Inspiring Generation (2014)

Waste of my time

This is the worst drama I've ever watched, period.

There's no redeeming quality, except maybe they had a good concept at first (mind you, japanese occupation era until ~1985 is one of, if not THE one period I'm interested by the most), but it took like 2 or 3 episodes, and you can see they'll do nothing worthy of it. The whole sorty started to drag already from there, which is a feat in itself, to begin that early. How can you go so wrong from the get go?

I wish I had known back then that Kim Hyun Joong was not a good person IRL because I would have skipped the drama altogether. He's not a good actor anyway, but I'm not ok with supporting him in any shape or form now that I know what I know.

I understand why it's linked to Mr. Sunshine in the recommandations, but please, don't be fooled, it has nothing to do with this other drama, except they are set in the same-ish period in history.

This was the drama that made me realize I should stop forcing myself to finish dramas I'm not enjoying. I did finish this one however, but it was the last time I did so with an unworthy drama. One of the actor also reminded me of someone I have conflicted feeling about so that didn't help, but even if I exclude this aspect of it, it's still the W O R S T.

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A solid 6/10

The actors and actresses who played the young version of each character was superb! They really had a great skills and talent
especially Kwak Dongyeon and Ji-woo.

Back to the drama, I do think a lot of fighting scenes were cool but them making Shin Jung Tae looking like a "superhuman" by surviving every episode looks stupid. He is literally bleeding in every part of his body and can barely stand but 30 minutes later his already fine and start fighting again, and in every episode too. That is so so so boring. The first episodes were fine, it was interesting to watch knowing each character, their backgrounds, and the actions scenes. But as it gets longer you'll get tired.

A solid 6/10 for me. Some characters were lovely but the plot was a little bit meh for me.

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First, I would say I enjoyed it a lot. Second, I am angry about it. It was a very enjoyable drama for me.
I really like this type of dramas where main male lead is physically strong, and also love fighting films. The development of main lead in fighting skills was very realistic. Mostly, in this kind of movies the hero goes to learn from a very skilled master and in drama time, he learns aalll he needs to overcome enemies at most in 20 or 30 minutes. That's when I say how? How could he be so much strong? But in this movie you can watch slow development of our hero and what he learns from his every fight.
I also like historical dramas, but actually this is the first drama i saw in this era, when we have both guns and  swards. I hated guns because cowards used them when their skills weren't sufficient to win.
I am angry about the drama because at episode 23 a very sad incident happens that wasn't at all necessary and logical. The only reason for that to happend was to make people never forget the drama and put a somewhat forced emotional impact on them.
I didn't liked Gaya's character from her teen age and liked Ok Ryun. People say Gaya was strong and Ok Ryun wasn't, So she was the one who should be with Jung Tae at the end. First, i don't think it is true, because Ok Ryun suffered a lot and still kept loving Jung Tae. Second, love is not about being strong, it is about give all you can to the one you love. And as a lover she did her best. So as a lover she deserved Jung Tae more than Gaya. Third, Character of Gaya was not full good and even it made the drama interesting, but she didn't deserve a full positive and good character like Jung Tae. Forth, in my opinion, men like Jung Tae does not need a physically strong girl. The only thing they want from their woman is pure love and trust. Jung Tae does not need Gaya's fighting skills nor her brutal character and capability to kill people. He was himself strong enough to overcome his enemies.
------ACTING------
About the acting, it was great. I liked the characters a lot. A lot of independent characters each with it's own goals and attitude. A lot of grey characters who could not be categorized as bad or good. The main leads were attractive to death. Kim Hyun Joong is very handsome and has a special look. He can eat his enemies with his look. Jin Se Yeon is very beautiful and attractive. After this moving I am going to watch her other movies. Both of them acted great. The drama had a lot of lovable characters, especially General Mo was verrry verry cool and awesome, very confident and wise character. His fighting style was master-style. Beside his strong character, he had very cute smiles. I usually do not like characters that are not at main lead's side (Especially second leads). But in this movie, Shinichi was a big  exception. I really loved him. His strong determination in protecting Gaya, was adorable. There were very few characters who you could call them bad guy or good guy and this is a strong point for the drama.
------STORY------
Story was good. Actually I liked it a lot because it was my type. But being fair, it had holes and inconsistencies. I do not pay attention a lot to the detailed parts of story so it was not annoying for me, but as I said, the incident in episode 23 was one of the plot issues that really made me angry; I was angry rather than sad, when it happened. The romance part was good but not satisfying. That may be because I didn't like Gaya's character from the begining (though It changed a bit at the final episodes.) so I mostly ignored Gaya's feeling for Jung Tae. And from Tae's side I really was angry about him, ignoring Ok Ryun's feelings and foolishly loving Gaya. Actually I couldn't figure out when he fell for Ok Ryun. And couldn't realize how the hell he could love two girls in the same time. :|
------Music------
Music was also great. It had two rapturous musics. When these musics came to start with the fighting and exciting moments of the drama, I somehow lost my control :XD.
------Rewatch Value------
I won't rewatch it, because don't have much time, but think it is worth watching it one more time because the action scenes and character development of Jung Tae  are really, really interesting.

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Ehh, this is such a disappointment. I don't even know where to start. KHJ is a terrible actor, his acting is too stiff and one-dimensional compared to many of the other actors on the show, he also seems to have the weakest character dramaturgy-wise, all he does is look angry or has a blank expression on his face. Jaerim too can't act and always plays the same character, the plot is too predictable, editing is really odd — you don't even see any real action. Relying too much on editing to cheat its way through the fight is my biggest complaint. This is seriously missing some seamlessly shot fight sequences that put all of the action in a single, two-shot frame. Instead, the action is broken up and filmed at such close proximity that it can be difficult to see what exactly is happening. Of course, this is to disguise KHJ's lack of any real martial arts skills, but overediting shots so that you can never really see what the fighters are doing isn't very interesting to watch. And damn, those overused music soundbites whenever there's a suspense/emotional/romance moment. They took it to the extreme. Oh, and what's with all the Japanese characters speaking Korean? Couldn't they hire someone who could speak Japanese? Or are Koreans that lazy to read subtitles? This is a lot like IRIS, it's got great budget and everything but it's still garbage.

I may write a longer review at some point, but it's probably not worth the time.

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Kidsters

Literal kids playing mafia. Anyway, the drama was full of cardboard characters and you may expect an amateur level of performance, editing and writing to match it. The plot felt convoluted and disjointed, struggling to maintain a coherent narrative throughout the show. Characters lacked depth and development, making it challenging to emotionally invest in their arcs or connect with their journeys. Their personal relationships didn't intertwine well with the story either. I was looking forward to see Uhm Tae Goo but the drama wasn't worth it. I find this period and setting of Japan/Korea to be the worst to watch through any media. They "almost" don't know how to go on about it. I could count a few rare exceptions on one hand.

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