Creepy New K-Drama Just Dropped on Netflix This Friday (and Already Has Glowing Reviews)

Summary

• Lately, Netflix has been releasing more and more successful live-action adaptations.
• On April 5, for example, a new K-drama based on the famous manga series was added to the streaming service.
• Viewers who watched the series were positively impressed.

A few years ago, Netflix had something of a 'live-action curse', as each of such projects turned out to be failures, like the adaptations of Death Note and Cowboy Bebop. Recently, however, the streaming service's emphasis on reimagining popular franchises has begun to pay off, both commercially and in terms of general acclaim.

One of its first truly successful live-action projects was Japan's Alice in Borderland, as well as Korea's Sweet Home. Then last year audiences fell in love with One Piece, based on the legendary Japanese manga, and in recent months many people have been discussing Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on Nickelodeon's celebrated animated series.

And now there's a new show that just came out today, inspired by one of the best-selling manga series, with nearly 25 million copies in circulation in August 2022 alone.

It's a South Korean take on a Japanese story, but it promises to be incredibly entertaining and profound, with none other than the director of Train to Busan behind it. Let's take a look at what the show is all about and what Netflix users are already saying.

An Adaptation of the Iconic Manga Series

On April 5, the K-drama Parasyte: The Grey was quietly dropped on Netflix — and the lack of proper marketing for this series is an absolute shame (the streaming service has apparently spent its entire budget on the global promotion of 3 Body Problem, another live-action adaptation, this time of a series of novels by Chinese author Liu Cixin). In fact, the new show not only boasts that it's an adaptation of a famous manga series, but also that Yeon Sang-ho himself worked on it, serving as director and co-screenwriter.

Yeon Sang-ho, who brought us Train to Busan, has been working with Netflix for several years now, having delivered the popular series Hellbound and The Bequeathed (which are also live-action adaptations), as well as the movie Jung_E for the service. In other words, there is no doubt that the new series promises to be a successful adaptation, full of the director's typical horror-esque atmosphere.

As for the original, it's the manga, written by Hitoshi Iwaaki. The story revolves around a Japanese high school student who forms a symbiotic relationship with an intelligent alien parasite. The live-action series is set in South Korea, and the plot revolves around Jeong Su-in (Jeon So-nee), a woman infected by the parasite, Seol Kang-woo (Koo Kyo-hwan), a man searching for his sister, and Choi Jun-kyung (Lee Jung-hyun), the leader of the squad responsible for eliminating parasites.

'To me, [the manga] Parasyte is about coexistence,' Yeon told Tudum. 'So, I wanted Parasyte: The Grey to echo this theme. I questioned whether people could peacefully coexist with other organisms or mutants unlike themselves.'

What Has Been the Public's Reaction to the New Series?

Of course, it's too early to talk about ratings since Yeon Sang-ho's project was just added today. Nevertheless, some users of the streaming service have already watched the new series. And as the results showed, many people were hooked right after the first episode.

Among the many reviews, most of them are enthusiastic about the level of adaptation of the story. Although the story is set in Korea, the manga and the series share the same universe, and even the manga's protagonist, 17-year-old Shinichi Izumi, portrayed by popular Japanese actor Masaki Suda, will appear in the series.

All 6 episodes of Parasyte: The Grey are already available on Netflix.

Source: Tudum.