When one Japanese BL about color-coded high school friends falling in love ends, another one begins.
So Japan is being very gracious by giving me color-coded boys in love in its newest BL, Countdown to Yes.
And just like the previous BL about color-coded high school boys falling in love, the colors are in plain sight.
Like the show's credits.
Which makes me relieved because I thought I was going to have to work hard to find and capture them.
Like I thought I would have to live off of quick shots of them in color-coded aprons when cooking together.
Or color-coded bento boxes when eating together and looking at photos of their trips.
But instead the show is perfectly integrating the boys' colors like in this playground scene.
So I can easily see that Wataru is a Yellow/Orange Oddity who is friendly, creative, and happy.
While Minato is a quiet, intelligent, and loyal Blue Boy.
And they have been in love with each other for a long time.
Which is why they blended their colors together to make green when they were living together, but neither of them was bold enough to cross the line that divided them.
So now, after years of separation, that separating line has turned into bars that make them prisoners of their own feelings, yet there is hope in the form of a tree.
Wataru started to hide his color in the time they have been apart.
But Minato came back even more defined in his color.
So I think that little blue line that separates them in the restaurant might be because Minato isn't telling the whole truth of why he was transferred back to the city for his job.
But if he is lying, I support it because another tree appears between them showing they are about to do some growing together.
And even though Minato has only been back for a few hours, he is already bringing Wataru's color back in the form of the warm light that emerges behind him when Minato asks him to live together again.
Blue Boys are honest, but they are also planners, so even if Wataru's says no, I know this cool kid won't be deterred from getting his guy.
They may have been too scared to cross the line from friends to lover before.
But this Blue Boy no longer seems to be afraid to grab what he wants.
Hopefully, this time he can hold on to it.
