IS, episode 4

 

 

The Actors

Rape-Huggist:  Inoue Masahiro♂
Rape-Huggee: Fukada Saki♀♂


The Context

This is the 2nd rape-hug between these two characters (where she is actually an intersexual), the first being the episode before where he creepily rape-hugged her/him from behind while watching videos at his house. He/she ran away from him, so you can't really get any more definitive rejection than that. Right? Well, no, he didn't learn from his mistake. This time, at the very end of this next episode they are playing soccer together and for no real reason she falls over. She's supposed to be a very good soccer player, so I don't know how she could simply topple over like that. It's a stretch. Then he offers his hand to help her up. He 'accidentally' pulls too hard, and it magically turns into a rape-hug.

 

The Result

 

She tries struggling, at which point he doubles up and wraps her up tighter. She submits. Then they start sort-of dating from the next episode. Also, it wouldn't be a crappy dorama if there wasn't somebody who accidentally sees the rape-hug. So, as they stand there in the middle of the field embracing, there is one of those horror movie angles when someone watching from behind the trees. Who could it be? Then she has a voiceover where she says how confused she is and end credits roll along with the compulsory shitty J-pop song.

The Depiction

 

We get a visual feast of creepiness here. Slow motion high angle as he helps her up, low angle as she gets flung up, a close-up of his face as he realises he has a chance to steal a hug, a close-up of her as she realises and starts struggling, and then a close-up of his hands going from the small of her back to the back of her head, her finally sort-of putting her hands around his back, and an over-acted surprised close-up of his face. Everything about this gives me douche-chills. Teenage boys are so fucking stupid.  

Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆☆


Being a teenager is rough. There is so much awkwardness as it is, but this, this is just too much. His expressions border on psychotic, and the whole premise of initiating the hug is so opportunistic and forced. And then there is part where he quells her struggling by gripping tighter. Add to that the previous episode's rape-hug and the aftermath and we have a quality 5-star rape-hug (and I'm not even taking into the account that she's an intersexual). I know some creeps out there are saying "but she actually liked him but couldn't bring herself to open up to him because of insecurity about her gender", but if that were a real reason then the whole world would become a rape-hug free-for-all, and that's a world that I don't want to live in.


Video

Enjoy the well-produced scene with equally terrible acting. Pay close attention to the way she falls over. Also, take note of the orchestral music that tries to suggest that this is a romantic moment, and then finally the "serial killer" angle from behind the trees.