niko @lenodina - Tumblr Blog

Posts

guzhufuren

Nomoto and Kasuga's dumpling party (food 1/∞)

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat S1E03

season 1 / season 2

sherrymagic

the champion who fights for a living / the champion who fights to rebel against his fixed life (insp.)

MEMOIR OF RATI | EPISODE 1

maybe-boys-do-love

The lotus symbolism in Memoir of Rati has been so consistent and beautiful y’all. The flowers make multiple appearances, and Thee and Rati have thrice submerged themselves in the water, mimicking them. And it’s got such a deep relationship to Buddhist beliefs in Thailand, that I’m sure someone else could detail better than me.

And now—correct me if I’m wrong Thai-speakers—we have his birth mother’s name, Buaphuen, meaning friend of the lotus, while his adoptive mother’s name, Buaphan, combines the word for lotus and a Buddhist ceremonial tray used for offerings together to apparently mean a flower garden. His mother who raised him in France has the name Rung, which means to care for, maintain, nourish, or tend like a garden.

Just a beautiful writing choice that connects these three as an important network of women who made Rati’s life possible, with the lotus specifically providing an emphasis on the beauty and sacredness of that queer life.

pointlesscandies

Inn versus the fan tunnel

lazzarella

This tiny moment that was in the TV broadcast version* of MoR but not YouTube/Netflix is making me feel some kind of way! Mek licking his lips after the kiss! Dech looking at Mek's mouth (and stroking his face)!! Gosh 🫠

(Original clip sourced from BesevboomF on Twitter)

absolutebl

BLs with Significant Connection to their Country's Culture, History, Etc...

Okay, so I chose from BLs I rated higher than an 8/10. I made exceptions for a few that I felt fit the brief very well as shows (even if I didn't think they were very good BLs.)

Religion, Folklore, Mythology & Shamanistic Traditions

He's Coming to Me (Thai 2019 YouTube) - Boy and ghost boy fall in love, must solve ghost’s murder. Excellent rep for culture around afterlife belief and practices.

Until We Meet Again (Thai 2019 YouTube) - near perfect execution around the red thread belief, plus excellent insight in Thailand's historic dessert traditions and foodways. Plus my favorite Thai BL of all time.

Khemjira (Thai 2025 iQIYI) - not only does this involve spirituality, folklore, and regional shamanistic beliefs but there is quite a bit of local history thrown in for good measure.

Make a Wish (Thai 2023 grey) - A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love.

The Sign (Thai 2024 YouTube) - This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. What you are looking for are the mythological parts, which are actually pretty darn good and could have marched off the wall-paintings of any major wat. Even the costumes, while stylized, are fun in the way they blend genders. It's a clever wardrobe, this one.

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan 2022 Gaga) - folklore and ghost mythology, normally I tell watchers to give this one grace on the first few eps, but that might be the part you'll find the most interesting with regards to local ghost stories and associated folklore.

Others

Marry My Dead Body (Taiwan - not a BL IMHO)

Stay By My Side (Taiwan)

The Promise of The Soul (Taiwan)

Century of Love (Thailand)

Ghost Host Ghost House (Thailand)

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Your Soul (Thailand)

Historical Insight

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Thai 2023 grey) - An exquisite historical BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework about a gay man from our time who falls into the past, becomes a servant to a noble house, and falls in love with the heir. My full feels and review plus historical context detailed here.

Memoir of Rati (Thai 2025 YouTube) - A solid high production historical about a young man who returns to Thailand as the adopted son of a French diplomat and falls in love with a Thai nobleman in 1915. Anchored by two incredibly solid pairs, and some beautiful optics, this story was grounded in the political reality of the time (even if the outcome for the pairs is unrealistically optimistic).

To Sir, With Love aka Khun Chai ( Thai 2022 YouTube) - This is a true lakorn (basically Thai tellenovella or soap opera) with scenery chewing performances, especially from the mother characters. Gone With the Wind + Days of Our Lives but gay. BUT specifically this delves into history of Bangkok and the Chinese trade families which I didn't even know to research until I watched this. Full review here.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea 2021 WeTV) - A boy cross-dresses to take his runaway sister's place as a bride to a shy scholar, turns out they like being married. Also 2022's Tinted with You (time travel sort of thing).

But neither of the 2 KBLs above offer much historical insight beyond household set ups and period costuming.

Others:

Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan) - actually deals with some very important parts of Taiwan's history. But this is not a happy show.

Shine (Thailand) - Thai history and politics around the queer community, which brings us to...

Politics & Such

Not Me (Thai 2022 YouTube) - GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest - 2022) with queer award-winning director Anucha and starring the biggest guns of BL, OffGun and THIS WAS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience at the time - nerve racking but remarkable. The fact that this kind of subversion does exist in Thailand is known, but the government hates that, so it's crazy this show got aired at all.

My Ride (Thai 2022 grey) - Kindly, overworked doctor meets broken-hearted motorcycle taxi driver in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. Good insight into "lower class" jobs and city life.

Love in Translation (Thai 2023 iQIYI) - Actually pretty accurate insight into how to start and run a business in Thailand if one is not Thai, including all the issues and problems with bureaucracy and retail.

Mandate (Thai 2025 grey) - I haven't finished this one but I do like it, and it seems pretty good and showcasing rural politics in Thailand, so I'm putting it here just in case.

Others

Moonlight Chicken (Thai)

Bangkok Boy (Thai)

Plus and Minus (Taiwan)

Stay Still (Hong Kong YouTube)

Rural Insight

A Tale of Thousand Stars (Thai 2021) - northern Thai village life insight, and a truly great BL. One of the best from GMMTV.

Manner of Death (Thai 2021 WeTV) - A smoldering muscle boy murderY gay romantic suspense series with added cactus baby and rural setting. Watch along here.

Addicted: Heroin (China 2016 Viki) - I put this one in because it's one of the very rare Chinese dramas where we get stark and realistic insight into life outside of major cities and in an explicitly poor neighborhood. There have been a few Cdramas that touch on this, but not many, and this show gives us the starkness so well. (I have a private theory that this was part of the reason this show was cracked down on so hard by CCP.)

Secrets Happened on the Litchi Island (China 2025 YouTube) - watch this one if you want rural insight glorified, it's a kind of magical realizm show. Stunning setting. It felt like a BL had a love child with one of those odd Chinese relaxation farm propaganda channels.

Restart After Come Back Home aka Risutato wa tadaima no ato de (Japan 2020 grey) - Beautiful atmospheric movie about returning home to find yourself and finding love along the way, more classic gay romance than BL but charming. An intimate portrayal of rural Japan meets complex family dynamics.

His the movie (Japan 2020 Viki)- This movie is beautiful and the setting is a unique (but realistic) look at a rural village in Japan.

Love Tractor (Korea 2023 iQIYI) - insight into rural Korea. Including farm life. Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home. Full review here.

For something short form and similar to the above, and also VERY good, please try Strongberry's Some More from 2018.

Others

My Sweetheart Jom (Thai)

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea)

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube)

I specifically left the beach/island ones (Lover Merman, Love Sea) and super tourist ones off this list as per original askers request. But also there are TONS of them.

Food, Art, Etc...

What Zabb Man! (Thai) street food and hotel industry

La Cuisine (Thai) culinary training

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Thai) restaurant

Bite Me (Thai) Grab service, restaurant operations, northern variations on foodways

Be Loved In House: I Do (Taiwan) is theoretically set in a jewelry design studio.

The Tasty Florida (Korea) restaurant

Unintentional Love Story (Korea) offers insight into pottery making, coastal town living.

You Make Me Dance (Korea) dance, loan sharks

My Day (Pinoy) industrial food manufacture

There are so many more food setting BLs (like My Sweet Dear, Cooking Crush, Ocean's Like You), but a lot of them don't focus on the food, or showcase foreign cuisine, so I didn't put those in.

Also, I should add, there are some things that don't get repped in BL but are important to the source culture. Why? Because of it being BL/gay or because it's simply not done, like Thai military service and Korean conscription (although Just Friends? touches on that).

More like this:

Religious representation, setting, and narrative devices in BL

Collectivism & Identity Politics - Ask culture vs guess culture & why linguistics is Important to understanding BL

This post drawn from a question asked by @dmitriverlouanne

"Any recommendations for BLs that show a lot of the country's culture (e.g. food, history, class dynamics, social rules etc.) I don't mean in a touristic sense (e.g. sending characters to pristine beaches). I mean learning about the country."

(source)

williamrikers

currently airing historical bls be like

gmmtv: yes this is set in 1915 but don't worry too much about the politics, okay? we're all just here to watch these men pining for each other

change2561: we set this in an alternate universe to avoid getting potentially sued but maybe it would still be good if you knew a little about thai history, you know, for absolutely no reason, just maybe read up on some things

be on cloud: read a comprehensive history book on the time period, at least ten essays and a collection of contemporary witness accounts, and then you can begin to understand half of our plot

nostalgicmermaaiid

Black indie animated projects that you should check out!

I thought I’d share the ones i’ve seen and link the channels in light of recent events. beating myself up for not having done this sooner tbh

Wheels and Roses - roller derby & magical girls!

The Three Tomes - a vampire love story

DizzyCat - slice of life adventures of 2 cat siblings

Crocodile Dance - a thriller combining myth and Afrofuturism

Furious and Fat Cat - comedy about 2 childhood friends who reunite as roommates

The Ebony Witch - disney/don bluth inspired fantasy series

I Don’t Want To Be A Magical Girl - yall probably know this one but I’m putting it here anyway

Please reblog with any that I missed!

colourme-feral

Hi there. So I read your tags on an other post and thought I would give you challenge.

What were your 10 (or really how many you want) favourite locations in 2023 QLs? Can be places or buildings, or both. Your choice. Rose💜

@nothingsbetterthancoffee thank you for enabling on the clown website!! Did you have any favourite locations in this year's QLs?

I referred to MDL and so I've only included shows that started in 2023 and to keep this under Tumblr's maximum of 30 images, so I didn't include all screenshots for shared locations!

Anyway, these are my favourite QL locations from 2023:

1. Chong Nonsi Canal Park (Bed Friend, Chains of Heart and The Promise) (location) Shout out to @winnythanawin (aka @aprilblossomgirl) for our discussions about parks lol

2. The timber mill (Chains of Heart) I love wide angle and maximalist shots, so this location has been stuck in my mind.

3. Thai Muslim Women Foundation School (My Dear Gangster Oppa, Y-Destiny, Return Man, 55:15 Never Too Late, Midnight Motel, Never Let Me Go and My Only 12%) (location) I love that the building has specific motifs that are seen in other Islamic architecture. But also, an excessive number of chandeliers is always fun to me. (There are also far too many shared locations, so I picked only a few screenshots).

4. Chakngeaw Chinese Market (Moonlight Chicken) (location) Maybe it's the lanterns and the colours in the scenes, but I loved this location!

5. Como Metropolian Bangkok (Step by Step and Middleman's Love) (location) I described this as a Pride & Prejudice moment once. LOOK AT THE HUGE WINDOWS. That is all, lol

6. 13 Coins Tower Ngamwongwan (Playboyy and 3 Will Be Free) (location) I cannot explain how the slightly dead and uninhabited vibes of this hotel appeal to me but here we are 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️🤷

7. The houses (I Feel You Linger in the Air) (location, location) These details are *everything*. I'm especially a fan of the windows and stained glass!

8. Factopia (Pit Babe) (location) One thing about me is that I am chaotic. Look at this studio that's being used as a home. I love it lol

9. These two temples (Cherry Magic Thailand) (locations) The boat is selling the whole idea for me, though I've been told that there isn't actually a boat operating in these canals anymore, but let me imagine it!

10. Chao Phraya Sky Park (Last Twilight and Low Frequency Pilot Trailer) (location to come) I have actually been waiting to see this bridge/park used and was so excited to see it in Low Frequency's pilot trailer, though it didn't make it to the show. THEN Last Twilight showed up for me. Thank you to the location manager of the show.

11. Tokyo Tower (Shigatsu no Tokyo wa... / Tokyo in April is...) Please ignore how bad Ren looks in the screenshot. I don't care that only the base of my favourite tower can be seen. I'm taking it!!!

12. Whatever this building is (Pit Babe) I mean, I AM CURIOUS about it but haven't found the location. Maybe that's why I'm obsessing a little. Just let me find the location and I will get over it. Probably.

+ BONUS 13. Ikea Sukhumvit (Cherry Magic Thailand) I'm just kidding about this one, but I did google to see where it was @callipigio

Tagging @blmpff, @callipigio, @dribs-and-drabbles, @telomeke because we discuss locations, or at least I make you listen to me talk about them. I'd love to know if you had any favourites/ones that I forgot to add to the list!

If anyone else has their favourite locations, I'd love to know!

Also including these collections of locations, because why not: Troye Sivan's Got Me Started and its shared locations in Thai queer media

If I were in Bangkok, I might want to... in response to @lurkingshan's ask about my favourite locations

boylovehitmelikeatrain

I'm just... so happy that some of these boys decided to kiss boys for a living. Aren't you?

semiconductiveshanehollander

i do think ilya will need reading glasses when he’s older and i do think he’ll fight it like hell until shane walks in on him reading a recipe with his square wire framed glasses but before he can rush to take them off he realizes just how well he can see shane now. realizes how he can see the more faint freckles again that he hadn’t even noticed he’d been missing or the small wrinkles that have formed on the edges of his eyes. and then yeah he’d suck his dick about it.

elierlick

Yet another new study debunked the basis for the anti-trans sports bans. It was never about sports but for creating legal avenues for exclusion and abjection. This is one of the largest analyses ever conducted, involving 52 studies and 6,485 trans people. Read the study here.

lucieslucidity

post so nice had to reblog it twice and force it down everyone's throats

the-haiku-bot

post so nice had to

reblog it twice and force it

down everyone’s throats

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

caralikesgay

ok this is mostly a collection of ilya "good top" rozanov headcanons that took on a life of their own

ilya's reputation as a "womanizer" and a "ladies man" takes hold pretty early in his career

he's got a girl in every port, the man's having a lot of sex everywhere

(most of his teammates know that he's got a special fondness for jane in montreal, but that's neither here nor there)

shane genuinely isn't jealous, what ilya does when they're apart isn't his business, as long as he has ilya's undivided attention when they're together, which he absolutely does

someone makes a joke on twitter that all of the women he's banged ought to start a club

this leads to someone making a shirt that says "i hooked up with ilya rozanov and all i got was this lousy t-shirt" and starts selling it on etsy. a bunch of other people make copycat shirts and variations

the fad fades pretty quickly, but there's a brief moment in time where they seem to be everywhere, and jane texts lily every time he sees someone wearing one out in the wild

lily mostly responds with laughing emoji, but one time he responds with "i think that one's real i remember her" and shane has to remind himself that he's not jealous and it's not his business and he has to delete the picture so he doesn't go back and study it

not long after boston wins the cup, a package arrives at shane's secret sex condo, it's a version of the shirt that says "i slept with STANLEY CUP WINNER ilya rozanov and all i got was this lousy t-shirt"

shane is mortified, but also more than a little turned on. at some point he wears it under his other clothes when he meets up with ilya for a hook-up and ilya goes absolutely feral when he sees it

years later, when the whole dallas kent situation hits the fan, people start taking to twitter talking shit about other NHL players (and other pro-athletes in general) who treated them poorly

someone tweets out "i've never really talked about this because i'm not one to kiss and tell and it's really no one's business, but i just want to say that in like 2014 i hooked up with ilya rozanov and he was the most considerate lover i'd ever had. i was relatively inexperienced and so down bad for him that i would have done anything he said, but he checked in with me every step of the way, and *also* gave me crazy orgasms to boot"

and women start coming out of the woodwork responding to the thread with similar sentiments, that he'd set the bar for future hookups and relationships

and people are like "damn, consent king ilya rozanov, didn't have that on my bingo card this year" and "this man was really fucking his way across north america as a service to *us* teaching millenial women to have higher standards for their partners"

someone tweets out "i hooked up with ilya rozanov and all i got was multiple orgasms and really high expectations about consent" and it goes stupid viral

several months later when the fanvid debacle happens and hollanov are outed, that particular corner of social media has another meltdown along the lines of "and he's even bisexual? this makes so much sense"

someone jokes about getting shane a shirt, since he's a member of the club, this tweet makes its way back to harris, who feels like he should warn shane and ilya

ilya posts a picture to instagram of his husband lounging, wearing The Shirt, his underwear, and nothing else. the shirt is very obviously not new, has been worn and washed many times

in the picture, shane's left hand is draped casually across his stomach, wedding ring glinting in the light, as if to remind everyone: this one's mine

soul-wanderer

Ilya would, the second he learned that Shane is autistic, come up with a plan for summer camp for neurodivergent kids. Not just on an abstract, surface level, no. He'd get books. Read articles. Ask people. Consult and employ professionals. Make sure he understands sensory needs and accomodations. It also helps him understand his husband, all while creating the very thing Shane would have needed growing up.

Shane then tears up when he watches the first camp unfold. Just watching all those little humans, having fun, being supported and no one makes fun of them. It unravels him in so many ways and Ilya holds him when it happens.

And while making sure this camp is everything these kids need, Ilya realises just how much Shane silently endured all those years, once he learns about common struggles for autistic people, and quietly asks "You went through all of this?" and Shane just shrugs a little helplessly, "I didn't know it could be any different", only for Ilya to say, "It can be different now."

And it is - different. They have noise-cancelling headphones, no loud whistles, disco time on the ice, with gentle lights and fun music, no one is forced to participate in anything. The buffet offers a variety of safe foods, Ilya made sure the families get sent a questionnaire in advance. He really thinks of everything and it makes Shane fall in love with him all over again.

Bonus points: A tiny human skates up to Shane, wearing headphones and shyly taps his leg, telling him that he's their favourite player. Because their mum told them that Shane is just like them, and they ask for confirmation and Shane almost tears up and nods, and it reassures the kid that they, too, can be a hockey player like Shane and Yuna is there, Yuna is watching and she's realized that this is the kind of representation Shane was meant to be all along.