Doukyuusei – Boys Love Review

Falling in love is the easy part, maintaining and keeping the relationship, that is where the real challenge lies. First loves can be messy and cumbersome affairs of the heart and they can be even more complicated when they happen within our teen years. Hormones racing us forward towards the cusp of adulthood and not quite yet knowing ourselves or our place in the world. It is indeed a stressful crossroads we all find ourselves at and for the characters within Doukyuusei they must decide whether they will move through this emotional minefield together and work out whether this is just a flurry of emotions or if there is something worth keeping hold of into the future and if so, how they will keep hold of it.

I wanted to post something special this year for Valentines Day so I went through my backlog of boys love anime I have to review here on the Playground and thought what is the most romantic story I can find here? The choice became obvious very quickly that for the pure feels of Valentines Day I could not go past Doukyuusei a stunningly animated anime movie with a run time just over an hour, though with all the emotion they put into the story it does not need to be any longer than what it is.

Telling the story of quiet honor student Rihito Sajou and the wear his emotions on his sleeve rebel Hikaru Kusakabe they are classmates whose paths never really would have crossed even if they did share the same class. One day however after accidentally leaving his bento box in his desk Kusakabe finds Sajou practicing his singing for the upcoming choir event at the school. Thing is during the class when they were practicing together as a class Kusakabe noticed Sajou was not singing along with everyone else. After a brief discussion, it is revealed that Sajou could not see the board at the front of the class because of bad eyesight and he did not want to ask to be moved to the front of the class because he did not want to be a bother to the teacher. Kusakabe offers to help Sajou with his singing and in doing so the two slowly become friends, then something more begins to happen between the two.

What I love about the story of this movie is that the relationship between the two leads feels incredibly real and this is because neither character in this story fits into an anime stereotype or trope for the genre of BL. Both characters had lives and personalities before meeting each other and through being around each other they learn more about themselves. They come face to face with their own insecurities, what they want out of life and ask the question, do my priorities in life change now that I am in this relationship? Which is a surprisingly mature theme to see explored with characters of this age.

If you have got some time to spare this Valentines Day or are just looking for a sweet romantic anime to watch at any time of the year then this modern Boys Love classic is a must watch!