“Banks Used To Be Places For Number Crunching With This Dry And Boring Image In My Mind. After Playing
“Banks used to be places for number crunching with this dry and boring image in my mind. After playing the role of the banker Hanzawa Naoki, I realized that they are really about interpersonal stories. In the sense that one can handle financial transactions in the hope of helping people, banking is a job that ...” [Read more at The A-Philosopher’s Chair: https://aphilosopherchair.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/simoleon-physiology/]
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(via Simoleon Physiology)
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Every time a grisly murder ordered by his father, King Taejong, takes place, King Sejong despondently buries himself in magic squares—n x n matrices in which each number from 1 to n2 appears just once and the sum of numbers in each row, column and main diagonal (a value known as “magic constant“) is identical. But the troubling news would not leave him alone in this introductory portion of Tree…
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Omniposition—An ice dessert café inspired by Silent
Would Tsumugi say this? Bard is a mischievous ball that grows more and more humongous as you spellbindingly roll it along the contours of your mental snowscape. The latest offspring is Omniposition, an expression of the vision that kindred spirits will be able to see beyond all the clouds of differences in our daily lives and sense one another when so desired from anywhere. Spoilers ahead.
Food Menu
Tsumugi's Dreams: This is a milk confection made with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and peach sauce and topped with raspberries and a small music note. Found in numerous desserts, milk is primed for association with dreams as it contains the sleep-promoting molecules tryptophan and melatonin. This particular confection represents Tsumugi Aoba's dreams of a career in the music industry and of a life with Sō Sakura. The music note represents the collective wish for her dreams to come true.
Sō's Chocolate Cherry Sundae: This sundae is made with chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and cherries, including a cherry on top. Chocolate is often associated with love and passion and has a rich and complex flavor, which can be seen as a metaphor for the beauty and complexity of music. In the drama, Tsumugi and Sō share a love of music, often listening to music together. The chocolate ice cream represents their love of music, and the whipped cream and chocolate sauce represent the sweetness of their relationship. The cherry on top represents the hope that they will one day be reunited.
Tsumugi's Strawberry Shortcake: This shortcake is made with strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. It is a light and refreshing dessert that represents the beauty of the world around her.
Mint Ice Cream Float: The mint represents their hope for a fresh start.The mint ice cream is topped with club soda and a splash of chocolate syrup that symbolizes their sometimes awkward, sometimes sweet bonding over music after their reunion.
Snowy White Chocolate Mousse: This mousse is made with white chocolate, heavy cream, and egg yolks. It is light and fluffy, and it has a subtle sweetness that is perfect for a winter day. "It's quiet when snow falls." "It's noisy. You're noisy."
Snowy Berry Sorbet: This sorbet is made with fresh berries, sugar, and water. It is refreshing and tart. This is the sweet, hopeful Tsumugi on the first day of snow one winter.
Sun Marshmallows: This bowl of dessert is made with vanilla, milk and oranges. It is topped with a sun-shaped cookie, which is made with yellow sugar and sprinkles, and edible gold dust. Back in his college days, Tsumugi's sign language instructor glumly took on transcription volunteer work for the sake of his CV, only to melt at the sight of Sō's deaf friend's sun-like smile. It's a sad story if our aged selves will not remember that forever changed his life.
Drink Menu
Eternal Morning Smoothie: This smoothie is made with vanilla, yogurt and frozen apricots and bananas. J-rock band Spitz is heavily featured in the series. The colors of the smoothie represent the colors of Spitz's logo, and the whipped cream represents the band's music.
The Silent Gesture: This is a glass of transparent yet berry-flavored beverage served with a straw bent in the shape of a heart.
The Unspoken Agreement: This is a frozen drink made with ice, water, and the ordering customers' favorite fruit. It is served with a straw decorated with a small piece of paper with a message of reminder written on it. This frozen drink represents the unspoken agreement of friendship, the promise that we will be there for each other no matter what.
Design & Services
Blue silk and Japanese primrose welcome sign: Tsumugi is a type of silk fabric, while Sakura Sō (the order of the name in Japanese) means Japanese primrose, which in turn can stand for youth dreams and first love.
Sign language and translation software: Naturally, this is an inclusive café. But more than that, it does not content itself with starkly contrasting double standards for staff treatment and customer treatment. To facilitate smooth interactions with colleagues and customers who are deaf or hard of hearing, all staff members will be signed up for a comprehensive sequence of sign language courses and equipped with a speech-to-text translation app. The values and café reputation circulated as a result of staff turnover probably inevitable in most F&B outlets are likely to last longer than the most pleasant taste memory anywhere in the world.
Spitz music that is soft and instrumental: Yes, it exists. This will echo the couple's bonding over the J-rock band while creating a relaxing atmosphere that will not be too distracting for customers who are trying to talk. Lights in the translucent stems of the baby's breath decorations below will pulsate in natural shades of colors according to the music rhythms.
Shush! room: This would be a great place for customers who want to enjoy their ice cream in peace, as long as kid-reproached adults like Nana and Sō don't burst into complacent laughter over their signed conversations again. It would also be a great place for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing to feel comfortable by naturally blending in, if they need this type of quiet break from stares.
Knitted pastel and white furniture and rugs that are comfortable and inviting: These will make customers feel at home. Tsumugi's brother is into sewing.
Baby's breath decorations: Towards the end of the story, the five main characters gift and re-gift one another baby's breath flowers. Not all of them end up with who they want to end up with, but they can choose to turn their various corners of a romantic polygon into pulsating components of a life-giving, uplifting network.
Moon-shaped lamps which lighting is soft and calming: The lighting in the café should be soft and calming. This will create a relaxing atmosphere. The couple walk and share jokes viewers are not privy to under the Moon in the last scene.
https://href.li/?https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2261850/full/
↑『silent』最終話でかすみ草“花言葉”が話題に ヒゲダン「Subtitle」とセリフがリンク (Article on link between lyrics and baby's breath scenes)
Top image generated through WOMBO
How it started 90% of the time: YASSS! Master Soapy T-Rex has only three lines to say about this impossible drama concept. Time guilt suppressed.
How it always ended:
H Universe Awards 2024
Potential Lifesaver Award
Baby Reindeer [United Kingdom]
Care is not an invitation for possession. Self-hatred may get in the way of justice.
Most Meaningful Character
Squid Game Season 2's Player 120 Cho Hyun-ju [South Korea]
Discriminated people are more than their discriminated statuses and traits. Femininity does not lessen a person's capacity for toughness or leadership. We often don't fall neatly into one box or another conceived by society. So. Stop. Treating People. As. Little. Categorization. Games.
Hyun-ju cannot be mentioned without mention of the silver-haired mother, player 149 Jang Geum-ja. The ignorant elderly woman frowns upon gender transition yet she tenderly looks after the much taller and well-built Hyun-ju more than many trendy young people around you and I care about marginalized individuals in their midst.
Most Thought-Provoking Series
Hellbound / Hell Season 2 [South Korea]
Human hubris manifests not in defying divine forces, but in knowing that which you do not truly know.
Best Ending
Self-love-themed finale of Eternal Night Star River / Eye-Rolling Official English Title [Mainland China]
You're capable of tapping your full strengths to give important people in your life your all only if you are comfortable in your own skin. The other side of the coin, though, is Murder Mindfully. Ziqi's problem is not that he is a demon in the conventional sense of the term, but that the him beneath it all wrongly identifies as one.
Geekiest Series
Avatar: The Last Airbender [United States]
Diverse cultural elements and martial arts galore.
Best Aesthetics
Blossoms Shanghai / Luxuriant Blossoms [Mainland China and Hong Kong in relation to the cinematography]
Wong Kar-wai did not compromise for the small screen. The question is whether any scene is overdone. It's also a pity he could not get the color grading perfected in time for the CCTV broadcast. A "director color-graded version" with richer colors in at least various scenes was later released.
Best Music
What Comes After Love [South Korea and Japan in relation to the soundtrack]
What comes after that? Fragrance notes-like music that takes you places, of course.
Notes
There is plenty of online discussion revolving around acting, directing and writing, so awards in those areas are unnecessary. The acceptability of acting, moreover, is perhaps particularly vulnerable to cultural differences. Also subjective is the weights and combinations of factors that should go into the assignment of any Best Drama award. On a gut level, the drama that worked best for H this year is China's beautifully-shot sci-fi adventure series Tibetan Sea Flower / Adventure Behind The Bronze Door, but why should it be important to anyone reading this? Is it as thematically meaningful as various dramas above? Is its adrenaline-pumping, breathtaking directing and writing close enough to flawless, given its repetition of a certain trick and choosing to tell instead of show when unveiling the secrets to certain mysteries? How important is it for everyone to accept like H does that some choices can be justified by its place in a larger network of stories (the Lost Tomb franchise) apt for Easter egg hunts and jigsaw puzzle games? A more level-headed personal pick in any event would be any drama conferred the honor of Potential Lifesaver Award.
Beware of sampling errors that may contribute to the appraisal of shortlisted dramas. This unspecified shortlist, in turn, is subject to marketing prowess and social media reach.
– if no one has ever told you, (via pinterest)
The NI Series (1): Noble Idiocy Is Neither Noble Nor Idiotic
Admin’s Message: Hello Tumblr followers, thank you for reading The Asian Drama Philosopher (A-Philosopher)’s Chair all this while! As a special treat for everyone, the Chair is inviting bloggers from different backgrounds to share their views on the relationship between culture and drama writing. First up is well-known K-drama commentator samsooki, who is of Korean heritage. Enjoy his breezy writing and express your support for him.
written by samsooki
Well, you know it was coming. It is episode 12 or 13 of your favorite k-drama romcom, after all. The other kdrama shoe known as “noble idiocy,” must drop.
The Setup. It has taken a dozen heart-tugging episodes, and a half of a lifetime from the time they attended the same elementary school, but the protagonists (let’s pick names – Bob and Mary) have defeated both (a) the evil scheming uncle who wants to take over the chaebol board of directors, and (b) the crazy ex-boyfriend/girlfriend who won’t take no for an answer. After weeks of Wed-Thurs cliffhangers, Bob and Mary have finally become the OTP (One True Pairing) that we always hoped would happen! Ooooh, but what twist hath fate wrought upon our starstruck couple! The protagonists suddenly find themselves in a quandary – an unexpected and inexorable something (probably a dormant cancer, orphanage secret, and/or a chaebol proxy fight) is standing in the way of their happiness ever after! What, if anything, can be done?
The Western Solution. From a Western structural standpoint, the path toward Bob’s and Mary’s resolution includes: (1) forthright communication, (2) working together to assuage each other’s fears, (3) gaining mutual strength for the Final Showdown, and (4) ending the cycle of individual misdirection by forgiveness and trust. Seems pretty self-explanatory, doesn’t it? All they have to do is work together!
The K-Drama Response. Noooo, we must be far more complicated. Bob and Mary must be cliven asunder by a unilateral and preemptive decision made by one of them as a dramatic score plays in the background, followed by heartbreaking preview scenes of “why isn’t he/she answering my texts” angst. The first of Bob and Mary to blink away his or her single, pretty tear must leave Korea, forever, or at least a very long time. Further, there must not be any further communication of any kind for at least a year, perhaps three. Finally, each must suffer and cry alone while reminiscing through montage clips, wondering if fate will be kinder in future lifetimes. And in the end, what appeared to be a noble effort to cause less pain, has now caused more, idiotically. Let the sardonic eye-rolls, the knowing sighs of disbelief and cynical anti-tropist over-reaction commence. Yes indeed, it is the kdrama trope of noble idiocy.
Surely, the kdrama’s PD (the production director) and the writers can do better? But maybe, what we believe to be a crutch for unoriginal writing isn’t what we think it is at all. Perhaps the writers are merely introducing and then reinforcing an Asian principle that Koreans have long since internalized.
What is going on here?
a. Western Perspective – Y’all Are Noble Idiots. The Western view, of course, is based on perspectives heavily influenced by individualism and discrete ethics. In the Western view, each person is responsible for his or her actions and no more. The Westerner would look at Bob’s silly actions and argue that, even if Bob initially believed that his own happiness would be greater if Mary is not burdened by Bob’s problems, how can Bob leaving the country without a word to Mary be the proper method for achieving such happiness? And if Bob were acting in such a way for Mary’s happiness, surely Bob would not believe that he would be making Mary happier if he left her in a frozen state of uncertainty for years, perhaps forever? Pure madness and counter-productive!
b. Korean Perspective – You Don’t Understand Our Worldview. Surely, then, Koreans with their 5,000 year history, would know better by now! Hmm, perhaps they do, though? By way of background - the Korean worldview is framed by a Confucian philosophy integrally woven into every part of Korean society. On whatever level, the general principle is the same – a person’s highest duty is to take responsibility for those who follow such person. This is true of familial relationships (parent to child, spouse to spouse, sibling to sibling), educational and corporate relationships (seniors to juniors) and political governance (ruler to subjects) as well. This worldview dominates Korean thinking. It is the reason why one’s age is so important, and why honorifics are critical to conversation, even between family members. One must always know who should be taking responsibility for whom, and likewise, who should be following and who should be leading. It is the reason that students address one another by titles like sunbae (one’s senior) and hoobae (one’s junior) and that words like oppa and noona mean so much more than their literal meaning. Family, friendships, corporations and even nations are held together by this principle of taking responsibility for those who follow you. Is it any shock that this principle also applies between lovers as well?
Of course, one can argue that romantic relationships should not necessarily follow the Confucian philosophy, especially not in the post-modern age. My counter is that as true as that argument might be, Bob and Mary are not yet a couple at this stage in the kdrama. As such, each of Bob and Mary is likely to fall back upon traditional relational notions to deal with the other of them.
Taken to its logical conclusion then, Bob cannot simply ask Mary to (1) share in the burden of the obstacle, and (2) work together to deal with the OTP crisis. Such a request would be nigh on unthinkable because one of Bob or Mary must take responsibility for the other, and cannot share or delegate such duty. And this kind of relationship is not unique to Eastern philosophies. The concept that certain duties cannot be delegated is not just an Eastern concept, but it is part of the bedrock of Western jurisprudence as well. A fiduciary duty is the highest level of obligation that a person can owe to another – and such obligation cannot be shared. Just as an agent must act solely for the benefit of the principal, and a trustee cannot halve his liability by delegating half of his duties, Bob cannot breach his obligation to Mary.
It would be alarming then, for Bob, in the face of an obstacle that appears unsolvable without the help of Mary, to confess his burdens to Mary. If Bob were to share his burdens with Mary, Bob would be abdicating his role as Mary’s protector. Bob cannot have it both ways – if Bob has any designs on remaining the kind of person that Mary could rely upon, Bob cannot ask for help from Mary. Taken on a macro level, such an action would turn society upside down. Bob’s only choice, therefore, if indeed Bob is the one who takes responsibility for the problems besetting our OTP of choice, is to remove himself from the situation entirely.
Note that this is not because Bob thinks any of the problems is insurmountable and will inevitably hurt Mary, but because he believes he is not (yet) strong enough to deal with the issue. Note as well that even if Mary also stepped up and declared responsibility for Bob, each of Bob and Mary would be forced to take action unilaterally because of the impossibility of sharing duties under the Confucian way of thinking.
In Korean thinking, harmony in society, whether on a macro or micro level, depends upon the ability of those who take responsibility for others. The good leader will cause his or her nation to prosper, and the good parent will cause her children to become good adults. Likewise, the person who capably wears his or her mantle of leadership will permit harmony to exist within the relationship. And it is within this context of harmony that love can truly exist and flourish.
Hope that helps quell the anger of anti-tropists out there seeking another noble idiot to skewer!
PSA from Blobby. Something we should talk about more ❤️
A reminder to fellow writers:
Don't feel too guilty about loving a heroine you painstakingly created just because she's not a paragon of virtue. That's especially if you've thrown curses into the blazing Sun for her, and cried by her side at the edge of a dusk-lit world.
Spot
Sea Of Dream's poster: Spot the sea.
Three-Body II: Dark Forest's poster: Spot the darkness.
Hokusai's dragon legend art: Spot the dragon.
An energy economy intubated, intercepted and interrogated by its multiverse escape game, TikTok-addicted black holes, go-getting cerebral vampires and healing rice ball spirits. Originally an extension of The Asian Drama Philosopher (A-Philosopher)’s Chair, a site examining literature, art and ideas featured in East Asian series.
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