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Our Youth japanese drama review
Completed
Our Youth
12 people found this review helpful
by Eliot_Rulez
Jan 7, 2025
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers

sad & beautiful with amazing chemistry and top-notch cinematography

For an idol Kamimura Kenshin had an amazing debut in his main role. Both leads had an amazing chemistry, subtle facial expressions or not so subtle facial expressions which cought me in episode 1. The sensiblity with all their inime scenes filmed was stunning. The story was captivating and it was excruciating to wait for the next episode. Oh my god did I wish this series had been released with all episodes at once.

The characters were detailed and their personalities completly different. Motojima Junsei as Jin also showed great skill, the introvert with only two friends, overthinking anything and struggeling to come out of his shell. Haruki has "friends" but is not close to anyone, hides his struggles and is abused at home. He fears to become like his father and so he always decides not to fight back, takes blame for things he never did and is generally an outcast by most people. Jin does not understand Haruki, he knows of the abuse, but subconsciously he knows Haruki is not a bad guy. And then Haruki is bold kissing Jin a lot, never by force, but denies Jin the word for his feelings which does confuse Jin a lot. You feel the tension and their struggles with each other. And when you think all is well, it is not. Of course this a BL so we get a happy end.

There are some things I did not like. Jin was not open with his friends It was never shown that he told them about his love but it was implied, otherwise why did he invite his friends for the movie made by Haruki? His film is about two boys who seperate to meet again when adults btw. The second one is that the finale felt underwhelming. While the beginning was good the middle and end was lukewarm including the kissing scenes. I had tears in my eyes through all episodes from 1-9 but only in the beginning of episode 10. That's the only reasons why it was not perfect for me. Update: The "special" epsiode (sometimes labeled episode 11) does not solve the issue that Jin keeps in the closet with his friends even when Haruki said he had a crush on Jin but circumvent the reason. So either his friends are stupid and don't get the drift or it's a huge plothole.

The cinematography and direction was on point. This is a series you should binch-watch, the 10 episodes at around 22 minutes playtime will be gone faster than you can imagine and are a delight to watch. While it seems to be going slow everything was made with a tought behind it. Again a great japanese BL which makes thai shows looking very lame and underwhelming (with few exceptions). Overall this is a must see and was one of the best in 2024.
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