A delicious dessert with a questionable main ingredient
Lets first acknowledge the elephant in the room. Relationship between a teacher and student is fraught with ethical complexities due to power dynamics. As the series progressed I thought that I would accept it as fiction and move on but unfortunately, with the last couple of episodes, I am unable to ignore that discomfort. So this review will be based on the themes of the series.Beyond the forbidden central romance, this is a coming-of-age story. We see the jouney of our titular character Toki. He starts of as a delinquent who is quick to anger and violence. Studies are the last thing on his mind but we see his character and outlook towards life change due to his interactions with other characters like Rise, Shinji and Takuya. He learns to take his life more seriously and values the relationships he has build with his schoolmates. Although, he starts having feelings for his homeroom teacher Sahara, he also respects him and challenges himself to change. Sahara, too goes through his own jorney of self-identification as he grapples with his past regrets.
As a teenager in school, Toki suffers from the same identity issues that people his age face. Toki post his delinquent phase, struggles with societal pressure and insecurities about his academic performance. He is visibly stressed about where he wants his future to navigate. He questions his feelings towards another individual and finds it difficult to show how caring he is towards the people that matter to him. Shinji too suffers from failure to communicate his true feelings for Todo resulting in them moving apart and losing all communication with each other.
Toki and Sahara, too find solace and strength in each other. Sahara helps Toki unleashing his best qualities while Toki helps Sahara accept his past and his failures and move ahead. They act as each others support system and are constantly looking after each other.
Hachimura Rintaro's portrayal of Toki makes this series the most entertaining. He succeeds in bringing a different charm to the character of a lovable, confused, tough but soft-hearted Toki. With an innocent countenance and a twinkle in his eye, he steals the show.
In conclusion, this series weaves together a compelling and emotionally resonant story about acceptance and the pursuit of happiness in the face of societal pressures. It speaks about rising above the past failures and turning over a new leaf.
Was this review helpful to you?
Mediocre story yet the delightful charm from the cast triumphs
A teacher and student relationship might sound questionable but this drama allowed me to put it aside and just focus on the cute and fascinating story of the characters. I feel like I enjoyed seeing the cast more than the story itself. Toki, Rise, and Shinji are not just good-looking trio but also execute their most loveable side, their personalities. Although a lot of people from the show have prejudice regarding Toki’s behavior of fighting a lot, this boy has a heart of gold too. His girly and overdramatic gestures are too funny. Special mentions on his beautiful and elegant look when he plays as Snow White. Rise on the other hand needs a lot of screen time. I am curious about what will happen to his family since the story only talks about him having a lot of part-time jobs to help his family financially. Shinji is also a kind-hearted person with a masculinity that is still intact with his innocent looks. These three heartthrobs are my favorite people from the show.Sahara’s past may be a tragedy but I’m happy with the way they portray his character’s change game. He might not have to be the top swimming athlete to complete until he graduates, but he became a cool and genuine teacher. I think that the character introduction of his junior was unnecessary but I take it since the boy is cute too.
Overall, the drama is not that good and not that bad either, it is just average and fine. I guess this is a better rating enough for a show that has the perfect balance of its pros and cons. Nevertheless, the music in general from this show is top-tier and I liked it a lot.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Endearing sweet funny series
I found this series to be sweet and endearing. It is a fun lighthearted BL with lots of overdone comedy and cuteness. the teacher-student relationship was nicely played and developed. The leads are fun to watch, I wish they had more intimate moments, but the chemistry was there and the show of growth was nice to see. The cast was enjoyable to watch and it all looked like a fun fast series. I watched it in one sitting and I found it to be funny and sweet. The only down part is I would have liked to see more intimate moments and show them more together as a couple. the side couple was cute but wish they showed them being intimate more as well. The story was well developed and the series has a lot of good parts that made you smile, laugh, and feel affection for each other, but I wish only there were more intimate parts like holding hands and kissing more that would have shown more chemistry. I really enjoyed the series and would recommend it if you enjoy light hearts sweet school boy first love stories.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Toki's expression are everything, also with a lot of running.
First and foremost, Toki is my favourite character. He is literally someone who just came out of a Manga. Episode 1 and 2 were my favourite. It was peak comedy.While a lot of people might argue the fact that they don't like characters acting the same way it is in the manga. I personally love it. It is soo fun to see those unrealistic expressions and funny shouting and people around them acting normal.
Every character in the show were green flag (Except for the bullies). Even Sahara's ex Nekoto also didn't create much of a drama and just encouraged Sahara to confess to Toki.
However, I would have prefered some intense plot with the love triangle to add some jealousy and realisation. Anyway, for a lighthearted drama such it might have been too much.
The only thing I think was lacking in the drama was the chemistry between the leads. Some lovey moments and offcourse a better kiss could have solved this. But I also do understand that a lot of people are not comfortable with teacher student romance and Probably the directors decided to take the safe side.
It was fun to watch anyway, Japanese BL never disappoints.
Was this review helpful to you?
This was super cute
Some Japanese characters can be a little over the top which is what Toki is. But, instead of cringy, I thought he was super cute. Sahara was enamored with his cuteness.All the lead actors in this series are very pleasing to the eye! Sahara - oh my lord.
The story itself included lots of stories about their past which made their relationship work.
Even though Sahara was a teacher and Toki a student, they waited patiently for graduation.
This is very fun, light, and enjoyable. Good watch for a binge type of day.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
couldve been better but its okay!
first of all i must say im not the fun of student x teacher trope. its always hard for me to imagine, its more of a morality problem.in the series their like 10-15 years apart do like.... a little bit too much, especially cause toki is mentally still a child (not only his age, but personality and acting)
despite that it was okay, i didnt really feel a real romance beetwen them, it was more of a bromance. their relationship wasnt intimate at all.
maybe if the gap was a bit smaller, i wouldnt feel confused
Was this review helpful to you?
Not bad, but not good.
Já faz 6 anos que assisto bl. Desde quando comecei, as produções japonesas são as que mais me encantam pelos acertos, mas sinto que isso vem se perdendo com o tempo. Em SahaToki, eu sinto que a adaptação começa bem mesmo com a diferença de idade questionável. Além da relação professorxaluno que é algo bem estranho, o Toki é claramente menor de idade. Entretanto, o maior problema foi a qualidade declinando ao longo dos episodios. O BL insere várias histórias secundárias, o que não é tão visto nas obras japonesas do gênero, mas não é bem adaptado. Muito além de darem uma resumida por cima, também soam desinteressantes. Fora que isso prejudicou o casal principal, que já não tem uma construção fácil de engolir. Eu acho nem que falta química ou a atuação seja ruim, mas a direção parece que trata eles unicamente como sensei x aluno.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
While student-teacher relationships are really my least problem, I found it very weird that Toki didn't recognize Sahara from the past.. ? The story failed to feel smooth for me. It was okay to watch one episode each week, but when I imagine to binge this show..I don't know. I would probably have been pretty bored soon. Everything seemed so choppy. As if they just filmed several scenes and tucked them together. ? Like yeah, obviously they did this, but for the viewers it shouldn't felt like it. Although I liked the characters and the acting (I miss Rise already ?) But I have to agree when people say they didn't feel much chemistry. The show isn't really romantic. They have not much tension and the feelings for each other don't seem to be a problem at all. Guess this is more a script problem than an acting problem. I would say the actors did the best with what they've got.Toki-Kun's personality was quite exciting. He is an interesting character who clearly shows that he is still a teenager, but at the same time also shows nuances of a very mature character. I really liked the communication between the two. Another thing I liked: show was low angst. That's always a plus point if such corrosive tropes are avoided, a la miscommunication for example. I'm still a bit unsure how to rate the show, just because it seemed so choppy. I just miss the feeling of “This is a well-rounded, complete, well-thought-out story,” you know? somehow the show was very superficial. as if it had touched on a lot of little things but not really concluded anything. I would also have liked to see more of the stepbrothers, in order to do without the endless flashbacks. ? There were really a LOT of flashbacks in the last episodes and this was tiring. I also feel like support characters in JBLs are truly not more than support characters. ? Would've love to see more of them!
All in all, it was okay. Nothing that I care much for, to be honest. The OST is catchy, so I will enjoy listen to it, but it's a story you'll forget fast.
Was this review helpful to you?
Drama vs Manga
/So it's important to add that I found only the first volume of the manga translated online.The bad news: The manga is not very good. It's not that well drawn, I'm often confused what emotion the person is feeling based on the drawn expressions. The plot is not that well written, like it's not paced that well, the core idea is good though, it has potential. /Again, this is only based on the first volume, but a lot of that content were put into the drama.
The good news: The drama is really damn good especially compared to the original work! Like damn, I super wanna praise the people working on this, they put soul into it, that the original work was missing in my opinion. You can tell a lot of extra details were added, the camerawork is stunning, I love a lot of music choices too, and how they arranged together the good parts of the manga. Like wow, honestly surpising how much extra they could produce from the manga that really didn't offer much and fell flat. The drama has a lot of heart and I appriciate now even more that I see how a lot of it was added by the people working on this adaptation, like super congrats to them for their great work!
The problems I had:
- I'm not a fan of big age gaps, here it wasn't that bad, buuuut the teacher-student relationship is still kinda a risky take, like a few times Sahara did give me some creepy groomer vibes, very rarely though.
- There is a dumb time skip at the end of the drama, which is pretty lazy, but I kinda understand the purpose of it.
- The end kiss was reaaaaaaalllllyyyyy weak, ah probably the worst kiss I've seen in a BL TTuTT, I think that was the director's fault, really should have done a retake or cut it out...
BUT
Overall it is a super cute delinquent-to-good-guy-through-love story. And I recommend it! <3
Was this review helpful to you?
Light and Dramatic
This is just the show that I needed. I haven’t read the series so I cannot speak on how the adaptation is so far with the live action however I’m already absolutely loving this show. I’m not a big fan on teacher student relationship tropes but I like the fact that Toki is honest about his fondness of Sahara to his classmates.Excited to see how this show pans out. I love Toki’s dramatic personality. One thing about JBLS is they’re gonna make you laugh at the most outrageous overdramatized character.
Ofc in natural fashion Japan BLs the ex always shows up near the end of the of the series but that’s expected.
I just cannot express how much I like Toki!!
Was this review helpful to you?
Short and sweet!
I loved this show through and through. The tsundere character trope is my favorite. Toki is such a green flag. The show really used these two to highlight a healthy line of communication and trust rather than the theatrics of jealousy.My only complaints are:
-Sahara's former love interest got too much screen time.
-In the novel they are 16 & 24 and it appears they aged Toki up to 17/18, but then in the last episode they did a flash back with a little kid and Sahara to give us the we've met before, fate kind of trope. That really threw off the age gap and made it make zero sense. How would Toki go from that to a high school senior in a few years? ?
-The rain confession flashback was shown too much.
Overall, if you're looking for a cute and short JBL and you're not up in arms about an age gap, I highly recommend this one!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Keep an open mind because TOKI will surely win you over.
Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun is a BL story about a third-year student in High School falling in love with the new teacher who have been helping him with his stuff. I don’t think I was able to fully showcased what this story is about and I do think that they are treading on a very steep hill on this one. Why? I want to talk about the obvious first. This is a love story between a teacher and a student so there is already a power dynamic that is a bit imbalance and this is always a tricky situation. Sahara is the teacher and Toki is the student. I will say so many good things about Toki later but I want to address the biggest red flag in the story which is the age gap and the imbalance in the power dynamic. The way that they handled the story is Toki is the one who fell in love with Sahara first and he is very much honest about it. He is the kind of person who is very in tune with his emotions and you can easily see that he is the one who initiated this relationship but you can clearly see how the writers set the boundaries here by making sure that the relationship is not sexualized. Yes, they have the more romantic scenes but they are not overly sexualized or is not suggestive of any kind. Sahara is very careful too and waited for Toki. He fell in love with him but I think it is safe to say that there is not forceful thing that happen. I don’t think that he actively pursued him or did things that would lead to him misunderstanding things. I am not trying to justify anything here but I just want to say that I don’t think that there is anything predatory about the relationship. At the same time, I don’t want this part of the story to overshadow the fact that TOKI IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTERS THAT I HAVE SEEN because he is that kind of person who is like the perfect definition of kindness and I seriously think that we need more people like him who is loyal to his friends because if you will try to fully understand what this show did is that it is really Toki’s story as he experiences falling in love for the very first time. There is ana immediate attraction for him and he really wanted to pursue the person who only saw him as a student. I don’t think that is a predatory factor to it and I am welcome to more discussion about it because there might be things that I am not seeing here. Toki is such a good person and I personally wanted to have someone like him in my life as he oozes with so much confidence but he is not tacky, he is honest but not hurtful, he is vulnerable but not weak, and he may not be the smartest but he is surely one of the kindest. I seriously think that if we get to see more people like him in this, the world will seriously be a good world to live in. He is not perfect but he is pure. I love that about him. He has this emotional connection with Sahara and I do like how it started all from his perspective because he can easily be misunderstood but he is super kind. He is also a very loyal friend. I love that he was able to start amazing friendships with Rise, Shinji, and Takuya. Their friendship is also highlighted in the story without even forcing the story. They are there but they have their own storylines that are actually very good too. I love the writing in this show and how they are giving all the characters a chance to shine without moving away from the main storyline. It is so cool and so smart. It is really commendable. I do like to see more of the relationship of Sahara and Toki. I think they can still explore the age gap storyline better. I think there is still more to explore there that they were not able to touch upon before or better explored. There is so much more room for this show to explore and I really do hope that this is just not one season show because I would love to see more of Toki. He is the highlight of this show and he really owned it. Also, shoutout to Hachimura Rintaro who played Toki because he was amazing in this show. He really pulled it all together. The aesthetic is also good. I love how vivid the colors are and how they used to put more light in the sweet moments. It is a good highlight to what is happening. I am not mad at this show but I want more.Was this review helpful to you?
