This drama makes me wanting more and more
I honestly didn't expect that this drama could be this good! Im a fan of the original novel, the author also the same with the moon that embraces the sun and Sungkyunkwan scandal.. so I was looking forward to this, but then everything went wild when i watched the first two episodes, it wasn't exactly the same from the novel but it was really good with their own ways! I love the fast-paced plot, i love the acting, i love the editing.. and more importantly i really love the music director of this drama! I felt like i was watching a movie because every scene was so intense ! The background music in every scene was so amazing! If you are a fan of fantasy drama (not only sageuk but also modern drama) you will love this one too! Because the drama will give you the instant urgency to watching and waiting for the coming episodes!Was this review helpful to you?
I keep re-watch the drama from episode 1 to 4
How can the drama so good, I'm crying. It's have been long I left historical kdrama. I like the plot, not boring, the acting, the chemistry. I'm dying to wait all the rest of the drama. I like the costume. Of course the behind the scene also cute. I like how all the cast and staff enjoy the filming. Well I never watch ahn hyo seop drama before. And I saw some comments that he can't act before . But He is good in this drama. For yoo jung, I'm speechless of her beauty and acting. No need to comment more because she's good in saeguk drama. The most scene that gives me goosebumps is when they want to put the demon inside the painting. That's all.. Enjoy.Was this review helpful to you?
My favorite
Ahn Hyo-seop is my favorite actor I loved this drama ir any drama he stars in. I thought the storyline was thrilling, suspenseful and well written. I loved the red eyes on him he totally looked good with them. Ahn Hyo-Seop acting is so good that he makes you feel the pain or joy with him , my opinion great. All the actors did a great job in this drama. ❤❤❤❤❤❤ i honestly dobt know how anyone couldn't like this drama or not give it a 10 in everything. I have actually watxh it a few times and never get tired if of it or my favorite.Was this review helpful to you?
Disappointed.
When i first saw this show was going to be airing, i was so excited because i enjoy the 2 main leads. I was rather disappointed with how the show turned out. I got hooked at some points, but then got bored at other parts. I enjoyed the story line but could have been done better in my opinion. i still enjoyed it for the most part, does not have any rewatch value in my eyes. Also the part the "gods" took in this show very much confused me, like i understood their purpose at some moments and then other moments it was just very random, again i was overall disappointed in this series.Was this review helpful to you?
If you like fantasy...mainly
I came into this drama with the idea that I would get a chance to see the main guy with his hair long and down, or just a really good romance, I was wrong. I found this to be a drama that was more geared towards the fantasy elements which I like the fantasy in other shows because when done right there can be a good blend of the two worlds. In this case, this show is more about the ma wang character than the actual couple. So if you are in for the romance, I would not recommend this drama. But, if you enjoy just the fantasy aspect then maybe it is up your alley. In my case, it was not for me. I did like the girl white tiger she was my favorite. I also enjoyed the art pieces since I am an artist but towards the end seeing the same piece being painted over and over made this dull to watch as a creative. I wouldn't rewatch this which is a shame since I have been fond of both leads in other shows, oh well on the next.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Blind red eyes
A blind girl who regains her sight and a boy who has lost it. They meet again after twenty years.She became a painter and he became the king's supervising astrologer, also known as the "red-eyed monster".
The young prince and the astronomer fall in love with her, but her heart belongs completely to her old friend.
As a divine painter she should restore the portrait of last king to trap the evil spirit that has taken possession of the young man's body . This proves more difficult than expected.
Great OST.
NB how can a blind boy give a vote in a painting competition?
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Promising start -artistic and beautiful, yet the romance gets annoying after
The first few episodes were so great, they introduce a fresh, new, and an amazing fantasy storyline. From the cast itself, I knew that the acting will be marvelous and they show cleverness in acting as I expected but sometimes Ahn Hyo Seop forgets that he’s supposed to act as a blind man. I already watched a lot of Korean historical drama and most of them bored me at some point, the same goes with this drama but I’m grateful to witness a historical inserting magical powers and believes that make the story more colorful.The best part of the show is how they highlighted the traditional skill of drawing and painting. The gathering or competition among many painters was my favorite episode of all time. The way they executed the variety of brushing techniques, the sound of papers and brush, the big factor of being able to draw an art that has different kind of impression, and the quality effects of each drawings was really a masterpiece. I have so much fun watching the episode so much plus the three best friends call sign is so hilarious and cute (troublemaker, nuisance, and frown).
The early episodes were light and comedic but then it gets serious and dramatic. It was during EP12 when I started to hate the romance from the story. Obviously, they failed to emphasize the love story in a more pleasant way. Perhaps it became another cliché story that let either one of the lovers affects the people around them just because of their undying love on each other. The girl does risky things even thou she or her beloved people can be killed any minute. Then the boy sudden change of heart is odd, I hate it when he’s loyal subordinate man sacrifices his life just to save the father of his girlfriend. Where is the years of planning for vengeance? The same goes with the girl, the antagonist was right when he called that the reason why her father was killed was simply because of her desperate love for his boyfriend.
On the other hand, I love how the second and third prince rivalry story were given an open ended story. The second prince shows explicit facial expression on acting as an antagonist, it was good. The third prince was one of my early favorite because of his cuteness and innocent character. Every royal family in a drama always have to fight for the throne all the time. The demon and all other mythical creatures explicit in the show is something I am really happy about.
Another part of the show that I love the most is the music (OSTs, background songs). Byun Baekhyun proves that he is one of the most incredible singer in the industry. Hearing his song is a beautiful perfection fit for the concept and cinematography of the show. All of the music are cool, especially the background song plays when the characters are painting during the competition, a soothing and elegance vibes.
Overall, it was really good but only the romance during the last few episodes affected my enjoyment of watching. The ending is okay as well as the epilogue. The cast are the reason I started to watch the show but I fell in love with the story which was a great experience for me as a viewer.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's good
I initially started this drama because it's An Hyeseop fr. It's good it has a straightforward approach with the plot instead of flashbacks. Im not sure if I appreciated that because I like to wonder "oh what could be the cause of that" "how did he end up like that " but they just put it right at the beginning.What I dont like with the story (episode 1 to like the mid of ep 16) is that one of the main characters is always at a disadvantage, but ig it's okay.
The whole demon thing and the 2nd Prince felt underdeveloped and rushed. They should've spent more time on them. Because honestly there wasn't the full effect there like "okay they're there, they are obviously not going to win or achieve anything" i love when the villains give me anxiety tbh It's much better because the ending is more satisfying 💯.
I also felt that the main characters' chemistry was kinda lacking in some ways dont know how to explain that. The only thing that they got going for them is their history
Overall, it's a good drama, not the best I have watched but far from the worst.
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Enjoyable if you have the right attitude
It's a mistake to take a supernatural saeguk too seriously. Parts of this were so hyper that it was quite funny. I kept wondering what the Ha Ram script looked like as he turned into various manifestations of the demon - what are the stage directions like? The changes certainly kept the makeup people busy. And how many times did Painter Hong say abeoji in this drama? Good grief. I'm very fussy about CG, and all the CG effects were well done.This is possibly the most over the top historical I've ever seen, to the point that it became absurd. But it still provided pretty good entertainment. The cast did a great job, the writing wasn't annoying, it was a little over-long but not horribly, and even the music did not offend. It was fun to watch, and you could spend your time in a worse way - like watching Squid Game.
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so much potential
Great cinematography, great actors, really handsome ML, powerful beginning. After the first two episodes I was totally in love with this drama. I love fantasy and I love romance, it was perfect for me. But man they throw it away... Half of the show is good but the other half is so bad that in the end i don't recommend anyone to lose time with this. The problem is that each episode is half good and half bad: after each major scene there is endless time where the characters involved in that scene explain to all the other characters what just happened, what does it means, what they have to do next. Then they do that and the routine begin again.Half of each episodes is dragged from the beginning to the end of the show.
Another big problem is that the rules of magic in this world are a bit confused. It is not really clear when Ma Wang manifest, how strong are his power compared to the others and how powerful are the magical items. The magical spirits are cool but in some ways not so convincing, in particular the white guy and the green guy.
Last but not least the plot in the end is a bit weak and you can really feel it because of all the useless scenes.
I'm so disappointed, the premises were really cool.
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This review may contain spoilers
Compelling story with a good heart, great acting, and magnificent effects
I just finished Lovers of the Red Sky and cannot understand the number of very negative reviews generated by this enjoyable and beautiful drama. Perhaps I am more easily pleased than most but I found the story to be compelling and fascinatingly multi-faceted with a good heart beating under its skin. I enjoyed the complete acceptance of interaction between humans and immortals without a trace of skepticism to be refreshing. And art at its very center - the power of art, the divine gift of a great artist to be a beautiful unifying thread. The power of art to overcome evil, to bring joy, beauty, harmony to life is a powerful undercurrent to this well told story.The acting was good across the board though I've never been a fan of the twitching lips and nostrils that seem to be cliche motions for the bad guy! More importantly, the chemistry between the artist and the astronomer was powerful, poetic, and palpable. It was wonderful to see their love blossom and them living happily ever after.
The ambiguous ending with the forces of the good prince and his evil brother attacking each other reminds us that the battle between good and evil does not end and even as our hero and heroine live happily and happily far away from the strife in the capitol, that battle still rages and at some point may even touch them again.
It's a beautiful story, worth telling, worth experiencing.
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It was a painting show disguised as a supernatural drama.
It was a good drama, just not that great. The first 3 episodes suck you in because you're like "Hey, this is a cool supernatural drama." Then from episode 4 to 11 it lost all its steam, became draggy, kept repeating lots of plot that we've already been told about in the first few episodes and becomes a painting show. They seemed to forget that they were battling an evil spirit and when they DO remember, it's sprinkled in randomly in some scenes.It picks up after episode 11 and finally gets back to being a supernatural show, but then everything is rushed and they just start throwing so much random stories at you. It had the LONGEST revenge plot, which makes sense why it took so long because of the plot twist they throw at you in the end. It had the dumbest "overthrowing the king" plot line that all came to an abrupt, end when the king decided to put his son in time out. There were two random characters that had NO sort of explanation as to why they were in the series and involved in the revenge story (I'm talking about Ha Ram's right hand man and the Courtesan Lady) but we do get a little bit about the right hand guy for about 5 mins.
Then there was Ha Ram who you weren't quite sure if he was blind or not. The dude kept following people with his eyes and ANSWERING TO SILENT NODS, which made me think he was faking (he wasn't) and was pretty much the Korean Daredevil.
In terms of romance, you get one kiss in episode 6 or 7 and two in the last episode. It was pretty minimal because whenever these two were together Ha Ram was trying to kill her soooo.....there's that. You have a Second Lead (The Prince) who stood NO chance what so ever, so there were no love triangles, just the one that was in his imagination.
Finally the last episode came and everything was rushed, but you get the HAPPIEST of endings. (time skip) It's set up for a season two between the brothers, (with one of them coming again with another long ass revenge plot) but I do not care because the leads got their end and that's all that matters. I will not be watching it if they decide to do one. Does this warrant a re-watch? Yes, if you're into just staring at Paul Ahn in all his tall, red eyes, handsome glory. If not, nah, but it's good for a first watch.
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