sceptical; dreamer

as said by many people, directing these type of storylines could easily be swayed into a some sort of murder porn, or providing humanity into the killer by adding in sentimental shots when filming them which would then utterly defeat the writer's intentions. but shim na-yeon kept that in mind when she directed 16 episodes of this drama. not once did she ever strayed from this. during the scene where ds and jw were interrogating * shim mentioned how she tried hard to focus the cameras mainly on jwds and not * because it was simply unnecessary for us to listen to * when they talked about the murders. they simply didn't deserve to be heard or seen because their story didn't matter. this decision may seem trivial and overlooked by viewers but it was so important to the message kim tried to relay.

and then there is the writing itself, there's dongsik's line

and how it's not exactly common to find stories where it is outrightly expressed that sex workers are human at the end of the day, because they are usually sidelined, especially through the perspective of a male character. there's the characters constantly bringing up the names of the victims in each episode because we should never forget their names, and this is just kim's way of reminding us we should always say the names of those who've lost their lives simply because the world didn't try hard enough to protect them. there's juwon and his pure intentions behind solving the case; to bring justice to the victims and especially lee geum-hwa, the woman he'd led to her death. we see him visiting the morgue in the middle of the series because he knew no one would collect her body. throughout the drama, he remembered her, he tried hard to be punished by the law for her death and each time he made sure to bring up her name even though the officers didn't give it a single thought. he never ceased to emphasise on her importance and it's one of the things i truly respect him for besides his immense character development. we also have jihwa's firm dialogue regarding the killer

and that this is the most transparent way of kim relaying her message.

just to clarify, i am not boiling down kim soo-jin and shim na-yeon's talents to their gender or in any way appreciating them as a creator in the industry simply because they're female. they are truly worthy to be praised as a whole for the justice they've brought to this show regardless of whether they're a woman or a man. but when it comes to shows or any piece of media riddled with crime, there's a stark contrast with how male directors bring out their visions in terms of the killer and the murders compared to female ones.

This raining scene is one of the most memorable scenes from the whole drama. It carries so much sorrow and guilt and tears. But I always want to write about the difference between the translation of Joowon's iconic line here and what impact I felt.

In this scene the common Eng sub of Joowon's iconic line is: "I will be tormented." It shows Joowon's willingness to be punished physically and mentally because of his guilt toward Dongsik. But I do think the direct translation from his line in Korean is even more impactful and crushing. He said: "내가.. 지옥으로 갑니다." "I.. will go to hell." Instead of you, I am the one who will go to hell.

What difference does this make?

Well, Koreans have a habit of rarely putting subjects in their sentences. Ex: 사랑해 (saranghae) means "I love you" in English, where in the direct translation, there is no subject and object in that sentence. It's just sarang (love) and -hae (do). If we want the full sentences with the subject and object, it should be 내가 너를 사랑해. (I, you, love, do). Koreans put subject and or object in their sentences usually to stress or to emphasize something. 

With this example, if we see Joowon's line, it has a subject there. "내가.. 지옥으로 갑니다." He paused for a bit after he said "I.." it means that he really stressed that word.

More than only being tormented, HE is going to hell with his own feet. HE will be the one who drags his own father with him to hell, instead of letting the man who he came to value more than himself suffer more than he did. Joowon put himself lower than Dongsik. HE will be the one going to hell, not Dongsik.

지옥으로 means "to hell" quite literally. -로 indicates a destination where someone is going to. We can say that "hell" here is the worst place people can go. And there Joowon will go, not Dongsik.

That's why after that Dongsik holds his hands and does not let go. Dongsik will never let him fall, and if he does fall, Dongsik will make damn sure that he will not fall alone. He told Jihwa: "난 저 바보같은 놈을 혼자 보낼 수 없어." I cannot let that idiot go alone. "보내다" here means to send (people/things) away or to see someone off to a far away place. Dongsik won't let Joowon go far away alone.

Sometimes English sub can be pretty close to the meaning in Korean. But a lot of times the language itself carries a much deeper meaning that can only be understood when we can read and know the meaning.

Dongsik and Joowon have those deeper feelings for each other. They way they talk about each other to people. The way they talk WITH each other. It carries meaning deeper from their heart. Beyond evil has many beautiful and complex lines and that is one of the reasons I love this drama and all of its characters so much.

And to hell if someone says JWDS are only PLATONIC.

I thought about sending an ask about this, but it, er, might get kind of long and wordy because this is one of those language things I really wrestle with in my own translation work (though thankfully I’m usually dealing with documentaries rather than dramas where I think I’d end up just chasing my tail for days)

what Adachi says in that middle gif is:

こんなのおかしいだろ？Konna no okashii daro

While I totally understand why the subtitlers here went for “That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”, the closest English phrase is: “This is so fucked up, right?”

The “this” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here (as it almost always does in Japanese - Japanese in general is HEAVILY context dependent which makes for exquisite poetry and really frustrating user manuals). But here he’s referring to the magic, his guilt, and the whole situation. If it was more specifically referring back to his previous line of dialogue, he’d say “sonna” rather than “konna”.

In the third gif he says:

こんな・・・一緒にいる資格ないだろ？Konna (a Very Significant pause here) Issho ni iru shikaku nai daro

This is an absolute doozy to translate because the structure doesn’t work in English. It starts “konna”, again. Now this could be the start of a “This (whole situation/mess)…” phrase, OR just as naturally (in JP), it could be the start of a “This fuck-up of a person (ie Me, Adachi)…” His little head jerk and the bitten-off way he says that word hints toward the latter interpretation but it’s not articulated. (He doesn’t want to denigrate himself in front of Kurosawa, because he knows it’ll hurt him? He has actually grown enough to accept that he can be a good person? Or does he just run out of words to describe just How Fucked Up the situation is? So many delicious possibilities!)

Then he continues, but without including a subject … literally just says “No right to be with you.” That’s a very common construction in Japanese but it adds to the angst and the uncertainty (which mirrors Adachi’s own uncertainty - he literally doesn’t know what to do or where his specific discomfort comes from. He just knows he fucked up, like always, and he’s not worthy of Kurosawa). It’s also not possible to fully convey in English. Like, at all, let alone in one line of written text ^^;;

A study in chopstick holds

Okay a few opinions about chopsticks. So each person has their own designated set of chopsticks right. Living alone, I wonder what kinds of chopsticks they picked out for themselves and what their choices reflect about them? I wonder if Kurosawa might have picked out a set for Adachi at one point as part of his sweet domestic fantasies? When having Kurosawa over at his house, which set of chopsticks would Adachi pick for Kurosawa? 

The black ones Kurosawa has get the job done. They’re solid and reliable and at first glance, there’s nothing to be noticed or hidden by the colour black, it’s relatively straightforward and it suits everybody - but simultaneously, the dark conceals many things if you look further. I don’t think black would suit Adachi. It’s solid and heavy and Adachi is a very cute and light presence. The two colours also look like they harmonize really well. I’m definitely be overthinking it but I also like how it’s like 黑 (black) and 赤 (red) lololol

Bonus: the little slide

And of course: 

EDIT: @zakuromochi​​ just told me about the existence of Meotobashi (married couple) chopsticks and 

Source: https://www.tokyo-smart.com/en/chopsticks/109-meotobashi-biidoro.html 

Kurosawa buying a set of red and black chopsticks in a moment of weakness, allowing himself this guilty fantasy in the privacy of his apartment.  He takes the black ones and seals the red away with a wistful sigh, the box tucked away at the bottom of a kitchen drawer, presumably forever… 

This moment really sheds light on one of my favorite aspects of Cherry Magic.

Adachi feels nervous, he struggles to communicate, and he is inexperienced. We don’t see him judged for this, rather our perspective is one where we see him find power in working hard to communicate and learn and overcome fears in ways that work for him.

The growth that he experiences isn’t that he’s asked to become different. It’s not that he needs to change. We see Adachi grow because he learns that if he trusts his own way of being his best self that good returns to him