J-Drama Recommendation: Bunshin ( 分身)

J-Drama Recommendation: Bunshin ( 分身)

So I was reading my posts and I realized that till now all I wrote was about things related to South Korea (well yes it’s my newly discovered love but even so), so I decided to write about this short drama which was I think my first J-drama. I have my exam in less than 4 hours but I am writing my blog. What the hell am I doing? (-_-メ)
Why do you get all new and interesting ideas during exams? After exams, you don’t know what to do. ┐(´ー`)┌

Anyways, Bunshin as such means Doppleganger. I’m sure you must have heard the term a lot of times if you are a Naruto fan. His favorite jutsu is (or used to be?) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

This is one of the stories which show the potential of human mind going beyond impossible. I mean, who can think about identical twins being born one year apart! And it’s not like it can’t happen. Doesn’t seem unrealistic in the story. (I’m not sure if it actually can happen. You can’t be sure of such things, can you? Technology evolves way too fast. )

Bunshin

This is a sci-fi serious drama based on novel of same name by Higashino Keigo. The protagonist is Mariko, a woman who is tangled in her past of people stating that she doesn’t look like her parents again and again and her mother kind of hating her. On the other hand, Futaba is a college student who wants to pursue a career in music and performs in a band. Things turn upside down in Mariko’s life when she sees Futaba on TV because they look totally alike. Through fateful chances, they get to know more about each other and are shocked to know that they are similar, not only their faces but interests also, despite having no connections. But they lose hope of being connected as Futaba is one year older in age.  But their identical nature and not having a clue of their about their birth compel them to go further and they discover what is unimaginable. There is a lot more to their story than it seems. Involvement of forbidden medical techniques and dirty politics doesn’t deter them from their path of finding the truth about their identity. What is the reality? Find out here : http://www.dramacrazy.net/japanese-drama/bunshin/

Now about the drama, acting is okay. Masami Nagasawa has done quite a good job playing triple role here (Mariko, Futaba and their mother). Drama as a whole is a little slow. They could actually have made a movie rather than drama. But since it contains only 5 episodes, it is worth it. Story, as you can see, I’m quite impressed. Things are unpredictable till episode 3 and I think, for 5 episodes, it’s a success.

Hmmm. Now I’m thinking what song I should include today. Should it be Japanese? Oh this song is good. (Actually, suddenly, the videos have stopped working here. Probably due to exams, they put restrictions. Yes, they do that. \(--)/
I have heard the Korean version. Not sure about Japanese version though. But I’ll post both versions and listen to Japanese version myself later.
)

Purple Line Korean Version

Purple Line Japanese Vesrion

K-Variety Recommendation: Stalker (스토커)

K-Variety Recommendation: Stalker (스토커)

No, no. I wasn’t being stalked or anything. I am talking about SS501’s mini-series “Stalker” which aired on Mnet from 19th January 2006 to 16th February 2006. This 5 episodes series shows how popular idols and groups are stalked by some people and how, sometimes, it becomes so dangerous that people get hurt, not only mentally but physically too.

Stalker

The series starts off with a girl being carried on back of a person with members running along and you instantaneously know that this is some serious shit. Then they start introducing events which make them reach the conclusion that they are being followed each and every minute. Their house is messed up, their clothes go missing just before their stage performance, they receive threatening mails and calls, their staff member is attacked etc. etc. They try to solve the mystery of this person. They take help of cyber police, install CCTV cameras in their dorm and watch old tapes of their filming to track down any suspicious element.  And they do catch some people in the process but whether they are the actual stalker or not, that you can find out after watching the series.

mnetss501stalker

It’s actually scary stuff. The series is based on events which have actually happened in their lives and some other idols too but it’s not like real real. And it has been shot around the time when they were actually being tormented by someone like that. The series is to prevent such happenings in their real lives and tell people that it’s burdensome to them. Obviously, it is a kind of torture to a normal person too. If such things happen to someone, they can’t focus on anything. And human intuition is such that you get to know one way or other if you are being watched. Either you get chills or feeling of being constantly watched or some other form (I have experienced first two only but if you have other responses, I would love to know).

Thus, this series actually has a deeper meaning. It lets your imagination run wild and come up with various reasons why someone would do such thing. Is it just a crazy fan or someone who holds a grudge against them or some attention seeker or just some other maniac whom they have unfortunately fallen victim to? And you are compelled to think about human psychology and how their minds work. How can someone be like that?

What do you think?

Here is the link where you can watch the series with English subs : http://ithetimes.wordpress.com/mnet-ss501-stalker-eng-sub/

Enjoy!