Remember the classmate who bumped into Ah-yi earlier? That’s NA IL-DEUNG ( Hwang In-yub), whose name literally means “I’m first place.” He certainly lives up to his name, since he’s first place in the entire school and across all subjects - except for math, which Ah-yi beats him in. Conjuring bubbles out of thin air, he compares them to the holes in her stockings, calling them cool. She takes just one bill, then turns to leave.īefore she does, though, he bends down to tie her undone shoelace for her, then gently brushes her hair out of her eyes so she doesn’t trip and fall again.
Still feeling guilty over her earlier actions, Ah-yi insists that she’s not the type of person who would thoughtlessly take others’ money, though it sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself and not the magician. Ri-eul isn’t deterred, and with the word annarasumanara (the Korean equivalent of abracadabra), he not only transforms the piece of paper back into a bill, he multiplies it into two and offers both to her. Ah-yi isn’t amused, and she tells him to stop with his childish jokes. She asks him to give her money back, and he takes it out, only to run his hand over it and turn it into a blank piece of paper. With a flourish, he thanks Ah-yi for accepting the invitation card he’d left behind, but she says she threw it away the moment she found it, ha. He doesn’t tell her his name, but we’ll come to know him as RI-EUL ( Ji Chang-wook). That night, Ah-yi returns to the abandoned amusement park to find her lost money, and the mysterious man from before appears yet again. Shrouded in shadows, the cloaked man asks ominously: Do you believe in magic? She ends up at the abandoned amusement park, where the bill flies up into a person’s hand. In a neat bit of editing, the road she’s running on morphs into the bill she’s running after, as if reflecting how her life’s path is both constrained and defined by money itself.
She chases it down the streets, all while it flutters further away. Later, Ah-yi receives her wage for the day, but while walking home, a gust of wind suddenly rips the bill from her grasp. During lunch, she takes extra pork cutlets to secretly pack in her lunchbox, and at her part-time convenience store job, she’s tempted by a half-eaten burger someone left behind. The impact sends her sprawling onto the stairs, scraping her knee and tearing a hole in her stockings.Īh-yi’s day doesn’t get any better from there, and we see just how much she’s struggling to save money. Reality, however, is a different story, and our protagonist YOON AH-YI ( Choi Sung-eun) experiences that for herself when she bumps into a classmate while running to class. I was initially worried that the musical numbers might turn out cheesy, but the actors really sell it and the choreography is smooth and entertaining. It’s a surreal and charming start to this tale, perfectly setting the mood for the rest of the drama.
Well, by the end of the first episode, I was caught in a dilemma - I couldn’t wait to continue watching the next episode, but I also wanted to rewatch the one I just finished! I suppose that speaks for itself just how much I enjoyed the first episode, so without further ado, let’s step into this magical adventure. As such, I was equal parts excited for this adaptation and nervous that it wouldn’t live up to the magic of the original.
I loved its metaphors, simultaneously realistic and dream-like, and how vividly the webtoon portrayed them.
#School of magic episode 1 how to#
I was in middle school then, struggling not to crumble under all the expectations I carried on my shoulders, and I remember identifying with Ah-yi’s struggles - not the poverty, thankfully, but the exhausting daily grind and the nostalgia for a carefree childhood long since out of reach.Īnnarasumanara taught me how to notice the little hopeful joys in life, and gave me the courage to continue pursuing my dreams I remember being moved to the point of tears several times while reading. I’ll admit my expectations were sky-high going into this show, because Annarasumanara was the first webtoon I ever read. She’s weary and worn down by the debts left behind by her absent father, and she’s long since stopped believing in magic - so when the mysterious magician Ri-eul appears in front of her, he quite literally turns her life around. Based on the webtoon Annarasumanara by Ha Il-kwon, The Sound of Magic tells the story of Yoon Ah-yi, a high-school student living hand-to-mouth with her younger sister and working a part-time job after school to make ends meet.
0 kommentar(er)
