Gay shit I watched

mlm, T, GNC. ~104 minutes

Queer sports team, based on true story.

Not a romcom. This is almost a quarter of a century old, and it does show, but this is still great. Very queer, very funny, very uplifting.

mlm. ~600 minutes.

This is a comedy. It relies on repeated innuendo. Only one out of the four couples in this is gay. The other stories are unrelated and skippable. 

They were roommates. Plot is nothing special, it's just situational comedy.

mlm. ~1440 minutes

So this one is controversial. Not everyone likes it, and I'm convinced that's because it appears to be a typical BL on the surface, but that is not what it is. If you're skipping or fast forwarding through this, then yeah the plot isn't going to make sense to you and the ending will come as a shock, because the story is actually quite complex and layered.

This is a queer story about mental health, becoming a better person, overcoming homophobia and being able to start loving yourself through the love of someone else. Despite appearances, Nat is the main character and Tofu is only there to help him grow as a person. He's not an actual love interest. He is a mere representation of a love interest that was already lost.

This series is a form of activism.

Spoiler: depending on how you view this, you could interpret the ending as positive or negative. I interpret it as positive.

mlm. ~380 minutes

High school besties who were kinda in-between being friends and lovers separated for 10 years, now reconnect. 

The plot, acting and cinematography are all quite good, but this story should've been told linearly instead of with this amount of flashbacks. It is hard to contextualize their current actions without having a clear image of what happened in the past.

wlw. ~150 minutes

If you like GL and you haven't watched this one, what are you doing with your life?

She loves cooking but needs someone to eat it, and her neighbor just happens to fit the bill. No giving up on this one before you finished ep 6, that's where the backstory emotions hit.

It's got a good plot, it's sweet, it's considerate, it's got gay panic, it's got self-discovery, what more do you need? 

Spoiler: Well it would be nice if it were reciprocated I guess, but we'll wait for season 2 for that.

mlm. ~350 minutes

Guy loses job because his boss did fraud, finds famous hiding artist, has to convince artist to sign contract in order to get his job back. 

Solid standard BL dynamic. Well executed. Nothing out of the ordinary.

mlm, wlw. ~130 minutes

Brother and sister are both gay, switch lovers to pretend straightness to parents, hijinks ensue. Comedy. Honestly it's been a while since I watched this, but I definitely remember laughing and liking it. 

mlm. ~180 minutes

Solid enemies to lovers. Good chemistry. Good plot, good angst. Solid.

mlm. ~180 minutes

Sequel to the one above.

Misunderstanding leads to them having to start over years later. Still good plot and good angst.

cw: I really really hate how they portrayed the character said to have aspergers. It's not accurate to what autism is and it does feel malicious. 

wlw, GNC. ~110 minutes

So genuine. There are no evil people here, and yet it's about adultery. Relationships are hard. Communication is hard.

mlm. ~200 minutes

New secretary has to deal with very grumpy boss that everyone else is done with. 

This is over the top and ridiculous on purpose, in a good way.  It's silly and they have a fun dynamic together. The plot, acting, chemistry, production quality etc are also good. A good watch.

cw: kidnapping. Bit sexist.

mlm. ~27 minutes

An extra episode. Fluff and ridiculousness. A happily ever after.

mlm. ~110 minutes

Enemies to lovers, class differences. Cinematographically beautiful. Everything else is solid but not outstanding.

mlm. ~250 minutes

3 stories. Guy's disappeared ex reappears with dark past. Dude has crush on clueless best friend. Lad chases hard to get student assistant. 

Just a BL of the standard variety.

cw: sleep kiss.

mlm. ~220 minutes

They're on opposite sides of a magic mirror, in different worlds. The plot is FAST. Whoever made this got a limited runtime and had to cram a lot of material in, and did so pretty effectively. Beautifully shot. Sweet. 

cw: abuse from father.

Spoiler: Ending is a weird uncomfortable age gap though.

mlm. ~540 minutes

Based on the Japanese hit 'Kieta Hatsukoi'.  Misunderstanding leads to actual feelings. Teenagers figuring out how this whole 'dating' thing is supposed to work, together. They've got songs. It's funny and adorable. Some scenes are excellent and moving, but in other parts the show feels too long, with too much filler.

mlm. ~360 minutes

Broke and talentless stir-fried basil lover attempts to swindle chef by pretending he can cook and take over his restaurant, but oh no, chef smells like stir-fried basil and is hot.

This is very silly, in a great way. It has a pretty coherent though not entirely believable plot. Standard Thai BL fare. An enjoyable watch.

mlm. ~530 minutes

This is goofy and soft and I like it. Dude chases weird things like aliens and ghosts, then unknowingly challenges cutesy vampire to a pig blood jelly soup eating contest. This is low budget but really funny. The vampire is such a dumb softie who's just so head over heels for the ML. I keep thinking I know where the plot is going and the murder and drama is going to start happening, but nope, the plot has other things in mind apparently haha.

mlm. ~150 minutes

Enemies to lovers high school. Nothing really special, but it's fun enough. Supportive gay uncle is the best character. I recommend it because it's short.

mlm. ~130 minutes

This is a straight-forward middle of the road BL. It doesn't do anything new, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.

Enemies to lovers. Basketball guys who used to know each other. The one guy can't sleep if he's not near the other. 

mlm. ~260 minutes

Falling for robot caretaker who might have to be reset and forget all about everything. It's about how memories shape who you are. The robot is not at all robot-like. It's sweet.

mlm. ~325 minutes

Domineering boss who forbade love in the company goes soft over time. I like the plot, the acting, the humor. But yeah no it's nothing out of the ordinary. Just a BL on the middle to higher end of the spectrum.

cw: the relationship is a little toxic and uncommunicative.

mlm. ~240 minutes

Strict guy likes loosy goosy guy who says yes to everything because he doesn't know what he wants. They end up as roommates and have to confront liking each other, while being in denial about that.

It's a standard BL.

mlm. ~190 minutes

Exposing abuse in BL industry. It feels genuine, authentic. Good plot.

cw: There is a bit of a power dynamic between main couple.

Spoiler: the ending is not super positive but also not super negative.

~190 minutes

wlw. ~230 minutes

Season two of Chaser Game W. Fuyu comes back. I like it much better than season 1.

mlm, T. ~540 minutes

I initially dropped this within ten minutes but I gave it another shot and discovered I was wrong to drop it.

No sense is made in the first episode. Throw logic out the window. The acting isn't good either. And yet I do recommend this series. The characters act like real people. When there's a misunderstanding, they simply ask each other, and bim bam boom, solved! It really feels like a real Thai gay star used this show to express what it's like to be a Thai celebrity, and I appreciate that authenticity. Also, excellent trans representation.

mlm. ~390 minutes

Songwriter meets café owner and hits on him. Café owner is receptive but has poor communication. The show calls that out and makes him learn. This one feels different. The people feel more real. It is queerer, more supportive, more equal, more reasonable. EXCELLENT communication. It's the little things. The way they don't let go of each other's hands when a friend comments on it. This show is defiant. It has an agenda.

But it's also slow and doesn't have much of a plot.

mlm, background wlw. ~580 minutes

Med student x chef. Standard BL fare. It's sweet.

mlm. ~130 minutes

Chef x internet celebrity. It's fine I guess. Watched this a while ago. Don't remember that much.

mlm. ~550 minutes

Continuation of Pete and Kao's story in 'Kiss Me Again'. They still have a fun dynamic, but the plot revolves too much around jealousy, cheating, lying, miscommunication, for my liking. It does also cover coming out and internalized homophobia and other such queer themes. It's queerer than the average Thai BL. It is fun. I do recommend it.

mlm. ~530 minutes

Bullyxbullied. This starts strong, but kinda fizzles out. A bunch of filler is added in in the middle episodes. There doesn't seem to be much of a plot in those ones. Chemistry isn't there. Sailom doesn't seem into it at all. He just pushes Kanghan away all the time.

There is hinting at a teacher/student lesbian relationship, and I don't like it.

mlm, wlw, poly, T. ~360 minutes

Son of owner of nightclub interns in nightclub and falls for host boy who is also his classmate. 

I initially dropped this around episode 5, because it seemed like not much plot was happening anymore, and there was mostly focus on jealousy and skinship, but I picked it back up and don't regret that. It ends quite strong, with an anti-shame progressive message about sex work and polyamory.

It does well on cinematography, the set, lighting, acting, chemistry etc. 

Not a BL. ~510 minutes

Not a BL, but a reality show in which new actors choose their BL partner, with whom they are officially friends, not romantic partners. Wholesome, supportive, sweet, friendly.

Not a BL. ~360 minutes

In this season it was obvious that most of the ships were pre-decided, though there was one surprise. It is mostly an agency marketing their new talent and new ships. This oddly flip-flops between being scripted and fake and being almost painfully authentic.

mlm. ~440 minutes

Wholesome vibes. They've got good friendship chemistry, as in, it feels like natural teasing. Plot is underwhelming.

mlm. ~540 minutes

Classic enemies to lovers. Good mutual teasing. Worth watching. Not special.

mlm. ~290 minutes

Has an indie queer feel. Online quarantaine relationship, one flirty, one emotionally constipated with internalized homophobia and a guilt complex. Gets pretty emotional. Worth watching. Low budget.

wlw. ~660 minutes

I really appreciate this one for opening the doors for more Thai GL. It is enjoyable enough, and that's mostly because I guess I have a need for seeing women being represented like this, like they matter as individuals, and are worthy of having stories center around them. The visuals are also great. 

But plot-wise? I am unconvinced.  It relies on jealousy and miscommunication a bunch, and I'm bored with those tropes. I see feminism in here, but it doesn't feel very queer in terms of its themes.

cw: transphobia

mlm. ~360 minutes

Ghostly running camp. Genuinely underrated. Not trope-y. Decent communication. Indie feel. People act like people. Does lose points for too much slow-mo and repetition in last few episodes, and for lacking production quality.

cw: repeated deadnaming played for laughs. Of a trans person, not a ghost.

mlm. ~120 minutes

Socially anxious wedding singer meets fresh faced pianist. Mental health theme. Nothing out of the ordinary. Standard BL.

mlm. ~480 minutes

He asks crush' ex bf to help him hit on her. Ex bf is like 'sure' but actually wants to use the opportunity to hit on him. Healthy relationship and communication in this is actually pretty good. It's sweet enough. The plot is kind of all over the place though. It's just a couple of unrelated things thrown together.

mlm. ~200 minutes

Professor dad x student babysitter. I knocked a full point off of this for the age gap and power dynamic that aren't really okay, but this is still really really sweet. Fairly trope-y.

mlm. ~480 minutes

'No homo though' besties evolve into 'definitely homo actually.' Idk it's funny enough. 

There is also a pretty problematic stalker-y stepsibling relationship though, and they do end up together, so proceed with caution. 

T, wlw, GNC, not a GL. ~190 minutes

Trans girl living her life as a fashionista, looking for a girlfriend. Look the production is competent and engaging and funny and emotional and it's great that something like this can exist, but the politics of this are really lacking. 

She's being very judgemental and manipulative, often uses her transness as a scary ploy and her lesbianism to turn guys on. But I guess that's her way of fighting back? She keeps outing herself to strangers as 'a guy', which she clearly isn't, and she doesn't need to do. Also she's played by a cis man.

cw: transphobia, varying severities, coming from everyone including the trans girl herself.

mlm, GNC. ~840 minutes

Welp.  It's definitely visually stunning. It's engaging and entertaining and the eldest mafia brother is excellent and funny. There is a mostly coherent plot.

But it's also toxic and abusive as all hell and you wouldn't be wrong to compare it to Fifty Shades and 365 days. That's absolutely allowed to exist, but it is not my thing.

cw: romanticized rape & intoxication, romanticized torture, nudity, fairly graphic murder

Go watch "History 3: Trapped" instead.

mlm. ~770 minutes for total series, but a lot is straight and skippable.

Enemies to friends to lovers. It's been a LONG time since I watched this. They had a fun dynamic. I don't think the consent politics were great. I think it was fairly trope-y. But yeah no I did enjoy it.

mlm. ~150 minutes

They kissed once as teens, and now they're work acquaintances, and mr big boss comes on to him really strongly, but there's still hurt feelings from before. This is a pretty typical BL. Solid. Worth a watch. Excellent theme song.

mlm, wlw. ~660 minutes

Rainy deafness soulmates. This starts really strong, but the plot does strange things afterwards, and for a moment it looked like it was gearing up to critique the concept of soulmates, but it absolutely is not that ambitious of a show. It's entertaining, but not more than that. There are lesbians shoehorned in last minute, and I appreciate the gesture.

cw: too intense making out with an intoxicated partner who said no while sober, then lied to hide this fact.

mlm. ~380 minutes

It's been a while since I watched this so take it with a grain of salt. Loner decides to make friends by joining student council. Communication in this was pretty decent. Gay panic was pretty good.

mlm. ~120 minutes

Dude has to pair with dude in dating class. Also he helps his crush (girl) with stalker problem. Feels so cliché that I keep thinking 'have I watched this before', but no, I haven't. It's alright. Nothing special. Ending is a lil dumb, but it's sweet.

mlm. ~580 minutes.

Two stories about hot domineering streetracers falling for cute guys with an inferiority complex. The chemistry is there, so is the production value. It's just not my type of story. I struggled to get through, but don't let that stop you.

mlm, (and tentative T, because the comedic relief trans lady feels like more of a person than usual). ~360 minutes

Thai/Mandarin co-business owners, enemies to lovers. The humor at the start is quite childish, but some of the characters are surprisingly emotionally mature and communicative. There is a coherent plot. Enjoyable enough. Worth watching but not a masterpiece.

mlm. ~540 minutes

Extreme introvert x extreme extrovert. A bit MBTI-obsessed. It feels like the main character was unknowingly based on a real life autistic person, and is called an 'introvert,' but it's actually more than just introversion.

This is sweet, fluffy, trope-y. Nothing out of the ordinary for a BL. Well-executed. Good, but not exceptional.

mlm. ~480 minutes

Class divide. Delivery guy x doctor. Delivery guy has kid. It's quite cute. I do think it's worth watching.

cw: I think this one had a 'too drunk to consent' scene, but I don't remember clearly

mlm. ~540 minutes

Goody two shoes x prankster influencer. Lots of lampshading about classic tropes. Periodically has excellent communication. 

mlm, wlw. ~180 minutes

Not a BL/GL, but it is queer and it feels true to life. This has an actual perfectly symmetrical love square. 90's vibe. I appreciate most of these characters, and I appreciate the plot.

cw: implied suicide of wlw background character, mainly a plot device.

mlm. ~360 minutes

I know what the title of the show sounds like, but that is not what that means in Thai. Some translations are really unfortunate, but I also kinda think this translation may have been intentional.

Spinoff cutie pie, amnesia + whodunnit. Visually stunning, but the audio could use some work. At some points they demonstrate excellent relationship abilities, at other points terrible. It's got some soap drama tinges. It gets better over time though. Last episode is funny as hell. But the whodunnit is kinda solved on the background, which is a strange choice.

cw: sleep kiss, not great consent politics, but not the worst either.

mlm. ~540 minutes

Campy nonsense. This show is stupid and it knows that it is stupid. Don't go into this expecting a coherent plot. Guy from 90's pisses off ghost, ghost sends him to hot guy in present. The characters are all his old 90's friends and their college aged kids. Starts to drag a little around the 6-7 episode mark. The ending is bizarre, and not in a good way.

Would I recommend this? No I don't think I would. I did have fun watching it, but the ending is really not it.

cw: age gap kiss

wlw, mlm, GNC, non-monogamy. ~200 minutes

Pearl from GameBoys (2020) trying to find the one and ending up being courted by two girls.

You should watch this specifically for the character named Alex. That applies only if you are somewhat sapphic.

This will need a season two for the story to feel finished.

mlm. ~200 minutes

His new annoying roommate/tenant turns out to be his boss. Yep, fun enough, solid BL, nothing out of the ordinary.

mlm. ~60 minutes

Special episode of I Feel You Linger In The Air. Khun Yai gets to time travel to the modern world for a day. It's sweet, but not as brilliant as the series.

mlm. ~240 minutes

Angst with happy ending. Guy meets old special friend at work. Abrupt mysterious separation back in high school, now still like each other plus trauma. Then terrible communication skills lead to both of them believing the other doesn't really like them, but they do become very horny fwb. It deals with internalized homophobia.

This is definitely good enough. Worth watching. 

wlw, mlm, GNC. ~240 minutes

Intentionally creepy high school drama setting with deadly consequences. There can only be one Yuriko left in the school.  

The plot is intriguing and kept me hooked but idk the resolution isn't convincing to me. Villain motivation is extremely weak and why are there THIS many people willing to murder for this nonsense?

cw: teacher/student relationship, they're not main. Gore.

mlm, GNC. T. ~400 minutes

Dating show. Very queer. The first season of this was very wholesome and I loved that, but the producers decided to amp up the drama for this season instead, and there's one guy who's being an abusive douche, which isn't helping either.

censored mlm. ~720 minutes

Adaptation of 'Addicted'. Story is similar but changed, and that's a good thing. This could've done with a 'kill your darlings' round, aka cut out all the random things unrelated to the plot that happen. It's well-acted though, and the setting is absolutely beautiful, and they make it very obvious that these two are a couple, with some amount of plausible deniability built in.

Ending is unclear this way, but there's an extended ending on YT which clears things up.

cw: violence.

mlm. ~150 minutes

His new boss is some kind of spirit who's been waiting for him to reincarnate for 300 years, and the director doesn't beat around the bush. It's funny.

The series kind of just skips developing the central relationship. We don't see them fall in love. I thought the plot was going somewhere so I was entertained, but it ended up just being confusing. The plot is full of holes.

cw: age gap of about 280 years

mlm, background wlw. ~450

The plot in this has me hooked from start to finish. It has ghosts and mystery and that's all I'll spoil. But the acting is fairly stiff, especially from the guy who plays Mas, who seems very umcomfortable with the gayness of it all.

cw: murder and suicide

mlm. ~580 minutes

This appears to have taken inspiration from Addicted/Heroin, in the sense that it is about two smarty pants popular high school guys who clash upon first meeting, and then find out their parents are getting remarried to each other. The similarities end there though. 

This is very heavy on academic pressure and ranking. Verrryyy slow.

The story is not finished without a season 2.

mlm. ~510 minutes

Besties in love in college, but won't say it. One of them disappears for ten years, then comes back, more determined. 

This is funny and charming. I love the grandma and her merry band of old queers doing weed, and the one teenager who is extremely done with everything. 

mlm. ~600 minutes.

They used to be in a situationship and be basketball buddies, but they grew apart and one got involved in some shady business, now they reconnect over more basketball, and shady shit.

This is definitely not bad, but I did expect more from director Tanwarin, because they're awesome. The story is a bit of a mess, just a bunch of shit thrown at the characters without a clear character arc or throughline. But other than that, everything is competent. Excellent theme song and cinematography.

There's canonically autistic rep in here, which again, isn't done badly, but I expected better.

cw: bunch of guns, abusive relationship (not main) which includes dubious consent.

mlm, wlw. ~450 minutes

Clueless and unmotivated intern x cold professional. Feels like a standard GMMTV BL. I do appreciate them subverting the intern x company boss trope by removing all the glamour from the situation and instead making it silly and difficult and real.

Don't watch it for the sapphic couple, you'll be disappointed.

mlm. ~600 minutes

I watched this a long time ago. I'm pretty sure it was a standard Thai BL, trope-y. I think the the love interest was more of a douchebag than usual.

mlm, wlw, T.  ~120 minutes

Pretty campy. Guy/girl arranged marriage. Girl casually going out with both genders on the side. Guy is very green but may be into dude he just met. Many other queer characters fucking about in their own ways. It's got good feminism, sex positivity. 

I wouldn't call it competent. I did enjoy it though.

mlm. ~135 minutes

Bummed out star meets stoic chef. I watched this a while ago and didn't write much else down. It was fun enough. Not super special. I think I also watched the second season, which was on a similar quality level.

mlm. ~650 minutes

Best friends get drunk and sleep together, then figure out how to exist near each other from then on. They have a fun dynamic and I do think this one is worth watching.

mlm. ~480 minutes

Guy's boyfriend gets murdered, then he travels through a magic puddle into a parallel universe where mr boyfriend isn't dead yet, but also a bunch of other stuff is different, and he falls for mafia boss' son instead.  Lots of drama and angst.

cw: bunch of guns and death, torture. Medium amount of gore. This is pretty intense.

mlm. ~310 minutes

Ex-law student x elephant caretaker. Good plot at beginning, kinda chaos at the end, good acting and relationship dynamic, good queerness, but it does feel a little slow. 

Just stop after ep 3. Don't even watch the 4th episode.

Spoiler: It's like the story ended kinda anticlimactically, and then the writer just kept throwing random shit at the main characters for another episode. They get married twice for no reason, one crossdresses illogically, they get a child chucked into their lap out of nowhere, and then one dies during a wedding, the end lol

mlm. ~200 minutes

BL author with writer's block spends his days in restaurant and falls for owner. It's sweet, but not revolutionary. It's about realizing you are worthy of love and about realizing there is a difference between love and admiration.

mlm, T. ~1120 minutes

Critique on industry. BL actors trying to stay relevant. Very dramatic.  4 different but interconnected stories. 

It's not the worst, it's not the best.

cw: trans person got outed to the press and it's not treated with the gravity that it should be, instead she just gets written out unceremoniously.

mlm, wlw. ~340 minutes

He has to plan his crush's wedding, doesn't know it's an arranged wedding for a gay guy and a lesbian. The dynamic in which the groom aggressively flirts with a panicking wedding planner who is trying not to love it is hilarious.

cw: sleep kiss but he wasn't really asleep and kissed back

mlm. ~840 minutes

Brother ends up in sister's BL fantasy reality. Good acting, good chemistry. It is fun campy nonsense. Too many characters though. I did definitely enjoy watching this, but keep in mind that it does feel aged.

cw: pretty toxic relationship between soccer dude and Blue (the original MaxNat couple), and Fighter is no angel either.

mlm. ~540 minutes

Fairly typical Thai BL. Basketball guys. Besties to lovers. It's sweet, it's worth watching, nothing out of the ordinary.

mlm, T, GNC. ~270 minutes

Another strong contender for the 'campiest show' award. This is absolute nonsense and it knows it. It's ridiculous and enjoyable.

cw: it feels kinda transphobic

wlw. ~460 minutes

Besties are in love with each other for forever, but don't realize or say it, then some straight marriages and lots of jealousy and drama. It's not my thing.

The first 3 episodes are essentially backstory, with the plot starting in episode 4, when they meet again. 

cw: guns & suicide

wlw. ~90 minutes

Spin-off of Deep Night. You don't need to watch Deep Night first. 

Bestie shows up with the news that she's going to get married to a man, but secretly hoping that her friend will get jealous and be her lover instead.

Worth a watch, chemistry and production value is there. The plot is kind of bland, especially towards the end. There is a season 2.

mlm. ~120 minutes

I didn't write my thoughts down at the time. Do not trust my review of this.

mlm. ~200 minutes

A trope mashup. Marketing boss x intern but also they're childhood friends. Very basic clueless uke, forward seme dynamic, except times three because somehow he can't manage to catch on to not one but three rich hot guys' incessant advances.

It's watchable and forgettable. The flirting is enjoyable though.

mlm. ~180 minutes

Night needs to write a love story and find experience in order to do that, runs into ex-bestie who is now running a quaint little café. He's scared of being gay because of lack of acceptance from surroundings. I like that it deals with internalized homophobia somewhat. But this is quite bland.

mlm. ~460 minutes

Based on the same Chinese novel as the 2016 'Addicted' and 2023 'Stay With Me'.

First of all the age gap between the leading actors (16/27) is not okay, and it's especially worrying given how much shipping and fan service usually goes on after a series airs in Thailand. I sincerely hope they don't do that.

But I'm a Sinology major with an interest in queer media and I wrote whole academic essays on what the censorship of Addicted meant for Chinese queer media (severely hampered) and general Chinese attitudes towards queer people (not great), and I can't not know how that saga continues. Thai BL's are massively popular among Chinese audiences, and that's why Chinese advertisers fund them and that's why they exist. Call it morbid curiosity, but I need to know how they've chosen to edit and represent this story in 2024 with a Thai production crew unbothered by CCP censorship.

The conclusion is that they've mellowed down all the toxicity of the original material and changed the plot to give it a happy ending. They've also chosen to not have any real kisses, only camera angles. I think that's good, but I still wish they'd just chosen older actors across the board, or at least not an 11 year age gap. I am of the opinion that this adaptation shouldn't have been made. If you're going to adapt a fucked up story, hire older actors. I'm not sure what the point of this was.

cw: guns, kidnapping, romanticized abuse between partners, minor actors in situations they shouldn't be in, severe abuse from parent

mlm. ~300 minutes

Lonely dude who likes cooking meets lonely police officer who can't cook for shit.

It's sweet and simple. Standard BL fare.

mlm. ~400 minutes

This one is highly praised by a lot of people, and I have to disagree. The alleged 'deep-ness' of the story relies on the love interest's struggle with PTSD and depression (and possibly the main character's struggle with change and social anxiety). As someone who's been through a lot of therapy for all of these issues, this story does not feel like a heartfelt personal expression of what they feel like, or how one would realistically deal with them, but rather like a cheap and appropriative tool to make the characters appear more fleshed out than they are, and as a dramatic plot device that serves as a reason for why these characters should be together when they have nothing in common.

The editing at the start of each episode is so confusing that I kept going back to see if I had clicked the wrong episode. The whole show has a 'this is serious and deep' vibe, with no fun allowed, and I was bored. The cinematography is just okay. Acting is fine.

mlm. ~140 minutes

Yeah, nothing wrong here, nothing special here. Intern x boss. I guess I'm a little frustrated about the fact that the stakes feel insignificant, and the conflicts to resolve before they can be together feel silly. 

mlm. ~590 minutes

Twins separated because of divorce, one does volleyball, the other MMA. Wrong twin gets knocked out by bullies, other takes his role in the volleyball team and falls for the guy his twin was feuding with. The first episodes are rough, overacted, childish, but it's suprisingly entertaining the longer you watch.

mlm, T.  ~720 minutes

This is very much 'content', not art. Very standard university Thai BL. I think the thing that works about the GMMTV uni BL formula is that they give each couple a characteristic relationship dynamic, as in, the way they tease each other is unique for each couple. 

The thing that doesn't work for me is that the relationship dynamics are pretty much all there is to this show, no other plot whatsoever. There's so much fluff and padding that adds absolutely nothing. But you can't deny that this is popular, so clearly it works.

mlm. ~160 minutes

Country boy meets rich asshat, one drunk night later he follows him to Manila to become a fellow model. This feels genuine, and I like that there is a fat character that is actual good representation, and who voices her struggles with fatphobia. But also, too many scenes were skipped or montaged. Should've been longer, spelled some things out more.

mlm. ~720 minutes

Standard BL. University hot guy contest. The prequel is terrible, but you don't need to watch that to follow this story.

cw: femme-phobic, fatfobic

mlm. ~540 minutes

Barbershop high school kid x friend, enemies to lovers, fake relationship to real, not really special. I'm sure you have better things to watch.

mlm. ~290 minutes

Virgin guy turns 30 and gains the ability to read minds when touching, finds out hot guy in office has major crush on him. This operates on manga logic, which is so unreasonable that it's hilarious, but I think it's intended to be dead serious. 

I mean it's watchable though? You might enjoy it. The gimmick is fun and silly. 

TERRIBLE theme song.

cw: the virgin guy is absolutely terrified of even mild physical intimacy and this is treated as normal, nothing to worry about.

mlm. ~300 minutes

The first couple of episodes in which they prank each other are really funny but it's downhill from there. 

This is the extremely popular BL web series that got gay online media made literally illegal in China. That's not speculation, and it's not exaggeration. People were jailed for writing gay fanfic. This series was not allowed to finish airing.

I don't recommend it.

cw: very rapey and abusive.