This show is literally looked down upon for the dumbest reasons. I'd been planning to not watch it until it finished airing but I saw an edit of Kiyoi and Hira on YouTube and I couldn't help myself. I'm currently obsessing over this show and I am sooo excited for episodes 6 (though I'm sad it's ending.) But my main point is that several people have told me this drama is "toxic" or it "portrays a toxic relationship" and I have two things to say to that. #1: No, this drama is not toxic. No one should go as far as calling this drama toxic to begin with, but especially after watching episode 5, I can't believe some people still don't like Kiyoi. We learned so much about him, his feelings, and his past. He very clearly feels unwanted by everyone except Hira and has never loved before, which results in confusion, denial, and lashing out due to not understanding the strong and new feelings he has towards Hira. Honestly, the portrayal of Kiyoi is very well done, his character has a lot of depth and I'm fully able to empathize with him. #2: This drama isn't supposed to be cute and fluffy. They creators had no intention of this being about a light-hearted, easy to watch, simple relationship. It's no secret that the relationship between Hira and Kiyoi is not actively healthy and quite confusing, but it isn't unhealthy or toxic. It's just a really complicated relationship between two growing, learning men who make mistakes and have issues of their own. This drama is meant to be hard to watch at points, confusing, and sad sometimes. I like that Utsukashii Kare focuses on a realistic relationship between two damaged people because we don't get that often.
#1: No, this drama is not toxic. No one should go as far as calling this drama toxic to begin with, but especially after watching episode 5, I can't believe some people still don't like Kiyoi. We learned so much about him, his feelings, and his past. He very clearly feels unwanted by everyone except Hira and has never loved before, which results in confusion, denial, and lashing out due to not understanding the strong and new feelings he has towards Hira. Honestly, the portrayal of Kiyoi is very well done, his character has a lot of depth and I'm fully able to empathize with him.
#2: This drama isn't supposed to be cute and fluffy. They creators had no intention of this being about a light-hearted, easy to watch, simple relationship. It's no secret that the relationship between Hira and Kiyoi is not actively healthy and quite confusing, but it isn't unhealthy or toxic. It's just a really complicated relationship between two growing, learning men who make mistakes and have issues of their own. This drama is meant to be hard to watch at points, confusing, and sad sometimes. I like that Utsukashii Kare focuses on a realistic relationship between two damaged people because we don't get that often.