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.

IS, Episode 3

The Actors

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

The Context
This dorama centres around Fukuda Saki's character who is an intersexual - as in s/he has no defined gender. At first I thought this would be a very serious dorama about a very difficult topic -- especially in Japan. However, it quickly devolved into pretty much every crappy dorama full of bad acting, stilted dialogue, predctable plot-twists and the occasional rape-hug. In this scene - Fukuda's character (who feels like a boy but has been forced to go to her school as a girl) is at a boy's house. They had gone to a football (soccer) match and afterwards went to his house to watch more football videos. Until now they had been hanging out as friends, but after an awkward topic was breached, the camera zooms into his face. Yes, a rape-hug was inevitable. 

The Result
As you see in the GIF above, she/he did not accept the rape-hug, and immediately after runs away. He runs after her (probably not the most non-rapey option) and confronts her. They then agree it was a mistake and decide to simply be friends. 

The Depiction

The sequence begins with a very creepy slowmotion zoom-in shot of his face as he decides to rape-hug her/him from behind while s/he is looking through the box of VHS's. The impact is shown a couple of times from different angles in slow motion with fade-cuts, along with closeups of both their faces. It is a relatively long drawn-out sequence. Then, the slowmotion stops and contrasts with the sudden burst out of the rape-grapple.

Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆
I hesitate to award this a full 5-stars based solely on the fact that they are both minors and it would be difficult to convict the perp. However, we have to congratulate I.S. for combining several of the awkward markers:

• The reverse attack
• The incredibly creepy closeup as he pre-determines his rape-huggy actions
• The sitting-down position which just looks wrong 

Then of course add to it the fact that he has no idea that the person he is compelled to hug is actually a he-she. See, we could all learn from this that our actions have consequences.


Video
To truly appreciate the sheer unwatchability of this scene, here is the video with the excruciating slow motion and mockingly romantic music.