At 25:00 in Akasaka

Know what kind of BLs you like

I can only say this series confirms for me that I am indeed a part of the Japanese BL target market - I am one of those audience members who really enjoys the slow-pace and the sensitive unfolding of a tender romance. This is one such drama, heartfelt and rewarding, with two well-cast leads, far from the clamour of the need for speed and thrills and urgency.

From my experience to date, the Japanese writers, directors and actors, do this kind of series very well.

I don't know the actors from previous shows, but it's interesting to note that, like their characters, they differ quite significantly in terms of their Main Role experience.

Read More

Might be better for viewers during a second watch

tl;dr: A simple story told in very subtle ways, with excellent acting and interesting camera work.

The first episodes make this series seem like a more depressing version of "BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita" but it is not -- the dynamics and the background stories are very much different.

It's a slow-burn romance and does have the often used tropes of non-communication, self-deprecation and mutual pining -- so if you're not a fan of these tropes, you might want to give this one a miss.

The narrative choice to tell only Shirasaki's point of view first and to show Hayami's story then only later, in episodes 7 and 8, is something we've seen in other J-BLs (Mr. Unlucky, Senpai This Can't Be Love or the newer Living with him come to mind). Usually, it works fine. In this case though, I think it was not a good choice.
When we meet Shirasaki first, he is at his lowest, full of self-deprecation -- he is not at all a reliable narrator. Hayami, on the other hand, is quite unreadable -- not because the actor is bad at his job but because this is part of the character (Hayami's friend tells him exactly that in episode 7). So, for the first six episodes, we only get one (skewed) side of the story.
Because of real life issues, I had to take a break in episode 8 -- and after that I restarted the whole series. With the knowledge of Hayami's backstory, I was able to see things differently -- and what seemed depressing and a bit flat the first time, was actually just very subtle acting by both main actors.

Regarding the acting, the main actors are, in my opinion, excellent. Minuscule movements and facial expressions show the inner life if a viewer cares to look closely. Quite a few scenes have been taken in one single shot -- which shows the how good the actors really are.

Speaking of shooting the drama: I was intrigued by some camera angles -- we look through windows and through cameras, sometimes we are in vey tight spaces, feelinga bit claustrophobic -- and then some sces are wide-angle shots, and everything is only seen from a distance. Use of hand-held cameras in some scenes show the instability of the actor's emotions. Even just finding out how these choices relate to the character's emotions would make a rewatch interesting.

While I don't like the opening song, I do love the background music -- the piece itself was lovely, melancholic but strangely uplifting at the same time. Silence also played a big part in enhancing the scenes.

Overall, I think this series is not one to watch and forget immediately, rather it is to be savoured, and deserves a close look at its details.

Read More

Pleasantly surprised!

This drama had me giggling and kicking my feet from the very first episode. It drew me in immediately, and it kept me drawn in the entire time. The moments between Shirasaki and Hayama were almost too sweet to handle. And when they weren't being sweet with each other, there was some mild angst thrown into the mix, and I am never one to complain about angst as it's my favorite plot device ever.

I watched this entire drama in a single sitting, which is quite the feat for me considering it usually takes me months to complete a 12 episode k-drama or thai bl. My attention span just isn't too great. But I couldn't tear myself away from this one, and I immediately went searching for the manga because I wasn't ready to let go of them yet.

I will def be rewatching this in the future.

Read More

Yearning. We love it.

*Spoilery but will not go into the details*
As a BL watcher who tries to steer clear of the more mature romances(like this one), I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama. They did an amazing job of showing different kinds of intimacy on screen, which I feel is somtimes lacking in some JBLs. The characters clearly respected each other. For some, the pace might be a little too slow, but as someone who loves to watch characters yearn for each other, I think the pacing was just right. It was clear from the beginning that there is a love to be explored between the two leads. And it made me want to learn more. Yes, there are a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication, which may throw people off, but I think it works for the story. their backstories were very interesting, I like how their destinies are intertwined. I'm really impressed with how they were able to create a drama within a drama. Easily one of my favorites.

TLDR: If you love to watch characters yearn go watch this drama NOW

Read More

Amazing

What to say? I’m not a huge fan of JBLs but I needed something short and unfinished since this was airing during my exams time, so I decided to watch this. My opinion? WOW! This was so so sooo good!

If you want to ask why I don’t like JBL, I don’t really know how to answer this question. Maybe it’s because of their distanceness, maybe because of the fact that some BL’s I can imagine as anime but as live action it seems odd to me, maybe something totally different… I really don’t know. But I think you’ll agree when I say JBLs have something which makes them Japanese and it’s not only Japanese actors. I don’t know how to explain it but when you watch JBL, you just know it’s JBL before they start speaking. Does it make sense? I hope so…

This one as well and here I really enjoyed it. Two actors who are going to act in a BL drama? Yes, that seems like something I’d like to see, so I started to watch. Half of the series was already out, for the next half I had to wait every week, After some episodes I wanted to scream and throw things around but then I saw the preview for next ep and I calmed down. Not always, tbh, sometimes it was vice versa.

The first thing I noticed was their chemistry. It was really something. They basically kissed in the first episode. Yeah, it was that dead fish kiss where they just put their lips together but with the music and tension and everything around it made me feel butterflies. Don’t worry, we’ll get to see more than that…

The story is mostly shown from Yuki’s POV but there is one ep where you can see Asami was actually the one who fell first and also harder. And now imagine how he had to control himself… Well, maybe not so much since he was the one who came up with the idea of pretending to be boyfriends so they could get more into their characters. Maybe it was his strategy? Who knows…

They fell for each other really fast, but they lacked communication so everything took more time than it was necessary. Now, when I saw the last ep, I know it was actually a point, not a mistake or plothole. It’s exactly how it’s supposed to be and it makes sense.
They kind of remind me of Sasaki and Miyano. Asami was that cool one as Sasaki and Yuki the shy one as Miyano. Damn, I wish Sasaki and Miyano got a live action drama! It would be so good, trust me.

Ok, back to Asami and Yuki. Damn, when they called each other by their first name, it was so intimate...

During those 10 eps we actually got two bed scenes. First one was shown as Asami and Yuki’s characters and the second one was the real them. Guess which one was hotter? Just kidding, both of them were totally amazing.

The very last scene shown something which is giving a clue about season 2, so there is a small posibility we could see those two again.

Read More

El final de los jueves japoneses

Este año coincidieron tres obras japonesas al mismo momento y At 25:00 at Akasaka es a la última que tenemos que decirle adiós, lo que, ciertamente, nos deja con una sequía de producción nipona hasta nuevo aviso.

El drama no es, probablemente, el mejor que he visto en los últimos tiempos y, aunque la producción y la actuación son de alto nivel, es cierto que el producto en su conjunto pierde por decisiones directivas y de guion. También es verdad que últimamente orbito más alrededor de producciones que no utilizan la falta de comunicación como elemento central de las problemáticas de sus personajes.

En cualquier caso, ha sido muy agradable compartir estas 10 semanas con Kiita y Taisuke. Estaré esperando esa segunda temporada que se deja caer al final del último episodio.

Read More