ThatWheatFlour

Man...words fail me whenever I seek to convey what I felt watching this. From the stellar casting to the absolute BANGER of an opening- one I can't skip no matter how hard I try under an urgent time limit- Miseinen remains an authentic Japanese drama till the end. Regardless of whether they remained unfaithful to the original WEBTOON, Miseinen stands out in itself as a reliable coming-of-age that touches upon multiple facets of growing teens' lives- from verbal and physical abuse to alcoholism and its consequences to that rebellious teen phase of smoking to undesirable high-school hierarchies. Such facets are both under-represented and overly-exaggerated in media, but it felt natural and almost expected of Haruki to descend into that spiral of self-loathing and play up to the role he was designated by peers. The duality between his and Minase's characters isn't unnatural and doesn't feel forced- from that first, awkward encounter to their final, joyful reunion at the very end of the drama.

In summary, Miseinen is an emotion that perfectly represents the tendency to make last-minute, spontaneous decisions without a second thought- the type of show I would've liked to watch growing up, when being queer and the queer community wasn't highly represented or at the forefront of mainstream media. The simplistic cinematography, colour schemes and sets also help make Miseinen memorable amongst other gems like Cherry Magic and Happy of the End, living on in our minds to the extent that the sight of a beach, or a letter, or a blue ice lolley unknowingly pull us right back to where we left off. Here's to J-BL- which makes me think- feel like no other.