Hancho : 2 & 3

About The Subs

Please view the "Introduction" post for sub notes ...

On With The Show!

I've finally seen it. I thought at first it was my imagination, but the reality of it has finally set it. It's real. It exists. There's no escaping it, there's no avoiding it, you can run but you cannot hide. It will find you. And when it does, the truth will be wrenched from your soul no matter how far down you try to bury, or hide, it. Once I started really noticing it, I see it everywhere. What is this unstoppable force of justice? The inescapable searchlight in the dark sky of deception? It's ... HANCHO FACE! (HF™) And let me tell you, it's like art; like The Thinker only more thoughtful and a hell of a lot more deadly than that buck naked Rodinian pansy.

HF™ comes in several varieties and, much like Disapproving Mom Face or DMF™ (Thanks Christine Larson Chasse for introducing me to this personally. My mom never gave me DMF™, she just went usually straight from ZERO to WOODEN SPOON ON YOUR ASS *grin*), each one has different meaning and different effects on the psychological state of the person viewing it. Let's discuss ...

[HANCHO FACE - VERSION ONE - "The Smile"] - As we saw in the first episode, Hancho's smile is incredibly affecting. "When Smokey Sings" you hear violins and when Hancho smiles you just get happy. You feel lifted up and you feel like all is right with the world. That smile is a genuine one. That smile is the smile of a man who knows how to enjoy the world around him despite the darkness he encounters in his everyday life. Hancho's smile disarms you and makes you feel safe, content, and alive. Hancho's smile is one of honesty. It doesn't seem like he would smile at someone or something that he didn't have a pure and good feeling towards.

[HANCHO FACE - VERSION TWO - "The Telling Smile"] - Version two of HF™ is just as charming and affecting as version one but it begins to lean slightly towards "knowing". This is the smile Hancho whips out when he clearly knows something that you don't. If you're the criminal, then this means he's going to let you go on thinking that you're fooling him because it's all part of his plan to get you to eventually talk yourself into a hole or lead him to some definitive evidence. Deep down this smile suggests great wisdom, confidence, and also understanding while at the same time it shows gentleness and playfulness of spirit.

[HANCHO FACE - VERSION THREE - "Hancho Face™"] -This is the definitive Hancho Face. This face is like Kiina's "I've found it", Sherlock Holmes' "The game is afoot", and every villain on Scooby Doo's "If it hadn't been for those blasted kids..." This is the look when you know that Hancho knows what's up. This is the face that will cause instantaneous guilt and confessions if applied properly. Definitive HF™ (DHF™) usually means the case is going to be solved very soon, all the pieces have just clicked in the puzzle of Hancho's mind on this particular issue, or that he simply knows you're bullshitting. A decision is being made, a foundation is dropping down, and truth is being revealed in his mind. This look has a lot of emotions going on within it including elements of pity, disappointment, and sadness.

Have you noticed the progression from Version One to Version Three? It's a slow trainwreck from Happy Hancho to Unhappy Hancho. To all you potential criminals out there: don't piss of Hancho. We like Hancho smiling.

I mentioned, in my previous commentary, that Sasaki-san, as an actor, is very expressive with his face and that many times our viewing of a scene or situation is controlled more by what we read on his face than what we are being told by the script. DHF™ is a perfect example of that.

Episode two, a fairly straightforward episode (almost forgettable), shows the perfect use of DHF™. The show was over almost as soon as it began. Once this scene was over, you pretty much knew it was just a matter of time. Allow me to demonstrate visually the power of HF™!

STEP ONE : Bullshit "Hello. I'm cute and innocent and look like Goto Maki. I didn't do anything wrong so I have no idea why the police are even here ..."	STEP TWO : DHF™ "..."	STEP THREE : Caught "... crap ..."
Note: DHF™ has usually been going on for the entire length of the scene, it just takes the person a long time to notice because they're too busy rambling and drowning in their own whirlpool of bullshit.

As you can see, Hancho face is a deadly weapon. Hancho face can kill. There should be a surgeon general's warning on Hancho's forehead that says: WARNING: LOOKS CAN KILL or at the very least, make you spill your guts. GAZE UPON WITH CAUTION. If at any time during the gaze you feel light headed, nauseous, guilty, or stupid, you should immediately turn yourself in to Jinnan Station police for prompt treatment and JAIL TIME.

I have often heard, mainly from narrow minded idiots who can't appreciate anything that isn't native to them, that Asian acting is too stoic to be enjoyable. What in the world are these people watching? They clearly haven't watched anything good! Something I am beginning to notice about Asian drama is that the acting is much more refined. Except in the case of comedy or dramedy (and even then it's cleanly expressed), it is distilled down to only the required and absolute emotional expression. There is, unlike in the majority of American acting, nothing unnecessary. In the hands of an unskilled, or empty actor, this kind of absolution of expression could become robotic: smile here. laugh here. frown here. cut. But for certain individuals, who can channel so much internal and mental emotion in subtle ways, this kind of acting becomes a powerful tool.

A good example that comes to mind is in The Quiz Show, episode one, (around timecode 49:44 to 49:55) when Kamiyama-kun is telling Andou-san what a dream really is. If you watch the entire scene very carefully, Kamiyama-kun goes through several emotions including amusement, anger, and even fury with just tiny changes to his face, his eyes, and the set of his jaw, that if you blink, you will miss. American actors tend to only be able to refine their acting when they are being forcibly restricted in some way and have to rely on other aspects to communicate. This is usually incredibly "challenging", as they like to say, because Americans are use to acting with their whole body. Whole body acting is often way overdone because there is too much involved. You don't need your whole body to communicate emotion or expression unless you're acting from behind a mask (and even then it's more about the refinement of specific bodily movements) or doing slapstick/physical comedy. From what I have noticed about the acting in Asian drama, it's all in the face and the nuances of communicating by saying as little as possible. How Sasaki-san portrays the character of Hancho expresses this concept beautifully.

The fundamentals of communication are lessons that I have lectured on for years and emotional communication is something that I have found 99% of people to be severely stunted in. Considering how emotionally vomitous (yes, I like the word I have created *grin*) American's are, you'd think they would have a strong emotional vocabulary and comprehension rate. Wrong. In fact the opposite is true. Most people spend so much time barfing on people that they don't take the time to truly understand others or develop the skills to connect on a healthy level. Communication is not supposed to be a selfish act and should never be. Communication involves two people; a communicator and a listener, wherein these roles switch back and forth appropriately. In the case of acting as communication, it involves and actor and an audience. In Asian drama there is a great equation of lots of listening and very little talking. Verbal communication is done only when appropriate and necessary and even then, very little, and it is full of understanding, acknowledgment, and focus. Furthermore, the emotional communication is solid, clean, and refined to healthy levels.

A good exercise you can practice at home when watching drama, or anything emotionally manipulative, is noticing whether or not you are reacting when you should be. Are you watching the drama, or movie, or whatever medium it is, and reacting emotionally? Are you crying when you should, are you laughing when you should, are you smiling at the things that are uplifting and positive? Do you have the appropriate reaction to what is on the screen or do you find you are having trouble? For example: If you're not smiling when Hancho smiles, and ideally for the same reasons, you might want to think about why. Drama is written to not only ENTERTAIN but also to EVOKE EMOTION. The three Es. If it doesn't, it's either badly written (and I've yet to see an Asian drama that is, though it's still early) or you are not watching it correctly.

Melodrama is supposed to manipulate you and take you on a journey and you are supposed to let it. (See "... the journey begins.") Melodrama is a great and simple way of developing a base emotional vocabulary because while the situations, plot structures, and character motivations in melodrama might be slightly ambiguous so as to evoke CONTEMPLATION and UNDERSTANDING, generally melodrama is NOT emotionally indistinct. Melodrama is about the "melody" of "drama" (or "action" to the Greeks) so consider each scene to be a test of your ability to properly hear said melody and respond according to it's emotional scales. Every note is a word spoken, every crescendo is a moment of emotional elevation, every decrescendo is a moment of emotional refinement, and every fortissimo is a moment of emotional explosion. Let the music, the lines spoken, and the situation unfolding be your guide to building a healthy emotional symphony within yourself. Watching episode 3 of Hancho is a good opportunity for such an exercise.

If you can survive episode 3 without shedding a tear then you might want to rethink why you're even watching drama in the first place. Let me rephrase that more accurately ... If you have not collapsed into a pool of mushy emotional goo after having the core of your soul demolished by a wrecking ball that has SOULCRUSH spray painted on the side by the time you have finished watching "the onigiri scene" then, seriously, go watch American Idol or something and stop wasting everyone's time. For me, this is like the "ramen" scene in Mai-Hime with Mikoto breaking down and crying into the bowl. (I would include a screenshot but frankly, I really can't handle watching that again right now)

This episode of Hancho is brilliantly written to avoid fully explaining Iwaki-san's motives until the time is right. The audience is left to wait and watch patiently before being able to pass any judgment so that by the time you are able to finally understand him, your heart is aching. Tokui Yuu's performance as Iwaki Kousaku in this scene is epic drama. In the final scenes of this episode, you cannot help but watch Tokui-san in awe. You can taste every tear-laden bite on your tongue and every cry of joy, mixed with shame, exhaustion, graciousness, and love, gives you simultaneous chills of satisfaction and grief.

This is what watching melodrama is all about; these kinds of scenes that fill you up and then let you release something of yourself through the character. That character you are watching is you in some way, not because of their motivations or actions necessarily, but because of the universal emotional understanding that binds every human being together regardless of race, sex, or culture. If you cannot understand, feel, or appreciate that, then the emotional and cultural education that melodrama offers is lost on you and you might want to think about how sad that truly is - not just for you - but for others in your life as well. *insert HF™ here*