Hannah and Suruthi, both shared a passion for true crime and came together in hopes to turn it into something fun and thrilling. This led to the creation of the podcast “RedHanded” where these two quirky british ladies are the host and bring a riveting story from the past back to life in each and every episode.
Although I started this podcast on episode 117, I didn’t feel disconnected from the storytelling experience at all! I’ve noticed they have generated a fanbase name and call their listeners “spooky b*tches”, this makes the audience feel more connected to the hosts and brings a sense of belonging to being a part of a community who is also interested in true crime. Not only that but they have merchandise for the podcast that you can purchase to feel even more included and also get the chance to directly support them! They start off with subtle but suspenseful music that easily sets the mood and vibe, but it doesn’t last for too long before the hosts introduce themselves, merrily.
The story takes place in Hong Kong during the 90s. At this point the hosts go on to further educate the listeners by informing them that it was a time and decade where gang related activity was running rampant and violently throughout the city. Not only that but connecting it to current and present situations such as the problem of how romanticizing crime/yakuza/gangsters/mafia play a role in the ego of such criminals and can affect the families of such victims. I believe it was important for Hannah and Suruthi to bring additional information besides the cut tell story in order to deepen our understanding of this complex and horrid case.
This story is centered around a young woman named Fan Man-yee who found herself in the hands of gruesome Yakuza after resorting to prostitution when she could no longer keep up with debts to pay. They had kidnapped her and she was kept in a flat where she was continuously tortured and raped for days on end until she couldn’t handle it anymore, and passed away. Since murders, especially ones like these, tend to be quite heavy on the soul and mind, the hosts created a little break they call a “Palate Cleanse”. During this break they wander off into other topics such as ones about themselves to give the listener time to absorb all the information they just received without becoming overwhelmed with all the feelings that come with listening to something so horrible and disgusting. This also gives the listener a chance to learn more about the host and feel more comfortable and connected, and maybe even almost like they are a part of the conversation.
The criminals were caught after one of their 13 year old girlfriends(who was also tortured from time to time) came to the police station and confessed that she was being haunted by a ghost. The police obviously didn’t believe her and take her seriously until she elaborated that it was the ghost of Fan Man-yee. The 13 year old girl must have felt so burdened and ashamed that she took part in hurting Fan Man-yee that her guilty conscience led her to believe that she was being haunted by her ghost and she absolutely needed to tell the police even though her safety would be jeopardized. The police went to search the flat and found it to be already evacuated and packed up besides one thing.. Fan Man-yee’s boiled head sewn shut inside a hello kitty doll.
There is one person that is mainly telling the story, this changes between different episodes, while the other one provides more commentary and supporting details. Such as one of the reasons as to why these men were so cruel was the fact that they were constantly on meth, which is a drug that can desensitize you to the fullest, they added “Meth was handed out to Nazi Soldiers so they could keep on pushing and killing in war”. This lead to the case being labeled as “manslaughter” in court rather than “murder” because there was no evidence that they wanted or had a motive to murder her, they were just on meth. They connect this case with the Junko Furuta case(I actually recognized and know this one!) since it is very similar to this one where a girl is gruesomely tortured and raped until she is met with death and her captors are given a punishment that is unjust for such a crime. Some remain to be free to this day.
This story in particular was sad yet engaging, leading me to want to hear more stories and crimes that I have never heard about in their other podcast episodes. They also present so much in just 45 minutes which is enjoyable for me since dragged out stories can often start to disengage the listener and bore them. They also tell the story with emotion rather than being monotonous, you can tell when they are sincere, or when they are enraged during certain parts, I tend to feel their emotions with them and am further invested into what they have to say. I am excited to listen to more of what they have to offer.
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Just from the summary from this blog, the content the podcast, RedHanded, brings seems very interesting and different from other podcasts. It seems very detailed and well thought out. The fact that they provide information before jumping into the story allows the listener to better understand the story as a whole. I like that because it shows that they care about the listener’s point of view and enjoyment.
What is similar to this podcast and the one I listened to, “Dog Saves The People”, is that they are both plays with the listener’s emotion. I feel like voice and tone are very important to draw in listeners into people’s podcasts. Even though these podcasts have very different focuses and content, the way they are structured help guide the listener’s interest.
Emotions are advantages to podcasts. Like Lacey mentioned, feeling how sincere the speaker is, makes the listener more engaged. No one wants to listen to a monotone voice for an hour. For a podcast, I do not think emotion does not bring any disadvantages.
I also like how the podcast has a fanbase name for their listeners. This definitely makes the listeners more engaged, included, and wanting to come back for more. The sense of community is a nice technique to have avid supporters for their podcast. The podcast I listened to did not have a fanbase, so I do not feel such a connection to it.
This podcast seems very absorbing and dark. I wonder what else they talk about. In the future I may tune into this podcast, even though it is very different from what I usually like.
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Hi Lacey,
When I was first looking through the different podcasts of ones to write a response about, yours really stuck out to me. I looked at the title and I was drawn in. This podcast sounds like such a great series to listen to. I am glad to hear that you can watch any episode and still be engaged in the story. Sometimes when you watch a random episode of a series it won’t make sense and that can be frustrating. The hosts seem really inclusive and interested in telling their audience more about true crime. The story of the young girl being raped and tortured to death is truly awful, but it does sound like a very interesting podcast. I am glad that one of the girlfriends went to the police even though she participated in torturing Fan Man-yee. In this world it is terrible how many people can be getting hurt or abused and no one knows.
This series sounds super interesting to me and I would love to listen to more of these podcasts. I don’t believe that the case should have been labeled as manslaughter. These men chose to take meth and continue to get high off of it. It shouldn’t matter if there was no motive or evidence that they wanted to kill her. Those men chose to take those drugs and they should have the charge of murder. This story was very saddening especially because there are hundreds of thousands of people being abused or tortured everyday. I just wish more people would speak up, so people can help before it’s too late. I can tell by your great summary that these ladies do a great job of telling the story. I am glad to hear that they don’t drag out their story and that they keep you interested and engaged during the forty-five minutes.