Phenomenal
Such a great drama. I've been watching kdramas for 10 years and it has been a long time since I have been hooked on a drama! But this is the one! Alchemy of souls! Having seen part 1 and nearly all of part 2, I can safely say both actresses in season 1 and 2 give the show its magic. Some people compare them but they really shouldn't!This drama has brilliant special effects, a beautiful OST, talented actors and a really good storyline. If I had it my way I'd ask for a lifetime of episodes. Can't wait to see how part 2 ends! Hoping for a happy ending and/or cliffhanger preparing for a third season hehe!
If you are looking for a great historical fantasy series, then I have found the one for you!
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This Is like the best drama i have ever Seen it's so good the story everything about it Is Just perfect and i love the main actors chemistry good cast So Younjung Is really a good actress i loved her as Naksu than Mudeok and Lee Jae wook Is the generation of futur actor. I Just Hope they will have a Happy ending cause both Naksu and Jang Ku deserves It i don't want them to cry anymore. I Will like to see Lee Jae wook ans So Younjung on another drama as lead cause they both have good chemistry their acting is so natural that you can thing they're both together in real Life. Was this review helpful to you?
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A MASTERPIECE
I liked a lot this drama. I love cast. I think that characters with the actors were suitable. Lee jae wook is my favourite one, although all the cast was my favourite. I believed in the last episodes that the ending will be also bad for the charactes but aftet all not only was happy but also completed. The most completed drama ever. The story also was original and had fantasy that anyones couldn't imagine. I wanted better music for this plot, but actually the visual fx was the best. I recommend to everyone see this drama for the cast and the plot. Especially, the second season was better and you could see even though you didn't saw the first one.Was this review helpful to you?
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thoughts on the alchemy of souls franchise
i was bawling my eyes out for the majority of the final episode scenes. midway, i honestly thought a happy ending would no longer be possible. uk & yeong were genuinely happily spending their limited time in danhyanggok, but this just made me cry :(((( plus, that scene wherein park jin had to close the door to jinyowon so that no more relics would escape, but had to sacrifice her wife for that matter :((((( & that scene where yeong said i love you while recalling her last moment as mudeok :(((((((( & died afterwards. felt so much loneliness for jang uk :((((((((( he’s all alone now. tears wouldn’t stop flowing at this point.things i love about the whole series
1. they showed that love transcends the physical appearance. jang uk loved cho yeong as mudeok, the one he first fell in love with, & as buyeon, the girl whose memory was wiped & asked him to be her husband.
2. during the first episodes of season 2 i was dreading that jang uk learns of jin buyeon’s true identity asap. i was kinda irritated with how hostile he was towards her. i could not understand why they would reveal her identity at the latter episodes. at some point, jang uk fell in love with jin buyeon & i came to understand the reason for this. the hong sisters wanted to show that jang uk loved both versions of cho yeong. they didn’t want jang uk liking jin buyeon (cho yeong) only because she was mudeok, but for what she truly is, or what she could have been if jinmu didn’t raise her as an assassin.
3. the whole character arc of crown prince go. i’m sooo glad they didn’t turn him evil because he was such a lovely character. + the yeong & crown prince dynamic!!
4. seo yul!! also glad they didn’t follow the second lead-turning-bad-at-the-latter-episodes arc. he was innately good
5. storyline-wise, i love how it was written. there’s so much to unpack in the drama—the foreshadowing, the plot, the characters. it was all soooo well-written.
6. am not a fan of fantasy dramas because, i guess, the editing looks all so weird to me. but i love the cinematography on this one.
kudos to the hong sisters. this was a drama for the books. 100/10. probably my favorite drama of the year!!
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BESTS HOW OF 2022/2023
I rately write review but this definitely deserves it. THIS SHOW WAS A ROLLERCOASTER TO WATCH BUT I HAD FUN ALL THE WAY THROUGH, both female leads did an amazing job making me cry, laugh and smile my heart out and it was an amazing experience that i don’t think another show has gave me. This show is a must watch for all kdrama fans, it has a great storyline, amazing actors and great romance. I dont think ive fell this hard for a couple expect the couple from its ok not to be okay. They really pulled every single one of my heart strings ????Was this review helpful to you?
Short Answer to "Should you watch it?"
I see why people are saying season 1 was better and all but season 1 was the prequel for a reason, and season 2 the is part for which they wanted to create for a happy ending which made sense instead or rushing it in the first season. I would say this season was quite fitting as a sequel to the masterpiece which was the first season. Definitely a good watch!I think this was nice form the writers as I would rather they have this season then not and leave the watchers in the dark or even worse make a rushed version in the first season.
As far as my opinion matters I would say its a good watch if you wanna see the great ending the writers concocted. This season was not made to be watched on its own but to be a sequel to the previous one and in that aspect it hit the mark.
Slight heads up! The re-watch rating is not accurate as I personally don't re-watch any shows again so its just done for the sake of the rating so I've given it a fair rating.
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Unpopular Opinion: Better than Part One.
I know this is an incredibly unpopular opinion, but I preferred this season to the last. LET ME EXPLAIN!One thing I will say is that I loved Jung So Min's portrayal of Naksu/Mudeok in Season 1, but I also really enjoyed the Season 2 portrayal, which reminded me of a Rapunzel-esque character who is locked away with no memories and thus kept childlike/innocent. I think the new female lead portrayed that pretty well. So this was not a major point of contention for me.
Regarding the other actors, I think Arin improved a lot, especially in portraying Jin Cho Yeon's forced maturing and JinYoWon's closing to outsiders. Jang Uk's portrayal was also really great, describing how Naksu's death impacted him and guided his character growth.
Personally, I prefer shorter drama, and the 20 episodes to me felt like it dragged on for a bit, so I for sure preferred the 10 episodes instead.
However, I will also argue that I am mildly put off and confused by the explanation of Jin BuYeon and Naksu's identity. Like from my understanding:
Bodies - Mudeok, Jin BuYeon
Souls - Mudeok, Naksu, Jin BuYeon
I am confused about whether Jin Buyeon's body was already inhabited by Naksu from the beginning or whether Naksu is JinBuyeon.
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Nothing much to rave about but certainly an interesting wrap-up
This is a sequel to the Alchemy of Souls with an open-ended and frustrating ending. At the end of the first series, Jang Uk was killed but was resurrected by the Ice Stone. Three years later in this sequel, he becomes a soul shifter killer, hunting down the remains of those who had escaped in the first series. While hunting a soul shifter, he runs into a beautiful woman who is held captive by her mother and begs him to help her escaped.This sequel pales in comparison to the first. There are not much to look forward to. The identities are all revealed even that of this new Jin Bu-yeon is revealed to the audience. I thought the writer should hold on a few more episodes before doing that. I guess it is all to quickly allay the frustrations of those who watched the first series watching MuDeok died.
It becomes a bit of a drag - the identity of the new Jin Bu-yeon is known to the audience but not the characters involved. Jang Uk is in the dark and so are a lot of people in the drama. So the story revolves around them finding out one by one, and also how the 'righteous' people turn to the dark side.
I watched it as I wanted to know how it would all ends. So if you have already watched the first series, you would want to watch this one too.
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Honestly One of The Best Drama In The Industry
I think this drama is going down in history as one of the best drama ever damn! Where should I start......First of all, The people who are frustrated with the dragging of the plot, having 2 seasons annoyed a lot of netizens, and the switching of the female lead also made a lot of people so frustrated to the point of dropping this drama, accusation of weak female main lead/weak female leads in general, This are all the and..... I quote "the only frustrating/cons bits inthis drama" and I agree half-heartedly BUT have u seen any other masterpiece in the history of film/series that is without a single mistake? As they say, it is always easier to find the small mistakes than to appreciate the actual good parts
lemme tell you
Watching this drama I realized that there might be a lot of dramas/shows/series/movies similar to the concepts of alchemy of souls, the ones that came to mind rn are all the Chinese "wuxia" dramas/movies like Ashes of love, word of honor etc.... they all had this kind of visual effects and similar romance/swordplay.BUT the execution, the plot, the chemistry not just between the main characters but all the secondary couple leads also, the acting, the light-hearted comedy, the ost and the production WERE ALL JUST *chefs kiss* and THIS drama really left this feeling of watching an original fr
-STRONG(at heart) female leads LMAO
I was also a frustrated netizen with the switching of the female lead since we are attached to our gurly Mu Deok/Jin Bu Yeon(Jung So Min) ,her astonishing acting and her freaking adorable face but being real we are all just attached to the character of naksu inside of mu deok and we are afraid of seeing a new character take that place even though logically the new actress (Go young Jung) is the actual main lead it is not replacing but rather going back to the right owners .Also the new fml is as good of a actor and have another adorable looking face but watching this second season really showed me the THE BIG PICTURE and fill in on the confusions, Miss Naksu / Cho Yeong (Go Youn Jung) is the main character of the whole series no matter how you look at it story and the character in general , our gurly mu deok/Jin Bu Yeon was the bgm character for a reason (a lot people did not like the fact she was bg character 4/5th of the show) as u all know in the season 2 it is portrayed clearly that Jin but yeon (trying not to spoil) is a reincarnation of a character and she was not an individual who had only one purpose (can't spoil) that is saving from something ahem ahem... yeah so obv we can understand that she is a being who clearly didn't give 2 f**ks about who is in her body or whatever ppl inside her body is doing ? she is a deity for a reason and a powerful one for that matters. And for our actual fml naksu/chae yeon there is a point in this season where we can see the starting character naksu is clearly a revengeful person made up by jin min(villain guy) but chae yeon is a soft-hearted,cheerful,delicate girl and yes even if they are the same person and that strong naksu was someone we all thought was cool but our fml becomes a person who stopped being naksu who was rebellious and liked being always on her own, didn't care who,what,why and just revengeful towards the world in general Turned into this healing person and started being a person who slowly fully depends and rely on jang UK like relying on a shoulder to cry so we can all guess that she did not do any acting/fighting in season due to her finally finding her self and healing .Also prehaps came to a point she didn't want to hurt more people around for her selfishness like she technically stole Jin buyeon's body but thankfully our gurl don't give a sh*t ?
now for the all the other female supporting characters i think yes it is disappointing some times when they are showing way too much weakness (like towards the plot we can see they don't show the same amount of physical magic power same as the male leads and tends to "sacrifice" their self ? which is so furstrating like gurl UR A CLAN LEADER USE UR DAYM POWERS..ETC..) but i think they were all kind of strong in their own ways (mentality?lmao)
-The Acting and The CHEMISTRY *Chef's kiss*
these 2 things in this drama is just so good to the point it's just crazy like jang UK( the lucky bastard) had the luck to make out with both the female leads (Go young Jung and Jung so min ) my guy don't discriminate (I wouldn't either ?) i have to say the chemistry between them ( Jang UK and the both fmls)is just none better or worse than the other its so crazy to me How his eyes are so much in love and how much the female actors feel like they're the same person,The biggest acting plus point i saw that was common in all the characters is the rawness of emotions in everything they did ,And the eyes! man looking at their eyes there's so much going on there its way too good and enjoyable on a deeper level
-The unhinged humour (LMAO)
bruh I'm bawling my eyes out and then I'm laughing with a runny nose jeez the execution of humour of the drama made me look past the dragging plot
1 thing I'm pretty sure about is there is more to this drama than it meets the eyes and all the furstrations can be explained if U pay attention to the smallest details
Now for the cons that I say poke out like thorns in this perfect field of a master piece "IN MY OPINION"
-The female lead not having a fight after getting all her powers in both bodies, In both the season I was hoping to see more of the little action that was shown in the first EP into something bigger and exciting, I really expected at least one of the FML will show us a real good naksu fight with the villain ?and that left an empty space in me seriously! I wanted chae yeon in season 2 showing it off with her naksu blade from season 1 but instead we see Jang UK ? taking the sword as a souvenir this made me(a horrible feminist for female leads) very disappointed...i think we def should have given a chance to see our naksu+che yeong+mu deok+jin bu yeong powers all mixed and executed beautifully into an K.O fight with SOMEBODY ya know maybe even showing she is more powerful than jang UK ahem..ahemm
-The dragging of the plot is honestly just unnecessary towards the ending but season 2 did add so much closure like it is the big picture
-Maybe too much about romance(I'm talking about the screen play not story or characters ) and less about the main lead's past/future/present the romance and the repetition of all the already done romantic scenes were literally the 2/5th of the drama
and it gets annoying seeing the same romantic scene from like season 1 played like 50 times in season 1 and 2 LMAO
THATS PRETTY MUCH IT ITS JUST A MUST WATCH KDRAMA !
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Having detachment issues after finishing
Well it's officially over and I have spent 30+ hours dedicating my life to the story and the characters it built and honestly my emotions cant handle it. This drama (both seasons) did such a good job making you care about the characters and develop a connection that you just dont want to let go. Although I wish the Bu Yeon had acted a little more like Mu Deok in the beginning, I still think the actress did a good job with the script she was given in imitating the character Jung So Min created. The thing that really won me over with this drama was Jang Uk. He was absolutely Bad Ass! His persona was completely different from season 1 and the shots and scenes they gave him really elevated the drama. But I will have to say, the best part about season 1 & 2 is hands down the Crown Prince! Him and his relationship with Jang Uk hahaWas this review helpful to you?
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interesting
It was a good drama loved the fact that we were able to see Naksu but I would have liked to see her act as a villain/ evil like in episode 1 in part 1 of aos. I was confused on why some actors didn't remember Naksu when they fought her in part 1 so that was a little confusing to me and the explanation of naksu confused me but at least they explained it multiple times.I like the storyline but the memory loss was too long. I feel like they skipped out essential parts of the timeline as it felt rushed at the end. loved the crown prince wish there was more scene with him in it.
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"am speed"
Don't know why no one noticed it or just people are not taking about....What happened to the pace of the show????
The biggest difference between the two seasons is the speed in which the story moves forward. From the 3rd episode the jumps in scenes were so drastic I was like 'am on a roller coster just downhill'. For me I enjoyed the show just for the sake of story completion (story is 101/100 no cap) and attachment with the characters because of S1. S1>S2 in all aspects. BUT VFX of aos is dope.
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