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twig-tea · 2 months

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With 23.5 finally coming out, the people are rejoicing at finally getting a high profile gl from GMMTV. But there have already been several gls airing this year, including my fav TsukuTabe, that have been flying under the radar with fandom, and in general there are more gls already out there than folks seem to think. I just know you have a list of all the gls we should be watching, please share with the class!

Thank you for the ask! How did you know I had a draft of GL recs to make at some point? [Trick question, I mentioned it to you.]

It may seem like I'm out here hating on GL because i've made a couple of negative reviews of recently airing series recently (Love Senior and Chaser Game W in case you're curious) but I actually have lots of GL that I love and that I wish were better known! Thanks for sending this ask so I am inspired to actually finish it! I've limited myself to series so that I could keep the list and this post to a reasonable length. Where possible I've listed where you can find each of these and included a link. And I've included an 'elevator pitch' summary but I am NOT in marketing for a reason, so please don't roast me too hard for my terrible comparisons. Alright, enough waffling!

Twig's GL Rec List

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat S1 & 2 (Japan, 2022 & 2024, both seasons fansubbed by @furritsubs; if you need help accessing this show feel free to DM me!)

Elevator pitch: Our Dining Table with lesbians and an even slower burn. Watch for beautiful food, acespec rep, mental health and therapy rep

What might turn some off: Extremely low heat, and quite slow-moving; warning for a disordered eating and family trauma plot (v gently handled)

Let's start with the one you've already mentioned. This is a heartwarming slice-of-life slow burn in which an autismspec-coded woman who likes to eat is invited by her neighbour, a femme acespec woman who loves to cook, to come and eat her food. It starts from a very practical place (when you love making food you need someone to help eat it), but their relationship grows as they spend more time together. The story follows them as they both move towards self-actualization in several ways: as a lesbian, as asexual, at work, with their families, with their friends, with each other. This show is so careful to say the important words aloud. And there is so much delicious cooking! Each episode highlights a particular recipe, and the food porn is real. Do not watch while hungry, but definitely watch. The found famiy vibes in this one one are also immaculate.

She Makes My Heart Flutter (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Younger lesbian friend group tries to help out (slightly) older lesbian bar owner with mixed success. I can't think of a good BL equivalent, The Moment Since feels the closest with its similar bartender/patron romance

What might turn some off: Comedic tone; short runtime; struggles with being closeted

This is a gem of a miniseries about a bar owner and an interior designer who smoulder at one another while an intrepid group of younger bar regulars (including the bar owner's neice) meddle. This series is really cute, solid, and full of sapphics! Once again found family vibes are immaculate (you may sense a theme in my faves). Run don't walk.

Fragrance of the First Flower (Taiwan, 2021, GagaOOLala)

Elevator pitch: Right-person-wrong-time/second chance romance; tonally is a little like We Best Love 2: Fighting Mr. 2nd but with an ambiguous ending.

What might turn you off: Medium heat, second chance romance means they break up once, internalized homophobia, adultery/cheating, at one point there's a creepy dude, child with autism (depicted well), ambiguous ending

At its core this is a story of a woman who can't stop getting in the way of her own happiness. This series is a little more sad than the rest of this rec list but I couldn't not include it because this relationship is so poignant. Plus there's a s2 that supposedly is to come out in 2024 so maybe we'll get our happy ending after all?

Love Greater Than or Equal to 70 Degrees C (Korea, 2019, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ingredients but with lesbians staring at one another over beautiful tea pairings! What more could you ask for?

What might turn you off: Low heat; short runtime; ambiguous ending; like Ingredients this is essentially a long ad for the café it's filmed at.

This is a Korean miniseries about passionate tea sommeliers making really fancy tea while staring at one another a LOT. Perfect sapphic representation, 10/10 no notes. This one packs a lot of the drama tropes into its short runtime, so even though it's short it's full of butterfly-inspiring moments.

Sleep With Me (Philippines, 2022, GagaOOLala/iWantTFC/Netflix w/VPN set to Philippines)

Elevator pitch: The Truth About Cats and Dogs but the self esteem issues are handled without catfishing. BL equivalent: Hmmm. Closest I can think of is Gaya Sa Pelikula.

What might turn you off: There's some ableism (treated as such) in this show; Open ending.

Stellar GL between a late night radio DJ and an insomniac who listens to her show. One of the main couple is a wheelchair user and the show tackles ablelism and navigating disability in relationship as well as feelings of inadequacy in a relationship and how that manifests as interpersonal conflict.

Our Relationship Ended Before it Began (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Along the lines of I Cannot Reach You; the show gives both perspectives and they are held back by queer angst.

What might turn you off: No kiss (but they make it very clear both want to kiss), internalized homophobia

Really sweet miniseries about having a crush and being afraid of being hurt so you don't actually make a move. I really like the way the girl who has not dated a girl before defaults to gender roles and it throws the more experienced lesbian lol I also really like the way this show makes clear that both of them are waiting for a kiss, and that if you get in your head about things, it can get in the way of your own happiness!

Pearl Next Door (Philippines, 2020, Youtube)

Elevator Pitch: Gameboys but with lesbian vloggers.

What might turn you off: Love triangle, lots of teasing but low heat in the end, a lot of (good) conversations about mental health issues, ambiguous ending

This is the GL spinoff to Gameboys, starring Pearl from Gameboys. Pearl ends up being fought over by the two gorgeous women in the gif, an old love and a new. I love the queer friendships in this story as much as the relationships. I will say it's an open ending (that felt a bit like the showrunners didn't want to decide between ships) and definitely the love triangle features prominently but even in the face of these aspects that would normally turn me off a series I had a good time. The characters and interpersonal conflicts feel very real, and are allowed to be complex even when the show tone is comedic.

Dear Uranus (Taiwan, 2021, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Schoolgirl ensemble GL; a little like My School President but without the singing.

What might turn you off: Short runtime; ambiguous ending; a little bit of bullying; very standard romance trope execution

The first Taiwanese GL miniseries, this series was produced by a Taiwanese lesbian couple (Rabbit & Wolf)! Lots of excellent drama tropes, and incredibly gorgeous women (I think the entire watching audience fell in love with Erol.

Lily Fever (Korea, 2015, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Complete crack; YYY but with more kissing and frankly an even less coherent story.

What might turn you off: The lack of coherent plot; less a romance and more a very thirsty lesbian kissing everyone she can

This miniseries is utter chaos. Nothing really makes sense, it's all just random excuses to cause very suggestive moments (and kissing) to happen. I love so much how this series depicts women being so absolutely thirsty for one another (and yes that date isn't a typo, this series is ~9 years old). Not an "happy ever after" ending but it really isn't that kind of story.

Chasing Sunsets (Philippines, 2020, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ocean Likes Me with lesbians. Resort romance with a mental health twist.

What might turn you off: Some of the mental health stuff gets intense, this was filmed in 2020 so the pandemic features heavily; hopeful but slightly ambiguous ending.

A complex story from the Philippines covering mental health and finding yourself. A woman shows up to a resort and befriends one of the women running the resort. They get closer as they spend time together, and the resort owner realizes something is off. There's also a BL side couple in this series.

Show Me Love (Thai, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: A little like My Day the series with lesbians, in that they work together and fall in love and it's full of tropes

What might turn you off: The advertising for the Miss Grand competition, there is some bullying and cheating (though way less than I was expecting tbh), not a lot actually happens, the editing gets a bit wonky at the end

This is essentially a massive ad for the Miss Grand Thailand competition; this GL was produced by the same company that produces that competition, and the stars are mostly Miss Grand competitors. The main pairing were shipped in the actual competition, and the company decided to make a GL about them. It's very slow paced and low-stakes, and there are better kisses than I expected considering everything I just said about where this show came from. There are a lot of cute moments!

Girlfriend Project (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Love Class with lesbians

What might turn you off: One of the leads is kind of mean in that pgitail-pulling way? It ends abruptly (but happily)

This is a short miniseries about two girls paired in a class that are assigned to "date". The chemistry is chemistrying. And there is a kiss (a good kiss, and a tiptoes kiss at that!). This show also has one of my favourite tropes, in which someone who seems like a pushover stands up for themselves and their partner finds it very attractive. For the record, in this show they are watching another GL by the same company, Love Tech.

Lulu (Philippines, 2022, Vivamax/grey)

Elevator Pitch: Present Perfect with lesbians (but with a better ending).

What might turn you off: Depictions of panic attacks, brief depiction of drowning, pandemic lockdowns, illness, exes, waffling, happy but open ending (which I actually liked for this story)

Two women trying to move on from the garbage in their lives meet at the beach of a B&B (where one saves the other from drowning) and become one another's company during their escape and then something more. They both have baggage that seems determined to keep them apart even as they continue to be drawn together. In the end, they decide to stick it out and see where they end up, with no guarantee of happily ever after, which I found very sweet. Requires either a VivaMax account or searching the grey for it, but it's worth the effort (check MyDramaList comments for suggestions on where to find it). Plus one of the leads has a cactus as a pet.

Welcome to the Lesbian Bar (Korea, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: A little like Fudanshi Bartender but without the fudanshi bartender and all of the bar patrons are lesbians lol

What might turn you off: Short, can get a little bit preachy, abrupt ending

Cute short series with different very stories every episode as different patrons visit the bar. The stories range from women who have been together for awhile, to people meeting from an online app for the first time, to someone visiting a lesbian bar for the first time; and yet the story all weaves together in a way that's satisfying though ends abruptly. Includes some solid marriage equality propaganda.

GAP the Series (Thai, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Kind of the vibes of Together with Me but lesbians and in an office instead of school. Angry boss falls for charming new intern and

What might turn you off: This one is the highest heat of all these recs; homophobia especially amongst family, brief depictions of death by car, brief mentions of suicide, cheating, bullying, abuse of power in the office.

A list would not be complete without this one! Honestly the plot is a bit wobbly but the show is a lot of fun. The girls are very cute, the feelings and tension builds really well between them, the friend group is excellent, and in the special we get a wedding.

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The rest of these have caveats of one kind or another, but i couldn't leave them off a rec list, so here are the side couples and censored stories that are still worth your time anyway (I might do a separate more detailed post for these, as well as for films, one day if there's interest):

Nevertheless (GL side; Korean, 2021, Netflix) Not sure it's worth watching a whole kdrama for side lesbians? Search soljiwan on youtube. They are great. Even the Netflix account stans them. I watched this (ngl, I watched the SolJiwan cut) as it aired and was constantly braced for it to let us down but it did not! A really good friends-to-lovers story.

Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area (GL side; Thailand, 2019, YouTube): These sapphics are messy and I love them. Decent conversation about dating someone with mental health issues in this series, and they're one of the only couples in this ensemble to get a happy ending. If you're just watching the lesbian couple (which you can, their story is pretty self-contained) you don't need to have seen s1.

Six Survivors (GL side; Japan, 2022, Viki) This show is a horror comedy and it is SO MUCH FUN. Warning for zombies and blood, but way less than you might think. One of the eponymous 6 survivors is a lesbian who keeps trying to convert them to veganism lol. If you watched Chaser Game W you'll recognize one of the actresses in this, the lead actress is from Kamisama no Ekohiiki, and one of the guys is from the prequel series His as well as I Want to See Only You! And yes there is a kiss. Also a surprising number of Mallrats references. Not for people who can't handle gore or relationships being complicated/not a "true love" story/ambiguous ending.

Kamisama no Ekohiiki (complicated question of is it GL in parts, Japan, 2021, furritsubs once again coming through to save the day) This one is a bit complex because there's bodyswap, but the girl who falls for the bodyswapped boy-in-a-girl's-body is clear that she is only interested in the girl. One of the better bodyswap stories because the bodyswap is not a secret for very long, so instead there's a lot of introspection about what gender means and who/what they are attracted to. Feels wrong to call this GL, necessarily, but it's very queer.

Couple of Mirrors (Censored GL, China, 2021, Viki) Story of a rich girl and her assassin girlfriend. This production did an amazing job getting away with what they could, just don't watch the last five minutes and we've got essentially a happy lesbian family.

Legend of Yunze (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) Very cute very low budget xianxia miniseries with two seasons and a special. The special is set in modern times in a future lifetime so if you want a cute censored-but-clearly-a-soulmate-love-story this is the one for you. Don't be thrown off by the weird cuts/abrupt episode endings, that's in line with cdramas in general.

Led Astray by Love (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) A very fun and adorable isekai story in which a modern day girl is transported to a wuxia novel setting and has to figure out how to get home, and gets romanced by the princess along the way.

And a few additional links for people who even more content:

My Indian sapphic webseries rec list

My suggestions for content with toms (Thai category that's similar to but not exactly the same as butch lesbians) in response to this post.

This really good GL MyDramaList list (not made by me!) lists what seems to be everything I've mentioned and about 200 more. Even I haven't seen a few of these!

My YouTube playlist of sapphic content: This includes anything I stumble across or find in my searches, a lot of music videos and random shorts as well as some microseries and miniseries that I don't consider GL but are WLW/sapphic in addition to true "GL" content. For serialized content, I add just the first ep. A complete mess, but you can trawl through to find stuff to watch, like Hetero!

SOONOTSUE: The same producers of She Makes My Heart Flutter have other short series on their channel worth checking out; if you liked that one, try Out of Breath!

Shakeshoulder: Thai YouTube producers of very pulpy (read: low budget and dramatic plots) shorts

FuFuKnows: This YouTube channel is owned by a gay Taiwanese couple that produces shorts every week, including some with GL mains and sides. These are very low budget but cover a whole swath of queer themes.

@douqi7s is a godsend providing subtitles for all kinds of content, including sapphic shorts and more series than I've listed here. Check their tumblr for links to all of their content; A Practical Guide to Being a Superstar's Assistant has one of the best setups to giving us great moments in the guise of something else so that they get past censorship I've ever seen; I also recommend The Vampires if you're into genre fiction, as well as Legend of Yunqian if you enjoyed the xianxia parts of Legend of Yunze. @wlwcatalogue did an excellent summary of many of the non-wuxia options here.

Quick pitch for the streaming platform GagaOOLala; it's affordable, has a ton of content, including a whack of GLs (originals, license series, and a ton of shorts), and is run by queer people out of Taiwan who care about good quality queer content being made and having an audience, and using the soft power from those successful series to support social change. And if you can't afford a subscription it's worth checking out what they have for free, they open up temporary free access to some things for various events throughout the year.

In searching for gifs for this post I found fellow tumblr user @drowningparty 's WLW compendium list; they've listed more series and films so check it out if you still need more content!

*wipes sweat off brow* that should be enough to be getting on with, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg! If there's something specific you want to see with sapphics let me know and I can tell you if I know it exists. Anyway, I hope this gives you and everyone else a taste of what all is out there! I of course always want more, I am serious about being a sapphic dragon hoarding every crumb i can get my lizardy hands on, but I do think what we have should also be appreciated more. If I missed one of your faves, please tell me!

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mugentakeda · 2 months

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liuju has never been more thankful to finally be back under the base after a mission.

the sun hurt more than it soothed that day, the passing voices of the city as he snuck back into the walls drove him crazy, the journey to the agrarian zone took too many steps.

"i'll be down as soon as i've finished taking care of my stuff to get your report," long feng had said, pride lining his voice. "just relax until then. bathe, get something to drink."

he hit his bed and was out in the next two blinks.

hes dreaming.

hes at the end of a long corridor in lake laogai. the end is so far away he cant see past the thick shadows. he walks, walks, walks. he can't see any part of himself and he can't feel anything. past the heavy gloom, there's a door. that's how he knows its a dream, because in the bowels of the base in which liuju calls home, the only way out is if hes escorted by an earthbender. he's made himself a dream door.

he pushes through the door. it's almost as if theres a gap, and then hes in an unfamiliar place. like a separate reality.

its another long corridor, but its all shades of muted red. its humid and the air is clean, unlike the chill must of his underground home. the floors are so clean it's like looking in a mirror. he can't get himself to look above him to the ceiling. there's tall frames adorning the wall to his left, but they're all covered in drapes. the end is so far away he can't see past the thick shadows. he walks, walks, walks.

past the thick gloom, theres a door. its towering and exquisite. liuju pushes them both open.

it's the same red hallway, but the drapes on the paintings are gone. a line of paintings with unfamiliar men in red robes. something about it makes his chest tug.

there's a door on the right side of the hallway wall further down. it's cracked open, and gentle light spills from it. he peaks inside when he approaches.

theres a bassinet with the sound of a cooing babt comes from it. its sitting by a grand and elegant bed. theres a tall, thin, shadowy figure sitting on the edge of the bed, head leaning over the bassinet.

he cant make out a single detail beyond the silhouette. he inches closer. little baby hands emerge from the bassinet and wave in the air, as if the child is wants to be held by the silhouette.

the door creaks, and the silhouettes head snaps to him suddenly. all he can see are wide eyes with angry orange irises. the figure rises like a demon rising from hell, and comes towards him suddenly. fear makes his heart hammer, but he can't get himself to move or make a sound.

it jumps at liuju so quickly he barely has any time to register it, but he can make out some details. deep brown skin, feathery hair, thin white robes, the foul stench of old blood and urine.

unbearable pain.

he wakes up in the red hallway again. the door is still there, just on the edge of his vision. he goes toward it again. when he peaks inside, the figure is gone, but the bassinet is still there.

when he pushes past the door and leans over the bassinet, the baby isn't in there.

next thing he knows, he's laying in the bed with his back leaned against the headboard. when he looks down, he can finally see himself- he's in thin white robes, but theres red stains dotting around his legs and the skirts of the robes. sweat making the robes stick to his skin. there are muffled voices around him, but it's just him in the room, and he can't make any of the words out.

he shuts his eyes as they get louder, and something deep in his gut flutters and squirms, and his skin crawls at the sensation. terror fills his heart once again.

unbearable pain.

he wakes up in the red hallway again.

there's two kids sitting right on the edge of the shadows. they're young and dressed in red. as he walks forward, he starts making out clear details. ones a girl, and shes slightly smaller. black hair pinned in a bun, with two thick strands framing her little face. the other is a boy, with a slightly taller face, all his long hair pulled into a tall ponytail. they both turn to him suddenly, as if finally acknowledging his presence, and grin.

they have sweet little grins. the girl looks a bit mischievous, like a baby fox. the boys smile is innocently excited. both have brilliant golden eyes.

he's close enough to see an imposing figure standing behind them, just beyond the shadows. it startles him enough to bring him to a total stop.

the children look at him confused now, but the figure beyond the shadows begins to inch forward. its tall and broad with shoulders that curl up sharply, and flame shaped prongs on the top of its head. it reaches for the boy first, and for the first time since this dream began, he moves.

terror fills his heart once again, and before he can stop the figure or even see what it does, hes at the beginning of the red hallway again. there's no door or children, this time. just shadows at the end.

when he tries to walk towards it, his body wont let him walk correctly. he keeps wobbling.

as he gets closer to the shadows, he tries to speed up, but his body wont let him.

as soon as he breaks through the shadows, everything is pitch dark. the red gloom from behind him is gone, and he can't make himself turn to make sure its still there.

the fluttering and squirming and skin crawling sensations from earlier is back again, but its stronger. its so strong, and it starts to hurt, and then it hurts even more, like something is splitting his body in half, and he begins to think that maybe thats whats happening and he just cant see from how dark it is, because something wet is rolling down his legs and pooling around his feet and it smells like blood and urine, and just as soon as a screech comes bubbling up his throat-

he wakes up.

the dark chill and must of lake laogai brings him back to reality.

theres crackling and light coming from across the room. a tall shadow along the wall hes facing. he turns himself over slowly. long feng is sitting across the room, writing on paper with his ink brush. the man stops and looks up, seemingly feeling his gaze. "good morning. feeling better?"

he shakes his head. his head is the only thing that really hurts, but his heart is still pounding from memories of dreams that are fading away by the second. phantom aches pang from between his legs. what was that?

"i came by earlier to see about your report, but you were knocked out. i decided to just let you sleep since i have nothing else to do today aside from paperwork."

his boss pushes a cup of still hot tea across his desk wordlessly. slowly, he drags himself off the bed and hobbles across the room. even after all these years, pushing himself out of bed is a struggle with only one arm to do it with.

"ginseng," liuju mutters. he takes a long sip. its like a warm hug after coming in from the cold.

"yeah," long feng replies with a gentle smile. "it's your favorite, isn'it it?"

"nah," he sighs, sitting down in the seat across from his desk. his bones feel too old for a body that hes pretty sure is in its late twenties. "saffron is my favorite. with lots of spices and cream. i like ginseng too, though. makes me nostalgic."

"nostalgic, huh?"

"yeah. it's weird, i know."

"it's not weird. i get nostalgia over things i don't remember, too. sometimes i even feel like i'm in a situation i've been in before, but can't remember the past experience."

liuju nods, and for a while, there's comfortable silence.

the fireplace crackles. the light sound of long fengs brush on paper.

"i had a dream. different from the usual ones."

the brush sound comes to a stop.

"dreams?"

"yeah. it was super vivid this time. usually my dreams are just... the green fire. from the corridors, i mean. flying around me like a bug. and someone talking. but i can never remember what they were telling me by the time i wake back up. the voice almost sounds like you sometimes."

"that's... odd."

"yeah. i know people like to say dreams have meanings, but that one doesn't make any sense."

long feng has no response for that aside from a hesitant shrug.

"maybe i'm sick," liuju muses.

"hm. did you catch something outside?"

the younger man leans his head back and closes his eyes. the ginseng has him so relaxed, he could fall right back asleep

"don't think so," he murmurs. "i stay away from everyone out there." his body releases the last of its tension. "'s just you."

"strange indeed," long feng grumbles.

liuju goes back to having dreams of the green fire flying around him like a bug once again. this time, he can tell the voice truly is long fengs.

#dai li lu ten #dream sequences are so weird to write because they cant actually make any sense #this time featuring no direct references to iroh. for once #the gap in the door... its a separate reality. the only me is me. are you sure the only you is you?#alicias writing stuff

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