Call me a boring person, I love my comedy here and there, but it just took away from this drama.
Due to the first few episodes, I was expecting something more like Bridal Mask and this made me very excited. Instead, I got a bunch of comedy and a lackluster ending. Yong is a funny guy but that doesn't necessarily mean the dialogues need to be funny all the time, there's a difference between humor from one guy and outright comedic scenes. If there was slightly more comedy than what was presented, it should be labelled as a comedy.
The setup was all there, it had the potential to be as good or better than bridal mask. or even become a masterpiece. I also did not enjoy bridal mask's 2nd half as much as the first half, but Iljimae took it to the next level. The plot was messy in the 2nd half, characters (especially villains) were often too simple/one-dimensional. I nearly cried during the first half, but the 2nd half did nothing to live up to that. The deaths didn't seem as impactful anymore near the end. I would rather see the drama go hardcore on the revenge aspect, but it almost seemed like the writers/directors just wanted to have fun with it, and give a more lighthearted, and simpler show to the audience near the end.
Another remark is that Iljimae was probably bipolar, I'm not sure if this was intentional or bad scripts made him seem that way but his emotions change too abruptly. Sometimes he is acting, either to hide his emotions from family members or enemies, but other times, it just seems absurd that he could act that way given his situation. He's also not very credible, gaining so much skill in such a short period of time, and the plot armor..
Note that I am speaking relative to my expectations of it, I still found it to be very good overall.
One of the few chinese dramas where I grew attached to the characters so it did very well on the emotional part. The characters just fit together so well, even though individually, they were not all amazing.
I wouldn't call it a mess except for the ending. There were messy parts throughout the story but it doesn't take away too much from the main idea. It was incredibly entertaining throughout, even deep at times. However, it suffers from the typical decline, as the story progresses, starts off strong, and to its credit, remains good for a majority of the story, but then falls off near the end.
9.5/10 first quarter, 9/10 first half, 8.5/10 overall :(
I had much lower expectations going into this due to some of the comments/reviews, but I can say I was pleased with it (except the ending).
Good overall, starts off strong, but falls off near the end when things are revealed, depends on how you interpret it. The psychological warfare isn't nearly as intelligent/genuine as in Nirvana in Fire, a drama with much of the same cast.
Story and characters are all over the place, there is consistency in the beginning and sometime around the middle.
Beginning can be a bit overwhelming so maybe they didn't do the best job at introducing everyone but if you are willing to focus and think about everything then you can piece things together more quickly. Ending leaves things to be desired, maybe there is a sequel, if not then that's not the coolest ending to say the least.
Overall, not perfect, but definitely one of the best drama up to date. I've seen/read better stories, just not in the drama medium so I think this is as good as it gets.
Does anyone have any good recommendations aside from the ones already listed, I'm looking for historical romance…
Thanks for the recommendation, I will check out, meanwhile I got into these drama: Nirvana in Fire - really hyped in China, meets the criteria but maybe lacks romance, more intense/suspenseful than this one. Chinese paladin - really similar to this one except there may be a bit of magic. Surprise they both have Hu Ge!
Due to the first few episodes, I was expecting something more like Bridal Mask and this made me very excited. Instead, I got a bunch of comedy and a lackluster ending. Yong is a funny guy but that doesn't necessarily mean the dialogues need to be funny all the time, there's a difference between humor from one guy and outright comedic scenes. If there was slightly more comedy than what was presented, it should be labelled as a comedy.
The setup was all there, it had the potential to be as good or better than bridal mask. or even become a masterpiece. I also did not enjoy bridal mask's 2nd half as much as the first half, but Iljimae took it to the next level. The plot was messy in the 2nd half, characters (especially villains) were often too simple/one-dimensional. I nearly cried during the first half, but the 2nd half did nothing to live up to that. The deaths didn't seem as impactful anymore near the end. I would rather see the drama go hardcore on the revenge aspect, but it almost seemed like the writers/directors just wanted to have fun with it, and give a more lighthearted, and simpler show to the audience near the end.
Another remark is that Iljimae was probably bipolar, I'm not sure if this was intentional or bad scripts made him seem that way but his emotions change too abruptly. Sometimes he is acting, either to hide his emotions from family members or enemies, but other times, it just seems absurd that he could act that way given his situation. He's also not very credible, gaining so much skill in such a short period of time, and the plot armor..
Note that I am speaking relative to my expectations of it, I still found it to be very good overall.
I wouldn't call it a mess except for the ending. There were messy parts throughout the story but it doesn't take away too much from the main idea. It was incredibly entertaining throughout, even deep at times. However, it suffers from the typical decline, as the story progresses, starts off strong, and to its credit, remains good for a majority of the story, but then falls off near the end.
9.5/10 first quarter, 9/10 first half, 8.5/10 overall :(
I had much lower expectations going into this due to some of the comments/reviews, but I can say I was pleased with it (except the ending).
Story and characters are all over the place, there is consistency in the beginning and sometime around the middle.
Overall, not perfect, but definitely one of the best drama up to date. I've seen/read better stories, just not in the drama medium so I think this is as good as it gets.