Utsukushii Kare (2021)

refreshing and intense

i didn't think that i'd find myself liking a japanese drama in late 2021. in my opinion, japanese BL dramas have consistently been lackluster, boring, repetitive, and just...not good. so i was reluctant to like this show. i was REALLY reluctant. alas, i found myself unable to stop thinking about these two. when i first started watching, most of the episodes weren't out yet, and for the first time in as long as i can remember i was itching to know what happened next in a show. maybe im just too picky, maybe i just don't watch things enough, i don't know, but it's rare for me to think this much about a show

what i liked:

story:

this drama has made me want to read the novel. i will be buying it whenever i am next able to visit japan. the relationship between the two main characters is one that reminds me of the reason i enjoy BL manga in the first place: the darker stories, the animal-like, intense emotions, veering into territory that may be dubbed problematic and toxic by some, but i LIVE off this shit. i dont want to see the same kira kira romance repeated over and over. i want something a bit more gritty. i want the characters to be a little off. yeah, i know it's toxic and wouldn't make sense irl. that's the point. that's why stories exist. it was such a breath of fresh air to see their intense, hectic relationship portrayed as these two characters battled with their emotions and morals. i especially love how hira viewed kiyoi as a king or god plus the cinematic actions taken to represent this and i'll talk about this more later.

i don't think the story was too complicated or that the characters were too complicated, but it was so different from what i've seen from Japanese BL and BL in general, i guess, in the past years that it was an entertaining story to watch. at times, it felt like the two main characters were the only people in the world to each other, and i liked this aspect especially. maybe to some it would make it feel like the world wasn't fleshed out enough or that other character's didn't feel real, and i can agree with this somewhat, but to me it immersed me within the mindset of the main couple, that only them two existed, and further intensified how much they meant to each other. i LOVE how creepy hira came across, and i love how this was openly accepted as creepy, how mean kiyoi was. i loved all of it. it felt raw and real and toxic and. yeah. at times i even got uncomfortable watching hira, but i loved how it made me uncomfortable. i love stories like this.

in terms of directing, there were some compositional choices that alluded to kiyoi's position as "king" that i appreciated. one of them was when they were all sitting at hira's low table in the dining room? kitchen? area? and kiyoi is the only one perched on the couch, while everybody else is on their knees. the shot is set up so that the viewers eye is guided to the "king" on his "throne". also when they start to become "friends" and kiyoi sits in a chair while hira lays on the ground in front of him to do homework. another example is when hira is made to bow down and kiss kiyoi's hand, a more in-your-face symbolism, but i appreciated it nontheless. it also made it contextually significant when the characters would be set at the same level, or when hira would be placed on top of kiyoi, symbolizing that their roles are becoming more equal in each others eyes as they mature.

oh also, kiyoi not becoming an instant success overnight and having to resort to diner theatre and work his way up was also a nice touch that showed how human his character is.

acting/cast:

okay, so for a drama literally named "beautiful him", yusei yagi doesn't really cut it. he's pretty okay looking, and in some of that soft warm lighting i genuinely think he's pretty. not horrible to look at like many of the BL dramas ive seen.....but i have two excuses for this. one, it's BL, a smaller and less sought after industry, especially in japan. you're not gonna get the most attractive, best, expensive actors. two, i think the fact that he's not really stunning brings humanness to his story and role, and also makes yusei's powerful and king-like performance more striking because he's able to have such a large presence. i really liked his acting. there were sometimes these subtle vulnerabilities in his eyes that he only showed to hira. so good. for a BL drama, you can really tell that he had passion for this role, or at least that he is passionate about his acting career enough to do a good job. sometimes yusei slurred his lines a little bit but i didn't really mind. his angry scenes were really nice. there was a lot of inner conflict kiyoi had and yusei reflected that in every one of his actions. really really nice job.

hagiwara riku was EXCELLENT. i think he got cuter as the drama went on but he has this puppy-ish appearance with a bit of a pathetic slouch and a sad expression. it fits this role SO well. the different ways that he would say "kiyoi" were sometimes so full of emotion that i just sat there like, "damn". he portrays that creepy, pathetic, kind of insecure but incredibly loyal character extremely well. he looks more like a "commoner" than yusei yagi which i also thought was very fitting because yusei has more of a pretty boy idol type look, which, well, was his character. that creepy, raw smile that crept onto his face and made me uncomfortable when he saw kiyoi again for the first time since highschool.....SO GOOD....the way he said "that's impossible" during kiyoi's confession scene....ugh, so good. i finished today and i already want to rewatch it. maybe i'm just starved for good acting because of how shit a lot of BL have been lately, but god did i enjoy hagiwara's performance.

music:

kinda random at times. i liked the darker sound of the end theme, especially at the end of the first episode. really got me hooked. not much to say. one thing though is that the opening song was way too happy for the tone of the drama, but okay.

rewatch value:

i finished watching today and i already want to rewatch.

things i think could be improved:

pacing was weird at times. i wished kiyoi's character got a little more fleshed out, maybe then it wouldnt have felt so weird. i feel like hira's first confession moment happened too soon. could have felt more natural if maybe there was an extra episode or two. another weird pacing part was how quickly the final confession happened.

loved how hira's character was obsessed with kiyoi but i do wish there was a bit more to his personality besides he likes kiyoi and taking pictures, but we saw a bit of that personality shine through at the very end after they get together.

they actually kissed which is good. the first one you could barely see their lips touch, though...... that last episode though, nice, but after seeing how intense the scenes in dramas like "Dark Blue and Moonlight" got i feel like they could have gone a little further with the make out considering how intense these characters feelings re for each other, but it didn't really ruin it for me. just maybe less vague silhouette neck caressing. c'mon. but i guess we've gotta ease the general audience into these things.....

overall:

this is the only other drama i have written a review about on this website besides a rant about coffee and vanilla. really hope that says something. go rubber ducky.

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Competently made though unexceptional

This BL follows a tried-and-tested formula in many ways: one-sided love on the part of an awkward unpopular guy for a popular guy, that is until it turns out to be anything but one-sided. The production values are, nevertheless, rather high. The scenes are beautifully shot, and there are no scenes that feel unnecessary or digressive.

Hira, being the awkward, stuttering guy who is bullied by others, is the character one sympathizes with first. Yet, it may be hard to understand his obsession with Kiyoi, who is one of those who order him about in school even if he is somewhat more reasonable than others. Is this some sort of Stockholm-Syndrome romance? He supposedly falls in love with Kiyoi because Kiyoi saves him from embarrassment, but Kiyoi does not even do so intentionally--he saves Hira simply by walking into the class and grabbing everyone's attention.

Kiyoi isn't the worst bully for sure, but his behavior towards Hira can be regarded as abusive too. But this is BL in which some borderline perverse sorts of relationships are par for the course. Even though we finally see things from his perspective in Episode 5, his behavior towards Hira isn't exactly very nice. Could he blame Hira for having no inkling that his love is not one-sided? In contrast, Hira's friend in college, Koyama, is such a sweetheart that one either wishes Hira would end up with him or that he would be able to find happiness. But I guess the equivalent of the second-male-lead syndrome in BLs is the third-male-lead syndrome.

The issue of romanticizing a somewhat abusive relationship aside, the series is nicely made. There are only six short episodes, but the storytelling does not feel rushed or inadequate. The young actors are surprisingly good in their roles too. It is worth a watch.

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Precioso BL

Me ha encantado esta historia, me han encantado las actuaciones, los actores , el ritmo , la fotografía, todo. Muy muy recomendable!! Estos últimos dos años los BL Japoneses me están gustando casi todos los que he visto con actuaciones y producciones de calidad (Cherry magic una maravilla, Kieta hatsukoi una joyita, la inquietante pero brillante Dangerous drugs of sex y ahora My beautiful man maravillosa, Quizá la excepción es Given (cuyo live action no le llega ni a la suela del zapato a Given el anime y la película animada, que son sublimes) o la live action Love Stage (muy sobreactuada a mi parecer).
Felicidades por esta miniserie , me ha encantado!! Apreciación especial a la belleza etérea y casi perfecta del actor que interpreta al Kiyoi Sou, madre mía!!!! Hace honor al título de la miniserie. No creo que ningún otro actor pudiera hacer más honor al título "My beautiful man" como él, porque es realmente una hermosura y un placer para la vista.

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utsukushii kare/my beautiful man

i wasn't sure about this one at first mostly because of the way kiyoi behaved on the first episode, but i just finished the last 5 episodes and the LAST TWO make such a difference on his character and they way we understand him.

the reason why kiyoi started by bossing hira around was because he was trying to understand if hira was just like everyone else, meaning, if he was just nice to him because he wanted something from kiyoi. he later realizes that no, hira is different. he kept his promise to not tell anyone about kiyoi dancing, he always had a look in his eyes, he told him he liked him, and most of all he showed all of that by standing up for kiyoi in front of the entire school. kiyoi had always been alone even though he always had people surrounding him but finally he found someone who didn't make him lonely anymore, who was honest on the way he felt. you can also tell how the "gross/disgusting" comments don't really have much meaning when kiyoi later says them, he doesn't feel that way he just says it cause he doesn't know how to react.

it's why everything hurts much more when he kissed hira. hira didn't take that extra step and later on he didn't even reach out with his new number! kiyoi was heartbroken, "you kissed my hand! you said you liked me but then you didn't reach out to me! did you even mean anything you said at all?". with us seeing hira's pov, we could tell why: hira always thought they were in two different levels, a god and a servant, and when kiyoi heard that, everything hurt worse than before. "im not a god!", "i want to touch each other like any other man". of course he'd be upset, he thought out of all people hira would be the one who understood him better than anyone but until the very end, hira didn't understand him at all.

just like kiyoi said, hira could be arrogant sometimes. he didn't try to understand kiyoi he just looked at him and thought "we're from two different worlds. nothing could ever happen" and took it as the truth without even asking or trying to understand.

.....idk if you can tell but this entire review is just me expression how interesting i think kiyoi is. he truly is a fascinating character.

finally id love to point out that, in the end, after hira truly does realize how kiyoi feels and that he is just a man like any other, he stops stuttering around him, there's no reason for him to be nervous anymore. they're on the same floor, kiyoi isn't and never was higher than him, so there's no reason to be anxious about being around him anymore.

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This is an opinion regarding the characters and not a review of the series!!!

I love the 5th and 6th episode of the first season too much! I really, really like kiyoi’s view of things… it must be so unsatisfying to have Hira as his boyfriend… considering the way Hira generally is… but despite his creepy, need-for-constant-validation, non-understanding behaviour towards kiyoi, I still like this series very much…


But I don’t like Hira. He is very creepy, and I don’t like the way he says he worships kiyoi but does not take the necessary steps to understand him. How can he say that kiyoi never needs to meet his parents? I mean, does he really really not know how offensive that is?? The worst part is, in the end it was kiyoi who had reach out and clear the air. Hira, just stood there, wallowing in his pseudo-insecurity as usual. I feel that kiyoi can do much better than Hira. I know you have a love deficit, but what he has for you is not love, it’s obsession.

The list of situations where Hira has wronged kiyoi just keeps going on. Hira liked kiyoi first right?? But it was kiyoi who had to take the first step and kiss him. Even then, he did not respond to his advances but changed his number! How do you think Kiyoi would have felt?
Absolutely no consideration for the second party’s feelings! Even in the second season, he was the one who had to come back after kiyoi said something so offensive, he was the one who bought a Valentine’s Day gift… It was always Kiyoi who reached out to Hira, despite his profound proclamation that he “worships” Hira, which makes it an uneven relationship, that I am not too comfortable with.


I know in the beginning Kiyoi seems like a jerk. I agree completely. I mean, I was this close to smashing a boulder on his head. But. But I feel that even in those situations, Hira’s creepiness justifies his hostility. I mean, how would you feel if someone just kept saying how beautiful you were, provided you weren’t in a relationship with them? Agreed, kiyoi liked his creepiness, but I don’t. So I am not exactly a biggest fan of his actions.

But I will give Hira this. He always places kiyoi before anything. Always there to cheer him on, on his movie sets, always making sure he eats what he likes, waiting for him when kiyoi comes home late etc… it’s is quite really the only reason why I commend their relationship. Okay. So maybe, just maybe, you might make an average boyfriend…

But as you can see from my opinion-piece, I truly like Kiyoi more than Hira. It’s non-negotiable.

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Creepy Stalker Fantasy Garbage

(Apologies in advance for my language in this review lol)

What the hell did I just watch lmao.
This show is supposed to be...uh....romantic? I guess?

It follows the two main characters Hira and Kiyoi. Kiyoi is an insecure pretty boy who wants nothing more than to become an idol one day, but has way too much pride to ever tell anyone. On top of that, he's also a huge d*ckhead who bullies Hira like crazy, basically making him be his servant throughout their final year of high school.
Hira is a delusional psychopath who thinks of Kiyoi as a god and takes (masochistic) pleasure in being Kiyoi's personal servant. we can especially see how crazy he really is in the few short imagination sequences that happen throughout the series, in which Hira has fantasies about shooting everyone in his school whenever they make him upset. (Yes, that is a real thing that happens). Hira makes this show incredibly frustrating to watch just by his sheer absurdity as a character. He has absolutley devoted his entire life to just being a stalker to Kiyoi, even after graduating high school, and meeting a much better friend (Kazuki), who ends up being a wayyy better love interest for him. But Hira, of course, f*cks it up and rejects Kazuki because he for some reason still loves Kiyoi for some reason. And this "love" isn't even romantic, it's stalkerish and devoid of any real idea that they could be equals. He just wants to serve Kiyoi. In the final few episodes where Kiyoi's pov begins and we can see that he has been secretly falling in love with Hira, we can see that Hira's view of Kiyoi as a god really f*cks with his head. But the series concludes with Hira supposedly becoming normal all of a sudden and them falling in love and living happily ever after.

*Deep sigh*
Anyway, idk why I felt the need to write so much about this, but I know I could have written even more. This show was frustrating, creepy at times. The main characters were clearly unstable and pretty unlikeable, never really changing or developing in any way (until the last minute of the final episode I guess).
The only saving grace this show really had for me was Kazuki, who deserved so much better.
Overall, I mean...I watched it all, that's gotta count for something (even though it was only 6 episodes). Definitely will never watch this again, nothing made me feel any classic BL butterflies, just classic BL icks.

1.5/10

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I thought this was supposed to be good???

I watched this because I kept getting tiktoks about it since the second season dropped and I was thoroughly disappointed. The main characters are so annoying and unlikable that whatever plot they were going for just didn't work. Hira constantly gets bullied by his classmates but when it's Kiyoi he likes it? Then throw in a weird time skip, a much better potential boyfriend for Hira, and a whole lot of unnecessary conflict/miscommunication and that's about all that happens! Did they like each other the whole time? I guess so! Too bad they never actually told each other this or else the show would have been over in the first episode.

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A loved premise but feeding nothing than toxic fetish... for those with an inkling for it

A well loved premise on how the least popular boy (1st lead) becomes the love interest of the most beautiful and popular student in school (2nd lead). But this premise gone wrong wrong.

The depiction of the popular guy as the god and the king in the eyes of the muttering mess of a first lead... like why god?

First of all, how could anyone fall in love with the 1sr lead? I mean the guy has zero interest in anything except the 2nd lead. What is the appeal? And he goes into servitude (I am not exaggerating) mode after being called disgusting so many times, willingly. Socially inept, stuttering, depressed, quasi autistic. Is he supposed to be disabled without knowing? if this is how a person with disabilities depicted, bish I am offended. What in the weird fetish is all of this? And not really entertained cos everything boiled down to the damn 2nd lead, so if the 2nd lead is causing all of those characteristics above, I find my watching time even more pointless. Cos that is really not it.

Which brings me to the 2nd lead, Kiyoi. I mean dude you may be beautiful or whatever but his behavior is absolute shit. Excuse my muse. Like I can see a glimpse of an attempt at portraying him as abandoned child and therefore having his inner child calmed by an obsessive 1st lead.

I love a bit of push and pull between characters in a drama and the fact there is a person behind every "untouchable" character but I have seen none here. I know it is entertainment and does not have to serve meaning but I do feel it serves

propaganda for toxic relationship based in each of them feeding their traumas by using that relationship as a coping mechanism.

And that is me interpreting. Not like the drama said anything of depth.

Ah.

I've said what I said.

Not gonna entertain S2.

Unfortunately I did not see the brilliance other reviewers have. Myb it is something in the air over here.

Thanks for reading.

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Quality Production, but Character Choices are Disturbing

This series is about a very real couple regardless of the plot, but I never liked these characters. The series is of good quality. The shots, lights, sounds are very good.
Most of the acting is very good. However, I do not like loser characters. Cold, introverted, but loser and cowardly characters do not appeal to me. I had a hard time watching it. I fast-forwarded the bullying scenes because it was annoying.

Hira is a character who got stuck in his first toxic relationship and couldn't get over it. He preferred a healthy and self-healing person like Koyama to his old toxic relationship.
As another reviewer said, "Hira doesn't deserve a Koyama."


I liked the finale and the final scenes, but I'm still not convinced of Kiyoi's love.


Hira is invisible and ignored and falls in love with the first bright sun he sees. Because it has what he lacks the most. Kiyoi is trying to become famous to satisfy his hunger for love and prove himself, and of course he doesn't want to lose the person who adores him.


In the second season, I don't know how they will resolve the plot, but in a real-world continuation of such a character relationship, it might unfold like this:
After the honeymoon phase, Kiyoi would continue to belittle and oppress Hira.
He would ignore him and prioritize his career. For a considerable period, Hira would strive to please and satisfy Kiyoi.
At some point, Kiyoi would grow tired of Hira, betray him, and Hira, enduring prolonged suffering, would start to undergo personal growth.
Once he finally breaks free from Kiyoi, the narcissistic cycle would restart as Kiyoi returns, and the toxic relationship persists until Hira experiences genuine self-awareness.
Every now and then, Hira regrets not choosing Koyama, who used to be a genuinely loving and mentally stable guy.


Expecting a healthy relationship from a high school romance is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

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WATCH until the END

I was about the give up at episode one, but for some reason, I didn't and I AM SO very happy I didn't. At first, this series is concerning a love story between a stalker and a bully, but once both points of view are examined you realize two things. Thing one: the two main characters may be meant for one another as they are like dualities of one another. Thing two: they are both kind of crazy. What starts off as a sketchy love story where you don't know who to feel bad for becomes a beautiful tale of accepting people and loving them for who they are.

Spoiler:



There is a concerning mock mass shooting scene that may be a trigger or just a bit uncomfortable.

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Great subject for a BL

Great subject for a BL. It does boarder on being abusive at times but i found it more challenging than abusive.

For sure Hira ended up with the wrong person. I am so impressed that so many Asian BL's and other drams have a love interest stand aside such that the one they love are happy with who they supposedly really want. Very honorable and it changes me a little every time I see it happen.

Now it's time for me to back up. So Kiyoi does demand that Hira loves him as a person and not a god. That was great. I really didn't see that coming. Then the last scene they are joking about it??? I think they should have buried it and left it for a more powerful ending.

Best scene was the reconciliation of all the scenes as a flash back. Bravo.

My Complaints are are good ones. The story and other characters could have been developed more and the ending could have shown more of how Hira adapted and became a real partner for Kiyoi.

Congrats to all for making this series!

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