Just when I thought the Korean drama writers and TV producers would not anymore both impress and entertain me, Netflix would make available «Alchemy of Souls» to the global audience, including Norway. Search Google now and you would find the rest of the world agreeing with me, as this Korean-produced series is now the top 5 most watched show on Netflix, according to FlixPatrol.
Alchemy of Souls centers on the growth process of two young people who first met each other at their weakest moments, encountering and experiencing the magical arts of soul shifting, as they try to improve their skills and knowledge and find their respective places in the world. They grow together as they stick it out with each other, while they try to achieve their dreams and goals in an environment where the adults nearest them try to manipulate them and suppress their innate top-notch abilities to promote their own interests.
The female protagonist, Nak-su, is a female genius martial artist who mastered the magic arts of controlling the earth´s elements in a spartan and rough environment, while the male protagonist is Jang Uk, a young man of noble birth who had encountered difficulties of learning the magical arts early in life. Nak-su was orphaned years before she turned 10 years old, while Jang Uk´s mother died in childbirth and the person he thought was his father went away on a quest after he was born.
Nak-su became an assassin because the adult who picked her up and raised her after her family was massacred when she was young, did not tell her the truth that it was her own father whose soul-shifting process did not go as he planned, who massacred his own family. Instead, that adult whom she considered her saviour and benefactor, instilled hate and revenge in her young mind, specifically against the top-notch magicians in the realm whom he wanted to subdue. She was trained to kill them.
Jang UK, on the other hand, had experienced troubled childhood and teen years, knowing too well that the magical powers he was born with was clamped down by a talented magician, the person whom he thought was his father. He has tried to learn from 12 teachers – masters in the martial and magical arts, but never got what he wanted from these, which is for someone to help him unleash his magical prowess. His peers in the magical community in which his family was part of, pitied him in a way because of their knowledge about his learning disability.
Jang Uk met Nak-su, just after she made her first soul-switch with a blind girl of almost the same age and physique, Mu-deok. Nak-su performed the soul-switch just as she was about to get caught by her pursuers, after her body suffered deadly damage in a battle with the leader of the magical community in the realm, outside of the palace. Both the magical authorities and the government wanted Nak-su´´s head, since she was known to be a «killing machine» who targeted the top-magicians in the realm.
Nak-su was not sure if her first soul switch with Mu-deok went well, because the physical blue mark on one´s upper left chest (after a usual soul alchemy process that leads to soul switching), was nowhere to be seen on the body of Mu-deok. She knew the usual stories of other soul switchers who usually run wild after soul switching, in case they could not feed on the energy of other people. The process of feeding on the energy of others usually led to the death of the energy-givers, who turn physically black and blue and dry, like usual corpses.
Nak-su was not sure if Mu-deok was really blind, because she found out she could see after removing the blindfold and opening her eyes, after the soul switch. Mu-deok as Nak-su´ first encountered Jang Uk at the entertainment house, where she managed to engineer her way from being an entertainer, into becoming Jang Uk´s personal servant. Mu-deok with the soul of Nak-su controlling her body, slowly increased stamina, as she performed physical tasks, first as a servant of Jang Uk, and later of the Songrim magical alliance headquarters.
Jang Uk acted to be a lazy, low-level magician, but he was always clear with his goal of gaining strength, learning martial skills, and unleashing and using magical powers. He did not care about how the public saw him, and he was persistent in finding ways to achieve his goals of becoming the best version of his self as a magician. He did not have difficulty finding out that Nak-su was in Mu-deok´s body, and he was quick in taking advantage of the chance to change the speed of his learning process. He took in Nak-su to be his servant, while asking her to be his newest teacher in martial arts and the magical arts of controlling the elements of the earth.
Nak-su had more difficulty accepting and adjusting to situations new to her, like the body of Mu-deok being physically weaker than her original body, or having as her immediate master, Jang Uk, a pampered young lad, who apparently had always chosen the easy paths earlier in life. Nevertheless, she was smart and pragmatic enough to accept Jang Uk as a good employer and as s trainee whose prowess she could build up, such that she could eventually borrow energy from him to regain her strength as martial artist and top-notch magician. Nak-su found it hard to trust Jang Uk, while the latter found it easy to put his trust and hopes in her. Both were honest with what each one wanted from the other, and this helped form bonds between the two: first as an employer-employee, as a teacher-student, and eventually, as friends who were ready to help one another to unleash each other´s potentials. Eventually, both of them saw the diamonds in the rough in each other´s personas, and found out that they may be a perfect match for each other. But who does Jang Uk love: is it Mu-deok or Nak-su?
Through the Alchemy of Souls, the screenwriters help viewers «see and feel» about a story of survival and growth for its main characters in an enchanting and novel way, with each episode building up and supporting the next one. The storytelling is refreshingly easy to follow: two talented people meeting each other and growing with each other, and people who are jealous of them, as well as the network of family and friends who help them become better persons.
The way the love story between Mu-deok-Naksu and Jan Uk builds up is naturally heart-warming and entertaining. Jan Uk trusted her 100 percent, even while she did not. She was always honest with him about their interdependence and her sense of justice, even while she brazenly lied to others to help Jang Uk. Her efforts to build him up and his talents and his honest appreciation for each of these, turned their feelings of mutual interdependence into something akin to love that is both difficult and beautiful. As she saw how how hard he worked to become stronger, not just for his own goals, but also to protect her, she ended up telling him she had fallen for him, even as he confessed to her that he felt the same way. But she was also always clear with him that she would leave once she got back her prowess as Nak-su.
Songs in the original soundtrack (OST) suit all the episodes with a T. The producers deserve an award for the amazing production designs and seamless cinematography. This is one for the books, my friends. I will watch this show over and over again. For the second season to succeed like the first one, both Jung So-Min as Mu-deok and Lee Jae-wook must be in it. Or so we the fans of season I hope for. Producers, hear us, please?
I hope the ending of this Korean fantasy drama will not be like the Bleach ending that had made me turn away from Japanese manga and anime. Like many others, I was a fan of the Ichigo and Rukia tandem, and I felt bad for a really long, long time, when these two did not end up with each other in the end. There was a silver lining to that event. I discovered the genius and innovativeness of the Korean drama writers. Korean dramas have entertained me in the past 10 years, ever since I turned my back to Bleach and Japanese anime in 2012.
