#thoughts and theories

Although he likely doesn’t possess real emotion the way humans would (and I believe Takahashi said as much in a Q&A), I do find these moments where Otoya seems to exhibit feelings such as shock or irritation very interesting.

Particularly when Mao’s kodoku jar is stolen, Otoya’s determination to catch the thief struck me as emotional - whether through his choice of words or the dark background framing him, it gave off an angry feeling that caught me be surprise on the first read.

The exact mechanics of Shikigami vary across all kinds of stories and media, but one popular notion I like is that they’re spirits bound their master as servants, and should a shikigami gain an overly strong sense of ‘self’ or start feeling things on their own accord, there’s a risk of breaking their bindings and possibly turning on their former master.

So then I wonder, should Otoya start to exhibit real emotion, would that be a good thing? Or a bad thing? Otoya has been an ever reliable rock for both Mao and Nanoka. Should he turn into a potential threat by becoming more ‘human’ or ‘willful’, I think it would be a very interesting trial for our protagonists to overcome.

Well, basically… if Rumiko ever felt like pausing the main plot by exploring the nature of Shikigami more thoroughly, I certainly wouldn’t complain! But if not, I’d be just as happy to read fics on it one day ^^

overall thoughts: bulgasal

i was going to do a review kinda thing, but i’m not eloquent enough for it so i figured i’d just dump all my thoughts here in a semi organised way. it’s kinda spoiler-y so keep reading below if you’re ok with some spoilers.

things i liked:

• most of the main characters: i loved 6/7 of the main characters. i found that i was invested in all of their storylines and all of their relationships with each other. and the casting of these six characters were perfect. i don’t think i can see anyone else playing these characters and doing the characters justice. 
• kwon nara: aka the entire reason i even started this drama in the first place. my girl ate this role up! she was the heart and soul of this drama, and you can’t convince me otherwise. 
• the found family: oh my god, i adored this found family. this was what made me stick through the drama during it’s draggy parts. i loved the relationship between the sisters (who were ride-or-die for each other), the relationship between father and son (both hwal/doyun and hwal/detective kwon gave me the feels - though i’m lowkey sad that the detective wasn’t told about his past life as hwal’s adopted father), and the relationship between shaman and orphan (this particular relationship was tragic, esp that scene where we saw how their relationship developed and how she went from seeing him as a father to a uncle to a brother to a son). and the whole family dynamic between all of them *chef’s kisses*.   
• cinematography: this drama was freaking beautiful! the beauty of the scenery made up for the lack of style in the costumes.
• the twists and turns: i will admit that this drama did get slightly draggy, especially since they only revealed what happened 1000 years ago in the last episode. but i found that i was invested in the backstory the entire drama, like i spent the entire drama trying to figure out all of the twists and turns. some of them were fairly obvious (*cough*the doyun reveal*cough*) but i wouldn’t have been able to guess the entire backstory of what happened 1000 years ago. 

things that could have been better:

• casting of hwal: full disclosure, i really don’t like lee jin wook, i’ve heard things about what he’s like as a person which is why i usually stay away from watching his dramas (the things i do for kwon nara ). that being said, i feel like he was the weakest link in this drama. hwal is a nuanced character and ljw just doesn’t have the acting range to play this character well. the romance and the emotional plotlines involving his family would have been a lot more compelling had they casted a better actor.
• the final episode: y’all i’m conflicted about the final episode. on one hand, i liked how it came full circle. we see how 1000 year ago hwal cursed og min sang un’s family, only to experience his own curse 400 years later (did i do the math correctly on that?). i liked how siho and doyun got their happy endings as one big happy family. but on the other hand, i was deprived of my found family! i needed some wholesome family scenes to warm this cold dead heart of mine. we didn’t get any reunion scene between the reincarnated hyesook, detective kwon, hwal and sang un with doyun and siho (and i will be bitter about that). it was a bittersweet ending, which my angst-loving self usually would have liked, but we spent the last four episodes in an emotional hell of death after death. give me some wholesome found family scenes.
• the romance: kinda ties into my point about the casting of hwal. i thought i was signing up for enemies to lovers (or lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers) but i feel like the “romantic” scenes were just kwon nara acting her heart out and lee jin wook emoting about as much as a rock can emote don’t get me wrong, i was invested in their storyline, i just wasn’t entirely sold on their soulmate relationship. 
• the clothes: i’m sorry but what was with the clothes in this drama? i mean i get they were on the run but why was it so bad???

what if siho’s child will be the reincarnation of ms lee?

ok im watching ep 7 and I have a really bad feeling that ****** is the evil bulgasal’s spy. that phone was hella sus.

eunsjisoo:

I’m finally catching up in bulgasal (on ep 2 so far) so I’m gonna start sharing thoughts and theories I have. i bet they will all be wrong but here we go

1) hwal didn’t kill the min family - I think it’s lee joon’s character that did it

2) who is the older sister in the past life?

3) ok this is slightly philosophical but what is a soul? like if he doesn’t have a soul, how does he have things like morality?

4) I’m betting siho’s ex is lee joon’s character (lol he hasn’t even shown up yet but I have two theories about him )

5) doyun is definitely the reincarnation of the son right?

6) wild theory here, but what if hwal was the child of the two bulgasals? hence why he was the cursed child, and why he was protected by the og