#loreic asks

[loreic]

We're you really completely satisfied with the storytelling of KPDH? I felt there were a lot of details were missing, rushed

Lol short answer? No.

Long answer under the cut (spoilers obviously)

Honestly, I'd say they did the best they could given the 1.5 hour runtime. The pacing was not terrible at all for something so short, which I found really surprising (am still a little awestruck tbh, cause how??? that shit shouldn't be possible), but yeah it was still a little rushed and there were definitely a lot of details that could have been fleshed out more.

Some things I really wished were explored:

Rumi's parents and their backstory (feel like this could be its own prequel movie tbh)

The sunlight sisters and their relationships with each other

The rest of the Saja Boys' backstories

The whole Rumi x Jinu plotline probably would have benefited if it had actual time to develop

The whole half-demon concept (it wasn't even explained to Jinu and that confuses me a little)

The whole concept definitely would have been better suited as a show (e.g. take the absolute masterpiece that is Blue Eye Samurai), but then again I doubt the overall quality would have been that high if it were (so eh, you win some you lose some). I'd say they still did way better than most of the stuff we get on the big screen these days (looking at you Disney), but eh at this point the bar is pretty much in hell.

Music was definitely 10/10 though (and I'm not even into mainstream kpop so really I am just questioning myself while playing Your Idol on a loop)

[loreic]

You know, I envy those who really loved KARMA. To be honest, KARMA disappointed me a lot. In fact, the ALNST fandom disappointed me a little. How is it possible that a good part of the fandom hates Luka more than the damn aliens? The whole Luka situation right now is too much, in my opinion. And not in the "narratively good" kind, but in the "suffering porn" kind, where he's the ONLY one alone and enslaved (he doesn't even appear in that rocket scene where everyone is falling free). He was also a victim of the Alien Stage system, so losing Hyuna, getting beaten up and then being put back in the competitions is very unfair. Seriously, I understand that it's kind of a meme, but it's getting sinister the amount of people encouraging and making fun of it. I'd say that Luka is worse than any of the three right now, people forget that he's a victim and he's STILL a victim. And I won't even talk about how now Hyuna's death is even more senseless and how all of her and the Rebellion's efforts were thrown away because of Mizi. I genuinely hated how Vivmeng treated Hyuna, Hyunwoo, Hyuluka and, especially, Luka (who seems to now only exist to be miserable and seeing fans celebrating when Mizi beat him up for no reason in KARMA made me physically disgusted).

Hmmmm

Right, long ass take under the cut

First off, valid opinion anon.

Think it's perfectly okay be to be a little disappointed in Karma. I'd rate it visually 10/10, musically 9/10, narratively 7/10.

Don't get me wrong alnst had a good run and damn we are probably not gonna get anything else as good anytime soon (I say while staring at kpdh), but the ending might have been a little rushed (assuming this is really the end anyway) and yeah, they probably could have handled the whole Hyuna, Luka, Hyun-woo plot a little better.

Hyuna's death does seem pretty senseless, and that's probably the biggest gripe I have with the ending (since she and Luka are my favourites lol). Out of the three that are confirmed dead, her death definitely hits the hardest (Ivan died for Till, Till is free, Sua died for Mizi, Mizi is free-ish?/took her revenge, while Hyuna died and Luka is still in captivity + rebels' plan failing epically)

But I really don't think that was Hyuna's goal to begin with.

I think Mizi was pretty spot on with her using the rebels as an escape from reality. Girl never stopped running. She refused to face her past, refused to come to terms with the fact that it was Luka who was responsible for Hyun-woo's death, and refused accept the fact that she still loved him despite everything (stubborn queen fr), and only FINALLY decided let all of that go in her final moments.

Her death was meant to be a lesson to Luka (really bitter pill to swallow, and yeah it's pretty stupid when you look at it from a well adjusted perspective, but we've also established she's a trainwreck of a diva so), and I think in the end she did make her peace with it all. Luka being free wasn't the point, and yeah it sucks, but it does make sense. She died to teach him what it means to love, and I think she did succeed in that even if he is still captive.

It's a little convoluted but in the end I wouldn't say her death was entirely senseless (it just definitely seemed so to Mizi and us as the audience), she was doing it for Luka, same as Ivan and Sua for Till and Mizi (was their love perfect? Hell no, it's messy and all kinds of screwed up but that's the point)

As for Luka sighhhhhhhhhhh

Yeah Luka is 100% the victim here. They all are, but dude definitely got the short end of the stick of the three(?) that technically survived.

Him not being with the falling children I'd say is because A. (Mizi knew for a fact he was still alive at that moment) and B. (He is on the receiving end of Mizi's self-righteous karma). Luka's a victim but he's not entirely guiltless either and I think that's what makes him so so interest. If he really did survive the rocket crash he probably spent the next seven years pondering over everything. It was Hyuna's last puzzle for him, it's his penance for the pain he causes (unintentional or no) and yeah that's pretty fking miserable when you think about it.

Am I happy with that? Eh, not really.

I'd say there is a lot of wasted character growth potential here, but it's more or less in line with his overall arc of 'unapologetic sociopath who cannot understand human emotions learns love, lost and regret' so eh I'll take it.

And yeah there are some pretty unsavoury takes in the fandom when it comes to Luka, just because he is that complex and half the fandom doesn't understand him at all, but eh that's more or less expected given alnst target demography so don't worry about it. 괜찮아~ Just enjoy this cinematic masterpiece we somehow get to experience for free and possibly avoid the hell out of Twitter/X like I do lol (like seriously there are takes on there that gives me an aneurysm)

[loreic]

Would you do Ha-neul? 🥺🫶

Been putting off answering this cause I did have a grown up Ha-neul sitting in my wip but when I say this man's hair is fighting me harder than Isaac's demons in Karma-

Yeah, grown up Ha-neul's gonna have to wait.

So here, have the twins when they were potatoes instead.

[loreic]

Crying. You made me cry 😭😭 what a chapter it was beautiful

Aghsajjakaalaksbs glad you liked it anon 😭😭😭 Thanks for sticking around till the end!!!

Have a random sketch of grown up Hae-il!

[loreic]

Okay I'm relieved because when I saw ALNST fans praising KDPH and hating on Karma (not you specifically but it's been... a trend) i got worried. KDPH was a fun piece of entertainment for me but as a work of art... it wasn't much.

Animated works can deep and artful, though! Paprika, Perfect Blue. Hell, I even love those Tim Burton movies and The Book of Life & Death. But KDPH was basically Korean Frozen.

LMAO KOREAN FROZEN

Right, I live under a rock in my own carefully crafted content bubble so I am totally unaware that there are alnst fans actually hating on Karma and praising kdph.

Honestly I think it ultimately boils down to the fact that they are of totally different genres. I mean yeah at face value you can totally see why someone who watches alnst would be into kpdh - pretty visuals, k-music, A+ character designs, but I think people tend to forget they are completely different shows)

Kpdh is ultimately family movie, it's supposed to be short, light-hearted and fun (and it hits its objective spot on) while alnst is supposed to be deep, dark, pure soul crushing tragedy (I don't think it really hit its mark with Karma [maybe like two degrees to the left lol] and that's probably why people are a little disappointed/unsatisfied). Alnst also has a way more complex premise/plot so I'd say expectations for Karma were wayyyy higher than for kpdh.

So yeah, I can totally see why some people are comparing the two, but at the end of the day they really are entirely different shows with their own strengths and shortcomings.

(Also thanks for the visual btw, am gonna need Jinu in Elsa's sparkly dress and the entire cast of Frozen in 저승사자 fits now)

[loreic]

Can you give me some Hyuluka fic recommendations, please🙏?

Anon, ngl you’re probably asking the wrong person for fic recs (also I’m pretty sure half the hyuluka fandom reads the same stuff) but here’s a few off the top of my head

(Keep in mind I go by lore-ic for a reason, I tend dig extremely plot/lore heavy stuff) 

Delusions of Domesticity by Loreic [completed, E-rated]

Shameless self-plug, wrote this when I burned through the entire hyuluka ao3 tag after Weige and decided fk it I’ll do it myself 

Canon-divergence from Round 5 onwards 

Pretty screwed up concept (because so is my brain), and I’ll admit not everyone’s cup of tea so read at your own risk 

Aubade by Kaden [ongoing, M-rated] 

Love of my hyuluka life

Fluff and angst hospital AU, featuring a terminally ill Luka who crosses paths with Hyuna and Hyunwoo 

It’s giving Fault in Our Stars. Peak fic with frequent-ish updates, but Kaden will probably break your heart (to give you context an aubade means lover’s farewell at dawn)

Learn to Forgive by Aniiina [completed, M-rated]

One of the rare, completed, the rebels-saved-Luka-too fic 

Canon-divergence from Round 5 onwards, fluff and angst (more angsty tho) 

The ending is a little abrupt for me but it’s still a pretty solid fic

Alien Stage Modern AU by Auphoria [one-shot collection, G-rated] 

Consist of 3 extremely underrated standalone one shots 

Modern AU featuring various scenarios ranging from fluff to crack 

Read it after Weige broke my heart and it’s been sitting in my bookmarks ever since 

Bauble by Valleykey [completed, T-rated (but I would rate it M tbh)]

Oneshot, kinda weird in a good way? 

That one well-written Mer AU. Solid lore and characterization. 

Did not think I would dig a Mer AU but the hyuluka interactions and characterization is just that good

Honorable mentions:

Lulu by nullbird [incompleted, T-rated]

Only has two 2 chapters, but I just love the concept and plot potential so it's been sitting in my bookmarks

Features the rebels find a toddler clone Luka and Hyuna dealing with it

You Are The Hymn of my Existence by Anon [one-shot collection, G to E-rated]

One of the oldest collections on ao3 

If you thought delusions of domesticity was screwed up, there is some stuff this collection that basically quadruples it, but then you also get random, really cute ones 

This beast has 28 PARTS, and I’ll admit some of the characterization of the older works is a little outdated and some of it is in 2nd pov (which I just can’t get over), but most of them are still pretty a good read

The works in there vary a lot, I’ve only read a few, so I think it’s better to just leave the collection here and you can go check out what floats your boat 

Side note: I’m not really into ABO so that basically cuts down all the available fics by half. I’m also pretty sure there is a bunch more awesome stuff out there but I don't really dare to rec stuff with infrequent updates (except Lulu lol) and the rest are mostly one shots. They tends get drowned in the tags pretty quick, and I can’t seem to effing locate them.

[loreic]

Hello! I liked Karma buuuuut gngngng unpopular opinion, while I'm kind of happy Till survived, it made me go: wait. He was shot in the neck, lost a lot of blood and he was... still saved? Idk, it took me out of the whole thing, my brain truly went "wait a minute..." and! Yes, alien technology and all that but, idk.

I actually maybe would have preferred he died or that in FINAL it wasn't shown that much as a deadly wound (that I get as a cliffhanger was great, but idk, I have mixed feelings about it)

What about you? Are you happy Till is alive and the way Karma (as a whole) directed the ending/where the ending will go?

HAH when I say my brain did a 5 min reboot when they revealed Till was alive-

Okay but yeah, Till actually surviving was definitely not on my bingo card.

Like in my head I figured it was technically possible if Vivinos decided to take that route but I just didn't really think they'd actually go through with it lol. It's a little hard to visualise with the long gaps between ep releases but technically Round 7, Weige, Arise and Walk, The True Face and Karma, happen in like a span of a few minutes. So yeah, Till could have plausibly been alive this whole time but they dropped so many hints (e.g. the whole xylophone heartbeat thing) that made it seem like he was dead for good.

Definitely threw me for a loop.

Believe it or not my general opinion on Karma and the alnst storyline is still loading like 90s internet (like seriously I don't know what to feel), but for now I'd say I'm pretty neutral about the ending at least from a storytelling perspective.

Not great, not awful, just kinda eh.

I'd say I'm glad on a whole that Till is alive (cause that means Ivan didn't die for nothing) but Till surviving definitely blindsided half the fandom. Don't get me wrong, I have zero complaints for Karma/Alnst in terms of visuals and music, but plot wise I think the overall ending could definitely have been a whole lot more satisfying(?).

Everything just seems sorta loose for an actual ending if that makes any sense. I really didn't like the rebels side plot being swept under the rug for Mizi's revenge, Hyuna's death on a whole/how they handled her character, and Luka's ending been left up in the air. I am crossing my fingers for a Luka and/or Till comic to hopefully tie things together a little, but as of Karma a lot of things seem to be left a little too ambiguous for my liking (feels kinda like Vivinos and co. is purposely leaving some strings untied for more content/narrative ways out, but eh guess we'll see)

Honestly, I was kind hoping they'd all die in the end (that was kinda my take on the only possible 'happy' ending in this entire scenario lmao) but I don't really think that's what this story is about. Alnst is a story about love (requited, unrequited, twisted, messy, but ultimately human love), and on a whole I say it did a good job telling it. Pretty sure the ending was supposed to hurt (or at least be sorta bittersweet)

I could think of better endings, but I could also think of a whole lot of worse endings, so once again, for now it's really just a eh 5/10 sort of ending for me.

[loreic]

HAVE YOU SEEN THE TEASER FOR KARMA????

Oh my God, I'm scared (mainly for my baby Luka, for Sua and for the fact that this is the last chapter).

I WATCHED IT 5 TIMES

And all I can say is we are probably COOKED 😭

LIKE WHO ARE YOU POINTING THAT GUN AT MIZI????