Corner Café

Dear Evil Stepsisters, the Prince is Mine is a 7-episode re-imagined Cinderella fairy tale micro drama that dropped on April 8, 2026 on MONOPOLY GO! and ReelShort. The version on MONOPOLY GO! is in widescreen format while the one on ReelShort is in vertical format, and all 7 episodes are free to watch.

Not His Holy Good Girl is a 54-episode American vertical drama that dropped on March 5, 2026 on DramaBox and KalosTV. Wow, this has to be one of the better vertical series I have watched! It is soap opera meets religion meets film noir… Although if you are religious, I would suggest you should avoid this drama totally! Some of the scenes could be considered sacrilegious if you are a devoted Christian. That said, the female protagonist here is as devious as the villains themselves which is so refreshing to watch, not the usual gullible and helpless ones depicted in almost 99% of vertical dramas. Also don’t expect the usual Disney romance here, if you do, you will be disappointed, but I found it so satisfying to watch…

My Hidden Mafia Dad Ends It All is a 60-episode American mafia family vertical drama that dropped on March 20, 2026 on GoodShort. It is directed by Dede Harlan – remember him? He wrote and directed one the first western BL series, My Secret Agent Husband! Blame him for my addiction to watching vertical series, LOL… Before that I would not even consider watching any vertical series! I have also watched quite a few “family” vertical series since, and hidden billionaire dad being a janitor is quite a popular plot, and another popular one is mum with three sons who was rejected by her own parents and then worked herself to become a billionaire, and her sons are now all elites in their fields of work but nobody in her families seems to be aware of that fact! And not to mention another plot that is recycled plenty of time, the lost heiress and her three brothers (why always three sons or three brothers? LOL…) However this new one is a bit different. Although there are still plenty of brainless villains, mercifully their delusions of how “powerful” they are did not drag on too much… There is romance in the plotlines but it is just a very, very side story, the main plot is about father and son…

The Cooking Queen: A Recipe for Divorce is a 77-episode American vertical series that dropped on March 21, 2026 on ReelShort. Once again the plots are very similar to the other two culinary themed vertical series I have watched before, namely Cooking My Way Back to Love, and Hellfire Chef: You Are My Final Taste. Of course all these kings and queens of chefs have to wear a mask and their dishes can produce magical powers, because that is a requirement for vertical series, LOL… Then there is another culinary one that I have watched but haven’t mentioned before, Food, Love, Robots from 2025 which is also weird in another way but at least that one is different from all of these masked chefs…

Please Hold On to My Character 請把我的人設立住 (English title is not official) is a Chinese soul swapping vertical bromance series that dropped earlier today, March 20, 2026, on the Chinese app Kuaishou 快手星芒短劇.

Update March 23, 2026: Just found out the series will have 40 episodes with the finale on April 5, 2026. I have added the calendar below.

Kissed by Claw and Fang is a 72-episode American supernatural vertical series that dropped on February 15, 2026 on ReelShort. I won’t say too much to spoil the story, but there is a misunderstanding in the plotline which may have led them to do a cheeky “BL” BTS of Claw and Fang on their social media which I have embedded below…

What is going on? This week we are getting two new versions of Meteor Garden 流星花園 (2001), the Taiwanese series which is the first drama adaptation of the Japanese manga series, Boys Over Flowers 花より男子! One is the Japanese BL version, School Trip: Joined a Group I’m Not Close to 修学旅行で仲良くないグループに入りました, which is starting to stream today – not sure how closely the plotline will be to Boys Over Flowers, but it does feature four popular boys and one of them fell for the main protagonist. The other is the vertical version, Taming My Bullies, which is an 81-episode vertical series that dropped on October 16, 2025 on ReelShort, and this one is almost identical in the plotline. If you’ve paid attention to the poster, you can see the meteor shower in the background, and then all the flowers in front, LOL… The F4 in the Taiwanese series has become the Four Heavenly Kings in the BL series, and the Big Four in the vertical series… This vertical series is actually not bad as it has a solid storyline, apart from the ubiquitous tropes which are essential in almost every vertical series…

Emma Parker is a new transfer to Maple Elite Academy – and she’s picked a fight with The Big Four, on her very first day! Four rich heirs who rule the academy, they’ve decided she’s public enemy number one! But maybe there’s more than meets the eye. Rowan Calloway acts like a tyrant, but is he really a ruthless bully? And August Langford keeps helping her out. Have they met before? Who’s Emma going to choose – her worst enemy, or her childhood friend?

The series stars Meg Bush as Emma, Cameron Porras as Rowan, and Luke Dodge as August. Another thing, I have not noticed sponsorship in other vertical series before, but the sponsor’s ads placement in this series is as subtle as a brick, LOL…

Looking for something different other than the billionaire/CEO, or werewolf/vampire dramas on vertical series? Well, here’s one that is very different… Ms. Detective and Mr. Thief is a 79-episode American vertical series that dropped on January 26, 2025 on ReelShort. It stars Kyle Fragnoli as Ari and Jessica Jacoby as Isabel. As usual, don’t expect too much from the plots, just enjoy it for what it is…

Runaway Billionaire Becomes My Groom is a 77-episode American vertical drama series which started streaming first from January 7, 2025 on, apparently, the Sereal app (?), but the series can be found on quite a number of different app currently. I just finished watching it yesterday and, SHOCK, HORROR, this vertical series actually made sense! Not saying it is perfect, since there are still a couple of glaring plot holes that I noticed immediately, and the tropey high-class low-class plotlines; it is still way better than most vertical series.