Welcome to my Saturday blog post, where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week, I recapped episodes 9-10 of The Prisoner of Beauty. Man Man agrees with Wei Shao that she’s not to be trusted, then does more to make him not trust her.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of Khemjira. Past life stuff continues to cause present-day problems, but we’ve also got a maybe-wanna-be-fiance in this life to add to the conflict.
What did I watch this week? It’s finishing-things-time, so I have a final review of two BLs from two different countries. Let’s start in Taiwan:
Secret Lover – 秘密關係 – 2025
Recently aired Taiwanese childhood-friends-to-lovers BL with 10 episodes.
Now that they’re in college, a young man discovers his quiet, tall, handsome childhood friend wants a whole lot more than just friendship from him.
Have you seen/read Cherry Blossoms After Winter? Or I Cannot Reach You? Or any BL story about childhood friends becoming lovers?
This is that, with extra chemistry and a shower scene
One of our leads has loved the other since forever. The other lead is totally oblivious until it’s revealed. They’re sent into a confusing emotional spiral as they examine their own strong feelings in a way they never have before.
It’s a formula we see over and over again because it works.
And in general, it works here too. Our taller guy pulls off obsessive passion that is just a bit pushy in places, while our shorter guy is adorable and confused and equally obsessed in his way. The height difference is great, as is their physical comfort with one another.
Thankfully, we don’t have My Stubborn levels of sex scenes, but our tall guy does have a Sorn-like desire for his partner.
Don’t watch this because you want to see secret lovers
The title is the show’s misguided attempt to have a plot, and it doesn’t work. Yes, in theory, our shorter guy wants to keep things secret, but he doesn’t do much to keep it secret. At one point, it creates some conflict, but then it’s over.
If that’s what you want to see, you’re going to be disappointed.
I enjoyed this because it was sexy-fluff, which isn’t a super common combination (maybe the last one I saw was Your Sky). There was some conflict, some back-and-forth chasing, but it was resolved quickly, so we could get back to the guys being goofy and sweet together.
Don’t watch this if you’re hoping for anything more.
And I don’t hate the poster, but it confuses me.
Let’s leave these kids behind and talk about more mature romance:
10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 – 40までにしたい10のこと – 2025
Recently aired Japanese Old Man Yaoi BL with 12 episodes.
A man on the verge of 40 realizes there are some things he wants to do, and unexpectedly gets help from a handsome younger subordinate.
Here’s a link to the Episode 1 Highlight.
While I found our leads and their height difference adorable, at twelve episodes, the show was too long. There’s a joke in here about the title length and the list length, but really, it was a problem of adaptation.
Let’s talk about the average, single-volume BL manga
If you’ve never read a Japanese BL manga, then you should, because they are good. If you have, I apologize. I’m going to explain things you already know.
A single volume is around 6 chapters + an extra final chapter with some smutty stuff. Given the restricted length, a well-done manga will get straight to the point, revealing complicated characters, their emotional growth, and their romance in as few pages as possible.
So I’m always worried when a single-volume manga gets an adaptation that is longer than 8 episodes. I think part of the reason Old Fashioned Cupcake is so good is that the number of chapters matches the number of episodes. This made adapting it relatively easy.
While in Japan, this is now a two-volume manga, the drama is based on the first manga, with its 6.5 chapters.
The drama has 12 episodes, so they had no choice but to add stuff not in the original story. So, how do you do that?
Don’t do it how they did it
Rather than add complexity to the already existing conflict, add back story, add motivation, or add insight into our characters’ actions, they dragged things out.
It wasn’t so bad at the beginning of the drama, where they gave the characters more things to do. This got repetitive as our younger lead kept taking our older lead out and helping him do the things he wanted to do, but at least it was sweet. They were together, having a good time.
But in the second half, they stopped giving them things to do, and instead, they were sad and thinking while living their daily lives.
We got an episode where our older lead wasn’t in the office, and our younger lead thought about him a lot while dealing with an unimportant work crisis and an unimportant co-worker’s relationship problems. Our younger lead even fantasized that the older lead was there, in the office, helping everyone.
Then we had an episode without our younger lead, where our older lead just went somewhere else and got depressed about his life.
Also, this is another airing drama that downsized the sexual stuff in a way that felt strange.
None of this made for an enjoyable watch for me.
To be fair to the drama, I think the end is weak in the manga, too
Taking the end conflict of the manga and elongating it to take up something like 4 episodes didn’t improve the situation.
And to be fair to the drama, there are still things I really liked. I really like our older actor, who we saw in Silent. He’s nearly forty and adorable.
I like that we have a character nearly forty, when most BL doesn’t even have main characters in their 30s.
I liked their height difference and their chemistry together.
So while I might have gone too long explaining why this drama didn’t work, it’s still somewhere in the middle tier of dramas for me. I can see myself watching most of the beginning, some of the middle, and skipping a chunk of the ending if I re-watch it.
I’m not going to warn people away from watching it, but you might find your patience getting worn out by the later episodes.
Or you can get the first volume, available in English, and read it instead.
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