OHMYGOD @anonybean I have goosebumps all over my arms and my scalp is tingling and THIS IS SO GOOD. The subject matter (OHMYGOD GAKSITAL) and how you wrote it IT'S JUST SO PERFECT and my goosebumps aren't going down so I'll just re-read this again AND AGAIN until the old scars of this doomed friendship are as fresh as when they were incurred almost six years ago.

Ah, this is the friendship/enemyship that always gets me, too! I'm so glad you wrote about it. You articulated it well. It's a show that I haven't even been able to watch again cause it hit me so hard the first time!

It says a lot that the final climactic scene was between these two--from the beginning they were always the central focus. The bland romance was thrown in for convenience and plot points. I've always viewed that final scene in the same way as you. I do think people have complex motivations, and it was partly that Shunji didn't want to live with himself anymore, but I also saw it as one last act of friendship, one moment of redemption. Really the only thing he could still offer Kang To. We were expecting some epic battle, but instead we got a quiet moment of real meaning. That one tear down Kang To's face said it all. He may have screamed for the death of his wife, but he would quietly weep for his lost friend for the rest of his life.

This really was about the creation of a hero and a villain, and how anyone can be transformed given the right or wrong circumstances. I loved that you could see how easily the two of them swapped places, and how easily it could have gone the other way. Had Shunji's brother not killed Kang To's brother, Kang To very well could have become the true villain and Shunji the hero.

That scene with them on the bike, where they just cling to each other and weep, when they both sense that this may be the last moment of true friendship between them--goes down as one of the greatest bromance moments of drama history. Such a beautifully tragic story!

Loveeeeee thank you for this. I just put Gaksital in my rewatch list. Huhuhu epic!!!

Looks like I have yet another k-drama I need to watch. Thanks for the gripping analysis

OMG yessss! I absolutely love this entry. I didn't dislike the romantic otp as much as the majority but gosh YES Shunji and Kangto stole the show. Man. I have never bawled my eyes out as much as I have with Gaksital.

As I was reading your entry I couldn't stop remembering one scene in particular. After Shunji (finally) catches Gaksital and confirms its Kangto. Gahhhhh that dungeon scene. Kangto explains how he became Gaksital etc etc but then he THANKS Shunji for catching him first. Such a powerful scene (matter of fact in the bts for that scene they had to redo it because Shunji/PKW actually cried and couldn't say his lines). I wholeheartedly agree with your argument that to the end they still loved each other as brothers and it literally broke them to be on opposite sides. Okay...now I blame you for making me want to rewatch. *grabs tissue box*

I want to read this but I plan on watching Gaksital so I can't read it because I'm assuming there's tons of spoilers 🙈
Congrats on getting published. 🙂

Thank you so much for writing this! This drama still remains deep inside my soul. In another world, they could have been the best of friends, which is why it was so much more tragic! 💔 While I knew things had gone too far for it to happen, I wanted the two to embrace as friends once again. That pain was real.

And thank you to Good Doctor for understanding our desires and giving us a reunion. 😂😂 Perhaps one of my favorite fanservice moments ever.

Oh wow! @anonybean - This is one of the best theme of the month posts I've read since this feature began. Gaksital. Is one of my absolute favorite TV series of all time. It's such an amazing show centred around possibly the most dynamic friendship I've seen in fiction.

Thanks for writing this. I agree with your analysis about Shunji's final act - it was one of love, and as well as one of exhaustion. Shunji no longer wanted to continue the fight, he could see clearly that the both of them were steadily losing everything precious to them. And for Shunji himself, he had lost everything but Kang To, whereas Kang To still had something to fight Shunji for. So what was Shunji fighting Kang To for anymore? Love, as well as exhaustion.

I want to go back and re-do my post haha. Add this friendship. I saw Gaksital so long ago I'd kind of forgotten about it. But now its back and I'm probably going to watch it again.

This drama left me so heartbroken! It was one of the first dramas I watched and I was so invested in all the relationships, especially the friendship between Kang To and Shunji. To turn from Best Friends to fierce enemies only because of outer circumstances is really the worst case scenario for a friendship. Joo Won and Park Ki Woong did such a great job in portraying their torn emotions, so it was impossible for me not to be invested in this friendship.
Thank you, @anonybean for writing such a great essay about Kang To and Shunji!

I love you're write up @anonybean, that ending line really describes everyone who ever like this show.

Welp, time to revisit it again.
*goes off to find my beloved kang-to and shunji vids*

i didn't get to watch even half of the first episode of this series and has been buried far too deep in my archive of must-see. with your round-up, i am again encouraged to look for it and watch it during drama downtime.

thank you.

I REALLY need to watch this show.

Great write-up @anonybean You just re-opened the wounds of my broken heart 💔

Like you, it never mended after watching this show. I was, and still is heartbroken for these two that to this day, I tend to stay away from watching dramas that may have a similarity of doomed friendship. Gaksital was just one of a kind, I have yet to come across another to top it.

I totally agree with you on Shunji's death. I too believe that he chose to kill himself rather than let his best friend be tainted with the act. But I believe Shunji himself thought that he was beyond redemption: like Kangto, he had done too much and gone too deep in his chosen path that you just know there was no going back. And his moment was him passing judgement on himself and as a last "righteous" act, chose to spare Kangto the pain of having killed his best friend

Oof, I'm tearing up just remembering this drama. I will never forget that scene on the bicycle when they were both crying 😢

This is EXACTLY it ! I think you made the perfect description of their relationship. I rewatched it again not so long ago, and I still felt torn apart by their story (though I knew it wasn't going to end well). Thank you for expressing so accurately what I felt when watching that drama ^^

👏 This is so well written. 🙌

This bromance frenemies was everything, comparing to the main loveline, lol. Thanks for writing, I really enjoyed reading it. 😊

Let's go down together, with this awesome ship. ⚓

" Even as these two were locked in a fake-friendship cold war, I couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that they didn’t have to pretend to still love one another. Underneath all the layers of torment and lies, despite fate having pitted them as enemies, these two still cared." Couldnt agree more with this!

And omgosh this post came our just when i was thinking of rewatching this drama. Definetly marathoning this one after easter break starts :D

I just finished watching this drama last week and omg bitter end is so right! I kept looking at Shunji as he became a monster and wondering how he could be so evil. I guess I still haven't fully processed the ending. To me it seemed to be just Kangto losing everyone he ever loved. It was tragic and I kept hoping for Shunji to show flashes of humanity but yes the last two episodes did deliver that but he was a broken hollow shell of a man by that point.

Had to laugh at your comment "while I never cared about his anemic loveline with his childhood sweetheart (who was everyone’s childhood sweetheart, apparently)" as it was so true. The romance wasn't very well written, especially the part where Mok-Dan goes from hating Kangto (justifiably) to being instantly in love with him once she discovers he's become Gaksital. Unfortunately, Mok-Dan wasn't a well developed character. While it appeared in the first episode that she might be a strong character as the show progressed she became weaker until she became solely a plot device.

YES. This is precisely why Gaksital is one of my very favorite K-Dramas. You are spot on about Shunji's death. I don't know that I would call it redemption, but I do think he chose it to spare Kang To having to kill him, thus demonstrating that he was more than raging, mustache-twirling supervillain. Thank you for writing this. I need to go re-watch Gaksital.

Yes! No fictional relationship ever sank its teeth into me like this one did. Thank you for writing, @anonybean!

I truly stayed for their friendship as well from the start i felt nothing of the romance between the leads and after a few eps i just started fast forwarding through their scenes cus it was pretty boring BUT THIS THIS FRIENDSHIP WAS BEAUTIFUL AND TRAGIC AND THE ENDING WAS SO RIGHT YET SO WRONG BUT IT FELT RIGHT AND I WAS CRYING SO MUCH another friendship i would like to point out would be ueno rie and her body guard that arc was just as precious

Have never watched this drama, but I have heard tons of good things about it. So maybe one day! Thank you for your post. 🙂🙋😀

I need to watch this now! The praise has me hyped.