First Impression: Vampire Prosecutor

Just in time for Halloween, the Korean drama Vampire Prosecutor has just released its second installment, Vampire Prosecutor 2. Partly in honor of the season and partly out of morbid curiosity, I decided to check out the first rendition of this horror melodrama.

The show is 12 episodes long and has a primarily episodic format, with each episode focusing on a different case (or cases).

When it starts, we’re in the middle of a high-speed car chase, wherein the criminal is a mysterious, hooded figure driving a truck. We eventually discover that this hooded figure is actually a vampire, and amidst the scuffle between the vampire, the prosecutor, and a third party in the chase, our prosecutor gets bitten.

Fast forward to the future, and Prosecutor Min has developed some unique vampire abilities that help him solve crimes using victims’ blood. His eyes change to a steely blue color and he grows fangs whenever he uses these abilities.

For the remainder of the episode, the story focuses on two cases. In the first case, a woman who appears to have been murdered is found to have actually committed suicide. In the second case, Prosecutor Min and his team investigate a murdered orphanage girl.

The second case affects Prosecutor Min in particular because, at first sight, the girl looks like she was bitten by a vampire. She has two holes in her neck and her blood is nearly drained.  The investigators later find out, however, that this murder is not all that it seems, throwing in a twist at the end that’s sure to disturb viewers…in a good way of course.

The show also has its comedic moments:

I don't think this particular scene is meant to be funny, but I mean, a random half-naked guy comes out of nowhere and starts fighting our hero...I couldn't help but bust out laughing.

Another thing about this drama that stands out is the unique cinematography. There are a lot of jerky camera cuts, image superimpositions, and reverse motion shots, which really add to the horror/criminal investigation aspects of the show by creating a highly-stylized, disorienting presentation of events.

A drop of blood in slow-mo

Reverse motion: the blood drop reforms itself

The lighting in the drama is also notable. The whites in each scene appear to be enhanced, giving the drama a very bright, surreal feel.

To compare it to an American TV series, I’d say Vampire Prosecutor is something like True Blood meets Criminal Minds. It’s disturbing, suspenseful, and eerie with a hint of the supernatural. If you’re a horror fan, I would highly recommend checking it out.

Review: Answer Me 1997

In America, the 90s marked a decade of massive technological, economical, and social change. It was the era of teenage pop groups, the first mobile phones, portable CD players, Tamagotchi pets, Furbies, StarCraft, and the all-time high-grossing film Titanic, just to name a few. I myself am a 90s kid, and I can’t help but feel nostalgic when I think about how different life was back then. I was young, innocent, and optimistic, and the world was a completely different place than it is now.  So much happened in the 90s that it would be difficult to cover it all, but the 2012 Korean drama Answer Me 1997 does just that.

It may seem odd, even impossible, that a TV show focused on Korea's 90s could elicit such a distinct feeling of nostalgia in a full-blooded American citizen, but that’s part of what makes the show so good. Even though it is based in a foreign country, many of the emotions and cultural changes are the same.

Just to give you an idea of how smitten I was with this show, I managed to watch all 16 episodes in less than a week despite schoolwork and other commitments. I was, in a word, obsessed, and after you’re done reading this post, you’re going to be obsessed too.

Answer Me 1997 has a really unique format that grabs your attention as soon as it starts. In the first episode, we’re at a 2012 high school reunion, and we’re introduced to a group of six friends.  We’re told that two of those friends are announcing their engagement that evening, and then we’re transported 15 years into the past, to the year 1997, to see how it all happened and to find out who is getting engaged. The rest of the series flips back and forth between the late 90s, when the group is in high school, and 2012, as they all remember things from their teenage years. The drama keeps you in suspense until the last few episodes as to who all the couples are, and along the way you get to see how each member of the group grows and matures. 

The high school reunion

If you thought that South Korea was a conservative, culturally backwards country, then you have been very, very misguided. South Korea's culture is actually very similar to that of the United States, even back in the 90s. As proof, here are some of the show's major themes:

Pop groups

The girls in the drama are obsessed with boy bands, and interestingly enough, the 90s boy bands of South Korea were very similar to those of America. The drama features boy bands H.O.T. and Sechs Skies, whose American counterparts would be something like the Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC. They even have rivalries between the fans of different groups. We’re also briefly introduced to the girl group Baby V.O.X., which vaguely resembles the Spice Girls.

Fan rivalries: on the left we see Sechs Kies fans and on the right we have H.O.T. fans

H.O.T.

Baby V.O.X

First love and first heartbreak

The happy couples we see at the 2012 high school reunion weren’t always that way. Answer Me 1997 shows us the ups and downs in their relationships as well as how they finally ended up together.

Technology

We also see the first mobile phones, StarCraft (which was evidently extremely popular in South Korea), portable CD players, Tamagotchi pets, and the infamous dial-up internet connection.

Tamagotchi!

StarCraft

Family Dynamics

Family plays a central role in this drama. We get to relive experiences like sending kids away to college for the first time as well as coping with things like family tragedy. The drama also shows how family members in Korea interact. The story, which is primarily centered in Busan and Seoul, depicts the typical "Busan" family, including the use of the Busan dialect.

Watching the Korea soccer match against Japan

The drama even covers homosexuality:

There are also some pretty neat connections made between the past and current Korean legends, something I only discovered after looking those particular characters up. In one scene, we see a slightly overweight, young baseball player practicing. When he turns around, the subtitles translate his jersey name as "Lee Dae Ho." After looking up his name, I found that Lee Dae Ho is now a famous Korean baseball player.

In addition, one of the friends in the group is actually an ex-member of the 90s Sechs Kies boy band. In one scene he's watching himself in a music video, but in the drama he's just a normal character. Pretty cool, eh?  

Friendship

Last but not least, we get to see just how strong, and long-lasting, some friendships can be.

 As you can tell, I really, really enjoyed this drama. Even if you’re not a 90s kid, do yourself a favor and check this drama out. I’m positive you’ll find something to relate to.

Happy watching :)

First Impression: Arang and the Magistrate

Arang and the Magistrate is a 2012 historical drama based on Korean folklore. In the story, Arang is the daughter of a magistrate in the city of Miryang. She is mysteriously murdered one night, and she comes back as a ghost in order to find the truth about her murder. She ends up enlisting the new magistrate to help her, but the magistrate, who can see ghosts, has some secrets and mysteries of his own...

I was a little skeptical about watching this drama at first because I am not a fan of historical dramas, but the romance aspect of this show reeled me in, and I’m glad it did.

What I like the most about this drama so far is the chemistry between characters, and the elements of the story itself. The show perfectly combines comedy, romance, history, and horror to create a truly entertaining television series.

Arang, played by Shin Min Ah, is extremely beautiful and spunky. Her character is refreshing because she is assertive and carefree, unlike most Kdrama heroines.

Arang

The magistrate, played by Lee Joon Ki, is handsome and easygoing. In the show he is burdened with the stress of looking for his lost mother, but his character is a funny, go-with-the-punches kind of guy, and he and Arang have a great on-screen chemistry.

The magistrate, Eun-oh

The magistrate’s…er…sidekick (manservant?), also provides plenty of comic relief in the show with his antics.

The magistrate's manservant,  Dol-sue

We also have a shaman with a weak sixth sense (she can hear ghosts but not see them). Arang repeatedly harasses her for favors and she, like the magistrate’s manservant, provides a lot of the show’s comedic moments.

Shaman Bang-wool

In addition to these characters, three of the king’s officials assist the magistrate with his magisterial duties. They enlist the magistrate at the start of the drama (initially by kidnapping him…), and they also add to the comedic aspects of the show.

The Trio
(I'm not sure what else to call them...but they are almost ALWAYS together)

These are the characters who stand out to me the most so far, but there are other characters in the show who I feel will play a more prominent role as the drama gets deeper into its 20-episode run.

???

A human skull

Overall, I’m pretty excited about this series, and I love the fact that it combines comedy and horror. It’s a strange combination, but in this drama it works. The horror moments are genuinely creepy while the comedy had me laughing throughout the first few episodes. I would definitely recommend this show to fans of romance and the supernatural!

And she's a gamer, too?

If you haven't figured it out yet, I have a lot of unique, albeit nerdy, interests. Naturally, one of those interests includes video games, and my favorite kind is the RPG (role-playing game).

A role-playing game is where players assume the role of a fictional character in a fictional world and play out a predetermined narrative. In some cases, players will have a bit of control over the progression of the narrative, but they will ultimately follow a basic plot.

My favorite subgenre of RPG is the JRPG, or Japanese role-playing game. These games differ from Western RPGs in that they are a lot more narrative heavy and fantasy/magic-based. JRPGs put a lot of emphasis on the storyline and the character development, so you essentially feel like you're playing a movie. A lot of people don’t like these types of games because they are very linear, but I absolutely love them. So, without further ado, my favorite RPG series!

Final Fantasy

The Final Fantasy series is extremely well-known in the gamer world. Frankly, if you don’t know what Final Fantasy is, then you are not a gamer.  Final Fantasy has been around since 1987, when Final Fantasy I was released. They currently have fourteen official installments along with numerous spin-offs.

Final Fantasy VII (1997) is often considered the best of these games as well as a game-changer (pun-intended) in the gaming industry. It popularized RPGs with its incredible graphics, storyline, and gameplay.

Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to play FFVII yet, so I cannot comment on the greatness of that game. I have loved every other FF game I’ve played, though, and my favorite would have to be Final Fantasy X.

FFX is my favorite game because it has a fantastic love story. The graphics are not the greatest, nor is the gameplay, but the cutscenes are beautiful and the storyline is practically seamless. (For those who don’t know what a cutscene is, it’s basically a movie scene in a video game used to further the plot)

And just for fun...

Then and Now: A cutscene from FFX (2001)

                         

                         A cutscene from FFXIII-2 (2012 USA)

[Notice the difference in graphics. It really is like watching a movie!]

Final Fantasy X uses a traditional turn-based gameplay style that is all but gone now. In fact, all Final Fantasy games up until FFXII used this style. The alternative to turn-based is “real-time,” which means the enemies don’t wait for you. Turn-based, however, works like this:

1. You encounter a random enemy on the map and enter a battle screen
2. You and the enemy take turns attacking until someone dies

Pretty lackluster, eh? That may be so, but it worked for its time. That said, it’s pretty ridiculous to battle an enemy who waits for you to make your move. 

Then and Now:

Battle scene from FFVII (1997)

Battle scene from FFX (2001)

Battle scene from FFXIII (2010)

The general scheme of all FF games is that you embark on an epic journey, encounter numerous enemies along the way whilst strengthening your characters, and finally engage in a grueling ultimate boss battle to beat the game. If you are one of those people who does pretty much everything in a game, including getting all ultimate weapons and maxing out character levels, the last boss is a cakewalk. Usually FF games offer bonus battles, however, that are much, much harder.

FFXII's Yiazmat, a notorious optional boss that takes upwards of 3 hours to kill.  3 hours.

Final Fantasy games also have recurring characters and themes in all of their installments.  There is usually a “Cid” who mans the airship, Chocobos, which are huge, birdlike animals that you can ride (and are also what my blog is named after), Moogles, which assist with various things in the game, and special beasts you can collect to help you in battles.

"Anima" from FFX (an Aeon/beast you can summon)

A Chocobo!

Just to give you an idea of how long these games can last, the average game in any genre can be beaten in around 20 hours. The average RPG will take more like 50-60 hours to beat, and if you do all the extras, it becomes more like 100 hours. I think my FFX has around 90.

And there you have it.  My hobbies are not just limited to Kdramas and Kpop music, but also include things like video games. If anyone is curious about what Final Fantasy games I have, here’s a comprehensive list:

Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (currently playing)

Final Fantasy Crisis Core for PSP

Dissidia Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy: Advent Children (This is actually a movie, but I'm including it anyway. If that's not nerd-status...)