The Star Always Follow You

A beautiful Vietnamese BL series

This is the first time that I'm reviewing a BL series from Vietnam. The sheer number of BL series from countries like Thailand, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan may be the reason why the Vietnamese BL industry has remained a little below the radar of the international BL fan community, although there have been some remarkable productions in recent years.

”Lấp Lánh Tựa Ánh Sao Trời” was given the lame (and grammatically wrong) English title ”The Star Always Follow You”, although the literal translation ”Glistening Like the Stars of the Sky” sounds much more poetic, and thus matches the quality of this series – it is a beautiful, sometimes poetic piece of art.

The basic idea of the plot doesn't sound unique or sensational: Dang, a boy from Saigon who has missed the university examination twice, because he prefers playing games with his friends over studying, is dragged by his mother to a village where his grandma lives, to be tutored by teacher Mr. Son, who has a good reputation because he helped Vi, a boy from the village, to pass the university exam. Dang has some difficulties adapting to the simple village life, and Mr. Son at first is reluctant to tutor Dang, but as this is a BL series, Dang falls in love with the teacher, and vice versa. Dang's mother tries to forbid her son's relationship with the tutor, but in the end she agrees after Dang and Mr. Son have made it clear to her that their love is not just a temporary mood.

What does make the plot unique, though not really sensational, is a number of subplots that deal with the relationships of three other couples. There is Vi, a university student, who likes An, a little gangster. Vi succeeds in making An refrain from stealing and in teaching him, there is Quan, a young man who falls in love with the deaf-mute woman Quynh, helps her sell her self-made hair ribbons, and learns sign language in order to be able to communicate with her, and there is an ol...