The Moon That Rises in the Day (2023)

Vedere questo drama è stato un'altalena di emozioni XD
All'inizio non gli davo mezza lira, poi mi ha preso così tanto che non volevo che finisse, per poi iniziare ad annoiarmi e finire con la lacrimuccia. La storia di base ricorda quelli di tanti altri fantasy romantici col passato in comune, ma la cosa che cambia qui è che lo sappiamo dall'inizio, non lo scopriamo vicino alla fine (cosa che solitamente mi fa cadere le p*lle). Anzi, è proprio quel passato in comune che da inizio e corpo a tutto quanto. ML odia FL, la vorrebbe uccidere per mettere fine alla propria sofferenza ed escogiterà un piano per mettere in atto i suoi diabolici fini. Solo che quello che compie scatena una serie di situazioni che mettono in pericolo FL e lui ogni volta si ritroverà a salvarla per ucciderla poi lui stesso. C'è anche una sottotrama vendicativa non legata al punto principale ma che cmq sarà presente per tutta la visione. Ci sono anche molti salti avanti e indietro per far capire come mai succede ciò. In realtà penso che si capisca che il drama mi è piaciuto molto seppur con qualche riserva. Nel complesso, tra la maremma di opere simili che stanno producendo, questo ve lo consiglio tanto :)

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Epic Romance and Outstanding OST

Don't be deceived by the negative comments and reviews from these haters. Their complaints stem solely from the fact that the plot didn't align with their desired expectations. If the storyline were too predictable, it would result in a dull and unengaging experience.

1500 years of yearning, yet love's embers still glow. That's the spellbinding essence of this drama, where a man's devotion to his lost lover transcends time itself. It's a testament to pure love, beautiful in its rawness and heart-wrenching in its longing. Tears welled in my eyes more than once, especially during Han Ri Ta's hauntingly poignant flashbacks.

But the magic extends beyond the visuals. The soundtrack is a masterpiece, a tapestry of melancholy and yearning that perfectly echoes the story's bittersweet resonance, and its emotional impact is undeniable. It's easily one of the best this year, every note is a whisper of the characters' unspoken desires.

And the acting? Both leads deliver performances that are simply breathtaking, their raw vulnerability tugging at your heartstrings with every scene.

This isn't just a romance; it's an experience. If you're searching for a drama that will sweep you away on a tidal wave of emotion, look no further. This is a must-watch, a testament to the enduring power of love.

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Why did I watch this? I do not know...

This drama has some good moments, and times that kept me interested, especially the historical versions of the leads who at first offered great balancce between the old and the new until the villain started getting exposed and it pretty much went down hill from there... as the drama goes a bit like this:

Bam a lot going on Meeh... confusion flashback... sloow....confusion m nothing to see here cliffhanger... meeh... flasback to cliffhanger... meeh cliffhanger... flashback... cliffhanger... wtf... meh oh come on... cliffhanger... confusion , oh well... so you are going with that trope... flashbak meh... cliffhanger...flashbak confusion.

Our male lead has several interesting personalities but is mostly a look I can say a lot of words with a tone of old autoraty meets wimpey,..

our female lead has 0 self esteem and has more changes of heart than a top thorax surgeon in a transplant centre preforms...

At times I wonder if the actors smiles are acting or if they are smiles of shame... the type born out of the feeling of "do I really have to say these cringy lines"

The kisses and chemestry between the leads are as explosive as a matchbox cought in the rain.

Her friend is annoying as ***** *** ****

But the ex girlfriend has some kind of crazy charm I guess.

The villain has this horrible supposed to be creepy voice that is just ridiculous in every single way possible... But I made it all the way through this. And for that I deserve a badge, pat on the back or an intervention telling me to drop stuff more frequently.

The high score is for the past and the slightly interesting story... that could have been good if only they made the characters more interesting.. and cut out a bunch of stuff... Also these actors can do better, I have seen them do a lot better!

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Could be great, but ultimately quite lackluster

I started this drama with great enthusiasm, but with each new episode I grow more and more disappointed. The show could be really great since the premise itself is interesting, but unfortunately, I feel like it is lackluster. Something is missing, the extra spark just isn't there.

- The acting is only so-so
--> I quite liked Pyo Ye Jin's acting in "Taxi Driver", but I feel like the script for "Moon in the Day" doesn't give her the same space to give a great performance, especially since her character seems washed down from the earlier episodes, she resembles a damsel now
--> I haven't seen anything with Kim Young Dae so far, but I wish he was a little more expressive; I also wish we could have seen goofy Jun Ho a little while longer because I liked KYD's acting in those first 2 episodes but alas... We got some silly Jun Ho back in the last episode, but that didn't last long either.

- The script is lacking, the writing is lazy
--> The plot is simply inconsistent and it really frustrated me the more I watched.
>> The male lead is supposed to be a super famous actor, why was he never working lmao. He did one script-reading session, and one session practicing archery and then boom! never on set ever again.
>> Speaking of the male lead's fame. Only when it served the plot, his fame mattered. He could walk around the neighborhood, the hospital with a lame ass cap, the market, the Han River (granted, at night), and no one would recognize him. BUT, if he needed to be recognized for the plot, you can bet the masses would take out their phones and scream "OMG, HAN JUN HO!" (as in: taking off his cap at the hospital and boom! he's recognized? Is he Annabeth Chase? Is his cap an invisibility cap? Where are we??
>> Male lead's black mark. Again, when it serves the plot, it was visible. Otherwise, it was not. Be consistent.
>> Male lead's powers?? He had some powers as a ghost, but he only used them like twice? Again, inconsistent!
>> The female lead's development is tragic. She went from cool and independent to a little damsel. She knew how to fight/how to do self-defense, where did all those skills go (looking at the last episode...). I don't expect her to beat the villain completely on her own, but the way she ran away and stumbled (...) in the woods was giving me cheap horror movie production. I felt a little disrespected on her behalf.
>> The villain is ... boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring. His motives are petty, ut not the good kind of petty, it's just plain stupid. Didn't enjoy it, glad he died.
>> They recycled the same scenes too many times. There was no wow-effect and the revelations were certainly not clever to be honest. It was tiring having to see the same three major scenes pop up again and again. They didn't do it well enough for me to think they had any impact. They weren't illusions or insinuating anything. They simply cut the scenes at the most critical moment, only to show the full thing at a later time. That's not a clever, mind-blowing revelation. It's annoying and badly done.
>> I didn't buy their romance... WHY did they like each other, be it in the past or present?? I don't know.

- The characters are quite frankly very flat
--> What is the purpose of Young Hwa's roommate for example? The actress barely has a place in the drama and only serves as a poor "second female lead" for a romance plot with Jun Ho's manager that no one cares about (the romance, not the manager lol). She pops up every now and then to remind us that she exists, but that's it...
--> I also generally feel like there aren't many memorable characters in the show lol, we got the leads/Min Oh/Seok Cheol Hwan who I guess are the principal characters of the show; for drama purposes we got a boring female antagonist in Yi Seul, Jun Ho's manager and Young Hwa's roommate... they're just kind of there but serve no real purpose. They might as well not exist since they don't advance the plot
>> To that I will add that the secondary characters were useless, and that the actors were underutilized. They felt more like cameos than side charcters, what a shame. Very unbalanced.

- The balance between the historical and modern/present-day plot is basically non-existent...
--> I mean, we're on episode 10 out of 14, and we still barely know anything of Young Hwa's past life
--> Where is the plot going, where are WE, the viewers, going? (edit now that I'm done: we didn't go anywhere.)

To me, the episodes drag although they're only about an hour long, which is not long at all (in my opinion), and I'm just a little disappointed so far that an interesting idea got sort of wasted along the way. It started out fun, but the last couple episodes didn't really offer much information that felt new or important. We'll see how episode 10 will be like, and how the last two weeks will wrap this up... but so far, the show is a bit of a let-down. (edit now that I'm done: The ending is not satisfying at all lol, what was that? I guess they both reincarnated and finally meet again, but for some reason, I don't appreciate the execution, I don't know.)

Overall, I cannot recommend this show, unfortunately. It's inconsistent, underutilizes its actors, doesn't give the leads any room for depth, the writing is lazy and the finished product is plain disappointing. Sorry to anyone who enjoyed this lol.

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A hot mess.

This drama started strong, with an interesting premise, and solid performances from the lead actors. In another life, a young couple is torn apart by tragedy and after 1500 years, many lives later, they reunite in the present time to find answers in order to have closure. The initial mystery reminded a lot of Goblin's Sunny and Grim Reaper, so I was excited to see this type of story unfold.

Sadly, I don't know what happened behind the scenes of this production because the script it's a hot mess. Each week it was like a new type of narrative being told, too many voices not being able to properly tell the main story. The drama doesn't seem to take advantage of its strong points nor develops properly the main conflict, and it stretches the mystery of the past live way too long. I even dare say they wasted the good chemistry between the lead actors. The dialogue it's unnatural, full of badly built riddles.

The music selected feels generic, it doesn't complement the characters well nor the situations and overall story.

Truly a wasted opportunity to make a really good story.

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I HAVE QUESTIONS

I loved ep1. Like it was so enjoyable to watch but the person that made me watch it was jun oh actually... he is such a brat and made me watch the whole thing having fun because of his funny spoiled personality but now that he died and the old spirit took over his body, is jun oh completely gone and is it just gonna be the ghost inside him? because I feel like its gonna make the drama boring for me since I didnt realize any funny/adorable charachter that makes the drama easy to watch beside the actual jun oh so im a bit scared the show wont be as enjoyable as ep1 if we completely lost jun oh. so please give me some feedback as you guys watch , im only gonna watch if jun oh isnt completely gone or our ghost turns out to have similar personalities to him

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It's the thing called "FATE"

Lemme start by saying this is one of the best Kdrama I watched in 2023 by far.
It may not have the ending that most people want but I'll say its satisfactory.

The story was so engaging and interesting, it was filmed the way that we got sucked into the history of the main couple through dream. I guess the bits n pieces of the scenes the drama showed was very good and each dream continued on from the previous that we got to see the whole history itself towards the end.
I dunno how the webtoon unfold but the drama did grow on me a lot that I can't stop watching it.
Its good that they stopped at episodes 14 as any further would make it way too draggy.

Lets talk about the casts... They were all AMAZING. To the point that I started to hate the 2 villains (the historical father and the future one being possessed with).

I think Kim Young Dae (KYD) grew a lot throughout his acting. I've been watching him since he was in Penthouse and his growth and diversity amaze me. His portrayal on both characters (Jun-Oh and Do-Ha) (JO & DH) was very well implemented. I can tell which character he portrayed by just his gaze and voice (intense gaze and darker voice for DH) respectively. Also, the language they used in this drama (DH from historical era whilst JO from modern era).
I know there are people who still think he is not good enough but for me, he is damn good. (I love his acting in shooting star the best haha).
Hope to see him in a more diverse acting in his future project.

As for Pyo Ye Jin (PYJ) she grew from playing side roles to main one and she nailed it here. The way she portrayed Yong Hwa (YH) and Ri Ta (RT) character were very good. When she is acting as YH she has that cheerful and positive vibes and her voice was cheerful and a bit high. Whilst portraying RT character her voice as deeper and has that intense gaze and demeanor (as she need to take revenge and all). Would love to see her in more diverse role for her future drama. I sure become her fan through this drama.

As for the rest of the side characters and the second couple, they all nailed their part well. Especially the villains (I'm sorry I just hate seeing those 2 actor playing villains roles most times and my hatred grew even more in this drama, it showed how good they were being a villain. HAHA)
The producer did well in casting all the actors in this drama.

The ending was however satisfactory. I knew the main couple (DH & YH) will not have a happy ending but I was hoping they would though. But seeing the ending I think it was justified as they kept saying throughout the drama that they were not meant to be together in this life but were together to break the curse they were in for over 1500 years. But fate did bring them together again in I assume like 50 years later... overall viewers were given the hope that they will eventually together again.

I love how the writers did give some essence of DH in JO after the later woke up from his so called coma and finished his cancer treatment. (The way he spoke and a press con for his delayed movie). "People say disappointment in love makes one stronger. We're here today to cheer each other. I believe words of blessings will be more helpful than cursing, right?" as he said this, I really thought DH came back but then his goofy expression came back (tats JO character). But the way he said it and his demeanor really make me believe it was DH.

Overall it was a great drama with great CGI and story and casts.
I am quite satisfied with the ending and also do fit the whole story.

Again this is my opinion but putting asides other opinions do give this drama a try. It was good and engaging enough for viewer to anticipate the next episode.
Hope you'll enjoy this drama as much as I do. Happy watching ^^

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TRAGIC...

It's tragic how much time I've lost watching this show. I mean, you know what's weird? I really LOVE fantasy with romance like this show, but somehow, for a weird reason, I didn't like this one.

I can think of two main reasons:
1 • Villain is kinda dumb and his reasons were shallow
2 • The story by the end turned out to be very... tiring to watch.

This shows started way too good, with a promising plot, an interesting romance and good acting. But the thing is (I guess I'm not the only one that thinks like that) but as the story goes on, their romance from 1500 years ago becomes more interesting than the one from this century, I mean? Why?
Idk, just them from the past are more an interesting couple than the ones from the present. Idk

Anyway! I finished the last two episodes in less than 2h bc I was just skipping most of the scenes, really, it was so easy to tell how it was going to end and all the things that would happen, anyway, I think the ending was very easy to guess and lazy written.

Humm... The villain was so, but so so so so shallow that I think if he didn't existed it wouldn't make any difference to the show. I can't pity him or even hate him, he's just so "meh". Very easy to read too.

The only reason I watched it to the end was the ML lead, I really liked this actor's acting, and he's hot

By the end, I couldn't care less if the couple would stay together or not, I was just "gosh, how much do I still have to watch?" lol.


ANYWAY! I'm really bad at writing reviews in English so I'm finished it here saying just one more thing about this show: If you're looking for a GOOD fantasy romance to watch, this show, isn't for you.

I'm really sad deep inside since I really loved this kdrama at the beginning I thought that it'd become my next favorite one but it turned out to be one that I'll never watch again



Hopefully this review help you to think if you'll gonna watch it or not

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The Disappearing Acts of Storylines

Spoilers:
I'm trying to like this but by Ep7, I started fast-fowarding. I think feel like everything has gone to the wayside or tossed aside quickly. Like the FL's career, the bitchy co-star, the fact that the ML had a lead in a drama... all of it gone. I enjoyed the aspects where people thought he wasn't a fit for the historical role but then he surprises everyone. But all that is gone now too. I mean, everything is swept under the rug. The FL was a firefighter who knew martial arts, then became a bodyguard and now a... I don't even know what she is anymore. A gf? Ex-wife? A confused walking reincarnation? ML beats up bad guys, bad guys disappear from hospital. Girl gets hit by car, bad guy hides, gets murdered, and police rule it a suicide becuz of the letter. Bitch actress wants to get rid of FL, brother says, here's a photo of you in chahoots with previous dead guy, Buh-bye. Brother pushes FL off a cliff, he runs and now he's dead too. Like omg. WTF. Then we get interrupted by your daily historical blast from the past which repeats what we learned earlier but just more dragged out. It's like they started off by showing us a condensed version of the past, only to show us the extended versions later with more angst and tears but it's just really on repeat.

The ML's main expression is broody, moody and threatening and the FL's is confused, dazed or teary-eyed. And the villain is just evilly smiling or maniacally laughing. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Thankfully it's only 14 eps and I just wanna see if the ML ends up alive at the end.

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Best modern day drama of 2023 ?

This is hands down my favorite modern day drama of 2023, right behind ‘My Dearest’, the best historical for this year. I love the flip/flop between present day and 1500 years ago in ‘Moon in the Day’. The male and female leads have amazing chemistry on screen and I am loving the soundtrack. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Fingers crossed ??for a happy ending!

One of the things that’s most endearing about this show is the way the male lead protects the female lead. All throughout her life (lives) really. I really hope he doesn’t die in the end!

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Beautiful visuals with horrendous story writing

Oh man has this become a bore. I have hung on for 10 episodes expecting it to pick up once the plot got its momentum but it has not and I do not have it in me to keep trying anymore. This show is about an obsessed ghost that attached himself to one woman and followed all of her reincarnations until one was finally able to remember him and he can kill her as revenge for her having killed him in her past life. This gets a bit messy when he finds himself drawn to this woman that is so much like the version of her he fell in love with. We have seen this same premise done over and over again lately so this show brings nothing new to your screen.

First, the cinematography and production teams did a great job as this is a beautiful drama to watch and the main couple is stunning. But that does not make up for the unremarkable story. The reincarnated lovers is something that has been seen a lot lately, as well as enemies to lovers. I have no problem with either of those tropes if the story is told well and keeps me engaged but this just does not do that. The characters are boring, both in modern time and in the Joseon period, there is no chemistry between the two to make you believe they are lovers and no engrossing story to keep you interested in how they end up. The show keeps regurgitating the same past story over and over again as if you have the memory of a peanut and can't recall what was seen the previous episode. And the snippet they repeatedly show jumps around in time and isnt even interesting or complete so seeing it over and over again is fatiguing as the viewer. They flash back frequently to their past life but not in order of events so even three quarters into the show they have not actually given you any information beyond what you found out in the first episode.

Then you have modern times which started a bit more interesting but has no focus either. The female lead is an amazing firefighter but only for the first two episodes, then she becomes some weak damsel in distress. The male lead takes over the body of a famous actor who has landed an important part in a drama but then that plot is dropped as well. A rival actor tries to run down the female lead and then is killed in a car accident which is ruled as suicide because of a note with no investigation. The problematic second female lead is just there to be obnoxious and comes and goes as the writers seem to need her to push the plot. So many storylines that are picked up and then abandoned. It's just all a jumbled up mess with no clear or logical direction which most viewers could put up with if the main couple had amazing chemistry but they do not, even the kiss seemed like he was kissing a dead fish!

Even the acting is not great. I loved the male lead in Shooting Stars but here he is lifeless and dull. His actor alter ego was annoying but far more interesting and that unfortunately only lasted for about 15 minutes of screen time. The biggest issue however is the female lead. I don't know if it is the character or the actress that sinks this for me but either way she really tanks the show. Her reactions either feel far too much or far too little and she shows no affection toward the male lead at all. The main antagonist, whom really does not present himself until about episode 10 is easy to hate but there is not enough reasoning for me to believe that this person would hang around for 1500 years for revenge.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

edit: after having skimmed the last 4 episodes I am completely confident in my earlier review and highly recommend you skip this one

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The Past Outshines What Should've Been An Intriguing Present

There seemed to be a crisis every episode with this series, especially during the present day. The historical storyline from 1500 years earlier was way more interesting than the present day story. The present day had promise until the ML became possessed, then he spent most of the series walking around with an "evil" look on his face, brooding about why he was delaying in completing his mission in killing the FL. That got old fast.

The leads had nice romantic chemistry in the historical storyline. Perhaps due to the kind of star-crossed lovers aura and thus angst that embodied their love. Strangely the present day version of them lacked the same emotion and connection.

I found myself mostly fast forwarding through the present day storyline because it just wasn't that interesting, so that I could continue the story from the past. But once the story from the past finished, circling back to where it left off in the first episode I just couldn't garner the interest to keep watching. So I stopped.

If this was only a historical drama I think it could've been really good. Would I rewatch what I did watch? No.

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