4
16
1
5
1
1
1
Man, this one had so much potential! This is a sentence I have previously only used for Thai BLs, but here it is entirely deserved.
The drama had it all: Cute and talented actors, a tried-but-true premise of "opposites attract but have to put in effort to make it work", a solid technical crew -- but then the whole thing is watered down by an unnecessary rival and inconsistent characterizations.
The drama starts out strong -- we get a meet-cute between an outgoing Kansai dweller and a reserved man from Tokyo, a "love at first sight" trope and tasty-looking food. All of the cast give their characters life in just a few scenes.
The plot progression in the first few episodes, which focuses on the two men who slowly get closer and learn each other's likes and dislikes, and how to talk to each other, would be good too, if it wasn't for Soga's poor characterisation: He is a divorcé, so he should be able to recognize attraction and desire in himself, right? But he very much acts as if all of this is new to him, and he has never even thought of himself as someone who could be in a relationship -- and it's not that he is confused that it's a man; nor is he asexual (he very bluntly proposes sex in a later episode).
So, his character is already inconsistent (but somewhat in accordance with J-BL "rules"), but then it gets worse: Sakae's ex, who left him a while ago, is back and wants to restart the relationship. Much of the short runtime is wasted on this love rival side plot instead of further exploring how two people who have next to nothing in common could make a relationship work.
I think this as well as the inconsistent characterisation of Soga's is why other viewers feel that there's no "chemistry" between the leads.
And it's worth of note that as soon as this is resolved and our couple is again on the search for the middle-ground (quite literally!), their dynamics start to get interesting again. Unfortunately, that is the point where the runtime ends already.
This could have been a cute and light story about two people who are very different, who tend to pull back to make their partners happy and who learn that to make a partnership work you have to find compromise that fits both of you.
Was it good?
It has much potential to be one of the J-BLs with tight writing and interesting character dynamics which I so love. Unfortunately, it id not use this potential at all.
Did I like it?
I really want to. I liked the start and the end, but the middle dragged the whole thing down.
Would I recommend it?
Not really.
The drama had it all: Cute and talented actors, a tried-but-true premise of "opposites attract but have to put in effort to make it work", a solid technical crew -- but then the whole thing is watered down by an unnecessary rival and inconsistent characterizations.
The drama starts out strong -- we get a meet-cute between an outgoing Kansai dweller and a reserved man from Tokyo, a "love at first sight" trope and tasty-looking food. All of the cast give their characters life in just a few scenes.
The plot progression in the first few episodes, which focuses on the two men who slowly get closer and learn each other's likes and dislikes, and how to talk to each other, would be good too, if it wasn't for Soga's poor characterisation: He is a divorcé, so he should be able to recognize attraction and desire in himself, right? But he very much acts as if all of this is new to him, and he has never even thought of himself as someone who could be in a relationship -- and it's not that he is confused that it's a man; nor is he asexual (he very bluntly proposes sex in a later episode).
So, his character is already inconsistent (but somewhat in accordance with J-BL "rules"), but then it gets worse: Sakae's ex, who left him a while ago, is back and wants to restart the relationship. Much of the short runtime is wasted on this love rival side plot instead of further exploring how two people who have next to nothing in common could make a relationship work.
I think this as well as the inconsistent characterisation of Soga's is why other viewers feel that there's no "chemistry" between the leads.
And it's worth of note that as soon as this is resolved and our couple is again on the search for the middle-ground (quite literally!), their dynamics start to get interesting again. Unfortunately, that is the point where the runtime ends already.
This could have been a cute and light story about two people who are very different, who tend to pull back to make their partners happy and who learn that to make a partnership work you have to find compromise that fits both of you.
Was it good?
It has much potential to be one of the J-BLs with tight writing and interesting character dynamics which I so love. Unfortunately, it id not use this potential at all.
Did I like it?
I really want to. I liked the start and the end, but the middle dragged the whole thing down.
Would I recommend it?
Not really.
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