A Lenda do Mar Azul (2016)

Wow! What a total surprise that I liked this so much better than Goblin. I came to this not having much expectations at all because many reviews were not favourable to this drama, and I just realised that only by watching it can I form my own opinion that is: I LOVED IT TO BITS!

Some people say it dragged in the middle but even when I was around ep. 14-19 I couldn't find where it dragged really (I mean sure some scenes dragged but it didn't feel like the entirety of a couple of episodes could have been better taken out). perhaps I was just really enjoying Tae Oh and his cuteness that I didn't think it dragged in whatever shape or form LOL.

It's like Waikiki where they extended from 16 to 20 episodes, and you feel nothing but grateful that you can stay with the characters much longer. It's also not as draggy as Suspicious Partner or Fated to Love You, and the final episode just truly served the purpose of concluding things so nicely instead of being a useless one.

I just love this drama in entirety. There is so many angst in this drama, but through the evil characters, you also get to learn valuable life lessons because karma is indeed a bitch. And the writer's creativity to play around the fantasy genre has given us some of the best epilogues I have seen in kdramaland; I am going to remember this for a long time.

All of the scenes when they shot underwater are absolutely gorgeous and I could not think of an actress who would suit a mermaid-comedy-beauty character more than Jun Ji Hyun.

It was also a surprise for me coming into this drama receiving a crosssover between I Hear Your Voice and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, literally.

Definitely a very rewatchable drama. I just feel sorry for the many people who seemed to not share what a gem this drama is. ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

TMI: when they kissed in bed in episode 20 I think, I definitely saw a tongue from him, so Seo Kang Joon in Entourage was literally not the only one who did, HAHAHAHA. You can check it if you missed that. Okay bye.

Leia Mais

I only recommend the first 6 episodes

A con-artist Joon Jae meets a Shim Chung and he tries to steal her beautiful jade bracelet. However, they ended up crossing paths from then on and had to face a lurking danger. Can Shim Chung survive the human world while keeping Joon Jae safe?

I enjoy the beginning the most for the many memorable and laugh-out-loud funny moments. Thanks to Jun Ji Hyun for portraying her characters as a literal fish-out-of-water meeting a con-artist and learning everything about human world. Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun is a great match together when they're bickering but not as lover. From the beginning I see them as strangers to friends and can never see them as lovers.

When the plot thickens, they showed mysterious and repetitive flashbacks that I found very predictable but drags for many episodes, that by the time it is revealed, there is no surprise anymore. I remember being more interested in the supporting cast scenes more than the leads because the main plot is just not emotional and feels so underwhelming.

After I paused watching it for many months right after the reveal, I ended up finishing it just for the closure. The ending is decent but fail to bring back the excitement I had in the beginning. I only recommend the first 6 episodes, the part where most of the comedies are landing perfectly. They really could benefit had they wrap up everything quicker.

Leia Mais

So good that I’ve rewatched and I’m rewatching

This drama has got to go down in K drama history as one of the best K dramas out there.
I came to this drama late but well, better late than never.
I highly recommend this drama to all drama lovers!

Watch because:
- female lead is goddamn pretty ( I’m a fan of the female lead )
- chemistry between male lead and female lead is awesome and natural
- there are many sweet moments
- there are many cute moments
- there are many suspenseful parts
- everything is explained very nicely and the whole plot ties up well
- the supporting cast acts well - many characters are cute and adorable especially, the character Tae Oh
- I liked the link between the past and the present - well played / well done
- story is well-written and very interesting
- rewatch value is high

I don’t have reasons for u not to watch.
It’s really one of the best K dramas and perhaps at this point in time, can be sort of considered a Classic Must Watch.

Lovely!

Leia Mais

Good Story with an Unsatisfying Ending..

I have been watching this drama for a few days and was enjoying it quite well until the last episode. I have just stopped watching it in the middle of the last episode because I was very disappointed with how they turned the plot upside down. I was not expecting that kind of a plot change which literally made me feel like I watched all 19 episodes for nothing. I could give spoilers if anyone asks me why I think this way but I can say that it is not worth spending 20 hours watching all the episodes for such an unsatisfying ending. I cannot say that it was a bad ending but it was also not something anyone would want or even imagine to be an ending to such a good story. All the good, bad, exciting, heartwarming etc moments, events, feelings that have occured in all 19 episodes went down the drain with such a totally disappointing ending.

Leia Mais

Interesting story, only too long... Legend of the blue sea is about a mermaid who fells in love with a con man, after meeting him in Spain, and decides to find him in Seoul. However, she had erased his memory beforehand and so he can't remember her. Meanwhile, the drama shows the love story between the two main characters in a different era and how they have now reincarnated into the present lovers. I divide this drama into three parts, the first one which is the interesting one, the second one which is the romantic one and the last one that was kind of boring and more family drama like. The plus points for this drama are the performances, especially from the leading lady. She was really good and funny pretending to be a creature from the sea learning the human behaviour and way of living. The chemistry, however, between the two leads was weak...The family drama was interesting and the step mother\villain was really the ideal villain type that you want to see behind bars. Of course, when the family drama started progressing, the romance and the mermaid affairs got the second lead. And though it was entertaining, the last few episodes could have been combined into one and that would have made this drama perfect. However, they just prolonged the story by adding constant flash backs again and again which was tiring. So, 4 out of 10.

Leia Mais

Legend of the Blue Sea was a great 2016 drama that helped cement that year as a classic maker in the kdrama community. I really enjoyed how fun and cute it was. Why then did I give it a relatively low score? For the simple reason that I did not like our main couple.

I was wholly unconvinced of the romance between Joon Jae and Shim Chung. Shim Chung was the main reason for my feeling this way. She was very naive, inexperienced, and a little dumb. Her childlike wonder with the world fit well for a literal fish out of water but was a bad match for the cynicism of Joon Jae. Joon Jae probably needed to be paired with someone less jaded than himself but the gap between his understanding of the world, his experiences, and his past and Chung's respectively were too great a distance to overcome through love. They had nothing in common. Even as she learned more about the human world she stayed very innocent and naive and their energy or way of thinking never seemed to match. I would have liked to see them each with someone more able to understand them and what they see in others and the world around them.

I will say I loved the version of this couple from the past. Dam Ryung and Seo Hwa had everything I felt Joon Jae and Shim Chung were lacking. They had a better understanding of each other and were both more alike than not. Because Dam Ryung lacked Joon Jae's cynicism and Seo Hwa lacked Shim Chung's naivety they were able to meet in the middle. They made a great couple and I wish their modern counterparts were more like them.

I also adored Tae Oh and Cha Shi Ah as a secondary couple. They outshone the main couple for me and I loved every minute they were on screen together.

Overall this was a fun lighthearted drama and was hilarious at the best of times, but the main couple simply did not do it for me. Had they been a better match I would have undoubtedly scored this drama higher.

Leia Mais

So in love with the characters <3

(only mild spoilers though...)

First disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Jun Ji Hyun so my review is a bit biased to this show and any other that she is in. That being said, I was ready to give up on Lee Min Ho (I don't know, his shows and my taste do seem the clash) and this show made me completely change my mind about him (but then I watched The King: Eternal Monarch.... oh my... but that´s a story for another time).

Second disclaimer: Is been a while since I watched this show from beginning to end… So to keep in mind that this review is more about what stuck with me from this series. I believe that when I first finished the series I rated it 8.0 (?)... However, as the weeks and months passed, I found myself remembering scenes of the series and just laughing and feeling good. I grew fond of it, I fell more in love with the characters as I distanced myself from them.

So, let´s start!

The story itself is very weird and I need to say that if you prefer a more down to Earth storyline stay clear of this one (and I don't mean it just because it is a story about a mermaid). I think the screenwriter thought that 'mermaid and human man' was a too simple concept and went beyond in ways no one could have imagined... Try explaining the plot of this show to a friend and you will know what I mean... Feels overstuff and all over the place... but, in my opinion, it did work and it made the series more interesting and dynamic. It was not perfect and some stuff seemed forced and unnecessary to the growth of the main characters, but it was not something that made me stressed as well.

I think that even though nothing seemed cohesive at first - the story set in the past that did not seem to resonate with the present, the lost mother, the rich aloof father, the evil stepmother, the consequences of being a mermaid living on land, the scammer group, the killer guy that just was there, the whole Shin Hye Sun subplot… - I found that one subplot tended to feed the other and when it didn't it made the series escape from being too focused one the romantic problems of the main couple (which is something that tends to get old after a few episodes, in my opinion).

Now, my favourite part, the characters!

Jun Ji Hyun was just hilarious and amazing throughout. The relationships of her character with the people she meets on the streets of Seoul are just one of the high points for me. All those supporting characters were fun and caring and made us understand and care for Shim Chung much more. It enriched the storyline of her character and made her even more likable and affable and fun.

Heo Joon Jae was also made better and more rich by his relationships, precisely the one with Shim Chung and with Jo Nam Doo. His storyline was the most convoluted one and where all the 'overstuffiness' was but I really liked Lee Min Ho portrait for this character, I think he was able to strike the right balance between slightly arrogant and mysterious and being funny and adorable in rude yet endearing sort of way.

The chemistry of the main couple and their interacting were just the best and it felt like a balanced and well-constructed relationship. It didn’t feel forced or rushed and it did not become a fluffy fest either… I liked their romantic moments, their banter, the way their differences and misunderstandings were built.

When we embark on a romantic comedy such as this one we already know what is going to happen in the broad terms – they will meet, probably don’t see eye to eye at first, fall in love, have some sort of fight/disagreement/miscommunication, break the relationship and get back together and be happy… Some series deviate from the formula a bit but, to be honest, I don’t think that us fans of romantic comedies really care if they do or don’t, what we want is to be surprised and taken away and to fall in love with the main characters and root for them. If the series is able to accomplish this, then most of us are happy. Legend of the Blue Sea was an ace in this point to me. I think Shim Chung and Heo Joon Jae are definitely one of my favourite couples of all times.

Bonus point:

The amazing and unexpected subplot about Cha Shi Ah and Tae Oh. I won’t say much not to ruin it. But I loved it every minute of it and, yeah, was one of the highlights of the show for me.

In summary:
Legend of the Blue Sea is a series that connected to my heart and soul. I loved watching it and I think about the characters and story even now, half a year after I last watched.

Leia Mais

Legend of the Blue Sea is a good drama and I do recommend the watch but it had the potential to be great. The first few episodes of this series were great but somewhere in the middle the plot became convoluted and muddled. But it did have a strong ending to finish it.
The best part of this series is the cast and it was great to see Lee Min Ho playing a kind of different role from Heirs and Boys Over Flowers. I just wish they spent more time focusing on him being a con artist rather than some of the reincarnation plot.
The first couple episodes are hilarious and I adore them.

Overall, I do recommend the watch and it is good series. It is just disappointing that it isn't great.

Leia Mais

A Stale One For Me

I feel I'm in the minority here, but I could not get into this drama. It took me way too long to complete and I had to really hype myself up to do so.

The story was, as my title says, stale. They sped through things, tried to develop characters that had no real relevancy, and becausw they spent so much time with the fluff of it all rushed through what could've been an amazing story as a whole vs the last few episodes.

The acting was ok. I could not get into the relationship of the two leads. While both good actors, their chemistry felt forced, fake and not convincing at all.

The music wasn't very memorable to me. I didn't really pay much attention to it.

Re-watch value is a no for me. It took so long for the story to really get good for me, I would watch the last three episodes at the most and call it a day.

Overall, the story had a lot of potential but it felt short with a lack of main lead chemistry and all the fluff they tried to throw in to make it last 20 episodes.

Leia Mais

its tha most sweet rom com i have ever seen ..FL ML just fit for this i dont know how many timw i watch this drama . but i want to suggest to watch this drama who loves rom-com . or fantasy romance .
the past life of both of then and suspense for last that its ML step brother is real villan in past life .
all character of past life come back .
all character do their work very well spcly FL ND ML .
their sweet romance and ML after knowing that FL is a mermaid .
i suggest you to watch if u searching not clingy sweet romance then u r goona love it..
spcly lee min ho ..he is so handsome and his dressing sense ..and FL is so sweet and pure

Leia Mais