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dangermousieSeeing that I am almost done with the lovely Snow White on DVD, and can take MISA only in carefully-controlled doses, on computer (I always split my dramas into computer and DVD (I usually watch one of 'each kind' at the same time...well not literally...), my DVD drama is Hotaru No Hikari, when I finish SW, but my computer drama is...
The Legend.
The Legend is Korea's last year epic fantasy drama. For a Western viewer, the best way to describe it would be as a sort of Arthurian legend, complete with politics, swords, battles, star-crossed lovers, and a brutal medieval version of polo (!!!!).
Dam Deok (played by Bae Yong Joon. It's my first BYJ drama and I think I really get the fuss now) is someone prophesied to unite fourth century Korea when he reaches adulthood. But will he even be able to survive in the cut-throat world of warring clans and court intrigue? Will he be able to fulfill his destiny? Will there be a lot of awesome battle scenes, magic, love, and hot men in armor? YOU BET.
OMG.
You guys.
I just finished the first episode and I am in love. The first episode was solidly backstory and I didn't mind. I usually forward every epic/period drama, but here I remained glued to the screen.
The first episode largely deals with what happened 2000 years before our story takes place as a head clansman tells a famous legend to his ward, an adorably tomboyish scruffy girl named Sujini (our future heroine). For a reason we find out mid-ep, the tribesmen do not want to tell this story to her at all. It is a story of the dawn of mankind, when humans were being enslaved by the Tiger Tribe, which possessed a fierce power of fire spirit, wielded by the Tiger Tribe Priestess Kajin.
Lord Hwangwoong, son of the Ruler of Heaven comes down to Earth in order to put a stop to this destructiveness and to help humans. He largely establishes peace and plenty, brings powerful protective spirits down to help, and is even kind enough to heal Kajin's wounds when he comes across her in battle. He also meets a Warrior Woman Sae-Oh, and well...Gods aren't supposed to fall in love with Humans, but...
Oh heck, it's kdrama, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket. But with awesome CGI.
How is it relevant to our story? Well, Dam Deok is in a way a reincarnation of Lord Hwangwoong and Sujini is a reincarnation of Sae-Oh, but that's not necessarily a good thing...
Normally I wouldn't care about backstory, but this first ep really held my attention. It would make a pretty good dark fairytale in itself.
The place where the story takes place:
Sujini's parental figure:
I have no idea if we'll see the guy in black again, but he is hot, so here he is:
Sujini:
PAST STORY
Kajin loves her violence:
Peaceful lands under Lord Hwangwoong:
Lord Hwangwoong (side note: I know why they did the bright light and the hair, but BYJ looks so much better with his own dark hair and no extra light :D))
Kajin (whom I like even if she iis a violent psycho) shot in battle:
But Lord Hwangwoong heals her:
And she wakes up covered with his coat:
She falls in love, not realizing that as a Celestial Being he is just generally nice and kind and it doesn't mean ILY.
Also, this new lurve doesn't stop her from killing, and Lord Hwangwoong decides to take the power of fire away from her:
He encases it in a 'phoenix heart.'
Which he then decides to give to the awesome warrior/hottie Sae-Oh:
He wants her to use it to help her people, but Sae-Oh is worried that as a mere human, it might be too much. But Lord Hwangwoongis so much in love he doesn't listen:
So we get an awesome scene of her practicing and him helping her:
Ehhh, Divine Being or not, he is totally using it as an excuse to hold her hand!
I think I sort of died here. Why yes, I have a hand fetish:
Twu Wuv!
And then they basically admit their love to each other at sunrise, while asking a blessing from his father (whom he informs he wants Soo-Ah to be the mother of his child):
Oh, this is so anime, and this is so going to end in tears:
Hands!!!!!
Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Psycho Kajin finds out and is jealous and...psycho. She attacks Sae-Oh's village when Lord Hwangwoong is away. To make it worse, Sae-Oh is nine months pregnant:
But being an awesome heroine, she gives birth in a cave:
And rises from childbirth to immediately go into battle!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She gave the baby to some other villagers to hide:
But after the battke Sae-Oh found the villagers dead and baby gone. Kajin got it:
Lord Hwangwoong gets there too late and all he sees is the field of battle:
You don't need to be a Divine Being to know things are going to go bad!
Sae-Oh tracks Kajin, whose goal is to take everything he values in life (aka Sae-Oh and the baby) away from Lord Hwangwoong:
Sae-Oh is one tough lady. Childbirth, battle, than a full day tracking, and climbing that peak. And she still has her sword. OMG. You rock.
She begs for her baby back from Kajin:
But Kajin wants to fight and Sae-Oh obliges:
Kajin throws the Baby off the cliff and oh no...the rage and grief and the power bound in the phoenix heart are all too much, and Sae-Oh transforms into 'Black Phoenix', a possessed entity controlled by the phoenix heart (as opposed to the other way around), only capable of incredible destruction:
Even though Lord Hwangwoong rescued the Baby at the last moment and tries to break through to her about this, it's too late. Sae-Oh is gone:
I told you not to fall for a human!
He tries to use the other spirits to control her but it can't be done:
So he has to kill his OTP himself. That is the only thing that would stop her:
The spirit is gone and Sae-Oh is back to normal. She is also dying:
Even dying she wipes his tears. Mmmm, crying Divine Being with an OTP. Thank you, kdrama!
And she dies:
Tears!
He is now returning the favor and is wiping his dead OTP's cold tears:
The he gets up and picks up the baby. Kajin is of course understandably freaked, thinking she will get thunderbolts:
But he just asks her, wet-eyed, what would it take for her to believe even she is one of his people.
Kajin can't take it, all that kindness, which is worse than rage, and jumps off a cliff to her death:
And then it rains for seven days and seven nights to put out the fire, land is submerged, Lord Hwangwoong leaves his son on earth and returns to heavens as he believes he's failed.
But...he leaves tokens and symbols to be awoken in the future.
You know me, I need shippiness. So here is the OTP vid:
And here is a scene from the drama where they play medieval polo. Hotness.
In other news, i've been haunting the usual places for 1 Pound No Fukuin subs. I need my Kame and the Nun fix. I am going insane.
The Legend.
The Legend is Korea's last year epic fantasy drama. For a Western viewer, the best way to describe it would be as a sort of Arthurian legend, complete with politics, swords, battles, star-crossed lovers, and a brutal medieval version of polo (!!!!).
Dam Deok (played by Bae Yong Joon. It's my first BYJ drama and I think I really get the fuss now) is someone prophesied to unite fourth century Korea when he reaches adulthood. But will he even be able to survive in the cut-throat world of warring clans and court intrigue? Will he be able to fulfill his destiny? Will there be a lot of awesome battle scenes, magic, love, and hot men in armor? YOU BET.
OMG.
You guys.
I just finished the first episode and I am in love. The first episode was solidly backstory and I didn't mind. I usually forward every epic/period drama, but here I remained glued to the screen.
The first episode largely deals with what happened 2000 years before our story takes place as a head clansman tells a famous legend to his ward, an adorably tomboyish scruffy girl named Sujini (our future heroine). For a reason we find out mid-ep, the tribesmen do not want to tell this story to her at all. It is a story of the dawn of mankind, when humans were being enslaved by the Tiger Tribe, which possessed a fierce power of fire spirit, wielded by the Tiger Tribe Priestess Kajin.
Lord Hwangwoong, son of the Ruler of Heaven comes down to Earth in order to put a stop to this destructiveness and to help humans. He largely establishes peace and plenty, brings powerful protective spirits down to help, and is even kind enough to heal Kajin's wounds when he comes across her in battle. He also meets a Warrior Woman Sae-Oh, and well...Gods aren't supposed to fall in love with Humans, but...
Oh heck, it's kdrama, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket. But with awesome CGI.
How is it relevant to our story? Well, Dam Deok is in a way a reincarnation of Lord Hwangwoong and Sujini is a reincarnation of Sae-Oh, but that's not necessarily a good thing...
Normally I wouldn't care about backstory, but this first ep really held my attention. It would make a pretty good dark fairytale in itself.
The place where the story takes place:
Sujini's parental figure:
I have no idea if we'll see the guy in black again, but he is hot, so here he is:
Sujini:
PAST STORY
Kajin loves her violence:
Peaceful lands under Lord Hwangwoong:
Lord Hwangwoong (side note: I know why they did the bright light and the hair, but BYJ looks so much better with his own dark hair and no extra light :D))
Kajin (whom I like even if she iis a violent psycho) shot in battle:
But Lord Hwangwoong heals her:
And she wakes up covered with his coat:
She falls in love, not realizing that as a Celestial Being he is just generally nice and kind and it doesn't mean ILY.
Also, this new lurve doesn't stop her from killing, and Lord Hwangwoong decides to take the power of fire away from her:
He encases it in a 'phoenix heart.'
Which he then decides to give to the awesome warrior/hottie Sae-Oh:
He wants her to use it to help her people, but Sae-Oh is worried that as a mere human, it might be too much. But Lord Hwangwoong
So we get an awesome scene of her practicing and him helping her:
Ehhh, Divine Being or not, he is totally using it as an excuse to hold her hand!
I think I sort of died here. Why yes, I have a hand fetish:
Twu Wuv!
And then they basically admit their love to each other at sunrise, while asking a blessing from his father (whom he informs he wants Soo-Ah to be the mother of his child):
Oh, this is so anime, and this is so going to end in tears:
Hands!!!!!
Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Psycho Kajin finds out and is jealous and...psycho. She attacks Sae-Oh's village when Lord Hwangwoong is away. To make it worse, Sae-Oh is nine months pregnant:
But being an awesome heroine, she gives birth in a cave:
And rises from childbirth to immediately go into battle!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She gave the baby to some other villagers to hide:
But after the battke Sae-Oh found the villagers dead and baby gone. Kajin got it:
Lord Hwangwoong gets there too late and all he sees is the field of battle:
You don't need to be a Divine Being to know things are going to go bad!
Sae-Oh tracks Kajin, whose goal is to take everything he values in life (aka Sae-Oh and the baby) away from Lord Hwangwoong:
Sae-Oh is one tough lady. Childbirth, battle, than a full day tracking, and climbing that peak. And she still has her sword. OMG. You rock.
She begs for her baby back from Kajin:
But Kajin wants to fight and Sae-Oh obliges:
Kajin throws the Baby off the cliff and oh no...the rage and grief and the power bound in the phoenix heart are all too much, and Sae-Oh transforms into 'Black Phoenix', a possessed entity controlled by the phoenix heart (as opposed to the other way around), only capable of incredible destruction:
Even though Lord Hwangwoong rescued the Baby at the last moment and tries to break through to her about this, it's too late. Sae-Oh is gone:
I told you not to fall for a human!
He tries to use the other spirits to control her but it can't be done:
So he has to kill his OTP himself. That is the only thing that would stop her:
The spirit is gone and Sae-Oh is back to normal. She is also dying:
Even dying she wipes his tears. Mmmm, crying Divine Being with an OTP. Thank you, kdrama!
And she dies:
Tears!
He is now returning the favor and is wiping his dead OTP's cold tears:
The he gets up and picks up the baby. Kajin is of course understandably freaked, thinking she will get thunderbolts:
But he just asks her, wet-eyed, what would it take for her to believe even she is one of his people.
Kajin can't take it, all that kindness, which is worse than rage, and jumps off a cliff to her death:
And then it rains for seven days and seven nights to put out the fire, land is submerged, Lord Hwangwoong leaves his son on earth and returns to heavens as he believes he's failed.
But...he leaves tokens and symbols to be awoken in the future.
You know me, I need shippiness. So here is the OTP vid:
And here is a scene from the drama where they play medieval polo. Hotness.
In other news, i've been haunting the usual places for 1 Pound No Fukuin subs. I need my Kame and the Nun fix. I am going insane.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:16 am (UTC)I want Kame and the nun, too!! Wah! Also, Hong Gil Dong episode 3!
Have you started "Robbers"?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:21 am (UTC)I haven't started Robbers yet.
I am watching 5 dramas at the same time: Snow White, MISA, Red Dust, Legend and HGD, plus will start Kame/Nun as soon as it subs, so I think I will have to finish one of them in order to get to Robbers, which I want, in order not to totally lose my mind :)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 10:33 am (UTC)So how is Snow White? I kind of want to check out Lee Wan in a drama but Tree of Heaven etc seem way too angsty.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:35 pm (UTC)Re: Snow White. I really should do a proper long post about it, but short version:
it's awesome. Very funny, and not draggy, and I finished ep 10 and there really isn't any angst beloved of kdramas (small angsty short moments are about it), and the heroine is a total nut and I love Lee Wan in this as a bad boy, and they have awesome chemistry. Plus, happy ending! So I highly rec.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 10:36 am (UTC)I can't stand him and cannot get over the fact that he looks like Harry Potter and all though Winter Sonata, he sported girly glasses and even girlier blue scarfs artfully tied and arranged so that the knot rested on his shoulder...gacck! yep! it's been 4 years since i last saw Winter Sonata and I'm still too traumatised!
seriously, not attractive and not hawt! though i will admit to him having a nice body...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:33 pm (UTC)I thought the Harry Potter thing when I first saw pics of him in those glasses :)
However *tempts* it's quite different in The Legend. The non-prologue version has no glasses but has awesome long hair and armor and wields a mean sword. The overall effect is rather anime, which I like. I didn't find 'Potter' pictures of him attractive, but I do find him attractive here, which might or might not be the case for you :)
But also, there are a lot of other cool and hot characters. Mmmm...
Such as this (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Lee_Philip) and this (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Yoon_Tae_Young).
no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 03:55 pm (UTC)Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Date: 2008-05-08 08:48 pm (UTC)Also, I'm finally friending you.
Re: Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Date: 2008-05-08 09:42 pm (UTC)Let me know if you need tech help with making Leged downloads work.
Re: Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Date: 2008-05-08 09:42 pm (UTC)Re: Don't fall for the mortal girl! It never ends well!
Date: 2008-05-08 09:44 pm (UTC)long comment is long comment
Date: 2009-07-22 09:25 pm (UTC)Second, I don't know what's wrong with me! I adored Kajin when she first came on screen. I didn't care that she was vicious and mean and killed people. I loved that she fell in love with Lord H. I guess I have this thing for evil characters who change for love (and she didn't really even change, she just . . . got more aware of the kind of person she was). I mean, I was in love with Spike from BtVS, so. . .maybe that's where it started?
And I didn't care for Sae-Oh, at least not until she turned evil (seriously, what's wrong with me!!). Honestly, I wanted Sujini to be the re-incarnation of Kajin and was kind of disappointed to discover that she was actually Sae-Oh.
I've only seen until the second episode so. . .I haven't really made any allegiances with any characters but I'm really interested in where they're going to take this sister thing because I fore-see our male hero falling for both sisters.
Also, I kind of agree with kitkat_cat above that BYJ isn't my cup of tea. Maybe that's because I've never seen him before in anything and the first time I see him he's wearing a white flowing wig? (And apparently he's a HUGE deal in Japan too?). I don't know, his features are a little too feminine for me. . .we'll see, since I haven't actually seen him with dark hair yet, only the Gandalf wig.
Re: long comment is long comment
Date: 2009-07-23 04:05 am (UTC)Re: BYJ. He looks much better without the hideous white hair (I don't find the gandalf look appealing). But the main thing is I fell in love with his character so madly he could have looked like a toad and I wouldn't have cared.