I did not expect to enjoy this. The only anime adaptations I've enjoyed is the Rurouni Kenshin movie series. Looks like One Piece comes second.
The casting was on point, which I think was the biggest driving force in this adaptation. Didn't expect them to get it right, but boy, did they get that right.
Joo Min Kyung who played the Bae Ok Hee’s character should have been the female lead. She was so much better.…
I think Joo Min Kyung suited her role, which is why she has become a fan favourite.
As for the female lead, she has been amazing in so many dramas. The Light In Your Eyes, Familiar Wife, Our Blues, One Spring Night. This might have been the silliest role she has done, but she sold it well.
(The fight for independence, but make it a western.)
You can tell that the people who made this show knew what a proper western show was. It was all about action and entertainment with touching moments and humour in between. But entertainment and fun gun slinging action scenes is what a good western is made of. The fact that there was a big action scene in every episode was perfection.
I'm rating this based on the expectation of season 2 happening, because there is no way a show would end the way this show did without a season 2 coming in at some point.
I see no reason for s2 honestly....I expected much from kanghoon because of how they showed his power, he could…
Yep. I think so too. Bong Seok was definitely shown to have more of a talent (ability wise) than the others, probably because he had the DNA of two parents with abilities while the others' powers were watered down by the normal DNA of one of their parents. Who knows how strong they would have been if both parents of abilities were their parents.
Random break up, here we come. Soon they will find out he didn't want to kill her or was forced to kill her or she forced him to kill her or he didn't kill her at all but... Really. They could have just kept dating. It was their previous life. You can move on. Easily. Not a good reason to break up. It's just not.
They should have done what Business Proposal did; reduced the episodes by two with no break up. Problem solved.
Dating Era >>>>> The random break up before getting back together at the end of the series.
Fillers are usually unrelated to the main plot and the writer add them just to extend the story and serves no…
As a Naruto fan, not all backstories are fillers.
If they connect to the main plot or contribute to character growth - Not a filler. And the backstories in this show connect to the main plot, because it shows why the parents do what they do. - They are the main characters, after all.
If the scene doesn't have any consequences to the main plot - Filler.
I honestly didn't see any filler episodes because everything connected to the plot in the end.
I see no reason for s2 honestly....I expected much from kanghoon because of how they showed his power, he could…
I saw the lack of power through comparison.
For example:
Hee Soo has her father's healing ability. But not his ungodly strength. We saw his strength in how he can break through walls etc. But she can't do that. Even the North Korean soldier made a comment about how she's not strong.
While Kang Hoon can easily break a tree, his father can break a building. Again, we saw the comparison between his father's fights and Kang Hoon. The father has no skills, acts on instinct, but is as strong as a battering ram. The son, has skills, but is markedly weaker.
Will they get stronger the older they get? We don't know. But as of this series, they are definitely weaker then their parents powers wise.
We always assume that the children will be stronger than the parents because that is the most popular narrative found in superhero lore. We can thank DC and Marvel for that. It's the way to get people excited for the next generation once a character has lived out his storyline.
But it looks to me like this show decided to go the DNA route. Like how humans used to have strength and height and over the years humans became shorter and weaker because of evolution, we can assume that the parents of the parents were probably even stronger, and with each generation, the power get weaker.
I see no reason for s2 honestly....I expected much from kanghoon because of how they showed his power, he could…
Actually, the entire point of the drama was to go against the mainstream (A.K.A - The American way) of super-powered kids. The kids are definitely not as powerful as their parents. Narratively, they are weaker. On purpose. They have, maybe 50% of their abilities and zero training. That was the point of the backstories of the parents. To show the viewers how strong and capable the parents were compared to the kids.
In Western shows, the child is always stronger than the parents. They are the ones expected to save the world. So this drama did the opposite. They showed them to be weaker. And the parents are strong enough to protect them.
It was never about the kids. It was about the parents.
None of the kids got the same strength as their parents. Their parents were legends. The kids powers are meh, compared to them. They can't control it as well, and they don't have the strength.
It was actually quite refreshing to see a show that doesn't follow the American way of storytelling, since that concept has been done to death.
Also, there were no main characters. This was an ensemble drama like Reply 1988, or Lord of The Rings. This went against the usual kdrama of having 3 main characters (2 males, and 1 female or the reverse). Basically, the storytelling trumps any one character.
This might be random, but can someone make an article and discussion about the weird bandwagon hate of some kdrama…
Honestly, I'm not a fan of the way they rate things either. If it's good romance (no matter the genre), they give it 10/10 because the main two had chemistry. If the woman doesn't end up with their male of choice, they rate the drama 1/10 (like in Start Up or Doctor Cha).
And every single drama page (be it thriller, horror, action, revenge, family), the most seen comment is, "IS THERE ROMANCE?????" - It doesn't make sense to me because there is no romance in the tag, so why watch the show if you only care about romance?
For some odd reason, if the drama is a rom-com, that is considered the pure kdrama and anything else is just trying to be westernised, according to them.
I mean both dramas are about beauty. It’s the same topic just done in different genre
Generally, when people look for recommendations, don't they look for shows in the same genre first? I don't think anyone coming here looking for a show similar to Mask Girl will get what they want with True Beauty.
I know a lot of people watch kdrama for escapism, which is why this drama is not for everyone. If you know how twisted the real world is, this drama will probably not shock you, and instead, give you an introspection about the selfish choices people make.
I also love how for once, there is a revenge drama told in the POV of someone getting hunted, rather than seeing the hunter who is almost always the hero in the narrative.
If you are partial to rom-com dramas like True Beauty, please don't watch this. Similar recommendations to Mask Girl are shows like D. P., Big Bet, One Ordinary Day etc.
It's actually a good thing that there are so many big actors in this. Even if it is a small role, when all the…
"But so far, I dare say that some of these roles could've been done better by some relatively lesser known actors."
That's an interesting take. Do you have any examples as to who would have acted better for what role? Because we never know how someone will act in any role simply because all actors are different and what they bring to the role differ from actor to actor.
And...
"Given the limited screen time, they really needn't cast these big actors who just take up more time for their entry/exit scenes."
What did you mean by entry/exit scenes? I thought the show focused more on storytelling rather than focusing on actors, unlike other kdramas. Could you give me an example where a character's entry/exit scene was focused on a lot simply because of how big named the actor was? Because in all honestly, I didn't notice.
The casting was on point, which I think was the biggest driving force in this adaptation. Didn't expect them to get it right, but boy, did they get that right.
As for the female lead, she has been amazing in so many dramas. The Light In Your Eyes, Familiar Wife, Our Blues, One Spring Night. This might have been the silliest role she has done, but she sold it well.
Ok-Hui's Girl Gang was honestly the best thing about this. Every scene with them was the best!!!
The quirkiness of this drama was something else. The comedy was unique.
(The fight for independence, but make it a western.)
You can tell that the people who made this show knew what a proper western show was. It was all about action and entertainment with touching moments and humour in between. But entertainment and fun gun slinging action scenes is what a good western is made of. The fact that there was a big action scene in every episode was perfection.
I'm rating this based on the expectation of season 2 happening, because there is no way a show would end the way this show did without a season 2 coming in at some point.
Here's hoping for news of season 2 dropping!
They should have done what Business Proposal did; reduced the episodes by two with no break up. Problem solved.
Dating Era >>>>> The random break up before getting back together at the end of the series.
If they connect to the main plot or contribute to character growth - Not a filler. And the backstories in this show connect to the main plot, because it shows why the parents do what they do. - They are the main characters, after all.
If the scene doesn't have any consequences to the main plot - Filler.
I honestly didn't see any filler episodes because everything connected to the plot in the end.
For example:
Hee Soo has her father's healing ability. But not his ungodly strength. We saw his strength in how he can break through walls etc. But she can't do that. Even the North Korean soldier made a comment about how she's not strong.
While Kang Hoon can easily break a tree, his father can break a building. Again, we saw the comparison between his father's fights and Kang Hoon. The father has no skills, acts on instinct, but is as strong as a battering ram. The son, has skills, but is markedly weaker.
Will they get stronger the older they get? We don't know. But as of this series, they are definitely weaker then their parents powers wise.
We always assume that the children will be stronger than the parents because that is the most popular narrative found in superhero lore. We can thank DC and Marvel for that. It's the way to get people excited for the next generation once a character has lived out his storyline.
But it looks to me like this show decided to go the DNA route. Like how humans used to have strength and height and over the years humans became shorter and weaker because of evolution, we can assume that the parents of the parents were probably even stronger, and with each generation, the power get weaker.
In Western shows, the child is always stronger than the parents. They are the ones expected to save the world. So this drama did the opposite. They showed them to be weaker. And the parents are strong enough to protect them.
It was never about the kids. It was about the parents.
None of the kids got the same strength as their parents. Their parents were legends. The kids powers are meh, compared to them. They can't control it as well, and they don't have the strength.
It was actually quite refreshing to see a show that doesn't follow the American way of storytelling, since that concept has been done to death.
Also, there were no main characters. This was an ensemble drama like Reply 1988, or Lord of The Rings. This went against the usual kdrama of having 3 main characters (2 males, and 1 female or the reverse). Basically, the storytelling trumps any one character.
And every single drama page (be it thriller, horror, action, revenge, family), the most seen comment is, "IS THERE ROMANCE?????" - It doesn't make sense to me because there is no romance in the tag, so why watch the show if you only care about romance?
For some odd reason, if the drama is a rom-com, that is considered the pure kdrama and anything else is just trying to be westernised, according to them.
I also love how for once, there is a revenge drama told in the POV of someone getting hunted, rather than seeing the hunter who is almost always the hero in the narrative.
If you are partial to rom-com dramas like True Beauty, please don't watch this. Similar recommendations to Mask Girl are shows like D. P., Big Bet, One Ordinary Day etc.
That's an interesting take. Do you have any examples as to who would have acted better for what role? Because we never know how someone will act in any role simply because all actors are different and what they bring to the role differ from actor to actor.
And...
"Given the limited screen time, they really needn't cast these big actors who just take up more time for their entry/exit scenes."
What did you mean by entry/exit scenes? I thought the show focused more on storytelling rather than focusing on actors, unlike other kdramas. Could you give me an example where a character's entry/exit scene was focused on a lot simply because of how big named the actor was? Because in all honestly, I didn't notice.