BL Compilations

soap opera musical with cute BL side couple

Overall: this a series with some cutesy music numbers interspersed with soap opera stuff. 14 episodes about an hour long each. Aired https://youtu.be/la9YzvKhaAI?si=DcAq0zPNhbgvWM8E (episodes 11-14 were never subbed)

Content Warnings: past death, grief, intimate partner abuse, child abuse, fights/punches, held against will, homophobia

BL Couple Scenes
- episode 2, 17:10-30:10 and 55:50-56
- episode 4, 14:50-17:50
- episode 6, 16-19:20
- episode 8, 38:30-40:05
- episode 9, 50-53
- episode 10, 28:40-29:40 and 45:35-48
- episode 13, 30-33
- episode 14, 54-54:30

What I Liked
- the BL couple was sweet, needed more scenes
- character growth

Room For Improvement
- BL side couple needed more screentime
- not a fan of love triangles but it ended fine
- never subbed episodes 11-14
- cutesy music numbers interspersed with some serious topics was a bit jarring

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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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nice to see continued character/relationship growth

Overall: though it felt more like a season 2 than a movie, it was nice to see more smiles between them. The tone was a bit heavier than the special though. The movie is 2 hours long. GagaOOLala picked this up in September 2023 which is when I watched it (GagaOOLala picked up the whole franchise and the order to watch is: season 1, special, movie, season 2 which is airing October 2023).

Content Warnings: homophobia, past death

What I Liked
- comedy moments
- cute moments
- communication/relationship progress
- familiar characters

Room For Improvement
- the trumpet music doesn't fit at times
- they called that hairdresser guy a wisdom machine when he said you have to be honest with your partner (he called her an ugly hag) but maybe they were being sarcastic?
- felt more like skits/episodes put together than a movie with an overarching plot
- unrealistic that the neighbor hadn't met Kenji in over a year but that's also on brand for Shiro
- the blocks at the end

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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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a lesser known Pinoy BL that is worth a watch

Overall: This series deserves more views and recognition. If you like enemies to lovers and/or something that deals with real world issues, then check this one out. 

Content Warnings: cyberbullying

What I Liked
- discussing real world problems such as: cancel (or as I call it consequence) culture*, plight of farmers, and sexual position shaming
- the production value was pretty good for what I'm assuming was a smaller budget production
- the visuals and I thought their acting was decent for (again I'm assuming) new actors
- showing a f/f relationship which is pretty rare
- the very supportive parental response from Ram's parents

Room For Improvement
- The incredibly stupid plot point regarding Cholo's plan. I doubt any human on the planet would have come up with that plan. Like, Migo is your friend and he has a pride flag hanging at his place, pretty sure he's open to talking about his sexual orientation if asked and won't ban you as a friend or anything when he finds out Cholo's sexual orientation
- three couples with three love triangles (I really dislike love triangles and there are 3 of them!!!)
- because there were so many romantic relationships in only 8 episodes, we didn't get to delve deeply into any of them
- Why doesn't Ram just talk to Migo about Cholo's plan and then explain what happened? What person just lets the other person walk away crying?
- *Though I appreciated the discussion of cancel (consequence) culture, it is much more nuanced than it being totally bad. It has to do with trying to hold people accountable for their bad actions/decisions because the law is unable to do so. Consequence culture definitely has major problems though. 
- Migo's anger/acting was actually too much at the beginning, it would have been better if he had toned it down
- they only have English, Spanish & Indonesian subs. If they had put out a call for people to translate/sub (like I think Gameboys did), I bet they would have had many more languages
- the special episode does not have any subs
- the first episode "comedic" sound effects were waaaaayyyy too much, but they did tone it down

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His Manchild Sorn (uncut version with watch suggestions)

Overall: though we heard characters say Jun pranks/ed Sorn, we never saw that. Instead we saw Sorn being a manchild and one sided bullying/intimate partner emotional abuse. Nothing was ever Sorn's fault, it was always someone elses, there was zero responsibility-taking. With some tweaks, I would have rated this much higher. The series is adapted from the book "Nai Hia Bok Mai Chop Dek" by Nang Sao Phop which I have read but I reviewed the series on its own merits (notes about how they mucked up the adaptation at the end of this review). 12 episodes about 50 minutes each. Airing uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/my-stubborn-episode-1-1vk3bdn96z8?lang=en_us and cut on MFlow's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b12PV1m9pP8&ab_channel=MFlowEntertainment MFlow also produced: Time, Beyond the Star, Tin Tem Jai, AiLongNhai, Second Chance and Coffee Melody.

Content Warnings: non/dub con kissing/touching, voyeurism, drugging, punches, bullying, intimate partner emotional abuse, hits, manhandling

Watch Suggestions (to remove most of Sorn being an asshole and uninteresting side characters/plot)
- episode 1 watch beginning-27:50
- watch all of episode 2
- episode 3 watch beginning-13:45, 27-35:35, 37:50-54
- episode 4 watch beginning-5:30
- episode 5 watch 11-20:45, 23:30-24:5, 35:10 to the end
- episode 6 watch 5:25-6:30, 7:15-8:30, 20-23 gl, 27:30-35:25, 37:45-end
- episode 7 watch 5:40-9:50, 20:20-21:30 and continue for the GL, 30-33, 37-44
- episode 8 watch 17-18 and 29-41:45
- skip episode 9
- episode 10 watch 9:30-13:10, 34:50-35:20 and 39:20-end
- episode 11 watch 13:15-19:30 and 21:45-31:15
- episode 12 watch 17:50-end

What I Liked
- attention getting intro*
- tension
- NSFW scenes were pretty well done with facial expressions/sounds**
- the camera shot of the escalators with a character going up and the other going down
- Jun's dad and sister
- Sorn's mom and brother
- good conversation about sexual position preferences

Room For Improvement
- *the intro scene felt kind of random, and then there was a separate situation that seemed not connected from that time but the characters discussed the past as if it was just 1 incident and not 2
- character cards to introduce characters instead of naturally showing the audience their traits
- felt choppy at times (daylight went to full nighttime in a few minutes in ep 7)
- nonsense stuff like not contacting someone because they lost their phone as if social media doesn't exist, **an unusual amount of neck kissing then a character saying he couldn't breathe when he wasn't being kissed on the mouth at all, school aged children working at a coffee shop during the school day, Jun being extremely drunk and then suddenly sober, Win didn't hear something when he very close, pink lighting in the same bathroom that never had it previously, a beard that looked like it was drawn on by a toddler
- comedy sound effects didn't make things funny
- Sorn let Jun be punched multiple times before intervening because he wanted to teach him a lesson about not kissing people when Sorn was kissing someone?!? Sorn tells other people to treat Jun like an adult when he himself treats Jun like a child, Sorn kicked Jun's leg and hit his mouth for looking at his brother
- what Sorn did in episode 4 was terrible and a few apologies/buying food didn't fix it for me
- the side m/m couple's progression made no sense and they virtually disappeared for a few episodes, they don't talk to each other when they should have and then it got very controlling "you are my wife" stuff
- the side f/f couple's progression/relationship in the first half didn't make much sense and they also disappeared
- the side m/f couple's relationship was boring to watch
- in episode 5 Jun told Sorn to stop multiple times and Sorn didn't, in episode 7 Jun was hitting Sorn as if saying to stop and Sorn continued
- some odd/close up shots
- love rivals including in the finale, could have spent that time elsewhere

Note for ages: Jun was 19 (i.e. in university) in the first scene and Sorn was 24. In the present, Jun is 21 and Sorn is 26. The actors are 30 and 28. I have no issue with the age gap.

Thoughts on Grey Characters/Their Romantic Relationships
Sometimes these characters and their dynamic work for me and other times they don't. Here are the factors that I think about:
1. was there a realistic reason why the character/s acted the way they did in the past (there was no reason given why Sorn was an asshole/abusive towards Jun)
2. how bad was/is the treatment (emotionally abusive with ignoring Jun's boundaries multiple times, controlling Jun's actions or saying things were Jun's fault that weren't his fault, made Jun look really bad at work, Sorn allowed Jun to get punched multiple times to teach Jun a lesson that Sorn himself ignored)
3. were both characters grey or was one squeaky clean (Jun was pretty squeaky clean, he had a go with the flow energy)
4. was there some kind of apology/amend making (verbal apologies and bought Jun food in ep 5 for 1 instance, the later apology was awful and said Jun should know that Sorn was bad at apologies, wtf?!)
5. was there character growth (no, Sorn continued to ignore Jun's boundaries, was controlling/too possessive)
6. do I believe that the characters will stay together in a happy romantic relationship (no, because the emotional abuse will make Jun miserable)
final verdict: I don't want them together, Jun will be miserable, he still looked miserable/reluctant a lot of the time

Some Differences Between the Book & The Series
- in the book in the past they did show how both Sorn and Jun pranked each other, it felt much less 1 sided bullying in the book
- the book did not have GL and Sorn clearly explained his past relationship with Penny
- the book did not have Sorn smiling as Jun got into trouble in episode 4, Sorn was horrified that it had gone that far and made amends better in the book
- the book has a reason why Sorn does not like people younger than himself, they did eventually give the reason but it wasn't as clear as in the book
- Sorn also had a good reason for losing contact, TBD if they talk about this in the series
- Jun is really into Sorn in the book and is not frequently reluctant like he is in the series
- the 2nd half of the book was Sorn groveling/making up for his past mistakes, the series dragged out Sorn being a jerk with barely any apology-making

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fire chemistry

Overall: excellent chemistry/acting from Smart & Boom and I hope to see them in more series. This series is based on the Japanese manga "Dakaichi: I'm Being Harassed by the Sexiest Man of the Year" which was later an anime. I haven't read/watched them and I reviewed the series on its own merits. 11 episodes about 40 minutes each. Note there is an additional scene after the initial end of the episodes. Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/d1z6o64bu16ncf3

Content Warnings: sexual assault, non con kiss, non con touching, non con video recording, vomiting, gaslighting, non con picture taking/sharing, stalking, cyber bullying, blackmail, coercion, death, grief

Watch Suggestions (to remove angst and focus on their sweet/steamy parts)
- watch episodes 1-5
- episode 6 stop at 12 minutes
- start episode 7 at 21 minutes
- episode 8 watch 6:45-17:45 and 40:20-end (but not the additional end scene after the initial end)
- episode 9 watch beginning to 5:45, can watch 19:35-24:30 and then 51:30-end
- episode 10 watch beginning to 4:40, 45:10-46:15, 48:15-end
- episode 11 watch 20:10-end

What I Liked
- acting/chemistry
- clear premise
- styling*
- laughed a few times
- ongoing intimacy
- role playing in episode 8
- that family in episode 9 and the advice
- supportive manager (except the pinning thing)

Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward montage
- the non con kiss
- *the hair was covering Jin's eyes too much in some scenes
- comedy sound effects did not enhance the comedy
- camera was too shaky at some points
- deducted half a point after episode 6, they never addressed the victim blaming and I wasn't sure that if it had actually happened a character would have been okay with that/been supportive, also the villain did not have any real consequences as if they wanted the viewer to forgive him because he's attractive (which likely some viewers did but I'm not one of them), I also couldn't ship him with his hinted romantic partner
- bad how he just forgave his stalker and she had zero consequences
- they had too many angsty parts and were not able to fully explore them
- noble idiot trope/lack of communication where they caused more pain to each other than if they had been honest and worked together through their challenges
- the nonsense CEO villain
- (neutral) confused by the wings, apparently that is something from the manga

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covid/unversity setting romance, watch the cut version (watch suggestions)

Overall: I was going to rate the series higher, but the finale was awful. The uncut version gets 3.5, the cut version gets 5 and since it doens't have an MDL entry I gave it a 4 for this review. 5 episodes. Uncut is about an hour to 1hr 30min each; cut is 47min. Airing uncut on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4689/live-in-love-2024-e01 ; uncut on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/0i9b5l3c9l95149-Live%20In%20Love%20the%20series%20(Uncut%20Ver.) ; cut on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/i947av13118qaoy-Live%20In%20Love%20the%20series ; cut on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0tRjHmbcbQLx8pLeSxkmMqrOsXiVyWX7&si=VJeqs7s6Y4MgU-Fc Later aired on Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/41065c-live-in-love

Content Warning: manhandling, held against will, stalking, drugging, planned gang rape

Watch Suggestions (read the plot synopsis)
- watch the very end of episode 1 (1hr 3min for uncut and 7m 45s in part 4 cut) to the end
- in episode 2 uncut watch 9-14, 17:45-19:20, 34:50-35:30, 40:40-42:20, 48-51:20, 53:25 (shirtless push-ups), 1hr 24 -1hr 25m17s (kissing) ; I'm not re-watching all of episode 2 cut version but beginning of part 3 and then part 4 7min to 8m 12s (the uncut of this scene is better)
- youtube cut version watch episode 3 part 1 beginning to 3 and 11-end; part 2 watch 8:45-end, part 3 watch 4:25-5:45, part 4 watch 3-3:45 and 4:30-6:15 and if you wanted you could watch the uncut version of episode 3 58:40 to 1hr0m30s and 1hr36m30s to 1hr38m30s for a longer kissing scene than the cut version
- YouTube cut version watch episode 4 part 1 4-6 and 9:20-10:50; part 2 watch 6-9:40 (35 min in uncut the kiss is longer), part 3 beginning to 3:15, part 4 5:23-6:15
- uncut version (I might update when the cut version airs), watch episode 5 1hr 8min-1hr 14m 30s and 1hr 27min 50sec-end (so basically 10 minutes of an hour and a half episode)

What I Liked
- supportive friends/family
- production value was fine other than jumpy flashbacks/to present, good transition images
- good consent in episode 3

Room For Improvement
- main character was infantilized (wore a teddy bear sweater, other people made decisions for him and he oddly didn't seem to care, reminded me of La Cuisine)
- spent way too much time in the finale retelling past actions
- a ton of characters were introduced in episode 1 and there was no reason why I should have cared about them or want them in a relationship with each other
- the main couple did not have a scene together until 1hr 3 minutes of episode 1 which was much too late
- love rivals  
- confusing time jumps/timeline in episode 1
- episode 2 uncut was very repetitive
- cliched female characters
- the covid setting/format was odd/unappealing, characters repeatedly talked on the phone or texted in episode 2 which was boring/did not produce good chemistry and then suddenly covid stuff disappears
- where did the side couple go in episode 3?
- the reason for the interruption at the end of episode 3 was stupid
- cartoonish antagonist and multiple terribly done redemption arcs
- the awful "we won't contact police for the very illegal/terrible things this character has done, they'll learn their lesson"
- nonsense, someone fell into the water but then magically was really far away from where they fell in (episode 4)
- "comedy" sound effects
- talking about extending the room rental in episode 5 was distasteful, unrealistic and not funny
- the very end scene in episode 5 was anticlimactic, I think they could have paced it better or had it actually end with them kissing or the crew break the 4th wall and say thanks but as it was a strange way to end a series with the way they did that scene

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a quirky character and his grounded love interest

Overall: enjoyed the sweet moments. 10 episodes about 1 hour each. Based on a book "Me and Thee" by laWilathat which I haven't read and I reviewed the series on its own merits. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/me-and-thee-episode-1-14dekvm74mw?lang=en_us and GMMTV's YouTube channel (not in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Canada, U.S.)

Content Warnings: violence/beaten up, past sexual abuse, past child abuse/violence (in episode 4, 53:30-end), manipulation, attempted murder, manhandling, unwanted outing

What I Liked
- styling/set design
- easy to understand premise
- I did chuckle a few times*
- a trash character had consequences
- caring moments

Room For Improvement
- *the comedy sound effects didn't make things funny and detracted from the humor
- would have liked in episode 5 for Thee to wait for a yes or a nod (he did this additional times, asked and then just went ahead)
- I didn't add love bombing and ignoring boundaries, but I almost did. I didn't like that aspect of Thee's approach though I understand he is not doing it from a place of maliciousness. However, he didn't communicate with Peach when making decisions that directly involved him. I didn't see much character growth.
- did not care at all about the model couple, wanted more of the bodyguard and his romantic interest

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interesting premise with a plot/pacing issue

Overall: I liked the premise but the pacing needed to be changed a bit. Based on the webtoon of the same name by Nabit and Eol. 10 episodes approximately 22 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala in in Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Europe (not UK, Spain, Portugal) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5692/my-bias-is-showing-2025-e01 ; iQIYI https://www.iq.com/album/my-bias-is-showing-2025-1vmsvoj3pt9?lang=en_us ; Heavenly in South Korea https://heavenly.tv/detail/973 and more.

Content Warnings: manipulation

Watch Suggestions (to get rid of angst)
- watch episodes 1-6
- episode watch 7 beginning-8
- skip episode 8
- episode 9 watch 23:25-end
- start episode 10 at 4 minutes (unless you want a 4 minute recap)

What I Liked
- premise
- visuals
- sweet moments
- mystery
- chuckled in episode 2 with him hiding holding the ball
- solid ending

Room For Improvement
- for most of the 6 episodes a character did not have genuine feelings for the other, the reveal happened at the end of episode 7 which left only 3 episodes for a redemption arc and happily every after, the writers needed the reveal to be in episode 4 or 5 instead of 7
- episode 1 was backstory/set up
- neutral on comedy sound effects
- can't remember what happened when drunk cliche
- crap apology though he did finally work on it after a month
- noble idiot cliche
- the line "how about I lock you up in my house for the rest of my life" came across as creepy instead of funny as they intended it to be

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