If you're above a certain age (I mean, old enough to be mature about sex, and understand enough about love and growing up), this drama is a must-watch.
Whether you are or aren't into it, this really isn't a school drama (Look for the School kdrama series for that one lol). It deals with growing up, in a nutshell.
The director skillfully portrayed relationships: romantic, familial, friendships, and the complications that play into it when these relationships get in the way of others, or start blurring. It's about heartache, pangs, frustration, anger, and everything that usually enters the picture when it comes to teenagehood.
This drama does in fact keep you anticipating, and reveals information little by little through its format of switching between the past and the present. There are many spoilers, so keep watch for the spoiler tags and don't read the spoilers if you seriously want the full experience.
I loved the job that the actors did. I've never seen anything else in which they were principle actors, but they were such naturals in their roles. Jung Eun-ji played Sung Si-Won and was so natural and relatable and did not try to overdo anything. She was not a delicate flower that needed a man by her side all the time, nor was she fake. Her maturation was well-portrayed and understandable, her emotions raw and believable, and her positivity was contagious. Seo In-Guk played Yoon Yoon-jae, and he basically embodied and defined our inwardly emotional and struggling male lead that has been used in so many dramas and has found few truly capable of the it, and he brought his own twist into it as he portrayed a boy - every schoolgirl's cold but popular crush, and a little in-love, but at the same time awkward and young and naive. Can I live in Busan please?
Our side characters did a great job as well - notably Hoya (from INFINITE), who did such a good, believable and mature job of playing his role as someone with a secret he can't tell the person to whom it matters the most. Beyond this is a spoiler. And the addition of Sechkies leader Eun Ji-Won was plainly hilarious as there is a focus on our two female cast members' favorite bands - H.O.T. and Sechkies throughout the majority of the drama. As someone who deals with my own love for fandoms, I totally related to this fact and enjoyed the ensuing humor from the over-dramatization of fanwars.
The romance: amazing. The characters stuck in our strange love triangle had great chemistry and the romantic scenes were truly romantic - hilarious at times, make you blush at other times. And there's a special magic that surrounds the idea of a first-love - almost like a rite of growing up of heartbreak and confusion and butterflies. I think the true charm of the drama was its simplicity. The way in which our characters were portrayed was raw, genuine, earnest, and simple. There is no simple answer to love, whichever form it comes in, and that's the magic that this show shows so well. We truly feel for the characters as an audience, cheering on kisses, crying at heartbreak, anticipating reactions. Simple and sweet. Makes me melt.
The great thing about the side romance plots in the drama is that they are all sweet, heartwarming, believable, and make us love and understand all the characters. This is not true of side-character romances in most cases, and it does not detract from the main story, but feeds to the development of the characters, and the way they handle their relationships with each other.
One of the main themes in the drama is that of maturation, which hits everyone at some point, and it involves moving out of childhood fantasy. And it's a little sad to watch, but a real truth that we will all feel while growing up. It's the kind of thing that you remember suddenly when something sparks a memory in your mind of a time more innocent and genuine, which gives you an insight into who you are. Perhaps that is why the drama is aptly named to ask for a reply from that age of innocence. And growing up, moving beyond that time, it is inevitable, but was still beautiful to experience for our principle characters.
In addition to being a coming-of-age and romance drama, the director did a great job instilling a sense of nostalgia that even I, someone who has never experienced the 90's, especially not through South Korean culture, could relate. If you truly want to immerse yourself in understanding every joke and reference (such as the identity of one of the principle actors), read the entries and try to look up the references on the Special Appearances category of the cast or Google anything suspiciously sounding like an inside joke for 90's teens, because it probably is.
This drama will not have any fantastical elements, nor any ridiculous unlikely happenings that would render it an unbelievable mess. If you are into a classic sexy cool hunk falling for a delicate princess of beauty and envy, this drama may not be for you. If you are not into realness either (which is understandable), then this drama won't satisfy that for you. This one is meant to hit the feels, make you think, make you cry a little, smile a lot.
Often low-budget translates to low-quality, but this drama is not particularly special in its production. Its story is worth watching, its characters worth falling for and relating to, its plot tied together well. That is what makes Reply 1997 one of my favorite dramas of all time. Watch it. 10/10 in my eyes.
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| Awesome cast, awesome actors, good fit for their respective roles |
The director skillfully portrayed relationships: romantic, familial, friendships, and the complications that play into it when these relationships get in the way of others, or start blurring. It's about heartache, pangs, frustration, anger, and everything that usually enters the picture when it comes to teenagehood.
This drama does in fact keep you anticipating, and reveals information little by little through its format of switching between the past and the present. There are many spoilers, so keep watch for the spoiler tags and don't read the spoilers if you seriously want the full experience.
I loved the job that the actors did. I've never seen anything else in which they were principle actors, but they were such naturals in their roles. Jung Eun-ji played Sung Si-Won and was so natural and relatable and did not try to overdo anything. She was not a delicate flower that needed a man by her side all the time, nor was she fake. Her maturation was well-portrayed and understandable, her emotions raw and believable, and her positivity was contagious. Seo In-Guk played Yoon Yoon-jae, and he basically embodied and defined our inwardly emotional and struggling male lead that has been used in so many dramas and has found few truly capable of the it, and he brought his own twist into it as he portrayed a boy - every schoolgirl's cold but popular crush, and a little in-love, but at the same time awkward and young and naive. Can I live in Busan please?Our side characters did a great job as well - notably Hoya (from INFINITE), who did such a good, believable and mature job of playing his role as someone with a secret he can't tell the person to whom it matters the most. Beyond this is a spoiler. And the addition of Sechkies leader Eun Ji-Won was plainly hilarious as there is a focus on our two female cast members' favorite bands - H.O.T. and Sechkies throughout the majority of the drama. As someone who deals with my own love for fandoms, I totally related to this fact and enjoyed the ensuing humor from the over-dramatization of fanwars.
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| Cutie <3 |
The great thing about the side romance plots in the drama is that they are all sweet, heartwarming, believable, and make us love and understand all the characters. This is not true of side-character romances in most cases, and it does not detract from the main story, but feeds to the development of the characters, and the way they handle their relationships with each other.
 |
| Rude asf *sigh* |
In addition to being a coming-of-age and romance drama, the director did a great job instilling a sense of nostalgia that even I, someone who has never experienced the 90's, especially not through South Korean culture, could relate. If you truly want to immerse yourself in understanding every joke and reference (such as the identity of one of the principle actors), read the entries and try to look up the references on the Special Appearances category of the cast or Google anything suspiciously sounding like an inside joke for 90's teens, because it probably is. This drama will not have any fantastical elements, nor any ridiculous unlikely happenings that would render it an unbelievable mess. If you are into a classic sexy cool hunk falling for a delicate princess of beauty and envy, this drama may not be for you. If you are not into realness either (which is understandable), then this drama won't satisfy that for you. This one is meant to hit the feels, make you think, make you cry a little, smile a lot.
Often low-budget translates to low-quality, but this drama is not particularly special in its production. Its story is worth watching, its characters worth falling for and relating to, its plot tied together well. That is what makes Reply 1997 one of my favorite dramas of all time. Watch it. 10/10 in my eyes.
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