I guess I can't really and totally dismiss South Korean series can I? After watching Kang Chi I'm now more and more interested to do some backtrack watching with City Hunter. I admit that I'm not exactly a huge fan of South Korean shows but a good story is still a good story. Sometimes, I feel the need to divert from watching Tokusatsu shows and focus more on types of shows that I haven't watched for some time. At the same time, I acknowledge that City Hunter is actually a Manga done by Hojo Tsukasa who I'm yet to be familiar with.
The plot has both North Korea and South Korea involved in the beginning. The conflict between North and South is so bad that South Korean series tend to put them in a lot in some of their TV series and North Korean laws ban South Korean music. The beginning shows the tragedy of the hero Lee Yoon Song who would assume the identity of a dead Korean-American teenager. Our hero Yoon Song secretly sacks corrupt politicians in the most bizarre ways while pretending to be an idiot in front of people he's close with. He also has his principles that want to forego blood for blood revenge believing it would lead to nothing but endless cycles of miseries in this world. Doesn't that make you want to be philosophical?
The plot has both North Korea and South Korea involved in the beginning. The conflict between North and South is so bad that South Korean series tend to put them in a lot in some of their TV series and North Korean laws ban South Korean music. The beginning shows the tragedy of the hero Lee Yoon Song who would assume the identity of a dead Korean-American teenager. Our hero Yoon Song secretly sacks corrupt politicians in the most bizarre ways while pretending to be an idiot in front of people he's close with. He also has his principles that want to forego blood for blood revenge believing it would lead to nothing but endless cycles of miseries in this world. Doesn't that make you want to be philosophical?
From what I heard I should just treat this Korean drama version of City Hunter as a separate entity from its source material. Sure, the show can't exist if it wasn't for the Manga that inspired it but still it ends up as a completely different continuity. Just think of how many localized versions of Japanese media in South Korea deviate from the original script. City Hunter doesn't only transfer the setting from Japan to South Korea but also how the heroes are depicted. Yoon Song is not a ladies' man in contrast to Ryo Saeba. Just because something has been localized doesn't mean it has to be all that close to the original source material.
He is a great Korean actor.
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