loverman

Kimi-chan lights a match for the despondent heroine and explains why it is not acceptable to be infatuated with Charlie Chaplin: "Nobody's going to be crazy about a guy who's not a loverman." Kimi-chan then adds her own illustration of the ideal loverman (iro otoko): "Even I stopped going to the flicks after Valentino died."

This can cause some strange changes. I've seen lovermen go weird. Romeos who broke and balled the ladies outside, lovesickness turns them into lisping, stubble-chinned, prison-yard queens.

Could it be mere coincidence, for instance, that Billie Holiday's line of lovermen exhibited a sadistic streak both in her lyrics and in her life?