It's a vanilla gay romance. Nothing kinky, no violence, no criminals. Nothing bad happens to anyone. You could show it to your grandmother, if she didn't mind gay sex scenes. (They're non-explicit.)

TAKATO is an withdrawn, uptight anime fan who's bad at expressing his feelings. He always has a face like a slapped fish. Furthermore, his father Yusuke came out as gay after his mother died four years ago, so now Takato lives in a three-man household with dad's boyfriend. Takato calls this "living like a hermit" and thinks his fate is to be a lifelong virgin.

TOWA is a porn actor. (Straight porn, if you're wondering. He shags actresses.) Unsurprisingly, he's full of confidence and knows what he wants, even if he thinks he's incapable of loving anyone.

This is an amiable, good-natured love story. Takato can be worrying, e.g. "I love you so much it's killing me" and might get jealous over Towa's day job. Fundamentally, though, they're good for each other and Towa will make surprising choices to prove his devotion.

You'd never guess that this was by Daisuke Yamanouchi, although admittedly this isn't his own gay movie. He also has a gay trilogy called The Shortest Distance is Round, while of course Vermilion involves lesbians. The latter and this are interested in the grey zones between gay and straight. Basically, though, the film's nice. Not scary, not dangerous, just nice. It also doesn't get boring, because the writing and character work are strong enough to carry the fairly light plot. It doesn't even feel sleazy. (We never see anything at Towa's day job, while the gay sex scenes keep naughty bits off-screen.)

Did I love this film? I wouldn't go that far, but it's perfectly good. I don't know if I'll watch The Shortest Distance is Round series, but this is a solid, respectable film that you could put in the mainstream.