I loved it! 9.5
Am I the only one who thinks that flaws in characters make BL even better? A lot of people enjoy BL because of the vulnerability the characters carry. For me, my all-time favourite BL is Our Youth. It’s the kind of BL I always recommend to people who like emotional, character-driven stories.Our Youth follows two students—one a troublemaker, the other a perfect student—played by Minase and Hirukawa. The story unfolds when Hirukawa, the troublemaker, transfers to Minase’s school and ends up living on the same route as him.
Small spoiler: Hirukawa is a victim of domestic abuse. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil the experience for you. Now let me talk about the things I loved about this BL.
1. The stillness
This drama carries a beautiful stillness—calmness mixed with inner chaos. I loved how the scenes unfolded slowly and quietly, letting emotions breathe.
2. The acting
The actors truly became their characters. I’m not talking about their handsomeness (though they are handsome). Their performances felt natural and honest.
I especially loved Hirukawa’s duality—fearless on the outside, painfully vulnerable in front of Minase. You can see everything in his eyes. In some scenes he says one thing, but his eyes reveal the truth: he wants to scream, to tell Minase everything, but he’s terrified of losing him.
Minase’s actor was just as good—perfectly portraying annoyance, happiness, and the quiet loneliness shaped by his parents’ divorce. You can feel how much he enjoys Hirukawa’s company even when he won’t admit it. And those final scenes… when he finally meets Hirukawa again, the emotional shift was so perfect and unforced. It didn’t feel like a typical BL—this one stayed with me. I watched it in 2024, and if someone asks about my favourite BL, it’s always Our Youth.
3. The writing and direction
I don’t know the details about the team, but everything looked and felt amazing. It was like I was fully inside their small world, watching their private little universe unfold.
4. The character arcs
Every character was going through something. They felt human—flawed, real, hurting, growing. I loved how each arc slowly revealed itself.
If you’ve watched My Beautiful Man, definitely give Our Youth a try. It has a similar storytelling style, but I’d say Our Youth is even better—deeper, more melodramatic, more bittersweet, and overall more emotionally rewarding.
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