THE EPICNESS! WOW!

Okay, this is such a must watch for anyone, really. God, it is so beautifully done. The story is about a king sent by the heavens to reunite the scattered lands of Joo Shin and the heavens have sent down four gaurdians (Blue Dragon, Turtle Snake, Phoenix and White Tiger) to help him. The story is kind of an Asian Arthurian Legend and LOTR rolled into one.

What I loved about this show were the characters. Not one damsel in distress anywhere. Every single female character was so strong and amazing (take, for example Sae-Oh who the god falls in love with. She gives birth to his child in the middle of a battle in a cave; then hands the baby off to be hidden and protected; fights in the battle and kicks some major ass; then finds out the enemy, Kajin has taken the baby; goes to find the baby and climbs a couple mountains; and then fights some more to save the baby. All this RIGHT AFTER GIVING BIRTH)! Sujini has to be one of the best female characters ever. She is not only and ace fighter and archer but also really cute and fun and smart. Kiha, on the other hand is pretty much the opposite (personality wise). Her life is just full of sadness and bitterness. At a very young age, she saw her parents die in front of her eyes and then got separated from her little sister by the people who killed her parents. Then they turned her into an assassin and sent her to the castle at the age of 10 to be a spy. She was falsely accused of many things and lost the one guy she loved more than anything. She also happens to be one of the guardians (the Phoenix). Even the minor female characters are so strong and important. The best blacksmith is a woman. The army manager is a woman. The female characters are so fantastic on this show.

The male characters are pretty great too. Ho Gae is probably one of the most heartbreaking and pitiful characters ever. He’s just one of those characters that you love and hate at the same time… Then there’s Dam Deok who has to pretend to be weak and dumb because he’s the real Joo Shin king. He doesn’t want to be king and sneaks out of the castle all the time and pretends to be a commoner. Then his father’s killed and he is betrayed by the one person who he trusted the most. All so the whole country hates him and the cabinet is always trying to kill him or defame him. He’s really smart and sweet and awesome at the gravity-defying fisticuffs. And he can wield a sword like nobody’s business. The dead father and being betrayed by his most trusted and best friend does mess him up to the point where he’s pretty much suicidal but he still works hard to become a damn good king.

This show is really amazing. It has a super awesome story, magic, amazing fight/battle scenes, complex and strong characters, prophecies, polo games (my favourite scenes), royalty, politics, great scenery, very very VERY cool special affects and mythology. It was just really tight all around (even though I didn’t care too much for the ending). It is a lot of fun to watch and I highly recommend it.