#japanese drama review

[vivianstravelblog]

Asian Drama Review: Galileo

~ Warning! Minor Spoilers! Japanese Drama Review: “Galileo” Season 1 ガリレオ (2007) ~ REVIEW I was ecstatic when I saw that Netflix had added the Japanese drama “Galileo.” I loved the entire “Galileo” franchise back in the day and was happy to be able to rewatch this series years later. However, I am finding it difficult to find everything in the “Galileo” cinematic universe. Regardless, let’s…

[shamelesskpoper]

JDrama Review: 3 Nen C Gumi wa Furin Shitemasu

Title: 3 Nen C Gumi wa Furin Shitamasu, Class of Cheaters Episodes: 12 Genre: School, Youth, Drama, Melodrama, Romance Story: 5 out of 10 Characters: 6 out of 10 Cinematography: 5 out of 10 Japanese Drama 3 Nen C Gumi wa Furin Shitemasu has a difficult subject to deal with, but messes up in the end Poster of the Japanese Drama 3 Nen C Gumi wa Furin Shitemasu Story Aoi is a new student in…

[arwatchesandreads]

Silent (J Drama) Episode 1 Feelings

Set up of the first episode is just heart breaking, they show many moments that are foreshadowed and go straight into the relationship between the two and what happens between Tsumugi and Sou in a way that felt nostalgic but also bitter sweet.

They foreshadow with a scene with Tsumugi and Sou in the winter, and tells him that when the snow falls its silent. Then the scene cuts and brings to present day where its raining, and she mentions its too loud.

There is also a scene where she mentions that they had an earphone exchange for Christmas, and how the earphones stopped working 3 years ago which is foreshadowing that Sou lost his hearing entirely 3 years ago as well.

They manage to make my heart hurt the whole episode by the way they set it up.

Minato finding out that Sou was deaf through his sister and having a whole breakdown genuinely hurt me. You could see the pain that Minato was feeling. The actor did a wonderful job portraying this.

The denial seen in Minato and Tsumugi hurts.

Aoba accidentally meets Sou and tries to talk to him, but he signs a bunch and explains everything but of course she doesn't understand anything. You can also see the pain in her face throughout this.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

2024 BL Wrap Up

Welcome to my 2024 bl Wrap Up!

A quick look at my stats this year, so that we can get it over with: I watched 60 BLs, most of which are from 2024. 24 of them came from Thailand, 15 from Japan, 14 from South Korea, six from Taiwan and one from China. I created 209 gifsets and had to deal with several heartbreaks.

Somehow 2024 was an intense year for BLs, at least for me. Even though I watched significantly less than in 2023 and skipped many series to save them for later, many of the series I watched touched me, both positively and negatively.

But what did the year actually look like for me? What are my thoughts today, looking back on 2024?

China, Japan and South Korea fought it out to see who could bring the saddest characters to life and write the saddest stories. On the one hand, we have China's re-entry into the BL world with Blue Canvas Of Youthful Days.

A series whose characters have suffered so much, healed together, supported each other, only to end up with a double noble idiocy and and a time skip so they see each other again in the last two minutes of the series and we get a half-hearted happy ending. I would have loved this series much more without this giving up your own happiness in hopes the other one is happy. Just talk to each other and find a solution together. Please.

Secondly, there is Our Youth from Japan.

Both characters suffer at the hands of their parents. One with domestic violence, prejudices and hatred and the other with absent parents, disinterest in his own personality, prejudices and separating parents. In both cases, they are neglected and find the support and trust in each other that they miss in the world. They feel misunderstood and learn about their own desires and needs through their affection for each other. The series is not yet finished, but it is one of the bluest series this year.

But Japan is not entering the race with just one series. Happy To The End is also a contender for a top spot at the Hurt-Mountain.

The story of two maltreated souls who somehow manage to find a little love and trust in a life full of darkness and pain. The series had left me with strong feelings and a dear friend gifted me the Mangas for Christmas. I can't wait to dive into their story again! And don't forget our super-villain of the year! This series had it all!

South Korea entered the race with Let Free The Curse Of Taekwondo.

I don't know who suffered more in the end, us as viewers who watched the suffering of both protagonists without being able to give them a warming hug and to tell them everything is going to be fine or the protagonists themselves and their attempts to hold up their own walls and tear down the other one’s. Those two have come a long way to at least talk to each other again. Such a good storytelling!

Meanwhile, Thailand thought it would be nice to start a little competition to see which of their series could be the fluffiest of them all. ThamePo is not included in this calculation, because I'm too biased when it comes to this series. They could present me green slime dancing in the rain while Po is staring at it lovingly, and I would celebrate it.

At first, I thought Every You, Every Me was going to easily win the race, but suddenly, they bring in death and the series is elevated to a weird, way too complex and under-explained meta-level where actors are trying to end their relationship because reasons?

I would have liked to have seen more of the multiverses in which our soulmates fall in love with each other again and again. The first four episodes were so good and so different than our usual bls. I couldn't stop loving it. But I guess the trophy will go to Your Sky after all in this case.

God, I'm blushing and giggling to myself with every episode. Fah and Rak are just so cute together. The series is pure fluff so far and even though I don't know what to expect from the remaining episodes, I know that the two of them will surely be happy together in the end.

The award for best performance goes by far to War Wanarat from Jack & Joker.

His diversity and ability to immerse himself in the different personas and play them believably was great cinema this year. The series might have some plot-holes or characters who could have had more screen time together, but the series was interesting and Joke was the best!

And while we're on the subject of Jack & Joker and Your Sky, let's move on to the trophy for this year's best kiss. The crown would have gone to Jack & Joker, but then Your Sky came around the corner with this great first kiss and wow. I was in a bit of a quandary until I remembered that this is my recap. So I'll just make two categories.

The best and softest first kiss this year goes to Your Sky.

The best and hungriest first kiss this year goes to Jack & Joker.

Kidnap didn't necessarily have an exciting and well thought-out plot, but Ohm's Puppy Eyes were unbeatable.

And yet ThamePo clearly won the staring contest with only three episode aired. I mean, hello? Who wouldn't fall head over heels in love with one of them when they look at you like that?

And contrary to all assumptions, neither Kidnap nor ThamePo has the biggest baby girl of the year! No, this is what Taiwan brought to the screen with The On1y One and let's not kid ourselves, Tian loved making everything possible for his Wang and taking care of him.

And who would have thought that the most romantic scene of the year came just close before the year ends? ThamePo! What have you done you beautiful, beautiful series! And how could the remembering of a phone number be the most romantic shit of the year? And yet here I am loving everything about this scene and the series. Oh the wait was so worth it!

While in most cases it was clear that the couples would get together at the end of the series and our little BL bubble would remain intact, Japan made it a little harder for us to predict a happy ending. 25 Ji, Akasaka de probably thought it was funny to play with our emotions like that. My Strawberry Film was probably lying in the corner, laughing at the fact that we believed its misdirections about being a bl. And in Hidamari ga Kikoeru, they remembered at the end that it is a bl and that the audience has been waiting for a long time to see the protagonists together in a scene again and conjured up an unspectacular happy ending with one of the most uncomfortable looking hugs in bl history.

Taiwan, on the other hand, didn't care whether their series had a happy ending or not and simply cut one of the best series of the year with strong acting and a great story in the middle without knowing whether there would be a second season.

And so The On1y One hangs somewhere in cliffhanger limbo and we viewers are desperate enough to search the internet for bad English translations of the story to at least find a little bit of closure. It's worth reading the bad translation though.

And while the world around me was already falling apart, Taiwan and South Korea were fighting over who could tear my heart into smaller pieces by the end of the series. While I was obsessed with Unknown and even bought the final episodes as early excess,

Love For Love's Sake managed to crush my heart into the finest powder. Never before have I been so heartbroken as after this series. I didn't know what to do with myself and my emotions for days. It was terrifying and yet so beautiful. One of the strongest heartbreaks I've ever felt. Clearly the best series this year for me.

Quietly and secretly, Thailand then surprised us with a pretty good adaptation of the much-loved Japanese classic Cherry Magic. And Tay and New surprised me with the fact that they can actually kiss each other without looking like they're in pain. The chemistry was on point and their love scene at the end... wow!

I also discovered a new format for myself in 2024. While I've always stayed away from watching shows on my phone because it's just too small, I came across Match Play on social media and just knew I had to watch it.

And that's how I slipped into the universe of vertical mini-series. My ADHD brain is happy about the short, entertaining nature of the episodes. And yet I was so hooked by the series that it's now my most rewatched show. And that's despite the fact that I don't really like doing that, i.e. repeating series. But I can watch it whenever, whereever.

I was able to watch with my best friend how two people fell in love with each other and are still together and happy.

The Boyfriend was an experience that I would never want to miss, not only do my friend and I now regularly watch shows together, but the show briefly gave me back my faith in love, not for me, but in general.

I finally found another show this year where I really liked OffGun.

The Trainee was a great show with good humor, great characters, honest problems, and an Off that I actually liked in his role. I don't often get that with him.

I had to learn once again that South Korea is not yet ready to introduce a queer couple in one of their big productions. The hints were there and so was the chemistry!

But unfortunately there was no happy ending for my poor heart and Sergeant Kim in Sweet Home 3. But he did make it onto my phone as a wallpaper. That's something too, isn't it?

But South Korea also surprised and sent a terrific adaptation of the novel Love In The Big City to the screen with a cast to be proud of and a story that was worthy of being filmed so well. The biggest plot twist for me came when it was revealed that No YeongSu was a toxic and utterly homophobic asshole. God, I loved the two of them together and would have loved to see No YeongSu come to terms with his own sexuality, but the show has just been too realistic for that. But their scenes together? Chef's kiss! The best lift of the year!

But not everything that tried to shine this year was gold.

On the dark side, Japan and Thailand both tried to piss me off this year by letting series that started so well and would have definitely been my favorites, had they kept it up, hit the wall in the middle or near the end. Seriously Thailand, what was that about Last Twilight? And Japan, I hear the sunspot was so good until you decided to put in a character that was so unlikable that many of us just got angry and until you decided that our protagonists just couldn't have any positive character development and just stopped communicating with each other. And that had been their strength all along!

Wandee Goodday wanted to be this cool show, with sex positivity and sex buddies, but quickly became a romantic sludge that was as predictable as every other GmmTV story. I'm not saying that's always a bad thing, just a little unnecessarily schmaltzy and sweet at times.

South Korea gave us a brief scare once when it thought it wanted to produce a series together with Thailand. I don't know, but I just can't take Mew seriously since then. Love Is Like A Cat was bad. The acting was really bad, the plot didn't know what it was supposed to do on set any more and it simply left midway through the series, never to be seen again.

Unfortunately, this didn't improve the acting and so it was more a case of just not giving up. Sometimes I also wonder what's wrong with me that I keep watching those series and why I'm doing this to myself (yes, I'm looking at you Dinosaur Love).

What 2024 really had a few of, however, were stories with a very unique plot. There's Love For Love's Sake, where someone gets a second chance through a computer game. Or Century Of Love, in which a centenarian in a young body waits for the love of his life and is surprised when they are reborn as a man.

Or Caged Again. I'll wait until I can binge it myself, but the story of a penguin and a panther who fall in love as humans sounds great! Or 4 Minutes, in which time was so confusing that I lost track at one point. Or who could forget our first Omegaverse series Pit Babe?

Which was somehow a little lacking in Omegas and made people questioning everything after finding out that Pavel wouldn’t be on top. Or Playboyy, a series that I think is underrated and which style is so artistically pleasing. Yes, the story was messy af, but the manner in which this series was shot and filmed was exquisite. And Love In The Big City and The Nipple Talk, two very good, very adult series that I wish could get more attention.

All in all, 2024 was a great year with interesting stories and fascinating characters that I will certainly be returning to from time to time.

And with you, my dear friends and followers, creators and viewers. Your presence in 2024 has sweetened my year and made my feed happy! Thank you to all of you out there!

May 2025 treat you well and delight us all with great new stories!

[mintyxxie]

I've seen it all - Rating all adaptations of Cherry Magic ✩

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

Okay, so I tried to hunt down every adaptation of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years Of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?! and watched them all.....like the chronically online loser expert I am.

THIS HAS SOME SPOILERS.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Ratings:

[If I missed any adaptation lmk and I'll watch it and rate it!]

So here are my ratings (in the order in which I watched/read them):

Manga (The original source material, 2018) [6/10]

Thai drama (2023-2024) [9/10]

Japanese drama (2020) [8/10]

Anime (2024) [7/10]

Japanese Movie (2022) [note: this was a sequel to the J-drama]

Chinese Radio Drama (2019) [8/10]

Important note: I'm not sure if the radio drama and the drama CD are the same thing, just in case I'm going to separate the two. I couldn't find the OG Japanese drama CD with English subs anywhere so if any one knows where to find it then lmk. Not paying 20 bucks because I am below the poverty level (fully embodying the college student aesthetic <3).

: ̗̀➛ The Manga (2018)

My favorite volume cover <3

→ General thoughts:

This might be a little dumb but honestly, I had no idea that this manga was pretty recent. I thought that this was an older 2000's manga. I only found out when I looked up the production year for this blog post LMFAO.

Building on that, the art style is fairly unique and a breath of fresh air from the typical late 2010s manga art style. It definitely gave me nostalgia—but with less secondhand embarrassment. Also my favorite part is MC's emo bangs...when he's an office worker.

I found it fun how they didn't start off the series by glazing the male lead and his achievements (which was done in almost every other version.). This approach made the male lead a lot more approachable in my opinion and lessened the gap between the two.

The manga at the very start is extremely focused on the two main characters. They don't really introduce or highlight other characters until later on. (most notably Fujisaki and with the exception of MC's bestie). Manga is also pretty fast-paced in comparison to the other adaptations in my opinion. This is mainly because doesn't really spend a lot of time building up tension or introducing the characters. If anything it feels like the mangaka was going through every arc/major character interaction as if they were bullet points. You can also argue that the other adaptations are slow-paced in comparison to the manga, but in this household the majority rules.

Not a lot of focus on visual elements (unless it's to show emotion). The background is pretty basic and kept to a minimum which helps keep the focus on the relationship between MC and ML.

At the very start, the focus is put more on the awkwardness between the two characters. It's really light-hearted and doesn't particularly hold any strong tension or emotion. I like that because technically speaking the two of them are experiencing something new, I'm TIREDDD of seeing a character fall in love for the first time ever yet miraculously be an expert at it. The awkwardness of a first love and the inexperience that comes with it is a breath of fresh air when put into the context of two adults.

One thing that I really liked about the manga (and the series in general) is how the MC talks about the ethics of his mind-reading ability and actually feels guilty about taking advantage of it. I appreciate how he also comes clean to the ML. The ethics of these abilities, especially mind reading, is so interesting to me, especially considering how it's usually glossed over.

Also...I really appreciate how the MC doesn't look like a 16-year-old twink. He looks his age, a rare sight nowadays.

The perspective of the male lead is shown pretty early on. There isn't a lot of build-up for the alternate perspective. It felt pretty underwhelming when the ML revealed why he fell in love with MC. In my opinion, it failed to draw out strong emotion from the reader. The part where the male lead gets borderline sexually harassed at work also fell flat. I read it and thought "ok...well...that just happened" and quickly moved on.

[The flat delivery of the more emotional and "heavier" scenes is a consistent ick of mine. The manga does an amazing job of communicating the awkward and comedic properties of the series but completely fails at drawing out heavier emotions from the reader. This could just be a me thing though. I blame this fact on the lack of proper build-up and transitions. The switch between emotions happens too quickly, and the manga lacks proper transition panels, making character interactions seem inorganic. The series generally capitalizes on the "out of pocket" aspect of the character's thoughts and emotions. Everything is so random and unexpected which is what makes it funny and interesting, this however makes love confessions and more emotional scenes fall flat because, in the context of the series, these scenes are NOT meant to be comedic. Trying to blend serious and funny is generally difficult and something that a lot of mangakas struggle with. ]

Anyway, the ML's perspective is always a treat. Just a poorly built-up one. My man is also a whole green forest, I'm so happy that he didn't end up forcing himself on MC and instead respected his boundaries.

One thing that I noticed while re-reading the manga is how expressive the characters are, especially the male lead (finally out of cold aloof male lead jail). His awkward wink was so adorable tbh, a funny contrast to his extremely horny thoughts.

“But Mimi, isn't this contradictory? you *JUST* said that the manga suffers from sung jinwoo syndrome (A severe lack of emotional build-up which leads to extremely flat emotional scenes)!" Before you crucify me allow me to elaborate....

It’s simple, deeper emotions generally require more build-up, especially emotions (and emotional themes) that deviate from the main genre. Shyness, awkwardness, happiness, etc are all naturally a part of the traditional romcom slice-of-life genre. If the main emotion(s) that the reader gets across is light-hearted then the story naturally builds up to it and is something that the reader expects so they come into it prepared to feel said emotions. If you try to introduce an emotion such as sadness in this context then naturally you would need to properly build it up in order for the reader to properly feel and process it since it isn't expected (Even things done for 'shock' value still need appropriate build-up, it would just be done properly.). The characters here are very expressive in terms of emotions, but character expressiveness doesn't necessarily carry along to the reader.

I also love the side couple. Their mutual love for the cat is the highlight of the entire series tbh. ITS SO CUTE.

Anyway, to save you the pain of me ranting about the side couple ima make it short and sweet (look at how nice I am....I might make a separate post just to have a yap fest about them). The build-up towards their relationship was so well-written (dare I say even more than the main couple?). I'm so happy that they got their own happy ending.

→ Rating ✩✩✩✩✩✩

6/10

Honestly, this rating was a tough one for me to give because on one hand, the manga excelled in many ways and this is the original source material so it felt weird to give it a rating lower than its adaptations. However, I have quite a bit of reasons for my ratings, all of which were mentioned throughout the previous section but I'll summarize.

The manga left a lot to be desired when it tried to communicate deeper feelings, the characters felt awkward and the interactions felt really inorganic and flat during the "emotional" scenes. I don't really think it's an issue with the art style itself but rather an issue with the panel handling and management. There weren't a lot of transitional panels that helped strengthen the main emotional panels. I don't know if that makes sense because I don't really know the proper terminology but I hope that gets my point across. This is honestly a big thing because this is a romance slice-of-life manga where the main appeal and point of it is the emotions and the interactions between the characters. It's a very character-focused genre, and in this case where world-building is near nonexistent all the pressure falls on making sure that the two leads have smooth interactions. Which I feel like it didn't meet.

: ̗̀➛ Thai Drama (2023-2024)

Best Cherry Magic promotional picture in my very humble opinion.

→ General thoughts

This adaptation establishes really quickly the difference between MC's and ML's positions at the company. Not only does it establish this fact pretty early on but it also reinforces it quite a bit.

MC's relationships with those around him are a lot stronger than in any other adaptation. He also seems more well-liked and more socially active in his workplace. The intern is introduced pretty early on which is something that I appreciate. The birthday party was SO CUTE OMG. It was so funny and adorbs to see MC awkwardly giving ML a piece of birthday cake even though they never really interacted much till that point. Also, it helped establish a stronger bond between MC and Fujisaki (since she was a part of this small birthday celebration).

There is also the addition of Mrs. Cupid (I forgot her name so that will be the name that I'll use for her, also I think that this was a cultural addition) was pretty interesting. Her role as a mentor/mother figure to MC helped show that he isn't some reclusive hated loser in his workplace.

There's a LOT of emphasis on the relationships between characters in the workplace, which is a notable change when comparing it to other adaptations. It could be a cultural thing? This is my first Thai drama and delve into Thai media so I could be wrong (please don't beat me up). MC here is way more social. The intern is a lot more relevant here and is the reason why MC had to stay overtime.

The ML here is SO MUCH MORE awkward because the series establishes the difference between their positions pretty early on. It makes the difference between how he acts for the company (super put together and cool) and how he acts in front of MC (eagerly & shyly asking him about getting ice cream after the thank-you dinner) so CUTE. This is also something that differs from other adaptations because in the others they weren't able to choose where to eat.

The personality of Tsuge was so different it gave me whiplash. Like a complete 180. He gives off more playful and childish vibes here, starkly contrasting his quiet and aloof OG persona. He's also a lot more straightforward and bossy LMAO.

This and the rest of the adaptations have an advantage. They can use auditory elements to bring emotion to the scenes which I think is something that helps exaggerate events. For example, when ML was asking MC about the thank-you dinner, MC was listening to his thoughts and was very awkward. The typing heard in the background and the lack of background music help bring the scene to life by 1. making it look even more awkward since both ML and MC stay silent for extended periods of time and 2. Reinforcing the comedic office sitcom feeling (not genre because technically this isn't a sitcom).

There was also this arc of the fake boyfriend trope where MC was egged on to be the fake BF of Fujisaki. Honestly, this adaptation brought more personality and life to Fujisaki as a character and employee. The appearance of her shitty ex was an interesting bonus and helped deepen her character.

Honestly, a lot of scenes here changed, it would take me a lot of time to sit down and break down every scene change individually. I have to say that all the changes changed how the series felt and how the relationship between the characters came across. One thing that I have to mention is that not only have a lot of scenes changed but a lot of things are out of order. I'm not really complaining though because it didn't really stick out to me as nonsensical when watching, it made sense why they made the changes and honestly, I support some of it. I'm mildly upset that the scene where the voucher was expired and this ML had to pay was cut off, but other than that no major complaints.

The misunderstanding also dragged on for a lot longer & the way he dramatically passed out??? hello??? It strays off from the original more and more every episode. It feels like I'm watching a different show.

I'm really happy that they delayed the ML's POV. The build-up here was a lot more intense than the original. I really liked how they portrayed the dismissal of ML's hard work and preferences in favor of his looks, kind of a "stay in your own lane and use your pretty face" thing. The portrayal of the sexual harassment towards ML was also a lot smoother, more emotionally intense, and heavier here, a lot more emotional. These changes made the scene between ML and MC a lot more special in my opinion, and made me feel a lot of sympathy towards the ML. He also actually cried here and the scene was a lot more emotional. This also applies to when ML went into detail on why he fell in love with MC, it was really touching. The problem of the lackluster emotional scenes in the original was fixed here.

The side couple also faced a lot of changes, all of which were welcome in my opinion. The series went into a lot more detail between the two from the start, and the personality of Minato was a lot nicer here too. The side couple felt a lot more dynamic and human.

There were a lot of scenes between Fujisaki and Rokkaku, which was interesting, to say the least. I don't know how I felt about that, it wasn't bad, just weird considering the original.

→ Rating ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

9/10

I think that the experience of watching this is extremely different from reading the original material. If we’re accounting for accuracy, this series would lose a lot of points, however if you're just watching this for fun the experience is extremely enjoyable.

I really like how this version communicates the character dynamic between the male lead and the main character. My only ick is that it made the main character a lot more popular than he originally was, thus making the male lead have a crush on him seem less surprising in a way? Also in a way that took away the funny, "I hate my shitty cooperate job and all my co-workers" feeling.

: ̗̀➛ Japanese Drama & Movie (2024)

Bunching them together because the movie is a sequel to the drama

→ General thoughts

The J-drama shows you more aspects of the MC's life and general personality before he got his power. In a way, it showed how lonely he is (via the fact that only his mom and long-time friend greeted him on his birthday).

The drama introduced a lot of characters at the beginning, and it made MC's friend, Tsuge, extremely relevant early on. This part makes the viewer more invested in the side couple and the side stories involving them a lot sooner.

Honestly, though, my favorite part is the little shop owner. In the other versions the place where he gets his lunch is at a convenience store and the only relevant interaction is when he touches the cashier's hand and she starts tweaking over how gross it is. Seeing the shopkeeper side-eye him for always ordering double mayo was really funny to me, and in a way, it added more personality to the world around him and the interactions that he has outside of the main plot (this is something to note because the J-drama shows a LOT of his time outside of the office, something that stands out when comparing it to other adaptations).

The addition of the asshole co-worker was an interesting addition/change from the original. In the OG, MC was the boss who was being an asshat, which is why he stayed overtime, in the case of the J-drama it was actually his co-worker and it was MC who offered to take over the assignment. This change made MC look like a pushover & it followed regular office comedy plots.

Many micro-interactions were also added, which added more depth to their relationship. My favorite example was how the drama expanded on how the MC was touched by ML giving him the scarf (because during that scene MC heard ML's thoughts about how mistreated MC is and how much he appreciates him :3). I also love how it revealed that ML specifically made a traditional Japanese breakfast because he knew that MC would like it. It showed how much ML really cared about MC and how he kept track of his likes and dislikes even without interacting with him a lot.

I also love how ML defended MC when asshole co-worker berated him for 'being unreliable'. He was so passive-aggressive it was so cool honestly. Also for some reason, Rokkaku was shown to be around ML a lot more often and was shown a lot earlier (though he didn't outwardly have major parts till later). Also here MC was given more overtime work, this time because ML heard about it when MC was first given the task he immediately was able to compile data and help MC from the get-go. I really liked this small change because ML improved MC's work-life quality, which was pretty shit. Also here there was no dinner coupon, instead MC did it of his own free will (went to ML running to ask him to get dinner with him, though he was inspired by his co-worker bringing it up first).

Similar to the Thai drama, their dinner date got interrupted by a company dinner :(. Though they never had a chance to be 1 on 1 here which made me (and the ML) sad.

For some reason here MC never gave Rokkaku medicine? Rather it was Rokkaku who offered to go and get some for MC from the convenience store.

The biggest interactions that changed in my opinion were the interactions between MC and his friend, Tsuge. For example, instead of meeting at Tsuge's house they instead meet at a restaurant. His advice to MC was also different, telling him to ignore ML and that what matters the most is MC's feelings, contrary to the OG where Tsuge suggested that MC take advantage of ML's feelings. I feel like this small change in how Tsuge approached advising MC helped reinforce the idea that MC tends to be a pushover who puts other people's feelings above his own (since he felt the need to specifically tell MC to focus on his own feelings). He was also so iconic for telling MC to not fall in love with someone, instead, MC should just get a cat if he's lonely.

The side couple here was also introduced a lot earlier.

Although small, these additions help add more character depth to the main character which makes the experience more enjoyable IMO.

Just like the other adaptations, a lot of the ending scenes were left out, though in this case, they produced a movie to act as a sequel to the drama for the sake of including the left-out material (ML meeting MC's parents, etc). I feel like because of that the movie is a must if you truly want to get the true feel of the ending. Also, a lot of scenes were skipped or smushed together (kind of a 3-in-1 type thing).

They kept edging us with the kiss scene low-key. I'm not even a big fan of them; I just got annoyed by how I felt like a pig on a stick.

→ Rating ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

8/10

Overall, pretty lovely.

I found it pretty interesting how they added things and expanded on pre-existing scenes while simultaneously skipping over and combining original material. I don't really understand why they picked certain scenes over others, well to a certain degree I kind of do but at the same time, there was tons of original material...why add/expand on things unnecessarily when you already have long and expanded upon scenes.

Rokakku's interactions with MC changed a ton here, which is mildly sad.

I like the added mico interactions outside of MC's workplace.

: ̗̀➛ Anime (2024)

→ General thoughts

Out of every adaptation this stayed the closest to the original material. Honestly writing the analysis for the anime was really hard for me because there really isn't much for me to say. It fixed a big issue that was in the manga, and that is the lack of proper panel transition. The reason why I'm mentioning this point here rather than under any other adaptation is because this stayed the most loyal to the original material.

There really weren't any big changes so there isn't much to comment on. However, I set up a split screen between the anime and manga JUST so I could analyze things piece by piece and this is what I found:

After the conversation with Tsuge, it shows MC's walk home his contemplation about this whole thing, and his reaction to his friend being a virgin too. There are also some micro-interactions between the two (MC & ML) that were added, but nothing too different for me to specifically point out.

The scene with the cake guy was slightly changed here in the anime. The anime added an interaction between MC, Fujisaki, the boss, and other employees who were trying to find out what happened to cause the cake guy to get mad at ML prior to MC officially stepping in, something that didn't really happen in the manga. On that note, there were a lot of added micro-interactions between MC and Fujisaki.

A minor change that could simply be attributed to translation is that in manga MC said that he didn't hate the kiss while in the anime he said that it didn't bother him, just a small detail that made me a little sad TT.

There are some minor setting changes here and there, for example, MC originally gave Rokkaku medicine on the bus because he was car sick, in the anime he gave him medicine during karaoke because he was having stomach problems due to being drunk.

Dare I say that I HATED Rokkaku's voice actor, it's the same sound someone makes when they're nose is stuffy/they're not breathing through their nose. It got on my nerves. On a similar note, I feel like this shows how important voice actors are. I'm used to Rokakku having a younger, playful, and generally softer voice which gave him a carefree "he was the popular easy to get along with guy in high school". In the anime though because of his voice actor, his personality came off as "The really simple-minded comedic relief guy that secretly has lore". So interesting to see how even the smallest changes can completely change the impression of a character!

I kinda wish that the hot springs scene remained intact instead of it getting changed into a sauna because the concept of "Water conducting intense thoughts" is really funny. Though it was changed to steam to better fit the setting, I feel like it was an extremely unnecessary change.

The sexual harassment scene stayed really close to the manga but with greater emotional impact, specifically his facial expressions. Though the background music didn't really match the seriousness of the scene, his facial expressions and the general mood of what he was conveying (Since he was talking about how his character and hard work are reduced to the fact that he is good-looking), it's still a marginal improvement. This made me upset because the anime could've utilized more appropriate background music or just not add it at all. My ick with the background music was quickly resolved with the following scene where MC consoles ML after the whole ordeal. This makes me really happy because it, for the most part, achieved what the manga failed to do. Also, I find it funny here how ML specifically thought that the MC is a pushover because he lacks tact.

Flashback/ML's POV also came later than the Manga, thankfully a running theme between all adaptations. The selfie scene also changed, it was a lot less 'appropriate' here (not in a to the reader way but in a context way) because in the original they took the selfie on a company trip while here they took the picture in a random park.

The side couple comes here a lot later too, I think slightly later than the manga, which is weird but it also makes sense and flowed well here. I don't have much to complain about, I did like their interactions here a lot more though. I should also note that their relationship is slightly faster-paced than other adaptations.

The sound effects and OST were awesome though and really helped reinforce the emotional aspects of scenes. This also helped with the abrupt emotional changes in the scenes.

I do have to say that I had very high hopes for the anime because out of every adaptation, this has the most freedom in terms of properly communicating character dynamics and plot points. It can use a range of effects without looking out of place or weird because this is animated. This did NOT disappoint thankfully.

→ Rating ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

7/10

Oof, this was a hard one to rate, I saved it for last.

I don't know, out of every adaptation this was easily my favorite, but lets be honest...there are quite a bit of issues. I think that the main one is the background music for the sexual harassment scene.

"Mimi, why do you care so much about it?" Well, it's not necessarily because sexual harassment is a serious topic (which it is, but not the main reason why I'm so bothered), rather it's mainly because the male lead was venting about how all of his hard work is dismissed just because "he's pretty". I feel like this was a perfect example that encapsulated his main complaint about his workplace and the main reason why MC's actions really touched him. It's really important to his character so seeing the scene not be portrayed properly really grinds my nerves.

: ̗̀➛ Chinese Radio Drama (2019)

→ General thoughts

THIS WAS SO DIFFERENT. Take a seat because a yap fest is about to take place.

To be honest, this is my first time listening to a Radio Drama (yes a lot of first times here, I'm a sad media virgin, all I do is read shitty manhwa, manhua, manga & fanfiction and read the occasional web novel). I didn't know what to expect since the medium is pretty limited since the plot can only be conveyed through voices. This did not disappoint. The voice actors are super expressive and effectively communicate character emotions.

This starts off strong with an appointment with a psychiatrist. MC really thought he was going insane and honestly? I too would shove myself in a psychiatrist's office the second I started hearing people's thoughts. I loved this approach, super realistic. My usual ick of characters randomly manifesting powers in an otherwise non-fantasy setting is how they immediately accept it and adapt to it.

The first change is how he finds out about his ability, by far this is my favorite (touching a co-worker and hearing her cuss out your fellow employees and boss). We unfortunately didn't escape the ML glazing session (yes I get it he's so alpha in the company,,,,I heard the same sentence 10 times already from 10 different sources my brain is FRIED). GOOD NEWS though because MC also got a mini glazing session...ha you thought...the sec mc touched his boss he got brought back to reality (heard a bunch of insults about how dull he is).

The drama CD really REALLY enforces the fact that MC isn't liked by his fellow coworkers, for some reason everyone and their moms take pleasure in insulting him, which is my biggest fear. Imagine you develop the ability to hear people's thoughts only to find out that half of your workplace hates your guts? I'd immediately cease my oxygen dependence.

Also, we're back with the shitty co-worker. Honestly, it's hard for me to tell what is going on because many names changed which would've been fine if the OG plot was completely preserved except it's not. I don't have visual clues so I'm kinda tweaking.

Anyway, now on to the major plot changes:

Rokkaku is now a poor intern getting pulled into random tasks via MC's co-worker friend. For some reason, most adaptations tend to mess around with Rokkaku's character. Also, the elevator scene slightly changed, instead of MC trying to guess ML's crush he immediately reminded himself that he's experiencing a hallucination (which happens quite frequently throughout the radio drama. I think that I can safely attribute this change to the fact that he went to see a psychiatrist the second he noticed his newfound ability. Generally, it takes MC 10 thousand business days to come to terms with his new ability.

MC here is a lot more of a realist, not that he was particularly lacking in the realism department before. It just seems like a more prominent character trait here.

Here MC stays late because of his co-worker friend (maybe I should change his nickname to asshole #2). Also, MC here takes an obvious role in helping teach and instruct Rokkaku. We also get more character background info on Rokkau which I think is pretty interesting. Rokkaku here is a lot more responsible too. Also here instead of simply helping MC finish his work, ML instead offers to do the whole thing himself.

It takes a while for there to be any mention of his 30th birthday. The reason why MC slept over at ML's place also changed. Also I can't get over the scene where ML admits to the fact that he bought a set of PJs JUST BECAUSE HE THOUGHT THAT MC WOULD LOOK GOOD IN THEM???? No matter how many times I watch it I still find it wild LMFAOOO. Also for some reason ML undresses in from of MC and MC points out ML's muscles which is so different from the OG because originally it was because of the hot springs + MC never loudly commented on ML's physique. MC looked like a pervert LMFAO. Also, ML never mentioned that he worked out/kept up with his body for MC, so it made the scene a lot more awkward IMO. ML's house is also different, in here he has an extra bedroom while in the other adaptations, MC slept in the living room.

It was so adorable when ML came over JUST to cover MC with a quilt. Also, my guy was battling demons trying to stay a green flag.

They expanded a lot more on the BBQ scene, which was so nice! I loved seeing the two of them have a normal conversation for once, both gushing over their favorite manga. I feel like this made their relationship progression a lot smoother because in the other adaptations they never really had the opportunity to actually engage in a long and meaningful conversation. Most of the time conversations are very one-sided and awkward since MC is reading all of ML's thoughts thus decreasing the amount of naturally born conversation between the two. Not only do I like it because of their conversation but also their interaction flowed very naturally. This time ML was the one who held on to the vouchers (mildly similar to the Thai ver), thus when it was time to pay it was more so an act of responsibility rather than altruism. They also added a movie date after the BBQ, except MC dipped and ruined the whole moment.

Just like the Thai drama, it would be easier for me to list all the similarities than differences to the manga. I think that in this case, the many changes are easily justifiable because this format (radio dramas or any audio-only mediums) is really limited. Typically creators can rely on visual clues and/or descriptions to enhance character dynamics and interactions. Thus it's natural for the producers of this drama to drag out character interactions and add some to get the same feelings and character dynamics across. You can argue that audio-dependent mediums have an advantage compared to novels but there isn't a novel for cherry magic. You're adapting an audio-only drama from a written-visual medium, which is pretty different. You can easily translate written words to spoken audio but visual cues are lost to translation.

One problem...the sexual harassment scene here was portrayed very similar to the anime. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. The background music wasn't as bad but cmon.....

THIS HAS FIRE OPS AND EDS. I love the songs, honestly just listen to the radio drama for the music.

→ Rating ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

8/10

I really liked this one, again if we're going for accuracy then this would get a low rating, but we're not yahoo!

I really liked how the characters were portrayed, their relationships, etc. I feel like this version really perfected the characters.

I kinda wished that there was more focus on his life outside of the office and that there was more character background info.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Conclusion:

Honestly, my favorite part of doing this whole thing is seeing how culture impacts stories and adaptations. The two that changed the most details were the Thai and Chinese adaptations so it's pretty neat to see how Japanese cultural details were switched out. I think that the office worker environment and interactions between co-workers and the differences between the Japanese version, Chinese version, and Thai version are the most interesting. (yes repetitive but we're not in English class now are we?)

Every version is different, and I loved comparing and seeing how every medium communicates the story a bit differently. There are benefits and negatives to picking a specific medium, looking at Cherry Magic was an interesting case study (I know that I haven't gone into detail on how the specific medium caused changes and instead just talked about the changes but trust I was thinking about it.). I might do an analysis in the future solely focusing on that, but who knows.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

THANK YOU @mil0nes FOR EDITING MY GOD AWFUL WRITING. Hmu whenever you need a kidney I WILL give you mine (if we're incompatible then I'll sacrifice someone for you babe..Just don't quote me in a court of law xx)

If you read the whole thing then tysm !!

I'll probably make one for Semantic Error soon. ^^

[unpopularopinionbydemand]

Top 10 BL Series of 2024 !

Another list nobody asked for, but I'm bored, so here we are.

Overall, I saw 39 series this year (lower than it ever has been before, but I was not on my zoom for the first 6 months of 2024), and what I've noticed is that it has steadily gone down ever since I've been watching since 2020.

Previous years:

2020 - 60 series

2021 - 44 series (not sure what happened here??)

2022 - 68 series

2023 - 46 series

Even still, with 2021 and 2023 also being pretty low, I still can't believe that I only managed to watch 39 series within a year.

Ratings of 2024:

10 stars - 3 series

9 stars - 8 series

8 stars - 10 series

7 stars - 10 series

6 stars - 4 series

5 stars - 3 series

4 stars - 1 series

1-3 stars - 0 series (if i think it's that bad, then what's the point of watching...?)

I think with this year, I scored a lot differently than I did in the past, and I let the overall flaws or critics of a series overpower my overall enjoyment of it, which kinda stinks, but that's okay.

My Goal for 2025:

I can't really predict what I see and if I'll like it or not, but I'd like to at least rate 6 series with 10 stars.

I wanna pay more attention to the music and OSTs in series! I basically rate music between 5-7 because I never care to pay that much attention to it, and really only rate it a 7 if it was something I can remember. This time, I'll try to not skip through the intro and be able to remember the OST/Music.

And Lastly, my biggest goal that I have zero effing idea if I'll be able to do or just completely fall straight on my ass: watch at least 60 series this year. We'll see...

Anyways, getting into the actual point of this post, my top 2024 BLs! This list is as predictable as any other list seeing as I only watched what was popular or most talked about instead of going off of my usual list. I still haven't even watched a couple of the standout BLs of 2024 like My Stand-In, The Curse of Taekwondo, 4Minutes, Love in The Big City, or Monster Next Door (I will be on it this year 🫡).

From Most Favorite to Least Most Favorite: I will link my review for each series through the title (Potential Spoliers!!)!

1. Anti-Reset (9-stars)

I know, it shocks me too, but the reason it's my overall number one series of 2024 is because it was able to get me out of my very occasional BL slump. I desperately needed something new, something that wasn't a bunch of uniforms or office jargon, and this series was just perfect. It's the first in the BL genre (to my knowledge) that takes on the robot/human trope and I ate every single second of this series up.

Now the story isn't perfect, but it provided me with everything I usually love in a series, and all of it was wrapped in a pretty bow and left on my depressing door step.

2. I Became the Lead in a BL Drama (10-stars)

With only 3 episodes, each about 45 minutes long, IBTLIABLD hits hard in all aspects, specifically making me laugh my ass off, but also hitting you in the heart where it hurts. 

The leads' dynamic was so heartwarming to me. The perfect height difference, the perfect balance of cheeky and cute, portraying moments that made me pause so I could laugh, or moments when I had to pause so that I could regain my composure and not cry. A truly lovely pairing, played by some really fantastic actors.

3. Takara's Treasure (10-stars)

How can one be so perfectly handsome and incredibly endearing simultaneously? I'll tell you who, Eito, the mastermind behind the character Taishin who's an all-around cutey that I wanted to put in my back pocket. But besides how adorable he was, I thoroughly enjoyed this JBL. It balanced out the actual story plus romance very well, and I watched this without being bored or skipping through or wanting to scream at my laptop.

Taishin and Takara's relationship is my cup of tea. The stoic seme and the bubbly uke, urgh, they were perfect. And again, what added just the perfect cherry on top was Eito, who's the prettiest, cutest, most handsomest man I've seen in BL in a while, and he can also act!

4. Century of Love (9-stars)

I'm amazed at the amount of focus I had while watching this BL. I was able to watch it thoroughly and throughout without getting bored, or skipping past, or fast-forwarding. The entirely of the plot flowed perfectly, it never strayed into unwanted or unnecessary side arcs, it all was told in favor of the main couple, and I loved it. 

San as the man that waits 100 years to be back with his love, and Wee, the uncanny Ms.Wad reborn. This had my name written all over it. It reminded me a lot of the Korean series "First Love Again" which I adored for the longest time, and this trope has made it's way up the ranking of things I hope to see more of.

5. Two Worlds (9-stars)

I'm so happy that I decided against my better judgment and decided to watch this series because, in the end, I actually really liked it. Some parts give you a run for your money, and others I'm not so sure about, but overall, this series has more ups than downs, and tells a story interesting enough to keep me engaged.

Some of the best NC scenes in BL, and I don't say that because they were naked and we saw everything (and I mean everything), but because there was so much love poured into the way it was acted out, and you can tell it was genuine and organic. Great job to Max and Nat.

6. My Love Mix-Up! (7-Stars)

Had I been discussing the first 8 episodes of this series, I would've told you it was an amazing, jaw-dropping, brilliant series. Except, they went on for 4 more episodes and it completely plummeted on its face after that. What could've been a really neat and tidy 8 episode series was stretched to fill that usual GMMTV 12-ep series, but in reality, it should've just stayed 8 episodes.

Then you ask, "why is it in your top 10 of 2024?", because I loved Half and Mudmee more than I can explain in words... literally. There was one point I was specifically watching for purely only them, and even skipped through some of the boring stuff between Kong and Atom. Even though by the end of the series, Half and Mudmee are done terribly wrong, it doesn't matter cause that's just how much I stinking loved them.

7. This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (9-Stars)

They executed this series so well, and it's seriously why I love this production company so much. They don't do the unnecessary long stares or dragged-out conversations or irrelevant side plots. They stick to the story, going from point A to point B, and everything that we see in the series happens for a reason. The conversations are all what they need to be, and the story flows with little to no unnecessary bumps.

They took their NC scenes to a completely different level, one that I don't feel like I see often. it's obviously well acted out, and the actors were comfortable enough with one another to execute such amazing scenes. But even with the jaw-dropping sex scenes, my utmost favorite part of the series is Oab holding Wan accountable for his actions and them having an open and honest conversation before getting back together. Lots of time the plot can be lost for a quick resolution between two characters, but the writers ensure to the audience that it's going to take much more than that, and that made me happy. 

8. We Are (7-Stars)

I actually really enjoyed this a lot, initially. The set up of the characters, their dynamics, the start of their relationships, I really really enjoyed it. However, once you get past the 11th episode, with some little hidden gems in the latter, this series falls completely on its face.

Tan and Fang. They were everything to me. The stoic uke and bubbly seme, literally my favorite trope ever, I absolutely loved it down to pieces. Aou, hands down, played the best out of all the characters. His personality doesn't waver, he continues being supportive and protective and clingy, and I loved him. There the reason this series makes it into my top 10.

9. Cherry Magic Thailand (8-stars)

The few first episodes were the best out of the entire series. The building of the characters and the setup of the overall plot was golden. I was sitting on the edge of my seat throughout it all, feeling so intrigued with Achi listening to Karan's thoughts, the connection between Achi and Jinta, the office relationship, and the overall pleasantness of the series. I'm glad they kept the iconic elevator scene and they executed it perfectly.

Junior (Jinta) was by far my favorite actor/character. He took this quirky role and made it work perfectly in this remake. His conversations with Achi, his reactions to MIn, his way of analyzing and thinking and reacting, all of it was legit perfect. It was also so nice to see Mark (min) again since Sky in Your Heart. He did an incredible job in this -- showing how versatile his acting is compared to his character in SIYH. Their setup was nearly perfect, and their continued build-up was so good that I was rooting for them more than I was for Achi and Karan at one point (even though their story was a bit upsetting).

10. Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (8-Stars)

In the first couple of episodes, I was immediately hooked on the story. Toki, a delinquent falls for his PE teacher who is everything opposite, and it starts the tale of a wild, hilarious, and rather touching romance story.

There are some parts that hit the nail on the comedy, and while this series is heavily overexaggerated, that is probably my favorite part. Rinataro as Toki plays up the dramatics so perfectly in this, it's insane. From his facial expressions to the way he talks, to his body language, I loved all of it. 

very VERY excited to see what the new year brings us. A few of my most anticipated series of this year (in order) that I'll most likely do episode reviews on:

Happy Ending

The Next Prince

Boys In Love

Burnout Syndrome

I'm the Most Beautiful Count

Thanks for reading all of this :)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - 2 GREAT Shows but everything else is kinda blah

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top. Happy new year, BLabies!

Jan 2024 Wk 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 9 of 12 - This show is really earning its chops, and these actors are executing beautifully. I think this is a great BL, and it reminds me quite a bit of ATOTS, only the physical comfort between the actors is more genuine and easy to watch. Unfortunately a guitar came out. Nice communication tho.

That was a very lovely romantic sex scene. Very prettily done. Classy boys, very classy.

Gah what a beautiful final scene with Day saying the last thing he wants to see is Mhork. Pure unadulterated romance of the highest order.

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 7 of 12 - If killer, why hot? Poor Tarn compelled to try to rescue everyone else from their fate, because he cannot save himself from his.

Meanwhile Phaya is finally learning that you catch more water snakes with honey lube than vinegar.

Stellar confession from Phaya brutally honest and very fated mates.

And another lovely sex scene, so I guess that was a vision and not a fantasy Tharn had.

Lets be clear those two shows were GREAT everything else this week was kinda blah.  

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 6 of 12 - I find the backstory very odd. Are they twins? What happened to Blue? Am I meant to care? Do I care? 

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 10 of 12 - I mostly just feel sorry for First. He’s so rightfully confused. Zee/Sprite keeps blowing hot and cold because they two different people! The after sex cuddle was cute. 

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 14 - Love getting more JeffAlan. Also I switch favorite character allegiances in the trash watch happening here.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 6 of 12 - Didn’t air this week and I hardly noticed. 

You and My Stars YT 1 of 2(?) - school kids, love triangle, it’s cute enough.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) 1626 ep 20 of 24 - Just so boring. 3/10 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 8 of 10 - I’m not into the love triangle. Although I kind of like the new suitor, he’s honest and a good communicator. I appreciate these things in a BL boy. But I begin to wonder if triangles should be left for KBL. Also, this should have been an 8 epper, 10 is too long.

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - No ep until Jan 12 

I Became the Main Role of a BL (Japan Sun Gaga) ep 1-3 - AKA BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen - A rising star is paired with an (older) former child actor (doesn’t think he’s good enough) in a BL series. It’s fun, built on a dynamic of off screen paralleling the on screen, so near constantly meta. All the tropes are there but are as a result of the filming process. The star turns out to be obsessed with the former actor and very dorky about it. In fact, everyone in this show is a little gremlin weirdo (affectionate). There’s tons of scenery chewing miscommunication drama, slapstick, voice over head hopping, and eccentric sides characters. “And he comes with feathers” applies to a number of my friends. You know I don’t like stories around fan obsession, but otherwise this was enjoyable. 8/10

A nice start to the JBL year. Keep em coming, Japan.  

It's done I Need to Catch up

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have a spare day.

It's Airing But...

[INTERNATIONAL] Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - yeah Japan put the smack down on our boys. Sadness. You can use a VPN if you like. Read all about it here.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

Night Dream (Sat YT) 6 eps - It’s a pain to track down and I really didn’t like the first episode so… DNF  

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if safe.

Dead Friend Forever (Thai Sat iQIYI) - horror, meh, tell me if it's worth my time?

In Case You Missed it

All my year end round ups (so far) are as follows:

TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

Top 10 BL Secondary Pairs of 2023

2023 BLs Best Trope Execution Awards! TOP 10

Best Back Hugs Thailand & Elsewhere

BL 2023 - Cute Bits of Domesticity

BL 2023 - Boys Feeding Boys

BL 2023 - BOOP!

All the BLs Announced for 2023 that didn't happen

Next Week Looks Like This

Starting This Week:

1/9 Time the series (Thai Gaga, WeTV, Channel 3) 10 eps - MFlow Entertainment brings us yet another "fix the past" narrative. After witnessing the gunning down of his beloved, a heartbroken actor uses a magic pocket watch to go back in time and discover the truth and maybe fix it.

1/11 Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Gaga) - Soga, who, after a divorce and relocation to Osaka, seeks solace in dining at 26-year-old Sakae's restaurant. Unbeknownst to Soga, Sakae sees him as more than just a regular customer.

More Coming Jan 2024

Beside You (Thai YouTube)

Love For Love's Sake (Korea ????)- based on the Manhwa ‘Love Supremacy Zone’ by Hwacha. A young man is dropped into a game based off a novel he loves. His mission is to make another player, YeoWoon happy. But then the game starts unfolding completely different from the novel.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan ????) - five years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so... probubly not. I won't be watching this.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Yes, you SHOULD apologize!

This was a FANTASTIC moment! Last Twilight

Night Dream referencing the Shrimp Trope.

Some didn't like this bit BUT I love a claiming moment, even in a briefing room... especially there.

I ALSO love a good Grandma Moment in a BL.

Such a good sex scene. The Sign

(Last week)

[redsamuraiii]

My Undead Yokai Girlfriend (2024)

A student in Kyoto struggles in life, as he falls behind in school and is unable to get a girlfriend like his peers. Out of desperation, he turns to a mysterious scroll he found which contains a love spell which he hope to grant his wish to get a girlfriend.

But he did not realize that it's actually a forbidden spell to break free a Yokai who was imprisoned in the past by Samurai. In the beginning, it was fun and games, as they get into a chaotic relationship until a Samurai from the past appears to hunt her.

It gets worse when the Yokai detects the presence of the descendants of the Samurai who killed her family and imprisoned her in the past that she began her quest of vengeance, not knowing that the leader of the Samurai himself has returned.

It's a surprisingly good series that I binged watch it over the weekend! It's one of those shows where you do not judge by its plot which I thought to be a cheesy romance comedy (although it is like that in the beginning) but it takes a serious turn along the way.

It's a good mix of comedy and seriousness, the comedy aspect is where the Yokai struggles to figure out everything modern as the student's friends and family got involved in their shenanigans. The serious aspect is when the killing starts and the police gets involved.

The vibes and action scenes reminds me of House of Ninjas, and the cinematography and sceneries are just beautiful to watch. Like House of Ninjas, there will definitely be a second season! If you like those "time travel" fantasy genre, this one is for you!

[smeraldopookie]

[hiraethblues]

Our Youth Episodes 1-7 Thoughts

Uhhh I don’t even know how to sum up what my thoughts about this are.

Ok so I am just over half way through, I binge watched the first 7 episodes but felt like I needed a break cos it was making me feel my real life emotions (boo!). But don’t worry I will defo finish it. Here’s my current thoughts after the first half of the show:

Slight background; I held off watching this until it was fully aired cos the gifs and comments I’d seen all over tumblr had raised my expectations for it and I knew that watching 30 mins a week would have me in for a tortuous 10 weeks. I’m glad I waited, but at the same time I’m not. Hear me out. Whilst it’s amazing to just jump into the next episode and get the whole story as and when I want it, I also feel that as my expectations were high as I thought this show would be one of the highlights of the year, it sadly so far hasn’t met those expectations. I’m enjoying it (if that’s the right word) and find the plot interesting and the ascetics great but, and sadly it’s a big but (and bear in mind I haven’t finished it yet so this may improve) the kissing (and therefore the intimacy) in this is just not it. Like I gave them leniency for the first kiss as they both said it was their first time but every time after that I found that they felt like 2 magnets pulling in the opposite direction. Some scenes looked like their necks went stiff in order to kiss without kissing as much as possible. Does anyone else feel that way? I think the acting is pretty good and I believe them until they go to kiss and then suddenly the whole story feels off because there seems to be a lack of ~something~ then I forget about it and then when the next kiss comes I get the same feelings again. I think if I’d watched this as it was airing, I wouldn’t be as affected cos 1. my expectations would be MUCH lower and 2. I wouldn’t have been invested and could have just put it on the back burner.

I know I’m MAJORLY in the minority on this as it seems like a fan favourite both here and on Reddit and the reviews on MDL seem especially fond of it. I think part of it could just be a jbl style, cos I have felt this way about others before, but then again we’ve had recent shows like Cosmetic Playlover in which the kisses were ����👌👌 (defo best part of that show lol), like imagine this show but with those kisses and passion? This would skyrocket up my list of fav bl’s, but at this point it’s just not hitting for me like I thought it would. Gutted. 😭

I’ll finish it, but I feel like this would end up on my list of bl’s that’ve disappointed me. Shame really.

[tinyreviews]

Tiny Review: 5 Centimeters per Second 2007. Seasons of (non)love.

This reminds me a lot of Your Name, though it predates Your Name.

Even the protagonist's name is Takaki. No wonder! They are both by the same writer-director!

5 Centimeters per Second is a 2007 Japanese romantic drama animated film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. It theatrically premiered on 3 March 2007. 

[vivianstravelblog]

Asian Drama Review: I Cannot Reach Out

~ Warning! Minor Spoilers! Japanese Drama Review: “I Cannot Reach You” 君には届かない。Kimi ni wa Todokanai [2023] ~ REVIEW I was over at my friend’s place for Christmas when I mentioned that a popular Japanese BL drama had recently been added to Netflix USA. So, we checked and discovered that “I Cannot Reach You” has eight episodes, each lasting only twenty minutes. We decided to binge-watch it after…

[shamelesskpoper]

JDrama Review: Beyond Goodbye

Japanese Drama Beyond Goodbye is a tricky melodrama

Title: Sayonara no Tsuzuki, Beyond Goodbye Episodes: 8 Genre: Romance, Drama, Melodrama, Tragedy, Office Story: 6 out of 10 Characters: 7 out of 10 Cinematography: 7 out of 10 Japanese Drama Beyond Goodbye is a tricky melodrama Poster of the Japanese Drama Beyond Goodbye Story After her boyfriend’s death, Saeko falls into a work routine to forget. She will then meet Naruse on her train…

[365days365movies]

Japanuary I: Ikiru (1952) - Recap

Akira Kurosawa, baby!

Man, every time I've returned to Kurosawa, I've been super-excited! I've talked about him before (in both a published review, and an unpublished review that I may finish one of these days), but it's always cool to revisit one of the masters of cinema! And, while more people in the West know him for his 1950 film Rashomon and 1954's Seven Samurai, he has far more famous films in his filmography, and I'm gonna watch a BUNCH of 'em! That's right! IT'S A KUROSAWA MARATHON BABEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

So, where to start? Well, I've seen Rashomon and Seven Samurai, which means I've skipped a seminal Kurosawa film: 1952's tragedy film Ikiru. That makes this the first film I've seen directed by Kurosawa that isn't a samurai film on some kind, and the first film I've ever seen that Wikipedia straight-up calls a tragedy film! What the FUCK does that mean, and what am I in for? Well...time for some background, I guess? It all starts with author Leo Tolstoy, and OH FUCK, TOLSTOY?

Well...shit. That explains a few things. Leo Tolstoy is, of course, one of the greatest Russian writers and poets of all time, famous for the novel Anna Karenina, and the notoriously 1225 page long historical novel, War and Peace. Yeah, it's that dude. And no, I haven't read either book, or seen an adaptation of either, and you'll REALLY have to convince me to do so. My attention span...she can't take that much pressure, cap'n! But anyway, Tolstoy wrote a novella in 1886 called Смерть Ивана Ильича, or The Death of Ivan Ilyich. It's about a judge who dies. Because of course it is.

However, Kurosawa is excellent when it comes to adapting stories from other cultures, and translating it through a Japanese lens. I am terribly excited for Throne of Blood and Ran, which are Kurosawa's adaptations of Shakespeare, so this should be just as interesting. In fact, Ikiru is said to be one of the greatest films of all time, which is...wow. Hell of a bar to clear, I tell you what. But OK, how did this film get made?

Well, apparently, Kurosawa wanted to make a movie about a man who was set to die in 75 days. His career didn't matter, just his imminent death, and his quest to find meaning in the process of it. And I'm not sure, but Kurosawa may have come up with that idea before Tolstoy's novella was even consulted. Screenwriters Hideo Oguni and Shinobu Hashimoto, the former of which would be a long-time writing partner of Kurosawa's starting with this film, used the novella as inspiration, and they were off. The film was made for $85,000 (the equivalent of $1,011,342.83 today, holy...FUCK, inflation is a motherfucker), and release to critical acclaim.

And that's not just in Japan. Roger Ebert considered it one of his favorite films, and critics in 2012 called it the 12th greatest film of all time. And it was equally well-acclaimed by American critics back then, although it was poorly known to American audiences (unsurprisingly). It's consistently considered one of the best films ever made, and would inform cinema and Kurosawa afterwards. Hell, he credited this movie for being the reason he adapted Macbeth to make Throne of Blood, which I'll get to next. So let's see what the fuss is all about, and...probably get kinda depressed, let's be honest here.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start with our protagonist, Section Chief Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura). He's a bureaucrat in the Public Works Office in Tokyo. A boring man with a boring life, who's done nothing with that life save to serve the boring busy bureaucracy in which he's suspended. His position is not meaningless, but he does nothing substantial with it. Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring. And, unbeknownst to him...he has stomach cancer.

We're presented with an issue in a standing cesspool in the public parks that's proposed by a group of concerned mothers., who also propose replacing it with a playground. We trace a ludicrous path that the question travels, starting at the Public Works Office, all the way up through the levels of bureaucracy, until we get to the Deputy Mayor, who directs them right back to the Public Works department, to their understandable fury. However, they return on a day that Watanabe is absent from work, which is atypical for him.

Turns out that Watanabe's at the doctor's having been suffering from stomach pain. While he's waiting, a regular at the clinic tells him the symptoms of an ulcer, vs. the symptoms of stomach cancer. You see Watanabe resonate silently with the latter, and the warning that they will only tell him he has a mild ulcer if he either has an ulcer...or has less than a year to live. And unfortunately for him...the doctors tell him he has an ulcer. After Watanabe leaves, realizing he has stomach cancer, the doctors say there's no point in telling him, as he has only six months left to live.

He goes home, distraught, to tell his son Mitsuo (Nobuo Kaneko) about the diagnosis, but finds that his son's wife Kazue (Kyôko Seki) is talking to him about using Kanji's money before he dies, basically not caring about his existence. He's about to tell him, but decides against it after hearing that. Also, fuck his daughter-in-law, she really sucks. This starts a series of flashbacks, where we find that Kanji's wife and Mitsuo's mother has long past, leaving Kanji to raise his son as a single father, only for his son to semi-abandon him at the behest of his wife. Well. This isn't fucking tragic at ALL.

After quietly crying himself to sleep that night (YES, ACTUALLY, JESUS CHRIST), Kanji wakes up the next morning and...doesn't go to work. We actually jump forward by five days, and he hasn't shown up to work since. He disappears, and nobody knows where he is, including his family. Turns out, he's been drinking his troubles away, and is attempting to...well, content warning here, but end it all. But he can't bring himself to do it, wondering what he even lived for in the first place before coming to such finality. He reveals this in conversation with a writer, a random Novelist (Yūnosuke Itō).

As Kanji pours his heart out to the Novelist, in a manner that is truly depressing, he asks for help in spending the money, as he's never learned how to...live. The Novelist offers a night on the town entirely on him, feeling pity for the man, as well as a measure of fascination for somebody like poor Kanji, whose "cancer has opened [his] eyes to his own life. Fuckin'...Christ, why did I make THIS the first movie to watch for this challenge, good...GOD.

The writer and Kanji go to the pleasure halls and nightclubs, burying themselves in hedonistic pleasure that Kanji's never experienced before. In the process, they head to another nightclub, where a piano player asks for song requests. And Kanji has one: Gondola no Uta. It's a ballad from 1910 meant to represent the old telling the young to live their lives before it's too late. Kanji sings along, and...look, to get the joke out of the way, he completely harshes the vibe of the club. But to get the seriousness of it all...it's fucking heartbreaking. You're watching this man break in real time. It's an incredible performance by Shimura, because you can feel his absolute and unabiding pain. Not to mention...seeing it. Because that camera's really cooking, direction-wise, and it BREAKS. MY. SOUL.

The two continue clubbing after that, but it's not really the same. Kanji tries a bunch of hedonistic pleasures, with the writer as his Mephistopheles guiding him along, but it's not what Kanji needed. They part company soon afterwards. The next day, a sober-but-distraught Kanji wanders the streets, then runs into Toyo Odagiri (Miki Odagiri), a young female employee in his office who's desperate to quit in favor of a less monotonous, more meaningful career. She needs his signature to let her leave, and he brings her back to his home to do so.

In the process, the two share their feelings on their job, hatred from Toyo's part, and discontentment on Kanji's. He can no longer remember why he began the job, and only thinks on how busy and boring it always was. The joyful Toyo contrasts with the dour Kanji, much to the confusion of his son and daughter-in-law, who question his association with such a young woman. Understadably, for the record, 'cause it is kinda weird without any context.

So, while he and Toyo have some fun on the town, so Toyo's eventual discomfort, and while Kanji almost tells her the reason for his distress and wanting to absorb her zeal for life, he doesn't. He returns home that first night, attempting to tell his son again that he's fucking dying, only for his son to cut his dad off, and yell at him for going around with Toyo, DESPITE NOT EVEN ASKING FOR THE CONTEXT AT ALL!!! BAD SON, MITSUO! BAD SON!

Seriously, though, this is basically Cat's in the Cradle (y'know, the Howard Chapin song), but if there was an extra verse where the son told his Dad to fuck off! Anyway, this reprimand precedes Kanji's absence from work for two weeks, peppered with spending time with Toyo, who starts working at a toy factory, and tries to break off the uncomfortable situation. But, on one final night, Kanji finally attempts to explain why he enjoys spending time with her, and does explain that he has stomach cancer. He opens up further, explaining that he can tell he's dying soon, and that he and his son are basically, spiritually no longer related.

He presses her to explain how she can feel so alive, and that he can't let himself die until he feels the same zeal that she does to live. She replies that she doesn't know why she has that zeal, and all she does is make toys for kids, which makes her feel connected to every child in Japan. He despairs as he tries to figure out how he can do that in his job and position...then runs off with an idea. In the process, he leaves Toyo behind, kinda broken by the revelations that've just happened. Me too, Toyo, me too.

The next day, much to everybody's surprise and confusion, Kanji is back in the office, with a big-ass pile of paper, and ready to work once again. And this job is to FINALLY take care of the goddamn cesspool that the mothers were asking about. It'll be a long, cross-departmental operation, which will take coordination and some bureaucratic legwork, which Kanji literally intends to do. And his plan is to turn the cesspool into a park, exactly as the mothers suggested!Awesome! It'll tale about five months, but now we'll track his progress through

...Oh. He's dead. Oh.

Six months. Kanji Watanabe died in a little less than six months, as we were told he would. No miracles, no angels, no wrong diagnoses. He's just...dead. And now, in his place there's the new Section Chief, Ono (Kamatari Fujiwara), the cold and bureaucratic Deputy Mayor (Nobuo Nakamura), and a new park that he's taking the credit for. While the press, including the novelist, attempts to give Watanabe the credit, AS THEY FUCKING SHOULD, Sakai argues that those efforts were instead a part of his job and basically built the park himself. And NOBODY IS CALLING ON HIS BUREAUCRATIC BULLSHIT, INCLUDING HIS FUCKING SON!!! Jesus CHRIST, does NOBODY give a shit about what this man did?

As the bureaucratic sycophants and toadies all suck up to the Deputy Mayor, giving him the credit, the same group of mothers from earlier come up to the funerary service, asking to burn incense for the dead Kanji. And as they weep and sob at the feet of the man that saved their fucking community when nobody else fucking would, the bureaucrats, AND FUCKING MITSUO, THE SPINELESS PIECE OF SHIT, all squirm uncomfortably, as they realize they're bad-talking the man ON HIS FUCKING DEAD BODY GOD FUCKING DAMMIT

...Jesus, this movie got me fuckin' GOING there. As Mitsuo and his fuckin' wife leave the room, these filthy fucking bureaucrats finally leave the room after defaming the legacy of this man, who froze to death while dying of stomach cancer, by the fucking way!!! God. Fuck all of these people. After the deputy mayor and his fucking toadies leave out of discomfort, the remaining bureaucrats still defame him, not even trying to acknowledge his role in getting the wheels moving when they were fucking GLUED IN PLACE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Good goddamn, as soon as I think I'm done, the movie riles me up again. Amongst this disagreement, the group questions why he would've done this all-of-a-sudden, having undergone this sudden transformation. None of them knew he had cancer, and they refused to believe that he knew either. They instead blame it on his sudden "romance" with Toyo, until Ono and Sakai (Haruo Tanaka), another part of the Public Works Office, begin to recall his immense enthusiasm (AKA, think about it for MORE THAN FIVE FUCKING SECONDS).

One by one, bit-by-bit, they start to realize that this motherfucker worked day-and-night, think-and-thin, sweat-blood-and-tears to make this shit happen, despite pressure from all of the departments that needed to work together to get this done! He hunted these bureaucratic assholes down to get this work done, tirelessly hounding them until they GOT OFF THEIR ASSES AND DID SOMETHING. They claim to have pitied him, they claim the other departments were worse then them, they claim and try their damnedest to take or dodge responsibility where appropriate, but no matter what, there's one undeniable fact: Kanji was a fucking KING, and the reason this park happened at all! This beautiful motherfucker stood up to the fucking Deputy Mayor, after being told to abandon the project altogether, and cut through his STUPID STUBBORN BUREAUCRATIC LAZY ASS TO GET THIS PARK BUILT GODDAMN IT I FUCKING LOVE THIS MAN

The funeral party considers whether or not the effort was worth it, but still, still belittles Kanji's place in the process! He has ONE dude, Kimura (Shinichi Himori), actually giving him the credit. A guy who SAW his struggles, even saw him dying in the hallways of the building. He has A SINGLE MAN, WHO ISN'T HIS FUCKING SON, sticking up for him the whole time!!! Goddammit, I'm SO UPSET! Over the night of drinking and thinking, these stupid idiots (except Kimura, who's the MVP here) reminisce over and over about his good deeds, and we actually do get to see Kanji's progress over the course of those five months. He's threatened, bullied, almost run over, belittled, ignored, and pushed aside figuratively and literally, over and over and over again, all while he's dying! But he doesn't care! He still goes on! He's a fucking hero!

Finally, these idiots, now drunk off their fucking skulls, realize that Kanji did realize he was dying, which explains his doggedness to get this project done, despite the obstacles in his way. And they still that that revelation and make it about themselves, claiming they would've done it in his place, were they to die! God! But when somebody points out that anybody could die at any second, and none of them have the TITANIUM GONADS THAT KANJI WATAFUCKINABE HAD, they realize that Kanji was a great man. Which really sucks, because this is a hangover away from being forgotten by all of them.

Now...NOW...FUCKING NOW...they start complaining about the tediousness of bureaucracy, and realizing that ALL of their shit does stink. And finally, in a final flashback, we see exactly how Kanji Watanabe died. A policeman drops by to pay his respects, and noted that he saw him that night, and didn't attempt to get him out of the cold, because EVERYBODY IS AN ASSHOLE APPARENTLY. Anyway, he saw Kanji, happy and on the swings in the park, once again singing Gondola no Uta, while swinging away in the snow.

I'm touched. I'm sad. AND I'M MAD AS FUCK

These fucking assholes, son, daughter-in-law, brother, bureaucrats, deputy mayor, cop, EVERYBODY (except Kimura and Toyo), CAN ROT IN HELL!!! Mitsuo calls his father cruel for not telling them he was dying (HE TRIED, YOU LITTLE SHIT), and they realize maybe Toyo wasn't his fucking "girlfriend", even thought they NEVER BOTHERED TO EVEN ASK HIM!!! And after all that, after everything, these drunken bureaucratic sons of bitches wail and cry that they'll improve, and be better like Kanji was, ONLY TO GO BACK AND DO THE SAME BUREAUCRATIC BULLSHIT THEY WERE DOING BEFORE GODDAMMIT ALL TO HELL

Kimura tries to stand up. It's futile. Nobody stand with him. Instead, he goes out after work to see what Kanji did, as the children play.

I'm fucking angry, and this movie is fucking great.

I'm just...moved. I'm touched, I'm saddened, and I'm in awe of how good this movie is. It's almost 2.5 hours long, and it didn't feel like that at all. It's fantastic. And I've never felt more like FUCKING MEGATRON IN MY LIFE!!!

BURN IT DOWN!!! ALL OF IT!!!

See you at the Review.

[afabstract]

Happy of the End Review: Love, Trauma, and Despair Collide

Happy of the End is a dark drama that explores a tumultuous relationship between two broken men, Chihiro and Keito. With themes of trauma, abuse, and survival, this noir-like series offers a grim, complex take on love and despair.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram) “I want to die” Those are probably not the first words you’d expect to hear after a kiss. But, well, the Japanese series Happy of the End isn’t your typical romantic drama either. Kashiwagi Chihiro is young, beautiful, penniless, disowned by his family for being gay, and thrown to the streets by his latest lover for being unfaithful. One day, at a bar, he…

[pillarboxed]

Look Back (2024) Review

Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama

Runtime: 58 minutes

Language: Japanese audio; English and Mandarin subtitles

Certification: PG (Singapore), P12 (Malaysia)

Via @lookback_anime on X

Look Back (2024) is an anime film that faithfully adapts Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot manga of the same name. If the adaptation had been even more faithful by treating the manga as the final storyboards, the barely one-hour runtime would probably have been even shorter. However, writer-director Kiyotaka Oshiyama makes tweaks and additions that increase the runtime and the emotions.

Look Back follows two girls, Fujino and Kyomoto, as they grow up pursuing their artistic ambitions. But when a horrific tragedy strikes them, Fujino is forced to reflect on why she even draws in the first place.

The changes Oshiyama has made really work in his favour. After watching the film, I read the manga, and I’m glad he expanded on its contents—especially the scene in which Fujino skips through paddy fields in the pouring rain. Before this, Fujino had decided to give up on drawing because she felt like no matter how much effort she put in, she couldn’t get better than Kyomoto, her truant schoolmate. Discouragement from her older sister and a friend gets to Fujino too. When she finally meets her “rival”, however, Kyomoto exclaims that she’s a fan, asks for an autograph, and declares Fujino a manga genius. During their interaction, Fujino seems like she doesn’t really want to be doing this, but when she leaves, she can’t help but succumb to her excitement. While the manga uses a two-page spread to emphasise the moment of Fujino skipping through those paddy fields, the film gives us a lot more time.

We start with an aerial shot looking at Fujino as a tiny dot moving along a path that cuts through silvery pools of water. The camera smoothly moves down and pushes close to her from behind, revealing that she isn’t lightly skipping but very forcefully driving her arms and knees up. When we get to see her face, she has such an intense expression: her brow is scrunched up and her lips are pouting. I wouldn’t call this a look of joy. Still, she leans to the side and sweeps her arm through a furrow, sending water splashing out. She keeps skipping towards the camera and us all the while. My guess is that more than joy, she feels vindicated. Asked about scenes he’s “particularly happy with” in an interview with Anime News Network (ANN), Oshiyama points out this one. With its energy—and that wonderful juxtaposition between Fujino’s facial expression and body language—this is my favourite scene of the film. I love it.

I’ve mentioned that I’m not keen on melodrama in previous reviews. However, I’ve come to realise that exaggerating emotions can often work really well in animation, including in Look Back, with the film being more sentimental than the manga. And yes, I do like the anime better.

In that same ANN interview, Oshiyama points to the montages of Fujino hunched over her desk while “the scenery outside the window [changes]” as visuals that “accurately represent the emotional difficulties of being a creator”. Although I prefer the anime overall, I have to say that I relate more to how the manga portrays this struggle.

When we first meet Fujino as a professional manga artist in the film, we get a montage of her working at her desk, with the images changing drastically. The scenery outside changes with the seasons, her hair grows from short to long, and the actual office she’s in changes. On the other hand, the manga gives us five panels which all look almost the same. The seasons outside don’t change. The location doesn’t change. What changes are the position of her body and the angle of her drawing tablet. They’re subtle changes. Unlike the film, this portrayal is not romantic. It’s monotonous. Based on my own experiences of creating, this depiction feels more real.

Via @lookback_anime on X

“I guess you could say, on some level, [Look Back is] meant to be an affirmation for creators like us,” Oshiyama says, in response to a question about the film’s messages. “So, my hope is that by showing characters pouring themselves into working hard to create something, people will appreciate that hard work is still meaningful.”

Now that I’ve graduated university, I’ve spent a lot of time writing. So, it seems like I’m often just sitting and staring at my laptop screen. I frequently think, “What am I doing?” Though I do prefer the film as a whole, it’s those monotonous manga panels of Fujino hunkered down over her desk that have comforted me. But it’s the film that led me to reading the manga.

Rating: 4/5

Last updated: Dec 31, 2024