Hotaru no Hikari, Episode 8

The Actors

Rape-Huggist: Ayase Haruka ♀
Rape-Huggee: Kato Kazuki ♂

The Context

These two have been dating for a few episodes and have carefully followed the J-dorama relationship curve. 

• They are awkward together
• He 'proclaims his love'
• They hold hands and go to the amusement park
• He kisses her while she imitates a mannequin

Then he jumps the gun and asks her to move in with him. She eventually agrees and the rape-hug scene comes when they are looking for an apartment. By "they are looking for an apartment" I mean "he decides the apartment and announces it to her because she doesn't have an opinion". She was extremely worried about the fact that she likes to wear jerseys at home, and when he tells her that despite her love for wearing jerseys he still wants to move in with her - she strikes with that rape-hug.

The Result

They do move in together, but because their relationship is so perfect and so polite you know it will never work out. I guess it should be a hint when the only real emotion that is shown is expressed by rape-hug, you're in trouble.

The Depiction

The room is sparse and the light streams in through the apartment window. She drops her head and runs three pathetic steps toward the light/her boyfriend, and dips her head, nestling it in his armpit upon impact. 

It's quite disturbing too that A) she has to make a run-up to hug him and B) that he totem-poles himself. I mean, he just said something very sweet to her so he should be expecting a hug. Also, he is facing her and she sucks at running. He could at least raise his hands to stop his girlfriend from being a rape-huggist.

Awkwardometor ☆☆
I don't know which of the two is more awkward. On the one hand, she is completely justified in hugging him but turns it into something weird, but on the other hand he asked her to move in with him yet he doesn't have the balls to reciprocate a measly hug.


Video
Rape-hugs really are a litmus test for bad acting. Firstly, any actor with an ounce of dignity would steer clear of them - or at least find that rare context where it works. Here in this tiny 8 second clip is all you need to know about the acting performances in this series. [Note: Ayase Haruka won awards for this role. Awards! How?]