For passing time kind of drama. It's watchable but the plot was too juvenile and the FL was too naive to be true. I would rate it higher if the fanservice was more daring, but like the other comment said, it was SFW. Watch it only if you like any of the actors or if you have plenty of time to spend.
Finished watching. As a person who loved the JP version (and rewatching it just before this), I am not that impress…
Then here goes what makes this drama a flop in my (JP biased) opinion:
1. The revenge oriented writing is cliched and unnecessary. The JP version has no revenge. Maybe Kdrama watchers are not yet ready for the real anti-hero, they needed noble things to justify the crime it seems.
2. The backstories are so Kdrama. Childhood trauma, past trauma, past struggle, we are tired of these backstories. Can we have brighter past for a change? The JP version (intentionally) never revealed the backstories, and that what makes it great. Some things are better kept in the dark for the "mysterious factor".
3. The KR version chose to be serious while the JP version is totally comedic-oriented, and therefore the cases did not have to make sense (like the doctor arc or the beauty arc). The serious KR version felt incoherent and jarring with the suddenly out-of-place stupid moment (especially by Yi Rang) during the "mission". I guess that's what put some people off and hence the (slightly) low rating.
4. The over-explanation on everything they done felt naggy, tiring and boring. The 2 episodes per case format also makes this drama felt draggy and slow. Extending on the writing for the cases also did not work for me. Somehow it felt counterproductive with the unnecessarily complicated scheming that did not leave great impact, for example the little girl operation during the doctor arc.
5. The characters are not well balanced and interesting unlike the JP version. "Yi Rang" character had a wrong interpretation on the psychopath aspect. She is supposedly a psycho behind the scene, instead of suddenly became psycho girl when engage with the "target".
There's also the Sado-Masochism dynamic between FL and young ML from the original that's failed to be actualized in the KR version, which if done properly could make the drama more funny.
"James" character doesn't have a surprise element anymore as he is (in the KR version) an ex-bodyguard so he supposed to have some sort of physical ability and skills that not everyone has.
6. The KR original writing, i.e. the kidnapping and thus the revenge, is full of plotholes and not making sense in terms of why they need to do the swindling. It is also did not blend well with the quirky nature of existing cases they took from the JP version. Why didn't they just execute the revenge since the culprit is now working in well known company that appear on news. They didn't have to spend an effort to look for him.
The culprit/kidnapper (supposedly) also can easily keep track of Yi Rang as she is the daughter of a rich man. It does not make sense he did not know how Yi Rang look and her whereabout, especially when they make this culprit/kidnapper as smart as Yi Rang.
The concept of laundering (original to KR version) fell short after some point in the drama. They seemed like totally forgotten about it anymore after that point except the characters riding a laundromat truck.
Rich girl swindling another rich people to help poor people does not making sense. Why she didn't do the more sophisticated way like let say company acquisition or competing fairly and legally in business??
Finished watching. As a person who loved the JP version (and rewatching it just before this), I am not that impress with this remake.
First of all, the stories about swindler, scammer, conman, and anything equivalent, are nothing new or fresh. They have been done so many times in many media in many countries, west and east. So what made the original, The Confidence Man JP different that the Korean production wanted to remake it in the first place? The answer is the storytelling (the comedy, fun and twist) and the characters balance, quirkiness and uniqueness, which unfortunately this Korean version is lacking, big time.
One thing praise-worthy about this drama is how it tried to include as many of the cases from the original as possible. Some were changed into something else and some other were combined. The drama also clearly stated it is a remake in the ending credit (but strangely majority of the viewers in comment and review sections did not aware at all that this is a remake....lol).
Is this worth watching? If you're watching too many cliche romance dramas, this might be a breath of fresh air. If you just want to watch any of the actors, then go for it. Otherwise it's nothing new, nothing groundbreaking. If you want to watch good crime drama involving teamwork, find other. If you just want to pass time watching cliche revenge drama with poor logic and predictable emotions/reactions, maybe this is it LMAO....and by that in no way a bad thing. I personally rated this 6.5/10 despite all my complains, because it's still watchable (albeit a bit painful to binge, so you may want to avoid watching back to back).
I was planning to watch this because of the concept. But the rating is very low. Is it that bad?
If you just like the concept then you might as well watch the JP original. I only watched the first episode and I would say this one is quite boring as compared to the Japanese version. It lacks the right amount of comedy the original has and a bit missing the point with the characters. Although judging from the first episode they were quite faithful to the original, which rarely happened when Korean remaking anything Japanese. I would watch until the end regardless.
EDIT: I take back my word about this being faithful. After watching EP3 and 4 this was just another typically bad Korean remaking Japanese. The average MDL rating for this seemed like fair and square...lol
No. It's totally unrelated. However both Nobunaga Concerto and this drama are based off the same history with Concerto is more on the parody side. This drama (Brothers in Arms) should be following the real history.
Where you get the meaning of hirayasumi as modesty? From which dictionary?
It's okay! It was tricky because it's been written in hiragana alone.
I also had to do some checking because it's almost sounded dominantly YASUMI which means break, or holiday, or day off. However, I can confidently say (after found the clues when watching the last episode), it has nothing to do with YASUMI at all.
Just for the info in case anyone is interested, it should be read as hiraya-sumi instead of hira-yasumi. Upon checking HIRAYA means "single story bungalow house" as exactly depicted in this drama. SUMI should normally referred to "live in" or "stay" but it can also mean "to settled in".
If you happened to have NHK in your TV subscription you would notice the problems presented in this drama are the actual real life problem facing by Japan. The inability to wake up in the morning for example, seemed like has been discussed seriously in NHK Netadori's talk program.
BTW this is such an amazing drama featuring multi generational ensemble of cast. I like that it does not have to tackle the individual student problem in each episode with some sort of repetition. The teaching ideology in this one is 100 times better than Mikami Sensei for simple comparison. The message that every person should be given a chance to make presentation in the academic conference is very inspiring. Who cares about the unnecessary draggy melodramatic character growth with this kind of theme. Subtle but comprehensive and straight to the point is always the best! The joy of doing something "academic" is well delivered here!
The whole thing with Gentosai pissed me off. Like bro was already old when you were kids, how fucking old is he…
I think the character is possibly inspired by Tengu, a Japanese goblin/yokai living in mountain and excel in martial arts. So the age does not matter for him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu#Martial_arts
What was the point of raising and training the orphans as siblings to then pit them against each other for the…
It's typical in fiction that some martial art school will only pass down the style to 1 disciple. The logic is to let only the strongest one alive so there will be no weak version of that martial art available. Something like animal kills/abandon their weak children. It is not strange as far as fiction goes.
This is actually not bad considering it's produced by Netflix (in terms of maintaining Japanese style and flavor).…
- Some part of the settings does not look like Meiji era. It feels more like mid Edo. I think the checkpoint towns in earlier episodes needed to look a bit more fusion, i.e modern+traditional
- Some of the characters don't look like they are coming from late Edo. Even the hardcore Samurai like Saigo Takamori (which was the real person who held the "Last Samurai" title) or "samurai wannabe" like Hijikata (from Shinsengumi) were more modern-looking compared to these characters.
- One of the characters that was ridiculously designed was Kanjiya Bukotsu played by Ito Hideaki. He looked straight out of Sengoku Period pre-Azuchi Momoyama except the tattoo.
- Bukotsu's dialogue on "using guns is not the right way to kill someone" is nonsense considering Samurai has been using guns in war since Sengoku Period.
- Bukotsu also made to look like he cared the Samurai existence, but ironically he was not even portrayed as cultured and ethical as what an ideal samurai should be. He basically portrayed as barbarian if that make sense.
- Shujiro's fencing school during his childhood feels more like ninja hideout during the Sengoku Period than a fencing school during the late Edo before Meiji.
- It is too funny that the other siblings fencing style is more wuxia inspired than Shujiro and Iroha considering they were coming from the same school.
- It does not sound convincing that Kawaji wanted to abolish Samurai by creating the game while he himself was a samurai and so the many people in Meiji government.
- It is a bummer that they made Shujiro to be acquainted with many top leaders, but he couldn't ask for help to buy medicine without participating in this game.
This is actually not bad considering it's produced by Netflix (in terms of maintaining Japanese style and flavor). The first episode will remind you of typical death game show but as the story progresses it is totally a different thing albeit the plot is still, "not that unpredictable". It looks like though, this could potentially be spanning into several seasons (perhaps more than 2) judging from how they wrapped the last episode...lol So please be warned if that is a problem for you.
Some of the ridiculous things in spoiler below. Please don't open if you haven't watched this series.
Actually this is a good binge-able drama. The duration for most of the episodes are less than 40 minutes so it is a good candidate for single sitting watch (although I personally watched it in several days). What I don't like about this is how "gimmicky" it was on certain parts of the drama like some scenes during the first episode, as well as the predictably cliche plots (some are laughable lol) despite the better writing and production. Non acting was okay-ish. She looked "over-doing" in some parts but that's okay. The Shogi part was minimal so it is okay if you know nothing about it before watching this drama.
Okay the first episode was slow and felt a bit directionless. But starting from Ep2 it turned into the usual 90's Jdramas (that people love). The plot was more on the people than the crime cases. The comedy was satirical (to the 90's era) without being slapstick. May not be suitable for people who are looking for investigation or mystery.
One of the reasons why I really don't care for Japanese dramas is one: the flow of the episodes...I just watched…
The first episode of this drama is indeed slow and this might not be the best drama to be watched in this era, but I wonder how many Japanese dramas you actually tried to watch to come to that "generalized conclusion".
Imagine I watched 3 random bad Korean dramas and saying the same thing (that I don't care for Korean drama based on my bad experience with 3 random dramas and used the word EVERY in capital letters) at the place where Korean fans gather.
1 
1 
1. The revenge oriented writing is cliched and unnecessary. The JP version has no revenge. Maybe Kdrama watchers are not yet ready for the real anti-hero, they needed noble things to justify the crime it seems.
2. The backstories are so Kdrama. Childhood trauma, past trauma, past struggle, we are tired of these backstories. Can we have brighter past for a change? The JP version (intentionally) never revealed the backstories, and that what makes it great. Some things are better kept in the dark for the "mysterious factor".
3. The KR version chose to be serious while the JP version is totally comedic-oriented, and therefore the cases did not have to make sense (like the doctor arc or the beauty arc). The serious KR version felt incoherent and jarring with the suddenly out-of-place stupid moment (especially by Yi Rang) during the "mission". I guess that's what put some people off and hence the (slightly) low rating.
4. The over-explanation on everything they done felt naggy, tiring and boring. The 2 episodes per case format also makes this drama felt draggy and slow. Extending on the writing for the cases also did not work for me. Somehow it felt counterproductive with the unnecessarily complicated scheming that did not leave great impact, for example the little girl operation during the doctor arc.
5. The characters are not well balanced and interesting unlike the JP version. "Yi Rang" character had a wrong interpretation on the psychopath aspect. She is supposedly a psycho behind the scene, instead of suddenly became psycho girl when engage with the "target".
There's also the Sado-Masochism dynamic between FL and young ML from the original that's failed to be actualized in the KR version, which if done properly could make the drama more funny.
"James" character doesn't have a surprise element anymore as he is (in the KR version) an ex-bodyguard so he supposed to have some sort of physical ability and skills that not everyone has.
6. The KR original writing, i.e. the kidnapping and thus the revenge, is full of plotholes and not making sense in terms of why they need to do the swindling. It is also did not blend well with the quirky nature of existing cases they took from the JP version. Why didn't they just execute the revenge since the culprit is now working in well known company that appear on news. They didn't have to spend an effort to look for him.
The culprit/kidnapper (supposedly) also can easily keep track of Yi Rang as she is the daughter of a rich man. It does not make sense he did not know how Yi Rang look and her whereabout, especially when they make this culprit/kidnapper as smart as Yi Rang.
The concept of laundering (original to KR version) fell short after some point in the drama. They seemed like totally forgotten about it anymore after that point except the characters riding a laundromat truck.
Rich girl swindling another rich people to help poor people does not making sense. Why she didn't do the more sophisticated way like let say company acquisition or competing fairly and legally in business??
First of all, the stories about swindler, scammer, conman, and anything equivalent, are nothing new or fresh. They have been done so many times in many media in many countries, west and east. So what made the original, The Confidence Man JP different that the Korean production wanted to remake it in the first place? The answer is the storytelling (the comedy, fun and twist) and the characters balance, quirkiness and uniqueness, which unfortunately this Korean version is lacking, big time.
One thing praise-worthy about this drama is how it tried to include as many of the cases from the original as possible. Some were changed into something else and some other were combined. The drama also clearly stated it is a remake in the ending credit (but strangely majority of the viewers in comment and review sections did not aware at all that this is a remake....lol).
Is this worth watching? If you're watching too many cliche romance dramas, this might be a breath of fresh air. If you just want to watch any of the actors, then go for it. Otherwise it's nothing new, nothing groundbreaking. If you want to watch good crime drama involving teamwork, find other. If you just want to pass time watching cliche revenge drama with poor logic and predictable emotions/reactions, maybe this is it LMAO....and by that in no way a bad thing. I personally rated this 6.5/10 despite all my complains, because it's still watchable (albeit a bit painful to binge, so you may want to avoid watching back to back).
EDIT: I take back my word about this being faithful. After watching EP3 and 4 this was just another typically bad Korean remaking Japanese. The average MDL rating for this seemed like fair and square...lol
I also had to do some checking because it's almost sounded dominantly YASUMI which means break, or holiday, or day off. However, I can confidently say (after found the clues when watching the last episode), it has nothing to do with YASUMI at all.
Just for the info in case anyone is interested, it should be read as hiraya-sumi instead of hira-yasumi. Upon checking HIRAYA means "single story bungalow house" as exactly depicted in this drama. SUMI should normally referred to "live in" or "stay" but it can also mean "to settled in".
BTW this is such an amazing drama featuring multi generational ensemble of cast. I like that it does not have to tackle the individual student problem in each episode with some sort of repetition. The teaching ideology in this one is 100 times better than Mikami Sensei for simple comparison. The message that every person should be given a chance to make presentation in the academic conference is very inspiring. Who cares about the unnecessary draggy melodramatic character growth with this kind of theme. Subtle but comprehensive and straight to the point is always the best! The joy of doing something "academic" is well delivered here!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu#Martial_arts
- Some of the characters don't look like they are coming from late Edo. Even the hardcore Samurai like Saigo Takamori (which was the real person who held the "Last Samurai" title) or "samurai wannabe" like Hijikata (from Shinsengumi) were more modern-looking compared to these characters.
- One of the characters that was ridiculously designed was Kanjiya Bukotsu played by Ito Hideaki. He looked straight out of Sengoku Period pre-Azuchi Momoyama except the tattoo.
- Bukotsu's dialogue on "using guns is not the right way to kill someone" is nonsense considering Samurai has been using guns in war since Sengoku Period.
- Bukotsu also made to look like he cared the Samurai existence, but ironically he was not even portrayed as cultured and ethical as what an ideal samurai should be. He basically portrayed as barbarian if that make sense.
- Shujiro's fencing school during his childhood feels more like ninja hideout during the Sengoku Period than a fencing school during the late Edo before Meiji.
- It is too funny that the other siblings fencing style is more wuxia inspired than Shujiro and Iroha considering they were coming from the same school.
- It does not sound convincing that Kawaji wanted to abolish Samurai by creating the game while he himself was a samurai and so the many people in Meiji government.
- It is a bummer that they made Shujiro to be acquainted with many top leaders, but he couldn't ask for help to buy medicine without participating in this game.
Some of the ridiculous things in spoiler below. Please don't open if you haven't watched this series.
Imagine I watched 3 random bad Korean dramas and saying the same thing (that I don't care for Korean drama based on my bad experience with 3 random dramas and used the word EVERY in capital letters) at the place where Korean fans gather.