Netsuzou TRap Episode 8 Review – “Uncontrollable Feelings”

(Spoilers in this review) Two Sentence Summary: Yuma is unhappy to find out that Hotaru works at a hostess club and, while attempting to make Hotaru quit her job, ends up briefly working there, as well. Yuma confronts Fujiwara over letting his girlfriend work at a hostess club and he reveals that Hotaru is trying to earn enough money to move out since she feels smothered living so close to Yuma.

Comments: Yuma’s lack of self-awareness is not something to be admired and is not strong enough of an element to make up such considerable amounts of the story line within Netsuzou TRap. It only serves to frustrate the viewer as she uselessly flails around as she wrestles with her “uncontrollable feelings.”

Any viewer can tell that Yuma actually longs for Hotaru (and she’s probably only lusting after Hotaru considering how Yuma only mentions being touched by Hotaru or only brings up Hotaru’s appearance as a positive). However, the audience learns that Yuma’s attraction towards Hotaru, as well as being used to being Hotaru’s protector in the past, has led Yuma to be very controlling of Hotaru’s life. Now it’s up for grabs as to who is the worst girl in this series.

There’s been an ongoing trend involving cute anime girls with horrendous personalities still being able to be popular with viewers and fans because they are, despite being obnoxious, still somewhat charming. Chitose from Girlish Number is one, as with Umaru from Himouto! Umaru-chan. This unfortunately doesn’t apply to Yuma and Hotaru so we’re left with a general sense of dislike as we watch two unlikable characters make each other’s lives worse. I want to claim that the short running time of each episode guarantees that there is simply not enough time to make characters meaningful, but it also has to do with how the characters are presented. Yuma apparently doesn’t understand the word, “lust,” whereas Hotaru continues to be a liar. Boom, that’s the recipe for continuous drama. But is it quality drama?

Not much to say about the guys. Takeda is just a guy. He’s a saint compared to all the other characters, still. Fujiwara is quite hands-off with Hotaru since he’s okay with her working there. Then again, Hotaru probably isn’t his main squeeze anymore considering the rumors from a previous episode, so of course he doesn’t really care. Hotaru trying to make Fujiwara feel bad over letting her work at a hostess club was ironic considering her own lustful feelings towards Hotaru.

I did like the way the series depicted Yuma struggling with “uncontrollable feelings” at the end of the episode. More of that sort of visuals, please! But I doubt I’ll get my wish.

Another episode for the hot mess of a show concludes. Only one more month of this shallow drama featuring unlikable characters, folks.