Boys Over Flowers (2009)

I heard of "Boys Over Flowers" awhile back, even before I started watching Asian Dramas. I avoided watching it because I was worried I that I would be disappoint from all the hype I had heard about the drama.

So what do I think?

The weak elements: The story is not the best. It is very entertaining but if you take a moment to think about it, you realize there are moments that just don't make sense. And some things within the plot happen with out proper explanation. I also wish that they would spend more time focusing on the main couple.

The strong elements: The characters and cast. I believe this show is the success it is because of the cast. The best part of the show is definitely Lee Minho. Without him, I believe this show would not be considered the classic, that it is today.

Overall, I do recommend watching it. I was very entertained watching it, and I could see myself rewatching certain scenes from time to time, and maybe rewatching the series in a few years.

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Entertaining

If you just want to watch something that is totally implausible but entertaining this is the series for you. Also I enjoyed seeing these actors in the beginning of their careers. Looking at the fact that this was made in 2009 and the start of kdrama I can appreciate it. Yes the lead female drives me crazy with her naive ness but in high school girls act silly especially around handsome popular boys. So if you put everything in perspective it has its charm. The idea of these guys being together since kdg is not so far fetched either. So if you want to see where kdrama got it’s start this is a good place to start. I just rewatched it and understand it’s appeal even more. Each of the f4 has a backstory. I really found the other three members and their stories added to the whole series. The only scenes I skipped were the ones with the fiancé. The idea of a wealthy heiress being so desperate just didn’t sit well with me. Her holding on to the necklace and pretending to be a friend did not add to the story so I skipped most of those scenes.

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If I could start with I would definitely say it is the best drama ever in the entire Asian dramas till date. I have watched many dramas after this and few before it, but believe me it has been a rollercoaster of a ride of emotions. I laughed, cried, heartbroken, was angry when I watched this one. Literally 25 episodes the best. That back kick by JanDi is my all time favorite. The songs are literally the best ever. Especially Stand by Me I still listen to everyday. That Something Happened to My Heart background score moves me totally Everytime I listen. It has a good plot. Lee Minho I'm in deeply love with Gu Jun Pyo's character, his acting speaks !!!!..The total F4 looked so good. The female lead have her best. I even love the heroes Noona ????. If anyone asks me which drama should I watch I would definitely recommend it. I hesitated first to watch it because it was of 2008 and the beginning seemed odd but believe me you don't need to doubt a second to watch it. It is worth your time !!! It is the only drama I can rewatch again and again.

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This is one of the most famous and most loved Kdrama that there is. Literally If you ask anybody if they have seen this drama they'll say yes (if they truly love kdramas). what's good about this drama is that it has a really good plot and the actors that Portray the characters. Literally China and Japan have made their own version of Boys overflowers. This story is filled with romance, action, deception. secrets and friendship. It's rich boy and poor girl. I especially love how Jandi Junpyo fall in love and how he tries his hardest. Literally it made me think about how my college life would be. NOW I have high expectations when I get to college. everybody pitches in to help those two to get together.

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Nostalgic and unforgettable.

I have waited a while before writing this review as I was never sure about what I thought about this drama. In certain ways it could be seen as terrible, specially if you only watch the first few episodes. However, around episode 10 the story just takes off, the acting improves, new soundtracks introduced, and suddenly you're up to episode 25 and finished. As a whole the characters are well rounded, they all have quirks, and they all get their time to shine. The different settings and landscapes within this drama are also quite diverse with lots of travel montages. I would say that this drama is a perfect slice of life for 2009, with a little bit of luck, and nostalgia.

As always, the soundtrack is always a make or break, and this soundtrack is superb. It is a great mix of 2009 pop and upbeat background instrumentals. The placement of the tracks is sometimes a bit random and felt out of place during the first few episodes. The track placement did however improve during later episodes. Some stand outs from the soundtrack would be 'Lucky' by Ashily, 'Love Is Fire' by KARA, and of course 'Stand By Me' by SHINee which is constantly playing.

Would I recommend this to anyone? Yes, it a good allrounder, acting can be bad at times, but overall worthwhile.
Would I watch this again? Yes, the characters are very relatable, and that attachment would only grow if you were to re-watch.
Would I listen to the soundtrack? Yes, this soundtrack is great, I listen to it constantly, no criticism here.

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What a wholesome ride

OK so this was my first Kdrama that I watched in 2020 and man it was so wholesome like it had everything - friendship, love, humor ,family , emotion . I really enjoyed it and even today I rewatch it . The story is about a poor girl Jandi who gets a scholarship in the richest school of Korea where she gets bullied, falls in love , makes new friends . Her character was very brave, loud , funny sometimes annoying and stupid but fun to watch . The main lead Joon pyo is a bad boy who is the leader of his group of friends F4 , he is rude, arrogant but at the same time craves love . The second lead Jihoo is actually good, smart and is always there for the FL Jandi . The other characters are really fun to watch as well and everyone is having their own story . I really enjoyed the story of Yi jung and Ga eul too. In the starting episodes I really hated Joon pyo and wanted Jandi to end up with Jihoo but man seeing the character development of Joon pyo and the chemistry between him and jandi , I changed my mind (lol). I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE wanted jandi and jihoo together and I liked them together too but guys there was no spark between them according to me , they were better off as friends , they gave me more of a friendship vibe rather than love but Jandi and Joon pyo really gave me the true love vibe where the boy changes himself into a better human being just for the girl he loves, I literary fell in love with him and Lee min ho ofcourse. The ost of this show was great and I still have some songs of this show in my playlist , this show also showed us that how after still being rich ,people are unhappy while people who are poor atleast have family love which the most important. The visuals of this show are damnnnn fine , nothing can bore you despite being a show of 25 episodes that are 1 hour long it keeps you hooked, there are a lot of ups and downs in the show. The production is great and treat for the eye, the only thing that got me upset was that in the last episode I wanted both Jandi and Joon pyo to marry . I wanted a episode of them marrying each other atleast a special episode but then its ok . Yes this show can be problematic at times as there were some scenes where I was like wth but I get it as it is a very old show, so yes ignoring that aspect this show is a MASTERPIECE and a classic .

PS- I love LEE MIN HOO

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The storyline was good, nothing surprising as it is the typical love triangle story, but it is such a cute plot. Although it is an adaption from the manga as well as the Japanese drama, I would love to see a drama similar to these adaptions where the second lead ends up with the main lead. From watching While You Were Sleeping and Moon Lovers, I can say this drama has broken my heart the most and writing this now, I am still shattered and lost after finishing the drama. This would be the drama where I have developed second lead syndrome :D

I loved all the members of F4, I loved how we get a small aspect of their past life as we get to know them more as individuals as if they were our own friends. I do wish that they showed more of Wubin and his past, I have come to love him as a character as he was the friendliest out of the bunch when he was first introduced. One thing that pulled on my heartstrings is how they developed a really good friendship with Jandi. Typically the way it goes is that the guys that are always on their friends' side with everything, in this case, I was expecting Jihoo, Yijeong, and Wubin to always be on Jun Pyo's side, but both of them knew when he pushing it at times and both of them accepted Jan Di as their good friend. All in all, all of them were portrayed beautifully and I loved all of them.

Coming to Jun Pyo, I loved him and the way Lee Min Ho has portrayed him, he is a hottie then and now. He was a douche bag at first (I didn't hate him) and a bully to other students and made life difficult for Jandi in the beginning, but I loved his character development, he can still be a tease and wants attention when he needs it, but that all comes with his child sincerity. I could understand his actions clearly and it really made me melancholy when Shinwa and his own mother were in his way in chasing his true love.

The kawaii and sweet JiHoo. He is DEFINITELY my favorite character out of the whole drama. There is such huge remorse I have towards his character when he didn't end up with the girl that he wanted, it broke my heart to a thousand pieces. Jihoo really is a gift from the heavens as Jandi says. He has such radiating care and love towards Jandi with the sweetest and brightest smile that melted me every time when he was around her. Again, I loved his character development, although it was a massive development compared to Jun Pyo's, it made me happy when he became much of a brighter and optimistic person with greater care to offer. I really fell in love with him as a character made me love Kim Hyung Joon as a person (despite his past). He remained loyal and caring character from the beginning to the end, he's just the type of guy I wished to have in my life, ugh!
Question is if Jihoo fell in love with her before Jun Pyo did, would things have turned out differently?

Geum Jandi. A lot of people found her annoying and I did read comments about the way she acted, from my perspective she had a reason to, she isn't expected to cry all day and night because of others bringing crap onto her, especially Jun Pyo's mother. She was a loud and bubbly character with a soft heart. But I love her! her resilience and strong character who doesn't tolerate anyone's bullcrap is my strongest points for her. Despite the odds of her not fitting in at Shinwa highschool, she continued to be herself physically and mentally. She isn't the standard Korean Beauty in the drama, she had that tomboy side and I am glad that they made her that way because it can make her more relatable to us viewers. Jandi retained her cool image and that is whar I like about her.

I definitely shipped Ji Hoo and Jan Di 100% more than I did with Jan Di and Jun Pyo. Once I started transitioning from a JanPyo shipper to a JanHoo shipper, I was very convinced that the drama was not going to change my mind. I loved the chemistry between JanPyo throughout the drama, but when Jun Pyo kept hurting her (which I know wasn't his fault most of the time) it did put me off a little bit, other than that, I did appreciate the effort and affectionate things that Jun Pyo did to express his love for her.
JiHoo was a different story, they were soulmates, he treated her well, she treated him well. He gave her every inch of love and care that he had for her. As well as that, they were each other's shoulder to lean on during their times of darkness and he took care of her when he knew Jun Pyo was the one hurting her. Jihoo was so patient to not do anything with her whilst he was with Jun Pyo, it was saddening to see he really had to relinquish her for Jun Pyo. I wish Jihoo did express his feelings properly and more openly to her before it was too late as well as Jandi knowing more of how he felt about her

The music is soo damn goood! All of the songs have a correlation with the drama. I can't pick out favorites cause most of them are my favorites.

Overall I would give this drama a 10 cause I experienced all the emotions and loved every single character. I would definitely watch this drama again someday, but not anytime soon as I still need to recover from my shattered heart and wouldn't want another one anytime soon either ;P

Sorry that it is a bit of a long-winded review, but this was all my thoughts and feelings I had about the drama. Thank you to those who created this drama and made it a phenomenal one, despite my thoughts and feelings about the couples. But thank you for providing us with all the JanHoo scenes as well as the good JanPyo ones

JanHoo= Forever in my heart <3

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They threw everything at the poor female lead!

Love LMH, but hated his character and his hair! He was just weak, and gave in to his mother. She was evil personified and I didn't like how there were no consequences to all the evil things she did. Gu Jun Pyo never grew. He was a bully, then a weakling for not standing up for Jan Di. Gum Jan Di was just darling. Very spunky. I loved how all the guys really grew to love her and want to take care of her. I loved her family. I hated the ending, I felt it really fell flat (again, if you're in love, you just disappear for years and then come back?), and I feel very strongly that she ended up with the wrong guy. Given the choice between Gu Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo, who in their right mind would choose Gu Jun Pyo?!?!?! I know a lot of women are drawn to "bad boys" but he was not a very nice person overall. And their relationship consisted of them fighting all the time. Not a healthy relationship. There were also too many episodes and every tragedy that could befall Jan Di did - attempted rape, EXTREME bullying, kidnapping, injury that ended her swimming career while trying to save the ML, malnutrition, nosebleeds, exhaustion, parents forced to move away to find work due to his evil mother, public embarrassment by his mother, forced to work as a servant, having your house torn down, ML engaged to another girl and having to help the girl plan the wedding, and having the ML not remember you due to amnesia. There were a few sweet scenes between ML and FL, but MANY, MANY more between FL and 2ML.

I do have so say that I have re-watched parts of this many times, mostly the scenes between the FL and 2ML. Theirs was just such a wonderful pairing.

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If I had watched then

I started watching kdramas about 2-3 years ago and most of those have been quite recently releases. With that said, it's quite difficult to watch BOF and trully appreciate its value. At this point, it's just an outdated drama full of cliches that we've seen everywhere else. This is not to point out the quality of it, many times watching or reading a story, it's not about what happens, but how it is executed that makes the art.

Warning: mild spoilers

Having finished with the 25 episodes in a short period of time, I still can't decide whether this is a good show with bad moments, or a bad show with good moments. The main couple just coudn't grab my heart, there were very few moments that I was cheering for them to end up together, but most of the time I was just thinking that they are toxic for one another, seriously, one should not cause that much suffering to the one you love just for the sake of love, that's just selfish. But let's say you're a hopeless romantic and dismiss the bad match theory, the show never hides its intention of having the 2nd male lead be who we vouch for, since he was built close to perfection. You know what happens to him? Exactly. It's not just our main lead who is a bully, the show writters are too.
From a production point of view, they put together a good cast, and F4+2 had decent chemistry when together. I was in it mostly for the friendship moments, because that's when we the viewer could relax and just enjoy being entertained. The cook and grandfather were also a good addition to the story, as they introduced a subplot that was fairly interesting to follow.

The predictability of the show was frustrating at times, and didn't give much satisfaction for knewing what was going to happen, instead, it left a feeling of exhaustion as result of the many twists they gave us, and oh did they not stop giving us. Like being on a spinning wheel, you know it's gonna make you dizzy but you go in anyway.
The OST was nice and catchy, I found myself holding on to the still image at the end of the episode just to bop to the song. Adding another SHINee song to my list of favs, SS501...
Overall, it's an entertaining show with a formula that just works, which is why it's still making viewers curious about such an old show. I'm curious to see how the other adaptations dealt with the story and if there's anything added or changed.

Would I watch this again? Very likely no, there are so many shows out there now; will I miss it? Yes, for a little while, like having a stone on your shoe that you take out, and then feeling like something is missing.

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This was my first k-drama ever and I was so lost and confused because its format was not something I was used to. But I found myself very immersed in the story and the characters.
The plot was somewhat disappointing and full of clichés but this drama is definitely a must-watch if you want to understand this drama world better because it was the first drama that got international recognition and brought many people to this world (including me). I only watched it in 2016 (I'm a new fan haha) but I feel its weight on today's dramas- it seems that it is the base to many of them.
It's been two years and I still can't get over the fact that she didn't choose... well, I dont want to spoil it for those who havent seen it yet but if you have, then you know who I mean. His character is my ideal type so I felt personally insulted hahaha but it's okay, they all loved each other anyways.
The soundtrack is amazing- Because I'm stupid is one of my favorite Korean songs of all time.
The actors did well, I guess. I dont really remember much.
I dont think I would rewatch it but I definitely appreciate it a lot!

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