#utsukare rewatch

[kristsingto]

when hira first lays eyes on kiyoi and is completely mesmerized in a way he never thought possible,

kiyoi looks back at him.

and he's watching him, even when hira isn't.

he was always just as in love with hira, just as immediately intrigued by him. because they were the two loneliest people in the classroom, the two who could now never stop looking at each other.

hira just didn't see it.

[emotionallychargedtowel]

BL & tokusatsu meta master post

(featuring more Utsukare posts than you can shake a stick at)

Posts covering multiple shows

Fungibility in Zettai BL and Zenkaiger - Applying Martha Nussbaum's typology of objectification, specifically the "fungiblity" type, to Zettai BL 3 and Zenkaiger

The pursuer-distancer dyad & how it applies to the world of BL - a primer on this psychological concept and how it applies to BL generally, touching on how it applies to Utsukushii Kare, Semantic Error, and To My Star 2

BL ask game: Long-term pining and grumpy/sunshine

My top 5 rewatched BL scenes, responding to an ask by @wen-kexing-apologist (shockingly, it's mostly Utsukare)

Kamen Rider Gavv

Reblogging @nctzenkane via @fadedsaturated to note the parallels between Shouma Stomach and Stacey from Zenkaiger

Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger

Kaito x Stacey: Being seen authentically & the value of consent - A look at some of the factors that make the Kaito/Stacey ship on Zenkaiger so compelling

He-who-gets-thrown-out-like-garbage - About a possible etymology of Stacey's name

Zettai BL (season 3)

What's different about Hatano, part 1 - In short, Hatano isn't fucking around.

Part 2 - Hatano's awareness of Mob's fourth wall-breaking and other ways he sometimes senses Mob's reality in a way no one else has

Part 3 - Hatano's perseverance, his oddly effective running-away strategy, and exploiting the age gap

Part 4 (the final installment) - Hatano seeing Mob authentically (not objectifying him) and the way the BL-within-a-BL storyline changes the way the audience relates to him

25 ji Akasaka de

Prying off the shell - Mihara's observation about how Shirasaki lacks a "shell" (a kind of social self) while Hayama has an impenetrable series of shells within shells, what this really means psychologically, and the implications for how they relate to each other.

Nominating a runner for 25 ji - After the penultimate episode, @my-rose-tinted-glasses and @lurkingshan posted about who should have to do the traditional JBL run (or the equivalent thereof) and I responded.

Hayama's mask finally slips - Looking closely at Hayama's affect in the opening scene of episode 9 and processing the level of blorbo distress this entails .

Over-analyzing the finale trailer in a vain attempt to try to manage my pre-finale angst.

The Eighth Sense

The Eighth Sense e5 & e6: Portraying trauma with nuance

On The Eighth Sense episodes 7 & 8

The Eighth Sense episodes 9 and 10: All we can do is try

Bokura no Shokutaku/Our Dining Table

Thoughts on the "spinoff" (bonus episode) as a logical extension of the leads' character arcs.

Old Fashion Cupcake

I had a realization about Nozue's constant, somewhat inappropriate complimenting of Togawa while looking at a gifset and reblogged it with my thoughts.

To My Star

Revisiting To My Star: A pursuer meets a distancer (season 1, episodes 1 & 2)

Revisiting To My Star: It's really hard to meet someone who's fun to be around (season 1, episodes 3 & 4)

Revisiting To My Star: This is considered flirting (season 1, episodes 5 & 6)

Revisiting To My Star: If it's hard for you (season 1, episodes 7, 8, & 9)

Notes on a gifset by @jimmysea - Nerding out big time on that one season 2 kiss

Only Friends

Sand, compulsive caregiver - On Sand's documented history of parentification and how it relates to his relationship with Ray

Only Friends characters' fragrance preferences - Assigning each of the lead characters a favorite fragrance based on their personalities, with some made-up backstory

Minato's Laundromat

About that Minato's Laundromat season 2 storyline... - Commenting on a certain character's traumatic brain injury and its effects from a psychology perspective

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Chu chu chu; or, intimate scene tips from the Kiseki cast

Brief commentary on a reblog of some behind-the-scenes footage

HIStory 3: Trapped

A reblog of the "chu chu chu" post about Kiseki that adds similar information about how intimacy was handled on the set of HIStory 3: Trapped - featuring a helpful linguistic note from @nibupei

and, last but not least...

Utsukushii Kare meta

The psychological paradoxes of Utsukushii Kare

This was intended to be a series of three posts (maybe one day I'll get the other two out?) discussing things about the characters that may seem contradictory at first but can be accounted for by digging deeper into some psychological concepts.

Part 1: Covert grandiosity and finding status through idealization - A look at 1) the subtle ways Hira shows that while his self-image can be highly negative in some ways, in other respects he feels superior to others and 2) how by elevating Kiyoi’s status and humbling himself in comparison, Hira attains a different kind of status.

An addendum of sorts to part 1: Hira's parents and his self-defeating tendencies - Some guesswork about how Hira's parents could have contributed to his self-defeating personality and specific self-defeating strategies he uses in his relationship with Kiyoi and elsewhere.

Utsukushii Kare through the lens of pursuer-distancer dynamics and related psychological concepts:

The pursuer-distancer dyad & how it applies to the world of BL - See above in the list of multi-BL posts. This one isn't super focused on Utsukushii Kare but is pretty de rigeur for understanding my UK posts on this topic.

Paradoxical roles; or, I think I finally figured out the pursuer-distancer dynamic in Utsukushii Kare - This post comes after some of the ones listed below but I recommend reading it first as this is really where I finally cracked the code on this aspect of the story.

Pursuer-distancer roles & attachment style in Utsukushii Kare, Part 1: Hira - In-depth discussion of Hira's role in the pursuer-distancer dyad, his attachment style, and his personality.

Pursuer-distancer roles and attachment style in Utsukushii Kare Part 2: Kiyoi - In-depth discussion of Kiyoi's role in the pursuer-distancer dyad, his attachment style, and his personality.

Re-evaluating pursuing & distancing in Utsukushii Kare season 1 - working out my thoughts about pursuing and distancing in season 1.

On the way Sakai Mai (the series' director) uses seme left, uke right framing and its significance in BL and other Japanese media:

Using an example from the s2e1 with the girl who hits on Hira at a party (via a reblog of a gifset from @nanons)

On the way Sakai flips Hira's and Kiyoi's position in the frame in two versions of the same scene and what it tells us about its significance

How the persistent/cute trope plays out in Utsukushii Kare season 2, plus related overanalyses of the big season 2 finale kiss:

The persistent and the cute - how "persistent" and "cute" are code words with specific meanings in BL/yaoi/other drama and manga genres/Japanese culture more broadly.

Analyzing the season 2 finale kiss in light of seme left/uke right framing and the persistent/cute trope in a reblog of a gif post by @nanons

Reblogging @bl-bracket to lobby for the season 2 finale kiss, with more overanalysis

Fragrance nerd discussion:

This bittersweet fragrance - on the significance of osmanthus/tea olive in Utsukushii Kare season 2, with additional information on the possible significance of the fragrance of osmanthus and perfumes that are either osmanthus soliflores or feature prominent osmanthus notes

Posts on specific season 2 episodes:

initial thoughts about S2e1

Additional (informal) thoughts on s2e1

S2e1 rundown

Hira's incongruous/misaligned affect at the end of s2e1

S2e2 rundown

on S2e2, including pursuer-distancer dynamics and seme left, uke right

Utsukushii Kare S2E4: “face me straight on” (mostly discussing relationship dynamics pointed out in topic-specific metas)

on Utsukushii Kare: Eternal:

Kiyoi and Anna: on Kiyoi’s friendship with Anna and its significance for his personal growth

[yousayusei]

osmanthus and hirakiyo

i never really put any deep thought on why osmanthus was the plant used in utsukare aside from the repeated mention of its scent in several scenes which makes sense bc hirakiyo's story are full of bitter and sweet and bittersweet moments which is how the osmanthus was described several times in the series

but there's also the symbolism of the plant. from a simple search, osmanthus symbolizes:

true love - go rewatch the whole series to know what true love for hirakiyo is. or just watch the proposal (as i call it) scene on the latter part of the movie. true love. period.

faithfulness - hira and kiyoi are each other's first love. never stopped thinking about each other even after the chaotic misunderstanding that happened on graduation day. never even thought of looking at other people the moment they saw each other.

beauty - need i elaborate this? just the title of the show is enough.

devotion - the way they are so devoted to each other is so obvious. they love and care about each other so much they are willing to improve themselves not only for the other but ultimately for themselves.

loyalty - the way hira, using his way of thinking that kiyoi is a king, is so loyal to kiyoi. he never once doubted his king unlike the other classmates, never once questioned his position when the others were considering changing sides. even when he was being the gofer, every command he followed was for kiyoi and not for shirota or the others.

it also has some connection to the moon (from the chinese mythology) and guess who also has connection to the moon? yes. hirakiyo.

thats a lot of words just for me to say osmanthus is perfect to be hirakiyo's representative plant. queen nagira yuu is so valid for choosing osmanthus.

[stickers-on-a-laptop]

rewatching utsukare for probably like 10 whole seconds of mr boonorange, nerd <3

[gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil]

haha hearing your thoughts on gmmtv’s way of promoting their pairs was interesting (and i agree with what you say. I’m quite critical of how it’s done and how fandom engages with it even though i do genuinely enjoy a lot of the parts of it). anyway, it’s pretty popular, so i think you probably know it, but my favorite bl is utsukushii kare. i am genuinely crazy over that show. i made a 100+ slide ppt about it for fun and I’ve rewatched s1 countless times. it just works for me perfectly. i dunno a romance that has reflected my own experiences more accurately. i love how interesting the dynamic of the main couple is, the themes are very very intriguing to me (actually, sort of fits with the topic here, because a big problem is that hira participates in the idolatry of his own goddamn boyfriend) and well the show just really clicked for me. the movie made me cry. so did the novels. so yeah i will die on the utsukare hill. WILL NOT go on a 20 paragraph rant abt it here cuz this IS a gmmtv bl tournament anon but yeah. if anyone reading this hasn’t watched it i recommend it wholeheartedly.

That is a TOP NOTCH choice, your taste is impeccable, Anon!

While it's not my favourite Japanese BL, when I watched it the first time it impressed and surprised me so much. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it based on the plot description and some of the comments out there but in the end, I think it gets an unfairly bad rep. It kept me glued to the screen and I'm really glad it got a second season and a movie 'cause they added so much depth to the story.

And you're right, it does bring up a very intelligent conversation about idolatry which, in all honesty, I think went over a lot of people's heads.

I'll take a page out of your book and end it here 'cause this is, in fact, a GMMTV tournament!

[jemmo]

today on everything i love and that is perfect about utsukushii kare (bc i just binged rewatched both seasons), i find it so fantastic and perfect how they, not even advertently, show how hira and kiyoi grow out of their high school personas, bc that is so a thing that happens and is something i find hardly any media really navigates as well as i see it here. high school is very much a rigid place, and in it you play your part; the popular kid, the class clown, the nerd and so on, but outside of high school, after high school, when you grow up and enter the wider role, there aren’t those roles to fulfil. you have to be you, and to do that, you have to figure out who that ‘you’ is, whether thats something you’ve always known or had inside and just kept buried or hidden, or thats something you’ve yet to discover and have to find, and then go on to actually be that, and shed all of that behaviour you learned or picked up or hid behind in high school. 

idk if this is a universal thing, but it is something that especially speaks to me, being more of the hira, the loner, unpopular, shy kid. that role offers a lot of safety in high school, which is weird to say bc its not a place you aspire to be nor is it particularly enjoyable, but in a way it spares you of further ridicule. if you just fill that role and don’t do anything that acts outside of it, you can get by just fine, then high school is done and you move on. thats what utsukushii kare shows so well. the way hira is treated in high school is never really that outright bullying you stereotypically think of, which i love bc thats not really what high school is actually like. really, it is more of what you see in the show. this lower level stuff that you kind of just go along with even if it is objectively mean. the name calling is not loud insults, its those pet nicknames that follow you and remind you of the things you dont like about yourself, the things you’re embarrassed about. its the established hierarchy that you are at the bottom of that signals to you everyday that you are less important than everyone else. and hira goes along with it partly bc of kiyoi but also bc its safe and, dare i say, comfortable, bc hira has not just not known different, but doesnt wish to either, which is how he settles into his dynamic with kiyoi. 

on the other hand, kiyoi’s place as the popular kid is something he is more visibly uncomfortable with, at least to me, and you see it even before you learn about what his real dreams and interests are. the way he acts with the people that surround him, he is never exactly like that. his treatment of hira especially is kinder while still hiding behind that film of treating him as the group’s lacky, but when people treat hira unkindly, he steps in, and i like to think this is from a place of him just being a good person and not just a defensiveness of hira bc of however he feels. its weird bc he does want to be admired so his place shouldn’t feel so wrong, but i think its from a place of wanting to be admired for his merit, for who he is, not out of any control or fear. he wants to be level with people when it comes to reality, and praised for the things he can do well, his abilities, not just some abject superiority others think he possesses. and i cant tell you how much i love this character for this whole ‘cool guy who’s expected to be so cool and not care about anything but actually really wants to do well at stuff and has a passion for acting and dancing and performance and just wants to be loved’. like that is one of my favourite character tropes ever and utsukushii kare does it with kiyoi to absolute damn perfection, which is only added to when you think about the queerness underlying it, kiyoi acting as this stereotypical straight popular high school boy who’s too cool for everyone but really not only is he not straight and have these complicated feelings for a boy, but he also loves performance and theatre and i love that those two things aren’t separate and it makes so much sense. there is just this young queer boy who wants to be liked hiding behind this veneer of coolness and popularity and its fabulous. 

so when they do get out of high school, we get to see kiyoi embrace that side of him that he always kept hidden, not just doing what he loves, but actively pursuing it, trying hard, putting in the effort and dedication and i adore that. it lends itself so well to the mantra of ‘trying your best is the coolest thing you can do’ which i wholeheartedly believe. not caring isn’t cool. caring is cool. trying your best is cool. and not only does it make kiyoi more admirable as a character, but it feels like kiyoi is a lot more comfortable and welcoming of the admiration he gets, bc now it feels deserved, and its funny that that manifests through him being humble and playing himself down bc thats the very human thing to do when you’re praised, but it also parallels the way hira downplays and degrades himself which is actually, in a twisted way, him thinking highly of himself, which we see discussed in the last ep of season 2. 

bc when hira leaves high school, he still clings to that role, even though there’s no one around him maintaining it. for him to be lowly, there has to be someone around him thats above him, but there isn’t now, which is why he clings to the dynamic he has with kiyoi above him bc it carries over and maintains his safe space. and what we see in season 2 is kiyoi removing that, asking hira to not raise him up just so he can put himself down, he wants to be level. and with kiyoi trying to take away that safety, that leaves hira having to figure out what his place actually is in the world, a world he’s always removed himself from. that’s why his discussion with noguchi is so important, bc kiyoi has struggled to be direct and put it into words with hira, either bc he struggles to say those things or doesn’t want to be so harsh with hira, but noguchi has no issue with holding back, nor feels any need to be gentle. he tells hira flat out you are selfish and ignorant to a fault and think so highly of yourself that you think you are the only person in this world. and thats what hira needs, a real challenge, someone who sees his mindset and twists it to show all the negatives of it. its never what hira intended, but its the message he sends to others; by belittling yourself, you give other people’s words and thoughts no weight or importance, thinking you know better. by removing people from your photos, by hiding behind the camera, you are not escaping the world, you are saying the world is only for you. there is only one plane to exist on, and by trying to be there alone, you deny everyone else of their existence. the option is not to not participate, its to participate alone. and what i’d hope continues in the story (idk what the movie is about at all) is a journey for hira to find how he can be involved at the same level as everyone else, to step out of the safety of self inflicted isolation and join in, feel comfortable finally taking up space and find who he is outside of high school. 

[anotherblblog]

Utsukushii Kare Retrospective Blurb

Although we're worlds apart I'd cross the stars for you In the heart of a sleepless moon I'll be with you forever

What a friggin series. Like well done.

I had gotten a bit bored and mostly just unimpressed with the BLs I had been watching then along came Utsukushii Kare

I love strong characterization and really leaning into those archetypes 

I love how much both Hira and Kiyoi both had such low self-esteem that it made them both dumbasses wrt their feelings

a haunting sense of yearning and longing for connection

the scoring was top notch

I want so much more of this world and these characters and this music

poor Koyama, he did his best

also this was Yusei’s first role, phenomenal

it’s very hard for me to understand how anyone could not see Kiyoi’s interest and ultimately desire for Hira

Hira and his inner Kira 

what a good starer you are Riku  

3rd favorite series, basically after my first month of so of BL’s, I was pretty locked in with my top series and Utsukushii Kare just rocketed to third place

[storge]

I’m so tired rn I can barely look at the screen on my phone. giffing will have to wait for tomorrow.

[waitmyturtles]

I’ll definitely have more thoughts tomorrow, but on the first episode of the second season of My Beautiful Man/Utsukushii Kare, really quickly:

1) Goddamn, my heart, THESE TWO. Hagiwara and Yagi, SWOON, YOU GUYS. (I HIGHLY recommend following the Utsukare IG account. These two are HILARIOUS together in their clips -- no weird skinship, just hilarious chemistry, they make each other crack up all the time.)

2) I’m wondering if I need to rewatch the first season entirely, because -- the elements of COMEDY in this second season are FABULOUS, and I actually wonder if I missed an underlying sense of ironic humor in the first season. This first S2 episode is making me wonder.

3) Hira and Kiyoi’s narcissistic walls are coming down. I wrote in my essential BLs review of the first season that they were BOTH hardcore narcissists, and I am just loving this second season starting out with them stumbling to connect, to understand their complicated feelings internally about each other -- this is great. (It is, of course, a little narcissistic of each of them to recognize that their feelings are complicated WITHOUT engaging each other about it, but I’m not going to hold that against them as they grow.)

4) I LOVE THE CINEMATOGRAPHY. It’s a little reminiscent of the difference in cinematography between seasons 1 and 2 of Euphoria. (And actually, I couldn’t get through the second season of Euphoria, in part because the filming style was SO drastically different, and the actors had aged out of high school too much during the pandemic.) This difference is better than Euphoria, in my opinion. I think the style of filming, the lighting, the edits, indicate a maturity to their lives that the almost frosty-edged style of filming of the first season didn’t have, that kind of shiny-bright, sparkling style of filming for the first season gave light to a kind of high school-level of love that the guys are growing out and beyond from. 

More tomorrow. (Also, can’t help it, Diet Butcher actually looks like a super cute brand! Not sure about the phrasing of DIET BUTCHER -- I’d love to butcher my diets, good lord -- but the clothes look kee-yoot.)

[kristsingto]

the way utsukare quite literally opens with hira not being able to say he "likes" something, and being unable to find something that he finds really amazing to take photos of, and what changes everything and sets the stage for the story is hira finding someone that truly amazes him. takes away his breath. woke up the sleeping heart of kazunari hira

[emotionallychargedtowel]

Why hello! I don’t see why we can’t keep the Top 5 trend alive in the new year so…

From one chronic rewatcher to another, what are your top 5 most rewatched scenes?

Sorry this took so long, @wen-kexing-apologist! I'm just now getting back to posting a bit more regularly after the holidays got me totally off track, and this question brought up a lot of Thoughts so I've been chipping away at it for weeks.

So, um, this is the best question ever. Except it’s the meanest question ever, because I'm terrible at choosing between things like this.

I am a massive rewatcher, whether you’re talking about whole series, episodes, or scenes. Scenes especially. Why watch an entire thing when you can go right for the best part/s and watch them over and over? This is also one of the reasons I have way too many gifs saved on my phone.

I thought about coming up with a list that was based more on what would make a good post, and/or what would make me look less uncool, than what I actually rewatch the most. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to be honest instead. So at the risk of seeming even more like an Utsukare obsessive and overall one-trick pony, I'm going to talk about the five scenes I think I've actually rewatched the most, even though four of them are from my perennial obsession.

The four Utsukushii Kare scenes are in the order they occur in the series, not from most rewatched to least. Then I'll talk about a fifth scene from another series that I've been pretty vocal about appreciating, and I'll mention some runners-up.

“who do you like, him or me?”

If gif posts are any indication—gifs are the smallest increment of rewatching, after all—some of my favorite scenes to rewatch aren’t that popular with other rewatchers. This one gets gif’ed, sure, as you can see. But it's not as popular a choice for this kind of treatment as a lot of other Utsukare scenes.

There are a few reasons this one is a favorite of mine. One is that I tend to like some jealousy in my romance. I have my theories about why it’s so appealing to me specifically, but I’m not entirely sure how to explain it. I also love a good aggressive shirt-grab. (Utsukare certainly delivers these regularly.) But the main reason I keep coming back to this moment is that in just a few sentences, a bunch of character development happens. Well, I guess it would be more correct to call it character revelation. This is the first time we really see this side of Kiyoi, and in that respect, it foreshadows the big perspective shift that’s just around the corner. The viewer picks up a lot of hints that Kiyoi has feelings for Hira prior to this point (even if Hira remains stubbornly oblivious to them). We’ve even seen Kiyoi kiss Hira already (even if he did push him to the ground a split second later). But this is the first time we see such direct evidence of the strength of his feelings for Hira. Kiyoi is so unguarded for this brief moment. The mask slips and what’s underneath is total desperation.

Hira, of course, misses the real meaning of what Kiyoi is saying despite how obvious it is. Which means it's also the viewers’ first indication of how intensely Hira clings to his favored view of reality in the face of evidence to the contrary.

"sorry I like you"

This is another scene where so much is happening in a short span, all because Kiyoi got desperate enough to talk about all of the unspoken bullshit between him and Hira. As usual, Hira doesn’t get it. But he might be starting to. 

This scene is pretty rough watching in some ways. When this episode first aired and it ended with this scene followed by each of them on their own and feeling terrible, I was a bit of a mess. It was silly of me to worry. There were plenty of favorable signs in the preview for the finale. I knew the novels had a happy ending. But it was just so sad and so real that it got to me anyway. But I also enjoyed it, because for an obsessive analyzer like myself, seeing these important relationship dynamics finally come to the surface in such concentrated form was fascinating. It was also a relief to see things out in the open.

Both leads turn in such great performances here. Yagi Yusei really steps up. It’s even more impressive given his relative lack of acting experience. His performance is so raw and affecting. If he had been less vulnerable, Kiyoi’s point about how contradictory Hira’s actions and statements are could seem like a kind of “gotcha” moment designed to win an argument--like he was pointing out that Hira was hypocritical in a bid to score points. Instead, Yagi shows viewers how deeply being caught in this double bind with Hira has hurt Kiyoi. 

Hagiwara Riku, in contrast, portrays Hira as so confused that he’s basically dissociated. Hira has a really strong tendency to see the world in whatever way suits him, regardless of the truth. Kiyoi’s words force Hira to set his usual narrative aside and see how much clinging to it is hurting the person he claims to love, and it throws him off to such an extent that he seems to be experiencing a form of psychomotor slowing. He looks like he’s moving through molasses. He can’t form sentences, or at times, even words. His normally expressive eyes seem like they’ve shrunk to half their normal size. He’s really come unmoored, and it shows. The more I think about Hagiwara’s work in this scene the more impressed I am by the insight and physical control he had to bring to bear in order for it to work. 

Of course, if I watched this scene on its own habitually, this level of blorbo distress might take a toll on my mental health. Which is why I usually follow it up with…

"I'm not going to kiss you for a while"

I’m busting out the bullet points for this one because otherwise it might take me all day.

This scene works on so many levels!

Well, the main ones are:

Relationship progress! Character growth! 

The whole kiss fakeout thing is hot

Hira gets some payback and frankly, he deserves it

The other highlights for me are: 

Even after repeated viewings and knowing very well what happened in the story, I still feel kind of relieved to see that Kiyoi came back, especially right after rewatching the scene prior to this one. 

When Kiyoi asks Hira why he thinks he came home and he says, “to punch me?" he does it in the most weirdly cute way.

Kiyoi’s absolutely lethal snotty face/voice when he responds to the possibility of punching Hira with “maybe” is so perfect that it's hard not to think that Hira might have a point about this whole King deal. 

Hira apologizes and it’s actually sincere and not just some knee-jerk bullshit. 

The way Hira closes his eyes and waits for Kiyoi to smack him is a rare case of him actually letting go and putting himself in Kiyoi’s hands instead of his usual topping-from-the-bottom thing.

More about the kiss fakeout:

Hagiwara does a great job of telegraphing Hira’s expectant response. In scenes where two characters are going to kiss but get interrupted, it's not uncommon to see a kind of hesitation or other subtle signal that the actor knows the kiss isn't going to happen. But there's none of that here. Hagiwara even does this sort of gulp/swallow thing like he thinks the kiss is going to start any moment. When the kiss doesn't materialize, he nails an absolutely pitifiul sad puppy expression.

Kiyoi’s vulnerable voice and facial expression when he explains about the kissing boundary thing is so sincere and cute. Could he be any more different from season 1 episode 1 Kiyoi?

I’ve written about how the no-kissing-until-Hira-takes-Kiyoi-seriously policy might seem like a controlling move or an inappropriate ultimatum to some viewers but it actually better resembles what Harriet Lerner calls a “bottom line,” resulting in a boundary that is not only justifiable but downright healthy…or almost healthy, at least. It's a bit on the extreme side, and the fakeout part remains a little mean. But they're understandable given what Hira has put Kiyoi through. 

Here's my s2e4 writeup that includes that discussion:

“sorry, Kiyoi”

So, I’ve already written quite a bit about this scene. In one instance, I wrote a propaganda blurb when it was in bl brackets’s kiss bracket.

Here's the original blurb I wrote for @bl-bracket when I nominated the scene, as used in the post where people voted:

Hira and Kiyoi Final Kiss: "It’s an important plot point (because Kiyoi has said he won’t kiss Hira until he stops putting him on a pedestal and now Hira is making progress on that front, and because Hira hasn’t initiated physical stuff in the past, and initiating is itself a way of treating Kiyoi more like an equal). It’s also just a really well-acted and effectively shot kiss, and as a result it communicates so much about the characters and shows a side of their relationship not portrayed elsewhere in the show. And of course, it’s super hot. That includes the kind of weird but suggestive details that are typical of the show, like Hira passing candy/candy spit to Kiyoi through the kiss and then switching into this really distinct sexy voice that makes it sound almost as if he’s changing personalities."

And here's an additional, longer propaganda post I wrote to lobby for votes:

One of the points I tried to make in that post about why this scene is special was that it really does represent a leap forward in how both leads portrayed intimacy in this series. Prior to this scene, viewers had seen a dead fish kiss on graduation day, a more intense makeout situation in the season 1 finale that was shot so impressionistically that it was often hard to tell exactly what the actors were doing, and some interrupted kisses earlier in season 2. And then this happened. Here's a quote from what I wrote previously:

Personally, despite being a fan of both actors and thinking they did amazing work on the series, until I saw this scene I really didn't know if they had it in them, if they could actually pull off something that felt real. But they brought it. They're not holding back. As opposed to more stylized kisses you see in BLs and other romance dramas sometimes, I found it very naturalistic, like the way a couple of real kids in their early 20s would kiss.

So, yeah. I thought it showed real growth on the part of the actors as individuals and as a pairing/team.

This scene also caused me to dig deeper, with the help of some very knowledgeable mutuals, into what “persistent” and “cute” mean in a sexual context in Japan. My main post about that is below.

Noticing Hagiwara's use of Hira's "persistent voice" also helped me to notice something else when I checked out his other work, and that is that he often uses his voice in very different ways in different roles. I recently watched a drama he did before Utsukare and I was struck by this all over again. Again, it shows a really impressive degree of control.

And now, for our one non-Utsukare scene in the top 5:

"I'm trying to seduce you"

I also wrote a nomination blurb about this scene for the kiss bracket. (If you're seeing a pattern here, well, yeah, it's a pattern.) The original voting post here but I'll go ahead and quote it in its entirety since it's pretty short.

This kiss is ridiculously hot and is a culmination of so much that’s been simmering beneath the surface for the entire show up to that point. Togawa has been pining so hard for Nozue for so long that when Nozue gives him a glimmer of hope and then tries to leave, everything he’s been bottling up comes surging out. Kimura Tatsunari exudes a level of desperate lustfulness in this scene that’s as intense as anything I’ve seen in any genre. We’re all familiar with the idea that people look at a person’s mouth when they want to kiss them, but Togawa looks at Nozue’s mouth like he dreams about it every night and sees it every time he closes his eyes. No wonder he feels a need to stick his thumb in there. Takeda Kouhei also communicates so much in this scene. Nozue is shocked and confused but he can’t help but respond to Togawa’s kisses. You can see the gears turning—and refusing to turn—as he tries to make sense of what’s happening—and keeps kissing Togawa back even though he still can’t process it. Togawa’s declaration, “I’ve been trying to seduce you, with everything I have,” is the cherry on top.

There's another bit of subtle physical communication here that I find interesting, and I think you might too, @wen-kexing-apologist. Just recently I've been thinking about the meaning, in kissing scenes, of what for lack of a better term I'll call the head-bonk. By this I mean the thing where one person puts their forehead against the other person's, often with at least a tiny bit of an impact that renders it a bonk rather than, like, just touching them together. Togawa kisses Nozue once, then a second time, and then goes in for a third that Nozue avoids by sinking toward the floor. The third kiss doesn't happen, but when Togawa starts to initiate it he does an absolutely sublime head-bonk. I'm still figuring out what I think about the head-bonk thing. All I know is that, from my vantage point, that little move on Kimura's part practically screams "I've been holding this back for five goddamn years and I can't wait one more second to kiss this person."

Runners-up and honorable mentions:

Semantic Error:

Their first kiss in the restaurant after Jae Young calls Sang Woo "hyung" - I have watched this so much that if I had been asked for my top 6 this would have been #6.

Jae Young demonstrating the features of the "free trial"

Minato’s Laundromat (season 1, of course):

Shin freaking out about Minato being alone with Hanabusa

The washing machine kabedon

The “smelling the sheets” scene

Kiseki (I just watched this for the first time a week or so ago and I have already done so much scene-rewatching it's ridiculous):

That incredibly angsty sex scene with Ai Di and a drunk Chen Yi, you know the one

Chen Yi's confession to a physically restrained Ai Di

The scene at Ai Di's bar where Chen Yi puts him in a double kabedon

Ai Di and Chen Yi's conversation after Ai Di gets out of prison, where he says he fucked Chen Yi "just for fun" and offers to let him do stuff to him as "revenge"

Ai Di trying to scare Chen Yi by stroking his chest and asking him if he wants to "play" and then getting weirded out when Chen Yi asks, "What if I say yes?"

Jheruei and Zongyi's first real kiss and subsequent A+ lap-sitting moment

And as a bonus, here's my most-rewatched non-QL moment:

There's a scene I'm obsessed with in Something in the Rain where Jun Hui comes to Jin A's home and sees her ex-boyfriend there with her and her parents, lobbying to get back together and manhandling her, and he reacts exactly the way you'd expect as someone to who's in love with Jin A. It is tattooed on my brain. If I ever learn to make gifs I am gif'ing the fuck out of that scene.

[yousayusei]

rewatching utsukare (for the nth time, as one does) and im reminded by this cz and kiyoi sits on the last row at the back, beside shirota, so it only makes sense that shirota is the one who noticed and caught kiyoi staring, looking, watching hira for the rest of their school days.

no you don't understand. hira was so used to thinking that he's the one always looking at kiyoi, staring at him, in highschool but then shirota drops the bomb that kiyoi had looked/watched/stared at hira too in highschool and how he's envious of that. that another person noticed it.

like shirota of all people? understandable if its kurata but it really means a lot that it's shirota who noticed that and said that to hira.

(source)

[to5ias3]

glad to see plenty of people on the timeline today enjoying utsukare as much as i am. i decline to admit how many times i have rewatched so far

for a show that i claim to be no more than a solid 7/10, you’d think that they’d be less relevant in my life. but i think about them constantly (*´-`)

[kristsingto]

i often think about this part of hira's high school life. after he beat up shirota. thinking about when he asks kiyoi if he's scared of him in the novel (because his classmates are. since he "suddenly" snapped and beat someone up) and kiyoi simply. isn't. of course he isn't. it made him fall for hira, instead.

man, it really is the turning point for how kiyoi percieves hira imo. it's when the uncertainly looking to see if he can trust hira morphs into something else. he knows, now

[kristsingto]

kiyoi "i'm NOT going to ask for his number again" sou

^ he asked for his number again

[kristsingto]

kiyoi telling hira, voice so broken, "i'm not a god." and the way hira asks if he can touch him, only for kiyoi to reply no, not if they're the same as they were before. and for hira to reach out to cup his cheek. kiyoi's gaze. the way hira says "i like you" and then wraps his arms around him.