Green_Goblin

It definitely grows on you. At first I was weirded out by the over-the-top acting but the plot was simple, the couple was lovely and the recipes are quite realistic (sometimes the food is a little burnt lol). It's cute, give it a try!

Honestly, you just have to watch it for yourself. There's so much cultural/historical context that's hard to explain. It's my brokeback mountain fr fr.

It's strange but fitting for Eiji. He's doesn't act his age, dealing with a lot of personal issues (am I gay? what should I be doing in life? what will other people think of me?) and his best friends are highschoolers.

Tbh I think Eiji's dad is only a small part of why Eiji agreed to Mieko's plan. As a timid closeted man in a heteronormative society like Japan, did Eiji really have a choice? In the drama, Eiji's dad was the "villain" but irl it's your coworker, your grandparents, your friends and society in general.

I agree, definitely co-parenting vibes from them and Mieko seems to be the main caregiver to the child, since Eiji only wanted the child to prove a point and secure his social status. I think they'll stay platonic partners until Eiji finds a true lover, then she'll divorce him so he can pursue them.

Honestly, I would even go as to say she's aromantic as well. She never saw Makio as a lover, probably a parent figure or an older siblings. And her relationship to Eiji is pretty nuanced too, somewhere between coparenting and partner, but they're not *really* friends. Definitely no romantic feelings yowards the guys and she only had sex with them to conceive, not out of pleasure.

TBH I think everyone is selfish to some degree. Makio never shares his side of the story because he doesn't like to be confrontational. Always putting on a facade and end up being disappointed in the end, when he never did anything to change the outcome? I relate to Makki but he needs to figure out a better way to communicate because running away and going into hiding everytime something goes wrong is NOT the move.

Seems to happen to a lot of realistic, "darker" dramas that have gay men in them. A bunch of people see slowed down edits on tiktok or IG or whatever and expect a 18+ bl, and then bomb the ratings because it's not cute enough.

I actually liked that the director never gave us Makio's POV, it's very fitting to his character. He never shows how he's really feeling, neither to Kieko nor Eiji, but he's always disappointed with his reality. We only see him put down his smiley persona when he's smoking alone.

We as the viewers are just like Mieko and Eiji, we'll never understand Makio because he doesn't want to be understood. At least not yet. Maybe if we saw more moments of him and Asato, we would've gotten Makki's POV but he still had his guard up for most of the drama.

Actually that's a great point, and I think it just shows how uncomfortable Makki is with confrontation. Instead of telling Meiko and Eiji that he knows the child isn't his, and he wants no part of their new arrangement, he just disappears from their life.

Very true to character, unfortunately.

But I would argue that Makio isn't the "good" guy here. He never speaks up for himself, never says or shows how he really feels, always goes with the flow but ends up disappointed and just runs away, leaving the mess for everyone else to clean up. But not because he's in love or afraid, he doesn't want to deal with anything. We see how he basically wastes away without Eiji and Mieko, until he meets Asato.

I think the breakup was necessary for each character to grow as an individual, though Makio became entangled into the mess because Mieko and Eiji wanted a child, we can't say that he's completely innocent.

I wouldn't really classify this as a BL, so though I'm disappointed by Eiji's decision it wasn't unexpected.

I agree completely! Mieko's mother seemed very disconnected with her child, they had more of a roommate/ older-younger sibling dynamic more than a parent-child one. Mieko needed someone she could give her 100% to, first it was Makio, then it was their throuple, but in the end it was her child. Someone she could love unconditionally, and also receive that same kind of love from. I actually liked the detail that she gave birth to a baby girl and not a baby boy. Because a baby boy would be "too perfect" for Eiji's parents, like he would be the heir to continue their bloodline. Mieko will be able to heal her inner child through motherhood, maybe she sees herself in the baby girl as well.

A lot of people are saying that Eiji's parents got the last laugh, but I don't think that's true. Everyone involved lost something, some more than others.

Hopefully I can add some insight?

1) Mieko grew up in a broken home, some might even say that she is aro/ace. To her the two boys are her parents, friends, family, and everything in between. Eiji's dad disapproves his son's gay relationship and insists that he needs to live a "normal" life, for his own safety. Eiji (as we all know) isn't exactly the bravest person, he's one constructive criticism away from going back into the closet and boarding up the doors, so he's about to give up on Makki. Mieko realizes that if Eiji and Makki breakup, she will lose them both, so in a desperate attempt to save this throuple, she suggests that she births the child to "present" to Eiji's father, basically becoming a surrogate + a beard to Eiji and Makio's relationship.

2) Eiji is very immature and timid. He's the only adult in the beginning of their relationship (think he was 25? or something when he first met Makio and Mieko, who were both teenagers). And Makio is portrayed as a very reserved, slightly two-faced character. He never says no, and is always seen smiling, we only see him put down this persona when he's smoking alone. He's afraid of confrontation so he probably just went along with it, especially when Eiji accepted Mieko's idea he probably found it harder to voice his opinion.

3) That's a good question, wish I knew as well... But if it was Eiji, he would've broken up with Makki anyway since he's sensitive to how others see him, and Mieko would've latched onto Makio since she thinks of him more as a father/parent figure. Tbh I don't think Mieko had any feelings for Eiji, she just liked him because he made Makio happy. And Makio wouldn't have met Asato. But there's no definite answer, ofc. What about you? What do you think would've happened if Mieko never presented such an absurd idea?

I agree! I think there was a lot of misunderstanding because people on social media made edits using the #bl tag which MTW clearly isn't.

I mean Eiji was a coward but given his circumstances, I understood his actions completely. Were they justified? No, but they were expected lol.

He had too much to lose. Born into a rich family, loving parents, he could live a financially and socially secured life as long as he married a pretty girl and lived a "normal" life. He liked Makki, but he was emotionally weak and immature to give everything up just to protect his relationship, so he caved in. I mean, the dude was hanging out with teenagers, he's clearly not the most macho moocho mature man.

Additionally, I don't blame Eiji's dad for reacting the way that he did. He lived/lives in a time where queer people are treated like second class citizens, sometimes resulting in assult and in extreme cases, death. Any parent would want to save their children from such outcomes, even if it means becoming the villian.

I think Eiji and Mieko kept "trying" even after their threesome, since they were the only ones that truly needed this baby, that's probably how she knew whose baby it was. The part about lying to Makki was because she had to convince him that the baby was his, so he wouldn't give up on their throuple since he would be forced to stay if it was his child.

But as soon as the baby was born all the attention was shifted from their relationship to the child, and I think that's when Makio decided to leave once and for all. He neither wanted the baby, nor agreed to become the third wheel. I guess in a way, he felt replaced by the newborn.

I had similar viewpoints but after reading some reviews and deep dives, I've come to realize that it isn't a fairytale love story. It's a story about 3 insecure, imperfect and selfish individuals and how they latch onto eachother to survive.

The worst part is that there is no "bad guy," just people who acted according to their experiences and surroundings, Eiji's dad included. I totally see myself rewatching this on a rainy day.

Mikai Riku must be retired because I have found barely any of his content lol. Maybe he's doing more acting than adult films nowadays? Dunno. It's a watch but go with noir because blanc feels unfinished and too polished (for me).

Love triangles always tear my heart into pieces but man, I'll still watch them everytime lol. Please release a fansub in 2024 🙏