gay office romance, boss/employee, queer authenticity, external pressures

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment and queer life than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt, so don't know if the workplace is still like how they depicted it). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me but I still really enjoyed this one.

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Viki lists this as HIStory 2: Ep. 1-4

This installment is under appreciated in my opinion. It's a teacher/student power dynamic, tsundere/sunshine pairing, plus cohabitation with themes of self acceptance and family domesticity. It's a slow burn but high heat (and that heat is good). The uke is out gay, the seme is unapologetically bi, and it's the first time Taiwanese BL flexed its marriage equality muscles.

Triggers includes some verbal and physical gay bashing (not from the seme) and child abandonment/neglect (yes from the seme). The second half it a lot better than the first.

There really is no other BL like this one. RECOMMENDED

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AKA HIStory 3 The BL That Shall Not Be Named

The nerdiest tsundere nerd struggling orphan meets the premier himbo slack-wit jock of everyone's dreams who accidentally bullies him and then goes into a spiral of regret that turns into obsession and then deep pining love and adoration. Another one of those high school setting (but I make no case for it). This is remarkably soft with a sunshine/tsundere pairing. It's also high heat and very sexy.

Why 2/10? Ready? They kill the uke character. Then we get a whole final episode of our adorable himbo basically suffering and alone for the rest of his life. Because why not dwell on THAT?

If you decide to watch this I HIGHLY recommend stoping just before the end of Viki's ep 9, after they have moved in with each other and are cooking together. Just stop the show right there and don't watch anymore, pretend ep 10 doesn't exist. TRUST ME.

The side dishes are both out gay: an obsessive younger seme and a much older uke (we are talking May/December here, I think its 17 & 29) who the seme aggressively chases. Their story arc edges into obsessive and the sex is explicit. Also hot. These two get engaged in this series and then married in H4CTY. Also the idol character from H1SAFM shows up as the older uke’s cousin. (Just because, I guess.)

NOT RECOMMENDED if you're a completest and have to watch it all.

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