Takara-kun & Amagi-kun

What’s so endearing about this series is that its focus isn’t on boy’s love, but on the innocence of first love and all that it entails, especially when you don’t know how to express it well yet and are consumed by teen hormones and runaway thoughts that lead to impulsive actions, then trying to backtrack when your mind is somewhat settled. That’s clearly Amagi, but more subtly in Takara.

Takara-Kun and Amagi-kun is about teen first love and also happens to feature two boys who navigate through their feelings for each other while suffering from misunderstandings. Even so, the drama portrays a healthy relationship between the main couple while still being realistic to the characters’ age, they make small mistakes and learn with them, strengthening their relationship.

The best proof of their progress is how Amagi was so unsure of their relationship in the beginning and almost broke up with Takara, but at the end when proposed with a problem that might make him want to break up, he vehemently refused to, showing how much surer of his relationship he was.

The biggest issue for me was the awkward acting from the main characters. The acting was quite stiff and awkward throughout the show (though it got better in the second half). To be honest, I liked the actors who played Tanaka and Katori better. They felt more natural to watch. If you ignore the acting of the main characters, and enjoy it being mostly lighthearted teenage angst, you’ll likely enjoy the series.

I would be so happy if I had a friend like Katori. He's kind, supportive, protective, and not judgmental. I also liked Tanaka, who is quite different compared to Katori. I initially disliked Tanaka's character and wished he would go away, but as the episodes progressed I could see that he has a much deeper character compared to the rest and I loved that his character had development within the amount of screen time he was given. I honestly wish I could see Tanaka as the main character.

When it comes to the characters’ themselves, Amagi is so likeable, Takara on the other hand I had a hard time liking him in the first part of the first episode but as soon as they explained his character I began to love him just as much. They are opposites to each other. Amagi keeps inside his social boundary and isn’t ‘popular’, he is optimistic and not afraid to share his feelings.

Takara is the extrovert but to me they switch that, as Takara is put in the role of being popular but keeps to himself inside of his circle of popularity whereas Amagi seems to be more extroverted inside his group. Takara keeps his feelings back because he doesn’t want to overwhelm others. They really are opposites and I like how the dialogue showcased that.

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No truly meaningful points being made

TKTAK features a classic trope: Dorky guy falls in love with the popular guy in class. Turns out, popular guy secretly likes dorky guy as well.

The conflict for this series centres around how this seemingly odd pair strives to maintain a distance in school even though they’re dating. And naturally – as the couple faces social pressures from school cliques, Amagi constantly worries that Takara will abandon him.

Unfortunately, TKTAK dips its feet into the messy tribulations of adolescent romance without having any truly meaningful points to make about young love. Overall, I wish there was more depth to their relationship and more time spent on building the story to a satisfying conclusion.

But maybe it’s not supposed to reflect the range of emotions that come with real life. Maybe it’s supposed to be a romanticised snapshot of two youngsters in love, who in that moment believe that when tomorrow comes, they will love each other the same.

Full review: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2023/03/13/takara-kun-to-amagi-kun-review/

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Not expected from a from Japanese BL after watching Cheery Magic & My love mix up

This drama is very cute and overloaded with sweetness. Their is no evilness. It is very pure.
But the most disappointing thing for me is that more than half of the episode concluded with how they are trying to understand each other with their point of view not by talking with each other and solve the problem.
Both of them are super introvert when it comes to express their opinion about each other and how they see it. So misunderstanding keeps going on. But this misunderstanding doesn't harm them or their relationship. It's just them with their mind talking.
And the finishing could far more better than that. I was expecting a lot from this series.
However it's cute to watch.
But at some point of time you will feel the urge of developing their realation into a more mature one.

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Cute and Fluffy BL without any drama

Okay so... It is not a 10/10 show but since the score is much lower than my expectation I gave this a 10. This is a short, cute and romantic bl without any drama and conflict.

If you are in the mood for watching a show without any depth, and just to enjoy it, go ahead. There aren't any sad moments and tiring subplots to kill your joy.

I didn't instantly fell in love with the drama at the episode 1. But after episode 2 , I watched the entire show in one sitting. I think characters are not instantly likable. You get used to them and after a while you cheer for the couple and for their happiness.

I did not love the acting of Amagi but he is very young and he has the time for development. I liked Takara, I also liked him on the Silent too.

Plot was refreshing for me. After watching so many characters get bullied, or get socially isolated, it was refreshing to watch that both leads have their own circle of friends and have a nice high school experience :)

Overall, this is a cute, light, romantic high school drama. I will rewatch it from time to time, I know. If you are in a bad mood, there is a very good chance this will cheer you up :)

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Every Drama Series Serves its Purpose...

For me this one was the healing one. This is second ever watched BL series and it came in the right time specifically for me. So I am very subjective here. I loved every second of it.

However objectively it is well done in manga style, with silly moments that don't require top acting skills. The main leads are young Jpop stars and it shows right away. However the support team are professional actors that did not steal the spotlight, but enhanced overall quality of the series.

Cinematography and overall production is great quality. If you are in need of some healing series- this is it. Takara's smile, confidence and love will get you hooked from ep 1, and OMG Amagi! We are all a little bit Amagi in this world

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Not very remarkable

I was on a roll of jbls, and so far I'd really liked the ones I'd seen, but this one broke that streak. The story feels very shallow and I still don't understand when/where/WHY did the main leads liked each other. The whole show it's just one misunderstanding after the other and they don't even make sense. One of the protagonists is an overthinker and keeps crying every 5 minutes without a real reason, and the other one doesn't really have a personality nor a wide range of facial expressions. The friends were more memorable for me.

Although the dynamic of the characters was cute, I wouldn't recommend this show nor watch it again, but I know a lot of people think differently, so maybe give it a try if you want.

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Casting could have been better

Honestly I'm a pretty easy sell on most of these shows, but the kid who played Amagi was too young, and it seemed super creepy to me that they were talking about being physical with each other. Maybe things are different in Japan, and maybe the age difference wasn''t too much in reality, but the guy who played Takara seemed significantly older than the actor who played Amagi, and the whole thing just made me feel dirty and weird watching it. Amagi was literally skipping through some scenes while Takara never changed his facial expressions. I know that this kind of dynamic is common for Japanese BL shows, but I think the concept was taken too far, and perhaps they should have casted an actor who could have aged a bit during the show and made it feel less creepy in the end. I was hoping they would do a time jump into the future where the relationship seemed less pedo using older actors so I could wash the entire thing out of my mind. The two leads had zero chemistry, for these reason. I thought both of them were charming and I would have loved seeing both of them in other things with other actors. I have read most of the reviews and mine is a lot different for some reason, but I figured I'd put mine out there. No hate, honestly I watched the whole thing but you should be warned it seemed like a 17 year old dating a 12 year old the entire time.

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Like:
+ I really fell for the dry humour. It made me laugh several times!
+ I like Agami! He's absolutely adorable and I actually liked his goofiness. :D
+ Also liked Takana. He's calm, but he give off pretty cool vibes.
+ I can absolutely see this made as an anime.
+ Suzuki Kosuke stole my heart. Again. I loved him in Jack O'Frost and his role in this show is really good! His acting is great and he's funny.
+ Tanakas acting was also good!
+ Some dislike the acting of the leads and I can understand this. But somehow I liked the way they act.. ^^' It was really fitting to the dry humour.
+ Overall I liked the characters a lot! It's fun to watch them.
+ I'm a huge fan of inner monologues most of the time and I also liked them in this show.

Dislike/Room for improvement:
- What is the actual plot? What is a chronologically timeline? Lol. I was so confused! There are many time jumps and still after finishing the show I don't get it. It was all over the place and hard to follow. x.x
- It's a bit sad that there aren't any proper kisses. Most of the time they are forced by Takara, which I really didn't like. I'm a huge fan of consent! Maybe it would have been better without any kisses and just hugs. That's really a point that bothered me much, because I'm so sick of people kissing others without permission (while seeing and KNOWING how uncomfortable the other person is, making it just worse) T_T
(Not really a - point for me, but maybe for others): I think it's definitely a show that's character driven and not plot driven. So..it doesn't really happen much plotwise. The whole show is centered around their feelings and thoughts. About how difficult a relationship can be and yeah, it's definitely repetitive. But it didn't bother me much. I see the reviews from others who are annoyed by the show and somehow I can understand this but I definitely don't share this opinion. I had fun watching this (after I deleted it in the beginning after reading reviews, but then decided to give it a try and didn't regret it.) even if I'm confused as hell. T_T

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I think It's worth a watch!

I was curious about this show after reading quite mixed reviews on here so here's my two cents.

Overall I enjoyed the watching experience, it was really cute. I understand why some people say the timeline is confusing, especially in the first two episodes. But I had no issue just using context clues, it wasn't that hard to understand. There is definitely a lack of plot in this show but I liked that. All of the misunderstandings are small and resolved with good communication In a timely manner. As a result, there is very little conflict in the show but I prefer this to unnecessary, stressful, and annoying drawn-out miscommunication plot points that are too often used especially in BL. The acting was a teeny bit awkward sometimes but it did not bother me at all, the chemistry of the leads made up for it to me.
One little thing I really liked was all of the random conversations you can hear the friend groups having, they really felt like something you'd overhear high highschoolers talk about, not just boring small talk.

This is just a really fun, lighthearted watch, I'd recommend giving it a go! It's nothing revolutionary, but if you're in the mood for a sweet BL, It's a nice one!

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my now comfort bl...

PRODUCTION:
everything was shot great and everything sounded good. however i sometimes had a hard time telling if a scene was a flashback or not - even on rewatch. i wish there wouldve been a better way for them to show that. the music didn't really stick out to me which is why i gave it an average score.

STORY:
simple but darling. i can understand why people would be disappointed but i am very much a sucker for established relationships / early relationship stories. and although the subvertions are subtle from generic stories i liked them a lot. i only wish there was MORE story so that says something.

CHARACTERS / ACTING:
amagi (nao oriyama) is a cute character - the most sunshine-y character i have ever seen. his actions and behavior never tipped the scale of being annoying to me and i think that is thanks to the wonderful acting job. sure amagi makes mistakes in the series but he's a high schooler! and he learns and grows thanks to them - i wish we could have more time to actually see amagi open up more but oh well...

takara (arata sato) is what really sold me - truly such a subversion from the popular boy troupe. im so glad that we do get his prespective because honestly i do feel like the series would be boring without it. i truly related to takara... i again wish there was more time to see him grow but ehat can ya do :/

together they make such a sweet couple - they are awkward but not in a way thats out of character. moreso that this is their first relationship. i truly appericated that the struggles they were having werent so catastrophic and they were able pretty much resolve each one by the end of the episode. they are so innocent too - makes me jealous of the high school relationship i never got to have. and again - their subversion is subtle but its a huge welcome for me.

the side characters were alright but the standout was definitely katori (suzuki kosuke). he was very funny and it was good for them to invent a way for the characters to talk about their relationship to SOMEONE. i didnt really care for tanaka (komiya rio) like he was fine and well acted. but i didnt really get why he got as much focus as he did other than giving a little more background to taraka's charactee ig?

OVERALL:
anytime i want a simple bl to watch i will definitely pick this one back up again. im not sure if a season 2 is possible but i would love it if it were to be done. i feel like i could watch these two idiots navigate their relationship for ages haha. but for now this will do.

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Those manga characters (exactly as David compared it in the previous review) that were invented by Japanese women still look really weird to me, because their horrible hairdos make both the main actors, aged 18 and 22, look like thirteen-year-old hermaphrodites, or at best, so that they would rather go to the bathroom to make sure they are a boy or a girl. And when the Amagi opened its wide mouth with huge teeth from ear to ear in the close-up, I was afraid that the head of the praying mantis wanted to eat me. And now seriously. As it is almost unnatural, I actually enjoy it on the other hand. From that point of view, it was a gentle, sweet series, well-acted in its Japanese way with a straightforward story. Anyone who knows Japanese will relax with it or even smile in some scenes.

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