#therapy game

The extend of your willingness, I'll decide for you.

Your first time...I'll make sure it's the best experience ever. Therapy Game (2025) Episode 3

Bonus: Minato making sure Shizuma has a good time too.

Therapy Game // Episode 6

With 2025 over, I wanted to do my final blurb since I never checked in after the October update. I’ll do a follow-up post on this one to complete my full review of BL for 2025. For now, let’s talk about the few shows I’m watching, the finales of shows from the fall, a last-minute GMMTV pickup, and the dismal end to a bad year from Japan.

Off is the Only Thing Holding Burnout Syndrome Together (6/10)

Genuinely, one of the most disappointing things of the year is having to report disappointment in Gun Atthaphan. I am a Gun Atthaphan Simp First and a Human Being Second, and I’ve been so dismayed by how stagnant Gun’s acting feels in these past few years. In this show, Jira shows little drive as a character, and so his relationships with Koh and Pheem feel empty of narrative purpose. They want us to believe he’s a starving artist, but he mostly comes off as a brat. Moreover, the genuine lack of chemistry Gun has with Dew is not helping the cause. We’ve had four episodes of wheel-spinning in this dynamic, and it’s so boring! Each episode has ridden on one solid performance from Off. As with every would-be toxic romance from GMMTV, they constantly undercut it by making rich people sympathetic, and quickly steamrolling over any edges with sappy pouting. It’s a loss.

Reloved Has Devolved Into Irredeemable Melodrama (5/10)

When this started, I was really excited about the potential of the adult second chance after a college breakup. I also really liked seeing James Rusameekae in a role as an intense-but-dedicated boss in an advertising company. James is a favorite, and I had a lot of fun with the constant chanting of “BEYOND PERFECT: HOUSE OF PERFECTION!” in every episode. I thought the flashbacks to college were a good choice for the production so the viewers looking for familiar BL beats had something to enjoy. 

Unfortunately, the plot around the initial breakup and ghosting gets more egregious and unforgiveable the deeper we go into this show. The show also enjoys implying the worst outcomes for everyone’s behavior. At this point, I am sitting with Akin ghosting his boyfriend because he was jealous, only to then take on the role of surrogate parent to a kid he thinks might be his ex’s? He’s also now mad that Than got emotional comfort from someone else after Akin rejected him for the umpteenth time? It’s never good when a show has me rooting against the couple. I’m also finding the side couple more than a little ridiculous. They have a lot of sex, but if I was the type to fast forward shows I would genuinely skip their scenes. 

Japan Began 2026 with “Fuck or Die” in Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (1/12)

Besties, I am not making this up. You’ve got a fairly typical isekai here. A self-described “corporate slave” gets pulled into a fantasy world when he sees a teenage girl being pulled into a portal. On the other side, the monarchical state apologizes for kidnapping him as well, but promises to feed and house him. Protag-kun is a workaholic and asks for a job, so they put him in their accounting department. There, he gets addicted to fantasy energy drinks while his modern fiscal senses push him to conduct a full-scale audit on the kingdom. He warns the teenager about the shady lies of the kingdom, and eventually poisons himself from the energy drinks. We left the first episode with the hot, purple-eyed military leader coming to assist Protag-kun. 

When I looked up the blurb for this show, I learned that Protag-kun has to have sex with the military guy or he will die…because magic. I couldn’t help but laugh. China is back with all of its worst tendencies, and Japan was like, “I guess that means we can bring back ‘fuck or die’ in 2026 from a series published in 2018.” I am still interested in seeing where this one goes, but I can’t help but laugh at the weird place BL is in right now. 

Completed Since October

Let’s move on to the shows I finished since October. 

Love Sea Japan Lacked Some Spark

I can’t say that I enjoyed the Japanese version of Love Sea. For a story in which the sex tells so much of the story, I dont’ think the leads sexual development fit the arc very well. The actors were enthusiastic, but it sometimes read to me like they were trying very hard to play up their earnestness. It may also be a cost issue, but I also felt like the Japanese Mahassamut analogue didn’t feel as connected to his home island. That being said, I did enjoy the ladies in this version more. I guess we’ll call it a wash? 

Final Verdict: 7, Recommended With Reservations. I think shows like this are important for advancing the cause regarding the depictions of sex in BL. I like that many of MAME’s stories feature people having sex for fun and not just as a way to express love or control over someone. 

Rearrange Fumbled Its Finale

Like many of the Thai shows, I find that they’re quite shy about sad endings. I don’t want to begrudge a queer fantasy story that wants to save the gay boy from death, but I am always fairly uncomfortable with stories that imply you somehow failed in your first go around when someone died from a medical crisis. It just feels a bit cruel to me (with the understanding that I have my own trauma around this). I don’t think the show delivered on the themes I thought it was setting up originally, and so I was left feeling more than a little disappointed. 

Final Verdict: 7, Recommended With Reservations. I think there is some value in meditating on some of the themes about making the most of your time with people you care about, but I think the required happy ending muddles a lot of that. 

Love in the Moonlight Betrayed Pin

I am a Make It Right apologist, and I will always support Peak Peemapol in BL, but I cannot in good faith pretend like this show actually delivered on his queer narrative. I genuinely struggled with Sasin’s unbelievable levels of stupidity. He lacked survival instincts in a way that I just cannot fathom. Moreover, this show ends up redeeming the Bad Dad when he should have died. I am also going to be forever salty about how this show disrespected Pin in the final arc. Her concerns about her personal and financial security were valid, and the show was more concerned with making sure we knew that Saenkaew was still rich when this was over than making sure that Pin was taken care of. We’re apparently supposed to see this BL pair again, so hopefully their next attempt is better.

Final Verdict: 6, Just Watch To Sir With Love Instead. It’s from the same team that made this show, and basically executes the same story but way better. 

The Journey To Killing You Played Weird Games With Sex

I wanted to like this show a lot more than I did, but I didn’t like how the show started off with complicated sexual themes, but then reduced itself to a rather simple love situation. The people yearn for a compelling crime BL. There was good potential in the succession battle here, but like many other shows this year this one refused to let its criminals be genuinely bad when it came time for the romance. 

Final Verdict: 7, Recommended With Reservations. I just think it’s hard to have a show begin with sexual assault then not really do much with those themes. The show has some excellent aesthetics, but the narrative and themes are weak. 

Khemjira Has A Beautiful Cast With Excellent Chemistry, But Quite a Bit of Misogyny

I am quoted pushing back on expectations from viewers hoping for compelling and deep female narratives in BL, as I don’t think that’s one of the primary goals of the boys kissing boys genre. However, I do not think that means BL shows get a free pass at misogyny in their stories. Khemjira has genuine concern for the male friendships and romances, and cares a lot about the cultural contexts of its plot beats. However, almost every plot beat they added from the source material relies on truly tired stories about violence against women in ways that I did not find compelling, and which I don’t think added depth to the conflict with the ghost at the heart of this story. I also just think this show is way too long; one episode is a full two hours. Still, I enjoyed the themes around spirituality, and it’s one of my better experiences with reincarnation romances I’ve had in a while. 

Final Verdict: 8, Recommended for the Sex Scenes. Genuinely, this series has some of my favorite lovemaking scenes from the year. If not for Heated Rivalry, this would be the show I talked about the most for the types of acts they choreographed. Additionally, I was genuinely compelled by both romances after things finally got moving for the leads. In terms of cast chemistry, Khemjira is probably the best of the year. 

Takumi-kun Series was Horrible

Final Verdict: 5, Do Not Watch. For years we have warned you not to watch this. That recommendation stands. It’s a bloated mess with ugly handling of intense themes.

A Man Who Defies the World of BL Final Betrayed Mob

In yet more disappointing news, the BL parody show about a guy who dodges BL flags was forced into a horrible BL flag at the end. This slapped-together final season reintroduced almost every old character with minimal coherence, quickly ended multi-season storylines, and then blandly dumped Mob into a BL flag as if it were the rote expectation. Truly, I am baffled about how the show that spent literal years joking about how vapid many BL tropes are failed to bring compelling human connection to Mob finally falling for someone. What a dubious end to this project. 

Final Verdict: 6, Not Recommended. This show of all shows letting us down in 2025 is so telling about the state of the genre. 

Punks Triangle Was Alright, Mostly

The funniest part of this show was having a fashion student not recognize the model he was obsessed with for years. Like most BL, I couldn’t take it seriously on the fashion front, but I was able to have some fun with the ideas about dating someone with dual identities. Why I can’t say I fully enjoyed this mostly comes down to this shows intensely horny energy that it was completely unable to release. So many moments in this show speak to a real desire to depict a sexual relationship between the leads that perhaps broadcasting rules prevented. Unfortunately, I just find it quite frustrating when horny works get sanitized on TV. 

Final Verdict: 7.5, Recommended With Reservations. The show wants to be hornier than it is, and the plot requires you to accept some silly things. 

At 25:00 in Akasaka Season 2 Completely Failed

In heartbreaking news, I must report that 25 ji let us down pretty badly. The ongoing problem with BL is that the types of stories it is focused on are all about people getting together, and not people staying together. In what started as an interesting look at two public figures navigating queerness and dating devolved into Shirasaki benign a jealous, bad partner. By the end of the series I could no longer root for their relationship, and felt like he really let Hayama down multiple times across the season. 

Final Verdict: 6, Not Recommended. There is some decent sex in the first episode or two, and some good queer moments in the beginning. There just isn’t a lot of good worth sticking around for. As with every other season 2 this year, this one betrays the themes it established in its previous season.

School Trip: Joined A Group I’m Not Close To Was One of the Most Alien BL Experiences I’ve Had in a While

One of the biggest hurdles with trying to get queer cinephiles into BL is often the extreme unreality of BL itself. In School Trip, we had two actors who have previously worked in BL play characters younger than their last outings, and play into the weird kinds of spaces that shows in the BL bubble often like to exist. I genuinely struggle with shows that imply the existence of homophobia without that being a part of the world, and Watarai’s aggressiveness never got the kinds of responses from Hioki that I think it warranted. This show also ended up being far too chaste for how desperately horny it insisted its lead was. 

Final Verdict: 6.5, Recommended Only for Chaste BL Fans. I originally hoped this show would be closer to something like I Cannot Reach You, but I cannot insult ICRY by pretending this show comes even close to how compelling the dynamics were in that show. This show will be my poster child for why it’s so hard to get gay people who like gay media to watch BL.

Therapy Game Should Have Let Minato Be a Demon Twink

Repeating myself again, but damn if it isn’t another show that promised more complex dynamics only to devolve into sappiness. I had hoped for complicated developmental cycle for Shizuma coming into his own queerness, especially with it starting off with dubious sex. As usual, though, the sex didn’t actually happen, and they went with Minato being far more fragile than I wanted from what started off as such a powerful twink. I guess I’ll just settle for being glad I saw Sato Ryuga  and Konishi Eito again, but this one left me feeling extremely mild. I was hoping for the kinds of desperation for a twink energy you can find in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Final Verdict: 7, Recommended with Reservations. I think this one is fine, since there are some decent gay ideas in this one, and they at least have sex. However, it’s not an all-timer.

Love Begins in the World of If Should Have Been The Show of the Year

Of all the shows on this list, this one is probably the second biggest disappointment for me. Daigo Kotaro was probably my favorite performer of the year as Kano, and I really loved the way the show used the parallel world concepts. The themes around how we treat people informs the world we live in, and rejection of the “perfect” Ogami in favor of the one that respected Kano like an equal was actually so great. Unfortunately, they rushed the relationship at the end, and then made some truly dubious decisions around the sex. 

Final Verdict: 6, Recommended with Reservations. The cinematography, music, and performances in this show are actually so good, but I have to take off major points for absolutely collapsing at the very end. I had hoped this show would join Perfect Propose and Old Fashion Cupcake as one of my work burnout shows, but alas it is another sad dud from this year.

ThamePo was…Boring

I’ve stopped watching GMMTV shows live because they too often fall apart around the middle, and then it’s a month and a half of being annoyed once a week. I also find the stan energy around GMMTV shows to be a bit tiring. I will say that I am quite glad I didn’t watch this show live, because it felt like this show actively wanted me to dislike LYKN. Few of the decisions made by the management of this company felt grounded in reality, this show really thought it was a good idea to tell us that members of its premiere boy band cannot sing, it once again tried to say something compelling about idol privacy while sidestepping homophobia, and as such Po being a gay man felt like it didn’t really matter. Moreover, I just completely struggle with the idea that a gay man whose close friend is a superfan would think it would be okay at all the date any member of the band she was obsessed with. 

Final Verdict: 6.5, Recommended for Visuals? I am not that taken with William and Est, but I can see why people might have been. This show’s primary appeal seemed to rest of the fact that both of the leads liked to pout a lot, but I really struggled with the serious lack of meaningful stakes in this show. I want more people to watch BL, and it’s a bit frustrating when some of our best looking shows fail to take their plots and themes seriously.

Mandate Was Compelling, But Not Really a Romance

Like @waitmyturtles I really enjoyed Mandate. However, it is not a romance. It is a political drama with queerness inside of it. I was eager to check out this show because I like Ben Benyapol (Step by Step) a lot, and I’m glad we were able to watch this one. With so much of BL existing in a fictional world that often worships rich people, it was refreshing to experience a Thai drama with a real chip on its shoulder about the world itself. Mandate does not exist in the saccharine space of BL, and has real ideals about the Thai government and its politics. The commentary about the way power corrupts, and how so much of politics relies on hype before turning into backroom deals and public sniping at each other. 

Final Verdict: 9, Highly Recommended. This is one of the best things I’ve seen from Thailand in a while, and it’s a worthy watch to sit with for cultural reasons. 

Heated Rivalry Is The Show of the Year

On a positive note, I can happily say that I thoroughly enjoyed Heated Rivalry. It was refreshing to see a show built on sincerity with full commitment to its story and themes. It was also a real relief to experience a show that wasn’t being precious about sex. Moreover, the queerness wasn't an afterthought to the dynamics between all of the characters. 

While I have some qualms with the writing and pacing, it's been a lot of fun seeing people new to m/m romance presented this way in live action reacting to it. I've also appreciated BL fans being so consistent in the comments and reactions about how this show is GOOD but it is not NEW. It's important to me that we not treat this show like a unicorn when there have been over 1000 pieces of m/m media like it in the last two decades. 

Final Verdict: 9, Highly Recommended. I cannot stress enough how familiar all of the storytelling beats are in Heated Rivalry, but after a year where most projects seemed ambivalent towards narrative and thematic cohesion, I must praise a show for actually delivering on the story it set up. Moreover, I love the bittersweet place they ended the first season. I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what happens to western fujos after this. 

Dropped Shows

Here are all the other shows that didn't make the cut:

The Wicked Game (5/10) - I love Daou and Offraod. I traveled all the way across the country to see them. It saddens me that while their characters continue to age and mature, their projects continue to decline in writing quality. 

Kill to Love (8/12) - I felt little reason to finish after the major death in this episode. 

Conclusion 

This has been a rather dull season of BL for me, in a year that has been a real dud. I did not expect for one of my favorite projects of the year to come from Canada of all places, and it's kind of lame that I don't think there are many projects from this year that we can recommend to Heated Rivalry fans. This is also the first year I've experienced in a long time where nothing good in live action came from Japan. I really hope next year is better.