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The Killing of Three Thousand Crows Recap EP 1 三千鸦杀

This drama has been a huge blast - I am 8 EPs in and the plot, characters are wonderful and refreshing. The main leads are a hoot themselves, being very hilarious and have their own unique personalities. Props to CGI and costume theme who does their best to make it realistic while in budget, in particularly the costumes feel so natural and pretty.

So just a brief introduction:

This is a Xianxia adaptation from novel of the same name. Xianxia = it involves immortals. Our heroine, Yan Yan, or with her adult/real name Qin Chuan (覃川) is a mortal princess of her country and it has been destroyed by the demon people. Her people are slain and she vowed to kill off each and every demon people to bring peace to her people.

The Male Lead is Jiu Yun (九云), a powerful young immortal who has a crush on her, and he has seen through her ten lives/ previous reincarnation.

We started off with our male lead, Jiu Yun and his friend. His friend ponders why he is sharing with him a drawing by his Shifu/Master and what is it about.

He replied that this was about a war where drums are beating, and bones anre piling up. He also said he didn’t understand the meaning of the drawing for thousand years.

The cinematography is pretty amazing and the narration done by Zhen Ye Cheng (yes our Male lead does his own dubbing along with Zhao Luo Si) is nothing short of haunting. The sequence is written in a semi-classical format, and its a thing of beauty when it combines with great cinematography, great colour combinations, great symbolism (eg drums that reinvigorate a dying party) , great prose and great narration. Look at her red robes flowing in harsh winter while hitting the drums. Maybe I should translate this part later :D

His friend retorted. “It’s normal for mortals to be in war”. He replied "I finally met her yesterday. I have been searching for her for a thousand years” while the screen switch to her facing her enemies alone. 

I presume she didn’t survive. Based on some notes on the novel this was her past life. Anyway I really dig these prologues as of late as its normally shot wonderfully and in a simplistic manner + introduce the whole thing.

The scene switched to an enormous paper bird flying down to a city.

I love the design of the paper bird. Its delicate. Can I have one for a Mercedes?

Our heroine slept at class, slacking off  from learning paper folding spells which is a secret skill of Dali royalty. He also scold her that she have already learn for a year but she knew nothing.Her Shifu challenges her to make ten paper crane. 

She could fight with Bai Qian with tardiness though what Bai Qian did is even more crayy

She defended herself that paper folding spells emphasize on making it freely/casually. Under her shifu threat, she back off, saying she can do it anyway, but instead she made a frog.

The sequence is amazing btw. The CGI is really on point here :D

The paper container too is delightfully designed. Along with the sunscreen panels at the background

The set design and the headdress. Its amazing. Look at the Peach blossom background :D. And I enjoyed her acting a lot. She displays the right amount of mischievousness here :D

Our princess met with her brother and to cheer her up,  her brother shows her a painting he obtained. She said the painting is fine but not worth two to three thousand coins. 

Yeap. It looks like regular drawing even from my POV. But I hope whoever drawing this is not offended T_T (based on TMOPB the artist will normally on set whenever their artwork is shown)

He asks her to look at it carefully. Soon the garden turns into winter, and winter plum blossom starts blooming, and sometime later it turns back to normal. She excitedly asks him where he obtains the painting. He told her he obtained it from the famed painter, Gongzi Qi (公子齐).

Cue hilarity ensured of Gongzi Qi being synonymous with celebrity, full-on with fans dying to have his artwork and to see him,  and her brother the prince being very excited to obtain one. While looking for the artist, a scroll appears on his hand and he looks both happy and confused.

Here’s how he describes Gongzi Qi:

Gongzi Qi, he was rumoured to be extremely handsome, with one of the kind drawing skills. He was rumoured to apply rare immortal spells to his artwork.

She muses that man is too proud. And if Gonzi Qi said his art skills are his second-best skill, then his music skills should be out of the world. Her brother said he wrote a song titled East Wind Peach Blossom Flower .. nope it's half a song not a full song (WTF XD) and he refuses to write the other half, saying that no dancer will be able to dance this song (I see you Gongzi Qi, you are tempting her). Indeed our princess is up to the challenge and asks her brother to request him to finish the song so she can dance to it.

The siblings then visit their cousin, where her brother advises her not to be rude. Apparently their aunt and cousin are attending their mom’s 40th birthday celebration.

After greetings and praises, the two women throwing barbs at each other, we know that Xuan Zhu (玄珠，the cousin) recently start to learn immortal skills under a mysterious teacher. Their barbs become a quarrel, causing their companions to try to rein them in. Yan Yan excuses herself. The quarrel continues as both are tugging a purple handkerchief. 

A man came in. Yan Yan seems to be jealous that this guy (Zuo Zi Chen, 左紫辰) seems to come here to visit Xuan Zhu. He clarifies that he is here on behalf of his father to see her cousins. She instantly brightens up and let him go. 

OK, first crush? And guy seems to be interested.

At the court, the King seems to be really worried about Tian Yuan, as they have usurped three countries around Dali. He is also worried as his prime minister Zuo (Zi Chen dad) applies for retirement at this time due to health. He announces that he will pay a visit to Prime Minister Zuo.

Our Prime Minister seems quite healthy (healthier than the king!!) and performs some ritual that's clearly demonic.

This is performed in front of a satan like figure. That's demonic even in Taoist book right?

Our prince got the sheet music, but with a bet from Gongzi Qi: She must be able to perform it, else he will make her a laughing stock. While visiting the prime minister, she took the opportunity to visit Zi Chen. She blocks him from visiting the king. Instead, she wants him to ask him something on the new music sheet she obtained since he is extremely good with music.

uwuuw the music sheets are so pretty

Zi Chen was amazed since he never saw such complicated tunes. There is a catch though. The verse she pointed out is rather bloody and will cause the audience and the performer to feel very sad, totally inappropriate for a birthday celebration. He answers the way to go is to change the tunes from a sad tone to a happy one.

Girl is clearly enamored with him and his skills. He turned around and ask whether his modified tunes sounds right. She thinks it's great. And she gifted him a hairpin, helping him to wear the new hairpin. She finishes pining the hairpin and touches his face. He reciprocates by grabbing her hand tenderly

OMG I must say this scene is so well done. Very tender, and little words need to be said.

After she left, his father looks for him. He looks anything but friendly. He asks whether he knew the reason the king came. Oh gosh, the prince is way too naive. His father is clearly plotting about something. But he is a young man in the midst of meeting his first love, maybe that's why he didn't catch on the shenanigans.

The Princess is totally unaware of the plot tho, she happily shares her joy with her maid, Aman and hoping for the day Zi Chen will marry her. She also declares that she will be able to conquer the tough music sheets and it will prove Zi Chen's musicality is superior to Gongzi Qi. 

At night Gongzi Qi visited her, leaving her a note. She wakes up and declared again that she will win their bet. Gongzi Qi hears her in the court garden and leaves with a smile.

It seems like the budget is spent on the prince wardrobe. His gear looks very natural and menacing ha. But the candles deco is totally inferior to TMOPB Ye Hua house. Maybe the Demon People are saving the $ for war?

Yan Yan dance is stellar, she interprets the music sheets beautifully, with peach blossoms,snow and leaves. The audience including her brother, Zi Chen, and Gongzi Qi are amazed.

Oh wow the music is wonderful. It reminds me of TMOPB EP30 Peach blossom scene OST - the warm and sweet feel kinda touch. And the dance is shot beautifully. Although I think some of the dance moves are done by a professional dancer? Not a problem imo since one of the most beautiful performances in cdrama history is choreographed by a dancer.

And YESSSS.... his wardrobe is really on point here and the angles the cinematographer take is really good. He is not your conventionally attractive lead so I understand that some angles will not stand out. Kudos to the production team!

The dance ended and Gongzi Qi was shocked that she changed the ending of his sheet music. HA, SO YOU KNOW SHE IS GONNA PERFORM AT HER MUM’S BIRTHDAY BASH PARTY AND YOU WRITE HER A BLOODY TUNE? lmao he is pissed and serves him right XD. And what's wrong with your bestie XD? He seems to have a tendency to pine after a married woman.

They met Shifu who seems to be their ShiXiong (Elder brother disciple). Shifu reminded Gonzi Qi that since he is an immortal, he shouldn’t involve with mortal matters especially when Yan Yan is still very young. Gongzi Qi asks if he insists on doing it? Shifu replied that her fate has been decided and he shouldn’t go against fate. He seems to accept that decree and he hands over a huge scroll of painting, requesting Shifu to pass it to her.

Note: The reason why Shifu is able to involve is that he owes a debt to the Dali Royal family per the book.

At night the city is being attacked, and Yan Yan wakes up feeling happy and refreshed. She saw the painting scroll, both her and her maid marvelled at the painting and she told her maid that she wants to go outside alone to visit Zi Chan.

Meanwhile, Zi Chan father sent his son away “ For praying in the temple. Do request for glory at Royal Court”. His son wonders as his dad will not need it because he is retiring. His dad replies smoothly that it’s for Zi Chan. Zi Chan wanted to pray for his father’s health, and his father praised him lightly, sending him away. Looks like he is sending him away for safety. 

COMMENTS

I have been waiting for this drama for some time, and luckily they are no longer stuck in broadcasting hell. This EP has a lot to unpack, introducing the background and characters. I feel this EP wonderfully introduces multiple characters while making Yan Yan and Zi Chan characters unique. Yan Yan character is sweet while slightly spoiled, she is still very charming herself, and have all the characteristics of a well-loved high born lady. Zi Chan too stands out as the highly ranked son, with his politeness and his crush with Yan Yan being really subtle. Plot-wise it is interesting and hopefully, the revenge plot won’t be too over the top later. The drama is also not afraid to insert some modern jokes (AHEM CELEBRITY ARTIST) while feeling super natural in doing so.

 The magic spells they introduce are fairly unique too (paper magic) which can be quite handy. The brief introduction of paper cranes and paper frogs are delightful. The costumes are delightful too. One of the difficulties of cdrama production is making costumes natural relative to the period and making it beautiful. I love Zi Chan wardrobe here because he looks great in it while not making him too prince-like. Likewise I like that Gongzi Qi wardrobe are slightly more fancier than a normal immortal /Taoist disciple (YEAH HIS WEIRDASS WAYS) but not that fancy.

I think one of the downsides for this drama is the set production. Some of the sets like the snow scene are totally beautiful, while at some parts its so obvious the wood is made of plastic, or the garden looks too tropical. That being said I understand cdrama fantasy budgets are tight + high likelihood of delayed broadcasting, so these downsides are relatively minor, plus the cinematography team is killing it, so I think in overall any fan of xianxia should watch it.

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OMG . It seems like yesterday too 

Nakamura Yuichi‏ @nakamuraFF11 (2018.10.05) Chris said he’s been playing Captain [America] for 8 years, which means I’ve also been Cap for 8 years… It’s been a long time but it’s come and gone in a flash. I’ve seen a majestic man with my own eyes.

—

😭😭😭😭😭

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The World’s Worst Strategy in History (Royai) (Plus Darius)

*pushes*

- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 4-Koma Theater 16 (the last line is Mustang, yes.)

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♡ Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 1 Hiromu Arakawa

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Hey yall who wants to know another thing I love about FMA.

There are a lot of shonen shows that fall under the category of “protagonist joins some organization, travels around the world on missions, is working toward some general Ultimate Goal™ that falls in and out of focus.” And this format makes writing a lengthy shonen story easier because it allows the main characters to be passive in moving from one arc to another. The characters get sent on their missions by third parties, and the author can write as many non-sequitur mission arcs as they want, or until the Jump money runs out.

Naruto gets assigned one ninja mission, then the next, then the next, filler, non-filler, filler, non-filler. Kentaro Monjiro Tanjiro gets assigned new demons to target and kill by the master of the demon slayer organization, one arc ends, a new order comes down, the next arc begins. Deku is literally in school his teachers just tell him what’s next. And sure, sometimes the main characters are the instigators. Sometimes Naruto goes after Sasuke of his own will. Sometimes Deku goes after Sasuke Bakugou of his own will too. But those are the exceptions, rather than the rule.

And again, I get it. It’s strategic to keep a series running indefinitely. You can stitch together as many unrelated arcs as you want. And it’s probably a necessary crutch to have when forced to produce manga at the rate these publications need to.

But then there’s FMA

Which, mind you, set itself up in the exact same manner. Ed joins the Goddamn Alchemist Military. That’s absolutely the FMA universe version of the Ninja Alliance/Pro Heroes/Demon Slayers. All of FMA’s arcs could have been the military telling Ed “this is your new mission go do this” while Ed and All just stumble through 200 chapters, following mission orders, vaguely acting with the ultimate goal of regaining their original bodies.

FMA doesn’t do that. FMA doesn’t take the easy route. Hiromu Arakawa pointed to Ed and said “see this fucking 15 year old gremlin? He’s gonna go instigate everything that happens to him, and he’s gonna like it.” The military tried asking Ed a favor once and Ed hated it so much that instead of following orders he fucked off down a mineshaft.

DOWN A FUCKING MINESHAFT. 

Leore? Ed and Al went there on their own. Robbery on the Train? They just happened to be on the same train. Shou Tucker? Mustang introduced them as a favor for Ed handling the train incident (Brotherhood says it repayment for Leore since they cut the Train Robbery, shame). Dublith and Greed? they were there to see Izumi. Central? There to see Hughes, then saw too much, got dragged to Xerxes, stopped by home to do some grave robbing, decided to catch a homunculus for the lulz, got eaten and went to hell, met god, came back. Briggs? They decided alkehestry was their best lead so they followed Mei to Briggs. Leore again, cuz Al wanted to. Resembool, cuz Edward needed to hide after fucking off down a mineshaft. Slums of the Kanama region. Central again. Hell 2.0. God 2.0. Central. God again but the first one. Xing. Resembool.

Every SINGLE place these two chaotic hell-mongers go, every SINGLE mission they take up is a self-motivated, self-imposed, self-actuated logical follow-up to however the previous arc ended, to the point that the lines between the “arcs” begin to blur and transition into a brilliantly woven narrative of cause and effect. Where the instigators are never “mission-assigners said so” and instead are always the characters themselves spinning strategy, forming covert alliances and plans, making use of gathered knowledge to be their own driving force of actions, sieges, subterfuges, and the occasional overthrowing of the government from an Ice Cream Truck.

And I respect that a goddamn hell of a lot, cuz FMA has to go above and beyond in every facet of every single thing it does.

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Let me tell you something, people

I’ve seen a lot of lists about which one is the best anime series of all time. Every time Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is either at 1-st place or at least in top 5. Even so I think that people don’t talk enough about it. I don’t know why, but sometimes I have this feeling that people forget about FMA at all.

You know what? When I think about it, FMA is quiet different than most anime series at all. Even if it’s considered a classic shounen anime, it’s still different.

First of all, the shounen series are considered as anime with a lot of episodes, like hundreds of episodes are spent to tell us the single story of how the main character is trying to achieve his goal. But FMA doesn’t have that much of an episodes and you can even count the filer episodes in both series with your fingers. This anime still was able to tell it’s amazing story without that much of animation.

I’ve seen lately one specific cliche about anime where the power of friendship is so overrated. Like hell you can beat a giant monster just with some words from your friends. I’m not hating anyone or anything here. This just doesn’t make sense to me at all. But in Fullmetal alchemist, the lessons you receive are extremely useful and they can help you in your life. Like how we can’t run from our mistakes, but we have to accept them and move forward. Even the classic love stories you can see in other series are put aside here. For example Roy and Riza’s relationship. They are both in love with each other and that’s so obvious for us, but instead of seeing them as a couple, we see them as superior officer and subordinate, who are keeping their relationship professional at most of the time, cause they have this greater goal to achieve, to change their country for the sake of, and cause of the frat laws, of course.

Even Ed and Winry, who ended up together, didn’t have even a single kiss in the end.

The romantic relationships in FMA are different, because they don’t have to give you a kiss scene or something like that, so you can know these characters love each other. It’s much more about respect, duty and real, not sexualized affection, and I think that makes the FMA ships really beautiful and touching.

When we see other anime series, it’s easy to find something sexual in them. It seems like if one anime doesn’t have some kind of fan service, it’ll not be that popular. FMA on the other hand have extremely small amount of fan service. Even when something is sexualized a bit, it doesn’t feel like that.

One of the things that annoys me a lot is how some people consider a certain character useless for the story. It’s like another form of hate about the series. In Brotherhood every character is necessary. Every character have a it’s own role.

Those were some of the things I think that makes Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood different and unique. Still, even this franchise have his flaws, but a love how FMA beats up a lot of anime stereotypes. That’s why I think people have to talk about it much more. Just don’t forget how great this franchise is, okay?

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When we’re alone, the colonel calls me Riza

Reasons why this will always be Badass as Fuck:

Within seconds Riza has figured out this isn’t Roy. This is Envy. She and Mustang know each other that well, to the point she’s confident enough pointing a gun to an imposter within SECONDS. 

Like, they exchange less than ten sentences talking to each other, and she knows enough to point a fucking gun at him.

And she’s smirking about the fact she knows how to prove it’s an imposter.

She’s immediately ready to take Envy down with this trickery.

She already knows how to do it.

How to be badass and prove this ain’t Roy and take down this damn imposter.

It only takes one statement for Riza to fool Envy into revealing himself. ONE STATEMENT “The colonel calls me Riza” and Hawkeye has entirely outmanipulated our shapeshifting manipulator.

bait taken JUST like that, so easy

The reason her lie is believable is because of how close Mustang and Hawkeye are

how close everyone knows Mustang and Hawkeye are

to the point even enemies like Envy would think “oh they’re together that makes sense” 

to the point that when Riza tells Envy this lie, Envy doesn’t try to continue the facade and be like, “Well, how do I know you’re not Riza!Envy and lying to me??” Envy just goes “SHIT I FUKKED UP BAD” and flips

Riza knows that this will be believable and gets Envy to reveal himself, like, dayyyuumn woman

Envy’s immediate reaction is enough to prove beyond-all-shadow-of-doubt to Riza this is definitely-not-Roy. I mean, Riza already knew. But she just proved it. And so she shoots before Envy can evenreally transform out of the Roy appearance (in the manga, anyway)

That fast reaction

BANG

And then this calm “I lied”

like holy fuck that’s awesome

and then this fucking “Thanks for falling for it”

like fuck what she did was calmly tell Envy he fell for it and that she totally meant him to fall for it and that it was so easy for him to fall for it 

like that’s power

that’s POWER, Riza

all so calm and steady and in POWER Riza

and then this fucking “Now do me a favor and die”

NOW

DO

ME

A

FAVOR

AND

DIE

bambambambambambambambambamba BANG BANG BOOMMMM RIZA GUNNING ENVY DOWN LIKE A BADASSSSSSSSSS

WAY TO GO HAWKEYE!!!

WOOOHOOO

YYYYEEEAAAAAAHHHH

BOOM

BABY

FUCK YEAH [insert Al gif here]

GNGE:OGIWENG:OIN YES

ICONIC RIZA MOMENT IS FUCKING BADASS AND ICONIC YO

HGNGHGNGGNg;oeinrgoin [drowning noises]

[gargling noises continue

ghbnb

sng

bnwa

n

sh

arg;onh

fgngfffffffffffffffffffffllllllllleagnaero ginaerdddddddddddklegnlgn

I love this so much

I love Riza so much

I love how something

so simple as this

is so fucking badass

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happy royai day y’all

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i know it’s 10AM but like i woke up and while eating breakfast i just thought of how roy mustang, in canon, actually said to riza hawkeye, “that can’t happen. i can’t… i can’t afford to lose you.” he said that. it’s canon.

also that moment soon after when he said “and you… i’ve done it again. i’ve hurt you.” and just like edward did with winry he gently lowers her gun with the most tortured look on his face and they fall apart together right then and there.

and when riza was injured by the bradley prototypes, roy desperately ran to her and held her and once the bleeding was stopped by mei he held her so tenderly. even in that moment they smiled at each other. when wrath finally showed up he gripped her closer, protectively, even knowing that wrath could probably get to both of them fairly quickly.

let’s not forget when riza finds out he’s lost his eyesight and she looks at him as if she’s going to actually hold his face. she becomes his eyes in that moment.

i know royai has so many great moments throughout the entire series, but promised day royai is so, so, so unbelievably good. angsty and honest and protective in their own way.

i need to write fic for them asap. i miss them.

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were none of y'all going to tell me hiromu arakawa drew a new royai comic or was I just going to have to find that out on twitter myself

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The prince that was promised.

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‪90s babies how do we feel about entering our 30s in this new decade?‬

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An Analysis of ShinKane in Psycho-Pass: The Movie

After streaming through Psycho Pass S1 and Psycho Pass: The Movie, one cannot deny the fact that there most certainly is a relationship worth bringing up between Kogami Shinya and Tsunemori Akane, be it platonic or romantic. Although the author has explicitly said that their relationship is viewed more as one that is grounded by “trust that surpasses romantic love,” their dynamic throughout the series still makes the ship worth the emotional investment, or in fandom jargon: it has the potential to sail.

The interaction between Akane and Kogami in Psycho-Pass: The Movie basically supported, if not confirmed, our suspicion of a romance between the two. The main giveaway was their tension, and how they made the most out of their time together. At this point, Akane’s attachment to Kogami, more than that of seeking justice, is clear as day. She most certainly had intentions of meddling into the matters between the government and SEAUn, but needless to say, she also saw it as a leeway to “catch” Kogami. What I love about the movie is that “catch” could have meant two things – to catch a man who has gone to the other side of the law, or/and simply to see and talk to him after his long absence. Kogami was still the gentleman that he is when they met – recklessly putting his life on the line by shielding her from the drone’s wrath. I’d like to think that he knew it was Akane at the start of their spar, because for a second, you could see his face hit a realization.

I’d also like to think that if his encounter was really a threat, he would have done more. Akane was then firm with her resolve to arrest Kogami, but ended up teaming up with him. Perhaps she sensed, as philosophically close as they were, that Kogami was fighting against her supposed party, for greater and more rational reasons. It is important to note, that despite having been separated for quite some time, their trust is still bulletproof as ever. Not once have they thought that the other is with malicious intent.

The fan that I am, here are some notable scenes from the movie that screamed ShinKane:

1) Trust without hints of hesitation: he agreed to the team up without any question, saved her from the drone, drove her to their HQ, and lent her his military jacket to hide her involvement with the government.

2) She offers him her pack of Spinel. The over-thinkers that we females are, it would be nice to know what ran into his mind when he saw she had a pack of Spinel. The answers can go a lot of ways, but I love how it implies that she hasn’t forgotten him.

3) They both couldn’t sleep. We don’t exactly know the reason. Yes, it may be due to their predicament; sensing that something ominous was at bay, or perhaps because they had a lot of things in their mind that they wanted to say to each other, but assume that the other is asleep. As Kogami sensed her walk her way to the balcony, he followed soon after. Akane then started talking to him without even looking behind her, also sensing that he couldn’t get the sleep they both needed.

4) Akane’s opinion mattered to him. My favorite conversation between the two was when Akane compared and contrasted him to Makishima. It just means that all throughout the years of trying to understand him, she has come up with a moving analysis. I’d like to think that Kogami, in the momentary calm of the night, may have realized that Akane most certainly is one of the few people who knows him more than he may even know himself.

5) Parting ways. The first thought that crossed his mind was to make her escape. They were rather raw with their camaraderie here – Kogami tells her to escape and do her fair share of investigation, but really, it’s also because the HQ was going to be a warzone, and he wouldn’t want Akane killed in action. Better him than her, the martyr that he is. It’s almost as though the movie wanted us to feel like all these were more than just their superficial and dutiful intentions. I took the case to solve it but also to see you. You need to escape to investigate the chairman, and because it’s going to be dangerous here. Lastly, at that moment, it was as though Kogami sensed the reason for Akane’s strong disapproval of leaving without him and said “Don’t worry. Do you really think I’ll die that easily? If we both survive this, come try to catch me again.” Because it mattered to her that he would live. Moreover, the last statement played around with their cat and mouse game, be it with the intention of arresting him, or just simply seeing him. Kogami exhausted his reassurance in this scene, because he knew just how much Akane wanted him to stay alive.

6) Smile of relief. Following their last encounter and the dangers he put her into as she went back to Shamballa unattended by him, he smiles when he sees her alive and well. Even after being heavily tortured, it mattered to him that she stays alive as well.

7) Last look at each other. After Kogami fires a bullet to free her from her handcuffs and tells her to go after the Chairman, they paused for a glance at each other, almost as though they knew it would be their last encounter in who knows how long.

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The Lies Within EP9 - 10 Review

We are still in the trees but the path is becoming clearer and clearer, including motivation of one of our main character. These two episodes continue to be stellar by being mysterious, exciting, warming and shocking. And there are some nice symbolism in our whydunnit drama. So let’s jump in!

1. Symbolism

Shamanism

We are given a flashback on Tae Sik’s mom earnest plead to the shaman, of which the young Tae Sik also joins in pleading earnestly. A young kid who is evidently having no experience in participating in a shaman ritual, yet joins in in a desperate bid to see his sister alive.

Flash forward, we are given a few well-shot sequence on shamanism rituals performing around the town when Tae Sik and Seo Hui are passing by. We are not given what are the hidden symbolism until when Tae Sik and Seo Hui’s car broke down next to a shaman ritual:

TS: Is everyone in this town holding a shamanic ritual or what? ‎Have you ever done it?A shamanic ritual. SH:No, I'm Catholic. ‎TS: I was born a Christian. Even so, my family held a shamanic ritual every year. We'd do it in our front yard on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we'd go to church and pray.  Back then, I didn't even know that was odd. SH:Your parents must've been desperate for something. ‎ TS: My sister disappeared, right behind me

The drama highlights Tae Sik’s family, despite being Christian, still practices Shamanism ritual in a desperate attempt to find their daughter. This is also a clever foreshadowing of what Songju residents did - a desperate bid to hope their family members become well again. 

This drama uses Shamanism ritual as an indication of desperation from the families when they do not know the root cause of their plight, either from Tae Sik family or residents of Songju.

The books  

Although the pendrive is hidden in the second book, why the first book was shown so prominently? A book named “ Why Does Stockholm Syndrome Happens?” Does Sang Hun, Yeong Min and In were three boys suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? All of them have part of their childhood/teenager phase grown up in an extremely twisted way at the hands of Sang Hun’s adoptive father. Were the plot going to the path of Children of Lesser God?

2. Motivation

Yeong Min

Yeong Min evidently craves what Sang Hun has, the money, prestige and being look up by Jeong as a son of sorts. He evidently cares a lot about Seo Hui, but as someone who really knew how to rein in his feelings, he asks In “why don’t you make it cleaner by killing her?”. But its obvious that when he tries to let Jeong to take action, it’s clear that he cares about her. He was shocked when Jeong said he cares for her as a child but is willing to let her suffer. No matter how ambitious Yeong Min is, his idea of protecting the people he cares is not hurting them at least physically. 

So where does he stand on Reporter Choe Su-hyeon case?Does he cares less about her? Or was he doing his best to rein in his feelings or both?

In that respect Yoo Dae Yong is more clear cut. He clearly values his family the most, and is probably willing to do anything to protect them.

3. Ho Gyu

Ho Gyu Ho Gyu. Our beloved, Park Il Do Incarnate, constantly grumbling, somewhat selfish but still has a heart of conscience. Its unfair for me to end this without leaving him something of note. A guy who shed natural tears when getting scolded by his senior, who is super bad in administrative work, who is good at his IT work but still need to ask his new boss how to repair a hacked laptop. 

Someone who think he is not good enough to stay at JQ and want something his level. Despite he seems to be a typical good-at-IT-sidekick role, he shines from all his complexities and him being so well acted by Yun Jong Seok. And whatever happens Ho Gyu, I wish you are alive. And you definitely belongs to Tae Sik Team :).

4. What Lies Ahead?

Our path for plot is clear. We knew in the next two episodes its definitely about uncovering of what type of toxic waste that causes cancers/illness among the residents. And who is behind Sang Hun abduction. And Yeong Min’s motivation and true feelings are getting clearer, so we are left with our other villain, In. 

There are still some mystery boxes that are not so clear - eg who attacked Ho Gyu, but I think the mystery could be unraveled on next episode.

Rating : 8.5 Stars (EP9); 9 stars (EP 10)

[chromeskiesstuff]

Clean obsessed villains i see

‘’In Dong-gu was known as a self-made man. He didn’t even go to college. Do you think it’s easy to become the director of Strategic Planning without a college degree?’’