This Japanese drama was AMAZING. It is based off the Japanese manga with the same name, which is also cute, but the drama has its own appeal. The actors Keita Machida (Alice in Borderland on Netflix) is the handsome and popular Kurosawa and Akasa Eiji is the shy and socially awkward Adachi. Adachi is turning thirty years old, and he’s never been in a relationship or had sex. As a virgin, there is this urban legend that on your thirtieth birthday you acquire powers, and this happens to Adachi on his birthday. He can read minds when he touches people, and the magic turns his world upside down.

Adachi deals with intense social anxiety already. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be loved. He’s very introverted and finds pleasure in reading, his job at the stationary company and food. He doesn’t like to be touched or even to be approached. He’s too kind to his superiors and will work overtime to do other people’s work (just to keep the peace).

Since he’s hearing the thoughts of everyone he touches, he changes his morning routine and goes to work early so he has to touch less people, and he ends up hearing the thoughts of one of his coworkers, Kurosawa Yuichi, who is handsome, charming and seemingly perfect. Immediately, Kurosawa’s thoughts show that he’s overjoyed to meet his work crush in the morning. Adachi has no idea who it is until the elevator fills up and people push them together in an awkward (and defining) moment where Kurosawa is thinking about how lucky he is to be this close and he hopes that Adachi doesn’t hear his racing heartbeat.

Soon, as they all exit the elevator, Adachi realizes that HE is Kurosawa’s crush, and at first he doesn’t believe it. He thinks he might be wrong. Thus, he starts to have more encounters with Kurosawa that proves that Adachi is indeed whom Kurosawa likes. He not only likes Adachi, but is deeply in love with him, and Adachi can’t understand it, but through the series, Adachi likes being cherished and he gets to know Kurosawa more. He finds out that Kurosawa is not “perfect”, he has anxieties and fears too, and Adachi starts to fall for him as well.

However, this is all new for Adachi and hearing Kurosawa’s thoughts and confessing to him is overwhelming. I would even say that his “Anxiety” is another character in this show, even more so a villain.

Under some odd circumstances, Kurosawa stays with Adachi at his place for a bit, but it’s basically torture for Kurosawa (because he wants to be intimate with him). He finally confesses to Adachi and doesn’t expect Adachi to return his feelings. Adachi…takes some time to process things, pretty much a day, and he realizes that his thoughts are filled of Kurosawa, he likes being with him and he ends up running after him after work to confess. The two start dating and Kurosawa has the presence of mind to know that Adachi will need to take it slow. Everything is his first experience, and Kurosawa is more than thrilled to be there with him.

Eventually, as they continue to date, Adachi’s anxiety gets the better of him, especially after telling Kurosawa about his magic, not feeling like it’s fair to keep it from his boyfriend. He breaks up with him, and both men are just heartbroken. They even had a date set up for Christmas Eve, which basically eats at Adachi as he realizes he made a mistake.

The ending is satisfying. The scenes between these two men are sweet, fluffy and a slow build romance. The touches, the thoughts, the fantasies from the mind reading, and the confessions are swoon worthy and worth the watch.

There’s a side plot to Adachi and Kurosawa that is…kind of a let down. Adachi’s best friend Tsuge also becomes a wizard when he turns 30 as a virgin, and his reactions to the mind reading are a bit over the top. The acting is…um, well, cringe worthy. He starts to have feelings for a delivery person who warms up to him because Tsuge adopts a stray cat.

The cat is cute. The delivery guy is cute and enduring, and Tsuge means well, but he acts like a complete psycho.

I watched Cherry Magic twice through the 12 episodes and second time around I mostly skipped through the Tsuge scenes. He annoyed me too much.

There is also this adorable Ace supporting character named Fujisaki who cheers to the two main leads on. I kind of wished she would have more screen time than Tsuge. Her story was way more interesting.

This is BL (boys love) but it’s not explicit, just a tender romance with two adorable leads and a great story around social anxiety and not judging people by their looks. There are also a lot of lovely moments worthy of GIF reuse.

Stream it on Crunchyroll. You won’t regret it.

Cheers,

H.K. Rowe