naluhy

lol

It’s not about “beauty standards.” The point is that an animation should simply be beautiful, and yes, that matters to me. Some are so ugly they hurt my eyes. I can’t even watch them because they’re so grotesque! And the beauty I’m talking about isn’t about being “extremely perfect” or following some kind of standard; I just mean being at least harmonious. That’s something I didn’t see in this film. Still, it wasn’t the worst animation I’ve ever seen. It’s mainly in certain moments of the movie that it gets really bad to me.

From beginning to end, I never found it boring, but I feel the same when it comes to the ending. I think this series becomes so unique and so special precisely because of how it ends. Was it painful? Yes, but it was extremely consistent with the journeys of both characters, Hee-do and Yi-jin. And despite everything, the breakup was beautiful to me. They don’t hold grudges against each other; they support one another from afar and recognize how important they were in that phase of their lives, even though it came to an end. There’s even a certain poetic tone to it. Hee-do reading Yi-jin’s farewell letter 20 years later and that “hypothetical” scene where she imagines what it would have been like if they had the chance to say out loud what was written in the letter to each other back then, it was beautiful. That’s why this K-drama is so memorable and touching.

People have different definitions of what “first love” really is, and it’s obvious that there are different kinds of love. For me, it became clear in that scene that even though he mentioned other girlfriends, the love he had for Hee-do was greater and deeper. Especially because, from what it seems, he dated those girls when he was a teenager, which makes even more sense, he probably wasn’t mature enough at that point to truly know what love is, because at that age we think love is only about passion and “butterflies in the stomach.” With Hee-do, for the first time he found himself in a situation where he needed to make sacrifices to have her, thought before acting and put love above passion, something teenagers rarely do.
So, in short, he considers Hee-do his first love because of that.

i started crying immediately

Lol, I get it. I was really sad about the ending too, it might sound crazy, but I kinda like the ending, even though it’s sad. Well, it didn’t stop me from rewatching it (I watched it seven times, haha). It was great talking to you too! All the best!

I’ve watched it twice and plan to watch it again. Maybe my perspective will change a bit after the third time, but no matter how many times I watch it, I just can’t like her with Taek as much as I liked her with Jung-hwan. Despite all the reasons why it makes more sense for her to end up with Taek.

This drama is one of my favorites too, more specifically, my second favorite; my number one is Twenty-Five Twenty-One, which actually has a message similar to Reply 1988 and is very nostalgic as well. I even joke that the two series are “sisters,” lol.

Aside from that one thing I didn’t like, it didn’t make me hate the series as a whole, lol. This drama touched me deeply and will always have a special place in my heart. I really love the family and friendship dynamics. It’s fun and comforting, and it gave me a lot to reflect on.

Yeah, sure. But again, if they hadn’t made Jung-hwan so hesitant, I really do think they would have ended up together, because she clearly started to genuinely like him (regardless of whether it was influenced by what her friends said) it was because of his caring actions toward her, and the thing with Sun-woo was just platonic.
Because of all that hesitation, she gave up on waiting, and the situation with Taek happened afterward.
Anyway, I found it completely unfair because the writing didn’t just make me believe about him being her husband, but a lot of people as well. Even the adult version of her husband, in terms of personality, seemed much more like Jung-hwan in the beginning. And all of that just for the story to end with him crying alone in the car, it was way too cruel.
From the beginning until the middle of the series, the focus was only on Jung-hwan’s feelings for her and their relationship, and honestly, I didn’t see anything special between her and Taek at the start. Their situation only came much later, to the point that it was a surprise to me when I realized he also liked her.
That’s what was extremely unfair to me.
But I understand your point here. I don’t hate the idea of her with Taek, but I don’t like it either, lol.

That hesitation on his part was obviously completely intentional. At some point it even feels kind of fake, in my opinion, because he loved her SO much, wanted her SO badly, for God’s sake, he wouldn’t hesitate that much. There would come a moment when he simply wouldn’t hold back anymore, despite the fear of ruining the friendship, and that moment was extremely dragged out. I found it very unfair. It was clearly just to make her like the other guy more and end up with him in the end.

lol, I’d never thought about that, but looking at the comments now, yeah, I think that’s a big part of the reason.

Well, we can’t be completely sure about that because the series doesn’t make it entirely clear, but in my opinion, I don’t think he regretted it. After all, he achieved the goal he wanted, which was to reunite his family again, and he seemed very fulfilled by that. Besides, his job gave him a lot of purpose, and when you find a purpose you decide to pursue, you keep going even when it’s difficult. Even though the main reason he took the job wasn’t originally for himself, he found himself there in some way. You can see that he wanted to fight for the truth and convey it to people; he didn’t want to be insensitive to others’ pain or to instigate controversy with the news. He wanted to report what was actually happening, and I honestly find that very beautiful about his character.

Maybe the only regret would be that he didn’t insist more with Hee-do in the end, because it does seem clear that he probably took a long time to get over her (or maybe never truly did). But I know this might sound a bit cruel, yet nothing stopped him from meeting someone else, getting married, and being happy with her, and I wouldn’t be completely upset about that, to be honest.

I was just surprised because A LOT of people didn’t like it, but honestly I didn’t think it was THAT bad like people say. I was just sharing my opinion.I certainly don’t expect everyone to agree with me just because I liked it, sorry if I gave that impression, it wasn’t my intention.

Kind of agree, but even so, I still enjoyed watching the second season much more than the first.

Ooh, I thought you were talking to me too lol I don’t really know how these comments work, I think I was the one who got it wrong here, not you, but now I get it, sorry.

Sorry, I didn’t say it wasn’t a beautiful drama, and for ME it didn’t give me any nostalgia because adolescence is actually a very painful and confusing phase, something the series didn’t show in a satisfying way. I also didn’t have a very good experience in school, anyway, but I understand the nostalgia it can bring for those who did.
And the romance is really sweet, but there’s nothing beyond that, the story was a bit too shallow for me, I don’t know, anyway, but I never meant to give the impression that it isn’t a good drama. I personally found it beautiful in some parts, but many things bothered me, and what weighed the most was the lack of change in the FL and how much they infantilized her.
This kind of drama isn’t for everyone.

I just didn’t think it was that good. Most of the characters are annoying to me, especially the main ones, and the story is also pretty average, nothing interesting really happens. The female lead is SO infantilized even when she’s an adult, I couldn’t handle it, many scenes were difficult for me to watch. I also thought the romance was very superficial, I don’t know, kind of cartoonish. The plots don’t go very deep, everything stays on the surface. But anyway, it’s not a bad drama, maybe it’s just not my type.
If you like the school type, very fairy-tale and cliché, you’ll definitely love it.

Most of the drama focuses on their teenage years, but toward the end it shows their growth.

well… no, but it ended in a beautiful way to me. It’s kind of bittersweet.

What?? Nam Do-san is a great example of a character who grows a lot throughout the series. In the beginning he was insecure and immature, and the show actually demonstrates his change. And in my opinion, the plot isn’t “nonsense” at all, it was actually pretty obvious.

yess!