Takumi-kun Series: Drama (2025)

guys hurting each other

Overall: the writers needed to narrow the scope and make the protagonists more likable. Based on the book series "Takumi-kun Series" by Gotoh Shinobu (1992-2014) which I haven't read and the review is of this series only. 6 episodes about 25 minutes each aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5814/takumi-kun-series-drama-2025 (not available in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan or Korea).

Content Warning: dub/non con touching/kiss, sexual assault turned consensual, trauma, hit/punch/violence, blood, slaps, past: incest, molestation/sexual assault, rape?, death)

What I Liked
- visuals
- a straightforward rejection in episode 5
- good production value

Room For Improvement
- there were way too many characters introduced (and I've seen the older movies), I couldn't tell who the characters were, their relationships to each other, who loved who until several episodes in, multiple exposition dumps
- did not like any of the couples, the main couple had a guy say this to his sleeping boyfriend: "How can I move forward? Don't wake up. You say no with you mouth, I see, I'm done waiting" and sexually assaulted his boyfriend in order to cure him (by the way freeze and acquiesce are also sexual assault responses that the brain might make on its own) , another guy slapped his love interest who innocently asked about a past crush and the 3rd couple had one guy as a cold jerk
- recent flashbacks and farther back flashbacks added to the confusion (seemed as if they both expected people to know what was going on and also didn't think people would know what was going on)
- telling another person that they need to be responsible for his feelings, everyone is responsible for their own feelings
- poor communication trope

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