Tiger And Dragon, Episode 3

The Actors

Rape-Huggist: Ito Misaki ♀
Rape-Huggee: Arakawa Yoshiyoshi ♂

The Context
Misaki's character is that she is a ditz, and he is one of the students living in the house who are studying the art of 'rakugo' (Japanese sit-down comedy). They are not involved - in fact she is dating the son of the master, and has slept twice with a different student. Anyway, at this point in the dorama it comes to light that he is a virgin. He then says how his only love is the theatre, which is her cue to say "Aww, how cute" and rape hug the virgin from behind.


The Result
Negligible. There is never any romantic or aggressive intent between the two characters, and her reaction is almost dehumanising him into a teddy-bear-like figure, as in "virgins still exist?"

The Depiction
The depiction is actually quite shocking, combining some of the most sinister rape-hug elements in quick succession: she runs out from behind the bookshelf on the left to rape-hug him from behind mid-sentence while six people simply look on and do nothing. This is a prime example of the bystander effect.




Awkwardometor ☆
Having once been a virgin myself, I know how incredibly awkward situation this must be for the male victim. The last thing his confidence needs right after exposing to everyone that he is a virgin is an attractive female fe-man-handling him out of any emotion other than lust, especially in a roomful of people he knows. However, the overall awkwardness of this rape-hug rates low because:

• Rape-hugs are nearly always less awkward when the female is the perp.
• There is obviously no malice intended by this action.
• Tiger and Dragon is a genuinely funny comedy, largely because it creates these awkward moments.

So basically what I have just said is that this rape-hug is less awkward because it is awkward. This makes sense when you remember that the awkwardometor is a gague of the awkwardness the viewer, not the characters. So basically, I might be implicity condoning rape-hugs - or willing to turn a blind eye - if the intent is only to embarrass male virgins.


Video
"How cute! Lets violate it!"