So this is a master post about Thai BL. It’s long. I’ve divided it into parts. Skip to the bits you’re intersted in.
Am I an agent of trust? At the top I talk about why, or why not, you might want to believe my opinions and how my taste was formed.
What to watch? In the middle there’s recommended watch lists/orders.
What else to know? At the bottom there’s links to other posts I’ve done on the subject of Thai BL.
My experience with the genre:
I’ve been watching BL since 2017. SOTUS was my first, then Love Sick, then mostly what was on YouTube. During lockdown I decided to try to watch every BL Thailand has ever made. I went back to 2007′s Love of Siam, and to date I’ve watched over 130 Thai BLs.
My education/career is in social science, pop culture analysis, market research, literary and film criticism, and I currently work in the entertainment industry. I’m a touch OCD. I keep a spreadsheet of all BLs I’ve watched with ratings (about 350 total), and I also use My Drama List. I started with Thai BL but I now also watch anything I can get from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
I come to BL as a reader of Japanese yaoi, mostly the stuff translated into English from 1997-2007. I also watched many of the first North American and British queer romances and romcoms at about the same time. I don’t consume much anime or European cinema.
My Taste & What I Lean Towards Recommending
What I like about Thai BL is that is has longer series (focused on story and character development), is very pretty, and tends to stick to the lighter end of the spectrum with happy endings. It rarely gets too serious and usually has comedic elements.
What should you be warned about? Production values can be low and the filming techniques are pretty basic. There are usually sound issues: from cartoon noises to bad looping to poor recording to terrible music choices. Makeup and wardrobe is subpar. Acting can be overwrought and awkward including the chemistry between couples.
What I don’t like about Thai BL is that it uses problematic tropes: gay for you, dubious consent, punch down humor, stalker/obsession, heterosexual bias, vilification of femme and other visual queers, sex negativity, and lack of healthy female representation. It’s starting to correct for some of these issues though (most notably with and since Bad Buddy, slowly but surely.
When I rate a show highly it's often because it has fewer flaws as compared to other Thai BLs, not because it's necessarily better acted, filmed, directed, or has a fab story. Although I can’t help taking those elements into account.
BL: stands for Boy’s Love. All Asian BL can trace its roots to the Japanese yaoi tradition which spread during the 1990s. The first BLs depicted on screen were in Japan and were called live action yaoi. BL comes in both dark (depressing) and light (upbeat) variants, but Thai BL leans light. In Thailand, prior to the rise of BL dramas, there were Y-novels (books featuring a gay romance mostly written by and for straight women) and some translated yaoi manga. The Thai language uses the term “serie Y” to refer to these narratives.
Thai BL can be divided into two types:
Regular Thai BL: good stuff, generally better acted, higher quality. It is sourced in 2016′s SOTUS and usually has a university setting.
The Thai BL pulps: poorer all around, very low production values, messy plot, cheaply made and churned out, usually high school set. It is sourced in 2014′s Love Sick. (More on the pulps here.)
Most Thai BL has a university or high school setting (it’s cheaper), but lately (2021 on) they have been branching out, which fandom is excited about.
Almost all Thai BL will feature multiple couples, usually gay, sometimes with a het pair or some lesbians thrown in for s&g.
Any given Thai BL is either an original (somewhat improvised) script or based on a Thai y-novel. Generally the second style has better story and end product than the first. Thai BL doesn’t cinematographically reference yaoi as much as other BL.
Thai BL series tend to run longer than BL shows from other countries with 8-15 episodes of 40 minutes each. They almost always have happy endings. In order to satisfy this market expectation, Thailand is more likely to green light second seasons and spin off specials than other countries.
Seme/uke & tsundere: The terms are Japanese, and these archetypes come from yaoi manga.
Seme = active pursuer or romantic aggressor/dominant.
Uke = passive pursued or romantic receiver/submissive.
It doesn't necessarily correlate to personality, sexual preference, or physical desire. Generally, in Thai BL seme/uke DOES conform to a heterosexually dysmorphic imposition where the seme is inappropriately conflated with boy/top/pitcher, and the uke with girl/bottom/catcher. In other words, Thai BL does not believe in gay without imposing heterosexual rolls onto that gayness. They also fetishize a height difference. (If you want to avoid this here’s a list of BL that has no established seme/uke. Here’s a post where I talk about how the different countries treat uke/seme in their BL narratives and why uke/seme ≠ top/bottom.)
Tsundere = a character that appears prickly/angry/grumpy at first but softens as the story progresses. (Can be the seme or the uke character.)
Gay For You AKA If It’s You, It’s Okay, the character isn’t “actually” gay he’s just into this one person. There are a ton of issues with (and damage done to the queer community by) the Gay for You trope not the least of which is bisexual erasure. You can read stuff about this from:
a romance author perspective
High heat: term from the romance genre that means the characters do more than just kiss. A series can qualify as high heat (e.g. Why R U?) or a pair can be classified as high heat, in that the actors are good at portraying that level of physical chemistry (e.g. MaxTul). (This can also be extended to countries, Taiwan leans towards high heat while Korea does not.) Thai pulps, anything set in high school, and GMMTV tend to avoid high heat. I talk about high heat versus high angst from a film and narrative perspective in BL in this post.
HEA: Happy ever after. The series ends with the main couple in an act of unity (kiss, sex, engagement, wedding, domestic bliss) that implies they will continue that way.
Thai BL Specific Lingo & Knowledge
Visual code or signal markers of gayness in Thai BL: an engineering smock, the gear symbol, (both from SOTUS), pink milk, a clear umbrella, (both from 2 Moons novel), black & white horizontal stripes, and the little yellow backpack.
FEAR EPISODE 11: In 12/13 ep arcs a breakup/drama/DOOM usually falls during episode 11, so we fans fear emotional suffering when an episode 11 is coming.
Faen fatale: my term for a femme fatale archetype in BL. Faen is the Thai word for boyfriend/girlfriend. Thai BL often has an ex/wannabe lover turn up as a plot device.
The 2 Moons curse: 2 Moons is the most popular y-novel amongst Thai readers of the genre, yet adaptations to screen have been plagued with issues. Both the first and second seasons experienced controversy, including accusations of bullying and cast members quitting. Rumor is Call it What You Want is an exposé of the behind the scenes of 2 Moons 2.
Other weird things to know:
In Thai BL no character locks or plugs in his phone or respects posting privacy.
Doctors discuss medical issues with anyone in the room.
Going out in the rain can make a cute boy sick.
Friends are UP in his business.
Parents are mostly not present or plot devices.
There’s a lot of awkward product placement.
Thai BL Production Industry & Actors
Trailers are not trailers: Thai BL production houses will release teaser trailers in order to raise money to fund the project. So we get a trailer but it’s rarely exactly like the end result. Also there are trailers out there for BL series that never got green-lit or are stuck in dev hell. Like soap operas, they are sometimes still filming as the first episodes air.
Actor pairs or BL couples: sets of actors will be cast in different stories, as different characters, but always as the same pairing. i.e. These boys don’t mind kissing each other. Pairs will also be used together for product advertisements, as variety show cohosts, in magazine spreads & look-books & modeling campaigns/catwalks, and for OST & fan-meets & concerts. GMMTV piloted the concept with Singto & Krist after SOTUS took off. Couples have fandoms, special names, and hashtags - almost like K-pop groups. Some actors will pair up prior to getting a series and audition as a couple (SantaEarth), others will form as side dishes (bit parts) and then grow so popular they get their own series or advertising campaigns (OffGun, MaxTul, JeffGameplay, YinWar, BounPrem).
This kind of co-branding of coupledom can become the primary way the 2 actors earn money. However, perforative gayness on talk/variety shows (in particular) smacks of queerbaiting. Pairs often end up dealing with crazy fans, skinship obsession, stalker behavior, mismanaged expectations, and more: e.g. the good (MaxTul), the what? (MewGulf), the ugly (PerthSaint). I suggest avoiding this cesspit if you can. These are actors. They are acting. End of discussion.
Here’s a (dated) Guide to Thai BL Actor Pairs.
GMMTV (the maker of SOTUS) is Thailand’s biggest studio that consistently churns out higher production value BLs and puts them on YouTube with subs for an international audience. Thus their BLs tend to be best known. They keep a stable of actors, old 1930s Hollywood style, and use them in advertising and as hosts/guests on talk shows, gameshows, variety shows, travel/food shows, and other non-BL dramas. GMMTV’s pairs include SingtoKrist (no more), OffGun, TayNew, FrankDrake, PluemChimon & BrightWin. The short series Our Skyy showcases some of their pairs. You can read this post on my Top 10 BLs from GMMTV.
Studio Wabi Sabi & Starhunter are smaller but popular BL studios that follow in GMMTV’s footsteps by keeping a stable of actors (encouraged to do other activities) often paired up for BL. Wabi Sabi produced higher quality shows like Until We Meet Again. Their pairs include OhmFluke & BounPrem. While Starhunter is a bit more pulp-ish with shows like Gen Y and pairs like KimCop.
Directors you’ll hear fans talk about:
Backaof who mostly directs for GMMTV and is pretty sophisticated.
New directs a lot and for several studios and has a very workmanlike approach.
Cheewin who mostly directs for indie houses and has a very candy-colored, comedic, and erratic style. Some pairs he reuses include BoomPeak, YoonLay, & MaxNat.
Bloggers will occasionally use the P’ honorific for directors. (I do not. I consider it inappropriate as the correct address would be Khun.)
Pairs relatively independent of studio or director (now) include: MaxTul, BothNewyear, YinWar, KaownahTurbo, JeffGameplay, JimmyTommy, and PerthLay. Broadly speaking, pairs that self govern and self promote (or have moved into that) tend to make for healthier brands than those controlled by studios and are less likely to turn toxic.
MAME: the author of Love By Chance, A Chance at Love, and TharnType among other Thai Y-novels. She’s a popular writer (now producer) in Thailand but her style and choice of tropes is extremely controversial with international audiences, (she includes a lot of statutory rape, dubious consent, and intra-couple violence). However, her characters are appealing and her casting choices tend to be strong. Some of her origin actor pairs include: MewGulf, JaFirst, and MawinRun.
LIST: Most Significant/Impactful Thai BL Over Time
By year, not necessarily worth watching. Just FYI.
Love of Siam (queer movie, critically acclaimed, sad ending - first BLish anything from Thailand)
2014 - 1st Gen, THAI EXPANSION
Love Sick (Thailand’s first real BL, hugely popular INSIDE Thailand)
My Bromance (out gay actor in a main role, not recommended)
Love Sick 2 (longest BL season ever)
2016* - 2nd Gen, BEYOND BORDERS & THE RISE OF GMMTV
SOTUS (GMMTV’s first BL, Thailand’s first global hit, responsible for Thai BL becoming the soft power it is today)
Make it Right (first Thai BL pulp, BoomPeak origin)
Puppy Honey (BL side couple OffGun origin)
Kiss the series (BL side couple TayNew origin)
Bad Romance (BL side couple MaxTul origin)
Grey Rainbow (KarnNut, not recommended)
2017 - the rise of the pulps, Thai BL begins exponential growth**, the concept of short spin offs and specials starts to be explored
Together with Me (first major MaxTul vehicle)
Love By Chance (first MAME offering)
My Tee (GMMTV’s first pulp)
Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cut (first BL cut by a studio)
Great Men Academy (Thailand tries manga filming style)
The Effect (Thailand criticizes its own worst BL tropes)
TharnType (MewGulf break the internet, other people notice BL)
He's Coming to Me & Until We Meet Again (Thailand applies complex story structure to a BL foundation)
2020 - 3rd Gen, GLOBAL EXPANSION (lockdown)
2gether (everyone learns about BL)
Theory of Love (an established pair given new roles)
YYY (how weird can Cheewin make BL?)
Why R U? (how high a heat can we take?)
Ingredients (BL as advertising)
My Engineer & Oxygen (first major non-pulp Thai BLs from unknown studios)
I Told The Sunset About You (Thailands first high cinema BL)
1000 Stars (first high cinema BL from GMMTV)
Manner of Death (gay romantic suspense using a grown up BL couple)
Lovely Writer & Call it What You Want (Thai BL gets meta with self criticism)
Top Secret Together (first out gay couple in a leading role)
KinnPorsche (BL gets known by Romancelandia)
* The GMMTV Holy Trinity of Thai BL (OffGun, SingtoKrist, TayNew) all started in 2016. Also MaxTul & BoomPeak.
** Thailand has experienced exponential growth in BL output since 2017, adding to the number of BLs it produces each year by a factor of 25-35%.
WATCH LIST: Understand the History of Thai BL
This is basically an ingredients list for a Thai BL cake.
If you want to understand how Tumblr talks about Thai BL and go on the journey many early watchers went on with Thailand, this is it. It’s designed so you can see how the industry in Thailand has evolved, and get all of the inside jokes. So I would watch in order, if you can.
Love Sick - Thailand’s first real BL, hugely popular INSIDE Thailand, a decent story of bisexual self discovery and messy teen angst and one of the most appealing sweetheart uke characters ever. If you like Love Sick you’ll be compelled to watch Love Sick 2, and it’s LONG so you’ve been warned. Responsible for the pulps. On Netflix or on YouTube (watch the BL fan cuts if you can).
SOTUS - Thailand’s first global hit, responsible for Thai BL becoming the soft power it is today, also caused the engineering is gay, pink milk, and gears tropes. (You’ll enjoy SOTUS S, the follow up, only if you loved SOTUS.) On Netflix.
Make it Right - the first Thai BL pulp, if you liked Love Sick you’ll probably like MIR. If not, you should skip it and the pulps in general. On YouTube.
Love By Chance - first MAME offering with the least offensive main couple, but watch out for those side couples they’re trouble (trigger warning on KlaTechno for rape). On YouTube.
Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cut from GMMTV (Dark Blue Kiss is their main series, watch it if you like TayNew’s dynamic & chemistry in Kiss’s BL cut, otherwise don’t bother). On YouTube.
2 Moons 2 - slightly better than 2 Moons and covers the same territory but with more developed side couples. Watch it to understand the origin of J9, why everyone loves Pavel, and where the pink milk and umbrella tropes come from. On YouTube.
Until We Meet Again - Thailand applies complex story structure to a BL foundation with a killer outcome. (This is my favorite Thai BL). Trigger warning for the original version of trigger. On YouTube.
TharnType - some of the most problematic tropes with some of the best chemistry. MewGulf broke the internet and caused other people to notice BL, and everyone still talks about it & them. Watch this to learn why and about all the issues that followed. Trigger warnings for statutory rape & child abuse. On Viki.
Why R U? - if you like TharnType (or couldn’t face it because of triggers) this is a much less problematic take on high heat, with a great soft boi side couple. The story is pants but it’s worth trying to track down for chemistry reasons, and because FighterTutor rep both safe sex and verse. Hard to find.
2gether - the fluffiest BL that everyone knows about, watch this to see the pinnacle of GMMTV’s style and Thailand’s most ubiquitous BL.
My Engineer - first major non-pulp classic Thai BL with multiple pairs, from a minor studio. On YouTube.
Second Chance - Thailand’s current reigning champion of the pulps but if you want to know what a Thai BL pulp is, it’s this, this is what it is. On Viki.
Ingredients - BL as a story advertisement with a weak seme/uke dynamic and a great soft indie pair in peak domesticity. Extremely comforting and remarkably innovative for Thailand. Shares certain stylistic trends with Vietnamese and Pinoy BL. On YouTube.
I Told The Sunset About You - first well regarded widely watched high cinema BL. Uses a traditional coming of age narrative, shares some stylistic trends with Japanese BL. Hard to find. (I talk about my challenges with this show here.)
A Tale of Thousand Stars - first high cinema BL from GMMTV trying to grow up a bit, long form but it shares certain stylist trends with Korean BL. On YouTube.
Manner of Death - BL tries on gay romantic suspense using wildly popular BL pair MaxTul. Tumblr went mad for this one. Shares certain stylistic trends with Taiwanese BL. Hard to find.
Lovely Writer - Thai BL gets meta with self criticism but using a strong story and great acting. On YouTube.
WATCH LIST: The Best Thai BL
This is a tasting menu of Thai BL.
These are the ones I think best represent what Thai BL has to offer. Including some of the most popular, that people seem to enjoy the most. These tend to be the ones that western audiences find the least offensive.
Until We Meet Again (2019) - a non BL trope reliant fated mates romance
1000 Stars (2021) - strong story concept that nods at BL tropes but manages to elevate them and itself
He’s Coming to Me (2019) - boy and ghost boy fall in love, must solve ghost’s murder
Oxygen the series (2020) - uses every Thai BL trope in the playbook for one of the gentlest BLs ever made, bit slow for some
Love By Chance (2018) - AePete are a model new BL couple, softly subversive of the seme/uke dynamic, sweet, kind, and low angst. All the other pairs (TinCan, KlaNo, and TumTar) are old school dysfunctional yaoi couples thrust into a modern narrative.
Love Sick (2014) - has very few traditional yaoi tropes, but it started several BL tropes of its own, that Thailand now perpetuates.
SOTUS (2016) - All the Thai BLs that followed owe their existence to this series.
2gether (2020) - if Love Sick started it and SOTUS pushed it forward, 2g made Thai BL a phenomenon.
TharnType (2019) - if 2gether reps for the new BL, Tharntype is the last gasp at traditional yaoi issues.
Bad Buddy (2022) - reigning king of Bl based largely on the killer chemistry and actng of the leads in a Romeo & Romeo romance
You can read about why I made these choices and why some are missing in the original post.
Top 10 Highest Production Values in Thai BL
Top 10 BLs Out of Thailand
Top 10 BLs from GMMTV Thailand
WATCH LIST: BL That Best Represents Thailand’s Take on the Genre
This is a full course meal of Thai BL in its most concentrated form.
These are the BLs that I think best showcase Thailand’s style of BL, as opposed to the origin yaoi and the BL from other countries. Each country that produces BL has a particular style that dominates its shows. While there are better BLs out of Thailand, these are the shows I feel most accurately represent Thailand’s style (some of my favorites are not on this list).
Honest Elevator Pitches for Thai BL (2020 & earlier)
Links to Further Reading & Deep Dives into Thai BL
These are posts in which I make further recommendations, do deep dives into pop culture, story critique, market analysis, or social analysis.
Country by country analysis, how does Thailand compare?
Struggling with Thai Language and Acting Style?
BL Wave Data - Quick Summary (Thai BL is growing exponentially)
Chef de Smooching - Recipes for BL (Thailand production houses & other countries)
Let’s Play Frankenstein’s BL (best production choices by country)
Love of Siam, ITSAY, Thailand & the HEA Gay
Links to Understand Thai BL Actor Pairs
These are posts about actor age dynamics, relationships, skinships, and so forth. I don’t IRL ship because that kind of behavior freaks me out, but I am very intersted in the psyche of obsession, fanaticism, tribalism, celebrity worship, etc... So I pay attention to ships especially from a brand management perspective.
A Guide to Thai BL Actor Pairs for New Watchers (dated)
Do I think skinship has to do with Thai society? concerning homophobia, Intimacy, plutonic affection, touch aversion, and touch starvation
Thai BL Couples as my High School Friendship Group
Links to Understand Thai BL Tropes
Thailand has developed its own set of visual tropes in BL and spread some of them to other countries. Also it gravitates to specific narrative elements, like archetypes, in its stories as well.
Thai BL & Traditional Romance Tropes
SPECIFIC TROPES THAILAND LOVES
Engineering = gay (and all the other departments)
Sing Me Your Feelings (I have no idea why Thailand thinks any boy with vocal cords can sing - they CAN’T - but they’re obsessed with putting it on screen
Beach trips and forest frolics (origin Love Sick)
In Thailand, Mosquitos Leave Hickeys
Baby is a floppy drunk (origin Love Sick)
Matched outfits and sharing his closet
Links to Understand the Nuances of Thai Language & Culture Impact on Thai BL
I’m not a linguist but I love the interrelationship between language and culture. There are many things we miss about BLs when we watch them in translation. I started to study Thai in order to understand some of this. These are posts that tunnel into elements we miss as outsiders to Thai culture.
Explaining Thai to the Casual BL Watcher - It Has Registers - most BLs take place in the informal register, so for tourists this is NOT the kind of Thai you should actually speak.
Linguistic Fun In Thai BL + Thai Nouns, Thai Verbs - once you understand its logic Thai is actually a pretty easy language to learn to speak as there’s no declensions or conjugations, and making something plural is EASY
Thai Military Service & Thai BL - AKA why does Tee have a shaved head in Make it Right and why don’t Thai actors disappear for military service the way K-pop idols do?
Thai BL & Product Placement (weirdly, a defence)
It’s Thai BL cocktail hour! - I make Thai influenced cocktails to pair with BLs.
Thai Desserts in Until We Meet Again - all of them described plus meanings and links to recipes.
Thai Food You Should Eat Because of BL - Som Tum in What’s Zabb Man, Kao Soi in Bite Me, Khai Palo in Enchanté, Gaeng Tai Pla in Close Friend 2, Luk Choup in La Cuisine, Chor Muang in UWMA, Nom Yen in SOTUS, 2 Moons, 2 Moons 2, Nitman, and Love Area
THAI NAMES & MISSPELLINGS
Thai actors and characters use a nickname (chue len) that can seem really odd to English speakers. Unlike many other Asian languages Thai names are written and spoken as we do in English: (Nickname +) Given Name + Family Name. Names are coupled with honorifics for spoken address, which are based on social status and age dynamics.
Thai is a syllabic alphabet, so Thai words and names can be spelled multiple ways in English. Thus there are some characters known by multiple names (because different subbers transcribed differently), for example Med/Mes and Than/Thun in He’s Coming to Me, or Aeoy/Aey in Lovely Writer.
The Thai language contains no articles, so titles get dropped articles in translation. Hence A Tale of Thousand Stars (missing a) and I Told Sunset About You (missing the).
Thai spoken pronouns mostly gender in first and second (I/you) but not in third (she/he/they). Also nouns often do not confer gender (there is no boyfriend/girlfriend only faen). Also names are often used in place of I/you. In other words, you say your own name, and (honorific +) other people’s names A LOT. Formal polite particles (krap/kha) are gendered, informal polite particles are not.
The wai, or formal acknowledgment, consists of a slight bow of the head, with the palms pressed together and raised towards the face. The words sawat di are often spoken with the wai followed by the krub/ka polite particle. Here’s Perth Nakhun (Ram from My Engineer) explaining sawat di.
Yaoi filming, staging & framing techniques in BL
Backlighting & Silhouettes
Diffuse point lighting, AKA Fairy Lights
Unidirectional focused lighting
Staggered couple framing - when characters are staged so that one appears offset or smaller than the other
Central Aperture Framing - Linear framing using pathways and apertures to draw focus to the central figure(s).
Peekaboo Framing - When the director uses doorways, windows, mirrors, or other apertures to give the audience the impression of looking at something they maybe shouldn’t.
BL Docs & NonFic Resources on YT
TED Ex BangKok (growing up gay in Thailand)
Perth on working on a BL show (Thailand, Aussie perspective)
This post in response to @so-oj ‘s lovely question.
(this post updated end 2025, please note links subject to change at studio’s will and internet capriciousness - source)
