Maou

[karened]

I'm going to watch Mawang. In case you don't know, that's the kdrama version of Maou. I just came across a writeup about how great Mawang is, but that's not what baited me to watch. It was a short paragraph that refuted every single view I had regarding Maou that provoked me.

My favourite Arashi song for 2008 - "when you take away the elegant soundtrack and replace it with (*gag*) Arashi numbers"

Ohno's convincing, outstanding portrayal of the character, and his death stare - "when you take away the awesome mature actors and replace them with a couple of Johnny’s boys"

Good directing, especially the opening part with Ohno reaching for Toma - "when you lose the superb directing and editing"

My favourite suspense drama in ages - "what was one of the best and most absorbing tv shows I’d ever watched was reduced to an affair of mind-numbing mediocrity"

So, I will watch for myself how magnificent Mawang is such that my beloved Maou pales so much in comparison to warrant being called "incredibly, stupendously, outstandingly boring". Perhaps it's because s/he has watched Mawang before watching Maou that made Maou such a predictable ride. Perhaps.

Perhaps at the end of the 20 episodes, I'll follow suit and comment that "It was so boring I never made it past the first few episodes, even with fast-forwarding".

Or perhaps I'll love to death, so much so that I'd want to delete this post.

But Maou will forever be Ohno's first drama, the one that made it feel like his training in butais all these while had done him good, that it was worthwhile to have to wait so so so long till her appears on tv. For that, it is special.

Comments

[mjlights.livejournal.com]

just cruising and found this..... watched Maou first then Mawang (at a vvveeery slow pace)... Albeit the actors were very well known in Korea, I found that the plot was made to make you think and guess on who the killer was. Which really doesn't leave much excitement anymore as we already know who and how the series ended. Frankly, I did >> most of the episodes (yes it was making me sleep).

I must admit, Maou could have been better, but because it was the first thing I watched. Every episode held an element of suspense. Not to mention that ohno did a pretty good job convincing me that he was in pain despite the stoic appearance. Actually cheered him on LOL.

The Korean version didn't do much to my heartstring, but had to finish it for the sake of comparison. And yes these are personal opinions that are justified because I DID watch both versions.

[karened.livejournal.com]

I think the major takeaway is that it matters which one you watched first.

I think I'll end up like you, finding Mawang a drag because the surprise element has already been taken away by Maou. That was why I didn't want to watch Mawang previously. I knew from Maou that a lot of the enjoyment came from the plot twists and surprises. That's the main plot. With everything already exposed in Maou, what is there to watch for in Mawang, except for good acting and perhaps directing and sound?