In recent years fans have seen a veritable flood of new yuri live-action series from Thailand and the rest of East and Southeast Asia, most of which are free to watch on YouTube or other streaming video platforms. However, in the midst of this plenty it’s easy to forget that all of these series cost money to make, and that funding can be difficult to come by, especially in countries with governments and societies hostile to LGBTQ people and their stories. Such it is with the series An Office Thing from Soo Not Sue Studio: the first three episodes are free to watch, but the rest require joining the Soo Not Sue YouTube channel as a paid member, as pseudonymous director Soo Not Sue works to pay off the loan she took out to fund the production.
Enough about money, what about the show? An Office Thing is a sequel of sorts to Soo Not Sue’s previous series Out of Breath and She Makes My Heart Flutter (the latter reviewed here on Okazu). Its main character Yu-bin was a side character in both series, nursing an unexpressed love in Out of Breath and being left out in the cold as everyone else paired off in She Makes My Heart Flutter. In An Office Thing she finally gets her turn in the spotlight. The story is simple, and begins by reusing three well-worn tropes: a blind date montage, a drunken one-night stand, and a next-day’s reckoning when Yu-bin discovers that last night’s date is Han-na, her team leader at her new job. The rest of the plot unfolds pretty much as you’d expect, with only a couple of bumps along the way.
But the plot is not the reason to watch An Office Thing. That reason is Ha Eun-oh’s winning performance as Yu-bin, a forlorn puppy so adorable that one can’t resist taking her home—but even better than a puppy because Yu-bin can clean up her own messes (as we see later in the series). Kim Jin-ah as Han-na is the calm counterweight to Yu-bin’s changing moods, in an understated performance that nonetheless makes crystal clear the depth of Han-na’s feelings toward Yu-bin. The main cast is rounded out by Han Jaei as Han-na’s and Yu-bin’s coworker Eun-woo, who might find herself suffering the same fate that the younger Yu-bin did..
The most notable thing about the production is the portrait aspect ratio, designed for watching on smartphones and tablets. The second most notable aspect is the subtitles; they are readable (albeit small) on a phone but are difficult to read on a tablet, especially since their white letters often appear against You-bin’s light-colored outfits. Incidentally, if you’ve gotten the impression that all Korean women are stylish and impeccably put together, this series will only reinforce that notion. But it’s fitting here, since (in a clever bit of product placement) the series features the real-life fashion company Plain Plenty, whose underwear is also pitched on Soo Not Sue’s YouTube page.
Ratings:
Story — 6 (there’s not much to it)
Characters — 8
Production — 7
Service — 2
LGBTQ — 10
Overall — 7
As someone else remarked online, An Office Thing is fluff, but it’s entertaining fluff elevated by an excellent cast. Fans looking for more sweet sapphic stories from South Korea should check out An Office Thing and Soo Not Sue’s previous series, and consider becoming a member of her channel to help her make more of them.
Live-action yuri series from Asia often traffic in the fantastical even when they’re not explicitly fantasies: the implausible coincidence, the melodramatic plot twist, the deus ex machina that brings about an unlikely happy ending, the concluding wedding scene that’s not an actual wedding. It’s therefore refreshing to find a series like Fragrance of the First Flower (streaming on GagaOOLala and Netflix Asia) that eschews fantasy in favor of realism while still conveying a sense of optimism.
It’s no coincidence that Fragrance of the First Flower was produced in Taiwan, a country where the passing of marriage equality legislation means that one might attend a friend’s wedding and find that two women are getting married to each other in the next room over. Thus begins episode 1 of season 1, in which thirty-something Yi-Ming looks across her table at the reception and sees Ting-Ting, her former junior and ardent admirer.
It’s a plot not unknown in yuri works, in which a “passionate friendship” between two high school girls (here told in flashback) ends with graduation but is rekindled in adulthood. But real life intrudes on the potential romance: Yi-Ming is now married, and is torn between her desire for Ting-Ting and her responsibilities as a wife and a mother caring for a young autistic son by herself. (Her husband works in another city and comes home only on weekends.) Ting-Ting slowly enters Yi-Ming’s life again, and her family’s life as well: taking her son to the doctor, picking him up after school, even being invited to dinner by Yi-Ming’s unsuspecting husband. But this state of affairs cannot last; the last episode of season 1 ends on a scene of tearful emotion and a note of ambiguity. Season 2 begins after a time-skip, as Yi-Ming and Ting-Ting each find their lives changed in various ways, and once again find their paths intersecting, this time perhaps for good.
The story of Fragrance of the First Flower is relatively simple and straightforward, with only minor detours along the way (the most important one being an introduction of a new potential love interest in season 2). It’s the characters that make it worth watching, as portrayed by ZaiZai Lin (Yi-Ming) and Lyan Chen (Ting-Ting). (Both women won acting awards for the series—which also won an award for screenwriting for season 1 director Angel I-Han Teng.) Yi-Ming is a woman worn down by the twin burdens of being a wife and mother, guilt-ridden, emotionally closed off, and hesitant to say what she truly feels. Ting-Ting seems a free spirit in comparison—single, living with her mother, working a variety of part-time jobs, and (in season 2) playing in a band—but she has her own cross to bear: she’s desperately in love with Yi-Ming, more than perhaps is good for her, and agonizes over whether her love will ever be returned in full measure.
Fragrance of the First Flower is a “GagaOOLala original,” produced for the up and coming LGBTQ streaming service by its parent company Portico Media, with partial support from the Taiwan Ministry of Culture. (The Taiwanese government’s “tongzhi [gay] diplomacy” includes sponsoring media that promote Taiwan as an LGBTQ-friendly country.) The production values are generally high, and the English subtitles are idiomatic and almost error-free. The music is particularly noteworthy, with excellent songs for season 1 and season 2 by singer-songwriter Enno Cheng and another for season 2 written and sung by Ke Ching Li (a.k.a. Yao), who plays new love interest Xiao Ning. GagaOOLala has seen much success with the series (including being named one of the best international TV shows of 2021 by Variety); I hope it leads the service to produce more high-quality yuri shows in the future.
Ratings:
Story — 8 (painfully real at times)
Characters — 9 (no villains, no heroes, just flawed people trying to find each other)
Production — 8
Service — 4 (a few by-now-mandatory kissing scenes)
LGBTQ — 10
Overall — 9
Fragrance of the First Flower is an emotionally resonant and realistic drama with solid writing, production, and music, and excellent performances by the two leads. If you’re not already a GagaOOLala subscriber it’s worth trying out the service for this series alone.
Our first in-person live Sailor Moon stage show was in 2002, when we stumbled into a performance hall quite accidentally, and found ourselves in a Sailor Moon gift shop for a show that was playing. It was a version of the third season, Super, so were were delighted to be able to see it. We went to Shining Moon Tokyo, the Sailor Moon restaurant as part of the 100 Years of Tokyo Tour, where the show had incredibly clever use of a very small space. One of the defining moments was Mars using some kind of LED light effect baton that, when swung, looked as if it was flames. (This is pertinent to this report, bear with me!)
And, finally, we were able to see the first iteration of Sailor Moon The Super Live when it came to Washington, DC and New York City in 2019. That was a lovely fully 2.5D experience, with panels from the manga in the background as the story played out. Beryl was joined by Kunzite alone of the Shittenou who appeared as baddies.
And on Friday, my wife and I attended the Sailor Moon The Super Live North American Tour 2025 event in Newark, NJ at NJPAC, as part of the 21-city North American Tour. We had sat on the idea of going for a week, so were unable to get VIP tickets, but when we got an email from NJPAC to RSVP to a “secret” pre-show event, obviously, we did immediately. And that, starting right off, was an indication of just how far NJPAC was leaning into this show. We used secret code “silvercrystal” to get an RSVP. It was adorable cringe. ^_^
Of course, we arrived too early! I walked up and down the line as people arrived taking pictures of all our cool Sailor Moon dress up, shirts and gear. At the bottom of this post is a gallery of photos I took of everyone. Two quick disclaimers: Everyone gave me explicit permission to use these photos, but if you want yours removed, please free to ask and I will! Conversely, if I took your picture and it’s not here, I apologize, just let me know and I’ll find it and add it. I had a lot of pictures to comb through. The entire (windy) time we waited, music from Sailor Moon anime and shows wafted around the plaza. You could see folks bopping and singing along to their faves.
Once inside, we headed up to the pre-show event. Again, NJPAC did a wonderful job. When we checked in, we got a bingo card. I did my best to fill out as many of the boxes as quickly as I could, because it was fun, and ran back to get a prize, which was a really large, cute Luna stuffed animal. She now sits proudly next to our Osaka-ben talking Kero-chan next to where I am typing. ^_^ We had “asian-inspired” food, which was a very generous interpretation of Chinese-ish pork, shrimp or mushroom buns, pasta with sesame oil and desserts choices of brownies, lemon bars, strawberries, and mochi donuts, with a choice of hibiscus or matcha boba drinks. We ate some food then had a few of everything dessert, while (again) ran around taking pictures…because everyone was SO cute. ^_^
Here are a few pictures I want to share specifically, just because the Outers looked amazing, as they always do. But do please check the entire gallery.
And this outstanding group of Outer Senshi princesses:
Then it was time for the show. The story hasn’t changed…but actually, it has. Every show I have seen has made small changes to the story. Here, they did some interesting things on a meta-level. While several songs insisted that all of the Senshi are still “normal girls” they likewise insisted that their powers are part of that “normal.” THIS is who they are and it’s perfectly okay.
They leaned deeply into their defining characteristics of Justice (Moon), Intelligence (Mercury), Passion (Mars), Courage (Jupiter) and Love (Venus.) This theme repeated, as did the song Starry Heavens and My Universe. And, while their introductory songs did briefly give their backstories, these were stripped of angst and centered on how Usagi changed their lives. If a lack of something can be considered a theme, then lack of angst was a key theme here. We get a number of pieces about Beryl, the war between the moon and earth and Endymion and Serenity in the second act, but the death of the senshi is – refreshingly – absent, and it is Sailor Moon who lifts herself up, then rejoins her friends. Likewise, Queen Metallia is presented as an annoyance to Beryl, a tool, that she had no choice but to use but she is uninterested in giving her the Legendary Silver Crystal if possible, as she plans to keep it for herself.
There were a number of moments played for jokes and a number of moments in which the audience just laughed, knowing what thing was being referenced.
The effects were presented in several ways – stage lighting and a large screen in the back that ran subtitles of dialogue and songs and also stood in for city scenes. Miasma and Queen Metallia were nicely presented on the screen. There was a metal framework in front of the screen implying the city of Azabu Juban and Tokyo tower, which I quite liked. It would light up as the miasma left and Sailor Moon saved the city..again. ^_^ But, once again my favorite effect was in the different LED light sticks that were used…and the LED spinners.
This show had LED lighting effect in short batons, long lances which I though were extra cool and rhythmic-gymnastic-like ribbons which lit up, then could be stiff, as well. They were incredible, but completely overwhelmingly the winner were the spinners. You know fire spinning, right? These were similar. Things that were spun, but because it is a programmable LED, the effects were amazing. They could imply a galaxy, or an attack…the Senshi’s attacks were met with crowd approval, but when the spinners kicked in to show the planetary symbols, the crowd went wild. ^_^ It looked amazing.
The cast was excellent. This was an exhausting show. Just the number of times Usagi had to collapse to her knees make me tired. ^_^ They had stairs which they ran up and down, singing (they were doing the singing live as the occasional imperfect note confirmed,) and of course dancing, “fighting” and generally running around. The harmonies were solid, and they were just…the Senshi. Riko Tanaka’s Usagi was cute, clumsy, and somehow stronger than you expected (wifey says, “with a pair of pipes”,) while Kanon Maekawa as Ami was slightly less vulnerable than she previously has been portrayed, Rei Kobayashi was a perfect Rei, focusing on her own strengths and desires, Kisara Matsumura as Makoto had a pleasant soprano, and left her heartbreak behind in one sentence, and Marin Makino’s Minako was confident and still, somehow, a little goofy. I find myself less and less tolerant of Tuxedo Mask, but have to give props to Riona Tatemichi’s performance and the script for somehow making him a bit sympathetic. But the winner and still champeen is, without a doubt, Sayaka Okamura as Queen Beryl. Holy crow could that woman sing.
Once Beryl kidnaps Mamoru and the Senshi have to travel to the Dark Kingdom, the tone of the music changes dramatically. A neon sign reads “Dark Kingdom,” and the world is not dark, but a brightly lit party-all-the-time-even-if-you-don’t-want-to honky-tonk. Beryl sings “Burn Up The Dance Floor,” a song of violent, yet catchy, retribution and she just nails every note. Her reprise in the revue portion was even more enthusiastically received. Absolutely outstanding performance.
Props to the extras, as well, who work really hard with little credit, playing characters like the Dark Kingdom creatures, Haruna-sensei, Naru’s Mom, and Usagi’s Mom, in scene after scene.
The revue portion included a version of La Soldier. I sat next to a family that included a dad who was not familiar with any of this, but clearly bopped to some of the catchier tunes, a mom who was a fan and a kid who was not, but was well-behaved and absolutely befuddled when the entire audience suddenly began to sing this song. ^_^ My wife howled at the appropriate point and was delighted that she wasn’t the only one.
After a few other songs, it concluded with Moonight Densetsu. I don’t know how long this will stay up even though the audience is given explicit permission to record and post this video with the hashtag #SailorMoonSuperLive, but here is Moonlight Densetsu from the finale!
I hope you will also take a look at these photos of the creativity and joy of the audience.
This was a fantastic show. There are a very few seats left for remaining NYC shows…it looks like Philly and Hartford are sold out. I highly recommend this experience, if only to be part of a dedicated, shockingly non-toxic fandom. ^_^
Now that this tour has been so successful, you know I’m hoping that they do Super with the Outers next time. ^_^ I understand that having 8 more people on the tour is a lot of logistics, but…I wanna see the Outers use those LED spinners for their attacks!
Once a rarity, live-action yuri series have now spread throughout East and Southeast Asia, most famously to Thailand but also to Taiwan, South Korea, and Cambodia. One major exception to the trend has been the People’s Republic of China, where the publication of LGBTQ-related works has been discouraged by cultural norms and government policies. Small wonder then that baihe (yuri) works (including many of those scheduled to be published in English) often are set in past times and make considerable use of subtext.
Thus it was a surprise to see Who Knows Girls’ L (谁知锦意) pop up on YouTube, set in present-day China and proudly billed as “the 1st Chinese gl series . . . for sapphic ppl like you and me!” As one might expect, it was not created and distributed by a mainstream Chinese production company. Instead it’s being produced and released by a group of film students in Shanghai, who have been very forward about promoting the series and raising funds for its production. (Their initial budget was the equivalent of only $2,700 US.)
Who Knows Girls’ L is still ongoing: it’s projected to be 28 relatively short episodes (up to 15 minutes long), with eight episodes available thus far; completion of the series depends on the success of the fundraising efforts. I’m reviewing now to bring it to the attention of fans who might be interested in following it, and also as a hedge in case the series goes on indefinite hiatus for lack of funds or other reasons.
But enough throat-clearing, how does Who Knows Girls’ L stack up against the many other yuri series currently airing or scheduled to be aired? Let’s go to the tape:
The plot is a weak point of the series, combining as it does a noxious trope, an implausible plot turn, and a power-gap romance: Cheng Zhijin, a young film studio project director who’s struggling with problems on her production, drowns her sorrows at an industry party and afterwards encounters an older woman, Gu Yi, busking on a public street. Zhijin meets her again at a bar where Yi works as a singer, drinks some more, then goes home with Yi and proceeds to have a drunken one-night stand. In the office the next day Zhijin is flabbergasted as the previous night’s fling turns out to be the chief shareholder in the studio, who’s now decided to actively involve herself in the company’s operations. The plot proceeds from there, as Zhijin and Yi try to navigate the troubled waters of an employee/employer relationship.
The production values are uneven but improving, marred by occasional lapses: a slightly off camera angle here, a brief mistake in focus pulling there, problems with color grading between some scenes, and some non-idiomatic translations. (There are also several scenes in which the faces of Zhijin and one of her friends at work look unnaturally white; I don’t know if that’s a production problem or reflective of a cosmetics fad among young Chinese women.) However, the series looks significantly better than one might expect of a student production. It makes good use of multiple location shots and has an effective soundtrack, with a banger OP introduced in episode 7.
Working actor Kaiyi portrays Gu Yi, while Cheng Zhijin is played by law student Qianyue. Kaiyi gives a solid performance, while Qianyue reminds me of Yoko Apasra Lertprasert of Blank: The Series—not so much in the characters they play (Aneung’s teasing and flirtation is 180 degrees away from Zhijin’s sullen passive-aggressiveness), but in seeing a striking debut from an unexpected source. As for the scenes between Yi and Zhijin, the director and actors have clearly closely studied GAP and its successors and strove to emulate their steamier aspects; if the results don’t quite come up to Freen and Becky at their finest, it’s not for lack of trying.
Ratings:
Story — 5
Characters — 8
Production — 6
Service — 5
Yuri — 10
Overall — 6
Its status as the self-proclaimed first Chinese yuri series and a crowd-funded student project is the hook, but Who Knows Girls’ L has an appeal beyond that, based on the increasing sophistication of the production and the performances of Kaiyi and Qianyue. It’s definitely worth watching the series, following the saga of its production, and (for those so inclined) financially supporting its creation.
P.S. Some final trivia: The Chinese title of the series, 谁知锦意 (Shéi zhī jǐn yì), contains some untranslatable wordplay that puns on the characters’ names: 谁知 (Shéi zhī) is “Who knows”, 知锦 (zhī jǐn) is the given name of one of the characters, and 意 (yì) is pronounced the same as 忆, the given name of the other lead character. Also, 意 has “intentions,” “thoughts,” and “feelings” among its meanings. So, the title can be read in multiple ways: “Who knows [Zhi]jin/Yi?” or “Who knows [Zhi]jin’s intentions/thoughts/feelings?” (Thanks go to Reddit commenter _fancy_pants for pointing this out.)
In fact, Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kansensuru Libido Short Movie (彼女のくちづけ感染するリビドー ショートムービー), a three-part adaptation, has been up on Youtube since 2022. I’ve been meaning to review it, and this seems like a good time to do so.
Let’s begin with a synopsis from my review of the Kickstarter reward of the first volume of the manga: “Stuck in the hospital with an injury, Sana meets and is intrigued by Akane, a mysterious older girl who missed a year in school due to illness. Akane is a bit possessive, but Sana wants her to be friends with all her school friends too. When the chance finally comes to introduce Akane to her best friend, Mi-chan, Mi-chan discovers Yuri books in Sana’s room and impulsively hides, becoming a witness to Sana and Akane kissing.”
Right off the bat, this movie is a very decent live-action adaption of Yorita-sensei’s series. Pared down, as it is, to a mere four characters and a short running time, the emotions are very visible and the story moves quickly.
Tsuboi Nagisa as Sana and Umakawa Moeka as Akane are excellent. Tsuboi’s smile is Sana’s smile, there was no question that we were seeing a live-action of this work. Akane’s behavior is toned down a bit, here and she seems less aggressively manipulative, while Sana comes off as having a stronger personality. As a result, one is pretty on board with them as a couple earlier than in the manga.
Ratings:
Overall – 9
If you enjoyed the first volume of Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles, this is a quick watch and a fun way to experience Yorita-sensei’s story.
Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon, ALC Publishing Lesbian Icon. Speaker, Writer, Editor/Adapter, LGBTQ manga tastemaker, 百合人. Proud to be a MLS. Learn more >>
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In recent years fans have seen a veritable flood of new yuri live-action series from Thailand and the rest of East and Southeast Asia, most of which are free to watch on YouTube or other streaming video platforms. However, in the midst of this plenty it’s easy to forget that all of these series cost money to make, and that funding can be difficult to come by, especially in countries with governments and societies hostile to LGBTQ people and their stories. Such it is with the series An Office Thing from Soo Not Sue Studio: the first three episodes are free to watch, but the rest require joining the Soo Not Sue YouTube channel as a paid member, as pseudonymous director Soo Not Sue works to pay off the loan she took out to fund the production.
Live-action yuri series from Asia often traffic in the fantastical even when they’re not explicitly fantasies: the implausible coincidence, the melodramatic plot twist, the deus ex machina that brings about an unlikely happy ending, the concluding wedding scene that’s not an actual wedding. It’s therefore refreshing to find a series like 
Once a rarity, live-action yuri series have now spread throughout East and Southeast Asia, most famously to Thailand but also to Taiwan, South Korea, and Cambodia. One major exception to the trend has been the People’s Republic of China, where the publication of LGBTQ-related works has been discouraged by cultural norms and government policies. Small wonder then that baihe (yuri) works (including many of those 
