The Characterisation: So wonderful. I still don't know how they managed to effectively portray and explain the motivations and personalities of the characters and develop them so well within 8 episodes. With the exception of one minor character, everyone is so beautifully captured and explained in this story.
The Plot: Amazing and really intriguing. It was a pretty crazy ride but it was completely realistic. One major credit to the drama is that it deals with some really H E A V Y topics but it is still hilarious and respectful. The way in which the drama unfolds this story is so realistic but also enjoyable without weighing you down. In this regard it is a similar watch to Sky Castle, there are really touching moments, very dark and sad moment amongst very important lessons while maintaining a fresh, light air to it. (Disclaimer: it is a very different drama from sky castle, I am referring here to the feeling of watching)
The Music: This was forgettable for me, didn't feel like I wanted to listen to the songs outside the drama. I will say that the music matched well with the show and there was never any songs that felt out of place with where the story was going at all.
Personal Fave: A lot of the script is very beautiful and poetic. This is stronger if you have a relatively good understanding of Korean but also translates into English really beautifully. Perhaps because one of the main characters was a budding poet it was a stylistic choice? The best part about it is that its poetic without ever being pretentious r feeling disingenuous to the setting of High School.
Overall: I am not a big fan of high school dramas as I am older and sometimes find the writing of teenagers quite unrealistic and overly juvenile. This drama was so wonderful in its portrayal of both teenagers, the people around them and the less flowery events that sometimes young people have to deal with. It is highly recommended to anyone that likes touching shows but also want to laugh. Great Quarantine watch!!
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The romance and friendship is a big part of the drama, especially the trio of unlikely friends, I loved the diversity of characters and how different each one was.
The mystery was intriguing but nothing too original, but it was fun to watch with a comedic spin on it, but the school violence seemed pretty unrealistic and confusing at times when is done in plain sight.
I liked the acting, each actor felt like they fit each character well with the personalities. I wish we saw more of Don Hyuk's and his girlfriend's backstory more though .
The music was average not really any songs I would put on my playlist.
Overall the drama was enjoyable and really pretty to watch It's an easy watch and is fun, with comedic and serious scenes which balance each other out.
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A promising premise but unfortunately the romance overwhelmed the mainplot.
After watching Extracurricular, I was intrigued to find a drama with a similar vibe. So I was excited to see this drama.The first scene of episode 1 got me intrigued and I was ready to see more. However, when we got to investigate the lingering mystery and back story of our characters, I quickly got bored by the mundane fighting scenes or high schoolers' interactions.
There were a few beautifully shot scenes and warming family time that our male lead spent, which reminds me of Reply 1988 moments, but the execution of the main storyline is not as exciting to watch (for me). It doesn't build up properly toward the climax. The ending was also underwhelming and I finished the drama feeling so unsatisfied.
I'm sorry, but I just can't like it. The quality and character portrayals were not hitting me at all. If you know any shows with similar vibes that are executed very well, please let me know!
Have a nice day!
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The Characters are amazing, the Monologs by each of them is catchy. Every word they say holds wisdom of life not only for 19 year old. The poems and analysis by the the main lead is inspiring.
I really loved the OST, it's unique. Especially the SOS OST, it is short and has a huge impact, u get sucked and teary whenever it get started.
I really recommend u to watch it
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The scenes were just perfectly filmed, with some edgy camera work, nice mix of light and shadow and knife cut editing. The story was enjoyable as well, especially the first episodes. The characters were mysterious, though, in the end, they started fitting into well used molds. That part was a bit disappointing, along with the mystery case that somehow felt unrealistic. The pace, however, was kept breathtakingly quick throughout the drama. The performances were really good as well from all the actors and actresses in the cast.
So, overall, it was an interesting short, web drama.
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What can i say? It was not a waste of time!
The story is well paced, not too slow nether too quick, and adressed current important issues (like suicide, bullying, anxiety, loneliness,...). Even though the story is serious you can find place to comical scenes, i laughed a lot while watching it. Each character is interesting and you wanna know more about them. The acting was really good.
I highly recommend it!
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Short and enjoyable drama
This drama has 8 episodes and they are only half an hour. The drama has a good story and the characters are good at acting. Few of them have you probably seen in other dramas. I finished it in one day and there aren't any parts where you get bored. The drama made me laugh a little bit and it's interesting to follow their friends and high school story.Overall, the drama has an interesting plot, good actors and enjoyable parts that make you laugh and cry,, hahaha.
I recommend this drama to people who like high school dramas, about friendship with a little love and mystery. If you decide to watch the drama i really hope you enjoy it.
Ps. I'm a fan of Kim So Hye from produce 101, so that was the reason I watched it, but it was better than expected.
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Best short drama
"How to buy a freind" is literally what it says in the name. It's a drama that involves a newly moved teen don hyuk who transfers to a new school to find the truth of his girlfriend. Don hyuk ends up getting involved with chang hong by coming to a mutual agreement don hyuk to protectd him. Together they come down to the truth while facing adventures ahead and making new long life time friends. Its a lightweight webdramas which neatly shows the idea of friendship, romance and action. All of the cast played the role great, i ended up really liking don hyuk. The music was fine i guess I'm not really a music listener in dramas. I would definitely recommend this to anyone and I'd rewatch.Was this review helpful to you?
A perfectly-paced story about flawed 19-year olds finding out what it means to have people around
I didn't really know this drama would be so short, The pace keeps up during the third episode (ep. 5-6) and after that it resolves the conflict rather quickly. For a drama with this length, it's impressive how they fit their focus and tried to explore various factors of friendship, solidly shown in the second half of episode 4 (ep. 8). It also gave me Park Chan Hong and Oh Donhyuk, two seemingly different individuals who grows together in an unlikely but rather fateful relationship. What makes this drama wonderful is how openly flawed its characters are, considering they are all 19-year old that, despite no one completely being a loner, doesn't seem to perfectly define what friendship truly is. Throughout the story, Park Chan-hong, who gets inconveniently involved in the events following the suicide of a girl, learns to find people (who, unlike him, shares a connection to the dead student) swallowed by guilt. He becomes an impromptu ally and partakes in uncovering the mysteries surrounding the girl's death. Throughout the story, he finds growth and talent in himself, using these discoveries to propel the story forward and ultimately become the key factor in solving their problems.The drama doesn't excuse bad behaviour but at the same time it shows that one can break free from it as long as they know the importance of a sincere apology and personally develop the will to change for the better. Moreover, it tries to explore ways by which isolation and jealousy can negatively impact self-esteem and cause harm not only to oneself, but also to others. Overall, it teaches its viewers to be more sensitive to the people around them. It's not the best drama out there, but considering its length, it clearly and effectively painted a clear picture of not exactly what friendship is, but how loosely-defined friendships can be when we only think of ourselves. If you want fresh takes on friendship stories (and a teensy-bit romance) without focusing on just the "sunshines and rainbows" part, watch this.
PS:Park Chan Hong is now definitely added to my list of all-time favorite characters.
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This review may contain spoilers
The characters
Firstly, this drama is a short one from 8 episodes or shortened 4 episodes.The series is something I thought that would be light and just another daily drama (I didn't read the summary). So when I watched the first episode, I was intrigued.
It expresses topics that are known in Korean dramas, but the difference in this one is that it is fast paced but is the good kind of fast paced. It's a good pace and it makes you want to watch more.
The fact that romance, comedy, melodrama and action were portrayed so good in this story that it feels like you watched a 20 episode series instead of an 8 (it's a good thing). Personally I get bored easily with dramas because of the speed of the story, if the plot keeps on going and stupid misunderstanding keep happening I easily neglect it and forget about it. Just like 'Find me in your memory' it is another great drama that goes faster than your daily series and just like that one I watch directly when it is out.
About the story and plot of 'How to Buy a Friend'. I loveee the links with poems, like it gives it more depth and shows you something different in solving something. The fact that Chan Song can solve the mysteries with just language amazes me and makes him one of my favourite character in the story. Chan Song is just a basic guy with everything in average, but he is someone different at the same time.
I would love to go deeper in all the characters but it will take too long, ALL the characters are amazing. The actors are young (not all) and they did so well. There are no other words than saying that this drama is great even though it is quite short. (if they made this a full length drama, I would 100% watch it)
Everything about this drama was amazing, even though it is short they portrayed the characters and the story great. It's funny, sad, romantic, cute and action all in one and the fact that they could show all those different emotions in 4 or 8 episodes makes it even more great.
The cinematography in the series is extra-ordinary. They give us different feelings in each scene and even mix all kinds together.
This is a very good series and even made me cry, but that could just be me being emotional.
I highly recommend it.
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also, the romance was unnecessary for the 2 mains and Kyung Po (honestly he deserved better), he was the one who befriended the "ninja" no one saw, but still they did not appreciated him and made shallow remarks about his looks.
also, since they were "young and naive" I'd say the flat romance could be overlooked, but it'd have been better as just "unexpected friendships".
the plot about friendship and youth was solid, but the delivery was lacking. tbh even though it's only 4 one hour eps, it felt too long and I found myself playing at my phone most of the time.
and basically the mystery part was exactly what it looked like in the 1st ep, so they wasted alot of time "trying to find the truth".
the ost was nice and I never rewatch things ;p
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This review may contain spoilers
Pretty but ordinary
There has only been a handfull of korean dramas which surprised and amazed me with their cinematography: Search:WWW, Into The Ring, Call It Love and this one.Unfortunately that is the only thing this drama has going for it. The rest is just a repetitive, subpar storytelling using the usual high school topics: bullying, suicide, gossip, internet. Here they added prostitution, kidnapping and corrupt politicians. And to top it all there are two half hearted romances. All of this has been crammed into eight 30minutes extremely long episodes. Each episode felt like it was two hours long!
The acting was ok though I am still trying to figure out why the main lead had to have such a heavy accent. I suppose that it was to show he lives in another region but he is the only character in this drama with such a heavy, singsong, uncomfortable to listen to local accent. His father does sometimes but that's it. No one else speaks with this accent so, why does he need to? The other main character, was also a stereotypical mountain of a person, taciturn and menacing in appearance (I mean, don't start me on that upside down triangle haircut!). I liked how their bromance made them each personally grow.
The main characters were rather realistic, all too human with very ordinary, normal reactions faced with extraordinary menace (bullying, threats, violence, blackmailing). They are not heroes so they are easy to identify with!
The rest of the characters were very sketchy, superficial and often clichés: the unsatisfied teacher, school bully in a colourful jacket (he has to be seen to be different!), nerdy insecure friends (they were quite interesting: the three such characters dealt with their insecurities differently. We were shown what should and what should not be done in such cases!), one pair of loving parents (the other teens seem to be orphans: we never see their parents!) and of course the bad guy or to be precise the bad woman, who was again such a cliché.
The music was fine: heavy rock which suited the topic of the drama perfectly. There were a couple of funny scenes usually involving the MC's best friend (hypnosis and candles!).
So why am I rating this so high? Because of the cinematography. That is the only feature that actually made me finish this drama!
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