I Wanna Put Taishin in My Back-Pocket

How can one be so perfectly handsome and incredibly endearing simultaneously? I'll tell you who, Eito, the mastermind behind the character Taishin who's an all-around cutey that I want to put in my back pocket. But besides how adorable he is, I thoroughly enjoyed this JBL. It balanced out the actual story plus romance very well, and I watched this without being bored or skipping through or wanting to scream at my laptop.

Let's Dive In.

Now, going into this, I think the first thing I want to point out is a major flaw within a smaller subplot of this series. Taishin ends up being too nice to this older gentleman to the point where this man does everything to "accidentally" bump into Taishin, even going so far as to stay by Taishin's door until nighttime waiting for him to answer. Now, this is, without a doubt, creepy as hell, However, considering the fact that Taishin went so far as to follow Takara to Tokyo to go to his exact university just to be with him isn't much of a difference. This is why I see it as a flaw considering that Taishin himself, although not stated ever in the series, also was pretty much "stalking" Takara. He even buys him his favorite marbles, says really -out-of-pocket things in the beginning, and even states that he moved just to be closer to Takara. Weird? 100%. Again, the show never combats his actions, but it's very clear that in any real-world situation, what Taishin did would not be okay. Even with this, it didn't deter my overall score because everything else was just too good.

Taishin and Takara's relationship is my cup of tea. The stoic seme and the bubbly uke, urgh, they were perfect. I do wish that we could've seen a much more vulnerable side to Takara, like a crying scene, or one where he's emotionally distraught and just letting it all out. There is one scene where he gets vulnerable, but it's not as heavy-hitting as I'd like it to be. I liked the comparison of his liking marbles to then Taishin being his life-size marble and comparing his "shining eyes" to the glass marbles. While it seems incredibly niche to me to like something like looking at regular-degular glass marbles, I think it was a neat add-on for Takara's personality in terms of his upbringing and in the present with Taishin. Taishin is just a ball of sunshine and can do no wrong, which is also the ultimate flaw of his character. It's not so bad to the point where he's unwatchable, but at times, it's hard to tell what the writers were trying to play at with his character. Their relationship is incredibly endearing, and while I won't go so far as to say they had the best chemistry in JBL, I will just say that I enjoyed it enough that it catches me in my feels at certain points, plus there's a delightful height difference that steals my attention immediately. They had some pretty dead fish kiss, not so "dead" per se, but they definitely could've done better.

Another nit-picky thing, but there's this characteristic about Taishin that I'm not sure if it should be read further into or that's just how his character is, but there's a part where he's trying to figure out his feelings for Takara and they play into him not realizing that "gay" was a thing, or that his feelings for Takara were the same as loving an idol. Either he's been super shelter all his life, which could be the case since he's from rural parts of Japan, (even though his mom and entire family seem very open and accepting of Takara, yes only knowing that he's a friend, but still), or he was showing sure signs of being on the spectrum, like wondering what his feelings were, being so blunt about trying to figure it out, being confused with his emotions, growing such an oddly close relationship with his bird that he still talk to him even though he's died. Okay, I'm probably thinking about it way too much, but that's just my look into Taishin's character further.

The special episode is cute, however, it's annoying that they turned their one girl friend into a manic BL-lover who follows Taishi and Takara around and writes them. Other than that though, the special episode is pretty cute.

Ratings:

Story: 8/10 - Rather nice. Flowed well, had some bumps, but it was mostly all smooth sailing. Their romance is also pretty slow-burn which can be a nuance to some, but it was my favorite part.

Acting: 9/10 - Eito is the prettiest, cutest, most handsome man I've seen in BL in a while, and he can also act! Great expressions cried when needed to, and acted so well with his eyes. Same with Yoji (Takara) on the beautiful scale, but I think the writers gave him a pretty one-dimensional character that most actors could've played, just not as devilishly adorable as Yoji. Everyone else did a good job as well.

Music: 6/10 - didn't pay it much attention.

Recommendation Value: 9/10 - it's s cutesy while still holding together a nice and complex plot, the actors are all beautiful, and I definitely think this should be your next watch if you haven't seen it already.

Leia Mais

Simply Just Not For Me

I told myself at the beginning of this year that I wouldn't force myself to watch anything that doesn't immediately catch my attention or interest. Unfortunately, First Note of Love did just that.

Let's Dive In.

I think this is just one of those series that just isn't for me. I cannot handle the long drawn-out singing scenes, or the fact that none of them look like they can actually play an instrument. I feel like in my watch of just 3 episodes, I did more skipping than watching, and that says a lot.

There are also some characters that appear on screen way too much for me, like Neil's managers or workers or whatever the hell they are. They have their own scenes, but they feel so irrelevant and added just for timing purposes. I can't sit through series anymore where the main focal point of the series is taken away just for the added functions of nuanced characters.

I feel nothing for Neil and Sea, just purely nothing. I think Sea does shyness pretty darn good, and Neil is good at acting like he doesn't give a fuck, but together, I'm just not feeling it. Which is sad, cause I love age gaps, but they didn't spark anything out of me. The ending scene in episode 3 though was actually pretty cute, just not enough for me to keep watching.

I feel like this series in itself isn't bad, it's just simply not for me. I felt like I even forced myself to watch the first three episodes, and I don't want to do that for the remainder of the series.

Ratings:

Story: 6/10 - honestly, a decent plot about a band that falls apart after the death of one of the brothers. The story seemed like it could've really gone somewhere with the growth of Neil as he processes all of it, but it's not enough to keep me watching, Too many irrelevant characters get too much screen time, which is a no-no for me. The romance, from what I've seen in three episodes, does absolutely nothing for me.

Acting: 8.5/10 - Great, no one looked like they couldn't act. If anything, it's this series' strong suit. But they should've done some rehearsing on how to fake-play instruments.

Music: 5/10 - Skipped through it all. A personal problem of mine, not the series.

Recommendation Value: 5/10 - If you like singing, this series might work out for you. Otherwise, no.

Leia Mais