semi-hibernation

Painter Of The Wind / SBS Broadcasting. Shin Yun-bok in Jeong Hyang's quarters (yeah, you know i'd be all up in that if i was Shin Yun-bok!)

after having spent most of last week at my parents as well as attending various holiday parties hosted by friends and family, i was so glad to return to my sanctuary, i.e. my place.

so what did i do? i holed myself up with enough arare, peanuts, Pocky, and Yakult so i could read manga, watch anime and a 20-episode Korean drama. \(*-*)/

manga read and/or re-read:

Hatsukoi Shimai (aka First Love Sisters) vol. 1-3 (in Japanese, though i spent heaps of time going to the Japanese-English dictionary so perhaps reading that counts as well? i wish 7Seas would release volumes 2 & 3 in English but i know...it's unlikely. boo.)

Hayate X Blade, volume 1 (yeah, English trans available! but now that i've read this, i think i have to buy the rest of the volumes in Japanese so i can keep up with what's going on)

anime watched and/or re-watched:

a few episodes of Witchblade (just 'cause - women who kick ass are great.)

Toki o Kakeru Shôjo or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (i love this film! this anime makes me appreciate life and what i have all the more every time i watch this.)

Piano: The Melody of a Young Girl's Heart (it's a cute slice-of-life series about a jr. high school girl who expresses herself best through playing the piano but has now encountered her first real crush on a boy at her school. it's slow-paced and not a lot happens - but that's why i like it - it's just a sweet and cute story.)

and for the grand finale - i literally spent two days (split between 10 eps each day) watching the 20-episode Korean drama series, Painter Of The Wind. i don't typically watch Korean dramas but i was curious about this series after reading there was some yuri elements in it. and who doesn't love more yuri? i'll take it where and when i can get it.

here's my two cents:

Shin Yun-bok (known as Hyewon, his pen name), was a very famous and talented Korean painter in the 1700's. His subjects were very much about day-to-day life but he was noted for his risque paintings (for that time, anyway) -- so much so that he was ousted from the Royal Painting Institute, known as Dohwaseo.

Painter Of The Wind, a Korean novel by Lee Jeong-myeong was published in 2007. Lee posed the question "What if Shin Yun-bok was a woman?" and the novel takes off from there, mixing fact and fiction. Shin Yun-bok is a woman disguised as a man in order to 1) find out who murdered her parents when she was 8-years old and 2) to reach the rank of Bureau Artist, which is a painter for the Royal Court. Along the way, she meets Kim Hong Do (known as Danwon, also a very famous painter during that time) who ultimately becomes her mentor, friend and perhaps maybe more.

So where's the yuri, you ask? it's in the amazing flirtation and interaction between Shin Yun-bok and Jeong Hyang, a gisaseng (yes, she's a Korean geisha). in the drama, it's very clear that Shin Yun-bok is head over heels for Jeong Hyang. of course, Jeong Hyang starts to fall for Shin Yun-bok - not knowing that he is actually a she. so what happens?

i don't want to spoil anything for anyone - and let me tell you - this series is rather slow. but it's a good slow - like in the time it takes to do a painting. and art does not take a back seat to the story and it's rather luxurious to watch. the production value is high and the story is well-told, but c'mon folks - what do you think could really happen between Shin Yun-bok and Jeong Hyang?

i wasn't disappointed or mad at the outcome (though i do have my own "wishes and what ifs"). i'm not expert on K-drama so i don't know much about them - but i think Korea has come a long way to produce a show for prime-time that doesn't shy from the fact that yes, Shin Yun-bok is a woman disguised as a man who is in love with a woman - and in turn, when Jeong Hyang does indeed find out - the end result is not two women throwing themselves off a bridge or going insane.

it's a not a perfect series and the focus is on Shin Yun-bok's relationship/mentor ship with Kim Hong Do - but there is yuri action and it's done rather well for what it is. like i said, i have my own thoughts about what happened in the end but that's me and my imagination. (*-*)