K-Drama 
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Kabe-Koji-Nekoyashiki-kun Desires to Be Recognized
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celebrity romance, sunshine/tsundere
Basically this is A Man Who Defies the World of BL + Senpai This Can’t be Love and equally painfully EXTRA. Nakao Masaki playing a sunshine bouncy himbo character is a fucking revelation, I didn’t think he had it in him. This should’ve been my favorite BL of all time (IT’S AN IDOL LOVE INTEREST!), but the tsundere is too tsundere for me, I really hate the stalker photograph thing it’s apparently a trigger I didn’t know I had until BL tried to romanticize it. I kept feeling like there were the bones of good story in this drama, and I got glimpses of it, but then it’s covered again - like tasty steak smothered in Kewpie mayo.Was this review helpful to you?
tsundere seme, enemies to lovers, rich/poor
Stars Chap (from Y-Destiny & Lovely Writer) opposite Green (2 Moons 2 & Lovely Writer minor rolls) directed by Mike (Golden Blood) about a sweet skilled tailor and a self-centred, fragile rich kid.I hated the seme, he beat up a subordinate! That’s irredeemable. It’d be great if this were JUST soft, because when it was soft it was LOVELY. But the softness was super rare. Watching this was like eating a meal of just spices. I’m like: the spice profile is good, but it’s not ON anything. Look, I’m always here for some high heat and good chemistry but even I think that this one was ridiculous.
GMMTV be like: watch us squander glorious chemistry on terrible scripts. Tuxedo: hold my beer.
This show MADE NO SENSE. It had no plot or story. I don’t know what I’m watching, neither does it, but I really hope we see these boys agin in something better and more worthy of them.
NOT RECOMMENDED
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secret lovers, Romeo & Romeo, sunshine/tsundere, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, GL side plot
GMMTV’s flagship BL 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 & Juliet masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. GMMTV, we forgive you. More.The bar has been raised, Thailand.
An adaptation of the y-novel Behind the Scenes with established BL director Backaof (1000 Stars, He’s Coming to Me, Dark Blue Kiss) who took steps (strides even) to correct for some of GMMTV’s own past BL mistakes with regards to queer rep. Production values were high (if more workmanlike than cinema-licious). Heat levels were pretty low but Ohm had his shirt off a lot (thank you) and the acting was absolutely stellar.
In the end I loved Bad Buddy.
The family struggles and toxic friendship group made it a little bit difficult for me to take at times so I am not certain how much rewatch potential it has. We shall see. However the ending was unexpectedly satisfying if not typical for romance.
Live blog of this one is here.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Khemjira - BL Horror that Broke Me
Tropes: horror, paranormal, ghost story, I see dead people, countryside setting, shamanistic rituals, tsundere/sunshine, paladin/damselTriggers: jump scares, blood, horror, obsession, child endangerment, child loss, infanticide
Summary
The story of a boy laboring under a curse, haunted by ghosts and demons, who’s family, found family, friends and lover all try to help him through various spiritual and physical means. While horror is not my genre, I’m very glad that I gave this a chance. This is a diaphanous magical BL of the kind that only really comes along once a year these days (with lingering notes of I Feel You Linger in the Air rather than any actual BL horror I could name). I’m not sure it’s going to be much of a rewatch for me, but I admire its (and its actors) otherworldly beauty, cultural relevancy, and elegant execution and impact.
If someone asks me to recommend a ghost story BL, this is now the first one I’m reaching for. To climb to a pinnacle in such a crowded market is high praise indeed.
Standing in the Zeitgeist
I normally would have waited and binged this, but I'm glad I watched it week-to-week. It elevated the end of summer 2025 in a way that will not be soon forgotten, partly because it held its own against the outrageously loud ridiculousness of Revenge Love and Desire in a sentimental yet quietly refined way.
What is most remarkable about Khemjira is that is had so many people in a chokehold during its run. We have had quite a bit of BL horror before, but it was this show that struck a gold vein of public appeal, even outside of BL devotees.
Cast & Character
I'm going to give props to Domundi, they cast Khemjira perfectly. After a string of poor offerings based on existing branded pairs, they took two of their newer couples and front loaded this show with a perfect combination of talent (unexpected) and optics (expected).
And while I, personally, wasn't wild about the archetypes and dynamic of the lead pair (stern paladin + imperiled ingenue doesn't do it for me), the secondaries were all glorious and contrasted enough to give chronic BL watchers like me something to latch onto.
Not to mention the fact that the sides were also given character development, backstories, and enough screen time to carry the weight of fan interest (if the leads didn't engage).
All of which I to say, this was a very well-balanced offering, with production, cast, and script being equally great.
The Horror Conundrum
I, who does not like horror at all, found that this one's reliance on makeup and acting over advanced special effects (or high concept) more "down-home amusement park" than actually scary. But your milage may vary.
For me it was not the horror component, but the attention to detail, particularly historical and cultural, and the thorough glimpse into Northern Thai shamanistic traditions that engaged the most.
However, I cannot deny that all other aspects of this show were also of a particularly high quality, including its scary narrative.
Final Thoughts
Not only was Khemjira a unique Thai BL in quality of story, it's handling of intimacy was also special. This is a high heat show, but it is very classy about it. The NC scenes were different from normal expectations, plus very hot, with extended air time, and very well done.
Finally, and most importantly for me, Khemjira really really REALLY stuck the landing. The final episode is truly spectacular and worth watching towards. It would have gotten an 8/10 from me, but the ending was just so wonderful, it earned that 9 honestly at the last gasp.
In conclusion, even if you don't like horror, you might want to give this show a chance.
I genuinely do not say that lightly.
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This review may contain spoilers
I loved it, but not as a BL.
This is a true lakorn with scenery chewing performances, especially from the mother characters.It is a Thai tellenovella + Gone With the Wind but gay.
I loved it: A glorious central brother relationship (the best, made me cry), het romances, class divide + gay *gasp* main romance, the campy drama of it all. Arranged marriage, rebellion, cut sleeves, dramatic death with curses and regrets, beautiful if inaccurate costumes, secrets unraveling, cover ups, sparkle murder, sex herbs, coils within coils including snakes and death by glitter (is anything gayer on this earth?). It’s a WILD ride.
It’s not BL. It’s not a romance, it’s a family drama Thorn Birds style but it does end happy for our gay boys.
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workplace romance, grumpy/sunshine pair, love triangle
This one was cute but it’s also the first Korean BL where I really felt like the characters were being seriously ill served by the length. (Usually with Korea’s BLs it’s story/plot that suffers the shorter runtime.) These boys just didn’t have much oomf to them.Essentially this was a sweet and fluffy story of a willing and eager sunshine boy saving a grumpy chef from himself which featured an unnecessary love triangle that was too underdeveloped for the amount of angst that resulted. On the bright side, everyone was VERY pretty. And that was a very bright side indeed.
Did I enjoy it? Hell yes, they beautiful! Did it have any substance to it beyond the pretty? Not even slightly. Do we want more than that? Ya know? Sometimes... no, no we don’t.
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Enemies to lovers + cohabitation + long term pining
Lovely Writer is about a BL writer who is dragged onto the set and casting of his first BL series. The lead actor of the series starts flirting with him and they fall in love. The chemistry was great and the acting solid. It launched as a fun show, light hearted for all it poked at the BL industry. What it did beautifully (like Oxygen) was correct for some of BL’s fatal flaws. There were no consent issues, cutout characters, or gay for you. Even the family coming out sequence was honest and fairly dealt with. Yet it still managed to hit most of the Thai BL tropes I have come to expect and even a few yaoi ones I love.Simultaneously the series confronted issues within the BL industry: depictions of non-consent; catering to market pressure; forcing actors to performatively flirt and hide existing relationships; product placement; fan obsession and stalker behavior; and the complacency of studios, agents, and directors.
It ended up being one of my favorites of 2021 (only the finale was a bit drawn out for my tastes) but it suffered from one fatal flaw - egregious sound effects, overused and CONSTANTLY applied cartoon noises particularly in the first half. The sound tech should have been canned after Episode 1. I found it so distracting I docked a whole point for it. Still this was one of the best BLs from Thailand in 2021.
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arranged marriage, age gap, secret identity, cohabitation, rich kid problems, he’s in engineering
It was a real pleasure to see Zee again (Why R U?) and his new love interest is very well cast. MaxNat turned in their usual consummate side dish action, (origin Why R U? also Y-Destiny & Close Friend) and it’s always fun to see Perth (My Engineer) and the other guest cameos.With very high production values at at first I thought they were gunning for Korea, but I’m got a real Japanese feel from this one, Thai style of course but there is definitely a lot of visual referencing live action yaoi. Also the music and sound were pretty darn good.
It took me a few episodes to accept the absurd conceit of this show and its quirky characters and motivation as ALSO EXTREMELY traditionally yaoi and very lifestyle D/s. After that I just rolled with it. I realized that if this had come from Japan I would have given it a pass immediately. Why be tough on it just because it comes from Thailand? So, about half way through I liked it A LOT more.
The chronic miscommunication really tested my patience at the end tho.
A Mini Essay on My Love of LianKuea in Cutie Pie (and ZeeNunew's performances)
Honestly I just love LianKuea's dynamic, it's so D/s but also so classic yaoi seme/uke. The way Lian smiles when his Nu does something cute is so damn sweet. He’s practically the definition of a caring Dom. Killing Kuea (and us) with stern softness. Zee did a fantastic job with this character. That said NuNew also managed to give us an appealing uke with gumption and a crush and a failure to understand self actualization who we liked.
But let's be honest here, the actors' chemistry is REALLY good.
Look, there is something about the way Zee looks as his acting partners. His eyes are very doting, no mater the line delivery or any other aspects of the scene. He's been given these fierce stern roles to play in Fighter and Lian but he always seems to manage to temper his characters with fondness.
I like doting affection on screen.
I also like to see a seme actually sexually intersted in his uke, otherwise the archetype comes off as more inclined to ownership and less about desire. To be frank, Zee is also good at transmitting the "I want to bone" thing.
Since a seme character is aggressive and obsessive and intrusive he has to be tempered by some sort of softness to appeal to a modern audience. Add in authentic feeling sexual interest and the seme character MUST be gentled by the actor's performance, or we end up with a H4 situation. And Zee manages to transmit all that with just eye work. It's great to watch.
But NuNew did a wonderful job too. Kuea was clearly interested and willing and game. There’s no sign of the Blushing Maiden with this uke. Thank fuck, could we PLEASE kill that archetype?
As much as I love a Daddy who wants his boy, a boy who needs his Daddy is about a billion times better. And genuine sexual interest from the uke character is still far too rare in BL.
In this regard, Cutie Pie was a breath of fresh air.
What can I say?
They love each other, they just idiots
is a favorite of mine.
But...
They WANT each other, they just idiots?
Yeah. That one is gonna get me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
The other pairs were good too!
MaxNat serve us high heat while smiling the whole time. Which was kinda charming and basically their signature. These two just seem to have fun together. It’s nice.
Language note on Yi’s confession: Diao’s nickname khondiao means “only” or a”lone” in Thai? So when Yi confesses, he’s using world play when he says “I love you only”. More here.
However, I gotta say my favorite kiss of this show (and it was VERY kissy), was actually Syn and Nuea. Adorable. I wish we had gotten more of these two.
Cutie Pie ended very navel gaze maudlin and sappy for my taste. The absurd proposal back-and-forth thing was kinda par for the course with Lian and Kuea and their miscommunication antics, but I was bored by it.
This show went from absurd to appealing to annoying and then back to absurd again - but always sappy and nicely high heat for what ultimate seemed to be an equal marriage propaganda piece. Which I’m fine with, but Taiwan’s Faded did it better in 20 minutes back in 2017.
Nevertheless, on the strength of the chemistry of all three couples, the odd but very old fashioned romance tropes, and clear high rewatchability this one is getting a 8/10. Watch this one for the pretty, give it a pass on depth.
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ABO Desire Deep Dive Diatribe
As I type this, it has been a few days since the final episode of Desire aired and I have... a lot, to say.Frankly, I should have done a trash watch from the start. But it took 5 episodes for me to realize what a dumpster fire phenomena this was, and by then it was too late. Live and let burn. As a result, I must write a whole thesis on the following formula aka the design of this damn show:
psychotic obsession + delicious toxicity
- chronic neglect of side dish
/ by the sheer madness of this show existing at all
Up top confession?
I loved this Very Silly Show in the worst possible way. And I do mean worst. It really was like watching fanfic brought to life.
Good fic but still... rough in places, in need of a solid edit past, littered with forgotten threads, dropped characters, tired tropes, and weak development.
* The main pair is a work of gd art.
* The filming quality is solid.
* The wardrobe department is unhinged and has issues with shirts (absent or awful, only 2 options).
* Generally, most of the acting had a lot in common with vintage sleds: cold, hard, wooden, and stiff, but still somehow a fun ride.
For what it was (remarkable) and that it existed at all (unprecedented) and how much I enjoyed the experience (despite myself), I went outside of my comfort zone when rating this darn thing. I admit, Desire is an 8/10 show, but I personally am compelled to give it a 9/10 on pure entertainment value.
And without question Desire is an icon of our BL times. 2025 will forever be remembered as the year China put mpreg on our screens.
And now, your actual review of this show:
Close on the herculean strides of Revenged Love, China continued its historic 2025 run on the international BL market with the first true ABO mpreg piece.
There is some semblance of story = about a boy who falls in love with an alpha (top of food chain) right before he manifests as an enigma (secret extra-special tippy-top of food chain) and then obsessively stalks/courts the object of his devotion though means both fair and foul (mostly foul) for the next decade. Why so secretive and manipulative? No reason, just Hua Yong being Hua Yong.
This show focuses on Hua Yong, a perfect sociopath ult babygirl, being a violent, unchecked, conniving, psychotic monster so pretty he will hurt your teeth, intent on possessing, owning, and sexing-up one increasingly confused alpha. (I know honey, we were all confused, it's okay, you're safe. No one else is. But you are.)
And when our little psycho wins? We likey! (So does the alpha.) Somehow everyone, including the audience, has also become toxic trash along with Hua Yong. Fun fun.
There is actual on screen kissing (yes, from China, no it's not very good) combined with some of the world's hottest shirt suspenders and some the world's ugliest shirts.
The end.
That's the whole show.
Oh... there is a nod at an intriguing side couple who ended up being mere set dressing.
And there is also actual ON SCREEN mpreg. Twice.
Plus China aired this by distributing through Hong Kong to a Taiwanese platform and if that isn't How Dare levels of malarkey I don't know what is.
Wild times we live in.
And I haven't even gotten to the Cpop boy group component.
What can I really say about this show?
This show would have been sublimely f'd up and utterly ridiculous even without the ABO trappings, but the world-building actually added to my enjoyment (and I am not an omegaverse stan).
However, there is a ton of Basil Exposition to wade through during the first 3-5 episodes (not unlike this review). If you are not familiar with omegaverse or dystopian alt-reality info-dumping... it's going to tax you eternal.
If utter fascination with Hua Yong gliding sveltely down marble stairs and primly torturing all the wettest-eyed omegas can't hold you through the opening episodes, don't bother with this show. I liked our sweetie Alpha Sheng but it's Hua Yong who rules (and drives) this show. Hua Yong = the most beautiful little obsessive stalker pouty ruthless gremlin ever to swish around in silk pyjamas. If you don't find him riveting from the moment he wades through that pool in the opening scene, you're not gonna like Desire.
If you decide to risk it, please know that this show is very very gorgeous, unbelievably toxic, and completely NUTS. This is the CBL KinnPorsche no one thought to ask for. Only this is KP stripped of all grit, sanitized within an inch of it's life, made larger and icier and very very precise.
All your triggers will be hit with this, we are in dark territory: stalking, obsession, possession, threat, blackmail, dubious consent, and more. There is a large dose of willful misunderstanding, plus a hand being torn off, and (for some labubull reason) stuffed teddybears are adhered to perfectly innocent shirts (that did not deserve such treatment). (Look, that shirt was a trigger for me. And then they had to go and do it again, outside of the flashback. In the future! LIKE THEY STAYED IN FASHION FOR YEARS. Untenable.)
And yet.
I adored Desire for the wild ride and tried not to get bogged down with the details.
And yet.
Here I am typing away... tunneling into the details.
The point is… that it exists at all. Desire is very meta. It is it's own mpreg. Most of us spend most of the time it was airing staring at it in wonder and thinking “How were you born? How do you even exist?”
So putting aside how I felt about it, I am going to talk about why Desire is, against all odds, actually important and crazy in the history of BL. As the self proclaimed most bonkers pundit chronicler of BL's abject nonsense, I feel compelled to make a statement. And also, I need a post to point people at when they ask me about this damn show in the future.
Me explaining Desire to a non-BL non-Ao3 friend.
Friend’s eyes getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
(I actually had to go into everything I am about to cover in this post. It took me half and hour of excited flappy hands.)
Eventually the friend says, “I think I must watch this.”
Me, “Oh no! It’s not good, it’s just a miracle of the modern age.”
[large section redacted that details the history of omegaverse and China's very checkered relationship with BL right up until this moments. If you wanna read it, I put it in full plus images on tumblr. Just search my handle and the title of this review). MDL is China owned, I didn't think it wise to put the reality of the situation here. Plus... word use is more authentic on tumblr.
Notes, Tips, & Tricks
I watched this show on both Gaga and Viki. I think Viki has better subs that better translated the ABO worldbuild into English. But there are strengths and weaknesses to both platforms' respective subs.
The first few eps really do have massive amounts of info dumping. But after that it's "manipulation as a love language" all day every day... and night.
The secretary core/beta assistants are a hoot. I want an Upstairs Downstairs of them dealing with their idiot bosses. It kinda feels like they’re the true masterminds of all relationships. They must be having vicarious fun with all of these hormone-crazed whack-doodle power-hungry (or utterly disempowered) alphas. Just the betas shuffling paperwork, making coffee, and kvetching about what dumbarses their superiors are. I watch it.
It’s hilarious how little work CEOs in Asian dramas actually do. There’s a lot of walking around in suits, playing on phones, passing each other clipboards, and occasionally flipping though a file.
Of course Gao Tu (the omega disguising himself as a beta) is my favorite character. I’ve always been a fan of cross dressing. Don't get too attached tho, his story arc doesn't get much resolution.
Be warned: Shen Wen Lang (his clueless alpha) will never gain a clue or a brain cell. The actor will never be any less uncomfortably stiff. And there will be no kissing for them.
But that said, Shen Wen Lang and Hua Yong's worstie relationship is pretty darn excellent. Lots of fun to watch that one.
Sit back and enjoy Hua Yong's lies. He is so darn pretty, who cares if evil? He can do whatever he wants. Also, do not apply logic, it will never make sense, because he is certifiably insane. No sense or sanity in that pretty little brain. He has 2 brain cells that know only 2 things: manipulation and Sheng Shao You.
At the start, Desire does not feel unhinged, it feels quite tailored and controlled. I prefer my CBL a bit more like Revenged Love (the Taiwanese side) with crunchy edges. At first this show feels more KBL-esk. Don't worry, all the edges will get very very fried. (But the kitchen stays white and immaculate.)
Beware Episode 9 for it is toxic and full of pheromone marks flaring, plus all the rutting dub con (and worse) one could ever desire. *big sigh* Everyone got all messed up by this episode. Over this episode. Because of this episode. The characters in this episode.
From ep 9 on, I pretty much spent every ep kicking my feet, flailing about, and squealing. I love the main couple and their were warped little power dynamic. So damn kinky. Oh the glorious toxicity of it all.
Us = crying screaming puking our guts out. The mpreg boys = pale milk-water maidens delicately coughing into sinks and lying decorously in bed pining for the fjords. Their husbands = clutching pearls.
The final episode was lackluster. At the last gasp they gave us our little gay families but they ultimately misused the excellent side pair.
I too was a bit disgruntled that Desire let us down in the 11th hour.
BUT read the diatribe I just wrote above.
I forgive it its sins.
I kinda feel like I have to.
My goodness gracious, what a glorious ride it was.
Ultimately do I recommend it?
Well YES, but with approximately 4000 words of reservations.
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Secrecy, betrayal, earnestness, age gap
A boy who just lost his job due to faked corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. His ex-manager offers him his job back if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) carried this show (which I don’t expect from the idol element).He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes. That said, he had weak chemistry with his co-lead. But everything else was quietly queerly KBL pristine and beautifully executed, even the conflict. I’m not sure on rewatchability for me, and it didn’t whip me into a verbal frenzy the way some KBLs do but it’s still a solid enjoyable show. Bummer about the limited distribution.
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Secodn chances, reunion romance, former friends to enemies to lovers, sunshine/tsundere pairing
A reunion romance between a movie director who was once promising and a writer who disappeared due to past hurt. Stars JunQ (main rapper of 2nd gen group MYNAME) and Han Jung Wan (Mr International Korea winner).Reunion romances are not my thing but I liked the bratty sunshine (inner pain) director character despite his stalking (and maybe because of his naked chest). Using a guitar to torture someone is entirely appropriate, in my book/BL world it happens all the time.
I did want to know what happened to them in the past but the mystery got drawn out too much and the tsundere character became very frustrating and mean spirited as a result. I like the resolution and explanation for the conflict a lot more than I liked the conflict itself.
I could tell what this show wanted to be, and what it could’ve been, but it simply wasn’t good enough. In the end, like a host of other KBLs over the last couple of years, it is eminently forgettable.
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Why Until We Meet Again is special among Thai BLs
Until We Meet Again is one of my favorite Thai BLs of all time.I wouldn’t say it subverts tropes so much as it utilizes them as a spice for story, rather than utterly depending upon them. Most BLs (out of Thailand in particular) turn the tropes into the story. The narrative is entirely dependent on BL tropes for scene structure and plot. They are BL trope reliant/dependent.
UWMA is not like that at all.
Another way of putting it is that if you pulled all the BL specific tropes out of something like, oh I don’t know, 2gether, it would actually fall completely apart.
Now, I’m not talking about the romance foundational tropes like fated mates or fake relationship, those form the narrative backbone of any romance story (and most BL is romance). I’m talking about visual element tropes like baby is a floppy drunk, or the dreaded sponge bath, or wound tending, sharing earbuds, sharing a closet, etc...
For something like 2gether, these tropes ARE VITAL to moving the story along, fixing pacing issues, etc.. Which is FINE. That’s how most hey-day yaoi is. It’s how many contemporary romances are now.
But with Until We Meet Again if you removed all the BL tropes, the story would still be there, standing strong. The tropes add BL flavor to the series, like a spice, but in essence UWMA is actually just a fated mates romance, and it would stand strong as such if all the tropes were striped away (although we would probably lose WinTeam under those circumstances).
Another series that recently acts this way is 1000 Stars. Which is why, I think, it had such broad appeal and rabid fans.
Since it also doesn’t have a suicide element trigger, I would poset that 1000 Stars is actually one of the best BLs to recommend to outside watchers in order to lure them into the genre. Until it came out i tended to rec UWMA with a trigger warning, now I’ll probably be pimping 1k* first.
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love triangle, trigger warnings all round, just a mess of a "show"
A Make It Right meets Degrassi Jr BL short form soap opera with no real ending, featuring chaos boys, chaos script, chaos everything. I would like it known that my sexual identity is chili henceforth. (My pronouns are MaxTul & sometimes Phi.) Look, this is an absurd show. We got BDSM 101, a lesson on how to use a condom properly AND and example of why the closet is both necessary and damaging? I mean I applaud their educational endeavors but BL: The After School Special? Really, that’s what we signed up for? In the end a total mess (they too young to call it a hot mess). I don’t know what it was and neither did it.Was this review helpful to you?
time slip, parallel worlds, alt reality, am I dreaming, cohabitation, bisexual manwhore, fated mates
An interesting time slip concept and a great set up ultimately disappointed. It opened strong, on one of my favorite under appreciated Thai actors: Plustor (as Vee) in a side bartender romance with younger bisexual king, Games.Unfortunately it went downhill from there.
OhmFluke’s solid chemistry and most romantically soft kissing was ill served by a reformed rake meets rich-kid cheater pairing, While it was nice to see Ohm play a character with more animated facial expressions, his was the only character that remained consistent throughout.
All in all, this was a confusing show about cheating and parallel worlds that never made sene or stayed true to its characters. A promising start, confusing middle, and disappointing ending. I don’t say this lightly, but Oh My Sunshine Night is better. 6/10
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messy disaster bi, out gay boy, cheating, drama llamas
Delayed from 2021 this is a reboot, retcon, retelling, expansion of the original short miniseries En of Love - Love Mechanics (VeeMark) from Wabi Sabi featuring the most popular and enduring pair to come from that series, YinWar. (They also stared in high school sad BL mini series: The Best Story.) Prom (Nuea also from En of Love series) and a few other familiar faces returned plus some of the same characters portrayed by new actors. Directed by Lit (SOTUS).Our favorite messy cheeky drama-llama boys were back in spades. And initially I enjoyed it more than I should (and more than it deserved). This whole series is basically a diatribe against cheating, with the sweet out gay boy reaping all the punishment a disaster bi can enact. I don’t like any of these tropes or implications, and yet I couldn’t stop watching. YinWar are geniuses at chemistry and good actors, and their new high heat stuff is excellent. When they are together as a couple, VeeMark are a GREAT couple, like FighterTutor level, only slightly less sappy. But the rest of time is just chaos. It’s hard not to get mad at the messy, whether it be characters, story, or script, but when it’s performed this well, it’s occasionally fun to wallow in the agony.
I really loved the class conflict introduced near the end and what it says about the characters and their families. Why did it only came into play in the last few episodes? Honestly, it could’ve been the plot for the whole drama and it would’ve been so much more absorbing if they had dwelled in the Heirs sphere, rather than the chaotic messy bi-slut cheating space.
In the end? YinWar win the Great Chemistry in Bad Thai BL Wars of 2022 (TM), even over BounPrem. YinWar were great, and they were great in this, but the story was not good, and not improved by being given more time to hang itself. I like the shorter En of Love version better (yes I think they can and should be compared) and I’m was left simply hoping YinWar get more work in the future, they can clearly handle anything that’s chucked at them.
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