Nodame Cantablie, Episode 11

 The Actors
Rape-Huggist: Tamaki Hiroshi ♂
Rape-Huggee: Ueno Jiri ♀







*Remember the name Tamaki Hiroshi. By my own anecdotal evidence, he is by far the rape-huggiest J-actor around. Every dorama I've seen of his, he commits rape-hug, and often this includes some of the most violent and inappropriate ones. This certainly is a great introduction to his body of work. 

The Context
They are both music students, and she has been chasing him like a pack of rabid dogs after a terrified 6-year old carrying a bag of dead kittens. She even rape-kissed him earlier on, but he couldn't take a hint - all the way until this - the last episode. Like many final episodes of Japanese doramas, the girl gives up on the guy and goes to her hometown. In this case, it is in Kyushu - the very bottom island of Japan. While she is there, he realises that he likes her and takes the bullet-train, local train and taxi all the way from Tokyo. This is a very long trip and prohibitively expensive so it cannot possibly be spontaneous. Then, from the taxi he gets a phonecall from her, and the taxi passes her walking alongside the river. He gets out of the taxi without her knowledge and just watches from afar. If he were wearing a rubber mask, this would have changed the context completely. Then, he begins a confident stride and rape-hugs the crapp out of her.

The Result
She is shocked, and he doesn't help the situation by making thinly veiled threats ("If you reject me again..."). After about 90 seconds, she touches his arm to make the rape-hug legal. Then he is introduced to the family, and you'd think everything is fine between them. But no, they never really get together - at least not until the 2nd special episode.

However, the biggest apparent result of this rape-hug is thousands of girls wetting themselves at this special moment. Seriously, there are message boards talking about how "suteki" and romantic this moment was. All I have to say is: Really women? Really? Really? And that is why I began this website.

The Depiction



We have a dramatic sunset backdrop, and a series of sweeping shots. Also, the point of impact is so violent that it reminds me of this nature video. But visually this rape-hug is most notable for the range of facial expressions. You can clearly see his expression when he decides he's going for it. Then his face truly gets scary.  Tamaki at his rape-huggy finest.
As great as his face is, I can't get enough of her sheer state of shell-shock. I mean, she has been rape-hugged in the behind from a guy who has literally travelled half the length of Japan to commit this act.
Then, after they stand there for a long time, a boat goes by with her father on it.



Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆☆
This rape-hug gains the full 5-stars for awkwardness. In fact, it was this very rape-hug that sowed the seed for J-Dorama Rape-Hugs. For the full awkwardness and sheer-dragged-out-ness, do check out the video below. 


Video



Bonus: 
Like many dorama's Nodame Cantabile is a remake of a manga and anime. Either way, here is a cartoon version of the same incident. Some may say that this dorama was merely being true to the original, but that doesn't make it any less rape-huggy. Yes, it is very faithful. Faithfully hug-rapey.
Discuss: Is a rape-hug better or worse when it is in animated form?


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