Reviews

Sep 30, 2017
Preliminary (6/12 eps)
It's another gay romance where the tops are predatory deviants turning bottoms gay through sadism. At least time it's psychological and emotional blackmail rather than physical violence. Is that better or worse, though? Honestly I don't know - at least series depicting semes "raping ukes gay" just come across as smutty pornography for the author and audience's sexual enjoyment. This...I don't know. Did someone think this was a good idea for a romance?

Structurally, the series focuses on 2 couples. One between two high school students and former childhood friends recently reunited. The other between a former vigilante turned teacher and his underling, now a student at his school. One of these sounds far more benign and tasteful than the others. You would be surprised!

Hasekura and Ooshiba, the same age couple, essentially form because the former tells the latter that if he doesn't have sex with him he won't speak to him anymore, the latter being very attached and fond of Hasekura as a friend. Ooshiba is emotionally ruined by this, but for some reason none of his friends point out he's being abused by a sociopathic monster with no emotions and they all let him be with this disgusting, personality devoid character. Somehow a love story between two boys of the same age is more sinister and unpleasant than the one about the teacher trying to fuck his student...

This is just the first section of the show, but as an introduction it is quite nauseating. The bulk of it is made up of the romance between the two main characters, Ooshiba (the teacher, older brother of the previously mentioned Ooshiba) and Setagawa (his student). The concept is quite fun - I would have liked to see some sort of deliquent-romance hybrid story, where the two bond as they fight street gangs and Setagawa learns to see Ooshiba as an inspirational figure/lover.

Instead this all happens offscreen and in brief flashbacks. There's no chemistry between the two characters. They never act affectionate. There's no indication anywhere that one is struggling with feelings for the other until one comes out and says "I can't be with you" and then you're supposed to feel moved by the sadness of the other. It's...pretty pathetic. This show isn't supposed to be porn, but its characters are as shallow as if it was.

Visually, it's honestly quite nice, which is why I decided to give it a chance, along with its neat premise. It's not jaw dropping but the character designs are nice (if a bit generic bishy), the art style is consistent and things rarely go off model. The stylization during some scenes is a bit infrequent so when it crops up every once in a while it can be quite jarring, although it doesn't look bad.

Outwith the horrifically written romance, there isn't anything - so if you aren't enjoying that, the show positively crawls. It feels twice its length. Most episodes are just drama between the empty characters struggling with things you are not privy to.

As ever in BL, characters are never really gay. They don't have any semblance of sexuality prior to the story's events - and the story is always them being "turned gay" by this one special individual. They don't like men - except this one perfect guy! as if them being a childhood friend, or them being particularly effeminate makes it more understandable. This is a broader problem with the genre in general, so it's unfair to hold this show in particular accountable for it. But if you have problems with the genre, this is just those problems, iterated upon.

I see people exemplifying this as somehow better than its peers, or above them. Let me be clear: the only category that is the case for is animation (it looks better than other BL shows). In terms of story and romance - this is shit. This is not a good romance between men. This is a romance between cardboard cut out bishonen. If all you want is some cutesy bishies (and can find morally terrible bishies cute) cuddling or acting PG13 gay then sure, you may get some fun out of this. If you want a decent love story, this is not it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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