boolie

taiwanese dramas are often so unserious and even with the crude-leaning jokes, this actually made me burst out laughing so many times lol

I completely agree that the book and show (so far) each stand alone, but I think they are also good complements of each other. The show's non-linear timeline is definitely highlighting to me some of the parallel themes across time, which I didn't notice as much when reading the book. Enjoyed the book a lot and definitely enjoying the show so far as well.

There is a relationship between Sunja and Koh Hansu when Sunja is a young teen helping her mom's boarding house and Koh Hansu is the broker at the fish market. There's also a relationship between Sunja and Baek Isak, a Christian missionary travelling to Osaka to live with his brother and sister-in-law. But again, I wouldn't call any of these relationships "romantic"...

There will also likely be an exploration of another relationship in the more present timeline, but we're not 100% sure about that quite yet in the show. I'm basing this assumption off of the book.

About the character - I consider the main character to be Sunja as she is the thread through the multigenerational story. Resilient is probably the best word to describe her by. She constantly faces challenges and trauma that she perseveres through.

If you're thinking of the kdrama flavours of melo and romance, I'd say that Pachinko doesn't really fit into those buckets at all. It's a gritty, more "western-style" drama show, and the story itself is a tale of intergenerational tragedy and struggle. Romance is *not* a focus of the show, and I think you may be disappointed if you watch it hoping for a typical happy ending.

I'll answer your questions more directly in a second reply marked as a spoiler.