The Actors
Rape-Huggist: Ikuta Toma ♂
Rape-Huggee: Inoue Mao ♀
The Context
It is the start of the 2nd Season of this very successful dorama. She has gone up a school year and her boyfriend has gone overseas. So the problem is, how do you introduce some conflict into the dorama? That's right: a rape-hug!
Junpei is a new character who is actually a world-famous male model, but at school nobody recognises him because he wears glasses. How is this possible, you ask? Well, this is a dorama intended for silly teenage girls, is why. They have a couple of random meetings and it seems like they could become good friends, or perhaps more. However, afraid of her current relationship, she says it would be better if they don't be friends anymore. He starts crying, she says "well, we can still be friends...", and then he is so overjoyed that he rape-hugs her and doesn't even hear her saying "Stop it."
The Result
The rape-hug is cut short when she spots a friend eavesdropping on them, and she is the one who appears to feel guilty. What are we living in the Middle East now, where rape-hug victims are the ones to blame?
Spoiler Alert: It turns out that Junpei was actually a mortal enemy of her boyfriend and was planning all along to take revenge on him by stealing his girl, or kidnapping him, or something that only a teenage girl could suspend their belief enough for.
The Depiction
This scene is usual for it's spare use of cuts. It consists mainly of a long-shot containing horrifically terrible overacting, and it progresses to a mid-shot where he grabs her by her jacket sleeves as she is trying to escape, and the rape-hug occurs in the same scene. I can only hope that they needed only one take, and judging by the quality of acting, I think that was the case. There is also a crappy piano tune playing which stops suddenly when a door is heard opening. During the struggle, there is another cut to close in and show us her facial expression as she realises she has been caught in the act. Her face is quite similar to an O-face.
Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆
This is a high-degree of awkwardness, based partly on her terribly overacted facial expressions. In the screen-grab we see her pouting like a fish, and then her face turns into an inappropriate expression of carnal desire as she realises she has been caught in the act. Perhaps that's what gets her off.
Also, you can't avoid the fact that she is screaming for him to stop - which he doesn't until another male disturbs them.
But the most awkward part to me is when the music screeches to a stop. The hotel-lobby-like piano music continues along to provide a nice background during the rape-hug and screeches to a halt only when someone else interrupts it. It isn't the physical assualt, but the fact that someone else saw it. Think about that.
Video
Enjoy the terrible acting which extends across language barriers, and pay particular attention to the moment that the music stops.
