yeou_bi

I'm rewatching it and realized that Nishikawa's story isn't in the drama. Since I doubt that there's going to be a second season and in case anyone wants to know what she did without having to read the manga, I'll put it in a comment below

but that being said, I would read it from the beginning because I'm not sure you can just start where the drama leaves off

not sure of you're still interested in the info but just in case anyone else is curious: I've read the manga up to vol 23 (in Japanese) because I wanted to know what happened to some of the characters and the pacing is very slow and we only learn a little about Shimura every couple volumes (!). The focus is largely on the deceased, so you should keep that in mind of you decide to read it.

Rewatching it 14 years later and I still wonder what went through Miyao Shuntarou's head when he was asked to dance the chaotic opening number (as a literal professional ballet dancer)

The story isn't that improbable. Yoshida Eri was the first woman drafted by a professional baseball team in Japan at sixteen and she also primarily throws knuckleballs.

I posted another comment and then realized that you randomly attacked me for something I didn't even mention. I personally think that the fire extinguisher was messed up because her sight was obscured but I take your point with the firefighters using the axe on doors. However, my comment was about the medical files.

I think it's hilarious that Minho is so infamous for doing well in this type of shows/challenges that they invited him although he has trouble communicating. I also thought it was hilarious how he always cracked up when others approached him with random Korean (like "hyung, you're so handsome" and "hello, I'm bald")

There are a lot of things that bother me about team soldier but what set me off first was their instant willingness to use physical weaknesses. Like, when they broke into the medical tent and read all the notes on other contestants? and one of them was like "they all have allergies"?? what even was the point of that ? I legit wondered whether their plan was to fucking poison the other teams.

Sure, okay. If you want to keep discussing, I would like to add that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and whether or not this is a second season doesn't change the fact that the show can still be criticized. Show formats can be improved and when that doesn't happen, viewers are allowed to express their disappointment.

My apologies if my point didn't get across properly. My issue isn't so much the premise itself but the fact that they invited a diverse group of people (including a ballet dancer btw) for no good reason and then had them do games that were largely about how much each contestant can lift (in total, not relative to their weight). I thought it was frustrating to see team and immediately know who's going to lose based on how many women are on it. That has nothing to do with me "wanting to see ballet or dance". It's me wanting to see a competition that feels fair. I wouldn't want to see a boxing match between people in different weight classes either.

I understand what you mean and I do think the show is entertaining, so my issue is less with the premise than with them halfheartedly pretending to be inclusive when they aren't (I mean, why invite a ballet dancer for example?). I'm also sure that I'm not the only one who thinks that way because I've seen a couple of comments pointing out that the women in particular had no chance.
Also, sure, I agree that for the contestants there are benefits no matter how far they get. I'm not here to defend anyone but as you said, it's for fun and there were a lot of moments when I didn't have any because of how the show was produced.

...anyway, as I'm writing this I realize that we're probably not going to agree but I see your point and I'm glad you enjoyed it, so I guess we can agree to disagree

I have watched until the end and my opinion is based on that but thank you for your input.
I'm not judging the contestants, I'm sure they all had good reasons to join. My (personal!) issue is with the makers who made it look inclusive and fair and then chose a bunch of games aimed to pick a very specific type of muscular man. I'm not saying that only the biggest guys can win but the men who made it far were still fairly big compared to the average.

The show is wildly entertaining but it honestly bothers me how them getting a bunch of different types of athletes in the beginning is nothing but false advertisement. Women and men with a smaller build can't win this when most of the games are about brute strength. I get that they want the close-up shots of sweaty guy muscles but like, just call it what it is and make the show about who's the beefiest beefcake. Then we wouldn't have all those sad shots of tiny women failing at games designed for men.

I'm so glad about the final twist because for a moment I thought that the movie was trying to tell us that stalkers aren't so bad

I've been thinking the same. They don't have a chance and all the male contestants always make it very clear that women are liabilities on any team. It would be fine if more team challenges were geared toward agility but since most of them are basically about strength (especially upper body strength), there's no point

I'm sure people who were labeled with numbers because they were enslaved or incarcerated all told themselves that it's not that deep throughout history. I would assume that that is what OP took issue with

okay I think my only issue is that the belly dance scenes are... weird, and also overly long. like, I get that showing them is the whole point and that you can't just learn belly dance in a day but it's just bizarre when you have a bunch of characters fawning about a belly dance performance that is objectively not very good.

ahhhhhhh it's a drama???? The manga is hilarious and I love Kinami Haruka

i saw it at a film festival and I think the director sent a short video message beforehand? but I definitely remember that they showed a clip of the real event because otherwise I wouldn't have known about it. I saw it in Europe, so idk if they had to explain it in more detail because of that

i think that's actually what inspired it