A Wonderful Story of Loneliness

What I am astonished is how others see series. As of late, South Korean BLs can be a ‘hit or miss’. Some are profoundly impactful while others are full of trite and mundane storylines. I found this to be simply brilliant while others found its ending cliché. For me, that was the most endearing part of this series. I have lived a long time and as trite as that behavior was portrayed, I have seen and witnessed this behavior in my life more times than I can count to many of my gay friends. It is called ‘jealousy’ and it is indeed a very ugly emotions that makes both males and females do awful, damaging and destructive things to others. And unfortunately, I do not think that emotion will ever diminish. This is a wonderful story, really. It is a story of loneliness but told with such compassion and tenderness.

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Brilliantly Redefines the Meaning of Love

Overall, this is a raw, gritty series that presents itself more like a documentary movie than a BL series. It is dark, brooding, and exceedingly realistic. The characters are real people with real problems in real life actualities. I felt drained after watching this series. And categorically it is one of the most intelligently thought-out and refined BLs I have ever seen. It started out dark and remained dark even though its essence is not dark. The presentation of this series is very dark and certainly contemplative. It feels perilous and is filmed in a rather hazy dim fashion. Perhaps reflective of life for many people whose lives are more represented by this series. Pedestrian. Overlooked. Where life is difficult. Full of struggles. Lots of pain. Many unfulfilled dreams and desires. Yet, the foundation for continuing is still family, love, and commitment.

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A Mature BL

While the story revolves around the relationship of an older couple, it is so so much more than that. Kakei Shiro (Nishijima Hidetoshi) and Yabuki Kenji (Uchino Seiyou) are both well into their 40s and are steep in Japanese culture. Shiro is an uptight lawyer, rigid in his thinking, terrified of being overtly gay, certainly closeted, although his family knows. He is frugal to the point of being labeled a ‘penny-pincher’ and sticks rigidly to sets of rules and budgets. Kenji, on the other hand, is a bit more extravagant and sort of ‘open’ in his gayness. He is a hairdresser. Never hiding it and yet does try to fit into the societal norms and desperately tries to fit in with what Shiro wants to keep things orderly. Over the course of their relationship, we see that Shiro changes more so. Sometimes, more subtlety but steadily, into how Kenji thinks and behaves. The two begin to mesh and blend and honestly act more like a married couple than most married couples.

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Pretty to look at but Illogical

The universality of this series being praised as a ‘masterpiece’ or ‘the best so far’, makes me reticent to be critical of this series. As indeed, I had so looked forward with great anticipation to watching this series, thinking my reaction would be the same. I understand that it is a fantasy and I love fantasies, specifically time travel, as you have to suspect your beliefs and embrace your disbeliefs. And I could easily do that but not with this series. It left me feeling empty for some reason. I hate to admit this, but I felt nothing for the main couple whereas everyone else seemed to see their love destiny. All I saw was cute acting to deliberately set-up scenarios to pull at heartstrings, mostly at an agonizingly slow pace then filled in between with a density of immaturity defined by a constant sense of deference that made no sense. The only ones having the courage to fight that mindset were the ‘servants’ who were nothing more than slaves, and the women, who had the courage to stand up for themselves but paid a very heavy price for their convictions. The men, including our main characters, cowered, and are ‘waiting for destiny’ to save them.

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Non-descript BL series

This is a pretty standard BL that is fluffy, cutely predictable, only so-so entertaining, and fast becoming too common. What made it thus is that there is really no drama here to bring you down (or up) and the characters are endlessly consistent. They are, how to put this, rather ordinary. It is not that the leads are not cute; they are. But the characters are so mundane, leading ordinary lives and facing the same issues the rest of us do. Overworked, with little time to eat or sleep, no social life. This series has no depth to it. The characters are there. The plot is boring, characters are mundane, any reference to love is barely visible, and the acting is modicum.

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One of the Best!

This I would not call a ‘BL’. Perhaps it should be labeled more of an elegy about a deep personal connection. It is a story of two men smitten with each other but calling it love may be on a higher plane than actually exists for either of them. If anything, this is a toxic love story. Not pretty and not meant to be. Criticisms of this series are all valid but that does not take away from its validity. Nor its brilliance. This series is real, honest, brutal, and contemporary. It is a middle-class love story about two rather baneful individuals who found each other at the wrong time in the right place. There is great sadness in this series but also hope. Despite everything, this is a story of human tenacity and fortitude. It is not splashy, cute, or pretty but oh God it is real. Especially living in the City of Angels. Therefore, one of the best series, hesitatingly calling it a BL, for this year of 2023.

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Just Brilliant in its Simplicity

While it may not be necessary to watch 1 before 2, it might make more sense since 2 is the prequel to 1. However, I watched 2 before the first series and for me, it was not necessarily the smoothest of transitions. But the story is simple, basic, yet conveys a sense of life as it really exists. One comes to terms with who he is and the other does not. There are only two characters in these series and so the whole story is shouldered on the strength and conviction of these two young men. Mon and Oak are the powerhouse couple in BL today but are not recognized as so. Just brilliant acting.
See my full review at BLBliss.com.

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Yawn

This is a very disappointing BL series, surprisingly form Japan. Normally, Japanese BL are edgy and provocative and interesting. This is flat, boring and completely lifeless. They acted more like children in love than adults in love. I get that there are cultural and societal differences about how to express love, but honestly at some point, someone has to be grown-up enough to at least hint that the love the other person. It also seemed obvious to me that the actors were either given poor directions or simply were not going to give any hint of a connection with the other. If you are going to play a gay part, then try and pretend at least that you are.

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Great Moral Arc

There is a great moral arc to this story but the characters were simply not real. If you are looking for any sense of deep connection with the main characters, then move in. It is NOT bad acting; just a bad script. You have a main couple who lack any kind of deep connection to each other. Sure there are cute stares, and magical moonbeams but no hint of any real attraction to each other. There was not even a kiss so therefore how can there be love. This story could have been a good one but fell short. But there is a support role here that is just phenomenal. You can read my full review at BLBliss.com. She was simply brilliant.

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Quirky but Sad

I think this is supposed to sort of be a rom-com and parts of it are quite funny. The Japanese have a real eye for self-depreciating humor in the first person. And the physical comedy that goes with that. Unquestionably the two main protagonists are quite quirky and real misfits, which made them very likeable. The first half is much better than the second half. The last half just turned into a silly cat-and-mouse game of playing with emotions with neither one wanting to make any type of a commitment to have a relationship. I found that patently silly and absurd. I was very disappointed overall with this series and found it to be formulaic. In the end, I found them to be way more sad figures than happy ones. Ironically.

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Awkward but It Works!

This is a complete mish-mash of characters that honestly should not work. They are awkward and seem awkward in their own skins. But weirdly, it all works and turns out to be a charming and engaging series. It grabbed my attention and never let go. There are some hidden meanings in this series and that is captured very well. An awkward happenstance that turns charming and you end up rooting for them. Physically, these two actors seem out-of-place, not compatible with each other, and awkwardly clumsy. Yet, it all worked. There is such good chemistry between them that appears to be genuine, even if it is unorthodox. Just enjoy this charmer.
You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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I wanted to like this....

Honestly, I really wanted to like this series. The actors are stunningly handsome and are very good actors, really. But this story had so man logical flaws in it, that it was hard to really like. Also, I never bought their relationship as I did not see much chemistry between the two main actors. If you are going to have young guys supposedly in love, show us. Give us something relatable and understandable so we can see they are is something related to romance. There is also no need for side-stories that frankly go nowhere and are meant to pull at heartstrings. The premise of this story is good; it is just executed with too much meandering with no clear focus.

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Lives Up to Its Name - TOXIC!

Dear God, this is so bad. Everything about this is bad. Acting, production, editing, sound, and story. The story is disjointed with self-indulgent characters that bully and intimidate others around them. Filled also with over-the-top gay characters who portray 'gay' behavior in the worst possible way. I really enjoyed Aki in MY DAY but this is just awful. Everyone’s acting was at best amateurish and at worst, looking like they were all ‘winging it’ on their own. There was no sense of direction, no help with timing or delivering lines, or rehearsal, for that matter. Honestly, I could not believe how badly this series was acted throughout.
Skip it at all cost,

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