#bl wrapped

Nobody tagged me, but I saw these floating around and thought they were fun!

you started (or continued) 123 QLs this year and finished 89 of them. You dropped 17 series and are currently watching or intending to finish another 17.

although you watched QLs from 7 different countries, you watched the most from Thailand.

your character of the year was Shao Peng from See Your Love! you were this 👌 close to eating them.

your favorite show was probably Top Form. you kept thinking about it all year.

your favorite ql trope was leashes and collars, as seen most spectacularly in The Next Prince, but also in a surprising number of other shows this year!

you read/wrote the most fanfiction about nobody. pretty uninterested in the concept, though you may try an oblique version of it this year in your writing to see how it feels!

another of your favorite shows from this year was Clairebell. it made you feel shrimp emotions.

the soundtrack you listened to the most was none of them. not at all a fan of the music in QLs! 😬

your favorite actor/acting pair was Chi Cheng & Wu Suowei. there was just something about them...

you are looking forward to Knot, Cherm Chey, Lovers & Gangsters, You Maniac, Moonshadow, and YOUR DEAR DADDY that will be coming out in 2026 (hopefully).

here's to another year!

I think everyone I know already did theirs, but if not, please play and tag the template/game creator @loveable-sea-lemon

thanks for the tag @distant-screaming (here)! I decided to get a little creative with it, and also customized it a bit to myself (I'm not a big soundtrack or fanfiction person).

This also functions more or less as my "First Year in BL" post - I watched my first BL in mid January 2023, made this sideblog in mid March 2023, and I haven't looked back since.

(for @loveable-sea-lemon)

you watched 11 qls this year. that's about 107 hours!

template by @loveable-sea-lemon

Tagged by @celestial-sapphicss. Thanks for tagging me!

you watched 9 bls this year but only finished 3. that's about yeah idk what happened this year since i was on a bl roll last year hours! (i think this was more of a kdrama year for me)

Never Let Me Go - finished

Moonlight Chicken - didn't finish

Our Skyy 2 - didn't finish

History1: Obsessed - didn't finish

The Luminous Solution - didn't finish

Dangerous Romance - finished

I Feel You Linger in the Air - finished

Last Twilight - still airing and won't finish airing until next year

Night Dream - still airing and won't finish airing until next year

you primarily watched bls from GMMTV.

you spent way too much time thinking about these characters: Palm, Nuengdiao, Yai, and Jom.

your favorite show was I Feel You Linger in the Air. you kept thinking about it all year.

your overall bl mood was soulmates and yearning.

you read the most fanfiction about Palmnueng. like way too much.

another of your favorites from this year was Never Let Me Go. they captivated your gay little heart.

the soundtracks you listened to the most were I Feel You Linger in the Air. it made you feel really normal.

your favorite acting pair was Brightnonkul. there was just something so mesmerizing about them…

Also, shout out to the GLs I watched/am still watching:

GAP the Series (tv show): finished

Lucky Fish (short film): finished

Love Senior (tv show): still airing and won't finish airing until next year

I'm In Love with the Villainess (tv show): finished

Green Night (film): finished

And the non BL GMMTV shows I watched this year:

Home School (tv show): didn't finish

Enigma (tv show): finished

Taggging: @benkaaoi, @fiddlepickdouglas, @iamdarthbader, @tenprem, @callipigio, @yourstormthlaylirahh, @laowen, @theheightofdishonor, @williamrikers

After plenty of good BL releases in 2022, I was hoping 2023 would keep the pace and give us even better content. However, I turned out to be very disappointed. In my opinion, the majority of the shows were blank, superficial and had really bad script and bad acting, so there were very few of them I've managed to finish, mostly Japanese ones.

One thing that really draws me towards Japanese productions is that the stories are believable and portrayed in a natural way. Even when the acting has big "anime" reactions, they usually fit in the context. Kieta Hatsukoi, for instance, explores this type of reactions very well and they don't feel cringe at all, unlike most Thai BLs and some Korean ones as well.

Nationalities apart, there's an obvious gold rush that is happening in the BL industry. A lot of companies realized that BL does make profit and are producing a lot of shows, poorly written, poorly casted, but that's ok since people are still consuming for the skinship, right? There's a public for that, so why invest in good, but a little more expensive stories?

Anyway, this is my opinion of course, as a regular consumer of the genre, and I can't help to be disappointed. But enough of the complaining, right? Let's go to the list of my 2023 favorites!

Top 3:

The eight sense

This BL has entered my list of all-time favorites. Fresh and mature, the chemistry between the leads is amazing. Jihyun's innocent approach to life contrasts really well with Jaewon's harsh perspective and I love the way both of them bond while helping each other to evolve. The feeling of the show reminds me a bit of Skam, another all-time favorite, and I found out that it really was one of the materials they used for inspiration. If you haven't watched it yet, stop everything you're doing and go watch The eighth sense right now.

2. If it's with you

I loved this show so much! The manga adaptation was beautifully done, they really paid attention to the details. It's a very sweet, heart-warming and honest story. There's no "instant love”: the relationship between them is built little by little, through sincere conversations and empathy. The series invites you to be more honest with yourself and to not be afraid of showing your true self. 

3. My Beautiful Man 2 and My Beautiful Man: Eternal

Well, it's somehow funny that I put this BL on the list, because I hated the first season of My Beautiful Man. However, the second season and the movie explore the motives behind the characters' actions in a deeper way, so the viewer can better understand the relationship dynamic. One thing that I really like about this story is that, although there is a worship behavior from Hira towards Kiyoi, Hira's life is not all about Kiyoi. In the same way, despite the fact that Kiyoi enjoys to be worshiped, he's also unsure about Hira's feelings: does Hira love the perfect, godlike image of Kiyoi he created inside his head or does he love the true Kiyoi, the human being with flaws?

Honorable mentions:

Our Dining Table

A great slow-burn which approaches the fact that true family is the one you choose, so sweet that almost made me die of too much cuteness.

I Can't Reach You

A very sweet friends-to-lovers story, which is now on Netflix!

Love Tractor

A fresh and funny countryside love story. I just love how Yechan is so hyped when it comes to Seonyul. This man must be kept in a jar, protected from all the badness in the world.

Conclusion

Well, although I believe 2023 wasn't the best year for BLs, it did give us some true gems, more productions and more visibility. I've seen news about Kdrama actors working on BL projects that will be released in 2024, so I guess we're having some next-level good content this year.

@khaotunq tagged me!! tysm ❤️❤️

Welcome to your 2023 BL Wrapped! Let's see how your year went...

You watched a total of 48 QLs.

You watched 409 episodes total with an average length of 37 minutes.

All of this amounted to a total watchtime of 247 hours and 34 minutes or a bit over 10 days.

Your busiest month was August with 12 shows finished.

Your top country was Thailand with a whopping 54,17% of the dramas being produced there. Here‘s your full breakdown:

Thai: 26 = 54,17%

Korean: 10 = 20,83%

Japanese: 8 = 16,67%

Taiwanese: 2 = 4,17%

Chinese: 1 = 2,08%

Hong Kongese: 1 = 2,08%

30 shows you watched were released in 2023. You caught up on 13 dramas from 2022 and 5 from previous years.

Your overall BL mood was eager. You've been gone from the scene for a while and were excited to fully get back into it.

The acting pair you couldn’t get enough of was FirstKhao. Their performance in The Eclipse and Only Friends captivated you to the point of changing your url.

Your most listened to OST is Your World, My World by Khaotung Thanawat and First Kanaphan for Our Skyy 2.

You giggled and yelled at your screen approximately 78* times and had 132* mental breakdowns.

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for my full recap to find out about my favourites of the year and let me know if you wanna be tagged for it ☺️

idk who hasn't done this yet so I'm just gonna tag a bunch of ppl 🫶

@firstmix @blneobin @maxescheibechlinichacheli @first-kanaphan @gunsatthaphan @itsallaboutbl @ithappensoffstage @bunnakit @jeffsatur @veemark @omegaphobe @bfwangji @akkpipitphattana @gayshrug

thank you so much for tagging me @distant-screaming <3 it's been really fun looking at peoples' list (and your list was amazing too!)

note: tbh, i don't think i actually watched that many bls this year compared to the time i had during lockdown, but this has definitely been the most impactful year for bl for me (because i've been obsessing about them non-stop, and even ended up writing about them <3)

so, i'm just going to skip the "no.of bls i've watched" and head on to the stuff i've been obsessing about.

i've only been watching thai bl so far, so looking forward to branching out more next year! (i'm looking at you, japanese bls)

you spent way too much time thinking about these characters: akk (the eclipse), aye (the eclipse), sand (only friends), ray (only friends), alan, wen, jim, gaipa (that's almost the entirety of mlc lol), nick (only friends), black, white, sean (not me)

some of your fav shows this year: the eclipse, moonlight chicken, not me, only friends

your overall bl mood: romance, drama, angst, mutual pining aka akkaye, alanwen, sandray *sobs*

your most favourite duo: firstkhao (no doubt here, i spent way too much time thinking about them.)

actors who have a chokehold on you: firstkhao, earthmix, ohm, perth, offgun (and a lot more, but i spent this year obsessing over them a lot)

you read the most fanfiction about: alanwen (mlc), akkaye (the eclipse)

you wrote the most fanfiction for: alanwen, akkaye (i've been very loyal xD)

the soundtracks you listened to the most were:

ฟังดีดี (Your World, My World), คลาด (OVER THE MOON), NEVER TOO LATE - KHAOTUNG THANAWAT, เอาเลยมั้ย (Let’s Try) [clearly, khaotung has been a fav], เพิ่งรู้ (Never Knew), The Moon Represents My Heart, 【First Khaotung】 ALWAYS - clearly, it's been a good year for thai music and i'm so happy <3

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @lurkingshan (here) and @wen-kexing-apologist (here). Thanks for the tags!

In 2023, I made 175 original posts, including 45 metas about 12 different shows and two large scale projects (the GMMTV Multiverse and the GMMTV Kissing charts). It was interesting to see what meta (and how much) I had written in which months. It's also fun looking back as I approach my one year anniversary of watching and writing about BL - I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and gotten to chat with over these past months!

January and February [0 metas]

I wasn’t on BL Tumblr yet! Any and all meta came in the form of thoughts, texts, and powerpoint presentations.

March [6 metas]

My BL Tumblr debut! I started this blog with the intention of 1) more easily gathering and archiving posts for future reference, and 2) collecting my thoughts somewhere other than text threads and my notes app, so I began posting meta the day I got here.

Most popular: what started as me thinking about Win’s rock t-shirt from ep 11 and then grew from there… - reading a lot into a random Thai ql shirt choice? Me?

Favourite(s): Thoughts on Tinn, his mother, and coming out (part 1, part 2); Thoughts on Tinn, his mother, and music - My first meta ever posted! I keep returning to Tinn and his mother's relationship in My School President...

April [1 meta]

By default, the most popular (and favourite): Gun's feelings are realistic - I love when MSP subverts our expectations

May [13 metas]

Oh damn! This was a big meta month for me. Some of my favourite metas I've ever written were posted this month.

Most popular: The Eighth Sense and Missing Pieces - I am really proud of this one. It also made me laugh that I apologized for the length at the beginning when I would go on to post much, MUCH longer metas.

Favourite(s): Thoughts on genre, tropes, Bad Buddy, and My School President (aka my Bad Buddy and MSP thesis, which began life as a powerpoint presentation... now here's one of those much, MUCH longer metas in question); Wai as a faen fatale (which also began life as part of that same powerpoint presentation and I think perfectly encapsulates my analytical style); Conversations in ITSAY that are about more than they seem (I am really proud of the analysis I did here and the writing style I used to present it). This was also the month in which I started my deeply self-indulgent GMMTV Multiverse project, which later inspired my mission to record all GMMTV kisses.

June [11 metas]

Oh nooo another bunch of my favourites. This is cruel to make me choose.

Most popular: Thinking about Pran's "Pat, you've got to stop doing this to me" (I love this one! and this was the first of several times I've gotten to collaborate with the wonderful @dudeyuri)

Favourite(s): An analysis of the baseball mom shirt, Bad Buddy ep. 5 (my entry into the venerable field of Bad Buddy/ql shirt analysis and also encapsulates pretty much everything I try to do in my metas); An impassioned defense of the Bad Buddy ep. 5 rooftop kiss (combines many of my favourite things: reading deeply into the minute details of Bad Buddy, an analytical framework that just clicks itself together as I write, and literature reviews); and Thinking about Snow White as the engineering play, part 1 (shout out to the two other people going ham on Snow White as an allegory during the Our Skyy 2 madness - @chickenstrangers (here) and @letgomaggie (here))

July [3 metas]

Most popular (and favourite): Thinking about Pat, Pran, and pursuit (I think this was my first time articulating the idea of Pat and Pran's commitment to the bit, a concept which continues to circle in my head. This was also another collaboration with the wonderful @dudeyuri!)

August [7 metas]

Here comes Only Friends... and the GMMTV Kissing Multiverse project.

Most popular: GMMTV Kissing Multiverse updates 1, 2 and 3 (this is so much fun to track and analyze, and I've been really touched by everyone else's excitement for the project too); Various thoughts and musings on Only Friends and ephemerality (the Ephemerality Squad assembles!)

Favourite: Thinking about Boston: a study of episode 3 - I find Boston's mind a fascinating place to explore

September [8 metas]

Oh look! It's more Only Friends!

Most popular: Mansplain, Manipulate, Manwhore: Ray confronting Boston - once again, I love getting into Boston's head. This post was inspired by @wen-kexing-apologist's scene breakdowns, especially their Fight Night one

Favourite(s): The above, and also The Mundanity of Meanness

October [5 metas]

Most popular (and favourite): The first fist bump in Bad Buddy - oof. I've gotta come back to this idea sometime.

November [3 metas]

Most popular: The Latest Update to the Kissing Multiverse - the hotly anticipated post-Only Friends update to the kissing charts

Favourite: the kissing charts, and Thinking about Pat, Pran, and competition - again, I love to think about Pat and Pran. I consider this one to be part of an ongoing series, along with my earlier metas on pursuit and the rooftop.

December [1 meta]

Most popular (and favourite): Not Me and earrings - technically an addition on @chickenstrangers' post, but was a relief to get my months old "Not Me is about ears and earrings!" thoughts out.