BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“I love you like the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.” – Pablo Neruda
This is one of those breathtaking series that come along every once in a while, that when you begin to watch it, you know you will be profoundly affected by it. This is a remarkable story of two of the saddest figures in a BL I have ever seen. Yet, there is something magical and mystical about their fate together. Almost from the beginning, you knew they would be together, but you also sensed that the price they would pay for that to happen would be heavy and ladened with sadness.
Kashiwagi Chichiro (Beppu Yurai), by any defining method or measurement, is a loser and his life has hit rock bottom. Rejected by his family for being gay and by his friends for stealing, he is penniless, homeless, and destitute. As he walks into a bar, he sees someone that catches his eye. He convinces himself that what he sees behind those dark, brooding blank eyes, is something hopeful and fervid. For reasons unknown he goes with Keito (Sawamura Rei) who beats him up. How and why he pummels him up is a story unto itself (including what he hit him with). The next day, Chirchiro finds himself in a heap of trash, tossed there as if to imply he is just another piece of garbage to be thrown out. Who should walk by but Keito; surprised to see him alive.
Here begins the unlikeliest of relationships. Each and both are irreparably damaged goods. Lonely, destitute. Almost without souls. With essentially no one in this world for either one of them – except now the other. In a way, they compliment and subsequently supplement each other. Keito’s background is beyond human comprehension and is beyond the pale of human tolerance. The fact that he is still alive, and functioning, is justifiably miraculous.
Through all this malaise, they found each other. Marginally living yet somehow feeling as if they are living every day to its fullest. Both seem to sense that each day is a blessing. Not always seen as such but nonetheless always felt to be so.
Each has hidden talents that only the other recognizes and fosters in the other. Through a slow but steady process, they fall in love. And that love is a deep love. Each knows and has seen the ugliest of the other. Where else can they go except upwards? While their journey seems always and forever dark and indeed, they have some dark moments, it does feel as long as they are in the presence of the other, all will be well. They are in their own world.
However, Keito, whose real name is Haoran, meets his past. Or more aptly, his past finally catches up to him. His past does not see Haoran as human. It only sees him as an instrument to be used to make money. Maya (Asari Yosuki) is not human. He lost his humanity a long time ago.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Asari Yosuki as Maya did. This role is special and unique. He has taken the downtrodden, the dredges of society, and turned them into tools for others to use as they deem fit. For pleasure or pain. It makes no difference. Humans are mere commodities – like him. Goods to be used and then discarded when not needed anymore. He feels nothing. And he makes sure that all his subjects feel ‘no pain’ – just like him. His cold, calculating expressions and sinister smiles are beyond chilling; they are scary and terrifying. If there is something beyond the term sociopathic, he would be it. His characterization of this individual is portrayed with complete and utter distain for humanity and himself. I was not surprised as to his fate. He depicted an individual who felt absolutely nothing. He merely existed and used people as vassals. It is a remarkable role that even his mere presence on screen, scared me. Kudos for giving this character a nightmarish factor off the charts. He is the embodiment of pure evil.
This is a deeply dark and disturbing series. Ugly in many places. Melancholic throughout with whispers of despondency about. Yet the two actors made these individuals still feel hopeful. Both had such great screen chemistry and such a presence of believability about who they were playing. The cinematography gave it an added dimension and overtone of moroseness. When they held hands, we felt something between them. They had created their own loving world even if no one else understood.
While this is a profoundly sad story, it is redemptive. Haoran forces and creates an environment where Chirchiro recognizes that he has worth and value. He indeed becomes successful. Chirchiro forces Haoran to discern he is loved unconditionally and is accepted for who he is. Despite all the horrors he had to face, Chirchiro will be there. Neither one was willing to give up on the other and for that reason, this story is exceptional. Haoran was able to face up to his demons and cleansed himself by being honest and paid the price for his consequences, not knowing what would await him. But it freed him from his past.
This is an astonishing character study of two flawed individuals who were marginalized, each for different reasons but faced the same outcome. A life of degradation and despair.
But they found each other, loved each other, and grew. They had to sacrifice so much.
Much more than most of us could or would have possibly been able to bear to do,
especially Haoran. Feeling unloved, they found love in the simple everyday activities and interactions with one another. In that sense, the love story is so basic. Yet profoundly deep and in a sense sustained them. I am so glad that at the end we got to see the two of them smile once again at one another. But these smiles are now finally free from their past.
They are home with each other ….
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