luckz

Quite the opposite for me: the Saegusa in this is James Bond and a completely different character from his profiler self.

1) He had to have asked for backup, yes. Why he looks so surprised like it is unannounced protection, who knows...
2) Maybe "Sakurai wakes up to see she now has a family/children" is too weird a timeline change for JP audiences.
And why he disappears like that, I have no idea what that is supposed to tell us. That they are 'fated never to meet'?
3) I'm not sure if the original hospital scene was supposed to be in 2018 or 2020, but in any case it's most likely something taken from the KR series and then disregarded with the other timelines the JP series went into.
There are time/date problems in the JP series anyway, like how in that "hospital scene timeline" Oyama sends a letter to Saegusa with post stamp 03 August 2003 containing floppies proving corruption, but then future Saegusa talks about this to 2000 Oyama as if he had already sent these materials.

The show itself has the same ending, but the 2021 special continues the story (some new & some old content), and the 2021 movie does too afterwards.
(IMO) start watching at the 2021 special and go on to the 2021 movie, if you still have the KR series in mind. You won't miss out on anything by not watching the JP series.

Yes, but the 2021 special continues the story (some new & some old content), and the 2021 movie does too afterwards.

JP has:
- downscaled romance between SML and girl who gets murdered ("movie tickets")
- downscaled romance between SML and FL
- downscaled potential interest in ML by his female high school friend

- traces of romance between ML and someone in the movie
- a disturbing lack of romance between SML and FL in special & movie

In case you end up remembering the original's plot, you can (IMO) start watching at the 2021 special and go on to the 2021 movie.
I found the movie's ending annoying and unsatisfying too :D

The 2018 show has pretty much the same ending, with the aforementioned two continuations (3.5 hours total).

IMO it would be enough to watch the KR series, then the 2021 JP special, and finally the 2021 JP movie (and skip this 2018 JP show). The 2021 special starts with a summary that might be enough to understand who the actors are.
I didn't watch the Thai / China ones, so I can't say anything about those.

The Lee Jae-han / Oyama Takeshi actor is perhaps a bit better in the JP show (but notably worse in the 2021 special), and the JP Ahn Chi-soo / Iwata Kazuo has his moments. There's a lot more omu-rice in the JP show – actually even too much. Otherwise I found it a lot less captivating than the Korean original. It's a bit like a word by word remake with cheap production values and a condensed story.

I found this a lot less captivating than the Korean original.
It's a bit like a word by word remake with cheap production values and a condensed story.
IMO it would be enough to watch the KR series, then the 2021 JP special, and finally the 2021 JP movie (and skip this 2018 JP show).

The Lee Jae-han / Oyama Takeshi actor is perhaps a bit better in the JP show (but notably worse in the 2021 special). The JP Ahn Chi-soo / Iwata Kazuo has his moments. And there's more omu-rice in the JP show – actually even too much.

"Blu-ray version has 5 extended scenes, in other words, 5 scenes which are longer compared to the original version broadcasted on TV. In episode 4 there's a scene which is 16 seconds longer, in episode 7 there's a scene which is 12 seconds longer, in episode 8 there's a scene which is 41 seconds longer, in episode 11 there's a scene which is 36 seconds longer, and in episode 14 there's a scene which is 40 seconds longer."
English subtitles for this extra footage don't really seem to exist.

That there is a loop element to it you know from the first episodes, you can conclude it from the very first call, and you know it for sure when SML announces that "the calls will start again" in 1989.

I'd call it a season 2 cliffhanger.

Not only is it an issue for viewers that there is an unseen phantom queen, but more so that for example in the Netflix translation a million different chicks are titled Queen Something.

For example, the mother of ML / Sado's spouse is often called 'Queen Hong'.

Can't agree with the acting being good here, especially ML.
Only the fight sequences were good.

What happens in that scene?

I don't see how going to the market once a month (and on all other days having very strictly assigned tasks at the penalty of death) means "having your freedom".

I thought the supposed queen was only mentioned a single time, in EP16 or 17?

Depends on whether you want a Wikipedia article with some (emotional) bonuses or not.

What confused you precisely?
The EP17 ending is ML deciding not to "come back to life" and instead stay with FL "in that moment".

King the Land is modern-day "Jun-ho lording over hundreds of maids", thus pretty similar really.

Both have the ML focusing on work & making sweeping changes for the better largely off-screen.

And both shows have his bad drunk acting, in King the Land it just looks worse side by side to better drunk acting.

Surely you don't expect a client state to portray its controlling/occupying state nicely later on?
Historical K content seems to paint Japan in a much worse light, anyway.