BEST OF 2021 - BL Edition!
Hella subjective utterly erratic awards of little import and no impact. But I love them, okay? Only includes shows that completed their runs in 2021.
BEST KISS 2021
THE WINNER: TharnType 2
There were some killer kisses in BL this year, but basically no one on earth (let alone in BL) can beat out MewGulf in this category. I’m a big fan of the soft sweet candy kiss in the final TT2 episode, but really any of them were great and there were A LOT. (Episode by episode trash-watching recap here.)
BEST DEBUT KISS 2021
THE WINNER: We Best Love
For first timers, this category goes to SamYu of We Best Love, who did a magical job at first kisses in a short run series. (The shorter the run, the less chance the actors have to establish intimacy and become comfortable with each other. Although, Taiwan is generally better at enabling actor intimacy than any other country, possibly because it’s a queer-friendly culture with good workshopping techniques.)
Anyway, tears running down their faces, post baby’s agro shouty confession, on a bridge (another trope) who doesn’t love this kiss? Plus they breathed into each other (how to act a kiss 101 that so many BLs don’t do.
I have to say, the contentious drunken sobbing kiss Sam gave us in season two almost took this whole category, if it weren’t for the struggle beneath all those tears and passion and consent... But really, THAT KISS (and you all know which one I’m on about) wasn’t so much romantic as it was pained and desperate, and it didn’t take this category because that kiss wasn’t about love, it was about loss and failure and regret.
It was, possibly, one of the best kisses in all BL, but it’s not the right kind of kiss to win a romance trope category.
I hope that makes sense.
I’m gonna throw a little love Thai BL pulps way, they gave us a number of charming kisses this year, but I was most taken with Second Chance’s PaperFah.
To My Star’s very final kiss was also in contention (Korea, who knew?), but We Best Love beat that one out because I’m a sucker for tears and SamYu... just GAH.
BEST DOCUMENTARY 2021
THE WINNER: Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko AKA A Man Who Defies The World of BL
Honestly tho, it was also the only entrant in this category (unless you count Call it What You Want and Lovely Writer). Look, this was a work of genius. A meta commentary that can only really be thought of as Japan taking itself to task for its own tropes, pulling them out, examining and gently mocking them, but still bucking under the weight of expectation and history. I hooted with laughter. It’s insightful, charming, and AMAZING. (Full review here.)
BEST THEME SONG 2021
THE WINNER: Light on Me
A.C.E’s song Spark for Light On Me wins OTS. I have to say I also really liked both of Color Rush’s 2 entrants and Wish You’s cute little song, but as a K-pop enthusiast I was really happy to see an actual K-pop song sung by a legit group in a Korean BL. It legitimized all K-BL in a weird way, ya know?
BEST CASTING, DIRECTING & SCRIPT 2021
THE WINNER: A Tale of Thousand Stars
The story and execution were great, but the cast really elevated this show into something special. Everyone seemed to perfectly suit their roles and GMMTV made the most out of its stable. Combined with excellent production (and post production) values, 1000 Stars is without question GMMTV’s most mature, charming, and smart BL series. I think it should go down as one of the top BLs of all time. You should feel safe recommending this one to friends and non BL watchers.
BEST USE OF BL TROPES 2021
THE WINNER: Light On Me
Light On Me who drops multiple BL tropes with its two different seme’s for expert love triangle reasons but also uses them for pristine pacing, plot, and character development. Korea is the most strategic user of tropes and I love that they deploy them explicitly to serve narrative a not just to tick boxes. Light on Me is a master class in this technique. (If you write fanfic or romance you should study this show.)
Their best versions included (but were not limited to:
Minister the Artful Injury (for the love triangle)
Meet Me in the Library (for the love triangle)
Crash Into Me (for the love triangle)
That’s MY BOYFRIEND - Public Claiming (to show character’s seme traits and attractiveness of identity ownership and honesty)
Put Your Head On My Shoulder (to show seme character’s pining traits and softness)
Boys on Phones (to advance plot and tension)
Symbolic Gift Exchange (as a twist to show interest and call-back coupledom)
and Touch My Face (that subverted version of the ADORABLE squeeze thing they did to each other)
2021′S MOST UNEXPECTEDLY SOFT SERIES
THE WINNER: Be Loved In House: I Do
By far Be Love In House: I Do’s best quality was that the tsundere uke’s tsundere-ness was entirely sympathetic, he was utterly likable from the start. This BL cleverly leaned on great acting and beautiful trope execution to carry a rather weak story, but the two leads being impossibly soft with each other in the home absolutely slayed. Grumpy/tsundere is HARD to execute well, so I was impressed, especially from Taiwan who, let’s be fair, doesn’t really specialize in soft or clever BL. BLINID was both.
Honorable mention to Golden Blood.
Only Thailand would DARE be this soft with a bodyguard romance. I didn’t expect SunSky and their side dishes (PitchBank) to be so tender and sweet with each other.
BEST MICROFILM 2021
THE WINNER: A First Love Story
Look I adore Hey Rival: I LOVE YOU! but it was still very Vietnamese and so rather flawed in execution. Korea’s Strongberry, on the other hand, have been perfecting the BL microfilm genre (and, let’s be fair, kind of OWN it) since 2017. They are true masters of their craft and yet A First Love Story is still one of the best things they have ever produced. It’s two episodes of about 8 minutes each that manage to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers confession ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot.
How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time? It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. You are a ridiculous human if you haven’t spent 16 minutes with these two boys. Go watch it now. Or go watch it again. It’s time VERY well spent.
BEST UNIVERSITY SET BL 2021
THE WINNER: Nitiman
This Thai BL pulp had sympathetic characters, a solid tsundere uke redemption arc, and a fantastic pining seme who yearned without bullying, grooming, or gaslighting. Plus when they were together, they were ridiculously soft. But it also had a realistic portrayal of university life, bisexual awakening, and friendship groups. Bummer about the ending. (Full review here.)
BEST HIGH SCHOOL SET BL OF2021
It’s a tie!
THE WINNERS: Light on Me & Kieta Hatsukoi
Korean BL Light On Me managed to portray the angst of high school, social media, and coming out in a refined almost elegant way with all credit given to the uke character for honestly and brutal communication. It had a great friendship group, good teacher character, and even managed to treat Plot Device Girl with integrity. Also the white blue color pallet throughout was very pleasing and classy.
Japanese BL Kieta Hatsukoi AKA My Love Mix-Up! snuck in under the wire to tie Korea’s gem at the VERY end of the year. It was also all teen angst and dramatic crisis over haircuts and text messaging but it was so Japanese slapstick extreme about it. It was a one-show meme-generator and Aoki’s face was a picture of comedic mobility. It was charming origin yaoi in a way that represented for the manga roots of the genre where as LoM was basically showing us how far we have come. Also Kieta Hatsukoi was so Japan’s style where LoM was so much Korea’s, it’s fun to watch two countries separated by the same genre. These two shows exist in equal, if opposite, flip sides of the same coin. How could I decide between the two? The award goes to both.
BEST QUEER REP 2021
THE WINNER: My Lascivious Boss
While it did have pacing issues and some questionable content at the beginning, MLB’s unabashed queerness carried it though and ultimately elevated it with camp. It never felt like mockery or punching down, it felt joyful, and very new wave BL. It’s as if Vietnam is starting a process of handing out HEAs to all the letters of LGBTQ+ in BL style - I love this look for them. (On YouTube - full review here.)
BEST WARDROBE 2021
THE WINNER: We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd
Mostly I’m classifying WBL as one series aired in two parts, but for this category the second half really takes the gold. THOSE 3 PIECE SUITS on Shu Yi. How Liu Bing Wei always coordinates his tie to Shi Zhe Yu’s suit. It was an absolute pleasure to watch. I never winced once.
BEST HISTORICAL 2021
THE WINNER: Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding
A historical setting allowed this BL to use some seriously old fashioned romance tropes (arranged marriage and evil step-sisters) but also modern BL stylings like fake relationship and secret identity (drag) plus some cute gay panic. It was a lot more gentle than any historical BL to date, which is Korea stamping the sub-genre with its mark and standing up to China’s darker traditions. It reminded me of 12th Night more than anything else which just happens to be my favorite Shakespeare play. For all these reasons, I adored it. (Full review here.)
Most Honest to BL’s Roots
THE WINNER: Utsukushii Kare
Given, Utsukushii Kare, and Kieta Hatsukoi all could have released in 2015 as live action yaoi and absolutely no one would have been surprised. They were seriously old school in a PTSD flashback kind of way (if reading yaoi and watching the first live action versions gave you PTSD, which it certainly could have if you were young enough.)
But Given and Kieta Hatsukoi leaned slightly softer, and therefore felt a touch more modern, because Japanese BL is so rarely soft. On the other hand, Utsukushii Kare was harsh as all get up, angry with us and itself, reminding us about whipping boy, and attack dog, and spoiled prince.
This is what an entirely unreasonable tsundere really looks like.
This is what a weird obsessed stalker seme really looks like.
This depicted the collateral that any relationship involving these archetypes causes to everyone around them.
It was exactly as weird and as messed up as any 2000′s yaoi: emo af and hella warped, entirely true to itself with no attempt made to modify its POV for modern sensibilities or current BL fandom. It didn’t pander to us in anyway, and I fucking loved it for that. This is not just live action yaoi in its purest form, it’s Japanese cinema, uncompromising.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
MaxTul
Starting with Bad Romance in 2016, MaxTul are one of the longest running, funny & game, and apparently healthy actor pairs in Thai BL. Never once did they sail their ship astray, miss a port (or a pun), or fail to raise the rainbow flag to honor the queer community (for queens and country).
We are deeply grateful for their service to fandom.
We of the BL navy salute you.
(I’ll stop now.)
BEST BL THAT WASN’T A BL 2021
THE WiNNER: The Devil Judge
For a show that was meant to be a dystopian court thriller, these two gents got awfully domestic. Is Korea taking its tips from China’s bromance tradition now?
Anygay, these two were husbands by about episode 3.
Everyone agrees.
Even them.
MOST CHARMING BL 2021
THE WiNNER: To My Star
This little series was quirky as all goddamn getup, but so cinnamon roll adorable out the other side I forgive it all my initial confusion. The grumpy chef and neurotic actor (human puppy) pairing really worked for me. Both actors were great, the kitchen and cafe settings were lovely, and the ending was a peach. Utterly charming.
MOST REWATCHABLE BL 2021
THE WINNER: We Best Love
We Best Love is amazing, just the chemistry alone holds up to multiple rewatches, and THAT drunk scene in part 2! There’s some pretty epic pining in BL, but Gao Shi De pines for Olympic gold, and I happen to love watching a seme suffer. Again and again.
The story is weak but the performances are so good they entirely sweep away a flawed plot, thin narrative arc, and time jump character development. It’s rare for me to like a show DESPITE the story, We Best Love stands with To My Star as one of the few. All told this series is GREAT, I am probably rewatching right now. I want a Viki movie version yesterday. (Full review here.)
BEST BL 2021
THE WINNER: Color Rush
In a surprise upset Korea stole the gold from top contenders Taiwan (my beloved) and Thailand (the power house). Under STRONG competition from We Best Love, To My Star, Lovely Writer, and 1000 Stars, Color Rush took the top spot.
What can I say? I absolutely LOVE this BL.
What really won it for Color Rush was the brilliant allegory and the ultra clean concept, not to mention Korea’s pitch perfect production values and a heavy dose of classic yaoi filming technique.
Color Rush managed to be both ground-breaking, nostalgic, and charming all at once. I could write a thesis on it. I kinda did.
Winners based on my definition of BL.
(source)