ONE31 / Idol Romance
Since its first boom in 2020, Korean BLs have been growing very fast. Not only is there more and more produced, but the quality and screening time also improve. Korean BL started with an overall of 10 to 15 minutes per episode, with dramas such as "Where Your Eyes Linger" or "Mr. Heart". But in 2022, other dramas such as "Semantic Error" have been released, and overall, each episode was lasting around 20 to 30 minutes, which is twice what it used to be in 2020.
However, if this might seem like an important improvement, Korean BLs are still far from reaching the standard of Thai BLs. The industry of Thai BL has been gaining popularity since early 2017, and it is also when the quality and number of BL produced changed drastically. Thai BL now has a running time of 45 minutes to an hour per episode, and most series have above 10 episodes. While Korean BLs are still stuck to 8 episodes most of the time.
In 2021, the first collaboration happened between the two industries with the drama "Peach Of Time". In this drama, both Thai actors, Tommy Sittichok and Jimmy Karn, and Korean actors, Choi JaeHyun and Jeong AeYeon, appeared on the screen. In the drama, both Thai actors spoke mostly Thai, even if Jimmy is saying a few words in Korean at the beginning. However, Tommy sang the OST of the drama entirely in Korean! This first collaboration was the beginning of a new track for Korean BLs. It's not like the Korean BL industry will change to resemble the Thai industry, but the Korean BL market seems to be ready to open up to Thailand. And for sure, this will benefit both of them.
CineQ
The first step towards opening the Korean BL market to Thai BL is the events. Since Thai BLs are pretty famous amongst fans of the genre, Korea started to open its borders to Thailand and hold events related to Thai BLs. May it be fan meetings, or even concerts like the 2022 KinnPorsche Tour, Korea has been hosting 6 events so far in 2022, and more are to come next year. But Korea did not only open to Thai events, they also started initiating their own events, based on Korean BL drama cast, too! Indeed, BL fans in Korea have been blessed with many fan meetings of their favorite BL actors this year. The cast of "Cherry Blossom After Winter" even did fan meetings in Japan.
Earlier this year, fans had a glimpse at some meetings between Thai BL actors and Korean BL actors. When the Thai actors from the BL series "Cutie pie" came to Korea for their first fan meeting, they had dinner with Kim JiWoong and Yoon SeoBin, the two actors from "Kissable Lips" and "Roommate of Poongduck 304". As of today, the reason for this meeting is still unknown, it might have been professional as well as personal. But many fans hope this was a hint towards a possible collaboration or else. After all, Kim JiWoong and Yoon SeoBin are the only actors who played together in more than one BL series so far, if we exclude actors who participated in season 2 of their previous BL series.
Kim JiWoong's Instagram
Also, after the first Thai-Korean collaboration in 2021, a new collaborative drama is set to be released next year. Indeed "Love Is Like A Cat" is starring a few Korean idols, JUST B's JM and GeonU, and the actor Kim KyoungSeok but also a famous Thai actor Mew Suppasit. With this collaboration, we can expect that a touch of Thai production will be seen in the drama, but nothing is sure. However, it is certain that by sharing their cultures and knowledge about acting, all the actors might have learned from each other. In each country, the ways acting is being taught are very different, and it is what makes all the industries very distinct from each other.
Another clue that the Korean BL industry is trying to get inspiration from the Thai industry is the evolution of romantic scenes. Korea is still quite conservative when it comes to very intimate scenes, but recently it has gotten better, not only in regular dramas but in BL dramas too. More and more, Korean BL dramas are including more kiss scenes, and sometimes even more. If it might look like a miracle to some, this evolution in portraying romantic scenes more openly can come directly from the influence of Thai BL dramas, that even include N scenes (R16 scenes). However, the Thai industry has been criticized a lot recently regarding this matter as some fans were thinking many production companies were only looking to make a profit by putting a lot of those scenes to attract a lot of fans. Maybe this is why Korean BLs are still taking it slow when it comes to intimate scenes.
The last difference many noticed in the recent airing of Korean BLs is the type of stories. The first 3 to 4 Korean BLs that were released had similar settings for their story, a basic school romance. But slowly, the scenarios became more daring and diverse. For example, in the BL drama "To My Star", the main characters aren't students but two adults, one working at a restaurant, and one is an actor. This difference in setting allowed the drama to explore some relationship issues from a very psychological and mature point of view, especially in its second season. Another example could be "Once Again" which explored a fantastic trope of time traveling. Another possible reason why the genre became so diverse recently, might be because the Korean BL market opened to the Thai market and got inspiration from it too.
Netflix Korea
Finally, some Korean platforms have been opening themselves to the Thai market, offering streaming services for Thai BL dramas with Korean subtitles available. It is especially the case for Netflix Korea that have been uploading around 4 Thai BL drama this year. Some of them are from a major production channel, but some other are less popular dramas, that are not less enjoyable. By including Thai BL dramas on a platform such as Netflix, Korea is really trying hard to open up to this new market.
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