More than Words (2022)

A VERY realistic take on Japanese LGBT life and its society that affects all the characters

Thanks for Furritsu for the subs. I finished watching the remaining episodes on Billi

So I really liked this drama, it’s different. To me depressing or not happy endings stories like this one really interest me. I don’t get emotionally affected by stories like these (because I don’t see it as real).

Oh yeah I am going to talk SPOILERS for this series.

Story: The good half of the story (episode 1 to 8) focus on Mieko and Makio, their friendship and their involvement with Eiji who they all met working part time in a restaurant. With the POV being on Mieko making her the main character of this series. This changes in the final two episodes (8 to 10) where the POV is more general and focus on Makio and Asato general relationship.

For me I liked how realistic and down to earth the story is. Mostly you are following the lives of Meiko, Makio and Eiji (in the 1st half) and Asato (in the later section). For me I don’t think this is a BL story, as while Makio relationships with Eiji and Asato are shown the story does’nt completely focus on Makio. As the story covers Meiko story as she progresses in her life. Also the portrayal of how society views LGBT relationship is completely realistic compared to the fantasy of BL. I just thought things
like this happens in real life and that’s fine, people are in one situation and the next moment they move on to another.

Characters

Meiko: Is such a refreshing female character, she's interesting character, but yes thinking about it she's really stupid for the actions that she did. What I like about her is that she's relatable and reminds me of myself, she is an observer but wants to help when she wants to. Her friendship with Makio is amazing. I understood her downfall when she volunteered to be a surrogate mother, thinking she would help Makio and Eiji’s relationship but as a result it was the one of the catalysts to cause the breakup of Makio and Eiji. Because I could see that is not what Makio wanted. Ok her actions were VERY selfish and egoistical of herself, but in a way she was'nt a baddie in my eyes, she really valued Makkio in her life and I see it as she did'nt mean to intentionally break the relationship between Makkio and Eiji. She's like WAY better than some toxic female characters in most BL dramas these days.

Makio: From the outside he’s a very happy go lucky kind of person. He also doesn’t think much when he decides to date Eiji. The thing is this series does'nt really show you what kind of person Makio really is so you have to judge from what you see him on the screen. But when he dated Eiji and moved on to Asato just shows that he really wants to get into a relationship with a guy the BL way lol (like date a guy with no judgement on his gay status, no child, just have the guy to himself)

Eiji: A really interesting character. I like how honest he is with himself but too shy to stand up for himself, like how he just confessed to Eiji after a misunderstanding and the same when he confessed to his parents but to me he feels like he rather please others rather than thinking about living in a way he wants to. But sadly he is a prime example of being influenced by how society views LGBT subjects. He wasn’t mentally strong to maintain the relationship he had with Makio.

Asato: A late comer into the story. He honestly needed more episodes than 2 to get to know his character. But he’s at least more emotionally stronger than Eiji, I liked how casual his relationship with Makio is and how naturally they became lovers. From being ex-classmates, to bickering about rubbish, to being casual friends and to being lovers. Felt natural and down to earth. He has his own personal problems career wise (and with his granddad) but not related to his sexuality.

Directing: Really slick and felt natural. I LOVE how the ending credits are shown.

Music: It's not really there, snice it's trying to show real life so most of the scenes have no music. I do like the ending themes tho.

Postives: Very high production values, very good acting, great directing and a very realistic story about LGBT life. I liked all of the characters in this story.

Negatives: The Asato and Makio storyline needed more episodes than two. It was a very sudden change of pace from the Makio, Meiko, Eiji storyline.

Overall: More than words IS NOT A BL drama in my view. It’s more like a slice of life drama with the characters being LGBT and how society affects them. Many BL fans might be disappointed in the way the story focuses on one couple for a good amount of episodes only for them to break them up and gives little time to set up for the second couple to form. But I found this story to be SUPER REALISITC because stories like this happens in real life. I don’t know if BL fans think the story is depressing/sad because one couple ending is not happy at all, I thought it ended on a happy hopeful tone to it.

But for those looking for a mellow down to earth slice of life drama with gay characters this series might be for you.

Read More

They wish to have a different outcome.

I've been in the BL world for a long long time, and I have watched a huge amount of BL stories from many countries in many different settings. More Than Words (MTW) is a good BL series but nothing much for offering something new. Mieko is a character that is rare to see in most contemporary BLs. She is an ally, the main lead, with her fate going south. Makio is a boy, innocent young boy who gets crushed before entering adulthood. These two develop a friendship while getting to know Eiji. It takes more than 70% of the series to explore Eiji's intersection with Makio and Mieko before introducing Asato. Asato comes to enter Makio's shaky world, staying there where I, as an audience, see it too late, because I seal my faith to the first guy.

I recommend MTW to BL fans, even though I know, some maybe are disappointed with how the story goes. But, it's a very dedicated BL product with committed production outcome, set, and soundtracks.

Finally, I am with the trio of Eiji, Makio, and Mieko. They seem to wish to have a different outcome, so do I.

Read More

Cinematic, beautiful, and a realistic story

I'm surprised that the rating for this isn't as high as it should be. The story was really shot beautifully and the cast was amazing. There was something really special about this drama that kept me going. The storytelling is really realistic and deep dives into the relationship of two best friends that evolves as they meet new people in their life. It's not your typical romance, more so its a coming of age that highlights the society's issues around LGBT relationships, families, and so on. This one was really beautiful and special to me and I'm really glad I watched it.

Read More

WHAT THE HELL?!

I'll get straight to the point. This drama leaves a message to people (specially parents) against LGBTQ+ that if they somehow manages to marry their gay son to a woman and give birth to a baby, their son might eventually end up being in love with the wife and baby and lead a happy life, just the way they want it.
People are saying it's realistic. I agree, it is kinda realistic but not entirely.
The first part of the story was good...3 people- 2 guys and a girl who were close knit like a family. The guys were dating while the girl remained like a ....idk...maybe friend? (Not really tho). However, bcz Eiji's parents were against it, she volunteered herself to be a serogate mother to their child. Till here, I was fine... I was like okay she was really a well wisher that she was ready to make such a huge sacrifice for them.
BUT, BUT , BUT.... from the scene where it seemed that they had threesome .... Everything became so ambiguous. She was 8 weeks pregnant but she said Makki that she was 13 weeks pregnant so it must be Makki's child. While it was actually Eiji's child bcz she was 8 weeks pregnant. WHAT THE HELL? DID THEY HAVE 3SOME OR SHE CONTINUED HAVING SEX WITH BOTH OF THEM SEPERATELY? (THAT'S SICK !)
SO BASICALLY EIJI AND SHE SLEPT TOGATHER BEHIND MAKKI'S BACK. THEY CHEATED ON HIM? My biggest question is..can a person's sexuality change so easily? I mean Eiji was gay right? He deeply loved Makki and cared for Meiko. Then, after having sex with her, he started liking her and loving her eventually.
MEIKO- I didn't understand her completely. What did she want? She wanted to be with Makki forever? So she decided to sleep with both of them in the name of helping them? Who was she fooling? Herself? Anyways, she did want him but ended up with Eiji and a child and a happy family.
MAKKI- The most pitiful charecter. He helped Meiko when she was having a hard time and made her feel that she has someone who cares for her. He was a loyal bf to Eiji. Later, even when he realises that Meiko has feelings for him, he never reciprocated it bcz he loved Eiji. And in the Entire drama, these 2 were the only people in his life. But these 2 ended up hurting him the most. But it's good that eventually he was trying to move on. He has to. I feel really bad for him.
Anyways, I won't ever watch it again.

Read More

Beautiful

I had to sign up just so I can review this series (I guess there's a first time for everything) .

Such a beautiful piece of Art. Beautiful storyline.

The frieship between Mikio and Mieko was just beautiful to watch... And so was it when Eiji was introduced (we will overlook his age... Because innapropriate much?)

Anyway, as much as I loved the series and rewatched it three times (focusing primarily on trying to understand Mikio...), Mikio is still an enigma to me. From episode 1 all I could think of is why I haven't been shown anything about him with regards to family, or even Inside his apartment. Nothing personal was shown apart from him crying in his sleep which tells us that this child has endured some form of trauma/ loss. Which brings me to his mannerisms... He is Overly familiar and innapropriate. Often touching and treating people he just met as if he has an intimate relationship with them (first time with Eiji in the kitchen, even the now friend with benefit/ new bae when he offered to lick his.... ). He has a need to connect/ to be accepted, and constantly puts on a jolly mask to keep people around him. He was consumed by his relationship with Eiji to the extent that he was nearly going to fail...

We are never let into his life or mind. His need to be accepted and to hold on to the people in his life resulted in him also reluctantly going forward with the surrogacy even though it was as clear as day that he was against it.

The only time he ever revealed his true feelings was in episode 7... Him feeling insecure in the relationship and feeling inferior as he is unable to give Eiji anything (a child), the same way that Mieko can. Dispite him showing his vulnerablity (finally), Eiji didn't comfort him as he should have. Then there was the last episode, when they finally met and him dismissing Eiji's apology... You can see the pain in his smile. Then after the meeting when new bae asked how he is feeling... I interpreted his "it's just" and his tears as him feeling left behind/abandoned as they moved on (being married and all) as though he didn't matter-which shaded some light into the dream he had in Eiji's car...

I loved it, but I would still like a continuation into Mikio's life. And ofcause, poor Eiji... Him mourning for Mikio and their relationship behind closed doors was just heart breaking. It's sad because he will continue to mourn for him as the one that got away. This series left us with 3 broken hearts that will never be whole again due to the stupid decisions they made. First love can humble a person shame.

Read More

A beautiful mess

I really loved this series. The plot is outstanding and unique. I haven't watched this kind of series before. I loved how it went from a simple cute story to getting more complicated and complicated later on. At first I thought this will just be another love triangle series but no, it is more complicated than that. It made me gleeful, sad, anxious and rageful as the series progress. It was up to the point I have this uncontrollable urge to destroy something and my pillow was sadly the unwilling victim. But as it reached the end I came into a feeling of acceptance and was satisfied with the ending. I loved that we finally got the pov of Makki. Throughout the first half of the series we didn't know what was Makki feeling, since it was in the pov of Mieko but when it was in his pov we actually came to know that he wasn't fine with anything that was happening. It was eating him inside and he just had to escaped. Thought it wasn't the right thing to do, but we came to understand him. I loved that he got his own happy ending. The acting was splendid. They all did so well. Especially Makki's actor through the last few episodes. Now the rewatch value is kinda low because of what happened with Eiji. That just made feel rage and bitterness that whenever I see Mieko and Eiji in the same room together, it just makes me unreasonably angry. Even after they had talked with Makki.Like all those scenes with him and Mieko just made feel hate and bitterness, I can't watch it. Especially the part with the parents. But still this is a wonderful, unique and beautiful series. I love it so much.

Read More

Managed to left me quite satisfied despite finding que big drama quite dumb

This review is truly full and complete with spoiler!

Just to put it out there, Eiji and Makki's age difference and stuff is fucked up, I hated it, but I sometimes, in order to enjoy a show, I disociate from certain facts while I'm consuming the piece of work, so it's not being taken into direct consideration while writing my next thoughts but it's yikes of the story and it needs to be mentioned.

I'd like to go step by step with my feelings on this serie, as they changed a lot during the course of the story.
First, isn't the synopsis kinda missleading? Or maybe it's the fact that I didn't read it ith that much attention? No idea, but the thing is that I LOVED the first 3 episodes (more or less, not sure of the episode, but 'til the christmas part), the way they interact the 3 of them, and kinda build a family, and even tho Eiji and Makki r a couple from a certain point (I love the naturality in which they r shown to get together,), it feels like the 3 of them are complete when together. It's not named directly which is a shame but Meiko is clearly ace and, as an ace person myself, I found so beautiful their relationship in the way it felt like the friendships where as important to each other as the romantic part. I could totally picture them still together celebrating christmas for many years to come, and maybe that's part of the reason the next part was so sad and kinda dissapointing to watch for me.
So, after absolutely loving all that, things kinda start to really go south imo when Eiji decides to work in his dad's company, because it shows who Eiji is trying to win his dad's aproval in expenses of his own desires for the future. But then it's the real shitshow when in response to the dad wanting for them to break up Meiko proposes to have a baby, and not only that, the both of them agree. First of all, I really am with the characters in thinking that neither of them was more at fault than the others, the 3 of them made the dumbest posible choice and just went with it, Meiko is forever lying to herself by saying she's ONLY doing this for them, bcs she doesn't want to watch them suffer, when it's clear she's doing it for herself (maybe it's also thinking of them at a level, but surely not exclusivly and totally), because she can't stand to thinking of her family breaking apart, and loosing them, and I think, in not realising that in time, she's unable to see the mistake she's making. The other 2 can be more simply described as dessperate and dumb, Eiji bcs he refuses to give up on anything in a situation that's sadly not gonna hold that, because we live in the society we do, and Makki's dessperation is the more simple a in a way, because he's just holding on to the people dear to him and is willing, in that moment, to do anything for them. All that to say, at the end of my long and dedicated analisis, the choice they make is so unberably stupid it's unrealistic, like, the thought process makes no sense whatsoever, like, how in the world did they think them coparenting a child they concived by sleeping the 3 of them together was gonna change the mind of an homophobic shit like the dad, they definitely weren't portraied as being as dumb as they ended up being (future me commenting that i now realized the original idea was for her to be a surrogate mother but the logic is still very flimsy, was rapidly forgotten and most of all, nothing is changing how i felt in the moment of watching all that). Other thing that i'm actually so glad Meiko mentioned, it's so awful to use a child as an instrument to your selfish desires, and the 3 of them are guilty of that.
The rest of the show get it's sense back and wraps up nice and logically, and that was a relief after the thing before. I found pretty that Makki eventually findis someone who loves him and (i think), he feels deeply for as well, even tho they clearly have lot to go yet in their relationship. I also liked that by the end Makki and Meiko were able to get at least a semblance of their previous relationship, that may never be as profound as it was, but it's stll beautiful to watch friendships persevering over time, and that part of this whole story that stuck to me more inmidiately. Finally, Eiji's ending was so very sad and heartbreaking, because one second it feels like maybe he is content and satisfied with his loved ones (who he truly truly loves) and with how his life turned out (maybe it was wishfull thinking on my side, wanting his ending not to be as sad as it is),w but then as we watch him break in tears it becomes clear he's not only not over Makki , but also afected by the more profound realization of his reality of being a cage in which he's never gonna be able to be truly himself.

Read More

This one hurt

I have watched over 200+ BLs, (not sexualizing them AT ALL) and I’m a very sensitive person so when they get a bad ending it hurts me so very much, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt pain like this over a show. I don’t know if it was over the fact that they were so beautiful together and they were so happy together or over the fact that they were so young and had to go through all of that just so they could be a happy couple with Eijis fathers approval, Eijis dad easily ruined Eiji, Makki and Meikos lives. He didn’t intend to, but he did. What hurt me the most over the whole entire show was how Makki felt over the whole situation. He loved Eiji so much that he was willing to have his whole life change just to be able to be with Eiji happily, the hurt he felt when he thought he noticed Eiji caring for Meiko more than him or falling in love with her. The pain he felt was unbearable, seeing the one you love most falling in love with your best friend, and then finding out the baby isn’t yours so that gives them yet another reason to be happier together than to have you in their life. I think I understand Makki in a different way, I can’t say I fully relate to him but Makki felt unwanted and unloved by his own boyfriend and best friend. All he could do to make the pain go away, was run. He didn’t want to and you could tell, he didn’t want to leave Eiji or Meiko, but he felt they were better without him. Now, the ending, I didn’t really understand why they put the old classmate into the story, I think that Makki and Eiji could’ve found love without each other once more again, they were still in love after all, I think that Eiji as his character would have definitely gone after Makki because the love Eiji had for Makki was like no other. He would’ve ran to hug Makki the second he walked out the door, if not, he would’ve called him maybe some minutes later, he wouldn’t have just let him up and leave. He knew better than to let Makki leave with all that pain in him. Them not getting back together at the end was just heartbreaking, they deserved no one but each other, they were perfect together. They were what everyone would call soulmates. Maybe in another life, or maybe they already had their happy ending in their past life. They were meant to be. The second Makki and Eiji seen each other again after maybe 5 years you could see it in their eyes that they still loved each other, you could see it all there. When I seen Eiji being left alone in the apartment I knew he was gonna break down thinking of Makki and their 3 years together. You could also tell that Makki still loved Eiji when he laid in bed with his classmate, he asked Makki if he still loved Eiji and he stayed quiet and responded with “I never wanted to see his face again and now I want to meet his child” he never answered his question. I’m sorry this was so long, this show hurt me like no other has ever done so.

Read More

Probably the most realistic BL series what I have seen

I decided to write a review myself since I absolutely don’t understand the opinions on this cinematography.

To be honest I just wanted to watch a heart breaking-throbbing BL series finally, later on there are so many of them with happy ending.

Everyone was saying that this had a bad ending, but it’s not the case at all. This ending is simply unfinished. The whole series laying on the problem making. Not the solving.

Said simply - the plot is about - The three of them made huge problems for each and other, afterwards those problems swallowed them, completely ruining their relationships.

Probably the most realistic BL I have ever seen. The fact is that life is not a fairytale, and that when you cry it’s never in slowmotion, with a sad music in the background.

In real life we sometimes keep our feelings as secret, making hasty-fast decisions. Jumping into a false conclusions and hurting other around us. We make huge mistakes, afterwards cannot fix them. And this all without a freaking happy ending .

This how it would look like in REAL life.
No depth.

Read More

It is more to slice of life type of drama than BL.

How a happy encounter between 2 guys and 1 woman becomes a sad ending.

It all starts on an encounter of the lead characters on a restaurant, which three of them works part time. After the happy times between three of them, just like what you see on those BLs, the relationship slowly become problematic when Eiji's dad opposes the relationship between Eiji and his then boyfriend Makki, due to the fears that his son will be discriminated just like his friend, which was gay, where he had witnessed a long time ago and felt helpless as his friend has been outed by somebody. This is despite that he likes Makki, as a friend. Also, his dad also wants to have a grandchildren, further complicated the issue.

The issue start to become even more complex when Mieko decided to have child to solve the problem, which she get pregnant with Eiji's child. Makki decides to escape the problem after he found out the child's father was Eiji's.

After a long time, Makki meets his current partner Asato, which is a hair stylist and ended up being together. On one day, he see the photo of Mieko on Asato's photobook, which makes Makki remember the old times. They ended up meet up again after his current boyfriend mentioned Makki to Mieko, which she desperates to meet. At the end, Eiji aren't really happy with the outcome he have ended up, despite appearing to having a happy family on the outside. For Makki, the escape meant he have found his current boyfriend, which they meet in coincidence.

The story ends with Makki and Mieko ended up meeting again sometime later, with Mieko's daughter. It seems like they have adapted the feelings according to their current situation. Maybe if they don't choose to escape the problem, the outcome will be surely different.

Music wise, it is surely good and moody for me. Well, just don't treat this as BL as it is definitely not the regular BL drama you would see, which will ended with 2 lead guys being together forever and in love. Sometimes, things that happen on standard BLs just won't happen in real life, and this drama clearly reflects that.

Read More

One of the saddest, most frustrating, but awesome shows I’ve ever watched

I really only came here to say 2 things. 1. It’s very obvious to me and I think everyone who watched this series that Eiji is still in love with Makki because he’s still in fact gay. You can’t go from 100% gay to straight just because you’re having a child with a woman, I think he had temporary infatuation with Meiko because she’s literally carrying his child and he sees this as a big sacrifice. Also, a lot of people think it should’ve ended without asako (asaki? Dk) entering the picture and eiji once again being together with makki because they love eachother right? That’s not the only thing in the equation, though! It’s almost impossible for them to go back to how they were with him having a child and a wife. Especially for that wife to be meiko, makkis best friend. Besides I don’t want makki to be with a jerk who disregarded him as his boyfriend the second his father said to break up and the second that meiko was pregnant. Makki deserves someone that isn’t ashamed of being with a man, and most importantly doesn’t have a kid! Like someone else said here before, asako does have his personal problems but they’re not at all related to his sexuality. Besides, asako is good for makki. He got him to meet up with them and face his demons and at the end he once again cut his hair as a way to signify his new beginnings!
Although I seem to hate eiji, I feel really bad for him as well. His first love will never be with him again and now he’s actually stuck in a box because he has a child and a wife. Clearly, meiko doesn’t truly know what he feels because he hides it which is seen on how he smiles in front of her when returning home after meeting makki and still does while he looks around his room signaling his current life, but then once he looks at that chair, those pictures of makki, and finally the piece of clothing he made for makki (which he folds the way makki mentioned he folds his clothes) he smells him and then he breaks down. It’s truly the worst ending for him.
But holy shit I only was supposed to write 2 things I swear!

Read More