When it was first released, man it was THE HOTTEST THING on TV. And it was positively addictive. I was a relative newbie to Korean dramas, so this drama meant the world to me and it was an obsession.
The main reason why one may be attracted to watch this at first is the fact that it rides on the goodwill from Meteor Garden and Hana Yori Dango. I'm not here to compare these adaptations though.
The show is full of scenes that seem hilarious and cheesy on hindsight, but on first watch I never seemed to notice them. I was probably blinded by my addiction. The story is also full of holes.
The only redeeming thing about the cast is the induction of Lee Min Ho into popular consciousness. He played his character well. Another consolation is getting to know Kim Bum the actor. Not his first project, but he became more well-known because of this show. Gu Hye Sun - what a disappointment. Kim So Eun did what she could with the material she had.
The soundtrack is positively in-your-face - you will never think of that silly Paradise song in the same way ever again. It appears in every darn scene possible, even those you never thought possible.
Having said all of that, why I put rewatch value at an 8: when I watch it now, it is so cringe-inducing and hilariously BAD. If you have seen it before and have seen top-quality dramas since (eg Gaksital, City Hunter, Best Love etc), I encourage you to watch it again, and enjoy the show, for TOTALLY DIFFERENT reasons from when you first watched it.
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This version was fair enough, it feels good to watch yet i still don't believe it's the best version out there.
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Story 8/10 : Why? Because its a remake of HYD, any lower score and I would be hurting one my favorite drama's pride. There isnt much to it, rich boy falls in love with poor girl, quirky adventures along the way, yeah, things of that matter.
Acting/Cast 3/10 : UGH! From the very second the girl lead began to speak, I hated her. They portrayed her as some annoying girl and I honestly didn't like that. And F4? Fine, Korean BoF has a little bit better eye candy than HYD, but their acting is just flat out boring. The only part they did well was showing that they were spoiled rich boys.
Music 5/10 - meh.
Rewatch 3/10 - No... just no. If you want to spend over 25 hours watching this drama, I suggest that you do something productive as a replacement of this drama.
Overall 4/10 - Normally, I give Korean dramas multiple episodes to draw me in, but I couldn't just bear myself to listen to the main leads whiny voice and sit there staring at LMH for a full hour. The order of viewing SHOULD be J version then K version. I gave BoF a chance because of my love for HYD but I can't taint my memory of something so wonderful with BoF.
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I think the actors did a good job with what they had, but I truly didn't like any of the characters. But I think every single drama cliche ever done was throw in and spat back out again, I cringed my way through a lot of the episodes.
I know tons of people disagree, and they are welcome to their opinions, but I just didn't like it.
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On a side note, even if it is not your first drama choice make sure you watch it. There are very few Asian Dramas that are as well known as BOF.
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This was one of my first Korean dramas I watched and it was veryyyy new and different to classic TV shows I watched. Four really good looking guys... and a girl. It is an interesting story line with lots of good scenes. However I do feel it drags a bit some places. It is also quiet back and forth, I like you, I don't like you etc. But it still kept me watching and interested right up til the ending.
Acting/Cast:
It has two of my favourite Korean people in it. Lee Min Ho and Kim Hyun Joong. Lee Min Ho was pretty good of an actor, I just didn't feel he had much chemistry with the female lead Koo Hye Sun... unfortunately. Kim Hyun Joong, although he is one of my favourite people... he can't act that well... and it is kinda funny watching him act. He is pretty much just some great eye candy for this drama, along with the other 3 members of F4. Back to the female lead... she was annoying... and reminded me of a child. If the female lead was different perhaps the drama would have been even greater. But I guess that is what the main female character is supposed to be like from the manga and anime. But they didn't annoy me as much as her in this drama.
Music:
This drama, no joke, probably has one of my most favourite OSTs. It is a very memorable one. It even has songs that have made it into my GRAND playlist. All the songs from the soundtrack are really great as they bring back memories from the drama, but not just memories, they also bring back feeeeelings from the drama. Songs that I really like from the soundtrack are: "Because I'm Stupid" by Kim Hyun Joong (Acoustic version), "Making a Lover" by SS501, "Stand by Me" by SHINee and "Lucky" by Ashily. I think what topped the drama for me was actually the music. If the soundtrack was lacking in anyway, I may not have even finished the drama.
Rewatch?
Yesss. Despite the annoying lead and sometimes annoying storyline, it is still a very catchy drama. I think it is the soundtrack that actually makes me go back and watch the drama over and over. Whenever I hear a song from the drama, I contemplate rewatching it. Of course I would skip slow parts and boring parts, but would still enjoy it almost as much as I did the first time watching it.
Overall:
It is one of the most watched Korean dramas. If you haven't seen it you are basically missing out on the drama that set standards in other Korean dramas. This could also be considered the first season of the "flower boy" dramas that are very popular for their pretty boys.
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Once by myself, and once with my mother to get her into K-Dramas (and to see if I liked it any better the 2nd time).
In all honesty, I don't see why people seem to love it so much. Personally, I think they love the good looking actors more than the actual drama.
Story - 7/10. Typical drama cliches all tossed into one drama. After watching "Hana Yori Dango" (which I watched after BoF), I have to wonder what happened. The story was so much better in HYD for me.
Acting/Cast - 8/10. Personally, I'm only giving it an 8 because of the eye candy actors. I wasn't really impressed with the acting at all.
Music - 6/10. There was honestly points where I'd have to mute it because they were replaying the same 2 songs over and over and over.
Rewatch Value - 5/10. As stated above, I think people rewatch it more for the actors than for the actual drama. If gorgeous people interest you more than an enjoyable story, then this is something you could rewatch ofte.
Overall - 6/10. Overall, the drama had some good points, and a lot of bad points. By the end, I was only watching for Kim Hyun Joong and all of the supporting characters.
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I don't know
I watched this drama when I was very young, and didn't realize how bad it was. The acting is great, don't get me wrong... but the relationships in this drama, are pretty toxic. Male lead was a complete a-hole and she suffered because of him, yet she chose him in the end? Ew. Her second option was just as bad though! If you're into toxic relationships and men who treat you like garbage, this drama is for you! :D Most older dramas are a little questionable at times though.Was this review helpful to you?
I can’t understand why is this a ‘cult classic’ ?
When I started watching KDramas, I was told this is a must watch, rite of passage for a Kdrama fan. Even today it’s immensely popular and leads to thousands of podcast listens for folks who talk about it and love to listen to about it . I’m honestly baffled because this drama is super problematic. The romance is toxic, the second lead was used by the female lead, the female lead has no self respect whatsoever and becomes a ping pong ball tossed over by the male lead, the male lead character - kidnaps the female lead, bullies her, causes kids to jump off school buildings owing to bullying, dumps the female lead without any reason, and has no guts to stand up to his own mother for his love, has to be helped by the only sane character in this drama - the second female lead. And we are supposed to root for these characters?The acting is meh and there is no story. I have watched enough Bollywood films to see this level of irrational melodrama.
It’s 2022 , can we stop recommending this drama as must watch to new Kdrama fans.
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Story:
The reason I like the story in the first place it was different from basic cindrella story. Jan-Di was a strong character who was the only one who can stand against bully Jun-pyo.
Why I didn't like it different from the other story lines, as the story goes by Jun-pyo gets more and more perfect whereas Jan-Di gets weaker and weaker. She becomes a girl who is crushed constantly. You may ask what happened to the girl in the beginnig and who is this annoying character. Towards the end of the story it got harder for me to put up with Jan-Di. Moreover I liked Yoon Ji Hoo better than Jun-pyo who is perfect all along and did more for Jan-Di.
In my opinion this is a good drama except for the annoying Jan-Di and a better side male character (which you may want him to win the girl instead of the main male character -watch playful kiss for this to happen-) but the other versions are better
Acting/Cast:
I like the acting. I think its good.
Music:
Music is good too. You can listen Kim Hyun Joong (Because I'm stupid) throughout the drama.
Rewatch Value:
There is no rewatch value except for the one or two episodes. I don't know how many times I watched Hana Yori Dango which is Japenese version of this drama and I would watch it again instead of this one.
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