Shizuka
Sakura
Lesson XX
Reviewer: Wiggle [website] [email]
Overall Rating: B+
Media Reviewed: VHS fansub
Creator: Oonagi Ei
U.S. Licensed: No
Released by: Unknown
Run time: 45 minutes
BL Content: Soft (touching, kissing)
Genre: Drama/Romance
Other media: Japanese manga
WATCH IT NOW!!!! ~
http://www.crunchyroll.com/showseries?id=4081
The title Lesson XX might lead an unsuspecting viewer to believe they were about to see a hardcore, X-rated teacher/student yaoi romp. Quite the opposite! Lesson XX is instead a very sweet, thoughtful dramatic romance that looks at the first stumbles that two boys take toward coming out of the closet and exploring their feelings for each other. Is it real love? Is it purely sexual? Or is it just an experiment for fun?
The two main characters for this sweet little story are Morifuji Shizuka, the attractive and popular president of his high-school class, and Ichitaro Sakura, an innocent and naive but loyal and justice-minded boy in Shizuka's class. The two high school seniors live together with two other guys in their class at a boarding house run by the sister of one of the boarders. They're friends as well as housemates, but Shizuka admits to himself that he wants to be much more. Sakura, however, is completely innocent even about girls, let alone romantic feelings coming from another boy. Added into the tumult of confusing feelings for both boys are two pretty girls from their class, each of whom makes their crush on one of the boys very clear. Despite their attention, however, Shizuka and Sakura continue to revolve around each other alone.
The 45 minute movie travels through several different stages of Shizuka and Sakura's blossoming relationship, from their tentative first kiss through an argument and misunderstanding, time spent apart and their final rush to see each other one more time before the summer is through. The very last scene is truly touching and sweet with a slight thrill of titillation thrown in. As far as physical contact goes, there are only two kisses and some very eye-catching nudity right at the end.
Though my copy is a videotaped third-generation fansub, the animation is still quite good. This story takes place during summer vacation, using warm oranges and yellows to convey the oppressive summer heat that smoulders the passion between Shizuka and Sakura. Nighttime scenes are full of stars and deep dark colors, surrounding the young lovers during pivotal scenes. While the animation and character designs are strong, the background music is horribly cheesy in a 1980's love story kind of way. It's exactly the sort of instrumental you'd expect to hear in a Molly Ringwald movie circa 1985, however, it also fits pretty well with a simple teenage love story like this.
In my opinion, Lesson XX refers to the lesson that the two main characters learn about their feelings and about one another, but the ending leaves the future of their relationship open. Perhaps the "XX" is like a placeholder number, indicating a lesson that has to happen before even Lesson One. Whatever it actually stands for, Lesson XX is a sweetly tender bit of animated boy's love, sure to leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling and a great big "Awwwww."
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if youre saying that Gravitation was the first shounen-ai that youve seen..then i would tell you that this was my first..highschool pa ako noong nung bigla nlng ako inaya ng sister ko manood..may nahiram daw cya sa clasm8 nya sa UP na shounen-ai fanatic!at first nagulat ako kasi naka-VHS cya!SAN KA PA?!
the story was very nice..very touching,nakakaloka ang love story...wag kayong ma-windang sa title dahil pag napanood nyo ito...sasabihin nyo sa srili nyo,"bakit ba ganito title na anime na ito?"
ang BL content nito ay light lamang..
heres the link...
http://www.boysonboysonfilm.com/anime/lessonxx.html
good thing our VHS player was still intact at that time..