gekidasa

I've been watching YAOH (originally because it has Kaname Jun and Suga Takamasa as hosts, and what more reason could one need?). I just watched episode 4 tonight, and as much as I've enjoyed the 3 episodes preceding it, this one blew them away.

I think the thing for me personally is that even though when one compares to Giragira (the other drama about hosts that I've watched) it comes off far grittier and more realistic (the hosts are grownups!), there's still a sort of naivete to YAOH. I guess it's unavoidable when the show's protagonist is an idealist who sees himself as a knight in shining armor, working as a host to heal women's hearts. I mean, I get it, I understand that this IS still romnaticized and doesn't ever pretend it's not. I mean, the idea that a guy like Ryosuke won't just survive in a world this cuthroat, but actually thrive and (I assume) eventually become Rome's top draw, gives it a certain faery tale feel, you don't QUITE buy it. The whole time you know you're watching a fantasy, basically. And that's okay, like I said, I like it a lot for what it is.

But this is also the reason why I loved this episode so much. Because it focuses on Shu (Kaname Jun ^o^); and Shu is basically a decent guy who doesn't whore himself or push women to prostitution, but he's not an idealized guy like Ryosuke. I would say Shu is in fact quite realistic. He's got his issues, he chose freedom over respectability, and he's very aware of what he gave up. And he can't quite reconcile that, and deep down he's a little ashamed of it. He doesn't have that pristine outlook on what being a host ideally is. He realizes that he lives in a gray area and he does his best to navigate it. And so, in my opinion, the fact that this episode focused on him and that the Woman Of The Week was his little sister makes it a lot more realistic and stronger, it's more inmediate because the idealized faery tale sheen isn't as thick.

Again, this is in no way a criticism of the series, I think it's a great drama and am enjoying it a lot. This is just the reason that I think this episode in particular is on a whole other level.

( On to the screencaps )