#choi dongsoo

[sscarletvenus]

who up genning their zeroes

[lookismstuff]

What was "The Mission" from Charles?

SPOILER ALERT

Just in case you don't remember what sort of mission Charles gave Daniel when they were talking in Ep 512:

This was the mission in Ep 177:

Basically Charles would reveal the secret of the Second Body since he considered that the current Daniel had somehow surpassed DG (of back then?). Daniel had also used the Body as it was designed (to fight, and fight A LOT).

How sad that back then I naïvely interpreted this as Charles' wish to elevate Daniel's hitherto unknown potentials when it was actually his egotistical method to trap the boy in intergenerational battles and crew wars. Almost like Charles wanted Daniel to become the pinnacle of the criminal underworld.

[lookismstuff-2]

SPOILER ALERT

Lookism Cinematic Analysis (6)

tw: suicide

This panel is loosely based on one of the posters of a critically acclaimed Korean film, "Socialphobia" (2014).

"Socialphobia" is a story about the mysterious death of a social media user who was some sort of a keyboard warrior, and the subsequent social media frenzy that it caused.

In the film, the social media user was objectified after her death. For the other young characters, the allure of the mystery surrounding her death was more important than her humanity. At the end of the film, it's never clear whether she was murdered or it was a suicide, and nobody cared about it.

In Lookism's case, the moment Charles took his own life, all the exposé about his crimes became secondary compared to his dead body. Who he was before HNH, his personal life, etc etc at that moment disappeared. He was but the grotesque body.

Notice how in both the panel and the poster, different angles were taken by the press and the civilians when photographing the dead. This also works as a symbolism: people only knew about the dead girl and Charles the way whoever took photos of them chose to. They were both presented differently, framed differently, depending on the angle.

In a world where reality is fabricated, what is real never matters.

Credit: Socialphobia (2014), dir. Hong Seokjae

[yishifuzchaocai]

存档

一些��最近嘴过的和写过的

[ccosmix]

critical thinking and theorizing on why he acts like this ASIDE-

Charles is so funny to think about, the (years upon years of) consequences of his actions are catching up to him, and he justs, sends Gun to wipe them all out. Go, my miracle 20 y/o guy (who I probably manipulated too) make these kids DISAPPEAR from my sight.

He's had it with these minors!!! The Consequences are Coming.

[norwegiankafka]

another lookism thoughts is that many people assume gun is loyal to charles bc gun is a yakuza. yakuza were known to be loyal. this is a very debatable opinion, but i think gun stayed and working for charles is bc charles provide smth that he can't for himself. ig in the earlier time gun works for charles, they make some sort of deal that gun can have this certain thing that he wants as long as he works for charles.

but actually my thoughts had its ground. theres an episode (older episode ig) where gun talks to daniel, "as long as I don't break the rules, I will get anything I wanted." (srry for the mistranslations, I read it in my native lang).

but this could also refer to gun's history as a yamazaki. rather than his history in his clan, I believe that this convo is referring to his relationship with charles choi. this convo also happened when gun was fighting with daniel when daniel tried to take charles' photo in an old school, while gun is trying to convince daniel to make a crew (and possibly, to be his successor).

sorry i was just tryna take a nap and suddenly thinks ab this HAHAHAHAHAH

[kingrirei]

Charles Choi cause he's insane and hot...it's truly Lookism after all.

[lookismstuff]

HOLY SHIT.

Seriously this great fanart fuels my sleuth/detective fan side and makes me want to analyze Lookism in a detective/thriller context.

who killed gapryong kim?

[rafael-lins-ofc]

Solo Leveling

[pain-suffering-even]

this is all i can offer while in the depth of my hiatus but i PROMISE i will make a real post. someday. soon. probably...

"you only need 1 chair to beat them all with," nearly killed me lmaooo

[sscarletvenus]

call me max the way ver not stappen until my jaw is locked

[lookismstuff]

It was a smart move by Charles because

The Juvenile Laws in Korea are different from their Criminal and Civic Laws (more lenient), so unless the children and minors do something totally barbaric, it will be next to nothing. Even Jiho was sentenced as a minor and was supposed to be held in a juvenile prison for a maximum of 4 years.

The kids aren't drafted for the military service yet so they can work for Charles for a very longgggg time.

The high number of runaways and dropouts he could enslave hire for the business expansion really.

I've been catching up on lookism lately and this is my controversial take everyone!!

[lookismstuff]

Highlights of Ep 486

SPOILER ALERT

"I can't breathe. I can't breathe! Take me out of this darkness that has lost its light. I can't stop it anymore. It's swallowing me up. Save me from myself..." - SONDIA, Nightmare

Some time during the night, Vin let the girl in but his mind kept him awake, thinking that the shaman must've sent the girl to kill him.

In anger, Vin was thinking of kicking the girl out but was stopped by the sight of her tears in her sleep.

The next day, Vin met the Cheonliang fam and apologized, but they teased him saying they wanted the old (rude) him back. Vin was embarassed but he insisted that he really meant to apologize to them (and that he was thankful). And that from then on, he was a Cheonliang Fam member, and called Seongji "Master".

Seongji called Vin to help him with kimchi, which Vin thought as maybe Seongji's way to trick him. Jewoo explained that they were running out of side dishes, while casually asking about the girl who was hiding behind Vin.

The girl then helped Seongji with the kimchi, and Vin then told the Cheonliang Fam kids that she was a servant of the Cheon household. She specially served Taejin, and had since ran away.

Taejin seemed to have vented his frustration of losing Vin and Seongji on the Yakuza and the servants. So the girl ran away out of fear of being killed.

Jewoo realized that this means Taejin must've been even more furious and would want to find both Vin and the girl.

The girl announced that she was a perfect servant: good at cooking, doing laundry, and doing dishes, which made Taebong and the others felt both pitiful and uncomfortable about her presence there.

Jewoo asked whether they would send her back, and Vin retorted that she would die since Taejin would never save her life, as his errant property.

Then Mary chimed in that they should take the girl in, and the girl thanked her (mistakenly called her "bro" and got hit in the head). Jewoo teased Mary whether she made this decision because of her rice diet plan and she kicked him mercilessly.

Seongji decided that the girl must stay at Vin's place (to his shock) since it was Vin who took her in the first place, then he got inside his house and left the kids behind.

Seongji also told Vin that he'd better take responsibility for her, and Vin was struggling with it but eventually said yes, on condition that Seongji taught him how to fight.

Vin told Seongji that he had no power to protect anyone yet, so with the new strength he'd be able to protect someone. Seongji told Vin that it wouldn't be just ssireum that he taught, but the classes would be so hard and vomit-inducing, the way he himself learned it, but Vin was happy anyway.

Seongji then proceeded to lock his door, and inside, he was gasping for air in what seems like a panic attack. In a daze, the young king took some pills to ease the attack.

Jewoo, perceptive as ever, realized that something was wrong and went knocking on his Master's door. Seongji deflected Jewoo's concern and told him to go and not to come in. In sad understanding, Jewoo complied.

Meanwhile, Charles was confident that the Shinmyeong would relinquish Cheonliang land ownership to him to deflect treason accusation. But the shaman showed the Red Paper that he obtained from Seongji: the evidence of Charles' treason, allegedly worse than Shinmyeong's. Shinmyeong called up the Kojima brothers and the other Yakuza lackeys just as Charles moved to attack him.

But Charles still had another ace up his sleeve: Enter young Gun, with a taunting smile on his face, to the foray.

[stormdragon23]

Monarch/Ruler Successors AU

This is just my personal headcanons on this AU since I have my own take

Kind of a mashup of others' ideas honestly, plus a couple of my own though I think they came from one person in particular

Very subject to change as I read Ragnarok. And when I'm finally able to play the game

Monarchs:

Choi Jong-In as The Monarch of Destruction, the King of Dragons

Baek Yoon-Ho as The Monarch of Fangs, the King of Beasts

Hwang Dong-Soo as The Monarch of the Iron Body, the King of Monstrous Humanoids

Kang Tae-Shik as The Monarch of Transfiguration, the King of Demonic Spectres

Eun-Seok as The Monarch of Frost, the King of the Snow Folk

Lim Tae-Gyu as The Monarch of the Beginning, the King of Giants

Goto Ryuji as The Monarch of White Flames, the King of Demons

Park Hee-Jin as The Monarch of Plagues, the Queen of Insects

Ruler Vessels:

Cha Hae-In

Min Byung-Gyu

Thomas Andre

Liu Zhigang

Christopher Reed > Lennart Niermann

Sung Il-Hwan

Go Gunhee > Woo Jin-Chul

Siddharth Bachchan (Don't have a pic for him, but that's not my fault)

Open to questions. Because I don't know what else to say

[ecargmura]

Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise From The Shadows- Episode 4 Review - S-Rank Miner

This episode has the least amount of action, yet I was still glued in. That’s pretty crazy. Anyways, I do like the change of pace as Jinwoo realizes that being E-rank is now an inconvenience for him and decides to get a reassessment so he’ll have better opportunities to earn money and buy necessary items for his goal to make the Elixir of Life.

The reassessment test center is pretty chill. The vibes remind me of a DMV, where you get your driver’s license in America. The only difference is that you stick your hand onto a crystal and it evaluates stuff for you. Surprisingly enough, Jinwoo’s newfound powers have gotten him to become the 10th S-rank Hunter. Congrats, Jinwoo! Wait, is the the 10th one in Korea or in the world? Somebody, please clarify for me. By the way, if you’re confused on why he’s still referred to as an E-rank despite being reevaluated into S-rank, the system need to process it and change his paperwork and such. Think of it as waiting for your passport to be created.

Because it’s such a big deal, other S-rank hunters come to meet him, specifically Choi Jong-in and Go Gunhee. I honestly like that as the story progresses, the more important characters start showing themselves as if the world building is slowly expanding like how Jinwoo levels up. Choi Jong-in tries to start a conversation with him, but basically leaves him on read…is it because he’s wearing red? Jong-in is the guild master of the biggest Hunters’ Guild, meaning he is a big deal, yet Jinwoo ignoring him was hilarious because he’s being playfully petty about it and even telling Jinchul whether he was being polite or not. Though, he does seem like he’s showing a facade, so it makes sense why Jinwoo be wary and not try to initiate a conversation. I do like that the episode also shows off what he can do. He’s a master fire mage who summons extremely huge fire attacks. Jong-in is voiced by Daisuke Hirakawa in the Japanese dub. If you’re not familiar with Hirakawa, he’s the voice actor of Rei from Free, Enmu from Demon Slayer and Frankenstein from Noblesse. In the English dub, he is voiced by Ian Sinclair, who you might know as Zaveid from Tales of Zestiria, Brook from One Piece and the narrator from Love is War.

Go Gunhee is the biggest authority amongst Hunters, so it makes sense that Jinwoo would try and be more polite to him because he’s much stronger than him. When Gunhee asks him about his path as a newly appointed S-rank Hunter, Jinwoo responds that he lives for fighting and isn’t interested in joining a guild. This gets Gunhee intrigued because he can’t do the things Jinwoo can do at his age, which is over 80. I wonder what sort of role Gunhee will play in the future.

There’s also Cha Hae-in introduced. She’s also another S-rank Hunter and is Jong-in’s second-in-command. She seems to be a swordswoman but also has a sensitive nose as she has to cover it with a handkerchief. I wonder how this affects her in battle. She’s also perceptive of aura as she can sense erratic ones like Jinwoo, but believes it had belonged to Gunhee. Then, she shows up at the ending, making you wonder what she’s doing there when she got out.

There’s also a scene with Hwang Dongsoo where he thinks about Sung Il-hwan who pulverized him when mentioning his family. This is definite foreshadowing him going after Jinwoo or Jinah. Please don’t let bad things happen to them…but let bad things happen to Dongsoo.

I know that Jinwoo isn’t a comedic character, but the way he was in the mines was super funny to me. He was just mining ore like a robot and then when he’s alone, he just scurries to the boss gate like some sort of mischievous troublemaker. I found that so hilarious for some reason like the man’s grinning like he’s finally happy to break some rules. To be honest, I thought he was going to summon his shadow minions to help him with the mining, so seeing something that subverted my expectations was great!

Anyways, I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen now that Cha Hae-in is in the picture. Also, what lurks beyond those gates? I’m curious and I can’t wait for next Saturday! What are your thoughts on this episode?

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on Solo Leveling Episode 13: You Aren't E-Rank, Are You?

And we're back! The first episode of season 2 was great! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa before Ragnarok below (CW: blood):

Everyone looks really great in the new opening (though I'm not the biggest fan of some of the Cha Haein shots, but, well, sigh, Japan). I'm okay with the song, not the biggest fan (or of the ED, though I like the OP more than the ED), but time will tell! Maybe I'll come around to it. Particularly love the shots of Choi Jongin, though.

I can understand why they're skipping things (e.g., Sung Jinwoo's run for clothes and getting a haircut before the teacher conference), but I think at a point some of it doesn't make sense, especially with Han Songyi. Like it's very weird that a teacher, without parental/guardian consent, asked a random adult unaffiliated with the school to check in with an ostensibly stranger teenager he doesn't know, potentially alone (unless that's just Jinwoo being weird, which isn't unusual). But that it's not really explained in what context he was asked to do so in the anime only makes it weirder. Like you can guess, it's just... it's not a typical thing for teachers to do this (idk maybe it's more common in South Korea? I don't know why it would be, feels like a lawsuit waiting to happen) and honestly really dangerous.

I love all the extra stuff they're adding with Choi Jongin's investigation about Jeju. Him chatting with Go Gunhee is so fun.

Handsome man.

Hwang Dongsoo is still an ass and Woo Jinchul is so Done TM with it all. Dongsoo's VA (Junichi Suwabe) is still too good for him. (Yes, I love villains who get great actors, but it's really distracting that he has Sexy voice and is so otherwise entirely uninteresting alkdjlaj). This is another manhwa original thing: Dongsoo never goes back to South Korea in the novel. He doesn't show up again in the story until something that happens later (though I assume it's this season, given the contents of the OP; both the red gate and the thing I'm thinking of are in volume 2 of the Yen Press English release). I imagine the idea was to make better use of him as a character or something. Maybe give Woo Jinchul more spotlight, I don't know.

Happy to see Park Heejin again :3 I love that the anime involves her more in the story (she's friends with Gina and Lee Bora and shows up at the cafe meet-up in S1E6). Mad that they made Kim Chul hot but do love they keep him as a scumbag.

The Hyakki look great! Very weird lol I still don't know why Dubu was so obsessed with the creepy wide smiles.

And we get some worried but handsome Baek Yoonho :3 I'm not surprised it was kept, but I still find it fascinating that Dongsoo showing up was added for the manhwa (and obviously kept here). But the anime removed the scene where Jinchul (while chauffeuring Dongsoo) learns about the red gate, and Dongsoo has them go to it because Dongsoo wants to kill Jinwoo faster. So they just... show up. Because.

Woo Jinchul is so Done TM with all this S-rank nonsense, poor guy.

The song that plays when Jinwoo's soldiers fight the ice bears is really nice. And the fight sequence is really good. I just love how Jinwoo's soldiers are designed (glowy blue on black with some red is so good, visually), and the shadowy-dust effects just look so nice (and we have the return of the glowing butts lol). Igris, of course, is amazing.

And he brings Jinwoo his first trophy! And Jinwoo rewards him with a shoulder pat :3 Jinwoo/Igris fans, eat your heart out :3

A great episode! Looking forward to the next one!

Other episode thoughts:

Season 1: Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12

Season 2: Episode 13 (you are here), Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25

Where to read Solo Leveling by Chugong in English:

Novel: Yen Press (ebook, physical book, audiobook), Tapas

Manhwa adaptation by Dubu: Yen Press/Ize Press (ebook, physical book), Tapas, Tappytoon

Ragnarok (sequel novel written by a different author): Tapas

Ragnarok manhwa adaptation (drawn by a different artist): Tapas

The Solo Leveling anime adaptation is available on Crunchyroll. Solo Leveling: Arise, the video game, is free to play and available on PC and as an app via netmarble.