L13

Anyway, this is fun so far, but I'm not taking any of it seriously.

The idea that someone would be a presiding judge in Korea before 40 is already absurd enough before we add the ridiculous proposition that a judge would be allowed to preside over a case against a defendant who is suing the judge's brother for police brutality, or over a case where the defendant was arrested by the judge's brother and accuses the judge's brother of committing the crime... like, there's absolutely no way Sunghoon would be allowed to go ahead with those cases involving Sungjoon. And his assistant, a JUNIOR JUDGE, is like, "I hate jury trials because I want criminals to get harsher penalties!!!" lmao what? I know many judges are biased against defendants, but surely they teach you in law school not to say the quiet part out loud? And then he has to explain to her that that's not even how it works statistically speaking? Clown fiesta. And meanwhile Sungjoon is going around assaulting people with zero professional consequences like this is America? I've seen Live! I know he would have been fired midway through episode 1 in the real world.

Again, though, I'm still having fun. It's just more of a turn your brain off crime thriller like Mouse or Beyond Evil than a realistic one like Through the Darkness or Children of Nobody.

When Sunghoon is drawing the people selected for jury duty out of a bowl in ep. 1, there's a split-second shot of him staring down at ball #13. 13 was Yoonjae's number in the facility, so I think this might have been a hint SH was also there (and maybe that he was boy 11, who stayed behind to help YJ and also went to the police).

It's a very brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot, but I'm pretty sure it was intentionally placed there.

Yay, thank you!

Well… the whole point is that she’s pretending? She puts on a childish persona to mess with the ML.

She’s not that famous? Older people who don’t spend a lot of time on the internet only see beauty product ads by famous actors on TV? Meiren can barely afford her apartment and you think Chinese aunties in the deep countryside should know her?

This is not a “plot hole” at all.

I'm two episodes in and I find the FL's obsession with the ML quite disturbing instead of cute. She is literally stalking a guy she knows nothing about. And what's most off-putting is that she has absolutely no awareness of the fact that her behaviour is unhealthy and needs to change. So the drama treats it as normal too, like we're supposed to sympathise with her.

The ML's character and background are actually interesting too, and normally I am into the whole 'girl gradually wears down guy she likes' relationship dynamic. But I don't like delusional stalkers FFS.

Honestly, her voice and mannerisms irritated me to no end in Love Between Fairy and Devil, but they work better here because she's playing a self-aware person. Her character puts on a cute/childish act to get what she wants and we see her when the mask is off too.

I get the sense from the scant information available that I'll like this drama. I hope it will get subbed somewhere.

When you consider the awful rumours of sexual violence surrounding celebrities like Ayano Go and how little they've affected their careers, the fact Narimiya Hiroki was forced into retirement over something that didn't hurt anybody is even more of a travesty.

That said, I hope he's enjoying life away from the spotlight and can be himself in peace <3 It sounds like the scrutiny Japanese celebrities endure was hard on him, so if he's really made a new life for himself abroad, that's great and I wish him the best.

I wouldn't either. Some characters are very loosely based on the characters of the novel, but I think the plot, themes and tone are radically different.

The title is a reference to the novel and the drama is also about sisters (3 instead of 4) trying to make their way in the world, but that's where the similarities end.

She's one of my favourite actresses. I hope she keeps getting good roles like her badass character in The Veil.

Love me a romance set in the Year of the Rat.

I actually don't mind the actress switch at all. It makes sense in the world of the drama and the possibility was raised in the very first episode, so it's not like it comes as a last-minute surprise.

Jung Somin is a great actress and I'll miss her, but I'm sure Go Yoonjung will also do well, and I think her appearance suits Naksu's character, so I won't have trouble getting used to Mudeok/Naksu's lines coming out of her mouth.

However, the fact they dragged out the plot so much and left all the good stuff for S2 is annoying. Fingers crossed no one gets amnesia too...

Some people are of the opinion that this film and the original Harakiri are about the samurai using their code of honour to oppress those less powerful than them, and about the use of values like honour, fairness, etc. as tools of subjugation.

However, while the presence of these themes is obvious, I don't think the film's message is that straightforward; after all, that Tajiri's retainers are inhumanly cruel to Motome under the guise of enforcing bushido, that they are eager to abuse him because he is a poor ronin and they are not, that his death is an atrocious waste of human life, and that his swindle may be dishonourable, but it is victimless and in no way warrants the consequences he has to suffer are all truths that become clear as soon as Tajima tells Tsugumo (and thus the viewers) about Motome's death.

We don't need to learn anything about Motome's motivations, his relationships with Miho and Tsugumo or Tsugumo's struggles as an impoverished samurai and single father to sympathise with Motome and hate Tajime's vicious retainer Omodaka, so if that's all the film was meant to make us feel, it could have ended around the 30-minute mark.

So what else is there? Why is Hara-Kiri so long? Why is Tsugumo the main character, and not Motome?

Well, because the film is more about Tsugumo's choice to meet false virtue with real than it is about the initial injustice of Motome's death. The brutal power dynamics of feudal Japan are taken as read, and the real question then becomes: How do you react when those high above you decide to devastate your life on a whim? When honour is used as a weapon against your family, is it worth it to defend the principle of it, by taking revenge the honourable way and confronting your tormentors, or are you better off renouncing your principles and becoming the beast the rich and powerful see you as?

Obviously Tsugumo decides on the former course of action and clings to the ideal of a noble samurai until the very end. His actions have an effect on some of Tajima's retainers but not all. Still, while the seppuku episode doesn't seem to move Tajima to shame or repentance, everyone present for Tsugumo's death knows enough about bushido to understand Tsugumo has exposed them as dishonourable, so they take pains to hide the real story of that day from the shogun.

Ultimately, though... was Tsugumo right to insist on his honour in the face of a world that doesn't value it? He may have scored the moral victory (and taken revenge on Tajima's retainers on Motome's behalf), but does Tajima even have the capacity to feel his own humiliation? Is righteousness its own reward in the end? I'm not entirely sure the film approves of Tsugumo's priorities; otherwise why inform us so pointedly that, thanks to Tajima, subsequent generations will remember Motome and Tsugumo as nothing more than cowardly beggars, the dregs of the samurai class? Just to drive home the point that the people history tramples on usually have their own, sharply diverging perspective on events? To suggest there may be untold stories of heroism and evil attached to every human life no matter how quietly it ends? Or perhaps to raise the possibility of a different response to Motome's death, one that might not have followed the path of bushido but could have hurt Tajima more?

(A totally different film might even tell the story of Miho taking revenge for Motome and her child's deaths, and I would have enjoyed it a lot.)

This is a great movie in many ways, and much better than the other instalments in the series—the characters and their motivations, the plot structure, individual scenes, the mood, just everything is so good. Unlike the other live-action RK films, which suffer from the typical limitations of live-action anime adaptations, RK: The Beginning is an affecting drama with some truly awesome sword fights thrown in rather than a vehicle for action scenes and fan service—but I have to say the romance is the highlight for me. It’s so poignant and subtle. It really made me dislike Kaoru’s characterisation as an immature clinger all the more when I marathoned the rest of the series.

We could have had compelling female characters with their own motivations (because Kaoru has no reason to do anything beyond being obsessed with Kenshin, and indeed does nothing except get kidnapped repeatedly) and personal strength and simmering tension between the characters this whole time! We just didn’t… because they had to stick to the source material, I know, but still.

Uh, watch this drama or don't. Saying you're not going to watch it because people are comparing it positively to other dramas is so funny. Is it a threat? Should we care? You're only denying yourself.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thank you!