YMMV / Lobos de mar

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: The mayor is a (intentionally) completely unlikable character, but he certainly didn't deserve to be shot down by Cuchillo, especially since she did in on the assumption that he was the one behind Anguila's death.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Did Ramos kill La Vieja because of disgust, like he claimed? Or because he wanted to provoke Tony into killing him?
• Awesome Music: The opening theme.
• Broken Base: Ramos's reveal as the killer is either the best plot twist of the series or an Ass Pull.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Watching Leonardo—who is clearly emotionally abusive to Mariana—get slapped by her is worth watching more than once.
  • Let's be honest, we were all so overjoyed when Ramos was beaten to death by Tony and Leonardo. Bonus points for one of his killers being the man whom he was obsessed with.
  • Ayme's death. A lot of the fans felt like her petty, reckless behavior finally and deservedly bit her in the ass.
• Creator's Pet: Tony quickly fell into this role, gaining more and more prominence within the show, to the point that he was practically the main character, getting away with more and more heinous actions which are condoned within the narrative, constantly fawned over by other characters and never shown to be in the wrong. He even got his own spinoff show.
• Designated Hero: Leonardo has cheated on his girlfriend repeatedly with Charo and Estela, tried to blackmail a priest, feels no remorse for all the deaths caused by the killer and is only worried about how it will affect the enterprise, treats everyone around him like crap, and is genuinely just an awful person. He's so awful throughout the series, it makes it quite difficult to sympathize with him and instead easier to root for Ramos when he kills his girlfriend and his lovers, and loses his chance to build the resort, seeing it more as him getting his just desserts.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Zacarias and Anguila receive a lot of love from the fandom for being understanding, kind and one of the last sources of comic relief in an increasingly grim series. People were heartbroken when the former lost his sanity and the latter died.
• He Really Can Act: Carlos Alcantara as Leonardo, averting his usual comedic type-casting as an elitist corporate executive.
• Ho Yay:
  • Considerably a lot between Huevera and Pepe. They even become an Official Couple by the end of the series.
  • Ramos's fixation on Leonardo is hinted at being homoerotic for some time before it's essentially confirmed in Episode 40.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many fans of La Gran Sangre watched it just to see Tony Blades in action.
• Nausea Fuel: Most of the killer's victims are pretty sickening to look at, but Estela's corpse decorated with rotting fish and Madam Flora being hacked to pieces can make more squeamish viewers retch.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Was there really any doubt? Ramos revealing himself to be the Creepy Crossdresser that has been terrorizing the port and showing his true psychotic self is chilling.
  • Zacarias' mental breakdown in Episode 39. We're treated to a lovely scene of a delirious Zacarias with bloodshot eyes, taking off his clothes, muttering nonsensically to himself and attacking anyone who comes near him. The last we see of him is running through the mountains naked, laughing and crying maniacally, with his son and surrogate son dead, his wife gone and his sanity in pieces. Eeek.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Fans of Al fondo hay sitio will recognize Felix as the police officer.
  • Also Duque from Mi amor el wachimán as Joaquin.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Most especially towards the end. It's difficult to support which sides (the rich businessmen or the poor fishermen) after they have demonstrated that they've crossed many lines. Despite that the poor "won" and got their port back, they still lost their loved ones. Pretty much, Tony asked himself whether they won or lost. It's even worse that the boss of the rich got away with only a bruised self conviction. Also, nearly everyone dies, and mostly in very gory and meaningless ways that serve little purpose other than shock value.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • When the fishermen refuse to let their beloved port turned into a resort, we're supposed to root for being underprivileged outcasts struggling to not lost their only source of income and for the rich looking down on them. But it's hard to grant them any sympathy when they refuse to compromise. Especially Minaya, who treats Estela like crap just for doing her job.
  • La Vieja, when she disowns Tony after finding out how he was working for Leonardo. Especially since he was trying to solve the murder case and Leonardo was clearly the one who put him in this mess.
• Vindicated by History: A box office disappointment when it was released, it was savaged by critics, and nearly sank Aldo Miyashiro's career. Nowadays it's remembered as a Cult Classic and a worthy prequel to La Gran Sangre.
• The Woobie:
  • Estela spends her entire screen time pushed around by others, is mistreated by the fishermen just for doing her job, and is then murdered by Ramos out of petty jealousy.
  • Anguila is treated as an outcast due to his mental illness. And when he tries to tell everyone the truth of Estela's murder, nobody believes him. He ends up kidnapped, tied up and murdered, all in front of his beloved Parental Substitute.
  • Laura is a loving girlfriend to Tony, who just sees her as another conquest and only gets involved with her due to getting her pregnant. She dumps her Nice Guy ex-boyfriend to marry Tony, who keeps cheating on her. Fortunately La Gran Sangre implies she had enough and finally left him.
  • Charo is caught in a Love Triangle between her, Mariana and Leonardo. Not only Leonardo treats her badly, he makes clearly several times that he loves Mariana more. She's also accused of being the killer by multiple characters, including her boyfriend, whose lack of trust clearly hurts her. For her troubles, she is blackmailed, forced to return to Pucusana, drugged and then has her throat cut by Ramos.
  • Mariana isn't treated any better by Leonardo either. And when she finally finds solace in Ivan, she's forced to break up with him due to Leonardo's machinations. Having enough, she decides to become more assertive....with results in her getting shot, alienating Leonardo and Ivan and killed by Ramos shortly after.
  • Ivan is the Token Good Teammate of the fishermen. He and Mariana are attracted to each other, only for her cheating fiance to get in the way, to the point of forcing them to break up. Then she's murdered by the killer and Ivan finds no consolation from his fellow fishermen. Is it any wonder he leaves the port and commits suicide?
  • La Vieja, who appears to be an understanding Cool Old Lady, is targeted and killed by Ramos simply to mess with Tony.