Bulan Mantra (2024)

I first saw “Bulan Mantra” on a streaming platform, but there was no English subs available. Normally, 40 Episodes would scare me away but “Bulan Mantra” had the following highlights that intrigued me:
1. A sweet poster of Chippy.
2. Time-travel
2. Reincarnation
3. A boran setting
4. Love that transcends time
5. A devoted ML

This is why, when years later I happened to find out that it had been subbed (& the subber, Thippy, herself recommended it) — I immediately jumped right into it!

After completing this lakorn, here are what I liked and what I didn’t like.

………………………………………….......
What I Liked About The Show
…………………………………………......

1. The Premise & the Potential
— I have always found the concept of reincarnation, time travel, and a devoted male lead who waits for the FL, extremely appealing. This show did all of the above quite well. The logic & “how to” behind the time-travel was well-thought and executed. The male lead was so devoted he waited more than 300 years for the FL. I was sold! 💸

2. Decent Characters
— I don’t appreciate shows that focus on the main leads, and treat everyone else as convenient plot pawns that are used simply to push the love story of the leads forward.

Bulan Mantra managed to focus on multiple characters at the same time — in a decent capacity and with passable complexity. The three focal areas consisted of (1) The leads, their love story & their arc with Nagini as well as the MLs heartbreak, (2) The Crown Prince and the palace power struggle in the form of his step brother who wanted to usurp the throne, and Concubine Yisun who chose power of the ML and planed to rule as queen, and finally (3) The third supporting pair who had their own struggles with a jealous friend turned foe.

I appreciated that the characters were, in fact, three-dimensional. In the boran setting, no one was evil for the sake of being evil. Everyone had their ambition, their respite, and their deliverance.

3. Adequate World-Building
— The drama incorporated was not as limited in its sets and locations as I have experience with and so I found it impressive that I was not just seeing the same 3 locations EP after EP.

4. The Acting
— The actors were decent, and not too choppy. I was able to immerse in their craft and believe who they wanted me to believe they were.

5. The Soundtrack
— This could also be a limitation because all I remember is a single song that played in almost every scene. Chippy sang the soundtrack and her voice was very recognizable, especially when she attempted to hit the higher note. None the less, I thought her less than professional skills managed to bring a unique level of authenticity into the scenes so it wasn’t a fail. I do wish they had more songs though.

6. The Intimacy
— While I am no chaser of intimacy in shows, I was still pleasantly surprised by how forward the characters were by usual Lakorn standards. I saw more than one scene with a full back during an intimate scene, and the female and male did not shy away from kissing like normal human beings do — as opposed to the tight lipped touching that I normally see in shows.

7. The Overall Vision
— I could genuinely see what the production team was attempting to do, and the story itself was not too bad.

……………………………...
What I Didn't Like :
………………………………

1. The Modern-day storyline
— As rich as boran-arc was, how the story was set in the modern time was just as weak and lackluster. While it was full of tension and adrenalin (because the evil step brother and step mother were hunting the FL down to kill her over her inheritance), I think if they decreased the crazy in the modern setting a little bit, they "return back to the future" arc would have been a lot more interesting to watch.

2. The Third Timeline
— I genuinely do not think it was necessary. Everything that they needed to wrap up, and all the loose ends could have been done within the initial modern-timeline had the storyline been set better. While I understand why they did it (because the initial modern-setting was so "pow pow pow i will kill you!!") ... overall, It did not work for me personally.

3. Unnecessary Character Arcs
— I did not appreciate certain side-character arcs that they took. One particular one being the third friend of the ML and the SML who also liked the Second Female Lead (SFL) and went crazy when she chose the SML over him. So much so that he turned into a traitor...was killed..then brought to life as a zombie... then killed again... I would have been just fine not seeing all that.

Overall, I think this drama genuinely had an interesting premise and a lot of potential. Throughout the majority of the show, it was a solid 8/10 for me. However, as soon as the third timeline dropped on my head, I couldn't help but bring the rating down to a 7.5/10.

Nonetheless, since the lakorn managed to pull me back into watch lakorn. I will give credit where credit is due.
I would definitely recommend.

Read More