Corner Café

If you have been following my blog, you would probably know by now that I have been watching a lot of BL TV dramas from Thailand and Taiwan recently. So if you are not interested in this topic, you may want to skip this post and leave now, but if you are also a BL fans, you may proceed…

Random Ramblings on BL Dramas (Part 3) – Douban ratings on Thai BL dramas + list of upcoming Thai BL dramas for the remainder of 2020

Let’s start from the beginning, I think I should just mention and thank SBS network here in Australia for screening the 2017 movie, Call Me By Your Name, last year. It was one of the most endearing and yet at the same time, oh so sad, love stories I have watched for a long while and it made me feel lost for days afterwards thinking about the ending of that movie! The other LGBT movie that affected me so much was of course, Brokeback Mountain, from 2005.

So as I have mentioned a couple of times in previous posts, I watched a Taiwanese BL TV drama, HIStory3: Make Our Days Count (HIStory3: 那一天), earlier this year due to its theme song’s music video and also boredom from lockdown. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, LOL, that was another LGBT-theme story that ended tragically… However it does make me think about life and the world we live in, days after watching the series! These LGBT-theme movies and TV series also started to pique my interest as I have mostly only been a fan of murder, mystery dramas previously, especially the British kind. Now I have fallen into a deep pit of BL dramas unable to climb out, starting from Taiwanese BL in the HIStory series, followed by Dark Blue and Moonlight (深藍與月光), Because of You 2020 (2020因為愛你), I then watched the 2016 web series, Addicted (上癮), from mainland China… Then I discovered Thai BL, wow, a country with a treasure trove of BL dramas, who would have thought? There are a few really good ones that I have mentioned in previous posts (I will do a list below of the ones I’ve enjoyed watching), a lot of average ones but still watchable, and a few that I aborted after a few episodes due to bad acting and storylines… Interestingly these Thai BL TV dramas have found such a hugh international audiences that the studios have started to include English subtitles of their shows on their official YouTube channels in the last couple of years as before that, the English/Chinese/Spanish/Korean or other language subtitles of those earlier Thai series were mostly provided by Thai fans.

The Evolution of “Boys’ Love” Culture: Can BL Spark Social Change?
Boys’ love_ The unstoppable rise of same-sex soapies in Thailand
Rainbow-colored Thai dramas that deserve your attention

In the past couple of weeks, I made more discoveries, there are also new BL dramas from Vietnam, the Philippines, and even South Korea this year, all jumping on the BL bandwagon. Even though Japan started the BL craze with their BL manga and novels, I was surprised they don’t have much in terms of BL TV dramas (any recommendations from anyone?), BUT there is one that is currently airing right now, just the first episode so far last weekend, Life ~ Love on The Line (Life 線上の僕ら), which will only have 4 episodes. South Korean’s Where Your Eyes Linger (너의 시선이 머무는 곳에) just finished its 8 short-episodes run recently. There is also a 2017’s series from South Korea called Long Time No See (롱타임노씨) which is rather difficult to find complete online (I can’t find episode 2 with English or Chinese subtitles, although I did find one with Spanish subtitles which is useless to me, LOL) but has a very interesting storyline about two hitmen falling for each other.

Now onto Vietnamese BL, one that is on my list to watch is the 2019 movie Goodbye Mother which I have heard good things about, and have seen snippets of it. And then there is the new TV series, Stage of Love, which I have heard a lot of in the last few days, not sure what the storyline is yet, but is on my to-watch list…

Another new BL TV series from the Philippines that is making a lot of noise online right now is Gameboys, claimed as the first BL series from that country. As I was reading some of the online comments about that series, I came across another Filipino TV series from 2013 called My Husband’s Lover. I have just started watching this one right now, and I must say it is rather intriguing from the first couple of episodes I have watched, but apparently there are 50 or 94 episodes?! Rather confusing, maybe the 50 episodes are just double-episode edit of the shorter-length 94 episodes? Anyway that will keep me busy for a while!

OK, I did say I will list some of my favourite BL dramas so far, from the ones I have watched… However so far 2020 has not given us particularly good series, most are just average to below average series, but never mind there are more coming for the second half of the year… This list is not in any particular orders…

Together with Me (Thailand, 2017)
TharnType: The Series (Thailand, 2019)
Until We Meet Again: The Series (Thailand, 2019)
HIStory: My Hero (Taiwan, 2017) – ghost story, body switching, haha
HIStory2: Crossing the Line (Taiwan, 2018) a.k.a. HIStory2: Boundary Crossing
HIStory3: Make Our Days Count (Taiwan, 2019)
SOTUS: The Series (Thailand, 2016)
SOTUS S: The Series (Thailand, 2017)
He’s Coming to Me (Thailand, 2019) – mystery, ghost story
Long Time No See (South Korea, 2017)
Addicted (China, 2016) – banned, and so the story is not complete, a shame… However the 15-episode drama is still worth watching, just ignore the last scene and pretend that’s the happy ending, LOL…
HIStory3: Trapped (Taiwan, 2019) – in two minds about this one, like the storyline generally but hated the character of Zhaozi who is supposed to be a detective but so naive as to be unbelievable, and his dialogues were written for a 12-year-old! That really spoiled the show for me…
My Husband’s Lover (Philippines, 2013) – I will include this one for now as I have just started watching but am enjoying it just from the first couple of episodes, will see how it goes… Update June 27, 2020: OK, don’t bother with this series, English Sub disappeared at Ep 12…
Life ~ Love on The Line (Japan, 2020) – just 1 episode aired so far, but very promising, so I will include it for now… Update July 12, 2020: Just watched the final episode, fantastic drama! Highly recommended! Even though it has only 4 episodes, the pace is fast, and the story goes from them meeting at 17 to 40 years old! There is also a BIG pleasant surprise in the last episode, a favourite BL couple from a Taiwanese BL drama made an appearance as the couple from that Taiwanese drama! I have actually heard that one of them was going to appear in this Japanese drama, BUT both of them appeared!

Finally I will just mention a few upcoming series that are widely anticipated and talked about online…
TharnType 2: 7 Years of Love (Thailand, probably end of this year or early next year) – story set 7 years after TharnType: The Series
A Tale of Thousand Stars (Thailand, probably end of this year or early next year) – one of the most anticipated upcoming series
Manner of Death (Thailand, probably Nov 2020) – reuniting Tul and Max from Together with Me
My Ride (Thailand, probably Aug 2020)
Love by Chance 2: A Chance to Love (Thailand, probably Aug 2020) – focusing on TinCan storyline
In My Mind (Thailand, set for Dec 31, 2020 airdate) – cast include Earth Pirapat from Water Boyy: The Series and the upcoming A Tale of Thousand Stars