Rotten Mango - #308: “Anime Girl” Goes Viral For Stabbing Crush & Now Has Fanclub of Men Wanting To Be Killed Next

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

A candid photo of 21-year-old Yuka had gone viral. She was sitting on the floor in her short t-shirt dress, phone up to her ear, and a cigarette relaxed between the fingers of her hand. She looked relaxed and causal. Pretty but in an effortless, almost innocent way. This photo would inspire people to make Fanclubs, donation links, and even fan art for Yuka. They were taken aback by her beauty and youth. They completely ignored the fact that she was drenched in blood and the dying body of her love interest lying motionless behind her. Some even went as far as to beg her to stab them next. They wrote - “she’s my dream girl.” “She’s too pretty to kill.” Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bramble. Better being better, boom. It's 4 a.m. in Tokyo. A woman named, let's call her Mika, is walking back home from this long night out. She had gotten through all the anxiety inducing parts so she's gotten through the street, the parking lot, and now she's in her lobby. It's well lit, you most likely need a key card to get in, and she's kind of letting her guard down just a little bit.

She turns the corner and she lets out a blood-curdling scream for a.m. in an apartment building lobby. She just wasn't expecting to see this site on the floor. Tonight, like smack dab in the middle of the apartment lobby's cold floor, there was a pretty 21 year old woman just sitting. That's a weird site, just like in the middle of the floor. She's just wearing a t-shirt as a dress. It's not covering much. She's sitting in the middle of the ground smoking a cigarette and having a casual phone call with a friend.

Her demeanor was so calm and chill. It's as if she was sitting in her own private living room talking to her friend on the phone. But she's not. She's sitting in her own private living room talking to her friend on the phone. But she's not. She's sitting in the middle of the apartment lobby floor. And there is a half naked, bloody man dying behind her. They were both covered in blood, his blood. It's like she was guarding his body. The girl covered in blood would later explain, that's the love of my life. And I

was waiting for him to die. Mika didn't know what to do because she doesn't know if this girl is armed and dangerous, still she has no idea. I mean, this is just all she's gathering in like two seconds. She calls the police and then she snaps a quick picture of this scene because it's just so unbelievable. This photo would later go viral and men from all over Japan would start messaging Mika, asking her, do you personally know the bloody girl in the picture? Because if you do, do you know she's single now? Because I want her to date me.

And honestly, I'd let her stab me. What? This is the story in Japan of a girl that was deemed too beautiful to kill. As always, full show notes are available at rottenmingopodcast.com. We enlisted the help of our wonderful Japanese researchers for this case, but as always with these international cases, if anything has lost in translation or if there's another aspect to this case that you discovered, please let us know in the comments.

And with that being said, let's get into it. The realtor did think it was kind of strange. Okay, maybe it was more impressive than strange that such a young, pretty girl could afford such a nice apartment. The apartment needed a deposit of $14,000, and the rent each month would be $1,000. So I'm assuming that Japan works like Korea, where you actually get the full deposit back, but it's just, still, that's a lot of money to have in one sitting.

How can a pretty 21-year-old girl even afford that? But the realtor's like, maybe I'm just being judgmental, you know? So she shows the 21-year-old around. This is the main bathroom, fully renovated. The apartment was so stunning, the girl said she was so happy with the place she wanted to sign the lease immediately. The Realtors thinking, maybe she's got rich parents. She could try asking.

Is your family moving in with you as well? No, no, just me. And my boyfriend, he's moving in with me later this year. He just has to quit his job first. It sounds like the girl is in a loving relationship, right? And they got concrete plans to start a future together. Unfortunately, the boyfriend she's talking about isn't aware that the two of them were dating. He wasn't aware that he was going to move in with her like that or that he was going to quit his job at the end of this year. And he also wasn't aware that she was going to stab him in the stomach and bed to make sure that he didn't flirt with other girls. But the realtor, don't even bet an eye, she thought, while we are close to the red light district, maybe the young girl makes her money at a hostess bar.

She made her commission and she moved on until she saw it on the news. So the business of love in Japan is huge and a lot of it is dominated by hostess and host clubs. Which, side note, this was before I was doing visuals but we have an audio podcast episode about Lucy Blackman from a long time ago. It's a British woman who went to Japan and worked at a hostess bar in Japan. She was abducted, assaulted and killed. I'm gonna link that below. That is, that was probably my first real deep dive into hostess and host bars in Japan,

and I go really in depth into it. Give it a listen, it's a heartbreaking case. But I find, I find hostess and host bars very fascinating because of how straightforward it is. Hostess clubs, they cater towards stroking a man's ego, making men feel like the top dog, the alpha male, the manliest, most impressive man in the world. And then host clubs are the opposite.

It's a bunch of male hosts, making women, clients, feel beautiful, young, and wanted. And you would think that being so blunt with this transactional purchase, the intention, and all of that, it would just be lost. Because it's almost like, hey, call me pretty. And then you call me pretty. It doesn't mean anything anymore. But no, humans want what they want. And they're willing to spend a lot of money for it. So let's start with hostess clubs first, because it seems like they came around first.

There's a lot of different types. I go over it in the audio podcast for Lucy Blackman, but I'm just going to break down a few for you, the main ones for you, the no touching hostess clubs. These are just like regular bars, but with a twist. A group of corporate salaried men will walk in, either they're a group of colleagues, or maybe they're with clients that they're trying to sign. They'll walk in, and the hostess bar is filled with pretty young girls.

A pretty young woman will greet them and escort them to a secluded part of the bar. So unlike most clubs and bars, the customers are seated pretty far away from each other. They kind of have their own private section so they can truly feel comfortable. Then depending on how many drinks they've ordered depending on the size of their party Some hostess clubs go hourly some go buy drinks some go buy a minimum spend a

Group of young woman attractive woman will come out and sit with the group of men The rest of the night these women will stay there so they're not like waitresses where they're like everything good Like I'm gonna walk away now. They sit with you. They pour your drinks. They take shots with you. They giggle at your jokes. They ask you questions like, wait,

how do banks work again? I have no idea. You're so smart with things like this. And then they let their little eyes twinkle while you tell them the most mundane, boring facts about banks. Even though she probably knows like half the stuff that guy is saying is like wrong, she just goes along with it, makes him feel like he knows

the equation to success in the meaning of life. If a man grabs a cigarette, the hostess is ready. It's so smooth, she's got a lighter, she's lighting it while maintaining eye contact. A lot of the salaried men, that's what they're called in Japan salaried men, are wiped after work. And the last thing that they want to do is entertain a client and make them laugh. And in places like Japan and Korea, drinking with clients is such a big part of the culture.

I guess it's kind of equivalent to like golf with clients here in America. So imagine doing that on your off-hour time after you've already worked a 10 hour day. Yeah, for Chinese too. It's all like based on interpersonal relationship and a lot of drinking. It's like, do you wanna do a business deal? You gotta get wasted.

It's insane. Like the amount of liver problems that are probably being caused by work. And like I know a lot of people think that host and hostess clubs came about in Japan because there's some sick twisted sexual need for stuff like this. It's actually not. It has more to do with the work environment, like the society's work pressure. So all these salaried men, they're expected to go drink with their clients after work, entertain their client, but they're dead, wiped, they're so tired. So they bring

them to these hostess clubs and these hostesses now do their job. They're entertaining the client, asking questions, making the salaried men look good in front of the client. And they have really high social IQ. So they know which company or which employee is paying. They will constantly flatter them in front of the client to make them more influential and powerful.

This is crazy. At one point, it said that 90% of the open tabs at Hostas clubs were being paid by major corporations. Not so smart. Crazy, not by individuals, but literally companies that are like, hey, employees, go blow off steam. Hey, bring the clients there. There's an open tab. It's actually considered a somewhat respectable gathering place for business talk or transactions. If you go on a lot of Western media websites, they'll make it sound like a sex club, but it's not really. Now, the hostess will stroke the man's ego while encouraging him to buy more drinks. It's usually etiquette for the customers to buy the hostess a drink if they're getting a drink. So instead of buying one over-priced shot, you're buying two. And it's always just water for the hostess.

The bartenders are in on it. Everybody knows what's going on. Because she's got a drink like 80 shots a night. It's usually all water or tiny, but just water down all the way. By the end of one hostess's shift, maybe she has 80 shots. That's $400 to the establishment and she'll probably get half of that, which is $200. Now, some survey showed that girls that worked five hours a night for six nights a week at these hostess bars made anywhere between 2400 to 3600 a week, which is around $9,600 or $14,400 a month. That's not including bonuses, commissions, personal tips and gifts given by the clients.

At some hostess clubs, if someone comes in requesting you by name, they're like, hey, I want to sit with Stephanie, you get like $100 just for them dropping your name. They're like, hey, I want to sit with Stephanie. You get like a hundred dollars just for them dropping your name. There are some hostesses that make close to six figures or even more than six figures per month. Now, there are different levels to hostess clubs. You've got gentleman's clubs and these are the ones where a lot of nakedness is involved. There's dancing. This is kind of more on par with the Western strip club. Then you have no pants cafes. I thought this was so interesting. I never knew these existed.

It's quite literally a coffee shop, but the hostesses are naked from the waist down. You can't touch them. You can only look. But like imagine just being served your espresso martini, and then, you know, they're all naked. There's no pants, Shabu Shabu shops. There's no pants karaoke shops,. But you know, no touching. Then there's touch available hostess clubs. There's a word for it in Japanese, but customers are

allowed to grow hostesses above the waste whenever they want. But nothing below the waste, and nothing underneath the clothing. Then the most common is the no touching hostess clubs. If you try to touch the hostess or proposition her for anything sexual, you'll be thrown out. Now, how much do the managers actually enforce these rules? It just depends on the class of the hostess club. The more expensive a club, the more strict they are in no touching, no groping, no sexual conversations.

At the end of the day, it's like Disneyland. That's how they call it. That's what the host is to say. It's a fantasy that's being sold. So is Disney. The customer is the most important man in the world, and you can't wait to jump in his bed one day, but you can't, because the stars aren't aligned for that

and you would get fired. But you love him so much, it's a fantasy. You get paid, the client gets an ego boost and everybody wins. And interestingly enough, okay, before people are like, oh, that's crazy that they do this in Japan. Interestingly enough, Japanese men are the most observant of the rules, and they're the most transactional, meaning they get what they pay for and they're very content. It's said, it's usually the Western or foreign travelers of the

passport pros that will start screaming and yelling when a hostess does not let him touch her. Yeah, I agree. Crazy. But once a customer becomes a bit more of a regular, how do you keep bringing them into this hostess club? There's something called Dohaans and just everything that I say for a hostess club, there's almost an exact equivalent for a host club. Just the male to female version, right? Now this is another chance for hostesses to make more money It said Dohons can bring in an extra few thousand dollars up to like ten thousand dollars per month Additionally to the payment that they're already receiving so they can make like twenty thousand dollars a month

additionally to the payment that they're already receiving. So they can make like $20,000 a month. Some clubs don't give you the option of not doing toons, but toons are private dates with top clients. You go on a dinner date with a client, then you say, well, I have to go in for work, but I don't want to leave you, you should come back to the club with me. Call your friends.

So they come back to the club, and usually the men spend more and more money at the club if they're going to these toans with the girls. He gets to enjoy an evening out with an attractive young woman. He feels like he's getting looks by passerby's of like, how did he get such a young pretty woman? He must be rich. He must be special.

It looks good for him. He becomes more attached to not even the girl necessarily, but to that feeling. He becomes attached to that ego boost. How he feels about himself. So he keeps going to the club, keeps going to Tohans. The hostesses they win because technically they make more money and they get free meals. But the reality of it is I'm sure is terrifying. I'm sure it's scary what clients try to do when managers and bouncers aren't around

and speaking of managers. Speaking of managers. Managers at these types of clubs are a different breed. This is kind of pertinent because one of the people in today's story is a manager at a hostess club. Managers, they watch over the girls like a gambler with a hand of cards. That's how they're best described. Every girl in a club has their own strengths and weaknesses

and the manager has to utilize them like little weapons. She has to do it carefully. Hostesses are in and out of each table, constantly swapping, but it's done in a way where the customers they don't feel weird about it. It feels natural like a river flowing around, trickling down. A lot of the hostess clubs will operate by the hour, so get this, there's a science to it. Right upon entering, customers are seated with the most attractive girls.

They sit down with the girls, they start drinking. If they're not connecting, the girls are seamlessly swapped with new girls, but it doesn't seem like, oh, they're not connecting, let's swap them. It new girls. But it doesn't seem like, oh, they're not connecting. Let's swap them. It's more like, oh, I got to go real quick. And the new girls come over very naturally. But if all goes well, the top girls, they stay. And the main goal is to get to the customer for that second hour mark.

Because even if you pass the one hour mark by a minute, they have to pay for that full second hour. And then the manager will immediately take away the pretty girls. That they just spent an hour connecting to swap them with new, less attractive girls. Now if the clients want the original girls back, the manager will either say, oh, sorry, you have to specifically pay for her, which is an additional couple hundred dollars for an hour. Okay, or they'll be told, I'm so sorry,

she has a reservation with the top client right now, but she'll be back in half an hour. Make them sit around for 30 minutes, she comes back, they're happy, they're excited, and then they push into the third hour. The managers are able to watch the clients like a hawk without even making it obvious. They always say, if a man walks to the bathroom, and he even glances at his wrist, where his

watches, or takes out his phone, he's thinking about leaving. If he just rushes to the bathroom rushes out, that's fine. But if he even takes a side second to look at his watch, that's it. So, when he gets back at his table, what do you know? The prettiest girls are all there waiting for him. Or sometimes they're standing outside the restroom, asking him where'd you go for so long, and they'll take his hand and escort him

back to the table while giggling. And now that beautiful girl is begging for a bottle of champagne that she's never tasted because it's so expensive, and she's thirsty. Usually a bottle of champagne at high-end establishments like this easily go for $500. So before they know it, the wealthy businessman is spending upwards of a few thousand dollars in a single night. And it's all about picking the right hostesses.

Typically, the most successful hostesses across the board are considered naive and innocent by men. They are perceived, keyword, perceived, by the clients to be less intelligent than them, so they're not intimidating. Then eventually came the emergence of host clubs, which are basically the same concept, but now it's male host catering to female customers. And it's fascinating.

There was a gender studies professor who took a deep dive into the host clubs of Japan. Because you know, there's always that sentiment when men are attracted to sex work. It's like, men are men. But then when girls are attracted to their like, why would a girl spend money on such a dumb thing, right? I mean, clearly it makes sense

for both genders to be into it, but there's some psychological and societal movements that pushed host clubs. First one, women started working a lot more. So they got a lot of disposable income and they're staying single for a lot longer. They're not getting married, they're not settling down, which side note a huge customer base

for host clubs or married housewives. But let's not get into that. So a lot of these single women, they'll spend money at a host club. And additionally, the host clubs do the same thing for a woman, so they provide princess treatment. So you know how like the hostesses stroke the male's ego? Well, when you walk in, you're thinking,

I was thinking, magic mic. I'm thinking it's like Vegas, shirtless ripped men that's like humping the floor, sit on this chair. Let me rub on you No You walk in they hand you a moist towelette You sit down they give you a blanket if you're wearing a skirt so you can preserve your modesty and they sit and they ask about your mundane day and Maybe if it's your second time coming

and the last time you came was two months ago, they'll be like, how Steve doing? You're like, how do you know my dog's name? You mentioned it. Five months ago when you stopped by. Wow. I'm sure they've got journals or something because this is crazy.

They're attention to detail, they're memory, it's wild. They pour your drinks, they laugh at your jokes, they ask you questions about your life and they seem genuinely interested in everything that you have to say. If you have to use the restroom, all the hosts in the room stand up. It's so chivalrous. It's like the dream for a state. Your host, the one that you're sitting next to, will walk you to the restroom door, wait outside just in case. I don't know. You get accidentally flushed down the toilet bowl. It's just so nice. And they don't dress like super ripped and they actually dress

pretty feminine. They wear makeup. They have long, brightly colored, like almost anime-style hair. It's catering to the female. I mean, when was the last time you went on a date and a guy was like doing all of that right? So that's why host clubs they took off some host bar clients that were interviewed said I don't think host clubs would be so popular If Japanese men were more into doing stuff like this when they were dating a lot to learn here Yeah And what's interesting is there is a lot of discourse saying like, oh, women are so naive. Like these girls are so desperate.

They walk into host clubs thinking these men actually want to date them. It's actually not like that either. Women go in the same way men go in. They know it's a transaction and that's what they're looking for. That's why a lot of housewives go. They're like, I'm not leaving my husband for some random 19 year old. I'm in here to stroke my own ego and feel feminine. So just as how men go in for their ego, the professor said, women actually go in to

feel young. That's the way they both go in not for love or romance. They're literally going in for their own egos. That's it. And the host even admit that they change their personalities based on what they think the customer in front of them wants out of this transaction. A lot of male hosts say, we're just here to sell dreams. And those dreams, they cost a lot of money, even for women. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I find myself in a loop where I refuse to give myself free time to just exist and recharge. And I knew that technically having a day off

would benefit me in the long run because it prevents burnout. It helps me stay extra productive. And even though I know it's the right thing to do, when it comes down to it, I was so anxious the whole time. I'm supposed to be relaxing, but I feel guilty, I feel all of these things. And then I get back to work and I'm more exhausted

than before. And it's just so fascinating that we almost always know what we should do. What's good for us, but we just can't seem to do it. I think therapy is such a great way to work through those feelings and help you become the best version of yourself. I had a lot of internalized guilt when it comes to taking time off to recharge. I always felt really blessed and honored to have this job. And when I take time off, I feel like I'm not appreciating my job to the fullest. Which is not true, I need time to recharge and not doing that is actually

a disservice. I don't think that I would have gotten to this point without therapy. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give better help at try. It's entirely online designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with the licensed therapist. You can switch therapists at any time with no additional charge, so make your brain your friend with better help. Visit betterhelp.com-roughton today to get 10% of your first month. That's betterhelp-e-l-p.com-roughton. At Salesforce, we're all about asking more of AI. Questions like, where's the data going? Is it secure?

Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure? Get answers you can trust from Salesforce at askmorevei.com. The first time being at a host club works a bit differently from the type of hostis clubs that I just described. So there are also hostis clubs that operate like this,

but most of it is kind of for host clubs. The way it works is, let's say you and your three girlfriends, you can't go in with a guy into most host clubs. Most foreigners are not allowed in upscale host clubs either. Really? Yes. Oh, the only way that you can go in with another man is if it's couples.

So if it's like, I swalk in together, and if we spoke Japanese, they don't let in foreigners because they think communication is the biggest thing of host clubs. Yeah, you need to be able to talk. That's what you're getting out of it. So if you can't speak Japanese and there's no point, they do have foreign foreign or host clubs though. They all speak English. Now, if you go in with a group of three women, then you will be sat host girl, host girl, host girl, right? This is just your first time going in.

Every five to 10 minutes, the host club manager will ring a bell that everyone can hear and the host will rotate, but not amongst friends. So the three hosts in the room will get up, leave a business card, and three new hosts will walk in. And this goes on for one hour. So you pay for your very first hour like this. Is it because they want to find out who they connect the best? Yes. And at the end, you know, you get kind of a menu of all the hosts on there and you go through them to get a refresher and cross reference with the business cards in your hand. So let's say my friend had a host that I liked, I can't be with that host.

Really? They're really crazy about not creating like these tense environments. Mm-hmm. Okay. And so I only get to choose the host that I've spoken to and they will make you choose. I read a lot of blogs of people that went

for the first time, they make you choose. They're like, pick your favorite. You're like, he he, I can't. They're all so nice. They're like, no, just pick one. Just pick a random one then. So you pick one. They basically force you to exchange line details with them, which is like Kakao Talk or WeChat WhatsApp. And from there, if you ever visit this host bar again, this is your designated host in perpetuity. So unless this host leaves the club, you can't really change.

It's really hard to. Wow. Yeah. That's gonna be your host every time you walk in. And now it's up to that host to bring you back into the club. They will keep following up with you online, try to build some connection with you

so it doesn't feel like a sale, or at least it shouldn't feel like one. Instead of asking you, hey, when are you gonna come back to the club? What day are you wanna come back to the bar? Let's make an appointment. He's probably reaching out to you, sending you a picture of the night's guy

or what he's eating for lunch. You're like, oh, I guess I'll respond because that's kind of nice, right? And then once that connection is built, you wanna see him again, but you realize the only way that you can see him is at the club while you're spending your hard earned money. So the first time you go, it's like $10 an hour for all you can drink for an entire hour

and then you pick a host. But after that, you've got to buy a bottle and you have to buy drinks for your host because that's etiquette. And that very easily could turn into one to two hours and you've completely blown $500 down the drain. It's set that on average depending on the scale of the establishment, you can on the low end blow anywhere between $150 to $300 a night and it can go up to like $10,000

in a night at the high end host clubs. And just like most host's clubs, there is no sexual activity allowed at host clubs, but from what I can gather and from what I've been told by our Japanese researchers, a lot of hosts will engage in sex work, but they'll do it off hours. So they will come back to your place with you or perhaps a love motel and they will get paid under the table for those services without sharing a cut with the bar. And the bar is okay with it because that's technically illegal. They're okay because it's illegal. So they're okay with it because that's technically illegal. They're okay because it's illegal. So they're okay with it because you would think,

oh, why don't we get a cut of it, right? But they're saying, whatever you do that helps bring that customer back in more and more, that's on you. And that's illegal if you're doing sex work. So we don't want to know. Yeah, we don't want to know, we don't want to talk about it. It's kind of one of those things. For some people, this business is crazy lucrative. One of the highest paid hosts in Japan is actually

a celebrity of sorts. His name is Roland. He's made a brand for himself being the most sought after host. It said that he makes almost half a million dollars per month, per month. He drives a Ferrari. In 2018, he threw a birthday party at his host club for his birthday. He made $400,000 that night. People showed up to celebrate him, to buy him drinks, to just fawn over him, and he's a character. He said there are only two types of men, me and the rest. He said, I often stare into a girl's eyes and say, your face is so beautiful,

but I'm really looking at my own reflection in the girl's eyes. And you would think like when I'm saying it, it sounds crazy. He comes off cocky and annoying. He sounds like the epitome of every guy that girls hate, right? But if you watch the interviews where he says it, it's so playful. His communication is body language, is so playful, it feels like he's not taking it seriously, and it almost makes you feel more comfortable around him. It breaks down this wall of like, oh my god, this is the most successful host and he makes how much a month? It like breaks it down and he's basically poking fun at himself.

It's so fascinating, but he did a house tour with a YouTuber and every surface of his bedroom is a mirror He said so that when he has girls over he can see every angle Yeah, he was also asked in an interview how many women he slept with and he very smoothly without even skipping a beat says Do you drink coffee? The interview is like yes. Do you remember how many cups of coffee you've had? Wow. Yeah. But Roland is the exception. And he's at the height of the industry.

The others, they make a lot less, way less. I mean, some of them are just now starting to make enough money that they're not living paycheck to paycheck. And these days, the competition is getting even more intense. And it's one of those industries that fluctuates with the economy. There are over 11,000 host and host of clubs in the red light district of Tokyo alone. And Phoenix Luna had just started working at one of those clubs. To a lot of other guys at the club, it was a chance to be the next Roland For Phoenix Luna. It was just free housing honestly, okay?

Phoenix had such a rough upbringing. I mean from what we know his parents lays up rated really early on So Phoenix and his six siblings were sent off to live in this foster care orphanage Institution and it was just not a good place all the kids there were already pretty traumatized and they just weren't receiving adequate parental love or compassion. You know, they were treated like adults too early on. Most of the kids, they actually left the institution around middle school age because of how bad it was. And Phoenix, he leaves no degree in a place like Japan, hard. Not even a high school diploma, impossible.

So this middle schooler is getting jobs in construction. And it seems very likely that even if he wanted to work hard, he just kept getting scammed by all these adult bosses that wanted him to perform cheap labor for like next to nothing. Eventually he was left penniless and without a home. He would just bounce around from hostels and PC bags. I don't know what they call it in Japanese But in it's like 24 hour internet cafes. He's trying to take naps there and it's rough So we think so you know, why don't I try something crazy? Let's see if a host bar will take me

Host bars are known to provide dorms for a lot of the hosts that work at the clubs and that was enough for him Even if he doesn't get paid right away at least he's got a place to sleep. A lot of the host bars loved him. He just has to look for being a host and he's very good with people. Even though you would think that his childhood made him very kind of pulled away from society and closed off, he actually was very good. He wasn't overly out there, overly talkative, just very genuine. So he starts at club fusion and this is not a rags-to-richest story. He does okay. He quickly ranks up to be the fourth host in the bar, and each club, they have a ranking

system, and a lot of the times, they will post pictures of their top five host or host this is on the wall behind the reception desk. Numbered and everything. So it's like number one host picture, number two host picture. And it's kind of a shitty system because it keeps number one, number one. People walk in, they don't know anything about this place, all they see is, hey, that guy must be popular for a reason. That guy must, there must be something special about him. And they'll request him and they'll be told, hey, you know, he actually charges a lot more because he's higher in demand.

And you're like, well, okay, I guess I'll pay it, and it just, it's a never ending cycle of keeping the top host at the top. So Phoenix is ranked number four, but he's not killing it, he's not making a ton of money. He's doing okay. Now, here's something fascinating about host and host disc clubs.

A lot of the customers are other host and hostesses. So for example, some hostesses will get off their shift of entertaining men all day. And I'm sure it's so draining. They just want someone to entertain them. And I'm sure there's a lot of, you know, I love sex work, but there has to be some sort of give and take for every job. And I'm sure there's like, it hurts their self-esteem. I'm sure it'll just be this pretty face that gets swapped around and have to act dumb for these men's ego. They're feeling something. So they want to feel better about themselves. And you can't just demand that level of treatment from your friends and family the minute you get off work. So they find themselves at host clubs, paying for the very same thing that they sell,

companionship, ego boost, and vice versa for hosts that go to hostess bars. And now one of these clients was Yuka Takauka. And she comes in to club fusion. She's a 21 year old hostess with straight, brown, black hair, and big eyes. A lot of people said that she looks like a cat, and that got her a lot of loyal clients as a hostess.

But now, she's at a host bar, specifically looking for Phoenix Luna. That's his host name, by the way, his legal name is protected by Japanese courts. She said that Phoenix had come into her hostess bar like a year ago, long time ago, with a bunch of like hosts, okay, maybe like a few months ago. And he just kind of really stuck out her. Months passed and she kept remembering, oh my God, like I keep thinking about that really cute guy

that had come in. She finds him on Twitter, starts DMing him. And he's like, well, you can always visit me at my club. So she does. Starting from March 2019, March 2019, this is important. Yuka starts going to see Phoenix at a club two to three times a week. And she's like, you're ranked number four. We should change that. I can help you to get to number one. I'll order two more bottles tonight. And she's reassuring him like, no, no, it's fine.

Like I have the money. Don't worry. She would go as far to spend $6,000 in one night to help him raise ranks. These clubs, I just wish I had five weeks to study these clubs. Like, go to Japan and study these clubs because I think the psychology behind every little thing that they do is so thoroughly researched. Every single club has a high earnerner song. A lot of

host clubs have adopted this thing where every single night the host who makes the most money that night will start singing on stage when it's time to start closing up. And this song is not like everybody's cleaning and the custodians have come out and they're just singing and nobody is listening. It's more like a concert, like an idol concert and they're being fond over and the host club makes it seem like this grand gesture for the host to have this honor of singing for the patrons. They kind of make it like that. So these clients, they feel pride if they helped their host get to that spot by the end of

the night. Yes, yes, yes. And Yuka was one of them. She would spend $10,000 in one night just to get him up there to sing. Phoenix didn't argue because that's the whole point of his job. It's to make money. And Yuka said that she was a manager at a hostess bar.

I mean, he could kind of let his guard down a little bit with her out of anyone. Like if anyone knows that this is a transactional business, and that there's no real romance or love or attraction, it would be Yuka. She's in the same industry. Doing the same thing to men, so she should know, right? She's half Chinese, half Japanese. Yeah, she was born in China actually in 1998,

but they moved to Japan when she was two years old. And, ooh, she threw people, like she threw chairs at people. Those are the thing in her childhood. Yeah, in high school. Let me give you some backstory. You get a very creative personality. She has this very cute naive girl next door appeal to her, and it's very easy for her to get male attention.

That's what everybody said. She had a boyfriend after a boyfriend in high school school and this is no shame, by the way. What is shame though is she exhibited some alarming behavior even as a kid. One time someone insulted her boyfriend and you could got mad and hurled a chair at them, just like rage throwing chairs at a high school kid for probably saying your boyfriend's not that cute. It's a little weird. So after high school school you could drop out of college and she's like I'm just gonna focus on making money. She starts hosting at a bar and she was a spectacular hostess.

She knew how to stroke men's egos, she knew how to make them feel good, and she really does have the perfect innocent girl look that people really prefer in the hostess scene. She ends up so good at her job, she becomes the manager of the place and remember what I said about managers. They're cut throat, they know how to move people around, they know people, they're quick on picking up social cues and signals. None of her co-workers had anything bad to say about her. They said, you know, there's actually a lot of competition at hostess bars, like you would think everyone's he-he-ha and friendly, but it's cut throat. But even when Yuka wasn't the manager, you could actually go to her for advice. And you didn't feel like she's giving you bad advice to try and backstab you or has a different

motive. She was just very nice. She just seemed safe to be around. I guess unless she wanted to date you. After visiting Phoenix a few times at the host bar, you could find herself thinking about this man every waking second of every day of her life. Her existence revolves around this man. Everything she sees, she's like, oh my god, that reminds me of Phoenix. Oh my god, the Phoenix and Harry Potter.

Oh my god, every thought that she has becomes about Phoenix. It starts consuming her. He was the last thing that she thought about before going about and he was her everything. She would lay there thinking about him, waiting for a new message online to pop up, and then she would check her bank account and all the money she saved up in her career was gone. She had blew it all at his club. And she's not a nepothe baby, she's not a millionaire, she did not have the funds to be spending like this. But she felt like there's just no other way to see him, unless

I go to his bar, unless I spend money on him. So she feels like, well, it's fine though, this is an investment. He likes me and I like him and we can't be together right now because of his job at the host club, but eventually we'll be together. To ensure that she would even pay close to $9,000 a month to exclusively reserve him as her host. So remember how I said you can spend hundreds of dollars an hour, like your second or third time at a host club. You don't get your host for a full hour. They're in and out of tables because they've got other clients coming in. So you probably maybe get them for like max 20 minutes. So $9,000 a month and anytime you could come in, she still has to spend money, but he doesn't, he cannot

go to any other client. Even if another client comes in, he cannot go. But if she's not there, he's free to see all his clients that he wants. He just has to drop everyone to go with her if she's there. And that $9,000 is not unlimited. That's just the base pay. She still has to pay what every client does when they come in and buy drinks. So in just two months, Phoenix goes from being ranked number four to rank number one at the club, all thanks to Yuna Yuka. But she didn't have the funds to keep paying for all of this, so she had to join a delivery

health company to make some extra money. Delivery health is exactly what you think. They deliver 24 hour dispatch style services straight to your door. If you're feeling a little bit sick or a little bit under the weather, they will dispatch a sexy nurse to show up at your door and have sex with you. You know, they call it delivery health. I found it very fascinating. They also have hotel health, which are hotels that also have sex workers on call.

So you like book in and instead of getting room service, you get other services. It's fascinating. Yeah. And the nurse said, no, they're not actually dress like nurses because you have to pay extra for a costume play. But they will usually have a shop around that's waiting outside your house to make sure that they make it out okay with no issues. Please, just give me a day to break this down for you.

I wish I had a whole episode of Breakdown this. It's so fascinating. There's even delivery health pickup. A lot of guys actually like this. So instead of having the girl come straight to their apartment door, they'll actually meet up at like in front of a convenience store. And they said there's a thrill of walking her back to your home and these light conversations. That's where there's a lot of tension building. Feels real maybe. Yes, and you can even add on purchases before you meet her in

front of the convenience store. And one of the more popular add-on purchases before you meet her in front of the convenience store. And one of the more popular add-on purchases is that she comes with a hidden, she hands you a remote. And there is obviously something that has been placed within her body that you can control in public as you're walking back to your apartment. And this is just one level of the kind of like adult services that they provide in Japan. They also have soap houses. I went down a rabbit hole.

Soaps houses are fascinating. So their bath houses turned into sex work. You go in and you book a bath. So each room has a private bath and it's all about like a very sensual bath experience. And then afterwards, there's payment for other activities. Yet the pricing on all of this is really intense. Like if you get delivery health and you didn't shower prior to the meeting, they will charge you for not showering prior to the meeting, which honestly, it makes sense. But regardless,

you could hate it. She hates working at delivery health, and it's starting to take a toll on her mentally, but she feels like it's going to pay off eventually. Phoenix Luna is going to make enough money, he's going to quit his job, and then we're going to move in together. Side note, she never told Phoenix that she's doing delivery health on the side. She just said that she's got the bar that she manages, and she has this crazy rich sugar daddy that takes her on dinner dates and pays her a big sum of money. She felt like she's hiding the truth for this heroic cause. Their love story. She said she basically got confirmation of the plan of moving in together when she told him that she loved him to which he responded

at the club, mind you, at the club. He said, love you too. Let's get married one day in the future. She claims that he told her that he wanted to move in with her a year after he could his job Which first of all, we're not even sure if this is what he said, but second of all It's kind of like going to a strip club and a dancer tells you that they're only here to pay for school It could be true. It could be a lie, but as a customer, you're not really entitled to know the truth And it's not uncommon for popular hosts to kind of live with their top clients. So top clients will have their apartment, if they're single, or if they're married, they'll have a secondary apartment, if they're really loaded.

And then that host will come stay like every Wednesdays and Thursdays. It's still very transactional, but it is kind of like, oh, partly we move in together part time. It's definitely not in the traditional sense. And if anyone should have known that, it would have been Yuka, but she's into deep. April of 2019, they had intimate relations at a love motel, and they only drove Yuka further into this delusion that they were Romeo and Juliet. That's how she saw this situation.

They desperately want to be together, but because of life circumstances, they can't. But her hardship, her engaging in sex work, it's all part of a big story that she's doing this for love. At this rate, Yuka was dangerously headed into Yandere territory. So Yandere is a type of character, typically in shows and movies, but I mean she can technically exist in real life too. It's usually a girl that is obsessed with one guy. And it's usually girl to guy. She's obsessive, jealous, full on toxic, unhealthy, illegal levels of attachment.

Foming at the mouth for him, addicted to him, his scent, his everything. She is ready to be violent. She's ready to commit crimes and potentially even murder people just to be with this guy. If I'm a Yanderee for you and I see another girl look at you, I could punch her in the face. Like, just toxic levels.

It's not even like she's flirting with you. She just looks in your general direction. I'll kill her. Like, that's the vibe. It's a combination of two Japanese words. One which means sick and the other one means love struck. Someone who is so love struck that they're sick in the head. I fell down a rabbit hole again on this one

and I'm gonna be honest with you, there is a Yandere subreddit with 73,000 members. There's even a video game that you can get called Yandere Simulator. And I don't know if it's still available because it was really controversial, but you play a girl in school, high school, that's infatuated with a boy in your class. He doesn't even really know you like that.

Like, he really doesn't know you. You guys are not dating. So it's like full-on stalker vibes? Yeah, it's just a stalker. But it's like a hot stalker. The Yandere are always like conventionally very attractive. Okay. Yeah.

So in the game, you're basically stalking this guy and any girl that talks to him looks at him, the mission is to cut her up with a knife. And then for some reason you have to drag and hide their bodies and then take pictures up their skirt. It's a pretty unsavory game. That's why it's controversial, but it's popular. Now back to the subreddit, a lot of the posts they have up are depicting women being so infatuated with a man. They're basically forcing themselves on them sexually, like tying them up and forcing them to get her pregnant. And usually the woman in question

are really, really conventionally attractive, like with double d's. And the people who really like this sub-john rat, typically are men. I guess they like the idea that they make a woman go so crazy that she loses her mind and is foaming at the mouth and lives, sleeps, breath breathes him. One Reddit comment reads, I don't know why other people like Yandere, but personally, I just like

cute girls who might be a little batshit crazy. Another comment reads, I guess people like the fact that a person like that, like a Yandere, isn't likely to leave a betray you in a relationship sense. They're not likely to cheat on you. They're not likely to break up with you. So maybe. It's like a fantasy, right? Is it like kind of like the funny TikTok girls

like when you're getting kidnapped, but your kidnapper looks like this hot dude. Yeah, I think so. I don't like that. Yeah, and like I think, you know, when you just look at it from a media standpoint, I don't judge people's interests as long as it's between two consenting adults.

I don't think Yandere or the trope of Yandere and anime because it's a common trope. I don't think it's inherently dangerous. It just adds a lot of elements, story elements to a plot or to a show, but this is far from the craziest interest I've ever come across. But in today's case, it's going to go very, very sideways. There are two sides to this story, because Phoenix is a host at a host bar. He does have a level of pressure and responsibility to take care of his clients outside of the bar, not saying he has to sleep with them unless he wants to and chooses to, but he has to

make sure that they're happy. So he would go on these toehands with Yuka, where he would go to cat cafes with her, go watch movies with her. And Yuka, even though she was paying for all the dates, and there is a transactional element to all these dates, she didn't see it like that. She was like, no, this is love. This is a real date. This is my boyfriend. Do you see where the problem here is? Yeah, yeah. But it would only continue to escalate. When Yuka le least a fifth floor apartment close to Phoenix's work and she felt like no we both want this. All I have to do is wait for him to quit his job and move in with me and then he will be all mine

and they will be together forever. But the more you guys doing for Phoenix the more he's pulling away by the end of May, so this is just two months. Well, County 911. Hey, I'm on highway 250 far and I'm going to female in the grant and I don't know if she's unconscious, but the real blood all over the grant, okay? It could have been a border crosser which is a very common occurrence in that part of the County. But as a patrolman looked further into it, we knew that we weren't dealing with it. You know what this means? We may have a serial killer on our hands. Welcome back to Gone South.

I'm Jed Lapinski, and this is season three, the Sign Cutter. Turn around, please. Turn around. Season 3, The Sign Cutter. Binge the entire season of Gone South, an Odyssey original podcast, now only on the Free Odyssey app, or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts. He was the one. He was the one that what? That had been murdering. By the end of May, they're fighting non-stop. Yuka is always demanding just things that don't make sense. I do want to preface this by saying they're not dating.

They never were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Both of them will admit that. It's actually pounded into host heads from the day that they start working that they should never get a girlfriend. You're being paid to be a boyfriend to a lot of woman, and if they find out you have a girlfriend, the fantasy is dead. Like, why would they pay money for that? Both parties knew that.

They were not exclusive. They were not even dating. But Yuka would do these things where she would call Phoenix while he was at work. And she's like, can you please come over? He explains, I'm sorry, you guys can't right now because I'm at work, but maybe I can come after my shift. That's very reasonable, right? You go would keep calling and calling

and would even respond that if he didn't come immediately, she would jump off the roof of her apartment. Phoenix didn't know what to do because on one hand, he's a compassionate person that would never want someone to do something like that, but on the other hand, he feels really burdened by her because they're not even dating. Like, what responsibility does he have for her mental health? They're not even dating. He was so stressed out by Yuka, he kind of starts distancing himself from her.

On a Reddit post, asking people why they're into Yandere characters. A response reads, I guess it's the idea that someone is so loyal, so devoted, and completely attached to you that they'll be willing to do literally anything to make sure you and they are not separated. Yes, a Yandere girl is crazy, but it's not because she's evil. She does things with the intention of helping you, even if that's not necessarily the right thing to do. I should note that a Yandere girl won't randomly stab you unless there's a compelling reason to do so. May 21st, 2019, deranged Yuka found her compelling reason to do so. Yuka woke up to her friend blowing up her phone. Phoenix was at work and Yuka is alone and her

friend is telling her, you'll never guess who I saw at a love motel. Phoenix, with another client. You get paced around the apartment all day until Phoenix came to see her because he was like, yeah, I'll come see you after work. And she's screaming, why the hell were you at a love motel with another woman? And I'm sure Phoenix is taken aback because again, they're not dating this is his line of work, right?

But he reassures her that they did go to a love and a tough one, but they didn't do anything physical. Yuka's really hurt and she tells him, okay fine, I get it, it's your job, but from now on, you have to tell me if you ever see another woman outside of the club. The next day, Yuka's on the phone with her friend, and she noticed that Yuka didn't sound good. So she's like, hey, Yuka, are you, is everything okay?

Yuka starts explaining how she worked all day at the delivery health job and just, I don't know, the relationship's not going well. Her friend listened and I presume she also is in the industry because she tells you, look, if you wanna be with Phoenix and he's a host, you've gotta put up with this stuff. That's the job, that's what comes with dating a host. You could get off the phone and call Phoenix

and he's like, hey, I just want to let you know, after work today, I'm going to go get drinks with a female client, like I have to. He's fulfilling his promise to her that he would tell her if he went anywhere with another woman. Even though, again, he doesn't have to. You go is so mad. She took to journaling. She wrote down her feelings. She wrote about how the only way to ease the pain of this relationship Was to kill Phoenix. She said that she was gonna kill him and then die like Romeo and Juliet You know so that they could be together forever

She wrote I apologize to everyone involved with me I've always had a bad habit of telling lies and I wanted to be the heroine of a tragedy Something beautiful something fleeting and I don to be the heroine of a tragedy. Something beautiful, something fleeting, and I don't know what happened and what didn't. Sorry for being a bad daughter, I'm sorry for being a stupid daughter, I have a tendency to tell lies and I don't know what to lie or the truth, and when I found someone I love, I didn't want him to look at anyone else, so I thought, it'd be best to kill him. The me that has nothing knows nothing.

I didn't like calling him Luna Koon. So this was his stage name before the stabbing. Later it's Phoenix. It just made me feel like money. But to me he's... real name redacted. The one that I love. I love you from the bottom of my heart

and even when you only see me as money and you only feed me lies because you're a host If you die all of our words become true So I'm gonna take care of you now. Don't worry because I'll do anything to be with you According to our Japanese translator Yuka uses the word Ishi teru instead of Daisuki Which is much stronger of a phase of saying I love you. Most couples, especially young couples who haven't been dating long, like example two

months, will only use the more, like, love ya. I imagine it's kind of like that, right, versus I love you. But she uses the very strong emotional word for love. It's very interesting. Now, another message reads, I want to be a tragic heroine. How is it possible for him to look at other women than me? I know killing him is for the best.

If I kill him, it'll be eternal. And there will be no pain afterwards. I don't need anything other than him. Yuka had officially spiraled. After drinking with a female client, Phoenix came to visit Yuka. It said that she asked him to come over and help clean her apartment, and I believe that he was going to be compensated for his time. So he helps her hang curtains, they talk, they

have sex, and after all of that, Phoenix is like, hey, can I please just take a bath? It's been such a long day. He draws a bath, gets in, ends up falling asleep in the tub, and he's thinking, oh my god, this is so dangerous, I can't fall asleep in a tub. So he gets up, dries himself off, puts on a pair of boxers and runs into Yuka's bed and starts napping. While he was asleep though, Yuka had gone through his phone and found pictures of Phoenix and another woman at the bar. Now, these pictures are said to not have been sexual at any context in any way, so they're not kissing, they're not groping each other, but Yuka felt like why? Why are you taking pictures together? Why would you need to keep these pictures? Why would you have them on your phone? At 3.50 a.m., you go walks over to her

kitchen and picks out the sharpest knife. She had bought it at the store recently. She walks into the bedroom, finds Phoenix asleep, and he just looked so peaceful. So she sat on top of him, took a good look at how he looked, and then plunged the knife into a stomach. The knife had gone so deep into a stomach, the handle of the knife was basically inside of his body. Not the blade, the handle. She used that much force.

Phoenix said that he opened his eyes, he didn't feel any pain. He just had shock, like this doesn't make sense. Why is there a knife in my stomach? There was so much blood like gushing out of his stomach. His survival instinct kicked in immediately. He tries to push Yuka off of him forcibly, but she's sitting in a way that makes it really hard for him to move. And additionally the knife in his stomach doesn't help that either.

So then he tries to strangle her. Again, just to get her off of him and eventually you could ask him, do you like me? Which is just so unsettling, okay? To which he felt like, okay, this is my way out, this is what she wants to hear, obviously, right? And he says, as sincerely as possible, I love you, of course, I love you. Let's be together forever. He's really hoping this is what's gonna get her off of him, but she stares back at him and gives him the most chilling response. I love you too, so let's die together.

This is after two months of not even dating. Phoenix starts to shake in pain because now the pain is kicking in. His eyes are wide, his whole body is trembling. And whether it was a struggle or you could chose to get off of him, it's unclear or a little bit of both, um, you could forcibly pull the knife out from a stomach, which is not a good idea. When you have injuries like that, it's just not a good idea to pull it out because then he could bleed out to death. She throws the knife under the bed and this caused Phoenix to bleed even more and he's begging her to call an ambulance

but she's not moving. So he runs for the door. He could hear her screaming behind him, don't go, don't go! But he kept going, he smearing and dragging blood all throughout the apartment unit into the hallway, into the elevator, Yuka's chasing after him, the only reason that he made it into the elevator and was able to get the doors closed was because Yuka wanted to grab her phone, her glasses, because she didn't have her contacts in, and cigarettes before chasing him. Her cigarettes, which is an interesting detail we're going to go into later. The man she's obsessed with, to the point of killing, is running downstairs, bleeding to death.

But she's like, got to grab my cigarettes. The entire elevator looks straight out of a horse scene. The control panel with all the buttons for all the floors covered in blood. The walls streaked in blood. Once Phoenix made it to the lobby, he collapsed on the floor, blood all over him, only in his underwear. I mean, most of his body was read now from all the blood he was covered in. He covered his face with his underwear. I mean, most of his body was red now from all the blood he was covered in. He covered his face with his hand.

He saw Yuka calmly approach, sit down next to him, and light a cigarette. Yuka grabbed her phone, called a friend, and they didn't even tell her what happened. She didn't call police? Nothing? No. Literally waiting for him to die. Wow.

I'm not gonna show you the picture. Pictures very telling. I would say the picture is gruesome, but that's not the point. So you do see him laying behind her, and she's sitting in a black t-shirt that's almost like a dress. She's got her legs propped up, so her knees are bent and her feet are flat on the floor. She's got a cigarette in between her index and middle finger, just like casually relax to the side.

It's not even to her mouth, it's not even, her fingers are so relaxed. It's very like, ugh. And then she's got her phone to her ear. And she's just, it looks like she's sitting on a park bench having a conversation with a friend. Right at that moment, a woman presumably another resident in the building,

screams bloody murder at the side of the two covered in blood, calls the police, and later would take the now famous picture. It's crazy, Yuka looks like a high schooler in the picture. She looks so young, yeah. But what's even crazier is that this picture would later gain her admiration in fans. Some people they created this picture in different artistic formats. Literally fan art of a stabbing scene. Some people out there are actually interested in Yuka because they call her the real life yandere and they say, guys, she's too beautiful to be a criminal. They even wrote things like, she can stab me any day if she wants. She's so pretty, I want her to stab me like that.

Some people were even setting her as their wallpaper on their phones. And they said, I mean, she's my dream girl. Like I want someone to love me like that. Wow, come on. Thankfully this is a small portion of the netizens reacting like this, but still it's so dumb. I don't know what else to say. So when the police arrive at the scene, they approach Yuka, like she's got a bomb strapped to her chest, which she doesn't,

but they don't know. I mean, I don't blame them. This is such an unhinged scene. I would imagine that Yuka is not above doing anything crazy. Who knows what else this girl has got planned? So they're trying to be gentle with her. And all of this is evidenced in the now viral photo, because in the photo, there's actually a cop squatting down next to Yuka trying to talk to her. I guess in

an attempt to get her handcuffed? It's not like he's pouncing on her slamming her to the ground and arresting her. But she goes without a fight. She was even seen creepily smiling at people in the cop car. She said, I had to do this because I loved Phoenix so much and I wanted to be with him so badly that I had no other choice. I thought him saying things like, I like you and I want to be with you. All those things would become a reality if we both died. Which the cops and netizens were like, um, I don't know because we saw the viral picture and it doesn't look like you cared if you lived or died honestly.

You're smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. Yuka was asked about those cigarettes and why she just looked so relaxed. And she said, oh, well, I mean, I'm addicted. I'm super addicted. I smoke like four boxes a day. That's the equivalent to 80 cigarettes a day, guys. But as for how she was able to just callously smoke while he lay dying behind her, she said she has no answer on why she felt compelled to smoke. She said that she just wanted to smoke while he lay dying behind her. She said she has no answer on why she felt compelled to smoke. She said that she just wanted to smoke because she was waiting for him to die

so that she could die and they could be together forever. I do want to preface this by saying, I didn't see any reports that she brought down any weapons into the lobby, so from what we gather, she left the knife in the bedroom, so if that's the case, how was she planning on exiting? I would imagine she would want to be physically next to him when she did it.

So even that's a question of like, are we sure that this was her plan? Meanwhile, Phoenix was given 20%. 20% chance to live. Doctors said the knife had punctured his liver. He was immediately operated on. They tried their best, but they really didn't have high hopes. He was in a coma for five days.

And then he woke up. He survived. And actually his stage name, Phoenix Luna, was created after the stabbing because he was a survivor. He wanted his name to be symbolic of everything that he went through and how he still rose above the ashes like a Phoenix.

And that makes it sound easy, but it wasn't. He was hospitalized for over a month, and he said, at first I couldn't speak because I had no voice. I was bedridden. I had to relearn how to walk once they allowed me out of bed. I couldn't eat after the incident, so I lost a lot of weight. And then came the nightmares. He would wake up drenched in sweat,

and he had this reoccurring nightmare that Yuka was contorting her body to crawl through the small hospital window to find him and he requested non-stop to be in a windowless hospital room even if that meant never seeing the sun. Phoenix stated the only thing that got him through this time was his co-workers would come to see him to chairman and because they thought that he was gonna die the police worked really hard tracking down any of his relatives. This was the first time in five, yeah, five-plus years that he was reconnected with his siblings. Because after he left the orphanage, they were all out of contact.

And it was just nice to see them again. He said it was a very bittersweet moment. This is what Phoenix is going through. And the court is like, okay Yuka, you can get out on bail. They even let her train to be a nurse caretaker. She went to training three times a week while she's on bail. I'm sorry. If you're like Stephanie, name one nurse you wouldn't want when you're sick.

Yuka Takoaka and Lucy Letby. But like, are you kidding me? A nurse? Yuka said that she was inspired by this incident, inspired by attempting murder, that she wanted to help others from now on. She actually obtained her qualification while out on bail. The trial started December 3rd, 2019,

and reporters did notice something very strange. When Yuka was brought in for the trial, Phoenix looked over at her and gave her a warm smile. It wasn't a smirk, it wasn't a weird creepy smile, it was a genuine nice smile. And the reporters were like, what is going on? This girl tried to stab you and kill you. Fenix would stay to the courts that he already forgave Yuka. Before the trial, Yuka had sent a long letter that read, sorry for the set in letter, and

she just apologizes, I mean I can read part of it, but it's just the most basic apologies. Like I understand you must feel anger, pain, and frustration, and suffering will only increase towards me. And I should just be, I'm sorry, it must have been more painful than I can, it's like those words. It's a really long letter. And just I'm sorry is like every other sentence. A lot of netizens felt like the amount of time she said I'm sorry became so repetitive

that it almost lost all meaning towards the end of the letter. And I feel like with this letter, I didn't particularly feel genuine remorse. And nobody would have blamed Phoenix if he didn't either. Most people in issues would have just ripped up the letter and not even think about it. But Phoenix, he thought long and hard and decided to tell the judge that he didn't want to push for harsh punishment. He wanted her to take her own apologies and words too hard and to change. Live a normal life, of course, without him in it.

Well. Phoenix did settle a civil suit with Yuka where he was awarded $40,000 for his injuries, but that all went to medical bills and it's honestly nothing considering all the physical therapy that he had to undergo the mental trauma. So even though he was compensated, he doesn't need to tell the court to be lenient with Yuka. But Phoenix continued, you know, I feel partly at fault for what happened. He said he had no idea Yuka was engaging in sex work to pay for the bottles at the bar. He said how do he know? He would have treated her very differently because of the mental toll that can take on someone. He said this was partly his fault and he just wants her to be happy.

There are mixed feelings about whether or not Yuka feels genuine remorse and if she should have a second chance back in society. This debate is not including the people that are sexualizing and romanticizing her. Side note, her fans started to go fund me to bail her out of jail. They raised $4,000 in two days. The donation link was mass reported and eventually taken down, but it's just crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, I mean, she's being praised for being basically pretty.

This is pretty privileged at its finest and for her resembling some sort of real life anime character trope. Crazy. Yeah. But same-minded people were wondering, okay, is she genuinely going to change? Or is should she allow to have a second chance or not, is she dangerous? Taking all those things into consideration, the judge sentenced Yuka to three and a half years for attempted murder. Yuka burst into tears at her sentencing, she was sobbing so hard her whole body was shaking, and Phoenix's request to not harshly punish her probably played a huge role in the sentencing,

which sounds really light to me. Thankfully, the courts made it so that you guys no longer allowed in the red light district of Tokyo. So at least Phoenix will have some peace of mind if he continues to work in the industry. He was already having nightmares at the hospital. The last thing he needs is to be at work and have this looming fear that Yuka's just gonna show up one day at his workplace acting like nothing happened. Like, hey babe.

But Yuka should be out in a few months, February of 2024. From what we know, she has been well-behaved in prison and plans to pay her parents back for the settlement that they paid Phoenix. She said that she's also willing to face all the social consequences when she gets out. Meanwhile, Phoenix is doing well physically and can finally eat and talk normally like before, but because his liver was damaged in the attack, he can no longer drink alcohol.

And for that reason, there was always this looming threat that Phoenix wouldn't have a job, because drinking is such a big part of being a host. But his work family pulled through. Now at work, the other hosts take all of his drinks for him. And I don't think any of his new or old clients care that he's not drinking, they're actually all fascinated by his story. It's definitely a strange situation.

Phoenix was almost murdered. He has a scar on his stomach to prove it, but his popularity in the clubs was skyrocketing afterwards. It's kind of dark, but everyone wants to know what's so special about Phoenix that a pretty young girl would throw her life away to try and kill him. To become so obsessed with him. It's dark, but Phoenix just kind of embraces it. He survived, and he's making the best out of it. He even said he's kind of thankful that people are interested in his story because it's helping pay his bills. He said, I don't hold a grudge. I think there was a reason for her to stab me. It's also kind of thanks to her that I'm able to achieve sales that I did in less than a year since I became a host.

Wow. I mean, this guy really knows how to see the silver lining of things. Yeah, I mean Phoenix was later interviewed at his new to see the silver lining of things. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Phoenix was later interviewed at his new club, The Servant of Eve. He told the story of how you was stabbed, which we already went over. But it's just really interesting to see him in his element. I'm sure it was thrilling for journalists to go there and interview him and seeing all the women around him.

Phoenix looks really relaxed. He has a silvery, like a silvery hue to his hair and he just looks straight out of a boyband. He's telling the story of his stabbing and every once in a while a woman would lean in and get a strand of hair out of his eyes. Yeah, it's just very fascinating. You would not be able to tell that just a few years ago he had been nearly murdered. So he's doing great. What are your thoughts on this case?

Let me know in the comments have you heard of Yandere before this, have you heard of host hostess clubs? Let me know and I hope you guys enjoyed. Please stay safe and I will see you guys on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye!