Twenty Five Twenty One

The reviews are all basically only about the ending and people critical with it, coming from an emotional mindset sure I get it, it's heartbreaking but that doesn't make it bad. It's fitting, it's realistic and was also setup throughout the entire show. Not every show has to have the perfect romance ending, if it did I still would've enjoyed it but I would not go back and think about and have the emotional attachment that I do to it. The only reason that I see people rating so low is because they can't get past that things don't always end perfectly. They went different routes in life and that's perfectly fine, and honestly is fitting. Just because the romance between the other friends doesn't mean they have to work for them. Coming from an actually trying to criticize the story perspective it just doesn't hold much water imo. The only thing I think would've been nice is if they did at the minimum show them still being friends because it would definitely make sense for them to stay in contact and be friends rooting each other on. That is my only real criticism of the end. The rest of the show is fantastic.

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One of the best dramas I've watched, but a drama I wouldn't recommend to anyone

You have probably seen and/or read everything there is about this drama, I am here to tell you to forget it all.

It took me a while to start watching "Twenty-five, twenty-one", but once started, I could not stop. Every possible emotion the characters portray is felt so strongly through the screen. You laugh out loud with them, cheer for them, cry with them and then cry some more. It's impossible to explain, but it is like you're living each moment with them in real life.
That may be why so many reviews are so "extreme".

The story is well though-out and told in a beautiful way. If you haven't listened to Jaurim before, this is your sign to give them a try. The OST fits great with the scenes, like it's another member of the main cast.
And the cast - I may be biased with Kim Tae-Ri, but all the actors showed a good performance.

There is no main story + side stories. You don't want to miss a single scene here.

And although I don't regret watching it, not even a second of it, I was so emotionally exhausted afterwards that it took a while for me to move on from the show. The reason may also be that I've finished it in a very short time, so my heart went through a lot in just a couple of days, but I'm looking forward to a time when I'll feel rested enough to watch it again.

A gem, an absolute gem of a show. 10/10

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First love

I really loved this drama. Last episode brought tears to my eyes. I probably cried for like an hour lol. To me this drama shows the major 2 ways first love can go. An example is with yu rim and ji woong. They ended up getting married, and having their happy ending together. However, life isnt ideal. Hee do and yi jin's ending is probably more common. First love is somthing people take for granted. In the moment, you think it would last forever. But eventually she's smiling at the thought of her naivety . This kdrama made me laugh, smile and cry. And i loved every part of it 💞

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Sad Ending

Just finished the series. I don’t like romantic series but this one absolutely loved it.

I have a bitter sweet feeling now. I didn’t like the ending. So sad! I hoped that, under of the circumstances, at the end they would be together. I wish to be together. They loved each other, they respected each other and they supported each other. Anyway… not every big love has happy ending, right?

Also I didn’t like the last episode, not because of the ending but because I think from the half of episode and afterwards was like fast-forward, like they rushed to finish the series.

And now after this I feel my heart empty…

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What I Connected With

I'm really not the type to take away too many learnings from a drama. Why? Because like everyone I watch them to pass time and enjoy and find a little bit of entertainment in my alone time. But this drama just left me with so much to process which I dont know if everyone who watched felt that way.

This is a drama which tries to define so much of the youth which genuinely touched me especially because Im just about to pass out of junior college. It depicts the challenges of the youth be it at home, while following there passion, in friendships, in love, etc but at the same time its binded together by so much love, fun and an amazing storyline.

I loathe watching dramas which have a sad ending (technically not a spoiler) cuz it always shatters my heart. But for some reason despite knowing this i kept on watching, i had to find out not just out of curiosity but because by my whole heart i was hooked from the very first episode and the story felt too good. I know multiple people have mixed opinions about the ending but I think that it was great. Definately not the best obviously we all wanted them together but with all the circumstances present they both deserved happiness and they still got it just not together. This just shows pure appreciation towards all that they had and it amazes me.

THIS IS A MUST WATCH. A ROLLER COASTER OF A RIDE BUT A BEAUTIFUL STORY. You're allowed to have mixed opinions but atleast give it a shot never know if you love it or not.

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A perfect Romantic coming of age story

Let me just start by saying that what pushed me to write a review is the fact that I found a couple of reviews here who stated some very strange and unbelievable nonsense regarding the concept behind the story here as being a mystery of who will become the father!!!!! What?! I will not say haven't you been paying attention through out the show for hints or whatever, rather Haven't you watched the first episode for heaven's sake? Very early on the viewer is outright shown that the outcome of the romance that is about to unfold is unfortunately doomed, that the grown up FL's daughter's father is someone else other than the ML.
The fact that some people failed to grasp that, most propably I would guess out of sheer unwillingness to accept the fact that a KDrama can willingly choose to do that, and they kept watching with the hope that a twist will come along that will explain how the ML for some freak reason changed his name and had plastic surgery making him unrecognizable both in physical appearnce and identity to his own 14 year old daughter. Come on guys!!! If the girl was mearly reading written diaries written in codes, I would understand the mix up, but she was shown albums of old pictures by her grand-ma and she was inquiring who was the ML in the pics?! Her mom was mentioning her dad as being very much alive and working overseas! HELLO!!!!

now that I have vented out my anger at those delusional viewers who unfortunately end up giving lower ratings to the show because of their unfounded disappointment at the ending, let me very briefly state my humble review of this show.
I need not say just how much I enjoyed it, since my above rates just show, but let me state that I totally LOVED the idea of a show about falling in love AND breaking up, and not in the common fashion of heartbreak and angst, but rather the characters and their lives progressing in a way that shows them maturing by the passing of time and accumulation of experiences, and how their budding romance was a very important part of this process, how they both paved their own paths to a successful future with support from the other, and how those paths started to deviate from the other naturally. Because honestly, to me this rings more truth more than all the happily-ever-afters that we constantly get shown on TV and in movies.
Also,, let me put it out there, I would understand if people are disappointed with La la land for example, but this one is just totally different in that we knew the fact beforehand....way before the actual ending, actually I was thinking to myself while watching how I appreciated how the writers didn't play the boring game of "who's the father" that the reply series is famous for. As a viewer I find this to not be my cup of tea.

The only things I would have preferred had been done different in this show regarding writing, is how starting a certain point in the drama the ML's intial drive force to work hard ie his family got entirely pushed out of the picture, to the point than when they suddenly reappeared in the final episode, I was like yeah right....his family I totally forgot about. I would have appreciated if they were depicted just a wee little bit more in between especially when he was making life changing choices in his profession.
As for changes to the production, what was the need for a different actress to portray Na Hee Do as a grown up. Kim Tae Ri could have totally pulled of a 40-something mom thank you very much. I have nothing against the actress that played her (though tbh I was always annoyed by her voice) but what was the need to use a different actress for this character and this character only (other than the ML's younger brother which would totally wouldn't have worked with the same actor and appeared for a couple of seconds as a grown up). If Kim Tae Ri had played the older version as well, we viewers would certainly have felt more connection to the character, and the final scenes would have felt more seamless. Also, i honestly think that if KTR played both young and older versions, people would not have had such empty hopes that the ML was the father whol will show up eventually played by a different actor or something. Just guessing, cause I honestly can'twrap my head around viewers who were watching with hope of happily ever after. But still all those minor grievances did not really alter my opinion of the show as a whole.

If by some miracle, someone who hasn't yet watched the show and is checking out reviews to decide, is still reading this let me put it this way .....The story here is no mind boggling mystery with a title that is the only hint given (duh)...it just isn't! Rather, what this show is, is a coming of age story with a truely beatiful cute romance that will constantly make you swoon and blush and wish to fall in love the way they did, there is no love at first sight, no stupid initial denials, no love triangles, no needless push and pull, no acts of noble idiocy, none of these so well trodden tropes here, rather what you get are a bunch of strong and motivated characters with unique backgrounds and different upbringing settings, that bond during a critical part of their lives, whose existence in each others' lives was a driving force to push forward, grow up, persevere, excel, and become successful each in his own path. Their emotional connections transcends time and distance and even with no direct communications.
The pacing was great never felt any lags or rushed parts, and although the more we drew nearer to the final episode I was worried the last couple of episodes would not be able to wrap everything up and satisfy us as to what lead up to the current day time, I genuinely enjoyed the last episodes more than anything and thought they were the perfect closure to a perfect relationship, down to the last scene after the finale's credits. I just love how such simple scenes can speak loads and loads about people, their history. Just perfect writing period.

The acting was beyond amazing. I am growing more and more a fan of Nam Joo Hyuk, his acting here was simply put just perfect. Kim Tae Ri is also such a great actress and although I intially worried she would not be believable as a high school student younger than the ML, she proved me wrong. They were both able to portray great emotional chemistry. All the side characters were given enough balance of story development and screen time in a way that gave each of them a space to shine. The directing was wonderful, my only gripe would be how I sometimes felt the camera made people look like they had bloodshot eyes and extra red palms LOL

All in all, this was a great show, great writing with a good story pacing, awesome characters and magnificent performance, good direction and cinematography. Do not pay attention to the odd reviews here who say they were disappointed by the ending, it's a great show and with a fitting believable heartfelt ending. You will certainly enjoy each momente of this ride.

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Wow, just wow

The rollercoaster of emotions are so worth the watch. Although ut was a bit lengthy I was really pleased in the this coming of age k-drama. I had rrally high expectatioks from the start and when I tell you this show ABSOLUTELY DELIVERED.

Na Heedo's storyline was interesting and it didn't feel boring at any point, I think only towards the end when she was talking about retiring but I liked how it was only summarized instead of showing us another fight scene. I really enjoyed that throughout the show you can sense her maturity developing over time and many may say that Heedo was very childish at the start but I think it was overall necessary so that we could understand what things made her mature and realise reality.

Going towards Ko Yurim, I LOVED HER STORY SO MUCH. I feel that the parallels that were made between her and Heedo were absolutely fantastic and showed us thr bond that these two shared, even at the start when they were enemies. ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT JIWOONG AMD YURIM BECAUSE THEY WERE SO DAMN CUTE. I loved there light-hearted relationship and OH MY GOSH THE ENDING FOR THEM SPECTACULAR.

Also I also wanted to mention Seungwan's arc because it was small and less detailed yet ut really solidified her place in the friend group and I think she may even be one of my favourite chracters ngl.

Also Heedo and Baek Yijin's relationship was amazing, it had the right amount of events to kepp us interested throughout the show and I really loked that they used the historical event that havppened in the early 2000s to make thus seem more real and immerse us more into the plot. Baek Yijin's arc was so well written, especially his time in New York where we could evidently see him disconnected but can also feel sympathetic to his place in the relationship (I still 100% agree with Heedo's reasoning though don't even).

Overall for those you want a light hearted, melancholic (only towards the end) K-drama I would 100% recommend this and to those who have already watched, Twinkling Watermelon is immaculate and is also set in the 90s. It also has Choi Hyun-Wook (Moon Jwoong) and Seol In-ah from Business Proposal.

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Probably my favourite k drama

I don't understand how come people seem to hate the ending saying it was rushed. It was pretty much clear Hye Jin wasn't going to end up with Heedo. (Whose daughter wouldn't be able to recognize her own father while seeing his photos from past).
Also the seeds of growing differences could be seen from the start. Hye Jin don't have a graduation degree and he must give his 100% in his job to provide for himself and his family while Heedo already has PTSD from neglectance from his mother choosing her career over her family. Their decision to split was justified. You can see their relationship in contrast with Yu rim and Moon ji yung who were in worst situation than them (literally miles apart for years) but were still able to pull through. Their problems weren't in the way of their compatibility with each other.
Again another complain about people is why wasn't the dad shown. But this story is not about Hee do's husband. This story is about Ye jin and Heedo when they were 25 and 21.
Personally for me the ending is the best thing about the whole show that sets it apart for every other k drama. I was hoping for a 'How I met your mother' kind of ending, that Ye jin and Heedo would end up together after they got old. But again this story is about a distant summer they shared together. You are not the same person you were 20 years ago.

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