etoks21

Thank you!

Good job in Contrast!
Keep it up and best of luck for your future.

Great job in "Contrast!"
Your subtle, restrained acting made every scene you were in feel authentic.
Bravo!

A well above-average Jbl.

Kudos to the writers/director for including the Kanada/Akira plotline.
The fact that it made the hair of countless MDL sex-phobics and moral scolds stand on end is an indicator of how risky that move was.
It paid off in a story that challenges the viewer to put aside black/white notions of right and wrong and consider ALL aspects of a specific situation involving specific, individual characters before presuming to pass judgment.
Not that anyone on MDL will do that, of course...

Great acting from both leads, with extra credit to Akune Haruse, whose Akira is rendered with heartbreaking restraint and subtlety.
The character's believability is total.

Unfortunately, we encounter the curse of the JPbl fish kiss twice in this show and it kills the mood both times.
Worst is near the end, in a climactic confession/love scene that builds passion, then ends with a wet fart in the form of a fish kiss.
You can NOT include that BS and expect it to fly, not in 2026 for sure.

8.5/10

awww...it's back again, trying to get my attention. 😅
But...no, that won't be happening.

Second watch since it first aired here.

The scene between the MC at the end of episode 4 is among the most memorable, moving, and well-acted in BL history.

🤣😂😅

Could you provide links to some of those "real-life examples," please?
I'd like to educate myself about how "common" "this kind of thing" is in Japan.
Thanks!

Episode 4:
I'm wondering if the forced, faf (fake as fuck), jovial camaraderie of the Big Four toward each other and Suzuki is meant to feel that way or if it's bad acting.

At this point, Serizawa's treating Suzuki like a little kid or pet animal is definitely "weird."
Even weirder and less believable is that Serizawa's buddies are unfazed by it all.
Of course, we're supposed to believe they're all into BL and think nothing of it, too, so what's a little extra, unbelievable weirdness piled on top of that?
I repeat: If the Big Three like Suzuki so much, where were they before Serizawa made it cool to act like Suzuki is cool?

I feel that currently I'm seeing variations on the same plot play out in three or four Jbls at the same time.

Oh my...some seriously effective Seme seduction techniques being deployed.
Suzuki's love chute is definitely in peril.
His panicked "What is happening?" and "What is going on?" type exclamations are kawai af.

I love that Serizawa is keeping his mask on while sick, as most Japanese do when ill.
In the US, we spew our viruses and bacteria all over each other, then wonder how we caught the cold someone else had.
Because, you know, being deathly sick or even dead is far better than having to wear a mask! 🙄

Wise choice.

I repeat: "...you need to realize that the world isn't black and white, it's as gray as can be."

Go ahead and question whatever you want to, Gladys Kravitz.
Meanwhile, Akira will be sharing a relationship in which he can talk about his desperate situation, receive feedback without shaming, and have the kind of sex he craves.
Oh, and he'll also be alive, which he wouldn't be if Kanada had not come along.

I'm a "proponent" of all of the above, thanks.

Well, since the show began, actually. 😁

I'm sorry to hear you've gone through grooming and sexual exploitation yourself, snark.
That's terrible.
Can you share a bit about the damage done to you by that experience, and why you'd rather be dead?
Or are you already dead and that's how you know being dead is better than having a relationship with someone who listens/speaks to you about something you were suicidal over, and who you have great sex with?
Thanks.

"It's way to common for older men in Japan to have sexual relations with minors and they don't bet an eye."
Hi Maliha.
That sounds terrible.
Can you share a link to your source, please?
I'd like to read more about this outrageous situation.

You're a self-brainwashed, self-righteous child.
Maybe someday you'll put away your ridiculous, black/white judgementalism and wake up...or not. Probably not.

Yeah, I'm going to "sit right here" and say that I would have LOVED someone to come along and listen to me, talk to me, hold me, care about me, and have great sex with me, whether I was 13 or 18 or 23.
And I was near suicidal, depressed, lonely, and very horny at 13.

But yeah, sure, if such a person had come along to you at that age, I'm sure you would have said, "no thank you, I'd prefer to be lonely, miserable, suicidal, and sexually frustrated, thank you very much, because I find your offer problematic and shocking."

Being cared for and listened to would have been a miracle for me, if not for you.
Does being held, talked with, cared for, and made love to sound like "abuse" to you?
There is nothing "horrifying" about any of the above.
Please explain WHY that is abuse.
You haven't done that yet.

The only reason Akira didn't kill himself is Kanada.
Your argument boils down to "it's abuse because I say so, so THERE!"
You're hung up on your "problematic" and your 'grooming" and your "shocking" and your other trendy, prudish, sex-phobic buzzwords that do not apply to the situation in this series.

And I'm impressed this series had the balls to go there in the face of neo-puritanism from folks like you.
Grow up, Church Girl.

Thanks.

Hey, unself-aware person in need of moral teachings in their BLs:
I'm far older than you ever thought about being.
That's part of the reason I know the universe is infinite shades of gray, not black and white like you and many other naive, self-righteous Church Girls here pretend it is.

This show doesn't present Kanada as an "unambiguously good person." NOBODY on this planet is an unambiguously good person.
We are all flawed.

Could you explain exactly HOW Kanada "exploited" Akira for sex, please?
Are you saying he took the tutoring job with the intention of banging Akira?
He didn't know Akira was going through anything until he was working with him and saw that Akira was in agony, and talked to him and listened to him as NO ONE else had.

I'll tell you what IS an example of an "unambiguous good:" the fact that Akira didn't kill himself in despair, that someone came along who listened to him, who shared with him his own vulnerability, and provided an outlet, both emotional and physical, that allowed Akira to keep going and even thrive.
That seems like a good thing to me.

Please quote me where I said forming a sexual relationship was "necessary."
The sex was icing on the cake.

If someone like Kanada had come along when I was Akira's age, even if it were 14, when I was already near-suicidal from life in the closet and terror of someone finding out I was gay, frustrated, depressed, and lonely, you can bet your ass I would have taken them up on the same arrangement and been thankful for it.

Are you gay?
Are you living the life of a gay teen in the closet, or did you in the past?
From where are you viewing this Akira thing to pass such a judgment?

You're welcome. 😊

Without Akira/Kanada this show would be boring.

You're supposed to feel conflicted.
Art makes you feel things, and not only what you think you want to feel.