Six Flying Dragons

My gosh, this historical drama is fantastic!!

I can't believe I happily sat through 50 episodes of this drama, it made me fall even more in love with Korean Sageuk/historical dramas.

OST
First and foremost, that OST!! I have never, I repeated NEVER bothered to download a Drama's soundtrack just because I enjoyed it while it played during the drama. But with this soundtrack, it made me search every corner of the internet universe just to get every version of every song, even the instrumental/acoustic tracks.
The OST blew me away and is like nothing I have ever heard, it almost became a character of its own throughout this drama.

Cast
The cast has acting skills to write home about. Everyone from the leads, to the supporting and the extras who played their part by really adding to the historical element of this drama whether they ere crying or dancing in the streets through the roller coaster of events. The male leads are striking both in looks and performances. Although many have been criticising the female lead for her single-expression performance, I thought she did a good job of just performing a headstrong no-nonsense character?

Writing/Story
The heroes of this show are the writers!! From the witty one-liners to the captivating monologues delivered by the cast, the writing will totally impress you. The writers especially did a good job of great character development throughout all 50 episodes. The same leads that you meet in episode one change and mature and develop in the most realistic but surprising way.

All in all this drama gets 10's all round, I can find nothing wrong with it. If you're not used to watching 50-episode dramas, no worries! You wont even notice the time go with this drama, before you know it, you're at episode 50 and balling your eyes out over how amazing it was and the withdrawal symptoms will immediately set in LOL ;)

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This is the second saguek I have rated 10/10 in a very long time. The first one was “Jewel in the Palace” and I didn’t expect that this drama would exceed that one. To give you an overview about the series, the story is a prequel to the drama “Tree with Deep Roots” which was aired on 2011. The story runs during the end of Goryeo era and the opening to a new country called Joseon.

The writers and producers has so much material to work with since according to history, this is where the first royal annals (records of the king) started. Having that as a solid background to a great story in the making, they were able to show how beautiful and frightening it was to live in those days. Days in which freedom was what the common people could only dream of. I give my kudos to the director and the people behind this drama for being able to produce something so outstanding (FYI: Six Flying Dragons won multiple Baeksang Awards, a prestigious award in Korea for the best drama shows). Another side to this drama is the political aspect, it was so intense that watching this without proper subtitle would have been bad for your health if you cannot understand the Korean language. The dialogues could be heart wrenching one minute then an eye opener the next. What made this drama peculiar for me is that usually, sagueks leaves a lot of moral lessons in life and has a clear cut on what is right or wrong, but here… YOU have to be your own judge as to what you deem is right. Everything is grey especially to one of the main characters specifically Yi Bang Won. For him, everything has a means and a justification in order to reach the ultimate goal, a goal that benefits a lot of people by sacrificing a few. You get what I mean? That said, the drama story is long but it’s not tiring to follow because there is always progress in every episode as the characters come to an individual realization, then gets together for a common cause and finally outgrow each other.

What I love about this drama is that it has a lot of powerful characters. There are a total of six main ones, hence the title and they are portrayed by actors that could stand up to their roles. My favorite would be Yi Bang Won which I have already mentioned earlier and was portrayed by my beloved actor Yoo Ah In. He has the most character growth in the 50 episodes that I’ve seen him, as he started as a naïve child, to being an adolescent who wants to change his country and finally as a king. His thought process was also very different from the rest of the characters that’s why I love watching him and see what he would be scheming up next and he is one seriously complicated guy. My second character choice, would be Moo Yool acted by Yoon Kyun Sang, this guy here is seriously pure heart and pure strength. He is the total opposite of Bang Won who is witty and manipulative. It’s no wonder that he and Bang Won complement each other’s character, he’s just too nice and loyal. My third and last favorite character is Bang Ji acted by Byun Yo Han, this guy is a fantastic swordsman and his fighting skills are... I just get speechless every time he gets a fight scene. He has gone through so much hardship that all I wish for him is a tiny-bit of happiness. I like the fact that he is loyal to the person he loves and to the person he decided to follow until end. As for the rest of the other main characters namely: Boon Yi, Sambong and Yi Seong Gye… I feel that they are all on the same level of liking in my rating book. It's just that there wasn't much character progress for any of them since they are utterly stuck to their own principles. Aside that... there are a lot of other sub characters who also gave light to the show but I would leave that for the viewers to judge and pinpoint who they like.

The soundtrack of this drama was awesome and unforgettable. It has been more than a year since I’ve seen the drama and yet the songs still run in my head and I could still sing a few verses. It added dramatic luster to the scenes, the songs that would be played in the background is like a clue as to how intense each scene was going to be. I give two thumbs up for their choice of music.

I will be re-watching this drama in the near future, since I miss the characters and would want to relieve each moments with them but for now I highly recommend this drama for all the saguek lovers out there.

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This is certainly one of my favourite historical dramas that I have watched so far.

50 episodes might sound tiring to you, as it did to me at first, but after watching even the first few episodes of this drama, I found myself glued to the seat, wanting more, and now I can't even wait for the new episodes. Every episode is so intense and full of emotions (though sometimes I do feel the shouts are a bit annoying). I also have to say the background music and songs just add more to the feelings.

Great cast, great acting, great music and overall, a well-written drama (at least, so far).
Highly recommend this to those who love Korean Historical Drama. It will never bore you.

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Firstly, it’s been a while since i feel like i want to write a review here but i almost skipped this drama because of 50 eps but i decide to watch it at the end and complete it within 4 days. I would say from the 1st episode until the end i didn’t skip any dialogue or any scene while i was watching this drama. My heart beat really fast with the plot and the story.
I know nothing about Korea history at all but i think, everyone could related with this drama at some point or with some characters here. I don’t see any useless or lame characters at all. They have their own roles in this drama which really give this drama a massive impact to my emotion.

Give it a try, i’m sure you will learn something that could apply with your life or what you see at the present. After finish this drama i feel like we are lucky enough that we live during this period of time. I think the world still rotten but at some point we can choose to walk away or leave at some point but back in the history i think i would probably do something just like those main lead characters done. I’m pretty sure it would be pretty tough for them but thank to them that create a world we live in today.

Give it a try and experience this drama by yourself, you won’t regret i could guarantee that.

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I love how complex and developed both the characters and plot were. I hated the characters, yet loved them all the same. It was happy, but it was sad. The characters were terrible, but they were wonderful. The acting was fantastic, especially Yoo Ah-In's. The actors were able to express such complicated character that I can't help but applaud them. The first few episodes provide backstory, but after that the show pics up a lot (actually the first few episodes themselves were pretty fast-paced). The ending was appropriate and realistic. The writer did a really good job showing the different sides of each of the characters. This is one of the few dramas I actually cried while watching. However, don't be afraid there is enough humorous and happy moments to balance the sad moments.
   Originally I was skeptical I would be able to make it through all 50 episodes, but once I started watching I never looked back.  Since this show is based on actual history, most of the major events were real. Even for those who do know the history that happened behind it, the show does a good job building suspense and garnering a reaction out of the audience. The OST (was spot on and truly fit each of the characters.
   The show was epic and humanistic. I assure you, you won't regret it.

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Conclusion: everyone was wrong and everyone was right.

And I don’t know how I feel about it. I’m honestly convinced a lot of people got brainwashed by how good the last few episodes were, to believe this drama is a true masterpiece, when at the same time most of us agreed that the whole mid section was quite meh.

Here’s the thing - by the end of the drama I kind of wanted everyone dead. Personally, there wasn’t really a character to root for. Everyone was hypocritical and painfully frustrating. On one hand, this was one of the aspects that made the drama objectively good - complex and flawed characters. On the other hand, it left me with no emotional stakes - I couldn't care less about what will happen to all these people. And I’m a character driven viewer: I can watch a boring plot, as long as I like the characters, but I get bored with an interesting plot, if I don’t vibe with anyone.

It started strong. Sure, I disliked fans’ favorite - Bang Won, but I adored a lot of other characters: Sam Bong, Boon Yi, Bang Ji. All characters had distinctive personalities, motivations, and moral values. But the closer to the end we’ve got, the less interesting the majority of the characters became. Some were just stagnant with little to no change or development, some completely lost any individuality and felt a bit too like plot devices. Sure, Bang Won and Sambong were great, dynamic, driven, smart, but also amazingly flawed. But it’s “Six Flying Dragons” not “Two Flying Dragons”.

All that said, Six Flying Dragons for sure had one of the most fulfilling endings of all dramas I have seen - everything just made sense and I could clearly see how all the events and characters led to that conclusion. It was just satisfying and I might have cried just a little bit.

The performances were amazing. I know many people are not on board with Shin Sae Kyeong, but for me, she did exactly what the character demanded from the actress. She was not supposed to be this charismatic and badass fighter, she represented the normal people and for me, her delivery matched that energy well. Objectively speaking I know Yoo Ah In did an amazing job, but I disliked Bang Won so much, it’s hard for me to verbalize what was good about the performance - it for sure made me feel a lot of different emotions… Best performance though: Park Hyuk Kwon. Being able to deliver both Gil Tae Mi and Gil Seon Mi, and make them feel like truly two different people was a phenomenal job done.

As for production - impressive. The fact that even after 8 years the drama does not feel dated at all is surprising. The styling, production value and budget for dramas changed so much in the past few years, achieving this level of quality in 2015 could not have been easy. Best part? Fighting scenes! The choreographies were truly pure perfection. Some I rewatched good 10 times.

Overall, it’s a great and addicting drama with a bit too much filler plots in the middle part.

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Truly epic

I am a sucker for historical dramas and this one is by far my favorite. It's the first time I have tried to watch a long drama and I'm glad I did.
Firstly, it was a lesson in Korean history, with real historical characters and events (romanticized for sure).
Secondly the cast was well-chosen, especially the 2 main characters, Yi Bang Won and Sambong, what great performances.
I like the rest of the dragons, minus one (Lee Bang Ji, poor acting in my opinion).
I am also happy that 2 of my favorite Korean beauties play in this :-) (Se Kyung and Yoo Mi).
Beautiful costumes, cool fighting scenes, great soundtrack, all in all an absolute masterpiece, which makes it my all-time favorite drama.
Congratulations to everyone involved .

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Six Flying Dragons, is an absolute must for historical drama fans.
The acting is superb.The cinematography gorgeous. The script very well written.The musical store thrilling. The story so well told. The beginnings and the times when the young children grow up,seamlessly done.
I can't say enough good things about it.
It will earn a five star rating to be sure!
The star is truly all star!!!
Just watch,even though 50 episodes might sound daunting,the first five you would want to watch in one sitting!
Look up some of the background
history if you are not familiar with Korean history,it will make watching that much more enjoyable.

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This is my most favorite korean drama ever. This can beat even Hollywood movies. It is that good . They all are very good actors no doubt. I loved the young bang won he is a brilliant actor. I hope 50 episodes wont get in a way to watch this beautiful drama bcz its nothing once you watch this.
I have seen many dramas but this one is brilliant in every way. It was so inspirarional. I hope everyone watches this drama .
Each n every character played an interesting role n have their importance.
There s a little romance, which wasnt needed though.
If u want to see how good koreans are at producing dramas, i would recommend this show its great.

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This drama actually manages to capture you until the very end, which is about 50 episodes later, no small feat.

I love history, I love historical politics, I love martial arts and sword fights, I love clever, tactical plot twists and to that, a tiny bit of romance. I got served so well....

And I started watching this before knowing that it depicted real-life events and persons, that, of course, made it even better for me.

It is rare to see a true-to-history-drama successfully deliver a good portion of tension and other emotions throughout the whole series, and they managed to do this here. Because of the length and real-time that passes, you grow attached to the characters, and thus when some of them start to change and/or meet their fate, you are right in the middle of it, or at least it feels that way.
Who are the good guys and who the bad, becomes an increasingly blurred line here, and it throws ethical questions right back at you.

I never even once got bored by this drama and never skipped scenes.

And: This drama produced one of my favourite female supporting characters of all time - master of swords, beautiful face (perfect choice of actress), humble demeanor, tragic story.... sigh (more would spoiler it).

If you love historical-political-action - you GOTTA watch this.

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This drama is ELITE

Powerful, stirring, brilliant—you name it, Six Flying Dragons is it.

JUST WATCH is the only justice I can give a show of such brilliance.

"It explores the tensions between pragmatism and idealism, caution and action, ruthlessness and moral rectitude" with great story telling and screen play greatly depicting the urgency of the times .

It truly is an EPIC that astounds in cinematography , cast , screenplay and production.One would find the most geneorous character portraits and most delicate writing treated with reverence and imbued with deep reflection.

I personally loved the insights and moral instruction offered in SFD. Every great thing requiring a certain sacrifice was a trope spun on its head . What is victory ? What is a loss ? Were also deeply explored. It also pondered the mechanics of villainy in great art . That , perhaps , the most noble people with zero greed in their hearts are the most dangerous because they cannot compromise for a greater principle and lack empathy and pity for the common man as their views are rooted in elitist sense of self ? Or maybe its the ones with the most persuasive tongues that are the violent ones? Or that people with darkness and resentment in their hearts have a much needed push and pull to be moral characters with great empathy. What ever insights you pick up on ,what is for sure is that there is no endorsement of path .What is right is history .

JUST WATCH . Epic sword fights and epic relationships ensue.

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