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Contrast (Japanese Series)

By Golu
This is basically a high school BL where two guys who have nothing going on in common somehow end up getting really close to each other, and that's kind of the whole point of the title too. There's barely any drama or fluff packed in here, it stays pretty straightforward the whole way through. A little bit of friction pops up here and there, but it's nothing compared to what you'd normally get in this kind of show. Runtime wise you're looking at 8 episodes, each one sitting around 25-30 minutes. The two guys carrying the story are Akira and Kanata, and funny enough they knew each other's faces way before they ever knew each other's names. Kanata's the type everyone likes, always got people around him, popular guy, but there's this distance to him that people can't quite place. Turns out he had an injury that ended his football days, and that's what pushed him into being more withdrawn, and it only got worse once his younger brother got picked...
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Looking: Season 2 (TV series)

By Golu
Just finished watching the last episode of Season 2 and at the same time I also find out that the series has not been renewed for Season 3. Now that makes me upset, because e decent gay series are hard to find in the first place, and now HBO wants to take away that pleasure from us. Anyway, at least they are going to allow a special episode so that all the stories can be given a proper closure. Now I will wait for that.

Season 2 continues to focus on the 3 friends Patrick, Augustine and Dom. Patrick and his boss Kevin are now secretly dating. Initially hesitant, Patrick tells this to all his friends. Kevin has still not broken with his current boyfriend, so the things are complicated. Patrick initially is ok with this but can’t take it anymore forcing Kevin to take a decision. Ultimately patrick and Kevin end of moving n together but the end of season is not as rosy as it seems because it seems the 2 want different things form their relationship as far as monogamy is concerned. Augustine is trying to stay away from alcohol and meet a positive bear. For some reason, he has this instant liking for him and he tries his best to sort his life and see if he can finally make it with this new guy. H also joins him in his volunteer service of helping trans kids at a centre. He finally feels happy. And then we have Dom and his fag-hag roommate Doris. Dom is still trying to find out how to put his dream to reality by opening some sort of eating join. When Doris’ father dies, she is left with some money which she offers to Dom. At the same time, Doris also meets a black straight man, who is too much into her and too good to be true. She is struggling with balancing her friendly love for Dom and love for this new man because she wants things to work out for them. In between we see some side stories of other people around them including Rich who was Patrick’s ex boyfriend and also Dom’s older boyfriend whom he met in Season 1. Season 2 ends on a high not without putting any closure tony stories.

As in season one, my absolute favourite thing about this season is the performances. Every single actor, I mean, every single one of them is amazing. And the credit has to go to the director for this to extract such natural amazing performances. I also like that this season focussed on all three characters and not just Patrick. Augustine's character and story was developed further which was good to see. I think we still need to see more of Dom and Doris history. Although this season my absolute favourite was Doris. How I wish, there was more of her. Patrick’s character could use some more bot of fine tuning and a little more reactions. I loved the scene where he and Kevin plan for an overnight stay. The entire sequence is funny but so damn realistic. The entire premise is realistic and very life-like. You feel you are following your friends in real-life and watching them through a secret camera. The spontaneity of the actors is amazing. I wonder how much of this is rehearsed vs improvised.

I am sad that the series has not been renewed but maybe one day we will see a movie version of this. Meanwhile enjoy this and lets hope we see more LGBT theme series and films that are actually good. I am LOOKING :) (8/10)
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Comments

Unknown said…
so sad season 3 will not happen... we're left like "what?" in the season finale.. hahahaha
March 27, 2015 at 11:19 PM
Golu said…
So true .. but i have heard that they will do a special episode so that they can give a proper closure to all stories
March 28, 2015 at 3:02 PM
luigi43 said…
May be some "traditional family homophobic group" pression or just lack of audience beyond the expectations?
March 29, 2015 at 8:30 AM
Golu said…
I doubt there was lack of audience. It is a good series with great acting and direction It has to be some HBO corporate bullshit. But I hear they may come up with a film version as well !!
March 30, 2015 at 10:28 AM
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