General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20267 min read

I Told Sunset About You (แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ)

I Told Sunset About You (แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ; RTGS: Plae Rak Chan Duai Chai Thoe, literally "interpret my love with your heart") is a Thai coming-of-age series produced by Nadao Bangkok in collaboration with LINE TV, starring Putthipong "Billkin" Assaratanakul as Teh and Krit "PP" Amnuaydechkorn as Oh-aew, two estranged childhood friends who reconnect in a Chinese language class in Phuket while preparing for university entrance exams.¹^•² Its five episodes aired weekly on LINE TV at 20:00 on Thursdays from 22 October to 19 November 2020, and a sequel, I Promised You the Moon, followed in 2021.¹^•³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ (Plae Rak Chan Duai Chai Thoe, "interpret my love with your heart"); also known as BKPP The Series and ITSAY¹
Production	Nadao Bangkok with LINE TV; directed and written by Naruebet "Boss" Kuno⁴
Broadcast	5 episodes, LINE TV, Thursdays 20:00, 22 October to 19 November 2020; about 69 minutes per episode¹^•⁵
Leads	Putthipong "Billkin" Assaratanakul as Teh; Krit "PP" Amnuaydechkorn as Oh-aew⁵
Setting	Phuket, with the island's Thai-Chinese heritage and a Chinese-language tutorial school central to the plot²
Reception	9.4/10 on the Chinese rating site Douban after the finale; Nataraja Awards including Drama Series of the Year (online platform)⁴^•⁶
Sequel	I Promised You the Moon (2021), directed by Tossaphon Riantong with Naruebet Kuno as producer³

Spoilers

Premise

Teh and Oh-aew passed the entrance exam for the same school in Phuket in high school and became close friends. Later, Oh-aew was given the opportunity by his teacher to play the role of Yong Jian, a role Teh had dreamed of playing from the beginning; after the performance Oh-aew told Teh he had found his dream of becoming an actor, which made Teh angry and hurt, and the two grew apart.⁷ Years later, while both prepare for university entrance in the communications field, they meet again in a Chinese language class, and the reunion stirs complex, unstable feelings neither fully understands.⁸ As the friendship is rebuilt, the relationship deepens into passion, confusion, betrayal, and heartbreak.⁹

The story is an original screenplay, not an adaptation of a novel, which distinguishes it from many Thai BL titles of the period such as SOTUS, Love by Chance, and Dark Blue Kiss.¹⁰

Sequel and legacy

The story continued as I Promised You the Moon (แปลรักฉันด้วยใจเธอ Part 2) in 2021, directed by Tossaphon Riantong with Naruebet Kuno moving to producer.³^•²² Part 2 drew heavy criticism from some viewers who deliberately dropped the show after episode 3, because it departed from the Y-series convention of capturing sweet moments and instead followed the couple's problems, which some commentators read as a more truthful portrayal of LGBTQ+ life.²³ Vogue Thailand highlighted the sequel's opening condom-purchase scene as a challenge to the conventions of sex scenes in Thai Y series, conveying intimacy indirectly while raising awareness of disease prevention and sexual health.²⁴

The series also left a mark on its filming locations. Research on Phuket Old Town found that the area, previously known as a historical tourist site and Baba culture center, gained a new tourism dimension as a drama filming location, producing pop-culture tourism in which visitors follow the series' locations.²⁵ A companion documentary series, I Told Sunset About You The Documentary, followed the cast and crew from preparation through the end of production in Phuket, airing on LINE TV with six episodes in its second season concluding 26 June 2021.²⁶

Production origins

The project began with the popularity of the supporting pairing in the 2019 series My Ambulance (รักฉุดใจนายฉุกเฉิน), in which Billkin and PP played Dr. Tao and Tiewkwa. After that character died in episode 15, fans asked for more, and Nadao Bangkok developed the idea as the special BKPP Project. The director first planned a sequel to the My Ambulance characters, but because the script had killed one of them off, the writing team could not find a way to pair them again, and Naruebet Kuno decided to write an entirely new story.⁴^•¹¹ The series was shot under the unofficial name BKPP The Series and received its official title at a blessing ceremony on 4 June 2020.¹²

Promotion began early: the trailer was released on 13 May 2020, and a short film, Last Twilight in Phuket, billed as a side story, appeared in a surprise release on 20 May.¹

Structure and the Chinese-language thread

The five episodes are titled, in Thai, ความรักดั่งเกลียวคลื่น, ชิดใกล้ ใช้ครอบครอง, เริ่มรักที่รักแรก, ห้วงรักดุจเหวลึก, and ตะวันล้าไม่เปลี่ยนทิศ.⁴ The screenwriters built the plot around Thailand's PAT7.4 aptitude examination in Chinese, using the exam's structure to shape each episode: episode 2 deals with Chinese word roots and episode 4 with Chinese numbers, and Chinese cultural elements are woven throughout.⁴ The choice of Phuket, a province with a mixed Chinese cultural heritage, inspired this approach; the setting also supplies the series' visual identity, from Sino-Portuguese architecture in Phuket Old Town to local food such as Hokkien noodles and the dessert o-aew, which shares its name with a lead character.⁴^•¹³

Genre position and style

Within the Thai Y/Boys' Love industry, the series is treated as a revisionist work. A 2024 study by Natthanai Prasannam of Kasetsart University argues that 2020 was a transitional year for the industry, pushed by social activism, LGBTQ campaigns, and criticism that Y series perpetuated romantic fantasy without socio-political engagement; I Told Sunset About You and its sequel responded by integrating queer bildungsroman elements, quests for gender identity, and subtly switched seme and uke (assigned dominant and receptive roles in Boys' Love pairings) roles into the conventions of popular romance.³ Some Thai internet users went as far as calling it a gay series rather than a Y series, although LINE TV categorized it under Y series; the physical intimacy between the leads is given narrative motivation as the relationship develops gradually.¹⁴

Critics singled out the production values. The Queer East festival program called the production value unusually high for a Boys' Love series, with cinematography that captures the story's mood and accomplished lead performances.¹⁵ The Hong Kong Asian Film Festival booklet described its lush camerawork, sound screenplay, and sparkling lead performances as a moment of breaking dawn for Thai television.⁶ Reviewers also noted the series' use of symbolism, such as the yin-yang black-and-white motif and the coconut-water drink standing in for Oh-aew's character.¹⁶

Music

Nadao Bangkok's music label Nadao Music released three original songs in seven versions on streaming platforms, with music videos on YouTube, and further releases followed each weekly episode. At the series' press launch, Billkin performed "กีดกัน" live at CentralWorld in Bangkok.¹⁷

Reception and awards

The series trended at number one on Twitter in Thailand and worldwide while airing, and drew strong responses abroad; one of the most receptive markets was China, where it scored 9.4 on Douban after the fifth episode. PP Krit received a popular foreign actor award at the 5th Weibo TV Series Awards.⁴ At the 12th Nataraja Awards, the series was nominated for and won Drama Series of the Year (online platform), and the Hong Kong festival booklet lists further wins including Best Online Drama, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor.¹⁸^•⁶ International viewers rated it 9.3/10 on Rakuten Viki and 8.32 on IMDb.¹⁹^•²⁰ A Filipino-dubbed version began streaming in 2021, with global fans calling it one of the best BL series of 2020.²¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › Turkish, Middle Eastern, and African serials › Thai serial dramas (lakorn) › Premiered 2008 to 2024

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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