It started with two young men with opposite personalities get attracted to each other. I was skeptical when watching the first few episodes, when the story is told from Hira's perspective, because their relationship is so toxic. When Hira starts to develop romance for Kiyoi, Kiyoi seems so indifferent and even downright bullying him verbally. It was my first time seeing this trope, and it was jarring. But when the same story is told from Kiyoi’s perspective, we learned so much about him, as well as the root cause of misunderstandings.

Personally, I enjoyed watching the movie version much better than the series for the pacing reason. In the series it keeps going on and on for quite some time before I understand Kiyoi's inner thoughts. Also, the ending of season 1 opens a great potential for a more progressive relationships in season 2, but story of season 2 turns out to be just okay.

What I think it does excellently well is the unique power play between the two, which I don't see often. The one who is dominant in the relationship is actually not the dominant one sexually and that makes it very interesting to watch. My favorite scene is (no surprise here,) definitely the bathtub scene. If you know, you know (≧ヮ≦) /. They were together in a bathtub and one of them was getting shy so he turn his back on the other one and facing a mirror. As we see his expression in a mirror, the other one approaches him and grab kiss him. How fantastic, the whole thing is just hot!

-Jan 2024, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge