#violetviperbl

My personal favorite is Shen Wenlang dealing with Hua Yong’s nonsense, and genuinely he’s like ‘what did I do to deserve this, even after growing up in Crime City Central I have never done anything worse than some strategic tax evasion’ 🤣🤣🤣

I particularly liked the juxtaposition of Japanese and Korean drama approaches, and of course both are prone to delve into the cruel and the heartbreaking, to tell stories of the worst of people’s lives and the vilest of humanity. This drama allows you to be happy for 0.2 seconds before wrenching those dregs away from you.

It’s impressive to watch Ok Taecyeon morph from the ruthless villain he played in Vincenzo to a beaten-down young man seeking a place to belong. I also appreciate the bold move for a recently married K-Pop idol to take on a queer role - I think he was perfectly suited to play Johan.

The story itself focuses on the moment. The characters never have time to consider life-altering decisions, and must consistently respond with their instinctual feelings. The many faces of friendship and love are tested by the harsh realities of everyday life.

Ryu and Johan meet because they are both running away. Each of them runs away again and again until they realize they have only fleeting time left to be together.

The queer nuances to this show are what truly got to me, alongside the imperceptible struggles the characters take on to forge new meaning in a thoughtless world. The first scene that brought me to tears was Johan quietly working on his Japanese studies. A man who previously lived his life without concern for himself took the first tiny step forward to embracing something he wanted.

Never Let Me Go was heartbreaking and beautiful, although I have some saltiness about the ending. Palm’s total denial of his own happiness is frustrating but nonetheless, loved it.

We Are is far from the genre I usually enjoy, so I was pleasantly surprised. A heartwarming show, good for turning your brain off and just enjoying 16 episodes of gay college shenanigans.

Fish Upon the Sky I had actually started and dropped previously, so that’s next on my list to pick back up and see what I think now that I am more familiar with PondPhuwin.

I haven’t watched Our Skyy or any of their solo features yet. I still have other dramas to watch too, lol.

I’ve been on an anime kick again recently, both BL and non-BL, so I thought it would be a good time for this post. My pinned rankings post only includes the dramas I’ve watched. There’s a lot less on the anime list but here we go:

Cherry Magic: Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter

Yuri!!! On Ice

Sasaki and Miyano

Go For It, Nakamura-kun!

This Boy is a Professional Wizard

The Summer Hikaru Died

Twilight Out of Focus

DAKAICHI

Stranger By The Shore

Given

The High School Life of a Fudanshi

Banana Fish

Orenchi no Furo Jijo

DRAMAtical Murder

BL-adjacent anime, AKA the Honorable Mentions

My New Boss is Goofy

Buddy Daddies

Kiss Him Not Me!

Free!! Iwatobi Swim Club

A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions

Prince of Stride: Alternative

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard

91 Days

Moriarty the Patriot

Noblesse

It's not my usual cup of tea, but it won me over with an uncanny charm (get the reference?) that has obviously garnered its huge fanbase.

I don't think I have a lot of new opinions to contribute on this. I was talking to some friends about it after finishing the book; I enjoyed the cute, slow-burn romance, and I love Ilya. I want to put him in my pocket. I think it was well-written, although you can definitely tell it started as fanfiction. The constant sex scenes get to be a bit much, and they're a little repetitive.

In my quest to discover more free-to-view BL, I've been on YouTube a lot this week. I perused some independent channels and also discovered that quite a few of the production companies upload the first two episodes of some series to garner interest. The apps do that as well.

Choco Milk Shake

This is an older series from Strongberry, which produced Blossom Campus. The plot is a little absurd, but I'm still enjoying it.

Cityboy_Log

After watching some clips, I am watching the channel videos through in order. It's a BL setup as a vlog/reality series, apparently from the studio that produced Semantic Error. I'm up to episode 6.

From WeTV's channel:

Top Form episodes 1 & 2. I watched Dakaichi, so I was prepared.

Shine episodes 1 & 2. MileApo, ApoMile, never disappoint either way. Although I predict the second couple will be my fave.

I Saw You in My Dream episodes 1 & 2. Cute but kind of a snooze.

Knock Out episodes 1 & 2. Um, the shower scene? Hello? Gives me Bangkok Boy vibes; I wonder why boxing is like THE sport for Thai BL. Would like to continue this series.

Me and Who episode 1. This really surprised me. I started and dropped Monster Next Door, and the yaoi-accurate size difference with BigPark throws me off, but this was great. Really funny and the chemistry between the characters is palpable. I'll probably try to finish this at some point.

Knock Knock Boys episode 1. Eh.

From other channels on YouTube:

Dominant Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave episodes 1-5. The short form dramas give you a little bit of whiplash with the pacing, but it wasn't bad.

Gu Jin Nan Qiu episode 1. I dropped this very quickly. It seems like they may be actual literal brothers? And that's too far for me.

From GagaOOLala:

Therapy Game episode 1. Never have gotten around to reading this so I want to see what happens, although the premise I find to be kind of basic.

Punks Triangle episode 1. I read the manga so I already know this will be good.

I started watching the free first episodes on iQIYI, and then I got so engrossed that I caved and renewed my subscription.

Burnout Syndrome. I just started this and I'm excited to see how it develops.

Me and Thee. You can call it a crime, but I've never seen anything that PondPhuwin or WilliamEst have been in. They must be having fun with this one. Khun Thee is a lovable idiot. I'll take Est in a suit any day.

Thundercloud Rainstorm. This is the reason I renewed my subscription. I've never seen a show with such exhilarating sexual tension. At the midway point the characters are irritating me a little bit, but their toxicity still has an electric undercurrent. It's insane for a KBL, especially one starring an idol. Also, they are technically cousins but not blood-related, so while not ideal still toeing the line.

The Wicked Game. I'm hovering right on the finale for this because I think I'll need some mental preparation. Definitely some similarities to Laws of Attraction, if Charn was just a little bit worse. I don't think I'll be able to extend redemption privileges to Pheem at this point.

Mystique in the Mirror. A must-watch. Psychological drama, pulls you into the twists even though they feel somewhat predictable. This series devastated me. I do have personal experience with the themes of the show so it hit me hard, but I recommend keeping tissues nearby.

Goddess Bless You From Death. Sucked me right into the story. Creepier than Khemjira, so avoid if you don't like horror. I really like PoohPavel together, and you've got MichaelTopten in there as well. I saw a comment on one of the episodes with someone saying, "Oh, Pooh can't act, his face is so blank but the other actors carry it" and I was like b*tch where? Are you blind? Just because he doesn't exaggerate his expression doesn't make him blank. His facial shifts are very subtle, which I think shows immense skill at a young age. I will say it did throw me off a little bit that their hair styling, down to the coloring, is so similar to Babe and Charlie. I think we can retire Pooh's mullet. But the light makeup was on point.