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gillianthecat · 11 months

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Went through my QL spreadsheet and updated it! (I've been pretty consistent about adding shows, it was mostly fixing the color coding on new ones and adding in columns to get the number/percentage of episodes watched.)

Here's the list of the QL shows I'm currently watching or plan to finish soon-ish:

Who knows if I'll actually do it, but it separating a few "plan to finish" shows from the much longer list of "unfinished" shows makes it less overwhelming.

There's a good chance I'll start some of the other currently airing shows, but they're not on this list yet.

#ql watchlist #bl watchlist #watchlist #gap the series #between us #my school president #the director who buys me dinner #bed friend #a boss and a babe #unintentional love story #be my favorite #step by step #star struck

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okiedokie2216 · 6 days

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ql/non-ql watchlist

highly recommended series (completed)

love for love's sake (kbl)

unknown (twbl)

currently watching/to catch up (currently airing):

lovely runner (kdrama)

23.5 degrees (thai gl)

my stand in (thai bl)

boys be brave! (kbl)

living with him (jbl)

only boo (thai bl)

currently binge-watching (completed series)

addicted (chinese bl(?)/bromance(?))

stay with me (chinese bromance)

plan to watch next:

gray shelter (kbl)

two worlds (thai bl)

deep night (thai bl)

double mints (jbl) (not entirely sure if i'll watch it though, given the tw's)

jazz for two (kbl)

perfect propose (jbl)

looking forward to:

they're all thai- i don't know where to get updates on upcoming series from other countries

my golden blood (bl)

pit babe 2 (bl)

affair (gl)

us (gl)

wandee good day (bl)

goddess bless you from death (bl)

jack & joker (bl)

the last case (gl)

dream yuri/my marvelous dream is you (gl)

reverse 4 you (gl)

4 minutes (bl)

i'm the most beautiful count (bl)

revamp (bl)

spare me your mercy (bl)

pluto (gl)

this love doesn't have long beans (bl)

other qls and dramas from other countries i randomly discover that look compelling enough to watch

(there's more but i don't remember them rn)

was also looking forward to (series i'm not entirely sure if they're still going to air):

wuju bakery

wish me luck

be mine

red peafowl

boyy of god

love puzzle

***list to be changed/updated on a weekly basis***

#okdk own #okdk to watchlist #okdk to watch gl #ql series #ql drama #bl series #bl drama #gl series #gl drama #thai bl #thai gl #kbl #taiwanese bl #jbl #chinese drama #kdrama

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waitmyturtles · 6 months

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Pain, Trust, and Separation in Some Asian Dramas (The Second Post In a Series of Utterly Un-scholastic, Highly Personal Big Meta)......

AKA, Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: The Bad Buddy Rewatch Edition, Part 2 -- How Themes of Pain, Trust, and Separation Create Structure and Narrative in Bad Buddy and Other Asian BLs

[The following is a preamble I use for my Old GMMTV Challenge posts, here we go! What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far.Today, I offer the second of four posts on Bad Buddy, and the second in a Big Meta series on pain in some Asian dramas, including QLs and/or het romances. I'll look today at how ideas of pain in love, trust in love, and separation of partners/family members creates narrative drive in Bad Buddy and other Asian BLs. THIS IS A LONG POST, caveat emptor.]

Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4

Well, after a lot of titles and a chewy preamble (thank you for getting through that, y'all!), I'm here to say that I'm combining my two ongoing meta series into one big ol' post here that I've been dying to write for months. In the course of my watching the shows on the Thailand-based Old GMMTV Challenge watchlist, as well as watching shows from my BL gateway of Japan, I've noticed that the themes of pain and trust in love, along with voluntary or involuntary separation, have been used to create dramatic and narrative structure within Asian dramatic stories to many emotional effects.

I'm celebrating the incredible Thai BL drama that is Bad Buddy in my OGMMTVC series at the moment, and within my Big Meta series on pain in Asian dramas, I examine how themes of pain so very often harken back to artistic, and even traditional, viewpoints of how pain, suffering, and melancholy are natural cultural assumptions within many collectivist Asian societies. In my first Big Meta on pain and suffering in Asian dramas, I wrote that "accepting pain and suffering is a part of the life we decide to live, from an Asian cultural perspective." Suffering is a naturally assumed part of life, a very distinct and identified part of a Buddhist's lived life, and even outside of Buddhism, accepting and living with difficulties of all kinds -- wealth disparities, the struggle for a good education and/or a successful career, the struggle to conform to collectivist familial and/or social expectations, etc. -- are extremely common themes that are unwound on in Asian lives on a minute-to-minute basis. The idea that an Asian must live with pain is often a root of intergenerational trauma, passed along from generation to generation of Asian children-to-adults. The social mores by which Asians are raised and live, to assume what Westerners might call a lack of unconditional parental love and affection, are certainly in part rooted in an assumption that living with pain and without the, say, luxury of turning over one's emotions at any given moment, are an automatic given.

As I've plodded through the OGMMTVC watchlist, I noticed very often that separation of people -- whether those people are lovers, children/parents, or simply just adults within a group -- is often a major narrative turning point in the course of a dramatized relationship. Of course it would be; it's a common trope within the romance genre, for instance.

But I find the separation of people otherwise connected to each other -- and the assumed pain of that separation, and the trust that people may have to return to each other -- particularly fascinating within the realm of Asian dramas, for reasons relating to the assumption of pain and suffering in one's life within Asian cultures that I mentioned above. In other words, the pain of separation, and the trust that one might have that one person will come back to another person -- are givens within the scope of Asian life.

In the following dramas, I note that separation is either a central storytelling point, or is a central focus of side characters:

1) The Thai filmmaker, Aof Noppharnach, has explored separation of people/lovers in many of his shows, including Still 2gether, A Tale of Thousand Stars (in multiple forms), and in Bad Buddy (also in multiple forms, romantic and/or familial).

2) Also from Thailand, Until We Meet Again and I Promised You The Moon are two non-GMMTV dramas in which separation of lovers plays an important concluding narrative role.

3) From Japan, the movie version of Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! captures an important central narrative of separation that leads the franchise's two protagonists, Adachi and Kurosawa, to explore depth in honesty and intimacy that they may not have otherwise achieved in their everyday lives.

The painful separation that occurs in Aof Noppharnach's shows is most often related to the outside forces of life as it needs to be lived -- very often economically -- within or external to Thailand. In Bad Buddy, Pran leaves for Singapore for two years. I'm going to unwind much more on Pran leaving for Singapore in the final installment of my Bad Buddy OGMMTVC meta series, particularly by way of how he can do it, emotionally. But I want to offer a quick note about Pran's departure that the show gives a hint to (despite the pain that we feel in our hearts for Pat's loneliness from Pran, as depicted so beautifully by Ohm Pawat and his silent and longing existence as Pat in the first half of the Bad Buddy series finale). The BBS finale has Pran stating that he'll only be away for two years, and that the pay and the opportunity for an excellent architecture job were better in Singapore. In conversation with the fabulous Thai blogger, @recentadultburnout, RAB mentioned that this is a common occurrence among young Thais -- to move overseas for better job opportunities.

In spite of my heart breaking a bit for Pran being away from Pat when I first learned about his leaving for Singapore -- when RAB put Pran's departure in that context, I had to slap my cheek a bit. Because! I'm a child of Asian immigrants. Separation from family for better economic opportunities is a HUGE part of our paradigm of life between continents. As my Asia-based uncle, my mother's brother, once put it, in regards to my mother: "one of the children in our families always had to move away." For my mother's family, it was my mom who shipped off. Besides individuals seeking better economic opportunities for themselves, the economies of many Asian countries are dependent on the reception of remittances from overseas family members sending money back to their home countries, as my mom did for years; the Philippines is particularly notable for having a nearly 9% contribution from overseas remittances to its gross domestic product. In other words? The separation of loved ones is literally built into the financial frameworks of many Asian nations.

The separation of children or partners to overseas locales for the sake of better salaries and/or opportunities is simply a more assumed part of the cultural paradigm, I'd argue, in Asia than in the West. Family separations for jobs are extremely common in Asia; in the West, I'm not sure they are as assumed, especially for extensive separations, as the value placed on keeping a family unit together for cultural or spiritual reasons seems to be more a part of the Western fabric of life (despite our high rate of divorce).

We see an even more permanent economic separation happen in Still 2gether between two side characters -- Type, played by Toptap Jirakit, who is Tine's (Win Metawin) brother, and Man (Mike Chinnarat), who is Sarawat's (Bright Vachiwarit) friend. Man chased after Type during the first 2gether season; in Still 2gether, they're navigating their committed relationship, as Type contemplates, then accepts, a permanent job offer in Phuket, hours away from their home base in Bangkok.

As @lurkingshan put it, I might be the only person on the planet contemplating Type's and Man's relationship (lmao, it do be true), but I found Type's last conversation with Man, on the beach, to be particularly direct and moving for someone who has no immediate plans to move back to the side of the person he's dating.

I think about this scene against the structure of the short series that is Still 2gether, which is centered around the protagonists of Sarawat and Tine being temporarily separated as they prepare to compete in a university-wide tournament. Sarawat has the most lovely contemplation on love during this separation, and even Aof Noppharnach himself admits that the glance that Sarawat and Tine give to each other as they pass each other in the lead-up to the ultimate tournament is his favorite scene he's ever filmed (!!!) (and that scene is sooooo reminiscent of Pran's and Pat's pinky-hold after their public "break-up").

In other words: Still 2gether is ALL about separation, and contemplating the strength of love relationships in the face of those separations. While Sarawat and Tine will get back together, after that tournament -- Type and Man are separated for the foreseeable future. There is no end indicated to the patience that Type wants from Man. The conversation is just, THERE, and hanging -- there's an acknowledgment that long-distance relationships are tough, but Type isn't offering to quit his job and move back to Bangkok. Instead, Type and Man are left to accept the reality that there is no end in sight to their separation.

And I think this was incredibly bold of Aof Noppharnach to include in a GMMTV BL that otherwise ended happily for Tine and Sarawat, the main protagonists. What I admire about Aof's works are these sly inclusions of open-ended, sometimes melancholy non-resolutions, either for his main or his support characters, that leave us as viewers often slightly unsatisfied or unfulfilled. He did this in particular with the character of Aof in Gay OK Bangkok, a web series that he screenwrote in 2016; and many might say that Pran being away in Singapore is also not the most satisfying of endings for our beloved PatPran in Bad Buddy. To me, these decisions to do this artistically are just incredibly reminiscent, again, of the kind of pain that we as Asians have been culturally attuned to accept, for the sake of economics, and/or for the sake of the betterment of our loved ones.

Besides economic separations in Aof Noppharnach's works, we also have separations related to family demands and desires. In A Tale of Thousand Stars and Our Skyy 2 x A Tale of Thousand Stars, we see Tian leaving Phupha's side for two years to study for a graduate degree at Tian's mom's insistence; and we see Phupha refusing to join Tian, after Tian has graduated and moved back to Pha Pun Dao, on trips Tian takes back to Bangkok to celebrate his birthday with his parents.

When I rewatched ATOTS earlier this year, I noted that both Phupha and Tian were remarkably bad communicators throughout the original series -- and I posited that, in large part, their terrible communication was borne out by way of the both of them being raised in traditionally masculine Asian households that seemed to not allow for leeway regarding emotional revelations. BOTH Phupha and Tian were expected and intended to follow in the footsteps and demands of their family members. To the end of the ATOTS storyline in Our Skyy 2, Phupha brings up his parents -- and he hears what he has been wanting to confirm from Tian's parents, in their desire to have Phupha take care of Tian for the rest of their lives.

Phupha in particular needed to have multiple gateways opened to him, vis à vis Tian's family, in order to properly and openly confirm his permanent love and commitment to Tian. If Phupha didn't have that? He was willing to be separated from Tian, either temporarily, or at length. Phupha needed a kind of culturally accepting door opened to him -- as a man raised in what we assume to be a rural and traditional environment that may very well have not allowed for a gay man to live openly and honestly. Phupha indeed follows in his father's footsteps, to the extent of never leaving Pha Pun Dao, and demanded that he have Tian's family's approval before making the final commitment to Tian to love Tian forever.

I find the cultural nuances of nuclear family separation, or separation encouraged by nuclear family, to be particularly heartbreaking in many of Aof Noppharnach's works. We know that Jim and Jam, brother and sister in Moonlight Chicken, ran away from their Isan hometown as youths to find their lives in Pattaya, where we meet them in the context of that show. But separation either from nuclear family, or more impactfully, done by nuclear family, is most evident in Bad Buddy.

Besides Pran voluntarily leaving for Singapore, we know that Pran has been involuntarily separated from Pat before -- when Pran was transferred to a boarding school in 10th grade by his mother, Dissaya. Before that transfer, Pran and Pat were technically "separated" by their parents in so far as they were not supposed to become friends -- all while competing heavily against each other in every category of life.

That boarding school transfer? That wasn't just separating Pran from Pat. What I found remarkable about that separation during my recent BBS rewatches is that Dissaya HERSELF chose to be physically separated from her own son, for the sake of her rivalry with Pat's father, Ming.

I'm thinking about this particularly from the words she used with Pran as they sat at breakfast together before Pran started his second year at university, when Dissaya said that Pran could date anyone, men or women, as long as he "didn't date [the next door kid]."

My interpretation of that perspective is that Dissaya did not want Pran to relieve the heartbreak that she herself experienced when she was close with Ming in her teenage years.

In other words: she chose to send her son away in the face of her ongoing, lifelong fear that Ming and his family would once again wreak havoc on her and her clan.

In the continuation of the intergenerational trauma wrought upon Pat and Pran by their parents -- as a mother myself, this seems to be particularly egregious. Dissaya would have rather had her son AWAY FROM HER, than to contemplate her son even being WITHIN physical proximity to Pat in the context of her hatred of Pat's father, Ming, and the fear that she had that the Jindapats would negatively influence the Siridechawats again.

(The wonderful @telomeke reminded me, in conversation on this topic, that the first question Dissaya asks Pran, after learning about the first faculty fight in episode 1 when Pran re-encounters Pat for the very first time, was, "Did he hurt you, Pran?" Dissaya cannot bear to allow the Jindapats to hurt her son, or her family, ever again.)

I wrote in my first Big Meta on pain and suffering that Asian parenting expectations and mores are far more conditional than they are in the West, as parenting mores in the West are centered around unquestioned and unconditional love from parents to children. So much of Bad Buddy meta out there focuses on the internal experiences of Pran and Pat. When I sat back to think about Dissaya making the decision for herself to be separated from her son for years -- and then to also contemplate pulling Pran FROM COLLEGE when she learns that Pat goes to Pran's university -- I mean. We know Dissaya and Ming both tried their best to embody their hatred of each other into their children. But Dissaya takes it a couple steps further, by attempting to literally control Pran's physical existence vis à vis Pat, which -- and I'm going to sound like a judgmental Westerner here, even as an Asian -- strikes me as out of line by way of just pure emotional projection onto one's children.

When Pran goes to Singapore, at the end of the series, it's out of his own volition. Again, I'll write more about this at the end of my BBS OGMMTVC meta series. But what he experienced by ways of many TYPES of separation from Pat throughout his life -- competitively, emotionally, and then physically -- are extensive. He was physically separated from Pat by Dissaya. He was theoretically "separated" from Pat emotionally, by being discouraged in having a friendship with Pat. He is physically separated from Pat *again* when he goes to Singapore. And I posit later in this piece that Pat and Pran had another theoretical "separation" when they are pretending to be broken up throughout the course of their relationship.

When I think about what teenage Pran must have felt to be *physically sent away* -- BY and FROM his own family, for their sake of his family's desires to avoid ANOTHER family -- it explains a hell of a lot more about Pran's tendency to dissociate, particularly during stressful times. (We see this when he's alone at the demolished bus stop, and cutely in Our Skyy 2, as Pat encourages a grumpy Pran to go to Pha Pun Dao.)

And where Pat balanced Pran out -- where Pat could offer the kind of companionship, and relaxed and equitable communication that Pran had never had with his family -- was where Pran could finally experience truly open and SAFE love from and with another person, another person who wouldn't *send him away* if Pran didn't play by their rules. Instead, Pat fought by Pran's side, and Pran was willing to fight, too, and they remained together, and safe in their love and trust.

Whew. Dissaya separating Pran from his own family, from herself -- to leave him alone at boarding school -- seriously punches me in the gut, especially as a mother myself. I'm thinking about a teenager, on the cusp of adulthood, alone to contemplate his unending love for Pat, and I'm like.... I wouldn't leave a kid alone like that for a moment. But for Dissaya, her husband, and their pride? It seemed to be a worthwhile decision in that moment. A decision that we know would blow up in their faces in episode 10 of Bad Buddy.

In Pran's first separation from Pat -- Pran did not have personal agency. He did have agency later on, as he moved to Singapore, which again, I'll contemplate in a further meta.

Two instances where I was impressed by protagonists leveraging their agency vis à vis temporary separations from their partners was in Until We Meet Again and in I Promised You The Moon.

UWMA's Pharm was first and foremost presented as a blushing maiden. HOWEVER: Pharm demonstrated quite a bit of sexual agency early in the series. He was forward in his crush on Dean. He contemplated openly being gay. And he wasn't afraid to push Dean away when Dean was moving too fast sexually.

At the end of the series, after Dean and Pharm have resolved their spiritual connection vis à vis the embodied spirits of Korn and Intouch meeting once more -- Pharm wants to know if the love between him and Dean is real, and independent of the influence of the spirits of Korn and Intouch. So: Pharm asks for a break.

Throughout UWMA, Dean is the obvious seme, and Pharm is the blushing uke. I squealed in DELIGHT when I first watched Pharm asking for the break. Yes, Pharm loved Dean -- and what I saw in Pharm's asking for a temporary separation was truly out of that love, to confirm between the both of them that their relationship was very much indeed a forever relationship. God, I get chills thinking about it: Pharm was safe enough in his sphere with Dean to ask for and to GET the agency-driven space that HE NEEDED to feel fully confident in the relationship. That was a risky move that paid off for the two guys in dividends in the end. Dean had no choice but to say yes there.

The fabulous Oh-aew in I Promised You The Moon goes even further than Pharm. He fucking breaks up with Teh! After Teh cheated on Oh-aew! YES, HOMEY, YES! No wibbling on Oh-aew's end. Oh-aew was devastated, yes. But he knew he had to have Teh out of his life in that moment, for the sake of Oh-aew's own happiness, growth, and development. He even rejects Teh's reach-out at the end of their college careers.

What stuck me as so golden about the ending of IPYTM was that that break-up wasn't actually presented as temporary. They were apart for OVER A YEAR (thank you kindly to @shortpplfedup for the temporal fact-check!). Oh-aew held his ground. He needed his time and space. He needed to grow! And he valued that, individually.

I'm celebrating these two instances of agency-driven separations because of the style of their intention vis à vis the protagonists asking for, needing, and leveraging these separations. With the economic and involuntary separations I talked about earlier -- it's like there was a higher need, whether it was for money, a better career opportunity, fear, or selfishness on the part of a family to create the separation.

With Pharm and Oh-aew: the separations they demanded were purely personal and for their own growth. We know now that Pharm and Oh-aew get their endings with their partners. Pharm has a purely happy ending with Dean in Between Us. Oh-aew's ending with Teh is open-ended -- we don't know what chaos Teh will wreak next -- but at least we know they're navigating that chaos together again.

The last drama I wanted to take a look at regarding pain, trust, and separation is the fabulous movie continuation of Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Will Make You a Wizard?! (I always love writing ?! whenever I talk about Cherry Magic, lol).

The central separation in the movie of the two protagonists, Adachi and Kurosawa, comes about when Adachi is transferred to Nagasaki for work. As @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan can attest to: a Western viewer of Japanese BLs will often find themselves screaming to a screen, "JUST TALK ALREADY!," and a uniquely common aspect of Japanese doramas is that so much of communication in Japanese culture is silent, unsaid, kept internal by collectivist social pressures to not make waves with another person -- which automatically creates ongoing questions of trust between partners. When Adachi (Akaso Eiji) shares with Kurosawa (Machida Keita) that Adachi will be moving, Kurosawa shares in words that he's happy for Adachi, but through very simple body language, communicates that he is feeling otherwise.

Later in the movie, Adachi gets into an accident in Nagasaki, and Kurosawa rushes to be by Adachi's side. Kurosawa is clearly traumatized. And Kurosawa finally reveals his feelings about the entire situation -- a rare display of direct emotional confession.

We think that Adachi moved to Nagasaki for this job opportunity -- separating himself from the incredibly devoted and head-over-heels-in-love-with-Adachi Kurosawa. Adachi knows well enough that Kurosawa is suffering in this separation. But later in the movie, after Adachi has moved back with Kurosawa, do we learn Adachi's true intentions. Adachi wants to make himself invaluable at work -- so that Adachi's and Kurosawa's shared company will not separate them if the company finds out about their relationship.

This particular conversation between Adachi and Kurosawa -- after their separation, after they've moved in together -- is a huge turning point in the movie for Adachi, who had usually been the reluctant uke in their relationship prior to this moment. In this conversation, Adachi expresses his fear that outside forces will eventually separate them, and he wants to do what he can to ensure the safety of their relationship.

To me, this is incredibly reminiscent of the compromises Pran and Pat make in Bad Buddy to keep their relationship secret -- another theoretical "separation" -- from their parents for the health, safety, and viability of their relationship.

As well, this conversation between Adachi and Kurosawa moves forward into Adachi's desire to come out to their families. He was inspired by the immediate aftermath of the accident, in which Kurosawa was the last person to find out that Adachi had gotten hurt -- only after Adachi's family and company were notified.

The nuances of this separation between Adachi and Kurosawa -- and what the separation LED TO, which was an eventual and permanent commitment between Adachi and Kurosawa -- are incredibly layered. Adachi made an economic separation from Kurosawa. But it was also rooted in his desire to acclimate his company to his company's dependence on Adachi, so that the company would choose Adachi's contribution to the company over the potentially taboo reality of his same-sex relationship with a colleague in Kurosawa. In other words: he wanted to leverage the separation and his work performance upon his return, to render the company no choice in choosing Adachi's economic performance over his personal and private choices.

(One insight into Japanese culture is that for decades, Japanese corporations have wanted their employees to be married, to complete a seamless connection between household and "office" families. The Japanese BL Kinou Nani Tabeta?/What Did You Eat Yesterday? makes reference to the fact that the main protagonist, Shiro, becomes an independent lawyer because, as a gay man, he may have been pressured to take a wife in another, more group-oriented corporate setting.)

AND, following this, Adachi wanted to come out to his and Kurosawa's families, to also acclimate them to their relationship, so that their families would also not threaten the sanctity and safety of their relationship. And his gamble worked -- and their families accepted them, and they were able to make a permanent commitment to each other.

Without a strategically economic separation, Adachi and Kurosawa could not have achieved key moments of communication that led to their ability to find safety in their external environments, and make a personal and private permanent commitment to each other. The separation to Nagasaki was Adachi's lever to move their relationship forward.

It's so nuanced, so layered, and so strategic on Adachi's end, to use the work separation and his commitment to his company as such a motivator to propel his relationship forward and permanently with Kurosawa -- especially vis à vis the unique nuances of spoken and unspoken communication in Japanese society, which are remarkably different than the styles of communication we see in Thai dramas.

In Pran's and Pat's conclusion in the Thailand of Bad Buddy, they go in the opposite direction: for the sanctity and safety of their relationship, they act out a break-up scenario (with Dissaya telling Pran, "come back to your family," ha), and keep their committed relationship a secret. And this happens *two years* before the context of an actual, physical separation when Pran decides to move to Singapore after graduation.

It's a bit of a switcheroo from what we'd expect by way of open vs. closed communication between Japan and Thailand. But both scenarios, from Cherry Magic to Bad Buddy, work brilliantly well to ensure that all relationships are safe and solidified.

I'm not sure that I can say, globally, that separation from one's nuclear family, or separation from a partner, are common occurrences in manifested everyday reality. As I mentioned before, the economies of many countries are dependent on the physical separation of their citizens to other locales to send back monetary remittances. But more often than not -- when partners are partnered, they tend to want to stay by each other's sides.

I love that many Asian dramas do not shy away from the many realities as to why partners or children may be voluntarily or involuntarily separated from loved ones. Our beloved dramas show us the devastation of involuntary separations, as rendered by Dissaya unto Pran. We see that economic separations can actually LEAD to a solidifying of relationships in the case of Adachi and Kurosawa. We see that family-motivated separations, in the cause of Phupha and Tian, simply needed the investment of time for their relationship to reach a point of comfortable commitment. We see that agency-driven separations by Pharm and Oh-aew can lead to emotional clarity. And, we see that theoretical, secret-kept "separations," of the kind that Pat and Pran created for themselves, to protect their relationship, were risks worth taking, simply for them to be together and happy.

Pain and happiness are not emotions independent of each other. At least in the eyes of my Asian cultures, human beings embody all emotions, all the time. Humans are certainly primed, internally and socially, to seek happiness and balance. But as I've posited here in this post -- is there pleasure without pain? The pain of separation, the trust that partners and family members can learn from each other through separation, and the lessons and communicative ability to solidify relationships after the obstacles of separation, are all themes of life that, I think, are worth unwinding on, in glorious emotional detail. And I love that our beloved Asian dramas do not shy away from these examinations.

(Tagging @dribs-and-drabbles and @solitaryandwandering by request! If you'd like to be tagged, please let me know!)

[Well, this one was a doozy -- if you got through it all, I thank you! Next up, next week, is another post I've been dying to write for months. I had the opportunity to engage in lengthy conversation with a number of FABULOUS Asian Tumblr bloggers, all of us Bad Buddy stans, to reflect on our experiences as Asian reviewers watching BBS and to talk about what we related to. I have a list, a WHOLE LIST! of themes to expound on. I'm calling it Asian Cultural Touchpoints Within Bad Buddy. And I may need to split it into two posts, because there's a lot to talk about. Join me and my friends next week in our continued Bad Buddy brain-rot sesh!

Here is the status of the Old GMMTV Challenge watchlist. Tumblr's web editor loves to jack with this list; please head on over to this link for the very latest updates!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (The BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series is ongoing: preamble here, part 1 here, and more reviews to come) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] (watching) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch For the Sake of Re-Analyzing an Politics-Focused Show After Not Me 39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 43) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) 44) Wedding Plan (2023) 45) Only Friends (2023) (tag here)]

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justafriend-ql · 5 months

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QL Series Wrapped 2023

Thank you @tenprem for tagging me and @loveable-sea-lemon for creating the template for this! (template here). I've adapted the template somewhat to fit my personal style.

This prompted me to finally create a MyDramaList account (see my WatchList here) so I could do an inventory of all the ql series I've watched so far. The first I ever watched was Bad Buddy in 2022, so I still consider myself somewhat of a newcomer to the ql scene. These stats include a few series I watched in 2022, but I probably watched 95% of them in 2023.

you watched 64 qls this year. that's about 446.4 hours!

you primarily watched qls from Thailand.

you spent way too much time thInking about these characters: Palm/Nueng, Heart/Li Ming, and Tinn/Gun (the gmmtv lineup at the beginning of the year was unparalleled)

your favorite show was Never Let Me Go. you kept thinking about it all year. (i cannot, in fact, let go of this series)

your overall ql mood was "would you like a side of beautiful cinematography to go with your angst?" (branching out to kbls and jbls was the best decision i ever made for this reason)

you read the most fanfiction about PalmNueng. like way too much. (i highly recommend fics by @distant-screaming!!)

another of your favorites from this year was Jaewon/Jihyun from the Eighth Sense. they captivated your gay little heart.

the soundtracks you listened to the most were the My School President and A Shoulder to Cry On soundtracks. it made you feel really normal.

your favorite acting pair was Pond Naravit/Phuwin Tangsakyuen. there was just something so mesmerizing about them... (they really reached new heights with Never Let Me Go; the darker concept suited them surprisingly well and I hope to see them in similar roles going forward) Honorable mention for Higuchi Kouhei/Mashiko Atsuki from My Personal Weatherman (their incredible chemistry carried the series)

here's to another year!! (with more gls, please!!!)

invite friends to share theirs: @pondphuwin @petrichoraline @first-kanaphan @loserlesbianongsa @celestial-sapphicss (if you haven't done it already!)

#ql wrapped 2023 #ask game #while never let me go took over my life for the first part of the year #i'm now having a great time catching up on kbls and jbls from the past couple of years #the aesthetic and darker themes of many of these series are SO up my alley

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dummerjan · 4 months

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10 QL people I want carnally that make me feel gay

I was tagged by @lady-guts - thank you <333 No carnal desire here, maybe possible on the asexual spectrum?, and also not into men so I went with characters that made me go "Ohhh... definitely into women." Just without (what I understand to be) carnally wanting them. But I will do plenty of swooning and not get enough of looking at them and dreamily sigh every now and then or think of that "Excuse me? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry. Mommy? Sorry." meme. It's been close to a week but I just can't make a full list. I went through my MDL watchlist looking for hot women but I am watching the wrong shows for that and probably not remembering several characters with minor roles. Luna from Sleep With Me

Very dreamy sigh. Plus she speaks Tagalog/Filipino, makes her even more attractive.

Choi Yu Na from Semantic Error

She is omnipresent on these lists and rightfully so. She is really hot. Jean from Warp Effect

Tiffy from Lovely Writer

I never finished the show, she was the best part of it though. Very swoon-worthy. Waree (the mean teacher) from The Eclipse I can't find a gif of her but I know they are out there. I saw them on someone else's list. Akemi Haruko from Pornographer: Playback

No gifs of her either, there aren't that many for the series anyway.

And you know what? Jeff Satur has to be on this list. Jeff is sometimes very confusingly almost attractive in a way women are to me. As Kim or any other character? Not my type. But there is the warehouse outfit that could qualify (if I ignore that it's Kim). Of which I can't find a gif! But surely it is irrevocably burned into our minds.

tagging @scarefox @omegaphobe @hummingbooks @bellepark @bisexualbard @mvickym I don't know who hasn't done this yet. No pressure but if you want to, have fun. :)

#Sleep With Me is painfully underappreciated/unknown. It's so good! Go watch it if you haven't.#There was this fated day I reblogged the post collecting photos of Jeff in striped clothes that something in my cracked.#very fun very dramatic subsequent few hours afterwards #I said some thing I can't come back from.#playing tag #meins #i feel bad doing tags when tagged by people i havent replied to in ages ... in this case in like two months (which does not feel as long).#too tired to obsessively check for typos like i usually do #might keep me up tonight #and then tomorrow morning i will be horrified at which mistakes i didn't catch before

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solitaryandwandering · 3 months

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✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favorite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @telomeke (here). I hope those deadlines have been treating you well!

I have like, no original posts but I was kinda curious to see what was most popular, and I am procrastinating doing my dishes so. Here's another heinously-late post from meee!

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✨JANUARY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - The first tag game of the year. Actually, reading this back was kinda fun. I do love the Disco Elysium fanfic I shout-out here.

FAVORITE POST - N/A

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✨MARCH 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - Another tag game. I was just starting to slowly talk to people here, and being tagged in Tumblr games was legitimately so morale-boosting. Thank you @waitmyturtles for always being so kind and inclusive. <3

FAVORITE POST - N/A

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✨APRIL 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - N/A

FAVORITE POST - Actually has zero notes, but it's a watchlist tag! Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! did end up being a 10/10, and I did end up watching the entirety of A Shoulder to Cry On. Why? No clue.

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✨JULY 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - My list of favorite Thai QLs!! I spent so much time on this post, I'm very happy it's the most popular of the month. I'm particularly proud of naming the dinner scene in Lovely Writer as one of my favorites. Still stands, unlike my selections for "most anticipated" series.

FAVORITE POST - I like my list of favorite television series, haha. I've been rewatching season 1 of Gravity Falls recently and that's on the list!

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✨AUGUST 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - A "get to know me" tag game, wherein I largely lament the lack of glasses (unfortunately also marking a decline in my remaining vision).

FAVORITE POST - A reply to an ask from @dnana-2809-blog about my favorite forms of media, which sent me down a very nostalgic spiral inclusive of some of my favorite books, movies, and films.

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✨SEPTEMBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - Another ask game, which I also did to procrastinate on important tasks. I did end up watching The Eighth Sense, which turned out to be one of my favorites of last year!

FAVORITE POST - N/A

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✨OCTOBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - Yet another tag game, this one asking me to put my Spotify On Repeat playlist on shuffle and report back the results. Mine were interesting, to say the least.

FAVORITE POST - An ask by @wen-kexing-apologist that pressed me to name 5 things that made me happy, which came to me in the midst of a supremely bad mental health day. It was a sorely needed exercise.

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✨NOVEMBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - This was the month of my La Pluie watch-along, so my most popular post is my watch of episode 6 (when Tai and Patts first attempt to defuse some of their sexual tension).

FAVORITE POST - I have two I really like, though my absolute favorite has to be the one which chronicles the absolute unhinged watching experience of episode 10 (with THAT fight):

I'm also proud of everything I wrote about the use of deafness as symbolism in episode 5 (which ended up aligning with @shortpplfedup's connection to the apostate/true believer theme!)

To see all my posts in my La Pluie watch-along (which I rated a "9/10, two thumbs up, singing in the rain") and read other fantastic meta, see @lurkingshan's round-up here.

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✨DECEMBER 2023✨

MOST POPULAR POST - Ended the year with the "decorate my tree" tag, and I am still so thankful to everyone who took the time to leave me a message!!

FAVORITE POST - N/A

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P.S. This site (JetBlackCode) is super-helpful in searching for and filtering your posts.

No tags, enjoy 2024!

#it's me #2023 summary #the things i do when procrastinating

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pandasmagorica · 11 months

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Intro/tracking post

Last updated April 25, 2024.

Older queer white cis dude in California, pronoun he.

Love music.

Enjoy QL, mostly Thai, mostly series. Here to read and comment on posts.

If a series puts me off in the first episode, I will often abandon it, sometimes within the first few minutes. I'm less likely to abandon midway. If I'm considering abandoning a series I've otherwise liked up to that point, I'll often read the reviews on MDL or look up posts on the series, at risk of getting spoilers, to decide whether to go on with it (and it's gone both ways).

Not a fan of spoilers, but recognize it as a risk of engaging so I don't (usually) spoiler-shame. Please don't put them in comments to me, if you would be so kind.

Okay with sad endings if they're earned or otherwise inevitable.

Incomplete watchlist (which I will update from time to time):

Top Ten (in order as best I can, ask me on another day and stuff might move):

Not Me (best QL series ever for plot, acting, cinematography, and music, content warning for violence) (1 re-watch)

Bad Buddy (lots of fun, new discoveries on every re-watch) (3 re-watches)

He's Coming to Me (heartwarming, delightful coming-of-age work. I didn't care for the library raid part and skipped it once on rewatch and there seemed to me to be some inconsistencies with the ghost rules.) (3 re-watches)

Cherry Magic (Japanese version, delightful, looking forward to the Thai remake if they ever settle the rights issues)

To Sir With Love (could get me to try lakorns)

Semantic Error (enemies to lovers comedy that hits all the right notes)

A Tale of a Thousand Stars (fine series, not sure why I haven't rewatched it, need to rewatch after Our Skyy 2)

55:15 Never Too Late (not QL but has a QL subplot, notable for having an older semi-out gay character) (1 re-watch)

Gaya Sa Pelicula (Like in the Movies) (odd couple thrown together, fall in love, hit limits)

Eternal Yesterday (re-watch episode notes) (not usually into high school QL but the plot got me and it blew me away, achingly sad throughout) (1 re-watch)

Much as I love them, I don't automatically recommend every one of them to everyone. The right rec for the right person!

In progress

23.5

Cherry Magic (Thai) (on apparently long-term hold pending rights issues)

I Promised You the Moon (but not actively watching)

Considering

Okay, this is a really long list and I'm probably not going to watch all of them, but a fan's gotta dream, right?

Although I Love You, and You?

The Eighth Sense

Ex-Morning

The Heart Killers

Leap Day

Mama Gogo

Midnight Motel

My Strawberry Film

Old Fashioned Cupcake

Oh! Boarding House

1000 Years Old

The Player

Revamp

Shadow (although probably not)

Stay Still

The Spirealm (this ones an unlikely stretch - censored and 38 x 45 minutes equals over 28 hours)

ThamePo

Unknown (to binge)

First episode watched but not committed to

Our Dining Table

Also Completed:

A Cut Above (in alphabetical order):

Near misses for my top 10 - there can only be 10 - but bubbling under that line. Highly recommended.

Anti-Reset (episode notes) (speculative fiction on the future of AI, in a robot and a human who fall in love, quite emotional)

Formula 17 (campy and fun) (2 or 3 rewatches)

History 3: Trapped (very funny and enjoyable

I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama (feel-good comedy)

The Great Doctor (episode notes) (not QL) (medical/historical/time travel mashup, content warning for violence and gory medical stuff)

Kiseki: Dear to Me (watch notes) (top notch crime drama with a lot of humor - content warning for violence - includes an older gay couple) (1 rewatch)

Lovely Writer (very meta about the QL industry and quite funny)

Moonlight Chicken (touching and fun)

Once Again (touching time travel, sad throughout) (1 rewatch)

180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us (intelligent and a good watch, melancholy, feels very much like a stage play)

The Sign (deeply flawed but wild and enthralling deep dive into northeastern Thai mythology disguised as a cop series - content warning for violence - yeah, it's a mess but it's a glorious mess)

10 Years Ticket (episode notes) (crime drama about two warring families, bittersweet ending - not QL, but there's a QL subplot)

3 Will Be Free (review link) (wild ride with great twists, content warning for violence, yeah I'd call it QL)

Until We Meet Again (fine contrast between the ghosts of the past and the world of today, deep story, but has a few problematic scenes that I cringe at, theme music got repetitive; content warning for suicide) (1 or 2 re-watches)

The Warp Effect (not QL, but some queer characters)

and a fanfic:

What's in Your Head (Bad Buddy zombie fic) (content warning for violence, requires AO3 login)

Others I enjoyed (in alpha order):

I enjoyed these enough to be happy I watched them, but not enough to consider them classics and in no danger of breaching my top 10.

Be My Favorite (fun time-travel fantasy with a strong political viewpoint and good twists, one of the mains is a bit hard to take)

Bed Friend (not sure enjoyed is the right word, has some triggers, but worth seeing, loved the cat role-play)

The Boy Foretold By the Stars (fun, sweet comedy)

Choco Milkshake (fun, touching pet fantasy)

Cupid's Last Wish (fun body-swap plot, insane amount of food and landscape porn, rural settings, content warning for gross cow veterinary scene)

Dark Blue Kiss (pretty good, creepy interloper)

Dear Tenant (enjoyed isn't the right word, and had to pause and walk away from it partway for a major cry, but an excellent film)

DNA Says I Love You (review link) (sweet, sad, interesting gender minority rep)

The End of the World With You (mix of SF and fantasy, good story and relationships)

Eternal Summer (Taiwanese film about youth discovering their identity - bisexual love triangle - well done if a bit melancholy)

Ghost Host, Ghost House (nice supernatural treatment)

Gift Shop for People You Hate (not QL but has two minor gay characters making guest appearances, one evil and one harmless) (horror, with a very dark sense of humor) (this one doesn't show an English title on YouTube, but if you search YouTube under that name you'll find it) (1 rewatch)

Jack O'Frost (melancholy and sweet)

The Man Who Defies the World of BL (very funny after watching several series and becoming aware of the tropes)

The Man Who Defies the World of BL season 2 (okay, maybe a joke can go on long enough)

Me, My Husband and My Husband's Boyfriend (bittersweet poly-ish story)

Midnight Museum (not QL but has a major bromance that could go full QL if there's ever a sequel) (a mess, but a glorious mess)

Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss (quite enjoyable)

My Ride (enjoyable comedy with dramatic moments - includes an older gay couple)

Naked Dining (good fun, lots of misunderstandings and food porn)

Neverland (web series from India, well done and too brief)

Our Dating Sim (fun series about the courage to correct your mistakes from the past, set in the video game workplace - a few cringe moments, but generally a very kind series)

Rainbow Prince (campy and fun, not enough songs for something that's supposed to be a musical, you have to be okay with cheesy)

Rak Diao (funny, very silly, although the harassment jokes got old fast and didn't stop)

Sleep With Me (review link) (sweet lesbian romance, kinda slow for such short episodes, great disability rep)

Something in My Room (the abridged-episode version) (good, not great, ghost story)

Stay By My Side (review link) (fun ghost story version of Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss)

Tale of the Lost Boys (movie) (friendship story between a visiting straight Filipino and a gay Taiwanese aboriginal in Taiwan, heartwarming story)

Tinted with You (a way too short, fun time travel fantasy involving a painting and a mystical art lover that bring an art student together with an ancient deposed prince)

Twilight Kiss aka Suk Suk (fine, bittersweet Hong Kong film about an affair between two heterosexually married men who are actually closeted gay men)

Twins (Thai pulp, fun, not too deep)

Your Name Engraved Herein (not sure enjoyed is the right word but it's fine work)

Zero Photography (from Magic of Zero) (most entertaining product promotion vehicle I've seen in QL, even better than Pran & Pat's product placements in Bad Buddy)

Torn about:

These all had some kind of major issue that prevents me from recommending them.

Fish Upon the Sky (appalled at the racism/punch-down humor in episode 4, otherwise loved its play with form)

Last Twilight (entrancing series, but the characters didn't grow, the ending was poorly set up - needed a few more episodes - and it ultimately fumbled on disability rep)

Mr. Cinderella (nearly abandoned this one because of a supporting toxic character, but kept with it after reading a post about the traditional Vietnamese story it was tracking)

Secret Crush on You (cringed for the first half, considered dropping it, read the defense by trans reviewers, watched the rest, and suddenly it got really good)

Together With Me (mix of great content and really problematic content)

Lukewarm:

I'm more glad than not that I watched these but in retrospect would have been okay if I had missed them:

Bagan Beginning (Not-bad early Myanmar QL, lots of food and antiquity porn, content warning for violence in the last episode)

Color Rush (interesting concept, okay)

Enchanté (not as bad as people say it is, but also just okay)

Gay OK Bangkok and Gay OK Bangkok 2 (definitely gay and, er, okay)

Nitiman (okay enough)

Only Friends (episode notes) (a sex farce with too much toxic behavior for my taste and a last episode choice that left a bad taste in my mouth)

Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy x Thousand Stars (counting the four episodes as one series even though they have different names, didn't love this but didn't hate it either, very pale compared to the original two separate series)

Our Skyy 2 Vice Versa (was just okay with a really bad idea at the base of its plot)

Star & Sky: Star in My Mind (not great, not bad)

The Tasty Florida (cute enough, just so-so)

Vice Versa (brief notes) (good concept, product placements became way too intrusive for my full enjoyment)

Ones I wish I could watch:

I only watch legit sources, both so the creators get money for it and to reduce the hacking risks that watching gray presents.

Triage (I don't have a Thai phone number to log in to AISPlay, and even if I did not sure if it would have English subtitles)

Manner of Death (I need a WeTV subscription and will check that out) (thank you to @lurkingteapot for this info)

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Peach of Time (supernatural plot) (supposedly I can watch this on WeTV using VPN but I'm not yet ready to make the leap to VPN)

Series I abandoned:

Accomplishment of Fundoshi Bartender (episode 2 when he screamed offstage about not dating married men - I know this series isn't intended to be realistic but I still need the other characters to react to his behavior - this series has gotten entirely too silly for me)

Candy Colored Paradox (bored by episode 2 or 3)

Cooking Crush (a few minutes into episode 1 [2/4] as it is getting way too silly for me, plus we're going to have to put up with hazing/bullying as comedy - at least they had some new sound effects)

Cutie Pie (hated the infantilizing, left by episode 3 or 4)

I Told Sunset About You (left in episode 1, not loving the high school content)

Love by Chance (had someone fall on top of someone else in the first 30 seconds, left immediately)

Love Stage (apparently without most of the music - I'm guessing there's rights issues - but I abandoned it after 2 episodes because one of the lead's acting felt flat and I didn't enjoy the humor)

Lucky My Love (first segment didn't engage me)

Meow Ears Up (lost interest in the first episode with the fangirls in the store incident)

My Secret Love (first segment didn't engage me)

One Room Angel (dropped after episode 3 because it's so depressing; open to returning if it cheers up)

Playboyy (a new record - I got scared away by the content warning before the episode even started - however, based on various posts I might reconsider in for a binge watch once it's over)

SOTUS (not a fan of hazing)

Star & Sky: Sky in Your Heart (abandoned around the time of the outhouse incident)

Theory of Love (abandoned when nearly at the beginning Gun's character was crying in the shower)

VIP Only (failed to engage me in the first episode)

Un-favorite tropes:

Falling on someone

Heavy seme/uke dynamic

Northern rural Thai loan sharks

Evil ex

Boss/Employee

Stuff that I've written as opposed to reblogged I've tagged #pandasmagorica so I can find them easier.

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gillianthecat · 11 months

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Instead of watching the 2nd episode of BMF I ended up playing some more with my spreadsheet listing all the QL and QL adjacent shows I've seen. I added more columns (release date, production company, number of episodes), fixed the color coding, and inserted two shows that hadn't made it in (Killer and Healer at #2 on the list, from a year ago, which I barely started and had forgotten about, and Ocean Likes Me from April, which I just forgot to enter). The most recent show I started, Star Struck, is #107. (But I've only finished 65 of those.)

Very satisfying, if unnecessary.

See, isn't it pretty?

#ql watchlist #spreadsheets!

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okiedokie2216 · 17 days

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hi👋🏾

about this blog:

(nick)name: kat

she/her

i (mostly) reblog everything related to qls

i also occasionally reblog mature content (content from more mature/18+ qls) (hence the 🔞🔞🔞 in my bio👀) - minors DNI

side blog: @okdkblog

ql/non-ql watchlist

#okdk own

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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My first-ever dalliance with an Our Skyy property (I didn’t watch Never Let Me Go or Star In My Mind)! Some thoughts on Our Skyy 2: The Eclipse, episode 1:

First off, The Eclipse was my first GMMTV BL ever ever ever, which I watched after finishing KinnPorsche. I literally had no idea who anyone was, from the actors to Golf, no one. Going in super-DUPER fresh, I generally loved the script, and COMPLETELY loved the direction and cinematography. I loved that the storyline relied on emotional heat up until it made sense to introduce physical heat. I had my criticisms about how the Thua storyline played out -- I did not realize this until @bengiyo shared with me that two episodes had been cut from the original series order, which helps me to understand that whole debacle a lot better in hindsight.

I loved the show a lot, and already have a ton of nostalgia for it, and I’m excited that my old Thai BLs watchlist will give me more by way of First, especially in Not Me (and besides BLs.... yes, I’m still very much considering watching The Shipper for all the other simpy darlings in it) (cough cough Ohm cough Jennie cough).

ANYWAY, I’m seeing on the internet a lot of consternation for this first episode, but I thought it was FABULOUS.

I want to see people in relationships dealing with shit! Like grown-up humans! Yes, the boys are young -- dang, they’re just graduating high school! They’re young adults, like YOUNG, and figuring out their shit. (Isn’t it... SCREAMINGLY obvious that Aye is keeping the birthday secret from Akk?) (I always thought of Akk as a slightly over-serious weenie, and look -- First plays that up SO WELL.) (And Ayan knows this and is messing with Akk, and so what?) (Because boyfriends are going to learn how to balance each other out, and that’s exactly what’s happening here!)

I blog about trauma and messes all the time, because trauma and messes are really real in the real world. Surely I look to dramas to show me alternate realities of happy fluff and happy endings, but, as I always write here: the thing that really gets me in particular about Thai dramas is the Thai filmmaking penchant to NOT look away from the messy, gory, emotional details of relationships needing to be ironed out. It’s truly beautiful art to me when a writer or director can get into that without shying away from it.

I reblogged this fantastic post from @justafriend-ql this morning with an incredible insight: the guys from Suppalo dealt with a tremendous amount of emotional trauma, and dare I say, even brainwashing to an extent while they were in school. They need to figure their shit out. Whether you’re in a relationship or not -- after an experience like that, you need to spend time sorting shit out regarding how you treat yourself and others.

Which is EXACTLY WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THIS EPISODE.

To me, The Eclipse was not about physical engagement or fluff. It was a very deep exploration into the societal guardrails that these guys were operating behind. I don’t see why that wouldn’t change for Our Skyy.

And I think this balanced out really nicely with all the movie bits, with Neo’s shirtlessness (GAWD DAMN), with Namo being freakin’ hilarious, and with my BELOVED ship of Wat and Sani -- Sani, who looks as slammin’ as ever, who will likely turn down Wat (if I’m reading their movie re-creation correctly), and Wat who respectfully crushes on her (I love them I love them, and if Sani decides otherwise, I support her go-gurl moment, because Wat is also an adult now!).

Anyway. This will obviously resolve tomorrow, and I’m excited for it. I loved this episode. It was sophisticated, heaty, emotional, and complicated. I’m not expecting fluffy and simple here -- I want to see good filmmaking for a two-episode epilogue, and I think we’re getting it so far here.

#the eclipse #the eclipse the series #our skyy 2 x the eclipse #akk x ayan #ayan x akk #kan x thua #thua x kan #wat x sani #sani x wat #our skyy 2

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kattahj · 3 months

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I got recced Love for Love's Sake and started watching without knowing anything about it. I'm rather happy about that, because I enjoy it so far (2 episodes), and if I had known more beforehand I probably wouldn't have watched, or just pushed it further down my watchlist.

Because boy howdy, does it on paper have a lot of tropes I dislike.

– Characters who are forced together by fate/outside influence.

– One character has to lie extensively to the other.

– Unsustainable environment that at least one of them will have to leave (in this case, a computer game).

– One character constantly tramples the other's boundaries "for his own good".

– Then there's the age situation, which I'm not necessarily opposed to, but combined with the protagonist literally living someone else's life, it gets a bit weird.

– I don't hate gimmicky premises, but I'm a bit wary of them. So far, most of the QLs I've seen that had one haven't benefited from it.

And yet... I'm enjoying myself. Myung Ha has a chipper sort of charm that pulls me in, just like how he's pulling Yeo Woon in. And while the premise is gimmicky, it also reminds me of Triage, and I liked Triage. Plus, a show like this could easily have gone with broad, comedic acting, and so far it hasn't, which is a point in its favour.

We'll see what happens, but so far, it's more than the sum of its parts for me!

#love for love's sake

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legendaryrooftopscene · 6 months

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9 people I would like to get to know better

thanks for tagging me, @guzhu-furen!

last song: black tie by jeff satur <3 <3 <3

favorite color: bright, sunshiney yellow

last movie/tv show: Lovely Writer, which I'm watching with my buddy week-to-week

currently watching: my QL watchlist is almost a dozen shows long but the ones I'm enjoying most right now are Love Senior, My Dear Gangster, and One Room Angel

sweet/spicy/savory: savory!

relationship status: in lesbians with my wife @wendy-comet

current obsession: the video game My Time At Sandrock. If you like farming sims or life sims, PLEASE play this game i am fully obsessed. I loved the first game in the series and this one is even better

last thing i googled: grated apple japanese curry (turns out the "grated" part is key in making it taste good)

my brain is not good at remembering people to tag so if you see this, consider yourself tagged :)

#original #please please PLEASE play MTAS @ anyone reading this #anyway. thanks for the tag my friend!!

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imminentinertia · 2 years

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About me-ish

I'm on AO3: imminentinertia (most works only visible to registered users, I'm not terribly keen on AI scraping). There are some Tumblr only drabbles to be found here

Things that don't really have to do with fandoms, mostly reblogs of art and weird shit, end up at @itswinetodaybutpisstomorrow

My current enthusiasm for QL has lead me to make a sort of watchlist blog for more obscure shows, at @fellharder, and I'm questioning all my life choices

I translated social media for Lovleg (with a friend doing the Instagram posts): @lovlegskada, which together with our clip-translating and subtitling friends at @lovlegenglish provide the full fan translation of the show (it's great and everyone should watch it! You can find the full translated show here: season 1 and season 2)

For a couple of years a friend (and later one friend more) and I recced evak fics and hosted challenges and Best Of events: @evakteket . There's a lot of good fics linked there, but some works have since been deleted, that's the way it goes

Back in the day I made some posts to help foreign SKAM fic writers with various Norwegian details, they can be found here (some of the information is outdated by now)

I used to be @skamskada btw

Find me on Discord for chats and group chats: imminentinertia there as well

Okay okay I'm on Cohost too. Imminentinertia, who would have thought

Find me on Mastodon where I snagged my preferred nick for a fandom account but I don't do much with it for now: @[email protected] (that's a fandom friendly server)

I'm technically on Pillowfort, where I'm also imminentinertia, but I rarely log in there

I need to delete my Twitter account soon because of Elon Musk but as of now I'm imminentinertia (surprise, I'm sure)

I like languages and linguistics an unhealthy amount

By all means interact with me

I tried to find a nice "about me" gif but that was not easy. I chose this instead.

Current hyperfixation (started 2022): KinnPorsche the Series. vegaspete vegaspete vegaspete vegaspete vegaspete, oh and live action BL in general, especially Taiwanese BL, but mostly vegaspete vegaspete vegaspete vegaspete.

#about me

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shortpplfedup · 1 year

Note

For the End of Year QL Ask Game: 9, 11, 17, 22

9. What’s a show that didn’t air this year, but you watched this year that you enjoyed?

Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man) was an outright banger, and I'm actually glad I didn't watch this with the community while it was airing because I gather the disk horse was galloping away a bit.

11. If you had to recommend one QL from this year to someone, what would you recommend?

To My Star 2 because I always like the challenging watches. This one was really about how lack of self love can poison the best things to happen to you, and most importantly how even people who love you can't make you happy, you have to make YOURSELF happy to be able to accept that love and grow in it.

17. Are there any shows you avoided this year? Will you ever watch it if you avoided it?

Vice Versa never made it onto my watchlist, in large part because of my antipathy toward Jimmy as an actor. With everything I've read about it, I think I'm fine with my decision not to watch it. Maybe I might binge it someday in a quiet period.

22. What show has the best soundtrack?

The answer to this question every year til the end of time is Gaya Sa Pelikula (Like In the Movies), but if I have to bow to the concept of time, I will go with KinnPorsche which really surprised me with the thoughtfulness of both score and OSTs. Plus 'Freefall' is an absolute bop.

End of year QL ask game

#play ask games win ask prizes

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