Interesting story with low production values

I just finished this and have some mixed feeling about it. I did enjoy the story that focused completely on the couple and flipped through the moments of their relationship from beginning to end. There wasn't a over reaching plot or outside forces bring drama into the story. It didn't focus just on pivotal moment but instead showed snippets that you could find in any couples daily life. You could see small changes but it wasn't big dramatic things that signaled a break up. So this felt a little different from the normal slice of life or the few shows that have the watching a couple through moments in their life story line.

When they do break up the story loses some of it cohesion because it is very hard to tell where we are in the story. They do alot of flashbacks and the flow of the story isn't done well enough to get exactly where they are in the story. I think if I had paid more attention to clothes the characters where wearing it might have help, but you shouldn't need to do that. By the end I think I had figured most of it out but I still felt confused while watching it.

The ending was a bummer since they didn't get back together although they parted on good terms. I did like that Kaoru and Ryo's problems focused on coming out and that sometimes it is a deal breaker. I will say the title and idea of the plastic bottle might have sound like an epic idea in their heads but it is pretentious and give the show a silly name that very few people are going to be drawn to.

The production values on this are abysmal. At first I couldn't hear the sound it was so low so I plugged in some noise cancelling earphones to later get my ears blowen out by the volume of regular talking and picking up things like putting a cup down on the table. Most if the show was filming in their room as well but that does fit well into the stories intimacy around the couple so I didn't mind as much. The acting was uneven but it wasn't horrible either for what I'm assuming new actors it was good enough.

This was an good watch if your looking for something outside of the norm and ok with something that feels like a small indie project without a lot of money put into it.

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All surface level and no depth of emotions

Ok, I'm not sure what to say about this movie except for the fact it shouldn't have been made in a movie format. Do do justice to THIS type of story you need a longer format. The very fact that the end of this was just a brief cut-off of the story midway through is a testament to that. They didn't stop at the end of a story arch just ended it on a cliffhanger and called it good.
There isn't any resolution or even a redemption arch here. The closest would be that Gear and Night had sex again but there wasn't any talk of a relationship. It might be implied but it just felt incomplete there as well. Because of the compressed format, I wasn't able to understand Night's shift of emotions from hurt that Gear fucked him over to wanting to give him a second chance. There is also a whole mountain of story that was never touched about Day's plan for Gear and what Day and Night's argument was really about.

With Itt and Day, there is nothing in the way of any kind of emotion. There was a brief implied moment when Itt stormed out of the bedroom complaining he had been woken up. Obviously, some time has passed and there has been some kind of movement in their twisted relationship since he isn't in chain and his initial wounds have healed. Yet we don't know how much time and EVERYTHING has been off-screen.

I really wanted this movie to give me the twisted emotions behind this story. To show me how these two couples went from a damaged toxic start to what we see in Love Syndrome III. THAT is an interesting story. But this movie even, if it ends up with a second part, isn't that. This movie focused on the shock value of the rape and dub/non-consent aspects without building the proper foundation to support any type of relationship between the two couples, even a toxic twisted love.

To me, this feels half-baked at best using the rape and abduction as shock value pull without doing the heavy lifting of the emotions behind it. This movie is all surface level and for this type of subject matter, it makes it disappointing at best and a bad movie at worst.

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