Kimi wa Natsu no Naka (2026)

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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