BL Compilations

it would have been better with a few plot tweaks

Overall: several writing choices annoyed me. 30 short episodes (vertical series). Aired on GagaOOLala

Content Warnings: stalking, non con picture taking/sharing, manipulation, coercion

What I Liked
- visuals
- initial premise
- sweet moments
- initially a character said he wouldn't do a cliche

Room For Improvement
- cliche evil female character
- the police should have been called
- that a character listened to her
- the twist at the end was disappointing, he must have known how much stress the other guy was under
- the series didn't showcase their height difference like it could have

Read More

drama filled historical vertical series

Overall: note that my content warnings and the series itself have some pretty heavy scenes. I haven't read the original manhwa of the same name and reviewed this live action series on its own. Aired on the Lezhin Snack app (total run time about 2 hours). Later aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/verticals/8843/painter-of-the-night-2026 and Shortime.

Content Warnings: past (murders, blood spatter shown, homophobia, coercion); current (murders, gang rape? (not sure if it already happened and was happening again or it hadn't happened the first time), dub/non con sex, non con kissing, punches, beginning sexual assault, drugging, kidnapping, blood)

What I Liked
- historical setting
- the ending in the past (see spoiler comment)
- the caring moments that were shown

Room For Improvement
- didn't always feel the chemistry, the one lead felt like a kicked puppy
- needed more time to develop their relationship

Read More

better towards the end

Overall: it was messy but not the fun kind of messy until towards the end. 45 minutes total. Aired partially free on SecretofUs YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BSona1dmx7Nwy2nRWBcWBhXAr4TAiUT&si=BNGqxc7yI1HJczyA and GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7334/black-out-2026

Content Warnings: non con touching/attempted kissing, vomiting, non con touching/restrained against will

You could just start this at 34 minutes. The beginning relates to cheating and being so drunk that characters didn't remember what happened. Good visuals with a lackluster story. They could have done something unique at the end, but left it on a cliffhanger.

Read More

heart was in a good place

Overall: this series had a good heart, but there were way too many couples, characters and plots to do them justice. Note, this series and my review have some potentially very triggering words/themes. 8 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (not in Japan or Thailand) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6294/love-like-a-bike-2026

Content Warnings: past death, past child abuse/molestation/rape implied, past fights/blood, trauma, illness, threatened violence, punches, kidnapping

Watch Suggestions (to take out most of the content warnings, though there might be flashbacks that I missed)
- watch episodes 1 & 2 (there might be flashbacks in here)
- episode 3 skip 32-37:30
- start episode 4 at 4:30
- episode 5 skip 26:45-31:10
- episode 6 watch 14:30 to the end
- episode 7 watch 6:10-23 and 34-42:25
- episode 8 skip 20-23 and 26:30-29

What I Liked
- seeing several actors I haven't seen in awhile
- oceanside setting of Pattaya
- showed therapy and group therapy*
- supportive brothers & mom
- P'Man
- a character said "I can stop" and waited for the other person to say "no don't stop" before continuing, also morning check in
- stuck with the bike theme

Room For Improvement
- way too many couples (3 m/m and 1 f/f) and plot threads for 8 episodes
- there were several nonsense plot things i.e. how two people flew that far in episode 1 for an accidental kiss, how his friends don't know that about him, a stranger who was angry becomes suddenly nice after seeing a news story, going from punches to kisses and doing it on what appeared to be a public beach
- *appreciated he wasn't his therapist (though the therapist shouldn't have talked to him at all about her patient) and he recognized the ethics of it, it was a love heals trauma trope imo
- why weren't the police called in episode 7
- wish a terrible character had had consequences in a different way as the way it's presented could lead to viewers victim blaming

Read More

vertical series with a unique premise

Overall: they could have removed the abuse stuff and had more relationship development. 51 episodes about 2 minutes each. Airing on Shortime and Vigloo. My referral code for Shortime is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus.

Content Warnings: bullying, past (near suicide, grooming, minor/non minor relationship, student/teacher relationship, abuse), punches, manhandling, choking, non con recording

What I Liked
- leads had good chemistry
- I was nervous with the premise but the switching actually worked out okay
- a character did have consequences

Room For Improvement
- episodes 30-39 were skippable, did not need all the abuse stuff
- that he let the other body get beat up that much

Read More

miscategorized and not compelling

Overall: this has the BL tag on Shortime which it is definitely not. The protagonist is the woman who runs the cafe. There is an established m/m couple that gets barely any screen time. 45 short episodes with episodes 1-4 being free to watch.

Content Warning: past bullying, harassment, homophobia, unwanted public outing, threats

What I Liked
- visuals

Room For Improvement
- the writers didn't make me care about the FL
- the homophobia (a character said "it's gross")
- love triangles

If you watch on Shortime, my invite link is https://playground.shortime.app/en/invite/NKNIWI - the code is NKNIWI (those are all capital letters, that's the capital letter i) and it should get you a bonus

Read More

meta BL comedy

Overall: a fun meta story where the main character is in a BL comic/world. 4 episodes about 30 minutes each. Aired on Viki https://www.viki.com/tv/37904c-a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl and GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/2420/a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl-2021-s01e01

Content Warning: manhandling, spying

What I Liked
- awesome dance/music intro sequence
- the mini side couples/BL tropes
- the flowers and blinding light
- I chuckled a few times

Room For Improvement
- was going to say I liked the sibling relationship but in episode 3 Mob says goodbye to his brother and he also tried to take his brother's agency away
- lip press in episode 3
- not sure if it was an error in translation but Mob bordered on homophobic at times with how he talked about his brother being contaminated and not helping someone lest he get in a relationship with a man and be contaminated, on the flip side he wished other guys happily ever afters
- (neutral) normally I'd take off a half point or more for a cliffhanger ending; however, there was a season 2 (and season 3 though as of 2025 hasn't had an international release)

Read More

an odd tourism ad (watch suggestions)

Overall: I would say this was a tourism ad with a paper thin BL plot but I'm not sure 4 people stalking 2 other people is appealing for people thinking of visiting a location...About 40 minutes long, aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/ccbor389y01264p-Bali%20Hai/g4100oasloe-EP01%3A%20Bali%20Hai

Content Warnings: stalking, vomiting

Watch Suggestions (takes out the stalking and focuses on the leads)
- watch 5:40-6:35, 12:05-17:15, 22:10-25:25, 27:30-33:50, 37:50-end

What I Liked
- the ocean/beach vistas
- gave some things to do for visitors to the area
- the imagined scenarios

Room For Improvement
- the caricature characters and their stalking
- normally I would praise representation; however, a character being mute felt like a gimmick, we didn't learn anything about him other than he couldn't speak
- did not feel chemistry with the leads
- open ending (if this turns out to be a series, then I'll update this review/rating)

Read More

a decent special

Overall: 1 hour and 30 minutes continuing the story in Addicted Heroin (Thai adaptation). Aired on WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/pgahblq3qny0xuz-Addicted%20Heroin%20(Uncut%20Ver.) and via YouTube membership https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML9gUn_WWWU

What I Liked
- the mom
- sweet moments
- the side couple

Room For Improvement
- the 9 minute recap (start at 12:45)
- Pop didn't tell Hero the truth about what happened with his brother? cousin?
- nonsense with the swat team, no one reported that to the police?
- odd moment with a random woman
- Hero had no character growth, still shown as hot tempered

Read More

a ride (watch suggestions)

Overall: I was mostly entertained but the huge tonal shifts were not for me. I gave this a rating bump because they did attempt something different with the plot even though it was filled with nonsense. 12 episodes about 1 hour each (uncut). Aired uncut on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/2elmpcfm17c?lang=en_us&sh_pltf=4 ; aired uncut on GagaOOLala in Germany, UK & Australia - US starting Dec 21st https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4985/the-heart-killers-2024 ; airing uncut? on GMMTV's YouTube channel not in the US, Canada or Japan https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI6Bo6a1yZ8iqQTM_A7AiYxQ&si=R4ODeKuWn7AV-SQh

Content Warnings: murders, blood, manipulation, non con picture taking, blackmail/coercion, non con kissing, harassment, homophobia, bullying, teacher/student relationship/grooming/pedophilia, stalking, beaten up, blood, intimate partner abuse, kidnapping, attempted murder, past murders, vomiting

Watch Suggestions (focuses more on sweet moments with the main couples)
- watch episodes 1-5 (likely won't go back for timings though I overall enjoyed the first several episodes)
- episode 6 stop at 1hr1min30s
- skip episode 7
- episode 8 watch 54-end
- episode 9 watch beginning to 16 and 30 to the end
- episode 10 watch 19-40 and 51-end
- episode 11 watch all or can skip 11:30-18:15
- watch ep 12

What I Liked
- an engaging start
- unique premise (non school setting and actors get to play characters closer to their real age)
- flirting/physical intimacy
- sweet moments
- how characters weren't blushing maidens
- styling
- glad they turned the teacher in and there were consequences for that
- that they subverted a very common trope in ep 12
- director cameo in ep 12
- overall wrapped up well

Room For Improvement
- the huge tonal shifts between sweet cinnamon rolls to cold blooded killers (the graphic dream murdering was too much), did not enjoy the amount of times characters pointed a loaded gun at their love interest and it made it difficult for me to root for the couples
- I've never seen a mechanic with that much grease on their face/body before, felt like a fictional way to say "this person is an auto mechanic"
- some of the sound effects/background music
- a couple of odd mouth/face close up shots
- crashed a grief support group and made a mockery of it on multiple occasions
- too much accordion music
- not a fan of the level of harassment, luckily it ended in episode 4
- random couple in episode 8 when they could have spent more time developing a third couple
- ep 12 poor communication lead to more hurt than if he had just said what his plan was
- a ton of nonsense plot stuff that pulled me out of the story also cliched things such as saying "let me explain" over and over again but not explaining, a character saying "trust me" and another character trusting them because of it

Read More

a prickly guy and a flirty guy

Overall: I gave this an indie/it came from China rating boost. I'm pretty sure these are the official links https://space.bilibili.com/6371459/ Episode 1 is the video released on September 1st and then keep clicking on the videos to the left and then go to the row above (watch right to left). Episodes 11 and 12 are behind a paywall, but I was not about create yet another account.

Content Warning: non con touching, dub con kiss (was drunk, not sure how drunk as it was behind a paywall)

What I Liked
- the hug
- some cute/flirty moments (made the guy touch his abs, kabedon, etc)
- was more than bromance

Room For Improvement
- the near constant loud background music
- they both did voice overs so we'd know what they were thinking/feeling instead of letting their actions tell the story
- the quick recap of current episode at the beginning was confusing (though it did help with episodes 11 & 12)
- that the kiss was when 1 guy was drunk
- ghost subtitles (no background or outline, but at least they did hard code English subtitles)

Read More