The Girls on Rela 2017 Web Series Review

『Stories of Love Between Women in Short, Fleeting Moments』

🎥 Web Series Overview

🎬 Title: The Girls on Rela (熱拉物語, 2017–2019)
🌍 Country: 🇨🇳 China
🎞️ Genre: Web Drama / Anthology / GL (Girls’ Love)
🗓️ Production & Broadcast: Rela (热拉) Social Dating App, 2017–2019, Season 1 (15 episodes) + Season 2
📺 Platform: YouTube

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🚌 An Anthology of Lesbian Stories Blooming Through Diversity

Produced by the Chinese LGBTQ+ social app Rela (now renamed The L), the web mini-series The Girls on Rela (熱拉物語) aired from 2017 to 2019 as an anthology-style drama. It holds major cultural significance for its portrayal of the diverse lives and romances within China’s lesbian (wlw) community.

📹 Format and Background: The Power of App-Based Storytelling

The Girls on Rela is structured as a collection of independent short stories. This unique anthology format—and its origins—form the essence of what makes the series special.

• Producer and Purpose: The series was created by the lesbian dating app Rela. In a country where LGBTQ+ representation is still limited in mainstream media, this project exemplifies community-driven content creation and self-representation. Many of the women in the show appear as Rela users, fostering intimacy and relatability among the audience.

• Micro-Episode Diversity: Each episode runs between 2 and 6 minutes, containing over 15 individual stories. This short-form structure allows the creators to quickly showcase a wide range of wlw couples, professions, and relationship dynamics within a compact runtime.

🏳️‍🌈 Themes and Messages: “Ordinary” Yet Diverse Lives

The Girls on Rela attempts to present an inclusive cross-section of experiences from China’s lesbian community.

• A Spectrum of Romance: The show goes beyond lighthearted, idealized love stories to explore a variety of relational dynamics familiar in everyday life.
  • Fateful Encounters: Stories about women meeting for the first time through the Rela app.
  • Confession After a Long Crush: A woman confessing to her long-time straight friend.
  • Workplace Romance: A couple balancing love and career.
  • Adversity and Reunion: A story about a woman helping her lover fall in love again after an accident causes memory loss—a classic amnesia trope.
• A Space Free of Discrimination: One of the series’ most praised aspects is that it does not include overt homophobia. While some stories involve heartbreak or difficulty, most end on a warm and positive note, offering viewers a sense of comfort and fluffiness. By removing societal prejudice from its world, the series creates a safe, love-centered community space on screen.

The series also pays attention to diversity in gender expression and presentation. Characters range from butch to femme and everything in between, allowing many viewers to see aspects of themselves reflected on screen.

✨ Formal Limitations and the Strength of Community

The ultra-short format brings both creative strengths and inherent challenges.

• Emotional Development Constraints: Due to the brevity of each episode, some stories end abruptly before the characters’ emotions or backstories can fully develop. While this can weaken immersion, it also fits perfectly within the “snack culture” format that thrives on brief, emotionally charged moments.

• High Replay Value: Many viewers report rewatching their favorite individual episodes rather than the entire series. This pick-and-watch nature, combined with the show’s short runtime, makes it ideal for casual, repeated viewing.

💜 Our Stories

The Girls on Rela (熱拉物語) goes beyond being just a web drama—it serves as a collective storytelling platform for China’s wlw community. Despite its short runtime, it embraces a broad spectrum of lesbian relationships and experiences, offering both emotional resonance and representation for its audience.

Produced under the constraints of censorship and limited media visibility, this series stands as an early pioneer of Chinese GL storytelling before the later Thai GL boom. By crafting and sharing “our stories,” it delivers a clear message that love exists in many forms—and that each is equally beautiful and worthy of happiness.

🎯 Personal Rating (Based on Preference)

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★☆