I AM REKT. This show had me ugly crying. I was not prepared for the level of acting and story telling I was given. I CANNOT COPE. HOW TF AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND SOMETHING AS GOOD AS THIS NOW.
I was not prepared for how emotional this drama made me. It took me a while to get to it. I watched the first episode a couple years ago but only just watched the whole thing now. And I realize I was sleeping on a mine this whole time.
I've never agreed and disagreed with an article so much in my life. I do admit that the representation of vampirism isn't particularly high among Asian cinema (aside from The Journey, and Thirst and a plethora of Chinese/Hong Kong cinema) and I wouldn't mind seeing more decent vampire movies or shows from South Korea in particular. I can at least tell you that although Japanese writers may not be pouring their effort into dramas or movies, there is PLENTY of anime that incorporates vampires (my favorite portrayal being Bakemonogatari). My beef here though is that I must disagree with your model of the pinnacle of vampiric production. I get that in the end it's all a matter of personal taste, but (not to attack your opinion) out of all the popular culture surrounding vampires in the world, Twilight? And because it's the most "realistic"? I'm unsure how vampires--fictional creatures, are supposed to be "realistic" in the first place. That's what my issue is here really cause this sticks out to me as a logical fallacy. I think you might be confusing the mundanity of the plot of Twilight with "realism", a genre that has no place in the realm of vampirism because vampires by their very nature are fiction. I'm sorry, I digress, I think some grudge that I managed to bury after the fervor of Twilight finally died down just got rekindled again. In any other sense I agree with you though. (Although I also gotta defend my boys Lee Joon Ki and Lee Soo Hyuk cause I'm biased and can unabashedly say they can do no wrong in my eyes, acting-wise.)
This is probably the most childish thing I've watched in a while. Literally. As I watched these high schoolers I kept thinking of that show the Rugrats. You know where they play pretend and the adults are all ignorant and obsolete and everything seems so serious for the kids when it's all just pretend. I mean the storyline is just ridiculous. You got a bunch of 30 year old men playing children running some sort of wack money grubbing fighting syndicate. And then they try to shove some emotions down your throat in episode 2. Like what the hell? Every time there was some big gathering of "the group" I just kept thinking "where are your parents? What happens after you graduate?". And I'm sorry I like EXO, I respect its members. I'm sure this role just didnt do Sehun justice but I legit could not take him seriously in this role. Maybe it's his baby face or soft voice, he just doesnt come off as a rough around the edges delinquent who revels in violence. None of the characters were ever once menacing, just annoying. (Especially the females who were degraded down to insulting proportions). Ultimately the script and story line were severely lacking. A shame really as I feel there were some wasted talents here.
As someone whose best friend has battled with suicidal thoughts for years, this movie hit really close to home. I think that this is the ultimate fantasy for anyone close to a suicidal person.
Kim Shin (Goblin)
Eun Hwan Ki (Introverted Boss)
An Min Hyuk (Strong Woman Do Bong Soon)