Twenty-Five Twenty-One

스물다섯 스물하나 ‧ Drama ‧ 2022
Completed
KdramaCritic
68 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

The ending ruined what could've been a masterpiece...

It's such a shame because every single episode of this drama was amazing and I loved it so much but the ending was so rushed, badly written and left so many plot holes and unanswered questions. I'm not upset because it was a bittersweet ending, Youth of May has a sad ending but that's one of my favourite dramas of all time. I'm sad because their break up at the end was so out of character. I get that the writers wanted it to be realistic but the whole drama they're portrayed to have this amazing connection but in the last episode they give up on it all and loose touch, we're not even told if they still remain friends. Its disappointing because the burning questions we have throughout the whole drama are never answered... T_T I don't think I could ever rewatch this drama which is such a shame! But aside from that awful ending the soundtrack in this drama, the friendship and the amazing fencing sences are top notch. My advice is to only watch to episode 15.

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Completed
Emmie
145 people found this review helpful
Apr 4, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 8
Overall 7.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 4.5
This review may contain spoilers

oh....my.

wow...I know I am not alone in feeling incredibly disappointed in how this drama turned out. what started out as a hopeful coming of age story about growing up and finding your place in the world...ended with an hour of "your friendships of youth are meant to be kept in the past...deal with it :)"

Twenty-Five, Twenty-One started out (and, honestly, continued to be until about episode 14) as one of the most genuine, engaging, and hopeful dramas I had seen in a long time. the characters were charming, but also human, with flaws and development that really made you feel like you were growing up with them. their friendships were the kind that had struggles, but as they grew up, they learned how to navigate these conflicts. it showed the realities of growing up, young love, and finding your place in the world.

and then it totally crashed and burned.

here's the thing, I actually am all for bittersweet, or even sad, endings. I just did not feel like this one did the story justice. it was such a...non-ending, that it felt like a cheap cop-out to get an emotional reaction, which was in stark contrast to the rest of the drama, where each of the emotional moments was in the story for an obvious developmental reason. I knew from the start that this drama would probably not have a "happy" ending, but nonetheless, I was very disappointed in this.

the ending, which provided no true closure for anyone but Hee-Do (kind of), felt like it was communicating a message that any friendship that happens in your childhood is...intended to be left there? that none of the youthful love or hope you have can follow you into adulthood... this, paired with how melancholy adult Hee-Do seems to feel about her life, was incredibly strange in contrast to the other 14 episodes of character development and hopeful storytelling.

all in all, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like this drama was designed to be watched while it aired, and it created great engagement in the audience due to this fact...and maybe this is why the ending felt short. they kept the "mystery" going for too long, in a way that did not leave them time to truly flesh out the ending. I am not sure. I feel like they could have kept the "open ending" concept, and just tweaked it a bit... showing us that some of the friendship group were still in touch, or something...the fact the drama went to such great lengths to keep all the side couples together, and then threw out not only the main couple's romance but also their very long friendship so abruptly... hm. it just felt incredibly out of place and incredibly disappointing.

perhaps this is all a testament to how lovely the first chunk of the drama was! I highly recommend the first 14 or so episodes...but save yourself and do not watch the finale. it is not worth it.

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Completed
strevisa
31 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 6.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Could have been better

It's nice to see high-schoolers trying to figure out what to do with their life, and anchor the whole in real facts (Asian financial crisis of 1997, then to a minor extent the Sept. 2001 terrorist attacks), but looking a few below the surface, the series unravels, leaving much nonsense.
The series is full of monoparental families, or where parents are absent, and as such can't help their kids, which is seriously odd in Korea today. Extremely odd is the daughter of HeeDo who makes 0 reference to her father (she was somehow born! even if sperm donation was performed).
The whole spiel about fencing looks abnormal. Geographically, the high-school supplying half of the female national competitors and the national training center make no sense. Linguistically, the French sucks big time (school in "France", commands during Korean training, and at international events, ... the whole thing); the producers could have recorded a complete set of orders and then used it ad hoc throughout the series.
In the end, I am left with the feeling that the author didn't really know what to do, and thus took a bit of this (choose a sport, fencing), and that (some pseudo-rivalry among leads, a point in time for the main story and another for the results of the story), and then see what happens.
What happened is not much.

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Completed
scenophile
102 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Does the journey matter or does the ending?

Okay, if you're one of those people that think "how it ends doesn't matter, it's the journey that counts" then you'll probably rate this really highly and love it from start to finish. If you're the type of person who needs things to be wrapped up cleanly with closure — me — then the show will leave you with a lot of mixed feelings.

To start with, the vibe of the show is pretty much perfect. I really loved Heedo's character and how the themes were incorporated into the show — dreams, efforts, happiness, friendships, different types of love, supporting each other from afar...it was all just really beautiful. I still love all the friendships in this, and for the most part the time jumps were done really well with us seeing how the characters grew into adulthood and went about their lives after growing and learning from each other.

It's the last few episodes (15 & 16) that really take a different turn. There were really multiple ways to write a "realistic" story and the writers picked the one that, to me, felt as though it went against a lot of the inspiring hope that we had gotten in the rest of the show. There were crazy time jumps in the last episode and the past and present timelines never felt like they converged with closure. The last episode was just kind of miserable, except for a few side characters that really saved it.

Speaking of which, I felt like present timeline was just really unnecessary from start to finish. The characters never felt like themselves (even if they were the same actors) and it really felt like it was included either to (1) show how time passed and Heedo's daughter Minchae was dealing with the same thing (to which I would say nobody really cared about her story and everyone only cared about the 90s timeline) or (2) to purposefully throw off the audience. Either way, it felt disjointed and unnecessary. It didn't provide closure either — the questions we started with still persisted, and we never saw the other main characters again.

Overall, this was still such a comfort show for me for so many weeks. There are some iffy parts that I wish it touched more on but overall I thought all the character arcs were thought out thoroughly. It just kind of sucks that the writers picked the route they did.

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Completed
BellaEdward
48 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

WHAT WAS THIS ENDING

I honestly have never loved a show more than this one……..up till episode 14. The writing rushed the ending so much that there wasn’t any closure. There were also a lot of plot points that just simply were disregarded or unanswered. I didn’t understand why they built up so much only for nothing to amount to anything. There really was no point showing the older version of the characters or even showing the ballet blot or Na Hee-do’s daughter. Overall, I loved the characters so much and I’m so disappointed with the ending. If anyone’s watched Game of Thrones, the ending was honestly giving me the same disappointment that the last season of Game of Thrones gave. That bad.

The reason I’m giving it an 8 was because of episodes 1-13. The characters, the story, the relationships not just between the main leads but among the 5 friends, the coach, and parents was beautiful. It was written and carried out perfectly. I really had high hopes for the show with these episodes. Honestly, the ending deserved better.

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Completed
shreyashaw
41 people found this review helpful
Apr 4, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 3.0
Story 2.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Unnecessary Sad Ending!

After building each character beautifully the writer shits on the very last episode of the show. The character build was amazing and the relationship between all 5 were beautifully written, with focusing majorly on Na-Hee Do and Back-Ye Jin relationship from the start and the series was going great, but I don’t know what went up with the writer that he thought an unpolished, unexplained unnecessary sad ending with major plot holes will make this series rank highest in the list of every k-drama fan, like you got to be kidding me LOL. It completely ruined the mood and I'm sure it disappointed many viewers on so many levels. Both the characters: Na-Hee Do & Back-Ye jin were shown to have great understanding nature, but at the end they were completely out of character and showed no understanding to each others situation whatsoever, fighting over a small bump they had because Ye Jin temporarily moved to NY to cover 911, which could have been easily resolved as he hid no feelings from her but explained everything which caused him depression. Also, she lost some diary of hers on the bus and from nowhere some guy/girl got it and posted it to Back-Ye Jin without any mistake, I mean where did they get the address EXPLAIN?????!!!!, and he after writing some message for Na-Hee Do chose to send it through the "library guy" she used buy comics from, before 2000, instead of sending via post, BOY SERIOUSLY?????!!!!! Well, whatever, the series is not a must watch for sure and you can happily skip if you want. I will not be recommending this to anyone further. It’s a total waste of time!

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Completed
Jaewohn
34 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 8.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers

WHY?!?! It could have been better.

I am so annoyed with the ending, I don't understand this. There are SO many loose ends, I would have been okay with them not ending together but the execution and the plot just did not make sense. First of all, why did she have that picture of her that yijin was supposed to have? Why did she marry someone and have a long distance relationship with them when that's the reason she broke up with yijin? They didn't show her happy and have that "It's okay, we don't end up with our first loves as someone else out there is the one for us" ending but was just like "We don't end up with our first loves, whatever."
AHHHHH i am infuriated rn, I'm gonna be mad at this for a while
Even scarlet heart was better than this.

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Completed
Pinoy Ares
205 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 15
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

BUT SERIOUSLY, WHAT IS WITH THAT ENDING???

Dont get me wrong. I loved the whole series. I even understand why they chose that path. It was titled Twenty Five Twenty One so naturally i expected the story to peak when they were at that age.

But come on!!! Why end it like that? For the better part of the whole series we are being teased to guess who will end up together in a mystery-solving setup - a la the Reply series. And then when it ended it wasnt even hinted who the father or the husband is. The kid is Kim Min Chae, after all so i kinda accepted early on that the father wasnt YiJin but to not answer it rendered the whole present timeline useless. They could have removed the present Hee Do and her daughter and it wont change a thing, because they literally said its not important.

The good:
1. I loved the fencing (sports) main theme.
2. Nam Joo Hyuk. Boy has improved so much, i may be inclined to think his handlers are doing everything to make him a multi awarded drama actor. It almost worked in Start Up, hopefully this is it.
3. Choi Hyun Wook. What a breath of fresh air. I loved him in RB, but he just shined here.
4. Kim Tae Ri and Bo Na as Hee Do and Yu Rim, respectively . Beautiful and capable. Let me get back to this later.
5. The coach, and the mother. I am inloved with Kim Hye Eun, makes me wanna see her past dramas.
6. I liked the fact that it wasnt a fairy tale ending.

The so-so.
1. Kim Tae Ri. She is amazing in this role, but I get it, readers will hate me for saying this. There were some flak for the portrayal of a college student to a high school student love affair, it wasnt May December, but it was enough to make people think that high school HeeDo is way too young for an adult Yi Jin and at moments the idea is kinda cringy. I guess the producers thought, well Tae Ri is older than Joo Hyuk in real life so it shouldnt be an issue. My question however is, will the producers think differently if an early 20-year old actress was playing HeeDo? Also, like i said she did great here, but is there no actress who is younger than Nam Joo Hyuk who can portray Hee Do's emotions?

2. The pacing and length of episodes. 16 episodes of almost 90 minutes each. Sometimes i feel like episodes are a little too long and the last 2 episodes in particular crammed too many issues a little too late. I guess thats how the format is for most asian drama - make the leads break up in the penultimate episode and then cram and jampack the finale to solve all the issues. But goodness i counted a few scenes that were a little too long that could have been used for some other things like how many times HeeDo and YiJin broke up and madeup. I guess they thought extending the drama and the crying scenes will make people cry. My short attention span went a little haywire.


The bad
1. The older Hee Do. The actress portraying the older Hee Do is beautiful and i love the subtle acting that connects both the past and present HeeDo. BUT, is she really needed. Did the story changed by adding her character? Again, the non-reveal of the husband made her character useless, and i felt like that was done to trick the viewers into keep guessing who the husband is going to be. Another thing, Hee Do's mother acted the older character. Why cant Tae Ri do the same?
2. Hee Do's daughter Kim Min Chae. By the name alone, we know she is not Back Yi Jin's daughter. But still, her presence teased us with the possibility of Hee Do and Yi Jin endgame. But alas they thought it wasnt important enough to be discussed. So why do we need the whiny kid.
3. Now back to the ending. The whole series was great overall, but my heart needs closure.

Would i reccommend? Definitely, just prepare to spend some time with it. Am i going to rewatch? Sorry, its just too long, and theres just too many drama nowadays i dont think i can.

Kudos to Netflix for giving Asian dramas chance to shine in a much bigger stage, makes my subscription very worthwhile.

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Completed
Ray
18 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 4.0

How to ruin a 10/10 show with one episode.

I must congratulate the writers for accomplishing something I considered nearly impossible. Well, I know better now. One can completely ruin a show in just one episode. Here is how I imagine it was done.

Step 1: Destroy the characters. The characters that the audience have known and loved for the past 15 episodes need to be ruined first. Take all their character-traits away from them, including their understanding, their love, their spirit of never giving up - everything that made them… them. Everything that made the audience fall in love with them. Ready? Great. Now apply this to their carefully constructed and super strong relationship and make it seem like it was nothing. Easy peasy.

Step 2: Try to trick the audience. Everything that has been shown important in the past 15 episodes needs to amount to nothing. All the little things, hints dropped, heartwarming things shown, need to be shown moot and useless. Now, switch their focus to completely different and dumb things which had no relevance before that wretched episode.

Step 3: Leave tons of things unexplained. Build up entire mysteries for 15 episodes and then simply refuse to solve them.

Step 4: Completely give up on all sense. Nothing needs to make any sense whatsoever. The strongest forged bonds are weak AF. People clearly madly in love with one another can be forced to break up with no regrets and can move on from each other just as quickly. Like I said, give up on all sense.

There you have it folks. A 4-step guide to ruin a 10/10 show. It was clearly easier than I had initially thought.

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Completed
guggle121504
26 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 4
Overall 6.0
Story 1.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 1.5

Be prepared ....unsatisfactory ending!!

everything about this drama was great from the actors to their acting to the initial storyline but after 13 episodes the story suddenly debacle resulting in a pathetic ending
if u wanna watch it for hee do and Ji yin's bond in the initial episodes u can give a try ( till ep 14)because the ending will tear you apart.
all the hopes were shattered and the worst was it is open-ended making you ponder the whole time about the ending and their afterlives
8 rating only for Nam Joo Hyuk and Kim taeri 's brilliant acting
after such a stupid ending I still feel it's generous to give 8
I recommend not to watch if you hate open and bad endings and can't live without watching the ending.

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Completed
Marshmallow-Chocoholic
67 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 7.0
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0

Twenty-Five, Twenty One’; A Bumpy Trip Down Memory Lane…


Anyone who is aware or familiar with the  modern-classic, the ‘Reply’ series, will appreciate that the concept of nostalgia, mysterious flashbacks and trying to piece together events between the past and future ( especially with regards to romantic relationships) are not ground-breaking writing setups.

Nevertheless while ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ does not play around with a new or an original  idea, the narrative did offer viewers with a heartfelt coming-of-age story. In addition to this, ‘ Twenty-Five, Twenty-One’ presented an unravelling mystery. Although the drama could often be captivating, it is important to acknowledge that ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty One’ still suffered at times from inconsistent pacing and execution.

The main narrative and timeline of ‘Twenty Five, Twenty One’ is predominantly set in the late 1990s and focuses upon its two main leads; aspiring athletic fencer, 18 year-old Na Hee Do ( Kim Tae Ri- ‘ Mr .Sunshine’, ‘ The Handmaiden’ and ‘Space Sweepers’ ) and her hardworking ‘’sunbae’’ and potential love interest, college-student Baek Yi Jin ( Nam Joo Hyuk- ‘Who Are You: School 2015’, ‘ Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo’ and ‘ The Light in Your Eyes’).

The second timeline of the series is set in the near-present day. Instead of focusing solely on an adult Hee Do, the subplot instead focuses on Hee Do’s young daughter Kim Min Chae ( Choi Myung Bin- ‘ The King’s Affection’, ‘ Dramaworld2’). Within these future events of the main narrative, adult Hee-Do ( played by Kim So Hyun- ‘The King and I’) is revealed to have been shaped greatly by the unfolding  events of her past.  She is no longer an optimistic dreamer, and instead has turned into a prudent helicopter parent; attempting to mould Min Chae into becoming a prodigal ballerina through a regimented routine and regime, but without always acknowledging her daughter’s personal feelings and dreams.

Annoyed and fed up by her mother’s micromanaging, Min Chae is shocked when she stumbles upon her mother’s old diaries, photos and journals. Intrigued, she begins to digress through her mother’s personal coming-of-age accounts during the aftermath of the 1997 IMF crisis. Min Chae is astounded to follow her mother’s journey and slowly begins to understand more about her mother’s past  and circumstances, especially with regards to her complicated feelings for Baek Yi-Jin.

Screenwriter Kwon Do Eun is most likely known by viewers for her critically-successful screenplay ‘Search: WWW’. Similar to her previous work, Kwon Do Eun added a similar stylistic approach of heart-warming angst and multi-layered characters throughout the screenplay for ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty-One’.
 
However despite several tonal similarities between Do Eun’s screenplays, it is important to note that ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty-One’ takes a different approach with its storytelling, particularly by using a non-linear narrative.  Non-linear narratives can allow for some brilliant opportunities in order for screenwriters to explore character-depth, intensify climatic build-ups through flashbacks and flashforwards, as well as helping to entice the audience.
 
This was particularly apparent in ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty-One’ via the main storyline by focusing  upon the potential romantic relationship between Hee Do and Yi Jin, as well as the complicated  mother-daughter bond between Hee Do and Min Chae during certain scenes in the subplot surrounding events in the present-day.
 
With regards to the latter mentioned plot point, the potential onscreen chemistry between Hee Do and Yi-Jin was quintessential towards impacting events in the narrative. Admittedly and refreshingly rather than allowing the storyline to be entirely focused upon the romantic elements of Hee Do and Yi-Jin’s relationship, the series offered opportunities also for viewers to divulge deeper into the aspirations and sentience of the characters at times.
 
In particular, this was shown through the difficult journey taken at times by the female lead and male lead through different complicated situations and interactions. For the female lead, this was apparent throughher prickly relationship with her mother and news anchor Shin Jae Kyung ( Seo Jae Hee- ‘Run On’, ‘ Artificial City; and ‘The Youngest Son Of A Conglomerate’) as well as her rivalry with with Go Yoo-rim ( Bona ‘ Hit The Top’, ‘ Girls’ Generation 1979’ and ‘ Your House Helper’).
 
For male lead Yi-Jin, his personal conflicts came early on in the series. After his father’s affluent business went bankrupt nearly overnight during the economic crisis, Yi-Jin was forced to take on several part-time jobs in order to make ends meet. However, Yi-Jin feels as though he has struck gold after landing a position at a broadcasting company. Yet similar to the female lead’s personal struggles in order to attain her dreams, Yi-Jin soon acknowledges that his journey into the television industry isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
 
Nevertheless although the narrative helped to offer moments for characters to feel dynamic, it is hard to ignore that  Hee Do and Yi-Jin were still shoehorned  at times into specific roles and scenarios in order to drag-out misunderstandings and angst. In particular this was often prominent through Yi-Jin’s age difference and dating experience in comparison to Hee Do, who was sometimes subjugated during some of these moments as a victim of her own inexperience.
 
This wasn’t entirely a bad writing decision per say. Although age difference relationships can often be the subject of debate in narratives, when approached tactfully, they can allow for some intriguing explorations into setups, character archetypes and sociological barriers between love interests. Nevertheless although some praise should be given to Do Eun’s overtness with the setup and subject matter tackled, it is still notable that, Yi-Jin and Hee Do’s dilemmas could often feel somewhat cliché and enforced. Perhaps this was also due to the fact that of these misunderstandings and climatic scenarios ( particularly incidents where Hee Do would jump to conclusions or misconceptions about Yi-Jin) did become more repetitive as episodes progressed.
 
Kim Tae Ri and Nam Joo Hyuk starred as main leads and potential lovers. Kim Tae Ri added a likeable charm to her onscreen persona, Hee Do. It is a difficult feat at times for an actor playing the role of a younger character to adopt specific mannerisms or characteristics in order to make their performance feel authentic. Nevertheless although there were some moments of overblown dialogue, Kim Tae Ri brilliantly helped to bring young Hee Do to life through her bubbly character and personality. In addition to Tae Ri, A-lister actor Nam Joo Hyuk co-starred alongside the actress as main male lead Baek Yi-Jin. Although there were moments initially where Joo Hyuk’s performance could feel somewhat stilted by his limited screen time and interactions with the female lead, Joo Hyuk was gradually allowed more opportunities in order to add an emotive edge to his onscreen character.
 
It is important to point out that the main leads’ onscreen chemistry was decent enough. Kim Tae Ri and Nam Joo Hyuk’s initial chemistry felt somewhat stagnant in parts, but certainly did improve as episodes progressed.

In addition to the romantic relationship explored between the main leads in the series, there is also another important bond covered in the subplot; the relationship between Hee Do and her daughter. Kim So Hyun takes on the role as the adult-version of Hee Do. It seemed surprising considering the respectful age of Kim Tae Ri, that another actress was cast to play an older version of her character. Nevertheless, So Hyun helped to embody a certain believability with her onscreen performance. Alongside actress Kim So Hyun, co-star and child actress Choi Myung Bin delivered a brilliant performance as Hee Do’s daughter Kim Min Chae.
 
The maternal bond explored in ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty One’ between the main female lead’s adult-self and her daughter is arguably one of the most intriguing as well as shoehorned subplots in the drama’s narrative. Of course, screenwriter Kwon Do Eun added a certain level of depth to the onscreen relationship. Hee Do’s reasons for becoming a “controlling figure” within her daughter’s life are more complex than merely out of spite or jealousy. ( Her relationship with her own mother playing a big part with wanting to give opportunities to Min Chae.) Similarly while it would be easy to portray Min Chae as the “ fractious” daughter, Min Chae’s frustration seemed to reflect a lot of convoluted feelings.

Nevertheless despite Do Eun’s presentation of the relationship, it is hard to ignore that while this was still only a subplot, the storyline revolving around Min Chae and Hee Do was often shoehorned into a limited time frame, with inconsistent time-skips and flittering in between rarely helping to smooth out this counterplot by the ending of the series.

Sadly this was a slight problem with ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’. Although the narrative was heavily focused upon the events of the main leads and their complex potential onscreen chemistry, subplots and side characters could often be left out of the equation. This was mainly due to the fact that in a time space of sixteen episodes, the narrative had to be compact and focusing upon the main narrative rather than homing in on side plots did become necessary as episodes progressed.

On the other hand this is admittedly where ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ could sometimes hit a slight rut; the side characters and subplots were often somewhat inconsistent and rushed. Even in a non-linear narrative, the series would often leave certain side characters’ intriguing backstories and character-arcs on the sideline, briefly explored in order to fill in screen time though rarely given a concise conclusion by the series finale. ( This was apparent for side characters such as Go Yoo-rim, Hee Do’s rival, played by idol-actress Bona [ Hit The Top’, ‘ Girls’ Generation 1979’ and ‘ Your House Helper’], Choi Hyun-Wook’s [ Real:Time:Love ’, ‘ Racket Boys] role as Hee Do’s popular classmate Moon Ji-woong, Lee-Joo Myung’s [ My Fellow Citizens!’, ‘Missing: The Other Side’ and ‘ Kairos’ ] role as Ji-woong’s childhood friend, Ji Seung-wan and of course Hee Do’s daughter played by Choi Myung Bin, Min Chae.)

Nevertheless it is hard to ignore that while there were some evident inconsistencies with pacing, ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ was able to encapsulate a certain nostalgic and retro tone through the visionary eye of director Jung Ji Hyun ( ‘ You Are My Spring’, ‘ Search: WWW’). The opening of the series brings forth a stylistic approach of fuzzy gradients and vivid title sequences, akin to the opening credits of a TV show from a VHS tape.

There is also a subtle difference placed between the present day scenes and the past ; drab and mundane shots are suddenly animated to life in flashbacks through an explosion of vivid palettes and warm tones, helping to capture the buzzing warmth and joie de vivre of Hee Do’s youth. ( One of the most memorable and striking parallel scenes drawn between the past and present day being through the bubblegum blue diner that Min Chae is shown to visit with her mother in the present day. The bright blues are strikingly odd against the mundane attire of the characters. In the same episode, a parallel scene is shown through Yi-Jin’s visit to a similar diner; instead strikingly bright and warm through the bubbly and rose-tinted perspective of the past.)

As for the comprised soundtrack of the series, ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ is admittedly less ambitious than it should’ve been. For a series set against the backdrop of the late 90s where music (especially in South-Korea ) was being explored and pushed beyond conventional tastes, it felt odd that ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ was somewhat limited to an array of somewhat generic upbeat love ballads and schmaltzy pop singles. Nevertheless it is important to acknowledge that there are some catchy songs within the OST , in particular TAEIL’s “Starlight (스타라이트)" remaining one of the most memorable tracks throughout the series .

Overall ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’ is a coming of age tale which offered a nostalgic and poignant reflection for viewers upon youth and childhood. The issues of chasing dreams, the difficulties of being at the passing boundaries between childhood and adulthood as well as struggling with friendships and young love, were central and universal messages within the drama’s narrative. However despite the bubbling sweetness of ‘ Twenty Five, Twenty One’, the series wasn’t without its more apparent faults of inconsistent pacing either. Nevertheless viewers will likely be captivated by the narrative’s refreshing and lighthearted nostalgia ride, niche in parts, but surprisingly offering several shocking twists and turns by the finale. Overall a very good watch.

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Completed
Clear skies
51 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Who are they kidding?

The clues were there early on that maybe this series won't end the way I anticipated. But I have to say I held on in hope. Partly because this is Kdrama and partly because the acting was so darn good.
I rooted for these guys, because a relationship likes theirs is super hard to find. The chemistry, commitment, companionship, was flawless. And that, for me, was the main problem with this show. Yes, the characters made flawed decisions, but don't we all? This show promised so much but it seemed to end on some strange premise that the leads learnt something and that 'something' enabled them to make their next choice. I don't care for ambiguous endings and this series did the ultimate faux pas of being ambiguous and rushed.
Maybe it's just me, but finding love such as the one described in this show, is rare. It isn't a stepping stone to something else. Leaves me to wonder what on earth the writers really intended for us as viewers. Because first love is one thing, but true love is another.

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