BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“I will follow you. Forever, all my life No matter where it is.” – Quote from Love Is Better The Second Time Around
This series has the look and feel of being great. For me, it was like seeing a fabulous plate of food that looked so good and appetizing, but somehow it just did not deliver on its taste. I found it too perplexing – until the end when it sort of made sense. Sometimes that format works; sometimes it does not. In this case, it did not. I became confused by the story. It seemed just so unnecessarily esoteric.
Certainly, the story is not unique. It is the story of two high school boys who fell in love then, but circumstances did not permit them to follow-up with their relationship then. Time did not diminish the feelings but only created a valley of forgetting one another.
Miyata Akihiro (Hasegawa Makoto) and Iwanaga Takashi (Furuya Robin) met in high school and fell in love, but external circumstances did not allow them to connect, regrettably. However, as chance would have it, Miyata, who works for a business magazine, asks Takashi to write an article for their magazine. By this time, Takashi is well established as a university professor. Not realizing at first who he was, Miyata then recognizes him when they lay eyes on one other. While neither one has forgotten about the other, Miyata does not want to get hurt by being dumped by Takashi again; so he remains aloof. Besides, Miyata is ‘engaged’ to be married, which of course is more or less a ruse.
Even though Takashi tries his best to convince Miyata of his amiability by courting him and stating that he really wants to be with Miyata now, there is just a hesitancy within Miyata to fully embrace those intentions. Not totally based on fear or old feelings, however. Takashi’s family had been a source of consternation in his relationship with Miyata. And Miyata needs to finally cross the threshold with commitment and sincerity that Takashi is the only one he is in love with and could only be in love with.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? The darling of this series is none other than Takashi’s assistant Shiraisha Yuto (Takamatsu Aloha). He is in love with Takashi with the two of them having a brief affair a while ago. While Takashi has put all that into perspective, Shiraisha has not. When he realizes who Miyata is, he thwarts his efforts to reconnect with Takashi. He does so with such wit, humor, and biting sarcasm that the exchanges are quite amusing. He does so with such a smile on his face; all the while trying to stab the preverbal knife into the back of Miyata as deep as he can. While he fails, he is so much fun to watch. Malicious yet so obvious. He displays all the charm and clumsiness of youth. And he plays the character to the hilt. It looked like he was having so much fun with the role as well.
The issue I have with this series is that it tries so hard to convince us that there is a rift between these two stemming from their high school days. To be sure, there is a lot of sexual tension when they meet again but it is not long before they are kissing and making love. One of them (Takashi) early on can admit he made a mistake and say the words, “I love you” to Miyata. It really becomes anti-climactic after that as to when and how Miyata will say the same. The build up is just not matching what the words and actions were saying.
Not that the series is not cute. It is. Not that the two of them are not adorable. They are. And the exchange that Miyata has with Takashi’s mother shows a real sign of growth and a tremendous level of responsibility on his part to wanting to love Takashi unconditionally. I just wish there was more of that.
The series is so short that it does not allow for any type of character development and frankly this type of story is getting ‘old’ and worn out. And honestly, Takashi’s ‘brother’ was a rather annoying character, and a lot of his behavior was obviously motivated by jealousy. Now that would have been a very interesting twist to the story had it been developed more.
Overall, this is a good series. Well-acted and sincere. Screenplay needed tightening up as I found the relationship when they reconnect not dynamic enough and a bit perplexing. But it is an entertaining series. It is simply enjoyable and refreshing to watch.
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