Extraordinary You (2019)

THIS IS MY FAVORITE KDRAMA OF ALL TIME.

I finished Extraordinary You about a week ago and wow just wow. I have never felt such a connection to a kdrama before than I did with this one.

Characters/Acting/Cast:
Straight off the bat, I loved all of the characters. They all have a special place in my heart, but I'll just talk about a few. Dano's fiery spirit was so refreshing from the numerous shy, timid girls who are the female main lead a lot in kdramas. And honestly, not many of them have much of a personality and are very boring. But Dano is the exact opposite. She was very relatable, funny, charismatic, pretty, and just a really good character.
I also really loved Kyung from the very beginning. He is probably one of my favorite character in any kdrama I've ever seen. Yes, I did want to punch him a few times for hurting Dano, but his character development was some of the best that I've ever seen. I felt so bad for him with his whole family situation and just wanted to comfort him all of the time because I knew he was hurting inside but was trying to act strong. Haru is just amazing in every way. Why can't I get a boyfriend like him??? Rowoon (Haru's actor) is the most handsome man I have ever seen. He is so damn beautiful it hurt. I love his character and how much he cares for Dano. There moments together were so touching and beautiful, I nearly cried multiple times. I also want to mention Dohwa. I love that man so damn much. He is so kind-hearted and cares for Juda so much. He really was such a wholesome character. All in all, all of the cast is absolutely gorgeous and look great together. Their chemistry is amazing, I couldn't take my eyes of the screen. I think each of the actors portrayed their character extremely well and I couldn't ask for me.

Story/Plot:
I really loved the overall idea of the plot, but I have to say I did get confused a bit at times. Especially with the whole time/scene jumping and everything. Also the shadow confused me at times and I kinda wished we had gotten a little more insight into the author. I have seen many people sad over the ending but honestly I quite liked it. Yeah, they are in this endless cycle of the same events unfolding in each book but at least Haru and Dano get to be together. It's better than one of them dying or both of them dying. The ending kind of gave the drama an eternal feel to it. The story will go on for ever (well unless the author dies or something, i don't even know). I never felt bored watching this drama. It is one of the only dramas where I wasn't somewhat tempted to go on my phone instead. Extraordinary You fully captured my attention and made me feel so many emotions.

Music:
The OST for Extraordinary you is just beautiful. It tugged on my heart strings and set the mood for scenes perfectly. I am also a big Stray Kids fan (a kpop group), I had forgotten that they had made one of the songs in the OST. I had even heard the song multiple times and loved it but had forgotten what drama it was in. I nearly fell off my couch when I heard their familiar voices.

Rewatch Value:
So far I haven't rewatched Extraordinary You yet but I have gone back and rewatched many of my favorite scenes. I am planning on doing a binge session with two of my friends who also love the drama. I am sure it'll be just as amazing watching it for the second time.

Setting:
I just wanted to mention that the school Extraordinary you is mostly based at is absolutely GORGEOUS. It is so beautiful, it blew me away in every scene. I wish my school looked like that -_-. The beautiful wooden structure, flowers and plants everywhere, it was just stunning.

Overall:
If you are hesitant about watching this drama, please give it a try. I wasn't sure when I saw the ratings and took a quick glance at some of the reviews (I didn't want to spoil). After watching this drama though, the ratings and reviews really surprise me, but I guess everyone has their own opinions. This was my first review so thank you if you are reading this.

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Extraordinary You was a drama that I had heard good things about it was airing (and afterwards) more than a year ago. But for some reason I never got around to watching it until this year’s Christmas break. And I have to say that it is always fun when something that has been very hyped turns out to be as good as people say it is.

I am a big fan of when a story or a show can turn a cliché or a story you think you have seen so many times and make something new with it. Because even if this drama is just a high-school story at its core, with a really cliché love story in the background, there was just something fresh about it. It offered a different perspective on this type of story, different angle, which I just enjoyed so much.

There was this warmth that came with it. It was sweet, cozy feeling that was always there, it was light and fun throughout it all, no matter what clichés and troubles were thrown towards our main characters. And that is in large parts thanks to the characters that we followed throughout this whole story. They really made it their own. Cozy and sweet are the words I would without doubt use to describe this drama. Like a quiet summer evening just before the air started to cool and the world just seems to stand still for a moment. That was sort of the feeling this drama evoked in me.

Eun Dan Oh is just such a gem. I love her so. She is so true to herself. She is such a determined and cool character, and you feel so much for her and her quest to get to be herself. She just wants to live and be herself and be happy. Her shine was never diminished to focus on any love triangle or the boy’s story while she just floats on by until they need her. No, Dan Oh is absolutely the main character here, just like she is the main character in her life. She is this show's center through and through.

Meanwhile, all those clichéd things I would expect from a show like this one; the love triangles with these typical characters that came with that, the poor girl, the rich boys, the annoying mothers-in-law, that was all in the background. It moved the story along, but it was not the center focus. And I thought that take on it was such a brilliant thing. And how the character we were focusing on went in and out of the comic story while having their own emotions and views, and their own story aside from all that was so well done.

And by having a rather typical romantic story where you can almost see where it's going before it starts, if you've watched kdrama (or read shoujo mangas) in the background you could both avoid following it in the main story, as well as the play around with it to suit the main story and take advantage of it in a rather original way. And I think that made the drama so enjoyable to watch. Because this was something a bit classic that you knew, yet it was not totally what you knew. There was something different and new about it. And the characters were so wonderful and so vivid. They were allowed to step outside the box that was given to them or the ones we have come to expect from this type of story in a way.

Because the characters that Dan Oh meets and forms a friendship with can also avoid some of these clichés that you expect. The boys who would normally have been cast as the second leads against the coldhearted boy with a sad backstory who warms up to the world when the poor girl shakes his world a bit. They are the ones who are in the lead role here, except with a much greater personality and I just thought that was so neat. I enjoyed it so much. This drama was just so sweet, but not sickly sweet.

There were times when I thought it was getting a bit repetitive and there are certain things that did drag on for some time. But those dragged out and repetitive moments almost felt so typical to a story like this that I thought it might be done deliberately. The world in the drama is quite well thought out in my opinion.

There were times where I could see where the drama was heading but that never really got on my nerves. You could always see the authors intent for it. I was also just enjoying myself so much that I just let the drama carry me with it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this drama. I let it consume me for three and a half days, and I am not usually a binge-watcher. But I just could not stop watching it.

I found it so sweet and cozy and fun. I loved the relationship of the main couple, I loved the friendship between the characters, I loved our main characters and her search for herself and her freedom and the freedom of those around her. I cried so much over the last two episodes, mainly because I just loved these characters so damn much and something about the story just moved me. And it has been a while since a kdrama has done that. And this is somehow not a story I expected to cry over, because it actually always managed to be rather light and fun even if the stakes were raised a bit.

At its core this is a very ordinary high school drama about love and friendship and finding yourself. The drama just does a lot of things really well. It is not perfect, but it is so sweet and with a huge heart behind it that makes you fall in love with it and it takes you on a journey. And it is just so nice to watch a story, or read a story that you know quite well, is a bit of a cliché but that you know you can enjoy if done well, and it is done really well. With a slightly new touch. And that is what this drama is.

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Would watch again

The drama combines two popular concepts, fighting against fate and a character in a story finding out they are a character in a story. In the beginning, the episodes made sense, were interesting to watch, and set up the story and world well. You are introduced to Dan Oh, who is determined to change her fate because she is very sick. However, Dan Oh becomes focused on being with Haru, and the later episodes are somewhat repetitive. I felt like the ending wasn’t up to par with the first few episodes because the quality decreased significantly as the drama progressed. The ending wasn’t satisfactory, and there are a lot of plot holes. One is the biggest mysteries is whether Haru is homeless or not because he sleeps in the school. We never get to know more about the author of the story and how the scenes that Dan Oh changed affected them.

What I liked:
- The OST (Skz & April)
- Bark Kyung’s character development
- Acting

What I didn’t like:
- The character relationships had potential, but it was a little wasted
- Important characters that we know nothing about (Haru)
- Turns into your typical romance story with a high school girl infatuated with a guy and prioritizing him over her own life
- Ending
- Plotholes

Overall, I loved the actors, so I would watch it again. However, don’t be too sad when you watch it and the plot isn’t as interesting as the synopsis. If you love typical kdrama romances, this is for you. If you want some romance with more depth, you might not enjoy this drama as much as me.

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BEST DRAMA EVER

I could immediately tell that the story and conclusion were excellent! I wish I had a part in his show since everyone gave outstanding acting performances. While I am watching the drama, I laughed a lot. I'm delighted I saw this program; it's fun. I watched all 32 episodes of this drama in around 4 days, however I want to let the author know that occasionally I found specific parts of the episodes to be boring. You should be aware that this drama features more episodes than usual, which may make viewers bored.

Good drama overall I hope you all enjoy this drama.

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An extraordinary drama that wasn't extraordinary

First of all, I just wanted to say that the drama was quite nice. The first half definitely hooked me into the drama. I had a lot of questions as I watched these episodes and good thing most of those questions that I had in mind were answered. Secondly, the casts were good. I already watched Lee Jae-wook act in his other drama (particularly When the Weather was Fine) and I totally loved his character in that drama and this drama as well. Based on the poster (which is pretty obvious), Dan Oh and Haru (Kim Hyeyoon and Rowoon's character respectively) ended up together. And there goes my heart for Baek Kyung💔💔, played by Lee Jae-wook. I already knew that Baek Kyung was a second male lead to Haru but I was still rooting for Baek Kyung and Dan Oh😢 This was my first time to ever like or root for the second male lead with the first female lead, like EVER. So, this meant that Lee Jae wook's acting was superb. He had transitioned very well into such character from being funny and light-hearted in When the Weather was Fine. Rowoon's acting was quite nice. It fitted his character as protective and caring for Dan Oh. As for Haru, Rowoon's character, I guess I would like him if his character showed a lot more (other than having a mindset to always save Dan Oh which started to annoy me on the second half of the drama). Moreover, I cringed at almost everything about Haru. Yeah, his character was all about helping Dan Oh change her fate but that was it. He was so plain to be a main character, really. So PLAIN to the fact that he's like a robot or he didn't have anything else to do with his life. Haru was definitely my biggest and utter disappointment in this drama😞. As for Kim Hyeyoon's acting, she's good, quite nice. I never saw her act in a drama before. Also, I haven't watched Sky Castle before (which she was in), so I'm planning to watch it someday. Okay... back to the Kim Hyeyoon. Quite similar to Lee Jae-wook, her transition from being a mean girl in Sky Castle to a bright, cute, and brave character was smooth. She gave justice to her character by her acting skills. Though at some points, her character, Dan Oh, also had an annoying side. Watch the drama and you'll know what I meant by that. I already marked her catchphrase throughout the drama as "Haruya. Haru." which annoyed me, really. Her relationship with Haru was also quite annoying. THEY made me cringe, to be honest. It doesn't mean that someone gave what you want, you'll be in a relationship with them. Lastly, this drama has a lot of plotholes (pretty obvious, let's admit it.)

Overall, this drama was good but was not enough to honor its title as extraordinary. It is an ordinary drama and I quite regretted that I watched this drama that has 30+ episodes. If it wasn't for Kim Hyeyoon and Lee Jae-wook's acting and the supporting casts, I would have labeled this drama as time consuming and definitely not worth it. Still, I recommend you to watch this drama if you don't have anything else to do or if you feel like solving an annoying and tiring case (more like, plotholes). Oh, and be careful of cliches, there are a lot of cringeworthy scenes.😉😂

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This is one of my favorite dramas. The drama is always filled with mix emotions. I literally experienced sadness, happiness and angriness. All of them at the same time. The storyline is really interesting. The writer imagination is in a whole another level. I really wish Lee Tae ri/Dried Squid Fairy is more recognizable in the drama. He is the main character in the DRAMA but it feels like he is the supporting character or an EXTRA. Still overall, this drama is one of the best.

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Brilliant premise and such a new concept, starts off very strong but then it loses its track in the middle. I still don't understand the point of the unnecessary love triangle with Baek Kyung. He is such a complex character, and has a lot of trauma already, what was the point of steering the show into the direction of the cliched love triangle when it could have been so much more. I definitely think it was possible to explore romantic relationships without sacrificing the more interesting aspects of the drama. The ending does redeem it however, it's just a bit difficult to go through the middle episodes, mainly because of the repetitive scenes.

I was cackling when I saw the difference between Nam Ju and Do Hwa's gifts for Ju Da. I usually love traumatic historical scenes, so that was a plus for me. It would be a shame if I don't mention the acting of Lee Jae-wook which was what elevated Baek Kyung's character to such a level. His acting is extraordinary at all times and he does justice to the very complex character he plays.

One of the things that's plaguing me is what happened to Eun Dan Oh in the stage at the end, how did the story appear in the comic, how was her and Baek Kyung's relationship drawn at the end of the comic? The show didn't clear this major point, along with several other plot points.

Because of my ranting it might seem like I was totally annoyed by the show, which was not the case. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half and the last two episodes. Dan Oh and Haru's relationship is amazingly sweet, Lee Do Hwa will always remain in my heart, it's impossible to not feel sorry for Baek Kyung and ofc I shed a few tears for the characters here and then. I also really liked Shadow Ju Da's personality and her final decision at the end. Overall I did enjoy parts of the drama but seeing such a wasted potential kind of made me sad.

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Concept is great. Execution not so much

I started watching this show just to kill some time but after the first episode I was roped in. The concept was actually very interesting and I liked the idea of them developing "egos" and becoming aware of being in a comic. However, after the 6th episode I started becoming very sceptical. The actual comic was kind of ridiculous, the character development was non-existent and even though Dan-Oh was supposed to be this "cute" girl, I was actually just getting annoyed at her mannerisms as they seem so unrelatable. But still I kept watching because I wanted to know more about the black hole, Ha-ru and why he can change the stage, if they were going to find the writer etc and none of those things ever got explained. The actual interesting parts of the story that gave it depth were rushed while the scenes that had romance in it were slow. Honestly, the character that I got most invested in was Beak-kyung since they actually put in effort to show why he was so mean to Dan-oh and he started opening up and becoming more himself whereas everyone else just seemed so shallow. Also another thing that annoyed me was, why did Ju-da pick Nam-ju over Do-hwa? Like Nam-ju was literally the most boring character in the entire story and why get our hopes up that she was going to pick Do-hwa by rejecting Nam-ju a few times, when you're just gonna make her pick Nam-ju anyways? The ending as well was so unsatisfying, even if you disregard all of the plot holes.

The best thing about this show was the acting (especially of the male characters) and the music. If you're looking for a filler drama because you don't know what to watch then yes, I would recommend this over a lot of other mediocre dramas but that's only because the concept is still very interesting.

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every good story needs a good pacing

first off, I'll start by saying that I really enjoyed this drama. I always enjoy the set up of stories where someone jumps into a comic book/novel and messy moments ensue.

I loved the main cast and supporting leads. you don't often see such a great round up! their characters were fun too even though Rowoon's was a bit flatter compared to everyone else.(understandably so). but even at the end there was nothing to him besides his love for dan o. I would have loved more character development.

my issues lie with the repetitiveness of the story and how stagnant it really was/ felt . the premise was great but ultimate delivery felt lacking.

if you want to something with a similar premise, I recommend that you check out "Fall for you (2022)". It's like a mashup of Extraordinary You and True Beauty.

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Better than I expected

I watched this drama thinking it was a typical school love kdrama (which I was intending to watch so no hate) so my expectations weren’t very high for it anyway. When I realised what the plot was about, I thought it was cool and so, the drama would remain a romcom but the minute the historical manhwa plot twist came to be, things got more interesting. The way both manhwas’ plots fit together (the shadow in Secret being the stage in Trumpet Creeper) was actually pretty well thought out and actually made sense.

However, I must admit there were times where I felt like the story was getting a little repetitive (Dano constantly being on the brink of death) but it’s bearable. Also, justice for Baek-kyung because the shadow characters literally always treated him for the character he was written to be. Maybe if they were nicer, he would get away from who he was in the stage.

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Awesome premise, could have been done better

You know, the premise for this drama would make for an absolutely riveting, nerve-wracking, and captivating horror story. The potential is immense!

What would you do if you found out that you were a useless side character in a comic book, and that you're basically destined to die soon and that your actions are determined by the writer? Moreover, whatever you do and tell people when you're in control, they won't remember it in the next scene. Unless they're special like you... which is rare

The grim implications of being forced to play out scenes against your will, while still fully and actually living through those scenes, are kept to mainly surface-level quirks and drama in this story. But in the hands of someone else this could have easily gone… uh, sideways.

Like a character who has to walk toward her own drowning scene, and drown right there, knowing full well what's happening, despite not wanting to. It would be a real horror show!

But since this is a kdrama obviously the romance drama aspects are dialed up to eleven while the rest rests on the sidelines. But I had a good time because of the quality of the premise. The story-within-a-story opens up all kinds of potential plot points although sadly, a lot of genuinely intriguing ones are left unexplored. I also enjoyed the style of the cuts (imitating a story jumping all over the place while you read). They were often unpredictable as sometimes characters are suddenly and abruptly transported to new scenes, even mid-sentence!

As much as they poke fun at kdrama clichés, they also equally indulge in them which I found comical. Pacing was also meh as there are some redundant scenes clearly there just to pad the runtime.

The ending was also lacking a bit, we definitely needed more closure.

All in all, had huge potential, but has to settle for "pretty good".

You can add it to the pile of "kdrama with awesome early episodes that can't sustain that level of quality".

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Cute but gets repetitive

I was definitely gripped from the get-go, however the story does feels like the kind of thing I might have written about for a school writing project. Nevertheless, it was unique and intriguing.

I was really enjoying this show until it occurred to me that the story kept repeating itself; the characters would lose their memories and they would have to find their ego again. Towards the end of the show I started to wonder what Haru's actual purpose was because he kind of came from nowhere and was just this mysterious guy from the beginning. I know we discovered that he was in love with Dan-oh in the 'Trumpet Creeper,' but even in that, did I miss what his purpose was?

I'm not quite sure what the characters actually did in their spare time - they were always just at school. I guess their was the love triangle between Dan-oh, Haru and Gyeong that made the plot line a bit interesting. However, their characters were all pretty one-dimensional. Btw Gyeong was an ass. I did not like him; he was so rude and mean to Dan-oh. Even though this was the writer's doing, it was still harsh and uncomfortable to watch.

On reflection there were definitely many flaws of the show, but if you just watch it at face value and don't read too much into it, then it is enjoyable and easy to watch.

Taking it back to the first episodes - Oh boy, by the second episode where Dan-oh fell down the stairs and we still didn't get to see Haru's face, I was so disappointed and I just wanted to know who he was. The ending of episode two was, in my opinion, *chefs kiss* perfect! Seeing Haru's face appear through the umbrella was so beautiful and a memorable moment of the show. I really liked all the interactions between Dan-oh and Haru. They make a very cute couple.

I loved every scene where Dan-oh would get disgruntled at the writer for making everything about Ju-dah and Nam-ju, hence the fact that she wasn't the protagonist. I found the scene funny where she knocked over the statue in art class just to get people to focus on her. And then the writer rewrote the scene anyway XD.

I really liked the side characters i.e. Ju-dah and Dan-oh's friend (the one who was mean to Ju-dah). Although she is mean and a bully, she was still a funny character. I liked Ju-dah's sass and energy towards the later episodes where she developed her ego. I was really glad that she liked Do-Hwa as well. Speaking of Do-Hwa, he is such a cutie and in the final episode he made me laugh so much. The scene where he spots Dan-oh with the paper chain around her neck and he comes in flapping his arms trying to make her remember the butterfly. He is an emotional boy and I love him for that. I feel like the only characters that had any real progression or growth were Gyeong and Judah.

I was getting concerned when I only had five minutes left to go and nothing was wrapping up. I feel like yes, how it ended worked, but at the same time I just didn't feel way satisfied with the ending. For me, I wish I had have paid more attention to the tree scene in the previous episode when Dan-oh said to meet at the tree on October 10th, in order to always find each other. I feel like if you forget this scene and finish the show, you'd be like what just happened? I personally would have liked an actual flashback to the tree scene in order to emphasise their memories a bit more, rather than using the voiceover of what was said in the past.

I really liked the soundtrack for each moment in the show; when it was sad and emotional, or dark and intense. I am obsessed with the First Love song! I've never really been able to sing Korean but this one I can! XD

The acting was great - no qualms there.

Overall I rate it 9 because it was enjoyable and cute to watch. I think its downfall lies in the plot as on reflection there wasn't a great deal that happened and it kept repeating itself.

-E

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