Becca256
Costa Rica
This is a drama that combines reality with magic and transports the viewer to that magical world where anything is possible and true pure loves exists.
This drama tries to make us think about our lives, if we are truly loved by someone, if we are good people, it makes us wander if a person can be recognized for more than physical appearance.
The acting is superb, especially on the male lead, but truly all the characters and actors combine to form this thing where you forget that they are acting and start to believe their story. One thing that made me laugh a lot and maybe most people didn't notice was the waiter and waitress. I've seen them together in other 2 dramas, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and Only You, in which they also play a waiter and waitres and is even with the same male lead also.
The music completely merges with the drama and becomes one of the characters, it makes you feel what the director wanted you to think, completely brilliant.
I will rewatch this drama very soon, it is a drama that really made me think and laugh and cry.
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To be able to appreciate this drama at its full, I made me forget that it was a Hana Kimi remake. Hana Kimi was the second drama that I ever watched and I loved it. It's funny and full of friendship, silly scenes and cartoon-ish effects.
To The Beautiful You is nothing like that. In fact, this drama reminded me a lot more of You're Beautiful than of Hana Kimi. It's a drama full of super cute scenes that just made me giggly and giddy the whole time.
The story is really nothing special. I liked that it was light and not over dramatic. Even if there was a secret, that secret wasn't the focus of the story, it just made it move along, so it didn't really drag.
One of the things that I liked the most about the drama, where the parts where Tae Joon got ....excited...because of something Sulli did, or how she looked. It may look like I have a dirty mind, but it's not really that. I liked that because that's how real teenager boys think. When you're a teen you're just going through this roller coaster of emotions and hormones, and you can't even control anything. That's why I think that the portraying of teenagers here was great, very much like in Reply 1997.
The acting for me was one of the best points of this drama. The 3 main actors had great chemistry together, so you could really believe the scenes. Min Ho did a perfect Tae Joon, going from a cold boy to a really sweet one because of love. Sulli also did a great job with her role. The danger with a character like Goo Jae Hee is that she's so naive and innocent that it could make you want to strangle her sometimes, but Sulli pulled it off perfectly. She portrayed the character as a very sweet girl full of light and warmth, but not annoying at all. As for Lee Hyun Woo, he was a flawless confused boy, the new Jeremy. He was so pure and sincere with his love towards Jae Hee that it made you inevitably root for him. I loved one of his lines: "Boy or girl, it doesn't matter, we're all humans".
The music was good, specially J-Min's "Stand Up", but it did get kind of annoying at some parts the exaggerated advertisement of SM music.
I will definitely rewatch this drama again, because it's one of those dramas that just make you feel good, and like you're one of the characters. I will watch it evry time I feel bad, or every time I want to remember what innocent first love looks like.
Overall, I loved this drama. I get why some people won't like it, because it really has no much content, but I got swallowed by the fluffiness of it, and boy, did I enjoy it! :D
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I don't like to write bad reviews, specially of a jdrama, but sometimes, it must be done.
The story didn't start out so bad, it actually is quite refreshing because as was mentioned on a previous review, the leading lady does things that you wouldn't expect the leading lady doing. What I truly hated about this story was that it was based on the argument that she was pathetic just because she was over 30 and still working and unmarried. I mean, why can't a woman be happy working her life away instead of quitting her job the minute she gets married? That is so 1800's for me. I guess the whole thing just got to my feminist side.
The cast was ok, I love Jin, he was the reason I started watching this. But, the non-existent chemistry between the leads is undeniable. I mean, they don't make you feel anything, and it doesn't feel like a couple, it feels like him going around her, as if she were a planet and he a satellite, and I really didn't like that concept because it provided no real relationship.
I don't even remember the music of this, so it couldn't have been great, and I wouldn't ever rewatch it again, I almost didn't finish it the first time around.
This is a drama about a young man falling for an older woman, even though-or maybe because- she's pathetic because she's over thirty and still hasn't married. The thing that I learned the most form this drama was that for japs women are just accesories to an office, with no real value. They're like flowers, which are pretty but can be replaced at any time and just are useful for decorating purposes. So, if you are like from the XIXth century, you'll probably love this.
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The romance (or the story) between Da Ren and You Quing started 15 years before the drama started. And the thing is that we obviously wouldn't want to watch those 15 years of story because it would've been really dreadful, but one could've at least expected that the part of the story that we DID get to watch, didn't drag for so long.
There is no story, the whole drama is just about Da Ren being hopelessly in love with You Quing and you Quing treating him like crap and saying "why can nobody love me?? I'm so OLD and I can't find anybody!!". I wouldn't have minded that if it were a movie, but a drama only about that??? You could've watched the first episode and the last 2 and still would love the story, because that's all there is to it.
As for the love part, I love the idea of friends becoming something else, but in here it was just really pathetic and not romantic. If the story had been backwards with You Quing chasing Da Ren all over the place, a lot of people would say "ugghh, this is so sexist, how can they show this? Girls need to have self-respect and love themselves before loving anyone else". But seeing as it's the guy chasing the girl, people say "oh, how romantic". But well, that's sexist too. Guys should love themselves,too. A love relationship should be equal, not one chasing the other until the other accepts, no matter their gender.
The chemistry between Berlin Cheng and Ariel Lin was splendid, they definitely got in touch with their characters and portrayed them perfectly, and I loved how Ariel portrayed You Quing. You Ching is like the anti-heroine in all aspects. She's strong, selfish, not innocent, has had a lot of boyfriends and sometimes she acts like a total b....bad person. Still, the way in which Ariel portayed her made me love her with all her quirks and defects. Berlin Cheng also did a great job portraying Da Ren, but the isuue I had with him was that he sometimes crossed that thin line between in love and pathetic.
I'm not saying that the drama was bad, not at all, it had many strong points, and it was overall enjoyable, but really frustrating at the same time, and sometimes for the sake of being realistic and connecting with the audience, it kind of pushed the romance part aside. The music was not great, but it fit the scenes accordingly.
So, if you like the kind of stories where the guy falls for the girl first and need to do everything to conquer her, or if you are looking for a drama full of awesome friendship and cute moments, this is the drama for you.
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The cast is great (specially with Busan accent, which I love), the music is awesome, too (it had a lot of songs from the 90's that I recognized. I specially almost cried when "Ode to my family" by The Cranberries played, and when "The Scientist" by Coldplay played too). In rewatch value.... I don't think I'll rewatch this again soon, but I'll probably rewatch my favorite parts.
But, the main thing about this drama, is the story. This storty isn't your typical romcom. It doesn't start at the beggining, or finishes it at the end. We get to see parts of their life as they grow old, and have like 7 flash backs in one, but I really felt like I was watching like the 10% of their real lives, not the whole thing. And that in itself, was genius. I didn't like some parts of the story, but then I realized it was because it resembled real life, and it real life things don't always go the way you want them to go.
I loved this drama not because it was a masterpiece or because I couldn't stop watching it. I loved it because it made me remember of when I was like that too. It made me remember my first love, my high school friends, how I felt when I was just like them. And that is the idea of the drama. Reply 1997 is like saying "answer me, 1997 me". Like remembering the person you were back when you were that age, and going through that. I think this is why this drama has gotten so much attention.
I'm not saying is a must watch, but I am saying that if you do watch it, you'll probably be thrown down memory lane, and will relate to the things the characters are going through. You're going to say "Oh, I had one of those bags, shoes, tamagotchis" or "I loved that song", or simply "Oh, I did that too". Maybe you'll like it and maybe you won't, it's your decision in the end. I know I almost didn't :)
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Story-I liked it, even though I didn't really liked how it developed. It was a fun idea, it reminded mi a lot of Alejandro Casona's play "Los árboles mueren de pie" which translated would be something like "Old trees die standing (?)".
Cast-Park Shin Hye and Uhm Tae Woong, I think that they were the ones that made the movie interesting. Choi Daniel and Lee Min Jung I didn't really like, but it wasn't their fault, I just didn't like their characters, I think that they were flat.
Music-It didn't stand out at all, I didn't even think about until now that I have to grade it. It wasn't bad, it just simply wasn't noticeable.
Rewatch value-This is the kind of movie that I'd watch again with a friend, it's very funny and interesting, even though it's not the best
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But having said that, let's get back to bussiness to discuss the rest of the drama.
Story:
The pacing of the story was very good. It gave itself the time to explore the virtual world and develop the characters there before focusing on their real lives. This choice shows that the drama places the same importance on both worlds. Another thing that I liked was that the story did not rely on over-the-top drama to continue its story. It was confident enough in the characters and the relationships they built to just let them flow instead of placing them in stupid misunderstandings. The main focus of the story was the characters and their relationships, not the other way around.
Characters:
Since the focus of the drama is the characters and not the story, they need to be well written to be able to pull it off. This is something that drama accomplishes in some cases but fails in other cases. My main complain in this department is definitely the development of the main female lead, Bei Wei Wei. She starts out as a very strong character with her own set of beliefs and dreams. She is also established as being very intelligent and good at playing videogames. However, as the story goes own, she completely loses agency in her story and her choices, and her life starts being all about the people she loves; she is also only praised for her beauty and her other traits are completely forgotten.
As for the male lead, Xiao Nai, he's a good character but he's also you're typical male lead. He is basically handsome, rich, successful, intelligent and good at everything. This is even brought up at some time in the drama and the only defect they come up with is that he can't cook, which is not a character flaw. This also makes him predictable, since we know he will always win.
The good thing is that they form a really good couple, and you can really see how they fit together. They are always incredibly supportive of each other, and have great communication. Neither of them are jealous and they trust their partner completely. The conflicts and dramas throughout the whole story are never between them, but something external that they need to face together, which was really refreshing in a sea of drama clichés about love triangles, secret deceases and stupid sacrifices.
This drama also has a great bench of supporting characters. The characters in the game, Xiao Nai's friends and Bei Wei Wei were a great addition. The standouts for me definitely were Old Yu and Er Xi. They are such great and funny characters and they stole every scene that they were in. I also liked the development of the relationship between KO and Hao Mei, even if it is never explicit.
Acting
I really liked the acting in this, it was really well-lived and natural. The chemistry between the leads was very good and also between all different friends. None of the performances stuck out in a bad way, even if some of the mwere slightly exaggerated for comic relief.
Overall thoughts
I really enjoyed this drama a lot, and never found it boring. Even though it lacks the usual conflicts and dramas, it never stops showing this characters relating to each other, and that's fascinating in itself. I recommend it if you have ever been part of an online community, or if you are in the mood for something fluffy and cute.
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Story: The story is very cute and sweet. It perfectly mixes the in-game story and the real world story, making it both a fantasy and a coming-of-age movie. Some parts of the story where rushed because of the small time frame for the movie, but the most important parts where there. I really liked that they included a lot of gaming to the second part of the movie, showing how you can relate to the people you care about through games, too. I also liked that they showed the characters failing some times, that made it more relatable and realistic. One part that I didn't like was that they hid Xiao Nai's motives for the first part of the movie, which made it really hard to care for him or understand him; it would've served the character better if his motives and intentions were clear from the start.
Characters: I believe that this is what the movie sacrificed the more in service of the story. It had so much story to go through, that we were not able to get to know the characters as deeply as I would've liked. The character that really stood out was Bei Wei Wei. She was strong, temperamental, brave and deeply compassionate towards the people she cared about. For me she was the best part of the movie by far. Xiao Nai was a good character but we didn't really spend a lot of time getting to know him; he's your typical alfa-male. Because of this, the moment that I liked him the most was when he was going through a hard time, since it's the only time where I was truly able to see how he processed emotions and information. As for the supporting characters, they were basically non-existing since there was no time to develop them, which was truly a shame.
Actors: The standout for me was Angelababy. I had seen him in a drama before and I wasn't impressed, but here she shone through and gave a very emotional and nuanced performance. Jing Bo Ran did the best with what he was given, but as mentioned above, we really didn't get that much insight to him.
Comparisons with drama
I'm still going back and forth with wether the love story was better in the drama or the movie. The movie rushes through their romance, but once it's there it portrays it beautifully. Another thing that I really loved in the movie was that they were equals in their relationship, and collaborated and worked together. And the actor had great chemistry.
The pacing of the story was a lot better in the drama, since it had more time to breathe, but the movie is also able to remove fillers and concentrate on the main parts of the story.
Final Thoughts
This is a very light and sweet movie. It's not the best movie in the world but it is a vey good adaptation and can stand on its own. This is also a very good altenative if you're not willing to invest the time to watch the whole drama. You will especially enjoy it if you have ever been part of an online gaming community, or forums.
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