"Haunting" is a word that I find is thrown around a lot. Too much for that matter. Having said that, I found that after my initial viewing I just couldn't get "Utsukushii Kare"/"My Beautiful Man" out of my head. And I couldn't figure out why for the longest time. On the one hand there's "Hira" - the shy, self-conscious loner/loser (who comes as close to a psychotic stalker as you can imagine). On the other, there's the impossibly beautiful "Kioyi" - brash, self-centered, obnoxious....

Basically it's the story of two people you probably wouldn't like if you'd met them in real life. Except for one thing - I have met them in real life, and they - at least Kiyoi - reminds me of people I know, people I've met and, most importantly, people I have befriended.

And now the explanation. I work in film/television and theatre, and the place is lousy with Kiyois, and every single one of his problems (nobody knows me/nobody understands me/everybody just wants to use me) is real. Kiyoi reminds me of one of my former students - a fairly successful model who was so accustomed to doing whatever it took to please everybody that he simply couldn't just be himself and that is what stopped him from being a good actor. He had lost touch with himself and his humanness - he had to keep his true self buried so that nobody would see him as "imperfect". And he had his real-life "Hira"- someone else who worked in the theatre who absolutely adored him. It was just odd. It was, however, the basic plot of "Utsukushii Kare". Talk about something being too real.

So, did I enjoy it? I don't know if "enjoy" is quite the right word...but I did recognize it. Every last bit of it. So I watched it twice.

About the second viewing. What is interesting in the second viewing is how differently the story unfolds. We are now aware of everybody's motivations, so there's no "big reveal" to look out for. The thing is, though, that's when you realize how brilliant their performance are. Everything about Hagiwara Riku's "Hira" is spot on. From his fawning and adoration of "Kiyoi" to his desperation to not even be noticed, but to just be in Kiyoi's presence is just brilliant. As for Yagi Yusei - what can I say? I am in awe of his performance. He is heart breaking. What you toss away on the first viewing as "beautiful people problems" you recognize as "people problems" the second time around. So, yeah - don't just watch it one, watch it twice. Once for the writing. Twice for the performances and the direction.