This is one of the queerest BL dramas I've watched so far, a hilarious comedy with two people who find their way to self-acceptance. [more on that with spoilers below the ***.]

The comedy is strong in this drama, so much so that I was completely thrown when things got much more serious near the end of episode 3 when I first watched it. It has the Japanese-typical style of acting for comedies, wonderful side characters, and a lot of funny moments. I love how they decided to put strong manga elements in -- like the onomatopoeic word like for the ringing clock, or certain style elements like the extended bellies after overeating. Also, though not part of the comedy side, I loved how the flashbacks are initiated by "opening" a manga-like panelled page.

All of the characters have their comedic moments -- best of them all is, the bearded beauty, who is just so kind-hearted that even Mamoru can't help but to like him.

The script and the directing is very tight -- there's not a second of irrelevance in this drama, it's either for a comedy element or for the plot development. I liked the use of light and darkness to accentuate the feelings of our protagonists. And the intro song has become one of my favourites!

Acting is great all around. Even after several rewatches, I've not found a flaw. Especially Issei's facial expressions are so spot-on,that I just looked at his face for a whole rewatch -- when does Issei use a fake smile, when a real one; when does he stop smiling, and does he look relaxed or menacing when he does that? Really, I've only seen one actor use smiles of a similar calibre, and that was in Beyond Evil.


***
And this is the spoilery part, but also where I explain why this drama goes much deeper than I thought at first:

Mamoru, who is our main character, has felt like an outcast since ... maybe forever. He is a gay man with a love of drawing gay erotic muscle doujin -- both things that define him and which he feels are to be ashamed of, to be hidden.
And which queer teenager hasn't at least once felt like that? (Well, minus the gay muscle doujin, perhaps.)

Only, for Mamoru, this feeling of being alone, of being someone with a shameful identity -- this feeling transforms his whole sense of self. Only during the ComiKing, where he can sell his work alongside same-minded people, and only when his work sells well, is this dark cloud lifted for a short time.

He is not able to understand that his family's indulgence is not indifference, that Yamada is not just someone who likes reading his doujin but also his friend, and he is not able to hear that Issei's "I like you" is not the same "like" as in "I like my fans".
It takes a journey through dark days for Mamoru to accept who he is and what he loves.

I love how this drama tackles how living in our world can impact the sense of self of queer people -- and that it shows us that maybe, if we dare to tell the world who we love, light will fill our life and we can find happiness.