DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS JAPANESE CRIME MYSTERY HORROR DRAMA

jdramas have been hit or miss for me in terms of production value, story, and acting, but gannibals (2022) is a sleeper hit. with only 2 reviews at the time i am writing this (2/3/23), i am praying it gets renewed for a second season following the ending because I NEED ANSWERS!!!

story:
police officer agawa daigo and his family relocate to an isolated countryside town to fill a recent vacancy in the police force following a sudden resignation. they are greeted warmly by the town's people but coldly from the members of the strange and secretive goto family. after digging into the mysterious cirumstamces of the previous cop's disappearance, daigo discovers that he was last seen on the goto's family premises accusing them of cannibalism. while the agawa's hoped to start over in this small town and heal their non-speaking daughter's trauma, daigo is not someone to let go of things easily, so they are quickly swept into this small town mystery that is way bigger than them.

production/acting/everything else:
as mentioned previously, jdrama's that i have seen have been lacking in the production department. this is not an issue here. the cast and crew is impressive. the screenwriter is oe takamasa who was nominated for an oscar in 2021 for the best adapted screenplay for drive my car. yagira yuyu as agawa daigo gives a great performance, best known for his other role in nobody knows (2004) where he was the youngest winner of the best actor award at cannes.

i cannot recommend this drama enough. the pacing was great as the story slowly unveils itself. i was hooked from beginning to end. i also have never seen an jdrama that utilized a festival / folklore setting.

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a boring psa of the dangers of technology

i did not hate unlocked (2023) but i was definitely bored. the whole plot is a little too on the nose for me and even reinstates this message quite a few times throughout the movie.

while the movie fell flat for me, two things stood out- the production quality and si wan's performance. the opening sequence is mwah so beautiful. i really enjoyed a lot of the cinematography and how some of the shots and blocking are pretty dynamic. si wan is GREAT here. if only the story was there to back him up.

the first hour is better in terms of pacing and story than the last hour, but si wan appears more in the last. maybe you can watch this movie in the background but don't make it a priority.

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a kdrama for non-kdrama watchers

i am very new to kdramas and asian dramas in general. my biggest struggle is a lot of dramas i have seen had either slow pacing or episodes that were almost 1 hour and a half ( a whole movie ).

kingdom is a series that took me twenty minutes to like and 1 episode to love. while short in length (40 min episodes and 6 episodes per season), the story telling is not compromised, in fact this has one of the most intriguing and enticing stories I have seen in a long time (not to mention good female characters !!).

some of the shots in this series gave me actual chills combined with the amazing ost. the acting is amazing.

honestly in love with this series already (i have only just finished season 1) and i feel so strongly about this series that this is my first review.

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