DreamHi

Throughout the series, I had mixed feelings about the way the story was told. I found myself confused, endeared, longing, and melancholic, every emotion and scene burying deeper into me and leaving me with more questions than answers. The story itself is hard to relate and integrate into, yet, the characters add so much depth, flaws, nuance and vibrance to what would otherwise hold no form.

One of the asterstrokes of the story was Sumiko and Ryu's mother, both abandoned by family that ought to catch you when you fall, yet refusing to stay within the grasp of its pain. Their kindness, strength, refusal to diminish themselves even when it comes to being a mother, a wife, and a friend, refusing to give up love for their own self in the name of sacrifice truly settled down something deep within me.

Ryu and Yohan's relationship was so sheer, raw, unexplained and unapologetic. The team took such a brave yet dangerous step in deciding to leave most of their genuinity, closeness and tenderness hidden behind the scenes. And this is exactly what pushed us audience into the role of the society around them. We know they live together, we know they belong to each other in ways we'll ever be left guessing, we know they share a home- and that's all we know. Oftentimes, we look at snippets of people living next to us and carve out their life deciding we know enought about them to do so. Just like that, within this story, we are left to project our ideologies into their relationship, forcing it to fit within frames that were never meant to hold them.

We yearn for a conclusion, a label, a status, an answer. But, the series remains stubborn in not giving one. It dares us to fill in the gaps left behind while silently moving forward on its own terms with no remorse. And that's where it perfectly captures life and love. It flawlessly denies conformity and definitions, truly existing free within a literary utopia where to live together and create a home, you owe no one any explanations.