#Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

[tenartist]

silly goblin au!

[mostlyfate]

I don't want you to die. There's no particular reason. It's just that I would be a little bored if you cease to exist. You can get mad at me. How can I get mad at you? You used to want me to die, and now you don't anymore. Also, there's no guarantee I won't turn into something hideous.

We really became friends with each other. Actually, it's been a while since we were.

Take care. You too. Regardless of the time or how your life may be, be happy. I've had a good life until now. Don't make it rain.

[destinnaaa]

[ikjun]

You have to summon me right away. That's easy.

쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 - 도깨비 GOBLIN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD | EP. 13

[dramashii]

GUARDIAN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD (2016) in Canada 🇨🇦

[userchali]

She says I'm a strange man. I guess I lack a lot of things. Especially a business card.

[0ut-of-my-head]

Mass is not proportional to volume. A girl as small as a violet… A girl who flutters like a flower petal… pulls me with more force than that of the Earth. Just then, like Newton's apple, I rolled and fell on her helplessly… with a thump. With a thump, thump.

Goblin || Dokkaebi (2016 - 2017)

[bengiyo]

Goblin is One of the Best Shows Ever Made

Thanks to @lurkingshan using @kyr-kun-chan against me, I completed Goblin aka Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.

I will say plainly that I think this is one of the most excellently-calibrated pieces of media I have ever watched. The show balances the attention span and varying interests of its audience perfectly. I like romance well enough, but I am so much more invested in stories about the Warrior's Bond. As soon as they revealed that Goblin was a loyal general betrayed by his king, and now forced to roam the earth in search of connection as he intervened in the lives of people struggling with ideation I was HOOKED.

This show gives so much attention to everyone's loneliness in a way that no other show I've watched balances correctly, because Goblin uses its comedy as a relief valve so well. I cried so many times because this show has so many decent people in it trying to do their best. I also ugly cried about a dog.

It's rare that I enjoy a tragic piece of media as much as this, and I get why a quarter of the Korean population was tuning in live to watch this. The timing of this scene is the best episode ending I have seen in years.

I'll probably have more to say about this later, but Goblin is an excellent piece of media because it makes me want to watch more historical kdrama. I enjoyed this and Kingdom a lot, and am genuinely interested in more now.

Bonus: This show let me read Deok Hwa as gay the whole time and I respect that.

[no-where-new-hero]

i do enjoy kdramas for the shameless romance, of course, but actually most of my favorite OTPs are the platonic ones. ji eun tak and the reaper. hong seol and baek in ho. lee rang and ki yu ri. lee rang and lee yeon. lee eun bi and gong tae kwang. hae soo and baek ah. kim moo chan and kwon seok-joo. i do recognize that a lot of this is second lead syndrome at work and also homoerotic tension, but i do love how the way that kdramas are structured means that all the relationships are fully fleshed out, which lets my personal gravitation toward supporting characters get free rein.

[kdrama-stills]

"which one you think it is? sorrow or love?"

[sexlovelitpodcast]

Sex Love Lit girlies! I watched Crash Landing On You (my first k-drama) and now I have a conundrum: A) I want to watch more k-dramas, and B) No k-drama can seem to measure up to CLOY 😭 Could you put together a playlist of entry-level k-dramas for new fans that capture the CLOY magic? Bonus points if they’re on Netflix

@sliceoflifegirl thanks for the ask!

(Corinne here) First of all, welcome to KDrama land! Crash Landing on You was my second ever KDrama, and the one that really got me hooked. I’m gonna be honest, it’s a hard one to top when you’re mid emotional hangover! That said, I love this ask and recommending KDramas to people, so I’m more than happy to recommend some. My strategy here, rather than recommend something that exactly mimics CLoY (because imo, there’s nothing exactly like it), is to recommend dramas that I think are some of the best of their genre—with some aspect that might help scratch that CLOY itch ;) So, without further ado, here is your KDrama Starter Pack: 

Goblin aka Guardian: The Lonely and Great God—This fantasy romance is a classic for a reason. The set-up: 900+ year old goblin Kim Shin is on a quest to find the goblin bride to pull the sword out of his chest and finally let him die. The catch: when he finds goblin bride Eun-tak and starts to fall in love with her, he wonders if there might be something to this whole “life” thing after all. Also featured: a glum Grim Reaper, with whom Kim Shin has a top tier bromance, who has a doomed romance of his own. Goblin gave me one of the biggest emotional hangovers post-CLOY in my early KDrama days. One caveat: Kim Shin meets Eun Tak when she’s in high school, so if huge age gaps in fantasy romances give you the ick, maybe give this one a pass (in which case the fantasy romances I recommend checking out instead are Alchemy of Souls and Doom at Your Service, both on Netflix atm). (On Viki)

Mr. Sunshine—My pick for one of the best historical (aka sageuk) KDramas out there. Set in early 1900’s Joseon, just before/in the early days of Japanese occupation, this drama follows the lives of five equally compelling characters as they navigate the political turmoil of the time. At the center are Lady Ae-sin, an aristocratic lady with a tendency for dressing up as a man and sneaking around at night on missions for the rebels, and Eugene Choi, an American Marine now stationed in Joseon who escaped enslavement there as a child and has mixed feelings about the land of his birth. This one resonates with the forbidden/doomed love of people from different classes and cultures from CLOY. (On Netflix)

Reply 1988—This slice of live drama set in Seoul in 1988 follows five families who live in the same neighborhood, and especially five of their high school aged children as they grow up during a particularly vibrant time in South Korea’s recent history. Like the other installments in the Reply series, the series uses two of the main characters in the present day (or present to when it was released, anyway) looking back—which means that viewers know the Deok-sun ends up married to one of her four besties, but which one?? Still, while the love triangle mystery is fun, at its heart, this story is about community. It’ll scratch the CLoY itch for the North Korean market lady shenanigans, and a few others as well (especially if you like intense yearning in your dramas). (On Netflix)

Business Proposal—If you’d like romance of a completely different genre than CLOY, look no further than Business Proposal! In this KDrama, Shin Ha-ri goes on a blind date in place of her friend as a favor only find out that the date is with her boss. This tightly plotted romantic comedy plays with more rom com tropes than you can shake a stick at, but never sits with one so long that it gets old. The B couple is also fire, and helps move things along whenever the A couple gets into a rut. This drama also features some chaebol (rich business family) shenanigans a la CLOY.  (On Netflix)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo–If you’re in the mood for a workplace comedy/drama, look no further than Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Featuring the incandescent Park Eun Bin as rookie attorney Woo Young Woo, this legal drama features about a case per episode as Attorney Woo finds her way in the world alongside a delightful main cast of characters. (On Netflix)

Little Women—My choice for the makjang to include on this list (a genre in which extreme storylines are treated very seriously), this drama focuses on the three Oh sisters as the oldest finds that her friend who died under mysterious circumstances has left her 70 billion that a powerful political family will stop at nothing to get their hands on. Will the story always make complete sense? No. But will the stellar performances, fast-paced, genre-mixing drama, and wild cliffhangers keep you on the edge of your seat as you binge the whole thing? Absolutely. (On Netflix)

Extraordinary You—Youth dramas may or may not be your thing, but if you have the patience for the shenanigans of high schools, Extraordinary You is my top pick. In this fantasy romance, Eun Dan-Oh discovers that she is actually a character in a comic–and she’s not even the main one! While still high school appropriate, Eun Dan-oh’s literally doomed-by-the-narrative and impossible circumstances romance with Haru, another side character, is another one from my early KDrama days to stick with me just as much as Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong-hyeokk’s. (On Viki)

Search: WWW—Ayanni’s particular contribution to this list, this modern romantic drama focuses on intersecting lives of three women working in the fast-paced tech industry at the top two competing web portal companies. Just as interesting as each woman’s various romantic entanglement are their entanglements with each other as they put their careers ahead of just about everything else. Ayanni says she especially appreciates this one because it focuses specifically on three women (also in this genre are Be Melodramatic and Because this is My First Life). 

Happy watching--and do let us know if you pick any of these up!

[mostlyfate]

Grim Reaper + drinks with straws*:･ﾟ✧

LEE DONG WOOK as GRIM REAPER GOBLIN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD (2016)

[kdramafeeds]

Wang Yeo moments 

06.22.2023

[ikjun]

You're my whole life, and all my heart. And I'm here, home with you, with me.

쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 - 도깨비 GOBLIN: THE LONELY AND GREAT GOD | EP. 12

[dramashii]

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016)

[jjessayy]

Goblin KDrama is proof that the best trope is “immortal gods are just as immature as the rest of us”