Cho Na

Were you watching when it was just started and the ratings dropped to 6.8 in the first week? It was quite scary. It was not even trending or in the top airing! Many people overlooked it, thinking it was a bad drama!

Hmmm... Although there are witty dialogues, especially the banter between ML and FL, but they are not necessary comical. If you like something thrilling and suspenseful, this is more like it. But if you love both ML and FL, might as well you try it ;D. If you usually avoid historical because of palace politic, so far this doesn't really have one. More action and supernatural I think.

Did you watch all their dramas?

Actually, some names can be translated. For example Songrim (송림) is 'pine forest'. But although Pine Forest is easier to remember than Songrim, the name of the places better left untranslated because they're not translated in the drama either.
Some other places I don't put here:
Cwisunru: I call it the entertainment center, lol. Because it's not really a brothel. The characters mostly eat and drink there. Even Cheon Yeol comes there, while traditionally women cannot go in there.
Sari Village: where Mu Deok comes from.
Danhyanggok: where Naksu comes from.
Hopefully it helps.

Thank goodness they only tell about 4 families!!! Can you imagine if all 12 have their own stories? It will need way more than 20 episodes... unless Hong Sisters want to make a series of it, lol lol...

Yeah, I like writing this, because I know that many names, organization, or places, are the drawback that make people don't like watching historicals. With this article I like to help them understand, so hopefully they can enjoy the story.

Thanks for adding the info here. Yes, you're right. There are 12 families of mages. But we just found that out in Episode 6, during the council meeting, if I'm not mistaken? I don't think they informed us about before in Episode 1-4, unless I missed it. But it's okay if readers read your comment here, since it's not a major spoiler, I think...

I just checked Josen Exorcist's Wikipedia site. It's said international fans petitioned the drama to be aired in international platforms like Netflix. Hopefully it's materialized, or the story will be recycled.

Yeah, I hardly watch any drama as currently airing, usually I'm a binge-watcher.

I didn't even realize of the real age gaps until people pointed it out in the comment section last time, lol. In fact, probably because she's petite, Jung So Min doesn't look older than Lee Jae Wook, Hwang Min Hyun, or Yoo In Soo. Especially her character is tomboy and her costume is boyish, so she doesn't need heavy makeup that can make her look older. Not yet... ;D

Yeah, before this drama started people already worried it would have the same fate as JE. But I pointed out in the comment at that time, that show is cancelled because the Korean criticized of its historical distortion. JE has a 'Joseon' on the title, so of course they expected it would be a Joseon era setting. Were that drama not using any era, probably it would survive. So I think in the future SK will produce more of this type of dramas that don't use any Korean historical era.

this week is horror theme?

I know, right. I was here during the first weeks when the rating took a dive. The fight was quite... fierce, lol. Plus people were afraid the show would be cancelled...

AoS Nation, lol... Daehoans?

I watched a lot of fantasy historical Cdramas (wuxia, xianxia, xuanhuan) and I feel like they mass produce them and copy each other in many aspects (plot, characterization, setting, costume, etc) that become boring and non-creative. Now there is a strong competition from South Korea, especially since they built a set for this drama and others in the future. As I mentioned in my article if this drama becomes a phenomenon of fantasy sageuk ;D

sorry misunderstanding... It's already scheduled in 10 hours to be in the main page. I just put the link here for you guys the drama fans to read/comment ahead ;D

I just learned about water army through writing this article, lol

It was not trending before neither was at the top show airing on MDL

I started writing an article on MDL about this drama when it was released. So I was anxious when the rating dropped as low as 6.8 during the first week, possibly because of the great fight between kdramas vs cdramas or hanbok vs hanfu, lol. Good thing that it survived. If you haven't watched the drama yet, or want someone to watch it, here's the article that details things in the drama with mild spoilers of non-plot stuff, so it's a good read for recommendation ;D. Enjoy!
https://kisskh.at/article/currently-watching-alchemy-of-souls

The nature surroundings in Mungyeong is really beautiful and historical, no wonder if they built another open set for filming there. The most famous one, Mungyeong Saejae (built by KBS), is specifically for Joseon era setting. The other one, Gaeun, is for rural historical setting. At the new location they built Songrim, and other drama locations like the interior of the palace that is different than the usual sageuk's palaces. Once this drama gains success, more fantasy historical productions will use the new open set ;D

official trailer with Eng sub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mucj7wUJi4

Now I'm curious... did you read the novel translated or in Chinese?