Falhon Cyril

Casting Fukada Ryusei and Ukisho Hidaka opposite each other was an obvious and very clever idea. They are both members of ACEes, this was their first acting project together as members of the group, and ACEes even performed the theme song. Of course fans were going to be curious about seeing two members transformed into a romantic pairing on screen, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with using that existing connection to attract an audience. In fact, it gives the actors something useful from the beginning: familiarity. Fukada and Ukisho already know one another, so Natsuki and Sota never suffer from the stiffness that sometimes appears when two actors are suddenly asked to create intimacy in a short Japanese romance. Their interactions feel relaxed, playful and comfortable, which works particularly well for a story about a first love developing almost accidentally. The problem with building a drama around that kind of pairing is that the story eventually has to become more important than the novelty of seeing the two idols together. For most of its ten episodes, "Your Summer, My Storm" manages that very well. Then the ending stops just before it has to make the most important decision.

The story itself is simple but charming. Natsuki is a high-school student approaching university entrance exams with terrible results, no clear direction and the emotional damage of recently being dumped by his girlfriend. Sota arrives as his tutor and, supposedly, his sister's boyfriend, making him the worst possible person for Natsuki to fall for. What starts as irritation slowly becomes admiration, attraction and eventually the confusing experience of discovering that his first serious love may be another man. I liked that the drama never needed to turn that discovery into a huge identity crisis. Natsuki is confused because he is falling for Sota, not because the screenplay decides homosexuality must automatically become tragedy. The family story is equally important because Natsuki's future, his parents' expectations, his sister and the increasingly obvious relationship developing under the same roof all become part of the same summer. Even the academic storyline has a purpose: Sota does not simply become someone Natsuki wants romantically; he helps Natsuki discover that he is interested in clouds, weather and meteorology, while Sota himself already has a dream connected to architecture and bridges. Their relationship therefore develops alongside the question every young person eventually faces: what kind of life do I actually want?

Fukada works particularly well because Natsuki needs to feel emotionally transparent. His embarrassment, jealousy and confusion are rarely hidden very successfully, which makes the character cute without turning him into an idiot. Ukisho has the more difficult role because Sota initially appears almost impossibly perfect: attractive, intelligent, patient, good with the family and capable of teaching Natsuki without humiliating him. The script gradually gives him enough uncertainty to stop him becoming merely a fantasy boyfriend, and Ukisho's experience helps. Their chemistry is gentle rather than explosive, but that suits the series. I never needed an explicit scene or even a dramatic kiss to believe that something important had happened between them. What mattered was the accumulation of little things: studying together, attention becoming more personal, the way Natsuki begins looking at Sota differently and the way Sota slowly understands that his own attachment is no longer simply that of a tutor or family friend. The supporting cast also gives the drama warmth because "Your Summer, My Storm" is as much a family comedy as a BL, and that prevents the romance from existing inside an artificial bubble.

Where the drama lost me was the finale. Sota announces that he is leaving for the UK for two years to pursue the future he has always wanted. Natsuki, who has finally begun finding his own direction, moves toward university and meteorology. They remain connected, their feelings are clear, and technically there is nothing tragic about what happens. Yet I finished the episode thinking: is that really it? The ending does not feel like a strong promise of a second season, because nothing dramatic is left hanging enough to make me desperate for another chapter. But it also does not close the first season decisively enough to make the separation itself emotionally meaningful. It sits somewhere in the middle, and that is the least satisfying place an ending can be. An open ending can be beautiful when ambiguity is the point; here, I felt as though the story simply stopped while the relationship was still waiting for its final sentence.

What frustrates me is that either direction could have produced a much stronger conclusion. I would actually have accepted a sad ending. First love does not always become a relationship, and sometimes the love we remember most intensely is precisely the one that never had enough time to become ordinary. Sota could have left, Natsuki could have understood that this summer changed him forever, and the story could have ended with the painful acceptance that some people arrive in our lives mainly to awaken something before disappearing again. That would have hurt, but it would have meant something. The opposite ending could have worked just as well: allow time to pass, let Natsuki's new ambition push him farther academically, and eventually reunite them abroad. Sota helped a boy with no direction discover a future; imagine Natsuki eventually reaching that future partly because loving someone made him want to become more than the student who once needed a tutor. That would have transformed their romance into motivation rather than simply memory. Either ending would have completed the emotional logic already present in the story.

The unfinished feeling is particularly surprising because this was not an inexperienced little web production trying to find its feet. "Your Summer, My Storm" was an original TV Asahi drama produced with Storm Labels and Fine Entertainment, with Yuko Matsuda writing the screenplay and an experienced directing team behind it. Matsuda has worked in Japanese television for decades, including major mainstream dramas, so the light family-comedy structure and accessible emotional rhythm make sense. Fukada was taking on his first solo lead in a continuous drama, while Ukisho already had considerably more acting experience, and the production surrounded them with established adult actors rather than expecting two idols to carry everything alone. Technically, the series looks exactly as competent as that background suggests. The problem is therefore not lack of professionalism. It is a creative decision. The writers seem to have wanted something soft, youthful and hopeful, where first love changes both boys without requiring them to make permanent promises at eighteen and university age. I understand the intention. I simply think softness still requires conclusion.

Final Thoughts

"Your Summer, My Storm" was a warm, attractive and genuinely enjoyable first-love drama, and pairing Fukada Ryusei with fellow ACEes member Ukisho Hidaka proved to be much more than simple fan service. Their existing comfort helped create a believable relationship, while the story connected romance with family, education and the frightening moment when young people have to decide what comes after school. I did not need a kiss, sex or a conventional boyfriend declaration to validate what existed between Natsuki and Sota. I only needed the finale to decide what that love meant when summer ended. A tragic goodbye could have been beautiful. A future reunion could have been beautiful. Instead, the series chose an open door without giving me a strong reason to either walk through it or close it behind them.

Some first loves are meant to last, others are meant to become memories—but the most frustrating ones are those whose story ends before we know which they were.