Love Shuffle, Episode 4

The Actors
Rape-Huggist: Matsuda Shota ♂
Rape-Huggee: Yoshitaka Yuriko ♀

The Context
He is a playboy and she is a severely depressed suicidal teenager. In fact, although the concept of this dorama is about four people switching parters, she is actually a therapy patient of one of the characters. Also, she is a teenager. In this scene she tried committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. You see this in Japanese dramas quite often and it makes no sense to me. How is jumping off a bridge - which isn't even that high - into a body of water an effective way to kill youself? Maybe you'll be lucky and land on a barge. The "jumping off a bridge" method of suicide in Japanese doramas is only behind "Walking out into the sea" method in terms of stupidity.

The Result
It is unclear whether the intent of this rape-hug was to say "I want you to be my posession", or "please stop trying to kill yourself". Either way, this storyline doesn't really seem to go anywhere.

The Depiction



There are several classic elements to this rape-hug, primarily the completely limp female body as she accepts whatever the male decides to do to her. The moment of impact is all shown in a wide-shot against the sunset backdrop across the water as a lone clarinet plays a solo. What makes this rape-hug unique is that before he pulls her towards him, he puts a condescending hand on her shoulder, bows down to look her in the eye and speaks to her as if she is a child - which she is!!!. 

 
Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆
The age difference makes this rape-hug extremely disturbing to me, as well as the fact the is a severly suicidal teenage girl. I know there is a conception out there that feeling loved is the cure for everything, but do you really think a suicidal teenage girl will be able to process being rape-hugged by a man at least 10 years older than her? Also, the condescending nature of the arm on the shoulder and perfect limpicity of her body makes for a scene that is hard to watch.

Video
Watch the incredible acting by Yoshitaka Yuriko as she channels her inner jellyfish and makes it look like she has no bones. 

 

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?

Yume no California, Episode 4

The Actors
Rape-Huggist: Tanabe Seiichi ♂
Rape-Huggee: Kitagawa Hiromi ♀







The Context
These are two peripheral characters in this human dorama. He is a coworker of the main character and he has a wife and a child. She is also a co-worker who has fallen in love with him despite the fact that he is morally out of bounds. However, as Chris Rock once said “It's hard for a man to turn down sex … if they chase us, we can't run that fast.” So, by the fourth episode she asks "are you not feeling well?" he can't control his emotions and commits rape-hug.

The Result
To put it nicely, the rape-hug cured her affections. It's like really wanting to own a pair of skinny jeans, and you save up for months and months, and when you finally get a pair and try them on you look like a douche because you are wearing skinny jeans. That's because it's the moment you realise that you are basically wearing leggings with pockets and a belt. 

He is like those pair of skinny jeans. She has been biding her time, and then finally he cracks. But just before he does, she realises that his hair is stupid and he is nowhere near as smooth as she once thought. She just stands there like an alien probe victim standing alone in a field unsure of what just happened.

Fair enough. When a guy's reaction to a girl asking "Are you not feeling well?" is to rape-hug her, then he probably isn't well at all.


The Depiction
The rape hug begins with him dramatically turning his head - evil hamster style - and the camera takes a wide shot showing the rape-hug as a silhouette in front of the sunset. It cuts to close ups of him panting and looking scared, her face in sheer terror, and his face as he closes his eyes. It is unclear whether he is savouring the moment, or if he is regretting his actions. Then the scene cuts away to an unrelated scene as this 'romance'  is basically thrown under the rug.





Awkwardometor ☆☆☆

In his defense, she had been sending signals his way for a long time - but this was definitely not one of those moments. How could he screw this up? If he wanted to cheat on his wife and kid, he had every chance in the world but he had to ruin it - an amazing feat really. This was a layup. But instead of scoring the easy basket, he pooped his pants, slipped in his poop, and fell face first into his poop. 

Video
Pictured: How to ruin a sunset.

Sapuri, Episode 2

The Actors

Rape-Huggist: Eita ♂
Rape-Huggee: Ito Misaki ♀

The Context

He is a young, successful employee who is romantically only interested in his first love. She is a coworker who very much likes him and is frustrated with him being such a pussy. 

The Result

Considering what is written in the above paragraph, coupled with the fact that he rape-hugs her, you would think that this is finally the moment that they get together. Although I am not condoning the rape-hug gesture, perhaps she could un-make it a rape-hug by applying some pressure in return and saying how long she has waited for this moment. However, conditioned by years of Japanese rape-hug culture and the fact that all of Misaki Ito's characters are useless pieces of crap without any personality, she remains completely limp. They then stand in that awkward motion for about one minute of dorama playing time, long enough for some awkward dialogue (see the screen cap below) and for someone to accidentally walk in on them. Eventually, Eita's character apologises for his rash action and [spoiler alert] their genitals never touch.

The Depiction

Here we see the confident male preconceiving his actions, before taking the two strides and quickly evades the suggestion that he might be diving in for the kiss by swerving left - on which side cars drive in Japan - and remaining firmly in place for the long minute of this scene. Also, the scene is dramatically lit by a setting sun behind them in the board room they are in, and the orchestral music reaches its climax.

Awkwardometor ☆☆☆☆

Despite the expectation that the girl would be happy to be hugged, this rape hug is extremely awkward due to the extended duration of the hug and that at no point does she show any real emotion. Hell, I felt extremely awkward after a few seconds. At some point, you would expect Eita to think: 

"Why isn't she hugging me back? Maybe I should let go. Nah, that's impossible - I'm Eita. This is ging greaaaat!"  

Then somebody sees them, and instead of calling the police or informing HR of sexual harrassment, she thinks that this is a romantic moment and presumes that these two are dating, when in reality, you would get the same kind of experience with Ito Misaki as a sex doll. It's at times like these that I really hate Japanese Prime-time doramas (among many other legitimate reasons). I was surprised that this was the only rape-hug in the entire series, so there's at least that.

Video

Witness the lack of emotional depth in real time!