The year is 2020. You’re stuck at home amidst a global pandemic. You stay online, and all over Twitter, short clips of two gorgeous boys sharing loaded looks, head pats, and flirtatious smiles keep appearing on your timeline. So you give in. You find out the show’s full episodes are available on YouTube. You binge them and can’t get enough, so you wait for the next episode. And the next thing you know, your Friday night-outs have been replaced by watch parties where you join the rest of Twitter as you go crazy over how cute Bright Vachirawit and Win Metawin are 2gether. 

In 2007, the now iconic film Love of Siam, the Rosetta stone of Thai BL, was released. And although its writer and director didn’t particularly identify it as a BL then, the film left a lasting impact on the genre’s iconography, (Yes, I see you, school uniforms and song numbers!) immediately evident in Love Sick (2014), the series that ushered the genre’s rise in Thai TV. 

Boy’s Love, or yaoi in Japan where it originated, is a genre of literature typically created by women for women that depicts homoerotic relationships between men. And now, 15 years since Tong and Mew parted ways that Christmas evening and two since SarawaTine became part of our collective lockdown experience, the genre has gone through a massive growth evident in the variety of its offerings. So just in case you went off board and are looking for another ship to sail, or are just curious about what’s now Thailand’s biggest cultural export, here are some Thai BLs worth checking out.

SOTUS (2016-2017, GMMTV)

Kongphob (Prachaya), an engineering freshman undergoing his college’s initiation rites, challenges the authority of a strict junior named Arthit (Perawat), but their adversarial relationship blossoms into romance. 

Now it’s true that so much about SOTUS would likely receive a crap ton of flak from a very PC twitter if it aired today. Still, there’s a reason why KristSingto is one of the most enduring ships in the business and why SOTUS became the show that turned GMMTV into the BL machine that it is today. Taming the beast is a formula we know too well, and if several reruns of Meteor Garden and the recent success of He’s Into Her prove anything, it’s that people still respond to it. 

SOTUS and its sequel SOTUS S are available on GMMTV’s Official YouTube Channel.

Dark Blue Kiss (2019, GMMTV)

Last July, fans braved a storm to attend the Manila fan meet of Tay Tawan and New Thitipoom (TayNew). Before the show ended, the host gave the mic to actress and queer rights activist, Mela Habijan, who then went on to thank TayNew for portraying a realistic queer relationship in Dark Blue Kiss. And I’d say she’s right.

DBK is the third installment of the Pete (Tawan) and Kao (Thitipoom) love story that functions just as well as a standalone series. But because it’s a sequel, it had the unique opportunity to tackle a relationship’s growing pains. What if one wants to go public and one isn’t ready? How does a gap in economics and privilege inform this relationship’s dynamics? How does a difference in parenting styles impact one’s coming out process?

Its campy opening credits or a kissing scene you most likely have seen on Twitter aside, DBK remains a landmark BL because it’s a showcase of how the genre can be grounded on real queer experiences, especially when real queer people are at its helm.  

Dark Blue Kiss is available to stream on GMMTV’s Official YouTube Channel and has a Tagalized version on iWanTFC.

I Told Sunset About You (2020, Nadao Bangkok, LINE TV)

The plot is simple: they had a falling out years ago and Teh (Billkin) decides to mend their friendship by tutoring Oh-aew (PP Kritt) for the upcoming university entrance exams. Teh excels in Chinese while Oh-aew struggles at it. And as he teaches Oh-aew to translate every Chinese word in their review flashcards, it is Teh who now struggles to understand and express his developing feelings for his friend. 

In ITSAY, language and silence hold equal weight. Learning a new language is integral to the show’s plot but, thanks to its inspired direction, gorgeous photography, and the strong performances of its leads, it’s in moments of silence — moments where words prove insufficient — that the message is not only understood, but felt.

A Tagalog-dubbed I Told Sunset About You and its sequel, I Promised You the Moon are available to stream on POPTV.

A Tale of a Thousand Stars (2021, GMMTV)

After a heart transplant, Tian (Mix Sahaphap), leaves his privileged life to see through his donor’s unfinished businesses and, despite his inexperience, becomes a teacher in a remote village in the mountains. Here he falls for Phupha (Earth Pirapat), the chief forest ranger whom the past owner of his heart was in love with, and must contend with guilt great enough to make him count a thousand stars.

One of ATOTS’ OSTs is called “Eyes Can’t Lie”, and it couldn’t be more apt. Because in a genre notorious for gags and grand gestures, ATOTS stands out for effectively communicating its central romance with almost nothing but lingering looks — a credit to the chemistry of EarthMix, a pair that seem to have mastered quiet but violent longing. And while it can be jarring to see a teacher in the barrio romancing a uniformed man, this exploration of survivor’s guilt and second chances has its heart beating in the right place.

A Tale of a Thousand Stars is available on GMMTV’s YouTube, and has a Tagalog-dubbed version on iWantTFC.

Lovely Writer (2021, Dee Hup House, WeTV)

Nothing says a genre has grown quite like a self-reflexive title and this is how Lovely Writer managed to make it on our list. Here, a reluctant BL writer’s life is upended when he finds himself having to house — and then falling in love with — the leading man of his BL novel’s TV adaptation. And in an industry where the line between the real and reel is deliberately blurred to sell a fantasy, what happens when his real-life romance with his show’s lead starts to upstage what’s fiction? 

LW is far from perfect, sure, but this series takes the cake for at once being an effective BL series and a sharp critique of the genre’s tropes, industry, and the shipping culture that it fosters. 

Lovely Writer is available to stream on WeTV. 

Bad Buddy (2021-2022, GMMTV)

As the genre got more popular, it received more criticism for the gender politics it peddles, the stereotypes it perpetuates, and the tropes it exhausts: enemies to lovers, the girl that causes conflict mid-season, “I don’t like men, I just like you”, insistent heteronormativity, and the list goes on.

Enter Bad Buddy. It’s about two boys raised to be rivals by their feuding parents who must work together in secret to keep their friends from getting into fights with each other. But while they try to deny their friendship, a secret deeper connection, one that’s been there longer than both admit, proves harder to ignore. None of this sounds new or groundbreaking. In fact, save for its Romeo and Juliet beats, it’s a hodge-podge of BL tropes. However, Bad Buddy’s achievement is in how it managed to turn each old trope on its head and subtly address a lot of the genre’s issues, all while boasting the star-making performances of its main pair, OhmNanon, whose verve and charm are equaled by a capacity for emotional depth.   

Bad Buddy is available on GMMTV’s YouTube Channel and has a Tagalog-dubbed version on iWanTFC.

Not Me (2021-2022, GMMTV)

Featuring career-high performances from one of the industry’s most beloved couples and arguably the strongest ensemble of any Thai BL ever, the show is about a would-be diplomat who, after finding his twin in a coma, decides to take his place in a gang to find out who harmed him. Things prove to be not as they seem, however, as he not only finds himself aligning with the gang’s principles but ends up falling in love with a member. 

But while the show was set up to be just a grittier love story, an acting vehicle for OffGun, it is more. With a main plot that involves the war on drugs, enforced disappearances, unjust labor practices, land-grabbing, and so on, Not Me balloons into a sharp anti-establishment piece that effectively serves as a call to action. 

And yes, if you’re just looking for love you may want to look the other way. Love is not the goal here, but a consequence of a greater fight. And that we must join.

Not Me is available on iWanTFC in both the original language and Tagalog.

KinnPorsche (2022, Be On Cloud, IQIYI)

KinnPorsche is the story of a bartender forced to become a mafia boss’ bodyguard after saving him in an encounter. But aside from surviving in an environment where violence and caprice are front and center, he must also reckon with his developing feelings for his boss. 

While it isn’t the first and only BL on a streaming platform, KinnPorsche is surely notable for how it made use of this new-found freedom from the censors. It is right-off-the-bat violent. It is overtly sexual. It features murder, torture, and assault. But since when has the gangster milieu been known for righteousness anyway? 

The biggest case for KinnPorsche is that it situates gay characters at the center of a genre traditionally for cis heterosexual men. Here the gay man is both hero and villain, abuser and victim. And in an age that’s all about equality and representation, it bears asking: Is it really good representation if queer people aren’t depicted as capable of being both? Must queer characters be morally upright for their stories to be worth consuming?

KinnPorsche‘s uncensored version is available to stream on iQiYi.

Got other Thai BL series recommendations? Share them with us in the comments!