''Pachinko'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series created by

Soo Hugh Soo Hugh ( ko, 허수진) is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. She served as co-showrunner for the first season of AMC’s ''The Terror'' and is currently showrunner for Apple TV+'s ''Pachinko'', an adaptation of Min Jin ...

based on the 2017 novel by

Min Jin Lee Min Jin Lee (born November 11, 1968) is a Korean American author and journalist based in Harlem, New York City. Her work frequently deals with Korean and Korean American topics. She is the author of the novels '' Free Food for Millionaires'' ( ...

. The series is directed by

Kogonada Kogonada (sometimes styled :: kogonada) is a South Korean-born American filmmaker. He is known for his video essays that analyze the content, form, and structure of various films and television series. The essays frequently use narration and ed ...

and

Justin Chon Justin Jitae Chon (born May 29, 1981) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has directed three films, ''Gook'' (2017), '' Ms. Purple'' (2019), & ''Blue Bayou'' (2021). He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in '' The Twilight Saga'' film ...

and stars

Youn Yuh-jung Youn Yuh-jung (, ; born June 19, 1947) is a South Korean actress, whose career in film and television spans over five decades. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Academy Film Award, an Independent Spir ...

Lee Min-ho Lee Min-ho (, born June 22, 1987) is a South Korean actor, singer, model, creative director and businessman. He gained widespread fame worldwide with his role as Gu Jun-pyo in ''Boys Over Flowers'' (2009) which also earned him the Best New Acto ...

Kim Min-ha Kim Min-ha (; born September 1, 1995) is a South Korean actress. She gained international recognition for her role as teenage Sunja in Apple TV+ series ''Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game ...

, and

Jin Ha Jin Ha is a South Korean-born American actor known for his roles in the TV series ''Devs'', '' Love Life'', and ''Pachinko'' in addition to the musical ''Hamilton''. Early life and education Ha was born in Seoul, South Korea, before moving to ...

. It premiered on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

on March 25, 2022. In April 2022, the series was renewed for a second season. It received critical acclaim, particularly for its cinematography, writing, and the performances of the cast, most notably that of Kim Min-ha, Youn Yuh-jung, and Lee Min-ho.

Cast

Main

as Kim Sunja (whose

Japanese name in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name, in that order. Nevertheless, when a Japanese name is written in the Roman alphabet, ever since the Meiji era, the official policy has been to cater to Western expecta ...

is Bando Nobuko), the main protagonist of Pachinko. She is a Korean woman from

Yeongdo-gu Yeongdo District is a '' gu'' in Busan, South Korea. The ''gu'' itself is limited to Yeong-do (''Yeong Island'') located on the south edge of central Busan. It attained the status of ''gu'' in 1957. The Korea Maritime and Ocean University and t ...

Busan, South Korea Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

, who fights for a better life in a Korea dominated by the Japanese. **

as teenage Sunja ** Yu-na as childhood Sunja * Soji Arai as Baek Mozasu (whose Japanese name is Bando Mozasu), a wealthy businessman who owns several

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

parlors. He is Sunja's second son (the first and only child fathered by Isak) and Noa's half-brother. ** Carter Jeong and Koren Lee as baby Mozasu *

as Solomon Baek, the son of Baek Mozasu and grandson of Sunja. Educated at English-speaking schools and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, he has always socialized with Americans and Westerners. ** Yoon Kyung-ho as teenage Solomon * Han Jun-woo as Baek Yoseb, Isak's second older brother who lives in

Osaka, Japan is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third most populous city in Ja ...

. He is Kyunghee's husband and Sunja's brother-in-law. * Jeong In-ji as Yangjin, Sunja's mother, runs a boardinghouse in Yeongdo. *

Jung Eun-chae Jung Eun-chae (born Jung Sol-mi on November 24, 1986) is a South Korean actress, model and TV host. Jung began her career as a model, then made her acting breakthrough as the titular character in '' Nobody's Daughter Haewon'' (2013), a film by ...

as Kyunghee (whose Japanese name is Bando Kimiko), Yoseb's wife and Sunja's sister-in-law. She quickly becomes a best-friend figure for Sunja after they first meet in Japan. ** Felice Choi as older Kyunghee *

as Koh Hansu, a

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

man who lives in Osaka, Japan. Introduced as a merchant and fish broker who regularly visits Busan, South Korea. He is Noa's father. *

Kaho Minami is a Japanese actress of Korean descent active in film, television and commercials. Life and career Kaho Minami was born on January 20, 1964, in Amagasaki in Hyogo, Japan, and is of third-generation Korean descent. She graduated from Toho Ga ...

as Etsuko, Hana's mother and Mozasu's girlfriend. *

Noh Sang-hyun Noh Sang-hyun (; born July 19, 1990) or Steve Sanghyun Noh is a Korean-American actor and model. Early life and education Noh spent his childhood in Boston, USA, and graduated from the School of Business Administration at Babson College B ...

as Baek Isak, a Protestant minister from Pyongyang, Korea. He marries Sunja despite his oscillating health condition to save her honour by giving her his surname. He is Yoseb's younger brother, Noa's step-father and Mozasu's father. *

Anna Sawai is a New Zealand actress, singer and dancer. She landed her first acting role at age 11 as the titular character in the 2004 Nippon TV production of ''Annie (musical)#International productions, Annie'' shortly after moving to Japan. Sawai later ...

as Naomi, Solomon's co-worker at the Tokyo branch, graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. *

Jimmi Simpson Jimmi Simpson (born November 21, 1975) is an American actor. He is best known for his work on television, which includes recurring roles as Liam McPoyle on ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–2013), Lyle the Intern on ''The Late Show ...

as Tom Andrews, Solomon's superior at the Tokyo branch.

Recurring

* Louis Ozawa as Mamoru Yoshii, a client of Shiffley's * Takahiro Inoue as Arimoto, Solomon's co-worker at the Tokyo branch. * Park Hye-jin as Han Geum-ja * Yoshio Maki as Katsu Abe, a client of Shiffley's * Martin Martinez as Angelo, Mozasu's employee * Ryotaro Sugimoto as Tetsuya, Solomon's classmate at International School. ** Dakatade Shoumin as teenage Tetsuya * Mari Yamamoto as Hana, Etsuko's daughter and Solomon's ex-girlfriend. ** Jung Ye-bin as teenage Hana * Yoriko Haraguchi as Hansu's Japanese wife *

Hiro Kanagawa is a Japanese-Canadian actor and playwright based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has appeared in numerous high-profile films and television series shot in the Vancouver area, including '' Smallville'', '' Caprica'', ''Godzilla'', ''The Man i ...

as Mr. Goto, Mozasu's friend * Jeong So-ri as Jiyun, a rich Korean girl * Yeon Ye-ji as Shin Bokhee, Donghee's older sister, work at Kim's boardinghouse. ** Kim Young-ok as older Bokhee * Kim Bo-min as Shin Donghee, Bokhee's younger sister, work at Kim's boardinghouse. * Kim Dha-sol as Sung Chung, one of the Chung brothers who lived in Kim's boardinghouse. * Ku Sung-hwan as Fatso Chung, one of the Chung brothers who lived in Kim's boardinghouse. * Park Min-i as Gombo Chung, one of the Chung brothers who lived in Kim's boardinghouse.

Guest

* Lee Dae-ho as Kim Hoonie, Sunja's father * Jeon So-hyun as a mudang, a female shaman * Leo Joo as Song Byung-ho, a fisherman who lived in Kim's boardinghouse * Lee Ji-hye as a Korean singer * Hiromitsu Takeda as Totoyama Haruki, Mozasu's best friend *

Rome Kanda is a Japanese ''tarento'', comedian and actor who resides in the United States. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Born in Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan, Kanda spent his early career as an actor with his debut movie ''Tokyo P ...

as a Japanese doctor *

Jung Woong-in Jung Woong-in (; born January 20, 1971) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film * ''Drive'' (TBA) as Na Jin-soo * '' Seoul Vibe'' (Netflix Film/ 2022) as Chief Prosecutor * ''Child for Children'' (2022) as Seung-won * '' The Prison' ...

as Koh Jong-yul, Hansu's father * Takashi Yamaguchi as Ryochi, Koh's employer * Kerry Knuppe as Mrs. Holmes, Andrew's mother *

Jimmy Bennett James Michael Bennett (born February 9, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as a child actor in '' Daddy Day Care'', ''Hostage'', '' The Amityville Horror'', ''Poseidon'', '' Evan Almighty'', ''Orphan'', ''Shorts'', and as yo ...

as Andrew Holmes, Hansu's tutoring student *

Bob Frazer Bob Frazer (born 1971) is a Canadian actor of stage and television. Frazer was born in Ontario. He lives in British Columbia. Career Frazer has won multiple Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, including: "Outstanding Performance by an Actor in ...

as Mr. Holmes, Andrew's father, an American businessman * Dai Hasegawa as Ryochi's son * Lee Hyun-ri as Kiyo, Jong-yul's girlfriend * Hideo Kimura as Mr. Shimamura, Yoseb's boss * Park Jae-jun as Baek Noa, Sunja's first son, Hansu's biological son

Episodes

Production

In August 2018,

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

obtained the rights to the series, which was given a series order in April 2019. The reports also included that Soo Hugh would act as showrunner, writer, and executive producer for the series. The production company, Media Res, would also produce alongside Hugh. In October 2020,

, Jin Ha, Anna Sawai, Minha Kim, Soji Arai, and Kaho Minami were announced to star, with South Korean filmmaker

and

set to executive producer and direct four episodes each. Soo Hugh said it took six to seven months of worldwide search to cast the main actors and that she had asked all her actors to audition for their roles. Filming was set to commence on October 26, 2020, in South Korea, Japan, and North America. Lee Min-ho said he had finished filming in

, in December 2020 and that he was preparing to film in Canada. Filming in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

was scheduled to take place between February 6 and April 9, 2021. The show's opening theme song is " Let's Live for Today" by

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two ...

. Hugh said she originally thought about selecting " Out of Time" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

but they were unable to secure the rights to that song. The title sequence was shot several times with different songs until "Let's Live for Today" was added during post-production. On April 29, 2022, Apple renewed the series for a second season. Filming is scheduled to take place in Toronto from January 9 to March 27, 2023, and in Japan from March 27 to June 16, 2023. Leanne Welham will direct four episodes of the second season.

Release

The series consisting of 8 episodes, produced in three languages, Korean, Japanese, and English premiered on March 25, 2022, on Apple TV+ with 3 episodes. One episode was released every Friday until April 29, 2022.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series is "Certified Fresh" and holds an approval rating of 98% based on 57 critic reviews, with an average rating of 9.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Intricate yet intimate, ''Pachinko'' is a sweeping epic that captures the arc of history as well as the enduring bonds of family." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a score of 87 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The standalone "Episode 7" starring

and directed by

is listed as one of the best TV episodes of 2022 by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' and ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...

''.

Critics' top ten list

Accolades

References

External links

* *
Official pilot screenplay
{{Apple TV+ Apple TV+ original programming 2020s American drama television series 2022 American television series debuts English-language television shows Korean-language television shows Japanese-language television shows Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television series set in Korea under Japanese rule Refugees and displaced people in fiction Japan in non-Japanese culture Zainichi Korean culture