Recap

A dazed Yoh receives the offer that sets everything off from a mystery man that we know is Mizuki. If Yoh does whatever he wants, he’ll financially support Yoh so he can pursue his manga dreams.

Sometime later, Yoh is watching a live weather channel where Mizuki is a meteorologist. He takes note of the forecast for reasons we’ll learn soon. He also talks on the phone with a manga artist friend who is also obsessed with Mizuki.

Yoh claims he likes Mizuki’s facial structure, not the man himself. The friend is unconvinced. Yoh is depressed about his prospects as a manga artist. The friend tries to cheer him up.

Mizuki gets home, turns off Yoh’s phone and says he’s hungry. Annoyed, Yoh cooks dinner and VO’s that Mizuki was his senpai in college and that’s how they met. Mizuki wants to know about this woman Yoh was talking with, and Yoh interprets his chilly reaction as a lack of interest.

Despite his annoyance, Yoh continues to watch Mizuki’s show. The weather is an integral part of their relationship, since they only have sex when it’ll be sunny the next day. Yoh comments that it’s been raining a lot. Then claims to dislike the rain for the same reason as everyone else.

But then, watching Mizuki, he gets flustered when he hears it’ll be sunny.

Yoh continues to VO how indifferent he thinks Mizuki is, even as Mizuki initiates skinship and drags him to bed. Yoh feels they aren’t really lovers and doesn’t get why they only do it at certain times.

Another flashback shows us that Yoh was on the verge of quitting when Mizuki made the salacious bargain. That was three years ago.

Yoh hangs the sheets to dry. He watches the weather channel and learns it’ll be raining for a while. He catches himself being disappointed and tries to convince himself it’s a good thing.

Thoughts

I don’t know why the show tried to be coy about who Yoh was living with in the beginning. The poster and previews exist. It’s not a great fake-out.

But it is a different set-up. Even if, like so many BL couples, they started out as classmates that’s not what our story is about. We open with them already ‘together’ (though Yoh might disagree). The falling-in-love-to-committed-relationship arc is popular for a reason, but I like seeing a couple work on their relationship. Being in love and together is great, but how do couples make it work day-in-and-day-out?

This set-up though, really puts us somewhere in between both places. They are in a relationship, but Yoh doesn’t think it really is one. Yoh though, is not the most reliable narrator. He claims to hate Mizuki, yet watches his program all day. He thinks they aren’t really lovers after three years of living together. He thinks Mizuki doesn’t care about him when Mizuki supports him so he can work on his passion.

Not that I think these things are all clear cut. Their relationship is confusing and complicated and the first episode is only a glimpse at the surface. Even having watched this once already, I’m looking forward to getting back under that surface and also seeing them grow.

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Our Dining Table is currently available in the US on Viki