Akage Girl
Northern New England
STORY:
The story is of Ling Ling Qi (a veterinarian by education) who falls in love with a TV personality Bo Hai (Deng Lun) who owns a florist corporation. The two are linked by a faulty sleep bracelet which causes their dreams to intermix – clearly the best part of the entire show. Ling Qi (played by Dilraba) finally gets hired by Bo Hai’s company and proceeds to chase him, then be horribly disappointed by him……hijinks ensue aided by her good friends Lu Bao Ni and Mo Nan. There is a bad guy named William and a nasty female character named Zhou Xin Yan (played by Eternal Love’s Bambi Zhu) that is more annoying as a conniving female in this show than in Eternal Love.
CHARACTERS:
There are 48 episodes and plenty of time to flush out all the characters which they do….but none are exciting in the least. Dilraba is still breathy and slightly whiny but I find her character interesting because she doesn’t stay the same for all 48 episodes and same goes with Deng Lun’s Bo Hai. After watching him in Ashes of Love, I just love him…..if you liked Ashes of Love, this is a good watch…..less stressful but plenty of Deng Lun screen time with a reasonable ending and a tremendous wardrobe.
Mo Nan and Bao Ni were likely the most tortured of all the characters and Chen Yi Long and Wang Rui Zi did a splendid job portraying one half of the lover’s square (not triangle because there were 4 people that made up that sad situation).
By far, Chen Mo played by Zhang Hao Wei was my favorite character as the right-hand man to Bo Hai and love interest to Xin Yan. He was funny and engaging and a superb comic foil to the seriousness of Bo Hai’s character and the lame evil machinations of Xin Yan. When the love story between Ling Qi and Bo Hai dragged a bit, he could be counted on to keep the show lively. I especially loved the situations when he and Ling Qi conspired together.
MUSIC:
Deng Lun sang one of the songs and he did a great job (bias: I love his song from Ashes of Love too), but truth be told, I didn’t download this song like I did his Ashes of Love one. The rest of the music was forgettable and happily not annoying as some songs can be overused in dramas.
OVERALL:
I wrote an article about how this show is a good one to watch to detox and relax and I still believe it. Deng Lun and Dilraba are interesting (especially those dream sequences) and the supporting characters are appropriately tormented enough to keep me entertained but not overwhelmed with emotion. Watch this when you need a break from other Chinese dramas like Ashes of Love or Eternal Love or Legend of Fu Yao. Your brain and your heart will appreciate the respite.
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STORY:
Warning: The beginning of this show is really bloody….might be off putting if you are looking for a lighthearted tale. Goblin is many things but it is NOT FLUFFY NOR IS IT CUTE! The Goblin or Kim Shin is played to PERFECTION by Gong Yoo (yes….adding him to my oppa list). Kim Shin becomes a goblin after he is betrayed by the king and the people mourn his death. He waits for a goblin bride who can remove the magic sword and let him leave mortality…..nine hundred years later (and a lot of good deeds) he meets up with Ji Eun Tak (well done by Kim Go Eun) a graduating high school senior (and orphan), becomes room mates with a grim reaper (HOLY COW – Lee Dong Wook rocked it) and Deok Hwa (Yook Sung Jae…so funny), the latest member of a family who has taken care of the goblin for the last 900 years.
Throw in a funny business owner named Sunny, a mother earth type god, and the big boss god who sometimes comes in the form of a butterfly, and well…..magic……just magic. Some have issues with the age gap between the ML & FL. I think the issue lies in the fact that she is graduating from high school when she meets the goblin and that is a bit much for a few folks. The show steers clear from becoming inappropriate. Perhaps it would have been easier for some if she had already graduated…..but I’m not quite convinced. (However, that weirdness does keep this from being a perfect 10 in my book.)
CHARACTERS:
I can’t say too much about these characters without spilling the beans with some spoilers. Please know that I am just skimming the surface here.
Kim Shin (Gong Yoo): All the broody goodness I love in my male leads and super hilarious to boot. Kim Shin will either make you laugh or cry or sigh, but you won’t be bored….however, just know that the grim reaper will do the EXACT SAME THING! Either way, Gong Yoo….I just can’t imaging ANYONE else playing this part……and the relationship between the grim reaper and the goblin….OUT OF THIS WORLD CRAZY GOOD!
Ji Eun Tak (Kim Go Eun): Her character was all over the place and in a good way. Just when you thought she would be too miserable to deal with….she turns into someone funny, running circles around the goblin and the grim reaper. Her character could have been too sad and too depressing but Kim Go Eun keeps her hilarious and appealing for all 16 episodes.
Sunny & Grim Reaper: Holy cow were these two characters the best in the entire world. Again, avoiding spoilers, I will only say: funny, scary, intense, sad, touching, sweet, heart-wrenching. WATCH THE SHOW JUST FOR THESE TWO!!!!
MUSIC:
I will admit that I am tempted to download the theme song because of the last couple of minutes of episode 2 (WASN’T THAT SO COOL!!!). The music was not repeated to the point of annoying and again…that main song….love it!
REWATCH VALUE:
Oh yeah….I could watch this over and over and over ESPECIALLY THE BROMANCE SCENES…..and there are lots and lots of YouTube videos showing them over and over because they are SOOOOOOOO AWESOME.
Should you watch this? Um Yeah. If all my caps didn’t convince you then…….well, just saying.
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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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