HiraKiyo Eternal !!!

For disclaimers, I am not a fluent Japanese speaker, but simply someone who understands a level of Japanese to understand the context and translate contents sometimes, so I might have gotten some details slightly wrong. I fell in love with Season 1 first after it aired, and went on to listen to the drama CDs.

The movie essentially focuses on 3 conflicts. One, HiraKiyo has to go apartment hunting after Naho and Tomoya prepare to move back to the house the couple is currently staying in. Two, Hira prepares to graduate from university and enter the adult world. He's chasing after Kiyoi who seems to be walking a step ahead by starting work earlier, and loses his confidence to shoot Kiyoi beautifully after seeing Noguchi's work. Third, Anna and Kiriya's story, which Kiyoi finds himself tied up in. This movie overall, focuses on Hira's growth as a character.

HiraKiyo does feel more like a couple who has dated for a while here, compared to Season 2, from their domestic acts to ways of showing affection. HiraKiyo has learnt from their past in the previous two drama series and have grown a lot in terms of intimacy. Kiyoi is a lot more direct with his affection and doesn't hide behind his tsundere ways, and Hira takes a bit more initiative this time. Hira does still idolise Kiyoi by calling him a "king" and himself a "fan", but the "God" nickname and treatment (in the extreme end at least) has stopped. I do think that compared to the drama seasons, there's nothing people will be able to call "toxic" and in a sense, I think they are turning into a more "normal" couple (or as normal as they can be with HiraKiyo lol) like what Kiyoi wants without Hira's extreme worship and Kiyoi's tsundere manners.

Noguchi was definitely the MVP here. He's the only one apart from Kiyoi who really understands Hira, so he's the only one to truly get through Hira's brain and see through what Hira is trying to deny. It's because of him that Hira can grow as a character. I think most of the important scenes with him were kept so everyone can also feel how important he is when they watch the movie. Also just a note for the Koyama fans who didn't read the original work, he only has two relatively quick scenes.

I absolutely loved how the soundtracks and flashbacks to Season 1 and 2 were used throughout. They're both effective in bringing nostalgia to fans of the drama series, as well as to provide context for those who only watched the movie. The soundtracks, paired with the beautiful cinematography, gives you goosebumps no matter what scene it is. Bitter was also unexpectedly used in the climatic scene, which I think was really smart of the crew, considering how well the lyrics and Hira's emotions there paired together. My favourite soundtrack of the movie would be "Time to Forget Myself" (恍惚の時間), as it's used in a particularly gorgeous and touching scene (both in terms of the movie and behind the camera since Riku is the one holding the camera there) with little words.

Considering how the movie was 103mins long, I think they managed to include all the important scenes from Nikurashii Kare, rearrange the scenes and make everything flow well. Having known the novel plot, I do think there were some scenes I would have liked to see in the movie or preferred the novel version, but watching the movie as it is was amazing nonetheless. I'm also glad they scrapped certain parts from the novel and rewrote it. Something I want to point out though, is that I feel fans of the original work should probably try to judge the movie as a separate entity rather than compare it to the original novel.

The side characters (notably Anna and Shitara) and Kiyoi's own more minor storyline (since the main focus in the book for Hira's) as an actor were definitely more developed in the novel, but having their scenes cut didn't really make anything feel like it was 'lacking' while watching, at least to me. Such scenes would perhaps have added more depth, but I do think, after all, there's only so much you can squeeze into less than 2 hours of a film, compared to a whole novel. So, I would think it's more important to focus on HiraKiyo as a relationship during that limited duration.

In terms of acting, I've always thought Riku and Yusei were impressive as actors but they genuinely outdid themselves here. Their chemistry has always been amazing, for if you know these two outside of Utsukushii Kare at all, you'll know they're extremely close friends as well. Both of their facial expressions just screams HiraKiyo's love for each other while somehow still showing its subtle complexities. Their range of emotions, with Riku showing Hira's devotion, insecurities, possessiveness, etc and Yusei showing Kiyoi's "ore-sama" side, adoration, hurt, etc, is just insane. There have been multiple directors going to watch the movie, so I do hope they take a liking on RikuYuse's chemistry and acting skills, and somehow pair them up again in a vastly different show. I would love to see them co-star again, as the two have also mentioned wanting as well.

Of course, the supporting actors were amazing too. I especially wanted to point out Nimura Sawa and Ochiai Motoki's facial expressions and the way they delivered their lines. I can't point out which scenes in particular made me feel this in particular without giving out major spoilers, but they were absolutely great. The entire casting was perfect. I wouldn't be able to imagine anyone else in the current roles they're playing.

The movie, like what I believe many Utsukare fans feel for Season 1 and Season 2, is very rewatchable. Heck, if a fan can go to the cinema and watch the movie 53 times within 2 weeks of the movie showing, I don't see how it's not rewatchable. The staff put in so much thought into each design, be it regarding the set, costume or story (e.g. https://bit.ly/3qMBLeT), and the actors outdid themselves in playing their characters as well as they did. There's just so many little details to catch, from both the background in each scene, to the acting and story.

My bit of criticism though (even though it didn't really affect my experience with the movie), is that I wish that they could have shown how they resolved the conflict better. To me, it just felt like after the incident with Shitara, everything was just resolved? I didn't expect the Hira's confidence issue to necessarily be fixed, since that is who he is, but it did feel like a spur of the moment thing, both when he promised to stay by Kiyoi's side because of the impact of the incident on HiraKiyo, and when he took Kiyoi's pictures. I guess they could have talked it out after Hira returned home like they had planned to before Shitara happened, but it's never shown so it's kind of left as a '?' for me. I don't really remember whether the self-confidence part was in the novel, so this could either be me criticising the novel and the movie adapting it as it is, or the movie itself.

Still, it's also because of this that I want to see more from Utsukare. The movie ending was good, but there's still slightly more content I want to see, notably Kiyoi releasing a photobook with Hira's name on it beside his as his photographer, and Kiyoi's growth as an actor. I don't really expect a new drama series season (despite how welcome that would be) nor having Nayamashii Kare adapted as well (which would be especially hard to adapt knowing the main plot), but a drama special would be nice...

What I can conclude though is, if you love HiraKiyo solely because they are HiraKiyo, you'd absolutely love the movie. Or even if you don't know HiraKiyo at all, this will be a lovely story to witness of two people who are so different, but somehow love and understand each other better than anyone else and will always return to each other.

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Who knew sexualities could be likened to old men's underwear?

I have to be honest, I started this show entirely because I knew Sota was playing a gay character, and the moment I found out he had a love interest, I picked the manga up right away. The manga impressed me so much already, I started to all the more look forward to the drama, and least to say, it didn't let me down.

The drama centers around Makoto-san, who's your usual old-fashioned old man. To add on to the synopsis, he's nearly ostracised by his family for always looking down on the things they enjoy and noticeably disliked by his subordinates due to that old-fashioned mindset of his. Nonetheless, it can't be more obvious that he's actually a really good father and tries his best for his family, so you can't help but root for him.

Rather than comedy, this drama focuses largely on the life aspect. It talks about gender stereotypes, the troubles older fans of idol groups have, the contemplation of whether your hobbies can translate to your career and more. Most notably since I tend to watch a lot of queer-centric shows, the issue I enjoyed watching get covered the most, was the difficulties in coming out and the horror of outing. Each issue is touched on in such depth, but in a way that makes it relatable that I believe if there's anyone like Makoto watching, it might get them to reflect and change their mindset, even if it's just by a little.

I like the realism in the character growth too. While Makoto does change his ways, he does make mistakes that he doesn't realise could hurt others around him until it's too late, and learns from it. Personally, I do see my own father in Makoto as a character, and myself in Mika, Moe and Kakeru in different parts, so I can understand some of their own actions, which makes the development from their cautiousness around Makoto and how they slowly open up all the more impactful and realistic to me. The writing's just so good, with how each character is "updated" each episode, slowly and surely, to the point you see the Okita family heal. It's simply satisfying seeing the characters and relationships develop, to the point where the characters that were updated by Daichi, end up updating others around them too.

Acting-wise, it's shockingly good. The ML, Harada Taizo, is mainly a comedian so I wasn't expecting much, but he did a relatively good job playing a character like Makoto, portraying his growth throughout the episode. And while it may be Sota's first regular role in a drama, he actually impressed me. Knowing Sota, Daichi's positivity and friendliness is very alike Sota in reality, so I wasn't shocked to see that, but he even portrayed the little complexities in Daichi's emotions well. Other actors did REALLY well too, but Higashi Keisuke especially impressed me in Episode 8 for the anger, desperation and utter love he possessed in his eyes <3

As for the music, I do think the soundtracks were used in place, especially that ochestra-ish song that plays whenever something impactful happens each episode, mostly when one of the characters is "updated". "Dancing Dreamer" by 4-CaraT as the Ending Theme is so unfairly catchy I was out playing that song all the time the moment it released. And this may be a biased opinion as a fan of the group, but "Update Life" by FANTASTICS (Sota's group) was also a nice addition in the intro! It's a nice sweet balance to the energetic ending song, and the opening sequence is also adorable.

Overall, I think this show is way too underrated and deserves to be widely known and watched by all families around the world. It's an endearing drama that manages to balance itself out well in all aspects. If you're looking for comedy, this may not be it, but it's a heartwarming show to watch, which I'd even suggest watching with your family if possible. By the way, the little 0.5 taken of the rewatch value is simply because I don't think the impact of the character and relationship developments will hit as hard on a rewatch, but still remains VERY rewatchable.

P.S. whoever styled Kakeru every episode deserves a raise and MadoDai (Madoka x Daichi) I love you so much please be happy together forever

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A beautifully imperfect relationship between two complex characters

One of the only few dramas that gets better and better the more you rewatch it due to the complexity of the characters and relationship, which were all well depicted in the details in acting. While slightly controversial, I think that the two main leads' relationship is the most interesting of all that I've seen so far from a BL.

Hira's a foolish character with a huge inferiority complex due to his stutter but can be rather self-absorbed as well, which you wouldn't quite notice until you see the relationship from Kiyoi's perspective since most of it was from the former's perspective. Meanwhile, Kiyoi is selfish and arrogant due to the lack of love he received growing up. And it's only when you see how much effort he actually put into their relationship, that you realise that Kiyoi truly treasures Hira and is more kind than mean inside. The two make up a rather odd couple, but despite all those flaws, it's obvious that they're made for one another.

The acting and cinematography was also superb in this. With each scene depicting exactly how one character feels about the other and some scenes were truly beautiful. Hagiwara Riku did an amazing job at showing Hira's captivation with Kiyoi, and Yagi Yusei did a terrific job at depicting the complexity of Kiyoi's character and emotions, especially so for his first ever actual TV acting job (not counting Mannequin Night Fever).

I just adore how well written and depicted the characters were, and with the little amount of time they had to show this story (6 x 20mins), the story still felt complete. Nonetheless, I do hope that they get to do a Season 2, or even more, since they do have the material to do so for the light novel! And I just hope this drama finally gets the attention it deserves considering the near-perfect performance.

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"I don't know what you look like, I don't know who you are, but I like you."

I'm someone who loves anything to do with transmigration and body swapping tropes, so when I first saw the mock trailer in GMMTV 2022, I was immediately enamored by this show and added it to my PTW list. I first started watching around the period when EP8 aired, thinking that it had already finished airing, and was ready to binge, only to realise too late that I was wrong. However, the show was just so 'my-type', that I couldn't help but immediately watch all episodes and anticipate the next one every week.

Some things I especially loved about Vice Versa were the use of colours, considering Talay's career as a colourist, as well as how the characters were written and their dynamics. With each episode came a new colour, not just for its title, but also for the colour scheme of that episode's scenery and Talay's outfit (his outfits as Tess never failed to slay, honestly). That made Vice Versa all the more visually pleasing and meaningful for me. And with regards to the characters, many of them appealed to me, especially all 4 of the boys in the Friend Credits team. Talay, who's a closed-off but sensitive colourist. Puen, the flirty actor who's lonelier than anyone else. Up, the moodmaker who never fails to make people smile. Aou, serious yet always sweet. It was even better when Kita and Fuse were thrown into the mix, making the six of them all the more powerful as a group who would always be there for one another.

I'd also found myself smiling and even squealing a lot at PuenTalay whenever they had moments on the screen together, and especially alone. And in that sense, I felt that Jimmy and Sea truly brought their characters to life while playing them. You could always really see how much Puen and Talay loved each other, even through their eyes, and I think that's something really powerful especially for JimmySea who are rookie actors. Their chemistry was amazing and I'm really looking forward to their future projects next year!

Music also was an important factor in Vice Versa, especially considering that PuenTalay connected over the songs from their universe in the very beginning of their relationship. I just thought that 'Have I Found' and 'By My Side' were very well used throughout the series, even growing on me even though JimmySea's singing voices aren't... really my favourite (though that goes for a lot of GMMTV OSTs where the actors sing it too). Other than that, I also really loved the use of 'City' by Three Man Down! There can't be a more appropriate song for PuenTalay, and that song always gave me the goosebumps when played in the show.

But then again, there were also many points in the story itself that stood out the wrong way to me. I felt that it lacked proper world building and loses its plot halfway through, although it seems to have found itself back towards the end (which I feel might be a trademark of Jittirain?). What I mean by that is that in the beginning, PuenTalay appear to be finding ways to go back to their own universe, which they do by trying their best to look for their portkey. However, in the middle, it ends up with the two of them simply working on making a successful movie with the rest of the Friend Credits team.

In my opinion, I think the plot would have developed better in the middle had they filled in some plot holes, which would have better answered some questions. Some major ones for me were - how and why the body swap and parallel universe travelling happens, as well as the whole premise of a portkey (it was always pretty vague and didn't exactly match with the way Puen actually got back home).

Vice Versa also lacked in developing the stories of some important side characters, which may have been understandable considering the time constraint had they left out 50% of the product placement (I only forgive the ones for Lays and some of the OK Mama Noodles ones). By the end, I found myself wondering what happened to Pang after the success of Romantic Non-Comedy. Did she find her portkey and go back? We never saw her after that, nor do we see her in PuenTalay's universe, even though she was pretty important to PuenTalay's development as a couple. How Tess and Tun somehow made up in their world was also a little questionable for me, considering how Tess appeared to have been an ass to (not only) Tun for the two years in Talay's body, but I guess I can assume that Talay solving Tess' life issues for him had a part in that.

Overall, I would say that anyone who's debating whether to start the series or not should definitely give it a try despite its flaws, especially if you aren't the kind to nitpick on details. It's a feel-good show with very fluffy moments and a lot of kisses, and I see myself rewatching my favourite scenes, just not Vice Versa in its entirety, often!

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To say the least, this show exceeded my expectations in more ways than just one, in terms of everything from the writing, acting, casting, to even how attached I'd get to the show itself.

What impressed me the most however, was the excellent characterisation of every single character. Each and every single character, including the large variety of guests every episode, had their unique eccentricities that remind you how this show mainly focuses on its comedy aspects, but writes them so well you end up just finding every character endearing. Despite how many new characters are introduced every episode however, it never gets overwhelming but instead adds on to the fun by expanding the world through the eyes of Ayako seeking desperately for a partner.

Also, I love how it touches on more than just Ayako's own marriage hunting story as the story sometimes turns its focus to Ayako as an individual, or another character entirely - such as Rin's story of finding love and Oike's journey with his journey in finding himself. And while this may be a show about a woman seeking a marriage partner, it doesn't push the "women must get married" agenda to you. Instead, it presents the message that people should live for themselves and want they truly want in life, thankfully.

Fukuda Maki, as a comedian, made this show fun to watch with her slapstick comedy and such unique to her main career. However, as an actress, she makes it easy to emphatise with Minami Ayako's fears, anger, hesitations. She's so realistic in a sense it almost hurts as a fellow "average" woman watching. Yamada Kusoo is well and true an asshole, but for reasons that could never make you hate him properly. Yagi Yusei especially, makes Yamada a character you can't help but adore due to his cute mannerisms and honest heart. His variety of facial expressions every week made Yamada truly come alive (yes, ironically).

While I may not consider this a personal favourite of mine (hence the overall rating only being a 9.5 according to my rating system), I definitely found myself attached to show (or at least the characters) to cry so hard to a happy ending in the end. There's simply nothing I can complain about the show, and it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say it was truly perfect, both as a life lesson, or a silly little drama you'd watch to laugh hard about.

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