The news in Buzzfeednews For some reason, I feel the need to inform everyone in my life that I watch WAAAY too much TV, but now I can say I’ve found this show that I’m obsessed with and want everyone to see it too. Well, that show is Pachinko as of right now.
As I told you before, I have enjoyed each and every moment That was shown in this particular program. But I am not alone on this matter into think so. As with most Tie-In media, critics have been giving it very positive reviews all around. The show in general is rated at 98% on Rotten Tomatoes same as season 2 which has a 100% rating.
Honestly, you ought to be watching it since I believe it is among the most effective programmes on television currently.
YOU to watch it, here are 13 reasons it needs to be your next binge-watch:YOU to watch it, here are 13 reasons it needs to be your next binge-watch:
1. First, Pachinko is a Steven Zaillian’s created TV series that was adapted from the best-selling same-daily novel written by Min Jin Lee. This film starts from the year 1915 up to the year 1989 and revolves around four different generations of Korean family. Years pass and we watch as Sunja a young Korean woman, journey from Korea to Japan leave behind her family in search of a new beginning.
It is perhaps one of the best books that I have ever read clearly speaking without any form of limitation. I have included it among the books every time I get to mention my all-time favorite books. In 2013 it was ranked no. 15 on in the New York Times list of “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.
The book was also named in the National Book Award for Fiction in 2017 when the book was released.
In 2019 Pachinko was included into the list of books that President Obama recommended to read. He posted on facebook: “It is such a thrilling book I got to read at the instance of one of the young staffer on my team.. its a story of triumph of the human spirit and of compassion.”
2. The show starts in the year 1928 in a small fishing village in Korea which is occupied by Japan and this is where Sunja (Minha Kim) stays. But, her small life changes after the appearance of a new charming merchant Koh Hansu (Lee Min ho) and she leaves for Japan.
You will be hooked on the series as soon as you listen to Sunja’s story and her relationship with Koh Hansu. That is, the TV adaptation is not linear in structure whereas, the novel presents a linear account of the story. Thus, you can see the consequences of what takes place in the past, instantly, given that the show jumps from one period to another.
3. Above, it was mentioned that because of the fact that Sunja is the main character of the series and the story moves through several decades of her life, a considerable part of the show is focused on the portrayal of older Sunja (+Youn Yuh-jung) and her grandson – Solomon Baek (+Jin Ha). The first series start with Solomon who come back to Tokyo and reconnects with Sunja and his father Mozasu (Soji Arai) who operates a pachinko parlor.
In its essence, Pachinko is a family story and watching each and every episode of this show is a boon especially due to the use of multiple time frames. It excellently shows the impacts that people’s current actions have on their and other people’s lives.
Even though Solomon and Sunja are presented with a different perception towards life, Solomon is a banker living in NYC and Sunja was born at a time when Koreans were treated so inhumanly by the Japanese — Sunja and Solomon’s stories complement each other as Solomon begins to learn more about his grandmother.
4. Pachinko is a bilingual novel written in English and fragments of Korean and Japanese and shuttles between multiple temporal locales to encapsulate this great epic spanning four decades. It is most appealingly the first large step into trilingual series across the United States.
When asked by Harper’s Bazaar in 2022 about the strategy of telling the story in three languages, creator Soo Hugh said; “It was never a question that it would be in the languages; I don’t understand how else you could tell the story of colonization because language is part of that. I just don’t think you can possibly do this story without doing the three languages.”
5. On-screen the series has some well-known and up-and-coming actors that are brilliant in their chosen craft. As for the newcomers you should pay attention to Minha Kim who plays teenage Sunja and Jin Ha, who plays teenage Solomon. They are on-screen assets performing splendid from the time they arrive on stage.
It’s not easy to make a transition from a book to the small screen, let alone being relatively unknown at that, but Minha has risen to this task and delivered excellently in these two seasons and I am ready to rally for her, her show, and this campaign.
About Minha’s casting, the creator Soo Hugh wrote the following on Instagram in August 2022: “Minha was ‘unknown’ when we cast her. I mean, this is what we saw. This is what happened. The innocence and the what is lurking in it—wisdom in one breath. Transvangance._transaksi
6. The main characters’ loss is taken over by the other characters who also have quite an extensive portfolio. Anna Sawai has portrayed the character, Naomi, Solomon’s coworker in Japan, from season one of the series. A relatively unknown actor when the series began in 2022, Anna just won an Emmy Award for her work in another equally masterful series: It tells a story of the feudal period encompassing Japan’s medieval history otherwise known as the shōgun.
Actress Anna was the first Asian to be awarded the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for work done on Shōgun.
Thus, if you saw that show and thought, ‘I would like to see more of Anna Sawai,’ may I remind you that Pachinko is here to help with that. Once again, as in other parts, Anna’s portrayal of Naomi can only be called sensational.
7. Now however Pachinko also has some serious talent who have had successful careers in both Korea and the United States. If I may recall the winners of this year’s award show it is, Lee Min-ho and Youn Yuh-jung. Min-ho has appeared in many ever-popular K-dramas, for instance, Boys Over Flowers whereas Yuh-jung has received an Oscar award for feature in Minari.
Disclosing about casting Min-ho, the creator Soo Hugh said to Digital Spy, “What you will note is Min-ho has that unique feel with the camera, it is not related to vanity, it is not related to looks, Min-ho has a spiritual interaction with the camera. And then Hansu, and you understand, Hansu has to possess a magnetic personality.
In Minari, Yuh-jung, for example, contributed an excited captivating performance, and she made history as the primary Korean performer who received the Oscars within the class of the finest performing actress within the classify of supporting roles in 2021.
That is why, with Pachinko, Min-ho and Yuh-jung demonstrate that viewers have appreciated them for years. Their movements are subtle, and complex, and in no way detract from the wondrous feel of this series.
8. Also behind the scenes the show has been brought to the screen by Soo Hugh and her talented writers and directors. Soo is well known for other projects which she worked on such as The Killing, The Terror before working on Pachinko.
Many efforts were made to ensure that Pachinko was as captivating as the original work as well; one found weeks of Ee research in the making of Pachinko. Not only the book was important to Soo’s research, but she has conducted interviews with real Zainichi Korean women who immigrated to Japan after the colonization.
And at Vulture, she also said, ‘In speaking with many historians and actual Zainichi women, they were so inspiring and a crucial part of building this show.’
