Episode 11 What did I want here and what did I get? I wanted it all, Happiness and love for Haruki and Jin and a future of optimism and success. But the reality here is all too true for many. Doesn’t matter what country marriage between a man and a woman is weaponized in a lot of places. You have to be brave and assertive to go against prevailing traditions. Hiroki is willing, but Jin isn’t.Not yet.
Too much of headache!, Jin says. You hope people can tell and not fear reprisals. When given the opportunity to tell his friends, Jin baulks. Sad. Yet Jin still wants in the relationship. Hiruki understands this. But beyond this ending for another series, there is only so much patience of this status quo to last and it will come to head. But that’s what I think.
Oppressive social norms. Love beset by social pressures. It’s has you wondering right up until the end there is a weight upon the shoulders of lovers that needs easing. One hopes for a season 2.
Episode 10 Wow! Just lovely! Truly brilliant! A life together realized. Best BL of 2024!Episode 11: The wedding?
Episode 10: Things I liked. 10/10 very satisfied I liked that Hirukawa came and rescued him and that he get to Minase fast enough and then poured him water gently....the strong one now helping the one in need of care. That after all the time apart their love still burned bright. It reveals Minase’s suffering buried deep below the surface resurfacing. And Hiruwara realizing what his letter left in the video case had done. Very tender. That their love is profound, The love scenes excellent. And then Minase poses the question and decide to marry.
Eleven maybe an ending where all the people around them with their opinions and prejudices are silenced seeing this happiness. IT’s a guess.
Best BL series of 2024! There was some pretty stiff competition in my view. To mention a few that come to mind in no particular;ar order Takara’s Treasure; At 25:00, At Akasaka; See Your Love; The Heart Killers; Every You, Every Me; 4 minutes; The On1y One; Century of Love; I hear the Sunspot; Sea Love The Series; Sangmin Dinneaw; Tokyo in April is....; Winter is not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring.
there's 10 episodes now?? WHAT HAPPENED TO EP11? 😭
It’s probably 11, if you are watching on gagaoolala they only post the next episode at a time not the entire series. But all the sources I see are saying is 11.
EPISODE 9 Initial reaction. Still brilliant. For me hard to watch drunks getting drunk but that’s a main theme in this episode. Who knew the bad company his mother warned Minase about are his old school mates. Drunks wasting away.
The the two meeting again for the first time...initially like ships almost passing into the night with opportunities lost but third time awkward but warming. Memories returning.
Positive: Role reversal: it's Hirukawa who transforms into Minase’s younger self and into a rising film director. The smoldering flame between the two starts to burn bright again...maybe. And do we get to see Hirukawa’s film?....Episode 10????
So I return to the meeting in the park in Episode 8.
The impossibility of Hirukawa’s statement to Minanse in the park where he tells/admonishes his lover that he is “...all right now!”followed by “So please return to the way you were.” AS if that will fix things and make Hirukawa feel better as he is going to go to another school as he wants to "become a good adult too.” and he is cutting if off with Minase for good. “I won’t contact you again."
Of the two of them it is Minase who has moved away from the way he was to become Hirokawa’s lover. And here Hirukawa speaks as if all loving experience can be erased at the drop of a hat, which is why the moment captured here is all the more profound as Minase’s realization is so devastating to him. Minase is not one to forget stuff.
And yes, there is that look of sadness where Hirokawa makes eye contact beseeching Minase to agree to what he is saying and is feeling the weight the burden of what he is saying. But it all Minase’s reaction. that seals this. In my view.
I read an interview where both actors talk about the nuances in each scene an that they are mindful of each moment and that Junsei at nineteen carry’s this moment is just stunning.
So the break-up in episode 8 almost at the end of the scene where Minase blurts out something but is lost in a loud bang that Hirukawa never hears it. It’s not the first time Minase’s response has been interrupted. Do you recall in episode three in the washroom where Hirukawa confronts Minase asking why M is avoiding him. The interaction in itself is playful and confronting where Hirukawa embraces Minase from behind and after Minase lends him his handkerchief he asks:
M: Do you like me? H: huh? (pause) We’re both guys. Of course not ! M: But kissing’s okay? H: A kiss and liking someone aren’t the same thing. M: (incredulously) You’re okay kissing someone you don’t even like? H: What about you? Did you hate it that much? 𝐌: (𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞) 𝐈....
His sentence is interrupted by H’s friend Majima coming in looking for H. Minase never finishes what he was going to say. I thought he was going to confess to Hirukawa because despite the professed? shock of H kissing him, Minase liked it. But it’s intriguing contemplating what might have been. Because it strikes me that the "𝐈....” does comes again later as at the end of of the episode Minase’s resolves that he is going to say it the next chance he gets.
I like the way the dialogue and the way the scene works in that Minase is drawn further and further into Minase’s sea by inference rather than by the actual spoken word. Really dynamic storytelling.
EPISODE 8, 2nd and subsequent viewings. The farewell scene where Hirukawa cuts off his relationship with Minase and Minase’s reaction is absolute devastation at the loss of his love and as he goes to tell Hirukawa it gets lost in a loud sound, fireworks? and Hirukawa never hears it. When he asks Minase to repeat it, Minase’ replies “Nothing.” Opportunity lost.....
Actors need a lot of courage to go through this emotional mindbender. But these two are just brilliant.
Episode 8: Stunning subtlety. Sad. Bittersweet. Minase says it?! Does he? but is never heard by Hiruwaka.... A letter of confession. Fast forward 2024. Minase marking time. Realizing the love of his life. Still extraordinary perfomances
GUESSING HERE: I don’t speak Japanese so I go by the English subtitles. I have been rewatching the series episodes 1-7. So does someone else know about Minase and Hirukawa?
Minase’s mother in her two major scenes with him talks about making the right friendships — a bad friendship can ruin your reputation for life — in both scenes and studying abroad is her agenda for him. And she seems intent for Minase to pick a college.
RE Friendships on both occasions the first appears as a warning and the second comes as if she is aware that Minase has a relationship with Hirukawa. As she pays for his expenses and upkeep doesmshe alsomajhbe someone name pays to keep watch? Is it the teacher that when he tries to speak to him about Hirukawa's suspension isn't interested unhearing what he has to say or study mate Shiba.
It’s Shiba that delivers a warning in episode one that he doesn’t want to have to hate Minase if he is friends with Hirukawa. Irrespective of his warped reasoning about characters in books who have friendships with bad people usually are disappointed and alone in the end. It’s a jaw dropping remark but it shock’s Minase before he quickly recovers and asks him about a book reference.
Part of the suspense for me in episode 7 is that either of the others friends will discover their talk at the ship-slide thingy. But the discovery and who discovers it has serious repercussions I suspect. I couldn’t sleep until I wrote this. That’s my two cents.
Episode 7. Heart wrenching. Every minute I expected one of Minase’s or Hirukawa’s ‘friends’ to discover them . The tension was palpable. A great story to my mind.
SPOILER ALERT MAYBE: The love scene in Episode six was both gentle and simple. From Haruki’s “Kiss me” the scene is masterful. The disrobing of Minase and Hiroki to them embracing together then cutting to post sexual silence, bodies intertwined before focusing on Minase’s thinking on his ‘first time’ in the bedsheets; before Hiroki reaches over, touches to comfort him as lovers do. Memorable.
That the episode ends the way it does and with 5 episodes to go, I have a sense of foreboding. I would like a happy ending to this extraordinary series, but not optimistic. Happy to be totally wrong.
Too much of headache!, Jin says. You hope people can tell and not fear reprisals. When given the opportunity to tell his friends, Jin baulks. Sad. Yet Jin still wants in the relationship. Hiruki understands this. But beyond this ending for another series, there is only so much patience of this status quo to last and it will come to head. But that’s what I think.
Oppressive social norms. Love beset by social pressures. It’s has you wondering right up until the end there is a weight upon the shoulders of lovers that needs easing. One hopes for a season 2.
I liked that Hirukawa came and rescued him and that he get to Minase fast enough and then poured him water gently....the strong one now helping the one in need of care. That after all the time apart their love still burned bright. It reveals Minase’s suffering buried deep below the surface resurfacing. And Hiruwara realizing what his letter left in the video case had done. Very tender. That their love is profound, The love scenes excellent. And then Minase poses the question and decide to marry.
Eleven maybe an ending where all the people around them with their opinions and prejudices are silenced seeing this happiness. IT’s a guess.
Episode 11: The wedding?
As I said to mention but a few
The the two meeting again for the first time...initially like ships almost passing into the night with opportunities lost but third time awkward but warming. Memories returning.
Positive: Role reversal: it's Hirukawa who transforms into Minase’s younger self and into a rising film director. The smoldering flame between the two starts to burn bright again...maybe. And do we get to see Hirukawa’s film?....Episode 10????
The impossibility of Hirukawa’s statement to Minanse in the park where he tells/admonishes his lover that he is “...all right now!”followed by “So please return to the way you were.” AS if that will fix things and make Hirukawa feel better as he is going to go to another school as he wants to "become a good adult too.” and he is cutting if off with Minase for good. “I won’t contact you again."
Of the two of them it is Minase who has moved away from the way he was to become Hirokawa’s lover. And here Hirukawa speaks as if all loving experience can be erased at the drop of a hat, which is why the moment captured here is all the more profound as Minase’s realization is so devastating to him. Minase is not one to forget stuff.
And yes, there is that look of sadness where Hirokawa makes eye contact beseeching Minase to agree to what he is saying and is feeling the weight the burden of what he is saying. But it all Minase’s reaction. that seals this. In my view.
I read an interview where both actors talk about the nuances in each scene an that they are mindful of each moment and that Junsei at nineteen carry’s this moment is just stunning.
M: Do you like me?
H: huh? (pause) We’re both guys. Of course not !
M: But kissing’s okay?
H: A kiss and liking someone aren’t the same thing.
M: (incredulously) You’re okay kissing someone you don’t even like?
H: What about you? Did you hate it that much?
𝐌: (𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞) 𝐈....
His sentence is interrupted by H’s friend Majima coming in looking for H. Minase never finishes what he was going to say. I thought he was going to confess to Hirukawa because despite the professed? shock of H kissing him, Minase liked it. But it’s intriguing contemplating what might have been. Because it strikes me that the "𝐈....” does comes again later as at the end of of the episode Minase’s resolves that he is going to say it the next chance he gets.
I like the way the dialogue and the way the scene works in that Minase is drawn further and further into Minase’s sea by inference rather than by the actual spoken word. Really dynamic storytelling.
Actors need a lot of courage to go through this emotional mindbender. But these two are just brilliant.
Minase’s mother in her two major scenes with him talks about making the right friendships — a bad friendship can ruin your reputation for life — in both scenes and studying abroad is her agenda for him. And she seems intent for Minase to pick a college.
RE Friendships on both occasions the first appears as a warning and the second comes as if she is aware that Minase has a relationship with Hirukawa. As she pays for his expenses and upkeep doesmshe alsomajhbe someone name pays to keep watch? Is it the teacher that when he tries to speak to him about Hirukawa's suspension isn't interested unhearing what he has to say or study mate Shiba.
It’s Shiba that delivers a warning in episode one that he doesn’t want to have to hate Minase if he is friends with Hirukawa. Irrespective of his warped reasoning about characters in books who have friendships with bad people usually are disappointed and alone in the end. It’s a jaw dropping remark but it shock’s Minase before he quickly recovers and asks him about a book reference.
Part of the suspense for me in episode 7 is that either of the others friends will discover their talk at the ship-slide thingy. But the discovery and who discovers it has serious repercussions I suspect. I couldn’t sleep until I wrote this. That’s my two cents.
That the episode ends the way it does and with 5 episodes to go, I have a sense of foreboding. I would like a happy ending to this extraordinary series, but not optimistic. Happy to be totally wrong.