shawnyu64

I have read both trilogy books and watch Chinese version of the show so suffice to say I'm a fan of the source material. I had high hope because Chinese ver had very limited budgeted (1/20th of Netflix ver). But overall the Netflix adaptation left some mixed feelings in my mouth.

THE GOODS

• Relatively faithful adaptation event-wise. That is to say, everything happens in the book happens in the show.

• Mostly excellent casting lineup and performance.

• Captures overall vibes of the book very well.

THE BADS

• Way too rushed. First episodes covered more than half of first book so nothing is earned. This left many plot holes which you will notice the moment you start ponder what happened.

• Terrible CGI especially in latter episodes. Like, no spoilers but one of finale had worse CGI than Chinese ver which is like again 1/20th of budget. How?

• Dumb down of some key scenes and scientific concepts. This made them less scary and impactful, like the final scene in the first episode. In the book and Chinese ver, there's science (sure, sci-fi science but still) behind everything. In Netflix of the show, a lot of things are in pure fantasy territory.

THE UGLYS

• Relationship between character is forced. In the original book, all major characters in the first book have different backgrounds but came together because of the plot. They don't know each other and of course there was no love relationship between them. In the show, most are from Oxford alumni and they were couples and love interests. Also, everyone just know each other without any explanation. This completely broke character dynamics between some characters. Also, it doesn't have the grand scale feeling the book has because you know, everyone knows and sleeps with each other and are all in London.

• Adding new plot to characters (eg., Evans) without changing their motivations and bring characters from different book (eg., Wade, Luoji/Saul, etc) for no reason. This completely breaks their motivational and as a result, a lot of things felt forced.

• Ye Wenjie's casting and some key plot choice writer forced on her are beyond terrible. She is one of, if not the most, important character in the book so she has complex motivations and character arc, which is required especially toward the reveal in end of 2nd book's finale. In the show, she is very one dimension character and that only dimension is hatred and it makes no sense.

Overall, Netflix's 3 Body adaptation is watchable, but a huge waste of source material's potential because producer/writer had to force their incompatible idea on it. It's remind me of Apple's adaptation of Asimov's Foundation - a decent watchable show, but disappointment for what it could have been.

This is bad because anyone thought it as "sequel" of Squid Game - no one thought of that after 5 mins of watching it - but it's a 1 out of 10 on its merit as reality show.

I usually enjoy reality shows, which are over the top by design but this dumb show dialed that up to 100 (not 11). People's reaction is so exaggerated to the point that it's actually hurts to watch. Contestants are screaming at the camera in the fakest way possible to create a stake or drama but it's so badly written to the point no one believe it... like it introduce a contestant 2 mins before eliminating him and other contestant acting like they lost their family member or something... and viewers are supposed to care?

I had more cringe watching this show for 2 eps (had to give because it's so bad) than my entire life time up to this point. It's hard to describe how bad it is and not enjoyable kind of bad. If the show doesn't have any relation to Squid Game, I'd still gave it a 1 out of 10 but let's be real... no one would have watched it if it didn't have Squid Game in the title.

Beautifully written revenge saga that came out of nowhere. It's arguably the best show Netflix has to present this year.

The animation is based on 3D rendering but unlike many other anime of the same technique that results in an uncanny valley, Blue Eye Samurai has spot on artistic direction so everything looks natural and beautiful. Action scenes are in masterpiece territory, over the top but still in believable and natural. And protagonist Mizu and all the support characters have beautifully written natural characters arcs. The overall story development is also well paced and feels very natural. It does not feel forced in any way and every emotional scene is earned.

The only minor complaint I have is that it sacrifices historical accuracy for the sake of artistic expression. The story is set in mid to 17th century judging by dialogue on Sakoku and flint lock gun that was used, but at this point Japanese have already using matchlock (Tanegashima) guns for ~200 years to the point that it's a standard equipment in the army. Even before that, Japan adopted mini cannons called Teppo as early form of firearms in 13th century before Europeans. Yet, it's no where to be seen in Shogunate's army.

The Last Samurai did something similar - ignoring widely used firearms in Japan during the era to cements the stereotypical beauty of swords wielding Samurai. Still, I think show-runner could've kept historical accuracy while still displaying superiority of flint lock gun European used at the time, emphasizing in the superiority in reloading speed. It's not a big issue but this does stand out for an otherwise fairly historically/culturally accurate show.