The Sound of Magic (2022)

Magic or... illusion?

I missed watching musical dramas, and thankfully, this show did not disappoint. I love every song and every performance they exhibit; it is so fun to watch. Some might find it boring, but for me, it is a great addition to this drama.

And can we talk about their acting? They are so wonderful! As usual, Ji Chang Wook (Ri Eul) is an all-rounder, but I find the acting of Choi Seung Eun's (Yoon A-yi) the best! Her microexpressions are the greatest! This is my first time seeing her and Hwang Inyeop in a drama, and I can say that their acting is good. The only flaw I find in this drama is that there is not enough background on the main characters. They are not memorable enough, and I wish that they worked more on the relationship between A-Yi and Il-Deung because it feels scattered. And I am a little bit confused about whether Ri Eul is a real magician or just an illusionist. This is a slow-paced drama, but it was not enough to get to know him more and fully understand his character. Also, her relationship with A-yi is so vague.

It is a good show. You will have fun, but some things are a little bit loose and unclear. I give it an 8.5/10.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama " The Sound of Magic " is a musical drama, unique to a Korean series.

It has some magical moments, blended in with the well-known melodrama that the Kdrama master at. It also portrays a sweet first love story, as well as some family and friendship dynamics. The musical acts, in addition, were all well-acted and nicely presented, as well as smoothly choreographed.

However, the drama, and even though it tried hard, wasn't as magical as the webtoon, nor as dark as the original material.

On the other hand, the performances were all great from everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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Do you want to believe in magic?

This was very enjoyable to watch. (I'll add some content warnings for this show at the end of my review)
What I enjoyed
The visuals were very beautiful. The entire show, all the sets and the cgi were very well done. It sure brought the magic in the show. The songs were quite beautiful, both in meaning and the sound of the voices singing. It was also great how this story had such a strong focus on poverty, the powerlessness you can feel when you're young and are very dependent on the adults around you for everything.
I also appreciate that they didn't use the overused and annoying trope of putting the main character in a romantic relationship and being 'boom, you feel all better now!'. That in fact, this drama doesn't focus on romance at all, instead it focuses more on a friendship where the magician is almost like a teacher or even guardian to the main character which was beautiful to watch develop.

What could have been better in my opinion:
For me, the songs didn't always come at the time where they were needed. There were a few points at which I expected a song and it didn't happen, and also a few where a song was that I felt was not needed for the characters/setting at that point (not that i minded that much, the songs were always nice).
One thing to keep in mind when starting this drama is that, although there are moments of magical beauty and happiness, overall the mood of the show is quite sad and depressing. If you want to watch something simple and easy, save this for a moment where you can handle heavy emotions. I wish they had a few less scenes where the main character was crying (at some points it felt like that was almost all she did for like half an episode).

Content warnings (this may be incomplete as I didn't keep track of them whilst watching)
- Attempt at suicide
- Off screen death of animal
- Assault and attempt at rape of a minor (twice)
- Violence and blood
- Murder
- Child neglect
- Parent once hitting their child

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True Magic Is Believing in Yourself and Creating Your Own Path!

Woe to those who allow others to dictate their lives and their path. There is nothing so tragic in the world as those who allow themselves to be controlled by others. True magic—true courage—is about forging and creating your own path, no matter how many people object or attempt to destroy your hopes and dreams.

The Sound of Magic is a beautiful story, full of life, love, wisdom, and a bit of magic! True magic is believing in your Self and creating your own path. And that is the central theme of this series.

Yoon Ah Yi is a smart but struggling high school student whose life has been riddled by nothing but hardship. Her mother is gone, her father is in severe debt and stays away for long periods of time, trying one “get rich” scheme after another, leaving the adult responsibilities of taking care of her younger sister and paying the rent to Yoon Ah Yi. Her life is exhausting and non-stop, leaving little—if any time—for joy and fun. In short, Yoon Ah Yi has had to grow up very quickly, which leaves her to wonder where her childhood has gone. But soon, her imagination is awakened by the magician.

Next, we have Na II Deung, the top student at the local high school. He’s put under such pressure by his teachers and especially his parents—to do whatever it takes to be number one and to succeed academically. For those who are unfamiliar with educational pressures in Korea (as well as other Asian countries), I will say that as a TEFL teacher who worked in Korea, Taiwan, and China, the depiction of the hardships that many students have to deal with is quite realistic and true. I actually had a student tell me that his mother was so disappointed in his recent test scores that she told him, “If you can’t do any better than this, then you should just throw yourself off the balcony!” I couldn’t imagine any mother saying such a thing to her son. Most of these kids are not given any choice in how they live their lives. This is true regarding their school, university, job, and even marriage. Kids are expected to “fall in” and do what they are told to do because parents arrogantly and ignorantly, think they know best. And we see that Na II Deung is suffering immeasurably from the enormous pressures—until he meets the magician.

Ri-Eul is easily the most compelling character of the series, leaving the viewer to ask the same questions that Yoon Ah Yi and Na II Deung ask: is he really a magician? With a twinkle in his eyes, Ri-Eul simply asks, “Do you believe in magic?” As we know, children have no problem believing in any kind of magic. Their purity and innocence cause them to believe without question. As it’s stated in the wonderful movie, “The Santa Clause,” Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing. It’s only when the cynical nature of adulthood sets in that magic becomes something that is silly, childish and severely mocked and frowned upon. And yet, what is life without it? Ri-Eul brings a childlike vision of the world; that just because you grow up doesn’t mean that you have to stop believing. But what makes Ri-Eul so wonderful and compelling, isn’t the tricks and magic that he uses. It’s his use of that magic to help Yoon Ah Yi and Na II Deung begin to believe in themselves. To help them realize that you don’t have to “fall in” and let others tell you how to live your life.

Of course, as with all “strange” and “outside the box” characters, the world tends to shun and persecute such people, and so Ri-Eul becomes the leading suspect in a murder investigation. It’s sad that the world always tends to view such people as “dangerous” when it’s actually the world’s fear and desire to control everyone that is truly dangerous!

There are some great songs in this fantasy series which is also a musical. And the acting performances across the board are stellar! However, it’s Ji Chang Wook’s performance as Ri-Eul that really brings it all together. Without his ability to tap into Ri-Eul’s childlike innocence, the series wouldn’t be the same. The series—like so many Korean dramas—is full of wonder, humor, wisdom, and heartfelt moments that make you introspect and ask the question: am I living the life I want? And if not, it’s never too late to start.

Robert Frost’s famous line in his poem The Road Not Taken—two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. And that is one of the core messages of this series. Na II Deung may have delivered the best line of the series when he says, “Flowers don’t grow on asphalt. They grow on bumpy, dirty roads.” So, which is the better life?

Give yourself permission to dream, to believe in magic, and most importantly, to believe in yourself. Dare to dream and to create your own path, no matter what anyone says or does. People will put you down and get upset because you’re not doing what everyone else does. This is usually a huge clue that you’re doing right by who you are. Approach the world with childlike wonder and innocence. Stop to look at all of the magic around you, whether it be a tree, a field of flowers, or a butterfly. It’s everywhere.

The world—especially our young people—are in dire need of this kind of message. When I was growing up, The Dead Poets Society was my inspirational film to help me to question what I was doing. We should all endeavor to be more like Ri-Eul—to live the life we want and not allow the world to push us down. After all, all of the magic we ever need or want is within us. Don’t be afraid to use it, and certainly don’t be afraid to believe in it.

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"At some point, the world became a place people like you can't live in,

because if you don't meet the set standards, you are treated like a failure."

(beware: long review, but greater explanation!)
lets just say I got a little sad and wasted by the plot of the story. For me, this short drama was a little too fast-paced for me, but the story was something from it's fantasy, but combined with an reality. The drama speaks about how believing yourself or from someone else might be different and hard to believe into something, but as what the drama says, it's what we believe or in other words, "do you believe in magic?".

The plot of the drama seems to be too fast-paced for me, because of how expected and unexpected things happened during the whole series. There were scenes that would be really relatable, far from fantasies that we had from what we expect from the word "Magic". There were things that are too unrealistic, but at the same time, the story about a high schoolers and a magician expresses more comfort and healing every time they encounter struggles about their personal life's based from their experiences from the past till present. I also love the musicality theater themed drama this is. Because it feels even more theatrical because of the musical scenes as well. It fits from the story because of how a magician wants others to understand how he wants to be believed into from his own beliefs in terms in his skills in being a magician. In other words, the story speaks about "Our life wants to be believed from what we believe"

From the cast, they were good in acting. I can't explain how Lee Chang-wook and Hwang In-yeop proves me that they are much appreciated from their roles and their acting skills. I was quite surprised from Lee Chang-wook's singing skills and because of this drama, I got to know him more. Choi Sung Eun made me think of looking forward from her drama because she acted so well even her emotions felt like its really true! I appreciated the cast from this drama because this series was full of fantasy and how it exceeds my expectations since it was too beautiful to watch the whole episodes. For the characters, I think what I missed the most is, I think Lee Ri-eul from the character needs to have a little bit more flashbacks from his experience because I realize that there's really something missing that needs to be shown in the plot. Especially the lead roles, except from Yoon An-yi because I got to know her story that much already. But for Lee Ri-eul does'nt have that much duration to express from his experiences. Also, for Na il deung, I had mixed feelings because from his personality in the whole drama, but I guess both An-yi and il-deung had similar personal problems after all. The ending was mainly focused on An-yi but I was expecting even more from Ri-eul and Il-deung to show their life after their experiences, but I guess I was wrong about it. unexpected short-comings, the ending was a little bit unexpected as well from me. Oh, I almost forgot, the musical-themed osts were very cute as well, most of the scenes that fits with their ost made it even more better.

Overall, this drama was pretty beautiful because of the plot that speaks both fantasy and reality. I got to see this type of dramas in kdrama land rarely, and I think for me this drama also speaks about how we believe in ourselves or from others based from our origin and our beliefs. We get to know ourselves from our expectations that seems to be right or wrong, and what others would think about us the way we portray from what they judge about us. And after all, this line hits me from the drama: "At some point, the world became a place people like you can't live in. Because if you don't meet the set standards, you are treated like a failure." Thanks to this drama, I got to learn a lot.
Recommended, good for binge watch and time killer, great for beginners as well! :>
looking forward to the cast!!

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This is a masterpiece, but to really enjoy this show you need to skip the songs.

Wow, this was an amazing show. However, there are two ways you can watch this show. If you like the musical numbers, great, watch them. I personally thought they detracted from the story so I skipped them. This is a serious drama most of the time and having songs ruins the story and realism. I really don't understand what they were thinking making this a musical. It just doesn't work.
The lead actress fit the role perfectly. She's a very likeable, sympathetic and beautiful. We She had such a hard life. She reminds me of the mother who died in Les Miserables. I honestly think they were trying to make it like the Les Mis musical which was a bad idea.
I highly recommend this. Amazing show. Ignore the bad reviews. Again, skip the songs and this is a masterpiece.

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Good acting by most but strange plot

Large age difference between Chang wook and Choi Sung-eun is way too large (9 years). It is weird IMHO. The plot is strange and doesn't make sense. Even though I didn't like this drama, seeing the great actors Kim Hye-eun and Yoo Jae Myung working together is extremely special.

I was impressed by the acting of Hwang In Yeop because his role is arguably the most challenging to pull off. Ji Hye Won was also impressive. She convincingly played a protagonist role. I look forward to watching their work in future.

Chang wook's performance wasnt compelling. He plays himself again rather than the character. I loved his work in Healer and K2 but since then his performances haven't been noteworthy. He should stick to action and musicals.

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Not worth your time

I do not believe it worth your time to watch this. There are many extraordinary shows available for you to watch.

The story was slow and confusing
Acting was ok i guess
screenplay was ok.

If the story was written a little bit better, it could have tolerable. I recommend not watch this show. I should have dropped this show earlier, but i expected to get better. Unfortunately it was just becoming worse and worse.

I recommend not watch this show
I recommend not watch this show
I recommend not watch this show
I recommend not watch this show
I recommend not watch this show

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A little disappointing

I wanted to watch this because of Ji Chang Wook but I think .... I have to drop this series.

I don't drop series very often so I think this says a lot. I couldn't subscribe to the musical songs in this drama; they're awkward af if you ask me. Not that the singing is terrible, but the lyrics (from what I've seen) are also quite cute. The placements are just very awkward, no other way to put it. Pleasantly surprised by Hwang In-yeob's performance! You may have read other reviews that say the same thing, but I have also read reviews that loved the musical aspect so... My best advice would be to just watch the drama first, and see if you like it.

# About the plot
Already kinda guessing that the plot is gonna be some cringey cliche like "oh life is tough but you gotta believe in magic" kinda nonsense... I mean i could subscribe to that (I watch so many romcoms, cliches are nothing) but I'm not convinced by what I see. An older man taking care of a teen.. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh not sure about that.

# About the characters
I haven't found a character that I liked in this drama. I kind of want to support Ah Yi but then again, idk I don't think her character is very appealing.

# About the cast/acting
Main 3 are great at acting. The bully's face is very annoying (I've seen her before in another drama, couldn't bring myself to like her) so I guess they cast her well? Her acting isn't great tho, it's her face doing the job. One thing tho, I think JCW gotta pick his shows a little better... He's been on a little bit of a losing streak with the dramas he's been acting in recently.

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The Sound of Magic: A Captivating Journey into Enchantment and Resilience

"The Sound of Magic" is undeniably a gem of 2022, rekindling my belief in magic with its enchanting narrative. Choi Sung-eun's portrayal of Yoon Ah-yi is a masterpiece, navigating life's struggles with a raw vulnerability that tugs at the heartstrings. Ji Chang-wook, in the role of Lee Yeul, adds a mysterious charm, becoming a guiding force for Ah-yi and amplifying the series' allure.

What sets this series apart is its seamless fusion of fantasy and reality. Each episode unfolds as a captivating journey through a world where magic is more than a mere plot device; it becomes a profound metaphor for conquering the challenges life throws our way. "The Sound of Magic" expertly weaves whimsy with the harsh truths of existence, creating a narrative that resonates deeply.

In just six episodes, the series crafts a poignant tale of loneliness, resilience, and the indomitable human spirit. Ah-yi's world, burdened by her father's debt and relentless bullying, serves as the poignant backdrop for a story where hope triumphs over adversity. The series skillfully navigates between the fantastical and the tangible, proving that even in the darkest moments, a glimmer of light can emerge.

The supporting cast, especially Hwang In-youp as Il-deung, contributes layers to the narrative. Il-deung's character, teetering on the edge of collapse under societal expectations, adds complexity to Ah-yi's story. The series unfolds like a spellbinding tapestry, seamlessly combining drama, humor, and camp to create a viewing experience unlike any other.

Ji Chang-wook's portrayal of Lee Yeul steals the spotlight, his charismatic and mysterious presence adding an extra layer of intrigue. As his dark past is gradually unveiled, the emotional rollercoaster intensifies, contributing to the series' perfect blend of heavy subjects and fairytale beauty.

"The Sound of Magic" is more than a show; it's a transformative journey. Amidst dramatic musical numbers and stunning production, it remains grounded in the complexities of life. Sung-eun's nuanced portrayal and Chang-wook's charismatic performance breathe life into the characters, making them resonate deeply.

Reflecting on "The Sound of Magic," I am compelled to give it a resounding 10 out of 10. This series isn't just entertainment; it's a poignant reminder of the magic that exists in ordinary moments. In a world that often forgets the extraordinary, "The Sound of Magic" reignites the belief that magic is alive and well.

This series stands as a testament to the transformative power of storytelling. It has not only secured its place as a personal favorite for its narrative brilliance but has also played a pivotal role in making me rediscover the magic within and around me.

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my fav drama of all time

excuse me WHY ARE THERE ONLY 6 EPISODES. you do not know how many times i cried because of the drama, and the fact that this is so short. funny story actually, i started watching this at the dentist because they have a tv on the wall of their waiting area, and i was scrolling through netflix (u gotta take advantage of the free netflix yk) and my mum said that this was a recent release, so i started watching it. boy i was OBSESSED. after my dentist appointment, i went home and watched all 6 episodes back to back. this was also the beginning of my ji chang wook phase oh no. anyway, because of this stunning cast, beautiful story and THE MUSIC AND OST. ive already rewatched this drama so many times and i still get so entranced. and because of this i give this a 10. my favourite drama ive ever watched!

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