Once Again

Wheel of Fate

This series is truly a gem! Episode 1 hooked me right from the start with its incredible attention to detail. From the opening scenes to the moment the landlady asks, "Who are you?" I was completely invested. The way he used the telephone to talk to Kang Ji Hoon was so powerful; especially when the landlady handed him the phone, and he realized it wasn’t even plugged in! I was totally taken aback. My emotions ran wild, and I found myself in tears when they finally connected. All Kang Ji Hoon could say was an apology, weighed down by memories and pain. That moment was just so intense; wow, the agony!

Then the landlady reminded him, "This building will be demolished on January 30. Remember, that's January 30." There was no year mentioned, yet she smiled like she knew everything. When he stepped outside and saw Kang Ji Hoon, it hit me: he had been transported to 2007! I couldn’t help but cry; hahaha! The mix of emotions he must have felt—excitement, joy, pain, and confusion—was overwhelming. And when he said, "I found you," it hit me right in the feels! Episode 1 really delivered an unforgettable experience!

Now, here are some things to ponder after watching Episode 1: Is this all a dream? What will happen on the demolition date of the building? Will he make it back to the present? What kind of relationship will they build? Is any of this temporary?

Everything feels like a taste of fate, hinting that nothing is permanent. As you watch the rest of the episodes, you’ll be drawn into this intriguing story. Trust me, you will love it! This is hands down one of the best Korean BL series out there!

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A Twilight Zone KDrama

From the very beginning, you realize this will be a drama with a blend of the Twilight Zone and romance, where anything can happen involving time. 15 years backward & forward just by going through a door. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, because you just don't know what's coming next. Truly great writing.
I think the acting is fantastic in this as well, especially by Moon Ji Yong. Very powerful performance. You kind of want a different ending, but after thinking about it, the way it played out, it really couldn't have ended any other way.
The one thing that made the ending less sad is the fact you understand Jae Woo & Ji Hoon will be doing it all over again, and again, and again. It gives a bit more promise to a happy ending, even if it is a three week period they are able to spend together before happening all over again.
Great all around series!

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Looking for a happy, cheerful time? Don't watch this then.

But actually DO watch this because it's really good and worth the suffering.

I don't rate things 10 very often but this immediately drew me in. I like a good time travel story anyway but this one was particularly well written and well acted. I would say that the BL in this is kind of ...on the side, if that makes sense. While the relationship between Jae Woo and Ji Hoon does make the ending that much more painful, this could have easily been written with the two leads being best friends so if you're looking for some heavy sexual tension and steamy stuff, it's not really here. That being said, the story is great and the actors are top notch in their portrayals. The slightly sidelined romantic side of the story does not in any way detract from the overall story.

Here there be more indepth spoilers




As I said in the headline, this is not a fun, good-time, happy story. I suppose there may be some bittersweetness about it but it's heartwrenching in the best (and therefore worst) possible way. Though I am complaining about it being very sad, the fact that there isn't a particularly happy ending is what makes this story. There is hope. And the bittersweetness comes in the form of realising Ji Hoon and Jae Woo will meet over and over and over again but for me that's also incredibly sad. Little Jae Woo will always suffer from the PTSD of what he went through. Ji Hoon's path is set, and while part of you really wants for them to break out of this cycle, I think that would somehow cheapen the story.

The other supporting cast members are great in their roles. Little Jae Woo is adorable. Hyung Jin is charming and funny without being over-the-top goofy sidekick-ish. And the Boss lady in charge of the ...study dorm hall thing gives off just enough otherwordliness to make you question whether she's perhaps god and will step in to rectify stuff (she doesn't. And for the story to flow as it does, shouldn't).

Apart from all the heartwrenching (I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying), the music is really good. Often times I find music in BLs distracting or annoying or just...don't notice it but this one has a good theme and incidental music.

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LOVED HOW IT STARTED BUT DISAPPOINTED WITH THE ENDING

I love fantasy/ Sci-fi/ Time travel dramas. Right from the beginning I got this feeling that when it comes to fantasy dramas, Korean dramas always excels. This story was interesting bcz it involved time travel to save his saviour. But, by the end we see that the whole point of the story was only to deal with his past trauma and guilty feeling. Honestly, I don't like this concept. I don't think that knowing that the person we loved and who loved us, willingly sacrificed their life for us would be less painful. Even though they want us to live a good life, and even if we try to do so, the pain will never fade. Thank god it has an open ending. It's kinda confusing how again after more 15 years Ji woo still looks the same. I mean is he the 25 years old self after 15 more years or is he 40 years now? Idk. Anyways, I hope we have a season 2 where they'll be more clever and find a way to save themselves rather than willingly sacrificing themselves.
I don't like sad ending dramas. I mean it's an open ending but still I feel like the story was insufficient. There should've been more to it. So will not prefer to re-watch.
Acting of both MLs were fine. However, it was like he still behaved like a kid with him though he was a grown up man now. I was fine with it though.

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I absolutely loved it, even though it left me emotionally wrecked. The story is captivating, mixing fun moments with genuinely heartfelt ones. It’s a beautiful blend of friendship, love, loss, trauma, and guilt, perfectly balancing mystery, supernatural elements, and romance.

Moon Ji Yong delivers a flawless performance. His charm and charisma are impossible to resist. Lee Hyun Jun is deeply moving in his role, and the two have incredible chemistry together. A special shoutout to the young actor who plays little Jae Woo. He was outstanding!

The ending is bittersweet and inevitable, but I wouldn’t call it sad. The goal was never to save Hi Joon, but rather to give Jae Woo peace, knowing he saved him despite the consequences. This way, he could live a happy and fulfilling life, making sure Hoon’s death wasn’t in vain. And every 15 years, for three weeks, they’ll get to see each other and be as happy as possible.
It’s not the happy ending I wished for, but honestly, I’m satisfied with how it wrapped up.

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The first episodes that made me cry successfully, didn't really satisfy me as a whole. Usually I like this kind of story, a BL story wrapped in a fiction and has a fairly deep theme (traumatize). But as the show going, it seems like "stagnant" and makes me feel crying for no reason.

How many episodes did I cry? I don't even remember, for sure more than 3 episodes of this series succeed make me shed my tears. But yeah, that's enough. There were a lot of ambiguity that makes me unable to give more stars to this series. I like seeing them together, I fell in love with their acting but I felt the story revolved around the place with a lack of elaboration of the conflict seems to be the weak point of this series.

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A must watch

I loved this drama. the story was well put together. I think the ending left some a little confused tho so I just want to clarify. It's a infinite time loop. Ji Hoon dies, causing trauma to little Jae Woo, which sets into motion all the events that inevitably lead to Ji Hoons death. If Jae Woo had not returned to save Ji Hoon, Ji Hoon wouldn't have died because the only reason Ji Hoon knew to go out to save little Jae Woo was because of the actions of older Jae Woo while he was there. Confused yet? lol So at the end in Ji Hoons letter he says "return to me in 15 years, then another 15 years", what he's saying is he'd sacrifice his life forever so he can have the chance to love Jae Woo. A beautiful story.

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SAD!!

I'm so devastated I can't even write a coherent review. But it was so beautiful and so well done I have to say something, so here I go:

Brilliant soundtrack. I'm still listening to it on repeat. And it wasn't just that the music was amazing (though it was amazing all on its own) but there also seemed to have been a lot of effort put into making it work with the show, and the whole show sounded good altogether... that doesn't make any sense, but I swear the whole show just sounded good. I guess that's part of the production value? Anyway, it was brilliant.

The story... Well. I hate sad stories. I don't like crying, I don't like feeling miserable, I just don't like sad stories. But this story is just so good, so beautiful, so wonderfully told... it won me over and I kinda hate it for that, but I am in awe of this drama. Even if I have a headache from all the crying. It's a love story that is just so big, so beyond this world, I can't not adore it.

The characters were believable and really felt like real people. The acting was amazing. The casting was perfect. I believed what I was watching.

There's probably more to say but I just can't think. It melted my brain.

I hate to put the re-watch value so low, because I feel like that misrepresents how brilliant the show is. It's like a fairytale. But I definitely can't go through this often. It cuts too deep. But it's a brilliant show.

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Slow

This series has only eight episodes, so when I completed two of them and realized that I am not even a little interested, I decided that it was time to drop it.

If I had to describe Once Again with one word, it would be slow. The characters walk and speak slowly. The plot progresses slowly. The episodes pass slowly.
The screentime could have been cut in half and no important scenes would have been lost. For instance, a substantial part of episode two shows what the viewers already saw in episode one.
The phlegmatic mood makes all the characters seem lifeless, like NPCs from a game. Kang Ji Hoon is the closest, in behavior and facial expressions, to being a real person. I liked him because he is kind. However, the script requires him to do things that do not make sense, such as taking a child to his dorm for the night despite knowing that the child's mother will come home in the morning and probably panic when she realizes that her son is missing.

Overall, although this series has an interesting premise and great OSTs, it suffers from bad execution.

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