#Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun review
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1st quarter of 2024 shows ranked
n° of shows watched from january 1st to march 31st: 13
1. analog squad: 9/10
I deeply regret not watching this one in 2023 when it was released bc it would've been my number one favorite show of that year ;_; it's such an original and touching show with one of my favorite tropes (found family) and some of the best characters I've ever seen. definitely already an all-time favorite and a comfort show for years to come <3
2. cooking crush: 8,5/10
y'all know how much I love offgun, and while this was no not me or theory of love, this show really brought me back to my early days of watching thai dramas and freaking out over any cute interaction on my screen & I love it for that! while this show has a lot of flaws, most of them are easily forgettable when faced with such great characters & one of the cutest relationships ever! I truly thought offgun's chemistry had reached its peak in not me but I was wrong, these two never cease to amaze me they really can play any role to perfection <3
3. ready set love: 8,5/10
this show really surprised with how pretty much flawless its execution is! it's hilarious but also deals with very deep & interesting topics well, and day might be one of my favorite female leads ever! a super solid show that is honestly gonna become a classic for me, I can feel it :)
4. love for love's sake: 8,5/10
this was a super sweet show that's very well done, I was dubitative of the plot at first but it really managed to pull me in & make it worth my while! one of the best kbls out there :)
5. the believers: 8,5/10
this is definitely one of the most innovative thai shows out there, dealing with a topic (religion) that I didn't think anyone would dare touch. the story had me hooked all 9 episodes & the acting performances were amazing, however I have to say this didn't pack as much of a punch as I expected it would. it's a very good show, but it stays a little surface level & doesn't explore its characters enough for me...
6. sing my crush: 7,5/10
this was very much adorable, however two things bothered me: 1) I didn't like the time jump from ep 1 to ep 2, I wish we could've seen the friendship between the characters developed more, and 2) I feel like them not revealing their feelings for each other felt a little forced & random. apart from that it's a very cute show!
7. intern in my heart: 7,5/10
this was a really enjoyable romantic comedy that I had a lot of fun in front of :) is it much more than that? not really. pretty basic but with charismatic performances that carried the show well!
8. perfect propose: 7,5/10
really sweet show that I wish was more developed & gave me more, but a good time nonetheless!
9. sukiyanen kedo do yaro ka: 7/10
this show got me, lost me then got me once again lol. I thought the chemistry for an established relationship was some of the best for a jbl, and the story was simple but endearing. but tbh something was kinda lacking for me, which made this ultimately very forgettable imo.
10. the outing: 7/10
I was SO looking forward to this show without much expectation but it still managed to disappoint me lol. the acting was very solid but there's too many characters that get introduced too late & I failed to really understand what the point or purpose of the show was. it seems to me as if this show took all of the worst points from remember 15 (the sex, the chaos, the betrayals & annoying characters), without the substance that remember 15 actually had. it's not a terrible show, and I was intrigued during it, but tbh it could've been so so much better.
11. love class season 2: 7/10
this had some of the strongest and most interesting ships I've seen in a kbl, however the writing & execution of the show was very frustrating. early on the characters barely get introduced & we struggle to understand how they're all linked together, leading to a lot of confusion on my part. it's sad bc it had a very solid story but bad execution imo :(
12. chaser game w: power harassment: 7/10
this had me very excited but sadly didn't deliver at all for me. the story is kinda all over the place & while the chemistry was really good and it's important to have japanese characters clearly labeled as lesbians, I found the acting kinda over the top as well... but it's a start for gl I guess 🥲
13. sahara sensei to toki-kun: 6/10
this is the kind of show that I managed to watch until the end... for whatever reason. but the age gap icked me out & I found that the main ship didn't have much chemistry. overall this story is very empty & didn't add anything for me, but I really liked the character of toki & would've loved to see him in a better show & ship.
#bypiningbisexuals#thought I'd try something new since my reviews have been kinda abandoned#cooking crush#ready set love#analog squad#love for love's sake#sing my crush#intern in my heart#perfect propose#sukiyanen kedo do yaro ka#the outing the series#love class 2#chaser game w#sahara sensei to toki kun#the believers#the believers netflix
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We are headed into our final Drama Shower show of the season. How do you rank the shows we got this season and how are you feeling about the direction of the project?
What is Drama Shower and Why Does It Matter?
Before we get into rating these shows, I want to do a breakdown of what this is. To give you a sense of how big a deal Drama Shower is, fans are regularly updating a Wikipedia page for it with relevant links to follow the project. Also, there is a dedicated MDL page for it.
Drama Shower is a dedicated half-hour programming block on MBS, a Japanese broadcaster that is over 70 years old, in conjunction with Kadokawa, a Japanese publisher and holding group, that plays BL content at 1:30 am on Fridays. The project's main producer is Kaoru Azuma, who is a self-described long-time BL fan. He wants to show that BL can do a variety of stories in genre, and has recently stated that he wants to produce original content through the project as well.
We originally had six shows air through year one: Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!, Senpai, This Can't Be Love!, Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, Eternal Yesterday, Candy Color Paradox, and Jack o' Frost.
I originally reviewed these shows as overall a mixed bag, but showing great promise. I liked that they got more comfortable with depictions of m/m intimacy over time. I thought Mr. Unlucky was legitimately funny (9), Senpai never found its footing (6), Takara and Amagi mildly squandered their premise (8), Eternal Yesterday was extremely poignant (10), Candy Color Paradox had ambitions that exceeded its talent pool (7), and Jack o' Frost was a really strong finish (9.5).
MBS seemed to enjoy the performance of this project enough to continue it for another year.
For me, I think it's very significant to give BL itself a time slot to see how audiences are responding to BL as a concept compared to the pitch of individual shows. I'm really encouraged by MBS doing this. Even if you don't care about the name MBS, you have interacted with their content, because they are also behind Full Metal Alchemist and Haikyuu! anime adaptations.
Rating Year 2
I actually liked the way year 2 started, even if I'm a bit mixed on the end. I really loved opening with Tokyo in April is... I liked that they had BL trying to be topical. I think the show unfortunately conflates some things it shouldn't, but I loved TIAI and I loved Ren and Ryunosuke's experience being gay men. I liked the changes they made to the source material. This show was dark in a way that it owned, and I really like that. I gave it a 9.
We then moved to My Personal Weatherman, and that went over well for the people who like to see really hot people go at it with each other. I actually enjoyed how much Yoh and Segasaki actively misunderstood each other even as they were speaking to each other. I don't know that they exactly completed their story, and I suspect that there may be a future outing for this show. Despite enjoying it, I think it didn't get all of its pieces together fully and gave it an 8.5.
We then crossed over into uncertain territory with One Room Angel. Despite enjoying a lot of what was going on in this show, I don't actually think it's a romance. It's my understanding that the angel character is a lot younger in the source material, and so they may have been a little shy about how much they did with these characters on screen. I also don't think the storytelling was balanced between the leads. However, because I am susceptible to complex stories about grief, I gave this show an 8.
Now, we have Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun. I hated this show so much. I think it makes the unfortunate mistake of asking me to care about how homophobia and public perceptions impacts people through its flashback drama, but then does nothing with that in the front. It sucked so hard, and I'm really disappointed because I thought this show had some of the most potential, and I thought Toki was one of the most watchable characters Drama Shower had produced. I ended up giving it a 4.
Our next and final show (I think) for this outing is called My Strawberry Film. This one will also be in a high school, but I know little about it, other than we may have a GL plot in it.
So, overall I'd give Drama Shower an 8. I think fans of BL, and especially Japanese BL, should continue to show up and support it. The fact that we have a dedicated programming block is important. The fact that none of these shows has felt like a retread so far is super important. Drama Shower is varied. There is something in here for almost everyone. Drama Shower is the biggest commitment to BL we've had from a distributor other than GMMTV's ongoing BL slate. Taiwan has Vidol doing is four projects, but Drama Shower is the first time I know of that a Japanese distributor has focused on BL in a meaningful, ongoing way. We should stick with it.
#answered#Ben writes#japanese bl#bl series#drama shower#tunku shower#mr. unlucky has no choice but to kiss!#senpai this can't be love#takara kun to amagi kun#candy color paradox#eternal yesterday#jack o' frost#tokyo in april is...#my personal weatherman#one room angel#sahara sensei to toki kun#my strawberry film
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Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun Final Review
I was planning to just chalk this one up to every project having a flop, let this subpar Drama Shower show finish quietly, and move on to the next, but that finale was so egregiously bad that I can't let it pass. This is an angry rant so read at your own risk.
Let me just preface this by saying that I am not opposed to media about taboo relationships, particularly from Japan. Exploring taboo is a big part of the Japanese media landscape, and I have seen it done quite well in many Japanese works. I did not come into this show set against the idea of the relationship at its core (age gap, teacher/student), but I did need to see the show engage with the idea of it responsibly, and demonstrate that if they were going to end up together, that would actually be good for our protagonist, Toki.
This show utterly failed on both fronts. At no point in the course of this show did the story engage seriously with the fact that Sahara is 1) an adult teacher with professional obligations and standards of conduct to meet; 2) Toki's direct homeroom teacher who is responsible for guiding him. Instead, the story told us over and over again that none of this mattered. Not a single other character in this story was alarmed by the idea of Sahara dating his student. When Sahara "accidentally" kissed Toki in the school play in front of the entire school, there were no consequences. Sahara flirted with and touched Toki openly, at school, in front of others, and no one cared. Toki blew off his assignments in favor of focusing on and flirting with Sahara, and Sahara didn't care or help guide him back to focusing on his work. When Sahara's ex flame, who is also a teacher, found out he had feelings for his student, he encouraged him to pursue it. There was not a single character in this story who professed any concern for Toki's well-being once they knew his teacher was pursuing him.
And they damn well should have, because as we saw for ourselves in this very episode, this relationship with Sahara encouraged Toki to hide his problems, refuse to ask for help, and get himself hurt. And why? Because he didn't want to be embarrassed about being bullied or look weak in front of his teacher boyfriend. This is exactly why teachers are not supposed to cross these lines with their students. Toki needed Sahara to be a safe adult he could talk to and ask for help when he needed it a lot more than he needed someone to flirt with. And because Sahara did not maintain appropriate boundaires, Toki did not feel comfortable going to him to do his actual job.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg with this episode's sins. Toki's arc in this show completely fell apart. We started this story with the idea that he was a nice kid with a good heart who just needed to believe there was a future for him to work toward, but rather than completing that arc for him, this episode was about establishing a childhood connection between him and Sahara so that the show could give them a Fated Destiny excuse to get together. We spent most of this episode justifying Sahara confessing to his student rather than getting to see Toki grow or being shown anything to make us believe this relationship is actually good for Toki. No, this show decided to make that claim entirely via an expository voiceover right before Toki literally chucked his diploma into the bushes to jump on Sahara and tell him he liked him. What a fucking metaphor and perfect encapsulation of the message from this disaster of a story.
This show was a mess with no idea what it was trying to say, no grasp on the dynamics it was playing with, and no care whatsoever for its characters or the messages it was putting out into the world. I don't respect it and I absolutely cannot recommend it.
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Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023) ep. 4
Ongoing Review: It keeps getting better.
Ongoing Rating: 8/10
Summary: Yanki remakes himself after falling for his class teacher. Yanki’s senpai and senpai’s adoptive brother have strained relationship thanks to love.
Pairing: Class teacher X Yanki
Side-pairing: Senpai X Kouhai adoptive-brothers
What I liked:
# Two classic BL tropes at once: sensei X student & adoptive brothers
I didn’t expect these tropes to come-up in these times - when BL is getting so much attention from non-fu(腐) people [not that all fu people enjoy these tropes equally] with their different sensitivities and sensibilities. It helps that the source is shonen ai.
There is no escaping the shonen ai wave, I guess.
I love the entanglement between the pairings. I love how sport and pain are entwining the characters. Todo senpai and Icchan sensei share this bond that feels so warm. Todo stops Sahara from completely brushing off Toki’s advances by always bringing it up. He even apologized to Sahara for being rude to Toki. Sahara too is maintaining his closeness with Todo while advising him. I also enjoyed how yandere-ish Toku-chan (Todo kouhai) is. Loved how he enlisted Toki to talk to Todo senpai by bribing him with a photo. What I liked the best was how Toki employed his yanki repute to save Todo senpai from guilt about wanting to back-off from the match.
I am happy that it was Todo senpai’s romantic interest and words that made Toku-chan run away from home. Such a perfect storm in the making. I am awaiting the thundershower and the rainbow.
# Sahara sensei
The actor is excellent. He got those fleeting expressions which are priceless. It is a haven of hope in the deluge of not-so-great acting and idol acting in a lot of Japanese BL.
Two most eye-catchy moments:
His little eye twitch when Toki-kun brings up the swimming past.
Sahara’s expression right before Toki-kun headbutts Todo.
# Delinquent moments
I thought since Toki-kun is reforming himself, we won’t get anymore yanki moments. I am so happy the narrative didn’t set that aside. That headbutt scene was sooo good. I also liked Toki confronting Todo senpai. While I really want a sarashi bearing yanki spirits like Honda in a BL, I’ll take what I get and be grateful.
# Forgotten past
Another classic BL trope. I am somehow glad this popped up. Sensei semes (I assume) are complicated by power-imbalance which if not balanced by warmth and vulnerability would not suit the breezy style of this BL.
# White moonlight* who brought Sahara to his knees and Toki-kun who would scoop him up, probably
Now that I have seen previews of Sahara on his knees (while white moonlight walks on), I am very excited for his past. I was super queasy about Sahara’s white moonlight, but now that I have Toki-kun’s punch to look forward to I am all in. I am also eagerly looking forward to the mirroring of that scene with Sahara kneeling in rainwater in the past and Sahara kneeling in lake water in the present with Toki right behind him. Toki probably have to grovel hard after punching his sensei.
The bloody sweet kiss being Sahara's first helped too.
# Wardrobe choice and colors
The basketball match day costumes are particularly good, imo. Sahara is softened without his physical education teacher outfit meanwhile Toki-kun dresses up in blue. Blue hue is used to tone the frames that day. While the coloring leaves much to be desired, it is not overtly moody. Just enough to step away from the brightness that permeated the frames so far.
# Location exploitation
So many locations in and around the school. It feels open and enjoyable. The delinquent sure knows all the nook and corner and his sensei (who is also his senpai) knows how to get their faster. A lot of BL have very tight feel in terms of ambience thanks to under exploitation of available space. This one is a blessing.
What I didn’t like:
# This shot
I know I am nitpicking, but what were they thinking. They gave us so many exquisite shots in this episode. They clearly know how to do a good job.
___
White moonlight – in Chinese, Tamil and Malayali cultures (among other probably), white moonlight refers to love-interest. It is frequently in reference to someone you don’t end up with but has had profound impact on you.
#Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun#佐原先生と土岐くん#sahara sensei to toki kun#japanese bl#jdrama#japanese series#boys love#shonen ai#japanese dorama#bl jdrama#鳥谷コウ#Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023)
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Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023) ep. 3
Ongoing Review: Going good.
Ongoing Rating: 7.5/10
Summary: Yanki remakes himself after falling for his class teacher.
Pairing: Class teacher X Yanki
Probable side-pairing: Senpai X Kouhai (step-brothers)
What I liked:
# Bloody sweet first kiss
I had tons of apprehension regarding how this scene’s gonna play out. I am very pleased with how they handled this scene. I am not a fan of falling into a kiss. If I’m not wrong it is a visual story-telling trope and seldom shows up in books. But this one was really good and changed my mind about it. The kiss was triggered by a knee giving out, a slip of foot, shown in slow-mo as sensei falls face first onto our yanki only for skin to break and blood to flow. While their audience is shell-shocked.
# Step-brothers trope
It has been a while since I last encountered this trope. I am surprised that this is side CP to a sensei X yanki pairing. Classics. I am glad that the supportive friends trope got complicated. Also it has ushered in another: all male characters are BL targets.
# Sweetest evil stepmother
I am such a fan of Rise. His looks, attitude, personality, aura – so dazzling! This is the kind of person I would unknowingly emulate. Seeing him in stepmother costume made me realize: if that character was a female, I would have had a serious case of akka pasam* for that character while watching.
# The girls are so vivacious. It is a delight.
# Mirror to comphet
The scene of Toki contemplating what kind of person sensei likes. Three doors open and Toki’s classmates pop-out. Now that’s an awesome expose of how comphet operates. It props up artificial limits to what one is allowed to feel and imagine. Why were Toki thinking of his classmates in terms of Sahara’s love interest? Because that’s whom comphet picks out for him (not necessarily for Sahara) – “right” age and gender.
# Opening song is pretty cool
# Same-sex theatric performance
I’ll take it as a tribute to premodern kabuki queers.
# The prince who conveniently fell ill.
It is the silliest. But hey, the prince got scared. It is no Ojou-sama he is paired with, rather a yanki who live by the lines_
Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.
_ (oft attributed to) Rumi
Of course, I’ll remember Rumi and Shams-e-Tabrizi. That too was student-sensei aashiqii.
It is no wonder his nervous jitters were particularly bad. Convenient for the narrative that the yanki scared his classmate away so that his prince can be who saved the day.
# Todo Takuya-kun
I love how creepy, stalkerish he is. It has been a while since I had walking, stalking obsession gracing my screen. My Beautiful Man: Eternal (movie) was months ago. I liked the interaction between Takuya and Toki. My precious perverts assemble.
# Snow White Braveheart
Toki-kun’s version of Snow White looked like a valiant warrior marching into a battlefield. He was such a delight on stage. I felt Sahara, almost. Sensei and yanki, both look pretty good with make-up make-up.
# Outburst, overflow, on target
Post-kiss scenes were spot-on. While I am not particularly interested in Sahara’s swimming past, I loved how all of it (him and his history) landed on Toki.
What I didn’t like:
# Sahara’s ex
I don’t think I’ll like that character even a little bit. I want Sahara to stop thinking about him too. This is such a great feeling. I like being made to feel this way. The storytellers are clearly doing something right.
I mean, it is so deliberate. Look how cold the frame with the ex is. Compare this to frames with Toki. They designed Toki’s wardrobe such that each frame with him feel warm.
# So much recap from previous episode.
The episode is way too short. The source manga is probably typical length 2 volumes. In that case, they don’t have a lot of material to work with. Even though I would take recaps over useless filler scenes (except for scenes of Toki fighting and being yanki which sadly we won’t get) any day, I am feel undernourished after each episode.
# Intentionally dense
While I understand Sahara, I don’t endorse. I like how Todo Shinji brings it up subtly – Icchan’s kanji, of course. But Shinji-kun, my son, hypocrisy clearly doesn’t suit you.
_____
Akka pasam – (Tamil) love for elder sister. Similar to sis-con.
#Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun#佐原先生と土���くん#sahara sensei to toki kun#japanese bl#jdrama#japanese series#boys love#shonen ai#japanese dorama#bl jdrama#鳥谷コウ#Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023)
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Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023) ep. 1 & 2
Ongoing Review: So good so far.
Ongoing Rating: 7.5/10
Summary: Yankee remakes himself after falling for his class teacher.
What I liked:
#1 Colorful
From the establishing shot, that gave a glimpse of the geography, it is a riot of colors. It doesn’t look very pale or washed out like many other Japanese BL. Those autumnal colors are leaning towards the cheerful mood of the series.
#2 Delinquent uke
This is one of Japanese BL’s classic archetypes. But BL live-action industry as it exists today doesn’t favor such genre conventions for various reasons. That’s why it took so long for us to get a certified yankee.
But that’s not gonna last. Love seemed to have seeped into his bones. Sayonara, yankee spirit! Time to turn over a new leaf and transform oneself into a good student for notice-me-sensei purposes.
Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (2022) did this before. It had a failed coupling between a yankee and his teacher.
#3 Supporting Cast
Both the classmate and senior are very supportive of Toki-kun. It is probably part indicative of changing attitudes towards queer individuals and relationships and part instructive of ideal attitudes.
This is a common trope now with very little scope for meaningful subversion. Kamisama no Ekohiiki (2022) and Takara-kun to Amagi-kun (2022) played around with that trope. I particularly enjoyed Takara-Tanaka juxtaposition in the latter.
#4 Opening on a fight
It establishes the character very well. We get to see Toki-kun in his element. The fight was well choreographed and captured.
#5 Chase and capture
I loved how fun the chase was. Running like crazy with my beloved chasing me is one of my most favorite things. Cinderella-shoe-slip moment added a bit of flavor to the chase. I particularly like Sahara-sensei’s leap from the wall. It made me think that sensei probably was delinquent in his time. But then he is the physical education instructor, so that can also explain his physicality and the jump.
#6 Sahara’s past
I have a feeling I’m not gonna like his high school love-interest. The blurred shot we got when Sahara looks at his love-interest in the crowd before admittedly eating the paper slip induced in me less than favorable view of the person even before (if at all) face-reveal. I like being made to feel that way.
#7 Toki-kun’s way of thinking
His vivid imagination! I feel seen and validated. Yes yes, some of us have more going on in our heads than this world can take.
#8 Love confession
I am so glad Toki got to confess pretty early on in this narrative. I’m not sure how Sahara would interpret it. Please don’t be intentionally dense. But the chances of that are high, I know.
I am glad Sahara got confessed to. That man seems to be carrying loads that he clearly shouldn’t. But a BL has to do what it has to. And no, I’m not talking about the sweetest burden, Toki-kun with his sprained leg.
What I didn’t like:
#1 Synthetic sweetness
The Snow White thing from next ep. might push the synthetic sweetness (scenes meant to develop closeness/intimacy between characters through seemingly synthetic interactions) into bitter territory.
#2 Noticeable inconsistency in coloring
There were some scenes where the lighting and resultant coloring were inconsistent between shots.
#Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun#佐原先生と土岐くん#sahara sensei to toki kun#japanese bl#jdrama#japanese series#boys love#shonen ai#japanese dorama#bl jdrama#鳥谷コウ
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Welcome to my new BL side blog!
I had a previous side blog. Sadly, it disappeared.
Links to my posts:
Seme/uke - long response
The Right Way to Be Gay - Who Can Tell?
BL Commercialization
Masculinities in China and Male Androphilia
BL Terms: shonen ai & yaoi
Why so many shonen ai live-action?
BL doujin & Men Who Make Some of Them
School Culture & Male Androphilia in Japan
BL History / Trivia:
BL, danmei (耽美) & Aestheticism
Six Generations of danmei Novelists in Early 2000s
Types of uke / seme - Chinese edition | Gong Shou - BL Glossary
Commemoration Of Pre-2011 danmei Authors
List of BL Terms – Chinese Edition
Omegaverse BL - Japan (Part 1 | Part 2)
Chil-Chil BL Awards
Reviews:
If It Is You (2023)
I Can’t Reach You (2023)
What Did You Eat Yesterday (season 2)
One Room Angel (2023)
VIP Only (2023)
Pit Babe (2023)
Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun (2023)
Recommendations:
The Arena by Gengoroh Tagame | Jinx by Mingwa
Paternity Leave (2015) | Pit Babe (2023)
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