This review may contain spoilers
This is a very good fantasy mystery sci-fi drama! The viewer gets to enjoy a stunning cinematography, wonderful cast and a mesmerizing soundtrack to counteract two things on which the drama fall deficient- Gu Chan-seong and his relationship with Jang Man-wol, and the dual timelines. Gu Chan-seong is just a catalyst for Jang Man-wol’s character when it could have been so much more given the fact that he was always the person who loved her the most, and still, the writers couldn’t entirely fuse the love story into the complex and strong Jang Man-wol character ultimately resorting to a sweet and soulful romance, a disappointment when you have actors of high caliber as Lee Ji-eun (IU) and Yeo Jin-goo. The drama’s focal point is Jang Man Weol and Lee Ji-eun (IU) delivers an excellent performance bringing this character to life. The rest of the cast become an extension to her character delivering a sweet romance, thrill, drama, and comedic moments to her emotionally laden persona. The second deficiency on this show is the merging of timelines, past and present. The plot could have been better if only the present timeline would have the same important development as the past, but it fell short in comparison. Even though the drama is not perfect, it is entertaining and fun to watch. Enjoy it! Was this review helpful to you?
Don't Let the High Ratings Fool You. THIS DRAMA IS DESERVES HIGHER.
Hands down, Hotel Del Luna is one of the best k dramas. I have ever watched. The leads had excellent chemistry and always stood by each other. The plot was well executed. I have only praise for this drama. I love how everything is not explained in too much detail. If everything is set in stone it seems like an info dump to me. So I adored how the writer left some things open ended and give us hints to fit the pieces together ourselves. I'm very intellectual and thought-oriented which made this very engaging for me. The plot was very unique and had well planned and timed flashbacks. I can't say enough about the OSTs. They are the most beautiful things ever. I could listen to the tracks forever. Crime and thrillers were neatly integrated into the already multi-dimensional plot. Don't believe anyone who says that Hotel Del Luna has a sad ending. Like I said, it's for the audience to form their own conclusions. Overall, its the best. The ratings reflect exactly how good this drama actually is. Infact, I could even call this drama underrated for that is how good it is.Was this review helpful to you?
I watched many of the Hong Sisters' dramas, and the Director's dramas and well, none of them were out of ordinary, they all had a great start but failed to keep being great later for me. However this one I can say may be considered as an exception and a success. Maybe that is because of IU's character, but overall ot was great :)
Shorter review at the end.
Story:
Tied destinies, tied fates. The red knot that is connecting all of them shows us a story of love friendship and atonement.
This drama is about a Korean legend, that somewhere around there, there is a place a hotel of the moon where the people who passed away can stay for few days, can rest before they go on to the journey to the afterlife.
The story centers around Man Wol (full moon) and the new manager at her hotel. It's a story that goes through time and space and is a really long one. However during this journey you also see a lot of others. Ghost's side stories that happen throughout a drama and take a lot of time. Well, I truly LOVE this kind of side stories. It's like the good old Japanese mystery dramas/animes I loved. Lots of sidestories all of them can be a story of their own but they still all connect the main story. There are people around there who don't enjoy these kind of things, so If you are so, you might not like the drama as much as I did, however I guarantee you will love the beauty of the drama and IU in it. So you might as well give it a try :)
I loved how this drama focused on the afterlife. Usually the ghost stories don't interest me. But I loved that they showed how people can be taken over by their feelings, almost eaten up and have to wait until that clears, so they can go forward to the afterlife world and then be born again. They showed how sometimes Man Wol helped them not to lose themselves, keep the consciousness and wait till their grudge calms down or disappears. They showed how everything in people's life is not simple and yet it is not so complicated after death. The whole concept of the hotel where ghosts can stay and rest before going to the after life was amazing. I also liked how it changed with time and looked suitable to the era it was in. I liked how they showed that those ghosts can be super scary and at the same time they are still those humans wanting or willing something, it can be something terrible though. It also showed that the grudge even if fulfilled can't be so satisfying as it seemed to be. I really loved it. I loved the concept of feeling of guilt too and how it can make people do unimaginable things even after death. I totally liked all the special services the hotel provided. Anyway it's a complex story about fates that are tied together even after death.
Characters:
Oh IU is marvelous as Man Wol! lol I think everyone heard of her amazing wardrobe, hairstyles and makeup. Well She changed her outfit like 7-10 times during an episode and i LOVED it. haha sometimes it was ridiculous but sometimes it was amazing. Beautiful! But Man Wol was not only pretty she was very strong. a perfect woman. She was feminine yet very strong and at the same time fragile. I loved how she felt confident even while not understanding the economic stuff. I find it also cute how she lived so many years but didn't spent them for learning (which i would LOL) but rather she was all about eating and dressing. haha I loved her character a lot. And I think it will not be wrong to say that this drama hold on to this character and is build around her. Gu Chan Song was also nice. He was an average boy who studied well, in prestige places. He wasn't a special character BUT he was very kind and sweet and smart. I loved him. Thanks to that simple yet warm personality Man Wol could have been moved. <3
I just loved all the main side characters! The three employees of the hotel were such a nice and cute team. I love that we saw more of them at the end. Each of the characters had their own complicated past but each of them still became new people working there and i loved their different personalities. I loved Sanchez(<3) and Mi Ra and the Detective. Sanchez i loved the most out of them. He was a funny friend of the male lead and i think he added a lot of comedy to the show as well as grief.
I totally Loved the gods!! <3 All their personalities were so different and they all did different things <3
I would have liked to talk about all the side characters, even minor ones and even cameos, but I will stop here. :)
Cinematography:
As I said this drama is beautiful! I am going to make a list of beautiful dramas. It's amazing! I really love the cinematography here. And I love the wardrobe of the characters. <3
Acting:
Acting was a Top-Notch. Well I always wanted to say about acting in Characters as they go hand to hand but I saved it for here. IU is always great at acting, i love her in all of her dramas. After the Most amazing but dark and sad my mister role, here she was vivid, wonderful and outstanding. She made the outfit changing in the drama something to look forward to. Yeo Jin Goo is always great at acting but I think this is his BEST tole as a grown-up after Circle. I loved circle but all his other dramas were just meh after it. Finally he got a role where he could fully shine :) Other actors were also amazing! P.O did a great job!!! omg i never thought he will play so well lol xDDD I hope he gets more roles now :) And the Cameos were wonderful!!! So many people made cameos <3 And the last cameo was just soooo impressive!!!!!!!!!
I want to separately say about the Ma Go God. That actress is amazing, truly!! I am so happy she played here lol. The most memorable role of her that I saw was in Good Thief Bad Thief. Oh my she was crazy there. I hated her character with all my heart at first and at the end of the drama I couldn't wait to see her lol. Here she was amazing playing so many <3 I became a fan.
OST:
Well Ost was great :) nice songs, nice artists. what was left in my memory was mostly IU's song that was played only once lol. I just love IU's singing and her Flower Bookmark albums. Also her in MUDO festival with Park Myung Soo XD haha
IN SHORT!! :
What i liked:
-IU!! IU !! IU!!
-Yeo Jin Goo
-The three employees
-Outfits
-Beauty
-cameos
-some concepts
-somewhat ending
-ending super last scene!!!!
What I didn't like:
-some parts of the ending (well It was very logical and well done!! (minor Spoiler!!!!!!!!) - she had to leave and I agree with it yes, but overall they could have showed it much better)
- ending outfits and slowness ( LOL well this one is just something to say if I have to really say something i didn't like, because overall i liked it a lot lol, but during the last episode everything felt super slow, and her outfits were not so amazing. I understand it was necessary though so this can't be considered as something bad about the drama. I just have nothing else to say lol)
hmmmm i can't find anything else i didn't like lol. It was great! A bit not what I expected but It was great I loved it! <3
P.S. I don't usually re-watch dramas so the score i give there is random.
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Spectacular, Amazing, Fantastic
STORY: I really liked this drama. I know many people don't really like idol/singer actors but this one is really good. The story was interesting. There was one main story, about Jang Man-Wol and her sins and etc and there were minor stories about the ghosts. This kept the drama interesting and made me want to watch more.ACTING/CAST: The 2 had really good chemistry and the person who played the male lead (forgot his name) did a really good job playing the character and IU also did a good job playing the selfish cold character.
MUSIC: The reason why the music rating is low is because I didn't find the music so catchy or emotional. There was like one emotional song and made me want to search it up and listen to it but it wasn't so catchy.
REWATCH VALUE: The reason why I gave this section such a high rating is because I watched this drama so many times that I lost track. I don't know how to explain it but the drama makes you miss the scenes and stories.
Anyways I hope you find this helpful and I hope you enjoy the drama :)
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The plot goes continuous just like any K-Drama, but what I love the most is that they also repeat certain story loop like what you see on the daily cartoon for kids. It's like watching Conan, even those side stories makes me feel so curious.
I love how the color-grading is. Pretty much like KPOP MV. I love the OST, especially the one sung by Tae Yeon. I really love the cast. The characters are all well-created and the casts play them well. Because of this drama I can see IU not as a musician, but a true actress. I even watched her old drama--Moon Lovers' Scarlet Heart Ryeo because of this drama. Ku Chan Seong tho, everything that he does just makes sense, as if I've known him for a long time. Oh, I love that Yuna character, very charming, lovely, and pretty =^ ^=
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Story:
This is a morality play with people portraying virtues or as in this case the faces of God. In episode 1 we are introduced to Jang Man Wol (portrayed perfectly by IU) who is revenge happy and is killing everyone she comes in contact with. With an interesting altercation with the grandmother persona of Ma Go Shin (stunning performance by Seo Yi Sook), she thrusts her angry sword into a tree and becomes the owner of a hotel for ghosts remaining on earth to deal with unresolved issues before moving on to the next step.
Flashforward 1300 years and the Hotel Del Luna is a gorgeous hotel with the anti-hero Jang Man Wol and her interesting employees still helping or not the dead. The hotel requires a human manager to deal with the mortal world and Goo Chan Sung (sigh….Yeo Jin Goo) gets the job (through some interesting back and forth between him and Jang Man Wol). Each episode deals with different guests and their afterlife needs. This show has it all, horror, romance, bromance, suspense, comedy, fantasy, and more. It does tackle the serious subject of holding grudges beautifully
Characters:
There wasn’t one actor that didn’t do a “kick butt” job in this show from IU’s performance as Jang Man Wol to Lee Do Hyun’s insane second male lead story line to the cameo performances from such greats like Candidate #1 and #2 played by Lee Shi Un and Lee Joon Gi (both were amusing). I wrote a couple of articles on the show, so I won’t go into detail nor will I give any spoilers just to say, every character was well written and acted….although I would have loved a little more screen time and lines for the grim reaper because he was just delightful. And the cameo of Kim Soo Hyun at the end…..well worth it just for that scene alone!
Music:
Wow…the music was just exceptionally good, so good I even downloaded a few songs. The Done for Me and Can You See My Heart songs are used in key scenes that just made me cry or shiver in dread. They were my favorite, but the rest were wonderful as well.
Re-watch-ability:
Needless to say, I have already re-watched this all the way through once and picked up a few more key insights that I missed the first time thru. I recommend it because it is just as good, if not better, the second time thru.
Overall:
I JUST LOVED THE MORALITY PLAY! There is something about symbolism and stories of right and wrong that I just adore…I can’t get enough of. HDL really hits it out of the park with the what is good and what is bad question. Hotel Del Luna blends the morality play and the other genre’s beautifully…if you didn’t like it as much as I did…sorry. All I can say is this show speaks to my sensibilities. The writers obviously had me in mind when creating such an awesome show. (Ok not really but it felt like it!)
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This review may contain spoilers
I really love to watch fantasy dramas.❤️❤️❤️. so i choose to wtch this.. when i watch drama i thought i ll give 9.5 stars becoze there r somthing missing that stop me giving whole 10 stars... after watch last episode i just gave 9 stars becz i really dont like how it end... when i start watching this drama itz nomal and when episodes pass by it is getting more and more intresting and confusing... i must say i cried lot when i watch last episode... especially when 3 employees left for thire after life its sooo sad and heart breaking ???????? i really feel bad that when ji hyun joon left other than grim reaper no one from hotel came to see him and his sister left ????????but after yu na come and gave him flowers i feel really happy ❤️❤️❤️... After that when lonly man wol go around the hotel and think about past i feel soo saad like itz real world.. but i feel soo bad about ending im happy to see all of hotell staff after life but i feel that last few miniuts comes from nowhere.. there no feelings in the end.. she come from nowhere and sit with him.. it should have end more suprizing way.. other than that it was good drama...Mmm cast is really cool i really do love all of cast members they really did thire best for characters.. i really like ji hyun joon he is cute ????????
There are really good background music and i love songs too
If u love horror fantacy romance drama this is Good drama that you must watch...
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This drama didn't really deserve the hype that it got. I think the hype was only because of IU in the drama. IU was top notch. I loved the acting, loved the character that she was given and even loved the back story that her character was given. But just her was insufficient to maintain my interest in the show. I often found myself skipping bits of it. Only towards the end though; the beginning of the drama had me hitched.
My favourite part of the story was when they showed how Man wol and Chan sung had met 1300 years ago. I loved that bit. It was cute and adorable. Even Choi Seo Hee's back story was touching.
The drama was really good but it wasn't great.
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Hotel Del Luna was basically all the genre that you can think of, it was crazy, scary, funny, thrilling, romantic, and LUXURIOUS. IU was so pretty on all of her clothing. I've never seen her wear the same clothing in this drama... The cinematography was impressive, the building of 'HOTEL DEL LUNA' and the action figures were crazy. I loved their chemistry especially those funny scenes and JEALOUSY moments. The twist that happened in this drama hooked me up... and made me cry non-stop... I don't know what else to say since all I've been doing was cry till I finished this drama. The ending was exceptional, it gave me my own ending nonetheless, the experience, lesson and memories that this drama gave me were magnificent. The quote, "Feeling sad and disappointed...is only natural when witnessing disappearances." This quote hit me because it's true. Don't we sometimes feel emotional when something we love disappears, but when they are there... we don't care or we're like meh..? That's why we should cherish what we have and be grateful for what we are getting. Let's appreciate our loved ones because we don;'t know when the time will be up or when our people will 'disappear'. We can't predict tomorrow and the future. All we can do is be thankful and be happy.
Thank you, HOTEL DEL LUNA cast.
Thank you <3 <3 <3
3:16AM
4/3/20
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The plot of this drama is definitely something new; each episode leaves you with a lot to think about. That isn't to say however that the plot is free of cliches and stereotypes. The story was also predictable. I already guessed (correctly) how it will end when i got to episode 6. It's a refreshing take of a fantasy drama, but it's not really something to rave on about.
Acting/Cast
Good! The leads were awesome, especially IU. The supporting cast was great as well. A lot of people are criticizing the chemistry between IU and jin goo... I do not think they were bad, their chemistry just wasn't suited for something romantic in my opinion. Overall, it's not a deal breaker and it shouldn't be
Music
My only barometer for a good drama ost is if it (a) matches the mood of the scenes in the story and (b) if it makes me listen to it outside the drama. Generally, the music was bad. They were all mellow if not sad. It was mehhhh
Rewatch value
It's actually a relatively simple plot so rewatching this for me is fine. Not something I look forward to, but something I can stand
Overall
A good fantasy drama to give a try. It's not quite at the level of god-tier fantasy dramas like goblin or while you were sleeping, but it definitely has its own charm. By charm, i mean the visuals and the effects
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