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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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My top 10 would be quite similar. I wouldn’t agree with Cherry Blossoms and Takara however. They didn’t do much for me. Perhaps due to the actors but also both semes perhaps not resonating for me.

My Top 10 BLs of 2022

I also chose 22 runners up for 22, but the top 10 includes reviews etc.. These are IN ORDER, which means I made it really hard on myself. Ready?

1. Semantic Error (Korea Viki)

The only 2022 BL that earned a 10/10. Korean hits peak KBL and lucked into killer chemistry. It’s a deadly combination. Sexy older boy discovers pouty younger boy has outed him as a slacker, starts out bullying him, accidentally falls madly in love instead. Korea hits it entirely out of the Parks by doing a university BL with everything we expect from BL just done exactly right. Korea’s signature quality executed perfectly with added bonus good story, great pacing, stunning visuals, and fantastic chemistry. You cannot ask for more from a BL, let alone a KBL. Full squee here.

All three of these next three actually hold the #2 spot in my heart depending on how I feel that day.

2. Old Fashion Cupcake (Japan Viki)

This show had me from the moment they broke the egg yolk with the chopsticks in the opening credits. It’s about a younger man with a long cherished crush on his boss (ten years older and going through a mid life crisis) who decides to save and seduce said boss with pancakes. It’s wholesome, comforting, sexy, and a very necessary narrative about still having hope, interests, and openness to affection at any age. It’s a stunningly filmed late-in-life coming of age/queerness story packaged in a subtle critique of expectations around masculinity, love, and loneliness… and it’s beautiful. Full review.

3. Minato’s Laundromat (Japan Gaga)

AKA Minato Coin Laundry AKA Wash My Heart! AKA Minato Shouji Koin Randorii AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry

A classic age gap romance where a high school student pursues the man of his dreams (who runs a laundromat). This BL is so steeped in yaoi tropes and archetypes, not to mention a typical romance arc, that it will overload some, but those of who love this genre for its DNA will adore it. It made me very happy because it did everything I want a BL to do - there’s not much more I could ask of a BL than this. It’s the closest Japan has come to perfect live action yaoi since Seven Days (and I never make that comparison lightly). Squee watch-along here.

4. Takara & Amagi (Japan Gaga & Viki)

AKA Takara-kun and Amagi-kun AKA Takara-kun to Amagi-kun

I gnawed on my knuckles and squealed a lot with this show. Reserved cool kid who must learn to communicate to keep the tiny disaster nugget he’s madly in love with. It is beyond charming: soft and gentle, packed with cuteness and high school angst, thirst, & yearning. Did anything actually happen? No. Was it emotionally tense and paced well enough for me not to notice? Absolutely. Was there plot? Not really. Did I enjoy the hell out of it, anyway? Oh yes. Full review.

5. Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korea Viki)

Korea took on early Japanese sweet yaoi but gave it their signature softness and precise production with a STUNNING color palette (beautiful pastels, sun-saturated over-exposure), manga framing style, some traditional BL character archetypes, that tiny edge of bullying roughness and out-of-control seme, plus FINALLY a palatable take on the stepbrothers trope and it was, in a word, classic. Sophisticated and understated CBAW is not slow, it’s just subtle. It’s dream-like and atmospheric, as if the whole thing took place under cold water on a warm spring day. Is there plot or peril? Not really. Do we care? Also, not really. Look, I can’t help it, I��m old school and so is this show. I grew up reading sweet yaoi, and this was THAT YAOI just on my screen. There’s no objectivity with me and this show. It’s a beautiful pastiche and I loved it for how it made me feel and what it reminded me of. It’s not flawless, but it is a wonderful experience. Full review.

6. Bad Buddy (Thailand YouTube)

This was GMMTV’s flagship BL and it started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Some of the friendship and family dynamics are overworked, but it has great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. Full review.

7. Blueming (Korea iQIYI)

It’s a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love for BL, but if you want your mind ever-so-slightly messed with and your intimacy hellishly sweet, this BL will do it for you in a coldly distant manner, while bitch slapping you with self worth issues. I wasn’t into it at first, but the leads are solid and by ep 5 it got really good, becoming a narrative about self discovery meets understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them. Ultimately we witnessed two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection, without that affection becoming the conflict point. Instead, tension was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and self-worth. While production values were a touch lower than usual for Korea, Blueming included decent kisses and other forms of intimacy and a satisfying ending plus there’s judicious and very elegant use of tropes, this is a great BL. Full review.

8. My Ride (Thailand Gaga)

Thai BL grew up with this pulp (the first ever to make my end of year top 10). It’s a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine (AKA a cinnamon roll couple) plus mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles. Kindly, overworked doctor meets broken-hearted motorcycle taxi driver in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. The support cast is excellent, making for great friendship groups and family dynamics. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede, the story, and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. In other news, I am a sucker for a single dimple. Full review.

9. Not Me (Thailand YouTube)

GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest) with established queer award-winning director Anucha and starring the biggest guns of BL, OffGun and THIS WAS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience at the time - nerve racking but remarkable. But was it ACTUALLY BL? It certainly has a lot of BL elements, but in the end romance was not what this show was about, or even what it was genuinely trying to be as a performance piece. Still a remarkable moment in Thai cinema, certainly worth your time. Don’t worry, it all ends happily. Full review.

10. My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Gaga)

From the producers of We Best Love, earnest dentist hottie with sad eyes who worries too much is smitten by an adorable sunshine neurotic bar owner with serious anxiety issues. They fall madly in love while courting each other with food, plushies, and naps. Then, shocker, talk about their feelings and try to actually sort out their problems so they can have an adult relationship. Bonus crumbs = 18 year old poor little rich kid in mad crush with a much older man. I really enjoyed this show, it had a fun premise, killer dialogue, there was a solid lead pair with charming chemistry, soft flirtation, and delightful smiling kisses and stinkingly cute domesticity. All that said, I wasn’t wild about some of the darker themes it explored, even though it did a good job with them. And while the crumbs and sides were v adorable they were underused. In the land of May/December, baby boy kabedon is my kryptonite! Why so little of them? Kabedon is My Krytonite = also the name of my indie band’s first single.)

Absolute BL 2, like ABL1 is technically unrated since I consider them mockudramas not true BL. But both are greatly beloved by me and deserve a mention.

22 Runners Up for 2022

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan)

Cutie Pie (Thailand)

About Youth (Taiwan)

Choco Milk Shake (Korea)

The Eclipse (Thai)

Tinted With You (Korea)

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korea)

Plus and Minus (Taiwan)

Oh! Boarding House (Korea)

What Zabb Man! (Thai)

Vice Versa (Thai)

Love Stage!! (Thai)

Love Class (Korea)

Ocean Likes Me (Korea)

Cherry Magic the movie (Japan)

Behind Cut (Korea)

Star in My Mind (Thai)

Mr Cinderella (Vietnam)

Mr. Unlucky Can Only Kiss (Japan)

Happy Ending Romance (Korea)

My Only 12% (Thai)

Dear Doctor, I’m Coming for Your Soul (Thai)

Just a note my average rating for all BLs each year (6/10) - over the years I have been watching the mean has not changed. So for me, at least, Asia continues to produce about the same amounts of beloved, average, and crap. In other words: more BL this year (by a lot) has meant that there is more BL I love (and give high ratings too), but it also means there is more BL I dislike (and give low scores to).

Streaming Platforms

The platform that hosted the most of my top rated 32 shows was, actually, YouTube with 10. Viki was a close second with 9, equal if you add in ABL2. It was Choco Milk Shake that made the difference (a KBL on YT? cray cray).

Gaga scooped (or shared with Viki) many of my top 10 favorite BLs though, so whoever selects and curates over there shares my taste.

Still, official recommendation as of 2022 is that if you only choose one streaming service to pay for? Viki is the best subscription platform for new BL. However, if you can get it there with ads, and really are strapped for cash? Go for Gaga.

(source)

#bl recommendation

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Richard Scarry is life. Something about the magical domesticity of his illustrations. They are enchanting and yearning and make me want to live in his world.

The perfect way to spend the winter (art by Richard Scarry)

#totally off topic

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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What "Hia" means to Win, and to Team

So, after @ellaspore posted her really insightful thoughts on the significance of Team calling Win Hia, I went down many rabbit holes trying to find a way to articulate how I feel about this too. A big thank you to the wonderfully sweet @lutawolf and @ellaspore and the rest of the #coconutsmafia gang for giving me the confidence to post this!

Hia and Phi are both honorifics and kinship terms - a concept many speakers of Indo-European, Austroasiatic or Sino-Tibetan languages will understand. They bear similarities with terms such as the Chinese Ge, the Japanese Aniki, Senpai, and the Korean Hyung, Sunbae etc. But each of these terms carry slightly different cultural connotations - like the difference between saying This is my father vs This is my old man - it says something about you as the speaker, and about your father as the addressee, who allows (or at least does not dispute) your chosen form of address. So, beyond simply according respect to the addressee, what does it actually mean, culturally, when we use these terms? Specifically, what does Hia mean to Win, the Thai-Chinese vice president of the varsity swim club, and what does it mean to Team, his Thai junior and freshman on a swimming scholarship?

Or, a really long rambling about social hierarchy, power asymmetry and social groups, and why I think Team's "Hia!" is just so damn adorable.

I would like to address some Thai cultural norms - if you are a lover of Thai BL you'll probably be familiar with some of these already (skip to the next indented paragraph) but I think it's best to establish my knowledge base before we move on. These are all very brief summaries of complex topics as understood by someone whose context is derived largely from academic and grey literature, so I welcome any further discussions on the topic! I have included links where possible, but apologize that not everything is open source.

The Basis of Social Hierarchy in Thai Culture

Generally speaking, there are two ways in which one can achieve a higher status within the Thai social hierarchy - through achieving the Buddhist concept of Merit, and through the more conventionally understood concept of Power. The latter takes many forms - rich/poor, employer/employee, caregiver/dependent, teacher/student, senior/junior, more experienced/less experienced etc. Now, I understand many people balk at the idea that age or seniority automatically bestows power upon a person, but this idea is based upon the (not always true) assumption that age correlates to being wiser or more experienced, and is an extremely ingrained concept in many Asian cultures.

Power Asymmetry ≠ Abuse of Power

It is important that we get this straight - being respectful to someone higher in the social hierarchy than you does NOT mean you are giving them a right to abuse you. The relationship between the superior and the subordinate is bidirectional - there is a mutual dependency between both parties. More on this below.

The Assimilation of Thai-Chinese in Thailand

Chinese traders began immigrating to Thailand as early as the 1600s, and Sino-Thai trade had been established long before that. Most of these traders belonged to the dialect groups of Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, Hokkien, or Teochew, with the latter eventually rising to be the largest group amongst the Chinese in Thailand. They often took up entrepreneurial jobs and started businesses. Due in large part to political efforts occurring around the late 18th century, the Thai-Chinese are an extremely well-integrated ethnic group, and most Thai-Chinese these days speak only Thai, identify as Thai and do not have a strong connection to their Chinese heritage. That said, many words of Chinese origin can be found in the Thai language - Hia, for eg, originates from the Teochew word Hian (兄) for older brother.

(Skip to here!) Now with that out of the way, let's dive into the actual point of this post.

"Hia is more intimate than Phi"

This was the most common explanation I found when trying to figure out the difference between Hia and Phi. But what does "more intimate" actually mean? Intimate in what way? As a partner (as in the Korean oppa) or as family (similar to the use of Ge - older brother - in Chinese) or marking someone as part of the inner circle/social group (a concept shared across Kor/Chi/Jpn)? Is it all? It's often described as a term used for those of Chinese descent - but that also means technically anyone could call Win Hia and it would still be socially acceptable (as seen from how people call some small business owners this too, since a large majority are of Chi descent). Also, as mentioned earlier the Thai-Chinese have assimilated very well, which means it's unlikely that the term is used just as a way to mark a person's heritage. There must be something else that makes Hia special to Win, and, to Team.

Kinship Terms of Address

There were a number of comments I found that alluded to Phi being less special than Hia because you could, in general, use it for anyone older than you. To examine this claim, we need to backtrack a bit and compare Phi/Nong relationships to just purely formal acquaintance (Khun/Khun) - Is there a difference? Yes. The use of familial kinship terms of address when referring to non-family members specifically acknowledges the power imbalance in the social hierarchy - and it's a little more than just being polite. Broadly speaking invoking these terms initiates a two-way relationship - the younger gives respect and obedience and the older provides care and guidance. The common metaphor used is that the elder should be "a large tree in the shade of which the [younger] can rest and be content". That said, the steepness of this power imbalance varies - grandparent's generation vs parent's generation (including non-related "uncles/aunts") vs older sibling's generation (the one we are interested in), in descending order of steepness. There were 2 papers I found relevant to this topic - one examining the use of these terms and hierarchy in children's playgroups and another at the university level.

My conclusion is that Phi/Nong corresponds more generally to the Japanese idea of Senpai/Kouhai - the Japanese rarely use kinship terms to refer to unrelated people, although Aniki is an exception (Interestingly enough, Aniki can be used to refer to gang leaders, as apparently, Hia can too). When someone calls you Senpai, you're socially obligated to do a few things: look after them, guide them, treat them to food etc. In other words, it creates a relationship between 2 individuals and marks them as members of a particular social group. Yet, you don't go around Japan calling people Senpai if you have no connection to them and just want to catch their attention in a less formal, but still polite way - which you could do with Phi, when trying to for eg, order food from a street vendor. That usage is more akin to how Ge is used in Chinese. But again, going around calling everyone Ge is not as common as the use of Phi appears to be in Thailand. So, Phi/Nong is different from formal acquaintance in that it identifies 2 people as part of an in-group of sorts, and depending on the context, there are different societal expectations of either party.

What Hia Means to Win and Team

If we follow this line of thought, then Hia is a subset of the Phi/Nong relationship and also identifies Win and Team as being a part of a certain in-group. But which in-group is it? The "significant other" group or the "familial" group? There is a distinction because the hierarchy in the former is slightly more flattened and flexible than that in the latter. If we consider that Hia indicates Chinese heritage and thus identifies a particular in-group within the overarching "Phi/Nong in-group", then it follows that Win must invite Team into this particular in-group - Team can't just join it as he pleases. Thus, to Win, Hia means not only his desire to care for Team, but also to claim Team as a member of his in-group. Family is very important to Win, even though (or maybe especially because) he feels overlooked within his own. In 7-11 he lists all the terms Team can call him by - daddy, husband, wifey - these are all familial terms. He doesn't offer up boyfriend. Hia is Win's invitation to Team to be part of his family. And yet, there's an additional layer to this particular relationship because Win extends this invitation to Team just before they become intimate (and this is why I believe it was never a one-night stand from Win's POV). This moves this particular in-group beyond just the hierarchical and familial connotations of kinship terms and creates a group in which only Win and Team can claim membership. Ie, it combines the steeper hierarchy of "familial connection" with the more flexible hierarchy of "significant other". To Win, allowing Team to call him Hia marks Team as someone special and under his "umbrella" or "tree branches", if we follow the metaphor above (this ties into the possessiveness discussion @lutawolf shared previously), and Team's acceptance implies his agreement to accept the care and guidance Win wants to provide.

And Team does get this, on some level. He gets that Win sees him as someone different, though I think he is not quite ready to admit that Win sees him as "special". He gets that Win cares for him - but again he's unsure about whether or not Win wants to care for him (as opposed to fulfilling his duties as Team's senior/Phi), because at this point I believe Team doesn't quite understand the full significance of Win inviting him to call him Hia. Having said that, subconsciously or not, Team leans into Win's care - he drops Hia in nearly every sentence like it's a comma (which, as I understand from @lutawolf, is something subs do subconsciously too). It's one of the reasons why I think Team is so fantastically adorable tbh - you certainly don't need to use Hia so often in speech - but Team uses it all the time and most often as a form of entreaty - a request for affection, leniency, and care, as is his right as Win's junior, in exchange for respect and obedience. To be honest, in terms of being respectful and obedient, it may sometimes seem like Team doesn't fulfill his end of the bargain - but he does when it counts. When he says thank you sincerely, after Win helps him sleep, when he listens to Win's instructions, and when he lets Win take the lead in their interactions.

Team whines, but is NOT whiny (I will fight you on this!)

The way Team uses Hia relates to the Japanese concept of amae, the Chinese concept of sajiao, and somewhat but not quite to the Korean concept of aegyo, and I believe to the Thai concept of ngon. Again, these concepts are all slightly different, but suffice to say it is a behavior that the younger, or subordinate, in the relationship sometimes displays. It is often translated as "to act cute, as a child" or "to act affectionately", "in a manner that endears oneself to the receiver". To the uninitiated, it can be seen as being childish, manipulative even, and just downright strange that grown adults would do this - but it is a way of recognizing the receiver's power by appealing to their benevolence and generosity. It softens a demand for something into a request and smooths over many potentially conflict-inducing interactions (such as apologizing in an argument). Often times, it is a subconscious behavior that is naturally brought forth by the power asymmetry in a relationship. So Team whines yes, but he isn't whiny. On the contrary, it's super endearing - and the Chinese translation of Hia as Gege (typically the way young children call their older brother - usually changes to Ge as they get older) is driving half the Chinese fandom nuts because it's just too damn cute when Team does it.

In conclusion, Win's invitation to Team to call him Hia is a representation of his desire to care for Team and to guide him, and most importantly, a recognition that Team is a member of his in-group. He likes it when Team calls him Hia, because by doing so, Team acknowledges this relationship and even asks for Win's care and affection. And to Team, Hia means, at least subconsciously, care, affection, acceptance, and protection - though I feel he's not fully ready to accept that it also means that he is Win's, and is special. Hia Win means more to Team than he realizes currently, and that's why he has difficulty answering A's question.

#winteam #between us #hia

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Loving it!

sky & team + parallels ↪ love in the air | between us

#love in the air the series #winteam #between us

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Some seriously impressive work here!

🌈Them gay shows 🌈

Finally did it guys! BL Drama recommendations flowchart catered to me. Me only. ME people who might have the same taste as me. Enjoy

#bl recommendation

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Ok- being the K-nerd that I am I visited this door in Quebec City. Very satisfying!!

At first, I thought you were the Grim Reaper. However, if you were so, you would have taken me already. After that, I thought you were a ghost. However, I noticed your shadow. So I thought it over a little bit. «What is that man?» So what am I? A Goblin. Are you a Goblin by any chance? What are you?… It’s awkward to say this myself, but I’m the Goblin’s bride.

#goblin #quebec #the goblin door

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Worthy of Jane Austen

what is your top 5 love confessions in bl?

imma do top 10 because all my lists are top 10 and TRADITION demands consistency

My Top 10 BL Love Confessions

1. ShinWoo’s “thinking about you” confession in Light On Me. I’m on record that this is my favorite and it still is. I just LOVE it so much. Because it’s not about ShinWoo wanting anything for himself, it’s about what he could do and give to TaeKyung, acknowledged or not.

2. Yuzuru running the clock down on those Seven Days so he can ask Seiryo to be his boyfriend outside of the “game” because he’s too scared about the dishonesty that the game implies (since he is a character driven by brutal honesty).

3. “You’re the lucky one, you always have been,” to baby (is not asleep, he’s NEVER actually asleep) in We Best Love.

4. Utsukushii Kare: Kiyoi’s yell it at that idiot, and then storm off version. Because it’s about being seen as a real living human with needs and not just a god on a pedestal. And then the way he has to articulate this later for Hira to finally realize his own worth and right to actually be Kiyoi’s boyfriend.

5. A First Love Story (where did the kimchi go?) in the street “I like you, hyung.”

6. Semantic Error’s seme subscription service. Technically the confession (or demand in JaeYeong’s case) comes just after the kiss in the scene prior: “We like each other, why can’t we just date?” But the whole sequence is great and such a classic example of a seme dealing with an extreme tsundere uke and trying to force a confession out of him. (Never gonna work, buddy.)

6. SeoJoon’s “I think I actually like you” in To My Star and JiWoo’s absolute terror at this and the prospect of happiness.

7. See You after Quarantine’s “I like you and I didn’t mean to hang up it was just a power outage and please don’t be mad” adorable awkwardness.

8. The locker room scene in Love By Chance. The car first kiss “I think I like you more than a friend” is probubly Ae’s first confession but I like the one where he’s like “no, actually, I really do want to date you and fuck you so just PLEASE just be my boyfriend.” The desperation in it is so telling.

9. " I love you so damn much” in Puppy Honey 2. Old guard here, but sometimes they just did it best, tsundere seme bringing the drama.

10. Until We Meet Again: “Do you understand?” “I understand that we love each other.”

Others I like

Pete in Kiss, “I broke up with her because I like you,” plus Kao’s response “yeah, fat chance, I don’t trust your player ass.” Fair, dude. Fair.

Grabbing his face “It’s you Tine, I like you” from Wat in 2gether.

Forth to Beam, “shall we try being boyfriends?” in the hospital bed in 2 Moons 2. Similarly Ming’s “You’re my earth” very poetic confession to Kit.

Addicted’s kidnapping OBEY sweatshirt in leu of a confession, just trash terrible and dumb and great.

I was reminded of Type’s “I love you, asshole Tharn” in Tharntype. It is a good one.

Mark’s drive by “I like you” smooch and then later “meet my friends as my boyfriend” in Love is Science?

Okay that’s it! What are some of yours?

(source)

#confession scenes #bl recommendation

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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I will miss my babies 🥺

#love in the air series

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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there's just something about lockers-

between us, ep. 2 x love by chance, ep. 7

#love by chance the series #love by chance #between us

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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This week in

How it started and how it’s going.

#winteam #between us

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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bisexual boys and their toys

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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So cute @clairificusrex. Here’s my picrew self portrait for you or the closest I can get anyway!

Starting a new picrew!!!

tagging: @will80sbyers @wiliscool @mishaeel-weber @delusional-dingus @shandy-and-champagne @disco-phrog @ash-the-wise @fluffyfangirl @micahladler @thatonesongyouretryingtoremember @sorry-i-panicked

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weekendatennuis · 2 years ago

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Squee indeed!

Minato’s Laundromat Squee Watch-Along

Minato Shouji Coin Laundry AKA Minato Coin Laundry AKA Wash My Heart! AKA Minato Shouji Koin Randorii AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry

I have so much to say about this lovely show that I decided it needed a watch-along at episode 4. Since it’s a 12 ep arc, I thought it’s be okay to just jump in!

Ready?

Here we go!

Episode 1 - In which we are unsurprised to find age gap is my weakness

Honestly there is nothing else on earth I love more than a younger seme + older uke (it’s why I love noona so much). I’m calling these hyung romances (even though Japan and Taiwan are more into this then Korea).

Why do I love it so much?

Because in super filial, patriarchal, and age-revering societies, this is the ultimate power flip. The seme is going to have SUCH a huge struggle on his hands. Everything in society, language, and culture is against him. And, oh my goodness do I love it when a seme suffers and has to WORK for it.

Back to Coin (that’s my shorthand for this show).

Our leads are Minato & Shin. Katsuki Shintaro (Shin) is a 17 year old high school student who wants to be a doctor. Minato Akira is a 27 year old former corporate drone who burnt out and returned home to his small town in pursuit of a slower life, and took over running his grandfather’s laundromat.

Look, this show is fucking fantastic. It is exactly what I want from Japan. Yes something like Utsukushii Kare can come out of nowhere and surprise me, and something like Old Fashion Cupcake is exactly as good as Japan can do when at it’s best, but we only get those about once a year.

But Mintato’s Laundromat?

This is pure unsullied Japanese live action yaoi. This is what I’m here for.

Sure it’s gonna be a little awkward, and a little scenery-chewy, and little slapstick, but also perfect to the beginnings of its own tradition. It has the soul I am after. This is what I read secretly (“backwards” + TERRIBLE translations) in the early 2000s hoping no one would ever find my stash (spoiler: no one ever did and then I threw it all away in a fit of prudishness that I still regret. Prudishness = the most toxic emotion? Probubly.)

Mintato’s Laundromat is so good and so cute that I don’t even care they dropped two of my least favorite tropes in the first ep (white towel sponge bath and heart knows).

This show is Japan doing its own heritage proud with absolutely classic execution, Minato & Shin walked off the page of a manga and onto my screen, and I could not be any happier.

This is everything I love about BL.

I’m so delighted we are getting 12 episodes!

Yes, it will be drawn out, Japan will work that age gap without any lube, it’s gonna hurt, but I do not care.

Shin is so beautiful and yet has that little bit of edgy sinister to him that only Japan can really execute well in their semes. He’s a little too good at flirting, and little too intense about it, and so much first time in love and therefore dangerous GREAT.

Shin is going to cut himself wide open against Minato’s jaded innocence, denial and, fear. And much as I feel for Shin, I know EXACTLY where Minato is coming from.

It is both magical and terrifying to watch.

He is EVERYONE’s type.

Ep 2 - Oh it is GREAT

Look, I spent the entire scallop scene super upset about the one left on the grill turning rubbery.

Beautiful 17-year-olds are all very well and good but don’t fucking overcook seafood!

ARE WE NOT GAY?

Meanwhile, Shin is the most aggressive flirt ever. Baby boi is persistent, gotta give him that.

Minato is gonna have to hurt him bad to shake him lose. I don’t want to watch that but this is Japan and they will probubly go there, don’t get comfy - never forget Japan’s brand is, in the end, emo. (Also their history with age gap is wicked cruel.)

JAPANESE LINGUISTIC CORNER:

I gotta say one of the things I am LOVING about Mintato’s Laundromat is that Gaga is giving us names+honorifics in the captions (Viki doesn’t usually do this with Japanese stuff and it is v annoying).

Shin calls Minato appropriately Minato-san (and is diligent about it, it’s a way he is showing respect but also devotion) but Minato runs the gamut.

I mean he messed up from the get go, going so casual with Shin that he dropped not just to no honorifics but to a nickname. To be fair, with a 10 year age gap Minato can do whatever tf he wants, but also Minato kinda gave Shin license to crush by dropping to such casual informal affection from the start. (The fact that Shin saved Minato in his phone as Akira though - boy’s got balls fersure.)

But it’s Minato constantly jumping between

Shin,

Shin-kun (annoyed and/or formal distancing) and

Shin-chan (childish, sweet, but also demeaning)

THAT just gets me every time.

It’s Minato’s desperate attempt to grapple with his own feelings + Shin’s relentless pursuit out loud for everyone to hear, and I love is SO MUCH.

Honestly, this is like a master class in use of Japanese honorifics from all angles and as an intimate part of storytelling.

I can’t wait to see what Minato calls Shin next!

Ep 3 - Currently my favorite show by a landslide

I like everything about it, the questionable content and relationship dynamics, the age gap, the characters, Shin’s obsessive stalker edgy intensity, the side boy with the terrible hair. The food.

ALL OF IT.

Minato’s feelings for his sensei are an interesting (and obviously intentional) parallel to Shin‘s feelings for Minato - and explain both why Minato is sympathetic to Shin and dismissive of him in the same breath.

When Minato admits to his feelings for his high school teacher, Shin finally understands Minato’s reluctance to open up physically (lets be clear: emotionally and intellectually they are already dating) - or thinks he does.

I feel Minato deeply, he’s sunshine honesty and core integrity do not allow him to outright lie to Shin and say that he isn’t attracted to a minor. This goes up against his ethical scruples around their age gap. To save them both he should hide and lie.

Who was it who said that “love makes cowards of us all”?

Apparently not Minato. But also yes Minato, because he is being driven to hide his own real feelings from himself, so that he does not have to admit to hiding them from Shin.

There’s an interesting dialogue going on within this show around how seriously to take teenage love and a kid’s first true taste of desire (simultaneously the most intense romance of our lives and the most scary for the adults around us) and how teen sexual need is belittled by society as a result.

JAPANESE CULTURE CORNER:

I should note, at this juncture, that the age of consent in Japan is 13, the lowest of any developed nation in the world. However, most prefectures also have local “corruption of minors” or “obscenity statutes” (淫行条例) which raise that AoC to 16-18, unless they are in a “sincere romantic relationship” (usually determined by parental consent).

So if you are confused as to why the concept of Shin being a (legal) minor by western standards that’s because in the context of this narrative he may, in fact, not be.

Still I am left wondering if we going to meet Shin’s parents and large family under this context? I’d really like it if we did.

Japan may be reserved in its romances but it usually attacks social criticism and difficult content head on (unlike Korea), so I wouldn’t be surprised if we got this topic grappled with directly.

(See Japan’s approach to noona romances.)

(I feel so called out, thank you Shin.)

Ep 4 - Are they ever gonna actually kiss?

I know I keep harping on about this, but I can’t get over how quintessentially old school Japanese yaoi this BL is.

The way Shin overreacts to not being able to take care of Minato, it’s so teenager, but it is also so completely younger seme with a “foolish” older uke archetype pairing.

Shin’s character only knows how to become the seme the narrative has dictated for him, but he’s too young for that. He knows exactly who he wants to be (and who he wants to fuck) but he can’t grow up fast enough. This kid is willing and able and prepared to sacrifice himself for the tiniest little bit of Minto’s comfort, and it destroys him when he cannot take care of his man.

So his perceived inability in himself, and overreaction to it, comes off as that much more infantile.

Asuka is fun too.

The trickster gay. We haven’t seen this archetype in a while (beloved by Japan, quite frankly, because this character is also a little sinister, especially in motivation - any YES I am think about the bff in Takumi-kun, why’d you ask?).

Who exactly is Asuka flirting with?

Or does he just like to stir things up?

I suspect the later.

Also look at him surrounded by his faghags - so adorable.

Next week, adding exes and more into the mix is going to drive Shin insane. How much do I want to see Shin just being a total shit to the new teacher, smart kid going BAD is a favorite of mine.

But that’s the point.

We’re closing in on the halfway mark, by the laws of romance we should be ramping up for major drama, both Shin and Minato need to be stressed by external circumstances (because this is Japan, they will balance it so it’s not all entirely internal angst - they clever like that, thank heavens).

So are they gonna half-way kiss in ep 6 like most romances? (It’s always either a kiss or a confession, usually one-sided. We already got us a confession so that’s way these two keep almost kissing - audience is expecting it.)

I hate to break it to you, but until Shin is over 18 (in the story) this show is super unlikely to depict him and Minato actually kissing. Not out of some nod to international sensibilities but because it’s not Japanese narrative tradition. (If this were dark and kinky, yes, but in this style of show? Nope.)

Don’t worry, there’s still a chance it'l happen after ep 11 (only a slim chance but…) because these narratives historically ALWAYS age up the seme (or in noona, the male character) for the finale.

I feel compelled to warn you at this juncture, the mostly likely outcome for Mianto & Shin is a separation, time jump, then reunion. And it could all be done in the very last ep. It’s how Japan handles a lot of their age gap stuff.

JAPANESE TRANSLATION QUESTION???

Is the Japanese word Minato uses to describe Shin in the running scene (translated as “dazzling”) the same as the one regularly translated as “formidable” in Mr Unlucky? It seems to be one of those words there is no direct translation for it into English. I’m just curious.

I have to say I do like the way they change the intro credits slightly each time. It’s fun. And I always watch the credits.

Ep 5 - MAKEOUT SCENE!

Well, sort of.

Shin glaring at the teacher makes me so happy.

To be fair, Shin glaring in general makes me happy.

Asuka is such a good character and the actor portraying him is great. I’ve known far too many gay boys just like him, flaky frivolous flirts to cover their pain, or to hide from reality, or both.

It’s lovely to see him get some side dish action (this is not to be expected in JBl so I didn’t have any hopes). YAY!!!

Fingers crossed it materializes but I’m still over the moon (and @heretherebedork is with me). Sunshine+tsundere as only Japan can do, and the sunshine already doesn’t stand a chance.

Meanwhile, back to Shin being and aggressive little punk-arse.

Shin’s attempted make out was pretty great. Give that boy an inch and he will take a yard of sheeting.

But I am starting to hurt for him. Minto should NOT have promised that date and we all know it, even Minato.

(That TONGUE got me.)

Did you notice all of Minato’s food themed T-shirts so far? How cute is it that he gave “bean sprout” to Shin? But ALSO that’s a couple’s shirt with Minato’s shirts, and we all know that TOO, even Shin.

Sigh, Minato is yanking Shin’s chain. He’s not doing it intentionally, but he sure is doing it.

I have to ask, what is with the creepy gerbil girl?

Is she shipping Shin+Asuka, is she into Shin, is she into Asuka, or is there something else going on?

Nothing has progressed but I am still fucking over the moon over this darn BL.

Ep 6 - Japan is a tease

Wow an actual legit ex-girlfriend beard in a BL, who knew? Trust Japan to serve us all the appropriate execution of a faen fetale. That’s Japanese BL for you - wildly appropriate, wildly inappropriate, wash and repeat.

Why did we need her? Actually she’s a useful character dev device (not plot) in this intense. They are using her to show us that Minato = a proven coward. I’m sorry to say it, but there it is. But it’s an important thing that we are shown that he has the capacity to get over it, even if it takes him a whole ep.

Will this be a foreshadow of what happens with Shin? Of course.

I know I keep warning ya’ll to get ready. But get ready. I can’t see how the narrative can do anything but send Shin packing (to uni) to grow up in a very cruel way.

Meanwhile in this episode:

Poor Shin, needing to go to the source of his pain to be cheered up.

Welcome to adult relationships, baby boy,

Let’s talk Asuka & Shuu

I have had them for 2.5 seconds and I want them forever.

Yet we were given so little from these side dishes.

Has Japan been taking bad lessons from the Thai pulps? We are getting nothing! Scraps! Crumbs!

Asuka = my child.

Is it partly the terrible hair? Probubly.

Nostalgia is a beeitch especially where JBL is concerned.

Meanwhile gerbil girl has been explained at last.

I am still loving the show, even though I don’t have a lot to say this week. Mostly it was a proverbial pearl clutching me, fervently wanting both Minato and Shin to grow tf up.

Ep 7 - Everyone Has A Lot of Growing Up To Do

Oh dear, Minato is now a swimming coach and becoming popular with other students.

Shin is not best pleased with this situation. His man surrounded by nubile young nymphs.

Also did anyone see this moment:

and think of this moment?

Fun coincidence since I was just waxing poetical about Semantic Error versus the Japanese BL industry and I mentioned Minato’s Coin Laundry.

Minato shopping for a birthday present for Shin is totally hilarious. And wildly inappropriate in so many different ways, not the least of which is:

Honestly all he has to do is wrap himself in a ribbon. (Cheap at half the price.)

I don’t know, but whatever kind of ribbon should have something to do with fancy sushi. Those T-shirts.

Poor Shin he wants to grow up and be taken seriously so badly. But every time he lets that show, it just proves how young he really is.

He’s getting more and more sexually assertive too.

I really like seeing that it’s super rare in BL, in terms of active expression of physical desire not couched under the guise of romantic interest. Especially in the sweet BL from Japan. And yes I think it’s being allowed because Shin is so young, because this kind of aggressive sexual interest is also regarded as childish. Anything out of control, including all forms or want and indulgence, is going to fall into this category from a culture where self control is so highly regarded (in public). (See Old Fashion Cupcake’s complicated dialogue with this conflict and concept.)

Pining since childhood is a bit of a tired trope for me, personally, but man that was a really beautiful confession scene.

Minato:

Ep 8 - It’s Heartbreak City Sweetheart

So it finally came, the episode where Minato has to break Shin’s heart.

It was more delicately handled than I thought it would be, and that did surprised me. But it was still sort of wistfully sad, even if it wasn’t as gut wrenching as I was expecting.

I thought that perhaps they didn’t really realize they were already dating, when of course Shin knew it all along. It was only Minato who did not realize that they were essentially lovers without being intimate.

In that way kids have with first love, Shin was keeping track of all the emotional moments of connection. As if he was treasuring what could never be, from the start. Perhaps he hasn’t yet realized how scared Minato was, and how inferior Minato felt contrasted to Shin’s dazzling confidence and forthright attitude.

Or perhaps Shin did know this. The way he switched on the flirt about watermelon kisses and used physical intimacy to force Minato back to touching him, to seeing him as, if nothing else, a threat to his complacency. There’s a good chance Shin did all that to make it easier for Minato let go.

Shin was also overdramatic about being dumped, in the way only a high-schooler could be overdramatic.

This was the ideal Japanese version of an episode 11 of doom, and I look forward to Minato growing up a bit in the next few eps.

You never thought this was about just Shin growing up, did you?

Of course it wasn’t.

Incidentally I used this show for a long involved conversation on honorifics in Asian BLs.

I’m going to pause at this moment to talk a bit about the age gap. Because in talking about that I started talking about using transitional spaces (doorways) as a characterization technique and I want to say more about thresholds in film for the next ep so we gotta rehash some stuff from this post.

AGE GAP ISSUES & MAGIC THRESHOLDS

Age gap is one of those tropes that edges into taboo, so like the stepbrothers trope, you may have internalized trauma or cultural conditioning around it. You may never be able to watch these kinds of BLs no matter what I say or what Japan does about it. And that’s fine! Please know your own limits.

But it means to talk about the romantic and erotic nature of an age gap romance, we gotta talk about culture for a moment.

When does a child become an adult?

Certain cultures have a more fixed age of consent than others. Japan’s, as I talk about above, is more flexible than the USA, for example.

Anthropologically speaking, this is something to examine about yourself. What constitutes growing up to you? Who decides this for you? Who decides this ABOUT you? The government? The legal system? The family unit? Yourself? Your religion? A big fuck-off party?

Is it a fixed line you cross (like a birthday) - what we would call ascribed status, or is is a thing you earn = achieved status? Is it wisdom or education?

Why 18? Why 21? Why can 18 not fuck 17 but can fuck 21? Did you feel ready to date, to have sex, when you were 18? Or were you ready before that, after, never? Is sexuality even really an indication of adultness to you?

In some places, it’s the moment a biological woman gets her period or after a biological man’s voice breaks.

In others it’s the moment she puts on a head scarf or lengthens her skirt.

It’s the moment he kills his first big game or weaves feathers into his hair.

In some places it centers around controlling procreation and the feminine.

In others, it is about protection and the fear of youth being exploited.

In others, it’s about a transition from one role in the group to another new role in society.

Everywhere it is about crossing a threshold.

How big is that threshold, how wide that line? How much time does it occupy in our cultural consciousness? This is what teens grapple with. Existing suspended in a liminal space between childhood and adulthood. How frustrating to have to exist there. How necessary to form cohesive identity. How do they know, how do we know, when they have crossed through and come out the other side?

This show is treating a coming of age narrative, as a threshold, literally and figuratively.

That’s why Shin in ALWAYS depicted in doorways and transitional spaces. Between outside and inside (child and adult), one room and another.

Shin is shown coming inside Minato’s spaces.

Reaching trough a doorway to touch Minato’s face.

Shin is desperate to be invited into Minato’s home.

Minato goes outside his building to confront Shin.

Shin waits for Minato outside a closed door, the adult world barred against him.

Shin waits on the threshold, fainting from heatstroke. Because… he cannot wait to grow up.

That’s where Shin is on his life-journey, his is both AT a threshold and IS a threshold. At the same time Shin’s desperate need to break into the solitary safety of Minato’s static lowliness (and adulthood) is making Minato’s place of refuge, the laundromat, unsafe. Minato has nowhere else to go. That’s why this show it titled the way it is. It’s also why Shin is always so happy to be inside Minato’s space.

Each episode opens and closes on the laundromat for a reason. The laundromat is being used as a metaphor for Minato’s life state. Homey, part of the community, pivotal in people’s lives, a bit boring and mundane.

Shin is in motion, trying to fit, trying to occupy Minato’s space. In and out of the doorways of Minato’s safe little life, his laundromat. Minato who is ahead of him, settled, hiding under blankets, tending to his machines, embraced by his neighbors, home.

Shin thinks Minato is his home. Is his destination. Is the other side of the threshold.

And the horror of this show is that there is a distinct possibility that Shin is right.

Minato knows this.

And so do we.

And, now… episode 9.

Ep 9 - Then the Threshold Moves

Minato is now having to live with lonely consequences of the decision he had to make. That we all saw coming, even to a certain extent, Shin.

But I NEED you to note that now that things are clear between them (even if they make him sad) that Shin is being depicted in safe spaces and inside (adult sphere), while Minto is now confined to doorways and apertures, transitions and thresholds?

It’s now Minato’s turn to grow up.

Shin’s reaction to being rejected is so unexpected, and yet so perfectly in character. Initially in this show, Shin came off as so simple (an archetypical younger seme), but it turns out they gave him layers and complexity.

Maybe he should go on the complex characters list?

The way Shin LOOKS at Minato, especially when Minato is being goofy or foolish. It just GETS me in the feels.

Speaking of feels.

Finally we know what happened with Asuka and Shuu. But I don’t understand the cat thing either.

Heartbreak all around and it’s very touching.

(This is the most yaoi-ish shot to ever be shooted.)

Did I cry when the siblings were hugging?

Of course I did.

I am a sap.

Ep 10 - A persistent gentleness

I just love how gentle this series is with its characters and with its viewers (us). Japan can be so harsh about both.

There is a wealth of love expressed as kindness in varying iterations in this show. From the way that sensei rejects Minato to why Minato is embarrassed about his feelings (that they burden others) to the way Shin supports Minato. It’s there in the way both Asuka and Shin’s sister talk about Shuu. It’s varied and prismatic but not at all sharp. The only one reflected badly in this rainbow is Shuu, it makes me wonder if there is more to him than we are being given.

The thing this BL is doing that others don’t (and I just came off Coffee Melody and that’s what made me think of it) is depict character growth. I mean it has to as an age gape romance, but still. It’s wonderful to see.

In fact, I would be so bold as to say this is what is best about Japanese BL when it’s in top form. JBL always shows some form of character evolution and it’s reassuring.

No screen caps for you today, you know what you’re missing.

Looks like we might get a bit of a time jump next week. Fingers crossed.

Honestly, I’ve never hoped this hard for a time jump before.

Ep 11 - Japan, always with the unexpected

So it looks like where will be no time jump. (Also no screen caps, my bad, I keep traveling mid week with only my work computer, and I can’t screen cap on that one for… reasons.) I would have put the chances of this approach at about 10% at the outset. Although Japan has used the “no time jump” age gap combo for noona romances in the past, see A Story to Read When You First Fall in Love. And I guess they’re doing something similar with this narrative.

So I had to sit on this episode and process how I felt about that for a really long time.

This episode made me sad in a way that your bog standard Thai Episode 11 of Dooms never do.

I think because they telegraphed the fact that Shin was giving up in the last ep, and so this one felt kind of achey all along. Shin took Minato with him to Tokyo in the hopes that Minato would panic and ask him to stay, but also knowing he probably would never do that. So this was also Shin showing Minato that he really would leave.

I think I was sad because I am a little disappointed as well?

It’s seems clear that, in the end, Minato is not mature enough to push Shin away like I wanted and expected. It’s Shin who has to accept that his love is unrequited and shut himself down. (Although this might be one last ditch effort at manipulation.) It pushes Shin to assume the adult seme role, and that’s why the narrative has Minato act like a scared baby in the graveyard.

But they are still tempering it with Shin’s wistful childish naiveté around love. Or is that just Japanese romance drama’s naiveté around love?

This makes me feel… what, exactly? Lack of character growth? Or perhaps growth in the wrong direction? Like the story is pushing Shin to be more classically seme and pushing Minato to be more performatively uke (and childish). That’s not the way I wanted this to develop, I wanted it to go towards the Old Fashion Cupcake end of the spectrum, not Takara & Amagi. (I love both but my expectations are and were materially different.)

Which means the problem is with me and my expectations.

Honestly, I’m just torn at the moment. I have my fingers crossed for next week but (with a few notable exceptions) endings aren’t actually Japan’s strong suit.

Also it looks like next ep we have the Japanese patented “running of the gays.” I think like Taiwan’s obsession with the ‘crash into me” prat fall, this trope is in every single Japanese BL in some form or another.

(source)

#minato shoji coin laundry #minato shouji coin laundry

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