#kdramas contain multitudes

[dylan-rodrigues]

welcome to kdramas. here we have top spies dancing like the rent's due so that their colleague (undercover as a high schooler) can win student elections and investigate some ~spooky~ clocks.

we also have, uhhh, actual high school kid being forced to sleep less than 4 hours and take pills by her evil chaebol mom

[lenteur]

random thoughts about run on, episode eleven

(please do note that this post contains spoilers so read at your own risk.)

let me start this post by saying ki seon gyeom makes one “strict coach” (woo sik’ words) but a great one still

seeing seon gyeom prepare woo sik’s training was heartwarming because you can see how serious he is about it

totally unrelated but we all need a roommate like seon gyeom. applications are open btw

as usual, we have yeong hwa being the cutie that he is. i don’t think i’ll ever get tired of him

funniest scene in today’s episode was the uni students running after tae woong lol yeong hwa stole the show by trying to catch up with them. i mean, i don’t think anyone could be funnier than him. he’s on another level

it’s interesting how mi joo offered seon gyeom a “practice loving myself” book (i don’t remember the title sorry) it goes to show he still has a hard time taking care of and loving himself

the tension between dan ah and yeong hwa is palpable. i’m so invested in their relationship. i want to know everything i can (that does sound a little weird but it’s just that their story is more interesting to me than the main couple)

the show continues to plant the seed that seon gyeom is synonymous with motivation. this time it’s woo sik that says seon gyeom motivates him

talking about woo sik, it’s so refreshing to see him let loose and be a little more carefree. using less and less honorifics around seon gyeom and the people around him :) i like that

also, did we get to see seon gyeom being jealous for 5 seconds? or am i just seeing things? it was so cute how he put himself between mi joo and woo sik when they were watching the footage of woo sik running

and then we get to the most interesting scene of today’s episode: the discussion between dan ah and mi joo. the one thing i took away from that section of the show is they’re a lot more similar than we think

dan ah pointing out that mi joo “doesn’t seem tough despite her rough childhood. you (mi joo) refuse to kneel despite not having any backup” 

“i was aware of what i did or didn’t need. if i never had it, i wasn’t greedy. if i still wanted it, i got something similar even if it was fake” i didn’t think i could relate to mi joo more yet here i am. it’s important we get to know more about mi joo’s upbringing because we got to see every main character’s background except mi joo’s. 

i really like how dan ah seems more and more vulnerable and sincere in these last few episodes. we get to see little glimpses of what lies behind that cold exterior. “things i already had were always taken away from me.” “in my world, i’m the weakest” “i never know when things will be taken away from me, so i put up walls” it’s true that the double standards in dan ah’s family are unfair. her brother gets all the credit even though she’s the one who did everything.

when mi joo tackled the topic of ai replacing translations, it made me think. of course, i’ve already thought about it before but with the growing “success” of ai in recent months, i think it’s even more interesting to talk about it. translators are in fact competing against ai for their jobs. during my time as a translator, i saw a lot of clients using engines like google translate, reverso or linguee for their translations. i mean they’re great to some capacity but it’s hard for them to understand nuances. and that’s even more the case for movie translations. a movie, as any form of art, has the goal of eliciting emotions in the viewers and ai is not really capable of translating the feeling/message. they are capable of literal translations (meaning translating word for word) but sometimes, you can’t translate something word for word because it’s an expression that doesn’t exist in the language you’re translating to. or, it might mean something in the original version, but the subtitles won’t work for the translated version because the culture is completely different.

oh and there has been a controversy in recent years when entire movies were translated and dubbed by ai. the end result was catastrophic to say the least. it was hard to understand things when watching said movies (i’ve watched excerpts and it was something...) so i think translators still have a few more years of peace. i mean, you never know how ai will evolve but it will take time until they’re able to perfect the art of sharing emotions with the public. in that sense, movie and book translators still have some hope. for other more “technical” fields though... i’m not so sure

sorry if you didn’t understand a word i wrote. it’s difficult for me with this heat

when mi joo said the movie was like seon gyeom (aka complex) i understood her. it’s difficult for her to understand him but she’s trying

we’re finishing this episode with dan ah kissing yeong hwa. their relationship development is surely interesting. it’s like dan ah is disappointed when yeong hwa acts like she wanted in the beginning: obedient and not feeling anything. but now it seems she wants him to be the yeong hwa from before. 

it hurt to see yeong hwa be so cold and sad because it doesn’t seem like him. she definitely messed up with his heart. poor yeong hwa, you don’t deserve that.

additional note (before i end up sweating all the water in my body): yeong hwa’s outfit in the ending scene is gorgeous. he looks amazing in it

[theinfinitedivides]

Jae Kyeong and crew WILL take his ass down several pegs in the end to serve justice for Joon Seo ik this but i need y'all to give a round of applause for the moves he just made there. going to even go out on a limb and say despite his many crimes he deserved this moment and i'll defend my position. i said what i said

they have Kwon Yool as a prosecutor again in his upcoming k-drama bets on whether he'll be shady pls 😭😭😭😭😭

[dangermousie]

This is one of my favorite drama scenes! The way SH just KNOWS Hwi will come back to fuck things up. The deliciously classist disdain.

Oh, Hui Jae, you will never truly get either of these two glorious lunatics. And SH's fond smile.

I am screaming a lil into my hands.

The way they fall into step. Confession time - I was literally sniffling because this is a rewatch and the way this is later mirrored by their doomed last charge into the palace, once again Hwi on a mad quest and SH at his side, knowing it's madness but not wanting to be anywhere other than by Hwi's side.

The way they run in, in sync and Hui Jae is outside watching - this is so so so mirrored at the end. If I were to make a list of my top 10 sageuks, this one would have pride of place.

THEM!!! THEMMMM!

I love that just as at the end, it's SH guarding Hwi's ability to have that conversation he needs to have.

HJ looks like she's considering requesting to be the filling in that sandwich. I get you, girl.

Gotta say, YSJ and WDH are both solid actors but they never gave a performance like in MCTNA before or since imo.

PS A couple of MVs I love.

Bang Won centric one. Jang Hyuk has never given a bad performance in his life (if I had to pick my favorite kdrama actor, he's def a front runner) but this one was insane even by his standards.

And one for Yeon x Seon Ho. Insofar I had a het ship for this drama, it was them (yes, I was a hardcore Hwi x SH shipper. I can alternaship because I contain multitudes.) A small part is because I am vvvv fond of sunshine keeper of my tattered soul trope but the bigger one is because Seon Ho loved her so utterly. One can debate whether that love was romantic or not (I genuinely have no idea and I don't think SH himself did either) but he loved her desperately as the safe part of Hwi for him to love, as Hwi's memorial, as his one hope for redemption, as the keeper of what's left of his soul, as proof that he's not damned if someone good can love him, as expiation. And it was glorious to watch.

[helianthus21]

A, N and U?

A - Ships that you currently like a lot.

I'm going with Romantic and platonic ships:

Ship: Rose/Doctor, Ineffable Husbands. Always but lately bc they always somehow invade my dash<3 and Ji-su/Jae-heon (Sweet Home) bc their Potential!!! And Chengqing (i swear i wanted to keep this to 1 single ship 😭) FriendShip: Jang Han-seo & Vincenzo (Vincenzo) they are so dear to me bc of the insanity of their enemies to brothers journey and for how soft they grow to be around each other after just a short while of actually getting to know each other on an honest basis<3 And Yunmeng Siblings (The Untamed) bc they make me insane and thinking about them being parted fills me with such profound sadness that I have to delude myself aksjd (like i always do😎)

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

since my fav is almost always a side character, content being centric to that specific character skadj

this is a tough one since i'm all in favor of shipping non-canon characters and esp with same-sex relationships, this discussion is not so simple bc you have to consider all the queerbaiting that's still happening, but since with some content I get way more obsessed with platonic relationships than the romantic ones only to see them portrayed as romantic in fanworks,,,, I wish we would give platonic relationships the credit they deserve like sometimes your favorite person in the world isn't (only) your romantic partner but that doesn't mean there have to be sexual or romantic undertones

when my fav character dies (no they didn't) i wish ppl would join me in my delusion without even batting an eye askjk shhh they got up again it's just a scratch

damn none of these answers probably count but i've been thinking about this for way too long now idk

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Jang Han-seo (Vincenzo) - at first you think he's just a corrupt, spoilt brat but there's actually so much more to discover as the show progresses and it turns out that he's actually very resilient, smart in his own way, and absolutely starved for any sort of affection or acknowledgement. he's a victim, he's a criminal, he's a bitch (affectionate) and on top of all, a survivor

Jang Man-wol (Hotel del Luna) - because she is everything, from playful to powerful to vengeful to vulnerable, she contains multitudes and she is one of those female characters who are just so unapologetically selfish and obnoxious at times, you just have to love her, plus she has Style😎 truly one of the Characters Of All Time and maybe my fav ever kdrama character (next to Han-seo)

Parker (Leverage) - i think she's one of the characters I loved from the start, she's just crazy and I love that in a character<3

[strayylightss]

i know i'm like a month late responding to this bc of moving but i love getting tagged in these so i'm gonna do it anyway thank you for tagging me @comerainxcomeshine ~

Tea, coffee, or soda? coffee like 99% of the time but sometimes i need a nice comforting cup of tea

Dogs or cats? i love dogs and would die for dogs but there's just something about cats that understand and love me better—so cats??

Can you play an instrument? um depending on the definition we're using violin?? i played from 4th grade to junior year of college so i suppose i must have retained something??

What's your sun sign? Aries

First song lyrics that came into your head. the chorus of "sunny side" by SHINee!

Do you have any tattoos? 4 and counting! except the last one got messed up so i need to figure out getting that fixed before i get more :(

Favorite place you've traveled. definitely london/oxford, although i miss spain so so so much all the time

What’s the last movie you watched? the new "little mermaid"!

What languages do you speak? fluent in english and spanish (sometimes lol) and was briefly teaching myself korean but kind of lost motivation during the pandemic

Do you have any hobbies? lol other than SHINee?? i spend a lot of time reading, thinking about writing (not writing though), watching kdramas/desi films, and was doing embroidery before i moved and should get back to that

You can hang out with one fictional character for an hour. Who do you choose? i could be silly and say any character onew/key/minho have played in a drama—but since this is a very good question, i'll give a better answer! so i'll say noémi taboada of mexican gothic bc she's so not like me and the epitome of "i contain multitudes" and i'd love to observe her just existing

Compliment yourself. oof um hey you made it through grocery shopping today and didn't cry (although there was a close call at the checkout line) and only stood in the aisles looking like a total idiot a few times you did great * pats self on head *

i'm tagging @raneyroo @barrackoppama @bleshilegend @floralminho @herewegobebe and anyone else who also loves tag games—but ofc no pressure since this tag game may be a bit old/already done

[saint-starflicker]

John Griffin: Sountracks mainly, maybe promotional reel, no full pro-shot or slime tutorial, do not cite the Deep Lore to him he was there when it was workshopped and as a result his Jason contains multitudes. A mystery beyond our ken from the ancient ruins of the year Nineteen Ninety Nine. I cannot vote for him. He is an enigma. This character's Creator sought to get back the old soundtracks from eBay and contain them, because this version of Jason was too powerful to have those talismans out in the world. It's like one of those sword-and-sorcery adventuring-party stories. His Jason must be contained and kept secret from the uninitiated.

John Hill: My very favorite Romeo, not my favorite Jason. His performance of Cross is unsurpassed, though.

James Snyder: Soundtrack only and that sounds very distinctly Jason McConnell all right, nothing to complain about. I voted for this compromise candidate.

Jonah Platt: Lindsay Pierce steals every scene with Ivy and Jason together and I don't much understand what Platt is going for in those scenes, but the dynamic with Payson Lewis in the Jason and Peter scenes is above and beyond. I think John Hill plays it as a cocky teenager doomed to be out of his emotional depth the moment before he shifts to archetypal Tragic Hero mode, while Platt plays Jason as...the asshole hottie that high school girls from dysfunctional homes lust after, because if he's disdainful or kind of an asshole to everybody else but he's nice to you then you know you're special but really the more important bit of knowledge should be that he's kind of an asshole to everybody else and you are next, girl, Peter, run! Or is his raw-nerve intensity and 0-to-60 mood swings compelling even before things start to go wrong for him?

Jan Forrellat: He's like the visual equivalent of James Snyder without being a visual of James Snyder. I look and Jan Forrellat is like...standard-issue Jason McConnell, all right. He's the one in my head in all the fanfictions about Jason.

Kim Jin-Wook: Another standard-issue Jason McConnell. I am puzzled by how little I have to say, I think there is nothing wrong with his performance so there is nothing outstanding either. This is equilibrium amounts of Jason McConnell traits.

Jahlil M. Burke: The camera was always so far away, but from the body language I think he plays Jason as just an ordinary kid, like the-boy-next-door ordinary. Would be interested to watch his dynamic with Matthew Corr, the-boy-next-door Peter. I imagine they'd have to come out to Claire together something like 8 times before she starts to believe them.

Seongwoo Jeon: why is this jason a kdrama villain? That's interesting, though! That's an interesting bunch of artistic choices.

Ezequiel Rojo: I like that he looks like he could be twins with the actress playing Nadia. Because they're actually playing twins.

Jaime Barcelon: Access to evidence that he'd ever played Jason McConnell is, if possible, even more limited than Mr. Deep Lore up the top of this list. I think his casting brought a racialized dimension to the work that I'm more confident textwalling about. (This version of Jason probably wouldn't even be allowed to date Maronne Cruz's Ivy because she's too dark.)

Justin Ivan Brown: mark me, this is himbo tumblrman material

Dalles Wilie: Totally subverted the standard-issue Jason for a stronger narrative choice. If he were in that poll, he would sweep.

[eventually--darling]

hes 13 hes 37 hes 50 years old. call that range

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Kdrama Review: Juvenile Justice (A/A-)

This is a very enlightening drama about the Korean juvenile justice system and sheds light on a hot topic in Korean society I didn't know about. However, what I found the most meaningful about the drama is that it made me 1) reflect on what the role of the law is in handling young criminals, 2) realize that it is possible for a judge to have a more direct, intimate role in their cases 3) realize I don't even know anything about my own country's approach to youth crime. I personally thought it was fascinating how the judges actually have to follow up on the cases and meet up with the offenders - that really seems like a good idea that most likely doesn't work in practice. The entire process of how young offenders are sentenced and rehabilitated is really fascinating and made me look at judges in a whole different way; it also opened up many possibilities in my mind for how the justice system could be reformed. 

I also liked how the female lead hated young criminals - because her prejudice didn't come from them being poor or uneducated, but rather from her believing they couldn't change (probably because she became so cynical with the loss of her son, and also because she couldn't change herself and sadly many people can’t either). At the end of the drama she explains we can't judge young offenders too harshly because we are all perpetrators and accomplices in their crimes, and this is very much true. Yet she vowed to keep hating young criminals so she could do the right by their victims, and to discipline them harshly so they could learn from their crimes. She knows being strict isn't enough, but this is the best she can do as a judge. I really admired that take on the issue. She learned throughout the drama that anyone could become a victim, so, besides handing out sentences, her job is to rehabilitate offenders so they don't create more victims or become ones themselves.

The drama tackled a sensitive and complex topic, but I admired that it showed plenty of compassion for both criminals and victims while driving home the idea that, nevertheless, an appropriate punishment is necessary (yet hard to dole out and even harder to stick) and that parents and adults should be held accountable as well. None of this is new to anyone, but the drama offered a refreshing take on it. My biggest complaint would be that the drama leaned a bit too much into the melodrama side when the subject matter was already so moving - the fl's backstory was pretty unnecessarily fleshed out imo (I had to skip the scene of her crying in the middle of a road). The actors did a great job though, especially the fl and the presiding judges. The content of the drama was very good, but sadly the extreme sentimentality, sometimes generic indie soundtrack, mostly lackluster dynamics between the characters, uninspired directing - and all the clichés in general - made this drama fall short of what it could be. It's good, yes, yet feels heartless despite the multitude of touching stories it contains. It's so sentimental it leaves you cold. The whole atmosphere feels cold too - like there are no warm tones in the drama. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that it deserves huge props for telling stories of women: most of the cases involved prostitution, rape, and domestic violence, yet the drama didn't use these crimes just because they are common, but rather to show that it is wrong that these crimes are so common (and to question why they are so common, how the law is failing women and why no one is doing anything about it) and that there are consequences to these crimes which go beyond creating victims. Most of the time, in crime dramas, women get murdered because we are into serial killers or are raped and get their 2 seconds of screentime lying in a hospital bed. But this drama doesn't use women to be edgy. It listens to women and tells their story as people and not cases - we see them struggle to cope with the aftermath of rape/abuse, being ostracized by their friends, getting neglected by the criminal system, etc.. However, we also see them as abusers (or as neither victim nor perpetrator). I was very happy with the complexity and diversity of the female characters and how they were all given a voice regardless of their actions, especially since most of the girls were just minor characters. The female judge was very well-written too. 

Oh, and I was shocked to learn that almost half the women in SK experience domestic violence... or was it more than half?? I can’t even remember, but the number was absurd - and it was just a very conservative estimate. SK has a very long way to go until it becomes somewhat safe for women.

Read more of my kdrama reviews here! (Sorry the format is so shitty)

[recurring-polynya]

What comparisons can be made between renruki and Ichiruki? I often wondered about this.

This is such a hot button issue that as soon as I received this (perfectly polite) ask, my body tensed up and my brain went Am I being trolled?

It’s honestly a shame that there is so much bad blood behind this, because it is, in fact, a very interesting thing to talk about, and I am going to attempt to do so in good faith, because I love thinking about this kind of thing. Even though I am very openly a Renruki shipper, I love all three of these characters very much, and I think that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is very important! I am doing my best to be neutral, although I have not read very much Ichiruki fanfic/meta, so please give me a benefit of a doubt. Obviously, I can’t stop anyone from reblogging this and putting their own comments on it, but I have no interest in getting in debates over it, so don’t be surprised if I don’t engage.

This is both long, and I am sure some people don’t care, so I’m gonna put the rest under a cut. I have tried to hard to write this in a way that will not make anyone mad, but if you think it will make you mad, please give yourself the gift of not clicking on it.

So, what is the same between Ichigo and Renji? Lots, actually. Physically, they are both tall, strong, and have ridiculously colored spiky hair. They are outwardly grumpy, but secretly have soft, gooey centers. Neither one of them is dumb, but they are both dumbasses. They are protectors: they would rather take any amount of pain or damage onto themselves than see a loved one hurt. Their friends are everything to them, and that goes triple for Rukia.

How are they different, then? There are three major bullets:

- Ichigo is alive. Renji is dead. Perhaps this is a little flip, but Renji belongs to same world that Rukia does, and Ichigo does not. This is not a value judgment, it is just a fact: If Rukia ends up with Renji, she stays where she is. If she ends up with Ichigo, either Rukia or Ichigo have to make a huge change. I will get back to this.

- Youth vs. Experience. Ichigo is a 15-year old boy, as we are told about 1000 times. There is some mystery over how old Rukia and Renji are, but they have graduated from secondary education and are currently employed. I think it’s safe to assume that they are roughly close in age to each other, but I think Rukia may perceive Renji as seeming older than herself-- he graduated from school, and she didn’t; he’s on his third squad transfer, whereas she’s hasn’t budged from her initial, entry-level job, and he’s now middle management. However, the arc of the story we don’t get to see, is that over the timeskips, Rukia not only catches up to, but surpasses him. Also, not for nothing, but I think that in the same way Rukia is immediately drawn to Ichigo because of his resemblance to Kaien, I think she is also drawn to him for his resemblance to Young Renji-- a grumpy, prickly young man, leaking self-doubt from every pore, whom she is more able to be generous towards through the lens of age and experience. (And I think this comparison could support either ship)

- Ichigo is the protagonist. Rules don’t apply to him. Fate breaks on his sword. He represents the triumph of love or hard work or dreams or what have you over the cruel millstone of the world. Renji, on the other hand, is firmly bound to the rules of the world in which he inhabits. In fact, that is arguably the entire purpose of his character. Renji’s fights are often used to set the stakes of the conflict-- ah, Renji got mangled, this guy must be tough. In the Soul Society Arc, he is an antagonist because he is doing what he is supposed to. In the TYBW, Kubo literally throws the two of them in a pit to fight some asauchi just to make the point that Renji is a shinigami and Ichigo is something else.

Let’s jump over to Rukia for a moment. Rukia is a great character, one of my favorite characters in any media. Rukia contains multitudes. She is tough and strong, but often melancholy. She can be beautiful and elegant, but she also lies and breaks rules and tried to put Kon in a dead cat once. Emotionally, she likes to present a cool front, but she has a big, loving heart, and she feels deeply. As a character, all of this makes her very easy to project onto, which is why I think so many people OTP her with someone, no matter who.Some people choose to try to make her into one of these things or another, and some people try to keep her as the full bundle of contradictions that she is.

There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There are many, many scenes that can be interpreted romantically, but no one goes on a date, no one kisses. Ichigo gazes longingly into the eyes of all his friends, it’s just a thing he does. Orihime does explicitly proclaim at one point that she loves Rukia, although I suspect that in the original Japanese, it’s the word for “friendship love” and not the very-rarely-used “romantic love.” I have seen a scene-for-scene comparison of IchiHime “romantic moments” only it’s Chad and Uryuu (which I choose to believe supports IshiChad, rather than negates IchiHime, but we may all choose for ourselves!) My point is that shipping in Bleach is a DIY craft, which, when we’re all having a good time, is what makes it so fun.

So, bringing all of this together, given that Ichigo and Renji are fairly similar characters, why are the ships so different, and what makes one appeal to some people and be abhorrent to someone else?

I think about romance stories a lot. I actually took a class on romance novels in college and I just really like to think about the mechanics of stories. In the truest sense of the word, “romance” is about extremes-- about sailing the high seas and wearing ostentatious shirts and shouting off a cliff in a rainstorm. When we talk about romance as a genre, the characters tend to behave in a way that we would not prefer our actual romantic partners do, but the over-the-top nature of it makes us swoon and our hearts drop -- except when it doesn’t. What is heart-breakingly romantic to some people can be a huge turn-off to others. The biggest fight my husband and I have ever had was over a kdrama. The male lead was hiding his identity from the female lead in order to help her, and I found it all to be deeply, deeply romantic, and my husband turned to me and said “He is being dishonest with her and I think it’s morally wrong” and I almost died.

So, let’s break down some of the themes of the two ships, which I think gets at the meat of what you were asking. Now, like I said, shipping is very participatory, and anyone may have their own ideas of how these relationships would be, and I am a big fan of “a great writer can get away with anything”, but in broad strokes, I think that these are the themes of the two ships:

IchiRuki:

Love conquers all/ Love is enough to overcome differences of class, age, lifestyle, geography, etc.

Instant connections/Love at first sight

Love is a force of the universe that cannot be denied or defeated

Young love

Grand gestures

Your partner changes you (in a positive way)/You effect change in your partner

Your partner is the center of your world

Your partner is the one person who can get through to you/You are the one person who can get through to your partner

Banter

Dumbassery

RenRuki:

Love takes work

Best friends to lovers

Second chances/Broken things can be repaired

Love is a choice

You improve with age

Shared experiences build love

Pining

Working together with your partner to create a mutually satisfying life together

Your partner enriches your world, but your independence is maintained

Banter

Dumbassery

There is also some degree of character interpretation at work, too-- there seems to be a huge degree of disagreement between fans as to whether:

a) Ichigo enjoys his normal, human life, and even though he do anything to protect what he loves, he would prefer to live a human existence with his human friends and family. He credits Rukia will helping him realize his strength and powers.

b) Ichigo is unsatisfied with his human life and that meeting Rukia opened the doorway to a life of excitement and adventure, on top of being given the strength to protect his loved ones.

As far as Ichigo pairings go, I think that most IchiHime people fall in category (a) and most IchiRuki (and GrimmIchi) shippers fall in (b). In both cases, peoples’ ships align with their view of what makes Ichigo happy. Most IchiRuki content I have seen  seems to feature Ichigo moving to Soul Society, rather than Rukia moving to Karakura. Rukia pretty explicitly indicates at the end of the Soul Society Arc that she wants to stay in Soul Society, plus she’s got a pretty established life there. Contrast that to the story of Isshin and Masaki-- Isshin seems pretty flippant and disaffected about his life in Soul Society; it doesn’t seem like it was a particularly hard choice for him to give up being a shinigami. Also, it’s pretty clear that what Isshin did was illegal, and I’m not sure there would be an easy way for Rukia to just say “WELP, I’m off to live as a human, smell you jerks later.”

To try to wrap things up, I think the actual dynamics of an IchiRuki or RenRuki relationship would be very similar, actually. They would banter a lot and dive headfirst into danger and support each other no matter what. Byakuya would treat either guy with the vaguest, most grudging amount of respect. The primary perpetual, unresolved argument between Rukia and Ichigo would be “The Living World is dumb/Soul Society is dumb”, whereas with Rukia and Renji, it would be “Squad 6 is dumb/Squad 13 is dumb wait no I didn’t mean that Captain Ukitake is an angel.”

Personally, I headcanon Renji as being more able than Ichigo to step back and be the support person in the relationship (see that bullet about Ichigo being the protag), so I think that RenRuki could manage to run a functional household, whereas Ichigo and Rukia would just go on adventures until they got arrested for tax evasion.

*For the record, I am very pro-IchiRenRuki, except that they would be even worse at running a household. It’s just Renji trying to explain how a chore wheel works while Rukia and Ichigo walk out the door on him.

[dangermousie]

Totally, Missing Crown Prince is a MESS!

Is it wacky or is it little girls being murdered? Is it political coups and plots or is it Crown Prince swindling swindlers?

I am not saying a drama cannot contain multitudes, but if you want to have a drama with wildly veering moods and genres, it is very very hard. (Chinese drama Joy of Life comes to mind - that one is a masterpiece mixing some true darkness and some ridiculous hijinks. It can be done. But it's vvvvv difficult to do. Under the Queen's Umbrella is perhaps a good kdrama example of managing the shift.)

Also, except for FL, who is just downright bad (and whose cheeks I find distracting), everyone else just blends into the walls. I couldn't pick any of them out of a line-up lookwise, charisma-wise, acting-wise.