This dark gritty Japanese BL is something I was not expecting. The story focuses on a Yakuza bodyguard assigned to kill his young boss. The premise sounds interesting but the execution was just weird. There were lot of problems with the show like violence, abuse, coercion and even forcing themselves sexually. Eventually it somewhere becomes. BL with some nonsense stuff. Thankfully the series was only 6 episodes of about 26-30 minutes each. Kataoka is a respected yakuza leader. His boss has grown old and frail, unable to manage the organization anymore. Leadership now falls to the boss's son, Keito. He assigns Odajima as Kataoka's new handler to keep him in check. Kataoka is impulsive and treats Odajima aslmost as a servant even forcing sex on him. But beneath the rough exterior, Kataoka occasionally reveals a gentler side. Odajima, on the other hand, is stoic and distant, keeping his emotions under tight control. What Kataoka doesn't know is that Odajima has a hidden agen...
This was a surprisingly good movie. It is s hard to categorize it as a comedy, thriller or feel good cinema. It had bits of everything and hold the audience attention throughout. Although the lead character is straight and the chef is gay, it is refreshing to see homosexuality being played with flirtatious sweetness all through out with a dash of magic.After Jin-Hyuk rejected Sun-Woo in high school, Sun-Woo has become the opposite of his stuttering past: a Prada-snug love magnet that no man, gay or straight, could resist. He also becomes the best baker in business. Years later, Jin-Hyuk puts up a patisserie called Antique and hires Sun-Woo to be his pastry chef. The rest of his staff, a retired boxing champ and Jin-Hyuk's childhood friend and bodyguard---are all bewildered why he opened Antique when cakes in particular make him vomit. The viewer doesn't know why Jin-Hyuk doesn't like any cake until later when the secret is revealed. As a kid, he was kidnapped for 2 months and when he came back home, he did not remember anything except that he could not eat cake anymore. The only reason he had this shop opened was in anticipation that the person who kidnapped him will return and he will be able to face his fears. And the time comes and the culprit is identified but police can't catch up. You have to watch it to see what happens.
The boxing champ who starts learning to make cakes under Sun-Woo is a ardent cake fan like no one else and really wants to learn the trick. The dumb bodyguard tries to help in the shop but he is really dumb to do anything. Sun-Woo tries to keep flirting with Jin-Hyuk because he is the only one whom he ever had a crush on but to no avail. The chemistry between all 4 lead characters is very real, funny and interesting. The problem is initially the characters speak so fast that it is very difficult to keep a track of what's going on and enjoy it vs look at the screen. And what do I say about the cakes. Oh My God!! they look so fabulously delicious that you just wanna go inside the screen and eat all of them. All male characters are also exceptionally good looking and well built. They have their charm in their own ardent way.
I loved it. It was little long but worth the fun. (7/10)
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