Mini-Review: Cherry Magic

 

I haven't done a review in a long time so why not with Cherry Magic?

For all that it looks like with the virginity concept front and center, you would think toxic concepts would be all over it. 

I feel I should discuss the history of the ongoing manga. I’m shocked that it’s still ongoing. You would think it’ll end by their wedding but nope. I’m shocked that it’s still ongoing. 

It was originally a Twitter one-shot that was picked up for publishing and was supposed to end when Adachi loses his virginity but extended due to the success of the Jdrama and now it’s just going. Now the story is so beloved that it would up creating a whole new trope for fanfiction. 

The manga is by far the best one obviously. I scoff whenever I see the Thai version get praised as the superior version. Read the damn manga. The Jdrama is influential just for its success and its virality but it stood on its own feet when it had to deal with anime are forced to make things as they go when they don’t have the source material. At least the anime is giving the manga direct attention. 

So if you want to go, read manga first and foremost, and go to Chinese radio drama. then Jdrama, then anime. The Thai version should be your last priority if you can't find a way to watch the 2.5D version aka the musical. At the time of writing, not until people and fans see the play itself, the 2.5D stage play is in a nebulous position. At the very least, we're going to get a proshot which is hilarious to me because Broadways refused to get their proshots out there out of fear of money even though so many film successes have shown that people are willing to buy tickets to see the actual damn play. I know many animanga fans who want to experience a 2.5D musical for real instead of just seeing the proshot. At the least, the 2.5D people knew where the money was. The problem is that the plays unless made for an international audience are only sold in Japan and relatively Asia as a whole. Once I have enough information, I will edit to see what the general fan reactions are and the placement. 

From what I heard from people who was actually crazy enough to get livestream tickets, it’s campy fun. Apparently, this Kurosawa have been pining for six months and their first date went perfectly fine in comparison to their counterparts. Kurosawa of course get love songs to his name ala first date song.  

Ultimately, it’s actually the concept that is a conduit for a character-driven story. The only remaining one who has not popped his cherry is Tsuge in the manga. Cherry Magic is just an artifact and is used as magic realism for character development. And it's not like it's hurting what is in the end relationship hurdles of a committed gay relationship. 

Adachi, a bitter (because let’s be honest, his assumptions and judgments about others are very bitter and toxic) 30-year-old virgin, found he had telepathic powers and quite accidentally found out his most popular coworker’s deep crush on him going on a year or seven years depending on the adaptation. 

Adachi’s boring life was very eventful as these powers gave him the courage to speak up and take up space. Even after he lost his powers, a point of the series was his character development. I really like the edge of the original Adachi. Snarky and an ass, in the beginning, he’s brutal. No other adaptation came close to that. The Thai version of Adachi is the worst, being the stereotypical BL uke with nothing much at all. What was changed did little favors. We see Adachi grow in confidence and even take the initiative several times canonically with his relationship with Kurosawa both romantically and sexually. Fuck, their first time together was a result of Adachi kissing Kurosawa first out of passionate love he’s finally communicating in words. Adachi even denied sex when he saw Kurosawa having problems of his refusal to rely on others at work. Where was the bite in the Thai Adachi? It’s the same way that I feel anime Eiji didn’t have enough teeth for him in comparison to his flawed manga original self in Banana Fish. Is it bad that I want teeth for characters? I’m grateful BF got an anime adaptation because anime is the promo for the manga and what BF fought so hard for to get their name out there. It’s just I want the biting depths that might not even be called good. 

An otherwise invisible introverted guy who prefers not to talk back but in his head turned into a quiet steely man. He still has his self-esteem issues and sometimes fails to speak up but he’s not a pushover anymore. 

Kurosawa is hilariously unhinged. Outward placid, his thoughts can run racy and absolutely normal. Godoka, I love how unhinged he is. Even before he becomes friends with his love interest, his imagination goes wild. That imagination did not tone down upon marriage because marriage made it worse. Even when Adachi doesn’t know the exact thoughts, he can tell what kind of unhinged thoughts his insane placid husband is thinking. If he had to deal with the fantasies and whatever gifts he had for Adachi, he knew just how insane Kurosawa would go. The gap moe is also a factor too. Kurosawa is genuinely in love but for all of his obsession, he’s a sweetie who wants Adachi to experience everything. 

Kurosawa does want himself to be the man for Adachi but he seems willing to acquiesce if it comes to women for Adachi as long as he makes sure there are no advances. He’s otherwise a gentleman even when there are chances to sneak a full-on mouth kiss. Considering he’s been pining for so long, Kurosawa probably believed even after Adachi made it clear he doesn’t exactly hate it that Adachi sees him as a friend. He confessed, not expecting a reciprocation, only as a way to finally get over him. For as long as he knew him, Adachi had never shown interest in men so it’s pretty obvious it would shock him of the reciprocity. 

Kurosawa wants to know everything about Adachi. His virtues and his flaws are equally ensnaring to him. 

Each iteration often characterizes the jdrama first because that’s the popular version that utterly overshadows the original piece. The Chinese radio drama is the closest I can get to the unhinged Kurosawa and snarky ass Adachi. We do have to give the jdrama thanks for helping the manga not end shortly but we really need to give the original manga its flowers. 

Still, regardless of adaptation, all were made of love. The Thai version never even picked up the manga or even the original jdrama, probably watched the trailer and that’s it. I want to be kind to it but it just didn’t display anything that I like about the original in the first place. I have my misgivings for the weaker adaptations but I do like the better parts of the Thai iteration such as the localization (house, transport to work, etc) which is only up to a point, unfortunately. But the Thai version was made of love regardless of quality. 

I really like the jdrama fleshing out the side characters more due to its slower pacing. The jdrama might not done well when branching on its own stuff well that isn’t the side characters except Minato but it’s adequate. While the original Fujisaki inhabits the Yaoi fangirl shipper, the jdrama iteration is her own fleshed-out character who is firmly AroAce. 

The friendships Adachi has been fleshed out beyond just Rakakou and a little bit of Fujisaki. It’s about the relationships Adachi makes beyond just his romance. The point is to live life and there is nothing wrong with experiencing all of that in their quarter-life. 

I’ve been drawn to protagonists in their late twenties to thirties lately because they show there is nothing wrong with experiencing the life you supposedly have at a young age and don’t carry it into the quarter life. The story of ORV is ultimately about love written with love. Any kind of love is written with romance being ambiguous. ORV isn’t BL but the ambiguity of it as well as the queer subtext seems almost text. It got to the point that the queer subtext was outright erased on the ebook version. 

As someone who has trouble socializing but wants to reach out to the rest of the world, Cherry Magic and ORV and their themes are always comforting that life is still going for me and there is nothing wrong with experiencing love of all kinds at this age. 

People have written Cherry Magic off both in the BL and at large in general due to the title alone and what they feel is a dime a dozen. 

BL has so much denigration and is under fire even though the topic of discussion is more nuanced than that a blanket statement the entire genre is entirely rape. Not to mention, there is always a popular mxm ship in every single fandom 

If Cherry Magic retold the story so many times including a fucking musical version, there has to be something special to Cherry Magic, don't you think? More than just being a relatively mature shounen-ai at best? There has to be something special that created a fanfic trope. 

I don't think dismissing it alone when fans are willing to experience the story over and over again. 

I believe the character development, that the story is well past the main character in the main romance losing his virginity and thus his powers, and that it's about the love of all sorts and the building of relationships to experience the world is what made Cherry Magic a standout in the crowd. 

Yes, these things exist in other BLs too. Whatever Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, language there is for BL, it is still BL. And in BL, you must stand out lest there wouldn't be adaptations in other mediums. However, Cherry Magic isn't even the most popular thing ever even the Jdrama had done a lot for the manga but it's still not even some of the most popular danmeis' level of popularity. Sure they are translated and have a big fanbase but whereas MDZS is a deconstruction of xianxia with BL, Cherry Magic is essentially a slice of life BL that explores love in all its forms as well as the hurdles of a committed relationship that does deal with the societal homophobia. 

There are many different BLs including affectionate parodies. Like any other romance, there are many different kinds of romances that tackle all kinds of things. Cherry Magic's magic is its gentleness in depicting the love of all kinds and that no matter what the brain thinks those who care for you do care for you. 

The BL and the LGBT stories that do stick out in the crowd deserve to have eyes on them, the ones that are good anyway. 

At the moment, I’m in deep with Blue Flag and Gambare Nakamara. 

The likes of Emilia Perez, a supposedly LGBT story that does not showcase any topical subjects meaningfully, failed hard in their performative activism and was safe enough for elites to get behind. Oh, so the song is about political corruption even though the movie never acknowledged that Rita is colluding with corrupt figureheads nor was the subject of the song ever brought up before the song. That’s not even the worst thing regarding the writing. If anything, that’s a minor footnote to the list of misdeeds. The movie was already rotten to the core but to know just how putrid it was through each rot in the lead-up to the Oscars 

The Death Note US live-action is just horrid because when the original Japanese series criticize the Japanese justice system, this one doesn't do shit about the American justice system and how it impacts the BIPOC community. Just nope. L being black could be a thing to connect the dots from there but nope. Of course not. The thing for the guys behind this adaptation is not the themes or even attempting to emulate the cat-and-mouse play in a good way, it's about the imagery of Kira the cult, and the grandeur of the death. No fun for the cast and crew will ever wipe away the loss of potential. I can't even enjoy that much when everything else was horrendously written so flat. 

That's the process I feel with the worst of performative LGBT media that are hailed as legendary when it's not. For every Moonlight or I Saw the TV Glow, there is always an Emilia Perez or Girl. 

While the story is officially a BL, there are LGBT themes present. The author supports gay marriage in Japan. 

I’m happy that it exists happily. The series itself is not as groundbreaking as YOI and Utena; or in the mainstream where there definitely be more thought put into it like FMA. However, not all art is supposed to be high art to be enjoyed. There is a heart there with a power of connection that allowed its staying power in so many iterations. It’s powerful enough to get a fanfic trope. The last I remember was Seven Days.