It’s not just South Korea producing TV shows in Far East—Thai TV industry who first took hold of Southeast Asia made a name for itself all around the world with its snowballing global followers. What’s more interesting is that Thailand succeeded this with a subgenre/subculture assumed to have quite the niche market: Boys’ Love (BL in short) TV series depicting romantic relations between men.
As a devout social media user, I was aware of these BL series. It’s evident that one of the most successful aspects of the Far East entertainment industry is social media where fans get to showcase themselves, too. After finishing the Chinese series Meteor Garden and A Love So Beautiful on Netflix, I wanted to take a look at some Far East series other than Korean ones just to get a general idea, so I started watching the Taiwanese BL series named HIStory2: Crossing the Line upon numerous recommendations. And this was how I got to meet this genre and its shockingly widespread following.
Japan: Point of Origin
Boys’ Love, also known as Yaoi, is a fictional genre originating from Japan and focusing on homoerotic relationships between male characters but its target audience is women. In the 1970’s, a group of women artists from Tokyo published the first yaoi mangas where they told stories about love between young men—followed by animes, TV series, books, games, and even fan art and fan fiction. All these different works constitute the different media of yaoi as a genre.
Yaoi mangas and books already had an extensive readership in Asia way before BL series became popular. It’s believed that this genre reached Thailand in the beginning of the 90’s but they started producing BL series more recently. The media moguls noticed this trend when the 2007 movie Love of Siam about two high school boys fell in love became a surprise box office hit. This then led them to produce BL TV series one after another especially in the 2010s. We’ll get to the prominent examples but, first, I want to talk about the reasons why Thai BL series became this popular.
What Makes Thai BL Series So Enticing?
Let’s start off with going over the general characteristics of these TV series. BL series are usually romantic comedy/drama productions about high school or college-age male characters and mostly without kissing or sex scenes. And the target audience is, counterintuitively, not the LGBTQ community mostly but young women. There are many recent TV series and movies about (unfortunately quite cliché and caricatural) queer people in the Western media, too. What makes the Thai series stand out among their Western equivalents is, however, that they have a rather positive outlook. The West still continues to tell tragic stories about queer people, emphasizing the struggle for gay rights and freedoms, which mostly turn out to be dismal and gloomy. And, yes, BL series also discusses homophobia or how hard coming out can be but the focus point is always romance and LOVE: if two people truly love each other their gender doesn’t matter, they can overcome any obstacle, and, most importantly, couples can be happy together…
It could be argued that the fact that the stars of BL series with a cast comprised mostly of men are quite handsome and attractive is one of the main reasons why they appeal so much to the female audience—and it wouldn’t completely be untrue. Max Nattapol and Tul Pakorn from 2017’s Together with Me, for example, are good-looking and muscular men who could easily attract anybody’s attention. Aside from these exceptional cases, however, the vast majority of the BL series actors look like they are regular skinny high schoolers with braces who just came out of puberty—because they actually are. The auditions are open to everyone and those selected usually don’t have any acting experience. What makes these series this much enticing is the characters they portray. Thai BL series depend both on the storyline and the characters: if the couple in the series has a good chemistry and if the actors can reflect this well, that series become the most successful.
Finding the Missing Romance in Thai Series
While the situation keeps improving, most Thai series have limited budgets—and you can tell. They don’t shoot at many locations; the focus is mostly on the dialogues and the storyline; and most of the time the characters aren’t even seen in any other costumes than their school uniforms. Together with inexperienced actors, the productions feel a bit amateurish but, at the same time, enthusiastic. I think this is one of the main reasons why people love Thai BL series this much: sincerity.
If you asked the BL viewers why they like the genre this much, you would mostly get the same answers: “They are great at portraying romance,” “The characters are super realistic,” “The series just makes me happy,” “The cast are really likable,” “They make me feel all gooey inside, I can’t stop looking at the screen like the emoji with heart eyes,” and so on. Nobody watches these series for epic battle scenes, extraordinary conspiracy theories, or gigantic sets—the only expectation is to watch a good story with earnest actors.
As I have mentioned already, the main couples constitute the key element of these series. 2016’s Kiss: the Series was about a young college student who woke up to find herself in the same bed with her closest guy friend (a little spoiler). The supporting couple Kao and Pete, portrayed by the New Thitipoom and Tay Tawan, became such a hit that they had their own prequel Kiss Me Again in 2018. Moreover, we saw them again in December 2018 in the spin-off series named Our Skyy. (Our Skyy is a 5-episode project of Thai TV channel GMMTV and Line TV bring together their most beloved 5 couples.) And it looks like the fans still can’t get enough of Tay and New, who also regularly spend time together in “real life,” because GMMTV recently announced another sequel focusing on Pete and Kao for 2019: Dark Blue Kiss.
By the Power of Social Media
The example we just mentioned could also be interpreted as how much attention the producers pay to the fans’ demands. This direct communication between the fans and the actors is another factor reinforcing that amateur spirit. Thai entertainment industry is very good at utilizing social media. Each actor has an Instagram and a Twitter account and they frequently post about their lives. They are actually friends so they interact with each other on social media and go on live on different platforms to share their lives and answer questions from fans. This also helps the fans to feel closer to these celebrities.
Fan service is another inseparable aspect of the Thai BL industry. The couples on the screen continue to hang out in “real life,” too, and share it with their fans on social media. The episode count of the Thai TV series aren’t that high—approximately 16 episodes—and they don’t usually run more than two seasons. But the channels have many other programs to fill out the empty slots: YouTube content, reality shows, variety shows, and fan meetings which can only be likened to panels at Western conventions such as ComicCons. And when we said the Thai BL series are sweeping across Southeast Asia at the title, we weren’t exaggerating. These fan meetings where the actors attend panels with an audience, act out scenes from the series, or just spend time with their co-stars don’t only take place in Thailand. They are also held in other countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Myanmar, and Singapore and the tickets priced as high as $135 sell out in minutes.
Another reason why Thai TV series have an international following is that they are streamed on platforms such as YouTube and LINE TV for free and legally. The series are first aired only in Thai but soon they are subtitled in English (either by the channel itself or by translators). Later, many volunteering local translators share the subtitles in other languages. The first episode of Love by Chance, one of the ambitious series of 2018, has subtitles in a total of 22 languages including Danish, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. Even just this example is enough to see how passionate the fans are about these series.
The fact that the trailer for Theory of Love, one of the most anticipated BL series of 2019 starring another popular duo, Off Jumpol and Gun Atthaphan reached 1.5 million views in a week is another proof of the power of the BL viewership on social media. (As a reference: The trailer for the third season of Netflix TV series Daredevil reached only to 4 million in a month.)
The Future of Thai BL Series
At the See What’s Next – Asia conference held in Singapore during the first week of November 2018, Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix, announced 17 new Asian original productions and added: “Asia is a unique home for creative workers in the world in producing wonderful and interesting series and films. More than half of Asian content hours viewed on Netflix this year are viewed outside the region, so we have confidence that our upcoming slate of Asian productions will find fans in their home countries and abroad.” Next year Netflix will accordingly broadcast two original Thai series: Shimmers and The Stranded. While it’s still unclear whether these productions will have BL couples or storylines, the fact that the platform has signed an agreement with GMM Grammy (GMMTV) is promising.
As the attention paid to Thai BL series increased, the productions grew larger and the filming quality improved, too. It seems that the channels will do their best to keep the fans happy as long as the demand persists in an industry with such an ample profit margin. Besides, this great demand and acclaim encourage the producers to gravitate towards even bolder works. 3 Will Be Free, one of the 2019 series that I am most looking forward to, is a crime drama about a murder featuring two men and a woman in a bisexual poliamory. This sounds like quite the original and bold storyline, don’t you think?
3 Thai BL Series Recommendations for Beginners
Sotus and Sotus S
SOTUS is the system where the new college students are subjected to various trainings by the senior students in order to help them get fully familiarized to the college life. Arthit, a junior industrial engineering student, is the president of the student union that year and gets really tough with the newbies. And Kongpob, who has recently started college and attends the regular SOTUS meetings, doesn’t hesitate to go against Arthit about the faults in this system. Arthit is actually very softhearted but just keeping a tough appearance. The relationship between Kongpob and him starts with hostility but later evolves into friendship and even deeper as time goes on. Sotus and the second season Sotus S, starring Singto Prachaya as Kongpob and Krist Perawat as Arthit is one of the most popular Thai BL series with a great storyline and performances. Arthit and Kongpob’s story will continue in their Our Skyy episode. We should add that Krist and Singto, a couple of the best actors in the industry, still hold meetings for Sotus fans.
Love Sick The Series and Love Sick The Series Season 2
High schooler Phun already has a girlfriend but his father wants him to marry the daughter of a family friend. Phun’s sister Pang is a big BL fan and comes up with an impossible plan for him: If he can convince his sister that he has a boyfriend, she can then help him dissuade their father from marrying him off with another girl. So Phun asks his school friend Noh’s help—more like, offers an agreement, really. Noh is in a jam with the budget of the music club where he is the president. After Phun promises to assist him, Noh agrees to act like Phun’s boyfriend. While it’s all pretend in the beginning, in time their relationship becomes a reality. With White Nawat (Phun) and Captain Chonlathorn (Noh) playing the leads, Love Sick is a BL series making fun of the BL tropes. Phun and Noh’s relationship feels like a sincere and flirty friendship, not flowery and dramatic. They tease and pick on each other a lot—as one does when in high school. Love Sick, which premiered in 2014, has one of the most solid storylines in the BL genre.
Love by Chance
Pete (Saint Suppapong) is a rich, handsome, but extremely timid college student. Bullied for being gay, Pete becomes even shyer and meeker the more he tries to hide his sexuality. One day, he meets another college student named Ae (Perth Tanapon) when the latter crashes into him with his bike. Ae, being kind and caring, decides to protect Pete from all hardship. He soon discovers that his affinity for Pete is actually beyond friendship. This series, especially due to its director’s cut version streamed on LINE TV with controversial sex scenes way more prominent than the viewers are used to in any BL series, become one of the most hotly debated productions of 2018. The series, focusing on four different couples, is an adaption of a BL novel. It had actually been planned to be aired on the channel MCOT at first, but then got delayed after the channel changed their strategy (the series was found to be too raunchy) and they had to seek another platform. Love by Chance, directed by New Siwaj, is one of the most successful series of the BL genre in terms of acting and production.
