Billy Regala

Love is Better The Second Time Around is a Japanese BL and, as the title suggests, this is not starting at the beginning but it is starting when two people who were former lovers were forced to meet again by the circumstances. Miyata is working as an editor in a news journal and they have a new writer that they like before he is a professor and he is providing good rates for them. He met him and he learned that it is Takashi who broke his heart when they were younger. He was in love with him but the story was short lived because he learned that Takashi had a bet with one of his closest friend that he will elope with him and he was hurt by this so he decided to not elope with him. This misunderstanding ruined their relationship and they finally got to speak about it when they were adult and this is where their new story begins. This is a good story but it had some interesting choices in between that might not have resulted to a strong finale for story. We got to see them already in love with each other but Miyata is fighting hard to not fall in love with him because he was extremely heartbroken with what happened and he is truly hurt. His main storyline is focused on not falling in love while the main storyline of Takashi is finally facing his mother who did not really accepted who he is. I actually like the stories of these characters because what they are facing are things that we can easily relate to and familiar with. There are so many people who are experiencing the same things that they are experiencing so seeing that it will soon be okay or that it might not never be can still be comforting because they can at least see that you will still find a way to fall in love with someone who will actually love you no matter what. The greatest flaw of the show is that it felt it ended when it is peaking which is what is my problem with Japanese BLs. They are changing the game but they are still quite short and they do not always get to tell the entire story that they want to be. There is so much potential for these two characters because they are so lovable. Personally, I understand the pain of Miyata especially knowing how he really put himself in this relationship and the fact that he might experience that kind of heartbreak again can truly be scary. I get why he is so afraid. At the same time, I get why he is so in love with him. Takashi is super handsome. I will admit that when that guy smiles, my heart flutters. He is a good partner. They are actually good partners here and they did not try to overcomplicate things and faced them up front so we got a really good story out of it which is truly beautiful to see. I wished that there could be so much more of these two but I am still happy with what we got.