This review may contain spoilers
Ikemen Overload: Koseki Yuta is Freaking HOT!
I remember this guy from Calm Seas and Beautiful Days with you.. He was a sight for sore eyes- not only handsome but ever so charming. To me he overshadowed the main leads and I wanted to see more of him.. so luckily this series popped up.
Is the guy a sociopath to be so charming? Normally men that hot are players and toss multiple women around instead of obsessing over one. For one such man to obsess over one woman in this world means he has mental problems? How sad. Also, when someone obsesses over a person and stalks them, it’s usually because they cannot get close to them - the unavailability makes the mind go crazier- more like an early childhood parental abandonment wound. But Nishina coming close to the Fujiko San and developing a friendly neighborly relationship usually should mean this obsessive feelings go down because reality has a sobering effect- usually obsession is based on a fantasy and distance that builds as a result of not having a close relationship to that person despite the desire. But this series shows Nishina obsessing a lot even after interacting everyday with her which is rather strange. Stalking results from control issues- the person doesn’t see their object of desire in a loving way of wanting their freedom and happiness through free will, but rather wants to possess the person like an object. It’s sad. Even though Nishina is developing a good relationship with his person of desire, he still can’t let go of his secret craziness and obsession- his public person is truly sweet, but his private expressions are straight up weird.
And dude.. clean up your apartment of all the crazy photos and video monitoring equipment when you have a snoopy brother or snoopy everyone who wants to blow your cover. Why would you have all those pictures of your neighbor on the wall when they can come in any moment and it can destroy your entire relationship? If he had kept that mess on lock then no one would even know his intentions. Seriously though, if Nishima had gotten rid of all his stalking evidence and made his apartment like a normal home, then he could have had an actual serious relationship with the person he obsesses about 24/7. Why did he have to blow it by having all these pictures of Fujiko San on his wall and her popsicle sticks, strands of hair and other weird stuff? She actually liked him, and they kissed. If he had at least created the facade of being normal they could have had an actual relationship. It’s kind of annoying to watch Nishina ruin his own chances with his own weird obsession. Why obsess over photographs when you have the actual person in front of you? Even when she’s there he’s taking her pictures like a stalker or fan- like dude she’s right there throwing herself at you, why don’t you enjoy her company instead of taking sneaky pictures like a weirdo?! What is up with this dude. I want to shake Nishina and say, “She’s already in love with you, man. What the heck is your problem?”... It’s like seeking an image of the person when they’re right in front of you.
Most stalkers never get so “lucky” where the woman they’re stalking is actively in love with them. Usually the person wants nothing to do with them. But this stalker has to be the stupidest (and hottest) one that ever lived. He dug his own grave. Wait, why am I giving advice to the stalker?
Who knows but my goodness Nishina is so handsome. My rating has inflated just for his good looks and charm. Ikaemen is a real phenomenon. But seriously where are all these incredibly hot anime looking Japanese men hiding?
But what if he wasn’t young, rich, successful, and so hot? What is if he was ugly, fat, sweaty, bald, and middle aged? The stalking is still a symptom of a serious mental illness.
Speaking of stalking, isn’t most of romance a milder form of stalking? Like Fujiko san’s coworker, or the sexual harassment guy, or the many other problematic male employees. Of course Nishina is over the top but society considers a milder form of stalking to be acceptable. When the romance copilot thinks of each other and stalks them in different ways, wondering if each other is thinking about them etc. Isn’t it all the same thing? There is an obsessive element in romance too… the same possessiveness, jealousy, controlling aspect.
A really stupid dialogue in Episode 10 between Fujiko’s junior female colleague who’s aggressively obsessed with romance/sidekick and Sakamoto San, a male colleague: “You like Fujiko san don’t you?”
Sakamoto San: “it feels wrong …like I’m taking advantage of her when she’s weak”
Junior female sidekick: “huh?! Isn’t that love? Are you OK as you are? Honestly, she doesn’t see you as a man at all, Sakamoto.” - this line exposes this weird double standard where men are supposed to stalk a bit otherwise they won’t be seen as a man, but not too much otherwise they’ll be called a stalker and sent to the police. This female colleague is so annoying- she’s the one pairing people together, and then she tells Nishina she’s calling the police on him. She’s so annoying and just wants drama.
Episode 8: But why does Nishina like Fujiko so much? She’s a regular random woman and he acts like he’s never seen a female before in his life. Why is he in love with her? His back story seems to start with her- “I met her 4 years ago”- it’s as if he decided to take up stalking as a hobby and found a random female to latch onto. He’s so good looking and successful- surely he would have been approached by many women already. But why this one like she was chosen by random? It makes no sense! (More on that below)
Despite the fact that Nishina San is off his rocker, there is something innocent I see in him- like a child. It must be the actor- he’s so good. Even though his role is odd and doesn’t make sense even for a stalker (getting into a relationship with the object of desire and continuing to stalk as if he’s a distant fan), I don’t sense any pretense in the actor- it’s like he’s totally earnest in this role and it somehow makes it feel real.
Why does Fujiko San have like 3-4 men after her one after the other? It’s an interesting juxtaposition where the pursuit of romance by men is all stalkerish in some sense.
I wonder why doesn’t the series explore more of Fujiko San’s mixed feelings for Nishina San? They just make her scared of Nishina after she sees his photo shrine and then that’s it. She was in love with Nishina- why don’t they explore more of the complexity of her emotions rather than pretending she’s perfectly fine after he’s gone? Like come on man why not listen to what he has to say? And get a proper backstory from the guy like why he started this mess in the first place. Because his episode 8 backstory was nonsense where he acts like an alien that came to planet earth and decided to stalk the first female he laid eyes upon.
Ok he later explains how she talked him off a ledge when he was about to end it all. But somehow magically she doesn’t remember him at all? After seeing his face up close and hearing his voice? Would you not remember such a person in such an intense situation even if it was 4 years ago?
Then Fujiko San’s brother says something interesting, that even though Nishina San had a wall full of her photos and it was kind of creepy, it’s not like he did anything to harm her, quite the opposite actually. He was protecting her. At least so he thought until he scared her away. Now if you want to see a real stalker, the weird chubby dude who stalks her in the beginning is quite the creep. Nishina San wasn’t a harmful type- he even honestly admitted his stalking to her younger brother, but he did get carried away. It’s.. a stalker with a heart of gold? Or am I just falling for his incredibly good looks once again?
But Nishina San says something incredibly wise in the end: “I think I avoided facing myself by leaning on Fujiko.”
I started getting annoyed at Fujiko San in the end- Nishina San when takes a knife for her- gives a dying lecture stalker to stalker… I somehow wanted her to accept his feelings. I felt his pain more- the pain of avoiding myself by obsessing over another. Even though I have been in her position before, I found myself empathizing with him more.
As per Nishina San’s dad, he was always too kind since he was a kid, lacking in assertiveness. It seems he was always putting others before himself, and looking for a reaction in them- the people pleasing trauma wound from trying to please the overbearing perfectionist parent. Then as his old self died that day, it seems he took on a new unavailable “parent” in protecting/stalking Fujiko San, and lost himself again. Interestingly he was on the same wavelength as Fujiko San who was also lacking in assertiveness and pleasing the people around her, as if she had no will of her own, and no control over her own life. One has to live for themselves and not sacrificing their own will for others.
Even despite their love for each other in the end (who does Fujiko San love exactly- the people pleasing stalker version of Nishina?), Nishina San realizes he can’t keep living like that anymore and needs to build himself up in a new way and face himself and face things head on. He ends up being a former stalker with a heart of gold. He goes on to do great things building his company in developing countries, and stands on his own two feet. I believe the initial suicide attempt and subsequent stalking was a distraction for him to not face the pressures of his high profile life as an heir to his father’s company. Then he faced himself… wow this story ended up being a lot deeper than I had originally thought. My rating is going up. Omgggg I just can’t with this Nishina character I keep falling more deeply for him in each scene…
The last scene is everything- I was wishing for Nishina San to come back and have a picnic with Fujiko San once again. I cried tears of joy. Yokattaaaaa!!
P.s: is it just me or does Yabuki Nako (the actress who plays the romance obsessed junior coworker) look almost exactly like Haruka Fukuhara (Secret Mekover)?
Is the guy a sociopath to be so charming? Normally men that hot are players and toss multiple women around instead of obsessing over one. For one such man to obsess over one woman in this world means he has mental problems? How sad. Also, when someone obsesses over a person and stalks them, it’s usually because they cannot get close to them - the unavailability makes the mind go crazier- more like an early childhood parental abandonment wound. But Nishina coming close to the Fujiko San and developing a friendly neighborly relationship usually should mean this obsessive feelings go down because reality has a sobering effect- usually obsession is based on a fantasy and distance that builds as a result of not having a close relationship to that person despite the desire. But this series shows Nishina obsessing a lot even after interacting everyday with her which is rather strange. Stalking results from control issues- the person doesn’t see their object of desire in a loving way of wanting their freedom and happiness through free will, but rather wants to possess the person like an object. It’s sad. Even though Nishina is developing a good relationship with his person of desire, he still can’t let go of his secret craziness and obsession- his public person is truly sweet, but his private expressions are straight up weird.
And dude.. clean up your apartment of all the crazy photos and video monitoring equipment when you have a snoopy brother or snoopy everyone who wants to blow your cover. Why would you have all those pictures of your neighbor on the wall when they can come in any moment and it can destroy your entire relationship? If he had kept that mess on lock then no one would even know his intentions. Seriously though, if Nishima had gotten rid of all his stalking evidence and made his apartment like a normal home, then he could have had an actual serious relationship with the person he obsesses about 24/7. Why did he have to blow it by having all these pictures of Fujiko San on his wall and her popsicle sticks, strands of hair and other weird stuff? She actually liked him, and they kissed. If he had at least created the facade of being normal they could have had an actual relationship. It’s kind of annoying to watch Nishina ruin his own chances with his own weird obsession. Why obsess over photographs when you have the actual person in front of you? Even when she’s there he’s taking her pictures like a stalker or fan- like dude she’s right there throwing herself at you, why don’t you enjoy her company instead of taking sneaky pictures like a weirdo?! What is up with this dude. I want to shake Nishina and say, “She’s already in love with you, man. What the heck is your problem?”... It’s like seeking an image of the person when they’re right in front of you.
Most stalkers never get so “lucky” where the woman they’re stalking is actively in love with them. Usually the person wants nothing to do with them. But this stalker has to be the stupidest (and hottest) one that ever lived. He dug his own grave. Wait, why am I giving advice to the stalker?
Who knows but my goodness Nishina is so handsome. My rating has inflated just for his good looks and charm. Ikaemen is a real phenomenon. But seriously where are all these incredibly hot anime looking Japanese men hiding?
But what if he wasn’t young, rich, successful, and so hot? What is if he was ugly, fat, sweaty, bald, and middle aged? The stalking is still a symptom of a serious mental illness.
Speaking of stalking, isn’t most of romance a milder form of stalking? Like Fujiko san’s coworker, or the sexual harassment guy, or the many other problematic male employees. Of course Nishina is over the top but society considers a milder form of stalking to be acceptable. When the romance copilot thinks of each other and stalks them in different ways, wondering if each other is thinking about them etc. Isn’t it all the same thing? There is an obsessive element in romance too… the same possessiveness, jealousy, controlling aspect.
A really stupid dialogue in Episode 10 between Fujiko’s junior female colleague who’s aggressively obsessed with romance/sidekick and Sakamoto San, a male colleague: “You like Fujiko san don’t you?”
Sakamoto San: “it feels wrong …like I’m taking advantage of her when she’s weak”
Junior female sidekick: “huh?! Isn’t that love? Are you OK as you are? Honestly, she doesn’t see you as a man at all, Sakamoto.” - this line exposes this weird double standard where men are supposed to stalk a bit otherwise they won’t be seen as a man, but not too much otherwise they’ll be called a stalker and sent to the police. This female colleague is so annoying- she’s the one pairing people together, and then she tells Nishina she’s calling the police on him. She’s so annoying and just wants drama.
Episode 8: But why does Nishina like Fujiko so much? She’s a regular random woman and he acts like he’s never seen a female before in his life. Why is he in love with her? His back story seems to start with her- “I met her 4 years ago”- it’s as if he decided to take up stalking as a hobby and found a random female to latch onto. He’s so good looking and successful- surely he would have been approached by many women already. But why this one like she was chosen by random? It makes no sense! (More on that below)
Despite the fact that Nishina San is off his rocker, there is something innocent I see in him- like a child. It must be the actor- he’s so good. Even though his role is odd and doesn’t make sense even for a stalker (getting into a relationship with the object of desire and continuing to stalk as if he’s a distant fan), I don’t sense any pretense in the actor- it’s like he’s totally earnest in this role and it somehow makes it feel real.
Why does Fujiko San have like 3-4 men after her one after the other? It’s an interesting juxtaposition where the pursuit of romance by men is all stalkerish in some sense.
I wonder why doesn’t the series explore more of Fujiko San’s mixed feelings for Nishina San? They just make her scared of Nishina after she sees his photo shrine and then that’s it. She was in love with Nishina- why don’t they explore more of the complexity of her emotions rather than pretending she’s perfectly fine after he’s gone? Like come on man why not listen to what he has to say? And get a proper backstory from the guy like why he started this mess in the first place. Because his episode 8 backstory was nonsense where he acts like an alien that came to planet earth and decided to stalk the first female he laid eyes upon.
Ok he later explains how she talked him off a ledge when he was about to end it all. But somehow magically she doesn’t remember him at all? After seeing his face up close and hearing his voice? Would you not remember such a person in such an intense situation even if it was 4 years ago?
Then Fujiko San’s brother says something interesting, that even though Nishina San had a wall full of her photos and it was kind of creepy, it’s not like he did anything to harm her, quite the opposite actually. He was protecting her. At least so he thought until he scared her away. Now if you want to see a real stalker, the weird chubby dude who stalks her in the beginning is quite the creep. Nishina San wasn’t a harmful type- he even honestly admitted his stalking to her younger brother, but he did get carried away. It’s.. a stalker with a heart of gold? Or am I just falling for his incredibly good looks once again?
But Nishina San says something incredibly wise in the end: “I think I avoided facing myself by leaning on Fujiko.”
I started getting annoyed at Fujiko San in the end- Nishina San when takes a knife for her- gives a dying lecture stalker to stalker… I somehow wanted her to accept his feelings. I felt his pain more- the pain of avoiding myself by obsessing over another. Even though I have been in her position before, I found myself empathizing with him more.
As per Nishina San’s dad, he was always too kind since he was a kid, lacking in assertiveness. It seems he was always putting others before himself, and looking for a reaction in them- the people pleasing trauma wound from trying to please the overbearing perfectionist parent. Then as his old self died that day, it seems he took on a new unavailable “parent” in protecting/stalking Fujiko San, and lost himself again. Interestingly he was on the same wavelength as Fujiko San who was also lacking in assertiveness and pleasing the people around her, as if she had no will of her own, and no control over her own life. One has to live for themselves and not sacrificing their own will for others.
Even despite their love for each other in the end (who does Fujiko San love exactly- the people pleasing stalker version of Nishina?), Nishina San realizes he can’t keep living like that anymore and needs to build himself up in a new way and face himself and face things head on. He ends up being a former stalker with a heart of gold. He goes on to do great things building his company in developing countries, and stands on his own two feet. I believe the initial suicide attempt and subsequent stalking was a distraction for him to not face the pressures of his high profile life as an heir to his father’s company. Then he faced himself… wow this story ended up being a lot deeper than I had originally thought. My rating is going up. Omgggg I just can’t with this Nishina character I keep falling more deeply for him in each scene…
The last scene is everything- I was wishing for Nishina San to come back and have a picnic with Fujiko San once again. I cried tears of joy. Yokattaaaaa!!
P.s: is it just me or does Yabuki Nako (the actress who plays the romance obsessed junior coworker) look almost exactly like Haruka Fukuhara (Secret Mekover)?
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