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6 ways to carry your jimin, by bts

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HOPE WORLD - THE TOUR

Only a few months ago, I had watched dramas, I had read Yaoi mangas, I had watched Call Me By Your Name, but I was yet to discover the wonderful world of Asian BL (boys love) dramas. This is not the case anymore. I can now say - or rather admit - that I have fallen, and fallen hard into a BL drama rabbit hole, of which I have yet to find my way out. 

So now that I have watched a few, I thought I would do a temporary list of suggestions, partly to try and convince more people to join me on this wonderful side of things, and partly to gather my own thoughts on the matter. 

Before we start I just want to specify that this list is based on my viewing of the following BL dramas - in no particular order: 

Thai: I Told Sunset About You; Until We Meet Again; SOTUS and its sequel SOTUS S; TharnType, its special episode and its sequel TharnType 2: 7 years of love; Why R U; 2gether and its sequel Still 2gether; Together With Me.

Taiwanese: HIStory 2: Right or Wrong; HIStory 2: Crossing the Line; HIStory 3: Trapped; We Best Love (Season 1); Red Balloon.

Korean: Long Time No See; Where Your Eyes Linger; Mister Heart; Wish You; To my Star; Color Rush.

Japanese: Life - Senjou No Bokura; The Pornographer; 30-sai Made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru Rashii (aka Cherry Magic).

(Yes, I have indeed been busy.)

(Yes, I intend to update this list and my suggestions.)

(PS: I’ll try to keep this spoiler-free.)

If you are in the mood for something sweet and cozy

Life Senjou No Bokura: I haven’t watched many Japanese BL dramas, but this was the softest journey to go on. It is short and just the right amount of quirky. I thought this dilemma between the irrational need to make your parents happy and obey their every word, and the need to live your own life and do it for yourself was so well done. I could really identify with the struggle.

Wish You: Korean BL dramas are still all way too short, but I find that there has been progress in writing and pacing this past year(s). This drama is for the indie-music lover in you, for the lover of blue skies and warmly-lit rooms, the ones who love looking at the city lights at night.

If you are in the mood for university and finding yourself

TharnType + Special Episode: This might be controversial because there are so many problematic moments in TharnType. But this is the first BL drama I watched and I don’t think any has had such a big impact on me. There is nothing like it. Both characters are so complex. Tharn is soft and self-assured and sensitive and smart and chill and intense and direct and jealous and angry and compassionate and understanding and can stand up for himself but doesn’t always do so. Type is aggressive and strong and loving and slow and determined and apologetic and hot-headed and sensitive and a man of his word. And Type’s journey to self-acceptance is intense and frustrating and horrifying at times and lovely to see. And some moments outrage me and the last couple of episodes take the drama to a whole new level and still I love this series. So much. Can you tell?

If you are in the mood for angst

I told sunset about you: I don’t know if I should tell you to wait for Season 2 to be released (in May-June 2021 I believe), which is probably what I wish I had done, perhaps because I am less of a fan of angst. But I cannot deny the utter devastation and pure beauty of this drama. There truly is nothing like it. Watch it now, or later, but watch it.

If you are in the mood to be surprised

History: Trapped: I honestly read the synopsis of this drama and was like - what?! And I left it aside for a while. I watched other Taiwanese dramas first. I don’t know. This story of cops and gangsters didn’t really appeal to me on paper. And then I watched it. And I absolutely loved it. It is now one of my absolute favorites. The characters are endearing and the actors make the whole series, somewhere between comedy and thriller and action, work. They got me to believe in the whole of it - the pain and the love and the hope. I also love that homophobia and internalized homophobia are non-issues in this world.

So there you go. Starting out with this post, I didn’t even know which drama I was going to talk about, but these choices make sense to me. It doesn’t mean I necessarily hated or was disappointed with all the others. It just means these made a particularly lasting impression on me.