Vietnamese BL on Youtube: A Quick Guide to Channels and Shows!
So, you wanna watch some more V-BL but it's often difficult to find if your recommendations aren't attuned and it can be very difficult to find them just by searching. Here, have a guide to a lot of the ones I've found, the channels that upload them and what I love about all of them. (Note: This is not as detailed or... good... as @absolutebl's guide to V-BL but it'll give you a different kind of guide... I hope.)
This is organized by a heading of each channel, a quick discussion of what's mostly on the channels, sub quality, general quality, stuff like that. Then I'll link to each individual BL show that channel has created and subbed (this is important, some have non-BL shows and non-subbed shows and I don't watch any of those, sorry) with a quick review of each as long as I've watched it.
(@renjjjjun, @thehalfbloodhuntress-blog, look! I made it! Enjoy! Good, good luck with this!)
AB Studio
AB Studio has done two series so far, both set with younger characters. SOL is a full length show while Fools is short and bittersweet. Both are very soft and very low heat, so expect slow and gentle and not much else. Fairly good subtitles for the most part.
Stage of Love
This is a very slow moving show about a university drama club, drama, acting, pain, jealousy and that's what I remember. I enjoyed it but it's very, very, very slow moving and can be boring in parts if you don't get into the characters. Recommended but... you know. Enjoy at your own pace.
Fools
One of my favorites, honestly. Bittersweet and soft story about growing up and moving on and the pain of betrayal. About three boys who ditch their high school graduation for a beach trip for their own reasons and the fallout of their friendships/crushes.
DGTV
Although DGTV has only made one show so far, it's one of the best so I'm keeping a very close eye on them! Still fairly good subs and the characters are adorable. Tends to upload a lot of tiktoks of the actors although they also did an adorable music video!
You Are Ma Boy
The story of an idol falling in love with a coffee shop manager. Absolutely adorable, great tsundere/puppy energy and awesome chemistry. Good pacing in general, very enjoyable, absolutely recommend this show. Do watch!
Dược sĩ Tiến Entertainment
One of the steadiest content producers on this list. They have three shows all staring the same two main actors as, basically, the same two main characters in two different settings. Okay subtitles, lots of action, high heat for Vietnam (which is not saying a lot) and good chemistry. Absolutely amazing at domesticity. And we know they have another show planned already so they're fairly steady in terms of production and production value. Definitely one of my favorites, despite some of their content just being strange.
Tien Bromance
A mess of a show but absolutely unique. Switches genre for the first few episodes and settles on... strange. Horror and action and mafia, look, if you want your shows to make sense don't watch this. But if you don't mind a pile of nonsense and some very slow moving BL or you're extremely bored, give it a try.
Tien Bromance Extra
A semi-sequel to the original, this is just fluff. It's family fluff about the two main characters and their adopted son. You cannot go wrong with this and I highly, highly recommend watching this little show. Fun domestic fluff is the best and that's basically all this is. Light and goofy domestic fluff.
Sea Him
Take the two main characters from the other shows and reboot them and you get this. City meets rural show about two men meeting each other and discovering they're soulmates but their are more than a few obstacles in the way including themselves. Tai is the most tsundere to ever tsundere for most of the show and the ending is definitely rushed but there's a planned sequel so give it a chance. I really do enjoy this and think you will as well.
Team RL
The people who made Stupid Boys, Stupid Love and also made/is making You Are My Sunshine! Appears to make entirely high school based BLs with a high likelihood of a GL included or at least a WLW sidekick of some sort.
Stupid Boys Stupid Love
Absolutely one of my favorites right now. Adorable high schoolers try to navigate starting relationships when they're all too insecure to actually say anything to each other... so it's very accurate to high schoolers. Adorable, fluffy, soft and just cute as heck. while not being overly long Highly recommend!
MCV Media
I don't believe they're actually the production company for most of these, I think they're just a compilation channel/media distributor? Not sure! But they definitely do gay and have tons of random things that I haven't watched because they mostly look like reality TV and I don't... do that! But they have several very enjoyable little specials/shows and I've enjoyed pretty much all of it. Subs tend towards awkward and keeping track of character names can be nearly impossible but worth the effort, to me.
My Monster In Law 2
A sequel to Hey Rival, this follows the story of the two men as they continue with life... and their adopted daughter, Tina! Adult romance issues, family issues, adorable in general, very domestic. Honestly kind of feels like one of those 90s sitcoms about the slightly dysfunctional but very loving family? Absolutely fantastic and looks like it might be pretty long since we're just hitting serious plot stuff in episode 8 this week.
Follow My Sunshine
A short series that follows a friends to lovers pair of boys with longterm pining and a fake-out sad ending (watch the end!) Enjoyable and fluffy and not amazing but good, quite good. I recommend it,okay? It's adorable and slow and soft and the ending is a bit rushed by that's okay.
Hey Rival, I Love You
A short film about, surprise, rivals! They both go after the same girl only to realize she's playing both of them... and then they fall in love. It's fun and the biggest downside is the subs, honestly, they're not very good. Some awkward scenes, of course, but totally worth the watch for the sake of a really nice rivals to lovers plot.
Beef, Cupcakes and Him
An adorable movie about a chef, childhood bullies because of jealousy and a crush, proximity and just general domesticity. Absolutely darling, sweet as can be, with the perfect levels of not-drama and plenty of sweetness. A chef taking care of his sister is told to take in a childhood bully to help him get back on his feet... only it turns out that the childhood bully considered him his only friend. Once they start a bakery business together, it's all over!
O2 Production
I would honestly call this one the OG. You know that one Vietnamese actor you feel like you see in every BL? It's this guy, Ba Vinh. Their shows tend to be fairly good but with rushed endings and the chemistry is always on point. Their production values keep going up and I respect their drive and deeply appreciate their subtitles. There's a lot of older shows on here that aren't subbed, sadly, but the ones that are subbed are definitely worth your time! Fairly good in terms of subs, definitely good in terms of actors, getting better with each show so far.
Mr. Cinderella
An amazing V-BL that started 2022 with a bang! A brilliant story about Dung, an out of luck not-quite-gangster and Khoa, a doctor with no luck in love, who were childhood friends in a strange way and come back together as adults with so much love. A fantastic story and one of the best V-BLs to date, hands down.
The Ring Goes Missing
I love this tiny film. It's not long, it's not heavy, it's just about a young man working as a housecleaner and the man who hires him as they slowly go from employee to enemies to friends and then lovers. Very cute, mostly funny, I think it's a great first step into V-BL and showcases a lot of their strengths.
Nation's Brother
This show is a little weird, it's about a man who's allergic to women... but it's mostly about him raising his sister, the tutor he hires for him (after a one night stand with him, no less!) and their budding romance as it intertwines with the rest of their lives. Enjoyable but the pacing is a bit odd. Do give it a try, though!
The Most Peaceful Place
One of the best. A failed friendship that rekindles into romance and then gets tested. The story of two men who cannot communicate to save their fucking lives and yet somehow enjoyable nonetheless. Once again a bit iffy on the pacing but still fantastic. Highly recommend this one! You'll fall in love with the characters, seriously. Comes in two seasons but each season is three episodes so just watch the whole thing.
Active Boys
My first addition to this list! This show is actually from 2018 and is mostly subtitled (episode 9 is not and episode 11 has to be auto-translated from the Vietnamese subs) which is why it took me this long to watch. It's a very basic high school enemies to lovers in the same idea as My Gear and Your Gown's high school bits. Fair warning, there is also a teacher/student relationship that gets the best kiss in the entire show. Otherwise, very standard pulp and I did enjoy it!
PaP Channel
A newcomer with one show but an amazingly queer show so, you know, appreciated! Good subs, good acting, nice value to me. Highly, highly recommend their one show and it has a season 2 planned, I believe, so I have hopes they'll be making more BL for us! Also some adorable BTS stuff can be found. Really recommend this one so far.
My Lascivious Boss
A fantastically queer story about a young gay man, his gay best friends and his adventures in working in a coffee shop where his boss falls in love with him in drag. Just fantastic, okay? All the characters are enjoyable, the story flows nicely, the bisexuality crisis is minimal... if you watch one, watch this one. But watch more than one!
VIVA Network
This one just seems to be a channel with most pop and idol stuff but it has one little show that's all fluff. Not much known, the subtitles on this are extremely mediocre but understandable and the entire show is just... fluff. Loads of fluff. Nothing else on the channel is BL so it's just... this.
Hey! First Love
A barely connected set of adorable little scenes about two men in love and their lives. Very fluffy, total comedy, nothing deep at all here. Watch if you wanna watch some fluff and goofiness and nothing else. I enjoyed it, no denials, but there's nothing deep here.
PDID Film
A fairly extensive channel going back several years of extremely low-budget BL. This is the kind of thing you'll always find, a little channel of people just trying to make something they love on a budget of pocket lint and the acting skills of their friends. I'm slowly making my way through their offerings (very slowly, honestly) but I'll add more as I watch it.
Mỗi Năm Tôi Lại Đến Thăm Mộ Cậu
This is a movie length remake of He's Coming to Me (a fantastic Thai BL by GMMTV, do watch the full version!). It's not very good. The story only makes sense if you already know what's happening and the special effects can be best described as 'they tried... I think.' Best experienced if you just really, really want to see how Vietnam interprets a premade concept. Not recommended.
