Doona! (2023)

Doona What!!

First you can never hang the whole drama on the fact that you have an Idol. Bae Suzy acting did nothing to enhance the drama . Doona character smoked cigarettes well, did sexy well, had zero chemistry with the lead & displayed the angst of stardom. Other than that unless you are a Bae Suzy fan could have left it. I watched because of the way Vang Se Jong performed in the series. He was awesome & the supporting cast did a great job as well. The ending was anti climatic but I found that the most believable part of the series. It did show well the angst between Doona & Lee Won Joon mostly because of Vang Se Jong's acting ability. Bae Suzy was very pretty & extremely sexy & that to me is where her character began & ended

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Breakfast at Tiffanys's inspired k-drama

Doona is a slice of life drama with a very carefully built slightly melancholic ambience. Fantastic acting from Suzy and Yang Se Jong. This reminded me of Age of Youth, which I like a lot. Especially the second couple. Maybe it was somewhat difficult to relax bc from the beginning it was kinda clear there would be no happy ending. But all the time I when I was watching I was getting Breakfast at Tiffanys vibes. There were definitely similarities, but that just made me appreciate this drama more. Especially Yang Se Jong's character was very similar to Breakfast at Tiffany's male lead, outsider-ish, ordinary and rooted. Suzy's character was unconventional and slighly unbalanced like Audrey Hepburn in BaT. Also, both were tied to a man from their pasts. I really enjoyed this a lot and I think the writer and director created a very good, unconventional k-drama. I'd give a Daesang for Suzy for her role. I know more trashy and popular dramas will get the awards make the headlines, but I guess that's okay, since this was just right for me.

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Started off great but wth happened towards the end

This series started well with a lot of potential but I didn't know why I suddenly felt disappointed.

The casts are so cute together. It's not the best chemistry out there but there's definitely a chemistry among this group. The character development is a bit off putting though. During the first half, I kept being intrigued about Doona, who she is and why she ended up where she's at but then as her story unfolds, it didn't make sense at all.

Overall, there's 2 types of ending for me. 1) the ending that is so satisfying or mind boggling that I have to search more for it; 2) the ending that makes me go 'what the hell' and despite explanation, it still don't make sense. Unfortunately, this series falls on the latter.

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Hermoso y realista.

Excelente reparto.

Excelente interpretación de Suzy, realmente ves que su personaje se siente sola y vacía.

Sinceramente no me gustó esas partes donde se decian: dime si te gusto, dime si me amas, pideme perdon, creo que el mensaje principal del drama es el amor propio y al decir estas cosas se siente lo contrario, hacen ver que son dependientes de lo que la otra persona diga y sienta!

Buenos personajes secundarios, me gusta que no pongan a una tercer persona como la siempre odiosa que hace hasta lo impensable para separar y hacer la vida imposible a los personajes principales. Eso se agradece!

Buena trama, original. No es el típico drama romcom, te hace ver situaciones difíciles del dia a dia que sufren los idols, y las personas "comunes".

Me gustó el final, quedan bien pero no juntos, lo que lo hace muy realista, no todo se puede tener, así mismo lo dice Doona en una parte del drama.

Y los últimos 3 episodios se sienten muy apresurados, el drama es corto y hacen eso al final, queda raro y a la carrera!

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DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME !!

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Llaryz
a day ago
This is my take on the drama I’ve got a lot to say about it, just to be clear this is my own opinion and I understand everyone won’t agree and have different opinions especially since I know others have attempted to watch this drama and found it boring and sure I get it but for me I absolutely loved it. The cinematography was my kind of aesthetic and the songs were giving melancholy but it also gave the feeling of peace at the same time. Ever since the first episode I was hooked and I never found it boring in fact I found it intriguing. To me it felt so organic and real mainly because of the main character/s and their story. I’ve read on a reddit post someone said it felt more like a character study than a K-Drama and I agree. To me it felt so different from the K-Dramas I watch that it felt like a breath of fresh air apart from the several love interests introduced in the drama for the male lead and some cliches. The reason why I agree that this drama is more of a character study is because it mostly centres around Doona (of course it’s the name of the series) and who she is, it shows her past, her struggles, the problems she faces and how it has affected her negatively. However that’s not the main reason why I was so intrigued in the first place. I was interested because the drama tackles mental health issues and mentions the abuse Korean Idols go through within the industry, it shows awareness and it’s one of the reasons why the actress of Doona (played by Bae Suzy, I love her) picked up the role because she related to the character. Now aside from all that I enjoyed and deeply loved Doona and Won-Jun’s (Yang Se-Jong) love story, there was amazing chemistry between the main leads in my opinion and they did a fantastic job portraying their characters. I love their relationship dynamic in the show where they come from two different worlds, a soft hearted, innocent and serious boy in university meets a famous Korean idol who puts on a tough exterior but is actually broken and struggles with mental health. He fell for who she is and didn’t try to “fix” her, he was always there for her and became her safe place and she needed someone that just loved her for who she was. Whilst Doona fell for how genuinely good and sincere he was, he was different to the people she met in her life and Won-Jun needed someone who was bold and got him to loosen up, they were a perfect fit. For me this show really hit the spot and it’s definitely my favourite K-Drama in 2023, it’s definitely high on my list. Regardless of the ending which for me was a good ending and quite realistic, at first I wasn’t sure what to feel all I know is everyone should take it easy on idols, with media nowadays they aren’t given the freedom they deserve as human beings and aren’t even given the right to date the person they like without a camera in their face or being judged and hated for it.

Anyways I should probably stop I still have a lot to say but I’ll just say this, if you think this is your type of show to watch based on what I’ve mentioned then of course I highly recommend you to watch it but if it’s not, then don’t waste your time.

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Higher expectations for the conclusion of the story.

Doona" tells the story of a girl who was a K-pop idol but left the band due to health issues and started living in solitude. One day, a boy moved in next door to her in a building where the neighbors share a common yard. Living a solitary life, she often found herself in pain, and the boy would always help her. Gradually, she began to feel a sense of closeness toward him, and their love story began.I was eagerly anticipating a scene where he would stop her from smoking. The drama beautifully portrayed the internal struggle she felt about her feelings, which made her hesitant to open up to him. In one scene, she left him to be with another boy right in front of him, ignoring his calls and not returning for many days. His anger and frustration were understandable. Although they eventually reunited, the ending was ambiguous, leaving us to speculate that they were together and continuing with their lives. However, I had higher expectations for the conclusion of the story.

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Beautifully bittersweet "Summer Love" with stunning visuals

"Summer Love" that's what came to my mind while watching the relationship between Doo-na and Won Joon. They were from different worlds with different destinations who crossed each other's path momentarily by coincidence and created a lifetime of memories.
The drama's ending is sad by itself. But there's a real ending hidden in plain sight for the viewers to find. That's what made me give this drama a 10/10.

*Spoiler ahead*
It's mostly me nerding out about the ending ahead, so tread carefully if you still haven't watched the drama.
In the end we see Won Joon and Doo-na seemingly reconciling with each other but right after we see that they are going their separate ways, each to their own goals. From this it seems like that the final hug was a closure. But there are small clips at the beginning of each episode, right after the opening song where we can find the actual ending of the drama. The most important ones are in episode 1, 2, 6,7,8 and 9. It's a scene of both of them standing across each other at a rail crossing in japan (which can be confirmed by the Japanese letters in the signboards). In the clip of episode 9 the two of them can be seen standing in field of flowers with the mount Fuji behind them and they are slightly smiling at each other. In episode 2, 6 and 7 Won Joon is wearing the same outfit. In the clip in episode 8 and 9 he is wearing the same outfit he was wearing at the end of the drama. From this we can see that their meeting in Japan wasn't actually once but at least twice. But the final clue is actually in the video of the opening song where we can see Doo-na walking on a beach with Won Joon, wearing the same outfit she was wearing while standing in the rail crossing. And at the end of the video we can see them standing on the beach looking at the sunset wearing, you guessed it, the same outfit. From all this it leads us to a conclusion. They are still dating secretly. The drama ending makes us believe that they broke up. This represents them deceiving the people around them including us into believing that was the end. But the hidden clues all across the drama shows us their real situation. Because they can't openly date in Korea because of Doo-na's fame they continued their romance in japan, far from the prying eyes. Also the last big piece of clue is actually also in the opening music video. The whole friend group along with Won Joon's brother Kook Su jin playing around in the same beach. Which makes it clear that they are finally hanging out together again and Doo-na got the friends she always desired and she's not lonely anymore.

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Mixed feelings

Like many others, I wish there was a "happy" ending but then realistically, how many relationships nowadays we would consider a "happy" ending relationship?

This drama went to the realistic direction, which is... there's no fairytale in our distracted, high-tech, arrogant , spoiled-young adults WORLD...

How can we really picture a famous rising singer would settle with someone like him? I did enjoy the ending where the ML understood that there was no way he could be in "her" world no matter how much "she" said that "it's doable." It would be TOO exhausting for this couple to believe that they "can" make effort and FIT into each other worlds. Eventually, one of them would find ways to disrespect the other person using ANY kinds of excuses to be bitter toward the other person. The ML wanted to save the BEST memories he had with her and let go while things are not bitter and exhausting yet.

This short drama will show you how easy it is to start a relatioship even though the FL is a superstar. But, to really keep a serious long-term relationship will be a torture when either one of them is going off-path/too fast in their careers. The ML lead needs the space to grow personally and professionally away from her because her world is too unrealistic for him.

While I LOVE the story and truly have enjoyed watching it from beginning to end, the acting and the shooting did not make me tear up. I guess it's not deep enough for me to feel the pain they are going through? When the ML cried, I felt something but then the camera was shooting from behind and not showing his crying scene. If you want to know what really got me crying like a baby, you should try watching "The Beauty Inside." Every single time I picture the ML (Lee Min Ki) crying scene gives me goosebumps and my heart gets this weak, cold feeling. Now, that would be a 10/10 rating.

Therefore, it's an 8/10. Definitely, the story is good for young adults. My favorite type of romance usually the leads are older (like early to mid 30s). Enjoy the show. It sweet and easy-going!!

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Good but something is missing…

So I finished watching it in 2 days now. I really liked it overall but some things are missing.

I loved the Acting, and how the Drama was filmed. With these Picture in Picture with a slow song it felt like Art, same goes with a lot of scenes in this.

But what I didn’t like was the length of the Drama, it felt too Short. They didn’t engage that much into the main characters Family story, same goes for FMC with her Idol story. They just told it and it was way too short. I feel like if they just put um 60-90min episodes or at least 2 more episodes they could have solved a better ending for this.

The ending is something I still have mixed feelings about. When they met again in the last episode and FMC went into her room after this, there were only 10minutes left into the episode. They just rushed these 10minutes into a unsatisfying unexpected ending.

So overall: This KDrama is good and enjoyable, the first 5 episodes were really good and after that it fell down because of the fast pace. I would still recommend it because of the Acting, feeling and OST. They combined these things really good.

So a 7.5/10 for me, had potential to became more :)

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