Our Dining Table (2023)

I have no words

I'm afraid I have no words to say how much I love this series, but I'll try my best. Saying that this is the most beautiful BL series I've ever watched is true, but still sounds like it isn't enough. So in this review I won't even try to be objective, because you can't be objective about someone or something you're head over heels with.

I wonder if the series can be categorized as ”BL” at all, as the main characters are 23 years old, so not really ”boys”, and in this series you won't find even a single of the numerous ”BL-tropes”. What does make it ”BL” is the fact that the main characters experience – as far as we learn in the series - their first love, and especially their first gay love.

I won't elaborate on the plot here – just so much: ”Our Dining Table” tells the story of two 23-year-old men who are utterly unhappy. Yutaka (Inukai Atsuhiro) is an outsider and isn't able to enjoy a meal with other persons as he suffers from a childhood trauma which was caused by his misconception that he wasn't welcomed in the family who adopted him after his parents' death. Minoru (Iijima Hiroki) stopped attending college after his mother's death and took up a part time job at a ramen restaurant to be there for his little brother Tane (Maeyama Kuuga) as their father doesn't have enough time for the little boy.

The series displays the way how Yutaka and Minoru help each other overcome their loneliness and sadness. The script must have been written by authors who experienced similar situations, because it is so sensitive and at the same time so true-to-life that the actions of the main characters are completely understandable, however awkward and clumsy they may appear.

Little Tane is the katalyst of Yutaka and Minoru's relationship. He's the one who asks Yutaka for his riceball, thus initiating Yutaka and Minoru's alleged first contact (although they had met before, but Yutaka forgot about it), and later it is again Tane who encourages Yutaka and Minoru to get closer.

There is a scene that made me cry like a baby, because it is so heartwarming: Tane notices that Yutaka has been crying, and he pats Yutaka's hair to console him. In another beautiful scene, Tane notices that Minoru is very sad. He asks him whether he had a fight with Yutaka, and again he made me cry when he hugs Minoru and says: ”I will go with you to apologize to him.”

The authors have found many subtle ways of making the viewer notice how Yutaka and Minoru cautiously, in tiny steps, get closer to each other, opening up to each other very slowly as not to destroy the little progress they have achieved. When Yutaka tells Minoru the sad story of his childhood, he hides his face behind a drawing of himself that Tane has made. In another scene, Yutaka instinctively pats Minoru's head which shocks both of them because the gesture reveals Yutaka's feelings for Minoru way too frankly and early.

The finale is another emotional highlight of the series. When Yutaka realizes how much he loves Minoru he is scared that they may separate one day. It is Minoru's father who reassures him, and it is no surprise, but a most beautiful moment, when Tane – asked by his classmate who Yutaka is – declares ”He is my family”. Yutaka finally overcomes his fear and asks Minoru to stay together forever. In every BL series, there should be a kiss in the final scene, but here the final minutes are so full of emotions and love that a kiss isn't needed.

The unique and beautiful script requires first class actors, and they all deliver perfectly. Inukai has proven that he is a great actor as he has been able to shine in many different roles, e.g. in the gorgeous comedy ”The Man Who Defies the World of BL” or as a Yakuza boss in ”Kei x Yaku”, so it's no surprise that he is able to show Yutaka's pain and panic, but also his cautious – and, given his trauma, brave - way of opening up to Minoru and to his own family.

I hadn't seen Iijima before ”Our Dining Table”, but he is a very experienced actor, too. It is amazing how he is able to express Minoru's inhibitions, fears, and the love of his little brother. Iijima is easily one of the best actors I've ever seen in a BL series. The supporting actors are on the same level, especially Harada Riuji, who plays Minoru and Tane's father, and Ichikawa Tomohiro (Yutaka's stepbrother).

But the actor who stole everybody's heart is Maeyama Kuuga. I am sure that one or all of the directors must have spent all their skills, patience, and love to make the little boy act the way he does, but he must also be a huge talent. The same can be said about the child actors who play young Minoru (Arata Hinata), Yutaka (Kobayashi Ikuma), and Hozumi (Nagano Sora).

The cinematography matches the beauty of the script and the brilliance of the acting, and the soundtrack is as sensitive as the series as a whole – it never intrudes the characters' intimacy.

This series is so well written, brilliantly acted, and heartwarming that I can only recommend you to watch it in case you haven't already done that. ”Our Dining Table” reminded me a little of the Taiwanese series ”Papa and Daddy” which had a season 2, and I'd love to see Yutaka, Minoru, and Tane in a season 2 as well.

Country: Japan (2023)

Episodes: 10 à 23 minutes

Directors: Ishibashi Yuho, Iizuka Kashou, Kamimura Naho

Cast: Inukai Atsuhiro, Iijima Hiroki, Maeyama Kuuga et al.