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Not So Good, Not So Bad!!
Once I completed this series, I asked myself what was the premise of this series? And I honestly could not figure one out. It is your standard formulaic BL, full of tropes, cliches, customary setups, and unremarkable contrived crisis. But through at least some portions of this series, I found myself being avidly entertained chiefly because of the charming effect of the two main leads. The remainder, however, not so much because it was your standard flat setup.The whole concept is absurd, really. If anyone seriously thought that the audience was going to believe that Xiao Bai (Nelson Ji) was some type of operative for an intelligence agency has been reading too many spy comic books. He simply never fit the part. And if you further expected the audience to believe that the focus of his attention was observing Da Hei (Andy Ko) supposedly engaging in dastardly and clandestine activities, well, you have been smoking something that perhaps you should not be partaking in.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/07/23/fight-for-you-series-review-ep-1-to-12/
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A Romance With Deeper Feelings & Understanding!
There are moments in life when everything around us blurs, when the noise of expectation, pain, and routine drowns out the quiet beauty of connection. But every so often, someone steps into view so clearly, so unexpectedly, that they sharpen our world with a kind of gentle urgency.The Japanese BL series Depth of Field captures that feeling with haunting grace. Based on the manga Hishakai Shindo by Enjo, it stars Usa Takuma as Hayakawa Shuichiro, a once-passionate music student burned out by the world, and Hirano Koshu as Konno Ryohei, a quiet classmate with a camera and a steady gaze.
Hayakawa lives in grayscale, emotionally shut down, his passion for music replaced with isolation and surface-level encounters. Konno, all softness and sincerity, enters Hayakawa’s life on the rooftop of their school, where sky and sea meet in a haze of blue and the world feels just distant enough to make breathing easier.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/07/22/depth-of-field-series-review-ep-3-to-6/
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Could Have Been Better Scripted!
Just plain weird. Honestly, there are not many instances that give me the ‘willies’, but watching this series frankly did. Everything about this story left me disquiet. And the way the narrative was fashioned felt like what the two protagonists were somehow involved in, between the two of them, was ‘dirty’. Therefore, the whole drama felt – unclean. Sadly, it did not need to go down that road.Very little of this story made sense. It is a story of two ‘brothers’, loosely defined. The older brother, Song Li (Zhang Yong Bo) ‘adopts’ a boy from the streets as his brother. His name becomes Song Qi (Liu Xuan Cheng) and both have a stepfather unrelated to either who is abusive towards the two of them. Song Li felt sorry for Song Qi who was existing on the streets and brought him into the family. The two of them, even though they were not related or connected in any way, created their own family and decided to adopt each other and call one another brother. The stepfather is essentially a drunkard and turns his intoxicated rage onto the boys, with Song Li usually taking the brunt of the beatings for both. Because of their abusive upbringing, they learned to rely on each other and indeed grew closer to one another. And clung onto each other for physical and emotional support. Perhaps with the younger one being so susceptible and malleable, only learned what love is by loving his older brother.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/07/15/moon-and-dust-series-review-ep-1-to-6/
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Not That Bad, Not That Good!!!
This series can best be described by a quote from Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities” – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” It had an exceptional storyline only to slip into banality and nonsensical story arcs. Here is yet again another Thai series that simply had no idea what a great diegesis it actually had. If only they had followed through with their main title.It is first and foremost a love story dawning in a rural backdrop in Thailand which in and of itself made it unique and refreshingly different. That alone was enticing. The basic, simple life of rural Thailand seems almost idyllic to those of us who do not have to live in it. It felt sublime. I know, of course, it is not. And sadly, that reality is bore out in all too graphic ways in the end.
The love story is between two childhood neighbors who over the years of being companions developed an intense devoutness and bond to one another that is discernible. Closer than brothers. Cherished friends who know each other better than they know themselves. But as they grow closer to the age when expectations are that each must seek a mate for marriage, as is customary, it finally spills over into a physical relationship. One that at first feels awkward but at the same time is unambiguously inevitable. Both knew or at the very least sensed that someday it would lead to this moment. Both and each knew they were in love with each other. Not just ostensively or only merely in a physical sense. They were meant to be – had to be – together. Each thus pledged their undying love for one another both in words, actions, and emotions.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/07/03/loy-kaew-first-love-series-review-ep-1-to-6/
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A Bromance Worth Your Time, Watch It ASAP!!
I downright fall under the spell of certain themes in either movies or series. This series had two of my favorites. Time travel and swashbuckling epic times full of exotic and romantic lore, legends, and traditions. And especially given my naïve Western upbringing, I am heart and soul smitten by Chinese fable and mythology. This series transported me back into time, like with the character, where I too could imagine myself beside them. Perhaps I have always secretly harbored a desire to be a valiant hero from another culture in the past.A modern teen named Quin Fang (Hyde) has been born into a family renowned for their swordsmanship skills. Touring and messing with one of the family swords, he is suddenly transported magically back to the Qin Dynasty. By accident and under rather unpleasant circumstances, he meets Meng Yu (Huang Jing Zhou). Meng Yu is an orphan from a rival tribe of Quin Fang’s ancestors. Meng Yu is heavily engaged in a conflict with some henchmen when Quin Fang ‘intervenes’. The two escape, each with conflicting opinions about the emperor’s motives. They begin a quest to meet the first emperor who unites China to discover what his true intentions are. Their story peels back myths, legends, truths, and realities with each learning much about the other they did not know.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/26/jian-hun-series-review-ep-1-to-25/
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Definitely Worth Your Time!!
Colorful, creative, and comical. This is the best way to describe this short BL series from China. It most assuredly will make you smile. This is a series that feels ordinary in the sense that I can see this happening in real life as the story does have an air of plausibility about it.A good-looking young man, Jiang Ye (Sun Wei Hao) makes an appointment for a massage. The most distinctive feature about Jiang Ye is his blond hair with whispers of a red tinge throughout. The therapist who comes is a very alluring young man by the name of Zi Rui (Peng Kang Jun). Jiang Ye wants something more than a legitimate massage, but Zi Rui is not that type of therapist. Both, even though they live in Japan, are of Chinese descent and can speak Mandarin.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/21/infidelity-its-a-disease-series-review-ep-1-to-4/
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A Perfect Movie For Lazy Afternoons!
The title of this movie is aptly named. Aichaku literally means in Japanese ‘attachment’. But an attachment to an object that is more like a feeling of affinity- what the object means. It takes on an emotional attachment. And this movie is certainly that. It is a movie filled with a lot of emotional bonds.However, it takes a long time for the story to get somewhere though. While the first half was interesting, even informative, it was mundane and uneven. It is a story about a focused American gay man, teaching English in the rural countryside of Chiba, Japan. His name is Lucas (Christipher McCombs) who strains to save all his money for something, to the point of forgoing almost all other pleasures. He bikes past an abandoned restaurant on his way to teaching every day and stares in, and we assume that is what he is saving for.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/13/aichaku-movie-review/
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In Need of A Better Script and Directive!
I had hoped to enjoy this series. I really did. But the plain truth is, it is awful. It had so much going for it but it ended up being a semi-hot mess. It had its moments to be sure but there were not enough of them to save it from itself. Too bad because the subject matter was one that was unique and interesting. It was about the world of male pageantry. If it had only focused on that, this could have been a really great series. Instead, it went into the sensationalism and sleaziness of the industry. While I do not doubt that some of that does exist, the world of male pageantry would have been quite entertaining in and of itself to see. The world around the pageant became secondary to individual stories of some of the contestants, which for the most part was either dull and boring or titillating. The plots to these sub-stories were insipid and vapid and/or the surrounding characters became caricatures rather than examples of real people.Read the complete article here-
https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/11/sashes-hearts-series-review-ep-1-to-13/
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At The Most, This Can Be Called A Bromance!!
I am a little confused about how to explain this series. I was excited for an exhilarating ride in a Sci-Fi BL series, but what we got was more of a bromance; until the very end, when we got to see something intimate, only, coupled with the fictional elements. I would have preferred it if it had focused on that more. I do find Shun’s character cute. I mean, he comes to earth with a devil plan to destroy Earth, but ends up postponing it because he gets to taste food that probably tastes like heaven. Now, his entry was very chaotic, and so was his first meeting with Chodan, and instantly, he is inside the cafe, eating food. This is adorable yet weird, and feels rushed, but I understand the inconsistency, since the show is only a mini-series of 8 episodes.Read the complete article here-
https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/07/last-meal-universe-series-review-ep-1-to-7/
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Why Did I Watch This Show???
Even good actors would fail at saving a bad script with abysmal storytelling!Can you fall in love with your kidnapper? Makes you wonder if the said victim Wang Zhan suffers from Stockholm Syndrome or he is simply finding comfort in the arms of the man who puts him through a gruelling routine for three quarters of this show. Wang Zhan & Tang Du Zhi’s love story is quite questionable; Wang Zhan is afraid of ghosts and obviously funeral rites scare the bejesus out of him. Ironically, his family business involves running a funeral home and he wants absolutely nothing to do with it. A runaway wannabe, playing music on the streets, Wang Zhan is content with his life. Until, his older brother’s lackey Tang Du Zhi forcibly brings him home and starts training him to takeover the family business. They have a lot of differences, opinion clashes and yet inevitably in the midst of all those disagreements, they slowly grow closer. But Tang Du Zhi has personal demons and baggage to unpack, while Wang Zhan has to face his own fears. The show doesn’t make a lot of sense in certain aspects, the pacing falls back in some places and in the second half, you feel utterly bored. This is one of those shows that starts good but ends miserably!
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/06/exclusive-love-series-review-ep-3-to-12/
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Sorely Disappointing Could Have Been Better!
Sometimes miracles can cost you your life. But are you willing to take such a risk for your better half?This question pretty much sums up the entire premise for this show. Adapted from the novel “Reverse with me: Across Millions of Orbits” (Reverse With Me ล้านวงโคจร) by Zezeho, the storyline deals with quite a few parallels. The editing is choppy in some places and because of the uneven pacing, the storytelling seems confusing. Born into a family where the descendants have magical powers, “Reverse with Me” focuses on Karan who can manipulate time like her mother and also has the power of visions. You are never given the explanation for Karan’s supersonic powers, they just exist; the only catch being that like her grandfather, Karan loses a portion of her lifetime whenever she manipulates time. Moreover, every time she turns time, Karan experiences excruciating pain; neither fact stop her from manipulating time and again to save her longtime crush, Kliaokhluen. The back and forth becomes confusing after the second time when it becomes evident that Karan is losing her lifetime, and yet she doesn’t stop.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/06/04/reverse-with-me-series-review-ep-3-to-8/
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A Decent Storytelling, Could Have Been Better!!!
With a bit of an effort, this series would have been phenomenal and nothing short of a masterpiece. But it honestly did not believe in itself enough to make it memorable. Instead, it relied too heavily on the tried-and-true tropes of the day. Believe it or not, this WAS a good premise. As the expression goes, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.Fifa (Ton Tonhon) is an unlikable character. Spoiled, pampered and feeling a bit entitled, has his eyes set on going to Japan to study. Cute as a button with a boyish charm about him, Grandma (Rudkloa Amratisha), the matriarch of the family, puts a kibosh to his high-handedness and says, bluntly, that if he wants and obviously needs, the family money, he must work at the Pokpa Nature Park which she operates and manages. Reluctantly, he agrees to stay at the Park for three months, simply to prove to her that he will not fall in love with it nor will it be as meaningful to him as it is to her.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/05/31/lost-in-the-woods-series-review-ep-1-to-7/
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Could Have Been Better With The Storytelling!
Some shows are good, some are bad; there are some which are midway, you know they are bad but yet you can’t stop watching them!“Flirt Milk” belongs to the third category. Announced as a part of Star Hunter Entertainment’s 2023 Lineup, the show has been long in making. When the fans almost lost hope that the show might see the daylight, Star Hunter Entertainment dropped the promotions for this romcom. Without much fanfare or marketing, the show premiered to low expectations. Adapted from the novel “Rak Rot Nom Juet” (รักรสนมจืด) by Arpo, the storyline is centered around Nomjuet, a dental student who is naive, sweet and innocent. So much so, that his best friends guard him fiercely and are extremely overprotective. Chaos ensues when he unexpectedly meets Phra-ek, a junior from the photography club. Their personalities clash but somehow they end up falling in love. The show doesn’t have much substance; alongside the two supporting couples, it manages to maintain your interest in the ten or so odd episodes. There isn’t much happening that you haven’t seen before in BL adaptations!
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/05/30/flirt-milk-series-review-ep-1-to-10/
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A Must Watch For A Lazy Weekend!!
Perhaps not quite a masterpiece, but most assuredly it is a Must-See series. This is an astonishing and discerning BL told in just about an hour and a half. However, it loses much unless you watch it in toto. In that way, you get its complete essence, since each episode is only between 7 to 10 minutes in length.The series is an astonishingly reflective narrative of the convoluted mind of the South Korean culture towards not only sex in general but homosexuality specifically. It is obviously a taboo subject but one that they simply cannot stop persevering on. While they circumvent the whole concept of sexuality in euphemistic terms, they are intensely preoccupied by it. From an outsider looking in, their whole notion of gay relationships and sex in general is astonishingly parochial and taboo, and beyond off-limits and must still be hidden and talked about in hushed tones.
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https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/05/28/checkered-shirt-series-review-ep-1-to-8/
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A Nice Anthology Series With Substance!
This anthology is like the first warm summer breeze that sweeps over you after a long cold winter. It is refreshing, gentle, and so enveloping that it makes you feel good all over. This anthology is composed of 4 unrelated love stories told so delicately that you might miss the intensity that lies underneath each of their love stories. Overall, these stories are nimbly told with no overused drama, no destructive love triangles, or cheating plots. It is solid stories with excellent acting in each. All four-love tales are different in terms of poignancy and message. Some are meant to be quite powerful while others are presented as examples of slices-of-life contextures. Each saga is composed of two episodes of about 10 minutes in length each, which makes for easy viewing.Read the complete article here-
https://the-bl-xpress.com/2025/05/21/close-to-you-series-review-ep-1-to-8/
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