Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching but not recapping.
This week I recapped episodes 3-4 of Until We Meet Again, where our fated lovers finally have met again. I also recapped episodes 5-6 of The Sign, wherein we see some shirtless dangerous chemical mixing.
This weeks reviews both involve BLs with restaurant owner/chef’s as leads. I did not mean to do that.
First we have:
Although I Love You, and You? – 好きやねんけどどうやろか – 2024
Currently airing Japanese BL, I’m at 3 out of 10 episodes.
The owner/chef of a small restaurant falls in insta-love with an office worker who was relocated from Tokyo to Osaka.
Here’s a highlight from episode 1.
One thing I appreciate about Japanese dramas is that they let their leads be characters. I probably first appreciated this in We Married as a Job. The ML in that drama was an awkward dork, and at no point did he take off his glasses and become the life of the party. He was sweet. He was kind. He was thoughtful. But he was never the typical romantic hero.
Similarly here, our Tokyo-transplant office worker is an awkward dork, though a slightly different kind. Which makes it so sweet that our handsome, fitness-concerned restaurant owner-chef falls for him instantly. He’s not the stereotype of the kind of person one falls immediately in lust with, and I love it.
(None of this is to be negative against awkward dorks, that’s why I love how Japan embraces them.)
So what’s happening?
Our restaurant chef/owner has to grapple with these immediate strong feelings for a near stranger. First things first, they become friends — and discover they have very little in common.
Along the way we start to learn about both of their romantic histories. Our chef/owner seems to have had a recent relationship that wasn’t good for him. Our office worker is recently divorced.
So far I’m liking that our owner/chef is a gay man who had at least one relationship. I like that we’re in Osaka so I get to hear the Osaka dialect. I like that we’re slowly getting to know the characters.
I admit that I’m a little worried about the 10 episode count and various characters who could turn this into another Naked Dining mess. A good plotless romance is fine by me. Annoying external conflict in the form of relentless side characters determined to ruin everything is a pass.
I also hate the English translation of the title, which hurts my head.
As of episode 3 things are proceeding nicely though, so I’ll keep going!
Our other owner/chef is in a drama I just finished:
VIP Only – 保留席位 – 2023
Recently aired Taiwanese BL with 10 episodes.
A writer struggling with his third novel takes up residence at a cafe and catches the attention of the chef/owner.
Unfortunately, my initial confusion about this show (which I talked about in my initial review) never went away. I never figured out what story they were trying to tell.
On one hand, it seemed to try to be an introspective slice-of-life piece. There was a lot of staring, a decent amount of voice over, and profound statements about relationships.
On the other hand, it had all the tropes. These tropes would attack out of nowhere, unconnected to anything that was happening. Then just as fast, they were gone. It even had the same ending conflict as You Are Mine, a related show with a very different plot.
There was a lot of vagueness to the characters’ motivations. Someone decides to do something because another character told them something so now they feel something. With so little details, I never got a clear understanding of the characters, who they were or why they were doing anything.
It was so bad that sometimes our side characters would explain what was happening to our lead characters. I guess at least someone knew what was going on.
It wasn’t offensively bad, but I don’t know who I’d recommend it to.
Of the three shows to come out of this same Taiwanese production company, I liked Stay By My Side the best. It was silly and plotless, but I understood the characters and enjoyed their strange relationship.
Does that mean I won’t be watching their next production, Anti Reset? Um. It has a robot in it. So. Yes. Yes I will be watching. It starts next week.