This review may contain spoilers
Made me wish that I too, was in love
Did I start watching this because someone over on Reddit referred to it as 'School Trip over Flowers'? Yes, yes, I did. I've never watched 'Boys Over Flowers' and I never will, but I've heard about it — and that reference made me laugh so hard I decided to start Ep 1.
The story in this is nothing new or groundbreaking. It's a cliche we've seen hundreds of times before — two high school boys falling in love. One is hella popular, and the other is an awkward loner (kinda, Hioki isn't a loner per se, he just didn't have friends in this specific new class).
However, what makes this story stand out from the rest in this sea of high school BLs is how beautifully it's done. I thought I'd have to deal with miscommunication, or the utter lack of it, but that wasn't the case here. Sure, they (largely Hioki) get all up in their heads sometimes and overthink things, but they are promptly dealt with. That helps keep the story at such a great pace - it's also great for my blood pressure, but that's neither here nor there.
🚌Stand-out episodes for me were episodes 7 & 8🚌
Episode 7 - Here, we get Watarai's backstory of how he fell in love with Hioki and the confession scene. Watarai fell for Hioki in such a simple, slow, and pure way — simply because Hioki saw him as a regular dude, contrary to what he'd experienced most of his life. It was gratitude and curiosity about Hioki that eventually turned into love
I also appreciate Hioki's reaction to Watarai's confession. It's common to see the person confessed to in BLs be dumbfounded. They remain silent and will often avoid the other person as they try to make sense of the confession and their feelings towards the other person. Or even sweep the whole confession under the rug, pretending it didn't happen, till something eventually down the line pushes them to acknowledge it. I despise that trope. I 100% expected that this would be the case here.
To my surprise, it wasn't, and thank the Lord for that. Not only does Hioki acknowledge the confession, but he also tells Watarai that there's nothing wrong with him liking another boy. And that he'll genuinely take the time to consider Watarai's confession. That consideration was very heart-warming to see. Hioki is such a cinnamon roll - an easygoing and warm soul
Confessions are hard as it is. Confessing to someone of the same sex without knowing if they are of the same orientation in a society that's still very much against queer people..... Oi (I'm not pointing a finger at or highlighting Japan here, just the world in general. It isn't all that kind to queer people). The fact that Hioki rushed after Watarai to speak to him after the confession really stood out to me
Episode 8 - This made me fall even more in love with Watarai's friends. Not only did they accept that 'hey, our friend is bi', something they didn't know about before, but they also do their best to bring these two together when they sense that something's wrong.
Their teacher was right in that final episode. That friend group will probably last forever. They were so genuine not only to each other but to the new face in their group, and later to Hioki's friends. Hot, popular guys that don't fall into the asshole/bully/playboy tropes... Hallelujah. More of this, please!
🚌💐🚌💐🚌
All in all, this is a cute, long angst, low drama, slice of life story that's very easy to revisit and rewatch.
The story in this is nothing new or groundbreaking. It's a cliche we've seen hundreds of times before — two high school boys falling in love. One is hella popular, and the other is an awkward loner (kinda, Hioki isn't a loner per se, he just didn't have friends in this specific new class).
However, what makes this story stand out from the rest in this sea of high school BLs is how beautifully it's done. I thought I'd have to deal with miscommunication, or the utter lack of it, but that wasn't the case here. Sure, they (largely Hioki) get all up in their heads sometimes and overthink things, but they are promptly dealt with. That helps keep the story at such a great pace - it's also great for my blood pressure, but that's neither here nor there.
🚌Stand-out episodes for me were episodes 7 & 8🚌
Episode 7 - Here, we get Watarai's backstory of how he fell in love with Hioki and the confession scene. Watarai fell for Hioki in such a simple, slow, and pure way — simply because Hioki saw him as a regular dude, contrary to what he'd experienced most of his life. It was gratitude and curiosity about Hioki that eventually turned into love
I also appreciate Hioki's reaction to Watarai's confession. It's common to see the person confessed to in BLs be dumbfounded. They remain silent and will often avoid the other person as they try to make sense of the confession and their feelings towards the other person. Or even sweep the whole confession under the rug, pretending it didn't happen, till something eventually down the line pushes them to acknowledge it. I despise that trope. I 100% expected that this would be the case here.
To my surprise, it wasn't, and thank the Lord for that. Not only does Hioki acknowledge the confession, but he also tells Watarai that there's nothing wrong with him liking another boy. And that he'll genuinely take the time to consider Watarai's confession. That consideration was very heart-warming to see. Hioki is such a cinnamon roll - an easygoing and warm soul
Confessions are hard as it is. Confessing to someone of the same sex without knowing if they are of the same orientation in a society that's still very much against queer people..... Oi (I'm not pointing a finger at or highlighting Japan here, just the world in general. It isn't all that kind to queer people). The fact that Hioki rushed after Watarai to speak to him after the confession really stood out to me
Episode 8 - This made me fall even more in love with Watarai's friends. Not only did they accept that 'hey, our friend is bi', something they didn't know about before, but they also do their best to bring these two together when they sense that something's wrong.
Their teacher was right in that final episode. That friend group will probably last forever. They were so genuine not only to each other but to the new face in their group, and later to Hioki's friends. Hot, popular guys that don't fall into the asshole/bully/playboy tropes... Hallelujah. More of this, please!
🚌💐🚌💐🚌
All in all, this is a cute, long angst, low drama, slice of life story that's very easy to revisit and rewatch.
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