Hello, my dear human!
Welcome to The Blossom Review!
I’m Karen and this is our little corner of Japanese and Korean dramas, films, and books. If you like K- and J-media, you’re definitely in the right place and I’m so very happy to have you here!
Sometimes I feel that my life can be as melodramatic as a K-drama. I don’t have any rich mother-in-laws bullying me, and most events don’t really play out in slow motion, though… That being so, I can’t vouch for how entertaining this is going to be, but, hey, since we’re now friends, let me tell you a bit about myself.
Karen, how did you fall in love with Korean and Japanese media?
By any chance, did you know that the largest Japanese community outside Japan can be found in Brazil? No? Oh, well, now you do! And that’s where I was raised. I spent my childhood in São Paulo, Brazil, where I was, pretty much naturally, introduced to Japanese culture. My friends — children and grandchildren of Japanese immigrants — would introduce me to the food, music, and cinema of a faraway land that I knew so little about. Early in the morning, I remember that there was a show that would teach Japanese on TV. I was super young, but for some reason, I loved it and I wouldn’t miss it.
Right: The Liberdade neighbourhood in São Paulo during Tanabata Matsuri
Even more intrinsic than this curiosity towards Japanese culture was this never-ending fascination with stories. I have always — always — loved literature, cinema, and television. Telling, reading, writing, watching, illustrating, and filming stories have always been the one thing on my mind, which is why I decided to study Filmmaking at university. Back at high school and uni, I was obsessed with American and British television, and for a while, I let go of Asian hands. Still, I immersed myself in news, releases, and reviews, and I wanted to know more and more about the magic of storytelling.
But, for some reason, American and British media weren’t completely fulfilling that thirst. Even though some of my friends were die-hard K-drama and J-drama fans, it took me a while to get back on track, let’s say.
It was my brother, a huge fan of anything Japanese, that brought me back to where I really belonged. One afternoon, he sat me down and told me that we were watching Hyouka (Kyoto Animation, 2012). And that was it. I was madly in love. I remembered some of the words I had learned as a child, and that curiosity, which had always been alive inside me, came bursting to the surface.
From there, I wanted to watch all anime, dramas, and films I could find; I wanted to read all the books I could get my hands on.
Left: Me eating onigiri and takoyaki at Sagami in Milan.
In São Paulo, I spent much of my time going to Liberdade (the Japanese neighbourhood) or the Japanese library on Paulista Avenue. At home, I would always keep NHK on. Then, when Japan House São Paulo finally opened, I would go there all the time. I swear to you, I wondered if they would stop me one day and ask me why the beanies I was always there!
One thing led to another, and before I realised it, I was watching K-dramas. As a storyteller, I was amazed at how Korean drama was a genre in and of itself. There was nothing like it. American film critic James Monaco said that TV series are all about character: we keep watching not because of the plot, which is often a variation of the same formulas, but because we want to spend more time with those characters. He was right. I related to K-drama characters in a way I hadn’t felt before. I needed to see them through their struggles, to make sure they would get their happy ending — because, deep down, their happy ending was my own.
K-dramas opened the door to Korean culture: the food, the customs, the films, and the books enchanted me in a way that I can’t really describe (and believe me, I even led my mother down the same path and now she goes around saying “감사합니다” to everyone).
Oh, well, and that’s the story of how I became this Karen that you see here today.
Why “The Blossom Review”?
I’ve heard that if something excites you and scares you at the same time, it means that you should do it. That’s why I decided to give voice to this passion and create “The Blossom Review” — “blossom” because I think cherry blossoms are one thing that we can find in both K- and J-media, a symbol of first love, beauty, and new beginnings. During my adventures with J- and K-media around the world, I felt that there were very few resources for fans of Korean and Japanese TV, film, and literature, so I wanted to help. Here, you will find reviews, recommendations, musings, lists, opinion articles, and, hopefully, a space in which you can talk about what you love freely and learn more about the wonderful universe of Korean and Japanese media!
