PooDoo said:

---

It's all the rage with the middle schoolers.

---

This board always gives high quality reasons TO or TO NOT watch something! This right here is good enough for me to avoid!

aznaggiegirl07 said:

---

As a Korean, I think some things may be lost in translation and it's sucks and cultural nuisances throughout the series

---

I don't know man. I told my wife that I would dump her for the crazy lady in a split second. The dubbed voice actress nailed that role.

Lee JungJae is one of the biggest actors in Korea. They probably paid him a lot of money to do this. I would highly recommend watching him in Shinsegae (New World). He's a very good actor. This role is really unlike anything he has done.

I'm two episodes in and am hooked. As previously mentioned by another poster, there is a lot of Korean culture in what I've seen so far so having that background probably makes a difference. Also, just my personal taste, watching anything in dubbing lessens the viewing experience.

Actually the creator of this show has been wanting to make this for over a decade. It likely wouldn't have been well-received on regular Korean TV (or have been allowed in the way he wanted it). Netflix finally made his vision possible. Netflix is absolutely making a killing with Korean content around the world.

I'll say, I generally don't buy fully into the "dub is crap, only sub" because I think it's generally an outdated take. I also will multitask, so dubbed makes that easier to do.

However, there are still some times where the dub voice acting is not that great compared to the original performance, and this is one of those times. I watched the first episode with dubs, then started it over just to see with subs on, and it was night and day how much better the Korean performances were.

Big Al 1992 said:

---

I can see a lot more people talking about this after they binge it this weekend. The games were suspenseful enough but like the players, left me wondering why go through all the effort to give away money and entertain a few VIPs. And never talked about "how" they got all the workers involved. At least explain it away that it's some sort of cult that has bought in to running the games and eliminating contestants.

---

The way I look at it, the workers weren't of high moral integrity. I figured they could have been lured with money, easily, perhaps with similar debt issues as the contestants. After all, they have a whole underground organ harvesting operation, against the knowledge of the leaders -

The crazy lady was brutal.

That said, I wanna bang Sae-byeok

DannyDuberstein said:

---

SJEAg said:

---

I use dubs, but the crazy lady voice made that character unbearable. I wonder if she comes off as a good actor with subtitles or her native tongue to Koreans. Hard to imagine.

---

The facial expressions were telling me that it probably wasn't much better in Korean. Similar with gangster guy. That's partly why I didn't switch

---

She wasn't a bad actor in Korean. She played the part well IMO. I understand dubbing for a convenience sake but actors are casted for a reason. Directors aren't thinking in the middle of shooting 'nope, stop, an English voice would not look good over that.' This is a Korean show. Not a Hollywood production.

I will say though, if there are more Korean shows that become big Netflix productions, they really should pay a little bit more for better foreign (non-Korean) talent and English writing for their foreign actors. It's kind of slim pickins for decent foreign actors in Korea, but I do think it would make the shows a little better for a global audience. But then again, Hollywood does the same thing for their lesser foreign roles. So I'm not sure what is right.

At any rate, Korean entertainment is kicking butt. I really enjoyed this series a lot and am completely on board for Season 2.

Episode six is a kick in the nuts.

Enzo The Baker said:

---

Lee JungJae is one of the biggest actors in Korea. They probably paid him a lot of money to do this. I would highly recommend watching him in Shinsegae (New World). He's a very good actor. This role is really unlike anything he has done.

I'm two episodes in and am hooked. As previously mentioned by another poster, there is a lot of Korean culture in what I've seen so far so having that background probably makes a difference. Also, just my personal taste, watching anything in dubbing lessens the viewing experience.

Actually the creator of this show has been wanting to make this for over a decade. It likely wouldn't have been well-received on regular Korean TV (or have been allowed in the way he wanted it). Netflix finally made his vision possible. Netflix is absolutely making a killing with Korean content around the world.

---

That's a little on the nose.

Not real sure what to think of it. I enjoyed it, but the VIPs were so freaking cheesy. I mean just outright terrible and distracting.

The old guy twist at the end was kinda dumb too. One of the only endearing characters and you did that.

Season 2 could be interesting with a deeper dive into the workers.

Head Ninja In Charge said:

---

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

---

Not real sure what to think of it. I enjoyed it, but the VIPs were so freaking cheesy. I mean just outright terrible and distracting.

The old guy twist at the end was kinda dumb too. One of the only endearing characters and you did that.

Season 2 could be interesting with a deeper dive into the workers.

---

One thing to remember about the VIPs, as awful as they were, was that this was filmed during the pandemic and unless there was someone at our army base in Seoul that also moonlighted as a voice actor, the pickin's for American/Western voice actors in South Korea at the time had to have been pretty slim.

---

I get that… but then why do they have to be Americans? I mean, I get that it's a commentary on western capitalism, but they could have been wealthy Koreans as well. And would have had the same impact, I think.

oragator said:

---

Debate over how accurate the subtitles are.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2021/10/688_316721.html

---

What is funny is the English subs didn't match the English dub

It's very loosely like hunger games, and not really like Saw in any way.