Aira
I'm obsessed with this drama as much as Hira is obsessed with Kiyoi lol.
Firstly, don't be fooled by the cheerful and bright opening song, honestly I started watching this without any idea about the plot and because of the OP I thought this was a cute romcom (it didn't help that I was watching Kieta Hatsukoi at the same time lmao), therefore during the first episode I was waiting for "cute" things to happen and got mildly uncomfortable/confused when they didn't come LOL. Despite this slight uncomfortable feeling, I continued to watch (and I'm so glad that I did) because of the aesthetically pleasing cinematography and the actors' believable performance (I mean, I was so conflicted if I feel bad for Hira or if I'm creeped out by him, which later on made me realize that it's exactly what the drama wanted me to feel).
When it was was implied that Hira did *that thing* using Kiyoi's picture by the end of the first episode, I finally understood the real "tone" of the drama and in doing so I finally started enjoying and appreciating it for what it is -- unabashed, intoxicating, thought-provoking, complex, but at the same time, "pure".
Soon I realized that this drama is actually my high school literary fantasies (I'm 32 now *coughs*) come to life in high-quality -- all the angst, the pining, the unconventional dynamics + relationship between the leads, the sexual tension, the homoeroticism, and last but not the least, the painfully but beautifully flawed characters. Perhaps that's why it didn't take long for me to get seriously addicted to this drama because it's like something I wanted to write all these years but couldn't. (I grew up reading CLAMP mangas wherein losing an eye for someone is a sign of love so yeah.)
As a work of fiction, this is the kind of drama that shouldn't be watched with your moral lens but with an open mind since Hira and Kiyoi as characters and the relationship and dynamics between them are simply meant to exist in their fictional world only (like I'm yet to meet someone who is as tsundere as Kiyoi in real-life XD), so really, people shouldn't necessarily relate it to real-life and find people who enjoy such work as "problematic" because believe it or not, we can differentiate real-life from fiction.
Anyway, with just six episodes running for only around 24 minutes each, the series managed to be very impactful and may I say extremely compelling, considering that even some of the people who find it "problematic"/"toxic" and don't like it still felt the need to finish the entire series and spend their precious time writing rants about how much they dislike it afterwards (unlike me who just drops a drama and move on to the next one once I start to feel that it's not my cup of tea). I guess that's one of the strong points of this drama - each episode just kept getting better and better, evoking different emotions, that I found myself re-watching the latest episode before the next one aired whenever I had the chance (and I've now lost count of how many times I watched the last episode). I think another factor why this appealed so much to me is because of the director (Sakai Mai) who is a lady currently 30 years of age, I believe she knows exactly what the audience within the same generation (specifically fangirls like me lol) wants to see.
Also biggest kudos to Hagiwara Riku and Yagi Yusei, watching them has been such a delight, they look very natural and just very well-fitted for their roles. Their chemistry is also palpable, whether oncam or offcam. This could have easily ended up as a disaster had they picked the wrong actors. Riku as Hira is phenomenal, he has that "dead eyes" look on point, but I'm especially surprised by Yusei when I learned that this is his first acting role, he has definitely done a better job compared to other actors I've been seeing in a lot of dramas all these years. That scene in the last episode wherein he was screaming at Hira was specifically very painful to watch.
Long story short, if you're looking for a classic Japanese angsty romance BL story done artistically and acted wonderfully, then this might be for you. But if you're someone who prefer a cute, fluffy, feel-good, and "healthy" story with cheerful and nice characters, you may need to look for something else.
Also just a note that looking (via Google Translate mostly haha) at the reaction of the Japanese viewers who are the ACTUAL target audience of this drama, majority of them seem to like the drama (it's currently #1 in Amazon TV drama DVD selling ranking) and I have yet to see them writing long essays about how "problematic" or "toxic" this is so I guess generally the issue is not within the drama itself but is with how some people perceive it.
When it was was implied that Hira did *that thing* using Kiyoi's picture by the end of the first episode, I finally understood the real "tone" of the drama and in doing so I finally started enjoying and appreciating it for what it is -- unabashed, intoxicating, thought-provoking, complex, but at the same time, "pure".
Soon I realized that this drama is actually my high school literary fantasies (I'm 32 now *coughs*) come to life in high-quality -- all the angst, the pining, the unconventional dynamics + relationship between the leads, the sexual tension, the homoeroticism, and last but not the least, the painfully but beautifully flawed characters. Perhaps that's why it didn't take long for me to get seriously addicted to this drama because it's like something I wanted to write all these years but couldn't. (I grew up reading CLAMP mangas wherein losing an eye for someone is a sign of love so yeah.)
As a work of fiction, this is the kind of drama that shouldn't be watched with your moral lens but with an open mind since Hira and Kiyoi as characters and the relationship and dynamics between them are simply meant to exist in their fictional world only (like I'm yet to meet someone who is as tsundere as Kiyoi in real-life XD), so really, people shouldn't necessarily relate it to real-life and find people who enjoy such work as "problematic" because believe it or not, we can differentiate real-life from fiction.
Anyway, with just six episodes running for only around 24 minutes each, the series managed to be very impactful and may I say extremely compelling, considering that even some of the people who find it "problematic"/"toxic" and don't like it still felt the need to finish the entire series and spend their precious time writing rants about how much they dislike it afterwards (unlike me who just drops a drama and move on to the next one once I start to feel that it's not my cup of tea). I guess that's one of the strong points of this drama - each episode just kept getting better and better, evoking different emotions, that I found myself re-watching the latest episode before the next one aired whenever I had the chance (and I've now lost count of how many times I watched the last episode). I think another factor why this appealed so much to me is because of the director (Sakai Mai) who is a lady currently 30 years of age, I believe she knows exactly what the audience within the same generation (specifically fangirls like me lol) wants to see.
Also biggest kudos to Hagiwara Riku and Yagi Yusei, watching them has been such a delight, they look very natural and just very well-fitted for their roles. Their chemistry is also palpable, whether oncam or offcam. This could have easily ended up as a disaster had they picked the wrong actors. Riku as Hira is phenomenal, he has that "dead eyes" look on point, but I'm especially surprised by Yusei when I learned that this is his first acting role, he has definitely done a better job compared to other actors I've been seeing in a lot of dramas all these years. That scene in the last episode wherein he was screaming at Hira was specifically very painful to watch.
Long story short, if you're looking for a classic Japanese angsty romance BL story done artistically and acted wonderfully, then this might be for you. But if you're someone who prefer a cute, fluffy, feel-good, and "healthy" story with cheerful and nice characters, you may need to look for something else.
Also just a note that looking (via Google Translate mostly haha) at the reaction of the Japanese viewers who are the ACTUAL target audience of this drama, majority of them seem to like the drama (it's currently #1 in Amazon TV drama DVD selling ranking) and I have yet to see them writing long essays about how "problematic" or "toxic" this is so I guess generally the issue is not within the drama itself but is with how some people perceive it.
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