Twenty-Five Twenty-One

I laughed my heart out and bawled my eyes out too!!!

This drama is so so good. I cannot even explain how much attached i had grown to it. This drama made me laugh out loud at so many instances and in the end made me cry for almost half an hour. This was so fresh. This is by far the best age of coming series. The acting was sooo sooo good. I fell in love with hee do's character, and each and every actor played theit roles very well. This drama was so so good. I just completed watching it and i binge watched it. It feels like i was with them in their journey too ,the drama feels just so much real, even though hee do and you Jin didn't end up together i don't hate the writers,, even the heartbreak was so well written and the build up was so so so much amazing which is why i ended up crying so much in the end as if I was having a heartbreak. This series will always have a very special place in my heart. Everyone needs to watch this series right now.

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“I’ve missed you. But I saw you because you showed yourself to me.”

Originally written on Oct 31, 2022

Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a traditional, sappy K-Drama combined with a live-action sports anime. While I know that sounds weird, it’ll make sense once you’ve seen it. I won’t dive too deep into the story, because Twenty-Five Twenty-One is at its best when you go in as blind as possible, but what I thought to be a lighthearted romcom quickly turned me into a broken mess. I’ve seen enough K-Dramas by this point to know what to expect, yet they still get me.

I’ve liked Kim Tae-ri ever since I saw her in Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, so I went into Twenty-Five Twenty-One thinking her Na Hee-do would be my favourite character of the show, but I have to say I really enjoyed WJSN’s Bona as Ko Yu-rim as well. Seeing her character grow and finding out what blocked her from doing so for the longest time really resonated with me and turned her from someone I actively disliked at the start into a standout character. The rest of the cast, consisting of many great characters and friends to Hee-do, is very likeable as well.

Something I liked less, however, was how slowly the romances developed. Twenty-Five Twenty-One falls into the same trap as many other K-Dramas in that characters rarely say what they really want to say to each other, thereby dragging out character development and the beginning of their relationship(s) for as long as possible. Which, in the case of Twenty-Five Twenty-One, results in people getting into a relationship at the worst possible moments, resulting in frustration and more heartache than I could have imagined at the start of the show. It’s very effective, but it could’ve been paced a little better.

If the shoelace scene doesn’t wreck you after spending so many in-story years with these characters, I’m convinced you don’t have a heart. It is without a doubt one of the most precious moments I’ve seen so far in a K-Drama.

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I cried a lot

This drama I felt was fantastic from beginning up until episode 14. Like most everyone else, I was disappointed with how it ended. It made no sense, especially considering how much the ML and FL communicated with each other only to end up broken hearted for no real reason. Well I guess taking a job in NYC without telling your girlfriend is messed up and I would be super pissed over that. It made a lot of sense that FL did not want to go through the same thing she went through with her mom. Both people that were supposed to love her the most, almost always chose their careers over her. Clearly there were traumatic events that led to all of that but jeez, how sad is that? At times I felt this story was more about friendship, specifically the relationsoip between He-Doo and Yu-Rim while the romance was more in the background. Anyway, the ending was spoiled for me before I watched it, so I knew it was coming which is why I think I cried instead of being angry. lol

Overall, I thought the acting was fantastic, the OST was so good, and the production was top notch. Everyone told me not to watch it but after finishing "Weightlifting FairyKim Bok-joo" I wanted to see more of Nam Joo-hyuk and this is where I ended up. I don't regret watching it though. Just wish it had ended differently. I still think it is worth watching, if you want your heart to get ripped out. :D

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''From a time when love and friendship were the most important things in life''.

When the female lead said that it really made me stop and think for some time, because I myself think I am still in that time in my life. But as someone who also had a first love that didn't work out, but still, that person is someone who ''means so much to me'' as the main couple in Twenty- five Twenty-one feel about each other... The series was amazing, and their love made my heart race many times, but I think it talks about a lot of inconvenient truths about love and hardwork. The results of effort grow in stairs and one shouldn't despair and give up if they are stuck, if they like what they do, rather than like being congratuled about the good results of their hardwork. Besides that, it says that love changes, life is made of choices and people are imperfect. Na Hee Doo couldn't do another relantioships in which one person is sorry all the time and the other is always waiting. Some people called that ''imperfect writing'' about her characther, but I don't agree with that. I thought it was very good writing. I have a very similar feeling about the end of romantic relantioships in ghibli movies: the main couple doesn't end together, but still the pain and happiness are feelings very precious. That's when you know you loved hard. In the end, Na Hee Doo said it best: There're very few things in this life we can do exactly in the way that we want.

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Life is an amalgamation of everything sweet and salty!

The reality of life is simple, it's bittersweet. It is an amalgamation of everything sweet and salty; it is everything that we dreamed of and everything we didn't want to happen or didn't think would happen.
That IS the reality of life, and this drama portrayed it beautifully. The resilience of youth, the belief in the possibility of anything, the friendships, the moments our naive optimistic young selves want to remember forever, and the relationships we want to stay the same, as well as the bitter reality of life hitting us- of change, of loss, of our own limitations, and of impossibilities; Twenty Five and Twenty One, encapsulates all of this in its 16 episodes and it does so in a way that leaves you feeling too many emotions all at once but at the same time it has the ability to make you feel all warm inside.

I hadn't planned to pick this up until all the episodes had been released, however, 2-3 weeks before my (very important, career deciding) exams I ended up starting the show since I couldn't help but procrastinate on studying. Plus I was also going through a hard time in terms of mental health during the same period and this drama turned out to be such a healing watch; the music, the cinematography, and especially the dialogues, it felt like they were all coming together to give me a hug from the inside. It is what kept me going and certain dialogues I think will stick with me for life.

*slight spoiler starts*
One of my favorite moments from the whole drama is when Na Hee Do is talking to her daughter about the progression of ability, and how it isn't a graph with the linear increase but rather an exponential increase. She likened it to a staircase and how once we hit the wall to jump onto the next step, we should keep at it instead of giving up. That most people when hit this wall, give up but to keep being better or doing better we need to keep going at the wall and keep trying until we are able to jump over that wall
*slight spoiler ends*

I genuinely enjoyed watching this and could see myself re-watching it again a few years down the line when I find myself stuck trying to jump onto the next step. Missing out on the opportunity to watch this would be missing out on a true gem!


p.s
*Opinion on ending* *major spoiler*
I know quite a lot of people weren't too happy about the ending but to me it was perfect. Putting aside the fact that personally, I was more of a fan of Na Hee Do and Baek Ye jin's friendship than their non-platonic relationship; I did want them to find a way to get back together, I mean who doesn't love a happily ever after, however, I think if the writer had done so it would have missed the whole point of the message of the show that is life will have moments that will make you feel so alive and moments that will have you feeling totally hopeless and both are needed for life to be truly appreciated in its essence. Moreover, the drama also showed that change happens; it is inevitable, however, that does not invalidate the moments, memories, or relationships you had before the change happened, it does not make the most beautiful moment in your life any less beautiful and neither does the change mean there will be no more beautiful moments in your life in the future. Borrowing from the idea behind BTS's new album (Proof coming out 10th June :3), The beautiful moments in our life are always yet to come so we need to keep on moving.

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I haven't been able to complete a show in a long time, so having completed 2521, I've come to a realisation as to how special this experience has been and it's one that I will perhaps never forget.

I guess Korean dramas serve as an escape from the mundane routine-based lives we've always been living, so if we can't have an ideal story, then why not these shows paint the perfect endings for us then? ...Except that 2521 isn't your cliche Korean drama that follows the conventions of two leads ending up together. We're torn by the fact that Heedo and Yijin don't end up marrying each other and spending the rest of their lives together, but I think as viewers, we've always been too focused on what entails as a happy conclusion that we've compromised the experiences we've been blessed with along the way. This ends up momentarily blinding our judgement as to whether it's a good or a bad show.

The greatest blessing I've been able to take away from this series is watching the characters discover for themselves what they want in life. Life is unpredictable and at times, so cruel, demanding and even unforgiving. Very often we lose ourselves in the midst of our battles. Not everyone has the strength or the luck to see light at the end of the tunnel, but for Yijin, he's lucky to have found hope in Heedo. Through Heedo, he has gained the strength to recreate a future for himself that he once had seemingly lost, and now he's regained the ability to smile and laugh. And for Heedo, Yijin is someone who has helped to create a new world. A new world where she was able to draw her own paths, dictate her own life, and ultimately shine as a star athlete.

Watching Heedo and Yijin guide each other was perhaps the most beautiful takeaway from 2521. They have formed a love so deep that I doubt will ever dissipate, despite both having headed their own separate ways. 2521 has taught me that, well, perhaps you don't need romance to prove that your love is stronger than anything else. They may no longer be in love, but they've taught each other to find love and strength in other experiences. Isn't that just so worth everything we've experienced together with them? It would truly be a blessing of a lifetime to have had someone like that in life.

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Not happy with the ending....

Since the drama had started I always had a guts feeling that something bad happened with th ML's character . Because the drama went into flashback ,in present time they both ere not there and FL's character's daughter got her diary in whi h her story had mentioned . Seriously I am not happy with the ending . I am all the time emotionally connected with the ML's character . This character's didn't get good ending and at the end where he had disappeared ,why they never be together ?In the end drama had shown that everyone's life then get better then why were they never meet ? Whatever the episode I were watching but my mind always been thinking that what would be happened in the end? Why were the main characters not be together? Why ? I liked the story but ending disappointed me.

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realistic plot

i stopped watching it after ep 12 for a while since I came to know about the ending. but completing the drama healed me and broke me at the same time. the ending was way too realistic for ppl like us who are used to watching happy ever after endings. but that has a charm in it's own way even tho it broke my heart completely and I might not see any other drama for a while.

i was hooked from the start, heedo's perseverance and fighting spirit was truly commendable. kim Taeri truly resonated with her character and delivered the best possible na heedo we can ever get. heedo's break up teared me apart, she waited for her mum everytime after her dad died and eventually ended up being disappointed. yijin being a reporter like her mum would've definitely being too much for her. it pained me to see her being emotionally tired waiting her whole life, first it was her mum and her lover. nevertheless she endured it for a long time. if I was in her place, i doubt i would know what to do. but heedo made the painful decision of them breaking up rather than hopless waiting and relationship that seemed to be going nowhere. that part was really realistic.
Taeri even took fencing lessons prior to the actual filming, which made the fencing part more realistic. (she truly deserves the best actress award which she won yesterday <3 )

i won't lie, i kinda felt dislike towards yurim at the start BUT as the story progressed, i started empathising with her. she was a teenager who had to think like a adult because of her parent's financial condition. my heart broke for her when she had to make the decision of going to Russia and more so when heedo and her competed in Madrid, reuniting after a year, i cried there.

seungwan is the best character there is in 2521, I'm not even looking at any other opinions that you might have. she's a friend that you can trust your life with. she portrayed that being a top student doesn't necessarily mean that you can't rebel against your teachers when their in the wrong. and that you have to be a nerd and hang out with only "students who study well". she stole my heart when she stood up for ji woong, girl really decided to leave school when she had enough of the bullshit that her teacher had to show. i so wanna know her and yijin's brother's story.

ji woong, my baby. the baby of the group actually, more so behind the scenes. I'm so glad he went on to become a successful ceo, after the shit he had to endure in school. plus he really deserves that pretty boy title. his never changing love towards yurim made my heart flutter after what happens with heedo and yijin lmao. his banters with heedo, being platonic soulmates with seungwan, having a brotherly relationship with yijin, respect and love towards yurim, was EVERYTHING.

yijin's character made me want a matured guy lmao. his character went through a lot, from being rich to barely making ends meet & paying off debts. none of it was his fault but he had to pay the price. I liked how his character started opening up to heedo more and eventually loving her romantically. and the fact that he confessed without expecting a confession back just made my standards go higher than they already were. if I look at it, yijin and heedo's relationship might've ended differently IF they took different decisions. it revolves around the word "if" which sadly cannot change the ending of the drama.

being aware of the ending, i had prepared myself for heedo and yijin's breakup but yet I cried. there's no way i wouldn't I cry. i felt attached to them seeing them grow in their respective areas and finally becoming amazing friends and standing up for eachother, becoming eo's support. i cried so much when they had their final hug, I'm glad they atleast had that last cherishing moment.

we all have want to see fantasy-like happy ever after ending in kdramas. but we forget that the real world isnt like that at all. tho this drama had a sad ending, it was realistic as heck. it doesn't only portray that first love can be painful, but also portrays that to achieve your goals, you need to sacrifice things and never give up even though you might get stuck for a while on a particular step. "your skills don't improve drastically, it improves in steps" while that may not be the exact quote from the drama but I hope you get my point. living your dreams require efforts and if you don't work hard to achieve it, you might not make it. if heedo gave up her dream to fence, then she wouldn't have met such amazing friends and love. you experience various emotions while striving towards success but the most important thing is to live in the moment you're experiencing because nothing ever lasts forever.

the cast was AMAZING. on screen and off screen both, all of them have a good chemistry, their acting was simply fabulous <33

yeah the re-watch value is like that for me cuz I don't think I'll watch it again for years 😭

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