NIke_v

Spoiler from the novel: Diao was 7 and he was in Yi's (14 years old) house. They had pumas (or were those panther?) there and while Yi was preparing snacks for Diao, Yi's panther was able to escape. Diao was supposed to sit in the room next to the Yi's father's office (there Yi's and Dao's dads were talking) like he did every time. He got bored and wanted to see outside. He heard chain and rememberd that there was "big kitty" he saw glimpses of sometimes with chain, so he turned around and saw "kitty". He decided to scratch "kitty's" chin, as his teacher said that is what cats like. He extended his arm but at that time his father left the office and saw panther/puma an started yelling which scared the animal and it pounced on Diao. According to Yi it had no malicious intent (in Diao's dreams/nightmares he also does not feel danger from it) but to make sure nothing happens to Diao, Yi (14 years old!) shot his pet. The whole splashing of the head/brain is what traumatized Diao so much that he forgot Yi. Diao's dad demanded money and since Yi's dad thought of him as bad influence he offered to pay for Diao's school abroad as well.
Yi actually always loved Diao but was cold to him due to constant misunderstandings. They met again when Diao came back from abroad on their engagement party and Diao was shy (he thought he was meeting him for the 1st time) and thuse was stiff when they interacted, so Yi thought he needed to keep distance to make them comfortable with eachother. Yi was leaving the apartment because he had insomnia (due to guilt of the trauma tha he inflicted on 7 year old Diao) and didn't want to wake him up. Diao's family always wanted money from him and he knew that hif he did not give in, they would pester Diao. To have enough money Yi was working like crazy and had hardly time for anything. On the other hand Diao felt guilty that his family was leaching and thought that he has no right to ask for anything from Yi, so this led to Yi thinking Diso was happy and needed for nothing.
Additionally Yi's family had rule of having only 1 child per family to not have infighting but due to Yi's father workaholism his wife left him and started new family, then birthed 2 daughters. Yi's dad was afraid that Yi might want to live with his mom, so he started to limit the time they were spending to few times a year, so Yi would meet his sister's sneakily (and told nobody about them; he met Lian after his parents divorce, so he did not know as well). One of the ways he was doing it was going with his guy friends to the same parties that one of his sister's was going and they started to misunderstood that she was his mistress - he did not correct them because he thought that this way none of them would try to "get her". He did not count on drunk Lian to tell about it Kuea and he would tell Diao. This led Kuea and Diao to investigate him and they found about the other girl he "was having on the side" as well - his other sister.
And there was the whole thing with Diao basically s*xualy assaulting Yi when he was drunk like 2 years to their engagement (at the start of the novel they have need engaged for 7 years and Diao is 25 - the novel states that Kuea and Lian have been already married for years as well).

You're welcome.
Yes, they are different in so many ways.
If you liked family dynamic in "Stay with me" then "Killer and Healer" has a bit of it as well (MC1 is a doctor and has much younger sister). I know I am hyping it but I really like it and the music was really nice (I especially loved song that was played while FL1 was preparing for the wedding with ML2... I can tell you that there was no love there - ML2 was clearly smitten with MC2 and FL1 with MC1... who of course treated her as a friend; there is also FL2 who was in love in ML1 but he just "flirted" with MC1 in front of her and you know the saying about woman scorned 👿).
There are great BLs from Korea that are more about portrayal of feelings like Blueming, Eighth Sense, To My Star, Where your eyes linger.
From Japanes I would strongly suggest "Man who defies world of BL" if you like comedies and making fun of BL thorpe but if not then "He, who is beautiful" (in 2nd half of 1st season you get "summary" of the same story but from other perspective and it makes one rethink their assumptions), "Life - love in the line" (at the end of last ep there is great song "Last Ambient" 😍).

If you want recommendation of Chinese BLs:
"Killer and Healer" (be aware that it has 2nd version of ending that was one in Power Point, I think 😉),
"C.S. I." (if you like crime drama - it's based on novels, so you can read how their fates turned out, there are 3 couples here: ML1 is younger brother of ML2 and they both are cousins of MC3, ML3's uncle is a morally complicated character - like his involvement in loss of memory of ML2 when he was young - who took liking to MC1 and MC3 but for different reasons; I get why he like the cinnamon bun = MC3; MC1, ML1, MC2 and MC3 all work in the same police unit where our main couple, MC1 and ML1, are kid of co-leaders; they changed ML2's gender to female in the series),
"Stay with Me" (it's 2nd adaptation of novel but without hardcore from it, the 1st adaptation was the reason for BL ban in China and actors got punished as well 😒),
"The Untamed" (you would not believe that actor playing MC jest actually years older and with less acting experience than ML; the novel was translated by Seven Seas and all volumes were released),
"World of Honour" (I have no idea how this passed censorship because ML was crazy flirty),
"Love is more than a word" (is so-so and has the same actors but no shared storyline/universe as ⬇️)
"Till death tears us apart" (also so-so and same actors as ⬆️)
and if you want some extra suffering (due to China's policy):
"Addicted" (it's that 1st adaptation that caused ban and not all EPs were released),
"The Abby's"/"Justice in the dark" (also not released in full, as we are waiting since February for new EPs but there are like 5 volumes so you could read too).

I wish they would extend Sun/Ryu Tory line. Sun is so hilarious 🤣
I am not usually to notice such things but for some reason Nuea's uneven fingernails bothered me.

Since EPs are 7-8min long they need to fit as much a possible. I am definitely not complaining 😁

It's that kind of style of comedy (I don't get it either but it's part of their comedy culture).
I don't get Charlie Chaplin's comedy either 🤷‍♀️

Down in the comments they explain that it's done on purpose (one person doing dubbing for all) - including the "flattish" tone of voice.

I heard it's a different production company, so I doubt it.

No, you don't. Toxic and radioactive stuff is a pleasure in comparison.
I read the novels and some points:
a) Day's little brother got tricked and r*ped by Gear (due to idea from Itt), so Day decided to get revenge by r*ping Itt (logic 💯)... to be honest the author seems to be incapable to write any relationship without r*pe jump starting it (I think only Nick and Neil are exception)
b) Itt gets constantly r*ped, beaten, berated and forbidden to leave the apartment due to video tape of 1st r*pe... what is actually the blackmail for Itt: his friends are going to make fun of him for bottoming! Yes, not the act itself, not the fact they are both guys but that he is bottom 🤯
c) Gear doesn't get punished at all (Night forgves him in like 5min and they start dating)
d) out of all of his friends only Nick figures some stuff out but (I think it's due to his upbringing) he doesn't seem to see red flags and even helps Itt to test Day's feelings/love
e) even when they are in committed relationship they both get crazy jealous and every time A thinks that B is dumb for thinking that A can step out of relationship... because A loves B so much (usually it's portrayed that when Itt is the jealous one - he is irrational but when Day is jealous then Itt should just submit/it's his fault for makin Day jealous)
f) even after 2 years they hardly have normal sex - by that I mean that it's usually described as Day forcing Itt (in vol. 3 it's not so glaring) and Day almost never prepares Itt, nor uses lube (once he decided that going to other room in their apartment is too much effort 🙄), nor condoms
g) abysmal communication skills:
- they were deciding what to do on some holiday: Itt said he wants to stay in Bangkok to play with friends, Day said that they are going to some other city, Itt was disagreeing; later it turned out (during phone call with Itt's friend) that Day wanted to take Itt to graves (it was translated as visiting bones) of Day's parents and all the friends knew and we're going with them (the holiday was water based and they were supposed to play in the afternoon together)
- Itt's dad was against their relationship at first and for Day to prove himself he was to go to dad's new branch and make it successful in 3 months (who cares that he was mafia henchmen and hair stylist... and Itt dad's business was in car parts) and in that time Day is forbidden to contact Itt
- meeting extended family: Itt thought that his extended family won't be on board with his relationship, so he asked Day to pretend to be friends; what he did not know was that his father called the family and told them already AND threatend them to behave or they cut ties; Itt told dad his plan but he didn't tell him about the phone call (to be fair Day was also in the dark at that point); they go there and the family decided quite quickly to play with Itt and Day - one cousin (girl) was hitting on Day and other (guy) was super friendly with Itt; Day was not happy but he quite quickly figured out (overheard) what was going on and joined them in making fun of Itt; eventually Itt had enough his cousin flirting with Day (and Day acting like he was receptive to it) and yelled like a little child throwing tantrum that he is in relationship with Day; all were like: "we know!" and as usually he was a but of a joke
h) once Itt's family was ok with their relationship they started treating Itt as Day's property - all his opinions/feelings were stupid/disregarded, he was told to just obey Day because he was definitely in the right (Gear was doing the same... I think that the one mostly on Itt's side was Night and slightly less Nick)
i) in vol. 2 Itt's family decides that him and Day can be babysitters for 5 year old (or maybe he was 7?):
- even Itt barely knew the child
- kid was scared of Day
- child was not leaving in Thailand (his father was foreigner, so I presume they lived in father's country)
- child was not great with Thai culture, language etc.
- his parents just dumped him for not specified amount of time (there was phone call: "We want to take him to X for a week - will you be back before of not?")
- there were some guys after Kim (due to his relationship with Kamol), so Kamol decided to dump him on their vacation in X and it had to end with the bad guys attacking them in their hotel room while Day was gone (let's put child's trauma aside - this was especially dumb since Day and Kamol knew what was happening and basically let Kim be dragged to kidnappers car)
j) the whole work thing - I get that Day had some experience with bookkeeping due to hair salon but it was studying some humanistic subject and he was working more like mechanic? How they worked was additional mystery to me, as Day could say: "Tomorrow we are going to my hair salon" (different city, they usually stayed a few days there) att he dropnof the hat. Honestly I don't know how Itt finished his studies because Day was not giving him much time/freedom
Those were just "highlits" (mostly from vol 1) of what we were not missing.

It really wasn't so bad (the dubbing is what it is but since it's part of that type of comedy I am going to manage). The ending 🤯🤭
I strongly suspect set up for Thad and Luv. Inn (knows about Liv's obsession with fortune telling) told him about fortune teller. Uncle was with butlers at fortune teller. Luv got free "reading" + necklace which we know from trailer fits Thad's necklace from the same fortune teller. Butlers just happens to have argument in front of Luv (and that phone call 🤔). Smells fishy!

I am glad we understood eachother 😄
Yes, even people of the same age can be wildly different in their worldview, so it's important to understand that and accept the other person as they are (hoping that they will change into what we want is better left for dreams). There are many opposite attract kind of couples and they find their own balance.
Age gap is just another "hurdle".
I think if it similarly as with dating boss - the power imbalance can really ruin the relationship but there are couples that can do it.

You assumed I was talking about gay relationship but I was not. Actually I read about it more in context of heterosexual relationships (as there are multiple studies about it) and apparently studies find that extreme partner age discrepancy is a risk factor for intimate partner homicide in heterosexual relationships. I presume it is similar in same-sex relationships.
Just because somebody is 18 doesn't mean they are automatically equal partner in a relationship. What kind of life experience do they have? Are they financially independent? Have they figured themselves out (I mean who they actually are, what they want in people they surround themselves with, political and religious views, what they are looking for in a partner etc.).
I don't know how old you are but when I think about myself as 18 or 28 years old I see the world differently, I bring different things to relationships as well and I expect different things then when I was 18.
Usually people of similar ages have similar needs and wants and that was the gist of what I was pointing out.

You're welcome 😺 (I highly recommend Killer and Healer 😀)
Except main leads there is already established couple (and their interactions can be quite hilarious/toxic - SPOILER: MC is doing presentation on the uni in front of like 10 professors and gets text message from ML, MC ignores it, obviously. ML somehow got access to professor's private group chat and asks them/demands to know where is MC, ML goes to uni and literally drags MC trough hallway). MC in that couple is sometimes (at the beginning) like total dummy but then when he is at uni you get the feeling that he is quite educated.

Thank you for kind words 😊
Yes, we only have like 2 EPs, so new character doesn't have much place (and I want to see some development with 2nd couple) and I agree with you that it might have been the new "capitalist" (the therm just kills me 🤣).
I would also love a bit more backstory with Wit - if I remember correctly he is the one of the 5 dragons who committed suicide in To Sir With Love. He just doesn't have luck in any life... 😉

You know what is the funniest? Their budget was small (I think they had to cut like 2 EPs because of that), promotion almost non-existent and the source material was trash (I really did not like the novel and the only thing that is overlapping are: names, twins switching, White and Sean getting together, Black got beat up - the end! No social commentary, no big conspiracy, Thad was an afterthought in the novel that appeared once or twice, no girls) and they still managed to make one of the best series.
Unpopular opinion but I thought that Bad Buddy was good but just average - by that I mean typical BL not really ground breaking but it got so much more hype and promo and such.
It was the 1st only time that I bought GMM merch - for Not Me. I bought DVD set, bandana and buttons-bracelets in pre-order and had to wait months after release to get them because apparently they were not prepared for the amount of orders. I was checking the site periodically and Bad Buddy did not have such massive issues with merch availability, so that says something IMO.

Unfortunately the website was deleted but you are not missing much. I read the novel and it's totally different from the series (not worth the time IMO).
Just to point out few things: Sean is loaded (parents are alive, he has older sibling), Sean knew about existence of White (but White did not know/remember him), he was even in love in him and was passing stuff for him trough (reluctant) Black. White was in the same city (just different school) the whole time. Sean figured out that White is pretending to be Black in like 5 min but was playing along to get in White's pants.
No social commentary (unless you consider White being intoxicated and basically romanticised r*ped in the bathroom as one).
Thad is just a passing character (I think he was mentioned once and showed up in one paragraph and I think they were calling him trans but I am not sure about that term they used). There is no big conspiracy.
Girls? What girls? They don't exist.
Black gets together with Gram (their 1st time was on the bed in Black's and Sean's room, while White was being r*ed by Sean in bathroom and their other friend was sleeping on the floor).

I read somewhere that the rescue was based on actual events that happened in Thailand, so it was not farfetched.

KinnPorshe was already mentioned but other than that:
Manner of death (Triage has a bit of it).
Healer and Killer (China, so you know... showing it like bromance and it has 2 endings: "regular" one is SE for all but the hastily made PowerPoint presentation with some voiceover gives us alternative HE for main couple - for the rest it reminds SE).
S.C.I. (China)
The Untamed [Universe - like Fatal Journey and others] (China)
The Abyss / Justice in the dark (China, they released 8 EPs in February and since then on hold or cancelled)
HIStory 3 - Trapped
Chains of Heart
Laws of Attraction

I agree with you and would like to add examples.
"Colour rush" - dead fish kiss between 2 teneagers was definitely not enough.
"2gether" - (in)famous high five is now a meme/joke.
"Stay with me" - no kissing shown but the emotions were more than enough.
Here MC and ML had such a strong flirting/jealousy that one would expect it to explode once they decided to cross the line, so I get why the people might find it underwhelming.
I hope we get some intense scenes from 2nd pair 🤭

He looks so deranged most of the time he is smiling. Is he auditing fot Thai's Jocker? 🤔 😉Yes, I hope that they will have HE (Tan needs to grow up a bit and perhaps get a job, so he stops being dependent on his dad - I think most of us know that abusers like to have their victims financially dependant on them 😒)