Kino San

I don't understand this either, I am a fan of the manga yes and I am disapointed that the drama is'nt going far like the manga. There's parts I don't like from the manga, that it's a bit camp but the drama version removes that and it feels more serious and down to earth.

But if I were to judge the drama standalone (without reading the manga), it's amazing. The atmosphere, directing, acting, Cinematography and music is high class and done so professionaly.

So far I can't find much faults or things that I don't like from the drama, the drama is following the base story of the manga but removed/altered certain parts from the manga.

I would say this drama series is much better compared to Touboui F (sorry Narita I still like you but that 1st episode felt cheap and camp compared to kei x yaku).

Is the only reason for the downvotes is the lack of the gay romantic subplot? I really hope that is'nt the reason alone.

Well I kind of knew we are going at a bromance route, but there are hints that the "fake dating" and them living together, along with Ichirou cooking for Shirou might happen from the next episode preview so I am exicted about that!

Oh god I hope that "drama original character" is'nt shiro ex or anything like that!

So the base investigation has started and the 4 big heads plus the 4 high school friends that Ichirou and shirou need to research are still there.

I would say this episode covered the rest of volume 1 and a bit of volume 2.

A few things that I did'nt know that were in the manga until I watched the drama is that Osu Kimiaki is the prime minster (in this story).

In Shirou's flashback when Shirou had the argument with Rion, Shirou confirmed he was gay and was living with another guy (that was in the manga but I did'nt pick that up.

The development of Ichirou and Shirou is going nicely now that the two have shared their backstories/childhoods together. The bit where Shirou was patching up Ichirou from his injuries was kinda gay with the Octopath sappy song playing in the background.

This episode omake cracked me up! It would make sense that Ichirou hates sweet things and Shirou is a sweet tooth (just like in the manga). Then when Shirou knew Ichirou hates sweet things he just poured a pool of syrup into Ichirou's breakfast lol.

I pray that the "drama original character" is'nt shiro's ex boyfriend or anything like that. Because I saw him in the next episode preview.

The livestream for episode 2 was kinda hard for me to watch because the audio messed up. I still managed to watch it fine

Less action packed then episode 1, but gave a lot of insight into Ichirou and Shirou backstories.

I liked this episode and next episode looks good too! The omake was really funny in this episode

Makes me respect Inukai even more, because he's a man of culture.

Well it said in Inukai's interview that this series is going to have 9 episodes.

So I assume there's 9 episodes for this series I could be wrong. So let's wait and see.

So I use aq stream and tune in to the ntv channel livestream, 5 minutes after because the stream is delayed by 5 minutes. It is illegal though. The more legal way to watch is to use a vpn and watch through tver instead.

But even if you miss the board cast bilibili puts their subtitles like a day after boardcast.

So in my timezone Kei x Yaku airs every thursday at 3pm.

In Japan Kei x Yaki airs every Thursday at 12am (11:59). You have to work out the time difference between your country and Japan.

Even more facts that you may have not known

Inukai: If you watch his youtube channel he is a fellow anime and game otaku fan. A few of his favourite anime is the Bakemonogatari series as well as Toradora, he opens pokemon cards and has played pokemon. Which is why he thought Shirou reminded him of Ash Lynx (so he at least watched Banana Fish)

Before the boardcast of the 2nd episode I've got some trivia from both Suzuki and Inukai seperate interviews from twitter/japanese interwebs

Suzuki (Ichirou): Suzuki wonders why he was'nt casted as the Yakuza role as he has been casted as a yakuza in other roles before. Suzuki's 1st impression of Inukai is that he is charming, handsome with big eyes and that you could fall in love with him easily. Suzuki felt like in the 3 months he was fliming with Inukai he was falling for Inukai (lol) and that this will be a new side of Inukai the audience has not seen before.

Suzuki says that Ichirou is a very serious hard worker, who is a good cook and has no romantic history with women. Suzuki says the difference between him and Ichirou is that Suzuki has romantic experience and that Suzuki is not a good cook in real life.

Inukai (Shirou): Inukai 1st impression of Shirou reminded him of Ash Lynx in Banana Fish who's also charming and sexy. Inukai aim in acting Shirou was to act out shirou as mysterously as he could while thinking about his sex appeal.

Inukai snice he was in kamen rider series says he's used to doing action scenes. He said if Ichirou fighting style as traditional martial art then Shirou's fighting style was more street like.

The interview with Inukai kinda of also confirmed that the total episode count for Kei x Yaku is 9 episodes. (and not the 10 episodes that NTV drama series are usally, let's wait and see about that)

Well that's because last year zettai BL VS was released as a 1 hour an half drama on the Japanese tv boardcast . For the international release they seperated the special into smaller episodes.

So I assume for the sequal they will do the same thing, a 1 hour and half version on the Japanese boardcast and 4 separate episodes for international release.

Oh you mean the sexuality of the 2 main characters

Ichirou: Is straight (a virgin maybe? there's hints he is in love with his childhood friend Chika)
Shirou: Is at least gay (don't know about bisexual), because he sleeps around with men but I think he does it because of work.

All the other character's sexuality don't matter. Then again it's hard to classfly BL but I guess if there's a gay character then it's BL. I was refering to the BL between the two main characters.

I don't know how to explain it to you but it's something like this:

The manga: Yes it's BL, but vague/slow burn
The drama: Too early to tell, but promoted heavily as bromance instead of BL. Need more episodes to confirm

The 1st one to comment here woo!

So this movie is based on a indie BL manga. I tried to look for a way to buy this manga sadly the manga series is only avaliable on the amazon japanese kindle store which is geo blocked.

I wish I could find a way to buy a hardback copy but only the kindle version exists. But from reading information from the website this seems to be a dark romance. The story seems to be about an affair/relationship between a young high school rapper/student and a married high school teacher. Both the young rapper and teacher has taruma in their upbringing

There seems to be themes of music and maybe cheating, with some dark tones in it. The manga cover looks really edgy.

Finally the director is Izuru Kumasaka who I don't know but has directed some drama series and movies before. This movie is planned for theatres in Japan about spring 2022 so it looks like it's going to be a while before I see it.

The answer is complicated, I think we need to watch more episodes to make a better conclusion.

Thank you for this! I was'nt trying to be a negative person saying that the director refused to put the BL scenes into the drama series. I was trying to reason why the romantic element might be removed in the drama version.

The original manga is taking it's BL romantic development in a different direction compared to other BL manga

The original manga of Kei x Yaku is seriously one of the most complex romantic developments I've seen. It does'nt follow the norm of two guys falling in love which each other like Cherry Magic.

Because Kei x Yaku main story of the investigation crime arc, we really don't get to see a lot of romantic developments between Shirou and Ichirou. What we see is hints that the two MIGHT have feelings for each other, the two NEVER admit their feelings for each other or kissing clamly in Shirou's house naturally (like saying I love you).

Sure in the manga Shirou and Ichirou kiss twice but both of these kisses are done in the most non romantic situtations (one was cover up and one was life and death). Shirou and Ichirou hold hands, but honestly friends can hold hands and be close like that too. Does that count as a BL? I don't know honestly.

The whole underlying definition of what is BL is getting unclearer, if more works like Kei x Yaku come out.

It's ture even if the producers decided to include the romantic elements in the drama version, what would the audience think? I would be confused as hell.

There's a relationship chart on the main website (looks like they will update it every time a new episode aris)

https://www.ytv.co.jp/keiyaku/chart/

In terms of female relationships: Rion is Ichirou's senior and there's no romance between them. Chika is Ichirou's childhood friend and it is hinted that Ichirou has a crush on her but is just friends with her for now.

I would ignore that "lovers" link between Shirou and Osu Kimiaki, It's more like Shirou is like Kimiaki sex friend/playboy(?) rather then a lover. Again it's like Shirou sleeps with men as part of his job (like in the manga Shirou flirts with Ichirou a lot even though he sleeps with a lot of older men).

Kei x Yaku main plot is the investigation crime story, with a underlying romantic element that is really vauge and unclear between the two main characters.

I think the director was drawn to the investigation crime story part of Kei x Yaku, the director commented about Shirou and Ichirou and their desire to fight for what they love and the choices they make. But this comment from the director did'nt indicate/mention the underlying romantic bond between the two.

I don't really understand what the producers and director was thinking when they decided to pick this series for a drama. I remember the producer saying they read the manga and thought it was beautiful. But not to include the romantic element (what little of it there is) in the drama series I don't really understand.

I am only taking a stab in the dark to why the director did'nt include the events in chapter 1 of the manga. But snice the promotions keep saying the drama series is bromance, we are lead to belive that this drama version of Kei x Yaku is bromance only. This is all guesswork and I did'nt meant it when I said the director is'nt comforable with directing gay scenes.

MAYBE we are all being tricked and later on in the episodes they are going to turn the bromance into romance. (I felt like that when I was reading the manga).

I understand your disapointment towards this adaption, from reading the manga I kind of wanted to see a more romantic development between Shirou and Ichirou. It's a shame but I choose to enjoy this drama version.

But I understand why changes were made , 1st of all the director specialises in crime/action dramas and only has directed a few romance dramas so I think the director was'nt comfortable to include the romantic elements from the manga into the drama version. Kei x Yaku is mostly about the crime investigation story anyway and does'nt really focus on the romance. At best the romance is only hinted to the reader and it is the most slowest romantic development I've seen between two characters so far.

2nd is that NTV is like one of the main channels in Japan, it's like a major prime time slot. Believe it or not there are viewers who are not comfortable with BL who may be watching this drama. The drama has been promoted heavily as a "bromance" only type of show unless this is a cover up.

I believe the fake lovers contract is still going to happen in the drama but not until later on in the story. It's still shown as fake lovers on the relationship chart. I think this drama is going to be bromance at the least just without the romantic hints.