gingerkiss
This review may contain spoilers
This is a unique and top-of-the-class production with an excellent story, cast, cinematography, and music. No doubt this is a musical but I would call it a piece of art too. If you have read the webtoon, you would have known that the art in the webtoon was one-of-a-kind with many symbolism. I'm glad to say this drama was able to adapt the art and bring out the symbolism rather well. In fact, some scenes like the asphalt in episode 3 and the shadow art in episode 2 were way above my expectations.The cast is simply excellent. I love Ji Chang Wook as the charismatic Ri Eul but I want to give a shout-out to Choi Sung Eun for her amazing portrayal of Yun Ai. Although she is a rookie actress, I think she fared really well in bringing out the inner turmoil of Yun Ai. This being a musical meant that anyone weak in acting will be very telling and I'm so glad there were none. Overall, the choice of the cast was perfect.
While this is a fantasy, the story is very relatable--those who fall below expectations are marginalized at best or discriminated against at worse. Their struggle to fit in is very real. In fact, it's so real, some parts in episodes 4 & 5 felt too heavy and dark.
I love all the singing. I wish there were more and this is surprising considering I usually dislike musicals. So I can say this one is really well done. The lyrics of all the songs were very meaningful, so much so that I often find myself tearing up during those scenes.
Some people complained about the ending but I find the ending in the drama better than the webtoon. There were closures where closures were needed for me. And the disappearance of Ri Eul did not leave me feeling empty like the webtoon did. I saw it as the Ri Eul the magician being mysterious and enigmatic. There was a part I didn't remember reading in the webtoon and that is, the part where Ri Eul the teen met Yun Ai the kid. But I like it because it answered my question of why Ri Eul singled out Yun Ai.
Overall, I agree with many who calls this a masterpiece. One, it's a perfect adaptation of the webtoon, and two, it's a musical very well done. I'm sure there are many K-dramas out there that are more entertaining but they're good as long as you watch them. Typically, they're also forgettable. But not this. It affected my heart so much and left me thinking about it, wanting more. Definitely worth a re-watch!
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I fell asleep watching some episodes
My son asked me to watch this cos he enjoyed it, and it being his first K-drama. So my husband and I sat down to watch. We managed to complete the series but can you believe it? I fell asleep from ep 1 to 3 and even the last ep. The 1st 3 episodes were particularly a pain to watch as they established the plot and we only continued to see if there were any redeeming qualities. Although the plot picked up a little, overall it was rather underwhelming for us and we are scratching our heads over the hype. My son agreed that it's overhyped but he liked it cos it showed him "the true colors of people". I think the storyline is unique but the drama doesn't make me care for any of the characters. Okay, maybe I cared a little for Ali. I didn't feel sad about the girls. I was disgusted with the sex scene although I guess they wanted to establish what a desperate woman needs to resort to to survive. The insertion of the "police investigation" was quite stupid although it wasn't exactly meaningless. Anyway I told my son, there are so many better K-dramas around. But I gotta give it for being clever to be so popular.Was this review helpful to you?
I love the topics they raise in each episode cos they're very relatable to me. And they're not frivolous topics. They're real questions you would ask when in the relationship. I think this interview format and snippets of their relationships works very well for the 30 mins timeslot. It's clever. You capture of the essence of their relationship and you see the question answered from different POVs.
The cinematography is excellent and is able to enhance the story-telling. I was surprised how much details are shown in just 30 mins. A lot of feels for sure!
The ML and FL are a tad troublesome but then again, it is interesting for me cos I wanna know how their story will end up. My favorite couple is Kyung Joon and Rin Yi. They are so cute!
Very impressed by this production and will definitely recommend. To those who don't understand the story and keep questioning the development, I suspect they haven't fallen in love. There are usually no right or wrong in a relationship, it's always different perspectives. Just cos you don't like how someone behaved in the drama doesn't mean it cannot happen. Love can happen very quickly cos it's a feeling. It can also end very abruptly. True story.
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