Nothing says love quite like seeing who will cave first.

And in Japanese BL You Should Be the One to Kiss Me, two friends seem determined to find out.

Adapted from Yamayade’s manga series Can You Kiss Me First?, the drama stars Suzuki Jin as Ueno Ko and Oshida Gaku as Kanda Eito.

Ueno is a quiet, serious employee in the accounting department, while Kanda is the outgoing and popular star of the sales department. On the surface, they couldn’t be more different. But outside of work, the two share a surprisingly close friendship, with Kanda spending so much time at Ueno’s home that they practically live together.

Ueno is openly gay with the people closest to him, something Kanda knows and accepts without hesitation. But that doesn’t make their friendship any less complicated.

Despite Ueno once insisting that nothing romantic would ever happen between them, Kanda continues to push the boundaries of their closeness, leaving both men increasingly aware of feelings neither seems ready to admit.

And honestly, I love Ueno and Kanda’s dynamic.

It’s such an interesting relationship that tests boundaries but also weirdly respects them. It’s also refreshing to see a friendship between an openly gay character and his best friend where Ueno’s sexuality isn’t a secret, but it also isn’t something the story is obsessed with.

What I mean by that is that we need dramas and films about coming out, adjusting to, and accepting our sexuality because that’s part of the journey toward living our truth. But we also need series about being ourselves and living life without being so hyper-focused on sexuality that the romance gets lost.

In this series, Ueno is simply living his life.

He’s out in his own way. By his own choice, he doesn’t televise his sexuality to everyone around him, but the people who matter know, as do the people who entered the company with him. He’s low-key but, so far, doesn’t seem ashamed or afraid of his sexuality. It’s obvious he’s attracted to Kanda, and his only real obstacle up to this point is maintaining this unique, almost cohabiting friendship they have without revealing that there are feelings involved.

Ueno does hesitate about being open about how close he is to Kanda at work, but it feels more like he’s trying to protect Kanda from scrutiny than being ashamed of being close to him.

And then there’s Kanda, who is, one, super adorable, and two, absolutely shameless.

Which I love.

Kanda basically invites himself into Ueno’s life, bed, and personal space, but does it in a way that doesn’t feel invasive, even if it kind of is. I think this is because it’s obvious Ueno needs that closeness and that any protests he makes are half-hearted at best. And every time Kanda asks Ueno if he can come over, even after Ueno has scolded him, Ueno is like, “Sure!”

Ueno and Kanda are total opposites, but both low-key love each other, and the intimacy created by their private domestic moments feels real and is beautifully done.

The chemistry and acting are also so well done in this series.

And I truly love that we get gay characters who are simply living their lives in different ways, especially when we find out another coworker of Ueno and Kanda’s is also gay but is much more open about it than Ueno.

Both are out, just in different ways, and it’s nice to see that contrast. It shows that being gay doesn’t require any of us to be or act a certain way. Just like being straight doesn’t require it either. It’s not something that needs announcing, but it’s also perfectly okay if someone wants to announce it. Sexuality is a part of our identity. It isn’t our entire identity.

And sometimes, it seems some writers lose sight of that. In this series, thus far, they don’t.

My only genuine fear, at just two episodes in, is that this series will spend all eight episodes seeing who will kiss first, only to deliver a subpar kiss. Considering this is a series that’s building toward a kiss, the kiss it delivers needs to be as believable as the relationship leading up to it.

For a series that promises to make you smile while also teasing the heart, check out You Should Be the One to Kiss Me, now streaming on GagaOOLala.

Rating- 4 out of 5