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The webtoon/manhwa/manga adaptations continue unabated and it’s not surprising that streaming giant Netflix is leading the pack. It’s two December 2020 original drama releases Sweet Home and Alice in Borderland are both major successes both critically and with viewer streams. Up next is the drama adaptation of webtoon Annarasumanara, quite a handful to say the title but it’s based on the story of magicians and that sounds presto neato as a new topic not yet mined to death in K-dramas. Ji Chang Wook is in talks to play the male lead, a mysterious magician and rising young actor Hwang In Yeop has been cast as the second male lead. Directing is the PD of Moonlight Drawn by Clouds and Itaewon Class. The drama is scheduled for production in early 2021 with no confirmed premiere date on Netflix.
Haven’t watched any of his drama since Suspicious Partner. I struggled with that one too. His drama choices haven’t been all that great since Healer. Even the latest one with Kim Ji Won – doesn’t pique my interest. Maybe he will hit it good with this Annarasumanara, if he decides to take it.
Among his drama i only liked healer and suspicious partner. I find the romance part creepy in the K2, (creepier) Melting Me Softly and (creepiest) Backstreet Rookie.
As for his latest drama, i find it too racy for me…. I thought i was watching a western drama. Lovestruck does not suit my taste so will have to drop it.
Hope this project is a good one for him.I Wish him all the best.
I thought it’s only me. Lovestruck just too racy with no plot. Like what is this drama poin story? Really JCW is bleh to me now. I guess healer is not amazing because his acting, but the script, directing, suporrting actor that make healer good and his acting.
This is just how i feel about his current drama which I dropped after episode 2
im not a fan of mockumentary, the second episode was very hot / sizzling but i could not feel the ” love” or the chemistry between the two main leads (possibly because the bed scene was done too soon or because of the writing/story telling), .I also felt at some point that i was watching nelting me softly Part 2 because the main leads acting were OVER THE TOP.
and JCW looks different? in ..something’s off about his face? He looks very Tired/exhausted,.
Casting News about JCW? they dont excite me anymore. Hope he takes.a break and wait for good projects to come along.
@F For his latest drama, I think the styling is off. The hairstyle they gave him makes look older than he is. He is a handsome guy, they just need to do the bare minimum but alas. He suits the hairstyle they gave him in Healer or K2.
I also agree, that mockumentary style of storytelling is more suited for western productions. I get they are trying something new and selling it to international audience(I mean it being on netflix and all) but it just messes with my immersion while watching the drama.
@Rubyred I believe Korea had tried the mockumentary format with the first few episodes of Producer in 2015 with limited success. I think the audience at the time was put off by the format, so to save the drama, they changed it back to the traditional drama format. I liked the mockumentary aspect of that drama because I felt that Kim Soo Hyun and the rest of the cast had the charisma and acting chops to pull it off, and the plot was interesting enough . Here, I was just put off by it as I didn’t feel engaged by anyone’s acting. Just bored, and I felt Kim Ji Won was over the top and trying too hard. @Eleven, you hit the nail on the head – for foreigners like me, what attracted me to kdramas nine years ago and made me retain it almost as my exclusive form of entertainment is the slice of Asian culture which I find so appealing. If I wanted to watch a drama where boy meets girl and goes to bed with her by episode 2; I can watch a Western production. Hollywood is rife with dramas where gratuitous sex and violence are incorporated in every single episode, I hope they can recoup their investment into that drama, but it isn’t doing JCW or KJW any favors starring in it.
Agreed. I watched the first 10 minutes and felt like watching a generic drama that could have been produced anywhere with a too common storyline and bad editing, gave me a headache to be honest lol. I mean I think international viewers like me watch kdramas for a good storyline with a side of slice of Korean/Asian culture. I dropped it after the first episode.
Ji Chang Wook needs a break. A really long break. Like a year off from dramas. I hear he is the type that cant stop working. Thats fine. Take on theatre plays(he is good in stage theater too). Short indie films while waiting for a good script to come along. As it is now, its like he has no direction. There is a reason why they say quality is better than quantity. Too many back to back duds in his filmography will not help him in the long term. Especially now that there are more and more actors springing up every year. I think Yoo Seung Ho understood this now and is taking breaks between projects and also work on thriller which he is better at than romcom/romance. I get JCW doesnt want to do action thats fine, at least do an adult melodrama rather than romcom or thriller like FoE where he can do romance without having to do action stunts.
Is he so in demand that there are no other actors to consider as lead?
I’m falling out of love with Ji Chang Wook, pretty soon I won’t even bother checking out his dramas. His drama choices have been abysmal since Melting Me Softly and the recent drama didn’t break the trend. It’s boring from episode 1. Even The K2 was a poorly produced drama at best. I’m going on a Ji Chang Wook hiatus from now on unless I hear that the drama is good by word of mouth as I no longer trust his choices.
I don’t know if this is good, he really collects terrible scripts and the worst part is that he is a very good actor, I do not know if it is his desire to take a really successful drama or that he sucks in the choice of scripts, but since Healer no He has taken on a project that delivers all its potential, Empress Ki continues to be for me the most memorable drama of it and I really hope that it will take time to analyze and choose a really satisfying script.
True. That is why its disheartening to see him devolve like this as an actor because he has so much potential. Warrior Baek Dong Soo was good too. But looking at his filmography. He hasn’t had a real hit in terms of ratings. Even the fan favourites like Suspicious Partner and Healer were not super popular in Korea. His performance in Empress Ki was good but Ha Ji Won is the core of that drama and it is remembered more for her than him.
Okay, I’ve only read a few chapters of the webtoon and so far it’s “high school girl meets mysterious magician at an abandoned amusement park.” Visually, they look close in age. JCW could work as the magician if their relationship is platonic or the mentor-mentee kind. But if it’s going to be a romance, then brace for impact folks, we’re in for Backstreet Wookie: The Sequel.
I would hope that they change the “high school girl” character to a “young working woman in early 20s”. I mean, after Goblin, I don’t think there is a kdrama with a high school girl/grown-up guy pairing that found its audience.
its not a romantic webtoon… there is no romance b/w the girl and jcw’s character… more like a mentor-mentee relationship and emotional attachment… the magician kind of reminds her of her father…
also the girl has to be in highschool and underaged… that goes with the theme…
dont worry… if you finished the webtoon you might know there is no romance b/w the magician and the girl… they have an emotional attachment but the boy also has that kind of attachment towards the magician by the end…
Don’t worry? Who said I was worried? And thanks so much for the spoiler I didn’t ask for.
Something not right for JCW post military. He takes on too many projects but none is good. Is time to take a break and reevaluate.
I think he really is trying for a hit… melting me softly’s writer latest work was a hit so he tried this, backstreet rookie’s director had a hit before so he tried that, lovestruck in the city’s director had a hit…Maybe his agency is trying too hard for him and I think he really has to rest and choose a character rather than genre, writer and production
That’s true, I remember before Backstreet Rookie aired, fans kept harping that the PD directed Fiery Priest and it’s it going to be so good, so high quality, blah, blah, blah. Then when his current drama was announced, people claimed it’s going to be good because the PD directed IOTNBO. Seems like JCW or his agency just wants to piggy back on the wirter’s or PD’s fame rather than seriously study a script for its worth.
I also notice something’s wrong since JCW’s MS discharge. Almost appearing aimless in his choice of scripts. It’s almost as if he’s masking a deeper problem with constant working to escape from it or drown it out. Then there was his bout of attracting controversy e.g “advertising” his smoking via IG & v-log (I have nothing against smoking personally) and putting on the Rastafarian wig to fool around that showed his cultural insensitivity. It’s almost like he’s crying out for attention but in a misguided way. Hope he’s not keeping bad company that derails him. What a shame if he does. His same age peers like SIG, LSG, LMH grow more mature after MS but JCW seems to grow in opposite direction. Hope this magician role will be his saving grace.
he didnt put on a rastafarian wig… anyone who saw the fiery priest will get what jcw and his costar were doing… he was wearing the wig of the character from fiery priest and doing an exact same scene from FP… its the over-sensitive international fans that make a mountain out of a mole…
there are actors that smoke during ivs and publically… there is literally nothing controversial about a 30 something actor smoking… its not like he was showing off the brand of cigarettes he is smoking to say he is advertising smoking… if korea can normalize drinking and can show being dead drunk as part of culture then whats so wrong with smoking… both are not good for health…
Trouble is not all fans will see it that way. Most won’t have a clue about FP contextual background. His fandom is divided as it is so I do wish him the best. His career is built upon the clean cut, good boy image so it’s good he’s trying to show another side of him which is more realistic. In today’s environment though, smoking is not cool anymore. Yeah it’s normal for ordinary people but for a celeb to do it, it maybe career altering. It’s his choice at the end of the day and up to each fan to accept or reject it.
When I am referring to the current environment, I mean the climate change carbon emission reduction thingy and respectful/sensitive of cultural diversity trends. Heaps of Hollywood stars smoke but they won’t show it in their IG or Twitter because the smoke contribute to air pollution and not good for our health. The current trend is all about keeping healthy especially in Covid-19 era, one would not want to mess up their lungs further. It’s all in the execution or branding of one’s image.
His one project that I finished watching is Suspicious Partner. And that because of my love for everything Nam Ji Hyun.
I was thinking that his recent (LSINTC) drama could be his saving grace Unfortuanately it’s so boring, confusing, and cheesy and chemistry between Ji Chang Wook and Kim Ji Won came so unnatural and their acting’s exaggerated too. Episode 3’s my limit, will watch Run On instead.
Changwook, why are you so fixated/obseesed with rom com? why not do a mystery thriller (kairos, train, SF.
Anyway, hope your next project will not have romance with
Bye 2020. Happy new Year.
* a highschooler.
For me jcw is one of those actors who takes risk with characters even if his image is damaged
He is one of those actors who dares to take a risk rather than play safe
Yes he is doing romcom but all his characters are different
Some risks fail and some becomes a success
As long as he is happy i think his fans should support him (as long as ur a fan) becoz he might have a reason to take on those roles
Trust ur idol becoz all he has his fans hell make it big with ur support good days will surely come and ur opinions will also change
Fighting jcw oppa
I finally watched healer after all the hype. Can he choose a better project so I can watch his handsome face some more please?! Melting me soft was just horrible to me….
Hoping that this drama is a success for him.
His recent drama LITC is meh. I had high expectations as the cast is good but it turned out to be so slow and boring. OTT acting by the leads. Cheesy and cringey lines, Unnatural/Forced Chemistry in Epsiode 2. The only thing i liked is the Cinematography.
No longer interested to watch Ep 5.
I’m more curious about how they gonna adopt this as drama though. It’s not tight-plotted and heavily relies on visual storytelling.
Also Ildeung (Hwang Inyeop’s character) is my favorite from the webtoon so i wonder how he gonna potray him as he’s visually unique (idk how to say it lol).
Hwang In Yeop Please Run..Run from Ji Chang Wook. the guy has been having string of unsuccessful drama.