HIRAI MOMO
I think Mr. Sunshine will forever be the best drama to ever exist, at least in my opinion. I've watched this drama for the second time now; despite me knowing what happens in the drama, I still get surprised by how amazing everything is.
If you ask me what I consider amazing in this drama for you to watch it, I'd say everything is amazing. Have you ever wondered what a drama would look like without flaws? Mr. Sunshine is a flawless drama; from its cast, its storyline, how everything was directed, and everything in between.
I know that a lot of people tend to avoid historical genre dramas, but hear me out. While I believe that a lot of other historical dramas are good and have their own charm, Mr. Sunshine is in another class of its own. It wouldn't be boring as you might expect it to be, because this drama was set during the time Japan was conquering Korea and right before World War 1 (1914), so industrialization was already taking place; guns, trains, electricity, and whatnot were already being used. While certain elements of the story were fictitious, a lot of the story was still based on the true history of Korea; so you could learn a lot about their history and culture. Dramas like this tend to be slow, while Mr. Sunshine isn't necessarily a fast-paced drama, it isn't really a slow one either despite having 24 episodes. When you're watching, you won't feel the drama being draggy, and after watching all episodes you'll realize that not one episode passed by without having something meaningful happen.
Now let's talk about some of the notable things that made this drama so perfect:
1) The cast: The cast was perfectly handpicked. Every single one of them played their role perfectly. You could actually feel their emotions being displayed in full throttle as if they were actually living in this drama itself. I believe that all the cast in Mr. Sunshine deserves an award for their acting, and some of them did. Lee Byung Hun won the best actor award, and Yoo Yeon Seok won the best supporting actor award respectively, beating out other amazing actors from other amazing dramas that also have one of the highest ratings in My Mister, Mother, and Prison Playbook. Unfortunately, Kim Tae Ri didn't win the best new actress award, but she still deserves the praise and nomination nonetheless.
2) The plot: The story was so rich! The writers did an amazing job crafting such an amazing story, and I can't stress this enough. What's more amazing is how they managed to direct such an amazing story to make it even better. The whole drama was so smooth and I didn't feel like there was part of the drama that should've been removed. The cinematography was great and the production of the film itself deserves an Oscar. You don't really have to worry about non-essential episodes wasting your time because Mr. Sunshine did not have any filler episodes; every single episode was meaningful and contributed to the build-up of the whole storyline.
3) The music: Well, not much can be said about this but I just wanted to put it out there. The OSTs of Mr. Sunshine perfectly fit the theme, and highlights/magnifies the emotion felt of every scene perfectly.
Overall, as I said, Mr. Sunshine is the best. I've never been this attached to a drama ever, and I think I'll be forever scarred by it as well. Prepare yourself fully before watching this, as you'll have your emotional sensitivity automatically set-up on high during most of the drama. In certain scenes, I was trying to hold my heart in my chest as it literally felt like my heart would explode from all the crying. I kid you not, prepare yourself for one emotionally unstable roller coaster. Please do consider watching this masterpiece of a drama, I'm sure you won't regret it.
If you ask me what I consider amazing in this drama for you to watch it, I'd say everything is amazing. Have you ever wondered what a drama would look like without flaws? Mr. Sunshine is a flawless drama; from its cast, its storyline, how everything was directed, and everything in between.
I know that a lot of people tend to avoid historical genre dramas, but hear me out. While I believe that a lot of other historical dramas are good and have their own charm, Mr. Sunshine is in another class of its own. It wouldn't be boring as you might expect it to be, because this drama was set during the time Japan was conquering Korea and right before World War 1 (1914), so industrialization was already taking place; guns, trains, electricity, and whatnot were already being used. While certain elements of the story were fictitious, a lot of the story was still based on the true history of Korea; so you could learn a lot about their history and culture. Dramas like this tend to be slow, while Mr. Sunshine isn't necessarily a fast-paced drama, it isn't really a slow one either despite having 24 episodes. When you're watching, you won't feel the drama being draggy, and after watching all episodes you'll realize that not one episode passed by without having something meaningful happen.
Now let's talk about some of the notable things that made this drama so perfect:
1) The cast: The cast was perfectly handpicked. Every single one of them played their role perfectly. You could actually feel their emotions being displayed in full throttle as if they were actually living in this drama itself. I believe that all the cast in Mr. Sunshine deserves an award for their acting, and some of them did. Lee Byung Hun won the best actor award, and Yoo Yeon Seok won the best supporting actor award respectively, beating out other amazing actors from other amazing dramas that also have one of the highest ratings in My Mister, Mother, and Prison Playbook. Unfortunately, Kim Tae Ri didn't win the best new actress award, but she still deserves the praise and nomination nonetheless.
2) The plot: The story was so rich! The writers did an amazing job crafting such an amazing story, and I can't stress this enough. What's more amazing is how they managed to direct such an amazing story to make it even better. The whole drama was so smooth and I didn't feel like there was part of the drama that should've been removed. The cinematography was great and the production of the film itself deserves an Oscar. You don't really have to worry about non-essential episodes wasting your time because Mr. Sunshine did not have any filler episodes; every single episode was meaningful and contributed to the build-up of the whole storyline.
3) The music: Well, not much can be said about this but I just wanted to put it out there. The OSTs of Mr. Sunshine perfectly fit the theme, and highlights/magnifies the emotion felt of every scene perfectly.
Overall, as I said, Mr. Sunshine is the best. I've never been this attached to a drama ever, and I think I'll be forever scarred by it as well. Prepare yourself fully before watching this, as you'll have your emotional sensitivity automatically set-up on high during most of the drama. In certain scenes, I was trying to hold my heart in my chest as it literally felt like my heart would explode from all the crying. I kid you not, prepare yourself for one emotionally unstable roller coaster. Please do consider watching this masterpiece of a drama, I'm sure you won't regret it.
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