The Bridal Mask (2012)

Unfortunately "still a better love story than Twilight" doesn't even work on this drama. It's that bad.
Joo Won and Han Chae Ah were wonderful and I even liked the way their characters were written to a certain extent. It's such a shame about Jin Se Yeon's inability to produce more than one expression and the abysmal writing that has left me horribly disappointed.
I'm appealing for more people to rate this drama as low as possible so other poor sods don't watch this drama with high expectations only to be left feeling angry at the waste of story and acting potential.
I personally blame it on both the acting of Jin Se Yeon and the character of Oh Mok Dan because the story became unnecessarily centred on her for no good reason. I believe this drama would have reached its full potential and follow a satisfying storyline if Oh Mok Dan was removed from it. This sounds really aggressive but this thought kept coming to mind every episode I watched until I got upset at my own anger towards a fictional character and had to drop the drama. It's really such a shame as I think Han Chae Ah/Lala would have made a fantastic lead.
However I recognise that there are various flaws in this drama not just the one I have mentioned and you may not agree with my opinion. You may even like this drama but please can we drop the rating? It's just too much of a disappointment to many potential viewers!

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Torturing Drama but Amazing Acting

I honestly started off this drama because i was bored and wanted a yandere character, i remember picking it off a few years ago and dropping it in the first few episodes. But honestly i still gave it a chance, Idk what to say apparently interesting story about war and its hardships. It is kinda biased on nationalism on Korea's part tho. In terms of characters, I told myself if this guy became the Yandere character i will give this drama 10/10, and yes I gave it that. I cannot believe it. Never heard of this type of a scenario ever before and I've read so many yandere stories. It's amazing how someone's persona can change so much due to trauma.

Amazing acting of Park Ki Woong, good god he sold it, this man did it. The main lead is very good as well, everything is good except the female lead, idk it's just she is not enough for this type of story. Ueno Rie is so much better to be honest. There are many plot holes in the story mind you, especially when coming to the romance. There should have been much more romance to be honest. Ik so many peeps hate the yandere character but to be honest, I pity him an absolute lot. At a certain point I wondered what on earth he was fighting for and did he have a heart at the end, looks like he did apparently. It's crazy how war can rip off friendships and relationships, as a victim myself from a war ridden country for many years, I can contribute to this fact.

The music is probably what made me going from the first few episodes which were boring af, amazing OST's in this drama. The side characters were pretty handsome af too, I think some of them were handsome than the main leads haha. Overall, an overbearing torturing drama with a true portrayal of what war does to people and their relationships. Fell totally in interest with the complex character of the yandere here, it does not fail to disappoint.

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Меня привлек Joo Won в исторической драме, потому что имея не очень большой багаж дорам за спиной, этот актер неизменно выбирал хорошие роли для себя. Да еще этот период корейской истории я совсем не знаю, и поэтому было очень интересно посмотреть, ведь японская оккупация длилась десятилетиями и если представить такое, что даже страшно становится - поколение под игом.
Однако в начале все действо напоминало театральный водевиль про мстителя в маске - красиво, пафосно и Петрушка всегда побеждает. Это чувство усугублялось периодически бросающейся в глаза дешивизной постановки - массовка была очень ограничена, локации тоже. Театральность привносила и определенная жанровая "тупизна" плохих (особенно Lee Si Yong в роли графа ну совсем кривлялся) и крутизна хороших.
В переломный момент для Ли Кан То обилие рыданий и страданий так зашкалил, что стал напоминать какое то индийское мыло. Я уже хотела все это бросить, но после 10-ок серий как то все выравнялось, подбавили интриги, поддали драмы характеров и дали раскрыться актерскому таланту и Joo Won и Park Gi Ung, играющего Сюдзи Кимуру. Я его видела до этого только в айдольской комедии Фулхауз и мне он там тоже приглянулся, но здесь он создал сильнейший образ простого учителя, японского парнишку, которого сломала война, власть и семья. И ведь, что самое страшное, по другому и не могло закончится - все логично и правильно, но от этого не менее печально. Дружбу Ли Кан То и Сюдзи сломали не они, и даже не женщина, а жизнь и реальность того места и времени.
О женщинах как бы и нечего сказать. По началу казалось, что главная героиня для того и главная. Но во второй половине дорамы она как ушла на второй план так там и осталась.
Ее соперница, умница-кореянка-японка-шпионка да все в одном лице, беспорно очень красивая женщина и умная, но любовь... Хотя вела она себя вполне предсказуемо и я даже рада, что все для нее так закончилось, авось стоящему рядом все же повезет.
Второстепенный старший каст прекрасно дополнял картину, хотя о водевильность некоторых я уже сказала. Злодейность злодеев тоже как-то была доведена до абсурда сначала, но во 2 половине то ли вошли в роль, то ли установки стали почетче - стало верится больше и продажным политика и жестокости и цинизму японской власти, который сотнями тысяч отправляли девушек в бордели на фронт для "поднятия духа" доблестной армии, а парнишек на пушечное мясо. И все это под ура-патриотические лозунги.
На главных героев хотелось любоваться вечно, особенно когда мальчики были в форме.

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You should watch it.

It’s now been several weeks since I finished Gaksital, and I’ve been thinking about how to write this review since well before the end, but nothing has been coherent. I’ve got eight pages of notes, many of which are repetitive; hopefully this will make sense.

To be honest, my expectations starting out were already sky high. City Hunter and Healer are two of my favorite dramas of all time. Going into Gaksital, I was promised action sequences, secret identities, and a superhero story. There was no way I wasn’t going to like it.

In short, Gaksital is a lot of things, not all of it good. If you asked me to list what this show does right and wrong, the latter list might be a lot longer. It’s remarkable how some technically good dramas fail to get my heart, but Gaksital for all its faults is one that I think I’ll remember for a long time.

The Story:

At its heart, Gaksital is a simple story about a man and a movement. But while the big picture is uncomplicated, the smaller character stories and their relationships are all tangled. It’s a wonderful mess, because part of good storytelling is good character development, and Gaksital had a lot of that planned for us.

Gaksital is quite literally, a big story. I don’t just mean that it’s epic (although it is). At 28 60-minute episodes short, this is officially the longest kdrama I’ve ever watched in full. Was it tightly written? No. Could it have been several episodes shorter? Maybe. Did I love it despite those things? Duh.

I felt like I was reading a book. The story takes its time to set itself up, which I actually wasn’t sad about. I knew vaguely where it was going, and I was more than happy to let it take me along for the ride. It didn’t go exactly where I wanted it to go in the middle, and it was occasionally repetitive, but ultimately Gaksital was never boring.

Characters:

The great thing about Gaksital is that we start out with all our main characters in place. They’ve got their goals and agendas. But it’s never static. Their attitudes towards each other are ever changing, but they’re still recognizable as the same people at their core.

We open with Kang-to (Joo-won) being terrible. He’s hated by the Korean people, but he’s hard to hate as a hero, because we know he’s working his way up in the world in the only way he knows how: by siding with the Japanese. And among the Japanese police, he’s somewhat an underdog, having worked his way up from the very bottom because of his heritage. The show sets up a moral conflict within him so well. Hating his actions but also being on his side was my favorite aspect of the opening episodes, because he wasn’t good, but he was fighting against a bigger bad.

The thing about morally gray characters and questionable pasts is that it gives a layer beneath the surface. We understand the bad guys that much better, because our “hero” understands them. I get to watch a man’s motivations and actions totally change while it was apparent that he’s still the same person on the inside. While Kang-to was never unpredictable, he had the moral conflict that makes the anti-hero story so compelling, and Joo-won didn’t hesitate to show it to us, even though the writing wasn’t always there.

Most of the rest of the main cast is similarly layered, but I do want to express disappointment with the female lead, Oh Mok-dan played by Jin Se-yeon. Ultimately Mok Dan isn’t a strong character. She’s a strong person, I’m sure, but she doesn’t have the same depth as the rest of the main cast. She plays her role and plays it well, but often is reduced to a plot device, which is sad. I wonder if she would’ve been more compelling if she had been played by a different actress, but I don’t think there was ever much to her character in the writing to begin with.

The Romance:

I dunno, it was fine. This show isn’t a romance, and it doesn’t pretend to be. I believed it, and it got me in the heart, but ultimately romance and love is all a vehicle for something else. It’s often what drives the characters. Gaksital isn’t about people falling in love. It’s about people being in love and the terrible and great things they do because of it. I felt like the romance served its purpose, but this will never be a couple I think about later.

The OST:

I’m not normally one for romantic angst, but I kind of loved it here mostly because my favorite song would play every time the characters were sad and pining. As a whole, the OST was great, and it always fit the mood. The action sequences and the dramatic moments all had their music. It took me so long to find the album on Spotify, but I have now and I’m happy.

The Cast:

First and foremost: Joo-won. I’m officially obsessed with him. While I have little to no interest in his other work, I’ll probably watch everything he puts out in the future. Joo-won is so great in this. Even when his hair is weird and his eyebrow is ever furrowed, there’s something about his energy and the directing that makes him magnetic on screen, and it’s a pleasure to watch. I started going through Joo-won withdrawal even before I finished the show, and Imma be watching all his 1N2D episodes on YouTube so hopefully that’ll tide me over until Alice comes out.

The thing about Joo-won in this role is that even when I didn’t like him, I still liked him. I was always with him, and I could feel what he was feeling. It’s not unique to him, but with the heightened emotions in this show, it was super noticeable.

Park Ki-woong: This guy is great. Or maybe his character was great. But he was great in this role; that’s undeniable. Talk about perfect casting. He’s so likeable until he’s not, and I loved watching his arc. I started Kkondae Intern as soon as I finished this, because I missed him so much.

Jin Se-yeon: I mentioned previously that I wasn’t really a fan of her performance. But I found out later that she was only like 18 at the time, and now I feel untalented and lazy, but such is life.

The Hair:

I had a lot of questions, and some issues. Maybe it’s a 1930s thing. Maybe it’s a 2010’s thing. Either way I often had problems with Kang-to’s hair. There’s one segment of episodes where it was good. Gaksital’s hair was always on point though. Perfectly windswept. Perfectly badass.

A brief description of some less-good things:

This writer has a love for setup that goes from intriguing to borderline frustrating. The characters are all smart and take their time to plan their actions, but I wanted to shake them into acting faster.

This show could have been a really great character study, but I feel like some of the development happens too fast to feel genuine.

There’s a revenge plot in here that feels half forgotten about for most of the drama.

Yeah, the bad stuff doesn’t matter anymore. I love this show.

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wow wow wow...i truly enjoy this drama
at first, I wasn't so sure to watch this because of the 28 episodes but don't let that number fool you too
from start to the end I loved it and actually, It made me search for the last 100 years in Korea and I learned a lot
one of my favorite things was the powerful acting I mean the male leads amazed me at all time but for me, the female lead wasn't as strong
and the music was just spot on and grate
so honestly it was a great drama to watch the story was strong and for 28 episodes it was pretty ongoing
and as much as I'm trying to find something I didn't like I can't think of any
so if you looking for something great to watch I absolutely recommend this drama

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So what originally attracted me to this show is the idea that Bridal Mask is the first Korean made "superhero" that I am aware of. He is like a Korean version of Zorro. What made this show great. #1 is Joo Won as the lead character. He has an incredible acting range . If you think about it, Joo Won actually plays four different people in the show: 1. The guy he is before that thing happens in episode 5 with you know who (no spoilers). 2. Who he is AFTER that incident. 3. Who he pretends to be 4. Who he is when he finally takes up the mantle of __________(No spoiler). Another great thing about this show that I enjoyed was the relationship between the main character and other strong characters. Such as the relationship between Lee Kang To and his brother, and the high end prostitute. Those were all interesting things to explore.

But what about the problems with the show? For more on that, please check out my review of this show via the link.
https://youtu.be/iLxv5-Sn3qo

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A unique K-drama with action, romance and tragedy!

Like most Kdramas I found that this one started strong but as always dropped off towards the end.

To sum it up, the positives are that it has deep, complex characters that are neither evil or good. This makes it really interesting. It also has amazing action scenes accompanied by epic music and nail-biting cliffhangers. Also the romance, although criticised, is very sweet. The acting, especially of the two MLs is extremely good.

The negatives; a lot of repetition, the drama could've been a good 5 episodes shorter. Whilst I understood why Mok Dan died, I think the last episode ended too ubruptly to really feel it. I also think Shunji's death was anticlimactic, they missed the opportunity to really add some drama to it in my opinion.

Overall it's definitely worth a watch, I just feel as if it was missing something to really to make it stand out in my mind as one of the best kdramas which is a shame since it definitely had the potential to!

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AN HONEST REVIEW

Just finished watching this but man I was shocked when I saw here mentioned that this is based on a manhwa. (Gtg check it's manhwa)

So, anyways, if anybody is interested in the history of Korea, then give this one a try. This is my first kdrama under the hashtag- Japanese rule. I've seen mostly historical kdramas but they were mainly under the "3 kingdoms of korea" period. Tho amongst all the historical ones I've watcher, this one here easily takes the cake for one of the best ones out there because of its complex storyline. Sucha a complex story. Kudos to authors (and also a big frustrated F*CK YOU too for that bad ending & because at some point this drama became so suspenseful that it was choking me). Now onto whether I would recommend this to others? Mhm... can't say yes, after the abrupt ending scene... but the drama overall was good. If you're someone who's run out of material to watch, give this one a try. If you wanna try smth new? You can give this a try. I could've given this one's story a 7/10 but that ending put me a bit off so I have to give this one's story a 6.5/10 because well... I fell in love with the setting & the cast... the acting done here is super good so.. I can't really say I hate this whole drama because of the "rushed" (for a lack of better word) ending & for most of the part it really did kept me hooked up so... Watch this if you're curious (like me) about this.

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