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It's about music, not about the story
Usually when you watch a musical, music compliments the story itself, gives it layers and reveals hidden emotions of the characters and their pain and\or love to us. With this drama, it is completely vice versa - here, the story compliments music. Sounds, music, Naoki's songs are the main characters in this drama. In one episode, he says that he's writing all of these songs just to pull the noise out of his head. And this drama literally felt like watching this sounds and noises coming out of his headThere's not much plot. It basically sums up to creating the group, going through struggles, succeeding and that's it. Even a little plot twist didn't have that much of impact at all. I also personally not a big fan of open endings, so this is why my rating is 9.5. It was great in terms of the story until the last ep - because that one was just a huge performance without tying up all the plot lines. We don't know what'll happen to the characters after it.
Characters. I love all of them. Even if there's not much going on, the characters shine. We have eps that are focused on certain character and their story, aside of Kazushi, unfortunately. He's the only one not getting his own background story out of the main four. Surprisingly, there are side characters with a deep and properly written personalities even though they're on the screen for just a couple of episodes. And THE acting, every one of the actors gave an incredible performance, they put all of themselves in it.
Romance, bromance, found family. Main four truly works so good together, you can see all sorts of connections between them, and it evolves throughout the show. There's a huge found family plot - they care about each other deeply, but what truly binds them together is music and passion to perform, like they're completely different, but the sound brings them closer.
Romance is here too - it's truly just a little bit, and the love theme of the drama is more about the whole group, than about Akane and Naoki, but they did even this little bit beautifully. Don't expect the full-blown romance, expect the gentle kind, the "I'll be there for you always" kind.
And, finally, a bromance between Sho and Naoki that could easily be written as a romance, honestly, it was a great full of love relationship between them. I personally loved both romance and bromance, I truly feel like Naoki loves all 3 of his bandmates, it's just his love takes a different form with each of them:
- For Akane it's romantic love and the love that pulled him back from his own head
- For Sho it's admiration and the love that brought him back the happiness for playing the music
- For Kazushi it's more friendly love and the love that challenges his songwriting
The production and the music. This drama is mesmerizing. It's filmed like a movie, there's so many pretty shots and sounds, when they sing you can truly feel like you're on the stage there with them. And the whole OST... I don't even know where to start. I feel like it was made by musicians for musicians, and it's done flawlessly - even little bits of playing instruments between the scenes and the intro is so in tune with everything. As I said in the beginning, music is the main character, that's why the songs here are about the feeling and not really about the story, which is actually refreshing to see in the musical. I enjoyed it so much, but I think the way this drama works is not for everyone. You just need to decide what you want more - the story or the music. And if the music is your choice, this drama is for you
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Feels artificial
Dropping it on ep17, I just can't watch it any moreIf you want unbiased review from a non-novel reader, here it is. I had no idea about the actress's no kissing rule, I haven't read the novel and started watching it solely because of Wang Anyu. And so far he's the only good thing in this drama.
The romance. I don't understand how exactly fl fell in love with ml. She seemed so nonchalant and then, suddenly, in love. I do love Liu Haou Cun's acting BUT only in scenes when she's on her own. I don't see fl's feelings towards ml at all. I only see the yearning and love from Wang Anyu's acting
But that wouldn't be a problem if they had some physical intimacy to SHOW that they're in love not tell. And that's when they failed. Because we have no feelings from fl's side, no physical intimacy to show that they're in love and no plot/certaim circumstances for them to get closer and fall in love
That "no plot" is another separate issue because it all started with ml's mother but then it got resolved VERY quickly and we didn't get any tension from that, then the separation ended quickly and again no tension/anticipation. And finally she forgave him for a basically non-existent problem very fast. And here's the question: what should keep the viewers engaged? Usually it's one of these 3 things: chemistry/good acting, physical touch, plot
For example, another Wang Anyu drama "Forever love" which I think is very similar to this one. That one had very little physical intimacy scenes but there was a great acting from fl and Wang Anyu, and the plot actually made you engaged.
Another example - Hidden Love, this one has all 3 things, or another Wang Anyu drama "Falling into you", too, has all 3 aspects
And when you have none of them, I don't know what you need to do to keep viewers happy, really
Maybe I'm dropping it too soon, maybe they'll do better at their actual dating era. But I think it should be engaging from the start, you, as a viewer, should feel excitement when you think about them finally getting together. But I personally don't, and it's sad
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This should be way more popular
Honestly, I didn't think that I'll enjoy it as much as I did. It's like a hidden gem in the big pile of the other stones. It has everything you need in a romcom - cuteness, actual comedy, romance and, the best thing ever, logical plot.Seo Ji Hwan (Uhm Tae Goo) is an ex mobster that leads ordinary life nowadays. He has his own company and the group of ex-convicts that he treats like his family. You may think that he's an ordinary cold guy as we have seen many times in a romcom genre. You know, the type to be indifferent to everyone but that one girl. Surprise-surprise, it's not that at all. Ji Hwan is a kind man who always cares about his so-called family, his other employees and even about the people who don't deserve it. He's polite, he's gentle and he's actually shy. There is his gangster side, but he is still choosing to be a good man, even in those scenes when he needs to be a mobster. He has a great sense of responsibility, and he is respected by everyone in this drama not because of his past, but because of who he is. There's even a time when his love rival tells him that he's actually a good man, and he changed his mind about him.
On the other hand, we have Ji Hwan with Eun Ha and oh boy, he's so cute, really. He's loveable, he's a big baby of this drama. And he's extremely gentle with her, he wants her to be happy at all times and cares about her. He falls quickly, and he never once looks back at his feelings. He's bad at expressing them, but his feelings are pure.
And he's funny! I have no idea how Uhm Tae Goo did this, but Ji Hwan is funny all the time in this drama, even in the romantic scenes. Tae Goo did an amazing job portraying Ji Hwan it's like him being all moody in one scene because of his love rival and being completely smitten when Eun Ha comes to the picture. I'm completely shocked because of him, I'm in love with his performance in this drama, I don't have enough words to describe how good he is here
Our dear Ko Eun Ha (Han Seon Hwa) is like one of the best characters I've ever seen in a romcom. She has her own morals, she's kind and very understanding. I truly fell in love with her the moment she was gentle with Ye Na who's basically her competitor in the content for kids. She was always calm, she never answers to the toxicity with toxicity, no. She's kind, gentle and knows what she wants. Furthermore, she's not picky and does an honest work. She just wants to make children happy with her content. It's a shame that we don't know much about her, like her backstory is not that big, but at the same time it's good because she's like a character at the end of the drama. She has already found out what she wants to do, figured out her place in the world, and she's doing what she can.
And all of that goes for her relationships with Ji Hwan too. She never once feared him or judged him for his past. Even when she saw his ugly sides and him losing control of himself. She was always on his side, not even once holding a grudge against him. There was no misunderstanding between them, she always knew his motives and his feelings. He just needed to make the first step towards her. And he did
They both are independent on their own, so there's no character development in this drama because they're already the best versions of themselves. And you just watch two adults, who's very similar in personality, falling in love. And their whole journey was cute and loveable. They talk to each other and quickly resolve their issues, they trust each other with everything. And most surprisingly all bad moments between them are logical, they argue not because of one's insecurity, no, they argue because something really dangerous is happening. It's still a mobster drama, after all. But don't worry there's not much mob drama, this drama not about the gangs, fighting for power etc. no this drama about the good people who were able to break free of their ugly past and live ordinary life and that's the beauty of it
As for the side characters - I really loved them all. Even the prosecutor Jang Hyun Woo (Kwon Yul) who is Ji Hwan's love rival is eventually a good man that admits his mistakes and steps out when he needs. He really takes every situation like an adult man, and I like it very much
The second couple with Il Young (Ji Hwan's "right hand") and Mi Ho (Eun Ha's friend) is really cute, they have more passionate romance, but it also happens very off scene. Regardless, I've enjoyed their chemistry and their scenes
The whole Ji Hwan's so-called family is great too. Originally, I thought that they were there just for the comedy, but they actually felt like Eun Ha and Ji Hwan's family the whole time. The most warm interactions in the drama are when they are involved.
Even Ye Na, Eun Ha's competitor, became cute towards the end. I couldn't dislike her like in the beginning.
And the last thing - the plot itself. I don't think it's pure romcom I'd say it's slice of life with romcom elements. The drama doesn't have some end goal, some "defeat the evil" plot, no, all characters just live their lives and have their ups and downs. Even with the mob side plot it wasn't that dramatic, everything went very smoothly and logically. There's no stupid break up, no misunderstanding, no grandpas that don't approve the marriage. It was good from beginning to the end and I enjoyed every second of it
I would recommend it to the enjoyers of very sweet and gentle romance, mob stories (because honestly? Uhm Tae Goo was excellent playing his signature gangster role, wow), straightforward female lead and non-cliché romance. And finally - this drama should be waaaaaay more popular it deserves it
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Light & simple
Two mature main leads, one great group of friends that feels like group of friends and three couples with their own storiesTang Yang & Shi Yan
The slowburn, the friendship, the romance it's all there. I do think that it's a great example of best friends to lovers because their romantic relationship didn't happen on a whim. There was no event where they were like "oh, I've fallen with my best friend". No, it was all in a little day-to-day things, from both sides. There's support, the fun, the friendship, trust and love between them and it's perfect. It's just a simple story without any drama (it has veryyy minor "villain" plot but honestly it didn't affect them at all). I love that they did write hesitance of turning 13-year friendship into romantic relationship and the awkwardness of the romance when it's still new for both of them. These two compliment each other so well but are still their own people without each other and I love that too
Jiang Yan An & Feng Wei Ran
This is basically friends to lovers thing that happened much earlier than main couple. At first I thought that they're just a comedic relief but I honestly liked both of them. They had their own very valid issues and they overcame them together. I truly admire the writers for including them too and not making them stupid like they like to do with typical second leads in a romcom
Cheng Hui & Sheng Ni Na
Oh, I wish we could have seen more of them! I really like the concept of grumpy guy/sunshine girl or black cat/golden retriever energy but this one actually opened my mind to black cat/black cat energy. They are very similar to each other, very honest and respectful. I do love them like that too (as a half-baked romance) but I'd wish they turned it into the proper second lead romance. There's 30 eps, they could have easily done that
Overall if you want something simple, not overly sugary, mature and slice-of-life-ish, this one is for you. This drama has veryyy little plot aside of the romance but it really felt like it was unnecessary so it's not a perfect 10 stars
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