This review may contain spoilers
THIS REALLLLLY DESERVED MUST WIN AWARD FOR REAL!!!!!!!
I'm deaf (but I'm using implant that helps me hear and ofc I can speak).. Whole drama was SO SUPERB!!!!!!! I never cried so much many times,, this just made me HIT so HARDDD,, I really hate cheong ah stepmother abused her and did not allow to use sign language. But nowdays many is allowed use signlanguage which im really so happy..I really really really understand how cheong ah feels (deaf people understands more) IM SO FREAKING SO HAPPY THAT DIRECTOR MADE THIS AND COOL IDEA....Director needs win too. THIS IS MT TOP 1 KDRAMA BEST EVER I HAVE SEEN SO FAR. I hope future they can make possible many using sign languages ❤️✨️🤟🏼Was this review helpful to you?
Refreshing Twinkle of Youth
Unlike the name this drama is not light hearted but yet very beautiful in it's own way,The story stars with Ha Eun Gyeol, a musical genius lives in a deaf family. he lived upto his parents expectations and put his family over everything,, Eun Gyeol find himself free only in music. he had to sacrifice his youth spirit and become mature despite of his age . But after a conflict with his dad he tried to gave up everything and even tried to broke his guitar, a mysterious master shows up and send back him to past when his father was also 18 years old just like him .........
Now Eun Gyeol will experience the Twinkling youth and also unfold the past of his parents . His dad was not born deaf but became deaf after a certain accident , he will learn his parents also go through hard times in their youth ....... I don't want to spoil so watch it yourself
This is one of the best drama of 2023 .
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"빛나게 해주고 싶어요. 일단은 무대 위에서. 그 다음은 인생에서."
Reenact Back To The Future, fall in love with the young version of your aunt, teach your nonchalant 18 y.o. dad guitar, try to prevent a major tragedy, play matchmaker for your future parents, take over the Jinsung empire, and accidentally become an international idol - be like Ha Eun Gyeol! The drama explores so many relatable themes, and it deserves way more than roughly 3% rating on Korean TV. Ryeo Woon and Choi Hyeon Wook have amazing chemistry, both humorous and dramatic, and their acting is outstanding till the end."이곳에 와서 알게 됐다. 내 아빠 엄마에게도 아픈 청춘이 있었다는 것을."
🔸Do you want to escape your problems somewhere far away where nobody would be able to find you..? For example, in the year 1995! You'd get to befriend your yet-young parents and hopefully find out why do they act so confusingly as adults. However, time traveling still won't provide you with a safe playground to explore the world because growing up has never been easy for anyone. And if it wasn't, why do adults forget about their own teenage experience while building a relationship with their teenage kid?
"나는 아주아주 반짝이게 빛나야 한다는 말이지. 할 수 있는 건 다 해볼 거다. 사랑이든 벤드든 내가 반짝일 수 있는 거라면 모두 다."
There aren't many thoughtful shows and movies that explore teenagers and their parents together as equal human beings. Twinkling Watermelon achieves this by literally putting them all side by side through time travel. Not only do the highschoolers start to understand their parents better, but the adults in the future change too. The way the drama was written, I was confident from the very beginning that all the characters and their lives are in the hands of a skilled screenwriter. The drama transitions between sentimental exploration and genuine humor so seamlessly that I simply cannot put an episode on pause. There is no intrigue who ends up with whom, and because everything is predetermined we get a chance to feel this fleeting moment of happiness and enjoy it while it lasts.
"내가 사는 세상엔 소리가 없어. 그래서 이렇게 눈을 감으면 세상이 사라져."
🔸I'm sure every viewer has caught on to a couple of KSL (Korean Sign Language) words just by watching this drama. It contributes well to the awareness of people with hearing impairments and subtly educates about the challenges they face in society. Deaf character Cheong Ah still enjoys listening to music vibrations, and many deaf people still enjoy going to loud energetic concerts. Moreover, there is a scene where Yi Chan interprets the legendary song '마법의 성' into KSL and performs it for Cheong Ah - this is what deaf performers do. I suggest you check out Justina Miles interpreting to ASL (American Sign Language) at Rihanna's Super Bowl show this year to get an idea of how you can communicate a song to those who can't hear it.
"수화야. 손으로 만들어내는 소리."
Sign language is an incredible dimension of human expression, and it's not hard to learn. It should be more widespread in today's society, and good thing someone is popularizing it. I personally started learning ASL and KSL, and even though there is no one around me to talk to, sign language has improved my acting (surprisingly!) and communication in general.
🔸Deaf experiences can vary. Some people are Deaf and mute like Cheong Ah, who lost the ability to hear before she learned to speak; some people are partially deaf, and others, like Yi Chan, lost their hearing later. In Yi Chan's case, he is probably mute by choice, either for Cheong Ah or to not give in to an ignorant society, since he could talk normally after getting the trauma.
"음악은 귀로만 듣는 게 아니야. 음악은 눈으로, 마음으로, 심장으로 느끼는 거야."
🔸Twinkling Watermelon is simply magical and now one of my top K-dramas. Its ethereal plot allows me to rediscover other aspects of life that we usually miss in today's hustle culture, like creating music, art together, building strong friendship - all those overlooked human expressions that are essential for human happiness, just like sign language. But overall, it's also a blissful reminder to stay strong and try living my only youth to the fullest. 나도 '반짝이는 워터멜론'처럼 반짝반짝하게 빛나고 싶다.
Learn sign language, you guys! Sign language changes the world. ✨
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I enjoyed it and didn't want it to end
where are the 50episode dramas when you need them😭😭😭 all I can say is I want more!!!!! 16episodes but if this had 50 episodes I would watch every single minute!!! its soo good and heartwarming. the cast just beautifully execut the emotions and feelings. I was so emotionally invested in this drama that I'm so sad its over. would definitely recommend it 👌🏽. I love how they didn't potray life as being perfect because it does have its ups and downs. and thank you so much for the beautiful cast ❤️ 😂Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Insanely promising start, but devolves into stereotypical romcom
tl;dr: starts off extremely promising, but partially abandons deep themes that would make the show unique in favor of a typical romcom kdrama. Still explores said earlier themes and will make you super emotional, but plot holes are evident and there is so much wasted potential. However, the show does characterization so well that it's still worth a watch, but you might get distracted at the wasted potential of the show.Twinkling Watermelon is an amazing show. I must admit: I cried like a baby in the first and last few episodes. I'll start off with my praise for it before moving onto criticisms.
1) Cinematography was amazing
The cintematography was so so smooth, and in the first few episodes, I was so immersed in the story that I forgot I've never touched guitar in my life, I'm not a CoDA, and I'm not Eun Gyeol. Seriously. Even in the less magnificent mid-end portion (more on this later), it would have been at worst considered a 8-8.5 overall ranking on MDL.
2) THE CHARACTERIZATIONS!!!!!!
Yi Chan and Cheong Ah stole this show. Both characters are relatively 2D, yet something about them just makes me so attached and I was rooting for them throughout the entire show. The main cast (barring Seol In Ah, but just because I'm biased and disliked the character she portrayed for reasons I will state later) is so immensely talented at bringing out their characters. It's something about the micro expressions and flawless execution of each scene that could make me believe that each character is real (also thanks to the cinematography).
3) THE EMOTIONS!
I cried like a baby so many times throughout this show (mainly at the beginning and the end). Every time they explored the relationship of Eun Gyeol and his parents, I would start to tear up. Again, the cinematography and characterizations of his family members was just so amazing that I genuinely felt like I was a part of their family.
While my criticisms may be a lot longer than my praise, it's just because the show (like I stated 10 times earlier...) just had so much wasted potential and left me so much to think about.
1) Music and the implications it has on Eun Gyeol
I'm not going to lie, I digged the guitar concept: it was so sick seeing Eun Gyeol work at something he was passionate about. Nice to see a series where the main protagonist actually has passions, and that passion is well explored. However, it pissed me off when he was praised as a guitar prodigy but the only thing he kept on playing was Pachabel Canon in D. Nitpicky much? Yes, but the main qualm I have about the music in Twinkling Watermelon is: they don't focus on it enough. The first few episodes leads viewers to believe that the show will be heavily centered around music creation with Eun Gyeol's prodigious talents and Yi Chan's strong willpower in creating a band. The focus on music in the first few episodes (especially the parts where Eun Gyeol is able to practice late at night as a child due to his family being deaf, which is interesting because it seems like an advantage but is in reality an example of what I'm about to say) also presents a painful dilemma: the people that Eun Gyeol loves the most, his family, will never be able to hear Eun Gyeol's passion in life. This pain is nearly untouched, and there was so much wasted potential in leaving music unexplored.
2) Time travel brain failure
God, I hate how they portrayed time travel in this kdrama. I was so distracted from the superb characterization and exploration of relationships between the characters by the dubious plot. In the beginning I was absolutely 100% in for the plot, when I assumed that Eun Gyeol would take on the role of Dong Jin, avoid the name Eun Gyeol at all costs, and desperately try to correct the tragic events that happened to his mother and father but in the end, fail to change anything because that's how time travel should work logically. Unfortunately I developed a brain aneurysm watching what the writers decided to do with the PERFECT CONCEPT while taking on a generic time-travel plot that makes no sense if you think about it critically (just search up time paradox). Also, I'd just like to say. Even if you ignore the time paradox, Eun Gyeol's parents in the last two episodes are NOT the parents he's grown to love. He is not the son they've raised for 18 years (or however old he is). In fact, he shouldn't even be there. Cheong Ah and Yi Chan met a lot earlier "in this timeline" (if you choose to turn off your critical thinking skills and accept the paradox). They didn't meet the same way. They were separated. Eun Gyeol's conception date should be extremely different. He shouldn't even be alive.
3) What even was that middle section????
If you watched the kdrama, you know what I mean. The middle section (more like mid-end) was only such a crime because they throw away amazing characterizations, portrayal of raw human emotions (like my favorite show: warts and all (iykyk)) Reply 1988 vibes in favor of your typical high school kdrama amok with frustrating misunderstandings, loves-me-loves-me-not dilemmas, and the pacing of a snail. It would be less of a crime against humanity if they didn't build up the focus on raw human relationships in the earlier episodes, the complexities between relationships that need to be said but aren't even remotely explored in the romcom kdrama genre (except for Reply 1988 and the like). Wasted potential much?
4) Eun Yu
I did not care for Eun Yu's character at all... first of all, her motivations for impersonating her mother made 0 sense. Se Kyeong is abroad... yes, Eun Yu and Se Kyeong are identical, but remind me again how her mother, who is abroad, and is still betrothed to Eun Yu's father, will be impacted by any way by Eun Yu trying to find and seduce Se Kyeong's "first love" in Korea? Suppose you ignore the time paradox. This is what will happen if Eun Yu succeeds: 1) Eun Yu finds and seduces Se Kyeong's "first love" 2) ??? Nothing happens to Se Kyeong? Because she is a social elite, and will not return to Korea until Se Kyeong's biological dad returns, meaning micro events in Korea will not have any impact on her life? 3) Eun Yu is still born!! Also, I understand how romance between Eun Gyeol and another character would popularize this show, but come on: it was so unnecessary. Eun Yu's character as a whole was unnecessary. I felt absolutely 0 chemistry between Eun Gyeol and Eun Yu, and so the romance felt so forced, unlike Yi Chan and Cheong Ah. Eun Yu's inclusion as a character also perpetuated this romcom shift, which I disliked a lot because it drew attention from the unique themes (I'll elaborate in 5 + 6) and to a more typical romcom.
5) The ending + themes part 1
Like many other people have said, the ending is super rushed. Why not cut off the BS romcom arc in the mid-end to spend much more time on building up the ending? Ignoring the time paradox rant, Eun Gyeol does not live his life at all. Everything is handed to him on a silver platter. He does not work to become the biggest boy band in Korea. He never even communicates with his parents and tries to resolve the unsaid pressures and tensions on him being a CoDA... none of the juicy plot from the beginning is resolved, and it feels like the kdrama switched directors midway.
6) More abandoned themes :(
Kind of touched on in 5- Eun Gyeol's conflict with his family in the beginning was because of the responsibility and pressure he felt as his family's connection to the outer world. He kept his issues to himself, he didn't communicate his true desires to his family. It was his own passion versus his love and responsibility he felt towards his family (particularly, his father). But Eun Gyeol doesn't realize: his father is his FATHER, someone he should rely own. Eun Gyeol is not responsible for his father's happiness, despite what the world wants him to think. But, you know what? Eun Gyeol travels back into time and fixes both his. mother's and father's lives (with the exception of his father's hearing loss). So Eun Gyeol is, indeed, responsible for his parents' happiness.
An Ideal World:
I swear to god, it feels like the first half of the show is written by a completely different person than the second half of the show. An ideal world, where the Reply 1988 vibes continue throughout the whole show (can you guess what my favorite kdrama of all time is???), goes like this: Dong Jin and Joo Ma have never been acquainted (even in the future), Dong Jin never sees the forum post Joo Ma and Yi Chan put up but Eun Gyeol does, Eun Gyeol sees the forum post and impersonates Dong Jin throughout the process while never revealing his own name. Yi Chan and Cheong Ah are originally high school sweethearts. Eun Yu DOESN'T EXIST. Eun Gyeol learns of his parents' tragic pasts, and how they are strong people even without him, while connecting Cheong Ah and Yi Chan and providing emotional support. Eun Gyeol tries his best to change anything, but nothing changes. He learns that he is not responsible for his parents' happiness: he is not an angel, he is just their child. Eun Gyeol returns to the future, where he communicates with his parents and chases his passion. They struggle, but in the end, it is organic, painful, the human reality: warts and all.
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One of the BEST!!
I’m going to try to keep this short so there won’t be any spoilers. This is not an epic drama but it will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. This also took you into the world of the deaf which hasn’t been done very much.The acting is superb. The two male leads have stolen my heart big time. Ryeoun and Choi Hyun Wook are just fantastic.
Ryeoun has the most expressive face and acted out every emotion flawlessly. I read that he even learned to play the guitar for this role.
Choi Hyun Wook was great in the heavier drama Weak Hero Class 1 but I think comedy suits him better. He had me laughing so hard at just his silly interactions with his grandmother.
Seol In Ah won me over in Business Proposal and she played her part perfectly.
Shin Eun Soo is a new actress to me but she is beautiful and talented.
No details about the plot. Let’s just say I laughed and cried (happy and sad) several times. I was so caught up in the story and was on the edge of my seat. This was just one of the best!
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B.O.A.T , G.O.A.T, DOTY.
My first time writing a review. This is how much I loved this. I cried when there was a sad scene but this is the first time I also cried when they were showing happy moments at the end.First of all, a big round of applause and standing ovation to the directors, casts and other staffs. This has been a beautiful journey.
I love that person who casted the actors so much. and thanks to him for bringing Ryeoun and Choi Hyunwook together.
In my opninion, Choi Hyunwook and Ryeoun are of the best new generation actors. Their chemistry is top notch. It felt so natural. Eunsoo, it was my first time seeing her acting and really, she suited the character the best, it was like no one could've done better. Seol Inah being Seol Inah slayed her roles of Choi Se Gyeong and On Eun Yu, I only saw her in The Business Proposal, but with this I concluded that she's an versatile actor. The actor playing Majoo! I was surprised to see him here after Duty After School haha. Gave me quite a surprise with his versatlity. His character likability meter went from -100 to 1000 and actor liability from 100 to 1000. If you are reading this for deciding whether you should wacth it or not, You should really really go for it. Best Drama. (for me atleast).
Contains spoiler:
No. 1 likability of this drama for me would be the chemistry it showed among the friends(both the characters and the actors ). I was jumping with joy with tears running down my cheeks when they showed Yichan's friends in 2023.
No. 2 I must appreciate the writer who developed Yichan and his personality, because I didn't see a single character like him in my whole life. He's just so perfectly perfect as well as imperfect. The fact that after returning to 2023, Yichan's personality was same as Yichan in 1995, which at first(past 2023 iykwim) it wasn't, added onto my emotions.
No. 3 I think I will keep on saying this, Choi Hyun wook, woah he is such a good actor, I can't get enough of him. I want him to get more opportunities like this so that he can show himself. Ryeoun too, he has soo much potential , so he needs projects like these. I could feel emotions of Eungeol through Ryeoun's acting.
No. 4 The story ! The plot ! The big revealation at the end ! woah. The best. This is how you write a story, produce a drama and direct. It was really innovative with both Fantasy and reality mixed. Romance and comedy was also at it's peak.
I love how they didn't change that Yichan lost his hearing(even though I'm sad), because it connects to everything. If Yichan hadn't gone to the guitarist, the former wouldn't have gone deaf, the later wouldn't have made little Eungeol listen to the song and there would be no relation between them cause Eun geol would not feel the pressure of being the only one to have hearing ability in the family since Yichan would be fine too. And that cannot happen since the string that copnnected everything, Eungeol and On Eun Yu was the grandfather. It is really hard to relay what I'm trying to say cause it is really complicated hehe, but if you watch the drama, everything will be clear in your mind.
No. 5 The twist ? yeah the revealation of who the master really was. IT WAS NONE OTHER THAN THE GRANDFATHER !! THE GUITARIST, EUNGEOL'S SAVIOUR. It was so touching how Eun yu recognised him herself.
No. 6 I liked the editing of the drama at the end especially. The Watermelon Sugar band members in their adult form changed into the teenage form in Eun geoul's eyes, his mother Chungah's and father Yichan's transitions from young to adult. It was so beautiful. At last ! omg. I didn't expect that since I expected a plot hole of them not remembering Eungeol. But haha as expected of the writer, they gave a hint that the friends still remember even though they couldn't recognise and also that Yichan totally recognised Eun geol. Happy tears were running from my eyes.
Hence it was a good happy ending. Best production ! Best actors ! Thank you for hard work!!
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Love the friendship/family bond.
It’s been a really fun journey with Twinkling Watermelon, and I enjoyed it a lot. I especially loved the father-son(???xD)/friendship bond between the two male leads - it’s easily one of the best parts of the drama. I also really liked Yoon Cheong Ah as a character and her connection with both male leads.I think Seol In Ah did a good job portraying Eun Yu, but I didn’t really like the character herself. She gets a lot of screen time, yet something feels missing about her story/character development/purpose. It feels like the writer didn’t quite do her character justice.
My favorite character is Ha Yi Chan - aside from his first-love stubbornness, which was a bit frustrating at times xD. Choi Hyun Wook did an absolutely amazing job bringing him to life; honestly, I can’t imagine anyone else pulling it off better. He makes Ha Yi Chan the soul of this drama for me.
Ryeoun also did a good job as Ha Eun Gyeol. He looks and feels completely different here compared to Weak Hero Class 2, so props to him for that range.
I loved almost everything about this drama except for the ending. It felt like it needed more episodes and a different direction. That said, it’s still a great drama despite some small holes here and there.
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A nostalgic journey with the true essence of youth.
Freshly out of my drama slump, I sat down to watch this back from where I left it and was so deeply moved by the drama, finding it heartwarming and relatable. I got into it soo deep that couldn't stop myself [11eps back to back><] until I finished this piece of a wonderful story. It really is necessary to praise the well-developed characters, particularly the father-son relationship and their bromance. All the actors' performances were also laudable, adding depth to the characters. The drama's nostalgic setting of 1995, with its use of old technology and references to the past, created a sense of authenticity. Specially the pager and the FAX machine. I would have never known how cool were FAX machines until now. All of it was so fascinating to know and learn about. The incorporation of the sign language and deaf characters and their portrayal was so well executed, normalizing their presence. The drama's soundtrack was just another level. So beautiful and pleasantly infused into the story. It really felt like the music perfectly captured the emotions of the story and left a lasting impression. No matter if you understand the lyrics or not, you will feel the song within yourself and the emotions it expresses. This drama really made me realise how beautiful is youth and how much of my youth I missed by not living that time of my life to the fullest. This drama really made me laugh and cry(both happy and sad tears) This drama will stay in my heart for a while. Definitely gonna go into my best drama of all time list. No wonder this drama was trending for such a long time even after it had finished airing.Overall, I highly recommend this drama for its engaging storyline, strong performances, beautiful soundtrack, and heartwarming themes.
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ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! BESTEST TIME TRAVEL DRAMA OUT THERE!!!
I seriously loved this drama soooo much!!! It served exactly what i wanted. Teen musical fantasy romance. everything was on point honestly. And it made me cry like I've never before. No lagging, no boring episodes honestly!! But at the end i felt like they could've shown more about their future lives. And also they didn't show On Eun Yu's parents i wish there will be a second season!!! I loved the bond between Ha Eun Gyeol and Ha Yi Chan so freaking much!!! And I didn't expect Choi Se Gyeong to be a time traveller too fr and The end was so awesome!!! OVERALL I'D RECOMMEND TO WATCH IT COZ I'M GONNA REWATCH IT TOO!!!Was this review helpful to you?
A refreshing drama to make you think about life.
If you want a show to put you through every emotion, ‘Twinkling Watermelon’ is the ones for you. I can say with no regrets that this is easily the series that has made me the happiest out of the hundreds I’ve watched. Saying that, throughout the duration of watching it, there was always a mixed emotion, such as confusion, sadness, even anger; but overall, joy pushed through these and became everlasting.Without spoiling anything, this drama, as said by many others, felt refreshing to watch with its unique characters, bright colours, and cheerful music. Although it discussed some dark topics, such as death, depression, and abuse, the show was quite cheerful. For me, I am an emotional person who loves watching dramas that put me through many emotions, since I feel more connected. If you’re a sentimental one like me, this will always be a show I’d recommend.
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the most heartwarming kdrama that i watched!?
WAH DAEBAK, one of the best dramas this year if I say so. romance, family, bromance, friendship, comedy, heart-warming, time-travel, fantasy are all mixed and contained in this drama. A drama that is not heavy but can make you sad. angry, sad, laughing, crying, annoyed, salty, I can express all of that in this drama.like 16 episodes can discuss various issues?! that's cool. I just admit that this was a rushed ending, too deliberately rushed. There are still many questions that should be answered in one more episode. imo, there should be 1 special episode, but overall is so worth to watch! at least once in your life😙
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