Extraordinary You (2019)

Pretty good but nothing extraordinary

I liked this drama, it was light, sweet, and a bit dramatic. Of course, it had its problems and cliches but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

What I liked:
*The cast. All of the actors and actresses were chosen very well, they played their characters amazingly. The main cast aced their roles. Baek Kyung's actor Lee Jae Wook was absolutely amazing. There were some unconvincing performances by the main couple's actors but I can overlook that and maybe blame the script.
*Soundtrack. It was nice, it fit well within the drama it didn't blow my mind, however. Neverending story by SKZ is a bop though, I can't believe they didn't play the chorus in the drama.
*The set/visuals/effects. The school looked really nice, reminded me of pretty boarding schools from TV shows. The comic book effects like flowers, leaves, and the spotlight were implemented well, I liked that these effects were 'drawn by hand', it showcased that we're watching the panels of a comic book. I also thought that using cool and warm color filters for the 'stage' and 'shadow' was genius. It was easy to understand and follow which plotline we were watching without unnecessary explanations.

What could have been handled better:
*The story. The premise was interesting the execution could have been better. I think the essential plot was too simple and the show dragged out because of that. It could have been more tightly packed, maybe that would have given it more impact. Or they could have introduced other conflicts, for example, trying to travel to the other comic book world through the portal, or finding out who the writer is and changing their story that way, or traveling to the 'real' world.
*The cliches. I know that they are part of the plot because they are part of the comic book the Writer is writing but they could have been handled better. I can overlook them in the 'stage' but seeing the same cliches in the 'shadow' was a bit exhausting, it made the characters flatter.
*The characters. There were a lot of main and supporting characters and it would have been impossible to give every character a well thought out background. I understand why the supporting characters, who are not aware of themselves, are bland but we also saw more main characters than usual and they lacked depth, unfortunately.

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Round and round we go . . .

The premise: what if the characters in a badly written high school romance became self-aware?

The set-up took two full hour long episodes. Beyond the slow pace, the plot keeps going in circles with no real character development. Every once in awhile, the plot would touch on something a bit profound, but it never stayed there and everything was only half explained.

The main actors are charismatic and do well in their roles, and that is the main reason I kept watching. The music went with the feel of the show but doesn't linger in my memory. I will not rewatch.

I grade on other criteria:

Themes - 7
The bad boy, narcissistic protagonists of your typical high school kdrama are horrible romantic partners. True, meaningful relationships can be so much more rewarding. Almost profound in how careless the writer was with Eun Dan-O's fate and death, and how she protested that she was a real person not just a plot point. But, the theme focus would always shift back to which boy was going to rescue her.
Character Growth - 5
The characters switch between their written persona and their real persona but there isn't much in the way of growth.
Relationships between women - 3
Eun Dan-O is surrounded by complicated and focused relationships with men, and very shallow relationships with women.
Cinematography/production values - 8
How this is shot, dreamy and slow, and a bit like panels of a comic book elevates the show more than it deserves. Indeed, how this show was presented tricked me into sticking with it as I kept confusing the well-thought out direction and cinematography with a show that had more gravitas and weight.

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To be young and in love

Likes:
1. Danoh and Haru's relationship. To be young and in love.
2. Dohwa. Super cute and friendly guy. Can't believe Juda didnt choose him but that's okay. Juda and Namju deserves each other.
3. The mystery kept me glued to the show and i loved the parallel story that was unfolding
4. I liked what Danoh said. She may be an extra in someone's life, but that's okay because she is the lead in her own story. And she took charge of her own life and happiness.
5. But we should also be careful because some of our actions may unknowingly impact other people's lives. And there are some things we cant change.
6. Get ready to cry in Episodes 15-16
7. I can imagine the main leads will be the next gen actors and actresses (kind of like how The Heirs catapulted the cast to fame).

Dislikes:
1. The writer made Gyeong such a hateful character in both shadow and stage throughout the show and only gave him the last 3 episodes to be nice. Good thing i love the actor playing him so i couldnt hate Gyeong as much as i wanted to.
2. Repetitive confrontation between Gyeong and Haru in the middle was tiring and didnt really help move the story forward.
3. Didnt really cared much about Juda and Namju and their cliched story.

Overall this was a fun drama to watch, considering i dont really watch high school kdramas.

Rating: 7.5/10

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as I'm writing this, I still haven't decided what my rating is.. I feel like I actually enjoyed this drama, but looking back there were lots of small things that were a NO for me.. so I'm not sure if I liked this drama or not.

I think my biggest issue would be many of the characters. for example the main male, Haru. his personality didn't click with me :| I'm getting bored of this stereotype of the cold, mean main guy. yeah, he was sweet, but it feels like he didn't have any personality besides just staring and being handsome. Namju too, his role was to be the condescending rich pretty boy. the rest of the guys, were pretty average. the exception would be Dohwa, whom I actually liked and found funny. but I don't know if I should complain about this because technically they were meant to be like this, since they're characters of a webtoon, right? again I'm not sure of how I feel.
then we have Juda, which was ok I guess. I just hate how in every drama all female characters must have some kind of beef going between them (always because of shared love interests).. can drama directors change this up a little, please?

but then, I liked the overall concept of the drama. I always say school settings are hit or miss for me, but this one was decent. it kept me entertained because I genuinely didn't know which direction it was going for. I really liked Danoh, by the way. the actress portrayed her very well.

the ending was a bit underwhelming, in my opinion, but it was logical and understandable. so yeah, now that I thought about my feelings on this drama, I think that overall, I enjoyed the music and story, and the acting too. I just wouldn't re-watch it because I wouldn't help but notice all the flaws and plotholes in the characters and the story itself.

7/10

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Concept is good , comic world
I like the acting of Dan Oh ,her character is like happy go lucky despite her life and fate in somebody else she always be optimist ,I enjoyed watching her acting , she looked so cute when she spoke actually her dialogue seemed to be little funny when she was off the stage.
Parallel story of Haru and Dan Oh was nice (concept base on history repeat itself) .
I got emotional two times by Haru acting 1 .when Dan Oh was going to die and he cried so badly and saying Aagashi (my lady) and 2. When he was going to be disappear and tightly hug Dan Oh so emotional one.
I like the dialogue of Joo Da when she was saying to Do Hwa that you can live happy without me but Nam Joo don't sometime we need to take such difficult decision and sacrifice our happiness and wishes.
Do Hwa acting was also super cool .
But one thing I did not understand, at last episode when their school was over means story end then why all the character disappear why they continue to live ànd outside the stage they can do whatever they want to do then why Haru disappear ,outside the stage he was not comic character at second thought writer make him character of comic so his role was over so he disappeared and he was no more character of the drama so he would not be there outside the drama also . Though they were living in the comic world but sometime they playing character role which was fake and sometime they play real role but still they are in comic world so they were not real .this thing confusing me a lot .
Sometime it looked like same as "W " drama story not different .
Anyways I like the drama .
Good one ,all supporting actors also did great job ....everyone was perfect in their acting ,those two kiddos also very good .

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i've been recommended this drama a couple of times, but at first i thought of it as a typical high school drama and refuse watching it. yesterday, after finishing Weightlifting fairy kim bok joo i was in the search of a new drama to watch. i came across Extra-ordinary You trailer and then got interested in watching it. (as a sucker for fantasy dramas)
tbh just after finishing 1st episode i was sure that this will be on my top dramas list. i was the most excited and hooked when i think in episode 4 or 5 when dan-oh found out that she's not a main character. i've been very much interested as to what will happen next.
today i continued from epi 5 to epi 32 and i just finished the drama.
i loved the visuals ! the warm effect when the stage is over and the cool effect when the shadow is over.
i liked lee do hwa so much! he had a funny personality and he is the most handsome one imo and the way he and dan-oh comments about the cringy lines in the comic. i also liked the scenes sae-mi and her friend who wears glasses, dried squid fairy and his past life lover and dan-oh and haru scenes along the pond in the forest full of fireflies! that moment felt magical :)))
the drama went downhill towards the middle and im pretty much annoyed by the repetitive flashbacks. like what the heck? when (mostly) haru has a conversation b/w dried squid fairy or baek kyung, then after that, he will have flashbacks about it for like 3 or 4 times.
but despite all the plot-holes i loved the drama and it became one of my favorites!

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It was a good drama until the few last episodes where it felt like it was rushed.

I was thinking Kyung's step bro was the writer. I never knew nor seen in the story that he revealed or Kyung discovered that step bro is aware, and so is Ju Da. It just popped out in some episodes that they are automatically aware. I was looking forward to Do Hwa being happy or sth when he knew Ju Da is aware but nah.

I am all for Do Hwa & Ju Da and the way she decided to end up with Nam Ju is wth thing to me. She is confusing as F.

Who, how, and why? This drama is all okay at first and in the middle but the ending? ugh.

As the series says, the writer is using the same characters from the previous books. How about everything changed in the new book? Like some random extra to be on spotlight or Dan Oh to be partnered with other guys. I guess that will be amazing.

Skip this one. Sad to say. You'll only feel the rush from start til mid, then it will throw you somewhere at the last part. As much as I love Kyung and Do Hwa but the ending ruined it!

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This is a great drama with a great initial and unique plot line but it kinda falls apart at some parts. The story idea is quite unique to me. Dan Oh finds out that she is just an extra in someone else's story that is used as a pillar for the leads' relationship, but her own character has a cruel fate that she wants to change and live independently from the writer and the story. However, it falls apart halfway as there isn't much progress in their goal, and she shifts her priorities from changing her fate and protecting herself to protecting Haru. I read some reviews that were annoyed by her change of passion, but it made sense to me since she realized the risks of her plans.
The development of the leading characters was very unbalanced, mostly because of Haru. Dan Oh and Baek Kyung both have their own spotlight, stories, and independence, but there wasn't much depth to Haru's character. He was like the disney prince that shows up at the end to give the princess her happily ever after, but he was present for the majority of the drama. It seemed like his character's sole purpose was to help Dan Oh and become her love interest, and he wasn't independent from her. He did have a back story in trumpet creeper, which was great and gave him a little bit more development, but it wasn't enough. All he thought about was Dan Oh and he didn't have his own spotlight or his own purposes like a kdrama male lead should. I understand that the point of his character was to be the mysterious guy that can move independently from the writer but I think he should have gradually developed himself. I did really like Rowoon's acting especially in trumpet creeper. Baek Kyung's character had more potential as he had his own story, reasons, and he was flawed and had realistic emotions, but he was a very unlikeable character. He only dropped his rude personality towards the end. He was supposed to be rude and unlikeable in the beginning but I wish that he gradually became nicer and more likable so that I could sympathize with him more. I also really love Lee Jae Wook as an actor and I'm really amazed at the duality of the different characters in the two shows I watched him in (dodosolsollalasol being the other one) Dan Oh was a great character and I don't have much to say about her. She was the true main character of the series.
I did like the side characters Lee Do Hwa and Yeo Ju Da a lot. Lee Do Hwa was probably the most likable character of the series and I really liked his friendship with Haru. Yeo Ju Da was a very cliche, helpless, dependent "Cinderella" type character that couldn't do anything for herself other than wait for her Prince Charming to come save her, but then she became self aware halfway through and started taking control of her own life. She stood up to her bullies, Oh Nam Ju's mother, and became less dependent of Oh Nam Ju, even if it was just in the shadow. She grew out of her helpless disney princess character and showed a better, more independent side of her. I was really rooting for her and Do Hwa because it seemed like she actually liked him a lot more and Do Hwa's feelings for Ju Da were much more genuine than Nam Ju's. Since Oh Nam Ju never became self aware, he never got any depth to his character, as all he did was make "official announcements" that he liked Ju Da, gave her expensive gifts, saved her from bullies, and admired her from afar. He was a really boring character, but I think that was the point. Regardless, I wished Ju Da picked Do Hwa, even just in the shadow.
I didn't like the ending because it seemed like a filler in order to have a happily ever after. I was expecting to see Dan Oh die but instead Haru disappeared and the whole world closed up and then in another world they met up again. The last ten minutes was quite unfulfilling and kinda boring. Idk what else to say bat it other than I didn't like it.
There were also a lot of unanswered questions about this drama, but this review is getting long so I don't want to get into it too much.

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