My newest actor love

[maggie33]

At 25:00 in Akasaka episode 1

First impression – I like it. A lot. Komagine Kiita is as excellent as I expected of him. He’s that kind of actor that can do a lot of acting with just his face and his eyes. And wow, he looks hot. 😊 His co-star Taisuke Niihara is fine, too, although for now I’m not as wowed by him as I instantly was by Kiita.

Spoilers behind the cut.

Yes, it really reminds me of My Personal Weatherman. In a good way. They met at the university, Hayama Asami was Shirasaki Yuki’s two years older senior. They were in the same club together, and what Yuki remembers is that they never spoke, and he thinks that Asami didn’t pay attention to him and doesn’t remember him. Of course Asami remembers him very well, and it’s obvious that he fell for Yuki then, just didn’t know how to tell him that. Or, who knows, maybe he did indicated that he was interested in Yuki, and Yuki just didn’t understand him. That boy has low self-esteem. Not as much as Yoh from MPW (because wow, Yoh was like a master at low self-esteem), but still. And it could be also that Yuki had a crush on Asami even then, but simply didn’t realize it (again, like Yoh).

Funny thing is I did finish reading the 1st volume of the manga a few weeks ago, and now I barely remember anything from it. Manga is just a really hard medium for me to get into. I keep missing a lot of things even during reading. And it was only exacerbated by me reading it on my laptop. I don’t like to read longer things on the computer screen. But the first two volumes of the manga (translated to English) will be published as paperbacks later this year, so I plan to buy it and read it again.

Speaking of Komagine Kiita and his acting talent – I have a drama rec for you.

Tengu no Daidokoro (Tengu’s Kitchen)

If you like slice of life dramas, but also magical realism, food as a love language, and complicated, but loving relationships between siblings then this is the drama for you. It’s slow, cozy, heart-warming, and relaxing.

It’s a story about 14-years old On, who was born and raised in the USA, and who is told by his parents that he is a descendant of the Tengu (a type of supernatural creature found in Shinto belief). There is a tradition that after his 14th birthday he must spend a year in seclusion in the Japanese countryside. He will live there with his older brother Motoi, whom he never met, because Motoi came to live in Japan right after On’s birth for his year of seclusion, and he never returned to America.

A bit more about the plot, with very minor spoilers behind the cut.

It’s a Tengu lineage trait that all descendants develop the ability to communicate with animals at 14, but that ability usually goes away when they turn 15. But Motoi is an exception; not only does he still has this skill as an adult, but he also grew small wings at 14 (which is very unusual even for a Tengu descendant) and he still has them now.

On is a typical teenager, who at first is bored with his new, unhurried life in the countryside, and awkward and cold with his brother whom he never talked to before. Especially since Motoi is a quiet and calm person, and he doesn’t really talk much. They have to learn how to be brothers together. With a lot of food porn (seriously, I often got so hungry watching this drama 😊) and a few talks with a cute doggie.

And it’s such a joy to observe this journey through 10 episodes of this drama. And it’s such a joy to admire Kiita’s excellent acting as Motoi.

This drama isn’t available officially with English subtitles. But there is a person on tumblr who has the project where they make fansubs for their favorite Japanese dramas, and they translated this drama too. Here is their post on tumblr with the information where you can download raw episodes and the subtitles.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Who's the guy on the left? Is he the tengu's boyfriend?

[maggie33]

Heh, you can say that. ;) And more seriously - he's Motoi's closest friend, also a Tengu descendant, but from another family. They were in the seclusion together, but Yui (that's his name) lost all his supernatural abilities after he turned 15, so he returned to Tokio and he lives and works there now. But he visits Motoi very often and they are very close. And Yui doesn't have a girlfriend or a wife in Tokio. So IMO you can very easily read their relationship as something more than just friendship. I certainly did. :)

[profiterole_reads]

It's a bit of a pity that (except for Motoi) they only have their abilities for a year.

[maggie33]

It really is rather complicated in the drama - the way they deal with Motoi's abilities remaining, and those abilities fading away in other descendants. It is a good thing in some ways for Motoi, but also very difficult in others. I really like how they approached this subject.

[dorinda]

sakana17 just came to visit me for a few days, and we watched all of Tengu no Daidokoro, which she told me about after seeing you rec it here!

IT'S SO GREAT, I absolutely loved it. Everything you say about it above it true--it was so calm but also complex, great dynamics between the characters, fascinating worldbuilding with the sense of the tengu history and even conflict behind the scenes, lovely setting, nature, community, glorious food and cooking.

And Yui! I love him, his backstory and relationship with Motoi, the way he not only can read Motoi, but also has the outgoing emotional intelligence and freedom to ask Motoi straight out about his innermost feelings all the time. He immediately becomes another big brother to On (of a different kind), and given the glimpse we see of his apparently not-good relationship with his own father the king (? or in any case the main head) of the Tengu, I am so curious about his feelings about Motoi's family (I mean, contrast Yui's father in the flashbacks with Motoi & On's super loving/expressive papa!!). Anyway, I am definitely having lots of Yui/Motoi thoughts and feelings. ♥___♥

I find myself surprised not to find any on AO3, but then the lack of an official English-language distribution (for the manga or the show) must be a general barrier for a lot of English-language AO3 users like me. I'm just lucky that you recced it and linked the place to get the show + fansubs! You have brought me great joy, thank you so much!!

[maggie33]

You can’t even imagine how much joy your comment brought me today. I’m so happy that my post managed to encourage someone to watch this lovely drama.

And I love Yui, too, so much. He’s a great person and a great friend. And he instantly seems to take a liking to On, and he knows how to talk to him to make him listen. And if you saw my answer to a comment above I absolutely ship Yui/Motoi. And during watching I had a lot of Yui/Motoi feelings, too. I mean they clearly love each other, it’s obvious. And it’s very easy to read that love as a romantic one.

And heh, I checked AO3, too, even though I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be anything there. If the drama was on some streaming service, then yes I think we’d have at least a few fics. Without that I guess not many people in English speaking fandom watched it. And not many even knows about it. But who knows maybe now with Kiita being a lead in a new BL drama more people will fall in love with him (like I did), and want to watch other dramas with him. And maybe they will watch this drama and then maybe someone will write a fic. That’s a lot of maybes, but here is hoping. 😊