Tips & Tricks

Tips & Tricks Banner Image (c) Illustration by Kazue Katō. "Ao No Exorcist." Shueisha.

Here are some unsolicited advice on how to unearth hard-to-find BL movies and dramas:

Aside from the Go-to-Google approach, I scour the Comment Section of the corresponding Dramalist entries and it is like a treasure trove of links, sometimes dead links as the media has been taken down due to copyright issues. But if luck is on your side, you may find live ones. 

Another way is to search for the title in its native language. Again, Dramalist is a great source for native titles, and so is Wikipedia. You just simply copy and paste the native title and google corresponding videos.

For omnibus series, such as "Gay Out Soon," search for videos under individual titles.

Tip: Search for "Uncut" versions first, to see if they are available, before watching any drama. I made a mistake of viewing the trimmed version of "Advance Bravely" and after discovering there was an uncut version, wasted time re-watching the series, just to see the few minutes that were left off the "Cut" version. Some instances were non-consequential while others give credence to their romance. 

If you are asking why I am not providing links to videos in my blog, there are a few reasons:

1) Mainly, I may run the risk of copyright infringement by directing you to said video.

2) Video links update / move / get deleted frequently. I do not want to end up with a lot of dead links in my blog.

3). I did my homework, and so should you. Besides, by doing homework, I stumbled upon a lot of other BL works that are probably not popular, but are rare gems. Clicking on related or similar videos is like going down the rabbit hole searching for unmined treasure.

Tricks to find translations of BL drama/movies based on a novel/manga:

Wattpad is a great starting point to find reading materials. Simply type in the title and you can find several translations, although sometimes not complete. 

Novelupdates is a more comprehensive site as it provides links to translations from different sources. 

Tip: If you are desperate to finish "Advance Bravely" like I did and could not wait for the Wattpad translations, I searched for its native title and used the translate function by Google. It wasn't the best translation: I had to figure out that "Summer Officer" is Xia Yao and "Yuan Longitudinal" is Yuan Zong; but I got the gist of what has transpired. 

There is no such thing as a complete Asian BL Drama/Movie Listing as everything is a work in progress with so many popping up every so often. 

With that being said, a good place to start is Kchatjjigae's Blog. It is pretty comprehensive, and even includes the type of character placement and/or the type of ending the drama / movie has, in the off chance, that you are like me, who reads how a novel ends before starting a book. Similar to how I decide whether to tackle on a drama. 

Tip:  My Go-to-site, Dramalist also has an advanced search option where you can find titles containing specific themes, such as "Gay" or "LGBT."

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