"A Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese". A very apt title for a very thought provoking movie. NSFW warning: consensual, but explicit, gay sex scenes and some rear nudity.

There is a sad melancholic, masochistic kind of desperation about all the characters in this movie. They are all very much 'cornered mice dreaming of cheese' but never actually getting any cheese. It becomes clear in the course of the movie that each character's "dream of the cheese" became more important than actual getting of the real 'cheese', and because of that their lives got 'cornered' and limited by clinging to the dream for cheese, instead of the real thing when it came their way.

Kyoichi doesn't really have any deep connections with anyone. When people latch on to him, he has no objections ... easy come, easy go. Some clung to him as a 'lesser suffering' alternative to their lonely single lives ... they said they 'loved' him but did they really? What was the basis for their love for Kyoichi ... is that really love ?? Wataru has the measure of Kyoichi when he tells him, "You'll have anyone who loves you, but ultimately you cannot trust that love, so you sniff out the feelings of whoever comes near you."

To one degree or another I think all the characters who wanted to connect with Kyoichi knew that their dream of 'love' with him was futile ... and yet they persisted anyway. As an oblique response to this kind of grasping, Kyoichi gave Wataru a very poignant question and a statement ... one which I think the whole movie revolves around and is relevant to not just Kyoichi but to all the people who were interested in him:

"What do you want? There are a billion things in life more important than suffering for love."

All the characters got themselves cornered by clinging to their dreams of cheese, to the point that the actual 'cheese' was no longer their objective. When Kyoichi broke off his engagement with Okamura Tamaki, he tells her it is because his Ex came back and that, even though the Ex walked out on him again and probably for good this time, he wanted to wait for him. Kyoichi time and again lets the real cheese go ... and instead holds fast to the 'dream' of cheese instead. Even the last scene at the beach when Wataru comes back ... again ... Kyoichi lets him go with a "sorry". Kyoichi is on an iterative dream loop ... he will never get the taste of real cheese ... and neither will Wataru who ebbs and flows out of Kyoichi's dream of cheese.

Okamura is dreaming of cheese too, and an escape from her real life. She knows Kyoichi isn't the real 'cheese' and yet, despite Kyoichi breaking of the engagement to wait for his Ex to return, she pleads with him, "Can't I stay with you? If she comes back, I will step away quietly." A billion things more important than suffering for a dream of love ... but that is what she chooses ... she too has cornered herself in the dream of cheese that isn't real cheese ... the dream of love that isn't real love at all ... just like a menu isn't the same thing as the food.

Everyone cornered by the dream of cheese ... to one degree or another, at one time or another, we too in our real world can/may get cornered by our own "dreams of cheese" and miss the real cheese when it comes to us front and centre ... it is a situation worth thinking about. Dream away but when the real thing comes ... don't get cornered by the dream, grab the real cheese and run ??‍♂️?

An excellent thought provoking movie ... I am sure the manga would also be just as poignant if not more so.