As I am rewatching 10Dance (much to the consternation of those around me because yes it's going to be all I talk about for the next few weeks), I have also stumbled across many different viewpoints on the "lame" scene that I heavily disagree with.
Laying out the commonly agreed upon facts, what Sugiki did to Fusako was ultimately wrong. It was not great. It was in fact, a kind of evil thing to do that Sugiki did because he wanted to win. Yes it is fucked up, but these characters do not claim to be sane or normal or healthy, like these are fucked up people because they are entrenched in a fucked up thing - one of the most physical acts of love turned into the shackles of competition (the way I feel about how the competitive nature of dance in this movie is a whole different thing that I will happily elaborate upon if asked even once). The morality of what Sugiki did is not really what is at issue.
What is at issue are the reactions from Suzuki and also Sugiki himself. Sugiki sees this moment as his great failure and shame. In that moment he is someone ungentlemanly, cruel, dark, motivated entirely by his desire to win. Arguably he is more ashamed of the fact that he is motivated by his innate desires than about the fact that his actions were cruel (again, he is not a morally irreproachable character). Suzuki sees this moment and is impassive about it because what he thought was a moment of weakness from Sugiki was actually the one moment he actually indulged in what Suzuki thinks the greatest strength of dance is.
That is what Suzuki calls lame, that Sugiki genuinely feels remorse and regret for following his own desires, and that is what frees Sugiki to follow them to the train and to Suzuki and to one of the most artfully crafted film sequences ever. Does Suzuki kind of ignore Fusako and her trauma? Yeah. I do think he is also a little saying in that moment that Fusako is strong enough and that Sugiki doesn't need to hide his desires from her but also they are very self absorbed in their relationships so yes Fusako is disregarded.
However, I don't think in any of these moments, Suzuki is condoning what Fusako faced. He never says, yes what you should do is abuse your partners! He says follow your desires. He says, continue to be your controlling asshole self and I will show you that by following desire you can truly be free. Except both of them are WRONG. Sugiki follows rigidity and Suzuki follows carnal pleasure but the most important thing they need to internalize is love, and that is what they are able to do in the end, and this scene, even though they are both kinda wrong about their philosophies during it, is the catalyst for change that brings them to their understanding of love.
