Persevere, Goo Hae Ra (2015)

This drama is a hard-watch. It's great at some aspects and terrible at others. The kind of drama you can't drop but you feel frustrated watching it. The writer had an idea. That idea was great. But she messed up when she involved the over dramatic love story especially with a really bad-written and acted female lead. The sub-plots were so interesting. But at the same time the troubles the characters went through were exaggerated much. The comic scenes were amusing and hilarious. But the supposed touching scenes were cheesy and superficial. The music, songs and performances were magic. Nothing I've seen before in a drama. The drama showed all the issues happening in the behind scenes of entertainment business. That was cool. But the way they were presented made me feel like I was watching a makjang rather than a musical drama.

Themes like Brotherhood vs. Love, misunderstandings ruining lives, being human means making mistakes, mistrust, rivalry and suspicion were presented and again in a dramatic way. At moments -especially when they were singing or the supporting characters were on screen- I would gape at the screen mindblown. And at other moments I would be gritting my teeth fighting the urge to vomit.

For the music and the supporting actors, the drama is totally worth it. But at the same time there are the other issues. So..

I will and I am re-watching the songs and performances. I even wrote the titles of the songs down to keep them. As for the female lead, I'll try to avoid dramas she's in when I can.
I'll try to avoid the writer as well.

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If you enjoy Korean music from different decades, then this would be a good drama for you to watch. They take some of the biggest hits and use them to make a fun and enjoyable drama. The rearrangements of the songs are fun and flow with the drama well.

Although the music was good, I'd have to say this is not the best drama when it comes to the plot and some of the acting(but it's not bad). The connections between the characters are farfetched and everything wrong that could happen, did happen. It was fun seeing how the characters would develop and overcome their individual conflicts, though.

The drama is definitely funny and it's not too long(just 12 episodes). If you're a fan of Korean music from all the ages, then this may be a drama for you to try out.

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I feel it is my civic duty to write a review warning people to give this drama a wide berth. I started it because of the short episode count and thought it might be cute, enjoyable fluff...... I was wrong.

The writing is dire. Its like a 10 year old girl wrote some of these scenarios, its juvenile to the point of being cringeworthy.

**Slight scene spoiler***

There is one scene where the lead female who we understand is in her early 20's has a cold and finds herself abandoned on a busy street with no money. She calls for help and her 2 earnest suitors dash off to rescue her like shes tied to a bomb that will explode in 5 minutes. She could have just flagged down a taxi and made her own way home ...this whole scene was just too embarrassing for words. And before you defend it by saying this sort of stuff happens a lot in Kdramas yes it does but the dialogue and acting made this scene (as well many others) particularly awkward.

The rest of the plot just meanders about and goes nowhere. One aspect that annoyed me the most was the angst was so fake and and engineered.; For example- girl likes boy - boy pretends he doesn't like her back - boy now tells girl he likes her but she rejects him this scenario was repeated like a washing machine set on an endless cycle. There was no real reason or explanation for this back and forth and it rendered the whole trope redundant.
I'm all for dramatic angst but it needs to be done well and in this drama sadly that wasn't the case.

The acting was pretty dismal too but I didn't go into this drama expecting an acting masterclass so I will let that slide.

The music might be the only positive note (pun intended) but most of it wasn't really to my taste. If you like Glee/High School Musical kind of singing then this drama might be for you.

So to recap ....I want my 12 hours back!!!!!!

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How do I start this review? I've seen so many mixed comments, it's not even funny.

Personally, I really enjoyed this drama. There were a few scenes I could have done without but I think they did a good job considering the other 12 episode musical drama I watched made me shake my damn head so many times at the ending. Like that ending didn't make sense to me. This one though, I think the way they tied up the loose ends in the story was enough for me. I think I know why some people thought it was a waste of time. i think it's a matter of preference. Some were expecting something, while I was sort of had an inkling of how it was going to end. (It's so hard to write a review without spoilers >_<)

The story:
It is not the best written story in k-drama land, but I think they were able to live up to their title. The story is about perseverance, about not giving up no matter how many times you fail. There were a few scenes that I could've done without but it gave me enough emotions that I liked too. The bromance, the relationships, family, I liked them.

The acting/cast:
I am not a big fan of Min HyoRin who plays the main protagonist, Gu HaeRa. She wouldn't be my first pick for the role. She was a bit lacking, in my opinion. But the 2 main guys though, Kwak ShiYang who plays Kang SeJong & Jung JinYoung who plays Kang SeChan/Ray, were pretty good at their roles. SeJong singing...I fell for him right away. I really liked their scenes. I love the other members of the Perseverance team. Lau Henry, who plays Henry, his awkwardness and sometimes tactless moments were too funny. Yoo Seung Eun, who plays Lee WooRi, her voice is just great. And ParK Kwang Seon did a great job at playing his character too.

The music:
I love, love love the music. If you don't like the story, just watch it for the performances. I just love all the songs. Yoo Seung Eun's cover of Jasmine Flower, Perseverance Team's cover of Sixth Sense, Yoo Seung Eun's "I Love You" and more.

Re-watch value:
Would I watch it again? I think so. I really love the performances and the story wasn't bad.

Overall:
9.5 It''s not perfect but it's not bad and I enjoyed it.

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This is a typical teenager musical about young people trying to succeed on the big stage. Every character has their own problem to overcome and despite the differences friendship grows. Overall this is an okay drama with mostly good acting and great "music videos". The songs were all well played and nicely incorporated into the story, so if you like musicals this is one of the best I have seen.

Acting was mostly excellent except on Jung Ji Young's part. He did great job with Se Chan but once Ray came into the picture his acting reduced to blaaah level. I don't know what happened, but he became very dull and had no chemistry with anyone. Kwak Shi Yang did great job and he literally shone, the chemistry between Se Jong and Hae Ra cracked the screen! Shim Hyung Tak as Tae Poong was awesome and all the scenes between him and mothers were seriously the best thing in this drama. Other cast members did an excellent job as well and every character came to life, it was a pleasure watch them.

What comes to the plot it was interesting but, unfortunately, the middle part of the drama was extremely draggy with the bland melodrama. At times, I felt like the drama has been written by a teenager because "the hardships" were so ridiculous. Because of the boredom the acting suffered too, this drama was at its best during the bubbly scenes and when there was a lot of action. Park Kwang Seon was the only one who managed to pull the melodrama part well enough. Min Hyo Rin was interesting as Hae Ra until the writer and the director decided to ruin her character and turn her into a whiny childish little girl.

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I'm in love with this series! I'm not so much of a fan of Korean series, because there will come a time that I would get tired of watching because I find it boring sometimes.

I like how the characters balanced out each other very well. The twist and turns of the series kept me buckled til the end. So like if it's a book, I'd say it's a page turner, but since this is a series... Would it be right to say that I find it a series turner? LOL.

Anyway, the main reason I love this series is because it has the right mixture and balance of Music, Romance, Comedy, Drama... etc. except HORROR :D

I like Se Chan better though. I didn't like the lead guy that much. His character wasn't strong enough for me. I liked him at first, but as the story progressed, I got tired of his character and found him boring at the end.

What more can I say?
I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS SERIES! HANDS DOWN! I WISH THEY COULD MAKE A SEQUEL!

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I like short dramas and being musical I thought it was going to be an easy fluffy one...it was well only the first half. The music is great I have downloaded almost all the song from this drama but the story was ok. The chemistry was off between the main leads maybe it's because I thought the main guy was a stick in the mud and very boring. The side characters make this drama...love love love the side characters the provide the comedy and cutness that it missing from the leads. From the mothers to the producer to Henry they kept me wanting to watch this drama. Fair warning I am not one to fall for second lead syndrome but this one had me. Still all in all the music and the cute comedy makes this drama worth watching...

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I shouldn't be writing the review after giving low ratings but I really need to let it all out!!

First, story: The basic story was vague, like really really weak. I couldn't understand whats happening most of the time. It was the big ent. company blocking everything for Perseverance and you come to know the answer to 'WHY' in the last two episodes!!
Character development is the thing that annoyed me the most. I'm BANA and ELF so I started this because of Jinyoung and Henry but I was so disappointed at how weak the characters were. Ray was like fake or something? He gave that kind of vibe and communication issues between the characters were horrible. They kept getting the misunderstandings regarding every second person and there comes a time when you are like: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?! -_-

Acting was ok, fine. Not many emotions except from Hyo Rin. Shi Yang's acting was good but then again his character ruined it for me -_-

Music is the best best thing in this drama. Really awesome song covers. I loved and enjoyed almost all of them so 9 points from me on this!

Rewatch value is low because believe me, I took more than two months to finish this! -_-

I apologize to the fans of this drama!! I really wanted to enjoy this one but TT_TT

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I loved the music in this drama, all their performance songs and competitions were good and I enjoyed them. But the story itself was very badly written (at least I think so) The writer had a completely different idea in mind than I did. A group of young adults form a team at an audition and continue together creating Team Perseverance, we see them go through several downs and a few ups in their "career". I don't like the story sorry...

There were some cast members that I liked and some I really didn't like at all.
Cast: Ray/Se Chan, Henry & Woo Ri were my favorite characters, I really loved Se Chan so much that it really hurt in episode 2... I grew very fond of Ray and wanted him to win and wanted him to be happy. Whenever I'd see Henry I couldn't help but continuously say "His voice is so cute^^, He's so adorable^^ He's my favorite^^" every time he was on screen and every time he'd sing my heart would go pit-a-pat lol <3 I loved that goof-ball :P I loved his and Ray's friendship too :) Woo Ri was the best female vocalist (I know Hae Ra is the so called "lead" but her voice is NOTHING compared to Woo Ri's) - Woo Ri has SOUL in her voice whist Hae Ra has "air" - // I really disliked Se Jong >_< I couldn't stand him and he really can't sing (he has a nasal voice)... I honestly don't think Hae Ra deserved to guys fighting over her (she wasn't worth it in my book) but either way, even if didn't like her very much I still shipped one and not the other, I really wish Hyorin would stay out of drama-land (she's not a good actress) - I actually kind of liked the way it ended... not for Hae Ra but for Ray, Henry & Woo Ri^^

Music: I will still listen to lots of the songs they performed on the show - I really enjoyed some of them^^

I won't re-watch this drama, but I may want to watch a few scenes of Henry & Woo Ri again lol (they were just too gosh darn cute).

I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a fan of Henry of SUJU or Jung Jin Young of B1A4 (and would only recommend you watch their scenes) & the music :) Save yourself the frustration of the actual story lol - to be honest I started it myself for Jung Jin Young <3 I'm a big fan of B1A4^^

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A music drama about young musicians and an evil entertainment company. This one reminded me of the entertainer (come to think of it... evil CEO trying to destroy rookie band, an ambitious manager who tries to make them famous, young talented artist and of course stolen songs...hmm at least the entertainer had that law conflict). The story is about, mainly, a girl and her two childhood friends, who want to become a band. After being disqualified in a music competition, one of them joins an entertainment company, leaving everyone behind. But, after a tragic event, the band is forced to reunite again. The performances were good and I guess if you are into musical like performances, then this drama is perfect for you. The romance was good at first as well, but got seriously weak towards the end. Fortunately, its a short drama, with only twelve episodes and an old star casting. So, 4 out of 10.

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