Onuta

An interesting, refreshing fantasy story, I watched it mainly for the plot. The main leads deliver terrible performances and feel completely miscast, in my opinion. Supporting cast, however, is solid enough that I’ve been generous with the acting score. Visually, the drama is quite strong, with very beautiful costumes in the spirit world and pleasing aesthetics.

I haven’t read the novel, but I believe this drama had potential and could have benefited from better direction, storytelling, and different main leads. The story remains fairly surface-level throughout, but it works well enough as light entertainment. It is one of those shows that, once finished, doesn’t really leave you with anything… except the fact that you finished it. Not great, not terrible, just sitting in that very specific category of “I watched it, therefore it exists.”

Still, one does hope more fantasy dramas continue to be made. They are flawed, certainly, but still more entertaining than many recent dramas that try to chase depth and end up with none. At least fantasy knows it is a fairy tale, and behaves accordingly.