“What Did You Eat Yesterday” took the world by storm in 2019 with its slice of life, adult take on a healthy relationship between two forty-year-old gay men: a hairdresser named Kenji (Uchino Seiyou) and his then in the closet lawyer boyfriend, Shiro (Nishijima Hidetoshi). The couple dealt with most moments that came to any couple with a smile and a well-cooked meal. Something that viewers literally ate up for the show to receive critical acclaim, a full length big-budget movie and a three episode special series. And now a second season continuing the lives of our favorite couple with the big 5-0 just around the corner.

After all the series has already happened, is there new content worth treading? The answer is a resounding yes. What makes this series wonderful in any format? The manga “Kinou Nani Tabeta?” has been released in multiple languages and is now available on Amazon in print and on Kindle purchase. This is where their story began; leading to the live action version. The series as a whole deals with the “Coming of age” of our main couple later in life and that, as the universal theme, is the glue, holds everything together spectacularly well.

This is a very character driven story that remains true to itself after the four-year time difference. Kenji is still insecure, less about his station in life, but about getting old in general. Episode one deals with his realizing that he has gained a bit of weight from the first season where he was flamboyantly living his best twink life wearing skinny jeans and tight shirts. He is now wearing baggy jeans and one size too big shirts (as Shiro points out because he’s still blunt as an old sword about things, as the cause of Kenji being uncomfortable).

This isn’t at all boring as Kenji laments about his weight while Shiro, who wants to see the results of his daily exercise, undeterred as usual. The writing of the script and the actor’s chemistry makes the scene outright hilarious as Shiro politely demands to see them and Kenji ever the overdramatic boyfriend sprints for the bedroom to lock the door as Shiro gets there a moment too late yelling through the door while Kenji refuses (very loudly). It is this level of nonsense that is the beating heart of this series.

Shiro, still a cheapskate, wants to make his 24,000 Yen a month budget work, but sees that it is very unrealistic. In many ironic and hilarious ways (waiting to buy flatback fish in the hopes of that the price might go down only to lose the last two packs, and finally conceding to buy the same fish from a different store. A decision that makes a wonderful meal and increases the budget by another 5000 Yen). Each instance is done with Nishijima’s wonderful “Hmm’s” and “What’s!!?” and the dramatic facial expressions had me giggling. All of this culminates in Shiro’s dramatic apology (over 5k yen additional budget) after the great dinner; which Kenji mistakes for something heartbreaking as Shiro ducks his head in shame, only to have Kenji giggle upon learning the real reason. It wasn’t that bad, would be cute and funny, but it becomes a real deal as Shiro admits that he may be the cause of Kenji’s high cholesterol levels. Due to his frugal budgeting skills, he never bought fish as it was more expensive and instead bought meat that was cheaper. The acting and the way the two play off each other made the first episode feel like a mini movie in itself. Cleverly shot and the same production value as the original series made it feel like coming home.

The second episode in perfect fashion compliments the reintroduction of the characters by continuing Kenji’s getting fat storyline with a touch of comedic value. The intimate “brushing teeth together” troupe is thrown out the window as Kenji listens to Shiro talk while brushing his teeth but the moment he hears Shiro thinks he is getting fat, he latches on to that and accuses Shiro of not changing at all (to be fair Shiro does look the exact same as when the first series aired). A fact he states is because of his healthy living, while Kenji ignores that and focuses on the “not aging” part, not the “going for walks” part.

The first episode was a crash course in Kenji and Shiro while episode two just gets straight into their day-to-day life. This can be a bit jarring as they show the two different sets of characters that make up Shiro’s life. His small law firm has a team consisting of his boss Yoshie Uermachi, her son and his coworker Osamu Uermachi, and their coworker. During his time in the office, he takes lunch with Yoshie. She asks about his life plans and I love the camera angles as Shiro is thrown off by her bluntness.

It was a nice call back to the first season where he was sure of his feelings for Kenji but did not know how he viewed his live-in boyfriend. He struggles with putting a name to it and the way Yoshie detects his fumbling is so spot on. It was disappointing to see that after everything they have been through, he still has trouble naming his relation with Kenji. But she simply draws the conflict out in full by asking if he ever intended to marry his partner. There is a point to her line of questioning but for the review’s sake I won’t spoil it. But instead, focus on the acting, which was very well done for the intense moment. Unfortunately, if you haven’t watched the first season, you’ll be at a loss for this meat of the exchange.

The same can be said for the second set of people Shiro sees over the course of the episode, Kayoko and her family. In the first season she was the first friend Shiro is seen having outside of his law firm coworkers and honestly the only ones, he comes out to. She was his cooking buddy and confidant. Apparently they gave fallen out of touch according to the script and easily fall back into their old friendship as he meets her extended family who all live in the same house.

One thing about Shiro that I doubt will ever change is his uncomfortable nature around new things. Like in episode one with a new place to shop, since his favorite store closes. Seeing the son of Kayoko’s daughter makes his face go neutral, and he has to feel out the circumstances. This leads back to his new reality that he can not sit on fences but instead make life decisions; which becomes the point of the series as he takes a day off work to cook the new meal he learned from Kayoko. He takes Kenji for a walk, which turns into a small hilarious disaster as he doesn’t walk but does power walk, unaware that Kenji thought they were going on a date. I loved the way the show portrays Kenji’s day dream versus his reality. I was almost in tears seeing the way the characters spoke to one another.

This episode Kenji had a smaller role, as he was mostly offscreen, creating the look for his client’s engagement. But it does play into Shiro’s need to make some grown up decisions in the end. It also speaks to Kenji’s unspoken compromise to live in love with Shiro. This sequel truly checks every box, while not being not overtly attached to what happened before. I suggest watching the prequel one first to truly appreciate what the sequel is about!

Rating- 5 out of 5

Streaming on- Gagaoolala