Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether I’m at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I’m feeling.

This week I recapped episodes 9-10 of Japanese anime A Sign of Affection, in which Yuki spends the night with Itsuomi but it’s still rated PG. I also recapped episodes 11-12 of Thai vampire BL 1000 Years Old, taking it to the unexpected gothic vampire ending. I’ll also do a final review of the entire series below.

First, Thailand keeps putting out school BLs and I keep watching them despite myself. But how can I not when they can be so cute? I mean, look at them:

Only Boo! – แค่ที่แกง – 2024

Currently airing Thai fluffy High School BL, I’m at 5 out of 12 episodes.

The most adorable wanna-be idol to ever live gets sent away to behave at a new school by his mom and attaches himself to the most responsible young man ever. Good choice Moo.

Here’s a link to the trailer.

If you want fluff without a hard edge in sight give this a shot. It’s not amazingly original, it’s a mix of My School President’s light-hearted comedy + singing with the obedient puppy/slightly older-wiser-task-master combo of Love in the Air’s first couple. So an interesting mix.

We’ve got our lead Moo.

Moo is a poor student and wants to be an idol. His mom is in that industry and doesn’t want Moo to be an idol. She sends him away to school to focus on his studies. Moo is not great at taking care of himself in practical ways but he is good at spotting the most responsible available young man in his age range to take care of him.

This poor guy is Kang.

Kang is a hard-working young man with a lot of guilt and a little bit of a sad past. Moo shows up at Kang’s mom’s restaurant to get a toothbrush and somehow Moo always gets what Moo wants. Kang is full of worries and takes things too seriously so it’s really for the best that he finds his world sent askew by Moo. Rescuing Moo gets his mind off his worries.

Despite their polar opposite personalities, they have a nicely appreciative dynamic. Kang may be a stern grump, but he shows enough affection and interest in Moo that it doesn’t feel like Moo romancing a brick wall. Moo is irrepressibly going to do what Moo wants, but he listens to Kang’s advice enough that you don’t feel like Kang’s efforts are wasted. Even this early in the show they are good for each other.

The actors are adorable with good chemistry. The dancing and the music are fun. There’s some plot revolving around the idol thing but if this show does things right it’ll never dip into angst. Please do things right show.

I’m looking forward to seeing Moo chip away at Kang’s worries while Kang keeps Moo out of trouble.

And now for my final thoughts on a show I finished recapping this week:

1000 Years Old – อายุมั่นขวัญยืน – 2024

A recently aired paranormal Thai BL with 12 episodes. 

A young man interested in aliens happens across a vampire and a weird romance ensues. 

Here’s a link to the trailer.

Here’s a link to my initial thoughts.

It’s always hard when I enthusiastically love a weird little unloved show only to have it take a turn towards the end. The disappointment is stronger when I have expectations compared to when it’s something like, well, Pit Babe.

So let’s start with the positive.

I love the tone. I think this show polarized viewers because it’s not a vampire romance (mostly, more on that later). It’s a satire of vampire romance, with a weird underpowered Thai vampire who can handle garlic, temples, and the sun. His love interest is interested in aliens and doesn’t believe vampires exist. A considerable amount of the show is spent with no one believing that the vampire is a vampire. 

So instead of the usual dark, vampire tropes with angst, secret lairs, and dark secrets we have this bright bunch of quirky silliness. Instead of cobwebs and tragedy, we get a pork-blood soup restaurant.

I love the production style of this show. The colors are bright and vivid and the framing of shots is more artistic than most of what we see in shot-for-expediency-sake Thai BL. The framing was often a visual joke, setting up grand images for a show that was not grand.

I love the characters. Our vampire has lived a long time, and instead of making him dark and tragic, it has made him weird and obsessed with pork blood soup. Our college student is bewildered to find his interests turning from aliens to vampires.

There’s not much in the way of plot but that never bothers me. One of my favorite moments is when our couple go on a date and the vampire pretends to be a cat. It’s absurd and random. I love that.

So where did it go wrong for me?

It went wrong when the last few episodes went from being a satire on vampire romance tropes to being vampire romance tropes. It never entirely lost its quirkiness, but it lost some color under the weight of typical gothic vampire darkness.

I always wonder with stuff like this what caused the sudden tonal shift. This is the second work I’ve seen from this writer/director, who also did I Will Knock You. Based on these two I feel he has great weird ideas but needs help figuring out how to turn them into stronger stories. But who knows, it could always be that someone higher up demanded certain tropes be obeyed and this is what we got.

Ultimately, I want to keep seeing this writer/director make weird shows, but I’m not sure how to recommend this one. I think if you like quirk, if you like silliness, if you like brightly colored umbrellas, if you liked I Will Knock You, it’s worth giving a try.

And you can always read my recaps and decide if it’s worth it to watch too.