Largely, this is intended as a satirical piece about a kinky man fixating on a woman who isn't afraid to drop kick him. And if it had stayed in that lane, I think we'd have been fine. Tedious, but fine. Problem is, the plot sometimes careens across multiple lanes, side-swiping issues like bereavement, power dynamics, stalking/love-bombing, love for the neurologically spicy before trying to work as a semi-sincere romance. There's even a really fun bit I was interested in exploring, with the three genius subs and the normie dominant. You go girl, put all three of them on their knees. I want it!!
...But the show can't get past the idea that 'perverts' are funny, and so it won't delve any deeper into any of those issues.
If all you want is a laugh at a pervert, this will fit the bill. I gave it a five because it IS funny.
If you have any deeper thoughts and appreciation for BDSM, this becomes a more difficult watch. It is never genuinely sexy or genuinely romantic. I can't say for sure that it's attempting the former, but it's certainly trying for the latter, but because of the complete lack of engagement with the BDSM/Sexuality element, the romance is pretty doomed.
Now, I will not tell a lie. Hayami Mokomichi is really funny in this as the masochistic CEO Amagi Kyoichi. He is going for it. A few of the times he slid into frame in an absurd way I almost peed myself laughing. He's doing a great job with this wild part of a man. It's high energy, wacky, and bizarre. He does have some deeper story elements to him, so he has some serious turns. Not long lasting ones, but they are there.
In Matsui Airi's Sato Yui, the show stumbles. I think she's doing a fair job; it's the broader creative handling of the show that fails to acknowledge that if Sato Yui is not even a little interested in the dynamic with Kyoichi, then this is all a nightmare and not a comedy. I only ever saw her being revolted by Kyoichi, and weirded out by his overtures. I suppose you could say that her continuing to physically assault him is something, but she always did it out of anger. There is never a pause on her part that she might enjoy bossing Kyoichi around. The bereavement of her pet is the reason she gave Kyoichi the initial dressing down, which I suppose is some kind of impetus, but I wanted to see it come from inside her. I wanted to feel like she was engaging in being powerful. That could have been scary and funny so very easily. But, you have to grant her those desires in order to work with them. They don't. She never finds Kyoichi anything but burdensome, and seems more interested and has more connection with the second lead.
That's where the satire falls down. It works when she's administering round-house kicks to a delighted Kyoichi (Well, the first time. They go back to that well too often), but if she isn't fundamentally interested in a relationship with Kyoichi... then...well, why is it funny that Kyoichi stands outside her apartment with a bouquet of roses at all hours? Or calls her into his office as her boss to force her to interact in a way that she knows he he finds sexually stimulating? Or emotionally manipulates her? That shit ain't satire. Plenty of women experience those things and are utterly helpless, so it fails to be funny, even if he's generally somewhat pathetic in those scenes. It's still a man with higher social power forcing his attention on a woman who thinks he's gross and weird.
In order for this to work, both of these people need to be absolute freaks. But, they aren't. Ultimately, we're supposed to point and laugh at the submissive pervert man because his desires are so contrary to what we've been told men want. But there's real, tangible fear for a female sadist who enjoys verbally vivisecting a man, and so the story does everything it can to undercut Sato Yui having any kind of power. Even to the detriment of the show as a whole; it's that scared of her having and using sexual power.
It makes me feel guilty for laughing at so much of this, because this isn't what BDSM is or should be. It makes a mockery of Kyoichi's desires which don't conform to gender norms, and is rank with misogyny denying Sato Yui her own desires or even the capacity to escape her would-be-submissive.
...But the show can't get past the idea that 'perverts' are funny, and so it won't delve any deeper into any of those issues.
If all you want is a laugh at a pervert, this will fit the bill. I gave it a five because it IS funny.
If you have any deeper thoughts and appreciation for BDSM, this becomes a more difficult watch. It is never genuinely sexy or genuinely romantic. I can't say for sure that it's attempting the former, but it's certainly trying for the latter, but because of the complete lack of engagement with the BDSM/Sexuality element, the romance is pretty doomed.
Now, I will not tell a lie. Hayami Mokomichi is really funny in this as the masochistic CEO Amagi Kyoichi. He is going for it. A few of the times he slid into frame in an absurd way I almost peed myself laughing. He's doing a great job with this wild part of a man. It's high energy, wacky, and bizarre. He does have some deeper story elements to him, so he has some serious turns. Not long lasting ones, but they are there.
In Matsui Airi's Sato Yui, the show stumbles. I think she's doing a fair job; it's the broader creative handling of the show that fails to acknowledge that if Sato Yui is not even a little interested in the dynamic with Kyoichi, then this is all a nightmare and not a comedy. I only ever saw her being revolted by Kyoichi, and weirded out by his overtures. I suppose you could say that her continuing to physically assault him is something, but she always did it out of anger. There is never a pause on her part that she might enjoy bossing Kyoichi around. The bereavement of her pet is the reason she gave Kyoichi the initial dressing down, which I suppose is some kind of impetus, but I wanted to see it come from inside her. I wanted to feel like she was engaging in being powerful. That could have been scary and funny so very easily. But, you have to grant her those desires in order to work with them. They don't. She never finds Kyoichi anything but burdensome, and seems more interested and has more connection with the second lead.
That's where the satire falls down. It works when she's administering round-house kicks to a delighted Kyoichi (Well, the first time. They go back to that well too often), but if she isn't fundamentally interested in a relationship with Kyoichi... then...well, why is it funny that Kyoichi stands outside her apartment with a bouquet of roses at all hours? Or calls her into his office as her boss to force her to interact in a way that she knows he he finds sexually stimulating? Or emotionally manipulates her? That shit ain't satire. Plenty of women experience those things and are utterly helpless, so it fails to be funny, even if he's generally somewhat pathetic in those scenes. It's still a man with higher social power forcing his attention on a woman who thinks he's gross and weird.
In order for this to work, both of these people need to be absolute freaks. But, they aren't. Ultimately, we're supposed to point and laugh at the submissive pervert man because his desires are so contrary to what we've been told men want. But there's real, tangible fear for a female sadist who enjoys verbally vivisecting a man, and so the story does everything it can to undercut Sato Yui having any kind of power. Even to the detriment of the show as a whole; it's that scared of her having and using sexual power.
It makes me feel guilty for laughing at so much of this, because this isn't what BDSM is or should be. It makes a mockery of Kyoichi's desires which don't conform to gender norms, and is rank with misogyny denying Sato Yui her own desires or even the capacity to escape her would-be-submissive.
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