Pinoy BL Series

I disagree that Cai and Gav haven't had a decent one-one-one conversation during the last two episodes. The apology Love Actually/Theory of Love style with harana was in Episode 3 and the virtual kiss was in Episode 4. In those scenes, they also inserted some personal tidbits here and there. Those are important interactions between the two. And I wouldn't want to see only the two of them in all the scenes. Gameboys has 10 episodes. It's not even halfway through. It has plenty of time. It doesn't need to rush things between Cai and Gav. I'm actually happy with its pace. Anyway, I think this discussion should be in the Gameboys page.

Pivoting back to Hello Stranger, another thing I really like about the first episode is the incorporation of Filipino literature (poetry). There's potential there to establish a distinct Filipino feel to the series. Somehow it must separate itself from the typical Filipino romcoms and the usual Thai school-based BL series. With 7 or so episodes left, Hello Stranger has enough time to do just that.

Yes, that was disappointing. Episode 3 was longer at 8 mins 33 secs. Episode 4 will be this Friday. Wex will finally appear. Let's hope it's at least 10 mins long.

I don't think Gameboys' plot/storyline (referring to a series of events in a drama that reveal its theme/s) is simpler than Hello Stranger. From the onset, in the first episode, you know that Gameboys is not limited to the Cai & Gav's relationship. Their relationship is not isolated in a vacuum. It's properly contextualised. They have family issues and they are obviously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hello Stranger doesn't have any of that (yet). Instead what we got from episode 1 were simple and stereotypical characterisations of the main and support cast. It's not a knock against Hello Stranger. All I'm saying is that its plot/storyline was already laid bare on the first episode. I hope I'm wrong and I hope they make their plot/storyline more complex in the coming episodes. Frankly, I'll be very disappointed if Hello Stranger is only about the cast's relationship with each other devoid of any contextualisation within Philippine social realities. And a cliffhanger is not amateurish. It's a plot device in any form of fiction used to incentivise the audience to return to see how the characters resolve an issue. You might not like how the issue was resolved but as I pointed out in my posts in the Gameboys page, I actually liked how they handled the cliffhangers. It's probably a matter of taste. For students of literature and mass communications such as myself, it's actually more difficult to think of cliffhangers to keep the audience invested than have linear or sequential episode endings like what Hello Stranger did in its first episode. But we'll see. Hello Stranger is already good but I'm hopeful it still improves.

The advantage of Hello Stranger is that they have a war chest of funds at their disposal, hahaha! So if they really make an effort to improve, they can. And because of ABS-CBN and Facebook, they'll probably have a wider reach than the other Pinoy BL series.

By the way, I love JC Alcantara. I watched his interview a couple of days ago. He was close to crying because he's really thankful to get this job. He was finding it hard to find work because of COVID-19 and I think he had a car crash recently and he couldn't have his car fixed because he didn't have enough money. So he's really trying hard to perform well in this role. And I can see his effort.

And yes, I will continue to support both Gameboys and Hello Stranger! I also support Truly Very Yours. As for Sakristan, I will still watch it so I can review it but I'm just not comfortable supporting it. It's not only because of the controversies surrounding their Director or the shortcomings of the series itself, it's also because they have this very competitive attitude that I find annoying. It's not healthy. They keep shading other Pinoy BL series especially Gameboys. Why can't they just be happy for everyone's success?

It's difficult not to compare Hello Stranger with Gameboys because there were just too many similarities between the two Pinoy boys' love (BL) series. Unfortunately for Hello Stranger, Gameboys is way better in almost all aspects. But if I'll try to assess Hello Stranger based on its own merits and not compare it with Gameboys, I'd say Hello Stranger had a very good premiere. For this post, I'd still compare it with Gameboys and even Sakristan. The plot/storyline was already laid bare on this episode. It has a simpler plot/storyline than Gameboys or Sakristan. I would have wanted some kind of build-up with some cliffhangers and surprises (like Gameboys) but alas, the main conflicts in the story were already laid out in this premiere. The screenplay was generally ok with only few cringy lines -- certainly better than Sakristan. Everyone in the cast, from the lead to the support cast can act -- maybe not as good as Elijah Canlas and Kokoy de Santos of Gameboys, but they're all good actors. They're definitely better than Clifford Pusing and Henry Villanueva of Sakristan. I especially liked Mean Espinosa who portrayed Prof. Kristine "Tina" Moran (and the voice of Mico's mother) in this episode. All the male actors -- Tony Labrusca, JC Alcantara, Patrick Quiroz, and Miguel Almendras, are distractingly handsome. Tony and JC need to work on their chemistry though. They also need to work on being more relatable. I have a problem with the stereotypical portrayal of women in the characters of Kookay and Crystal in this episode. It's as if their whole existence revolves around boys and they're just too preoccupied with looking beautiful. But this is just the first episode so I'm hopeful that they'll be able to develop all the characters. Compared to the other Pinoy BL series, I'd assume Hello Stranger has the biggest budget. Just compare the credits. Hello Stranger has a lot more people working for its production. And this showed in terms of the quality of the production design which was at least at par with Gameboys. Cinematography was also good but editing needs improvement. There were some lag time during the video calls. There were also scenes that needed some background music. But I like the OST "Kahit na Anong Sabihin ng Iba" performed by Seth Fedelin. Featuring the Filipino poem "Sa Kasintahang Nilimot Na" by Benilda Santos was also a nice touch. I hope they feature Filipino poetry every episode. Overall, I think Hello Stranger had a very decent premiere and I'm hopeful that it improves in the next episodes.

No doubt, Sakristan is one of the most daring, if not the most daring Pinoy boys' love (BL) series so far. When one is daring, you expect hits and misses. Unfortunately for Sakristan, there were a lot of misses for Episode 4: Thick and White. While the plot/storyline (first sexual experience) for this episode was generally good, the screenplay fell flat. There were awkward dialogues and lines intended as jokes weren't really funny. There was a cringy discussion about who is top (seme) and who is bottom (uke) in a sexual relationship that only reinforces stereotypes. Such stereotypes don't resonate in Philippine society. The lead actors were ok but acting in this episode in general, was still unnatural and unrealistic. Clifford was sexy and his intimate scenes with Henry, mostly without dialogues, were done tastefully. Cinematography in this episode might even be better than the first episode. I love the artistic choices for the camera angles and shots in this episode. Editing for this episode was ok. Musical score and the OST have been consistently good not only for this episode but for the entire series. For the next episodes, although I'm not optimistic, I still hope Sakristan will be able to address its main misses: unnatural and unrealistic screenplay and style of acting.

I watched Wex's IG Live with Marky before the release of Episode 3: In Denial. Since they were both promoting the episode, I was anticipating to finally get to see Wex in this Pinoy boys' love (BL) series. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, hahaha! David turned out to be portrayed by a different actor, Robin Hanrath. Overall, the plot/storyline of this Pinoy BL series didn't move much in this episode, although we did get to know more about Marky's past relationship with David. Watching Marky in this episode, I was able to appreciate more his acting capabilities. He's a newbie but he can certainly act and he's undeniably cute too. The quality of the production design, computer graphics, editing, and musical score were similar to the previous episodes. For the next episode, I hope this Pinoy BL series pick up its pace. And I want to finally get to watch Wex!

I wasn't disappointed at all that they didn't meet face-to-face yet in this episode. To be honest, I was hoping they wouldn't, hahaha! This series needed an episode to breathe, to slow down a bit, since everything seems to be going too fast. We needed an episode to get to know more about the lead characters and see how their relationship develops. Episode 4: One Who Is Victorious was that episode. I love this episode. It's super cute. It's flirty, it's sexy, yet respectful (consent is the key, hahaha!). And I love the fact that the episode gave Adrianna some more screen time. She deserves it. She's really good. She's the friend everyone needs. And I'm excited for the Gameboys spin-off series Pearl Next Door. I'm pretty sure Elijah and Kokoy will drop by her show as guests in the future. But aside from Pearl, we also met Terrence in this episode. Kyle is a good-looking adversary for the lead characters. I just hope they don't turn him into a one-dimensional antagonist. A good villain is always someone whose character is well developed. Overall, Gameboys was able to maintain its quality in this episode. All the same, I'm still waiting for the MV of the OST "Panalo Ka" by Dex Yu of Letter Day Story. The IdeaFirst Company, please release the MV, hahaha!

This is such a pleasant surprise! Let's all watch the first episode on Black Sheep's Youtube Channel this coming June 24!

In Episode 2: Unfinished Business, through lines from Filipino movies, we got a glimpse of Mark's past relationship with David. The actor playing the shirtless David is still unknown. I'm hoping it's Wex, but unfortunately, the guy on the other side of the phone conversation doesn't sound like the Wex we met in Trailer 1. We'll just have to wait for the succeeding episodes to find out who portrays David. Only under 5 minutes, there's nothing much to say about this second episode. The quality of the production design, computer graphics, editing, musical score, and OST were generally the same as Episode 1: Prank Calls. I'm looking forward to Episode 3. I hope it's longer and better than Episodes 1 & 2.

Sakristan had its best episode yet in Episode 3: Cuerdas. It's futile to compare Sakristan with Gameboys. In terms of quality, Gameboys is just way ahead of Sakristan. Let's just appreciate the improvements made on Sakristan. At least the plot/storyline went somewhere in this episode. I admire Sakristan's efforts to confront the Philippine Catholic Church's bigotry and hypocrisy on the issue of gays within its community. Although there were still corny and cringy lines, the screenplay was better in this episode. Acting of both lead actors and the chemistry between them improved. Again, it's pointless to compare Clifford and Henry to Elijah and Kokoy. The latter are just way better than the former. Just a quick note on Henry. Henry is a theatre actor. It's not as though he can't act. He can. The problem is acting direction. The VinCentiments style of acting continuously fails to grasp the difference between stage and screen acting. Because of perspective and proximity of audience, acting on stage is bigger and exaggerated to be able to reach the people at the very back of the theatre. This means making vocal, physical, and emotional choices in acting that are oftentimes unnatural and unrealistic. You also get away with small unnecessary movements on stage. The problem with the VinCentiments style of acting in Sakristan, it's as if they're still on stage! This was pretty obvious with the support cast members (especially Loren Marinas) who were overacting in this episode. There were also a lot of unnecessary movements magnified on screen. Since Henry and those in the support cast with stage experience are not given proper acting direction, their style of acting always looks bad on screen. It's a pity because I really like Henry. He needs to transition from being a good stage actor to being a good screen actor. Production design and cinematography were good for this episode. I guess editing is a matter of taste. The abrupt cutting off scenes and the fast-paced jumping from one scene to another may look artistic for some but they can also be seen as ways to hide acting inadequacies. I love the musical scoring and the OST for this episode. I've finally decided that if I'll continue to watch Sakristan, I'll need to stop comparing it to Gameboys. I should just appreciate the improvements made in each episode. So for the next episodes, I'll do just that.

Excited for this series :)

English subtitles are now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnlnlWNJeo

We have two other ongoing Pinoy BL series: Sakristan (Altar Boy) [VinCentiments Youtube channel] and "Truly Very Yours" [JACE TV Youtube channel]. But be forewarned, reviews of Sakristan has not been all good. The Director has also faced controversies. There are upcoming Pinoy BL series as well. Please check out my list: https://kisskh.at/list/W3rP8PP1

Maybe they were friends first then lovers then best friends. I have close friends who are like that (being lovers didn't work out, it was actually a mess, hahaha!) and they are still sweet with each other (the girl now has a boyfriend, who is also our friend, who seems not bothered at all) so I guess Pearl's characterisation is possible in some cases.

Not as great as the second episode (my favorite episode out of the three episodes) but Episode 3: Strangers Online was still a very good episode. I don't know but maybe I wanted more cute and sexy moments for this episode. The good thing about this episode though is that it made progress in its plot/storyline. Highlighting its Pinoy sensibility, the importance of family (in whatever form and shape) was given emphasis in this episode. We also got to know more about the background of the characters. The crew and cast really made an effort to ensure that there's character development. Some of the best parts of this episode were those with Pearl. Adrianna is such a fine actress. It's commendable that her character wasn't made into the antagonist which is a welcome departure from the usual "female as villainess" trope of boys' love (BL) series. The biggest advantage of Gameboys over other Pinoy BL series is its high caliber cast. Kokoy, Elijah, and Adrianna are all fantastic actors. There were a few cheesy lines here and there but because they are amazing thespians, in the end, the corny lines were negligible. And Kokoy... he's simply adorable! He sounded good singing "Isang Laro." I don't know how anyone can say "No" to him! Good production design, computer graphics, and editing were generally maintained throughout the episode. There were a few instances that needed some background music but overall, musical score was ok. I love that the new OST "Panalo Ka" by Dex Yu of Letter Day Story is more upbeat. I hope they also release an MV for the new OST. If Gameboys maintains its high quality in its succeeding episodes, I'm pretty sure the series will be recognized as one of the standards for future Pinoy BL series. I'm excited for Episode 4!

Because of the lockdown in the Philippines, shooting the series has been very difficult. And to quote Jun Robles Lana, one of the Executive Producers of Gameboys: "Our goal is to give you the best episode every time and we won't release anything unless we know it's worth the wait." So I guess, they'll release whenever they can.

Gameboys, Episode 3, June 12, Friday, 8PM (Manila, Philippine Time)

Truly Very Yours seems to have a simple plot/storyline set during the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were a few cringy dialogue, the screenplay was generally realistic and believable. Using lines from Filipino movies was a nice touch that gave the series some Pinoy vibes. Although a newbie in acting, Marky, who's really cute, showed a lot of potential. His various facial expressions in this episode exhibited possibilities. Because the series uses virtual communication as a major part of its storytelling, it's difficult not to compare it with Gameboys. In all aspects, Gameboys is way better than Truly Very Yours. Production design, computer graphics, and editing of the series need improvement. Musical score was generally ok. Truly Very Your's OST "Summer Promises" by Jean Kent and Zach Jawhar is catchy. Overall, the series is quite promising and because I'm very excited to see Wex act, I'll definitely watch the next episodes.

I was listening to the Director of Gameboys at Spotify (Third World Cinema Club podcast, he was one of the guests with Elijah & Kokoy, see the link below) and he assured the listeners that they are aware of the criticisms and they will not fall into the usual girl in the middle trope (he's hoping he did not spoil the next episodes, hahaha!). So give the show a chance, hahaha!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4d6hbGgaasfLxuXZr3a9gF?si=wrs_ZhLVQJKLgB1qt4pwBg