Gigi Goegoe Sunghyungsoo

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Trailer:

Reviews:

• User Deago (Score: 8/10):
  — ORIGINS — Beauty Water is a loose movie adaptation of the popular South Korean Naver Webtoon 'Tales of the Unusual', which was written by Seong-dae, an author who drew inspiration from the work of the renowned writer Itou Junji. Known for his strange and eerie tales that go beyond the horror genre, Itou Junji's influence can be seen in Beauty Water as well. Despite the movie's positive reception in South Korea, it has not gained much recognition outside of the country due to limited international marketing efforts. — INTERESTING PREMISE — It is a rarity to come across anime that authentically and realistically depict the social problemsthat women face in their everyday lives. While some anime series, such as .hack//Sign and Welcome to the N.H.K., have done an admirable job of highlighting social issues, they remain few and far between. .hack//Sign, for instance, explores the topic of escapism through online video games, which is a problem that many people, including women, face in the modern world. Meanwhile, Welcome to the N.H.K. tackles the universal struggle of transitioning to adulthood, a topic that is relatable to both men and women. However, they are not specifically gender-focused, which means that the issues presented within them can be applied to both men and women. While this is not a problem in and of itself, it is important to acknowledge that women face distinct or disproportionate social issues that that differ from men's.nn— SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS —n'Boys don't cry, girls don't climb trees'nnThroughout human history, there has been a gendered expectation of what it means to be feminine or masculine. Men are expected to conform to ideals of emotional control, financial independence, and muscularity, while women are expected to embody virtues such as elegance, grace, attractiveness, and beauty. The social pressure to conform to these gendered ideals can be particularly difficult for young people, who often lack a broader perspective on life and may feel pressured to adopt certain behaviours or appearances in order to meet society's expectations. For women in particular, there is often an added layer of insecurity surrounding appearance that can make them more susceptible to exploitative messages from the media. Advertisers and media outlets often perpetuate unrealistic and harmful beauty standards, leading to a culture that places excessive value on physical appearance. Women are often bombarded with messages that reinforce these ideals and can lead to a variety of negative outcomes, including low self-esteem, body dysmorphia, and extreme diets that may lead to eating disorders.nn— BEAUTY AND SOCIETY —nBeauty Water is a thought-provoking social commentary that delves into various issues surrounding beauty. One of the key messages of the movie is how beauty can be used as a tool for achieving fame and wealth, which can result in a society that values appearance over substance. We see examples of this in our reality such as 'gold diggers', 'Twitch thots', and celebrities who have gained success solely based on their appearance, despite lacking any actual talent. This is a common phenomenon…
• User CaptainKenshiro (Score: 7/10):
  I should’ve talked about this movie before Huang Yan because it came out earlier but well, not much to do since I watched the other title first. Whenever this film is talked about, it’s compared with that series, Perfect Blue and the works of Junji Ito, and although I see the resemblance to them in some level, I found it quite different from them and quite unique on its own. The premise is a twist in the surgeon drama/thriller formula that several movies and Huang Yan had, by removing the surgeon and replace him with a, well, beauty water, as the title implies, that works kindof like magic in an otherwise mundane setting.nnThe pacing is very good, as things constantly move forward and explore the themes and main character without stretching anything and preventing everything from becoming stale, in a rather short runtime, thus preventing the movie from overstaying its welcome.nnMuch like Yuxi in Huang Yan, Yae-ji, the female protagonist here, is mistreated for being ugly and yet does not change in personality despite her change in appearance, unlike that other woman though, the reason here is that this main character is awful from the beginning. nnWhile Yuxi was brave and facing hardships as the clear hero of her story, Yae-ji is the villain of her own, despite also being its protagonist. Ever since the beginning she is shown as mean, resentful, egoistic, someone that lives off her parents (and I’m not just referring to money), and someone willing to go to whatever extreme needed to get what she wants. It’s very interesting and intense seeing how lower she can go throughout the movie.nnAlthough most of those surgeon drama/thriller movies also had villains as their protagonists, they were either acting for the sake of someone else (“Le Yeux sans visage”, “Gritos en la noche”, “Corruption”), had petty motives (“Seddok”) or were cartoonisly edgy and evil to the point of coming off as a pathetic and immature attempt of the writer and director to make his film as shocking as it could (“Les Predateurs de la Nuit”). Thus the only other title that had a villainous main character as strong as this one in both personal agenda and focus is “La piel que habito”, and even that one changes the roles of the characters through a plot twist midway.nnI mean, this movie also introduces another villain in form of a surprise villain and antagonist near the end, but it doesn’t do it as well because it’s not very well anticipated and the characters are not as interconnected as those two were.nnBesides that, this movie also has some themes regarding the television industry, celebrities, and of course the obsession with being beautiful and how far someone can go to achieve that, some people even found symbolisms regarding the plastic surgeon surgeries and poverty. With that said, perhaps to the limited runtime, the themes are only looked into briefly and kind of superficially, so although a good inclusion, they are mostly there to…

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• Gigigoegoe Sunghyungsoo Episode 1 Discussion

External Links:

• Official Site
• AniDB
• Wikipedia

Related Anime/Manga:

• Tales of the Unusual (manga - Adaptation)
• Gigi Goegoe (anime - Alternative Version)