A Man Who Defies the World of BL Final (2025)

The final season which may not be final...

I can't help myself, but I liked this season the most. While normaly not so much into the bizarre overdriven japanese humor I felt, this season they dialed it back a bit and made it more "compatible" at least with me. Also the opening song this final season was by far the best imho :) Because it was not just silly I felt the acting was improved and the plots more interesting... but of course in the end, he failed to defy the world of BL.

As they are teasing a sequel, I would wish for them to show us the everyday life of the "background" lead (yeah, he does not have a name or if it was mentioned once I forgot) with Hatano in a "normal" series. Production quality was excellent as usual and I had a lot of fun watching this. So, if you have nothing to do and enjoy silly stuff, it's a recommandation from me :) (To understand the story with Hatano you need to watch the season before, but to understand all, all four seasons are required.)

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Fun and entertaining

*major spoilers**
While I do like Kikuchi more than Hatano, like most people, I don’t understand the intense hate Hatano receives. At this point, the ‘he is a minor’ argument feels more like an excuse, especially since the male lead chose to wait for him, and there’s only a small age gap between them. One point I do agree with is that Kikuchi is the better choice, and the previous seasons focused more on him than on Hatano, so it’s understandable that people expected Kikuchi to be the endgame. I had an issue with how easy they brushed off Kikuchi but Still, I don’t think Hatano is such a ‘terrible choice.’ He’s fine. I also watched the earlier seasons a long time ago, so my attachment to either love interest isn’t strong enough for me to dismiss the entire series over the final choice. I was prepared for any type of ending, including him choosing no one. Overall, I think the show is still good, light, fun, and not something that needs to be taken too seriously.

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repetitive

Overall: the franchise had a fun premise, but it has dragged on too long without progression. 6 episodes about 20 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/6018/a-man-who-defies-the-world-of-bl-2021-s04e01 (not in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan or Korea)

Content Warnings: slap (played as comedy), fight

What I Liked
- they did a short intro so people don't need to have seen the previous 3 series to understand what is going on
- I did chuckle a few times like at the high pitched sneezing in episode 1
- the intro music open which has a different theme for each season
- was supportive of his brother in episode 3
- for once I was happy we didn't see a kiss at the end

Room For Improvement
- it was a fun premise for season 1 but I want to see some relationship progression, at least with his brother's romance (there was a little in episode 3 starting around 13m30s)
- I don't think the writers intended it but Mob came across as a bit homophobic, though he did talk about how you didn't want to be the main lead
- Mob was selfish when he created a love triangle (and I wish it had resolved differently since all three were nice guys)
- was bored with the napping stuff in episode 2 and did not enjoy the toilet humor at the end of the episode
- two characters that got together were abrupt
- the high school or romantic interest was odd

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Fun at First, But Dragged Out in the End

I have mixed feelings about this one. Hatano is fun to watch—he’s lively, charming, and technically 18 (though Japan considers adulthood at 20, which is interesting). The problem for me was Mob. He spent way too much time dragging things out instead of being upfront. A simple, “Not interested,” would have ended most of the drama right there—but of course, then we wouldn’t have a show.

The series started with a clever premise and had some genuinely enjoyable moments, but by the end, it felt like it had overstayed its welcome. Fun in parts, but a bit too long overall.

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Thank you, Mob, for this journey

Disclaimer

What I am writing here are my views and thoughts about this series. Some of you may not like it. That does not give you the right to try to come at me with your opinions on why this series should get a higher or lower score and why it is better/worse than I think it is. You have your own opinions, and I have mine. Kindly respect that.

Mob took us on a four-season journey starting from the year 2021 to 2025, and we, the viewers, were there rooting for him, seeing if he would have remained a mob throughout the seasons. And while I may not like the ending (I, in the beginning, still, like many, believe that Mob should have ended up alone or with Kikuchi), I will respect the ending of this series with Mob and Hatano. I personally did not have an issue with the age difference between Mob and Hatano. I just preferred Kikuchi with Mob, as we had a build-up from quiet season 1 with Mob and him.

But as I stated before, I will respect the ending of this series for two reasons. One of them being that Kikuchi saw before us, the viewers, as well as Mob, that he had feelings for Hatano. And the second reason is we had a BL writer, who made sure that not only did Kikuchi end up with his happy ever after (even though it was not with Mob), but Mob and Katano had their BL ending too. This just shows us viewers that sometimes writers carry a story in another direction from what we readers wanted it to be – and we may not like it, but we have to accept it.

But putting that aside, I want to thank Mob for carrying us on such a hilarious journey throughout the years. I always enjoyed watching the opening OST for each of the seasons, and this season did not disappoint, giving us a Green Day-inspired OST with the male lead dressed up as Green Day's lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong. This was truly a journey, and I will remember Mob and how he fought the resistance of being apart of the BL world for over these four seasons.

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Outlived Its Humor

While this franchise started out on an innovative note, it ended on a bromidic tone. It got stale, redundant and formulaic. However, its worst sin is its travesty became unfunny because none of it was visionary anymore. The format, style, and execution had been done ad nauseum previously, so the expectations were the same. It also became rather evident from a physical standpoint that the actors were getting too ‘old’ to play young college students or high school students. Some of them are now in their 30’s. They looked too spurious and heavily made-up. To be sure, this story is a lot more of the same. A few more BL tropey ‘flags’ that trigger Bl developments were introduced. Just like he did in all the other seasons. This time, honestly, I did not find any of it even funny or humorous. It felt old and came across as the usual modus operandi. Even his parents seemed relegated to a more tertiary role. And his brother was, well, just his brother. It was all more-of-the-same. Everyone looked – tired and ready to move on.

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Chaotic & Humorous... If Only The Ending Was Different

I have loved how consistent this story has been for the last 4 seasons. Mob does not want to be in a BL pairing, and he does all he can to avoid it. It's straightforward — they tell you what you're getting, and they stick to that. As a BL reader, watching all the tropes I've read about for years come alive on screen was such fun. And Mob's way of avoiding all the tropes/cliches was often hilarious and at times, absurd. But that's who Mob is, a funny, weirdo.

While I've enjoyed all four seasons, I'd have liked a different ending. The story says that he 'defies the world of BL'. He's been consistently doing that all along. I'd have liked an ending where the conclusion was that he actually managed to do it. Despite all the flags around him, some of which he had accidentally raised himself, he succeeded in staying 'unpaired' to the end. He finally won against the world of BL.

I feel like they used the author deciding his fate as a cop out. I felt that back in was it season 2 or 3 at the airport with Kikuchi, and I feel that now with the Hatano ending. For a character who was so smart and always thought things through — even though most of them were about how to escape all the romance — that ending with Hatano was lackluster.

How do you rationalize him avoiding him all this time, never showing any inclination to liking him, them having zero chemistry, then suddenly Hatano falls into his arms, and he agrees to wait for him for 3 years? Yeah, nah. You could argue that this is BL logic, and if it were any other character in the show, I'd have agreed, but not with Mob. That type of logic does not fit the type of character we know him to be.

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Chaotic, entertaining and funny to the core

Oh man, what a ride this is/was. Absolutely one of my favourite series along with Cherry Magic, Kieta Hatsukoi and Ossan’s Love.
The acting, as always, is top notch. I really love Mob’s character, and seeing him trying to avoid BL flags was so funny and entertaining. While each season was a repetition of the same plot — avoiding BL flags and not falling in love with a guy — each season introduced something new, a new character that made everything interesting despite the repetition.

Kikuchi’s sudden return to his ex-boyfriend was disappointing, as he looked dejected when he found out that he would never have a chance with Mob, but in the next scene he was back with Igarashi. As much as I love Kikuchi to the core, I really didn’t understand what the writers were doing. I mean, weren’t he and Mob supposed to be the endgame? While I love the Kikuchi and Mob pairing, since that was what was fed to us from the beginning, I couldn’t exactly hate the Hatano–Mob pairing. But obviously, I had the same problem with that pairing as everyone else: the age gap. Though the age gap isn’t that big, maybe 3 or 4 years, with Mob being 20 and Hatano being 17, the only problem was that he is a minor. If only he were at least 19, that would have worked so well. I really wish Hatano were 19 and Mob were somewhere in his early 20s, like 22 or 23.

But still, in episode 5, Hatano was celebrating his birthday, that basically means he is 18, i don't think 2 years gap is that big of a deal, specially since many countries view 18 as the start of adulthood. So Mob being 20 and Hatano 18 shouldn't be that big of a problem.

But if I take off the shade of morality (which I shouldn’t do), I actually love Hatano a lot. He is good-looking, has a good nature, seems pretty grounded and has a good storyline, his yearning eyes is what works for me so well. His acting is great, his character is nice, and even though to a lot of people he might seem pushy, he doesn’t to me. I think one of the reasons I’m unable to hate Hatano’s pairing is also because no matter what, I can’t see him as a high school kid since I know his real age. That’s pretty stupid on my part, but whatever.

All in all, a pretty good series. Just sad that this is going to be the last season. And I really can’t wait to see what will happen in the final episode.



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Finally the series ended and yeah it was disappointing.
Really wish they extented it atleast 5 more minutes.
I couldn't even tell if Mob was even happy or not.
I don't want any kiss or hug, but atleast his reaction to being proposed again by Hatano, so yeah disappointing.


But maybe they will have a sequel, as mayama hinted. Please let this be a real hint.
I never get bored watching Mob.
Let's have another season, hell, let's have 5,6,7 mob vs bl. I love it.

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