Unlock Your Heart (2021)

Get you a girl who looks at you the way Miyuki looks at Ai.

Give the girls a gold medal for facial expressions. My god the way they look each other deserve a 10/10. I rarely ever see actors look at each other the way that they do especially Ai. Ai will switch between looking at Miyuki like “this girl is so pure and genuine” to “I’m not supposed to like this girl”. It’s great, sweet and also kinda funny because Ai’s subconscience and body were always at least 10 steps ahead of her realizing her own feelings.

With that said, I am dinging this 1.5 points. Cheating is so rampant in Asian GL dramas. I don’t know why that is, and I don’t think I will ever come to accept or understand it (sans only a few reasons) especially when the guy is nice and has done nothing to deserve it. If the guy was a girl, I don’t think anyone else in the GL crowd would either. But for some reason, when it’s a guy getting cheated on, that doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

1 point for the cheating and 0.5 points for intending to play with someone’s feelings, because they are dating your crush. I didn’t go off a full point and will attritube it to Ai still growing and maturing. Perhaps at her age, she’s still self-absorbed and not really thinking about others yet. But this is fiction, so I guess it makes for a good plot device and angle for character development? In real life, I hope no one justifies playing with other people’s feelings with age. Emotional scars, while unseen, can lasts a lifetime just like physical ones.

Big ups to Japan for coming back to the GL scene after so long. I wasn’t expecting much from Hiraite especially given the plot synopsis, but I’m pleasantly surprised. Wish they could have joined hands with Netflix or similar for more international exposure though. I’m sure many of us have been waiting for something like this from Japan for a while now. Almost on par with OG Transit Girls imho. They were really close. Looking forward to more from Japan.

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You had a crush, you found out your crush already in relationship, WTF you're going to do about it? Normal people probably just go on with their lives, waiting for a chance that probably will come someday, but not for Kimura Ai, she's going to sabotage it.

Kimura Ai, a young, brave, egocentric, and aggressive girl; I believe that after learning that her crush, Tatoe, had a girlfriend, she became obsessed with this thing she thought of as love, allowing her feelings to control her and turning her into a "very" irresponsible person to those around her and even to herself.
The way Ai tries to sabotage Tatoe's relationship with his girlfriend, Miyuki, is by approaching and befriending her.

"Thank you for teaching me how it feels like to be touched. If only you could be patient with me, even if it's out of self-regard, even for a split second. If that means you're opening your heart to me... I'll cherish that moment forever."

I love this film for how it made me feel, how compelling the story was, how beautiful the visuals are, how great the actors' performances are, etc. and this film kinda reminds me of The Half of It, this GL thing that gave me butterflies, even though in here would be realize late but the moment Ai and Miyuki is there and very intimate.

Anna Yamada's performance was very good, her expression, and how she showed Kimura Ai's desperation to be loved was so good, and why the hell she could be this kawaii, if I'm Tatoe, this film could be over in 30 minutes, because if she confessed her feelings, I'd accept them right away, and I'd be a simp for my queen, Yamada-sama 4eva.
Like the others, I also want to mention Haruka Imoe; she's really did a great job. She and Anna always have that intimate scene, and she as Miyuki, can keep up with Ai's aggression, resulting in the most beautiful kiss and sex scenes in Japanese films I've watched.

I think that's all I wanted to type. Thanks.

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