korea)

🌟 Cityboy_Log - Volume 5 - November 12th (South Korea)

🌟 All the Liquors (movie) - November 13th (South Korea)

🌟 Caged Again - November 15th (Thailand)

🌟 Secret Love - November 16th (Thailand)

🌟 Your Sky - November 17th (Thailand)

🌟 Mhom Ped Sawan (bl side story) - November 17th (Thailand)

🌟 The Heart Killers - November 20th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring - November 20th (Thailand)

🌟 Actors High - November 21st (Japan)

🌟 Sweet Daddy - November 22nd (Cambodia)

🌟 Seoul Blues: Spin-off - November 24th (South Korea)

🌟 GMMTV 2025: Riding the Wave - November 26th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Spare Me Your Mercy - November 28th (Thailand)

Monthly Likes / Dislikes

❣️ After barely having any hope for this year's gmmtv event, I'm very pleased with the lineup. I'm looking forward to most of the announcements and they really managed to give us a few surprises. Only 2 lakorns and 18 BL/GL productions is definitely a new record lol, it looks like the str8s are going extinct. Thank god. Thumbs up!

❣️ Obviously I have to talk about THK, we are only on episode 2 but it's already owning my existence lol. I had lots of inhibitions about it being weird and cringe but I'm loving it so far. The good ol' jojo chaos is kicking in hard and yes it is silly and unserious but in the best way. It's everything I need right now. My 4 boys are all delivering the best they have to offer and I really hope the energy stays on that level. The show is getting a lot of hate and I understand why it's not for everyone but idgaf. They're just jealous bc their faves could never. 10/10 I'm obsessed.

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Heart Stain - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Exclusive Love - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Rearrange - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Gel Boys - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Buddy Or Bestdy (reality show by Y Entertainment to cast new BL actors) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Secret Relationships - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 The Killer Next Door - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 The Renovation - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Love Like a Bike (produced by AllThis Entertainment) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I'll Turn Back This Time (Meet You at the Blossom spinoff) - Date TBA (China)

🎥 Boxer - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Friend to Fan - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 When It Rains It Pours (manga adaption) - Date TBA (Japan)

🎥 Login - Date TBA (South Korea)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ This year's Thailand Headlines Person of the Year Awards were held on November 7th. The following BL actors/productions won:

Best Series: Only Friends

Best Actor: Khaotung Thanawat

Best Ship: FirstKhaotung

Most beloved on-screen duo: FirstKhaotung

Best OST: "Let's Try" by Khaotung Thanawat (Only Friends)

❗️ TeeTee Wanpichit  and Por Suppakarn were announced as the winners of the second season of Domundi's reality show DMD Friendship. The 2 actors will get to star in the company's next BL project. The title is still unknown.

❗️ A second season for the Thai BL Make a Wish was announced. The show aired in 2023 starring Fluke Natouch and Judo Tantachj. An airdate has not been announced.

❗️ After keeping the casting a secret for several weeks, Domundi has announced Big T. and Park A. as the leads in their upcoming series Me and Who. An airdate has not been announced.

❗️ Taiwanese twin-actors Xia De and Xia En (HIStory: Make Our Days Count) will star in an upcoming BL titled I Promise I Will Come Back, alongside Thai actor Tontae Tinnakorn. The production is a collaboration between Thailand and Taiwan and will air in 2025.

❗️ Japanese actor Keita Machida (Cherry Magic) was announced as the lead in the upcoming BL production 10Dance, alongside Ryoma Takeuchi. The movie is set to premiere in 2025 on Netflix.

❗️ StarHunter held their 2025 lineup event on November 12th. The following BL productions were announced:

Be My Soulmate (starring MosBank)

True Moon

Time Zone

Flirt Milk

❗️ GMMTV held their 2025 lineup event on November 26th. The following BL productions were announced:

Dare You to Death (starring JoongDunk)

Head 2 Head (starring SeaKeen, JavaSurf)

Burnout Syndrome (starring OffGunDew)

Only Friends: Dream On (starring EarthMix, JossGawin, OhmLeng)

That Summer (starring WinnySatang, MondRyu)

My Romance Scammer (starring OhmFluke, JuniorMark)

Melody of Secrets (starring ForceBook)

Love You Teacher (starring PerthSanta)

Cat for Cash (starring FirstKhao)

Boys in Love (starring MickLuke, ChokunAston, PoddPapang)

My Magic Prophecy (starring JimmySea)

A Dog and a Plane (starring TayNew, MarcPoon)

Me and Thee (starring PondPhuwin)

Memoir of Rati (starring GreatInn, AouBoom)

Ticket to Heaven (starring GeminiFourth)

Upcoming series & movies for December:

👉🏻 Addicted Heroin Special Episode - December 1st (Thailand)

👉🏻 Tokimeki Bomb - December 1st (Japan)

👉🏻 Hidden - December 3rd (Thailand)

👉🏻 ThamePo: Heart that Skips a Beat - December 13th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Eternal Butler - December 20th (Taiwan)

👉🏻 Sangmin Dinneaw - December TBA (Thailand)

[sailorjisunq]

ฟิล์ม

[heretherebedork]

of like, the BL/GL shows airing right now which ones would you recommend to someone trying to get into the genre if that makes sense (feel free to ignore if this is a weird question)

The ones airing right now for someone entering the fandom...

My Love Mix Up Thai Version is absolutely a grand beginner's BL, sweet and cute and not moving too slowly and not getting bogged down and Fourth and Gemini are both good actors. Would recommend.

I'd go back a week and recommend We Are just for funsies as well.

Both Takara's Treasure and I Hear the Sunspot are Japan being Japan and I'd do either one in a heartbreat. I Hear The Sunspot is a lot deeper and dealing with a lot of non-BL issues while Takara's Treasure really is about what it means to realize you have feelings for someone just... ever. Very much adorable.

I'd also add The Rebound to this, it's a very interesting take of a sports BL with a love triangle and mafia stuff and variable tone but, like, that;s BL for you frankly.

Not much else airing right now, not yet. I do find it hard to recommend shows without knowing the ending but these are the ones I'm thinking have a good chance of ending well regardless.

(Meet You at the Blossom might also go onto this list but I have to see how it ends before I recommend it to anyone. Same with Century of Love, though Century of Love is much more lakorn than BL and is mixing soap opera with The Gay so that might work depending on what genre you're coming from...)

I think those are the best ones. Sunset X Vibes is a maaaybe but the fantasy elements coming into play and the fact that I'm way more into the side couple is putting me off from recommending it for a newbie, same with the levels of manipulation and lying in This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans.

But, honestly, any show is a good show for a newbie if the show appeals to you. Watch what sounds good. Starting with the most popular stuff would have kicked me right out of the fandom since that would have been Tharntype and 2gether at the time I started which were both BLs I barely made it through and didn't enjoy. So... watch what appeals to you.

[clairedaring]

WEEEEEE ANOTHER LETTER FROM ME!

Don't worry it's not a long inbox essay ahahahha!

I've been trying to watch the horror stuff you recommended (been in a mood), but I couldn't find them on my usual pirate sites. I was wondering:

where do you usually watch your lakhorn and movies, if it's not on Netflix?

Also: I'm still trying to find the damn time to write those สาธุ rambles. It's just that I also have some goddamn manga ramble clogging up my neural network... and other pretty important not-my-day-job-kinda-work. My break is gonna end soon and I still haven't fucking done half the things I wanna do!

P.S. Luckily, I have Terror Tuesday for now, bwahahaahaha!

Hi Lyn! (❁´◡`❁)

For older Thai horror films, I have very fortunately been able to find them with Vietnamese subtitles on a plethora of different pirate sites (I guess the Vietnamese audience really enjoys Thai horror, they have subtitled basically every Thai horror film in existence).

But here are some grey-watching links to the horror stuff I've recommended, other than the ones available on Netflix (Girl From Nowhere, Terror Tuesday...). For grey watching sites, I'd say the best chances to find Thai series/films are KissKH, Dramacool, occasional Dailymotion, Bilibili.

After Dark (this one is officially available on WeTV)

Angkhan Khlumpong The Series

Hoon Payon

Sick Nurses (raw, no engsub)

Malila: The Farewell Flower

But other than the horror stuff I've recommended, for Thai lakorns in general, they're often available on platforms like Netflix, iQIYI, WeTV, Gagaoolala with subs provided so I would say these are the main "official platforms" I watch them on. The pirate site I use most often is KissKH.

Honestly it's sad that most older lakorns/Thai films are often not subtitled since there's such a niche audience for them so I'm always grateful to fansubbers in this day and age.

Very much looking forward to your สาธุ rambles once you've got time to write them. I hope you're able to watch stuff you've planned on before your break ends \(￣︶￣*\))

[absolutebl]

I've been out of the bl loop for a while (give or take a year tbh) and I am honestly overwhelmed at all the stuff coming up recently in bl... Is there top five you'd suggest from the past year among thai stuff (the rest bl-producing countries have a manageable lists of releases ig)

Thank you so much for your time and patience! :D

Top 5 Thai BLs from the past year? (2024)

Well it's a contentious field and there has been a lot, so I'll narrow it further and give you 2024 so far, from my personal favorites but specifically ones that I believe added to the zeitgeist in some significant way.

The Sign

YouTube

This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage? Yes. Yes it was. Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together? No it did not. Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment? Sure thing. I think this show is basically my KinnPorsche, and frankly I’ve been chasing that dragon naga since KP aired. Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN.

Cherry Magic (Thai remake)

Grey

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth that really worked for me. With no-fuss execution from a consummate team (at GMMTV) and an OG lead pair (proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up). Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right - not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it stands strong. I, personally, like the Thai BL slightly better than the Japanese live action yaoi, but I think that’s because I just really enjoy Thai BL's style and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better in this version. As it should be from Thailand.

Century of Love

Gaga

This is a very pretty drama about a young man who fell in love with a nice girl 100 years ago, and when she died in his arms, he was cursed to live until he could meet her reborn self. Only this time around, she’s reborn into the body of a man. Or is she? I love it when Thailand gets all up in its own historical business and reincarnation and shizz. I like this pair (it’s not DaouOffroad’s fault I didn’t enjoy their first series.) Daou’s wushu is snazzy and we got a unique meet cute. (Erm… Remeet cute? Meet cute 2.0?) Ultimately, this is I Feel You Linger in the Air + First Love Again, rather than (as one might expect) Until We Meet Again or The Director Who Buys Me Dinner. The leads turned in great performances, although Daou outclassed everybody else on that screen. It’s a good story and a great BL and I can’t find any major faults with it beyond a certain level of camp that is sadly endemic to lakorns. It was, to put it succinctly, a VERY ENJOYABLE show. 

Wandee Goodday

YouTube

This is the only "typical" BL I'll be recommending on this list and that's because this is such a FUN show. A charming quintessentially modern Thai BL about a doctor and a boxer who start as a one night stand and then fall in love. Great rep for everything from Muay Thai, to safe sex, to FUN sex, to ace, to bisexuality, to smiley kisses, to the first legal gay wedding in a Thai BL. It’s a delight and I enjoyed (almost) every single moment of it. With out question it's best traits are active positive representations of green flag boys, communication, and grown-up relationships but the chemistry is on point too. Highly recommended as one of 2024's best pick-me-ups. (We need it, been a bit of a downer year.)

We Are

iQIYI

If Wandee Goodday is your happy pill, We Are is the warmest hug on the planet. Of the ones on this list, this is the only one I've already rewatched. 2x (High praise!) I loved show. It was slow to find its stride (I didn’t get into it until ep 6) but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. It’s a soft ensemble piece with multiple couples and very little plot, but I didn’t care because it’s not trying to be anything more substantial. Essentially this was a series of vignettes covering one year of uni for a queer friendship group finding love, new friends, and laughter. It’s not being harsh with us or it’s characters the way some offerings of this ilk have been (side eyes Friend Zone and Only Friends) nor did it tumble into Gen Y chaos. In fact, this reminded me more than anything of a refined and elevated Love Sick - just with older characters and occurring within a genre that has matured too. In it's own quiet way, it was groundbreaking. It has that close queer friendship group meets earnest gentleness that made me adore Love Sick and Make It Right so much. In other words, this was Thai BL at its finest, finding it roots again 10 years on, but also stretching upwards and showing us what it could do with that original seed. So? I adored it. Did it blow my mind? No. But it left me smiling and made me belly laugh quite a bit.

I hope you give these 5 a chance.

[dropthedemiurge]

Guide of my creations

For all the new people stumbling upon my blog – I know it's very confusing, but I do have some art and fanfics and indie games and other stuff. I finally got around to collect all the links and tags here, thank you for the pressure xD

Feel free to interact even with old stuff and send me asks about anything, even if you just want to chat or discuss new thai lakorn.

Welcome, take some pizza and roam around!

ART COMMISSIONS POST [currently open, DM for more]

ART TAGS:

#my works — everything from art to animations to flash games to random edits etc

#dropthefanart – my fanart (2021-present, mostly Thai BL series + K-pop)

#phanart — Dan and Phil fanart (also animations and flash games)

#supernatural — Supernatural fanart (quite old tho xD)

#dropthegame — my future visual novels (I'll update other games to this tag later)

#dropthemeta — some of my meta posts for Thai BL series

FANFICS:

#dropthefanfic — my recent fanfics (also mostly Thai BLs)

(AO3) Birds On Concrete Wall (Thai BLs and my passionate practice of writing in English)

(AO3) AmetistLex (K-pop, iKON, I have a huge desire to delete it all but for now it's there)

Ficbook (Fanfics in russian + Bad Buddy novel translation)

OTHER:

Love for Love's Sake translation+culture details+meta

Time of Fever recap (Unintentional Love Story spinoff spoilers)

My social media (iKON, phanart, album designs, AR apps, IG masks and filters, vlogs and my other creative projects)

My website with cool projects I made inspired by K-pop group iKON (and their approval :3)

List with my plans and ideas (messy)