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A Heartwarming and Delightful Journey
"Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" has truly captured my heart. Initially drawn to the drama because of my favorite unnie, I quickly realized that it offers so much more. The plot is refreshing and unique, taking viewers on a heartwarming journey filled with delightful surprises. The picturesque locations showcased in the drama are a treat for the eyes, adding to the overall charm of the story.One of the standout aspects of "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is the significant role played by the side characters. They bring a great sense of comedy, injecting laughter and light-hearted moments throughout the series. The story feels grounded and realistic, making it relatable and allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in the narrative.
My admiration for the unnie grows as the drama progresses. Her character portrays an independent and confident woman who stands on her own, serving as an inspiration to viewers. I find myself drawn to her strength and resilience, which adds depth to the overall storytelling.
The male lead, though initially mysterious, emits a positive vibe that instantly captures the heart. His cute and handsome appearance only adds to his charm. The bickering relationship between the leads is undeniably cute, showcasing their chemistry and making their interactions all the more endearing.
In conclusion, "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is a heartwarming and delightful drama that takes viewers on a memorable journey. With its unique plot, stunning locations, hilarious side characters, and realistic storytelling, it offers an enjoyable viewing experience. The portrayal of an independent and confident unnie, coupled with the charming and mysterious male lead, adds an extra layer of fascination. If you're seeking a drama that warms the heart, "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is a must-watch.
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Sweet
Hometown chacha... I must be dumb cause I still cannot connect the relevenace of the title to the drama.Yes it was hometown but is there other interpretation to chacha aside from the dance that is typically danced back and forth? Repeatitive hometown lifestyle....?Anyway, I was so interested in the drama because of the main characters. Oh my Venus is still one of my favorites, and I want redemption for Kim seon ho from Start Up. I am hoping there is another drama lined up for Kim heon so as this drama still kept me wanting.
The drama was sweet, and lots of scenes that made me sigh.There were times though when I thought more depth should have been added. Did others feel that too?
Hometown Chacha has good actors, nice setting, and it is essentially a feel good drama. 👏👏👏👏👏
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This review may contain spoilers
Heartwarming cliches, surprising depth, superb chemistry
I'm going to miss this dimple couple!!Many viewers describe this as a "feel-good" or "healing" drama, and this is exactly the case. Homcha's cozy seaside village setting already lays the foundation of its biggest themes: found family, love in unexpected places, diamond in the rough, overcoming prejudice, forgiveness/acceptance, wholesome bromance, and more. If you can ignore the product placement, the fictional town of Gongjin is a heartwarming place to visit when watching Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
PROS
❀ Production value was A+ | The thing about romcom tropes is that depending on the way the drama shows them, they can be ridiculously annoying or pleasantly refreshing. Homcha's tropes were the latter for me, and I think it was due to the accumulation of production, acting, and directing. The music was added in expertly (seriously, I associate the best vibes when it comes to the singer going "La-la-la-la-lalalala. romantic Sundayyy" for one of the OSTs), and the cinematography was an added bonus. I really think Homcha's production elevated this romcom for me, despite the well-worn tropes and dialogue.
❀ Literal flirting since day 1 | I saw this Instagram reel with Du-Sik eye-ing Hye-Jin the day they first met, and one of the comments was like "flirting since day 1." This is accurate. Although the characters aren't officially together until around ep 10, their chemistry is off the charts at first meet! I enjoyed their romantic progression from Du-Sik helping Hye-Jin settle into Gongjin as friends/neighbors into a romantic line between similar but different people learning from each other. Du-Sik opens Hye-Jin's eyes to the charm of a small-town life (be patient with her, as her socioeconomic prejudice is pretty conditioned and it takes her a few incidents to get out of that mentality), while Hye-Jin gets to spoil Du-Sik as this king deserves.
As for the characters themselves, they're both lovable. Hye-Jin is the more flawed one (more comments about this in CONS section), but this makes for excellent character development. She starts off as a snobbish dentist with a sense of justice who's trying to adapt to the sleepy seaside village of Gongjin but ends up really comfortable with this village and its people, despite a rocky beginning. She's a character with strong morals, definitely a sense of what's right or wrong, but is also empathetic (especially to children). I love that she's strong both mentally (thinks over her decisions and makes them resolutely) and physically (doesn't take sexual harrassers off lightly).
Du-Sik is the village chief and handyman. He's hilarious, light-hearted, and doesn't take anything too seriously. One of my favorite introductory scenes is when he pulls out all the licenses/certificates he has as a handyman - LMAO! To be honest I thought this guy was way too perfect - in his house, he pretty much made everything. He woodcrafts, fixes up boats, saves people from harm, delegates jobs, makes his own wine and tea, and everything in between. This man is literally self-sufficient. Underneath that playful exterior is a man plagued by nightmares and a deep-set trauma, which this drama later goes into.
As a couple, we have the uptight and snobby dentist x relaxed and easygoing handyman. You KNOW that's a set-up for cute happenstances, lessons learned, and a slight opposites-attract love story. Love this Sikhye couple! ("Sik-hye" combines their names and is also a sweet wine.)
❀ Superb side characters who are holistically explored | Homcha really dives into the side characters' backgrounds, and each one of them faces something that makes you want to cheer for them. (Also, love the 3 mysterious of Gongjin that the script includes haha.) Some of these conflicts include the difficulties of being pregnant/having children, losing a child, raising a child as a single dad, loss of loved ones, misunderstandings in marriage/divorce, failed careers, and more. Some scenes are heartbreaking, others are heartwarming. The common denominator is that the characters grow and come out stronger, emboldened by their new experiences and lessons learned. I'm in love with the imperfectly perfect villagers of Gongjin!
❀ Happy ending for everyone!! | Seriously, I was smiling the whole time while watching ep 16. Every character you root for in Gongjin gets their happy ending. Their stories felt completed and their endings were so satisfying to watch.
CONS
✕ Don't watch if you dislike romcom tropes | Personally, I loved the cliches that the writers of Homcha used, but I know some people may find it boring (including friends of mine). Others, like me, love the way the drama utilizes these cliches to make you fawn over the couple. Some of these cliches include: coincidential childhood/teen meetings between main couple, (slight) love triangle (although the 2ML takes it very well and finds his own romance later on), ML with mysterious/tragic past, getting saved from a stalker/harrasser, surprise angst towards the end, etc. Honestly though, it wasn't too bad and didn't have tropes I dislike like amnesia or forced separation. All the tropes used had feel-good romcom energy.
✕ Inconsistent character development | As much as I loved Du-Sik and think him a perfect ML, he was TOO perfect sometimes... even the 'flaws' about his mysterious past towards the end (ep 14-15 were the angstier ones) didn't really add depth to his character. He was just perfect from start to finish. Which is fine, I guess? But in contrast, Hye-Jin was imperfect and her character showed it well, which led to satisfying character development later on. In this way, the main couple's character writing felt inconsistent and lacking.
✕ Lack of logic when it came to the "incident" revealed in ep 14-15 | Don't know why the drama decided to use this heavily hinted incident as a point of conflict, but the actual reveal was anticlimactic and made me go "wat." The people who were mad/angry/upset were pretty emotional/illogical when it came to those feelings, and the guilt Du-Sik had was unwarranted. Sure, it added dimension to his character (the trauma leading to issues such as PTSD and survivor's guilt), but the set-up was weak. Very weak. I don't know, there was just this big build-up and foreshadowing and for what? It felt like the writers just crammed those characters/their emotions in for the sake of emotional angst to lead to the finale.
✕ Misunderstanding level: 0/10 | I don't remember any that jump out (feel free to point out any). One thing I liked about this drama is that the main couple is pretty open with their communication (ex: Du-Sik calling out Hye-Jin for her superficial attributes, them saying sorry to each other when warranted, etc). The other villagers had more misunderstandings, exacerbated by the hilarious gossip group, but it was all in good fun.
OVERALL
If you love love, family, and reconciliation, then Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is the heartwarming romcom you're looking for! However, if the first couple of episodes don't capture your attention, I feel like the rest of the show won't (and this is what I tell my friends who were bored of it). Otherwise, I was in love with it from ep 1 and understand why people call it a "healing" drama. Only good vibes and energy from Homcha!
(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)
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A SERVE through and through
At its' core, Hometown Cha Cha Cha is about men being men: doing hard labour and being in love with a sometimes mean woman.When I talk about chemistry between the leads, this is what I mean!
This slice-of-life drama that feels so genuine and realistic that it's hard not to connect with the characters. There's something about Du-sik that I just can't pinpoint, but he's my favorite ML of all dramas. I absolutely loved the progress of their relationship, it was sooo rewarding when they just admitted their love and went from pretending to hate each other to being the most cutesy couple.
HCCC's only flaw is the divorce subplot, which no one watching cared about lol.
Either way, I now have brand new relationship goals (how tacky, I know) in my life.
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Slice-of-life done right
City girl, Hyejin, having found herself facing continuous misalignment with her current superior, moves to the country side for a fresh start setting up her own private dental clinic in the seaside village of Gongjin. Reason being: a trip to its beach with family when she was younger. There, she is faced with different trials as your token “Seoul girl” and runs into Dusik, the village’s own “Chief Hong” and their jack of all trades.We follow along as she gets settled, starting off rocky and slowly but surely warming up to everyone and to our ML in particular as she finds herself indebted to him for saving her ass one too many times.
And just as simple as that. Your regular degular romcom. Nothing too deep yet, not at all lacking in depth.
The characters were very well-written and not a second was spared creating an amazing backstory for each and every one of them. Our two main leads’ banter, chemistry and dynamics were the focus of this show and at the heart of it and they kept us thoroughly entertained throughout as we witness their relationship slowly develops from enemies? to friends to lovers.
Shin Mina (FL) was the perfect match for this role and while I don’t find her to be the best of actresses out there, she offered an amazing performance and I got to see many strengths to her I haven’t noticed before as we follow her character’s growth arc. This role was meant for her.
Kim Seonho (ML) was flawless. I don’t see the actor when I look at him, I just see Dusik and that’s the best compliment I could come up with at the moment knowing it doesn’t do him enough justice. With his character arc being the leading plot point, to say he perfected this role would be an understatement. And don’t even get me started on how charming he was.
The people of the village were not a force to mess with either. And despite the fact that there were many of them, each packed a solid backstory and the drama did a great job at introducing everyone and unfolding their struggles at a good pace and order in a very clean, non-overwhelming manner. My special shoutouts goes to all of them but especially Lee Bongryun as Hwajeong. Out of everyone her story arc was my favorite and her phenomenal performance brought things to new heights.
On text, this drama is perfect. The writers knew exactly what story they wanted to tell and tell that story they did. There were no plot holes, pacing was perfect; nothing too rushed, nothing too slow and when we approached the climax of the show, we knew what to expect in the best way possible. There were no unnecessary plot twists or over-the-top predictable tropes (for the most part). Everything worked itself into a neat bow with a satisfying conclusion.
In reality, the show was perfect, too. Great casting, talented actors who embodied their roles, amazing character development and beautiful music and scenery.
But here comes the “but”, or at least “my but” and where I’ll probably be dropping minor spoilers.
If I were to complain or nitpick about anything on this drama, which I’m literally about to (duh), it would be on how everyone at the end was conveniently connected and how they, apparently, ran into each other multiple times at different times in their life when, technically speaking, only one coincidence mattered to the plot leading to the big reveal but they over did it too much by the time you got to it, you’re burnt out on the entire concept. Needless to say, the rest were unnecessary and served no purpose or function in moving the story other than being a cliché K-drama trope.
As a viewer too, at times, I found the show to be too slow for my own liking and was bored with some parts of it. The drama was 1h 20m an episode and I did not particularly find myself dying to watch the next one and even took breaks between some. All these aspects however are tied to my personal preferences and got no bearing on the writing.
After finishing this drama, I came here to read some reviews -as I usually do- and, to my surprise, there were lots of people who were disappointed or thought this show might have not deserved the hype it got. It might be because I came late to this said hype train, but this drama was exactly what I expected it to be and one of the best written recent pieces out there. Simple and compact and did not need to be anything more than what it promised it would be.
I’ve started that first episode a couple of times before and dropped it, not gonna lie, but I knew I’d comeback to it one day. I just needed to be in the right mood, first. And when I was, it delivered. Now I’m left homesick for a place I’ve never been, missing people I’ve never met and fantasizing about my own country-side romance.
And despite my personal grievances with the show (and why I’m docking it a point), credit must be given where credit is due. A 10/10 drama, otherwise, if I’ve ever seen one. I would strongly recommend.
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A great drama!
It's a really good show overall, it's sometimes fun, poignant, and romantic. Just at the start i was a bit confused i was wondering where it was leading, but then kdrama magic happens and we're swirled with all the characters and this pretty seaside village! I wish there were more series with such a setting. There are few bad things about this show, like other viewers i thought the ending was a bit out of tune, but then the last episode is back to the mood of the show and the conclusion is satisfying. I think they went too dark for no reason, the show was great as light hearted.Anyway, i'm totally down for more series of this type: cosy romcom in a seaside village, Korea is so beautiful and there are plenty different landscapes to discover.
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Life is beautiful, just live it
Hometown Cha Cha Cha is not a love story, but a story full of emotional moments. It's all about love, pain, sorrow, happiness, regrets and every human emotion that can be expressed.Without divulging much, it is impressive how Hometown... attempts to go beyond a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy as it explores grief, guilt, loss, and healing. While this is dealt with in a mature way, it would have benefited the show more if the intense themes weren’t all packed into the final two episodes.
Kim Young-Ok as Gam-ri, an octogenarian grandmother who Du-Sik is closest to, once again proves why she’s the best K-drama grandmother. Hometown excels at slice-of-life goodness and wholesome romance of the best kind.
My Rating : 8/10
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My comfort Kdrama ❤️
This is a Kdrama that I don't want to have an end because it was too good. I love the show so much and it feels like I belong with the neighborhood. The ending was satisfying, but I want to see more. I mean, I will surely miss the casts and that beautiful place where they lived. ❤️ Hometown Cha Cha is now one of my comfort Kdrama. It's full of love. 🥺❤️I just put 9.5/10 to the Story because of the part where the wife of the guy who died from the car accident blamed Du Sik for his death. Yes, it was settled after all ,but she said that she won't apologize for what she had done. It just doesn't make sense since it was unexpected and no one wants that to happen. She was hurt but Du Sik suffered as well. He carry all the guilt alone and it was more kind of a burden I think. When in fact, those misfortune that happened was totally not his fault. At least the son of the security guard who got paralyzed gave his "sorry" and admitted that he was just looking for someone to blamed.
Overall, I really like this drama and it is highly recommended. 🥰 I've learned and cried a lot. 🥺😭 I love the dimple couple too! 😘
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Sweet hometown romance
Beautiful sea, a lighthouse, seaside hometown, chaotic neighbors, amazing friendship, cute romance and lots and lots of sweet and touching moments sums up this drama.This drama is based around the lives of people in a small seaside town. The ML is a jack of all trades who is the life of the town, and the FL is a skilled but impulsive dentist from Seoul who moves to a small town for a fresh start. The drama is sweet, cute, romantic and touching. Some of the side characters were a bit unbelievable but they complimented the drama nicely.
The chemistry between the two leads was great and it was great to watch the development between them. The whole process seemed smooth and it flowed naturally and didn't seem that forced. Things did seem a bit forced at the last few episodes but it was bearable.
Speaking of bearable one thing that was a bit unbearable was the blatant and frequent product placements. But as k-drama viewers it is a curse we are fated to bear. But it was a bit too much in this one imo.
The story was quite good. Even though it wasn't ground breaking story the story flow was quite good and kept things interesting and made me look forward to what happens next.
The music was beautiful. There weren't too many songs but the ones they had went nicely with the whole thing.
The actors were nicely cast specially the few important characters were quite good and did a superb job. Shin Min Ah was beautiful in her character and Kim Seon Ho seemed perfect for the male lead's character.
This drama was very good. For people who likes sweet rom-coms this is definitely a good watch.
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A PERFECT ROM-COM drama.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha will make you cry, laugh, scream, crazy, and smile. It's not just a drama, it's an emotion. This drama teaches you the values of life, how special is life, and how you should never give up. If I am ever re-born, I want to be born in this neighborhood. From episodes 1 to 16, I enjoyed every single episode. Must watch! Definitely one of the best 2021 Korean dramas. Such a heart-warming drama. Trust me you won't regret it at all. a perfect, all-kill ROM-COM drama.The soundtrack, the cinematography, and the writing are so beautiful. I love every single frame of it. Acting from the cast is a masterpiece, not to forget all the child actors and the side characters, great acting. There are so many tear-jerking scenes, the performance from the side characters shines a lot in this drama. Shin Min Ah and Kim Seon Ho, the dimple couples, the chemistry between them is so powerful
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Healing drama
I love the story, i love the actors & actress & i love the ost!! Best drama ever 🥰🥰🥰.Hometown chachacha is the healing drama but also loveable filming and always be remembering as precious in all the ways we have to be comforted, to be chill , to be well-known as healing drama in timeless time. Can we be back to the first time homcha ? 😭
Ep 1 moment when she need someone helps
Ep 2 moment when the hearts beat each other
Ep 3 moment when he need her
Ep 4 moment when they made a "biological crisis"
Ep 5 moment when ahe remember everything
Ep 6 moment when he falling in love (again)
Ep 7 moment when he need her
Ep 8 moment whe feel save with his existance
Ep 9 moment when she lost control
Ep 10 moment whe he afraid she got hurt
Ep 11 moment whe she confess first to him
Ep 12 moment when filling her bucketlist
Ep 13 moment when he need her
Ep 14 moment when he want tell her about him
Ep 15 moment when he opened his pandora
Ep 16 moment when they found their happiness
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