The Rise of “Philippine BL”

Biboy in the Wild

You’ve probably noticed the sudden influx of unfamiliar content trending on Twitter these past few
months. If these feature two boys shown as a love team, you are probably looking at a form of BL.

To the unacquainted, BL or “Boys Love” is a genre of fictional media which prominently features
homoerotic relationships between male characters. While it has roots in Japan (as Yaoi), the past decade
has seen Asian countries like Taiwan and Thailand push the genre to greater heights. I will not go into a
deep dive of its history, tropes, and technical definition as those are still subject of so much debate. But
if there is one thing you must remember about BL, the content is marketed more towards a female
audience (or “Fujoshi”) rather than the LGBTQIA+ community.

But this year, the Philippines is diving deep into the world of BL and throwing its hat into the ring while
redefining what BL is for a Filipino audience, with a noticeable pivot to the LGBTQIA+ audience.

The first one out of the gate was The IdeaFirst Company’s “Gameboys”. The show came out at the latter
part of May unannounced, without any prior media fanfare and no promotion. Gameboys is a digital
series which features indie scene darlings Kokoy De Santos (as Gavreel) and Elijah Canlas (as Cairo). The
show quickly grew its fan base both in and outside the Philippines, and now boasts more than 8 million
Youtube views (and counting) across its 11 Episodes as of this writing. The appeal is not surprising
because the show capitalized on the lack of relatable content during the early days of the Philippines’
lockdown. Also, the show was not shy in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic head on. Without giving you
any spoilers, the couple’s struggles revolved around the limitations and challenges that the pandemic
brought. The show’s writer Ash Malanum was also not shy in breaking traditional BL tropes (i.e. girls as
villains, and the main characters not declaring their sexuality).

The IdeaFirst Company took a risk with an unproven formula (at least in the Philippine context), and
they are now reaping the fruits, with big name sponsors coming in like Bench, TM, and Silverworks. They
have even announced a movie sequel due to the huge demand. Now everyone seems to be joining the
fray. Production houses, from content veterans like ABS-CBN (Hello Stranger and Oh Mando), Regal
Films (Ben x Jim), Globe Studios (Gaya sa Pelikula), to new production houses like USPHTV (In Between),
Oxin Films (My Day), Unframed Film Production (Better Days), Asterisk Digital Entertainment (My
Extraordinary), Ticket2Me (Boys Lockdown) and Star Image Management (Amore), are all investing in
the genre.

Most notable of which is ABS-CBN. The content behemoth (sans its congressional franchise) has pushed
its subsidiaries into the BL world. First is “Hello Stranger” by Black Sheep, a unit of ABS-CBN’s Star
Cinema. The show features ABS-CBN stars Tony Labrusca (as Xavier) and JC Alcantara (as Mico) across 8
episodes. The show ended last August 19 and has garnered more than 8 million Youtube views, with a
movie sequel in the works. Without going into spoilers, the series revolved around the pandemic and
featured a unique blend of a coming-of-age story with a sprinkle of reference to Philippine poetry and
cinema. The second BL series from ABS-CBN is produced by its content unit Dreamscape. “Oh Mando”
will be headlined by Kokoy De Santos and Alexander Diaz, directed by Eduardo Roy Jr. (of Pamilya
Ordinaryo and F#*@bois), and is set to be released this September after the international launch of ABS-
CBN’s new digital platform “iWant TFC”.

Another notable entry is Asterisk Digital Entertainment. While relatively new to the entertainment
industry, Asterisk has partnered with TV5 to broadcast “My Extraordinary”. The series is set to be the
first BL series on Philippine broadcast TV (without counting GMA 7’s My Husband’s Love, which others
do not consider as BL). Asterisk will release My Extraordinary on both on TV5 and Youtube this
September.

If the success of Gameboys, Hello Stranger and the other currently streaming BL series are any
indication, we will definitely see more BL content coming our way this year. Whether these new
contents will tell the LGBTQIA+ story or maintain toxic BL tropes, is still something that remains to be
seen. We of course hope that Philippine BL will carve its own space, let go of problematic storylines, and
share our unique Pinoy queer experience and stories to the world.

Biboy is a lawyer by day, Youtube reactor by night. Visit and subscribe to his Youtube channel to get BL
recommendations at ‘Biboy in the Wild’. He is part of the BL Reactors Online Society (follow the group
on Twitter @BROSofficial3).