Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me – Series Review

Serizawa discovers Suzuki's secret BL hobby.

Suzuki is a shy high school student with one big secret. He's a massive BL fan who watches the dramas, reads the manga, writes fanfiction, and hoards merchandise from his favourite shows. Even his bedroom is covered with posters and BL memorabilia. When Suzuki told his friends about his hobby, they immediately speculated about his sexuality. Suddenly, liking BL meant he must be gay. The homophobic jokes soon followed.

Ever since then, Suzuki has become more guarded. He's embarrassed about liking BL and hides his interests from everyone at school. Suzuki has isolated himself from his former friends and barely talks to other classmates. Instead, Suzuki spends his free time working on a BL story. Whenever inspiration strikes, he scribbles ideas into a notebook. His biggest muse is Serizawa, an outgoing classmate who fits Suzuki's idea of a perfect seme. Suzuki loves observing him and borrowing personality traits for his fictional character. Of course, Serizawa doesn't know. Suzuki keeps his BL stories private and has never shown them to anyone.

Then Suzuki realizes he has lost his precious BL notebook somewhere at school. Oh no… Of all the things to misplace! His panic worsens when Serizawa shows up holding it. Suzuki takes the notebook back and hopes they can pretend this never happened. Unfortunately, Serizawa admits he already read it. He knows Suzuki has been writing some pretty graphic fantasies inspired by him. Serizawa wonders whether Suzuki actually likes him. Suzuki is so mortified that he runs away without answering. His secret BL hobby has been exposed.

Suzuki gets to know Serizawa and his friends.

Feeling humiliated, Suzuki does everything he can to avoid Serizawa. Serizawa isn't happy about their sudden awkwardness, so he finds a way for them to sneak out of gym class and talk privately in an empty classroom. Suzuki finally admits that he's a BL fan. He also apologizes for using Serizawa as inspiration and expects an angry reaction. Instead, Serizawa is totally chill about it. He isn't offended at all. In fact, he seems curious about Suzuki's story and wants to read it.

Then comes another shock. Serizawa reveals that he likes BL too. Suzuki never expected another boy at school to share his hobby, especially not the handsome classmate featured in all his fantasies. Since Serizawa is interested, he asks to read the story. Suzuki is nervous because nobody has ever seen his writing before. Plus, it isn't even finished yet! Serizawa reads it anyway and loves what Suzuki has written. Afterwards, he invites Suzuki to eat lunch with him and his friends. Suzuki can keep working on the next chapter while Serizawa gets first dibs when it's done.

Suzuki soon meets the rest of Serizawa's friend group. Takeuchi is the smart one with glasses and excellent grades. Iwasaki is the sporty guy from the judo club who loves showing off his muscles. Saeki is the social butterfly who enjoys charming the girls in class. They all welcome Suzuki easily, even though they're confused about why Serizawa suddenly befriended this quiet loner. Suzuki is just as confused. He feels out of place sitting with all the cool kids. Plus, Serizawa keeps getting more affectionate around him. Their new friendship feels suspiciously like a crush.

Hello, I'd like to report an identity theft! Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me feels like it copied everything you liked about School Trip: Joined a Group I'm Not Close To. Put these fluffy BL dramas side by side and the resemblance is almost suspicious. Shy protagonist? Meet your twin brother. Popular classmate swooping into his life? Yep, it's happening again. A squad of handsome boys with sweet personalities? Exactly four of them! Even the screenwriter (Subaru Yamashita) is the same. Aha! That explains all the similarities!

This series is packed with silly moments, like when Suzuki gets exposed as a BL fan in Episode 1. Oh no! As he goes into full panic mode, his embarrassment is comedy gold! Yet, his struggles remind me of what it's like to be a closeted teenager. There's a social stigma around guys who admit they enjoy BL, like putting a sign above your head that says, "I'M GAY!" No wonder Suzuki feels so self-conscious. The first few episodes are compelling because they explore his insecurities. He constantly worries that others will judge him. I love how the series turns Suzuki's hobby into a surprisingly meaningful storyline about shame.

After Suzuki reveals he's a BL fan, everyone reacts positively. To Suzuki, it's a shameful secret. To his open-minded friends, it's just a harmless hobby. I was suspicious at first. Life has made me so cynical that I see four guys being nice and think, "Is that realistic?" But then, Suzuki gets teary-eyed and says, "This world is so gentle…" That line made me realize why I like the series. It gives me an ideal version of the world. A place where boys can enjoy BL without being judged. Too good to be true? Maybe! But for 11 episodes, I want to escape reality and live in this fantasy.

At this point, I've watched so many Japanese BL dramas about the cool kid falling for his lonely classmate. Surely, there are other relationship dynamics to explore? That said, this overdone trope still works on me. Yup, I'm part of the problem! I like the couple's sweet moments. Serizawa is the biggest cheerleader and helps Suzuki gain confidence. However, Serizawa's behaviour makes me uneasy. I don't think he's a bad guy, but what's with all the jealousy? He also gets too touchy-feely and invades Suzuki's personal space. Popular Serizawa, stop acting weird around him!

I enjoyed the first half of the series. Suzuki's storyline has more emotional depth than I expected from a silly romcom. Even the romance is kinda cute, as long as Serizawa stops touching Suzuki like he's a doll. Unfortunately, the second half kills the momentum. Every episode, Suzuki refuses to believe Serizawa likes him. OMFG. You were literally sitting on the dude's lap since Episode 2! HE KISSED YOU!!! Suzuki pisses me off for ignoring the most obvious signs. Dragging out the romance is annoying enough, but making him this clueless is just insulting our intelligence.

After the couple's first kiss, the story wastes four whole episodes before Suzuki realizes Serizawa has the hots for him. That delay is unforgivable! By the time they finally get together, I'm too irritated to care anymore. Instead, I'm more interested in the supporting cast. Ooh, is there a potential romance between Takeuchi and Iwasaki? A meaningless interaction between these two background characters excites me more than an entire lovey-dovey scene with the leads. It helps that Takeuchi's actor (Kaiki Kimura) is quite handsome. Of course, I'm Team Glasses!

Serizawa's actor (Ryoto Shisaka) looks relaxed in his scenes. His co-star (Kosaku Koizumi) isn't as smooth. He makes Suzuki so nervous that I feel awkward just watching him. I know the character is shy, but his acting goes overboard. Compared with the softies from similar BL dramas, Hioki (School Trip) and Mayama (After Moving Seats) seem more endearing. In fact, Popular Serizawa Acts Weird Around Me is my least favourite of the three series. It has some heartwarming moments, but the others do a better job with the popular-kid-falls-for-lonely-boy trope.