Ron Does Stuff

So, I was supposed to watch this months ago, but as my One Loyal Reader knows by now, life just got hectic. I’ve even forgotten how I got to know this anime existed. But I’m here now, and I’m watching it!

We start the episode with two guys looking into a camera, with one of them asking if this thing is on. The two guys are dormmates, dark-haired Tsuchiya Mao and blond Otomo Hisashi. Tsuchiya is pledging not to share Otomo’s secret, which is that he’s gay and has a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Otomo promises never to fall for Mao. I know where this is going. There’s also something there about not intervening in each other’s masturbation, and again, I know where this is going.

So, we get the opening credits and then are introduced to the school film club. There’s the director, Ichikawa Giichi, who wants to win an award and beat the school seniors. Mao is part of the film crew, along with assistant director Kagari Runa and record keeper Kagari Teru. There are other names mentioned, but since their faces aren’t shown and they don’t get that special cut where their names are shown on screen, I’m guessing they’re not important right now.

The film they’re shooting this time around is a high school romance, but gay. The film club is going to make a BL film, and it’s because Ichikawa really liked that one volume of BL that he read. And it looks like the script is well-written, because the members of the film club end up liking it even if they were doubtful at the start. Well, well, well.

Both Ichikawa and Mao admit to never having been in love before, and there’s this discussion about this project being them looking to the future, and I kinda wanna roll my eyes because hello. You don’t necessarily need to have experienced something to make art about it. But anyway. Ichikawa hopes that they seriously ponder the film they’re going to make.

Back at the dorm, the show pretty clearly positions Otomo as the romantic lead, walking around without a shirt on and shorts low on his hips. Mao is observing him pretty intensely, as Ichikawa has suggested him for the bad boy role in the film they’re making. Of course. One of the Kagaris — I can’t tell which one — tells Mao to be careful when asking Otomo to take on the role, since it’s a BL film and involves kissing other guys, not knowing that Otomo is gay and is probably a boy kisser already.

Mao is thinking of looking for another person to cast instead, because Otomo might think he spilled the beans to the film club if he asks him to take the role. He thinks that, but he’s also already thought of how he’s going to shoot Otomo for the film, especially for his favorite scene. A favorite scene where he is the one Otomo is ~seducing~. I know what you are, Mao.

The next day, Mao tells the Kagaris that they can’t cast Otomo because it’s going to be too uncomfortable for him, but the three of them are surprised to find that Otomo is already in the film club room, reading the script of the film Ichikawa is planning to make. Ichikawa asks Mao why casting Otomo would make him feel awkward, and while he doesn’t vocalise it, it’s because he’s afraid Otomo would think he broke the promise he made at the start of the episode. He’s afraid that Otomo might feel hurt.

Then we get a flashback to when the two of them first met, which wasn’t exactly love at first sight. They tried to ignore each other at first, until the fateful day when Otomo gets sick and sorta kinda reveals he got his heart broken by a teacher? In his sick state, Otomo thinks Mao is that teacher, and Mao offers him comfort. I hope that the relationship with the teacher is explored further, though!

Mao doesn’t panic the next day when Otomo comes out to him, and even promises to keep his secret for him, which makes Otomo think he’s weird. And it’s fair to think that! After all, Tyler Clementi’s suicide happened in 2010, eight years before the manga this show is based on was published. That finally ends the cold war between them, and leads to the videotaped promise at the start of the show.

Back to the present! Otomo’s agreed to take on the role and the two of them talk about it back in the dorm. Otomo said he agreed to take the role because he wants to know more about Mao and that he thinks Mao is amazing. My golly, Mao, are you picking up what Otomo’s putting down?

Either way, Mao’s worries are sorta assuaged by Otomo’s response, and he asks him to read a line from the script so he can film him with his phone camera and think of ways to frame the shot when they start making the film. But as he’s doing so, and sees how good Otomo is at the role, Mao realizes that he likes Otomo. Otomo, who already has a boyfriend.

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