The Sound of Magic

Starring: Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun, Hwang In Yeop
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 16
Genre: Fantasy, Musical, Drama
Country: South Korea
Where I Watched It: Netflix
Who I Watched It For: Ji Chang Wook

High school student Yoon Ah Yi finances herself and her younger sister by working part-time jobs. She doesn’t know where her parents are. Debt collectors drove her father away from home—and then her mother fled too. But even with her poor financial circumstances, Yoon Ah Yi manages to rank near the top of her school academically. Yoon Ah Yi wants to become an adult as soon as possible, to have a stable job.

Her classmate Na Il Deung competes with Yoon Ah Yi for the top grade, but they begin to have feelings for each other.

One day, Yoon Ah Yi meets magician Lee Eul at an abandoned amusement park. He performs magic shows for people who believe in magic. He is a mysterious person; he comforts Yoon Ah Yi who tells him that she believes in magic.

I grew up watching and listening to a lot of musicals but I’ve never seen a k-drama musical before so I was mighty intrigued about this show. The drama also starred Ji Chang Wook and I love him so that was an added bonus in making me want to watch it. I was also pretty stoked to see Hwang In Yeop was in it too. I adored him in True Beauty so I was excited to see him in something else.

This drama follows a young woman, Yoon Ah Yi, as she struggles with raising her younger sister after both of her parents split, leaving both sisters penniless, and all alone. Ah Yi is still a student in high school so she’s super busy. She’s at school all day and then she rushes off to work various part-time jobs to put food on the table and through all of these hardships, she just endures. She goes through every single day with a focused determination to become an adult and a lot of that is because she wants better for herself and for her sister. At school, she battles for the top student spot with Na Il Deung and things get a little spicy when they start to develop feelings for each other.

Things get even more interesting when she meets magician, Lee Eul, at an abandoned amusement park. She starts to believe that there’s magic all around and seeing her come into her own over the course of this show made for a sweet and entertaining drama. I really enjoyed the musical aspect of this show and was delighted every time they broke into song and dance. I thought the dance numbers were done really well and the music was a lot of fun too. There were a lot of themes explored during this drama and I thought Ji Chang Wook, Choi Sung Eun, and Hwang In Yeop did a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life.

There was some confusion for me in the beginning episodes and I’m not going to lie, there were times when the stories dragged but the more that I watched, the more that I came to be invested in not just Yoon Ah Yi, but also in Ri Eul, and Na Il Deung’s character development. Each of their backstories was interesting and my heart hurt for all of them, my heart also rejoiced with them. I was happy with how everything wrapped up and though it’s not my favorite drama of the year, I was glad that I gave it a shot and saw it through to the end. I’ve become a big fan of each of the actors in this show and this show was a huge reason why. I’ll definitely be supporting their other works from here on out. If you need a bit of magic in your life, this might definitely be a go for you.

Final Rating

3.5 out of 5