A welcome diversion off of the beaten path but perhaps a bit too far
“The Sound of Magic” is very much not a typical Korean drama. It’s a bit of a musical although there are times when there are long elapses of time between musical numbers. It is a scant six episodes. It can’t completely leave behind school bullying, tiger parents, useless school administrations or class divides but its heroine and her journey are neither a Cinderella story nor a rehash of other familiar rags-to-riches storylines.A note before diving into the heart of things…
The Netflix influence is obvious here and it works well in some areas and very badly in others. The production value is phenomenal. The special effects are maybe not Hollywood summer blockbuster level, but they are as good as it gets in streaming. And this is a narrative that very much fits in a smaller number of episodes rather than the typical 12-20. On the other hand, the Netflix full season drop rushes the viewing process, increases likelihood of spoilers and deflates the suspense that should be building from episode to episode. This isn’t a new issue, but it’s not dissipating as Netflix makes further inroads in the genre.
Ji Chang Wook plays Ri Eul, a mysterious figure living in an abandoned amusement park. Why the amusement seems to be unsecured and intact allowing him to live there and anyone else to wander through it is never explained and perhaps that’s because no sane explanation could be invented. Same for why the local police seem to have hardly any awareness that it exists. Regardless, the script throws attempt after attempt to make him an ambiguous character but with uneven success. Despite some gaping logical holes though, Ji Chang Wook not only imbues the character with the Top Draw Talent Charisma but nails the quiet mysteriousness and elegant physicality of Ri Eul. Among his recent work, it is several steps higher in quality than anything else.
Choi Sung Eun has a more generic character as Ah Yi, a teen abandoned by her parents, living in poverty, picked on by schoolmates and with a firehose of bad luck aimed directly at her. It’s not whether she’s got things the hardest in this show, it’s whether a similar character from the industry can match her distress. Despite not breaking any new ground, Choi Sung Eun dispatches the song and dance numbers with aplomb, manages to keep an inner core of joy & hope deep down inside the character and never lets the bigger names in the cast push her presence out of the spotlight. There’s perhaps a bit of a missed opportunity that perhaps this actor could have taken a more complex and original character much further, but possibly that’s something for future roles.
Hwang In Youp completely switches gears from his most recent work to a bookish star student and it’s a mixed bag. He can pull off the young skinny kid with glasses look, but the macho baritone delivery that pops up on a fairly regular gives it away that this is not a natural thing for him. The character heads in an awkward direction too as his Il Deung is not quite an academic rival, nor a very good bff and not convincing as a boyfriend for Ah Yi while the short runtime doesn’t allow him to generate any meaningful connection with Ri Eul either.
Ah but the supporting and guest cast is magical. Im Ki Hong is always a delight. Choi Young Joon, Kim Hye Eun, Yoo Jae Myung and Yoon Gyung Ho sparkle. The standout, however, is Ji Hye Won as a classroom instigator that checks all the boxes for enmity without the over-the-top mustache twirling melodrama typical bully act.
Given the character sketches, the narrative setup is easily apparent. Ri Eul gives Ah Yi moments of relief from her dreary life. But is he for real? Director Kim Seong Yoon does a nimble tightrope walk between musical & fantasy & more generic teen coming-of-age slash the drudgery of present day reality and the desperate yearning for escape to a more magical world. He keeps the plot moving. There is plenty of tension buildup and cliffhanger suspense throughout. As for whether he nails the landing at the end, eh, it’s not entirely clean. Things don’t clearly resolve for anyone but one minor guest character. Maybe that’s more like real life and makes it better? Maybe but if so, then it’s perhaps not the musical or fantasy show deep down that it was advertised to be. Maybe it would have been better re-genre’d as a Nancy Drew or Scooby Doo teen mystery than a Roald Dahl musical fantasy.
Still, while the destination may not be Shangri-La and “The Sound of Magic” is likely an also-ran for any year-end lists, the journey there is a treasure with no shortage of excellent acting and production and a refreshing plot. Recommended and fairly strongly.
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Feels like a missed opportunity, but there's magic!
The show was definitely interesting but I feel like they just didnt commit enough. Not to the mystery, magic, romance or to the music. (The actress' wig was annoying me throughout to the point that it was too distracting as well.) But it's a cute short watch, last episode being the best one in my opinion but it does feel quite unfinished with the story, we don't get to see where main two characters end up. If they would cut out the fluff, which is most of the episodes 3-4-5 it would've worked great as a movie I think, but somehow they managed to create a show which feels too long and too empty and unresolved at the same time. But it's definitely enjoyable and I appreciate the magical element and the message behind the show! Always believe in magic guys.Was this review helpful to you?
I Believe It Needed More Episodes
LIKES:THE SOUND OF MAGIC, concept reminded me a little of (American) K-PAX.
Production was good and so was the cinematography. Special FX were great.
The fantasy aspect of this drama was well done.
All the singing was a little annoying, but I was into the storyline so kept watching
FAN of Ji Chang Took and I like Hwang In Youp too. And I was surprised by how well FL Choi Sung Run acted, she was great.
I loved how they used Bella too.
The conclusion was predictable to a certain extent, but satisfactory.
DISLIKES:
How they handled the bullying, sexual assault & self harm, could’ve been written better. Some of the characters needed better development, which was another writing fail.
Also how they concluded his character was annoying
Ending felt a little rushed and for Na II Deung his future self should’ve been shown as much as Soon Ah Yi’s future self was.
They tried to hint at a romance, but then left it hanging mid way.
Some parts dragged a bit too.
The directing wasn’t the greatest.
I’m not a fan of musicals, but this was bearable, however nothing from the OST stood out or was memorable.
OVERALL:
Do you believe in magic? Yes, this show’s message was enjoyable even with some of the heavier content/topics it had. This fantasy drama could've benefitted from a few more episodes, instead of rushing the last few. The singing parts were tolerable. I would rewatch certain episodes, but not the whole thing again. I would recommend this for others to watch.
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Never answers the question, is magic real or not?
The music and the singing were very good. That, for me, was the highlight of the whole show. I felt as if they wrote the songs and then thought, "wait, now I have to write a story around the music" and didn't actually know where to take it.Watch this in a dark room, because it is filmed in a very dark way. Actually, the whole story, as well, was a lot darker and more disturbing than I thought it would be, especially just basing it off watching the trailer. There's quite a bit of sadness and evil in this.
I had a difficult time believing Choe Sung-eun and Hwang In-Youp as high schoolers (of course, I'll always suspend disbelief for him!), and really, neither of their characters were very likeable. Ji Chang Wook as the magician - I'll admit I was glad to see him again, especially since I haven't cared for his last couple of dramas. He did what he could with the role, but I didn't find it well-written. He wasn't mysterious as much as we never knew what his deal actually was.
I'm glad it didn't have any more episodes, because I was glad when it was over. I'd suggest giving it a try though, because most people seemed to like it a lot more than me.
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This review may contain spoilers
one of the most underappreciated masterpiece kdramas ever released
minor spoilers, tagged just in case.as happy as i am to see people LOVING this show on mdl, unfortunately that is not the case for a lot of people outside of this platform, which to me frankly is very surprising. keep in mind its been around a year since ive watched it, so this review might not be the best but i still wanted to write something for one of my favorite shows. first off, this show is very underappreciated. and i mean VERY much. the only times ive seen people bring it up was to call it boring or slow, which kind of breaks my heart. the show isn't for everyone that's for sure, and it is kind of slow, but it's such an experience. the whole thing is a cinematic masterpiece with absolutely mind-blowing cinematography. the story isn't the most extraordinary out there, but it's done extremely well. the story is basically about a girl (ahyi), a high schooler, who lives alone with her smaller sister due to family problems and of course there's the classic "being in debt" part of the plot too. she is a top student though, therefore she wants to grow up as soon as possible so she can solve it all out by getting a stable job. on the other hand we have the magician (rieul) who did not want to grow up. he wishes he could be a child again. he's a mysterious but warm-hearted guy who performs magic at an abandoned amusement park. one day ahyi meets rieul and tldr; he comforts her, she starts believing in magic, etc etc. the show is very emotional, heartfelt, and is very important to me. I'm also a person who wishes he could stay a kid forever, so i find rieul's character very comforting and relatable. i think due to the way my childhood was, this show means even more to me. every single second of this show felt magical, from beginning to end. the ending was a bit bittersweet, but i think that's what made the show even better. never did it feel rushed or low quality. i think with what they had, they executed it perfectly. it's very high budget (at least to me) and the plot wasn't disappointing to me neither. and of course, acting was great. but let's talk about the most important part of the drama (since its a musical) which is of course the ost. i can not explain in words how amazing the soundtrack for this drama is. every single song/track is very well made and high quality and every song is just beautiful. immediate 10/10 for the music. the only reason i would say the rewatch value isnt the best is genuinely because you just dont need to rewatch this drama. it leaves such a strong impression on you that i feel like rewatching it would just take away from the initial feeling u had when watching it for the first time. its one of those shows that you wish you could watch for the first time again because rewatching it doesn't feel the same. its also one of the shows that concluded perfectly. i truly hope it doesnt get another season because i feel like it could lowkey ruin the whole thing. if you feel like watching something a bit different from the usual kdrama plots, please give this drama a chance! its beautiful and it wont disappoint. but dont watch this if you're not into slower dramas with not much violence/romance. there is quite a bit of violence in the show, but it's not the main plot. so if youre planning to watch it just for the violence part it might not satisfy you. i mostly recommend this to very sentimental people like myself.
tldr: this drama is truly amazing. go watch it. it will make you cry.
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I get sad thinking about this for some reason. I think it was the ending
Listen. I’ve got no business getting this emotional over a drama that was one of the most mediocre things I’ve ever watched, and yet I actually kind of teared up at the end there. I’m extremely bothered by the fact the drama never explains the magic system, such as how one becomes a magician, whether the magicians are real or just all collectively hallucinating, and what the limits of the magic powers are. The story had a really weird pacing and an even weirder conclusion. That last story arc about the “villain” of the drama was just odd and terribly introduced so it felt like it basically came out of nowhere. The rest of the episodes had essentially no plot whatsoever and barely explained any of the characters’ situations. Overall, I was ready to rate this drama a 5 (before the ending finally got explained) then a 6 (because the random magic made no sense), then I settled for a 7 because of the final scene that tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. Would I recommend it? No, not really. If you like any of the actors enough, I suppose you could, since I, too, watched this drama only for Ji Chang Wook. Overall, pretty crappy drama with an unexpectedly wholesome ending that makes the last 6 hours almost worth it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Magical coming-of-age drama
A wonderful coming-of-age musical that highlights the problems of teenagers who are just finishing school and slowly moving into the world of adults, while being forced to give up their dreams to take care of their own families. Aesthetically, it did resemble well-known musicals such as La La Land or The Greatest Showman. Despite this, the cinematography of this project is dazzling and the main cast gave us exemplary acting performances. The series beautifully combines elements of the real-life problems each of us can encounter with elements of fantasy and a bit of crime. Overall, I would rate the series 10/10. Absolutely loved it and contrary to a lot of negative opinions about the show's ending, I feel like it was essential for Ra Eul to disappear in order to see Yoon Ah Yi evolve into the magician she's become.Was this review helpful to you?
Do You Believe in Magic?
Though it's my first time writing a review but i will try to be calm. I'm so overwhelmed with this drama. Magician is the best it shows reality of people around us but at the same time escape through it. I loved it completely! It's a blockbuster in casting blockbuster in writing and execution. I'm in love with the magician."Do you believe in Magic?" Yes I do.
It's so important to have one person trusting you inspite of all other being against you.
You can just blindly go and download all episode to binge it. I was so happy seeing Ji Chang Wook's comeback and I proudly say that this drama is so far the best drama of all 2022 realises.
I you are tired and frustrated of reality, go ahead and watch it. This will bring smile on your face at last ☺️
*Annara Summannarra"
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a bit disappointed
i quickly watched this and it truly had a good storyline. however it saddens me that il deung didnt have a more deserved ending to his storyline as well as more developmente. sure we saw his issues but couldnt his self harm as well as the reasons of his headaches be better spoked about ? in a way he was exactly how ri eul was when he was young so why couldnt his storyline have a more important plot point ? and he dropped out but then what ???? you couldve at least showed us his life years later. although i loved all the 3 mains i still liked il deung the best and i think his story shouldve been spoken about more...Was this review helpful to you?
it’s alright
i didn’t really understand it(the story??the meaning??) but it was sweet. the ending was sweet to be exact. it just didn’t peak my interest that much but it wasn’t bad & i can see why people really like it. i think i was just struggling to understand where the story was going. i feel like it would be better if it was longer-if it had more time to build up the story and the characters. it’s just a bit to (?)bland(?) for my tastes. can definitely tell it’s good though; it’s just not my cup of tea.Was this review helpful to you?
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Catch me crying because I love humanity (review + analysis)
One day, as I spaced out during an online class bc I’m a grad student and adhd is a helluva thing, I decided to google this show. I had heard of it and so had my sister (“I think a magician kidnaps some kids, and it has no romance?”), so I decided that I wanted to watch watch it in the near future. Maybe it was Ji Chang Wook’s face, or my weakness for ‘magical dude who is mysterious and slightly hobo-like’ characters. Nearly one month later, I finally watched it.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way, I loved it. This show does a surprisingly good job of balancing dark story elements with an undying sense of hope. What this ends up doing is creating a story without an easy resolution, which is what I think has bothered some people about this show. There is no way that this show was every going to have a ‘and they lived happily ever after’ kind of ending, but I think it works for the material.
The truth is that this story really has three lead characters. Because it’s not a romance, we do away with the idea of second leads and one getting shafted in favor of another. I’ll consider Ah Yi, Ri Eul and Il Deung as three leads because despite not getting equal amounts of screen time, they’re the only characters whose pasts and psyches we get a proper glimpse into. I loved that Ri Eul comes into Ah Yi's life as an almost angelic figure who she believes will solve all her practical problems but then he’s kinda useless at that. He can’t give her the money she needs (except for that one time??? don't think about it too much), can’t give Ah Yi and her sister a better home to live in, make her an independent adult or bring her parents back. What he *does* bring is a chance for her to regain the youth and innocence she’s lost in the struggle of her difficult life. This works because it ensures that she seeks him out because she wants to feel that peace and carelessness he allows her and not because she’s dependent on him for her needs. In turn, he forgets his lonely existence for the duration of her visits and gets do what he seems to enjoy most: entertain and create a sense of wonder in others. Though she does doubt him at certain points (understandably so, things were looking pretty sus for a moment there) Ah Yi ultimately sticks by his side because as he says, he only needs one person to believe in his magic. This is very much a friendship and anyone who says otherwise is a weirdo.
The struggle of real world vs fantasy is present through the entire show. It’s sometimes unclear when watching whether something really happened or not. Some viewers may dislike this, but I ague that it serves to drive one of the ideas behind the show forward. Did it happen or not? Your mileage my vary, possibly depending on your stance on whether magic exists or not. A great example of this is the disappearance of the horrible boss. We first see it from Ah Yi’s perspective, Ri Eul flicks his cape and the creep is gone. Later, once the creep returns (everyone booed), he claims that Ri Eul flicked his cape and pushed him over the railing. Ah Yi, and by extent the viewer, wonders whether Ri Eul is simply an elaborate con artist. Surely, he didn’t *actually* disappear the creep, he’s got the scars to prove his fall! And yet, by the end of the story, Ah Yi pulls the same trick on Ri Eul to help him escape from the police, and he looks on proudly as he disappears before the bewildered eyes of several witnesses (the fact that Ah Yi wasn’t arrested as an accomplice or for obstruction of justice is a downright miracle). So, does magic exist? What actually happened with the creep? The ambiguity works to leave the decision up to the viewer, and I think it’s a good choice for this type of story. Who knows, maybe both things are true. Though, I won’t lie, the idea that magic exists and Ri Eul can wield it but he still decided to straight up shove the creep over the railing for assaulting a minor is hilarious and, honestly? I can’t really fault him for it . Maybe Ri Eul giving a damn was the true magic all along.
The only one element truly tips the scale on the “is magic real?” debate is that of Ri Eul's butterfly necklace. It glows and then unexplainable things happen, like fireworks going off out of nowhere or the park coming to life. Where did he get it? Where *did* he learn magic? Who knows, certainly not us. Maybe the people that read the manhwa know. But it doesn’t matter, because maybe it’s about believing that magic *could* be real. When Ah Yi accuses him of being lazy and disconnected from reality, unwilling do do the things that need to be done, Ri Eul lays out his thesis “You should do whatever it is you want to do just as much as the things you don't want to do.” The idea of not replacing responsibility with whimsy, but to have them in equal measure is a refreshing alternative to the YOLO style other similar stories have employed. It’s a sobering lesson viewers can more easily implement in their lives.
At first I wondered why Ri Eul was so soft with Ah Yi (helping her heal her inner child, taking a beating for her etc.) and so hard on Il Deung (showing him a terrifying vision of his future if he does not change his ways, Christmas Carol style) but as we learn the truth about his past it becomes obvious. Il Deung is a reflection of Ri Eul younger self almost to a T. Seen this way, it makes sense that he’s doing the magical equivalent of shaking someone by the shoulders and telling them to wake up. I thought he simply liked the Il Deung less, but scenes like the one after his vision in the field of yellow flowers, where he wakes to find that Ri Eul has draped his cape like a blanket around him, removed his glasses to help him sleep better and painted a field of yellow flowers around him make me think otherwise. Or when he wakes up after his first vision (a horrible spectacle of mundanity which could easily be set to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall pt 2) to find himself standing on the edge of the stage of the abandoned theater, stopped only by Ri Eul’s grip on his arm (in a way it’s symbolic, Il Deung has unknowingly walked himself to the edge of a precipice and out of all the people around him, Ri Eul is the only one who sees what’s happening and does something to hold him back from falling). These scenes, coupled together with those where the magician teaches both children how to do magic, make it clear he likes them both. In the case of Ah Yi, he recognizes that she lives a difficult life and offers respite. In the case of Il Deung, he sees himself, close to buckling under the weight of expectations and jumping off a building as he did in his own youth, so he’s more stern in his attempts to avoid history repeating itself.
Let’s talk about mental illness! Korean dramas…don’t have the best track record with this subject. It seems like we’re past the point of outright demonization (every crime they try to pin on Ri Eul turns out to have been done by someone else) but we’re not quite at the point of integration into society at large (Ri Eul still lives in a creepy abandoned park that people largely avoid and as soon as things start going wrong, fingers get pointed at the local outcast). Still, the text itself gives Ri Eul a humane look, showing that he really is just a man who suffered deeply and has come out on the other side being kind and mostly stable. The show argues that society at large is at fault for driving a healthy and brilliant individual to their breaking point. The only points we see him really be thrown off kilter (not counting the flashback to his high school days), are when he fights the creepy boss (valid!), when he chokes Ha Na (yikes! Not cool even if she *was* provoking you!) and when he tells Ah Yi that his beloved Bella is on the brink of death (the only of these outbursts which speaks of sadness rather than anger, and Ah Yi even remarks on his reaction resembling that of a child losing a beloved pet). Maybe one could interpret this in the sense of the classic ‘he’s just a grown up child’, but I think it does Ri Eul's character a disservice. To consider him that way would be to dissolve him of blame and awareness and I think he is very much aware of his actions. We’re told he was a brilliant young man, and that’s not something that just goes away. I believe he’s a person who’s made a very conscious decision to live his life in a certain way, and finds that society affords him very few options to do so, which in turn has alienated him. He’s not a respected figure, but he’s a mostly tranquil one. If it were me, I probably would’ve had much less patience for teenagers snooping around my home the way everybody (but especially Ha Na and her little friend) were doing and would’ve snapped sooner. Overall, I’m glad that we’re trying to stray away from normalizing academic exhaustion, which brings me to my next point: adulthood, childhood and the permanence of wonder and beauty.
There's a lot of talk about growing and what it means to be an adult. Ah Yi desperately wants to be an adult, Ri Eul thinks she should stay a kid and not rush stages (while recognizing her struggles led to her growing up quickly, which is important), Il Deung is on a pointless road to adulthood. There's also an idea of society determining what an adult must be/look like/act, a notion that Ah Yi challenges by the end of the story. Because all the adults in her life, despite fitting better into traditional standards of what an adult should be, have failed her (absent parents, skeptical and unhelpful teachers, a horrible boss who attempts SA), Ri Eul becomes a safe adult in her life despite being someone who is considered a failure/outcast by societal standards. He gives her something warm to drink when she needs it, stops her boss’s assault, takes a beating by the creditors, teaches her a new skill, helps her heal her inner child and overall just listens to her (even when she’s just insulting him). Knowing that it is possible to be this kind of adult (again, she's severely lacking in role models) she's empowered to continue her journey into adulthood without letting go of wonder and whimsy despite her difficult circumstances.
By the way, there’s some beautiful cinematography here and the production itself looks superb. The school is a statuesque old building, there’s beautiful nature shots such as the fantasy Il Deung has when he shares his AirPods with Ah Yi or later when he sees himself in a never ending field of yellow flowers. His drive through the city is an excellent contrast to it. The abandoned park (but especially the theater and Ri Eul's study) look super cool as well. This show does interesting things with the musical numbers, taking advantage of the musical medium’s natural inclination into fantasy to create some neat visuals (the first number with the kids flying about as though Ri Eul is controlling them but the teachers can’t see and them dancing on the side of the building (('In The Heights' movie, anybody?)), the one where Magician and Ah-yi’s shadows dance, the curse of the asphalt number and even Magician and Ah-yi’s final duet as they dance among lanterns in a mirrored room). I’ll give another shoutout to the shot of the yellow flowers painted on the stage when Il Deung wakes up because it looked so pretty that I gasped and because it exists outside of any fantasy sequence.
A final thought before I finish this absolute sprawl of a review (more like rant). I didn’t even know this was a musical until I actually started the show (I somehow missed this information on my initial googling) and let me know I was in for a TREAT. Still I know musicals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and I can see why it would turn off some potential viewers. The fact that the music is non-diagetic only serves to add to the irreal fabric of the story, as we see fantastical sequences play out. It leaves viewers teetering between fantasy and reality, in the same way the use of magic does within the story and sometimes, magical sequences overlap with musical ones (such as the merry-go-round sequence). Are they really singing? Are they really flying? It doesn't really matter, just dwell in the fantastical ambiance and let the story take you where it wants to go. It's more enjoyable that way, as this is a show about fantasy and belief and not meant for poking holes into it. The songs are fine, nicely composed and performed if not particularly remarkable. If musicals aren't really your thing I still reccommend you refrain from skipping through them, as the visuals from the scenes are usually worth it.
Let’s talk about the ending. I see people calling this a sad ending and while I cried, I hesitate to call it anything other than a beautiful ending (bittersweet at worst). The Sound of Magic is one of those stories about people that help one another through a difficult time but who were never meant to stay in each other’s lives forever. Ri Eul is almost a plot device for Il Deung to veer from his seemingly predestined path and for Ah Yi to regain enough hope to keep living her life. He inspires them to in turn inspire others through their actions and beliefs. Il Deung tells his parents to piss off because he’s going to drop out of school and become a magician. Ah Yi continues her academic path all the way into university, though she continues to visit the abandoned park and sends letters to Ri Eul in a similar way that she did texts to her mother at the beginning of the story. Also she’s working as a part time magician for kid’s birthday parties and good on her for using those skills because, lest we forget, Ah Yi literally makes Ri Eul disappear with nothing but a tablecloth, a surprisingly chic hat and sheer power of will. I wonder how that conversation with the cops went. I also wonder if Il Deung was half as successful with his magic career.
In all seriousness though, the scene when Ah Yi makes Ri Eul disappear legitimately made me cry. It looks gorgeous, the snow inexplicably falling indoors as Ah Yi realizes how she can help her friend one last time, the proud look on Ri Eul's face as she utters the spell, the fact that it works because she believes in him and his magic, the fact that she believes because she’s let hope and wonder back into her life. Listen, this stuff gets to me. Did I want to see him again before the show ended? Sure! By this point of the story, he’s my poor little meow meow and I love him. Do I think it’s probably for the best that he didn’t? Yes. It would probably lessen the impact of his departure (which was epic and significant) to have him show up again and would take away from the mystery of his character (we’re left with a “so magic WAS real?) feeling. Ri Eul helped Ah Yi as much as he could and she helped him in turn (the scene that reveals the childhood connection broke me though I had seen it coming). Some people are only in your life for a short time (despite leaving a huge impact) and that’s okay. It’s beautiful that their relationship existed, and that it helped her during a difficult time, so it’s sad that it’s over. But the fact that his impact is still present in her life as she seeks to bring the same wonder to people’s lives that he brought into hers? Beautiful. Cycle of life, paying it forward, yadda yadda, cue me crying while I get dressed for work because I made the mistake of watching this two hours before my shift. It gets to me because the idea of maintaining childlike wonder in adulthood is one I personally try to embody in my life, so this felt affirming in a way. It also felt affirming as someone who’s struggled a fair amount with mental health (sometimes in academic settings), so like I already said, this stuff gets to me. Really, I want to take this show and hug it because it hurt me but in such a good way. In a “ughh, humanity has such potential for beauty” kind of way. Ri Eul's existence serves as a kind of remainder that hope and optimism are choices that one can make in life.
All in all, highly recommended!!!
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Too Much Ballad Songs for a Musical
Everything else was passed the Good teir so i won'tsay anything on that, but for a drama that's a musical all of the songs except two (the opening song and the yellow flower field sung by Hwan In Youp's) were actually good and memorable. The rest of the song were so bland and boring, I know they were mostly speaking through the ballad song but i had to skip them because they weren't captivating enough and since music is a top contributer to this drama since its a musical i was very disappointed to hear ballad arter ballad after ballad. That just my two sense of the downfallsof this drama otherwisethat that it was good, i do recommend.Was this review helpful to you?
