Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (2023)

A delicious dessert with a questionable main ingredient

Lets first acknowledge the elephant in the room. Relationship between a teacher and student is fraught with ethical complexities due to power dynamics. As the series progressed I thought that I would accept it as fiction and move on but unfortunately, with the last couple of episodes, I am unable to ignore that discomfort. So this review will be based on the themes of the series.

Beyond the forbidden central romance, this is a coming-of-age story. We see the jouney of our titular character Toki. He starts of as a delinquent who is quick to anger and violence. Studies are the last thing on his mind but we see his character and outlook towards life change due to his interactions with other characters like Rise, Shinji and Takuya. He learns to take his life more seriously and values the relationships he has build with his schoolmates. Although, he starts having feelings for his homeroom teacher Sahara, he also respects him and challenges himself to change. Sahara, too goes through his own jorney of self-identification as he grapples with his past regrets.

As a teenager in school, Toki suffers from the same identity issues that people his age face. Toki post his delinquent phase, struggles with societal pressure and insecurities about his academic performance. He is visibly stressed about where he wants his future to navigate. He questions his feelings towards another individual and finds it difficult to show how caring he is towards the people that matter to him. Shinji too suffers from failure to communicate his true feelings for Todo resulting in them moving apart and losing all communication with each other.

Toki and Sahara, too find solace and strength in each other. Sahara helps Toki unleashing his best qualities while Toki helps Sahara accept his past and his failures and move ahead. They act as each others support system and are constantly looking after each other.

Hachimura Rintaro's portrayal of Toki makes this series the most entertaining. He succeeds in bringing a different charm to the character of a lovable, confused, tough but soft-hearted Toki. With an innocent countenance and a twinkle in his eye, he steals the show.

In conclusion, this series weaves together a compelling and emotionally resonant story about acceptance and the pursuit of happiness in the face of societal pressures. It speaks about rising above the past failures and turning over a new leaf.

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Mediocre story yet the delightful charm from the cast triumphs

A teacher and student relationship might sound questionable but this drama allowed me to put it aside and just focus on the cute and fascinating story of the characters. I feel like I enjoyed seeing the cast more than the story itself. Toki, Rise, and Shinji are not just good-looking trio but also execute their most loveable side, their personalities. Although a lot of people from the show have prejudice regarding Toki’s behavior of fighting a lot, this boy has a heart of gold too. His girly and overdramatic gestures are too funny. Special mentions on his beautiful and elegant look when he plays as Snow White. Rise on the other hand needs a lot of screen time. I am curious about what will happen to his family since the story only talks about him having a lot of part-time jobs to help his family financially. Shinji is also a kind-hearted person with a masculinity that is still intact with his innocent looks. These three heartthrobs are my favorite people from the show.

Sahara’s past may be a tragedy but I’m happy with the way they portray his character’s change game. He might not have to be the top swimming athlete to complete until he graduates, but he became a cool and genuine teacher. I think that the character introduction of his junior was unnecessary but I take it since the boy is cute too.

Overall, the drama is not that good and not that bad either, it is just average and fine. I guess this is a better rating enough for a show that has the perfect balance of its pros and cons. Nevertheless, the music in general from this show is top-tier and I liked it a lot.

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Endearing sweet funny series

I found this series to be sweet and endearing. It is a fun lighthearted BL with lots of overdone comedy and cuteness. the teacher-student relationship was nicely played and developed. The leads are fun to watch, I wish they had more intimate moments, but the chemistry was there and the show of growth was nice to see. The cast was enjoyable to watch and it all looked like a fun fast series. I watched it in one sitting and I found it to be funny and sweet. The only down part is I would have liked to see more intimate moments and show them more together as a couple. the side couple was cute but wish they showed them being intimate more as well. The story was well developed and the series has a lot of good parts that made you smile, laugh, and feel affection for each other, but I wish only there were more intimate parts like holding hands and kissing more that would have shown more chemistry. I really enjoyed the series and would recommend it if you enjoy light hearts sweet school boy first love stories.

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Simplesmente um drama super comfort japonês!

Simplesmente amei esse Dorama, se transformou claramente no meu drama comfort só que japonês.
Preciso elogiar os personagens.
Primeiramente o Toki, nossa, atuação incrível, transmitiu muito do personagem, ele foi um personagem aberto e claro, do tipo que gosta ou não gosta de algo, sempre deixando claro as coisas, além de claramente ser um ótimo amigo que se preocupa com todos.
Sahara, obviamente incrível, uma postura de professor mas descontraída, estando lá nos momentos certos e nos fazendo surtar claramente, principalmente na parte "não se preocupe, eu não farei nada", juro, aquele tom de voz acabou comigo. Além de quê o ator fez outra série que eu amo, estando agora como Lucky, e juro, eu demorei um pouco pra reconhecer, mas admiro imensamente o trabalho dele.

A série foi muito gostosa de assistir, não tem como não gostar, você tem momentos de comédia, momentos surtos, tudo! Amei que não ficaram grudados a temática de ex-namorado, mostrando uma boa superação
Watwing, cantando a ost do drama, eu me apaixonei nessa música imensamente

Ou seja, tudo nesse drama e incrível e muito gostosinho, recomendo a todos!

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Toki's expression are everything, also with a lot of running.

First and foremost, Toki is my favourite character. He is literally someone who just came out of a Manga. Episode 1 and 2 were my favourite. It was peak comedy.
While a lot of people might argue the fact that they don't like characters acting the same way it is in the manga. I personally love it. It is soo fun to see those unrealistic expressions and funny shouting and people around them acting normal.

Every character in the show were green flag (Except for the bullies). Even Sahara's ex Nekoto also didn't create much of a drama and just encouraged Sahara to confess to Toki.
However, I would have prefered some intense plot with the love triangle to add some jealousy and realisation. Anyway, for a lighthearted drama such it might have been too much.

The only thing I think was lacking in the drama was the chemistry between the leads. Some lovey moments and offcourse a better kiss could have solved this. But I also do understand that a lot of people are not comfortable with teacher student romance and Probably the directors decided to take the safe side.

It was fun to watch anyway, Japanese BL never disappoints.

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Oke pertama-tama aku suka sama castingnya karena natural dan mirip sama di manga. Selain itu aku juga suka sama relationship antara guru dan murid KARENA CUMAN FIKSI. itu yah fiksi doang.
Dan gurunya alias Sahara sensei ganteng jadi gas aja lah hehehe.☺️☺️

Nah jujur kesel sama ep. 7 tentang flashback nya Nekoto sensei , soalnya makan durasi banget sumpah. Bayangin durasi 1 episode itu 23 menit tanpa Opening dan Ending lalu flashback nya Nekoto sensei itu 20 MENITTANN. Nah 3 menit nya itu sisa Sahara sensei dan Toki, terus dikit lagi🥲
Menurutku yah flashback nya ini bisa di persingkat dan gak harus di ep. 7

Soalnya sebagai penonton, aku gak terlalu terpaku sama masa lalu Sahara dan Nekoto ditambah kita udah di kasi tau tentang masa lalunya Sahara sensei dari prespektif dia, itupun durasinya gak sampe 20 menit. Jadi untuk masa lalu dari prespektif Nekoto sensei itu gak usah banyak-banyak lah.

Selain itu, masa lalunya Nekoto harusnya gak usah di ep. 7 bisa di ep. 6. Krn menurut aku, episode 7 itu lebih cocok buat ceritain konflik dari Sahara dan Toki. Contoh adegan yg di ep. 8 pas Toki di pukul2 sama anak sekolah sebelah bisa di taro di ep. 7.

Dan untuk endingnya aku suka bagian akhir pas Sahara ajak Toki pacaran pas udah lulus.
(Aku suka Sahara karena ini sih, walaupun lama tapi lebih baik gitu) tapi harusnya adegan ajak pacarannya jangan di menit2 terakhir banget dongg 😭😭😭 kasi kita time skip Pas Toki kuliah dan progres pacarannya gimana🥲🙏

Ini aja sih dari aku, Sumpah aku bakal seneng banget sih kalo series ini bisa ada season 2 atau extra episodenya. Soalnya mau liat gimana hubungan Sahara sensei dan Toki kun 😌😌 pasti lucu apalagi Toki kan udah gitu kan.

Nahh buat pemerannya yaitu Takumi-san dan Rintaro-san itu chemistry mereka bagus dan pas😋👍 kenapa aku bilang pas soalnya aku bisa bedain mana yang karakter dan mana yang aktornya.

Kayak Chemistry SAHATOKI itu pasangan sedangkan Chemistry Takumi-san & Rintaro-san itu rekan kerja. Ngerti gak?? Akting mereka itu gak bikin aku nge-ship aktornya, cuman karakternya aja.
(Dan kalo jadi fans harusnya emang begini, Krn menurut ku KL sampe nge-ship aktornya sampe2 gak bisa liat aktor itu akting sama aktor lain selain "ship/pasangannya" itu toxic sih)

Dan untuk aktingnya aku suka, SUKA BANGET SAMA TOKI YA TUHANNN😭😭 Sampe2 aku mau dia jadi adekku loh. Dia nakal tapi baik paham kan???
Ini alasan ku suka sama drama ini selain relationship nya, aku jatuh cinta sama karakternya. Semoga mereka nanti bikin SEASON 2 DAN ALUR CERITANYA BISA LEBIH BAIKKK.

Oke. Sekian dari aku ;))

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Not bad, but not good.

Já faz 6 anos que assisto bl. Desde quando comecei, as produções japonesas são as que mais me encantam pelos acertos, mas sinto que isso vem se perdendo com o tempo. Em SahaToki, eu sinto que a adaptação começa bem mesmo com a diferença de idade questionável. Além da relação professorxaluno que é algo bem estranho, o Toki é claramente menor de idade. Entretanto, o maior problema foi a qualidade declinando ao longo dos episodios. O BL insere várias histórias secundárias, o que não é tão visto nas obras japonesas do gênero, mas não é bem adaptado. Muito além de darem uma resumida por cima, também soam desinteressantes. Fora que isso prejudicou o casal principal, que já não tem uma construção fácil de engolir. Eu acho nem que falta química ou a atuação seja ruim, mas a direção parece que trata eles unicamente como sensei x aluno.

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While student-teacher relationships are really my least problem, I found it very weird that Toki didn't recognize Sahara from the past.. 😂 The story failed to feel smooth for me. It was okay to watch one episode each week, but when I imagine to binge this show..I don't know. I would probably have been pretty bored soon. Everything seemed so choppy. As if they just filmed several scenes and tucked them together. 😐 Like yeah, obviously they did this, but for the viewers it shouldn't felt like it. Although I liked the characters and the acting (I miss Rise already 🥺) But I have to agree when people say they didn't feel much chemistry. The show isn't really romantic. They have not much tension and the feelings for each other don't seem to be a problem at all. Guess this is more a script problem than an acting problem. I would say the actors did the best with what they've got.

Toki-Kun's personality was quite exciting. He is an interesting character who clearly shows that he is still a teenager, but at the same time also shows nuances of a very mature character. I really liked the communication between the two. Another thing I liked: show was low angst. That's always a plus point if such corrosive tropes are avoided, a la miscommunication for example. I'm still a bit unsure how to rate the show, just because it seemed so choppy. I just miss the feeling of “This is a well-rounded, complete, well-thought-out story,” you know? somehow the show was very superficial. as if it had touched on a lot of little things but not really concluded anything. I would also have liked to see more of the stepbrothers, in order to do without the endless flashbacks. 🥴 There were really a LOT of flashbacks in the last episodes and this was tiring. I also feel like support characters in JBLs are truly not more than support characters. 😂 Would've love to see more of them!

All in all, it was okay. Nothing that I care much for, to be honest. The OST is catchy, so I will enjoy listen to it, but it's a story you'll forget fast.

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Short and sweet!

I loved this show through and through. The tsundere character trope is my favorite. Toki is such a green flag. The show really used these two to highlight a healthy line of communication and trust rather than the theatrics of jealousy.

My only complaints are:
-Sahara's former love interest got too much screen time.
-In the novel they are 16 & 24 and it appears they aged Toki up to 17/18, but then in the last episode they did a flash back with a little kid and Sahara to give us the we've met before, fate kind of trope. That really threw off the age gap and made it make zero sense. How would Toki go from that to a high school senior in a few years? 💀
-The rain confession flashback was shown too much.

Overall, if you're looking for a cute and short JBL and you're not up in arms about an age gap, I highly recommend this one!

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