Douăzeci și Cinci, Douăzeci și Unu (2022)

heart and inspiration

“The things I have can’t be lost. Such as my dream, and my aspiration.”

Na Hee-do says, as she throws the flower to the sky and walks past something that the adults can worry about. Little does she know, that she will walk us through sixteen episodes and five years of growth, friendships, pursuing her dream, love, and memories of her unblemished transition from child to adult. I went into Twenty-Five Twenty-One practically blind, and did not expect them to take Hee-do and Yi-jin through so much of these photographed and diaried moments that, as adult Hee-do says, are brief but are what makes a long life shine. Last October I experienced My Mister, the only other work of television that has rent my heart in two full quaking pieces, and one that also highlighted the strength and purity of relationship that two people facing uncertain points in their lives could bring to one another. I had seen many Korean movies, so was very well familiar with how Korean screen work elevates human emotion, but more importantly, how with the nation’s cultural backdrop places an emphasis on the past, and remembering the sad events that have contributed to their present backbone. What I was not prepared for was first, unlike most of those movies, and second, unlike all of the previous Korean dramas I had seen and sampled, how realistic it handled the characters’ circumstances, interactions, and emotional moments. It seems to me, as it likely does by now to many others, that Korea manages to get at our emotional cores more fitfully, perfectly, than anyone else; and so My Mister not only brought me weeping for its characters’ sadnesses, but in its journey uplifted them, and through them, myself as the viewer who could only bear witness. As with My Mister, I came in a fan already of one of the main leads (IU), here with Kim Tae-ri. She is—to put it in as true a way as possible—breathtaking. The first few episodes alone were me trying to get over the fact that at age 31, she had played an 18-year-old, but as I couldn’t stop watching her smile so purely, laugh with her youth, and upend drinking fountains I fell completely into her character and as Hee-do grew older, I was only watching Hee-do, and sixteen episodes later, I am not watching Hee-do anymore. Her roles in Little Forest and The Handmaiden well displayed the lightness of the persona she brought to the scene. Imagine that but as light itself has a source, that source is Twenty-Five Twenty-One. While I have yet to see her completely in Mr. Sunshine, I have no doubt that just as Leonardo DiCaprio perhaps found his crystallization in The Wolf of Wall Street, Kim Tae-ri has done so here, in portraying a character in the best and sweetest spirit that she can be. Even if you have no idea who she is, that doesn’t matter; for like Baek Yi-jin, you too will be inspired, and find resolution to keep walking forward, in merely watching her. Having seen my good share of Japan’s shounen protagonists, who equip us with amazing dreams and work towards them in motivational (but hard to follow) arcs, as again the present day Hee-do says, progress takes place in steps, and witnessing Na Hee-do keep at attaque. touche. point. or without, because she loves fencing, and never gives up, gives me motivation like I have never felt before. Just as Baek Yi-jin tells Hee-do, in her presence he can stand on top of the world, he can do anything, after a number of episodes and during, I said aloud or thought to myself, I feel like I can do anything. I had been somebody who, for the past six years, have sought out in fiction those stories that I not only adore, but that can keep me going as stories, which has often been a tenuous mountain. For they are only stories, and when watching or reading these characters whom I love, I am not really living in the real world. I can go to bed at night thinking about how the episode or chapter ended, and have to wake up the next day facing real problems of my own. And I am going to have to do that tomorrow, besides which carrying a heart both empty and boundlessly inspired after Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin’s moments. But I feel like—for the first time, truly—I can do that for real. This Korean drama is transcendent. Not only did it take me through, unlike My Mister, five years practically in full, but even beyond its presiding song of love, the purest kind there is, in all its ways—but its most important theme, that of cherishing, remembering, and coming to where you are today because of moments in the past. These moments don’t go on forever. But they did happen, and you can cherish them in the moment, remember them later, and continue to live. Continue to love.

Now I have just the rest of my life ahead of me—and I feel like I can do it.

Citeste mai mult

Pure and real love

For me the ultimate romance/sad drama ever.
The acting is so good, and the characters fit the actor like a snug globe.

I also like that is about a type of love that no one talk about, that love when you don't need or demand anything from the other person, when you just love.
There really no words to express how much I love this drama, for me is in a different level just because is makes you feel something so pretty.

Kim Tae Ri and Nam Joo-Hyuk are such amazing actors, that it doesn't feel like a drama or like a super production, instead it feels real, as the series develop you fall in love with them in a wonderful way.

Plis wacht it

Citeste mai mult

Can love stand it all?

It was one of the series that made me think a lot about the end of my adolescence and the beginning of my youth, my expectations for the future and my dreams.
I think anyone who is already in their 20s may even realize that history connects very strongly to our lives.
And not just in love, in everything.
Our friendships are different from the ones we had in elementary school, in high school, in college...
Life is an eternal farewell and an eternal encounter (of new people) (and reunions)
We let people go, and we accept new people into our lives.
I think the main lesson of Dorama is to remember with affection each stage lived, and that moment that yesterday is difficult, tomorrow will become a brief, or beautiful memory.

Citeste mai mult

Made me cry my eyeballs out but would do it again cause its bloody good

Firstly this drama is so freaking amazing ???
The way the rs grew between the 2 main leads was so pure, adorable and beautiful. I invested my heart and soul into their rs. They supported each other and became a pillar of strength to each other. It was so cute i cried every episode(im not very mentally ok as you can tell)
The bg music was very well picked cause it made me cry harder during the sad scenes like it really broke me down yk ???? (give the sound director a raise tbh)
The entire cast was so adorable and they are really good at their jobs. i was straight up convinced kim tae ri was 18. There isnt much to say except they did an amazing job

Overall, The drama was really beautiful and such a pleasure to watch except the last 2 eps when they showed the downfall of the main rs. I cried for 3 days straight and no longer believe in love. However i would still totally rewatch and go through the pain again cause its really worth it ?????? yall should watch it but prepare urself

Citeste mai mult

A story about coming of age and the relationships that will shape you

I finished this almost a month ago and I still think about some scenes. This story is more than just a youth drama about romance, it is a story about life.

This is going onto my list of GOATs. One of the best shows I've ever watched (ignoring episodes 14-16 lol), this has the nostalgia of Our Beloved Summer and the spirit of Haikyuu in the best way.

It's a story about an unforgettable summer of youth - coming-of-age, looking forward and moving forward, with the deep camaraderie and friendships/relationships that will shape who you are as a person in the years to come.

I loved every single relationship and moment, so full of joy and nostalgia and warmth. I could write essays about Na Heedo and Bek Yijin's relationship. The ending was controversial yes, but their relationship moved me so much. It's my happy place. Regardless of how it turns out, the fact that they had such a relationship is what mattered the most.

Kim Tae-ri and Nam Joo-hyuk shone in their respective roles, especially Kim Tae-ri. It's worth watching just for her alone.

(Can't believe I found f/f kagehina in Ko Yurim and Na Heedo's relationship ?)

Citeste mai mult

the ending?

would’ve been a 10/10 if it weren’t for the ending. it was rushed, the characters were acting out of character, and the message the writer was going for was poorly executed. eps 1-14 were literally perfect, but then the finale undid so much of it. first of all, the ending made the present-day storyline pointless. what was the point of having it if minchae was yijin’s daughter and we wouldn’t get to see present-day yijin and heedo meet again? second of all, why give everyone else but baekdo a happy ending with a nice little bow on top??? that’s just unfair. third of all, why does heedo not even seem over yijin twenty years later? her atelier is named 2521, her reaction to her mom meeting yijin, and the fact that she talks like the life has been sucked out of her at times??? also the joke about how breaking off an engagement is easier than getting a divorce that she makes WHEN SHE’S A NEWLYWED??? does she just hate her husband???

anyways, i don’t care what anyone says, the ending completely ruined the story. the only reason my rating for it is still on the higher end is because most of it was amazing, it’s just that the ending undid all that hard work. i will say that the acting in is absolutely impeccable, especially kim taeri and nam joohyuk. their chemistry was so good, i hope they work together again some day.

Citeste mai mult

GREAT START AWKWARD ENDING

Like many of the people reviewing this drama, i am really not bashing this drama but total opposite I am praising this drama just disappointed with the ending. Don't get me wrong i am not one of those people that necessarily needs a (leads end up together) type of happy ending. I understand what this drama was mainly about. This drama is basically about the two main leads having and relying on each other at a time of their life where they needed each the most. Without each other who knows if they would have been able to accomplish and get out of that slump that they found themselves in at that point in time. For me as a previous post mentioned is that they did not show if they at least remained friends. For me is just hard to explain how the deep love they felt at least on the side of Na Hee Do she was able to marry and have a child with who seems to be the same reasons she and Beak Yi Jin broke up. Never do they show her current husband who apparently is to busy to be around it doesn't make sense how she would end up with someone she always said she would neve be with ergo the reason they broke up.

Citeste mai mult

I laughed my heart out and bawled my eyes out too!!!

This drama is so so good. I cannot even explain how much attached i had grown to it. This drama made me laugh out loud at so many instances and in the end made me cry for almost half an hour. This was so fresh. This is by far the best age of coming series. The acting was sooo sooo good. I fell in love with hee do's character, and each and every actor played theit roles very well. This drama was so so good. I just completed watching it and i binge watched it. It feels like i was with them in their journey too ,the drama feels just so much real, even though hee do and you Jin didn't end up together i don't hate the writers,, even the heartbreak was so well written and the build up was so so so much amazing which is why i ended up crying so much in the end as if I was having a heartbreak. This series will always have a very special place in my heart. Everyone needs to watch this series right now.

Citeste mai mult

Eu fui feliz enquanto estava com vocês. Mesmo que nada dure para sempre, mas isso aqui vai.

Eu não achei que twenty five twenty one iria se tornar tão importante pra mim? No começo que eu disse que amei, achei que seria mais um drama que iria me fazer feliz, eu ia amar e pronto. Mas ele tomou proporções inexplicáveis. Eu me apaixonei por tudo (calma que eu voltei a chorar de novo e não tô enxergando nada). Eu me apaixonei pelo joo hyuk e queria que o baek yi Jin fosse meu primeiro amor e acabei escolhendo ele pra ser no meu coração. A hee do me fazia ter fé e otimismo, me fazia querer ser feliz e aproveitar os momentos. A Yu rim me fez querer ir atrás dos sonhos e ajudar minha família e suportar o que vinher. O ji woong me fez enxergar com a visão da juventude e como se tudo fosse fácil de lidar (espero que mesmo aos 29 como ele estava eu continue enxergando assim). A seung Wan me fez me ver nela, o quão é difícil ter que lidar com tudo e ainda assim ter tantas responsabilidades depois. Ela não gostava e enfrentava mesmo assim, uma personagem que amei. E uma das coisas mais linda é a química, amor e o brilho nos olhos da hee do e baek yi Jin. E vai ficar pra sempre guardado na minha memória.
Tem um momento na vida da gente que vai ser 100% perfeito e depois tudo vai desmoronar e a gente não vai saber como lidar, com o que vai ficar e o que vai embora. Eu fui muito feliz durante um tempo e pra mim hoje em dia não sou mais, acho que o tempo de crescer e saber que nada dura pra sempre chegou muito cedo, a 4 anos atrás. E hoje com meus quase 20 eu não consigo aceitar isso sabe? Eu quero continuar jovem e com a energia que eu sempre tive. Mas eu tanto me recuso que provavelmente eu não consigo me sentir feliz de novo.
Twenty five twenty one eu fui tão feliz com vocês por esse período. Eu ria, me emocionava e aprendi tanto! Obrigada por tudo. Obrigada por me fazer amarem vocês.
Eu espero que eu possar fazer desse meu tempo jovem um momento para não esquecer e que eu faça querer que dure para sempre.
Eu não tenho nenhum defeito para falar do drama (talvez), a história, todo o enredo, os personagens, a OST, a cenografia, tudo que aconteceu naquela mesma época. Foi tudo tão impecável e lindo, a maneira como eles cresceram e se tornaram essas pessoas maravilhosas. A maneira que vimos a história na medida que a min chae filha da hee do também via era tão lindo, pra ela entender que desistir de uma coisa que gostava sabe? Que poderia continuar persistindo e quantas lições isso iria trazer pra ela. A atriz arrasou, foi maravilhosa. E no final mais emocionante ainda ela dizendo que ia escrever a própria história agora. (poderiam fazer a história dela mais pra frente tipo um spin off mas não quero sofrer mais não e dorama é diferente dessas séries americanas, se fosse um livro até que seria bom...)
Eu só tô tão triste, porque queria eles juntos numa última cena final, eu queria TANTO o baek yi Jin e a hee do juntos, acho que isso é minha maior tristeza.
Mas eles foram o primeiro amor um do outro e talvez isso tenha sido suficiente (não pra mim). Eu queria tanto eles juntos. Eu só queria isso. Mas eu amei passar cada momento feliz com vocês. Eu amei tudo isso. E na minha cabeça vou fazer uma fic que vocês estão juntos sim como eu tanto tinha dito na minha teoria.
Obrigada por fazer meus últimos meses com 19 serem tão felizes (e um tiquinho triste) É isso o que tenho a dizer pra vocês.
Adeus, baek yi Jin, na hee do, seung Wan, ko yu rim, ji woong. ?

ps.: Eu esqueci de falar que eu quero fazer Jornalismo e eu sei que nessa área você pode fazer várias coisas mas e se eu seguir pra Repórter? Eu fiquei com receio de realmente não ter tempo pras pessoas que amo (e eu nem entrei no curso ainda e nem deveria estar pensando nisso) mas também vendo o baek yi Jin me deu a certeza de que é uma coisa que eu quero fazer sabe?
Eu esqueci do óbvio, o amor da Hee do e do baek yi Jin é uma das coisas mais linda que já vi e experimentei, eles crescendo juntos foi tão lindo, eu ficava tão extasiada. E de uma coisa um comentário que vi tá certo, o amor mais lindo e profundo que era o deles não deu certo mas o da yu rim na Rússia e do ji woong na Coreia deu? O irmão dele voltou e disse que tava esperando pela seung Wan? Enfim a tristeza
E o fato da gente não saber quem é o pai da min chae que era tão importante!
E que era sim pra ele aparecer no presente pelo menos? E todo o resto sabe? que tristeza
e não me saí da cabeça a mãe dela perguntando se ela tem visto ele! Só me deu esperança do reencontro. Acabou que eu gostei mais ou menos do final, ele foi decepcionante, tem a questão das expectativas também.

Citeste mai mult

“I’ve missed you. But I saw you because you showed yourself to me.”

Originally written on Oct 31, 2022

Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a traditional, sappy K-Drama combined with a live-action sports anime. While I know that sounds weird, it’ll make sense once you’ve seen it. I won’t dive too deep into the story, because Twenty-Five Twenty-One is at its best when you go in as blind as possible, but what I thought to be a lighthearted romcom quickly turned me into a broken mess. I’ve seen enough K-Dramas by this point to know what to expect, yet they still get me.

I’ve liked Kim Tae-ri ever since I saw her in Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, so I went into Twenty-Five Twenty-One thinking her Na Hee-do would be my favourite character of the show, but I have to say I really enjoyed WJSN’s Bona as Ko Yu-rim as well. Seeing her character grow and finding out what blocked her from doing so for the longest time really resonated with me and turned her from someone I actively disliked at the start into a standout character. The rest of the cast, consisting of many great characters and friends to Hee-do, is very likeable as well.

Something I liked less, however, was how slowly the romances developed. Twenty-Five Twenty-One falls into the same trap as many other K-Dramas in that characters rarely say what they really want to say to each other, thereby dragging out character development and the beginning of their relationship(s) for as long as possible. Which, in the case of Twenty-Five Twenty-One, results in people getting into a relationship at the worst possible moments, resulting in frustration and more heartache than I could have imagined at the start of the show. It’s very effective, but it could’ve been paced a little better.

If the shoelace scene doesn’t wreck you after spending so many in-story years with these characters, I’m convinced you don’t have a heart. It is without a doubt one of the most precious moments I’ve seen so far in a K-Drama.

Citeste mai mult

''From a time when love and friendship were the most important things in life''.

When the female lead said that it really made me stop and think for some time, because I myself think I am still in that time in my life. But as someone who also had a first love that didn't work out, but still, that person is someone who ''means so much to me'' as the main couple in Twenty- five Twenty-one feel about each other... The series was amazing, and their love made my heart race many times, but I think it talks about a lot of inconvenient truths about love and hardwork. The results of effort grow in stairs and one shouldn't despair and give up if they are stuck, if they like what they do, rather than like being congratuled about the good results of their hardwork. Besides that, it says that love changes, life is made of choices and people are imperfect. Na Hee Doo couldn't do another relantioships in which one person is sorry all the time and the other is always waiting. Some people called that ''imperfect writing'' about her characther, but I don't agree with that. I thought it was very good writing. I have a very similar feeling about the end of romantic relantioships in ghibli movies: the main couple doesn't end together, but still the pain and happiness are feelings very precious. That's when you know you loved hard. In the end, Na Hee Doo said it best: There're very few things in this life we can do exactly in the way that we want.

Citeste mai mult