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 started recapping Love in the Moonlight with episodes 1-2, as you do. Everyone in their families is terrible. It’s no wonder they are already falling in love in the moonlight.
I also recapped episodes 7-8 of Goddess Bless You from Death. Not only does Thup have a magical ability to see ghosts, but he also has magical patience with all the nonsense around him
What did I watch this week? I finished two shows from Japan that only have that in common:
Love Begins in the World of If – ifの世界で恋がはじまる – 2025
Recently aired Japanese parallel worlds BL with 6 episodes.
A man living his worst life makes a wish for something different at a shrine, collapses, and wakes up to something different.
This unique and not-tropey BL was different, but ultimately lacking in the BL department.
And it can’t claim to be any other genre
Unlike a “BL” thriller like Spare Me Your Mercy, this isn’t a story with BL elements that belongs in another genre.
The parallel worlds stuff, which I explained more in my initial review, isn’t its own mysterious puzzle that needs to be solved. It exists solely so that our perfectly petite BL lead can have self-realizations, all of which revolve around his ginormous BL-sized co-worker. The parallel worlds stuff exists to lead to romance.
Unfortunately, we hit the “leads to romance” part in episodes 5 and 6, with 6 being the final episode. At least the show doesn’t cut the BL part, but it rushes through it so fast that even our leads’ epic size difference cannot be fully enjoyed.
And it’s not that the beginning is too slow. I’d say the first 5 episodes had the perfect straight-to-the-point-but-not-rushed pacing of a good Japanese BL. The problem is that it left us with one episode to go from a realization of love to … more.
This problem was made even worse because we’d spent more time with our wolf-sized lead’s counterpart in the parallel world. We barely knew this world’s version of him before the confessions were happening.
We needed at least one more, if not two more, episodes for us to get to know him and see them grow closer.
But this show isn’t a wash for me
Those first 5 episodes were still good, and I have a thing for novelty. I haven’t seen any other BL with these visuals or storyline. That, plus my fondness for a real loser who’s trying too hard in life, winning someone with a prize-stallion type physique, and it’s enough to keep me happy. Sometimes I’m easy.
But I’ll admit there are other shows with similar size differences and stronger romance. Just not with the parallel worlds part.
Therapy Game – セラピーゲーム – 2025
Recently aired Japanese not-revenge BL with 9 episodes.
A young man, bitter about love, has his hopes raised by a drunk man at a bar and dashed the next morning when they wake up in bed together.
In the initial review, I questioned whether I’d get past the lighting and be drawn in by the show. In the end, I’d say I did, but only a little.
For me, the show never surpassed just okay, and my enjoyment of it had more to do with my perception of the characters than with what was on screen.
This is the kind of show that would benefit from more STYLE
One of our leads is COMPLICATED, with smiling self-confidence and flirtation hiding his deeply vulnerable side. He’s petty (see why I like him?) and wants revenge on a drunk man for forgetting their time together. He hangs out at a bar with a diverse LGBTQ+ inclusive group who aren’t shy.
This is not a character who would be satisfied with flat lighting and still cameras. In fact, he’s a photographer, so it would definitely irritate him.
Yes, our other lead was bland. But he was attracted to the first lead for his wild, out-there qualities. He’s bland but not attracted to bland.
We should have gotten something more like Punks Triangle, which was hardly innovative style-wise, but at least played up its characters’ more extreme qualities.
Adding to the problem, they rearranged the scenes from the manga
They were trying to better fit the drama’s length and pacing. But rearranging scenes that way breaks the connection between them, which breaks the flow of the story.
Not enough was done to fix this problem, and it made our characters feel like they were meandering at times, repeating themselves at other times. Things just happened, but the show didn’t try to make them big or exciting. So they really just happened.
This left the burden of the show on the actors, characters, and their clothes. And they did their best (I quite liked our one lead’s clothing). But it was too much for them to carry.
Unlike the review above, this show might have benefited from cutting an episode or two.
But like the above review, I still liked it because sometimes I’m easy
I like a complicated, petty, vulnerable lead, and the less complicated leads drawn to them like moths to flame. I liked that it was still relatively low angst, and that’s one place where the bland production helped. Binging the second half of this wasn’t the worst way to spend an exhausted, post-holiday afternoon.
But honestly, I’m more likely to reread the manga than rewatch the drama.
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