A Grande Xamã Ga Doo Shim (2021)

Aimed at a younger audience, I feel, but enjoyable for more mature viewers too.
Nice cast, with Nam Da-reum and Kim Sae-ron working so well together in their lead roles. Their chemistry was just right for these characters.
Supporting cast were very watchable too and the show is a great platform for its young actors to shine, as they have the majority of roles and screen time.
Should carry a trigger warning for references to suicide really, I feel though.
The stresses of high school exams and grades are taken to a whole new level in this.
I found some of the adults scarier than any ghosts or demons!
Nicely done and an enjoyable watch.

Leia Mais

Teens. Angst. Romance. Drafted in a paranormal infested highschool.

Title says it all. If you're looking for something heavy on the scary complex mystery, then this ones not for you.

Its about our FL being a young shaman, struggling to accept her birthright then add to the mix teenage angst and sweet first love. A little backstory was also given to cement the plot a little bit.

She met ML at her new school, might be just coincedence or might not be. Her grandma bound them together by responsibility, their love although young and innocent gives them strenght to fight for their friends and for what is right. The ML with the well structured life and FL with an unconventional life of a shaman, stood together to fight evil.

There's still too much the story can explore. I wont mind watching a season 2

Leia Mais

Definitely a binge watch drama here ;)

"Welcome to my world" as Doo Shim whispers in Woo Soo's ear.
That alone should be the punchline of this epic and yet sadly underrated drama.

I was expecting longer episodes, the minute I've heard these two would be in a drama together. Quite the prodigies in acting, both Kim Sae Ron and Nam Da Reum, are a powerful duo on the screen here. Their chemistry and team work are praise worthy, by the way they embody their roles.

The daughter of a lineage of Shamans and the Top student of a wealthy family are an odd combination. That and the whole prejudice against the Top model student being best friends with the last row student. Yoon Jung Hoon is also doing a great job at playing Il Nam, the best friend and quite impulsive character.

It's a struggle to follow this drama, when it only delivers one episode per week of less than 20 minutes...
The pros of that is that on production wise it's well made, from the effects to the cinematography and to how they can fit this storyline in such a short amount of time per episode, is indeed a genius move. It leaves us all engaged and yearning for more.

Every single interaction between the two main leads, Doo Shim and Woo Soo is endearing and quite magical to say the very least. They are making the whole show come to life with their acting skills, which is ironic given this is a spiritual concept story.

And while on that remark the most adorable spirit out there it has to be our Hyun Soo played by Yoon Sun Ho. I really do feel like Doo Shim should treat him better, given the amount of time he had been around her in the first place, but her personality is colder than any ghost around here...

It has a good plot and premisse, and although the episodes are too short for our liking they still deliver well and sometimes end in a cliffhanger to tempt us more. Because we do not suffer enough with the whole wait :') for those of you who will binge watch this later on... I congratulate you. You all have better resistance for waiting unlike me, so you will not suffer like this.

"Close your eyes. What do you see? You can't see anything, right? That's your future--"
"You. I can see you when I close my eyes. No. I can only see you. Are you my future?"

The drama is symbolic and it has its fair share of meaningful lines. Had not to love the characters or the whole vibe it delivers. What I like the most is that both main leads are learning with one another, while experiencing the same "world" their views are way different, while Do Shim has become pessimistic and reserved when it comes to her unique ability and lineage. Woo Soo despite scared of the unknown, eventually learns of ways to cope and work with his skill too. They are both special individuals.

[I had forgotten that, I have to deal with more than just evil spirits.]
[I had forgotten that there's someone on my side.]

If we could compare the two, they could be like the Yin Yang. They are compatible while having two sides within them.
I bet the second season will have the evil principal showing up to torment more kids and take avenge on Doo Shim and Woo Soo, still let's see where it will lead.

Highly recommend this mini drama, the OST is quite nice too.
The high quality of the episodes is good enough for the budget they have to work around with.
Definitely a good binge watch show when it is finished that's for sure.

Leia Mais

Suffers from the limited screen time.

The Great Shaman Ga Doo Shim is a rather well written simple fantasy, high school romance that tells the story of Doo Shim, who rejects her abilities, and would rather live a normal life, and Woo Soo, top student in Songyeong High School who gets himself involved in the supernatural shenanigans.

Was I the target audience for this show? Definitely not. It caters to the younger demographic, and gives me quite a Disney show type of vibes - technically there is a message, but the lack of in depth perspective makes me not care that much.

With limited screen time, the writers did what they could to present a well structured and well paced story, that involves quite a number of characters and their side-plots. With a complex drama like this one, that presents the struggles of the main leads, their sweet romance, the demon hunting in school, revenge of the female lead, villain’s backstory and all the subplots of the students with the lowest grade, 20 minutes per episode with 12 episodes in total is just not enough. With that, some plotlines seemed rushed, some were barely touched, almost none of the characters had an actual depth.

I liked Doo Shim a lot. She had a nicely paced development, as she learned how to care for others and fight for the good. Straightforward, but caring. On the other hand, Woo Soo had little to offer - he was there as a romantic interest and for the sake of driving the plot forward. Sounds like a male lead taking over the usual job given to female leads.

The acting from the whole cast was good. Most roles were given to already popular actors with years of experience - even the two main leads. It could not go wrong in that department.

For a short drama like that, the quality of writing and pacing is still really good. Not gonna lie, the sweet, a bit cringey, but quite realistic teen romance gave me some flashbacks to my teenage years - sentimental vibes, but do I really want to remember the awkwardness that came with it? lol

Overall, it’s a fun, short story focused on presenting the fight between good and evil - both as external and internal conflicts. It sheds light on the competitive nature of high school experience in Korea, and how it looks different from the perspective of the adults (who claim it’s a good thing for teens) and kids themselves.

Leia Mais

Some surprisingly swoony lines from teen ML

The first couple of episodes didn't impress me, mostly because they were rushed (it is a web series) and I didn't particularly care for the FL. Understandably, she had a chip on her shoulder, but honestly, she'd had 18 years to get used to her destiny and do you really want to go your whole life hating everyone and have everyone hating you? But then, the show really started to grow on me. This is an enjoyable show to binge watch, as the episodes are short and there are only 12 episodes. This drama demonstrated that the living are often scarier than the dead; and that if you open yourself up a little to people, your burdens might be halved because you have someone to share them with. Everything was wrapped up nicely, though because of the short duration, there were questions that were left unanswered (mostly missing back stories), but I wasn't bothered by that. Honestly, even though they've confirmed a season 2, I don't really see the need for it, other than to see more of the actors' work.

Kim Sae Ron as Ga Doo Shim was very good in this role. She was able to convey the bitterness of her lot in life, yet with that vulnerability that, perhaps this time things will be different. This was a very physical role and she did a good job with that as well.
Nam Da Reum as Na Woo Soo. I've loved him in things he's been in so far. I think he did an okay job as the male lead here, mainly because it was short. I'm not saying that he's not ready for a lead in a longer drama, just that this was a good starting point for him.
Yoo Sun Ho as student ghost Hyun Soo. He brought a lot of life to the story, especially considering that he was a dead guy! He had a lot of humorous scenes, and when he played it straight, I really felt for him. I would have loved to have actually seen a scene with him resolving issues with his mother.
Bae Hae Seon as Hyo Shim (Doo Shim's mother) - she did an excellent job. She has a very lovely and calm demeanor, and she didn't play her character as over-the-top and cartoonish, as I was afraid she would. I would have loved to have seen more scenes of her and Doo Shim resolving some of their issues.

Writing - there were the typical high school drama issues: terrible parents, the pressure to be the top of your class (I thought the premise for the deaths was excellent - it was coming from a different angle), school bullies, the other girl that likes the ML and is mean and conniving. Every time I watch a high school drama, I think that there is no way I'd want to go to school in Korea! However, there were a few surprisingly swoony lines from the ML that I was VERY impressed with. Not only with the lines themselves, but with the way Nam Da Reum delivered them.

Music - to be perfectly honest, I don't remember the music. It wasn't out of place, but I wasn't impressed enough to notice any of it.

Rewatch value - I've got too many other things on my list.

Bottom line - if you've got a few hours, don't want anything long and drawn out, and would like to see something a little supernatural, give it a try!

Leia Mais

I would recommend this drama to young children up to high-schoolers. It's overall a really light watch, that doesn't require heavy thinking and is aimed at younger audiences.

Although the plot is kind of ridiculous, the actors themselves are actually good.

I mean, even with the schooling system in South Korea, there's no way the students, parents, teachers, news reporters and the whole country would stay quiet if so many students of the same school killed themselves one by one, no matter if they were all bottom of the school when did it. No parent would sent their kid to such a school, no matter how prestigious it was. This would quickly come to the attention of the public. Plus there's no way the police wouldn't find anything suspicious after the 3rd consecutive "suicide", not to mention the following ones. And before they'd even start to investigate things, they'd first shut the school down.
A few more unresolved/open to question aspects are that 1. the mother of the female lead didn't even come help in the final showdown when her daughter could've died for the sake of the drama plot and 2. we didn't find the original story of the evil spirit. It was hinted that he was maybe a teacher who was obsessed with getting rid of the bad students, but would've been curious to find out more abt him.

Anyway the main leads were really cute. I especially followed Nam Da Reum after he played the child version of the main lead in While You Were Sleeping, and tried this drama because of him.
I only finished the drama, despite how childish it was, because all the actors, main or supporting, were actually good. Plus the episodes were short and I watched them in double speed lol.

Random p.s.: I have to say this short hair doesn't suit Kim Sae Ron at all.

Leia Mais

What happens at school if you fail?it also funny new friendships

Wow what an amazing drama and storyline The cast picked is perfect and its starting off with a big bang only 4 ep in and im already sad its only 12ep. Its amazing how much detail in just 20min and i love the idea of a HS student who's a sharman with good & evil spirit. When 7yo doo hyun tried to help her grandmother stop a student Hyun Soo from jumping off a building. The evil spirit makes him jump as grandma is calling the spirit back into her talisman purse and then seals him in. She tells Hyun soo spirit she'll take him to his mom then all of a sudden a person jumps out and stab her 2-3times and steals the purse. Her ghost tells her she must live past her 18th bday and will have a good life. Now 10yrs later and her mom is just a mild sharman to make money and cant help her daughter with power. Her first day at school a rumor starts that she was seen with the student who jumps to his death as she walked in with a scratch and bloody lip. Then we have the smart rich kid Woo soo that doesn't believe in what he cant see and thinks she a fraud like her mom who took advantages of his mom for money. As he and the other students starts to pressure her she walks past him and good old grandma jumps into his body and hugs her while telling her the bad spirit is in the building. Now the class is teasing him as he doesn't remember doing that, but remember feeling differently. From what i gather the principle Kyung pil made a deal with the powerful bad spirit who is bound by a talisman and when let out he says "Time for your meal" and the student with the lowest grade is killed in order to keep its prestigious school image.(i also think he killed grandma for the purse)
Na woo soo meets Ga doo shim and talks about what happened in class and what she sees so she lets him see and hear. She tells him to ignor them as he runs home and if he makes eye contact they try to talk to him. The next day she goes to his house and gives him a talisman so the spirits will stop bothering him until it fell off and he made them a deal to listen to there stories.
Ep 5 and its still fun to watch especially Hyun soo who still sticks to her for 10yrs as he cant find his way home to his mom.
Ep 6 getting more dangerous as the bad spirit is going after na woo's friend II Nam in the gym and he and doo shim fight him off and run out of school. He follows them to a building and enters someone body and attack them in the elevator and cant understand why a smart kid is friends with stupid kid. Then the door open and..... You need watch its funny 😜
Ep 7-End They are free from the evil spirit and for some stupid reason ll nam goes back to school alone. Na woo and doo shim also go and sadly the spirit is in ll nam and has him on window sill they try to fight, but ll nam fall out. They rush to him and his barely alive when his spirit separated and couldn't go back in so Hyun soo jump in till he was saved by the hosp. and in a coma. In order to save him they had hyun soo hide his spirit from the bad guy. His parents and her mother are called to the school and when they her bells goes crazy by the stairs and her mom and runs out. When doo shim gets home her mother says there moving due to the powerful evil spirit she felt near the steps with a talisman on the door. The next day they find it and sneak into school at nite, but are caught by their teacher and so he helps them and opens the door. Once in the energy is strong and not evil its caused by the student killed are being held prisoners then don don daa he appears and catches hyun hoo. They fight and finally get out and reseal the door and make a plan to catch it. Out of nowhere the principle orders a mock exam due to the last kid Lee ae kung was ruined. So still scared Ae kung doesn't want to die so doo shim sets herself to be last place, but turns out na woo had the same idea. So as they are making plans they can hear the spirit trying to brake loose and then we see the principle trying to keep the safe closed, but the spirit has gotten to powerful and breaks loose. As doo shin and Na woo are getting ready and the 2 girls decide to help and so doo shin gives them the ability to see the spirits and to handle the talismans. Once ready as they fight the evil spirit and harm him the principle appears and tries to kill her with a knife and them na woo pushes him and he falls down the stairs stabbing himself. Here they find out the truth of what happened 10years ago to him and her then they screaming and she grabs the purse and run to the roof. Soo jung is ready to fall as he grabs her arm and she grabs him the evil spirit tryes to take them both as doo shim starts to chant all of a sudden blue spirits start to help and weaken the evil. She grabs the purse and he enter them jumps out and a blue orb stop hims as she chants and he goes back in and she uses the axe and then see grandma who says she did well and says GB for good. They return to school as almost normal. A 2nd season is coming

Leia Mais

I originally saw this and couldn't wait to binge watch this -

It was a very quick and quirky coming to age story of Ga Doo Shim understanding her family's special gift with them help of Woo So, and ultimately deciding if she wanted to live as a normal girl after the age of 18 or continue in her family's footsteps. It was simple and quick and straight to the point where I enjoyed to story as well as all the characters.

I loved Ga Doo Shim cause she was a badass whenever she wanted to try and save people;
I loved Woo So and the passion he had for others as well as his cute little embarrassed run whenever he confessed anything to Doom Shim;
I loved Hyun Soo and his 10 year friendship with Ga Doo Shim;
& I loved Kim Il Nam and his comedic relief

This was very cookie cutter in all the things I enjoy from a spooky drama, but I couldn't go over a 9 due to the ending. It was a good ending, don't get me wrong - it was very classic, but when it seemed that the "world was saved" and everyone got to live normal lives, these characters who took on adult roles, eased into their high school lives quickly and it reminded me that I was watching a show about probably 15 or 16 year olds. Plus I guess I am so used to the ending being straight forward about certain things, while others could be open ended, but this drama didn't really answer anything... or maybe, I just missed it. It made me go back to previous episodes as I wasn't 100% sure what Doo Shim meant in her final words to Woo So. I also didn't understand what position Doo Shim chose about her life moving forward as this was the big question in the beginning of the drama.

Everything else seemed to happen and all our questions were answered, except for the two big Doo Shim questions.

Leia Mais

Love the ML

This is a surprisingly good show considering the short runtime of the episode but the writers and producers were able to deliver a concise and cohesive story without a lot of filler and BS pushback from the characters. The show is not without its flaws but it's overall a good series.

The cast is really good too. I like Kim Sae-Ron even though her character, Doo Shim got on my nerves. I loved Nam Da Reum's character Woo Soo. His character was so swoon worthy. He stole hearts the whole series. I really liked Yoo Sun Ho who played Hyun Soo too. The whole cast is very good though and I loved hearing Kim Sung Oh as the voice of the evil spirit. I will always be a fan of his work even when he's not visually on screen.

This series is likely a social commentary about the struggles and pressure kids in Korean (and elsewhere, honestly) go thru during their formative years in school. It's actually quite a nice allegorical story. I guess there's plans for a 2nd season. It will be interesting to see who/what the big bad will be next time.

6/12/23

Leia Mais

Buffy in Korea

The story follows a teen shaman exorcist who transfers to the school where her grandma died in order to finally get rid of an evil spirit who is killing the last ranked students! The girl meets a boy a,-nd wakes him to ghost seeing.

It reminded me a lot of Buffy with it's school setting, martial arts postures, mostly oblivious adults and of course the evil principal, Kids sort things out (i.e. getting rid of evil!) while adults act important. Just like Buffy, this short drama is telling us about teens and their growing pains stuck between the parents and the school and wanting to be free to learn about life on their own terms. For once in a school set drama, there is not one side story about bullying which was refreshing!

I picked this up because of the fantasy element but also because of Nam Da Reum, a former kid actor with a brightest of the futures waiting for him. He is immensely talented and handsome young man.

The pacing of the drama was brisk, without a dead moment: the advantage of short web dramas done well. They did not waste precious minutes on unimportant filler characters: everyone who shows up is essential to the plot. There were, of course, a few minor plot holes but I managed not to dwell too much upon them telling my self that it was fantasy first and foremost and the strict obeissance of the rules of logic can be forfeited!

The highlight of this drama was the deadliest of all dead fish kisses. Immobile actors lips locked together while the camera pans around them was not romantic just awful! Fine! I get it! It is a teen drama, the actors are young and innocent and everything should be PG. Even the ghosts and evil spirits and shamans were not that scary!

Frankly, it is a nice short watch, amusing, cute and interesting really worth your time!

Leia Mais

An underrated drama...literally

NO SPOILERS INCLUDED, I SWEAR WITH MY LOVE FOR K-DRAMAS
Now if most of the viewers who are here for the review I must tell this one of the most underrated k-dramas out there which are airing right now. Like for example my review is the first one right now and I would say its a must watch.
Story:-
Now starting with the story I can't say much as i am watching new episodes as soon as it is aired with subtitles that means I am watching the drama live.So up till now I have only watched 6 episodes and the show is going to have 12. so only half the story. now , everything I have watched up till now is really good stuff and I am not spoiling everything but i must say in a few areas i felt the story to be a bit left half, you know i felt that the story hasn't been finished yet so maybe all those parts which I haven't watched yet ,the parts where i feel the story hasn't been completed yet are going to be shown in the rest of the episodes so for now I am going to rate the story a 9.5
Acting/Cast:-
both the actors are my favourites so 10/10 duhhh...they both are child actors and I have watched all the dramas/movies the have played the main/side roles in and their acting was really good and so i felt that want to see both the main casts play a main role in a drama and my dream came true and on top of that , both of them together is just a chef's kiss ... really i am not just saying fake things so I definitely lovvve the cast<3<3<3
Music:-
So the ost was really good so i only listened to the one that oh my girl's seunghee sung and that's the main reason I started watching this drama and even got to know about this drama. thank you seunghee for your awesome vocals, for you I got addicted to a drama I didn't even know that I needed in my life.the ost was most def. not like the typical ost style , it had a different...what should I say....A different taste yeah a different taste to it which made it different from rest of the other osts out there .the part 1 of the ost which was sung by a male singer I didn't hear tha one but I am sure that's awesome too. so music 10/10.
Famous/Flop:-
So the company which is airing the drama is not a high end famous company like TvN so of course one of the reasons for the lack of promoting is this because if the drama was aired by a big company of this drama would do really well internationally too but due to not begin from a big production company its not really that famous but still its doing its job. And on top of that this is more like a web series so maybe more of the disadvantages why its not that famous. But as long as it's english subbed episodes are aired I am happy so i think the drama is between famous and flop.
Camera quality:-
as I said before this drama is not from a big production company so more disadvantages. So its not like the camera quality was toooo bad but it wasn't at its best either.like for example if you watch the drama you will feel so too and more faults of this poor camera quality came in the first episode itself the rest episodes were still better.so if i had an option to rate camera quality i would give it a 7.5.
Rewatch quality:-
as soon as the drama is finished airing i am gong to bing watch it again because why the heck not. so my score for that is a 10 on 10.
so my overall score is 9.5 I hope y'all can understand my total marking after reading the whole review. So hope this helped you and I hope this review gets you the feeling to watch the drama too (-;
bye bye..

Leia Mais