#cherry magic meta

[waitmyturtles]

1) CHERRY MAGIC (episode 2) IS SO GOOD, I HAVE TO COVER MY MOUTH AND KEEP MY MEEPS FROM BEING TOO LOUD

2) GOD, TAYNEW! New is SMASHING THIS.

3) The wonderful @so-much-yet-to-learn and I had a discussion a couple months ago about the stylistic and rumored decisions to not have Kurosawa and Adachi (Machida Keita and Akaso Eiji) kiss in the Japanese Cherry Magic adaptation. The rumors (only seen online and not at all confirmed with primary sources) were that Machida's and Adachi's agencies were not supportive of the two having an on-screen smooch. We also considered the public vs. private taboos of public displays of affection in Japanese society and art, which differ from those in other Asian countries (like Thailand).

It's not known if the two actors felt differently about not kissing. At least Machida's agency, Gekidan Exile/Exile Tribe, has provided quite the number of actors in other Japanese BLs who have acted out many more deeds on screen, from Candy Color Paradox to Tokyo in April Is..., and more.

But I think part of the campy gloriousness of the Japanese Cherry Magic adaptation was, in fact, the lack of kissing, and the sensual acting around the indication of that kissing, from Kurosawa's eagerness and his constant struggle to control his emotions, to Adachi's discomfort-to-acceptance-and-happiness journey. There was tremendous communication in their body and verbal language that got them to their happy ending in the series, and to not have the actual kiss was, for me, dramatically satisfying for how that decision was supported through the excellent acting and the painstaking details of the show.

So, for so many of us, as we learned that TayNew would take up this mantle in Thailand last year, we were like -- alright, NOW we are going to get the kisses, right?

And at least for now, we haven't, which makes me wonder a bit. We saw Kurosawa's lips touch Adachi's forehead in Japan,

and Karan's lips were hidden by Achi's fluffy bangs in Thailand.

Does New need some texturizing, or was this on purpose? (I'm CACKLING, poor Tay, look at that hair in his FACE, omg.)

If this was a stylistic nod to Japan? Then... well done, because at least I noticed it, and kinda loved it. We know (WE KNOWWWW, heh heh, thank you, Kiss Me Again and Dark Blue Kiss) what TayNew are capable of, and I just loved this little moment of subtlety here in Cherry Magic, because we don't actually know what we're going to get later this series.

Because I am a fucking simp for all things Cherry Magic, I also noted the slight changes in how Karan approached Achi on the rooftop later that night, as compared to Kurodachi. Honestly, I am SO ENJOYING these different approaches, and only note these simply by way of how I'm loving Machida's acting versus that of Tay.

Kurosawa on the rooftop was a ball of NERVES, man.

Whereas it almost seemed like Tay's Karan was silently joyful, with smiles playing at the edges of his lips, to be so close to Achi and having this conversation about the dinner game.

These are NOT the greatest screenshots, but if I could gif, I would try to capture how the corner's of Tay's mouth in that last screenshot just uplifted slightly. This wasn't a moment of shock and nerves; this was a moment of OMG OMG OMG EEEEEE THIS IS MY TIMEEEEE.

(EDITING TO ADD: I’m such a dunce! I should have known the gif makers were already on this — and the gorgeous deity @liyazaki captured Tay’s mouf perfectly. That giddiness in the last gif!)

And in their acting? I love BOTH APPROACHES so much. Because both approaches are well within the emotional range of the moment that we're experiencing with them.

We're departing from the Japanese dorama next week in content, and I cannot wait to see where we go. GMMTV gave us some holiday gifts in Last Twilight and Cherry Magic airing on Fridays and Saturdays, no?

[happypotato48]

Cherry Magic Episode 11

First of all, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I love everything in this ep so much. from way it display the most wholesome long distance relationship, or how karan respect and understand achi reluctant to be open about their relationship with just a tiny gaze, and the intimacy at the end, and achi with no regret at all about his magic power.

i'm deceased, gone to heaven, and now reincarnated as a tiny happycherries keychain.

also min and jinta continued to be excellent.

oh and the way it is football that bonded achi and his coworkers. speak from my own personal experience, playing football is one of the most quintessential ways thai men and boys bond to each other.

this ep is very excellent and i can't wait for the final ep with thier families. hopefully we get a wedding, but i'm also ok if we didn't get one, maybe save it for the special ep after thailand legalised same-sex marriage would be awesome.

[heretherebedork]

Cherry Magic really is telling you that the worst things you think about yourself aren’t true. Cherry Magic says that no matter how badly you see yourself, there are always people looking at you with love, admiration, care, friendship. No matter how much you think you have nothing to offer, the rest of the world disagrees.

[ezralva]

I'm still seeing a few comments on YT saying "I thought he was gonna propose!" or "still, why not rings? Rings can be modified as necklace so no one's gonna find out.."

Well, this is just my opinion but since Cheri Maho puts lots of thoughts in color details..

The pose screams nothing but proposing, offering custom-made gift in red matte box.

As for the color, most of us already familiar that combination of red and gold is identical with traditional Chinese celebrations, mostly weddings, new years, birthdays, everything that needs celebrations and wishing for good luck, and this dated back since ancient times.

And here it says and I quote:

"In the case of Japan, both China and Korea had heavy influences on the traditional colors of Japan early on in history".

"The history of red in Japan traces back to ancient times. The symbolic meaning of red is peace and the prosperity of the family. Also symbolises self-sacrifice, passion, carnal desires (Kurosawa wore all red in Adachi's nightmare 😆). Golden is considered the best color, represents wealth, reserved for emperors, and symbolises the power of heavens."

Fun facts: in modern japanese, 3 things associated closely with red includes cherry, paint, and public phone. It is also the same character Red = aka (赤) in Akaso Eiji.

Another post already explained well about the possibility of Fountain Pen meaning.

Edit: TYSM for @chibbysmama for telling me that @CherrymCherrym1 on twt had pointed out that this is actually Toyokawa's slogan for one of their pen product. Written on the poster behind Rokkaku and Fujisaki in ep 12 when he asked her plan for x-mas (link to tweet in notes)

"大切な人に一生物の文具を"

Translation : a lifetime stationery for your loved one

Also, imo the duality of its purpose really fits Kurosawa's personality, as in:

We know how sentimental he is! Pens are one of Toyokawa's specialties and it's the very place he met Adachi and be together with him.

It IS easy to camouflage since they work in stationery company. But Adachi loves stationery and anyone knew he always had a pen on his breast pocket so easy to say as long as he wears his work suit, it'll never part from his body. And I think that could be Kurosawa's intention because he wants it to be handy and be with Adachi all the time but also be visible to everyone! If the ring was worn as necklace it wouldn't show...

We all know by now Kurosawa is the jealous type and not subtle at all 😅 I mean with everyone around them, how come this counts as subtle?!

Hexagon might be dense but the others will found out sooner or later 😂 and I bet Kurosawa wouldn't mind if that happened.

And the boldness of kissing at the office!

in a nutshell:

if this ain't intended as real proposal then Idk what is! And when Adachi answered Yes, I'm pretty sure he got completely what Kurosawa's intention is. Period.

Sources in the comment

[waitmyturtles]

TL;DR: My analysis of the quiet tone of the Cherry Magic movie -- the overarching theme of the movie was the development of family between Adachi and Kurosawa. 

Well, I’ve turned this space temporarily into a Cherry Magic hovel, a kind of messy sanctuary, really, maybe a cave full of hoarded passing thoughts, rising and cresting emotions, lots of SIIIIGGGHHS, at least two and a half re-watches of the movie, many reblogs, plummeting away my phone battery on consuming more and more gifsets. I regret not being here on Tumblr for the original series, but I feel like I’m more than making up for it by doing all I can to contribute to the dialogue around the movie, which I want to continue doing, meta-style!

Two things have cropped up in my reads of reviews here and on Twitter, one about the tone of the movie, and the other about the pace of growth between Adachi and Kurosawa. I think the first point goes into the second, so here we go:

I’ve seen a lot of comments about how the movie was quieter than the series. I reblogged a quick statement on quiet Japanese BLs earlier this weekend, and I also learned a bit about what the OG CM fandom hoped for with the original series way back when, when there were rumors of a real kiss for the final episode, and how the fandom was slightly let down. 

I think there’s an interesting dichotomy between heat and quiet in the kind of Japanese BLs I tend towards. If you read this space, y’all know my top three -- CM, Kinou Nani Tabeta, and Old Fashion Cupcake -- generally trend toward the quiet, with the slight exception of OFC, which turns up the heat in a panicked moment of revelation.

As I thought about this point, I asked myself -- why the draw towards quiet development and/or contemplation?

For me, all three of these dramas, especially KNT, center on family -- actively creating family, dealing with existing family, and/or managing expectations of creating a future family. 

If you’re Asian, as I am, the thinking on and managing of family issues is, in my opinion, the dominant issue that you spend the majority of your life dealing with. That’s not to say that in Western lifetimes, less time is spent on family issues. What I mean to say is that family issues, I would argue, take up more of your brain space and your sense of morality and ethical engagement in humanity if you’re an Asian, as opposed to the manifest destiny of the West. When I was right out of college, for instance, and rolling with a majority white hipster crew at that moment, my friends would comment on how I’d visit my family’s house once a month. That was tooooo much for them. And they’d legit tell me -- you care too much about your family, you need to separate yourself from them.

These are surface-scratching statements, and if you’re Asian, I know you’ll immediately guffaw at how ridiculous and impossible it would be to even BEGIN contemplating how to “separate yourself” from your family. It’s taken me a LOT of my old lady years to even come to grips with the fact that I needed to live an independent life away from the expectations of my family. And for hundreds of millions of people in our Asian cultures, those Western notions of “separation” and “independence” simply don’t exist. You can cohabitate, be co-dependent on, be enabled by your family, and that is just fine. Family is the structure that gives meaning to the lives of many Asians, without question. 

So to say that the movie tends towards the quiet, I think, possibly bypasses what I think is a major point that the movie is trying to make, both in a cultural arc and in the actual storyline: We are seeing Adachi and Kurosawa making a family together, THEIR family together. 

IMHO, the king of family-oriented BLs was KNT. Both Yoshinaga Fumi, the mangaka behind KNT, and Adachi Naoko, KNT’s screenwriter, deliberately gilded the KNT script with the tadaima and okaeri greetings that you hear when someone comes home at the end of the day. That set-up was meant to indicate that Shiro-san and Kenji considered themselves family to each other -- because, you might be saying tadaima to your parents when you’re a child, or your spouse as an adult. 

The clues to Adachi’s thinking about family are apparent. There’s the moment where he gives advice to his chief about the chief’s complaining wife. There’s the moment in the office when Rokakku and Fujisaki are talking about their lives, the very moment in their lives where they are single but happy at work and with friends. There’s the moment when Adachi picks up the mail and sees his name and Kurosawa’s name, while coming home. 

And of course, the gorgeous moment in the kitchen when Adachi states his desire for a public and permanently committed relationship with Kurosawa. 

Adachi is creating his new family in that moment. 

I want to tie this together with a comment I read on Twitter about how Adachi’s personal growth matched Kurosawa breaking down his walls of perfection, and how he originally projected his perfectionist nature on their relationship. We remember in the series Kurosawa being ULTRA cute in the office after Adachi’s original confession, saying he was going to create the best first date ever; and then all the practice dates they had; and all the planning that went into the Christmas date. 

Those walls began breaking down a little bit in the last episode of the series, and we saw that even more as the movie began, when we realized that they had not, indeed, bonked, as we thought they had, on Christmas Eve. When Adachi’s hunger interrupted their potential love sesh, Kurosawa was like, WEEEEELLLL, through gritted teeth -- I’ll still be patient for Adachi. 

That’s life. But as I originally wrote in my first review of the movie, what I didn’t expect to see in the film was that the movie would be utterly dominated by Adachi’s internal growth INTO the relationship, and how that ultimately steadied Kurosawa to be okay to be weak in front of Adachi, and in his own (Kurosawa’s) life. We know this is a HUGE DEAL, a HUUUUGE DEAL for Kurosawa. He mentions it in the essay he writes for Adachi’s family. He states it as a major point of being devoted to Adachi to his (Kurosawa’s) mother. Breaking down his walls is a major life moment for Kurosawa -- and it would not have happened without Adachi becoming his family.

Because -- family, often, is about rejiggering and redefining one’s boundaries, and creating new ones with the people you’ve chosen. If you’ve chosen well, and right, like our boys did, then your partner gives you the strength to do this major lifting.

AND: where else do we see these boundaries being rejiggered, besides between Adachi and Kurosawa themselves?

We see them in the family scenes. I think that the movie devoted a LOT of time to the family scenes says a lot about what I said earlier about Asian cultures.

I swear to jebus that I nearly had multiple heart attacks during the family scenes. Besides Kurosawa’s mom’s very apparent sadness and confusion, Adachi’s mom had me at moments, even though she outed herself as a fujoshi, basically, lol, when Kurosawa showed up. Why the heart attacks?

These confronting kinds of conversations to family about things like marriage -- I mean, I don’t know if I have the words to describe HOW MOTHERFUCKING HUGE THESE CONVERSATIONS CAN BE FOR MANY ASIANS. Like -- these conversations can be the culmination of a lifetime. They can destroy you. Y’all, if I wrote about what happened to me when my family learned I was dating my husband (in a cishetero relationship, peeps! Interracial and interfaith, yes, but otherwise, not really rocking the boat here!), I probably wouldn’t finish writing without breaking down in tears for an hour. It was horrible. My family couldn’t handle the growth, simply put. 

This Asian family dynamic that an individual’s original nuclear family unit carries SO MUCH WEIGHT IN THEIR APPROVAL OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO -- I emphasize here that this theme was major in the movie. The movie NEEDED to spend time on this in order to achieve Adachi’s dream of permanence with Kurosawa. Adachi NEEDED to tell Kurosawa that he (Adachi) would be present in front of Kurosawa’s parents -- because Adachi KNEW that Kurosawa would NEED Adachi there, because of how BIG that BIG CONVERSATION would be. I’m talking BIG, here, BIG. And I believe that the movie’s OG Japanese audience understands this very implicitly and very, very deeply.

Adachi NEEDED to grow into himself -- he needed to lose his magic, his crutch -- and needed to FIND himself to be the strength and pillar that Kurosawa would need to face his family. I want to take this point, make it into a Cherry Magic teddy bear, brand it with Gelato Pique, and place it on a mantle. 

In order to face their families, our guys needed to become family. And that’s why I think the movie tended towards the quiet -- because THAT kind of growth takes a lot of internal work that comes out in the quiet moments of intimacy with the people you’ve chosen and you love. 

[waitmyturtles]

Okay -- deep breaths, it’s Cherry Magic the Movie review time. Just as a forewarning, I’m feeling so emotionally full, hyperbolic, dizzy, happy, etc. -- this review WILL gush at times, at many times. Please accept my gush, thank you in advance. <3

And with that, I struggle with where to start, ha. Let me start chronologically. Long review.

If you’ve been following this space, you’ll know that I’ve lately been in dorama rabbitholes involving both Akaso Eiji and Machida Keita, and I’ve been somewhat critical of the array of cishet roles and scripts available to the both of them (although I was just slayed by a 2018 dorama that Machida was in, Life as a Girl). 

So to come back to the Cherry Magic universe, where they both CLEARLY THRIVE in boundary-pushing material, was a great break from what I’ve been watching recently (I’m looking at you, Super Rich, what an total waste of the chemistry between Akaso and Machida). 

And for me, did this movie ever push boundaries. Of course, over the huge scope of Japanese BL, we have seen boundaries pushed a lot.

But from the framework of Cherry Magic, what I didn’t expect from this film was to see Adachi so wholly grow, as a whole and holistic person, into his personal context as Kurosawa’s eternal partner. I didn’t expect it. In the television series, we saw Adachi giggling and being slightly unnerved, if sometimes uncomfortable, with Kurosawa’s abundant sincerity.

I didn’t expect the totality of the overarching theme of the film to be how Adachi sought permanence and wholesale stability in their relationship. For me, that transition from the series to the movie was unbelievably beautiful to watch.

I probably didn’t expect it because of how the television series ended. The series needed to end on the note about Adachi’s virginity, because that was the entire premise of the show. And of course, when you’re dealing with a topic like virginnniiiityyyyy, there will be some amount of giggly context to it. When the series ended, we had assumed they had bonked and Adachi had stopped being a wizard.

So when the movie started with Adachi still being a wizard, I understood why the writers had to re-write the ending of the series, to keep up the momentum of the wizard context for the movie.

But I was really spun around and floored by what happened with that storyline. From Adachi getting transferred, and -- even without his wizard power -- KNOWING that moving to Nagasaki would deeply trouble Kurosawa, was powerful to watch. And THEN seeing that Adachi KNEW that his communication about his love to Kurosawa was what Kurosawa needed.....

...that was deep, deep empathy and compassion right there. 

What so moved me about the series was watching Adachi’s growth into being compassionate for Kurosawa via the context of Kurosawa’s love for Adachi. Adachi saw it almost as his responsibility to respond to Kurosawa’s love and desires. As Rokkaku had identified in the series regarding his Adachi-senpai -- Adachi is a great guy because he’s compassionate. To show that compassion, for himself, in the context of a brand-new queer experience, without judgment, with some fear, but with courage specifically for the sake of responding to Kurosawa -- it’s a deep, complicated emotional paradigm that our otherwise quiet and unassuming Adachi was willing to confront and shoulder. 

And I think that’s why Adachi is such a wonderful character. I want to say “lovable,” but I feel like that word undermines what I’m trying to say about Adachi. I respect the hell out of this character. Adachi is someone who’s willing to face growth, and to act on his growth. 

We saw it, and he admitted it, as he explained his feelings to Kurosawa’s mother. He was steadfast and determined. He told Kurosawa later -- if I had used my magic, I wouldn’t have been able to be as firm with her.

But he was also so, so firm in his convictions. He wasn’t even contemplative when he told Kurosawa in the kitchen that he wanted to make their relationship a permanent one. He had already done the contemplating. He was determined. We saw that determination in the series when he was in the stationary competition, and we saw how his magic threw his confidence off. 

Without the magic, Adachi could be his true self -- a seemingly unassuming guy who is actually a human being with such an awareness for his morality and ethical behavior to others, that it drives his relative existence in the world to be good to others, and himself, in positive ways that I think many of us would pooh-pooh as being sentimental or unrealistic -- because we might be overtired, cynical creatures.

In other words, Adachi doesn’t operate from a place of cynicism or irony. He operates from a place of responsibility to himself and his community around him. I think that there’s likely some analysis about that from the Asian collectivist mindset behind what I’m saying, but I’ll save that for a re-watch review. 

I’m letting my words flow here, and didn’t expect to write so much about Adachi, but I will say that I think Akaso Eiji was absolutely MASTERFUL in this role. Of course I want to MILF my way into Machida’s fantasy life I enjoyed Machida’s performance tremendously, but Akaso carried this storyline and gave it the quietly huge depth it needed to really move me and, I hope, the Cherry Magic fandom. It’s no wonder Akaso is winning awards for his turn in Ishiko to Haneo, he was probably amazing in it, and I can’t wait to catch up with that series when I am done with the pile of flaming logs that is Super Rich. 

And: one last note about Adachi before I offer some last side thoughts. Aishiteru. I love that Adachi used that word to Kurosawa’s mother, and I love that Kurosawa called Adachi out for saying it while they were walking on the beach after meeting with Kurosawa’s parents -- and remember the last time that Kurosawa called Adachi out for a public confession? When Adachi revealed to Tsuge, in the series, that he and Kurosawa were dating. Adachi does that sometimes, and makes Kurosawa’s heart go flippy-flop. But that’s Adachi, needing to say something BIG because that BIG thing he needs to say reflects the depth of the conviction he needs to convey to his audience. I LOVED THIS, and I LOVED THAT THE WRITERS BROUGHT AISHITERU into the conversation -- because that’s what Adachi realized that he had with Kurosawa, and needed to embody it and live it with every ounce of his being. 

Whew. Okay, other last thoughts on the film:

1) @absolutebl​ noted that the film is quieter than the series, and I definitely agree (see my point about virginity and the series above). The quietness factor is one that I see often in Japanese media (Kinou Nani Tabeta, anyone), and it keeps me coming back for more. I noted in my review of Life as a Girl that my first ever introduction to Japanese art was Banana Yoshimoto’s novel, “Kitchen,” and that still is probably the quietest, most contemplative book I’ve ever read -- and I love, love it. The quiet flow of the film, to me, reflected the pace of Adachi’s growth and allowed Kurosawa’s abundant love for Adachi to just shine.

2) Not a lot of Rokkaku or Fujisaki in the film, but I think they were used beautifully anyway. I’m going to guess that Rokkaku was busyyyy anyway (love him love him love him!). 

3) Also not a lot of Tsuge and Minato, but I think their storyline was still so beautiful and sweet. I REALLY LOVED THE DINNER PARTY SCENE! What a wonderful note of domesticity and collective support for their relationships. 

4) I posted a few liveblogs last night of the scenes that gutted me immediately during my first watch, and I feel like I have a lot to say about family acceptance in Asian cultures, of which a tremendous amount has already been written about across the internet, of course.... but let me just say, one scene I didn’t capture was Kurosawa’s mother’s transformation. Without revealing too much, I experienced years and years of family discontent about my marriage to my partner (my partner and I are cishets), and I’m an Asian, so I see these potential transformations in doramas from a place of absolute utter panic and despair that nothing will change about stodgy parents. (And where my family discontent comes from wasn’t necessarily about who my partner IS -- we are in an interracial and interfaith marriage. It was about my status in my family structure as a younger member of the family making my OWN decision to marry, without allowing my family members to APPROVE of my decision. That self-confidence rocked the family dynamic, and we’ve never really recovered.)

I may just need to process all of this out as anonymously as I can, because this movie is making it crop up for me, but I’m going to take my time with writing it all out, because it’s pretty traumatic. So I’ll just say: when Kurosawa, on the beach, said that he panicked for a moment when his mother refused Adachi’s gift -- man, I felt it in my skin and bones. 

I think I have so much more to say, but I just need to take a warm shower, cuddle in my Gelato Pique sweatshirt because I’m a stanny, and kinda recover from the shock of being able to see the movie as soon as the DVD dropped. I’m still very eagerly awaiting my Blu-ray, but I’m so glad I have this much more time as it ships to contemplate my feelings on this gorgeous piece of art.

This was such a moment, y’all, hugs to the fandom. <3

[waitmyturtles]

So I wrote last Friday about a few shows I’m watching/catching up on, and yet I feel like the pull of the Cherry Magic movie keeps bringing me back and demanding that I write more about it, which, like, I’m not sure how much more of me the tag can handle, lol, but besides that --

It’s gotten me wondering over the weekend, what is it about certain shows that I can’t shake off for days, even weeks?

The last time I felt this way was when Old Fashion Cupcake ended, and I warned my partner at the time -- I will literally be checked out during the last episode and for a few days after. (And he was SO SUPPORTIVE, THANK GOD, because he sees me get dizzy with art sometimes.)

And I’m wondering, so OFC, and now CM. What’s happening here?

It might be a couple things for me regarding Cherry Magic (and I think this’ll be my last meta on this, because, like Kurosawa, I don’t know how much more of these analyses my heart can take, ha). 

I wrote last week that for me, the movie CENTERS on the development of family between Adachi and Kurosawa. I can say for certain that doramas that center family -- particularly in the context of non-het relationships, or other scenarios that challenge the majority cishet mindset and societal structures -- are probably my favorite types of shows to watch overall. 

I think that’s because, in part, when you’re either creating family in a dorama/drama, or facing/challenging family, the characters we’re watching are forced to face a kind of internal and external examination of their own intimate interactions with the world that, as viewers, in our daily lives, we might not be inclined to face. As human beings, many of us aren’t CHALLENGED on a daily basis to simply exist -- likely because the majority of us also belong to the majority cishet population, which doesn’t face the kind of pressures that minority populations face. 

However, even despite being a part of a cishet majority population, life is not easy for so many of us. I’ve hinted before in previous posts about the difficulties I’ve had with my non-chosen family that raised me. I’m as “normal” as they come -- cishet, employed, parent, etc. And yet I was considered a black sheep for not subscribing to a cultural flow and mindset of how to VIEW the world while I was growing up.

So, just watching the challenges that minority characters, in Asian dramas, have to face, in their Asian families and societies, and to see these characters either act out and/or verbalize their processing of these moments -- it gives me so much lift. And I think that’s specifically because, especially when I was growing up, those intimate internal and external processing moments were just beyond me. I knew I was going through them as a child and a young adult. But I couldn’t have ever processed this kind of GROWTH with my own family, or even with the friends I had at the time. 

And that’s probably why I connect with material like Cherry Magic -- and even Old Fashion Cupcake, which didn’t center family in the actual series, but had a character in Togawa who was a DEEPLY processing character that helped Nozue frame out his internal struggles with tremendous eloquence. 

Two scenes I keep thinking back to in the Cherry Magic movie are the chess scene with Kurosawa and Adachi’s father -- and then I jump to the beach scene after the guys have met with Kurosawa’s parents.

The chess scene ends with Adachi looking at his dad and Kurosawa. 

The beach scene begins with the guys walking from a pulled-out camera shot. To me, the sound of their voices and their gaits make it seem like they’re almost limping out of the moment with Kurosawa’s family. And while the chess scene really focused on happiness, the beach scene was focused first on processing fear. 

Like I said in my last meta about family -- if you’re not Asian, you may not grasp how HUGELY significant these scenes are to an Asian audience. If Adachi were a real person, watching his father play chess with his same-sex partner, with his father blessing their union, thanking Kurosawa for choosing Adachi -- it might seem a bit more than unreal to your average cishet viewer in Asia. If I’m channeling Adachi in that moment, I might be thinking -- HOLY SHIT, IS THIS REAL? IS THIS HAPPENING?

The beach scene, on the other hand, begins more realistically for me. The guys were shot through with fear. They talk about how shaky Adachi was, how he was glad he didn’t have the magic anymore as a crutch. Kurosawa says he was panicked about his mother and the cake. 

I think these two scenes are big examples of why I’m not letting the movie go from my heart quite yet. On the one hand, the beach scene just takes me BACK to so many moments in my life where I had to stand up to my nuclear family, just to get torn down -- simply for wanting to live a life that seemed “normal” in Western society, such as wanting to date or wanting to marry the partner I chose, or wanting to be a working mom (instead of staying at home with the kids).

On the other hand, the chess scene gives me so much hope -- hope that I can be a parent like Adachi’s parents, and give my own kids the calm comfort of acceptance as I never had growing up.

I think that’s why, as I untwist this in meditation, I have a hard time letting go of gorgeous content like this. When you see GROWTH happening in the context of potentially oppressive and submissive contexts -- and you see BELOVED CHARACTERS just work through that shit, together, in love, in partnership -- it’s really overwhelming. And especially if you know the ins and outs of intricate and demanding cultures like those in Asia, and you see characters work together to blast through stereotypes and conflicts -- it just gives me a lot of hope in global humanity that these messages in these shows we love are being heard. 

What so lifted me about Old Fashion Cupcake was that Togawa was the conduit through which Nozue was able to find himself, breaking out of the “ojisan” shell that Nozue had built around himself. What lifts me about Cherry Magic is that Adachi is the conduit through which Kurosawa can explore his weaknesses; and that Kurosawa is the conduit through which Adachi can realize what value he brings into the world. 

All of that intimacy, being unwound before our eyes, complicated emotions and revealing processing -- that’s what ties me to these specific shows, and the quiet nature of this emotional processing is exactly what calms my heart when I keep coming back to them.

Okay, I think that’s IT for my Cherry Magic meta. Seriously, though, bless Toyota Yu-sensei for taking me to places in my heart and mind that I didn’t know existed. 

AND: final ep of Kabe Koji tonight. I might not be ready -- which may also explain this continued foggy brainspace!

[waitmyturtles]

Thoughts after my Cherry Magic rewatch (and I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching this a few more times...). Long post!

I wrote before that I think the notion of what communication IS between two people is so well played with in this show -- it’s exactly the kind of messiness I love in dramas when it comes to things that usually “can” or “can’t” be said in everyday Asian society.

What I thought was particularly beautiful and complicated was how Adachi’s magic power was essentially treated as a communication tool -- but it’s not a means of traditionally real communication between two people, as only Adachi hears other people’s thoughts. There’s inflow to only one person, without the other person’s knowledge (or consent, interestingly, but that’s for another meditation). More on this in a sec.

Adachi’s magic power is treated in two important ways, to me, in the course of the show. In episode 7, he states that maybe his power was INTENDED for a beautiful, loving, good use in touching Kurosawa’s heart. Forgive the crappy screencaps:

And then in episode 12 -- the culmination of their struggle and the confirmation of their relationship -- Kurosawa states that he’s grateful to the power that Adachi will soon lose, as it was the means by which they could be together.

So much of the BL content that I love dances around the notions of confession and admission -- if there’s a seme who wants to confess to, or urge on, an unknowing or reluctant uke, how do you actually do that? How do you communicate that? What does that communication look like?

In our (okay, my) favorite BLs, it goes all over the place. Shiro-san under a face towel at the salon while he invites Kenji to live with him in Kinou Nani Tabeta. Togawa having a panic moment before pulling Nozue to him in Old Fashion Cupcake. 

In how I’m analyzing these moments in Cherry Magic, I’m thinking about the utterly fabulous dialogue I had with the amazing Absolute BL last week regarding identity politics and collectivism. After that dialogue, I’ve come to understand that the trope of confession in BL is actually far more subtle and complicated than I could have ever appreciated. I hope this makes sense, but I’ve come to realize that a confession in Asian BL contextualizes and respects the receiver’s feelings far more than in Western content (well, maybe not Togawa so much during the urgent kiss, but let’s let him be in peace for a sec). 

Meaning -- in Western content, one person can just SAY, “I LOVE YOU,” without regard for the recipient, or the context of where the recipient is at, emotionally. It’s okay in the States, for instance, to value the intention and emotion of the person speaking, without regard for the person receiving. That’s okay in America. That’s our individualistic culture. Many times in art and real life, what we value in the West is the courage of a person to “speak up,” with less or no focus on the person who is receiving the speaking. 

Whereas in the Japanese BL doramas that I enjoy, there is far more regard for the person receiving the communication. 

So in the case of Cherry Magic, it’s eventually acknowledged by both Adachi and Kurosawa, at different times, that Adachi’s magic power was a means by which Adachi could learn about and realize Kurosawa’s feelings. Without knowing about Kurosawa’s feelings at the start of the show, Adachi would not have intentionally begun to spend more time with Kurosawa. By spending more time with Kurosawa, Adachi got to know him better, AND Kurosawa admits at the end of episode 6, in his first confession, that spending more time with Adachi LED him to his confession, one in which he couldn’t help but make. 

It’s all a little circular and complicated (love love love it), but the magic is the means of the confession. I think that that complicatedness is a lovely mirror reflection of who Adachi himself is as a person -- a kind of sad sack guy who actually comes to realize that there are people in his life who care for him, love him, cheer for him. 

AND, there’s one more point to make that I absolutely love. It SEEMS like in episode 12, that Kurosawa is saying in the screencaps, that WITHOUT the magic, they might not be together. That MAY be true, considering that Adachi had begun spending more time with Kurosawa when he first learned about Kurosawa’s feelings.

But -- it MIGHT NOT be true. I do wonder, how I wonder, if Kurosawa may have ever confessed to Adachi WITHOUT Adachi’s magic power powering Adachi to be closer to Kurosawa. WITH the magic power, Adachi could understand the CONTEXT of Kurosawa’s feelings during the confession in episode 6.

BUT: Kurosawa HIMSELF didn’t know about that magic power then, and about Adachi’s prior knowledge of Kurosawa’s feelings. Kurosawa couldn’t help but confess to Adachi, and apologized for the impact he thought the confession would have on Adachi. He told Adachi to forget about it, and that they’d return to normal.

Kurosawa cares so much for Adachi that he doesn’t want his feelings to complicate Adachi’s life. He cares for his recipient, despite not being able to hold back his confession.

I REALLY love this. It makes me think that Kurosawa would have been courageous enough (a Western read, mind you) to confess to Adachi eventually, if Adachi hadn’t had prior knowledge of Kurosawa’s feelings. But Kurosawa is always considering Adachi’s feelings, balancing where Adachi is at with what Kurosawa is compelled to do to be close to Adachi -- helping him file papers, tending to Adachi’s hand. Whatever Kurosawa could do in small ways to be in Adachi’s life, he tries to do.

Kurosawa loses his composure at times and pulls back. He leaves Adachi’s apartment in episode 5 because he’s so overcome with feelings and fear.

I love Kurosawa’s push and pull between his feelings and his consideration for Adachi. Adachi silently urges Kurosawa to come back to him -- Adachi admits he doesn’t want Kurosawa’s feelings to change. But there’s Kurosawa himself, considering the both of them, trying to figure out what’s right for each of themselves as he struggles with his truth. 

And the gorgeous culmination of this for me is when Kurosawa states to Adachi at the end that Adachi never needed the magic power for Kurosawa to FALL for Adachi. The falling had happened well prior to Adachi becoming a wizard. It was when Adachi cared for Kurosawa in Kurosawa’s own time of need after a disastrous business dinner.

Kurosawa loves Adachi because Adachi is a good guy. The magic power was the means by which Adachi himself could realize that people love him. Otherwise, Adachi was so bottled up and unaware that he himself couldn’t recognize that he was a person worthy of love.

Kurosawa realized that, though, and patiently waited for his guy to come around. 

The total whirl of communication spikes all over the place. I just love how this drama played so heavily with an otherwise dualistic notion of communication between two people, and turned it into a dialectic on what can, can’t, should, shouldn’t, could, and can’t be said. In the end, what needed to be said was said, in such a loving and hopeful way. 

So with THAT -- I ORDERED MY BLU-RAY OF THE MOVIE, OMG YAY! Holy shit, with the OFC DVD and the CM Blu-Ray on the way, this gal is gonna have one pumpkin spicy fall, EEEEEE!