So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something…
Good for you! ššš
So as for the drama, I guess that's how I will understand it then: one of its strong themes is bad parenting. With Haruki's father being the most extreme example, ofc, but not the only one.
Haruki's mother abandoned him and possibly knew what was happening, just looked the other way, maybe lied to herself too. She'd still keep in touch and occasionally do sth nice, like invite him to her place (not to live together, though - that would be too much) to still play a good parents and possibly quiet down her own guilty conscience.
Haruki, on his part, put her on a pedestal and decided on this pure image of her, not questioning her actions or lack of knowledge, not blaming her for anything even once. Out of love, but possibly even more so out of desperation to have at least this one thing in his life that was good and worth living for (truly tragic).
Then on the other side of the isle, we have Jin's parents. These two are on a less extreme part of the spectrum. Providing him with more than enough money to have a comfortable life and not abusing him, but nevertheless hardly exemplary parental figures. Both are constantly absent, with mother visiting occasionally to list her expectations towards her son and the father not being there at all.
Unless it is to talk about his own movie, that is (seriously...)
No wonder once Haruki and Jin found each other, they had so much love to give to one another. There was no other recipient around...
okay the wait is getting torturous, WE NEED AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!
At this point I'm assuming there won't be any news until February (which was supposed to be a deadline for a decision anyway). I no longer trust any hints or promises abt it being soon, possibly at the end of the year, possibly at the beginning of the year... etc.
It only makes me more impatient and the waiting more unbearable.
I liked: episodes 3-6I did not like: episodes 1,2,7,8The last two episodes are kind of unnecessary. They are slow…
Well, to me this drama is a story about a person who is constantly self-sabotaging himself due to internalized belief that he can't find love/doesn't deserve love, stemming from his childhood, experience of past betrayal and having to live with Kylie. Which is probably why those things that could be "resolved with a phone call and an apology" don't get such an easy, reasonable conclusion...
So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something…
Thank you so much for answering my question!
But then if that's the case then I actually still have an issue with the whole situation (it didn't get resolved ;)).
I mean, it all works out fine and makes sense from Haruki's point of view, but makes no sense if we put ourselves in the mother's shoes. I can't fathom neither not contacting your spouse who has custody of your son nor leaving to hide from your dangerous spouse and leaving your kid behind (as I wrote in my previous comment, it has to be either one or the other in this situation, and both are kinda unacceptable for me).
No chastising needed, you can have your own impressions and opinion, but... I'm just confused with the math of 10 for acting, 10 for music, 9 for story and an overall...1 š
I saw somewhere that Minase and Haruki were celebrating in their wedding attire. Is this related to the special…
Nah, I think it was photoshoot-related. No wedding in special episode (still, the episode is great and to me - personally - elevated the entire drama).
This series is the very rare case where the time skip without contact between the male leads actually makes sense.…
Agreed. I don't wanna point fingers at stories that used this trope for unnecessary drama and even then did it poorly (and there are many, not just bls). Instead, I will simply join your praises for Our Youth in that regard ;)
As you pointed out, Hirukawa tried more than once to contact Minase. He called him - the number was out of service; he tried to go to his place - Jin already had moved at that point. For someone who left the other one, it was just a reasonable and respectful thing to do to stop at this point. At for Minase, who was the one being left, it was also a reasonable decision on his part. The day when he found Haruki's letter might've been a moment to try, but it was still within reason that he didn't (and the scene when he hesitates if he should call Haruki or not adds to the realism).
I have a question to those who maybe read the webtoon or watched very attentively (details in the spoiler post).
So I've been thinking after finishing the drama about the whole situation with Haruki's mother and... something is not adding up for me.
I am aware that it's not that uncommon for the father to have custody of a child once a couple divorces in Japan, but the whole dynamic makes me question things...
Apparently Haruki was protecting his mom from his father. The father was not supposed to even know where she lives - how come, I'm asking? I mean... the only reasonable explanation for him not to know where his ex-wife was would be that she was hiding from him/not contacting him at all. Now, why wouldn't you contact your son's father - who has a custody of your child - even if just to discuss parenting stuff, right? If you cared, you would keep in touch... Unless you really wanted to hide. But if you did hide, then you'd be aware that man was dangerous, right? And if that's the case, then why would you leave your son with him and behave like everything's fine?
And then it all clashes in my head, because if she kept in touch, he'd know where she was. Also, if she kept in touch, she'd be aware of his drinking problem, because the guy gave no indication of being a high functioning alcoholic. He also wasn't the type of a DV person who keeps appearances and does his terrible deeds in secret. I mean, the time when Minase saw him beat up Haruki, he was just casually passing by their place. So it wasn't the kind of a situation where an abusive parent has a squeaky clean image outside. Taking all that into consideration - how come the mother still didn't know what was happening to her own son?
Thinking of all that, I arrived at one conclusion: she had to know and chose to ignore it/convince herself it wasn't so/lived in a delusion because acknowledging the truth would mean she had to confront it and that would mess too much with her new beautiful perfect life. It would be in accordance to the series' theme of absent parents...
As for Haruki, he might've convinced himself she didn't know in order to go on. We know that the concept of protecting his mom by enduring the abuse from his father was what kept him going for a long time, before he met Minase... Protecting his mom's image in his head, keeping her "innocent", on a something akin of a pedestal, where she wouldn't get tainted by this situation.
And if all that was the case, then Haruki's life is even more tragic than I originally thought and this story is even heavier than I already knew.
But if I think of Haruki's mother in such way... then I am wondering if there was any indication of that. I mean, there were small things suggesting she kept him and her new life separate, e.g. her only inviting Haruki to her place when the current husband was away or him not moving in with her new family after his father's death, them meeting outdoors, almost in passing... But maybe these could be attributed to some cultural differences I am not aware of (?).
Which is why I have a question to anyone who might've noticed something I didn't. Maybe the mother's expression darkened at some point of their conversation, which escaped my attention. Or maybe this part of the story was explored more in the webtoon. I was wondering if someone could tell me, cause this whole thing kinda bugs me š I appreciated Our Youth for featuring the theme of absent parents and how they treated the psychology of Haruki as an abused child. I think they did a really decent job for a short BL drama. However, this part of the story makes me have question marks in my head.
To the people who's complaining this show doesn't deserve high rating, this show actually deserves at least 9.…
I myself gave it a 9/10. I think it's a fantastic show that struck just the right chord with me. However a rating of 8.9/10 is an extremely high rating on any platform with serious attitude to ratings (I mean, I don't include ratings on Viki or iQiYi etc. where every other show has a rating close to 10). If we assume that for a lot of people 10/10 equals an absolute, flawless masterpiece, then a rating of almost 9 will obviously spark some objections, regardless of how good a show in question is. Having said that, this is one of the best BLs I've watched, and if we just compare it to other positions of this genre, there aren't many shows with better storytelling and cinematography.
What a lovely series! Strong 8.5/10 (10 episodes) and a 9/10, if I take into account the special 11th episode.
Originally, after finishing the first 10 eps, I felt like the show dropped important themes, mostly around societal pressure on Minase, his family's expectations etc. It just dissolved, they walked happily holding hands... The drama felt unfinished.
However, episode 11 clearly showed that these issues did not disappear and will most likely always be a part of lives of Haruki and Minase. And as much as I was wishing for Minase to just come out, this bittersweet ending felt adequate, more realistic to everything we've learnt about his life beforehand. Him feeling insecurity abt Haruki possibly leaving him because of that, and Haruki's beautiful love confession on the beach and his reassurance were very well-thought out.
Special episodes for a lot of series are just fan service, but this one here really served as a great closure to this lovely show.
It's ridiculously romantic for a Chinese show. Even some uncensored scenes left me wondering if the censors were…
Oh, the poem abt the moon over the pavilion - yes, most definitely a confession! :) And what a romantic one! But you know, one can always claim that it was just deep friendship, that the poem was abt yearning for stability and regret of having to leave and whatnot blablabla ;)
Which is why I put emphasis on "direct", but aside from actually spelling out their feelings and an actual kiss, nothing else was missing. Frankly, what we had was more than enough for me to regard it as a romance, and not with a "b" at the beginning ;)
So far I plan to check the novel under the link you gave me, but thank you. I might take you upon that fanfic offer some time in the future ;)
I just watched this drama last month, but Yu Zhi and Yue Lou secured their spot among my favourite ships already.
1 
But at least we both agree on really wanting the second season ;)
So as for the drama, I guess that's how I will understand it then: one of its strong themes is bad parenting. With Haruki's father being the most extreme example, ofc, but not the only one.
Haruki's mother abandoned him and possibly knew what was happening, just looked the other way, maybe lied to herself too. She'd still keep in touch and occasionally do sth nice, like invite him to her place (not to live together, though - that would be too much) to still play a good parents and possibly quiet down her own guilty conscience.
Haruki, on his part, put her on a pedestal and decided on this pure image of her, not questioning her actions or lack of knowledge, not blaming her for anything even once. Out of love, but possibly even more so out of desperation to have at least this one thing in his life that was good and worth living for (truly tragic).
Then on the other side of the isle, we have Jin's parents. These two are on a less extreme part of the spectrum. Providing him with more than enough money to have a comfortable life and not abusing him, but nevertheless hardly exemplary parental figures. Both are constantly absent, with mother visiting occasionally to list her expectations towards her son and the father not being there at all.
Unless it is to talk about his own movie, that is (seriously...)
No wonder once Haruki and Jin found each other, they had so much love to give to one another. There was no other recipient around...
I no longer trust any hints or promises abt it being soon, possibly at the end of the year, possibly at the beginning of the year... etc.
It only makes me more impatient and the waiting more unbearable.
But then if that's the case then I actually still have an issue with the whole situation (it didn't get resolved ;)).
I mean, it all works out fine and makes sense from Haruki's point of view, but makes no sense if we put ourselves in the mother's shoes. I can't fathom neither not contacting your spouse who has custody of your son nor leaving to hide from your dangerous spouse and leaving your kid behind (as I wrote in my previous comment, it has to be either one or the other in this situation, and both are kinda unacceptable for me).
Does anybody know anything?
Pardon me for being like "huh"?
As you pointed out, Hirukawa tried more than once to contact Minase. He called him - the number was out of service; he tried to go to his place - Jin already had moved at that point. For someone who left the other one, it was just a reasonable and respectful thing to do to stop at this point.
At for Minase, who was the one being left, it was also a reasonable decision on his part. The day when he found Haruki's letter might've been a moment to try, but it was still within reason that he didn't (and the scene when he hesitates if he should call Haruki or not adds to the realism).
I am aware that it's not that uncommon for the father to have custody of a child once a couple divorces in Japan, but the whole dynamic makes me question things...
Apparently Haruki was protecting his mom from his father. The father was not supposed to even know where she lives - how come, I'm asking? I mean... the only reasonable explanation for him not to know where his ex-wife was would be that she was hiding from him/not contacting him at all. Now, why wouldn't you contact your son's father - who has a custody of your child - even if just to discuss parenting stuff, right? If you cared, you would keep in touch... Unless you really wanted to hide. But if you did hide, then you'd be aware that man was dangerous, right? And if that's the case, then why would you leave your son with him and behave like everything's fine?
And then it all clashes in my head, because if she kept in touch, he'd know where she was. Also, if she kept in touch, she'd be aware of his drinking problem, because the guy gave no indication of being a high functioning alcoholic. He also wasn't the type of a DV person who keeps appearances and does his terrible deeds in secret. I mean, the time when Minase saw him beat up Haruki, he was just casually passing by their place. So it wasn't the kind of a situation where an abusive parent has a squeaky clean image outside. Taking all that into consideration - how come the mother still didn't know what was happening to her own son?
Thinking of all that, I arrived at one conclusion: she had to know and chose to ignore it/convince herself it wasn't so/lived in a delusion because acknowledging the truth would mean she had to confront it and that would mess too much with her new beautiful perfect life. It would be in accordance to the series' theme of absent parents...
As for Haruki, he might've convinced himself she didn't know in order to go on. We know that the concept of protecting his mom by enduring the abuse from his father was what kept him going for a long time, before he met Minase... Protecting his mom's image in his head, keeping her "innocent", on a something akin of a pedestal, where she wouldn't get tainted by this situation.
And if all that was the case, then Haruki's life is even more tragic than I originally thought and this story is even heavier than I already knew.
But if I think of Haruki's mother in such way... then I am wondering if there was any indication of that. I mean, there were small things suggesting she kept him and her new life separate, e.g. her only inviting Haruki to her place when the current husband was away or him not moving in with her new family after his father's death, them meeting outdoors, almost in passing... But maybe these could be attributed to some cultural differences I am not aware of (?).
Which is why I have a question to anyone who might've noticed something I didn't. Maybe the mother's expression darkened at some point of their conversation, which escaped my attention. Or maybe this part of the story was explored more in the webtoon. I was wondering if someone could tell me, cause this whole thing kinda bugs me š I appreciated Our Youth for featuring the theme of absent parents and how they treated the psychology of Haruki as an abused child. I think they did a really decent job for a short BL drama. However, this part of the story makes me have question marks in my head.
Well, that was long...
If we assume that for a lot of people 10/10 equals an absolute, flawless masterpiece, then a rating of almost 9 will obviously spark some objections, regardless of how good a show in question is.
Having said that, this is one of the best BLs I've watched, and if we just compare it to other positions of this genre, there aren't many shows with better storytelling and cinematography.
However, episode 11 clearly showed that these issues did not disappear and will most likely always be a part of lives of Haruki and Minase. And as much as I was wishing for Minase to just come out, this bittersweet ending felt adequate, more realistic to everything we've learnt about his life beforehand. Him feeling insecurity abt Haruki possibly leaving him because of that, and Haruki's beautiful love confession on the beach and his reassurance were very well-thought out.
Special episodes for a lot of series are just fan service, but this one here really served as a great closure to this lovely show.
Also... the creativity! š
Plus I echo the entire sentiment of this comment š
Which is why I put emphasis on "direct", but aside from actually spelling out their feelings and an actual kiss, nothing else was missing. Frankly, what we had was more than enough for me to regard it as a romance, and not with a "b" at the beginning ;)
So far I plan to check the novel under the link you gave me, but thank you. I might take you upon that fanfic offer some time in the future ;)
I just watched this drama last month, but Yu Zhi and Yue Lou secured their spot among my favourite ships already.