This show is actually one of the most artistic shows, the way this is shot is actually incredible, the whole show has a nostalgic atmosphere to it,its like watching a story in photographs ,they made the saturation of the scenes super high making it look more yellow than it is and more blue than it is,makes you remember your past days,this is what makes it more impactful than it is. They include so many scenes that I actually remember from the past like doomsday, which was such an original concept!
This show depicts so many types of relationships a person may have in thier life, in the most realistic way possible. It shows friendship, love life,relationship with parents and grandparents. It is so relatable,so many of the scenes look like actual life of a College student which makes me miss College :(
The story of the 4 friends is so well written, its beautiful to see 4 EXTREMELY different people come together in one room and share thier beautiful memories together. The way they handle life and relationships is also super refreshing. I also love how none of the girls are average they all are fighting and struggling over something in thier life. The four friends character development is fkn incredible! Even when they become frustrating, the way they grow out of it is beautiful to watch. All four characters are very new and refreshing, they take problems head on and confront people when needed,especially the girls xue tong and xiao tang ,thier characters are especially well written.
The acting of the characters are so top notch I cant even begin to talk about how well each character was portrayed, such a good job,it still gives me goosebumps.
This show addresses issues such as animal protection, which introduces another incredible character called chen yan,she is one of the most beautiful characters I have seen in drama land,nobody is better than her. It also shows how when an earthquake happens in the neighbouring city and how the others in College come together to help,this level of relatable is never shown in any of the dramas I have seen before.
The chemistry between the couple is also so cute,one of the realest relationships I have seen portrayed on screen, so incredible how they show every scene!
The story has so many symbolic references and dialogues that actually makes you think so much,which is again one of my favourite aspects of the show.the last scene,before the extremely baffling epilogue, actually blew me away,this is the only drama to make me so impressed.
The only thing that makes me reduce 1.5 points is STORY GAPS and the ending. The writer introduces so many issues and problems but doesn't take care of any of them properly especially for the male lead mu chenge, we dont get to see anything about the process of his character development and reasoning for his actions (I read synopsis for the special episodes which really helped fill the gaps but I literally cant find anywhere with subs). There are so many holes in the ending too,we dont get to see the story endings of the other characters, which was really sad. This makes me so upset considering how good the show is they let us down with the ending,even though it was a happy one.
But let me say that one of the reasons people may not watch the show may be because it's a teacher-student relationship, which is not true at all the leads are far from that,if that's the reason stopping you dont worry as it is one of the most cutest stories I have seen!
This show considering everything still impressed me to a level where I didn't regret watching it at any point. I savored everything and completed this show in a week wondering how beautiful every scene is (I replayed so many scenes too,I have a thing for beautiful direction), A MUST WATCH

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This show had so much potential, the story seems interesting and characters are fun too especially the female character !! absolutely adore her <3.SHES EVERYTHING I WANT AS A FEMALE LEAD! TAKES SHIT FROM NOBODY! She lowkey carried the show on her back,go girl!
The thing that really pulls down this show is that it is too short, 6 episodes aren't enough to properly portray it. The characters aren't properly developed and the story is rushed. They had chemistry,but not enough for him to be acting all in love,The love didn't feel real because they fast forwarded it! AND IT ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER.
Still there were too many fun and cute moments, so i enjoyed the show a lot :)

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This is super funny,i really really enjoyed this show from start to end. It shows how high the level of corruption can go. The story isn't as intense as they make it look from the posters. It's light and funny with a pinch of crime.
These kind of storylines are so my type. I loved everything about this! So beautiful ?The comedy was on point,characters on point, cast on point,acting on point. BROMANCE and SISMANCE on point.
I just have to say the Male lead IS SO HANDSOME, I'm a fan now.
If you're having second thoughts, dont,THIS IS WORTH 20 HOURS OF YOUR LIFE

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family centric slice of life, didn't particularly enjoy it

Reply 1988 - 4/10
Reply 1988 is a relaxing show that is meant to be enjoyed on an evening with tea. It is something to watch with friends and family as nothing serious happens, it's a slice of life really close to reality.
Slice of life is one of my favourite genres, but did I enjoy this show? Nope. Because this show is stagnant. It's a plateau where NOTHING HAPPENS. it starts off well, it had me captured for the first few episodes because it showed alot of social background of people's lives in 1988 then I became indifferent towards it in the middle and almost wanted to drop it. The ending was pretty nice too, but not for me to love the show or save my low ratings.
My strife with this show is its repetitive nature in terms of situations, jokes etc. It shows little to no growth, I also didn't have any emotional connection to most of the characters, I didn't hate them nor did I love them. Some characters I outrighted hated them for most of the show aka the female leads sister / bora.
Another thing is even if you miss one or 2 episodes or a few scenes literally u miss nothing. Most scenes are insignificant and so many fillers. Most scenes are meaningless and show some dumb things some character does that is apparently supposed to be funny, but I didn't enjoy it. we had a goat sound for all the funny scenes, it was a little annoying though I didn't hate it but it wasnt pleasant.
I want to compare this with another slice of life made by the same producer, that is hospital playlist. Hospital playlist shows lives of people in a hospital and it shows reality, doesn't repeat situations or jokes, it has very lovable characters unlike the frustrating ones in this one. It is extremely insightful to people's life while visiting hospitals and the staff. It is 100 times more wholesome than reply 1988. It has not made me lose interest and is always relaxing.
I would have enjoyed this show alot more if they showed a bit more about the social problems and setting at the time period of 1988. I felt like they showed more of the shows, singers, ads and celebrities popular at the time which I couldn't relate to as I'm not a korean person, but I understand why the koreans loved this show. It's probably one of the reasons why I didn't enjoy the show.
*spoilers BIG SPOILERS SKIP THIS IF YOURE WATCHING OR PLANNING TO WATCH OTHERWISE NO POINT* the love triangle was just sad. I hated the guy she ended up with. He's the most boring character I have ever seen in my life. He had no charms according to me. He is sleepy, tired and stressed all the time and playing his lousy game. Not very street smart either, he needs help tying his shoes? Really now? He's handsome but that's nowhere a reason to ship the two.The second lead was relatively more interesting and had some life in him but he is just a coward so idk but I did ship them more than the one she ended up with. Basically I dont ship her with anyone especially not with the male lead.
Also the fact that they dragged this show to 21 episodes for literally no reason made no sense to me. This show had nothing much to show that justified it to be so long.
Now to the positive aspects of the show that saved the dying rating. This show showed EVERY characters life, there were no side characters, everyone was main. This was nice! It showed everyone's problems, lifes and touched upon lives of older and younger alike.
The music of the show including osts and the old songs was IMPECCABLE. I learned way too many good old songs because of this show. This reason single handedly increased the ratings by 3.
I really dont recommend this show to be an ideal slice of life or in general to anyone, but there are tons of shooters for this show who seemed to have really enjoyed it, so i guess it's your choice as I'm part of the minority who didn't enjoy this high rated show.

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a good rom-com in a sports setting

I started this drama thinking it will be a cute story with some comedy moments. I also thought the story will be dragged as it was 40 episodes. But the story was much more than what I expected.

Due to my initial feelings that the drama will be dragged, I was getting ready to forward all the meaningless moments, which happened a lot in the first 20 episodes. The first 20 episodes were very dragged and lowkey meaningless and dumb with little to no logic. Nevertheless, I held on thinking it may get better.
Thank god I did, because the second half really touches more on mental health, hardships, and relationship issues, all in the perspective of sports. It was very interesting for me to see how such difficulties are overcome as I am someone who tends to run away from sports, it was enlightening. I appreciate that the writer decides to touch on such topics.
The relationships and friendships were very cute though everyone had their dumb moments here and there. You can't really hate anyone at the end of the series. The character development of each character and wrapping of the whole show is very well done.
The music throughout the show was really cute and it's shot pretty well, the sports scenes are beautiful.
Other than these good points there are many illogical moments throughout the series. But I think it's worth it in the end.

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Extremely light and healing

From the time I pushed the play button on this drama, it always kept me interested and laughing like crazy most of the time. It was light, nothing too complicated. And that was the best part!
The characters on this show are easy to love, there are no bad characters. Especially the FL, she's such a relatable person. I feel like I would act like she did in some of the scenes,it was that relatable! She is also so beautiful, I love her acting and her. I had already fallen for her in CLOY, this just increased my love for her! I must say comedy is her genre!
The ML lead is one of the most friendly and most mature characters I have ever seen! He is always so understanding, always ready to hear explanations and literally so supportive. Did I mention he is SO HOT ON GOD.
The relationship of our main couple, is literally so wholesome and cute. Thier chemistry and how they understand each other is uwu. I loved our older couple too! They were too funny and adorable to watch.
All the side characters are also super lovable. Especially our queer boy geon-u! He is literally the most stressed person in this show, he's always put in the middle, its literally so funny. I would like to especially mention lee ji hoon,who I loved in rookie historian for his acting, I was once again impressed by how good of an actor he is, literally goosebumps.The first loves are high key annoying, but that's thier role so I wont complain too much lol. But our main couple pulled through quite comfortably without crazy misunderstandings.

The story is actually so unique, the concept is something never seen before, its healing and emotional. This show is a burst of happiness! Even though some scenes I questioned the actions and words of the female lead (she did some things that I didn't really understand?!!?).But they didn't drag anything for long. It was perfect timing!
I also loved the psychological aspects on this show.
I also have to mention that the way they shot the scenes are so beautiful, I especially loved the first 5 mins of the show. I loved some of dialogues too.
Even though the female lead said some things that I was extremely confused about and there were some plot holes too but still I really think this drama is worth the watch.
I would reccomend when you want a break from the intense shows.
Bonus: there are too many CLOY references in the whole duration of the show and the starting 10 mins too,surprise!

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One of the must watch classic dramas

Let me start from the beginning. I went through 3 different phases while watching this drama.

Phase one/the 1/3 half of the drama; honestly the first half really really impressed me. I really couldn't believe this was made in 2007.The storyline was a little messed up and complex which was a little bit of a turn off. Even though this show seems like its gonna be basic and I was preparing myself for something basic, it wasnt. It was truly ahead of it's time. The ideologies this show held was not something that the Population back in 2007 believed in. Everything this show portrays is modern and real. It really blew my mind. The characters had a likeable attitude and showed some realness too.But I did find some really bad camera moments and some really unpleasant to watch scenes of disgusting stuff in this drama(The female lead and the coffee shop owner ajjushi do some disturbing stuff lmao) but let's just let it go as it was made 13 years ago!

Phase 2/the 2/3 of the show; This part made me hate everyone and everything in this show. I hated all the characters and thier actions. It was really really hard to watch each one of these characters being selfish and self centred individuals all in one screen with a whole love square situation. There were loads of dumb shit like forced kissing, some ugly fights,toxic relationships and overall ego and pride issues.This literally bought down a whole point in my ratings. The writers really dragged the hell out of this part. But you could say it showed some type of reality in them.

Phase 3/ the 3/3 of the show; after the whole mess of the mid section of the show. The writer really revived the whole thing and made the ending episodes perfect. The couple's were super adorable together and overall made me feel warm on the inside.
I wouldn't say the acting is amazing or anything. The camera work isn't mind blowing either but considering its 2007 they did a splendid job.

Even though there were some basic elements in this drama, it really had an impact on me. I think I'll always remember coffee prince as a show that's truly ahead of it's time

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A show full of strong,smart and intelligent woman

This story starts off as a rom-com set in joseon era, with so much potential and great portrayal of woman as strong,intelligent and smart people. Woman who are not scared to speak up and always stand up for what's right.This is what sets it apart from the other countless dramas.
As the story progresses you see how the issues of Joseon era is still extremely relevant in 2020, the modern world. Woman till this day are still looked down upon and are still fighting for equality in their own ways,this portrayal was really impressive.
This story also touches upon finding yourself. The prince's story was very touching, him finding freedom and happiness was very satisfying to watch. Hae Ryung also finds freedom and follows her dreams which was extremely inspiring.
The relationship between the characters was so refreshing. Especially the female historian characters had such a cute relationship, so refreshing considering how woman are always portrayed against each other. The show also portrays touching relationships between siblings and family.
This show has alot of political elements too which made me aware of so many social issues,was interesting to watch for the most parts. In my opinion some of these elements either shouldn't have been shown or portrayed better. But some issues like small pox,vaccination and western influence in joseon were extremely unique elements that really kept me interested. I had trouble with getting the motivation to watch some episodes it was frustrating,maybe because i dont really watch period dramas much,somehow i pushed on though and it was worth it!
The chemistry between our main couple was super adorable, but there wasn't much skinship between them still they managed to win my heart with just the right amount!
The acting of the main leads in my opinion was average not really up to the mark.Especially the guy who played the king really didnt suit the role, its probably intended,as the king was really bad at his job lol. Overall the acting was average, nothing mind blowing. But I can see that the leads both have improved ALOT from thier previous works! Appreciate that! Some characters were extremely well portrayed though especially lee ji hoon he really did an amazing job, I'm a fan! AND the queen did a stunning job, her accent was so beautiful to hear :)
Overall it's a good watch,kept me entertained for the most part :)

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Never know what's coming, so thrilling!

This drama has one of the most interesting stories I have ever seen, while watching there wasn't one second where I forgot about it or got bored. It kept me interested all the time! I kept thinking and making theories about it, I had so much fun watching this drama.
The unexpected twists and turns that this drama has are so enjoyable to watch. There have been times where I have paused just to process what I just witnessed! It made me speechless.
The characters are so well written! Every character has depth and are properly depicted. Not one dull character! Loved the whole cast! Especially character development of the main lead.
The message given through the story was so well thought out and somehow gave me hope for the society. I guess that was the goal and they executed it so well.
The acting was also top notch! Literally no complaints. I became a fan of everyone on the cast! Especially lee kyu hyung who I already loved and appreciated in prison playbook and doctor John such an incredible actor :)
I literally cant wait for the second season (I heard there is one coming)! I urge everyone to watch this as it is a hidden gem, SO GOOD.

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A cute story about friendship and hardwork

This show was actually better than expected considering how school dramas are not my cup of tea. I really liked some of the dialogues and how it showed the importance of friendship, hardwork and passion. I was pleasantly surprised about how I knew so many of the actors on screen like vixx n,eunji,chae soo bin,jisoo,byungchan from victon(not 100 percent sure about this but I really think I saw him)also had a cameo! I really enjoyed seeing chae soo bin not as a female lead but a slightly negative character! The chemistry between cast and even the couple were cute! The music was a little wierd tbh,not the song but just the bgm was so annoying I really thought there was something(like an insect) in my room. The last two episodes really were so stupid like the apparent misunderstanding between jisoo and the main lead was so dumb,like I really couldn't lmao. But still the ending was cute.
A good watch!

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this drama is truly one of the best dramas i have seen. it made me feel all the emotions there is! so beautifully written!
the story writers did such a good job at weaving this story so perfectly. There is not even one moment where i was bored. The actors did such a wonderful job,i was already a fan of Im soo jung,this just made me like her more. Yoo ah in,just got himself a fan for life,such an outstanding actor and a beautiful man indeed! Go kyung po really got out all the emotions in me. there is nothing i would change in this drama, no issues at all!! thank you so much writers,directors and cast for this beautiful piece of art :)

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I actually enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. It was so fluffy and cute. The way the relationships between the cast grew is just so realistic and beautiful. The animals were very cute. The message it gives out is also very heart warming. I especially want to say that the female lead is extremely beautiful and cute in the series! She seriously gained a fan!! I will surely support her in the future.
Even though it may look like the plot is very childish or wierd but it definitely delivered. It isnt anything intense but still it served its purpose.
The only complaints is maybe the storyline had some very small lacking points like the name of the comet (WTF666) and how I absolutely couldn't like the second lead in the first half of the story even though he is a sweetheart. The second couple also moved way too fast that made me super confused. That was a little unrealistic. Still,loved it <3
Please give it a try!

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A political thriller with amazing acting, always keeps you on your toes!

This drama stayed unpredictable and super fun to watch for all of the 16 episodes, consistently. There are no dull moments, it's a whole package with amazing acting and a solid storyline.

The setting of the drama, made me see a new perspective altogether. I have never thought about the medical aspects of a prison and this just opened the door to that. The topic of stay of execution was new to me and its actually very creative how they used this topic and made a whole drama out of it.
The characters especially the 3 men, showcased some top tier acting! It was so fun to see such gray characters being selfish and playing mind games, you could never guess what the character will do next or whose side they'll be on. The show had a lot of strong woman too, very cool, composed and strong. The woman didn't have a very important role though, still whatever role they had they killed it.
The way its shot is also very unique, the whole show has hue undertones making it look dark and grungy, setting the mood for the show.
The soundtracks and the occasional beeping added to the thrill and was a very good addition to the show.
Now onto what I disliked about the drama, the show tried to include comedy for no apparent reason, the show without the unnecessary comedy would have increased my ratings. These scenes just made me cringe more than laugh. I laughed and smirked more in other scenes that weren't considered "light and funny scenes". These scenes ruined the whole mood and could have been easily cut out.
There are some characters that were just there for the heck of it and weren't given the spotlight, these made me wonder why they were doing what they were doing. It would have been better if they were given a story too.
Other than these points I enjoyed the drama and always looked forward to watching the next episode.

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A perfect blend of humor and intensity

Vincenzo is a show that checks every box in my list of what makes a good drama. It has law. It has humor. It has thrill. It has good storyline and writing. It has beautiful cinematography. It has enough Romance to keep me on my toes. Couldn't ask for more.
This show was something I waited for everyday of the week. Every week I was so excited to watch it as soon as Netflix dropped it. It really keeps you so pumped and ends with cliffhangers every episode.
It has alot of impact on my daily life. I keep remembering the show looking at random things like pigeons, zumba etc.
I loved how well the writer really thought out the show and wrote it so intelligently.
This show is so balanced, every episode there was an equal amount of humor and intensity. So you'll never know how serious the next scene is gonna be and this doesn't tire you out and make you overwhelmed.
I remember really laughing out loud, literally to many of the scenes in the show.
The osts of the show are haunting and really well suited to every scene.
I really enjoyed most of the characters, they were well written and well executed by the top tier actors. The bts of the show was super fun to watch, I loved how comfortable the cast were so comfortable with each other.
This show really is so impactful, it made me stronger, I felt somehow empowered and ready to take on challenges (I know right, sounds a little unrealistic, but ngl I really felt it).
The only complain I have is the last episode, the first half made me almost want to reduce the rating to like a 8 lol. It was a bit too fast and overwhelming and some of the actions were unnecessary. But the second half kinda saved the show and increased my rating to 9.5. It was not a perfect ending but I felt vincenzo deserved "that" for his sins. If it were a perfect ending it would be unrealistic. So I dont actually have a problem with it.
Other than that, I loved the show so so much. It was beautiful. Highly recommended. Please watch.

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