Bu Xia (Hong Wei Zhe) is a timid, playful and seemingly superstitious boy, whose family seems to be in touch with their spiritual side, with his sister having taken over the family shrine since the death of their grandfather. After several encounters bumping into him on campus, Bu Xia meets Jiang Chi (Yang I Hsuan), who becomes his roommate, despite Bu Xia wanting to have his own room. Jiang Chi is quite the opposite of Bu Xia, he is more serious, stern and tidy, which creates disputes between them. Although they start out with various conflicts, it doesn’t take long before both of them realize that they can be more accommodating and begin to get along reluctantly.

In spite of his stern and strict persona, Jiang Chi becomes disarmed by Bu Xia’s vulnerability, as he sees him asleep outside of their room, having nightmares. “Stay by My Side” seems to be a classic romance with “opposites attract” theme; the stern and aloof love interest warming up to their goofy counterpart and providing them with love and support, which is seemingly contrary to their character.

It becomes clear that Bu Xia can hear the cries of ghosts and spirits that have unfinished business on earth; and only when he is close to Jiang Chi do those voices become mute. Jiang Chi is therefore his shield against those voices that he hears and because Bu Xia, at this point is not brave enough to face or horn his powers, he needs Jiang Chi to stay by his side as he navigates the extent of his power and how to handle them.

The series mixes supernatural elements with romance tropes as well as comedic elements to subvert the genre, which normally leans towards horror and drama. The series is fun and does not necessarily need to be taken seriously, despite tackling serious spiritual and supernatural issues. The acting is quite solid, and the characters have chemistry, which makes the show quite easy to watch, although the pacing in the first two episodes and the exposition could have been handled better.

Despite Jiang Chi doing delivery jobs and slamming it in the dorms with Bu Xia, his life story, through the limited interpretation, seems to be complicated, as he seems to be running away from his rich family or trying to pave a new life for himself. The potential for both Bu Xia and Jiang Chi to be there for each other would be a great point in seeing how their relationship develops.

I hope the story also focuses on queerness and spirituality, and how, in particular, Bu Xia’s sister, who is androgynous, has been ordained with the gifts she has and her relationship to both her own spirituality and her family. This might just be a stretch, but I do hope her story is more fleshed out and meaningful.

All in all, this is a fun and cute series, it may not be particularly groundbreaking, but it has the makes of a comfort show and it is quite an easy watch and has a lot of potential. It being a supernatural BL is a cherry on top, as there aren’t that many BLs currently airing that immerses you into so many genres at the same time, you’re getting romance, comedy, spookiness all in one fun show, with the potential for some drama as Jiang Chi’s story develops. I hope it keeps on the same upward trajectory. I do have faith in Taiwanese BLs.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- Gagaoolala