BL Compilations

didn't feel the chemistry

Overall: 8 episodes about 8 minutes each. Aired on Lovememory YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwW9ZsuS2FnYxGa2hkgRv7hMGCneDNfdA&si=XMjQlQBH_K9FXIr_

Content Warnings: manipulation, manhandling, college professor/student (did not bother me)

What I Like
- a forthright character
- a character talked about something right away to get answers in episode 3

Room For Improvement
- did not feel chemistry
- some awkward kissing
- why did a character lie about his feelings? it didn't seem that he had that low of self esteem
- the line "you can use me and throw me away"
- hopefully it was a mistranslation but the line in eps 6/7 that all female students were pitiful

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one of my favorite BL series with a sci-fi element

Overall: wish they would have explained a few more things. 8 episodes about 25 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/always-meet-again-episode-1-1d04lztvma8?lang=en_us ; GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6303/always-meet-again-2026 (not available in U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., Mexico, Spain, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan); Heavenly (S. Korea) and FOD (Japan)

Content Warnings: (a major one but it's complicated), blood, punch

What I Liked
- different situation where time travel happened
- protagonist had a believable amount of disbelief, then acceptance
- flirty protagonist
- how a character acted on the information he had and when he gained new information he changed his actions realistically

Room For Improvement
- a character punched another character (which seemed like an overreaction) and then suddenly all was fine and dandy, a few nonsense things happened
- there were aspects of world building that they never explained

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Love Triangles, part 2 (more triangles and a worse plot)

Overall: the writers thought that they didn't have enough characters/love triangles so they threw in another triangle and then made them into rectangles? Am I in geometry class? If you want to watch idiots and jerks totally mess up their love lives, then this is the show for you. I slogged thru ep 1, 2, 6 and 8 and cannot bring myself to watch the rest. Watched on Gagaoolala.

What I Liked
- Valen's awkward attempts at moving their relationship forward in the beginning was kind of adorable
- overall production value was good, a few errors with the English subs but not bad
- the enjoyable OST is by Jeff Satur
- the kissing scene was fairly well done in ep 1, at least no dead fish lip press kiss
- I did appreciate that there was an apology from Mr. Goldfish Memory

Room For Improvement
- characters were really stupid and unlikable, I'm not even going to get into all the ways that they were awful
- a 16 minute recap of season 1 out of a 45min episode, 16 minutes! I like a short recap to center what happened before but this was way too long. And it wasn't clear where it ended. Weren't they lying in the sand/water at the end of season 1, that's where it should have started.
- a third love triangle, you've got to be kidding me (update they got even worse with even more characters added in to create love rectangles)
- Kaitoon is the stupidest protagonist, he has both the memory and brain of a gold fish. He can't figure out that either guy is romantically interested in him? And why can't they just tell him directly? Kaitoon and Valen stupidly started back at square 1 when I thought they were going to advance their relationship in season 2.

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First Impression: Fix the Error

Overall: unique premise but with several characters and a short runtime I'm unsure how this is going to go. 6 episodes about 9 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7808/fix-the-error-2026-e01 and the Shortime app. My referral link is https://playground.shortime.en/invite/NKNIWI (all letters) and it should get you a bonus.

Content Warnings (keeping it spoiler free for now)

What I Liked
- visuals
- unique premise

Room For Improvement
- I'm confused who is the main couple which should have been apparent since we are already through 1/3 of the series
- they have too many characters for a short run time

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First Impression: Double Helix

Overall: I'm a bit leery of the dynamic, rating could change quite a bit in either direction depending on characters/plot. 12 episodes about 40 minutes each. I have not read the book this series is based on, I have watched the two one hour movies from 2016 (A Round Trip to Love) but will try to review the series based on its own merits.

Content Warnings: there are several, I'm keeping this spoiler free for now

What I Liked
- acting
- sweet moments
- I did appreciate the apology in episode 2

Room For Improvement
- the wealthy/powerful aggressive pursuer and the not wealthy/not powerful reluctant pursuee dynamic didn't work for me because the pursuee felt more like an abuse victim most of the time
- characters were a bit stupid to realize that there could have been family interference
- it's a shame the sweet moments were mainly montage, wish that would have been longer so I could root more for their romance, really hope this isn't going to be 10 episodes of abuse and then HEA in the last 10 minutes of episode 12

Question: I'm not sure when this is supposed to take place. I saw landlines but also iPhones (first created in 2007). If it's set a couple decades ago, then the other students freaking out at school would make a bit more sense because I can't see that happening now.

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a darker revenge short series

Overall: this was not a fluffy romance but I didn't judge it by fluffy romance standards. 6 episodes about 10 minutes each. Aired on Secret of Us YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BSona1dmx4ez-PNNMmmFsAt8zwjDhsj&si=tbfb1Upl2OXvxJGa

Content Warnings: sexual assault, violence, blood, non con recording, stalking, manhandling, blackmail, deaths/murders, non con kissing turned consensual, drugging, past bullying, threatened suicide

Notes:
- to skip most of the content warnings start episode 1 at 2:15 and episode 4 at 4:45, then end it at episode 5 9m30s
- the subtitles say half brother but it might mean step brothers (i.e. not biologically related)

What I Liked
- bath tub scene
- the BL manga
- when a character decided to change (in ep 4 after 4:45)

Room For Improvement
- flash forward/present and then went back to start
- seemed needlessly dark with the third guy
- no consequence shown for a terrible character

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hope to see the actors in something else

Overall: did not vibe with the plot. 6 episodes about 8 minutes each. Aired on Secret of Us YouTube Official https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BSona1dmx5qAPZpNNjT9XEv_wyP_HzT&si=ouK5zhi2gVdEigwN

Note: in the trailer a character said they weren't related by blood, so they are step brothers who appear to have been raised together since elementary school aged based on that picture

Content Warning: manipulation

What I Liked
- the dreams
- visuals
- the younger character's plotting in the beginning*

Room For Improvement
- *he was way too manipulative later on, even when he came clean I didn't trust him
- the older guy was shown to be extremely straight and then the sudden 180 turn and open ending did not work for me

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a nice way to spend time

Overall: though I'm generally not a fan of manipulation, I was happy with how things progressed/ended. 29 episodes, about 2 minutes each. First 3 episodes are on YouTube here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UwHhkbex8oOO_F3qasjlzStoabjnG9-&si=DnorKiMj2k5f8O1I - rest of the episodes are on the BUMP app which is not available in all countries.

Content Warnings: manipulation, trespassing, non con touching, victim blaming

What I Liked
- sweet moments
- the perspective switch
- that a character immediately apologized for victim blaming

Room For Improvement
- some odd music choices that didn't fit the vibe of the scene
- the cat blocked shot at the very end
- the BUMP app is not available in all countries but they haven't released the rest on any other official platform

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wished for a better plot for these great actors (watch suggestions)

Overall: SUKFILM does some things really well such as chemistry/tension. However, the love triangles/cheating bog the series down. Aired 8 episodes about 10 minutes each https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYfaogVGCvwQ_32A8H9oWjdEtXVTWcrja&si=212BSBvITHARKx3G I am watched the cut version, the uncut has longer kissing scenes.

Content Warning: dub con kissing turned consensual?, non con kiss, manipulation, unwanted public outing

Watch Suggestions (to avoid cheating. love triangles and an evil ex)
- watch episode 1 and end it at 9:55
- skip episode 2
- watch episode 3 beginning to 45s, 5:15-7:40, 9:35-end
- watch episode 4 beginning to 1m and 6:40-end
- stop episode 5 at 2 minutes
- skip episodes 6 & 7
- watch episode 8 7:40-end

What I Liked
- acting/chemistry/tension
- visuals
- sweet moment with the first aid
- music (except that the singing was too loud during scenes with dialog)
- a character actually had a decent plan in episode 8

Room For Improvement
- the cliched woman character (which I think has appeared in all 3 of their BLs)
- one character is kind of a jerk/cheater (this is also a running theme in their BLs)
- I can't really be happy with the couple because I don't trust that there won't be cheating in the future

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