Extraordinary You

Awesome premise, could have been done better

You know, the premise for this drama would make for an absolutely riveting, nerve-wracking, and captivating horror story. The potential is immense!

What would you do if you found out that you were a useless side character in a comic book, and that you're basically destined to die soon and that your actions are determined by the writer? Moreover, whatever you do and tell people when you're in control, they won't remember it in the next scene. Unless they're special like you... which is rare

The grim implications of being forced to play out scenes against your will, while still fully and actually living through those scenes, are kept to mainly surface-level quirks and drama in this story. But in the hands of someone else this could have easily gone… uh, sideways.

Like a character who has to walk toward her own drowning scene, and drown right there, knowing full well what's happening, despite not wanting to. It would be a real horror show!

But since this is a kdrama obviously the romance drama aspects are dialed up to eleven while the rest rests on the sidelines. But I had a good time because of the quality of the premise. The story-within-a-story opens up all kinds of potential plot points although sadly, a lot of genuinely intriguing ones are left unexplored. I also enjoyed the style of the cuts (imitating a story jumping all over the place while you read). They were often unpredictable as sometimes characters are suddenly and abruptly transported to new scenes, even mid-sentence!

As much as they poke fun at kdrama clichés, they also equally indulge in them which I found comical. Pacing was also meh as there are some redundant scenes clearly there just to pad the runtime.

The ending was also lacking a bit, we definitely needed more closure.

All in all, had huge potential, but has to settle for "pretty good".

You can add it to the pile of "kdrama with awesome early episodes that can't sustain that level of quality".

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Cute but gets repetitive

I was definitely gripped from the get-go, however the story does feels like the kind of thing I might have written about for a school writing project. Nevertheless, it was unique and intriguing.

I was really enjoying this show until it occurred to me that the story kept repeating itself; the characters would lose their memories and they would have to find their ego again. Towards the end of the show I started to wonder what Haru's actual purpose was because he kind of came from nowhere and was just this mysterious guy from the beginning. I know we discovered that he was in love with Dan-oh in the 'Trumpet Creeper,' but even in that, did I miss what his purpose was?

I'm not quite sure what the characters actually did in their spare time - they were always just at school. I guess their was the love triangle between Dan-oh, Haru and Gyeong that made the plot line a bit interesting. However, their characters were all pretty one-dimensional. Btw Gyeong was an ass. I did not like him; he was so rude and mean to Dan-oh. Even though this was the writer's doing, it was still harsh and uncomfortable to watch.

On reflection there were definitely many flaws of the show, but if you just watch it at face value and don't read too much into it, then it is enjoyable and easy to watch.

Taking it back to the first episodes - Oh boy, by the second episode where Dan-oh fell down the stairs and we still didn't get to see Haru's face, I was so disappointed and I just wanted to know who he was. The ending of episode two was, in my opinion, *chefs kiss* perfect! Seeing Haru's face appear through the umbrella was so beautiful and a memorable moment of the show. I really liked all the interactions between Dan-oh and Haru. They make a very cute couple.

I loved every scene where Dan-oh would get disgruntled at the writer for making everything about Ju-dah and Nam-ju, hence the fact that she wasn't the protagonist. I found the scene funny where she knocked over the statue in art class just to get people to focus on her. And then the writer rewrote the scene anyway XD.

I really liked the side characters i.e. Ju-dah and Dan-oh's friend (the one who was mean to Ju-dah). Although she is mean and a bully, she was still a funny character. I liked Ju-dah's sass and energy towards the later episodes where she developed her ego. I was really glad that she liked Do-Hwa as well. Speaking of Do-Hwa, he is such a cutie and in the final episode he made me laugh so much. The scene where he spots Dan-oh with the paper chain around her neck and he comes in flapping his arms trying to make her remember the butterfly. He is an emotional boy and I love him for that. I feel like the only characters that had any real progression or growth were Gyeong and Judah.

I was getting concerned when I only had five minutes left to go and nothing was wrapping up. I feel like yes, how it ended worked, but at the same time I just didn't feel way satisfied with the ending. For me, I wish I had have paid more attention to the tree scene in the previous episode when Dan-oh said to meet at the tree on October 10th, in order to always find each other. I feel like if you forget this scene and finish the show, you'd be like what just happened? I personally would have liked an actual flashback to the tree scene in order to emphasise their memories a bit more, rather than using the voiceover of what was said in the past.

I really liked the soundtrack for each moment in the show; when it was sad and emotional, or dark and intense. I am obsessed with the First Love song! I've never really been able to sing Korean but this one I can! XD

The acting was great - no qualms there.

Overall I rate it 9 because it was enjoyable and cute to watch. I think its downfall lies in the plot as on reflection there wasn't a great deal that happened and it kept repeating itself.

-E

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I enjoyed it - it was very different and that made it super compelling

9.5/10 is my rating. 2019 South Korean television series with 32, 30 minute episodes.

Eun Dan-oh (Kim Hye-yoon) has a heart condition that is terminal despite repeated operations. Despite that she is kind and hopeful that something in her life will change and her heart will last on. Her fiance, Baek Kyung (Lee Jae-wook) is the son of one her father's business partners and their parents paired the two. Eun Dan-oh's father agreed to the engagement because Dan-oh has had a crush on Baek Kyung for 10 years even though Baek Kyung can be cruel to her and does not return her feelings. Eun Dan-oh begins to have memory lapses and the sensation that she just "comes to" in various activites. As she digs to determine the source of these strange occurances, she discovers, by chance, that she is a character in a manhwa called "Secret." Not only is she in the Manhwa but she is a supporting character who must do things to aid the lead characters in falling in love. She begins to resent the role she must play and becomes determined to do things to change the story. She soon notices a boy that has no name. When she looks at the Manga she can see that he is a background character that is not even fully illustrated. Dan-oh realizes that because he is not a central part of the story he has more freedom to do things in the "offscreen" that can impact the way the plot plays out. His name is Number 13 (just number 13 alphabetically in the year-book) but, as Dan-oh begins to develop feelings for 13 (Kim Ro-woon), she give him a name. As time goes on, more of the characters discover that they are in a Manhwa and join Dan-oh in changing this up.

I started this one in October of 2019 not realizing it was still on air. I normally do not watch those that are on air as I prefer to be able to watch them all at once. 12 episodes in and I cannot wait for more episodes to post. If it continues as it is now it is going to the top of my list as one of my favorites.

Spoiler 🚨 This was good the whole way through. I love the chemistry between the leads. I like the way Baek Kung realized that she would be happiest with Ha-Ru and yet is still always there for her. It had a sort of reincarnation angle to it without really meaning to. Some may not like the ending but I got it because they aren’t real. If it were a comic book series I could see myself reading all the comics even if it just re-told the same story. I highly recommend it - it’s very unique.

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Not sure if it's stnds to its name.

I started this drama with zero hopes like literally zero. Wasn't interested to watch even when my friends kept suggesting me to watch saying it's good.

So i started watching this in 2022, ofc late to the party. So when I started it was okay the way scenes were going back and forth was confusing and then revealed that it's a comic World and all. The way things were unfolding was going good. I thought maybe i should have watched when my friends suggested me to watch. I judged this drama wrong( my thought).

And then after at episode 13-14( ep 7) i started feeling that, i wasn't wrong for thinking this drama won't be good. The dialogues, scenes became repetitive. Like every line is used multiple times which you get sick to keep listening to them. At first they mocked the cliché and cheesy lines and story and slowly the drama itself became cliche and cheesy. At first the FL was strong and she kept looking for haru to help her change the story.

The things should have been answered like how the story effects and changes if they are trying to change the stage.? And they showed that just because he gets wine spilled on his clothes he will be late to the stage? I mean if the things were go back to normal once the stage starts, why does the wine effect them at all? It was lame.

The romance between Ha ru and Dan Oh felt forced and Unnatural like we don't know why she started liking him and an entire 1.5ep(for 1hr ep) goes in dan oh crying for ha ru. And she keep calling Ha ru ha ru. It's so repetitive that i stated skipping their romance scenes and focus more on the side characters. And also if she was an mere extra why did she had more screen time. Every time she ends up in hospital and the heart aches. She runs and does activities which a heart disease patients aren't allowed to.

The likeable characters (off stage ofc) are sae-mi, do hwa, and sae-mi's boyfriend.

All characters were same till the end except haru got more lines after he got introduced as extra in comic.

The good character growth was of gyeong.

After skipping skipping and skipping and only seeing how the story is going, i finally finished it.

It can depend on what type of dramas you like. More of a cliché type or no. And this drama is so repetitive that at point I thought that i should just skip to last episode to see what happened and finish it but somehow skips and Ff button saved me.

There are so many things unexplained and unanswered.

Not going to re-watch

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I am writing this in an absolute awe.



I watched Nevertheless just before this show, which became a 10/10 for me, so I went into this with not only low expectations because the trailers and clips didn't catch my eye at all, but also because I saw an opportunity to fill some space after Nevertheless with a show I had on my watchlist for about a year and I was stuck on the first 30 minutes of episode 1.


As of writing, I have tears in my eyes from how much of an emotional rollercoaster this turned into. Last 4 hours I couldn't stop watching at all. I was hooked onto every detail and rooted for the main pair so hard. In the end I was just crying, whether it was happiness or sadness, madness or confusion. This drama is so incredibly beautiful, so incredibly mesmerising. The story, acting, everything. I felt like dying inside every time the story showed a possible twist, I got kore intrigued every single time someone figured something out about the story.


I am still processing what was happening on my screen. The only issue I think this drama has is a very low rewatch value - simply becose discovering is one of the main hooks of the story, the romance and intriguing parts of the story lose meaning because in this case, it is more of you finding out WITH the characters, opposed to dramas where you know and watch the story while you understand the connections. You, as a viewer, know only as much as the character who knows the most as of now does.

I definitely recommend this, 100 %. Bonus points for music, because every single time an episode ended I didn't skip and finish the rest of the OST, criminally underrated OST, sung by Stray Kids. Seungmins vocals hit so hard when an episode has a cliffhanger.

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I have to be really honest about this drama. I started watching in 2019 when it was airing.. But, the plot and the show at al make me feel "bored", so I dropped this.

And then I came back in the final 2021 to finish and I can say: It is a really cute, good drama!

Sometimes I felt a little bored and skipped some scenes in the finals episodes. Because I felt they were doing to much and put some unnecessary things to make the scenes bigger, idk how to explican... But It doesn't feel good.

But then, it was really good the couples and the stories.
10/10 to the story, it was amazing seeing inside a comic and knowing about their past "life" and probally the future one.

And It makes me want to know more about their next "life"!

Cinematography was everything, the edit when the main leaders was doing things, when the staged started or when the shadows started was really cute and simple to understand. And It was comfortable in my eyes.

I watched this drama while was really sad, for things that happened with me. But then, they cheered me up and a feel better after watching this.

I can consider this drama like a confort romcom that I would watch again.

But, being honest, I felt like "WHERE'S THE KISSES?", I know, because the main is a idol can be "bad" for his fans see something like that (Ridiculous, ik, but I've seen things like that), but there's moment that NEED a Kiss. A big and beautiful kiss!

After all, I enjoyed and recommend this drama.

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– watched 6/24 through 6/29 –

for starters the first episode totally hooked me and my first impression of dan-oh was “oh shes a little quirky cute main character”. the way she thought she would be the main character after finding out she was in a comic book world was so relatable and funny. to start with things i disliked about the drama: the first couple episodes were great! until you start getting annoyed at the love triangles. baek kyung was SOO annoying throughout the show and it was so very obvious who dan-oh should end up with, but had a redemption arc towards the end? i also didn’t like nam-ju’s character at ALL. he did nothing throughout the show and didnt even get to have an ego and realize he was the protagonist of the comic book. ju-da was alright and i was ROOTING for do-hwa, i mean he is the best character out of the A3 and was sad when ju-da ended up choosing nam-ju over him because “nam-ju cant live without me but you can” ?!?! makes no sense and he deserved better 😭. also there were many plotholes and questions that should have been answered but it didnt bother me that much. that ending tho 💔 when ha-ru disappeared it broke my heart but i was happy to see them appear again in the next comic book or “universe” like they did before. now onto things i liked: EUN DA-NO! her character was my fave and kept me entertained always, the way she wanted to change her fate was admirable. the romance btwn the main leads was very cute and made me keep rooting for them until the end. lastly, the friendship trio between dan-oh, ha-ru, and do-hwa was my favorite thing ever 😭😭

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It is good, but...

I finished Extraordinary You 😥 is it somehow true that all lead protagonists get annoying? When the story turned to be more about Dan O and Haru, I skipped a lot. Maybe because they got what they asked for? All those heartbreaks was actually meant for them?

In the end all I could think of is Lee Do Hwa and Baek Gyeong. Cant believe we've got cuts of the useless classmen in the new book instead of the two.

Lee Do Hwa only wanted an identity that didn't include him walking around with his clique or him playing the violin. Above everyone else, he valued his friends the most. But of course the drama will not like nice guys with sunny dispositions. He's actually my type. So fluffy.

And Baek Gyeong. In the end he realises, and the audience too, that he wasn't harsh. He didn't want to. But he was made that way. What a cruel writer.

Anyway, I was happy when it cut to the main story line. The characters sleeping for a long time, ending in graduation. It's a juxtaposition of the dreaded ending and the relief of having the chance to start all over again.

Would recommend this drama, for sure.

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Within the world of a comic

This is a rom-com/drama about Dan Oh and her relationships with other characters of the high school comic that she finds herself a part of. She and a few others become self-aware and are able to realize that they are more than the setup that their writer established for them. In order to change the story to better reflect the self-aware characters' thoughts and wishes, they work together, or sometimes against each other, to make the needed adjustments.

The drama had a lot of potential, and, as is, would have been fine with half as many episodes. If it had to be 32 episodes, it would have been better with more story line. Instead, the same few scenes were played over and over as if the viewers needed certain points drilled into their heads. You could almost skip the entire middle of the story and not miss anything. Personally, I didn't mind too much, simply because Rowoon, Lee Tae Ri, and most of the others, are pretty to look at. But I did get tired of seeing the same scenes. Even within the story, Dan Oh was tired of it. And the brooding faces of a bunch of rich, angsty teens got tiresome as well. It was a breath of fresh air when the final episode moved them on to a new (university) comic with the same characters but a whole different vibe. I wouldn't have minded if there had been more university episodes and fewer high school episodes, just to see the cast play more of their new characters.

I did love the premise and the way the comic world was portrayed from the viewpoint of the characters. In between each "stage," it was like a director yelling "cut" and the self-aware characters would retreat from their setups, while the ones who were not self-aware would continue as their characters were written. I did not understand how the characters within the comic had access to a previous comic, but....plot holes within plot holes, I guess.

The OST from this drama is amazing in my opinion. These songs will stick with me longer than the drama will.

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This is by far one of the best Korean high school drama I have watched with very few plot holes. Most Korean dramas including “W” have lots of plot holes (illogical) but this is one of the least. I hated w because there were so many plot holes. The choice of music is great and it creates the feelings the producers want us to feel. Especially the music when when the A3 walked down the stairs. The characters also fits the choice of actors and actresses. I like how Dok Hwa’s acting. His presence/commentary in the shadow world makes the entire show comedic. 7 points is by far my highest rating for Korean dramas. I am very strict about details and I am very satisfied with the entire production. I like how there is hidden meaning to this story; it teaches the young audiences to accept the outcome we couldn’t control. It’s like teaching the kids not to cry over spilled milk.

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quite unique story/idea. but too cheesy for me. this drama is to focus for female audience.
They really try to make male lead somewhat of angelic being. this result of many cringe scene when ever male lead are shown.
there no way man like this gonna exist lol.


But overall pretty good movie if you want to watch not really in my highly recommend one but good enough for kill some times

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