BL Compilations

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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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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unfinished

Overall: I gave this an indie rating bump. Aired 8 episodes about 6 minutes each plus a special episode about 11 minutes long. Aired on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLntTK4N-Qw93GF8vageNABiU2xjXfSzLm (you need to pay $9.99USD for episode 7 and 8 which I did and I'll say what happened below).

What I Liked
- unique premise
- a character's hair color made it clear which universe they are in

Room For Improvement
- episode 5 and 6 should have been in chronological plot order because I was very confused starting episode 5
- there wasn't really a relationship in either universe to root for
- did not really end/felt unfinished
- voiced inner thoughts
- the special episode was maybe a prequel???

Episodes 7 & 8
In our current world, pink haired guy (with omegaverse soul) goes to the hospital to get a prenatal check up and the nurses are understandably confused. They call a doctor who happens to be his roommate. Mid scene modern soul comes back to his original body. He goes to his apartment and his aunt calls wanting him to mail her an omegaverse book for her friend (why on earth does he have it???). The doctor arrives and tries to take the book. Pink haired guy takes a shower and decides that when he opened the book he was sucked into it and vows to never open it. Mid shower he is transported back to omegaverse with him pushing the doctor down on a bed. The end.

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it's not funny, it's offensive

Overall: this was a remake of a 2015 series (on YouTube unsubbed). It felt like it was stuck in the past (or even farther back than 2015) with its colorism, body shaming, effeminate male/trans women stereotypes and sexual assault played as comedy. 16 episodes about 35 minutes each. Aired on WeTV.

Content Warnings: colorism, trans women/effeminate men stereotypes, body shaming, bullying, cyberbullying, sexual assault played as comedy, sexual harassment, sex shaming, transphobia, held against will, non con picture/video taking and sharing

What I Liked
- Jet/New until the end of episode 6 which is what made me drop the series even though I wanted to give this a complete watch/review
- one of the teachers (the one who didn't sexually harass/assault a fellow teacher and didn't bully a student)
- it was good attempt with the message about being able to wear a uniform to match your gender identity, but then that character wore something out of a Japanese manga, would have been much more powerful if that character had worn the Thai school uniform for women
- episode 2 had good sex ed with using condoms correctly

Room For Improvement
- sexual assault played as comedy, it went on for so long and was not funny
- the two teachers who bullied a student and sexually harassed a fellow teacher
- the stereotypical male guys had love interests while the effeminate male characters were constantly fighting with each other and bullying a trans student
- way too much catfighting and bullying
- too many characters (there are 21 on the poster) and I couldn't figure out their names/who they all were
- comedy sound effects
- cliche overheard something and didn't talk

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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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didn't live up to its promise...

Overall: unfortunately they must have changed writers from the prequels (https://youtu.be/PsGI1LJn-7Q and https://youtu.be/estp_6mHi1s) and we got unfunny parts and nonsense stuff instead of a realistic angsty series. Airing on WeTV and YouTube (according to the company YouTube will be 3 hours later).

Content Warnings: bullying, death (past), grief, vomiting

What I Liked
- the child actors did a great job
- cute/sweet moments
- countryside setting in episode 1
- wish the realistic reaction at the end of episode 5 had happened when they first re-met
- production value

Room For Improvement
- Phu's actions (to me) aren't romantic, they are immature, selfish and extremely hurtful over the course of a looong (10 years) period of time, there is no apology he can make for ghosting his best friend for a decade, I find Phu unlikable and don't want them to end up together (but I'm sure they will)
- because of time jumps/flashbacks it felt choppy in beginning episodes
- I think people who haven't watched the prequels would be confused especially the university part
- I didn't find that workplace humor stuff funny including the caricature characters

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much better in the second half

Overall: the first half is a character being a jerk/abusive, I recommend watching episode 1 and then skip to episode 28 to get past that. The second half was significantly better with fun nonsense stuff. 50 episodes about 2 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI app. First few episodes are here https://youtu.be/TgcZwUo5tg0?si=g56BMS1HWuorK-Yp

Content Warnings: drugging, chocking, slap, sexual assault (in a dream ep 27), unwanted outing, bullying, homophobia, violence, punch, blood

What I Liked
- the parents' relationship with each other and their sons
- second half was much better
- character stood up for himself and his mom
- some of the nonsense was funny like removing someone injured from a hospital to care for them in a bath tub at home
- a character apologized
- meeting with the boss
- some villains had actual consequences

Room For Improvement
- bullying/abuse in the first half
- love triangle
- some nonsense was annoying like when would a beautiful woman need to drug a guy to have sex
- supposedly clothing was wet and next second they were completely dry

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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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Close Friend season 2 was okay

Overall: we have a continuation of my least favorite plot combined with my most favorite plot from season 1. I thought the first episode was a solid start, but it fell into some cliched writing/characters.

Content Warnings: something related to the 1st season with Jedi and Ray, non con (photos/posting, live streaming), dub con kissing turned consensual

What I Liked
- nice recaps of the stories from season 1
- integrated the two stories well
- was happy to see 2 established couples
- the cute moments
- the funny moments like when Ray was describing the real Jedi
- happy we saw a morning kiss between Ray & Jedi
- the friendship between Ray & Typhoon
- that Jedi fought for his relationship
- good production value
- enjoyed the behind the scenes clips

Room For Improvement
- Ray really needed a hobby or a job, he felt like a very immature character and it was difficult for me to root for their relationship
- Typhoon's lack of agency was disappointing when he didn't want to go home, also thought the plotline with the parents could have been done better
- not into the Jedi/Ray revelation about season 1
- that vanishing effect in episode 5 felt like they were ghosts
- odd scene with Typhoon and Pierce working out but sounding like something else, the mom opens the door and then is shocked that they are...actually working out???

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Swing and a miss, best episode is #6

Overall, this series was a major miss. Storylines were cliched and the 4 Queer ones were serious/depressing. I really disliked how characters crossed over into different episodes but the timeline wasn't correct, it made it even more disjointed. It would have been better if no characters were in the other episodes and then they could put the episodes in whatever order they wanted. I averaged the scores and it ended up at 7/10, but this might be generous. 

Episode 1 - "Would You Be My Love" (re-named to "Bullying & More Bullying") 8/10
Well this was a rough way to start the series. Personally I would have started with a fluffier episode but...yeah. I really hope this kind of bullying doesn't exist but I'm sure it does. Ozone could have fired a couple of comebacks at least about how close the 2 goons were... The actor is 17 and I would have preferred he was 18, but the physical affection was 1 kissing scene so it doesn't bother me that much. Both main actors did a good job (as usual Earth is a pro at crying). I dislike ghosting/refusing to communicate with someone and it felt a bit slow. Content warning: bullying

Episode 2  - "Rhythm's Heart" 8.5/10
This was a nice m/f romance plot. It was great to see Yacht play a non-comedic role. Pimdao's dad was amazing. Didn't like Wawa ignoring Pimdao's no answer.

(content warning - I'm going to use a word related to non-con)
Episode 3  "Remember" (re-named to "Hot Mess") 4/10 (all 4 points are for Samantha's acting, lol, the mom was great too)
What a hot mess. I'm not even really sure what actually happened. Sounds like Jaidee purposefully got Tac drunk to sleep with him (so that's rape), then took a picture and texts it to Tac to break them up (he mentions blackmail too). Tac for some reason can't say in 5 seconds "she got me super drunk, raped me and blackmailed me" or text that and instead says "let me explain" and "I'm sorry" a bunch of times. I think he even initially denied it was him...Then 1 year later (so strange, it should have been a few months, why would Jaidee wait that long to flirt with Proud...) Jaidee & Proud become friends then more, but then everything hits the fan and Proud refuses to let anyone actually explain what is going on. Add in a slap, grabs, shoves and vandalism (was that Tac and the flat tire???), and a cliffhanger/unresolved ending, uggggghhh. It was also inconsistent characterization because both Jaidee & his friend Rhythm talked about Tac being a player, but yet he claims that Proud is the love of his life, wth? Also Tac thought there was a relationship between Proud & Jaidee and didn't want to interfere and let Proud be happy.... be happy with the person who raped and blackmailed him???!!!! Proud shouldn't be with either of them. In my alternate version of this episode, Proud's scummy boyfriend did cheat on her (not drunkenly, not with Jaidee), they break up, then later Proud and Jaidee fall in love and live happily ever after.

Episode 4: "Once Upon A Time" (re-named to "Awfully Angsty") 6.5/10
Ugggghhhhhhh. For me to be happy with the ending (post credits) they needed to do two things which they didn't do 1. They needed to set up/flesh out Balloon/Mek's relationship, shown the good parts of it so that I wanted to root for them to make it work despite their flaws and 2. They needed to show character growth/change so their relationship would work, i.e. a very public kiss at the airport initiated by Balloon and Mek communicating better. Neither was done so I was not satisfied post credits. The female character part should have totally been cut and then they could have done the above two things. Here's more of what I didn't like:
- overused plot point that both sons are attracted to men
- overused plot point of a homophobic father yelling at his son
- Balloon just letting his dad tear into his brother Ozone and secretly listening in, Balloon's a senior in college not a middle schooler, seriously grow a pair and help out your younger brother
- Balloon cry shaming Ozone "you're a grownup now, why are you still crying like a baby" He's crying because his/your dad is a homophobic jerk and you didn't help him out!
- Balloon saying that orphan Mek will never understand. That was such a low blow. There are things you say to a partner that even saying sorry is not enough, it destroys the relationship and that is either one of those things or very close.
- Balloon having a heart to heart with Ozone but still starting off as "a friend of mine..."
- Ozone incorrectly apologizes for their dad being a homophobic jerk (Ozone says he's sorry for putting Balloon in this position)
- both Mek & Balloon say that they are always honest with one another when it is shown that neither of them is ever honest with the other person...
- non-logic, why does no-one ask Balloon why he's wearing a ring on a necklace? If my friend or sibling was wearing one, I'd be like - what's up with the ring, who are you dating? Also, there is no flashback scene when they exchange rings which would have been nice to include.
- that was 53 seconds before the credits of 2 people standing very close, staring at each other and not saying a word... almost a whole minute of...nothing...

Episode 5:  "Breakup Zone" (re-named to "Will You Be My Love") 8/10
Well that kiss was terrible, but I like friends to lovers stories.

Episode 6: "VS Love" (re-named to "Justice For All") 9/10
Overall this is my favorite episode with a focus on justice and also a protagonist who isn't stupid (yes, cell phones can take pictures and record audio/video!). I would say this is very light BL in that the romance is not very obvious but towards the end you can tell that they are more than platonic friends. Content warning for a couple of fight scenes/intimidation.

Episode 7: "50% My Puppy Love" (re-named to "Stalker Love") 6/10
So we have the typical and annoying love at first sight without talking to the person/getting to know them at all. Almost all of the score is because of Perth.
What I didn't like:
- I'm hoping it was the subtitles but his friend said "she's cute, she's interesting and she belongs in my collection" which yuck. People are not objects that you collect.
- The stalker behavior (that takes place over a semester/year): drawing her picture, stalking her on social media, pinning a photo of her up on the wall, getting her snacks for a prolonged time without writing his name...
- the fact that he only got mad that his friend was a player when it involved a girl he liked, he didn't care before that
- the absolutely cliched lack of communication, jumping to stupid conclusions and ghosting friendsIn the end she was also a stalker without a single spine bone, so I guess it's a match made in heaven.

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terrible communication with a cute ending

Overall: you could watch the last episode and miss nothing. 4 episodes about 8 minutes each. Aired on TrueFilm's YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkQFxcEhORR2LQiOmunSeaw8orsZt6G2s&si=7RVLh5cA__KzeeHM

Content Warning: non con kiss (sleeping)

What I Liked
- visuals
- focused on the leads
- supportive friend
- episode 4 was a good ending

Overall
- nonsense "plan"
- more nonsense, 1 shot and a guy needed to go to the hospital?, in episode 3 a character looked completely drunk and then was suddenly sober?, the other guy had some gulps of alcohol and 2 minutes later was completely drunk? do the writers not understand how alcohol works???

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