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This movie is far too short and fast-paced to really do a lot with it's plot and characters, and the main actress is obviously very green, but the female lead is very likable and her struggles relatable and her ultimate triumphant over them rewarding making this an easy, enjoyable watch.I liked how kind Haruka always was in the face of very mean people and how she always chose to focus on pushing through her struggles and finding a way to be successful rather then getting revenge. She never mistreated others but always stood up for herself, and she knew what she wanted in life and was willing to work to get it. (Her pet turtle was also a cute added element to the story.) She may not have had a lot of book smarts, but she quickly demonstrated her street smarts time and time again.
It was a cute movie with a likable main character, and I enjoyed watching it.
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I watched this movie ages ago when I first got into Korean dramas and movies, so I had no frame of reference for what Korean media was like back then, and I remember being immediately hooked on the story (much like I was with many other movies and dramas from that time) despite how outlandish and stereotypical and just Odd it was. I rewatched it last night to refresh my memory on the story so that I could write up a review for it, and I have to admit, my feelings have not changed all that much. Of course, now that I've been a Korean media druggie for awhile, I can see all the typical hallmarks of old school Kdramas/movies as well as all of the flaws I totally ignored on my first viewing. This is one of those classic K movies that if it came out today exactly as is, I doubt it would be all that popular. (Although I bet someone could do a successful modernized remake.) But even still, there's something about this movie that makes you love it. The actors really sell their characters. (I had no idea Ha Ji Won played the female lead until re-watching. I was That new to dramas the first time I watched it, lol. Considering the types of roles she's gone on to do, it was fun seeing her doing something so incredibly different.) The story is something we've all seen a thousand times before at this point, and yet it doesn't feel bland or overdone. It just feels like a lot of fun.Because this movie came out when it did, it was perfectly poised for future cult classic status. And honestly, it deserves that status. I don't expect that I'll watch it again, unless it's in another ten years from now to be like 'Oh yeah. That movie.' But I mean it when I say it's a fun movie and required viewing for any Korean drama/movie fan.
(Just so you know, the finale scene is confusing and I don't really know what the purpose of it is, so I just ignore it and recommend you do the same.)
Also, WARNING: There is gross-out, toilet, not really sure what to call it, humor sprinkled throughout this movie. Things involving boogers and other bodily fluids, one particularly gross bit in the later half that I won't even type up because then I might vomit. It's not pervasive throughout the movie. Most of it occurs towards the beginning/the first half of the film, and it is spaced pretty evenly. But if you don't like that sort of thing or need a warning beforehand, well here's your warning.
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Anytime I find myself relating to the main character(s) of a drama on a personal, emotional, often private level, I know I'm going to end up loving a show, and this time was no exception. I was Very emotionally invested in Mi Rae's story, because I related to her Very deeply. I wanted to see her overcome her insecurities and give herself permission to live a fulfilling life, and it was so rewarding watching her open up and let others in.What I probably enjoyed most about this drama is how subtly it dealt with it's subject matter. All throughout were these tiny moments and messages that compounded on top of each other. The story was never pushy or loud or obnoxious. It never tried to shout it's message from a rooftop. It didn't go for cliché or for 'Woman power'. It chose instead to weave a simple message into the everyday things characters said and did and felt about themselves. It created a message meant to be felt, not necessarily spoken out loud, which is where any true, genuine truth should be held and understood.
This drama is not without flaws though.
The entire finale was truthfully a letdown. While I liked a lot of how everything played out, it felt very rushed and out of order. Mi Rae and Kyung Seok get the happy ending together they deserve, but it felt a bit like the writers trying to create that 'perfect romantic ending' rather than just letting the characters be themselves. Soo Ah receives what I consider a fitting, and hopeful, redemption story that I wish could have started to unfold a little sooner as it would have helped the audience relate to her a lot better.. And I'm soooooo salty about how all of our side couples were sort of dropped by the writers at the end, because I wanted their happy endings, and we didn’t get them!!!
Ultimately, I was waiting for the drama to tie together all of the little, subtle messages it had been sending throughout the story, and that didn't happen. The focus on creating that 'perfect romantic ending' and trying to give Soo Ah an affective redemption arc took away from what was really the overall message of the drama. Beauty is subjective, and it's objectively in all of us.
(And for anyone wanting to know, yes. Cha Eun Woo is probably not the best actor, but I think his acting style worked fairly well for the character, and I didn't find it particularly distracting while watching.)
Despite my disappointment with the finale, this is still one of my favorite dramas that I've watched this year and definitely on my list of favorite dramas I've ever watched. It treats it’s characters and subject matter with thoughtful kindness, and that goes a long way in overcoming any other mistakes a drama might make. I highly recommend giving this drama a chance.
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It's too short to really do a whole lot with its premise, and I didn't find myself particularly eager to watch each episode, but it's a fun and light-hearted story so long as you don't take it too seriously. I will admit that I found it difficult to pick a favorite suitor. With the exception of one potential love interest who feels shoe-horned into the story, the rest of the male leads are all fairly interesting and attractive. (And just like in an Otome game, there's someone for every viewer, lol.) Not all of the lovelines personally worked for me, but I did quite enjoy some of the others and totally could have seen them expanded into a much longer story.I guess the best word to describe this web drama is cute. Ultimately, I'm not going to recommend it, but I'm not going to discourage anyone from watching it either. It was a fun premise I would love to see expanded into something longer.
I want to put a warning here though for anyone who might be going into this expecting certain things from the romance(s). There isn't a definitive romantic ending. (Or alternatively, there are six, sort-of seven, of them. However you want to look at it, lol.) If you are going into this expecting her to ultimately pick one guy to be with, you are going to be disappointed, because it doesn't happen.
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It's based on a manga, so it's obviously over-the-top and a little ridiculous in terms of it's acting and storytelling style, but that's also what makes it so much fun. I was roaring with laughter throughout each and every episode. I loved our leads to bits and enjoyed every moment of interaction between them. I also found the story to be quite heartfelt and moving in how it dealt with family relationships and the pressures of Japanese school life. I did want more of a conclusion to the romance in the finale, but I guess that's just more incentive to read the manga the drama is based on. I already planned on reading it, but now I Really have to. If you are not a fan of the outlandish style of acting and storytelling Japanese dramas sometimes employ, this might not be the drama for you. But if that doesn't bother you, and you enjoy a good story centered around school life and innocent romance and family and friendship, then I can't recommend this enough. Was this review helpful to you?
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Cute and fluffy and sweet. My only complaint is the ending was rushed and took away from the lovely romance the story had built up to that point. Admittedly, I'm really just upset that they didn't decide to save her last minute so the two of them could be together, but I also realize that not all stories have to have tied together with a bow happy endings. A less rushed ending would have gone a long way in helping me accept that their romance was never going to be.Now have some extra words so I can fill the word limit.
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Yes to more dramas like this. Yes to realistic and relatable characters, yes to engaging and well thought out plots, and yes to tackling real-life issues. Taking on male breast cancer was massive, and I appreciate the drama writers willingness to go there. Pyo Na Ri was this fascinating combination of confident, vulnerable, honest, bold, and self-aware. Hwa Shin and Jung Won were two fascinating love interests with a heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, friendship. The make-up of this drama is almost flawless.I only have 3 complaints.
1) The three-way cohabitation nonsense that comes a little past the halfway mark (three-way not to be confused with the sexual term).
2) The kiss at the hospital between Na Ri and Hwa Shin when Na Ri and Jung Won are tentatively dating.
3) That silly song/dance at the wedding in the finale.
The first two are important. The last one isn't a big deal. (I just thought the scene was hilariously stupid.)
The cohabitation is never really justified by the writers and lasts waaaay longer than necessary, but the kiss is addressed as being a very poor and inappropriate decision that has consequences. Unfortunately, the character's responses to the kiss is to create said, weird, three-way cohabitation arrangement that is just awkward and uncomfortable and annoying to watch. (I recommend finding a unique way to watch those episodes to ensure you don't go nuts.)
Even in these frustrating moments when you don't really understand what exactly the writers think they are doing though, they found a way to make these characters feel real and believable, like people you want to root for.
I recommend this drama, and I might even rewatch it some day.
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I'm surprised I haven't written a review for this by now considering I was so entranced by this drama from start to finish. It's very unusual to find dramas about real people and real stories told through such unartificial means. Most of the time, we're given a set of stock characters and stock situations that may or may not deliver on their promises. Age of Youth aspired to do something different. I won't say that it exceeded in every respect. There are too many loose ends once the story wraps, and sometimes the pacing is weird. One plot line comes completely out of left field and still frustrates me even though I will concede that they found a way to make it work. But what Age of Youth brought to the drama table is something we don't see in other dramas.They brought real people.
And I love this drama for that.
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It's been Ages since I watched this, all the way back to when I first started watching dramas. I've tried, to no avail, to find the whole thing with subs somewhere, but my search has always been fruitless. Or I would find it but no way to download it. It's one of those drama's where either you like it, or you don't. It requires some buy-ins that not everyone is going to be on board with. The idea that someone could have a sense of smell as strong as a dog's. The idea that someone who wears a frilly, Japanese street fashion would become a police officer. The idea that they would wear said fashion while on the clock. The idea that all of this happens at the same time. If you can't buy into all of that, then this drama is very much not for you.Luckily for me, I have no problem buying into all of that, so this drama is very much for me, lol.
I fully admit that it's goofy and over the top and unbelievable in every aspect. And I that's why I bloody love it. I love that she has a sense of smell as strong as a dog's. I love that she wears Lolita, and to crime scenes, no less. I love the potential (but never actually fulfilled) romance. I am an unabashed fan of this drama, and I will be forever.
I JusT nEed to GEt thE WhOle thINg dOwnLoAdeD tO My LapToP So i CaN wAtch It oN rePEAT foR tHe REST Of MY LIFE!!!
I'm a little intense about this drama, lol.
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I did not expect to come out of this drama liking it so much. You never really know how 'overweight people' stories are going to play out, whether the message will be one worth ingesting or not, but your expectations are never very high. I usually just hope for a story that's at least fun if not realistic or fair.I had no reason to be concerned here. This drama had so much of worth to say, and it said it so beautifully, with the most heartfelt, difficult truths coming in the second half. I cried multiple times.
Now I'll never be a fan of Japan's often preferred style of overacting, turning everything into a melodrama circus, but 3 or 4 eps in and I had completely tuned it out. The story was just so compelling.
This is definitely worth watching.
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So I sat down earlier this week to start ep 15 and realized...I don't want to finish this drama, lol. I went into Anti-Fan with the mindset that I didn't really care if it was going to be tropey or poorly written. I was going to let the drama take me where it wanted to go and enjoy the journey.And up until ep 14, that was enough.
Going into ep 15, however, I found myself dreading having to watch anymore. I had zero interest in the story or the characters at that point, and sitting through an hour of them no longer appealed to me. I think this was due to a few things. 1) I'd gotten all of the enjoyment out of the drama that I was going to, and I was ready to move on to something else. 2) Ep 14 and the problems it created for the story had finally set in and I was suddenly feeling a lot more aware of the dramas flaws. 3) My currently watching-list has gotten a lot longer than I really like it to be, so I think my brain was screaming 'PLEASE DROP SOMETHING FOR THE SAKE OF MY SANITY!', and this drama isn't exactly at the top of my list of favorites, so it's the one my brain decided had to go.
Looking at this drama critically, it's not something you would watch because of great storytelling or compelling characters or stunning visuals. This is the sort of drama you watch when you want to turn off the critical side of your brain. The thing is, in order to enjoy a 'bad' drama (or book or movie or western television show or anything really), it has to do a sufficient job of distracting you from it's flaws. And while this drama did a decent job of doing so through ep 13, ep 14 brought said flaws into stark relief. Once that happened, there was really no going back to the enjoyment and forward motion I had been experiencing before.
A couple of other users suggested in the comments that this drama should be viewed in two parts, ep 1-13 and ep 14-16, and I have to agree. Maybe if you do, you'll be able to watch the final two episodes.
Personally, I just couldn't be bothered.
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Started this drama with so much hope and excitement and ended with no desire to finish it.This was my first Siwon drama, and I was as hype as a person can be without spontaneously combusting. (The man is gorgeous.) I did not realize going in, however, that his style of acting is so....hammy.... I'm not typically a fan of hammy acting, even when it's intentional. As such, I didn't really enjoy his character as much as I had hoped I would. (Not that Siwon wasn't absolutely adorable at multiple points throughout the story. Siwon can't help but be too cute for his own good.)
Truthfully, almost all of the actors can, and have, done better things. They certainly put in the effort, but the characters were just so poorly written that it made no difference. (Although I must admit that Gong Myung's performance impressed me, even if his character frequently infuriated me.)
Unfortunately, the story was pretty lackluster as well and did nothing to counteract Siwon's corny acting style or the poorly written characters that surrounded him. The story set up some really interesting premises initially. Chaebol turned clumsy part-timer, Candy who Likes part-time work and has no interest in a 'real job,' Chaebol potentially renouncing his life of riches, and Candy guiding him along the way. (That's really it in terms of premises that were interesting.) These were characters I liked and wanted to know more about. But the drama never went anywhere with these ideas and just turned into a generic, bland amalgamation of nothingness instead.
I usually feel incredibly guilty about dropping dramas, even when they're terrible.
I dropped this 2 episodes from the end and never felt like going back. (And I didn't drop it sooner because I was on the Dramaclub at Dramafever for it and was only able to drop it when I did because things got kind of hectic in my life at that moment and provided me an out.)
When I drop a drama and feel no guilt...that is one heck of a bad drama.
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I really wanted to finish this drama (for a number of reasons). I even attempted to watch it twice, getting a couple of episodes farther along the second time around before ultimately giving up again. And the reason I made it as far as I did (all the way to 2 eps before the end) is because there are a lot of good things about this drama. It has a solid start, a compelling and well paced story, the characters are all interesting and three-dimensional (even the secondary male and female leads), and the female lead is absolutely kickass. (I flippin’ love No Eun Seol. She’s the one thing about the drama I enjoyed during both my attempts to watch. She’s feisty. She’s tough. She’s hard-working. She’s genuine and honest. She’s persistent. She’s a little odd and different (for a Korean woman, anyway.) She’s got a no-nonsense attitude. And she can kick some literal ass.)But the story was missing one of the number one things I need in a drama to like it. Actual romance.
While I never had a problem believing Cha Ji Heon truly liked No Eun Seol (sometimes I worried he liked her a little Too much, he was so annoying and persistent about it), I never believed she liked him back, and it felt weird watching the writers trying to convince me that she did. There was zero romantic chemistry on her side. Friendship chemistry, sure, but not romantic.
And while Cha Ji Heon was an adorable man-child in the beginning who just needed a steady, guiding hand (in the form of No Eun Seol), he eventually stopped being adorable and just became annoying. I just didn't understand why No Eun Seol would fall in love with him.
I eventually reached a point in the drama where I could no longer figure out No Eun Seol’s motivation for staying at her job. It was clearly no longer worth it. Contrary to what the writers wanted me to believe, there were zero signs that she was starting to like Cha Ji Heon (and he’d started to become persistent in a way that was slowly edging towards stalkerish and creepy), she'd had the job long enough to use it as a reference on her resume, and she definitely could have gotten another job that paid equally as well. If I had been her, I would have just quit and never looked back. Her motivation for staying was clearly meant to be that she had fallen in love with Cha Ji Heon, but I have to call bull on that.
Lack of genuine romance aside, the thing that probably drove me the most nuts was the ‘princess lessons.’ No Eun Seol didn’t want to learn how to arrange flowers and eat with fancy silverware. She didn’t want to learn how to be the ‘perfect wife’ of a CEO. (Which wouldn’t have worked anyway. Women like No Eun Seol just don’t do princess well.) And I didn't want her to have to do any of those things either, so watching her be affectively forced into them was unbearable to watch. If I had believed in the romance, I probably could have overlooked this. I would have been able to put up with the ‘princess lessons’ and the petty fighting between the parents, because I knew our leads truly loved each other and would stand by each other no matter what. But I Didn’t believe in the romance, and that made all the difference.
I do think this is a drama a lot of people would enjoy, so I'm certainly not saying don't watch it. But it left me disappointed and frustrated.
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The first six episodes of Business Proposal were literally everything. Lots of supremely well-used tropes that were equally well-subverted. I was constantly laughing at the humor, and anxiously awaiting the eventual romance. But something felt off in eps 7 and 8, something I couldn't put my finger on, so I did something I tell myself never to do, and I looked up spoilers. And I'm honestly glad I did, because they put their finger on what it was that felt off to me.Somewhere in ep 7/8, the writers forgot that their drama was trying to use classic Kdrama tropes differently, and they pivoted to taking classic tropes too seriously, thus creating unnecessary angst. What I got through with 7 and 8 certainly couldn't be compared to the level of angst in a classic early to mid 2000's Kdrama, but it was a very definite tonal shift, and not one I liked. What's worse though is that the eventual story choices I read about were not something that made sense in regard to the characters. They sounded like obvious attempts at adding drama in a story that had been rather delightfully drama-free most of its run. They also just sounded like a waste of our character's time. I mean, the writers had a perfect opportunity to subvert the classic 'family doesn't approve' trope, and they Didn't take it. How uproariously hilarious would it have been for grandpa to pretend he didn't approve of their romance as a little bit of payback for them hiding it from him?
Armed with the knowledge of things to come, I decided to drop Business Proposal. But it's all good, cause Legally Romance (Cdrama) is doing all of the things with my heart right now, and I'm totally okay with it, lol.
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