18 Again (2020)

HELLOOOOOOO

just finished watching de drama and well i like it very much!

the casting did an amazing job but Kim Haneul (Jung Da jung) did kinda...not bad but not good. i didn't felt much emotions from her character. even in the kissing scenes she was always with a straight face. the character Hong Shi Woo (Ryeoun) he was there...but he wasn't. i felt like they forgot his character and only used him as an "excuse" for Hong Dae Young (Lee Dohyun) to stay close to his family. like, why he didn't received his savings money too just like his sister? and if he did, why we couldn't see?
Hong Shi Woo had a litte bit of development, but...it felt disappointing.
i feel bad cause Ryeoun is an amazing actor, he deserved better.

in another hand, Hong Shi Ah (Rong Jeong Eui) had a great development, loved her story!

the romance story between the teacher and Hong Dae Young's friend had a good start but it felt forced at the end.

i love when dramas show us stories of the side characters, and they are not only characters without any deepness. but 18 again brought too much stories for too many characters when they could focus on important ones.

about ost, the HELLOOOOO it's stuck in my head because they've added this song SO MANY TIMES 😭 i didn't like 💔

the main story is good, it taught us many important things about relationships, mainly Parents x Children, Husband x Wife. can't deny that i learned somethings that i will take with me.

anyways, I've watched the drama in 3 days cause i was curious and invested on the story, but mostly because of Lee Dohyun. his acting is impeccable and he kept me watching!

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I guess I've seen it somewhere before...

There’s not really much to say about this drama. And at this point you probably wondering why then I’m writing this review? Well, the reason is simple. The fact that there’s not much to tell, is a review of its own. 18 again is just a concept that was seen before and there’s not much more to add.

We’ve seen this before. Zac Efron is a basketball star at his high school but for some reason his life does not go according to plan and he wakes up one day as a bitter 30 something year old and want some change. The chance appears when in by magic he get’s a second chance in life, he wakes up as a teenager. Simple? So now, let’s translate this idea to Korean and add another 15 hours of content to this idea that was born as a single movie.

I don’t really remember original movie that well, but I could’ve swear that I’ve seen some scenes from first episode so I guess it was pretty close to the movie.

But let’s just leave this issue. This drama is not original, we’ve seen it before, but does it defend itself on its own? Can we just watch it without thought of Zac Efron in shorts in our heads? Pretty much yes, and then what is left, it pretty good. You know, mostly because somebody tested this idea before.

Overall I like the idea of the fresh perspective, when we progressively see the same topic from various points of view just to know that our main character might not be entirely right in showing the reality of situation. We had similar idea in Familiar Wife, where we also progressively unveiled how things looked according to other character versus the main one. And obviously it changed how we seen the relationship between main characters. In 18 Again we have Hong Dae Young perspective, where he thinks that he’s done everything he could for his family, but when we hear what his wife thinks about it, the situation looks pretty different.

Honestly, I wasn’t too invested in main characters relationship. Hong Dae Young for me was moderately interesting, especially in his teenage version. By the way, when did we cross the thin line between Yoon Sang Hyun playing sexy rock start in Secret Garden and father figurer that got old pretty badly? Because that’s like eight years between those two dramas but I barely recognised him!

Anyway, back to the point. I like how this drama slowly changes from the story about guy who suddenly goes back to being teenager to a story of how other characters cope. Hong Dae Young is a centre of the plot, but not necessary its main focus point. And that’s good, because sometimes the background characters are much more interesting than what happens to the main ones. Secondary characters are truly building atmosphere here. Especially that romantic motive between Jung Da Jung and young Hong Dae Young is at some point pretty weird. I mean I know that in this body there’s almost 40 year old man, but Da Jung casually dating teenager just looks weird. This whole situation seems wrong. And if we’re already here, there’s around zero chemistry between those two.

To add to all of this, we have a bunch of unnecessary cliches. We have a white truck of death, we have people who know each other but don’t know it till the end. And then suddenly it’s a big of a deal.

On a plus side, we have good comedic relief motives. I have to admit, scenes where Hong Dae Young and Go Deok Jin argue as a son and father and are constantly overheard by the office staff is a comedy gold here. Especially with half of those dialogues being beeped out because of swear words.

Overall I kinda enjoyed this series, but more like a guilty pleasure. It’s not bad remake after all, so if you don’t mind watching very predictable series, then I guess go on.

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Wholesome and deep

Surprisingly deep and chracter driven!

Seen the movie it's based on and they did an amazing job exploring the characters and diving deeper into their backstories and adding more characters that compliment the narrative. Everyone felt more real and with actual problems detached from the leads which I appreciated. The leads didn't solely exist to fall in love again. They felt like real people with problems outside of their romantic relationship.

The dad feels were the best part of the drama for me. The family dynamics are very strong in this one and what kept me going. I do wish we could have seen even more backstory for the 2 main leads while they are younger parents. I loved those moments the best and wish we could have gotten more of that instead of: the love triangle, the friend and teacher cringy + draggy love story.

Towards the end things felt a bit more calm. Like there was no big climax in the story. Things just slowly and quietly fell into place without any struggle. Which is fine, but to me it dragged the excitement of the earlier episodes and stole some of the satisfaction I wanted to feel at the end. I think if things could have been condensed a little bit it would have been perfect. It also felt a bit episodic from time to time, like first with the gym teacher then with the stalker guy, then the love triangle, it was a bit like a bad guy of the week situation, which is acceptable but not my personal favourite. If you run out of conflict just end the drama early, there's no shame in it. The side characters' stories felt a bit draggy from time to time.

Other than that this drama was really charming, enjoyable and gave me all the feels. If it had been shorter it'd be perfect!

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Still such an S-Tier show

April 10, 2023

18 again is such a timeless show, I originally watched it when it was first released on Netflix and it jumped right into my favourite comfort dramas. Rewatching 18 again definitely solidify its position in my ever-growing lists of Kdramas. After feeling burn-out from school and the uninteresting shows that I was forcing myself into watching. Rewatching this show was definitely such a smart move on my behalf. To think that I was reminiscing my first year uni self when I watching this show during the peak of pandemic and its lockdown for the very first time. This show brought me joy, and made experience all those emotions time and time again. Made me cry to realize all the hardship that the parents have to go through for the sake of raising their children. It helped gain a better understanding of my own self and with how I perceived my own parents.

18 again serves a life-long educational story. I love how the writers were able to deliver and mesh comedy, romance, slice-of-life, and insight of what people go through. I wasn't even going to write this review. But I realized, my 2020 self and 2019 self, didn't know that mydramalist existed yet. SO I guess, it is time to rewatch all those kdramas that I love again and write them a review that they all deserved.

Back to 18 again, YES PLEASE WATCH THIS. All of the casts executed their roles quite well and give 18 again the love and fame that it deserves!

Until my next rewatching session again.

Love ❤️

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This series was on my watchlist for quite a while, but I watched it because I wanted to watch a body swap series. I am not familiar with the works of Lee Dohyun but after watching this, I wanted to watch more of his dramas. It was interesting to watch this series, having already watched the original American movie and wondered how it would execute as a K-Drama. This story is not only about romance, but reconnection and understanding of family and I liked that the most I found it was more of a heart-warming family drama with a love triangle. Lee Dohyun was great in this series. However I gave this a 9/10 due to the ending, I felt it could have been be a bit more.

I enjoyed Ryeoun's character in this series after seeing Twinkling Watermelon and anticipate his acting in the future. His acting in "18 Again" and "Twinkling Watermelon" are different so I am looking forward to seeing his works in "Weak Hero Class 2".

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Valuable life lessons might not come in the best form

'Regretful youth' seems to be the strong premise behind "18 Again". The drama, which is adapted from the infamous American Movie "17 Again", is a lightly-plotted one filled with struggles, family warmth, worthwhile life lessons, and a bunch of jokes (that came off as either purely funny or, most of the time, being more cringe-worthy). Starting off, it must have been a brain-digging ideas to adapt a 2-hour movie into 16 one hour-long episodes. That's almost tenfold of its length. As a consequence, while giving direct moral lessons, a big chunk of the middle part came off as being filler stories, specifically subplots.

A bit of the plot: The journey follows a regretful 37 year-old Hong Daeyoung (who was about to divorce his wife Jung Dajeong) instantly turning into his 18 year-old self out of the blue. While he's at it, he attended his twin children's school. Other than the school's dynamics, the series also follows Dajeong's journey on becoming an aspiring announcer, a dream she put off while being pregnant with the twins at 18.

First of all, I didn't watch the original movie prior to watching 18 Again as I wanted to learn things thoroughly and not comparing to 17 again. However, things took a whole detour after the first few early episodes and only get back up after the two-thirds of the drama. Yes, it has too many subplots. I claim that the main plots are: Daeyoung as Uyeong, Dajeong's work life, and the twins school life. They were pretty much well-written and relatable although most of the times one of them outshines the others in an unbalance way. Things like Sia and Siu lying to their parents about school life could not be more realistic. The story telling is thorough but they might bring the viewers to gain some subjectivity other than making the viewers having more objective view. However, the gap between those subjectivity might help viewers realize on valuable things that humans have ever regretted before. Some simple things they wished they had done, even as simple as being a good son to their parents.

For the subplots, I found Ye Jihun's family plot to be heartwarming while being too coincidental had it happened in a more realistic approach. Seo Jiho's is an interesting character but it felt like he's gone in the middle for some reason. The geeky-adventure of Deokjin and Ms. Ok is lightly funny but adds nothing to the drama's whole weight. The elevator scandal is good. For the others, I found a lot of them to be unnecessary: Choi Ilgwon's whole story of admission scam and problems, the two random employees in Deokjin's company, Aerin's hateful friend, Si-u's barely-appearing girlfriend, and for the worst: the random stalker. I found the stalker plot to be underwhelmingly executed as they had been teasing it since the very early stages of the drama. The reveal was misleading too plus it adds nothing to the drama. Another thing about the story/writing, I found the tear-jerker scenes to be beautiful (although I'm a hard person to cry), especially Sia's bank scene, 2002 World Cup, and Siu meeting dad. In contrast for the lighter comedic scenes, I found most of the jokes to brings me second-hand embarrassments especially when it comes to Ko Uyeong acting as a dad/wife/friend in an 18 year old form. Some people might find the jokes funny, but those are not for me.

For the characters, they seem to be as what they are designated to be except the ones I have mentioned above. The main characters are amazing and their acting are top notch, especially Lee Dohyun for embodying a middle-aged man. At times, Dajeong might seem too angelic but (i'm not sure why) her character just seem so humane. Also love the twins. I found Jiho's character to be interesting and easy to relate to but most times he isn't present in the drama. Jaseong's character development came off as too instant at times that I was shocked one or two times of him showing a more friendly side. Dajeong's seniors and colleague Yumi's character development also seem a bit too delayed at the end. For the others, I might just say they are what they are shown, with the complaints from the plot still stands.

Other additional elements to the drama actually added some value to the drama. The music might be too repetitive with that one soundtrack but it served its purpose. There's not many special effects but they are necessary and didn't devalue the drama. The settings of places and timing are greatly consistent.

Overall, 18 Again is a nice ride of emotions with great acting, decent storyline, not-for-everyone jokes, and valuable life lessons. However, as just how life goes, those valuable life lessons might not come in the best form.

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Even though it was a copy of the 17 again movies but the series was really impressive, and it was more details than the movie. And I loved the way they presented the same story from a different angle. The character combination was really perfect, and they played their role really well. I literally burst into tears while watching. Even though the story was almost similar but I was a little bit curious about what was going to happen next. They make a perfect end to this series. I was confused that maybe they would mess up with the ending. Nah, they just keep it simple, and I love this thing. You can watch 17 again; also, that's mainly US based. But I have to say 18 again is really a good series. It would be best if you gave me a watch. And I don't want to provide you with any spoilers. You should watch it, and I hope you will love the story; if you have already watched 17 again, you should still watch this one!

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My First Kdrama, i really like it hahahaha

"18 Again" is a captivating Korean drama with a unique storyline. It depicts the story of Jung Da-jung and Hong Dae-young, a couple facing issues in their marriage. However, when Dae-young suddenly transforms into an 18-year-old teenager, everything changes. The synopsis you provided is instrumental in understanding the premise of this drama.

In this drama, important messages about family, accountability, and chasing one's dreams are highlighted. The wise quotes you shared, such as "Love alone is not enough to build a household" and "There's no such thing as being too late to pursue your dreams!" resonate well with these themes.

Lee Do-hyun's portrayal of the teenage Dae-young is commendable, and the character development of his children is intriguing to follow. The smooth storyline makes this drama entertaining, and the visual and production aspects are praiseworthy.

The emotional soundtrack adds depth to the viewing experience, and I agree that this drama imparts valuable life lessons.

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No podía dejar de mirar

Historia

Esta basada en la película "17 otra vez". Que a pesar de que la premisa me gusto, la película no fue tan así. Está historia que tuvo más tiempo para elaborarse, ya que es una serie y no una película. Estuvo asombrosa, me gusto que tenga escenas que sea tal cual la película, me gusto como estaba desarrollada y como estuvo contada,no me pareció aburrida ni por un segundo. Reí, llore. La ame.


Actuación/elenco
Los actores todos increíbles. Desde los prota, a los secundarios. El prota me pareció genial, ya quiero verlo en otro drama, a ver qué tal.

Musica
Ame todos los temas. Más el de "hello" cada vez que lo escuchaba la escena me hacía sentir más cosas. Y es genial cuando es así y que sepan usar la música en el momento justo y correcto. (La puedo escuchar una y otra vez)

Valor de repetición
Recomendada. Mírala cuántas veces tu corazón lo requiera.

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100% Recommend, this series was phenomenal!!

Everything about this series was beyond amazing! The acting, music, editing, and special effects all of it was done so perfectly! Especially the editing, they did such a phenomenal job with the transitions from young to old! I loved the original movie, but this series was leagues better and I already want to watch it again. Though I had to buy a copy off ebay to see it with english subs, it was 100% worth it!
The only thing that brought down my rating a little, and only a very small amount, is two things.
First, Ji Hoon grew on me but it did start to get on my nerves how much screen time they were devoting to a couple who wasnt going to be endgame anyways. By the end of the series I felt so bad for him that his feelings weren't reciprocated 🥺 Second reason is, I feel like the kids should have been told. I get that it may have been awkward and they may have gotten angry, but they deserved to know. Especially Siwoo who was extremely close to Woo Young. I get he made the excuse of going back to the states, but in this age with cell phones that wouldn't explain no contact. Can you imagine how heartbreaking that would be for Siwoo. With Woo Young being his first and best friend, to all of a sudden not ever being able to talk to him again, with no real explanation.. He wouldnt understand and would probably think he did something wrong. I know he became friends with the basketball team, but I dont think that would've been the same as his friendship with Woo Young.

Overall as I said, this series was beyond amazing! Its a 9.5/10 for me!

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