Tasogare Out Focus

Despite a rocky start to their relationship, second-year high school students Mao Tsuchiya and Hisashi Ootomo have managed to find a way to coexist in their dorm room for another year. The roommates swear to abide by three simple promises: Mao must refrain from outing Ootomo as gay and having a boyfriend; Ootomo, in turn, must not fall in love with Mao; and the two must respect each other's privacy when one of them "needs time to himself." While these are simple asks, the school's film club's new project suddenly puts them at risk.

The club's short film for the year is a boys' love story between a class president and a delinquent—a role for which Ootomo is considered the perfect fit. As the principal photographer in charge of composing every scene, Mao oversees all of the intimate moments between the leads, and though he wishes he could deny it, his growing attraction to his roommate is affecting the movie's production. But as things start to intensify—both in the film and in his personal life—Mao is soon forced to confront these complex emotions head-on.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ootomo, Hisashi Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Ichikawa, Giichi Main

Nakazawa, Masatomo Japanese

Inaba, Rei Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Yoshino, Shion Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Kikuchihara, Jin Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Tsuchiya, Mao Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Kujou, Kirito Supporting

Itou, Kent Japanese

Kagari, Runa Supporting

Ichikawa, Aoi Japanese

Kagari, Teru Supporting

Yanagi, Kouhei Japanese

Tsuchiya, Isao Supporting

Tadokoro, Hinata Japanese

Watanabe, Toshinori Director

Yano, Satoshi Sound Director

Galileo Galilei Theme Song Arrangement

Ozaki, Yuuki Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Composition

Reviews

Sep 19, 2024

KANLen09

Recommended

Twilight Out of Focus - One place, three different stories, but...GAY.

If you didn't know already, Boys Love a.k.a BL shows have existed just as long as other most recognizable AniManga genres do, but in the age of the 2020s, cancel culture is so rampant for people to get nosy-ticklish to cancel shows that are regarded as outrageous and oh-so-out of control. Yet, that is unfortunately the case for mangaka Janome's Tasogare Out Focus a.k.a Twilight Out of Focus, being the subject of litigation of X/Twitter's unnecessary heated fire from homophobes, so much so that stupid old Sony-owned Crunchyroll pretty much nuked the comments section instead ... of hiring moderators to fish out the bot accounts that are spreading the misogyny of BL anime. That's a first that the show was unfortunately crowned for, and it's sad that people are just getting too sensitive about BL works, the irony that the genre has outlived these exact same homophobes being cringe just to see guys kissing as a form of sexual coercion. Like, come on.

With all of the misogyny out of the way, let's tackle the anime, which holds itself in a very unique position of not just adapting said manga, but more so like a collection of short stories, combined all into one work.

For a long time now, having watched BL shows, as a old-enough guy who can appreciate BL works like Winter 2022's Sasaki and Miyano series (the main couple and the side Hirano and Kagiura couple, which was made into a decent movie) and last season's Tadaima, Okaeri a.k.a Welcome Home, I was having expectations going into Tasogare Out Focus considering it's Studio Deen, and the review that I made for the latter series was still pretty much holding true that I could just copy-paste my exact thoughts, but whatever.

As I've eluded early in the review, Tasogare Out Focus is a collection of short stories that all take place in a boys-only school, and specifically in the film club, split into the respective 1st to 3rd years of the young adult men wanting to achieve something out of their ordinary lives, after hearing the film club's dedication to the new project of creating a BL film and marketing it to the masses. To be more explicit, the anime adaptation of the manga is as follows:

Main story:
Volume 1 - Twilight Out of Focus - covering the story of 2nd year roommates Mao Tsuchiya and Hisashi Otomo
Volume 3 - Twilight Out of Focus: Overlap - covering the story of the film club's leaders of 3rd year Jin Kikuchihara and 2nd year Giichi Ichikawa

Side story:
Volume 2 - Twilight Out of Focus: Afterimages in Slow Motion - covering the story of the newly joined 1st year Shion Yoshino and the ignorant playboy of 3rd year Rei Inaba
Volume 4 - Twilight Out of Focus: The Evening Monologues - the recap of all 3 couples in their various levels of relationship

The insights of the 3 central gay couples will undoubtedly unfold different aspects of the film club and its BL film creation moments, though everything else is what you should expect coming into a BL show like this, which doesn't shy away from aspects like sexual assault. The difference with Tasogare is that mangaka Janome handles each couple in a very realistic and mature way, that as much as you want to call it for BL being romanticized by authors who just want their fantasies displayed, he does the formula so different that it's unlike many of the stereotypical works where reality is always shied away from and not being used to its full potential, citing real-world views. Situations like being forced into love just because of circumstances or anything, people will tend to see it as sexual assault or coercion, but this show does in a way that, as much as the as the assumption of the red flags you're going to see throughout the series, it however starts off with green flags: from agreements to general rivalry, each couple's starting point is first laid out in an adept way that doesn't cross the line at first, even though one or the other will start to push buttons in a rather realistic, but unconformable, and non-conformative way to either push or pull said couples towards or apart from each other. It's relationship realism, and you can't objectify this based on human perception alone.

The distinctive gay couples get their own spotlight by doing things that would benefit one or the other: Mao getting his roommate Hisashi to join the film club and do something about his life; Ichikawa's rivalry with Jin being so strong enough to elude feelings over their competitive nature; and Shion discovering true love for the first time with the unperceptive Rei, who thinks that dating and romance are a joke. That's what compels good characterization, not just on the pure romantic side, but with a human-level of weight to be productive as normal human beings for a sense of purpose. And I appreciate that about a show like this trying to tackle both the comfortable and uncomfortable sides of the relationship, as depictive as real life can be.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Studio Deen IS the studio to go for BL shows, and while Tasogare looks less refined than both Sasaki to Miyano and Tadaima, Okaeri, it still is presentable for what it is, especially the scenes where film cinematography is utilized and gives the show a whole lot of substance other than its BL features. But overall, it's good.

The music is honestly the weakest link of the anime. The OST is just there being enough, and while Ikusaburou Yamazaki's OP is that of your typical J-Pop decent but forgettable song, Amber's ED sounds surprisingly great and fantastic.

Despite the clear NC-17 to R-21 ratings worth of maturity to the show, I find that Tasogare Out Focus a.k.a Twilight Out Of Focus is a rather compelling show if you want some mature and undisguised BL, even if it reeks the hell of prior review-bombing that it sadly got. It's just not for me to experience gut-wrenching shows like this, especially since it makes you question how far AniManga authors like Janome push the boundary of what's considered to be too crass for the genre itself, especially for a niche genre that has gotten the love-hate treatment in recent years.

It's solid with intentionality that's handled gracefully, I'll give it as much that.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 20, 2024

kirA_-_

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

In some way I feel bad to give such a low score and I know a lot of people gonna think I’m way to harsh but lets talk about it and a little bit about manga because its important for this anime.

Tasogare Out Focus Is a combination of four different mangas written by same author. Its like a Tetralogy. With the every manga expect the last one about a different couple. They are all one volume and contains 7 to 9 chapters. So all of them pretty short and this is the biggest problem. There are to many things happening to them being short stories.
We ... have three couples that have 7 chapters to start a relationship, have a interesting story and develop a relationship which is not enough. After this part I’m gonna talk about anime.

Same think happens even worse in the anime for me. Couples felt empty because I have 5 episodes for first couple, 4 or 3 I dont remember for the second and 3 for the last one. Oh and 1 ep for kind of for everyone.What kind of opinion I should get on them ? Because of it Im gonna talk about every couple like its a different anime.

1st Couple (ep 1-4 , 11-12): Hisashi and Mao its the couple we see on poster and kind of the main one. As a relationship trope they are friends to lovers. We have Hisashi a very handsome but cold boy and Mao a student who loves to shoot movies. The story is mostly happens in dorm because they are roommates.One that Mao learns that Hisashi is gay and he promised to keep it in secret and Hisashi promises to not feel in love with him. My biggest problem with this couple is them being lost opportunity. They are the couple that had a change to get a deeper and interesting story but didn’t well because ehem 5 ep. We did have a change to talk about grooming, opening himself to others, p*do*lia etc. but we don't, everything just get brushed under the carpet. Thanks for it. The only think that were opened in story is finding what you interest in which it was done great .But What was the point of showing serious topics to just forget about them.. For me it just bad writing. Same with dialogues a lot of dialogues were just cringe for me and maybe its just me feeling this way but Evertime writer didn't know how to counting the scene we get a bed scene. Even when they talked about their feelings and what they worried about we just end-up in bed scene.Not the worst couple and did have a great potential but we never gonna see it so 5/10

2nd Couple (ep 5 - 7) :Ichikawa and Jin, second couple and my favorite. Their trope was enemies to lovers. Ichikawa is the second year director of the film clubs very passionate about films but have a very short temper. And Jin is the third year director and president of the film club. He is very popular in the school, very put together. But they are not getting along. In the series we see their relationship change them become more close and open to each other about film making and understanding each other. I like them they have chemistry and even tho actually they have the cringiest story I enjoyed it the most. They just work. Again 4 episode is not enough and I wanted more development but it is what it is 6.5/10

3rd Couple (8- 10): Rei and Shion they are my least favorite as a couple but I like the story more then first if its make sense. As a trope its kind of Grumpy and sunshine mixing with fake dating. Shion was annoying to me in the first episode and thinking that we just have 3 ep with Its to much for me. He is someone who wants to find boyfriend. Its he’s only goal in the world. In the end he find himself in film club where is Rei is the scenarist. He is a cold and kind of mean workaholic who only cares about making film. They dont get along at first but end up in some kind of half fake dating scenerio. Im not sure how to explain it.And we see their relationship getting stronger and them feel in love which each other. Finding what they passionate about and changing perspective in life. Like I say not the worst story I just dont like the couple. I just felt bored watching them and for me it can be more interesting if they have different partners.


So for me it was 2nd > 1st > 3rd

As a good part I can mention that the film club was done great. We actually did have a lot of great moment. How people finding what they into and about their passions. I enjoyed this part. The animation was not bed not my favorite style of drawing but Im sure a lot of people gonna enjoy it. There were cute and heartwarming moments. We dont have abuse in the series between the main couple which is well a great accomplishment in Yaoi genre. As a SA scene which is again very popular in Yaoi genre. There is one that can get interacted as one. I think its just really bed writing because the author well not great at it. But still it there is one so if you don't like it and don't wanna see it. Watch it knowing this information.

Well if you wanna watch a cute Yaoi I still think you should watch it . Its pretty okay. Just not what I want.Its not the worst one I see its just that I think its the biggest lost opportunity I did see in a long time

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 22, 2024

quiet_chaos

Not Recommended

Preliminary (8/12 eps)

Man, I love BL. I have watched all or most available. I really liked this one in the beginning, and it fell off. What is even happening? What happened to the story about the two roommates? Why are there multiple couples’ love stories except for the main MCs? Now we’re on a new couple with an annoying pink haired guy? Seriously want to drop the show, but I’ve already made it this far.

This far in the show, they focused too much on the teacher and his love story; not the one I want to watch. So much back and forth, but we hardly see ... the MCs after episode 4, so I really don’t get what the show is about. I’m pretty disappointed, and as a fujoshi, do not recommend, sadly. I wanted to love this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	In another life time... AnimeZ0id - Oct 17	3 replies	by ExpiredH20 »» Oct 20, 2:59 AM
	Poll: Tasogare Out Focus Episode 12 Discussion IzanaSolos - Sep 19	38 replies	by aedeann »» Oct 14, 10:42 AM
	Poll: Tasogare Out Focus Episode 8 Discussion IzanaSolos - Aug 22	31 replies	by Bisalissy »» Oct 8, 8:56 PM
	Poll: Tasogare Out Focus Episode 11 Discussion IzanaSolos - Sep 12	20 replies	by cooldogmom »» Oct 5, 11:42 AM
	This will be my first BL anime what can I expect? ishowcunny - Jun 11	26 replies	by ishowcunny »» Oct 4, 1:19 AM