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Like many said, the first half was amazing, the rest half ...especially from episode 12 to 15 was very emotional and it kinda lost its charm. The only problem i have with this drama is the ending and the unveiled mystery. Which actually make me think that this drama should have a sequel. And yes its a drama that is misted by love and romance. If u want to search anything else than that dont watch it.
The chemistry between haru and dan oh was beautiful and adorable.
Baek kyung was a jerk honestly but his character development was good where you can understand why he was like that.
There were some scenes which came out very beautiful. The cinematography was great. The OSTs were very good. The plot is not predictable. A viewer might be expecting something but the story gets more interesting as one watch it.
Many had the second lead syndrome. in this drama we get to see a cute dating scene between dan oh and kyung. I couldnt ask anything more for a second lead.
Dan oh prioritised haru the most because she knew that she will eventually die, so she wanted to spent her remaining time with someone who will remember her no matter it is shadow or stage. Haru was one who remembered her and dan oh liked him from the first.
The drama is all about love because the manhwa 'secret' itself is a typical love comic.
The ending was very rushed. I dont know why they rushed it.They did the shooting till episode 15. Well, i believe, there were circumstances which is why they rushed the ending.
I love this drama a d watched it multiple time but i am really disappointed with the ending.
Basically, the writer tried to picture the situation of the manhwa world,if it really exists then how the characters might act.
However,Hoping for a sequel where it will give explanation of the black hole thingy, why haru remembered dan oh, why dan oh could see the future of the story board, who the writer was etc.
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Great Concept, Iffy Execution
Like many of the other reviewers, I felt like the first half of this show was far superior to the second half. Dan-O started off as this awesome, hilarious, spunky character who slowly devolved into just a one-note lovestruck teenager who seemed to care about nothing other than Ha-Ru.The first few episodes set up the world really well, and established the main story of 'what would you do if you realised you were a random side-character in a romance comic?' in a very intriguing way. Dan-O choosing to take control of her own fate and change the world was something I was super invested in watching and excited about. However, things fell flat pretty quickly. While watching the show, my sister and I had several theories about why the world works the way it does, why some characters have egos, why Ha-Ru is the only one who can change the stage, etc. but by the end of the show it seemed like we cared more about all these things than the literal writer of the show. Half our questions were not answered, including big questions like why the heck Ha-Ru randomly vanished mid-season only to come back without an ego, and why he's the only one who can change the stage. In fact, we learn almost nothing about him. Seriously. Like, I understand the strong, silent, handsome, doting type is attractive, but this man was literally a blank slate and I was supremely bored with his character (and the relationship tbh) by the end of the show.
Kim Hye Yoon as Dan-O and Lee Jae Wook as Gyeong were probably the best actors on the show. Gyeong who started off as a one-note aggravating douche, turned into one of the characters I was most interested in by the end of the show. Lee Jae Wook gave Gyeong depth and nuance, even in scenes where he seemed to be reverting to his douchebag ways. His character arc was quite well-done and I really enjoyed watching him. Other characters I absolutely loved were Do-Hwa (my love) and Shadow!Ju-Da. I personally didn't mind that Ju-Da ended up with Nam-Joo, but I do think Do-Hwa deserved better. As one of the initial characters who got his ego, I felt like he was constantly pushed to the side-lines by the writer of this show as well as the characters within it. A waste!! I want to know everything about him!! I loved his entire role as well as his friendship with Dan-O.
As I mentioned, there were a lot of plot holes and I found certain choices regarding the story quite questionable. For example, Dan-O being the protagonist of the previous novel took something away from her just being a scrappy extra who wants to change her fate. Also given how impossible it was to change their fate or the storyline at all... it was kinda like... what's the point?? Why this plot? I would have watched like a 100 episodes of Do-Hwa and Dan-O causing chaos in the comic book world, finding loopholes and changing up the storyline and causing different scenarios within the world. Unfortunately, the concept wasn't given it's due and the show turned into a classic love-story. Meh. I still enjoyed the show, but if I was going to rewatch, I'd probably only rewatch the first few episodes.
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If you're bored of the usual storyline but are still looking for something romantic...THIS IS IT!
I started watching this drama because of all the hype around it and it's worth the praise. After starting but not completing tons of dramas I finally found a drama to keep me at the edge of my chair.There the second lead syndrome, the male lead makes you fell head over heels and there's a storyline different from the usual.
I can feel my heart break every time the couple has to part ways because of the cruel writer and this time we are not the only ones cursing them even the characters are on our sides. the last episode makes you pray for the couples to end up together and there's a promise to find your love over and over again.
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The male lead, Do Hwa n The Dried Squid they are literally eye candy to watch. I cried , laughed , my heart felt heavy and my mind got totally occupied throughout this drama. After a long time I have seen a drama with really good plot.
Note : I'm not posting much about the story bcoz it is something which you should enjoy not by reading but by watching.
I recommend it to everyone to watch this. If you don't you will really miss a good one .
The reasons to watch this
Both the leads
Plot
Beautiful in every frame
Handsomeness quotient
OST
The cast
100% worth of the time.
Haru Haru.....Haru all the way.
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A happy mistake
Yep, it was one of those days where I was completely bored out of my mind. Scrolling mindlessly on what to watch when I stumbled upon this little thing. I watched a couple trailers and was sliiiiiightly interested. Altough hesitant because of the episode count, I pressed the play button and let this drama take me on an adventure and, what an adventure it was!Have you ever liked a drama so much you binged 20 episodes in one sitting? I feel like I could’ve finished the series in a day but, old timers like me gotta sleep. I can’t explain how much I absolutely love this drama. The characters, music and most importantly, the plot! Something I feel like has never been done in a any drama, Korean or otherwise. Imagine waking up one day to realize you’re a character in a comic book and a supporting character at that! Tag line taken straight from the drama itself but, really, that’s the question I had in my mind the whole time I was watching. Some days, I feel like the main character in my own life and some days, I feel like an extra. This drama makes one think about their own significance in the story they’re telling. How important am I to the story and who’s the writer of my comic?
While I admit, the first 20 some odd episodes were a breeze, I’m starting to notice a drag in plot. I feel like things get repeated too often and the characters become very predictable. With all that being said, I love this drama and encourage everyone to give it a try!
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A fun romcom turned into cringe story
Not gonna lie the story is indeed very unique and interesting but the plot was soo repetitive and dull. Let me make it easy for you; Dan oh keeps getting rejected by Kyung on stage, Haru keeps trying to be Dan oh’ saviour and change her fate, Kyung and Haru keep engaging in cold and hot war over dah oh.. These scenes repeat atleast 3 times in every episode. It was soo annoying to watch. The writer really was out of ideas as how to proceed the story after first 6 episodes.The comedy was one factor that kept me going but it also turned into cringe romance as the story progressed. The love triangle between the 2nd leads was more interesting. Du-hwa is the best character in the show. He looks good with Joo da and is more deserving to be with her.
Dan oh started off as strong female lead soon becomes a damsel in destress, who relies too much on haru. I liked how she was in the beginning but she lost herself in the middle of the show and became cringe. Haru turned out to be a simp with no existence or story of his own. And kyung had serious anger issues.
I feel like 2nd leads had more conscience and better story. I am not at all curious at this point as to what will happen to the main characters..I do want to know who the writer is thou. But it’s soo cringe I am giving up
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after somewhat enjoying W and seeing that this had a similar set up i was pretty excited to check this one out. and what with the overwhelmingly positive reviews on it most people give i was sure i would love it.but i didnt
not even the lovable, spunky eun dan oh could convince me i like this show. it is one of the most boring, dull dramas i have seen in a while.
and i should have guessed, as soon as i saw the joseon era backstory :|
not only that, but the instrumental osts are absolutely grating. they sound almost alien and everytime one started playing in the middle of a corny declaration of love i felt like ripping out my earphones and slamming my laptop shut.
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Ugh. Where should I start? I believe this drama is overhyped and overrated. It was good the first two episodes because the female lead had an actual significant role and it looked like she was ready to do something to fight her destiny and get her happy ending. Ever since the romance took over the show, though, Dan Oh forgot who she was, what she wanted, and everything else apart from her boy crush. I swear her running after the guy and going "Haru-ya" every half a second was the most annoying thing EVER. For a drama that was supposedly about gaining your agency and becoming the owner of your own choices and life, Dan Oh became a non-entity outside of her romantic storyline. Not happy with that, the writers made her two love interests (Haru and Baek Kyung) far more relevant than her character and completely sidelined her. She became a damsel in distress waiting for the "Haru in shining armour" to save her. Where is the empowered female lead we were introduced to in the first episode? All I see is a girl with no character growth and an obsession with romance. SMH. However, I didn't drop the drama right away hoping for an improvement. I waited patiently... until the moment Dan Oh threw away her medication because Haru had disappeared. (*facepalm*). That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. What's the big idea? If the object of your affection disappears, you're supposed to throw away your life?! That's about the most messed up message I've ever seen in all of my kdrama watching history. Wasn't Dan Oh absolutely desperate because she didn't want to die? Let me get this straight, was Haru her only motivation to want to live? Has she forgotten that other people love her too? I never expected this drama to stoop to Twilight-levels of terrible writing, but it did. It had so much potential but it threw it away.
Anyways, this show is a parody of the godawful "Boys Over Flowers", but it wound up being equally terrible because of its one-dimensional characters, cliche tropes, and messed up messages. The only saving grace is the cast's acting. Hard pass.
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So Bad! Even though the plot seems really interesting you'll regret watching it
This drama is so bad. Don't waste your time on this instead go help your mom/dad with the house work. The female lead is really annoying and a bad actress. The writer (of the drama, not the character "Writer") is even worse. Overly complicated plot and most of it make no sense. Really repeatative and the story makes little to no progress in most of the episodes. Even when it make some progress then in the next couple of episodes they backtrack all the progress and take it back to square one. The characters have no growth. They become more cliche every episode. The ending is one of the worst I have ever seen. The only intersting thing about this drama was the 2nd lead couple. But they gave them an ending so cliche and so bad that you would want to gauge your eyes out and erase your memory. I skipped through most of the episodes still I was frustrated from the bad writing.Was this review helpful to you?
Exceeded essential amount of episodes
1. Not too many positives about this story except two love triangles which both deserves more development.2. Annoying voice of lead actress in some parts.
3. Confusing jumping from scene to scene with no near explanation. And the effort of "main" characters to change the comic story, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.
4. Overcombined storyline.
5. Way too many episodes and exceeding story which is frustrating and later on it will make you bored.
The rating does not match the true value of this series.
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A fascinating plot ruined by poor writing and too much repetition. It started off with a bang but got boring too soon too fast. I didn’t even reach half of the show and the story got boring .I couldn’t find a reason to continue. There was zero chemistry between Rowoon and Kim hye yoon. I didn’t feel anything looking at them. It was blank. The 2nd lead couple was more interesting and had better chemistry. Don’t even get me started on baek kyung, he was a toxic character. And had serious anger issues. I need to feel chemistry between main leads even if the story gets boring otherwise I can’t keep watching.
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