Hey guys!
So the other day I was thinking I wanted to watch some movies to help diversify the content on my blogs, instead of just having anime and manga. But I was a bit hesitant since I don’t like to watch movies by myself. I’m more the type to watch with someone else and then talk about it with them.
That’s when I randomly thought of BL dramas and how I’d never watched one before! After doing a bit of research I found Seven Days and immediately headed over. However, as I was watching the live action I couldn’t stop myself from picking up the manga, so instead of doing a review on the live action by itself, I thought I’d do a semi-comparison/overall review of both.
Seven Days is a manga illustrated by Rihito Takarai (the reason I picked this up) but written by Venio Tachibana. It’s rumoured that every Monday, Seryou will go out with anyone that asks him, however, after one week he’ll dump that person by saying, “I didn’t fall in love with you so let’s break up.”
Curious about said rumour (and how Seryou will react), Yuzuru decides to ask Seryou out. He does so as a joke but before he can get an answer from Seryou, they get interrupted. Seryou is initially confused at having been asked out by his senpai, and especially a guy. But like every week, he follows routine. He quickly falls into the role of boyfriend, seemingly unaware that him having a Weekly Girlfriend is a thing.
Manga/StoryOne of the reasons I picked this book up was because it had the name Rihito Takahashi attached to it. Rihito Takahashi is the mangaka for Ten Count, Only the Flower Knows, Grainerie, and The Bride of the Fox Spirit (all titles I like!). And it was just as cute as all of them, though I must admit, there was something about this one that caught me more than the others
We have Yuzuru who has had many girlfriends in the past, but he’s never loved any of them. They’re usually the ones who ask him out and they’re also the ones to break things off soon after getting together because he’s so different from what he looks like. It’s because of this that he ends up getting a complex about his face and being so nonchalant about dating. Even when his friend asks him jokingly to date her, he’s quick to say yes and feels nothing about it being a joke
Out of the two characters, Yuzuru is the more blunt and aggressive
Then we have Seryou, a first year who already has a reputation of dating anyone who asks him on Monday. And even though he breaks up with his girlfriends within a week, none of them have any complaints about him. Some of them do try to contact him after the week is over, but Seryou has a policy of deleting their numbers and not answering their calls because he doesn’t recognize the number. This seems to be the case for every girl…except for “Shino-chan”. Because Yuzuru has the same name as “Shino-chan”, Seryou calls him by his first name.
Both characters are also in the archery club, however, Seryou makes it a habit of skipping practice. Many of his seniors tend to not like how fickle he is and when he does go to practice, they make sure to drill him.
Once they start dating, there isn’t really a change between them. Yes, they didn’t really talk to each other before Yuzuru asked Seryou out but it just has this really cute and friends hanging out vibe. They go eat ramen together, they hang out during breaks, go shopping, walk home together, and so forth. Because they’ll only be dating for a week, Yuzuru tries to spend as much time with Seryou to make it count. Of course, Seryou doesn’t really understand what this “one week” thing is about
It’s only until the later part of the week where Yuzuru decides to do more “couple” things like kissing (he also considered holding hands but don’t think they ever did). It’s ADORABLE. I love how these things can be stuff you do with a best friend and how them getting closer is the emphasis (where other yaoi titles are more about the sex)
In an attempt to not spoil the ending, just know it’s a happy one!
Live Action/ComparisonSeven Days is probably the only BL live action I’ve ever seen advertised (if there’s more manga adaptations). When I looked at the list of BL live actions, this one was nearly at the top and I knew I had to check it out
Usually when I watch live action adaptations, I’m really weary about new content. If I’m a fan of the original, I think it’s normal to want to see it as faithful to the original as possible. I don’t think I’ve had that experience until I watched Seven Days. From the very beginning, everything is nearly identical. The dialogue, the scenes, Yuzuru getting whacked on the head by his friend, the pizza order, etc.
It was so faithful that I could have picked up the manga and gone along with the live action
Another slight issue I have with live actions is the cast. I feel like there’s always something off about the actors. Of course, maybe that’s just me wanting all my bishies being played by hot actors, which isn’t always the case
But this time around I was happy with the cast. Yuzuru’s biggest feature in the manga was his pretty face and how girls loved him for it. Our actor Yamada James Takeshi fits the bill with his softer and rounded appearance. We also have Seryou being the handsome first year that has a playboy-esque appearance. Again, Hirose Tomoki does Seryou justice in terms of looks. In terms of acting, I did feel both actors could have done better
Aside from Yuzuru’s face being pretty, he’s known to have many expressions and shifting between moods without warning. I didn’t feel we got this in the live action and while it didn’t bother me too much, it was something I noticed. On that end, Seryou’s character was a bit more interesting, especially during the ‘I like to be shackled by my partner’ moments where he smiled his little smirks
In terms of choreography, I did think it was a bit awkward. There are moments where the characters don’t move for an extended period of time (and then I’ll move to see if the video froze). I think those moments could have been shortened and we could have still gotten the sense of being ‘lost’ (in each other’s gaze, the moment)
However, the most awkward moment for me was the kissing scene in Yuzuru’s room. I felt it was the one with the most passion but also the one where I laughed so hard I snorted. To me it felt like the actors were trying to move away from each other, like they didn’t want to kiss. I was also surprised by Seryou clutching his heart. So far, the movie hadn’t felt exaggerated (like, let’s say, Hana Kimi) so for him to clutch at his kokoro like that, it felt off to me
Overall, I really did enjoy both the manga and live action adaptation. I loved the story and the character interaction, I loved the ending, I loved how how the live action was faithful to the manga, and I loved how the characters just fit.
While the live action felt low budget, I still recommend checking it out because it was really adorable. And the manga…let’s just say I love it so much I accidentally bought doubles.
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