BL Compilations

slice of life series

Overall: this is what I would call a slice of life series, i.e. more true to life versus a romanticized version. Though I was put off at the beginning of the 1st episode with the flash forward and the first few episodes were especially slow going, I'm glad that I stuck with the series. Watched on Gagaoolala (also on iQIYI).

Content Warnings: distant past suicide mentioned, punch/bullying, stalking, outing, manhandling

What I Liked
- some cute moments
- there were actually customers in the cafe at times and the cafe workers were actually working
- a character dreams different kdrama scenarios (I think one was Crash Landing On You) which was fun
- a character said that people who love each other should be able to marry
- the female friend wasn't a cliche evil wannabe girlfriend, though I don't approve of how she handled something
- representation (although I think the writers could have had a more realistic explanation/explained things better)
- Le's mom
- that nose ring, I think it's the first nose piercing I've ever seen in a BL, the hair was fun too
- the friendship between Le and Li

Room For Improvement
- I wish they portrayed the relationship between Li and Gwan differently. At first, I wasn't even sure what their relationship was. It didn't seem that they really even liked each other as friends with the way they treated one another.
- cliche "let me explain" then does not explain with side couple
- the main couple/side couple screen time was odd. Li and Gwan had an entire episode and then pretty much vanished.
- a bit choppy when they were in the forest the first time
- slow pacing
- I think the title "DNA Says Love You" should be "My DNA Says I Love You", I see it's listed as an alternate title but I wish this was the main title
- the pronouns appeared incorrect a few times, but I think this was a translation error (I didn't take off review stars for this)

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I've forgotten why I liked this series...

Overall: although I love some of the realistic slice of life parts, it's just too slow. Aired on GagaOOLala.

Content Warnings: manipulation, something else that is spoilery for a side character and I'll put it in a comment after this is done airing

What I Liked
- those kids were super adorable in ep 1 and did a great job
- set the time well with SARS (2003), although VHS tapes weren't new technology, it should have been a DVD player unless I understood this incorrectly
- differently abled representation with two characters
- the transition with the photo taking helped me figure out who was who in ep 1
- some realistic parts like having school pen pals, how you feel when you first start university and are on your own
- that hair made me laugh and the grandpa and friends reactions were hilarious*
- supportive friends with the pen pal thing
- production value

Room For Improvement
- too many time jumps and some not clearly marked, this reminds me of when I used to write stories and came to a less interesting part I'd just skip over it and jump to the next section
- I watch at double speed and it still feels slow, they should have cut this down to 6 or 8 episodes instead of 14
- in general I didn't care about any of the romantic relationships, I felt nothing about them
- Champ's character's plot could have been folded into another character
- that's an oddly aggressive pursuit from Nan, I guess it's supposed to be romantic but it felt unrealistic and unwarranted
- the whole thing with the Name's secret online friend was annoying and I would have been waaaaayyy more angry but I guess with the other circumstances he didn't care
- the lack of communication/being honest dragged out way too long
- need more than 1 song played on repeat every other minute (it's a nice song but I've come to loathe it)
- the constant references to the time period are unnecessary
- in episode 1, it seemed unrealistic that a parent or teacher wouldn't have talked to the other students about Name (update, confusing if he was homeschooled at that point because he was wearing a school uniform)
- the awful wigs* why oh why were there sooooo many bad wigs for so much screentime

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aggressive pursuer & naive pursuee (watch suggestions)

Overall: I wasn't surprised to see it is based on a manga ("Itte Owarina Wake ga nai!" by Komeoka Shigu). It had that bodice-ripper, aggressive pursuit and confused/reluctant pursuee vibe. I haven't read the manga and reviewed the series based on its own merits. 12 episodes about 22 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (not in Taiwan, Korea or Japan) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5526/secret-lover-2025-e01 ; iQIYI https://www.iq.com/album/secret-lover-2025-1gamo9acu1d and GTV Drama YouTube channel (not in Korea or Japan) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk2gvyPpHLRfYzaDVqGeGwr7LPZlWNZQd&si=bCMJZNrnkEEwkbHx

Content Warnings: non con touching, non con touching/kissing turned consensual-ish, non con kisses, manhandling

Watch Suggestions (after episodes 1 & 2 which I'm not re-watching, these timings focus on sweet and steamy moments)
- start episode 3 at 12:20
- episode 4 watch 12:55-20:20
- episode 5 watch beginning to 6:40, 13-14 and 19-end
- episode 6 watch 6:40-8:10, 16:20-17:20
- episode 7 watch beginning-8:30, 21-25:30
- skip episodes 8 & 9
- episode 10 watch 3:30-14 and 24-end

What I Liked
- visuals
- easy to understand premise
- the kids were cute*
- ML said he was fine with either
- supportive friends/not cliched female characters

Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward, then went to a flashback before landing in the present
- ignored boundaries, was jealous over his nephew, self-centered, insecure, immature
- asking to slow down/pause on intimacy (a reasonable request) didn't mean ghosting (felt coercive)
- nonsense fever after being in the rain
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- *too many childhood flashbacks
- did not care about the work drama, slow pacing
- way too many cliche running scenes
- noble idiot trope but at least it was communicated as to the reason
- the parents knew and should have realized it might make their son worry, they could have dropped hints liked watched a queer romance movie and talked about how love is love and they support marriage equality and rights

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excellent visuals, nonsense writing

Overall: I can accept and enjoy vampires, aliens, etc but the world building and writing still needs to be consistent and make sense or it breaks the fantasy for me. 12 episodes about 50 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (available in the U.S., U.K, Australia & Germany) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5176/my-golden-blood-2025-e01 ; iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/my-golden-blood-episode-1-15i43kuok94?lang=en_us ; GMMTV's YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI6dCriKkjM96prEY5v2Nhtu&si=_TzfUsEzmPpPs7Jw (not available in SE Asia and countries covered by GagaOOLala). All 3 platforms appear to be the same length.

Content Warnings: past and current murders, blood, stalking, intimate partner abuse, held against will, manipulation, age gap, kidnapping, fights/violence, grief, torture

Watch Suggestions (to focus on sweet/steamy moments with the MLs)
- read the synopsis and watch episode 1
- skip episodes 2 and 3
- episode 4 watch 23-24:30 and 43-end
- episode 5 watch 40:45-end
- watch episode 6
- episode 7 watch beginning to 6:20 or can watch all
- episode 8 skip 12:30-20:15 or could even start at 49 and watch to the end
- stop episode 9 at 35 minutes (they missed out on what could have been a fantastic side couple/redemption arc imo)
- episode 10 watch 15:30-15:55, brief kiss around 18, 22-25, 45:55-end
- episode 11 watch 22:15-27:05 and 28:30-35 to avoid angst/serious stuff
- episode 12 watch 36:45-end

What I Liked
- visuals
- vampires
- sensual moments
- they refused to do the noble idiot trope

Room For Improvement
- not sold on the world building, police aren't concerned about what was happening?, a character who is supposedly good let another character go off and likely murder a bunch more people
- felt they were going for serious/sensual but then the special effects and dialogue gave it a corny feeling
- not a fan of the giant age gap because the younger guy acted like a toddler and also the "taking care of from afar" aka stalking as the younger character was growing up, the power imbalance is gigantic
- episode 2 was a world building exposition dump
- sick after the rain trope and refused to communicate in episode 5
- voicing inner thoughts
- missed opportunity of a solid redemption arc and side couple
- cartoonish idiot villain (why on earth wouldn't he have gotten proof/talked to them earlier?!!!, and he's lived a super long time but somehow isn't smarter/doesn't have resources and is camping out in the wilderness?!!)
- total nonsense to not tell friends the truth "in order to protect them" when not telling them obviously puts them in more danger because they can't make informed decisions, not talking about an obvious solution beforehand, terrible "plans"
- voice over exposition dump at the end of the finale

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wanted more chaotic fun (and BL)

Overall: it had a very similar premise to The Hangover, but I didn't find it as entertaining. This season had totally different actors/characters/plot than the previous 2 series so you can watch this on its own; however unlike the last 2 seasons there was no mutual m/m romance. 6 episodes about 30 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala.

Content Warnings: vomiting, held against will, drugging, punch

M/M Kisses (note, there was not a BL couple in this series): a brief flashback at the beginning of episode 2 and episode 5 2:30 and then 20 minutes

What I Liked
- clear premise
- introduced the characters well
- made me laugh a few times
- the twist/subverted trope in episode 4
- liked the mom reveal
- production value (especially the music)

Room For Improvement
- needed to be even more chaotic, I was bored
- nonsense stuff (the police didn't say/do anything about the handcuffs, they guys would have pain on their backs, their total lack of negative reaction to what was on their backs, the CEO was just cool with everything they did)
- neutral, comedy sound effects

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opposite personalities

Overall: an indie series that centered on two characters. 8 episodes under 10 minutes each. Aired on QueerDeep YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkrefPXGX2ya2fvYODySdXnGenCnRLMTn&si=rvoa6yi_AUexHzIs

What I Liked
- opposite personalities
- kissing
- that we didn't have a bunch of characters

Room For Improvement
- I couldn't shake how creepy it was that that delivery person entered his apartment
- the episode 7 drama felt like drama for drama's sake
- (neutral) the English subtitles make some things difficult to understand

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some good, some not so good

Overall: I'm pretty torn on this series. I really like how we had several queer characters and Diamond was awesome but then they had too many characters to fully develop and things were unresolved for several of them. 8 episodes about 50 minutes each. Aired on iWantTFC. The director/writer Ivan Andrew Payawal also directed Gameboys.

Content Warnings: fight, transphobia, homophobia, discrimination, past memory with blood

What I Liked
- Uno's mom
- they called out being disrespectful and the hypersexual stereotype
- Diamond was my favorite character, the situations she faced were realistic, rarely portrayed in media, heartbreaking and well done, wish we had more with this characters

Room For Improvement
- multiple lead characters had too much jerk behavior, I was so annoyed with Jared in particular
- the het romance was at the center which whatever but then there was no resolution with queer characters

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glad they made this special

Overall: this special made me bump up the series rating by .5; however, the nonsense worldbuilding prevented me from rating this or the series higher. Eight and a half minutes on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIcdgalcMUE&feature=youtu.be

What I Liked
- seaside
- that we got something at the very end
- production value decent

Room For Improvement
- exposition dump
- way too long of a time jump
- more nonsense worldbuilding, so something no longer matters? why? why does a character magically regain something? and if he regained it earlier why wouldn't he immediately tell the other character who has been in a ton of pain?

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hilarious, poignant and heartwarming

Overall: Ossan's Love Returns was my favorite in the franchise. The writers managed to balance several different genres (comedy, fluff, angst, mystery) well and we had character growth. 9 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (along with the rest of the franchise except Ossan's Love Hong Kong) and Viki.

Content Warnings: past death/murder, past violence, grief, non con kiss

What I Liked
- how Haruta and Maki had their flaws but they communicated with one another, apologized when they messed up and continued to love and care for each other, there was some excellent character growth
- clever ways they integrated the episode name
- sweet moments
- funny moments (I laughed so many times)
- realistic parts (like the bed head)
- ongoing physical interest/affection
- Moonlight Chicken (Earth/Mix) cameo
- how they integrated rainbows into the episodes

Room For Improvement
- the non con kiss with the new characters
- perpetuating the stereotype of a mother in law who is mean/exacting to a spouse
- wish we had a bit more time/resolution with several of the characters instead of a mad dash at the end
- if characters aren't comfortable doing something like at the end of episode 9, then the production should cast other actors

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confusing short movie

Overall: I really wanted to like this movie but I did not like one of the lead characters and was confused by the timeline/plot. 35 minutes, aired on Wayufilm's YouTube channel.

What I Liked
- production value
- the actors did a good job
- the ending scene was sweet

Room For Improvement
- the timeline was confusing, the friends met up and Motor had a scar, they went on a ride but then their clothes changed (I think this was a continuity error though), then Motor hung out with his girlfriend and the other guy got unreasonably angry, then there was a flashback to a year ago where the same girlfriend he was dating in the present cheated on him and Motor got into an accident, then in the present (a year later) Motor decided to break up with his girlfriend???
the above would have made sense if that was a different girlfriend but I re-watched and it definitely seems to be the same actress, why didn't Motor break up with her for a year after that incident? or was she not actually cheating and he was just sad that she cancelled plans but they kept dating? but his friend didn't know he was dating for a year???

- didn't like how Gentle got angry at Motor when he spent time with his girlfriend, then Gentle doing the silent treatment and basically threatening to end the friendship, it would have made more sense if we had seen a montage of Motor constantly cancelling plans with Gentle last minute
- some of the scenes dragged a bit and could have been cut for faster pacing
- they seemed to establish both of them as straight with the girlfriend stuff and then talking about never holding a guy's waist before, felt like a 'gay for you' trope

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short and cute tourism promo with BL actors

Overall: 12 BL actors showcased parts of Thailand thru 6 short episodes. Each episode was about 8 minutes. Aired 2 per week on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6jUaCqlEcp3ROAMOSYvXJ2ij5mxjCkzy&si=zEc7KOdeB5fTzvI4 Note: several of the episodes were not clearly BL but open to interpretation

What I Liked
- it was a cute short story/tourism commercial
- favorite story was probably ep 2 with Mai & Win
- so happy to see Frank without a wig
- happy they aired 2 per week and it was free to watch on YouTube

Room For Improvement
- they needed to subtitle the locations that the characters were at, although the information does appear in the video description
- each episode was very short and several were open endings

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fans of the series will enjoy these follow ups

Overall: I think that fans will enjoy this anthology series which showcases 8 couples from 8 recent GMMTV series. Airing on GMMTVs YouTube Channel, here is the playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI4h6zMFEdD2alNmOI4c9TBN

Content Warnings: violence, homophobia (Never Let Me Go)

My Favorites
- Bad Buddy and 1000 Stars, especially that ending part of 1000 Stars was extremely touching/beautiful

Biggest Miss
- I wanted to see further development with My School President not a re-hash with the actors playing the opposite character

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a well done m/m reality dating show (ep 7 was the best)

Overall: I believe this was the Philippines first m/m reality dating show and I think they did a good job with it. 8 episodes at about 30 minutes each. Aired on Black Sheep YouTube Channel.

Reality Series Note: with any "reality" series I keep in mind that what the audience sees doesn't necessarily reflect what actually happened. There can be guidelines the audience doesn't know about, parts are edited out or ordered in different ways to show a certain narrative. I read in the YouTube comments that the director said it wasn't scripted, but I always take that with a grain of salt. My goal for reality dating series is for people to have a good time and maybe make a new friend. Any actual pairings at the end of the show are icing on the cake.

Content Warnings: discussion of mental health struggles, suicidal thoughts, homophobia

What I Liked
- the intros of the 10 guys to the audience and that they had name tags on most of the series (as someone who has trouble with remembering names, this is very useful and I'm guessing was useful for the participants as well), although it could have been something like a necklace with their name
- that they started with a game and there were two 1 on 1 dates (not really a fan of the twist though but it was okay)
- diverse personalities in the group
- the emcee was great, she was caring and empathetic
- defined pansexuality and emcee said she loved how they were being sex positive
- episode 7 at the pool party was my favorite episode
- excellent that they included a mental health hotline at the end of episode 7

Room For Improvement
- group games: the oil was unnecessary, the guys just met each other and they could have played the game without the oil part, should have had less physical games and maybe some where they pair up, go on a scavenger hunt or something? or maybe group get to know you games like "never have I ever"
- too much group sharing times, it bogged things down, although I think 1 group share is a good idea, I personally don't think it's great to discuss past exes, leave the past in the past
- would only have 1 secret spark exchange or have it more like a phone call or letter where they could write their name, but it's painful to see some guys not receive a spark multiple times
- background noise during the pool party

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Swing and a Miss

Overall: there was a good idea a the core, how a boy might struggle at school with two gay dads, but it had a poor execution

Content Warnings: held against will, looked up skirt - pulled down pants, pervy guy

What I Liked
- the trumpet playing
- the boy said that they should apologize to the girl

Room For Improvement
- the trumpet player was more immature than the child! Who just leaves their child at a dock? Pulling down his pants was terrible. The dad felt stereotypical and I wish they would haven't gone that direction. He could have worn lipstick/nails and been an awesome parent of a child who is struggling at school due to bullying. Instead they made him look immature and silly.
- the first sexual assault to that girl was bad but then they threw in another attempted one??? To show that the boy was now a hero? It was an odd way to show character development.

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