# HIStory (2017 TV series)
**HIStory** is a Taiwanese anthology streaming television series of boys' love (BL) romance dramas, produced by the Taiwanese platform CHOCO TV (later merged into LINE TV) and first released on February 14, 2017. Each season presents two or three stand-alone stories with different plots and main characters, all centered on romantic relationships between men. It was the first BL drama series made in Taiwan, and its success opened the Taiwanese BL market, with rights sold to Japan and Thailand and later seasons continuing through 2023.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history) • [2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Anthology web series; each season contains two or three stand-alone BL romance units of roughly 20-minute episodes[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history) |
| First release | February 14, 2017 on CHOCO TV; season 1 ran to March 3, 2017 in three units: My Hero, Stay Away From Me (離我遠一點), and Obsessed (著魔)[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history) |
| Audience reach | 3.5 million online views within three months of release; the Obsessed unit alone passed 1.5 million views[2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf) |
| International first | The first Taiwanese web drama to enter Japan, with rights also sold to Thailand; season 1 received a Japanese theatrical release beginning September 30, 2017[2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf) • [3](https://www.spoinc.jp/lineup/list/detail/history) |
| Recognition | Season 2 was nominated for a mini-series award at the 53rd Golden Bell Awards[4](https://mcr.nccu.edu.tw/web/backissues/download_file.jsp?pp_no=PP1611591447492) |
| Run | Five seasons and eleven units between February 2017 and March 1, 2023[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history) |
## Spoilers
### Season 1 (2017)
Season 1 was planned as two units, My Hero and Stay Away From Me (離我遠一點), but a subsidy of NT$2.4 million from the government's 2016 (year 105) mobile broadband audiovisual production program funded a third unit, Obsessed (著魔). Episodes ran about 20 minutes, with one unit broadcast per week, and the season finished on March 3, 2017.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history)
**Obsessed** became the season's most popular unit, drawing more than 1.5 million online views. Its story follows Shao Yichen, who is betrayed by his lover and killed in a supercar collision during an argument, then reborn back on his university enrollment day nine years earlier, where he tries to avoid the fate that ties him to Jiang Jinteng.[2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf) • [5](https://www.gagaoolala.com/tc/videos/821/obsessed-2017-e01)
Within three months of release the series accumulated more than 3.5 million clicks across Taiwan, and fan-made translations appeared in English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Indonesian, and Thai. The publicity around it also spurred a wave of related Taiwanese television programs, films, and festival screenings.[6](https://www.niusnews.com/%3DP1mmbln0)
### Season 2 (2018) and awards
The second season paired two units, Right or Wrong (是非) and Crossing the Line (越界). Right or Wrong premiered on January 30, 2018, with eight episodes of 20 minutes each on CHOCO TV and LINE TV, using a web-first strategy followed by broadcast on CTS.[7](https://stat.moc.gov.tw/Research_Download.aspx?idno=1132) The season exceeded expectations: its rights were exported to Japan, it aired on the CTS terrestrial channel in August, and it was nominated for a mini-series award at the 53rd Golden Bell Awards. Among BL dramas produced by Taiwanese OTT platforms up to that point, Crossing the Line posted the strongest results.[4](https://mcr.nccu.edu.tw/web/backissues/download_file.jsp?pp_no=PP1611591447492)
## Later seasons
The anthology continued with two units per season. Season 3 (2019) comprised Trapped and Make Our Days Count, running 40 episodes from April to December 2019; season 4, Close to You, ran 20 episodes from March to May 2021; and season 5, Love in the Future (遇見未來的你), ran 20 episodes from December 2022 to March 2023, when the series ended.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/history) Counting the three season 1 units and two units in each of seasons 2 and 3, the anthology produced seven stand-alone series exploring gay romance between 2017 and 2019.[8](https://taicca.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/pdf/Taiwan_An_Emerging_Co-production_Powerhouse.pdf) HIStory3: Trapped became one of the most popular Taiwanese BL series internationally, though its contemporary setting made it harder for global audiences to distinguish from modern Chinese productions in the same genre.[9](https://globaltaiwan.org/2026/09/boys-love-and-soft-power/)
## International distribution
Season 1 was the first Taiwanese web drama to enter Japan. The three units were released there as three theatrical films under the title HIStory (マイ・ヒーロー / 離れて、離さないで / ボクの悪魔), opening at Cinemart Shinjuku on September 30, 2017 and at Cinemart Shinsaibashi in Osaka on October 21, 2017, with home video sales and rentals following in November and December 2017.[3](https://www.spoinc.jp/lineup/list/detail/history) Rights were also arranged for broadcast on Thai television by the end of 2017.[2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf) Season 2 was likewise exported to Japan.[4](https://mcr.nccu.edu.tw/web/backissues/download_file.jsp?pp_no=PP1611591447492)
## Context in Taiwanese BL
Before HIStory, Taiwanese television had touched on same-sex themes in works such as [Blue Gate Crossing](https://www.edgepedia.org/blue-gate-crossing) (2002) and the gay drama [Crystal Boys](https://www.edgepedia.org/crystal-boys) (孽子, 2003), but commercial broadcasters had generally treated BL only as an element added to mainstream shows rather than a market of its own. CHOCO TV's 2017 launch of the HIStory series gave Taiwan a foothold in the BL drama market.[2](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf) The series targeted the funü (腐女) audience, women who enjoy boys' love content, a segment that streaming platforms could reach directly as viewers shifted from scheduled television to on-demand viewing on phones and tablets.[10](https://ir.lib.nycu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/147434/1/13117.pdf)
On LINE TV, which merged with CHOCO TV's operator in 2018, the HIStory series was credited with driving the heat of the BL market from 2017 onward, bringing gender-diverse topics into the mainstream and helping double the platform's membership; LINE TV subsequently positioned itself as the Taiwanese OTT platform with the most complete BL catalog from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.[11](https://www.linecorp.com/tw/pr/news/tw/2020/3553) The series also predated legal change: Taiwan's legislature legalized same-sex marriage in May 2019, making Taiwan the first Asian country to do so, while HIStory1 had already reached Japanese audiences on the strength of its viewership.[12](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acul/202501065004.aspx) • [8](https://taicca.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/pdf/Taiwan_An_Emerging_Co-production_Powerhouse.pdf) In the summer after season 1, the series also received a broadcast run on CTS's terrestrial channel.[13](https://dramago.ptsplus.tv/topics/issues/)
## References
1. [HIStory系列, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/history)
2. [No. 904, 台灣廣告客戶協會 (TAAA) newsletter, citing 壹讀 (2017.03) and CHOCO TV](https://www.taaa.org.tw/uploads/editors/news_list/1946102161.pdf)
3. [HIStory『マイ・ヒーロー』『離れて、離さないで』『ボクの悪魔』公式サイト, SPO Entertainment](https://www.spoinc.jp/lineup/list/detail/history)
4. [新聞學研究 第146期 (2021): 臺灣BL劇敘事結構與同性戀情再現之研究, 國立政治大學](https://mcr.nccu.edu.tw/web/backissues/download_file.jsp?pp_no=PP1611591447492)
5. [HIStory系列：著魔 第1集, GagaOOLala](https://www.gagaoolala.com/tc/videos/821/obsessed-2017-e01)
6. [這就是BL的逆襲！台灣首部進軍日本的網路劇「HIStory系列」, 妞新聞 niusnews](https://www.niusnews.com/%3DP1mmbln0)
7. [第二章 電視產業調查, 交通部統計處](https://stat.moc.gov.tw/Research_Download.aspx?idno=1132)
8. [Taiwan: An Emerging Co-production Powerhouse, TAICCA](https://taicca.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/pdf/Taiwan_An_Emerging_Co-production_Powerhouse.pdf)
9. [Boys' Love and Soft Power, Global Taiwan Institute](https://globaltaiwan.org/2026/09/boys-love-and-soft-power/)
10. [台灣網劇新型態 BL劇崛起, 喀報 (國立交通大學)](https://ir.lib.nycu.edu.tw/bitstream/11536/147434/1/13117.pdf)
11. [LINE 2020年度回顧: LINE TV十大熱播排行榜揭曉, LINE Corporation](https://www.linecorp.com/tw/pr/news/tw/2020/3553)
12. [〖文化普拉斯〗突破語言與文化限制進軍國際 BL台劇無可救藥的純愛風潮, 中央社 CNA](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acul/202501065004.aspx)
13. [專題, 公視+ dramago](https://dramago.ptsplus.tv/topics/issues/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › LGBT-related web series*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license