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| A scene from Watcha's original series, "Semantic Error" / Courtesy of Watcha |
By Lee Gyu-lee
The genre of "Boys' love," known in Korea as BL, which once was considered a minor subculture, has come into the spotlight with a number of BL webcomics and web novels adopted into series.
BL is the genre that is loosely rooted in the Japanese manga genre, Yaoi, which features male characters' homoerotic relationships. Unlike most queer genres, BL eliminates realistic factors like struggles and prejudices that same-sex couples might encounter in real life, instead, putting the emphasis on sweet romantic plots.
Local streaming platform Watcha's original series, "Semantic Error," has been a huge hit since being released on Feb. 16, becoming the talk of the town.
Based on the web novel of the same name, which was also made into webcomics in 2020, the series revolves around a rule-abiding computer science major, Chu Sang-woo (Jaechan), and an extroverted visual arts major, Park Seo-ham (Jang Jae-young). When Sang-woo and Seo-ham encounter each other, they find themselves in an opposites-attract kind of romance.
The eight-episode BL series has been topping the platform's most-watched list for six consecutive weeks and also has been garnering popularity abroad. It debuted in Japan last month.
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| A poster for the BL series, "Blueming" / Courtesy of NEW |
Following the success, a string of BL series is set to come out.
The local webcomics production and distribution company, Kidaristudio, has debuted the live adaptation of its hit webcomics of the same name, "Oh! Boarding House," on March 14.
The eight-part sitcom revolves around an out-of-work young man named Sul Won (Shin Yong-seok), who becomes in charge of his mother's boarding house. Living under the same roof with a group of men, he finds out that some of his tenants have crushes on him.
Movie distributor Next Entertainment World, also known as NEW, has gotten its hands on web-series production.
Late last month, it debuted an 11-part series, "Blueming," an adaptation of a popular BL webcomic, which hit a total of 230,000 views.
The series, which streams on various online platforms, including Kakao Page and Naver Series On, follows two sought-after, popular guys in college, Cha Si-won (Kang Eun-bin) and Hyeong Da-un (Jo Hyuk-joon). It dominated the most-watched chart on Naver Series On soon after its release.
The series also premiered globally through the Chinese streaming platform, iQIYI, and is set to be released in Japan through NBC Universal Entertainment Japan in June.
NEW announced earlier last month that it is set to release four webcomics or web novel-based BL series, starting with "Blueming." It added that those series have already been sold to other countries.
"We have found potential in the local and overseas markets as the BL content has been getting more of the spotlight," Kim Jae-min, the head of the movie division at the company said, in a release. "We intend to work together with both partners in Korea and abroad to present web IP-based content."
Watcha is set to roll out another, period BL series, "Love in Spring," based on the webcomics of the same name.
Starring Yoo Young-jae of former K-pop group B.A.P member and Woo Tae-ha, the series follows a man disguising himself as a woman so as to escape from being a nobi ― a member of the slave class during the Joseon era.
The e-book company, Ridibooks, announced that it will be dramatizing two of its original BL web novels, which were hits on the platform.
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