The genre of BL (Boy Loves) may be pretty popular in countries like Thailand, Taiwan and more but in South Korea, given its culture, is only now warming up to the idea of male-male romances. The Korean BL industry only blossomed a few years ago and 2022 saw the most number of gay romances coming in the form of K-dramas. Being way shorter than a typical K-drama, Korean BLs are mostly web dramas that do not get a TV network release but are enjoyed by fans all over the world nonetheless. If you are a fan of BLs and would love to watch short and intense romantic boy loves in the form of K-dramas here is our list of the best Korean BLs released in 2022.
Blueming
2022’s most loved Korean BL Blueming is a simple love story that follows the life of Cha Si-won. He is a media student and has followed a routine all his life in order to look the way he does. Si-won believes that his good looks will help him get more popular but it all suddenly changes when a new student joins his course. Hyeong Da-un. Da-un is also someone who has perfect looks but on top of that, he is academically smart and also comes from a rich family. He is everything Si-won aspires to be and Da-un’s presence starts making Si-won insecure. Moreover, Da-un is oddly attracted to Si-won and tries to help him gain confidence just the way he is.
Color Rush 2
The 2020 BL drama which was renewed for a second season in 2022, Color Rush narrates the story of Monochromatic people (known as ‘Mono’s) who live in a world where they are not able to see colours. They view their surroundings through varying shades of grey, black and white. However, every Mono has a fated person (known as ‘Probe’s) who is able to trigger their grey-scale world into colour, inducing what is termed as a ‘Colour Rush’. Yeon-woo is a Mono who is aware that other colours do exist but has never experienced them for himself. His life is forever changed when he meets Yoo-han, his Probe, and experiences his first ‘Colour Rush’. Yeon-woo and Yoo-han develop a relationship and everything is going smoothly for the couple. The second season of Color Rush follows the couple after Yoo-han’s sudden disappearance which turns Yeon-woos’s world upside down. Yeon-woo’s classmate, Se-hyun helps him in his quest to look for Yoo-han.
To My Star 2
The 2021 K-drama To My Star was renewed for a new season in 2022. The show follows the life of actor Kang Seo-joon who was one of South Korea’s biggest and most popular stars. His career starts to decline due to his personal scandals and his manager decides to put Seo-joon on a break. Seo-joon moves in with his manager’s childhood friend, Han Ji-woo. Ji-woo is a chef by profession and is as alienated from the world of fame and limelight as one can be. The two boys decide to adapt to each other’s lives now as roommates and suddenly develop a romantic relationship. However, their love comes under threat when the more conservative Ji-woo and the free-spirited Seo-joon realize that their outlooks on life, love and everything else appear to be different. The second season of To My Star follows the untold story of Seo-joon and Ji-woo which follows the couple after the end of Season 1. The season follows all the issues that the couple goes through due to their different backgrounds and shows how the couples navigate their romantic relationship.
Semantic Error
One of 2022’s most popular Korean BL, Semantic Error follows the story of Chu Sang-woo, a junior computer science student who is reasonable, and rigid to his own ideologies. Part of his university work requires Sang-woo to work on a group project for the liberal arts in order to pass the module. His group has decided to leave him to work on the project by himself so Sang-woo decides to omit the names of the other students from the final presentation causing them to fail the module. Sang-woo’s action, though completely right in his mind causes him to clash with a senior student named Jang Jae-young who was a part of the group project. Jae-young is the polar opposite of Sang-woo and after Sang-woo’s action costs Jae-young his college credit, his plans to study abroad are suddenly thrown up in the air. Jae-young plans to torment Sang-woo for what he has done and the duo is forced to work together leading a strange attraction to develop between them.
Ocean Likes Me
Starring South Korea’s first and only openly gay idol, Holland in the lead role, the show Ocean Likes Me is a healing food romance between Han Ba-da and Tommy (played by Holland). Ba-da is a young entrepreneur who dreams of starting an udon restaurant with a beach in the background but finds serving customers difficult. He then meets Tommy, a failed musician who returns to his hometown after wandering and has a new dream. Together, both of them step towards their dreams. Han Gi-chan of Where Your Eyes Linger plays Ba-da in 2022’s Ocean Likes Me.
Oh! My Assistant
The show Oh! My Assistant follows the life of Seon-ho, an artist who draws adult webtoons. It started as an easy way to make money, but now, his profession has caused some unexpected side effects for Seon-ho. The most important one of them being the fact that Seon-ho hasn’t been aroused for over two years. He is exhausted and hires an assistant to help him with work. However, Mu-yeong, the new assistant is impeccably cute, talented, and apparently someone who hails from a rich family. This leads Seon-ho to wonder why Mu-yeong wants to work for an adult webtoonist like himself.
Cherry Blossoms After Winter
After the sudden death of his parents, seven-year-old Seo Hae-beom is forced to move in with his adoptive family. The family Hae-beom has moved into has a young son named Jo Tae-seong who is the same age as Hae-beom. Hae-beom is in awe of Tae-seong and considers him to be everything that he aspires to become. Tae-seong is tall, handsome, popular, caring, and worthy of love and attention, something that Hae-beom thinks he can never be. The two end up being in the same class in high school and end up spending a lot more time with each other than they could ever think of. This blossoms an unexpected romance between the two.
Roommates of Poongduck 304
The mature BL drama follows the life of 29-year-old Ji Ho-jun who leads a happy-go-lucky life all thanks to being a third-generation chaebol of the Guemman Group. His free life is put to a stop when he receives an ultimatum from his father asking him to leave the family house without a penny and survive for two whole years without being dependent on his family’s wealth. His old man also asks him to become capable to become the team leader of the new business team of his family business. After being kicked out, Ho-jun moved to a Villa, but Seo Jae-yoon, the owner of the villa, ignores the brat who arrives in a Ferrari. Jae-yoon treats Ho-jun as a commoner and but fate shocks them when it turns out that same company where Jae-yoon is the team leader and Ho-jun is the subordinate.
Love Class
Love Class narrates the story of Cha Ji-woo, a second-year student of Mass Communication and Journalism. He is short in stature and very gentle in nature. He likes Bae Yu-na, his classmate but the girl is being stalked by a mysterious person that has her swearing off all men but Ji-woo who is a kind-hearted and non-threatening boy. Yu-na does not see Ji-woo as an ideal partner but only as a friend. One day, a university class requires that students all pair up in “couples” to complete a project about love. Everyone forms heterosexual couples but Yu-na gets into a same-sex pair with one of her classmates. This leaves Ji-woo to pair up with a tall, confident senior student named Lee Ro-ah who he has never met before. After they begin working together, Ji-woo starts to wonder if Ro-ah likes him after all.
Kissable Lips
The 2022 BL drama, Kissable Lips is a sweet and bloody campus romance between Jun-ho, a vampire who is walking the path of extinction, and Min-hyun, a human with pure blood. Jun-ho is a vampire who is about to die ad in order to survive, he will need to drink pure blood and become a human. One day, while searching for this pure blood, he meets Min-hyun, but Jun-ho’s plans are hampered when another vampire named Hae-soo intervenes. Hae-soo surprisingly knows about Jun-ho’s past traumas and Min-hyun has a fallout with Jun-ho because of Hae-soo. And there we have it, our list of the 10 best Korean BL dramas that were released in 2022! What do you think of our list? Have we included your favourites? Or have we missed any must-watch dramas? We love to hear from you so do feel free to let us know in the comments below.
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