One of my first Kdramas I've watched! Beautiful story!
Nothing else to say other than this drama was one of the best and first I've seen in all Kdramas!I also want to give a shoutout to Stray Kids' OST "끝나지 않을 이야기 (Neverending Story)" in this drama! It's so beautiful and really fits in this drama!
I wished there were more scenes after Dan Oh and Haru met and recognized each other! Some more cute scenes of them would've been nice without the stress of the second lead, Baek Kyung, or any other character always butting in.
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unique
really liked this K-drama because, even though the story can feel a bit cliché at times, especially with the love triangle, it still manages to be very engaging. You can really feel the strong connection between the characters, and the story goes deeper into their emotions, which makes it more meaningful.It’s not a typical romance story. It includes a past storyline that adds an unexpected twist, which is what I mean by how the story suddenly changes direction and reveals something you didn’t see coming, making everything feel more unique and different. There are sad moments, happy moments, and scenes where you just want to scream or cry because of how intense everything is.
For me, it’s definitely worth watching if you want something emotional and captivating.
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Don't even know how I completed it:/
Jeez i don't even know what to say....like i found this drama on netflix and by watching the trailer was intrigued and felt that its something new with a fresh storyline...When i started it i sincerely was drawn into it too much..it made me want to watch it till the very end and know whats gonna happen and if there is gonna be a happy ending or not..i watched it continuously till the 9th episode after than the drama as a whole went totally downhill for me...the scenes and the cast itself made me feel like what the hell are they doing...in simple words it was just a mess.
During the first half of the drama I thought it might go down as one of my favorites, but then it veered away from the fantasy aspect and totally into typical romance. I liked the cast so I feel fine that I watched it but there were so many unanswered questions: Were those portals opening up in the library? Who was the writer? What was the story of the Dried Squid Fairy and why was he so mysterious? It was almost like the entire writing staff switched out at some point and they never agreed on what the story was supposed to be.
In the end it had too many plot-holes with half of the original purpose of the story totally being lost and scene continuously being repeated without any spice or add on:/
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Unfortunately, the drama proved me wrong. At the last few episodes, I started to skip scenes NOT TO WATCH HARU AND DAN OH BUT FOR THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS (Dry Squid Fairy, Lee Do Hwa, Yeo Ju Da)
The reason why the drama was disappointing are
1. It puts a lot of questions before you and finally gives no answer
2. Lot of plot holes.
3. Supporting actors characterization was improved well but Haru Characterisation seems to be comical.
After first few episodes, the drama goes all same and cliché like other and REPEATED LINES AND SCENES...aaaargghhhh
I really loved the build up at the beginning. May be that's why was disappointed at the end.
To be honest the characters kept saying that the author gives repeated lines and the scenes are cliché but they ended up giving one.
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Amazing first half | lacking back half
First of all let me say that this could've been one of the best kdrama's of all time, if only it wasn't so stretched out for no reason. If they really wanted it to be that long they could've expanded on the story but instead we just repeat the same thing over and over? Like this could've been cut into 10 episodes easily and I would've given it a 9-9.5/10. All that aside the first 8 episodes were a lot of fun. Kim Hye Yoon absolutely steals the show here and has slowly become one of my favourite actresses! Her comedic timing is perfect and her character fits her like a glove. It's a pity the writers reduced her to this one-dimensional character in the second half. Lee Jae Wook is a standout here as well and completely sells his role. The visuals are surprisingly good as well! It also has one of my favourite soundtracks to a kdrama ever. Overall I still enjoyed it even considering its dragged out length!Was this review helpful to you?
i love it here
ngl this is the best drama i've ever watched. like holy shit. i loved the story, characters, the settings and the acting.while i dont really like overly bubbly-cute mc, dan oh took my heart and breath away. loved her energy in every scene.
haru is the loml, dont have to say anything other than that i think its pretty clear. hes mine.
baek gyung owns the character development as a whole. and even tho i shipped haru and dan oh (bc their just amazing) i also enjoyed the angst between dan oh and him. so if youre looking for a pretty good love traingle (even tho dan oh never actually loves baek gyung) this is the shit
the story is amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.
also the ACTING. bruh. everyone did so well. and the chemistry between everyone was amazing.
i think its pretty clear no bitch can compete!
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Surprisingly good
Honestly, this drama had been on my watchlist for so long, but I always left it aside because of the reviews I read here about it. It sounded like the story was lame or the characters weren't deep enough.Turns out I definitely should have watched it earlier.
I read what the other reviewers said, and I understand their point of view but I just disagree. This series really got me hooked from ep 1 to ep 16. I watched it in 5 days and I never got bored. Mind you, I'm usually the kind of person to skip or fast forward in scenes that bore me.
1. The story
Honestly, I was kind of lost in the first episode but everything got explained pretty fast and by the third episode you understand exactly what's going on. Many people criticised the story because of its clichés, cheesy lines and superficial setup, but I found, on the contrary, that the drama was good at showing a classical comic book romance scene to then laugh about it or de-dramatise it. All the characters were appealing to me : Dan Oh was fun and not heavy as I thought she'd be, Haru was just the sweetest and very dreamy, Do Hwa was always there at the right time for some lighthearted scenes, and the rest of the characters weren't overbearing. I personally found the idea of a comic book world very interesting and I started watching for that reason but found so much more than I was looking for (I started it thinking it would be similar to W: Two Worlds and it was SO different).
All in all, the story was easy to watch and lots of good fun if you're looking for a highschool romance with an original aspect to it! I totally recommend.
2. Actors
I can't wait to see more of them. Dan Oh was super enjoyable and so were Haru and the rest of the cast. I'm really looking forward to watching some more of their acting in future dramas!
3. Music
As a musician I'm very picky with music. The soundtrack of this series isn't one I'd replay in my headphones because it's more of an "ambiance" type of OST, but it was always perfect during the series. There was the right tension at the right time, the lighthearted music made scenes hilarious while some tragic OSTs brought tears too my eyes. So overall I give it an 8 for the emotional factor
4. Rewatch value
I rarely rewatch dramas so I give it an 8. I really liked the scenes, the way it was filmed and the characters so I might rewatch it in some time when I'll have forgotten some of the plot. Other than that, it's totally rewatchable just for Haru's sweetness <3
5. Overall rating
I will give it a 9.5 because it was so enjoyable to me, it brought me joy and fun. It was the perfect drama for me to watch right now and I want people to know that there are different perspectives to take on this drama.
I hope you watch it one day and enjoy it as much as I did!
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Actually. I admired rowoon for being handsome and cute. I like the main lead he is charismatic and he helps dan oh too. In the first impression of haru he was quite ,he never spoken any words and i thought he was deaf. Because of this storyline he was revealed as extra in the story just like dan oh
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Luckily sometime in the second half everything started clicking. It's like the young actors finally figured out how to act their characters well & I don't know what happened with the OST, whether the perceived improvement is just placebo, but I started to really enjoy that too by the time the show ended.
In my experience kdrama writers can almost never produce decent scripts in the "high concept" category. The webtoon it's based on must be quite extraordinary, since the story & the world building just works. Typically high concept shows fall into the trap of over-explaining every little thing, thus ending up having a crazy amount of inconsistencies & conflicting world laws later on. W & Alhambra demonstrate this very well.. Here though everything nicely falls into place, things get better not worse as we move along & miraculously even the ending is nicely wrapped in a way that I can get totally onboard with. In fact the last 4 episodes were perhaps the highest quality kdrama entertainment I've had in 2020 thus far. (well I'm yet to watch "It's Okay to Not Be Okay", but..)
So overall 8/10 seems like a fitting score. The annoyances are not that minor, but everything else is just extraordinary ^^
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I already mentioned how the second ML irked me, but let's talk a bit about the actor. I've seen Lee Jae Wook in quite a few dramas before and I thought he did a great job in them, but I have never in a million years thought that he can pull of being an asshole so well. What a talented actor. I may have hated his character & I think ExYou would have been much better without him, I gotta give credit where credit is due, huge surprise! :-)
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Great ideas, Too repetitive
I honestly forgot about this drama until recently, but I came back because I still remembered how unique it felt. What stood out the most was Eun Dan-oh — Kim Hye-yoon was genuinely perfect for the role. She brought so much energy, emotion, and charm to the character that she became unforgettable for me.The chemistry between the leads was adorable and had me smiling through so many scenes. I also loved the cinematography and overall aesthetic. The pastel colors and dreamy atmosphere matched the storybook/comic vibe beautifully and made the drama visually memorable.
What surprised me most was how much deeper the themes were than I expected. The drama explores ideas about fate, identity, and whether our choices matter, which made it more emotionally engaging than a typical school romance.
My biggest issue was the pacing in the later episodes. After the first half, the story started to feel repetitive emotionally, and some character dynamics became tiring instead of exciting. I also wished Ha-ru had been written with more individuality outside of the romance because I wanted to connect with him more as his own person.
Even with those flaws, I still think the drama deserves a 7.5/10 because of how creative, emotional, and visually beautiful it was. I just wish the second half had stayed as strong as the beginning.
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good to bad to medium
i loved this drama and it was my fav but there were some eps that were really boring and i got so mad when the second male lead had to act like that, i wish he got a good life too, also when haru disappeared brooo i was crying and i was really close to just dropping this but im glad i watched it till the end. the ends not the best but its better than either one of them dying lol (THE PARTS MADE WITH TRUE BEUTY AHHH I WAS JUMPING WHEN I REALIZED HAHA) id recommend u watch it if u like weird plottingWas this review helpful to you?
