Completat
DonnaK2O Flower Award1
1 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
sep 25, 2023
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 9.0
Poveste 10
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 10
Valoarea Revizionării 10

YOU WILL NOT FIND ANYTHING LIKE THIS

NO SPOILER: Come on...
The story is full of twists and turns, with multiple plots all the time, which is incredible! A negative point for this work of art (Because not everyone likes Mona Lisa) is that let's be honest: They steal too much for the protagonist, but we clean up. The scenery, graphic effects and music are very engaging and fit with the plot, we dive right into the magic of the series.

The protagonists form an inseparable duo, the way they are loyal to each other is beautiful, their complicity and the way they are willing to die for each other moves us, and little by little this loyalty turns into a believable and indestructible love story. It's a real love, that's clear to viewers. It is not something that came out of nowhere, but something that was cultivated little by little, episode after episode. At various times this duo moves us with their acts of loyalty.

There is a lot of comic relief. The secondary characters sometimes steal the show, which means that the protagonists don't take the series on their shoulders, we actually root for the others because of the true friendships that form throughout the drama: The prince and Naksu have a very fun friendship to have. See, Dan-gu and Cho-Yeon are really cute, and even the villains we love to hate. I loved the details with which they inserted So-yi into the context of the story, it was perfect, so much so that I would believe the invented story and not the true one, congratulations to the screenwriters.

There is a change of main actress between the 1st and 2nd seasons. This exchange WAS ALREADY WRITTEN BEFORE THE SERIES WAS RELEASED, but it is felt by fans as it divided many opinions. There are fans of the 1st Naksu who refuse to watch the 2nd season, fans of the 2nd season who despise the 1st Naksu, and there are fans (Like me) who understand the poetry behind the actress swap. Who even prefer one of the seasons (I prefer the 1st) but who understand the importance of the other.

I confess that the only criticism in this regard of changing actresses is that they didn't maintain the mannerisms of the first actress who was always making faces, making jokes and was extremely expressive with her body, the 2nd actress didn't bring that to the series, and I really missed that. because if they are the same "person", no matter how many times they change bodies, their way of expressing themselves will be the same. There is an explanation for this drastic change in personality, but it still ended up disappointing many fans, so watch it now with that in mind as it will help you a lot:

"REMEMBER: If the soul is Naksu's, nothing else matters. The two "Naksu" (Jung So Min and Go Youn Jung) are part of a set, without one there is NO other. One COMPLEMENTS the other. Value both ."

Why 9.00? There were some loose ends, questions that weren't answered, but nothing very substantial, nothing that would make anyone say you shouldn't watch it. At the moment it's my number 1 drama, and I know I'll watch it again, because I'm in a very serious post-drama hangover. If you have an Alquimia das Almas fanfic to recommend to me, I would greatly appreciate it.

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Annette
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
sep 28, 2024
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 8.5
Poveste 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 10
Valoarea Revizionării 6.5
Această recenzie poate conține spoilere

My darling let me tell you,

(me writing this review while listening to “Scars leave beautiful traces” – Car, the garden)

Listen I loved it. No words, it was a lovely drama. If you came for the magical fantasy THIS is the drama for you, the SFX are gorgeous, the music is AMAZING, the cast is perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so if you are looking for a sign to watch this show. This is your sign.

It was a good show guys and if you actually made it to the review section, you don’t need to be reading anymore reviews, just go watch the show.

(THOSE WHO HAVEN’T WATCHED THE DRAMA DON’T READ AHEAD CUZ SPOILERS)


I’m sure you’re all very used to hearing praise of Alchemy of Souls, especially the first season, let’s now talk about the cons in this drama.

I just feel personally that if you are going to take the time an effort to make a drama (that too a fantasy-magic drama) 20 episodes long you should make sure the plot is well explained and spread out evenly and properly done.
AoS’s ONLY problem was that they dragged out a minor plot for TOO long and then started introducing major plot line only around the 15-16th episodes, thereby reducing the time to explain said plot lines. I was a little disappointed by how they dealt with the Jang Gang storyline because they had the potential to do so so so much better with it. They had sooo much time to introduce Jang Uk to his father but what? They give us one interaction where they talk about nothing except Jang Gang trash-talking himself for like 10 mins and then bro erupted into ashes in the next episode (he-who-must-not-be-named style), I really wish they had given Jang Uk more time with his father because they spent so much time EMPHASIZING that Jang Gang wasn’t Jang Uk’s father that they should have atleast allowed him to hear that FROM his father.

Another thing I didn’t like very much was that they waited too long to introduce So-I and the Jin Bu-yeon storyline, they kept holding it back until the last 5-6 episodes and therefore it was a little shabbily written, I mean I’m pretty sure we had all inferred long back that Mu-Deok was infact Jin Bu-yeon so the suspense was unnecessary, I wish they had spent a little more time explaining the mother-daughter relationship between Jin Ho-Gyeong (the leader of Jinyowon) and her second daughter Cho-Yeon, who I feel was a pushed aside not only by her mother but by the writers themselves. She would show up as a love-sick girl for Jang Uk in the first half and then just as a romantic relation for Dang-gu in the second half so if they had spent a little more time on her character development they probably wouldn’t have had to drag out the plot so much.


Call it second male lead syndrome, I LOVED Seo Yul, he was my favourite character throughout the drama and I waited for the scenes where he would show up on screen, his fight scenes were epic and he is so pretty pretty he looks like a doll, even his personality was so cute I just fell in love with him. I just wish, if they were going to make it so important that these four (Jang Uk, Park Dang-gu, Seo Yul, Jin Cho-yeon) were the children of the four most influential and powerful families in Daeho they had a responsibility to explain the families and their roles in the Great Chaos (the war from 200 years ago) and they should have explained the history of the families a little more.

If they had 20 episodes they should have made better use of it is what I felt. I think they always knew they were going to make a second season so they must have felt like there was no NEED to wrap the story up properly in the first season, hence the suspense of Jang Uk coming back from the dead yet no explanation of what the King's star is or what it enables Jang Uk to do, or what powers the King's star grants him

Two more thing before I wrap up the review:
1) This is just MY two cents on the show that I watched and really enjoyed I did not mean to offend anybody or anything by it
2) I have not watched S2 yet so I don’t know what has (or hasn’t) been explained in it


And that brings me to the end of my review. Hope you all could relate to my review ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

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DoctorPlague
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
aug 31, 2022
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 10
Poveste 10
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 10
Valoarea Revizionării 10

Good world building

The world created by drama remain consistent on rules and possibilities they themselve set on. Story was good , actors character were immersive and behave the same way a normal human being behave under given circumstances. Characters were alive and behaviour were logical and responce were within bound to the characters.
World building - 10/10
Characters chemistry - 10/10
Immersiveness in story 10/10
Overall. -. good

Personal opinion:-

What I find repulsive - love triangle thing .
The female character interaction with second male lead. ( I find annoying)

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drama_fan22
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
iun 26, 2023
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 10
Poveste 10
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 10
Valoarea Revizionării 9.5
Această recenzie poate conține spoilere

WATCH IT NOW!

THIS IS JUST AAAAAAAAGHH! Such a good kdrama. It'll give you hope for a happy ending, but sorry to tell you, you'll need tissues. I didn't expect this to happen, i mean, at all. I really wished they had a happy ending and they will be happy together. I HATE JIN MU. I hope he isn't in season 2. I was really confused with the start, but I got it fast. This is so worth it. GO WATCH IT! I already now a spoiler and didn't expect to cry, but I did, AND SO MUCH!!!!!! As much as I know, season 2 will also have a sad ending(crying internally). I was so in love with their love and they were so cuteee. Especially the scene where Mu-Deok was drank and kissed Jung-uk and told him she likes him a lot!!!!!!! All I need to say is that this story will give u a heartbreak, but the watch IS NEEDED!!!

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Nana08
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
feb 21, 2023
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 9.0
Poveste 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 10
Valoarea Revizionării 9.0
Această recenzie poate conține spoilere
Love love love it. Beautiful chemistry between 2 leads,but cant deny some episodes can be quiet draggy. Sadly they didn't explore enough about the whole mage thing because that would've add extra flavor to the story. This part is better that the 2nd part, not just because they change the FL. But also story wise, part 1 was more interesting. Jung Somin and Lee Jaewook slayed their roles. Whenever they are together, you can immediately feel the chemistry and tension between them. The last episode really broke my heart, didn't expect it to be so brutal and painful.
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Completat
jellyfish
5 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
aug 28, 2022
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 7.5
Poveste 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Muzică 7.5
Valoarea Revizionării 6.5

Alchemy of Souls

I cried really hard watching the ending scene of Jang Uk and Mudeok, even more so knowing that Jung So Min won't be back for season 2. I really cannot accept lead changes because it ruins the emotional attachment you build after watching the character.

This is the first romance kdrama that I completed after a long long time. It isn't a perfect story by all means, but it is a very special drama to me. The connection felt between Jang Uk and Mudeok is utterly beautiful. The acting by the leads was exceptional. I love the growth both characters have shown throughout this 20 episodes.
Lee Jaewook has become an all-time favourite actor of mine. This is his best performance to date, and Jang Uk has become one of my favourite Male Leads of all time. I've always adored Jung So Min's acting and it's gratifying to see the praise she got after this show.

I had a great time watching this drama, reading the theories, the many amazing parallels this drama had. All the actors did a great job. Jang Uk, Mudeok (Naksu), Crown Prince, Seo Yul, the Queen (aka Shaman Choi), Jin Mu and all the other casts. Really great piece of work with brilliant fight scenes!

I wish the best for the casts in Season 2.

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Renunțate 12/20
Two Steps From Heaven
8 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
ian 11, 2023
12 of 20 episoade văzute
Renunțate 9
Per total 1.5
Poveste 3.0
Acting/Cast 1.0
Muzică 1.0
Valoarea Revizionării 1.0

Terrible

The Hong sisters are now on my must-not-watch list as I disliked Hotel Del Luna as much as this one. Their attempt at writing atmospheric, romantic suspense got lost in translation because the pacing was hella slow and there's barely any plot progression.. even after 12 episodes. The push and pull of the lead characters were at first endearing but after watching 13 hrs of them not moving beyond being disadvantaged and unmotivated, there's really nothing left to care about. I don't understand why the creators took the decision to just string the viewers along. Did Netflix demand a certain episode quota and is that why the already thin plot was stretched beyond the capabilities of the scriptwriters?

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Renunțate 10/20
Salatheel Finger Heart Award1
20 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
aug 26, 2022
10 of 20 episoade văzute
Renunțate 2
Per total 5.5
Poveste 5.0
Acting/Cast 5.0
Muzică 7.0
Valoarea Revizionării 5.0

How much pouty petulant can you take?

This is the first time for me to watch a quasi-historical Korean fantasy and to be honest I was totally underwhelmed. Which is a pity because there are probably some really good ones out there. There is a simplistic naivety about this one that perfectly defines the phrase, dumbed down. It starts with a script that has zero sophistication, explains even the most self evident motivation in words and never passes over an opportunity to state the obvious. It offers bland, predictable, two dimensional characters and a direction so wooden that any dynamism the actors might have produced is squashed by a requirement to stand still and spout. And just to round it out nicely the editing in the early stages is unbelievably bad, hacking off chunks of story and throwing them roughly together. But to be fair it does have a plus side in the production values—great costumes, beautiful sets/locations and credible CGI.

The rigid division between good and evil does not help. In order to create interesting tension there needs to be ambiguity and the central character, Naksu, simply doesn’t have enough real-world edge to her. Assassin? Pouty, petulant tweenager more like. And that’s the irony of it. In a story all about power, the power has been sucked out of everything: her, the story and all the characters.

It’s all far too nice with the result that nothing is too far from that bland (and to be honest, boring) middle ground. Very little light and shade, zero depth and no emotional impact. Safe, safe, safe. A let’s pretend world that has about as much tension as a teddy bears picnic.

Okay, it’s not Game of Thrones and is aimed at a totally different and much less emotionally resilient audience, but does it really have to be quite so impotent? So concerned to keep the viewer safe inside a bubble watching on from the sidelines. So scared of itself that it pulls back from every opportunity to have some balls and make an impact? Everywhere it pulls punches, particularly by not following through on the consequences of actions, either emotionally or physically.

I like Jung So Min as an actress, I thought she was very good in “Because this is my first life”, but I think she was miscast here. She lacked the necessary edge to make her character believable. The actress who plays the original form of Naksu (Go Yoon Jung), did a better job of delivering credibility to the part. Even if Naksu lost her magical power she would not have lost her attitude or her edge and this could have been an opportunity for great character development and depth. But Jung So Min’s scripted lines did nothing towards this, often being subservient when they should have been authoritative, victim when they should have been master and bland when they should have been vulnerable.

It also puzzled me why, in a world which is quasi-historical fantasy and not reality, there should be so few women occupying decision making roles. In the main it utilised boringly predictable stereotypes and missed a huge opportunity to be creative. The relationship between the M and F lead was not master/pupil but something out of a fluffy romcom with a dominant, emotionally stunted male and a petulant, subservient female. There’s nothing ostensibly wrong with writing fluffy romcom relationship dynamics, but why pretend to set it up as master/pupil and then make it unbelievable?

Ok enough, I got half way through and then had to wait for the next episode. It will be an eternal wait...

What my rating means: 5+ Meh! Don't bother, it's full of platitudes and clichés with boring characters and plots.

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joviallll
4 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
aug 7, 2022
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 9.0
Poveste 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 9.5
Valoarea Revizionării 9.5
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INCREDIBLY UNDERRATED.

EDIT: WTF WAS EP20??? MY REVIEW BELOW IS ONLY FOR EP1-19 BECAUSe EP20 was absolutely RUBBISH that it will ruin the whole score of the drama

Plot & Scriptwriting: A+
The plot is insane, exploring a universe where too much power can influence the lives of others, teaching us to stay humble. As quoted, "With power comes great responsibilities". One simply cannot delve into the world of sorcery without there being temptation. What we can control however, is the way we respond to it. In this case, this drama showcased how good can triumph over evil for the overall betterment of society. I felt like the dialogues used in this drama was also particularly relevant in shaping characterization, which is essential as it allows us to rationalize the decisions made by every character.

Chemistry: A+
Based off a pupil-master relationship, the chemistry between Jang Uk and Mudeok shoots past the sky's limit. We get to see evidently how Mudeok is secretly dependent on Uk, how Mudeok would go to the extent of using her powers to save Uk from a soul shifter, protecting him. Similarly, Jang Uk's constant drive to push himself to his limits with the guidance of Mudeok/Naksu has enabled their chemistry to grow like that of a plant, from a seed to a beautiful plantlet. We see obvious signs of their affection towards on another, and their chemistry is amplified with their kisses and gazes. Not to forget, the way Jang Uk and Mudeok had 'telepathy' through telling the same confession to leader of Songrim by saying that they both are in love with one another demonstrates their chemistry, and it is without question that their chemistry gets an A+. Moreover, I must say the bromance between the crown prince and Jang Uk was rather endearing!

Acting: A+
The characters generally played their roles well, with micro expressions to highlight how each of them are feeling at each time. Some hits and misses but not enough to undermine the nature of the show. Extremely well-acted and strengthens the believability of the show.

Believability: B+
Some plot digressions may seem slightly odd, but not enough to undermine the crux of the story.

Music & SFX: A++++++++++++++++++++.
Crazy OST, always apt for any moment and suitable for certain context(s). Overall, it does make the whole experience of watching the drama that much better! Love the way they strategically made use of OST to instill fear at times, especially with the scenes concerning Jin Mu's malicious intents.

Editing, props, setting, atmosphere, mood/vibe: A+
Really insane editing that transports us to a whole new dimension! Props like ice stone, water (for tansu), even the dressing of each character suited the whole theme and vibe of the show! Nothing felt out of the ordinary, and I particularly liked the fact that blue was always used to depict either Mudeok, Uk and green for Yul and yellow for Danggu. Very consistent dressing and I could very easily identify which character was who, without having to rewatch certain scenes again. Everything was edited in a very chronological manner, and for scenes showcasing flashbacks, they were usually distinct from the present, illustrating different time stamps in the movie.

Impact on society/Impressions on audience: A+
This drama has taught me that greed can drive even the best of people to spiral down a hole that they can't run free from. Even the crown prince, someone of high authority, can fall short in many tasks and when opportunities arise, he highlights the way human nature is like-- that we have selfish intents, but what is in our possession is the decisions we make to mitigate them as well.

Rewatch Value: A+
Would I rewatch this? DUH. I will be rewatching this for the thrill since almost every scene glued me from start to end. No regrets starting this show from a classmate who had told me about it! Will rewatch to take note of any hints and clues in the show~

A show that piques my interest, and is comparable to kdrama 'Tomorrow'. Well done steak of a drama I must say! Can't wait for Season 2 that releases in late December 2022. :)

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Renunțate 13/20
Nimue
13 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
iun 26, 2022
13 of 20 episoade văzute
Renunțate 6
Per total 7.0
Poveste 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Muzică 8.0
Valoarea Revizionării 6.0

Lost in a/Maze; Quit or Power Through?

Hong sisters are back again with fantasy-historical genre (on steroids, I would say). The world of mages; And magic was seen as a normal and high-praised status in their social standard. However, I'm having a hard time engaging with such world. Why? Because so far, it felt so alien and puzzling to be honest. The reason why I'm still giving this show a chance is because I am still curious about Mu-deok's origin. But if the story chose to neglect and pro-long its development, I'm considering to drop it anytime soon. Why? Because the story is set to a potentially biased or misleading outcome; Particularly the arc of Mu-deok, the blind girl (I hate what the writer did to her so far).

Story
The story is actually inviting and has a strong attraction, however its introduction fell flat. I think it's a mess and were all over the place. I was having a hard time to comfortably settle in and digest its grand-other-wordly setup. The mystery of each plot/ characters were briefly shown (but poorly) then jumped from one another almost incoherently. And as the story keeps progressing, I was left-behind feeling more puzzled than with awe. It's too overwhelming to keep me from moving forward, to move along with the story as it was being developed. As it keep on building and building, somehow my curiosity is shrinking and deflated at some level.

So far, I'm not invested with the characters at all except for Mu-deok (the blind girl not Naksu). Why? Because the story chose to neglect the blind girl's existence from the get go. The story focused solely on Naksu entirely. Nobody cared for that poor girl soul and I find it to be disturbing and intentionally biased and misleading. The 'Four Seasons' didn't affect/ amaze me in a way as it should be. And when that happen, I know that the story is flawed in my book. In the beginning, there are too much puzzles (questions) in the back of my mind to let me focus and sink in for whatever it is that being presented. It prevented me from engaging with the character development; It didn't make me curious. Actually it is doing the opposite; It's discouraging me from being interested in discovering it. And fuelled with the overdosed fantasy-historical aspect in the centre, the puzzles becomes bigger and harder for me to comprehend. I even had to go back to rewatch some scenes so that I could understand it better and it's getting annoying rather than enjoying.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of supernatural, fantasy and historical genre. But somehow I still didn't connect with this show. So far judging from how big scale/ grandeur the whole setup is, it was design to prevent me from really care about them. I was distracted with yet another and another puzzle thrown in. I'm somewhere lost in this huge beautiful-amazing-but-confusing maze. Yes, it has everything, the well-executed and crafted exterior are no doubt mesmerizing; As it should but I'm having a hard time to connect, understand and explore its depth. I'm left with this unnerving struggle; Either to quit or power through the journey till the end. And right now, I feel like I'm out of gas.

I'm not hating it entirely as there are some interesting dynamics especially the leader of Songrim and the maid servant, but sadly its not enough to carry the show and I'm struggling. For those who love the show, I'm jealous actually. I wish that I could feel the same way. Probably I will continue to watch for the sake of the blind girl that nobody in the story seems to care.

Cast
I love Jung So-min. I think that she is a wonderful actress. As Mu-deok/ Naksu, she is convincingly being portrayed as this strong-willful shadow assassin who you don't want to mess with. However I was having a hard time to fully engaging with her as I was more curious about the blind girl's origin. The unknown is more intriguing than what was being presented. So, is it a an advantage? Maybe coz I still stick to the show.

Lee Jae-wook as the trouble-maker Jang-uk is commendable. He is the pretty boy with clever-wits-smooth-talker that always manage to get out from any troubles comes his way. His origin is vaguely misleading and purposedly crafted to engage but it fell short at certain level, I'm not drawn or care much about his character. His drive to be the greatest mage didn't resonate much to me.

The rest of the casts are pretty good. Few are just eye-candy and few are better and well portrayed as mages and villains. No wow performances yet.

Music
Pretty good and well suited for fantasy-historical genres. No memorable piece yet.

As always; Would I rewatch it all again?
Probably but not for the pleasure, just to understand the story better. It's pretty annoying to rewatch a story so that you get a clear picture not because you actually care.

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K H-C
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
sep 5, 2022
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 1
Per total 9.0
Poveste 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Muzică 8.0
Valoarea Revizionării 9.0
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“Nothing could go wrong! Nothing could go wrong!….oh no! It all went wrong!”

*******Spoilers ahead! You are warned!*****

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this rates a “liked”. It would have been a “loved” but…that ending!

Things I liked:
This is the first true period fantasy Kdrama I’ve seen. Occasionally there’s a made-up king (like Moon Embracing the Sun, 100 Days My Prince) or even a dynasty (Lovers of the Red Sky), but I’ve never seen a truly made up country/world before in Kdramaland (correct me if I’m wrong). And I loved it. I liked the world-building, the costumes, and even applaud the stylists for making short hair a part of the ‘look’ of that world so they did not have to mess with wigs (though I am a sucker for a guy with long hair…). Nearly all of the characters felt three-dimensional. I liked the bromances—especially with the Crown Prince and the ML. At first, I thought the CP was going to be another evil guy, but he grows on you after a while (he was clearly entitled and arrogant, but he never forced Mu-deok to come be with him and he could have). I wanted to punch the evil dude every time he smirked—which meant he was doing his job right. I loved that Park Dang Gu and Jin Cho Yeon got married despite everyone's objections. I also liked that Jin Cho Yeon only did the awful jealous girl thing for a couple of episodes and then got over it. I hate the jealous bat $*** crazy woman trope and am glad they did not use it for long. I thought they did an excellent job of mixing comedy with seriousness—in the way that real life can be hilarious but also tragic at the same time. I liked the magic system (though outside of ‘soul shifting’ it was not all that well fleshed out).

Things I did not like and/or remaining questions:
Why did you have to do my girl Naksu like that!? Wasn’t the whole benefit of her having taken over a divine priestess body so $*** like that wouldn’t happen? She has been used and manipulated her whole life and then at the end she’s forced to kill the one she loves!? Pfftt, I say! Pfft! Season Two had better make up for it! And why was everyone always going on about how weak Mu-deok was!? She was a slave whose daily life consisted of hard physical labor. There’s even a scene where she’s carrying all kinds of luggage up a mountain. And why would you lose your martial arts ability even if you lost your internal power? You could still fight, but just not with magic. Why did none of the ‘grown ups’ realize that just telling the ML he could not do magic was never going to be enough? That it had the opposite effect? They kept taking the ‘because I told you so’ route—and when has that ever worked? And, seriously, it did not matter whose soul was in Jang Kang’s body when the ML was conceived, it was still JK’s body that did the work meaning that the ML was JK’s biological son. I get why he denied him in the end, to save his life, but it was stupid that he had been denying him since the beginning—and even blaming his wife for somehow not knowing that her husband had been soul switched!? Pfftt, I say! Pfft!

Anyways, slight inconsistencies aside, I loved this up until about the last 20 minutes. Season Two has a LOT to answer for....

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amateurcritic
2 oamenii au considerat această recenzie utilă
aug 28, 2022
20 of 20 episoade văzute
Completat 0
Per total 8.0
Poveste 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Muzică 7.0
Valoarea Revizionării 7.0
|| OVERALL ||

I was rather entertained throughout given that I don't watch a lot of action kdramas. Interesting plot with cool CGI. Straightforward love story without the boring clichés. Great acting from the main leads.

**I recommend this drama to those that like a fantasy kdrama with well-rounded genres of romance, comedy, action.

|| DETAILS ||

= Story =
*Premise - Interesting plot set in a fictional place in which mages, magic, and spells exist. Tells the story of how a group of young mages deal with the consequences of their ancestors' actions.
*Genre - There was romance, comedy, and action. All quite well done.
*Plot - Most weekends I found Saturday a bit less interesting but Sunday would usually make up for it. As the premise is quite unique already, the CGI and fight scenes are enough to make the kdrama interesting. The main leads' romantic comedy did add a lot to making this drama one of my favourite dramas this year so far. It seemed to have a push-and-pull feel with the audience - the romance scenes are so straightforward and satisfying, then when it almost reach the climax it pulls back making me want to see more, so when the climax was later reached it was extra satisfying. I felt the jealousy scenes were just enough as I do like to see at least a couple of those scenes. I really enjoyed the minimal clichés in the romance portion which enabled the audience to appreciate that this is not a typical romantic comedy as there are elements of family, friendship, and master-pupil relationship. Some parts were a bit random and sudden, though - I think the story could make do without some of the romances as it was a bit too much (Park Dang Gu and Jin Cho Yeon, Crown Prince and Mudeok, So-i and Seo Yul), and also the sudden appearance and outcome of Jang Gang, the sudden demise of certain villains that seemed to yield so much power but died so easily just to name a few.
*Characters - Each character was very well designed with something they excelled at and a funny fatal flaw. The mages are all quite cool when they are doing spells and such but they all have a goofy side whether it be losing sense of direction when startled, being slow-witted, or being very straightforward with their feelings. There were just enough supporting characters not to make it seem overwhelming, and they were all important to the story or had some underlying connection which made them all relevant to the progression of the plot.
*Ending - When the final events occurred (which happened a bit too quickly), I kept checking how many minutes were left of the episode, getting anxious how they could wrap it up with so little time. I was very eager to see Jang Uk and Naksu in Mudeok use the bird egg gems at least once and see Jang Uk fly to the top of the tree with Jung So Min's Naksu / Mudeok, but unfortunately it will have to just be in my imagination. The ending, watching Jang Uk Danaerys Targaryen out of the fire was not pleasing due to the lack of resolution as with all cliffhangers, but I guess that was the aim as it would make the audience look forward to part 2.

= Cast =
*Acting - Jung So Min stole the show, she played all the characters and personalities very well. The highlight had to be the multitude of emotions she portrayed when walking towards the soul-shifter in the secret chamber thinking that Jang Uk had died. No dialogue but her facial expressions had so many layers. I'm really going to miss her in part 2. Lee Jae Wook also did exceptional as the male lead, matching Jung So Min well as the carefree young mage who also has a serious side. The supporting characters were also good, especially Oh Na Ra, of all the supporting characters I loved her scenes the most.
*Chemistry - The main leads had good chemistry. Not to the point I wished they would get together in real life, but good chemistry while knowing they are both acting their characters very well.

= OST =
A good soundtrack that matched the drama well.


|| A LESSON ABOUT SACRIFICE ||

With everything one gains, sacrifices must be made. When someone is worth fighting for, all sacrifices will seem trivial.

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Detalii

Statistici

  • Scor: 9.1 (Marcat de 1 utilizator)
  • Clasat: #33
  • Popularitate: #33
  • Spectatori: 122,738

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