Welcome to my Saturday blog post, where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week, I recapped episodes 7-8 of Reset, where Tada turns Armin into a purple cow. IYNYN, if you don’t, read my recap.
I also recapped the final episodes 13-14 of The Next Prince. In the end, everything came down to one guy hitting another guy with a pointed piece of metal. You can read more of my spoiler-free-ish thoughts on the full series
What did I watch this week besides The Next Prince? Some old man yaoi! I’m halfway through:
10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 – 40までにしたい10のこと – 2025
Currently airing Japanese Old Man Yaoi BL, I’ve watched 6 of 12 episodes.
A man on the verge of 40 realizes there are some things he wants to do, and unexpectedly gets help from a handsome younger subordinate.
Here’s a link to the Episode 1 Highlight.
This show has everything: height difference, age gap, and power imbalances (everything the internet loves!)
I’ve been a fan of our older male lead for a while
You might remember him as a side character in Silent. He’s short and has an unusual look, maybe it’s the uneven front teeth, which I like because sometimes I get tired of the tall, perfect-looking men dramas force us to watch.
He’s perfect for this role, which requires him to occasionally wear a walrus onesie with a pink bow. At work and in his social settings, he’s warm, responsible, and slightly distant. Alone, or later with our taller lead, he’s terribly cute and just a little lost.
Our taller, younger subordinate is tall and perfect-looking. He’s also pushy. When he sees our older leads list, he insists on becoming a partner in all the activities.
A setup so good they had to use it twice
If you’ve watched Old Fashioned Cupcake (and if you haven’t, you should), this is all very familiar. Older boss is getting older, younger co-worker with a crush exploits this to get closer to them while forcing them to eat delicious food. Both are based on manga that are available in English.
But there are some differences. The biggest one is that their sexuality is a bigger part of the story here. In Old Fashioned Cupcake, it was barely touched on.
Here, it feels like the reason our older lead hasn’t done these things is because he’s gay. He hasn’t had a partner, and he represses himself because he doesn’t fit society’s expectations. When he gets home, he puts on the walrus onesie and allows himself to enjoy cute things, because he can’t for the rest of the day.
Unlike our cupcake lead, our lead here desperately wants to change. While he still needs more than one push, he wants a partner. The younger lead recognizes they are both gay and uses it to earn his trust. This makes the romantic aspect of their story more open from the start.
This drama is also longer, though the manga isn’t
It feels a bit more like a slow burn, since we’re already at episode 6 and everything is so chaste, I know it’ll bother some people. The drama is stretching out the content of the manga, and I wonder if it’ll get tired or go off the rails in the end.
But so far, this is a nice, sweet story with an adorable male lead and a hot male lead, and a height difference not seen since See Your Love. I’m happy.
Okay, let’s do this:
The Next Prince – ข้ามฟ้าเคียงเธอ – 2025
Recently aired Thai royalty fantasy BL with 14 episodes.
A young man discovers his Dad isn’t his Dad, he’s a prince, and the royal family is evil. Also, there’s a hot bodyguard.
It’s a tale as old as time, not the plot of The Next Prince, but the way it worked for the first half before falling to pieces in the second half. I had strong Jack & Joker flashbacks as the show tried too hard to tackle too many world issues, and the main character’s emotional journey got lost in the mess.
So what was right, and where did it go wrong?
The characters were great. Our young Not-Prince is raised outside the stifling world of the royal family and has a free and open attitude. Brought “home” by his quiet, Forbidding Bodyguard, he’s forced to live in a rigid structure that he, and I, think should be abolished. He has to navigate this world without getting sucked into it or destroyed by it.
He’s only there to solve the mystery of what happened to the man who raised him. He’s also there for the Bodyguard, who ends up caught between the young not-prince and the King.
This is symbolic of how our Bodyguard is caught between the duty he was born into and the freedom to make his own choices and pursue what he wants. You can see how trapped he is in the world he grew up in, and how enchanting he finds this young man who doesn’t believe in it.
We also meet other characters. A lot of them. Another not-prince and a not-princess who are dealing with violent and sexist fathers. Their fathers. A prince with no heirs who smiles a lot. A butler. A visiting prince. A young student and activist. A sick sister.
And have I mentioned the fencing?
This show should have been more about fencing
(I’m only kind of kidding.)
In a very YA Novel set-up, our young not-princes are destined to fence it out to determine whose father becomes the next King. It’s absurd, but that’s fine. What’s not great is that fencing is never explained, and I have no idea how it works.
At least with the racing in Pit Babe, I know that whoever is in front is winning. With fencing, I have no idea what gets a point and what doesn’t. I watch the scoreboard more than the sport.
Then, around the midpoint, the situation changes and becomes less about fencing. Several things are resolved for our Not-Prince, and he doesn’t have much to do. Neither does his Bodyguard. Everyone else has things to do, but they aren’t given much on-screen time to do them.
It’s frustrating because the show had a lot of potential. Something like Pit Babe can get away with being a mess because that’s what I expected from the beginning. This show set up something and then didn’t follow through, wasting the talents and chemistry of its leads.
I think it should have stayed focused on the fencing, and the power struggle between the Not-Prince and his Grandfather and the Bodyguard.
I will always give points for being ambitious
There was a lot of great stuff I enjoyed. The beginning was dramatic and exciting, with some good fight scenes, as our leads fled the UK ahead of some attackers. Our Bodyguard’s trauma was revealed, and our Not-Prince went from hoodies to elaborate costumes. His fights with his Grandfather and an old, powerful system set him up as an underdog who would need to learn and grow if he wanted to escape and take a boyfriend with him.
Even though it failed to live up to what it promised, the second half did have some good dramatic moments and a very unexpected shoot-out. Eventually, very late in the story, it got back to the Bodyguard’s emotional arc, so at least it wasn’t forgotten.
If you liked something like Jack and Joker, and don’t mind a story that fails to live up to its promises because at least it tried, this may work for you. If a strong second half and strong story are important, you’d probably be happier to skip this one. Or just read my recaps.
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