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Such a Disappointment……
Ranted in the comments, making it into a review. After reading the Webtoon since its very beginning, I’ve been waiting for a drama adaptation for years. Although the ending may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the rest of the story and plot had such good potential for one of the best rom-coms/slice of life’s this year. Completely ruined the drama with Ira being Joon’s childhood friend, and just not including so many important and memorable scenes like the school festival or Kook Su Jin fanboying over Doona at the shared house. No dream trip to Hawaii either? Wasted cast too, Suzy was the perfect actress for this role, her acting has improved so much over the years and gets dealt a terrible script and story. Ending was terrible too, just let Joon and Ira end up together, why leave it open-ended? Satisfies no one. Only positives are the cinematography and OSTs, great work there.Was this review helpful to you?
Bizarre Script and Editing Suppress Excellent Performances
Doona really missed the mark.Like many Kdramas, the beginning is interesting and draws you in. This is a story about two unlikely lovers: the male lead, a struggling, earnest student/tutor working hard to secure his future who happens to cohabitate in the same house as the female lead, a former Kpop idol who acts brash but hides her vulnerability . For the veteran watcher, this appears to be a healing-love story that you've seen before, but smart, ethereal cinematography and powerful performances by Suzy, Yang Se Je Jong, and the supporting cast make it a special experience.
But unfortunately, a truly bizarre final episode manages to subvert all of the hard work put into Episodes 1-8. I won't spoil it for the curious reader who wants to experience the Kdrama for themselves, but for me, the ending was not earned by the story's progression: characters acted in ways that weren't true to their personalities, and for me, it seemed like the showrunners were trying to put into a double twist-of-fate, but for me, it backfired and just became weird.
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This review may contain spoilers
Like the title character at the beginning, it doesn't know what it should be
"I can't sing" says Doona when asked why she stopped performing but it's obvious that the issue is NOT that she can't sing. It's that she doesn't know WHY she is singing. And that after the years of training and performing, she's lost any meaning to what had once been her dream.That much is clear.
And equally clear is that a kpop idol interacting with Yang Se Jong's Won Joon is like a plunge in to an ice bath. He's such an opposite of her. He's beyond his years in maturity. He doesn't smoke. He's a rule follower. His emotions are as grounded as a concrete block building foundation. C'mon, he's a civil engineer. As a romance? Legitimately, there are some terrific, compelling scenes between Won Joon and Doona. But this is not a show where any rational viewer is expecting a fairy tale - they get together, leave the world behind and live happily ever after. Immediately upon solidifying their relationship, the clock begins audibly ticking before their troubles as a couple will consume them. Regardless of whether or not the lovebirds find a way to be together, the main issue that is dramatized is whether Doona falls for Won Joon because she needs someone and he's the one that happens to be there or is he legitimately her soulmate? But somewhat ignored is why has Won Joon fallen for Doona as a person? Clearly he's a straight male and she's stunning and seems interested in him and that should obviously be enough for a brief infatuation. It's not enough, however, to explain how he overlooks all the negatives (and there are many) in her and she becomes the only woman for him. So the romance is intermittently great but, in totality, is more just going where it was pretty expected it was headed from before the first frame hit the screen.
Moreover, the secondary storylines have promise. Park Se Wan and Kim Do Wan are a fantastic pair. Won Joon's got a potentially colorful hometown connections subplot. Ha Young's Jin Joo has a troubled family life. But the shorter episode run times and 9 episode duration don't give these diversions ample space to really fulfill what could have been. Park Se Wan, in particular, is wild and colorful but shows up halfway just as things in the main plot are gaining serious traction. Even just a single additional episode could have allowed more screen time to cultivate what were some potentially entertaining developments.
Where "Doona" really hits (and, in a way, misses) is that Doona herself is this fascinating, complex, damaged and brilliant character in the midst of discovering herself and her passion for music. And, for as much as no other man but Won Joon can make her happy, the reality is that not even he can come between her and who she is as an artist and a singer. It's her journey from being a woman in crisis to finding what within her gives her a purpose and meaning that captivates. How it misses is that it is clumsily obfuscated by the demands of the industry that she return to settle her contractual obligations and the effect that her return to singing has on Won Joon. These are certainly points worth noting in her growth, but they overwhelm what could have been a better exploration of her personal awakening, finding meaning in songwriting, realizing what she loved about performing and that a life without music, for her, would be a life without meaning. Instead, her internal development is captured in only brief moments. It's a pity.
Recommended but with forewarning that "Doona" isn't what it could be.
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This review may contain spoilers
Doona Left me Disappointed???
Yeah a bit. Could have been much better. But after 6 episode everything seems like a mess. Although ending could have been better. Why leave it as open ending without satisfying anyone. The only positive things about this drama is The OST and Cinematography. I was looking forward to enjoying a great show. But Doona left me disappointed!!From episode 1 to 6. I loved everything. The plot and leads ongoing chemistry was giving me good vibes. But when Choi i ra came, everything strated to be messy. Although it was like the real life struggling of a Idol singer. I know it was goona be a tough decision. But The ending could have been much better. I like almost everything about this drama but except the Ending.
The only thing continuously pop up my mind is why why why? Why leave it as a Open Ending. It could have been a great drama if the ending was Good. Doona's ending disappointed me a lot.
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Oh my Doona!
Doona! What a name, it’s unforgettable! Drama was engaging, heartfelt and have moments to reflect on. The ending, omg - crap. It felt so truncated. Being emotionally entrenched and then left high and dry felt like a sense of betrayal.Props to Suzy. To me, this was her best acting to-date, putting her amongst the upper echelons. Strangely for me, watching her again after ‘Startup’ and feeling all conflicted was such a deja vu. And Yang Se-jong you are no exception with ‘My Country’ and now this. Lol! I guess I’m just a sucker for good endings, but this takes the cream for how sudden it ended or should I say, disappeared.
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Not as good it seemed
No need to do a full review; it started off exciting and ended up a bit flat. Looks like I have to make up some bullshit 500-character review even though it is completely useless to keep talking about how a so-so show is supposed to have 500 works of useless information to show that the show was not all that great. The characters were the characters; and in the end you didn't care who they were because we can watch YouTube or tick tock and still learn nothing. are we at 500 fucking characters yet?Was this review helpful to you?
Suzy is somewhat not that effective here for me. I was really amazed with how she acted in Anna and I can see her improvement there but this time around it was hard watching her crying because she is bad at it. I don't know maybe I expected a lot from her already.
The ending is bad, I am really not satisfied with it. I'm happy that they release all episodes in a day because I don't think I would watch this ongoing.
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A fail romance story, that's way too unbelievable technically
Fantasy romantic dramas are a dime a dozen in the Korean TV landscape, and while Netflix’s latest love story, Doona!, isn’t in the least bit supernatural, the story is every bit as fantastical as the time-travel or superpowered romantic sagas we’ve grown accustomed to. As we’ve come to expect from Netflix dramas, which benefit from the streaming platform’s deeper pockets, Doona! looks the business, with hazy visuals and atmospheric lighting blanketing each frame, but it’s superficial to a fault. The leads were shabbily written and it was hard to root for them, albeit the ending was anyways not pleasing as well.Supporting characters don’t get much of a look-in – not that they are a particularly exciting bunch. I have seen better romance dramas of this year, period.My Rating : 5/10
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SUPERFICIAL IDOL PLOT
If you've read mangas and seen various anime or even some J-dramas, this plot wouldn't be anything new for you.It's your typical ' A depressing broken Idol lost singing plot where the most normal/bland MC appears, blooms her life and she goes back to her routine life. That's it. '
Now where this drama loses is, Suzy's character lacks depth.
All she did was make a sad face and smoke cigarettes for 80% of her screen time.
Perhaps that's why they cast her, she fulfilled her character's personality. xD
Everyone else was good.
It was a one-time watch
Oh, I still think the manhwa writer stole this plot from a Japanese manga, usually, Koreans don't write/draw in such a setup.
This was definitely a Japanese idol theme rather than Korean.
For someone who's read and seen numerous J plots such as these, you can easily tell.
They even had a dating simulation scenario till episode 5, which was fun to explore.
You root for one girl and the writer, in the end, tricks us, after all the drama is named ' Doona '
The theme had various elements similar to ' A Star Is Born ' as well.
The SFML was the best character in this drama, played by Ha Young. (The girl is really talented)
She's worth looking forward to, the manhwa writer has focused on her in 2 episodes particularly, and she outshines the FML.
Apart from her, in the end, this drama felt superficial.
Now if you want to drown yourself in melancholy for no reason, and be sad, then you might find this drama a bit to your liking.
But that's superficial, there are many more better plots than these.
My suggestion is to avoid watching this sh8t .
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All of this marketing advertising for this ?
If the story plot as advertised seem interesting and the cast with Bae Suzy seem to have a lot of potential, it is not worth it.First of all, scenes are long. Short spoiler, the main character encounter each other very fast, but you wait about more than 15 mns to have them interact. So far it seems ok but when nothing interesting happens in 15 mns it’s long. 15 mns where sequences aren’t that beautiful, song is not engaging or silence not necessary or things characters do have nothing interesting for the overall story… it’s a waste of time. and this happens again and again.
Also the plot is jumping from one thing to another soo rashly… as a viewer you don’t have time to either grasp the situation or have compassion for the character.
About the acting…. it’s far from being Bae Suzy best performance. and for Yang Se Jong I first thought it was bad acting but I thing the overall is just bad directing. When interacting with the female lead he acts like a extremely dumb person. If that was his personality… alright. but it is only when interacting with her. and it’s not about “shy” type or weird type but truly like you would talk to an autistic person.
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Just average
Pretty standard romantic drama, the two main leads meet and don’t get along at first. Then they find they actually like each other, but don’t start anything romantic at first. ML an ordinary college student and FL is a Kpop idol who doesn’t want to be an idol anymore. FL is also a troubling girl who's got a mix of PTSD and borderline.This drama goes into deep emotions and mental issues. Also second female lead syndrome hit me hard while watching this. She was ultimately the better choice for the ML imo they were perfect, but because of their situation and the multiple times they held themselves back led them to not being together.
The ending could've been done better. I was just expecting too much from this drama and ended up being very disappointing. Cast is great, but I don't see myself watching this again.
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Disappointing End!!!
I really expected more from the end it started pretty well i knew it would be the typical haters to lovers streak and i was completely fine with that they fell in love so passionately that i thought Won Jun's decision to let it all go just like that was a bit fake she held onto him and even took the courage to come and appear before him once again after gaining an established career she wanted him back they both missed eachother and where obviously still in love so WHY?? just why didn't they end up together??? Or is it just an open ending is there perhaps a SEASON 2??? cus i don't know about anyone else but i need MORE!!!!!Was this review helpful to you?
