Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! (2022)

A very cute and funny BL drama let down by the writing

I am really torn about writing this review. Mostly when I decide to invest myself in watching a drama series, I mostly do so baised on the original source material. I love the original manga by Hare Shinta, the art is beautiful and it tells a simple tale of romance, burnout and finding support and love which is told from the viewpoint of the seme, which for BL tales still rare for myself to come across.

So when I saw the announcement of the drama version I was beyond excited. I was keen to see this manga converted into drama .

The result was not what I expected, but still I find this drama series very charming. I personally love this drama but I still see the flaws that this drama version has that annoys many other viewers.

Story: Yanase Jun is a talented and well respected CG artist that has worked in Canada in the past. Now working in Max pictures he has to tutor a new employee Kaneda Yuki. However Kaneda seems to be quite a cold and distance person that Yanase finds hard to get along with. What Yanase doesn’t know is that Kaneda is a big admirer of Yanase. One day after a welcoming drinking party Yanase sees a side of Kaneda he wasn’t expecting and from there their relationship slowly changes.

Casting/acting: The casting is basically THE BEST thing I will say about this series. I will say this a thousand times but Naito Syuichiro was BORN to play as Yanase, I don’t think the producers could have found a perfect being like him to play Yanase. Naito is the eye candy, the main feature of this drama series. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Naito as Yanase, he’s so attractive but he’s a great actor. Naito is the one that understands Yanase because Yanase is Naito, in the 1st half when you don’t know anything about Yanase. Naito can just emote feelings through his face and eyes alone. This series introduced me to Naito Syuichiro that I am thankful for this drama series existing.

I can’t ignore Seto Toshiki as well, because he is the other half of the couple and Naito wouldn’t have been able to carry this drama series alone without Seto. At first I was unsure about Seto casting of Kaneda but Seto won me over with his acting. The 1st half of the drama focuses a lot on Kaneda and Seto proves that he can be cute, emotional and shows the various sides of Kaneda that I didn’t know about. The combination of Naito and Seto is magical and I am thankful for this series to exist just for these two to meet and act alongside each other. I am going to be sad that this series might be the only one to see these two interact and act together in.

Music: Sadly I think the music and OST is very forgettable for myself. I don’t really like the opening theme as catchy as is, because it’s a very cheesy opening. The ending theme song is better and the clever use of hands to show the difference in distance. But the OST for the drama is ok at best, it works to suit the various emotions in scenes.

Directing: I really like it, unlike most Japanese dramas where they have this odd “yellow filter” applied to it. The lighting for this series feels bright and natural. The directing is very professional and slick. Some of the sharp camera turns and cuts I really like from this series.

Negatives: Whoever was in charge of the writing for this drama fire them and never let them write for another drama series ever again! The writing for this drama IS NOT GOOD. It is easily the source of why there’s so many flaws and loop holes and why manga fans like me are so torn over this drama. It’s such a mess of poor drama writing.

The original material exists for the writers to base the drama around, I’ve never seen such disrespect and disregard to source material that it makes me ANGRY as a manga fan.

I am so sad to what the writers did to Kaneda’s character. In the manga Kaneda did admire Yanase but he did it respectfully, only collecting magazines of him and silently parsing/admiring Yanase in his mind. Never did I think Kaneda as “creepy” in the manga. Yet the writers thought it would be a good idea to introduce unnecessary characterization to him such as owning a “shrine”, talking down on himself comparing himself as a mortal against his god and then introducing very weird and odd fetish daydreams he has about Yanase. All of these additional features the drama puts on Kaneda just makes the viewers see Kaneda as an odd and creepy worshipper. It doesn’t make it better that the writers convey Kaneda’s feelings as “unsure” making him seem like he’s NOT an adult and rather a high schooler who just found his 1st crush. It’s such a shame because Seto is such a good actor.

It’s even sadder that we DON’T GET TO EVEN SEE AND HEAR more of Yanase’s character until episode six which I find so funny and sad that the same time. Is he is main character of this series of is it Kaneda? The drama can’t decide honestly. I did like the slight changes the drama makes to Yanase compared to the manga, mostly being less touchy and forceful and shows a more innocent and maiden like personality to him. Which I find a bit odd, honestly. But it showed this really cute side of Naito so I can’t complain that much. I like the addition of the “10 things I want to do with Kaneda” it was hella cute and innocent development for drama Yanase. Maybe too innocent for my liking LOL.

I could go on with the errors of adding un-necessary additions from the drama like Benji and long distance separations. But honestly this review as gone on for too long.

Postives: AT LEAST the drama ended in a good way. I really liked the ending to this drama series, everything felt connected and complete. Directing and production is really good. Naito and Seto are amazing as their characters or not (their behind the scenes and making of videos are so fun to watch).

Overall: Senpai, this can’t be love is a cute office romance about the slow burn romance between a senior and junior in a CG work environment. The main leads are so attractive and act together well with great chemistry. However it is dragged out by the questionable script writing. If you are willing to put behind these questionable writing there is a cute light-hearted BL story to enjoy here.

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Strong beginning, mediocre middle, lackluster ending.

Not gonna lie, I thought it’s going to be more comedy based with focus on Kaneda being a massive fanboy and trying to deal with working alongside, and later dating his idol. It was not. While it still had some scenes here and there focusing on that aspect, it was mostly just an office romance, with not that much romance.

It worked so well at first. Kaneda was sweet and in the constant panic mode because of any most basic interaction with Yanase. Yanase was a nice and helpful mentor, who slowly started to see how adorable Kaneda is. And then they moved to the most basic rom-com stuff one has seen and all the spark was gone - still enjoyable, but ain’t special.

Sadly, they apparently wanted to finish with something more emotionally charged? The artificial, overexaggerated identity crisis Yanse has at some point just seemed so not fitting and out of place, I wish it was never included.

That said, the most frustrating aspect must have been the last two episodes - the fillers. This is the stuff writers add in their 16 episodes dramas when they run out of ideas. It was a completely unnecessary new chapter added at the end of the show. If they truly wanted to dive into the change of dynamics and unsureness in their current situation, it could have been quite a nice short second season - why add it at the end of this one?

Still, I did enjoy the characters a lot. Yanse was such a sweetheart and such a good boy, it was hard not to love him. He was smart, caring, trusting and hardworking. Kaneda gave me some good comedy bits that made me laugh. Sadly… the side characters were extremely forgetful. There were two female co-workers with questionable hobbies. That one guy who complained how he is not valued at work, while also not doing his work well. There was that white/half-white dude who showed up just to cause some emotional trouble. They filled the space, but that’s it.

Production wise, it was really nice. Good camera work, good set design and smooth editing. The transition between the scenes was decent and it never felt like they were completely jumping from topic to topic without caring for cohesiveness.

What was great? The outro. Expanding it after each episode was a great idea, so - to people who are about to watch - don’t skip it, watch till the end.

No complaints about the acting. I was honestly quite impressed with Seto Toshiki - he delivered both the over the top, and more subtle performance, and they both felt natural.

Overall, it’s a nice show with some fun scenes and good chemistry. Better as a binge watch.
Random side note: it had quite a few questionable falls with questionable physics.

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