Where to Watch BL and GL Dramas
Finding a BL or GL series is rarely the hard part. Finding where it is legally streaming from the country you are in is the part that eats the afternoon. This guide explains how each service is built, who it suits and what to check, so you can pick the one or two that match the shows you follow.
Start with your situation
I want to watch for free
Start with official studio channels on YouTube. Viki, iQIYI and Viu also run free tiers with advertising.
I live outside Asia
These are the services with the widest reach. Check each one from your own country, since libraries differ.
I follow Thai series
Many Thai shows premiere on GMM25 or One 31 and reach viewers abroad through a streaming partner.
I want Chinese danmei adaptations
Chinese-language drama is concentrated on a few large services, with GagaOOLala carrying many shorter web series.
I watch Korean series
Korean BL is mostly short web series released on small platforms and YouTube, then licensed abroad.
I want Japanese series
Japanese drama airs late at night at home. Outside Japan it arrives through a licensee, listed on each series page.
The services, one by one
Each card says what the service costs in broad terms, where it reaches, how its subtitles work and what it is best for. Open the archive link to see every series on this site that names it.
YouTube
Free episodes straight from the studios
- Cost
- Free with advertising. YouTube Premium is a paid option without ads.
- Reach
- Almost everywhere. Access is blocked in a small number of countries including China, North Korea and Iran.
- Subtitles
- Set by the uploader. Many official BL channels add English captions to their own episodes.
- Best for
- Full episodes, trailers and special episodes on official Thai, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Filipino producer channels.
Availability is set video by video, so an episode that plays in one country can be withheld in another.
See the 79 series on YouTube
GagaOOLala
A service built only for LGBTQ+ stories
- Cost
- Streaming service. Check the service itself for its current plans.
- Reach
- Worldwide since May 2020, apart from mainland China and North Korea.
- Subtitles
- Offered in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Thai.
- Best for
- A library of more than a thousand queer titles, including Taiwanese and Southeast Asian productions that never get a Western broadcast licence.
It often commissions the title itself, so it can be the original home of a series rather than a later licensee.
See the 47 series on GagaOOLala
iQIYI
Chinese, Korean and Thai drama in one place
- Cost
- A free tier with advertising. The paid VIP tier adds 1080p, more devices, advance access to episodes and no advertising.
- Reach
- iQIYI International says it serves 191 territories.
- Subtitles
- Interface and subtitles in twelve languages, English among them.
- Best for
- Chinese, Korean and Thai series, some of them iQIYI commissions.
Use the international site and apps, not the domestic Chinese service.
See the 57 series on iQIYI
WeTV
Where much Chinese drama gets English subtitles
- Cost
- Check the service itself for its current plans.
- Reach
- Language editions for English, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.
- Subtitles
- Varies by edition, and by the rights Tencent holds in each market.
- Best for
- Adaptations of Chinese danmei novels, plus WeTV originals from Thailand and Indonesia.
Check the edition for the country you are in rather than assuming one shared global library.
See the 25 series on WeTV
Viki
Subtitles made by the viewers themselves
- Cost
- Free with advertising. Viki Pass removes the ads and opens the subscriber section.
- Reach
- Worldwide, but the library differs by country because it follows the rights Viki holds.
- Subtitles
- Volunteer teams translate and time the captions, so English usually arrives quickly on a licensed title.
- Best for
- Titles from Korea, Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Viki is normally a licensed second home for a series, so episodes tend to follow the home release.
See the 21 series on Viki
Netflix
The widest reach, with a country-by-country library
- Cost
- Subscription with several tiers, including one supported by advertising.
- Reach
- More than 190 countries. China, North Korea, Syria, Kosovo and Crimea are outside its reach.
- Subtitles
- Interface, subtitles and dubbing in 56 languages.
- Best for
- Global originals, co-productions and licensed Asian titles where it holds the rights.
A title carried in one country may be missing in another, so check inside the service from where you watch.
See the 14 series on Netflix
Viu
Subtitled Asian drama across sixteen markets
- Cost
- A free tier with advertising. The paid tier removes the ads and adds 720p and 1080p playback.
- Reach
- Sixteen markets across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
- Subtitles
- Local-language subtitles for each market it serves.
- Best for
- Viu Originals from Southeast Asia and repeat runs of GMM25 series.
The service is not offered everywhere, so confirm your country is one of its markets.
See the 12 series on ViuoneD
The home app of the Thai One 31 and GMM25 channels
- Cost
- A free tier with advertising, with a paid subscription above it.
- Reach
- Built for Thailand. The library a viewer sees can differ from the Thai one.
- Subtitles
- Aimed at Thai viewers. International subtitled releases usually come through other licensees.
- Best for
- Live One 31 and GMM25, and on-demand series from GMMTV and other Thai studios, often the first place an episode appears.
Most useful as the record of where and when a Thai series first streamed.
See the 15 series on oneD
Prime Video
Included, rented or bought, depending on your country
- Cost
- Part of a Prime membership in some markets and sold on its own in others. Individual titles can be rented or bought, and add-on channels are bought inside the app.
- Reach
- More than 200 countries and territories. Mainland China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, Vietnam and Crimea are outside its reach.
- Subtitles
- Localised subtitles in 33 languages.
- Best for
- Licensed Asian titles where Amazon holds the rights.
The same title can sit in different places in different Amazon storefronts.
See the 3 series on Prime Video
FOD
Fuji Television drama in Japan
- Cost
- A free catch-up tier keeps recent episodes for seven days after broadcast. FOD Premium is a monthly subscription for the full library.
- Reach
- Offered in Japan.
- Subtitles
- Aimed at Japanese viewers.
- Best for
- Late-night Japanese drama from Fuji Television, plus an archive reaching back to the 1980s.
Viewers elsewhere usually watch a Japanese title through the international platform that licensed it.
See the 11 series on FOD
U-NEXT
Japanese live action and anime with the books behind them
- Cost
- Japanese subscription service.
- Reach
- Operates in Japan.
- Subtitles
- Aimed at Japanese viewers.
- Best for
- Japanese live-action BL drama, yaoi and yuri anime, and the printed source material in the same subscription.
International viewers normally reach these titles through a separate licensee.
See the 4 series on U-NEXTWavve
Korean broadcaster libraries at home
- Cost
- Korean subscription service.
- Reach
- Serves South Korea.
- Subtitles
- Aimed at Korean viewers.
- Best for
- Series tied to KBS, MBC and SBS, and Wavve originals, generally in step with the broadcast schedule.
Viewers elsewhere normally reach a Korean title through an international licensee.
See the 6 series on Wavve
TrueVisions NOW
Thai pay television in an app
- Cost
- Tiered packages, some of which bundle partner platforms.
- Reach
- Built for viewers in Thailand.
- Subtitles
- Aimed at Thai viewers.
- Best for
- Thai originals such as Jet Lag, plus partner platforms reachable from the same app.
A title filed here may be the app's own production rather than an acquisition.
See the 6 series on TrueVisions NOW
Crunchyroll
The home for animated adaptations
- Cost
- Check the service itself for its current plans.
- Reach
- Availability is set territory by territory.
- Subtitles
- Subtitles first, with dubbed tracks following for some titles.
- Best for
- Japanese animation and Chinese donghua. It appears on this site only against animated records.
Releases are normally simulcast, arriving within hours of the Japanese broadcast.
See the 3 series on CrunchyrollThai television channels you will see named
Many Thai records name a channel rather than an app. These are broadcast signals inside Thailand, so the practical route abroad is the streaming release that accompanies them.
GMM25
A Thai digital terrestrial channel that began on 25 May 2014. It is the broadcast home of much of GMMTV's output, with series in a nightly 8:30 pm slot. It feeds oneD, which streams the channel live.
See the 64 series on GMM25One 31
A Thai high definition channel on channel 31 that took its present name in December 2015. It shares ownership and a streaming outlet with GMM25, so a premiere on either usually reaches oneD the same day.
See the 26 series on One 31Five things worth checking before you press play
- Open the service from your own country. Libraries are assembled territory by territory, so the same series can be present on Netflix in one country and absent in the next.
- Check the subtitle language, not only the title. Viki relies on volunteer teams, YouTube leaves captions to the uploader, and WeTV and iQIYI vary by language edition.
- Look at the release date on the series page. A series that airs weekly at home may reach a licensed platform on a different schedule.
- Treat free tiers as a first step. Free viewing with advertising is common, but the paid tier is what usually adds higher resolution, more devices or earlier episodes.
- Stay with official routes. The studios and performers behind these series are paid through the services that license them, which is what pays for the next season.
Questions people ask
Is there one app that has every BL and GL series?
No. Rights are sold by country, by language and often by batch of episodes, so a Thai series and a Japanese one almost never share a buyer. Most viewers end up with two or three services, chosen by the countries whose shows they follow.
What is the cheapest way to start?
Free first. YouTube carries full episodes on many official studio channels, and Viki, iQIYI and Viu each run a free tier with advertising. What is free varies by title, and the paid tiers mostly add things like no advertising, higher resolution or earlier episodes.
Why can I not find a series in my country?
Streaming licences are regional. A service can carry a series in one territory and not in another, and YouTube lets each uploader decide where a video plays. Open the service from the country you are in, and use the platform list on the series page as your starting point.
Do Thai series have English subtitles?
Where an English subtitled release exists, it generally comes through an international licensee rather than the Thai channel. GMM25 and One 31 are Thai broadcasts, so international viewers usually follow the matching streaming release. The series page lists the platforms recorded for it.
Where can I watch Japanese BL from outside Japan?
FOD, U-NEXT and TVer serve Japan, so viewers elsewhere reach a Japanese title through whichever international platform licensed it. Each Japanese series page records those releases.
Which service carries the most titles on this site?
YouTube is named on the most records here, at 0. Counts rebuild whenever a record changes.
Do you link to unofficial uploads?
No. This page only points to services that hold or publish the series, and the series pages list legal platforms. Watching through the official route is also what keeps the people who make these shows working.
Why does this page not quote prices?
Plans, prices and free tiers change often and differ by country. The details here describe how each service is built, and the service itself is the place to confirm what it costs today.
Service names are used only to say where a series can be watched. Every name belongs to its owner, and BL & GL Flix is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any of these services. Logos are trademarks of their respective owners and appear only to identify each service, and the small coloured circles are our own illustrations. Availability, plans and prices change, so confirm them on the service before you subscribe. Looking for other terms? The BL and GL glossary explains the vocabulary, and the BL and GL hubs collect the series.
