Jack o’ Frost – First Thoughts – Life In Cartoon Motion

With the 2021 release of My Love Mix-Up, Japan has become a leader in the BL industry. One of its most recent series, Jack o’ Frost, is picture-proof of that.

The love story of illustrator Ritsu (Honda Kyoya, Seishun Cinderella) and salesman Fumiya (Suzuki Kosuke, Takara-kun to Amagi-kun) began by chance in a coffee shop. Despite their happiness, a misunderstanding causes an irreconcilable rift between them, culminating in an argument on Ritu’s birthday, and they break up. Leaving their apartment to clear his head, Ritsu is involved in a head-on collision that causes him to lose his memories of Fumiya and their last few years together.

Seeing it as a chance to reconcile, Fumiya decides to hide the truth of their past and start over with Ritsu. Together, the two begin a new journey to reinvent their history, revisiting the places and recreating the events that helped them fall in love. As they retrace their steps, Fumiya grapples with their past while Ritsu begins to rediscover his feelings for Fumiya.

The first wholly original drama from Japanese television network MBS, amnesia seems to be a common thread in many BL dramas all over the world this year, there’s something innocently sweet about Jack o’ Frost. The story is sweet, the acting is on point – The chemistry between Honda and Suzuki is white-hot – and, like with every other Japanese BL I’ve seen, the production value is top-notch. There is something very cinematic about this series.

Directed by Yasukawa Yuka and Takahashi Natsuki the 6 episode series streams on both Viki and gagaOOlala on Thursdays.