An Unpolished Gemstone from 2010
I gave it a try because I noticed this was an earlier work by the same screenwriter who wrote 'The Goblin' and 'The Glory'. Despite some rough edges this show has a very likable natural charisma.This came out in 2010-2011 and is a Cinderella story with a supernatural angle thrown in. Note that the supernatural side doesn't get revealed until well into several episodes. It then drops away and only reappears much later. It works.
Some of the commentary in the dialogue was seriously blunt talk about class differences and issues with marriage between the humble classes and the elite few. Later Cinderella stories I've seen toned it down from what's here.
The bad is the acting (or perhaps we should blame the directors?) which at times is horrible with the actors screaming out lines and bellowing (and to top it off when they shriek the sound cracks or breaks - poor quality sound). Very off-putting. And then even my first time through the rough transitions and dropped or mishandled threads are very noticeable. What saves the production, as flawed and dated as it is, is it has a lot of heart. I found myself ignoring the bad acting and getting so engrossed in the story that the full hour episodes flew by.
Given this came out in 2010 and the screenwriter later followed up with such polished work as Goblin and Glory (among others) it seemed often that there were story twists and scene situations that she was experimenting with and that later were used by her (and other screenwriters) very successfully in better executed productions.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's Okay, And Flawed
The first episodes grabbed my attention, and I found them good enough to watch until the series end, but there were aspects that rubbed the wrong way.The medical aspect seemed superficial and these doctors and their behavior were not convincing. However, the main characters especially at the initial set up are interesting and their conflicts held my attention keeping me watching.
There are several interesting twists in the characters' backgrounds as we learn more about each.
Potential spoiler.... It was annoying towards and at the end the two doctors working together but divorced suddenly had partners. The tension for these two for 14 or 15 episodes concerned where these two and their relationship would end up, then suddenly in a near final scene the male doctor has a previously unmentioned spouse return from the states, and the female doctor suddenly has a previously unmentioned spouse? or perhaps boyfriend? return from abroad. My first reaction was that the director/producer/ or writer wanted that broad scene in which a happy ending showed everyone was paired up into nice neat couples despite the storytelling and relationship development of the prior 14 episodes. Not a good decision.
The two leads were interesting enough to keep me watching but several twists and turns in their relationship were not believable, especially regarding the serious mental illness of one and the impact on the relationship. Often I felt there was a message - i.e. The Message - preaching about proper attitudes towards mental illness that took priority over telling a good story.
I suspect most viewers will fall into the love it or hate it categories. I happened to hit the sparse middle.
PS: The subtitles were good enough but often contained mistakes. Unusually (most get this one right) this translator did not understand agreement between subject and verb.
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Relaxing Entertaining Watch
An easy going romantic comedy with an interesting twist at the ending.The lead actress pulls off the dual character challenge well. During the day she's a mild mannered personality and then at night a 'demon' inside takes over and stresses everyone close to her. The demon knows both sides but the daytime personality isn't aware of her nighttime adventures.
Well worth the time and very enjoyable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Watched but sometimes for wrong reasons
Keep in mind this was released in 2016. The beginning and middle held my interest, but the last third I watched more to see if the apparent flaws were going uncorrected until the very end. They were.The writer had an idea of the growth arc for their main character and like an alligator they locked onto to it right into a death roll. Hideo, the main character, is weak willed lacking in the follow through action part of living. And he does go through some tremendous development at the very end. The problem is that it's delayed through the middle of the story into situations that are simply unbelievable.
The bigger problem is that death roll for the main character was pursued at the expense of the development of certain other characters, in particular the half zombie school girl. It's unbelievable that she's used merely as a McGuffin through until the very last second! She should have had an active role in the final resolution.
Yes, the writer wanted us to understand how important the transformation of Hideo is but this is not news that the main theme can be developed along with other characters and themes.
The nurse carried her load in the story well enough, but the total neglect of the story and character potential of the half zombie girl in the last half was criminal and seriously damaged the finished movie.
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It's the Journey
You know going in the ending, more or less, but it's the journey that matters. The writer, director, and actors execute perfectly delivering a moving experience following the lives of two teens who got dealt the short end of fate's stick. Lot's of tears, but inspirational, too.The ratings here of Japanese movies/shows tend to be lower by about .3 or .4. Drawing Closer caught my attention for, as of this date, a rating of 8.9 which is remarkable. And it deserves that high rating.
A multi-episode TV show has much longer to create a connection with the viewer. It's also remarkable that this relatively short movie managed to develop a strong connection to these several characters.
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Two of Three Worth Watching
The Black Swindler (2006)Kurosagi: The Movie (2008)
Kurosagi (2022)
This Kurosagi series is about a young man (Kurosaki) whose father got swindled or conned pushing him to kill his family and himself. The son survived and thereafter dedicated himself to revenge on all such swindlers. A straight forward vigilante themed story.
Con men who swindle the innocent financially are called white swindlers (Shirosagi). Con artists who swindle romantically for money are called red swindlers (Akasagi). Our main character only cons white (Shiro) and red (Aka) swindlers (Sagi) so we have a strong Robin Hood theme in order to ensure sympathy with the lead who is after all breaking the law.
All three were written by the same screenwriter and one of a few directors is common to all three.
The cast of both The Black Swindler (2006) and the Movie (2008) are the same. The 2022 version is a reboot with all new cast.
I first watched Kurosagi (2022). Generally Japanese productions can be problematic with exaggerated acting styles and seriously obnoxious background music. However, this 2022 version is very watchable and the music not too distracting.
The 2006 TV Show was at first off-putting due to the acting and background music but I was curious how it compares to the 2022 reboot. It’s very similar following main plot twists - mostly - but has several significant changes in subplots. The result is a nicely done resonation between the two. You’ll get more from watching both than either alone.
The screenwriter loves symbolism. Conning someone is called ‘eating’. A main support character, a mentor to Kurosaki in all three, is shown having difficulty at times eating some thing or other. He is of course the master swindler who is guiding Kurosaki after his survival as a young teen.
The Movie (2008) is a clumsy return to first series (2006) and is essentially a long single episode. It doesn’t work so well and is forgettable. It could be the persistent references to the assassination of Julius Caesar and his betrayal by Brutus (whose mother was Servilia Caesar’s love interest over decades so possibly Caesar was real father of Brutus) or the frequent exposition.
Two out of three are worth the time. The third is for curiosity.
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Two of Three Worth Watching
The Black Swindler (2006)Kurosagi: The Movie (2008)
Kurosagi (2022)
This Kurosagi series is about a young man (Kurosaki) whose father got swindled or conned pushing him to kill his family and himself. The son survived and thereafter dedicated himself to revenge on all such swindlers. A straight forward vigilante themed story.
Con men who swindle the innocent financially are called white swindlers (Shirosagi). Con artists who swindle romantically for money are called red swindlers (Akasagi). Our main character only cons white (Shiro) and red (Aka) swindlers (Sagi) so we have a strong Robin Hood theme in order to ensure sympathy with the lead who is after all breaking the law.
All three were written by the same screenwriter and one of a few directors is common to all three.
The cast of both The Black Swindler (2006) and the Movie (2008) are the same. The 2022 version is a reboot with all new cast.
I first watched Kurosagi (2022). Generally Japanese productions can be problematic with exaggerated acting styles and seriously obnoxious background music. However, this 2022 version is very watchable and the music not too distracting.
The 2006 TV Show was at first off-putting due to the acting and background music but I was curious how it compares to the 2022 reboot. It’s very similar following main plot twists - mostly - but has several significant changes in subplots. The result is a nicely done resonation between the two. You’ll get more from watching both than either alone.
The screenwriter loves symbolism. Conning someone is called ‘eating’. A main support character, a mentor to Kurosaki in all three, is shown having difficulty at times eating some thing or other. He is of course the master swindler who is guiding Kurosaki after his survival as a young teen.
The Movie (2008) is a clumsy return to first series (2006) and is essentially a long single episode. It doesn’t work so well and is forgettable. It could be the persistent references to the assassination of Julius Caesar and his betrayal by Brutus (whose mother was Servilia Caesar’s love interest over decades so possibly Caesar was real father of Brutus) or the frequent exposition.
Two out of three are worth the time. The third is for curiosity.
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Two of Three Worth Watching
The Black Swindler (2006)Kurosagi: The Movie (2008)
Kurosagi (2022)
This Kurosagi series is about a young man (Kurosaki) whose father got swindled or conned pushing him to kill his family and himself. The son survived and thereafter dedicated himself to revenge on all such swindlers. A straight forward vigilante themed story.
Con men who swindle the innocent financially are called white swindlers (Shirosagi). Con artists who swindle romantically for money are called red swindlers (Akasagi). Our main character only cons white (Shiro) and red (Aka) swindlers (Sagi) so we have a strong Robin Hood theme in order to ensure sympathy with the lead who is after all breaking the law.
All three were written by the same screenwriter and one of a few directors is common to all three.
The cast of both The Black Swindler (2006) and the Movie (2008) are the same. The 2022 version is a reboot with all new cast.
I first watched Kurosagi (2022). Generally Japanese productions can be problematic with exaggerated acting styles and seriously obnoxious background music. However, this 2022 version is very watchable and the music not too distracting.
The 2006 TV Show was at first off-putting due to the acting and background music but I was curious how it compares to the 2022 reboot. It’s very similar following main plot twists - mostly - but has several significant changes in subplots. The result is a nicely done resonation between the two. You’ll get more from watching both than either alone.
The screenwriter loves symbolism. Conning someone is called ‘eating’. A main support character, a mentor to Kurosaki in all three, is shown having difficulty at times eating some thing or other. He is of course the master swindler who is guiding Kurosaki after his survival as a young teen.
The Movie (2008) is a clumsy return to first series (2006) and is essentially a long single episode. It doesn’t work so well and is forgettable. It could be the persistent references to the assassination of Julius Caesar and his betrayal by Brutus (whose mother was Servilia Caesar’s love interest over decades so possibly Caesar was real father of Brutus) or the frequent exposition.
Two out of three are worth the time. The third is for curiosity.
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Better Than the Rating, Delightfully Surprised
This is a story about an evil bastard who destroys the lives of thousands of people, and how some of those wrecked people organize to bring him down. In the process of getting some payback these people heal each other and themselves. The story emphasizes steep character growth for the many broken individuals involved in the revenge scheme.The plot can be complicated but no overly so. Much of the uneven early presentation may have to do with this being a first script for the author.
I found the first seven episodes OK and good enough to hold my attention. It was the seventh and eighth episodes that I felt really hooked, and then it got better from there as the payoffs in plot development and character growth show up.
Usually the website ratings on shows are a good guide, but not always. Sometimes a particular drama appeals to a niche leaving others cold or indifferent resulting in a lower than deserved score (or the process can work in reverse). It's worth checking if you're in the niche for this one or not.
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Rewatch Comments
I thoroughly enjoyed this the second time around. The series as completed is excellent and not likely to disappoint.However, this second time around an alternative version of the female lead occurred to me. I don't mean any of this to be taken as criticism and I believe the show deserves my high rating and the overall high average rating.
The lead character, Jang Man Wol played by IU, has a steep development curve as is, but given that she was a murderous, thieving, impulsive, and thoroughly sybaritic immortal being the on screen character we saw was censured leaving out certain pleasures that an immortal would not likely overlook. And, given her penchant often shown in backstory for killing people who crossed her, the young appearing lady we meet in the present day seems mild. The writers have the supporting ghosts talk about how mean she is and how foolish the young male lead is to confront her, but she seems almost meek at times. An immortal being such as Man Wol would likely not have hesitated to enjoy carnal pleasures to just as great an excess as she seemed to collect jewelry and other expensive trinkets. If in the early episodes the young male lead had confronted a more dangerous physically and more aggressive in the bedroom female lead then that much steeper character growth would have been more satisfying.
It's also true of other dramas such as The Goblin and My Roommate Is a Gumiho in which the leads live hundreds of years and remain seemingly celibate.
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Quirky
This is not for everyone, obviously. You'll know by the end of that first episode if you'll like the main story.Once into second episode I was gripped by the tension and story as it played out.
The problem for me was after the main story fed into the final resolution things fell a bit short of satisfying, and left much to be explained. That ending or final resolution doesn't really fit what comes before. The meat of the series is a good supernatural mystery/detective show, but the ending feels like something from a different supernatural horror movie.
I don't feel cheated and am glad I watched those first 5.5 episodes.
So, if you decide to watch be forewarned.
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This review may contain spoilers
Creative Borrowing
Within the story it alludes to some search for immortality by a long dead ruler as an inspiration. However, as the story unfolds a connection to another theme comes through as it becomes clear to us and the characters that there is no safe refuge, no home, and that the mobs will hunt Seobok down to exploit him no matter the cost.When the mobs close in and then are defeated the realization takes hold that there is nowhere to flee to and we arrive at another inevitable ending. The story and ending strongly evoked the same emotions and tragic ending of the novel "Of Mice and Men". I hope that doesn't give away too much, but it's that tragic collision at the end that makes the ending work so well and for the same reasons.
The same but different, and a well told story deserving in its own right.
Highly recommend.
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An Original -Good Outweighs the modest flaws
I'm not a big fan of fantasy so despite the high ratings I put this off. First time I stopped at the beginning of the second episode. However, after several months I gave it another try and this time ended up binging both seasons. Despite some obvious borrowings from other fantasy sources this story comes across as very original and fresh.The first season was well thought out so despite a few questions about the rules of this fantasy world the story, acting, and execution kept me engaged through to the end. The plot points follow believably more often than not.
Jung So Min's performance stands out. Her charisma dominates every scene in which she appears.
In this first season the writers weren't timid about consequences i.e. characters do die.
There was no question about jumping into the second season as the first one ends with a major cliff hanger.
However, the second season was not up to the first. The maturity level was deliberately lowered. There are a few mutilations of characters to achieve some sort of comedic effect and I often felt the plot getting bogged down by contrived situations, and several occasions in which an odd solution was injected to resolve scenes. These didn't stop me from enjoying the story journey, but I suspect the writers either did not have enough time to plot things out more carefully or more likely the suits put pressure on them to inject new elements to broaden the audience.
The first season Naksu character had a fierce introduction early on and ended up trapped within a weaker body without magical powers, and that challenge she faced - to achieve her goals without her usual powers - was entertaining. She had some interesting conflicting feelings emerge as her original desire for revenge ran into new facts that didn't reconcile with what she had been led to believe about the fate of her family.
In the second season that old fierce Naksu personality and that conflict were submerged behind an amnesia leaving a meek mild young girl with minimal magic and little agency, and the whole dilemma that season 1 was so focused on just disappeared. There were new dilemmas but these were not handled as well as the plot at times lurched forward.
Finally, I like a happy ending, but sometimes need one on the dark side because the story and characters demand it. The first season delivered. The second season really fudged on any consequences and we get a just so ending. Characters and story are set up to force hard choices, suffer the consequences, but then get bailed out. And when we see via the spirit of young Jin Bu Yeon that there is a major Devine entity at work this telegraphs a just so ending is coming for the lead couple.
Despite these flaws I found the whole very enjoyable and will rewatch again.
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Mixed
I usually avoid reading reviews until I finish. However, by E5 I had increasing doubts because the story felt a bit choppy and was losing me. So I checked out a few reviews and one mentioned it doesn't get good until E7! I pushed through to E7 and yes it gets 'better' but that's in part because of an increasing curiosity to find out whether the writing would improve.Key story points would pop up and then oddly characters wouldn't mention them until much later.
Anyway, I did find the characters and the story in the last five episodes engaging but was disappointed many rough edges weren't fixed before this went into production. I don't fault the actors or the production quality, but suspect the problem is with the script and likely the direction.
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Really Good Story Buried Under Amateurish Execution
The basic story idea is excellent. I found it held my interest and was worth watching once but I doubt I'll come back. There are too many rough edges and I'll forget about it too soon.The series blends vigilantism with a revenge theme plus the supernatural.
At times especially in the latter half I found myself thinking more about the odd twists and some stilted acting than about the story. That's bad.
The script was a draft that needed some drastic editing and smoothing. There are too many lapses in the plot, meaning events pop up and are left hanging, or the scene to scene logic was rough. The main characters' development felt off way too often. The main Yoon Ha Na character was a little too witless and helpless too often.
The writers had some interesting ideas exploring the grey between good vs evil. And I give them credit for following through on the implications of someone 'good' falling into that dark side. A main protagonist does some serious evil and the writers don't push a cliche redemption.
And while the main antagonist never finds redemption he takes directions I didn't expect towards the end.
The opening teaser scene in which Ha Na is chased onto a roof is extremely odd. As the story approaches the end I expected that opening scene to reappear and be explained. Nope. It never gets fitted into the story anywhere at anytime. It should have been cut.
The story takes some weird unexpected directions in the last third that are interesting but don't fit well. I got the feeling that the writers were directed to come up with enough material for 10 episodes when the story kinda wanted to end at about the 7th episode.
None of my negative comments are directed at the cast who did the best they could with the material and direction.
The first half or more of the episodes had some rough subtitling, but towards the last few episodes it really gets bad with consistent failures in basic grammar. The confusion as to when to use past tense vs past perfect is common here and also many TV series, but the most distracting was the frequent use of 'did went' when 'did go' was correct.
Despite the many flaws I found it entertaining if not always for the right reasons.
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