Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022)

The adventure of five friends

It's the end of my spring vacation, almost the end of the week, and also the end of the beautiful k-drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One.
I will be honest - I cried about 6 or 7 times through the final episode xd

2521 brought me some of my memories with my classmates, fun, happiness, and sadness, it healed my 40°C fever xd, gave me a good time, a lot of life lessons, and many more things - it's still so many that if I could write it here it would be probably like a minimal 500 pages of word document with text size 12 xddd
Also, I'm glad I had the best childhood I ever could have, all thanks to my loving parents ^^♥

https://mydramalist.com/profile/Lamaclon_CZ/feeds/WVNWzi3
As I mentioned in the post of episode 3 on my feed before, it has a superpower, can transfer me to "another dimension", and it's definitely something I would (will? • ᵕ •) watch after a crappy or tiring day. And now I'm going to the main point I said there - If it ends well it will be in my favs.....
..... AND IT WILL!
It didn't end How I thought it will end but that's good I think. Well my ending is still there a few episodes back haha xd
But let's get back to the real ending - I really like how it ended, it's probably better than the one I thought about so here's a big thanks to Kwon Do Eun, Jung Ji Hyun, Kim Seung Ho, and the rest of the staff for creating this beautiful story ^^

And of course, I need to write something about the actors - without them, it wouldn't even be possible xd
I really liked the main gang - Kim Tae Ri, Nam Joo Hyuk, Bona, Choi Hyun Wook, and Lee Joo Myung ♥
I liked all of them and I also discovered them thanks to this drama.
It will be a little tough I think but I'm already planning to watch every drama or movie they were in xdd
I think I will suffer a little but why not set a little challenge right?

Oh I almost forget about the OST xdd
The OST doesn't have as many songs as others but I think it's still enough. I don't know if it's possible to add a link or something to this post, so I will do it in the next one.

That's probably also the end of my little review/thoughts ^^
And because I don't want to end it, here are some final sentences:
• If you will ever write a message, warning or something don't forget to reread it once again - you never know if there isn't a misspelling like do not distrub xdd
• Treasure the moments you experience with your friends and colleagues.
• If you will have a hard time, be tired, bored, or overworked take a pause for a few minutes or an hour, or even a few days off if it's possible, to heal, chill or have a fun time with friends or family ^^
• Even if sometimes it doesn't look like it, your family still loves you no matter what
• If you have a dream go for it, you never know, it might come true

OK, that's it for real now xd
If someone is still reading this then I thank you a lot for reading this ^^
I had a really good time with this :)

Well I know I said this is THE END but let me write a few quotes please :)

• “In some moments, we’re doing our best but all of that is just a practice.”

• “Doing your best is a given. Don’t just do your best. You have to do well.”

• “Your skills don’t improve consistently but in steps.”

• “Improve your perspective. That will help you to see yourself objectively.”

• “Back then, I believed I could have everything. There were so many things I wanted to have. I had thought love and friendship were mine to have for a brief moment.”

• “Feeling pressure is also an experience.”

• “Life is long and fireworks are short.”

• “The summer belongs to us!”

• “Running away isn’t the solution.”

• “You have no idea how much your love has brightened up my life.”

• “Let’s suffer together when we’re in pain. It’s 100 times better than being lonely alone.”

• “You always lead me to do what is right and to a good place.”

• “It’s not a rainbow. It’s love.”

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A Beautifully Cynical Portrayal of Youth and Emotions

An emotion, whether it be a sweet or sour one, eventually succumbs to the nature of time. A memory solidified in the past, that can no longer be tapped into, once a passionate emotion becomes a far-off glimpse into the past. The stance taken in 25-21 is that drunken youthfulness eventually sobbers up and becomes part of the ephemeral nature of life and that one must take the breakups and sadness in life and continue to move on.

One of my favourite lines in the drama, and one that sums up both my love and quarrels with the drama is, "We only love each other during our good times, but we become a burden to each other in our low points". The relationship between Baek Yi-Jin and Na Hee-Do initially starts off as a promise to "only be happy together" however this exact promise and the inability to rise above this promise is what leads to the eventual breakup.

Throughout the drama we see Hee-do and Yi-Jin develop a relationship that is greatest than friendship, they fall in love and spend the beginning of their young adult lives together. The issue between the two is not their lack of opportunities in meeting with each other, but their lack of communication. Hee-Do despite being in pain at Yi-Jin's avoidance of her (by solely pursuing his career) keeps these conflicts to herself and never truly expresses her discontent towards Yi-Jin until their eventual breakup. Yi-jin suffers this lack of communication to a greater extent than Hee-do, where he rarely opens up to Hee-do and continues to keep his issues bottled up (tighter than the alcohol corks on the bottles he gobbles down), creating a rift between the two where they only ever show the good parts to each other, rather than sharing and growing together through their shared grievances.

I view this drama through a more cynical lens, where the ending is not one of happiness and moving past one's miseries, but rather one that demonstrates the results, for couples, when they lack proper communication. The way that Yi-Jin and Hee-do gaze at each other, and think about their past (in the 2009 interview) is not one that is of a couple who has moved on. Instead, our two protagonists look at each other with deep sadness behind their words. who were unable to work together to solve their issues together. I do not think Hee-do will truly be happy without someone like Yi-Jin in her life (and vice versa). I've seen the comment that the couple's relationship was 'realistic' however the extent that both Hee-Do & Ye-Jin go for each other was beyond realism from the get-go. Their "realistic" ending is not realistic, but rather tragic. Their breakup is a tragedy, one where the missing piece to their relationship was open communication about their grievances.

Hee-do, we see at the age of 41, has let go and forgotten most of her precious memories with her main friend group, as seen with her forgetting of the beach memory. This was a memory which not only was documented and aired on TV but was also a first for her--her first school trip. For hee-do to forget this moment leads to her tragic departure from Yi-Jin because had she truly gotten over Ye-Jin she would've been able to look back at that memory with a sense of bittersweetness, instead, she needs, to forget these moments to truly erase--not get over-- Yi-Jin. First and Last memories are not easily forgotten, for Hee-Do to forget her first school trip exhibits her mid-life sadness. Erasing someone and healing from someone are two different things and from the Hee-Do we see in 2020 we're given a woman who has completely let go of her past in an unhealthy manner. To convince herself that she is happier without Yi-Jin, she has to forget the precious moments she has with him.

In a 65-61 future I see both Hee-Do and Yi-Jin stuck in their denial, that they were not meant to be with each other, and that they made the right choice. They, in my opinion, made the wrong choice and must live with that choice for the rest of their lives.

It's the tragic and frustrating nature of this ending that also makes the series more memorable, we see a glimpse of a couple and what they could have had together.

Overall, despite my grievances with the ending, I truly loved this drama--especially the character development between the main friend group (the only expectation is the development of Yi-Jin to take on a job without discussing it with Hee-Do, which was just plain dumb). We grow with the characters and it shows, because it hurts just as much when we see them in pain and not together.

I would describe this drama as an extreme roller-coaster of emotions.

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A very good drama with disappointing ending

I loved 2521. Its easily in my top 3 dramas ever. I cried a lot and i laughed a lot. I even got jealous. The life of the characters seemed so light and free. Everything was perfect untill the last episodes.I love sad endings and i love happy endings. But this was neither. I didnt get the satisfaction of knowing Hee-Do's future and i also didnt get closure for her past. It felt so empty.
This drama is definitely worth watching, but beware the ending is not that good. If youre a person capable of switching your opinions often, my advice is to not read the reviews. You will not be able to enjoy the drama fully.

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"That summer was ours to keep"

firstly, what a drama this was... i have so many emotions that i went through in these 16 episodes in a span of 3 ish months. throughout this drama, i felt sadness, grief, giddy, soft, frustration, single and most of all, i found all the characters relatable. it was like watching so many versions of myself in a drama. that's when you know a drama is done well. you feel so much to the point that you want to reach to the screen and say, "i feel you buddy"

it's crazy but the friend group almost felt like real people to me. the struggles that these characters had and the funny plus wholesome interactions they had; it all makes me feel nostalgic. twenty five twenty one takes you back to your good days and bad days but manages to take it up a notch to deliver a story in which anyone can resonate with it. i grew attached to the characters, the story and the atmosphere to the point that i kept this drama in my list for more than a month. i couldn't let go of it.

the struggle of adulting, the beauty of friendships, how backward the thinking was to excuse abuse of students, the bitter circumstances of others and how love doesn't always work out. everything is in this drama yet the pacing is not weird at all. if i were to complain about anything, the ending definitely felt quite rushed though i still understood where the characters were coming from.

here's me rambling about other stuff i loved in this drama:
-can we please talk about yu rim and hee do? they're legit so precious and it was a joy to see how their relationship evolved. i think besides the whole friend group and the cutesy romance, these two definitely made this worth a watch. the chemistry was so good that you could almost fool me that these two were into each other.

-i really enjoyed seungwan's character and her strength to go through what she did. she was like a mom in the group.

-ji woong was also fun to watch and he was really cute with yu rim. everything about these two were fluffy.

-hee do!!! my sunshine! i love everything about this girl! she's the literal definition of the meme "never back down never what" she improved so much as a character but she always had that fighter spirit in her. i'm proud of her.

overall, i really enjoyed this. this drama is something i wouldn't mind rewatching in the future but i'd definitely need some emotional support. it is a one-of-a-kind drama that you won't get to see much of. the great pacing, wholesome friendships, beautiful romance and meaningful lessons are all what makes this drama such a good watch.

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Give the drama a try

The drama altogether is superb.It has many positives and some negatives.

Positives.
I had a very beautiful ride when i look at the drama as whole.
The relationship between friends, parents,teacher .. everything was just marvellous.
The game fencing was potrayed so beautifully that i even wished to study it.
The actors had done their part so well that we fell in love with every character whether it's main leads,second leads or supporting actors.
It was a relaxing and calming story except last ep.It gave us the hope to dream and capture your dream and also teaches us many lessons.

Negative
The main negative is the ending.The drama initially itself gave many clues that it was a sad ending.so i was ready for it but the fact that made me hurt was that the ending was not satisfying.It didn't explained well about each characters life after all the happenings.
The drama us not full of big twists and turns .It has some though.It depends on your taste whether it will keep u thrilling or not.


Don't decide to not watch this drama just because of it has a sad or unsatisfying ending because this drama gives us so many other beautiful memories and moments in all other episodes.So give it a try...

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the ending was dissapointing

i'm a bit dissapointed. the first too episodes i wasnt super invested but still wanted keep watching and until the 14ish episode i actually enjoyed it a lot. but the ending totally ruined it for me. i didn't like that the daughter and older hee do were included. i don't think that it was needed and it spoiled things too much. main leads had great chemistry and all but the age gap still felt iffy to me. and the ending didn't really make sense? i feel like the female lead was too strong and willing to not give up on anything in life to just break up like that? we didn't get enough happy moments or enough bad moments for it to break off so soon just because of their work. their relationship developed so slowly however they ended everything so soon. people that made this really decided to play w the audience's emotions. a harsh break up. meeting again to make up? but it actually turned out to be a break up again? how was going to russia not an obstacle for the 2nd lead couple then? i knew that it won't have a happy ending however i felt like the ending was way more dissapointing than it could've been. if they really wanted to go w a daughter reading her mom's diary it could've easily been about her parents and not her mom's first love which would've made a happy ending. a sad ending could've worked too if made better. i still rated the overall rating pretty high even tho it was dissapointing but i liked it too much to rate it low.

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A good drama, had a lot of potential but might disappoint in the end.

This drama could've been a very nice, lighthearted one, but I don't know what the writers thought. The pace for 1-14 episodes was mind-blowing, as if it kept one interested for further episodes, but the last 2 episodes went downhill.
This drama is about their youth. One wanted to do what she loved and the other had to give up on his dreams to survive. They both met due to an incident, and that the friendship they developed was worth it. Meanwhile, NHD also made friends with her idol, and that bid was THE BEST in friendship. The second lead couple, no triangle, just a sweet, innocent, and non-giving-up relationship. And the last JSW, she is gold. Her personality and her confidence are so cool.
Apart from that, NHD and BYJ slowly and steadily form a love relationship. It was all good until BYJ made it into the local news. From there, the NHD's part of the problems began. And when BYJ had to go to NY, it all changed and it led them to breakup.
Honestly, I was fine with the break up. They had their own opinions and they made sense too in the last episode when they burst open. It's just that something is missing in the end. I don't know how a breakup that is 20 years old still haunts a happily married woman. Of course it was her youth, but still, the ending wasn't that satisfactory.

On the other hand, the title "25–21" was just about their youth. The past that she lived and which has nothing to do with her present. If we think that way, the gap for her present life for us can be filled.

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"Twenty Five Twenty One" best kdrama for first quarter of 2022

So far, i really admit that this drama is so so good. I realized that everytime i finished watching an episode, i'll say "this is the best episode so far" then after watching the next episode, i'll say that line again haha i mean this series is getting better and better. Every episode you can choose your fave scene, so many scenes that were really made my heart flutters. You will surely laugh, smile, cry and fall in love with this drama. The two leads' chemistry is too strong and no one expected that at first but damn even very small little details they did made me smile and scream.

Toptier directing, excellent acting, refreshing unique storyline, well written, beautiful OST, best cinematography

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Not your typical high school romance but more of a coming-of-age story.

It was pretty obvious on how things were gonna end considering the direction it was going but the bittersweet feeling didn't leave me. I'm glad it was a realistic ending and not something fairytale. I wish more Kdramas did this where they go beyond the highschool life and show us the truth about young love and friendships. Really loved it.

The beginning of the story especially the first 6 or so Episodes present this illusion that makes you think that everything will stay like this forever but also sprinkles a bit of hints about the unforseen future here and there. The writing of the characters are perfect in my opinion. They feel very human and realistic and not fictional and stale like most 1-dimensional Kdrama characters. And the actors did a phenomenal job with the acting. I need to check more kdramas with them in it. The happy scenes made me happy, the sad scenes made me cry and every emotion which the show wanted me to feel, made me feel it; and very few kdramas have done that because not every sad scene or happy scene makes u feel the same way if it wasn't written good.

This might have become a classic. Definitely one of the best, if not the best Romance Kdrama in the genre. In years to come I can easily see people talk about this as generational show.

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couldn't praise this show enough.

100% positive review coming up.

this show resonated with me so much. the characters were so likeable and I felt anger, sadness and happiness all with these characters.
the show explores many different factors, from teenage love, teenagers struggles, to world struggles and world tragedies.

i love how the characters are so well written that i couldn't help but feel what they was feeling at the time, and the acting from the cast were impeccable.

na heedo and beak yijin. lets get into it,

1. na heedo, were introduced as this ambitions, independent and headstrong late-teens girl. heedos character is defo not one of the smartest people out there, but this created many laughable moments within the show. we get to grow with her, and see her teenage problems adapt into adult problems. I enjoyed getting to see her character mature but not lose her personality.
2. beak yijin, were introduced to this humble, mature and hard working character that has a really sad backstory, who's trying to rebuild his life. yijins character is nothing but loveable and we get to watch how he grows himself and his career, although he faces a lot of different issues ( one being heedo lol ) we still get to watch him become more financially stable.

the acting from the whole cast was commendable and the story was also amazing, id do anything to be able to watch this for the first time again.

the side characters
1. the side characters as a whole create a perfect balance of enjoyable and not so enjoyable moments. they create many happy, sad and even angry moments. I think ko yurims character development was really good, and the development of her and heedos relationship was really special.

overall... ( mega spoilers )
the story line of this kdrama was quite different, by making the two leads not end up together in the end. although I did shed a good few tears, I think there decision to not have them end together was amazing, it made the show different and memorable. I liked how this show explores a relationship that was just not meant to be. in my opinion, the idea of these two people sharing something so special that can't be categorised into any specific type of relationship is more beautiful than any romantic relationship out there.
this show demonstrated all different types of love, from friendship, relationships, siblings and the special bond between heedo and yijin. I liked the realness of this show, everything down from the relationship goods and bads to the affects of 911, the show really demonstrated all them issues really well. and
overall
if I could give this show a 100/100 I would

OMG the ost was also so good, a lot of the ost songs are still in my Spotify playlist.

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This will be a masterpiece drama, but...

It's a good drama actually but so many plot holes. It's not that i didn't like the ending because BaekDo didn't end up together, i knew it from the start that they won't end up together but the way the writer titled this drama as Twenty Five Twenty One but only gave us (+/-) 2 eps of those age, it's just weird for me. I thought that age will be a peak moment. And also i think the old Na Heedo didn't really take important roles for this drama, if they reveal the Minchae's father maybe the old Na Heedo roles is more understandable but they didn't even reveal it..

And also what happened to Yijin after 2009? What happened about all the rest main characters? I mean eventho Na Heedo might not always being together with them, at least they should give us a glimpse about them after 2009. If there's the old Heedo at least give us the old Yijin...

I feel like the plot was so rushed at the latest eps. But after all it's actually a good drama, if the writer make it more good than this, probably i'm gonna say one of the best drama i've ever watched. Is this recommended? I can say yes, maybe? Honestly i love the plot in the early eps and i love the chemistry of all the main characters especially the squad.

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