Read and watched a few things lately.
The Memory Bookshop (Song, Yu Jeong) - A quick read about struggling writer Jiwon who is mourning the death of her mother. Dealing with grief and losing her way, she stumbles across a bookshop owned by Manager K. The secret behind the bookshop consists of accessing books featuring memories and being able to access three chapters of her memory. In exchange for these three journeys, her life span would reduce in effect. There's no guarantee anything will change as a result though it provides an opportunity to revisit moments which you would have liked to have done differently if you were able to go back in time. Reading this novel is a reminder to cherish memories and cherish people.
Superfan (Jenny Tinghui Zhang) - Minnie is a Chinese student who tries to navigate and assimilate in a new university with mostly White students. She becomes a fan of a Kpop-inspired American boy group called HOURglass and constantly posts on their message board, keeping tabs on their live streams. Her favourite member is Halo aka Eason Chen who has the cold bad boy image but Eason in real life has his own demons to deal with while working on the growing fame that comes with being a member of HOURglass. Anyone who reads this novel and is a fan of certain groups, artists etc will recognise the aspects of popular culture being mentioned here. How the fans behave with their idols or how fans interact with each other on message boards. A question that one should ask oneself next time they interact on message boards or SNS - is this fan really a friend or just lying to manipulate you? Lesson to learn.
The novel splits the POV between Minnie and Eason which gives the readers insight to both characters and their lives.
It was difficult to actually like Minnie as a character, let alone relate from top to bottom. When I was 18 I wasn't even in deep fangirl mode and too busy trying to avoid studying and reluctantly dive into working before eventually being forced to go into uni. I was not interested in university nor was I trying hard to fit into White spaces. My more hardcore fangirling into what is now Hallyu started in my late 20s. At university I was more into Animanga and the J-music that came with Anime theme tunes.
I do however acknowledge and appreciate the Asian American identity nods and how her uni friends shared the writing creativity together. Akash is the friend you need. Clark and Nate on the other hand...no thanks. I felt the novel tried to make her stand out as a not so typical Chinese person with the fact she was taller and slimmer.
Eason Chen's story on the other hand was deeply tragic and I appreciated his character. Even his interaction with Vietnamese band member Julian was appealing, possibly one of my favourite relationships in the novel. Bromance or brotherly friendship whatever you wish to think of, there was something nice in seeing how understanding Julian could be towards Eason. It took me a while to pick up the fact Eason's mother named her children after popular Mando/Cantopop artists i.e. Faye and Eason. Minwoo and the one token White member Colt were more in the background and I felt Minwoo was playing the diplomatic leader role.
The one chapter in the mother's POV was chilling and reading about how Eason's mother was in the past and leading to his parents separating brought out a lot of dark moments.
Genie, Make A Wish (2025) - Ki Kayoung (Bae Suzy) is the heartless female protagonist who awakens a genie called Iblis (Kim Woobin) after 1000 years while on holiday in Dubai. She becomes his new master and is granted three wishes. In a small village of first gen locals with an Angel who goes by Ryu Suhyeon / Ejllael (Noh Sanghyun) keeping tabs on her wishes, Kayoung tries to work out what three wishes she should request Iblis to fulfill. As the drama unfolds, more of their history and backstory from the past also makes themselves known.
Kayoung is a pretty-faced 'psychopath' who seemingly doesn't understand pure human emotion however there are plenty of scenes where she loses her temper when things don't go as planned or when her schedule is ruined. She does show signs of jealousy and enough bafflement when it comes to maintaining relationships. It's almost like she is having situational moments and what looks like a boring, dull life to keep herself going. The rules her grandmother Oh Pan Geum keep her in check after Kayoung was abandoned by her mother because she was deemed too difficult to handle. We have to give a ton of credit to Grandmother here for constantly showing affection and patience when it came to raising Kayoung. I actually related to some of Kayoung's quirks e.g. having a weird smile or unable to smile properly or naturally. It's one reason why I hate having photos taken. I'm either a miserable person or smiling too widely it looks weird. I get called out either way whilst others get away with it.
The drama took a while to actually interest me as I felt there was a lot going on and a lot to take in (the use of religion and biblical content for example but we're talking about a genie after all). There were definitely plenty of comedic moments and the little nods to other media such as Disney, Marvel and The Glory were laughable. It's when Kayoung's history unfolds that things get darker.
The final episode with the final wish was something I never expected but my heart did hurt. On the other hand I found the ending satisfactory with how things turned out for Kayoung and Iblis.
Trailer for the drama.
Dear X (Vanziun) - Baek Ah Jin is a rising actress and just as she is about to receive an award, her past is revealed. The story focuses on how she reached to this point in her life. On the surface Ah Jin is kind, hardworking and well-liked by many. However she has shown she can be very deceitful behind the kindness when people cross the line. Thus, she manipulates others to get what she wants, to reach her goals and to come out on top. Her main school peers through life are Kim Jae Oh and Yoon Jun Seo who help her when she needs them. Jun Seo's mother dated Ah Jin's father and neither of these parents are saintly and Ah Jin sees through them. Jae Oh comes from a broken family as well, namely an abusive father who beats up his two sons.
Dear X allows the reader to walk through the years of these three individuals and how Ah Jin bests those who made her life miserable. Ah Jin is a sociopath, per the documentary and her messed up life shaped her character. Nothing in this story is simply black and white. It's muddled, chaotic and there is no clear cut good versus bad. The interaction in both versions between the supposed OT3 is revealing and I appreciate how pleasant it was back in the early days. When things get more dangerous, you see the relationships tested.
Kim Yoo Jung nails it as Baek Ah Jin. I felt the drama tapped into her character more deeply, perhaps adding more layers. She gives zero care in most of the webtoon chapters and just soldiers on when shit gets worse. In the drama you see cracks here and there, especially in the second part of the drama. Kim Do Hoon as Kim Jae Oh and Kim Young Dae as Yoon Jun Seo were also notable and their roles were expanded in the drama. If you ever had any Ride Or Dies like these guys you are lucky and should be grateful.
After watching and reading Dear X I was left grieving more for the ones who were manipulated by Ah Jin. I also realised Vanziun was one of the co-screenwriters which may explain how the dramatic beats that I experienced from the webtoon still affected me when I watched the drama. There were quite a few changes with the storyline compared to the webtoon, especially in the last few episodes. There was no right or wrong in how things were rewritten but it does make you want to inevitably compare the differences between both versions. I was shocked with the final arc of the webtoon being rewritten in another direction and how some characters' fates changed.
The angst never leaves in both versions and even though I knew some characters would meet their demise, seeing it come to life in a drama made the emotional impact harder on me. I never wanted to hug a few characters so much before. It's been a while since I felt that way.
The OST for Dear X was appropriately dark, murky with whispering lyrics. The vocal tracks are all in English but still remain chilling as you watch and listen.
The trailer can be seen below.