Aira

Hahaha, totally understand where you're coming from! I mean, I have nothing against Koyama as a character (although I'm lowkey facepalming at people who keep on saying he should have ended up with Hira), but he really does have many unnecessary scenes lol.
Even that scene of him celebrating his birthday at Hira's house was kinda too long for my liking too (I didn't read the novel or listen to the drama CD so I'm not sure if it was really supposed to be like that?). I mean, we get it, Hira has been nice to him too that's why he fell for him, no need to spend too many airtime for that lol.
There was also that bonus video from the "Smash" app wherein Hira was taking care of him when he was sick which was also quite long, but there was a dialogue between them (re: difference between "ja mata na" and "sayonara") which I think would have been better if was included in the main story instead of those other unnecessary moments since it has at least an importance to the plot.
My guess is that the producers/director wanted to introduce his actor further to the audience because he might have other projects with them in the future? If I'm not mistaken, director Mai is directing a play/recitation drama(?) wherein Takano Akira is one of the main actors so maybe they have good working relationship or something (Iruma's actor is also there, btw)? XD;
Saw about it here: https://twitter.com/pocketnichopin/status/1478223869840617472

Anyway, in short, totally agree with you that Koyama scenes shouldn't have been *that* many and airtime should have been spent on more HiraKiyo scenes since they have too many things to discuss between them instead.

Yeah, it's really interesting how a lot of things are different (albeit subtly) when it comes to watching it from Hira's POV and then seeing Kiyoi's PV. I guess that's why the re-watch value is really high! 😄
But I really remember that scene clearly because it was included in a lot of promotional videos before the show aired and while the show was airing, that's why I was thinking it must be a key moment in the drama and was surprised when it ended up just being a part of a flashback. XD
Like here:
https://youtu.be/OwDlppPmHr8?t=17
https://youtu.be/g42vLuBdJoU?t=77
https://youtu.be/zqtu5TZPPVI?t=68
(Sorry, I'm kind of a maniac when it comes to things like this lol)
I guess we can just leave the dialogues to our imagination lol

My two sons (Fumiya and Riku lol) in one movie, I hope it gets released in my country~!

I'm glad that you mentioned that Kiyoi POV flashback scene because I've been always curious about it... it was used in a lot of promotional videos and was even included in one of the still photos in episode 3 summary (https://www.mbs.jp/utsukushiikare/episode.shtml) but we only ever got to see it in episode 5, and just a part of a quick montage of Kiyoi's memories with Hira. I wonder why that was the case? I would have loved to see it as an actual scene with dialogue. XD;
As for the scene of Kiyoi making Hira do his homework, I actually interpret it as Kiyoi not wanting Hira out of his sight since Hira was already supposed to stand up and put his things away after he was done with his own homework. I guess he didn't want to have their peaceful moment interrupted? Or I'm just too crazy haha!

Always refreshing to read a feedback from non-BL fans! :) While I also wish this had more episodes simply because Riku and Yusei have been such a delight to watch, I actually think its length is one of the main reasons for the hype since one can easily binge watch (and re-watch!!) it, and the drama already managed to evoke a lot of emotions from its viewers (at least from me haha!) and succeeded to wrap up the story in a high note in just 6 episodes.
(This is coming from someone who tried to watch a certain BL drama before that is around 1 hour per episode... I got bored/impatient halfway and put it on hold for quite some time. 😅)

But certainly, I'm one of the fans praying for a second season so we can see their relationship and characters develop further. <3

Hagiwara Riku who was supposed to play the role of Aikawa Renji will be replaced by Sugino Yosuke due to poor health conditions (I thought filming for this is already almost done but that doesn't seem to be the case). 😥 I was looking forward to watching this since this was supposed to be Riku's new drama after UtsuKare but I hope he will recover quickly. 🙏

"This was the most hated BL at the end of 2021"

Not in Japan and China though haha! It still ranks very high in Amazon's best seller in TV dramas DVD ranking despite having ended for a few weeks already, and looking at the responses in the drama's official Twitter and IG accounts you'd think it's a Chinese drama because of the overwhelming number of Chinese comments, it's really amusing. 😂

Edit: I checked Amazon JP just now and UtsuKare bluray DVD is still ranked #1 best seller in TV dramas category, amazing. D:

Great! There should be no issue to read the other reviews stating that they dislike the drama and see that you're not the only one then! :)

The visible reviews are the ones that have the most votes for "people found this review helpful" so you need to "view all" in order to see the rest. ;)

That's nice, majority of the people who disliked the show felt bad for Hira and got mad at Kiyoi so your comment was refreshing for me. 😂

No, you're not the only one, there are already a handful of comments and reviews here stating how much they dislike the drama that it has gotten tiring to read already lol. But at least you're one of the few ones who got annoyed at Hira instead of at Kiyoi, that's refreshing to read at least. 😂

Seriously this. I feel as though my life span decreases every time I see someone say Hira should have ended up with Koyama lol. Apparently it's not "problematic" to date someone who you don't like romantically just because they are nice to you? 😅 Also Koyama is a normal person who deserves a normal boyfriend and unfortunately Hira is far from normal.

Yes, read about that too! It seems to be an extra story that both original fans and drama fans can appreciate which is good. <3 Although personally I'm not that hyped about it (I really just want to see Riku and Yusei being beautiful lol) because this is one of the rare cases wherein I'm not too passionate to consume the original material after the drama ended because I think the drama satisfied me too much already hahaha!

Reading how people keep on rewatching the series and can't move on from this makes me feel relieved because I'm starting to get worried about my well-being since I think I've rewatched each episode an unhealthy amount of times already. 🤣 It's nice to know that I'm not alone in this suffering lol.
Although since I preordered the visual book and bluray, I guess I'm still not really allowed to move on until April. 😂

This is based on a conversation between Kiyoi and Hira from episode 3. 😂

This comment reminds me of a comment I read in Twitter the other day.
"Do you like BL?"
"I don't know, but it's not that I like other BL, I don't like GL either. The only one that I think is beautiful is UtsuKare. Only UtsuKare is special."
😂😂😂😂

I believe this site can explain it better: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tsundere

Yeah, agree, I actually just usually roll my eyes at those comments and move on with my life (a.k.a. re-watch each episode haha!).

But I'm sorry I kinda don't get where the direction of our conversation is supposed to go but I'd like you to know that I don't disagree with you. :)

Thanks for your insights! I really do admire people like you who try to enlighten the others because I don't have such patience... so I just mentally roll my eyes when reading comments that entirely missed the point of the drama lol.

And yes, totally agree with you about considering the home country. There are a lot of cultural aspects or nuances that might only make sense or appeal to people from the country of origin so it's not the show's fault if some viewers with different background don't "understand" it, after all their primary target audience are the people in that certain country.

Anyway, I'm just glad that the negative feedback from before (especially when the drama was just starting) is now being overpowered by positive reviews. :) In Japan it's actually doing well and fans still keep on increasing despite the series having ended already (which is actually what matters) so I'm relieved and hopeful for a possible continuation someday soon.

I'm not sure if you use Twitter but in Twitter there used to be several people who watched the drama and kept on saying how "toxic" the story is, how problematic Hira and Kiyoi are and so on. Because of this some people who see such feedback ended up saying they will skip the drama then because they don't want to watch such "toxicity" (I've really seen a lot of this since last month). Unfortunately some people are too lazy to research more about the drama and just believe what some other people say, especially if the feedback is strongly worded. But yeah, like you said, there's nothing we can do about it. I just felt frustrated before because such negative feedback happens to prevent others from actually giving this wonderful drama a try.
Fortunately those people are in the minority now and yes, as we can see, more and more people are giving good feedback to the drama already.