My Summer of You

A story of discovery but with no real kisses...

Of course I have to rant again, because in this story kissing has a deeper meaning especially in the finale. And both can't do it which sucks. That's a clear de-ranking for me.

But: We get a more realistic story, about disovering feelings one of the MLs did not know he had, about a stupid decision which could have ended a relationship before it began and about how to come together even with all the hurdles in their way. If you don't talk about what you're feeling, it always creates problems. The story was sensible told, some scenes are very emotional and feel realistic. For me, the pacing was off. The first half was very fast paced and there happens a lot, the second half is very slow, too slow imho.

Production quality was superb, even with some bonus landscape pictures which were really pretty and interesting. The intro song is also so "non-BL" and they hired veteran Erina Koyama for the rest. She did a bunch of soundtracks and a lot of BL soundtracks (also for "Love Is Better the Second Time" S1 & S2). You can listen to her work on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpPc7Q4cYWyynGkVls-ugLw

Overall an interesting story, more realistic as I assumed in the beginning. The only downfall for this series are actors not committing to their roles, even when Mr. Oku Tomoya was already in "Minato's Laundromat" S1 & S2. It's especially disappointing because this time the kissing is story relevant. Also the pacing is off in the second half where the story streched too far. Still, I liked the series. It's not top notch, but still good.

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Unrequited Love, Fast Feelings That Slowly Lost Its Spark

The first few episodes were surprisingly fast paced. I have a soft spot for high school crushes slowly turning into romance, especially when there are unrequited feelings involved, so I was immediately interested. I was actually surprised that Saeki confessed in the very first episode instead of dragging the confession out for half the series.

The story itself is simple, light and refreshing, focusing more on the awkward emotions of being young rather than filling the story with unnecessary drama. The chemistry between the leads feels natural, the acting is convincing, and the soundtrack fits the youthful summer atmosphere really well. I am always happy to watch another high school BL, so I was definitely enjoying it at first.

Episode 4 hit me particularly hard because the situation reminded me of something that happened to me in real life. My best friend and I had been inseparable since primary school, but one day my parents suddenly told me we were moving more than 2,000 km away to another state. This was before I started using social media, so keeping in touch was not easy and we eventually lost contact for more than 10 years before finally reconnecting. It was heartbreaking because, as children, we had no control over decisions like that. Our parents made them for us.

That is why Toda leaving without properly saying goodbye to Saeki really got to me. Knowing you are leaving is one thing, but disappearing without giving the other person a chance to say goodbye can hurt even more. Sometimes a goodbye cannot change what is going to happen, but it can give someone closure. Being left behind without an explanation is something that can stay with you for a very long time.

Episode 5 was another one I enjoyed. I loved the flashback showing how they first met when they were younger, and I especially liked the handwritten note. In a world where everyone sends texts, there is something much more meaningful about someone taking the time to actually write something down for you.

Episode 6 was probably my favourite. The beach scene was genuinely beautiful. They finally opened up about their feelings, cried together, confessed what they had been holding inside and ended the moment with a hug. It felt very honest and emotional without needing to be overly dramatic. That scene really worked for me.

My main criticism is that these actors just cannot kiss.
Their first kiss was unexpected because it was basically a kiss through a mask 😷 I honestly never seeing that before. I did not hate it, but I definitely did not like it either. It was just... unexpected.

Then every other kisses feels like a dead fish kiss with no passion or movement at all. I’m currently watching over 20 airing BLs, so maybe my expectations are just too high, but if you take on a BL role, then you need to fully commit to it.

I would honestly rather they not kiss at all than give us an awkward kiss where they just press their lips together and freeze. If you’re going to include kissing scenes, then commit to them and make them believable.

Overall, I think this BL started much stronger than it finished. The beginning moved at such a fast pace that I was really invested, but somewhere along the way the story started to drag and I felt like not much was happening.

In the end, this is a light and wholesome BL with some genuinely emotional moments, but for me, it is not one of the best Japanese BLs out there. I enjoyed watching it, especially the earlier episodes and the emotional scenes, but I was hoping for a little more by the end.

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What happens when they talk too much...

I tried my best to find the sweetness between the couple. I couldn't. Twelve episodes of too much talking. Apparently, they didn’t know how to create a series that let events speak and the audience gets involved with the emotions. They talked everything to death. The side characters talked too much also.

Heavy dialogue is only fun when it moves the plot along and is whitty. This felt like 12 lectures. Even the nc felt like an assignment. The morning after was the most amount of warmth between them and it was nice to see. Also, Wataru's unexpected tears. It doesn't help that both their personalities are basically the same.

I kept thinking of Sunspot everytime they were together and the difference.

They weren't bad but they didn't capture my interest beyond why they got together in the first place. Their love for movies. It's a quiet introspective series that doesn't do anything different than any other generic series.

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Sweet and realistic

It is genuinely great, cute BL with some sad but realistic moments. I didn't like the start at first, but I'm so happy I continued watching, as it really is not what it seems.
I liked the acting, and the visuals are also incredible.

You can watch it on GagaOOLala: https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7994/my-summer-of-you-2026-e01

Things I liked:
1. Cinematography.
2. Beautiful views.
3. Interesting turn of events in the series. Not your regular school BL.
4. Good supportive friends. Always great to see.
5. A lot of realism in both characters and story.
6. Cute and caring moments.
7. Niimi-san.

Things I disliked:
1. A lot of cliches. I'm honestly used to it at this point, but sometimes it gets annoying.

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strong start that fizzled (watch suggestions)

Overall: I rated this higher until the end of episode 4, where the plot then circled with way too much poor communication. 12 episodes about 24 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/7994/my-summer-of-you-2026-e01 (not available in: Japan, Korea, Taiwan orThailand)

Content Warning: punch

Watch Suggestions (if you aren't a fan of the poor communication trope)
- watch episodes 1-3
- stop episode 4 at 11 min
- watch episode 12 17min-end

What I Liked
- the characters felt realistic, the less popular guy wasn't a caricature
- made fun of the car beep and how it was like a movie in episode 1
- communication at the end of episode 1
- supportive friends

Room For Improvement
- not a fan of the flash forward montage intro
- annoying how the classmate wouldn't take no for an answer
- way too much poor communication, the plot did not need to be 12 episodes
- episode 11 with the 3rd and 4th wheels though I appreciated their support
- dead fish lip presses

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Disappointing. (This really should have only been 8 episodes in length...)

Unfortunately-- given the fact that this is based on a work by one of my favorite BL mangaka, and was not something I'd ever expected to see adapted into live-action (because this particular manga was published around 10 years ago!), so I was originally pretty excited about it-- this was quite disappointing, because it didn't work well either as an adaptation *or* as its own standalone work. And most of the reason for this is because of its length.

This story could have been perfectly told in 8 episodes. However, since the producers decided to make it 12 ep.'s instead for some reason, that forced the pacing to drag out to an atrocious degree, *and* also made the writers completely invent a bunch of padding to fill that time out. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the extra stuff was okay-- for example, the extra few scenes with Wataru's friend group and coworker were sweet, at least-- however, unfortunately, most of it was instead just completely unnecessary nonsense (like that whole new invented school 'friend' of Chiharu's, who was literally only there to cause more trouble and misunderstandings between the leads {thanks to what seemed to be an unspoken one-sided crush, no less...?! For pity's sake, can we really not be free of stupid love triangles even when the original work it's based on didn't have any love triangles whatsoever??? 😬🤦🤦}). And all of the extra invented angst between the leads in the latter part of the show was completely unnecessary, too-- and, again, was literally only there to fill out airtime, not to improve anything about the characterization or plot.

Even looking at this show without adaptation in mind-- just as a standalone work-- the pacing is so frustrating that I don't know how anyone who was just going into this as-is (without first having read the manga) even managed the patience to finish it.

Now, that said, the reason I still have this rated at a 6.0 is because the first few ep.'s were actually pretty good (for context, I had originally thought that this was on track to be an 8.0 show, but unfortunately all the borked pacing and bad filler tanked that...), and the actors (particularly Wataru's actor), bless them, did try their best with what they had to work with. Unfortunately, though, I really can't recommend this even as a standalone (not to mention as an adaptation) because it was just really not well-done overall. 😕

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Would Have Been More Interesting If They Had Better Chemistry... Or Better Kisses

As many other reviewers wrote, the kisses are dead. They are literally the closed mouth kisses of Japanese dramas of the early 2000s.

BUT!!

If you can get past that, the drama is actually quite nice.

•❅✧❅✦ STORY •❅✧❅✦

Saeki and Wataru's love story is definitely a coming of age story. They are both awkward despite giving the illusion that they are mature. Yet they are trying their best to tackle obstacles that come their way.

Saeki's sudden move to Canada could have been handled better, but he's only a high school student. Of course he didn't know how (poorly) he handled his move back then when he was in high school would haunt him and Wataru's relationship years later in college. But this is a big part of their storyline and a big part of both character's growths.

The drama is good. The story is good and the actors did their best. If I had to nitpick at something, it would be that Saeki's childhood should have been expanded or left on the cutting room floor. A big emphasis was put on his past, with Wataru being Saeki's hero. But we actually don't see how Saeki struggled with it. We only see the part where he met Wataru, so we don't really see how else his past bothered him. In that aspect, it's hard to understand how one interaction with Wataru made him Saeki's hero for life. That being said, it's not really an issue when watching because the characters have other issues they are dealing with.

•❅✧❅✦ The Kiss Scenes... And Their Chemistry •❅✧❅✦

There are quite a few kiss scenes, but the scenes are short and they have dead lips, aka closed mouth. The actors also don't seem to radiate the aura of really wanting to kiss each other. The actors are decent at acting, but when it comes to the love scenes it's very dead. Saeki claims he is holding back his feeling for Wataru and wants to do more than kissing, but he doesn't look like it. His body langauage, nor his facial expressions seem to say, "I want you so bad, but I trasure you so I won't touch you."

Sorry, but Saeki and Wataru look like best friends rather than loves. Even Wataru is the same. He claims he is slowly falling in love with Saeki, but his body language looks like it's just another tuesday for him.

However, I will add that unless you are really paying attention to those small details, it's not really noticable. The actors are really trying their best to act, so you can't really see that they lack romantic chemistry... Until they start kissing. Aside from the kisses though, if you are just casually watching, you might not notice they lack romantic chemistry, because the actors do have chemistry... It's just the chemistry is for being best friends, not so much romance.

•❅✧❅✦ OVERALL •❅✧❅✦

Overall, the drama was fun to watch. It's not something I would put on repeat, but it was a fun watch. The plot is good and the actors are decent. Maybe if they had more romantic chemistry it could have been a drama I put on repeat.

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Sweet Confort Drama

Very vanilla, very innocent romance of yearning and the slow burn of friends becoming lovers.

The leads are positively charming: all puppy belly and blue skies, even in their angst, anger, and regret.

There is nothing groundbreaking here, and it feels almost like a slice of life story. If you enjoy warm characters finding a way to each other, this is a nice little comfort drama.

The leads have a very warm emotional intimacy and their surface level skinship feels authentic. If I may be a little crass, when they finally find their way to physical intimacy, I actually said aloud, "They are going to have the most vanilla sex that ever vanilla'd ". I just didn't feel as much urgency in their physical intimacy as I did in their emotional intimacy. Thia is not a criticism, simply an observation.

The conflicts felt pretty low stakes, which is perfect for an escapist watch (which is what this one was for me).

It was lovely.

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Cute but forgettable

I loved the first episodes and, despite having the same premise as many other Japanese BLs about a summer romance, I had high hopes that the story would be different.

I simply adore Wataru, and it's nice to see a series that doesn't fall into that "popular guy falls for the shy nerd" trope that japanese BLs love so much.

The pilgrimage, their passion for movies—there is something very interesting here. The acting is amazing, the cinematography is gorgeous, but from the middle to the end, the series loses steam.

It's way past time for shows to stop using the "moving to another country" narrative as a way to create conflict and drama between characters.

Especially when their reunion falls flat and the characters haven't changed at all. The series feels lost after Chiharu's return, and the chemistry between them seems lost too.

It lacks stronger emotions, more complex dilemmas, and a deeper narrative. Chiharu simply gives up the internship program and that's it, nothing more.

The ending, unfortunately, is quite lukewarm. It's a good show, it's cute, it's quick to watch, it has some random moments that adds nothing to the show —like their first meeting when they were kids — but unfortunately, it fails to sustain a plot that makes us fall in love.

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It had my heart... almost

This had everything it needed to become one of my favorite dramas. The story is simple, light, and refreshing, the kind of romance that's easy to watch and perfect for a cozy binge. The chemistry between the leads felt natural, and their performances made it easy to believe in their relationship. But somehow... something was missing.
I kept waiting for that one moment that would completely steal my heart, and it never came. I enjoyed every episode, but I never became as emotionally attached to the characters as I wanted to. It's a sweet drama with plenty of charming moments, yet it never quite reached its full potential for me. I really wanted to love it more than I did, and maybe that's why it left me with such a bittersweet feeling.

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