With Eyes East

Whether or not it happens, I’d really like to record a podcast episode about Rescene. I feel like I have to do something, which is the basis for all these sites like Planet X and With Eyes East, when I feel like my brain is gonna explode. I realized with some sadness that I don’t have an outlet in my real life to talk about K-pop, and when I browse Reddit, say, I find I don’t know how to talk about K-pop. Regardless, it seems like everyone in that world is talking about the same thing right now, and it’s all unfolding so quickly. Anyway, let this be a quick pressure-valve release, a little resource I could’ve used just a few weeks ago. Rescene is a 2024 K-pop group that blew up in 2026, thanks in large part to its leader Woni’s YouTube channel and her refreshing, grounded charm, and a viral moment with fellow member Minami. That story is larger, going back to a different YouTube show called My Driving Instructor, so this is a brief chronicle of the Gyaru/Geoje videos, in the style of my intermittent 9294* recaps.

In February of this year, Woni started the YouTube channel @helloiamwoninicetomeetyou with the help of a producer — “PD-nim” — which started out with experimental, kind of aimless content like “How to Survive a Bear Encounter,” co-starring the agency’s CEO in a bear suit. Nobody really knows how to go viral, and man, I’ve had my own difficulties with self-promotion. Where do you even start? You can only dream you’ll strike gold…

And it didn’t happen right away. It seems like the plan for the channel was to introduce members one by one, almost like the Loona rollout of yore. Only, this one isn’t dictated by a big-bad entertainment company (whose CEO would never don a bear suit). In fact, it’s like Woni jumped to the end of the career, doing what Hyoyeon is doing on YouTube right now, where anything goes. On March 6, 2026, Woni invited the first of her members onto the channel, Minami, the only Japanese member on the team (or non-Korean, period). “We’ve been doing promotions in Japan lately, so I’m trying to learn some Japanese,” Woni says. Try to remember that this whole thing started as a language lesson.

Minami crosses into frame and bows her head, promising to be a good teacher for Woni-unnie. So, it’s not clear just yet, but Minami is a really interesting character, and a really special idol. All I’ll say for now is that she was born and raised in Chiba, Japan, and an interest in Korean pop culture inspired her to leave home at 15 to pursue an idol career. She didn’t really know the language, so she took a lesson on the plane, and one year later, was completely fluent. In fact, variety hosts and commentors are always saying that she doesn’t even have an accent — and accents are gonna become very important.

Minami explains that she comes with three modes: Standard, Gyaru, and Yankee. PD-nim is quick to jump in to ask for a sample of each, and it’s worth noting that he’s very much the third character here, both as a person and as a camera. Standard is straightforward; Woni says a sentence in Korean, and Minami repeats it in Japanese with a neutral tone. But with Gyaru mode, when Woni says, “Let’s have some fun” in Korean, Minami’s demeanor changes, her voice gets high-pitched and nasally, and she throws the double peace signs, prompting immediate, infectious laughter from the Rescene leader. Finally, Yankee mode is like chinpira/sukeban, with the rolled R’s and bad attitude.

Since she’s from Chiba, Minami says she’ll do Gyaru mode, cautioning that while it’s okay to talk like that in Japan, you still have to be careful. “It won’t cause problems for my channel, will it?” Woni asks. Foreshadowing. Minami explains that gyaru is pop stars like Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki. “People who represent Japanese Y2K culture are called gyaru. Like girls hanging out in Shibuya, Tokyo. Girls who love to have fun.” Woni deadpans the camera and says, “Okay, I’ll pick Standard mode.” Minami warns that if she’s gonna be Standard and without any accent, then Woni should also avoid her satoori.

As Woni would be quick to tell you, she’s from Geoje, a city near Busan which made news recently for deadly floods, and this means she has what’s basically a country accent. For the most part, idols don’t have accents like this, either because they’re from Seoul, where all the agencies are, or they’ve been encouraged to suppress their natural twang. But Woni’s very proud of her hometown, and again, it doesn’t seem like her CEO — who was born in 1990 — is the type to tell her to talk like a city girl, dammit.

Walking around town, Woni makes observations in Korean and Minami translates into Japanese. It’s already a kind of affected play, and both of them are barely holding in laughter as Woni tries to come up with things to say and Minami mimics even her posture. It isn’t long before the “conversation” turns to food, and they decide on a cafe. Although Minami is a helpful, patient teacher, she goes rogue on the car ride over.

In the car, Woni tries to learn the Japanese word for “taxi meter,” but it doesn’t seem like Minami knows what that is. In the confused exchange, Woni basically becomes Jim from The Office with her glances at the camera. Minami confesses her Japanese is based on her 15-year-old self, so Woni activates Gyaru mode in keeping with her companion’s youth. Immediately, Minami breaks out the voice and the upside-down peace sign, and Woni tries to hide how funny she finds it, playing “annoyed” instead, which is the perfect way to go. Instantly, she becomes the straight man to Minami’s fall guy, a dynamic that intensifies when Minami stops translating and starts responding in Japanese, which Woni obviously doesn’t understand.

Woni’s character here is no doubt based on her senior status, not only being the older but also the leader of the group. So, it’s quite something when Minami’s throwing attitude and being like, “Why are you giggling? So annoying,” while curling her hair. Woni then says one of my favorite lines, “Do you know Geoje’s Fire Fist?” which is apparently her self-styled nickname. They start bickering over each other until Woni calls herself a “Geoje gyaru,” which takes Minami aback. “There’s no gyaru in Geoje,” she says, rolling her eyes. Woni scoffs, “Did you just diss Geoje?” and then notes that when Minami switches to Gyaru mode, even the attitude turns into gyaru. It’s almost like she’s possessed, which is how she’ll get the nickname “Gyaru Ghost.”

After the cafe, which is also a fun scene, they close out the video at karaoke. It’s funny, because the Korean word for that is “noraebang,” and Minami translates that to “ka-ra-o-ke.” I assume Minami, who also speaks near-flawless English, knows that that’s a loanword in English. But the real story is that Minami cues up a song she claims she doesn’t know, a Japanese song, which turns out to be none other than “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” and she sings it beautifully. What a weird note to go out on. “Is it a fun song?” Woni asks. “Super, super fun.” Well, that’s not untrue. As YouTube commentors will say, the OP cures your depression, and the show gives it back.

Next, we have the video that started it all, “I Tried Learning the Gyaru Attitude.” Woni says she’s continuing her language study, and “reluctantly” invites on her gyaru teacher. Minami, all dressed up, strides into frame chirping “Ohayō, ohayō” in her high-pitched voice. So, what happened here, as Woni even acknowledges, is that the previous video did really well (even better than the bear skits), and PD-nim likely said, “Let’s explore this direction.” Now Minami is in “full-on Gyaru mode.” Laughing, Woni says, “I hate this so much,” as Minami strikes different poses. Unfortunately for her, this language lesson begins with a makeover.

Shockingly, I find the makeup parts of idol content pretty boring, and this segment is no exception. Woni’s in the chair and Minami’s over her shoulder advising and explaining that the eyes need to look bigger, to which Woni’s just like, “But why, though?” Minami then struggles to teach the peace sign move. What I especially love about the final product is how uncomfortable Woni looks. The frowny face doesn’t match the over-the-top outfit. But Minami explains that the gyaru attitude is about throwing away your embarrassment, which almost sounds nice. There’s a specific walk, you protect the bangs, and suddenly, Woni feels more confident. As Minami’s mom says, if you want to dress cute, you just have to deal with the cold. Gyarus don’t feel cold, which is why their shoulders are bare. “If you can’t do that, you’re just ‘gya,’ you don’t make it to ‘ru,'” which is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.

As the language lesson has morphed into a gyaru lesson, it begins to seem like Minami’s just making up the rules as she goes. You have to stand a certain way, you have to be annoyed all the time. “Gyaru are kind of sensitive,” so you say “majidarui,” which Woni drags out with her Geoje accent. The best is when you’re calling someone over by holding out your hand and pinching all the fingers together rapidly. I can’t even explain it, but it’s what they’re doing in the thumbnail. A confused Woni starts asking what gyaru actually do. Once again, they decide on a cafe, and find one only 700 meters away. “Muri, muri,” Minami says, because “Gyaru don’t walk. We hate walking.” “Do I have to carry you?” Woni asks. “No, we just sit.” “Then what can you do?” And so, they take their fateful car ride for 700 meters, which is just enough time…

In the car, Woni asks again what it is gyaru actually do, and Minami says they go get their nails and hair done. “But don’t you have to do something productive, too?” Woni wonders. “You can’t just do this stuff all the time. You’re only spending money.” Minami insists that gyaru work, too, at stores where they greet customers — not with “irasshaimase,” but with a condensed “irase.” This is, apparently, too much for Woni. She muses, “If you go to Geoje like that, you’ll get yelled at by everyone.” Without missing a beat, a chipper Minami turns to the camera and says, “Geoje, yaho!”

Recapping the rest of the video would provide context for the introduction of Liv and May later on, but suffice to say, things only get funnier in the cafe. Regardless, the Chosun Ilbo gives a nice summary of what followed: “Japanese member Ito Minami’s gyaru-style shout of “Geoje, yaho!” became a defining catchphrase of the first half of 2026. People who stumbled upon the channel through this brief greeting quickly became fans after discovering the group’s deeper narratives and charms, joining in their success story. The channel, which surpassed 100,000 subscribers in May, crossed 1 million subscribers in less than two months—a figure alone sufficient to gauge the scale of the RESCENE Syndrome.”

On June 13, during the Busan stop of a world tour, BTS members V, Jung Kook, and Jin shouted “Busan, yaho!” helping the viral spread. Pretty soon, Rescene’s debut song “Love Attack” was charting — two years later — and every idol, YouTuber, and sponsor wanted in on the emerging craze, including people I know, like Hyoyeon and Mijoo. It’s a success story that feels both rare in the industry and hard-earned. People could go back and watch every step. And of course, it didn’t hurt that “Love Attack” is a K-pop masterpiece.

Back in the cafe, Woni and Minami are enjoying their colorful spread which includes parfait. At one point, Minami says, “Oishī,” which seems to click for Woni, but when she says it back, she drags out the last syllable. “Why are you talking like that?” In the end, when they’re getting lunch so good that it banishes the gyaru spirit, Minami admits that she was never really a gyaru. If anything, she was “ojousama,” a proper lady. She even went to an English kindergarten, which required an entrance exam.

A few videos followed, including the introduction of youngest member Zena, who also has a country accent. By this time, Minami has fully embraced the gyaru character, and tries to glom onto Woni and Zena’s adventure. They also reflect on their very recent fame, with concerns about developing the “celebrity syndrome.” The gyaru returned on May 22 for my favorite of these videos, “I Came to Geoje with a Gyaru,” which serves to allay these celebrity concerns. I think this video was also very important in cementing Rescene’s charms, specifically Woni’s. Sadly, the channel stopped doing English subtitles, leaving it to dedicated fan @Pandanim.

This time, Minami introduces the video, wearing what’ll become her signature gyaru look. The purpose of this one is to discover Woni’s roots, so they’ve met up in Geoje, where Woni had warned that the locals wouldn’t react well to Minami’s flashy act. This is proven immediately when Minami calls for “Won-chan” to join her on camera, and Woni waddles out in a black tracksuit and crocs, her hands in her pockets — as boyish an idol I’ve seen since Eunji — and she says, “Everyone, I finally brought the Gyaru Ghost to Geoje,” before turning to Minami who gives a “yaho,” and saying, “You’re dead now.”

As Woni’s no longer in Seoul, she has to speak with her natural accent. Minami chirps, “Woni-unnie is so scary when she speaks satoori. So scary.” Once again, Woni asks, “Have you heard of Geoje’s Fire Fist?” I like how, because Minami is a little bit taller than Woni, especially in her gyaru outfit, Woni regards her with a raised chin, as if with constant suspicion.

Woni establishes one of the themes for this video (and beyond), which is a popularity contest. Apparently, her “satoori” video with Zena did even better than the gyaru one, so Minami says that she’ll be “yaho-ing all the views soon.”

They decide to go to the beach to show what Woni used to do with her friends. First, they wait for the bus, and Woni demonstrates how to make an X with your arms to ward off a bus you’re not taking, because if it stops, that’s a waste of gas. Once on the bus, Woni says, “In Geoje, you can just start a conversation with people,” and indeed, she starts talking with a halmeoni, who offers some guidance. All of this overwhelms Minami.

They arrive at the beach, which Minami is obviously not dressed for. Woni isn’t, either, but as we’ll see, that’s no problem. She explains that she’d walk along the beach with her friends and even go fishing. After walking barefoot across hot pavement for some reason, they stop by a seafood shack where Woni is recognized by an excited haenyeo (female diver). She offers some of her fresh catch, which takes Minami and even PD-nim off-guard. “I must be famous!” Woni says. “I’d say you’re top-tier in Geoje Island,” the woman explains. “When people think of Geoje, don’t they all think of Rescene’s Woni?” It’s a super cute scene, especially when Minami has to explain why she’s dressed like that.

Woni and Minami continue on to a bridge which is a good fishing spot. By now, Minami looks exhausted. In the previous video, it seemed like whenever she didn’t know what to say next, she’d adopt a mopey, angry attitude as cover, but here, it looks like she’s actually struggling. It’s too hot, and she doesn’t know what Woni-unnie’s gonna throw at her next. Unfortunately for her, it’s line fishing, which requires live bait. “Ah, I really can’t do this,” she says, then starts pinching at the lugworms, “Worms, yaho.” As Woni is affixing a worm to the hook, she says, “If you look here, you can see its face.”

They cast their lines, but Minami is scared away by a worm or a cockroach or something, and decides to simply observe. PD-nim takes over her line. Woni really gets into it, and even catches a passing crab. “This will be perfect for crab stew.” Minami leans into the camera and says, “She’s more of a country bumpkin than I thought.” Then we’re treated to another instant classic. Minami waits as Woni fishes, asking “manager-nim” for sunscreen, though Woni says you don’t use sunscreen in Geoje, an echo of Minami’s seemingly made-up gyaru rules. And then, out of nowhere, Minami says, “I guess I better do the para-para dance,” and starts dancing. The enthusiastic music that plays is perfect. She says she’s cheering on the fish, and Woni tells her to shut up.

This moment, juxtaposing the dancing gyaru and the fishing bumpkin, has been the subject of fan parody. But Woni pulls up a tiny fish, and throws it in the bowl with two crabs. The look on her face is priceless.

She throws the little one back, but the crabs are fated for ramen doom. Woni excitedly says that fishing puts you in a perfect mood for a swim, and when Minami points out that they don’t have swimsuits, Woni says that you don’t need swimsuits in Geoje. You just jump in with your clothes on! PD-nim asks Minami how she’s doing, because it’s not looking too good. Nevertheless, Woni takes off her mic and wades into the water as an incredulous Minami watches, clutching a parasol.

Studio Ghibli-esque music starts playing, underscoring the events with a fittingly nostalgic theme. Not only is this Woni reliving her childhood, but this is doubtlessly going to become a precious memory, too.

As Woni and Minami are splashing and wrestling in the water, it strikes me that there’s something unusually pure about these idols and their approach to idoldom. All of this arose naturally, almost by accident, and was powered chiefly by the member’s individual personalities. Woni simply wants to show off Geoje as a tightknit community, proven instantly when she drops by a restaurant and is greeted by a generous, excited proprietor who promises her an entire chicken. That’s just what life is like here, apparently.

Over the next few months, Woni’s channel would see more highly-viewed videos, including another Zena episode, the introduction of Liv and May — who attempt to literally recreate Woni and Minami’s success, down to the cafe — and a really funny one where Woni and Minami, in their now signature outfits, visit Woni’s school to see who gets recognized more. They also do a series exploring Minami’s roots in Chiba, which is a tonal departure. Minami’s household is quiet, and we learn about her intense upbringing. It’s an unexpected, undeniably sympathetic new shade to her character. But I want to skip ahead for one last video, when they revisit the “Yankee” concept.

I’ll keep this one brief because this post went on longer than I expected, but Minami tries out a new character, Chiba’s Black Rose, with the rolling R’s and “What you staring at?” Minami says that Woni is already a yankee, so I guess that’s why they take it a step further into drag king territory, turning the Rescene leader into a male school tough.

PD-nim is even more audibly amused in this episode. I mean, I can hear how silly Woni sounds saying things like “You bastard” in Japanese with her heavy accent. And there’s lots of fun stuff, like when she chases the other members shrieking back into the studio, who were apparently watching the big reveal.

They end up at a relatively cheap restaurant, which would naturally attract students and yankees, and Woni tries ordering in Japanese and a low pitch. “I feel like we might get kicked out,” PD-nim says. After an interlude back on the mean streets, where they try and fail to hit on the female art director, they close things out at karaoke again. “This chick costs a fortune,” Woni growls.

Over these past few months, Rescene has experienced an almost unprecedented rise, with multiple songs charting and the YouTube channel — which is not even the official Rescene channel — continuing to grow. Woni’s most recent video is up to seven million views, and it only came out yesterday. It’s such an exciting underdog story, and overall as a group, they’re maximizing what I love so much about K-pop. The music is great, of course, but sometimes I just want to see idols being themselves and interacting with each other. In the old days of the second and third generations, that meant appearing on TV shows or maintaining a discrete program like Red Velvet’s Level Up Project. Maybe there’d be a livestream every now and then. And by the time they’re interested in this goofy stuff, like Girls’ Generation, they’re all too busy to coordinate. With Rescene, there’s so much video content I haven’t even seen it all. It doesn’t help that I’ve rewatched the above episodes a few times. And the key is that, while there’s still an agency and a YouTube production company, Woni’s just as much a creative director. And Minami’s such an entertainment genius that you’d definitely defer to her for ideas.

Anyway, this has helped me, but I’d still like to record that podcast episode. Hopefully sometime soon, or it’ll just be rolled into the “My Year in K-Pop: 2026,” which was already filled out, what with Apink and Mamamoo’s anniversary comebacks, a continued interest in Kep1er, Red Velvet’s summer return, and my own discovery of Sistar, whom I love. Time will tell…