Lyson

It has both elements, but the over all tone leans more towards the dark.

"You saved yourself A LOT of money over the years." ~~ LOL oh nah, I'm not that kind of a fan. I rarely spend my money on fan interest. I can pay to watch a show, buy a novel, and if I REALLY like a music artist (I mean REALLY because I like a lot of music, but most I would not pay for or bother going to a live show), I will pay for their music or attend a concert. I'm not that kind of fan who buys merch or pictures or whatever other trinkets and promo stuff the Asian celebs companies put out in excess for the fans to buy up. I wouldn't pay to attend fan meets, I don't want to meet almost any of them, not even the western ones. I also would never buy the products/brands they wear/are sponsored by unless it's something I actually like/would use (hasn't happened yet lol). I have no interest in all that. I'm here to support them in the most direct and official capacity; pay to watch and actor act, pay to read a writers work, pay to listen to or watch a concert of a music artist I really like. Otherwise, nah.


"Maybe it was confusing?" ~~ yeah I think it was because i thought you said the opposite LOL

"Wait, so you don't want to bang either?" ~~ LOL nope, I do not have any thoughts of banging WY or XZG, but I like them, they're very good-looking and talented and likeable. Yeah, you get it, like how you feel about WY, I feel that way about most actors, western actors included, there's barely a handful on my 'hit that' list of Asian actors. Very short list, but many of them are visual eye candy. I'm confused again, are you saying you WOULD or WOULD NOT bang Brad Pitt. My western actor list is also a barely a handful, but I like many good actors.

"Strangely enough, BL draws some of the most internally misogynistic women I've ever seen. That's why bottoms often get crap from the fandom." ~~ YEP. Somehow this new gen has this weird idea in their heads that being a bottom is somehow a bad thing without even realising how fucking stupid they sound when they're trying sound inclusive while excluding so much common sense shit. They're so confused it's embarrassing. I don't even bother trying to reason with those types, too condfused and they lack critical thinking and a lot of general knowledge while thinking they have it all figured out. they need to close their mouths (stop typing) and get properly educated outside of their assholes.

"That's so concerning to me" ~~ real talk, I don't feel bad for adults how make dumbshit decisions because they somehow manage to be unable to separate reality and fiction despite living in a modern world and the age of endless information and technology. I'm only responsible for my own choices and my own mental health, everyone else is not my problem lol

"I have scoured the earth to no avail." ~~ Hannibal (NBC) and Interview with the Vampire (AMC). Both leads are fucked up and deserve each other completely (heart eyes). In BL? I can't think of any where both are fucked up D: there has to be though right??? At least like, one? Somewhere???

I dunno you might like 10 Dance, it's just too boring for me. Glad you enjoyed Heated Rivalry and yep, I am still not watching any BL lol, right now I'm binging Brassic's final season (you will not know what that is LOL) and then I'll see what happens next! XD

This comment is basically just explaining your taste preference, best not to drag all BLs into that subjective perspective, BLs can and should be made in all different ways, dark included. Also, I said they went beyond comedy into cartoonish, I never said I wanted Me &Thee to be dark or gloomy so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Generally speaking, MDL ratings are worthless. Most of the ratings here are based on which actors/actresses have the most desperate for validation and defensive fans. Best to watch and judge for yourself.

My Take, read or don't read;
Personally, as someone who likes PondPhuwin from the previous works (excluding We Are), they have been one of my fave Thai pairs, this was disappointing for me. I feel this has been their weakest script and the creative direction chosen by the producers for them fell off big time (despite it have the highest budget of their works together and more dedicated acting from the cast). They went too cartoony imo, to the point where I'd expect a little 'bang' flag to pop out of the guns when fired. I also think the excess cartoon humor makes the 'romance' side of things more like it's Pepé Le Pew chasing Penelope Pussycat, and that killed any intensity build up for me between Thee and Peach, because Thee comes across like a walking joke who would not be functional in society. They could have made Thee eccentric and mysterious with an air of danger and still put in the campy humor, which I could see being someone Peach might be attracted too, but instead they just made Thee a slapstick cartoon.

I'll be waiting for their next work, hoping for something better.
i.e: I dropped this at ep 2 with only some skipping through later eps.

I've watched some of those, TDJ is the only one that stands out as more than a standard bromance to me. Enjoyed Bloodhounds and DP though.

Been too long, can't find the interest to get back into it. Dropped.

The Devil Judge

I think we never have had many things in common, we talked about a lot but nothing ever really lined up XD hehehehe
Ah, the het washing thing sounds familiar, I think I may have come across commenters talking about that when I was watching it. I didn't see all that, I just saw a show depicting two teenage love stories and it was well done.

Lol, well I told my mum about Fabricated City because she actually reccd the manipulated to me, so she said she'd like to watch it and see the differences. I'll pass though.

I said I RARELY find Korean guys attractive, not that I don't find any attractive. JiSung is definitely fine AF, ain't no way anyone's denying that XD

I am thinking of dropping Me & Thee to be honest, I just don't even want to keep watching it. On top of the camp, I feel like PondPhuwin have entered the close real friend zone that has completely eliminated any chemistry they previously had (imo). I saw some of their kissing clips from episodes I haven't watched yet and honestly, atp it's better if they acted as friends or brothers. Another BL couple in that category is TayNew, those two never attempting to kiss each other on screen will be too soon. lol And nope, I'm not watching any BLs right now, I haven't even watched the latest eps of TMS, I'm off BL for a while, the run has been to shit lately. I started 10 Dance got bored halfway through and then couldn't be bothered to go back because I just don't even care how it ends lol, so yeah, I'm taking a break.

Yeah I can see the 'pipeline' effect being a thing.

I started in anime at 13 (as I mentioned) but I enjoyed anime for the arb characters and I liked the art, because I'm a hobbyist artist and from anime, I got into slash (yaoi), then western LGBTQ and then BL and honestly, the Japanese guys I mentioned are the only ones I ever thought were nice looking. I never into Jpop, but then, I'm not into Kpop or Cpop as a whole genre either, I can listen to some songs here or there, but I don't know their names or faces most of the time. I guess I just never went down that rabbit hole.

Edward ELRIC. LOL also, the entire FMA universe is not set in Japan or even our 'earth' as we know it. As a writer I focus on details of characters too, and Edward literally had golden eyes and was born to a race of Xercians, he was half Xercian and half Amestrian, so yeah, never pictured him as Asian. But yeah, in anime people are free to picture the characters however they like.

'and I just find this stuff fascinating' ~~ honestly, attraction and preferences are always an interesting discussion, even within other Asian countries and western countries!

"THIS WOULD GET YOU AN ENTIRE AFTERNOON IN THE CHOKEY, IF I HAD THE POWER" ~~ LOL (of course I've seen Matilda XD)
I know Gongjun is very popular but SEE that's the thing about attraction and preferences that is so fascinating, to most people he's very attractive but to me (and some others in the minority) he's not, he's just okay, nothing to write home about yk. And that's very fun to look into. Yep, not a lot of pictures of CJY, I think he's not quite famous enough, poor guy.

"Wang Yibo and Xia Zhiguang don't do anything for me, so yes, attraction is indeed subjective lol." ~~ YEP. But see there's attraction, like easy on the eyes, acknowledging you think someone is nice looking, and then there's ATTRACTION (like, finding someone personally hot like you'd hit that if you know what I mean?). There's a difference imo. Now for WY, he falls into the former. I am a BIG fan his, he's awesome, but that's about it. XZG also falls into the former category. I don't know if this makes any sense.

"The Devil Judge had me FERALLLLL." ~~YAAAAAAAAASSSSSSS Jisung SUPREMACY
"If it was actually a BL, it would've been SK's most-watched drama of all time." ~~ EXACTLY and they'll NEVER ADMIT IT, because TDJ would >>>>>>> all the het dramas they ever made easy peasy.

"Like...omg...hi twin" ~~ isn't it scary though, to find people who have a more rational balanced way of thinking when it comes to BL???? Fans of this genre are willing to accept almost ANYTHING just because 'aw they are so hawt' like could people be a little more honest with themselves?
"The only time I want a psychopath/someone extremely toxic to end up with the object of their affection is if the object of their affection is a psychopath/toxic too!!!" ~~ Exactly (shout out to my Hannigram OTP for life!)
Honestly all tropes, if done well, can work, but unfortunately most of the time, it doesn't work out that way and we get tropey shit.

"It's not fun for me to see someone horrible destroying a good person. I don't understand why so many people like it." ~~ because they wait for the typical 'redemption arc' and convince themselves that it's enough for the abuser to be forgiven because 'he loves him so much' but that's some bs lol. Unless the MLs are equal or both fucked up in some way, that kind of dynamic just doesn't fly. I can't really think of many shows or movies with equally fucked up leads besides Hannibal (Hannigram) and to an extent, Lestat & Louis in Interview With the Vampire. I don't really watch a lot of romance though, over all, besides in BL, so I can't judge het shows on any accurate scale.

The series fixed what the webnovel could NEVER. They made all four MLs who were varying shades of red 'flags' all fairly acceptable and forgivable in the end, unlike in the webnovel where they were all varying shades of awful still by the end. I liked Guo Chengyu most too, but only because i liked Zhan Xuan. I didn't actually get attached to any of the characters in RL, I just enjoyed the overall show.

"Man, I miss Revenged Love. I worry we won't get anything quite like it again." ~~ I think it's about casting, casting is SO important.

I checked out Fabricated City on MDL's page, it's like the original movie version of The Manipulated? I think I'll just keep watching the TM, I'm enjoying it :D I like the ML, but I don't think I like him enough to go looking for this other works XD LOL

EXO sounds vaguely familiar, let me search. Oh, that's the group that has Zhang Yixing. I only know about ZYX because of Street Dance of China, and I only knew about the dance show because of Wang Yibo, that's as far as my knowledge of EXO goes. I have very limited interest in Asian boy bands tbh (and western ones too). Even Wang Yibo's former boy band didn't interest me so I'll give that a skip. Sorry XD

Heesu In Class 2! That was the name of the BL! I thought it was fine, I enjoyed it well enough, nothing too memorable but it was entertaining. I do remember there was a lot of complaining and discourse in the comments though, it was about what you mentioned. For me Lee Sang Jun was worth remembering, I very rarely find Korean guys attractive, I recall thinking he was quite nice looking. He was in Connection with Jisung too if I recall 🤔

I will get around to watching Thunderstorm Raincloud when I finally get back to BLs, nothing is making me want to jump back in rn, but I always come back around to BL eventually.

LOL wow, like, I don't even know most of the characters names, let alone the actors real names. I'm just watching the show because it's entertaining af. I'm guessing JCW is the lead actor??? I'd have to pull up the MDL page and check. I don't know who DKS is either, but I know the brother's face (the one who died) from that BL, I can't recall the name of it tbh. I'll look up Fabricated City though, see if it piques my interest at all. Also The Company, I'll look into it. Haven't got much I'm watching these days besides finding time to watch The Manipulated and Taxi Driver S03, I haven't even watched the latest eps of To My Shore, it's not really pulling me back. Waiting on some Western movie releases and TV show completions so I can binge.

I do know about JiSung's new show, WAITING for that one for months already >:D yep, something to look forward to!!

"Came in for Machida Keita and the trailer's promise" ~~ kind of the same, but only with minimal interest since I've never been big on JPBLs to start, but I couldn't make it to the end in one sitting and then afterwards I realized I don't actually care how it ends so I dropped it. AND OH, yes, the BLs airing in the last few weeks are mostly weak sauce so I'll ask if you've watched The Manipulated? It's so good man, I'd recc it for sure,

I got bored like 2 days ago and stopped watching this halfway, now I can't find any motivation to go back so I'm dropping it. A+ for budget and effort though.

THEIR VISUAL AMIRITE???

Me & Thee is the weakest BL PondPhuwin have ever done, highest budget, but weakest script. The crossed the line of eccentric camp into stupid camp. I still haven't made it past ep 2. But I dunno what your tolerance level is. The rating for all GMMTV BLs is bullshit, they're all rated for actor fandom wars, never for quality. Anyway I like PondPhuwin, their first two BLs were enjoyable, but PondSanta would clear that pair hands down imo.

Oh I disagree about being an anime fan meaning finding Japanese guys attractive. When it comes to cartoon/manga art (and some manhua too, although Chinese manhua artists really NAIL their detail) when picturing what REAL versions of them might look like, the imagination can go WILD. For example. They cast Kenichi Matsuyama as L, and I liked Kenichi just fine in the role, but my own idea of what L would like it more Maxence Danet Fauvel vibes, TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Also, the actor they cast for Edward Elric (<33333333 my favourite manga character EVER) acted the role just fine, but looks, yikes, it was a no from me. I see Edward looking more like Emil Anderson. I even did an edit of Emil Anderson (he's a model and I think he may have died during covid I can't be sure but I hope not) as Edward Elric.https://www.pinterest.com/pin/290693350956507444/ so yeah, I never pictured Japanese guys as my fave manga characters.
I also just realized that both of the Japanese manga characters I listed are both technically NOT canonically Japanese. Maybe that's kind of telling??? You also pointed out you think Kobayashi looked Chinese-y, so I guess that's telling too lol I just don't find most JP dudes or girls to be easy on the eyes. lol And those 2 actors you mentioned, I find neither of them attractive to look at BUT I recalled another JP actor I found kind of attractive recently, I almost forgot him because the BL was forgettable, Soma Satoru! I like him, I love a goofy smile too, on an attractive guy, very pleasant to look at.

Oh you're probably gonna gasp when I tell you I don't like Gong Jun LOL I made it through Advance Bravely well enough, but by the end of it I was tired of his face XD and then you're gonna gasp again when I tell you that besides his role and WW, I don't think XZ really stands out looks wise HAHA. Yeah, different strokes right? But I do know they're both super popular and considered attractive by most everyone. For me, it was Wang Yibo as LWJ and Xia Zhiguang as Ruan Lanzhu, face cards for daaaaays. The proper BL's we've gotten recently, so far only Zhan Xuan REALLY stood out to me looks wise, and recently Chen Jianyi (Lu Zhen here in TMS) the rest haven't been bad looking though. China could easily dominate the BL genre, they already almost do and they've only done censored BLs and a few proper ones recently.

Yes, ignorance can come from the most confusing places, you named the top three rn! They should be BETTER, but they are all going backwards every day little by little.

"But when it's time to pick something to adapt, Korea will choose something run of the mill." ~~ beacsue they're AFRAID and because they KNOW if they do full quality BL, their precious het kdrama genre will fall off so bad. Did you see what The Devil Judge did????? If they'd had the balls to make TDJ actual BL and not walk the fine line, it'd be even MORE popular and successful that it already was/is. (I love TDJ, if you haven't seen it, 100% would recc)

Sometimes you gotta just follow your gut though, so yeah, can't always depend on review counts.

"but I keep trying to tell the poor thing it ain't gonna happen for me." / "Plus in real life, narcissistic manipulators like Fan Xiao rarely change anyway." ~~ love it. LOVE IT that we're on the same page. I refuse to read the comments because I know what I'll see, exactly what you're dealing with. They'll twist themselves into impossible excuse pretzels trying to justify FX's behavior. Do I like FX as a character? Yep, I do, I like him as a psychopath asshole and I still wish he fucked both of them (sorry not sorry) and then continued to be an asshole because that's realistically how it goes, but his relationship is too obviously fucked up and abusive with Shu Lang which makes it ick for them to end up together. If Shu Lang where fucked up too? Okay, maybe but Shu Lang is actually a decent human being from what they've depicted so nah. Doesn't work!
"Shu Lang getting back together with him will just feel like a variation of Stockholm's Syndrome." ~~ you took the words right out of my BRAIN PAN. It's a very power imbalanced, abusive relationship that's now heading into guilting and gaslighting territory. I like consent, consent is SEXY AF, thanks, they can keep the idea of this pair being together, I'll just stick around for the drama until I get bored maybe.

Yes, LOVE how it's been filmed for sure. They're doing an excellent job, it gives us hope for future works!

I don't have any strong opinions on any of the actors in TMS tbh, I think they're all doing fine but I can't say any of them have made a major impression on me. Only Chen Jianyi, and that's just visual (because at this point, he is my live action Xie Lian) did I already show you that he's my Xie Lian? I've made it official. hehe

"It's like the actors get married and have to work with their spouse forever." ~~ ugh yes, it's horrible, and they're required to do stupid fan service and do some pretending like it's 'real' to keep mentally unwell fans from losing their weak minds. I hate it. SO MANY BL actors would be FIRE with other partners. It's such a waste.

Pond and Santa are friends and they're in JASP.er (a music group) together. They're also both in Me & Thee, but Santa is a minor role. He could have easily been a MC lead across from Pond though, they'd look so good together in a BL.
https://www.tiktok.com/@aestiniia/video/7549560161317293330?q=pond%20santa&t=1766027536600
GMMTV is so fast asleep on the potential for these two, probably just how it taken a BL with Gun acting across from another ML for people to see potential there. Mixed pairs is dumb.

It's definitely renewed, and yet Boots (which was so damn good) is cancelled, no second season. Netflix is so ass.

Did you? I think someone else on Twitter also called it that. Either way, it struck TRUE. lol

"Maybe because I know I'll see lots of abs LOL" ~~ LOL, everyone has their draw cards in shows! hehe I like sports in shows, as long is it's integrated well with the storyline and is visually interesting.

Eh, if I see 10 reviews I think 'oh this company has 10 very dedicated employees bumping their products' LOL I don't trust it. With shows, ratings as low as 7 won't put me off because I know how ridiculous fans can be with their downvoting wars. The ratings on MDL hardly matter at all tbh, I always look at the cast, read the synopsis and watch the trailer to decide. Or of I really like a pairing, I'll watch it because of that, but if it turns out to be shit, I won't go rating it up because I like that actors, shit is shit. It is what it is.

"whereas KBLs have both a bland plot and execution" ~~ which is wildly weak when their action/suspense/thriller dramas are so lit. Like, what's wrong with them? Oh, homophobia. right.
Oh yeah no I'm honest about what I like to see, me saying "I don't find Japanese actors." is my business and idgaf what anyone else thinks, if they find them attractive that's great, but that's not my business just like me not liking them is my business. It's called aesthetic preference. lol Even rn, there's only one Japanese actor I think is attractive, that's Kobayashi Toranosuke from I Hear the Spot. A visual list? Haha, it's the same for me:

China
Thailand
Taiwan
SK
Japan

Although Taiwan and SK could go head to head, but China is still first and JP is still last for me.

When it comes to western shows I know EXACTLY what I like and I'm even pickier than with Asian shows. Trust, there is no question about it, I could not be persuaded to watch ST even if you tried lol. Just like no soul was ever able to persuade me to watch Supernatural, no matter how much hype it got. Not my vibe. And I say that even though I like Jensen Ackles, still no from me. I commend your self control all the same!

Oh I'm just watching TMS at this point because Fan Xiao's unhinged behavior is entertaining. The actual dynamic between them now is abusive and that hardly interests me. Even if the end up together, it makes no sense to me, because that's a very unhealthy relationship. I like a red flag character, but within in reason. When abuse and non-con are the basis of it, I don't see how it could be acceptable that the should end up together. The way things are rn, Fan Xiao has done less horrible shit to Lu Zhen. The acting is great though, and I like everything about the way the show is filmed and directed, it's great. The storyline is interesting too, I just don't have any investment in them ending up together, it's meh for me. Are you rooting for them?

Thanks! Addicted was not for me, too rapey imo, I'm not into rapey/dub con between MLs, it's also the reason I'm barely taking To My Shore seriously, too much dub con stuff going on. Not my vibe yk? Watching To My Shore for Fan Xiao's unhinged behaviour at this point, very entertaining lol. I watched Addicted years ago, before I had an account on MDL, so I never added it to my list. I have added Egoist to my PTW, thanks for the recc! JPBLs usually bore me but this is a LGBTQ movie so I'm expecting it to be better XD are my hopes too high?

Anything on my list you haven't already watched, I'd recc, that's what this list is, not all the ones I enjoyed, but the ones I enjoyed that I think BL gen pop would enjoy.

I drop shows every other day of the week, sometimes within 5 minutes. That was not the point of my post. I was looking for some insight into whether the content of this show is worth continuing to watch . I have had some clarifying answers.

I appreciate you taking the time to write this, but yeah I am aware of these things. I went into this expecting a camp comedy, I was tracking this BL's release for a while since I like PondPhuwin.

But as I mentioned, there is line, a line where intentional camp crosses into simply seeming stupid, that's happened too many times in just one and a half eps I've seen. It makes the character of Thee seem cartoonish and not just hilariously eccentric, the latter being more what I was expecting after seeing the trailer. As a result all the characters around him tolerating his cartoon level behaviour also just seem ridiculous and so imo it starts to fall apart.

So now I'm struggling since it's pushing even my tolerance for this kind of genre, but I'll keep going eventually, maybe I'll pick it back up once it's completely aired.

Yeah, 3 episodes are the general deal breaker limit. I'll have to push through ep 2 at some point. Hope the balance is better because up to now, they've gone too far with the cheesy camp comedy for my taste, I like comedy and I can accept a bit of camp, but there's a limit. Hanging in there rn only because I like PondPhuwin.

I don't have any interest in that pairing. I have no interest in anyone in this show besides PondPhuwin and an individual liking for Santa.