The Streaming Battle (Southeast Asia Region): Netflix vs iflix, Disney+

(Disclaimer: This is a personal opinion of the author & not an official business review, this piece was originally drafted in 2019 but has since been updated to reflect current times, in 2021)

In 2019, everyone heard the news that Netflix lost two of its biggest streaming clients, ie; Friends and The Office to their respective planned owners future streaming services, the aforementioned Peacock, HBO Max, & Disney+ streaming services set to debut in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

You’ve probably seen Netflix ramp up its original content in recent years, namely Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Society, along with original movies such as the very successful To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Bird Box, Murder Mystery, etc. They’ve also ended many of their Disney-Marvel series that aired on Netflix such as Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, all perhaps in preparation for the inevitable?

I am putting this Netflix versus Everyone Else in regards to streaming services in an exclusively Southeast Asian perspective. Netflix is perhaps the biggest streaming service in Asia since it became internationally available with the exception of a few hostile countries (you can Google them).

In Southeast Asia (SEA), Netflix is widely available together with Malaysian-made streaming service iflix. In the Asia Pacific region, Disney+ is available in Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, and recently Singapore so it won’t be long before more SEA countries are included. Malaysia is rumored to be getting Disney+ soon although it is not on the waiting list unlike Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.

But the main issue here is whether or not, hypothetically, Netflix can survive amid an increasingly competitive streaming landscape. I actually, in my personal opinion, believe it can and will rise above it. I am not putting in my two cents worth on who will actually prevail but on who will offer what.

Netflix is the reigning streaming king (for now) with their many in-house content as I have previously mentioned. But what makes them tick and why we as the consumer really love (or hate but just can’t quit)? What is the appeal of Netflix that we put up with that high subscription monthly rate?

If I were to pose this question publicly, I could write a thesis. However, in comparison to my local streaming service iflix, undoubtedly Netflix wins hands down. Full disclosure, I used to have an iflix subscription, ultimately abandoning it in favor of Netflix. Why did I do that? Well, because Netflix is ultimately the superior streaming service, duh. Why pay for a beat up car when you could own a souped up one, am I right?

By now everyone’s heard of Disney+ and its initial shaky start but now, everyone’s favourite meme today is without a doubt, Baby Yoda from the Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian. It also helps that the Star Wars saga is ending with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Baby Yoda has instead proven to a very popular standalone character and will obviously be for years to come.

From the look of things, Disney+ seems all new bright and shiny. However, there have been some technical glitches during its initial rollout, with some issues during its official reveal to the public. Disney+ offers the entire Disney catalog which could appeal to many people, with the addition of new television series/ movies based on its extensive library. Disney+ latest offering is Marvel’s WandaVision, including a slate of upcoming Marvel titles lined up such The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the Loki series, among many to come. Disney+ does look formidable and could definitely pose a challenge to Netflix’s dominance.

Meanwhile, during the 2020 (and current) Covid-19 pandemic, Netflix proved its essential status when it became the go-to streaming site with more people staying in due to lockdowns. Netflix original television series that became a hit during this period were shows such as Tiger King, The Crown (4th Season), Emily in Paris, The Queen’s Gambit, and Bridgerton, among others proving that yes, Netflix still had it going on. Netflix seems to have mastered having a finger on the pulse of their viewers and really in tune with content that’s considered relevant. As Netflix has been in on the game for a while, they have the advantage of longevity, a certain familiarity to viewers. Netflix caters to their different audiences in different regions by catering their content to suit each region, ie localization, by collaborating with local creators to create content or purchase content to be streamed on Netflix.

As mentioned previously, Disney+ announced a partnership with Singapore’s StarHub to offer all their content on that republic’s network. This now makes it interesting which if you read even further, it probably won’t be long before Disney+ conquer other SEA markets. It truly will become a Netflix vs Disney+ battle in the region then, and as to who will win then, it’ll be a wait and see approach. In the end, it is us the viewers in SEA who will benefit the most.

Early 2021 K-Drama Obsession: True Beauty

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K-Dramas, always had a liking for it, I’ve been watching them ever since the hallyu wave started almost two decades ago. However, I haven’t caught an ongoing drama, preferring to binge my dramas now, until this one, tvN’s True Beauty. Luckily I was already a reader of the webtoon the drama is based on and what piqued my interest to watch the drama too was a released still from the then upcoming Episode 7.

So long story short, I caught the drama from the aforementioned Episode 7, then managed to catch up in real time, and what a pain in trying to wait for double weekly episodes (this is why people binge).

Just to clarify, this post is NOT a review or a recap post because, there are others sites and places that specialize in that area, and it’s not exactly this writer’s area of expertise (so sorry🙏 😝).

The drama True Beauty became a weekly obsession because: I was a fan of the webtoon, the extremely attractive cast, and the proverbial staple in K-dramas, the love triangle. Fans of the drama became split in two camps, namely the two male leads, whether you were in Team Suho (Cha Eunwoo) or Team Seojun (Hwang In Yeop), and which guy would win over the female lead Im Jugyeong’s heart played by actress Moon Ga-young. Also, I have now just realized that drama adaptations of webtoons can totally differ from the source material, whether for better or worse.

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  (L-R Hwang In Yeop, Moon Ga-young, and Cha Eun Woo)

The very attractive main cast of True Beauty

I must confess that I developed major second lead syndrome and became a mammoth fan of actor Hwang In Yeop who played Han Seojun due to the portrayal of his character. This is considered astounding due to his rookie actor status. Also, I felt bad for only discovering him now, but better late than never eh?

Like every True Beauty fan, I looked out for new stills and BTS (behind the scenes) videos released every week by the network, tvN, which was extremely generous on their behalf for thirsty fans, or maybe just their way of torturing us (again, this is why bingeing is so much better).

At the end of the day, while I do think that they did managed to tie things up nicely for each character, with the exception of SPOILER ALERT the second lead. I do believe that this drama will be a drama that will be referred to for both existing and future fans and become a cultural zeitgeist for many years to come.

I consider True Beauty the rare exception in me returning to watching an ongoing drama, so thank you True Beauty for brightening up our early 2021. Here’s to you True Beauty, now onto my next K-Drama binge.

K-Star Highlight: Hwang In Yeop

Viewers of Korean drama True Beauty were charmed by the storyline, the characters, and the great acting. Among the three main cast members of the drama, one particularly stood out, and he is actor Hwang In Yeop (HIY) who played the second male lead character Han Seojun.

HIY is arguably the breakout star and all-round best character from Korean drama True Beauty, who since then has seen his stock rise up ever since the premiere episode of the drama (even though his character only appeared in Episode 2, and what an entrance it was). His Instagram followers has seen a huge bump from a roughly 200K followers to now 9 million (and counting) followers. Talk about impact.

His newfound fans now know his story as the model turned actor who had only debuted back in 2018 as a model, but had ambitions to be an actor and only got his first role in web drama WHY. Considered to be a late entry into the industry at the age of 27, he had completed his mandatory military service prior to debuting, and had made up his mind to fully pursue acting while in the military.

Why have we developed HIY Mania? For one thing, other than the obvious (looks, voice) that he resembles the webtoon character so much, as are the other two leads, HIY had to overcome the prejudice of the initial reception when his casting was announced. Among the comments seen were that he was an unknown and that fans wanted various idol stars who supposedly inspired the original webtoon character. HIY however has proven all the doubters wrong by not only exceeding expectations, but clearly became the best performer in the drama (the entire cast did great too). HIY has also shown that not only can he have chemistry with every single character in the drama, he overall has an incredible aura and tons of star quality.

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Yes, the character of Han Seojun was also the reason why so many fans fell for him. Han Seojun was the most selfless, loving, gracious, friend/lover/brother that any girl could have wanted except, SPOILER ALERT for those who didn’t watch the drama, by the lead female character of Im Jugyeong played by actress Moon Ga-young. HIY did him justice by managing to perfectly flesh out the character of Han Seojun and portraying him sensitively to appeal to both webtoon and drama fans. Plus, his character Han Seojun was overall so much better than the character of the main lead Lee Suho.

I will not go any further into commenting how some of the webtoon plotlines and scenes were changed from (webtoon Han Seojun) to be transferred to (main lead of drama Lee Suho) but HIY rose above that and truly made the Han Seojun character outstanding against all odds. Though in the finale episode, his performance in the first 15 minutes made us Han Seojun fans bawl our eyes out, he did get a slightly nice tie-up to his story arc. I do however have to agree that the writers did the Han Seojun character a disservice in the end, and just wished his parts could have been written better for his conclusion arc, one that truly honored his character’s evolution in the drama.

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HIY the actor has won us over with his offscreen personality, his talents, and his incredible potential. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for him and the path his career takes. Truly a star is born. While in True Beauty, SPOILER ALERT the character of Han Seojun didn’t get the girl, actor HIY has truly won a million girls’ hearts worldwide.

Taylor Swift’s New “Love Story” for the Ages

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  Old Love Story but make it new

“Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone….” The evergreen lyrics of Taylor Swift’s 2008 hit Love Story still reverberate today. Recent Grammy Album of the Year winner’s Taylor Swift re-recorded her 2008 Fearless album in an effort to take back ownership of her previous work. This has already been well publicized in her battle against her previous record label and its new owners.

Side note, the song Love Story is a full Taylor Swift composition. So how does 2021 Love Story stack up against 2008 Love Story? In my highly amateur music critic ears, not that much. The instrumentals are still similar, with the only difference being in Taylor’s now much more mature voice, owing to her age and life experiences. However, the new Love Story is something I would describe as ROCKING. Like, there is a hint of rock somewhere of what was originally a very “pretty” country song. The vibe I’m getting is that it has a slight rock flavor, but still retaining the essence of the song.

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Obviously singing a song when you’re 19 years old versus when you’re 31 years old, there will be a slight difference in tone. Compare that to if we all sang as children versus as adults, then therein goes the comparison. Taylor obviously want to keep the song similar for her reasons related to copyright.

She’s done just that by still retaining the original feel of the song, albeit with a little rock but appropriate flavor, that’s suited for the current. With that, Ms Swift is ready for her next phase in owning back her life’s work.

PS: As of this time of writing, there’s a new remix version of Love Story and new unreleased tracks from the Fearless album, with new single You All Over Me (featuring Maren Morris) released recently.