We have here an atypical BL with pre-college schoolboys as the main characters. There is innocence, cuteness and sweetness, but this is certainly not a lighthearted BL. It's serious and melancholic, but it also manages to be moving without being excessively sappy. The youth of the main characters accentuates their sense of helplessness when it comes with coping with loss and separation that is all too premature but (perhaps) inevitable.

I didn't know what to expect at first though I was half-expecting something tragic immediately after I started watching the first episode. Let's just say it features a vehicle, the notorious bane of more than one couple in the history of BL. I wondered: Is it just a story that ends with the death of one of the main characters? Are we merely being shown the sad ending right from the start before a flashback to the past for the next seven episodes?

Then, soon enough, the apparently bizarre premise of a corpse that continues to be "alive" made me wonder if the story was some necrophiliac fantasy.

Yet, watching on, the story seems more plausibly a contemplation of the separation and loss that is inevitable in every relationship. Sure, no one in real life is going to have a boyfriend who appears to be alive in every way except for being physically dead and slowly becoming invisible to more and more people. (A corpse that even manages to have an erection, anyone?) Yet, isn't loss and separation inevitable in every relationship started (and we don't even know when they will take place) unless everyone becomes immortal? It's a truth that we know but don't consciously confront all the time, but how do we cope when we are made to confront it incessantly? Perhaps we would treasure every moment spent with those we love more, but perhaps the constant confrontation would also add more than a tinge of melancholy even in the most joyful moments of a relationship.

While the BL couple in the series is young (complete with youthful awkwardness at times), the intensity of their love comes across as being really strong. The fateful moment when Koichi pushes Mitsuru away from an approaching vehicle highlights the intensity of Koichi's love. It does not appear to be a conscious decision on Koichi's part but an instinctive one. He has yet to even display shock on his face at the coming vehicle but his hand has already pushed Mitsuru away to protect him. The poignance of the scene is also intensified because it comes after a conversation that sounds like Koichi is merely joking or saying something sweet to flirt with Mitsuru when he tells Mitsuru that he always stands on his left to protect him. It turns out that he really means it. On Mitsuru's part, his love is no less intense as it seems to be the reason Koichi continues to be "alive" after becoming a corpse.

What makes Eternal Yesterday unique as a BL series is the relatively understated way in which the love and bond between the couple is shown. There is no obvious lovelorn pinning on either of the main characters before they become a couple, unlike so many BLs where the attraction between the couples seem somewhat frivolous. The actors are look good, but the focus is not on their physical attractiveness and I think Koichi's good looks may even have been deliberately downplayed. In the synopsis, Koichi is said to be the most popular boy in school, but unlike many BL stories featuring a popular boy in school (you know, those characters with legions of hysterical fans in school, with camera angles, filters and make-up all meant to emphasise how perfect they are in terms of looks or some other department), Koichi is portrayed as a relatively ordinary person who tells Mitsuru he does not have anything to offer him. A lot depends on the direction, actors' performances and the viewer's sensitivity to the nuances in the scenes, and I think these don't disappoint. The short scene in Ep 6 after the couple bump into the driver of the vehicle that knocks Koichi down exemplifies this. The dialogue is simple and brief, and yet it is such an emotionally powerful scene.

I think Eternal Yesterday is a series that deserves more love from BL fans. When a BL series like Cutie Pie gets a rating of 7.8 on MDL, I don't know why Eternal Yesterday gets a comparable 7.9. Perhaps it is the most underrated BL of the year (or more than just the year)!