Prepare the tissue box
Came into this show with very little expectations. I had seen the debates prior to its release about it being BL or not, and was curious about the intercultural aspect of this show.
First I have to say that the intercultural aspect is the best I've seen from a show like this. Usually I can't help but cringe when two characters speak two different languages at one another, but this time by having the characters all speak Japanese that eliminated that fear for me. I do wish the show would've explored (even superficially) the specific difficult relationship between Japan and Korea, but since this is a Japanese production I'm not surprised they didn't.
Next, onto the BL aspect. This is undoubtedly a queer show. The relationship between the two protagonists is clearly more than friendship and very beautiful, and I don't mind queer works that have little to no intimate scenes. However, from a storytelling perspective, I did feel that making the characters almost asexual did impede my comprehension at times as well as realism. For example, when the two main characters live together, I found it a bit jarring that they never discussed dating or having partners, yet are not explicitly in a romantic relationship. And especially when Johan leaves the house he shares with Ryu and Sumiko by saying he met someone he wants to live with, it lessens the impact of seeing Ryu be upset because we don't know if it's two friends who are in denial that they're in love or if they know it and have explicitly shown it off-camera. That sort of blurry relationship is interesting to showcase, but I wish we'd gotten more reasons as to why they never explicitly said they loved each other until the very end of the show (aka when it's too late). As I said I would be okay with showing little to no intimacy (although I do feel that if you are telling a queer story, you should not be afraid to show the intimacy that comes with it too), but in terms of characters' motivations and actions I think it could've been more developed.
Lastly, this show will destroy you. At least it destroyed me. The more this show stays with me, the more I realize how deeply depressing it is, but in that poetic indie way I still adore. I loved the themes of found family and the characters of this show. This story was both simple yet something I hadn't seen before, and I've rarely cried this much in front of a show. It definitely surpassed my expectations which were very open to begin with. If you're ready to experience a sad yet enriching story, I recommend it.
The quote that will stay with me from this show is: "Maybe losing yourself isn't always a bad thing."
First I have to say that the intercultural aspect is the best I've seen from a show like this. Usually I can't help but cringe when two characters speak two different languages at one another, but this time by having the characters all speak Japanese that eliminated that fear for me. I do wish the show would've explored (even superficially) the specific difficult relationship between Japan and Korea, but since this is a Japanese production I'm not surprised they didn't.
Next, onto the BL aspect. This is undoubtedly a queer show. The relationship between the two protagonists is clearly more than friendship and very beautiful, and I don't mind queer works that have little to no intimate scenes. However, from a storytelling perspective, I did feel that making the characters almost asexual did impede my comprehension at times as well as realism. For example, when the two main characters live together, I found it a bit jarring that they never discussed dating or having partners, yet are not explicitly in a romantic relationship. And especially when Johan leaves the house he shares with Ryu and Sumiko by saying he met someone he wants to live with, it lessens the impact of seeing Ryu be upset because we don't know if it's two friends who are in denial that they're in love or if they know it and have explicitly shown it off-camera. That sort of blurry relationship is interesting to showcase, but I wish we'd gotten more reasons as to why they never explicitly said they loved each other until the very end of the show (aka when it's too late). As I said I would be okay with showing little to no intimacy (although I do feel that if you are telling a queer story, you should not be afraid to show the intimacy that comes with it too), but in terms of characters' motivations and actions I think it could've been more developed.
Lastly, this show will destroy you. At least it destroyed me. The more this show stays with me, the more I realize how deeply depressing it is, but in that poetic indie way I still adore. I loved the themes of found family and the characters of this show. This story was both simple yet something I hadn't seen before, and I've rarely cried this much in front of a show. It definitely surpassed my expectations which were very open to begin with. If you're ready to experience a sad yet enriching story, I recommend it.
The quote that will stay with me from this show is: "Maybe losing yourself isn't always a bad thing."
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