Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
Kazuma joins the HR department at his new workplace in Tokyo where he is surprised to see his old classmate Ren. They both haven't seen each pother since high school and Ren is. Now a hard working and popular guy among his colleagues. After some initial awkwardness the two lost friends start to get close again. Although they seem amiable with each other, the two colleagues have an unspoken tension. They don't address what happened between them in the past. In Kazuma's mind, he calls Ren his first love and constantly thinks about him. In fact after a drunken night, Ren and Kazuma end up sleeping together but Ren demands that they stay just friends with benefits with no sleepovers. Eventually, we are told what really happened ten years back in school. Kazuma had moved from US to Japan in a new high school and that is when Ren reached out him to be friends. Turns out the two boys had sex when they were 15, and the incident somehow led to Kazuma getting pneumonia and being hospitalized. When he told the truth to doctors and family, they were all aghast. Kazuma's mother hits him and his own parents cut all ties with him and send him to Paris. Since then Ren has become a recluse. Now that Kazuma is back in his life, with his help he makes sure to bring Ren back to the guy who used to be full of love and cheerful. In parallel, there is a sub plot of the HR manager luring office girls into sex and sexual harassment. These women seek help from Ren who uses his contacts to get the justice they all deserve. Of course, how can the show be complete without some sort of drama. Kazuma's mother makes a re-entry making Ren go back into his shell and cut ties with kazuma. But like a very loving and caring and patient partner Kazuma makes Ren realize that it wasn't his fault and that he also has always loved Ren as much as he has him since they were kids.
Watching the early episodes is very intriguing because you know that these two have some history and you wonder what could it possibly be. The story becomes even more sophisticated after introducing the high school flashbacks. Tokyo in April is… evokes a sense of nostalgia, melancholy, and teenage regrets. When the story is revealed, it is shocking in an interesting way because I would have never imagined that. Showing 15 year olds taking about sex and actually going through it was interesting. Also that one incident left very different impressions on both of them. Kazuma being hospitalized filled Ren with guilt and his inability to hate himself and not being able to love or have sex with anyone at all. Meanwhile Kazuma was in coma all the time but by the time he woke up, Ren was already gone. The emotional journey develops nicely in the adulthood life and it's easy to connect with the two guys here, most of all Ren. Their bonding scene conjures warmth and familiarity, like old friends reconnecting. The couple also displays their intimacy through some intimate scenes which are done nicely. I thought bringing the office sexual harassment was an interesting sub plot, but the more I think of it, it was absolutely unnecessary. If I remove all those scenes, it does absolutely nothing to the main love story. In fact the resolution of that towards the final few episodes also felt very rushed.
As actors the lead couple has decent chemistry and acts well. In fact, even their younger counterparts do ell and interestingly they did look very much like their grown up versions. So good job, casting team. Unfortunately, how I wish that the show delved a bit deeper into the growing love between the lads. Instead it expects viewers to rely on a few fleeting intimate moments and flashbacks to convince themselves that the leads are genuinely, deeply, and madly in love, deserving of the world. After an interesting build-up, the last few episodes leave you feeling underwhelmed. But if you could just focus on the love story, it is still worth a watch for sure. (6.5/10)
Comments
There must be a doctor in the scriptwriting team who wrote the part of how Kazuma fell ill and ended up in a coma. There was so little time in the script for clarifying that and it was done in a comprehensible way. The both sides of the story afterwards were also matched really well - Kazuma wanting to know what made Ren leave and where did he go, and Ren wanting to keep the ugly past events in the past. When Ren finds the box of school papers in Kazuma's room and sees the whole scrap book about Kazuma actually looking for him all these years, it broke my heart. And just when it got back to one piece after those lovely kitchen scenes, it melted into a puddle when Kazuma said "Ren spent the night at my place".
I was thinking about the workplace harassment issues as well (and also tried removing that line in my mind) and it kinda made sense. But it took a really long time thinking and quite many "what if"-s. My first thought was that maybe it's for the many assaulted girls who can't find a person trustworthy enough to whom they could tell their story and the message was "it helps when you find a man who's on your side". Or maybe it was to illustrate the fact that Ren had worked out the injustice he suffered in the past and turned it into helping others. I just refuse to believe that this storyline was added for no reason or just for some added drama :D The whole series was so ikebana-Japanese that I can't bring myself to think that a twig or a flower is added just as a gap filler :D
And indeed the past couple and present couple felt like the same people. Not just the looks, but personalities as well. Really good job of the casting and directing team.
The beginning hooked me. I wanted to know what happenened. The friends with benefits, and no shy from sex was very welcome in a Japanese BL. I liked the past story too. And I found Ren very very charming. Both actually have large and square shoulders, yummy.
The main problem for me was the horrible rythm. It needed more punch but here it was too slow, borderline boring at times. I know it's supposed to intensify the feelings, but it made me lose focus more than the contrary. Not to mention totaly overly dramatic, japanese style. Which I don't mind that much usually but here it bugged me. Like when Ren collapse after meeting Kazuma's mom. I totally understand the purpose and traumatism from the past etc. But not how it was portrayed. I don't even tell you my husband's thoughts about that haha ^^;
As you said, sexual harrassement is indeed totally disconnected from the rest, strange (but still worth it).
Thankfully the fluffiness of those 2 together made up for it. Both adult and young, which was a real pleasure.
Whatever our feelings maybe, at least we can all agree it is one of the better ones of this ocean of BL's coming our way non-stop and unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
@Sailor Maan Now that you mention the rhythm of the story, yes to that. That was probably the only thing that was kinda too different for a Northern viewer, but I thought it's just a Japanese thing and I'm not supposed to understand every tiny cultural difference.
Speaking of tiny things, I just remembered the scene in the bedroom when Kazuma brings Ren ice cream. What a lovely sweet and observant soul - and the way Ren looks at him after that... Made me swoon over "my" empath here, who knows my thing for tomato juice and occasionally brings me my favorite brand. Just because.