bl – Anime QandA

Make The Yuletide Gay – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 13 Review with Irina & Matt

Make The Yuletide Gay – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 13

Episode 13 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

And we’ve made it to the finale, Irina, what an adventure this has been! We giggled, we sometimes didn’t giggle, there was this one time I was hungry! What a ride!

With things all but wrapped up with the previous episode there was thought as to whether this would be a filler episode, and well… it’s a Christmas episode so that probably counts! It felt like filler to me. We revisited all the major characters for a cameo and got little recounts of the story. If there’s ever a season 2, I really don’t see this one being anything else than filler.

I know you’re not the biggest fan of Christmas episodes so you must have been wary going in? A little, coupled with Dakaichi’s track record for non plot episodes and yu had the potential for something truly awful…

On the plus side unlike the Hawaii episode which looked like a hurried mess, this episode was one of the better looking episodes! And that was the first thing I noticed. Actually no, the first thing I noticed was that despite being essentially filler, this episode thematically bookendshe series by stating out with Takato fuming over being voted no.2 guy I want to spend Christmas with, under Junta. That was a nice touch and made the episode feel much more consistent with the series and as a proper finale. Also the art was on par with what we’ve see. There were a few quite nice scenes at that. You are going to have a great time picking our screencaps. The only animation low I really noticed (there were a few inconsistencies throughout) was the passionate kiss behind the car. That looked so weird!!! They’ve kissed before, it was always nicely choreographed. This time it kinda looked like a kid smooshing action figures together. Was that the second the budget ran out?

“Now kiss” *smoshes flat faces together*

So the plot of this episode is minimal, but cute, Takato wants to make the perfect Christmas for Junta but isn’t sure how and leaves it to the last minute to try and come up with ideas. It’s very much a traditional romantic comedy plot but I liked it. I thought it was super sweet. And it allowed Takato to shine, being essentially a one man show for the most part. It really showed him at his best. Petty, impatient a little selfish and also lost, vulnerable desperately trying to make Junta happy. He’s a good character! Layered like an Ogre…

I liked that we got to see literally every character that’s appeared on the show appear for a brief cameo, contrived as it was it was still nice to check in on everyone. That’s sort of a filler standard trope. A bit of non sexual fanservice so everyone gets to see their favourite chara.

Then it turns into a missings person hunt as Takato can’t find Junta anywhere! Except he’s been following him all day and even dressed up as his taxi-driver just so he could watch Takato fuss over him. I mean, is it stalking if you’re in a relationship with the person? Or is it just cute? I guess it depends the mood you’re in when watching something like this… What did you think of Junta’s whole plan? I didn’t get it? I mean I know Takato is self absorbed but he never once looked at his driver? They were together all day. I didn’t think about it too hard. I was silly but hey, the episode as a whole was rather sweet so I went with it.

And it turns out Junta is some sort of expert at Christmas and has rigged up Christmas lights at their favourite ‘makeout’ spot and has bought dozens of presents and even went to the trouble of brewing his own hot chocolate and putting it in cans. Is there anything he can’t do?! He’s also very very strong. I mean he often carries Takato around like he weighs nothing. I know Takato is delicate and all but he’s still a fully grown man only slightly shorter than Junta. My point is, Junta’s a super powered alien. I’m calling it for season 2.

I don’t know how I feel about this episode. On the one hand it’s cute and fluffy which is always a good feeling for a Christmas episode but ending a series on what is essentially a filler episode is a bold play in my opinion. I mean maybe they felt obligated to make a Christmas episode because of the proximity it had to the airing date but even so I can’t help but feel this was the wrong choice for a last episode. Am I being too much of a Grinch? What did you think Irina? Well this is the type of fanservice episode you often see as a wrap up in reverse harems and well…I like them. I like to have a small, happy, consequence free episode at the end of the series where you get to see what everyone is up to. It’s the extended they lived happily ever after epilogue. Like the grown up kids in Harry Potter who we see for just a minute and they’re all grown up and married with kids.

Any idea who these three were supposed to be? New characters from the manga maybe?

This type of thing doesn’t sit every story but in something like Dakaichi, where their relationship is nothing for fire and ice, seeing them settled down a touch and ding something as mundane as celebrating Christmas together is nice. The audience can leave the series comfortable in the notion that these two crazy kids are going to make it because they have a bit of proof.

It does make me wonder why we had to bring up that ominous red head last episode. Are they really trying to get a second season? The show has been pretty popular….

And seeing as this is the finale, what about your thoughts on the show as a whole? It was much more enjoyable than I expected it to be. The highlight as far as I’m concerned is still Junta’s fantastic flashback episode. That single episode, couple with Takato’s powerful charisma as a character (no way he would ever be no. 2) is what elevated the show in my eyes. It’s my favourite that we’ve watched together though not my favourite of the season. I agree! Look at that, us, agreeing on something for once!

How about you Matt? Or are you going to keep us in suspense until your full series review? Nope, no full series review, least not in the way I usually do (I’ve got different plans for how I’ll wrap up each show I watched this season ~stay tuned~) so I’m happy to give my thoughts right here! It should come as no surprise that this show was well out of my comfort zone, this was my first yaoi and as such the first time I’ve watched a show with a 90%+ male cast and what’s my main take away from that? It wasn’t nearly as intolerable as I was expecting. In fact I liked this show more than a couple of other shows I watched this season that would normally be considered in my ‘wheelhouse’ so put that as a win! I don’t know that i’ll ever go out of my way to watch a yaoi again but then again I wouldn’t say no if I was asked! The best compliment I can give this show is it was endearing and entertaining and I mean what more could you ask for in a show like this?!

And that’s it for DAKAICHI, thanks to everyone who read through our collaborative review! And thank you, Irina, for putting up with me for another collab! I look forward to whatever show we end up reviewing together next!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

Cute Boys Doing Each Other – Episode 1 Review
Matt and Irina Stare At Pretty Men – Episode 2 Review
Attack On Tight Man – Episode 3 Review
Where’s The Manservice? – Episode 4 Review
When In Doubt, Add More Hot Boys – Episode 5 Review
All’s Well That Ends Well – Episode 6 Review
Setting The Scene – Episode 7 Review
Intermission – Episode 8 Review
Opening Night – Episode 9 Review
3rd Act Break (Up) – Episode 10 Review
Killing Scandals With Scandals – Episode 11 Review
All’s Well That Ends Next Episode – Episode 12 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Killing Scandals With Scandals – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 11 Review with Irina & Matt

Killing Scandals With Scandals – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 11

Episode 11 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

So here we are with another Dakaichi review, ready for you weekly dose of problematic sexual advances? I know I am! I get pretty regular helpings of those so this is probably my favourite version of it!

First of all, I kinda disliked how ambivalent Takato was about their break-up, like I get that Takato wanted to handle it all himself but I mean at least talk to Junta about what’s going on, yeah? That’s what people in healthy relationships do, though I guess the mistake I made was presuming this was in any way a “healthy” relationship! Like I mentioned last week, the contrived breakups are one of the romance tropes that annoys me he most. At least here Takato had a logical reason that makes perfect sense. And I agree, a relationship built on almost constant harassment probably shouldn’t be considered “healthy”, as much as I have grown to like the two of them together.

Looks like a shot out of cologne commercial.

Call me naiive but I’m not sure I got why Takato let Junta have “one more night to do what you want to me” before breaking up? Is it because he presumed if he didn’t he’d have his way with him anyway? Or is this ~normal~ for break-ups? Break-up sex? Unsurprisingly I haven’t had many relationships on my time on earth… I get that this was way to throw i some extra sexy fanservice but the whole time I was like, why? Who does that? What’s the point of this? Why would Junta agree and in such a way at that… This is weird. It’s a show…these aren’t real people. What I’m saying is that it killed my suspension of disbelief.

Something you mentioned last week, about “homosexuality being a non-issue” here in whatever alternate reality Japan this is pretty much was on-the-money, much to my surprise. The fact that the photographer didn’t see any value in the ‘kiss photo’ between Junta and Takato because they were ex-partners at that point seemed like a massive plot contrivance if this took place in ~our~ heteronormative version of reality. The social norms towards sex are really confusing in this universe. Most of the time it seems a given that everyone is either bi or pansexual. Not Junta has no issue about sleeping with women (occasionally for his career) and being attracted to Takato. Everyone swoons over Junta regardless of gender. So when Junta suddenly starts dating a woman, no one at all, including Takato, even mentions it. But it’s also inconsistent. Whenever a guy hits on him (like Usaka this episode), he keeps saying that he’s a man. Implying that attraction between two men is at least unusual. But then in the same scene Usaka relents simply by saying he can’t have sex with someone he’s been watching over since he was a child, making the homosexuality issue completely irrelevant again. It’s very uneven.

The scenes with the suave smoking producer guy (whose name I can’t recall and can’t find in a 3 second google search) were quite interesting… though swerved into ~problematic~ territory super quick too. I liked that Takato was at least trying to play the ‘alpha’ card in this situation even if it didn’t amount to much. His name is Usaka!!! I just said it. I’m useful! I don’t know what an alpha card is so sadly I can only contribute the name.

I don’t usually find anime men attractive, but Usaka… I like.

And then the scenes with the paparazzi guy (man I’m terrible with names) I didn’t expect to get a ‘tragic backstory’ for him… I mean as tragic as unrealised artistic potential and regret for ruining people’s lives can be. But I mean, I guess I appreciate the sentiment? I’m in two minds about the paparazzi subplot, on the one hand in my mind there was a lot more ~juicy material~ to mine from such a story so I’m at least a little underwhelmed by what we got. But then again what we got was somewhat unexpected! I am fairly indifferent about the character himself but I do really like the fact that they are giving him an actual personality, not just a plot device obstacle. However, I do like the narrative use of fame as a roadblock to their romance. It’s a natural fit, not too imaginative but easy to develop and flexible enough to yield a lot of potential. I also really enjoy that their respective careers remain so important. Too often, romance stories tend to make the romantic relationship the only important thing in the characters’ lives and tat often feels shallow. Here, there’s at least more that one angle to take.

So Junta’s decided to date his female co-star on his new project to divert attention away from Takato in the “tabloids”. Smart move? Maybe. But even though they painted this woman as something of a ‘cougar’ who goes through a lot of younger men, I still kind of felt sorry for her? I mean she’s being used by Junta, but then again, I’m probably not supposed to be caring about her. I guess that’s the problem with a (relatively) straight male watching a Yaoi series, I latch onto the bit-part female side characters… I agree. We don’t know what the long term plan is but so far, this seems downright cruel to Yurie (?). Unless this is an agreement and she knows what’s up and is also using this for publicity, or even because she wants to help young love. Unless she knows exactly what’s going on though, I can’t see how this can be resolved without Junta looking like a jerk. Well…except if he’s just in love with her… but nah.

Why do actors having coffee together look so French?

And then we get a scene with (oh god, I can’t remember his name either) guy who tried to rape Takato but didn’t and looks a lot like Junta just with a bad haircut. Not Junta!!! Ayagi I think. He gets my prize for “most improved” as in I no longer want him to fall into a wood chipper.

So a lot happened in this episode and it was entertaining and even kind of heartfelt towards the end. But I’m not sure where I sit on it, a part of me thinks that Takato was a bit of sweetheart for risking his whole career to save Junta’s, but another part of me thinks that’s ~totally~ out of character for him! But then again, love makes us do crazy things and it’s quite clear that Takato loves the heck out of Junta. Ok so plot wise, like just dispassionate story, this episode was kind of dumb as far as I’m concerned. It was the usual people running around doing inexplicable stuff for no reason. Feelings or whatever… BUT I liked it. It was very well paced, flowing perfectly from one scene to the next with just enough emotional manipulation to keep you vested but never so much as to become annoying. The characters are intriguing and I wanted to see what happened to them (not so much what they would do because…nonsense!). It was a more visceral experience. With my personal tastes, I would have preferred to see more calm trust building and just happy times with our two leads but I guess you need some duh-rama. In any case, the director is quite good.

She kind of looks like Takato so maybe *that’s* why Junta’s dating her?! (I know that’s not the reason…)

Anything else you wanted to add? There’s only one episode left right? How are they gonna wrap it up. This feels still very unfinished a story.

Actually I’m pretty sure this is a 13 ep season so there’s still time! (maybe… probably?)

Thanks for reading and make sure to catch next episode’s review on Irina’s site!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Opening Night – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 9 Review with Irina & Matt

Opening Night – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 9

Episode 9 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

Well thankfully last weeks ~unpleasantness~ (namely poor animation/art, a pointless story and padding for time) seemed to have been a fluke as the quality we’ve come to expect from this show returns. Though that makes last week’s flaws even more glaring by comparison… There was still a few hiccups. The flashback scene with Chunta pinning Takato against a wall zoomed out and all the crew looked like half formed blobs, but it was still night and day, I’ll give you that. I don’t think Dakaichi has a phenomenal animation budget but last week showed us that it could have been much MUCH worse…

So this episode has quite the fractured timeline, jumping from Takato’s birth (where the nurses where all swooning over how cute of a baby he was) then running through his childhood years in a hot-minute before introducing a very important woman in his life, his grandmother–an acting legend who happens to bare a striking resemblance to current-day Takato. You’re touching on a few points here. I enjoy non linear storytelling A LOT, but I do think this episode lacked a bit of focus. Or rather the pacing was off. Some scenes went off for too long while other moments were breezed over. Takato and his grandmother being good example. I think they could have shortened the actual play and spent a little more time with young Takato and his grandma to really make us feel their relationship.

He’s a cute little shota! Ahem, I mean child.

Minor squabble aside, I really did enjoy the idea that Takato’s inspiration and probably ultimate rival is his Grandma. Too often these women are relegated in service role, only there to bring comfort to the characters. To have one as a fully realized independent character was awesome and to see and grandma, grandson relationship as a driving force is unusual and very interesting to me. He fact is, the character could have existed and been just as relevant without being Takato’s grandmother, simply a mentor, but the relationship makes it that much more interesting.

It was interesting to see ‘Takato–the early years’, and at first I was worrying “what’s the point of this, how’s this going to tie into the current narrative!” but I shouldn’t have been so dismissive as it turns out, but we’ll touch on that more later. The vain, insecure and petty side of Takato is one of my favourite things about him. It was great to see that he was always that way. Fame intensified it but it’s part of who he is. I liked that.

There’s even sexy times too! This episode had everything!

We get to see some of the events of the excellent Episode 7 but from Takato’s perspective, the scene where he first met Junta and was eyeing him up his “stats” like ‘The Terminator’ was great! Rashōmon! Events retold from different perspectives is one of my all time favourite narrative ploys. I always love when it gets used (go see the fantastic Jet Li movie ‘Hero’ if you haven’t), and this was no exception. In fact, I would have dedicated an entire episode to it. As it was, I did really like how narcissistic Takato is. The same story was so much more introverted when he tells it. He was the star of Chunta’s recollection and he still is the star of his own. Love that guy!

I’m glad we got to see a fair chunk of the stage show and that it’s seemingly a very extravagant production what with all the back projection stage graphics. It seemed like an interesting show but more than that the little bits of Takato’s inner monologue as he’s thinking about Junta were a great touch. I’m divided. I did like seeing it a lot but as I mentioned above, I think it went on a bit to long. There are other threads in this episode tat i would have liked to see go on for longer instead.

And then we get the ~revelation~ (at least from Takato’s perspective) that Junta was the one who carried him to hospital when he was sick, and then the revelation to us the audience that Takato’s kind of been in love with him since the beginning(?) that was the impression I got from those scattered bunch of scenes. I’m not sure about love, but the connection runs deeper that first expected. Takato is a proud guy and a classic tsundere so being in a way indebted to Chunta changes a lot.

So looks like paparazzi guy is *finally* (maybe) going to make some ~drama~ after being introduced way back in Episode 6.

I didn’t think we’d need more characterisation for Takato, like I’m fairly sure both of us were pretty much fully on-side with Takato but somehow this episode made me like him (and also them as a couple) even more than before. The strongest parts by far was when the two were together and for that I have to give kudos to the series. It made their relationship seem tangible and comforting. I really didn’t expect that from the two first episodes.

Overall I’m not sure I liked it quite as much as Episode 7 but it was pretty close! I like how narratively tight it was, despite seeming disjointed at least in terms of cutting back and forth between different time periods. In clumsier hands this could have been a confusing episode but I feel like the pulled it off with a deft hand. Not only that there were even a couple of moments that brought a tear to his eye, like when Takato finishes his opening night performance and he sees a fleeting image of his deceased Grandmother in the crowd. I know I liked episode 7 better. I still like this one but 7 was just fantastic. To me this episode was good, with a lot of nice touches but there was something a bit off in the pacing. The end however was so sweet it made up for any hitches.

Takato’s grandmother. G-g-g-ghost! No but seriously, I shed a tear or two…

What about you Irina, anything else you wanted to add? The next episode preview hinted at a possible breakup and I hurt my eyes rolling them…. I don’t know if you play a lot of dating sims, the contrived uber dramatic breakup is sort of an otome trope and I pretty much always hate it. I’m weary….. the classic “third act break-up” hopefully it’ll have a purpose and not just be pointless drama—only time will tell!

Thanks for reading and make sure to catch next episode’s review on Irina’s site!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Setting The Scene – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 7 Review with Irina & Matt

Setting The Scene – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 7

Episode 7 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

Hey look Irina, they’ve (kind of) listened to what you were wanting and we’ve got an episode from Junta’s perspective. I’ll admit, while maybe not as vocal on it as you were we were ~really~ needing this! Have you noticed how this show gets better whenever it listens to me? In fact, I have found this to be generally true across the board. Want something to improve, just listen to me!

How about that ambitious first shot though? Going all the way from a satellite view of Japan and then zooming into the neurons firing away in Junta’s brain. Pretty artsy way to start this kind of show, but I liked it! Were the birds flying backwards!!! It was a great scene. Dystopian grim sci fi vibe going through it, it immediately told us that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Junta. I particularly loved how it instantly discarded his hopeless puppy dog persona without resorting to either exposition or shock. I’m not sure if this was in the manga but either the writer or the director has some pretty good visual storytelling chops.

All green lights, huh? Symbolism perhaps?

And it’s a flashback episode too—going back to when Junta and Takato first met, I wasn’t sure if there’d be enough juicy material for this kind of set-up but boy was I wrong!

I don’t usually like to start off with general thoughts on an episode (who am I kidding, I always do that—I’m so impatient) but I just need to say this episode was great—easily my favourite so far! Feel free to leave your overall thoughts to the end though. I think I kinda spilled it in my first paragraph anyways. I loved it and I have to say overall the show has been steadily going up in my esteem. This is what I needed. I am finally rooting for *them* rather than just Takato. I like flashback episodes personally. I was a little confused because the first episode really didn’t give us much indication that these two had worked that closely together before but the ending tied in nicely with the start of the series so I can’t complain.

As I’ve said before I love show-biz behind the scenes stuff, seeing movies being made, etcetra and that was almost the entire episode! You know, I wanted to hear a bit more about Junta’s scouting and early acting days. He didn’t seem all that thrilled with the business and before meeting Takato was even starting to sound a little disenchanted already. This less than perfect yet not hellish illustration of the mundane aspects of the entertainment industry is something we rarely see.

Turns out Junta is a good-guy after all! Wanting to come to the rescue of the actress who was being sexually harassed by “pink fish floss”, only for the situation to be defused by Takato. I mean kudos for the show showing this kind of workplace harassment—though a bit sad that no one put the guy in his place for being a creep. Speaking of hellish. I appreciated that the show acknowledged that any actor standing up to the director for being a creep was putting their own career in jeopardy. It’s predatory on so many levels. And it is awesome that Junta is the kind of guy that would step in. Not because he *has* to or that’s what a good guy would do but just because he honestly couldn’t stand watching it. It was a relatable moment. Those points were you have to figure out where the limits of your own values stretch. Even though it was ultimately moot, the moment felt very real to me which in turn made Junta seem more real.

In Japan that’s the equivalent of telling someone to “f**k off!”

It was interesting to see what Junta was like before becoming infatuated with Takato and that slow realization that he’s falling for him—even if there wasn’t really that much of a catalyst for it, it was more “this guys hot and has sexy eyelashes, I want to bang him and nothing will stop me.” Puts into context a bit of his actions afterwards. See I disagree. I think they built up the attraction very well. (I might be reading into it). To me Junta set Takato apart because he was the only one not fawning over him. This made him different although at that point Junta was just curious. I think the first thing to spark Junta’s interest was seeing just how good an actor Takato is. Before talking about his looks at all, or even the first doki doki moment, Junta fanboys over his delivery and technique in such a loving way. Of course, then there’s Takato stepping in and saving the girl in the most diplomatic and selfless way possible and going on to order treats for the cast to ease the tension. At that point Junta was into hero worship, I mean Takato was perfect. But then, Takato let out his petty childish side and all the sudden, he became a real person to Junta. A beautiful, adorable intelligent and talented person. The eyelashes and sexy body were just icing on the cake.

For reals, this is one of those shows that really logically explained where the love comes from and makes it feel more substantial than “prettiest person in the room”. I’m probably reading too much into it…

I don’t know if you noticed but the incidental soundtrack for this episode was phenomenal—very evocative. Maybe it was like that in previous episodes and I missed it but some of the music choices were top tier. I did not… But I got into the episode and that usually means the soundtrack is doing a good job!

Anything you wanted to add? Takato’s manager is just short Junta with glasses. At this point Takato is going to be the only non blonde in Japan. I am OK with this.

I love the grungy industrial backdrop of this scene.

As I said earlier, this was my favourite episode and not just because we finally got to see the relationship (or the forming of feelings) from Junta’s perspective but it was just a dynamic and emotionally satisfying episode. I’m kind of sad that the show is going to go back to, well, how it was previously—that is to say not as good. But maybe they’ll surprise us! I really liked this episode as well. I think they did a fantastic job in turning Junta into an actual character and a complex one as well. This isn’t the jealous airhead mass of hormones we’ve been shown so far. As he certainly must appear from Takato’s point of view. Junta is surprisingly self aware and even has a little bite to him. Now this is a guy I can understand falling in love with. And more importantly, a guy I am interested in seeing more of. Good job show!

Indeed, good job all round! Hope you all enjoyed reading this and look forward to the next episode’s review on Irina’s site next week!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

When In Doubt, Add More Hot Boys – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 5 Review with Irina & Matt

When In Doubt, Add More Hot Boys – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 5

Episode 5 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

So here we are at episode 5–and I was wondering when they were going to add another ‘hot boy’ to this show to be a more direct threat to Junta and Takato’s relationship. Although did that first scene confuse you too? I guess I can’t tell my hot boys apart because at first I thought that was Junta sleeping with the woman to get a part. It wasn’t until he showed up later in the episode at the audition did I connect the dots as to who he was? True story, I also didn’t realize that wasn’t blondie until the next scene. I thought it might have been a flashback about how Chuunta got his start in the business and his casting couch days where gonna haunt him or something… Maybe the art style is too similar from one character to the next. Or they need to mix up the hair colors more!

Looking back its kinda more obvious this is new boy Chihiro and *not* Junta but at the time I ~really~ couldn’t tell!

Bit more man-service at the start of the episode, eh? They must have been listening to your comments from the previous review! And the episode was better! Everyone should listen to me always!…To be honest, the kimonos do it more for me than the abs. Sad, I know…

The play they’re doing looks interesting–not the play itself, historical stuff is (usually) quite boring for me, but I enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff! It was the Takato show. I really like seeing him in his element. A stage play is a very different mechanic than a recorded shoot, I’m glad they acknowledged that. I also really like that the show is going out of it’s way to glorify Takato for his professionalism. Beyond any natural innate skill, he’s a good actor because he works hard. All of this is the best aspect of the series for me.

That photoshoot though. You’d think all entertainment in Japan was at least mildly homoerotic.

As usual any kind of character development for Junta is shafted (no pun intended) as he’s off shooting a drama somewhere so again we spend most of the episode with Takato and his ceaseless inner monologue–not at all a bad thing as it’s enjoyable stuff, but seems like this series is very much from his perspective and will continue to be. True. However, the early scene they had together and the telephone conversation were some of their best scenes so far I think. Their banter has grown more natural and the relationship feels more authentic. I still wish we could get to know Juunta better but I do feel like there was progress made as far as their development as a couple and that’s great too. I’ll take it.

This type of easy going and mutually satisfying exchange is something I enjoy watching. Yeah it was a lot of fun to be honest!

I also really enjoyed how Takato managed to defuse the ego of ‘new hot boy’ (I should probably look up his name). They were fun scenes, especially that one at the bar, seems like drunk Takato could be a handful (pun probably intended). Drunk Takato was soooo adorable. I thought he was going to be all bitchy but I guess he actually is a nice guy deep down. For some reason I found this endearing. You know, I also think Takato isn’t really threatened by this new guy. Chuunta actually got the Man I most want to be hugged by (or something) and is acknowledged to be very talented (in a different way than Takato), extremely diligent and quite professional. That’s why Takato gets all professionally insecure. This new guy isn’t in their league. Takato finds him annoying but he’s not about to feel belittled by him. I may be going a bit far in psychoanalysing these characters…

And I was liking this new addition to the show until, well… it got rape-y again. And just after it seemed like this show was going to go all consensual with its sex scenes too… oh well. But this time it’s actual rape. The show isn’t pretending that this will be the start of a beautiful relationship. This is a bad guy doing a bad thing. I’m ok with it. Juunta is gonna go apeshit. (I’m switching between calling him Chuunta and Juunta randomly. Don’t know why out two us…)

It was probably my favourite one so far–even with that deeply problematic ending. Interesting that this show’s first actual antagonist is (apparently) heterosexual, wonder if there’s some deeper meaning to that or I’m just reading too much into it. What are your overall thoughts on the episode? It’s been a great week for my seasonal watching. All the shows I’m following have been really good including this one. I agree favorite ep so far. I don’t dislike the ending. Obviously it’s not a good thing but they are injecting conflict and danger which will give all the characters something new to do. I just hope it doesn’t plunge into melodrama because this week was great.

Oh boy, things are going to get bad for Takato…

Thanks for joining us for our episode 5 review! We’ll be back next week on Irina’s site with the next review!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

Cute Boys Doing Each Other – Episode 1 Review
Matt and Irina Stare At Pretty Men – Episode 2 Review
Attack On Tight Man – Episode 3 Review
Where’s The Manservice? – Episode 4 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Attack On Tight Man – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 3 Review with Irina & Matt

Attack On Tight Man – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 3

Episode 3 of me and Irina’s collab reviews on DAKAICHI, I’m represented by the bold text while Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) is not in bold.

So… this episode is titled ‘Molestation; Just Don’t Do It’ and I don’t know about you but that already put me on edge… but at the same time I was like, “well at least they know they’re being problematic so maybe it’ll address some ~issues~” and well, then there’s the bus scene… Well the name of the show is “I’m being harassed…” so it’s par for the course. I’m actually fairly ok with unhealthy relationships and garbage people being represented in fiction. Even with getting happy endings through questionable methods. I just get very annoyed when abuse is presented as normal or even *desirable*. Oh he couldn’t stop himself because he loooooves me soooo much…Aren’t I lucky!!! I can’t say I enjoyed watching the bus scene but at least it shows that Takato isn’t really enjoying it either and would be happier without these moments. Also, there’s been similar scenes in every episode so far.

Back seat of a bus, can’t imagine that’s very comfortable.

Did you catch the subtle ‘Attack On Titan’ reference they were going for, what with Blonde hair boy’s steam nostril-blowing face encroaching into Black hair boy’s personal space? It was funny… until it wasn’t… Subtle you say… I thought it was a great little sequence. This show could use a bit of thematic variety. I mean, not to kink shame, but this scene wasn’t the least bit sexy, and this is coming from a (relatively) straight heterosexual man who’s watched this series without many qualms these last few weeks. Having your love interest crying and shaking and whimpering, isn’t sexy ~especially~ if you’re the one who’s made them that way! Bad touch blonde boy, no means no!

I don’t want to excuse blonde boy’s actions, but I kinda get what he was going for. The whole ‘sex in public’ thing is a turn on for some people, and “empty bus” is a stepping stone, though it’s probably something they should have discussed first, you know like a ~normal~ couple would. What with setting boundaries and stuff. Oddly, this scene didn’t bother me anymore than ones in previous episodes. I guess my thinking is that a least “in public” you have a chance of screaming for help so it’s not as dangerous?

Other than the bus scene it kinda seems like dark haired boy is just a gay-tsun (he wants the D, he just doesn’t want to say he wants the D…) So far it just seems like he doesn’t want to be constantly attacked nonstop. I think that’s reasonable.

I really liked all the showbiz stuff in this episode, the promotional photoshoots, the interviews, and that lengthy post-credit ‘awards show’ scene. That to me was probably the most interesting part of the episode–turns out dark haired boy has a silver-foxed rival in the form of an older acting legend! I don’t know why, but I just really like the whole ~vibe~ of an awards show! I also liked the business element once gain and generally think it’s one of the strongest aspects of the show. I thought the use of a photoshoot as a device the add fan service to the anime while at the same time acknowledging that it was fan service i narrative was rather cute. A soft meta touch.

I wonder how many fujoshi have this as their computer wallpapers right now?

Anything else you wanted to add? I know this is super random but my eye was caught by the bouquets they both got at the wrap party. Takato (I hope I’m getting this name right) had a pretty and varied bouquet, with some red roses for passionate love. But blondies bouquet was overwhelmingly yellow flowers. I realize this was probably just a stylistic choice to bring balance and contrast to the colour palette of the scene but in the language of flowers, most yellow flowers have meanings associated with indifference, jealousy and homosexuality. I wonder if there’s anything there? Maybe, I mean he is certainly gay!

A shorter review this time, hopefully we’ll have more to talk about next week over on Irina’s site! Thanks for reading!

Previous DAKAICHI Reviews:

Cute Boys Doing Each Other – Episode 1 Review
Matt and Irina Stare At Pretty Men – Episode 2 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Cute Boys Doing Each Other – ‘DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-’ Episode 1 Review with Irina & Matt

Cute Boys Doing Each Other – An Anime QandA Review of DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year- Episode 1

Yes it’s a new season which means Irina (from I Drink And Watch Anime) and I (Cactus Matt from Anime QandA) will be doing collaborative episodic reviews for one show and the pick of Fall (Autumn) 2018 is DAKAICHI -I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year-, boy that’s a long title! And I’m betting that’s not the only thing about this show that’s long… yes this is the level of maturity you can expect from these reviews going forward… Just so you guys know, this wasn’t MY pick. I mean…it wasn’t not my pick…I’m just saying I’m not forcing Matt to do this. We’ll come back later to forcing and doing stuff.. Wait, what?

Just so all the readers are aware, what’s your ~expertise~ level with this genre, obviously in past seasons collabs you were the sports expert where I was the sports not-liker. Here, though I have zero experience with Shounen-Ai… or is this Yaoi? I don’t even know… Have some expertise with the cute boy genre but actual BL is limited to a few episodes of ‘Junjo Romantica’ which I wasn’t crazy about. I have played a lot of Boy on Boy Pron Games though. A lot… I may not be a fan of romance but I’m all about smut! Wait…what?

There’s a lot of wood in this screencap.

So we’re introduced pretty quickly to our whole scenario and our two main boys (should we be calling them boys, I mean they are pretty much men?) and I guess they’re attractive? I mean I don’t have a lot of benchmarks for these kind of things, they’re probably better looking than your average harem protagonists that i’m used to! Anime characters are always pretty. Gotta admit, not really my favorite art style. Kinda Shoujo. But I would call them attractive.

I kinda like this guy but only because he’s the same voice actor as Kogarashi from ‘Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs’, aka best harem protagonist I’ve seen in a *long* time!

And our two boys are competing for being “most huggable actor”, is that some kind of Japanese euphemism, or do they literally just mean most huggable? I’m just going under the assumption that absolutely everything in this show is a double entendre….

Well there’s no mistaking what blonde boy is wanting, no double entendres, he just straight up says he wants to have sex with dark-haired boy! (I should probably look up their names) Nah, this makes it easier for me too…

What did you think about that OP? Pretty average, if I’m honest. I was expecting a more ~impactful~ song, don’t these “shows for women” usually have more exciting songs?

Like what? Like, ‘Free’ and ‘Banana Fish’ and ‘Butlers x Battlers’… I have a limited knowledge base to work with here, I just recall in my seasonal listen of all the OP’s that I do the most “rock”-heavy songs seem to come from shows targeted towards women.

Noragami? Great OPs…I just wanted to put Matt on the spot there a little. I only know Splash Free of the 3 and only because of 50% off but maybe? This said I disagree. The visuals were blah but the song was incredibly striking to me. Not entirely sure if I like it or not but the quick spoken word first verse caught my attention and stood out a lot for me. The casual tone of the singer was also very unusual to my ear. There were actually a couple of shows last season (and I think the season before) that had the whole spoken word first verse… don’t put me on the spot to remember which though! Well it wasn’t Harukana or Steins;Gate…ok maybe it was Harukana, I don’t remember…

All About Eve is one of my favorite movies so I’m digging the whole aging petty star slowly getting upstaged by a young ingenue who idolizes them. I also love stories showing the behind the scenes of the entertainment industry. Even I see though that it’s hardly an original premise. How are you enjoying it. I enjoy that it’s about actors, I love that whole ‘behind the scenes’, watching as actors film a scene thing that shows like this capture. Kind of like seeing how the sausage is made… speaking of sausages…

They’re not *really* doctors they just like playing doctor. Now turn and cough.

One point for dark and stormy reacting in a reasonable way to that first assault…Also spoilers. Minus 1 427 points for assault! It’s not romantic people! I was expecting it because, well, it seems like a show like this can’t be made without that kind ~trope~ I guess a part of that is because homosexuality is still scene as something of a ‘fetish’ by some people in Japan so it’s hard to divorce these tropes from reality. Or maybe I’m just pretending I know what I’m talking about, I do that a lot… know what I mean, Irina?

Nope…I mean kinda. I have seen these scenes in reverse harems A LOT. So I’m not sure if it’s the homosexual angle or the marketing to a female audience but it skeeves me out in any case. I’m taking away another 351 points.

Matt, what’s with the angel wings and feathers everywhere? Is that a thing? Visual symbolism is a powerful thing, when properly executed, it seemed a little forcibly whimsical but I get what they were going for. I’ve never seen it before in an anime so maybe it’s just this show wanting to be different. All over Angles of Death but…it’s called Angels of Death…

He’s not *really* an angel… or maybe that’s the twist that this guy is *literally* an angel from heaven sent to Earth to bang dudes.

I’m not going to tell you my views yet because I don’t want to influence anything, what did you think of episode 1? I took a break for lunch midway through this review and decided to put the ep on again to get a better listen to the OP (it’s not as bad as I initially thought–but maybe that’s just you “influencing” me *winky face*) but I ended up watching the episode again. Maybe my expectations were low, heck I know they were, I didn’t think I’d find anything to like in this show, in fact I expected to be making snide remarks the whole time like I did while watching Butlers x Battlers. But I like this show, I think the whole “assault” thing is problematic but I mean it’s pretty obvious dark haired boy has been in the closet since he so quickly took to being with a man. Plus I think they even mentioned that he hadn’t ever had a girlfriend, so I guess he was just waiting for an “angel” to sweep him off his feet. I’m happy with this show and will even, dare I say, look forward to it each week. Now let’s see Irina have the opposite reaction to me! Damn I’m that predictable, am I? First – kids, assault is wrong even if both parties are attracted to each other, minus another 766 points. As for the episode it was ok. Like I said, I like the setting a lot. I also enjoyed the scenes with dark haired man being all bitter and bitchy. The drunk night twist had its moments. On the other hand blondie is a bore and by the end it got a bit “relationshippy”. If they’re already in love by the end of episode 1, what are we gonna do for the rest of the season? I didn’t hate it, I think I would say I was neutral. Still liked the pony girls better though. Even if you are in love, a messy relationship drama with two big ‘acting’ egos could have dramatic potential. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of…..

I watched 5 new Spring anime on the same day and *all* of them had Episode 1 love confessions (to varying degrees), I smell a conspiracy!

And that’s episode 1 finished with, you’re keeping score at home, I’m currently on a 74/100 and Irina’s on minus 2544. The reviews will alternate between my site and Irina’s with the odd numbered episodes appearing here and the even ones on her site. Thanks for reading!

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

An Unexpected Catch In The Big Apple – ‘Banana Fish’ Episode 1 Review

An Unexpected Catch In The Big Apple – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Banana Fish’ Episode 1

What’s the show? Banana Fish, Episode 1.

And, wait… this wasn’t on your list of Summer 2018 Anime To Watch? What gives? I’m surprised you even read that list but yes, you are correct. First of all, I was discouraged that two of the anime on that list are seemingly unavailable to watch in English, like at all (Back Street Girls & Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou) and secondly I had to get Amazon Prime because 5 of the show’s I was watching were on that service (up from zero last season) so I figured I’d watch the one other new show that was up on it at the time of this review.

Right. With all that out of the way, what’s it about? It’s about Ash Lynx a hard-talking, serious business blonde-haired, 17 year-old gangster in New York and his various troubles with rival gangs and his predatory gay Mafia boss. And it’s also about Eiji Okamura, a too pure for this world, 19 year-old photographer from Japan who’s assisting the NYPD in investigating the mafia. The story is about these two opposing characters’ and their unlikely “relationship” amidst the backdrop of crime and corruption in the Big Apple!

Oh… okay… So when you say “relationship”? Oh they’re totally going to be a couple right?! I mean the ‘looks’ these two boys give each other in the brief time they spend together at the end of this episode is just all of the foreshadowing I need.

Right… and have you ever watched a show like this before? If by “this” you mean a shojo Yaoi (boy’s love) series, the answer is a resounding: no I have not!

So you’re experience on this subject is pretty much zero and thus your opinion on the show should be taken as one of an ‘outsider’ to this genre? That about sums it up!

Fair enough, so, err… is it any good? Well it’s still early on but it’s got some interesting qualities, the ‘Banana Fish’ of the title refers to a phrase first spoken by a soldier who goes postal on his whole platoon, and then gets repeated again by a dying man in a back alley in New York City. They’re going for a bit of a mystery, crime vibe and it’s pretty good! I’m intrigued, but let’s face it, everyone’s just here for the two main boys, right?

I don’t know… probably? How are they? Ash is a pretty cool customer, but he’s got a sharp edge, he says some pretty rough things that kind of took me off guard like the f-word and I don’t mean “fuck”. But in my brief bit of after-show research I found out this is based on a manga from 1985(!) and so that kind of language was more ~acceptable~ back then, but here’s the interesting thing…

What’s that? While the original was set in ’85, this is set in the current day, as evidenced by the iPhone’s that feature throughout, so I don’t think they needed to necessarily replicate the homophobic slurs that were probably present in the manga but he is a rough gangster type so I’m not going to expect him to be the pillar of political correctness.

Not sure if drunk or love at first sight.

Sure, and what about the other guy? Eiji’s great, he’s so innocent to this seedy world he’s gotten himself wrapped up in, he has some of the best facial expressions of the episode.

Speaking of which, this art style is a bit different than the anime I usually see you review too, how’s it look in motion? It’s got a very retro aesthetic which is a nice change of pace and it’s very well animated, lots of distinctive character designs too!

So… your first experience with this kind of anime, sounds like it’s been pretty positive? It’s got a gritty aesthetic, a fresh and interesting setting and immediately well-defined characters, the two leads—Ash and Eiji, kind of remind me of Yuri Plisetsky and Yuri Katsuki from Yuri On Ice, so I couldn’t help but make those comparisons throughout—not that that’s a bad thing, I just thought it was worth mentioning! I don’t know if I’ll end up watching the whole series because, let’s face it, I’m not really the target audience for this kind of show but who knows, if the character development remains strong and the story is interesting anything is possible!

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

LOVE STAGE!! – 20 Question Anime Review

A 20 Question Anime Review of LOVE STAGE!!

What’s the show? LOVE STAGE!! (2014).

Love Stage!? Let me guess, another anime about cute girls doing cute things and being thespians? Um, not quite.

Well then, what’s it about? It’s the age old tale of boy meets girl! Izumi Sena is the child of a showbiz power couple. At the age of 8, Izumi’s parents shoot a commercial for Happy Weddings magazine. On set a child actress did not show up so lil Izumi was thrust into the spotlight with a staring role as a super kawaii flower girl. This is when Izumi first meets Ryouma Ichijou, who plays a page boy in the commercial. 10 years later, and Ryouma is a super star and the Happy Weddings crew want him back to be the groom this time! He has one condition, that Izumi returns to be the bride.

Sounds kinda boring… Oh I forgot to say, Izumi is actually a boy.

Wait what?! Izumi is a boy!

Izumi is a boy? Yup! Izumi is a boy, and when transformed into a flower girl he leaves a lasting impression on young Ryouma. 10 years later, Izumi is a magical girl loving otaku who does not want to enter the family show-business and would prefer to be a manga artist. Problem is, his skills are not quite there. A bribe with a limited edition body pillow later, and Izumi is playing the bride in the reunion commercial and Ryouma is smitten all over again.

You watched a cross dressing love focused anime? Izumi is revealed to be a boy pretty early on.

And Ryouma was upset, and the relationship ended and then the series became something about cute girls doing cute things? Why does it need to be a series about cute girls doing cute things? This is a love story and sexual awakening of two boys that had not considered they may love boys.

Did you just say sexual awakening? Careful sweetie, spoilers.

River? What?

Sorry I thought you just quoted mainstream pop culture again. My bad. So… is there a ‘best girl’? Not at all. Female characters are side characters in this series, and only there to serve as vehicles for the best boys to move forward (Izumi’s mother) or highlighting personality (Izumi’s magical girl crush Lala-Lulu).

I’m really confused. This is not something you normally watch. WHERE ARE THE CUTE GIRLS DOING CUTE THINGS? I can vary up my watching habits! Boy’s Love is a large genre in anime, and doesn’t get the recognition and appreciation it deserves. Like most anime genres, there are some winners and some losers, and this is certainly a winner. The characters are well thought out and not one-dimensional beings and this includes the other leading men Rei Sagara, the Sena family manager, and Shougo Sena, Izumi’s rockstar older brother.

I cannot believe I am going to ask you this… best boy? Izumi! He’s the ‘not really that black’ black sheep of the family, who is loved insanely regardless (including by his older brother Shougo who may actually love him a little too much). Watching him try his best to chase his dream, then struggle with his non predicated first crush is all to relatable. Plus, he is a nerdy little otaku. We need to appreciate our otaku brethren!

Still a better artist then Chinatsu Yoshikawa.

Your best boy is the main boy? I cannot help it! I fell for him just as hard as Ryouma did! But all the guys are great, and I have a massive soft spot for the family manager Rei. Rei is Izumi’s advisor of the heart, and the compassion and reassurance he provides for Izumi is perfection.

So you are recommending a ‘boy’s love’ anime… it’s like I’ve woken up in bizzaro world… Absolutely! ‘LOVE STAGE!!’ does boy’s love right. ‘LOVE STAGE!!’ beautifully explores the story of two boys falling in love with heart and humour and without falling into negative tropes about homosexuality, which are all too often present in anime. It delivers an amazingly real conversation about the worries of having sex for the first time with sincerity, compassion and a dash of humour that anyone can relate no matter their sexual orientation.

Right then… Final Score? Oh no, I don’t like to score things.

Wait what? That’s all you ever do. No, I don’t and it’s something that drives Cactus Matt up the wall. Him and his bloody lists!

Wait. You’re not Cactus Matt? Then who the hell have I been talking to this whole time? His “irl waifu” as he likes to describe me on here.

Ah… And suddenly the world has meaning again! Although… I thought I was a construct of his mind? But if you’re not him then who am I a construct of, THIS IS TOO MUCH TO PROCESS! Try not to think about it too much. He’s gonna be annoyed if I do not return you in one piece.

Well today has been a mindtrip. Anything more to say Cactus Matt’s “waifu”? Happy April Fool’s Day! But don’t worry Cactus Matt will return tomorrow for your regularly scheduled doses of mindless cute girl adoration and general pervertedness.