It’s often the memories that hurt us the most that stick with us the longest. And sometimes moving forward means finally facing the memories that have kept us stuck in the same place.

Adapted from Furuya Nagisa’s manga My Summer of You, the Japanese BL of the same name stars Oku Tomoya as Toda Wataru and Mokudai Kazuto as Saeki Chiharu, two high school students whose shared love of film brings them together. What begins with friendship, movie marathons, and a film pilgrimage beneath the summer sun eventually turns into first love, followed by a painful separation that changes how they remember the summer they shared.

When I first started My Summer of You, I was drawn to the nostalgia of it. There was something beautiful about watching Wataru slowly realize Chiharu’s feelings while beginning to understand his own, especially as pieces of their childhood connection and Chiharu’s past began falling into place.

By the end, however, that nostalgia carries a lot more weight. My Summer of You centers much of its story on overcoming a summer of falling in love followed by a painful separation that managed to taint the good memories that came before it.

And it was beautifully done.

Oku Tomoya and Mokudai Kazuto did a great job bringing Wataru and Chiharu to life, including the tension and chemistry between them. Enough so that they managed to pull together an otherwise painfully slow-paced storyline.

I love that the series tackles the pain of being hurt and how it isn’t always easy to overcome that hurt in order to make a relationship work. I also love that it shows how important communication becomes after a huge misunderstanding. And lastly, I like that it recognizes that some pains, if they’re big enough, aren’t easy to simply let go of.

All in all, the series worked for me. What didn’t work wasn’t necessarily the story itself, but the length of it. While I understand what the series was conveying and why they felt the longer length played into that, it honestly became a little grueling after the eighth episode watching these two fight so hard to communicate. Their push and pull became harder and harder to push through the longer it endured, especially considering how much “doesn’t” happen on screen.

And I feel like I say this a lot about the kissing in some Japanese BLs, but the lack of truly intimate kisses in this series made that push and pull even harder to endure.

It lacked the passion needed to pull off the storyline.

I’m not saying the series needed love scenes. It didn’t. But the “simple lip touches” don’t do the heavy lifting needed for a story about two guys whose journey from childhood to falling in love to heartbreak and the present is so intense that it leaves them struggling this much with themselves and their choices. The kisses themselves needed to be more involved. After spending so much time watching these characters hold back emotionally, the moments when they finally stopped holding back needed to feel different.

Outside of the kisses and the length of the series, I honestly loved everything about the story and acting. And I’m going to miss checking in on Chiharu and Wataru every week. It was nice seeing a story that delved into the pain of heartbreak and how it colors your emotions afterward. It was even nicer watching the series relate that pain to the seasons.

For Chiharu and Wataru, summer isn’t simply when they fell in love. It’s also where they were hurt. And in many ways, they’ve been stuck in that same summer ever since, returning to the same feelings, the same misunderstandings, and the same memories over and over again. Until they finally communicate. Until they begin to heal. Until the summer that once held both their happiest and most painful memories becomes something they can move beyond rather than something that keeps holding them there.

And after watching them struggle for so long to get out of that one season, there’s something incredibly satisfying about finally knowing they will experience the other seasons together.

For a series that explores first love, heartbreak, and what it takes to hold onto love after having your heart broken, check out My Summer of You, now streaming on GagaOOLala.

Rating- 4 out of 5