"When you held my hand, pulled me into your world,,,from then all of my life, has changed for you" I believe these lyrics are expressing Tomako's feelings.
As a an old drama fan it is a shame that I have only seen this almost 14 years later when it should have been one of my first dramas. Nonetheless it is better now than never. Once again old dramas never seize to amaze me, watching them 10-14 years later and they win my heart like no recent drama ever does which is why they are special to me. Normally people would think after all that time have passed and after watching so many great dramas, old dramas which are usually full of cliches will never stand a chance but the thing is that is exactly why they win me over and capture my heart because even with all that time they can get my heart fluttering in a way no recent drama will ever do. This rating is nothing compared to how I feel about this drama and how it made me feel, this number is nothing when I think that I actually watched this now in 2016 and it won me over just like that (I'm very tough for a drama to win me over).
4 eps long drama which gave me that depth and that beautiful warm classy feelings that I've missed and longed for such a long long time. Only 4 eps but to me it has accomplished what other dramas with recent filmography could never do, at least not to me.
Friends is a South Korean-Japanese short drama it was the first time in drama history that the two countries collaborated to co-produce the show in both South Korea and Japan. Which makes it even more special. Allow me to say, what a beautiful collaboration! It doesn't get any more beautiful than this.
The story is very simple, about a man and woman from two different worlds met in one place and due to certain circumstances they got to know each other while none of them could speak the other language so communication was a tough mission and yet as a viewer I could see that they were communicating very well through their eyes, I can feel it. I did not feel that they had issues with delivering the way they feel it's like they've clicked the moment they've met and I have clicked with them.
In case some of you don't know about Korea-Japan relationship, this relationship has always been sensitive and still is. Even though things have gotten much better now but there is still that tension between the two countries. This drama was trying to teach us what kind of complications a Korean person and Japanese person could face not just in falling in love with each other but also as people. What it takes for a Korean person at that time to travel to Japan and vice versa. Also culture wise, society, language and most of all family complications. Can love really overcome all that? Considering that both countries value these aspects a lot.
Personally even though I watched this knowing pretty much everything I could know about Korea-Japan history but Friends 2002 still taught me things I wasn't aware of. The most important thing that I got to feel which I never did pay attention to before is the fact that there must have been people from those two countries who actually fell in love with each other despite all these complications, which makes me wonder did they ever get their happily ever after ending?
I loved both main leads here character wise and acting wise I really loved them. I have seen Won Bin before and he is one of the best actors but all I had for him is respect as an actor I never really did warm up to him or fall in love with him. This is the first time I warm up so much to him and I felt I saw something in him here which I never saw in his other projects and that made me happy. However my absolute favourite one and the one who stole my heart RIGHT AWAY is Fukada Kyoko. I can not believe this beautiful lady stole my heart the moment I laid my eyes on her from the very first scene. She was the one who made me feel "I don't know why but I think I'm going to fall in love with this drama" (I watched the drama without reading the synopsis because I simply love to discover things on my own). Fukada Kyoko's way of playing Tomoko forced me to believe her pure innocent way of falling in love (which is very hard to pull off since in real life we always ask ourselves "can there really be such a pure innocent naive love?"). To be honest I really believed her, I believed her feelings, I believed her tears, I believed her innocence, I felt that it was her first love and she was overwhelmed, I felt her confusion and lostness and most of all I really did believe her love as naive as it was. I've never seen an actress who can pull this image so perfectly and so raw and real. Now I can only see her as Tomoko.
Music: Classic, one of those OSTs that I will never forget (it is a given since it belongs to the year 2002). I fell in love with every melody and song here but my favourite is One by Lee So Jung.
I don't rewatch dramas, I have very few that belong to my rewatchable list and this one definitely makes it to the list. It made it to my all time favourite :)
This is a must watch drama only for those who appreciate simple but carries deep meaning kind of story, those who appreciate classics and classic vibes, those who like dramas for the "feels" it delivers and finally those who like to see love overcoming boundaries and to see the bonds that bind people together.
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