Left to right: Namnam, Banzi, and Eungsim.
Banzi's Secret Diary (반지의비밀일기) is a Korean animated series focused on the life experiences of a girl named Banzi, who owns a diary that she writes in regularly, and her friends Eungsim and Namnam. The series made its debut on television in 2017, with an additional movie, Banzi's Secret Diary - Theatrical Version, releasing in 2019.
The series has an official English dub that airs on Disney Channel in certain Asian countries. The series has an official YouTube channel
that has released a number of episodes subtitled, as well as a few of the aforementioned English-dubbed episodes.
Banzi's Secret Diary contains the following tropes:
- Adults Dressed as Children: In episode 3, to avoid letting Banzi be caught for being late for school, her mother decides to dress up as her and take her place. Banzi's friends immediately comment on how tall she is and how odd her voice sounds, for which she makes excuses like recovering from a cold. She comes close to revealing her identity when she demonstrates her impeccable cooking skills during a cooking session at the school.
- Child Prodigy: According to a mock introduction given to her in episode 2, Eungsim is intelligent enough to have managed to master calculus at the age of three.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Banzi's shy boyfriend Hoyong deliberately has his hair obscuring his eyes.
- Fast as Lightning: In "Selfi Scam", Banzi and Namnam go so fast when they give Eungsim a makeover that there's aesthetic lightning on-screen.
- Feud Episode: In episode 45, Eungsim and Namnam have minor arguments that Banzi is able to put a stop to, until Eungsim spoils a book for both of them and Eungsim and Namnam completely throw their friendship out the window, leaving it up to Banzi to fix things.
- First Love: Episode 18 reveals that Banzi's first crush wasn't on her current boyfriend Hoyong, but on another boy named Jooni. She eventually gave up on him after falling in love with Hoyong, but then she and her friends find a note that indicates Jooni may have feelings for her, saying a picture he had taken was for Banzi but his original girlfriend, Dolly, jumped into the picture without him noticing.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: In episode 31, Banzi has a crisis relating to spending her allowance on a new backpack on sale, as she had promised herself not to spend more than 45 cents a day so as not to spend all her money at once. An angel appears to her right, telling her that she should save her money; a devil appears to her left, proposing she purchase it anyway since "smart consumers always buy at bargain prices". She purchases the bag and is promptly shocked the next day at school to find she only has a single coin on her.
- Hates Baths: Banzi and Eungsim disliking bathing is the plot point of one episode where they drive away students and teachers with their foul odors. They then decide to beome "sweeties" like Namnam and dip their hair into the school sinks to give their hair a different appearance, seemingly forgetting their hatred of baths as they do so.
- Hollywood Genetics: Banzi's sister Keum inexplicably has blonde hair when her sister, as well as her parents, all have brown hair.
- The Ketchup Test: In episode 4, while she's pretending to be a detective, Banzi solves the case of what looks like a murder when somebody notices a red stain resembling blood on a school desk. Banzi tastes the substance and concludes that it's ketchup, then Eungsim points out that it's her desk and notices she has a half-eaten corn dog with ketchup in her pocket.Banzi: First case solved!
Eungsim: You can't commit a crime and then solve it! - I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Episode 32 demonstrates that Namnam only likes strawberry milk, not plain milk despite having not tried it before, and dislikes it when she's being forced to stop drinking strawberry milk. A visit from the strawberry milk fairy and the baby plain milk fairy convinces her to try a drop of plain milk, and she ends up legitimately loving it.
- The Movie: A theatrical movie called Banzi's Secret Diary - Theatrical Version released in 2019.
- Mystery Episode: Episode 4 is about Eungsim and Banzi attempting to outdo each other in being amateur detectives when an actual mystery, how one of Pppaendol's hamsters went missing, is brought to their attention. Banzi finds the hamster in Eungsim's bag, leading her to believe further that it was Eungsim trying to get Ppaendol's attention; nobody figures it out for sure, but the ending shows that Banzi knocking a ball into the classroom during a game is what caused it.
- Opaque Lenses: The lenses of Eungsim's square glasses obscure her eyes.
- Playing Hard to Get: Banzi learns of the concept in episode 7 when Eungsim points out that she's always "pulling" on Hoyong (that is, getting his attention and being willing to date him at a given moment) and that she needs to "push" him away to get some time to herself as well. Banzi takes this to an exaggerated level, sending him a text saying they should break up and them immediately attempting to pull him in again by texting him "Let's get married!" This leads to Banzi and Eungsim attempting to intercept the message so Hoyong doesn't see it.
- Pretending to Be One's Own Relative: In episode 3, Banzi's mother pretends to be her daughter in order to avoid having Banzi be caught being late for school, with others commenting about her new height and "newfound" cooking skills as she hangs out at their school.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Upbeat and talkative Banzi is the Energetic Girl while her composed, shy boyfriend Hoyong is the Savvy Guy.
- Shout-Out: In episode 4, Banzi thinks that Eungsim got the idea to become an amateur detective from Detective Conan comics. The English dub changes the reference so that she refers to a manga of Sherlock Holmes instead.
- Slice of Life: The series chronicles the various life experiences of Banzi and her friends. There is at least one episode that features fantasy elements, though (episode 32, "Strawberry Milk Fairy", with its eponymous fairy).
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Eungsim is the tomboyish smart girl of Banzi's group and wears square-shaped glasses.
- Spiteful Spoiler: In episode 45, Eungsim spoils a plot twist in a mystery book series for Namnam and Banzi, stating that the killer was the actor wearing glasses. Namnam takes this very poorly, and she and Eungsim renounce their friendship afterwards.
- Title: The Adaptation: Banzi's Secret Diary - Theatrical Version is an odd variation, but it still clearly tells you that it's a theatrical adaptation of the series.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Namnam likes strawberry milk and is often seen drinking it.
