The Conversation

Ben, NiNi and Shan answer your questions and award the Girl Who Tried. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction 02:32 Inbox: Addicted, and Other Early BL 19:13 Inbox: BL and Queer Cinema 23:36 The Theory of Love RomCom Rewatch 38:51 Girl, You Tried 01:08:04 Outro: One Fuck Of A Year So Far

Our knees hurt and the music is too loud. Ben, NiNi, Shan and friend of the pod Turtles talk Gelboys and Heesu In Class 2 . Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction 08:36 Gelboys: A Portrait of Modern Youth 17:32 Gelboys: Technology, Loneliness and Distraction 30:58 Gelboys: Our Not-So-Fab Four 40:30 Gelboys: Perspectives On The Ending 44:28 Gelboys: Final Thoughts and R...

Prestige TV is gay now! Historical bottom dementia is on the menu as we tackle two different era-spanning toxic romances. Ben, NiNi and friend of the pod Captain Hands talk Interview With the Vampire and Fellow Travelers . Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction 02:25 Interview With The Vampire 12:27 IWTV: The Vampire Mythos 17:28 IWTV: The Best Bits 21:35 IWTV: Claudia...

FINALLY SOME GOOD GL. Ben, NiNi and Twig talk Fragrance You Inherit and Fragrance of the First Flower . Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction 03:16 Fragrance You Inherit 08:34 Fragrance You Inherit: All About the Relationships 17:46 Fragrance You Inherit: Sakura's Coming Out 21:50 Fragrance You Inherit: On-chan 24:21 Fragrance You Inherit: Final Thoughts and Ratin...

In Part 2 of our Untamed discussion, Ben, NiNi, Shan and Bookworm talk our love for Jiang Cheng, our hatred for Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao, and why we will always hold out hope for more Chinese BL. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Intro: More Notes From The Future 01:45 The Second Life 09:23 The Second Life: The Fallout of Wei Wuxian's Choices 16:52 The Second Life: Meng Yao&#...

It's 'the biggest goddamn BL in the world', and we're finally going to talk about it. Ben, NiNi, Shan and Bookworm talk The Untamed. In Part 1 of our two-part episode, we talk censorship, the journey from MDZS to The Untamed, and the first half of the story. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction 03:55 Censorship in Media: A Global View 12:37 The MoDaoZ...

It’s our 3rd Annual Very Important Internet BL Awards and we’ve changed up our whole shit! Ben and NiNi talk the best things we watched all year. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Introduction: It's Awards Season Once More 02:09 Acting! 08:00 Ships Ahoy! 16:31 Immortal Technique 29:05 Top Tings 41:43 Special Class Awards 43:11 Special Class: Honourable Mentions 47:36 Speci...

It’s our holiday special (because it's a holiday somewhere in the world)! Ben, NiNi and assorted friends of the pod look back on 10 years of BL as a genre and talk 10 shows that define the genre for us. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 Celebrating the BL Canon: A Retrospective 02:08 Blueming (2022) | KR | dir. Hwang Da Seul (Megan) 07:35 Dark Blue Kiss (2019) | TH | dir....

Ben, NiNi and Shan discuss a weird year for QL and look ahead to 2025. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 00:55 2024 Headlines: Industry Consolidation 06:49 2024 Headline: Self-Censorship 13:52 2024 Headlines: Vertical Format Micro-BLs and Other Shit We're Anti 20:14 Festivus Airing Of The Grievances 36:51 2024 Fan Awards 55:49 QL Resolutions 01:04:45 Affirmations and Hopes for t...

Korea swung big at the end of the year and hit it out of the park on both the queer romance and queer life drama fronts. Ben, NiNi and Shan talk Let Free The Curse of Taekwondo and Love In The Big City. Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 01:15 Introduction: Let's Talk Hallyu 06:01 Let Free The Curse of Taekwondo 12:36 Taekwondo: Themes and Patterns In Hwang Da Seul's Work 21:54 Taekw...

More takes on the office romance, now with bonus miscommunication! Ben, NiNi and Ginny talk Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko and At 25:00 In Akasaka . Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 01:16 Intro 02:52 Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko 10:45 Ayaka: A Split Narrative 17:20 Ayaka: The Negatives 24:25 Ayaka: Final Thoughts and Ratings 29:08 At 25:00 in Akasaka 35:34 At 25:00 in Akasaka: It's t...

The pulps are evolving in what seems like two distinct directions, and we have some thoughts on that. Ben, NiNi and friend of the pod Twig talk We Are and Knock Knock, Boys! Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 01:15 Introduction 05:56 We Are : Branded Pair Background 14:37 We Are : A Rorschach Test of a Show 30:47 We Are : Final Thoughts and Ratings 38:21 Knock Knock, Boys! 48:39 Knoc...

It's a mailbag episode! Episode transcript available here. 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction 00:02:10 Inbox: Surprises of the Season 00:07:07 Inbox: Does Categorization Matter? 00:11:42 Inbox: BL Fatigue? 00:15:51 Inbox: The BL Bubble 00:30:26 Inbox: Sex On Screen 00:41:07 Inbox: Fave Sex Scenes 00:51:24 Inbox: Worst Sex Scenes 01:04:24 Bonus Round: Best Sex in a Bad Show 01:06:54 Inbox: Crit...

Queer truth is on back on the menu, just as we were starting to get FAMISHED. Ben, NiNi and Shan talk Marahuyo Project and No One Cares For An Old Man's Underwear . Episode transcript available here. 00:00 Welcome 01:15 Introduction 08:40 Marahuyo Project : A Queer Activist's Story 20:24 Marahuyo Project : On Queerness 30:16 Marahuyo Project : Our Characters 42:09 Marahuyo Project : The Christina...

Summer didn’t give us a lot to say, but we ALWAYS got something to say. Ben, NiNi and Shan talk a highlight of the season, Twig reports from the field, and we award summer’s Girl Who Tried. Episode transcript available here. 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction 00:02:21 Twig’s Dispatch 00:14:24 Spotlight: Tadaima Okaeri 00:20:34 Girl, You Tried 00:27:08 Celebrating 50 Episodes

School's in at GMMTV, but we gotta put two series in detention for not fulfilling the assignment. The actors were charming, but the finishes were...rough. Ben, NiNi and Ginny talk 23.5 and Only Boo, the merits of high school stories, and the specific challenges of telling stories about queer high schoolers. Episode transcript available here. 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction 00:02:18 23.5...

Second chance romances, long-term pining, and their roles in queer narratives are our JAM, so we gotta talk about how two Japanese BLs should have been 10s but absolutely flopped for us. Ben, NiNi and Twig talk Love Is Better The Second Time Around and Living With Him. Join us to break down what it's like to watch a show fall apart in real time. Episode transcript available here. 00:00:00 Welc...

It's been awhile since we checked in on Taiwan, and the latest offerings have really run the gamut in terms of quality. Ben, NiNi, and Shan sat down to discuss the state of Taiwanese BL via two recent shows, Anti Reset and Unknown. Episode transcript available here. 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction 00:02:11 Anti Reset and VBL 00:13:13 Unknown the Series 00:20:16 Unknown: The Pseudo Inces...

In our Spring Lagniappe, Ben and NiNi and friend of the pod Twig answer some questions, drive-by some pulps, and award the season's 'Girl, You Tried'. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/751828830310760448/spring-2024-lagniappe?source=share] 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Inbox: Comparing Cherry Magic Adaptations 00:10:17 Inbox: Remaking Het Romances into QL...

Japan is churning them out almost faster than we can keep up, so we dedicated a whole grab bag episode to give them the attention they're asking for. Ben, NiNi, Ginny and Shan talk what's working and what's not in Japanese BL as we discuss Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun, One Room Angel, Perfect Propose, Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro Ka, I Want To See Only You and I Became the Star of a BL Drama. Episode trans...

BL is really leaning into genre in a big way, and we're too big nerds to let that go uncommented upon. Ben, NiNi, Ginny and Shan talk some successes and failures in genre blending over the winter season in Playboyy, 7 Days Before Valentine, Dead Friend Forever and Love For Love's Sake. **TW for Dead Friend Forever: discussions of violence and gore** **TW for Love For Love's Sake: discussions of su...

Thai BL has been suffering some...performance issues lately, so we're diving into why these shows can't seem to keep it up. Ben and NiNi talk Last Twilight and The Sign with friends of the pod Aiden and Captain Hands. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/749926703983443968/roses-thorns-and-buds-a-last-twilight-and-the?source=share] 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:...

Japan said it's GL time and we said YES. Ben, NiNi and Ginny talk Chaser Game W and She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/749112935687847936/lets-go-lesbians-a-japanese-gl-episode?source=share] 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction 00:02:41 Chaser Game W: A Flop 00:18:31 She Loves To Cook, and She Loves To Eat 00:23...

Another day, another Japanese sequel. Ben, NiNi and new friend of the pod Twig talk Ossan's Love, being influenced by fandom reactions and Old Man Yaoi. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/748486190269923328/dispatch-the-ossans-love-episode?source=share] 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Introduction and Some Context 00:06:25 Ossan's Love History and Summary 00:...

GMMTV's OGs came out to play! Ben, NiNi and Shan talk Cooking Crush, Cherry Magic Thailand and how a decade of experience makes a difference with Off/Gun and Tay/New. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/747834779623391232/the-pillars-the-return-of-offgun-and-taynew?source=share] 00:00:00 Welcome 00:01:15 Intro 00:03:58 Cooking Crush: A surprisingly good...