LOOK: SF9's Hwiyoung Wears A Dress During Live; Asks Fans 'Is It Pretty?'

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SF9's Hwiyoung wore a night dress during a livestream

Fans praised him for his unbothered personality

Hwiyoung debuted as a member of SF9 in October 2016

SF9 member Hwiyoung recently stunned the K-Pop community with his unbothered personality after wearing a night dress during a livestream.

On Sunday night KST, the 24-year-old South Korean artist went live via YouTube to catch up with the fans — known as Fantasy. There, he was seen hanging out in what appeared to be his bedroom while wearing a one-piece nightwear attire, commonly worn by women.

In a video uploaded by @alexanderbihn on TikTok, Hwiyoung could be seen doing several poses, questioning fans if his outfit looked "pretty." He then clarified that he didn't know what the outfit was called, but he just saw it and instantly put it on because it looked comfortable.

"Rather than being manly, it's more like... Wear whatever you're comfortable with," he said. "This one piece is good though, who cares? Just wear it."

Another user shared screenshots of the main rapper wearing the night dress, which he borrowed from his Sister. The user wrote in the caption, "My favorite male idol. This is the first time I've seen him wearing a sleeveless dress borrowed from his older sister with short hair at 4:30 in the morning, and it probably won't happen again in my life."

Photos and videos captured from the livestream have since circulated online, and Hwiyoung received praise from social media users for openly breaking gender stereotypes.

"Hwiyoung slaying as per usual," one user stated on TikTok, while another commented, "Is this my sign to stan sf9?!?!"

"He looks really good I see no problem with it, he's rocking it," a third user added.

"Hwiyoung in a night dress going viral lol. Thank God I watched this legendary live. This boy is so CUTE!" a fourth user wrote on Twitter.

Another praised the K-Pop idol, writing, "Hwiyoung, you are so cool for not assigning gender to clothes. I hate when people are like this is for female, this is for male."

In related news, Hwiyoung made his solo debut last month with the single "Drive5."

This came nearly seven years after he debuted as a member of SF9 alongside Young Bin, Rowoon, Kang Chan-hee, Yoo Tae-yang, Dawon, Zuho, Kim In-Seong and Jae Yoon. The group is handled by FNC Entertainment and is best known for the tracks "Easy Love," "Now Or Never," "O Sole Mio," "Mamma Mia," "Good Guy" and "Tear Drop," among others.

SF9's "The Piece of 9" album cover. Twitter.Com/SF9official

'A Tale Of Two Sisters': A Korean Horror Masterpiece

Horror is a staple of South Korean cinema, from its sultry femme fatale thrills in 1960s classic The Housemaid through to box office smash hits such as Train To Busan and The Wailing. However, the genre specifically experienced a boom in the 1990s with the release of cornerstone films such as Whispering Corridors, The Quiet Family, and Memento Mori. These films catapulted the country's national horror cinema into the public eye. Moving into the '00s, 2003 proved a landmark year for South Korean horror with the release of three critically acclaimed offerings: Park Chan-wook's widely-lauded bloodbath Old Boy, Bong Joon-ho's crime thriller Memories Of Murder, and lastly, the topic of this piece, Kim Jee-woon's haunting masterpiece A Tale Of Two Sisters.

A Tale Of Two Sisters lit up the Korean box office at the time of its release and proved to be a key text in the wider visibility of South Korean cinema across the globe. It became the first Korean film to be screened in the US and changed the trajectory of the entire genre. Us, Get Out, and Nope director Jordan Peele is among the many filmmakers who cite this film as an inspiration, alongside Goodnight Mommy creators Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz. And 20 years since its release, A Tale Of Two Sisters proves it remains as potently chilling since the day it premiered.

Also Read: 'Devils' is Body-Swapping the South Korean Way [Fantasia 2023]

Inspired by a Joseon dynasty-era folktale Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, A Tale Of Two Sisters follows Su-mi and Su-yeon, two siblings who return to their imposing gothic-inspired mansion in the countryside after being released from a mental institution. Despite their picturesque surroundings, matters within the household are ugly with the sisters regularly clashing with their stepmother Heo Eun-joo. Meanwhile, their father Moo-hyeon Bae becomes increasingly disconnected from the family unit. As a Series of mysterious and malevolent incidents begin to take place in the house, Su-mi uncovers dark secrets her parents endeavored to keep hidden.

Combining a blend of haunted house horror, psychological trauma, and familial bonds, A Tale Of Two Sisters utilizes a number of familiar horror tropes while subverting others to keep the audience on their toes for the two decades since its release. The film has its roots in the popular folktale Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, which was adapted for cinema in 1924, 1936, 1956, 1962, 1972, and 2009 in The Uninvited. However, Jee-woon's retelling swaps the folktale's happy ending for a decidedly more macabre one in fitting with other Korean horror offerings.

Another folkloric staple Jee-woon implements in the film is that of the long-haired, vengeful, female ghost enraptured by tragedy and rage prevalent across East Asian cinema. Aside from folklore, A Tale Of Two Sisters reflects on Korean cinema as a whole, with its sense of creeping dread and musings on trauma hailing from the golden age of Korean cinema.

Also Read: 'Project Wolf Hunting': New Korean Horror Film Goes For The Jugular [Watch]

The setting of the film feels familiar to audiences across the world despite being based squarely in Korea. The isolated country house, the evil stepmother treating two young girls poorly, ghostly entities, and a boatload of secrets hidden in every nook and cranny of the estate would not be out of place in a classic gothic haunted house tale. Scenes often go by without a word of dialogue, instead focusing on the sumptuous setting of the house, with its long, foreboding corridors, rich, dark colors, ornate furniture, and abundant floral imagery.

Peppered with dizzying tracking shots and Lee Byung-woo's evocative score, A Tale Of Two Sisters' exquisite cinematography lays the foundation of the film's unbearably tense and terrifying atmosphere, with Eun-joo jolting the audience to a stark realization with one simple line as they gaze upon the delectable imagery: "The world isn't as sweet as you picture it."

It's a message that permeates the entirety of A Tale Of Two Sisters, with its stunning visuals papering over a dark and rotten narrative within. Even in the dinner scene, we see how Eun-joo and Moo-hyeon put on a happy facade in front of their guests. All the while their marriage is a joyless one, and the children of the home fear for their lives. The horror of family and the monstrous mother is a key part of making this dark fairytale feel so evergreen. Two extremes of the human psyche and the home are shown through the clashing personalities of Moo-hyeon as the passive father who refuses to address how his past actions have affected others, and the violent and cruel stepmother Eun-joo whose womanhood alongside her stepdaughters is also imperative to the film's horrific elements.

Also Read: 6 Korean Films About Diabolical Serial Killers

Feminine sexuality is often demonized through popular culture, especially in young, pubescent girls. There's an obsession with women losing a pre-conceived concept of innocence in favor of discovering their sexuality. In A Tale Of Two Sisters, the blood-red home decor and costumes worn by the women within the film can be seen to represent menstruation. One ghost looms over Su-mi shown to have blood trickling down her leg before a hand crawls from beneath her dress. Eun-joo mentioned that she and Su-mi have gotten their period at the same time in the film, a statement that is met with horror by the latter. Menstruation is seen as monstrous within A Tale Of Two Sisters as its two menstruating characters, Su-mi and Eun-joo, are seen committing the film's most brutal, traumatic acts towards each other, as well as those around them.

The fear surrounding female sexuality gives way to the fear of pregnancy and motherhood which A Tale Of Two Sisters addresses through Su-mi and her sense of being in danger in the home. A recurring motif within the film is floral imagery within the female characters' clothing and the home decor. Flowers are often used as a symbol to suggest women have 'bloomed' into sexual maturity and the age at which they can carry and bear children. These repeated images suggest that these women cannot escape the home and thus the path to parenthood.

Also Read: Fantasia Review: South Korean Thriller 'The Devil's Deal' Makes Politics Scary

Later in the film, when Su-mi is investigating mysterious sounds in the house, she comes across a female ghost oozing clear fluid as a baby cries. The fluid could be seen to represent amniotic fluid and the movement of the ghost suggests motherhood is terrifyingly creeping towards Su-mi. The low-key lighting used in connection with the ghost's presence enmeshes the entity with the house, as if the two become one, and Su-mi cannot escape the life, and pain, that her mother before her led. It is a theme that remains starkly prevalent today, particularly in a post-Roe world, where reproductive rights and bodily autonomy are being stripped from those with wombs.

Korean horror often likes to blend the twin fears of the supernatural and natural horror. A Tale Of Two Sisters is no different as ghosts and humans each provide fright throughout its spine-chilling narrative. There is no separation between the ghosts living in the home and the skeletons in the closet that torment the human characters.

Also Read: 'I Saw the Devil' Serves Up Bone-Chilling Winter Terror

Ultimately, A Tale Of Two Sisters is a story that deals with the blurring of realities and how what we see on the surface is not always indicative of what lurks below. Death, birth, parenthood, infidelity, and navigating different family units are all tackled within the film's narrative and the horror found in this reality is at times more chilling than any ghost or ghoul we find lurking under the sink or within a wardrobe. Evil can be human, just as much as it can be supernatural. Plus, it can come in the form of both adults and young people alike.

The seeds for the success of Korean cinema, such as the Academy Awards given to the likes of Youn Yuh-Jung in Minari and Joon-ho's 2020 hit Parasite, were sewn in 2003 with the creation of Jee-woon's outstanding A Tale Of Two Sisters. The beautifully morose film combines picturesque tropes from gothic cinema with brutal conventions of horror and themes rooted in realism that evoke genuine fear. And that fear continues to inspire dread in new generations of horror fans.

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'One Piece' Is The Most-Hyped Netflix Show Of The Year. Here's Why.

What if I told you that there was an anime and manga franchise which, in Japan, was so beloved it had its own theme park? And its own chain of stores? And that internationally, the manga has sold over 516 million copies? That number makes it not only the bestselling manga series of all time, but the bestselling comic book series of all time—breaking a Guinness World Record in the process.

Now, what if I told you that while this series has blown up in Japan since its 1997 debut, it essentially flew right over Western anime fandoms for two decades? American millennials fondly remember growing up watching Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, or Naruto. Very few, however, were watching One Piece.

However, that conspicuous absence in the mainstream spotlight might be about to change. On Aug. 31, Netflix will debut its live-action adaptation of One Piece. Netflix's poor history with anime adaptations aside, landing One Piece is a big deal. One Piece's mangaka (author), Eiichiro Oda, sees the live-action Netflix series as his last chance to make One Piece catch on in the West in the same way as it has internationally.

But just what is One Piece—and how is it that such a huge phenomenon passed us by?

What even is One Piece?

One Piece's "bona fide phenomenon" status didn't happen overnight—it's had two-and-a-half decades to simmer. Oda started the manga in 1997, and Toei Animation's anime adaptation followed in 1999. Ever since, both have debuted new installments almost every single week. In 26 years, Oda has only ever taken three full-month periods off from working on the series. One was to recover from eye surgery.

Those 26-plus years have served to cover one single, epic story. Both the anime and manga are approaching their 1100th entries. One Piece's length has become the main excuse for the curious to not take the dive. Which—I get it, I was there, too. But once you have cannonballed into the deep end, the length is justified by the story's character-rich, wide-ranging scope.

Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy.

Netflix

At its simplest, One Piece is the tale of Monkey D. Luffy, a teenager on his quest to become King of the Pirates. To do so, he must find the titular One Piece, a legendary treasure teased by a prominent pirate moments before his naval execution. (One Piece names are in Japanese order—family name first, given name last.)

The resultant "Great Pirate Era" is made even spicier by the existence of one-of-a-kind Devil Fruits, which bestow powers when eaten, in exchange for the ability to swim. Luffy ate a Fruit which turned his body into rubber. Oda picked that effect specifically because a rubber body sounded ridiculous.

Luffy sails from island to island assembling a crew, making allies, and toppling local asshole monarchs (or monarch-wannabes). The Straw Hat Crew includes such figures as Franky, a cyborg shipwright who likes cola and shouts "SUUUPERRRRRR;" and Tony Tony Chopper, a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit, became a doctor, and is voiced by the same woman as Pikachu.

But that's a myopic view of what the series has to offer. You could also say that One Piece is about the struggle to find freedom from corrupt, fascist-leaning government systems. There is a very palpable trend of poor and working classes rising up against wealthy, powerful elites who are so far up their own asses, they don't see the masses as human beings. Not at all unrelatedly, the series also touches on racism and slavery.

As characters are pitted against these systems, One Piece delivers meaningful, tearjerker stories which empathetically depict trauma. Yet the beauty of One Piece is that, somehow, it manages to never take itself fully seriously. This is a world where phones are living snails. The Devil Fruit powers are often so ridiculous, one guy can simply turn himself into a jacket. One Piece has a wonderful ability to be both poignant and a lot of fun.

Colton Osorio as Young Luffy and Peter Gadiot as Shanks.

Netflix So how big of a deal is this show?

Remember when I said One Piece is the bestselling comic book series of all time? It's not an exaggeration to say that, in Japan, Monkey D. Luffy is as easily recognizable as Mickey Mouse.

There are 15 feature films and 56 video games based on the series, and counting. The most recent film, 2022's One Piece Film: Red, had the third-biggest opening weekend in Japanese box office history. It currently sits between Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle as Japan's eighth highest-grossing film of all time.

Other than Pokémon, One Piece is the only franchise (not "studio," like Nintendo or Disney) to have its own chain of dedicated merchandise stores in Japan. Until COVID-19 struck, there was a multi-level theme park inside the famous Tokyo Tower. Universal Studios Japan stages a One Piece stunt show in the summers, with an all-new story and all-new stunt choreography every year. Bronze statues of the 10 Straw Hat pirates are spread throughout Kumamoto prefecture (a token of thanks for Oda donating to disaster relief). One Piece on Ice debuted this summer.

It's not just Japan, either. In Seoul, South Korea, there's Cafe De One Piece—a restaurant shaped like the Straw Hat Pirates' ship.

Colton Osorio and Peter Gadiot.

Netflix How did the rest of us miss it before?

However, for a long time in the West, One Piece didn't catch on. The blame probably lies with 4Kids Entertainment, the licensing studio which was also in charge of Pokémon. While its English-language take on Pokémon won swaths of fans, 4Kids' dub and localization of One Piece were legendarily bad. The company's creative edits only helped the story make no sense at all. One important, multi-episode plotline was cut out because a whale was changed into an iceberg, and Luffy destroyed it. 4Kids also retconned several series-defining character deaths, offering instead that the dearly departed were lingering somewhere in a dungeon, or that they bullied out of their biggest passion and peaced out.

In 2013, a certain popular streamer called Netflix got the rights to a new anime called Attack on Titan, which went on to become a huge hit. The platform also offered quintessential series like Death Note and Samurai Champloo, before going on to stream popular shows like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer. Netflix even debuted its own original anime, Knights of Sidonia, the following year. Hulu, too, started to add more anime to its library around the same time, while anime-only streamers like Crunchyroll and Funimation, both of which started in the mid-2000s, slowly began to gain mainstream traction.

Jeff Ward as Buggy The Clown.

Netflix

Attack on Titan in particular became a sensation, right as it was suddenly easier than ever before for anyone to go down the anime rabbit hole. Within the next decade, anime in the West rocketed from a counterculture niche to a mainstream obsession. The more people get into anime, the more series come out of the woodwork. When anyone pokes around enough, they stumble into One Piece—which feels like digging for pebbles and finding an SUV. Not incidentally, One Piece was the most-searched anime in 25 states in 2022.

What makes One Piece so freaking good?

Regardless of how and when you find it, One Piece inspires a particularly deep devotion from its fans. We're like a friendly cult. No matter where you are on the globe, you can make new friends simply by having a One Piece keychain or phone background. When One Piece clicks for you, it clicks, and you're in.

There's any number of reasons why it could click, too. One Piece is so expansive that it truly has something for everyone. Unlike a lot of shounen (or male-centric) series from the '90s, the female characters do stuff and are badasses. The fanbase for One Piece is nearly a 50-50 split between male and female. I've met fans as young as 4 and as old as 70.

Just as important is that the characters feel like your friends. Fans establish particularly deep connections with their favorite characters. I have known people, on both sides of the Pacific, who have gotten ear piercings to be like the swordsman Zoro, or have grown a mustache to be like the (former) King of the Pirates Gol D. Roger. I, for one, bought my first bikini at the ripe age of 29 to be like the navigator, Nami. She finally showed me—an eternally awkward person—how to be in charge of my sexuality. It turns out you can be a babe and a Girl Boss!

One Piece has everything to quench your thirst for a good fight scene. You get all the epic one-on-one fights that the shounen genre is famous for, but often with a twist, thanks to the highly varied styles of fighting present in the series. Forget the fact that your strongest characters are a brawler made out of rubber, a badass swordsman, and a chef whose passion eventually powers his kicks with fire. One Straw Hat, Nico Robin, is able to create a giant arm and perform a move called "Spank" where she straight-up slaps somebody. They always deserve it.

The fights are rounded out by an absolutely ridiculous, delightful sense of humor, which colors the entire series. The whole series is constructed around its characters being ridiculous, which often makes its humor character-based. The anime in particular is no stranger to absurdist gags. A recent viral thread on One Piece Twitter asked people to share what they find to be the funniest moment in the series, and I always think of Luffy's reaction to seeing his first zombie.

But most importantly, One Piece looks squarely at the darkness of its weightier themes and still gives us reasons to believe that humans can be good to each other. Considering the real world, this has actively served as a source of comfort and hope for me.

(L-R) Jacob Romero Gibson, Mackenyu Arata, Emily Rudd, Iñaki Godoy, and Taz Skylar.

Netflix

The key to it all is Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy embodies all these strengths. He's a giddy idiot. He's fiercely empathetic. He doesn't take shit from people. He loves meat very much. Luffy has won fan popularity contest after popularity contest. He's hilarious, magnetic, and always a joy to behold. He's the center around which One Piece can exist—which also places a lot of pressure on his live-action version.

Why should we be hyped for One Piece in live action?

If the last decade has taught us anything, it's that if a cartoon is popular, someone's going to sweep in and try to translate it to live action. Netflix seems downright giddy to give anime the Hollywood treatment; beyond One Piece, we're awaiting takes on Pokémon and My Hero Academia. Unfortunately, Netflix's live-action adaptation endeavors don't have the best track record. Mention the platform's iterations of Death Note or Cowboy Bebop to any anime fan, and you'll receive a dejected sigh. At best.

But One Piece could be different. For one, Eiichiro Oda is serving as executive producer on the show and has been deeply involved with the adaptation since talks began. He even said in a note published to social media that Netflix promised its take on One Piece could not be released unless Oda personally gave it the go-ahead.

Beyond Oda, people throughout the production obviously care very deeply about One Piece. One of the showrunners, Matt Owens, said that One Piece "saved [his] life." Two of the Straw Hat cast members—Emily Rudd and Mackenyu—were huge fans of the series before they were even cast. In particular, it's clear just from clips that star Iñaki Godoy is Luffy. Plus, the CG rubber-skin stretching doesn't look nearly as weird as I feared, based on early teasers.

Netflix announced its adaptation way back in 2017, and, as with so many series, the pandemic delayed the production—so we've been (very nervously) waiting to see how this will shake out for over six years. Will One Piece be Netflix's first successful anime adaptation, winning over us fans and newcomers alike? We'll all find out when it premieres on Aug. 31.

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