Begins Youth (2024)

Hopeful Bond Against the Dark Odds

“It bothers me when one out of every seven of us is missing. I don’t know why, but I just don’t like it. I hope we can be all together. When we are all together, I don’t even think about wanting to die.”

This drama is an adaptation of BU and I'm glad it's really good. Despite some changes, they did an excellent job on the build up between the characters and their relationships, along with the actors' portrayal and chemistry. From the awkward first meetings to building trust with each other and getting closer together. I love watching their friendship and brotherhood despite their different backgrounds and problems. They unite to become each others' ray of light amidst the struggles they faced during the darkness of their separate lives. This drama is so heartwarming with the precious found family trope. But at the same time, the dark themes about their childhood traumas and family secrets are so emotional and intriguing.

This drama is so meaningful and deep while tackling various social issues about dysfunctional family, mental illness, discrimination, poverty, politics, education and more. The mystery regarding the past of their parents and connection to the principal shows how generational trauma starts and their children bearing the pain of their mistakes. Innocent teenagers are forced to suffer due to the evil adults that comes from each of their different environments. This drama is a reflection of reality that conveys important messages while providing consolation and angst to the youth who are beginning to face the world.

From the original BU storyline, this drama acts like a prequel that introduces the 7 protagonists while adding more details about their backgrounds and families. Eventually, this drama left with an open ending where the fantasy aspect of time travel only begins at the end. Hwan, the oldest of the group, carries the weight of responsibilities and guilt, so he goes back in time to save all his friends and prevent them from their tragic fates. He sacrifices himself while being stuck in time loops. This leads to suspicions and demands for Season 2. There's no official confirmation yet, but I hope they really make it happen so the boys' stories can continue.

Read More

BOY ISSUES JUST GOT BIG

TO ALL THE BOYS

Boys don't cry, boys aren't emotional, boys are supposed to be strong, But what's the most beautiful moment of my life.

Seven beautiful boys from Seven different families living in Seven different worlds and trying to navigate the complexities of teenage hood, growing up, I'll be honest until now I'd never thought that Boy issues could get as big as Girls make theirs seem.

This is a bumpy and perfectly toxic friendship if you could sum it up and there'll most probably never be another show that beats this drama at that.

The bromance is swoon worthy, every bit of it tastes no different from hot chocolate on a cold night. We've seen kids dealing with serious issues in EXTRACURRICULAR, WEAK HERO CLASS, THAT MOMENT AT EIGHTEEN, SCHOOL 2013 and AT A DISTANCE SPRING IS GREEN but perhaps none of those shows could hit deeper and more real than BEGINS YOUTH.

This is a show for the heavy hearted especially because it deals with primarily broken characters that are trying to heal. All relationships come pretty intense and vibrant and yet the characters seem very fragile but persistent when enduring everything. Besides, It is commendable enough that most of this series speaks to people who have gone through some of the worst extremes in life.

No show made me smile and cry just as much eventually especially when dealing with overbearing parents, rigid societies and corrupted institutions because you would be surprised that high school life could become a physical and psychological living hell where we are all trying to survive.

Read More

It's a good story, and it kept me entertained but...

... if you expect it to be like the BU, you'll be disappointed. I was very disappointed, I love the BU, and I've read and watched everything that is available, so I've been very excited about this series for years now... unfortunately, the series do not follow the original story. They take things from here and there, but they change a lot of things and skip/add things. Some things they add felt unnecessary.

I was very disappointed by Kim Jooan's (Taehyung) and his father's relationship, and the relationship they had.
But I was very satisfied with both Park Haru (Jimin) and Jeon Jeha's (Jungkook's) families and those story lines. I was on the other hand disappointed by the reason Cein was expelled, in the original BU, he ended up in trouble to protect Jeha (Jungkook), but they went a different route in this series.

I also felt like it was rushed, and the way the boys bonded felt equally as rushed, as if they bonded just because they had to for the sake of the plot. I never got that impression from the BU. The only ones I felt had somewhat of a chance to bond were Dogeon and Jooan (Namjoon & Taehyung), and Hwan and Cein (Jin & Yoongi). I loved those scenes with Dogeon and Jooan in Episode 1 and the scene with Hwan and Cein in Episode 2.

Episode 1 and 2 were both great episodes, because they focused a lot on the boys friendship, and I feel like we needed more of that before we introduced all the boys' struggles. Right now I feel like they more often faught than actually had fun together.

About Haru and Hosu (Jimin and Hoseok), the way they went with convincing the audience they are great friends was "all tell not show". They kept telling the audience what great friends they are instead of really showing us, because most of the time Haru tried to avoid Hosu.

So was the series bad? No, not at all, I did enjoy it if I tried to not compare it with the BU. But was it great? No, it wasn't great either. We need more happy scenes with them actually having fun together... we espeically need Hwan (Jin) to have more fun with the boys. I know they tried to convince the audience that Hwan cared about the others but I ended up wondering why he cared so much.
And the way they include the timeloop's twist so late, it made things yet again feel so rushed.

And there wasn't a satisfying ending, so we'll have to keep our fingers crossed for a season 2.

I would recommend it, it's worth watching, the actors really helped making the experience better, they are great! But nothing I would rewatch myself.

Read More

The cast the script the actors acting on point everything is so good and so perfect I wish they could've telecasted it on viu or viki am damn sure the rating would've touched milestones. All of them were so sooo Good.
Even though it wasn't released on a good platform still ARMY's did their job of promoting it on every platform. And what else does one need we were satisfied with their acting the story the directions and production.
Am gonna miss this drama.
It also made me miss the boys more as all of them are serving in military now
Loved it a lot.
APOBANGPO?

Read More

Quite a bit different from HYYH, but entertaining for the most part

These opinions are all my own and, as always, super glad others seemed to really love this take on HYYH. I personally didn’t, but not everything is going to be my cup of tea. Namjoon's story was my favorite in HYYH.

To start, Dogeon is an entirely different character from HYYH’s Namjoon. Dogeon's vibe was a lot more clean cut and he was was more of a rule follower than HYYH Namjoon. The iconic scenes from the Notes/MVs where he and Tae run away from the cops after getting caught spray painting seems like something Dogeon would never do. Most of the big events from his story don’t happen in this drama and he’s not given a ton of story on his own.

In order of who got the most story:
Haru, Jeha, Cein, Jooan, Hwan, Hosu, Dogeon comes in last.

Most of Dogeon and Hosu’s stories involve supporting other characters, but Hosu at least got the story with his narcolepsy and his mother abandoning him.

Namjoon’s closest relationship (and the most interesting one to me) was his relationship with Tae in the OG story. There’s more of a supportive relationship set up here with Jooan and Haru instead. Dogeon and Jooan’s story was colored negatively by the only scene in which Dogeon lets out his emotions and talks about hating that no one comforts him… is followed by him apologizing for “unloading” and Jooan abandoning him. End result: he still has no support system. That was perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of his entire story. Dogeon is a character that exists to serve literally everyone else.

Every time it seemed we were finally giving him focus, it cut away to another character’s story without giving depth to his. His time in the hospital, the start of episode 12 before it cut to Jooan, and we don’t even get his personal thoughts in the aftermath of nearly being killed?? What was the nosebleed storyline? It was just dropped completely. Did the delivery boy story from the Notes happen here? Who knows?

The writers didn’t seem to be interested in Dogeon which made this drama less enjoyable overall for me, but I’m glad fans of other characters enjoyed it.

My general thoughts on everything else: it's entertaining for the most part. The episodes are long and you can feel it. I did enjoy the group scenes where they're all together, Cein's birthday party was my favorite group scene. Some of the acting in a few scenes was a bit cringy and choppy, but I don’t think that was the actors’ faults. I think the director should’ve made some different choices.

The best performances in my opinion were Hwan and Jooan’s. I thought those actors did a great job in their portrayals. Surprisingly, the relationships I found the most interesting (for however much we got to see of them) were Hwan & Dogeon and Hosu & Dogeon. I don’t remember any real interactions between Hosu and Dogeon (Hobi and Namjoon) in the OG story, so that was a pleasant surprise. Hwan and Dogeon were great together and I wished we got a lot more of that.

For Dogeon’s sake, I hope there’s another season because I really think he got the short end of the stick story wise. It seems like they were clearly setting up for another season and I read they supposedly filmed 24 episodes. It’d be nice if they could give Dogeon more, but I’ll always have the OG story that I enjoyed.

I’m glad others enjoyed this a lot more than I did.

Read More

Started with a cliffhanger ends with cliffhanger

I really salute BTS and bang pd nim for coming up with such an amazing story how the hell did bighit planned this even before BTS did not debut . Damn I am amazed .

Bighit released three parts webtoon game and kdrama . Kdrama contains what actually happened in the past and how everything started . Webtoon offers what happens after that the beginning of time travel and game gave the same thing as webtoon but more in detail . We never really got the actual ending I hope there can be a season 2 where we can see what actually happend after that . Cmon bighit it has been 10 years when will you give us the ending . If this kdrama would be on Netflix or viki this would be the most streamed kdrama of all time and more chances of season 2 cmon BTS come back fast and give us the ending I have waited so long how more I have to wait.

Those who don't know anything start with webtoon then watch kdrama then you can watch BTS mv and trailers for more details and you can also read notes it's available on Wattpad .

Read More

sadness and happiness at the same time

honestly as much as I love this series, I hate it so much at the same time.
the actors did such a great job. so realistically played. but why do I hate the series at the same time, not every series, but because some child goes through the same thing and no one does anything. we have a display whether you are rich, middle class or poor, no one is happy, everyone is suffering, and when you look at it, everyone is equal, there is no difference. and no matter how much everyone suffered, they found themselves with a different character of thinking, sharing sadness and laughter. and when they are together, for a moment everything is normal. I don't know how the series will end, but I sincerely hope that everyone will find their way. I think we can learn a lesson from this series

Read More

"Goodbyes are not forever, are not the end; it simply means I’ll miss you until we meet again."

This drama is a one-of-a-kind experience that truly stands out. The actors gave phenomenal performances by portraying the characters and capturing the mannerisms of the BTS members with remarkable accuracy. Their dedication and attention to detail made the characters come alive, adding depth and authenticity to the story.

Although it spans only 12 episodes, some viewers might find the plot occasionally draggy. However, for those who appreciate slow-paced dramas, this could be a positive thing. Personally, I found the pacing enjoyable, as it allowed for a more thorough exploration of the storyline. Plus, I had a personal attachment to the storyline (it reminded me of the old times when I used to draw flow charts trying to solve the BU mystery ?).

One of the best things about this drama is how it sticks to the original storyline, which fans like me will definitely appreciate. The flawed characters blend harmoniously, crafting a drama that feels genuine and raw. It's what makes this drama feel so... authentic, you know? Perfectly imperfect, just like life itself.

Read More