Ghost-Seeing Detecitve Cheo Yong

귀신 보는 형사 처용 (Ghost-Seeing Detective Cheo Yong, also known as simply Cheo Yong) is a South Korean drama series that aired from February 9th to April 6th 2014 on OCN.

Story: Detective Yoon Cheo-yong was born with the ability to see ghosts. Seven years ago after the death of his partner he quits the W.S.T and works as an ordinary police officer. However, because of a mysterious case he decides to help the responsible unit and meets Han Na-young, the ghost of a high school girl who's caught in the police station. Together with Detective Ha Sun-woo and with Na-young occasionally helping him by taking over Ha Sun-woo's body.

Cast: Well, the cast was alright I guess. I did enjoy Oh Ji-ho as Yoon Cheo-yong the most. The cold wall around him trying to not lose another person due to his special ability and the danger he always sees because of that is something understandable and I'd argue it's actually human. Though he's not a character one gets to like in the very beginning, I think it's okay.
Oh Ji-eun did a really good job as Ha Sun-woo (and sometimes also Han Na-young when the ghost managed to take over her body) which is quite enjoyable but at first I just thought that she was annoying. To be honest I don't really know why but trying to make Cheo-yong accept her as his partner.. In the very beginning I actually thought Sun-woo as a character was more involved with Cheo-yong's former partner but - at least in the first two or three episodes they managed to lead me into the wrong direction.
Talking about Han Na-young.. I love Jeon Hyo-sung of Secret a lot. She's beautiful and has a nice body and voice and I admire her but I honestly don't know whether her acting sucks or if it's just her character. Many people say Na-young is cute but I just found her to be overly annoying and childish - and not even like a high school student but more like some girl who hasn't graduated from elementary school yet. It might be just me though but I just would've wished for at least a character who is a little more serious.
In the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency we see Yoo Seung-mok as team leader Byun Gook-jin and his character made me wonder if someone even has to work hard to become something like a team leader in the Korean police agency because he seems so stupid as a character. Sadly, that's not the only character I seriously don't understand. Because the same goes for Yeon Je-wook as Detective Lee Jong-hyun. So. Stupid. It seems like he just wants to prove he can do well, too, after Cheo-yong came back and actually the character seems to be some semi-intelligent person one would love to beat up. And also about the third member of the team, Yoo Min-kyu as Park Min-jae I could say the same thing but he has some bonus - he's a lot younger and therefore a lot less experienced than his seniors so I do think it's forgivable that his character isn't the best detective (yet).
Now I need to mention two cameos of characters that are necessary for the story in the background. At first we have Baek Sung-hyun as Jang Tae-suk, Cheo-Yong's former partner. Thanks to this guy I cried a river. Again. It's not like I've never done this before. What I really enjoyed about his character in this drama is in fact that he shows the same ability Oh Ji-eun does - being possessed by a ghost at least for some time. But let me admit that he's freaking sexy in that black trenchcoat with this stone-like gaze. And his character probably wouldn't have been that important if it wasn't for Choi Deok-moon as Yang Soo-hyuk. I don't want to tell you too much about his role in this drama but from a human point of view I just can't see him as an evil spirit. I just can't stop myself from pitying his character in this series a lot.

Soundtrack: Speaking in all honesty the soundtrack isn't bad but definitely not my cup of tea. There were some enjoyable tracks, some nice instrumental pieces, yes, but that's that. About the two songs that appeared in the drama, there was nothing memorable.



Now is this a bad series? 7.5/10 for an OCN series is rather on the worse side of the scale, that's true, especially since I'm a huge fan of OCN Original series. But I did hear from many people this was rather weak. (I had to watch it though just because.. you know.. Baek Sung-hyun.)
Talking about the positive and negative aspects, some cases were good. Especially the one with the ghost of that young girl protecting her brother, I think it's Ep. 7, was touching and had an interesting story, and Ep. 8 just killed me. It was sad but at the same time I was swearing at those guys. You will understand what I'm talking about when watching this. But sadly I had a feeling there were some episodes just added to fill the quota, the stories weren't that good or catchy.
Another point is the atmosphere. I had the feeling the atmosphere was rather light with most of the scenes being shot during the day. As for a drama that should cause something like suspense or a thrill this was rather weak. And of course some overly melodramatic things (which I did enjoy, yes, but don't expect to be in a drama about mystery, crime or suspense) didn't really do any good about this.
And there's one point in logic I don't get. All of the other ghosts seem to remember their story and are trying to help and find their murderers. But then there's Na-young who doesn't even remember her name at first nor what happened to her? Logic?
The end didn't really make sense to me either. I don't know but there's only one question left - why did Sun-woo change like that?! Except for that fact that drama has ended. There are no questions left. But why do they need to air another season of this series? I sometimes really don't understand writers nor OCN.

If you like ghosts and detective series, go for it. Watch it. It has some ups and downs and it's not that bad at the end of the day.
And if you're a fan of Baek Sung-hyun, just like I am, I'd also say watch this. But only if you're really a huge fan of his because he hasn't that much screen time so...

God's Quiz 3

신의 퀴즈 3 (God's Quiz 3) is the third season of popular OCN Originial series God's Quiz and aired from May 20th to August 12th 2012.

Story: As in the two seasons before Han Jin-woo and a team of medical experts continue to solve cases involving rare diseases. But the new detecting in charge, Bae Tae-shik, and Jin-woo just won't get along and tend to end up arguing often. As they solve different cases, Han Jin-woo seems to change a lot while getting involved with a rather specific case on his own.

Cast: Let's say that there are some actors that appeared in the first seasons as well. Except for Ryu Deok-hwan as Han Jin-woo - that change of hairstyle though - there are Choi Jung-woo as Jang Kyu-tae, Park Joon-myun as Jo Young-shil and Na Yoon (or Kim Dae-jin) as Kim Sung-do left. I think I've commented on their acting enough already but especially for Ryu Deok-hwan this season was a good opportunity to show a completely different side of Han Jin-woo and therefore his acting.
New in the main cast of this series is Ahn Nae-sang as Bae Tae-shik and he's just what you imagine a veteran detective to be like, especially when it comes to his instincts. But especially at the end of this season you can also see a rather soft side of his character caring for the members of his team like he would care for a family.
Another new addition to the cast is Park Hee-bon as Lee Ran (pronounced as Iran which made me randomly laugh during the first episode). While I thought her character was too bubbly especially in the earlier episodes, I wonder about her background story. It's not like the audience gets that many hints when it's about a character that doesn't appear all the time. And we can't forget about Han Seo-jin as Yoo So-yi. While she's not one of the main characters, she becomes more important in Ep. 8 I think because - without her and Sung-do the team probably wouldn't have known about the case at all.
Oh, and Ko Gyung-pyo has to be mentioned as Seo In-gak since the last two episodes wouldn't make sense without him at all. I knew him because of Flower Boy Next Door but this series shows a completely different side of his acting which is indeed good.

Soundtrack: As it is rather typical for OCN series, the soundtrack is a lot shorter than those for the first seasons and the main focus is put on the story. Though OCN definitely knows how to use instrumentals to highlight the atmosphere, I sometimes miss the songs one would start to love. But that's just a general side note and I seriously loved the fact that Hlin performed a song again, this time called "비밀 (Secret)". Though I personally enjoyed the soundtrack a lot, those who prefer listening to 'real' K-Pop might not like it that much.


After all I found this season to be good, especially Episode 4 hit me harder than I expected any episode of this series could but especially the first episodes until Episode 5 and episodes 10 to 12 were interesting but in the middle I found myself yawning from time to time. Sure the cases were interesting but I know that they can do better. Also it's a shame the comedic part added mostly in Episode 1 with Detective Bae and Dr. Han not getting along at all and arguing in a funny manner disappeared.
Oh, and I just need to get rid of this weight but - I hate extremely religious people. All the talk about God and an alternative in season 2 already bothered me but this time there was this Episode (I think it was Ep. 8?) and I wanted to just skip the whole episode.. but then again not everyone might be that annoyed by that talk.
9.5/10 therefore is my rating of this season, and though many people consider it the best, I'd still go for the second season as my personal favorite. It's worth a watch though and if you really don't like a few things there's still the opportunity to skip some scenes.

God's Quiz 2

신의 퀴즈 2 (God's Quiz 2) is the second season of OCN Original series God's Quiz and aired from  June 10th to August 26th 2011.

Story: Han Jin-woo and the team of Hanguk University continue to solve cases involving rather rare diseases. But it turns out that some diseases should be hidden behind simply causes of death for some cases and the SCD, a national agency, tries to stop the team from investigating desperately.
I won't go into this topic too much because things would be boring if I would tell you everything about this but the background story kinda reminded me of The Virus - but there were differences as well. It gave me goosebumps and this season did well in keeping up the level of suspense.

Cast: As for the cast, there were indeed some changes but many actors who took important roles in the first season were in this one again so I don't want to comment on their acting over and over again - maybe I will do that later. I still enjoyed seeing Ryu Deok-hwan as Han Jin-woo. As a character, he became more complex in this season and I just wanted to find out why things turned out the way they are. Yoon Joo-hee as Kang Kyung-hee was awesome in this season as well, her character didn't really mature, that's not the right word, but her acting seems more confident than in the first season - and usually less cold. Another actor remaining in the cast is Choi Jung-woo as Jang Kyu-tae and I know why I'm talking about him as 'everyone's favorite ajusshi'. Though he loses the image of a caring father in this season, his acting was on spot and believable and I actually loved how he still tried to follow his principles after all. Park Joon-myun also appeared again as Jo Young-shil, and though she still doesn't belong to the main cast I did like her acting though it seemed too emotional sometimes. It's just that I know people can be like that from time to time and I suppose the writer wanted her character to act like that.
Way more important in this season than in the first became Na Yoon as Kim Sung-do who's trying his best to support Jin-woo no matter what happens. His acting was on spot, this is what one expects friends to be like to be honest and everyone should have at least one good friend like him.
Now this might be a spoiler but Ahn Yong-joon is back as Jung Ha-yoon as well! How is this possible after the first season? Well, you'll have to find out on your own but his acting turned out even better in this season. And I honestly think so because there are two sides of his character shown in here that couldn't be more different and making the audience believe in the different characteristics. Judging by his ability to manage that well I'm looking forward to seeing him in other series.
Someone I didn't mention in the cast for first season because he didn't appear to frequently is Choo Seung-wook as Detective Park Do-joon. Since he became more and more important in this season (I loved him in the last episode) I needed to mention him on here. Such a cool cop.
Talking about differences in the cast we actually notice.. we have a new character, Min Ji-yool, a profiler, played by Lee Seol-hee in this season and though one might hate her at first it turns out that  her support in fact isn't that bad. Acting or not, her cold character actually opened up and the audience suddenly starts to like her somehow.
And instead of Dr. Nam whom we've seen in the first season, this time Dr. Cha is responsible for most of the forensic work, played by Kim Se-hyun. It's hard to really judge his acting since most of the time it just feels like he's following orders - which might be true at the end of the day.

Soundtrack: Can we please talk about Hlin performing "Redd" for the OST of this season? Hlin are a band I mostly compare to Nell and when I heard the song I admit I thought about Nell at first when hearing the song but I love it. 10/10 just for this song. There's a song by Untouchable included in the OST as well called "Question" which I didn't really like at first but then I definitely grew attached to the song.


After all I found this season to be more emotional than the first one and therefore had to give it a better rating. Since this is nearly perfect, no one should be surprised about the overall 10/10. A great cast showing their abilities, well-written and sometimes really deep stories and at least the last three episodes were perfect and kept my heart beating faster and faster. All in all a great season and I'm curious as to what might follow in the next season(s).

God's Quiz

신의 퀴즈 (God's Quiz) is a South Korean drama series that aired on OCN from October 8th to December 10th 2010. It was followed by so far three other seasons.

Story: Genius medical doctor Han Jin-woo starts working at Hanguk University in the department responsible for medical and forensic analysis. The department has its own unit for investigation of strange death cases. Working together with a team of experts as well as detective Kang Kyung-hee who is the connection to the police force he solves crimes. But Jin-woo has to deal with some strange pains and gets threatened by someone so he has to solve his own case as well but unintentionally causes some more problems that put the whole team into a dangerous situation.

Cast: Ryu Deok-hwan is a rather young male lead actor for OCN as Dr. Han Jin-woo. His acting was pretty well done in my opinion, it wasn't obviously faked - it seems as if he's really in pain. While he also manages to portray the innocent and somehow playful young man well. Yoon Joo-hee as Kang Kyung-hee turns out to be someone he enjoys playing around with though she always tells him to stop playing. Kyung-hee is a rather cold character at first and doesn't seem to be someone the viewer would like but just a few episodes later I found myself actually sympathizing with her. Even if I would like to, I can't say anything bad about Yoon Joo-hee's acting.
With Choi Jung-woo as Jang Kyu-tae there's an ajusshi in this drama everyone I've met so far seems to love, including me. He seems once again like a mentor and almost a caring father in this drama.
Park Joon-myun is in this series as well as Jo Young-shil, a character who seems to care a lot about manners and respect. Though her character isn't around that often one cannot help but like her during the last episodes, and I honestly think Park Joon-myun did a good job playing this role.
One of the rather funny characters in this series, Kim Sung-do, was played by Na Yoon. He seems to discuss complete nonsense with Han Jin-woo from time to time (thinking of Episode 6 *cough*) and is also somewhat known because of his love for adult movies (or could we say porn?) but somehow lightens up the atmosphere in the office.
Park Da-an as Go Yoon-jeong to me seemed to almost have a crush on Jin-woo. It might be only about me, her acting was well done, but I couldn't figure out whether she liked Jin-woo or not by now and I've finished this season. But then again there is a chance she might only be a caring person.
Ahn Yong-joon as Jung Ha-yoon seems to be the perfect psychopath villain in here and I think that psycho-gaze suits him incredibly well. Except for not quite understanding why exactly he turned out to be a 'monster' (said in the series, I know, but I'm not sure if I really understood because - Jin-woo developed into another direction. Circumstances? Parenting done right/wrong?) but it was actually believable and he gave me goosebumps..
Lastly I feel like I need to mention Kim Gun-woo as Nam Joo-nam. He doesn't have too much screentime which I find rather sad because I see some potential but as far as I could figure out he did well as the somewhat lovable assistant.

Soundtrack: I wish I could tell you more about the soundtrack but wasn't really able to find out that much about it until now myself. Maybe I will edit this section later on because I've finally found out something. I can only tell you that I liked the music overall, it was always well used in the situations and especially the instrumental/orchestra pieces once again caught my attention.


Overall God's Quiz seems to be a solid series and therefore deserves to be rated with a 9/10. Now to those of you who might have noticed that my love for OCN Original series is actually overflowing and almost all of them got higher ratings than this one I feel like I need to explain why.. I think it's just similar to The Virus. While I do enjoy watching this mix of medical and crime it doesn't really trigger any emotions unlike other series. It might be because of me not being into medical stuff this much or mainly because I prefer my crime series rather romance free but this is just an idea..
I can only compare my reactions but Special Affairs Team TEN, especially the second season, brought me close to some kind of mental breakdown. Other series like Missing Noir M basically cause a huge emptiness after finishing one episode and I usually need at least 30 minutes to calm down and realize what kind of emotional rollercoaster ride I just endured. Compared to especially those two series I found myself rather emotionless watching this. It made me laugh, it sometimes made me feel sorry for certain characters but not to the extent I've experienced before.
However, it is possible I will change my opinion watching the other seasons. Nothing is impossible and overall I really did like it.

Missing Noir M

실종 느와르 M (Missing Noir M) that aired on OCN from March 28th to May 30th 2015.

"사라진 사람, 숨겨진 진실" (the sentence on the poster) directly translates to "Missing People. Hidden Truth." So you might make a guess if this drama is appealing to you just by knowing that.

Story: Gil Soo-hyun (or James Gil) is an extremely intelligent former FBI agent who attended Harvard University at the age of 10. Because of Lee Jung-soo, who only wants to talk to him, he comes back to Korea and solves the first case with the help of Detective Oh Dae-young and hacker Jin Seo-joon. Those three become the Special Investigation Unit for Missing Persons. As they solve cases, they also discover rather personal cases as well as dark family backgrounds and the fact that power can be more important than the law.

Cast: I openly admit not knowing much about the actors and I'll just talk about what I see in this series. Kim Kang-woo as James Gil Soo-hyun is extremely fascinating in this drama. I just wanted to know more and more about him and noticed that there's another drama with him in the main cast I am planning to watch. Anyways, what was the most fascinating except for his well-hidden past is actually his eyecolor. I know this sounds weird. But especially in Ep. 9 I noticed that it's almost a mix of gold and brown and I really find this interesting and beautiful. (This is not intense fangirling though, so please forgive me..)
Well, Park Hee-soon... is it weird that I just noticed I've watched another drama with him before? He looks so different as Oh Dae-young, I never would've noticed that without MDL and/or asianwiki. I love the way he's portraying the veteran detecive (who is a typical character in every OCN series in case you missed it). Long story short, I loved his acting. A lot.
The last person who's around almost all the time is Jin Seo-joon played by Jo Bo-ah. She is really beautiful. That's what I'm going to admit first. Her acting wasn't bad but I felt like her character wasn't shown enough to really judge her as an actress - sure there was one outstanding episode and I loved her in that episode but the rest of the time she's just a typical team member following what she's told to do by her seniors and her acting seemed a bit awkward or.. rather monotonous? Does that make sense to those who are reading this?
Anyway, others in the cast include Kim Kyu-chul as Park Jung-do and Park So-hyun as Kang Joo-young. They both were good in their respecitve roles, and Park Jung-do as a character even managed to surprise me in the end.

Soundtrack: The music in this drama deserves 10/10 without a doubt! This is one of the few dramas only including one song, "자각몽 (Lucid Dream)" by Kim Yun-ah, but this song is great and atmospheric. But as much as I love this, the Original Score owns this drama. The song that really makes me shiver is actually "Was Justice Delivered" by No Hyung-woo but also "Story of the Victim" is a great instrumental. However, if you're not that much into instrumentals and classical instruments, there is a chance you might not like this at all. The atmosphere those pieces (as well as most of the others on the Original Score) deliver still makes me shiver.



So do we need to talk about my rating? It's a definite 10/10 and I'm not joking when I say this is one of the best crime series in Korea as well.

The atmosphere becomes darker and darker, some cases basically killed me inside (I think especially Ep. 5 or 6 did an awesome job living me behind as an emotional mess). The cases are great and filled with suspense so you won't end up bored. Some plottwists seemed individual and I didn't expect some things at all. And you know, this series is probably more realistic than others and not always comes up with a happy ending.
Looking at my notes, the only negative things I wrote down always ended with "But that's SO OCN! I hate them for doing this.." while I still love this channel more than any other. Okay, I still criticize that we only get a tiny little bit of background information about James. And OCN still leaves an option about Oh Dae-young as well. I would've loved more concrete facts but then again we'll probably get a second season and therefore there is a chance we get to know more then. Which leads to the point that I hate waiting for episodes. Especially, if two episodes are directly connected and you just want to know what's going to happen next. Which leads to the next point I more or less criticize - TOO MANY SPLIT CASES. I do understand that not every episode could have a duration of two hours but waiting for the second part drove me nuts (since I've been watching this drama while it was airing). Now all the episodes are up and the problem just disappeared, yay for those who were able to wait.
Just one thing I found to be rather acceptable - there are some English parts when it comes to FBI stories. Which are messed up. It sounds too clear and too simple. But then again it's not surprising - productions from other countries would probably mess up Korean worse so I'm willing to forgive them since it's not complete nonsense either and we can understand it.


Watch this if you like crime, suspense and thriller. It's worth it.

Oh, and the last GIF - that's almost the way I used to sit there after finishing this drama. Severe Post-Drama Depression.

Vampire Flower

뱀파이어의 꽃 (Vampire Flower) is a South Korean mini drama series that is/was available on Naver TVCast. It consists of 6 episodes with a duration of about 10 minutes per episode.

Story: Louis stumbles upon Kang Seo-young, a girl with the "golden scent". He needs her help to finds the 'Vampire Flower', a flower that has been stolen by humans around 150 years ago. He falls for Seo-young but deletes all her memories at some point to protect her from Ashel.

Cast: Most of the characters that appear regularly are played by members of idol group A-JAX. We have Seo Jae-hyung as Louis, Kim Hyeong-kon as Reika/ Rehka, Lee Seung-yub as Baekhan and Moon Hyo-jun as Akan. Now I wouldn't really criticize their acting but rather the story and the non-existent character development - how could characters develop anyways in such a short series. Kim Ga-eun accepted the role of Kang Seo-young. I've never heard about her but well, her acting seems to be fine. It's difficult to judge though.

Soundtrack: The OST is probably one of the things I really loved about this drama as a huge fan of A-JAX. The group recorded two songs, "뱀파이어의 꽃 (Vampire Flower)" and "Fate In (달빛주문)". Maybe I'm even happier about this because of DSP not promoting them properly but that made me really happy.


This mini series could've been better. If they would've made it a little longer. Or at least explained some things. 6.5/10 though because.. we all know for what reason I've watched this. The cast is lovely, and that's it. The story is somewhat close to the oh-so-lovely-vampires we've seen too often. It's not as bad as expected though and as long as DSP keeps on ignoring A-JAX, I see myself watching this over and over again.

And yes, Jae-hyung, I do. Many people do.

Vampire Prosecutor (Season 2)

Please note that this entry may involve fangirling, ranting and cursing about a TV channel. Don't mind me, it's just me freaking out because of frustration.

뱀파이어 검사 2
(Vampire Prosecutor) is a South Korean drama series that aired on OCN from September 9th to November 18th 2012.

Story: Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon is a vampire using his special abilities to solve crimes and catch the criminals. However, he stumbles upon another vampire in is series that becomes more commonly known as "L" who seems to enjoy playing games. Trying to safe his team consisting of Detective Hwang Soon-bum, Prosecutor Yoo Jung-in and Choi Dong-man, he solves some cases with them but has to deal with the final enemy on his own..

Cast: We see Yeon Jung-hoon again as Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon. His acting is just awesome, I seriously fell for his character but then again the end left me seriously frustrated (I won't say anything else about this). As Yoo Jung-in we see Lee Young-ah and I definitely prefer her in this season. It's just like her character isn't nagging as much as I remember from the first season so that might be the reason. Lee Won-jung appears as Hwang Soon-bum again and after this season I somehow find his character more and more interesting. Sure he doesn't seem to be an incredibly smart detective but then again, with his good instincts, he's an important member of the team. Choi Dong-man was played by Kim Joo-young again and I seriously came to like his character for lightening up the dark atmosphere in this series.
Lee Kyung-young is new in this series as Jo Jung-hyun. And this man.. I don't know what I should think about him. Weird but effective and him not being a part of the team anymore will be a huge loss? Not the most charming or lovable character but his love for Kim Ji-young as Lee Ji-ae is really touching. I think you'd need to watch the series to understand what's behind this but it's adorable how much he's caring for her.
Kwon Hyun-sang appears as "L". So, except for me wondering why there are so many characters named "L" in Asia (is this some nickname based on stereotypical features?), his madness is damn well acted. I loved to hate him. But he seriously had too much time making plans and observing his enemies.
Others in the main cast include Jung Hwan as Park Hoon, Park Jae-hoon as Ra Jae-wook, Yoshitaka Yuriko as Luna (and seeing a Japanese fortune-teller made this series a lot better in my opinion, I loved her character) and Kim Bo-young as Chief Prosecutor Joo Hyun-ah.

Soundtrack: The ending theme is "Danger" by MC Sniper. Now I'm not a huge fan of rap but I came to like the rock and crossover influence in this song. It's not used that much in the drama though and only appears at the end. As for the instrumentals, they worked well - supported the atmosphere. Watching the drama without sound would make most of the scenes less atmospheric.


My personal rating is a 9.5/10. There was one episode (I think it was Ep. 8, Rude Min Tae-yeon) that seriously got on my nerves. Yes, the last five minutes are important. The rest of the episode seems to be a complete joke. I'm not saying that a few scenes that make you smile or laugh are bad but this episode just didn't fit the overall atmosphere at all.
We get some more information on the characters though, and that is actually really well-played by OCN. Since I've heard that they're still talking about a 3rd season (as of January 2015 it might be aired in Summer/Fall 2016) they need to keep people interested. Same with the ending which seriously leaves me frustrated. If they would liked an open ending or a cliff hanger, I think about 2 minutes earlier (right after the explosion - I hope I'm not saying too much about this) would have been better in my honest opinion.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this to people into crime, mystery and some 'hinted-romance' stuff. While it bothers me that the hints become actually really strong in this season (I prefer my crime series without romance at all), others seem to like that a lot.
But if you want to watch a typical vampire-teenage-romance, this is definitely not the right drama for you.
One more thing I have to add: The fights were awesome. Just awesome. Loved it more than anything.

Genre confusion: Mystery

Finding a clear definition for this genre is kind of difficult. Usually the genre refers to stories of a person solving a crime without any personal gain and without any supernatural power involved.

I can only explain the way we use the term in Germany - and it actually would make sense if it'd be used in a similar way in other countries but maybe the meaning changed after we adopted the English word into German - but since I'm not sure about this I think I definitely should define this term on here.

The easiest way to describe mystery we use is more like a mix of horror and fantasy, that also works with elements of science fiction from time to time. A differentiation is the easiest if we look at how the series deals with the 'supernatural' phenomena. In the mystery genre, there's usually some kind of ambivalence between description and perception as well as an ambivalence between backgrounds and motives.
Compared to horror, the weirdness is rarely shown or in a different way. The human protagonists are more important, as well as the way they think about the happenings. That's why we usually see a rather subjective perception. That makes the genre seem closer to thriller than horror.

In Asian dramas, I usually use the genre because of 'mysterious' happenings - that works quite well for Secret Investigation Record but also for The Master's Sun. Especially in the latter one we find the subjective perception of the female lead character who's able to see ghosts. Choosing between mystery and simple fantasy is the most difficult in those cases but since the supernatural seems more threatening to the people (at least at first) I'd go with mystery.

I'm still sure it's difficult to define and everyone has to do this on their own since there are no clear lines between genres in general.

Death Note

So I bet nearly everyone knows this movie.. it was the first Japanese movie I've ever watched and really popular but I wanted to review it anyways~

デスノート (Death Note) is a Japanese movie based on a manga series. It was followed by two more movies, Death Note: The Last Name and L: Change The World. The first movie was released in 2006.

Story: A Shinigami, a God of Death, drops a Death Note in the human world where Light Yagami finds it. "The human whose name is written in this book shall die" it says. Light decides to try if it really works by using the names of released criminals - and finds out that it's true. He decides to create a new ideal world.
Meanwhile the police figures out a pattern since all the criminals die of a heart attack and there are no leads around. Detective "L" was placed in a police force to help solving the mysterious case, and he somehow gets closer to Light..

Cast: There's a bunch of people included in the cast. At first we have Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami (yes, I know that usually in Japan the last name comes first but I'll just leave it like this because I think it's easier for most people). And his opponent L is played by Kenichi Matsuyama. I have to admit that I still can't choose who I think is cooler. I have to admit that actually Light has some things that speak for him.
Then there's Asaka Seto as Naomi Misora. She also becomes an opponent of Light and she also figures out that he's kira. That becomes obvious when she brings Yu Kashii as Shiori Kashino, a girl who's pretty close to Light into the game.
Not that important in the first movie but still one of the most important characters in the whole series is Erika Toda as Misa Amane.
Of course there are many many more characters but it would take ages to list all of them on here and I think this should be enough for now.

So this movie got a 9/10 rating from me, it's probably one of my most watched movies and I seriously like it a lot. It's a great movie for fans of crime and fantasy stories as well as manga and anime fans and the duel between Light and L is awesome to watch.
Oh, and I love the Shinigami, Ryuuk. Shinigami and apples - if you know the movie/anime/manga, you'll get this. Ryuuk is such a great and funny part of this movie. And I don't think he's scary at all though he looks a little.. strange.