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Yangmyeong was the real MVP and y'all did him dirty
So, another drama that was really difficult to rate for me. I don't think it's as bad as most top reviews make it out to be, but it's also not nearly as good as it could have been.The beginning was promising and it wasn't really a difficult drama to finish, but the quality definitely drops in the second half of this drama. The main couple becomes particularly annoying, which is sad cause I really liked them initially, but in the end I only finished the drama to know how everything would unfold.
Honestly it really enraged me how Cheon Gi kept making up excuses for Ha Ram, like I know it's not his fault but the dude is still a menace to everyone around him and he tried to kill her multiple times whe he was posessed by Ma Wang. He should totally be imprisoned but somehow Cheon Gi acted like Yangmyeong was some sort of monster when he tried to do that. It's like when any minimal thing happened to Ha Ram and he was separated from Cheon Gi she suddenly could not produce one rational thought anymore and just started crying pathetically. Her only redeeming quality by the end is that she was still determined to finish the King's portrait, even if it was just to save her boyfriend.
One of the main gripes I had with most of the characters (main couple and the other painters from the academy) is that they were against Cheon Gi painting the King's portrait because something bad MIGHT happen to her but none of them really took into consideration that if the demon was not sealed in the painting it would cause havoc everywhere it went and nobody would be able to stop it. Like, they're supposed to be the good guys, but they can't even think about all the innocents that would die and how the country would've been thrown into chaos if the portrait was not finished. This is about the greater good people, seriously, that was so irritating.
The ML was a very difficult character to root for as well. From the beginning he was more of a sinister character, since he just cared about his revenge (even executing it against innocents like hello, Yangmyeong was a child when that happened) and not really caring about the consequences of his acts. Even then I was at least intrigued cause I thought it was a different approach to a male protagonist, but later he becomes even more insufferable as he seems to only care about the female lead and makes stupid decisions because of it.
So basically that's why I kept watching mainly for one chracter: Yangmyeong. He seemed to be the only one with some common sense and who put the wellbeing of the nation and the people first, fighting to complete the Sealing Ceremony and basically saving everyone's lives by doing so. I even think his character was underused towards the end, but he was still one of the best. Damn, how I wish he was the first lead. So I don't think I even have to comment on the epilogue, my boy deserved so much more.
The last character I want to talk about is Sam Sim. She was such an useless old hag lmao. Honestly I couldn't tell if she was trying to help or to be a nuisance. Everything could've been much batter if she intervened when everybody needed her. Like why did she have to wait until Ma Wang got his eyes back to try to stop him during the Sealing Ceremoy????
Although the story was interesting and gripping, it still was full of plot facilitations, holes and they simply kept creating more rules that mostly made no sense or contradicted things stablished previously. It's like the writers just straight up forgot certain characters existed, too.
The CGI was kinda bad but that was to be expected. The OST was good and the acting was pretty good as well, except that the male lead couldn't really act blind. The romance could've been much better if they werent' so annoying and if it was developed properly. I understand they were like soulmates, but I really think the show lacked scenes of them bonding or getting to know each other better.
Overall I did have fun and managed to finish this drama pretty quickly, but honestly I don't know if it's worth a recommendation as it's pretty forgettable and has quite some issues. Some might think my rating is a bit high for this show, but I just don't feel passionately about it to rate it lower to be frank.
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Beautiful Cast, Stretched Story
Was excited to watch this because of the lead actors and the plot summary looked interesting. The build up at the start was interesting and I expected the story to unravel more. However, the story seemed to have been stretched so much that the conflicts with the demon and the "evil" characters were repetitive and the back stories became confusing. There were a lot of unanswered questions: Who is Mae Hyang? Who will win in the battle between the 2 princes? Why was that left hanging and why did they choose that to be the ending (a set up for Season 2, perhaps)? What's with the three hooligans who still haven't stopped looking for Hong Chun Ki? Most importantly, I honestly didn't feel that much chemistry between the two lead characters because their interactions as a couple were very limited and, sometimes, awkward.Was this review helpful to you?
Too cliched and trash storyline
If I can give this a 0 rating I will. What a waste of good actors... The storyline is trash..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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Interesting start, Messy ending
Lovers of the Red Sky (2021)Likes
1. I didnt realize when I started watching that this is a fantasy drama but episodes 1 and 2 were interesting and I loved the actors who played the younger versions of Haram and Cheon Gi, the background story was enough to get invested in the couple.
2. I loved the paintings, it was so amazing that simple brushes can make these fantastic masterpieces. The best episodes were the painting competition, although it was still unbelievable that a young inexperienced painter can win against everyone else. And her butterfly painting was not that great tbh.
3. I loved the Baekyu Painters Society and how they always had Cheongi's back, esp her two painter friends. And the friendship between Haram, Prince Yang Myeong and Cheon Gi.
4. The ending kind of redeemed the entire story since they get their happy ever after, but still dont understand why they decided to live in an area so faraway from the city. The last scene between the two princes, at first I though the story is incomplete, now thinking back i guess just shows life goes on.
Dislikes
1. The story got messy and a lot of things were unexplained. More than halfway and I still didn't get the reason for the ring, or why they need to seal the devil inside the painting (because the drama said so), how Cheon Gi is the divine painter (when it turns out without Hwacha's power her painting was useless so what was the point?), why Joohyang was still alive when his body is supposedly rotting away, the king knew all about Haram's plan and never told him the truth (rendering his whole life's revenge plot unnecessary). And the whole nonsense about Haram's grandfather. And what about Maehyang?
2. Haram was blind for 20 years but he is extraordinarily aware of his surroundings that he doesnt look blind at all! He looks straight at the person he is talking to, he fights against the soldiers when blind, he can interpret the stars without seeing them.
Rating: 7/10 (i should give a lower rating but the four leads were so pretty)
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It was a good start
Until episode 10, everything started going down - where Yul started trying to seperate the two leads. I cannot stand the jealousy and his way of splitting up the couple. I feel so sad for Yul and it was so obvious that Cheon Gi has no space for the prince since the start. The fight was meaningless and it brought no value to the show in my opinion, and the writer can have more stories and explanation of the history of Mawang or how did all happen.And I had to forced myself to continue for the ending, while skipping the filler parts. What really irks now is the ending! There's a lot of plot holes. Little did I expect an open ending...
What happened to the characters' story, especially the gisaeng when she wanted revenge?? lol. It just ended with her cutting her wrist to prove her loyalty?? What is her story? And epiloge... It was so tiring to watch the dual between the prince especially I have no idea about Korea's history.
I just want to know who died in the end lol.
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entertaining story, appreciate the art
Ma Wang, a god of death, trades his murderous power to would be kings who end up in bloodthirsty reigns, until one dying king decides to seal Ma Wang forever into his official portrait to end the blood shed. However, a shaman's errant rain ritual ends up releasing Ma Wang, only to have him sealed up once more in the body of the gifted rain diviner & astronomy advisor to the subsequent king, Ha Ran (Ahn Hyo Seop). Who then can save Ha Ran but Hong Cheong Ki, a divine painter who holds the key to containing the evil threatening his life.In spite of it's simple premise, so complicated is the story that this drama starts with a preview filled 1st episode, solely dedicated to explaning all the characters & their relationships in this show. And even then it was dizzying, especially when you have to read subtitles & can't keep an eye on every face flashing on the screen.
I was impressed by Kim You Jung's no-nonsense portrayal of her character in My Demon & I can see the same spunk in her personality here in Red Sky. That energy is good in playing forward thinking characters. I also previously saw AHS in A Business Proposal, & here he delivers much the same muted performance. While the acting overall isn't stellar, at least it doesn't detract from the story which is imaginative & actually sparked my interest in Han Dynasty painting & portraiture. The show delves into the art of painting to the point of exploring the concepts of line & form, & the inference of a subject without actually showing it. Surprisingly, this held my attention as much as waiting to see how the lead characters will achieve their ends. Oddly though, the drama purports to tie up "loose ends" & yet it leaves the arc of the royal princes battling each other hanging, with a 3rd prince frequently mentioned but never shown.
As a fan of the gods & demons genre, however, I found this drama overall very entertaining.
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Strong start, awful middle, and strong finish
I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed with how this drama turned out, because I was initially extremely interested in this drama and couldn’t wait for next week to come faster. While the drama has a strong start with an amazing cast, music, and special effects, the storyline starts dragging and repeating itself midway through. This loss in momentum is the main reason why I and so many other people ended up rating this drama a lot lower than it should have been rated. Additionally, the romance fell extremely flat for me, and while there wasn’t much character development and interaction, the leads seemed to have fallen in love almost instantly due to the one day they spent together as kids and a few strange encounters when they were 20 years older. This led to a lot of unclear character motivations since all laws of logic were pointing to the fact that they shouldn’t be this attached to one another after having met just a handful of times. Ignoring all that, I did think that the drama had a very strong finish. The last episode, while extremely cheesy at the end, was intense, heartwarming, and quite satisfying. I was not expecting much at that point and was actually pleasantly surprised. All in all, I’d only recommend this drama for those who can’t get enough of Kim Yoo Jung and Ahn Hyo Seop (like me!) or otherwise enjoy strangely paced historical fantasy with a million plot holes. Everything about this drama screamed perfect, and it’s a shame that the repetitive and dragged out writing had to let the drama down like that.Was this review helpful to you?
Overall I feel satisfied, because during this drama there are many moral messages that we can apply in our lives today.In addition, the background music is very suitable with the acting scenes of the actors/actresses, no wonder if in several episodes I was carried away crying and moved. And yes, as I watched in the last part, I thought that this drama was not finished or it could be said that there might be a season two, ohh I can't wait.. You have to finish this first or you will regret it :*
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Thank you.
This is really good. I loved it and I will go back to rewatch it. The fantasy was all there! I love Ha Ram and Hong Chun Ki. This is a must-watch... I don't want to give any of this story away but it was absolutely wanted to make someone focus on every single minute.1. Kim Yoo Jung whose character is Hong Chun Ki was absolutely believable in this role. She was awesome playing this character. I would like to see her more.
2. Ahn Hyo Seop whose character is Ha Ram, wow what a handsome man this one is. This is my first time seeing this actor I want to see more of him in other dramas. I will be added some of his drama.
3. Gong Myung who played Prince Yang Myung / Lee Yul did really well in his role. He was a softy.
The visuals were great and on fire! The location set was great. The costumes, I loved. The Martial artist had that little fantasy to it and I loved it. Everyone did great in the drama...all the support actor/actresses Thank You. To the Screenwriter... I applaud you.
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Perfect ending ,no flaws
I love it ,all actors and their acting ,too good.Even the one old couple most of the time shows affection too each other that was cute. At the ending part of the drama they had seen where they were showing their love to eachother by saying eachother by the name wife and husband.
Ha Ram was too good both the part of acting ,good and bad (devil) both are too good . Specially the seen when the devil said ne nun (my eyes) .
Cheongi acting specially in the last part when she got blind and her father came to say goodbye to her ,Oh God so emotional ,.even I got tears .
The king's third son,I forgot his character's name but he was just perfect felt bad that his love story remain incomplete.
Cheongi's the two companion were also very good ,the way they support her.
At last the tiger's spirit and Shamshin they got little scenes but the good one.
Is there second season of this drama because of the very last scene , I think . Music and songs were also very good. Two or three episodes had romantic scene ,I wanted to see more but the second thought that story was so good ,other thing become not so important
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Engaging so please do not mind the low rates given by some people!
This story takes you on a smooth ride till the end.It's a relaxing watch with beautiful ML and FL.
I will recommend it as a light watch and a dreamy ML who appears ethereal.
He was good in yhe Abyss too!
Over-all, nice story and beautifully done but still not to the level of dramas such as Eternal Love, Ashes of Love, Mr Queen, The Joy of Life, Alchemy of Souls, The Eternal Love, Love Under the Moonlight and Reborn Rich !
Still a nice watch! Almost felt like there shouldn't be a season two!
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