Papa to Kiss in the Dark
Reviewer: Perspicace [email]Overall Rating: A
Media Reviewed: Digital fansub
Creator: Namabara Ken, Studio TNK
U.S. Licensed: No
Released by: Three Fat Samurai
Run time: 2 26-minute episodes
BL Content: Moderate/hard (incest sexual situations, nudity)
Genre: Romance
Other media:
Japanese novel
Japanese drama CD
Only three words can accurately describe this anime: funny, controversial, and angst-filled. Personally, my standard for yaoi/shounen-ai isn't too high, seeing as I'll love it as long as it has above average animation, seiyuus, and a fairly interesting plotline, however this anime goes above and beyond the traditional, tackling the taboos of what the characters term "homosexuality, incest, and shota-con." The plotline was quite enjoyable despite the rather outlandish title and the odd pairings that this anime contained. On a purely technical level, the animation and music alone would make this anime a must-see, seeing as it has great background music for certain characters, a fitting end theme, as well as the sounds that one would expect is incorporated with an explicit anime (cough). Ah, the fact that the characters are hot and have hot voices helps with the enjoyment factor as well.
If the initial mention of incest has not scared you off yet, or even merely glancing at this peculiar title, then be in for a long journey filled with character development and plot twists galore. With this anime being only an hour long in duration, the plot twists come early in the "series," however the pace of the anime is adequate. The characters are quite loveable, but if one's searching for this series for a "hot show," be ready to be sorely disappointed. This anime is explicit, however strategically so; hence, the viewer is unable to see certain acts very clearly, body parts are intentionally placed to cleverly cover body parts that would make this R to NC-17 anime head over to be dubbed X otherwise. This anime does have a handful of intercourse scenes, but these are greatly shadowed so one cannot discern certain male parts. However, this series is filled with fluff; halfway through the anime, the fluff turns to angst as one of the main characters are struck with insecurities.
The anime centers around a freshmen named Mira, who is both spunky and adorable, and his father, Kyousuke, a highly successful actor. The story begins with the two characters already in the middle of a stable relationship, revealing after 3 minutes into the anime that they are directly related! At first, one might automatically turn off the anime once word of "incest" is seen, however that would be a grave mistake because throughout the course of the anime, if one watches the whole 60 minutes through, it can be quite enlightening to the concept of incest as a whole. That, and the relationship is awfully cute. Mira, the adorable uke son, gets hit on by many attractive guys, primarily his best friend Kazu and his senpai, however his love remains true to his father throughout the whole ordeal. The anime focuses on the touching relationship between father and son, two lovers who must keep their relationship a secret from the world.
As previously touched upon, the anime makes one reconsider why incest is so taboo in the modern realm. After watching the entirety of this anime, one realizes that what Mira had mentioned in the conclusion of part one and the beginning of part two is true: that with familial bond a stronger, greater bond of love can be formed, as cheesy as that sounds. At first, Mira is struggling with accepting his incestuous relationship with his father, but when he realizes that perhaps Kyousuke is not his biological father, emotions become rampant as he reconsiders what he is to Kyousuke and wishes that they were truly blood relatives and that he perhaps may lose his father to his mysterious pink-haired co-star.
This anime truly is a must-see. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the hottest, the characters in this anime would rate an 8 or 9, although Kyousuke looks an awful lot like Eiri Yuki from Graviation, another must-watch anime. The ending is wrapped-up nicely, although some feelings for minor characters remain unreciprocated. The music is beautiful, the plot is mostly funny, up until the angst begins where it becomes dramatic, then very heartwarming towards the end of the anime. Throughout this anime, the viewer cannot help but to fall in love with the cute characters and their realistic personalities, as well as feel empathy for the minor characters. I truly believe that the only animes that top this are Loveless, Sukisho, and Gravitation, all of which are also deemed attractive for fellow yaoi/shounen-ai fans.