Anime
Uncanny Counter Season 2 Live-Action Series Review – Review
In Season one, we met So Mun (Jo Byeong-kyu), who was left with a maimed left leg after losing his parents in a horrible car accident. So finds his true purpose in life (and gets a healthy body and new powers) when he awakens as a retrieval specialist for evil spirits who have escaped the confines of the afterlife. These specialists are called Counters.
Counters take on especially evil spirits that inhabit cruel humans and cause destruction and chaos. Along with a team of Counters who work at a noodle shop in town, So Mun becomes the team leader, with an “uncanny” ability to open a spiritual space where Counters are stronger and innocent humans are protected from spirits.
Season two starts with the Counters’ worst nightmare. Impossibly powerful spirits have killed and possessed the bodies of a team of Counters from China. These evil spirits are exceptionally violent. Led by Pil-Gwang, these spirits have a goal—to destroy the Counters. And they are getting close to that goal.
Each Counter has a partner in the Afterlife. Each partner is, theoretically, meant to provide spiritual power and emotional support. So Mun’s team has very complicated relationships with their Afterlife partners, and as Pil-Gwang makes headway on killing counters and destroying the Afterlife’s spiritual energy, our Counters find their connections are weakening. To regain that connection, each of our Counters will have to reckon with their own past. Chu Mae Ok (Yeom Hye Ran) had to come to terms with the loss of someone who left a hole in her life, while Ha-na (Kim Se-jeong) meets someone she cared about and has to reconcile feelings gi she has been denying. And finally, ex-cop Mo Tak can solve the case and the betrayal that caused not only his own death, but that of So Mun’s parents. Once these three reclaim their powers, they turn to So Mun and stand by him, giving him the confidence he needs to defeat Pil-Gwang, save the Afterlife and, finally, say goodbye to his parents.
Where Season one focused on bullying, from schoolyard thugs to political bullies, Season two is much darker. The story begins with Pil-gwang, Gelly, and Wong Yeok committing exceptionally brutal murders…and then spending the rest of the series torturing and murdering their way through the story. As much as I don’t mind violence in service to a story, I found the extended scenes of torture very unentertaining. And, good heavens, do I hate gloating. Every two-bit manager in a K-Drama who gloats and bullies subordinates steals moments of enjoyment from me, and I resent it.
As Pil-gwang’s gang gains power, the useless, often antagonistic, and unsupportive spiritual partners for the Counters finally begin to suffer. I say finally, because no matter how badly Counters are injured, physically or psychically, their partners tend to nitpick over obscure rules which seem to be unpleasantly fungible to make the Counters’ jobs harder. It is, of course, on the Counters to save their partners, and it is on So Mun to save his team.
All the while, a young man who has lost everything is taken over by an evil spirit and is threatening So Mun’s family and neighbors, because, of course, he is!
There are a lot of tears in this story. Terrified tears, sad tears, tears of rage, frustration, melancholy, even of joy. Everyone cries at least once, and So Mun cries basically through the whole story.
I read The Uncanny Counter webcomic when I watched Season one, and was a little sad that that season did not borrow the ending of the comic. Well, here it did, and with the set-up of the story, it worked even better. I was glad to see that callout to the source material, used in a way that made actual sense for the story.
Once again, the acting by our principals was excellent. Jin Sun Kyu as Ma Ju Seok did a fantastic job of morphing a friendly, helpful, loving man into a psychopathic spirit who still had to play the good guy. Pil-gwang’s team was less wonderful, as he and Gelly mostly just gloated, which got real tired, real fast.
While it took what felt like a lot of time to get there, being able to learn more about —and spend more time with—Chu Mae Ok, Mo Tak, and Do Ha Na were some of the very best moments of the story, proving that, once again, the best part of any narrative about a team is the parts about the team. Everyone got to have their moment of pathos, forgiveness, and renewal in this season
Overall, Season two was less fun to watch, with a lot more psychopathic cruelty in the torture scenes, but the strengths of the first season remain and keep you tuning in. Great acting, good action in the fight scenes, and a team of sympathetic weirdos who do their best to save the world…and serve yummy noodles.
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© Netflix
Netflix announced on Friday the manhwa-based live-action series The Blue Road, previously known as the working title “Road,” will premiere on November 20.
Directed by Joon-hee Han, who previously helmed D.P. and Coin Locker Girl , the series follows two detectives investigating a string of murders that crosses the border between South Korea and Japan. The two detectives have different investigative methods and personalities as they pursue the connected murders across Korea and Japan.
Seok-gu Son stars as Seok Kim, a detective with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, while Eita Nagayama plays Inose, a detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Netflix has also released the series’ first poster and trailer. The poster features Son and Nagayama standing in back alleys in Korea and Japan, with mysterious messages written in Korean and Japanese appearing behind them.
The trailer introduces crime scenes, messages written in the victims’ blood, a Korean-Japanese businessman played by Shin-rok Kim, and a mysterious tiger drawing. It also teases growing tension between the two detectives.
The live-action adaptation is based on the 2002 Korean-Japanese collaborative comic Purungil – Ao no Michi (Blue Road), written by Keishi Edogawa and drawn by Korean artist Kaya Kwon. The five-volume series blended hard-boiled crime storytelling with themes of cultural tension and cross-border cooperation, making it a distinctive work of its time.
The manhwa follows the investigation of a gruesome cross-border serial murder case. The story begins in Tokyo, where authorities discover a twisted, contorted corpse accompanied by a blood-written message in Korean. Shortly afterward, a similar crime scene emerges in South Korea—this time with a Japanese message written near the victim. The shocking parallels force law enforcement in both countries to recognize the crimes as linked, leading two detectives, one Korean and one Japanese, to join forces in pursuit of the killer.
Source: JTBC (Jung-sun Park)
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© WEBTOON Entertainment
According to entertainment news outlet Deadline on September 17, Hulu is developing a live-action series adaptation of WEBTOON‘s popular action romance webcomic The Mafia Nanny, with Charlize Theron serving as an executive producer.
Violet Matter is the webcomic’s writer, and sh00 is drawing the art with assistance by roousuu and Drawniels. The story of The Mafia Nanny reads:
Being an Elite Nanny is simple: protect the charge, obey the principle, and don’t get emotionally attached. Easier said than done when Davina’s first client is a dangerously compelling Venetian underboss who’s determined to get under her skin. What he wants from her, she can’t imagine, but Gabriel Angelini drags her back into the glittering world of organized crime she thought she’d left behind forever. She might get answers about her past if she digs deep enough, but can she protect Mikey from his father’s ambitions and keep her heart from getting tangled up in their treacherous web?
The webcomic had been nominated for Best Webcomic at the Ringo Awards and Digital Book of the Year at the Harvey Awards last year. The webcomic was also nominated for Best Webcomic again this year at the Ringo Awards.
The Mafia Nanny, one of the most successful English-language webtoons, has accumulated more than 420 million views globally.
Max Gill is an executive producer and will write the television adaptation, and 20th Television, Secret Menu, WEBTOON Productions, and Steady Collective will produce it. Other executive producers include Beth Kono, AJ Dix, and Matt Maher for Secret Menu; David Madden and Sera Tabb for WEBTOON Productions; and Dawn Olmstead for Steady Collective.
Deadline stated the project is believed to the first English-language live-action series adaptation of a WEBTOON IP.
Fans can read the webcomic on WEBTOON.
Source: Deadline (Nellie Andreeva)
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Newly released trailer follows Bo-bae as she meets Ho-rang, the only person immune to her electrical powers
© Netflix
The web novel-based live-action Korean series Take Charge of My Heart released its main trailer on September 28, ahead of its October 9 premiere.
Based on the web novel of the same name, Take Charge of My Heart is a romantic comedy about Ho-rang Baek (Young-kwang Kim), a third-generation chaebol executive whose artificial heart battery is running out; and Bo-bae Na (Su-bin Chae), a drama writer who gained the ability to generate electricity after being struck by lightning as a child.
Bo-bae discovers that her electric ability has no effect on Ho-rang, while Ho-rang discovers that staying near her can recharge his artificial heart battery. The two eventually enter into a three-month contract involving physical contact so that Bo-bae can help keep Ho-rang’s battery charged before his next surgery.
The newly released trailer follows Bo-bae as she meets Ho-rang, the only person immune to her electrical powers. After discovering that his battery recharges around her, Ho-rang proposes a three-month contract to stay together, saying he needs her help to survive.
Bo-bae, a drama writer who has never experienced a proper romance because of her powers, accepts the arrangement as she works on a “romance bucket list” for her latest script. Their unusual relationship becomes more complicated with the arrival of top star Eun-ho, Bo-bae’s No. 1 fan, setting up a love triangle.
Currently, an official English version of the web novel is not available. Haebeon originally serialized the story on Naver Series.
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