Disclaimer: this is written from the perspective of a Hollywood adjacent, queer, English speaker. I love these shows, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about them or able to recognize their flaws.
They are, of course, influenced by their source culture, as am I. This is meant as a broad overview and to manage watcher expectations, not as a socio-critical pop-culture analysis. That would take a book.
This is intentionally broad because one of the things that interests me most in film is trends.
One last thing, I talk about “visual queerness” as a marker of representation because this is CINEMA which is visual, not because I’m passing any kind of moral judgement on how you, personally, like to do or consume queer. Speaking of: I do not mention butch/Tom or visually queer-coded lesbians because, so far, in BL, I haven’t encountered any. (There is some GL out there tho. It’s not as popular as BL.)
Typical Format: Short episodes of 20-30 mins in medium length series of 8-10 total + a few special eps; or movies
Triggers: dark BLs LOVE a murder gay, can get explicit, and will explore taboo; newer stuff marketed as BL is tame and sweet
Comedy stylings: physical slapstick, somewhat violent or entirely absent; cartoonish over-reaction to extreme emotion, particularly shame
Queer rep: some non-visual queer elements (like implied ace) but coming out and being out is restrained, to say the least
Female rep: decent; no faen fatals; usually complex mother/sister and supportive friend characters
Quality issues: Yaoi trope reliance but cinematographically very few problems, it’s a mature film industry; difficult to find internationally because of distribution issues due to Japan’s strict IP laws; weirdly bad hair
Strengths: workplace settings; grown up characters; beautiful cinematography; high audio quality; excellent sound and music choices; good subs; excellent acting
Story style: yaoi influenced but not as much as you’d expect anymore; very modern; mature and complex; thought provoking
HEA: mostly, usually hard fought
Heat level: in braned BL very low, you’re lucky if you get a kiss and that will be chaste; physical intimacy is considered very private, usually embarrassing, and mostly not to be depicted on screen (on the other hand the violent murder gay dark BL can get VERY high heat)
Language barrier: some, Japanese is a particularly formal language and often glottal and monosyllabic; it can feel stiff and curt to native English & Latin language speakers
Seems weird until you get used to it: lack of physical touch; alcohol consumption; smoking; nuanced emotions contrasted to slapstick
Subs & captions: usually very good, but you will often have to hunt down subbers who specialize in Japanese BL for fun & profit, so there is a delay
First noticeably queer cinema? 1990s
First yaoi manga live action (AKA BL)? 2005
First ones to make waves? Takumin-kun & Boy’s Love 2007
Full history + Top 10 BLs from Japan
Classic great example: Seven Days 2015
Best current offering: Cherry Magic 2020
Typical Format: Short episodes of 15-20 min in shorter series of 6-8 total
Triggers: obsession; instalove
Comedy stylings: subtle and sly, if any
Queer rep: poor; coming out and being out is restrained if present at all; no visually queer, trans, or femme characters
Female rep: sometimes a female friend; no faen fatals; rare to depict family at all
Quality issues: yaoi trope reliance (some of which are tired or old fashioned by current romance standards); romantic arc pacing issues
Strengths: manga visual elements and music video training influence both staging and film style; well acted; great audio and visual quality; range of settings; good wardrobe, hair, makeup (K-pop industry impact on Korean BL is profound)
Story style: strongly yaoi influenced; powerful foundational themes and world building; cleanly simplistic; endings often feel rushed; uses voice overs
HEA: yes for BL branded shows Korea knows marketing
Heat level: low, usually a kiss but not much physical intimacy beyond that
Language barrier: not as much as you’d expect, k-pop and k-dramas have had such a profound effect on the western ear for Korean that it kinda rolls over us now; casual use of English in dialogue (when present at all) is a characterization tool used to indicate informality, modernity, and a certain level of youthful punk-ass
Seems weird until you get used to it: distinct influence of western cinema style particularly crime dramas; very specific beauty standards; obvious use of plastic surgery
Subs & captions: very good, usually fast, mostly fan subbed (again, blame k-pop) but sometimes hard to find for IP reasons
Approx 20 offerings (includes lots of microfilms)
First BL tangential offering? No Regret 2006
First BL? Just Friends? 2009
Full history + Top 10 BLs from Korea
Classic example: Just Friends? 2009
Best current offering: Color Rush 2021
Typical Format: Short episodes of 15-20 min in shorter series of 4-8 total (with a few exceptions)
Triggers: still uses kidnapping for love trope; obsessive & stalker behaviors the norm; rough sex
Comedy stylings: modest slapstick; some exaggerated facial expressions; cultural inside jokes
Queer rep: decent in terms of a range of gay relationships; coming out and being out is restrained if present at all; rare to get visually queer, trans, or femme characters
Female rep: sometimes a female friend; no faen fatals; some sisters and mothers
Quality issues: names of shows are weirdly awful; difficult to find internationally
Strengths: lack of visual heterosexual dysmorphia; consistent quality in terms of acting and staging despite often limited budget; serviceable sound, audio, and visual editing if not exactly ground breaking cinematography; office settings; good wardrobe & makeup (beautiful suits)
Story style: mature and modern but not sophisticated; uses voice overs
Heat level: wide range, usually some kissing, can get much higher heat
Language barrier: it’s Mandarin Chinese although nationalized and formalized; names are occasionally difficult to distinguish
Seems weird until you get used to it: how different Taiwanese society is from mainland China, at least when represented in cinema
Subs & captions: usually decent, fan subbed, sometimes very hard to find, can be delayed in dropping
First BL? Co-plot with a GL, Pair of Love 2012
First classic BL? HIStory: Stay Away from Me 2017
Full history + Top 10 BLs from Taiwan
Classic example: anything in the HIStory series (my favorite is HIStory 2: Crossing the Line 2018)
Best current offering: We Best Love 2021
* Incidentally Taiwan is the only country on this list, and (as of January 2021) the only country in Asia, where same sex marriage is legal.
Typical Format: Medium length episodes of 20-40 min in series of 8-12 total
Triggers: not many, occasionally deals with actual queer issues like bashing, cat calls, and verbal abuse
Comedy stylings: some physical humor; reliance on comedic (often stereotyped) side characters; can be crass
Queer rep: pretty strong over all; positive rep of trans and femme characters in particular
Female rep: lots; sometimes there is a faen fatal but there are also always positive female friend, sibling, or mother characters
Quality issues: pacing problems; narrative can feel more reality TV than 3-5 act story structure; some abrupt editing; workman-like cinematography; occasional lighting problems; framing and staging issues; post production concerns; immature film industry
Strengths: honest queer experience; mature high-quality acting; out actors; real world authenticity; good range of setting and character; lack of heterosexual dysmorphia
Story style: somewhat informed and influenced by Thai BL; original arcs are sometimes underdeveloped
HEA: often but not always
Heat level: medium - usually kissing, occasionally making out, casual physical contact, lots of skin shown (there is a Latin machismo influencing exhibitionism in masc men in the Philippines)
Language barrier: not much, Filipino (the standardized version of Tagalog) sounds like exactly what it is: a mix of a root Malayo-Polynesian language + Spanish influence + sudden whole phrases, sentences, or words in near perfect English
Seems weird until you get used to it: the frequent reoccurrence of English; color saturation; visual clutter lending a chaotic element; honest (but somewhat messy) household staging
Subs & captions: usually very good and at time of release
#s as of 2020: None. I do not watch enough Pinoy BL to keep data on it, sorry.
Classic example: Gameboys (also on Netflix)
Best current offering: Like in the Movies; or for something lighter, My Day the series
Typical Format: Long form 10-14 episodes of 40-60 minutes, each ep broken into 4 parts
Triggers: dubious or non-consensual sexual acts (statutory rape); very bad singing; heterosexual dysmorphia; femme gay vilification and predatory behavior; actors who are minors and look it
Comedy stylings: overacted facial expressions; egregious cartoon sound effects
Queer rep: strong trans rep; some femme; Thai is linguistically accepting of multiple genders; gay relationships are strongly heterosexually dysmorphic however many studios are now making a conscious effort to improve queer rep and range
Female rep: poor but getting better; always feature a faen fatal often predatory and homophobic; mother characters are often absent or disinterested
Quality issues: very poor audio quality from smaller production houses; overuse of sound effects, songs, sound tracks; propensity to sub background lyrics instead of dialogue; uneven pacing; settings usually limited to high school and university; poor wardrobe and makeup; egregious product placement
Strengths: length of treatment means fully developed story arcs and complex side characters; larger cast; acting style and training/workshopping for bigger projects; sheer quantity of offerings; range of adaptations
Story style: usually long form classic 3 act romance structure with kiss/interest acknowledged at 1/3, relationship tension/confession at ½, and crisis at 2/3-¾ (around episode 11); some pacing issues for shows that have not be adapted form novels
HEA: most of the time; more common as the Thai studios take note of audience expectations; Thailand will do specials, spin offs, and second seasons in order to give fans an HEA
Heat level: ranges, usually at least a kiss, some making out or physical intimacy, university set BL can get high heat
Language barrier: gender neutral, self gender, or lack of pronouns means Thai is linguistically queer friendlily but challenging to translate; the language structure is ALSO queer/class/gender coded which does not translate well; high vocal range and pitches plus aggressive intonation can feel aggravating or seem nasal to Latin/Germanic based listeners; use of polite particles can sound like a verbal tic
Seems weird until you get used to it: blatant product placement; child autonomy; codified sibling framework for friendships; Thai studio system and “ownership” of certain actors or actor pairs; creepy level of IRL shipping from fans; propensity to “exoticize” beauty standards; character and actor names
Subs & captions: decent and at release if they originate in a larger production studio; otherwise can be quite poor; very few fan subbers
First noted queer film? Love fo Siam 2007
First popular BL? Love Sick 2014.
First internationally popular BL? SOTUS 2016
Full history + Top 10 BLs from Thailand
Classic examples: for university SOTUS 2016 or high school Love Sick 2014
Best current offerings: A Tale of Thousand Stars, Lovely Writer
Thai BL is my original hyper fixation, here’s a master post on the subject.
Typical Format: Short episodes of 15-20 min in shorter series of 6-8 total
Triggers: will kill the gays; physical violence (bordering on abuse) played for laughs
Comedy stylings: overacted facial expressions; cartoon sound effects
Queer rep: little to none
Female rep: poor; usually a faen fatal, often predatory or homophobic; some bffs
Quality issues: stiff acting; bad subs; limited cast; immature industry; roughness seems to be funding related
Strengths: close, clear, bright cinematography; visual editing; audio quality; pacing; original content; a certain restful simplicity of style
Story style: unsophisticated, often involve conflict easily settled through conversation and/or coming out struggles
Heat level: expect some kissing and more casual physical touch than the more northern East Asian countries but no more than that
Language barrier: limited vocal range, monotones, and lack of inflection can sound flat or somber to Germanic & Latin based listeners (like a dirge)
Seems weird until you get used to it: for me it was mostly the voice, it’s so different tonally from other Southeast Asian languages
Subs & captions: usually originate in studio on release but are of a poor quality
First BL tangential? My Sky 2017
First classic BL? The Ring Goes Missing (microfilm) 2018
no post on the history of BL or top 10, since it’s too new of an industry
Classic example: The Ring Goes Missing I guess?
Best current offering: You are Ma Boy 2020 or My Lascivious Boss 2021
Triggers: used to use kidnapping for love trope; obsessive & stalker behaviors; rough sex; now just censored
Comedy stylings: modest slapstick; some exaggerated facial expressions; cultural inside jokes
Female rep: decent, actually
Quality issues: some in the past, none now
Strengths: now? Historic setting, lots of money, high production values, and very very very very pretty but *DECLARES LOUDLY IN CASE CHINA IS LISTENING* not gay, not gay at all
Heat level: high heat until 2016, now nothing, if you’re lucky there a hand to the waist, piggyback ride, slight hug, and maybe they cook together
Language barrier: it’s Mandarin Chinese, in the historic fantasy dramas there’s a lot of names, A LOT OF NAMES and one character may go by approximately 1-8 different ones
Seems weird until you get used to it: miss dubbing because they were told to loop a different line in, how obviously gay it is while being totally not gay
Subs & captions: usually very good
First BL tangential? From Here to There 2012
First obviously BL? Like Love 2014
Last actual BL? Addicted Heroin 2016
Anything airing after 2016 (c. half of China’s BLs) = highly censored, sometimes into incomprehension (e.g. Advance Bravely)
Full history + Top 10 BLs from China
Classic example: Addicted Heroin 2016 (AKA the last Chinese BL)
Best current offering: Word of Honor 2021
There seems to be some levels of stylistic similarities that indicate exchange and influence, multi-directional but basically in the order I presented above:
Japan - Korea - China - Taiwan - Thailand - Philippines - Vietnam
I believe that this ties to the age of the respective industries as well as cultural taste, linguistics, and historic geo-political relationships.
For example, Korea and Taiwan both have a propensity to use voice over narration (Japan used to do this a lot more than they do now). Japan has the most established film industry, and is the origin of yaoi manga - which has had the most significant influence on story structure in all BL. But Thailand has the longest running tradition of successful BL shows and definitely the largest oeuvre. Thus they are creating new traditions (influencing Pinoy BL in particular) and should not be discounted as arbiters of international taste.
Distribution also has significant impact on industry development and reach.
Japan and Korea have established network connections, plus high IP profit protection legislation, from a mature film and music industry (respectively) which means they are using standard in-country distribution channels (like Netflix) which is good for profit but throttles broad reach. While Thailand is just starting to get their distribution in order, their biggest BL production house GMMTV has gone all in on YouTube, gunning for sub fees, ads, and eyeballs as a revenue generator. This seems to be working for them and has given them the largest number of international views and fans and the biggest market share in BL. It could be argued that BL is a soft power for the Thai entertainment industry.
What does that mean? It means NEW fans tend to enter BL through Thai shows and series, which (again) significantly impacts trends, taste, and popularity.
BL wave data: which countries are experiencing growth?
Chef de Smooching - Recipes for BL
Planning the perfect BL using a game of Frankenstein by country.
