I agree. usually I'm kinda disapointed on the cast of japanese actresses when they're not the main character.…
True...although I do see Sugisaki Hana pulling off Rukia's personality well. She's a good actress, and does well with both humor and gravity. Nevertheless, I'm still way scared about this live action!!!!!!
That's because you are comparing it to the original instead of trying to enjoy it from a different cultural perspective.…
Well, I do think one thing that international audiences forget is that most dramas are not created for a widely international audience. Especially Japanese TV dramas...it's not an export (read: no Hallyu values going on in this industry), and not exactly popular in Korea etc. So it's not like the Japanese audience who this was created for has seen Korean Signal and is going to be comparing at all, like they might for a remake of an older Japanese drama.
Moreover, aside from cultural differences, I often get the idea that many comparisons of K-dramas and J-dramas don't realize that the respective budgets (and hence, the audience's production expectations) are totally different. I don't know the figures, but there's a big contrast in how much money these industries are working with, and while everyone appreciates higher budget production, of course, there are different values toward dramas too.
But I do love that remakes happen, because many stories are indeed translatable. One J-drama remake of a K-drama that comes to mind is Hope: Kitai Zero...it's a completely different and very similar remake of the super popular Misaeng (Incomplete Life). I liked the Japanese version better b/c of my cultural bias I'm sure, but Misaeng is much more well-loved by international audiences. I've heard that people preferred the longer format story development that K-dramas have, and felt more attached to the characters because of this.
Anyway, of course everyone is fully entitled to their opinions and taste, but I hope these small points contribute a bit to this topic for anyone interested! I find this discussion really interesting...I like seeing how international audiences view culture through the lens of TV/film, whether I agree or think accurate or not, I always get a new perspective here!
I made the mistake of trying to watch this after Unnatural, which was so well-written. This, on the other hand, was a bit meh. I love Kitagawa Keiko, but her character just seemed kind of generic, and I had a hard time caring about the characters. There was a ton of predictability so it got tiresome quickly.
But the strangest thing to me was that, like Unnatural, it had a flag to wave for Japan to accept the need for autopsies (11% of deaths, lowest rate of all developed countries)...but it weirdly filmed the whole thing in an ironically off-putting way. A lot of Japanese don't like the idea of their loved one's body being cut after death (even if surgically sewed back up afterward), and yet the nutty director/DP somehow thought it would be a good idea to be not only show all the cuts and even a few extremely gruesome shots (read taking the face off the brain--WHAT?!) that would've fit better in a medical drama, or possibly a more gritty mystery-oriented drama (which this is not).
Moreover, the small team was working in a tiny lab that looked dirty and run-down...while the point was to show the black sheep status at the university, I'm sure, it's not even believable. Worse, when they first introduce it, the filming style is like a freaking horror movie or something. It's as if the director/DP didn't even read the script for itself or realize what the screenwriter was hoping to convey through the story, and just thought hmm, let's film this all spooky-like b/c it'll look ever so suspenseful and cool! I'm sure they changed *lots* of minds with this...
Thanks, I didn't know! You could be right but it's still funny :p
Yeah, definitely parody! Gackt, who has no qualms about plastic surgery and changing his look all the time, indeed is known by the public to be in his 40s, so it will be funny to most people to see him cast as a student.
If you're mostly concerned with the couple, and want to know about the ending, yes this is a tragedy as it follows history. Some people loved the ending, some didn't. I loved the drama but honestly wasn't satisfied with how they portrayed the final events. However as you can see, it just depends on people's individual tastes. Hope this helps.
It really was great, and the length was perfect. Each episode was tightly written and had a great arc. I had only seen Kim Joo Hyuk in one or two movies before this, and had never really seen his acting chops. It made me so sad to think this was his last. When you know how soon after filming this project that he passed away, it makes certain parts of this drama so much more poignant.
Your review is so spot on...I couldn't have expressed it so well myself. It was totally Almost 2018 FoS...until it wasn't, for exactly the reasons you state. I was enthralled till probably ep 13, when I started to suspect that my trust in the writer was unfounded and it was about to go downhill. I could've let the plot holes and other less than perfect aspects go...but I also felt the disconnect from the show's themes was the unforgivably disappointing thing. I mean, why pretty much negate everything they've invested in exploring?? Or maybe that doesn't matter in storytelling anymore? I guess it matters less these days, because I feel like I've seen this problem way too often recently...this total tone-deafness to theme...
This was a MASTERPIECE,i started watching it 2days ago without any expectations since i just wanted to start something…
I watched this partially due to your comment, even though I had heard complaints about the ending and had seen the 'tragedy' tag (which is really a spoiler, not sure why they won't remove it!). I thought if it is a fitting ending, I'm sure I'll be fine with it even if bittersweet or a true tragedy. I don't have trouble with a tragic ending if that is the genre and the plot is building up to that, but in this case, the specifics of the ending just didn't feel like it fit the rest of the drama at all. So I'm just curious to know why you think the ending was perfect.
I suspected it would end the way it did by a certain point, but I'm not seeing how it fit with any of the themes or setups that the drama was giving the audience to consider. Doesn't it undo a lot of the ideas it was exploring? Normally an ending like that feels fitting when it connects with the themes the story is setting up...and that's when I feel satisfied with a tragedy. In this case, it had no emotional impact for me because of the disconnect. And even just based on the various plot holes I thought might be filled in at the end, I can think of many better endings than this that would have fit the rest of the story's build-up. But I'm interested to hear another opinion, and you have the most enthused response I've seen, so I thought I would ask you about it. Feel free to use hidden spoilers if you reply, but no pressure!
Just curious, is the main spoiler you mention in the tag disassociative personality disorder? I haven't watched this, but saw that tag and thought uh oh, is that the twist? I've seen that or schizophrenia used as a twist many times so I thought I'd check with someone who has seen it...if it's a spoiler, we can remove the tag. Thanks so much!
Glad it helped! State-backed films in general are largely only well received among the older generation (my grandpa…
No, this is great! I really like learning from listening. Actually, I hope you'll write more reviews for C-dramas in the future...you have a a really thoughtful and interesting perspective that I really appreciate! And I love hearing what your grandpa thinks, too, especially as my grandparents are no longer alive. My grandpa (the escapee) no doubt could've had some feisty debates with yours, lol. I totally love seeing reviews where people mention different responses from different generations in the family!
Moreover, aside from cultural differences, I often get the idea that many comparisons of K-dramas and J-dramas don't realize that the respective budgets (and hence, the audience's production expectations) are totally different. I don't know the figures, but there's a big contrast in how much money these industries are working with, and while everyone appreciates higher budget production, of course, there are different values toward dramas too.
But I do love that remakes happen, because many stories are indeed translatable. One J-drama remake of a K-drama that comes to mind is Hope: Kitai Zero...it's a completely different and very similar remake of the super popular Misaeng (Incomplete Life). I liked the Japanese version better b/c of my cultural bias I'm sure, but Misaeng is much more well-loved by international audiences. I've heard that people preferred the longer format story development that K-dramas have, and felt more attached to the characters because of this.
Anyway, of course everyone is fully entitled to their opinions and taste, but I hope these small points contribute a bit to this topic for anyone interested! I find this discussion really interesting...I like seeing how international audiences view culture through the lens of TV/film, whether I agree or think accurate or not, I always get a new perspective here!
But the strangest thing to me was that, like Unnatural, it had a flag to wave for Japan to accept the need for autopsies (11% of deaths, lowest rate of all developed countries)...but it weirdly filmed the whole thing in an ironically off-putting way. A lot of Japanese don't like the idea of their loved one's body being cut after death (even if surgically sewed back up afterward), and yet the nutty director/DP somehow thought it would be a good idea to be not only show all the cuts and even a few extremely gruesome shots (read taking the face off the brain--WHAT?!) that would've fit better in a medical drama, or possibly a more gritty mystery-oriented drama (which this is not).
Moreover, the small team was working in a tiny lab that looked dirty and run-down...while the point was to show the black sheep status at the university, I'm sure, it's not even believable. Worse, when they first introduce it, the filming style is like a freaking horror movie or something. It's as if the director/DP didn't even read the script for itself or realize what the screenwriter was hoping to convey through the story, and just thought hmm, let's film this all spooky-like b/c it'll look ever so suspenseful and cool! I'm sure they changed *lots* of minds with this...
I suspected it would end the way it did by a certain point, but I'm not seeing how it fit with any of the themes or setups that the drama was giving the audience to consider. Doesn't it undo a lot of the ideas it was exploring? Normally an ending like that feels fitting when it connects with the themes the story is setting up...and that's when I feel satisfied with a tragedy. In this case, it had no emotional impact for me because of the disconnect. And even just based on the various plot holes I thought might be filled in at the end, I can think of many better endings than this that would have fit the rest of the story's build-up. But I'm interested to hear another opinion, and you have the most enthused response I've seen, so I thought I would ask you about it. Feel free to use hidden spoilers if you reply, but no pressure!