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 ...
Kazuaki lives with his longterm girlfriend, buttoner a time the girlfriend has completely lost interest in sex. While they still get along, she always turns down his sexual advances. Kazuaki grows increasingly frustrated and feels unfulfilled in their relationship. One night he accidentally sends an email to a wrong id thinking of it as a restaurant. Realizing his mistake, he sends an apology email to the receiver. Nakarai replies back, telling him not to worry. They continue exchanging short messages, developing a casual back-and-forth. Despite being complete strangers, their conversations feel easy and natural. Over time, they become pen pals. Slowly they get comfortable and start to talk about their relationships as well. Nakarai lives with a friend, who has been with him, taking care of him, ever since Nakarai's parents died by there is no physical intimacy between them leading to a very sexually frustrated Nakarai. The two men realize the parallels in their situations. They can relate to each other. Over a period of time, the two men figure out that they work in same company when a chance outing to a museum opens the secret, The two men book a hotel for sex and make it clear that this will be just physical with no emotional attachment. However, neither of them can get the other one out of their mind. Kazuaki's girlfriend finds out the truth and leaves him, but in a surprise event, Nakarai's friend confesses his love to him and also the reason why he cannot get intimate. Few days pass, where both these men now try to suppress their feelings for one another, deleting the contacts, but eventually can't hold back and on a rushed finale, Kazuaki and Nakarai start their romance with a passionate kiss.
The series tackles an interesting, unexplored and a very meaningful and important topic - importance of sex and physical intimacy in relationships. Instead of rushing into a quick, meaningless fling, their journey unfolds over multiple episodes. It ensures you understand their personal lives, sympathize with their inner conflicts, and care about their happiness. But it is very evident that they are both sexually frustrated. This love story seems to be going well. Sadly, we are not told things in details from their partners perspectives. Sure, they say their reasons but it's not compelling enough. They seem like mere obstacles to the relationship instead of fully realized characters and I think they should have been given more depth to justify actions of our main two characters going out and looking for love outside. As I mentioned above, towards the last two episodes the show does total downhill. The focus shifts to the fallout from the angsty melodrama, almost overshadowing the romance. After so much tension and longing, the conclusion feels more like a drizzle than a downpour. I had really enjoyed the first few episodes where the duo change messages, talk in office without realizing who each other is and their eventual secret reveal. But a shallow and rushed ending destroyed all the excitement that I had. Was it lust, was it love? How did this love develop? Is it so easy to move on from your long term relationships? Etc. A few questions like these are just left open.
As actors the two men do a good job with what was handled to them in the script. Both of them are strikingly handsome and share a good chemistry together. Cinematography was beautiful and felt very gentle and poetic with rain serving as an important backdrop in most of the scenes. A show that started off well but could have done better with some more thought given in the last part. (6.5/10)
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