#sky-nani

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Hey :)

How are you? Not too swamped by the numbers of BL airing at the moment?

I have a very strange ask and I hope it won't make you uncomfortable (if it does, please, delete it and I apologise): can you give me a reality check?🤣

For the context: I have been a Sky and Nani's fan since the early days of High School Frenemy. I have seen how close and touchy they were at the beginning. I saw how they slowly reduce their physical intimacy in public when the shipping started to get really strong. I saw Sky dodged, diverted or straight up ignored the questions that could lead to some speculation about their relationship and feed too much the shippers (especially with Godji or Leo). I saw Nani get super shy when people were teasing him and rely on Sky to take care of the teasing/jokes. I also saw how very smitten Sky has always been by Nani and how much Nani respects Sky and is grateful for their partnership. I also saw the backlash regarding Arrest and Action. I am shipping them, I am hoping for a BL however in my mind everything is clear: they are friends, they love each other and they want to keep working together. That is fine with me.

BUT Wu arrived. When they attended the launch of the novel, they said it wasn't a friendship series and that they acted according to the characters feelings. After finishing Wu, I got what they meant (I assume they couldn't call it a BL since their romance isn't too explicit). If that was all, I would have been fine. But they started to change their public interactions too. Nani who was usually clueless about how much Sky treats him differently, started to notice and actually tried to see if what the people were saying is true by sending him some messages on Line. Sky famously tends to ignore or forget to answer which didn't happen with Nani. Ok, it's okay, it's not a big deal. But during the promotion, they started to say some things that I perceived as fanservice with a grain of salt because why would they do some fanservice now, especially when Wu isn't a BL? During the after party for Wu, Godji asked Sky if he likes Nani and instead of saying yes because they are friends, he asked Godji if they should trade, aka he would also expose her. They also showed a video of Nani being in Sky's arms while riding a scooter on set (and they clearly wasn't expecting to see that because Nani was extremely surprised and shy). And the last few days, they were on a trip with Oishi with Gemini and Fourth. You could see them kiss and hug G4 without any issues, but they wouldn't do this with each other (Why? Why not, since they aren't a CP anyway?). I am trying really hard to keep my head clear and not get too delulu by their recent behaviour.

So, if you don't mind, could you tell me if you think that those moments are part of their fanservice ? Do you think it could mean that Arrest and Action could be a BL?

Sorry for this veeeeery long ask 😭 and thank you if you decide to answer ❤️ (well thank you anyway because I would have taken too much of your time)

Anything they do in public or on social media is fan-service. They are behaving with public viewership in mind. If they decide to change their friend-ship branding, they will make an announcement, but even if they really started dating (that's also not likely at all), I don't expect them to change their brand.

Pairing decisions are not made lightly at gmmtv. There are personal factors (will we get along? am i interested in working regularly in a partnership at all? how might this limit or expand my career?) and, especially at gmmtv, political vectors (what segment of society am i representing through this partnership and do i feel its acceptable for me to represent this segment of society in this manner?). I don't mean to claim those who choose to do bl are all queer and those who don't are straight.

What I mean is that, one, we've been told (by Lovely Writer among other series about the industry) BL casting is careful to avoid fan accusations of homophobia in their creation of CPs. Two, we can look at gmmtv's development of its queer media representation and see how carefully constructed for gradual pushes of its queer agendas, dipping its toes in with side-couples in ensembles series and testing reception with anthology series like Our Skyy. The cynical view is that gmmtv is politically conservative and just wants money without any political risk or agenda. My personal view based on what I've seen in their shows and their business practices over the years is that they're overall extremely progressive but also gradualists more interested in building popular opinion and strong economic foundations for their objectives.

Why am I bringing this up about Sky-Nani? Well, with marriage equality achieved, I'm looking at what the next progressive political projects on the agenda are for Thailand. Wu was about the best indicator for this. Trans rights, democratization, and diversification of legal family definitions beyond romance (as well as social acceptance of that diversification). That last point is most important to the Sky-Nani friend-ship. As a pair of friends who are committed to one another and raising their 'kids' together, they're representing a novel representation of family to the public. (BLChef on tiktok pointed out how the mascots and their short-form animated series are offering an image of queer families for kids and general Thai audiences.) It's my perspective that the teams at GMMTV know what they're doing here and likely discussed it with Sky and Nani before they officially partnered, seeing as the marriage equality bill was already in the process of being made law when they announced their friend-ship.

I want Sky and Nani to kiss, too, babe. But I don't think they're ever gonna be taking that hyphen out (although Fourth is giving every signal on their Japan trip right now that he would like to be the hyphen spit-roasting between them lol). I think the most hope we can get is the mad genius shipper P'Dome letting them act as characters who become BL actors who have to kiss for their jobs. I hold no expectations that they're doing anything more than that. If they do, I'll just let it be a nice surprise rather than letting my personal delulu overtake what seems to be an important political project going on with their branding.

[peterpumpkinhead]

my two (maybe controversial) cents on the sky-nani conversation (taken directly from my own reddit comment)

The reaction against Sky–Nani seems to come from a place where the mere existence of platonic relationships in a story is seen as a threat or a slight to other representations of affection, mainly BL. Sure, platonic brotherhoods and sisterhoods, as well as subtext and ambiguity, have been used as narrative tools to evade censorship. But these artistic choices also exist on their own and have the potential to do many things, including challenging toxic masculinity and patriarchal notions of female competition.

One thing we need to take into consideration is a Western perspective that tends to view expressions of affection between people of the same gender as inherently romantic or sexual. Many cultures have normalized these interactions for generations, and they have only become more scrutinized with recent globalization. Another point is that a bromance series is not necessarily a “straight” series if there is no heterosexual romance.

I fully agree that it was a major faux pas to include Wu in GagaOOLala’s catalog and tag it as BL, though. Just terrible PR for both Sky–Nani and the platform. Also, to me Sky–Nani’s marketing feels like a pilot project: it is similar to BL, but not quite the same—the different mascots, the hyphen that a lot of people hate, etc. It feels like they are still figuring out how to navigate this space, and while they may do so clumsily at times, it certainly does not warrant this level of hate.

Saying that bromance is a “genre” historically created to suppress explicitly gay stories is... simply not true. From Holmes & Watson, Spock & Kirk (people shipped them, I think that's why fanfic became a huge thing??), Frodo and Sam, Harry and Ron... the list goes oooooon.

Shipping is also a major fan practice and does not require explicitly gay characters to exist!!! We should enjoy it for the irreverent exercise in fantasy that it is!!

Plussssss, may I add: the idea that ambiguous stories with subtext have no place in today’s society is craazy work. The consciousness of more conservative audiences is still open to negotiation and persuasion. We also need to win these people over!!! These stories can circulate more easily on mainstream platforms in countries and regions where they might otherwise be rejected!!! All these things can coexist: BL doesn't have to die for "bromance" to live. In Thailand, the evidence seems to point to an expansion in BL projects, not the other way around. Sky-Nani are well funded because they're huge, just like WilliamEst, NamtanFilm, PondPhuwin. This has a LOT more to do with sponsors than any sort of personal malice from a CEO. Capitalism does what it does, unfortunately.

And lastly (forgive me for the lenghty comment!) what does it say about us when we claim we have no interest in openly expressed platonic love between people of the same gender? Isn’t that reinforcing a very heteronormative, macho ideal, that men cannot be tender or emotionally sincere with each other without publicly defining their sexuality? What is going on with this supposedly progressive audience?

[maybe-boys-do-love]

With Wu being pulled from Gaga, I’m not shocked but I am disgusted because the reactions from some of these BL fans is getting incredibly concerning, I speculate part of the reason these fans are mad is irritation and frustration at Skynani getting opportunities that their faves don’t ( a practice inherited from Kpop stan culture- the whole my faves are being mistreated bit), I think some fans are punishing Skynani for refusing to do a BL, to be shipped and forced to do the song and dance BL couples normally have to do. I’ve been a fan of Sky since the beginning of his career and I think if not for the shipping aspect of the package, the way that being in a koojin limits actors into only being able to do projects with their partners, Sky would do a BL- same with Nani. Both Sky and Nani are leaps above the majority of the actors in Gmmtv in terms of fame, Sky has been famous for far longer than the majority of actors at Gmmtv have been at the company, Nani is part of the F4 and best friends with Bright and Win so he’s not new to this level of intense parasocial fame. I think these companies have to implement a system that keeps these fans in check because it’s starting to become concerning, remember when fans were sending Force and Book so much hate, they changed the script of Only Friends after 3 episodes, you have to let the actors and production team tell their stories before you make a judgement. Crying queerbaiting at this point is mad, what if one of the characters is queer, what if there’s queer subtext? These fans would be the type to call the Picture of Dorian queerbaiting, it’s honestly ridiculous. Acting like actors are secretly gay or straight depending on whatever narrative fits them then acting like gay men are predators for existing then deciding no actually gay men must be protected, forgetting gay men are not the only group in the lgbt umbrella. This black and white thinking is ruining creative expression. I’m sick of fujoshis! Also I thought companies sign a contract when their shows get distribution, why is Gagoolala allowed to get rid of shows when they feel like it?

*breathese deeply* *reminds self there are bigger problems in the world than queer media labels*

But ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Like, yes, Gaga and gmmtv would’ve needed to enter into a contract for distribution rights. So someone had to break it to make this happen (but I could see gaga and gmmtv coming to a mutual agreement that doesn’t hurt either of them too much, especially if it was gaga deciding it). This would’ve likely been a great addition to Gaga’s catalog. I’d also guess Gmmtv could’ve gotten better offers from other streaming services, too. They had an an angle on this, and it pisses me off that a populist BL-bait wave petitioned for its removal.

Gaga’s official message stated they were eager to add an action series to their catalog, and they’re SO. FUCKING. RIGHT. to be excited. Because it’s rare to get queerness in action. It’s one of the reasons I got pumped about this series. I fantasize about an explicitly queer-centered superhero series—I don’t even need high quality. I want BL Sky High. And my fandom journey started in reading and writing meta and slash fic for avatar the last airbender, and I’m deeply fascinated by the queer subtext in HxH and the queer text in Sailor Moon. I also recently started Bang Brave Bang Bravern, a queer mecha series, and I’m loving it. Wu had me fucking AMPED.

And not because I thought SkyNani were going to kiss. It was because I trusted Waa to weave queer themes into the narrative. When I saw Great, Singha, Godji, and Sea there, I got even more pumped. Because those are members of the party, some officially and others make it apparent for those with eyes to see. Godji even states her character is canonically trans in the special episode, which tells me that’s a major element. It’s actually pretty rare for our kathoey actors to play characters whose gender identity is made an explicit part of the story; 3 Will Be Free is significant for that alone. Reports about the novel were that it was queer. Gaga took it under their wing. Everything was saying it was queer except the trailer which notably did not sell queerness or BL tropes—so very much not baiting.

Queerness as an experience or a genre does not begin and end at romance, at a kiss, at true love’s stop at same-sex fuck station. There are so many other things that bind us queer people beyond same-sex love—not because they are inherent to queerness but because they are inherent to queerness at certain historical moments and therefore become part of our lore, our anxieties, our celebrations, our understandings of our shared queer history and our belonging to one another!!! It’s not all our specific culture or our specific institutions, but there’s the understanding that if I lived there at that time, that could’ve been something like my life simply because of who I’m attracted to, the people I would associate with, or even the people I’d be afraid to be associated with because of what the dangers could be if others found out about how I feel inside.

People need to extend their ideas of queerness beyond love. You don’t have to be a fan of all the series and films or in the right place to watch all of them, but that personal preference is quite a difference than demanding a series be removed from queer identification (without even having seen it!). I posted about the 1987 shirt in the Wu trailer already, but you have to understand what the 1980s immediately mean to the global queer populations. This show is primed to do some delicate queer storytelling.

I’m so pissed off because I trust Gaga knew what they were doing. I trust gmmtv knew what they were doing—you know, the gmmtv that’s the host to multiple directors and producers who worked on a two season gay series for an HIV education and prevention organization? Yeah, I trust they knew what the fuck they’re talking about regarding queerness.

I’m generous to the sao-Y and fujoshis and BL fandom cuz I think many of them are much more nuanced with their understandings and experiences of queerness than they’re given credit for within the popular discourse. However, the setting of happy-endings and BL onto a pedestal of proper queerness (the former of which happens beyond BL, too) needs to stop. The refusal of so many people to watch queer series from Thailand that aren’t BL…It’s not cute.

LGBT+ media is so much bigger than gay romance. Let queerness gallop across every genre, let it ford every stream, follow every rainbow, baby! Let it stretch a bridge the breadth of the Sky-Nani hyphen so we can see what’s in-between. We know it’s not BL (and that was Gaga’s biggest misstep, here) but what other lgbt+ shades could Wu bring?

Below: an actual image of me holding myself back about people’s “queer” takes

[peterpumpkinhead]

some thoughts...

I do find it very interesting that GagaOOLala has gotten a lot of heat off of its back after the Wu debacle.

I don't think Wu ever belonged on GGOOLL at all and it was a clear PR disaster for everyone involved from the jump. The wrong tags on it were even more aggravating.

But I do have to ask - why is Wu considered a straight series if there's no indication of heterosexual romance and the characters' sexuality seems quite impertinent to the plot (or what we know so far about it)?

Also - the presence of a trans actress playing one of the main characters is of no importance to any of you?

But most importantly - is everybody aware that both companies, GMM and GagaOOLala, had to agree to have the platform distribute the show and that actors, who are not in an executive production position, have nothing to do with this particular mistake?

[mysterygrl20]

THAILAND | Wu the Series - Official Trailer

Airing Tuesday May 5, 2026

[mysterygrl20]

sky-heterohyphen-nani’s series wu has finished filming

[maybe-boys-do-love]

In one of your answer to an ask, you mentioned something about the Sky-Nani phenomena. Why, are they huge in Thailand?

Simple answer:

High School Frenemy was huge in Thailand. Sky was already known from his work with Nadao. Hormones and Love Ambulance were both big. Nani had blown up with F4, another massively successful show in Thailand. Put them together in a good show where they give some solid performances. BAM 🎆

Here’s some numbers info on Reddit about the show.

My personal speculation:

Sao-Y fin (the Thai word for fannish excitement over characters and actors) derives part of its thrill from the sense societal homophobia and toxic masculinity is holding back the ability of two boys to consummate their love. There’s an element of perceived tragedy to their relationship, which encourages fans’ desires to support them further. This was pretty inherent in to early BL fandom. The BL bubble was emotionally potent because the audience felt its tension with reality.

A lot of the biggest Thai CPs come out of stories that don’t exist within the BL bubble. Homophobia impacts their characters and their relationship directly. The concern for the characters spills dealing with this spills over into the concern for the actors. Fans in Thailand are called mothers, and they are excited to mother and mother bear for their biases. They want to protect them, and it helps to have a reason to protect them.

A rare counter-example is the rise of PerthSanta whose characters in P10liners did not experience any homophobia, internalized or external. Their public narrative instead is all about Perth’s tragic history of partnerships and finally finding “love.” It’s an exception that proves the rule. Fans like a tragic queer narrative as a reason to engage and uplift.

But I think sometimes that “queer narrative” gets enforced more intensely when the actors seem to have some resistance to it. The fans apply an interpretation that the actors are impacted by society’s homophobia and can’t appreciate that they’re really in love and perfect for each other. In this version of fandom, it’s the fans’ job to bring the actors closer together, to save them from the pain of heteronormativity and missed opportunities.

That’s the bridge where the bromance of HSF and the friend-ship of Sky-Nani sits.

Can I judge this impetus? It’s delicious to engage with this kind of narrative. Some of my absolute fav queer stories are built around it. As a fan practice it can be done appropriately. A fan can imagine scenarios and talk about it with friends and write rpf. It crosses a line when it engages and makes demands of the actual actors, though. That seems obvious to many of us. My other concern, however, is that this specific approach mostly privileges masculine and/or straight presenting actors for the fantasy. If this is one of the main forms of fandom engagement, it limits engagement with overtly effeminate actors, and it has to entirely exclude actors who come out.

There are certainly other queer narratives to build around BL actors and their CPs (as I pointed out with PerthSanta), but the chokehold the repressed lover approach seems to have on fan engagement is terrifyingly powerful. If you want a ship to blow up beyond the BL industry, I’d say this is the strategy to use.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Hi there :)

I am the anon who asked about SkyNani previously.

Well, I had my SkyNani kiss but not exactly how I was hoping for 🤣 anyway, I loved their pilot and I will enjoy this tremendously. I must admit I didn't check the reaction to their series but I suppose a lot of people are pissed off, especially since Dew and Tee also get a bromance... I didn't really understand last year why people where mad about Wu and Sky-Nani. Nobody is forcing you to watch their series, buy their merch or eventually ship them. There are plenty of BL ships in GMMTV for this...

Sorry, I hope I didn't bother you and thank you always for your insights on so many topics ❤️

No need to apologize, my beloved SkyNani anon!

I'm honestly obsessed with Sky-Nani allowing their friend-ship brand to fill in the curious gaps between straight and queer media.

First the old-school queer-tinged romantic friendship of HSF. Now they're letting P'Dome use their pairing to fully explore the dynamics of koojin. I think it's fascinating, and again, the opposite of queerbaiting or BL-baiting or whatever you want to call it. They are saying up-front: This is an act. We are not a real couple. DNI if you want a true BL or koojin.

Knowing P'Dome I don't think it will be insulting to the koojin and BL system, either. His writing is so deeply sympathetic to what the world of performance, pretend, and fantasy bring to people's hearts, and how performers ought to be cared for, too. Just go look at Muteluv: Fist Foot Fusion right now to see yet another example!

I hear people are whining about the meta-BL (or entirely missing the point that it's a meta-commentary on BL), but you're so right. There are so many CPs fans can watch instead if this doesn't interest them--3 new BL CPs announced this year! They can go write some Sky-Nani fanfic if they're that attached to a fantasy, too. But it's entitlement from fans to think they deserve to force the actors to do the kinds of roles they want from them. Don't they know this is what they're acting like?

Do I care about DewTee or their bromance series? Not at this time. They just do not compel me as a pair or individuals the way the quirky sweet vibes Sky-Nani have to offer do. But I hope the DewTee fans enjoy their series (although I wish they kept Singha out of it and gave her the deserved series lead that will save us all.)