Forum - View topicBuried Treasure - The Great Happiness Space
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britannicamoore
 Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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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:
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Fixed the typo. Thanks!
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v1cious
 Posts: 6227 Location: Houston, TX |
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i've always been curious about this profession. gonna check this out when i get a chance.
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AirCooledMan_2006
 Posts: 594 Location: Delaware, U.S. |
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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! |
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britannicamoore
Posts: 2618 Location: Out. |
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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 |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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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. 
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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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. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1846 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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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. |
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief
Posts: 1684 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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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." |
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v1cious
Posts: 6227 Location: Houston, TX |
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host clubs would never work in the US. too much potential to be beaten up or murdered. |
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Loveless100
 Posts: 82 |
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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. |
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Cicatriz
 Posts: 66 Location: Reno, Nevada |
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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.
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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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.
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Ligene
 Posts: 137 Location: Mary-land! |
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A fresh review, very nice. Always been a sucker for depressing documentaries; have to make sure to find this one day.
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GATSU
Posts: 15547 |
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Doing one a day ain't that impressive, bub. 
That's what you call manly vomit. You ain't anything without it. [Just bs'ing there.  ]
BTW, if you want more host-related fun, check out Yakuza, B.O.D.Y., and Nerima Daikon Bros. |
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