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TharnType 2: 7 Years of I Can’t Even
This was basically fan service. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but...I don’t get this author's writing and I never will. I don’t understand how she can consistently produce some of my favorite BL couples (AePete) and my least favorite - sometimes in the same series, sometimes in the same couple. It’s exhausting.
I had serious issues with TharnType but I do like MewGulf’s chemistry. It’s not the actors’ fault the story failed them. TT2 did it again, only with kidnapping and abuse instead of rape. *sigh*
TT2 also gave me Champ & Doc whom I adored, and hit us up with 3+ superfluous other couples. Like LBC and LBC2 the pacing in TT2 was uneven, the pairs confusing, and the side dishes with the most chemistry were given the least complexity and screen time. It was ultimately unsatisfying.
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One of my all time favorite fated mates BLs
Korean BL Color Rush leaped onto the scene at the VERY end of 2020 and blew my mind. Despite being a typical K-BL short run of short episodes, it was given more legs than 2020′s Mr Heart or You Wish with a strong core concept even with 8 episodes of only around 15 minutes each. Color Rush (with a total run time of c. 2 hours) felt more like a movie than a series and managed to satisfy me because of this cinematic approach.It drew heavily on yaoi manga staging and storyboarding, we can see this in many of the over the shoulder shots, actor stances and postures, and framing techniques. Since I love this style, it contributed to my enjoyment of the series without distracting me.
It also broke ground in many ways for BL:
1. It neatly avoided some of the pacing issues of K-BL with a magical realism component that forced intimacy in the first episode (in-world justified use of the fated mates or soulmates trope).
2. They cast a known (former) K-pop idol in the seme role - Hwall from The Boyz. Not all that unusual (see Wish You) but they gave that idol a near perfect role for him and he executed it beautifully. He is a dancer by training and the role required him to do most of his emoting via physicality.
4. It was concept driven, in that it had a strong fantasy component, like Cherry Magic. However, Color Rush used the fantastical as an aspect of visual story telling (Cherry Magic was audio) which allowed it to be less soft, sweet, cute and more tense, sinister, dramatic.
5. The narrative backbone was an insanely perfect allegory for queer first love and the coming out experience without beating us over the head with it.
Thai BL may be my stan, but Color Rush is my bias, and it topped my list of BLs to beat going in to 2021. Okay I’ll stop using K-pop lingo now but basically I really flipping LOVED COLOR RUSH.
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One of my all time favorites
It’s one of the best Japanese BLs (live action manga) ever made and that’s because it has a lot of the breezy style of the later Thai BLs, without losing its yaoi roots. The leads have a certain comfort with each other which yields up excellent on screen chemistry. It has a low heat level but there are some sweet kisses (we are in 2gether/SOTUS territory).Popular first year Seiryo (Seryou) has a policy of going out with any girl who asks... for one week. On a lark, third year Yuzuru (Yusuru) tests to see if that policy also applies to boys. Seiryo agrees that it does.
Yuzuru is very pretty and attractive but so brash and honest that girls always end up dumping him because his personality doesn’t match his looks.
As the two boys date it becomes clear that Seiryo really likes the blunt side of Yuzuru, and Yuzuuru starts to fall in love with Seiryo because of this. He’s so happy to be liked for who he really is. Seiryo thinks it’s all just a game to Yuzuru, but he’s falling hard too. They both want it to last more than a week.
Seiryo is young and reserved but yearns so much to be loved and give love, while Yuzuru is the best possible version of an obtuse tsundere uke without being immature or a brat.
Their miscommunication comes to the story honestly and is sourced in their characters. The actors put these personalities into their physicality too, with Seiryo moving in an elegant if cautiously stilted manner while Yuzuru is relaxed and sprawling.
It’s utterly adorable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not What It Sad On the Tin
Less a love quad and more a friends-to-lovers narrative with additional love interest trapping. I did like that we had one of each language-type represented: by which I mean, same age, younger, and older. So we got all the different forms of address and levels of formality. As well as different kinds of pursuit, not just because of the different characters, and personalities, but because of different social status. In the end, I wish this had leaned into the gentleness of the central romance arc (as a JBL would have) rather than muddy the waters with extra sides. Nice kissing for a KBL tho.Was this review helpful to you?
gay boys play b-ball and fall in love
I am well aware that objectively this show was, erm, NOT good. But this was a sports romance Thai BL pulp with everything I could have asked for given this sub genre. More, actually, since MeenPing are both great basketball players and the team component really did form part of the connective tissue of the show (vital in a sports romance IMHO since these are band-of-brothers narratives).Meen has his shirt off within the first two minutes which is all I needed but he's still pretty great as the sullen secret-keeper against Ping's cheerful survivor - childhood sweethearts torn asunder and now reunited. Then Frank sweeps in to give everyone a bad case of second lead syndrome.
I always try to judge BL for what it is AS BL, and what it’s trying to do within its own territory and purview. This did exactly what it claimed on the tin: gay boys play b-ball and fall in love. That was all I wanted from it. Sure there was random kidnapping and a light bought of mass murder, but what’s a BL in 2024 without a touch of the mafia? You do you little pulp, I’m disposed to be pleased.
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incredibly sweet and incredibly wholesome
This is a charming and adorable little romance about a forlorn university kid and the police officer who adopts him. They are relentlessly kind to each other. In fact it’s an extremely kindly show over all (everyone in it is so nice to everyone else including us) so there’s very little tension. But what it lacks in drive, angst, and complexity it makes up for in earnest acts of service and simple affection.These two are basically boyfriends from the get-go, it’s just one of them acts like it and doesn’t realize it and the other one realizes it and has to figure out how to make it a reality. It’s incredibly sweet and incredibly wholesome, nourishing but delicious.
Everybody who can, should watch this show. It will make you feel better about life.
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What a fun show!
This is a very pretty drama about a young man who fell in love with a nice girl 100 years ago, and when she died in his arms, he was cursed to live until he could meet her reborn self. Only this time around, she’s reborn into the body of a man. Or is she?I love it when Thailand gets all up in its own historical business and reincarnation and shizz. I like this pair (it’s not DaouOffroad’s fault I didn’t enjoy their first series.) Daou’s wushu is snazzy and we got a unique meet cute. (Erm… Remeet cute? Meet cute 2.0?)
Ultimately, this is I Feel You Linger in the Air + First Love Again, rather than (as one might expect) Until We Meet Again or The Director Who Buys Me Dinner.
The leads turned in great performances, although Daou outclassed everybody else on that screen by making us really believe he's over 100 years old.
It’s a good story and a great BL and I can’t find any major faults with it beyond a certain level of camp that is endemic to lakorns. I’m going to give it credit as the kind of BL that one could safely recommend to lovers of melodrama and historical romance, without having to qualify it as “good for a BL.”
This was, to put it succinctly, a VERY ENJOYABLE show.
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Every single trope in the book, and then some
This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once.It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it.
Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage?
Yes. Yes it was.
Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together?
No it did not.
Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment?
Sure thing.
I think this show is basically my KinnPorsche, and frankly I’ve been chasing that naga since KP aired.
Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN.
Emphasis on balls.
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I didn't have faith in TayNew and I was wrong to doubt them
A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth that really worked for me. With no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair (proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up).Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right - not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it stands strong.
I, personally, like the Thai BL slightly better than the Japanese live action yaoi, but I think that’s because I just really enjoy Thai BL's style and I LOVE TayNew (who may be my favorite OG branded pair still in operation). Also all the kissing was both present and better in this version. As it should be from Thailand.
Highly recommended.
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Taiwan is BACK!
Unknown is a wonderful BL with a pitch perfect portrayal of long term pining, age gap, and the stepbrothers trope.The acting and chemistry are ON POINT (especially from the leads) which made the resulting characters very believable.
When it dwells in intimate family drama, it's stunning. It's slightly less successful when it leaves the home and goes gritty. Its other few flaws are the result of curtailed length. It could have used more breathing room to deal with side plots, characters, and companion character development. The editing was occasionally choppy and packed with flashbacks that broke the emotional tension. Still, those are mere quibbles for me.
This is an excellent show based on one of my favorite old school BL tropes that I know I'm going to be recommending for a long time.
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I love this show
KBL isekai about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness.Like many queer narratives, this show is actually about self worth, trust, and found family, and it is VERY on the nose. But I don’t expect subtlety from my BL and I enjoyed it's truly lovely redemption arc and earnest performances. The narrative tension is tight, and the pacing is killer.
That said, I did find the flow a touch disjointed with overworked filming angles and poorer than average captions, but the consistency of tone, script, and immersion is spectacular, beyond the norm for BL (even KBL). You will drown in this show and like it that way. The leads have fantastic chemistry and it's ultimately highly rewatchable and utterly charming, which counts for a lot with me.
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One of My Favorite Rewatches of 2024
I love this little show. It's a classic office BL about the older workaholic who loves his job and the younger upstart who unexpectedly loves his boss.It’s a hyung romance where everybody is extremely earnest and sweet and pretty about everything. Except our seme, who is slightly unhinged and a little obsessed in all the ways one likes best from Japan. Utterly charming unexpected gem of a show. What fun!
Already in hard rewatch territory.
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A nostagic piece from Thailand
I really enjoyed this show. It was slow to find its stride (I didn’t get into it until ep 7) but I’m very glad I gave it a chance.It’s a soft ensemble piece with multiple couples and very little plot, but I didn’t care because it’s not trying to be anything more substantial. Essentially this was a series of vignettes covering one year of uni for a queer friendship group finding love, new friends, and laughter. It’s not being harsh with us or it’s characters the way some offerings of this ilk have been (side eyes Friend Zone, Only Friends) nor did it tumble into Gen Y chaos.
In fact, this reminded me more than anything of a refined and elevated Love Sick - just with older characters and occurring with a genre that has matured too. It has that close queer friendship group meets earnest gentleness that made me adore Love Sick so much. In other words m, this was Thai BL at its finest, finding it roots again 10 years on, but also stretching upwards and showing us what it could do with that original seed. So? I loved it. Did it blow my mind? No. But it left me smiling and made me belly laugh quite a bit. 9/10
Technically it should probably get an 8/10 - too much singing, but I’m bubbling over with nostalgia rn.
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a bodyguard BL, got censored mid series, has a VERY weird end
Tropes & Quick notes:E2L, bodyguard mixed with sports style romance workplace (gym) and home set.
Some action sequences.
Teacher/student, protector/spoiled prince dynamics.
Trigger for hazing, but there is no sexual contact between leads so it never gets into dubcon etc...
Themes of revenge, salvation, infiltration, and domesticity.
This is kind of a bodyguard romance, but it got censored mid series, and has a VERY weird ending. I actually kinda like this show (they VERY PRETTY) but it is very much chopped off at the d***, so to speak.
Basically?
Hottest bodyguard on the planet decides he must "protect" hottest spoiled prince on the planet from (no really, completely) unknown forces of evil, mostly shirtless and occasionally in the shower or rain (still shirtless).
China pretended this wasn't gay by putting them in bed together regularly and then dumping them into a lime pit and not allowing them to finish, so I won't either...
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opposites attract, workplace romance, grumpy/tsundere, enemies to lovers
For me the mains were unlikeable and the actors had poor chemistry. So while this offered a lot of what I thought I wanted from a Thai BL - mature characters, workplace setting, adult themes - I’m wasn’t wild about the execution. I suspect Thai pulps are better when they stick to university/high school. This one felt like a better version of Loveless Society (not hard). The main couple's sex scenes were kind of sweet but I’m just not into them.The side dishes (Yoon & Yacht) gave us more chemistry and a better kiss but had little screen time. It was interesting to see them portray BL actors being shipped and then confessing to actually dating each others. I’m not sure how I feel about the handling of it but it was different from Lovely Writer, and I guess it's nice to see different takes.
In the end, this show was nicely grown up but boring and became a matter of endurance for me. I can’t ever see myself rewatching this one and that weighs hugely in my enjoyment of any series.
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