Lighthearted fun
Backstreet Rookie is a comfort show for me. It is lighthearted and entertaining with fun performances and characterizations. It's honestly hilarious that I can say one of my favorite dramas is about a stalker winning. The production is horribly unrealistic but its cartoonish nature adds to the lighthearted atmosphere. Some of the aspects are eyeroll-worthy (such as Han Dalshik) but I'm able to overlook it because I lack standards.Was this review helpful to you?
A definite 10/10
The plot is pure fanservice as it shows Si-eun do what every nerd wishes they could do. The plot twists go crazy--- I was expecting the first arc to be the entirety of the show, so the second half genuinely threw me for a loop and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The fighting choreography was excellent in that it was both thrilling to watch and gave us insight into the characterization of the various fighters, as each person had a distinct style which matched perfectly with their personality. Even the characters that I hate were compelling and the acting was phenomenal.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The second season was fantastic as well. I enjoyed Si-eun's journey past the first season but it was destined to fall short of the 10/10 first season. This season takes place in an entirely different school, which allows the story to focus on the important parts of the fallout from S1 but removes a lot of the possible context/continuity that could have been built up if he remained at the same school. This season was much more action-oriented and sometimes felt like fights were forced simply to include more action rather than to move the plot forward, and Si-eun's fighting style, while originally designed around his desperation and his intellect, seemed to be switched out for an unrealistic amount of stamina. While I believe it's still worth watching, I believe this story is optional-- season one was the complete story in my mind. Was this review helpful to you?
Mid
They didn't commit that hard to the video game background of their relationship, relegating it to the introduction and the reveal is basically resolved in a single episode, #9. It is not a bad show by any means but the premise is basically just set dressing for a formulaic office romcom, which has been done better dozens of times. The main couple also lacks any sort of chemistry with each other. It's a decent show to watch if you just need something to watch but it shouldn't be given any priority if you have a backlog of dramas to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Great Remake
This Zac Efron adaptation was a fun watch and surprisingly more touching than I expected. I enjoyed all of the plotlines in this show, although I found that many of the smaller plotlines were lacking due to the quick resolutions and/or turning out to be largely irrelevant to the overall plot. While it is expected to utilize many flashbacks to fill in the gaps for Hong Daeyoung's original life, they felt hamfisted due to consistently being used directly when they become relevant to the plot rather than used for foreshadowing. Most shows also build up the relevance of flashbacks by showing an relevant event in the past, then showing a longer version that provides new info to recontextualize the flashback--- this show decided to cut out the context from the MIDDLE of the scene instead, making it feel more like gaslighting rather than a discovery of new context.Was this review helpful to you?
