Back to whither's Profile whither's Profile

This is basically a formulaic K-drama with some sex scenes. The plot threads and character cliches fall squarely into all the typical K-drama tropes. You can watch this without knowing any Korean, and still understand the entire plot. In an optimistic sense, this could be a sign of good visual storytelling. In a pessimistic sense, this could just be because everything is incredibly predictable and cliched.

I think the main appeal of this movie would be that it's hentai with an attractive male lead. And although he's an absolute asshole, he doesn't rape anyone and can even be romantic at times (even if it's for the ... sake of manipulation). He's "tortured" and promiscuous, and he seduces women who seem pretty happy to have a fling with him. The bar is really on the floor when it comes to female-oriented sex media, or as Bad Boss calls itself, "femtai".
The movie is also rather plot-heavy - nearly 2 hours long. The sex scenes are quite minor in comparison to just how much plot is crammed in, actually. It's just that every part of the plot can be seen from a mile away, to the point I was wishing they'd just drop the pretense and get in bed already.

The first thing I noticed about this movie was the soundtrack. It was so bad I think whoever put it together must have had a laugh. The movie opens on a club scene and the music sounded like royalty free audio for a flash game or something. It doesn't get any better for the rest of the film. Sometimes characters are crying and the music is just conveying a completely different mood, it's bizarre.

The quality of the art is so-so. The character designs are fine but the art goes off-model a lot. Faces look pretty janky at times. Having the main guy be pretty and not an ugly bastard or NPC-level bland dude is a HUGE bonus. Because, say it with me... "The bar is on the floor."
Despite being a hentai, this movie doesn't show any genitals at all. You'll see the chest area and some bare bottoms. You'll see fondling and thrusting. The shots do not go below the belt at the front. I'll be honest, I wanted to see his dick, ok? God dammit.

The K-drama character cliches are exactly what's written on the package:

1. Son-Kyu / Kwon Seung-gyu (male protagonist)
Boss with dark past who does mean shit but is ultimately redeemable. You know he's redeemable because he's so pretty.

2. Kim Min (male antagonist)
Rival guy who gets fucked over but then whose reactions go overboard so the audience know who the true villain is, thus making the mean boss look good in comparison.

3. Chae Young-jo (female protagonist)
The young woman the boss and the rival fight over. She is just very innocent and loving and sweet and doesn't have any agency of her own. She's essentially a plot device for the two men to duke over. If this weren't hentai and she was a kitten they were fighting over, the story would amount to the same thing. There are TWO instances of her stepping into traffic without looking and getting saved. Then there's TWO OTHER instances of her IN the car and nearly getting into an accident. What is this, Final Destination?
She also goes through the typical "nerd makeover" as the movie goes on. She starts off with glasses and frumpy hair, then changes up her appearance to be sexier for Son-Kyu, then eventually gets a completely new haircut, contact lenses, and wardrobe. That's the extent of "character growth" for our main girl.

4. Baek Hye-mi (female antagonist)
An older woman from the boss's past who comes back to haunt him. She raped him back when he was young and vulnerable, and has evidence on hand to shame him for it. She threatens to ruin everything he's been building up. She's in the femdom scene, has male sex slaves, and is depicted as obsessively insane.

See? The ABCs of bland K-drama. This movie just adds a veneer of sex on top.
Son-Kyu the handsome successful charismatic playboy whose trauma turned him into an asshole? Kim Min the rival who seems nice at first then quickly becomes a disgusting piece of shit? Chae Young-Jo the helpless young lady just being yanked around? Baek Hye-mi the older woman who is, of course, a horrible evil bitch? Quintessential K-drama.

I don't know if there will be subs for this movie anytime soon, if ever, so here's a plot introduction to get you on track if you're curious about this movie and don't speak Korean (because the MAL synopsis is... strangely worded)

Son-Kyu is a manager at a large advertising company called NEONA. He has a secret traumatic past. When he was strapped for cash in his university days, he worked as a host. Look up "host bar" if you're not familiar with this concept. He was raped by an older woman, Baek Hye-mi, and this gave him PTSD. He deals with his trauma in the present by sleeping around and using women carelessly, but has frequent nightmares of what he had to endure at Baek Hye-mi's hands. This comes in the form of brief PTSD flashbacks to BDSM scenes where he's tied up in front of onlookers. These short scenes are not representative of the sex that actually happens in the movie, which is all very vanilla. Now, vanilla might be right up your alley, but I felt like I got a heaping serving of false advertising.

Within the first few minutes of the movie we see Son-Kyu with a ball gag and blindfolded on a table without much context and I thought, "oh shit???? real shit????" But no. Because of those little flashbacks I expected A LOT MORE from Son-Kyu's shenanigans. I think he sleeps with 4 different women this entire movie, all in VERY vanilla scenes. The only "fun" stuff is the PTSD BDSM flashbacks where he's being toyed with. I wish there could be HEALTHY depictions of BDSM and men who CHOOSE to take on a submissive role during sex. Again, the bar is on the floor.

Kim Min is a guy from Son-Kyu's university days that fucked Son-Kyu over morally, financially, you name it. Kim Min starts working under Son-Kyu at NEONA, and Son-Kyu sees his chance for revenge - playing nice until he can spring his trap. His plan? Steal Kim Min's girl, Chae Young-jo, who also works under him.

The following goes beyond premise and into SPOILER TERRITORY:

Since Son-Kyu's such a lady’s man, Chae Young-jo falls head over heels for him in no time. Whereas Son-Kyu is just using her as a pawn to get back at Kim Min, Chae Young-jo genuinely cares for him, making gifts for him that he carelessly throws away. Talking lovingly to him on the phone, not knowing that he's literally getting head from another woman as they speak.

So yeah, Son-Kyu is a fucking asshole, but this is a K-drama, and he is the male lead, and by the power of toxic romance cliches, he will be redeemed god dammit.

Son-Kyu rubs his sexual dominance of Chae Young-jo in Kim Min's face at every chance. He also ruins Kim Min's career up by assigning him tasks that he already knows Kim Min will fail at, and then berating him for his failures mercilessly. Kim-Min loses his composure, sexually assaulting Chae Young-jo in an attempt to "reclaim" her, only for Son-Kyu to show up and rescue her, therefore further establishing Son-Kyu as the good guy. Kim Min then assaults Son-Kyu openly in the office, getting himself fired. Son-Kyu performs his coup de grâce by personally delivering Kim Min's belongings to his house. Kim Min completely loses it and tries to stab Son-Kyu, only for Son-Kyu to trip him and kick him while he's down.

As he spends time with Chae Young-jo, Son Kyu begins to develop actual feelings beyond just using her. Her endless selfless acts of love finally... gasp.... change him! Can I get an "AH SHIT HERE WE GO AGAIN" for the horrible unhealthy romance tropes?!?!?! Wow!!! He's about to take on a new path of in life and not be a toxic bastard, but we're only half way through the drama, babyyyyy

Kim Min is now on his own path of revenge. He digs up dirt on Son Kyu's past, and finds Baek Hye-mi. Baek Hye-mi is still obsessed with Son Kyu after all these years. She's willing to get her hands dirty to have him under her thumb again. Kim Min helps her kidnap and drug Son Kyu. She has an entourage of body guards and a sex slave who are all loyal to her, and they corner Son Kyu with no escape. In his desperation, Son Kyu pulls a "YOU'LL NEVER HAVE ME!!!" and stabs himself. Baek Hye-mi panics, then is drugged by her sex slave who was jealous of Son Kyu this whole time. Son Kyu makes his escape, all the while bleeding out from his self-inflicted wound.

Meanwhile, Kim Min has kidnapped Chae Young-jo. He has completely gone over the edge, and wants to prove his love for her by raping her. Son Kyu shows up just in the nick of time to delay him, and the two men fight. Son Kyu is too weak from blood loss, and Chae Young-jo convinces Kim Min to spare him by pretending to offer herself willingly, only to hit Kim Min in the head with a lamp while his guard is down. This is arguably the only "active role" she takes during this whole story. Congratulations.

With Kim Min incapacitated, Chae Young-jo rushes to Son Kyu's side. Obviously, Kim Min isn't completely down. He rushes at the couple again. Son Kyu sacrifices himself by pushing Kim Min out the window and the two fall to their supposed deaths.

Sometime later, we see Chae Young-jo visiting a grave. This is revealed to be a total red herring because it turns out it's just her parents' grave. She goes to a cafe, where unbeknownst to her, Son Kyu is working. Through flashbacks we see how he got there. He couldn't face her after all that happened and escaped from his hospital bed to build up a new life. Chae Young-jo doesn't see him and leaves the cafe. Son Kyu runs after her. The two of them make eye contact across the street. The end.

This movie had so many near misses with traffic accidents I wondered if she was going to run out into the street and nearly get run over again.

My enjoyment of this bad movie is shockingly high because I watched it with a friend and we could not stop laughing. If I watched this wholeheartedly, I would have dropped it only a few minutes in. It is too bland to be a good hentai and too predictable to be a good drama.

The credits were rolling but I was still laughing because I remembered the climatic fight scene. Son Kyu is holding a chain necklace when he gets punched and there's a slow motion scene where he's falling back and the loose golden rings of the chain are slowly tumbling through the air. My friend said "Oh my god he's Sonic" and then we both broke down laughing to the point of tears. We were so tired after this movie that our brains were melting. That scene was surreal.

• Story 8/10
One of the best BLs I've seen - very well-paced character-centered drama. This movie adapts the first 8 chapters of the manga quite faithfully. There are only some minor differences in scenes.
Delving into some characters' pasts involves uncovering sexual assault and trauma. If you are uncomfortable with that or depictions of sadomasochism, this is not the movie for you.
The story also explores loneliness, unrequited love, and slowly blooming affection really touchingly. While physical relations progress immediately, it's development of emotional ties that is the heart of the plot.

• Art 9/10
Very high quality. The characters looked beautiful - their facial expressions, the way ... the fabric of their clothes folded or got wet, the way strands of hair moved when touched.
The issue of censorship is tackled by simply not drawing the parts in question. No pixelation, no white-out - they're just invisible.

• Sound 6/10
The OST was only thing I didn't like. The tracks, while they don't sound bad on their own, didn't fit the mood of certain scenes. Some parts of the story that were supposed to be brooding had oddly peppy music. The ending theme was nice though.

• Character 8/10
This movie covers a lot of ground and reveals much about the characters' past, how they came to their current jobs, and the traumatic experiences that drastically changed their lives.
Yashiro's fascinating because of the contrast between the dominant (professional) and submissive (personal) aspects of his lifestyle.
It's entertaining to watch Yashiro and Doumeki's personalities and desires clashing. Their interactions - equal parts adorable, awkward, hilarious, and steamy - were just great all around.
The voice acting was great - especially Yashiro's VA. Really fits his personality. Doumeki's voice was a lot deeper than expected.

• Enjoyment 9/10
Time flew by while I was watching this. I've been looking forward to this movie for months and it completely fulfilled my expectations.

• Overall 8/10
Really looking forward to the 2 sequel movies and the OVA.

These shorts contain the emotional development the movie was missing. With the two separated, both feel incomplete.

~ Story 6/10

Adult Naomi's story is fleshed out here. We get to see his feelings for Ruri grow in his youth, and then his turmoil and emotional hollowness as he goes into adulthood.

It sounds great on paper. Unfortunately in reality, it's just not very interesting separated from the movie.
If you watch this before the movie, you will be very confused. If you watch this after the movie, you will feel like the emotional development came too late. The ideal situation would have been to have the heartfelt moments ... from this ONA inserted where they belong in the film. The story would have been much stronger.
Even if this ONA was meant to be an extended trailer of sorts for the film, the scenes should still have been integrated into the main story somehow.

~ Animation 3/10

There is a huge chunk of this ONA that is just still images with voice-overs or even just silence with text on screen. I thought the point of 3D CGI was to streamline the animation process, but I guess the budget was just too tight.

The sepia tone + vignette was pretty corny and unnecessary. The voice over narration was already enough to make it clear that these are Naomi's memories.

~ Character 8/10 ------------SPOILERS----------

This ONA does what the film should have done for the characters.

Unfortunately, since these emotional scenes were put into a spin-off instead of the film, Ruri's in-film personality is practically blank.
For example, her fear of heights in the movie is reduced to 2 gags (falling off the stepladder & almost falling out of the car). Her attempt to overcome her fear in order to go visit the mountains with Naomi should have been in the movie. The final reveal that she was the little crow would have been much more rewarding. The girl who was afraid of heights flew through the skies to save her loved one. It's hard to pick up this touching detail from the movie alone.
Another example is the scene of her singing in the library when she thinks no one else is listening. In the movie, she goes from aloof to 'love of my life' for Naomi in no time at all. This one little scene of Naomi catching her with her guard down would have done wonders for their relationship to go from strangers to friends.

Naomi himself would have benefited greatly from the character development shown here. The way we get to see his unhealthy obsessive lifestyle while trying to find a way to bring Ruri back would have made his final sacrifice in the movie so much more touching. In the movie we only see the "exciting" scenes where he fails at experiments over and over. We didn't get these quiet moments where he's sitting in his empty apartment, not taking care of his health, shutting out the world, unable to function. Even him trying to care for a cat only to have it confiscated without a fight was great insight on his state of mind.

On a lesser scale, the research team would have been more lovable in the movie if they had the comedic moments shown in this ONA, along with seeing more of their relationship with Naomi.

~ Overall 6/10

I'm glad this spin-off exists to bring more depth into the characters, but it just doesn't work separated from the movie.

A fantastic contemporary adaptation of a classic Chinese story.

The story and characters are faithful - you can't go wrong with sticking to the source. As usual, it starts out with Wukong's origins before meeting Tang Seng (aka. Tripitaka or Tang Sanzang) and joining the monk's quest.

The art work is beautiful - full colour, dynamic, exciting, and expressive. Each page is worth staring at for a good minute just admiring the inking and linework.

If you are familiar with Journey to the West, this will be a joyful and nostalgic read. If you're not familiar, this is a great way to be introduced to it.

The story started off great, with Benio in high spirits while looking for Shinobu. She was as proactive and headstrong as always. Very entertaining to watch her opening adventure. Unfortunately, her pro-activeness ended quickly.

As the truth behind Shinobu's disappearance was revealed, the plot became extremely predictable and got tiring quickly. The pacing was way too slow in the middle portion of this film. Every prediction I made ended up happening, even the ones I was really hoping wouldn't.

Benio isn't the only one who loses her agency. Things just happen to Shinobu and he's constantly tied up in worry. He's only spurned into action ... by the words of others. The only two characters that actively caused things to happen in the plot were destined to fail by the laws of shoujo. Obstacles were written out too conveniently. The ending did not feel earned.

Babylon has a great first episode set-up, but the further the story progresses the worse it becomes. It tries to be both a serious political/philosophical drama and a detective thriller and it fails at both.

The detective vs serial killer thriller route fails because the main character is never given a chance to solve the mystery. We have an interesting premise to stew on for way too short an amount of time before a group of politicians literally sits the MC down to give him all the answers, including the identity and abilities of the main villain. The villain, their past, and their powers don't fit ... in to the world of the story and are never explained.

The political/philosophical drama fails because it's all fake-deep. The show focuses more on politics as it progresses, and with that comes several rounds of debates between world leaders. A show this dialogue-heavy should really have invested more brainpower into actually writing interesting dialogue. Instead, we sit through mind-numbing ramblings of characters who apparently only discovered introductory philosophy the day before (they beat the trolley problem to death) and are high off the fumes of their own self-importance. One politician becomes obsessed with defining good vs evil; his conclusion, reached through agonizing episodes of deliberation, is so bad it was actually hilarious.

These two story aspects are thrown haphazardly together and don't mesh at all. Both sides of the story, already poorly written on their own, are even weaker for having been combined.

Note: this review is about the original Chinese release in 1999, not the English dub / edit.

This show was key in introducing my childhood self to ancient Chinese mythology, culture and literature. It made one of China’s “Four Great Classical Novels” extremely accessible to a younger audience. I swear China has at least one new modern adaptation for “Journey to the West” every year (what can I say – we all love it!), but this cartoon remains one of the best. The original story remains a huge influence for modern media, from Dragon Ball, to RWBY, to League of Legends.

This review will be a blend ... between my impression of this show as a young child first experiencing it and as a young adult revisiting it.
______________________________________________
Story: 9/10

It’s a classic story that works really well for adaptation purposes: it has a huge expansive world, a wide cast of characters firmly cemented in something the audience already knows (in this case, classic Chinese mythology), a tale of unlikely friends banding together to achieve a great goal, dynamic and round characters who all have their own extensive past, a huge variety of obstacles and villains to conquer, etc. These are the hallmarks of great adventure stories, and are common elements in successful stories today as well.

The story structure is familiar; there is one big overarching adventure with a huge goal that the protagonists slowly approach, and smaller arcs with different antagonists and supporting protagonists. It’s a narrative structure that has withstood the test of time, and one that is used by modern stories (like shounen) over and over.

Now that I’m older I can recognize and appreciate these themes, but honestly as a little kid I just had a blast feeling like I was a part of the adventure and friends with the characters, defeating all those who stand in our way and being badass. When you watch this, you can read into it deeper and delve into some Chinese myth, history, and culture to enrich your experience, or just enjoy this as an easy-viewing fun filled adventure. Both work well for this show.
______________________________________________
Art/Animation: 10/10

This is something I couldn’t really appreciate as a child, but watching the cartoon recently, I can see the limitations in traditional animation from the 90s. Keeping that in mind as the basis of judgement, I think the quality is wonderful. The character designs really captured the personality the cast. The way the characters move also represents their personality. The background art is beautifully coloured and detailed. The animators did a wonderful job of translating traditional Chinese art into a modern cartoon – not only representing the fashion and architecture of the time, but also drawing inspiration from classic Chinese paintings.

This story is filled with action, and the fight scenes are dynamically animated. You won’t find any lame freeze frame character glamour shots with a blurry background whizzing behind them here. The characters move fluidly and the hits have weight. Due to the nature of the character’s powers, the fights are especially flashy.
______________________________________________
Sound: 10/10

The opening and closing themes are absolutely iconic. I still know them by heart after almost two decades. The background music is great at communicating different moods, particularly comedy and tension.

The voice acting is solid and all the actors sound exactly the way the characters should. After over 50 film/television adaptations of this story, there are specific voices people associate with the cast, and this cartoon does all of them very well. (Note: I have only ever seen the Mandarin version. I only just found out there is apparently an English dub, though I’ve never managed to find it. I recommend trying the Mandarin version with subs. I checked out a bit of it and the translation seems to be as accurate as a Chinese to English translation can get.)
______________________________________________
Character: 8/10

This show begins with the origins of Sun WuKong, establishing him as the main focus of the show. I think WuKong might be the original “overpowered protagonist”. Out of the main cast of 4 (or 5 if you count the horse), he is without a doubt everyone’s favourite. One of the simplest pleasures of life is watching a lovable character become stronger and stronger, and outsmart and defeat their enemies in spectacular ways. The other characters also have interesting pasts that are depicted in the show (even the horse), but there is no doubt WuKong is the star. He has been many people’s childhood hero (including me for sure).

A lot of WuKong’s personality and powers can be seen in modern shounen anime (Goku and Naruto for example). He is the original lovable hotheaded but trustworthy and playful guy with incredible skills who is always fighting for what’s right and defending his friends. Without a doubt, Journey to the West has been a huge influencer of Eastern culture and media. Because this story draws so much from Chinese mythology, I could recognize characters from other stories I’d heard, and connect everything in my mind to form a richer narrative. Foreign audiences may lose this layer of detail, but the characters are strong enough on their own that this won’t detract much from your experience.
______________________________________________
Enjoyment: 10/10

I was completely enamored with this series when I was growing up. I would watch the whole thing endless on repeat with my box set of DVDs. One day recently I was feeling particularly nostalgic and watched it again for old time’s sake. I wasn’t completely mind blown and rendered motionless by pure wonder like I was as a kid, obviously, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s a surprising amount of detail and subtlety that I realized I had missed as a kid, which makes me believe that an older audience can enjoy it as well.
______________________________________________
Overall: 9/10

If I was still 5 years old I would give this show an 11/10. Nostalgia often clouds people’s vision when judging something they loved as a kid, but I genuinely think this is an unbiased review. For this one show that I loved as a kid that I still love now, there are dozens of other shows that I have tossed out of mind.

Watching this show at my current age, I can see how the animation may feel outdated, or how the plotline and characters may feel too simple for a more mature audience. Its also very possible that someone with no background in Chinese culture or mythology will find some parts of the plot or characters harder to understand. This story is built upon a lot of established myths and deities, and doesn’t always explain things in depth. A significant amount of cultural significance is lost without this background knowledge, but even without it, a foreign audience can still appreciate this show and perhaps even use it as a starting point to learn more about Chinese culture. The fantasy world this show builds is strong enough on its own to stand as an independent work of art.

This cartoon or “dong hua pian" is still viewed as an example of great classic Chinese animation, and it has played a role in being the predecessor of the all the successful elements of adventure stories. Of course, it's also just good fun to watch, and easy to take in.

Someone actually recommended this show to me, saying it was "very intense".

Intensely IQ draining? Intensely boring? Intensely repetitive? I agree. This show is definitely "intense".

There was about 4 minutes of plot and character development related content in between glamour shots of male vampires and the girl making gasping noises. Most of the episodes revolved around the girl willingly walking into danger, getting the danger she deserved, then begging for it to stop.

The protagonist has no personality. The antagonist has no personality. The hot boys are overused cliches. The senseless plot is an overused cliche with no personality.

You will enjoy this show if:

1. You ... love useless heroines
2. Pseudo BDSM makes you blind to everything else
3. You only care about the art style
4. You are already brain dead