BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Look at me. I’ll give you my entire life. I love you. I’m not letting anyone else have you.” – Quote from Duty First, Kiss Later
Tear. Tear. Tear. That is me wiping away the sobs from what I thought was going to be a stellar BL. However, by its end, it fell apart. How could something that started out so good turn into a standard, formulaic piece of unproductive vapidity.
The story began cleverly enough. The traditional roles are reversed here, however. The older police man, while loud and perhaps clownish at times, treats everyone with respect and a certain amount of tolerant acceptance. He sees individuals and treats each with humanity, displaying kindhearted responses in every aspect above all else. The younger guy, on the other hand, is a sharp-tongued, no-nonsense, by-the-book detective. Takoi (Watanabe Shu) is a 38-year-old-unmarried man who is highly respected and liked within this small community because of his personal connections to the local residents. On the opposite end, is a young man named Shiono (Saito Ryu), who is very handsome with a stern stoic look that if he smiled, it may possibly crack his face. It might appear to others as if these two do not get along. Yet there is something about them that changes when they are together. A tenderness seems to envelop them both.
Interestingly, they live next door to each other and as happenstance would have it, they begin to coordinate more frequent chance encounters. One day, Shiono confesses to Takoi that he ‘likes’ him and wants to actually date him. This sends Takoi over the edge as he is and never has been attracted to men. Yet, he cannot seem to get Shiono out of his mind. By a fortuitous accident, they kiss and something measurable happened during that encounter. Takoi, in his core, enjoyed it and it made him feel excited; in a way, he had never felt before.
This then begins their story of romance. Part comedy, part drama and all them. The issues are most real even if they are not unique. But for them in their eyes, they are the only two in the entire world who have fallen in love faced with insurmountable problems. The major stumbling block, besides the idea that this is a gay relationship, there is a significant age difference between the two. Takoi is 38 while Shiono is in his early to mid-20’s. It cannot work. We are too incompatible, and I do not know how to love another man, Takoi thinks to himself.
Honestly, the story maintained its integrity for over half the series. The anxieties, fears, and angst that both go through are somewhat understandable and justified. More so for Takoi, as he is older and has not been in contact with his feelings and emotions for a very long time. All those negative feelings seemed real and warranted. In one memorable scene, when Takoi is at the bar and his friends are teasing him about his new-found friendship with Shiono which is seemingly intimate, he freaks out and makes some homophobic remarks that Shiono overhears just before he enters the bar. Takoi’s fear and anxiety of where he was going and how fast he was doing it that others began to see it, suddenly hit him – and he panicked. Deeply hurt by his degrading remarks, Shiono, tries to break-up with Takoi. Later, with all the fiduciary integrity tenable within him, Takoi apologizes as if his life depended upon it. This act of contrition, in a real sense, becomes the watershed in their relationship.
Shiono’s move to Headquarters should have been a positive turning point, strengthening their relationship through better communication and making their limited time together more meaningful. That could have been a nice change of pace and would have developed a solid love story between two rather unorthodox characters. But instead, the narrative decided to use tropey cliches of introducing new characters for the purpose of creating jealousy of both sides. For me, it felt just a bit too contrived and the story began to fall apart.
I sensed immediately that George (Joji Shibue) had to be a relative of some sort to Shiono. While parts of Takoi’s jealousy of him were cute, it got to be just a bit too feigned. George obviously helped Shiono obtain his new position at Headquarters. It became so obvious that they had a close relationship and were no doubt related in some fashion. Yet, it was also evident that George was aware of the relationship between Shiono and Takoi and was totally playing him like a fiddle. While Takoi’s jealousy did help speed up the reconnection with Shiono, that technique was getting ‘worn-out’ and was overused just a bit too much.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Now here is where the series almost got campy. They introduced a new recruit into the police department by the name of Omade (Sosuke Ogata). From the beginning, he seemed a bit suspicious and an odd character in the sense of always being underfoot. Having recently been dressed-down severely by Shiono from Headquarters for massive flaws in his reporting, he seemed to take a more directed approach onto Takoi. Focused in the sense of making obvious overtures of desires towards him. Everyone can see it – except Takoi. When it nearly derails the relationship between him and Shiono, Omade takes even more flagrant actions towards Takoi. Takoi then realizes how wrong he has been and how dense he had become. Ensuingly, Omade becomes a deliciously evil criminal mastermind who kidnaps Takoi. Completely out of the blue. All of that was so far-fetched and out in left field and off-the-rails. It became “so Hollywood”. Normally, I detest these contrived endings that are so out-there that it was almost “Pink Pantherish”, but since this whole series is so much fun overall and happy, it all sort of fits in with its theme. And honestly Sosuke just shines in this Jekel/Hyde role. He could break out of the standard range of roles and let go and he did. I could tell he was having a good time with this character and wanted to give Omade a genuine personality. And he certainly did. A strong ‘Honorable Mention’ must be given to the tavern owner named Izakaya Boss played by Toshihoro Yashiba. Standing back quietly, observing and noting, he tries to give sage advice to Takoi about his negative actions to what was happening around him and the effects that will have on his ongoing relationship with Shiono. He knows what is going on and encourages Takoi to pursue this relationship with Shiono because it is something that both want. He is an endearing character, played softly, yet, critically by Toshihoro.
I thoroughly enjoyed MOST of this series. Where it fell from grace for me is glaringly obvious. The ending is ridiculous. Period. And it could have gone in so many directions in emotionally satisying more productive ways. The kissing between the protagonists was atrocious. I mean cringeworthy bad even at the end. And it should not have been. I get so annoyed with ‘bad kissing’. This one was particularly irritating to me as neither character was young or innocent. In addition, since they had already planned and indeed spent an entire weekend at a spa, the expectation was something intimate would occur. Images were that the two of them did nothing but eat, romp around naked in the water, played footies, and embraced without once getting physical? Nothing more – seriously?! Then if not, I understand the deadfish kissing at the end. If there was something more than playing footies with one another, then I do not. Yes, I am well aware of the cultural hesitancies of Japanese men publicly showing any forms of affection out in the open (especially between themselves), but honestly, this did not apply here. They were completely and absolutely alone and were supposedly in love and were confessing their love. It just disappointed me. and I wanted to see a kiss worthy of being labeled – romantic. And I made the assumption that indeed the two HAD done something together at the spa.
This is a good series that in my opinion could have been in the top ten list. Watanabe Shu as Takoi and Saito Ryu as Shiono have awesome screen chemistry together. They played off one another with precision and the emotions that they showed were literally quite genuine. So, as a couple, they were honest and both struggled with trying to define what ‘love’ was for each of them. Not always perfectly but they were striving for it. And their co-workers were supporting them. All the fluff around them and contrived setups were unnecessary. I just loved watching these two simply interact. Shiono with his Cheshire cat look and stern personality and Takoi with his naïve innocence and acceptance of everyone plainly worked. I just wanted to see more of them and their quirky coworkers who were accepting. It was just disappointing that they could not, or more likely, would not show any romance between the characters of Takoi and Shiono.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this series for its warmth and charm. They did bring these characters to life. I just wish one day we can honestly see a true romantic BL from Japan free from its ingrained cultural mores. I also hope we get to see more of Takoi and Shiono together. And they bring along Kamekichi!
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