Stay by My Side after the Rain

Weather forecast : Soft romance with rarely any storms with side of predictability!

The premise of this drama was a second-chance romance between Mashiro and Kanade, who randomly met each other one afternoon in a cafe. What follows is a journey of two lost friends who awkwardly try their best to find footing in this relationship and somehow the whole process is both complicated and strangely familiar.

The romance was simple and sweet. There were no earth-shattering plot twists or real angst. Surprisingly, there was communication between them and somehow, both of them healed the parts of each other just by being there.

But with that comes predictability. The setup is textbook, and somehow it sticks to the syllabus without taking any risks. They could have wrapped this in maybe 8 or a maximum of 10 episodes. It felt a little draggy and I was a bit bored.

There is also a troubled parents subplot for both leads, which adds some extra layers of family drama to the story. I actually really appreciated Kanade’s confrontation with his father. It felt genuine and was handled with a surprising amount of care, giving their strained relationship real weight. On the other hand, Mahiro’s issues with his mother fell a bit flat. The deep-rooted negligence and resentment just vanished, and his mother had a change of heart after a quick chat and mere words. It feels a bit too convenient, in my opinion.

And Kannade's nosy co-workers at the start really annoyed me. I would have to climb a whole mountain to believe that kind of behaviour was remotely professional or appropriate. They did get better as we progressed in the drama though.

Also, those dead fish kisses were just not it. It's 2025, and if you are not comfortable, don't do it. I would rather see them hug it out and actually show some real connection than painfully stare at two people struggling to make a kiss happen. I mean they both had chemistry and somehow the kisses dragged it down!

Acting-wise, Ikeda Masashi as Kanade was good. I found his acting and portrayal of Kanade very believable. Hori Natsuki as Mashiro was overall decent, too, but in emotional scenes, he felt too stoic.

Overall, this was kind of sweet, comfortable and low-key healing in small doses, but nothing that would break new ground. It was nice, but not particularly inspiring.
Will I recommend it? Maybe if you are looking for formulaic romance that delivers exactly what you expect.

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One of the few JBLs which is guilty of lazy writing...

The start of this series was not bad at all, they are building even a dark past for both characters. But the solution for both of the traumas for each character is a) unbelievable and b) just vanishes in a puff of smoke. Especially Kos'ke is traumatized since childhood because of his Mom, but the writers did not find the time to have a serious conclusion and waste lot of time with long-winded static scenes which do not progress the story.

The chemistry between the two leads was just ok, but there was not really the feeling of longing for each other conveyed. Besides that the dead fish kiss at the "wedding" ruined most this. It's ok, if they don't want to do a NC scene, but in 2025 you should kiss otherwise don't act in a BL, period.

So production quality was very good, but the story wasn't. Just "cute" does not cut it nowadays. While not as bad as some Thai shows, it's only medicore with a weak story compensated a little bit by acting and cuteness, but overall a big disappointment for me. It's one of the shows I have no interest in watching again, but your opinion may be different.

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