#ritsu x masumi

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Hi, can I ask, who are your top 5 (or top 3) seme & uke from your favorite BL media (can be manga/manhwa/danmei/tv series/movies)? Why love them?

Hello! Thank you for the ask, I have been horrendously busy with very good things, so I did not ignore your ask, just have not had time or brain space to answer until now. I’ll be honest with you, I came in to this fandom from BL series with little to no background in yaoi before that, so I am not the most familiar with uke and seme as a concept. But, looking it up gave me the following definitions: 

Uke (受け): The term Uke, in Japanese, literally means "receiver" or "one who receives". In the Yaoi context, Uke is the more passive, submissive, and generally younger or physically smaller character in the relationship.

Seme (攻め): The term Seme, in Japanese, literally means "attacker" or "one who attacks". In the Yaoi context, the Seme is the more dominant, assertive, and usually older or physically larger character in the relationship.

So with those definitions in mind, my five favorite seme and ukes are: 

Masumi and Ritsu- The End of the World with You

Any one who has not watched this show should stop reading this post and go watch End of the World With You instead. Masumi and Ritsu had such an interesting dynamic and it was really fun to watch the changing in their relationship between college and the apocalypse. 

It felt to me like Masumi was rather stuck on his personality from college, a quiet and reserved person, who could not quite let go of the pain of being betrayed by Ritsu, even though he entered in to a relationship he was warned was not going to be romantic. It was cool to see how Ritsu mellowed out/matured more as an adult, and how that seme style personality was employed within the show in ways that allowed Masumi to forgo filial obligations and allow himself to stay with Ritsu and Yuma on their road trip. 

Vegas and Pete- KinnPorsche 

Okay, let’s get the more obvious ones out of the way first, before I get to talk about the really juicy ones. But, I fucking love VegasPete. I love them so much, I’d say that it’s just because of my First BL Drama goggles, but I’ve seen this show 15 times now, and just recently rewatched it, with over 120 BLs under my belt, and they still hold strong for me. I just- 

For me, they are so well written. Both the characters as individuals, Pete does tend to serve as a comic relief at the beginning, but even with relatively minimal screen time, they are really able to give him enough depth by the end that the character feels real, feels like he has a life and a history that exist outside of the confines of the story, and that his life history does impact how he operates in the world. I love the way that the narrative really is able to turn Vegas around in to a more wet and pathetic person by the end, so much so that I had a front row seat to watching my friends slowly learn to love him as they watched this show for the first time. 

I’d put Vegas as Pete’s kidnapper, torturer, and captor as the seme in their relationship and Pete as the kidnapped, prisoner, pet, and free therapist as the uke there. Something that I was interested in seeing with The Sign was a BL that was going to cover hypermasculinity, and while I don’t think KinnPorsche is something I would consider hypermasculine, I do think that Vegas and Pete have a very interesting relationship because they both are pretty masc, and therefore they can fight each other, and Pete can give Vegas a run for his fucking money in a fight, while still being able to maintain what I would consider a seme and uke dynamic. 

But ultimately my favorite thing about them is the emotional complexity to their relationship, not whether or not they fit the seme & uke definitions. That scene in Episode 13 when Pete and Vegas fight, and Pete knocks Vegas out and escapes remains one of my favorites in KinnPorsche and sits pretty firmly in my huge assortment of favorite scenes in BL because it was really fun watching those characters navigate the emotional minefield that was captivity, love, hatred, freedom, dehumanization, desperation, violence, and pain. Good shit, at least in my opinion. 

Hira and Kiyo- Utsukushii Kare 

A trend with some of my favorite seme/uke characters is that they tend to subvert expectations when looked at from just a historically “top” or “bottom” perspective as it relates to seme and uke terminology in yaoi. 

Hira and Kiyoi are one of my favorite seme and uke pairs because Hira and Kiyoi subvert the expectation about who the seme and uke are. My impression of Utsukushii Kare is that Kiyoi is the uke and Hira is the seme, despite the fact that Hira is physically smaller and submissive to Kiyoi. And while I am not well versed in seme/uke tropes in yaoi, @bengiyo is very knowledgeable in the positionality of semes and ukes in Japanese yaoi, and spoke about the positionality of Hira and Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare in one of the The Conversation Pod episodes where he talked about Hira and Kiyoi constantly being in a battle about placing themselves lower in relation to one another, and who was on the left versus who was on the right. I really love how so much of their own internal relationship fights are really structured around the fact that Kiyoi wants Hira to be on the attack, (and we see that Hira is literally capable of being on the attack when it comes to defending Kiyoi) but in order for that to happen, Hira need to cut the hero worship bullshit and look at Kiyoi like a human being. 

Without a solid understanding of the seme/uke tropes, the positionality, the hair color, etc. I think it is relatively easy to miss that thread in their arguments, I definitely did. Which is fine, because Utsukushii Kare is strongly written and therefore their fights are layered with additional meaning on top so everyone has something to pull from their relationship struggles. But once My Beautiful Man: Eternal came out, we finally got an explicit statement from Kiyoi where he asked Hira if he ever fantasized about being manhandled. Which to me is the most obvious call-out to that aspect of their relationship that we had in the show.  

Also, from just a character perspective, Hira is a little freak and I love him and his ducks, and Kiyoi is just a sweetheart who deserves all of the love in the world. 

Ji Hyun and Jae Won- The Eighth Sense

That country mouse sure knows what he wants and is willing to die to get that dick so like, there is no way I can’t put Ji Hyun on the list. Massive respect to that little twink, dude joined the surf club when he didn’t know how to swim, drowned, and nearly died so he could bag Jae Won and he did. Similarly to Hira and Kiyoi, I don’t think going in to this show you would quite expect Ji Hyun to be the pursuer in the relationship, but he very quickly lets us all know what is up. And it works so well here because Jae Won as a character spend so much of his time unmoored. He’s passive, he’s quiet, he’s dissociative for, like, 90% of the show, and it is so wonderful to see the ways that Ji Hyun’s repeated advances, both his more subtle attempts and his more blatant are one of few things that are able to get a genuine and happy reaction out of Jae Won. 

I love the moments they shared together in Episode 6; as much as it hurts, I love the way Ji Hyun’s accident so strongly impact Jae Won just to show you how much of a positive impact Ji Hyun’s pursuit has had on his life, I love the places where Ji Hyun’s accident results in Jae Won starting to have a more active (and aggressive) control over his own life; and I love the way that Ji Hyun does not stop trying to give Jae Won as much love as he can send his way. The way Ji Hyun knows to expect Jae Won the second that he sees that Read message appear under the texts he’d sent Jae Won, the way the show is filled with light whenever they are together, the way that Jae Won is more relaxed, and smiles and laughs more easily as a result of receiving all of this love and care from Ji Hyun. 

Their relationship is excellent, Ji Hyun’s horny little ass is excellent, The Eighth Sense is excellent. I love them.  

Wang and Inthawut- 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

 

Ok, I don’t know if this is a controversial choice or not, because I would not consider 180 Degree a BL at all. Nor would I ultimately consider Wang and Inthawut’s relationship to be romantic at least by the end of this show. But I do think that a) they fit the seme and uke definitions above super legibly and b) they once again subvert the expectation of which character falls under each role. There has never been a more passive motherfucker in all of the world as Inthawut. Wang is one of the most aggressive pursuers I have ever seen in media, he is assertive, he knows exactly what he wants, he will give it all to Inthawut if it means he gets some goddamn answers from the adults in his life that are too fucking scared to answer any of his questions if it means facing their pasts. 

Was this just an excuse to talk about 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us because it is one of my favorite shows of all time and put me through the emotional wringer? Maybe. But I do think the point still stands that Wang is there trying to give his all to Inthawut, and Inthawut is there desperately fighting with every fiber of his being not to receive anything from Wang. 

[perths]

"Would you please fall in love with me again?"

Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu (The End Of The World, With You) EPISODE 07

[respectthepetty]

Ritsu is the devil.

And because he is shaped in only the way Japan can create a character, Ritsu is truly terrifying. If this was horror (which I will always argue everything Japan does has a psychological horror aspect to it), Ritsu could be a killer or a cult leader, easily.

He is selfish. He is manipulative. He is sinister.

Yet, like Masumi, I want Ritsu to pay attention to Masumi. I want him to touch Masumi. I want him to smile at Masumi.

Because when Ritsu is charming, Masumi is lost. He puts his head down to shield himself from Ritsu's intensity. He turns away and hides his face. He caves.

He tries to create boundaries, but each second he spends with Ritsu is like watching a cat taunt its prey. The moment Masumi turned around in the library, Ritsu had him.

I'm sure Ritsu has his reasons for being this way, but what I feel this show is doing well is showing us that all those reasons don't matter because when all is said and done, Ritsu still became the devil. Masumi seems to have had a a traumatic childhood, yet chose kindness and hope in contrast to Ritsu. Regardless of what happened in Ritsu's past, he still decides every day to disregard people and their emotions. Even as an adult, he doesn't ask Yuma's name before offering him death because it's not important to him. Nothing is.

There are only seven days left before the world ends, and Masumi may very well forgive Ritsu for all the baggage he left him with, but the audience will remember the way Ritsu was casually cruel to Masumi and indifferent with his feelings.

And that's probably why they cast this other devil.

[mysterygrl20]

The End of the World with You Ep2 - Can I have a sip?

[how-to-be-a-tree]

For the little life we have left, you and I should only do what we want to do. How's it gonna be, Masumi?

[alwayspining]

First kiss things in Bokura no micro na shuumatsu/僕らのミクロな終末 (2023) l ep 2 l dir. Miki Koichiro

[orangemocharaktajino]

[theoncomingchaos]

About Ritsu

I just finished binging “The End of the World With You” and I want to share some thoughts about why I think Ritsu is a really realistic and well made character with an intentionally unfinished, but positive character arc.

When Ritsu was growing up, he experienced love as conditional. When he was successful, he was loved by his mother. When he was compliant, he was loved by his father. That means there are a lot of things about relationships that he never really got a chance to learn growing up.

Some things people from messed up families don’t learn as children are things like how to set and follow healthy boundaries (people tend to have no walls or walls that are too high), how to compromise, conflict resolution, and they also tend to have a more flexible sense of right and wrong because they had to be flexible in order to get by as a child.

Examples of this from the show:

-He doesn’t have a strong understanding of what most people would consider pretty basic rules of relationships. This is both romantic relationships and friendships as seen in the way he wrecks every circle he joins. Even by the time he was 30 he has still not been able to do any of this.

-He was willing to give a high school kid a pill to kill himself and doesn’t see a problem with that. Plus, he was ready to drag Masumi into disposing of the body...

-When the fight happened about his sleeping around, he ended it without trying to talk about it or figure anything out. No compromise. No conflict resolution skills.

He grew up always compromising and doing everything as perfect as possible to please his parents, but in the end it didn’t work. He still ended up tossed to the side in favor of the less capable step brother. This would have taught him several lessons unconsciously. Primarily, that this is the way the world works. People are good to you when they want or need you, but they can’t be counted on besides that.Trying to please them is pointless and hoping for unconditional love is pointless. Thus, he developed his philosophy that you need to take care of yourself first and foremost because no one else will do it.

Based on his actions, we can see he does naturally want to be appreciated and loved. Even the fact that he has a keen eye for when people love him is probably because he is so desperate for it he has a lot of practice looking for it.

Sleeping around with different people, serves his needs in more than the obvious way. Besides sexual gratification, he gets shallow, but instant emotional gratification. He knows these relationships are conditional and short term. He isn’t expecting or even seeking love, so it’s easy. He is nice to them, says the right things, does the right things, and is rewarded with attention the same way he was as a child. (I won’t even get into the father complex he has where he is sleeping around like his father did and is potentially trying to prove his worth or get closer to him by becoming him...)

Of course, all of this is different with Masumi. Both Masumi and Ritsu enjoy spending time together. They were friends first and foremost. For once in his life, Ritsu had someone who cared about him for him- not for what he did for them. It was so comfortable and easy- but of course Ritsu can’t trust or even hope that it’s going to be forever or unconditional. He has never had an example in his life of a loving, equal, or lasting relationship. It’s all transactional.

So that leads us to two big questions:

Why did he need to sleep around?

Because he hasn’t dealt with his issues is the easiest way to put it. He’s only 20, he’s fresh out of his messed up household, he has been needing love and attention so badly for so long and been playing the good boy his whole life for nothing. He’s angry, and he’s tired of playing by other people’s rules. He wants so much (love, freedom, sex, to send a huge fuck you to his parents, etc.) and he’s finally ready to say fuck it and get it all with no care to the consequences because what has the world ever done for him anyway. He needed this time to rebel and go a little wild. He wasn’t ready to face the truth of himself or his trauma.

Why did he break up with Masumi if the relationship was so good?

Unfortunately, he met the right person at the wrong time. He wasn’t emotionally ready for a real relationship with Masumi. The minute Masumi had expectations for him it entered transactional and conditional territory. He wasn’t ready to put himself back in that kind of situation again. Since he doesn’t have strong conflict resolution skills, the best solution was to run away.

His Development in the Series:

After 10 years of living this empty fuckboy life, it takes someone platonic who genuinely seems to care about him and enjoy being around him, to point out to him that the longest relationship he ever had is also the only one he seems to hold onto. No one else has ever loved him as honestly and unconditionally as Masumi.

As Ritsu said, no one was going to be there with him at the end. His philosophy of putting himself first put him in this place where even the only real friend he seemed to have died partially because he was too busy getting laid to be there for her when she needed him.

The fact that he starts trying to find Masumi again shows that he doesn’t want to be alone anymore. He also mentioned that this time he wasn’t going to mess it up. In other words, he was ready to try for real to let him in and to work towards having a real and meaningful relationship.

Masumi’s Trauma:

Another part of what makes it even more painful for the viewer is that we know Masumi has his own trauma where he grew up abused and feeling unwanted. He is also desperate to be loved unconditionally which is something Ritsu just doesn’t know how to do yet. Unlike Ritsu who went out and took everything he wanted, Masumi retracted in on himself and shut himself in to keep himself safe- even doing everything he could to please his abuser. (They are the no-walls and too many walls ends of the spectrum of people with childhood trauma).

The road forward- some people are saying this was an open ending, but it seemed pretty hopeful to me. If the meteor really hit, they would have felt it, plus then there is all that sunshine when they opened the curtain and all that lead up to Yuma’s powers probably being the source of the meteor in the first place. Anyway, on the assumption that they live, their relationship is going to need a lot of work.They are going to need to have better communication about their needs and boundaries. I think Meguru and Yuma will actually be really helpful in being their support group.

As many have pointed out, Ritsu wasn’t really “redeemed,” in the sense that the audience could completely forgive his behavior- and they shouldn’t. It was unhealthy behavior brought about by an unhealthy childhood. The tone used in the series never suggests that we should just forget about it. However, he is making better choices and is finally ready to face his issues and do better- and really that's a huge step.

The theme: The main point of the drama is about overcoming trauma and pain instead of running from it, and finding the beauty and joy in life, love, and the world around you.

Ritsu’s story is unfinished and that’s intentional. He still has a lot of work to do on himself, but he is ready to do it. He is finally able to let go of the pain of his childhood and face up to what he let it do to him. He’s ready to face his mistakes and try to be better. He wants to explore the world and experience it in a new and better way with Masumi. Likewise, Masumi is ready to put his hurt and pain behind him and stop letting fear rule his life.

[thedooristhebluecushion]

Did anybody do this?

Because somebody had to do this.

[saintgabrielqueers]

kind of love that masumi and ritsu took the phrase “went out with a bang” literally and fucked the night before the supposed end of the world was going to happen

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Hi!

For the trope ask game

8. May/December & 12. Forced Proximity

Rose💜

8- May/December

So there are actually quite a few age gap romances in BL but hmmm this one is a little difficult for me because there are a couple that I really really love. I like the idea of the May/Decmber trope being not only a significant age gap but also two people in very different stages of their lives, so as much as I love Wataru and Daichan I feel like they are both settled, domestic, and while generationally different, they are both working adults. 

I think I want to actually throw this to 

Fan Ze Rui and Bai Zong Yi, Kiseki: Dear to Me 

What I appreciate with their relationship is that unlike some of the other May/December relationships, they meet when they are relatively older. What I mean by this is that Lian and Kuea from Cutie Pie grew up together, Wataru has known Daichan since he was twelve. Bai Zong Yi meets Fan Ze Rui when he is 17, in what I would call a truly unhinged first contact. I loved watching their relationship develop from utter annoyance to tolerance to friendship and then to love. I think what I love about this relationship is that there is a clear attraction between them for awhile, but Fan Rui is trying to be responsible. He knows Bai Zong Yi is a minor, he has a dangerous lifestyle, sure he definitely wants to be with Bai Zong Yi but he is not trying to encourage Bai Zong Yi’s feelings for him, even if they are reciprocated. 

Part of why I am choosing these two is a) because the tension in Fan Rui knowing that this relationship is not responsible and Bai Zong Yi’s clear and obvious interest in him creates one of my favorite first kiss acting moments and b) because I think Kiseki actually managed to handle this relationship responsibly by having Bai Zong Yi be the pursuer, by having Fan Rui try to distance, by having Bai Zong Yi initiate. 

Their reunion scene was beautiful and that lap sit during their first kiss was smooth as butter. 

12- Forced Proximity

Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu 

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, AND I FEEL FINE. 

What an incredible example of a forced proximity second chance romance with such fucked up relation dynamics that I absolutely got to obsessed over. I mean, be honest, how many shows do you see where your characters are forced together on a road trip to try to get their recently acquired, superhero seventeen year old child back to his family before the world is destroyed by a giant meteor? This plot sounds ridiculous, and it is, and yet the character dynamics are so compelling, and there is an incredible emotional core that operates throughout. Good job!

For the BL Romance Tropes Ask Game

[conscbgb]

I had a conflicted rs with this series: I hated Ritsu character and his behaviour so much! I didn't believe in his redemption arc because what he did to Masumi was so heart wrenching painful and unfair...but 👇

The spin-off manga can give you some kind of "closure", "after-asteroid" Ritsu is really different from the ha$$hole he was and it ends in a nice way for them

[respectthepetty]

Can I have a sip?

Japan is showing its true colors with The End of the World with You.

Happy to witness it.

[mysterygrl20]

If I was given another chance, I told myself I wouldn't make any mistakes.

[chicademartinica]

The way I wanted to push Jae Won in a nearby trash can in ep.03 fam. I had Ritsu war flashbacks.

[how-to-be-a-tree]

We've come this far, how can I not stay?

E05. "The question that occurs along with chaos"