by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

Content warning: This series includes multiple scenes featuring blood, violence, and sexual assault.

Many of the key developments in Thai live-action yuri have been sparked by first-timers taking big chances on new productions. Idol Factory could not find sponsors for GAP: The Series, self-funded it, and then saw it become wildly successful, make stars of Freen Sarocha Chankimha and Rebecca Patricia Armstrong, and kick off a still-growing wave of Thai yuri series. Fan-created Nine Star Studios took a chance on thirty-something Faye Peraya Malisorn and saw her become a star in the age-gap romance Blank. Now actors and first-time producers Mai Davika Hoorne and her husband Ter Chantavit Dhanasevi have taken Thai yuri into new territory with the prison drama ClaireBell, airing uncut on the OneD streaming service and with significant edits on YouTube.

The Bell of ClaireBell is a naïve young woman who celebrates her university graduation at a nightclub with her boyfriend and their friends, has someone stash their drugs in her purse unbeknownst to her, is caught in a police raid, tried for drug dealing, and sent to prison. There she languishes, abandoned by her boyfriend, too ashamed to reach out to her terminally-ill father, and brutalized by the reigning prison gang. She then slowly falls into the orbit of “rabid dog” Claire, a seemingly-psychopathic inmate convicted of the savage murder of a schoolteacher, and finds protection and (ultimately) love in her arms. Meanwhile around them others live out their own lives in prison: Claire’s elderly cellmate sliding into dementia, a corrupt warden and his upright son whom he hires as a guard at his wife’s urging, the “3D” gang of two sisters and a cousin who control the prison’s black market, and Bell’s cellmate, who offers friendship but may want something more.

The first thing to be said about ClaireBell is that it looks and sounds fantastic: Made on a relative shoestring budget of 30-40 million baht (about $1 million US), it has set design, cinematography, and music and sound design comparable to those of “prestige TV” from services like Netflix, HBO Max, or Apple TV. It also has a high level of acting. Newcomers Pangjie Paphavarin Sawasdiwech as Bell and Mable Siriwalee Siriwibool as Claire are joined by a company of veteran Thai actors, some of whom (including Davika and Ter themselves) have been stars and award-winners or nominees in other productions. I’d especially single out Noon Siraphan Wattanajinda as “3D” leader Dao and Belle Kemisara Paladesh as Bell’s cellmate Kae; their struggles for dominance over the inmate hierarchy amid their own personal troubles drive some of the most compelling subplots in the series.

Those who go looking will find various things to critique in ClaireBell: A few of the plot elements, most notably the circumstances behind Claire’s imprisonment, strain credulity. The 8-episode runtime somewhat rushes the development of Claire and Bell’s relationship. Yuri purists may object to the inclusion of heterosexual couplings (including one scene jarringly intercut with a love scene between Claire and Bell.) And, most amusingly, the product placements that helped fund the series cause the action to occasionally pause as Claire and Bell feed each other slices of bread out of a prominently-displayed loaf, enthusiastically consume yogurt or instant ramen, or comment on the softness of each other’s bras.

But quibbles aside, ClaireBell is top-tier television. Among Thai series I’ve watched I would put it next to The Loyal Pin in terms of overall quality, and I think it almost as significant for the continued development of Thai yuri as was the original GAP. Idol Factory has now imploded in an orgy of financial mismanagement and executive and cast resignations, with Freen and Becky leaving to pursue their own paths. Nine Star is struggling for relevance after Faye’s departure under controversial circumstances (did she jump or was she pushed?). In contrast, Davika and Ter seem to be as competent producers as they were actors. I hope their Mine Media production company builds on the success of ClaireBell to create further yuri series whose quality convinces other Thai production houses to up their game.

Ratings:

Story – 8
Characters – 9
Production – 9
Service – 6
Yuri – 10
Overall – 9

ClaireBell offers a touching romance, compelling performances, and interesting stories, all combined in a high-quality production. It‘s strongly recommended for anyone looking for alternatives to the all-too-common fluff or melodrama of many Thai yuri series.

Extra fun fact: Mable Siriwalee Siriwibool, the “Ble” in “Blejie”, has a masters degree in cellular and molecular science for biomedical applications and is the co-author of several scientific papers.

by Frank Hecker, Okazu Staff Writer

When last we saw Milk Pansa Vosbein and Love Pattranite Limpatiyakorn, they were playing high-schoolers in the oddly-named GMMTV-produced romantic comedy 23.5: The Series. They’ve now graduated to playing adults, in the oddly-named GMMTV-produced romantic comedy Whale Store xoxo, based on the novel The Whale Store by Snow Leopard and available for streaming on YouTube.

Many Thai series open with shots of the modern skyline of Bangkok. Whale Store xoxo instead highlights the gleaming Golden Mount (Phu Khao Thong) of the Buddhist temple Wat Saket, which commands the heights above the historic neighborhood in which the main action of the series takes place. A key theme of Whale Store xoxo is the contrast between globalized corporations and local Thai small businesses: Wan (Milk) leaves her job at a branch office of a Japanese company to take over her father’s corner store after his sudden death, but soon finds it threatened by the nearby opening of Mouse Mart, a convenience store chain.

Meanwhile Maewnam (Love), who hides her family’s connection to Mouse Mart from Wan, spends her days as a a lecturer at a business school and her spare time picking up extra cash doing odd jobs in the neighborhood. As Wan and Maewnam meet and fall in love, they must each decide in which of these two worlds their destiny lies. It could be the plot of a Frank Capra film, and Milk and Love make for a very Capra-esque couple. In her endearing gawkiness Milk resembles a young James Stewart., while Love is an almost preternaturally adorable “girl next door.” They’re joined by a group of veteran Thai actors playing colorful neighborhood characters.

It should have been a wonderful series, but alas doesn’t quite live up to its considerable promise. Part of this is down to the direction: Not content to let Love work her natural charms and Milk to respond to them, the show early on is somewhat heavy-handed in throwing Maewnam and Wan together: not quite the “I fell on top of you and we almost kissed“ level of cringe, but annoying nonetheless. The more intimate scenes of them kissing also seem somewhat stiff and awkward. This may be on Milk and Love, or it too may be down to the director, a man whom just this week was fired by GMMTV for participating in crass sexual conversations about GL series and actors on social media.

Turning to the writing, much of the series run time is taken up by a subplot involving two other university lecturers, Tonnam (June Wanwimol Jaenasavamethee) and Chompoo (Mewnich Nannaphas Loetnamchoetsakun). The couple have been in a secret relationship for three years, as Tonnam waits forever for Chompoo to come out to her mother Som (Thansita Suwatcharathanakit), the owner of a neighborhood salon, and acknowledge Tonnam as her girlfriend. It’s not a bad subplot, and June and Mewnich acquit themselves well, but  the writers’ desire to postpone the subplot’s resolution until the final episode means that a large chunk of the middle episodes merely mark time. It also means that the last episode itself is stuffed to the gills with incidents, including last-minute plot twists, and the fulfillment of Wan’s and Maewnam’s journey doesn’t seem fully earned.

Rating:

Story – 7 (a refreshing change from the typical Thai melodrama)
Characters – 8
Production – 6
Service – 4
LGBTQ — 5 (the show takes note of Thailand’s new legislative landscape)
Overall – 7

Whale Store xoxo is sapphic comfort food, not as delicious as it might have been (due in large part to chefs who apparently didn’t quite know what to do with the ingredients), but still good enough to satisfy yuri fans hungry for down-home unpretentious fare.