#blue complex

There is a very tangible, and therefore researchable, thread connecting het K-dramas' need for love triangles to K-BLs always having a solid foundation for poly because once we replace the female lead with another man, we see that the competition aspect quickly dissolves and all we are left with is good quality poly.

Therefore, Korea is always serving implied poly!

Good for them!

Blue Complex is a vertical kbl series from Alwayz shortdrama. A story of growth and love that begins when Parang, a medalist who quit diving due to trauma, joins the swimming club.

Watch while you can. It's streaming on their YT for 48 hours starting December 7th KST. I haven't seen the whole thing yet so I don't know if it's good, but the first ten episodes piqued my interest.

ICYMI:

Watch on Shortime app. Free (watch ads) or purchase coins. Support them if possible.

Watch on bili or YT (sometimes it's uploaded by random people)

I only ask because I, like a fool, ignored the warnings from @bengiyo and the rest of @the-conversation-pod team and dove into a few of these shows that feature on those apps. You know the apps. The ones where you have to watch a load of ads just to get five mins of a 60-ep drama. The ones where you’re given a tantalising 1.5 mins at a time - 2 mins if it’s the finale.

I’ve watched a few shows in this format now because I’m easily drawn in by a pretty edit on Instagram. These aren’t terrible shows. Some have been really good - I particularly liked Blue Complex and My Enemy Has a Crush on Me. It’s fun to play spot the familiar faces too - I see you, Ko Hojung from Choco Milk Shake!

But I just. I don’t know. I don’t think I like it. It feels like these shows aren’t given the space to explore the themes they feature.

There’s Accent, which stars cute-as-a-button Jeon Yubin. You’ve possibly seen him in other dramas like My Damn Business and Checkered Shirt. He seems to be the face of a lot of these teeny productions and he’s so good. But at 35 eps and clocking in at around an hour of viewing time, Accent was a story that felt underdeveloped and then just abandoned for a happy ending.

(Couldn’t find a gif from Accent so here’s one from Checkered Shirt)

And that’s a bit of a pattern. I’ve just watched the 65-ep I’d Rather Quit Than Die, Director! This slightly unhinged show took around four days to complete because of the daily ads and popcorn system that’s in place on Shortime. And I feel like this is the line in the sand for now. Because the story that was pitched in the elevator would have been fine if it were a standard BL that was given room on YouTube. But in this sparse setup, there were moustache-twirling bad guys and office gossips who caused conflicts that were resolved all too soon. If you’re throwing a kidnapping into the plot, at least stretch it out for more than 30 seconds (yes, it was literally 30 seconds). And the romance felt rushed too. The love story didn’t feel very loving.

And that’s the thing. You have to question the BL of it all when the romance is limited and it’s difficult to make it believable. Throwing the main lead up against a wall for a few kisses isn’t making me believe you’re in love with him.

I don’t know if vertical format dramas are actually quite damaging for the industry?

And then there was Strongberry. In the last week or so, some beloved Strongberry shows have popped up on Shortime. Choco Milk Shake is there, as well as Long Time No See and A First Love Story. So, at least we know there are some really well-loved, well-made shows appearing on these apps. It’ll be interesting to see if all the other smaller Korean production companies get the Vigloos and DramaBoxes to host their BL shows too.

"While I was coming up with dozens of reasons why I had to die, it felt like I was hearing over and over the one reason I had to live" and it's Yoobin and Taemin telling him they like him, and putting in effort to be in his life, while Parang has thought he was unwanted and unloved since his mother passed, here are these two, showing up for him.

"That one ridiculous reason was able to save me... The only reason that keeps me alive, that makes me swim" and it's Yoobin and Taemin, watching him, waving to him while he holds his breath underwater (something he's only been down doing in attempts to practice dying, but now he's looking up at the reasons he has to keep living)

It was up on YT for a while, short vertices or something right? I think someone cut it together in chunks. First 10 eps or so.

It's still airing.