Body-swap series with a BL Flavor

Rigid binaries govern how most cultures recognize sex (m/f) and sexual identity (homo-/hetero-). Until recently, movement between these options was less disfavored than unimaginable. Recently, the notion of fluidity has blurred the rigid inflexibility of these boundaries. Kamisama especially interrogates the question “why do I like the person I like?” Does attraction stem from their sex? From the earthly personality? From the ethereal soul? Or does attraction follow some immutable quality inherent to the combination soul+body+personality?

To test these inquiries, Kamisama swaps a male and female character. A bored local shrine deity bestowed this favor after each prayed for a fresh start. Yashiro confessed a crush on best friend Kenta, who promptly rejected him (“I like girls.”). Retreating from this horror, Yashiro promises they can remain friends precisely as he walks into the path of an oncoming lorry. Ostracized at school and at odds with her parents, Kagura also suffers a near-mortal injury. Yashiro finds himself in her body following the business with the lorry. So much the better: the new, female body combined with the personality Kenta already likes should prove more than the object of his affection can resist. Once “Kagura” transfers to the same high school as Kenta and Yashiro (now hospitalized in a coma), “she” launches a campaign to win Kenta’s heart (without freaking him out about the whole body swap thing). Meanwhile, Rin, not only notices Kenta’s new suitor, but she also figures out “Kagura” is really Yashiro. Then she finds herself unexpectedly attracted to Yashiro-as-Kagura despite having disliked him as a boy. Further complications ensue when “Yashiro” (now Kagura) awakens and returns to school. As the foursome sorts out who likes whom and for what reasons, Favoritism of the God delivers genuine existential musings. How many BLs can claim that?

The oldest entry in this list, “My Hero” launched the History series by not quite being a proper BL. It is, however, a full-fledged gender-swap tale. A Grim Reaper’s mistake leads Lan Xi to occupy the body of Gu Si Ren. To avoid immediate death, she must persuade her boyfriend Mai Ying Xiong to fall in love with her anew—only in her current (male) form. The series thus depicts one guy courting another guy, but could avoid offending homophobes by arguing that that “Gu Si Ren” is really a woman. Produced before BL went mainstream, this caveat likely helped make the series palatable to a wider cross-section of viewers. (To be fair, the popularity of the History series both within and beyond Taiwan helped prepare BL for mainstream status when the pandemic hit in 2020.) Mai’s complicated reaction to his friend Gu (whose odd behavior keeps reminding him of his recently deceased girlfriend) adds an emotional layer to the story that builds as the series progresses. My Hero is less sophisticated than other series on this list. Even so, it delivers a winning story for both the gender-swap and BL genres.

A Grim Reaper’s mistake also launches the story line for The Shipper, which takes its title from the hobby of the female lead. Pan and her best friend enjoy imagining stories, in which they ship cute boys at their school together. Following a traffic accident involving herself and one of those boys, she awakens in Kim’s body. The rest of the series deals with the repercussions of her discovery that his squeaky-clean persona at school is at odds with the reality of his life.

 High-octane performances from prominent members of GMMTV’s stable of actors rescue The Shipper from its messy storyline. Jenny, Ohm, and First stand out . First has the dual responsibility of playing both Kim and Pan-as-Kim, but the viewer will never become confused about which of the two Kims is on-screen at any moment. Jenny charms as the Grim Reaper, while Ohm delivers, arguably, his most subdued performance to date as Kim’s estranged brother and a potential love interest to Pan. If that sounds messy, then you grasp The Shipper’s chief weakness: a storyline that made rooting for these characters more difficult with each passing episode.

Favoritism of the God and The Shipper justified their creation via high concept premises.  Favoritism toyed with ideas about gender and attraction; Shipper exploited the farce of playing someone you’re not. By contrast, Cupid’s Last Wish exists for financial gain: the lead actors generated buzz and swoons for their 2021 BL romp Tale of Thousand Stars, and GMMTV no doubt wanted to capitalize on the duo’s bankable charm. One senses producers cobbled together the whole 10-episode series to sate that demand.

After twin siblings Win (Mix) and Lin (Jan) get into a traffic accident, Win awakens inside his sister’s body. Korn, Win’s erstwhile best friend with whom he’s now feuding*, detects the swap right away. A Buddhist monk tells the pair (Win’s body remains in a coma) they can put everyone back in the proper place if Win and Korn obtain holy water from four shrines in one week. Despite the basic premise, Cupid delivers twists on the usual formula. Notably, it dispensed with any pretense that Korn is unaware of the body swap. Many fans anticipated the series would show Korn falling in love with the sister. Because Korn knew his companion to be Win-in-Lin’s-body, Mix played the part when the duo was alone. Jan played the part to show how the feuding heroes appeared to folk they encountered along the way. The director thereby included viewers in the switch. In any event, 

The set-up allows Cupid to blend crowd-pleasing tropes from three genres: BL, gender swap, and road movies. The resulting confection mostly delivers the laughs and romantic beats one would expect. If Cupid seldom surprises, it also seldom disappoints.

*-two BL tropes for the price of one! Friends-to-lovers AND enemies-to-lovers!

The only series in this list lacking lead characters who gender swap is also the only series lacking supernatural intervention as the catalyst for the body swap. Vice Versa, GMMTV's second body-swap series of 2022, debuted a few months after Cupid's Last Wish.  The “high concept” for this switcheroo is that mortally-injured people from a parallel universe swap bodies along with universes. Swapping back is possible provided one can find a “portkey,” another soul from the original world whose fate is linked to their own. While the main characters in this series swap into male bodies, some of the others they encounter in the parallel universe have swapped genders as well. Vice Versa mostly wastes its sci-fi premise as minimal attention is paid to the idea of living out another person's life. The characters almost always appear to the audience as their "natural" personality. 

BONUS SERIES: Technically, Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding does not belong on this list, since Ki Wan’s soul remains firmly entrenched in Ki Wan’s body. Nevertheless, the spectacle of a man trying to perform the opposite gender’s role without being detected resonates with other series in the list. To save the family from social ignominy when his sister flees from her impending wedding, big brother Choi Ki Wan dons her wedding address and marries her fiancé, Nobleman Ryu. You know, as anyone would. That set-up makes the genre “passing,” rather than “body swap,” but the genderfu** works about the same. (And this list is brief enough that one more title won’t hurt.) In this series, the BL story carries more weight than the gender swap aspect.

Echoing another theme recurring in this list, Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding also questions whether attraction arises because of gender or personality. After the wedding, feelings develop between the unsuspecting Ryu and Choi Ki Wan. Recognizing the unfairness to Ryu, Ki Wan discloses his true self and enlists Ryu to protect the Choi family’s dishonesty. Ryu, however, quickly realizes that his affection was for Ki Wan irrespective of his gender. But can Ki Wan reciprocate those feelings as a man?