BL recs (from any country) that don't have any s*x scenes? I'm too ace to enjoy them at all. Happy ending preferred, angst v welcome:)
BLs Without Sex Scenes
Oof, this is a hard one. Is a dead fish kiss okay? I do have a heat sorting on the spreadsheet of doom, and there are some with no kissing at all, but a dead fish kiss is in most of the HEA ones.
BLs with No Kisses
21 Days Theory (Thailand, YouTube) - the only thing I didn't like about this pulp was the fact that they don't kiss, so... yeah, this is my first pick for you. Very YA first love angsty, fantastic queer rep and side characters. RECOMMENDED
My Esports Genius Brother (China, Gaga?) - it's hella odd censored bromance but enjoyable. No real angst tho.
HIStory My Hero (Taiwan, Viki) - basically a BL with no sex or kissing, but also body-swap so is it BL? I can't remember the end but I think it's happy?
Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan, ????) - this 2017 yaoi adaptation is a full on BL just no kissing at all. The source manga (I Hear the Sunspot) is a favorite of mine and the casting was decent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for you (but not in general). Grey only.
Love of Siam (Thailand, ????) ALL THE ANGST, I'm pretty sure the most they do is hug, I could be v wrong though because too sad for me to ever rewatch. Very formative to the Thai BL industry.
The Lover (BL cut) (Korea ????) sometimes you can find the BL cut on YT, it has slapstick comedic sexualized moments that are maybe a little homophobic (or something), no actual sex or kissing, but no angst at all. (Korea's working some shizz out with this early offering.)
Kabe Koji AKA Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru (Japan, Viki) - I watched this and I was excited about it before it aired, but I seem to have expunged it from my memory and kept no screen caps in annoyance, so that's all I got.
Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush (Korea, ????) - a crossdressing historical that flew utterly under the radar. I decided it just wasn't really BL, but it has BL aspects and it's kinda a little queer... or something. Grey only.
Evening Cafe (Thai pulp, YouTube) - No heat and no kisses, but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, that's the whole story.
A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea, Viki) - Has no kissing and many people found it really good as @isisanna-blog reminded me, thank you). It certainly has ALL THE ANGST. (I did not like it at all, but I'm a terrible judge of this kind of BL.)
What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan ???) - this is such a lovely show, very warm and comforting and slice of life. There is very little angst, they too old for that shit, but little to no sexual content either. It's very warm and loving. A safe extremely yet queer show - and oh boy do we not get many of those. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Censored Bromances
So No Kisses (TM) for the gays but the hets might do stuff I didn't pay attention to. All these from China. Some happy, most not.
The Untamed
Word of Honor
Guardian
SCI Mysteries
Stay With Me AKA Addicted 2.0 (I never watched this so there may be rough play)
Mr CEO Falling in Love With Me
The Fairy Fox
Youth in the Breeze
Precise Shot
Advance Bravely
His Cat AKA His Cat Boyfriend
The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao
The "Ghost Boyfriend" series
Past Youth
I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)
Recommended Shorts with no kisses, but cute & fun
The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube)
One Last Order (Korea, Gaga)
Love Advisor (Thailand, YouTube)
BLs with Dead Fish Kisses (maybe? only one, if any)
His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan ????) - (NOT His the movie) this one has all the angst you could want in your whole life. ALL OF IT. Japan wins at emo, it's their THING.
Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho (Japan ????) - there's sort of some bed tussling and implied sex but you could imagine them just being snuggles for the mains, the sides have dead fish kiss. In general there's some angst but not much. It's fluffy and great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Bonus: overt ace representation for one of the side characters.
Meow Ears Up (Thailand Viki) - sides may kiss? I enjoyed this pulp especially at the start, the premise is fun. I think my biggest complaint was lack of kissing.
My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan Viki), a case could be made for a demi seme in this BL. So much frenetic angst around bisexual identity crisis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
My Ride (Thailand Gaga) - my favorite Thai BL pulp the sides have a good kiss and the mains do kiss but it's v dead fish, not at all sexual, and it comes at the very end. Otherwise extremely chaste, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BL, queer and complex and engaging.
I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan ????) - This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. The only kiss is the one pictured above, v dead fish. Full review here.
Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea WeTV) - 12th Night goes BL in this cross dressing historical that ended up feeling like a Cinderfella fairy tale, lightly dramatic and utterly charming. Full review. There is one dead fishy kiss at the end but it's otherwise aggressively pure.
If you like this last style of KBL (with a kiss at the end being okay, I have quite a few more to recommend). Until 2022, most KBLs only had one dead fish kiss in them, so you are pretty safe with pre 2022 KBLs. They tend to be quite chaste and de-sexualized. Other good examples: Wish You, Light on Me.
That's all folx.
Some of the above I may be misremembering (since I don't rewatch this kind of BL and my memory is shit). And I may have forgotten some too, so I hope comments with jump in.
The best sibling tournament for the next @bl-bracket is accepting submissions for 4 more days (til July 5th). I was trying to remember what siblings I'd even seen, because I could only think of a few shows off the top of my head, so I made a list of all the ones I could remember from the shows I've seen.
I'm sharing it in case it reminds you of a sibling set you loved and want to submit. This is by no means a complete list of all siblings from all BL, just the ones I know about. Some of the relationships get barely any screentime in their shows, and I couldn't even find some of the siblings' names, but perhaps one of them spoke to you deeply anyway?
Best Siblings Ideas
21 Days Theory — Q’s mother (can’t find her name) & and Uncle Man
A Man Who Defies the World of BL — Mob & his brother Ayato (I don’t know if it counts as BL, but it's a great dynamic)
Advance Bravely — Yuan Zong & his sister Yuan Ru
Bad Buddy — Pat & his sister Pa
Between Us — Win & his brothers Wan & Wiew
Big Dragon — Yai & his sister
Blueming — Si-won & his sister Si-yeong
Cherry Magic — Adachi & his sister brother Adachi Kazuya
My current watch list and how I feel about the shows.
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us
This first ep just wow. I have really high hopes for this. If the quality continues it might just end up being the best thing I have seen so far.
21 Days Theory
Is this anything special? No. But do I like it? Yes. The only thing that worries me is that it’s only going to be 4 eps. We had 2 eps so far and we are only on day 3/4 of the bet. I feel like they will rush the ending.
Check Out
Same as before. Nothing changed, still boring. Atleast I liked the part were Tee is trying find himself a new parter.
Mama Gogo
Still love this show. I am just not ready for the angst next ep and asshole Chen.
Minato Shouji Coin Laundry
Still enjoying this show. But I knew the rejection was coming. The ending of this ep hurt. And Japanese BL’s continue to hit differntly.
Oh! My Sunshine Night
It’s still the side couple were it is. The storyline of the main couple is so damm boring. We are at EP7 and Kim continues to be an asshole for no reason.
The Eclipse
This show came in with a bang! First ep and I am already loving this. Had problems with sound mixing in ep1 but the director promised to fix it.
Unforgotten Night
Communication kings! Kamol has no secrets and he keeps telling Kim that he can ask him anything he wants.
War of Y
The angst in this BL. But this is good. Way better then some other director who claimed to be all about the dark side of BL. But I can see people not liking this show because they wanne keep on being in denial and pretend te BL world is all rainbows and sunshine. Because those people use BL as an escape from real life. So we can’t have their escape to be kinda harmful for the actors in it.
Best Siblings Round 1: Hoon & Teh (I Told Sunset About You) vs Man & Q's Mom (21 Days Theory)
[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]
Hoon & Teh: "1. He bought a plane ticket for his baby brother with his hard earned cash so he didn't have to take a long bus drive for his uni interview. 2. Knew all along and was quietly supportive 3. Put his baby brother in the moped cart and covered him so he could cry in peace, without pressuring him into talking about what was upsetting him, since he was not ready yet 4. Let his baby brother ugly cry tears and snot on his shirt -and we're talking about Billkin, the king of ugly crying- and then calmly told him that it was alright and that he could like whoever he wanted."
Man & Q's Mom: "One of the few adult sibling pairs in BL! They're raising Q together, and they support each other. When their father rejected Man for being gay, Q's mom stayed by his side. She's not perfect (she still reacts with homophobia to Q's queerness) but she listens to her brother, and he knows that he can help her get over this. Together they've created such a loving family."
am I the only one who wants BLs to stay as the middle level productions that they are? A couple of out of trend things like Kinnporsche or The Eclipse but overall the essence should stay the same. I don't want it to become a bigger production. I don't want 'sophisticated storylines'. Let it be messy with each country having their own essence and style. I don't want BLs to become serious. I don't want the simplicity and humanity taken from it.
So @negrowhat tagged me in a current watchlist and I realized I haven’t done one of these since I started a new job. We have a lot to catch up on! We’ll clear out what I’ve completed first.
Recently Finished
I apologize in advance. I have completed a great many shows.
Minato Shouji Coin Laundry aka Minato’s Laundromat (GagaOOlala) 10 - I absolutely loved this show, and am currently showing it to my BL watch partner on our Tuesday/Thursday watch sessions. This show utilized its entire cast so well to explore the nature of age-gap romance, being gay and cowardly, and the nature of youth desire. Absolutely phenomenal, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Gameboys 2 (GagaOOlala via VPN) 10 - Gameboys 2 knew exactly what it wanted to be and completely delivered. I enjoyed this so much more than the movie, and was glad that the Terrence and Wesley dynamic was given more breathing room. Pearl and Achilles fit well into the drama this time, and I even enjoyed the way we got to see more of Gav’s family this time around. The IdeaFirst Company continues to make absolutely incredible queer content. It’s just a shame that so much of it ends up behind difficult paywalls for international viewers.
21 Days Theory (Rookie Thailand YouTube) 9.5 - This show shot up in my rankings for this year because of the way the adults played out their insecurities and supported the youngsters in this drama. This show is so good that it actually made me root for a straight couple. I am 100% here for shorter Thai BLs that use all of their couples well, rather than the bloated mess so many of the pulps tend to be.
Triage (Grey) 9.5 - This was everything I hoped to get out of a time loop show. Continue to love with the Manner of Death team has been up to and can’t wait to see more of their work. This isn’t exactly the normal fare for BL, but it’s the kind of gay characterization I enjoy.
About Youth (Gaga or Viki) 9 - I don’t think this show had enough time to explore all of its ideas, but this show is a valuable addition to the Summer ‘22 High School BL Extravaganza. The cast is just so beautiful, and the boys from Taiwan continue to give earnest performances that I find incredibly endearing. Fuck Ye Guang’s parents, though.
Great Men Academy (Grey) 9 - I didn’t intend to watch this, but @flukenatouch convinced me and it ended up being a lot better than I expected. It’s not BL at all really, but holy hell was I absolutely obsessed with James Teeradon by the end of this show. Also I got to enjoy Captain’s gorgeous eyes again! This show involved a lot of gender swapping, but I enjoyed the show’s kind exploration of masculinity and what it means to admire someone.
Papa & Daddy Season 2 (Gaga) 8.5 - Papa & Daddy 2 has all of the same struggles as the first season, but I genuinely love it for what it’s trying to be. I think, in so many ways, this show encapsulates the strange experience many queer people have of growing into parents and starting families when it was something we never thought we would do. I think straight people naturally consider what kind of parents they might be because procreation is a likely outcome to their desires for intimacy, but it’s not something queer people really have a lot of guidelines for. I liked the challenges and themes of this season, even if I find myself consistently frustrated with filial piety.
Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! (Gaga or Viki) 6 - Very disappointing finish. I felt the lack of communication to be overly juvenile, so I can’t walk away from this show envisioning them as a functional couple at all.
Love Mechanics (WeTV) 6 - There are some things I liked here, but Mark and Vee are not my thing, and I found much of this to be rather tedious.
Coffee Melody (Viki) 5.5 - Boring, and frustrating. Not a good show. Don’t waste your time.
Currently Watching
This is still a lot, but I’m finally under 10 shows.
Takara-kun & Amagi-kun (Gaga or Viki) 10 - Episode 5/8. I cannot overstate how much I’m enjoying the way this show is exploring first desire and relationships with Takara and Amagi. It is the show I most look forward to each week.
180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us (Gaga) 9.5 - Episode 7/8. This is not BL. It is a story about a young, angry gay man; his overbearing, narcissistic mother; and his father’s best friend and missed love. It is exploring the ways different generations have reacted to queerness, and I cannot stop thinking about it. It is essentially a play adapted to screen, and everyone involved is giving some of the best performances I’ve ever seen out of Thailand. It is no surprise that Pond Ponlawit is a Nadao alum, because I haven’t been this gripped by a Thai performer since ITSAY/IPYTM and Great Men Academy.
I know many folks will never watch this because it isn’t the kind of fun fare that Thai BL often offers, but this is the kind of play that someone sees on a whim that alters the way they see themselves and the world.
The Eclipse (YouTube) 9 - Episode 7/12. I’m really enjoying how complete this show feels. Each moment feels intentional and like it’s contributing towards the end goals. I enjoy it when BL knows what it wants to say, and I’m enjoying the unsubtle politics of this show. Also, Khaotung and First are such a great pair. Neo is finally in a role that he can really shine, and he’s working with Louis in a way that finally lets me see why they’ve been paired.
Love in the Air (iQIYI) 8.5 - Episode 6/13 This show doesn’t really have a plot, but I honestly like it more for that. I personally love when BL is more character driven, and I’m enjoying watching this as a vanilla type and reading commentary from folks like @lutawolf. Though I still struggled with the early bits of this show, I like where it’s gone and can understand why they skipped what I think are incredibly necessary aspects of consent to show. I remain surprised that I have this many positive things to say about a MAME production.
My Only 12% (iQIYI) 8.5 - Episode 7/14 I think @absolutebl broke me when he said this show felt like a Thai take on a Big Eden (2000) prequel (iykyk). I also imploded over the inclusion of Love of Siam (2007) in the storytelling of this narrative. In so many ways this show feels like it’s screaming out the pain and frustration and loneliness we felt as queer in the early 00s trying to sort out the kind of people we wanted to be when we were young and struggling to find community. It was hard entering the community when all of your elders were still coping with so much grief, and there were just so few depictions of queer joy to turn to.
Earth and Santa are a good pair, but for once I’d like to see one of Earth’s characters be happy. I’d also like him to not play a naggy character in the future.
Once Again (Gaga or Viki) 8 - Episode 4/8 - I like the way the sci-fi elements feel in this show with the time travel implications. I know this is going to end sad, but I’m loving the texture of the sense of inevitability in this show.
Ai Long Nhai (iQIYI) 8 - Episode 1/12. It’s fine so far. I like the gay dads. I like the friend dynamic. Subs are only okay. This show might end up being forgettable, but I hope it’s fun.
Vice Versa (YouTube) 7 - Episode 11/12. I haven’t been enjoying this for a while. I have just had to accept that I am not a Jittirain fan, and the way she tells stories just doesn’t work for me. I find myself completely frustrated with and by Puen, and I feel constantly bad for Talay. Otherwise, Jimmy and Sea are a pretty pair. I hope all the constant ads are generating enough revenue to pay for the rest of the BLs on GMMTV.
War of Y (Gaga) 7 - Episode 8/20. I continued this because it moved to Gaga, but I constantly suffer from a dissonance with this show. It wants to explore the dark side of BL by making so many recognized BL pairs and supporting cast play out scenarios that are incredibly uncomfortable. It’s a weird experience to watch a BL that seems to want us to not watch BL anymore.
Not BL
Midnight Diner (Netflix) 10 - This has become my wind down watch before bed. I find this kind of light drama incredibly relaxing. I also love Japanese filming styles that rely on long takes. I like letting the actors act. I don’t want to feel the editing constantly when I’m watching something. I notice it when I come back to Thai productions and it’s constantly cutting and changing the angle of the shot, or refusing to put actors in the same frame for more than one line delivery.
Is It Wrong To Try to Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon? IV (HiDive) 9 - We all have shows we make exceptions for. I make mine here because I enjoy adventuring party shows. This season has been a really good adaptation, and I continue to love all of the character dynamics.
Do Revenge (Netflix) 9 - As a long-time fan of Throw Momma From The Train (1987), I do love a good Strangers on the Train story. This one was excellent, and used its lesbian characters well. Everyone turns in fun and memorable performances, especially Camila Mendes, Maya Hawke, and Sophie Turner.
9-1-1 (Fox, HULU) 8 - I’m an American and do love a first responder procedural.