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absolutebl · 4 months

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TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on.

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL.

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table).

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023.

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like... okay, back in familiar territory.

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023.

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit.

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan.

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon.

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like...

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age.

And yeah... it totally worked.

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting.

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely.

Never Let me Go

My School President

Bed Friend

The Day I Loved You

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down.

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV.

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us.

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV.

5. Cameos are the norm now

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.)

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular.

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters.

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.)

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain...

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year.

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it.

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand's price range (even GMMTV's) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic).

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that's much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn't be too surprised.

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn't think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan.

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this.

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.)

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea?

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it.

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense.

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding.

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it.

9. BL got trendy

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay.

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not.

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do.

10. The Vampires are coming

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR.

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened).

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV.

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.)

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either.

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline.

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field.

FYI we had approximately

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27

2015: 17 (50% micro)

2014: 17 (50% micro)

And that’s it! Let me know in the comments if you’ve spotted any additional trends you want to call out.

Last year, 2022′s trend report

2021′s Trend report

Last Year’s Stats & Predictions

(source)

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negrowhat · 4 months

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10 BL Boys that I Want Carnally

tagged by @kurosawascrowsfeet

Here are some of the BL Boys (not all of them) that could totally get the cheeks.

Tutor from Why R U? the Series. The fucking DOM that he was!

Jeng (AKA Corporate Daddy) from Step by Step. The way I would let this man BREAK me in two...reassemble me...and then break me in half the other way.

Tan from Manner of Death. Something about him being so upfront with his feelings, built like a wall, and a bonafide gangster that just makes me feral.

Gao Shi De from We Best Love. He's soooo FOINE! He's a lil cray, a lil selfish, but all love.

Jin Hong Seok from You Make Me Dance. Who doesn't love a mostly silent, strong DILF. (Unintentional Love Story stans if y'all haven't seen You Make Me Dance then go watch it)

Fan Ze Rui from Keseki: Dear to Me. He's just soooooooooo fucking pretty!

Kang Seo Joon from To My Star. I know he know some tricks! He been in the game too long. Just gotta get him some noise cancelling headphones.

Phaya from The Sign. I want him to put me on the floor like he did Tharn.

Payu from Love in the Air. A MOTHERFUCKING DOMMMMMMMMMM!

King from Bed Friend. He's the one that will treat me like a goddess in bed.

I'll tag: @itsanidiom @25shadesoffebruary @foralleternityidiot @ipromisedthesunset @prapaiwife @omarandjohnny @lurkingshan @fandomfairyuniverse and honestly whoever else sees this and wants to expose themselves because I'm mutuals with way too many BL/QL blogs

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gabrielokun · 4 months

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#Why R U?#Why R U The Series #เพราะรักใช่ป่าว #Gabriel makes stuff #Tutor #Saint Suppapong #Fighter #Zee Pruk #FighterTutor #Fighter x Tutor #Thai BL #Thai series #Thai Drama #BL Drama #BL series

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khaotungsfirst · 8 months

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"Hey, Kim Ji Oh! As classmates... let's get along well with each other." -"No." Why R U? (2023)

#why r u the series #why r u korea #why r u #why r u 2023 #why r u?#korean bl #bl drama #bl series #asiandramanet #asiandramasource #asianlgbtqdramas #dailyasiandramas #mine*#g*#asgjhdfsjkgd i love them they're so ridiculous #three gifsets in a day i'm on a roll baby

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bl-bracket · 27 days

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Horny on Main Round 1

Round 1

Kinn (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Aob (Playboyy: The Series)

Hira (Utsukushii Kare) vs Tinn (My School President)

Porsche (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Jang Jaeyoung (Semantic Error)

Pran (Bad Buddy) vs Time (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Lan Zhan (The Untamed) vs Joke (Hidden Agenda)

Sarawat (2gether: The Series) vs Chun Sangwon (Love for Love's Sake)

Wen Kexing (Word of Honor) vs Choi Jun (Jun & Jun)

Pluem (Ghost Host, Ghost House) vs Yechan (Love Tractor)

Rain (Love in the Air) vs Muang (Be Mine SuperStar)

Fighter (Why R U?) vs Nuea (Secret Crush on You)

Pat (Bad Buddy) vs Fiat (Don't Say No)

Boeing (Only Friends) vs Payu (Love in the Air)

Babe (Pit Babe) vs Sailom (Wedding Plan)

Kongpob (SOTUS) vs Bai Zhong Yi (Kiseki: Dear to Me)

Phaya (The Sign) vs Vee (Love Mechanics)

Jin Xun An (My Tooth Your Love) vs Chu Yi Ping (Anti Reset)

Boston (Only Friends) vs Nont (Playboyy: The Series)

Han Ying (Word of Honor) vs Palm (Never Let Me Go)

Ray (Only Friends) vs Yi (Cutie Pie/Naughty Babe)

Tan (Manner of Death) vs Segasaki Mizuki (My Personal Weatherman)

King (Bed Friend) vs Karan (Cherry Magic TH)

Korn (Bad Buddy) vs Charlie (Pit Babe)

Wen (Moonlight Chicken) vs Toh (Secret Crush on You)

Charn (Laws of Attraction) vs Yai (The Sign)

Prapai (Love in the Air) vs Prom (Playboyy: The Series)

Teh (I Told Sunset About You) vs Togawa (Old Fashion Cupcake)

Yok (Not Me) vs Win (Between Us)

Xiang Hao Ting (HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count) vs Tawan (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Nick (Only Friends) vs Jeng (Step by Step)

Phupha (A Tale of Thousand Stars) vs Tin (Triage)

Zhao Yunlan (Guardian) vs Mangkorn (Big Dragon)

Tharn (The Sign) vs Ritsu (The End of the World with You)

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respectthepetty · 1 year

Note

This tweet made me think of you amd your color analyses!

https://twitter.com/TheFrenchNugget/status/1652387474331648006?t=FkLu1X1UgEkDkbSTx-Jcmg&s=19

Anon,

THIS IS PERFECT!

Mostly because the first response was this:

And it's been proven countless times by the queers:

So when that color exchange happens, it's euphoric.

They aren't just dating.

They are dominating.

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iguessitsjustme · 1 year

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To be clear, they’re all getting pushed. We just need to decide who goes first.

#don’t say no #bed friends #about youth #never let me go #bad buddy #oh! my sunshine night #my tooth your love #tonhon chonlatee #why r u?#to be clear this is just the parents #i got more polls coming

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gemistar-888 · 1 month

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Why R U? (2020) Zee Pruk Saint Suppapong

#asia #actor #singer #thailand #thai bl #thai series #gmmtv #zee pruk #saint suppapong #why r u?

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gillianthecat · 1 year

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🔥BL Hot Take🔥 (maybe? I don’t know what counts as Hot around here.)

I think Zee Pruk was better at acting against Saint than against Nunew. And I think the character of Fighter suited his skills better than Lian.

I feel like the difference comes across even in these two publicity shots in similar poses, just in the way Zee is looking at his costar (Saint in Why R U? on the left, Nunew in Cutie Pie on the right.) To me, he looks fully absorbed in Saint/Tutor, whereas he looks likes he's posing and working at looking dominant with Nunew/Kuea. It's subtle though, so others may interpret it differently.

Zee just doesn’t quite work for me when he tries to play dominant. He comes across as a bit flat and one-note (though the heavy makeup and/or digital face-smoothing did him no favors in that regard). The fascinating thing about Fighter was that he tried to pretend he was dominating, but really he was a flustered mess at all times, clutching tightly to his insecurities and internalized homophobia, desperately trying to mask it with an air of being unaffected by anything. Even in their relationship, he was nominally the seme, pursuing Tutor, but Tutor kept flipping the script on him. And anytime Tutor took control, Fighter gave it up, basically instantly.

The relationship really did feel to me like Tutor was the actually dominant partner, and not just in the way where the submissive in a d/s dynamic is always ultimately in control because their desires/boundaries must be respected, but that Fighter really was fully submitting to him. Sexually was where it was most obvious, because Saint and Zee were insanely good at their sex scenes, but in everything really. I don’t know enough about kink to know if this would be considered a kinky relationship (my suspicion is not really), but I do know that Fighter was not in charge. And Zee portrayed these layers very well, his anger, his urge to be the big dog, his complete and utter submission to Tutor, and everything in between.

Whereas Lian really was dominant at all times. Sure, he might agree to what Kuea wanted, but it always felt like he merely acquiescing, not giving up control. (Caveat, I still have not finished the series so maybe this changes, but from all the gifs and meta I’ve seen I suspect not. Let me know if I’m wrong though!) And while I think it is possible to play unquestioned dominance in an interesting way, I don’t think quite Lian managed it. It always felt like me a mask he was putting on.

And this part is complete and total speculation, but I wonder how much difference his acting partners made. Saint is obviously very talented and, if I remember correctly, already fairly experienced when they shot Why R U? And so I’m guessing that that allowed Zee to relax into the part and find all the nuances and vulnerabilities of the character while trusting Saint to both take care of himself and to meet him in the emotions of the scene. And perhaps trying to meet Saint at his level of acting made Zee push himself to do more.

Whereas Nunew was much less experienced actor, as well as much younger, and from the chatter I’ve seen Zee took on a protective/mentor role. Which I’m speculating inhibited his performance as Lian because he did not feel as free to let go into the character and trust that Nunew could catch him. And I think Nunew did great as Kuea! It wasn’t that his ability wasn’t up to the role, just that maybe he didn’t challenge Zee as an actor in the way that Saint did.

Again, total speculation! And perhaps it’s just that I find completely dominant characters boring; I like seeing them challenged and pushed off balance. (Maybe that happens more to Lian in the last few episodes, but I suspect it still wouldn’t be enough to make him compelling to me.) But I don’t think it’s just my taste in characters, I do think there’s something that changed in his acting from show to show, whether the character was less of a good fit, or his the environment inhibited his work in some way.

I'm not at all saying that Zee is a bad actor. He's quite talented, and I still haven't seen anyone portray desire in the way he does. And he and Nunew had amazing chemistry in their sex scenes; I really admire their willingness to be vulnerable there.

I would love to see him in a role that really leans into the way he can play vulnerability.

Why am I writing about this now? The comparison has been on my mind for a while, and then today the powerfully vulnerable way that Kwon Hyuk portrayed desire and arousal in The New Employee reminded me of Zee.

#zee pruk #bl actors #saint suppapong #nunew chawarin #fightertutor #liankuea #why r u?#cutie pie the series #gillianthecat opines on topics she doesn’t know much about #given that i haven't finished cutie pie and it's been a while since i watched why r u?#why r u the series #cutie pie #there are too many permutations of all the tags here #will i regret tagging this in the first place?#i suspect it will be ok #hot takes

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colourme-feral · 7 months

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This week, I bring you more older shared locations:

My Secret Love, Not Me, Theory of Love and Secret Crush on You

My Secret Love, The Player, Theory of Love: Special Episode, Hidden Agenda Pilot Trailer and Vice Versa (location)

My Secret Love and The Eclipse

My Secret Love and Lovely Writer

Love by Chance, Return Man, Lovely Writer, My Gear and Your Gown and Cutie Pie

Be My Favorite and Return Man

Why R U?, Love by Chance, Be My Favorite, Fish Upon the Sky and House of Stars

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heretherebedork · 2 years

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(@absolutebl I make myself laugh.)

#why r u #why r u?#why r u the series #thai bl #bl drama #thai drama #thaibl #thai series #bl series #bl meme #bl memes

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absolutebl · 7 months

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I just wanna have a brief discussion about 2 BL actors right now:

Bright Rapheephong Thapsuwan - Yai in I Feel You Linger in the Air

Lee Ye Hwan - Kim Ji Oh in Why R U? (Korea - the Saifah character)

Look I talk about acting style lot, especially around chemistry. So if you're watching these two shows here's something:

Bright does 90% of his acting with his eyes. His eye work is INSANE. You can see just from the way he looks and Jom how much Yai likes him (and wants him). It's pretty flipping cool. This is relatively rare out of Thailand, another actor who does this in Nanon.

Lee Ye Hwan does 90% of his acting with his body. He is super physically aware of space and proximity, which is very very rare from Korean talent. You can see in the way he moves, tilts his head, his hand gestures, breath matching and leaning in, how much Ji Oh likes/wants Lee Won.

It's just really cool to have two such clear examples of acting styles that are in contrast to the other actors surrounding them in their respective shows.

So I just thought, if you're watching these 2 shows, I'd point it out and use them as teaching tools for these two different acting styles.

#thai bl #korean bl #why r U?#i feel you linger in the air #acting style #acting analysis

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negrowhat · 3 months

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10 Anxiety Inducing BL Moments

Tagged by @kurosawascrowsfeet AND @ommited-miscellaneously

Min Yudam watching Dong Baek get killed TWICE in the Director Who Buys Me Dinner. I was never expecting to have to watch Dong Baek die TWICE in Yudam arms. I was sweating and freaking out and mad because wtf!

Tin getting shot in Triage. YO WHEN I SAW THE GUN COME OUT AT THAT FUNCTION I WAS LIKE OH MY GAWD! GET OUT OF THERE! AND THEN TIN GOT SHOT AND I HAD TO GO LIE DOWN AFTER THAT.

Fighter's Dad finding out he's gay in Why R U the Series. That whole fight had me on the edge of my seat and pacing. It just got louder and louder and Fighter crying did not help. It was a lot. (this gif isn't from that scene it's from FighterTutor's breakup...which also gave me anxiety)

Pharm possessed by Intouch threatening to shoot himself in UWMA. Not even anxiety, that shit was just triggering.

Uea being tricked into having dinner with his abusers. Anytime Uea went back to his family home I was filled with dread but this time he had to sit there with his selfish and abusive birthgiver, her molesting husband, AND the boss that was harassing him at work. Sick to my stomach. (I knew I was not going to find a gif of that so let's just love our boy a lil extra)

Chisoo finding out Gitae was sent to kill him in Long Time No See. I just wasn't expecting for him to find out in the middle of a fight. I almost couldn't handle the fight or the explanation after it.

Gene and Nubsib coming out to their families in Lovely Writer. Ugh when they started joking about Y-series and novels and thought the whole idea was just ridiculous I already KNEW Gene was about to tell them everything and then tell them to shut the fuck up, because my boy stood on business. Of course shit went left...Gene outed his Daddy for having a male lover and then his daddy put his 26 yr old ass on punishment.

Kim Jun Ho fucking DYING in Kissable Lips. SPOILER ALERT! I just KNEW they was going to figure out a way to keep both Jun Ho and Min Hyun alive, but then Jun Ho literally went fucking BLIND the morning after they had sex. AND THEN HE DROPPED THE RING HE WAS TRYING TO GIVE MIN HYUN TO REMEMBER HIM BY. AND THEN HE FUCKING DIED IN MIN HYUN'S ARMS! AND UNLIKE TDWBMD HE DIDN'T FUCKING COME BACK.

Choco and Milk disappearing and leaving Jung Woo alone again in Choco Milk Shake. We all knew it was coming, Jung Woo too, but I was dreading it. Just knowing that his two favorite people were just going to fucking disappear! (I don't think this gif is from that scene lol)

Bai Lang having a breakdown in the street in the middle of a thunderstorm. All of Bai Lang's trauma gave me anxiety but that scene took the cake. He was just so out of it and it made me so scared for him.