W (2016)

Interesting at the beginning, but only okay by the end.

I'm gonna try to keep this as short as possible. "W" has a really strong, interesting premise, but I feel it begins tripping itself up between a third and half of the way through and basically collapses once it passes the finish line. I did find many of its ideas thought-provoking, but I feel "W" tried to do too much and too little at the same time, and thus self-sabotaged itself in a truly unfortunate manner.

The acting was alright. Most of the cast was fine (as a side note, seeing Park Won Sang so happy in his photo in the cast list was a huge jumpscare), while the triad of actors I internally dubbed "the Golden Trio" were absolutely excellent and tugged at my heartstrings every time: Lee Jong Suk (Kang Cheol), Kim Eui Sung (Oh Sung Moo), and Lee Si Eon (Park Soo Bong), with Heo Jung Do (Park Min Soo, aka Yeon Joo's boss) remaining only an honorable mention because he never made me cry (though he sure was funny!). I feel that the four actors I just mentioned gave their absolute all to their performances and it showed, worked well, and significantly improved the drama. In fact, I felt an immense amount of respect for Eui Sung Kim by the end, as just watching his face change from scene to scene was enough to make me cry. In his case, I could fully believe he was who he was portraying, and that's without even considering that he played two roles at once... What an incredible actor.

Han Hyo Joo (Oh Yeon Joo), however... I read that she has gotten awards and recognition before, and I have not watched her other work, but man... I don't know whether it was her, the script, the directing, or all three, but in many of the scenes she was in, she was about as animated as a mannequin. (I swear, the red flags started popping up when I watched the opening titled sequence for the first time with a blank expression even as Jong Suk Lee smiled at her.) She did show some more intense emotion at some points, but I really wanted to see her get immersed in the story and yet, somehow, I didn't. It is partially because of her that I think "W" did not leave a strong impression on me.

For this reason, I almost feel "W" should have been not about Yeon Joo and Cheol, but rather about Sung Moo, Soo Bong, and Cheol. They worked great together as a team, and when the action was focused on them, the story flowed much better because they actually moved with it instead of standing stiffly and waiting to be acted upon. For someone who was supposedly a protagonist, Yeon Joo sure didn't act like one.

And so I feel "W" tried to be too many things. It should have stuck to the more serious, intense tone all the way through. I actually really like romance and am not even remotely opposed to it - in fact, I LIKE when it is included - but here I feel that the over-intense focus on it complicated the story far too much. If it was more of a side thing, perhaps it would have worked better.

The music was okay but forgettable, and having to listen to the same sad song about love in every episode actually got rather annoying. Some editing/filming mistakes were left in the final product but that's more of a minor thing. The thing they did with Eui Sung Kim's face was definitely creepy. The characters themselves were mostly interesting (with those like Yeon Joo being the exception), and I feel that Kang Cheol was the strongest of them all. I'm not one to allow myself to obsess over actors, but with how Jong Suk Lee played the role... I mean, I think I really (respectfully) see why "W" may have been the best webtoon in Korea during its runtime. I just wish they'd given him more of a purpose in the latter half of the series because on his own he WAS a good character.

As a side note, the "W" webtoon art was both beautiful and somewhat inconsistent. I wish they'd structured some of the manhwa sections better because sometimes the chapters looked more like spliced-together highlight reels than actual story episodes. Also, I somehow found myself doubting that "W" could've been the top webtoon when much of its runtime seemed to be focused only on Kang Cheol searching for - and repeatedly failing to find - the real culprit.

The series also left some things unexplained, and seemed to bend its own rules at points where it found itself in a tight spot. I had to turn off my brain after about a third to half of the way through because I didn't want to care too much about a series I wasn't 100% locked in to anyway.

In the end? I guess "W" was okay. I probably won't be rewatching this (sorry, Kang Cheol!), but I'm glad I gave it another chance, at least.

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OLD REVIEW: Had to put this on hold.

I will be revisiting this show, but I honestly found it unbearable on the first watch. The female lead was strange and the story was kind of confused and directionless. I thought the initial idea was good but then everything kept getting more jumbled and unintelligible. It's been a few years since I've watched this but that's just what I remember feeling.

Like I said, I will revisit this but for now this is a no from me.

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I wanted to say that this drama was amazing. I wanted to ignore all of the bad reviews and try my best to look at the drama with fresh eyes. I thought that the first half of the drama was amazing, the story was fast pace, and the world was interesting. I would say that the writer did a good job of building a world that was unique. The drama had a lot of potential, but failed in execution.

The last half of the drama lost me. It was confusing and felt unorganized. I felt that the romance lost my interest and that the story just felt flat. The characters never grew on me like I hoped they would. And the final episode was terrible, it left me with more question than answers. I gave this dramas story a 8 because I did really enjoy the first half of the drama.

The acting was good, Lee Jong Suk never disappoints me. Han Hyo Joo did a good job to, this was my first time seeing her on screen. I thought all of the actors and actress did a very good job.

The music was not good in my opinion. I really don't remember any song that stood out to me in the drama.

I have no plan on rewatching this drama.

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W Two Worlds reseña

Vi este drama por primera vez hace bastante tiempo pero reconozco que lo he vuelto a ver ya un par de veces más. Empezaremos hablando de los actores protagonistas que son absolutamente maravillosos en sus respectivos papeles, tienen una química que traspasa la pantalla y creo que interpretaron muy bien sus papeles. Sé que hay gente que piensa que hacía el final baja el nivel pero para mí no fue para tanto, la verdad es que yo lo disfruté entero, prueba de ello es las veces que lo he vuelto a ver. Si os gusta este tipo de géneros que incluyen la fantasía, el romance etc os gustará este drama seguro. Para mi es de esos dramas que está en mi lista de dramas de 10.

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Slow in parts but still good

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2016 South Korean action drama with 16, 70 minute episodes.

Oh Yeon-Joo (Han hyo-Joo) is a resident physician with a famous cartoonist as her father. Yeon-Joo's father authors a very popular Korean webtoon titled "W". Many women are half in love with the dashing and charismatic lead in the webtoon, Kang Chul (Lee Jong-suk). Oh Yeon-Joo is not immune to the charm of the webtoon character and when she finds herself pulled into the webtoon world as the savior of Kang Chul, her interest in him grows. Kang Chul was an Olympic shooter whose entire family was shot in cold blood and he was the prime suspect and spent years in prison after being falsely accused of the crime by an overzealous prosecutor with political aspirations. He is eventually acquitted on legal technicalities and goes on to become the rich and powerful CEO of a company. He also fights crime through an organization he established during his quest to find the real killer of his family. The two worlds start to collide as the artist's tablet becomes a portal between the two worlds.

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Почему стоит смотреть?

Первая причина — Ли Чон Сок, а вторая все твои мечты... ахахаха Ладно, вторая причина — графика. На мой взгляд это первая подобная дорама, в которой сочетаются рисовка и реальный мир и это капец как эстетично, красиво и необычно *_* Ну и детективный сюжет сам по себе интересен, правда как по мне концовка слишком смазана =(

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I enjoyed this Drama my issue with it is that the first half of the series really grabs you and it grabs you quick. It gets right into the mystery action and romance. I was pleasantly surprised by this, but a problem came into play for the second part of the drama that unfortunately lowered the score that I could give this show. The second half of the show dragged a bit and I believe this is due to the "twist". Things don't necessarily slow down as much as they just start over in a way. I wouldn't say it's bad or boring but from the strong energy you get form the first half it just makes the second half of the series almost feel unnecessary till you get to the last few episodes. This in itself made it a bit of a chore to want to finish. However, this is still a great unique show that I would definitely recommend. It just didn't have the same hit in the end as it did in the beginning.

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Watchable, Memorable, but Not Exactly a Masterpiece.

I loved W as soon as I started it; charming lead actors and performances by the supporting cast carry the show and tightly woven storyline. Unfortunately I can't say that the storyline, as fully written-out that it is, is paced well. I felt like the story, which sweeps from intense event to intense event with uneven gaps in-between, is unique but tiresome.

W is a memorable story, exciting because of its new concepts with surprisingly fun action. I re-watched the series because the story stuck in my mind; or so I thought. The concept and settings of the story make it memorable, not the carry-out.

I recommend this drama as a classic action-fantasy day to day drama. It's not too emotionally deep which makes it a light watch. If you are a casual watcher of K-dramas, I bet that you'll enjoy it just as much or more as myself.

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W , this one intrigued me a lot when i read about the synopsis back when it just started airing , I usually don't go for on-going drama unless it's a bl drama or it's Lee -minho :p , so i waited out for this one until the week the last episode was supposed to air .Then "Let the show begin". this one would be the longest review i've written so far :p

So yeah Set in a comic x real cross world , this was very very very written if not taken :3 I admit it was executed good but there are some parts of the drama which just didn't work for me .

Lee Jong Suk's character in the drama is everything you should watch the drama for , No , Literally he's perfect ! Exceptional performance and utmost pleasing visuals , what-else can you ask for .. he's such a bias wrecker ! yeah so , his character goes through a lot and every bit , you'll feel it . but for the female lead , Han Hyo Joo is undoubtedly and exceptional actress , it would be very idiotic to say other wise but it didn't hit me for her in this drama , at least not until i went halfway through , she felt like a sister to him , if anything else ..

The romance is just there but like it's just sitting there , because it has to . The chemistry didn't really work out well.
The drama's strong point is suspense and it does justice to that untill .. 10th ? episode >.< it felt like a drag from there but until up 10th the cliff hangers are a thing and they'll literally make you eat off your fingers along with your nails lol In the end , wanna see Lee jong suk in a really really good role ? go for it ! even if not you can still watch this a time or two .

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This is the first korean drama I've watched before I myself gotten addicted to watch other same dramas.

I like the story. I like the casting. I like everything about the story except with the music. Most korean music doesn't really catch my attention, although, some of them did.

This is a fantasy drama. I love how this drama made me feel thrilled and intrigued every episode and then but I just noticed along while watching, the drama is a bit confusing.

There's a lot of plot twist but for me, it's worth it. I love this drama since this was the first drama I've watched.

I'll recommend you to watch this and find it with yourself if you'll gonna like it or not.

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For the first time in a while i found something unusually good.

Usually while watching dramas i don't find something that is out of the ordinary. This did not contain the usual cliches.
the acting was very good but i didn't find the villain so evil. This was one of the stories where you end up wondering how this one will end and the ending was very good. The romance between the main characters was not so much. they didn't seem so close. The story was not so serious or thrilling . The one thing that made me continue till the end was the question what actually happened.
The story was good but the execution, not so much. The stage and the background art was very good too. There were some unneeded characters like the male friend(Doctor) of the Oh Young Ju and the two other female artists .
Some characters were left alone with no ending at all like Soo bong and Soo hee. they were left as it is.
At the end i will say it was very good but could've been better.

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It is a worth watching drama and the story and cast are perfect and chemistry between main leads is perfect the story was different and unique from other dramas it is story of a cartoon artist who writes a story which gets famous and suddenly his daughter gos into comic world and the story between comic main male lead and comic writer daughter
So i would recommend you all to watch this masterpiece
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerreereeeeereeeeeereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeèèeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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