Ok so the central story and format of this story isn't particularly unique or never seen before, and its gorey, and sometimes the cgi is a teeny weensy flop, (but only sometimes, and the actors make up for all of that ASTRONOMICALLY), and the selection of imagine dragons WARRIORS was a little questionnable, (and broke immersion for me sometimes LOL) BUT

BUT.

All of those are just nitpicks because this show is, wow, it was a savior for me when i was starved for a GOOD kdrama to watch this season.

And my gosh, netflix sure makes some flop kdramas but this was not one of them thats for sure.

hearts for Lee Do Hyun, he was a scene-stealer for this show, and thats on period. ?‍♀️♥︎♥︎♥︎
Anyways lemme make this more comprehensive for people who can't read brain vomit.

PROS

1. The cast
fuck the cast was very good. i haven't read the full webtoon, and to my knowledge lee si young's character was never a part of the story, but I don't mind her addition. I love the minor changes they made with each character, eg. sang wook (played by lee jin wook) was slightly less of a meathead/is much more grim (at least from what i've seen in the first 5 episodes of the webtoon). Same thing with lee eun hyuk (played by lee do hyun), the director specifically told him to be more serious and smile less, from what I've heard. and it works. with the kind of things eun hyuk has done, if he did it smiling it would seem.....i dont know, the fact that he always has such a grim and cold face tells me more that he is trying his best to restrain himself and sacrifice emotional thought, for the benefit of everyone in the group. but many fans still think he's selfish, but this isn't my manifesto on why you shouldn't hate on eun hyuk LOL

2. The themes/story
honestly what more is there to say than, this is a story of human relationships and human conncections, and all of the spheres and....sadly, the repercussions of it when u have evil people involved :( it tackles grim themes, but doesnt really force feed you, or take a moral highground/responsibility with it. I like that.

3. Production quality
idk much abt cinematography, but the fact that I don't have a single complaint should be testament enough. this was a high quality production crew, both int terms of the makeup, set design, and cinematography, I'm impressed. ofc some scenes can seem a little less good in comparison, but the key word is comparison. everything was kept to a high quality.

CONS
1. HeRe WE Aare DOnT TurN AWyA NOW
I didn't like use of imagine dragons. it could because im an English native and it was jarring , or that whenever i heard english in a korean drama where im specifically wanting to hear korean audio, the switch of language kinda jolts me. Nothing against iamgine dragons? but maybe they could have used more epic music

2. CLIFFHANGER
the season ended on a cliffhanger. honestly not sure if there will be a second season.

3. ADAPTATION CONTEXT?
I never read the full webtoon. i only read about the first 7 chapters at MOST. According to people who have read the full webtoon, as an adaptation, this series falls short. they destroyed many of the relationships with the characters, and I did catch on at some point that they tried to make all the characters a lot more grim and ?, and that could potentially be chopping out some fuzzier dynamics. but it's netflix, the same company that wanted to add blood and sex to avatar, a beloved children's show, im honestly not surprised with the change here. It's unfortunate, but I guess we'll just have to read the webtoon if we want to see hyuk and hyun being friends.

HOWEVER

as someone who didn't have that webtoon to be comparing the show to, if you look at this as a standalone, it's a good drama. Its not some STELLAR, INFALLIBLE SHOW, (and which show is?) but it's not awful either, and it measures above the rest. I'm biased of course, but, it all depends on your outlook if you'll love this, or hate it.

ANYWAYS, this was a lot of typing.

TL;DR: GIVE THIS SHOW A WATCH, AND YOU WONT REGRET IT! the horror never gets TOO scary, I watched this at 3am in total darkness by myself and yes, i was scared, but i wasn't shitting bricks??? so there's that :3

also lee do hyun is here what reason do u have NOT TO. kmt