In fact, the second installment of the Pornographer series, ie. "Mood Indigo"(prequel to Pornographer) was aired some time a year ago. As it was too painful for me to review it, therefore, it took me a year, to sink-in, in order to write my review without much emotion.
The thing is, with the beautiful love story of Pornographer 2018, I didn't expect this prequel to turn out to be, such blue. If Pornographer was a glass of lemon drink in a hot summer, then, Mood Indigo will be a cup of bitter black coffee. The former will be bright yellow, and the latter will be dull blue...
Perhaps, that was the purpose of the director cum scriptwriter, Miki-san. This second installment, Mood Indigo, was about the past of Kijima-san, at roughly 5 years before the story of Pornographer. It was about how Kijima-san became a pornographer(adult story author) and how he discovered his sexual orientation. It was about his relationship with his Teacher, Gamôda-Sensei(ie. teacher of Kijima-san for his porno work) which, reflected his relationship with his own father - regrets, and atonement.
However, in my opinion, Miki-san took a totally opposite approach in presenting the story, as compared to Pornographer. I reckon that, Miki-san was trying to make the story slightly darker, in order to create a contrast between this, and Pornographer, ie. dark vs. bright; blue vs. yellow; cold vs. warm. While Pornographer was the typical love story between 2 people, sweet and lovey-dovey, sometimes simply spiritual, of the current world. While Mood Indigo represents the darker, quieter, a more suppressed and conservative mode of Showa-style, yet, the craving of desire unleashed.
