Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (2016)

An incredibly refreshing drama in a sea of over the top dramas

An incredibly refreshing drama in a sea of over the top dramas. Weightlifting Fairy is a wholesome and light (so rare!) coming of age story with many relatable elements that simply just makes you feel good & giggly while watching. The chemistry between the main leads felt so special & real (they ended up dating IRL), you can't help but to excitedly root for them. All supporting characters (except for Song Shi Ho) contributed to the fun & comedic atmosphere. I'm constantly searching for a kdrama that makes me feel like I did while watching Weightlifting Fairy, but nothing ever measures up.

If you're solely looking for crazy overly dramatic plot twists of revenge, death, etc., this may not be for you.

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Old Emma was stupid for not liking this

DO YOU LIKE MESSI? Is still one of the most iconic lines ever.

The short haired friend of Bok-Joo is the CUTEST, I'm always so gay for her.

Oef I still want to die because of the fashion taste except for Nam Joo Hyuk. The outfits of his character are cool.

To say it in Dutch because there's no English equivalent of it but Nam Joo Hyuk heeft echt zo'n blij ei smile hierin.

All of them running away from that bar fight was hilarious.

That moment where I realise I have the same haircut as Bok-Joo.

OMG Nam Joo Hyuk's best friend is that asshole from age of youth.

I truly do not like the ex.

Bok-Joo is so weird and awkward I'm truly getting secondhand embarrassment from her.

My mum is watching this show like O.o

OMG LOL THAT RED BOW PIN IN HER HAIR IS BOTH CUTE IN THE WAY OF FEMININE AND CUTE IN THE WAY OF FETUS.

Nam Joo Hyuk is so insulting but nice at the same time too & his character's little hop walk is cute.

It's funny how all of Lee Sung Kyung roles were so feminine and then you have Bok-Joo which is the complete opposite and she plays it so freaking well too.

OMG I FINALLY KNOW WHERE THAT WHAAAATT SOUND CAME FROM THAT'S IN SO MANY FUNNY VIDEOS ABOUT KDRAMAS IT IS FROM THIS DRAMA.

Omg the driving scenes in here are so fake.

Bok-Joo does the creepy in love stare so well & her faking knowledge about music and the cello is killing me.

Bok-Joo's cousin is one big mood.

Nam joo hyuk's character surprise at seeing bok-joo at his brother's clinic & being a cellist. He is having too much fun with teaching her that I'm dying of laughter. It is going to be so funny to see them fall in love. Besides, the editing music is just pure comedic gold too.

Old Emma was so wrong about this drama. This is definitely the lighthearted funny fluff I needed right now. Besides, this kdrama is really funny and fun to watch so I'm truly wondering why I hated it before. I honestly don't understand how I initially didn't vibe with this show and how I hated everything. And now I'm like this is funny as hell. *Me saying my thanks to the creators of kdrama meme videos, especially drama master, since without them I wouldn't have given this show a second chance. I'm bowing down to the memelords*

Him, Jun Hyung, running after Bok-Joo and saying I chose you as if she's some pokemon is too funny. I also really love how mean and savage he is atm.

THE DO YOU LIKE MESSI thing is still the funniest just as jun hyung's little prayer and this quote from bok joo: "I have one chance so I can't just waste it."

I'm loving jung-hyung so much since he's too funny.

Omg that friend of him is becoming a cheerleader??? For the first time I'm loving him. He is so cute and funny here and him acting like a female cheerleader was too funny.

Bok-Joo's friends thinking she likes jun hyung have me laughing on the floor. Girls you couldn't be more wrong about that at the moment.

I feel so bad for the best friend. Tae gwon is always put in awkward situations but still a happy rain of sunshine. I'M LAUGHING SO HARD HE, TAE GWON, WAS ACTUALLY AFRAID OF THEM/BOK-JOO'S FRIENDS :")

Omg
Bok-Joo's
Outfits
Are
Getting
Worse
And
Worse

Omg, I have finally seen that iconic scene where jun hyung uses Bok-Joo as a shield from a car's water splash. It is still 10/10 comedic gold

Her sneezing on him was such a mood.

Lol him saying I will return the virus even if I have to kiss you had me like ;)

I still don't like the ex #sorryloyde.

The dad's reaction after finding about the weight clinic is too much though.

Jun hyung is so cute when he's worried about Kim Bok-Joo.

Omg that coach hit her as in kind of gave her 3 lashes O.o She did such a 180 as a character.

Jun hyung being the best boy ever and cheering her up has me soft. Even catching her with a sausage has me weak in the knees. They are simply too cute together.

HAHAHAHAHA HE AGREES WITH RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN (which was like an inside joke between me and my university friends).

The uncle/cousin is still golden.

I just realized that Bok-Joo has/owns 2 dogs.

I truly still don't like the ex. She's kind of a major bitch. I however was quite happy that she didn't ruin her contest since I wouldn't wish that on anyone but she's still someone I don't like.

Jun hyung practicing his apology was the cutest funny thing.

Them snuggling together was omo so cute.

Omg the romantic tension between the two coaches is cute.

Omg the friends making up made me emo.Them crying and hugging and yelling with each other is truly the friendship goals.

OMGGGG THE KARAOKE SCENE! I'M LIVING FOR THAT!

Nooooooooo poor coach choi the other coach has a wife. Sad ): HAHA NOT SAD ANYMORE since uncle and le coach are cuter. I ship them.

The ex still bothers me.

The guy i like doesn't like me, the guy I don't like doesn't like me either. Bok-joo you are mood

Jun hyung is such a mood, covering bok joo with newspapers because she's cold, lol. Carrying her in a shopping cart. I'm dying this is too funny.  He's so creative

Lol drunk bok joo screaming TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR EVERYTHING JUN HYUNG in front of her uncle and father giving them a weird idea. And then jun hyung being like I SWEAR NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN BETWEEN US. And the dad yelling at him WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BOK JOO. This is too funny. Poor jun hyung. The uncle be like pls chose a side  ya otherwise a Psychopath

Jun hyungie is falling for our Weightlifting fairy *cute face*

Jun hyung doing Bok-Joo's run was tooo accurate.

The new guy is so sweet for the ex. That dude makes me like her more.

Sad bc bok joo is sad.

The uncle is everything.

That little kid in the library is sooo judging Bok-Joo.

That unexpected jisoo cameo made me a bit uncomfortable. It is funny how they are rivals for her attention for one second.

Wooooaw someone from tempted who was really cute and innocent also has a role in this one & here she's kind of a Bitch.

Are you really allergic to noodles? Sometimes, lol. Jun hyung is everything

Is it piano instead of cello this time, whahaha.

Bok joo: I'll play wedding march at your wedding
Jun hyung: No thank you, you'll only ruin my wedding instead why don't you stand beside me
Bok joo: Why would I stand at your wife's spot
Jun hyung: FINE THEN DON'T . DON'T STAND BESIDES ME
Me: *dying of laughter*

The coach and uncle are a new otp. OMGG THEY'RE DATING NOW AND SHE KISSED HIM AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH I'M HAPPY

Nam Joo Hyuk is truly the best boy in this

OMG THE UNCLE IS FROM WHAT'S WRONG WITH SECRETARY KIM WHERE HE IS THE BEST FRIEND OF THE MALE LEAD. WOAW.

ASFYUYFFSSSTYHGFDD HE KISSED HER

I ship tae gwon with the girl I'm gay for too. Also the whole ghost plot is funny.

Omg bok joo is his first love. He's so precious! Him planning to do everything on Bok-Joo's bucket list. Omg she is flustered by him and their kiss.

Why do I have that feeling that the ghost is the ex sleep walking or something like that. Lol, I knew it.

I just did like that thing girls do in kdramas when something is cute because of the next ep preview and that scared the shit out of lucky, my dog.

Bok-Joo and jung-hyung are soo cute and also HOW MANY JACKETS DOES THAT DUDE HAVE?

And the impossible happened since I don't dislike the ex anymore.

THERE BETTER BE A HAPPY ENDING FOR COACH CHOI AND UNCLE AND JUNG HYUNG HYUNG'S AND THAT UNIVERSITY DOCTOR.

Bok-Joo's dad is so generous for a cheap skate.

I KEEP GETTING CONFUSED ABOUT BABYS NAME SINCE NETFLIX TRANSLATES IT DIFFERENT THAN EVERY OTHER PLACE and somehow I literally managed to still fuck up. How did I manage to call him jung-hyung while it is jun-hyung according to Netflix

OMG THAT LOOK OF BOK-JOO'S DAD WHEN PASSING BY HER SCHOOL AND SEEING HER ACTING CUTE WITH HER BOYFRIEND WAS TOO FUNNY. THE DAD DOESN'T KNOW IT WAS BOK-JOO THOUGH.

THE EX BECAME REALLY COOL. Jun hyungie hiding in their closet, lol. And the ex's laugh when she noticed was adorable.

THE WAY THEIR FRIENDS FOUND OUT ABOUT THEM!

My heart will break if the uncle and coach choi don't end up together.

The three friends ganging up on Bok-Joo & jun-hyung had me in tears.

The budding friendship between the ex and Bok-Joo is the CUTEST.

I. Do. Not. Want. The. Coaches. To. End. Up. Together. Anymore. NO NO NO PLEASE TELL ME IF THE TWO COACHES END UP TOGETHER or not. Not is the only option or I'll yeet myself away.

Woaw the ex is officially cool. I don't know how it happened but I went from loathing to dislike to she's alright to SHE IS A BOMB!

NO! GET THE FUCK OUT! NO! HOW. DARE SHE? HOW DID THAT MOTHER DARE TO RETURN! YES I THINK SHE IS A SHAMELESS PERSON VISITING HIS UNI OUT OF NOWHERE. I WANNA SLAP HER! NO! NO NO NO! MY POOR BBY! CAN I BECOME A HOMICIDE KILLER? BECAUSE I'M READY TO MURDER THAT MUM! Some people truly shouldn't be parents. Jun hyungie deserves a better mum. He is tooo kind. Also I'm truly baffled at his coat collection.

Jun hyngie and uncle are cute.

I'm still sad about no coach choi & uncle. Cause I'm not happy about the 2 coaches being endgame.

THE SWAG AT THE END KILLED ME.

It is wild how it went from a 4 to a 9. They are truly one of the cutest kdrama couples ever.

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What a masterpiece: a brilliantly acted out and feel-good piece of work!

Every recommendation list I ever saw, I always saw this show. Now I know why.


I actually started this once, saw the first 2 episodes (not completely) and as soon as I saw her walking towards the weight loss clinic, I gave up thinking it’s the same old fat-shaming crap. Two years later, I dedice to give this show another chance as it still keeps popping up on every single list I see. Started it from the very start once again, and oh my god, I binge watch the whole thing over two all-nighters. It’s safe to say, I absolutely loved it. Every single aspect of this show.

I usually don’t leave comments/reviews. Where I have, they’re usually pretty long and detailed. But when I sit down to jot down my review for this, I’m lost. What do I ever say? I can’t find faults. The acting by ALL the actors is supreme. I love the friendships this show focuses on, whether it be between the girls or the leads. I absolutely love the romance, NJH and LSK have such a great chemistry, cannot even beging to describe without swooning. I love the team spirit between the weightlifting team and how they celebrate together and are there for one another. I also love the family bonds that they depict in this show. I mean, can we find anything not to love in this show? And it’s safe to say, I also love the character who one might even come off as evil at some point. Every body has given their absolute best to this show and I’m all for it.

One thing I would like to touch upon is the aspect of body positivity that this show promotes, which hilariously having misunderstood was my reason for dropping the show. I love how the weight loss clinic does not play into the otherwise usual unhealthy trope and focuses on healthy ways of losing weight. We often forget the kind of impact pop culture and media has on youngsters, so it’s good that the show did not propogate bad eating habits or anything of that sort. Yes, the gymnastic team scenes were hard, but hey, I’m not one to comment on the requirements of a sport. Even when we see Bok Joo bothered by her appearance, she never once dehumanises it and explains the ask of the sport well so that there are no misunderstandings. That is one aspect I appreciate about this show. Also love Joon Hyeong for loving Bok Joo for who she is, how she is. They spread so much positivity around and how he lifts her up when she feels down about her own self, love it!!!!

Just one thing I didn’t like (not dislike but just didn’t like as much) was the OST. It just didn’t stand out for me. Like, usually a song holds to much importance for me. I am a fan of some shows just because of the OST. However, in this show, I can’t recall a single tune. They acting, the story and everything was so fun and engaging that I just never caught the OST which goes to show it wasn’t very engaging for me. For me personally, that’s a let down because I’m a total OST person and hence that’s one place where I can’t give marks.

A definite recommendation from my side, all you rom-com fans (and others) should definitely give this a try. The show is very light-hearted and feel good even though it touches upon few deep issues. A must watch for all k-drama lovers (or not) for sure!

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Ahhh!!! This is my favorite drama ever! I love everything: the story, the characters, the cinematography, the music.

Is about the struggles of growing up, about friendship and first loves.

All the characters felt real and I could identify with them, specially with Bok Joo, being torn apart between people’s expectations and your own wishes is something I definitely felt back in high school and my first years at college.

And Joon Hyung is everything I want: a best friend and a lover.

The swag gang friendship was amazing too! I love them!

Definitely my favorite kdrama ever!

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Ended up loving this!

I started this series a long time ago. I was excited because of all the great reviews. I got about a third into it and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people lying and pretending to be someone they aren’t. This started out like that. Then there was so much yelling and screaming from the girls, I dropped it.

I finally went back to it after a few months and I have to say, once the two leads got together, it became a different show. I ended up loving the last half.

Nam Joo Hyuk has been a favorite of mine since Haebek. He was cuter than ever in this. He is such a great comedic actor.

Lee Sung Kyung was so annoying at first with her pursed lips and loud personality. During my break I watched her in Dr. Romantic 2-3 and really liked her. So I gave her another chance. She is very talented.

The two leads were so hilarious together and made a perfect match. I ended up loving this series.

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It's a cute story

I’ve watched this show a while back and I remember really liking it, I still like it, but I feel like it doesn’t hold up to the shows I’ve watched so far this year. But to be fair this is an older sure, it’s 5 years old now so that’s possibly the reason. The scenes between the two mains are really cute, I love their relationship from the beginning to the end. These two have great chemistry, this is a very peaceful drama and very cute. It’s a nice pass time, I really liked watching it but something the scenes just become boring. I love how in this show gender stereotypes were being shown and being broken it was nice. When watching the show though I kept called Jung Joon Hyung, Nam Do-son from Start-Up AHAHAHA MURDER ME FOR THAT. This show is really comforting so if you’re stressed out you should go watch it. It’s an old one but a really good one. There are so many cute scenes in the shows and Bok-Joo's relationship with her friends was just everything, I also liked how this show dealt with Jung Joon Hyung’s anxiety. Also, I really liked the description of first love in this show

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Lovely

Cheerful, lovely and engaging, this show is easy to love.
The conflicts and character journeys all feel relatable and real, with the coming-of-age struggles taking centerstage. The friendship-to-romance is treated with sensitivity and good humor, and the search for meaning and identity underscores everything with a lovely heartfelt storyline . The excellent cast makes everything pop, and Nam Joo Hyuk is more melty – and more excellent – than I’ve seen him, ever. Let’s not forget about the chemistry that this two have, make my heart flutter some times.
I have watched this drama in one go because I was so engaged with the story.

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What more can I say then WOW

This kdrama is amazing, let me just start with that.

I've been watching quite a few kdrama's lately and this is by far the best romantic drama I've seen in a while.
This drama also doesn't just talk about romance and the beautiful love story between the strong female lead and the male lead.

It talks about what college life can really be like and it deals with the stereotypes of weightlifting. It shows us that, even famous people or athletes, can have mental problems and that everyone struggles. It normalizes going to a therapist and talking about your life. It shows that women don't need a strong man and that they can be strong themselves. It also shows how rough being an athlete can be and how strict diets can be. It shows us eating disorders and so much more.

I really recommend watching this show if you like a little romance, it's amazing.

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I finally got around to watching this drama after putting it off for so long.

First I'll say it's the only sports drama that kept my attention all the way through.

Overall though, I thought the setup between ML and FL and how hard she'd already fallen for 2ML and was in love with him for so long made for a strange drama. I really liked Joo Hyuk in this though, it's the first role I've seen him play a character very different from his others. The chemistry between FL and ML was cute, but very minor because she was in love with someone else almost the whole time. I thought FL was a good actress but her character needed to be a little more down to earth and with more backstory. She acted bizarrely, walking stiffly and making funny faces, pouting and acting dumb, and being mean and cold to ML all the time. It was kind of funny, but after a certain point, the behavior got a little weird because they never showed any other side of her.

It's also one of those dramas where most of the drama was spent walking around the same place; this reminded me of Cheese in the Trap in that way, where nothing much seems to be happening as they go about their days, but it's still entertaining because the pacing is so good...Cheese in the Trap was better in that regard IMO, this started to bore me a bit with them continuously running around the same place trying to find each other after making phone calls and silly "problems" that kept coming up. Not to mention the obsessed and unhinged ex of ML whose character was milked to death.

It did keep me watching though and I thought it was cute. But it's overrated. Don't go in expecting something 8.8 on the level of Goblin or something. Not sure why this drama was rated so highly, I have a feeling if it came out today people would think it was pretty average.

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Swag

This is a drama about love: romantic love, love between friends, familial love, love between classmates , love of sport, love of self, love from authority figures... almost any sort of love you can think of, there's an example in this drama. And it's a beautiful thing - as a viewer you can't help but feel embraced by all this love also, and it is a good feeling. The only sport where this sense of love and camaraderie was missing was with the rhythmic gymnasts - and they seemed quite miserable compared to every other student; miserable, jealous, and enjoying the problems of others instead of the more nurturing and friendly environment enjoyed by the swimmers and weightlifters. In some ways this also feels like a treatise on coaching methods.

I'm not going into details about particular characters - each of the mains had a different trajectory, different obstacles to overcome, and different ways in which they finally learned and grew., whether it was finding their ways to the beginnings of their times as national athletes, or coming to realize and accept the end of their competitive career. I will say that Bok Joo and Joon Hyeong's love story moved me a lot - they were both such sweet characters, and romantic love based in a strong friendship is quite endearing to me. Most of the supporting cast ere also well-developed and had their own journeys and opportunities to grow.

Two small things I disliked:

1. Nan Hee was obnoxious, irritating, loud, consistently in the way, and essentially acted like she was still in middle school throughout.
2. The rhythmic gymnastic athletes other than Si Ho essentially disappeared from the show somewhere in the middle, and the contrast between how unhappy they were in the beginning compared to the others was striking - they took their misery out on the weightlifters at first, but then just kind of vanished midway through.

All in all, this is a refreshingly funny drama, and definitely worth enjoying.

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