I liked it. I usually like more mature stories and I love toxic protag. But I like this one because it was rooted in realism. The only thing I did not like because it was quite frankly ridiculous, is Soh not telling his friends he was living to study abroad. I thought he was going to die or something. Him not wanting to start up a relationship then and there was understandable. Him not saying why is just bad writing. All in all, I thought it was a good coming-of-age story, without some of the other the top tropes of some BL.
I did not expect to like it as much as I did. I binged watched it today and I am so glad I did. I liked the character development of the protagonists and I liked that they portrayed Piseang's struggles with his sexuality. Too often it Thai BL, all the characters are just magically bi and ok with suddenly liking a man. It is good that they tried incorporating a sense of LGBT realism even if it is somewhat watered-down. Baby step. It is still GMM, the Disney of BL. But after Only Friends, maybe we will see more realistic LGBT content along side traditional BL. They are not mutually exclusive and should live happily side by side.
Maybe gay content written by a BL writer. The way masturbation is given so much gravitas in this is LOL funny…
I did not mean to impy it was realistic but more so that it does not have an otherly glomorized and romantic feel to it. It is still thai entertainement after all and it still fall into the bl scope I suppose. Just less of a fujoshi pink colored one.
I would say this has more the feel of gay content then bl content. I for one is all for it. In the same way, I love Queer as Folk but would never call it a bl, I am ok with bl and actual gay drama existing together but not necessarily blending too much.
I like Heart character but why is he mute? He lost his hearing at around 15 so he should be able to speak just fine. It is just the clichée deaf-mute but this only applies to those born or going deaf at such a young age that they never learned to speak.
The curse of being an older bl fan is to see all the new holier-than-though little girlies screeching about "toxicity". I watch bl to be entertained and Tharn Type does a great job of it. If you want boring af stories with perfect characters to be your perfect representation for whatever new label, BL is not for you. BL is not even meant to be LGBT to be honest even if more and more have blurred the line in recent years. That is why as an older (20+ years) consumer of BL, I always separated BL from gay content. If this offends you, stick to Heartstopper.
I was very hesitant to watch it because I just loved the original and read the books years ago. And it is definitely a bL if you know what to look for. The most obvious clues not including the pecks on the cheeks and the I love you to the sea are : - The mysterious birthday present Su Yu gave Wu Bi and the way they look at each other when they talked about it : my filling the blank is they had sex for the first time. - The second clue would be more evident to book readers : the lip balm on WB bed that he panicked over and hid in his pocket and "thank god it is an English brand" is in fact lub so..... - Third very evident clue is when SY's friend spend the night and he points out that SY sleeps in WB's room and SY admits all embarrassed and panicked.
Not counting all the time the subtext was sooooo loud but since the show made other people say the words for them, it can still be argued that it is a speculation from third parties.
I am glad I finally watched it after holding out for a few months. Going to re read the last third of the novel to get all the NC they could not give us now.
If this offends you, stick to Heartstopper.
- The mysterious birthday present Su Yu gave Wu Bi and the way they look at each other when they talked about it : my filling the blank is they had sex for the first time.
- The second clue would be more evident to book readers : the lip balm on WB bed that he panicked over and hid in his pocket and "thank god it is an English brand" is in fact lub so.....
- Third very evident clue is when SY's friend spend the night and he points out that SY sleeps in WB's room and SY admits all embarrassed and panicked.
Not counting all the time the subtext was sooooo loud but since the show made other people say the words for them, it can still be argued that it is a speculation from third parties.
I am glad I finally watched it after holding out for a few months. Going to re read the last third of the novel to get all the NC they could not give us now.