AbsoluteBL
chronic traveller
opposites attract, workplace romance, grumpy/tsundere, enemies to lovers
For me the mains were unlikeable and the actors had poor chemistry. So while this offered a lot of what I thought I wanted from a Thai BL - mature characters, workplace setting, adult themes - I’m wasn’t wild about the execution. I suspect Thai pulps are better when they stick to university/high school. This one felt like a better version of Loveless Society (not hard). The main couple's sex scenes were kind of sweet but I’m just not into them.The side dishes (Yoon & Yacht) gave us more chemistry and a better kiss but had little screen time. It was interesting to see them portray BL actors being shipped and then confessing to actually dating each others. I’m not sure how I feel about the handling of it but it was different from Lovely Writer, and I guess it's nice to see different takes.
In the end, this show was nicely grown up but boring and became a matter of endurance for me. I can’t ever see myself rewatching this one and that weighs hugely in my enjoyment of any series.
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Foundational Romance Trope: second chance at at love
High School besties have a miscommunication rift, so one disappears and returns 4 years later to confess his love, reveal his illness, and ask for help making a tough decision. Honestly, this could have been 4 eps instead of 8 it was very slow moving and maudlin.Only bother if you have a lot of patience and nothing better to do, this is the BL equivalent of watching paint peal and feeling sorry for the wall getting exposed.
RECOMMENDED WITH SERIOUS RESERVATIONS AROUND WEEPY SLOWNESS
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A Not Great Thai BL pulp
Foundational Romance Tropes: lots of them plus boss/employee and several grumpy/sunshine pairs with puppy elementsThis started off as THE cutest little office set Thai BL pulp with too many adorable couples plus gay advice dads and it charmed the pants off of me (if none of the characters). But it lost its way half way through, becoming an unbearably slow, disjointed, shambling, ill-edited sad sack with only one interesting couple (CopyNampu). I can’t in good conscious suggest anyone actually watch this.
ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR ONE SIDE DISH
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I actually love this one, the SUITS.
This is a mafia romance with a villain/cop pairing, no real seme/uke dynamic. It has a killer plot with a bit of a mystery element, good story and dialogue. Enemies to lovers (with good reason to mistrust each other) who fall madly in love anyway. It's higher heat, the kisses are great and they're both pretty much out bisexuals. The reason I dong give it a higher rating is this main couple's ending is amorphous with long term separation implied.The side dishes are a friends to lovers HEA pairing who also have good chemistry, although slightly lower heat, but are great characters. The naive innocent wonderkin sweetie and the cheerful but deadly mercenary assassin who decides that this is going to be HIS man. So there. They are utterly adorable and use food as their love language, possibly one of my favorite couples.
Despite the mafia theme, there are actually very few triggers in the one. It's full consent and quite sweet for how much they throw in sexy. Lots of little domestic moments too. But that ending...
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It’s a cute quiet little thing.
Grumpy/Sunshine foundation.Basically a 3rd year high school student, Sun, moves in next door to a senior in his school, Earth. Earth is a taciturn musician whose strict parents want him to focus only on studying and getting into university. Sun is a up beat, kind hearted, love muffin.
The very cheerful Sun wages a determined campaign to convince Earth to fall in love with him.
There are a few hiccoughs along the way but Location was mostly just a small cast, low angst, low drama little film. Sweet.
Featured Tropes:
sing me a song
share my earbuds
tend my artful injury
musical montage
crash into me
faen fatale
head tousle
lots of cheek kisses
Self, of course, liked the broken hearted bestie best. But that’s kinda of a thing with me.
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Friends to lovers
I have a real soft spot for the Thai BL pulps and this is probably the best pulp of 2021 (for Thailand, Vietnam is nipping at the heels). It brought us back into the high school sphere and YA angst in a big way. I happen to love this setting and these tropes (what can I say, blame my early days of Love Sick and Make it Right).All three couples had good chemistry (half the main cast was already comfortable with BL) and while there wasn’t much story, the acting and production values were decent. Considering the last few years, I’m disposed to be very pleased with this offering.
Is it poor on post production, small cast, and terrible script? Sure it is. Is it weird that the Sirorattanaphanit brothers look like twins but this is never acknowledged? Yeah, it’s weird.
But the boys are charming. CHARMING I TELL YOU.
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Truly Lovely
Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, as a grumpy/sunshine pairing. It’s beautiful, compelling, and kind of icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience. It's low heat, low angst, and very pretty.I highly recommend it, I thought is was something rather special. Make yourself a lovely hot beverage, cuddle up in a fuzzy blanket, and enjoy. You won’t regret an evening spent with these two.
BL Tropes Include
Hair touch
Touch my lips and think of kissing
There’s only one bed. Gasp!
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Foundational Romance Tropes? Fated mates & Grumpy/Sunshine
This is a cool little trope filled nugget out of Korea that I assumed was going to be a slice of life dance version of Wish You but was a bit more complex.The main character is a dancer and the love interest is a loan shark sent to extort money from him. There was a red tread soulmates trope coloring their interactions and a touch of unexpected physical humor.
Essentially it’s the story of two lonely lost souls finding each other, but also it’s about art and the connection it can build. The ending was rushed ( pacing off through the later half), and the whole thing came off as colder than I expected, but I liked it anyway.
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The End & A Limerick
Tin & Can were adrobs, and felt very modern as a couple in a strange way I can’t quite articulate, but that most BL lacks.I’m not sure this will enter my regular rotation as a rewatch, but I definitely enjoyed it. I pronounce it…
CUTE
* I thought Tul & Hin had killer chemistry. I wish we had seen more of them together.
* They ended the sad-sack Ae story line as best they could under the circumstances. Better than I expected, actually.
* I wanted more Keen, but I was always going to want more Keen. I am camp MORE KEEN.
* Techno & Kla went with a cop out, but who cares about that anymore?
A ditty:
I did not want to love it, but shoot.
Cantaloupe is Tin’s favorite fruit.
Sad Ae was too sad.
But Tul wasn’t so bad.
So in the end I found it cute.
Ddid anyone else miss Ae’s trusty tote bag?
Just me?
Eh, that’s normal.
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Grumpy/Sunshine pairing + Forced Proximity (cohabitation)
This was a 9 ep series of 10-15 each and was quirky as all getup, but so cinnamon roll adorable out the other side I forgive it all my confusion. I didn’t (and don’t) get it for the first half but it became more and more charming and totally won me over in the end.A popular actor laboring under a scandal (also a cheerful bundle of neurosis) has to hide out in the house of a hot introverted grumpy chef. The chef is NOT best pleased by having a human puppy forced upon him. Until he is.
Recommended so long as you realize we are in Mr Heart style K-BL, not Color Rush.
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Fake relationship, friends to lovers & stepbrothers tropes
sunshine/tsundere & grumpy/sunshine pairingsI have a mixed relationship with the HIStory franchise. They’ve broken my heart (several times), left things unfinished or unsatisfying, and simultaneously reliably provided some of the best kisses and hottest chemistry in all BL.
It’s like BL roulette with them, but the odds are never in our favor.
I’m one of the few who likes a fake relationship trope less than stepbrothers. I like friends to lovers but I HATE shipper self-insert characters. So going in I thought this was going to be real rough for me. And, in spots, it was. But what can I say? The aching toothsomeness of this show plus that glorious chemistry Taiwan casually dishes out like it’s no big deal totally won me over. Add in some old favorite side dishes from HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count, and I’m in.
The ending was pure BL syrup tapped from the cheesiest sappiest of trees, so absurd that I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be taken seriously. Honestly, to tolerate this show at all you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. And that’s me and most fandoms, so It worked for me.
What can I say? Whenever Taiwan flexes its BL muscles, it’s really hard to not stare. Even when they are this problematic. And covered in syrup.
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Friends to lovers + forced proximity (cohabitation)
Whether I liked Tohnon Chonlatee or not, I can’t deny that it gave us a number of things we hadn’t seen in Thai BL before:* Queer found family and support network.
* Out gay side couple who could function as healthy role models, advisors, foils, and comic relief for the main couple.
* Actually decent female representation.
* A truly charming cast of characters that included Na’s sunglasses.
Will it live on in the zeitgeist as a top Thai BLs? Unlikely, but it’s probably the first honest gay rom com out of Thailand with passingly adequate queer rep. So for that it will live in my heart forever.
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Foundational Romance Tropes: love triangle, cohabitation, grumpy/tsundere\sunshine
A Thai Bl quarantine project, short run series, that was a little like Call it What You Want meet My Mate Match. The support cast in this show was painfully bad (characters, story, and acting) although the 3 leads were fine. Interesting to see Gameplay play a full on tsundere uke, he was cute if a little too obstreperous. The actor playing First was fine, but then Best waltzed in portraying the second lead, Pluto. He pretty much blew everyone else on screen out of the water and gave me a terrible case of second lead syndrome. I look forward to seeing his full show, Check Out, next year. It got unexpectedly higher heat than I thought it would, which was well done, but I was left bereft and unsatisfied. This is why I loathe love triangles.RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO
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LTR, self acceptance, mental health, poly?
Honestly, not sure what to make of this show. I liked it better than I thought i would. It was as dark as I expected but also not. Very happy ending, in an odd way it’s kind of a poly romance. There isn’t much plot, its high heat and the acting is decent. I’m tempted to say it was all over the place, but actually I think that was me, and the how it pretty cohesive. The youth of one of the personalities really kinda upset me.Will I watch it again? Nope.
So I’m settling on a 5/10 (that’s what I gave Advance Bravely so.. it works, it’s kinda that category).
RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU DON’T MIND TRIGGERS.
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Foundational Romance Tropes: friends to lovers, confession
A stylish little microfilm that had a very Wes Anderson feel, and queer aura (rather than BL) with decent subs. It was essentially a pretty one act play with very few cuts and good production values that I found well acted but a little dull. I got Nampu (Top Secret Together) vibes from one of the characters (a very good thing). An interesting twist ending gave this a more Korean feel than one might expect from Thailand, which is why I bothered to review this.RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
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