Teen K-drama satisfies neo-gothic romance in The Seem of Magic, a new musical series on Netflix. Director Kim Seong-yoon follows up his award-winning sequence Itaewon Class and Adore in the Moonlight with this type of nutty, form of endearing fairy tale-ish tale of a teen who’s not only battling to increase her young sister on her possess, but also, many thanks to a mysterious manchildish weirdo, is confronted with the idea that magic is not just a figment and truly exists. Let’s observe an episode and see how much she gets with that just one.
Opening Shot: Fade in on a few schoolgirls in in the vicinity of-blackness chatting about the odd deserted topic park on the edge of city. “Rumor has it that a very good-wanting magician lives there,” 1 says.
The Gist: The discussion proceeds: This desirable magician dude evidently basically saws people today in fifty percent and places them again together, and tends to make people today disappear possibly eternally. Then absolutely everyone in the exhibit breaks out into track, for the reason that, as the title indicates, this is a musical! The whole high school sings and dances as if possessed by the spirit of spontaneous tuneful storytelling! And then there’s an animated credits sequence with Tim Burtonesque imagery and Danny Elfmannish tunes, as if this magician fella could be a scissorhands without having the scissors, or some thing together those strains.
Then the less-ridiculous stuff kicks in. Yoon Ah-yi (Choi Sung-eun) is late for the 1st day of university. Dash sprint scamper. She crashes into Na Il-deung (Hwang In-youp) and falls down and rips her tights and skins her knee. She’s scolded by her homeroom instructor for staying tardy finishes up sitting subsequent to star pupil Il-deung, AKA Sensitive Glasses Boy and is qualified for bullying and ridicule by Baek Ha-na (Ji Hye-gained), the resident indicate lady. Ah-yi attempts to sneak some foodstuff dwelling from the cafeteria but Ha-na knocks it on the flooring. This. Day. Sucks!
We listen to Ah-yi’s inner monologue by using messages to her mother. Immediately after faculty, she will get a position at a convenience retail outlet and earns some dollars to purchase evening meal but a curiously snatchy breeze blasts the hard cash out of her arms. She chases it to – exactly where do you assume? The abandoned topic park? Sure! The deserted theme park, where the hunky magician, Lee Eul (Ji Chang-wook), is applying magic to enjoy hold-away with the revenue. She goes residence vacant-handed to a minor apartment in which she and her young sister live by yourself with bare cabinets and a landlady who’s on their scenario to shell out back hire. We learn that their dad abandoned them so individual bankruptcy lenders just cannot catch up to him. Seemingly each! Working day! Sucks! For Ah-yi.
But she retains heading, and so does this episode, earlier the a person-hour mark. There is a scene in which Ah-yi techniques into a snow globe and begins singing as the scene reveals a worry-cost-free daily life in which her dad is all over and there is a good deal to eat and they live in a awesome house and her mom is there as an alternative of, 1 assumes, becoming useless. Further developments: Sensitive Glasses Boy warms up to her, Ha-na concocts petty schemes to embarrass Ah-yi like a overall shit, Ah-yi visits Lee Eul to maybe get her cash back and determine out What’s Up With This Male. There is a frightening incident and Lee Eul rescues her, and even though he applied magic to do so, the episode feels the will need to be longer and exhibit us a further scene in which he tries to encourage her that magic is serious, but this time, with singing. And lastly, at this stage, I think she’s persuaded.
What Demonstrates Will It Remind You Of? The Seem of Magic is Large University Musical crossed with The Magicians crossed with whimsical Tim Burton (assume Edward Scissorhands) crossed with Harry Potter.
Our Consider: In a truth the place persons erupt into music with minimal warning (not all the time, but a couple-three situations for every episode), it’s very straightforward to swallow the plan that abra-cadabra/alakazam magic exists. The opening 68 minutes of The Seem of Magic is goofy and pleasurable, visually inspired, and driven by the Okay-what-now-ness of its core mystery. You know, who is this guy, where’d he learn his magic, does he eat, why is he so Johnny Deppish, what took place to the carnival, is it authentic or is everybody in the show crazy, stuff like that.
The teen drama that orbits all over the person with the cape is normal fodder – social awkwardness, enraging cliqueiness, petty cruelty, etcetera. If I’m not mistaken, Kim Seong-yoon is placing up a enjoy triangle in which Ah-yi has to make your mind up whether or not she loves Lee Eul or Il-deong, although it’s possible the former is just likely to instruct her how to pull rabbits out of hats? Il-deong is additional her pace, and I like that child, he appears to be to have a superior reliable head on his shoulders and is familiar with how to navigate the speedbumps and potholes of Higher College Highway. You will root for Ah-yi as a susceptible protagonist who’s at a powerful crossroads: She has to perform as an adult to maintain her and her sister afloat, but believing in magic is complete child things. Appears like a fantastic, strong metaphor for a person of the most important conflicts of adulthood, you know, getting experienced and dependable, but not shedding your feeling of surprise for the world. The battle is genuine.
Intercourse and Skin: None so significantly.
Parting Shot: Ah-yi, on the lookout amazingly adorable sporting Lee Eul’s major hat, appears all-around in ponder at all the magical items he’s perpetrated in entrance of her quite eyes.
Sleeper Star: Hwang In-youp plays it near to the vest, giving just one the perception that Il-deung’s likely to be a critical dramatic catalyst for our inadequate protagonist – and the most feasible appreciate interest. (Peeking forward at the future episode, Il-deung is Surely a strumming-an-acoustic-guitar-in-a-eco-friendly-discipline sort of guy.)
Most Pilot-y Line: “Do you (spectacular pause) believe that (one more extraordinary pause) in magic?” – Lee Eul’s catchprase
Our Phone: STREAM IT. The overlong episodes could be nipped and tucked in this article and there, but The Sound of Magic delivers a good equilibrium of intelligent and foolish. Supporters of K-things will possibly like it.
John Serba is a freelance author and movie critic dependent in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Browse additional of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.