So Cute!!
If you are looking for a BL series to make you feel good, this is the one. This series was very cute and fluffy. Yet another good example that you don’t need a lot of episodes to tell a great story. The script was very well written and had a nice even pace. The cast was awesome and did a great job with their characters. It had just the right number of characters for an 8-episode series. You get just enough of everyone’s backstory without taking too much screentime. It was very refreshing to see an ex-girlfriend not placed in the crazy/evil stereotypical role. The only minor negative aspect for me was it had some shaky camera work at times.Random Note:
The timing on the English subtitles on GagaOOLala were too fast at times. I had to pause many times.
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This review may contain spoilers
if you liked the drama, I suggest you skip this rant.
It is a nice slice-of-life story... it's tagged as a boy's love, but what you might expect from this series is more of a bromance, with BL elements sprinkled here and there...The story is about a two childhood friends who have spent a majority of their elementary school days with each other. Out of the two boys, Natsukawa and Kazhuhito, the latter is supposed to have a crush on the former. They spend their elementary days frolicking and having fun with each other and their respective families and doing whatever school children do to enjoy their holidays. Natsukawa prepares icecream for Kazhuhito, takes care of Kazhuhito whenever he is scared, play a lot of games and up until this point, the story seems cute and fluffy; it is after this point does everything start to go downhill, atleast for me. They part ways in middle school and while Natsukawa becomes the caretaker of his sisters throughout middle school and high school - cooking for them, cleaning the house, and basically act as a second mother to them while Kazhuhito is pretty busy trying to make it big in baseball. As someone who really values their work, its almost unfathomable for me to think that while in the pursuit of something important like this, Kazhuhito has feelings for someone. And that too for a someone he hasnt seen since elementary school. Its not realistic, again atleast in my eyes, because let's face it, humans are not that loyal. And most of them have the attention span of a goldfish.
It is a slow burn, so the characters are meant to be awkward, caring and quite gentle in the way they express their feelings. But this idea has been stretched so thin over the production of this entire drama, that you begin to wonder if you are the fool for actually believing Kazhuhito has feelings for Natsukawa... and its so enforced, this idea, that it has almost completely dampened the chemistry between the leads. There is literally nothing that you can feel from them. I dont know why, but its just not there.
Oh, but you can definitely expect some "dialogues" here and there. I am from Tamilnadu, India, so there is a very popular dialogue from here from the movie "Manal Kayiru", where one of the characters monotonously asks his son-in-law if he is fine and does ask all the general pleasantries, which makes you feel as though he is reciting something that he mugged up. It really does feel like that. Those dialogues dont convince the viewer from any angle that Kazhuhito is in love with Natsukawa.
The last episode was actually quite nice though. They emoted their feelings of shock, happiness and joy of having found that they both like each other. Its quite cute and lovely. But apart from the last episode, the entire series was a snoozefest for me.
But again this is just my opinion, and is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings.
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Nothing much going on but maybe that was the point?
Living With Him comes across as chaste and unspectacular at certain points, but overall, it’s a feel-good watch that you’re bound to breeze through without too much difficulty.Unlike some BLs that cram a lot of (unnecessary) conflict in the plot, Living With Him is the total opposite. Largely, Natsukawa spends his time wading in confusion while Kazuhito patiently waits for Natsukawa to realise his feelings. That’s the only real tension of the show.
Perhaps best described as a “slice of life BL” – a common hallmark of Japanese series – this is best watched if you aren’t in the mood for much stimuli and just want a chill show.
I personally would have preferred it if they had zoomed in more on the tension between the characters and their micro-interactions. A slower pacing, with long-drawn-out scenes showing their daily life as they navigate an ambiguous relationship, might have made this show a little more interesting.
Full review: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2024/07/02/living-with-him-2024-bl-review/
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Domesticity - The TV Show
I am a sucker for good, wholesome slice-of-life stories and this show most certainly delivers.It's not exactly a ground-breaking tale but it does what it sets out to do really well - It has charming and likeable characters (very much including the side characters, shout-out to Haruna my deeply beloved), a solid and compelling dynamic between the two leads, and the occasional moment of added depth to elevate the story above mindless fluff.
The romance is slow but sweet and the characters communicate very openly and respectfully with one another. There is little to no unnecessary drama or conflict, just the simple and calm everyday lives of two people who become increasingly irreplaceable to one another.
Sometimes some of the performances can be a little stiff and the ending feels ever so slightly anti-climactic, but all in all there is pretty much nothing to detract from the impeccably lovely and wholesome vibes of this show.
If you're looking for something calm and sweet with solid editing, pacing, and cinematography as well as some truly adorable character colour-coding, then this one is for you.
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Fluffy and wonderful!
This BL has elements that seem very drama and manga-like but it is still very real and you can imagine the story as real occurences. The characters are balanced and the screen time shared between the characters is pretty even.I loved the main couple, they had a lot of chemistry and they look gorgeous together. I do wish there was a little more editing and a little more peaks and valleys in their connection. I feel like it could have somehow been even more fluffy while also being more intimate and romantic.
The soundtrack wasnt my favorite and I was a little bothered by the sound affects for the phone, I heard the ringtone basically every episode lol. The lighting and scenery is very pretty, great job!
Overall this is a great BL that should be somewhere on your watchlist especially if you like softer themes.
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um pouco decepcionante
quando o Bl estreou eu fiquei muito animado com a história, sou um grande fã de friends to lovers e vi um grande potencial mas acabei ficando desanimado no meio da história. não que ela tem ficado ruim ou coisa do tipo mas ela parecia andar em passos quase lentos demais. você conseguia ver que ela estava se encaminhando para algo mas esse algo nunca chegava. fiquei feliz que o último episódio as coisas se acertaram e ainda deu para vibrar um pouco com o casal. mas eu sinto que eles poderiam ter feito a história caminhar para um lado mais romântico e interessante de se acompanharWas this review helpful to you?
cute story
it was such a cuteand heartwarming story. Although i was expecting the happy ending, i feel that the actual ending was a bit of a letdown even though they got together. I wish they talked about mom’s voiced expectation but the last scene hints that she knew that he was happy?. Not sure if I wanted more episodes because 8 was more than enough: if it had more episodes, i would have dropped it. I couldn’t understand why they dragged Ryoshu’s confession for so long especially after Tanaka had already confessed and his reasonning was crazy.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
How do romantic feelings change a friendship?
Living with Him is a slow-paced, slice-of-life, friends-to-strangers-to-roommates-to-lovers story. It's one of those very gentle J-BLs which are not so much about the story but more about the characters.The strength of this drama lies in how it is showing the dynamics of two childhood friends who are most comfortable together when they just live in the moment, don't think about what they are to each other, don't think about how others perceive them. As long as they are in their own world, everything is fine. It's when one of them starts to overthink things as well as when they think about what they are to each other that this closeness falls apart, and suddenly there's this chasm that they feel can't be overcome.
But they want to be near each other, so they try to find that balance, only to lose it again in the next moment. And this is what makes the drama interesting, not the plot but the change of distance in an evolving relationship.
The actors are quite good at showing this; unfortunately the story telling is quite different. It doesn't manage to build up the kind of tension the premise deserves, everything feels a bit flat. The scenes where Natsukawa and Kazuhito are very close to each other have the same overall feeling as those where there should be uncomfortable distance.
What also does not help is that Natsukawa is not a consistent character -- he says he is glad to be free of his obligations to his younger sisters but proceeds to fill exactly the same role in his new household with Kazuhito. And the question remains: After he realizes his feelings, what is holding him back? This is more than just the usual Japanese communication difficulties. Does he think he's not worth it? As the one who took care of two sisters for years, and seems to be mature beyond his age, his sense of self-worth shouldn't be that low. Does he have some internalized homophobia? Then it should have had more room than just that small scene.
In my opinion, a focus on one solidly developed inner obstacle and a consistent characterization for Natsukawa would have helped a lot.
The drama is worth watching for the change in distance romantic feelings can bring to a life-long friendship, just be aware that this is definitely not fast-paced, and much of what happens seems very mundane.
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Historians will say they were roommates
There is something about JBLs that just take the cake. There’s not much that I don’t like about this drama tbh. I say I’m not a friend of friends to lovers but lowkey it’s growing on me. Maybe I’m just not fond of Hetero friends to lovers lol.Anyways, the vibe you get is that the friend who seems so perfect can’t keep a girlfriend well bc it’s kinda obvious that he doesn’t want too. He swings the other way ya know. And he high key is in love with his roommate/friend and probably for a while now.
They have such a raw, natural and caring friendship which makes it a healthy journey for them both when discovering if they are ready for more than being just friends.
Anyways, the height difference is killing me in a good way and they’re so cute together.
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Great acting from 2 young actors
This series brings us the ups and downs of a relationship of two childhood friends, from their childhood bonding and growth individually and together through to adulthood. a really heartwarming tale of brotherhood blossoming into romance and self acceptance set discovery as they grow into adults.my commendation to the 2 make leads for bringing out their characters so well given their young age.
the story is simple and not something new. however it was well directed and turned out very well with the help of a great performance by the actors.
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Cute, simple, fluffy, and kinda unique
So I went into this not thinking much seeing the comments that seem to dislike it more than liking it. But I ended up actually loving this cute and short series.So we get ML, the popular and nice, Mr. Perfect; and we get MC, the not-so-successful, the cute one with low self-esteem. But what really shocked me was their relationship dynamic was really refreshing, MC is surprisingly straightforward, and there was no beating around the bush with these two. There was no unnecessary drama, just a really heartwarming and realistic story of a boy who loves another, and a boy who learns to accept that love.
There was talk of ep6 being simply a filler episode and wasting time in such a short series, but imo, I really like that episode, and thought it quite necessary too. It gives context and background to ML's story, instead of the series revolving mainly around MC and his pov.
I really like ML's acting, he manages to bring the character alive with his expressions and actions. MC too did very well in his role. And of course, we can't forget our favourite Haruna, boy everyone needs a wingman like him.
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This review may contain spoilers
Heartfelt Romance between Childhood Friends
Overall, I thought this show was quite good in relation to other JBLs that we have been seeing over the years.I thought the story was well-written and really wholesome as I could feel the sparks of love between the two co-stars. The flashbacks of their past really helped to add to the context of show and made it very enjoyable as we got to see how Tanaka's love for Ryota all began. Though, I do think that the flashback we saw in Episode 7 could've been featured earlier just so that not a lot of time was wasted scenes leading up to the confession.
I do not know if this was in the manga but one part of the story that, I think, really needed some tweaking was Episode 7 where we had the running scene and the episode ending with Ryota going home. It would have been a lot better if they decided to extend episode 7 so that there could have been a confession there instead of in episode 8. It would have felt a lot more natural and the last episode would have spent time entirely on the two being together. Moreover, the pacing of the show was far too slow, making it seem more like a story of two best friends than one of a romance (I am sure many will argue with me here but I'd say that this show spent too much time establishing that they were very close (even though this could have easily been done via flashbacks)).
As others have pointed out, Ryota's character was a little irritating but I think keeping in mind that he was written to be a relatively low self-esteem character, it was okay. I wouldn't say it was amazing but it was not bad. It's clear that the actor playing Ryota (Sho Sakai) is talented and did a great job embodying the modest Ryota. The same goes for the actor playing Tanaka though I'd wish that some scenes would be less awkward (e.g., Tanaka's slowed reaction to Haruna in the last episode).
Contrary to what others have said, I do not think the open-endedness of the show was bothersome at all. While some questions were left unanswered (e.g., how Ryota and Tanaka choose to spend the rest of their lives together, whether the girl knows that they are together, how Ryota's sisters would handle their relationship, etc), there were some that were tacitly answered at the end of the show. For instance, the yukata scene in episode 8 where Kazuhito's mom already knew that they were for them was good enough for me to know that Kazuhito's mom supports their relationship. I think the gazes from Ryota's mom also speak volumes on this. Dialogue on that was unnecessary, the audience just knew it.
The music was great, it was catchy and made for an enjoyable OST. The opening theme song is especially catchy and well-suited to the theme of the show.
Given how slice of life it was, I may rewatch the show just because it was fun. It was adorable seeing them together at the end.
In the future, I will likely use bullet-points instead to write my reviews.
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