Arang and the Magistrate (2012)

As a person who rarely (meaning almost never, you can check my list) watches sageuk dramas, I must say this drama rocked my world all the weeks I was watching it! Though you cannot pass it only under sageuk drama, as it is also a detective story(finding the murderer), a fantasy (mythical world with ghosts, fairies, gods of heaven and hell, grim reapers, goats with flowers growing on them, liver eating demons, etc.), romance (tell me about falling in love with a ghost, falling in love with a person who doesn't know and doesn't even care you exist/ed), family melodrama (EunOh's searching for his mother!), politics (satto against Lord Choi)...I can go on, but I won't. My point is, that taking on so many genres is risky, you never know which one of them is going to get loose and go very wrong and make the drama not so successful... you know what? This drama did not let any of the many plots get loose, the director, actors, the crew, the screenwriters - everyone has done a great job in keeping this drama meaningful, interesting, always keeping the viewer on the edge of the chair with a crazily beating heart.
One of the most important points of this drama is that is answers EVERY question it posts in the beginning and throughout the series, it has not even once made me hang and guess (not that I wasn't trying, but I mean before the answer was given :P).
The fantasy plot was the main reason I started this drama and it did not disappoint me. The detective story went on very smoothly and I like that my guesses were wrong, I like being surprised by the drama.
To say anything about the acting is really unnecessary, as I enjoyed every second with JunKi and MinAh, they are brilliant, but their brilliancy is mostly seen not in the general picture that I would write about if talking about their acting the drama overall, but in the little moments, and maybe that moments will even seen to you not that important, but I was gasping for breath (note: JunKi's acting when his father was reading the Royal Order, MinAh's acting when she was telling him she did not want to leave him in 19th episode). Also Yun Woo Jin - fell in love with him... I was crying for who JooWal had become and how perfectly he portrayed the pain and fear of that poor person. I'm going to follow this guy now!
I am almost sure the music crew of King2Hearts was working on this, as I got the same vibe from the score. Absolutely matched with the feel of the drama, bravo~
I am going to miss my dark-mysterious-ghostly-but-lovely Arang ^^

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At first, I can honestly say that I watched Arang and the Magistrate simply for Yoo Seung Ho's prettiness (c'mon, he was rocking the Barbie hair and the Chinese robes!). However, I soon started watching it because of the show itself. The story was quite exceptional and the plot was quite original in my opinion. Arang is about an amnesiac ghost that requests the help of the city's magistrate to discover her identity, and her eventual murderer. Each character suited his/her role (especially Lee Jun Ki- his fighting scenes were kick-ass!). The supporting characters (Bang Ul Ri and Dol Soe) added a lot of heart and laughs to the story. Of course, the music selection was amazing; I had goosebumps during the creepy scenes and chills during the romantic scenes XD. The directing was top notch and the script kept me hanging for each episode. I was dying for Wednesday and Thursday to come around every week. :P

On the other hand, the actors were not exactly mind-blowing, except for maybe Eun Oh's mom. The rewatch value is sorta low because the drama is mostly suspenseful, and all that suspense would be gone if the drama was rewatched.

Over all, I would say give Arang a go, though! If only for Yoo Seung Ho's hotness ^__^

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