This is based off the popular Boys Love manga and the anime. Love Stage is about two guys who reunite after starring in a wedding themed commercial (CM) 10 years ago. Ryoma falls for his co-star on set whom he thought was a girl when he was a child. Ryoma is now a popular actor. Izumi comes from a line of entertainers: his mom is an hallyu actress, his dad an entertainer, and his older brother the lead singer of a band. 10 years later, Ryoma requests the exact cast to be apart of the new CM. The only change I wish they didn't make was Izumi didn't wear a wedding dress. That was the best part of the anime/manga because that's the whole point. Ryoma thinks that Izumi was a girl this whole time, even when they act together in their Happy Wedding CM.

Other than that, I am thankful they kept it very PG. They removed the rapey scenes. I have seen the anime and the OVA and I am glad they removed them and kept the best parts of the plot, which is where Ryoma comes to terms that his childhood crush who encouraged him in his acting career is actually a guy. The love story is really sweet, albeit weak facial expressions from Izumi's actor. He reunites with Izumi and after making a mistake, tries to become his friend and helps him in his manga. He wants to help him like Izumi did when they were starring in that CM 10 years ago. He encourages Izumi with his manga and I found that really sweet. They turned a source material that is considered yaoi due to suggestive scenes and made it more accessible for a wider audience. I only wished it was longer and we got to see Izumi pursue acting. Believe me, it starts off really cringey but it gets much better as it goes on.

In Japan, or in Asian countries, for a popular actor to come out as gay is essentially career suicide. So for the ending to nonchalantly be accepting of that is actually revolutionary. I wished the ending went on for longer than it did. Boys Love usually caters to Fujoshis, or women, but what sets Love Stage apart is how well written its narrative is. The mangaka did write the screenplay for the movie.

I only wished that the on set architecture was better. I wished that Izumi's house looked more glamorous. I wasn't convinced that his well established family would be living in what looks like an average suburban house. It should have been tacky and adorned with tacky expensive furniture. Even Ryoma's apartment should have looked fancier if he's considered a popular actor. I don't remember the anime much, but even the settings in the anime looked more glamorous than the shoddy housing in this movie.

I enjoyed it more than the anime. The anime's art style I wasn't a fan of and I prefer that they toned down the scenes and made it more consentual. This is coming from someone who hates Jdramas. I typically gravitate more to American TV and Kdramas. Better than any of Hirokazu Kore-eda's movies. Look I'm familiar with Japanese cinema and this was a solid good movie.

The acting is Jdrama quality and the production level was slightly higher than your typical Jdrama. These guys both acted better than what you see in a Jdrama. Izumi's actor looked the part but wasn't as good as Ryoma's actor. He was hilarious.