AbsoluteBL

An Interesting twist on Office BL

I enjoyed this office BL about a technical salesman who falls into the world of his alter ego, who is handling the social side of his new job better then he is, and falling in love along the way. When he returns to his own world, he has to decide whether he liked his other self better or not. And change accordingly. There’s a little too much time spent in the alt-world and not enough time spent building the romance in the current one, even though that’s where we ended up. Ultimately this was an interesting and visually appealing BL with good performances and a nice main couple. But it let us down a little at the end. 

Read More

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.

Read More

friends to lovers, coming of age, high school setting, introvert/extrovert

This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura (Kura Yuki from His the series) and outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It features multiple confessions in multiple languages (and ways) and is basically a slice of life but pitch perfect look at coming into identity as a teenager. It directly talks about liminality and occupying transitional spaces (which I talk about in this post about age gap).

It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). The undy scene made me hoot with laughter. There are only 4 episodes and one of them is mostly six people sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories that could (and should) have been cut, making about 1/4 or is unnecessary.

I liked it but I felt like I was “supposed to like it” more than I did, ultimately I was left feeling like I had seen it all before. So for me it was lovely but slightly unmemorable.

Read More

crush, friends to (almost) lovers, paranormal, suspense, murder investigation

Same director but altered cast as Hwall/Hur Hyun Jun (Yoo Han) is out. This time the plot revolves around less monos & probes and more just monos. Yeon Woo searching for his mother (and, sort of, his probe) joined by Se Hyun, whose sister is involved. As in Color Rush this BL is stylish, but it’s not as narratively innovative as the first installment.

We all kinda saw the reveal of SeHyun’s identity coming, but it does mean we’re right back in gay allegory territory for obvious reasons (they are both the same identity AKA same gender). This time the question is:

Can you miss something you never had? Especially when it has to do with your own identity? Also, has SeHyun switched his (supposedly) natural inclination towards obsession onto Yeon Woo?

I liked it more than I was expecting to. And I liked Hyuk a lot more than I was expecting too, actually. And it was clever, notice SeHyun in the Yoo Han style hoodie, but carefully not a color Yoo Han ever wore?

Honestly, in the end I don’t know what to say about Color Rush 2.

Does it stand alone as a BL? I don’t know that’s not how I watched it, and I doubt others will.
Does it work as the second installment of a trilogy? Absolutely.
Does it work as the final installment of a duology. Absolutely NOT.

So yeah, what else can I do but say, for now..

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Read More

Thai Bl Pulp featuring a love triangle: tsundere/sunshine\piner in food service setting

Food service is one of the better premises I’ve seen taken up by the pulps in particular in 2021 (although it seems to be leaking into a lot of BL). This love triangle started off strong but went askew by ep 6. It gave me a terrible case of second lead syndrome (and not in a good way - in a True Beauty kind of way.)

It’s interesting to compare this BL to Light On Me, which handled the love triangle so well. In this one, audience sympathy became weighted too strongly towards the 2nd lead, and Kaitoon looked like a jerk because of it. Light On Me managed to keep all 3 sympathetic, understandable, and endearing. Love Area waffled. It’s a bit unfair to compare a Thai pulp to a Korea BL so I’ll stop now.

It is all apparently a moot point because this BL ended abruptly on ep 6 and a cliffhanger. Because this is a pulp there is no knowing if we will ever actually get a Part 2. My low rating is partly because of this.

RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO AND CAN TAKE A LOVE TRIANGLE + CLIFFHANGER

Read More

Another Thai BL Anthology Sampler Pack

This show used the same basic model as CLOSE FRIEND in which each couple was only given one 1-2 hour episode. All were established actor pairs (well I think of SantaEarth as established even though this was Santa’s first). I think we already get enough short BL out of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan I don’t want it from Thailand in this sampler pack form. I only watched and reviewed the BL ones.

SantaEarth: bullying at boarding school = 5/10
BounPrem: LTR break up because of the closet = 5/10
BoomPeak: 6/10 I JUST LOVE THEM OKAY?
SammyPeniere: GL but it’s all about a boy = 2/10

BoomPeak’s installment gave me nostalgia for days. You will pry my unreasonable adoration for Make it Right from my cold dead hands. Boom is always and forever the prettiest. Look, this was a bromance more than a BL, they ruthlessly borrowed UWMA’s music, they did not kiss, but I DON’T CARE. It still left me with a big grin on my face and I will rewatch it so, it was the winner of the seres for me.

But overall Seven Project was disappointing.

NOT RECOMMENDED (except BoomPeak’s ep)

Read More

Long term relationship + self actualization + family life

This show applied a ton of BL tropes as a series of romanticized peeks into modern gay family life and I LOVE me tasty slices of gay domesticity (like Japan’s Kinou Nani Tabeta? or Thailand’s Ingredients) its so terribly wholesome. It was such a smart move (with only have a short amount of screen time) to jump in with an LTR and an established couple, and then provide key moments of their past as flash backs. Taiwan can do this kind of thing particularly well because they are so good at establishing relationship chemistry - so the LTR is entirely believable.

This one delivered on honest queer rep as well, with a surrounding queer fam and actual Taipei pride footage. Taiwan’s 2020 Pride was called March for the World because Taiwan had controlled C19 better than any other country at the time, so they were the only country able to hold pride safely. They did it for all of us. I don’t feel like they got enough recognition for this.

This would have made my top 10 BLs of 2021 if they had ended it about 5 minutes earlier. As it was, they gave us a relationship cliffhanger and I can’t forgive that. I leave myself open to retroactive upping the score, though, if we get a 2nd season, but Taiwan isn’t consistent about that.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Read More

This was a collection of two episode vignettes, slightly linked, and thus not a series as such.

Since this was an episodic compilation series, not an actual series, some I rate higher than others as BL.

Ep 1-2: Tue - sports enemies to lovers 7/10
Ep 3-4: Sun - teacher/student poor little rich kid 7/10
Ep 5-6: Mon - player/virgin 5/10
Ep 7-8: Thurs - ghost story 5/10
Ep 9-10: Weds - players learning love 8/10
Ep 11-12: Sat - time slip friends to lovers 5/10
Ep 13-15: Fri - second chance at love 8/10

Average: 6/10
I enjoyed this for what it was but I’m not sure it’s worth judging on a level with proper series because there was no opportunity for full story arc. However, each couple was given no more or less time than some Vietnamese or Korean BLs, so I rated each pair and then averaged.

Because I generally dislike this director’s style, I didn’t expect to enjoy Y-Destiny as much as I did. It used BL trappings but had a certain raunchy crassness to it that came off as more genuinely gay then most BL, which I appreciated and probably explains why the Weds installment was a favorite. I also really loved the YoonLayPerth not the least of which because a three person ship is a hard path to walk under any circumstances let alone in Thai BL.

But taken as a whole?
It was uneven, some chemistry was better than others. And because this is a series, one is tempted to compare couples, which makes those that were less good seem more less good. In the end, It was mixed and so were my feelings. The parts I liked best were the moments when we got to see the friendship group interacting, and I wish this had been more v-gay Friend Zone soap opera with interweaving arcs for multiple couples drawn out over a series rather than episodic installments. Still, I hope we get to see more of many of these actors in the future.

Bonus for Lovely Writer nodding to Y-Destiny with Aeoy and the phone in the final ep. Cute.

Read More

Sam is the Master of Pining

Foundational Romance Tropes? Enemies to lovers + long term pining + sunshine/tsundere

There’s some pretty epic pining in BL, and while Sarawat certainly wins for Thailand and Kurosawa for Japan, Gao Shi De pines for Olympic gold in We Best Love. The way he looks at fierce kitten Zhou Shu Yi broke my heart.

Is there a better pairing than soft af seme and tough af uke? Not in my book (probably because my book started with 90s yaoi.)

The story line is compressed and watered down because this is Korean BL so each season is too short. But the acting and production values are top notch, and in the end the performances are so good they entirely sweep away a flawed plot and thin narrative arc. It’s rare for me to like a show DESPITE the story, We Best Love stands with To My Star as one of the few. It's GREAT.

Read More

Total hot mess

Foundational Romance Tropes? Enemies to lovers + cat & mouse

For the casual BL fan Gen Y was a bloated drunken mess of a show that wasn’t sure what it wanted to be at the start with WAY too many characters and couples. When it found its stride and trusted in MarkKit to carry the weight, friendships to provide the foundation, and parody to push the pace it had moments of glory.

But not everyone stuck with it long enough to get those nuggets. And then once MarkKit were together, it dropped the ball in the fourth quarter and lost its way again.

If you trusted Gen Y to push the ridiculous only so far and to save itself with poignancy it had scenes of self-referential genius. It managed to gently mock the very tropes of BL it was embracing, while still being soft and genuine and never mean or petty.

But it only really worked if you had tremendous patience and it ended with a stuttering splintered mess of dropped story threads. Gen Y alienated watchers and even those of us who liked it understand why.

Read More

sports romance, messy gays be messy, cohabitation, crush, love triangle, tsundere

Enemies to lovers meets forced proximity (boarding house) in which I couldn’t decide if the unlikable main character was stupid or depressed (story of my life, see also Physical Therapy) but I can’t take yet another emo POV.

There was no chemistry from the leads and great chemistry from the ex-friend/second lead.

Saint’s dad punishing him, when he doesn’t realize it’s because Saint is gay and heartbroken, really had meat to it as part of a basketball story. But it was such a tiny part of the overall show it felt like eating a meal when all I liked was one ingredient.

I’d like to see the actor who played Saint (Offroad) in other stuff but otherwise this one can fade and be forgotten. It was a mess, and not a hot one. Fatally flawed.

Read More

AKA 2 Moons 3 AKA 2m3 - a trope riddle mess, but I like the main couple anyway

Tropes: E2L, obsession, popular/nerd, university set, pining seme, sunshine/sunshine, openly gay seme, bisexual uke

A Thai pulp that felt like it came out 5 yrs ago with many of the flaws inherent to that time and studio system, including manufactured angst and convoluted plot, but an ultimately sweet main couple that (as a pairing) feels a bit more modern and is satisfying to watch together.

Random additional thoughts:

Basically we open with a recap of 2 moons 2 (NOT 2 Moons original), some are scene for scene re-shots, which acts as an introduction to the new actors in the same roles.

Pairs are:
PhaYo - uke has glasses
ForthBeam - no distinguishing features
MingKit - uke has braces
But these are all side couples, and we have a different new main couple of loser moon + ultimate hot guy too-lazy-to-moon, TatchLom.

Gay af Tatch has a huge crush but only knows how to neg. Honestly, this is so common in BL it should be a seme character archetype.

This BL pulp acts like a show that came out 5 years ago (considering the source material I'm not at all surprised). It’s full of ALL the flaws & tropes:
faen fatale
stilted dialogue & bad sound
blushing maiden trope
awkward acting & stiff (in the wrong way) physical chemistry
nonexistent yet also convoluted plot
punching down humor
They even have the thing where the boys’ makeup on jaw line isn’t blended properly.

On the bright side, when the main couple starts liking each other, they communicate properly, talking about why they behave the way that they do, and why they flirt that way. It’s actually a really sweet relationship. They also both have nice wingman, and friends trying to be supportive and giving them good advice. The main couple gives me Nitiman vibes only with better resolution. No bad thing, frankly, I have a soft spot for Nitiman.

There’s a noted correction for dub con, permission around sex, and one of them is openly gay, and his not liking women turns out to be a defense and a plot point in a good way.

There is a lot of unnecessary manufactured drama and angst. For the sides this was basically the definition of their plots and they intersected not at all with the mains, so you can safely skip them. The plot is dumb.

That said, a small part of me enjoyed some of the drama around the twins and Tatch’s broken friendships prior to university, and I wish that was more of the whole plot and we got less of manufactured misunderstanding couple angst. That said it descended into some TharnType Mame level kidnapping nonsense at the end.

This will probably go down in history as one of the few BLs where I genuinely didn’t care about any of the side couples.

Read More

Forgotten Plumbing - mafia, BDSM, only not really

Adapted from the y-novel Mafia's Bad Love, (originally featured both a gay poly triad and a GL sub plot). Stared Yoon (YYY, Paint With Love, My Ride) as a mafia Dom and Ton (Y-Destiny) as the accountant sub. Kim has a one night stand with a random stranger who becomes obsessed with him. Pretty soon into it I began to think this show should be called Forgotten Kink rather than Unforgotten Night. There isn't any. Mostly there's faucets left on and shower heads used for tie points (don't DO that). But honestly it was just bad. There is a moral to this show but I’m not sure what it is. Don’t combine your BDSM-but-not-really BL pulp with plumbing? In the end, this dumpster fire was extinguished by a garden hose and all we were left with was leaky pipes and the smell of damp trash. The only kinks were in the hose.

Read More

Viki lists this as HIStory 2: Ep. 5-8

This is a sports romance (volleyball) with a good boy/bad boy pairing. There no clear seme/uke dynamic which is nice to see in a BL. Ostensibly it's high school set but Taiwan doesn't care about age appropriate actors. It's a very soft sweet romance with some ridiculous easily overcome conflict. There's great kisses but it's medium heat. The side dishes are using the dreaded stepbrother trope but they’re very tame, and there’s no other triggers in this BL. It’s very soft for Taiwan. It's not just my favorite of the HIStory franchise, it’s one of my favorite BLs. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Read More