Would you recommend Love 020? It seems to come up a lot, though I believe the bl is a censored side plot? I enjoyed Advance Bravely, though obviously it’s weird and choppy. I also liked Addicted for the most part. I have not however, been able to get into the Wuxia, so I was interested to see if there was anything else worth watching.
From China you mean?
Love O2O
The BL is a subplot in Love O2O that comes in about 1/2 way through and is EXTREMELY subtle. Like barely there (that screen cap above is basically the only time they even touch). I happen to love the pairing, grumpy hot hacker + cute sunshine programmer, so I forgive it being the lip-gloss it is rather than the lipstick it should be.
Do I recommend Love O2O?
Well, the main het romance is basically the lowest angst version of groundbreaking plot: the hottest boy gets the hottest girl who also happen to be nerds and have an in game relationship. And that's it... Entire characterization = THE PRETTIEST. It's worth it only if you wanna see the head cheerleader and the captain of the football team very slowly fall in love with no obstacles whatsoever.
I know it sounds awful but I still liked it, but I also gave up on Chinese het contemporary romances because of it. I haven't watched a single one since. So make of that what you will.
Other Chinese BL?
Prior to Addicted, China produced quite a bit of uncensored BL but it goes bad easy (death, suicide, murder gay). But if it's specifically Chinese BL you want to explore without the total and utter doom:
Irresistible Love AKA Uncontrolled Love 1 AKA Secret of the Valet
Irresistible Love 2 AKA Uncontrolled Love AKA Uncontrolled Love 2 (don't ask)
These make slightly more sense than Advanced Bravely, but only slightly and that's not because it's censored but because it's badly written. It uses seriously old school yaoi tropes and there is barely a concept of consent. It's SUPER D/s, but it's interesting from the standpoint of the last gasp of what Chinese BL might have become without censorship. It reminds me a lot of early Japanese live action mangas, not the least of which because it's in 2 movie installments and not a series.
If you like sports romance you can try 2020's Precise Shot. A seriously censored but obviously BL series.
Same with 2017's Mr. CEO is Falling in Love with Him. They get to cook together and be cute and the door is closed on implied sex but... that's it. You'll have to search grey sites for that one, the YouTube is down.
If you aren't intersted in the stuff from Taiwan (or have already seen it) but are still looking for BL in Mandarin you have two police procedural style options:
S.C.I. Mystery from Hong Kong which is a censored BL where the romance partnership has become a barely disguised cop+brilliant expert "cousins" instead. They're tracking a serial killer, the fight scenes are good, and the dialogue is excellent. So it's well written at least?
or...
Guardian, which is an urban fantasy with a procedural framework. It ends not happily but not totally unhappily, I guess? It's completely censored obviously BL to the point where there is even a secondary BL couple. It's a long buy in though at 40 eps without a guaranteed HEA. But nice production values and fun supernatural elements. It starts out a bit too Wuxia for my personal taste but if you can make it through the first episode, it's delightfully addictive, and the flowing robes floaty floaty stuff dies down quickly and doesn't really pick up again until the end.
Hope this helps.
