BL Drama

The BL Domination of the Summer of 2026

/ Lady Divine / Leave a comment

Though I have watched a few new kdramas and cdramas this summer and even really loved some of them, I’d say that most of my time was spent enjoying the bountiful harvest of gay love stories airing in the summer of 2026.

BL lovers have been treated to some new gold standard dramas – which are highly recommended and listed first. I’ll probably write longer reviews of the dramas listed as Top Tier but I haven’t posted for a while and thought I’d drop some summaries and ratings first. Then there are the good BL dramas, that under normal conditions would be exceptional but due to the competition ended up being paler in comparison. I’ve listed those after the top tier dramas.

Both lists are alphabetical by title.

TOP TIER BL DRAMAS NOT TO BE MISSED

BITTERSWEET LOVE

Bittersweet Love (Chinese) – Do you like Edith Wharton books? E.M. Forster? Do you like stories that explore how class structures determine nearly every aspect of people’s lives and relationships? Cause Bittersweet Love is the story about how a poor boy was swept into the lives of a rich family, basically purchased to cover up a scandal and subsequently treated like a commodity that was only kept around to prevent further scandal. From the first night it’s clear that the young master of the house would like to use our country mouse for personal reasons as well, and that the attraction between them may be mutual but it will never be equal in any other way. Their love affair is tightly wrapped in the layers of the world they both inhabit and their individual roles in it. It’s currently still airing and I am eating up every second of this historical masterpiece. Rating: 9/10 (might go up to 10/10, we shall see how it ends).

BLUE LIPS

Blue Lips (Chinese) – For me personally this is a top tier drama, though I understand it’s a bit niche. I have also read the extremely horny novel this is based on… and few other books have taken a single night through multiple detailed chapters like this smutty masterpiece. Reading about how to make men squirt was not on my bingo card, but I do feel somewhat enlightened for knowing, so… there’s that.

Anyways, this show is about a brooding night club singer and the seemingly carefree owner of a sex shop who likes to obnoxiously flirt with him by requesting he sing cheesy ballads and oldies hits all the time. They are totally different in almost every way with a ten year age gap but have an inescapable attraction to each other. These two lonely people keep lingering around each others periphery until one fateful night brings them intimately together. The afore mentioned long, long night – which is censored like crazy in the drama and still manages to be shockingly explicit. Both men are hiding secrets they are hesitant to reveal as they navigate their first gay relationship, slowly falling in love. Rating: 9/10.

DEEP IN

Deep In (Chinese) – True cinema… which I did not expect from the first few episodes and then BAM, elevated itself to this incredible nuanced viewing experience! This drama is an exploration of the personal relationships of two young actors getting comfortable enough with each other to play believable love interests in a gay noir film. Their instant chemistry got them their roles, but their feelings for each other become complicated as they rehearse together, getting into the mindsets of their characters and growing close enough to act out intimate scenes without hesitation.

As we are exploring their emotions in the reality of the set, we (as the viewing audience) are also treated to the unfolding of the movie they are filming. It’s two series in one drama.

gifs by @bluesandfilms

It’s so good! Honestly, both plot lines are incredibly engaging and the overlapping aspects of their emotional and sexual journeys are fascinating to ponder as each episode takes you deeper in (pun intended but also true). Rating: 10/10.

DOUBLE HELIX

Double Helix (Chinese) – if you read BL novels, you know that this drama is basically what half of the famous Chinese BL novels are like. Pure dog blood, aka excessively overdramatic and melodramatic insanity. This story starts in the 1990s, a strange time when the world appeared to be rapidly modernizing yet still holding on to a lot of rigid social norms of the past – such as intense homophobia. I think if you were alive in the late 20th century, you will have a different experience with this drama, as the behaviors make perfect sense if you understand what reality was like in that era for gay people. The extreme pushback from family, friends, and strangers as well as the intense internalized homophobia all that pushback was bound to instill made everything messy. Parents who cut you off entirely or parents who doggedly pushed you towards heterosexual relationships in spite of seeing your misery were pretty standard. As a result many gay people suffered just like these two boys. Mental health issues abounded. Whether blowing up and dragging everyone around you through the wreckage or shutting down and running away entirely to disassociate through a few years of life until someone or something snaps you back out of it – the behaviors of both boys, though outlandish, also seemed normal to me. Even your gay friends and family can’t always be counted on to be emotional supports – they’re going through it just like you, after all. (I mean, we still have a long way to go with LGBT rights but let’s not downplay the progress we have made)

Anyways, if you want to enjoy a truly messy and twisted love story of two young lovers who went through hell and then created their own hell to be together… this show is not to be missed. Special shout out to Ayden Sng who deserves the Best Actor award for his performance as the unstable but unshakeable Lu Feng. Rating: 9/10.

THE EDGE OF HORIZON

The Edge of Horizon (Thai) – This drama has a great plot taking place at a pivotal time in Thailand’s history. It starts with a young royal and his servant falling hopelessly in love and follows their relationship through the turning of an era and the political changes of the 1930s. Though the plot is interesting, the success of this show is 99 percent owed to the undeniable chemistry between the two leads. Few actors can make you truly believe they have fallen insanely in love – but these guys stare at each other as if they are the only two people on earth. Our prince in particular… there are literal stars in his eyes when he looks at his man. Honestly, they are so believably in love in this show that it gives you butterflies. Rating: 8/10

JOURNEY WITH YOU

Journey with You (Chinese) – I will probably watch every Chinese historical gay drama they make. This story follows a prince who is betrayed by his best friend and dies only to wake up 3 years in the past of his own life. Our handsome prince is determined to reverse his fate and discover the truths behind the events that claimed his life. His second chance at life also gives him a second chance to make his feelings known to his best friend. It’s all very intense and dramatic and I ate it up. There were some deliciously wicked antagonists as well. If you like danmei or pretty boys in long wigs and robes, then you are sure to love this too. Rating: 8/10.

KNOT

Knot (Thai) – Listen. You just have to. It’s possibly the most cringe show I have ever watched, and I am eating it up. This is an omegaverse story – with mating bites and boys going into heat and all kinds of supernatural sexy shenanigans. They’ve got everyone in heavy makeup and fluffed hair and questionable outfits and it just works. The success of a cringe show is determined by how seriously the actors take their roles – and all these characters are fully committed to the bit. In particular the two leads, whose shamelessness leaves me speechless. They have no problem at all growling and writhing and eating each other up as their alpha and omega pheromones’ take control. Hats off the casting director, cause I can’t think of any other pair of actors who would happily go this hog wild in all their sexy scenes. It’s embarrassing and ridiculous and totally fun. Rating: 8/10.

PAYBACK

Payback (Thai) – Where to even start with this one? Though it’s a modern story, it feels almost surreal, like an anime or something. It’s based on a manhwa so maybe that shouldn’t be surprising. It’s about a young guy who worked as a debt collector for the mafia whose entire life fell apart due to a series of events that happened in rapid succession: his boyfriend left him, his brother got stabbed, and his mother got diagnosed with a terminal illness. He’s been a ghost for the past five years, living only to work off the debts he accrued because he knows all too well what happens to those who don’t pay. When he discovers he was betrayed by his ex-boyfriend, who is now a rising actor, he becomes focused solely on revenge… but discovers reasons to come back to life along the way. Ya’ll. There were so many unexpected and crazy things mixed in, I had a blast watching this drama. The leads were sexy as hell, too, which goes a long way with these types of shows let’s be real. Rating: 10/10.

THE PROSECUTOR’S PROPOSAL

The Prosecutor’s Proposal (Korean) – The hype is justified. This is a low budget crime BL that was elevated to greatness due to the intense character dynamics and sizzling chemistry between the two leads. The son of a murderer and the son of the person who was murdered are teamed up, both trying to navigate their own lives under the tremendous shadow of their dark family legacies. They are both barely contained boiling pots on the verge of erupting and every time they are near each other the lids on those pots start trembling from the pressure… and when they are alone… Let’s just say it’s something you won’t forget any time soon. These dudes are intense. INTENSE. Enemies to lovers is a whole other brand of romance, and when they’re still enemies while crossing the line together… wow. It’s good stuff. Trust me, you don’t to miss this one. Sexy Antagonism is my brand! Rating: 10/10.

P.S. This is another adaptation where the source material is even hotter than the very, very hot drama we were treated to. The book is filthy, my friends. I enjoyed it as well.

A WINTER SUN WAKES THE WIND IN SPRING HILLS’ DREAM

A Winter Sun (Chinese) – I’ve just started this one but can already tell it belongs in the top tier list. I’ll update this with a summary once I’ve watched a few more eps… but holy moly it is gorgeous. The pacing, the cinematography, the plot… top notch.

Continue to read about other great summer BL’s worth watching but maybe not quite as good as those above…

Continue reading →

Review – Revenged Love – A Bit Watered Down but Still Delicious!

/ Lady Divine / Leave a comment

Revenged Love is about a young man whose girlfriend leaves him for a rich dude – and so the shafted little guy decides the best revenge would be to seduce her new boyfriend. He enlists the help of his gay bestie and fully commits to his scheme.

The plot was refreshingly different and took us through several plot arcs. There was obvious and meaningful character growth of all four main characters. It felt natural and real (within the context of this wild storyline), with a wide variety of sets, indoor and outdoor filming locations, and a solid pace throughout the 24 episode runtime. It was gorgeous without being overly cinematic. There were tons of side characters and tons of extras and it felt like everything was happening in the real world, not a closed set. I was never for a second bored.

I only have one complaint.

I finished watching the show this weekend and couldn’t help but mourn the loss of our main character’s libido in the second half of the series (why did this show get more PG after they’d had sex?). Sure, there were allusions to it, some very, very quick cuts, some fades, some implied naughtiness. But OMG, you filmed this outside of China so you could give us a live action version of one of the horniest characters ever written: Chi Cheng! A man whose love for snakes is only surpassed by his desire for ass, a man whose libido is so overwhelming he actually takes medication to calm his feral hormones down. The censors were not coming from you, Revenged Love, so why hold back? I’m not saying I needed full NC17 scenes in the second half of the show, but at the very least we could have had some hardcore, passionate make out scenes and more of the ass grabbing, aggressive boyfriend we’d come to love.

Alright, I’ve got one more tiny complaint and that’s it – I promise! Let me say as much as I enjoyed both actors playing the second couple, I think we can all agree it was clear one of them did not enjoy kissing men. Let’s be honest, that boy’s lips were firmly sealed.

Despite my minor complaints, this was still one of the best BL dramas I have seen in ages and I highly recommend it to everyone. I loved everything else about this show and have been active in the fandoms gushing and chatting about it all summer.

If ya’ll did not know, Revenged Love is based on the novel Counter Attack 柴鸡蛋 by Chai Ji Dan 柴鸡蛋, the same author who wrote Addicted and Advance Bravely. Addicted was the first Asian BL novel I read and I ate it up, but it was tame in comparison to Counter Attack which I read directly after. The source material has fast paced short chapters; yes, it’s sometimes extremely cringe, but it’s also brave enough to casually toss in taboos and insane behavior left and right, it’s very very sexy, and best of all it had me laughing out loud with all the jokes and witty banter. It was a memorable reading experience. The drama Revenged Love is a serviceable live action version. I’m actually quite proud of how much they kept in, while simultaneously being a tad disappointed at what was missing. Oh, the curse of book adaptations, am I right?

And don’t get me wrong – it was still very, very sexy even if it didn’t include the many intimate scenes in the book. The show still managed to be titillating and exciting. In particular Tian Xuning’s performance as Chi Cheng, slinking through every scene like panther who has locked in on their prey but first wants to play with it for a while. Ya’ll, the flirting and seduction scenes between these two were so hot! That man’s pursuit of Wu Suo Wei (and Wu Suo Wei’s pursuit of Chi Cheng followed by his hasty retreats) were soooo intoxicating to watch. They may not have given us much to work with as far as sex scenes are concerned, but for at least 60 percent of this drama it was clear there was only one thing on Chi Cheng’s mind and it was delicious to watch this deep voiced (thank you voice actor Shun Zi!) dom corner his man.

I would say the success of this show is entirely due to the tight script (a good script seems to be hard to come by in the BL industry) and its vivid trope-defying characters. The author of the original novel wrote the screenplay and was heavily involved in the show’s production – and you can tell she worked hard to bring her vision to the screen.

The actors knew who their characters were and nailed their roles. The dialogue felt natural, the line delivery was perfection, and the quirky scoffs, sexy purrs, frustrated sighs, alarmed squeals, and jittery rambling were all true to human behavior. Everyone was allowed to be many shades of gray. They made mistakes, they lied to each other and themselves, they were insecure and they were confident. They were emotionally varied, with pros and cons. None of that dull binary green flag / red flag business, these characters were human.

You will laugh, you might even cry, but most of all you will fall in love with these boys falling in love with each other. I hope we continue to get more uncensored adaptations of Chinese BL novels and webtoons in the future, because there are soooo many quality stories just begging to be brought to life.

If you haven’t watched Revenged Love yet – get on over to Viki or GagaOOLala or just go the Youtube page of the show.

Revenged Love – Overall Rating: 10/10 – Snakes, Sluts, and a Hot Polycule.

Enjoy some fandom:

ABO Desire – Discovering the Omegaverse

/ Lady Divine / 5 Comments

Alright, BL lovers! ABO Desire has won me over to the Omegaverse world via a slinky demon shark and a long suffering sensual secretary and I need to get everyone on board this crazy train with me!

Okay, so I’ve heard about the Omegaverse genre before – the term has been sprinkled around the fandoms for a few years now. I got a rough idea of what it was watching Pit Babe, but most people were commenting it was an Omegaverse-Light adaptation. It’s not like the Omegaverse genre is a secret, but what can I say? I’m pretty lazy sometimes and hadn’t bothered to learn more.

I knew it was basically some sort of science-fiction/fantasy concept with men getting pregnant, roughly based on the idea of alpha wolves – the top dog theory that has recently been disproved but still remains widely known (there are no alpha or beta wolves in the wild but rather families. The terminology of wolf hierarchy and pecking order was formed studying wolves in captivity). Regardless of whether or not this alpha wolf idea holds water, it’s still a fun concept to explore via fiction – which is what the Omegaverse is all about.

It’s kind of like vampires – in that other than the basics (fangs, drinking blood) how every creator approaches the genre may be slightly different from others.

In the drama ABO Desire, the Omegaverse world is the product of a global viral outbreak.

A few years back a highly contagious virus caused the death or mutations of all human beings on the planet. Those with AB blood were completely wiped out. Those with B blood were the largest group of survivors, but the virus mutated them to be nearly infertile, with only a 10 percent chance of conception. Those with A and O blood types were also nearly wiped out by the virus, with the few survivors being the most drastically mutated. They became intersex (more or less). Those with A blood became stronger and more virile, developing pheromones that act almost like supernatural powers, bending people to their will. Those with O blood became the most fertile (both girls and boys) going through mating cycles (they go into heat, basically).

Traditional gender identification was abandoned and replaced to reflect the new human condition. Those with A blood type became known as Alphas. O blood types became known as Omegas. And B blood types became known as Betas.

If this storyline is giving you a knee-jerk reaction, it’s okay. Just humor me a minute.

The Omegaverse is no less cringe than any transformation story. In the old mythologies it was snake headed ladies turning men to stone or it was rapist deities turning into bulls or swans. Curses, magic, rewards, or punishments could alter the human body. Inanimate objects could create life. Animals could transform into humans and vice versa. In almost all folklore you will find transformation stories. And everyone loves vampire and werewolf stories. Transformation stories rule.

So if you’re honest, it’s not the transformation aspect that is making you uncomfortable. It’s probably the idea of dudes getting pregnant.

But how does it work? you may be asking. The answer is… who cares? Just embrace the weird science of biological fluidity in this fantastical premise and have fun. We don’t tie ourselves into knots wondering how, scientifically, a wolf bite could turn a human into a shapeshifter or how a virgin could be biologically impregnated by a mystical god and still be a virgin. Just go with the fantasy flow. They may attempt to explain it in this series (or other Omegaverse stories, I don’t know), but so far it’s just one of those wonky things that is what it is because the author wrote it that way, like how a plague wiped out people by blood type. I don’t think a medical diagram of some Omegaverse reproductive organs is gonna make it any more or less believable, though I’m sure some fans and authors have certainly gone to great pains to create such things if you are interested.

The first three episode of ABO Desire have aired and honestly… it’s crack. I am devastated only a few episodes of this are airing each week while simultaneously being pleased I will still be watching this into October.

It’s a surprisingly fun show with a wild premise and an even crazier storyline taking place within that premise.

So let’s talk about it!

The main pairing is a successful CEO Alpha guy who’s desperately trying to get his hands on some critical research to develop the cure for a new type of cancer (which his father is currently dying of). He’s the only legitimate son and the family heir.

Now, before I go further… let’s take a step back and think about how the premise of the story is going to change the general narration of that tidbit of plot. Usually if a dude has a bunch of illegitimate children, it’s kind of frowned upon by society. But in this society, it’s almost the duty of Alphas to run around getting people pregnant, to ensure the survival of the human race. The old rules don’t apply anymore (I told you this story idea is really fun to play around in). Much like his daddy, our CEO Alpha is also a notorious player who goes through lovers every season or so, never getting too attached.

Now, you probably have an idea of what an Alpha Man is supposed to look like – especially if you were raised on Western media and unfamiliar with Omegaverse narratives. You are probably imagining some massive muscled type. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian. Perhaps Chris Hemsworth as Thor. That beefy dude who played in The Witcher. Something like that, right? And probably not this dainty, pale, handsome Chinese man who looks like a lesbian.

Ain’t no rules in the wild world of Omegaverse!

Your Alphas can be porcelain dolls or hulking titans, depending on the author. And lest we forget, they can also be girls. I actually really enjoy that there isn’t any striking physical differences between the A, B, and O types. Makes it more fun to speculate.

Anyhoo, this pretty man Alpha is being targeted by a mysterious demon shark character who we are introduced to in the opening sequence. He’s gorgeous and slinky and his agenda is to seduce this dainty Alpha CEO. We don’t know why yet, as he’s obviously extremely wealthy and powerful himself so that isn’t the reason. We just know he’s picked out this particular CEO and has gone to great pains to figure out what kind of person he’s attracted to so that he can model himself after that type of person and seduce him.

We also know he’s an Enigma – which is some special super rare mutation that’s the most powerful of all types and can get an Alpha pregnant. So maybe he’s just looking for a baby-daddy and it’s as simple as that. Time will tell.

Introducing Hua Yong – the antagonist of this show (who is also the protagonist). Master Manipulator. Absolute Queen of Deception. Stalker Princess of Power.

I am already obsessed with this gorgeous Enigma demon shark.

The plotline of the noble, poor innocent winning over the player rich boy is so cliche and overdone. However – the plotline of a demon shark PRETENDING to be a noble, poor innocent to win over a player rich boy is GOLD.

It’s so fun to watch this Alpha player get played.

This very lesbian-coded CEO has absolutely no idea he’s totally out of control of this situation and it’s hysterical! He’s getting all his buttons pushed and is all flustered and horny and pissed off and enamored and we’re all smugly watching knowing he’s being conned. I can’t quite feel sorry for him, either, which makes it even more fun to root for the villain.

And shark boy is truly terrifying – I have a feeling there isn’t much he’s not capable of doing to get what he wants.

The casting director deserves an award. Eliot Huang was born to play demon shark Hua Yong! He’s nailing this dual role of the burdened sweet virgin and the devious seductress to perfection.

Demon shark is so evil!

He’s even stolen his backstory (including his tragically ill sister who has been hospitalized for who knows how long) from another character in the drama.

Which leads me to the second pair of leads.

There’s another Alpha CEO who is running a company in competition with our main lead. Just like our other CEO, he’s rich, young, fussy, and aloof – but for some reason this Alpha dude hates Omegas. Absolutely can’t stand them and refuses to be anywhere near them.

Which is a problem for his faithful secretary and long-time acquaintance, Secretary Gao Tu.

Poor Secretary Gao has been hiding the fact that he’s an Omega for years and years, taking suppressant drugs and risking his life to stay… dare I say… closeted. I’m a sucker for self destructive, suffer in silence types, so naturally I just want to eat him up.

This is the pitiful creature our demon shark stole his backstory from. Secretary Gao is the actual guy who has a sister in the hospital and is drowning in debt and unrelenting bills and living in squalor… the real Cinderella waiting for a prince to rescue him.

He’s such a sensual disaster of a man. I mean look at this poster!

He’s all wet and soft and handsome and submissive. Why there isn’t a line of men and women outside his door waiting to plant him into a mattress I will never understand. At least someone will get on him eventually…

It’s going to be satisfying to have our Omega-hating CEO fall hard for this pretty, pathetic kitten-in-the-rain Secretary Gao. Hopefully. I mean, it’s only been three episodes, this show may crash and burn, who knows.

I’ve started reading the novel “Desire” (垂涎) by Nong Jian (弄简) and this is a very faithful adaptation so far. Clearly everyone involved respects the vision of the source material. I’m trying not to read too far ahead cause I don’t want to lose my anticipation for the upcoming episodes.

From the web novel cover it looks like somehow they’re going to pull a happy ending out of this insane story too. I’m enjoying speculating how this hardcore emotional and sexual manipulation is going to turn into genuine romance. Could you ever trust someone like demon shark once you know what he’s capable of? I dunno, maybe trust is overrated. People believe in all kinds of irrational things without a hint of evidence so it makes sense affairs of the heart would be the same.

Hua Yong may be an orchid to everyone in the book, but he’s a demon shark to me.

I hope he murders some people. Something beyond the pale so there’s no easy way to say “ooo but he had his reasons.” Cause there’s something very appealing about presenting a villainous character as the genuine love interest you’re supposed to root for. It isn’t done very often. I hope they don’t make any excuses for him. I hope he’s just a manipulative crazy bastard because he can be. Honestly, the more villainous he is the more I’m going to enjoy the story – including the subsequent romance.

We can have sweet romance with Secretary Gao and his petty CEO – but let’s leave the main couple in toxic hell together please.

This show is playing on several different streaming app platforms and of course the usual pirate ship bays. Maybe this post convinced you to give the Omegaverse live-action drama a try. It feels like history is being made with this one.

(I’ll rate it once it’s over – but right now it’s 10/10 for me)