This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
Tadashi is a high school student struggling / figuring out his sexuality. He is in love with his best friend and is actually called names like pansy and stuff by the schoolmates which force him to go deeper in his shell. One day while he's riding the train, he sees a gay couple and he follows them just out of curiosity. While one of them goes for his job, the other goes home while Tadashi is following him and the gets in an accident. Since the couple is not officially married, the hospital calls his mother. If not for Tadashi running to inform his partner about the accident, he would never have known. There is also a plot line about the gay couple themselves, and how they feel like they are being treated by society, and their families. The gay couple also has a close friend who sleeps around and stays with different friends and often complains about not having a boyfriend. When this guy meets our boy Tadashi at hospital, he feels there is a chance. The few days Tadashi spends with the couple boosts his confidence. He becomes confident of his sexuality and tells his closest friend he is gay and proud. The film ends with the couple getting married and Tadashi and the couple's friend getting together on a date.
As you can see the story is pretty basic here. At first I felt there are some parallel stories going on because we see Tadashi's angle, the gay couple angle and then the couple's friend who is forever flirting and looking for sex and complaining about not having a partner. Its only after sometimes it all comes together. But despite a short running time, some of these scenes feels so stretched out unnecessarily. There are more than a few scenes where this friend spends time in bars or at other people's houses, which doesn't add much to the story except probably highlight that he is quite lonely. The gay couple spends a lot of time talking about job and whether or not to get married. There are also two very awkward sex scenes. I have seen in a couple other Japanese films from old school, where they would grab the other person's dick and play with it. I don't know whey but such explicit sexual scenes in this (including one scene in the beginning where Tadashi fantasizes about his best friend raping him) were so not needed in an otherwise story which is trying to make a statement. The acting was strictly ok. (4.5/10)
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