Absolutely amazing and moving psychological mystery. And yes, it's certainly true that this jdrama does have very "anime" feels to it in how it's directed & written and its overall atmosphere. The use of flashbacks is also familiar, and that soundtrack played whenever its Reina scenes... I could hardly hold off tears.
To me the teacher (idk her name, I never kept it in mind) knew from the beginning what was the deal. Because she…
Wow, how in the world did I forget about that scene. Just looked and yeah its at the beginning of E02 (3:00). I've watched the show convinced her friend's attempt was successful and it made me perceive Shiiba's situation as even more tragic. The moments with her photo album being trampled upon, Katsumi repeatedly reminding her about the suicide and insisting it's because of Shiiba's actions.
Now the final bus scene makes more sense and I agree that there should have been some screen time for proper reconciliation instead of what looked like instant forgiveness.
Was gonna ask about your final thoughts but just noticed this :D
When I said the male villains were edgy, I meant Katsumi but especially the gangster's boss lmao. I think you can't get more anime-deliquent than Akira, only missed on the appearance side as he didn't have the usual exaggerated black pompadour.
That teacher (Toda-sensei?) was a puzzle to me. It's like for most of the show I couldn't tell if she really is clueless and believes Shiiba to be the source of problems or she actually understands perfectly what's going on and deliberately somewhat participates in the bullying. At least until the time Anzai blackmailed her and then the confession in the presence of the other teachers/principal, then she kinda made it clear. But I personally wasn't sure until the explicit admission to guilt.
I do agree about the class flipping sides xD Ugh I'm not sure how to put it into words, but it's like I believe that the "change of heart scenes" (the arson thing especially) are more suited for an anime and I probably wouldn't pay attention to them, but with live actors they sort of came across as nonsensical x)
The Midori and Anzaii conclusion was pretty memorable. Nothing I haven't seen before - the cornered antagonist loses everyone except for his most loyal follower who had remained by his side no matter what, only for that antagonist to reveal something that even said follower finds unacceptable and thus either abandons or turns against the master. I could see that was coming - but it was still an impactful moment and I'm not surprised you decided to mention it :D
By the way, quite a few similar themes to Pyramid Game don't you think? Like the secondary villain character (Katsumi, Kim Da Yun) having a father whose financial/societal well being depends on the parent of main villain (Anzai & Ha-Rin). And both beating their kids up if they caused "problems" for the main villain in fear that it carries over to their relation with the parent. In Life that topic was wrapped up with Katsumi stabbing his father then going to jail, Pyramid Game though didn't have any closure for Kim Da Yun :(
Also, I think I need one thing explained to me. Maybe this is also why I'm not sure who you're referring to as Shiiba's ex best friend. Who was the girl on the bus? I think I totally got lost there. During her first appearance I thought Shiiba mistook her for the friend that committed suicide in E01 because they looked similar? But then there was another bus scene at the end of Life and they interacted and the girl said to her friend she sat next to in the bus that she and Shiiba know each other? I mean if not for the fact that her best friend literally died, I would think that's her. Did I miss some major plot point in the show lol? Did her friend resurrect somewhere along the way? xD
Haha sometimes I wonder if things like corruption in police/school bullying are overused or it's just that I am more likely to pick a show with these themes because I simply enjoy those subjects.
Yeah I gotta say I felt sad for Shiiba. I am and always have been more into villain characters, but that didn't stop me from genuinely wishing Shiiba a happy end because of how much she had to go through on every step. As for Sako, such a fucked up personality, overall male villains in Life were a bit too edgy in my reception but I guess they were supposed to be. At least his theme soundtrack gave me chills x)
Think nobody likes the MAL mobile app lmao. I have MALClient instead (a 3rd party), but mostly I just use the webpage. Anyway I'm always interested in checking what the people I interact with have watched and how they rated stuff :D especially when we like similar genres and can recommend new shows to each other. My name on MAL is the same so if you decide to make it don't forget to add me (: how do you even track the stuff you've read & watched without MAL I wonder!
Indeed it was dark, the Sako Katsumi encounter in E02 sure took me by surprise. What also sold me on the show is the buildup for the conflict between Anzaii and Shiba and the role Hiro played in that. I liked how they took the time to set it up and that it wasn't your regular "student gets instantly bullied for (almost) no reason" trope.
What do you think about the OST though? :D some people claim its out of place for a tense drama like this, but imo it was quite good, a lot of catchy parts & fitting eerie fragments, even the rock-ish parts have its specific charm as well. P.S I even found the sponsorship breaks in the middle of episodes quite appealing xD
Aye I do watch em! In fact it's only been a year since I began to tread on this new territory of live action Asian dramas - before that I'd mostly sit in anime. Wasn't even aware how many mangas get their kdrama/jdrama adaptations, including the just discussed AiB that I had only known from an unfinished 3-episode OVA :) Do you watch anime too? Would love to see your MyAnimeList profile if so!
Yeah I think I saw "The 8 Show" somewhere on your page and immediately picked my interest! That one I'm probably watching quite soon, looks super interesting!
Yeah I can't get Higher out of my head xD That as well as the two eerie tracks "2nd Game" and "The Judgement" still haven't left my brain's internal audio player and probably will stay there for at least a couple more days.
And I totally get what you say about the OST! To me it's always been a very important part of my watching experience. Sometimes music alone can carry, or at least prevent you from immediately dropping an otherwise mid show :D This is what I *suspect* could be the case with what my youtube autoplay once introduced me to: Bitch X Rich. The reviews and comments kind of put me off starting that show, but the temptation from just the synopsis and OST sample remains... There is also this function of music that lets you persist the mood you had at the given point in time! You know, the "spiritual excitement" you felt while watching something exceptional or even memories of irl events that took place around the time you listened to a certain track :D
Wonder if it's just me, but when I know I'll 100% be rewatching something in the future and the OST was super good, I'll add it to the playlist but deliberately never listen to it outside of the actual show. Avoid wearing the music out over the years since it's best served in full package! x) That's how i feel about Signal but also some anime such as Shoujo Kakumei Utena (which is a very theatrical/musical piece of work). And honestly how I might feel about Pyramid Game too.
Haha as for Squid Games and AiB, I did quite the opposite. Not only did I watch AiB first, but also never watched Squid Games in fear that it'd be a downgraded experience xD But I tend to have prejudice against shows that are worldwide known and on netflix, should probably give it a try at some point. AiB was really gripping though, at least until it ended abruptly and I was like "You what m8, I thought the story is only kicking off?!". This is also how the manga ended, but the author is working with the S3 production team, so there's a chance for kdrama-original plot continuation hopefully!
Yes I loved it, only just completed it a few days ago. One of those dramas that I'm gonna be revisiting the mydramalist page of for weeks and reminiscing about it x)
Had everything, from great characters and acting to gripping story and excellent music (+6 to my playlist). Really reignited my thirst for kdramas which I had a break with for a couple of months. Also I have a weakness for psychopathic female characters haha so Ha-Rin was bull's eye, those cold face expressions, enjoyed her scenes a lot.
I'm usually scared to pick a new drama with similar themes too early after I finish one that I believe would be hard to outshine. Not fun when you start something new, but keep comparing it to the 'better' show you just completed :D But it wasn't the case here, Life is just different but good in its own way.
np hope you like it! I watched Life after Pyramid Game and was afraid I'd keep comparing them to the latter's disadvantage, but turned out to be a unique and fun experience :D
Wouldn't call it a copy, but it indeed has a very similar concept and executes it really well. I came here to…
Took a look at your MAL and you haven't seen Shoujo Kakumei Utena. If you like stories about the dark side of human nature & characters taking advantages of each others weaknesses, the second arc (and whole anime tbh, but especially that arc as its plot structure is similar to this drama) should hit the right spots:)
Wouldn't call it a copy, but it indeed has a very similar concept and executes it really well. I came here to watch something like hell girl and got what I wanted :)
It was more about the ML and his lesson that he was to learn, all the people he lived out as were just tools in…
I also thought that him living out the rest of his life as his mom would be a sufficient conclusion and a happy ending unnecessarily amortised the emotional impact of the whole story (but I'm into sad endings and actually enjoy it more if MC is a tragic hero doomed regardless of the actions he takes).
The author probably wanted to finish it on a positive note because he felt like the audience needs something to recover from the tear-jerking last episode lol.
Would def recommend this to fans of the genre!
Now the final bus scene makes more sense and I agree that there should have been some screen time for proper reconciliation instead of what looked like instant forgiveness.
When I said the male villains were edgy, I meant Katsumi but especially the gangster's boss lmao. I think you can't get more anime-deliquent than Akira, only missed on the appearance side as he didn't have the usual exaggerated black pompadour.
That teacher (Toda-sensei?) was a puzzle to me. It's like for most of the show I couldn't tell if she really is clueless and believes Shiiba to be the source of problems or she actually understands perfectly what's going on and deliberately somewhat participates in the bullying. At least until the time Anzai blackmailed her and then the confession in the presence of the other teachers/principal, then she kinda made it clear. But I personally wasn't sure until the explicit admission to guilt.
I do agree about the class flipping sides xD Ugh I'm not sure how to put it into words, but it's like I believe that the "change of heart scenes" (the arson thing especially) are more suited for an anime and I probably wouldn't pay attention to them, but with live actors they sort of came across as nonsensical x)
The Midori and Anzaii conclusion was pretty memorable. Nothing I haven't seen before - the cornered antagonist loses everyone except for his most loyal follower who had remained by his side no matter what, only for that antagonist to reveal something that even said follower finds unacceptable and thus either abandons or turns against the master. I could see that was coming - but it was still an impactful moment and I'm not surprised you decided to mention it :D
By the way, quite a few similar themes to Pyramid Game don't you think? Like the secondary villain character (Katsumi, Kim Da Yun) having a father whose financial/societal well being depends on the parent of main villain (Anzai & Ha-Rin). And both beating their kids up if they caused "problems" for the main villain in fear that it carries over to their relation with the parent. In Life that topic was wrapped up with Katsumi stabbing his father then going to jail, Pyramid Game though didn't have any closure for Kim Da Yun :(
Also, I think I need one thing explained to me. Maybe this is also why I'm not sure who you're referring to as Shiiba's ex best friend. Who was the girl on the bus? I think I totally got lost there. During her first appearance I thought Shiiba mistook her for the friend that committed suicide in E01 because they looked similar? But then there was another bus scene at the end of Life and they interacted and the girl said to her friend she sat next to in the bus that she and Shiiba know each other? I mean if not for the fact that her best friend literally died, I would think that's her. Did I miss some major plot point in the show lol? Did her friend resurrect somewhere along the way? xD
Yeah I gotta say I felt sad for Shiiba. I am and always have been more into villain characters, but that didn't stop me from genuinely wishing Shiiba a happy end because of how much she had to go through on every step. As for Sako, such a fucked up personality, overall male villains in Life were a bit too edgy in my reception but I guess they were supposed to be. At least his theme soundtrack gave me chills x)
Indeed it was dark, the Sako Katsumi encounter in E02 sure took me by surprise. What also sold me on the show is the buildup for the conflict between Anzaii and Shiba and the role Hiro played in that. I liked how they took the time to set it up and that it wasn't your regular "student gets instantly bullied for (almost) no reason" trope.
What do you think about the OST though? :D some people claim its out of place for a tense drama like this, but imo it was quite good, a lot of catchy parts & fitting eerie fragments, even the rock-ish parts have its specific charm as well.
P.S I even found the sponsorship breaks in the middle of episodes quite appealing xD
Do you watch anime too? Would love to see your MyAnimeList profile if so!
Yeah I think I saw "The 8 Show" somewhere on your page and immediately picked my interest! That one I'm probably watching quite soon, looks super interesting!
And I totally get what you say about the OST! To me it's always been a very important part of my watching experience. Sometimes music alone can carry, or at least prevent you from immediately dropping an otherwise mid show :D This is what I *suspect* could be the case with what my youtube autoplay once introduced me to: Bitch X Rich. The reviews and comments kind of put me off starting that show, but the temptation from just the synopsis and OST sample remains...
There is also this function of music that lets you persist the mood you had at the given point in time! You know, the "spiritual excitement" you felt while watching something exceptional or even memories of irl events that took place around the time you listened to a certain track :D
Wonder if it's just me, but when I know I'll 100% be rewatching something in the future and the OST was super good, I'll add it to the playlist but deliberately never listen to it outside of the actual show. Avoid wearing the music out over the years since it's best served in full package! x) That's how i feel about Signal but also some anime such as Shoujo Kakumei Utena (which is a very theatrical/musical piece of work). And honestly how I might feel about Pyramid Game too.
Haha as for Squid Games and AiB, I did quite the opposite. Not only did I watch AiB first, but also never watched Squid Games in fear that it'd be a downgraded experience xD But I tend to have prejudice against shows that are worldwide known and on netflix, should probably give it a try at some point.
AiB was really gripping though, at least until it ended abruptly and I was like "You what m8, I thought the story is only kicking off?!". This is also how the manga ended, but the author is working with the S3 production team, so there's a chance for kdrama-original plot continuation hopefully!
Had everything, from great characters and acting to gripping story and excellent music (+6 to my playlist). Really reignited my thirst for kdramas which I had a break with for a couple of months. Also I have a weakness for psychopathic female characters haha so Ha-Rin was bull's eye, those cold face expressions, enjoyed her scenes a lot.
I'm usually scared to pick a new drama with similar themes too early after I finish one that I believe would be hard to outshine. Not fun when you start something new, but keep comparing it to the 'better' show you just completed :D But it wasn't the case here, Life is just different but good in its own way.
The author probably wanted to finish it on a positive note because he felt like the audience needs something to recover from the tear-jerking last episode lol.