Everyone review I saw is trying to make the story more complex then what it is. I did like how it gave us both sides of the story from the main character’s point of view it’s a nice fresh take instead of having to guess what’s going on in the protagonists head.
One thing I didn’t like is how at the point Kiyoi realizes he likes Hira, Hira had already said he liked Kiyoi at that point something should’ve been hinted instead of trying to make us hate Kiyoi to later feel sorry for him.
I understand the creators message of love is messy, complicated and in where you least expect he also portrayed it very well in Dark Blue And Moonlight which has it’s own flaws but I won’t get into that.
To me this was a story of two people unable to properly process and communicate their feelings for one another. The way Hira saw Kiyoi as a god and how Kiyoi thrived off of it was a sign of toxicity in itself so many red flags where present, how Hira was supposed to magically know that Kiyoi liked him even though he treated him terribly, they were stuck in a master/servant relationship Hira was not strong enough to deter his feelings for Kiyoi even though he had not a single likable quality aside from being “pretty” and Kiyoi was not strong enough to tell Hira about his feelings or deal with them in a respectful or mature way, even after they graduated high school.
This was not a love story but a prequel to a toxic immature relationship, the only reason I’m giving it this high of a rating is for the way they told the story and not the storyline itself because for me you can have a love story where there is heartbreak or a certain dislike for a person without making it toxic take Mr.heart for example they did it perfectly


Rewatch value: you will catch on to things quicker when you rewatch it but it just made me dislike it even more because you can see the red flags even more