I have been looking forward to having enough time to watch this drama for a LONG time, and... I am a bit underwhelmed. Yes, it was good and I am not regretful about my watching experience, but it wasn't the masterpiece some people described, at least in my opinion.
The editing is rough at times. I am not talking about the time jumps, those are understandable enough, but the flow of the story is disrupted at some points that I can't help but think some scenes were cut to make the drama shorter. This feeling is especially strong at the beginning and ending parts of the drama; the middle of the story flows without any leaps of logic or relying too heavily on you to assume some things just happened. I want to stress that it's not so bad that it made the drama worse or the story illogical. It's just a really unfortunate thing I kept thinking about, as I was watching some parts.
The cinematography DID live up to the hype. It really is quite beautiful. And the acting is also something I really enjoyed.
The story is good and quite meaningful. The romance is also really good. You have the sweetest parts in the college years and the hard-hitting & heartfelt beats when they are in their thirties. But again, I do think the ending part could have been expanded a bit, or structured differently. It makes sense why some things happen, but the lead-up to it is not satisfying enough for me to fully buy into it.
I can say the same about some side-stories (which are also quite nice and meaningful). There are no useless or stupid side plots here, don't get me wrong. Even the annoyingly cliche characters end up being useful in telling a good arc towards the end. But again, I can almost feel the restraints of time or poor structuring of some plot points to get there. As it is, the ending stretch of the drama felt a bit abrupt to me, thus leading to my theory about cut scenes and rough editing.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely! The romance is great, the story is meaningful, the OST is amazing, the acting is enjoyable and the cinematography is gorgeous. I know I am being mostly critical above, but that's mostly because I expected a 9-10 out of 10 drama going into it, and feel like giving 8/10. I would definitely rewatch parts of the story a few times in the future, though probably not the whole thing.
The editing is rough at times. I am not talking about the time jumps, those are understandable enough, but the flow of the story is disrupted at some points that I can't help but think some scenes were cut to make the drama shorter. This feeling is especially strong at the beginning and ending parts of the drama; the middle of the story flows without any leaps of logic or relying too heavily on you to assume some things just happened. I want to stress that it's not so bad that it made the drama worse or the story illogical. It's just a really unfortunate thing I kept thinking about, as I was watching some parts.
The cinematography DID live up to the hype. It really is quite beautiful. And the acting is also something I really enjoyed.
The story is good and quite meaningful. The romance is also really good. You have the sweetest parts in the college years and the hard-hitting & heartfelt beats when they are in their thirties. But again, I do think the ending part could have been expanded a bit, or structured differently. It makes sense why some things happen, but the lead-up to it is not satisfying enough for me to fully buy into it.
I can say the same about some side-stories (which are also quite nice and meaningful). There are no useless or stupid side plots here, don't get me wrong. Even the annoyingly cliche characters end up being useful in telling a good arc towards the end. But again, I can almost feel the restraints of time or poor structuring of some plot points to get there. As it is, the ending stretch of the drama felt a bit abrupt to me, thus leading to my theory about cut scenes and rough editing.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely! The romance is great, the story is meaningful, the OST is amazing, the acting is enjoyable and the cinematography is gorgeous. I know I am being mostly critical above, but that's mostly because I expected a 9-10 out of 10 drama going into it, and feel like giving 8/10. I would definitely rewatch parts of the story a few times in the future, though probably not the whole thing.
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