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Hikari no Naka
Half-cooked meal that left me half-full
Should you watch it? Yes, if you are bored with the usual BL tropes and want to see a new and unique story that is rare in BL dramas. The concept is pretty interesting, reminding me of ABO world where instead of Alpha and Omega, you have Mono and Probe. However, sadly the unique story is not accompanied with great execution, making this a half-cooked meal that left me rather unsatisfied.
STORY
With such complicated theories about Monos and Probes and their supposedly dynamic relationships, it is impossible to fully explore them in just 15-mins 8 episodes drama. We only get short backgrounds and a little bit explanations here and there to understand this world and the characters. Until up to ep 7, I had no idea about Yoo Han's background and why he seems to be obsessed with Yeon Woo. We also only get glimpses of Yeon Woo's background and his issues of being a Mono. Many use the short episode as an excuse, but I'd totally blame this to the producer and screenwriter. If they were going to make this story as short drama, they should've worked a better and tighter plot rather than wasting some precious few minutes in some scenes that do not contribute to the plot. At the end, a lot of major plots remain unsolved for the sake of having cute ending, which is okay but rather unsatisfying.
ACTING
I would say Yoo Jun is a better actor than Heo Hyun Jun in this drama. Especially starting ep 6 onwards, his acting improved a lot and you can feel his emotions when he was feeling desperate. On the other hand, Hyun Jun felt rather stiff, I don't know if that's supposed to be his character's personality, but he was emotionless and even when saying romantic lines, his face doesn't change and his voice is flat. I could hardly feel any emotions from his acting, imho. Due to that, I felt little chemistry between them, it's definitely there but not so much.
In conclusion, it's an OK drama to watch and it's great that Korea has started to churn out BL with various themes, which I greatly appreciate. Oh, and the OST is amazing as expected from most of Korean drama ^^
STORY
With such complicated theories about Monos and Probes and their supposedly dynamic relationships, it is impossible to fully explore them in just 15-mins 8 episodes drama. We only get short backgrounds and a little bit explanations here and there to understand this world and the characters. Until up to ep 7, I had no idea about Yoo Han's background and why he seems to be obsessed with Yeon Woo. We also only get glimpses of Yeon Woo's background and his issues of being a Mono. Many use the short episode as an excuse, but I'd totally blame this to the producer and screenwriter. If they were going to make this story as short drama, they should've worked a better and tighter plot rather than wasting some precious few minutes in some scenes that do not contribute to the plot. At the end, a lot of major plots remain unsolved for the sake of having cute ending, which is okay but rather unsatisfying.
ACTING
I would say Yoo Jun is a better actor than Heo Hyun Jun in this drama. Especially starting ep 6 onwards, his acting improved a lot and you can feel his emotions when he was feeling desperate. On the other hand, Hyun Jun felt rather stiff, I don't know if that's supposed to be his character's personality, but he was emotionless and even when saying romantic lines, his face doesn't change and his voice is flat. I could hardly feel any emotions from his acting, imho. Due to that, I felt little chemistry between them, it's definitely there but not so much.
In conclusion, it's an OK drama to watch and it's great that Korea has started to churn out BL with various themes, which I greatly appreciate. Oh, and the OST is amazing as expected from most of Korean drama ^^
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