first of all if you don't want to read a long review and just want the main point- there are hundreds of dramas better than this. don't waste your time on it. i would've dropped jirisan right at the first episodes if only i wasnt watching it with my mom. but since i finished it anyways, im gonna take this chance to tell people to not even start it.

jirisan is a drama with splendid cast, poor execution of story, bland characters and boring plot. lemme talk about them in detail.

STORY
the synopsis was intriguing at first, but it ended up providing nothing special. the concept is unique- rangers and the mountain. but it failed to give anything impressive and worth complimenting, it failed to add anything meaningful to its concept. it had so much potential to be a beautiful drama but ended up being boring and draggy. literally halfway through the drama there was still no progress in the story. i could barely watch it, in fact, i didn't watch it without doing anything else. i can't focus on the drama because it's too boring.

CHARACTERS AND ACTING
every single character was bland. sure the story focus on their work and not their characters, but they should've at least gave something to enjoy about the lead characters. i know the cast are amazing actors, especially jun ji hyun and ju ji hoon, but while watching the drama icb i even questioned their acting skills. tho im pretty sure it's because the characters were so bland they couldnt showcase their skills. i don't even know why ju ji hoon and jun ji hyun accepted such roles when they're up at the top of the pyramid. hyunjo had no role except to have those visions and put those signals, what frustrated me even more was that he was in a coma for the whole present part of drama. those "soul wandering in the mountain" hyunjo scenes did not suffice esp because he's the male lead. while seo yi gang- i can't even remember what significant thing she did in the drama. oh and as much as i love the two JJHs, they didn't have any chemistry together. dont give me some shit that it's because there's no romance (even tho they were obviously a pair), there are lot of dramas/movies with no romance but the leads' chemistry is impeccable. even in the witch subversion kim dami and choi wooshik were killing each other but their chemistry can be seen 4K. was it because of the writing? idk we'll never know. another thing is that THERE ARE TOO MANY CHARACTERS. at the end of the story when everything was coming all together and suddenly 20 names (exaggerated) are being mentioned at the same time i was like "who the fuck are they again? what did they do again? i know they were related to this incident but i don't remember what their story was".

this drama was really a disappointing one. with all the hype and top tier actors, it failed badly. i wonder what was wrong with lee eung bok bc the cinematography of jirisan is a disappointment compared to his previous works (esp mr. sunshine which is very well known for its unbeatable cinematography). while kim eun sook... ah, should've continued kingdom instead.

on the other hand, i got to learn more about the work of rangers a bit and that was something i never saw in any other drama. thanks to that ig?