BTS(방탄소년단) - MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA Album Thoughts(Kpop)

   The Bullet Proof Boy Scouts released their newest album about a month ago. American media has seen them preform on every show possible that a musical artist could sing on. Many people have fallen in love with the boys, not that they lacked any people loving them considering their large fanbase before stepping foot in America. MAP THE SOUL PERSON was highly anticipated by fans to the point that Wal-mart and Target released the album a week early in America and gave zero fucks, as could be seen by how they had no reaction to ARMIES dragging the two stores all over Twitter. I will admit that I was one of the people who bought the album before the initial release day but it was because I really had no idea. Also, I didn't get around to opening the album until much latter after the release.(I'm like this. I let the kpop CDs I do buy sit around unopened.) I wasn't going to make a post about BTS's new album because the album has been talked about by so many people already. Then I though that I would wait and add my two cents anyway.

TrackList:

• Intro: Persona

• 작은 것들을 위한 시 (Boy With Luv) feat. Halsey 

• 소우주 (Mikrokosmos) 

• Make It Right

• HOME

• Jamais Vu

• Dionysus 

   PERSONA was an album that I had no good feelings for. Mostly because of the sole fact that Boy With Luv didn't impress me at all when the music video dropped. It was just a cute overproduced pop song that would be eaten up by the masses around the world. I still feel this way even after allowing the song to grow on me. Now, I can sing along to Boy With Luv since the track has been performed so many times on television. Some of the mechanics of the track's instrumental resonate with the listeners when you really get into the gig of things. For example the movement of the dance pop beat in the intro of the song before it turns light and fluffy while still give the same bump up beat during the chorus dance breaks. RM returns the group to their debut musical roots in the album's intro where he is the sole star as he eats up the track ferociously. The whole album is similar to a scale that has BTS moving back and forth on it trying to produce something for everyone who has listened to their music over the years but might not have enjoyed all their musical choices in the past. There's a bit of J-Pop BTS( Mikrokosmos), old school BTS(Home), American inspired BTS(Make It Right), and experimental BTS(Dionysus). If none of these styles are for you then, you probably didn't enjoy PERSONA too much. I enjoyed this album a bit more than I though I would. At first, I though this would be like their last album that had a bunch of skippable songs and a couple of good songs, however BTS surprised me by giving me a solid album. Dionysus was also an alright track to me. Many fans hate this track to bits, even going online to tell people their dismay of not liking this track…. or just not liking the album in general. Hearing the boys they their hand at rock was a fun listen. Plus the song is still very catchy…. A little clumped up in places musically but catchy none the less. I'm under the impression that I enjoy BTS's music more when they make mini albums instead of full length albums. Mini albums give less room for bad songs in my opinion.

  "BTS is such a hard working group." As said by their fans whenever someone has something to say about them. My thoughts are always, So are all the other idol groups in South Korea. They all work hard to be successful. BTS isn't the only group to do this and they won't be the last. I say this to say that BTS is very talented at what they do. Do I think they are the most talented Kpop idol boyband in the world? Nope. Not by a long shot. Vocal wise BTS is actually one of the weakest idol boybands to come out of the Kpop realm. They do what they can and make it work well for them. Let's not pretend that we all can't name a ton of other groups that could out sing BTS in their sleep though. This was also the reason why I stated that I liked BTS creating albums with less tracks because vocally BTS can only do so much before their album starts to run out of that special spark. None of them have powerhouse vocals to speak of… Still I give them their tens for creating music that garnered them a huge following around the world. One the flip side, BTS is a BEAST at their rap game. RM is the best thing that could have every happened to this group. He is the mastermind behind the glue to holds the boys together, on top of being their translator….[INSERT ME LAUGHING..] J-hope brings the fire too in performance and in his smiley fun personality.

   I'm always going to support BTS as a listener who was there when they released their first song. I can't wait to see how the boys improve over time. Check out MAP THE SOUL PERSONA even if Boy With Luv wasn't your cup of tea.

Rush to the Dead Summer(夏至未至) Chinese Drama Thoughts(2017)

   Rush to the Dead Summer is a worthy six episode drama that premiered in China during the summer of 2017. The cast for the show is pretty big so I'll just list the three main actors and actress that are for most in the series who are, Zheng Shuang, Chen Xuedong, and Bai Jingting. The drama's screenplay was based n a novel of the same name written by Guo Jingming. Producers of the show decided not to overdub the cast's voices for the drama, having only their real voices that were recorded on set. You might not know but, Chinese dramas tend to overdub the cast's voices depending on which dialect of Chinese the viewers speak.

   A groups of high students who met in junior high have a friendship that spans ten years. Each season leading to summer is similar to a stage in their lives. As each person goes out into the world, they learn that they are always tied to each other and that living life is never easy. Plus one friend has always secretly been a snake in the grass who caused a bunch of problems since their high school days.





   Rush to the Dead Summer was given a lot of leg room to expand it's storyline. It does do a very good job placing building blocks of development on the characters. You will go from not knowing anything about these people to feeling a connection to their hearts. Almost to the point that you can guess how a character will react to what before they see it coming. I do think that because this drama is so character focused, that the plot suffers quite a bit. One think that can be a problem in pacing. Yes, this drama is about the stages of life but forty six episodes is a ton of story to tell. Some of the episodes can clearly be labeled as stalling for time. For example, a whole episode about a character's family situation which only added another layer of emotional depth to the character but did absolutely nothing for the storyline. Or inserting too many couples into the story where things feel like a fight for screen time between them instead of an easy flow from one event to the next. Rush to the Death Summer get's so stuck in it's ways that you kinda just roll with the punches. Well, I know I did. There's a charm about the show that keeps you coming back for more though. For me, seeing if each character would reach their dream and what struggles would try to pull them down. Sadly, the plot development screwed up my thirst to see one character become a singer. Then her story was kind of pushed into being only about love. Mind you, I loved the couple she was in but it frustrated me how someone could give up on being a singer just because they didn't win a singing competition. What the script does get right was the shock value that come up one after the other. Most of what you will see does make you want check yourself into a mental hospital for bipolar disorder however, these happening are also very true to real life. None knows whats waiting for them right around the corner in life. We can only prepare the best that we can to keep moving forward. Rush to the Dead Summer still ended up feeling somewhat rushed toward the end to me. You will find that the drama still jumps around in time a lot even with all the time given for the drama to be a master at managing it's time. The episodes aren't long and I think the creator got a little to relaxed with all the extra content that wasn't needed. I personally would have cut out a couple of episodes that stalled the story. Overall, Rush to the Dead Summer has some very good dramatic moments that make the show. Then there's a very good portrayal of friendship that will make you feel all ten years of the emotion they have for each other.

   I though that the whole cast did a number on their roles. I'm not familiar with any of these people. Still, they are a good looking cast who play on the heartstrings of viewers truthfully. Even the costars did so well in their character's that sometimes I didn't mind the detours into the side stories. Different characters get introduced after a time which made the drama more exciting but, I would have done things a little differently when is comes to some characters. Other than that, Everything about these  performances were solid.

   Scenes are surprisingly shot in the same fashion as a Korean drama. People who have an eye for cinematography will see the similarities right away. I did however, enjoy a look around China's environment dealing with the rich, middle class, and the poor. The living conditions look different depending on the character's financial background. Shots of the city from the sky fast forwarded to a single time's movement was a nice touch too.

    Rush to the Dead Summer is an alright drama IF( this is a big if…) you have the time to spare. I wouldn't watch this drama if you don't have the time to watch something that's super long. It's a good drama for people who have a real perspective on life and love.

Mirai(未来のミライ) Japanese Anime Film Thoughts

   Mirai is the seventh film created by Mamoru Hosoda(Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast) who's films are very well known by anime fans worldwide. Mirai also gained attention when word first broke about the film's release. The film debuted at number two in Japan selling a million less than The Boy and the Beast then fell to third place the next week but still came out strong selling over four million tickets in Japan. America welcomed the film with open arms as it became the first non Studio Ghibli film to receive an Academy Award nomination. The english voiceover featured voices of asian american stars Daniel Dae Kim and John Cho.

   A little boy gets a new baby sister who he is excited to accept as first, that is until he realizes that this girl takes all the attention away from him making him become extremely jealous of the baby. He then tries to do everything in his power to make his parent's lives a living hell through his daily tantrums. One day he flips out and runs outside into the house's front garden where he meets a high school girl with the same birth mark as his baby sister……



   Mirai is Hosoda's weakest film according to a lot of people who weren't looking for a story about a child with a bad attitude. I was coming from watching A Silent Voice, so you can imagine my surprise when I was hit with the dynamics of this film. Mira's charm is more in the details than trying to be extra flashy on the surface. Viewers might go through times where they want to quit this film all together because of the annoying main character but you have to hang in there. A lot of the elements that were in Hosoda's other films are in Mirai, such as the importance of family which plays a HUGE role in most of his films. Plus the elements of fantasy that makes frequent appearances. Hosoba seems to like giving human appearances and traits to animals leading viewers to think back to the past film Wolf Children. The problem is that for some, Mirai takes a bit to long to get to the point. Causing you to want to quit the film after watching for an half an hour or so. My interest peaked when the idea of mystery makes an entrance in the story surrounding the main character's dream like sequences. The answers lead to good results as you can feel the character growth on top of a new found love for family. A little comedy comes out here and there along the journey. Whether you choose to laugh at the jokes or not. I laughed more at the cuteness than the attempts at humor. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

   Mirai's main little guy makes you wonder why parents stop beating their children. I'm not talking about abusing your kid. I mean hitting them good enough on the butt so that they know that having a nasty attitude will not be tolerated. This kid's tantrums make you want to throw something against a wall, break something, …. Hell! Even throw yourself of a bridge. His baby sister is the cutest thing that every happened to the film and little guy ruins that. I do support the reformation of his character by the end of the film. It was sad that it took all those experiences for him to act right. A whopping would have been faster.

   Hosoda still knows his way around a pen. Mirai doesn't lack in visuals even though I felt that this film had  much less fantasy than The Boy and the Beast. I loved how he used simple things in nature like the fish in a tank or the leaves of the trees to showcase mystical events. The scenes in the sky and at the dark train station pop in digital design and color for a visual masterpiece.

  Mirai has pacing issues mixed in with an awful brat of a character but that might be the inside charm of this film. You aren't suppose to like the kid, making the ending all the more of a weight lifted off viewer's shoulders. Probably his little shoulders as well.

Monsters(괴물들) Korean Film Thoughts

  Wretches was the english title given to this film directed and written by Kim Beak Joon shedding light on some of the bullying Korean students suffer in high school. The translated title is monsters but that might have been too common a name to use so I understand. Lee Won Geun, Lee Yi Kyung, and Park Guy Young star in the Korean film.




   In class where bullying and power reign supreme, the class target is forced to transfer schools after an incident leaving the boy's best friend to be the next one bullied. He is forced to be the servant of another student because of his connections gang life and his feat tactics. Soon enough is enough as all hell breaks loose.

   Monsters AKA Wretches wasn't as brutal as all the reviews and hearsay led me to believe. Watching the film unfold has a lot of evil moments done by the bullies to the victim but Wretches never quite reaches that chilling dark place of other films I've seen. I felt for the characters emotional thanks to their performances of right and wrong blurred into a momentum of uncertainty. What's crazier is how Korea chooses to forget that there's other very morbid Korean films about bullying far worse than Wretches. Still denouncing to this fact, Korea treated this film like it was exposing a dirty secret to their youth, like these kids don't already experience this everyday under adult supervision. I don't think Wretches deserved the 18+ rating it received. Sure, the film has a lot of violent tendencies however, most of what is shown turns out to be very PG13 in my eyes. Lee Song Hee's Night Flight jumped in the mud to show viewers a raw portrayal of bullying when the film wasn't specifically about bullying. It was only a side conflict to the plot.  Wretches promotes it's self to be a bullying tell all and has a great opening that can't escape falling into a normal revenge story. This here was very disappointing to me. Yes, the plot tries to flex brute strength on viewers by showing you scenes full of  victim terror until you realize that you see more of the actor's reaction verse the acts which would have drove the emotion of bullying home for me had it actually had been shown. Plus the way in which the female lead was handled was very strange. Who knows why there was a look alike for the character? I still don't know. Maybe I need to re-watch the film again. Wretches was good for what was given, just not a raw nail to hammer story like some of the other true to heart Korean bully films out there. If you are not use to bully films from Korean, then this might be shocking to you but not to me in the slightest.

  I loved Lee Yi Kyung as the bully. He honestly steals the show in the whole film. I hated him with all my might then hated him some more. His moments of weakness were very enjoyable only because he's such any evil character. I don't even think he was that intimidating…. It was the people he messed with that were intimidating. Without all the threatening and violence, he's pretty harmless. Of course, behind every bully is a strong reason for why they do what the do. Lee portrays all these facets of his character well.

   I would recommend Wretches as a revenge drama that just so happens to have bullying as a side conflict. The plot is more about a grab for power. You learn what people will do to get control even in hight school.

Show Lou(罗志祥) - No Idea Album Thoughts(Mandopop)

Tracklist： 1.帥一個 2.不逃 3.Birthday 4.羅志祥 5.No Love 6.你不在 7.U&I 8.NO JOKE 9.我的世代 10.Nobody Can…

   Show Lou is a multitalented singer who does pretty much any  entertainment occupation you can think of. He's acted, hosted on television, modeled, and created his own clothing line. The man was hugely popular back a few years ago. Most people who didn't like Cpop(Mandopop) and leaned toward Kpop still knew of Show Lou's music along with Jay Chou. I'm not sure how popular he is now but I had memories of my youth when I saw he was releasing a new album. After listening to No Idea, I didn't have the energy to write my thoughts in a post right away though…. Here is the reason why. 

   No Idea was the perfect title for mister Lou's new effort. Mostly because neither he or his fans have any idea what this album was suppose to be. I couldn't give you a clear theme for this album if someone was drowning me in a river in Taiwan. All of the rest of his album had a well planned out theme followed by an album that fit that them. No Idea is a signal to me that Lou is out of ideas now that he has been in the game for so long.  The whole album honestly was tiring more than anything. His musical direction feels desperate to stay relevant in a new generation of listeners who might not even know who Show Lou is. Why do singers think that coming out the  golden gate rapping on a pop beat while adding in some autotune makes you sound updated to the current times? Especially when you know you came from a time where you had to dance on the beat and sing well to get people's attention in Taiwan. About two of the track weren't bad out of the whole album which is awful compared to Show Lou standard of past album masterpieces. I just can't get over how underwhelming No Idea was because of the production. Each track was thrown together where Lou's vocals don't seem passionate nor does the track's quality give off the atmosphere of a legend. Having a Show Lou that was a copy of his last album would have been better than this era. At least I would have gotten more than two catchy tracks out of the release. Please fire all of the producers that you worked with on this album and flight to Hong Kong to meet Wang Lee Hom for the next album. Wang seems to know how still stay on top of his music's evolution even as the time changes. Jay Chou had the same problem as Lou however, he learned from his mistake, releasing better music later on. It's time to set fire to the whole No Idea era, Concept look and all. G-O-O-D B-Y-E! 

   No Idea was his worse album vocally too. I got a huge headache each time I tried to return to listen to the compilation of songs. Then I would have to stop, only to come back later no wanting to listen till the end. This happened a couple of times over two weeks until I finally forced myself to gulp down No Idea in one go. Let me tell you, it was not a good experience. I've never pressed skip so much while listening to a Show Lou album in my life. What happened to the spunk that was always in Lou's albums? I guess we will never know. 

  I don't recommend this album to Show Lou's fans much less new listeners. In fact, stay clear of this album altogether. Check out his older albums since there's a lot to choose from.

A Silent Voice(映画 聲の形) Japanese Anime Film Thoughts(2017)

   A Silent Voice was originally a manga created by Yoshitoki Oima that sold over seven hundred thousand copies in Japan and over a million worldwide. Naoko Yamada(Liz and the Blue Bird) animated the film adaption while Reiko Yoshida rewrote the script for the silver screen. The film went up against Makoto Shinkai's Your Name, coming in second behind the film but still becaming the tenth highest grossing Japanese film in 2016 with Death Note: Light up the New World making the same spot. Many people have constantly praised the manga and this film for the depth of story telling, subject matter, as well as, animation which was produced by Kyoto Animation.

   A elementary school kid's class gets a new student who they find out on introduction that she's deaf. The kid starts to bully her because of her deafness. Before long everyone in the class follows in bullying the girl, who would only smile in response to their assault. Soon the girl transverses schools and the school staff get wind of the bullying that even on. The kid who started h bullying soon becomes the target of bullying for most of his time in school. His crime also follows him to high school where he suffer from mental problems based on the guilt he has. That's until he meets the girl that he bullied again……


   This film has a harsh subject matter about the bullying of the disabled and can be hard to watch for anyone who has a kind heart. However, I do believe that this kind of story needed to be told because thus kind of bullying happens to people without the bullying every being reported. The first half of the film tells the beginning of the girl coming to the school and the gradual decline of patience the class had with the girl after awhile. Her bullying didn't make any kind of sense. I understand that having to make adjustments for a classmate with disabilities is hard but only thing the school had to do was get her an aid to help her take notes. Learning some sign language shouldn't have been mandatory for all of the students, only the ones who wanted to do it. The way in which the school dealt with the girl's disability cause her bullying to take place too. Not saying that the classmates get to have any excuses. You also have to look at the circumstances that didn't make for a smooth transition for the girl's stay at that school. The boy that bullied her suffered as much as the female lead in the end. He didn't get any kind of break for what he did. Instead his crime followed him where ever he went crafting an unstable mental state. His world became one where he couldn't look people in the eye or stand living life period. I didn't think this film would deal with so many issues outside of bullying. Topics such as suicide and courage to face the pain of life play a huge part in this film. The second part of the film conveys the people who were in the elementary school together as they have moved on to high school in the process of growing up. Each person deals with what they have done in different ways which makes the overall film very emotionally draining in a great way. There's a weight that weights down on the viewers as they watch the film unfold. Only to truly be lifted at the end of the film. Everything about A Silent Voice is the beauty in sadness.

   The animation comprises of a youthful look even when the characters enter high school. Appearances also feature a wonderful depth in Emotion. For example, the Xs over peoples eyes when the main male lead looks at the world after he's deemed a monster for bullying a deaf girl. Or the black screen that shows a pale white light like a tunnel the signifies a break through in connection for the character. I believe the animation does an amazing job showing the changes in the characters, especially the male lead. A Silent Voice gets to a point where the story isn't about a deaf person anymore. She becomes the foreshadow of the hurt that both character's share, making their romance all the more complexed.

   For a person who's didn't make it through the whole manga of A Silent Voice, I was greatly impressed by this film. It really does have everything to make you feel something. You also get a look through the eyes of people with wounds no matter if the can hear or not. Those wounds are the same on us all.

Queen(スキャンダル専門弁護士) Japanese Drama Thoughts

   Queen originally was broadcasted on Thursdays in Japan and was written by Yasuko Kuramitsu while being directed by three different directors, all of whom directed one or two dramas before this one. The cast is made up of actors and actresses that have become pretty well know over the years in Japan such as Yuko Takeuchi(Innocent Days, Strawberry Night), Asami Mizukama, Yuki Saito, and Taishi Nakagawa. Queen aired for ten episodes with a viewership rating of over six percent.

    A group of lawyers work at a firm that deals with legal action against scandals involving their clients. This group of lawyers are no ordinary bunch as they use scandalous tricks of their own to bring the truth to light. There's never a boring outcome to a case when these lawyers are involved.



  The actually cases in each episode of Queen are not too interesting to say the least. I found maybe two of three cases that caught my interests but most of the time these cases are just an excuse to watch the main characters flip out into moods of wackiness before getting the job done. Don't miss understand, the cases are were well written out enough to have a strong force to push the plot along, just not always in an attention grabbing way. You see the usual problems that occur in entertainment a lot needing a solution. What's fun about Queen is the method the lawyers use to solve the problems in the cases. Most of the time the solutions the lawyers or lead lawyer comes up with are so unorthodox you can only sit and watch the cray cray unfold. Sometimes you don't even know what the strategy is until the end of the episode where all is revealed. I wouldn't have continued watching Queen had it not been for the strange yet funny acting characters and the illegal acts that would shock any real lawyer into reporting the hell out of every single lawyer in that firm. Queen's soundtrack gets a ten out of ten in my book too. The opening theme song is sung by newcomer female vocalist Milet. Then veteran singer YUKI sings the ending theme just as she has done for so many anime series and dramas in the past. Both tracks fit Queen's theme perfectly. You'll be sing along to both songs by the time you finish up the drama.

  The characters have a good rhythm with each other. I could watch a sitcom starring the cast of Queen because of how fun they are together. It's hard not to get invested in the character's off the wall antics . Each person acts so far outside of the normal social rules of Japan that I had to take everything they did in. Their acting carried the drama since everyone had such a good chemistry that you care more about the character's relationship than you do about the cases. Taishi proved that he was cast for far more than just eye candy as the youngest lawyer. His character tried so hard to prove his worth but became the punching bag for the female group of lawyers most of the time. He's got jokes/clap backs/shade on top of his pure disposition. Yuko shined bright as the queen of scandals. She lives up to the title while being such an interesting character that fuels most of the drama, no matter if it's good or bad.. Asami's character was second in command meaning that she was always a step behind Yuko's character no matter where she went without being in her shadow. Yuiki Saito's performance added more comedic layers on to the office conversation they would have before being interrupted by work. I would die laughing whenever the lawyers would state that the office was closed so they didn't have to take on any hard cases. Never enough vacation time, right?

  Queen's geared more toward mature J-drama viewers. I don't mean a sexual kind of mature either. Instead, viewers that can appreciate a drama that talks about social issues that don't deal with unrealistic love between a good looking guy and a normal girl all the time.