Hwarang (2016)

Camaraderie, Growth, and Fun!

I can't believe I waited so long to watch this! This is such a light and fun drama to watch with lots of camaraderie amongst boys turning into men. The journey was light but with impact. It didn't skimp on showing that while these men were roughened, they also had fun in the process and learned to build camaraderie. I truly didn't expect to be so immersed into something with politics involved. But a story written rightly can really change a persons mind and perspective. So kudos to the writers!

I also appreciated that the romance wasn't the central point of the show. Yes, it did serve it's purpose, but it wasn't the main point of the show. It focused on the transformation of elite boys to toughened men, and of them learning to care, protect, and love their people and country. Of them coming out of their protective shells and being true men. It's also growth of almost all characters that was rightly done that made the story even more amazing!

Honestly, this is such a great drama to watch, a true gem!

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I was kind of thrown off by the first episode, but after sitting through it and giving the drama another chance I really started loving Hwarang! It was my first historical kdrama and with its comedy on the one side and drama on the other side it gave me a really good introduction to this genre.

Obviously the cast is great and while the romance in this drama wasn‘t necessarily the most interesting to me (honestly not a huge fan of Goo Ara in this one), I really enjoyed the chemistry, dynamics and bromances between the Hwarang guys.

To me Hwarang was an enjoyable drama that was easy to watch and made me laugh. Would recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy the performance of this great cast and just have a good time.

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It's been quite some time since this drama has released. but I'll throw my unqualified opinion out there for every one to judge. I watched this show as it was airing and I rewatched it a year later.

Before anything else, I want to mention my OTP Kim Soo Yeon and Park Ban Ryu. Throughout the entire thing, I had secondary couple syndrome and I love it.

Story:
The story for this drama is overall... not the best. I found it difficult to figure out what the plot even was. There were many small conflicts that does not really have anything to do with the main story. It also led up to an anticlimactic ending too. In the first half of the drama (like episode 1-7) I was really curious to get to know the characters and how they would react, but after that, their actions and what happens next becomes kind of predictable. There were also too many plot holes and questions left unanswered. Normally, some unanswered questions for me is okay, but this drama leaves out too many things that fans would love to know. The character development wasn't that great either. The character development was really little for all of the characters except two, Ji Dwi and Ban Ryu.

Acting/Cast:
The acting was pretty good, except for some scenes with the main couple. I didn't really see the chemistry, even though I'll gladly ship Ah Ro with either of the two leads. I'm not sure if the acting was the main problem for the scenes with the main couple, I have seen dramas with Go Ara and Park Seojoon before and they were able to it pull off pretty well. I would have given this category an 8.5, but it's acting and cast. I fell in love the cast members, making me search up all their names to find out more of their real personalities, except Kim Taehyung, Choi Minho, and Park Hyungsik since I already knew them.

Music:
The music in this drama didn't always with what was going on in the scene. The songs get awkwardly cut off at the end to play a different song. But despite all this I love listening to the OST. I find myself singing along and singing it randomly. Also I didn't know Park Seojoon could sing so well.

I watched this drama expecting to see a bunch of pretty boys wearing fabulous clothes and that's exactly what I got. I don't think you should watch this drama if you to see a drama with an amazing plot and chemistry, but you should watch it when you're feeling bored and you want to binge on something. I feel like this drama is so you can laugh along with characters (or scream when they something stupid) and sing along to the OST in the background. And if you don't like something you can always skip ahead or drop the show completely.

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It's good

I started watching it for Taehyung and fell in love with all the male leads lol.
I loved it. The visuals, the acting everything was perfect. The hate love bromance between Banryu and Suho was really fun to watch. Taehyung being himself in the whole series was also a mood. The chemistry among the male actors was so genuine. No foubt they're great friends irl.
The only thing I didn’t like about the series was the female lead. Yes, Ah-ro. She cried her eyes out literally in every effing episond and the brother -sister romance storyline was kinda weird too.
Ban Ryu and Soo Yeon were my perfectly cute Ship. They carried the whole romance part of the series. Loved them alot.
The tracks were great. I loved everyone of them. But my favourite was "Even if I die it’s you" by V and Jin.
Just watch it guys.
The visuals are enough to carry the whole show.

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Решила тесное знакомство с Силлой я начать с этакой недавней безделушки. Я ее смотрела онгоингом, поэтому пересмотр прошел быстро и, как вы поняли, с изрядной долей перемотки. Но однако вот сейчас, все-таки при всей развлекательности картинки, все же видны те правильные исторические факты, которые присутствуют в сериале. Во первых, конечно, это вечная корейская игра - противостояние клик, однако пока еще есть возможность просто заменять короля, потому что так уж складывалось и в Силле - власть не одной семьи, а у многих семей-основателей (как и в Когуре и Пэкче). Но тут изюминкой есть еще идея "святой кости", по сути закрытой кастовой системы, чего не наблюдалось в двух вышеназванных государствах. И эта система довольно плотно завязана на религии и мистицизме, что тоже отличает это государство от остальных. Поэтому появление такого оригинального явления как хвараны могло произойти только в этой стране. В «Самгук юса» («Достопамятные события Трех государств») также сказано, что, после того как в правление государя Чинхын-еака упразднили вонхва, все же поняли, что стране не обойтись без «Пути ветров и луны» (выражение, символизирующее красоту природы). Поэтому из семей уважаемых людей начали отбирать красивых молодых людей достойного поведения, которых называли хваран, а их руководителей — солъволлан («изначальный цветок полыни»)— стали почитать за «государственных святых». Реальную цель этой организации многие историки называют разной: от военной дружины, до поддержания общественного тонуса в стране. Однако одно ясно точно - сделав эту организацию престижной и статусной, правитель хитро ограничивал власть своего окружения, держа их детей при себе.
По роду деятельности организация хваранов была не военной, а, скорее, воспитательно-тренировочной с элементами военной подготовки. Выделяют три основных вида деятельности хваранов: 1) закалка души и тела через изучение морали и постижение Пути; 2) изучение песен, музыки, сочинение стихов; 3) путешествие по стране в поисках красивых гор и речных потоков. Интересно отметить, что у хваранов было принято разрисовывать лицо. Нанесение грима объясняют либо желанием быть больше похожим на женщину, чтобы привлечь к себе внимание и помощь различных духов, либо непосредственным влиянием шаманизма: раскрашивание лица и есть акт становления шаманом. Вот видите -война тут не главное и влияние на профессиональные войска хвараны вряд ли имели, но Статусность, в таком шаманско-обрядовом ярком государстве была не менее важным делом, чем реальная власть. Пусть играются.
История в сериале как раз о начале хваранов, все просто и незатейливо, камера любуется актерами, мы тоже. Кстати, Пак Хён Сика я разглядела именно в этой дораме. Старший каст - сплошняком "монстры". Ким Чжи Су как королева была хороша, внезапно разглядела Ли Кю Хёна, который так прекрасно "выстрелил" в Secret Forest. Пак Со Джун справился, бонусом мелькнули Кван Су и Ви.
А институт хваранов просуществовал со времени правления короля Чинхын-вана (540-575) до царствования королевы Чинсон-нёван (887-896), когда Силлы не стало. 350 лет довольно большой срок.

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I watched this because of Park Seo Joon. The plot was easy to follow and made me curious enough to keep watching. There beautiful men definitely kept me interested too. It got a bit draggy in the middle, but the last episodes provided a neat ending. Although it tied up most of the story lines I didn't love how it ended. The actress Go Ara - her character started out likeable but by the end I was was wanting her to have some sort of accident. To make her stop. All that dang crying was too much for me. I loved the music, definitely many songs worthy of downloading.

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A great story with great acting, music, and teaches important life lessons.

The only bad thing i can say about this drama is that Kim Taehyung's character was killed towards the end. This drama left me being tormented when Han Sung was accidenally killed when he saved Sun Woo. Most of the characters are so lovelable (Queen and Park Young Sil are just evil, although the queen somehow reddems herself at the end) and have great personalities and they are portrayed by great actors. By the end of this i was crying happy tears because the main cast overcame so much to create a new and better Silla. What a great story of how a hidden king gains loyal friends along the way to form a better kingdom, and take his place as king with the support of the Hwarang. Although I was very much is support of the main couple, I did feel sorry for the king. He's such a good king. Definitely worth the 20 episodes.

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Writer appreciation review! Might contain (big) spoilers

I'm giving ten on ten for casting and direction and editing too. The music however, is sometimes very irritating. BUT I'm here to actually APPRECIATE the writer of Hwarang.It happens very rarely in costume drama that all characters get equal justification. Ji Dwi, who has lived all his life in sufferings and hardships and unable to justify his people, finally finds his power. Even after being in so much confusion and pressure, he kept his heart pure and got what he deserved. Ghae-sae didn't get washed away by desires and did the right thing. Ban Ryu... I don't have enough words to tell how i feel for him. Soo Ho did his duty well both as a son and as a Hwarang..but there were instances where i wanted to smack the shit out of his head. Nvm. And Han Seong..the kind little kid like man, his death was the most painful. His Hyung turned out to be a good person as well.
Pressed by the power driven elders of the society, it was not easy for anyone to pave the way and change their nation according to their merry dreams. But they did it. They proved to be the Hwarang they were meant to be.
Love, Power, desires , greed and honesty.. every single thing has been touched perfectly and winners were chosen and justified extremely well.

Author-nim, You did well :)

Also, i wanted to REALLY know if Ban Ryu got to marry Seon Woo or not.
They've made me cry river of tears afterall.

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I've been stuck waiting for dramas to finish because I cannot watch a drama while it is airing so I usually rewatch my favorites (Strong Girl, Suspicious Partner, Vincenzo, Itaewon Class, etc) but I literally just rewatched those recently so I figured I'd go through my list and rewatch dramas that I couldn't really remember. All of the stars in this drama are for the Hwarang boys!!! I honestly was hooked due to the character growth of each of the boys. I loved watching them grow and become self aware adults and also their relationships with each other. I also loved all the ajusshis in this drama, all my favorites in one place.

On to romance - I feel like this should be a category since whenever I read reviews I want to know about the romance in each drama. I honestly love romance but the romance in this drama was just not for me. This is not a dig at Go Ah Ra, I adore her in everything she does, she always plays her characters really well and she has phenomenal comedic timing. But when it comes to playing off of a romantic lead it just always feels.. I honestly don't know the word. Usually when I'm watching moments even small ones with the two leads, I have to pause everything I'm doing to pay full attention and I'll even rewatch the same scene because I'm so invested but when it came to Ah Ro and Moo Myung it didn't even phase me. I didn't feel the connection to their relationship so I wasn't invested in it.

Would I rewatch this drama again? I mean I already did, no regrets it was a nice and easy watch. Would I watch it again for the third time? Probably not.

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Imperfect but I still loved it!

I heard mixed things about this and hadn’t planned on watching it, but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. It’s not perfect but I feel most its criticisms are too harsh; and besides, for me, lackluster execution of a show/movie/etc can be forgiven if there are compelling characters, relationships, and dynamics - and this has all that in spades. Usually with a large cast there are characters you don’t care about, but not here; there are many different personalities and relationships and I was invested in them all. I’m often indifferent to the second lead but I loved him, as his own character with a wonderful arc, without getting second lead syndrome - which is a difficult balance to achieve. I smiled, I cried, I raised a brow at some of the creative missteps but quickly forgot about them in my excitement to see what happened next. I found the ending very satisfying.

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I wanted to write a review for Hwarang since a very long time since I have some comments on it..

no introductions i'll move on with my review

Story: I love historical dramas in general and this drama as a matter of fact surprised me because most of the historical dramas have a dark vibe to them but this one is different it was pretty cheerful and even the dark moments weren't as dark as they should be despite them existing though. I also liked the plot even the ending was charming I didn't feel bored at all even though that sometimes there were some unnecessary events but can't complain because I didn't really mind that .
personally I don't think I have a problem at all with the story except that it was kinda long

acting: okay I'm going to need to talk about this for a bit..
going for the positive thoughts first , it was my first time watching Park Seojoon and despite the character being too overrated I liked his acting he did a very good job portraying it .. as for Hyungsik he was the best one so far he totally gained a new fan of him in this drama he did a very very good job with his character and his facial expressions were amazing it totally showed what is the character thinking without even him talking .. Minho wasn't bad his acting was average but he has a cute vibe that I didn't mind at all .. I liked Jihan protraying Panryo but for some reason I think he could've done better with his facial expressions..As for Taehyung for a first time appearance as an actor he did great but Hansung had pretty short screen time which made the character really underrated despite it being important in the protagonist's character development
now leaving all this aside i'd like to talk about Go Ahra because her acting in Hwarang was disastrous that I don't even know where should I begin
starting the very first scenes of her in the drama I was like oh boy.. Her acting especially in the funny scenes was so overrated that I can see that she is actually acting In serious moments it was even worse she was overrating her acting to the point that I really thought that this woman really doesn't belong here I really did a huge effort to stop myself from skipping her scenes .. but near the end somehow she started to get better not really great but at least bearable
I watched you are all surrounded and Go Ahra wasn't really that bad which made me wonder is it the character's fault that She's not funny and acceptable at all or Go Ahra should just stay away from these kind of roles?

Music: If I die.. this song is the only thing I'm going to put here because it's one of my greatest favs

rewatch value: not into rewatching in general but I would love to replay some of hyungsik's scenes

overall: the drama is very light and entertaining and will give you a good laugh and also the story is really nice and the cast is very good so I don't regret watching it at all

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