L13

As I and probably many others suspected, Ryu Sungjoon seems to be Jung Yoonjae and Ryu Sunghoon might be boy #11, who organised the escape from the facility. (We have seen nothing concrete linking RSH to #11 yet, but their personalities and age relative to RSJ/JYJ's seem to match and the child actor playing #11 kinda resembles Ha Seokjin.)

Now, I am extremely sceptical of the idea RSJ is the revenge killer or involved in the murders at all; he seems to have no memory of the facility, and as the shaman lady said, he's not even aware of his real identity.

However, the killer or killers are introducing themselves as 'Jung Yoonjae' while taking revenge on Baek Moongang and his past accomplices. This suggests to me that the killers are boys from the facility.

As for why they would introduce themselves as JYJ, there are two possibilities: either to frame JYJ/RSJ for the murders OR to take revenge on his behalf, because they think he was BMG's biggest victim and it would be most meaningful to use his name.

I don't entirely discount the first possibility, but it would require some reason for the murderers to be conspiring to frame RSJ and I don't think it's easy to come up with a good one if they are indeed other victims of BMG. My theory is actually that the second possibility is true: the killers are using Yoonjae's name because they're taking revenge in his memory. BECAUSE THEY THINK HE'S DEAD.

Especially if Sunghoon is part of the murder conspiracy, which is my working assumption, the perpetrators won't want to make RSJ the scapegoat for their crimes. But if they don't know RSJ is JYJ or even that JYJ is alive, they won't be afraid to use that alias.

Also, given all the horrors that we already know transpired in the facility, the only reason Yoonjae would be considered its biggest victim (and Sunghoon would stare angstily at ball #13 during the jury selection scene in ep. 1 and so on) could be that the murderer(s) think he died during the escape attempt. Like, they were all tortured and beaten on the regular, so what makes JYJ special? He must have suffered a fate even worse than the other boys'. Well, the most logical idea that comes to mind is that he was killed, or so the Joker murderers think.

So to sum up, my theory is that JYJ, who was hiding underneath the floorboards the last time we saw him in the flashback timeline, was captured by BMG, something really terrible happened to him, boy #11 and any other possible survivors believed JYJ died, then boy #11 (and possibly some others) got out and eventually hatched a plan to punish all the adults involved in running the facility and decided to use JYJ's name as their calling card.

JYJ, meanwhile, somehow survived, lost his memory, and was adopted by the Ryu family, either long before or long after Ryu Sunghoon joined them (because if they were both adopted soon after escaping the facility, Sunghoon should have recognised his face). And RSH doesn't know his younger brother is actually JYJ. The end!

Sorry for the massive comment, but I wanted to lay out every detail clearly. Do let me know if there are any big problems with this theory.

I'm still getting through episode 4, but I just got to the point where the police chief saw the necklace (this should be vague enough not to spoil you if you haven't seen the episode yet) and I've started to flesh out a theory:

I'm enjoying the drama so far and don't mind Esther Yu's mannerisms in this role, but I swear you guys discover the concept of free speech all over again every drama. "What do you want her to do?" Like not get cast in this role, probably. People are free to think that!

lmao grow up. This is a discussion board for a drama, not a fan page for the actors. People are SUPPOSED to post positive and negative opinions and everything in between.

Anyway, this is fun so far, but I'm not taking any of it seriously.

The idea that someone would be a presiding judge in Korea before 40 is already absurd enough before we add the ridiculous proposition that a judge would be allowed to preside over a case against a defendant who is suing the judge's brother for police brutality, or over a case where the defendant was arrested by the judge's brother and accuses the judge's brother of committing the crime... like, there's absolutely no way Sunghoon would be allowed to go ahead with those cases involving Sungjoon. And his assistant, a JUNIOR JUDGE, is like, "I hate jury trials because I want criminals to get harsher penalties!!!" lmao what? I know many judges are biased against defendants, but surely they teach you in law school not to say the quiet part out loud? And then he has to explain to her that that's not even how it works statistically speaking? Clown fiesta. And meanwhile Sungjoon is going around assaulting people with zero professional consequences like this is America? I've seen Live! I know he would have been fired midway through episode 1 in the real world.

Again, though, I'm still having fun. It's just more of a turn your brain off crime thriller like Mouse or Beyond Evil than a realistic one like Through the Darkness or Children of Nobody.

When Sunghoon is drawing the people selected for jury duty out of a bowl in ep. 1, there's a split-second shot of him staring down at ball #13. 13 was Yoonjae's number in the facility, so I think this might have been a hint SH was also there (and maybe that he was boy 11, who stayed behind to help YJ and also went to the police).

It's a very brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot, but I'm pretty sure it was intentionally placed there.

Yay, thank you!

Well… the whole point is that she’s pretending? She puts on a childish persona to mess with the ML.

She’s not that famous? Older people who don’t spend a lot of time on the internet only see beauty product ads by famous actors on TV? Meiren can barely afford her apartment and you think Chinese aunties in the deep countryside should know her?

This is not a “plot hole” at all.

I'm two episodes in and I find the FL's obsession with the ML quite disturbing instead of cute. She is literally stalking a guy she knows nothing about. And what's most off-putting is that she has absolutely no awareness of the fact that her behaviour is unhealthy and needs to change. So the drama treats it as normal too, like we're supposed to sympathise with her.

The ML's character and background are actually interesting too, and normally I am into the whole 'girl gradually wears down guy she likes' relationship dynamic. But I don't like delusional stalkers FFS.

Honestly, her voice and mannerisms irritated me to no end in Love Between Fairy and Devil, but they work better here because she's playing a self-aware person. Her character puts on a cute/childish act to get what she wants and we see her when the mask is off too.

I get the sense from the scant information available that I'll like this drama. I hope it will get subbed somewhere.

When you consider the awful rumours of sexual violence surrounding celebrities like Ayano Go and how little they've affected their careers, the fact Narimiya Hiroki was forced into retirement over something that didn't hurt anybody is even more of a travesty.

That said, I hope he's enjoying life away from the spotlight and can be himself in peace <3 It sounds like the scrutiny Japanese celebrities endure was hard on him, so if he's really made a new life for himself abroad, that's great and I wish him the best.

I wouldn't either. Some characters are very loosely based on the characters of the novel, but I think the plot, themes and tone are radically different.

The title is a reference to the novel and the drama is also about sisters (3 instead of 4) trying to make their way in the world, but that's where the similarities end.

She's one of my favourite actresses. I hope she keeps getting good roles like her badass character in The Veil.

Love me a romance set in the Year of the Rat.

I actually don't mind the actress switch at all. It makes sense in the world of the drama and the possibility was raised in the very first episode, so it's not like it comes as a last-minute surprise.

Jung Somin is a great actress and I'll miss her, but I'm sure Go Yoonjung will also do well, and I think her appearance suits Naksu's character, so I won't have trouble getting used to Mudeok/Naksu's lines coming out of her mouth.

However, the fact they dragged out the plot so much and left all the good stuff for S2 is annoying. Fingers crossed no one gets amnesia too...

Some people are of the opinion that this film and the original Harakiri are about the samurai using their code of honour to oppress those less powerful than them, and about the use of values like honour, fairness, etc. as tools of subjugation.

However, while the presence of these themes is obvious, I don't think the film's message is that straightforward; after all, that Tajiri's retainers are inhumanly cruel to Motome under the guise of enforcing bushido, that they are eager to abuse him because he is a poor ronin and they are not, that his death is an atrocious waste of human life, and that his swindle may be dishonourable, but it is victimless and in no way warrants the consequences he has to suffer are all truths that become clear as soon as Tajima tells Tsugumo (and thus the viewers) about Motome's death.

We don't need to learn anything about Motome's motivations, his relationships with Miho and Tsugumo or Tsugumo's struggles as an impoverished samurai and single father to sympathise with Motome and hate Tajime's vicious retainer Omodaka, so if that's all the film was meant to make us feel, it could have ended around the 30-minute mark.

So what else is there? Why is Hara-Kiri so long? Why is Tsugumo the main character, and not Motome?

Well, because the film is more about Tsugumo's choice to meet false virtue with real than it is about the initial injustice of Motome's death. The brutal power dynamics of feudal Japan are taken as read, and the real question then becomes: How do you react when those high above you decide to devastate your life on a whim? When honour is used as a weapon against your family, is it worth it to defend the principle of it, by taking revenge the honourable way and confronting your tormentors, or are you better off renouncing your principles and becoming the beast the rich and powerful see you as?

Obviously Tsugumo decides on the former course of action and clings to the ideal of a noble samurai until the very end. His actions have an effect on some of Tajima's retainers but not all. Still, while the seppuku episode doesn't seem to move Tajima to shame or repentance, everyone present for Tsugumo's death knows enough about bushido to understand Tsugumo has exposed them as dishonourable, so they take pains to hide the real story of that day from the shogun.

Ultimately, though... was Tsugumo right to insist on his honour in the face of a world that doesn't value it? He may have scored the moral victory (and taken revenge on Tajima's retainers on Motome's behalf), but does Tajima even have the capacity to feel his own humiliation? Is righteousness its own reward in the end? I'm not entirely sure the film approves of Tsugumo's priorities; otherwise why inform us so pointedly that, thanks to Tajima, subsequent generations will remember Motome and Tsugumo as nothing more than cowardly beggars, the dregs of the samurai class? Just to drive home the point that the people history tramples on usually have their own, sharply diverging perspective on events? To suggest there may be untold stories of heroism and evil attached to every human life no matter how quietly it ends? Or perhaps to raise the possibility of a different response to Motome's death, one that might not have followed the path of bushido but could have hurt Tajima more?

(A totally different film might even tell the story of Miho taking revenge for Motome and her child's deaths, and I would have enjoyed it a lot.)

This is a great movie in many ways, and much better than the other instalments in the series—the characters and their motivations, the plot structure, individual scenes, the mood, just everything is so good. Unlike the other live-action RK films, which suffer from the typical limitations of live-action anime adaptations, RK: The Beginning is an affecting drama with some truly awesome sword fights thrown in rather than a vehicle for action scenes and fan service—but I have to say the romance is the highlight for me. It’s so poignant and subtle. It really made me dislike Kaoru’s characterisation as an immature clinger all the more when I marathoned the rest of the series.

We could have had compelling female characters with their own motivations (because Kaoru has no reason to do anything beyond being obsessed with Kenshin, and indeed does nothing except get kidnapped repeatedly) and personal strength and simmering tension between the characters this whole time! We just didn’t… because they had to stick to the source material, I know, but still.