by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer
One result of yuri’s increasing popularity is the creation of more and more live-action yuri series, like the popular Thai production GAP: The Series and the recent Japanese series Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (based on the manga currently being released in English as She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat). Some of these productions are follow-ups to or re-workings of non-yuri material, like the Thai series Love, Senior (a gender-swapped version of the Thai BL series SOTUS). Such is the case with the subject of this review, the eight-episode Japanese series Chaser Game W, which originally aired on Tokyo TV and is now streaming internationally on the Taiwanese LGBTQ-focused streaming service GagaOOLala, with subtitles in English, Spanish, Chinese, Thai, and Indonesian.
The “W” stands for “women”. Chaser Game W is a spin-off of Chaser Game, a previous manga and live-action drama about a male game developer; it shares a setting but not much else with the prior work. The subtitle, “My Evil Boss is My Ex-Girlfriend”, states the premise: 27-year-old Harumoto Itsuki is a closeted lesbian working as a team lead for a game development firm. One day she finds that her girlfriend from university, Hayashi Fuyu, has returned to Japan as the representative of a Chinese company looking to contract with Itsuki’s firm to create a game adaptation of a yuri(ish) manga (or manhua?). Unfortunately, Fuyu has brought with her an older husband, a young daughter, and a vengeful attitude — the result of Itsuki breaking up with Fuyu in college to (apparently) pursue a boyfriend.
Being a yuri production this state of affairs can’t continue unchanged, of course, so the show finds various (and at times contrived) ways to throw Fuyu and Itsuki together and encourage them to re-kindle their relationship. However, corporate intrigues and the demands on Fuyu as a wife and mother threaten to derail it once more. Nakamura Yurika does an excellent job portraying Fuyu’s transition from office terror to a woman approaching her breaking point, while former idol Sugai Yūka acquits herself well in the less demanding role of Itsuki. The two also have good chemistry as partners in romance, although some viewers may bemoan the relative lack of kisses and other physical affection. I should also mention Kurotani Tomoka as Ro Asami, an older corporate manager who takes over the villainess role midway and does a bang-up job of it — although her motivation when revealed proves to be more than a bit clichéd.
Other notes: Beyond the three characters mentioned above, the others in the game development team are also women, while the men are all side characters, ranging from innocent and even sympathetic bystanders (Fuyu’s husband) to sexist buffoons (a character designer himself caricatured). The series finds multiple occasions to favorably portray Japanese work practices and social mores as more relaxed and tolerant than those of China, something I found quite amusing given Japan’s reputation in the West as a land of overworked employees and conservative attitudes. Finally, the epilogue, which occurs after a time skip, gives viewers a happy ending, but I found it a bit rushed and hand-wavy. I would almost have preferred something more bittersweet as being more in keeping with the show’s relative realism about being a lesbian in Japan (or, worse, China).
Ratings:
Story: 7
Characters: 8
Production: 7 (it has its cheesy moments, most notably in a coming out scene that’s accompanied by sound and lighting effects more appropriate to a Gothic horror movie)
Service: 3 (a fairly tame bedroom scene)
LGBTQ: 7 (both Itsuki and Fuyu are explicitly lesbian, although Itsuki is initially closeted and Fuyu entered into a heterosexual marriage due to family pressure)
Overall: 7
Chaser Game W is well worth watching if you’re a GagaOOLala premium subscriber, and worth checking out during a free trial period if you’re not. GagaOOLala has recently established itself as _the_ place to go for current Japanese live-action BL series; perhaps Chaser Game W is a harbinger of an increased GagaOOLala focus on Japanese live-action yuri as well.
You can watch the official GagaOOLala trailer for the show. GagaOOLala also released several scenes from the show on Youtube; spoiler warnings for all these, but especially the second:
