Hikari no Naka

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I see your points and agree that it may become a problem in their relationship in the future. But what relationship will be free of any problem? even the so-called "healthy relationship" (whatever the definition is) will have their own issues too. The most important is how they handle the problem and manage to stay together. I see that people has been obsessed with "healthy relationship", but who are we to judge if a relationship is healthy or not? Relationship comes in many forms, as long as the parties are willing to be in the relationship and both get what they want, for them it is "healthy".

The OP may be a bit too harsh in their comment, but I low key got what they meant. It is understandable that we watch a show with our own perspective and mind, but we also need to keep an open mind especially when watching shows from other countries/cultures. Gun violence is clearly American problem, but then to complain and even called it "lazy", "unacceptable" just because it upset them is what irked other commenters here. It's like telling people not to make any shows that might offend or cause discomfort to Americans. There are lots of things I don't agree when watching American shows but I don't go around leaving harsh comments and telling people that it is unacceptable.
On the positive side, there are also a lot of audience like you who are open-minded and can see the beauty this show has to offer :)

You're right, but I think that's not limited to Japanese fandom but BL fandom in general. From all the BL manga, manhwa and danmei I've read, I haven't seen any pair that actually switches. I think it's because switching means that their relationship dynamics will change too, so fans are very sensitive about it. May not be the correct real-life representation , but that's how it is.

Japan did it again, best J-BL of this year, no doubt. Last year we were blessed with Cherry Magic and this year with Utsukare. Intense story, spot-on acting and satisfactory ending. No boring or unnecessary plot. I didn't expect that Yagi Yusei, who is trained as singer and dancer, is a very talented actor as well. His acting especially in the last 2 eps really nailed it. When Kiyoi smiled in the last scene, I was very happy for him.

Good news - last episode apparently did quite well in Japan. It reached no 2 on TVer (re-run streaming site) and made it to Japan's Twitter trending at #7. The DVD and Blu-ray pre-order sales also made it to best seller in Rakuten and Amazon Japan. All are good indicators, finger crossed, we will get another season or at least a movie just like Cherry Magic.

LOL probably let them read 2ha and see how long they can last XD

I share your frustration. As long-time fujoshi, I saw the recent new generations of BL fans who can't stand less than "healthy" relationship and act like moral police towards BL shows that portray less than perfect relationship. My guess is probably they are younger audience who haven't seen how the real world or relationship could be. If they've read or seen the classic BL/yaoi works like Kaze to Ki no Uta or Ai no Kusabi, they'd probably be vomiting blood. Heck, they even have the audacity to rant about abuse/r*ape/violence in Chinese danmei novels which clearly are set in ancient period. Do they even read all the tags and when/where the story is set?!
The worst thing is that sometimes they draw satisfaction from calling the show toxic/problematic and that people who enjoy it are toxic as well.. smh..

Of course I also love sweet and fluffy stories, but they tend to leave little to none lasting impression and easily forgettable. In my opinion, good story is the one that stimulates the readers emotionally and leaves them thinking more even after the story ends.

It is a normal occurrence in all rating platforms. There will always be people who rate the show high (mostly fans of the show actors/actresses) or rate it low (dislikes the actors/actress or simply doesn't like the show) even only after watching the first or second episodes. The only thing to balance it is to have more passer-by audience who genuinely watch the show and give honest rating.

I think it is more appropriate to compare Utsukare with Cherry Magic, since both of them feature lesser known actors, broadcast late night and not heavily promoted. While KH is essentially JE's project which is already heavily promoted since the beginning.

Compared to Cherry Magic (CM), it's obvious that CM is still much more popular than Utsukare at least from international audience. But Utsukare scored a very impressive rating in Douban (currently 9.1/10) while KH is at 8.7. Utsukare's rating also increased since its first broadcast, which is very rare since usually the rating tends to drop as the story progress and more people watch it. So, it can be said that at least Chinese audience are very happy with the story. But the thing with Chinese audience is that since it can't be broadcast officially in China, there is no official way to gauge its popularity there. But hopefully with its good rating and word-of-mouth, the producer get to know that it is fairly well-accepted.

Well said. That's why I think clear tag/genre is very important, to distinguish BL from LGTBQ shows. I see that in MDL there is no tag for "BL" and everything is lumped into LGBTQ+, which could lead to misperception.

Posting the official announcement:
https://twitter.com/tx_cherimaho/status/1465047848207241231
CM nation rise!!

After one year, our prayer has been answered by Udon-sama T___T

Vlinkage ranking is mostly based on the view counts, Baidu search and social media discussion, so drama with traffic actors/actresses will usually rank high, despite the bad review. So yeah, as long as it still generates view counts and traffic, the producers won't give a damn care about the quality -_-

People in mainland China use Douyin, not Tiktok. Tiktok is international version of Douyin and runs on different system/platform.

LoL I have to agree with you on this. Most of J-historical dramas are the taiga dramas, and they tend to be more realistic and portray the real history rather than fantasy, with the bald/half-shaved samurai and warriors with messy hair and dirty clothes lol. Comparing that with Chinese historical drama with beautiful men with long flowing hair and exquisite costumes, well we can guess which one is more popular ^^

It is still unlicensed in Viki, so it's not available yet but hopefully soon.
You can watch it from the fansub sites and at the same time support the teams that have worked hard to provide the subs. Here is the complete list of the subber teams: https://mydramalist.com/discussions/kieta-hatsukoi/66801-fansubs-for-kieta-hatsukoi-support-fanmade-translations
Sites like dramacool and kissasian stole the subs from those subbers and make profit from it.

What Did You Eat Yesterday is a really good one, but I'd say it's closer to LGBT+ rather than BL. It's an easy, heartwarming slice of life drama, with the characters even older than Cherry Magic, I think they are in their late 30s in the manga/drama. Do give it a try, but don't watch it when you're hungry lol.

When it comes to BL dramas, Japan has quite diverse stories (Cherry Magic, Life on the Line, Cornered Mouse Dream of Cheese) as compared to Thai BLs. Korea is also catching up in that aspect. I have grown out of the school/university story setting, but KieKoi is excellent in their execution, it is an exception for me.
I agree with you that Japan rarely has dog-blood plot or character who is mean for the sake of being mean, unlike a lot of C-drama which is full of them >_<

Otsukare, subber-sama ^^