Carm's corner

There aren’t many currently airing shows I’m interested in, so I’m focusing on slowly returning to the ones I left unfinished before 2025 ended. I also want to try watching shorter Korean and Japanese shows before the flood of new releases starts again.

I want to avoid feeling overwhelmed, and I also want to read more… as much as my brain allows. Sometimes it just refuses, and if I force myself, I end up feeling demand-avoidant, which isn’t useful at all.

I’ve also started tracking the fics I’m reading, because why not? Let’s see if my OCD doesn’t take over, hahaha. I hope I can keep it under control.

Now, let’s see the update.


Finished watching

• Peach Trap (Korean BL) – No Schedule – 8 episodes
• Love begins in the World of If (Japanese BL) – No Schedule – 6 episodes

Currently reading

• SVSSS Vol. 4 - Chapter 26
• Counterattack - Chapter 198
• Panguan - Chapter 41 (slow progress is still progress)

Currently watching

Dramas

• Me and Thee (Thai BL) – Saturdays – 9/10 episodes
• Interminable (Thai BL) – Fridays – 10/11 (12?) episodes
• Goddess Bless You From Death (Thai BL) – Fridays – 10/13 episodes
• Burnout Syndrome (Thai BL) – Wednesdays – 6/10 episodes
• Dare You To Death (Thai BL) – Thursdays – 2/10 episodes
• KinnPorsche (Thai BL) – No Schedule – 4/14 episodes
• The Long Ballad (Chinese Drama) – No schedule – 6/49 episodes
• Runaway (Thai GL) – No schedule – 2/8 episodes

Reality show

• DMD Friendship Reality, the Third Chapter – Sundays – 4/6 episodes

Documentary

• Debo, puedo y quiero: Juan Gabriel (Mexican documentary) – No Schedule – 3/4 episodes

Anime

• Sanrio Danshi – No schedule – 8/12 episodes

On hold

Anime

• Komi Can’t Communicate – No schedule – 4/24 episodes
• Rokuhōdō Yotsuiro Biyori – No schedule – 2/12 episodes

Dramas

• The Bangkok Boy (Thai BL) – No schedule – 2/12 episodes
• Theory of Love (Thai BL) – No schedule – 2/12 episodes
• Perfect 10 Liners (Thai BL) – No schedule – 4/24 episodes

Finished watching

Peach Trap. A cute boy is fired unjustly from his job, and then we learn there are three guys interested in him. They start actively pursuing him, and that’s it. It was short, which is why I decided to give it a try, but I didn't like it in the end. At first it looked cute and some parts really were, but the protagonist didn't have a personality… his entire character was just that the three guys liked him. It reminded me a bit of Secret Relationships (only a bit, because of the 3:1 situation), but in that show the protagonist at least had something interesting going on inside his head and I enjoyed the toxicity and unhingedness. Here, the protagonist just seemed to be a cutie, but nothing else. Maybe I’m too picky now, or maybe I wasn’t in the mood for a fluffy substanceless show… I don’t know. I think what frustrated me most is that I didn’t even find it that entertaining. I’ve watched mid shows lately, but this one felt a bit like a chore at times, and that’s with only eight short episodes. So yeah…

Love Begins in the World of If. It's about an office worker who finds it difficult to fit into his new role, even a year after being transferred to the sales department. He finds a mysterious mirror in a shrine that helps him see his “ideal self” and transports him to a different world. The first episode is very gloomy and incredibly relatable, so of course I wanted to see where it was going… and I ended up enjoying it so much. It’s also incredibly bingeable, with only six episodes of about half an hour each.

I love Japanese BL stories about sad office workers who find love, stories that feel deeply familiar. This one really hits on the theme of asking for help and not closing yourself off, plus the idea that your attitude toward the world fundamentally shapes how you see everything and even how others treat you. I know because I talked about this exact thing in therapy not long ago, and how frustrating it is that it’s actually true. I liked this one A LOT.


Currently watching

Me and Thee. This episode was my least favorite, and it highlights an issue I have with a lot of Thai shows: they rush things in a way where the ending is emotionally satisfying, but not necessarily in a narratively coherent way… The conflicts that seemed so important in previous episodes get resolved too easily, making them feel gratuitous in the first place. There’s also the issue of wanting to include many plot points without having enough runtime to really develop and resolve them without rushing. It happened with My Magic Prophecy too, and I find it frustrating.
Now I’m curious about the novel it’s based on, to see if it’s a source material issue or an adaptation issue.

That being said, I still enjoyed it, I still adore Thee, and I definitely liked it a lot more than MMP… But I don’t know, I don’t know… Most of the GMMTV shows I’ve watched lately have this issue, and I think the screenwriters really need to take a different approach, but let’s be honest, I don’t think that will happen. Again, maybe I'm just becoming too picky. Maybe the really good, well-written shows I’ve watched have spoiled me. Who knows…

Interminable. No, at this point I’m just watching because there’s only one episode (and the special episode) left, but oh gods… the pacing for this show is awful. Too slow, and things barely happened. The political intrigue wasn’t really mentioned in this episode… 

The story had the potential of being interesting, and I wanted to know how things ended for the protagonists in their first life, and how they would end up being together with the issue of one of them being a ghost in the present, but it really felt like it dragged too much. There were interesting conflicts that could have been explored in more detail, like the class one as an obstacle between Khun Yai and Kaewta. I don’t love the evil and possessive not-sister either, sigh. And now I have a feeling that the ending is going to be rushed and unsatisfying…

Again, Billy and Babe were so pretty in this, but agh. And I really want to know, just as with Me and Thee, if it’s a source material issue or an adaptation issue. But I don’t want to start new books before finishing Panguan and SVSSS and Counterattack ToT, so we’ll see.

Goddess Bless You From Death. I don’t have much to say this week about this one. I’m still enjoying it, it’s still scary at times, and the resolutions are close, I can feel it. I’ve seen people complain about the incompetent police and how inefficient the investigations and procedures seem, and I’m here, thinking in mexican: lolololol. The police is efficient somewhere? That sounds fake, but sure. 

Burnout Syndrome. I am loving how fucked up the relationships in this one are. I enjoy every time the characters make terrible decisions, and all the thoughts and feelings it leaves me with. All the conversations about art, all the symbolism… It’s the artsy thing I’ve always been drawn to, honestly.

I love the intensity and the frustration the characters face. And visually, it’s just gorgeous. Really, I just hope the resolution isn’t too simplistic, though… please, let the resolution to the conflicts be satisfying and complex.

Dare You To Death. I skipped this week’s episode. I don’t know if I want to catch up lol.

KinnPorsche. Slowly making progress. I can see why it’s a favorite of the Thai BL fandom. So far, I’ve liked it, and I think it’s going to be among my favorites, too.

The Long Ballad. We’re back, baby!

Runaway. No progress, but I really need to make an effort to watch during the day so the ghosts (no matter how fake they look) don’t end up haunting my nights.

Final update of the year, on the very last day of the year (where I’m from… I know it’s already 2026 in the other half of the world, but whatever).

This sure has been… a year… and I don’t want a repeat. Not that it’s possible, but you know what I mean. Here’s to better things in 2026: fewer shitty non-curses, fewer mental breakdowns, less poverty, more joy.

I can say that besides my kid’s existence and needs (and not wanting to traumatize him further), this ridiculous endeavor of mine to watch as many BL dramas as possible is one of the things that has kept me alive this year. And for that… I don’t know if I should say I’m grateful, but here I am… for better or worse.

I want to apologize for being a dark presence instead of a ray of sunshine or hope. I’m really sorry if I made you feel down or sad at any point this year with my stories or whatever. I’m only human, and sometimes I need to let things out or I’m at risk of exploding, iykwim.

Anywaaaaaaaay, the update:


Finished watching

Dramas

• Me and Who (Thai BL) – 10 episodes
• Mystique in the Mirror (Thai BL) – 8 episodes
• ClaireBell (Thai GL) – 8 episodes
• Thundercloud Rainstorm (Korean BL) – 8 episodes
• Heated Rivalry (Canadian mini series) – 6 episodes
• School Trip: Joined a Group I’m Not Close to (Japanese BL) –  10 episodes
• Love Sea: The Home for Lovers (Japanese BL) – 12 episodes

Movies

• 10Dance (Japanese film)
• Dangerous Drugs of Sex (Japanese film) 

Currently writing

• Khemjira Fic - 5795 words (Whaaaaaat???!!!)
• Secret omegaverse story - 1578

Currently reading

• SVSSS Vol. 4 - Chapter 26
• Counterattack - Chapter 198
• Panguan - Chapter 40

Currently watching

Dramas

• Goddess Bless You From Death (Thai BL) – Fridays – 9/13 episodes
• Interminable (Thai BL) – Fridays – 8/11 episodes
• Me and Thee (Thai BL) – Saturdays – 7/10 episodes
• Burnout Syndrome (Thai BL) – Wednesdays – 5/10 episodes
• KinnPorsche (Thai BL) – No Schedule – 3/14 episodes
• Dare You To Death (Thai BL) – Thursdays – 2/10 episodes
• Runaway (Thai GL) – No schedule – 2/8 episodes

Documentary

• Debo, puedo y quiero: Juan Gabriel (Mexican documentary) – No Schedule – 3/4 episodes

Anime

• Sanrio Danshi – No schedule – 8/12 episodes

Reality show

• DMD Friendship Reality, the Third Chapter – No schedule – 2/10 episodes

On hold

Anime

• Komi Can’t Communicate – No schedule – 4/24 episodes
• Rokuhōdō Yotsuiro Biyori – No schedule – 2/12 episodes

Dramas

• The Bangkok Boy (Thai BL) – No schedule – 2/12 episodes
• Perfect 10 Liners (Thai BL) – No schedule – 4/24 episodes
• The Long Ballad (Chinese Drama) – No schedule – 5/49 episodes
• Theory of Love (Thai BL) – No schedule – 2/12 episodes

It’s been a month since the last update, and I’ve finished a lot of shows… partly taking advantage of my free time (winter break at my job; working for a “university” has its hidden blessings). That helped, and I wanted to watch more, but these are busy days and everybody seems to want to hang out, so it hasn’t been possible.

I’ve also been writing, and feeling down or overwhelmed, depending on my hormones, the weather, or my family… you know how it is. December is an overwhelming month. I don’t like it that much, honestly, but what am I gonna do? I really can’t just hibernate, as much as I’d love to… lol.

Anyway, I’m going to try to be brief, or I won’t finish this today.

First of all, the ones I finished:

Me and Who. This one was so fun and sweet. I honestly had a great time watching it week to week, even though some things really didn’t make sense or lacked explanation… and I love knowing everything. I really wanted to know about Ya’s family mind reading ability, for example. I also liked BigPark’s chemistry; they’re adorable and sweet, and now I want to watch Monster Next Door thanks to them. Also, I don’t know if lately I’ve just been in the mood for silly and sweet or what, because usually I’m more inclined toward plot heavy or darker stories, but I’ve been enjoying the silliness and the romance, despite being very averse to it irl :D

Mystique in the Mirror. This one kept me intrigued from start to end. I really didn’t want to venture too many theories about what was really going on, but I suspected it, and in the end I cried. It was good, and I liked it a lot despite a few things that felt a bit unnecessary (like the second couple… don’t get me wrong, they were kind of sweet, but I didn’t feel like their romance added something to the main story, and it took me out of it sometimes). I really don’t want to go into much detail because almost everything can qualify as a spoiler for this one. Just, if you are too sensitive to mental illness and death, maybe stay away.

ClaireBell. This is officially the first GL I’ve ever watched, and it became one of my favorite dramas of this year! Now I really want to explore more GLs, so I’ll take recommendations. I loved so many aspects of this one. For starters, that it’s set in prison, which meant there was going to be violence, sadness, injustice, and morally questionable characters… and it didn’t disappoint. A surprise was seeing Pond Ponlawit in it; he’s an actor I’ve come to admire this year after watching Reset. But I’m digressing. I really enjoyed seeing the characters develop, not just Claire and Bell. I loved seeing their stories and their evolution. I also loved the mix of sweetness and sadness in Claire and Bell’s relationship. Of course I cried a couple of times, and not just for them. Another aspect I really liked was the cinematography. I don’t know, I just enjoyed it so much. These women are incredibly talented. As an aside, I randomly discovered that Farida (Duen) speaks a little Spanish, and she seems like such a sweet girl.

Thundercloud Rainstorm. I enjoyed the first half more, where it was messier, angstier, and darker. Not that it became incredibly fluffy in the second half or anything, but the mood kind of switched a bit. But I like it overall.

Heated Rivalry. I almost don’t want to mention it because this one seems to be starting to divide opinions, and not in a good way, but I enjoyed it a lot. I said on fedi that maybe I feel like if I weren’t as horny as I am (horny not as a transitory state but as an inherent quality of my being) and if I hadn’t read so much horny fanfiction over the years, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did… It made me feel things, and I always appreciate that. Do I think of it as groundbreaking? Not really, no. But I see why some people are so marveled by it, being their first contact with a certain kind of story… Maybe a couple of years ago, before I delved into Asian BL, my reaction would have been different (like many other people who mostly watch Western dramas), or maybe I would have avoided it because anything that’s highly hyped makes me almost immediately not want to watch it (see GoT, Stranger Things… etc.). Anyway, I liked it. I enjoyed it. I get why people don’t.

School Trip: Joined a Group I’m Not Close to. It was sweet, cute, charming, and I adored every bit of it. It very much reminded me of My Love Mix-Up and I Cannot Reach You. I loved Watarai and Hioki so much. I still need to watch the special episode, but I suppose that will have to wait until 2026 :D I mentioned this as the sweetest romance I watched this year in the End of the Year Challenge over on fedi.

Love Sea: The Home for Lovers. This one is an adaptation of a Thai series. It’s written by MAME, and I haven’t watched the original, but judging by the comments, I don’t know if I’m going to. I enjoyed this one. I don’t know if I could endure 10 episodes of that plot but twice as long. The NC scenes were good, too, imo.

10Dance.  Edited the post because how did I forget this one? I watched it the day it came out. There was so much hype around it, but as always, I tried to keep my expectations low. I enjoyed it… it’s visually stunning, and the dances are mesmerizing. Also, Machida Keita. The thing is, the source material (the manga it’s adapted from) is still ongoing, so this story felt a bit incomplete. I liked the way they ended it, but the competition mentioned in the title (the 10 dance didn’t happen in the movie. So I don’t know; maybe they’re planning to wait for the manga to finish to adapt a sequel? Another thing that left me with a weird aftertaste was the romanticization of Latin America, especially as a Latin American.

Dangerous Drugs of Sex. I watched this because one of my mutuals elsewhere mentioned they’d seen it and listed the trigger warnings, so of course I was going to give it a try: very toxic, very graphic, non-con, kidnapping, captivity, bondage, manipulation, psychological torture, grief, trauma, suicidal ideation… I liked it. A lot. It helped me get out of a very dark mood yesterday, and I don’t know what that says about me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Now the ones I’m watching:

Goddess Bless You From Death. I like this one. It has been consistently spooky. Right now I’m a bit confused by the plot, but I’m just going with the flow, waiting for events to be explained at some point (not trying too hard to come up with theories) and enjoying the supernatural elements. That’s still my favorite part. I’m having a lot of fun.

Interminable. I keep watching, but it’s very slow. Very. Sometimes it feels like a chore. There are three episodes left, so I’m gonna finish it, but I didn’t think it would live up to its name ToT Billy and Babe are gorgeous in it, though.

Me and Thee. I adore it. I love Theerakit Kian Lee with all my heart. He’s so extra and so out there. And it’s so funny. I laugh a lot, but it’s had very sweet moments too. It genuinely makes me so happy, and I look forward to every episode each week.

Burnout Syndrome. I’m enjoying this one very much. Every single episode makes me feel a lot of things, and it’s visually beautiful, very artsy. And goddammit, I wish they would give us DewGun for real and not just tease us with it. It’s like they’re edging us, but the frustrating part is that there will be no reward, you know? I know it in my bones. I’m still loving it. I’ve seen people who struggle with it because they don’t feel like they can root for any of the characters, and I get it… but that’s precisely the kind of story that makes me go feral. I’ve also seen people say they won’t like it if they redeem Koh (Off’s character), but I have a whole lot to say about that tendency to hate when they forgive characters in Asian dramas : ) Not here, though… somewhere, someday…

KinnPorsche. I finally started watching it. I’ve only watched three episodes since I wanted to finish the Japanese dramas before the year ended. I watched the first one very drunk, while drinking a lot of water, trying to get less drunk before going to bed to avoid a disaster. And I enjoyed it. I remember I tried to watch it even before I watched The Untamed. I got a monthly subscription to iQIYI and was exploring the options without really knowing much about Thai BL, but I wasn’t ready. Now I’ve watched Shine (one of my favorite dramas of this year) and Man Suang (back then I didn’t know who Mile or Apo were, so I went in blind, and I don’t remember much of it), so I thought it would be a good idea to watch this classic of Thai BL, and I’m enjoying it. If I have the mental energy, maybe I can finish it this week, before going back to work next Monday.

Dare You To Death. It’s not good so far. We’ll see if I finish it or drop it. It’s a shame because I’m fond of JoongDunk, but it’s just not doing it for me.

Runaway. Need to get back to this one. But maybe I’m going to restart it.

Ah, yes. I'm also watching a reality show... DMD Friendship The Third Chapter. I'm rooting for my adopted son, Pung Phirunwat. Also, now all the other boys are my nephews, except Porsche Sitha, who can be my compadre. 

Look, my list isn’t very long now, and I’m very proud of myself, but I don’t know how long I’ll resist before adding a ton more shows to watch lol. I want to watch more older shows and shows from different countries, like the Philippines or Vietnam. I also want to get back to the ones I have on hold. And watch more anime, and write more, and and and… I don’t do New Year’s resolutions; I just try to do my best and all that.

If 2025 was a shitty year for you, I hope 2026 is better.

See you on the other side, with more updates… at some point.