ShortCircuit

This is in the open for those who cannot be bothered to look up some historical facts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women

Don't whatabout me. This is a story about a Japanese actor who, maybe unaware of larger implications, once praised war criminals (not even saying his grandfather WAS one of them, though it sure looks like he was in training to become one).

There is ZERO ambiguity about what happened in WWII. Evil deeds in the past or present on either side do NOT excuse evil deeds that have happened. It doesn't matter who did them. You HAVE to call out the apologists and whataboutists. This is NOT dead history to a lot of people. There are STILL some people who remember, even if they're very old now. And you cannot erase history. Educate yourself.

Happy holidays to all of us! (Including all the people who make dramaworld go on, from actors to the last tech team member out there :D)

The sassaengs said SOMEONE told them there were security breaches in that complex, so I wonder why didn't the FL follow up on that - I would have. But then she's a lawyer, not a detective. And the drama detective didn't even care enough to investigate what happened around DRI for the past few weeks, not even to find out about that particular incident THAT WAS IN THE NEWS. (HOW THE HELL DID THEY MISS IT?! If their whole accusation was based on the fact that ~nobody had the entry code and so DRI was the only possible suspect~ then maybe check if anybody else EVER entered without permission, LOL, he's an idol, even police detectives, or especially police detectives should know how crazy people can get when obsessed. Maybe that guy isn't such a bright detective after all...)

I'd also be looking into whoever, if anyone, got some insurance on DRI either dying or anything else happening to him. That company boss looks more like a thug than an actual businessman, LOL.

TBH... I too WOULD take umbrage about praising WWII soldiers who participated into the evil deeds of their forces, special or not. Yes, his grandfather was not a kamikaze (maybe he didn't get the chance before the war ended?) but have some cultural sensitivity and read the freaking room, 70/80 years on. One wonders what the discussion topics around this subject would go in a war criminal's family, in private. Or in someone's family who would have wanted to be a bigger part of it but missed it.

And even if they were not directly involved... there IS such a thing as collective guilt when it's about genocide - even if you haven't personally taken part of it, just don't praise it. If it comes up, don't praise it, it's not that hard. Or at least acknowledge that while your family members were there, if they were not in command and giving the orders, then maybe they were just too un-informed or brain-washed or propagandised to realise the horror as it was taking place.

Because - there are so many things to remember, including but not restricted to Unit 731, the Nanjing Massacre, the comfort women, the way they STILL revere war criminals in the Yasukuni Temple - Korea and China DO have true reasons to not be happy with Japan. And now they managed to elect a ruling party that placed that extremist as a Prime Minister... It's definitely not the time to stir the waters around Japan's wars of aggression on neighbouring countries.

As for the drama - I hope it doesn't suffer. But I think it probably will, except for the int'l audience (and that's going to be such a strange thing to look at, LOL, given that most kamikaze pilots ended up attacking Allied forces and not exactly the Korean navy, if there was one at all).

They had other activities and the fan meeting wasn't among them, IIRC. And yeah, he probably would not be one to take it in stride (his manager's reactions show he might be a bit hard to manage, LOL).

I think the company is a bit shady with him (like, huge red flag when he said that ever since he had signed up with them, he never got to be his own self and had to be their puppet as according to the contract). Maybe the group was a big revenue thing for them and something happened - with the mysterious woman, maybe - and now they have to make some investments and get DRI big which they don't really want to actually commit to, seeing their boss' actions...

So yeah, a pretty shady deal overall.

I think they put the burn scar in the drama as a callback to the fans because there's NO way they could've included the reason for it. Just pretended it's there to make WWX wonder what the hell happened to LWJ to get the whip scars and the burn scar and all. (It's basically never revisited again, which, knowing WWX, even if there wasn't a novel explanation, would NEVER stand. He'd be too curious to see what happened.)

Bits and pieces come through in the chibi donghua too - like the non-canon fan-theory of what LWJ was doing for all those long years of missing WWX, never ever lighting an incense stick for him (NOT THAT KIND OF INCENSE LOL), but maybe playing Recollection to him every time he could, just to see if his soul would echo back. It's so cute :D

LOL, yeah, I don't really want to read the manhua. Thank you for the link, I'll maybe check and see how they did the papapa (MAYBE!), because MXTX... can't write such things LOL.

I must've missed that, LOL. I didn't check too far though anyway, just a bit. Then yes, that's the canon. LOL. Including the dream. Told you LWJ was going to get time in jail if anyone ever read his mind about WWX :D

If ANYTHING, anything at all, will ever be the doom of WWX it's going to be his big, unchecked mouth LOL. He keeps using it to dig deeper holes for himself and then lays in them all ready for LWJ to come... to the rescue.

I absolutely love the confession. I am pretty sure someone somewhere was keeping a betting pool about if/when it was going to happen. And I love that LXC got to be the matchmaker (he started the whole discussion, though MY is the one who keeps needling.)

(And did you catch that LWJ is jealous of HIMSELF? He asks about WHY didn't WWX reject that blindfold kiss, since he didn't know whom he was kissing, LOL. It was YOU, LWJ you idiot, so why so jealous? :D)

ETA And there WERE only 33 whip scars, LOL, 'cause he defeated 33 seniors to defend WWX. And the burn scar... *AHHH*. Now you have to read the novel. Maybe :)

ETA2 The mangadex version I looked at still looks censored to me. I wonder what I'm missing. (Though I am not really all that interested in reading it, since I still don't like the art).

I think she's just a red herring so far, since DRI is/was involved with her.

Maybe the group split or was about to split because of her involvement? Or the group members got into a competitive love triangle/quadrangle around her?

But I think it would be JaeHee. Maybe.

I watched the first ep and didn't like the FL (like seriously didn't like her). But I guess, if he's in it... I could try :D

Thanks for the rec!

So I went and checked... Yeah, still censored, though not as much as the drama obviously.

You got robbed of the "everyday" promise, too bad. And of what happened after that last kiss, too. Oh well. But the rest is pretty close to the novel (including the MianMian extra that was also included in the drama :D) And most of the confession :D

If the art was more to my liking... but nah. The novels are pricey enough already LOL.

WTF, did the prosecutor bully her in that classroom or was it just her imagining he's her bully in order to focus better at defeating his lame-ass politically-motivated cheap shot at a big suit?

Which BTW I hope we DON'T get this drama, put in all the tropes, I don't mind, except for the political conspiracy please.

PS Kim JaeYeong cries so prettily, I might have to suffer through TJFH because of him. Or maybe not...

PPS It's going to be definitely JaeHee, it's not healthy how angry he's at DRI. Or maybe the other bandmate, the one who was so fakely crying in that office. Or both, LOL.

Oh, it's going on well. Liked it.

His face when she suddenly started singing - golden LOL.

Forced cohabitation (maybe) here we go.

LOL, we seriously don't like the same things :D I was okayish with LSJ in Heesu/C2, but I didn't really like anyone there. Except for AJH, because he's precious. I think the controversy there was the hetero-washing the whole story and having ChanYoung become a main chara with WAY too many tennis scenes that led nowhere instead of the main couple doing - anything, basically. Oh well. He WAS underage, so I don't mind it. I don't need my BL enough to see them force minors kiss and be sexual when they're not ready. (Or anyone at any age, actually).

The movie IS the original story and the drama is the re-worked story, but it's kind of the same, with more bells and whistles (and less substance IMHO). It was a dystopian horror-ish techno tale and they turned it into something way too... Westernised, if that's a word, for my taste. I come to Asian media for the difference, not for the sameness, LOL.

LOL, not finding Koreans attractive, you big liar. Ji Sung will not be pleased to hear that, hahaha~ (kidding!) :D

LOL, yeah, Ji ChangWook is the ML. He did quite a lot of good dramas and then some really bad ones, hahaha~, as it usually happens. He was in The K2 and in Healer, for example, and that one was pretty cute. And an action melo too, like Fabricated City. But he was a bit younger and still adventurous, now he says he doesn't like doing action dramas anymore.

DKS is Do KyungSoo, or D. O., one of the main vocalists of EXO (WAIT WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW EXO? Everybody should come to EXO planet LOL). Though my fave among them (there's a gazillion of them, 13 I think at most, though they sang in different formations depending on the audience, hahaha~) is Chen. His voice is amazing.
They did a Killing Voice a few years back, if you are inclined to give them a listen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zomvO2Ii-kA

Ahn JiHo was sadly part of that amazingly swing-and-miss Heesu In Class 2. (And he filmed it as a ML when he was under 18, so that censorship was censoring itself even more than usual, LOL).

So then binge Thunderstorm Raincloud, LOL, it's ended. And it's not too dark (there were some commenters who got mad it wasn't as dark and twisted as the manhwa. I'm just glad if they toned it down a bit, since I've got my full dose of abusive relationship with My Stand-In and don't want another so soon :D)

Yeah, but it could be that simple. And at least there's lasting animosity between them.

Or maybe it was one of those crazy fans, back with a vengeance because he had them booted out of his rooms. We'll see.

Because you're seeing it from his POV (where he obviously has his reasons to act as he does) and not through an outsider's lens?... He's one to break things and yell at people who he has to pay (and make even his manager kneel to him), now imagine this would be presented to you without context... is he still a victim or a brat/asshole?!

I have watched Fabricated City in its time, then tried to make it through the drama, too. Couldn't make it past the first half, though I (kind of) tried.

I'm going to be mean and say it shows how JCW was much hungrier in those days. He put a lot more of himself into his roles (or at least a lot more in the movie as compared to the drama). And I seriously loved the side characters (particularly his movie mom.) When I saw they tried to do the same thing again but changing whatever they thought they could get away with... I was seriously disappointed (because yeah, when I saw he got a brother instead of a mom, it was clear the sacrifice would be his bro. And I like Ahn JiHo, I don't want to see him as a disposable character in any drama, LOL - yeah I know it's weird. He just made a very lasting impression on me with Nobody Knows).

I wanted to keep watching for DKS at least, but helas, not even my EXO love could keep me in LOL.

So I'd recc' Fabricated City right back. It was grittier, a lot better action (IMHO), just as overly dramatic resolution but a lot more easier to take in two hours compared to 12, and I (kind of) liked it. Despite its shortcomings (of which there were also plenty, but again, easier to take in a movie as compared to the time investment in a drama).

There's no BL but hey, have you taken a look at The Company? It reminds me SO strongly of The Spirealm (though I don't think there'll be any BL in it.)

Then I'm waiting for Cashero on the 26th (fingers crossed it won't turn into a second Twelve, LOL), and on Jan 2nd, Ji Sung's going to be back :D I guess we'll have something to watch THEN :D

Oh, this is not a bad start at all. Hoping it stays tight all the way to the end and that they don't pull a switch from victim-to-villain somewhere around the middle as some dramas are wont to do.

Oh wait, it has comedy and romance, phew, that's a save LOL.

Anyway, I guess I'll be watching. HE is doing a lot of heavy lifting with his emoting and she's good too. I am intrigued. (Also want a second-couple romance, get the friendly sidekick his own romance please! He's cute :D)

ETA Current running theory - it's his other bandmate who did it, the one with the huge chip on his shoulder. It would make sense he'd come to his house to rib him some more for their 4th mate getting hurt. And if he found the second there, they could get into a fight and things would happen. OR, even crazier, LOL, what if the 4th mate came by (pretended to be hurt or something). He looked like a goody two-shoes, those guys are evil masterminds in kdramas LOL.

Came in for Machida Keita and the trailer's promise, stayed in for Takeuchi Ryoma, didn't get a good (or satisfying) ending, but hey. The man's got moves. It's a good eye-cleanser for a while. (And nothing else much to watch at this point in time anyway).