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 ...
Kouta is a college student who has bad luck that causes problems everywhere he goes involving him in misadventures, accidents and hardships. He has tried to overcome this by using a chirpy attitude. He also maintains shallow friendships to avoid afflicting others with his misfortune. One day he meets another student Naoya, who has a reputation for being the most lucky person winning quizzes, lotteries, prizes etc. To top it, he is handsome and popular. When Kouta realizes that when he is near Naoya, his situation improves, he wants to take advantage of the situation and ask them tp spend more time together. Naoya misinterprets that as a love confession and kisses Kouta and says he will love to be his boyfriend. Naoya is smitten but Kouta pretends to be in this for luck sake. However one day when he sees two other friends taking advantage of his niceness, Kouta picks up a fight with them but also realizes that he is no different and tells Naoya the truth. Next day, they both have a heart to heart and Noaya tells him that he has noticed him for a long time and that it is his heart he was attracted to and no one has stood up for him like Kouta has. He asks him to be together and give their dating a try. A few love struck moments follow and eventually Kouta also falls for Naoya.
As far as the storyline goes, it is a total gimmick, but the quirky style of direction and the extremely likable actors make it a win and are truly the heart and soul of the show. Kouta is vivacious, bubbly, silly, remarkable and he puts in an excellent performance and energy into his character. Naoya, on the other hand is dreamy with a fantastic smile and delivers the performance of a calm and collected person struggling to make true friends. They make an amazing couple together and have some very good moments. Some people may get annoyed by over the top hysterical reactions of Kouta, but that is exactly what I loved about the show. He is paranoid, delusional and funny at the same time. The problem is if you start taking the premise too seriously. As a character, we should ideally dislike Kouta since he is clearly taking advantage of Naoya by pretending to be in this love relationship; but that doesn't happen. The question on why Naoya would wanna continue in the relationship also gets eventually answered towards the end. Its easy to miss the message of the show in its gimmicks. Its like, luck depends on your attitude. If you have a negative outlook, you focus on unfortunate things that happen, and might miss all the positive things happening around you, or fail to take advantage of opportunities that come your way. The opposite is true for someone who has a positive outlook.
The other problem is the almost total lack of romance pf physical closeness. Besides the first kiss in first episode, it gives more of a bromance feel even though clearly the message is about dating. However, the words gay or homosexual are never mentioned by anyone which sort of normalizes the whole thing. Overall, a cute, lighthearted BL drama with adorable leads and a stunning visual presentation. There are moments of ample enthusiasm, a charming and beautiful couple with great chemistry. This may not be everyone's cup of tea. I enjoyed it and felt it was an easy breezy watch, as long as you take none of it seriously. (7/10)
Comments
The beginning was brilliant and magic. I laughed hard at the first kiss and that missed first date. The couple has such a cute chemistry. Too bad they never developped the romance more than that, I also regret the lack of physical closeness in the end. But that's also part of the cultural difference. I felt there was more of that in the end credits than in the actual show! Still the cute enthusiam this show radiates had me love it totally.
My husband liked it too (always a good indicator if I can recommend it...) and laughed as well.
I think going forward lets also ask your husband what he likes. that could be a good indicator for us for shows to watch v/s avoid :)
Thanks for the recommendation as always
And watch Smiley on Netflix (even if we still haven't finished it). Pfff that's an easy one, totally unfair, I wouldn't even call it a recommandation (bad faith on my side? I don't know what you're talking about)