Great media month, not in quantity but quality.
Starting with the best:
Physical 100 S2 — 9/10 — ahhh just so motivating and getting dat pump. Have only finished 3 episodes. The strength of contestants, the production value, the sheer testosterone spectacle of it — all in a Korean cultural wrapper. Only complaint would be their penchant for ending episodes on obvious cliffhangers (to increase next-episode ctr, ugh), and tendency to focus screen time on a few favorites instead of giving interesting underdogs their due. Also I wonder why Beom Seok was allowed back for S2 but other S1 contestants were not? Seems to be a huge advantage, as he’s familiar with the contest format and has had a year to stew and prep after his early exit…
Shogun S1 — 8/10 — Hiroyuki Sanada is just *samurai’s kiss*. Tbf, I kinda hated him in Tom Cruise’s Last Samurai, and it was only years later after watching his other films (47 Ronin, John Wick, Army of the Dead) that I began to realize it was the quality of his ACTING (as the sneering antagonist to Tom Cruise’s hero arc) that I disliked so much. As they say, Hate is not the opposite of love, but apathy. Shogun is royal drama, political intrigue, samurai battles, religious intrigue, cannons & ships, brothel-ing (or as the show would say, pillowing in the willow world), what’s not to like?!
Heavenly Delusion — 7/10 — there was a traumatic scene near the end of season 1 that I was utterly unprepared for. Like, tried to forget the scene but couldn’t. Until that moment, the show was a fun, sometimes shockingly violent but mostly silly and creative romp through post-apocalyptic anime Japan, a tale of adolescent-hood and adventure and survival. But yeah, beware if you’re watching for E12/13…
Tokyo Vice — 6/10 — watched half of season 1. Though Ansel Elgort is always his ethereal floaty tall stick figure self, and Ken Watanabe is Samurai Dad (also Last Samurai!), the plot struck me as over contrived and dramatized. I had read Adelstein’s original memoir too many years ago, so the story specifics elude me, but I remember it as much grittier and more journalistic. But this is the Hollywood way, I suppose. Also a bit tired of the gaijin glorification theme, which is also common in Shogun, but that’s pretty much the default when it comes to Japan+US media
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