Yes, No, Or Maybe – A Sharing of Passions

I honestly don’t know how to start writing about this one. I was about to say something about being out of my comfort zone again, but I have learned through watching something like Given that I can enjoy a lot of things. I also wanted to say something about sharing passions and how that can connect people, but that seems cliche. You know, even if that is what this little film is about? I guess I am just jumping into this post with no idea on how to start it and I just needed this paragraph to be out of the way for me to actually write it. Ever get caught in those situations? Does this mean I didn’t enjoy Yes, No, Or Maybe? Far from it. I thought this was a very fun and enjoyable watch. Just shows I should try more BL. There is one I want to rent on Amazon Prime, so I might do that soon.

Yes, No, or Maybe starts with the meeting of two great people. Twice. Kei Kunieda, a TV host for the news whose popularity has been growing, has been tasked to interview a stop motion animator by the name of Ushio Tsuzuki. The very same stop motion animator who is working on an opening animation for the news station Kei works at which is planning for a big image in the future. In that interview, Kei Kunieda is the kindest person he could be with his coworkers while maintaining his inner rage. Later that day, Kei who hides his face in a mask due being a celebrity, accidentally damages one of Ushio’s wrists in a bike accident he causes and is then roped in to help with Ushio’s work thus starting the two getting to know each other. Of course, this masked character is named Owari. An alias for a mysterious man.

Kei Kunieda is one of the most relatable people that I’ve seen in fiction. I mean, he has my kind of attitude. It’s not because of his news role, but the way he acts. On the personal front, seeing him be professional and kind makes sense, right? He works in a business where he has to be as kind as possible to remain in everyone’s good graces and to move upward on his career in the news casting agency. Professionalism is just how the world works. Seeing this guy have the most horrid thoughts during that persona or letting the rage out when he is in his Owari form all over the place when he isn’t as recognizable makes sense to me. When he is by himself or in his secret identity around Ushio, he acts how he wants to act and that is just the duality of adult hood.

That duality of his life and personality is the conflict at hand. Ushio learns about both sides of Kei through continued interviews and the masked Owari showing up at his house whenever he wants to. Ushio is a stable platform of a person for Kei to show both sides of himself to and to cause some drama around that. Seeing that amount of stress increase as Ushio gets closer to Kei and Kei’s career moving on a fast track he wasn’t prepared for even if he wants this career, is really good drama. At the height of that Y,N, or M’s drama, Kei is one of the most confused people in the world from his own making and his own success. The reveal that Ushio knew who Kei was helps Kei to conquer his fear and do a good job at as the main news cast he is about to lead.

There is also an ample time of these characters that enjoy what they are doing. Ushio obviously loves his his stop motion work and doing his animation work by himself. Especially since, as a free lancer the job doesn’t pay him enough to have a team but he loves it anyway. Kei is the same way with news casting. Even if he didn’t originally want to dive into news casting, he was picked out for his vocals and then he likes to do it now even with all the hard work put into the job. Ushio and Kei also influence each other through their various meetings through out the show which creates a larger chemistry between the two as well. It just works is all that I am saying.

The movie’s minimalistic animation and art is fine for me. This is a very grounded story that doesn’t require a lot of work and effort to convey it through action scenes. It’s decently directed and put together in a way that makes sense. As a whole, the most stellar shot of animation was the stop motion opening we see at the end of the movie. In general, it’s a very soft and good movie that I wish could have done more but I would recommend this to people for the most part. I am still unsure about the ending sex scene in whether that was done in consent or not because Kei is one of the biggest tsunderes possible, but I am not sure if that was actually consent or not. It isn’t graphic or shown a lot of anything, it’s just a very uncomfortable way to end a very decent film.