wellwellbelle

I did not expect to find a show focused on Yakuza characters to be somehow beautiful and feel like a deep meditation on being human, but here we are.

It feels in a way more like a character study than a plot focused story, although that is not to say there is no plot or that the plot is poorly executed. It's more that the two main characters and their emotional journey are the focus of the story, rather than the sequence of events that brings them together and moves them to the next stage of their journey.

The characters are morally grey; they have done things that by objective standards are wrong, but as we learn more about them, the complexities of who they are and their motivations complicate any simple assessment of "right" or "wrong" (in terms of their overall charcter, not necessarily individual actions).

Despite being a short series, the story of who the characters are unfolds slowly over the episodes. We continue to gain new insights into them until the last episode. The pace feels very meditative and non-linear, which compliments the complexity of the characters. Despite being "slow" in a certain sense, the scenes are very tightly written, and everything feels purposeful, contributing to the story (plot), the insight into the characters, and the development of the themes.

Some spoiler-full discussion of the first scene (an apparent SA) and the character's relationship below:
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So, the show opens with what appears to be a sexual assault. In a parked car, Kataoka opens a sleeping Odajima's shirt and moves on top of him. The scene cuts to Kataoka seemingly having sex with a sleeping Odajima, who then opens his eyes with a bored/annoyed expression and asks him what he is doing. In the moments after, Odajima thinks to himself that he will kill Kataoka, but this does not seem to be because of what just happened, but rather a larger purpose (which is confirmed in the immediately following scenes).

First, I would say that from a story-telling perspective, this is not there as fan service or to romanticize SA. The scene effectively shows us who the characters are at the moment the story opens: Kataoka does what he wants regardless of rules, and Odajima is enduring with the goal of killing Kataoka.

Second, while there is nothing about this sexual encounter that would rise it to the level of "enthusiastic ongoing consent" (and I'm not making excuses or suggesting this is an okay scenario) there are some reasons that we might consider it something more morally gray than a surface reading would imply. First, Kataoka makes a comment after that seems to imply that providing (for lack of a better term) "sexual services" is something that Odajima is known to have been doing within the organization. We get a partial confirmation of this later in the episode when we see him in a past-flashback with the Fourth Generation (the son of the boss who ordered the hit). Second, it is beyond improbable that Kataoka could have had sex with a sleeping Odajima without waking him in the positions they were in. So, either it wasn't actual sex, or Odajima particapted at some basic level and then sort of checked out while it was happening. Neither makes the scenario okay, but I think that either interpretation contributes to the understanding of the characters, and also reminds us that not everything that is said or done in the show can be taken at face value.

Third, Kataoka definitely knows in that first scene that Odajima has been hired to kill him. Again, this doesn't excuse it, but it contributes to the sense of moral gray in this world. There's no one who's wholey good or bad, and the actions of the two characters are steeped in a context of violence and death.

In the second episode they have a more consentual sexual encounter, although again, I don't think it quite rose to the level of "enthusiastic consent." Odajima faced with a sense of inevitability which detracts from his willingness.

Prior to the sex, they have a conversation in which Kataoka makes the seemingly bizarre statement that he's never forced anyone. Odajima objects but Kataoka jokes away his objection in a "your body says differently" sort of way. This seems to lend towards an interpretation that they did have sex in the car, which for me suggests that Odajima went along with it in his "enduring" sort of way that isn't consent but doesn't raise objection. For Kataoka, no objection is no different from consent.

Their encounter at the hotel is obviously different for Odajima on some level, though. He is a more active particiant than in the car or with his boss. A couple of episodes later, Odajima tells Kataoka that was his first time. Kataoka responds by declaring he must take responsibility and that Odajima is now his wife.

If we take this as truth, it's really a terrible bit of writing--cliched, boring stereotypical masculine response to virginity. But everything about the show so far tells us not to take it as truth. The comment Kataoka made at the beginning, the scene with Odajima's boss are direct clues, but also the ways in which the show keeps telling us one thing and showing another, or showing us a truth and complicating it with a contraditory truth tell us that everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I think that Kataoka knows this. He recognizes that this is not a factual truth, but an emotional one. What Odajima experienced with him was something new, on some level Odajima genuinely wanted and enjoyed being with Kataoka. And by this time, he also knows enough about Odajima's life to recognize how rare and precious and fragile such an emotion is for Odajima, maybe even more than Odajima himself recognizes it.

We've seen prior to this that Kataoka isn't cruel, and he has a protective streak. At the very beginning he tries to help a boy save a baby bird, and he laments his inability to save anything. He knows that Odajima might kill him at any time, and if not Odajima, then someone else, and he is, perhaps, feeling that he would like to leave something behind that is nurturing and positive rather than destructive.

So, when he realizes that Odajima has some kind of positive feeling for him, and knowing how much pain Odajima is in, his response about taking responsibility and making Odajima his wife is because he wants to nurture and protect that small good thing in Odajima's life. And it is this bit of goodness that is growing between them that becomes the basis of their relationship, not some weird fetishization of virginity and male obligation.

Anyway, if you've read this far, I'd love to know your thoughts. Does any of this interpretation match yours?