prundlaps

At first glance, Jugglers appears to follow the pretty standard setup of an office drama-elite boss, underdog secretary, quirky group of employees for comic relief. I expect that it will follow the familiar formula where the leads hate each other at first, are forced to work together despite their personal feelings, and over time learn to respect each other and eventually fall in love. That's not to say that it can't still be a lot of fun; I mean, formulas are formulas because they work. What I like most about this drama at first glance is the casting, and the way all of the characters seem to be people who know who they are and don't try to be what they're not. Yoon-yi puts on the stereotypical competent, loyal secretary mask while at work, but in her personal life she's messy, foul-mouthed, and slightly annoying even to her friends. Chi-won is, of course, her polar opposite: judgmental, overly cautious, rigid, and resistant to any social responsibilities. It's going to be entertaining to watch them clash, mostly because I think that Baek Jin-hee and Daniel Choi are nailing their roles so far, fully committing themselves to their characters' wide extremes. Yoon-yi, who is a fun mix of organized and hot mess. I understand the need to be super organized in your work persona, leaving nothing left when it's time to go home. She seems like the kind of person who is good at her job because she's dedicated and driven, but she's also prone to bursts of inadvisable emotion, where she lets her feelings get the best of her and acts out in ways that could be harmful to herself and others. Kicking someone who's showing concern for you, even if you're in a terrible hurry, is pretty awful, and I don't blame Chi-won for being disgusted when he witnesses her being insincere at the funeral, then turning around and demanding sincerity from him. Yoon-yi may be a competent secretary, but she's driven by her instincts instead of what's right, which is something she's going to need to fix. Chi-won seems to have a very centered (if overly rigid) moral compass, making his lackadaisical attitude towards his job feel very out of character. There's definitely some nepotism going on in this company, though I'm unsure yet exactly where everyone stands. Vice President Do's treatment of Chi-won seemed very fatherly, and Yul is obviously not a managing director because he earned the position. Why they're both working for YB Group, and why Chi-won in particular doesn't seem happy about it.

Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa aka Castle in the Sky is tied as my favorite Miyazaki movie. The story of Castle in the Sky is about, you guessed it; a castle in the sky. There's a legend about a floating island castle, called "Laputa" that contains all the riches a person can ever dream of having. The main male character, Panzo believes that the castle exists, and dreams of one day following his deceased father's footsteps, and finding the castle for himself. The only problem is, he doesn't know where the castle is. Then there's the main female character, Sheeta whom Panzo finds falling/floating down from the sky with a shining sky blue necklace that has some sort of relationship to Laputa's location. Panzo and Sheeta begin a friendship, perhaps love relationship and they decide to go on a journey to find Laputa together. But they run into trouble with, and clowny pirates, the greedy army along with some mysterious men led by an even more mysterious man named, Muska. The stupid army was really funny, as were the pirates. Panzo and Sheeta are your average Miyazaki main characters, absolutely tragic and lovable! Honestly there's nothing to dislike about this anime and so much to love. It's truly a heart-pounding adventure story about friendship, loyalty, greed, and people's connection to nature. The anime starts off innocently and happily, but it quickly becomes darker as the evil ambitions of the antagonists make themselves known. The characters, good and evil, are all fully developed and interesting to watch.