When It Rains, It Pours

When the rain hits your face, my hands hold up an umbrella

Rain can be sticky, make you uncomfortable, but in the right moments, it can be freeing. Even then, you sometimes just want an umbrella close by, because even if the rain is liberating, you can want that it only surround you, outside the shield of your umbrella.

One missent email shakes up the lives of both the leads, and what begins as pure courtesy and politeness, soon turns into the rain in their lives. Sometimes sticky and uncomfortable, but those emails carry the freedom their lives do not mirror. Emails turn into real life but the two of them are still under the umbrella, and their real lives are ultimately going to catch up to them, but their lives are intertwined in a way that is going to be difficult to cut off or ignore because what they share with each other are not just their thoughts, or fears, or aspects of their lives, they've essentially bared their heart to each other.

The drama, much like my explanation, is as complex as complex comes. Both leads are in precarious situations with their love lives and one email sparks a whole conversation where after each email, you get the feel that those two finally found someone who gets them. Whether we as the audience understand their conversations is not the point, it's that they understood. They share their pains, and troubles and deepest thoughts with each other because they need not worry about being judged or worry about slighting each other. They are strangers after all.

As the drama progresses, them being each other's safe space, each other's liberty is the only thing that goes unchanged because every other line they unconsciously set is erased. This of course means, a whole lot of drama, but that was expected. Nothing in here was ever not going to be complicated.

I loved how every important moment between the leads happened when it rained and I loved how whether they did it consciously or unconsciously, the rain signified something for their relationship. I love that the leads actually spoke to each other, no misunderstandings, no silly arguments, the drama came when it was supposed to and it wasn't because they refused to talk to each other. I love that they were always open with each other, no matter how their situation changed. I love that they noticed things about each other, and that they took the initiative when they needed to.

It may seem like I'm describing things that are normally there in some senses in a relationship and in dramas, but this was a plot that needed a whole lot of development, and they did that while also doing all this. I wanted a little more though, that's my only complaint, I wanted a little more closure, a little more of a deep dive into Hagiwara and Sei.

But believe me when I say I ate this series up, I was completely obsessed with it while I watched, and for good reason. This series was like a summer rain, a light enough drizzle to cool you down, while the sunshine warms you up, and when that happens, you can't help but love it.

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best enjoyed under the warmth of a blanket

if you ignore the elephant in the room i.e emotional cheating/cheating - which all things considered was handled really well lol

When it rains, it pours is a lovely watch. I think everything was handled really well, the supporting cast were amazing. The story had a great exploration on intimacy in relationships and genuinely, can't believe I'm saying it but also on what may be acting as the load bearing thing that may be keeping a relationship together. The supporting cast are written with enough care and complexity that they felt real enough to appreciate their feelings and try and understand their thoughts. I think the strength in the writing and portrayal of the supporting characters lie in that the way I interpreted and viewed them was the same as how the main characters themselves viewed their relationship and their relevant counterparts.

Especially the case for Hagiwara's gf (who may I say, is so cute omg like wow Akita Shiori is gorgeous) and while there are moments where I felt a little irritated, Hagiwara's love and affection towards Kaori stood out and that care was shown in how she was portrayed as well. Akita Shiori's portrayed Kaori playfully and sweetly and her own moments of lingering hesitation and regret was shown well.

In the same sense Nakara's person? (i missed the part where they labelled it lol) was portrayed similarly. The care and prioritisation that Nakara showed Fujisawa was conveyed and at the same time there was an underlying frustration that almost teeters on resentful beforing swinging over into guilty. Which Fujisawa's actor Matsumoto Hiroki returns back just as well.

The leads do a wonderful job taking you along the journey of their developing relationship and I think they have a great friendship and romantic chemistry? but I do think the leads sensual chem? was a bit lacking and a fell a tad bit short. I don't think I was expecting intensity in terms of like 'action' but considering the depth of emotion and complexity they were able to convey during general dialogue and moments that weren't neccessarily sexual, when it came to exploring the aspect they were craving I think it fell short for the importance of the moment? Whether the conveyed emotions were bittersweet, happy or sad, I just think there should have been more weight and emphasis in the moment(s) that it lingered with me.

However overall, everything was done really well. Soundtrack and sound design etc was done really well, perectly fitting for each scene imo and suceeded in adding to the momets. So was costuming lol, stunner fits all round. The story was well handled mature exploration on some complicated aspects of relationships and handled certain actions that I would typically hate pretty well.

I would love a second season or like a movie idk, rarely do I wish for one but I just want to see a little bit more of where their relationship as well as the supporting casts relationships may have ended up.

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I Can't Stop Thinking About The Museum Statue

Before I direct my attention to the plot of this BL I just wanna talk about that statue, it's so powerful and beautiful the way it was made to speak so loud yet it will never say a word. I honestly don't know if its possible to see that statue irl but if there is you best believe that's going in my bucket list because I fell in love with how beautiful and powerful that statue is. But anyway, this BL is pretty good, I didn't have many high hopes in the beginning, I thought to myself "another predictable Japanese BL" and even though it is predictable, I was still hooked. The chemistry was really good, and the tension was there. I really liked the scenes where Sei and Hagiwara would be together. I also like how different this BL is from majority of JBL where the plot is very very similar, in this one it's about 2 guys who are basically being held from having intimate moments with people they love and are just basically craving a moment like that which is completely normal, I like how this show normalizes the fact that wanting to be sexually active even if its considered "a lot" for some people is completely normal, everyone has a different sex drive. But it also normalizes people who may not be ok with being as sexually active or being in the spectrum of asexuality. Both are so valid and understandable, but in this show these clash and it becomes a conflict, I think even though Kaori felt this way she still could've talked about it to Hagiwara and come to terms together as a couple, or maybe if she had things could've ended better, I do believe she could've handled this differently and could have been a bit less selfish. One thing that is still on my mind is the fact that Sei basically got TW TW TW TW TW (r*aped) by Fuji, they literally went past that like it was nothing and so did the characters, like this isn't something you wake up the next day and say "Im sorry" like hello? And the fact that Sei apologized to Fuji too... this whole "friendship" was just toxic. I noticed since I first started seeing them that Fuji 100% saw Sei as a possession he can keep rather than a best friend/lover. I don't get why hide ur feelings when Sei is obviously also interested in Fuji. I did not get that at all. And then Fuji has the audacity to get jealous over Sei being intimate with Hagiwara even though I'm sure for a while Sei has tried to do so with Fuji but he just kept refusing. Again it's giving possessive and toxic. I hope after Hagiwara and Sei have their little happily ever after, I hope Fuji never returns, because he's not a friend, he shouldn't be near Sei. But yeah, I'm glad this was a short BL, made it so much easier to watch, I do hate when theres like 8 episodes and the last one is a filler episode, but for this one I just had wished we had a couple minutes more seeing Sei and Hagiwara happier together. But regardless I'm satisfied knowing they got together at the end, I got scared when I saw there was like 3 minutes left and Hagiwara was deleting Sei's contact and everything I was like "OMG plot twist" but no hehe. I'm happy. I rate this 8/10

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it has a deep meaning, but if you're just a casual bl watcher, it's quite boring

Now honestly at first I didn't think I was watching the same drama as everyone else, it was quite boring and I only finished it for the sake of finishing a drama. I get that it's unique and has a very realistic and deep meaning that must be fun for others, it's art. But as entertainment, almost every scene past episode 5 was painful to watch. Random (and boring) dialogues, sudden appearance of characters, etcetera. Not to mention the acting of sei was horrendous, I get his feelings are supposed to be compressed but the acting felt bland the entire time, it was kind of frustrating. The timeline was also confusing. I don't know why I'm the only one that didn't enjoy this, it was simply boring.

Now as I said, this is art. If you like these type of meaningful dramas where every small detail is like a poem that you can find something beautiful if you look deeper in, then sure, watch it. But if you want a drama that can entertain you and you can enjoy, I don't really recommend it.
I only rated this 6.5 as to not ruin their ratings, I'm sure it was crazy fun to others but if I had to rate it the same way I would do to any other drama (storytelling, story, acting, editing, how fun it is to watch) I would give it a 5.

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literally how does anyone like this show

good lord how does this show have such high ratings. like genuinely, i NEVER rate bls under 5/10 because i feel bad, but oh my god does this show deserve it. somehow this show is only seven episodes, and i say somehow because watching this show felt like a marathon that was never-ending, and i felt a huge wave of relief when i finished it. let me tell you exactly what this show is: the glamorization of adultery and cheating on your significant other and then justifying it because of "true love". my biggest issue with this show is how the girlfriend of the "straight" guy is painted as the bad guy. so WHAT your girlfriend doesn't wanna have sex. if that's such a deal breaker for you, how about you, idk, BREAK UP WITH HER???? my god this man is so fucking dumb. literally, if your girlfriend is uncomfortable having sex with you maybe you should just talk to HER about it instead of emailing this random dude who isn't actually random but you dont know that and then going and CHEATING on your girlfriend with said random dude. like genuinely it is insane to me how anyone can sympathize with these characters. cheating is wrong literally no matter what. your girlfriend does NOT owe you anything, including sex. if you can't handle that, do. not. continue. dating. her. its not fair to keep this poor girl around while you go and fuck this random guy because you just NEED to fuck someone like this is so weird. im sorry but this show felt so like inherently misogynistic. basically it felt like the whole show was blaming a girl for not wanting to have sex with her boyfriend, so she DESERVED to get cheated on. and then we're all supposed to be okay with the guy cheating on his girlfriend because he cheated with another guy. yeah okay.. in case you cant tell i actually hate this show like im typing this in a rage. i think it's been like 6 months since i first watched this and i still get physically angry when i think about it. the ONLY redeeming quality is at least the actors all did a good job, but good acting can not save a terrible plot with insufferable characters that make stupid choices. if you have made it this far into my review and you haven't seen the show yet please, i beg of you, listen to me: DO. NOT. WASTE. YOUR. TIME. ON. THIS. FUCKASS. BL. unless you enjoy watching people cheating on their significant others and then seeing other people excuse that behavior, skip this one and watch something ACTUALLY worth your time.

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Sometimes you dance in the rain and sometimes you don't

I liked the story and complexities of the issues they tried to show, but I really really did not like the characters. It kind of surprised me that I did not like that characters, because there are very few dramas that have made me feel that way and those are usually really dark. This one isn't dark, just... eh.
Typically I don't mind nitty-gritty, toxic stuff, but there was something about these characters that I just really couldn't get over. I think there are certain negative character depictions of a character while trying to also hold them as a "good person" without showing their positive qualities isn't for me. It's something different than someone with human flaws and/or someone trying to better themselves. It was confusing at times and there were no other qualities to grab onto.

The story is nothing new. They talking about gray areas of cheating and control. I'm glad they tried to talked about sex in a relationship in a positive way. I didn't like that it was kind of mangled with expecting another person to stable or satiate another persons mood/sex desires without pointing out how that was wrong. It made me feel like people just expect that crappy situation and it leaves you feeling kind of hopeless in a way. Maybe if the episodes were longer, they could have explored that more instead of leaving a lot as interpretation.

The acting was alright. All the elements just didn't line up for me to like it that much. I'm not saying no one else should watch this. Others enjoyed it, you might too or you might not. It just wasn't for me and that's okay.

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Poorly Adapted and Really Mysoginistic

I don't know why this novel adaptation was poorly done. The director didn't even bothered to make the gf point of view and villanize her like she commited a sin for not having sex with her bf. The whole story didn't even show how complicated their situation are, it just a whole story to excuse any cheating. which makes the viewer didn't even bother to call her bitch and being mysoginist to the gf. but what do i expect from fujoshi-targeted media. definitely the worst bl i ever seen in my life. The cast acting literally saved this dorama, and the reason why i watched this till the end

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