Utsukushii Kare’s final ep was SO GOOD
I gotta go drink or something.
Talk about sticking a goddamn landing.
what? I mean to say, WHAT.
(and now I gotta fix all my best of 2021 lists)
please consider this my official review of this series for now
can’t type, Utsukushii Kare slayed me
Alright fine, I started breathing again…
Here’s your actual proper civilized review:
Utsukushii Kare AKA My Beautiful Man (Nov-Dec 2021 - Japan), rating? 9/10
Foundational Romance Tropes: whipping boy, spoiled prince, obsessive crush
I love a sympathetic main character and Japan delivers introvert well (emo is their brand, after all). I got a bit of a Silhouette of Your Voice feel from Hira, although the premise of this show was completely different. This is a pretty classic whipping boy trope (it’s been a while my old friend).
Our POV is that weird kid who takes photos and thinks he wants to be invisible but actually just wants to be seen by one person (and belong to him). The beautiful boy who starts bossing him around is protective out the gate, having decided that this weirdo is HIS weirdo, no one ELSE can boss him around. This execution of whipping boy was a whole lot gentler than I expected, but it did pivot into attack dog half way through and I LOVED that. One of the things I like about Japanese BL is that it’s not afraid of darkness, but more emo dark than Taiwan (if you I know what I mean?) Especially with their high school stuff.
Utsukushii Kare was harsh as all get up, angry with us and itself, reminding us of old tropes and archetypes long forgotten.
This is what a real entirely unreasonable tsundere looks like.
This is what a real weirdly obsessed stalker seme looks like.
This depicts the collateral that any relationship involving these archetypes causes to everyone around them.
It was exactly as weird and as messed-up as any origin manga and it was great to watch a no holds barred authentic Japanese yaoi adaptation once again. Sure this was an angsty af warped little BL, but it was entirely true to itself with no attempt made to modify its POV for modern sensibilities or international audiences. It was like seeing street fashion or modern art, no pandering, and I fucking loved it for that and for Japan (it’s one of the things Japanese cinema is best at, staying true to itself).
Clearly I have A LOT to say about this series.
Look, up until the last episode this was a solid 8/10, right there with Japan’s other 2021 offerings… and then the final ep BLEW MY MIND. I actually kinda lost it. I did not understand how they could possibly end this series well, I half expected tragedy, but this BL turned into a life lesson in how to stick a goddamn landing. They went with Hira who just wants to be seen and Kiyoi wanting to be touched, and therefore K desires - both literally and figuratively - to be tumbled off the pedestal H has placed him on. We are lead to think it’s K who will have to change and grow, when in fact it’s H who has to realize his own worthiness and that his responsibility as a lover is, in part, realizing the other’s needs and elevating his belief in himself in order to meet them.
There’s a grounding to this weird little BL around ideas of communication (including private couple languages) and consent and connection. It’s tackling positive ideas of sexuality meets dirtiness. There’s a reason K keeps calling H disgusting as a love language. It’s because the narrative is going up against the idea that wanting, and kinkiness, and non-standard (perceived unnatural) desires are somehow less worthy or less important than other forms of love. And yeah, is that also an allegory for accepting gayness? Of course it is. (There’s a lot of reasons why there’s a strong core alliance, going back generations, between kink and queer advocacy, but that’s a different blog.)
Japan, why you gotta do us all so fantastically dirty like this?
I tend to put all my eggs in the endings basket, as a result, episode 6 alone bumped the whole thing up 9/10. I may not rewatch all of Utsukushii Kare but I have already rewatched the final ep 3x. So, yeah.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, JUST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
prguitarman
jacobvanloon
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