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 5-6 of The Crow Club. We’ve moved onto the second couple, so it’s time to watch Phatee learn to dance.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of Oops! Mysterious Sounds, which, contrary to its title, has yet to feature much in the way of mysterious sounds. BUT, we have kissing.
In this week’s Mid-Week Update on my Patreon, I had thoughts about Juliet & Juliet, Good Boy, School Trip Season 2, and You Should Be The One To Kiss Me. Join my Patreon to get a Mid-Week drama report, as well as advance notes and rough drafts of the shows I’m recapping.
I’M IN JAPAN. So let me share some final reviews for shows that are also in Japan. Starting with:
After Moving Seats, the Boy Behind Me Has a Crush on Me – 席替えしたら、どうやら後ろの男が俺のこと好きらしい – 2026
Recently aired Japanese High School BL with 8 episodes.
The set-up is in the title, but whatever. A brooding hot guy gets a crush on a classmate with low self-esteem. Awkward courtship ensues.
Don’t expect any surprises from this show
Which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your taste/mood.
Of the three shows I’m reviewing here, this is the most solid, easy watch. The actors are too old for their parts but also experienced enough to make up for it. The plot is one we’ve seen before but doesn’t go off the rails. And the show is just long enough to be fun and satisfying without anything dragging on too long.
As I mentioned in my initial review, we’ve basically got the School Trip setup, which wasn’t new when School Trip did it either. Hot guy who feels burdened by his handsomeness falls hard for the unpopular, kind guy.
To me, the strength of this show is in our Unpopular Guy. While he had the typical backstory and self-esteem issues that come with his kind of character, he showed remarkable bravery when faced with the love of an overly attractive classmate. His arc, from fear and low self-esteem to determination, was nice to see.
If you just want easily digestible young love, this is a good choice
It’s not a show I immediately want to rewatch, but it would be the perfect watch on a hard week when I need a pick-me-up. That’s my prescription.
This next one was a more ME show, but it had problems:
Popular Serizawa Acts Weird around Me – 陽キャ集団にいる芹沢は、俺の前だと様子がおかしい – 2026
Recently aired Japanese High School BL with 11 episodes.
Popular Serizawa starts acting weird around the loner kid for a very specific reason. But it’s not what you think.
Here’s a link to another trailer that’s in Japanese, and it’ll just have to do.
I really, really liked Serizawa
Sometimes it feels like 99% of BL Tops and romantic male leads in BG are Quiet and Cold. And also wildly popular, smart, and sought after. They have to suffer the bitter pill of being liked because they’re smart and hot, and often aren’t that nice about it. See above show.
The poor things. Okay, 99% might be an overstatement, but there are a LOT of them.
Serizawa bucks that trend by being happy, cheerful, and perfectly okay with being popular. There’s no trauma in his past that he holds against the world. He’s nice to everyone, regardless of why they’re nice to him, but isn’t a pushover. He seems reasonably smart, but no one makes a big deal over it.
He’s genuinely excellent partner material. No fixing needed. I adored him.
AND, I liked the set-up, which is most of what I talked about in my initial review. Yes, using BL to start the relationship isn’t new, but it’s a less traveled path and made for some fun, silly moments.
Plus, I clearly agree with Serizawa, he IS the perfect top.
The problem is the show was 11 episodes long
And the conflict ended up being the typical conflict in a low-conflict BL: Bottoms Be Dumb (although Serizawa kindly called Suzuki dense). He had no clue what was going on, no matter how obvious Serizawa made it that he was genuinely interested in him.
I think this would have worked fine for 8 episodes, but with 11, it Dragged On. It made Serizawa look infinitely patient and understanding, but Suzuki didn’t look good.
It didn’t ruin it for me, but it was disappointing
I’m probably more likely to rewatch this one than After Moving Seats, but I’ll probably skip episode 9.
The last show is less of your typical, tropey High School BL and more its own thing:
Hold on, Harutora-kun – ちょっと待とうよ、春虎くん – 2026
Recently aired Japanese High School BL with 10 episodes.
A senior who hides his feelings behind a mask gets a younger roommate who is maybe a little too straightforward about his feelings.
As I wrote about in my initial review, this show is a little more realistic and a little less BL fantasy.
On the surface, it’s got a lot of similarities with the previous two shows. One of the guys is handsome and popular and good at sportsball. The other guy is less popular and has self-esteem issues.
But this one is messier and more complicated, like reality
The reason one of them has self-esteem issues is that he’s gay and bullied for it. And when our sportsball guy pursues him with typical BL aggressiveness, it’s a bit much. Hold on, Harutora-kun. For real, dude. Take it down a notch. You’re overwhelming your partner.
And then there’s sex, and bodies, and all that stuff.
It’s messy, it’s complicated, and it’s not always fun. But it is still a High School BL, so it’s nothing near Fool in Love level toxic. The overall message was still hopeful. Harutora-Kun did learn to hold on and chill a bit.
I really liked watching two nice high school guys navigate a serious relationship
These ten episodes weren’t spent on the back-and-forth confusion of whether they liked each other or not. They cleared that up early, then spent the rest of the episodes figuring out how to support each other even if signals got missed, things weren’t communicated, and the outside world interfered.
While we see this more often in Thai High School BL, it’s pretty rare in Japanese High School BL. Because of the short episode count and short episode length, it felt rushed at times, but I also appreciated the tight pacing.
For me, this might be the most meaningful of the three that took me through the most feelings. It might even be the one I’m most likely to rewatch, but not when I need something that’s just light and fluffy.
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