I have been quite into mystery genre these days. Lack of good series in anime world in this genre has turned me towards dramas and I have had a mixed experience so far. From absolutely brilliant to what the fuck just happened, I have seen a whole lot of series. One of them I came across while searching about the main lead Chen Cheney (Chen Xue Dong) was ‘Decoded’. I have become a fan of his acting after watching some episodes of another drama called Rush to The Dead Summer (Dropped it coz I read some spoilers). However, do take my advice, all the synopsis about the series I read on net were wrong. Like really flawed.

Plot: The story is set in first half of 1900s I think. Rong JinZhen is supposedly an autistic person who is genius at Maths. He was adopted by the principal of the university he is studying at. They have blood relation with each other, but still JinZhen’s past is majorly unknown. He is recruited by a division working for Chinese government on breaking codes used by enemies to communicate with each other. This division has been dealing with a pretty nasty code called purple code which has not only not been broken yet, it has driven the principal person working on the code earlier, mad. Rong JinZhen is their only hope now.

He faces difficulties initially because he’s unable to bear the harsh life of military, not to mention people who doubt his abilities. However, he is able to overcome everything thanks to his friends and supportive seniors. In the end he finds that this code he is trying to break is related to his former teacher John Lee. He discovers more and more about himself and his teacher through his assignment as the decoder.

Inconsistencies: Now, about inconsistencies in the plots all over the main drama websites. Some say he joined a spy organization. No, he joined a division with Chinese military. They do some spy stuff but they are more than a spy division. Then some say he discovers more about his family, especially mother while decoding the code. No, there is definitely a mention about his family in some initial episodes but he doesn’t discover huge secrets about his past like mentioned. I don’t know about the novel, but certainly not in the drama.

Also, it’s never explicitly mentioned if Rong ever had autism. He does appear to be lacking in daily functions and social interactions, but I am not sure if that could be called autism at all. Not blaming the acting, it was pretty good. It might be that less was understood about autism in that period and hence he is just taken for a stupid person. Again, not sure about novel.

Bad stuff: Now inconsistencies about the drama plot itself. The ending, I felt, was too rushed. The story builds up so much and ends in the last episode just like that. I was disappointed by the rushed ending but not by the ending itself. Hence, it’s a recommendation and just not a review.

Also, as I said above, they never mention autism explicitly. As far as I know about autism, the people get triggered by any ‘change’ around them and hence act harshly towards people around them (please do correct me if I am wrong anywhere. My knowledge about autism comes from articles read online and the manga called Hikari no Tomo ni). But Rong accepts it all, without much fuss.

Also *spoiler starts* it seems like that behavior corrects itself quite a bit in the second phase of the series. Again, not sure how representative that is of autism in real life. I tried reading some more articles but stats are really not in favor of autism correcting itself with age it seems *spoiler ends*.

Another thing I dislike about the series is, they don’t really show the logical thinking of Rong while solving the code. (Any numb3rs fan here?) Give something to the nerd in me!! I wanted to see some Maths ;-; And, some characters were chucked out just like that after building up a fancy plot around them to make them seem like an important character. I don’t really know what to do with that. They could have omitted some of the additional details to have less episodes than 41 probably. I really wanted to skip the part just before Rong’s second phase of life started. Now I think about it, the second part of the drama really sucked and dragged too long. I just wanted to skip to the end, but I still did not give up, must have watched the series at 4x speed, I think.

Good stuff: Despite all these loopholes, the drama has made quite an impression on my mind. Apart from the plot, the character delivery by each and every person is powerful. I especially loved the seniors in the division, their conflicts and confidence with regards to Rong are portrayed beautifully. Character development is good as well. Sound track goes amazingly well with the series. It is full of laughter and tears as usual.

My favorite part is when Rong gets to meet the previous principal investigator of purple code who is now unable to solve anything and spends his days playing chess. The bonds formed at the division are so relatable that it reminds you of school or may be college days, not as harsh of course. But peers, doubts on the friendship, fights over one girl, that one especially helpful senior/teacher etc. etc, I totally reminisced about my school/ college days somehow.

If the plot is true to the novel, the author is no less than George R R Martin, many of your favorite characters will die. But well, it’s a war drama, cannot do without the deaths of good people. Every encounter cannot be all happy. Each side loses some things and some ones before good triumphs the evil. Sacrifices are essential, otherwise the work would lose reality and depth. Cannot do anything about it. The deaths in the series also remind me of Maes Hughes in FMAB (I still cry on the gifs of that episode). I am pretty sure, if you’ve started watching this series already and know about FMAB, you would definitely know whom I am hinting at.

So anyway, recommended, not highly, but still if you’re into mystery and thriller, you should give it a try. It is officially available on YouTube with English subs. Watch here (thank God they’re official, will not have to think about copyright issues ^^;):

Short Story 1: As some of you might know from my twitter whining, I have fractured my ankle (it’s been almost a month). I was going to start writing regularly as I have accumulated quite a few series to write about (and some English novels as well, I am reading a few books these days, thanks for the influence my library *blows kisses*). All my plans went down the drain. It’s so tiring to use crutches. I sincerely salute all the people who have to use crutches/ wheelchairs and similar aids, for any reason, from the bottom of my heart.

Harder is putting up a brave front in front of my family. They are sitting halfway across the world worrying about me which makes me sad. And my OCD is setting in because I am practically helpless and cannot clean my room. All the books are lying around like anything and only I know how I fight between the urge to clean it all and having to rest my foot ;-; Despite everything, I ended up cleaning my bathroom which was in utterly devastating state.

Short Story 2: Working on my internet addiction, I decided to just not switch on my laptop at all when I come back home from campus. It’s been quite a successful strategy so far. I have left all the dramas and anime I was watching, for now, might start with Habaek on Monday. I have been able to finish 3 novels in a week, reading during just that time. I am also giving some time to Duolingo as well, given that they have added Japanese, gotta brush up my prior knowledge, I have forgotten everything. So, this is how I am spending my summers. How about you?