Baka Late bloomer yarn

My last post was about BL.

Before the pandemic hit, I had no idea what BL even meant (it's Boys' Love, btw). But due to the scarcity of things to do during the lockdowns, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who spent whatever time they could on the internet.

I'm a fan of Jun Lana, whom I came to know because of my fascination with the Palanca Awards. I also used to read his blog, most of whose posts had already been deleted (aside from one) the last time I checked.

While checking out YouTube during those lockdown days, I chanced upon the web series he created starring Kokoy de Santos and Elijah Canlas.

Gameboys, it was called.

Sabi ko, it looked interesting kasi I used to be a gamer, and I would surely be able to relate to the plot.

It was also cool that the series was already finished by that time, so I could watch the whole thing agad.

So I did.

And didn't expect to cry a lot while watching.

After that, a number of BL series came out as well. Gaya sa Pelikula was good, although the audio was a little off. Hello Stranger was cute, and I secretly hoped Tony Labrusca and JC Alcantara would eventually end up together. And #BenXJim felt like queerbait—with all the good-looking actors and shirtless scenes.

Searching into the history of the genre, I realized I got into it a little late. The pioneering one was Love of Siam which starred Mario Maurer back in 2007. I didn't  watch this one, though. I felt like it was so emotional I didn't need it that time (pandemic).

And then the lockdowns ended, and the BLs became more daring.

That ended my BL-watching era.

Maybe the more explicit they became, the less interested I was. What hooked me on Gameboys wasn't really the BL part anyway. It was the story—and how unexpectedly emotional it was.

I still like BL, though.

I've just yet to find another one that would get me hooked the way Gameboys did.

Any recos?

P.S. This post is something you can call spur of the moment. Had to do something because I can't sleep. Reason: I'm bringing Nanay to the hospital tomorrow to have her 24-hour BP monitor.