Love is eternal.

It’s an emotion that remains, even when the reason for love isn’t there.

Love changes.

Sometimes we lose it, either because we fall out of love with the person we’re with or because they somehow disappear from our lives. But love never truly goes away.

Love has the power to leave scars.

Some scars are traumatic or bittersweet, leaving behind wounds we fight to forget. Some are beautiful, invoking a nostalgic swell of emotion whenever we think about the past.

Starring actors Komiya Rio and Inoue Sora, the Japanese BL Eternal Yesterday–adapted from the novel Eien no Kinou by Eda Yuuri–delivers nostalgia with a powerful story of undying love.

A story about two boys with polar opposite personalities who become unlikely friends, Eternal Yesterday starts like the typical ‘opposites attract’ storyline but quickly veers into the unexpected when one of them dies, only to come back to life with no heartbeat.

There’s a lot I can say about Eternal Yesterday, but the true power this drama holds is in what the outgoing Yamada Koichi (Rio Komiya) and the introverted Oumi Mitsuru (Inoue Sora) find in each other: the safety and security to be themselves and to be the most important part of each other’s lives.

Throughout the entire series, we’re invited into the slow development of their relationship interspersed with the last four days of Koichi’s ‘corpse’ life. From his instant love for Mitsuru to the way he gently protects and openly compliments him, Koichi gradually opens Mitsuru up to the people around him while Mitsuru gives Koichi the special place in Mitsuru’s heart Koichi craves.

But then Koichi dies.

Only he doesn’t.

Despite being critically hit by a truck, Koichi stands up, brushes himself off, and remains next to Mitsuru.

This is when the true scope of this drama hits home. Eternal Yesterday isn’t a typical romance. It’s the story of two young men who love so hard, who fear not being there for each other so much that they overcome death to keep ‘being.’

“I cried so much that my whole body turned into tears.” ~Mitsuru

Anyone who has been through loss knows that death does not come lightly. It consumes. Time does not make the loss smaller, it makes it bigger until it becomes an ingrained part of those feeling it. It becomes an everlasting flame of love that never stops burning. Forever.

In Eternal Yesterday, Koichi becomes the flame Mitsuru carries. As tragic as that feels, there is also beauty in how Mitsuru and Koichi became. Both were lonely boys looking to be the most important person in someone else’s life. Mitsuru felt abandoned inside an empty home, and Koichi felt like an outsider inside the adopted family who took him in, no matter how much they loved him. Both had very different home lives but felt the same need to belong.

Together, they achieved that. Together, they opened up each other’s worlds in different ways. Mitsuru gave Koichi the number one spot in his heart. Koichi taught Mitsuru how to live, which feels ironic, considering Koichi is later forced to leave him.

But love is also about letting go.

There comes the point in life when we all must say goodbye. Whether we are the ones leaving or the ones left behind, parting is inevitable. But goodbyes don’t have to be tragic. The tears we shed when we lose someone are memories of all the laughter we shared when they were alive. Tears are the echoes of the myriad of emotions we felt while with them.

In this way, tears are as much a reason to celebrate as they are to grieve.

Mitsuru and Koichi made me celebrate. With them, I will eternally live inside their yesterday.

For a drama that explores death, grief, and letting go in a heartbreakingly vivid and poetically deep way, check out Eternal Yesterday now on Gagaoolala and Viki.

Rating- 4.5 out of 5