BLISS RATING: ★★★+
“You are my serendipity. I wasn’t looking for you. I wasn’t expecting you. But I am very lucky I met you.” – Unknown
Honestly, it is hard to dislike this story and its characters. It is a gentle narrative that initially suggests one premise. Conversely, it is equally uncomfortable to fully embrace because to takes a disappointing turn. For me, it simply exists. Neither good nor bad – presenting a slice-of-life of a young man who discovers sentiments for the first time that he cannot fully understand nor comprehend. And those feelings are for another male who happens to be his tutor, compounded by the belief that he thinks the tutor is his sister’s ‘boyfriend’ and straight. Quite a dilemma.
Takemiya Natsuki (Fukada Ryusei) is a high school senior and is not having a good year. With his girlfriend finding him ‘uneventful’, she breaks up with him. Shortly afterwards, his mock (college) exam score results are a disaster. Feeling overwhelmed, his sister suggests that he take tutoring lessons from her ‘boyfriend’ Kobayakawa Sota (Ukisho Hidaka). Initially disliking Sota, he soon falls under his genteel spell. He is patient, kind, nurturing, and understanding with Natsuki. He begins to find Sota charming and spellbinding. It is not long before Natsuki feels a flutter in his heart when he sees Sota and is with him; an uncommon sensation – something that he never felt for his girlfriend. However, he is tormented as he is sensing that he is falling for his sister’s boyfriend.
Being observant, it does not take long for Natsuki’s sister, Rio (Tanabe Momoko) to realize what is happening. She is becoming aware that both her brother and Sota are becoming closer. Gingerly, she explains to him that Sota is merely a ‘boy-friend’ as in friend and she is okay with her brother persuing Sota, if that is what he wants to do and if Sota is indeed interested in him. There is such warmth and sincerity in their brother-sister exchange that it is indeed a moment of remembrance that will remain with each for the rest of their lives. Both entered a new phase of maturity and an augmented level of sibling kinship.
The remainder of the story is saccharine-sweet and may work better as an after-school special than any notion of a BL. Their sensitivities for one another are explored, superficially – a little. Honestly, it never gets insightful. Perhaps on an intellectual level – maybe – but never emotionally. Yes, it does get cute and is loaded with sweetness but very little substance to an actual ‘relationship’. It is hard to do so because the episodes are so short that character development is at a minimal level. Still, who really grows are actually the parents. Surprisingly, we see them begin to see relationships, including their own, and the external world, in a whole new light.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Honestly, Natsuki’s parents are pure joy. Tokowa (Hada Michiko) overhears her son and daughter talking about his relationship with Sota and she has become aware that he is gay. Wanting to explore what that is, she searches online and begins her slow journey to acceptance. However, Goro (Inoue Hajime) sees the search and the rather close pictures of Natsuki and Sota together. Initially, trying to bury the relationship and pretend it does not exist, the father forbids the continuing ‘tutoring’ relationship between his son and Sota. Natsuki takes the adult and bold action of directly talking with his father. Along with Sota. When Goro begins to see that their relationship is one of mutuality and equality, he begins to accept. It is time. These two both as parent figures represent a transitional phase for individuals who do not quite understand what a love between two individuals of the same sex is like but are learning that it truly is still love. While different from his own with his wife, it is nonetheless real and it can exist. It is best to embrace it or otherwise, you will lose your children. These two fine actors embraced, especially in a culture that is still relatively closed, with quiet acceptance and an inevitability of what is happening. And they want to make all of it a part of their family. Sublimely, they presented a contrast of what was to what is and how there must be manifestations of love that comes in many, many different forms that must be embraced and made whole. Kudos for helping us see the transition.
The disquietness about this series is its lack of clarity. In and of itself, that would not necessarily be a problem or an issue but if you are trying to explore what you are feeling about another person, then do so. The series implied that neither character was able—or ever likely—to confront those feelings. We here in the USA have a love analogy related to baseball. One can define what a “homerun” is, but the rest is interpretative. It is obvious that Natsuki and Sota rounded first base, which could be identified as having feelings for each other that are stronger than a friendship as they obviously enjoy the company of each other and want to be with each other.
Throughout, it is noteworthy that they have very strong attachments to one another, as they easily cry and feel a nurturing effect on each other. Each of their hearts beat faster when they see one another. Maybe we can consider that they slow-walked to second base but am not sure they actually touched second base. Furthermore, we saw nothing that led me to believe they even wanted to move or even look towards third base (however they decide to define that). While both acknowledge their desire/want to be with the other, they displayed no holding hands, no amorous signals, no kissing, no touching of each other in any way, no other gesture or actions of intimacy at all. There were no attempts to do so either.
With Sota shortly off to England to study for two years, there was not even a gravitation towards anything of a romantic connection (not necessarily sexual). Thus, I have to conclude their relationship is merely a cute bromance. A step above friendship but no sense of intimacy or even that they liked each other enough to want to kiss. If so, they would have found a way. They-would-have-found-a-way. It merely remained a platonic relationship.
Subsequently, for me, it became nothing more than a cute story that went nowhere. Both exchanged on an intellectual basis some sense of connection, but it never transitioned over into an emotional level – at all. It got to the edge but never became real to either one. There is a greater emotional connection to the dog as a comparison.
This is a well-acted series which does not go deep. It is fun to watch and starts out as a comedy and begins to slowly drift into a more serious drama, as both protagonists mature. The ongoing issue with these very short duration series is the lack of character development and/or plot direction and/or superficial intrinsic links. The ‘going abroad to study overseas suddenly’ is a cliché and a trope that is used endlessly in these series to abruptly end a justification; rather than having to honestly and straightforwardly deal with serious intimate issues, especially for Japanese BLs. That is a complete cop-out and is a sign of an inadequate script and lazy direction.
Yet, the series presents well. The dog is adorable. And the parents, with their middle-age mini-crisis about their own relationship is adorably presented along with their own enlightenment of seeing that their son is gay. Yet with all the fluff that is around, the story forgot to give us a yoke – a connection we could hold onto. Cuteness does not translate into fervency nor even a sense of desire. For that, you need some sort of action to go with the words. There were none here. Thus, this series is simply here. I got nothing out of it.
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