A World of Asian "Boys Love" Drama

How's everyone going these days? I hope you're all keeping safe and well, with plenty of BL to keep you company. I've been less motivated to write about the BL series that I've been watching lately, but I'll try to get around to it soon. In the meantime, here are some viewing tips for you: Cherry Magic: Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?? : only two episodes are out at the time of writing but this series is already one of my favourites. This strange workplace romance story with a supernatural twist is Japanese BL perfection, and brilliantly funny too. And it has the best BL title ever. Gameboys : believe the hype. This powerful, emotional, adorably cute Filipino series is THE best BL of 2020. If you liked Hello Stranger, multiply your feelings about it by 100 and you'll be somewhere close to how good this series is. Like In The Movies / Gaya Sa Pelikula : Pinoy BL is taking over the world! Another fantastic series that's still unfolding at the ...

Indigo Mood is a combined prequel/sequel to Japanese BL drama Pornographer - though the prequel sections make up 95% of this series. It's far superior to its predecessor and is well worth spending time on its six twenty-minute episodes. SPOILERS WARNING: you should definitely watch Pornographer before watching Indigo Mood. Besides the fact that it would spoil Pornographer to watch it back to front (due to the presence of the sequel elements), a lot of its screenplay won't make much sense because it assumes you're familiar with what's been going on between the three main characters. You should also reconsider reading this review, though I'll keep story details to a minimum. Summary: Indigo Mood spends most of its time in the past, before the events portrayed in Pornographer, where student Kusumi had his bicycle accident that launched him into the life of pornographic novelist Kijima-san. It focuses on how Kijima and erotic fiction publisher Kido-san - former frie...

Japanese BL short series Pornographer is a not-bad time filler if you're in between other series. Summary: University student Kuzumi accidentally hits a pedestrian while riding his bike. The pedestrian Kijima-san has badly injured his hand, so Kuzumi takes him to hospital. Kuzumi apologises and offers to pay for the treatment, but author Kijima-san tells him to come and work for him for free instead as his book transcriber until his hand is cured. Unemployed and broke, and facing what could be an expensive medical bill, Kuzumi eagerly accepts the job, but he is shocked to learn that Kijima-san writes pornographic erotic novels. This movie-length series of six short episodes is worth watching for its originality alone. We'll almost certainly never see a BL series like this again, using something as transgressive and taboo as pornography as a channel for its characters' desires. It starts off with some decent gentle humour, as we follow Kuzumi into the startling, in-your...

'Does The Flower Bloom?' is the first Japanese BL drama I've seen in a while. It's great to get back to the the basics of BL sometimes and see something that's classically BL, which this drama is. Based loosely on a graphic novel, it reminded me of the Takumi-kun series more than other more modern Japanese takes on BL such as Seven Days - which isn't a bad thing by any means, but it's noticeably not as good as it probably could have been. Summary: Despite being born into the wealthy land-owning family of a famous artist, nineteen-year-old university student and aspiring artist Youichi Minagawa has had a tough life. His parents died in an accident when he was much younger, and it's left him with painful trauma that he is unable to move beyond. He lives at his family's beautiful, traditional Japanese-style home in Tokyo - of which he is now the owner - with two cousins and a guardian who do their best to take care of him. It's an upbringing that...

Japanese BL mainstay from 2007 Takumi-kun Season 1: And The Spring Breeze Whispers is one of the most famous BL dramas ever made, and still gets glowing reviews online whenever it comes up. It's based on a manga, and this comes across on screen. Summary: Quiet and solitary high school second-year student Takumi Hayama suddenly finds himself the centre of attention, when the most popular senior in school Giichi Saki ("Gii") rescues him from a cafeteria fight. Gii makes it clear to everyone that he is now Takumi's protector, which earns poor Takumi some notoriety among the schoolboy gossips, and some enemies too. Gii and Takumi are also allocated the same dorm room. Handsome Gii very quickly makes it clear that he is in love with Takumi. This mortifies Takumi; he can barely tolerate anyone touching him, due to a horrific childhood trauma. Will he be able to overcome his traumas and distrust, to be able to love Gii in return? There's not much to this drama, with...

I've seen that Japanese BL drama Seven Days is recommended just about everywhere on the internet as one of the greats. I entirely agree. Summary: At a high school in Yokohama, senior student Shino is in a rut. He's very popular and handsome, though he's unlucky in love. The girls he dates all end up saying the same thing when they break up with him: that his beauty and outwardly gregarious nature hide an obtuseness and vulgarity that only bring disappointment. He hears from his classmates that one of the juniors in his archery club, Seryo, has a very strange dating rule: he will date the first girl that asks him out on a Monday and then break up with her on the Sunday a week later if he's not in love. Shino is intrigued and, meeting Seryo by chance on Monday morning, asks him to go out with him. The usually suave Seryo is genuinely taken aback by Shino's request but accepts. Will the boys find love over the course of seven days, or will they be disappointed in ea...

By all accounts, Ai no Kotodama is one of the great Japanese BL dramas, and a benchmark for everything that followed it. So of course, I had to watch it. Summary: Otani and Tachibana have been in a loving relationship for four years since graduating from high school, and live together happily although discreetly. A former high school friend, Yuki, suddenly appears again in their life, and unwittingly destabilises the boys' relationship. Otani knows that she and Tachibana were very close in high school and feels himself becoming jealous of their renewed closeness. At the same time he feels oddly drawn to Yuki himself. Feeling overwhelmed and threatened, Otani lashes out at Tachibana and inadvertently risks publicising his sexuality. Will his insecurity, distrust and jealousy destroy his relationship with Tachibana? I love how this movie starts way beyond the point where most BL dramas end - with the guys in a well-established couple. It just demonstrates that you can create a f...

As soon as I started watching  Doushitemo Furetakunai  I realised I'd seen it before. It was about a year ago, a Japanese friend had messaged me with a link to the movie, with English subtitles. He said he recommended it but didn't really say why. I remember being moved by it back then, so I thought watching it again couldn't be a waste of time. Summary: Young and gentle Shimo resigns from his job after enduring harassment and bullying from co-workers, after a rumour circulates that he's gay. He finds work in a new company, and is soon attracted to his boss Togawa. Togawa however is crass, vulgar and inconsiderate to everyone in the office, which everyone tolerates in a friendly way, but Shimo sees a softness underneath the surface that intrigues him. The two men eventually become closer and connect through their painful pasts. Shimo, however, is very hesitant to take things beyond a certain point. When work circumstances suddenly change, Shimo is forced to make a dec...

Welcome to my World of BL! I'm really looking forward to sharing my opinions and thoughts with all readers about the fascinating, strange fantasy world that is Boys Love (BL) movies and TV series. I would love to hear all your comments and opinions too, so please leave comments whenever you like. I'm 100% brand new to BL. I've only recently started watching videos (in about the last month). I came across examples of it by accident on youtube and have been watching shows daily ever since. I don't recall exactly what the first BL drama was that I found, but I do remember which video caught my attention first and most strongly. Oddly enough, it's not strictly speaking a BL video, but a short clip of the Japanese series "Hirunaka no Ryuusei" that's been edited to make it look like it's BL. It was posted by a Youtube publisher Ice Smile, and it's titled Satsuki x Daiki . There's no dialogue or subtitles in the video, just a single simple s...