Category: TV Series

Violet Evergarden (2018)

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Directed By: Taichi Ishidate; Haruka Fujita

Written By: Kana Akatsuki

Voice cast: Violet Evergarden – Yui Ishikawa; Gilbert Bougainvillea – Daisuke Namikawa; Claudia Hodgins – Takehito Koyasu; Cattleya Baudelaire – Aya Endo; Benedict Blue – Koki Uchiyama; Erica Brown – Minori Chihara; Iris Cannary – Haruka Tomatsu; Dietfried Bougainvillea – Hidenobu Kiuchi; Luculia Marlborough – Azuka Tadokoro; Leon Stephanotis – Yuto Uemura

Language: Japanese                                                      

Genre: Coming of Age; Fantasy; War

Number of Episodes: 13 + Special

Run Time: 24 minutes each

Violet Evergarden begins where the war that ravaged the continent ends. Set in an alternate steampunk world with kingdoms that was torn apart by a four-year war. The war has ended but not without leaving its scars on the people. Not the least of which is Violet (Yui Ishikawa) herself. She lost her arms in the final decisive battle between Leidenshaftlich and the Gardarik Empire. A battle she witnessed at close quarters as the Leidenshaftlich soldier maiden or as she was considered, a weapon.

Post the war, she suffers from PTSD but doesn’t know it; purely because no one has treated her like a person. The one person who did, her superior officer Gilbert Bougainvillea (Daisuke Namikawa), is nowhere to be found and no one tells her where he is. His friend Claudia Hodgins (Takehito Koyasu), a former Lt. Colonel in the army who started a postal company decides to help her gets settled in because Gilbert asked him to look out for her. Especially if he did not return after the war. 

She decides to work for his company as an Auto Memory Doll – a female scribe who write letters on behalf of other people. Her reason to become one has to do with the fact that she wants to be able to understand people’s emotions. She feels if she does this, she may understand why Gilbert told her, “I Love You” – words she finds hard to comprehend.

A child soldier and an orphan, raised on the battlefield and growing up under violent circumstances that are barely hinted at but obvious in how she seems emotionless like the doll she looks like and is referred to due to her occupation.

Growing up as feral child and branded a weapon by Dietfried Bougainvillea (Hidenobu Kiuchi) who hands her over to his younger brother Gilbert as a ‘present’ – a tool to use during the war. Startled at the child he beheld, he decides to teach her to read and write, treating her as a person even though no one else does.

Her inability to perceive emotions comes in the way of her relationships with people as well as her letter writing but her guileless responses and innocently worded thoughts have a piercing clarity to them. Each letter writing experience helps the people involved tap into memories that they have not acknowledged to themselves and they also teach Violet how to understand her own emotions.

Since it is set right after the war, many of the letters have to do with coping with grief; grief of loss, grief of surviving, grief of being unable to communicate and the grief of not knowing whether you could survive. Much of the story is then about rebuilding; not just physically as a land but as a people.

With Luculia Marlborough (Azuka Tadokoro), Violet learns to write letters that while succinct touch the heart of the matter. With Leon Stephanotis (Yuto Uemura), she learns that recording words of the scholars past can preserve knowledge for time to come. Of course, not all the learning is from Violet’s side. Dietfried, who dislikes Violet for many reasons, not the least of which has to do with his brother’s disappearance, comes to understand the value of kindness.

A story about reclaiming, restoring and healing; Violet Evergarden restores letter-writing, heartfelt communication, the joy of the written word and love.

Nevertheless (2021)

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Directed By: Kim Ga-ram

Written By: Jung Seo (Webtoon writer); Jung Won

Language: Korean                                                         

Genre: Romance; Drama

No of Episodes – 10

Run-time – 60-70 minutes

Cast:

Han So-hee – Yu Na-bi

Song Kang – Park Jae-eon

Chae Jong-hyeop – Yang Do-hyeok

Lee Yul-eum – Yoon Seol-a

Yang Hye-ji – Oh Bit-na

Kim Min-gwi – Nam Gyu-hyun

Lee Ho-jung – Yoon Sol

Yoon Seo-ah – Seo Ji-wan

Jung Jae-kwang – Ahn Kyung-joon

Han Ee-ddeum – Min-young

Yoon Sa-bong – Jung Sook-eun

Nevertheless follows the lives of young arts students in a university who are figuring out their complicated love lives amidst a modern world of cynicism and lack of commitment.

There are four plotlines with the central story focusing on Yu Na-bi (Han So-hee) and Park Jae-eon (Song Kang). The series starts by detailing Na-bi’s rather painful and humiliating break-up with her ex – an older artist. This coupled with her experience growing up with a mum who has never found stable connections, has made her a cynic, unwilling to believe in the possibility of romantic love. And yet, a chance meeting with Jae-eon, a young, attractive and suitably mysterious man makes her want for more. He draws her into a passionate non-relationship relationship that both approach from very different spaces.

Jae-eon is charming and his entry into any room considerably raises the sexual tension because he is simultaneously flirtatious and indifferent to everyone. But even Jae-eon recognises that Na-bi affects him in a manner unlike others.

Na-bi’s friend, Bit-na (Yang Hye-ji) rather perfectly compares him to a flower, beautiful, present but not exclusive – something that really underscores their bond. And since Na-bi means butterfly, it becomes a recurring motif in the series.

Nevertheless explores toxicity in relationships and does so realistically by exposing its many facets. In the sense, some people are just toxic to everyone because of how they interact; it may be gaslighting, putting them down, manipulation, stringing them along and more. But sometimes, even if you are not the toxic one in your primary relationship, your half-hearted response to someone else could make you the toxic one over there, such as Na-bi with her childhood friend Yang Do-hyeok (Chae Jong-hyeop). Hence the title track has a male and female take on it. 

Other such toxic spaces would be Seo Ji-wan’s (Yoon Seo-ah) possessive ‘friendship’ of Yun Sol (Lee Ho-jung) which is matched by her unwillingness to actually be there for Sol. Or Bit-na’s simplistic definition of being a couple that leaves Nam Gyu-hyun (Kim Min-gwi) unfulfilled and unhappy.

 In contrast to this we see the older graduate students and teaching assistants Ahn Kyung-joon (Jung Jae-kwang) and Min-young (Han Ee-ddeum) who probably with relative stability (not that they have everything figured out) show a mature development. However, the series doesn’t claim that age or time means that you will figure things out – case in point being Na-bi’s mum and Jae-eon’s mum.

But, one of the nicest things about hope in romance comes from Na-bi’s aunt Jung Sook-eun (Yoon Sa-bong) who mentions that she admires her sister for her willingness to try again and again every time she meets someone and there is a spark.

Nevertheless looks at the possibility of resolution and it doesn’t have to do with one person changing but with them finding a middle ground. Any relationship that fails to commit or forces one person to give up their essential needs becomes toxic and yet, if love can colour your world brighter, it can teach you hope.

The series has beautiful camera work that uses close-ups of the eyes and lips to show heightened emotion such as desire and sometimes to show disconnection. It thus mimics the style of a webtoon. Added to the intimacy created by the camera is the soft sensual lighting that makes the series a sensory experience especially when coupled with the beautiful haunting OST.

Steins;Gate (2011)

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Directed By: Hiroshi Hamasaki; Takuya Sato; Tomoki Kobayashi

Written By: Jukki Hanada

Voice cast: Rintaro Okabe – Mamoru Miyano; Kurisu Makise – Asami Imai; Mayuri Shiina – Kana Hanazawa; Itaru “Daru” Hashida – Tomokazu Seki; Suzuha Amane – Yukari Tamura; Luka Urushibara – Yu Kobayashi; Faris NyanNyan – Haruko Momoi; Moeka Kiryu – Saori Goto; John Titor – Hiroshi Tsuchida; Yugo “Mr Braun” Tennouji – Masaki Terasoma; Nae Tennouji – Ayano Yamamoto

Language: Japanese                                                       

Genre: Psychological thriller; science fiction

Number of Episodes: 25

Run Time: 24 minutes each

Steins;Gate is an animated series that deals with time travel. It is about a group of friends who run a ‘future gadgets’ laboratory wherein they make a phone microwave that allows them to send mails to the past and affect the future as a result. The lab is headed by self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintaro Okabe (Mamoru Miyano), the super hacker Itaru “Daru” Hashida (Tomokazu Seki) and his childhood friend and ‘hostage’ Mayuri Shiina (Kana Hanazawa) who calls herself Mayushi.

The series starts off with a science conference on time travel and this is the first time we are introduced to the name ‘John Titor’, an enigmatic figure who claims to be from 2036. His theories become the base for the scientific plausibility of time travel. Titor is also the reason they start looking for an old computer, the IBN 500. Supposedly because it can decode the time research done by the organisation SERN.

The conference is where Okabe meets Kurisu Makise (Asami Imai), a science prodigy, for the first time. She eventually becomes a lab member and helps him perfect the device that sends their “d-mails” – futuristic messages. Kurisu even helps Okabe create other gadgets that become pivotal to the storyline. However, their first meeting ends on a traumatic note when he finds her in a pool of blood, sends Daru a message about it and accidentally sets off a d-mail that alters events.

Steins;Gate camouflages itself as a comic series because even when Okabe realises that he is the only one who is able to remember events before and after time alteration, his eccentric mannerisms and the fascinating characters he meets, hoodwink us.

For instance, Suzuha Amane (Yukari Tamura), the part-timer who works for Okabe’s landlord Yugo Tennouji (Masaki Terasoma), calls herself a warrior and eventually becomes a lab member. Moeka Kiryu (Saori Goto), a socially awkward young woman who prefers to communicate only through text messages becomes another lab member especially when Okabe and she find out that they are both in search of the IBN 500.

The changes wrought by the d-mail are minimal at first but much like the butterfly effect, everything begins to spiral out of control pretty fast and they are left dealing with consequences they did not anticipate. As the story progresses, one realises that even the seemingly delusional stories they tell each other become a mask for latent concerns.

 The series starts off as a story about an oddball group but quickly snowballs into a fast-paced thriller where time becomes an entity to combat. It is a series with undercurrents of violence that throws up questions about identity and morality.

Flower of Evil (2020)

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Directed By: Kim Cheol-kyu

Written By: Yoo Jung-hee

Language: Korean                                                          

Genre: Suspense; Drama

No of Episodes – 16

Run-time – 60-70 minutes

Cast:

Lee Joon-gi – Do Hyeon-su/Baek Hee-sung

Moon Chae-won – Cha Ji-won

Jang Hee-jin – Do Hae-su

Seo Hyeon-woo – Kim Moo-jin

Kim Ji-hoon – Baek Hee-sung

Son Jong-hak – Dr. Baek Man-woo

Nam Gi-ae – Gong Mi-ja

Choi Young-joon – Choi Jae-sub

Choi Byung-mo – Do Min-seok

Jung Seo-yeon – Baek Eun-ha

Flower of Evil is a thriller drama about a man on the run, Do Hyeon-su (Lee Joon-gi) who is living under the assumed identity of Baek Hee-sung, with his devoted detective wife Cha Ji-won (Moon Chae-won) and their young daughter Baek Eun-ha (Jung Seo-yeon).

 You find yourself as a viewer thinking oh this will be a cat and mouse narrative because Ji-won in the course of her investigation is bound to come closer to finding out the real identity of her husband, whose real name Do Hyeon-su is implicated in two different horrific crimes – one, the murder of the village headman, and the other, allegedly, as his serial killer father Do Min-seok’s (Choi Byung-mo) accomplice.

As the story progresses however, one begins to wonder if all the assumptions made up till that point were simplistic because nothing is as it seems. Hyeon-su was adopted by Dr Baek Man-woo (Son Jong-hak) and his wife Gong Mi-ja (Nam Gi-ae) after their son Baek Hee-sung (Kim Ji-hoon) hit Hyeon-su with his car. Hyeon-su took his place when Hee-sung fell into coma and yet how? Why did they readily adopt him? Is there a connection that exists or were they just being humane? Else, could it be that as someone up for a promotion as hospital director Dr Baek needed to maintain their public image…many questions emerge.

The series effectively uses foreshadowing to explore the dilemmas that will affect Ji-won. The opening cases that she investigates with her partner Choi Jae-sub (Choi Young-joon) has on one hand, a woman wilfully choosing to ignore her husband’s possible subterfuge so as to maintain her façade of a happy family and on the other, the exposure of a supposedly loving caregiver’s psychopathic tendencies.

We also see Hyeon-su being tormented by the shade of his father, an eerie figure with black orbs for eyes, bottomless, pitiless and seemingly drawing him towards violence because the vision shows up every time he’s at the crossroads of a decision – one violent and the other, socially acceptable.

There is also Do Hae-su (Jang Hee-jin), Hyeon-su’s older sister, for whom time stopped the moment her father, was revealed to be a serial killer. She, at pretty much the same time, lost her boyfriend Kim Moo-jin (Seo Hyeon-woo) who backed away and her brother, who fled the village after the headman’s murder. Her separation from him has worn her out in worry.

Kim Moo-jin’s fear might have destroyed his relationship with Hae-su, yet his intimate connection with the siblings leads him to become a journalist that writes on the killings that shook his village. However, his need to write about the killings hides a sinister truth, one that threatens to be revealed when he inadvertently comes into contact with Hyeon-su, which sets off the narrative.

The series has been frequently described as a story about human suffering and that is an apt description in that it sheds light on the depravity within humans, the need to justify dishonourable decisions and being groomed into a world of violence. It looks at the scars that trauma can leave on the very fabric of a person’s soul and possibly what innocence really is.

Masterfully directed, the series does not let up on the tension even when one has a sense of where each piece fits. There is no lazy resolution to the story; it pushes to violent despair to see if after that hope can still exist.

A Place Further Than the Universe (2018)

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Directed By: Atsuko Ishizuka

Written By: Jukki Hanada

Voice cast: Mari Tamaki – Inori Minase; Shirase Kobuchizawa – Kana Hanazawa; Hinata Miyake – Yuka Iguchi; Yuzuk Shiraishi – Saori Hayami; Gin Todo – Mamiko Noto; Kanae Maekawa – Yoko Hikasa; Yumiko Samejima – Lynn; Mugumi Takahashi – Hisako Kanemoto

Language: Japanese                                                      

Genre: Adventure; Comedy; Drama

Number of Episodes: 13

Run Time: 24 minutes each

A Place Further Than the Universe is a Japanese animated series. Classed as an adventure and subtitled as the story that leads to Antarctica, the series focuses on four high-school students who want to be a part of the civilian Antarctica expedition.

Mari Tamaki (Inori Minase) or known to her friends as Kimari is a high-school student whose insatiable curiosity about life and need for adventure is thwarted by her paralysing fear of failure. Her desire to live her youth fully finds expression when she meets Shirase Kobuchizawa (Kana Hanazawa), a school-mate. Shirase wants to travel to Antarctica so that she can find her mother Takako Kobuchizawa, a civilian researcher who went missing three years ago during a blizzard in Antarctica.

Shirase’s dogged pursuit of her implausible dream makes her the butt of jokes on the school campus but Kimari’s decision to stick by Shirase and be a part of her dream becomes the catalyst for the narrative.

Their enthusiastic conversations are overheard by Kimari’s colleague Hinata Miyake (Yuka Iguchi) at the convenience store she part-times at. Hinata is a high-school student who dropped out because of certain events. She wants to be a part of Shirase and Kimari’s plan so that while she waits to take her college entrance exams, she can be a part of something momentous.

Their decision to crash the meet-up for the Antarctica Civilian Research group introduces them to Yuzuki Shiraishi (Saori Hayami), a freshman high-school student who is also a popular child actress. Yuzuki’s mother/manager wants her to accompany the civilian team and do a broadcast show on living in Antarctica.

Conceptually, the story sounds laughable and yet it builds the credibility of the narrative bit by bit as the faith and desire of the holders of the dream grow. Much like a bildungsroman, the series draws on different experiences to chart growth and learning. More so, since it is centred around loss; not just for Shirase but even the adult researchers like Gin (Mamiko Noto), Kanae (Yoko Hikasa), Yumiko (Lynn), and many other members who were part of the previous ill-fated expedition.

The series is an emotional experience but it doesn’t become trite or matter of fact even when the viewers are able to sense a reveal. True to the idea of an adventure, the backdrop of the animation is dynamic and detailed, giving us a realistic insight into what the daily grind of living on a ship or working on one of the most desolate landscapes could be about.

The story has the ability to connect across age and culture largely due to its realistic characterisation, scenery and in the sense of catharsis it conveys. It also continually gives us a sense of possibility.  Kudos to its intimate portrayal of relationships such as that of Kimari and Megumi (Hisako Kanemoto), on the strains that form and the insecurities that build when people choose to follow their own path.

Record of Youth (2020)

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Directed By: Ahn Gil-ho

Written By: Ha Myung-hee

Language: Korean                                                               

Genre: Drama; Slice of life

Number of Episodes: 16

Run time: 60-75 minutes

Cast:

Park Bo-gum – Sa Hye-jun

Park So-dam – An Jeong-ha

Byeon Woo-seok – Won Hae-hyo

Kwon Soo-hyun – Kim Jin-woo

Shin Ae-ra – Kim Yi-young

Ha Hee-ra – Han Ae-seok

Han Jin-hee – Sa Min-gi

Shin Dong-mi – Lee Min-jae

Lee Chang-hoon – Lee Tae-su

Park Soo-young – Sa Young-nam

Lee Jae-won – Sa Gyeong-jun

Record of Youth is a 2020 South Korean slice of life drama. It explores the struggles and successes of 20-somethings who want to make it in the entertainment industry.

Offering a commentary on South Korea’s classist society that divides people into ‘silver spooners’ and ‘dirt spooners’ based on their upbringing, the series uses recurring motifs to highlight the difference between how we are perceived and what we want to portray.

Sa Hye-jun (Park Bo-gum) is a model who aspires to be an actor. To him, acting becomes a space to break away from socio-economic limitations because as he puts it, to the actor, a spoon is just an instrument; it doesn’t decide your fate. His father Sa Young-nam (Park Soo-young) is a carpenter who is in debt, while his mother Han Ae-seok (Ha Hee-ra) works as a housekeeper at his friend Hae-hyo’s (Byeon Woo-seok) house. Hae-hyo does come from privilege but his life is micro-managed by his mother Kim Yi-young (Shin Ae-ra), who sees her children’s success as an extension of her identity. Their friend Kim Jin-woo (Kwon Soo-hyun) is a photographer who dreams of owning his own studio but is expected to work for a photographer who is publicly dismissive of him. An Jeong-ha (Park So-dam) became a make-up artist after quitting her corporate job, something that is frequently brought up.

None of them are working for the sake of livelihood alone but because they have dreams they wish to fulfil. These dreams do come at a price, for the series explores the loneliness and anxiety of the youth who have to deal with the burden of expectation such as Jeong-ha, whose mother expects her to follow the conventional route and be a salary-woman and as such she cannot confide her professional choices with her. Even the many intimate relationships portrayed in the series are affected by socio-economic factors.

The youth of the story are unlike the generations before them and the script uses conversation to discuss this gap. The communication in the parents’ generation uses internal monologue to express what they truly feel versus what they actually say. The next group, such as the ones closer in age or temperament – Hye-jun’s brother Sa Gyeong-jun (Lee Jae-won) and his manager Lee Min-jae (Shin Dong-mi), frequently mutter under their breath or speak in low undertones. The ‘youth’ however, expresses themselves openly which works against them. After all, society upholds manipulation and doublespeak.

A recurring motif is that of the characters being shown and then shown through the mirror. This mirroring of the self and the reflection discusses the idea of perception – self and the other(s). Interestingly, the word ‘mirroring’ is actually mentioned a couple of times by Sa Gyeong-jun when he explains his responses to the malicious online comments on Hye-jun.

Since the lead actor enlisted just before the series released, many of the performances discussed in Record of Youth seem to be a nod to his career as an actor up till this point. It does bring up the enlistment requirement for young men and their concerns regarding their careers.

As a slice of life drama, it is realistic in how it depicts relationships both platonic and non-platonic, the anxiety of career choices, and the fears/ excitement of life. As a record of the modern youth, it comments on class structures and dreams, joining a host of recent releases from South Korea that focuses on these divisions.

Grimm TV Series (2011-2017)

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Created By: Stephen Carpenter, Jim Kouf & David Greenwalt

Cast:

David Guintoli – Det. Nick Burkhardt

Silas Weir Mitchell – Munroe

Russell Hornsby – Det. Hank Griffin

Bitsie Tulloch – Juliette Silverton

Sasha Roiz – Captain Sean Renard

Reggie Lee – Sergeant Drew Wu

Bree Turner – Rosalee Calvert

Claire Coffee – Adalind Schade

Language: English                                                       

Genre: Fantasy; Police Procedural drama; Horror

Run Time: 43 minutes

Number of Seasons: Six (123 episodes)

The Grimm TV Series gives a new spin to the Brothers Grim fairytales. In the series, a Grimm is someone born with the ability to see Wesen (the German word for creature), even if they masquerade as humans.

As a descendant of the Grimms, Det. Nick Burkhardt (David Guintoli) not only possesses the ability to see Wesen but also enhanced strength and other abilities that set him apart from other humans. However, since he was brought up with no knowledge of his ancestry and works as a cop, he feels duty-bound to help people and has fewer of the prejudices common to his people.

His aunt’s re-entry into his life awakens his powers enabling him to see the true face of Wesen. At first he finds it disorienting and as a homicide detective begins to be suspicious of Wesen motives to strange murders.

In fact, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), a Blutbad (wolf-like Wesen) whom he suspects of being a murderer, in turn accuses Nick of being one since he’s a Grimm. Interestingly, Monroe speaks of the alternate folktales Wesen tell about evil Grimms who hunt innocent Wesen children. This in many ways is a reminder that prejudices work both ways and could be dangerous.

His growing friendship with Monroe and other friendly Wesen keep him from viewing his world in the black and white manner of the Grimms. But the strange murders he and his human partner Det. Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) solve with the help of the cynical Sergeant Drew Wu (Reggie Lee) frequently have a Wesen angle to it, which he finds increasingly hard to keep to himself. Monroe becomes his unofficial partner because of Wesen involvement, along with occasional help from Rosalee (Bree Turner), a Wesen pharmacist.

His worlds – Human and Grimm clash more and more as the story progresses bringing the violence closer home to affect his long-term partner Juliette Silverton (Bitsie Tulloch) who gets drawn deeper and deeper into his world as seasons progress.

 What makes the series relatable is that it plays out real life concerns in this fantastical space – racial prejudice, white-supremacist attitudes, pure-blood fixations, political ambitions et cetera.

There are many enemies in the series, some join forces, some shift loyalties depending on who they are fighting. Some antagonists are closer home such as Captain Sean Renard (Sasha Roiz), Nick’s senior officer, who with the help of his hexenbiest (witch-like Wesen) partner Adalind Schade (Claire Coffee), is interested in controlling Grimm powers for his ambitions.

The series builds slowly with season 1 using familiar fairytales which midway through begins to be occasionally predictable. But if season 1 uses Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and other stories; season 2 broaden the scope by looking at fairytales from different cultures, making the episodes more complex.

What does not change however, is that the season cliff-hanger is revealed in literally the last two minutes of the final episode – every single season. So even if it seems predictable in season 1, the story takes an unimaginable turn at the penultimate moment.

There are many factions that come into play in the story and their involvement keeps building up making the threats of the story multi-faceted. There is a quest element to the story as well which adds to the suspense. With the characters classed as grey with no one being particularly good, including the main lead; the duality makes the characterisation realistic.

The final season is slightly rushed but much shorter than the previous season. It however ties up loose ends making it a compact narrative.

The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

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Directed By: Baek Sang-hoon, Jung Ji-hyun, Yoo Je-won

Written By: Kim Eun-sook

Cast:

Lee Min-ho – Lee Gon

Kim Go-eun – Jeong Tae-ul/ Luna

Woo Doo-hwan – Jo Yeong/ Jo Eun-sup

Kim Kyung-nam – Kang Sin-jae

Jung Eun-chae – Koo Seo-ryung

Lee Jung-jin – Lee Lim

Language: Korean                                             

Genre: Sci-fi; thriller; romance

Number of Episodes: 16      

Run Time: 60 – 70 minutes

The King: Eternal Monarch is a 2020 South-Korean sci-fi romance drama. The story is set in two parallel worlds – the Kingdom of Correa and the Republic of Korea. There are similarities between the two worlds, enough to cause some confusion as to where the characters are, but with differences that stand out as cues to remind the viewers. Since the narrative is about parallel worlds, it goes into the convoluted region of time-travel and the paradox of time.

The doorways between the worlds open twenty-five years before the story begins, when the mythical flute Manpasikjeok is split in two. This tears the fabric of the worlds, upsetting the balance. Lee Gon (Lee Min-ho), the young king of the Kingdom of Correa possesses half the flute while the other half belongs to Lee Lim (Lee Jung-jin), the traitor who fled after his unsuccessful coup.

Armed with tangible clues as to the existence of a parallel world, Lee Gon stumbles onto the doorway in a bamboo forest, and his entry into the Republic leads him to meet Jeong Tae-ul (Kim Go-eun), the woman who might be tied to his past. Jeong Tae-ul is a no-nonsense police officer, whose life gets thrown into chaos with his entry.

The two parallel worlds are in many ways mirror images of each other with there being a doppelganger of each person in the other world. Their family names may be the same but their personalities, lives and experiences are not. The more that Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-ul learn about each other’s worlds, the more imbalanced it begins to seem – why are strange murders occurring all over the Republic of Korea? Why are certain doppelgangers being targeted? Is it possible that in this race for power, they may find their memories and their existence wiped out?

The series is tightly paced switching as required from suspense to romance to comedy especially in the encounter between the king’s bodyguard Jo Yeong (Woo Doo-hwan) and Tae-ul’s childhood friend Jo Eun-sup (Woo Doo-hwan) – who are doppelgangers with diametrically opposed personalities and who may have to step into each others’ lives.

The relationship of the two protagonists is maturely handled because they are world-weary, duty-bound and far less frivolous than the average k-drama couples. They are light-hearted too because early in their relationship they establish the possibility that time may not always be in their favour.

In keeping with the political intrigues that are a staple of every monarchy-based drama, the kingdom has its fair share of power politics especially with the presence of the shrewd and manipulative Prime Minister Koo (Jung Eun-chae), who aims to win over the king to keep herself in power. Unfortunately, most of the battles of the kingdom get fought on Republic’s soil. Many of the characters become pawns in this battle, such as Jeong Tae-ul’s senior in the Violent Crimes Division, Kang Sin-jae (Kim Kyung-nam) who finds himself increasingly forced to take sides in a fight that he got unwittingly drawn into.

The writer, in the course of the story, introduces us to the various trajectories that the time-crossed love story could take. By exploring the possible futures they could have, the viewers are brought to an alternate conclusion of the narrative.

The series has been criticised for its complicated plot but most of the plot twists fit within the framework of the time paradox. An event that occurs could be an interaction between a future self and a present self. The lack of memory of such incidents is well within time travel narratives. The similarity between the two worlds became an issue but it is the sameness and unfamiliarity that creates a space for a revisionist history. There have been other criticisms levelled some of which can be chalked to production errors and others to a lack of awareness of the current socio-political temper.

With a captivating OST that reverberates with longing, and a smart plot peppered with metaphors of time, it bridges the unexplained in science with magic.

Bromance (2015) #SherylPuthur

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Directed By: Chen Rong Hui

Written By: Fang Xiao Ren; Chen Bi Zhen; Shao Hui Ting; Lin Pei Yu and Zheng Han Wen

Cast:

Megan Lai – Pi Ya Nuo

Baron Chen – Du Zi Feng

Bii – Wei Qing Yang

Sean Lee – Chu Zhe Rui

Katie Chen – Yang Na Na

Mandy Tao – Du Zi Han

Amanda Chou – Fan Xiao Jing

Yang Ming Wei – Liao Guang Chao

Edison Wang – Wu Han Sheng

Linda Liu – Sister Feng

Joseph Hsia – Nan Xing Tian

Chen Wei Min – Wu Wan Hao

Tou Chung Hua – Du Guang Zhu

Language: Mandarin                                  Genre: Romantic-Comedy; Action Drama

Number of Episodes: 30                            Run Time: 45 minutes

 

Bromance is a Taiwanese gender-bender romantic comedy drama with elements of action. It shares some similarities with the Japanese manga Tokyo Crazy Paradise by Yoshiki Nakamura.

Due to an astrologer’s ominous prediction, Pi Ya Nuo (Megan Lai) has to live the first 25 years of her life as a man to avert the calamity to befall her. On her 26th birthday, her fate would change and then she would be able to live openly as a woman. But 100 days before her 26th birthday, fate intervenes and entwines her destiny with that a mafia leader Du Zi Feng (Baron Chen).

He feels indebted to her and finds himself drawn to Ya Nuo. Even his sister Zi Han (Mandy Tao) falls in love with her. Their mother Sister Feng (Linda Liu), to ensure that Zi Feng has someone around him that he can trust and become friends with, and to further Zi Han’s romantic attachment, requests Ya Nuo to become Zi Feng’s sworn brother.

The main problem lies in the fact that Ya Nuo is a woman. But she agrees when she realises Zi Feng has always been alone. He was an orphan who was adopted by the Du family and so he owes everything to them. His family’s mafia past also haunts him because people judge him based on that. They forget that his father moved away from that and decided to start a legitimate business – amusement parks. So except for his two sworn brothers, Wei Qing Yang (Bii) and Wu Han Sheng (Edison Wang), he’s had no friends.

The latter in fact emerges as the antagonist of the series of because of his ambition. He wants to become the clan leader and replace Zi Feng. He chooses to undermine Zi Feng by using media to tarnish his image. That sequence leads to an emotionally charged moment between Ya Nuo and Zi Feng because they risk their lives for each other.

Zi Feng has quite a bit of emotional baggage; his father has been missing for years post a shipwreck. Not having found a body means the family has not experienced closure. Even Qing Yang feels similarly because his parents were travelling with Du Guang Zu (Tou Chung Hua) on that very ship. Zi Feng is constantly attacked for being a mafia leader and also various plots abound to overthrow him. Some of these plots are intentionally or unintentionally done by those near him.

Things get comical when Zi Feng feels he is falling in love with Ya Nuo and then begins to question his sexual orientation because of that. For Ya Nuo, it is about whether she should keep her vow or not since she finds herself falling in love and unwilling to hide the truth. There is also an interesting reference to Cinderella made in the series when Zi Feng, unwittingly comments on Ya Nuo when he says that Cinderella is a pitiable character because “she had to bear the loneliness of keeping a secret” – a line that sums up Ya Nuo in the series.

The side plots are equally interesting. Qing Yang meets with a young girl Na Na (Katie Chen) on a cruise. She has cancer and yet is lively and curious about things around her. She breaks through Qing Yang’s reserve when she forces him to make coffee for her (he runs a cafe at the amusement park). His coffee makes her happy and she wants him to make it the way her mother used to make it for her. This connection with the coffee brings them closer.

Unexpectedly, Na Na turns out to have a significant connection to Qing Yang. It seems to be a feature of Taiwanese dramas that all plotlines tie up and feed into each other. It’s like the line from Kung Fu Panda, “there are no coincidences” and destiny plays a huge role in the narratives. For instance, Ya Nuo may have an older connection with Zi Feng, and her childhood friend and veterinarian Zhe Rui (Sean Lee) plays a vital role in keeping her identity secret, just like Xiao Jing (Amanda Chou), her cousin.

Liao Guang Chao (Yang Ming Wei), Ya Nuo’s friend develops an interesting relationship with Zi Han when he becomes her bodyguard/chauffeur. They both feel the other is too unlikeable but it becomes interesting to see the development in their character arc. In fact, Guang Chao/ A-chao displays a range of emotions, going from the comical sidekick to being deeply mature to lovelorn and so on.

As a viewer, one might feel what more could be left once all the plotlines are tied up but right in the last episode, there is a revelation that manages to keep the viewer hooked.

Bromance has a host of interesting characters, by turns emotional, funny and melodramatic, it’s quite a ride. With the past tying up with the present and satisfying conclusions, it gives a sense of catharsis. It even attempts a sympathetic reading of characters that seem quite awful in the beginning. And essentially, it gives a very different reading of a mafia clan.

 

 

 

 

 

Man to Man (2017) #SherylPuthur

Sheryl Puthur4 Comments

Directed By: Lee Chang-min

Written By: Kim Won-suk

Cast:

Park Hae-jin– Kim Seol-woo

Park Sung-woong – Yeo Woon-gwang

Kim Min-jung – Cha Do-ha

Yeon Jung-hoon – Mo Seung-jae

Chae Jung-an – Song Mi-eun

Jeong Man-sik – Lee Dong-hyun

Jang Hyun-sung – Jang Tae-ho

Cheon Ho-jin – Lawmaker Baek

Tae In-ho – Seo Ki-chul

Oh Na-ra – Sharon Kim

Language: Korean                                          

Genre: Spy; Action-thriller; Melodrama

Number of Episodes: 16                                

Run Time: 60 – 70 minutes

Man to Man is a South-Korean series that has been recently released on Netflix. It is a Spy action-thriller with elements of romance and comedy.

The series is about ghost agent K (Park Hae-jin) who uses all skills at his disposal to get the mission done. Be it getting romantically involved with a woman who might be integral to finding information/ providing a cover or directly contravening an order as seen in the pilot episode where as a sniper, he ignores the officer-in charge’s order to stand down and takes out a criminal who had hijacked a school bus and was threatening a young girl.

His satisfaction lies in the look of relief on the girl’s face or in the case of other missions, knowing he has done something to right a situation. So while cold-blooded about his work and detached from human concerns he has a larger concern of social-wellbeing. Which is why he frequently voices out that his role is to be faceless while upholding peace in society by undertaking missions of national importance.

In the beginning, K seems to be taking each case mechanically and hence his personality seems at odds with that of his handler Lee Dong-hyun (Jeong Man-sik), a jovial prosecutor who was a former NIS agent but continues to assist them (without letting his wife know). Dong-hyun and his friend Jang Tae-ho (Jang Hyun-sung) an NIS officer want K to take over a new mission. It would require tracing three wooden carvings which hide the key to the slush fund stashed away by the previous chairman of the large conglomerate Songsan. There are many players interested in the whereabouts of the carvings and as a result the slush fund. Some of these players are revealed only towards the last few episodes and the violence and thrill factor ups when these revelations are close on hand.

What is interesting is the cover story K has to adopt to achieve his mission. The first wooden carving is at the private collection of a Russian mafia lord Victor who is hyper-vigilant about his security and hence they have no access. Their only option is by making K a bodyguard to the Korean action star Yeo Woon-gwang (Park Sung-woong) who is now an upcoming Hollywood star. Victor is a huge fan of his film Dark Death and hence issued a private invite to him.

This mission has all the potential to try K’s patience because Woon-gwang is temperamental and has starry tantrums designed to get rid of K, a deal he made with his manager Cha Do-ah (Kim Min-jung) who dislikes K. If K needs Do-ah to fall in love with him so as to ease his operations, it goes exactly against his wishes. She not only dislikes him but also spies on him. For someone who has been a member of Woon-gwang’s Fan club and has eyes only for him and calls him ‘oppa’, she thwarts K’s plans.

Since she tries his patience as well, he is more revealing of his emotions and begins to notice chinks in his armour that worries him and he can’t wait for his mission to be over, but the story throws up twists that embroil him further and further into her life.

There are multiple sub-plots and they slowly start merging together, for instance, the current head of Songsan, Mo Seung-jae (Yeon Jung-hoon) is not only trying to find the carvings, but he has a corrupt politician Lawmaker Baek (Cheon Ho-jin) use his sources and people in the intelligence service to acquire it for him. He is married to a former actress Song Mi-eun (Chae Jung-an) who is incidentally Woon-gwang’s ex-girlfriend. He is jealous of her past especially since she is funding Woon-gwang’s film. He in fact tries to sabotage him and his career. He also tries to manipulate Mi-eun by using their son as leverage.

The interesting thing however, is that she has a double life of sorts in that she is friends with Sharon (Oh Na-ra), a designer who is seeing Mr Jang and hence she does him the favour of hiring K as Woon-gwang’s bodyguard.

It is when K’s two worlds start to collide that the plots start to merge and there is a scene, which is very imitative of Taken that reveals his Achilles heel as an agent to rogue ghost agent Seo Ki-chul (Tae In-ho) who works with Lawmaker Baek.

The series is realistic in how it tries to portray the lives of secret agents – fraught with danger, they live with betrayal, possibility of being discarded and double-crossed by their handlers and how romance is not really an option.

The romantic plotlines of K and Do-ha, and Woon-gwang -Mi-eun-Seung-jae, lend poignancy to the story because of the vulnerabilities it reveals and the improbability of fairy-tale resolutions.

All the characters are well-constructed. They start of as being two-dimensional but as the narrative progresses there are other sides that are revealed. Thanks to the layering of the narrative and the characters’ personalities and backgrounds, Woon-gwang being an action star becomes significant later on.

The actors are also spot-on with their performances. Park Hae-jin’s subtle changes in expression go well with his role as a poker-faced bodyguard. Especially, since most comic moments involve him being thwarted by the other characters. The fact that he shouldn’t reveal any emotions but feel deeply about certain things add to the amusement of the viewer. K’s bromance with Woon-gwang and Dong-hyun becomes one of the highlights of the series.

With Hungary as a location for the foreign sequences and an international feel to the series, it can become very popular. It after all manages to fuse romance and comedy into a spy action thriller that by no means tones down on its thrill moments or violence that would necessarily be part of such a package. It also has instances of psychological abuse.

The series however, does leave things a little ambiguous which is probably realistic given that the protagonist is a black ops agent. Finally, the soundtrack for the series is upbeat, fun and the lyrics for the songs go well with the emotions of the characters and the plot changes. It features popular K-artists including Far-East Movement.