Sep 2023
I had read various reviews, but a friend with similar viewing tastes to me, said it was actually a really good story... warped and shocking, but excellently done. So, in I stepped.
Along with the captive, Makoto, the viewer is assaulted pretty quickly.
Chained to a gurney and bound, so begins a relentless regime of horrendous sexual abuse, using a variety of sex aids and the captor's own fingers.
Makoto is kept clean, spends a lot of time alone and is quickly allowed to move around enough (though chained by one ankle), to reach a toilet and table containing water and nutrient / vitamin tabs; no food is given.
Beyond the scenes of assault, we learn what lead Katsuragi Makoto to attempting a drunken suicide, from which he is saved by his captor, Yoda Ryoji.
We also learn why Ryoji appears to be numb to the suffering his intolerable levels of abuse cause, for what he sees as a therapy to awaken Makoto's senses and make him want to live.
It surfaces that both are suffering crushing levels of guilt for similar reasons.
Over time, Makoto begins to form a weird but inescapable bond with Ryoji; it's almost like he has become addicted to the intense pleasure he ultimately experiences, even though at the same time, he is visibly disgusted, shamed and hurt physically by it (for obvious reasons ~ he's a straight guy, so it's going to hurt).
As time goes on, however, and the pain diminishes, he seems to lose the shame and humiliation he felt, too. Ryoji tells him that his desire to live is there (basically, suicide should never have been an option ~ he didn't really want to die).
How this ended, I kind of saw coming and wasn't surprised.
Whilst Ryoji sexually assaulted Makoto multiple times, he actually raped him once and that was the culmination of his 'therapy'. He was then left alone and realises it appears he is able to leave.
The ending is poignant and I find that utterly bizarre; yet it is.
I mean, this should be an impossible piece of work to watch. I actually hate scenes of intense bullying and/or where a character is walked all over and too weak to do anything about it. I've dropped dramas like that, which are actually like a kid's programme compared to this.
So I cannot explain why I felt I just had to finish this and, more to the point, could!
Perhaps it's because there isn't any actual cruelty from Ryoji. He is calm throughout, and explains his actions, even though what he's doing is appalling. He never verbally humiliates Makoto and is totally clinical in his attitude. There is no violence with the sexual acts at all; he does not go out of his way to hurt Makoto (in fact there's an instance where he himself was totally vulnerable).
It really is the most visceral, disturbing and yet compelling thing I've ever watched.
It is not simply BDSM porn, that's for sure.
Totally and utterly warped, but it gets away with it. Just.
I could never watch it again though.