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absolutebl · 2 years

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BL Foundations Syllabus

This is it. My BL master post to end all master posts. The culmination of my journey & obsession.

Basically I constructed this to be:

BL 101 Film Course - An Introduction to the Genre

I got to thinking, if I were to teach a full course on BL? What would I pick and why? So I constructed this list of 30 core BLs which represent a tasting menu of BL trends, styles, and themes from source countries. I chose what I chose for reasons of history, establishing taste by country, and representative range in story structure and filming technique.

The idea is that if you’ve watched these 30 shows, you should have a good grasp of the history of BL as a cinematic tradition through time and space. Also know why the different countries produce different kinds of BL and what distinguishes them from each other.

Please ASK questions if you have them.

THE WATCH LIST

These are not the 30 best BLs, but they are the 30 BEST REPRESENTATIONS OF BL.

JAPANESE BL

1. Takumi-kun - 2007

2. Boys Love - 2006

3. Junjou Pure Heart - 2010

4. Seven Days - 2015

5. Cherry Magic - 2020

6. Restart After Come Back Home - 2020

SOUTH KOREAN BL

7. Just Friends? - 2009 + A First Love Story - 2021

8. The Lover (BL cut) - 2015

9. Wish You - 2020

10. Light on Me - 2021

CHINESE BL

11. Like Love - 2014

12. Addicted - 2016

13. The Untamed - 2020

TAIWANESE BL

14. Pair of Love - 2012

15. HIStory Obsessed + Faded - 2017

16. We Best Love - 2021

17. HIStory 4: Close to You - 2021

THAI BL

18. Love of Siam - 2007

19. Love Sick (BL cut) - 2014

20. SOTUS - 2016

21. 2gether - 2020

22. Love By Chance - 2018

23. Until We Meet Again - 2019

VIETNAMESE BL

24. My Sky - 2017

25. You Are Ma Boy - 2021

26. My Lascivious Boss - 2021

PINOY BL

27. 4 Days - 2016

28. Gameboys - 2020

META BL

29. Lovely Writer - Thailand 2021

30. A Man Who Defies The World of BL - Japan 2021

I arranged the watch list by country for trend and influence reasons, but you could also watch these in historical order if you’re a chronological loyalist. Only the final two, which are both self-reflective commentaries should be consumed at the end.

What’s Not Here?

There is some early BL from Hong Kong. I haven’t included because they just have so few offerings, less than one a year. Cambodia has recently started producing BL as well, but really recently.

Also, as this is BL, while I’ve included some queer cinema (film produced with a queer lens for a queer audience) I have not included most of it because historically isn’t that much influence between the two genres (this is changing as of 2021). BL is mostly produced with an indifferent lens and a straight(ish) audience in mind.

I also haven’t chosen any stand out BLs that were noted exceptions (like I Told Sunset About You from Thailand or Udagawachou de Matteteyo from Japan or Your Name Engraved Herein from Taiwan) because while they may be unique and impactful on a broad scale, they didn’t necessarily have reverberating impact on the BL genre itself. So I think of them as exceptional exceptions.

THE BL SYLLABUS

In which I go into what to watch, together or apart, why this order, why they’re significant, and what to take away for a solid understanding of the genre.

JAPAN

Japan is the origin of yaoi manga and yaoi is the origin of BL. So Japan is basically responsible for everything. You can read about the history of Japanese live action yaoi (what would come to be called BL) here.

DAY 1: Double Bill - Japanese Roots & Story Bifurcation

Takumi-kun 1 (2007) & Boys Love (2006)

I chose Takumi-kun 1 to start because it was one of the very first true live action yaoi and, to be fair, it is a faithful adaptation of the source material (which is, erm, not good). By all measures Takumi-kun 2: Rainbow Colored Glass (2009) is better. It continues the story but has a superior cast. Either way, this show represents Japan adapting their light yaoi (AKA yaoi with more romantic elements that ends happily). Initially, these live action yaois were produced as “made for TV style movies,” sometimes in multiple installments. Japan hasn’t done BL multi-episode series until recently.

What to note when watching it? The chaotic nature of the story comes from a lack of concrete narrative structure combined with themes of miscommunication and secret pasts, all common to the yaoi genre and Japanese BL to this day. It’s a highly typical BL seme/uke archetype couple. A dominant and caring but obsessed and aggressive seme chasing and owning a weak, delicate, fragile (damaged but saved by the other boy’s passion) uke. Also the beginnings of the blushing maiden trope.

The bright clear filming style and staging of scenes comes directly from manga, as does the crazy hair. Also the use of a high school setting and uniform is typical of the genre as a whole. Also we can see with Takumi-kun many of the tropes that are most seme/uke dysmorphic.

On the other hand Boys Love (2006 or 2007) represents the other side of Japanese BL: the dark side. The side that Thailand chose to ignore and, since they came to dominate the genre, it’s Thailand who dictates modern consumer taste. So this kind of BL, although still around, is rare in 2021 and mostly comes from Japan and Taiwan.

Watch Boys Love knowing that BL can be very very very dark indeed (don’t push Japan, believe it or not they've gone even darker). In fact most Japanese BL stil runs at about 50/50. This kind of BL is depressing, deals with highly triggering content/tropes (obsession, the murder gay, suicide, mutilation, rape, incest, abuse) and almost always ends unhappily with at least separation if not death of one or both characters. Boys Love 2006 hits up pretty much every single element. Lucky us. China picked up this style and ran with it for years and Taiwan is still working out this kinda damage on screen for us. This style of BL may be less common, but it still exists.

Yaoi manga set up this story style bifurcation in Japan (people often forget how dark the early erotic yaois were) and that’s why Japan produces BL of both kinds in equal measure. Stuff like Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese and the Pornographer series pretends to be queer cinema but really is just live action yaoi erotica in its modern form - pushing kinky and high heat boundaries in an explicitly Japanese way.

Industry wise, it’s also interesting to note that the Boys Love duo might be considered the first example of a committed acting pair in BL. Which is to say actors who do BL as a couple playing different roles. Thailand is the main proponent of this now. Japan also has a history, in its early days of pigeonholing actors into gay roles because of BL. They don’t much anymore (now they mostly just do this with heat levels - see Takezai Terunosuke) but Thailand, China, and (possibly) Korea also have a history of slurring actors in such a way that it becomes difficult for them to get roles outside of the BL genre.

DAY 2: Double Bill - Japanese Traditions & Filming Bifurcation

Junjou Pure Heart (2010) & Seven Days (2015)

I chose these two BLs because they show the evolution of Japanese live action yaoi filming style from Takumi and Boys Love and into two traditions of cinematography and setting - which Japan latches on to and continues to produce to this day.

FOR CLARITY:

Japan has 2 BL story styles: dark & light.

And also 2 BL filming styles: manga & atmospheric.

Junjou is an atmospheric hard fought dour romance, featuring grown up tortured characters with complicated backstory and tons of introspection. It’s handling themes if miscommunication and cohabitation - ones that Japan will pick up and explore again and again. It’s emo BL filmed with a soft lens and sweeping shots (which owes a lot to classic Japanese cinema, e.g. Kurosawa) and very little of its framing or staging reflects manga.

Japan will do this style emo BL a lot, especially during the 2010s. They trade sharp focus and graphic linear styles of yaoi for this intimate fuzziness. They use adult characters, one or both of whom are salary men, and lots of apartment and office scenes.

On the other hand, Seven Days is one of the few to come out during this time that stays true to its yaoi roots. It features high school students and teenage angst with a relatively simple story of misunderstanding that is well acted and executed. It keeps manga filming but trades out dark history, secret sorrows, and a mysterious past for more “ordinary” teens with mundane problems. You can trace this filming style from Takumi-kun to Seven Days to Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man) which is airing as I write this.

Japan will pick up light yaoi style BL again after Seven Days but not until...

DAY 3: Double Bill - Modern Japanese BL

Cherry Magic & Restart After Come Back Home (2020)

(alt: His the movie 2020)

These are examples of the best of what Japan can do with BL now, but both remain quintessentially Japanese. We don’t get this kind of BL from any other country.

Cherry Magic gave us a pitch perfect live action yaoi, but with this mix of slapstick and acting chops (not to mention production quality) that we’d never really seen before, not to mention a solid magical realism story that was really a journey of self actualization. It’s elevated yaoi using the same style started by Takumi-kun but with superior story structure.

Restart, on the other hand, uses all the best of Japanese sweeping atmospheric cinema combined with the yaoi deprived archetype of jaded salary man but elevated by family drama and self discovery. Sure there’s still a little dark mysterious past, miscommunication, and self worth issues, but it wouldn’t be Japanese BL if it wasn’t a tiny bit emo.

SOUTH KOREA

Korea has been in and out of BL for almost as long as Japan, but with a distinctly different take on the genre. You can read about the history of Korean BL here.

While Japan will push boundaries, especially in the area of high heat, kink, and cinematography (and hair), Korea does not. In fact they’ve gone the opposite direction, establishing a strict sandbox, and then stayed inside it like good little children. Their BL now is almost all bright, clean, and slick (no, not that kind) with excellent but workmanlike production. However, they didn’t start out that way.

DAY 4: Double Bill - Korean BL Roots & Strongberry

Just Friends? (2009) + A First Love Story (2021)

Just Friends? was Korea’s first true BL and I paired it with a recent offering because these two go together so well (A First Love Story could be the prequel for all it came over a decade later). While Korean BL is no longer really like Just Friends? with its gritty queer-friendly realism and higher heat levels (that’s now Taiwan’s purview), Strongberry is still producing BL of exactly this type, frequently and well. So it is still coming out of Korea, just in very short form.

Which is something to note. Both these dramas are SHORT. That is something Korea will stick to and has not altered. While they consistently produce long form het romance Kdramas (12-16 episodes of 45 min each), they have yet to give us anything BL with real meat to it. Instead, they tend to produce BL in shorter from with a total run time of about 2 hours.

DAY 5: Korea Gets Pretty Prudish

The Lover BL cut (2015)

One of the only long form offerings from Korea during the 2010s (there were a LOT of microfilms), there is a distinctly Japanese feel to this BL, especially in the slapstick humor. Korean dramas will move away from this comedic style in general in the later half of the 2010s. It also starred former ballet dancer Lee Jae Joon opposite Terada Takuya, Jpop idol, who was to be the first in a long line of idols in KBL.

What’s distinctly Korean about The Lover (of which the BL is a shared plot in this 4 couple series) is how drawn out and slow burn the romance is. It showcases Korea moving away from the higher heat of Just Friends? that only Strongberry really continued into the modern age. The leads in The Lover didn’t even get to have a kiss, but it still is a romance. This BL established a president for Korean sexy: slow burn, low heat, maybe a smooch near the end, and rarely anything more than that.

These boys are awful pretty though, which is another thing Korea likes a lot in its BLs - pretty. There is a reason, with the recent rise in BL production, that Korea keeps casting idols: Korean BL has an AESTHETIC. That also started with The Lover.

DAY 6: Double Bill - Korea Finds Its Stride

Wish You (2020) & Light on Me (2021)

Let’s be clear, To My Star (2021) is better, but Wish You was first. But they are both absolutely typical modern Korean BLs. Korea has settled into this style of short form intimate romance that applies BL tropes strategically but doesn't depend on them. Modern Korean BLs exist in a “gay safe bubble” fantasy world and produced to further Hallyu, they are a product.

The characters are soft with each other, the story structure is simple, and the casting is sparse, but the acting is on point and production levels are very high (beat out only by Japan). Physically, the actors tend to be slightly stiff with each other, but these BLs are so well made and easily digested that they continue to rise in popularity despite somewhat questionable chemistry. There is usually little/no coming out drama (one or both are self actualized gays, see the bubble) and when featuring adult characters a seme/uke dynamic is rare.

On the other hand, when Korea adapts something set in high school (and now college) or a manwha, they let themselves dwell in yaoi traditions. A traditional manga (comic book storyboard) filming style is applied as well as seme/uke dynamics and teen messiness, see Light On Me (or Color Rush). Korea still stays very clean (especially in the arenas of color palettes and staging), relatively short, and quite pretty, but these offerings will feel more traditionally yaoi then (for example) Thai BL.

Light On Me is a prime example of the very best that Korea can do, and it also highlights a Kdrama romance’s speciality... the love triangle. It also picked up and showcased quite a few BL tropes that owe their popularity to Love Sick and Thailand’s BL traditions (the field trip, symbolic gift exchange, shoulder sleeping, boys on phones, significant hand hold). Showing that (as we would expect from Hallyu) Korea is PAYING ATTENTION to what other countries are doing best in BL and why.

Korea is seriously clever and strategic with their trope use, probably the best in the biz. If Light On Me is too long, check out Semantic Error (Viki) which is pretty much the best of the best.

CHINA

Chinese BL started out with most of its early stuff owing its style to the dark side of Japanese BL. Not quite as high heat but they were definitely into gayness as a tool for punishing characters with obsession, murder, suicide, mutilation, and death. Much of their early stuff explores very depressing themes and those very few times Chinese BL got fluffy it was hella weird.

A note: I have personal and professional issues with Chinese BL so I do not cover it here on my blog as much as other BL, but I do think it’s important to know that there WAS an established relatively vibrant BL tradition in China before the government started seriously repressing homosexual representation in 2016.

A history of Chinese BL is here.

DAY 7: Chinese BL Before Censorship, Story Style

Like Love (2014)

Like Love (AKA I Love You If You Were a Man) exists in 3 parts, only the first 2 are really of interest, and sadly all of it is hard to find. For a good alternate try Irresistible Love: Secret of the Valet (2016) which exists in two parts with two different endings (a sad one and a happy-ish one). Both these offerings showcase how high heat China was once willing to get. These BLs deal with obsession to the point of ownership (and the whipping boy trope) as well as masculine aggression in the arena of consent (there is none). Like Japan, they often pushed that dub con into destructive behavior beyond rape into murder, suicide, and mutilation. These shows almost always ended amorphously (we aren’t shown what happened to the characters at the end, or they are separated) or with the death of one of the leads. They’re DARK.

Like Love is China’s first real BL, it features a rich kid obsessed with a poor kid plus a bit of jock/nerd. China loves this power play dynamic and puts it into most of its BLs in some form or another. Chinese BLs (and bromances) also tend to be somewhat seme/uke with the seme character being taller, emotionally repressed but more aggressive about pursuing a relationship, while the uke character is usually very tsundere about the whole situation.

Apart from the high heat content, China carries the story traditions and ambiguity established with these early BLs (and companion archetypes) through censorship and into their wuxia bromances to this day.

DAY 8: Chinese BL Gets Censored

Addicted (2016)

With both the critically acclaimed and much beloved Addicted Heroin and the much less well known Advance Bravely (2017) we got to witness the direct impact of Chinese censorship on BL. Addicted was shaping up to be a classic Chinese BL with higher heat levels but such excellent acting that it could have been China’s SOTUS but... The quality of the production, its popularity, and the great chemistry of the leads caught the CFA’s attention and Addicted was was abruptly cancelled, and its actors (particularly the one playing the uke character) pretty much blacklisted because of it.

It was a mess.

Advance Bravely was even messier. It was clearly filmed as a relatively high heat pice, but because of what happened to Addicted it got chopped up and cut down and edited (read: mutilated) into something that would pass censorship, but which most people watch with a profound feeling of betrayal and confusion.

Both these shows have what amounts to cliff hanger non-endings. And Advance Bravely would pretty much mark the end of the heyday (such as it was) of Chinese BL. China went through a phase in 2017 & 2018 where they still produced some uncensored stuff (well, the boys kissed) but these had to end badly for the characters (punish the gays trope) a hallmark of homophobia in film. Since then the contemporary Chinese BL arena is dominated by extremely censored bromances, mostly around competitive sports teams (like Precise Shot) and... Wuxia adaptations.

DAY 9: Wuxia Long Form Bromances (Danmei)

The Untamed (2020)

I prefer Word of Honor (2021) but Untamed was the one that broke the media world. Both of these LONG shows are bromances in the new sense of the term, by which the BL universe means:

coded gay acting, but censored dialogue, and negligible physical intimacy

Everyone in China pretends these shows aren’t actually gay and everyone outside of China pretends they’re a whole lot gayer then they are. It’s a little game we play.

Technically speaking, I think you could cite Guardian (2018) as the beginning of this style. It is almost (but not really) wuxia but definitely a bromance and definitely LONG. But it was Untamed that put the eternal pining sexless soulmates front and center. (And by sexless I mean they aren’t actually allowed to have it, not - as Kdramas seem to think - it doesn’t exist at all.)

These 30+ episode series are to be watched for the pining, for that one tiny touch every 6 hours, and the lingering glances that never stop - don’t expect any pay out. It’s all a tease. They will never kiss and there is a very good chance they won’t end up together, either. In China the gays don’t get happy endings, not in this lifetime. But they will be impossibly beautiful and high production about it - gorgeous flowing sleeves will be cut with all the euphemism that entails.

In fact, everything will only ever be alluded to. Chinese BL now dwells in graceful traumatizing euphemism, lodged and slowly drowning in a mire of lotus flowers.

Pretty pretty censorship is still dangerous and deadly. If you’re queer, keep a tight hold on your psyche with these dramas, they can do real damage with their messaging.

TAIWAN

On the other hand, fighting for the title of queerest BL producing country is Taiwan. Technically speaking Taiwan’s first queer movie to even approach BL was in 2006′s Eternal Summer, which means they started as early as Japan, but it owes absolutely nothing to yaoi and is more a commentary of masculine struggles with identity around intimacy and romance than anything else. It’s very high heat though, so I guess Taiwan comes by that habit from the start.

However, it would take a decade for Taiwan to pick up the genre and really start playing with it.

Still, this tiny island comes by its BL honestly and produces it with a genuine affection that comes off as less market savvy and Machiavellian than Thailand or Korea. Taiwan is the only country in Asia (as of 2022) with marriage equality and queer rights, and their BL will not let you forget that. Nor should it.

As a result, Taiwan has worked itself around to producing some of my favorite BL. It also remains very attached to the questionable tropes and darker sides of BL that China adores and Japan started - probably because of its intimate cultural connection to both those countries. Also it has a marked preference for muscled BL. It’s all a matter of taste.

Because they are so small (both by population and film industry standards) they also do not produce very much BL, but here’s Taiwan’s history with the genre.

DAY 10: Taiwanese BL Has Questions

Pair of Love (2012)

Taiwan is my favorite BL producing nation but it is all over the map story-wise, for good reason. Its closest political and trading partner is Japan, but its closest cultural/historical connection is China. Also its thriving queer community and high seat at the global tech and corporate table that have resulted in active (intentional) westernization. All of this plays into its BL and it all can be seen in Pair of Love.

The only BL on this list that also contains a GL couple, Pair showcases the grittiness and the honestly queer nature of Taiwanese BL, a realistically harsh story, and also its generally indecisive choices around happy endings. (One pair ends happily, the other does not.)

Taiwan has a near constant back and forth dialogue over the nature of what their BL should be and so does this offering. Combine that with very few shows at all (to even establish a pattern), and Taiwan manages a signature style but its BL trope use is inconsistent, and again we see that in Pair of Love.

DAY 11: Double Bill Taiwan Has Answers

HIStory Obsessed + Faded (2017)

The hotly debated HIStory franchise actually started with 3 hour-long offerings, from which I chose Obsessed because it showcases the most classic tropes, specifically those favored by Chinese BL. In fact, Obsessed could be a kind of short form remake of Like Love but with an interesting twist on story, and a softness to its heat that allows it to end far more happily than its BL heritage might suggest. Also it’s much more honestly queer about it, and gentler with its leads (despite the obsession theme) so watching this after seeing Like Love, it makes for an excellent contrast.

You can see, with this pair of actors, the thing Taiwan becomes justifiably famous for: higher heat and fantastic chemistry. Korea shies away from gay kisses, Taiwan embraces them. Only Thailand ever comes even close to what Taiwan can do to burn up a screen. Also watch for the crash into me trope which is, without question, Taiwan’s favorite trope - they will slot this into EVERY BL.

In short, Obsessed manages to cram in most of Taiwan’s favorite BL tropes from China as well as a seme/uke dynamic that’s quintessentially Japanese, highlighting the two traditions Taiwan draws from the most, but with Taiwan’s unique brand of realism (if not realistic) story and signature chemistry.

DAY 12: Double Bill Taiwan Goes All In And Does it All

We Best Love & HIStory 4: Close to You (2021)

The 1st installment of We Best Love, WBL: No 1 For You, is a short run university set BL combining the best of Thailand’s modern take with Japanese light BL traditions (and a touch of Thai uni BL-ness). The 2nd season, WBL: Fighting Mr 2nd, moves into the office, and employs darker Japanese and Chinese BL style in terms of setting, obsession, and mature concepts.

WBL thus successfully managed to pick up and combine some of the most popular aspects of all BL right now. Couple that to the insane chemistry from the leads (Taiwan’s speciality), and I consider WBL one of the best BLs of all time, cooking to a recipe I doubt anyone else will ever be able to replicate since only Taiwan is this flexible. It manages to showcase all the things Taiwan is best at: higher heat, chemistry (again, it’s their THING), interesting (if short) story structure, excellent acting, and some seriously old school yaoi derived tropes. Plus there’s that gritty little edge of darkness from China’s obsession with... obsession. WBL is supersaturated with BL roots, however it’s ALSO openly queer AND mature with its concepts.

If you want something similar but easier to get ahold of still demonstrating Taiwan’s versatility, Be Loved In House: I Do is almost as good but a lot softer.

If We Best Love represents the best that Taiwanese BL can be, HIStory 4: Close to You represents what it actually still is, the questioning reality. H4CTY is two strongly contrasted storylines and couples:

One a soft friends to lovers office setting, slightly absurdist, fake relationship romance full of saccharine sweetness reminiscent of lighter Japanese yaoi, it’s even filmed that way on occasion (not something Taiwan often bothers with).

The other is a darker story of stalking and obsession, seriously fucked up family dynamics, using the always contentious stepbrother trope that owes a lot to early Chinese BL.

H4 is, in a way, Taiwan’s internal dialogue with its own style of BL and where it wants to go. Whether it is willing to go up against Korea in the arena of shorter run strong concept but ultimately bright and happy new wave BL, as it did with Be Loved In House, or whether it wants to continue down the shadowy path of amorphous endings which risk a discontented fan base but garner critical acclaim as they did with HIStory 3 and Your Name Engraved Herein.

I suspect this is a back and forth we will see play out on screen from them for a while longer. Taiwan, it seems, refuses to pick a lane.

THAILAND

The juggernaut of BL, Thailand now produces 20+ BLs a year and does not seem to be slowing down. Their tradition is for bright cheerful BLs with guaranteed happy endings that owe very little to yaoi roots and more to their own literary tradition of y-novels (and therefore the romance genre).

Because they produce the most BL by a landslide and are readily accessible online, their style dominates the genre (and watcher expectations). Most new watchers enter into BL via a Thai series (e.g. Love Sick, SOTUS, 2gether, TharnType, KinnPorsche), and so the Thai style is coming to dictate taste more and more. You can read about the history of Thai BL here. And I have a master post talking all about watch lists etc.. here.

DAY 13: Thailand, the Juggernaut’s Sad Beginnings

Love of Siam (2007)

This is a beautiful piece and one of the earliest BLs we have from Thailand. It has more in common with Love Sick and I Told Sunset About You than what we think of now as typical Thai BL. It’s darker, sadder, and much messier. There are lot of genuine struggles around being a teenager and coming out as well as family drama, complex friendship groups, and an amorphous, in this case quite sad, ending. Oh no one dies, but it’s not happy either.

Thailand would never really dwell in darkness the way this (and their few other earlier pieces) do, but they would also never be as gritty or as realistic again, either. Still there are tropes in Love of Siam (post-it love notes, sleep cuddling, head touching, and singing of feelings) that hint at what Thai BL ultimately becomes - but it would have to produce Love Sick before really developing the industry.

[It behooves me to point out that the first time we see a lot of Thai BL actors on screen together is in Grean Fictions (2013) but while it features some gay characters it is not, in fact BL. While a complicated interesting piece of Thai cinema history, Green Fictions is has numerous issues. It seems to have started the unfortunately grand (and enduring) tradition in Thai BL of punching down humor with regards to femme and trans characters. So there’s THAT.]

DAY 14: The BL of All BLs

Love Sick BL cut (2014)

Love Sick is, to this day the Thai BL with the longest run time that I know of. It got two full seasons and that second season was crazy long. It was insanely popular in Thailand and is single handedly responsible for the beginning of Thailand’s mass production of BL. It is the BL that spawned a hundred high school set BLs, most particularly Make it Right. And Make It Right would spawn the Thai BL pulps - lower production value, non-adaptation, poor quality BLs that now make up over half of Thailand’s BL production.

Love Sick is a messy messy soap opera, complete with cast changes (same character different actor), that centers around a musical club in an all boys school. The lead singer falls in love with another boy but things are complicated by the fact that they both have girlfriends. So yeah, we have two sublime origin disaster bis plus the faen fatale archetype (plot device character, often female, who exists solely to drive a wedge between the main couple).

It’s the charisma of the leads and well written dialogue that carries this show, and it does end ultimately happily. Also, it established many of the tropes that Thai BL loves the most: sponge bath, field trips (both beach and forest), symbolic gift exchange, feeding each other, drama in the water, shoulder sleeping, boys on phones, significant hand hold, faen fatale, sing your feelings, and so many more it’s hard to keep track. (And is why I started this blog.)

Love Sick is also responsible for something we rarely see in BL outside of Thailand & the Philippines (although it actually can be traced back to Takumi-kun) the secondary BL couple, AKA the side dishes. Thailand now almost always has at least one secondary pair, and will include multiples in one BL, because they have the cast (big, cheap talent pool) and length of time to do so.

DAY 13: The BL That Launched A Thousand Ships

SOTUS (2016)

If Love Sick started it all within Thailand, SOTUS took it international. The first in a (seemingly) endless series of y-novel adaptations, this show made Thailand production houses (particularly GMMTV) realize they had a cash cow on their hands if they could just get the formula right.

SOTUS established a few BL tropes particularly germane to university set BL: pink milk, the engineering student is gay, haze the one you love, gear symbology, and also started to perpetuate romance tropes common to many Asian countries like under one umbrella, forehead kisses, eating together, and so forth. (Also clumsy product placement.)

SOTUS had a clean sharp story and much higher production values than previous Thai offerings, with grown (or at least not teen) characters/actors and an enemies to lovers traditional romance foundation that pushed it to perform well outside of Thailand, becoming popular first in Southeast Asia and then northwards, eventually hitting Europe and the Americas. But it would take it a few years to spread that far. GMMTV posted and hosted SOTUS on YouTube for years and that was a genius move, eventually Netflix picked it up.

It helped that the leads were willing to provide fan service (pair branding) in a way that hadn’t before been seen in BL (or indeed fandom) that would eventually do far more damage than it would good in the arena fan expectations, parasocial relationships, obsession (fan feelings of ownership) and IRL shipping. But probably did substantially increase its popularity.

Thailand would latch onto this, their best shows are almost always y-novel adaptations written as traditional romances (and owe very little to yaoi story traditions except with certain archetypes like seme/uke).

DAY 14: The BL that Broke the Internet

2gether (2020)

If Love Sick started it and SOTUS pushed it forward, 2g made Thai BL a phenomenon. It represents peak new BL of the kind that Thailand is famous for.

It’s gentle with its characters,

provides service seme/uke (by story if not appearance),

has low heat but good couple chemistry and nice kisses,

uses a traditional romance foundation (fake dating) with a comedic bent (but punching down humor),

has miscommunication and BL tropes as narrative drivers,

is in a university setting with fun friendship groups,

and everything turns out charming in the end.

It released at exactly the right time (lockdown) to the right platform (YouTube) for an international audience (mostly trapped at home) and it was HUGE. A sensation. With this series BL became a soft power for Thailand. It’s likely single-handedly responsible for more fans discovering BL than all three of its core predecessors combined. It’s still one of the most popular Thai BLs (by the YouTube watch numbers and MDL reviews and ratings) than any other. And possibly the most popular BL of all.

This is not the first time we see it, but 2gether is also a heavy hitter in the arena of product placement and sponsorship deals. Featuring leads with model training and model looks, BrightWin skyrocketed their couple brand into major marketing deals. It should be said, however, that the kings of BL pair marketing to beat were MewGulf (TharnType series) who caused an absolute sensation and crashed websites with their shoots. However, OffGun (Puppy Honey, Theory of Love, Not Me) and MaxTul (Together with Me series, Manner of Death) remain the eternal kings of co-branding, with years of endorsement deals based on their comfortable working relationship as a pair.

Still, it was 2gether that really got called out for its admittedly egregious product placement.

Filming wise, 2gether showcases the Thai BL standard - sparse, brightly lit, lots of tropes, and a warm color palette. It has GMMTV’s mark on it in terms of higher production values (for Thailand, this is no Korea), although that is not to be expected from Thai BL in general. But that saturated, bright, open, almost airy feel is typical of Thai BL as a whole and its unique stamp.

2gether isn’t perfect by a long shot (I openly struggle with it’s punching down humor), but it is Thailand’s solid gold money-making industry standard. And represents the magic they are constantly trying to reproduce.

DAY 15: Thailand Struggles with Origin Yaoi

Love By Chance (2018)

TharnType is the one I talk about the most, but Love By Chance came first and it certainly had its issues. AePete as a central couple were great, and very Thai BL of the Love Sick style, softly subversive seme/uke, gentle and eager, struggling with self worth issues and identity. But they were surrounded by seriously problematic tropes in all the many side dishes from stalker behavior, to stepbrothers, to dubious consent statutory rape, making this, ultimately, a difficult series to swallow.

Mame, the y-novel author responsible for this series (and now many others) has a history of using some of the most problematic yaoi story traditions and tropes (she must have grown up reading manga). She also has a history of inconsistent characters portrayed by great actors, higher heat levels, and is, in general, a mixed bag. But her stuff does showcase what happens to Thai BL when it remembers it came, originally, from Japan.

DAY 16: Thailand Gets Sophisticated About Story

Until We Meet Again (2019)

One of the things that distinguishes Thai BL above all others (except maybe some Pinoy stuff) is the length of treatment. Started by Love Sick, Thailand is willing to spend 10-17 full 45 minute episodes on a story (although its kinda settled on 12 these days) with a full cast and multiple different couples. (Possibly because it’s comparatively cheap to do so in Thailand, as opposed to Japan or Korea.)

Thailand production houses are also willing to give 2nd seasons (thank you again Love Sick), spin off series featuring side couples (thank you Mame), and specials (thank you Our Skyy & GMMTV), in a way that, is pretty rare in the BL world and largely vested in Thailand’s ability to raise additional product sponsorship on the back of a first season’s success.

But because they are adapting from novels (half the time), Thailand can also get more sophisticated with story and narrative structure in long form than any other country (except maybe the Chinese bromances). UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN PERFECTLY HIGHLIGHTS THIS. It is a masterful piece of long form story telling, with twists and reveals, loop backs and discoveries between past and present that also manages to link (and make necessary) it’s side dishes.

Good story can’t be expected from all Thai BL, but it can be expected from at least half a dozen every year. And that’s pretty darn good in this industry.

VIETNAM

Very new to the BL scene Vietnam nevertheless has its own flavor and is doing interesting things with the genre already. I don’t have a history of Vietnamese BL post, because there isn’t much, but I do have a master post here. They have an SEO issue, their stuff is often hard to find because their naming conventions are odd and inconsistent between episodes. Also they are not yet listed on MDL (as of 2021). I dithered over putting them after the Philippines because of this, but style-wise they bridge Thai and Pinoy stuff.

DAY 17: Vietnam’s Difficult Launch

My Sky (2017)

AKA BẦU TRỜI CỦA KHÁNH

With a really very odd ending, this is nevertheless a good insight into how Vietnam started it’s BL journey (triggers on homophobia, abuse, possible incest, humiliation). You can see some things it will become known for: home settings, slightly messy staging, and a sweetly combative core relationship. Also Vietnam uses real people, or actors that look real, and doesn’t have as strong an aesthetic preference as Korea or Taiwan. In this, Vietnam more like early Chinese BL or current Pinoy stuff. In fact, this piece has a distinctly 2013 Chinese BL feel to it, which is a direction Vietnam will quickly abandon.

You’ll notice this BL feels immature. This has to do almost entirely with production values. Vietnam just doesn’t have a strong studio system in place. This is VBLs lack the background talent (editors, sound engineers, lighting technicians, wardrobe, makeup props dep, stagers, etc...) Production in general started out low quality with My Sky and remains what we can expect from this industry.

Also the limited cast, home setting, and sense of family life started here, and are elements that VBL will preserve throughout its offerings. Domesticity is by far their strong point. However, their acting is earnest and honest and tender, and the physicality can be sweet and authentic in a way that Taiwan can do, but tends to push a lot harder and more aggressive. VBL has a lot in common with the Thai pulps, but generally their acting is less stiff.

DAY 18: Double Bill - Modern Vietnamese BL

You Are Ma Boy & My Lascivious Boss (2021)

EM LÀ CHÀNG TRAI CỦA ANH YAMB and ÔNG CHỦ, ĐỪNG ĐẾN ĐÂY MLB

These two are good examples of the current state of VBL, and you probably don’t need to watch both if you don’t want to (also you could go for Mr Cinderella if you want to meet Bah Vinh current reigning King of BL - he has starred in the most of any one actor).

These exemplify Vietnam’s marked preference for a home setting and the authentic domesticity that goes along with this. I keep using the word “authentic” and I think that’s what like about this BL tradition. VBL feels homey and real and warm - a bit cluttered and clumsy and awkward. Even if it can get a bit... odd, and the story structure is simplistic at best.

VBL is also getting better at femme, trans, and cross dressing rep without punching down (as Thailand is prone to do) which is, again, a lot more like Pinoy stuff. In fact, Vietnamese BL forms a pretty tidy bridge between Thai BL (at Korean length) but with Pinoy sensibilities. So let’s touch on that tradition next.

THE PHILIPPINES

Also new to the BL scene. Because of its background as a Spanish and then American occupied nation, the Philippines offers up a distinctly different flavor of BL. Let’s be blunt shall we? Catholicism has made its mark. Combine that with a language that is now wrapped in and around English, the Philippines has culturally incorporated western concepts, words, and ideology around queerness that permeates their BL, and simply does not exist in other BL producing nations. Only Taiwan even approaches it. What this means is that Pinoy BL feels the most western to many international watchers.

But, it is a young industry so extremely messy in production and awkward with story, while being gritty and realistic with performance and setting. I don’t have a history of watching Pinoy BL because I don’t enjoy any of these aspects. And because they (now) tend to produce long form and don’t always end happily, the buy in is high to watch all of them.

DAY 19: The BL Bridge

4 Days (2016)

The first Pinoy BL that I know of is high school set Geography Lessons (AKA Lisyun qng Geografia) from 2014 which is a nostalgic little microfilm that actually has a lot in common with early Japanese BL in content if not style. It’s not dark, but it doesn’t end happily either.

University set BL 4 Days is similar, with a happy ending, so it’s the one I suggest to get a taste of early Pinoy stuff. You should be able note, at this juncture, that it feels a little like the early Chinese or Taiwanese stuff in its grittiness, but is not as dark. It’s almost a one act play, in that most of the content is the two leads in their dorm room together. It’s a simple friends to lovers concept with a disaster bi archetype (the Philippines likes these two tropes a lot and will constantly reuse them), but you’ll notice the unformed staging and lighting and inconsistent sound.

Pinoy BL has not yet outgrown any of this, it’s sort of sweaty and sticky and homey feeling. BL from the Philippines always feels homemade. The acting is usually better than Vietnam or the Thai pulps, but the story structure is even more raw. Some Pinoy stuff can just drift into complete soap opera narrative nothingness - like the worst of the Thai BL pulps.

DAY 20: The Indoor Kids

Gameboys (2020)

Alternatively you can also watch Like In The Movies AKA Gaya Sa Pelikula (2020), a great offering. Both these showcase Pinoy BLs’ move towards more queer affirming narratives. Also they both prove that the Philippines can handle story (just not very complicated ones), but likes to stick with the home setting.

(The only major offering not of this type, with any legs, is my favorite Pinoy BL My Day. But My Day is one of those that seems to be more of an exception than a rule, and is basically the Philippines trying to do Thai BL.)

Back to Gameboys. As a quarantine project, this was well suited out the gate to the Pinoy BL style. And they did it first as a result, breaking ground and getting known because Gameboys got wide distribution and the international audience liked the realistic feel (and forgave amateur production values because we are used to that in a queer narrative) when married to the zoom-style reality of a C19 setting. (Thailand and Taiwan would both go on to produce quarantine projects like Gameboys, unquestionably inspired by it.) Also the characters were endearing awkward self affirming honest queer kids, played with charming authenticity by a wonderful cast. When Pinoy BL gets it RIGHT, this is were it excels.

SELF CRITICAL BL

Lovely Writer (Thailand 2021)

Lovely Writer is an excellent BL in the classic high quality Thai BL style, but it is ALSO Thailand examining what 7 years of BL fandom has done to them and their industry. It tackles adaptations, writing BL, and the pressures of the y-novel industry on creatives as well as actor issues and stressors, not to mention obsessive fans and disgusting shipping practices. It’s meta and there would go on to be many more BLs of this type. Call it What You Want (2021) does this as well, only it’s even rougher going. Lovely Writer is kind about it, no triggers, CITWYW is bitter.

This idea of self analysis and reflection is not, however, unique to 2021. The Effect a Thai BL from 2019 takes seme/uke and obsessive love to task in a big way. It’s seriously traumatic and I don’t recommend watching it as essentially it is a BL that stands up and decrees: if people really did act this way in real life, these are the consequences. And do we really want our little fantasies shattered like that? No, we don’t.

Lovey Writer self reflects without breaking us or its characters. It is thoughtful about what it means to be a BL in Thailand, without punishing the watchers for their love of the genre. Just, perhaps, encouraging all of us to think about our behavior as fans.

A Man Who Defies The World of BL (Japan 2021)

AKA Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko

If Lovely Writer was about the BL industry, Absolute BL is about the BL narrative, or more precisely, the tropes and archetypes of origin yaoi. It’s Japan 2021 bringing us back around to the origin of everything, and then ruthlessly trotting that everything before us and poking hard core fun at it. This show will not make sense at all if you don’t have a familiarity with the genre, or it might, but it won’t be as funny or insightful. It’s a work of parody gold and genius, and I love it more than is strictly reasonable.

Is it a good BL? Not even a little bit. But after going through this syllabus you should know why.

But that is also NOT THE POINT.

Instead, this show is the perfect cap stone to the journey that the 30 BLs on this list will take you on. Because you will finally understand every moment and every nuance it’s highlighting and it will, I promise, blow your mind in that regard. This show only could have come from Japan, and only Japan could have executed it so well. The only way to fully understand why, is to have watched the other legacy shows that came before it.

Absolute BL was made for us, for the fans, and only for us. Absolutely no one else could possibly understand it. It was a thank you gift (and friendly mockery) from the ones who started everything. And that is the reason I would end on this gem.

If you want a country-by-country breakdown and direct comparison which highlights the strengths and weakness of each (in terms of both story and production) that’s here:

BL Breakdowns by Country

BL Master Post

(includes what you can now expect from BL produced by each country)

BL Docs & NonFic Resources on YT

BL History

Strongberry on BL (Korea)

Thai BL

TED Ex BangKok (growing up gay in Thailand)

Chinese masculinity

Perth on working on a BL show (Thailand, Aussie perspective)

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absolutebl · 3 years

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BL FAQ

When did you start watching Asian BL dramas?

I saw my first BL drama in 2017, but I didn’t start blogging about BL until 2020. I come to BL with a background of reading yaoi (in translation) in the early 2000s. I’m (intentionally) not familiar with anime. I’ve watched and critiqued queer cinema and literature as part of my professional life since about 2010. One of my (MANY) academic tangents was into narrative analysis. My profession is now tangential to Hollywood and centers around data analysis (which should tell you the reasons I don’t talk about what I do is 1. NDAs and 2. it’s boring).

I’m pretty sure first BL drama was SOTUS on YouTube, then the HIStory & HIStory2 series, then Love Sick, then Love By Chance. I had seen some Japanese live action yaoi before that (Takumi), but by accident and not really registering what it was. After discovering Thai BL on YouTube, I jumped like ALL in ALL at once, so I don’t remember the order at all.

2gether and TharnType were the hardest for me to get into.

Since I travel a ton for work, outside of 2020-2022 I’m usually a binge watcher. Normally, I do not tune in weekly. I don’t care about spoilers.

What are your favorite BL dramas? (right now)

Until We Meet Again is my favorite Thai BL.

Semantic Error is my favorite Korean BL.

We Best Love is my favorite Taiwanese BL.

Seven Days is my favorite Japanese live action yaoi.

Mr Cinderella is my favorite from Vietnam.

My Day is my favorite Pinoy BL (although I don’t follow these closely).

Here’s my currently running 15 best and 15 worst list.

I do not consider mature queer cinema (like Your Name Engraved Herein or His) strictly BL. Since I come from 2000s yaoi and tropes are my passion, I expect my BL to display certain defining narrative elements. Similarly, because of my background, I do not expect BL to be all sweetness and light and happy ever afters, although that is the kind of BL I prefer to watch.

The only 7 BLs that I have rated 10/10 are:

Seven Days (Japan)

Color Rush (Korea)

Light On Me (Korea)

To My Star (Korea)

Semantic Error (Korea)

We Best Love (Taiwan)

Until We Meet Again (Thailand)

This is out of 500+ watched as of beginning 2023.

Who are your favorite BL actors?

I like actors who show good chemistry with different partners. In other words, I like it when they can act outside of a prescribed pairing. So Fluke Natouch, Lay Talay, First Kanaphan, & Ohm Pawat are some of my favorites. I also admire and try to support out actors like Fluke, Earth, Newyear, Holland.

What are your favorite tropes?

Romance tropes in general:

(love) Rivals to lovers is my #1 fav trope since by its nature it’s queer, (example: Hey Rival, I LOVE YOU!).

Grumpy/sunshine is my favorite pairing (To My Star).

I gravitate to found family, journeys of self worth, unrequited pining, and well integrated paranormal elements (Cherry Magic, Color Rush, He’s Coming To Me).

I like slightly higher heat levels and palpable chemistry (We Best Love).

Although, I will forgive almost anything for good allegory and great plot (Color Rush).

I love soft pairings where it’s all about equality and mutual care and domesticity (Ingredients).

I prefer low angst when outside forces act to keep the couple apart (i consider miscommunication lazy writing).

Tropes germane to BL in particular:

Food is my love language is a big favorite (anything from boys feeding boys, to gifts of snacks, to eating and cooking together).

I enjoy a high school setting and I will cut these stories more slack than those featuring older characters.

If there must be a uke/seme (heterosexual imposition out of yaoi) then I prefer if it is established by some kind of world building concept (Color Rush), character personality (AePete in Love By Chance), or is clearly D/s. Otherwise, I am a big fan of Taiwanese BL and Korean BL because couples tend to have a weak seme/uke dynamic.

And that the uke chracter has agency (physical, vocal, active, autonomy - e.g. TeaKyung in Light on Me).

I prefer a soft pining aching seme + a tough stroppy agro uke (We Best Love).

I only really enjoy a happy ending - HEA.

I have a weakness for some systemic but problematic tropes like overprotectiveness, stepbrothers, age gaps, and whipping boy

Who are your OTPs?

My comfort babies are:

SoloGui (Oxygen)

AePete (Love By Chance)

ShiDe + ShuYi (We Best Love)

JiWoo + SeoJoon (To My Star)

JaeYoung + SangWoo (Semantic Error)

Togawa + Nozue (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Takara & Amagi

What non-bl dramas do you recommend?

I mostly don’t. Occasionally I will lose my tiny mind over a bromance (glares at The Devil Judge).

I will suggest non-BL queer cinema sometimes. Some of my favorite BL-friendly English language movies include:

Shelter ~ Closeted poor kid who’s an amazing artist falls in love with out rich kid who is also his best friend’s older brother. Themes of familial responsibility, hope, and duty. Southern California setting comes across really well.

Latter Days ~ Repressed mormon meets LA party boy who’s made a bet to seduce him. Includes lots of dramatic indy songs, Tara from Buffy, and an achingly romantic ending. LA struggling actor versus the mormon agenda is extremely well done.

Boy Meets Girl ~ a near perfect execution of the friends to lovers trope plus finding self worth and acceptance in a very atmospheric, beautifully romantic, and gorgeously queer journey.

Maurice ~ British upper crust university college kids in the 1920s meet and start a plutonic love affair spanning many years. Based on the life of E.M. Forster, it’s not a typical romance but it does have a happy ending.

I do like noona romances.

What BL do you recommend the most to non-BL watchers?

AKA gateway drugs?

He’s Coming to Me on YouTube. I consider this the most palatable BL for a Western mind-set English-speaking mainstream audience.

Also A Tale of 1000 Stars is a solid classic romance.

Wish You on Netflix for Korean BL & K-pop fans (with a standard K-drama stalker trigger warning).

I will crow about Color Rush and Cherry Magic to anyone who will sit still long enough.

Semantic Error - come on, just LOOK at it.

Where can I find Korean BL?

Korean & Taiwanese dramas usually show up on Viki. Korea’s premier queer arthouse production company Strongberry sells exclusive to vimeo and GagaOOLala, which also has most of Japan’s back catalogue.

Ones I’m asked about the most:

Color Rush (2020) on Viki. The movie is better.

To My Star (2021) on Viki. Either the series or the movie.

Where can I find Taiwanese BL?

Taiwanese BLs are the hardest to find. But most of them are on Viki or GaGa at this point, except my favorite, We Best Love (on WeTV).

Like Korean BL, many Taiwanese BLs (including most of the HIStory series) are on Viki (some of them behind the paywall but not all).

Some are also on YouTube. They get taken down then pop back up again. So you’ll need to search.

If I can’t find it anywhere else I check the discussion thread for the drama in question on My Drama List.

Where can I find Japanese BL?

Japanese dramas are sometimes posted by professional level subbers independently. Two of my favorites are irozuku and ichihachi but they both sub non-BL as well. Older live action yaoi (AKA the first BLs) from 2016 and earlier are notoriously difficult to find. If you find a source, tell me, okay? Sometimes they are on YouTube and quite a few are now on Gaga but mostly the darker stuff.

Ones I’m asked about the most:

Cherry Magic (2020) - Irosuku subbed it but technically I think it’s on Crunchyroll

Restart After Come Back Home (2020) - Gaga

Seven Days (2015) - possibly my all time favorite BL, yeah good luck with that, but it is SO worth the hunt

Where can I find Vietnamese BL?

Vietnamese shows are mainly posted to YouTube from their many different production houses. I subscribe to the channel of the ones that I like.

Ones I’m asked about the most:

You Are Ma Boy (2021) from DGTV

Hey Rival, I LOVE YOU! (2020) on Come Out LGBT Việt Nam (also has Follow My Sunshine)

Where can I find Pinoy BL?

Pinoy shows are mainly posted to YouTube from the many different production houses. The houses are usually pretty good about making series playlists and the subs are always excellent.

Ones I’m asked about the most:

My Day (2020) from Oxin Films has been down for a while, sadly

Gameboys (2020) on Netflix

Like in the Movies (2020) from Globe Studios on YT

Where can I find Thai BL?

Where can you not find it?

GMMTV YouTube Channel: Major heavy hitting Thai shows like 2gether & Dark Blue Kiss, 1000 Stars, Bad Buddy are on YouTube. I just subscribe to that channel and/or look at its playlists or use YouTube search function.

Studio Wabi Sabi YouTube Channel: second biggest Thai BL producers offers The En of Love | Love By Chance | Until We Meet Again

Smaller production house Thai shows like Oxygen | My Engineer | Ingredients | 2 Moons 2 are on YouTube from their production or distribution houses.

Thai shows that have been sold for international distribution: SOTUS, Lovesick, Puppy Honey are sometimes on Netflix (but often still also on YouTube) although a select few are going to VIki & iQIYI

Thai shows that have faded or never got international distribution are sometimes on YouTube uploaded by fans: just search the title of the show + “Eng Sub” for example Make it Right & 2 Moons original

Thai shows that aren’t on YouTube can usually be found on Viki or Gaga or iQIYI (behind a paywall), just use a search function + name of platform.

Still Totally Lost?

If I can’t find it anywhere else I check the discussion thread for the drama in question on My Drama List or whatever grey site is currently popular (bad & illegal rips and terrible subs but sometimes it’s all we get). And I set up an occasional vanity hit search alert for YouTube. These include:

Addicted (Heroin) web series (the world’s best BL from Mainland China) the full uncut version (trust me, you want that one) is on Viki.

Which OTT platform are worth subscribing to for BL? (The Stats)

My infamous BL spreadsheet currently has 383 entries, and a column for “source”, I type this in April of 2022.

YouTube - 165 BLs

Has the most pieces of content. That’s because bootlegs show up there a lot, especially the early Chinese and Japanese stuff that you can’t find anywhere else. They will often get taken down and you have to hunt for it again. YT takedowns come in waves, every 6 months or so.

However, GMMTV, some Star Hunter, some Studio Wabi Sabi, all the Vietnamese & Pinoy stuff (until now), and a few choice bits of Strongberry are YT content.

I use YT for work A LOT, so the fee for Premium ($11.99) and lack of ads + downloads is worth it for me, but I think it probubly isn’t if you’re on a budget. Sub quality is all over the place but generally worse than on “real” OTTs. The app is fine, but the web based YT at Premium level doesn’t work with Firefox.

I travel a lot and like to take my YT downloads to watch on the plane. HOWEVER, you should know YT doesn’t download CC subs properly, so this doesn’t work for BL unless the ENG SUB are hard coded to the image (as is often the case with bootlegs).

GagaOOLala - 105 BLs

Of the pay to play platforms, GaGa actually has the most BLs by numbers. However, these are mostly shorts. If you’re intersted in darker BL, GL and other queer content, very high heat, the history of the genre, or Japanese stuff - most of that will be on GaGa. Also all of Strongberry and some of the newer more queer series (like My Ride).

I got a subscription to GaGa at the beginning of the year and have NEVER regretted it, at $6.99 a month it’s also the cheapest option. It’s also openly and very aggressively queer and based in Taipei, so if you can afford them, you probubly should support them. Their app is pretty terrible, but their web-based interface is good.

GaGa is the only one that (so long as Taiwan is autonomous) will always have more BL, guaranteed. Ironically, you can follow their YT channel for previews and teasers to their latest series and acquisitions. Because they are Taiwan-based their subs, especially for Chinese and Japanese stuff, are quite good.

Rakutan Viki - 52 BLs

(probubly more, some of those ones I watched originally on YT are now on Viki)

Has the most BL content (apart from YT) by watchable hours. It specializes in longer series, mostly Thai, Taiwanese, and a few of the Chinese bromances. But mostly only more recent stuff.

At $11.99 with another pay point for Plus (you don’t need it for BL) it’s pretty average cost. But most of my favorite new shows tend to go to Viki, and I like Rakutan as a parent company, so I don’t mind supporting them. They don’t have a speed-up option though, which is annoying, and their web-interface is super buggy. But they DO have categories you can name and control, which I really love.

It is amusing to me that GaGa (Taiwan) and Viki (Japan) each have the most of the other’s content. The subs on Viki tend to be a little worse than other platforms because they sub by committee, and for various reasons Korean stuff is better subbed than anything else. That said the Thai stuff is not done by Viki (so far as I can tell). They seem to buy those with subs, so they’re okay.

Other Platforms

iQIYI - has recently entered the field, it’s Mainland China based - so the platform getting BL for its international audience is… how do I put this… kinda shitty? The interface is okay, but it’s heavy hitters are really only Blueming (seriously Korea, respect yourself more), KinnPorsche and few others. It clearly wants to get into the market, but… do we want it in the market? For now they seem to be rolling things out with ads. Or pay to binge. Which is an interesting tactic - smart, actually. Up to you on this one. But I would say right now it’s only worth it if you really also like Chinese dramas. And even so, Viki has A LOT of those.

Netflix - here in the states it almost never has new BL content. Sometimes some old stuff. They tested the waters with SOTUS and Love Sick. I have a feeling they aren’t particularly intersted. So if BL is what you watch, don’t bother.

WeTV - acts like LineTV used to, has Manner of Death and We Best Love. You need to subscribe for WBL2 + no ads.

I find leads for these well… here. If someone is giffing and talking about a show and I don’t know how they are getting hold of it, I just ask.

BL Review & Information Content Providers/Blogs OFF Tumblr

(source)