In our Fall Lagniappe, Ben and NiNi reflect on a relatively quiet season, discuss some old and new shows with Shan, and look ahead to the end of the year. Episode transcript available here. 00:00-Welcome 03:03-Letters 16:15-The Pornographer 29:20-Coffee Prince 43:05-Be Mine, SuperStar 49:40-Hidden Agenda 56:14-Minato's Laundromat 2 01:06:47-Why R U? (Korea) 01:09:51-Sing My Crush 01:20:43-Heartstopper 2 01:30:45-Girl, You Tried 01:40:23-Looking Ahead

Y'all, MAME gave us one. Nobody's more shocked than us. Ben and NiNi talk Wedding Plan. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/732261894841417728/in-your-lavender-the-wedding-plan-episode?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:16-Intro 03:00-MAME's previous crimes 15:18-Realities of the closet and fandom misunderstanding the show 29:23-Things we love and final ratings 37:26-And another thing! The Wedding Plan special

It's always time f*****y vs head f*****y when we head to the second chance romance well, and the fall was no different. Ben and NiNi talk Tokyo In April Is…and Be My Favourite. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/731991891180208128/on-time-and-memory?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:16-Intro 03:10-Tokyo In April Is... 11:01-TIAI: Comparisons with the manga 14:15-TIAI: Strength of execution 26:23-Be My Favorite 34:00-BMF: The time travel...

In part 2 of our retrospective, NiNi leads a panel talk on I Promised You The Moon, and Ben and NiNi talk Last Twilight In Phuket. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/731625229802258432/the-itsay-anniversary-show-part-2?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:16-Intro 08:00-Panel introduction 08:45-How did you come to BL and ITSAY/IPTYM? 14:35-Expectations of IPYTM 22:40-Narrative structure 31:36-Teh and Oh's characters 37:57-Presence or absence of...

October marks the 3rd anniversary of the show that rewired the BL industry, and it felt like the right time for a retrospective. In part 1 Ben leads a panel talk on I Told Sunset About You. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/731368755449495552/the-itsay-anniversary-show-part-1?source=share] 00:00-Intro 04:16-How did you come to ITSAY? 11:31-Phuket as a setting 19:00-Style and genre 29:40-Characters 36:18-Teh and Oh's dynamic 50:07-Why do...

Welcome to our fall series! We're doing something a little different this season…

In our Summer Lagniappe, Ben, NiNi and a special guest discuss the ups and downs of the spring season and speculate on what we'll be talking about come the fall. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/724378470843645952/summer-2023-langiappe?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:15-Intro 03:14-Talk Nice to Us 13:11-Catch Up Corner 13:59-My Only 12% 22:52-Roommates of Poongduck 304 26:14-She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat 30:09-The...

We haven't written this much meta since the Bad Buddy era! Thailand put out two brain-melters at the very end of the season and we added an entire episode just for them. Ben and NiNi talk Step By Step and La Pluie. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/724015787647680512/adult-swim?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:15-Intro 02:13-Step by Step  04:40-A Moment of Simping 08:40-Big Themes 16:52-The Romance 25:45-Story Execution 50:25-Where are we...

Japan is leaning into its cosy heartwarming bona fides and we're (mostly) liking what it's giving. Ben and NiNi talk J-BLs Jack O'Frost, Our Dining Table and Naked Dining. Episode transcript available here. 00:00-Welcome 01:15-Intro 02:01-Jack O'Frost 23:40-Our Dining Table (Bokura no Shokutaku) 48:00-Naked Dining (Zenra Meshi) 01:02:50-The J-BL Victory Lap and the Food BL Flop

Office romance is shaping up to be the trend of the year, with more shows this spring vying to put their stamp on the subgenre. In this episode, we pit former collaborators Cheewin Thanamin and New Siwaj against each other with their pretty much opposite takes on workplace romance. Ben and NiNi talk Bed Friend and A Boss and A Babe. TW: Bed Friend discussion 2:47-41:01 including discussions of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Episode transcript available here....

2 hours, 8 specials...it's the Our Skyy 2 episode! Ben and NiNi break down and rank all 8 stories from worst to first, and talk a little bit about why sequels matter. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/723109825220919296/welcome-back-my-boyfriend?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:15-Intro 06:07-Vice Versa 14:23-Star In My Mind 19:20-Never Let Me Go 28:00-A Boss and A Babe 36:45-The Eclipse 49:50-My School President 01:00:24-Bad Buddy x A...

Ben and NiNi talk The Eighth Sense, and Ben explains the whole Hedwig thing. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/722747117899251712/summer-2023-ep-2-the-eighth-sense?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:04-The Eighth Sense 18:00-The Relationships Between the Seniors and Juniors 27:45-The Hedwig Incident 36:32-Ae Ri 42:50-Ji Hyun and Jae Won 50:38-Joon Pyo and Boss Lady 56:28-Let's Talk About The Kissing (And Episode 6) 01:06:21-The Party Scene...

Korea cranked out a bunch of BLs in the spring, and we can't agree on any of them. Ben and NiNi talk All The Liquors, A Shoulder To Cry On, Our Dating Sim and Unintentional Love Story. Episode transcript available here. [https://www.tumblr.com/the-conversation-pod/722476492938985472/summer-2023-ep-1-round-1-fight?source=share] 00:00-Welcome 01:02-Intro 02:43-All the Liquors 13:20-A Shoulder to Cry On 31:54-Our Dating Sim 57:25-Unintentional Love Story 01:32:02-Conclusion

Welcome to our summer series! Spring was a season of challenging and thought-provoking watches, and we're ready to get to talking about them. Here's a little tease of what's in store.

In our Spring Lagniappe, Ben and NiNi look back at the winter season as a whole, catch up on some stuff we missed, and talk a little about what we're watching now, and what we plan to be watching over the next season.

Everything old is new again, in four shows that might make you consider calling up an ex…or not. Ben and NiNi talk The Warp Effect, The Director Who Buys Me Dinner, The End of the World With You and Individual Circumstances. TW: discussions of suicide 30:06-36:12

So nice you gotta do it twice? These three shows went back to the well for a second outing, with mixed results. Ben and NiNi talk Cutie Pie 2 You, Utsukushii Kare 2 and Between Us.

Yes, a whole goddamn episode. We've got a lot to say y'all, buckle in! Ben and NiNi talk Moonlight Chicken.

These three shows are the stuff of HR nightmares, but we suppose the course of true love never did run smooth. Ben and NiNi talk GAP the Series, The New Employee, and HIStory 5: Love in the Future.

We're kicking things off this season by looking at two wildly differing takes on high school romance. Ben and NiNi talk My School President, and Never Let Me Go.

We're back! Welcome to our spring series! We were well-fed this winter so we've got a LOT to talk about, and we're really excited to get to it, and here's a little tease for ya.

LAGNIAPPE \LAN-yap\ noun: A French Creole word that means 'a little extra'. We discovered our two cultures have this word in common, so we absolutely had to use it for our bonus episodes! In our Winter Lagniappe, Ben and NiNi break down the shows we will be, won't be and may be watching in 2023. Will NiNi return to Taiwanese BL? Will Ben get his watchlist down under 50? Will this finally be the year Summerdaze comes out? Nobody knows what the future holds, but the speculation is always fun.

In the conclusion to our winter series, we award our Best In Class VIIB Awards (Very Important Internet BL Awards) 2022, and hand out Special Class awards to two very special shows.

Our winter series continues with more VIIB Awards (Very Important Internet BL Awards) 2022! Part 2 is our industry deep dive, where we award all things technical and look at where BL's been this year and where it's going next.

In our winter series, we hand out Ben and NiNi's Very Important Internet BL (VIIB) Awards for 2022 and discuss industry trends both artistic and commercial over the course of 3 episodes. In part 1, we award actors and ships, and Ben and NiNi go head to head over side ship of the year.