I was very hesitant to watch this show when I found out that one of the characters follows another to university after having met once in the woods. It felt pretty stalker-ish to me, and I almost didn't watch this series because of it, but boy oh boy am I glad I did.

Don't get me wrong, Taishin being so enamoured with Takara after meeting one time and then following him not only to Tokyo but also to the same university is still pretty creepy. I'm glad Takara said so too and was taken aback, because if someone approached me at uni being like "Remember that one time you consoled me in the woods? I wanted to thank you, so I followed you here. Hi!" I would run away real fucking fast. Definitely not a fan of how the whole thing started, but it's pretty easy to forget amidst all the cuteness that follows.

Is this show very realistic? Not really. Taishin is portrayed as a country bumpkin who appears to have lived in a cave for all his life, because the guy doesn't even know that gay people exist. That seems incredibly silly, but it does make for Taishin being very endearing as he tries to figure out life in the city and his feelings for Takara. He's just so pure and awkward, and you want to put him in your pocket at all times (though I do understand why he may be annoying to some people). He's all in all a really solid character who's easy to love, and he definitely reads neurodivergent to some extent which is never explicitly stated but still nice to have.

The real treasure of this show, however, is Takara. At first, he appears to be your standard J-BL love interest who's emotionally constipated and acts cold towards others. However, that cliché gets broken rather quickly. Takara is honestly such a breath of fresh air because he's not only very in touch with his feelings, but he's also not shy about making them known to Taishin. Despite his resting bitch face, he actually emotes a lot, and he's really good at communicating. The progression of his feelings for Taishin seems more realistic than in most other BLs because he slowly warms up to him more and more, and he's honest about not being 100% there yet when they two become boyfriends. Despite that, he keeps reassuring Taishin and makes him feel comfortable. His past and his shitty relationship with his mother is very interesting, because he's afraid of being overly possessive which is nice considering in most BLs possessiveness is presented as something normal or even cute. Maybe because of his fear, Takara never comes across as the toxically jealous kind of guy. He even feels bad for coming over to Taishin's house late at night after not having seen him for a while, and he voices out his thoughts. In turn, Taishin reassures him that Takara hasn't done anything he didn't like, and that he'd tell him if he did. All in all their relationship seems pretty healthy with the way they communicate, and they're both green flags — apart form their first kiss. That wasn't a great move on Takara's part, because he basically just pushed Taishin against the bed and didn't give him any time to consent or not consent before smashing their lips together. The way I see it, their kiss in episode 9 should've been their first kiss.

Generally, I have a hard time with Japanese BLs because they often feel so awkward, and (maybe because of that) I hardly ever feel romantic chemistry between the main leads. This show was also painfully awkward at times, but not in a secondhand embarrassment kind of way, just in a two young people in their first relationship kind of way. It fit well with the characters, and the main leads had plenty of chemistry together. The acting was also amazing, so this has easily become my favorite J-BL despite the strange start. It has interesting elements to offer such as the hiking club or their first date being bird-watching, and it's refreshingly self-aware by pointing out that Taishin following Takara to Tokyo was creepy. The show isn't perfect, and the ending felt a bit abrupt but that's a small issue in the grand scheme of things. All in all, Takara's Treasure feels unique despite the standard campus BL setting, and it has cute, fluffy vibes all around. I'm so glad I didn't just write this off when I first heard about it and gave it a chance, because I definitely see myself re-watching this a bunch of times.