Lately I’ve been thinking about my mental delineation between BL (genre) and BL (industry) shows, spurred by Spare Me Your Mercy which feels difficult to categorize as BL (genre). It turns out I’m a strict textualist in that I think of BL (genre) in the very old-fashioned traditional way of “this is a romance genre, generally youth-focused” whereas yaoi applies to all. Love in the Big City is not a BL (genre) but it is yaoi to me. For example.
I do keep going back to LITBC because it’s obviously one of people’s favorites of the year but something against me rebels against it being labeled a BL both because it is not, in my opinion, a romance (BL [genre]) nor was it made by people who are in the Bl industry or who set out to make a BL. I’m making assumptions on that second part, obviously, but I don’t feel like it was made with that thought. I think if you wouldn’t call the original novel BL, you maybe shouldn’t apply it to the adaptation.
And it really is just semantics, but the difference to me matters largely because people will compare a show like, idk, Cherry Magic to LITBC and to me it’s comparing apples and oranges, even more so than it would be to compare Cherry Magic and Kinnporche. Expecting them to deliver the same kind of story does a disservice to both.
To be clear, I’m not saying that I’m right here and I do understand why people list it as a BL. This is just how I think about it.
Currently Watching (on air)
Fourever You: Something of a quieter transitional episode this week. It’s interesting to me that there’s a b couple for the JoNorth storyline, while Hill and Ter are just their own thing. It seems like we’ll be getting the HillTer resolution next week and moving fully into the JoNorth section of the show. I’ve said it before, but combining two novels into one show by having one story dominate the first half before slowly weaving in the second story is an interesting technique. I’m not entirely sure if it works 100%, but it is a nice compromise between having both stories at once (Why R U?) or sequentially (Love in the Air).
Perfect 10 Liners: The ArcArm story has more or less wrapped up and I have to say I don’t think it was a particularly strong story. Part of it has to be that the subs in this last episode were bad, so a lot of the conversations sounded like they were written by AI or something. But in general I think the central conflict of just “Arm doesn’t think Arc is being serious about him” is incredibly boring and frustrating and doesn’t work when dragged out over eight episodes.
I think we needed more of Arc being genuinely unsure about his feelings and maybe to actually see more of his failed relationship. The MarcPoon storyline is also very anemic despite how cute they are. We just don’t actually know that much about these characters!
All that being said…the scene this episode where Arc loses the jacket that Arm gave him and completely loses his mind really got me. I know that exact feeling of losing something that is important because it was a gift from someone you care about, and Book did a really good job of portraying it. And it was such a good scene because it’s an externalized moment of realization for Arm.
Caged Again: Arm of PorschArm was just queening out this whole episode and I loved him for it. This show is truly camp at its finest, because it doesn’t take its premise too seriously, but it does take its characters and their emotions seriously, so it works.
Your Sky: What I like about this show is that it requires absolutely zero brain power from me to watch and enjoy. It’s got kind of a slow pace, and it’s a very uncomplicated story, but it’s made well and everyone is beautiful. Thomas is by far the strongest actor of the bunch, and he’s fun to watch as his character’s ice prince facade slowly melts away.
The Heart Killers: If I’m honest, I have very little idea of what this show is going to bring me each week. The little subplot with Babe and his school was such a good way to get Bison and Kant to bond more and have Kant see more of what Bison is capable of. Fadel and Style are, of course, such an interesting dynamic especially now that Fadel has given in (to what degree? we’ll see) and Style knows the truth about Fadel. This show is stressful!! Jojo, you said this was a comedy!!
Spare Me Your Mercy: Speaking of stressful shows, this has me on the edge of my seat every episode. I’m having such a good time with this—I love thrillers, and I think this is a really well-written one with so many moving pieces. The back and forth tension of the relationship between Kan and Tew is so good—I love that every time it seems like they’re about to get to move forward, something happens to push Tew back into thinking Kan is a serial killer. It’s ideal!
ThamePo: Now, I thought this show looked good both from the teaser and the trailer, and I know they worked on this script for a long time and waited for the right cast, so I had higher expectations than usual. And they were met! It’s a Parbdee show, so it looks great, but so far the stakes and motivations for the characters are really clearly laid out as well. The biggest surprise was just how good William is; from the trailer I could tell he was going to turn in a strong rookie performance, but watching this episode I kept thinking, damn. He is able to put more subtlety and nuance into his acting than a lot of more experienced actors! They lucked out so hard with him.
Currently Watching (completed)
Manner of Death: We corrected our viewing with episode 4, and moved on from there into the second half of the series, which is where the action really starts amping up. I forgot how much of the first half was a slow burn; I think if Sammon made it now, she might condense those episodes down a bit more to make the pacing tighter.
My Love Mix Up! (Thailand): The haters of this show are right that there is a lot of spon, but for the most part I think it is integrated into the action. I don’t know, I can see why this show wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for me it’s just such a pleasant viewing experience with sweet performances and genuine pathos. The sheer amount of hate directed at it feels wildly outsized!
Other BL News
There are official air dates for GMMTV’s My Golden Blood and Ossan’s Love. No trailer yet for MGB, but I’ll admit learning that Joss Wayar has some truly Bad politics has put me off a bit. I don’t particularly like vampire media anyway, but I also have completionist urges and so might end up watching this on 2x or something. Ossan’s, meanwhile, looks to be very slapstick/cringe comedy which might go poorly for me. But I will do anything for Earthmix.
Idol Factory will be releasing their trailers soon; the one I’m most looking forward to seeing is the new BillyBabe show because historical romance plus ghosts!
MeMindY has released the trailer for Boy Next World, which looks more bonkers than I could have imagined once it hits the second half. Most of the parallel world shows I’ve seen have been…let’s say poorly thought out when it comes to dealing with that sci-fi element, so I’m a little worried for what this will be like. But Boss and Noeul both look beautiful and I’m excited to have them back on my screen again soon.
urs,
hk