writing almost as bad as maha's wig. stream tea party.
i started watching this drama because of im nayoung and ateez, but not even they could save this drama. i liked the overall plot but the writing was not that great and the conversations often felt awkward. while i usually looove a good love triangle, it was awkwardly done in this drama. it caused the relationship between the SL and a side character to feel really sudden and out of place. i was honestly angry for that side character, because it did not feel genuine at all.the side characters really made this show enjoyable for me, especially hyunji (im nayoung), riah (kim minseo), hyuk (choi jongho) and dojin (park yuri). the music that was released by the fictional kpop groups in this drama slaps though, i unironically listen to malo by shax.
funny how i really didn't like jung jiso as maha in this drama, when she was FANTASTIC in the glory. so glad i watched the glory after imitation, because she's actually an amazing actress.
also, to the person who decided to put maha in that horrible wig... jail!
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WATCH THIS DRAMA! <3
AMAZING. This drama was soooo good. Had happy, sad, and heartbreaking scenes. It is about romance & friendship. It talks about the kpop music industry and the hardships many face, especially trainees. How one starts from the bottoms and can go all the way up. EVeryone faces hardships, always do your best, but do not push yourself too hard. This drama is literally a 100000000/10!!!! This has to be by far my favorite kdrama. I love the story and actors were amazing. I loved the FL and ML so much, they were so cute. Also, the other couples were so cute as well. The songs also were so good! The emotion this drama had is just beautiful.Was this review helpful to you?
NOT TOO GOOD BUT NOT TOO BAD
While watching this drama I had a feeling it would be rated low..I came here and yes it’s actually rated low. The reasons why I had that feeling was cos of the acting. Great storyline…very realistic and tackles issues with korean fans and their idols but the actors didn’t really do justice to it. First time I would watch a Korean drama and complain about the acting. I could tell they were acting and I didn’t like that. It’s such a realistic and touching topic but execution from the leads was quite poor. They tried though but they could have done better. Looking forward to the leads other dramas hope they improve on their acting. Will support them?Was this review helpful to you?
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Plot + review
Plot: Lee Ma Ha is a member of the new K-pop girl group Tea Party, formed by Ji Hak, who was once the manager of the famous boy group Shax, but resigned after the sudden disappearance of the member Eun Jo in the middle of a concert. Prior to joining Tea Party, Ma Ha was a member of the group Omega III, which disbanded on its debut day due to a tragic incident involving a former trainee at the group's company. This led Ma Ha to support herself by performing as an impersonator of the popular solo singer La Li Ma. Starting anew with Tea Party, Ma Ha finds herself repeatedly crossing paths with Kwon Ryok, the center and most popular member of Shax who is still haunted by Eun Jo's disappearance three years later. While Ryok initially dislikes Ma Ha due to her imitation of Li Ma, the two eventually begin to grow interest in one another and start a secret relationship that could put both of their careers in danger. Meanwhile, Lee Yu Jin, Ma Ha's loyal friend who is the center of the rising boy group Sparkling, has been in love with Ma Ha since their idol trainee days. When he notices the budding relationship between Ma Ha and Ryok, he determines to protect her from Ryok and leads Sparkling to beat out Shax as the most popular boy group in the industry.Review: This was a wonderful kdrama, showing kpop idols in a slightly realistic way. I loved that they used idols for the characters, and I was super impressed with their acting. It had me fully engaged, it’s a shorter drama and is funny while also having very emotional and serious scenes.
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It was good, could be better.
Overall, I liked it. But I'd like it more if it was a full 16 episode one. I watched this because of Ateez. And their acting didn't disappoint me. But still, I wanted more. I wanted more scenes of Ateez members, more of Kwon Ryok and Ma Ha's relationship ; like more of their romance, their commutation, how did they adjusted after they made their relationship public and how they made music etc. I wanted more of Lee Hyun and Ri Ah - they were so cute. And I wanted La Li Ma to find someone.Like I said, this drama had so much more unsaid that could turn into 16 eps. Like the SHAX's CEO getting slapped by KARMA, the fandoms to accept the idols dating etc.
But the last point, i liked it. This drama really showed what happens behind the scenes of the fairytale K-Pop world. The pain, struggle, hardwork, disappointment, toxic fans etc. - this is the reality.
I don't have to write anymore. I hope they do a season 2.
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This is an alright show so far, worth a try.
This being based on a webcomic I view as my guilty pleasure & a nice, fuzzy reread, the kdrama is a bit iffy.I think story wise it's pretty smooth! They changed details, added new, removed some, and it works well. Also, I'm a fan of stories about k-pop industry with its drama, concept, and music so it's no surprise I'm watching it. In this case, it wasn't bad; it was enough for me to continue watching, just not enough for me to be obsessed on any degree. It has its lighthearted, funny moments as well as some nice acting and singing scenes. Several of the side characters are likable or at least interesting.
On the other hand, I don't really like the leads (or a decent amount of the cast... La Lima/Ri-ma is my favorite character personality and acting wise; she's so good!). Anyways, maybe it's their acting, their appearance, their lack of depth, but a mix of all those aspects has caused me to like them a lot less. I'm all for "the cool guy falls in love with someone and is so endearing" but so far (and considering how this season is almost over I believe), the chemistry is weak and their moments are kept to a minimum (I wish we could've seen more of Maha falling in love with Ryoc).
I would say to give the show a shot but if you drop it halfway, that's totally understandable.
P. S. The drawing of Ryoc on that little notepad in one of the episodes was so cute -w-
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Minor faults that can be overlooked for the intruiging story
Writing a review for this drama is really hard. After watching 4 Episodes there were definitely a few moments when I felt like "Oh they should have changed that, that costume looks weird etc.". The thing I most dislike is the female leads hairstyle which doesn't suit her at all... (Still hoping it will change in the upcoming episodes!)But what can I say: All in all, I just like this drama!
I am no kpop fan, so it's not because of some idol I want to support.
I just think the story is intruiging and keeping the viewers on their toes.
"Why?" you might ask "isn't this just a cliché romance plot?" - Yes, some parts of it are but it is much more!
For example, some people - including me - complain that there's only one episode per week... but then after watching one episode I feel like I have watched more than one because there is so much going on: The past and the present - everything isn't as clear as it seems - who did what when and why? I find myself rewatching scenes to look for clues as to some characters true intentions...
So even if you are no kpop fan: This drama definitely deserves your consideration! Just ignore the weird hairstyle and focus on the story and hopefully you will like it as much as I do!
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keep up the good work
The first episodes are a bit slow but they don’t deserve 8.2 as a rating. I find it very interesting. I’ll keep whatching, I’m curious to see where it’s going. The FL is adorable and I’m rooting for TeaParty. I’m giving it a 10 to raise the rating. I’ll rate it again at the end. The fifth episode is really cute.The acting skills of the various idols are so-so, but I'm liking the leads and overall it's all the actors are so good looking that you forgive them anything. The story so far is holding up and I find it very interesting to find out the behind the scenes of a world I don't know at all.
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A Glimpse of What Idol Stars May Go Through
When I saw the title "Imitation", I didn't have much thought about the meaning of it until I watched this drama. I'm not sure on the reasoning they chose this title but for me, it meant to imitate the livelihood of what an idol star or group might go through.This drama had everything I can see as realistic. You have the most popular and well known group, groups that are trying to get their name out after so many tryout attempts and difficulties for the members to be in a group, the good fans, the so called "fans" who are stalkers and have no life, group members who are looking for love but are hesitant or private about it due to public image, psycho stalkers, and/or the public agency, the brotherly and sisterly bond of the groups, and of course the saddest part of the drama, suicide of an idol due to hardship in life that they couldn't take anymore.
The story itself is good overall but the pacing can be quite slow. There were some episodes that I felt like nothing important happened and then others are like, now we're getting somewhere. Also at times, I felt like the explanation to certain events in this drama weren't clear enough to understand, so viewers have to make an assumption instead. The final episode wrapped up okay. Happy ending but I felt like there were some lack of details for specific scenes. Worst of all, greedy bad guy got away with it and didn't get punished. This is frustrating. I hate when dramas take this route.
Romance wise, our leads got together for 1 ep, broke up the next episode, then get together again in the next episode like the second half. Although I have to say, it did felt lacking for our main leads. I just couldn't feel the chemistry. Even until the very end, they weren't holding hands or hugging. Eh. I say the secondary couple had more chemistry and cute moments than our lead couples. Shoo, even our last minute third couple had a bit more chemistry than our lead couple. Kinda disappointing.
Music wise, well it is an idol drama, featuring great singers. Of course the music is going to be great (5 stars easily).
Last words about this drama:
I really hope this opens the eyes to the viewers, fans of idol singers/groups, and even to the entertainment agencies. Remember, they're not money making machines. They are human beings just like you and me. They're doing what they love and enjoy as their job. As a job, they too have a life outside of music/acting too. They have a right to find love, relax after their hard work, so they won't burnout, enjoy life, and most importantly, they need to be surrounded by those who are close to them and support them. Let's build them up not bring them down. It's going to be a difficult but I can only hope there will be more Entertainment Agencies in the future who will run it like CEO Ji Hak, caring more about the person/group and not on money.
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Come closer to their stage but stay further from their life
This drama was good. At first I thought it was really cliche and I wasnt much into it. However when they started to talk about the relations between trainees their resentment towards each other, their dreams and how far some could go to carry that dream I got interested. Its not just a romance between the main leads... maybe at first it is but I felt like it was simply a trigger. Like the key to the pandora box.I really like the character development:
- La Rima is surely one of the sweetest character in there, she's supportive smart and strong.
- It feels like Tea Party is the link between all groups involved however you realise that they already had so.e connections out of Tea Party...
- the last song was so beautiful..
I got so surprised because I may listen to SF9 and Ateez sometimes, but not the others or i may have one of 2 songs of them... i got so impressed by the main leads voices... especially Jeong Jiso. I'd never though this girl could sing and honestly she has for me the best voice out of all girl singers in that drama.
I feel like this drama isnt all about what's wrong behind the kpop industry but more about this is what trainees want to achieve... it's a long and difficult road... they could lose everything with a single "mistake" (like a dating scandal) however their solidarity and strength among the team members and their will to succeed can make them stronger. I hope fans could see the real message behind that drama: the stars they're idolizing are humans with feelings and not just commercial products. They have a life, a dream and they worked hard to achieve it. Like Lu Sicheng said in Falling Into Your Smile: "Come closer to their stage but stay further from their life"
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Good drama but fell short overtime
I was looking forward to this drama since it revolved around music. Although I'm not a kpop idol, but this drama does show a slice-of-life type of feeling about the struggles kpop idols go through when it comes to fame, conflicts between members, and their romantic relationships or friendships. For example, it showed how idols, especially if super famous like SHAX, struggle in having to hide their romantic relationships due to the fear of how it'll affect their group and the person they are with. It showed realistic scenarios of how idol couples usually have their dates at night in either their cars, their house, or even at a hiking area wearing as many layers as possible in order to not be seen by paparazzi. Other than idols, it also presented the struggles of idol trainees who dream of debuting but many obstacles prevent them from doing so and how it affects them. All in all, it's kinda like giving a message to kpop fans about how we should understand kpop idols and to respect their lives. I think these were one of the good pros of this drama.However, as of storyline goes, it was good at first but after awhile it just fell short. The first few episodes of the drama were quite interesting because of the sudden disappearance of Eunjo, the death of Annie, and the struggle OMEGA (before they became Tea Party) had gone through to debut. They eventually were able to debut after a few eps and it was a bit of a struggle for them to get noticed at first but eventually gained success. But as the drama progresses, I felt like the story started turning in a diff direction as it began to focus more on the romance between Ryoc and Ma Ha than what was originally. Like don't get me wrong, the romance was cute but because of it, I felt the story suddenly went somewhere else for a while than having to balance the romance with other storylines.
The storyline about Eunjo and Annie was completely put to the side until the last minute like literally an episode or two before the end of the drama which was weird. The pieces about Annie's death and Eunjo's disappearance all started to come together last minute which kinda threw me off guard because they could've slowly developed that storyline throughout the drama than just cram everything into 1-2 eps. I did sympathize both Eunjo and Annie bc of what they've gone through.
The romantic storyline between Ryoc and Ma Ha was okay. Their storyline was good at first because I liked how it was in the first few episodes of a few flashbacks of Ma Ha and Ryoc pre-debut and then sunbae/hoobae relationship they had prior to getting together. A lot of cute/funny moments between the two as the story progresses. But it did throw me off how the directors made Ryoc break up with Ma Ha bc of not wanting to damage SHAX and then like 1 ep later they get back together. I guess they wanted to put some kind of "conflict" between the couple to put some intense moments in the drama. But it's completely pointless if they're just gonna get back together that quick. Also, the love triangle between Ryoc/Ma Ha/Yoo Jin wasn't really interesting either since most of the time Yoo Jin and Ryoc were just being passive-aggressive to each other and Yoo Jin gave up shortly after and then went for Hyun Ji. And maybe it's just me but I personally didn't like Ma Ha as much as a character. She just didn't seem to stand out for me as other characters like Ri Ah. Speaking of Ri Ah, I was really hoping for a romantic storyline between her and Lee Hyun (Hwiyoung) but it never went further than that despite the small signs that show of interest.
The last episode with their tribute performance was very moving for me because the lyrics really were heartfelt. And when Eunjo showed up I was like what?! But I knew for a fact that just because he showed up, it doesn't mean he's officially back in the group... I'm not sure if it's just me but I felt like there were still questions unanswered despite the ending of the drama. The ending just didn't sit right for me because of how sudden everything was and it still felt like Annie didn't get justice for the people that did dirty. And where did SHAX go after they left NOGO? I'm assuming they went to Tea Party's agency seeing how they were there at the end? Not sure.
ALso, I was expecting that they'd make Li Ma an antagonist in this drama based on how she personified herself in the beginning. However, she turned out to be a good character which isn't bad! But I felt the drama would've had some sort of stressful kick or intensity to the drama if they had an idol antagonist where she'd go to great extents to bring a person down or whatever else just like Hye Yi from the other music drama You're Beautiful.
Lastly, I do LOVE the music. If they had an OST album for this drama, I probably would buy it!
All in all, it's a good drama but not the best either due to some flaws. I don't think I'd rewatch the drama again but only come back to watch clips or listen to the music. I'd still recommend the drama though if u like music and romance!
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Something Kpop fans should watch, especially die-hard ones
This is the second Kpop-themed Kdrama I watched so far - the 1st being Dream High ofc! This cannot be compared to Dream High tho, as this one kinda realistically touched the Kpop idols' off-stage lives and the dark side of the Kpop industry. I'm already aware of most of the issues discussed here, but seeing them in a drama setting... I don't know; I felt really bad for Kpop idols. Living the Kpop star dream is like climbing mountains - it requires hardwork and sacrifice to climb up, but if you aren't careful enough, it's easy for you to tumble down. So, as stated on my headline, this drama could serve as an eye-opener to fans. Fans should be aware of their limitations and give idols a breather from the pressures they're going through.Okay, enough with that..
The casts did a fine job with their acting tbh. I'm saying this 'coz I've already seen a lot of idol-actors who did way worse. I don't know most of them, but after seeing this drama, I began searching for Ateez and Nayoung haha! Jung Ji So really surprised me because I have no idea she can sing and dance! There are times when it's evident that she isn't an idol tho 'coz her moves isn't as flawless as them. Nevertheless, I should make no comparison - idols experienced years of hard training. Moreover, Jung Ji So reminded me of Song Ha Yoon. They look similar, especially their eyes! Given that both of them got paired with Junyoung in a drama, I suddenly decided to finish Please Don't Date Him after putting it off for months haha!
Ryoc and Maha's chemistry is just... Okay. Nothing grand. Actually, I think I felt more excited watching their push-and-pull relationship before they dated than when they're already dating.
La Rima and Ria are the characters that stood out to me the most in this drama. I really like their attitude - strong, sensible, empathetic, on top of being talented, pretty women.
I guess my biggest disappointment about this drama is the ending. It's way different from what I pictured. Btw, I never read the webtoon. I must say that, I lost count how many times I cringed from watching the last episode. I can still remember it till now. Geez.
Overall this is an okay drama. I don't regret watching it 'coz I had fun one way or the other. But then, I don't think I'll rewatch this any time in the future. I'll just keep the emotions I felt as it is.
P. S. Out of all the songs, I only had one fave - Constellation, i.e., that last song they performed. It's actually going straight to my playlist now. :)
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