To be honest, I kinda internally partially gave up already... I'm still holding on to some remnants of hope, because…
Hmm... I've always had the impression Japanese like Taiwanese BL. I think We Best Love was really popular in Japan, for example (I guess one of the actors being Japanese could've contributed to it as well, but still ;))
I was actually surprised when I saw no attempt to promote The On1y One in Japan earlier, since even lower budget series like You Are Mine or Stand by My Side seemed to target that market to at least some extent.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for The On1y One's success in the Land of the Rising Sun! :)
There is a new interview with Patrick Liu about The On1y One available on YouTube with ENG sub, so if anyone is…
Oh, and btw, I forgot to mention, the interviewer also talks with other creators and people behind The Unknown series as well. So if you liked that drama, you might find it even more interesting. I just focused on Patrick and Mou Mou bcs that's what interested me the most ;)
It's a really well-prepared material, from the point of view of people actually responsible for producing BL series in Taiwan. I recommend it :)
Are the makers still alive? Hello? We've been waiting for an announcement for months now! To be very honest, I'm…
To be honest, I kinda internally partially gave up already... I'm still holding on to some remnants of hope, because there's not that much time left to the promised "deadline" for a decision. So the way I'm thinking, it won't cost me much mentally to hold on a bit longer ;)
I saw that The On1y One will be airing in Japan soon... I don't know if this is a good sign or not, but for what is worth, at least the drama has not been completely forgotten. I also pasted a comment below of a recently release interview with Patrick Liu, so... maybe they are trying to regain some momentum now?
I gave this show a 9/10 because it resonated with me on an emotional level. If I were to be more technical about it, I'd go a bit lower, but probably not below an 8. It's a good show. It's not flawless and the reviews with 10s for every aspect of it are - in my opinion - a bit too emotion-driven ;) Nevertheless, I don't think this is the case of fans of a genre/actor/ship or whatnot skewing the rating despite the bad quality of an actual drama.
The show touches upon some interesting themes, aside from the romance between two characters: - domestic violence and how a teenage character copes with it in his own way - loneliness - neglectful parenthood/absent parents - and even a bit of what I would call classism or elitism within society
It also has really beautiful cinematography. The acting... could be better, I'd say it's quite uneven. But it's not much below the standard of what most Japanese dramas have been delivering in the last 10 years or so. Plus, the actors are young and probably inexperienced so I give them a pass. They do have scenes were they come thru, too.
If you are not familiar with the genre and apprehensive of it being just fanservice for people fetishizing gay relationships - this show would be a good introduction to debunk such fears.
I recommend "my beautiful man/Utsukushii Kare (however I must mention season 1&2 aren't the best and can be questionable,…
It's not as questionable as some people are making it out to be, honestly. Especially compared to some toxic stuff you can find in bls. It's just that the dynamics between two protagonists are not usual, with one idolizing the other for how beautiful he is, and the other one not knowing how to handle a weird affection like that (plus being a typical Japanese tsundere). When I watched it back in the day, I felt the second guy was being a prick in initial episodes, but that's more of a drama misleading us than an actual issue.
what a great jbl.really from beginning to end.granted the abuse was hard to digest, but it truly happens, so i…
Haruki's abuse and just in general the theme of parents not being there/neglecting their children and - finally - in Haruki's father's case, physically abusing them was a strong theme of this drama. Both boys didn't have good parental figures present in their lives.
So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something…
Good for you! 👍👍👏
So as for the drama, I guess that's how I will understand it then: one of its strong themes is bad parenting. With Haruki's father being the most extreme example, ofc, but not the only one.
Haruki's mother abandoned him and possibly knew what was happening, just looked the other way, maybe lied to herself too. She'd still keep in touch and occasionally do sth nice, like invite him to her place (not to live together, though - that would be too much) to still play a good parents and possibly quiet down her own guilty conscience.
Haruki, on his part, put her on a pedestal and decided on this pure image of her, not questioning her actions or lack of knowledge, not blaming her for anything even once. Out of love, but possibly even more so out of desperation to have at least this one thing in his life that was good and worth living for (truly tragic).
Then on the other side of the isle, we have Jin's parents. These two are on a less extreme part of the spectrum. Providing him with more than enough money to have a comfortable life and not abusing him, but nevertheless hardly exemplary parental figures. Both are constantly absent, with mother visiting occasionally to list her expectations towards her son and the father not being there at all.
Unless it is to talk about his own movie, that is (seriously...)
No wonder once Haruki and Jin found each other, they had so much love to give to one another. There was no other recipient around...
okay the wait is getting torturous, WE NEED AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!
At this point I'm assuming there won't be any news until February (which was supposed to be a deadline for a decision anyway). I no longer trust any hints or promises abt it being soon, possibly at the end of the year, possibly at the beginning of the year... etc.
It only makes me more impatient and the waiting more unbearable.
I liked: episodes 3-6I did not like: episodes 1,2,7,8The last two episodes are kind of unnecessary. They are slow…
Well, to me this drama is a story about a person who is constantly self-sabotaging himself due to internalized belief that he can't find love/doesn't deserve love, stemming from his childhood, experience of past betrayal and having to live with Kylie. Which is probably why those things that could be "resolved with a phone call and an apology" don't get such an easy, reasonable conclusion...
So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something…
Thank you so much for answering my question!
But then if that's the case then I actually still have an issue with the whole situation (it didn't get resolved ;)).
I mean, it all works out fine and makes sense from Haruki's point of view, but makes no sense if we put ourselves in the mother's shoes. I can't fathom neither not contacting your spouse who has custody of your son nor leaving to hide from your dangerous spouse and leaving your kid behind (as I wrote in my previous comment, it has to be either one or the other in this situation, and both are kinda unacceptable for me).
No chastising needed, you can have your own impressions and opinion, but... I'm just confused with the math of 10 for acting, 10 for music, 9 for story and an overall...1 🙃
I saw somewhere that Minase and Haruki were celebrating in their wedding attire. Is this related to the special…
Nah, I think it was photoshoot-related. No wedding in special episode (still, the episode is great and to me - personally - elevated the entire drama).
This series is the very rare case where the time skip without contact between the male leads actually makes sense.…
Agreed. I don't wanna point fingers at stories that used this trope for unnecessary drama and even then did it poorly (and there are many, not just bls). Instead, I will simply join your praises for Our Youth in that regard ;)
As you pointed out, Hirukawa tried more than once to contact Minase. He called him - the number was out of service; he tried to go to his place - Jin already had moved at that point. For someone who left the other one, it was just a reasonable and respectful thing to do to stop at this point. At for Minase, who was the one being left, it was also a reasonable decision on his part. The day when he found Haruki's letter might've been a moment to try, but it was still within reason that he didn't (and the scene when he hesitates if he should call Haruki or not adds to the realism).
I have a question to those who maybe read the webtoon or watched very attentively (details in the spoiler post).
So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something is not adding up for me.
I am aware that it's not that uncommon for the father to have custody of a child once a couple divorces in Japan, but the whole dynamic makes me question things...
Apparently Haruki was protecting his mom from his father. The father was not supposed to even know where she lives - how come, I'm asking? I mean... the only reasonable explanation for him not to know where his ex-wife was would be that she was hiding from him/not contacting him at all. Now, why wouldn't you contact your son's father - who has a custody of your child - even if just to discuss parenting stuff, right? If you cared, you would keep in touch... Unless you really wanted to hide. But if you did hide, then you'd be aware that man was dangerous, right? And if that's the case, then why would you leave your son with him and behave like everything's fine?
And then it all clashes in my head, because if she kept in touch, he'd know where she was. Also, if she kept in touch, she'd be aware of his drinking problem, because the guy gave no indication of being a high functioning alcoholic. He also wasn't the type of a DV person who keeps appearances and does his terrible deeds in secret. I mean, the time when Minase saw him beat up Haruki, he was just casually passing by their place. So it wasn't the kind of a situation where an abusive parent has a squeaky clean image outside. Taking all that into consideration - how come the mother still didn't know what was happening to her own son?
Thinking of all that, I arrived at one conclusion: she had to know and chose to ignore it/convince herself it wasn't so/lived in a delusion because acknowledging the truth would mean she had to confront it and that would mess too much with her new beautiful perfect life. It would be in accordance to the series' theme of absent parents...
As for Haruki, he might've convinced himself she didn't know in order to go on. We know that the concept of protecting his mom by enduring the abuse from his father was what kept him going for a long time, before he met Minase... Protecting his mom's image in his head, keeping her "innocent", on a something akin of a pedestal, where she wouldn't get tainted by this situation.
And if all that was the case, then Haruki's life is even more tragic than I originally thought and this story is even heavier than I already knew.
But if I think of Haruki's mother in such way... then I am wondering if there was any indication of that. I mean, there were small things suggesting she kept him and her new life separate, e.g. her only inviting Haruki to her place when the current husband was away or him not moving in with her new family after his father's death, them meeting outdoors, almost in passing... But maybe these could be attributed to some cultural differences I am not aware of (?).
Which is why I have a question to anyone who might've noticed something I didn't. Maybe the mother's expression darkened at some point of their conversation, which escaped my attention. Or maybe this part of the story was explored more in the webtoon. I was wondering if someone could tell me, cause this whole thing kinda bugs me 😋 I appreciated Our Youth for featuring the theme of absent parents and how they treated the psychology of Haruki as an abused child. I think they did a really decent job for a short BL drama. However, this part of the story makes me have question marks in my head.
1 
Still, for what is worth: Hiroyuki Sanada has my top vote.
I was actually surprised when I saw no attempt to promote The On1y One in Japan earlier, since even lower budget series like You Are Mine or Stand by My Side seemed to target that market to at least some extent.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for The On1y One's success in the Land of the Rising Sun! :)
It's a really well-prepared material, from the point of view of people actually responsible for producing BL series in Taiwan. I recommend it :)
So the way I'm thinking, it won't cost me much mentally to hold on a bit longer ;)
I saw that The On1y One will be airing in Japan soon... I don't know if this is a good sign or not, but for what is worth, at least the drama has not been completely forgotten.
I also pasted a comment below of a recently release interview with Patrick Liu, so... maybe they are trying to regain some momentum now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKmi-5f9-J0
The show touches upon some interesting themes, aside from the romance between two characters:
- domestic violence and how a teenage character copes with it in his own way
- loneliness
- neglectful parenthood/absent parents
- and even a bit of what I would call classism or elitism within society
It also has really beautiful cinematography. The acting... could be better, I'd say it's quite uneven. But it's not much below the standard of what most Japanese dramas have been delivering in the last 10 years or so. Plus, the actors are young and probably inexperienced so I give them a pass. They do have scenes were they come thru, too.
If you are not familiar with the genre and apprehensive of it being just fanservice for people fetishizing gay relationships - this show would be a good introduction to debunk such fears.
And Kiyoi is actually a rather soft dude when it comes to liking someone.
It's just that the dynamics between two protagonists are not usual, with one idolizing the other for how beautiful he is, and the other one not knowing how to handle a weird affection like that (plus being a typical Japanese tsundere).
When I watched it back in the day, I felt the second guy was being a prick in initial episodes, but that's more of a drama misleading us than an actual issue.
But at least we both agree on really wanting the second season ;)
So as for the drama, I guess that's how I will understand it then: one of its strong themes is bad parenting. With Haruki's father being the most extreme example, ofc, but not the only one.
Haruki's mother abandoned him and possibly knew what was happening, just looked the other way, maybe lied to herself too. She'd still keep in touch and occasionally do sth nice, like invite him to her place (not to live together, though - that would be too much) to still play a good parents and possibly quiet down her own guilty conscience.
Haruki, on his part, put her on a pedestal and decided on this pure image of her, not questioning her actions or lack of knowledge, not blaming her for anything even once. Out of love, but possibly even more so out of desperation to have at least this one thing in his life that was good and worth living for (truly tragic).
Then on the other side of the isle, we have Jin's parents. These two are on a less extreme part of the spectrum. Providing him with more than enough money to have a comfortable life and not abusing him, but nevertheless hardly exemplary parental figures. Both are constantly absent, with mother visiting occasionally to list her expectations towards her son and the father not being there at all.
Unless it is to talk about his own movie, that is (seriously...)
No wonder once Haruki and Jin found each other, they had so much love to give to one another. There was no other recipient around...
I no longer trust any hints or promises abt it being soon, possibly at the end of the year, possibly at the beginning of the year... etc.
It only makes me more impatient and the waiting more unbearable.
But then if that's the case then I actually still have an issue with the whole situation (it didn't get resolved ;)).
I mean, it all works out fine and makes sense from Haruki's point of view, but makes no sense if we put ourselves in the mother's shoes. I can't fathom neither not contacting your spouse who has custody of your son nor leaving to hide from your dangerous spouse and leaving your kid behind (as I wrote in my previous comment, it has to be either one or the other in this situation, and both are kinda unacceptable for me).
Does anybody know anything?
Pardon me for being like "huh"?
As you pointed out, Hirukawa tried more than once to contact Minase. He called him - the number was out of service; he tried to go to his place - Jin already had moved at that point. For someone who left the other one, it was just a reasonable and respectful thing to do to stop at this point.
At for Minase, who was the one being left, it was also a reasonable decision on his part. The day when he found Haruki's letter might've been a moment to try, but it was still within reason that he didn't (and the scene when he hesitates if he should call Haruki or not adds to the realism).
I am aware that it's not that uncommon for the father to have custody of a child once a couple divorces in Japan, but the whole dynamic makes me question things...
Apparently Haruki was protecting his mom from his father. The father was not supposed to even know where she lives - how come, I'm asking? I mean... the only reasonable explanation for him not to know where his ex-wife was would be that she was hiding from him/not contacting him at all. Now, why wouldn't you contact your son's father - who has a custody of your child - even if just to discuss parenting stuff, right? If you cared, you would keep in touch... Unless you really wanted to hide. But if you did hide, then you'd be aware that man was dangerous, right? And if that's the case, then why would you leave your son with him and behave like everything's fine?
And then it all clashes in my head, because if she kept in touch, he'd know where she was. Also, if she kept in touch, she'd be aware of his drinking problem, because the guy gave no indication of being a high functioning alcoholic. He also wasn't the type of a DV person who keeps appearances and does his terrible deeds in secret. I mean, the time when Minase saw him beat up Haruki, he was just casually passing by their place. So it wasn't the kind of a situation where an abusive parent has a squeaky clean image outside. Taking all that into consideration - how come the mother still didn't know what was happening to her own son?
Thinking of all that, I arrived at one conclusion: she had to know and chose to ignore it/convince herself it wasn't so/lived in a delusion because acknowledging the truth would mean she had to confront it and that would mess too much with her new beautiful perfect life. It would be in accordance to the series' theme of absent parents...
As for Haruki, he might've convinced himself she didn't know in order to go on. We know that the concept of protecting his mom by enduring the abuse from his father was what kept him going for a long time, before he met Minase... Protecting his mom's image in his head, keeping her "innocent", on a something akin of a pedestal, where she wouldn't get tainted by this situation.
And if all that was the case, then Haruki's life is even more tragic than I originally thought and this story is even heavier than I already knew.
But if I think of Haruki's mother in such way... then I am wondering if there was any indication of that. I mean, there were small things suggesting she kept him and her new life separate, e.g. her only inviting Haruki to her place when the current husband was away or him not moving in with her new family after his father's death, them meeting outdoors, almost in passing... But maybe these could be attributed to some cultural differences I am not aware of (?).
Which is why I have a question to anyone who might've noticed something I didn't. Maybe the mother's expression darkened at some point of their conversation, which escaped my attention. Or maybe this part of the story was explored more in the webtoon. I was wondering if someone could tell me, cause this whole thing kinda bugs me 😋 I appreciated Our Youth for featuring the theme of absent parents and how they treated the psychology of Haruki as an abused child. I think they did a really decent job for a short BL drama. However, this part of the story makes me have question marks in my head.
Well, that was long...