Completed
Neliel
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 24, 2019
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
The story around Kim Bok Joo and Jung Joon Hyeong is one of the more heartwarming romance stories in the kdrama-Universe. It's very enjoyable and fun to watch it develop and even though there definitely are conflicts, especially early on, you never really feel annoyed by anything like you do in most other romance shows. There's always this one antagonist character that you really hate and who develops into someone likeable throughout the show, who actually didn't mean any harm as you suspected early on. That type of cliche character is very common in romances and used often. Not in WFKBJ though, they just build all their story on this happy, heartwarming ground they got going on with super loveable characters and actors/actresses behind it.

There's not much more to say. If you like heartwarming and feel-good romances and also like the premise of sports stuff happening as a "side dish", then Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo - or in short WFKBJ - is definitely for you. I don't know if there's that much of a rewatch potential in romance shows, so I kinda rated that a bit low. The music was fine but not overwhelmingly good.

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Completed
Han Ariana
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 16, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

A very youthful drama.

This is one of my favourite dramas. I am writing this review after I watched it for the second time. It is just that good.

I really love the story of how Bokjoo and Junhyung knew each other in the past. The way Junhyung calls Bokjoo 'Chubs' is the cutest thing ever.

What really adds to the cutestness was the fact that the actors Nam Joohyuck (Junhyung) and Lee Sungkyung (Bokjoo) had actually dated while filming this drama.

Keeping that in mind, they made the on screen romance so perfect. Their moments before and after dating were so cute. I would say that the trope for this drama would be 'Long lost friends to lovers'

This drama is fantastic.

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Completed
thabadslandx
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 25, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
Just the cutest, most wholesome thing I've ever witnessed. Paper Rings by Taylor Swift is the exact vibe they give off.
The only thing I didn't buy was how they tried to make us believe that Kim Bok Joo was in any way ugly or "fat", but that's a given in narratives like this.
The relationship is truly so, so cute. It made me smile from ear to ear all throughout. I love everything about this romance, even the way the ML kept pestering the FL at the beginning lmao.
They had everything!!!!
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Completed
Halo
0 people found this review helpful
Apr 16, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
The only reason it took me more than one weekend to finish it was that I didn't want it to end, it was a great show, with the correct amount of over cuteness and the correct amount of love. There are a lot of good review to the show, but the reason I started it was because of the actor, after finishing 'who are you' I just wanted to see more shows he is in and then I found out the show is broadcasting again, it was a delight to watch it, the first time the show was broadcast I didn't want to watch it because I don't like sports and I didn't think it will appeal to me, but I was wrong, it was great, highly recommended.

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Completed
Pink_Panda
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 26, 2018
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
Like many others of my reviews I loved this drama the character progress was amazing with every new episode I felt like I needed more and when I finished I was generally satisfied although I would liked to have it continue on and show more I was satisfied and will not be crying like in Moon Lovers but anyway Moon Lovers is something different so forget about that. I all together loved it the story progressed well I was never bored, the music was the best I have all my drama music in a playlist in my phone.

The actors that played the characters overall did an amazing job and the whole entire crew basically did amazing. I found this to cliche but not at the same time love story wise its quite similar to other love stories but the characters are not what you would expect in a typical love story its honestly amazing!

ALSO EVERYONE THAT FINISHED IT CAN WE JUST ALL TOGETHER SAY SWAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG XD

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Completed
Stephennl
0 people found this review helpful
Dec 29, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.5

Opposites can attract

With each episode the series appealed more to me. In the beginning I thought it was just amusement done very well. Gradually the episodes and main characters get more interesting, complex and emotional. Though comic, the reactions of Bok Joo's professor, coach and dad to her visiting a diet clinic suggest abuse. Is this typical of Korean society? I found the development of the romance between Bok Joo and Joon Hyung touching and charming. Joon Hyung discovers that he has liked Bok Joo for a long time without realizing it. Bok Joo discovers that she has been communicatively intimate with Joon Hyung for a long time without considering him as a lover. The last episode was a disappointment for me: Bok Joo's insecurity, gossipping girls, poor communication and jumping to conclusions. All the female roles seemed not to have learned anything from their prior experience in the series.

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Completed
pineapple18
0 people found this review helpful
Dec 22, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 10

Great, comforting watch!

This show is one of those shows that will stay with you after watching. It's nice to see a female lead that has her own life and ambitions apart from her love interest. It was great to watch how the characters grow. Not just the main characters but even the supporting characters.

The cinematography and color grading reflected Bok Joo's character which was warm and inspiring and reflected how she saw life. It was like the world she lived in was very inviting and made you hopeful of the future. Like walking home at sunset.

The music was very cute and refreshing especially when Joon Hyung realized his feelings, the music also makes your heart feel light, warm and fuzzy at the same time.

The acting was very good and Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk had great chemistry even when they were still friends. You can feel their care for each other and that they genuinely enjoy each other's company. The way they portrayed the characters, Nam Joo Hyuk's mischievousness, and Lee Sung Kyung's happy-go-lucky portrayal of Bok Joo really made you laugh and sympathize with them.

Even though the story doesn't really have anything big happening, you'll still get hooked because of the characters. Plus I think the story is still relatable and people who like watching slice of life or character-driven stories would really enjoy this.

I think this is one of those shows that you can rewatch a couple of times just because watching it is comforting. It's the equivalent of your favorite comfort food and I highly recommend it to everyone.

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Completed
ShanTeaTime
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 9, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
This review may contain spoilers

Give This Series All Of The Messi Love It Deserves!

So I stumbled upon this series from Tik Tok actually lol. That sentence sounds so cringy, but it's true. Somebody had posted a clip of the show which was the car splashing scene between Bok Joo and Joon Hyung, I was dying from laughter. So I looked into more clips and knew I had to watch this series! The series is set up as this quirky and funny romantic comedy with sports mixed in, but it's actually much more than that. It's heartfelt, overwhelmingly sweet, explores serious topics and is incredibly bingable.

We've got 4 primary characters in this show. Bok Joo, Joon Hyung, Shi Ho and Jae Yi. There's other side characters as well, like the sadly sick dad and hot wise uncle who were tops as well. But these 4 are the main focus. All are really solid characters with interesting stories, but my favorites were Bok Joo, Joon Hyung and Shi Ho because of how layered they really are. Bok Joo is our MC and she's great. As a viewer you really root for her success, shes strong, sweet and hilarious. Very adorable. She can be shy but doesn't let it hold her back too much unlike a lot of other K-drama female leads that I've seen. Joon Hyung at first took some time to get used to. I didn't like how he called Bok Joo "fatty" at first and he was came off as quite arrogant. However, in episode 3 he completely redeemed himself punching those gross bar guys out. His plot points were mainly around swimming, mom problems and love interest for Bok Joo. I will say, these two had fantastic chemistry (Bok Joo & Joon Hyung) like seriously it hurt my face how much I loved these two and was grinning like an idiot whenever they interacted. I'm pretty sure these 2 actors are pretty close in real life (possibly dating) so makes sense!

Joon's mom arch though got me, his poor little heart dealing with his aunt and uncle replacing his mom. Ugh! This actor (Nam Joo Hyuk) was my favorite, he was really good at conveying various emotional ranges. Also he's freaking gorgeous, tall and his style was killer. There was a line later on in the series where he's like "try me out!" to Bok Joo and I took this very inappropriately. I meannnn I'm willing to take a ride lmao, totally not the context of the scene AT ALL but who can blame me? Moving onto my other top character, Shi Ho. I really liked that she wasn't just a crazy ex-girlfriend or a jerk. She's actually really cute and I felt for her deeply in this series. Sure she let jealousy and longing get the best of her in situations because she thinks everything can go back to before, but it can't. I actually became concerned for her character in this series! She was so unwell with the sleeping pills, eating disorder and clear depression going on. It was heartbreaking to see, but done really well. By the way, gotta show the love for the fact that the show discussed mental health and counseling in this. All of it was much appreciated, and shown from various male and female perspectives. Huge claps to that!

The whole older brother/actually cousin with Jae Yi could've been super stale, but it wasn't surprisingly. It was actually pretty funny and concluded well. Some of the more romantically fueled scenes that I enjoyed and stuck out to me were when Joon Hyung goes all out trying to date Bok Joo. Conquering his fear of heights, using his jacket to warm her hands, 2 straws in the cup, So freaking sweet. As well as the scene where Bok Joo is finally like "I like you too! I don't wanna return you!" and then there's just an onslaught of them kissing each other. So fu***** cute I can't. I have to say, the series is really well-shot too there's some really pretty shots of Korea in this. And I loved the soundtrack/music played throughout. There were times when Kpop was played in the background and I freaked out because I recognized it.

The only issues I had with this series were pretty minimal. The teachers specifically annoyed me in this occasionally. Mostly because I didn't really care about that plot point, but also you don't EVER hit students ever or treat them poorly. I don't care if they are going against "rules or regulations" or whatever. You can be frustrated with a student potentially throwing away their potential away, but come on! Also telling students from gymnastics to basically starve themselves. Wtf. Either way, when this series was coming to an end I legit got teary eyes. I didn't want it to end and I miss the characters already!

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Completed
Jono
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 10, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.5

Don't let those bad reviews fool you (like fr)...

There are some negative reviews on this drama but it is what it is. This drama was really worth it because after watching episode 7 to 16, I was so invested in watching this drama because the story got really interesting although there are some part of stories in this drama that many people don't like and that is the ML Jung Joon Hyung story. His story or "trauma" was really basic tbvh and it really didn't interest me because it was very predictable and basic again so that really didn't make want to watch WFKBJ and also with his ex thing from the past was annoying too. Overall I do like the character development to all characters in this drama and especially JJH and LSK and they really did a good job on this too, the acting was on point too! The OST is really good too and my favourite song is "Dreaming"! And yoo the comedy in this drama really spice things up LMAO and especially the "WHAT!" part lollll...

Also one thing I love about this drama is that, the love story only evolves on episode 11 of 16. It means that the story also tackles about friendships, family problem and how to move on from your ex's...

Please give it a try and see how you go with this drama! I'm sure you'll love it!

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Completed
leeheye
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 27, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.0
Good show ! Took maybe 4 episodes before I started enjoying it. But then it took off, at least for me.

The title kind of threw me off a bit.

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Completed
zensx_MDL
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 30, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (2016)

A romantic-comedy done right. No overly dramatic, absurdly over the top, bang your head against the wall nonsense. Sure, it has its moments of "eh, really?" at times but overall, it delivered a classic vanilla romance built off the friends-to-lovers trope, executed beautifully.

The character dynamics, not only from the main leads, but from the entire cast were very good. Supporting characters came alive when they appeared on screen and the leads... just tremendous chemistry and worked off each other wonderfully. Maybe it was the school setting placebo but it genuinely felt like the character groups were a really close-knit group of friends. Perhaps, that was the main charm of the show.

Even with basic presentation, the show's appeal is that of a fun, casual slice of life with a slow burning romance that offers you bits and pieces at a time. But once all the pieces starting falling into place it really gets all "warm and fuzzy" inside. It's lighthearted yet still flexible enough to get into its emotional pockets.

And seriously, the female lead sure is an absolute cute, weightlifting fairy--- that Kim Bok Joo.

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Completed
scenophile
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 3, 2019
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
The main ship is honestly EVERYTHING I'd ever want in a relationship. I love the banter, the chemistry was amazing, and all the scenes between the two leads were so adorable and natural. There are so many scenes that I've rewatched at least a hundred times and I'll continue to rewatch them forever.

The entire aesthetic and cinematography of this drama was beautiful, from the sunsets in the background to the bird's eye views of the beach, to the city night lights. I wish SO BADLY that my college experience would be like this.
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Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (2016) poster

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