Moorim School (2016)

Honestly, I believe that this story had so much potential to be a lot more popular. The plot was original and I don't of any other dramas that are like this one. I was also excited to see Hongbin from VIXX acting the for the first time along with Lee Hyun Woo who I saw last saw in To The Beautiful You. The thing I wished that could have been better was if the story was explained a lot more, there was so much room for development which could have maybe made the drama more appealing. Although, the things I did like were the diversity in the cast coming from different parts of the world and the thought that friendship is so important in life. This is my first review guys since joining this website today so, bear with me :)

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Logic sometimes doesn't track, most villains are cartoonish, and somehow I still give it a 7?

I'll jump write into it. I enjoyed it for decent chunks. It's not award winning stuff, and it has full scenes that are just dumb and sometimes even annoying.

There's a character that pretty much talks more in English than Korean but if it's supposed to be implied that it's his first language, the ball is dropped, he'll sometimes form a sentence in a way that has never been used before and genuinely just takes you out of the scene, on top of the character just sucking in general. The guy doesn't even have a redemption arc but is mentioned positively at the end for who knows what reason. The show even tries to teach a lesson of... "|even those who betray you are still your comrades"... The fuck? What are the writers smoking with that one... it's brought up more than once. Cut toxic people out of your lives, you're not a stepping stool.

Some antagonists smile and give evil triumphant looks in moments where it really doesn't make sense, and are as mentioned in the headline, cartoonish.

With all this negative talk, how did I still give it a seven? Well, the main cast does some heavy lifting, decent acting and a decent story involving them if you ignore most of the "villains" involved. (The evil dad is the only worthwhile antagonist).

Lastly but certainly not least, the show bumped up its rating by probably a full point, if not more, by letting the story breathe and continue after the climax. I have an irrationally powerful hatred for stories that end soon after the big moment and leave so much for the audience to fill in and assume. The series showed us where the characters are. their relationships, and key moments for the last half of the final episode, and that in itself bumped it up.

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Watch only if you're extremely bored and got nothing to watch

It started off really well ,up to episode 5 it was amazing, but then started to really go downhill. The story line was basic it was predictable nothing mindblowing. The love triangle got annoying seeing how they dragged it till the last episode. Hong bin's character was really annoying tbh I didn't like him.
But the ending was satisfying. Osts were pretty good considering it was sung by vixx ?❤️.
The acting wasn't the best,its mediocre. The cinematography was really bad except some scenes they had unique ways of showing things. Otherwise they kept doing shit with the camera and I was so annoyed.
Dont really reccomend but like yeah a one time watch

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I absolutely adore Hyun Woo and Hong Bin and they didn't disappoint. Acting was good but I fell in love with the bromance! It was sweet and emotional and angsty. The characters back stories were intriguing and the plot was interesting. Super entertaining but not thoughtless the dialog was great. Seo Ye Ji was cute and just a powerful character at the same time. That love triangle though lol its AWFUL when you like both the male leads that much! Both the leads are dealing with some kind of disability that weighs them down. Hyun Woo played the role of an idol who had hearing trouble and Hong Bin was a chaebol who was born to a mistress and has a manipulative scheming father.

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If you enjoy X-Men, you'll probably enjoy this, even though it's definitely NOT X-Men

Off the bat: Moorim School has similar feels to X-men sometimes, but without *everyone* having special powers (instead, everyone is trained in martial arts).

Moorim School started pretty well, but as the drama continued, is suffered from pacing issues, which made it hard for me to stay engaged with the drama. There were some really cool action sequences, but then there would be really boring, draggy bits where the plot progressed really slowly. >.<

While I enjoyed the overall plot of the story, I have some critiques. I personally feel that the actors look too old for their roles as young college students. I also found the rehabilitation for Chae Yoon was unrealistic and too fast. I really didn't like the new villain trainer actress towards the very end of the drama, played by Kil Hae Yeon; I like the actress in other dramas (such as My Fellow Citizens), but I did not like how she portrayed her villainess character in this role.
Personally the biggest downfall to this drama is how Chi Ang was portrayed in the end - I don't like how Chi Ang turned into such a pathetic guy. While his growth could be argued as logical and realistic, I just didn't like the progression of his character and his dynamics with the other characters as a result of his "growth". On that note, it is not well portrayed as to how and why Si Woo has such a close relationship with Chi Ang when they didn't really have a long or in-depth friendship. The story spent so much time with them fighting and being "enemies" that I just don't see why Si Woo is so attached to Chi Ang as a "best" friend (and no, the general, "Si Woo is a good person and cares about Chi Ang" is not a sufficient explanation).

While I have a lot of criticisms, I did overall generally enjoy the drama. It has a great epilogue and it's a happy ending. Would I rewatch it? No. Would I recommend it? No, probably not. But I might listen to some OSTs from this drama since they were very enjoyable.

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THIS DRAMA IS ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!!!

Moorim school is one of the first Korean dramas I ever watched and I LOVED IT!!! So I continued watching Korean dramas and I been in love ever since.

I love the fact that although this drama seem very cliche, it is very much NOT a cliche. You will fall in love with all the characters especially: Lee Hyun Woo, Hong Bin, Seo Ye Ji.
Lee Hyun Woo ( featured in IU's music video for the song "You and I") also acted in The Liar and His Lover (2017) and The Scholar Who Walks the Night (2015), which I STRONGLY recommend.

Hong Bin (is a member of the South Korean boy group VIXX) acted in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (2018) Witch's Love (2018) and Wednesday 3:30 PM (2017) which are all sooooo AMAZING!!!!!

Seo Ye Ji who acted in It's Okay to Not Be Okay (Upcoming 2020 drama which also starrs Kim Soo Hyun), Lawless Attorney (2018) Save Me (2017), Hwarang (2016 drama which starred Park Seo Joon, Go Ah Ra, Park Hyung Shik, Choi Min Ho, Do Ji Han and V, a member of the boy band BTS), Another Miss Oh (2016 drama which starred Eric Mun, Seo Hyun Jin, Jeon Hye Bin, Ye Ji Won. Kim Ji Suk and Lee Jae Yoon).

ALL the actors in this drama are SO TALENTED and went on to do greater things because of the SUCCESS of this drama.

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Worth watching for the acting and the bromance

I avoided this drama for 5 years. What I usually do, when deciding if I should watch a drama, is open a random episode at a random scene and see if it pulls me in. With this drama, I first saw the rescue from the 'wolves' with a whip, a slingshot, a whole lot of clumsy directing and 2 girls trying so hard to look cool and tough that I laughed out loud. That was my first 'OMG! no thank you' to this drama. A couple of years later, I tried again. The random scene was another rescue, on a bike this time. And I went: hmmm, I guess this is supposed to be thrilling or something. Looks dumb though. That was my second 'no thank you' to this series. A couple of days ago, I clicked on the first episode and here I am, writing my very first review ever.

Did I change my mind about the directing of this drama?
Not at all. It looks amateurish. It's clumsy. The action is not the strong point of this series. Also, at some point in the later episodes, I wondered if the cameraman was drunk - the camera kept swaying from side to side so much.

The writing was also not the strong point. In my opinion, the whole fantasy element needed to be fleshed out a lot more. Or dropped altogether. As it is, it's just a cliche. As is the magic in this drama. A pity! The writing lacks subtility at times (like when a villain starts to laugh evilly just to show how very evil he is, because maybe we weren't paying attention for the past 13 hours or so). But still, there were some dialogue lines that made me sit back and pay attention.

The flashbacks! So many many many of them in so many episodes. Why? Lack of confidence in the clarity of the script? Or in the delivery of the actors? But they just bogged the rhythm down.
And were unnecessary.
Because, and this is why I'm here at 2 am writing my first review ever, the actors actually rose above all these shortcomings and brought their characters to life and made me care for them. In this, the show succeeded completely. And considering the amount and the nature of the shortcomings, it's no small feat.

Wang Chi Ang: got to give credit where it's due - the screenwriter gave him a great storyline, a great character growth. He had the capacity for the best and for the worst, and had to choose sides. And he did. Hong Bin really impressed me. All the emotions were there, and all the nuances, and much more. Wow!

Yoon Shi Woo: not an easy character to interpret as he was so withdrawn and quiet. Lee Hyun Woo was great, giving us a Shi Woo both endearing and strong. A true and caring leader. His character arc was done almost as well as Chi Ang's. There are just some things that we should have seen, in my opinion (what kind of a leader he was with his band members, the internal change that motivated the hair color change, etc.). Oh, and how nice was it, that his love story developed out of friendship. Just slowly and naturally. Kudos to the writer.

Shin Hyun Joon (Hwang Moo Song): mmmm, he just needed to stand there, looking over his domain, and I cared for his plight and trusted him.

Jang Gwang (Bup Gong): screenwriter, he did not need the evil laugh.

The two female leads were nice, but their martial arts were so so. When they were teaching their mentees, I had a good laugh. Most of the scenes involving girls and martial arts in this series made me laugh. Oh well, it's okay, show, most of the guys weren't much better. Oh, and Shim Soon Duk's dad was annoying as hell. Also, why was he even alive? Ah, yes, I didn't mention it before, but there are plot holes in this show. Lots of them. But what can I say? The actors, for me, did somehow rise above all the shitty stuff and made their characters real. And the bromance made my day.

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Lots going for it

I'll start by saying that if you like to watch a drama about friendship, this is a good one to watch.

This show had a lot going for it. This drama did an EXCELLENT job with the main characters, for the most part. The two male leads, from the beginning, were obnoxious and unlikeable, each in their own way. I really appreciated them learning to work together and the friendship that they developed. Their characters grew pretty early on, so then it got easier to watch them. As for the female leads, I loved how they didn't make them romantic rivals with all the backstabbing that entails, but made them good friends. Seo Yea Ji as Shim Soon Duk, after the first couple of episodes, became the type of female lead that I really enjoy - smart, caring, a little quirky. In the first couple of episodes her reactions were very over-the-top and jarring. Thankfully that didn't last long. I just love her voice, as well. I almost didn't recognize her, since this drama is a few years old, but her voice gave her away. As for the romance, I didn't quite get why the male characters liked who they did, it just happened right away without any buildup.

My main problem with this drama was the production quality. I'm showing my age here, but it reminded me of when I used to watch Dark Shadows when I was a teen. The graininess of the film and the cheapness of the sets really bothered me. And did they run out of money to hire extras? Were there really only about 10 people at the school? It seemed like they tried to find at least a short backstory for each of the people, which at times made the script very clunky, because nothing was developed fully.

So, for me, the drama was good, not great, but I loved the friendships.

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I love it when romance is the side story and there is more in the drama then a boy fell for a girl. The story contains action, fantasy and romance, and can be easily defined as romantic drama but its not. It was one of the first series I watched, a friend recommended it and I was skeptic about it, but it was really engaging and I wanted to watch it in one time, but the long episodes made me take the time. The last few episodes weren't as engage as the first ones, and it took a while to finish the series. Jung So Min and Jung Yoo Jin gave good performance, I didn't like Hong Bin role at this time.

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