Series / Utsukushii Kare

Utsukushii Kare (美しい彼), also known by the alternative/English title of My Beautiful Man, is a Japanese TV series based on a novel trilogy by Yuu Nagira. The first season was released in 2021 and follows the protagonists through their last year of high school and their reunion a few years later over the course of 6 episodes. The 4-episode second season, released in 2023, shows Hira and Kiyoi's lives as they adjust to their Relationship Upgrade and contemplate their future. The movie Utsukushii Kare Eternal was released later that year as 'season 2 part 2'.

Kazunari Hira (Riku Hagiwara) is a 17 year old starting his last year of high school. Due to his stutter, he is a perpetual loner and lives at the bottom of the Popularity Food Chain. He lives an empty, "invisible" existence where all he hopes for is to be left alone to take photographs with his camera.On the first day of class, Hira is inadvertently saved from a disastrous attempt at self-introduction by the late entrance of Sou Kiyoi (Yuusei Yagi), who is everything Hira isn't - cool, popular, and - in Hira's eye - beautiful.

Hira develops an intense and obsessive crush on Kiyoi, who uses him like a servant - but over time, their dynamic gradually shifts as Kiyoi develops his own fascination with Hira.

Tropes:

• A Day in Her Apron: Kiyoi realises that he needs to contribute more to housework rather than leaving it all to Hira and decides to cook him dinner. It doesn't go quite as planned due to his inexperience with cooking. His mistakes include neglecting to rise the dirt off the spinach, adding way too much sake, and deciding to rinse the raw pork "to prevent food poisoning". The result is apparently not inedible, but certainly not nice to eat - except to Hira, who is just happy to eat something cooked by Kiyoi and doesn't notice how bad it is. Kiyoi doesn't try to cook again, but we do later see him folding some laundry while waiting for Hira to come home.
• All Take and No Give: Hira and Kiyoi's relationship remains unequal even after they get together. As Koyama points out, Hira does all the cooking and housework and supports Kiyoi's goals, letting his own life fall by the wayside. He has few extracurriculars to his name and no employment prospects to speak of despite being well into his last year of university, when students are expected to be dedicating most of their time and energy into shuukatsu (seeking post-graduation employment).
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Kiyoi delivers one to Hira when they meet again after graduation. An unusual case in that the feelings are requited and Kiyoi knows it; Kiyoi is just unhappy about the way Hira loves him.
  Kiyoi: Has it ever occurred to you that I like you?
• Apologises a Lot: Hira has a habit of apologising frequently, particularly around Kiyoi, who tells him to cut it out.
• Arc Words: Hira and Kiyoi both reflect on the difficulty of saying "suki", ("I like/love you", but also can be used more generically to say you like something). The words obviously come up when they reflect on their feelings for each other, and in each of their Love Confessions, but it also comes up in other contexts:
  • In the opening narration, when Hira reflects on his life, we are shown Hira as a young child being unable to say that he likes rabbits due to his speech impediment.
  • Kiyoi struggles with imbuing emotion into his lines while practicing for a play. The line he has issues with is from a Love Confession scene and starts with "I like you".
• Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Shirota, one of the students in Kiyoi's posse, stages a coup on him once his popularity falls as a result of losing the Talent Contest.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Downplayed. Kiyoi is shown practicing a Love Confession scene as part of a play, but the performance falls flat. Later, after he realises he is in love with Hira, he delivers the same lines, and the line is delivered with much more emotional impact. His In-Universe director notes the difference with approval.
• Bait-and-Switch Credits: the first season opening sequence makes the series look like a fluffy romantic comedy with the upbeat love song opening theme, Hira looking flustered, and general snappy editing style. While the show is not without lighthearted moments, the tone is generally more subdued, the show doesn't shy away from exploring the less-than-healthy aspects of Kiyoi and Hira's relationship, and tropes are more often Played for Drama than for laughs. Ironically, the opening for the second season is moodier and less comedic, despite the actual tone of the show being more lighthearted in the second season after Kiyoi and Hira's Relationship Upgrade.
• Beautiful Dreamer: Hira finds Kiyoi sleeping in an empty classroom and admires his beauty, until Kiyoi opens his eyes and startles him. Subverted - we are later shown the same scene from Kiyoi's perspective, which reveals he was only pretending to be asleep all along.
• Berate and Switch: Hira submits one of his photos for a photography contest, but it does not pass the first round of selections. Noguchi, a prominent photographer who was one of the judges for the contest, tells Hira that the photo is 'childish' and that it shows "tremendous selfishness and disgust", segueing into a "Reason You Suck" Speech about how the flipside of Hira's self deprecation is arrogance and rejection of the world. Then, he tells him that this all reminds him of Noguchi himself when he was younger and offers him a job as his assistant.
• Berserk Button: Hira does not take kindly to anyone who insults Kiyoi, at one point punching a student who tries to bully Kiyoi. It takes three other students to pry him off.
• Betty and Veronica: Koyama (Betty) and Kiyoi (Veronica) for Hira. Koyama is a Nice Guy who helped Hira when he was struggling with his stutter. Kiyoi is a beautiful but haughty Tsundere who throws insults and belittling comments at Hira. Hira compares the two by saying that he can breathe easy when he's around Koyama, but Kiyoi takes his breath away.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Hira spends most of high school as an Extreme Doormat to Kiyoi and his group, but he fantasises about gunning everyone down with a machine gun when he feels Kiyoi is being made fun of and unleases a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the boy who dumps a bucket of juice on Kiyoi.
• Big Fancy House: Hira's family home is a single storey traditional wooden build on a plot of land that is huge by Japanese standards, with plenty of greenspace around. Kiyoi's group pick it as their hangout spot over the summer while school is out, since no one else has that much free space. The fact Hira's parents can afford to keep the house just for Hira to stay in all by himself suggests he comes from quite a wealthy background.
• Cell Phones Are Useless: Hira has to replace his cell phone after he drops it in the gutter on his graduation day and gets a new number, which means when Kiyoi tries to call him, the number is no longer in service. Downplayed - as Kiyoi points out, Hira didn't need to change his number when he got a new phone. Kiyoi also notes he had other ways to contact Hira, such as asking their former classmates for his new number or simply visiting his home - he just didn't want to admit that he cared about Hira that much.
• Cherry Blossoms: Kiyoi is first introduced walking into the classroom covered in cherry blossoms, symbolising the change and romance he brings to Hira's life.
• Courtly Love: Hira's feelings for Kiyoi during their high school years has shades of this - he has no expectations that Kiyoi will return his feelings, content to simply 'serve' Kiyoi and worship him from a distance. He even kisses Kiyoi's hand at one point.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: When Hira finds Kiyoi after the unsuccessful Talent Contest, Kiyoi angrily asks if he is feeling sorry for him.
• Dramatic Irony: At one point, Hira is giving Kiyoi a ride on his bicycle and reflects that he cannot see Kiyoi's face, but he expects that he probably looks disgusted. The camera pans and shows that Kiyoi in fact has a small but fond smile on his face.
• Failed Audition Plot:
  • Kiyoi enters a Talent Contest and manages to get into the final, but he is not picked as the winner. He briefly falls down the Popularity Food Chain as a result, until it's revealed that a talent agent watching the contest saw potential in him and signed him on as a model.
  • Koyama and Kiyoi persuade Hira to apply for a photography contest, but he does not pass the first screening. He becomes discouraged, but Kiyoi reminds him that he can always try again - after all, Kiyoi didn't win his first talent contest, either.
• Fireworks of Love: Kiyoi's posse tries to invoke this by inviting some of their female classmates for handheld fireworks at Hira's backyard. It doesn't work - the girls end up congregating around Kiyoi, who shows little interest in the fireworks. After everyone else has left, however, Hira has his Love Epiphany looking at Kiyoi lighting up the leftover sparklers.
• First Love: Kiyoi and Hira are each other's first love. Hira tells Kiyoi that he doesn't know what he's supposed to do in a relationship because he's never done it before, and Kiyoi reminds him that he's also doing this for the first time and fumbling along, too.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany: Kiyoi only admits to himself that he is/has been in love with Hira after he thinks Hira is dating Koyama.
• Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Hira owns a pale blue hoodie. Kiyoi borrows it once when they get their school uniforms wet playing with a water hose. After their Relationship Upgrade, both Hira and Kiyoi are seen wearing the hoodie.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming:
  • One of the first signs that Kiyoi cares for Hira is when he snaps at another student who tries to use Hira as an errand boy, much like Kiyoi himself does all the time.
  • Later, Koyama lists off Hira's less than desirable qualities to Kiyoi and notes that he looks pissed off despite repeatedly insulting Hira himself.
  • Apparently, Kiyoi's protectiveness towards people trying to insult Hira even extends to Hira himself - when Hira puts himself down and says he is "just a pebble", Kiyoi replies, "Don't call my man a 'pebble'".
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Kiyoi had a lonely childhood, going from being a latchkey kid with a busy single mum to feeling neglected in favour of his younger half-siblings once she remarried. His childhood dream was to be an Idol Singer because he saw the kind of fanatic devotion they receive and wanted someone to feel that way about him - explaining his attraction towards Hira, who looks at him with clear and almost obsessive adoration.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Kiyoi is attracted to Hira's intense, obsessive devotion to him. In particular, he seemed very much into the way Hira viciously attacked Shirota for dumping juice onto Kiyoi.
• Insecure Love Interest: Hira places Kiyoi so far above him on a pedastal, he initially can't even entertain the idea that Kiyoi might return his feelings. This is deconstructed; Hira ends up inadvertently hurting Kiyoi because he keeps trying to distance himself from Kiyoi by idolising him and putting himself down, and because he doesn't understand that Kiyoi cares about him and wants to spend time with him, hear about what's bothering Hira, and plan a future together.
• Insult of Endearment: Kiyoi constantly calls Hira "disgusting" and "annoying", but he means it less and less as time goes on.
• Intimate Artistry: Hira likes to photograph Kiyoi - he generally does not include people in his photos and even digitally erases them if someone is accidentally included in the shot, but Kiyoi is his one exception. Kiyoi tells him that he looks his best in Hira's photographs of him.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Koyama essentially tells Kiyoi that Hira is still in love with him, and then arranges to have Hira attend one of the theatre troupes' practices so that Hira and Kiyoi have a chance to see each other again. When Kiyoi asks him why he's doing this, he says the trope name almost word for word.
• Last-Name Basis: Hira and Kiyoi continue to refer to each other by their last names even after they start dating.
• Lonely at the Top: Kiyoi's high school 'friends' are only hanging out with him because they get a boost in their own popularity from being around him, and Kiyoi knows that their relationship is superficial. When Kiyoi loses his popularity, Hira is the only one who sticks by him.
• Love at First Sight: Hira is drawn to Kiyoi from the first moment he lays eyes on him as he walks into the classroom.
• Lysistrata Gambit: After a fight over Hira continuing to put Kiyoi on a pedastal, Kiyoi declares that he will not kiss or be intimate with Hira until Hira learns to face him as his equal.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Hira and Kiyoi's reunion after the Time Skip is shown twice: first from Hira's perspective, then from Kiyoi's. Their narration uses the exact same phrasing as each other to highlight that Kiyoi is just as drawn to Hira as Hira is to him.
    My heart is beating so loud I feel like it's going to explode. My hands are trembling against my lap as I hold them clenched into a fist. This is so unlike me.
  • Kiyoi watches a TV show starring Anna, his senpai at the talent agency. He compliments her acting and notes that she is playing a character who is too innocent to be aware of the harm she is causing. Later, similar phrasing is used
• Meet the In-Laws: the major conflict in season 2 is triggered when Hira "reassures" Kiyoi that he will never have to meet his parents, making him realise that Hira still thinks they live in a different world from each other and therefore do not picture them building a future together as a couple.
• Minor Living Alone: Hira's parents relocate for their job when he is 17, leaving Hira to live on his own for his last year of high school.
• Nice Guy: Koyama is a supportive friend to Hira and remains so even after Hira turns him down. He is mildly antagonistic towards Kiyoi, which is more than fair, but he still helps him get together with Hira and even gives him a recipe for a meal he could cook for Hira.
• Not So Stoic: Kiyoi puts up an aloof, blasé front as a high schooler and tries to act as though he has no emotional investment in anything. This also extends to the talent contest, claiming that his cousin applied to the competition on his behalf. However, Hira finds out that he is serious enough about the competition to take dance lessions in secret to prepare for it. When he isn't picked as the winner, he punches a wall in anger.
• Oblivious to Love: Hira takes a really, really long time to realise that Kiyoi is in love with him. Kiyoi kissing him isn't enough. Even Kiyoi's Anguished Declaration of Love doesn't get through to him, because Kiyoi left him the tiniest little room for interpretation. Kiyoi has to really spell it out to him for Hira to finally catch a clue.
  Kiyoi: I'm not a king at all. I'm just an ordinary man. I want to date the person I'm in love with, and I want to touch them - just like any other man.
  Hira: ...You're in love with someone?
  Kiyoi: It's you! How many times are you going to make me say it?
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Hira puts on a cap and sunglasses (indoors and at night) to attend Kiyoi's play "incognito". Kiyoi immediately sees through it. Later, Hira uses the same disguise while following Kiyoi around as a fan. Both times, it's pointed out that his disguise makes him stand out more because of how suspicious he looks, and earns him the nickname 'Suspicious-kun'.
• Poor Man's Porn: Kiyoi asks Hira what he does with the photos he takes of Kiyoi and half-jokingly asks if he has ever touched himself while looking at them - to which Hira admits that he has done this. He claims he only did it once, because he felt too guilty about it afterwards.
• Romantic Ride Sharing: Kiyoi and Hira often ride Hira's bicycle together. At one point, a police officer sees them and (after they fail to stop) notify their school, causing them to get detention.
• Rom Com Job: Kiyoi and Hira both end up working in creative jobs in the media industry as an actor and a photographer, respectively.
• Sacred First Kiss: After impulsively kissing Hira on their last day of high school, Kiyoi reflects that it was his first kiss and every time he thinks about his first kiss from now on, he will remember that it was with Hira, of all people.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Somewhat one-sided example: Hira clearly wants to keep their relationship a secret, presumably due to a mix of feeling that he doesn't deserve Kiyoi and not wanting to jeopardise Kiyoi's career. He does not tell anyone that he is dating Kiyoi (except for Koyama, who was partially responsible for them getting together in the first place), and tries to conceal Kiyoi's presence when his cousin visits the house where they are cohabitating. Kiyoi, on the other hand, tells Anna (an actress who belongs to the same talent agency as him) that he has a boyfriend, and seems interested in the idea of meeting Hira's parents at some point in the future.
  • After Kiyoi comes out to him, Anna tells him that she is also in a relationship, but they cannot tell anyone (including their talent agency) because her partner works in the same industry.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Hira is actually quite attractive if he puts some effort into his appearance. Kiyoi styles him in fashionable clothes and changes his hairstyle for a party, and Hira is immediately accosted by a woman trying to flirt with him.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: In-Universe example: at their high school reunion, it's revealed that Kurata and Shirota started dating shortly after graduation and is now getting married. During high school, they were never shown directly interacting with each other though they both orbited around Kiyoi. Their classmates are all surprised to find out they are now together.
• Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: Kurata, a quiet girl in Kiyoi and Hira's class whom Hira recognises as filling his role for the resident Girl Posse, hands Kiyoi a love letter on their last day of school.
• Single-Target Sexuality: At one point, Kiyoi asks Hira if he is attracted to men. Hira replies that he has never experienced any attraction towards men other than Kiyoi - or towards women, for that matter.
• Stalker with a Crush: Some of Hira's behaviour, such as following Kiyoi in (terrible) disguise and dedicating a Stalker Shrine to him, would definitely fall under this.
• Time Skip: the narrative jumps ahead by "a few years" after Hira and Kiyoi's high school graduation. Hira is partway through university and Kiyoi is doing some small-time acting jobs.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • Kiyoi defrosts towards Hira, but he is also shown to become more friendly and humble towards everyone else around him as he mellows with age and grows out of his high school mentality.
  • Shirota, one of Kiyoi's posse who was the one to dump juice on him to try upstage him, is also suggested to have become nicer when we see him at the high school reunion. His fiancee comments that she did not expect him to be such a kind person when they were classmates in high school.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Kiyoi always asks for a ginger ale when Hira is fetching him a drink. Hira seems to eventually start keeping a stock supply of ginger ale in his house.
• Tsundere: Kiyoi starts out almost full Tsun, constantly belittling Hira when he's not ignoring him with only rare hints that he may care for Hira underneath it all. He starts showing his softer side more once they start dating, but he still has a tendency to cover up his embarrassment after showing affection by snapping at Hira or even physical violence.
• Twice Shy: Kiyoi and Hira in high school. Kiyoi hasn't quite admitted to himself yet that he's in love with Hira and is too proud to let Hira know that he is attracted to him, so he wants Hira to make the first move. Hira has cripplingly low self-esteem and has put Kiyoi on a sky-high pedastal, so it doesn't seem to occur to him that dating Kiyoi is even an option.
• Unknowingly in Love: Kiyoi first develops feelings for Hira when they are high schoolers, but he doesn't realise he is in love with Hira until several years later when he sees Hira again and thinks he's dating someone else. Even after he kisses Hira, he thinks to himself that he has no idea what drove him to do such a thing.
• What Does She See in Him?: After meeting Kiyoi and seeing how rudely he treats Hira, Koyama doesn't understand why Hira is so devoted to him.
• Wound Licking: Kiyoi injures his finger when a bunch of boxes fall on him and Hira. Hira instinctively sucks on his finger, in quite a suggestive manner.