Fujoshi, Ukkari Gei ni Kokuru
Oct. 29th, 2020 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sunako_yueJun (Daichi Kaneko) is an 18-year-old high school student. He hides the fact that he is gay from his mother and other people. Miura-san (Ryoko Fujino) is a classmate of Jun. She likes reading books about BL (genre depicting homoerotic stories). Jun tells Miura-san that BL is just fantasy and that gayness in real life is dirty. Miura-san tells Jun that his remark is offensive to gay people. Nevertheless, Jun and Miura-san become close. Jun becomes interested in Miura-san and Miura-san begins to have feelings for Jun. One day, Miura-san tells Jun that she likes him. (asianwiki-2019)
Objectively it is a very good Jdrama with good messages and very realistic. Subjectively, I hated the first 4 episodes but loved the last 4. Very mixed feelings... I was so uncomfortable in the first 4 episodes I almost drop it. I didn't, but I did watch them in a fast-forward pace.
There are many trigger warnings, such as bullying, forced outing of the closet, cheating, suicide, attempting suicide, etc. The acting was marvelous; I am a big fan of Kaneko Daichi since I first saw him in "Ashita no Yakusoku"; the boy can act and he is also an ikemen, so I have no idea why he isn't more popular. He even looks like Miura Haruma somewhat. His career so far has been a puzzle to me: from a school student in AnY to a salaryman in Ossan's Love to a school student again here. He doesn't shine in Comedies as he does in Dramas though. As for Fujino Ryoko (Miura-san), she was the real star for me in this drama. I rooted for her since she smiled for the first time. A very talented girl, how she isn't more popular?? A fantastic actress.
So since Miura Sae was the real MVP for me, and once she started to fall for Ando, it was hard to see they wouldn't go anywhere. It pained me when he accepted to be her boyfriend, trying to be "normal" and hiding his true self. But that wasn't my real problem with this drama... my main problem was that Ando was secretly having an affair with a married man.
Now, in this case I am not upset about the affair... the married guy is also gay but hides it from the world. I loved when he explained it at the end that, even if he was gay, he loved his wife. Gay men married to women can really love them (they make an example of Freddie Mercury and Mary), not just sexually, and it was the case for this married guy, only that he also loved men. So yes, the cheating part was understandable. But what made me so uncomfortable and disgusted was that Ando was, what, 17 years old? And his lover was like 40 🤢
Sae is a fujoshi, meaning, a big fan of yaoi, which I can understand. However, it made me very uncomfortable how these girls loved to sexualize pretty guys, or just put them in very awkward scenes. I am always disgusted when fujoshi goes "is he a seme or an uke?"... isn't that offensive?? Or when the girls were trying to make their boyfriends recreate yaoi scenes... awful.
So taking aside the whole statutory rape + Ando lying to poor Sae + the sexualizing thing, this story broke my heart many times. The OST of Queen didn't help either.. every time I listen to Freddie's voice it makes me want to weep. The messages this drama carry were meaningful and painful and real. Most of the hurt Ando gets is from his ignorant classmates or mother, and also his self-hate. Luckily he was 2 amazing friends like Sae and Ryohei.
The first half was like a 5/10 but the 2nd half was 9/10. Awww the feelings... 5+9=14 /2 = 7stars
Overall, rating: **7/10**
Objectively it is a very good Jdrama with good messages and very realistic. Subjectively, I hated the first 4 episodes but loved the last 4. Very mixed feelings... I was so uncomfortable in the first 4 episodes I almost drop it. I didn't, but I did watch them in a fast-forward pace.
There are many trigger warnings, such as bullying, forced outing of the closet, cheating, suicide, attempting suicide, etc. The acting was marvelous; I am a big fan of Kaneko Daichi since I first saw him in "Ashita no Yakusoku"; the boy can act and he is also an ikemen, so I have no idea why he isn't more popular. He even looks like Miura Haruma somewhat. His career so far has been a puzzle to me: from a school student in AnY to a salaryman in Ossan's Love to a school student again here. He doesn't shine in Comedies as he does in Dramas though. As for Fujino Ryoko (Miura-san), she was the real star for me in this drama. I rooted for her since she smiled for the first time. A very talented girl, how she isn't more popular?? A fantastic actress.
So since Miura Sae was the real MVP for me, and once she started to fall for Ando, it was hard to see they wouldn't go anywhere. It pained me when he accepted to be her boyfriend, trying to be "normal" and hiding his true self. But that wasn't my real problem with this drama... my main problem was that Ando was secretly having an affair with a married man.
Now, in this case I am not upset about the affair... the married guy is also gay but hides it from the world. I loved when he explained it at the end that, even if he was gay, he loved his wife. Gay men married to women can really love them (they make an example of Freddie Mercury and Mary), not just sexually, and it was the case for this married guy, only that he also loved men. So yes, the cheating part was understandable. But what made me so uncomfortable and disgusted was that Ando was, what, 17 years old? And his lover was like 40 🤢
Sae is a fujoshi, meaning, a big fan of yaoi, which I can understand. However, it made me very uncomfortable how these girls loved to sexualize pretty guys, or just put them in very awkward scenes. I am always disgusted when fujoshi goes "is he a seme or an uke?"... isn't that offensive?? Or when the girls were trying to make their boyfriends recreate yaoi scenes... awful.
So taking aside the whole statutory rape + Ando lying to poor Sae + the sexualizing thing, this story broke my heart many times. The OST of Queen didn't help either.. every time I listen to Freddie's voice it makes me want to weep. The messages this drama carry were meaningful and painful and real. Most of the hurt Ando gets is from his ignorant classmates or mother, and also his self-hate. Luckily he was 2 amazing friends like Sae and Ryohei.
The first half was like a 5/10 but the 2nd half was 9/10. Awww the feelings... 5+9=14 /2 = 7stars
Overall, rating: **7/10**
