Please see the gif for a summary.
##Side Note
When watching or reading Japanese BL, I always feel fortunate to have never lived in a time or place without equal rights and protection from discrimination. And no one has ever said anything negative to me because of my sexuality. - Plus, stories do not have to represent modern Japan. While discrimination is legal in Japan, it's socially unacceptable (and illegal for workplaces in Tokyo). A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister's chief aide was fired for saying he would "never live next to or look at" a gay couple, so they have expectations for even the most powerful people.
##Strengths
- S-tier dub cast - The main va were also Issei (High School DxD) and Deku (My Hero). Thankfully I didn't watch enough of those to have those extremely different roles engrained in my head.
- Beautiful animation style, similar to CoMix Wave for reference
- OST conveying huge emotional swings
- 55 minutes is a great length for a romance movie. Romance is not a genre I enjoy enough to watch or read anything for over an hour straight.
- Great internal conflict in the adult main character, Shun, over whether he will let Mio, the young bisexual, follow his path and endure the discrimination.
- Good transition to well-developed backstory for Shun. Bullying at school and eviction from family based on sexuality is not a new story, but the short clips avoid generic and condense the emotional impact to amplify it.
- Mio is finally a character in a romance who knows what he wants and has a normal, respectful personality.
- They actually had sex. So many anime won't even let the main characters kiss.
- A big one: The ex was a very well written character. Her ignorance and selfishness is subtle and displayed in a way that I can understand how she became this way after being raised in her society and not being encouraged to consider others' feelings. Same dub va as Kawai from A Silent Voice, and a very similar role.
##Weaknesses
- Why are there scenes of them as super little kids?
- On my first watch, I had trouble picking up on some plot and character elements, although I was distracted by the romance. And I appreciate an anime with a lot going on.
- The words seme/uke (top/bottom in English) give me tiny cringe when a not-gay person uses this in a serious setting (perhaps I have seen this too often in not-serious settings). Obviously, the BL standard that people have seme/uke personalities and permanent sexual positions is unrealistic; however, I like many unrealistic elements in the right context. I just think a serious romance is not the right context for kinky language and objectification.
- They said Shun was fem once but he never acted fem and it never came up again so it felt like a stranded plot point and really just there for a stereotype.
- The comment on Mio's sexual experience was also stranded an unnecessary. I don't like the expectation that 17yo and 20yo had sex before.
##About My Review
- In my first 45 days watched, I have rated three anime 10/10. The other two are Code Geass and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- I am gay, although the mangaka and target audience are not so anyone interested can watch it!
- Please public message me to discuss my review.