ThatWheatFlour

100% Rewatch Material!

The heading's pretty on-the-nose, but you'll most likely find yourself doing just that, even if you're not the type of person to rewatch anything like me.
First off, I believe the production team wouldn't have been able to manifest their vision if it weren't for the cast of completely cohesive actors. Jung Jin Young and Park Sung Woong in particular carried the entirety of the movie, which isn't surprising considering the plot mostly revolves around their characters. Both honoured their body-swapped roles extremely well- high praise to Jin Young, who managed to impressively pull off the mannerisms and idiolects of a wealthy, middle-aged criminal corporate without making it awkward or cringey.
This may sound slightly comical, but I personally love how they chose to focus more on Pan Soo's love story (in Dong Hyun's body) for quite a large portion of the movie. Somehow, it reinforced his sincerity considering he was limited to confessing in a high-schooler's body, not caring about the heavy scrutiny by disturbed strangers who have no clue about his situation. And hey, it enabled a lotta funny scenes too, which is always a plus.
I loved Man Chul and Mi Sun; both took their roles above and beyond, with the former providing much of the comic relief of the movie and the latter perfectly demonstrating the sentimentalities of a single mother struggling to move on from her first-love.
The order of this review is completely freaked up but I really appreciated the use of Pan Soo to physically destroy Dong Hyun and Hyun Jung's bullies, shedding light on the common crisis of school bullying. It would've been better if Jin Young lost the fatsuit, however, rather than vanquishing the bullies and undergoing a 'massive' change in his appearance to earn further, romantic attention from classmates who otherwise wouldn't have batted an eye. I mean, considering the other two victims of bullying weren't exactly bullied for their appearance, Dong Hyun didn't have to be any different, especially 'cause he's the protagonist of the movie.
All in all, I rate the movie a solid 9.5- here's to a hilarious, oddly-touching and wildly entertaining body-swapping flick!

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Game-Changer

The title may seem slightly overdone, but Ossan's Love was just that- a game-changer. I watched this a while ago, but the entirety of Ossan's Love still remains in my mind and makes me laugh out of nowhere without warning. Despite BL being a relatively well-established premise in Japan, this short film offered an alternative to its predecessors in a 40-minute capsule comprising almost every reccuring theme in Japanese dramas- from the comic relief to the love triangle to the spur-of-the-moment 'confession- at the very end, it manages to claim a spot amongst a myriad of other dramas as an instant classic.

By appointing a goofy, somewhat-relatable clerk like Haruta as the main character of the story, we are readily welcomed to laugh at him and his sentiments regarding his sudden popularity amongst male employees at the company when he's only ever directed that sort of gaze towards women previously. Hase is his sweet, neat-freak roomie who is close enough with his senpai that the latter enjoys talking to him about virtually anything. Kurosawa is the reliable boss who always pushes others to keep going even when they fail, the anchor that reigns everyone to their responsibilities and does so in a way that benefits them. There is no denying that everyone executed their roles perfectly, too- I don't know anyone else who would've portrayed a Haruta as loveable as Tanaka Kei, or a trustworthy, cute colleague who we find most of our sympathies lying with- not to overlook his near-kiss of Haruta whilst he was sleeping, which was wrong without a doubt- and the kooky, rather assertive and presumptuous Chief- his segments made me the most uncomfortable, to tell the truth (what with the following around, taking photos and not letting Haruta give a concrete answer first before making assumptions).

I think one of the most important things to consider is that OL has achieved all this without any unfavourable tropes or glossing over of insensitive, inappropriate topics related to BL, being queer and the queer community- although Haruta's journey from being homophobic to accepting and even admitting towards his feelings for Hase is mostly left to interpretation (probably because the directors had to squeeze everything into those 40 minutes). Its reach wasn't prejudiced in that those associated with the BL 'sub-culture' or 'fujoshis'/'fudanshis' weren't the only ones indulging in this silly, hilarious story- everyone was.

All in all, Ossan's Love provides an intriguing, memorable and absolutely lovable alternative to the usual 'Masc' Top x 'Femme'/Gay Bottom trope seen in BL, with an additional unexpected, but completely welcome change in that the premise is set in a workplace between employees aged late-20s-50(?)s. There's a reason why it's remembered by everyone of various interests and backgrounds- thus ascertaining its notoriety. Kamisama, thanks for this BL!

NB: This will go down one of two ways, but...Hase was the better Maki 😂

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Blue-Skied, Sentimental Prowess.

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.

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