Gacha Drama and the Korean Gender War Pt. 2 - The Grim Reality of Korea 

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Moon: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Audience: “dunno, why?” Moon: “Well first we need to establish what a chicken is. Let’s go back to roughly 6,000 BC with the domestication of the red jungle fowl…”

"The Korean President was killed Friday by a bullet accidentally fired by the head of South Korea's Central Intelligence Agency. Which, uh, also killed his head bodyguard. And four other people." God I love when newscasters have to stay unbiased about stuff like this.

I have a feeling that Moon is secretly more interested being a history and politic youtube channel but doesn't get enough views or viewer retention so he masked them as videogame essays. I'm not against it though since I'm a history nerd as well.

I worked for Korean company for four years and all our mid and upper management were Koreans on contract in my country. The culture shock when dealing with them and their ideology was something else entirely. The hierarchy is so alien and ridiculous that it could drive you insane, at least at first. My boss was more westernized but still older guy and he hated all of it with passion but he still went with all the nonsense. We often talked during a cigarette break. He told me in this somber tone that he only wants his daughter to finish her higher education so he has to work himself to death and lie because his boss says so. It was pretty sad to hear as he was extremely intelligent but acted like he was some kind of slave. He said he hated Korean way of living, even other Koreans. Lying and corruption was so normalized that even in the worst period in my post communist country it seemed like we were paragons of justice in comparison. Thank you for this video it gives a lot of context to why he behaved like this. I was often angry at him but now I only feel sorry for him.

I immigrated to the us at a young age, so most of my memories of korea were of childhood rosy memories; when the first female korean president was pardoned, I remember asking my mom why she was so sure the new president will pardon her, and she responded as if it was the most natural thing, "how do you think the new president can get pardoned later if they don't pardon their predesessor?" it was around that time I really understood that no korean really expects their politicians to not be corrupt anymore.

"It is human nature to judge yourself by your intetions and judge others by their actions" this changed my brain chemistry

Honestly "that time corporations were brought to their knees because people were mad about girls trolling" would be hilarious if it weren't so sad

So you're telling me that in Nikke, your character's superpower is being a decent human being?

“A house divided against itself cannot stand; a people divided against themselves cannot revolt” Was not expecting that, wow

As a korean, I find it really incredible that there's a foreigner who actually understands this korean drama. I thought no one could. This topic is very very very local and complicated through korean history. Even if you're native korean, it's pretty hard to understand the context of this topic fully

You know it is bad when even Japanese and Chinese men see the misogyny of Korean men and are like, "dude, chill. This is embarrassing. "

I received the “Korean talk” even as an American citizen, but my parents are Chinese from China. I am dating someone partially ethnically Korean, and my mother was absolutely relieved to learn that his Korean parent was adopted and therefore raised with Western cultural norms instead of Korean ones

You can hear Cookie Run's dev and art team sigh in relief as their characters don't have fingers

Steal 24.6 billion, get fined 13 billion..... Something's missing here. 11.6 billion to be exact.

I have also had the 'Korean talk' despite being a 2nd generation Irish immigrant in Australia. Specifically my mum talked to me about it after her experiences working with South Korean men in the pharma industry.

Hi, Hongkonger-Canadian, a (Yangmingist) Confucian plus cultural historian here. The nuance to differentiating the different denominations of Confucianism was a STELLAR job well done, and making this all so relatable to things that hit so close to home makes this video series just pure gold to watch. I wish I had my 1st or 2nd year East Asian Studies (or my students back when I taught) use materials such as these to pull interest, rather than reading Marx and Deleuze (which are very important,) but young minds often don't appreciate the context until stuff like THIS makes you go back to the classics and realize how we got here. Again, you just brought the conflicting cultures of East Asia a step closer together to understanding each other. Perhaps a little more.

There's a weird sense of dramatic irony how the main focus of the first part of the video, Project Moon, has admitted that the incredibly dystopian setting they've made is just "An slightly exaggerated version of Seoul and Korea". Jesus man, shit's fucked.

it's kinda fitting (in a sick way) that both koreas are the irl example of the worst case scenario of their respective socioeconomic systems

Koreans be looking at Cyberpunk 2077 deadass like its a utopian dream

I've seen Korean men be stereotyped as bad partners once or twice. I didn't know they were so bad that all of Asia gives their daughters a "talk" about them.

"Unholy marriage between 4chan and Reddit" Dear God, what have they done. No single nation could harbor such site without DIRE consequences.

The fact that none of these constant social tensions like the choebals and constant political corruption are as unknown in the west as they are is a testament to South Korea's entertainment industry as the country's PR wing.

Thank you for addressing both the men's & women's struggles in Korea. It's refreshing to find a balanced, unbiased approach to these issues instead of just the most palatable & trendy. However, I feel like you should've mentioned how sexual crimes have been on the rise annually ever since pornography was outlawed there.

I always knew that The City, the setting of Project Moon's games, was basically modern day South Korea on steroids. The Wings (large corporations that govern their own areas of the city called their Nests) are basically the chaebols, who have eschewed morality in favour of maximising profit, and all their workers are immensely overworked and treated as disposable resources. The government of the City, the Head, comprises 3 of the City's most powerful Wings - a reflection of how the civilian government and business corporations are so intertwined in real life South Korea. But the talk about hierarchy really made me look at PM's games, specifically Library of Ruina, in a whole new light. You basically spend the entire game fighting your way up the hierarchical ladder, starting from the lowest backstreet scavengers to the biggest corporations and their private armies. Fixers (basically mercenaries) have their hierarchy based on their number grading, and so do Fixer associations. The story chapter names, like Urban Plague and Star of the City, are in-game terms used to denote threat levels to the City. Even the game UI is presented in hierarchical fashion - for story chapter selection you start at the bottom and scroll upwards to the later chapters instead of left to right in many other games. Really great video overall with lots of historical context to put things in perspective. Thanks for making this.

There’s a good reason why most manhwas and many mangas are centered around power fantasies, which also coincidentally tend to feature some of the most extreme depictions of bullying in fiction.

I don't remember who said it, but it's South Korea that is a cyberpunk dystopia, not Japan.

That megalian hand sign is actually hilarious. That shit is like 2010 illuminati triangle shit bro, except it was unironic and people were mad about it. It reminds me of the ok sign white power bs but in reverse.

This is probably peak youtube, right here. A brilliant and compelling pop cultural conflict dramatization meeting a historically informed and philosophically grounded political and societal analysis? This is how powerful ideas are formed.

As a half-Korean with a Korean mom, that part about pressure to do well in order to be successful hit hard. Granted, I was mostly raised in the US, but my mother kept that pressure and hierarchy from her own background. Me getting good grades since elementary school is what my life has revolved around. If I didn't get good grades, I would be punished and I remember very clearly that it lead to very dark thoughts even as young as 4th/5th grade. Just that pressure from my mother alone. I can't imagine what it would have been like in Korea. My heart goes out to everyone struggling there, it's insane

Tangentially related, but in my opinion, the reason why there are so many power fantasy Korean novels is because of the issues in Korean society, such as wealth inequality and social hierarchy, both of which play into one another.

Growing up in my country, we had an idolization of other countries and specifically Korea for a time. We were considered quite poor and undeveloped and the way for families to change their lives was to essentially "sell" their daughter to a international marriage. A lot of them happen to be married off to Chinese and Korean men/families. This contributes somewhat to the way Korean view us as lesser than, going so far as putting a line in a drama that essentially have a mother calling her useless, deadbeat of a son that even girls from my country will not marry him. That is also not yet mention the fact that they consider people from my country in the work force (which are cheaper than those of Korea's) as less skilled, less smart, less capable of Korean work force (even if they can not afford them). The illusion of Korea being a great country fade when girls who were obsessed with their oppas come over to Korea, when girls who were married off to foreign families with languages they can barely speak finally try to run back to their homeland after being abused. For a long time, the illusion is kept up because these girls are seen as lucky and sometimes are sole breadwinners of their family in the homeland as the currency gap is too big. I had the conversation with my mother, although lighthearted, when I was young and we were struggling massively. She said the way for our family to change our lives and for me to have a better life than they did is for me to move. I could try to get a scholarship from Western countries or be married to richer Asian country's men. She then continues to get serious, as jokes often fly over my head, and said: Japanese men won't respect you, Chinese men will not care for you and Korean men will just use you. It's best to not do that after all. Maybe you could try marrying Western lol. Another note, I've recently joined the physical work force (instead of doing online free-lancing) in my country and had worked with Korean companies for a time. Before I joined the workforce, my cousin, who had worked for many decades longer than I did, warned me it's best not to work with Koreans (and Japanese but that's a different topic) but since I've landed the job, go for the experience and ok pay. Once I quit due to being seen as lesser than, overworked, not properly paid, company being generally shady and lowkey illegal, in-fighting and so on, my cousin reveals that Koreans men who comes to my country to open a business/start up are known to be notoriously ridiculous, pushing their social norms onto ours despite being in our country, expecting unrealistic result despite the improper pay and worker's benefit. I've worked for a Korean company where we are expected to do a 7 to 6 job and only have 1 day off, which was not on the weekend. I've worked for a Korean company who I, who was hired for a different position, was essentially the HR/babysitter/translator, having to manage people's schedules, emotions, making sure the work environment remain non-toxic and keeping track of what the complaints are and how to improve them on top of the job I was hired to do. I've worked in Korean company where the boss did not even hide the fact that he viewed us as his little play things, expected to respect him like a king, speak to him like loyalty and bow to his very whims and demands otherwise he throws a hissy fit and punish us with verbal abuse or delayed pay despite already not having money to pay either or both of our salary and worker's benefits that is required by law in our country. I, as a child, dreamt of leaving my country. Korea to me was beautiful, their language and the limited Korean friends I made along the way who liked the same fandom, the same characters bring me great joy and it felt like a massively developing country that would help me improve my life, Korean food to me is delicious, varied and, again, a huge joy to eat. I, too, was considered lucky and fortunate to be working with a foreign instead of a local company therefore I did not mention many of the other hardships and underhanded ways I was fucked over by them, the physical and mental toll it took on me and how fiercely I hated life to my family. To me, Korea was, still is, a beautiful country. Now it is tainted with people with power and money using those like me as no more than pawns and throwing us away once they're ready to move on to a new game. Another note: I am an open LGBTQ+ person in my work place who looks generally feminine and small. Perhaps it helps my boss feels empowered when they scream of how bad I am at my job in front of my team after coming to the department team to congratulate me for being the person who consistently snatch/get projects for the company to work on to continue getting money of which they make a dollar and I make a dime. My colleagues makes even less and that. I've gone off in a tangent but I hope the point is clear for anyone who is still somehow within the illusion of Korea despite watching this video or those who is thinking of working with Korean companies. For the foreseeable future, unless you do not mind becoming a statistic, run. And for the Korean men who have somehow stumbled upon Moon's video and my exceedingly long comment, thankyu for reading and I hope Moon's sentiment is clear to you. We are all fighting the same enemy.

Wanted to watch a video on Korean Gacha drama but ended up watching a political documentary on corruption and misogyny. Win-win. Great 2 part documentary, thoroughly enjoyed it! Subbed.

Coming back after finishing I have a few things to say as someone who lived in SK for half a decade (an epic in five parts- I'm sorry it's so long): - The men there are absolutely miserable, it's true. I imagine I met more of them just for being an obvious foreigner, but they all spoke of Hell Joseon and were desperate to find avenues to leave. Many of them studied abroad for a while and came back to Korea with the sole focus to return to where they studied. One was adopted out to Britain as a child, was guilted by aging family to come back, and ended up giving up his British citizenship because they don't allow dual nationality. He felt tricked and imprisoned by them in a country that wasn't his own, and didn't treat him as their own. Another studied in NZ, and broke down one day because his family thought they wasted their money sending him to study as he struggled to hold down a full time job due to mental health. A one time tinder date called me up from another city because he was on the brink of ending it once. Another, an ex-partner, was violent and I ended up his target because he too was desperate to have some control in life after failing to find a way back to Australia. I watched yet another basically disintegrate during our relationship as he felt Covid destroyed his potential to move abroad and continue to work in the commercial aircraft industry. The only one I knew well who hadn't been beaten down by life was a man whose mother owned several department stores, and whose father owned a prominent construction company. He was having a ball. He was also ethnically Korean, but held Russian citizenship and was basically just in Korea for fun (and to hold an executive role on a gaming company board I guess). - The pressure on women got to me too. I had Botox done on a few times whim, I had a random mole on my neck surgically removed (it wasn't even ugly, it was just imperfect), got my teeth molded and whitened, fixed a tiny discolouration on my front tooth- I spent a LOT of money on various beauty expenses. I had an online consultation for rhinoplasty and fillers once too, didn't go through with it. I still have a list of procedures I want(ed) to have done on my phone somewhere. A lot of the women I met were staunch feminists- less Megalia, more frustrated and pushing for equality. Wanting to be more than an ageless, beautiful prop as somebody's wife. But it was quietly confessed like a guilty secret, with eyes darting around to make sure no one could overhear the damning admission. - Political awareness is everywhere there. I remember visiting before I moved there, and I saw a parade happening when I was walking through Busan one night with some new friends from the hostel I stayed at. I asked them what they were celebrating, and they told me it was actually a protest against Park Geun-hye's inaction over Sewol. I moved there immediately after Moon Jae-In met and shook hands with Kim Jong-Un at the border, and I remember people watching news about it like a hawk. I noticed almost every taxi driver watched the news coverage on their dashboard more closely than they'd watch the road around that time. The grim finale of their presidents was a topic of dark humour sometimes. Considering what they've all lived through, it makes sense for them to be so keenly, hand-wringingly aware of what is going on at the top. I know a lot of young Koreans felt truly let down by Moon Jae-In later in his presidency, they had hoped he would do more to pull them out of a feeling of dire hopelessness. - The general fear and apprehension for the future reaches all the way down to elementary school kids. Most of the boys are terrified about military service, but I knew one very smart but very unstable 10 year old who absolutely loathed China and couldn't wait for the day he could fight them in a military setting. I knew some absolutely brilliant girls who knew their best bet was to put all their efforts into English and apply for universities abroad as soon as they could. Totally fluent American English without having stepped outside of Korea once. Others were just numbly aware that even if being a kid is hard, it only got worse from here. I hope when they grow older, they inherit a better Korea that allows them to flourish. - I too got the Korean man talk. I lived in Japan, and was due to move to Korea in a few months. One day when all the other teachers were out, the school librarian told me half seriously, half jokingly: come back to Japan if you want to marry. A wonderful Korean boyfriend will turn into a horrible Korean husband and take away all your freedom. But a terrible Japanese boyfriend would make a good Japanese husband because he would be too worn down from work to stop you from doing whatever I liked. She was older, single, and one of the most happily content people I have ever met. edit re: gacha games, never actually met anyone into them lol

One unusual thing about this is the difference in Japanese vs. Korean comics. Now of days a lot of Manga (Japan) is Isekai, where one gets pulled to a new world, get a cool ability, and go on adventures, and yes have a harem. Compared to Manwha (Korean) where it's the other world clashes with their current one, invading it, gives everyone abilities, but the protagonist is is special in some way to rise above the new ordering of the country. You will also notice it's almost always in Korea for this. From my consumption, the general meta for Japan is "leaving the country to be happy" vs. Korea's "Change the entire ordering of society so I can get the respect I deserve." It's really weird how these two countries think apart despite how close they are.

The biggest problem here is the complete taboo against punching up. They can only punch down, and when confronted with the situation where the "inferior" were correct in spite of a "superior's" judgement they still have to capitulate by punching down on anyone else beneath everyone involved. Hence the plane incident in the first video. So the only socially acceptable thing these young men can do is punch down on women.

I must commend this essay. As someone who has heard a lot of romanticized stories about the economic development of SK being from a developing country this legitimately made me pull the hand break on some beliefs ive had. This was so good that I'm actually setting up reviewing some of the sources you cited to learn more. An YT essay that piqued my interest to the point of going after sources I think is one of the highest praise I can give. I will be subscribing with perhaps unreal expectstions on future videos due to the quality of this one. I promise ill try to be chill

As a Korean(who desperately wants to leave here) This video kinda "woke me up", Maybe I'm too naive and take everything I hear as truth. But the part about overcompetitive life and the frustration that you get from feeling like you have no control just vented towards other people. That one I really felt. You also covered modern Korean history quite well(Well maybe not but better than I could've) probably a lot of work went into this one. So thank you for covering one of the most frustrating and confusing Korean events, The history, and the "Gender war". (And sorry if you had to read this this was one hell of a rambling)

You asked about Blue Archive’s story. The main theme is about how children, who lack any real power, are exploited by adults. Then you, the player character, come in as an adult with the highest authority in the city. You behave as an “adult should”: rather than using the children to empower yourself, you protect them and strive towards making their dreams come true. With context on South Korea’s culture, to me this feels like a certain kind of wish fulfillment. Wishing for the real, true authority to show up and fight against the corrupt authorities. When I played the game, I definitely thought “god I wish (player character) was here for me irl.” It’s not about fighting authority or the status quo, so much as being saved by the new person in charge. Others may interact with that dynamic differently and experience it as something of a power fantasy where you have all the authority, which I don’t think fits as well. But it is to be expected considering the questionable elements in and surrounding the game… That’s how I think the game relates here. If anyone else has any thoughts please reply to this, I’d love to hear them.

The only part, I dont understand is why these companies need to apologise to random men on the internet? How does the social hierarchy works btw them and their customers?

This was the first of your series I've ever watched, and man, it's insane this level of reporting and education is available for free on RU-vid. Keep it up dude, you're an inspiration.

Why does Moon keep bringing up this gacha game in my Korean history documentary?

I lived in Korea my entire life and this guy has a better understanding of Korean history and culture than most of the people I've met throughout my life. I genuinely think this video should get Korean subtitles so I can share it with some of my friends and families. thank you for making this video. I feel so much better knowing that my struggles and frustrations are noticed by others. Though i doubt much would change anytime soon I'm sure people who have watched this video gained a deeper understanding of this situation and learned to be less hateful.

I'm not a woman but I got "the talk" from my parents about Korean families as a whole instead with much the same messaging. As a bonus in that talk from my parents also said the same thing about Indians. It always struck me as plainly racist and I still think it is racist but I've come to understand where that was coming from as my parents failed to properly elaborate why they felt the way they did.

I went into these videos on accident because I wanted to find someone who had the same opinion of gacha games as me. What I expected was some funny story about the gacha community. What I instead got was a breakdown of Korean culture that made me genuinely changed my whole perspective on Korean media.

As someone who used to be engaged to a Korean man, what you said at the end of the video about people from other Asian countries telling their daughters not to date or marry Korean men is so accurate and hilariously spot on. Thanks for making these videos.

Please, someone, subtitle this whole thing in Korean. It's tough, but so necessary.

I've never heard of the "Korean talk" before. I had some Greek friends whose mom was told by her dad not to marry a Greek man because she would be treated like a servant if she did. Guess it's similar to that. Sad.

This two part documentary has no business being the best examination of modern Korean society and how we got here. Thank you for the research and insight you present here, it makes a lot more sense to me now why Korean media seems to have such an innate understanding of what it means to suffer at the hands of others

Do you think Miyazaki stays offline because he too lives in fear of what he's created?

What I watch : Korean Gacha Drama What I expected : Angry feminist and gamer squaring off brutally What I got : A breakdown of how messed up the Korean society has become

You know its bad when even the Chinese think your witch haunt against women is crazy lol

That Chart of almost 80% of young people viewing the country as "Hell" undersells it really. I mean, even the older generation views it the same at 60% rates. Now, not viewing a place as heaven is certainly different from viewing it as hell, but basically no country should be over even 10% since that's a huge problem even then if they truly see it that terribly.

Dear humanity, I'm sorry, and you have my condolences.

Half Korean here. To be completely honest, I'm happy I'm Canadian and that my grandparents moved to Canada. I've been watching online content about Korean culture, and I gotta say that it must be incredibly stressful to simply be a Korean citizen. Everyone seems to be looking forwards to performance for every metric, and the collectivist nature means that everyone is judgemental to all hell about everything. Simply put, I'm not a very successful person. I would be skinned alive and left to rot in the nearest dumpster if any part of my very-extended Korean family knew anything about me. Honestly, I'm just glad I'm genuinely happy on an average day, and that I don't have much to prove to anyone else. And that I drink my respect women juice. That's also really good.

The beginning paints a pretty extreme double standard one can observe outside of Korean Gacha and Gender drama. If a marginalised group produces and extreme outlier group (like the Mgalians) society blames it on the entire marginalised group (women and feminists). While the extreme and crude actions of people from the group in power is seen as outliers and the rest of them isn't supposed to take blame or responsibility for it (the behaviour of the misogynists on dc). This happens a lot when discussing online communities. "Incels" are seen as not representative extreme cases no one has a solution for. But the odd extremist post of a dumb supposed feminist on Twitter is pulled as representative for the entire feminist movement. This tactic is also applied when an immigrant commits a crime. Or someone from a religious group is an extremist.

Ah this is a subject close to my heart as a female in south korea. During the early years of this happening I had not heard much of this but then I cut my hair short and was bullied to leave my job at a game company. Extra context, I've cut my hair short since I was young with brief periods of longer hair since(hair grows) and when they hired me my hair was bit longer, just about shoulder length. I've left for web dev but I've never cut my hair shorter than shoulder length after that. I'm not allowed to chose how long my hair is

The "do not marry a Korean man" talk reminds me HEAVILY of the talk a lot of Canadian families have with their daughters about dating hockey players (Hockey Canada literally has a slush fund of hush money for when their players SA someone because of how common it is). It's really sad that I'm pretty sure most people in the audience, even if not from a culture that gives their daughters the "korean man" talk as you describe, have a cultural equivalent where they can go "oh that's the hockey player/xyz speech"

In high school, I was casual buddies with a first-generation Korean immigrant guy (let's call him X), and also, good friends with a very outspoken feminist girl (let's call her Y). They ran in different circles, so they only really knew of each other by reputation, and through me. Watching this reminded me of a long-forgotten conversation I had with X. X: "Isn't Y a feminist? How can you be friends with her?" Me: "What do you mean?" X: "Doesn't she hate all men? How can you be friends with her?" After pointing out that Y demonstrably did not hate all men (because I'm male, and we were friends and remain friends to this day), X dropped the subject. I remember being pretty confused, because it was a pretty striking thing to believe about Y when, to my knowledge, the two had never really interacted. Checking the dates on the Megalian movement, however, it lines up almost perfectly with when I knew this guy. I don't think I have a point to this little anecdote, but seeing the attitude Korean gatcha gamers have towards feminists made me go, "Oh, so that's what it was..."

It's disheartening to see so many innocent people thrown under the buss because of what really constitutes a modern angry mob.

This was fantastic work. You should be proud of yourself. I really appreciated the cultural & historical background. Not many people would've bothered, but it was definitely necessary here.

I don't know about you all, but when Moon Channel says "It's time to talk history. I can see you shuddering through the screen", instead my ears perk up and I say "oh, do tell more" while swaying in anticipation.

I am Korean, and I feel tremendous despair in this reality of Korea. If you need a translation of the materials in Korean, I will cooperate. Please feel free to comment because it is a favor. Additionally, you have to deal with how the local wiki in Korea distorts this topic. This has a huge impact on the closed worldview of Korean men. You have to look at those horrible wiki documents.

I don't even know how to describe how amazing is this video, your well thought out and deeply researched commentary never fails in surprising me every time.

The easiest way to stay in power is by creating an enemy for your followers to fight. When your followers are fighting that enemy, you may rule.

As a Korean American, I honesty started crying halfway into the video. Soul destroying Korean social pressure by its own nature covers its tracks by gaslighting you into believing that *you* are the one responsible for your own suffering. You are shamed into suffering in silence This is imbued into our culture, so its reach stretches even beyond Korean borders. I only recently have begun to reckon and recover from the repercussions thanks to growing Western awareness of mental health and my recent ADHD diagnosis. But I'm someone that doesnt even live IN Korea and I cant even fathom how bad it really is for people there. I felt real personal grief hearing the testimonies and realities in this video series. Thank you for making these, moonie

I rarely comment on RU-vid videos, but since you asked people who got the "talk" about Korean men to comment, I figured I would. While I can't remember a specific discussion with my parents, I remember growing up knowing there was a stereotype that Korean men (specifically those from mainland and not the diaspora) were wife-beaters so it was not a good idea to date them. My family is ethnic Chinese. I never ended up in a situation where a Korean man asked me out, but I remember thinking about it when I first started dating.

i absolutely appreciate the coverage of the true systematic issues that allow both sides to be able to hopefully empathise with each other. far too often we see only one side getting brought up and entirely ignoring the root of the problem, this two parter was a well rounded well spoken masterpiece

A Small Correction for the Video, at about 1:34:10, Arknights is stated to be "A Korean Game", which is incorrect. Arknights is developed by Hypergrph, a Shanghai Based Chinese Company. Yostar is not a developer either, it is a publisher for games such as Azur Lane and Arknights for their Global, Japanese and Korean versions.

Arknights is developed not by Yostar in Korea, but by Hypergryph in Hong Kong. Yostar is the *publisher* of Arknights' global server. Edit: As further clarified below, Hypergryph is based out of Shanghai, China, not Hong Kong. Either way, it is definitely not a Korean game.

As someone whose read Korean Webcomics (manhwa) on Webtoon for years, death of the self (don't kill me youtube) has been such a recurring theme that it really felt concerning. Sadly it looks like a lot of my concerns were true. Its starting to make sense of why there tends to be so many power fantasies with the most picture perfect yet hollow wafius and husbandos. Still I enjoy comics like Tomorrow and Dr.Frost trying to cover these problems in a respectful manner and I would highly recommend them for anyone wanting look more into the culture.

Anyone else notice how the MGG (Male Gatcha Gang) first response to any woman questioning them is violence? It’s like their one move, and screaming loudly

Moony out here making me a more well rounded and empathetic thinker one video at a time. Thank you, thank you

The Hoyoverse protest blimp is hilarious 🤣 Perfectly strange send-off for a bleak subject matter. Great video once again Moony!

As a Korean that was mostly raised in the US, going though 3rd-12th grade and 4 years of college before coming to Korea for my military service, I really didn't have lot of historical context beyond the small bits I gathered from media like RU-vid. This series was actually a learning experience for me in terms of the history and the deeper roots of the society. Once again, I appreciate this series being more about the deep intricacies of the issue and less about how ridiculously stupid the gender issues centered around the gacha community is getting. I initially didn't know how to feel about this series since it brings what I deem as an extremely embarrassing side of our culture and society to the outside world, but after everything I'm glad this was made. As a Korean with a lot of western values, I feel like South Korean is going through its own version of the Galapagos syndrome. People need to realize how ridiculous they look to people outside of this country, like the reaction they received by the Chinese community when they brought up their issue with Genshin. I just wish that people understand that this gender war in gacha games was merely an outcome of many years of gender conflict. Thanks again for a great video.

As soon as I heard Genshin, I was like, yeah, it doesn't matter what they do. They're not getting through to Hoyoverse As someone who played that game for 2 years and was in the fandom for all that time as well, the only way that company will ever listen to anyone's complaints is if the large majority of multiple servers come together passionately on one conclusion. The only time that ever happened was during the first anniversary, which also means it's the only time Hoyo has ever listened to its players

on one hand i feel like i was tricked into a history lesson as most of this video has nothing to directly do with gacha drama, but on the other hand it was incredibly educational and informative. i remember when the limbus company controversy happened and i was confused about the details as all i knew was that a woman was wrongfully let go from the company and that their apology tweet wasn't received very well. knowing all the context from these past 2 videos is very important regardless of the gacha drama. good video!

The entire time I heard of all those people forcing nexon of all companies to bow to their demands... I was just thinking "why get mad at an artist when you could demand they stop making their lootboxes increasingly worse and milking half a billion dollars from you?" Like... you could enact so much better change, and they use all that time and energy on which hunts. Glad you mentioned it at the end. Great video.

I also wanted to comment... that the Korean people have no real outlet for this aggression but one another. Not just because of the Neo-Confucian mindset, but because there are inherent dangers with protesting their government. The Protests of Daughter Park were a rarity, as it took place throughout all the nation and targeted the government as a whole. That isn't normal, and would normally result in the main instigators, most vocal members, and others, being added to "The Little Black Book." That was the nickname given to a small book that KCIA members carry with them when they observe protests that occur in South Korea. The contents of the book are then debriefed, and the information added to a database of "undesirables" who become almost unhireable amongst the Chaebols, who also have access to this list of "undesirables." The fastest way to get added to the list is by protesting the government, openly, in an area that isn't designated a protest zone (Universities and outside American Bases. More on the last in a bit.) The Book usually is continuously updated, with additional information added if they find a person has attended multiple protests, including ones that are in the designated protest zones. The only way off the Book is by not attending a protest for quite some time. I had heard rumors you could also throw other people under the bus to get off of it, but I was never able to confirm that while I was dealing with the KCIA. Universities in South Korea are one of the few Free Speech zones in the nation, and the American Bases are generally not going to interfere with a protest, and the bases tend to be surrounded by Korean Nation Police (KNP) a branch of the Korean Armed Forces that Korean Men can be assigned to for their mandatory military time, during a protest. When stationed in Korea, you are briefed about many of the protests, and bases tend to be locked down out of an abundance of caution, but many of the protests that target American military bases in South Korea tend towards being outlets for Government actions. I personally watched the progression of one of these protests, the KCIA and their garbage attitudes, and the poor KNP who had to stay in Mad Maxx style barbed wire covered buses the whole time the protests went on. I watched the KCIA guys write scribbled notes in their little black books. It is a surreal experience watching a protest and seeing the cogs behind the Korean Government Machine. This was almost 2 decades ago, but, knowing Korea, none of this has really changed.

As a korean male, this breaks my heart that the majority(those don't hate each other) are being harmed by a few fights. Since the hate wave in Korea, the fertility rate has been vertically decreasing. Not only that, politicians have to find ways to raise the birth rate, but they are fighting among themselves. Many people won't be harmed if they don't hate each other, but I'm sad that this happened.

This was legitimately incredible. The history, the analysis, the research into internet culture. A million kudos to you for your amazing work. I learned a lot today.

This is one of your best videos. I relish being gacha-baited and then instead given a condensed history of modem south Korean politics

I learned more about Korean history than I expected to.

As strange as it feels to say since this is a real situation in the world, but the Korean gender war is a pretty good example to inspire some introspection on our own gender disputes in media

this was brilliantly made, thank you for empathizing with the pain of all involved, I'm not sure how much one youtube video will change, but you absolutely affected my understanding of the situation of why the men punch down, and I couldn't be more appreciative.

Well then, I’m never going to be able to view Korean media in the same way again.

I'd like to also recommend "The man who faked human cloning" by BobbyBroccoli, which also talks about the Korean political culture in regard to science.

The warnings about not dating Korean men make me laugh when there are swathes of western women who pine after the guys in bands like BTS. A girl that I work with was dead set on moving to Korea to find her perfect man before a few of the Asian women in my office (mix of Koran, Chinese and Japanese) took her aside and gave her the talk. I was obviously not a part of the conversation, but from what I heard it basically boiled down to "do you want to be seen as a prize, treated like a slave and expected to never have your opinions taken seriously? Then go get yourself a Korean man".

holy shit I knew this channel dives really deap to make informative video but this was really insightful, especially coming from me being male korean citizen Not to lie I began watching this 2 part series with the attitude of "lets see how much this western man can get right about south korea" and ended with the insight of well organized perspective I would've had hard time achieving on my own. Thank you

i know it happened after the video had been done but recently nikke got involved in a finger controversy where an illustration got taken down because of a suspected pinching gesture. the twist is that the illustrator wasn't even korean and likely isn't even aware of the situation

South Korean here (again). First of all, wonderful work of such extensive research and connecting the dots! I was frightened when I saw the name of the DCinside and the namuwiki. What I see tragic about these full scale war is that everyone is fighting to every other, even without knowing who they are really fighting against at. Moon pointed right about the breakdown of the megalia and the diverse political spectrum of the succeding communities, and there are also so many male communities (various 'minor- and mini-galleries of the DCinside, Arcalive, Ruriweb) and including 일간베스트 (Daily Best). This makes both 'tribes', both male and female, virtually impossible to identify what is the other side's representitive opinion, and in the most cases, the most extremist opinion goes perceived as an consensus of the 'foe' of the tribe. What was the fundemental flaw of the Megalia was, they were actually mirroring/replicating the community named as '일간베스트' (I'll call it as 'Daily Best' from now on) the notorious toxic child of the DCinside. That community was already recognized as 'problematic' by its right-wing extremist opinion (like idolzing Chun Doohwan who was a dictator committed massacres in Gwang-ju), degrading and making fun of the innocent victims of the 세월호 사건 (Sinking of MV Sewol), and etc.. Thus, by copying the rhetoric of the 'Daily Best', Megalia was prone to the critism about the intention of the community and the inherent extremism from the start. Also, you see, Korean politics is hyper-Confucian while had no time to navigate diverse ideological landscape, a lot of people tend to vote after the idolized political figure, not by their interest nor their idea about their country. Several attempts were done to take control and recruit young womens and mens using cheap phrases like 'preventing chauvinist/extreme feminist from systematically oppressing the innocent people'. (You can search this by the '이대남' and '이대녀' keywords, which means 'men/women at their 20s'.) So, it was quite natural for both sides to stay guarded against the other side and the potential external threat to protect themselves. On such environment, the conflict is very easy to escalate, misunderstanding each other, making preemptive attacks, and see the result of their self-fulfilled prophecy as a form of the revenge from the other party. I regret about the Sookmyung women's university Transwoman incident. The incident was about the transwoman get passed the women's university entrance exam, but the angry mob who self identified as 'feminist' made a backlash and canceled her with insults and blackmails, making her give up about the entrance. I was very disappointed about the so-called 'feminists' who attacked the social minor rigourously and aggressively than any other. What I didn't understand was that in real life, so many groups tried to be entitled as 'orthodox feminist' to take control of the political power, and that includes extremists and mal-intended groups. I had made a mistake that all of the feminists were like them. And, I think that's also the case for the male community. The most extreme and spicy shoutout wins. Think about political polarization all around the world, propagating through various social network services, misinformations and disinformations rise from all of the intentions, good or not. So... I wanted to scream before the time I will have no mouth, when I get forcefully conscripted and lose the right to make a political speech, because the goverment treats the conscripted soldiers as civil servants, even the soldiers themselves didn't wanted to be the soldiers in the first place. If you have read this all along, you have my sincere thanks, I'll be slightly relieved.

While the historical context given in this (and the previous) video is incredibly fascinating and delivered with obvious skill, I think the greatest success of this video in particular, is the pacing and flow; serious and heavy historical and cultural information about a (to me) completely unknown peoples, yet incredibly easy to listen to. Thank-you so much for covering this topic Moonie!

So we have moved to from one high-paying used to be able to uphold a household to two middle-income jobs earning a living to not even two incomes are enough to start a family... The same thing is happening all over the world to a different degree, middle classes in developed countries are getting squeezed & liquidated, native population is collapsing under the burden of growing economic disparity, inequality and skyrocketing home prices and cost of living expanses their wages cannot keep up with.

This is a popular misconception but Arknights is not developed in Korea, it is developed by Hypergryph which is located in Shanghai, China like Mihoyo. It is however Published by Yostar which is also based in china and has an office in Japan as well. I won't say that this invalidates your points since a big chunk of yostar's audience is korean but I just wanted to put that out there. This was a really good in-depth video I hope to see more from you ^^

What's striking and incredibly depressing about all of this to me is just the extreme lack of empathy, It's all anger and accusations to everything. They did this so we did it back to them seems to be the story for so many of these examples.

I will never go to korea after watching this. I had no idea it was that bad. Also incredible videos, I love the history segments the most. Subscribed.

Videos about these topics are more important now than ever, and not just for Korea, but the whole world. Amazing work.

The whole situation that lead to Park's assassination was very interesting. Especially when you realize what happened to Korean politics after the purge of the KCIA from the positions of power. Like, the man was going crazy, gets gackt by his own best friend, his children survive cause they were hiding in a closet sneaking a peak at the party. Then the assassin gets killed by his own subordinate, who then gets told behind closed doors by the US CIA, in a paraphrased conversation - "Either return to voting, or we will return it to voting." And so, the vote returns, and now every president of Korea gets investigated for corruption charges after their one term in office.

The statistic that the majority of S. Koreans think S. Korea is a living hell and want to leave is mind blowing. And am I right in thinking every single S. Korean president has ended their term by being arrested, assassinated or suicide?

Never for a moment did I consider that a more deranged version of Gamergate could exist outside NA and Europe. It makes sense in hindsight, but I was so unprepared