Top 10 Great BLs That Are REALLY hard to find (but worth tracking down)
But you may want to go hunting anyway!
Seven Days
Seven Days: Monday-Thursday
Seven Days: Friday-Sunday
Japan 2015
Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.
Cherry Magic AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii
Japan 2020
The sweetest fluffiest magical realism BL, packaged as a pinning office romance, very low heat (practically chaste) but the cutest. It’s truly great.
Cherry Magic Thailand
Thai 2024
A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. I personally like it slightly better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be from Thailand.
I Feel You Linger in the Air
Thai 2023
IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show could easily have earned a 10/10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls in the final quarter. Argh. Whatever.
All about the ecstasy and the agony here.
Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de
Japan 2020
Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, and stunning.
Given
Japan 2021
Boy joins band, falls in love with other boy. The singing is terrible, fast forward through that but with the possible exception of the hair styles, this BL could have been made in 2015 and no one would be surprised. As such, it wasn’t ground breaking, but it didn’t disappoint either.
Make a Wish
Thai 2023
A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage). Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not Ohm, but who cares because Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay AF - fag hag bestie and all the swagger. The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are a bit overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency.
2 Moons The Ambassador AKA 2 Moons 3
Thai 2022
A Thai pulp that felt like it came out 5 yrs ago with many of the flaws inherent to that time and studio system, including manufactured angst and convoluted plot, but an ultimately sweet main couple that (as a pairing) feels a bit more modern and satisfying to watch than they started out. This will probably go down in history as one of the few BLs where I genuinely didn’t care about any of the side couples. All that said I find this show oddly appealing and rewatchable and I have no excuses for that.
I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai
Japan 2022
This is a beautiful, well acted piece of cinema, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura pines after outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no).
Triage
Thai 2022
BL does Groundhog Day featuring a doctor stuck in a time loop who must save a poor little rich boy from death by seducing the stuffing out of him, then PLOT TWIST, poor little rich boy must do the same for doctor! Unfortunately... stuffing keeps leaking. I thought the plot was engaging if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likeable (or unlikeable, as required). If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot, but that doesn't stop this from being a genuinely good show.
HONORABLE MENTION
Great Men Academy
Thai 2019
Bodyswap involving unicorns making a teenage girl into a boy makes this questionable as a BL (because, ya know, gender). But the fact remains that James is killer in the lead, and I (who do not like bodyswap) loved this damn show. Look, there is actual plot, hotties at boarding school, "bully the one you love" trope, some weird VR shit, very bad CGI, and yes, the boys end up together... whether they boys or not, so to speak.
Some of these shows may appear on a smaller streaming service, like WeTV, or they may be on a legal platform in your territory. I hope it goes without saying you should check there first.
(source)
This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that went missing (or was added to a platform) after that date.
It's it last in a series the rest of which are:
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man I've tried writing this post like 3 different times b/c how the hell do I explain Triage the gay groundhogs day time loop romance mission from a Literal Angel set to the dance pop Lady Gaga track of an organ trafficking hospital factory?
Anyway Tin the protagonist has the energy of one of those fluffy slightly mangled looking older cats that would yowl TWAS I WHO SET THE HOUSE ABLAZE and bites the hand of everyone except his 5 chosen humans
Forget the uni BLs you've seen before because baby Tin is stuck in a thoroughly exhausting gay version of groundhogs day crossing over with an episode of house without the ironic homophobia set in the greys anatomy hospital all to save his Influencer Love Interest from increasingly concerning deaths with the power of having absolutely zero lying skills and negative rizz like Tom Holland levels no rizz ass having, which Zendaya's his Influencer love interest ANYWAY through the sheer power of romantic hyper fixation and being a top tier level 98 slow burn obsessed weirdo with a skill buff of STARE LONGINGLY that usually only appears in accidental gay kdramas like Devil Judge or Hannibal
In the end the day is saved with some the tongue action cheat codes that cure time loop amnesia so they can return everybody's kidneys back to their rightful owners so the hospital can just be a hospital instead of an organ trafficking factory for the chicken soup soul
oh and Techno from Tharntype is here too
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Day THREE of DAILY SHIDOU!!! Triage is ONE YEAR OLD!!! Can you believe it??? One YEAR!!!
(I was there for the premiere, and I remember english speakers were so confused because the subtitles were in french for some reason. Luckily for me I'm fluent in french. The psychological damage finding out that Shidou had a WIFE and TWO KIDS I will never get over though)
This is a redraw of Pathological Facade!
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I've just started watching Thai BLs and I don't know which ones would be worth getting thru the bad acting. Could you please recommend me some? xo
20 Thai BL's With GREAT Acting
Laws of Attraction
Moonlight Chicken (review here)
Not Me (review here)
Until We Meet Again (discussion here)
Bad Buddy (review here)
A Tale of Thousand Stars
Love By Chance
He's Coming to Me
The Eclipse
My Ride (review here)
Step By Step (review here)
My School President
Bed Friend (review here)
Dark Blue Kiss (PeteKao watch guide here)
Make a Wish
My Only 12%
Never Let Me Go
Theory of Love
Dear Doctor, I'm Coming For Your Soul (review here)
Triage (review here)
Love Sick is also pretty special but it's very long and complicated and kinda a steep buy in. But if you are of the Degrassi Jr High inclination...
You might also want to try I Told Sunset About You. It wasn't for me but is for LOTS of super fans of high quality BL.
From the tone of the question I am assuming we are going with a a western value judgement which prioritizes grittiness and subtlety.
Here's more stuff for you to explore if you're interested.
(Many of these will not have been updated with 2023)
Here's me talking about western struggles with Thai language and acting style:
Here's the master post on Thai BL
Not specifically Thai but here's my:
10 Best BL All Rounders - acting, script, music, narrative, production
(source)
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