Which Drama Should I Watch Next?

Sheng Shaoyou's freak matches Hua Yong's freak — product and merch edition.

I love a good old fashion color exchange but something about a blinding light appearing out of nowhere to signal the feelings are out in the open, people are thinking clearly, and the love is exposed just hits the spot.

Or you can give me that sweet sweet heart bokeh effect

my very favorite dynamic is friends to lovers - however, i have a caveat...i want them to seem like they genuinely like each other and treat each other well!! kimi no koto dake mite itai is the best version of this i've seen so far, but another was i cannot reach you. i just can't do the ones where the relationship is mostly teasing/mean spirited interactions. pining is wonderful, spice is amazing!

appreciate all you do, i'm loving poking through your rec lists for others! <3

Friends to Lovers... but they kind

I'm glad you said I Cannot Reach You because that would have been my first recommendation (it's one of my all time favorites).

Kimi No Koto Dake Mite Itai is an interesting pull. Because it is also one of those rare BLs that plays on Japan's more sweeping and atmospheric filming style, that's simply not gonna happen often so I can't use that component to narrow your rec list.

I'm deducing you also want younger characters like high school or maybe university? Because Old Fashion Cupcake might qualify under some definitions of F2L but I'll leave it off. And I think you also want an established existing friendship before start of show or I would recommend Sugar Dog Life, Our Dining Table, My Ride or Wandee Goodday, but we watch those friendships happen first and then lovers after, they don't start out as friends.

This actually turned out a lot harder than I thought it would. I did find others but they got low ratings from me or were too harsh. So I pretty much only got the following:

Secret Lover (Taiwan 2025 Gaga) - Taiwan's take on I Cannot Reach You so it is A LOT sexier. But I absolutely loved it and I can't imagine you wouldn't too. I would say the kindness is notably there, just give it a couple episodes to explain why our seme is behaving the way he is.

Living With Him aka Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan 2024 Gaga) - Kindly Ryota goes to uni and ends up rooming with his former childhood bestie, Kazuhito. Kazuhito doesn’t have a girlfriend for, as it turns out, cute roommate reasons. Same director as Old Fashion Cupcake, the framing is gorgeous and it is a stylish piece. As a friends to lovers cohabitation narrative this was a classic 2000s sweet yaoi. There is a reunion component, they start out as friends who have fallen out of touch, but I think it fits the brief.

Plus and Minus (Taiwan 2022 Viki) - This is a solid safe little BL about codependent besties of 20 years (so they are older) finding their way into a romantic relationship, but they are nice about it because they have known each other so long. A bit cheesy, with lots of domesticity and occasional dumb drama. (But gay boys and chaos bis? What can ya do?) It’s not groundbreaking but it is a solid sweet unassuming show of a style that is perhaps a bit more Thai than it is Taiwanese but there is nothing wrong with that in my book.

Ingredients the series (Thai 2020 YouTube) - If all you want is two soft boys being domestic, cooking together, cuddling on the couch, cat sitting, and babysitting - just put this on and be cozy. Slow burn F2L. (Goodness I feel like I haven't had a chance to rec this show in YEARS.)

My Only 12% (Thai 2022 iQIYI) - Y-novel adaptation (author Afterday - Bad Buddy) a strong little BL F2L romance (tailor made for SantaEarth) about holding onto first love and childhood, but it is buried under waffling family drama and formless side characters so it take digging to get to - still I recommend it for some killer softly domestic couple chemistry.

Comments have reminded me I suffer from chronic Together With Me blindness. Yes, that one does satisfy this criteria. It's OG so a bit rough and ready but it's also MaxTul so... yeah. Worth a watch. Last I checked it was on YT.

Some Odd Choices

A First Love Story (Korea 2021 Youtube short) - One of the best things Strongberry has ever produced. It’s the only microfilm ever to make one of my year-end top 10 list. It’s two episodes of about 8 mutes each that manage to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers confession ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot. How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time? It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. Go on. Spend 16 mutes with these 2 boys. It’s time VERY well spent. (Japan's short Why do we have to hide it from 2024 is similar and also on YT.)

Fake Buddies (Korea 2024 YouTube) - Boy and girl start dating but each is actually in love with their best friend. This is one of those oddball Korean short compilation things they did a lot of once (and have recently started doing again). But it actual satisfies your criteria, in a very odd way.

I'm going to add, DNA Says Love You (Taiwan 2022 Gaga), which is kinda secretly a friends to lovers. You'd have to watch it to find out. But they are very very sweet to each other. It's entirely the opposite of mean spirited. It's another one you gotta forgive it's first few eps, but once it hits its stride it's quite special.

Finally, shout out to Big Eden from Wolfe Video in 2000 as well. A marvelous queer movie from a time in Hollywood history when we got such things. It actually subverts the friends-to-lovers trope but in a very kind way. If you haven't seen it, it's a part of American queer cinematic heritage (YES, it IS) that's often overlooked. It's not a BL, but it's still worth watching IMHO. (Also, search me, Wolfe Video STILL EXISTS. I had no idea. I am a bad queer.)

All in all, I suspect there are more side couples that satisfy your criteria, but they also have less screen time to develop their romance.

Now if you granted me "friends from childhood who are then separated and come back together again later in life," Korea opens up to us. And we get a ton more from Japan too, since both of them adore second chances and reunion romances. But if you want the boys on screen, as friends, so we can watch that dynamic change into lovers, then this was the best I could do.

If you allow for boys becoming friends first (on screen) and then developing feels, Thailand has quite a few of those, like Monster Next Door which are still kind, but not quite the same tone.

For the people who are gonna comment, The Time of Fever doesn't count. Hurts too much.

Here's and older Top 10 post I did on this trope. But these aren't tailored to your specifications.

Here is the link to full thai article

Hello Wenlang,

I’m Jiang Heng, a newcomer actor. In Craving, I had the honor of portraying you. This was my first time filming a drama, and you were my very first character a role that carried both immense luck and challenge.

My connection with Desire began in March 2024. After joining the crew, we spent over half a year in preparation. During that time, the company arranged a series of intensive, closed-off training sessions from body movement to acting as well as fitness and diet plans to better align with your state of being. The drama officially started filming in late December, and wrapped up in February. I began this journey with nervousness and anticipation, and it ended with deep gratitude and fulfillment.

When I first read the original novel, everyone said you were sharp tongued. But I understood that was merely your way of protecting yourself, your struggle with expressing love. Your care and affection were hidden in your words and actions toward Gaotu, toward Huayong, even toward others. Though your words could sting, I knew you only wanted to show concern, but didn’t know how.

Your kindness and tenderness were buried beneath that cold, sarcastic surface just like your love.

Your love was hidden in the unconditional trust you gave Gaotu.

Your love was hidden in the way you did everything you could to help him.

Your love was hidden in your jealousy whenever he mentioned another Omega.

Your love was hidden in your willingness to raise Gaotu’s child even when it wasn’t your own.

All of it every action, every emotion came from love. But the environment and experiences you grew up with made it difficult for you to express that love properly. The hurt you caused Gaotu also hurt yourself. His departure finally made you realize your true feelings. And though there was separation, I believe a better, longer future still awaits both of you.

Watching you slowly come to terms with your heart watching you discover love, learn love, and accept love made me truly happy and proud.

During the filming process, I followed your emotional journey closely, and through you, I also grew. Watching you find love and be loved made me feel joy on your behalf.

I wish you eternal happiness in the universe of Desire.

May you and the one you love stay together forever, living in peace and warmth always.

​I can’t believe it’s over!!!!

James kinda went viral on X last night with this look. He doesn't have that many public events, but last night he went to Bambam's (GOT7) new single listening party with a few others from DMD. Many artists were invited and there's many clips being uploaded from the party last night, and many were asking, "Who is the guy with the glasses?"

There's always people that don't know him that will be interested to know him when they spot him in public events. Either from online clips or in person. When DEXX went to receive their award in Weibo Music Awards just a few weeks ago, there's also people at the award recording him and asking who he is. They say he stands out in the crowds.

Now, those Thai people are demanding DMD to give him more public appearances. Some say they wanted to support him in the past, but it's hard to do that since his public appearances are too few compared to other artists they're also supporting in DMD. Many left him because of that. Because they wanna meet him but they can only do that by spending money because majority of his works are either private events or overseas. These past 2 years since he went solo, many Thai fans left him because they feel it's hard to meet him (I know it's weird for them to do that, because online support exists lol, that's what many interfans are doing). But, the point is, we can see the mismanagement causing him to lose fans. His engagements has decreased A LOT. Luckily, he still has those rich fans (not a lot in number but still, it helps. And majority of them are Chinese fans) that has been consistently spending money to meet him on his private events in Thailand or overseas.