Bridal Mask

Gaksital
Promotional poster for Bridal Mask
Also known as	Gaksital
Genre	Romance Action Period drama
Based on	Gaksital by Huh Young-man
Written by	Yoo Hyun-mi
Directed by	Yoon Sung-sik
Starring	Joo Won Jin Se-yeon Park Ki-woong Han Chae-ah
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	28
Production
Location(s)	Korea
Running time	Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 (KST)
Production company(s)	Gaksital SPC Pan Entertainment () KBS N
Distributor	Korean Broadcasting System
Release
Original network	Korean Broadcasting System
Original release	30 May (2012-05-30) – 6 September 2012 (2012-09-06)
Chronology
Preceded by	Man from the Equator
Followed by	The Innocent Man
External links
official KBS website

Bridal Mask (Hangul: 각시탈; RR: Gaksital) is a 2012 KBS2 period drama based on the popular Korean manhwa by Huh Young-man. The setting takes place in Seoul, Korea during the 1930s Japanese colonial era.

The plot of the TV drama is slightly modified from the original graphic novel. 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. During his mission, he encounters a notorious masked man who dons a traditional Korean bridal mask to fight for Korea's independence by assassinating Japanese key officers. As the detective's hunt for "Gaksital" ("Bridal Mask") unravels, his eyes are slowly opened to the treacherous deeds he has committed towards his own countrymen. It stars Joo Won and Jin Se-yeon as the leads and with Shin Hyun-joon as the notorious masked hero of the Korean rebellion.

Two brothers - Lee Kang-to and Lee Kang-san – live in Seoul in the 1930s, oppressed under Imperial Japanese rule. Kang-to, the younger brother, is a rising star in the police force and works with the Japanese police to capture “Bridal Mask,” a mysterious freedom fighter who fights for independence wearing a Korean Bridal Mask. Later when Lee Kang-to’s life is turned upside down, he dons the Bridal Mask and fights injustice and rights wrongs against the Japanese during one of the darkest periods of Korea’s history.

Kimura Shunji is a gentle Japanese teacher who has come to teach in Korea against his father's will. He is best friends with Kang-to and shares a loving relationship with his Korean nanny. He also falls in love with the fiercely patriotic Mok-dan, a woman who is in love with Kang-to, a twist that begins to change him into a darker person.

The series' twenty-first episode referenced Sohn Kee-chung's Olympic win and the subsequent arrest of Korean journalists. In a parade scene, spectators waved Japanese flags to a Korean boxer on a jeep. Despite the joyous occasion, the boxer's face remained staid, never smiling, with the Japanese flag put onto his shirt. The boxer recently won an international sports title, a first for a Korean. However, due to the Japanese occupation, the boxer represented Japan, not Korea, and the Empire of Japan claimed that victory.