Well, everything worked just fine.
Story: It is a lighthearted drama about love, friendship, youth and a little bit of sports set in a university. I love that the female lead is not your usual damsel in distress character. She's strong, positive, funny, and stands for herself and her loved ones. I also love the friendship between her and her two best friends. The side romances and family stories added a little spice and sweetness to the drama. And of course, the leads' romance is our #relationshipgoals.
There are some dull moment yes, but it's so little you end up not noticing them.
Acting/Cast: This is my second favorite performance of Nam Joo Hyuk (next to his role as Baek Ah in Scarlet Heart Ryeo), who played as a free spirited swimmer Joon Jun Hyung. He is perfect for the part. Damn, where can we find this kind of man in real life? Tell me. Meanwhile, while I commend Lee Sung Kyung for giving most effort to play the role of a weightlifter, she seems to be lacking on "being" the weightlifter. But her awkward facial gestures and walk kind of grew on me.
I'm actually excited for Sun-Ok and Tae-Kwon's romance. But this has only got 16 episodes. (Poor Nan-Hee ???)
Overall:
I recommend it to those people who wanted a break from stressful melodramas or historical dramas. Also, for those people who are fans of youthful dramas.
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This review may contain spoilers
COMFORT KDRAMA!!
Oh goddd where do i begin with this one?I finished this kdrama a long time ago, maybe in 2020 and i’m rewatching it with a friend of mine right now. It’s one of the most comforting, feel good, a slice of life kdramas. I really recommend it! Of course it’s not going to be everyones cup of tea but this was such a silly and cute show, every character was likeable (except for the ex until the end) and well built and had good chemistry with each other. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend for anyone who enjoys silly kdramas like this to watch it!!
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To be perfectly honest, this drama's poster and title didn't appeal to me AT ALL. I mean, Weightlifting? I'm not into sports and I didn't think I'd enjoy a drama about weightlifting. But boy was I wrong. I was so wrong.
Thanks to a friend who kept on nagging me to watch this, I got to experience a drama that managed to pull on EVERY SINGLE ONE of my heartstrings and filled EVERY cell in my body with so much love, joy and positivity that is so overwhelming and still makes me want cry whenever I watch video clips of the drama--- days after finishing it.
This drama is incredibly beautiful in every sense of the word. It's too beautiful for words even.
And if you're reading this review because you need someone to convince you that it is worth your time, I suggest that you stop hesitating and just jump right in. Don't overthink. Just hit that play button and see for yourself why everyone is raving about it. Who knows? WFKBJ might just surprise you, grow on you and maybe even blow your mind.
Watch this drama with an open heart and an open mind. Don't expect anything. Just watch it and enjoy the ride. This is what happened to me and thank God I did it because WFKBJ inspired me so much that it changed the way I see the world and the way I live my life.
So go ahead and give it a shot. I have a feeling you'll LOVE it -- or perhaps even fall MADLY IN LOVE with it. ;)
P.S.
This is my first review. I don't write reviews because I'm lazy but I couldn't resist the urge to do so because this drama is too beautiful not to share. I hope this review would help convince you to watch and experience this masterpiece. :)
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Vastly Overrated
I had high hopes for this show after seeing the high ratings, but I was sorely disappointed.First 3 episodes and subsequent scenes with the 3 girlfriends were ridiculous, acting like 13 yr old middle high schoolers.
Lee Sung-kyung (FL) is a good comedic actress, and this show and Cheese in the Trap displayed her good comedic skill. She portrayed something completely different here than in her more serious roles in Dr. Romantic 2. She should really focus on roles that depict her actual age rather than teenage/early 20 roles. As an added note, she cried in almost every episode of this series, just like she did in Dr. Romantic 2 - it got tiring and didn't make me empathetic towards her.
Who I found especially irritating was Cho Hye-jung who played the chubby childish friend of the FL. This was the same type of role she played in Cinderella and the Four Knights. I guess she found her niche in acting by sticking to that type of character. The actress that played FL's other friend was also typecast. She played the same tough tomboy role with an attitude as she did in Itaewon Class. Both of these two friends were also on the weightlifting team but the only things I've seen them lift were hamburgers!
Also, ML's gymnast ex-girlfriend looked 10 yrs older than ML.
Nam Joo-hyuk, who played the ML, normally displays great acting skills as shown in Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (filmed the same year as this series), Start-Up, and Twenty-five Twenty-one. Too bad he didn't get to show his range of acting in this show until Episode 15 when his actual birth mother appears.
Around Episode 8, the show got boring. Every scene seemed to be unnecessarily dragged out. Starting with Episode 11, I hit the fast-forward button many times and discovered that I hadn't missed any significant parts of the series. The worst and irrational storyline was the coach embezzling 3M won from the team's operating budget to pay off one of the student's assault charges - such a ridiculous storyline as well as FL's subsequent crying frenzy that lasted way too long. Since the coach was so well-liked, the team and the professor pleaded with the school administration to reinstate her, went on a hunger strike, and FL even left the team for a brief time because she was upset. So the administration reinstated the coach but suspended her for three months with no repayment requirement. Seriously??? Someone who embezzled the team's funds deserves to be reinstated??? In the real world, she would have been charged and put in prison! This show should have been placed in the fantasy genre.
As mentioned earlier, I am disappointed in this show and will not rewatch it.
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Male: Handsome, Proactive, Supportive, A tease, Tall, Sweet, A listener, Values family, A swimmer
Female: Strong, Tall, Pretty, Charming, Values family and friends, Vibrant attitude, straight shooter, Weightlifter
Story: Friends to couple, first love, college life, sports life, family and strong friendships
Bokjoo and Joon hyung seriously the sweetest couple in K history. It is very refreshing when a guy is proactive, means what he says and acts on it when he realises his feelings. What worked to make this drama awesome is the amazingly natural chemistry of our leads who are comfortable and playful on and off screen. Couple that with the writer whose previous works includes Oh my ghost, you know its a winner. The charm of this drama is that its not heavy but its not your usual fluff. It has winsome characters, and male female leads you come to love and a sweet journey watching this two support each other through the challenges they faced in school or at home and fall in love. The drama doesnt dwell too long on one issue and never draggy. It highlights the wonderful time in college with the first blooms of love and the amazing girlfriends we have.
Ive never more convinced of two people more suited for each other, as jeon joon hyung and kim bok joo complements each other. Long after this show ends i will always remember our bokjoo and joonhyung.
Watch and you will know what i mean. This underdog show captured my heart in surprise. It has so much heart warming scenes not just the romance but also father-daughter and mother-son relationship. Really a gem
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All the characters were perfect for this drama and while the acting was not something absolutely extraordinary, the performances from the entire cast reeled you in and before long you start wishing everyone has their happy ending.
I especially appreciated that there were no negative characters in this drama. They were all perfectly human and you can understand the hidden reasoning behind each of their actions.
The humor is another thing I appreciated a lot. I can't remember the last time I burst out laughing, tears in my eyes, in the middle of the night while watching a show. Any show. While I am easily amused in real life, I've found that making REAL humor on television is one of the most difficult things to achieve. So I don't always laugh at supposed humorous moments in dramas / tv shows / movies because I don't find them that funny. But the humor in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo is so natural, SO real life centered that you can't keep a straight face. I LOVED that about this drama!
Overall Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo is an excellent mood booster. Having watched it after finishing a very heavy drama it healed my heart completely. I fully recommend it to anyone looking for a love story that develops so natural you can't even tell when it happened (at least for one of the main characters). It's not the type of story I felt swoon-y over, but rather one that made me realize they would be together a LONG time if it happened in real life. That's how real, deep rooted it felt.
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It was actually amazing!!!
I am an avid romance anime and drama consumer and I didn't want to watch it in the beginning because I had heard that it is good. I haven't watched that much dramas so I didn't want my expectations to be too high for other dramas after this one. But I didn't have anything to watch so I just caved in and started watching it. I finished it in like 35 hours. It was everything I had ever wanted, but I am not gonna lie, when I rewatch it (because I will) I will be rewatching the last second half of the show aka the last 8 episodes. I just didn't like the whole thing with Jae Yi and Bok Joo. I get that it was very important, but it wasn't my favourite thing in the show. Also in my opinion the last episodes had a better flow and were just adorable.Was this review helpful to you?
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You have TOTALLY got to watch this!
This show will make you laugh out loud and make you cry. The characters are wonderfully written and portrayed by the actors. The romance was just lovely - he liked her first (I love when that happens!) and their relationship developed from friendship. This was a realistic portrayal of a developing relationship. They talked to each other, spent time together, etc. His romantic gestures were in the way he took care of her. He is the kind of boyfriend every girl dreams of, just wonderful in every way. I also loved the stories of the friendships between Bok Joo and the fatties, between the male lead and his friend and the development of the relationships between the two groups. Even the obligatory evil ex-girlfriend was well fleshed-out and you really understood why she behaved the way she did.I was impressed by Lee Sung Kyung as Kim Bok-Joo. She portrayed the character in a way that, even though she physically didn't change much from the beginning of the show to the end, as you watched her she became so much more attractive. That to me showed that our actions help determine how attractive we are. She was a stalwart friend and how she behaved with her friends, and ultimately Jung Joon, was always supportive and positive.
The biggest surprise for me in this show was Nam Joo Hyuk as Jung Joon. I have seen him in supporting roles in a couple of things and was questioning his ability to tackle a leading role. I needn't have worried. He brought such heart to the role of Jung Joon. At the beginning he seemed like he was very immature and heading toward being a bully toward Kim Bok-Joo. He was able to walk that razor-thin line between meanness and playfulness successfully. He was strong, but when he showed his sadness and vulnerability it just about gutted me!
Wonderful ending. And cameos by Ji Soo and Lee Jong Suk were a bonus.
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Swag!
I can definitely see where the negative reviews are coming from, and would definitely check them out before starting this drama, as I'd say to enjoy this drama you have to at least be okay with a bit of cringe and sappiness. However, the way this drama handled that really appealed to me and so I'd say it's going down as one of my favourites!I loved the main actors (I loved most of the actors tbh, but especially the leads) so much and IMO their chemistry was what lead the show and kept me so hooked - right until the credits, which is something I'm not used to. I have some minor gripes of course (I have yet to find what I would consider a perfect drama), but I'd rather focus on the positives as I think many reviews on here have already tackled the negatives.
I LOVED the fact that there was no "glo-up" sequence. I was afraid that the whole weight loss clinic storyline would be used as a plot device to make her become within society's standards of what's "healthy" and "beautiful", but I'm pleased to say the FL kept her quirkiness throughout. Her passion for weight-lifting wasn't something she was made to feel ashamed of or something she felt like she had to drop in order to become more "girly". The ML, her friends and her family all supported her wholeheartedly and helped her see herself as a woman despite qualities some would perceive as manly, which I thought was a wonderful message to send to the young women watching. They also delved into MH issues, normalising counselling and getting help for your issues, which is something I rarely see done in dramas (cough cough IOTNBO).
I don't have much to say about the OST, as nothing really stood out to me, but I'm at least glad it wasn't used like it is in other dramas to the extent that I begin to hate a particular song. I dread to give any drama much more than a rating of 9, particularly such a light-hearted romcom, but I still consider this one of my favourites and recommend you watch it if that is indeed your thing.
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