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Boys Over Flowers review
I'm pretty sure everyone that likes Korean dramas know this drama, this drama is THAT iconic! This is honestly a classic drama with the most cliche characters. This was the first drama I've ever watched but I decided to re-watch it. Honestly, the chemistry between the main cast is really good. As I was watching this I honestly cringed a little and got annoyed because the characters were just going in circles.ps. when I watched this in 2009 I remember the title being "Boys Over Flowers" or is it just me..?
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Nostalgic and unforgettable.
I have waited a while before writing this review as I was never sure about what I thought about this drama. In certain ways it could be seen as terrible, specially if you only watch the first few episodes. However, around episode 10 the story just takes off, the acting improves, new soundtracks introduced, and suddenly you're up to episode 25 and finished. As a whole the characters are well rounded, they all have quirks, and they all get their time to shine. The different settings and landscapes within this drama are also quite diverse with lots of travel montages. I would say that this drama is a perfect slice of life for 2009, with a little bit of luck, and nostalgia.As always, the soundtrack is always a make or break, and this soundtrack is superb. It is a great mix of 2009 pop and upbeat background instrumentals. The placement of the tracks is sometimes a bit random and felt out of place during the first few episodes. The track placement did however improve during later episodes. Some stand outs from the soundtrack would be 'Lucky' by Ashily, 'Love Is Fire' by KARA, and of course 'Stand By Me' by SHINee which is constantly playing.
Would I recommend this to anyone? Yes, it a good allrounder, acting can be bad at times, but overall worthwhile.
Would I watch this again? Yes, the characters are very relatable, and that attachment would only grow if you were to re-watch.
Would I listen to the soundtrack? Yes, this soundtrack is great, I listen to it constantly, no criticism here.
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This review may contain spoilers
What a wholesome ride
OK so this was my first Kdrama that I watched in 2020 and man it was so wholesome like it had everything - friendship, love, humor ,family , emotion . I really enjoyed it and even today I rewatch it . The story is about a poor girl Jandi who gets a scholarship in the richest school of Korea where she gets bullied, falls in love , makes new friends . Her character was very brave, loud , funny sometimes annoying and stupid but fun to watch . The main lead Joon pyo is a bad boy who is the leader of his group of friends F4 , he is rude, arrogant but at the same time craves love . The second lead Jihoo is actually good, smart and is always there for the FL Jandi . The other characters are really fun to watch as well and everyone is having their own story . I really enjoyed the story of Yi jung and Ga eul too. In the starting episodes I really hated Joon pyo and wanted Jandi to end up with Jihoo but man seeing the character development of Joon pyo and the chemistry between him and jandi , I changed my mind (lol). I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE wanted jandi and jihoo together and I liked them together too but guys there was no spark between them according to me , they were better off as friends , they gave me more of a friendship vibe rather than love but Jandi and Joon pyo really gave me the true love vibe where the boy changes himself into a better human being just for the girl he loves, I literary fell in love with him and Lee min ho ofcourse. The ost of this show was great and I still have some songs of this show in my playlist , this show also showed us that how after still being rich ,people are unhappy while people who are poor atleast have family love which the most important. The visuals of this show are damnnnn fine , nothing can bore you despite being a show of 25 episodes that are 1 hour long it keeps you hooked, there are a lot of ups and downs in the show. The production is great and treat for the eye, the only thing that got me upset was that in the last episode I wanted both Jandi and Joon pyo to marry . I wanted a episode of them marrying each other atleast a special episode but then its ok . Yes this show can be problematic at times as there were some scenes where I was like wth but I get it as it is a very old show, so yes ignoring that aspect this show is a MASTERPIECE and a classic .PS- I love LEE MIN HOO
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I loved all the members of F4, I loved how we get a small aspect of their past life as we get to know them more as individuals as if they were our own friends. I do wish that they showed more of Wubin and his past, I have come to love him as a character as he was the friendliest out of the bunch when he was first introduced. One thing that pulled on my heartstrings is how they developed a really good friendship with Jandi. Typically the way it goes is that the guys that are always on their friends' side with everything, in this case, I was expecting Jihoo, Yijeong, and Wubin to always be on Jun Pyo's side, but both of them knew when he pushing it at times and both of them accepted Jan Di as their good friend. All in all, all of them were portrayed beautifully and I loved all of them.
Coming to Jun Pyo, I loved him and the way Lee Min Ho has portrayed him, he is a hottie then and now. He was a douche bag at first (I didn't hate him) and a bully to other students and made life difficult for Jandi in the beginning, but I loved his character development, he can still be a tease and wants attention when he needs it, but that all comes with his child sincerity. I could understand his actions clearly and it really made me melancholy when Shinwa and his own mother were in his way in chasing his true love.
The kawaii and sweet JiHoo. He is DEFINITELY my favorite character out of the whole drama. There is such huge remorse I have towards his character when he didn't end up with the girl that he wanted, it broke my heart to a thousand pieces. Jihoo really is a gift from the heavens as Jandi says. He has such radiating care and love towards Jandi with the sweetest and brightest smile that melted me every time when he was around her. Again, I loved his character development, although it was a massive development compared to Jun Pyo's, it made me happy when he became much of a brighter and optimistic person with greater care to offer. I really fell in love with him as a character made me love Kim Hyung Joon as a person (despite his past). He remained loyal and caring character from the beginning to the end, he's just the type of guy I wished to have in my life, ugh!
Question is if Jihoo fell in love with her before Jun Pyo did, would things have turned out differently?
Geum Jandi. A lot of people found her annoying and I did read comments about the way she acted, from my perspective she had a reason to, she isn't expected to cry all day and night because of others bringing crap onto her, especially Jun Pyo's mother. She was a loud and bubbly character with a soft heart. But I love her! her resilience and strong character who doesn't tolerate anyone's bullcrap is my strongest points for her. Despite the odds of her not fitting in at Shinwa highschool, she continued to be herself physically and mentally. She isn't the standard Korean Beauty in the drama, she had that tomboy side and I am glad that they made her that way because it can make her more relatable to us viewers. Jandi retained her cool image and that is whar I like about her.
I definitely shipped Ji Hoo and Jan Di 100% more than I did with Jan Di and Jun Pyo. Once I started transitioning from a JanPyo shipper to a JanHoo shipper, I was very convinced that the drama was not going to change my mind. I loved the chemistry between JanPyo throughout the drama, but when Jun Pyo kept hurting her (which I know wasn't his fault most of the time) it did put me off a little bit, other than that, I did appreciate the effort and affectionate things that Jun Pyo did to express his love for her.
JiHoo was a different story, they were soulmates, he treated her well, she treated him well. He gave her every inch of love and care that he had for her. As well as that, they were each other's shoulder to lean on during their times of darkness and he took care of her when he knew Jun Pyo was the one hurting her. Jihoo was so patient to not do anything with her whilst he was with Jun Pyo, it was saddening to see he really had to relinquish her for Jun Pyo. I wish Jihoo did express his feelings properly and more openly to her before it was too late as well as Jandi knowing more of how he felt about her
The music is soo damn goood! All of the songs have a correlation with the drama. I can't pick out favorites cause most of them are my favorites.
Overall I would give this drama a 10 cause I experienced all the emotions and loved every single character. I would definitely watch this drama again someday, but not anytime soon as I still need to recover from my shattered heart and wouldn't want another one anytime soon either ;P
Sorry that it is a bit of a long-winded review, but this was all my thoughts and feelings I had about the drama. Thank you to those who created this drama and made it a phenomenal one, despite my thoughts and feelings about the couples. But thank you for providing us with all the JanHoo scenes as well as the good JanPyo ones
JanHoo= Forever in my heart <3
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This review may contain spoilers
They threw everything at the poor female lead!
Love LMH, but hated his character and his hair! He was just weak, and gave in to his mother. She was evil personified and I didn't like how there were no consequences to all the evil things she did. Gu Jun Pyo never grew. He was a bully, then a weakling for not standing up for Jan Di. Gum Jan Di was just darling. Very spunky. I loved how all the guys really grew to love her and want to take care of her. I loved her family. I hated the ending, I felt it really fell flat (again, if you're in love, you just disappear for years and then come back?), and I feel very strongly that she ended up with the wrong guy. Given the choice between Gu Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo, who in their right mind would choose Gu Jun Pyo?!?!?! I know a lot of women are drawn to "bad boys" but he was not a very nice person overall. And their relationship consisted of them fighting all the time. Not a healthy relationship. There were also too many episodes and every tragedy that could befall Jan Di did - attempted rape, EXTREME bullying, kidnapping, injury that ended her swimming career while trying to save the ML, malnutrition, nosebleeds, exhaustion, parents forced to move away to find work due to his evil mother, public embarrassment by his mother, forced to work as a servant, having your house torn down, ML engaged to another girl and having to help the girl plan the wedding, and having the ML not remember you due to amnesia. There were a few sweet scenes between ML and FL, but MANY, MANY more between FL and 2ML.I do have so say that I have re-watched parts of this many times, mostly the scenes between the FL and 2ML. Theirs was just such a wonderful pairing.
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If I had watched then
I started watching kdramas about 2-3 years ago and most of those have been quite recently releases. With that said, it's quite difficult to watch BOF and trully appreciate its value. At this point, it's just an outdated drama full of cliches that we've seen everywhere else. This is not to point out the quality of it, many times watching or reading a story, it's not about what happens, but how it is executed that makes the art.Warning: mild spoilers
Having finished with the 25 episodes in a short period of time, I still can't decide whether this is a good show with bad moments, or a bad show with good moments. The main couple just coudn't grab my heart, there were very few moments that I was cheering for them to end up together, but most of the time I was just thinking that they are toxic for one another, seriously, one should not cause that much suffering to the one you love just for the sake of love, that's just selfish. But let's say you're a hopeless romantic and dismiss the bad match theory, the show never hides its intention of having the 2nd male lead be who we vouch for, since he was built close to perfection. You know what happens to him? Exactly. It's not just our main lead who is a bully, the show writters are too.
From a production point of view, they put together a good cast, and F4+2 had decent chemistry when together. I was in it mostly for the friendship moments, because that's when we the viewer could relax and just enjoy being entertained. The cook and grandfather were also a good addition to the story, as they introduced a subplot that was fairly interesting to follow.
The predictability of the show was frustrating at times, and didn't give much satisfaction for knewing what was going to happen, instead, it left a feeling of exhaustion as result of the many twists they gave us, and oh did they not stop giving us. Like being on a spinning wheel, you know it's gonna make you dizzy but you go in anyway.
The OST was nice and catchy, I found myself holding on to the still image at the end of the episode just to bop to the song. Adding another SHINee song to my list of favs, SS501...
Overall, it's an entertaining show with a formula that just works, which is why it's still making viewers curious about such an old show. I'm curious to see how the other adaptations dealt with the story and if there's anything added or changed.
Would I watch this again? Very likely no, there are so many shows out there now; will I miss it? Yes, for a little while, like having a stone on your shoe that you take out, and then feeling like something is missing.
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The plot was somewhat disappointing and full of clichés but this drama is definitely a must-watch if you want to understand this drama world better because it was the first drama that got international recognition and brought many people to this world (including me). I only watched it in 2016 (I'm a new fan haha) but I feel its weight on today's dramas- it seems that it is the base to many of them.
It's been two years and I still can't get over the fact that she didn't choose... well, I dont want to spoil it for those who havent seen it yet but if you have, then you know who I mean. His character is my ideal type so I felt personally insulted hahaha but it's okay, they all loved each other anyways.
The soundtrack is amazing- Because I'm stupid is one of my favorite Korean songs of all time.
The actors did well, I guess. I dont really remember much.
I dont think I would rewatch it but I definitely appreciate it a lot!
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This review may contain spoilers
I will start this review with a confession. I am supremely impressed with Lee Min Ho and now I totally understand why he is so popular in East Asia. Initially, whenever I googled a K-drama or any Korean actor, Min Ho’s name or image always showed up in the suggestion list. On reading about him I learned that he is known as the ‘Ryan Gosling of Korea’. That caught my attention and I decided to watch his show hoping to know what all the fuss was about. His show ‘The Heirs’ is one of the most popular and successful K-drama of 2013. But somehow I wasn’t really impressed with Min Ho. The show lacked substance, so I dismissed Min Ho as just another pretty faced actor famous only for his good looks. But Google just wouldn’t give up. His name and images would keep appearing on my suggestion list. So I read some more articles on him and discovered that Lee Min Ho catapulted to fame following the success of Boys Before Flowers (BBF) and it still remains one of his most successful shows. So I decided to give Min Ho another chance and watched BBF. And boy! What a show! And Lee Min Ho… You earned a fan! From now on I shall not complain about girls going crazy over Min Ho. I think I understand what they feeNow that I have gushed over the good-looking Korean actor let me mention that Min Ho only served as a reason to watch the show. His presence has not influenced my review of the show.Let’s weigh Boys Before Flowers on our show beam balance and see if it is worth spending your 25 hours on or no.
Good Weights
Good Looking Cast – I know I had promised not to speak about the good-looking cast as a good weight but I cannot help it, F4 boys are so damn stunning. In fact, the Korean version has the best star cast amongst the different versions of BBF (There is a Japanese and Taiwanese version of the same story. There is an American version too but…lets not talk about it. I tried watching it and would suggest you keep an arm’s distance from that show.) Also, these boys are the central characters of the story and their good looks helped gain audiences attention.
Lee Min Ho as the arrogant Gu Joon Pyo stole the show with his awesome acting and handsome face. He would light up the screen by his mere presence. Kim Hyun-Joong was convincing as the handsome, introvert Yoon Ji-hoo (I am talking only about his looks and not his acting). Kim Bum as So Yi-Jung was just too cute to play a womanizer, but that hardly made any difference. He still is an eye candy.
Compelling Storyline – Despite the length (25 episodes) I never felt bored even for a second (I disliked the last two episodes but they weren’t boring, they are just patience testing!). The script was good and the story was gripping. Once you start watching it you want to know more and more about it. It’s interesting and addictive.
Beautifully Shot – Since the story revolves around rich boys and their lifestyle, the show was shot on extravagant sets and locations. Everything in the show was larger than life. The clothes, the houses, and sleek sports cars, were just over the top. All of it added to the lavish feel of the characters. Overall the show was well shot and looked very appealing.
Bad Weights
Poor Ending – The show was so good but the ending, ugh! The last two episodes tested my patience. ((Spoiler Alert!!)) I was hoping that maybe Jun Pyo is just pretending to have forgotten Jan Di because he’s probably still angry with her, but no! He has actually lost his memory. No not memory, he actually lost just HER memories. He remembers everyone but HER. Seriously? Is that even possible? I guess he has forgotten just the last one year of his life. How convenient! I wish they hadn’t dragged the show over two silly episodes. But then probably, that’s what happens in the original manga so the makers were just sticking to that.
Length – 25 episodes is too long for a K-drama. I am not complaining. I loved every episode (except the last two) but it could have been a little shorter.
Acting – There’s no doubt that Kim Hyun-Joong (Ji Hoo) was the best looking man in the story but he seriously lacks acting skills. Ji Hoo is the most endearing character of the show and Kim Hyun-Joong was aptly cast for his good looks, if only he could work on his expression, scenes would have been much more enjoyable.
One thing I really failed to understand was Geum Jan-di’s childish demeanor. Ku Hye-sun (Geum Jan Di) seems like a good actress but why was she walking and talking like a kid. Geum Jan Di is supposed to be spunky, not childish. I have watched the Japanese and Taiwanese adaptations of the story but neither of the actresses act childish like Jan Di. In fact, they are rather very feisty and gutsy girls unlike the overly silly Jan Di.
The show beam balance has an equal number of good and bad weights and if you ask me despite all the bad weights I really enjoyed watching the show. I was thoroughly entertained. There was no dull moment for me throughout the series (The last two episodes were simply patience testing not dull or boring!) Lee Min Ho may have been my motivation to watch the show but the show itself is strong enough to hold your interest. Lee Min Ho is just an added attraction
Boys Before Flowers may seem over the top but it’s not low on entertainment. It is for anybody who wants to watch some light-hearted romance.
Originally posted on www.alphagirl.in
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The actors did a great job in this drama. I also wish there was a bit more to Ga Eun's love story.
I actually became a fan of Lee Min Ho only after watching the drama Heirs, here his character always annoyed me. But I ended up rewatching it a third time and observed more closely and noticed how his character really grows. I no longer think of him as annoying here.
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a milestone in kdrama history
- my very first kdrama, helped me get rid of the prejudice i had against kdramas- made everyone around my age fall for kdramas & lee minho
- every episode different drama™
- to be honest now looks terrible in quality & kinda cringy when i rewatch it
- made me cry too many times, especially in the last 4-5 episodes
- love you goo junpyo and love you F4
- i still hate goo junpyo's mother & it has been too many years since i watched it
- i my opinion, it is not that big of a second male syndrome
- cute side couple
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