L13

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.

Uh, watch this drama or don't. Saying you're not going to watch it because people are comparing it positively to other dramas is so funny. Is it a threat? Should we care? You're only denying yourself.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Can someone please tell me which/how many episodes the leads spend in each other's bodies? Do they switch several times or once for a longer period of time? I'm not a huge fan of body swap dramas and would like to know how prominent this aspect of it is before I start watching.

Is this available with coherent subtitles somewhere because Mango TV's machine-translated subs are killing me.

Love me a good North Korean-South Korean romantic drama with some action silliness, but I gotta say I feel like Nam Gyuri looks more like an idol than like a tough North Korean officer, while Kim Minseok looks more like a soldier than like a global pop star... A bit funny that their roles here don't match their vibes, but I guess that can be rectified with good styling and acting.

Are there no conflict of interest laws in Japan? In episode 1, Sumiyoshi-sensei is shown representing a husband against his wife and his wife's lover and then taking on the wife's counter-suit against the husband the moment the first case is concluded, which is absurd.

What is more, in episode 6, Tamura is forced by his superiors to represent a client who is suing Tamura's own friends/former clients and to seize 5 million yen from them, supposedly because Tamura knows the most about his friends' business and can use this knowledge against them, and his unwillingness to do so is treated as a professional weakness to be overcome rather than a completely reasonable attitude. In most jurisdictions I'm aware of, not only are solicitors encouraged to refuse cases against either people they know in a private capacity or former clients, but in fact taking on such a case and using privileged knowledge of the opposing party to one's advantage is seen as a grave breach of professional ethics.

I don't know enough about Japanese law to say for sure whether this stuff is as unrealistic as it seems, but I'd be shocked if that's how it worked in real life.

I'm enjoying the main story and like the characters, but the romantic subplot lacks tension and chemistry IMO. Seo Eun-woo is likeable, but she's not very interesting, and there's no conflict between her and Yoo Se-yeop; the premise of her saving his life when he is at his lowest point and subsequently becoming a widow herself and teaming up with him when he is preoccupied with restoring his honour and she is unavailable for marriage offers some potential for slow-burn romantic angst à la Bossam, but so far their relationship progress is unnaturally fast and smooth IMO.

I guess I wish the romantic subplot was handled like in a traditional sageuk as opposed to this sweet and insubstantial fusion sageuk style that is supposed to be more youthful and modern.