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Information

• Member: Skyebox
• Studio: Skyebox Productions
• Title: Player In Love
• Premiered: 2003-08-22
• Categories:
  • Drama
  • Character Profile
  • Romance
• Song:
  • Backstreet Boys Get Another Boyfriend
• Anime:
  • Hana Yori Dango
• Participation:
  • Shoujocon 2003, Shoujocon 2003 (2003-08-22)
• Comments: First version completed: April 2003
  
  Yes, I like and listen to the Backstreet Boys (no groaning, please!)
  
  Hana Yori Dango remains one of my all-time favorite shows. "Player In Love" is my third HYD video, and I wanted to take a different approach from my first two (which are both told from the perspective of a character). This video takes a look at the relationship between Tsukushi and Hanazawa Rui, from the viewpoint of an outside observer (be it another character or the audience). It sort of adds the final side to the romantic triangle of relationships addressed in my HYD videos. In case the title and the song didn't tip you off, I find this particular "relationship" very frustrating.
  
  It's not difficult to see why Tsukushi gravitates towards Rui. He's rich, handsome, and plays beautiful music on the violin. The fact that he's never really direct about anything gives him this aura of mystery. He's also one of the few Eitoku students who actually talks to Tsukushi, and he is willing to stand up for her (at least some of the time) when she's being harassed. I also think that she's drawn to him because he's basically the polar opposite of Doumyouji, who she is trying to convince herself that she's not in love with.
  
  Despite Rui's tendency to defend Tsukushi from unpleasant situations, he also continuously manipulates and takes advantage of her. I'm still not entirely sure if he does this on purpose, or if he's just so completely f**ked up that he doesn't realize what he's doing. And yet, every time he says or does something insensitive, Tsukushi somehow manages to justify it to herself. Doumyouji is no saint, but at least he *never* fails to make his intentions *very* clear.
  
  Bottom line, I have serious problems with someone who can so casually steal his best friend's girlfriend by taking advantage of her confused emotions. This is made all the worse by the fact that he pretty much knows that he doesn't love her. But he knows that she does have some romantic feelings for him, and therefore would probably be emotionally befuddled enough to agree to a relationship. I suppose that he is not all that emotionally sound at this point in the series either, and he does apologize later...but it still really bothers me.
  
  This isn't to say that Rui has no good points, and these become more apparent towards the end of the series - when he's trying to help Tsukushi resolve her romantic confusion instead of taking advantage of it. But he definitely deserved that slug that Doumyouji gave him in episode 21 (actually, I think he got off easy...)
  
  Although Rui does more or less redeem himself by the last episode, there are times when I get so annoyed by Tsukushi's affections for this jerk that I just want to reach through the TV, give her a good smack in the face and scream "FIND ANOTHER BOYFRIEND, YOU MORON!!!" Thus, this video was born ^_^