Girl from Nowhere (2018)

The first episode is like Hormones s2e3, but this "Girl from Nowhere" goes step further. She purposedly comes to new school to mess up with the local villain. Mess up with him good. She doesn't have to be concerned for the consequences for herself, as she always changes school. She can do anything. And she doesn't care if she hurts innocent people in the process... Even cause worse than the villain's doing. She just laughs hysterically.

The second episode takes things even more steps further... It was not cheerful to watch what were "regular kids" capable of (there were even five of them), the more so as it looked quite realistic (the apologizing, too). What was NOT realistic was what the "Girl from Nowhere" was capable to withstand. But were she not, she could hardly make her point, LOL. The girl playing Nanno looks the part but her laugh is too forced. Had she really have a strong laugh, she would really be able give the villains good scare in this one.

Since episode 3, Nanno starts to iniciate the bad doings. She nags and bugs the selected person with ideas of what they should do. Then she makes sure they get exposed.

In the episode 4 titled 'What can money buy?', I kinda pitied Nanno's target for the first time (boy who pretended to be rich in front of his friends) and wished that Nanno would lay off a little... But he really had stupid friends. In the end, everyone acted kinda unbelievable in compare to other stories. Then Nanno roared in something that was probably supposed to be laugh, but seriously, someone give that girl acting lesson. I was relieved the parents lived and I didn't condemn that they took the money (Nanno rather should have given them the whole million something amount), whom I didn't understand was the son. I would prefer to be friendless.

Watching episode 5 reminded me how I'm grateful I'm old enough I was able to grow up WITHOUT social media. Else, I didn't care about the story of this one...

Epi 6 & 7: Power is given to the weak. AND stupid.
(Despite that, these are the two strongest episodes.)

Epi 8: First time Nanno is friends with someone. But she can't stay with her friend, still 4 more stories to come.

9: Annoying episode with group of annoying people in hiding, who kept clamoring instead of just being quiet (in their hiding). All they needed to do was stay put. Yeah, but then we wouldn't be blessed with yet another "shocking twist" episode and yawping of Nanno (I wanted HER to die just to shut up, seriously).

10: A chilling episode, though NOT for the "shocking" conclusion and ending. In fact the first half an hour, I found it an interesting a theme (for the first time) about a person bottleing their stress. Having unhappy personal life is one thing, being unescapeably, constantly reminded of it (even while working) is another. There is a school full of annoying kids, of course (they didn't even need to add Nanno with her silly smirk in this one) contributing to it, too. It might be truth that today's "social" kids don't even understand the CONCEPT of privacy. The teacher in question is also repeatedly told she should relax. How CAN a person relax if in today's world it seems there doesn't exist a single person who is just minding their own bussiness? ... But instead, we do not occupy ourselves with these questions, because of course we need to watch the main character emerging as yet another psycho. Pitty...

Okay, last three episodes are also behind me... I'm not staying for season 2, but good luck with improving the laughter of Chicha Amatayakul:)

Read More

A couple episode were great , others I questioned the intent

If I were to recommend this drama to someone, I would only recommend they watch certain episodes similar to how black mirror operates - some are good and some of bad and do not need to be watched as this is in episodic format. The first episode is great - crime is committed and its realistic in both the crime and the punishment. 2nd one was similar to the first but the punishment was phycological instead. These episodes were relatively straight forward as Nanno didn't push anyone to do a crime. In many of the episodes Nanno seems to be pushing people to be bad people. I feel like this is fine as it represents temptation and its up to the person to realize they can't control everything in their life. However, sometimes the concepts were just too out there that they no longer became relatable. Additionally, there was an episode where Nanno helps a troubled boy meet his father - I would have liked to see more of this episode where they seem like a bad person but in actuality is just a teen with troubles. All in all, I would only recommend the episodes where a lesson is actually taught and not the ones where it felt chaotic. For instance, the beauty episode one could have been a good look into how society views women based on their looks but they blew the whole thing out of proportion by not letting it be relatable - which it should have been.

Also, I felt like a lot of the worst episodes involved women especially revolving around jealousy. For instance, tell me why in the last episode the guy that appears to be cheating ( or just the girl likes him and they weren't actually dating ) is not punished by the group of girls and guys but Nanno is? I just felt like there wasn't any lessons to some of the episodes. I am a fan of Satoshi Kon's work and I feel like it would have worked better if they were better able to emulate his work routed in surrealism but where as his shows what certain emotions/events can do to a person (like paranoia agent and fear and perfect blue and how someone views themselves after sa) this was hit or miss.

Read More

A strange but captivating series.

Nanno reminds me a little of Tomie from Junji ito, we don't know what she really is and she is destined to be reborn again and again.

I say this in the in the episode "lost and found" This chapter we see that Nanno does not really seek to bring out the worst in the boy nor does he want to punish him. She, for the first time, creates a true connection with a human being, has fun and genuinely enjoys herself with the boy and appears sad when the boy tells her that he does not want her to disappear from his life or lose her. Nanno for the first time shows a feeling of sadness and guilt. Since she knows that it is not something she can promise him, she disappears whether she likes it or not, that is her destiny.

Clearly Nanno, as she says in the final monologue of the first season, is a karmic entity. Nanno doesn't really do anything, if you think about it, to make everyone show how evil what are human beings. She somehow always gets caught up in the evil of human beings and in the end they receive punishment from her. Everyone attacks Nanno but Nanno is really outraged in many episodes, it's not that she cares or is affected by it, she knows the most perverse nature of human beings, so she lets them do whatever they want with her and then they receive their consequences.

The stories may seem bizarre, but it is something that happens every day. How many times have we seen human evil without limits? As I study criminology as a hobby, the situations shown in the series are actually mild when you see reality. It is always said that reality is stranger than fiction and it is totally true.

Nanno only demonstrates the most perverse and dark reality of the human being.

What's your objective? Who knows, it just shows that it is an entity that shows people's true colors and that people have no limits when we want to achieve something. Nanno dies and revives to show everyone the consequences of his actions.

I would not classify it as a "demon" but rather as an entity that is the representation of karma.

Why are she laughing? Well simply because she finds human beings pathetic. Looking for excuses to justify her actions.

I really enjoyed this drama. The actress acts very well, she can pretend that she is innocent and you really believe it, until she shows her true colors, showing you that her that every action has its consequence.

The music matches the drama and the cinematography shows how gloomy a seemingly beautiful place can become when in reality everyone is sick.

Some may say that Nanno incites others to commit atrocious acts but does he really do it? With her mere presence, she already arouses envy, they call her a bitch, they make up rumors about her, they beat her, they rape her, they kill her and they do many other things without Nanno really doing anything. Nanno simply awakens the desire to destroy her, almost always because of her beauty and out of envy.

This is pure psychological terror and in my case it is what I enjoy watching the most.

I have no complaints about the drama. Really, when I started watching it I completely immersed myself in the story and each story is interesting, although some remain unfinished (but this, I believe, is that the director does it so that you reflect on what kind of punishment they deserve). It won't always be Nanno who gives you the answers and that's very interesting.

So yes, I totally recommend it. I think it's the best Thai drama I've ever seen in my life.

Read More

Captivating...but too much girl-on-girl hate

So I didn't realize, before going into this, that there was a supernatural element to it. It definitely added a lot to the show's intrigue and made Nanno a very (satisfyingly) overpowered character, though I found I had to suspend disbelief several times. The anthology aspect of the drama also added a lot to that, knowing that she would win and everything would start over in the next episode.

The downside of an anthology, however, is that there are always stronger and weaker episodes — and in this case I think the show front-loaded its stronger ones. My favorites were The Ugly Truth, and Social Love, with maybe Lost & Found as an honorable mention. The weaker ones were the three at the end before the finale: Trap, Thank You Teacher, and Rank.

I'm also a little mixed on the themes. While I enjoyed the variety in the stories and they do cover several different topics, from class/wealth disparities, to social media, to beauty standards, there's one running theme that's very frustrating to see, and that's girl-on-girl hate. 90% of the episodes have girls attempt murder to set up SA situations with either Nanno or other girls over a boy's affections, and it's a little frustrating that so many plots resorted to this instead of finding new character motivations and exploring other aspects of dark human nature — of which there is much to explore.

Read More

...

the production was good, I can't complain .
I also say that the performance was incredible, it would be a sin if I complained.

I love the actors, I loved the characters.

Of course, not everything is perfect, I can't lie, but what a drama that doesn't have a single flaw.

So in conclusion, I recommend...

I say it's worth watching, maybe it's bad for some, but for me it was good.

This is just my opinion, you better watch it and have your own opinion.

I don't know what to say, because I think everyone has their own opinion.

Read More

Leave Your Brain at the Door

Girl from Nowhere is an anthology series that follows Nanno, a mysterious girl who literally appears from no where. Each episode generally shows Nanno at a new school with a brand new cast of characters, and each school Nanno gets into insane scenarios that rocks the school's foundation.

The ideas inside of Girl from Nowhere are a mixed bag. Some are groundbreaking and unique, and I wished they had been fleshed out further. Others are shallow and make no sense, or the potential is there but the writing doesn't quite do it justice.

Girl from Nowhere is popcorn nonsense at it's best. The lead actor who plays Nanno is fantastic, and no matter what insane things you see her doing on screen, you can't help but root for her or shake your head with a lovable, "Oh, Nanno." The other actors on the other hand can be hit or miss. Sometimes the side characters really hold their own and show off their acting chops, and other times its just a flop and you wondered who let them onto set.

Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of it, but that's because I didn't think about it too hard. When you really try to nitpick and criticize everything this show does, that will kill ALL enjoyment. This show does not require more than 2 brain cells, so all I can say is sit back, turn your brainpower down to low and just enjoy the ride.

Read More

A well-constructed concept that fell short to direction and the anthology setting

The GOOD:
I was planning to watch Girl From Nowhere for ages- the premise seems wonderful. The physical reincarnation for karma steps into the world to avenge wrong-doings and show wrong-doings lead to nowhere but to you ultimately falling into the pit you have dug out for others. Brilliant.
Kitty Chica's acting is tremendous, I hope she continues to grow. She plays Nanno's character brilliantly, so well, in fact, that everyone else's work seems to fall short of her. She is a powerhouse and every move she makes on-screen had me absolutely riveted.

The BAD:
Sadly, not even Kitty Chica's acting could have me ignore the certain absurdities with the storyline. The format goes this way; in every new episode, Nanno is in a new setting, and new characters get their share of karma. Anthology series are hard to master, especially those with a new story or setting every new episode and as I knew, that is where Girl From Nowhere fell short. The first off-putting thing even from the first episode was how karma seems to fall onto all the people associated with the wrong-doing. It made me slightly ill seeing the professor, who rightfully deserved his fate, have his daughter die. What was the daughter's fault? Or the mother's fault? I do not like the concept of women having to pay for the crimes and misdemeanours of the men in their lives. A daughter does not deserve to pay for the crimes of her father; this carries on that sense of women being the ones having to inevitably suffer in this cycle of things. I hope karma is not as blind as shown here.
Also, at times, the evil has no build-up. It makes no sense.
There is no 'snap', there is nothing to show as to why a person would follow through with such heinous actions and that does not justify the true premise of the story. Human beings are not inherently 'evil', it is very easy to put them in a box like this. I wish we could see the build-up and art of story-telling behind the actions of these individuals but it was just abrupt, bloody and not entertaining. Bland execution, to put it that way.

CONCLUSION (?):
I am not keen on the nihilistic view that Girl From Nowhere presents (other than a few bright spots). I think it could have been much better done. All I can recommend is that you watch a few good episodes, or binge through it as I did. It's good for a one-time watch. Total rating: 3.5/10. And 10 stars for Kitty Chica's acting.

Read More

Not What I Expected

I watched the first 3 episodes and the beginning of episode 4 before I dropped this series. On a positive note, the acting was great. Kitty Chicha Amatayakul did a great job with her character. Unfortunately, it fell short on what the series claimed it was about. The series had an interesting story concept but failed on the execution. The first 2 episodes were ok, but I began to see the flaws by episode 3. I realized by the 4th episode that I did not like the series and could not finish it. I usually can stick with a series if it is somewhat entertaining. However, not this one. This was my first Non-BL series that I dropped.

Read More

great potential, outrageous results

I made an account just so I can write a review for this show. Personally, I live for the horror theme, and I had great expectations for this show, like many others. I’ve read other reviews on this show, and these are the points I agree with:
- her laugh sounds forced / feels awkward (love her acting though)
- some of the people wouldn’t have gone so far as they did without her probing

It feels like she’s pushing people into committing these heinous acts that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Others may feel differently, but I definitely think none of the punishments were worthy of the crimes. It’s always the innocent ones that somehow get punished.

** spoilers **

Starting off right in the first episode, it was a teacher rapist. The man had a great loving family of mother and daughter. Someone dies here. Who is it? Not the rapist. The daughter. Why the heck does the daughter die. She’s innocent, and all the father gets is jail. I get that seeing someone close to you die is a horrible punishment, but she did nothing to deserve that.

Second episode, also rape theme. Bunch of kids group up on Nanno and kill her. It was because of her provocations. Her friends were actually supportive of her, but Nanno intentionally made them feel bad. What kind of friend makes goo goo eyes to their friend’s crushes?!?! She was in part to blame, but what the “friends” did after was unforgivable. She doesn’t kill anyone though. She just haunts them. Like hello?!?! They committed murder and that’s what they get???

Third ep, she purposely led a girl into plagiarism. If not for Nanno, the girl would not have become twisted to that extent. Although she did harbor envy and greed, I don’t think it would have gone so far without Nanno. The outcome? She frames another girl for hammering her hand. Why?? The girl didn’t do anything. I don’t remember if she was rude before, but she profusely refused to injure her friend. She didn’t deserve to be framed for something she didn’t do. Yet another innocent victim. And the one that lied about it all and framed someone else? She got her fame and stardom. I get that it leaves her feeling bad, but why did her friend have to be punished to??

Fourth ep was about a guy that pretends to be rich. He has hardworking parents that do their best to pay off debts for their child to go to school. What does the kid do? He steals their money to keep up the ruse of being rich. Then what? Nanno makes the parents play the role of servants as the spoiled brat and his spoiled friends played Russian roulette. (Sorry if the story doesn’t make sense in my explanation, I’m not trying to go into much detail). Anyways, the end: his parents got beat up and bled so much I thought they were dead. They were just brutally beaten up while the son did nothing. It was never even revealed that the kid was lying while his parents, who did everything they could to give their son a good life, lost so much money and got physically and mentally abused.

5th ep: she seduced a guy to cheat on his bf. Once again, I don’t think he would’ve cheated without her provocations. Of course, cheaters are the ones at fault, but she is too for purposely going for someone she knows is taken.

**spoiler ends**

Anyways, I will definitely keep watching, but so far, I do not agree with how the story is being brought about. Like, make the punishments worthy. If they’re gonna be severe, they better be severe on the person doing it, not innocent people on the sideline. I do love the actress though. Her smirks ( ^ω^ ). Her laugh ಠ_ಠ.

Read More

Through 3 episodes and love Nanno...interesting concept..I am from USA and engrossed in all Asian shows....saw lots of cutesy dramas so this is definitely a departure.
The lead is awesome, it seems that you would want to hate her, but i love her. The first episode set the tone, in which not only did the guy who deserve what he got get his, but the daughter who was innocent paid the ultimate price (i mean innocent of the father's misdeeds). I was surprised about her biting it at the end, however it seems that no one is safe if they are connected to the naughty person that is the wrath of Nanno's fury. Although i found the first couple of episodes fairly predictable as they moved along, i still enjoyed them.
Nanno reminded me so much of little boy Damien from the 'Omen'. for those that dont know, this is an American film, the first of a trilogy, of Satan living as a child in part 1, teen boy in part 2 and adult in part 3, paving the way to ruling the world. In part one as a child, in the final scene, Damien looks back at the camera and has a devilish smile- i immediately thought of this when watching Nanno calmly and carefully setting up her prey. Even if you think she is doing good deeds in giving these creeps what they deserve, i am in the camp that she is the devil, entertainingly exposing every weakness in us humans, and dishing out the consequences. So Nanno is the devil- judge jury and executioner. Definitely can see the parallel to the Twilight Zone.
cant wait to see the remaining episodes.

Read More

One critical problem.

I have a problem with this drama. Look, I loved the concept but one thing that falls apart is the very thing this series is revolving in: Nanno. Nanno is omniscient which makes everything so predictable. The only thing the omniscient Nanno was executed properly was on episode 2 which kind of needed Nanno to be omniscient. But as for everything else, I would have preferred it to have another leading character except for Nanno. Having Nanno makes everything so predictable, and instead of it being a mystery, this seems more like a documentary. Also, there are times that Nanno feels very... odd. She feels very different each episode, very inconsistent. I mean that could be a style, but I would have liked it better if each episode focused on a different girl character but with the same actress.

The concept of Nanno is so flawed that I would have wished her to be gone instead. *Sigh*

Read More