This review may contain spoilers
Not Just Another Highschool BL
We all know the premise, highschool, two boys, falling in love. But this show genuinely subverted every single expectation.From giving both characters well nuanced personal problems they had to work through, to having their relationship build up be genuinely so natural and authentic. This show took what I thought was a genre I had seen every possible take of (see: highschool jbls) and gave me a concoction I never even knew was possible until I had already been served it.
I loved how none of the problems either character was going through was all that easily solvable. How the hurdles were ones they kept tripping over time and time again, even with the help of each other and their friends. (Shout-out to Kanata's friend group, specially mizuki —we love emotionally intelligent female characters in bls!— and Akira's brother's best friend, such a breath of fresh air to have nunaced supporting characters.) It did feel slightly frustrating to watch in the moment, having the cast of characters confront the same issue for episodes at a time, but it felt incredibly realistic to the nature of things in real life? And I fear that frustration is in parts because of how accustomed we've grown to conflicts being so easily solved or sweeped under a rug in shows for convenience. So it was nice to take a moment to sit with that discomfort and watch the characters constantly show up for each other even when zero problems were actually getting solved.
Also loved how the teenage characters in the show were treated with so much maturity?? (Except for when Akira, a minor, was alluded to have constantly hooked up with his former tutor who without a doubt was well into his twenties 😭 I'm glad his character was genuinely remorseful for it and did admit to having used Akira, and letting Akira use him, for them both to get over their gay heartbreaks but bro, why a minor of all people orz) Their problems and emotions in the moment were treated with so much sincerity within both the narrative and by the fellow characters, which I feel isn't something we see often.
The two main leads were incredibly well cast, cos not once did I ever get broken out of the illusion of the show during my watch. And while this is pretty much the norm for Japanese bls with how well they deliver 9 out of 10 chances, I still feel it deserves acknowledgement.
Overall, genuinely a beyond amazing watch. I'm so glad I stuck around for it.
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