#k-bl

[suburbanforestwitch]

I'm only two episodes in because I'm watching on iQIYI and only have VIP not premium but

How can you look at that little face and not want all the love and happiness in the world for him!!!

[lelephantsnail]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 비밀사이 | Secret Relationships (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Jung Daon/Shin Jaemin (Secret Relationship), Jung Daon/Kim Suhyung (Secret Relationships), Jung Daon/Ju Seonghyeon (Secret Relationships) Characters: Jung Daon (Secret Relationship), Shin Jaemin (Secret Relationships), Ju Seonghyeon (Secret Relationships), Kim Suhyung (Secret Relationships) Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Extremely Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Suhyung requires his own warning, Jaemin requires his own warning, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Panic Attacks, Daon has a no good very bad day, Daon cries a lot, Minor Violence, Sexual Assault, Seonghyeon is a puppy Summary:

The agreement is off.

Everyone gets what they want.

Sort of.

[chokuns]

Seo In Guk really wants to make a BL with Ahn Jae Hyun happen.

Part of the interview for Cosmopoliton Men

[absolutebl]

You've probably answered this before, but here goes anyway! Which BLs are your absolute top 15? Any country, any pairing, any tropes! I really wanna hear your list :)

Also, top 5 for absolute worst BLs!

Absolute Top 15 Best (and Worst) BLs

To be perfectly honest I hadn't done this yet because I've been patiently waiting for 10 BLs to exist in the universe that i've rated 10/10. It hasn't happened yet so...

Absolute Top 15 BLs

No particular order, these are all my beloved babies.

RATED 10/10

1. Seven Days (Japan 2015) 

One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses. 

Popular first year Seiryo has a policy of going out with any girl who asks… for one week. On a lark, third year Yuzuru tests to see if that policy also applies to boys. Seiryo agrees that it does. Along the way they accidentally fall in love, although each is convinced the other one thinks it’s just for a week. 

Full review here. Last I checked could find it on DramaCool in 2 parts Seven Days: Monday - Thursday, Seven Days: Friday - Sunday) sometimes it shows up on YouTube. 

2. Color Rush (Korea 2021)

A unique paranormal twist elevates this classic high school drama into a pitch-perfect allegory for the queer coming out experience and one of the best BLs of all time (I will fight you on this). 

Monos can only see in grey scale, until they meet their probes. But when they do, monos can turn into obsessive monsters over the one person that turns on the world color. When Yeon Woo meets his probe, however, that boy seems a  lot more obsessed with him. 

Full review here. I did not like the 2nd season as much. Color Rush is on Viki. Watch the movie version.

3. Light On Me (Korea 2021)

Korea does an elegant pastiche of traditional live action yaoi but all tropes are cleverly deployed to bolster one of the most riveting love triangles ever put on screen… and I don’t like love triangles!

TaeKyung is a bit awkward and introverted and has never really wanted friends, but suddenly he thinks that might have been a bad life choice. So he joins the student council where he meets, among others, two very different boys who both want more than friendship from him. 

Light On Me is on Viki.

4. To My Star (Korea 2021)

It’s is a touch quirky to get into, but utterly charming once it hits its stride. This is the ultimate grumpy/sunshine pairing plus the most appealing light-filled kitchen of our dreams. 

Famous actor (adorable bundle of neurosis) takes refuge in the house of a reserved chef and is immediately smitten by Mr Tall Dark & Glowering. The chef is also smitten but refuses to admit it to himself or anyone else. 

Full review here. (I did not like season 2 as much.) To My Star is on Viki. 

5. We Best Love 1 & 2 (Taiwan 2021)

WBL is composed of two parts: We Best Love: No 1 for You & We Best Love: Fighting Mr 2nd. The 1st season is a short run classic university set BL combining the best of Korea & Thailand’s modern takes on genre. The 2nd season moves into the office, and employs Japanese style in terms of setting, obsession, and mature concepts. WBL thus successfully managed to pick up and combine the best features of Korean, Thai, and Japanese BL as it exists right now. Couple that to the insane chemistry from the leads, and we have one of the greatest BLs of all time, cooking to a recipe I doubt anyone else will ever be able to replicate since only Taiwan is this flexible. 

Story wise it’s pretty classic: Shi De has been in love with Shu Yi since childhood, but Shu Yi has always seen them as rivals. In university, events finally conspire for Shi De to make his move. It’s the ultimate tsundere uke versus the ultimate pining seme. Part two follows them into the workplace after a breakup. 

I love this show so much, odds are I’m currently rewatching it as you read this. WBL is on WeTV. 

6. Until We Meet Again (Thailand 2019)

Thailand’s only entry in my 10/10 category (from the BL mass producer). This is non BL trope reliant fated mates (AKA soulmates) romance that just happens to have the right setting and age of protagonists to fit the BL genre. UWMA is a work of narrative genius, and all the actors all turn in stellar performances, it is the best Thai BL from a storytelling perspective. Possibly the best BL story we’ll ever get. It also takes full advantage of Thailand's signature full treatment, never dragging despite 17 full episodes. 

Timid sweetheart Pharm meets older serious Dean on his first day of university and is both irresistibly drawn to him and inexplicably sad. Dean starts an intense slow courtship but they both begin to realize they’ve been through this all before and one of them, 30 years ago in a previous life, made a terrible mistake. Can their current selves survive the sins and betrayals of their past? 

UWMA can be seen on YouTube. 

7. Semantic Error (Korea 2022) 

Korea hits it entirely out of the Parks (pun on the actors’ last names intended) by doing a university set BL with everything we might expect but done exactly right, their signature quality executed perfectly, and added bonus good story, great pacing, and fantastic chemistry. This one is actually flawless. You cannot ask for more from a BL, let alone a KBL. 

Talented graphic artist Jaeyoung (emotional agro older seme) discovers Sangwoo has outed him as a slacker which means he’s not graduating this year. He sets out to find out who Sangwoo is and get revenge, accidentally develops a big o’crush. Sangwoo is a morally grounded strict routine based reserved programmer (logical uke) who’s world is entirely shaken by the chaos that is Jaeyoung. I love “the only one who can bully him is me” trope especially when said bully melts into all over whipped for his boy. 

Jaeyoung pined like a master. Like Park Seo Ham took lessons from Sam Lin. And Sangwoo crumbles into complete submission like he’s been waiting for Jaeyoung his whole life. It’s an absolute pleasure to watch these two on screen together.

Full review here. Semantic Error is on Viki. 

8. Our Dating Sim (Korea 2023)

This is a perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle.

This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL. It lives in my rewatch pile and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent. Full review here.

On Viki. You want the series NOT the movie version.

9. I Cannot Reach You (Japan 2023)

AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai

This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen.

Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way.

This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters (and all of the sides) and I felt almost honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen. (Full review here.)

Kimi ni is not widely available. Some Netflix have it. It's indie subbed.

These are the only 9 BLs (of over 600+ watched & judged) that I've rated 10/10.

I consider Absolute BL 1 & 2 (Japan 2021-2022) mocumentaries and not true BLs. But I also gave them both 10/10. 

But you asked for 15 so here are 6 more (again no particular order). 

RATED 9/10 

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line (Taiwan 2018) - Taiwan’s best example of classic BL with a sports romance foundation using some of the most prototypical (but fortunately least offensive) yaoi tropes (Viki)

Be Loved In House: I Do (Taiwan 2021) - a cute classy office set BL with a few plot raised eyebrows, but no other concerns, plus ALL THE TROPES and a general sweet softness that’s pretty rare from Taiwan, who usually prefer to go hard (Viki)  

Utsukushii Kare AKA My Beautiful Man (Japan 2021) One of the best most traditionally live action yaoi to release in the last decade. It used seriously old school manga derived problematic and kinky tropes, like whipping boy, for a truly classic piece that also manages to hit up modern themes of communication, consent, and self acceptance. It’s a wonderful BL, uniquely dirty and harsh in the best possible way. (GaGaOOLaLa)

Bad Buddy (Thailand 2022) - GMMTV’s flagship BL started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. (YouTube)

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korea 2022) - Korea took on early Japanese sweet yaoi but gave it their signature softness and precise production style with a STUNNING color palette (beautiful pastels, sun-saturated over-exposure), manga framing style, some traditional BL character archetypes, that tiny edge of bullying roughness and out-of-control seme, plus FINALLY a palatable take on the stepbrothers trope and it was, in a word, classic. Sophisticated and understated CBAW is not slow, it’s just subtle. It's dream-like and atmospheric, as if the whole thing took place under cold water on a warm spring day. Is there plot or peril? Not really. Do we care? Also, not really. Look, I can’t help it, I’m old school and so is this show. I grew up reading sweet yaoi, and this was THAT YAOI just on my screen. There’s no objectivity with me and CBAW. It’s a beautiful pastiche and I loved it for how it made me feel and what it reminded me of. It’s not flawless, but it is a wonderful quintessentially BL experience. (Viki) 

Takara-kun and Amagi-kun (Japan 2023) - Reserved cool kid who must lean to communicate to keep the tiny disaster nugget he’s madly in love with. It is beyond charming: soft and gentle, packed with cuteness and high school angst. Did anything actually happen? No. Was it emotionally tense and paced well enough for me not to notice? Absolutely. Was there plot? Not really. Did I enjoy the hell out of it, anyway? Oh yes. Full review. (Viki)

I have quite a few more 9/10 ratings then these but I tried to pick the ones that were the MOST BL-ish of the BLs. (Which is why Old Fashion Cupcake - my beloved - didn’t make the cut.) 

Further Reading? 

Here a list of my Favorite BLs From Each Country

More Top 10 Lists!

Top 10 Cutest BLs - sweet and fluffy for the win (low angst, no grit, and shiny happy) 

Top 10 Most Romantic BLs - yummy sappy goodness that even non BL fans might enjoy 

Top 10 Most Underrated BLs - the ones no one seems to know about or watch

Top 10 Cozy BLs - the ones least likely to hurt you

10 BLs with the best stories (foundational narratives) 

10 BLs That Are Honest to a Queer Experience

10 BLs with the BEST Chemistry

Best High School BL from Each Country

Best University BL from Each Country

My Top 60 BLs (of 600 watched) - The Elite 10%

Prestige BL - for the fancy pants among you

Top 10 BLs Out of China

Top 10 BLs Out of Japan

Top 10 BLs Out of Korea

Top 10 BLs Out of Taiwan

Top 10 BLs Out of Thailand

The 15 Absolute Worst BLs

This is me, the OCD completest, so these are gonna be a bunch of 1/10 rated BLs that no one has (quite rightly) bothered to watch. I also have 15 dnfs to my shame, but I don't rate what I didn't finish so...

You asked for 5, but I happen to have exactly 15 1/10 rated BLs, so you're just getting all of them (no particular order, they all suck, by which I mean: bad story, poor acting, low production, and/or very depressing ending). These all come with all the trigger warnings. 

A Round Trip to Love (China 2016)

Lost Love (China 2016)

The Male Queen (China 2016)

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japan 2020)

No Regret (Korea 2006)

A Frozen Flower (Korea 2008)

Some (Korea 2014)

The Boy Next Door (Korea 2017)

In Between Seasons (Korea 2018)

Red Wine in the Dark Night (Thailand 2015)

Grey Rainbow (Thailand 2016)

My Bromance the series (Thailand 2016)

Dew the Movie (Thailand 2019)

Love Machine (Thailand 2021)

The Shortest Distance is Round - Noir (Japan 2019)

Top 10 Most Disappointing Thai BLs

(source) 

this post subject to change as my taste does, and as new BLs appear, however tumblr has a bug where it will stop me from editing old posts suddenly and without warning. So at some point I may have to redo it.

So this is dated Nov 2023 - not responsible for great BL after that point.

[slonekaru]

Hi! I’m not sure if you’ve been asked this before but, what are your top 5 BL’s that you watched this year?

Oh, good question! I've watched so many BL's this year :) How do I choose 5!?!?!?

In no particular order because I can't decide:

Love in the Air

I adore Love in the Air, I liked it right from seeing the trailers and it never let me down. Both couples are amazing for various reasons. The PrapaiSky story was well done and I'm a little in love with Peat. But I have to say I think Payu and Rain are one of my favourite couples from this year and have quickly solidified their place in the favourite couples ever category. I loved their relationship and the D/s elements, how it progressed, how they showed a functioning healthy D/s relationship.

Plus the chemistry between Boss and Noeul is outstanding. Top Tier. I could watch them kiss for hours. I WILL CRY IF THEY DON'T DO A NEW SERIES TOGETHER!!!!

Kinnporsche

What can I say about Kinnporsche. One of the best series I have seen, nevermind it being a BL! I came into KP just before it was released so didn't have all the waiting some people did! Phenomenal casting, I don't think there was a bad choice there. Production values are off the charts. Great how they managed to balance the Mafia story with the comedy elements. I am torn about wanting a second season. I mean I'd love to see more and yet live in fear of them not achieving the same level. Sometimes it's best to let it be! Also another entry with a favourite couple of VegasPete, complicated but fantastic relationship. BibleBuild are amazing together and another pairing I hope to see again.

Semantic Error

And we have a Korean entry. This is one of my suggestions to anyone just getting into BL. It made me laugh, the chemistry between Park Seoham and Park Jaechan is amazing. I actually had no idea who they were or that they were in K-pop bands before watching this.

I particularly liked Park Jaechan's portrayal of SangWoo. I read it as SangWood being Neurodivergent and I personally think it's brilliant, especially with the way Park Seoham's JaeYoung reacts to SangWoo. Sometimes frustrated but most of the time accepting and learning to adapt to his thought process.

Old Fashion Cupcake

For our Japanese entry, we have Old Fashion Cupcake. This one hit differently. I've been dying for some BL with older characters and they delivered. What more could you want than a 29-year-old chasing and wooing a 39-year-old who doesn't realise it and also discovers his queerness later in life! It's beautifully done and nice to see people still reaching for something and achieving it when they are full-grown adults! Because you know that's life.

Choco Milk Shake

They sucked us in with the kinky D/s promo photo's and I fell for it! But this has been such an amazing series. Originally slated for a 10-episode run they changed the airing of the last 3 episodes and have snuck in an extra episode! Episode 11 is due to air on the 20th Dec. Episode 10 is 100% the original ending but I think they realised how popular it was and maybe wanted to squeeze out another episode. Plus I know how people reacted to the Kissable Lips ending, maybe Strongberry doesn't want the same outcome!

The casting choices were outstanding. Lee JaeBin is completely believable as a puppy in human form and Kim SeongHyuk as a cat in human form is spot on. Seriously they nailed the mannerisms of a dog and cat.

Interesting how such a comedic show with a comedic premise also somehow manages to deal with loss, grief, and loneliness.

Some honorable mentions: The Miricle of Teddy Bear, Cutie Pie, Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul, Big Dragon, The Eclipse, Plus and Minus, Kei X Yaku, Secret Crush on You

And because they are not finished yet I'll reserve the right to include Between Us, and 609 Bedtime Story at a later date! :)

[heretherebedork]

Ocean Likes Me Teaser

@absolutebl It definitely looks pretty! Korea is going hard on the 'did you know we have pretty beaches' angle!

[7nessasaryevils]

If you tell me Chu Sangwoo pressing down his cheeks to stop smiling after Jaeyong called him boyfriend is not the cutest fucking most relatable thing ever, you’re lying to yourself

[xiwwixsstuff]

AAAHHHHH !

I FINISHED SEMANTIC ERROR !

So, these are my thoughts that no one asks for :

1. The casts are amazing. Park seoham and Park jaechan are truly soulmates. And i read somewhere that their history goes way back. Jaechan being a fan of seoham since debut and seoham rooting for jaechan on KOMS. Wow desinity !

And also the other casts ! A round of applause for them !! The actress playing ryu jihye matched well with sangwoo. I have to admit they kinda have chemistry. Jaeyoung circle of friends are also well-picked. Choi yuna.. i swear, the epitome of girl crush ✋🤩 she's hot tho 🥵 her stylist deserve a raise ! I really like her top in the last ep.

2. The plot. Just nice. Not too slow or too fast. Also the screenwriter or the producer or whoever comes up with the epilogue scene, u did great ! But kinda sadden me bcs is that a hint that we're not getting season 2 🤔😥

3. Everything in the series. The cinematography. The osts. The styling. Everything.

This drama give me chance to know dongkiz and getting to know their music. (Also a new group to stan !) And i must say they are soooo underrated.

And lastly, i want to put the blame on the producers and the drama team for making me obsessed ! IM OBSESSED !

Semantic error is unbeatable, they are on another level. 👏 They are making it hard for other k-bls. Lol.