×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Buried Treasure - The Great Happiness Space


Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:54 pm Reply with quote
Defiantly something I want to see. it seemed so sad, with all the hosts being so depressed. 10 bottles of champagne? Jesus I can barely get through four or five.

Thanks for the break from anime, this was a pleasant change.

Also one error I think:
Quote:
"We have to keep them happy, so when we have to lie, we lie. If I were honest, may girls would hate me."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:02 am Reply with quote
Fixed the typo. Thanks!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:08 am Reply with quote
i've always been curious about this profession. gonna check this out when i get a chance.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
AirCooledMan_2006



Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 594
Location: Delaware, U.S.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:25 am Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
i've always been curious about this profession. gonna check this out when i get a chance.


That makes two of us.

Makes me think back to this article I read in Otaku USA that covered host clubs. I heard some hosts have even written books about the profession.

Ten bottles of booze a night? Holy fecking asscrackers! But then again, they're making a shitload of dough for it...makes me think about opening a host club here in the States!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:35 am Reply with quote
AirCooledMan_2006 wrote:


...makes me think about opening a host club here in the States!


I think the clientele here would be more of the cheated on housewife or the housewife who wants a fling. I have to wonder why there aren't women versions of this. What are they called? Prostitutes? Whores? Hostess? Idols?


Last edited by britannicamoore on Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:45 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address
JacobC
ANN Contributor


Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3728
Location: SoCal
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:38 am Reply with quote
I always found the idea of a host club completely repulsive (insincerity and self-serving people are HUGE pet peeves of mine, and it incorporates both of them) but I love Ouran. It really took the whole idea and made it make fun of itself. Without Haruhi and Tamaki's characters, it wouldn't have worked, but they make it a great comedy. (It's like TMoHS in that way.)

But that's off-topic. Seems like this documentary confirms my fears of what the real thing would be like. So tragic. I wonder what kind of impetus drives a man to want to be a host in the first place? I can understand feeling trapped in the profession for a while, but I wonder if the drive isn't some insane wish to please women because men find them such a miracle and want to make them happy? I mean...that's no way to do it. It only drags those poor women further into delusion, seclusion, any other life-ruining "usion" you can think of, and it's certainly worse for the men.

I'd love to see this, but I don't have Netflix. Poo. Mad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime
dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:38 am Reply with quote
So let me see. A max of $50,000 a week (I'll assume that's US currency), times by 52 weeks, and we get a upper ceiling of $2,600,000 a year. Crazy.

Even if they only get half the maximum weekly amount, and only last four weeks, that's still an easy $100,000.

Though they would probably need that much just to pay the inevitable medical bills from destroying their livers.

I wonder, was there any mention of drug taking among the hosts (as a coping mechanism)?

A very good and gripping review, Justin. I definitely am inspired to look into this title.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1816
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:55 am Reply with quote
britannicamoore wrote:
I have to wonder why there aren't women versions of this. What are they called? Prostitutes? Whores? Hostess? Idols?


IIRC, hostess clubs have been around longer than host clubs. The aforementioned Otaku USA article says that women in this line of work are more likely to be suspected of engaging prostitution than the men.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:06 am Reply with quote
britannicamoore wrote:
I have to wonder why there aren't women versions of this. What are they called? Prostitutes? Whores? Hostess? Idols?


There have been hostesses for decades, perhaps centuries. They're basically a lower class version of a geisha, who do basically the same thing the hosts do, except with businessmen. They don't have a good reputation (as many of them use the opportunity to gold-dig), but then again, most Japanese don't think of hosts in a positive light either.

The male side of things is a pretty recent phenomenon.

To see what the female side of things used to be like back in the 60s, I highly recommend the classic Ozu film, "When A Woman Ascends the Stairs."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:12 am Reply with quote
AirCooledMan_2006 wrote:
makes me think about opening a host club here in the States!


host clubs would never work in the US. too much potential to be beaten up or murdered.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Loveless100



Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:35 am Reply with quote
I remember seeing this documentary about a year ago while watching Ouran. It nearly made me cry because it painful to watch these people try to find comfort in false love.

Seriously, if people can find it and watch it, please do. It opened my eyes to what seemed like a bright and beautiful job.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cicatriz



Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 66
Location: Reno, Nevada
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:37 am Reply with quote
I rented this movie a couple months ago. It was really interesting, the only thing that bothered me was the thing itself, it was really really long, though most of it at least kept your attention. I do like that they gave the clients as much interview time as the guys themselves. I almost felt bad for the girl that the main guy said he hated.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger
poonk



Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 1490
Location: In the Library with Philip
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:40 am Reply with quote
Wow, something I've actually seen!

I really liked this documentary. It managed to be sympathetic to both the hosts and their clients. At first I thought Issei was kind of conceited, but you come to realize that despite his bragging, he's actually extremely lonely. It seems it has become hard, if not impossible, for him to separate his host-persona act from his actual personality, thereby rendering any real, meaningful relationship impossible-- when "being in love" is your job, then how do you really fall in love? And the women are similarly... well, kind of sad. As in, hearing about their situations made me depressed. One scene that really got to me was when they were doing a champagne call for woman, and she really looked like she was on the verge of tears (not happy ones either) while all the hosts swarmed around her, chanting. Many if not most of their clientele work in the sex industry themselves and go to these boys for non-judgemental comfort and distraction. It's a very strange (but perhaps not unexpected) industry that has sent itself up: Young women serving salaryman-types through hostess clubs (and other sex industry positions), and then young men in host clubs serving the hostesses in turn.

dtm42 wrote:
I wonder, was there any mention of drug taking among the hosts (as a coping mechanism)?
As I remember, no. I mean, the boys are getting pretty intoxicated every night. If a client buys a bottle of champagne, they basically are obligated to drink it. I remember one scene where one of the boys collapses, he's so wasted, and they pack him into a cab and the rest of them bicycle home. I can't imagine drinking that much in one night (and maintaining a charming facade the whole time) and then turning around and doing it again the next night; but for them, it's all in a night's work...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Ligene



Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 137
Location: Mary-land!
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:49 am Reply with quote
A fresh review, very nice. Always been a sucker for depressing documentaries; have to make sure to find this one day.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Manga
GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15280
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:50 am Reply with quote
Quote:
("I was having sex with 365 girls a year," he boasts.)


Doing one a day ain't that impressive, bub. Rolling Eyes

Quote:
"I've seen guys throw up blood," he says. "My liver's probably shot."


That's what you call manly vomit. You ain't anything without it. [Just bs'ing there. Laughing ]

BTW, if you want more host-related fun, check out Yakuza, B.O.D.Y., and Nerima Daikon Bros.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group