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This review may contain spoilers
Also known as Love, Life And Liberation
You might enjoy if you like character-based angst that's well acted, food tidbits from various cuisines, and can find satisfaction in a romance with physical attraction that doesn't actually get physical beyond holding hands.
It's helpful to watch through the credits to the end of each episode because sometimes there's a bit more to see (often a flashback to high school)!
General Spoilers below.
Love, Life And Liberation is a much more fitting title. The title Naked Dining is completely misleading. This is a very PG romance and the only "kiss" is a slight press of lips while one of them is mostly asleep. Even so, the growing mental and physical attraction is felt, especially from Sota. And that's important because he's the character that didn't know he could be attracted to men, and so him falling for Mahiro as more than a friend is believable. It does not feel like "just a bromance" as some other JBL series with similar character progressions do.
Sota's confusion and progression of feelings for Mahiro were well-paced and very believable. His missteps while he struggles with that and his fear of losing Mahiro's friendship may be messy but are understandable.
Mahiro runs away from things a lot, even (or especially) things that he wants, which at first kind of irked me until I thought more about it. It's an instinctive defensive mechanism for fear; to avoid disappointment, rejection, or negative judgment. While this can be frusterating for the audience, there are people who really do behave this way. Mahiro's hesitancy and fear are noticeable even in the high school flashbacks so it seems life has reinforced this response in him. And I can understand him not wanting to be a sexuality "experiment" for the person he's in love with.
There are a LOT of misunderstandings, but they are also at least fundamentally understandable. What's different in this series is that the characters do actually try to communicate with each other! But often their fears lead them to either put on a brave face or to filter what the other person is saying to match what they *expect* to be said. This type of thing actually happens a lot in real life, so even though the misunderstandings are drawn out dramatically, it didn't annoy me too much because I could understand the progression. And the misunderstandings here really have a cascading effect. (They do get resolved satisfactorily.)
The actors were great, especially Kondo Shori as Sota. They made me smile and also tugged so hard at my heartstrings that I teared up. The secondary characters are well acted and likeable too.
The series is character-focused without much plot. I was really happy that they made 12 episodes (20-25min each) instead of 10 because the character and relationship arcs felt complete. The last few episodes didn't feel rushed like many 10 episode BLs do.
The cinematography was good and the music was okay but not memorable.
It left me feeling very satisfied and I could see myself watching this again at some point. Sota's character arc was especially well acted and I'll want to see that again.
It's helpful to watch through the credits to the end of each episode because sometimes there's a bit more to see (often a flashback to high school)!
General Spoilers below.
Love, Life And Liberation is a much more fitting title. The title Naked Dining is completely misleading. This is a very PG romance and the only "kiss" is a slight press of lips while one of them is mostly asleep. Even so, the growing mental and physical attraction is felt, especially from Sota. And that's important because he's the character that didn't know he could be attracted to men, and so him falling for Mahiro as more than a friend is believable. It does not feel like "just a bromance" as some other JBL series with similar character progressions do.
Sota's confusion and progression of feelings for Mahiro were well-paced and very believable. His missteps while he struggles with that and his fear of losing Mahiro's friendship may be messy but are understandable.
Mahiro runs away from things a lot, even (or especially) things that he wants, which at first kind of irked me until I thought more about it. It's an instinctive defensive mechanism for fear; to avoid disappointment, rejection, or negative judgment. While this can be frusterating for the audience, there are people who really do behave this way. Mahiro's hesitancy and fear are noticeable even in the high school flashbacks so it seems life has reinforced this response in him. And I can understand him not wanting to be a sexuality "experiment" for the person he's in love with.
There are a LOT of misunderstandings, but they are also at least fundamentally understandable. What's different in this series is that the characters do actually try to communicate with each other! But often their fears lead them to either put on a brave face or to filter what the other person is saying to match what they *expect* to be said. This type of thing actually happens a lot in real life, so even though the misunderstandings are drawn out dramatically, it didn't annoy me too much because I could understand the progression. And the misunderstandings here really have a cascading effect. (They do get resolved satisfactorily.)
The actors were great, especially Kondo Shori as Sota. They made me smile and also tugged so hard at my heartstrings that I teared up. The secondary characters are well acted and likeable too.
The series is character-focused without much plot. I was really happy that they made 12 episodes (20-25min each) instead of 10 because the character and relationship arcs felt complete. The last few episodes didn't feel rushed like many 10 episode BLs do.
The cinematography was good and the music was okay but not memorable.
It left me feeling very satisfied and I could see myself watching this again at some point. Sota's character arc was especially well acted and I'll want to see that again.
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