Lunar
This review may contain spoilers
Semantic Error...where the true error is how obsessed I am with this KBL
Semantic Error, what more can I say about this KBL? Let's start with my expectations for this drama at the beginning
To be perfectly honest, I was really skeptical, and I didn't pay much attention to this drama. During the early development and early announcement of this KBL, I was skeptical, they were holding votes/casting calls for the male leads, and it felt like it wasn't going to be "good" to say the least. But oh boy am I glad to be wrong. To this day I still wondered what the casting/vote was for but I digress.
Let's get out of the way with what they did right...basically almost everything.
‣The Characters
Seo Ham and Jae Chan were so amazing in their respective roles and their chemistry on-screen and off-screen were so memorable, I haven't felt this way about two actors and two characters ever since Light on Me. Their intimate scenes didn't feel awkward and it felt really comfortable as if we were intruding on two love birds minding their own business. Watching some of their off-screen interviews and their interactions with each other definitely sold me the show and kept me invested. Seo Ham and Jae Chan just took everything to the next level and really made these characters come to life from the manwha while adding their own twist and elements to their respective characters. The side characters were also amazing, especially Kim Noh Jin's character (Ji Hye) and Song Ji Oh's character (Coi Yu Na), they were amazing and didn't feel unnecessary to the story, both of them had a purpose and it was amazing how they gave Ji Hye closure at the end of EP 8 to wrap her entire character arc.
‣The Technical
It's a common theme of KBL's to have lower sound quality design and shoddy camera work, especially for shorter episode counts but I was actually so surprised with this KBL. The camera work was amazing and it delivered so many amazing cinematic moments that it felt like a truly cinematic experience, the sound work was a little bit weird at times, but not such a glaring problem that during my first watch-through I hardly noticed it, it only took me about the third watch through to actually pay attention and notice sometimes the audio quality would be quieter than other moments, but overall the audio and camera work was spot on 10/10.
‣The Story
It's also a common theme of KBL's to rush through a good slow burn story just to deliver on fan service, but Semantic Error did it completely differently. They executed the enemies to lovers trope so well that it felt believable as to why Jaeyoung fell for Sangwoo in the first place. It was well-paced for all of the episodes and didn't feel like any episode was unnecessary filler/clutter. All the episodes were important to the overarching story and it didn't have any unnecessary weird side character arcs.
Now since we got the good out of the way...we have to go on to the bad...
‣Nothing
The only "bad" thing I could think of about this drama is that I wish we could've seen more T-T at the end of EP 8 I fell hard for this couple and I wanted to see so much more since they played the domestic dynamic so well and it was so adorable that I wanted much more, like 8 more 1-hour episodes more of just them being cute boyfriends to each other.
‣Closing Thoughts
It was amazing, 10/10 one of if not the best KBL stories so far (Light on Me is still up there) the story was captivating but I think the one thing that carried this BL was the directing and Seo Ham and Jae Chan's chemistry on-screen and off-screen, they just have this intimacy between them that is so very addicting. Hoping for a season 2 after Seo Ham returns from his military enlistment. I would like to thank Watcha and the entire cast and crew of Semantic Error for developing and creating this incredible KBL that is a huge step in the BL industry for Korea, and I wish Seo Ham good health during his military enlistment and good luck on his future career as he has already signed on with an agency right before leaving for his enlistment. And I wish good luck and good health to Jae Chan who is working very hard for his comeback with Dongkiz, I will be supporting them both.
To be perfectly honest, I was really skeptical, and I didn't pay much attention to this drama. During the early development and early announcement of this KBL, I was skeptical, they were holding votes/casting calls for the male leads, and it felt like it wasn't going to be "good" to say the least. But oh boy am I glad to be wrong. To this day I still wondered what the casting/vote was for but I digress.
Let's get out of the way with what they did right...basically almost everything.
‣The Characters
Seo Ham and Jae Chan were so amazing in their respective roles and their chemistry on-screen and off-screen were so memorable, I haven't felt this way about two actors and two characters ever since Light on Me. Their intimate scenes didn't feel awkward and it felt really comfortable as if we were intruding on two love birds minding their own business. Watching some of their off-screen interviews and their interactions with each other definitely sold me the show and kept me invested. Seo Ham and Jae Chan just took everything to the next level and really made these characters come to life from the manwha while adding their own twist and elements to their respective characters. The side characters were also amazing, especially Kim Noh Jin's character (Ji Hye) and Song Ji Oh's character (Coi Yu Na), they were amazing and didn't feel unnecessary to the story, both of them had a purpose and it was amazing how they gave Ji Hye closure at the end of EP 8 to wrap her entire character arc.
‣The Technical
It's a common theme of KBL's to have lower sound quality design and shoddy camera work, especially for shorter episode counts but I was actually so surprised with this KBL. The camera work was amazing and it delivered so many amazing cinematic moments that it felt like a truly cinematic experience, the sound work was a little bit weird at times, but not such a glaring problem that during my first watch-through I hardly noticed it, it only took me about the third watch through to actually pay attention and notice sometimes the audio quality would be quieter than other moments, but overall the audio and camera work was spot on 10/10.
‣The Story
It's also a common theme of KBL's to rush through a good slow burn story just to deliver on fan service, but Semantic Error did it completely differently. They executed the enemies to lovers trope so well that it felt believable as to why Jaeyoung fell for Sangwoo in the first place. It was well-paced for all of the episodes and didn't feel like any episode was unnecessary filler/clutter. All the episodes were important to the overarching story and it didn't have any unnecessary weird side character arcs.
Now since we got the good out of the way...we have to go on to the bad...
‣Nothing
The only "bad" thing I could think of about this drama is that I wish we could've seen more T-T at the end of EP 8 I fell hard for this couple and I wanted to see so much more since they played the domestic dynamic so well and it was so adorable that I wanted much more, like 8 more 1-hour episodes more of just them being cute boyfriends to each other.
‣Closing Thoughts
It was amazing, 10/10 one of if not the best KBL stories so far (Light on Me is still up there) the story was captivating but I think the one thing that carried this BL was the directing and Seo Ham and Jae Chan's chemistry on-screen and off-screen, they just have this intimacy between them that is so very addicting. Hoping for a season 2 after Seo Ham returns from his military enlistment. I would like to thank Watcha and the entire cast and crew of Semantic Error for developing and creating this incredible KBL that is a huge step in the BL industry for Korea, and I wish Seo Ham good health during his military enlistment and good luck on his future career as he has already signed on with an agency right before leaving for his enlistment. And I wish good luck and good health to Jae Chan who is working very hard for his comeback with Dongkiz, I will be supporting them both.
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