Douăzeci și Cinci, Douăzeci și Unu (2022)

El real coming of age de los dramas coreanos

[Escrito el 20 de junio del 2022, al terminar la serie]

Esta serie me rompió el corazón y al mismo tiempo me lo curó, y así fue muchas veces mientras la veía.

La producción, las actuaciones, la trama, la música, la fotografía. Todo en 2521 es demasiado bueno.

Amé como fueron desarrollando a cada personaje, así como la importancia que le dieron al concepto de la amistad. Es tan genial poder disfrutar de producciones que se encargan de crear personajes femeninas tan empoderadas y valientes, mientras que desarrollan personajes masculinos que abordan su fragilidad y no teman mostrar sus emociones.

En esta serie está tan bien desarrollada la trama que a veces me daba rabia porque, bajo x situación, comprendía los puntos de vista de cada personaje involucrado y era frustrante.

El final me pareció bastante acertado, duele, pero lo puedes comprender porque son situaciones que suceden en la vida real.

Capítulo con el que más lloré: 14.

Pd: igual no me hubiese molestado que el Heedo x Yurim hubiese sido canon.
Pd2: el dolor post 2521 fue demasiado real.

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Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a story about going after your dreams, friendship, love and growing up. Na Hee Do dreams of becoming a professional fencer to rival her idol, Ko Yu Rim. The slightly older Baek Yi Jin has no dreams left and is just struggling to survive. As he supports Hee Do with her fencing ambitions, he’s slowly inspired to go after something better himself.

I loved this so much. I loved the 90s setting, the fencing, the characters and their relationships. The relationship between Hee Do and Yi Jin is so lovely. They really lean on and bring out the best in each other. The relationship between them did feel a little strange when she was still in high school, but it became more natural after she graduated. The relationships between Hee Do and Yu Rim and Yu Rim and Moon Ji Woong are precious as well. At first Yu Rim is antagonistic towards Hee Do, but later on they develop a great friendship. They get each other really well and the way they later unconditionally support each other is gold.

The story builds fairly consistently, with some gutting twists in the second half. The ending is bittersweet and realistic. The last two episodes were way too drawn out though. While they had some very beautiful tearjerking moments, things became too overdramatic and I found myself checking multiple times how much longer they’d take.

All of the actors did amazing. Kim Tae Ri was very loveable and relatable as Na Hee Do. In the beginning I thought her character was kind of obnoxious, but Kim Tae Ri completely won me over with her sincerity. Nam Joo Hyuk, what can I say, just amazing. Baek Yi Jin had the biggest character arc and Nam Joo Hyuk portrayed every step of the journey wonderfully. Bona was great as Ko Yu Rim too, at times so sweet and fragile and at others cruel and cold. I could go on and on.

The one thing I didn’t love about this drama is how the story is framed in the present day. The long present day intro of the first episode almost made me drop it completely. It didn’t add anything, then or later. As a viewer I just found it jarring to be pulled out of the glorious 90s storyline and to be confronted with the Covid nightmare and Hee Do’s annoying daughter. The feeling of nostalgia and the message that youth and the good times etc. are temporary could just as well have been limited to the last episode.

If any of the other things mentioned above speak to you, I would absolutely recommend giving this drama a try.

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Storia di amicizia e primo amore!

Fin dal inizio mi aspettavo una storia d'amore e così è ma è molto di più.La storia racconta più l'amicizia quella vera e innocente pronta ad affrontare tutto e superare ogni avversità.Racconta la vita dietro uno sport come la scherma,i sacrifici,le gioie e i dolori che provano gli atleti.Le due schermartici si odia e si amano e lottano per raggiungere i loro obiettivi.
Poi c'è la storia d'amore che ci mette tanto a nascere nel vero senso e comunque non lo trovata proprio come storia principale.Lei e piccola lui un po' più grande ma la vita l'ha fatto diventare presto adulto,lei è sola con una mamma assente e lui pure tutto solo con la famiglia separata.Si conoscono ,si sostengono prima come amici e poi come coppia ma l'amore non basta quando si allontanano.La loro storia la racconta i diari di lei letti dalla figlia.Sono belli insieme e gli attori sono stati bravissimi.
C'è anche una storia d'amore secondaria molto dolce che avrà un bel happy ending e che ho adorato.
Un drama molto nostalgico che farà sicuramente ricordare a tutti qualche estate di quando si era giovani e ci ha segnati in qualche modo.
Drama commovente e motivante,una piacevole visione.

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nostalgic, funny and emotional

I finished Twenty Five Twenty One in March, but totally forgot to write a review. However, I'm watching the K-drama again because my parents are watching it (I recommended it) so I remembered to write my review.

To start, the story is magnificent, I've never felt so comfortable watching a drama. Even though the ending bothered me, the story itself is very refreshing. The characters are well-built, to the point that I loved them all. Even Ko Yu-rim, who I swore I wouldn't like even if she turned to be a good person, lol look at me now? I love her.

The actors are amazing, they played their roles with magnificence. I really enjoyed getting to know Nam Joo-hyuk (Baek Yi-jin) and Kim Tae-ri (Na Hee-Do). They are so funny together, they made a great duo (and couple, but too bad they didn't ended up together haha 😭😭😭).
Choi Hyun-wook, whom I already knew, had a cool role, but I think his character (Moon Ji-ung) didn't get enough screen time... or a bigger impact. Lee Joo-myung (Ji Seung-wang) had a big impact until the middle of the K-drama, but right after the case with the professor, she was pushed aside (in my opinion).

Ending the review about the story, I hated the fact that they didn't show how each one (except Na Hee-do) from the quintet ended up after the years passed. I was really looking forward to find out how they were years later and who Na Hee-do married, but we were left with a question mark, since they didn't show it. (I don't know why, for me there's no reason 🥺)


Now, the OST and soundtrack. Wow. Flawless, wonderful, incredible. I've never loved the soundtrack of a K-drama so much to the point that I saved the playlist on my Spotify.

To conclude, I really wish everyone who watches K-dramas would give Twenty Five Twenty One a chance. It took me 2 years to watch it and I regret taking so long. Watch it, it's really good and emotional

*Plus, an extra

this phrase made me CRYYYY MY EYES OUUUUT I PROMISE

"That's my definition of our relationship. Also known as a rainbow. Wait, you said it wasn't a rainbow. You still haven't said what it was if not a rainbow."
"Love. It's love. I love you, Hee-do. I don't need a rainbow."

DAAAAAAAMN BAEK YI-JIN MARRY MEEEEEEEE😭

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Must watch!

This is one of the best slice of life drama. I saw that many people complain about the ending but according to me it was a good one. Don't avoid watching this drama just because you don't get the ending that you wanted because this drama has a lot of life lessons. This has become one of my comfort drama. If you are planning to watch and you are unsure whether to watch it or not then I would ask you to watch till episode 3. If you didn't like it then maybe this is not the genre you are looking for. Anyways I'm gonna rewatch it again when I need some comfort or motivation.

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Sometimes life gets in the way, and there's nothing you can do but keep living.

Oh i loved this drama SO much, it has definitely become my favorite show EVER. There’s so much to say I think I would have been able to analyze every single episode individually and still write several paragraphs for each one.

This drama is a celebration of friendship, of love, of passion, of trying your best… and its SO well done I don't think I have a single bad thing to say about it. I was completely hooked from the very first episode and it's completely amazing from beginning to end. If I could only ever recommend one show to everyone I’m pretty sure this one would take the win I mean everyone NEEDS to watch it idcc. And I have to admit, when I realized it was set (for the most part) in the 90s I thought I wasn’t gonna be a fan for some stupid reason but the cinematography HELLO???? Oh my god it was so good. AND THE MUSIC… Oh the music. Such a great OST. Same goes for the fact that it’s so centered around fencing, which I knew nothing about nor was interested in learning about; I thought that would make it harder for me to get into the show, but I was proved wrong really fast.

This drama also has what I think is the best written romance I personally have ever seen in a drama (probably in any show I’ve ever watched) like oh my god Heedo and Yijin… my heart hurts for them. They loved each other SO MUCH and they never stopped loving each other but life got in their way and tbh I will never forgive life for that. Their story i just so… I don’t even have the words to explain man, you just have to watch it idk. The way they were always there for each other even if they weren’t physically together for literal months living on voicemails like… god. And the way that just hearing each other’s voices and words of encouragement helped them to keep fighting and never give up was so endearing. I feel like I could write and entire book on this two. BUT ALSO Yurim’s and Jiwoong’s relationship was so freaking sweet I’m so happy that Jiwoong didn’t let Yurim just give up on them and that I got to see them together until the very end, I loved them so so so much. AND THE WAY HE PROPOSED it was so cute.

Heedo’s character… woah. Literally woah. She’s so strong and amazing and she was clueless and childish and just a fool a lot of the time too but that only made her all the more endearing and admirable idk. Her decision and perseverance woah… She tried so hard and she went after her dreams no matter what and she made it and idec that she’s fictional you can’t help but be proud of her.

Literally every character in this drama is freaking amazing. I am not gonna stop and write about each one cause this is getting long enough already but i just LOVED them so much. Them as a friend group just <333 absolutely loved the found family trope in there. There were so many iconic moments like the beach outfits??? I was obsessed they looked SO cool and the amount of fun they had there… woah. AND THE TUNNEL oh my god the edits about the tunnel that I’ve seen on tiktok I want to bawl my eyes out. I am going to miss them so much, seriously.

I don’t know, everything about this drama was just beyond perfect, I smiled like a fool during many of the episodes, every episode I watched felt like the best one so far (now that I’ve really finished the show though, I think the beach one has to be my absolute favorite ep) and even tough there were sad moments it just made me so happy to see everyone overcome difficulties and do their best at life. And it’s the way that I wanted to just go ahead and start rewatching it when I had just finished it… I am going to miss it so much. However, I don’t think a season 2 would do it for me, I don’t know, I get why some people would be disappointed, but I think the ending was perfect as it was.

Overall a 10/10, I highly recommend watching.

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A Girl's Journey

I completed this drama one week ago.

I wanna write the review after the watch , but I think I don't love it enough it to write one immediately.
With my personal rating , it should be rated 8.5/10.
But because it is so good , I wanna rate it higher than this.

If I have to talk about 25-21 , I wanna divide Heroine's story into two parts
1. HeeDo's Coming of Age Journey ( Her personal life)
2. Her love story.

1. The Coming of Age Part is so well done.
I am Not the one who cry easily while watching media. ( except for the ones with animals)

But , Here there is one particular story arc ( Her first Gold medal) that really made me feel her sadness & frustration. I cried with her.

HeeDo's passion about Fencing , all of that was realistic as I had been transported back to the past & saw this passionate gold medalist .

Also, her friendship with Go Yurim is one of the best I have seen among millions of Asian Dramas.

2. Before I watched the drama, I had known the ending already.
May be that's the reason why I might subconsciously try not to care about the love story too much.

(I don't know how should I say this but I will try.)

✨If you consider & watch this as a drama, you will feel like they could do this much better.

There are a million ways to make the happy ending.
If you couldn't ,either wrote the Story of Adult HeeDo better or gave a stronger reason for their breakup.
In this way, we feel less bitter about that ending.

✨But if you are immersed in this story as the real life, the ending is not that bad.

It is understandable that they couldn't be together anymore because they had different life goals.
HeeDo tried but neither of them could make a big sacrifice to meet in the middle .
( HeeDo wanted to continue her life as an international fencer , Baek YJ with his life as a report er in potential war zone )

Some will say 'They loved each other too much.Couldn't they wait?'
May be. But at that time, they didn't know how long the wait would be .
If you were them, would you take the risk with 'The Wait'.

Apart from the Heroine's story, all of the side stories of secondary characters are interesting too.


I would recommend 25-21 to anyone who wanna watch a feel good coming of age Story .

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One of the best dramas I have watched and trust me I am very picky with the shows I like

I just lovedddd this drama. I was putting this off for so long bc its not my genre and i already know the ending and i hate spoilers it always ruins the watching experience for me.
But i finally decided to watch it yesterday bc i was v bored. And I totally binge watched all 16. episodes.

It was a simple story but the way it unfolds was beautiful. I love the fact that the first few episodes was solely dedicated to get to know the main lead and her goals. Really helped me empathize and connect with her emotionally, everytime she accomplished something and the go! ost by dk plays it felt like my personal achievement and gave me a huge adrenaline boost lol . Of course Kim tae ri did an amazing job as always.

Usually in dramas with this genre there are alot of filler episodes and I will lose interest around the 12th episode. But this drama got me hooked till the very end,

One of the best and heartwarming but at the same time it was heartbreaking. Despite knowing the ending beforehand I couldn't stop crying.

I personally liked the ending. I think na hee do deserves better. Yes yi jin is a sweetheart and loved hee do dearly. But I empathize with hee do, throughout her childhood she has always been the second choice, she kept getting ditched by her mom even in some of the most important moments of her life bc of her job and she was always expected to be understanding and adjust. It is not fair that she is expected to adjust that way in her adult relationship as well. She deserves someone who can be actively present in her life as a strong emotional support and fill the void of loneliness in her heart.


It was a realistic but bittersweet ending (But a part of my unrealistic petty ass still hopes that her husband died or something and those two kind of reunites in the end like in how i met your mother lol)

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Youth, passion and growing pains

This drama is the epitome of youth, passion and growing pains.

I’m not much for watching coming of age stories but this one got me good. Right now as I’m writing this I’m still picking up the pieces of my broken heart caused by that heart wrenching end. No kidding I was a sobbing mess.

Honestly I haven’t cried this much watching a drama before (like I’ve cried before but not like this, I was gasping for air?!). I was like Jesus can you please stop I want to stop crying!! I could not stop sobbing throughout the last episode so much so that I kept thinking I couldn’t cry anymore because I didn’t have any tears left and then BAM! the waterworks started again.
And you know what? I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The lesson that this drama and the writers set out to teach was that sometimes love is not enough.

And in this case it didn’t matter how stupid in love they were with each other if they couldn’t overcome their problems. In some ways it felt to me like they loved each other too much. So much so that it ended up being their demise. She loved him too much to be selfish and ask him to be there for them and he loved her too much to share his burden with her because he didn’t want to taint her or drag her down.

Ultimately what killed me the most was that *we don’t know whatever happened with Baek Yi Jin?!?!* Did HE get married? Did he stay single pinning for the love that never was? Had any children??? Does he regret anything???!! I know that the story is Na Hee Do’s but STILL how could they leave him out and only put him in that ending? Scene??? Though it was ironically sad how the name of the person you THOUGHT you would have by your side, love forever and grow old with becomes but the answer of a security question. 21st century sadness.

The cast did a terrific job. Everyone say thank you to Nam
Joo Hyuk for making Baek YiJin what he was. I saw an interview were him and Kim Taeri where they said that YiJin in the script was totally different to JooHyuk’s YiJin. Apparently Yijin was cold and distant and then JooHyuk said let’s make him warm and cutely dorky/weird. I’ll love you forever for that Nam Joo Hyuk. Taeri WAS Na Hee Do no more needed. And the rest of the cast was great too their chemistry was good.

The ost was top notch, the cinematography excellent, the nostalgia on point and it even got me excited for FENCING -didn’t see that one on my bingo card-. Tough tbh I was low key salty about the other couple making it through

At the end of the day Twenty-five twenty-one can be summarized with two words: first love. And, sadly, the undeniable truth is that we usually learn a lot from it before it reaches its final destined day for it’s seldom made to last. Because first love is as fleeting as youth.

Ps: now I’m going to sleep because my eyes and my head HURT from all the crying! I have half a mind to sue the writers for causing me distress and irreparable emotional damage. So excuse any grammatical or spelling mistake.

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