The Target

표적 (The Target) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2014. The movie directed by Director Chang has a runtime of 98 minutes and is a remake of the French movie Point Blank.

Story: Baek Yeo-hoon is followed by men in the beginning and gets into an accident. Ending up in a hospital, Lee Tae-joon becomes his doctor. Soon Lee's wife is kidnapped and he needs to get Baek Yeo-hoon out of the hospital to safe his pregnant wife. Through this crime Yeo-hoon and Tae-joon find themselves in the middle of police officers working for their own benefits.

Cast: Lee Jin-wook is in this movie (again~? I feel like I've been watching a lot of his works lately) as Lee Tae-joon. His performance in this movie was quite good though his character was the type of character I usually like, more like a too unrational person.
Ryu Seung-ryong was a more interesting character to me. While at first his intentions are pretty unclear, this is exactly what makes the character as interesting as it is. A sad family story in the background, he tries to protect his brother Sung-hoon who suffers from the Tourette syndrome played by Jin Goo. Yoo Jun-sang as Chief  Detective Song also did a good job in my opinion though I think it's natural to not really like his character. In general it was believable though.
And there's Jo Yeo-jeong as Tae-joon's wife Hee-joo, a psychiatrist, who really seems to live up to her role. I enjoyed seeing her in this movie a lot.

Soundtrack: Nothing was off, everything was where it had to be - that's literally all I can say about this. It's definitely a nice action soundtrack.


Please note that I did not watch the original movie. Therefore, I cannot compare this movie to the French original.
In general this movie was good, a 7,5/10 rating is still pretty nice regarding the fact that the story wasn't mind-blowing. It's a story that's quite common. The acting and soundtrack were good though and the story wasn't boring either so I will forget about some flaws.

Recommended to fans of action movies!

Hidden Identity

신분을 숨겨라 (Hidden Identity) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 16 episodes that aired on tvN from June 16th to August 4th 2015.

Story: The story follows Investigation Team Five, a special team that is said to be nonexistent even in police records. Since it is a secret unit that doesn't always obey the law in order to get what they need, they tend to be criticized for their methods. But only Investigation Team Five led by Jang Moo-won can deal with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations led by the Ghost. It is just natural that the members of the team get themselves into huge trouble as well as personal affairs while working.

Cast: Cha Gun-woo played by Kim Bum is a rather complicated character. I really liked the acting all the time, especially when the past became relevant to him again. While I'd say the acting was great (and I might be biased, I won't even deny it), some of his fight scenes were just funny. Someone who has been through military training and manages to deal with.. a group of people at one time can't even deal with one person later on? To me it seems like someone didn't think about this.
Park Sung-woong as team leader Jang Moo-won was a pretty cold character most of the time. The type of team leaser we often get presented, taking responsibility for everything but not getting too involved. The acting was good, including most of the action scenes but sometimes there was something missing about the character itself. I totally blame the writing for this though.
Jang Min-joo is one of the characters I don't really understand. She has a sense of loyalty and sometimes that seems to be the only reason why she accepts things the way they are. However, Yoon So-yi delivered a solid performance in the end. Yes, sometimes she seemed to accepting though she was opposed to the idea of Gun-woo joining the team (you will understand that later, not in the first episodes) but it's not that bad and her acting therefore wasn't too bad either.
Lee Won-jong as Choi Tae-pyung is someone who already has some experience acting in a crime series. His acting was good, his character a little weird but loyal and there's actually nothing I can complain about.
Kim Tae-hoon is in this series as Min Tae-in and while I wasn't sure about his character in the very beginning I came to like him and was hoping for something more. His character is probably the one suffering the most and I just felt sorry for him. His acting was good regarding the fact that he wasn't around all the time.
Lim Hyun-sung as Jin Deok-hoo was simply lovable, I was happy to see him around. The acting wasn't anything special but worked well with the story and the team.
Other actors in this series include Lee Kyung-young as Choi Dae-han, Choi Jung-woo as President Lee (I simply forgot the rest of his name), Kang Sung asYoo Jin-woo and Heo Jae-ho as Jung Sang-joon.

Soundtrack: I personally came to like the OST even though I wasn't impressed at first. The songs go well with the atmosphere of this drama and I especially liked Chul Gu's "신세계 (New World)" and Mad Soul Child's "It's Over". After all it's not one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard but pretty good.



My rating for this series is a 8/10 after all. There are some things I really enjoyed, a lot of things I just accepted and things I didn't like at all. So what is it I criticize the most?
1. The logic. Mostly it's about the fights. Usually the agents are quite good but all of a sudden they lose each and every single fight? Once again, if someone has been through military training the person usually is good at fighting but still loses against some gangsters? And, if you lose against someone while fighting three times, does it make sense to even fight one more time instead of simply using your gun? Because as far as I've seen they do have guns. The fact that it's a serious drama makes the logical flaws worse.
2. The story itself. This drama was said to be about undercover cops. And that's misleading in fact because only one of them has been undercover. The others usually just take roles for a few hours, maybe a few days, but I wouldn't define that as an undercover thing.
Some things were obvious, others were only added to make the story longer than it actually would have been. Was it really necessary to make Jang Min-joo's father a part of the story? The family background didn't help the whole story.

Those are the things that bothered me the most. I also noticed that it started off pretty fast and exciting, lost it's pace somewhere around Ep.9/10 and started to change again in Ep. 15. Episodes 13/14 were the weakest point in my opinion since the suspense is destroyed when one figures out who's involved with the Ghost.
What else can I say? Regarding the whole "undercover" description I've had high expectations and thought it would be somehow similar to Line Walker but it wasn't.
Do I recommend this? If you don't expect much you won't be disappointed and I openly admit that this drama has a rewatch value solely because of the music, the cast and some interesting things within this series itself.

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...

Bitter Blood

ビター・ブラッド (Bitter Blood, also known as Partners by Blood) is a Japanese drama series that aired from April 15th to June 24th on Fuji TV. It consists of 11 episodes with a duration of roughly 45 minutes.

Story: Natsuki Sahara is a rookie detective at Ginza Police department where he becomes the partner of his father Akimura Shimao. After his father abandoned the family, Natsuki started to dislike him. Akimura's eccentric personality doesn't make things better but he's trying hard to get closer to his son. And as much as both of them deny it: Like father, like son. Together they work on cases but don't know in what kind of a dangerous situation they are.

Cast: Okay, at first I need to tell you that sometimes, just sometimes, the acting is way too overdone. Yes, I know that. But we need to see that this drama doesn't take itself too serious, it's comedy so I honestly think it has to be done that way most of the time.
Takeru Satoh as Natsuki Sahara and Atsuro Watabe as Akimura Shimao are the two most important characters. The way they interact as a helpless father and a son who tries hard to really hate his father but can't be like that all the time seems to be real, they did great and really were in great sync.
The other team members appear all the time as well since the series focusses on the interaction between the members of the team and their unique characteristics. My favorite character was Koji Takano, called Taka most of the time, played by Keiji Kuroki of EXILE. Somehow a playboy, he's the charming cop among the team members but also has some funny sides. Shiori Kutsuna appears as Hitomi Maeda. She's pretty and well - a detective series without one female member around wouldn't be that much fun. As she tries to solve the case of her fathers murder, she happens to be in danger as well and has to deal with emotional conflicts at the end.
Every team needs a leader - this group of goofballs does need one more than anything else. The inspector and team leader Kensuke Kagiyama is played by Katsumi Takahashi. He's also the one who describes the whole team as a family, and he's not completely wrong with that.
Mitsuru Fukikoshi appears as Toshifumi Inagi, also called Chaser from time to time.
Tetsushi Tanaka can be seen as Bachelor Hisashi Koga, and Sarutoki Minagawa took the role of Skunk Kaoru Togashi.
And when it comes to a detective series, we need a villain, right? Mitsuhiro Oikawa appears as the.. slightly mad Takehisa Kaizuka. They could have found an actor who might be better for this role, yes. But after all he did a good job playing the weird psycho as well.

Soundtrack: As far as I know Japanese series usually have a theme song and not a full OST. In this case, it's Mayday's "Do You Ever Shine?" and this song is catchy! I liked it, it has this rock feeling around it.
What really surprised me was the use of the "Erlkönig" ballad written by Goethe. Sadly I'm not familiar with the musical versions but you can't imagine my facial expression when I noticed that it's German and I had to deal with this in my German classes in 12th grade (I think..). Since I was able to understand this, it actually scared me a little since the story is dark and atmospheric. It basically is about a father trying to save his son. I highly recommend reading a translation because it's no joke, this classical peace actually works well with the story!


So.. this was my first try to get through a Japanese series and it actually went well. My rating ended up to be a 9/10. The first few episodes weren't that good but the end made up for it. And please read the read writing in the last picture. There's hope!

Identical Criminals

동일범 (Identical Criminals) is a Korean drama special that aired on August 21st 2011 on KBS2.

Story: After a woman is murdered Choi Kyung-rok who was released from prison around two months ago is arrested as the prime suspect. But Detective Han Sang-won has doubt about the Choi's guilt since he was only involved in minor crimes before. On the other side Detective Han's partner Detective Kang Dae-woo wants to close the case as soon as possible. After checking his partner's file case Detective Han has more doubts about the case and starts to feel uneasy because of his partner's behavior. Detective Han then meets the senior officer Jung Jong-doo and they decide to work together and catch the real murderer.

Cast: Lee Ji-hoon acted as Detective Han Sang-won. I feel like sometimes his character was a little too naive and didn't really think. Definitely not a good detective but that's not something the actor did wrong but actually the writer. Lee Sung-min took the role of Detective Kang Dae-woo, Detective Han's partner. Lee Hee-joon as Jung Jong-doo decided to solve the case together with Detective Han. Sure there were a few more actors involved but those are the most important ones. Their acting skills are good, yes. But I somehow feel like something was missing, just a spark, that might be because of the lack of logical thinking from time to time (which isn't their fault but the writer's).

After all it's not that much of a usual police crime drama, I liked it but it's definitely not one of the best dramas I've seen, maybe it was too fast from time to time as well. It's a drama special, sure they didn't have time but turning this into a four-episode-series wouldn't have hurt anyone. So my rating turned out like 7/10 which definitely is a good rating but still not one of the best. (I think you've noticed by now that I rarely give ratings lower than 6 and I think 4 was the worst rating).