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A Man Who Defies the World of BL 2024 (Japanese Series)

By Golu
After a couple of years off, the creators finally dropped a third season of this show, oddly titled with 2024 in it for some reason I genuinely can't figure out. The story basically picks up right where things left off, following our lead Mobu as he keeps trying to survive inside this whole BL universe, just another character desperately trying not to fall for another guy. Season two left us with his relationship with Kikuchi, and this season kicks off right as Kikuchi heads off to university, which means Mobu's single again and honestly couldn't be happier about it. With six episodes, each running about 23 minutes, this is a quick, easy watch. Now that Mobu's back to being single, he's got to stay alert for every signal or trope that could end up pulling him into another relationship with a guy if he's not careful. So across these episodes, we watch him run into two of these signals per episode through the people around him and how they end up falling for each ...
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A Very Natural Thing

By Golu
You have to watch this film knowing that it came back in 1974. Its a simple but very enduring love story and romantic drama of a 26 year gay man living in Manhattan. Even though the film may sounds dated, but interestingly the prime, plot and the story is as relevant in today's time as it must have been then. The film is subtle, basic, realistic without any histrionics or unnecessary drama.  we get to see a real, very honest view on being gay and finding love in a time when we were just developing our community’s voice.

After dealing with his religious background, our man David, 26 year old, who is a school teacher is coming to term with being gay. One night he meets Mark at a gay bar and they spend a night together. The one night stand turns into a relationship and they start living together. David is a hopeless romantic and views their relationship as a marriage, but Mark wants more sexual adventure. A strain starts to develop between them but for some reason they stay on together. They try to make it work by opening up the relationship but unfortunately things do not work out and they separate. David decides he has had enough. This leaves a bad taste in his mouth and he wonders if he will ever find love again. Few months later he meets Jason at a gay pride event and they begin talking about things and the conversation flows very naturally among them. Clearly their is attraction and compatibility. When they spend more time, Jason asks David to move in together. David openly admits his reservations from his relationship with Mark, and instead asks Jason to give him time. Reluctantly, and with obvious love for David, Jason agrees. We wrap up with a slow-motion cinematic moment between the two as they race naked towards the open ocean – beautifully captured and showing honest bonding between two men that is not sexual.

Looking what Manhattan must hav been like in 1970s was the biggest attraction personally for me while watching this film. The film is nicely shot, captivating the essence of films from that era. And it does have a few sex scenes which are all done very tastefully. At the beginning and closer to the end there are many snippets from people attending pride events and all which don't directly connect with the main storyline and feel completely unnecessary and for a few minutes you wonder if you are there to watch a documentary. Having said that, this is still an interesting film to watch because we do not have many nice gay romance films from 70s-80s time frame. They were dominated by the emergence of AIDS or flawed characters. This film represents a short period in time where gay liberation flourished, and filmmakers could explore relationships in much the same way that films with heterosexual characters did. I enjoyed the two loves that David has, it shows his growth as a person and how he is using his learnings for newer relationship. I quite enjoyed the film and wouldn't mind recommending it for a nice vintage vibe associated with it. (6.5/10)
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