[Drama 2011] Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror 광개토태왕

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest DJG]

My goodness just marathoned Gou. I got so caught up, I couldn’t stop watching. Absolutely loved it. Things I liked and questions I have:

The actors playing Oda Nobunaga and Leyasu Tokugawa were amazing. When they aged Leyasu, I totally believed the actor had really gotten old. The CG effects of the battle scenes, castles were so well integrated, it was difficult at times to detect they weren’t real. How they achieved aging of the characters, was also very well done i.e. Hideyoshi, Leyasu and Hidetada. Hidetada went from a teenager, to a shogun and he was believable at each stage. I am still unsure if the men wore wigs, or if they actually shaved their heads, because the hair pieces, mustaches etc. were very well done. You can’t see the glue lines, even in HD, like you saw in the early episodes of GTGC.

What were the Ooku inner palace rules? And did the real Hidetada not have concubines (well other than the hidden 2), like was shown on this show. The other men had like 20 or more.

Also, I am confused about the Shogun power, the Shogun controlled the military, the division of land and fiefdoms, and so what exactly was the emperor and royal court for? Was there another ruling class somewhere else? Gou was called a princess, so was she a samurai princess, or princess for the whole country.

Also, did they really marry children and first cousins? I wonder if they were a lot of birth complications.

Finally, what was the green thing being whisked that they drank and called tea

This was a beautiful drama that has introduced me to another genre of dramas. Thanks to those who mentioned it on this thread and sorry for going of topic.

[daunte29]

No more Damju.

I guess the screencaps above for ep 85 pretty much tells you that the rescue mission by Gen Hwang, Seok Jae & Seol Ji did not achieve its main objective.

Damju was killed not by one arrow (as in the case of Doyeong) but died under a hail of Houyan arrows, the first arrow being shot by none other than Murong Xi himself.

MX was in fact aiming for the child but Damju did what any mother in a korean historical drama MUST do - she jumped in the path of MX's arrow after which at least 3 more arrows impacted her.

As in keeping with the unwritten rule in korean dramas, dying main characters are allowed to make long speeches and take their time before exhaling their last breath.

Her body was transported on a horse cart back to Gungnaseong where Dumb-duck saw the lifeless bloodied body of his sister.

Note the complete absence of Damju's usual ornate hair accessories, and her wig seems a bit misplaced(?). Why does Damju's face suddenly reminds me of a vampire that just had lunch?

Note the complete absence of tears when DD 'cries'......Ok.... I'll spare you all the subsequent scenes of wailing PEY HA I DESERVE TO DIE (don't they have anything new to say after a failure? And if they're so distraught that they want to die, there's no need to ask PEY HA's permission, just DIY) and cryfest .... and I'm one who seriously think Damju shouldn't have been killed off, even if actress Jo An wanted out from this horrible sageuk.

Why? Because it just makes our great king looks terribly lame when it comes to protecting those closest to him. First he shoots Doyeong dead albeit accidentally and when he himself was in Zhongshan (condolence visit to Murong Chui) making grand speeches to Goguryeo migrants about how he will do anything anytime to protect them.... and he had the golden chance to take his own sister back with him after she was accused of treason.

But what did he do? He only made Murong Bao 'verbally' promise to take care of Damju, not realising of course when MB dies and Murong Xi took over, that promise to protect Damju evaporated into thin air.

Put simply, what's the use of a great conqueror if he cannot even save the lives of his loved ones when he had more than a good chance to do so? If the lives of his own family is far less worthy than all his citizens, including the Silla & Baekje people whom he openly protects more, then I think our drama writers themselves have got warped and misguided notions about family values vs national interests.

Dumb-duck should have made his move the moment he heard MB had died and that MX was the new king. Especially since Damju was STILL performing her patriotic duty of spying for her dumb brother.

And where was Ha Muji all this time? You'd think he would have the simple foresight to know that MX would never be as magnanimous as MB towards Damju being a spy and you'd expect HMJ to advise DD to do something to save his own sister from potential danger.

Oh dear, oh dear... our two female writers really again lost the chance to lift this drama from the pits and instead they took the easy way out and killed off Damju. Plus a lowly female bodyguard.

Well, the 'good' news is Seol Ji is still alive & kicking even though she took an arrow in her calf and she still looks hawt even while crying for Damju. Will Seol Ji live until episode 100, eh?

[daunte29]

Caution: off-topic answer to DJG' post, so click to view only if you're interested in Gou.

The green stuff they whisk about is part of the time-honored Zen custom of drinking green tea. The samurais elevated the green tea drinking into a ritualistic ceremony called CHA NO YU. This tea ceremony is still practised today by Zen practitioners and in special occasions like weddings & coming of age. I think Wikipedia can provide details.

Yes, in feudal Japan, inter-marriage between cousins and even siblings were common. But with the introduction of first Christianity and the gradual influx of westerners and the scientific knowledge they brought, this practice slowly tapered off.

The Shogunate system began much earlier (1192) than the timeline for Gou. The shogunate system came about because of the military power of individual warlords who competed against each other for territory & supremacy. So it makes sense that the strongest warlord with the victorious armies (his very own) would end up top of the heap. The emperor did not have large powerful armies like these warlords and so was powerless in that sense to reject or resist the top-of-the-heap warlord.

So to protect both the emperorship and to secure peace for the warring provinces, the emperor would appoint the shogun to rule on the emperor's behalf. The appointed shogun can remain in office so long as he or his successors do not get defeated by another warlord who refuses to obey or challenges his authority, i.e. rebel. Meanwhile the emperor enjoyed the protection of the ruling shogun because without the emperor, the shogun's power and legitimacy would be put into question.

It's a win-win situation with the difference being the emperor's right to rule came from the gods above while the shogun's power to rule comes from being the best among equals and with the official approval from the emperor. You can unseat the incumbent shogun through wars and alliances but you can never unseat the emperor because his power comes from the gods, the same gods who created the Japanese archipelago and the Japanese people themselves.

Other less powerful warlords would also ally themselves with the shogun or with the next most powerful warlord and so we have centuries of political and territorial infighting resulting in many big civil wars which involved hundreds of thousands of samurais. This vicious cycle was finally broken under Nobunaga but not completely and it wasn't until the Tokugawa took over the shogunate did wars finally ended and Japan was able to enjoy peace.

Gou is both a samurai princess by virtue of her family bloodline (Azai clan) and when she married Hidetada, she was still only a princess but as princess of the Tokugawa clan. However the moment Hidetada was appointed by Ieyasu as the next Shogun, Gou's status changed into being the Shogun's wife, and that elevated her status to being the most powerful woman next to her husband being the most powerful ruler of Japan.

The real Gou had 7 children sired by Hidetada of whom two died while young. I personally don't know how many concubines the real Hidetada had but his official children listed were all from Gou, his official wife.

Since he did sire 7 kids with his wife, I'm reasonably sure his libido would have made him capable of having many concubines.

Incidentally the real name for the real Gou was Oeyo who in her twilight years took on a Buddhist name Sogenin. Her mausoleum can be found at Zōjō-ji in the Shiba neighborhood of Tokyo.

As for the samurai hairpieces, it's a wig. Nowadays modern makeup techniques and props makes the hairpiece totally real without having the actor shave off his real hair. The downside is the male actors have to spend at least one hour plus sitting on the makeup artist chair while his natural hair is flattened using special soft gel and then the hairpiece goes on and then the artists methodically 'glues' the attachment very slowly and blends the attachment into the facial skin so that it appears seamless.

But in the earlier taigas made before the mid-90s, the samurai wigs were very obviously fake unlike what we see today.

The defiant Lady Yodo (2nd wife of Hideyoshi, eldest of the 3 sisters) who, together with her son Hideyori, stood her ground at Osaka castle against Ieyasu & Hidetaga Tokugawa.

Seasoned actress Rie Miyawaza was for me the defining character in the whole series. The producers chose the right actress to play the role of the eldest 3 because she would be the mother-figure for her two younger sisters for the entire duration of the drama and tragically the only one among the 3 who had to die to protect the honor of the Toyotomi clan whom she married into because after the death of Hideyoshi, she became the de facto 'dowager' and hence the real power behind the Toyotomi clan.

The writer didn't distort history in her case and so what we saw in this drama was actually what happened to the real Lady Yodo, who was known mostly as Cha-cha in the early half of the drama.

Multiple award-winning actress Rie Miyawaza doesn't usually do many dramas, preferring to be involved in films & stage and her own private life is full of controversies and notoriety. In her youth she battled anorexia nervosa for many years and she reportedly cut her own wrists. She's one of the few actresses who has published a nude photobook and she has published many non-nude photobooks as well. She was engaged to a sumo wrestler but broke it off later. At 36, she suddenly told the whole world she was pregnant with her first child, and would marry the child's father after having the baby. Phew! What a woman!

But when it comes to acting, Rie becomes totally beyond her own persona and her on-camera presence reaches out and touches you. She makes you feel what she's feeling in her role.

[viktoria]

No more Damju.

I guess the screencaps above for ep 85 pretty much tells you that the rescue mission by Gen Hwang, Seok Jae & Seol Ji did not achieve its main objective.

Damju was killed not by one arrow (as in the case of Doyeong) but died under a hail of Houyan arrows, the first arrow being shot by none other than Murong Xi himself.

MX was in fact aiming for the child but Damju did what any mother in a korean historical drama MUST do - she jumped in the path of MX's arrow after which at least 4 or more other arrows impacted her.

As in keeping with the unwritten rule in korean dramas, dying main characters are allowed to make long speeches and take their time before exhaling their last breath.

Her body was transported on a wagon cart back to Gungnaseong where Dumb-duck saw the lifeless bloodied body of his sister.

OK... I'll spare you all the subsequent scenes of wailing PEY HA I DESERVE TO DIE (don't they have anything new to say after a failure?) and cryfest .... and I'm one who seriously think Damju shouldn't have been killed off, even if actress Jo An wanted out from this horrible sageuk.

Why? Because it just makes our great king looks terribly lame when it comes to protecting those closest to him. First he shoots Doyeong dead albeit accidentally and when he himself was in Zhongshan (condolence visit to Murong Chui) making grand speeches to Goguryeo migrants about how he will do anything anytime to protect them.... and he had the golden chance to take his own sister back with him after she was accused of treason.

But what did he do? He only made Murong Bao 'verbally' promise to take care of Damju, not realising of course when MB dies and Murong Xi took over, that promise to protect Damju evaporated into thin air.

Put simply, what's the use of a great conqueror if he cannot even save the lives of his loved ones when he had more than a good chance to do so? If the lives of his own family is far less worthy than all his citizens, including the Silla & Baekje people whom he openly protects more, then I think our drama writers themselves have got warped and misguided notions about family values vs national interests.

Dumb-duck should have made his move the moment he heard MB had died and that MX was the new king. Especially since Damju was STILL performing her patriotic duty of spying for her dumb brother.

And were was Ha Muji all this time? You'd think he would have the simple foresight to know that MX would never be as magnanimous as MB towards Damju being a spy and you'd expect HMJ to advise DD to do something to save his own sister from potential danger.

Oh dear, oh dear... our two female writers really again lost the chance to lift this drama from the pits but instead they took the easy way out and killed off Damju. Plus a lowly female bodyguard.

Well, the 'good' news is Seol Ji is still alive and kicking and she looks hawt even while crying for Damju. Will Seol Ji live until episode 100, eh?

hi daunte29. i haven't really been watching the drama lately so reading your post is the only way i get updates now. it's more interesting than watching it. thank you daunte29 for your posts.

[Guest DJG]

@daunte29

thank you for answering my questions and updating us on this drama.

[daunte29]

Hi viktoria, DJG ....you're both most welcome.

KBSW Ep 80... when Murong Bao suffers from PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) & the Houyan citizenry hates him for raising taxes to war with Goguryeo.

How did this get so bad so quickly? Yup, it's Dam-Deok once again. (U didn't have someone else in mind, did you?)

After settling the Wae problem, DD turns his attention to recapturing his fortress at Namsoseong which was being held by Murong Xi. Meantime, Murong Bao's main force was still encamped at Sinseong.

Pop quiz ; when you want to attack and seize a fortress WITHOUT RELYING on the tried and tested way of sending wave after wave of useless soldiers to ram the main gate and scale the ramparts, what else can you do?

A. Dress your soldiers in the enemy's uniform, flash a fake pass at the gate checkpoint and then the moment you're inside, start slaughtering anyone and anything that carries a sharp metal object.

B. March your best troops up the nearest hill or mountain and then using hang-gliders, silently fly your force into the fortress and start slaughtering anyone or anything that carries a sharp metal object.

C. Cut off the water supply to the fortress.

Since option B uses a device that wasn't yet available in Goguryeo and option A has already been used many times in this and other historical dramas, C was the obvious choice.

DD orders the water supply be cut off to Namsoseong, resulting in the Houyan soldiers being unable to enjoy their daily hot showers and so Murong Xi abandons the fortress and retreats back to Sinseong. Murong Bao at Sinseong receives news of the water cut-off and instantly sends supplies and messengers instructing MX not to retreat, stay put and wait for help being sent from Sinseong.

However the moment Sinseong's fortress gates were opened for Houyan's reinforcements rushing out to aid MX, DD's forces saw the opened gates and rushed in to begin their recapture of Sinseong. A short no-contest no-result swordfight between DD & MB ended with MB turning tail and retreating back to Zhongshan. Meanwhile his minnows covering his retreat were quickly murdered left, right & center by Goguryeo forces.

Indeed at this point, DD was intent on punishing Murong Xi for taking Namsoseong and he gave chase on his horse to MX and his men who were running up the hillside to escape DD & his pursuers. Just when DD sees the terrified-looking MX & his men desperately running to escape, DD stops his pursuit and tells his men to let MX go. He then gallops over to Sinseong where he had that short duel with MB, described above.

If not for our wishy-washy writers, DD could have continued his pursuit and kill MX - and then Damju in ep 85 would not have been killed by MX. But the writers made DD spare MX's life

Cut scene: MB, MX & Murong Un are looking more exhausted, tired and dejected than their horses as they trot back to Houyan. The men's tails are visibly between their legs.

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Once back in his bedroom, that's when MB begins showing symptoms of PTSD:

1. Afflicted by nightmares which relive each painful cut on him by DD's blade and watching his soldiers dropping dead like sacks of potatoes

2. Wakes up in cold sweat and instantly brandishing sword expecting DD to drop in from the bedroom ceiling

3. Tells his ministers and generals to immediately prepare for war against Gpguryeo because he must avenge his humiliation; not enough funds? raise taxes. Soldiers are tired? I don't care!

4. At the long table meetings, MB is seen sweating buckets, eyes watery red and snarling more than usual - all the signs of a king who can no longer control his rage or his nether regions from exploding and spilling its contents on his regal robes.

5. His irrationality upsizes when he tells everyone at the long table that henceforth any future failure to conquer Goguryeo and kill Damdeok will be blamed squarely on Murong Xi. So they had better win the next war or else MX will be headless and will never need a mirror, ever again.

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Murong Un hears reports of the Houyan citizens rioting and showing discontentment over the higher taxes and impending war with Goguryeo. MU believes these are signs of Houyan rule collapsing due to civil strife and he urges MX to seize the throne and send MB to the asylum except that the Houyan Hospital for the Mentally-Ill hadn't been built yet.

MX still says no to the idea of dethroning his mad brother because of his promise to their dying father several episodes back. MX however quickly changes his tune the moment strange powerfully-worded anti-MB posters began appearing all over the city (put up by Ha Muji's spies in Zhongsan) proclaiming MX to be the better ruler than the current one who should seek psychiatric help quickly.

The now super-incensed MB orders jumbo-ears Fengba to investigate if MX had anything to do with those anti-fan posters and to report back asap. Because of this new development MX fears he has no other option than to accept MU's plan to usurp the throne, or else he would die a scapegoat.

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As mentioned above, the anti-Murong Bao posters put up around Zhongsan was Ha Mu Ji's plan to DD at their long table to further incite unrest and stoke the fires of internal dispute. The idea is if the Houyan citizenry resented their king, these sentiments could cause division between MB & MX and therefore the entire court admin would crumble. HMJ would just be adding oil to the angry public sentiment and cause a fire.

So says Ha Muji & our KBS writers.

And then a very worried-looking Gen Hwang tells the long table:

YOU CAN'T DO THAT. THAT WILL PUT PRINCESS DAMJU IN DANGER.

To which HMJ replies: HER SAFETY CAN'T BE GUARANTEED, BUT THEY HAVE TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE OF PRINCE HUWANG (Damju's child).

Then DD adds: IF ALL GOES AS YOU SAY, WE COULD BRING DAMJU BACK TO GOGURYEO.

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As per mentioned in my earlier post above, Damju dies at the hands of MX who was actually aiming his arrow at the child. So obviously HMJ's deduction was flawed from the very beginning.

How flawed? Just think...if after MX dethrones MB, why should MX or the Houyan citizens care two hoots about the child who was borne by a Goguryeo princess? And Goguryeo being the source of the Houyan citizens' pain and suffering over the many years of conflict and high taxes to sustain the wars?

Hands up anyone who thinks Houyan citizens would still love a kid-prince to take over from MB? Even Fengba's spies have been hearing citizens saying that they'd like to replace MB with MX, regardless of what HMJ's posters were meant to do.

MX would most likely throw MB's entire family, concubines and offspring into prison, together with their pets, servants, bodyguards, hairstylists, cooks and wardrobe managers. Of course nobody expected MB to lunge himself at MX sword and kill himself (next week).

HMJ's entire premise rested on MX NOT HARMING DAMJU because of the child is so naive - yes, it reflects the naivety of the writers themselves in not being able to weave a credible plot involving palace intrigue and yes again, it makes our great king totally inept and devoid of any brilliant ideas of his own with regards to Damju's safety.

The writers did make Gen Hwang the main defender of Damju's safety and what the writers should have done was to give Gen Hwang an extra scene where Hwang asks DD's permission to insert a covert rescue force within Zhongsan city and stand ready to rescue Damju if and when the situation deteriorates - rather than react only when the situation worsens and this scenario was exactly what the writers chose in ep 85 before killing off Damju.

If the only sister of our great king is not important enough or worth saving by sending in a covert team before the situation becomes worse, then tell me who is worth dying for? Damju is royalty and like they enjoy making the generals keep parroting, nothing is more honorable than to die fighting for your king or as he so orders you.

Instead of just agreeing with HMJ, Damdeok could have prioritised speed & deception in launching a rescue & extraction operation well before a crisis developed within the Houyan palace court because when that happens, palace security would surely be increased and MX himself would be more alert to any possible external threats.

My imaginary alternate scene involves DD approving Gen Hwang to send in an advanced rescue team to first wait & monitor the civil situation and then when things turned awry, immediately rescue Damju & child by launching a series of diversionary fires/commotion within the palace, then maybe Damju wouldn't have to die, and safely reach Gungnaseong.

Actress Jo An could then still 'disappear' from the drama just like Yakyeon did.

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest DJG]

^thank you semi-fly for your links and hard work.

[daunte29]

How do you cut off water supply to a fortress?

In ep 79 the Houyans used it to 'weaken' the Goguryeo soldiers at Namsoseong & in tit-for-tat response in ep 80, Ha Muji used the same tactic to recapture Namsoseong. But when you really think about it, how the heck do you cut off water supply in the form of rivers, streams and groundwater?

K-drama writers get away with a lot of cliches and in this drama, the other cliched military tactic frequently used are enemy soldiers disguising themselves by simply wearing the uniforms of their enemies. Amazingly the enemies' uniform always fits like second skin.

You can stop reading here because I'm going to delve into rivers, streams, groundwater and carcasses. Thanks!

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Streams would be easier to 'cut off' but easier doesn't mean easy. To stop a stream from flowing in its natural direction, you'd need to divert its flow using lots of sandbags (where do you get sand in mountains and hills?) and/or rocks (don't expect a pile of ready-to-use rocks waiting to be used).

Then to pile the sandbags and rocks to dam and divert the stream, you'd need hundreds of men and depending on the size of the stream, you may or may not succeed in diverting the flow.

Reality check: nobody in his right mind would build a fortress settlement with just a nearby stream as its main water source. Fortresses usually are built where there's abundant groundwater (digging wells) and/or a river. Unlike fortresses in k-dramas which usually houses soldiers, real fortresses in Korea housed civilians as well - in short ancient fortresses in Korea contain dwellings for civilians as well as the garrison.

Bigger fortresses may have civilian dwellings outside the fortress walls but in times of danger, the civilians either flee or seek shelter within the fortress itself.

To 'cut-off' the water supply to a fortress therefore would require lots of preparation of sandbags and heavy rocks that could still be placed by hand and that necessarily means deploying hundreds of soldiers to get the job done.

Just look at the river flowing in your village, town & city and then imagine the possibility of diverting its flow using ancient tools at hand. Doesn't sound so easy any more, does it?

I've visited some remaining ancient Korean fortresses and almost all of them relied on groundwater accessible by digging wells.

You see, the ancient folks living on the Korean peninsula are not as dumb as our drama writers. They knew that fortresses would occasionally be besieged and surrounded by invaders and therefore you need a reliable system of wells to sustain yourself for months at a time.

The beauty of groundwater is that that water source cannot be simply 'cut-off' as our sageuks routinely mention.

In short therefore, cutting off water supply to a fortress is as easy as deflecting incoming arrows with your trusty sword.

In the real military world of laying siege to a fortress, the invaders wouldn't even need to divert the river that supplies water to the fortress - they'll just poison the river by placing lots of dead and rotting carcasses on the part of the river closest to the fortress while much further upstream, the invaders are still assured of fresh river water for themselves.

And you'll guess by now how and where the enemy soldiers would dispose of their daily human waste ... just dump loads of the stuff into the river that's flowing into the fortress. Biological warfare is not as new as you previously assumed.

Well, well .... now you're wiser than our k-drama writers, right?

[Moosegender]

I don't know about cutting off but you can flood a fortress. Many ancient Chinese battles used this tactic.

[daunte29]

I don't know about cutting off but you can flood a fortress. Many ancient Chinese battles used this tactic.

Ancient & present-day China frequently suffer from massive floods caused by torrential rains and the famous major rivers in China are notorious in killing hundreds of thousands throughout recorded history.

Most probably the stories you read about were chinese generals taking advantage of nature's catastrophe during rainy season but as to how much human input was done to directly flood a fortress remains questionable.

Like I said, just look at the river that flows in your town and city and re-think what the ancients would have at their disposal to dam a river and re-channel its flow? No excavators, no dynamite, no heavy load trucks to bring in your rocks and sand, and you'd need your soldiers to cut down trees by the hundreds to get timber or perhaps to clear a new path for the river.... how? And what for since there are easier ways to get a besieged fortress to surrender and you don't even need a wooden horse.

However, to flood a fortress in a real scenario would be contingent on the size of the water source, and whether you can dam the water long enough to produce the necessary deluge force and even upon release of megatons of water, how are you going to channel the release of water flow directly towards the intended fortress?

To do this, you'd need your soldiers to work tirelessly night and day just endlessly shovelling and how are you going to ensure you have enough raw materials to dam the water and then re-channel it? Where are you going to get your raw materials - sand, rocks, and thousands of shovels, etc) and then transport it to the location? Are you going to assume the fortress defenders are not going to launch attacks on the enemy who're too busy re-engineering the river?

If you've ever visited a real fortress in Korea or castle in Japan, you'd know that there are underground passages and even parts of the walls that can be 'opened' to allow troops and messengers and couriers to bring in supplies. So it's possible for the defenders to sneak out and launch brief attacks on the enemy, especially its supply train.

As far as Korean fortresses and Japanese castles are concerned, they're usually built on high ground and then further elevated so you'd need to create a ginormous dam in order to generate a humongous tsunami.

Furthermore most Korean fortresses have moats (except for those built on cliffs and mountains) and the reason you don't see moats in sageuks because their dry moats have been paved over to allow vehicles to pass through.

That's why I seriously doubt the efficacy of flooding a fortress when you have much easier ways to bring a fortress to its knees.

I think poisoning the river is still the most feasible option if you wish to slowly torture its occupants followed by constant bombardment of fire arrows and fireballs to start fires within the fortress. A besieged fortress which is rationing its precious water through its system of wells may have to think twice about putting out the fires.

[watchumlots]

@daunte29

thank you for answering my questions and updating us on this drama.

YEAH!!  Here's another vote for Gou.  Waiting week-by-week for the next episodes of these series makes me crazy so I usually wait until almost the end, then marathon them.  Plus, one can read the reviews and summaries to see if they remain interesting.  Viewers remarks and comments usually add insight, especially if one is unfamiliar with the culture and language.  @daunte29 has been a great (re)source. 

[watchumlots]

@DJG:

OMO!  Here's a tip:  Cloud Above the Slope (Japanese)  I have watched only a couple of episodes, but it is really good. 

[daunte29]

@DJG:

OMO!  Here's a tip:  Cloud Above the Slope (Japanese)  I have watched only a couple of episodes, but it is really good. 

Note: off-topic reply to the above... so please don't read if not interested. Thanks!

Hi watchumlots ..... I believe this is the NHK special drama you're referring to

http://asianwiki.com/Saka_no_ue_no_kumo

Although not truly a samurai taiga, the drama is still historical because it centers on 3 real characters who played pivotal roles in 'the first great war of the 20th century" - the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905.

This war was the first defeat of a European great power by a backwater Asian country whose citizens were routinely called 'yellow monkeys'. This war also saw Russian citizens donating money to the Japanese Red Cross later for their care of their thousands of soldiers.

But make no mistake - this drama isn't a war-action flick and the producers purposely made the CGI (computer-generated imagery) sea battles look kinda 'cheap' because they didn't want to glorify the battles too much but instead focussed on the human drama. The cavalry battle scenes against the mighty Cossacks were more realistically done. The battles served as the backdrop but were not the main focus.

The main focus was always on the 3 men and one woman from two families, all 4 having grown up in the same village and were best of friends. Ep 1 saw them as carefree mischievous children (played by child actors) growing up in a rustic village in post-samurai period & being gradually absorbed into the Meiji modernization era.

By the end of the first episode (no dilly-dallying like k-dramas), the 4 kids are now in their late teens/early 20s (played by the main stars) and eager to pursue modern education in Tokyo, which was the only happening place for them, so one by one left the village to strike their destinies in Tokyo.

There was extensive use of bluescreen & digital matte technology to bring the bygone Tokyo scenes to life and just like James Cameron Titanic, they built half-size ships to film the on-deck scenes. Many Caucasian actors were also cast as supporting roles & extras. Location filming included Russia & China and filming began way back in 2007.

NHK aired this drama series over 3 years, beginning autumn 2009 to autumn 2011, showing only 4 episodes each time but now international viewers can watch the entire series at one go, either on DVD or cable channels with eng subs.

The drama stars some of Japan's A-list actors and while he doesn't appear in any scene, actor Ken Watanabe did the voice narration.

For me, the defining character of the 4 was actress Kanno Miho who played Shiki's sister, Ritsu. Unlike her famous poet brother and the two Akiyama brothers, she received no formal education but she spent the better part of her life caring for her sick poet brother later. Only after his death, did she enter vocational school and became a teacher at that same school but she then resigned to take care of her sick mother. Ritsu spent her remaining years teaching needlework.

However without Ritsu's character (who was a real person), then we wouldn't see the inner pain & heartbreak she suffers, and though some non-Japanese might say fondly she's the epitome of a traditional Japanese woman who holds firm to her values and upbringing, they couldn't be more correct - Ritsu belongs to a dying breed of Japanese women nowadays who are modern in outlook, well-educated, career-minded, self-sufficient, values which are cherished everywhere in our modern way of life.

But Ritsu, for all her lack of formal education, still typifies values which some have forgotten in the pursuit of modernity - inner strength, steadfast loyalty in friendship, and family above self. Silly notions? Perhaps, given the egalitarian values we have nowadays.

But if you have a friend like Ritsu, or a sister like her, or a wife with her qualities, I think you won't so easily let go of her. Of course let's ignore the fact the real Ritsu wasn't as lovely as actress Kanno Miho.

Like I said before, unlike most K-dramas which must have a love triangle story, this NHK drama portrays love as less of a romantic notion but more as deep love for a person regardless whether marriage is the end point or not - they may have wanted to be together but due to changing circumstances and stark choices, that was not to be. And I guess this is as a real a reflection & portrayal on fate and destiny as we ourselves might probably have experienced when we were younger and active in dating & courtship.

Moreover since they are based on real people, the drama writers cannot possibly marry whoever they choose and the marriages which do take place in this drama did occur to the real people concerned.

fanmade clip from the drama.... the vocalise is by Sarah Brightman who also sings the entire song in Japanese at the end of every episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEgZKCElDJo

[bonds]

I understand that KGTG has been reduced to 92 episodes which will end in end April, due to buget cost.  Can anyone clarify?  Thanks.

[daunte29]

I understand that KGTG has been reduced to 92 episodes which will end in end April, due to buget cost.  Can anyone clarify?  Thanks.

I did read the same post in an american-based k-drama forum and she didn't quote her source. Some other posters in that forum often make baseless remarks like GTGC doing badly at the ratings etc when in fact, it's not remotely true.

Sometimes when people vent their frustrations and anger on a drama, some of the steam may get trapped in the brain, resulting in temporary loss of brain cells.

From what I read in one local Korean news article quite some time ago, the budget cuts by KBS won't affect GTGC but will affect its replacement King Taejong Muyeol which stars Dae Jo Young's Choi Soo Jung. Originally slated to replace GTGC end May (the scheduled 100 episodes), KTM will now debut its 80 episode run in August instead, to avoid its weekend sageuk ratings being affected by the London Olympics.

Meanwhile KBS hasn't decide what it intends to air as a filler during its weekend saguek slot which will be 'vacant' once GTCC ends in end May.

Folks following GTGC on KBS World need not have to worry because this gripping and funny drama will continue its run until early July (my own estimation based on 100 episodes).

My info may be already outdated so please feel free to jump in if you have any reliable updated information concerning this matter, based not on hearsay & forum postings but reliable sources. Thanks.

[watchumlots]

@Daunte29: Thank you for the background info, I am enjoying this series so much on UTB w/subs.

[Guest DJG]

@DJG:

OMO!  Here's a tip:  Cloud Above the Slope (Japanese)  I have watched only a couple of episodes, but it is really good. 

Thank you for the recommendation. I am looking for subbed versions.

After Gou, I moved on to Atsuhime. I kinda like it, but being an older series the video quality is pretty poor. The series is also a bit slow. But still watching though.

Do you have recommendation for more female driven dramas like Gou or Atsuhime. thanks

[bonds]

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