ziugae

the story focuses on a friendly rivalry, both of the leads having this dynamic since high school. the premise of this was nice, but i think the way the “rivalry” falls flat really helped highlight how much of an excuse it was for these two to get closer and spend so much time together.

zen is aloof, reserved from both the world itself and ryo to a degree. though they reunite at work, it’s pretty evident they don’t really know much about each other beyond work related subjects and the past that they shared.

it doesn’t take long to notice how devastatingly in love ryo has been this whole time, but seeing the pure anguish, the tormenting emotions in his eyes when he misunderstands zen, it really drives home how real his love has been for the one person that had been there for him.

the only thing that felt stunted in the storytelling was how little we see into their early friendship, but overall this was a genuinely good surprise from japan lately. it’s been a stagnant market for bl and i loved seeing yusuke come back to bl in a very different art form compared to his previous work. you could see his comfort in a whole different way with kaito and none of this felt as awkward as i had feared it would.