This is written from the point of view of someone new to both BLs and anime. Hence, I would not be able to compare the cliches. I would only describe my viewing experiences with as few spoilers as possible. Enjoy reading 🙂
Sasaki and Miyano (佐々木と宮野, Sasaki to Miyano) is an anime series based on an ongoing manga series of the same name by Harusono Shou. The synopsis is about Miyano Yoshikazu, a high school male student who enjoys reading BL mangas a lot, although embarrassed about it initially. He considers himself a fudanshi (“rotten boy”/a guy who loves BLs). He is worried about looking effiminate because he was made fun of about it in the past. Sasaki Shuumei, perceived as a quintessential bad boy, enters his life when Miyano witnesses a classmate of his getting attacked by his schoolmates, about which he calls his senior. Sasaki gets hold of his shoulder and offers to deal with them himself. From the back, Miyano starts to admire him.
They meet after three months, and their friendship starts when Miyano lends him a manga (a BL one). The next day, Sasaki expresses his enjoyment in reading the manga, although he says that he didn’t expect it to be a romance between two male characters. Excited, Miyano starts to info-dump on the manga and what BLs are in general. His genuine happiness when he does that causes Sasaki to develop budding feelings for him, as he finds him cute. Their manga-exchange and meeting each other gets more frequent with time. This anime has 12 episodes, with an extra 13th as a special one. A movie is made as a sequel, titled “Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation”, and both the series and movie are available on Netflix.
This is a very understated anime, and has a slow-burn romance. There was nothing so “great” about the voice acting and animation, but it make it more relatable that overly dramatic ones. It was a very light watch for me with little to no angst, which adds on to my enjoyment, as I always like dramas that are understated and close to reality (although I enjoyed Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba a lot and I won’t deny it). It is a good one for beginners, as you begin to know about otaku-culture and BLs that may come in handy if you watch other BLs, and it is mostly through Miyano’s character, although you may not be able to understand the terms first, because I didn’t initially till I googled them. Or to save your time, you can take a look at A Beginner’s Guide to Yaoi by The Otaku’s Blog.
Another thing I liked about it was that there was hardly any toxicity. If we talk about relationships specifically shown in Asian media and not just BLs, one party is always dominant than the other, in a toxic way. That person usually dominates or forces that person. No such thing was shown in this anime, and even if one did, then he immediately regretted it. Sasaki was the first to confess his feelings to Miyano, but was extremely patient with him when it came to responding to it, even if the wait was overdue. He never bullied Miyano, and always respected his feelings. Miyano might be seen as a quiet person but was definitely never submissive. Whenever Sasaki unintentionally made him feel uncomfortable or so he would always tell him. In the first episode Sasaki was pretty much touchy, and Miyano was uncomfortable, and expressed that to him, which Sasaki respected. Sasaki was seen as a “delinquent”, but he was always gentle and caring to Miyano. Even if Sasaki was intimidating to those who tried to bully Miyano (particularly speaking about his friend Ogasawra Jirou), he never bullied anyone or physically abused anyone.
I liked how the concept of questioning one’s sexuality was shown. Miyano might be a fudanshi, but was certain that he liked girls. However, he was confused about his feelings for Sasaki since he didn’t want any BL story to come at real life, or that if he read too many BL mangas. For a long time, he was pretty much uncertain about it, although his reactions were pretty indicative that Sasaki’s feelings are reciprocated. That itself took its time. I couldn’t actually tell the exact scene as to when Miyano started to have feelings for Sasaki, because his feelings took its time. And there was no such homophobia present. When Sasaki confessed to Miyano, he wasn’t disgusted by it or questioned it, he was very sure that he like him. Miyano was also not as he was more worried about BLs coming to life than the fact that he is attracted to a guy.
A minor thing I like is that whenever things get a bit awkward, confusing or cute, then the characters are shown in a chibi-ish way. I like chibi art, so this is also a reason why I enjoyed it. It was also pretty interesting. However, the thing that intrigues me, and I’m confused about it, is the depiction of stray cats in a lot of scenes. I don’t understand what these cats mean, and how are they related to the feelings between the two main characters. However, I just searched Reddit and someone said that cats have a lot of folklore in Japan. But I’m not sure which one, since I’m very new to Japanese culture.
I have no favorite characters here. I like all of them more or less equally. However, Ogasawara arguing with his fujoshi (“rotten girl”/ a girl who loves BLs) girlfriend is the most entertaining thing to see, along with Kuresawa, the boy who was attacked in the first episode and later became friends with Miyano, constantly talking about his girlfriend for a long time, as if he’s hell-bent on making his friends single. I like that although Hirano Taiga is seen as a model student with a stoic demeanour, his dyed yellow hair does not suit the dress code and that he is the most caring friend who is always there for you.
As far as I liked it, it may not be for those who like fast-paced, dark, or angsty animes. This anime is slow-paced, and the relationship was not formed immediately or in the end of the episode. Although this makes it more realistic, some people might be way too impatient. However, there is a lot of chemistry between the two, so this might save it, but you just need patience. I enjoyed the process of relationship building, as it wasn’t too rushed. That would’ve taken my enjoyment. But this didn’t engage me enough, even though it was an interesting watch.
Overall, it was a cute and light slice-of-life anime. It didn’t make much of an impact, but I would recommend it to an anime beginner as it is a good start to anime BLs, at least for me as a beginner myself. If you like seeing a relationship build-up, understated characters and slow-paced anime, then this is for you.
Thank you for reading.
Esha Lee Madgavkar 