Art & Lifestyle 9 Feb 2023

The Best Boy Love Dramas To Watch

Whether you want a good laugh or a good cry, there's a BL drama for you

by Kaitlyn Lai

KinnPorsche: The Series La Forte (2022)

Mile and Apo? More like Kinn and Porsche. KinnPorsche: The Series La Forte is a 2022 Thai romantic thriller series based on a web novel of the same name. The series follows Porsche, a young man who is desperate to earn money to take care of his younger brother as finds himself tangled in the mafia world after meeting Kinn, the second son of a prominent mafia head. As they navigate the harrowing underworld together, they find themselves falling for each other — but love always comes with a price.

2gether: The Series (2020)

Starring Thai heartthrobs Win and Bright ( Metawin “Win” Opas-iamkajorn and Vachirawit “Bright” Chiva-aree), 2gether: The Series sent the internet into a frenzy after its release in 2020 and remains one of the most popular BL dramas of our time. An adaptation of Thai author JittiRain’s 2019 novel of the same name, the series follows two college students who slowly fall for each other after agreeing to be in a fake romantic relationship in hopes of deterring one of their male admirers. A tale as old as time — but you know what they say, old is gold.

Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

Buckle up for an emotional roller-coaster ride. Your Name Engraved Herein transports us back to 1980s Taiwan, tracing the story of two male students who fall in love in an era of political unrest where same-sex relationships were taboo. Narrated retrospectively, the film encapsulates the emotional turmoil – exhilaration, confusion, and pain – that comes with every first love.

Eternal Yesterday (2022)

Mitsuru Oumi (Sora Inoue) is always alone. Quiet and reserved, he has no friends at school and often goes home to an empty house. The cheery Koichi Yamada (Rio Komiya), on the other hand, is a popular figure in class and grew up in a loving family. The two classmates become unlikely friends, and just as Mitsuru starts to find hope in his life with Koichi, a tragic accident changes their lives forever — one that marks the beginning of a haunting tale about young love and grief.

Happy Together (1997)

“It turns out all lonely people are the same.” This is one of Tony Leung’s most iconic quotes on screen, spoken in renowned film director Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together. Regarded as one of the most prominent films in the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s, Happy Together stars Leung and Leslie Cheung as a pair of Hong Kong lovers in a tumultuous relationship who become stranded in Argentina together after a wayward trip across the globe. For his highly lauded performance in the film, Leung received the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, while Wong won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.

A Tale Of Thousand Stars (2021)

What would you do if you had a second chance at life? Tian (Sahaphap Wongratch) is a young man who lives frivolously off his family’s money. After collapsing from a heart defect while partying with his friends, he was saved by a heart transplant from Torfun (Sarunchana Apisamaimongkol), a volunteer teacher at Pha Pun Dao village, who was killed on the same night in a hit-and-run. When Tian learns about Torfun’s humanitarian work through her diary, he reflects on his shallow life and moves to Pha Pun Dao village, where he meets Chief Forest Officer Phupha (Pirapat Watthanasetsiri), who Torfun used to love, and who Tian’s new heart grows fond of.

To My Star (2021, 2022)

To My Star opens with a public scandal surrounding Korean celebrity Kang Seo Joon (Son Woo-hyeon), who goes into hiding in his agent’s apartment rental. There, he meets his new roommate, a young chef named Ji Woo. Modest and reserved, Ji Woo (Kim Kang-min) is the complete opposite of the free-spirited Seo Joo. And as their romance blossoms, these two men from different walks of life must learn to navigate their differences…or go their separate ways. (Angst alert!)

Ossan’s Love Hong Kong (2021)

A ViuTV adaptation of the 2018 Japanese television drama of the same name, Ossan’s Love Hong Kong stars local boyband Mirror’s Edan Lui and Anson Lo in a story about an office worker who finds himself caught in a love triangle between his boss and his roommate. Hilarious yet heartwarming, this series is widely recognised as the first mainstream BL drama series produced and televised in Hong Kong.