Azreapollo
This review may contain spoilers
Heartfelt Romance between Childhood Friends
Overall, I thought this show was quite good in relation to other JBLs that we have been seeing over the years.
I thought the story was well-written and really wholesome as I could feel the sparks of love between the two co-stars. The flashbacks of their past really helped to add to the context of show and made it very enjoyable as we got to see how Tanaka's love for Ryota all began. Though, I do think that the flashback we saw in Episode 7 could've been featured earlier just so that not a lot of time was wasted scenes leading up to the confession.
I do not know if this was in the manga but one part of the story that, I think, really needed some tweaking was Episode 7 where we had the running scene and the episode ending with Ryota going home. It would have been a lot better if they decided to extend episode 7 so that there could have been a confession there instead of in episode 8. It would have felt a lot more natural and the last episode would have spent time entirely on the two being together. Moreover, the pacing of the show was far too slow, making it seem more like a story of two best friends than one of a romance (I am sure many will argue with me here but I'd say that this show spent too much time establishing that they were very close (even though this could have easily been done via flashbacks)).
As others have pointed out, Ryota's character was a little irritating but I think keeping in mind that he was written to be a relatively low self-esteem character, it was okay. I wouldn't say it was amazing but it was not bad. It's clear that the actor playing Ryota (Sho Sakai) is talented and did a great job embodying the modest Ryota. The same goes for the actor playing Tanaka though I'd wish that some scenes would be less awkward (e.g., Tanaka's slowed reaction to Haruna in the last episode).
Contrary to what others have said, I do not think the open-endedness of the show was bothersome at all. While some questions were left unanswered (e.g., how Ryota and Tanaka choose to spend the rest of their lives together, whether the girl knows that they are together, how Ryota's sisters would handle their relationship, etc), there were some that were tacitly answered at the end of the show. For instance, the yukata scene in episode 8 where Kazuhito's mom already knew that they were for them was good enough for me to know that Kazuhito's mom supports their relationship. I think the gazes from Ryota's mom also speak volumes on this. Dialogue on that was unnecessary, the audience just knew it.
The music was great, it was catchy and made for an enjoyable OST. The opening theme song is especially catchy and well-suited to the theme of the show.
Given how slice of life it was, I may rewatch the show just because it was fun. It was adorable seeing them together at the end.
In the future, I will likely use bullet-points instead to write my reviews.
I thought the story was well-written and really wholesome as I could feel the sparks of love between the two co-stars. The flashbacks of their past really helped to add to the context of show and made it very enjoyable as we got to see how Tanaka's love for Ryota all began. Though, I do think that the flashback we saw in Episode 7 could've been featured earlier just so that not a lot of time was wasted scenes leading up to the confession.
I do not know if this was in the manga but one part of the story that, I think, really needed some tweaking was Episode 7 where we had the running scene and the episode ending with Ryota going home. It would have been a lot better if they decided to extend episode 7 so that there could have been a confession there instead of in episode 8. It would have felt a lot more natural and the last episode would have spent time entirely on the two being together. Moreover, the pacing of the show was far too slow, making it seem more like a story of two best friends than one of a romance (I am sure many will argue with me here but I'd say that this show spent too much time establishing that they were very close (even though this could have easily been done via flashbacks)).
As others have pointed out, Ryota's character was a little irritating but I think keeping in mind that he was written to be a relatively low self-esteem character, it was okay. I wouldn't say it was amazing but it was not bad. It's clear that the actor playing Ryota (Sho Sakai) is talented and did a great job embodying the modest Ryota. The same goes for the actor playing Tanaka though I'd wish that some scenes would be less awkward (e.g., Tanaka's slowed reaction to Haruna in the last episode).
Contrary to what others have said, I do not think the open-endedness of the show was bothersome at all. While some questions were left unanswered (e.g., how Ryota and Tanaka choose to spend the rest of their lives together, whether the girl knows that they are together, how Ryota's sisters would handle their relationship, etc), there were some that were tacitly answered at the end of the show. For instance, the yukata scene in episode 8 where Kazuhito's mom already knew that they were for them was good enough for me to know that Kazuhito's mom supports their relationship. I think the gazes from Ryota's mom also speak volumes on this. Dialogue on that was unnecessary, the audience just knew it.
The music was great, it was catchy and made for an enjoyable OST. The opening theme song is especially catchy and well-suited to the theme of the show.
Given how slice of life it was, I may rewatch the show just because it was fun. It was adorable seeing them together at the end.
In the future, I will likely use bullet-points instead to write my reviews.
Was this review helpful to you?
