It's A Bittersweet Ending For Hwayugi (Warning: Spoilers)

I just finished Hwayugi and I couldn't help but still bring up Gu Family Book (because of actor Lee Seung Gi) every now and then -- where same actor plays a supernatural being. In Gu Family Book, he's a Nagare Bouma. In this one, he's Sun Oh Gong as a human where he doesn't reveal any monster form.

I think about the price for victory and everything. Sun Oh Gong has lost his memories and he tries to regain it. While Ma Wang was a hammy and silly villain for the first few episodes but he ends up redeeming himself all the more as an anti-hero. He actually wants to help Oh Gong and he tasks little children to help the same person. Ma Wang getting rid of Lucifer Entertainment was just a step to his redemption from darkness to light since he did some pretty questionable things himself.

Karma is served. I thought this was so satisfying to see a corrupt businessman get what was coming for him. Kang Dae Sung who has had so many corrupt business practices gets betrayed by his own followers. Not only is he gagged and thrown into the priestess' coffin but he's also to be drowned in the middle of the ocean. That should serve him right for his bloody acts which he's also responsible for Buja's death AND Sun Mi's death. I wish we saw him drown though considering that we've seen some scenes of blood and Sun Mi's death was very brutal. He freaking stabbed Sun Mi with a sword because she got in the way of his desire for absolute power! So why can't we see him die horribly? Okay, I'm getting disgusting now, aren't I? I even wished Sun Oh Gong finished him considering this guy may be considered a Complete Monster by his actions.

This scene left me in tears. Buja and PK realize that they have feelings for each other but it's too late. Buja has been decaying to death since her preservation was linked to Sun Mi's life. Now she's smelling like rotting flesh. I really felt this was something of an expected tragic ending. She's only someone who's death was delayed. PK grants her final wish. There's no way to return her as a fully live human. It's almost like the two Hongs (Hong Jung-Eun and Hong Mi Ran) who act as the screen writers are getting lessons from Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi in writing this finale.

For most part, I still think about the whole "Well demons and humans can  never have happy ending scene" scenarios from Eastern mythos with this one. I could remember how Kang Chi's romance with Yoo Wol ended badly in Gu Family Book. Sun Mi is allowed to interact with Oh Gong for a day and restores his memories -- but only for one day. This would probably have more cycles of reincarnation or what? I even want to think of this as a more tragic version of Timeranger's ending with Tatsuya and Yuuri. I mean, Yuuri was separated by time itself but she didn't die. Here, Sun Mi returns to the afterlife which makes it somewhat sadder. 

If I'm to talk -- is it me or am I getting too sick and tired of the women dying? I thought about how sometimes that it's a refreshing tragedy (call me sick if you want to) if we see the man dying instead of the woman. IMO, I thought that Sun Oh Gong should have been the one to die to redeem himself. I thought Sun Mi should have lived and be allowed to have a bright future ahead of her. But no, she has to continue walking the path of tragedy. I just feel like I wish that Sun Oh Gong will successfully bring Sun Mi back from the Underworld. Though such actions could release villains jailed in there such as a certain fallen Elder God. In some stories, Sun Wukong's actions in the Underworld inadvertently released the fallen elder god known as Tong Tian Jiao Zhu. 

The ending still feels like how Inoue and Kobayashi tend to do the, "That's it! I'm out! Deal with my ending!" scenario in some way. It almost reminds me of a whole year time jump from Kamen Rider Agito (which was jarring) or the whole karma is a bitch trope (such as how Kobayashi and Inoue handled the deaths of Captain Ryuya Asami and Masato Kusaka) with Dae Sung's death. The ending just feels like trying to wrap more minor details than a grand finale which reminds me of the way Kamen Rider Kuuga ended.

With that in mind, I wonder will we get a second season or not? At this point, I think 20 one hour episodes may not be enough. Heck, I even wish that Kang Chi had a second and final season too. I wanted to try and develop an awkward relationship between Kang Chi and the reincarnated Dam Yoo Wol (though in my head canon -- she reincarnated into Hiroyo Hakase from Akibaranger even if Suzy Bae and Maaya Uchida are two different persons)... which we may not even get.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get some things done on what I want to watch. But I feel like I want to watch some Chinese drama which I haven't watched for some time.