***SPOILERS***

I thought this wasn’t a bad sci-fi spin-off, but one’s liking of it would depend on how much he/she compared it to the anime…which is kind of inevitable if they watched both. The special effects and fight scenes here are entertaining enough, even if not Hollywood level. They basically took the premise from the anime and explored what would have happened to an entirely different set of characters in a different country. One good point of this version is that it is very female-centric. The main alien character Heidi was strong and interesting. The main antagonist Joon Kyung could be frustrating at times but surprisingly made the right decisions when needed- which showed that she experienced some kind of growth and wasn’t as stubborn in her beliefs as to be close minded or inflexible. It also explored themes outside the anime, not just of how aliens could be good, but of how people could be just as evil and corrupt.

One thing that I preferred in the anime were the fight scenes, which had better choreography and more tension. I felt like you could sense the danger for the main character Shinichi Izumi more when he encountered one of the parasite hosts and had to fight it out. They were able to explain the traits (advantages and disadvantages) of each host better depending on how he/she was taken over.

Also, I preferred how, in the anime, Shinichi got stronger as a person and grew through his interactions with ‘Migi’ the parasite. In the live action Korean adaptation, the main host Soo In was dormant when Heidi was awake, and vice versa. So they didn’t get to interact directly or learn from each other on the same level. I don’t have a problem with shy characters like Soo In, but for this kind of show, I kind of wished that she grew in bravery or confidence just a little, much like her male counterpart.