A story that began a few years ago in 2018 when Japan gave the world: Pornographer, looking back at the truth is I did not expect that in what at that time was just a small story about a lonely erotic writer, he would become something so great and it was something that would continue for so long, but here I am 3 years later.

Pornographer: Playback continues with the foundations laid by its predecessors (especially Pornographer: the series and Pornographer: spring life) a couple of years have passed since the last meeting between Kijima and Kuzumi, until now they have only maintained contact through letters and once again they meet again, now the conditions have changed; Kijima is still a writer, but he is not as lonely as before, now he lives with his family outside of Tokyo and on the other hand Kuzumi has grown up, now he is no longer a student, he is a worker who seeks to have a more stable relationship with Kijima.

From the beginning we have something very clear, Kijima wants to be with Kuzumi but his fears, insecurities and prejudices still do not let him trust the child at all, although Kuzumi makes clear the efforts he makes to maintain their relationship, but still so seems that Kijima is just waiting for the moment when the other leaves him, despite these situations they seem to have a certain "stability" until one day they have a misunderstanding that quickly escalates into a fight, where Kijima refuses to listen to Kuzumi and the two are injured.

Kijima, as we know from other installments of the franchise, is a broken person, he costs him too much work to trust others and is an expert in sabotaging his own happiness before someone else does do it, for this reason after going through the fight with Kuzumi and for an argument with his sister, he has no choice but to flee.

Due to life circumstances, he ends up at Haruko and Shizuo's house, where he cuts off all communication with his family and of course with Kuzumi, but the latter does not remain calm with the apparent disappearance of Kijima and with all the difficulties that it generates in his daily life goes to look for him, only to find him being helped by another young man to write his books, as he did in the past, I consider that this is one of the ugliest things that Kijima does to Kuzumi because supposed to be something special among them and much of why they had fallen in love.

With the help of Haruko, Kijima reflects on his true feelings and goes in search of Kuzumi, where finally after years and a back-and-forth relationship he confesses that he loves him and that he is afraid of losing him, he asks him not to leave and we see that in the end Kuzumi is the one who gives him the courage to fix many of the disasters in his life, it is true we all suffer and feel alone at times, but it does not have to be like that always and we cannot close ourselves to all love just for the possibility of not being loved one day.

In the end, Kijima and Kuzumi return to the house of the first, where their family welcomes them with open arms and although apparently they continue to maintain a long-distance relationship, it is implied that this will not be for long since, just as Kijima was ready to face his feelings, he will soon be to go fully after Kuzumi and finally live together.

The plot is very good, and manages to perfectly fit all the plots and conflicts seen in previous installments, the new characters are pleasant and you manage to connect with them in a short time and it leaves a bit of the "murky" of Mood Indigo that at the less for me it was a success, we saw even Kijima much more cheerful and relaxed at times and thank you very much for that after seeing him 3 years tormented it was what I needed.

The performances are very good, both Takezai Terunosuke and Izuka Kenta do a great job, especially the first one, well is their story and each and every one of the installments of the franchise has been stolen by him, their chemistry is explosive and here they had a chance to have more scenes together, from very hot to tender or dramatic; the other actors also do a very good job, my only complaint is that Kuzumi's family is somewhat wasted, I would have liked to see more of their coexistence.

I know that maybe many Pornographer fans would like to see another type of story (something more between Kido and Kijima) but sorry I can't be on that team, it always seemed to me that the connection they created between Kijima and Kuzumi was healthier and more redemptive for Kijima, while it is true that Mood Indigo gave us much more context between Kido and Kijima for me it always felt like a story that came from the past and that somehow had destroyed them both, so in the end Pornographer: Playback seems like a very fair ending for his main character, Kijima, after all he deserves a happy and peaceful life and I think that was just what he found.

I don't know how many times to write Kijima in this review, outrageous.