Utsukushii Koto (Novel)

Description

Matsuoka is hooked on wearing his ex-girlfriend's clothes and going for nighttime walks into town, feeling the pleasure of being stared at by men wherever he goes. One night, after he is assaulted by a man during a one-off encounter, he is saved by Hirosue, a nondescript senior worker from his company. Drawn to Hirosue's innocent, pure love, Matsuoka continues to meet with Hirosue dressed as a woman, until Hirosue finally confesses to him. Narise Konohara's pinnacle of achievement portrays the pain and beauty of unrequited love, and has also been adapted to a theatrical play.

Contains 2 short stories (published in earlier editions) "Of Tenderness" (Itoshii koto) and "Of Love" (Aisuru koto).

Type

Novel

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

Aisuru koto

Itoshii koto (Novel)

Of Beauty (Novel)

Of Love

Of Tenderness (Novel)

愛しいこと

愛すること

美しいこと (Novel)

Groups Scanlating

Isolarium

Latest Release(s)

c.Side Story 2 (end) by isolarium 11 years ago

v.Booklet c.Part 3 by isolarium 11 years ago

v.Booklet c.Part 2 by isolarium 11 years ago

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Status in Country of Origin

2 Volumes (Complete)
1 Volume Bunko (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.9 / 10.0 (100 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.3 / 10.0

56%

14%

13%

10%

Last Updated

August 6th, 2021 8:49am PDT - 4 years ago

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Genre

Drama Gender Bender Romance Yaoi
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Musume no Kenzen na Ikusei no Tame Karada o Hatte Zettai ni Seikou Soshi suru Batsuichi Otou-san

Menpani

Utsukushii Koto (INUI Nao)

Ikeoji Monster to Zettai Reido Danshi

Ikemen (kari) to Renaishitemimashita!

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

KONOHARA Narise

Artist(s)

HIDAKA Shoko

Year

2007

Original Publisher

Kodansha (2013)

Souryuusha (2007)

Serialized In (magazine)

N/A

Licensed (in English)

English Publisher

N/A

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #751

(+18)

Monthly Pos #1609

(-201)

3 Month Pos #3672

(-39)

6 Month Pos #5003 (No change)

Year Pos #7130

(-81)

List Stats

On 91 reading lists

On 230 wish lists

On 191 completed lists

On 6 unfinished lists

On 185 custom lists

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User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Good story - but watch out for the Kodansha edition

by QueenBeaver
5 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I bought the Japanese Kodansha edition of Utsukushii Koto so if there's an English Kodansha edition I can't speak for it, but the edition I bought contained neither Itoshii Koto nor Aisuru Koto, which meant that the story ended on a really anticlimactic and very bittersweet note and left me very confused when reading other reviews talking about how "love conquers all" and so on and so forth. Long story short: at least for the Japanese versions, make sure you get the 上 and 下 versions rather than the single volume version if you want the full story (also there's a substory about a watch that I'm pretty sure isn't included in any editions, but I was able to find it online).

Imma be upfront here: I blew off work to straight up devour the last 75% of the story today (I've been reading non-stop for about 12 hours now and my eyes are now e-book reader-shaped). Leaving aside Aisuru Koto, which was almost pure fluff, I thought it was a very touching story (while I love fluff, in some cases - including this one - I do think it subtracts from the impact of the story. Sort of like if Romeo and Juliet had these extra scenes of them just being cutesy and lovey-dovey for the sake of it). The way Konohara writes made me able to really relate to what the characters were feeling in each moment - especially Matsuoka.

who, frankly, deserves better (I'm looking at you, rapey Hirosue, you forking bastard) .
I also constantly found myself needing to know what would happen next (hence the 12 hours). Most of the supporting characters didn't feel flat either, and it was nice in particular to have some sympathetic female characters in a bl novel.

When I don't give the novel a higher rating, it is partially because the language was rather repetitive (in the Japanese version, that is; when I found I didn't have Itoshii Koto and Aisuru Koto I found some fan translations online, and they're frankly much more elegantly written) and partially because some plot points annoyed me:

1. I REALLY did not like the rape scene. While I understand that rape could be a possible culmination of the story at that particular point, how am I supposed to root for the guy afterward? For the second half of the main volume, I found myself hoping that another guy would swoop in and snatch Matsuoka away - in fact, I had even been okay with Mako doing that.
2. I found Hirosue's dilemma of wanting to have romantic feelings for Matsuoka while not being able to feel sexual attraction super compelling, but the way he suddenly did develop sexual attraction toward Matsuoka seemed so sudden and so underdeveloped that I found myself to be just as skeptical as was Matsuoka at that point in the story, despite us seeing the story from the POV of Hirosue.
3. Matsuoka honestly seemed a bit traumatized in both Itoshii Koto and Aisuru Koto. It made me sad, but not good-sad.
4. Fukuda seemed like just a straight up Evil McEvilface. I mean, could he be any more one-dimensional?

All in all, a really good read. It's not Hemingway, but it's definitely one of the better BL novels I've read.

... Last updated 5 years ago

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A bit Wrecked

by Nessy
5 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

This one had me right from the start. I love a good gender bender, and this one was absolutely captivating. There's really nothing I can complain about: the length was perfect, the pacing was spot on and the characters were extremely well developed. No one's a saint in this novel, especially the two main characters. There were times I grew frustrated with them (Matsuoka's expectations, Hirosue's being past the first volume), but this was one of the best things I've read in a long long time. I'm trying to wrack my head for someone to share it with, but I unfortunately don't know enough people who might be interested in Japanese yaoi. Their loss.

Give it a read, I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

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I now know why it's ranked so highly

by FeyPhantom
9 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Seriously, these novels are a roller coaster of emotions! I absolutely fell in love with Matsuoka's character right out of the gates. As someone in sales and who's good at his job, he's very adept at reading other people. He's also the type to put their feelings before his own. It made his point of view so interesting to tell the story from.

...At least in the first part. Though I'm also super glad we got Hirosue's in the second part an ended it off with Matsuoka's again.

Hirosue is a little more simple and it makes him more complicated to like. He's kind but can ignorantly hurt other people's feelings. He also is unattached to things that don't interest him. At times, this aspect of his character can make him heartless. But that's exactly what the author was going for. She wanted to write him that way. But he does get more likeable, you just have to hang on through the roller coaster first.

What changes is the fact that he realizes his interest in Matsuoka and he willingly makes an effort to find what he likes in Matsuoka as a man.

As a side note: I also think it's interesting to note how different Hirosue is from most semes in BL. He is not very attractive. He's unobservant. He's not stylish, talented, charismatic nor intelligent. In fact, Matsuoka almost fills all the check boxes for perfect seme while Hirosue is almost more similar to the many average ukes. I wonder if this is why more people don't give Hirosue a pass for his relatively unattractive personality throughout much of the story. We're used to it in the ukes, but we have better expectations for the semes especially since they are generally representative of the desires and 'perfect lover' of the reader. Just some food for thought.

There's not too many smut scenes and I wouldn't recommend it as a story if that's all you want. The character interactions (including work mates) was what made me love this the most. When there were simple meal scenes or co-worker talks or scenes of sleeping soundly, I couldn't help but smile while reading. On the other hand, it did make me shed tears during some of the heartbreak and emotionally painful scenes.

I truly loved it by the end. It felt like a long journey and in several ways it was. Both main characters had profoundly changed by the end and that made reading this story feel worth it.

On a last note, I LOVED the translation. Isolarium did a better job than many professional novel translations I've read. I normally don't mention translation groups, but I feel it would be wrong not to in this case. I'm only sad they're now defunct.

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Recommended!

by IAmKingTarquin
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Yet again, another Konhara Narise great work.

Out of all the novels by her that I have read, this is perhaps the funniest one and has more depth too (like Hako no Naka)

This one has a lot of ups and downs - but then again, so is real life and/or well - love, right?

Some questions that hopefully will encourage you to read this:

What will you do if your dream person turned out to be - a dream/fake even
Will you change what you know / believed in all throughout your life for the person you love?
If the person you're going out with turns out to be somewhat demeaning and insensitive - do you think you'll have to enough patience to bear with the person?

All in all - a really wonderful read; do read it too when you can!

... Last updated 11 years ago

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Amazing story

by Serendipity_
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This novel dealt with a very interesting topic and portrayed it in such an amazing way, that It resulted in me thinking about it for days. We get to know the story of Matsouka and Hirose and how they deal with love beyond gender boundaries. Personally I loved the story, but I couldn't help but dislike Hirose until the end.

Hiroses character had no backbone and he kept finding excuses for everything he did. He tried too hard to become a good person, but instead it had the opposite result. I know that the situation in the story was hard to deal with, but cooome on, he kept leading Matsouka on even after he knew the truth. Annoying. Even at the ending when he finally accepts Matsouka I felt it was fake, like he just found Matsouka convinient and choose the easy way out.

Strongly recommended. Wonderful story, and an amazing translation.

... Last updated 11 years ago

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Masterpiece!!!!!!

by yuri_shibuya
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Soo I was reading this yaoi novel and at the start of the chapter it got me hooked already.
I like the plot and how the author delivers the story. You can feel how Matsuoka has gotten head over heels with Hirose. I admit when I was reading the novel halfway, I felt a great sense of irritation on Hirose because he is so insensitive and indecisive but that whats makes it interesting. A unlikable seme from the start but turns to passionate once Hirose realize that he loves Matsuoka.

It truly is a great read. You won't get bored reading this. Every chapter gives you different emotion you can appreciate.

A great story about unrequited love and how the protagonist worked hard for his love to be reciprocated and overcome the barrier of gender issues. I say love knows no gender at all.

I totally recommend reading this masterpiece.
I'm totally waiting for the sequel of this novel >.<

... Last updated 8 years ago

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Beautiful

by sandyatthebeach1
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Okay, first and foremost, Nostalgia on 9th Avenue always does such an impeccable job translating novels- nearly no mistakes, lovely grammar, and the flow of the words remains smooth and natural. Immense props, seriously.
Now, the novel: reading this nearly gave me a panic attack on multiple occasions. Usually, "gender-bending" in yaoi is just a precursor to sex with a super girly uke in a sailor uniform being bullied by the seme. This... this was completely different. Matsuoka is a guy- he's well aware of the fact, too. I really appreciated that. And oh, goodness, how hooked I was on this novel! I was so ridiculously nervous that Matsuoka would be caught by Hirosue, and then I was so ridiculously nervous that Hirosue wouldn't love Matsuoka as a man and.... too many feelings, basically. But too many in a good way. Definitely recommended. It's just a fantastic read!

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