Bridal Mask

 

Bridal Mask is a 2012 KBS2 period drama based on the popular Korean manhwa by Huh Young-man. Set in Seoul, Korea, during the 1930s Japanese colonial era, the story follows a man named Lee Kang-to, a Korean police officer commissioned by the Japanese Police to betray his own country and aid the Japanese in the annihilation of the Korean rebellion. It stars Joo Won, Jin Se-yeon and Shin Hyun-joon.

 

Plot

In the 1930s, Lee Kang-to lives in Korea, which is oppressed under Imperial Japanese rule. Despite being Korean, he works with the Japanese police in order to capture "Bridal Mask," a mysterious rebel who fights for Korean independence. Later, he secretly dons the Bridal Mask and fights the unjust Japanese regime. He struggles to balance his personal facade as a Japanese police officer and his private life as Bridal Mask.

Kimura Shunji is a gentle Japanese schoolteacher. He is best friends with Kang-to and falls in love with the fiercely patriotic Mok-dan. His hatred for Bridal Mask and unrequited love for Mok-dan twists him into a darker person.

 

Cast

Main

·         Joo Won as Lee Kang-to/Sato Hiroshi/Lee Young (childhood name)

A pro-Japanese Korean police officer. He is despised by his fellow countrymen for being a traitor to his homeland. Later, he secretly becomes the masked vigilante known as Gaksital (Bridal Mask) and fights for Korea's independence using his skills in Martial arts (Taekkyon). He actually the second Gaksital as his brother was the original one.

·        Jin Se-yeon as Oh Mok-dan/Esther/Boon-yi (childhood name)

A fiercely patriotic Korean woman. Her father is Damsari, an important general of the Independence army. She loves Gaksital and hates Kang-to, unaware that they are the same person.

·         Park Ki-woong as Kimura Shunji

Although he is born into a prominent Samurai family, Shunji defies his father and becomes a music teacher for Korean children. After his brother Kenji's death, he becomes the head of the Japanese Police Force and vows to kill Gaksital, unaware that it is his best friend Kang-to. He has an unrequited love for Mok-dan.

·         Han Chae-ah as Ueno Rie/Lara/Chae Hong-joo

A Korean woman whose aristocratic family was murdered by the Independence army. Orphaned, she voluntarily becomes a "gisaeng" but was adopted by a prominent Japanese man. She returns to Korea on a mission to kill Gaksital, but she inadvertently falls in love with Lee Kang-to.

·         Shin Hyun-joon as Lee Kang-san/Lee In (childhood name)

Kang-to's older brother. He is tortured by the Japanese police for joining the Independence movement and is rendered mentally ill. Considered as a disgrace and burden to a family by Lee Kang-to, Kang-to takes little interest in his brother. It is later revealed that he is the original Gaksital and he has been pretended to be mentally invalid a whole time when Kang-to accidentally kills him. His death causes Kang-to to succeed his brother as Gaksital.