A World of Asian "Boys Love" Drama

The latest instalment for HIStory season 3, called Make Our Days Count (MODC), is a marked improvement on Trapped, though still not up to the high standard of other sub-series in season two. It's a high-school BL drama, with a distinct preference for keeping it young and light-hearted but with just enough seriousness to give it some sense and purpose. Summary: Top student Yu Shigu has had a difficult life. After his parents died in a car accident when he was younger, his aunt had taken him but she has been struggling financially ever since. With the idea of making his relatives' lives as easy as possible, Yu Shigu studies extremely hard at school and works part time, hoping for a scholarship to university. When we meet him just before exams, his health is deteriorating rapidly because he has been pushing himself too hard. He keeps himself almost completely separate from all the other pupils, which makes him appear haughty and unapproachable. When rebellious layabout Xiang Hao...

It's interesting to note that the highly original Taiwanese BL melodrama The Ambiguous Focus is in fact a sequel to Kinematics Theory. Can this predecessor be even more fascinating than the sequel? Summary: Childhood friends Zhang Zhe and Zhang Nan study mathematics at the same university but they are completely alienated from each other and fight constantly. On the surface, Nan is an arrogant bully, content to rely on his good looks, amazing physique (and goddamn, yes, it is indeed amazing) and his swimming prowess to get by in life. Zhe is a bookish nerd and top student but he's too introverted to make friends. But these boys are longtime friends and understand each other much better than their personalities suggest. Zhe sees Nan's morality and desire for independence under the cocky bluster, and Nan knows he can rely on Zhe's support and loyalty through any difficulty. They soon come to a truce and agree to help each other out. Their mutual support and reliance hel...

A new HIStory series is about the closest thing that BL fans have to mandatory viewing. Each sub-series has an original spin on the usual BL tropes, and they're generally well-made, well-written and have great casts. The latest instalment, 2019's Trapped, has all of this and more, on paper. So has its great promise and hype translated into another top-tier series? Summary: Policeman Shao Fei has been obsessed for years with finding definitive evidence that gangster Tang Yi was implicated in the murder of both Tang Yi's own gangster mentor and Shao Fei's colleague police officer. He tracks Tang Yi relentlessly, following him everywhere and accosting him in public. This gets him into trouble with his boss and Internal Affairs on numerous occasions. Tang Yi is trying to 'clean up' his gang by removing it from the drugs trade. This draws the attention of other local gangs who suspect his motives, and suddenly Tang Yi and his sister find themselves in danger. Shao ...

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...

The Taiwanese have a decided knack of doing BL well, with their own distinctive spin on the formula, and the team behind series 'HIStory' is probably its best and most famous exponent.  Crossing the Line episodes 1 through 6  (also known as Boundary Crossing) is a fantastic start to a new sub-series, with a snappy pace, crisp dialogue and some really endearing performances. I think it must still be screening on TV at the time of writing, or only very recently ended, because only episodes 1 through 6 are currently available on YouTube. Summary: Three rebellious boys who have been expelled from high school have started at a new school and immediately cause trouble. Step-brothers Zhen Wen and Zhen Wu are hot-headed fighters, while disdainful bad-boy leader Yu Hao mocks and disrespects authority. When the brothers almost cause a fight with members of the volleyball team, the intelligent and serious team manager Zi Xuan observes Hao's nimble potential as a good player and sugg...

Taiwanese BL series Dark Blue and Moonlight is something of a mixed bag and a struggle to like at times. But it's at least more human than so many other dramas I've watched lately - it's both ugly and beautiful, dull and fascinating, camp and restrained. Summary: Aspiring artist Hai Qing notices a beautiful man Yan Fei at his local swimming pool and surreptitiously takes a few photos with his phone. However Yan Fei spots him, corners him in the locker room and the two share a long kiss, the sort of kiss that changes your life. The passion and deep connection between the two men is immediate and profound. It's love at first sight. Yan Fei gives Hai Qing his phone number, but Hai Qing almost immediately loses it through no fault of his own. Will these two men, whose destinies are now so closely bound together, ever meet again? They pine for each other and never forget their bond, but move on with their lives, believing they will never see each other again. Hai Qing mee...

I'm really excited about this next review because I've stumbled across a BL treasure, the Taiwanese short series Red Balloon . Summary: In 2003, high school student Chen has excellent grades and is an all-round star performer across many different fields. New student and photography enthusiast Wan transfers to Chen's school, under a mysterious cloud about the reasons for his transfer. Outgoing and friendly Wan draws the reticent Chen into a friendship that soon becomes much closer. An extreme decision taken by Chen's father has drastic consequences for the boys' friendship. Almost fourteen years later, Chen (now married) and Wan meet again, setting off a chain of events that could change everything. I think I've come to realise that I prefer BL dramas that have a stronger leaning towards a more serious, original and romantic approach, rather than those that opt for the crowd-pleasing formulaic approach (ie, harsh or hateful character dynamics transform into ...

I'm not entirely sure but, after having thought about it,  HIStory: Stay Away From Me (HSAFM) was probably the first BL drama I watched. Summary of the plot: Two guys become step brothers and are forced to live together when their respective parents get married and go on an extended honeymoon. One of them Feng He is sensitive, intelligent, gay and shy, the other Cheng Qing is a very famous star with pretty boy looks who is vain, arrogant and a bully. They don't hit it off and their life together in their flat becomes increasingly difficult. Eventually they each being to see the good points in each other, which soon turns into unanticipated feelings. I didn't really enjoy this series at the time, though I kept up with watching all the episodes until the end, but I see now that it was probably a really good introduction to BL. It has a lot of the elements of the BL formula and uses most of them well. It's not particularly original or well made, but the production and...