Hidden Gem: Sotus

Hello, hello, my friendly Misfits, 

It’s Thursday again, the week is almost at the end again and here we are with another Gem to sweeten your short journey to the weekend. And this week I really have quite a show with me. Because if we call Love Sick the granddaddy of it all, then the show we are talking about today is definitely the godfather of it all. Because I am 1000000 percent sure without the success of this show, the current BL landscape would look completely and utterly different then what we are used to. 

So what am I talking about? 

Of course I am talking about the genius, the inspiring and absolutely perfect 

Sotus 

And yes, I have to warn you, because I will go all crazy fangirl on you today. I don’t really care for merch for example, but for Sotus I made an exception and paid an arm and a leg for the DVD box, because as a BL fan I think it’s something you definitely should own. But yeah, I am losing my train of thought early on today, I am afraid. It’s all just down to this absolute gem of a show and how much I love and adore it. 

I can hear now some people in the back rows complaining that Sotus is a lot of things, but definitely not a hidden gem. A few years ago I would have definitely agreed with you on this, as everyone, their uncle and their pet lizard had seen Sotus and went crazy for it. But these days a lot of new fans are coming into the community. 2Gether, Theory of Love, Bad Buddy and now Kinn Porsch have captured the hearts of so many new fans. But who says that these new fans are even aware of our glorious history of BL. So here I am, putting my teacher’s glasses on my nose and trying to explain to the next generation why this show is a must see for every BL fan out there. 

 Sotus – What is it about? 

When Kongpob starts his university journey as an engineering student he is suddenly confronted with a long standing tradition of his university: The Sotus system. 

In this tradition the older students are pretty much hazing the younger ones mercilessly. Kongpob, always the knight in shining armour for his fellow students, doesn’t need much time before he starts getting into trouble with the meanest senior of them all: Head hazer Arthit. Arthit is everything the young students fear: Mean, loud and always ready to give the younger students the most ridiculous tasks to complete.

But when Kongpob starts to see behind the entire Sotus system he learns that head hazer Arthit is completely different from what he expected. And before he even knows what is happening, he falls more and more for thunderer prince Arthit. 

Why You Might Like It: 

This is a classic. This is just such a staple in BL history that every fan should have watched it at least once. Sotus is one of the first BLs produced and GMM pretty much made their name as BL production company with this show. It was so popular that it pretty much exploded all over Asia and made Krist and Singto, the two leads, to overnight mega stars. Sotus was such a success that GMM started to produce more and more BLs which made them into the amazing BL company we know and love today. I think this definitely speaks volumes about the quality of Sotus. Because it pretty much kick started the whole trend that is BL today. I know that Love Sick was still before and yes, Love Sick was also incredibly popular. But Sotus for some reason just hit differently. I am not sure if it’s due to them having this big production company behind them. But they managed somehow to really make the entire genre explode with popularity. So yeah, if you wanna know where we as a BL community come from and what’s our history, then Sotus is definitely a MUST WATCH! 

The story was very new and unique back then and has been copied a thousand times over by now. Back then it was the first engineering storyline we got and I am sure we all can agree that engineering storylines are such a staple in our community these days that it’s almost ridiculous. But Sotus started it all and they did it just so well. So storyline wise I can promise you that you won’t be disappointed. It’s so well written and the acting of everyone involved is just so awesome and brilliant that it’s just an utter joy to watch it. 

The storyline also makes you think. Things that you see in the beginning might not all be just as you might fear. Everything has a second layer to it and I love shows like that. Because in the beginning they are telling you just one side of the story and the longer you watch the more you notice that things are not always what they seem and just because you feel a certain way about something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s what’s happening in reality. I am really a huge sucker for shows that make me think like that. And Sotus definitely makes you think about stuff. Sometimes not all that glitters is gold and sometimes a hard shell candy might have the fluffiest core of them all. And that’s all I am gonna give away. 

The chemistry between Krist and Singto is undeniable and has catapulted both of them onto the BL throne for a long time. If we look at the real titans of this community, then Krist and Singto held the crown for quite a few years, even though they just had two proper shows together. But there is just something special about them. You can pretty much just let these two go wild on stage and the audience will eat whatever they do up like crazy. They both are just so comfortable with each other and even if Sotus has pretty much no skinship, the emotions and the love are so visible in both their eyes it’s totally crazy. I definitely still think that these two could still move the entire world if they would be brought back together. Their chemistry and rapport is just so unique and rare that it just makes you go sheer crazy. 

I am pretty sure these two could just sit there and read the phone book for me and I would be totally smitten and happy. 

This show is in a way art imitating life. Because funnily enough Krist and Singto went to the same university. And Singto was the head hazer for his year. And now guess who was his junior who he had to haze? Right, Mister Krist. So both of them knew each other from before and I think that they both went through the hazing system made the entire show just more real and believable. 

The acting of the entire crew is absolutely fabulous. We have for example a very young Off in one of his first acting roles. As a VJ he didn’t have much experience with acting just yet, but his comedic talent was just so undeniable, that he stole everyone’s heart with his portrayal of Bright. And the rest of the cast is also just totally awesome. I honestly love every character and how the actors brought them to life. I love the friendships between the different characters, I love the entire chemistry between them and I totally would have loved to be part of this friend group. 

Why You Might Not Like It: 

The portrayal of hazing is not very comfortable to watch in the beginning. It’s a lot of shouting and a lot of very stupid traditions and tasks for the juniors. You often feel like it’s all very unfair what happens to the juniors and you really ask yourself if the seniors are just a bunch of mafia henchmen there to kill the entire university. I can definitely promise you that all shall be revealed in due time and it’s not all as bad as it seems, but yes, if hazing makes you uncomfortable, then be aware. 

Sotus is one of the first BLs that were ever produced and therefore it is a bit older than the other shows we have obviously. So a few things have maybe aged a bit unfortunately and not very well for that matter. Also sometimes you might think that this storyline has been told a million times over. Which is true, because a ton of BLs after Sotus just clearly took inspiration by this godfather of BL. So please remember, this is the original. Every engineering storyline, the entire university setting, hate to love trope and so on… this all started there. 

There are some rumours that alledge that Krist is homophobic which I have never believed in and I feel it’s very unfair to make that judgement. So there has been bad press about this lovely marshmallow, but I would say make up your own mind about him. I really, really love him and he is one of my favourite actors who definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. All he did was saying that he didn’t wanna act in BL anymore if he can’t act with Singto). I definitely feel like people just want to be negative about Krist and are now saying he is just coming back as he needs the money. I mean, come on. The guy is like an advertising titan, he has successful show after show and he also is an accomplished musician who has done collabs with the most famous names in Thai music. So no, I don’t think he is coming back for the money. He always has been so good to us Sotus and Peraya fans and he never forgot that it was us who made him this famous. But yeah, as I said, there are some rumours about Krist, but I would urge you to make your own mind up about him. I can just say he is a glorious little turtle who loves his fans and who loves Singto very much. 

There is pretty much no skinship. But you have to remember when this show was produced. And back then camera angle kisses (where the actors actually don’t really kiss) was pretty much the standard. So other than a few kisses we don’t get much in the skinship department. But if you ask me, the chemistry between Krist and Singto totally makes up for this. The way they look at each other, the way they talk to each other, just everything, is so perfect and so filled with love and desire that it doesn’t even matter if we see what they do in the bedroom. If you have a working imagination, you know what’s happening once the cameras leave these two love birds alone and thank the lord for all the fanfic authors who pretty much gave us a bit of imagination cinema in regards to anything sexy between these two. 

Finale Thoughts: 

Sotus is one of these rare unicorns that come about once in a generation I would say. It really was the catalyst that started the entire BL movement. Yes, Love Sick was before, but Sotus was such an incredible financial success and people just all over the world went completely crazy for this show. So yeah, I would definitely say if you are looking at our beginning and where we are coming from, then Sotus is really something you can’t ignore. They started something big and I have to say that I love to see how our fandom is developing further and further from this wonderful starting point. 

I can remember, when I started watching Asian BL I would always stumble in recommendations about Sotus. Everyone and their uncle said you need to watch it and I was so bombarded with it that I actually really didn’t wanna watch it. It felt so overhyped. But then I did watch it (we didn’t have as much choice back then as we have now, thank you very much) and for freaking fucking heck I had to admit within the first episode that yes, Sotus is THAT good. It’s a staple for a reason and people are still singing the highest praises ever since it was released. And I am pretty sure if GMM announced a third Sotus series, people would all go sheer nuts over it. And I think this is an accomplishment in itself to keep the fandom and the love for this show running over so many years. 

So yeah, if you haven’t watched Sotus yet, please, please, please do this old woman a favour and watch it. It’s easy to find on the GMM Youtube site and you can watch it free of charge in an awesome quality. I can promise you that you won’t regret giving it a chance. 

And if you did watch it already: Go and watch it again. I actually just did that for this blog and gosh, I can’t believe how good this show still is. Krist and Singto both are incredibly beautiful cryers and I just can’t get over how good they look together. They make me go through the whole range of human emotion every time I watch it. I swoon, I smile, I sometimes cry a little bit, I get angry sometimes, but most of the time I am just sitting in front of the screen smiling like a lunatic, sighing quite a lot and being pretty much totally in love. If you ever wondered what emotional porn looks like: This is it! 

Please feel free to leave a comment down below about your feelings and thoughts about Sotus. Don’t be shy. I am sure everyone is interested to see what you have to add. Because I think we all have our personal special Sotus story in a way. 

So yeah, that’s where I am gonna stop for today. I am sorry that it got so long again, but we all know I have trouble cutting myself short and when I start talking about something I love and adore so much as I do Sotus it’s pretty much impossible to not go into a whole rant frenzy. I hope you don’t mind too much. 

First posted on BLDA