#acesky

With TMS2, I commented that the scenes we get to the end where they keep switching who is big and little spoon felt like a tasteful way to show that they were versatile. We also noted that Pat and Pran are never shown in a way that confirms their positions.

Does your spreadsheet track anything regarding top/bottom presentation, and do you have thoughts on BL and how it presents this?

(note from the future, this post if VERY old now and since 2023 there have been a lot more verse characters)

Verse Characters in BL 

What an interesting question.

Well I would argue that Fighter & Tutor are the only Thai BL couple who are explicitly verse, in their case they talk about it openly in terms of "showing ownership" which is pretty clearly code for who fucks whom. As in, the idea of being taken or taking (invasion) = ownership. Trust a BL script to use the language of war for an act of communication and connection. 

My spreadsheet doesn’t track this because it’s so rare. I remember a couple other times getting very excited about it (other than Why R U?) but not which shows. 

Okay here’s our biggest example: 

Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese shows them verse (explicitly depicts the sex act both ways), but it’s one of Japan’s discussions about the nature of identity and intimacy and possession. It could actually be argued that the whole movie is a debate of what seme/uke means and does to its characters, what obsession means, how long term devotion without consequences of boundaries corrupts. It’s kind of like the very dark version of what could have happened to the characters in My Beautiful Man if they had never managed to find each other and reconcile (and Hira learn to accept and express himself). The leads in CMDoC are genuinely at war, so the lens showing us who fucks whom as an expression of who is winning the narrative battle at that point in time. 

Look, I don’t like this movie, but apparently if it’s Japan I’m always going to have a lot to say. 

I mean there needs to be enough self aware queerness in the BL to realize this should even be addressed - otherwise just slap seme/uke on it and conflate personality with sexual preference (SIGH). 

Also the BL has to somewhat follow the characters into the bedroom, and it would need to be higher heat which, in and of itself, is pretty rare. 

So I did a heat ranking, then a ratings sort (since I’m more likely to rate verse characters higher) and here’s a short list of ones for which a case for verse... could be made. 

Why R U? - Fighter & Tutor (no question - couched in a request to “prove/show ownership”) 

My Day - Ace & Sky (also I think this is pretty clear via their sex scenes - they were the other ones I was thinking of, also they engage in some fun light kink, I LOVE these two) 

To My Star 1 & 2 - implied by the cuddling debate in 2

Bad Buddy - actually they imply, when asked at one point, that it’s still open to debate between them, so we don’t know what they settled on but given their dynamic, probubly verse 

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line - ZiXuan & YuHao, I mean YuHao's fantasies go both ways so I think he, at least, is verse

Mr Cinderella - mostly because of the linguistic grappling, but also both actors have a history of the seme role (clearly also implied top) in their other BLs, they swap tropes around a lot too in this one 

His the movie - it’s just... not important 

Ai no Kotodama - I actually think they have a kinda conversation about this, it’s been a long time since I watched it though, and 2010 = intentionally confusingly vague about everything 

Boys Love - right so there’s a bit of an underpinning dialogue about this in both installments. In both cases I think the “teacher” is meant to be the bottom, but also the student is so desperate and so needy there’s an implication that he would do ANYTHING, including alter his whole identity (even sexual preference as a top) in order to be with the object of his desire, which is part of what makes their love destructive - it cannot and does not conform to... anything, least of all seme/uke (which at the time, when present, was always conflated with Top/bottom). 

Either of KarnNat’s pieces, I mean I think Nat is meant to be the catcher, but they don’t act their higher heat scenes that way, it’s extremely mutual, and power exchange back and forth in terms of who kisses whom and stuff. 

Frankly, any of the couples who have no seme uke are open to debate since in Thai BL especially Top/bottom = Seme/uke (it shouldn’t, but in the narrative it’s implied). BL couples where there is no seme/uke

Be Loved in House: I Do - YuZhen & ShiLei, maybe 

Double Mints - fuck ‘em, though 

Ingredients 

My Tee 

Wish You 

Second Chance - PaperFah

Seven Days 

So Much in Love - North & Onsah, there’s no seme/uke in this Thai pulp, but it’s so much a pulp and so confusing I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just failure of narrative clarity and poor acting 

Your Name Engraved Herein - I am NEVER watching this movie again, but from my recollection of the characters’ behaviors, maybe?  

Gameboys 2 - I have only seen discussion here and the previews, but I think they make this pretty clear in conversation and behavior

Hey Rival I Love You - certainly entirely up in the air in all ways

Love is Science? - Mark & Ouwen, I think the flip flopping of who’s on top/in charge in their sex scene implies general experimental willingness, shall we say?

HIStory 3: Trapped - TangYi & ShaoFei, possibly, ShaoFei is hesitant because he’d scared, but that’s of the implications and intimacy of being a couple, not really of sex. After all he runs away when TangYi is too nice and gentle with him.

I honestly think My Engineer 2 should go there with RamKing. They are perfect characters and actors to do this with. But Thailand really doesn’t have the guts. 

Other pairs who I think can and should rep verse? 

First & Toru 

PokeTongue 

MaxTul could absolutely portray verse. Why they haven’t yet is a weakness of Thai BL and y-novels inability to stop heterosexually vomiting all over their gays. 

Weirdly? EarthMix, I think they could and should do a bit of a FighterTutor sitch in Moonlight Chicken. 

Crosses arms.

Impress me, GMMTV. 

A reminder: 

So top/bottom/verse is difficult because it means we follow the characters into the bedroom AND have a glimpse into their penetration preferences, that means very high heat, and there is (statistically) less of that in BL.

As opposed to Dom/sub/switch which plays into personality and correlates better (but not perfectly) to a seme uke dynamic because it is about who has the power to make decisions.

And my definition of Seme/uke - which is the character showing the most narrative drive to consummate the relationship (physically or otherwise) = seme. 

Finally: 

Sexual preference does not correlate to personality! Please stop this. I put it to you in het terms: 

If you are a straight women who likes to ride reverse cowgirl style does this show up in your personality as you walk around in your day to day life? No it does not. 

So a boy likes to fuck or be fucked - that’s like cake verse pie, it doesn't say anything about how aggressive that boy is in relationships. And prying into that dynamic is tantamount to me asking you about the details of your penetration preferences. (Which, to be fair, I probubly would, but I'm a curious, rude, intrusive shitmonger.) 

Also, it behoves me to add, plenty of gay men do not like penetration at all. Plenty of straight women don’t like it. Or don’t like vaginal but do like a-play. And plenty of straight men like to be pegged. A-play has to do with how sensitive you are, how relaxed, how prepped, how much lube, whether you find the idea a turn on when applied to yourself, how self conscious you are, and a host of other factors. 

Puts proverbial soap box away while reminding you that soap = also to be used prior to such encounters. 

And I guess I didn't realize that Sky was also in My Story? I thought it was like, My Day universe adjacent? But no, Sky and Ace are broken up, apparently, or maybe Ace is dead, because Ms Becky and Jelai and the dog are still in the show?

I was interested in My Story, and some of y'all seem to be enjoying it, but I'm not sure I'm interested in watching Sky date someone else-- especially since the reason Aki isn't playing Ace again is that Oxin Films screwed him over.

Idk, friends, I'm annoyed and disappointed.

I’ve watched from the beginning, and I think that one of the major stumbling blocks has been an uneven identity. Each episode careens from one extreme to another. There’s a boatload of crack, there’s slapstick, there’s empathy, there’s family drama, there’s questionable portrayals of some characters, but there’s also some shining moments of love and friendship. The scene in which Ace confesses to Kim in episode 6, was the most heartfelt, beautiful scene

Which brings me to episode 8...hoo boy was I ever unprepared for that! The lead up to the final scenes was the usual blend of crackheadery, rom-com, with a damn good performance from Miko during the “I am a failure” scene. The rooftop fireworks scene was straight out of the trailer and made my heart squee, and I was expecting that to be the end. It was a fairly passionate scene, and there’s a moment when Ace looks at Sky like he can’t believe this is actually happening. My heart was ready to explode.

But got damn they delivered in the next scene in ways I didn’t expect. There was some next level shit going down (literally) and I am all there for it. Not because it was just exciting but because it felt authentic. There was no slow fade away to the window shot, no dim lighting, or any awkward, uncomfortable looking embraces. It was almost 4 minutes of sexy goodness. Who does that? No one, not any show or series I have seen from any country. And they did it so right.

🔷 AceSky from My Day The Series. A beautifully and romantically scene and comedy. A drama from Philippines.🍡

©️ Oxin Films / Pinoy BL