A World of Asian "Boys Love" Drama

I've read in a couple of places the 2016 Chinese movie The Male Fairy Fox of Liaozhai has some BL elements to it, but without it being the central focus of the story. It's based on a Qing dynasty era fairy tale. There's also mention of a sequel on the way soon. Summary: A mischievous "fairy fox" (a supernatural deity that seems to be a cross between a spirit, a god and a demon) enters the human world disguised as a beautiful young man, with a view to learning more about human behaviour. When he sees a young couple in love being refused marriage by her father, he is immediately intrigued. He follows the young man - a scholar - to his hometown and befriends him, then he manipulates him with alcohol. It's soon evident that the two men are attracted to each other. When the scholar's servant exposes the fox god's true identity, they enlist his help to rescue the fiancee, who has been captured by a local warlord. Danger and violence ensue, with the fairy ...

I've been having a more difficult time lately finding a BL drama that interested me enough that I wanted to stick with it till the end. I started with Korean drama Hello Monster, mainly to see what all the fuss is about with Park Bo Gum, but I didn't make it far enough before getting bored. I finally got to see the sublime Call Me By Your Name at the cinema, but I won't review it here. Instead I took a recommendation online to watch Chinese BL drama Like Love . And I'm very glad I did. Summary: University student Maiding is a nerd but likes to think that he is outgoing and sociable. However he only has his roommate Li Meng as a friend and doesn't understand why there's no one else. One day Li Meng asks Maiding to find out whether their very handsome dorm neighbour Ziyan An is gay, as a lot of his  fujoshi friends are interested in finding out the truth. Ziyan responds that he's bi, which intrigues Maiding. He starts following Ziyan around and basically fo...

I've stuck with my Taiwanese obsession by watching feature-length movie Artemisia . I went into this movie cold, not knowing anything about the storyline except that there was a gay-themed subplot. SPOILERS ALERT: I give away some of the ending in this review, beware. I've marked the section with spoilers so you can avoid them if you want to. Summary: A middle-aged widow leads a lonely life and struggles to fill in her days. Her two children are in their thirties; her closeted gay son looks after her, and her daughter studies in France. She also regularly looks in on her elderly mother, a malicious, cantankerous woman who is a chronic miser. She secretly longs for a large family, all living together, but is increasingly resigned to the fact that it probably won't happen. She finds it extremely difficult to understand her children and the way they live their lives. Knowing her temper and conservatism, her children generally give their mother plenty of distance from their...

Of the three sub-series that make up season one of famed Taiwanese BL program HIStory,  HIStory: Obsessed gets by far the most thumbs up from its dedicated fans, and it's easy to see why. The other two don't even come close to its ability to immerse its audience it its out-there narrative and - let's be honest - its totally bonkers BL overkill. Summary: Shao Yi Chen and Jiang Jing Teng have been in a loving relationship for ten years ever since university, but suddenly Teng announces that he is going to marry a woman. Distraught, Chen runs away and is promptly struck by a car and killed. Chen is then reincarnated as himself ten years earlier (is that really how reincarnation is meant to work??), back at university and before he and Teng had ever met in person. Chen sees this as an opportunity to find some backbone and completely alter history, to ensure Teng never enters his life. But fate has other ideas, and the two boys are drawn together again when Teng finds one of ...

Time to go back to the beginning, with HIStory Season 1: My Hero , the very first instalment. Summary: Student Lan Xi dies in hospital, with her boyfriend Ying Xiong by her side. An angel of death (for some reason, this is translated as 'genie' in the subtitles I viewed) takes her soul to Limbo but realises he has made a mistake, so he sends Lan Xi back. She possesses the dying body of a young bookish male student at Xiong's university called Gu Ren. The angel gives her one condition for her rebirth: she must receive a kiss of love from Xiong in 7 days, or her soul will be taken back and Ren will die. The first thing that strikes the viewer who is familiar with some of the brilliant season two series is how low-rent the production is. The sets and costumes are ordinary (the angel wears a sort of bedsheet like a toga), the dialogue is amateurish, the acting is average at best, and the direction is confused and ponderous. It's hard to believe it was made in 2017, its ...

After watching the wonderful Crossing the Line recently, I decided it was time to catch up on the rest of the various HIStory sub-series from both seasons 1 and 2. I'd originally started watching Right or Wrong a couple of weeks back, but I had struggled with its early episodes, so this was a good opportunity to revisit it and give it a second chance. Summary: Fei Sheng Zhe is a university student who also participates in the drama club with his friend Ruan. When a lost young girl Yo Yo interrupts their rehearsals, Zhe and Ruan take her back to her home, only to find that it's an unliveable mess. Yo Yo's divorced father Shi Yi Jie can barely keep up with the demands of being a single parent. Zhe and Ruan are shocked to discover that Yi Jie is also their university lecturer. He has a terrible reputation for being strict and intimidating, which proves to be an understatement when they finally meet him in class. Zhe agrees to work as a nanny and cook for the father and daug...