Aira

As he should be, as intended by the source material's author 😂

For those who missed the awarding ceremony attended by Yusei and Riku, there are some video digests posted by some news outlets here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agkw8HqSzRg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TZ1FFCYq8Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmGEwgDcajY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dENp9nWc8tg

They're so precious!!! 🥺 Again, I'm so happy that the main target audience (Japanese viewers) understood the story just fine and appreciated the drama and actors a lot. It makes me realize again that it doesn't really matter if some overseas viewers find the drama "bad" because Japan thinks otherwise lol.

Exactly!! 🥺 He can express such complex emotions really well, I hope we get to see him in a psycho role soon!!

I really need Riku to play a role of a psycho killer already. orz (I mean he already nailed all those roles that needed him to be stalkerish and a little strange so I guess it's about time for him to level up??)

Agree, I'm glad the Japanese audience (the actual target audience) understood the drama just fine (as well as the Chinese audience who contributed a lot to the drama's popularity) because it's their response to the drama that actually matters and since good feedback was received from a lot of them, we could have a movie sequel. 🥺 (Fortunately I think the officials don't read shallow feedback from other countries lol)

Exactly!! I thought the drama did a great job establishing Hira as an unreliable narrator with the first bike scene (when Hira said Kiyoi must be annoyed but Kiyoi was actually smiling) because that was too "in your face" already but apparently some people still missed it and continued to rely on Hira's narration?? 😂

If there's one thing I can change in the drama, it would be the way Hira always dramatically falls to the ground whenever Kiyoi pushes him lol. I mean, he usually stops Kiyoi from leaving so it's kinda understandable that Kiyoi would push him away if he really intends to get away from Hira (except for that time he kissed him and panicked and ended up pushing him away) but the way Hira would always fall to the ground dramatically (instead of just disengaging himself from Kiyoi and still manage to keep on standing up after being pushed) is so impactful that some viewers just see it as Kiyoi being mean/violent instead of Kiyoi trying to get away from Hira because of his confused feelings (although if Yusei pushes me I'll probably fly to another planet so....).

Ah I see! I also didn't think Ohtani was a bad guy because they already did that in the last season lol! So I kinda felt bad for him when Ichika was doubting him already. I also don't want to think Sosuke is a villain, but they're still not explaining all those intense looks he was exchanging with Chikumagawa the first few episodes!! XD

I agree! I was also surprised that it had an SP after season 1 and now a season 2. 😂 I guess it's gonna be tricky to have season3 because it's just gonna be so repetitive lol

Oooh I also like that scene! Sosuke was so cute there with his puppy eyes, so different from his usual intense glare 🥺 I also like the part later on when he gave Ichika's beer and he was surprised when he saw the drawing on her face, his surprised expression was so adorable and it also seemed like he was trying not to laugh 😂 Also my new favorite in ep6, when he was looking at Ichika after he saved her and suddenly Hashida came between them, I think that's the most kyunkyun part for me so far lol

I thought Ohtani was already cleared of suspicions, but since I've been watching without subs, I might be mistaken about some things. XD I think if they want to do more seasons and change the supporting cast each time, they'll avoid Ichika ending up with anyone. 👀 But if not, I also hope she'll end up with Sosuke. 🤭

I also love how Riku shows subtle emotions and his dead eyes are on point haha! Also the directors keep on showing a lot of his close-up shots and nice angles so I really can't help but be invested in Sosuke. XD

I didn't intend to get invested in the love triangle too (mostly just watching it for Riku) but ep5 made me feel a bit bad for Ohtani, then ep6 really had a lot of kyun-kyun moments between Sosuke and Ichika that now I'm kind of interested who she'll really like lol. I don't think Ichika will end up with anyone though just like in season 1... 🥺
But yeah, this role really fits Riku, the directors are doing a great job making him look really cool but at the same time mysterious and eccentric.

OMG same here! I was already a fan of KieKoi manga before its drama came out so when it was airing I was really following it religiously, I only decided to watch UtsuKare casually when I got bored one day lol, and didn't imagine I'll be completely obsessed with it by ep4 (now even I have the visual book and BD box orz) 🤦
They're both great works for their respective genre but yeah, I got way too obsessed with UtsuKare even after the last episode ended.

Based on my observation, it's mostly because of people who didn't even finish watching the drama (mostly dropped it after ep1 or ep2) but rated it 1. I mean, if you don't like it or if it's triggering for you, the best option is to drop it of course, but I think giving a very low rating without seeing the entirety of story/drama is kind of unfair. Not all stories would start out happy, bright , positive, or perfect (especially this story since it falls under psychological genre too). Of course , if you watched the whole story (or at least half of the story) but still didn't find it likeable then it's fine to give a low rating, but for me, if I dropped a drama after only watching 1-2 episodes, I don't really leave a rating. Anyway, it seems every other site has higher rating for this (at least the sites not filled with Western viewers) so MDL is an outlier lol.

so blessed. so moved. so grateful. cant believe this is my life. never going to take it for granted. always going to give back. thank you

...NO but seriously, I'm happy we're getting a sequel immediately even though it's a movie version, I'm so excited to see new HiraKiyo content aaaahhhhh

Have just finished watching ep3 and I noticed that in the previous episode (ep2) review, it showed Fujita talking on the phone with the girl pretending to look for the Topokku guy and the latter was saying that she's looking for him because he helped her and she wanted to thank him. I don't remember watching that in episode 2 at all, did I just miss it??? :O Because that would make more sense than Fujita actually casually "selling out" Nanba. I was also "????" that ep2 seems to not make it a big deal that Fujita was getting Nanba into trouble.

I think you can try "Given". It's not really similar in terms of story but the tone is kinda same (not too comedic and there's just the right amount of angst).

Oh! Thank you very much for checking out the list, hope you enjoy these Renn dramas! <3 Also noticed that your icon is UtsuKare, I'm also a big fan~! It has been around 5 months since the drama ended but I'm still addicted to it. XD

I think first season is being subbed at the moment (if I'm not mistaken, until ep6 is subbed) so let's hope season 2 will be picked up as well~! Although just a heads up that it's not your usual detective/investigative jdrama since it's comedy haha! Most of the characters are loud in a crazy way lol

Same here! When I finished the first season, I also didn't think it's gonna have a sequel (it seems there was even an SP back in 2019 which I haven't watched yet), didn't realize it was that well-received(?). But it's a fun drama so I also hope all episodes as well as this sequel will all get subbed someday. <3

Not really sure if nendoroids are popular for live-action dramas but they did have acrylic figures (and in relation to this, they don't have official plushies unfortunately, these are the only official goods so far: https://www.mbs.jp/utsukushiikare/goods.shtml). 😆

Waah I hope it gets to you much earlier than expected!!

And yes, that's true based on what I've observed! And in addition to what Ginger Ale said, Korean fans are also very active, I even see a lot of them making Riku contents lol. 😆 I think majority understood the point of the drama or most of them just choose to keep quiet if they have nothing nice to say instead of being toxic and spreading hatred/distasteful words about a drama. 😌