#i think there is a tendency to undervalue the effort that goes into making comedy work
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both ad lib lovers and the summer hikaru died to something really interesting wherein they take typical genre conventions and set-ups of BL and place them into a genre other than romance, while still portraying the romantic undertones. where the summer hikaru died does this with horror, ad lib lovers does this with comedy.
as opposed to hikaru's focus on horror, in ad lib lovers, jealousy, desire, and a fear of inadequacy and loving someone more than they love you is portrayed through the lens of improv. this accurately depicts that having a crush on someone as an adult is humiliating.
#not fandom#the summer hikaru died#sokuseki ad lib lovers#is it weird i could talk a lot about how well executed ad lib lovers is#like OF COURSE i can talk about the summer hikaru died and horror as an allegory for queer coming of age#but ad lib lovers seems significantly less narratively dense on the surface but is (in my opinion) so perfectly executed#the mix of diagetic and non-diagetic comedy is so fantastic and both are executed really well#it's also INCREDIBLY grounded in a way a lot of manga focused on comedy really aren't#oh my god stop talking this was supposed to be a joke post oH MY GOD#it truly feels like two guys trying to be funny. i believe that their act is funny in-universe#as well as finding the non-diagetic jokes that are for you the viewer really funny.#reframing common BL tropes for couples getting together as them getting their COMEDY DUO together#while also doing a really good job of developing a very sincere (if goofy) romance just outside the boundaries of the cliche works so well#i think there is a tendency to undervalue the effort that goes into making comedy work#comedy is seen as the lowest common denominator#but this is a manga that is just mechanically incredibly well executed on top of being really enjoyable#in my opinion idk#AND ANOTHER THING another thing these works share is societal.#horror and comedy are two places that queerness was historically allowed to exist in media mostly unquestioned#you are allowed to be queer if you're the butt of the joke#you're allowed to be queer if you're the monster.#in this way that makes them such a poetic canvas to explore a genuine and sincere love story between same-sex characters
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