Oh, watched Love Between Fairy and Devil like how you recommended and well...I binge watched it in four day, loved…
The Korean one with Cha Eunwoo right? I already watched it before Love Between Fairy and Devil lol and yeah enjoyed it! First drama I 100% love Eunwoo's character and acting in it (Along with True Beauty, but his priest character was much better).
Lets face it, 95% people watched this trash drama for Song Kang including me. If he wasn't in it I wouldn't bother…
Well to me it was the opposite, I didn't know jack shit about the actress (No offense to her, but am not a fan) but already knew Song Kang and watched his newer works before this drama. Also all people I know who talked about this drama all said the same thing which is that they only completed it for Song Kang's sake whether they were his fans or not since he was the most interesting character and well...obviously a massive eye candy. Like I read somewhere that the actual reason they casted him was to make his fans bother watching the drama to begin with, they literally used him to hype it up (Mostly second season) and it shows from the shit writing lmao most watchers wouldn't give the second season any attention if his character wasn't put in it.
JANG UK met a woman with FOUR names, TWO body's , but he only ever loved ONE soul.
Oh, watched Love Between Fairy and Devil like how you recommended and well...I binge watched it in four day, loved it a lot, and Dongfang is now my favorite ML ever lol thanks a lot for suggesting it, I was feeling a bit lost after the end of Alchemy of Souls and it perfectly filled the void for me.
Okay finally finished this drama. Gotta admit I genuinely enjoyed it from the first episode. There were tons of positives about it:
1- The outfits, armors and crowns' shape designs, hairstyles, make up, and overall accessories were great. (Mostly male characters hairstyles, female characters had ugly hairstyles honestly. Even the outfits/accessories/make up of male characters looked much much better, flashier, and classier than the ones of female ones, don't get why. At least in mortal realm the girls actually looked very nice with Tang dynasty's style which is ironic since they should look more stunning in the fantasy world instead). The swords and fighting/war scenes felt mostly fake though (Swords seemed like ones you could buy in some toy stores for kids, they make it painfully clear with their positions, poses, and unnecessary twirling and acrobatic moves that they are using ropes and shit, wonder when will this problem be solved in Cdramas.
2- Loved the ML character and his personality, I think this is my first time watching a drama of Dylan Wang as ML (Apart from the second season of Ever Night which I couldn't finish till this day, I totally preferred first season, wasn't his fault but the plot though since it went downhill that season), and he done a great job playing his role in both serious/dark/emotional and comedic parts. I was convinced in his "feminine" performance when he swapped souls with FL, it didn't feel cringe, but fun instead. This role was made for him I guess. I think among all the ML characters of all dramas I watched (Both romance or non romance), Dongfang is the best and most well written to me and Dylan managed to showcase it perfectly. Especially with how he can use his eyes only to reveal what he is feeling and what he wants to say at times. I now have high expectations for him as an actor.
He is gorgeous and elegant (Even way more good looking than all female actresses including FL), he has very beautiful big eyes and nice facial features, his outfits, hairstyle, and make up made his good looks shine even better (Would love to wear all of his outfits myself including the creepy armor and crown for a party or something, especially the black outfits and the dark green/blue one he wore in episodes 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 26, and 28 . They were the best outfits in the whole drama and among the top outfits I have seen in a historical drama so far. Seems more than half of the styling budget/effort was spent on him). His hellfire ability was dope, the fact that it's blue flames instead of red was a nice addition since blue flames are the hottest type of flames I think? And it was the strongest ability in their universe instead of the heavenly immortals having the strongest abilities. Anyway ML was my favorite character and the reason I basically binge watched this drama in like four days even though I was busy with studies and stuff. I will watch more of his stuff for sure in future. I also loved the loyal black dragon, he was cute and their relationship was amusing and sweet.
3- I liked the 2nd ML, he as well was very handsome (Loved his magical water looking armor/outfit and crown, the shape design of them was nice, although I believe it might have been better to make them CGI instead? Like create a flowing water movement surrounding his head and body instead of using solid material), though I preferred the ML, but he was also a very decent character and had a likeable and respectful personality (Though a bit bland at times). Glad they didn't turn him all toxic and envious later like what happened in the case of Ashes of Love. Don't like it when second leads go insane and evil when things don't go their way romance-wise. I also enjoyed his interactions with the fairy lord Rong Hao (Who sadly turned out to be a borderline psychopath. I really loved him still since I understood his actions and he did truly care about Changheng even with what he was dealing with secretly), they had some nice bromance.
I expected Danyin to become an irritating, filled with jealousy, cruel, and obsessed character, but surprisingly she was more on the righteous and logical side, that she even helped Changheng and FL, basically trembling on her own love for the god of war, which was quite pleasant to see and they didn't give her too much screen time which was good as well, I did end up liking her a lot at some point (The only woman character that went the envious crazy way was the side character Yulin and she paid the price heavily before being able to hurt FL luckily so overall most female characters weren't toxic). Danyin is among the few female actresses who had a nice hairstyle along with some other side characters like Rong Hao's servant/assistant and that lord/aunt Sansheng (Their style overall was cool as well as the style of Wanqing).
4- CGI was pretty good (Considering it's a Cdrama), the whole cinematography and world design were pleasant to the eye. Loved the architecture and decorations of filming sets as well. Especially the Arbiter Hall, Changheng's bedroom, Dongfang's grand house in the mortal realm and his bedroom in the Cangyan Sea/silent moon palace. Would love to live there myself lol it was clear they had a high budget.
5- Overall it was an easy watch although the drama had about 40 episodes (Which isn't really long considering it a Cdrama. Glad they didn't drag it to 60+ episodes instead like many other dramas I watched before). Didn't feel bored or tired while watching. I could easily watch it in two days if I wasn't busy.
6- Love how they basically made many of the supposedly good guys (Immortal sages/seniors, emperor...etc) bad and hypocrites, and some of the bad guys were the actually good people. Dig that kinda thing. Also the fact that the strongest moon tribe supreme and the one who made tons of accomplishments to make it a strong tribe blah blah was a woman, as well as the original god of war and toughest heavenly fighter who able to defeat the ML was a woman too.
Nice thing to see the two supposedly most strongest characters are both women for a change lol. I know there are many strong female characters in Asian dramas, but still most of the time they aren't literally the strongest and most supreme/respected/worshiped ones. The plot overall was very well written, they made many characters understandable and relatable. Although the plot is not that unique since it had many overused tropes I have seen in many other historical fantasy dramas, but they managed to make it enjoyable enough to not care about the lack of originality.
7- The OSTs/op and ed songs were all amazing, especially the ed song that had both Chinese opera and rock elements in it, Carving An Orchid by Li changchao (If I remember correctly they played it in the end of episode 6 and few other episodes). I ended up downloading all the songs instantly before reaching episode 7.
8- Glad that the ending wasn't on the tragic side, since I got attached to many of the characters. Mostly Dongfang, Rong Hao and Shangque. They were my most loved characters, glad nothing seriously bad happened to any of them in the end (I mean Rong Hao's ending was sad, yes, but in a way it made sense, especially after all the fucked things he done, he finally found peace), or I would have went rage mode lol The ending was rushed and tiny bit messy and lackluster, but at least not sad, and the leads were back together (Though I wish they explained how the hell did Dongfang come back after the 500 years, Orchid made it seem as he was gonna die forever, but basically all of them keep resructting over and over again easily, and the whole "I'm back!" thing then the drama ending instantly was more hilarious than emotional).
Now about the few negatives:
1- FL's character was one hell of a torture in the first half of the drama. She was the only reason I seriously struggled to not drop the drama, but the positives I mentioned earlier kept me watching. I seriously can't stand the concept of having female characters act like retards just to be forcibly cute. I get that Asians are into women being innocent and pure, but there is a huge difference between being innocent and acting overly childish. Especially when said person behaving like that is literal adult (Or at least 14-17 years old).
FL literally had the voice, behavior, and expressions of a 4 years old. Like for real even my niece who is actually 5 years old doesn't act that cringe. The actress is clearly a grown ass woman (Heck she is even three years older than me which was more surprising to me and made watching even more awkward!), so it always felt painfully odd to see a grown woman having the voice and attitude of a toddler (Turns out it was her real voice...like damn!). I mean obviously it's not my first time going through this shit, it's very popular trend in both dramas and anime (At least in animes' case many of the characters do look like kids, so I manage to get over it a bit), but I still can't get fully used to it, not even after more than 10 years of watching Asian shows.
Whenever the actress/FL would do the endless pouting, whining, and said cringe behavior I felt like hitting her on the head lol like I really had to keep reminding myself that she isn't supposed to be mentally disabled in the plot or something. I get she was meant to be a child fairy at first episodes, but doesn't mean she had to act that way necessarily. If they wanted a child they could just hire an actual child actress to make it less tedious to watch or just make her personality/acting more chill.
I also didn't like the make up and hairstyle they done to her, they weren't so bad, but not that great to me. Actress is pretty cute and has a healthy looks, her outfits were decent, but again male characters had much better styles and color schemes, which made her seem dull and faded next to them. I would love to see her with a really flashy outfits/accessories instead, and better more visible colors like dark purple, royal blue, maroon, magenta, or rose. Anything that won't make her look transparent like a ghost, I don't know how to explain it lmao it felt as if her (And the other fairy girls) outfits were washed tons of times and lost their colors at some point. (Though Orchid did look much better with the hairstyle/hair accessories and light green and the emerald green outfits in episode 16 after the moon tribe servants gave her new clothes. They were her best outfits along with the mortal realm servant outfit and the outfit and crown she wore in last episodes).
About the make up, I didn't like the heavy orange eyeshadow, pink blush, and pink lips combination they used most of the time on her, I know these colors get used a lot in Asian make up for both genders, and sometimes they do look nice and all (Like on some Kpop idols), but still not a big fan. The FL actress looked way prettier in the wedding outfit, proper hair and accessories, and dark red make up which proves my point. Her mortal make up was better but I wish they would not use any over the top blush with it since it makes her look a bit like a clown. I understand they went for the pastel color palates and overly bright make up thing to fit the theme of flower fairies, but there are tons of flowers with very dark or warm colors out there like blue, red, and black roses and tulips so it's not really an excuse. Even if she is an orchid not a rose or whatever.
Anyway later her personality and voice got much better and this issue was basically fixed gladly. So if anyone who just started this drama and is struggling with same issue I had with FL, I tell you that it won't last till the end (Only till like episode 15 or so in case you want to know, she gets smarter, useful, and calms down her awfully energetic behavior from there, and she finally acts like an actual adult from like episode 33. Being able to handle her character and fully enjoy the drama mostly depends on how patient the watcher is lol).
2- Thanks to the FL issue I mentioned before, I couldn't bring myself to ship the main leads nor view the whole romance seriously at start. It felt more like watching a funny relationship between a serious and grumpy grandpa, who got stuck with the role of babysitting his utterly annoying, stupid, spoiled, and overly energetic little granddaughter for some time. Even when they kissed in first episode, I couldn't help but shudder even though I knew they are both adults.
It was just odd, but when FL improved, I finally managed to like and enjoy the romance part. I even ended up loving them quite a lot by the end. Although the concept is typical forbidden love between a constant damsel in distress, fragile, pacifist, naïve, good girl falls for tough, cold, badass, and heroic badboy with severe childhood trauma who only warms up to her and has his trauma cured by her as well leading him to become a better person, which is done tons of times before, and yeah honestly there wasn't anything unique about it in this drama, but it was still fun to watch and their chemistry and dynamic were good enough.
3- Couldn't care less about the sub romance plots, to be exact the one between Shangque and Jieli, it was forced and meaningless. I liked Black Dragon a lot (Although I got to admit, I wish he would keep he mouth shut when it comes to ML's secretes, like he literally be telling just anyone about him easily...), Jieli was a decent character. I like how they are opposite of each other. Dragon decided to become 100% loyal and honest thanks to ML giving him a chance, while Jieli decided to become clever and untrusting due to her not having anyone like ML to support her, they both had same childhood issue/backstory, but decided to deal with and learn from it in a very different ways. Wish Black Dragon's character actually had some time to shine as a fighter or in dragon form, he was mostly like a normal bodyguard even though he seemed pretty powerful so I wish they gave him more action scenes.
About the romance between the two though...I didn't feel it, nor like it. Felt like a pointless filler. Would prefer they become good friends and call it a day instead.
Same with Changheng's feelings for FL, I mean I get they met in that forest and interacted a lot, even became friends, and then he started crushing on her...but was their interaction really enough to make him THAT in love with her? That he is even willing to risk his life, anger his shit older brother, abandon his responsibilities, and even was willing to let the heavenly place get destroyed by ML, and then decided to become a mortal risking his ability to become immortal again...etc
I mean I don't like how they forced him to get engaged to some woman whom he never met before, and the heavenly shitheads weren't even fully sure if the goddess will come back, so they basically ordered him to live alone and loveless forever, just like how ML's father forced him to live without love and feelings (Not gonna lie I think a love story between Changheng and ML would be way more cooler than the one between him and FL, and no it's not because of my great love to BL over straight romance, but since both guys went through kinda similar torture and had to live their lives according to others messed up wills and forced "Duties", that will make them relate to and support each other greatly or something). Meanwhile I didn't think Changheng's feelings for FL were that realistic. I mean at least ML had to stick to her side and open up to her, getting back his emotions thanks to the heart curse thing, so it's more understandable why he fell for her.
4- Also why didn't the heavenly emperor get engaged to the goddess instead? Why force his child younger brother?! And why is the younger brother the one who must defend the heavenly realm instead of him? The emperor seemed strong and all, so why didn't he do shit apart from sitting on his damn throne acting all stuck up and controlling 95% of time. At least Changheng was brave enough to face Dongfang Qingcang, unlike his brother who just sat there trembling with fear and throwing his brother under the bus, then only showing up all cocky when Dongfang in a weakened state. Like seriously I wanted that irritating emperor to die by the end.
5- About the whole mortal realm arc of Changheng, I had mixed feelings about it, it was a bit lame how they turned him into a dumb, immature, playboy, but also in a way it allowed him to show more emotions and feel more realistic. Actor done a great job and his interactions with Dongfang were awfully hilarious. The whole arc was more on the stupid side to me by how the main characters were busy trying to make Changheng and Chidi woman fall for each other and it made the plot childish as hell. But I did feel really sad for both Wanqing (Who by the way looked stunning in her wedding style, wonder how heavy is that crown, but it's worth the neck pain since it looks amazing) and Xiao Run. imagine everything going that awful in your freaking long awaited wedding day, tragedy at it's finest lol
Still I gave this drama a 10/10 cause of how much I enjoyed it and loved the characters, it was worth every minute I spent on it.
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas…
Wish that too! It's pretty rare for me to find an Asian drama with a female character that I 100% like everything about, or that ends up becoming my favorite character in the show. Most of the time it's either the ML, 2nd ML, or some side character that ends up being the most interesting to me.
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas…
Last 4 episodes, oh! So far I watched 25 episodes while hoping the big change you mentioned (I mean her actually changing and behaving like a literal adult should, not just getting a bit smarter and less energetic like latest episodes I watched) will happen by like episode 30 max. That will take way longer than I expected...but I love the ML, Black Dragon, and Rong Hao. So they kept me watching even though FL is mostly giving me anxiety.
The plot is decent too. I guess I will continue and see if the ending will be worthy and satisfying of this struggle or not. If the ending turns out to be ass, I will be angry as hell! Especially if something bad happen to my top three characters. Thanks a lot for checking and telling me!
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas…
Ikr! She is the only problem that's ruining this drama for me with the whole acting as if she is mentally disabled or something. Can't take the romance seriously when she is like this.
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas…
Well actually thanks a lot for clearing that to me, cause if she was gonna stay that childish till last episode I probably would drop the drama at some point, but since you say she will grow up then I will continue. FL is the only thing bothering me about this drama so far, everything else is great.
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas…
It's probably not even the actress's actual voice since in Cdramas they dub the voices 99% of times, so they reuse the same voice actors over and over again. I have been watching Asian dramas since like 10 years and anime for about 12 years and I still can't get used to these high pitched voices that are supposed to be cute and feminine. At least in anime it could be passable since they are animated characters and many of them do look painfully childish anyway, but seeing real humans, clear adults, sound like that is too much lol
I have been trying to properly watch this drama for a while now, but the whole FL being "too pure and innocent" thing along with her voice is quite the turn off to me.
Oh, finished this drama and I gotta say, it was a really nice slice of life/sit com. I get that many people might not highly enjoy it since the slice of life genre can truly get boring and draggy to some, I know cause I watched tons, but still found myself bored to death while watching a good amount of them indeed, but this drama was very easy to watch. Didn't really feel bored, it wasn't flawless, but still very enjoyable.
Now about my personal opinions:
Positives:
1- I love Seul Ki character and most of the characters. Seul Ki is strong mentally, able to fight physically and protect herself and others, fair, active, loyal, and hard working/ambitious. Suk can be annoying as hell at times by being too moody, pessimistic, a professional overthinker, idealistic, and grumpy, but other times he was very pleasantly relatable, loveable (For being logical, loyal, friendly, and very straightforward), and funny. We have very similar personalities honestly so I couldn't help but like him.
Loved the bromance between him and the Pil Su, with the whole older gen + younger gen being friends/basically a mix of past and present concept. Hyeon Su was also cute even though he barley had screen time, I would totally want to be his friend. The wife's brother, the "author", and shark Loan lady were also very likeable and the old lady's house is beautiful, wish I lived in such a place lol Even Suk's father and Alex were a fun characters.
Overall cast were great, even though I didn't see most of them acting before in other dramas.
2- Pil Su is so loveable, very social, and cheerful, I loved him and wished I had a father like him. He was my favorite character which is new to me cause I rarely have an old/middle aged character as my favorite. The actor nailed his role and carried the drama. Also I guess he handled the whole thing between his wife and the author in a very open minded way, instead of instantly throwing hands and assuming shit just like he said. In a way it showed how much he trusted his wife. Although he started getting all childish during the dinner by bragging too much.
3- The drama was both realistic and relatable, but also funny and absurd. It was a good balance.
4- The romance between Seul Ki and Suk was the only romance I truly liked, that secene when he almost fell and Seul Ki held him then they stared at each other for an hour was funny, it was a good change from the typical ML holding the FL to keep her from falling one. I mean yes! It's 100% normal to have the woman be the physically strong and badass one while the guy is the smart yet fragile one or whatever, not all women need to be the weak damsel in distress.
Though did they need to make both Seul Ki and Suk motherless? Like seriously, that was over dramatic. Might as well make Seong Mi die so Jun Pyo can join the club lmao reminds me of action shounen animes where almost all protagonist characters are orphans/have at least one parent dead to add too much drama and angst.
Negatives:
1- Why in these types of plots they always make the wife the "villain" character and the husband the fun parent?! The wives are the controlling, scary, gloomy, nagging bitch who love spreading misery and making everyone stressed and suffocated. The wife didn't only suffocate her son and husband but also me. Like damn woman, if you don't like being poor and working like a donkey why didn't you marry a rich doctor or something?
Especially since she was the "May Queen" so she could easily make a rich dude fall for her. No one forced her to marry her martial artist husband, yet she act as if everything they went through is his fault and she is the only victim. At least the dude respects her, is very faithful (Especially when many men think they have the right to cheat while their wives should be loyal all the time. Having a faithful husband who care that much about his wife and kids is like a rare treasure), caring, funny, optimistic, and hard working.
Also the fact that she forces her son to like study all day long everyday is just horrifying. He wakes up early to go to school, then go to an English academy, then a study café supposedly, then come back home at 8-11 PM? To study a bit then sleep and repeat. What kind of life and childhood is that?! The fact that he didn't commit suicide is great in itself, and like he said the parents be like "Oh, you can have fun after you become an adult so fuck your childhood and youth". Of course when he becomes an adult and try to do what he wants, they will be like "Get married and birth kids now!" instead of actually letting him do what he wants.
Like all that drama when they could just allow him to have like 2-3 hours in that Hip Hop place every now and then after studying or after school to have fun and recharge his batteries and mood...studying is important and useful, but having fun is as equally important to keep your sanity, and giving kids support may lead them to become more excited to study and make their parents proud as a repay just like Anna said. At least the wife started to calm down a bit after episode 11 and did what I said before.
2- The whole romance between the kids, couch No and Bok Soon, were all cheesy to death! I can barely stand high school romance dramas, let alone romance stuff between actual kids, and to make it worse they made it a love triangle by adding that other annoying, nosy, stuck up, chubby girl to the formula. Like girl, you already knew Jun Pyo liked Anna so why decide to fall for him out of the blue, then try your best to make him pissed off and ruin their relationship along with getting him in trouble with his parents?!
Then Jun Pyo's guy friend ends up hating him because chubby girl liked him to add more stupid drama. Not gonna lie I was glad Jun Pyo finally started having a personality instead of being utterly meek, but at times he was indeed too bratty, still having an overly controlling parent could lead to that, and it was obvious that Anna was into Jun Pyo...glad they didn't make the kids kiss or something after confessing, I for sure wouldn't wanna see that, especially when the actors are clearly kids, not adults pretending to be kids.
Also just because Anna got dyed hair and some visible make up she is considered a delinquent/thug?! Really?
The romance between that coach No and the woman he likes was also very cringe and stupid...wish they spend the time they wasted in these lame romance scenes on developing the romance between Seul Ki and Suk more, I was kinda sad that they weren't officially dating in the last episode. Like seriously how come the kids had more romance related scenes than the adults?!
3- The rap/hip hop subplot/moments were also painful to watch, like damn everyone from Montana to Jun Pyo and Anna doing/acting lik that made me cringe. I do love rap music, but in this drama it was just not great or necessary. They all were sweet personality-wise and the actors good at acting, but I just wish they got rid of the hip hop bullshit. Their outfits were great though.
Couldn't care less about Anna's audition and both of her and that Chae Yeon barley knew how to dance for people wanting to become idols... To add insult to the injury Jun Pyo had to interfere and pretend to be able to rap so that Anna could continue her audition, that was awful, and then all top companies want him yet he wants to study...yeah right! lol
4- Sharon, I hate her, all her comedy scenes were over the top and lame, I also hate her two best friends, and how she basically almost lead to a serious issue between Pil Su, Eun Ho, and Seong Mi when she said that crap (That Seong Mi went to the author's house, instead of her house) during the dinner, but I guess Seong Mi had to pay the price for lying to her husband anyway. Even Sharon's son looked retarded with his ugly outdated hairstyle and outfits (not hating on the kid himself but the style, I was dying to fix his hair and give him some decent clothes).
Watching these hag characters act like retards is just...too much! The scenes of them and Seong Mi complaining about being mothers/wives was just...did someone force you all to get marry and become mothers?! (I know I may sound like a bitch by saying this, but seriously, if you want to have your life be filled with career success, fun, and freedom don't marry nor have kids, everyone knows doing such things ain't easy and it's filled with responsibilities and hardships so why complain later when you already know it? Especially when someone isn't rich marriage and parenthood is a literal nightmare! And the kids pay the price for everything when they have zero fault and didn't have a choice).
5- Eun Ho and Seong Mi's one sided love thing was pointless, like why? It almost made her seem as if she was having a love affair, Eun Ho was just tragic, felt sorry for him getting stuck for years with his first love thing, but also pissed off that he is kinda chasing after a married woman with a kid. Glad they didn't turn it into a cheating plot, I really can't stand cheating and cheaters (Like La La J's rude and fake fiancé) even if it's just a drama. Eun Ho's actor has a very soothing aura and a gorgeous smile though, would love to see more of his works in other dramas.
To be fair it was his fault for not confessing before she met her now husband, just like it was her fault for not marrying a hot rich dude to make her live the luxury life style she keeps complaining about and wishing for. Also it will be better if Seong Mi was honest about the whole friendship thing between them to her husband since the start, this is why so many relationships get ruined easily, cause people lie, hide stuff, overthink, overreact, and lose their shit over the stupidest things.
If people be 100% honest so many dumb misunderstandings would be solved in like two seconds, and just like Pil Su said both Eun Ho and Seong Mi didn't need to hide it cause they didn't do anything bad anyway, you only hide things so hard when something bad happens.
6- I really hated Suk's two friends who betrayed him. Especially the perverted, talkative, airhead, hypocrite, and annoying one. At least Mr. Lee knew and admitted he was an evil and selfish bastard.
7- The whole issue between Suk and his two past friends was a bit illogical to me. Like they could do the Golden Cupid app then after they get famous and rich enough to have their own fucking company or something, they could start developing the Neighbor 24 app together afterwards. Was it really that much of a big deal to Suk that they must do the Neighbor 24 app first?
Like the Golden Cupid one could be focused on romance and profit related stuff while the neighbor 24 other stuff like friendship, finding people/places/stuff, memories, and values...etc why not make two apps that make everyone happy and benefit instead of one? Besides Mr. Lee didn't need to rush and sign a contract with the frozen witch without talking to Suk first to see his point of view for the last time.
8- The lame thugs plot, Frozen Witch trying so hard to be a villain, Eun Ho having to resign, and that foolish landlord wanting to buy the restaurant were also not necessary. It added too much pointless drama and made the plot a bit too repetitive.
Like landlord was the reason Pil Su and his family had to suffer and almost got thrown on streets and then he decides to ruin their business again, and the witch who is basically the only truly successful woman in that field or something according to the plot and they had to make her a total low bitch..really? Of course every woman in a high position and able to accomplish grand things that are good as men or even better is supposed to be cruel, cold, bossy, and stuck up! I have seen that trope a bit too much and they refuse to let it die Lmao
Episode 15 got a bit overly heavy and dramatic. Especially for the episode before the last, but the ending was happy and satisfying. Glad that Eun Ho started working with Pil Su to help others, and Suk finally got his investment.
What? Is it awfully high pitched and childish sounding? That's the case of most female characters voices in Cdramas and Jdramas, sometimes even Kdramas. The woman could be in her thirties and sound like a 3 years old child. I seriously hate this trend lmao
Honestly this is actually a drama i am enjoying from the bottom of my heart and to think i was in a slump after…
Got it! Also about Never Give Up, it's a sit com, slice of life drama and so far I finished 13 episodes of the 16 and I actually enjoyed it a lot. Will watch last three episodes tomorrow. It has really funny and cute main characters (The drama doesn't revolve around romance the most, but family, friendships...etc).
Okay done watching this season and I gotta say, although I don't believe the drama was THAT amazing, it was still quite interesting and enjoyable to watch. I LOVE Thriller/horror/dark fantasy genres/concepts to death lol so I will watch/listen to anything related to them. Glad we get to see more versatile genres now instead of the typical rom coms/sitcoms, or any shows that are mostly about romance or slice of life.
Now for my PERSONAL opinion:
Positives:
1- I actually like the FL character. As someone who is almost a professional FL characters hater at this point lmao can't help it, most FL characters in Asian dramas get on my nerves greatly. Although there are still a good amount of cases where female leads or female characters overall are basically perfect like Alice in Borderland (All female characters both main/support or good/villain were amazing in that drama and they carried the show), Flower of Evil, Alchemy of Souls, The Legends, Save Me, The First Responders, Never Give Up (Seul Ki, not the wife. If you watched this Kdrama you will know the character I mean)...etc these are very positive and likeable examples of how a FL should be. Some of them are physically strong, athletic, and stronger than male character even, some are very smart and capable, some are very kind hearted and gentle but not weak and meek because of it.
Now about Mi Ho/Wonjeong I don't get why some people hate on the character or the actress so much, I mean about the actress, she is gorgeous, has an amazing body and nice fashion style, and her acting is decent, not that great honestly but still not bad at all. About the character, I mean I expected her to be a total stuck up, arrogant, selfish, rude, spoiled bitch that will anger me to death.
Surprisingly, she isn't that bad. She is smart, has decent humor taste, knows some martial arts and was able to come up with some good ideas while dealing with the demons (Like how she hang on that car so the bride demon won't see her feet), good at doing her job, has some great driving skills (Like she is able to drive like a pro racer), treats her employees in a good way (She even hit those thugs for the sake of her traitor secretary, then left the car for him and decided to walk alone in that creepy forest), and even though she "hired" Van, he is still the one treating her more badly than she does to him. Even her bond with Johan is funny and cute, and the fact that she risked herself to save that teen girl, felt guilty over what happened to her, and tried her best to punish the sociopath boyfriend was a good way to show she is a good person.
Only issues with her is that sometimes she gets a bit too childish for her age (I assume the character is in her early thirties?), but I guess that is her being a bit spoiled? And how she constantly fixes her hair, that shit irks me for some reason, like damn stop messing your hair every three minutes! If it bothers you that much then change the freaking hairstyle! That goes for every person who does that, don't have a hairstyle that will force you to keep pulling the bangs away from your face so they won't be getting in your mouth or pocking you in the eyes and turning you blind. I know how stressful that can be since I have a very long hair myself.
Also how she spent ages teasing Van while Johan was getting stranggled to death by that tree spirit, it was a bit funny at first, but got irritating quick. Like shit, save the boy first guys then picker like kids as much as you like, and the way she at times moans when someone almost kills/stab her...I mean this one isn't a big deal and yeah it's normal to gasp when such a thing happens, but she literally be moaning and making expressions like she is about to orgasm, not gasp due to shock.
2- Ooooh finally they gave Cha Eun Woo the perfect role for him! Finally!!! And he seemed to enjoy acting the role to the fullest. I don't know why they were so obsessed with giving him the cold, emotionless, jerk, with internal mental issues role over and over again (Though I liked his character in True Beauty and the bromance between him and second male lead was dope, so I didn't hate his role there). I knew that the mischievous, overly confident, and funny type of character was more his style cause I have seen him have that exact type of character in The Biggest Hit/Hit The Top Kdrama. It was a support role with a very small screen time, but it was a very enjoyable character and he done it very well. The dude has a nice smile so why not allow him to show it more?!
Father Johan was even better and he was my favorite character and honestly carried this drama for me. Everything about the character was great, the fashion style, the personality, and overly depressing backstory. Of course Eun Woo's flawless visuals helped a lot too and he looks great in the priest outfit lol
Couldn't help but find it amusing how he is a priest but listens to Kpop/Rap music, watches Kdramas, wears a shit load of accessories, and has piercings. Just liked how I loved KNG's priest short tempered, violent, thug like, and justice obsessed character in The Fiery priest. Wish all priests were badass and hip like that lmao
Now for everyone hating on him for being too childish and arrogant, I mean...dude is like 19? He is barely a proper adult What did you expect? I have seen people in their forties being more childish, and him being arrogant is a result of him basically being the best youngest priest exorcist out there with many grand achievements so...it's not illogical for him to be too childish and arrogant duh! At least he adds flavor to the show with his humor, sometimes innocent, adorable, and cheerful personality.
Though his scenes with his brother killed me, that was just tragic, didn't expect to actually cry by the end of the drama...especially after the few adorable and heartwarming siblings moments between them before the disaster occured. His brother lived his whole life in pain and misery then died in pain and misery too. (Again Eun Woo did well in these super emotional moments, it's clear that he his acting is improving quick. He still needs more practice, but he is going well and I feel proud enough).
3- Well, there wasn't that much romance here which I actually appreciate since I'm not the biggest romance lover, I do watch many romance stuff and do enjoy them, but still not the biggest romance fan, especially when they make it the main focus in a crime/thriller/horror/fantasy plot (Ironically I loved the main leads romance plot in AOS, though them making it the main focus in season 2, ruined the season a bit to me so I highly hope they won't do the same to Island and other dramas of same concept). Anyway I do feel some nice chemistry between Mi Ho and Van so if their will be some romance I guess I wouldn't mind it that much.
4- CGI was decent, the demons designs are stupid to me like an odd mix of a werewolf and rock golem or something, but the shiny weapons (Like Johan's sword) and dark Smokey things coming from the demons mouths'...etc were good. Not AOS or Alice in Borderland level, but still not bad enough to give me trauma.
5- The OSTs were all suitable and good. I especially loved the song that Johan was listening to while exorcising that Italian woman, and the sound track they play whenever Van appears to fight (The chanting women sound that sounds very similar to a sound track they always play at the beginning of every episode of Demon Slayer anime if I remember correctly).
6- Loved the villa design, I would love to live there even though it can get a bit eerie at times , the view from Mi Ho's bedroom balcony is super cool, and Jeju Island is such a beautiful place. Wish I could visit it.
7- I dig Gungtan's character, and the white hair. He is way more interesting than Van actually. Glad to see Sung Joon acting again, I prefer him playing these dark non romantic roles.
I assume that unlike Van who turned good and decided to live the rest of his miserable, basically immortal life saving and protecting humans while fighting demons, Gungtan got filled with malice and the desire to revenge and get stronger over the torture they had to go through by the monks which makes sense to me.
I mean seriously couldn't the monks just do that half demon-half human shit on themselves instead of forcing it on innocent kids and turning them into lab rats/salves then monsters?! I get why they needed the demon slayers, but they could try it on each other...
Negatives:
1- Although Van is cool and great at fighting, but he sometimes feels hollow and boring as a character. Kim Nam Gil did the role justice as usual and he is a great actor, I know. I'm not insulting the actor, but the character itself. He was the least favorite and interesting character in the show for me. Just the typical quite, edgy, goth kid who sits at the back of the class and ignore everyone while maintaining a grumpy expression all day long vibe or something lol you could replace his character with a robot and nothing much will change at one point.
2- Plot and scenes editing felt really messy and choppy at times. Like some characters be talking, then they cut the scene before they properly finish their talking and move on to the next one in an abrupt way that I didn't like.
3- They didn't give a good amount of screen time to have the character bonding properly, they just became all close and family like pretty quick. I guess I could let it pass with the excuse that Mi Ho and Van knew each other before like hundred of years and so she naturally gets attracted to him, and she views Johan as a cute younger brother figure hence is why she allowed him to get close to her quick, but still wish they gave them more time to bond.
4- I find it stupid how they divided the drama into two seasons when they could just make it 12 episodes/one season instead. I 100% support the new trend of Kdramas not having more than 6-12 episodes (And Cdramas not having more than 24-36 episodes instead of 40-90+ episodes), since I got tired of the 16 episodes rule where plots get utterly draggy and painful after like episode 8-12. But sometimes it's better to just have one season with 12 episodes than 4 seasons with like 3 episodes each lol It just felt too short and rushed for my liking. This season was just a quick introduction to the characters, and barely introduced their world.
Sometimes I felt like I'm watching an anime (Like Jujutsu Kaisen or something) instead of a drama. This is not a bad thing at all since I love anime a lot too, but at times it felt too comical to me. Like a kinda cheap live action version of some cool anime or manga.
5- Some characters didn't need to exist or die, like the FL friend's fiancé. Why they killed him? What was the point? I knew something bad will happen since they gave the two a bit too much screen time like how they done with the teen girls, but why?!
6- They wasted too much screen time at unimportant stuff like FL's family issues (Couldn't care less about that shit). Was better to spend that screen time on something useful to the plot.
7- Wish they made the FL awaken her powers in the end of this season so she can start kicking ass and save people including the two male leads for once as a change instead of her constantly being the damsel in distress, and male leads almost dying everyday for her sake. Well, I hope the trio unite and become stronger in second season.
8- This isn't a serious issue in this drama, but something that highly bothers me in every drama I see it in, which is the drunk FL/female characters scenes. One of the worst ways to deal with stress. I mean why there are so many scenes were FL get their asses drunk to the core then start doing dangerous or stupid shit, acting and talking like retards, then forcing the male characters to chase after them and take care of them?! So many dramas have this shit. The Fabulous, Summer Strike (In this drama FL got drunk to death like 5 times and each time she wanders around the whole town acting like a mad woman bothering people and ML had to chase after her everywhere), May I help You, and the list of dramas goes on and on...
That crap ain't cute or funny, it's irritating and gross. For all those who thought Johan was too childish, what about actual adults who are 25-30+ years old who can't even know their drinking limit and always do things they end up greatly regretting later thanks to it?
I just can't help but be like if that was real world then the woman would (Unless she is with someone/people she can 100% trust that they will take care of her):
1- Get raped or murdered by some bastard while wandering around streets or in shady places alone. 2- Get run over by some car. 3- If she is home alone, something might go wrong and she could get herself hurt somehow, like if the glass of wine fell from her hand and got chattered then she tries to do something about it but lose her balance and face plants into the broken shards of glass lol 4- Or at least, she will end up highly embarrassing and humiliating herself and her friends/family.
Like I read somewhere that the actual reason they casted him was to make his fans bother watching the drama to begin with, they literally used him to hype it up (Mostly second season) and it shows from the shit writing lmao most watchers wouldn't give the second season any attention if his character wasn't put in it.
There were tons of positives about it:
1- The outfits, armors and crowns' shape designs, hairstyles, make up, and overall accessories were great.
(Mostly male characters hairstyles, female characters had ugly hairstyles honestly. Even the outfits/accessories/make up of male characters looked much much better, flashier, and classier than the ones of female ones, don't get why. At least in mortal realm the girls actually looked very nice with Tang dynasty's style which is ironic since they should look more stunning in the fantasy world instead).
The swords and fighting/war scenes felt mostly fake though (Swords seemed like ones you could buy in some toy stores for kids, they make it painfully clear with their positions, poses, and unnecessary twirling and acrobatic moves that they are using ropes and shit, wonder when will this problem be solved in Cdramas.
2- Loved the ML character and his personality, I think this is my first time watching a drama of Dylan Wang as ML (Apart from the second season of Ever Night which I couldn't finish till this day, I totally preferred first season, wasn't his fault but the plot though since it went downhill that season), and he done a great job playing his role in both serious/dark/emotional and comedic parts. I was convinced in his "feminine" performance when he swapped souls with FL, it didn't feel cringe, but fun instead. This role was made for him I guess.
I think among all the ML characters of all dramas I watched (Both romance or non romance), Dongfang is the best and most well written to me and Dylan managed to showcase it perfectly. Especially with how he can use his eyes only to reveal what he is feeling and what he wants to say at times. I now have high expectations for him as an actor.
He is gorgeous and elegant (Even way more good looking than all female actresses including FL), he has very beautiful big eyes and nice facial features, his outfits, hairstyle, and make up made his good looks shine even better (Would love to wear all of his outfits myself including the creepy armor and crown for a party or something, especially the black outfits and the dark green/blue one he wore in episodes 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 26, and 28 . They were the best outfits in the whole drama and among the top outfits I have seen in a historical drama so far. Seems more than half of the styling budget/effort was spent on him).
His hellfire ability was dope, the fact that it's blue flames instead of red was a nice addition since blue flames are the hottest type of flames I think? And it was the strongest ability in their universe instead of the heavenly immortals having the strongest abilities. Anyway ML was my favorite character and the reason I basically binge watched this drama in like four days even though I was busy with studies and stuff. I will watch more of his stuff for sure in future. I also loved the loyal black dragon, he was cute and their relationship was amusing and sweet.
3- I liked the 2nd ML, he as well was very handsome (Loved his magical water looking armor/outfit and crown, the shape design of them was nice, although I believe it might have been better to make them CGI instead? Like create a flowing water movement surrounding his head and body instead of using solid material), though I preferred the ML, but he was also a very decent character and had a likeable and respectful personality (Though a bit bland at times). Glad they didn't turn him all toxic and envious later like what happened in the case of Ashes of Love.
Don't like it when second leads go insane and evil when things don't go their way romance-wise. I also enjoyed his interactions with the fairy lord Rong Hao (Who sadly turned out to be a borderline psychopath. I really loved him still since I understood his actions and he did truly care about Changheng even with what he was dealing with secretly), they had some nice bromance.
I expected Danyin to become an irritating, filled with jealousy, cruel, and obsessed character, but surprisingly she was more on the righteous and logical side, that she even helped Changheng and FL, basically trembling on her own love for the god of war, which was quite pleasant to see and they didn't give her too much screen time which was good as well, I did end up liking her a lot at some point (The only woman character that went the envious crazy way was the side character Yulin and she paid the price heavily before being able to hurt FL luckily so overall most female characters weren't toxic).
Danyin is among the few female actresses who had a nice hairstyle along with some other side characters like Rong Hao's servant/assistant and that lord/aunt Sansheng (Their style overall was cool as well as the style of Wanqing).
4- CGI was pretty good (Considering it's a Cdrama), the whole cinematography and world design were pleasant to the eye. Loved the architecture and decorations of filming sets as well. Especially the Arbiter Hall, Changheng's bedroom, Dongfang's grand house in the mortal realm and his bedroom in the Cangyan Sea/silent moon palace. Would love to live there myself lol it was clear they had a high budget.
5- Overall it was an easy watch although the drama had about 40 episodes (Which isn't really long considering it a Cdrama. Glad they didn't drag it to 60+ episodes instead like many other dramas I watched before). Didn't feel bored or tired while watching. I could easily watch it in two days if I wasn't busy.
6- Love how they basically made many of the supposedly good guys (Immortal sages/seniors, emperor...etc) bad and hypocrites, and some of the bad guys were the actually good people. Dig that kinda thing. Also the fact that the strongest moon tribe supreme and the one who made tons of accomplishments to make it a strong tribe blah blah was a woman, as well as the original god of war and toughest heavenly fighter who able to defeat the ML was a woman too.
Nice thing to see the two supposedly most strongest characters are both women for a change lol. I know there are many strong female characters in Asian dramas, but still most of the time they aren't literally the strongest and most supreme/respected/worshiped ones. The plot overall was very well written, they made many characters understandable and relatable. Although the plot is not that unique since it had many overused tropes I have seen in many other historical fantasy dramas, but they managed to make it enjoyable enough to not care about the lack of originality.
7- The OSTs/op and ed songs were all amazing, especially the ed song that had both Chinese opera and rock elements in it, Carving An Orchid by Li changchao (If I remember correctly they played it in the end of episode 6 and few other episodes). I ended up downloading all the songs instantly before reaching episode 7.
8- Glad that the ending wasn't on the tragic side, since I got attached to many of the characters. Mostly Dongfang, Rong Hao and Shangque. They were my most loved characters, glad nothing seriously bad happened to any of them in the end (I mean Rong Hao's ending was sad, yes, but in a way it made sense, especially after all the fucked things he done, he finally found peace), or I would have went rage mode lol
The ending was rushed and tiny bit messy and lackluster, but at least not sad, and the leads were back together (Though I wish they explained how the hell did Dongfang come back after the 500 years, Orchid made it seem as he was gonna die forever, but basically all of them keep resructting over and over again easily, and the whole "I'm back!" thing then the drama ending instantly was more hilarious than emotional).
Now about the few negatives:
1- FL's character was one hell of a torture in the first half of the drama. She was the only reason I seriously struggled to not drop the drama, but the positives I mentioned earlier kept me watching. I seriously can't stand the concept of having female characters act like retards just to be forcibly cute. I get that Asians are into women being innocent and pure, but there is a huge difference between being innocent and acting overly childish. Especially when said person behaving like that is literal adult (Or at least 14-17 years old).
FL literally had the voice, behavior, and expressions of a 4 years old. Like for real even my niece who is actually 5 years old doesn't act that cringe. The actress is clearly a grown ass woman (Heck she is even three years older than me which was more surprising to me and made watching even more awkward!), so it always felt painfully odd to see a grown woman having the voice and attitude of a toddler (Turns out it was her real voice...like damn!).
I mean obviously it's not my first time going through this shit, it's very popular trend in both dramas and anime (At least in animes' case many of the characters do look like kids, so I manage to get over it a bit), but I still can't get fully used to it, not even after more than 10 years of watching Asian shows.
Whenever the actress/FL would do the endless pouting, whining, and said cringe behavior I felt like hitting her on the head lol like I really had to keep reminding myself that she isn't supposed to be mentally disabled in the plot or something. I get she was meant to be a child fairy at first episodes, but doesn't mean she had to act that way necessarily. If they wanted a child they could just hire an actual child actress to make it less tedious to watch or just make her personality/acting more chill.
I also didn't like the make up and hairstyle they done to her, they weren't so bad, but not that great to me. Actress is pretty cute and has a healthy looks, her outfits were decent, but again male characters had much better styles and color schemes, which made her seem dull and faded next to them. I would love to see her with a really flashy outfits/accessories instead, and better more visible colors like dark purple, royal blue, maroon, magenta, or rose. Anything that won't make her look transparent like a ghost, I don't know how to explain it lmao it felt as if her (And the other fairy girls) outfits were washed tons of times and lost their colors at some point. (Though Orchid did look much better with the hairstyle/hair accessories and light green and the emerald green outfits in episode 16 after the moon tribe servants gave her new clothes. They were her best outfits along with the mortal realm servant outfit and the outfit and crown she wore in last episodes).
About the make up, I didn't like the heavy orange eyeshadow, pink blush, and pink lips combination they used most of the time on her, I know these colors get used a lot in Asian make up for both genders, and sometimes they do look nice and all (Like on some Kpop idols), but still not a big fan. The FL actress looked way prettier in the wedding outfit, proper hair and accessories, and dark red make up which proves my point.
Her mortal make up was better but I wish they would not use any over the top blush with it since it makes her look a bit like a clown. I understand they went for the pastel color palates and overly bright make up thing to fit the theme of flower fairies, but there are tons of flowers with very dark or warm colors out there like blue, red, and black roses and tulips so it's not really an excuse. Even if she is an orchid not a rose or whatever.
Anyway later her personality and voice got much better and this issue was basically fixed gladly. So if anyone who just started this drama and is struggling with same issue I had with FL, I tell you that it won't last till the end (Only till like episode 15 or so in case you want to know, she gets smarter, useful, and calms down her awfully energetic behavior from there, and she finally acts like an actual adult from like episode 33. Being able to handle her character and fully enjoy the drama mostly depends on how patient the watcher is lol).
2- Thanks to the FL issue I mentioned before, I couldn't bring myself to ship the main leads nor view the whole romance seriously at start. It felt more like watching a funny relationship between a serious and grumpy grandpa, who got stuck with the role of babysitting his utterly annoying, stupid, spoiled, and overly energetic little granddaughter for some time. Even when they kissed in first episode, I couldn't help but shudder even though I knew they are both adults.
It was just odd, but when FL improved, I finally managed to like and enjoy the romance part. I even ended up loving them quite a lot by the end. Although the concept is typical forbidden love between a constant damsel in distress, fragile, pacifist, naïve, good girl falls for tough, cold, badass, and heroic badboy with severe childhood trauma who only warms up to her and has his trauma cured by her as well leading him to become a better person, which is done tons of times before, and yeah honestly there wasn't anything unique about it in this drama, but it was still fun to watch and their chemistry and dynamic were good enough.
3- Couldn't care less about the sub romance plots, to be exact the one between Shangque and Jieli, it was forced and meaningless. I liked Black Dragon a lot (Although I got to admit, I wish he would keep he mouth shut when it comes to ML's secretes, like he literally be telling just anyone about him easily...), Jieli was a decent character. I like how they are opposite of each other.
Dragon decided to become 100% loyal and honest thanks to ML giving him a chance, while Jieli decided to become clever and untrusting due to her not having anyone like ML to support her, they both had same childhood issue/backstory, but decided to deal with and learn from it in a very different ways. Wish Black Dragon's character actually had some time to shine as a fighter or in dragon form, he was mostly like a normal bodyguard even though he seemed pretty powerful so I wish they gave him more action scenes.
About the romance between the two though...I didn't feel it, nor like it. Felt like a pointless filler. Would prefer they become good friends and call it a day instead.
Same with Changheng's feelings for FL, I mean I get they met in that forest and interacted a lot, even became friends, and then he started crushing on her...but was their interaction really enough to make him THAT in love with her? That he is even willing to risk his life, anger his shit older brother, abandon his responsibilities, and even was willing to let the heavenly place get destroyed by ML, and then decided to become a mortal risking his ability to become immortal again...etc
I mean I don't like how they forced him to get engaged to some woman whom he never met before, and the heavenly shitheads weren't even fully sure if the goddess will come back, so they basically ordered him to live alone and loveless forever, just like how ML's father forced him to live without love and feelings (Not gonna lie I think a love story between Changheng and ML would be way more cooler than the one between him and FL, and no it's not because of my great love to BL over straight romance, but since both guys went through kinda similar torture and had to live their lives according to others messed up wills and forced "Duties", that will make them relate to and support each other greatly or something).
Meanwhile I didn't think Changheng's feelings for FL were that realistic. I mean at least ML had to stick to her side and open up to her, getting back his emotions thanks to the heart curse thing, so it's more understandable why he fell for her.
4- Also why didn't the heavenly emperor get engaged to the goddess instead? Why force his child younger brother?! And why is the younger brother the one who must defend the heavenly realm instead of him? The emperor seemed strong and all, so why didn't he do shit apart from sitting on his damn throne acting all stuck up and controlling 95% of time. At least Changheng was brave enough to face Dongfang Qingcang, unlike his brother who just sat there trembling with fear and throwing his brother under the bus, then only showing up all cocky when Dongfang in a weakened state. Like seriously I wanted that irritating emperor to die by the end.
5- About the whole mortal realm arc of Changheng, I had mixed feelings about it, it was a bit lame how they turned him into a dumb, immature, playboy, but also in a way it allowed him to show more emotions and feel more realistic. Actor done a great job and his interactions with Dongfang were awfully hilarious.
The whole arc was more on the stupid side to me by how the main characters were busy trying to make Changheng and Chidi woman fall for each other and it made the plot childish as hell. But I did feel really sad for both Wanqing (Who by the way looked stunning in her wedding style, wonder how heavy is that crown, but it's worth the neck pain since it looks amazing) and Xiao Run. imagine everything going that awful in your freaking long awaited wedding day, tragedy at it's finest lol
Still I gave this drama a 10/10 cause of how much I enjoyed it and loved the characters, it was worth every minute I spent on it.
That will take way longer than I expected...but I love the ML, Black Dragon, and Rong Hao. So they kept me watching even though FL is mostly giving me anxiety.
The plot is decent too. I guess I will continue and see if the ending will be worthy and satisfying of this struggle or not. If the ending turns out to be ass, I will be angry as hell! Especially if something bad happen to my top three characters. Thanks a lot for checking and telling me!
I have been trying to properly watch this drama for a while now, but the whole FL being "too pure and innocent" thing along with her voice is quite the turn off to me.
Now about my personal opinions:
Positives:
1- I love Seul Ki character and most of the characters. Seul Ki is strong mentally, able to fight physically and protect herself and others, fair, active, loyal, and hard working/ambitious. Suk can be annoying as hell at times by being too moody, pessimistic, a professional overthinker, idealistic, and grumpy, but other times he was very pleasantly relatable, loveable (For being logical, loyal, friendly, and very straightforward), and funny. We have very similar personalities honestly so I couldn't help but like him.
Loved the bromance between him and the Pil Su, with the whole older gen + younger gen being friends/basically a mix of past and present concept. Hyeon Su was also cute even though he barley had screen time, I would totally want to be his friend. The wife's brother, the "author", and shark Loan lady were also very likeable and the old lady's house is beautiful, wish I lived in such a place lol
Even Suk's father and Alex were a fun characters.
Overall cast were great, even though I didn't see most of them acting before in other dramas.
2- Pil Su is so loveable, very social, and cheerful, I loved him and wished I had a father like him. He was my favorite character which is new to me cause I rarely have an old/middle aged character as my favorite. The actor nailed his role and carried the drama. Also I guess he handled the whole thing between his wife and the author in a very open minded way, instead of instantly throwing hands and assuming shit just like he said. In a way it showed how much he trusted his wife. Although he started getting all childish during the dinner by bragging too much.
3- The drama was both realistic and relatable, but also funny and absurd. It was a good balance.
4- The romance between Seul Ki and Suk was the only romance I truly liked, that secene when he almost fell and Seul Ki held him then they stared at each other for an hour was funny, it was a good change from the typical ML holding the FL to keep her from falling one. I mean yes! It's 100% normal to have the woman be the physically strong and badass one while the guy is the smart yet fragile one or whatever, not all women need to be the weak damsel in distress.
Though did they need to make both Seul Ki and Suk motherless? Like seriously, that was over dramatic. Might as well make Seong Mi die so Jun Pyo can join the club lmao reminds me of action shounen animes where almost all protagonist characters are orphans/have at least one parent dead to add too much drama and angst.
Negatives:
1- Why in these types of plots they always make the wife the "villain" character and the husband the fun parent?! The wives are the controlling, scary, gloomy, nagging bitch who love spreading misery and making everyone stressed and suffocated. The wife didn't only suffocate her son and husband but also me. Like damn woman, if you don't like being poor and working like a donkey why didn't you marry a rich doctor or something?
Especially since she was the "May Queen" so she could easily make a rich dude fall for her. No one forced her to marry her martial artist husband, yet she act as if everything they went through is his fault and she is the only victim.
At least the dude respects her, is very faithful (Especially when many men think they have the right to cheat while their wives should be loyal all the time. Having a faithful husband who care that much about his wife and kids is like a rare treasure), caring, funny, optimistic, and hard working.
Also the fact that she forces her son to like study all day long everyday is just horrifying. He wakes up early to go to school, then go to an English academy, then a study café supposedly, then come back home at 8-11 PM? To study a bit then sleep and repeat. What kind of life and childhood is that?! The fact that he didn't commit suicide is great in itself, and like he said the parents be like "Oh, you can have fun after you become an adult so fuck your childhood and youth". Of course when he becomes an adult and try to do what he wants, they will be like "Get married and birth kids now!" instead of actually letting him do what he wants.
Like all that drama when they could just allow him to have like 2-3 hours in that Hip Hop place every now and then after studying or after school to have fun and recharge his batteries and mood...studying is important and useful, but having fun is as equally important to keep your sanity, and giving kids support may lead them to become more excited to study and make their parents proud as a repay just like Anna said. At least the wife started to calm down a bit after episode 11 and did what I said before.
2- The whole romance between the kids, couch No and Bok Soon, were all cheesy to death! I can barely stand high school romance dramas, let alone romance stuff between actual kids, and to make it worse they made it a love triangle by adding that other annoying, nosy, stuck up, chubby girl to the formula. Like girl, you already knew Jun Pyo liked Anna so why decide to fall for him out of the blue, then try your best to make him pissed off and ruin their relationship along with getting him in trouble with his parents?!
Then Jun Pyo's guy friend ends up hating him because chubby girl liked him to add more stupid drama. Not gonna lie I was glad Jun Pyo finally started having a personality instead of being utterly meek, but at times he was indeed too bratty, still having an overly controlling parent could lead to that, and it was obvious that Anna was into Jun Pyo...glad they didn't make the kids kiss or something after confessing, I for sure wouldn't wanna see that, especially when the actors are clearly kids, not adults pretending to be kids.
Also just because Anna got dyed hair and some visible make up she is considered a delinquent/thug?! Really?
The romance between that coach No and the woman he likes was also very cringe and stupid...wish they spend the time they wasted in these lame romance scenes on developing the romance between Seul Ki and Suk more, I was kinda sad that they weren't officially dating in the last episode. Like seriously how come the kids had more romance related scenes than the adults?!
3- The rap/hip hop subplot/moments were also painful to watch, like damn everyone from Montana to Jun Pyo and Anna doing/acting lik that made me cringe. I do love rap music, but in this drama it was just not great or necessary. They all were sweet personality-wise and the actors good at acting, but I just wish they got rid of the hip hop bullshit. Their outfits were great though.
Couldn't care less about Anna's audition and both of her and that Chae Yeon barley knew how to dance for people wanting to become idols...
To add insult to the injury Jun Pyo had to interfere and pretend to be able to rap so that Anna could continue her audition, that was awful, and then all top companies want him yet he wants to study...yeah right! lol
4- Sharon, I hate her, all her comedy scenes were over the top and lame, I also hate her two best friends, and how she basically almost lead to a serious issue between Pil Su, Eun Ho, and Seong Mi when she said that crap (That Seong Mi went to the author's house, instead of her house) during the dinner, but I guess Seong Mi had to pay the price for lying to her husband anyway. Even Sharon's son looked retarded with his ugly outdated hairstyle and outfits (not hating on the kid himself but the style, I was dying to fix his hair and give him some decent clothes).
Watching these hag characters act like retards is just...too much! The scenes of them and Seong Mi complaining about being mothers/wives was just...did someone force you all to get marry and become mothers?! (I know I may sound like a bitch by saying this, but seriously, if you want to have your life be filled with career success, fun, and freedom don't marry nor have kids, everyone knows doing such things ain't easy and it's filled with responsibilities and hardships so why complain later when you already know it? Especially when someone isn't rich marriage and parenthood is a literal nightmare! And the kids pay the price for everything when they have zero fault and didn't have a choice).
5- Eun Ho and Seong Mi's one sided love thing was pointless, like why? It almost made her seem as if she was having a love affair, Eun Ho was just tragic, felt sorry for him getting stuck for years with his first love thing, but also pissed off that he is kinda chasing after a married woman with a kid. Glad they didn't turn it into a cheating plot, I really can't stand cheating and cheaters (Like La La J's rude and fake fiancé) even if it's just a drama. Eun Ho's actor has a very soothing aura and a gorgeous smile though, would love to see more of his works in other dramas.
To be fair it was his fault for not confessing before she met her now husband, just like it was her fault for not marrying a hot rich dude to make her live the luxury life style she keeps complaining about and wishing for. Also it will be better if Seong Mi was honest about the whole friendship thing between them to her husband since the start, this is why so many relationships get ruined easily, cause people lie, hide stuff, overthink, overreact, and lose their shit over the stupidest things.
If people be 100% honest so many dumb misunderstandings would be solved in like two seconds, and just like Pil Su said both Eun Ho and Seong Mi didn't need to hide it cause they didn't do anything bad anyway, you only hide things so hard when something bad happens.
6- I really hated Suk's two friends who betrayed him. Especially the perverted, talkative, airhead, hypocrite, and annoying one. At least Mr. Lee knew and admitted he was an evil and selfish bastard.
7- The whole issue between Suk and his two past friends was a bit illogical to me. Like they could do the Golden Cupid app then after they get famous and rich enough to have their own fucking company or something, they could start developing the Neighbor 24 app together afterwards. Was it really that much of a big deal to Suk that they must do the Neighbor 24 app first?
Like the Golden Cupid one could be focused on romance and profit related stuff while the neighbor 24 other stuff like friendship, finding people/places/stuff, memories, and values...etc why not make two apps that make everyone happy and benefit instead of one?
Besides Mr. Lee didn't need to rush and sign a contract with the frozen witch without talking to Suk first to see his point of view for the last time.
8- The lame thugs plot, Frozen Witch trying so hard to be a villain, Eun Ho having to resign, and that foolish landlord wanting to buy the restaurant were also not necessary. It added too much pointless drama and made the plot a bit too repetitive.
Like landlord was the reason Pil Su and his family had to suffer and almost got thrown on streets and then he decides to ruin their business again, and the witch who is basically the only truly successful woman in that field or something according to the plot and they had to make her a total low bitch..really? Of course every woman in a high position and able to accomplish grand things that are good as men or even better is supposed to be cruel, cold, bossy, and stuck up! I have seen that trope a bit too much and they refuse to let it die Lmao
Episode 15 got a bit overly heavy and dramatic. Especially for the episode before the last, but the ending was happy and satisfying. Glad that Eun Ho started working with Pil Su to help others, and Suk finally got his investment.
Now for my PERSONAL opinion:
Positives:
1- I actually like the FL character. As someone who is almost a professional FL characters hater at this point lmao can't help it, most FL characters in Asian dramas get on my nerves greatly. Although there are still a good amount of cases where female leads or female characters overall are basically perfect like Alice in Borderland (All female characters both main/support or good/villain were amazing in that drama and they carried the show), Flower of Evil, Alchemy of Souls, The Legends, Save Me, The First Responders, Never Give Up (Seul Ki, not the wife. If you watched this Kdrama you will know the character I mean)...etc these are very positive and likeable examples of how a FL should be. Some of them are physically strong, athletic, and stronger than male character even, some are very smart and capable, some are very kind hearted and gentle but not weak and meek because of it.
Now about Mi Ho/Wonjeong I don't get why some people hate on the character or the actress so much, I mean about the actress, she is gorgeous, has an amazing body and nice fashion style, and her acting is decent, not that great honestly but still not bad at all. About the character, I mean I expected her to be a total stuck up, arrogant, selfish, rude, spoiled bitch that will anger me to death.
Surprisingly, she isn't that bad. She is smart, has decent humor taste, knows some martial arts and was able to come up with some good ideas while dealing with the demons (Like how she hang on that car so the bride demon won't see her feet), good at doing her job, has some great driving skills (Like she is able to drive like a pro racer), treats her employees in a good way (She even hit those thugs for the sake of her traitor secretary, then left the car for him and decided to walk alone in that creepy forest), and even though she "hired" Van, he is still the one treating her more badly than she does to him.
Even her bond with Johan is funny and cute, and the fact that she risked herself to save that teen girl, felt guilty over what happened to her, and tried her best to punish the sociopath boyfriend was a good way to show she is a good person.
Only issues with her is that sometimes she gets a bit too childish for her age (I assume the character is in her early thirties?), but I guess that is her being a bit spoiled? And how she constantly fixes her hair, that shit irks me for some reason, like damn stop messing your hair every three minutes! If it bothers you that much then change the freaking hairstyle!
That goes for every person who does that, don't have a hairstyle that will force you to keep pulling the bangs away from your face so they won't be getting in your mouth or pocking you in the eyes and turning you blind. I know how stressful that can be since I have a very long hair myself.
Also how she spent ages teasing Van while Johan was getting stranggled to death by that tree spirit, it was a bit funny at first, but got irritating quick. Like shit, save the boy first guys then picker like kids as much as you like, and the way she at times moans when someone almost kills/stab her...I mean this one isn't a big deal and yeah it's normal to gasp when such a thing happens, but she literally be moaning and making expressions like she is about to orgasm, not gasp due to shock.
2- Ooooh finally they gave Cha Eun Woo the perfect role for him! Finally!!! And he seemed to enjoy acting the role to the fullest. I don't know why they were so obsessed with giving him the cold, emotionless, jerk, with internal mental issues role over and over again (Though I liked his character in True Beauty and the bromance between him and second male lead was dope, so I didn't hate his role there).
I knew that the mischievous, overly confident, and funny type of character was more his style cause I have seen him have that exact type of character in The Biggest Hit/Hit The Top Kdrama. It was a support role with a very small screen time, but it was a very enjoyable character and he done it very well. The dude has a nice smile so why not allow him to show it more?!
Father Johan was even better and he was my favorite character and honestly carried this drama for me. Everything about the character was great, the fashion style, the personality, and overly depressing backstory. Of course Eun Woo's flawless visuals helped a lot too and he looks great in the priest outfit lol
Couldn't help but find it amusing how he is a priest but listens to Kpop/Rap music, watches Kdramas, wears a shit load of accessories, and has piercings. Just liked how I loved KNG's priest short tempered, violent, thug like, and justice obsessed character in The Fiery priest. Wish all priests were badass and hip like that lmao
Now for everyone hating on him for being too childish and arrogant, I mean...dude is like 19? He is barely a proper adult What did you expect? I have seen people in their forties being more childish, and him being arrogant is a result of him basically being the best youngest priest exorcist out there with many grand achievements so...it's not illogical for him to be too childish and arrogant duh! At least he adds flavor to the show with his humor, sometimes innocent, adorable, and cheerful personality.
Though his scenes with his brother killed me, that was just tragic, didn't expect to actually cry by the end of the drama...especially after the few adorable and heartwarming siblings moments between them before the disaster occured. His brother lived his whole life in pain and misery then died in pain and misery too. (Again Eun Woo did well in these super emotional moments, it's clear that he his acting is improving quick. He still needs more practice, but he is going well and I feel proud enough).
3- Well, there wasn't that much romance here which I actually appreciate since I'm not the biggest romance lover, I do watch many romance stuff and do enjoy them, but still not the biggest romance fan, especially when they make it the main focus in a crime/thriller/horror/fantasy plot (Ironically I loved the main leads romance plot in AOS, though them making it the main focus in season 2, ruined the season a bit to me so I highly hope they won't do the same to Island and other dramas of same concept). Anyway I do feel some nice chemistry between Mi Ho and Van so if their will be some romance I guess I wouldn't mind it that much.
4- CGI was decent, the demons designs are stupid to me like an odd mix of a werewolf and rock golem or something, but the shiny weapons (Like Johan's sword) and dark Smokey things coming from the demons mouths'...etc were good. Not AOS or Alice in Borderland level, but still not bad enough to give me trauma.
5- The OSTs were all suitable and good. I especially loved the song that Johan was listening to while exorcising that Italian woman, and the sound track they play whenever Van appears to fight (The chanting women sound that sounds very similar to a sound track they always play at the beginning of every episode of Demon Slayer anime if I remember correctly).
6- Loved the villa design, I would love to live there even though it can get a bit eerie at times , the view from Mi Ho's bedroom balcony is super cool, and Jeju Island is such a beautiful place. Wish I could visit it.
7- I dig Gungtan's character, and the white hair. He is way more interesting than Van actually. Glad to see Sung Joon acting again, I prefer him playing these dark non romantic roles.
I assume that unlike Van who turned good and decided to live the rest of his miserable, basically immortal life saving and protecting humans while fighting demons, Gungtan got filled with malice and the desire to revenge and get stronger over the torture they had to go through by the monks which makes sense to me.
I mean seriously couldn't the monks just do that half demon-half human shit on themselves instead of forcing it on innocent kids and turning them into lab rats/salves then monsters?! I get why they needed the demon slayers, but they could try it on each other...
Negatives:
1- Although Van is cool and great at fighting, but he sometimes feels hollow and boring as a character. Kim Nam Gil did the role justice as usual and he is a great actor, I know. I'm not insulting the actor, but the character itself. He was the least favorite and interesting character in the show for me. Just the typical quite, edgy, goth kid who sits at the back of the class and ignore everyone while maintaining a grumpy expression all day long vibe or something lol you could replace his character with a robot and nothing much will change at one point.
2- Plot and scenes editing felt really messy and choppy at times. Like some characters be talking, then they cut the scene before they properly finish their talking and move on to the next one in an abrupt way that I didn't like.
3- They didn't give a good amount of screen time to have the character bonding properly, they just became all close and family like pretty quick. I guess I could let it pass with the excuse that Mi Ho and Van knew each other before like hundred of years and so she naturally gets attracted to him, and she views Johan as a cute younger brother figure hence is why she allowed him to get close to her quick, but still wish they gave them more time to bond.
4- I find it stupid how they divided the drama into two seasons when they could just make it 12 episodes/one season instead. I 100% support the new trend of Kdramas not having more than 6-12 episodes (And Cdramas not having more than 24-36 episodes instead of 40-90+ episodes), since I got tired of the 16 episodes rule where plots get utterly draggy and painful after like episode 8-12. But sometimes it's better to just have one season with 12 episodes than 4 seasons with like 3 episodes each lol It just felt too short and rushed for my liking.
This season was just a quick introduction to the characters, and barely introduced their world.
Sometimes I felt like I'm watching an anime (Like Jujutsu Kaisen or something) instead of a drama. This is not a bad thing at all since I love anime a lot too, but at times it felt too comical to me. Like a kinda cheap live action version of some cool anime or manga.
5- Some characters didn't need to exist or die, like the FL friend's fiancé. Why they killed him? What was the point? I knew something bad will happen since they gave the two a bit too much screen time like how they done with the teen girls, but why?!
6- They wasted too much screen time at unimportant stuff like FL's family issues (Couldn't care less about that shit). Was better to spend that screen time on something useful to the plot.
7- Wish they made the FL awaken her powers in the end of this season so she can start kicking ass and save people including the two male leads for once as a change instead of her constantly being the damsel in distress, and male leads almost dying everyday for her sake. Well, I hope the trio unite and become stronger in second season.
8- This isn't a serious issue in this drama, but something that highly bothers me in every drama I see it in, which is the drunk FL/female characters scenes. One of the worst ways to deal with stress. I mean why there are so many scenes were FL get their asses drunk to the core then start doing dangerous or stupid shit, acting and talking like retards, then forcing the male characters to chase after them and take care of them?!
So many dramas have this shit. The Fabulous, Summer Strike (In this drama FL got drunk to death like 5 times and each time she wanders around the whole town acting like a mad woman bothering people and ML had to chase after her everywhere), May I help You, and the list of dramas goes on and on...
That crap ain't cute or funny, it's irritating and gross. For all those who thought Johan was too childish, what about actual adults who are 25-30+ years old who can't even know their drinking limit and always do things they end up greatly regretting later thanks to it?
I just can't help but be like if that was real world then the woman would (Unless she is with someone/people she can 100% trust that they will take care of her):
1- Get raped or murdered by some bastard while wandering around streets or in shady places alone.
2- Get run over by some car.
3- If she is home alone, something might go wrong and she could get herself hurt somehow, like if the glass of wine fell from her hand and got chattered then she tries to do something about it but lose her balance and face plants into the broken shards of glass lol
4- Or at least, she will end up highly embarrassing and humiliating herself and her friends/family.
Hope these odd trends die soon.