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You thought I was attacking Japan? Why? But Edo Japan was the one with feudal lords and Joseon Korea was not. I do not need to attack you or anything :/ At least you admit there were fascists (and still are). Meanwhile, I have never heard of Germany being defensive over its history when others speak of it.

When Korean envoys were sent to Edo and a letter from the King to the Shogun, why was the letter regarded so preciously the Japanese gave its own separate palanquin? Why were Japanese envoys no longer allowed past Busan while Koreans were allowed to travel all the way into Japan to see its movements? Why did Arai Hakuseki rudely demand the envoys to start calling the shogun "King of Japan" instead of "Daegun/Taikun" whose level was just a title for princes in Korea, if Hakuseki did not feel it was insulting? (This demand never went through however). Why did Matsudaira Akinori, a daimyo, got embroiled in a peasant uprising and died? Because he raised extra taxes to prepare to fund the lavish reception of Korean envoys coming soon, as some of these took an entire year's worth of tax income. Why did Confucianism only start seeing an increase in presence in Edo while it's been the craze for everyone in the continent for 1000s of years, if not for those popularly received Korean envoys (people would not let them sleep, asking for calligraphy and autographs many which became heirlooms, and Japanese Confucianists asking envoys to be the judge in their friends' poetry competitions)?

Naturally, in chaotic Sengoku wartimes little can be spared for the arts.
Edo flourished in arts compared to before because 1: 1000s of captured Korean craftsmen were not allowed to return to Korea. 2: super high taxes pretty much concentrated the wealth of the country at the capital at the expense of others. Those 3000 Edo ikkis and the book by Fabian Drexler on Mabiki infanticide even in times without famine, have no other explanation. Even Sato Nobuhiro in the 1800s gave specific numbers over many regions saying how many babies were killed. 3: The silver refining tech Japan calls "灰吹法 Haifukiho" was invented in Korea in 1533 and given to Japan because Korea unfortunately hardly has any silver lodes (or much of anything for that matter, no gold, no silver, no saltpeter, no copper even), and so from then the Iwami silver mine which previously was not very profitable, became lucrative, and just this 1 mine alone became responsible for 7% of the world annual silver production for quite some time. 4: Korean acculturation missions to forgive Japan and prevent future wars (no coincidence that ungratefully, wars happened when these missions were no longer continued).

Look up Yukio Lippit's talks of Lee-Am / Yi-Am and how Edo artists took after his style. Even Japanese sites acknowledge Arita ware, Hagi ware, and even the gaudier Satsuma ware made for exporting to Europe for Japan's profit were started by captured Korean potters in the Edo period. The 15th generation potter taking on the name of Shim Sugwan / Chin Jukan himself still alive today says this, who lives in Japan yet still holds annual Korean ceremonies, even had public events speaking of this. There are even posters advertising it. Why are there a separate category of Koraimono (Korean) pottery in Japan and most of these date to Edo period?

In the 1400s and 1500s the Ouchi clan who once climbed to be in the top 3 major powers in the Sengoku period, sent envoys to Korea many times calling himself 陋邦 (impoverished side) and calling Korea 大邦 (greater side) asking for entitlement for his ancestral lands because he was a descendant of Prince Imseong (who was recorded to have brought metalworking to Japan), or at least an official recognition of his bloodline. For quite a while many daimyos came asking for either the Tripitaka Koreana or a printing of it.

In the Edo period, Amenomori Houshuu the Confucianist was a pretty hard fan of Korea at the time. It is seen that even the concept of bushido was recreated in this "peacetime," in a way that would get real Sengoku period samurais rolling on the floor laughing at those Edo samurai who've never seen a real war (because it was normal to be opportunistic and stay alive and even kill those who you fought alongside during Sengoku times, but in Edo times that is seen as barbaric. This is because Confucian scholars from Korea made waves in Japan for quite some time, to the point even Koreans got impressed and somewhat awed later, but even this is not quite Confucian as dying as a martyr in the face of tyrants and defying them is what he actually preached, not seppuku) Tou Teikan around this time even tried to attribute quite a lot of things to be of Korean origin, too, although even I think it was exaggerated. But the point remains people back then did not think of Korea as you did.

500,000 girls were sold overseas as Karayuki-sans to drive the glorified Meiji Restoration. Reforms require a lot of money, after all. Even the warmonger respected to be put on the 10,000 yen bank note, Fukuzawa, openly said the sale of Japanese girls should not be stopped for the progress of the country.

Also about the Japanese Emperors: No I mean they were protected better when the Tokugawa shogunate took power. I didn't mean they WEREN'T puppets before. Puppets that are protected vs. puppets that weren't.

In the sengoku period it is true the Emperors really took a back seat and nobody cared much about them. I'm saying in the Edo period nobody would be able to get away with throwing rocks at the Emperor like it was in Sengoku period, because the Shogun would severely punish them. Go-Nara had to make ends meet by doing painting and calligraphy, and his handmaidens from noble families even dabbled in prostitution to make their ends meet. Unthinkable today, but those were very different times from today.

We may have disagreements, but I do admire you being a knowledgeable person. :) Farewell

You think bullying doesn't happen in hallways when teachers stay in classrooms and students move between classrooms and lockers? :/

"The bully would have no way of retaliating if enough of them spoke up."

What? That's not what happens in reality in ANY part of the world. Ever heard of the Bystander Effect? It's just human nature to think somebody else will speak up, somebody else will be the first to do something.

It's more realistic that bad things don't get stopped so easily. Well then why don't people stand watch over their neighborhoods 24/7 to stop crime? Why do people let corrupt leaders have their way? Why do people let countries invade other countries, even if the injustices are not happening right before them, isn't the severity of war, meaning 1000s of innocents dying for no fault of their own, worth people flying halfway around the world to stop? That seldom happens, and even rarer for it to be enough.

Or even if you were there and spoke up, how are you sure your voice will matter at all? What if there is no change, and you just made yourself the new target? What if by speaking up you are going to have to sacrifice your time and energy you needed to have spent on your studies? What do you gain from speaking up?

Are you sure you did not walk past an opportunity to stand against injustice, even if you did not make a change without you just being tired and beaten and giving up? If so, I congratulate you, we need more people like you in this world (but most people stop at slacktivism, pat themselves on the back and go home thinking they made a change), but even so, I seriously doubt you saw that everyone else weren't as enthusiastic as you about speaking up against injustice.

(I do know changes for the better are easy to be erased by future evildoers but I don't think that is any reason to despair and not speak up, this should be an ongoing thing. It's like there is no reason to despair over eating food, doesn't mean eating is pointless because you will just be hungry again tomorrow.)

Who just got a slap on the hand for a school fight? Who? That fentanyl fiasco and the fight that came later? That was covered up because the rich kid had pull with the school + parents did not want him to be prosecuted for drugs. Or were you talking about something else? It's been a while since I watched the show...

Good to hear it helped you!

THANK YOU, someone who finally understands! At home Beom Seok was made to believe he was worthless and unappreciated. Of course he hated that. But his "father" was invincible. So in desperation he sought an easier target to take his frustrations out. It's illogical but I understand, he's a schoolkid.

Suho not following him back on instagram was a trigger too. I noticed how Suho keeps putting his arm around him and dragging him in various directions. It's what pals may do but also it's also what bullies do. It's a power move. BeomSeok was not in a state to brush such things off, he was in a very sensitive state.

He felt like the gangster guy had a point, that he wasn't Suho's friend, his equal, but a lackey.

All of these things would not have bothered Beom Seok if he had a nice family and was not starved for human contact of any kind. I've seen some ridiculous people say he was gay for Suho but that's preposterous. He's both grateful for having a guy like Suho as a friend but also anguished that he actually isn't his friend but a lackey, just part and parcel that comes with Shieun who is really regarded as Suho's equal. He's really starved for human affection of any kind, with the way he is abused all the time back at home.

To be fair that girl was also kind of ill-mannered, answering Beom Seok's phone without permission and outing him out to his previous bullies without a care or an apology. She already irked him by always pretending he wasn't there, almost like she is blocking the quieter Beom Seok out of the rest of the group. Beom Seok got lucky and met some bullies from his current school who beat up the bullies of his previous school, and from there he decided this was his chance to prove he was as socially powerful as Suho.

No it all adds up together. At home Beom Seok was made to believe he was worthless and unappreciated. Of course he hated that. But his "father" was invincible. So in desperation he sought an easier target to take his frustrations out. It's illogical but I understand, he's a schoolkid.

Suho not following him back on instagram was a trigger too. I noticed how Suho keeps putting his arm around him and dragging him in various directions. It's what pals may do but also it's also what bullies do. It's a power move. BeomSeok was not in a state to brush such things off, he was in a very sensitive state.

He felt like the gangster guy had a point, that he wasn't Suho's friend, his equal, but a lackey.

All of these things would not have bothered Beom Seok if he had a nice family and was not starved for human contact of any kind. I've seen some ridiculous people say he was gay for Suho but that's preposterous. He's both grateful for having a guy like Suho as a friend but also anguished that he actually isn't his friend but a lackey, just part and parcel that comes with Shieun who is really regarded as Suho's equal. He's really starved for human affection of any kind, with the way he is abused all the time back at home.

To be fair that girl was also kind of ill-mannered, answering Beom Seok's phone without permission and outing him out to his previous bullies without a care or an apology. She already irked him by always pretending he wasn't there, almost like she is blocking the quieter Beom Seok out of the rest of the group. Beom Seok got lucky and met some bullies from his current school who beat up the bullies of his previous school, and from there he decided this was his chance to prove he was as socially powerful as Suho.

I just hate how the official subtitles are really watered down and are written like it's got some kiddie filter censorship on it.

A lot of the violence stems from schoolkids trying to prove they are better than others by beating them up and giving them a hard time. Power trip. That's it. But the story is in how the characters get through this strife.

Did you also find it very weird the webtoon made the first names English but kept surnames Korean?

I don't know where you are from, but I found some Western viewers didn't know that in most of Asia, teachers don't have homerooms. The students are the ones who stay in the same classroom (unless for special classes like chem lab or PE), and teachers move between the faculty room and various classes between classes.

There are like 10 minutes of free time between each class where the teachers are busy going to the faculty room and preparing to go to their next class.

This is when the students are not supervised.

Also, the dynamics of student conflicts are: if one person is harrassing the other, it's not a fight, yet. Because if a teacher even bothers to intervene it's just one's word over the other that there is bullying, the students pressure the other that they were just playing, and if the victim does not go along, then they are threatened with even greater violence later. Only when one retaliates does it count as a fight, then the teacher bothers to intervene, but most likely will punish both for even getting involved in a fight. Even if he only punishes the perpetrator, that doesn't solve anything because:

People know, if teachers get involved, the bullies will be taking it out on the victims even more, because even the most concerned teacher can't be around 24/7 to keep an eye on one victim, nor can they just keep an eye on just one student, they have classes' worth of kids to oversee. And what about after school? What can teachers do after school, chase after bullies harassing other kids off school grounds, after hours, well outside their jurisdiction?

What about the police? The police can't be going around saving kids from bullies, they have other stuff to do. And without proof they can even do less. Most bullying victims don't even bother doing anything about it , they prefer to just weather it. They are kids, they can't think that far ahead, gathering proof or plotting a big revenge or something.

It's got good strong bromance but at the same time I expect the next season is where the REAL bromance will happen with a whole gang of good bros :)

I heard there was trouble with Netflix and Korean studios because Netflix while overjoyed that what little they invested in Korean writers paid big dividends, really does not want to pay them much, not even a running guarantee like they have with European writers. Netflix has been doubling its investment into Korea every year, but lately they stopped increasing the investments. This gets more difficult for Korean studios because with each success, the actors in them have to be paid more, and it's come to a point that they cannot make any more, especially when Netflix won't even let them keep their own IP.

Netflix is adamant about taking the IP whole and all the profits of merchandising when it comes to Korean shows on Netflix. So starting with Extraordinary Attorney Woo the a Korean studio (ASTORY) decided to not use Netflix money for production and used a Korean broadcasting company's funds instead, and only gave Netflix the right to air it, which to Netflix's surprise, still made a huge hit. ASTORY is also responsible for the zombie series, "Kingdom," so with Netflix trying to kick ASTORY around to make an example for others, the much anticipated 3rd season is on hiatus.

And so Netflix is trying to strangle the Korean media from doing well, and are starting to restrict some Korean media so they won't be available outside Korea or won't be available outside of Asia, or pulling them from rankings and such.

Thank you!

By the way, abou that Emperor Hongwu I mentioned briefly, I admire the inspiring tale of his rise from just an illiterate beggar who lamented how he wasn't even able to give his parents a proper burial, to become the most powerful man (Emperor of Ming) in the world! Unprecedented in history! And not only that: in doing so he avenged his people, as he grew up listening to his mother's father (very old, he lived to be 99) who told him stories of his personal experience in the last great battle of Song vs. the Mongol invaders at Yamen, about the last loyal officials defending the country to the last, 200k warriors of justice still volunteering to defend their last boy emperor despite knowing the dynasty was over at this point, all choosing to bravely go down with the ship (sometimes quite literally, because the last battle at Yamen was naval) rather than live with their hated enemies.

The fall was tragic and moves my heart, but it also made the rise ever more glorious.

He's reincarnated to save the dynasty he founded back in Taejo Wang Gun! XD

Which was founded from the ashes of the dynasty he protected back in the Emperor of the Sea!

No prob! :D

There is, but this sort of thing was unusual back then, not common like the samurai pederasty "Wakashudo" culture or anything, but not strictly forbidden like in the next Joseon Dynasty, yet still rather unusual.

What's rather inaccurate instead in the show was he was portrayed as a nice but lazy bum, he was actually quite a nice Emperor and not lazy, he did a lot of little good things here and there. His downfall really came from having to fight his own mother who would not let go of her power she had as regent back when he was too young to properly rule. While this political fighting was going on, a 3rd party, a general, swooped in and... got rid of him. (It's also why his killer did not get much support, because the Emperor didn't really have problems in his governing to begin with!)

That was the trend with some East Asian monarchies I'm afraid. Korea and Japan had "Emperors" but they had less real power than when they were "Kings." Goryeo was a feudal Empire where outside the capital every lord was a rival, while the Joseon dynasty that came after was a centralized Kingdom where there were no landed nobles with their own armies nor their own lands they could tax. Meanwhile in 1500s Japan, Emperor Go-Nara was so poor and so lowly that kids would throw rocks at him like he's the village idiot, and he couldn't do anything about it, while in ancient times the King of Japan had an actual army to command. Then later the emperors became the military dictator (Shogun)'s pet, protected but controlled. When Korea was sending scholars and artists to Japan in the Edo period to spread culture and Confucianist statescraft and knowledge, it was written the Japanese secretly confided in them they are sad that the Shogun has usurped their monarch, some things they would never leave in text lest they be executed for harboring rebellious sentiment. Actually, the whole excuse for the Meiji Restoration was kicking out the Shogun military dictator and restoring power to the Emperor but in reality, not much of that happened, just the shogun dictator for fascist dictatorship (realistically speaking, who is going to give power to someone who doesn't have it?).

By the way, I think "China" comes from "Qin" Dynasty of ancient times, when the Ying Zheng united China and invented the new word "Emperor"

Thank you for the nice explanation! You sure know a lot!

You mean about war? "Taejo Wang Gun" perhaps.
It is about the process of uniting several Korean countries and forming... Goryeo, which Goryeo-Khitan War is set in, 8 generations later.

Funny thing is, the protagonists in these two series are played by the same actor >:D So there is a joke saying Wang Gun reincarnated as Gang Gam Chan to save the dynasty he founded.

I understand. Perhaps it is like the question of who is Roman in the Roman Empire when there were non-Italian dynasties from time to time, yet nobody thought anything of it. Thanks for reading!

You know what maybe I should delete some stuff there that is sensitive, I reread what I wrote. Sorry if it was touchy subject. I feel embarrassed, even! :C

Thank you for telling us about Kang Jo supposed to have more victories not protrayed in the show! I didn't think anyone would know around here! Surely, his final demise was rather rushed and anticlimactic. I guess drawing out the process of winning a few times and THEN losing would be too repetitive, but I still think they could have done a little bit more.

It's sageuk, but strangely it is completely fictional. Not some parts, but the entire premise. There was no Sunjong in real life.