Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror is an alternate title for King Gwanggaeto the Great, a historical drama based on the life of the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo, Gwanggaeto the Great. The drama was based on two sources, Gwanggaeto the Great by Jeong Jip, and Great Conquests of Gwanggaeto by Hyeong Minu.
The drama features the type of king that would befriend the cruelest of enemies and forgive the greatest of sins. The embodiment of a true anime protagonist! I have way too many problems with the narrative to begin counting, even when disregarding the historical accuracy aspect. Loyalty has no real weight, decades of loyalty would parish and turns into a betrayal over a small lie. The drama does a poor job bridging its narrative and filling the gaps between historical facts and a drama production storytelling. Speaking of production, I would classify it almost unwatchable from a production value standpoint. Extreme overreaction and intense movement with every move from every single male character. Borderline comical circus behavior and it's a poor portrayal of the times of wars from back then. The make up situation was rough too and you can see that from the first 10 minutes. I caught some warped mustaches not lined up with the lips and some of them weren't even sticking properly with visible tape around it. The cinematography consisted of approximately 70% of extreme face close up shots, if you aren't far enough from the screen it will cause nausea. In my opinion, the drama had its climax and highest moments around the middle parts while the rest were a boring follow up with the last 20 episodes being the worst of storytelling. The only impressive aspect of the drama was the male lead's ability to maintain a deep aggressive vocal register with every word he muttered. His throat must be destroyed! Speaking of which, he might be a great king who concurred everyone left and right but he constantly failed to protect his people.