Jero

Kan and Kodai have way more chemistry, while Yokya Shudan definitely has the better characters. And honestly, a mediocre story can still be elevated by good acting and chemistry

I'm gonna hold your hand when I say this... as someone who read the novel, S2 is probably gonna be bit toxic. Iirc, a big part or arc of it revolves around Watarai's problematic homophobic gf who can't accept his relationship with Hioki bc he's a guy. BUT let's see… maybe the production changed things around for the adaptation bc I'm really hoping they do

And with that Your Summer, My Storm ending, I feel like this is gonna be my best Japanese bl of the yr. School Trip 2 really has to come strong bc the competition is looking crazy

Tbh, I think I would've liked this even more than School Trip if this had been released first and I watched it first. I think a big part of it is Serizawa himself. He's not overly possessive type of main lead and I will always have a soft spot for the golden retriever/sunshine type of lead over the possessive ones (Watarai is kind of annoying sometimes)

Aside the fact that I LOVE that basically the entire friend group are fudanshis lol. I also really like how much the show lets the friendship aspect breathe instead of making everything revolve around the main couple. Don't get me wrong, I also love the friend group in School Trip but I think this show gives its group dynamic a little more room to shine

That said, I still don't think this will beat School Trip in my heart. The watching experience got to me in a very specific way even of all its imperfections. It made me actually feel things, the butterflies, the giggles etc.

But honestly, if this show had come first and I had watched it before School Trip, I genuinely think I might've ended up loving this one more since the two have a pretty similar storyline

The ONLY thing that makes this BL look bad to me is that ugly ass yellow filter 😭 like who approved that color grading PLEASE

P. S. Kimura Kaiki is so f*ck*ng hot

Girl, I fear you completely misunderstood the word fetishization

Critiquing the writing, directing, acting and portrayal of a romance bc the emotional intimacy isnt believable is not automatically that. Wanting a BL to have believable romantic chemistry, tenderness, longing, tension and intimacy ≠ fetishizing gay men. Fetishization is when you reduce queer people and their relationships to an object of sexual fantasy for your own consumption

I literally said "I'm not asking them to make out like porn" so where exactly did you get "I need this to turn me on" like from what?? Nobody said "make the minors do explicit shit". That was never my point. The point was that if the story chooses to portray intimacy, it should actually feel emotionally natural and believable within the relationship. Not just two actors having their third fish kissing scene and suddenly we're supposed to believe this is some deeply intimate romantic moment

And honestly, the way you immediately interpreted this discussion of queer teenagers having intimacy or romantic affection as sexual is kinda weird too. Straight teenage characters can have crushes, romance, kisses, intimacy, and relationship storylines without people automatically assuming that discussing their chemistry means someone wants to sexualize them. So why are queer characters being treated like their romance itself is inherently sexual???

There are two types of toxic BL fans: the ones who think every BL needs sex scenes to be good, and the ones who see any queer intimacy and immediately scream "fetishization". And you're giving the second one girl

I kinda liked this BL at the start, but I'm sorry, the intimate scenes are really not giving. Okay, maybe I could still forgive the awkward first gay s*x experience bc, obviously, first-time nerves are a thing. But we're already on their third kissing scene and they're STILL doing those fish kisses… at some point it becomes harder to read it as intentional awkwardness and more like the actors just aren't comfortable with eo

And before anyone says "they're teenagers". There are literally teenage Japanese BLs that have handled this kind of intimate scenes so much better without making it explicit or pornographic like y'all think. Our Youth did it. Eternal Yesterday did it too. It's not about needing the actors to make out like a porn. I just want to FEEL the longing, the tension, the tenderness, all the emotions behind these scenes

Idk if this is the production being overly conservative, the direction, the actors' choices (well, one is an idol), or maybe whatever rating restrictions they're working under

I love how this BL manages to be so wholesome while still tackling some irl LGBTQ+ struggles. Proof that BLs don't have to be trauma porn to address those issues. This show really hits everything right where it needs to without making things unnecessarily heavy. I also really appreciate that it doesn't go to the other extreme either, where soft BLs usually used to portray queer life as this overly perfect, conflict-free world to the point where it stops feeling believable (a.k.a. Cherry Magic the Movie or most of the pre-2020 TH BLs). I love wholesome BLs, but I still want them to feel grounded in reality

I actually teared up a little at the end of this episode and I kinda have an idea of what's gonna happen next ep, but I love how the show can be a little cliché without feeling TOO cliché, iykwim. I might be too biased here because the whole going-abroad route in BLs or even het shows is a bit cliché and I know it's been done so many times already, but there's something about the way this show has handled everything so far makes me trust that it'll make it work

Everything about this show is just so wholesome and comforting and I'm loving it so much. Easily the best Japanese bl so far from this yr

You're so right. I actually realized I forgot to emphasize that masc/fem pairing itself isn't what inherently makes a show heteronormative. It's more about how the seme treats the uke like a girl and how the audience forces those straight gender roles onto them. And the same thing applies to the wide part of the audience that strictly demands masc/masc pairings. A lot of that comes from homophobia and misogyny because they just can't stand seeing a guy who's visibly fem or flamboyant

Also, Rio implying her unrequited love didn't work out from EP 6 👀 Like, I have a wild guess tho, like, what if its actually the girl she was asking advice for on the phone 😭 and what if she's a sapphic too?? OMFG, my plot is plotting

That makes total sense tho, bc sponsors are obviously just gonna follow wherever the main audience spends their money. And a lot of the strict masc4masc fans has this weird discomfort with actual femboys or literally any visible femininity. It's usually the same people in the fandom who refuse to watch GL/WLW too, wc honestly says a lot

But tbh, the lack of actual queer rep goes way beyond just not having femme leads. We're also missing so many other types too like chubs, bears, sides, trans, or even just average-looking queer men who don't look like they were pulled straight out of a runway... like we are only used to seeing those in anime or manga 😭 Like why everyone in BL have to be conventionally hot and model-looking

The BL industry really needs to start giving us more pairings with two non-hypermasculine or at least femme-leaning guys like this. Bc rn it feels like it's always either masc/masc or masc/femme. And honestly, I think a big reason we don't get more variety is bc producers and writers know what their main audience wants, so they just keep giving them the same dynamics over and over bc that's what sells

A lot of the mainstream audience still wants that heteronormative dynamic where you can immediately tell who's supposed to be the strict seme and who's supposed to be the uke. But that's obviously not how every gay relationship works irl. There are vers guys, switches, masc guys who are bottoms, femboys who are tops, etc. 😭 On the flip side, there's also a huge part of the fandom that specifically wants mascxmasc because they don't want to see actual femboys. Like... that's a whole other conversation about misogyny within the fandom

And if you've actually watched real gay dating shows, you'll notice that a good chunk of the guys are naturally flamboyant or bit feminine even in east asia. They're not all these hypermasculine dudes that BL keeps giving us. So sometimes I really feel like BL doesn't represent the variety of actual queer people and relationships/dynamics that also exist irl because the industry is too scared to step outside whatever formula they know will keep the audience happy. They'd rather play it safe than risk losing viewers

Anyway, back to yesterday's episode before I get too ranty lol. I love how wholesome this show without existing in some perfect, conflict-free bubble world. Based on the preview, I really wonder if Otosan is against them because it's an MLM relationship, or if it's strictly an issue with the student and private tutor dynamic? But well, according to Rio, their Otosan seems homophobic

Ikr?! Finding even one irl feels impossible that's exactly why Serizawa basically adopting Suzuki is so healing to watch

I YEARN FOR A HEALTHY, ALL-FUDANSHI FRIEND GROUP

I'm loving, loving, loving this show. It kinda feels like I'm watching School Trip again. I guess it will receive the same criticism School Trip did, like "it's not a real BL", "it's for teen girls who can't stand smut bls" or the usual comments from users like etoks, lol

Keep in mind, there are gay and queer people who never got to experience this kind of middle school life. Queer media doesn't always have to perfectly mirror the real-life experiences of queer people. As a BL fan, you can choose whether you want to watch something relatable or maybe something totally unrealistic that you lowkey wish you could experience anyway. Personally, I consume both, tho

While other hit dating shows such as The Boyfriend, Single's Inferno, Badly in Love, and Better Late Than Single all made a comeback this year, it's a shame that the best one still hasn't returned

Good thing that Taichan didn't pick Maririn. I do not want her to be a rebound or last choice. For Part 2, I want Maririn to be a transferee

I take back everything I said, I'm actually starting to love this show lol who cares about the yellow filter right 😭💛

Personal Thoughts on Yesterday's Episode

1) I hope the parents turn out to be unaccepting, which seems to be what Rio was implying about their father. I know how that sounds, but I'm getting a bit tired of BLs setting up an unrealistically perfect world for queer characters. I prefer it when lighter shows still ground themselves in real queer struggles like Chosen Home already proved a series can maintain a cozy vibe while still portraying those realities

2) With only 3 episodes left, I have a feeling the conflict will be similar to My Love Mix-Up, where Nacchan feels like Sochan doesn't like him as much as he likes Sochan

So far, so good like the show's run has been great. Sure, having one lead process his feelings first is a familiar pattern in Japanese BL, but I like that, idk. Maybe it is for the gays who never got a real chance with the person they liked where we either got dumped right away or ended up yearning forever for love that wasn't reciprocated, lol

Yep. In older works like Eternal Yesterday, Life Senjou no Bokura, or even non heavy drama BLs like Cherry Magic and Old Fashioned Cupcake, the actor dynamics, line delivery, and facial expressions were just all chef's kiss

​Tho, there are still some solid actors in current JBLs, but with the sudden boom in production lately, it feels like half of these shows are being way too experimental with their casting choices

And yes, to be fair to Tomoya, he's actually decent in his other projects. I just think he was miscast for this specific role, especially when it comes to handling heavy drama scenes

His crying looks so forced in the preview at the start of Episode 1. Maybe it is just me being demanding bc most of the BL actors who became main leads in pre-2022 Japanese BLs set my standard for acting. I just cannot stand awful acting anymore, such as in Candy Color Paradox, Tokyo In April is, etc.

Hmmm, as a fan of the manga, this adaptation's casting feels so disappointing. They don't embody Wataru and Chiharu at all... I couldn't even get through Episode 1. Surprising since one's a Toku alum and Tomoya can actually act from other series, but they just do not fit these roles

If you actually check the thread history, nobody posts screen recorded stream updates here right after the Japanese broadcast drops anyway, like X, Discord and TG are the actual places for that. Coming to MDL during air time is usually for episode discussion, so using "link-checking" as a reason to browse safe from spoilers does not make any sense

The resolution is giving My Love Mix-Up vibes. It's actually not bad at all

And yes, it was a bit expected bc I was also questioning how this BL could be so fluffy and soft knowing it has a bit of a taboo premise