#jo han joon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kolachess · 11 months

Text

Star Struck - Explaining the conflict and cultural nuance

Those of you who have seen the Korean BL, Star Struck, probably thought it was a(nother) mediocre school BL. In a year with more and more BLs from South Korea (yay!), it might have been an easy pass.

BUT, if you’re like me, you will have really, really appreciated the refreshingly realistic taste of a friends-to-lovers dynamic, complete with a conflict that is not just over one-sided or mutual dislike of each other for once! (Which is not to say I didn’t love the BLs that had that... they’re all great. But I do think expanding scope is always admirable!)

I realized that part of the reason why what seemed to me a rather thoughtfully constructed set of characters and plot development comes across as plain boring to many others might partially be a cultural nuance issue.

So, here’s my attempt to bridge that gap and give it a little more credit than it got (at least, so far). Of course, that’s not to say I think this drama is perfect... I do think a lot of pacing / editing could have done with some improvement. And at the end of the day... it is a coming of age sort of school drama, so it’s not going to be crazy complex. And I’m also writing this after episode 4, so there will be spoilers through episode 4.

Disclaimer: I am not Korean, nor did I grow up in South Korea, so I definitely do not have complete authority on this subject matter. However, I feel like a lot of what was happening in Star Struck might have been... unfairly overlooked or otherwise not understood by audiences who are less familiar with Eastern Asian cultural values, so as a Chinese American, I wanted to do my best to add a bit of perspective.

So. What is the root of SHJ (Seo Hanjoo) and JYJ (Jo Yoojae)’s conflict?

Certainly, SHJ’s (seemingly) one-sided crush on JYJ and JYJ’s reactive jealousy is a large part of it, but the other big part is a newfound wealth gap and how that translates into what esteem they hold each other in.

From the get-go, we can tell SHJ is very (self-)conscious about money. He knows how hard his mom has to work, and he feels guilty and early on already tries to justify to himself (and others) that some costs, like the cram school he saved up to attend, are not worth it. He’s too prideful to honestly mention his money troubles to anyone.

Although SHJ doesn’t know JYJ’s rich yet in this scene, JYJ’s financial circumstances still was better off than SHJ’s. But he’s clearly uncomfortable with the idea of his best friend paying for him like that. And here’s where I’ll do some cultural breakdown.

In East Asian culture, the collective identity comes first, and the individual comes second. Meaning, people take more pride in what school they graduated from, what company they work for, what their family background is, more so than people in many other cultures. I’m not talking school pride like, ‘I’m proud to be a <insert school mascot>!’ kind of spirit. I mean that everyone in your life, in society, will measure your worth first and foremost (and often only) by the primary institution or family background you came out of. And with SHJ’s sort of background - poor, single-mother - that’s a big stigma. He’s still a rational human being though, so at least he doesn’t blame his poor mother for their circumstance (which some kids do, given all the pressure of society). But that all said, this clearly weighs on him - how his lack of money reflects on him. And if money is viewed at all similarly to how it’s viewed in China... it’s basically a measure of your capabilities and standing in society. The inability to be generous with your money is ‘losing face’ i.e. embarrassing. And so... yeah. It’s a lot of ‘dings’ in SHJ’s social profile. The kid is understandably a bit self-conscious, though he clearly tries to not let it get to him.

Fast forward to when he finds out JYJ is now ‘rich’... Obviously, he’s upset at not being told because they’re supposed to be close friends. However, he’s clearly super self-conscious about being seen as someone who’s that sensitive about money. Notice how he hasn’t actually commented / asked about JYJ ‘moving out’. (Note: I wasn’t 100% sure if this carried the implication that JYJ might be moving away, but the text message made it sound like that? Correct me if I’m wrong.) He immediately assumes JYJ didn’t tell him because he’s pitying him or otherwise worried about how he’d react because of how it involves money. And he hates that. (Which... he’s not totally wrong about. JYJ might not pity him like how SHJ is thinking, but he definitely worries a bit about how SHJ will perceive things, and it becomes this death spiral of misread intentions.)

And of course JYJ starts to comment on SHJ’s family, which just confirms all of JYJ’s worst fears. He suddenly ‘realizes’ that his best friend who he has a crush on actually walks on eggshells around him because of his money situation, which is a blow to his self-esteem, because what does that mean? That there’s a meaningful gap now in their social status and JYJ looks down on him and just never said? That JYJ sees SHJ as too delicate to be able to handle this new reality? (His insecurities and perspectives, not necessarily what JYJ thinks, of course.)

It’s like having a close friend say something that makes you suddenly wonder if they were actually judging you this whole time, and your mind goes into overdrive analyzing every past interaction you’ve had and reading in between the lines to see if you were actually blind all this time. To SHJ, who is already a bit self-conscious about all of this... it’s a major blow. And although he says he’s only ever felt inconvenienced by his poverty... I’d say he’s being a bit dishonest with himself. Again, he’s clearly not the shameful type to blame his poor mother, but he clearly has trouble admitting his circumstances to even his closest friend.

Meanwhile, for JYJ...

...the guy is clearly struggling too. He obviously cares for SHJ and extremely mindful of his money situation, hence previously wanting to just pay for SHJ at the cafe. However, he also doesn’t want to hurt SHJ’s pride even more, so he ultimately still tosses his pair of perfectly good shoes he no longer wants despite wanting to give it to SHJ.

Once SHJ cools down a bit, and JYJ extends the olive branch, they both apologize to each other and come to an understanding. However, as is with a lot of human emotions... getting over it in the moment does not necessarily mean getting over it for good if you haven’t addressed the inner demons that spawned these bad feelings in the first place. And it’s not long before we see another issue pop up.

At this point, SHJ has had to move into the side house (and hides it from JYJ). He finds the Gucci receipt in the pocket of the jacket JYJ lends him, and JYJ immediately tries to wave it off saying it was pretty much something his mom made him buy.

He’s clearly worried about SHJ feeling bad again. He definitely doesn’t seem to care for the materialistic things as much as his parents seem to, and he even seems a bit embarrassed by it. So when SHJ brings up his big new house, he immediately tries to make light of the situation by joking about how indeed, the one good perk is that he can no longer hear his parents fighting. So that’s clearly another thing that weighs on him. SHJ is seemingly rather sensitive to JYJ’s money situation, but JYJ doesn’t really want anything to do with it at all. And the thing he really wishes could be new and shiny - his family’s relationship - is not something their newfound money could buy. In fact, it’s possible he’s even a little envious of JYJ for having such a caring mom.

Later, when he finds out SHJ has moved into the little side house / shack, he’s understandably upset that his best friend had chosen to hide this from him, that he didn’t see JYJ as understanding enough to be honest with him. He obviously also aches for SHJ’s circumstances.

Gift-giving is a big part of East Asian culture, but there’s casual gifts between friends, and there’s gifts between everyone else. When you’re gifting gifts to someone less close, you definitely don’t want to go for things too cheap, so people tend to skew for expensive and unnecessary things because it’s part of social gestures and having ‘face’. While well-intentioned, sometimes receiving (and continuing to receive) gifts, especially more expensive ones, can make the receiver feel like they have to reciprocate in kind and continue to stand on ceremony or otherwise have this formal distance between the other person. It’s a big game of chicken sometimes, but some people’s ‘face’ won’t allow them to take a more casual, intimate approach first. This is not the main reason why JYJ gets upset of course, but it is an element.

All that compounded - he’s hurting already on SHJ’s behalf, yet his best friend seemingly doesn’t trust him enough and still tries to save face. And what’s worse, SHJ seems to think JYJ is materialistic and chases expensive things, when that couldn’t be farther from the truth - he dgafs about this kind of stuff. So to have his best friend essentially woefully misunderstand his character, continue to hold him at arm’s length / treat him with non-intimate courtesy, make sacrifices that hurt himself to give JYJ something that makes him seem materialistic and puts even more distance between them due to their economic gap... he’s pretty hurt and furious.

Of course, in reality, while SHJ not telling JYJ might be partly due to his pride, the expensive gift was purely because he was crushing hard. And cue the confession tumbling out.

So actually, I feel like there was a wonderful build-up of their tension, oriented not entirely on SHJ’s romantic feelings towards JYJ, but a very real issue between two people compounded by the complexity of romantic feelings.

Although I grew up away from the frontline influence of these sort of social gestures and expectations, it was still a big part of my upbringing. And I feel the agonizing indecisiveness over what to say, how to react, etc. You read intention into every gesture and word, because that’s how Asian culture operations.

I was rather surprised to see people comment that this drama was boring, but upon analysis, I did consider that part of it might be because a lot of this tension goes over the audience’s head if you weren’t brought up in that context. What seems like beautifully nuanced dance of well-intentions-turned-sour might come across as a jumbled mess of ‘being upset over unnecessary secrets’. That, coupled with some abrupt scenes that might not be tied in too smoothly, might have led to a lower evaluation.

Or it’s just my bias for a non-romantic-feelings based tension haha.

Anyway... curious what others think!

#star struck #seo han joon #jo yoo jae #kbl #korean bl #스타스트럭 #yoojae x hanjoon #jo yoojae #seo hanjoon #spoilers

65 notes · View notes

intothemultifandom · 1 year

Text

Auld Lang Syne || Chapter One

Pairing: Han Gyeong-Su x Reader

Summary: Class 2-2's Vice President: VP.

In which the sensible Vice-President does their best to keep their little band of survivors alive.

Tags/Warnings: reader insert, character death, swearing, canon divergence, pre-relationship, angst + more

Chapter One

Harabeoji lays on the hospital bed, unaware that the world continues without him.

You're his only visitor today. The room is cold, and his heart monitor fills the silence since you won't.

You don't know what to say, where to start.

Do you tell him that he needs to wake up? That since he fell sick, your step-grandmother used his coma as an opportunity to move everyone from your family home (sans yourself) and that her son, your half-uncle and proxy, is already making deals to have the line of succession passed to him instead?

Seoul is too far from Hyosan for you to visit him, to remind him to keep fighting and to keep vigil at his bedside, but they moved his treatment here anyway. Have already brought themselves a sky-line apartment right in the centre.

If you told him that they've left you alone, that they've left you behind, would that be enough to wake him up?

On your lap, you've brought a collection of Western comic books you've been reading to practise your English and since you need to fill the quiet somehow, you pick one out to read:

The Walking Dead, it says.

If Harabeoji finds your pick distasteful, he doesn't say.

(You wish he would).

In a class-room setting, the Vice-President is meant to ensure that there is strong communication between the Class Reps and the President. When the President is absent, it is up to them to act in their stead. To lead the class through ever-changing situations with a clear head and mature outlook.

At times, you enjoy being responsible for such tasks. The position gives you a sense of purpose on days when you feel set adrift, makes you feel more present as you tend to your responsibilities and resolve minor conflicts. Those are the days you feel like an ordinary student, responsible only for the happenings of your class.

Other times however, it's a bitter reminder. Of Harabeoji who's counting on you to do good, of the dynasty you're set to inherit in his name and of the interests you've had to sacrifice in favour of activities more appealing for Universities overseas. Like being Vice-President.

Joon-Yeong insists you should have been Class President when the positions are first announced. It's unfair Nam-Ra gets the position because of her Mother's bribery when you're not only first in class but have given up more to commit to your school's night self-learning programme and your new role.

He says it with an air of indifference as he crosses his arms, but his eyes burn behind his glasses. You think it's because losing the Presidency to a friend will make the loss hurt a little less, and because it would excuse you from not hanging out with him and the others as much as you used to.

You don't point it out to him, though. Joon-Yeong has to come to his own conclusion for things to stick. Instead, you make a show of pointing your finger right at his nose as you order him–and the others watching–to call you "VP" henceforth.

It's not much, but if you show that you're not upset with the position you're given then your friends have no grounds to be angry on your behalf. You just hope that overtime, they'll come around about the Class President you do have in the meantime.

You did in the end, hadn't you?

Speaking of your Class President, Nam-Ra always complains about the music playing on your headphones whenever she slides into her seat next to you, but it doesn't stop her from leaning over your textbook to assess your work.

You respond by turning your volume all the way up so the melody of Auld Lang Syne rattles your ears, mouth curling when she nods begrudgingly at your answers.

There isn't much she'll find to begin with, but it's routine; Nam-ra grumbles about your music in the morning as she looks over your work (way better than her rhythm techno beats, mind you), and you pretend this isn't her odd way of showing her friendship.

Silently, you offer her a piece of Poki from your half-opened bag, your own show of friendship, and she accepts the treat after a long, drawn out moment. Even though she doesn't say anything, you can see her face soften in the corner of your eye, and beyond the obvious, you're glad that she's not actually mad about your song choice for today.

"Wake me up when Ms. Park comes," you say after a moment, falling into your normal position as you cross your arms over your textbook, cushioning your head as you close your eyes. Nam-ra predictably grumbles at your command, but doesn't make a move to disturb you.

And drifting off, you hope that today is another calm day.

It's not.

Hyeon-Ju's bloodied entrance is too shocking for the day to be anything but calm.

Even when she's whisked away by Ms. Park, Su-Hyeok and a few others to the infirmary, the shock gives way to unease and the feeling settles under your skin before you can do anything about it. It makes you itch to do something, anything.

Ms. Park instructs you all to resume studying but hearing what Hyeon-Ju said and seeing her state in general, more than half the class group together to brainstorm what happened between your classmate and Mr. Lee.

Nam-Ra seems to be the only one actually studying and while it looks like you are too, with all your pens laid out and your head tilted down to your book, you're actually listening in on the chatter around you. Pulling out your stationary was just a show of solidarity, if anything.

From what you gather, no one seems to say anything that corroborates your unease or the sense of foreboding that's taken root. Dae-Su's idea is perverse, Wu-Jin is quick to slap him on the back of his head, and I-Sak returns with a troubled face before the others can chime in.

At once, everyone turns their attention towards her, even Nam-Ra, but the weight of someone's stare grows heavy on the side of your face so you turn to other side of the room instead, catching Gyeong-Su's gaze just as he snaps his head back to I-Sak.

You're sure he knows you caught him staring at you because the tips of his ears are pink, and his posture is rigid as he faces the front. If you weren't feeling so agitated, your skin still itching, you'd smile at his embarrassment.

How long will he wait before he confesses?

"–What happened? Is Hyeon-Ju okay?" Wu-Jin chimes. He kneels next to I-Sak when he asks, and you begin tapping your finger on your desk when she speaks, pulled back to the matter at hand.

When you saw Hyeon-Ju last, the poor girl was delirious as she stumbled into the room, eyes fluttering as she tried to stay awake. Her face was bloodied, her hair was matted and when she collapsed by Ms. Parks' feet, she could could barely move.

However, the Hyeon-Ju I-Sak left in the infirmary sounds like a completely different person.

Having to be restrained as she thrashed on the bed. Hissing. Biting.

She scratched Ms. Kim, I-Sak says.

There's a cold sweat running down the back of your neck the more you imagine it, different scenarios flitting through your head in quick succession, but when I-Sak mentions some weird shot Mr. Lee injected her with, the agitation you feel reaches a crescendo.

You stop tapping, deciding that you need to see things yourself.

Nam-Ra glances at you from the corner of her eye, and you hope the look you flash her doesn't belie your nerves.

It turns out though that the Class President must consider you more of a friend than you realised (the kind of friend that you cover for), because her mouth twists like she knows you're up to something but doesn't push.

"I'll find a mop to clean up the mess," you lie, grabbing your bag.

"Hurry back," is Nam-Ra's cool reply.

This is a multi-fic story.

I intend to post this story on Wattpad and Ao3 shortly. Maybe even Quotev and FF.net, too.

#all of us are dead #aouad #all of us are dead fic #aouad fic #kdrama #netflix #han gyeong su #han gyeong su x reader #aouad x reader #multific #choi nam ra #lee cheong san #su hyeok #on jo #oh joon yeong #dae su #wu jin #auld lang syne #auld lang syne fic

105 notes · View notes

itachanta · 2 years

Photo

favorite couples + handholding > kdrama

#happiness #Vincenzo #flower of evil #military prosecutor doberman #kdrama #kdrama couple #vincenzo cassano #song joong ki #jeon yeo been #jo bo ah #ahn bo hyun #moon chae won #lee joon gi #park hyung shik #Han Hyo Joo #hand holding #hands #i love handshots so much #give me powerful couples with subtle romance and ill combust

677 notes · View notes

canonsinthehead · 2 months

Text

My Review of Yakuza 8/Infinite Wealth.

I'm back! Few days I've completed the game Yakuza 8 and will take the time to share my thoughts on it. Brace yourself!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. I ASSUME YOU’VE PLAYED THE GAME BEFORE READING THIS.

THE STORY: 4/10

A 50/50 roller coaster between clutching your pearls and an abyss of nuclear waste storytelling trash.

The whole story sounded good on paper, but its execution was poor especially past the first part of the game with Ichiban. Going between his lowkey undermined POV and another attempt (for the 124654th time) for a redemption story for Kiryu like almost all previous Yakuza games. Oh no! Am I dead?! Looks like I am. See you next game!

Many plot holes dragged the story to filth. Minor points/elements were expanded on meanwhile important ones were ignored.

WHAT I LIKE & DISLIKED ABOUT THE STORY:

LIKED & DISLIKE: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT It’s the game’s strength but also its weakness as this game greatly focuses on the character development of the protagonists. Like how in one minute, I was clapping for Kiryu’s newfound maturity and admitting his past faults (something he failed to do since the start of the Serie in my opinion) to the next 5 minutes I’m vomiting at full force because Mr. Repeat-the-same-mistakes Kazuma wants to (yep you guessed it...) go back to the Yakuza. He went as far as disrespecting Daigo, Majima & Saejima for it as if they were obligated to follow him in his shenanigans. He is so hell-bent on being the 1# Yakuza mammy AND CONTINUE TO PUT HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER HARUKA TROUGH HELL. Thank you Akiyama for trying to punch some sense in him, i would have done the same.

I understand the theme of shame was prevalent with Kiryu but at this point hurry up and die to take the Yakuza out with you (his words not mine). We fell for the clickbait since Kiryu is still among us smh.

As for Ichiban, many points were missing especially a more organic/verbalized connection and relationship with his mom. As much I liked Chitose’s act of redemption at the end, the “lets-stop-everything-so-i-can-disclose-my-boohoo-backstory-so-yall-can-feel-bad-for-me” had me shaking my head into an earthquake (ok I’m lying cause I was snoring). On a positive note, this is why I like the character of Tomizawa since he often came into opposition to Ichiban’s opinion and morals giving unfiltered thoughts.

DISLIKED: DÉJÀ VU & REPETITION DÉJÀ VU! DÉJÀ VU! DÉJÀ VU! The story’s white shirt is so stained with déjà vu spaghetti sauce it's giving rubber bullets, and my undisclosed brother is a CIA agent (if you know you know). Family dysfunction leading to resentment, daddy issues, Maury Povich, Tojo Clan conflict of the day word salad, The Big Bad Chinese™, etc. I know these topics are broad, but many were seen before IN THE EXACT SAME WAY but with different characters along with scenes being replayed as well…

DISLIKED: OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR: KASUGA ICHIBAN! as we could see, they gave Ichiban the Shonen protagonist/Jesus treatment (he is video game Luffy with the outfit too and the ultimate powers of Baryon Mode level Talk no Jutsu). It was all foreshadowed by the blasphemous promotion pic they released. Ironically this same image told us about the presence of a traitor (also the choice of name; Ebina. Hebi = Snake in Japanese) but I digress. Not only the trope is overdone in general, but the issue is also that they are taking away from his realistically “human” qualities and lowkey dehumanizing him into the untouchable unbreakable hero. I’m saying this because in Y7 the dream of being a hero was more him tapping into his inner child and resolving the lost time but now it's my hero = I’ve never met someone like you, Jesus. This same trope was an important point of Kiryu’s demise and (literally) suicidal tendencies. It’s like he’s too good for tears outside of being weaponized during talk no jutsu.

HATED: THE TOJO CLAN IS IN TROUBLE! No matter how much the disbandment of the Tojo and Omi was official we are still talking about the Yakuza conflict as if it’s not 2023-2024. I understand a big part of its presence it demonstrates how much people hold to past ways of life, but I am TIRED of the “Tojo this, Tojo that” like it never disbanded. This long sequence of rambling about hierarchy and the fight for power always sends me into a deep sleep. It always takes 2-3 business days to build everything back in place as if it never disbanded smh and it happens EVERY TIME. Ok, I’m being a hater. I’m sick of the Tojo Clan.

To be fair, it gets worse and worse as the game continues. the first half of the game is fair to display realistically the life of an ex-yakuza in a coherent way in the first part of the game. it may sound like i'm contradicting myself but everything akuza-related gets lost in the sauce further in the story. i just blinked and now it's all about a white saviour and Japanese nationalisim (mentionned by Daidoji family). TF?!

DISLIKED: TEENAGE DREAM ROMANCE I’m not a fan of the romance between Saeko and Ichiban. It seems forced and something the authors came up with for a plot device. Saeko always served One Piece’s Nami when it pretended to her follow male party members (not romantically attracted regardless of proximity). Ichiban you are too old to be this clueless, but I thought this aspect was both at the same time cringe as hell and deeply hilarious.

DISLIKED: FORGIVENESS I think I've said it before, but forgiveness was a big theme but why its always extended to people who need to be thrown in a dumpster and set on fire? This showed how much Ichiban wanted to successfully accomplish the redemption mission which failed with Masato. Which is cool I guess and measures up to Ichiban’s character. It would have been nice to see villains being villains (to the exception of Yamai, protect him at all cost) like Ebina could have openly rejected Kiryu’s teary kabedon, Eiji being left in the dumpster where he belongs or let him surrender himself on his own accord. I was praying for Dai-Jima-Jima to stand on business and reject Kiryu after being disrespected but mam I was wrong. Not saying people don’t deserve a second chance but it was overdone.

Also, the “naïve-and-my-friends-can-do-no wrong” theme with Ichiban was frustrating at times but paid off sometimes. i will lay off the hater train since characters like Sawashiro got what he deserved many times.

NOT A FAN: FANSERVICE & PLOTHOLES The entire presence of characters like Zhao and Joongi was for fanservice (let’s bring back these fan favorites!). they had no real reason to be there ESPECIALLY Zhao. What is he a cook? You are not part of or the leader of the Liumang anymore. Plot holes were filled with Joongi and “the BBC-Sherlock-Holmes-logic” If he could get so much info, why not include him earlier? I’m sorry to go there but the over-focus (and even further) Seonghui’s whole endeavor was to satisfy the male gaze. It’s a Yakuza game after all catered towards the straight male demographic, I’m not delusional. I'll tolerate it to some extent since they have beaten the character assassination allegations for her but WHY AM I SEEING HER BARE FEET?! Let’s be honest, Dai-Jima-Jima appeared for fanservice as well (like they already did in Y7 smh)

HATED: RACISM Chitose. I’m not gonna say more…

DISLIKED: THEY HAD TO INCLUDE THEM VTUBERS! The concept of Vtubers seemed out of place and unserious compared to the story. The protagonists are suffering under the weight of defamation… OOPS! Let’s cut to this Donald Duck Opioid voice having Vocaloid exposing the government. The most valid source of information around! NO FAKE NEWS HERE! Like What?!

ADORED: THE HUMANIZATION OF KIRYU KAZUMA I love how the sensibility, and vulnerability of Kiryu were put to the forefront. Regardless of this game's bad attributes, seeing the man behind the Dragon of Dojima was heartwarming admit his prominent flaws was amazing. This game turned me into an avid Kiryu’s stan. I love his new design, dark colors, and grey hair fit him and his fat ass. Hence why it was painful to see Kazuki and Yuya being avoided by him when they recognized the man’s humanity and pained heart. I will not forgive Kiryu for that.

LIKED: ALL THE PURISTS, DEAD IN A DITCH! I’m rejoicing as this game is RGG/Yakuza games purists’ worst nightmare. The Reddit bros and the “lets-keep-RGG-Japanese” crowd are suffering. First when Ichiban was released for looking “foreign” but now that he is biracial confirmed, THEY CAN PACK IT UP! A game in the USA and moments with pseudo woke agenda (their words not mine). I am feasting on their tears. Again I’m not delusional, RGG will always stay true to their main target audience but I'm celebrating every loss they get, IDC.

ADORED: FUNNY MOMENTS there were many funny moments. Going from unhinged Seonghui, Adachi & Nanba goofing around and Joongi revealing more of his personality. I had many good laughs. Of course, nothing tops all the overprotective toxic boy mom/dusty 40yo son interactions with Kiryu and Ichiban. i almost fell from my chair with the whole "policeman help! this scary tourist is trying to attack me as an america" and the infamous Bruddah!

ADORED: KAZUKI & YUYA perfect style update. They look amazing and better than anybody else. They give TVXQ on 10000% and they got fangirls. I’m dead.

ADORED: YAMAI if there is one thing RGG never fails to deliver on is their antagonists and vilains. i love his unhingedness, his class and how unpredictable he is. the drip is immaculate. aside from that, he has a interesting back story. his role fills up as both a father figure-like to Ichiban keeping him in check and an aloof ally. His taste in women is 124684/10 automatically making his a king.

ADORED: YU NANBA & ETC i really need to take the time say it but the character of Nanba in this game is crucial. His unmatched personality is allowing to revealed others' character. his conpassion (along with Seonghui, Saeko & Zhao) almost form a better party since they act like real friend.

GAMEPLAY: 5.5/10 The RPG-esque gameplay depends on the player's preference. Since I was watching my sister play, I could be biased and stopped after the completion of the main story but here’s the points I liked and disliked about it:

LIKED:

New Attacks. Many of them are super effective in defeating opponents fast.

Pound mates: they were super fun and helpful. While I wished for Yamai to have one as well. My favorite was the one for Kazuki & Yuya.

Kiryu’s Bucket & Memories.

Talk around the city & Bond Bingo.

Throwing Sawashiro in the river

DISLIKED:

LONG AS F. FEELS LIKE AN ETERNITY (AS A VIEWER)

TOO MUCH DUNGEONS

THANKS FOR THE INFO, THAT LED US NOWHERE. (INFORMATION FETCH QUESTS)

ANIMAL CROSSING ISLAND

FINAL THOUGHTS & OVERALL NOTE. A Disappointment. i maybe forget certain things but this game missed the mark. In my opinion the negative out way the positive to the point of being bad. Especially when it comes to the story alone (the gameplay is great regardless of its flaws). I’m not going to repeat my previous point the game is not passing the vibe check. Now all the hype before its release makes sense, RGG made sure to drop spoilers to feed the thirst and so-called “mystery” of the game. The joke is on me since they already got my money and it's only now that we realize this game is not the best (not worth 130-ish$). It all felt like a Yakuza Gaiden extension while actively refusing to give Kiryu a close casket death.

Overall, 4.5/10. Do not recommend it. I honestly don’t knows if I will be there or care for any future RGG game release, it doesn’t look promising.

9 notes · View notes

survivalistghost · 1 year

Text

top 10 kdrama bromances to feed your empty heart

if you scroll through my page, you can already guess number 1.

#10 - our beloved summer : choi ung and kim ji ung

beautiful beautiful men choi woo shik and kim sung cheol played ung bros for life in this beautiful beautiful drama. one of the best handled love triangles ive seen. they were there for each other through thick and thin, and helped each other through sm. best. on the tenth spot because they could've expanded on it more :(

#9 - what's wrong with secretary kim? : lee young joon and park yoo sik

i could never make it through the series. i left it behind on ep9/10 i think, and primarily because i physically cannot digest how emotionless park min young is. BUT, kudos to the hilarious office best bromance by the great park seo joon and kang ki young. ps - why is kang ki young the pankaj tripathi of korean dramas?

#8 - strong girl do bong soon : ahn min hyuk and in gook du

can we ever forget the legendary wink? or the dream where min hyuk is dressed as a woman? i think not. this was more of a frenemy type bromance, united by their love for bong soon and ironically divided by it, too. i refuse to acknowledge this as a love triangle tho. bong soon was astronomical in not hurting gook du and i will not take any criticism. is it a bromance if one of them is pretending to be gay? (and no, we will not discuss any sort of iTs pRoBLeMaTiC debates here.)

#7 - tale of the nine tailed : lee yeon and koo shin ju

don't come at me with the lee rang comments. rang was his half brother, related by blood. their relationship was top tier, but the stay at home husband yeon and working husband shin ju was too cute to not be classified as a bromance. in the beginning, i saw their relationship as shin ju serving yeon, a dynamic that they both seemed to embody. but as the show progresses, yeon baby we know you love shin ju just as much :*

#6 - alchemy of souls : jang uk and seo yul

song joon ki seems to have an attachment to bromances. han seo had the best character arc of the ENTIRE kdrama universe fight me. that court scene where vincenzo pats han seo's cheek was max bro cuteness. still not over his death. he deserved better.

#5 - vincenzo : vincenzo cassano and jang han seo

even though i didn't very much like the show's first couple, bromance delivered well. hospital scene peaked, complete true beauty sameness. it was pretty hard to understand who was the superior officer in this tbh initially, since their comraderie was so cool, shi jin was kid to soldier in a split second. loved how they chose not to unnecessarily exaggerate the love triangle initially bec i was only rooting for the second couple.

#4 - descendants of the sun : yoo shi jin and seo dae young

business proposal was the first kdrama i saw. i finished it in a three day trip, and i remember thinking more about the bromance than the romance. i was NOT used to the clumsiness of kdramas in general, like wattpad fics incarnated. the bromance delivered well, made me root for the second couple, and was the only initial indicator of kang tae moo being human instead of archaeopteryx. that word was a nightmare to spell.

#3 - business proposal : kang tae moo and cha sung hoon

the most wolfstar bromance if I ever saw one. and NO, i do not ship wolfstar just like i do not ship these two. they are totally adorable, and specially since their personalities seemed to switch from when they were children. yeong turned all serious face and lee gon got fun. love their years of friendship sm, their wordless communication and yeong in general. the acting was amazing.

#2 - the king - eternal monarch : lee gon and jo yeong

#1 - guardian - the lonely and great god : kim shin aka goblin and wang yeo aka grim reaper

yes, i know I'm missing a lot of iconic ones. unfortunately, i haven't seen alot of kdramas and have left alot in bw (like true beauty bec i couldn't see second lead hurt).

spring onion slays ^

told ya, if u follow me u already knew what the first one was gonna be. being the simp i am for the goblin and grim reaper, these two achieved the max points for their bromance. that slow dynamic of goblin calling reaper's hat tacky to fighting with knives to that iconic 'saranghae' to 'HOW DARE YOU' to goblin boiling eggs with his powers while reaper chills the beer. they know each other so well. love love love them and you should too 🔪

in my heart, the trio of our boys beats nothing (except for the gookdu-minhyuk relationship of the crown prince and uk). but instead of choosing the frenemy thing, i decided to love yul and uk more. yul was such a quiet character, with incredible potential in him for me to hate him, but then...(the guy is literally too sweet and beautiful and nice i can ramble for days). and uk, man, our power baby who loves every version of our beautiful but slow girl, needed so much emotional support. uk and yul were not afraid to show their affection for each other, a trait i admired in all the three boys (jang uk, seo yul and park dang gu).

100 notes · View notes