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Blank: The Series, Season 2

July 3rd, 2024

In my review of season 1 of Blank: The Series I noted three negatives of the series: the 16-year age gap between the older Neung and the younger Aneung struck many fans as problematic, the behavior of Aneung was childish and annoying (and her portrayal by Yoko Apasra Lertprasert somewhat one-note), and the subpar English subtitles made understanding the dialogue difficult at times.

Still, I liked season 1 and I’m happy to report that season 2 of Blank: The Series is even better. The subtitles, while not perfect, feature understandable and idiomatic English. Now that Aneung is in university her maturity level has increased, and Yoko’s portrayal of her has correspondingly improved to the point where she’s often upstaging Faye Peraya Malisorn’s Neung. As the plot unfolds Aneung is alternately happy, angry, loving, despondent, or delightfully mischievous, as she goads an oft-reluctant Neung into various displays of affection.

As for the age gap, the story wouldn’t work without it. Its central theme is how Neung is caught between two different generations and must determine how to negotiate their differing demands and perspectives in her own life. Aneung is young but now fully an adult, has made new friends in university, and is confident and secure in who she is (an out lesbian) and what she wants (a relationship with Neung). On the other side of the divide are Aneung’s absentee mother Phiangfa (formerly Neung’s best friend), Neung’s ex-fiancé Chet (who we learned in season 1 has a previously-hidden connection to both Phiangfa and Aneung), and Aneung’s grandmother. All of them have their own reasons for continuing to treat Aneung as a child and (like many Asian parents and grandparents) seeking to control her life as an adult.

Meanwhile Neung, although the same age as Phiagfa and Chet, in many ways reads as closer in age to Aneung: she’s skated through life thus far, rejecting both her privileges and responsibilities as a member of the Thai aristocracy, her slacker lifestyle subsidized by ongoing “loans” from her younger sister Sam. Following the events of season 1 she moves back to her family’s “palace” and begins to assume the position to which she was born. However, at the same time she finds herself being drawn more and more to Aneung. Between Aneung’s entreaties and the older generations’ demands, Neung gradually finds herself entangled in a Gordian knot of irreconcilable expectations, a knot that’s cut by a final melodramatic plot twist and Neung’s and others’ reactions to it.

New production company NineStar Studios has done a stellar job of sanding off the rough edges of Chao Planoy’s source novel and turning out a great adaptation of it on a relatively limited budget (further strained by doing reshoots for parts of season 2). Faye continues to shine as Neung, and as noted above Yoko more than holds her own opposite Faye. The writing and cinematography are generally sharp, with occasional dips in quality (including an odd and confusing flashforward in the final episode) that are more than compensated for by some excellent scenes, most notably those involving a radio call-in show.

NineStar CEO Wanwand (“P’Wan” to Blank fans) is a self-described social media influencer and (judging by her X timeline) a major Becky Armstrong fan. A year and a half ago she was making GAP reaction videos, a year ago she first read Blank, by August she had formed NineStar Studios (with Ice Papichaya Pattaralikitsakul, who portrays Sam in the series, as COO) and was starting casting for the series, and five months later (assisted by veteran production house Moongdoo Production) NineStar debuted episode 1. After a slow start Blank: The Series is now a solid success, with individual episode segments racking up millions of views and sold-out fan meets in Thailand, the Philippines, and elsewhere. I’m looking forward to what P’Wan and NineStar come up with next, whether it features Faye and Yoko or not.

Rating:

Story — 7
Characters — 8
Production — 7
Service — 3
Yuri — 10
LGBTQ — 5 (Aneung to Chet re her friend Yui: “She’s not a tom[boy], she’s queer!”)
Overall — 8

This may be blasphemy to write, but in some ways season 2 of Blank: The Series is a more interesting and emotionally satisfying watch than was GAP: The Series (the previous gold standard for Thai live-action yuri), ditching superfluous side plots and “comic” relief in favor of a sustained focus on the central couple. If you’re interested in Blank but have limited time, you may wish to start with episode 6 of season 1—just go on the internet first to acquaint yourself with the basic facts about the characters.

23.5: The Series

June 5th, 2024

by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

The Thai company GMMTV is a BL powerhouse, with eight live-action BL series aired in 2023 and a staggering fifteen BL productions scheduled for 2024. Thus it was major news when GMMTV took note of the success of GAP: The Series and created their first yuri series, 23.5 (airing on either Youtube or Netflix depending on the region).

In creating 23.5 GMMTV generally played it safe, with a high school setting, a plot element (mistaken identity) that was centuries old when Shakespeare used it, the classic pairing of a short brown-haired extrovert with a tall black-haired introvert, and two actors (Milk Pansa Vosbein and Love Pattranite Limpatiyakorn) who had displayed good chemistry as a side couple in GMMTV BL series. However, GMMTV did show some confidence in the appeal of a yuri work: A popular pair of BL actors was rumored to be included as a side or even second primary couple, but GMMTV apparently decided that “MilkLove” would be able to carry the show without such help. GMMTV also chose an out lesbian (Fon Kanittha Kwunyoo) to direct. These both proved to be wise choices.

The astronomically-themed 23.5 (after the tilt in the Earth’s axis) is set at S-TAR Academy (“S-TAR” = “star,” get it?), which the shy and gawky Ongsa joins as a transfer student. She finds herself attracted to Sun, one of the most popular girls in the school, and reaches out to her over social media using the pseudonym “Earth.” Their online relationship quickly blossoms, but not without complications: Sun wonders when Earth (whom she assumes is a boy) will ever meet her in person, while Ongsa tortures herself over whether and how to end the charade and tell Sun her feelings face to face. Those familiar with mistaken identity romances know how this will end, but the journey on the way is quite enjoyable, thanks in large part to the central couple. As portrayed by Love, Sun is one of the most adorable and charming love interests ever to grace this solar system, while Milk’s Ongsa is completely endearing as she veers from giddy infatuation to agonized embarrassment.

23.5 is worth watching just for them alone, but as usual there are some side couples as well. The most prominent other yuri pairing features View Benyapa Jeenprasom as Ongsa’s introverted and UFO-obsessed cousin Aylin (“Aylin” = “alien,” get it?) with Luna (portrayed by June Wanwimol Jaenasavamethee) as a “manut” (human) intrigued enough to want to get to know her better. View’s portrayal of Aylin, who’s clearly intended to be read as neurodivergent, may be a questionable aspect of the show for some. I’ll leave it to others to assess how realistic her character is, but for much of the series the only direction given to View seems to have been “look straight ahead and talk like a robot.” However, later in the series Aylin opens up a bit in response to Luna’s offer of friendship and View can portray a wider range of emotions.

There are other positive aspects to 23.5: there’s a quasi-BL side plot involving a character who wouldn’t normally be featured in a conventional BL series, and another side plot involving the students’ teachers that’s notable among Thai series for featuring trans women in roles not limited to comic relief. As befits an experienced production company, other aspects of the series are generally competent, including the English subtitles. However, the writing can occasionally get overly saccharine or stray into “special episode” territory (as in the Aylin subplot, which at times treats her as a problem to be solved rather than a person to be respected).

Despite my quibbles, I can recommend 23.5 as a solid and satisfying first entry by GMMTV into the yuri genre, with Milk and Love (along with Faye and Yoko of Blank: The Series) poised to rival Freen and Becky as the next hot yuri pairing. I hope GMMTV will see fit to give them starring roles in another yuri series, and in particular will let Milk and Love be the adults they are; as anyone who’s seen her modeling photos can attest, Milk in particular would be stunning as a glamorous and sophisticated older character.

Rating:

Story – 6
Characters – 8
Production – 7
Service – 3 (Ongsa in a traditional Thai outfit)
Yuri – 8
Overall – 8

Blank The Series, Guest Review by Frank Hecker

May 1st, 2024

A young woman on the cusp of adulthood latches onto an older woman and pursues her, but a sheltered adolescence causes her to come off more child-like than her age might suggest. The older woman, burned by past relationships and not looking for another, thinks of the younger woman more as a daughter than a potential lover, but eventually finds herself reconsidering what they mean to each other.

Wait, didn’t I review this story several weeks ago? But, no, this is not Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Volume 2 , it’s season 1 of the Thai live-action yuri production Blank: The Series.

Blank: The Series is an adaptation of a novel by Chao Planoy, the author of GAP: Pink Theory, and is set in the same universe. It’s squarely targeted at fans of GAP: The Series, although its age-gap premise has occasioned online controversy among some in that fandom. 36-year-old Neung (the older sister of Sam from GAP) is a mature woman burned out on relationships, four years on from ditching rising politician Chet at the altar in the series’s opening scene. As previously seen in GAP: The Series, Neung is estranged from her grandmother, has rejected her place in the Thai aristocracy, and is pursuing a life on her own as an artist (partially subsidized by Sam).

Into her life comes 20-year-old Neung (the identical names are not a coincidence). Young Neung (or Aneung, as older Neung refers to her) is a young woman denied a normal adolescence; she’s still in high school, held back by ill health. She has no friends her own age, and her only family is her demanding and censorious grandmother. Aneung’s only escape is reading yuri novels, and when she meets older Neung (whom she calls Ar-Neung or “Aunt Neung”) she immediately sets out to win her over, alternately flirting with her and pouting at the older woman’s rejection of her advances. As for Neung herself, she goes from finding Aneung annoying to struggling with her ambiguous and growing feelings toward her.

“Faye” Peraya Malisorn is excellent as Neung in a role that calls for subtle acting to show Neung’s slowly evolving emotions. “Yoko” Apasra Lertprasert generally acquits herself well as Aneung, although her performance at times threatens to become repetitive. “Ice” Papichaya Pattaralikitsakul and Marissa Lloyd have the thankless jobs of following in Freen’s and Becky’s footsteps as Sam and Mon respectively, but they are very much the side couple here.

Like GAP, Blank has its share of melodrama, especially involving Chet (“Kun” Kittikun Tansuhas) and Phiangfa (“Ploy” Preeyaphat Silahom), Aneung’s long-absent mother. The producers toned things down somewhat from Blank the novel — for example, they aged up Aneung — and hopefully will continue doing so with the second season, which apparently has even more melodrama. They could have toned things down even further, for example getting Aneung out of a high school uniform and dialing back her childish aspects a notch or two. In terms of production values, the major problem with the series is the mediocre to poor English subtitles, which sometimes left me struggling to figure out the meaning of certain lines.

Despite that issue, Blank season 1 is a welcome addition to the GAP extended universe. The core relationship is handled well (except for Aneung going overboard at times), and there’s minimal “service”. I liked it enough that I’ll watch the second season, which begins airing in May. It will presumably deal with the fallout from the final episode of season 1, which ends on a cliffhanger.

Rating:

Story – 7 (unless you hate age gaps)
Characters – 7
Production – 5 (the subtitles drag it down)
Service – 2
Yuri – 6
Overall – 7

Monthly in the Garden With My Landlord, Volume 2, Guest Review by Frank Hecker

March 27th, 2024

In the first volume of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, manga editor Asako Suga, dumped by the latest in a series of girlfriends, finds both a new place to live and an unforeseen housemate, her landlord Miyako Kitano — who turns out to be a former idol. It’s a premise not unknown in adult yuri manga, in which manga artists and their editors frequently appear, along with the more-than-occasional idol, and it’s common for two women to go from sharing a house or apartment to building a life together. It is thus, not particularly ground-breaking within the yuri genre. Rather it’s a very well-executed example of its general type, deftly blending slice of life, comedy, idol intrigue, and at least one potential romance.

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Volume 2 combines two plot threads. In the main story Asako and Miyako (“Landlord-san”) settle in to life together, each displaying their characteristic personality: Miyako is somewhat lazy and more than a bit of a slob, and takes child-like enthusiasm in even the most mundane aspects of her life with Asako. For her part, Asako finds herself picking up after Miyako, cooking for her, caring for her when she’s sick, and in general behaving more like a mother than a potential lover.

But love is indeed in the air, as shown in a hilarious sequence in which Miyako finds herself growing jealous of a houseplant, the pachypodium that Asako brings home, nicknames “Packey,” and treats like a new pet. Before long it’s obvious how Miyako feels about Asako. However, Asako herself isn’t sure exactly what their relationship is and should be, even when later circumstances force her to express a judgment on it.

In her review of volume 1 Erica Friedman speculated whether readers of just that volume would see this as a yuri story or not. I’ve seen others argue that Miyako’s relatively young age (she’s still 19 in this volume) and the mother-daughter dynamic she has with Asako make a romance between them both implausible and problematic. I disagree.

Miyako was likely working as an idol since her middle teen years (another Elm member is only 16), and as such would have lived a very sheltered and constricted life. By Miyako’s own account her parents placed lots of restrictions on her even before that time. Her grandmother gave her more freedom, but “Matsuba-chan” was often absent and away. It’s therefore not surprising at all that Miyako might develop feelings for someone who is with her every day and lavishes her with care and attention.

For her part, Asako is a very giving person (“too nice for her own good”) who finds enjoyment in helping others. However, at least one of her past girlfriends, and perhaps more than one, found that behavior quite off-putting. I can well believe that the ideal girlfriend for Asako would be one whom she can mother more than a bit, and that Miyako might someday fill that role after she comes of age. Since this is marketed as a yuri story, it’s more likely than not.

The other plot thread in this volume concerns Miyako and the other idols in Elm, now reconstituted under the leadership of Ruri Samukawa. Miyako opens up to Asako about her past as an idol and why she retired, and contemplates reconnecting with the group members she left behind. That process is helped along by Ruri and Elm uber-fan Hato Hatomori, who in volume 1 was flabbergasted to find her fave living with Asako. In this volume Hato is almost literally pulled into the middle of the group’s affairs, a development that both delights and disconcerts her. It’s a fun subplot, one I’m definitely invested in and would like to see more of.

The main characters of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord are all fundamentally decent people with their own distinct personalities — people you might enjoy having lunch with, to use a traditional Okazu criterion. The art is a style I particularly like, clear and clean, not overly cartoony, with dynamic and varied panel layouts. It’s well-suited to showing both Miyako’s beauty and the comedic situations she and Asako find themselves in. The translation reads very well as English, the lettering is quite readable, the text appears to be entirely free of typos and related infelicities, and the overall look of the volume is attractive. Kudos go to translator Stephen Paul, letterer Elena Pizarro Lanzas, and the Yen Press editorial and design team — Fortune Soleil, JuYoun Lee, and Wendy Chan — for their work.

Ratings:

Art — 9
Story — 8
Characters — 9
Service — 2 (for idols)
Yuri — 4 (“Okay, it’s happening!” but where it will go is as yet unclear)
Overall — 9

Volume 2 of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord is an entertaining continuation of a solid volume 1. If you’re a fan of adult yuri who missed the first volume, this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on what promises to be an excellent series. Volume 3 is slated for release in English on August 20 of this year.

Chaser Game W

March 6th, 2024

by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

One result of yuri’s increasing popularity is the creation of more and more live-action yuri series, like the popular Thai production GAP: The Series and the recent Japanese series Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (based on the manga currently being released in English as She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat). Some of these productions are follow-ups to or re-workings of non-yuri material, like the Thai series Love, Senior (a gender-swapped version of the Thai BL series SOTUS). Such is the case with the subject of this review, the eight-episode Japanese series Chaser Game W, which originally aired on Tokyo TV and is now streaming internationally on the Taiwanese LGBTQ-focused streaming service GagaOOLala, with subtitles in English, Spanish, Chinese, Thai, and Indonesian.

The “W” stands for “women”. Chaser Game W is a spin-off of Chaser Game, a previous manga and live-action drama about a male game developer; it shares a setting but not much else with the prior work. The subtitle, “My Evil Boss is My Ex-Girlfriend”, states the premise: 27-year-old Harumoto Itsuki is a closeted lesbian working as a team lead for a game development firm. One day she finds that her girlfriend from university, Hayashi Fuyu, has returned to Japan as the representative of a Chinese company looking to contract with Itsuki’s firm to create a game adaptation of a yuri(ish) manga (or manhua?). Unfortunately, Fuyu has brought with her an older husband, a young daughter, and a vengeful attitude — the result of Itsuki breaking up with Fuyu in college to (apparently) pursue a boyfriend.

Being a yuri production this state of affairs can’t continue unchanged, of course, so the show finds various (and at times contrived) ways to throw Fuyu and Itsuki together and encourage them to re-kindle their relationship. However, corporate intrigues and the demands on Fuyu as a wife and mother threaten to derail it once more. Nakamura Yurika does an excellent job portraying Fuyu’s transition from office terror to a woman approaching her breaking point, while former idol Sugai Yūka acquits herself well in the less demanding role of Itsuki. The two also have good chemistry as partners in romance, although some viewers may bemoan the relative lack of kisses and other physical affection. I should also mention Kurotani Tomoka as Ro Asami, an older corporate manager who takes over the villainess role midway and does a bang-up job of it — although her motivation when revealed proves to be more than a bit clichéd.

Other notes: Beyond the three characters mentioned above, the others in the game development team are also women, while the men are all side characters, ranging from innocent and even sympathetic bystanders (Fuyu’s husband) to sexist buffoons (a character designer himself caricatured). The series finds multiple occasions to favorably portray Japanese work practices and social mores as more relaxed and tolerant than those of China, something I found quite amusing given Japan’s reputation in the West as a land of overworked employees and conservative attitudes. Finally, the epilogue, which occurs after a time skip, gives viewers a happy ending, but I found it a bit rushed and hand-wavy. I would almost have preferred something more bittersweet as being more in keeping with the show’s relative realism about being a lesbian in Japan (or, worse, China).

Ratings:

Story: 7

Characters: 8

Production: 7 (it has its cheesy moments, most notably in a coming out scene that’s accompanied by sound and lighting effects more appropriate to a Gothic horror movie)

Service: 3 (a fairly tame bedroom scene)

LGBTQ: 7 (both Itsuki and Fuyu are explicitly lesbian, although Itsuki is initially closeted and Fuyu entered into a heterosexual marriage due to family pressure)

Overall: 7

Chaser Game W is well worth watching if you’re a GagaOOLala premium subscriber, and worth checking out during a free trial period if you’re not. GagaOOLala has recently established itself as _the_ place to go for current Japanese live-action BL series; perhaps Chaser Game W is a harbinger of an increased GagaOOLala focus on Japanese live-action yuri as well.

You can watch the official GagaOOLala trailer for the show. GagaOOLala also released several scenes from the show on Youtube; spoiler warnings for all these, but especially the second:

Fuyu in vengeful mode

Fuyu’s backstory

Reminiscing about their past

A contrived excuse for wedding cosplay

A romantic moment