Great heroine, amazing friends-to-lovers story but a bit rushed ending
A great rom-com and sport drama with one of the best heroine ever! I loved the relationship between the 2 main leads: it was an exceptional friends-to-lovers romance captivating all along the show.The personality of the heroine was amazing: she made the show for me! The hero was also really swoony with some moments that make your toes curl! The second couple story was interesting as it gave an interesting counterpoint in terms of adult romance within a group of friend. Their evolution is nice to follow as well. The actors' acting was great, above all Park Seo Joon who is radiating pure charisma and brilliant in his more emotional scenes.
The main negative for me that decreased my interest on the show were a couple of secondary storylines which I feel did not bring added value to the main plot. Especially in the last third of the drama, I would have preferred we spend more times with the four main characters to develop deeper and conclude better their story arc (in terms of relationship, professional achievements and dreams) rather than on the storyline of the owner of the building. The last episode would have been much more satisfying in that case, rather than feeling a bit too rushed because of that specific narrative arc taking so much place.
Overall, despite this, I was quite satisfied with the ending and still think that it is a series worth too watch thanks to its spunky heroine and its jaw-dropping hero.
I would recommend this to people who like a strong heroine, friends-to-lovers trope and are looking for an addictive fun romance with some (quite unexpected for the genre) deeper moral around dreams and adulthood.
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The storyline was well thought out. It's a beautiful story about four best friends trying to find their place in this world and I think that's why this drama did so well in this first place. It spoke well with its audience. With each episode, I could feel my curiosity grow, as I was constantly trying to anticipate what would happen next. Plus, there was so much going on that there wasn't even a second for me to feel bored.
What makes this great cast even more commendable is their chemistry on set. The connection between these four friends felt so real that I truly believed their friendship went beyond just their acting.
If you've read my other reviews, you would know I'm not really a fan of upbeat music. But strangely enough, I found this drama's soundtrack super uplifting. If you're ever in a bad mood, I would highly advise you to jam out to some of their OST's because they'll cheer you up for sure.
Overall, I give this drama a big thumbs up. To all you romantic-comedy fans out there, this one's for you. Though, I probably won't rewatch anytime soon. Only because I still vividly remember a lot of it. Maybe when I don't anymore (and need to refresh my memory) will I do so.
With that said,
Llama out.
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Between the two main couples blossoms a beautiful romcom that is easy and fun for viewers to enjoy.
You follow these two couples as they struggle through their ordinary lives trying to make ends meet, pursue romance, and chasing dreams. While watching the show I found myself wanting to cheer them on.
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This review may contain spoilers
Didn't liked it much
The concept is chasing ones dreams. But characters were acting all immature & naive.Scenes I liked:
I laughed when Choi Ae Ra beats her ex boyfriend for cheating
It's cute when Ko Dong Man switches seat with Choi Ae Ra because some boys were looking at her with bad intentions.
Laughed so much at the scene were Choi Ae Ra told Ko Dong Man about her cheating bf.
Ko Dong Man reaction to Choi Ae Ra hair flip with her best friend
Laughed so much when Ko Dong Man & Choi Ae Ra mimic each other & the coach saying I’m holding a knife.
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The cast was just superb, I can't picture anyone else for those roles, because they were perfectly casted.
They made me love and appreciate all of their characters in a way that is beyond me.
I really liked the OST (especially BTOB's track) and I like listening to the songs from time to time,
Overall I really recommend this particolar drama if you're looking for something very realistic but still heart-warming and adorable. And also for the amazing kiss scenes (all hail Park Seo Joon that has now made my standards for a boyfriend even higher).
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Fight for My Way (2017)
Despite it's oddly prudish nature, the show does an good enough job in showcasing the adult relationships of four best friends. I can't say I'm fully supportive of how the characters were written e.g., weirdly childish but it's sorta acceptable due to the well-rounded chemistry between the cast. Honestly, just slightly toning down the childlike antics and have the characters act like somewhat serious actual working adults in their mid to late 20s would've done wonders for this show.The story while very endearing, affectionate, and at times emotional, was a bit awkward and overly melodramatic when it came to moving the plot along. Though I will say, the juxtaposition of one pair of friends chasing their dreams versus the other pair facing relationship issues was an enjoyable contrast to prevent the show from being too one-dimensional.
All in all, it's a fine show to watch for the cute, casual, slice of life-y, romance-y bits. It's decent enough on the both the romance and comedy to qualify for a romantic comedy. And it for sure has enough drama to qualify for being a drama of all time.
The lesson learned here: always fight, whether physically or mentally, for your dreams, goals, and aspirations. Don't do it for others, do it for yourself--- your way.
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Cozy and heartfelt drama
I'm so glad I finally watched this. It was such a fun drama to watch with many funny moments. It presents the struggles of four people trying to chase their dreams in a world where unjust things happen. The length was just right, I thought the backstory of Ae Ra's mother was a bit rushed. But you don't notice time passing when watching this.The acting was really good and sincere. All the actors delivered; Park Seo Joon is so good in comedy dramas, Kim Ji Won played great.
The OST was so cute and beautiful!
This is definitely a drama to rewatch!
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An Emotional, yet Lighthearted Look at Love and Dreams
This Korean romantic-comedy is a masterful blend of gut-wrenching, sentimental scenes mixed together with funny, playful moments. The stellar acting by all of the cast makes you feel the pain, desperation, sadness, hope, joy, love, laughter that the characters go through. The one weakness of this show is that the ending is rushed, but in my opinion, this is easily forgivable by the strong, character-driven experience that this drama provides.Story: The main focus of the story surrounds the four main characters, the "Fantastic Four" as they claw their way from being poor, unfulfilled young adults towards their life and career goals, while navigating the ups and downs of romance. However, the main charm of this show is in its presentation of the story and the characters. The story commits to semi-realism: the characters wake up with less-than-perfect hair and their pajamas, they go through the feelings of painful breakups and the excitement of discovering a new beau, and they work to make a living even though their ideal line of work is something else. This grounds the story so that you can relate to the characters' trials and triumphs, and I found myself emotionally invested in each character's progress in their careers and love lives. Still, this is a Kdrama, so the leads are still gorgeous idols, so the realism is not one-hundred percent. Overall, I was mostly satisfied with the story, but definitely feel that setup too many plot points and waited until Episode 16 to resolve them, resulting in an extremely rushed finale. Without spoilers, I will mention that there is one particular conflict regarding the main characters, Dong Man and Ae Ra, that I felt was not really resolved, but I forgave this minor point due to how strong the rest of the series was.
Acting: The entire cast did an excellent job that I felt a variety of emotions. For starters, forget the adult actors for a moment: the child actors were absolute gems that really captured the spirit of the young versions of the main characters and really elevated the relationships of their characters by showing you how they interacted with each other when they were young and the extent to which these interactions did and didn't change. But of course the adult actors were also excellent: Park Seo Joon plays the role of a well-intentioned, blunt guy well and I cried for his moments of desperation while cheering for his moments of triumph. Kim Ji Won showed a strong acting range, including iconic Aegyo moments that are immortalized in video clips, times of despair, strength in face of adversity, shy weakness when she is swooning, and romance when she is in love -- this was the drama that elevated her to my favorite actress. Moreover, the rest of the supporting cast is amazing and it would take too long to talk about each one: Kim Sung Oh accentuates his character to add a funny yet meaningful bromance with Dong Man. Song Ha Yoon plays the meek Baek Seol Hee who eventually finds her own voice/meaning in life and demands it. Even the "villains", if they can be called that, are excellent -- the ones that wrong the main characters are truly hateful and the ones are misunderstood are acted in such a way that you deplore them, but then understand their true intentions in the end.
Music: The soundtrack is typical for a K-drama, but I don't think that's a bad thing. You will find catchy tunes such as Kassy's Good Morning, a ballad whose melody fits the gentle moments that the main characters experience. The BTOB song Ambiguous is a direct call out to the relationship of the main characters.
Rewatch value: The series' focus on characters makes this drama easily rewatchable -- you will want to revisit your favorite moments with the Fantastic Four, including some of their funny interactions. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say there is physical humor in addition to the more-typical, verbal humor, and I think it adds a special lightheartedness to the show.
Overall: I cannot recommend this show enough. It is not perfect, but the strong points of this drama are so vibrant that I think it overrides some of the limitations of the series. If you were on the fence about giving this show a watch, I highly recommend that you dive straight into Episode 1 and see what you think.
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The drama is soooo fun but at the same time it gives us lessons in life. specially in fighting for our way towards our dreams. The OSTs are also very good and also the sound effects.
I'm rooting for the main leads. Kim Ji Won and Park Seo Joon, Fighting! I really hope and pray that they would have another drama together as main leads. Can't wait for it! My gassssh! They act naturally that I thought I'm watching a reality show. Hahaha
MY FAVORITE KOREAN DRAMA indeed!
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This review may contain spoilers
I had a love-hate relationship with this drama. I’d be loving it and then next scene it would be a chore to keep watching. So I’ll separate the things I loved, and the things I didn’t.things I loved:
- this show was realistic, I liked that. In terms of jobs, sometimes you can’t necessarily get your ‘dream’ job and just need to earn money. (of course this show was about the characters turning their life around and doing what they wanted, and yes it was nice to see them live out their dreams)
- dong man x ae ra’s relationship was a great example of friends to lovers. they had a lot of chemistry (bonus points for the most bedsharing scenes I've seen in a drama yet)
- Park Seo Joon’s character definitely suited him. I loved him in ‘What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018)’ but this character felt much more natural to him - personality and such.
things I didn’t:
- the second lead’s relationship plot line. Joo-man is trash and Sul-hee deserves so so much better. We spend 90% of the show watching the slow development of an affair? I’m still confused as to why they were dating for 6 years and never told any of their work colleagues. How could they not know? And I get they didn’t need to go ‘public’ per say, but when the situation called for it (aka, a girl is flirting with a man in a relationship) what’s the big deal? Just simply say “sorry, I have a girlfriend” SIMPLE. It’s not like dating is forbidden at their work? Hell Joo-man’s clueless colleague/boss/whatever kept pushing him towards Ye-Jin like there was no tomorrow.
- While I’m at it, is there something I’m missing??? Why tf were those 2 girls so enthralled with Joo-man to begin with?? He is literally the most bland person, and he isn’t even attractive??
- Anyways, I’m still bitter that she ended up taking him back in the end
- We had to go down the ‘long lost parent’ road, yet again ~sigh~ “why did you abandon me?!” here we go
- Why is nearly every man on this show trash?? Like Dong-Man and his coach are the only ones that are bloody decent guys? Wtf?
- Poor Choi Ae-Ra. She had a crazed stalker, a cheating asshole, and then a guy who was a jackass who was secretly getting married?? Jesus christ, this poor girl.
- Why did they have to stuff so many storylines at the end of the show? It felt like the writers had bitten off too much than they could chew. If I re-watched it all I feel like I would still have questions. For e.g. what was that filmed ’preview’ with the 3 kids?? Choi Ae-Ra’s mum was like ‘don’t ruin the kids!!’. How?? And how did all their parents have history?? I swear that never got answered
- Shows with sports always bore me, because: it’s sports. So I was never all that into Dong Man’s MMA fights. But I will admit the show made them not that bad to watch.
Anyways, long story short, all things considered - this show was average. I’m glad I was able to cross it off my watch list.
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Dare To Take Risks!
This is a series that finally looks through the looking glass from the other side. Instead of having one or more characters coming from wealthy, prominent families, we have four people in their late 20s struggling to make ends meet, just like most of us. What makes this series work so well is that you can relate to the characters.If you want to get anywhere in life, risks are necessary. Vulnerability is necessary. Those who play it safe never truly get anywhere, and this series is about fulfilling your dreams and taking that big first step outside your comfort zone that just might lead to something great. Complacency and settling are the only true enemies to success. If you have a dream, you have to go for it and let nobody stand in your way. Teddy Roosevelt once said, “far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” This series emulates this truth.
Ko Dong Man is a disgraced MMA fighter, who finds himself doing odd-jobs just to make ends meet. Of course, he hates his jobs, but perhaps not as much as he hates his abusive boss. Still, he knows that he’s not doing what he loves: being an MMA fighter. And he finally decides to go back to it. His best friend is childhood friend, Choi Ae Ra whose loves for Ko Dong Man is only matched by her overbearing, temperamental demeanor. She often acts more like a mother than a friend. Choi Ae Ra is a woman who is also stuck in a rut, working a thankless job at a department store. Her dream is to become an announcer.
Kim Joo Man and Baek Seol Hee are in a six-year relationship and are basically living together as well as working at the same company. However, they aren’t married yet as Joo Man believes that he needs to be able to provide a better life for Seol Hee, even though it’s apparent that Seol Hee doesn’t care about that. Joo Man and Seol Hee share a sweet relationship that has, perhaps, gone a little stale. This leads Joo Man to make some unwise decisions when a female co-worker shows interest in him. Unable to see the situation for what it actually is, he falls into the traps laid out for him by the co-worker.
All four characters find themselves navigating the pitfalls of jobs and romance as they struggle to eke something out of the dreams that each of them has for themselves. Is it possible? Isn’t it safer to just continue to work in a meaningless occupation where neither passion nor fulfillment exist? You might be surprised how many people actually believe that it’s better to play it safe. I’ve even heard parents tell their children this.
There is only one Adrian Balboa. I’m talking about Rocky Balboa’s wife who hated the fact that Rocky was a boxer and routinely got hurt. However, after going through her own fears, she understands that she hasn’t the right to stand in the way of her husband’s passion and dreams. Nobody has that right.
Choi Ae Ra is a woman who loves Ko Dong Man, but she hates the fact that he is an MMA fighter. It’s understandable. How can someone stand by and watch someone they care about continuously get hurt? She can barely watch the fights that he’s in, and most of the time, she is paralyzed with fear that she’s left in tears. It’s not for everyone. However, Choi Ae Ra makes the mistake of giving Ko Dong Man an ultimatum: give up fighting or lose her. This is an unfair and completely selfish demand. If a person can’t handle being around someone else due to their job (military, policeman, etc.) then that person has every right to step out of that world, but don’t ask that person to give up being who they are. I was thrilled when Ko Dong Man refused to give in to her ultimatum and stuck with his dream. After all, he’d already quit on his dream once. Understandably, he can’t do it again.
The cast is first-rate, with Park Seo Joon (Ko Dong Man) and Song Ha Yoon (Seol Hee) being the standouts for me. This is the fourth time I’ve seen Park Seo Joon, and he brings his boyish charm and great sense of humor to his roles. This one is no exception as he virtually steals every scene he’s in. We laugh and cry with him. Song Ha Yoon is the same for me. As much as I like Kim Ji Won, Song Ha Yoon has a veritable sweetness and childlike vulnerability that is captivating. When she is crushed due to Joo Man’s betrayal, she makes us feel it. She is also the more mature of the two female leads.
The series is quite light without any serious drama or any ridiculous love-triangles. We do have Park Hye Ran who keeps trying to get her ex-boyfriend, Ko Dong Man back, but after already been burned once by her, he shows absolutely no interest in her at all. I was relieved. I nearly cringed and said, “Oh, no! Not another love-triangle!” As much as I like K-dramas, they do tend to milk the “love triangle” a bit too much.
I was also pleased with the more mature approach to the relationships. After six years together, it makes perfect sense the Joo Man and Seol Hee are living together. And while we have just a few awkward moments between Ko Dong Man and Choi Ae Ra, it also made sense that they would have a desire to spend the night together. “We’ve known each other for 20 years! How much slower do we have to go?” they ask. It added charm and realism to their situation, which always felt natural rather than awkward. I also tend to cringe in dramas where any act of intimacy (even just hugging or kissing) is treated like a crime is about to be committed. I will say that the scene where Ko Dong Man and Choi Ae Ra accidentally fall asleep in the hotel room together was absolutely hilarious!
I absolutely love how expressive Korean actors and actresses are, especially when you get really good ones like these four performers. You feel everything they feel, and there is no shame in the expression. We see just how crushed Joo Man is when he breaks down in tears after realizing that his naivety has disastrous consequences, or Choi Ae Ra’s reaction to Ko Dong Man getting seriously hurt in his fights. I love how these actors are able to tap into those emotional wells as it makes it all so real and poignant.
If you’re looking for something light and fun as well as something that you’ll likely relate to, you really can’t go wrong with this fun and delightful series!
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COREIA ACERTOU MUITO. meu friends to lovers favorito. Adoro como eles conseguiram desenvolvimento a história e sonho dos personagens e o romance muito bem, sem empurrar muito. O dorama no geral é muito engraçado e nn aborda temas muito pesados o que deixa muito fácil de assistir. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Was this review helpful to you?
