Extraordinary You (2019)

Cliffhanger endings !

On the surface, you’d be forgiven for writing off Extraordinary You as another generic k-drama set in a high school. When you dive a little deeper however, Extraordinary You is a cleverly written series, one that combines comedy and mystery elements to great effect whilst setting its tale in the self-aware confines of a comic book. With the rules established early on, Extraordinary You mixes things up quickly, introducing extra layers of drama to the fold, all of which culminating in an impressive finale that wraps everything up nicely with a sickly sweet bow.

At the heart of this one is Dan-O, a lovable high school girl who quickly discovers she’s a central character in a comic book. The story itself unfolds across two seperate areas – the shadow and the scene. The latter sees the actions and dialogue of each character pre-determined by the writer whereas in the shadow the characters are free to act however they please. When Dan-O learns she’s not the main character in the story, thanks to the exploits of fellow classmate Joo-Da, Dan-O inadvertently changes the story, setting off a chain of events that result in some pretty wild and crazy story beats.

As the season progresses, Dan-O finds herself caught in a doomed romantic angle with newcomer Ha-Roo, while Kyung and a few other students start to become self-aware as well. Toward the end of the series, things do become clearer over what’s happening and all of this results in a cleverly written and dramatic conclusion to this tale.

Along with the plot, Extraordinary You excels with its characterisation. Kyung in particular has multiple layers to his persona, shifting from outright antagonist early on to more of an anti-hero archetype during the midway point. This swings like a pendulum throughout the 16 episodes too while Dan-O does a wonderful job bringing her character to life. The chemistry she shares with Ha-Roo on screen is one of the highlights of the entire show, while Do-Hwa, Nam-Joo and Joo-Da’s love triangle defies expectations and delivers some nice surprises along the way.

Visually, Extraordinary You does well to keep things understandable, given the potential confusion of the shadow/scene shifts. Signified by an exaggerated page flick sound, colours pop and brighten when the comic scene begins and the sudden mannerisms when that specific scene changes helps to differentiate when the shadow begins. While this sounds a bit convoluted, Extraordinary You does well to keep things understandable and easy to follow throughout the show.

Extraordinary You is a difficult show to sit through with one episode at a time. The hour-long slices of drama are easy to watch and the cliffhanger endings keep you coming back for more. There’s some great twists and turns along the way too, and props to the cast for this one; there’s some great performances throughout the show. While it would be easy to write this one off as “just another high-school k-drama”, Extraordinary You is extraordinarily good and well worth a watch.

Lire davantage

Amazing concept but poorly executed.

This is the only review I've done exactly after finishing the drama, so I've got a lot to say.

First half: Frustrating
Second half: Tormenting

Hyeyoon and Jaewook carried this show. Rowoon wasn't bad at all but his character felt so bland.

This drama had so much potential honestly. The concept was quite intruiging and that was what actually got me to watch it. The first two episodes were amazing. It was a great build up into the comics world and it was funny. Oh Dan-Oh's character was iconic. She knew her goal: To change her fate of dying and to make sure she's not just a mere extra.

But then, Haru came — his supposed savior. He did change her fate! But then, they began to become soooo co-dependent with each other that somehow, Dan-Oh's world seem to only revolve around Haru only, and the same could be said to the latter.

Somewhere along the story, the plot was lost. Then the love triangle began.

Jaewook did well but his character was so frustrating. I did not get the second lead syndrome from him, or at least not as strongly.

I almost dropped this, but it actually got better in the second half, personally... Or am I tweaking? The second half was honestly much better and it started making sense again.

Overall, this was still fun. A lot of comedic scenes and romance and madness from the second lead. The friendship built while filming though! <3

Lire davantage

Maybe it have a little spoiler

I can say that this drama is one of my favorites, this drama is a school romantic comedy in which it takes place inside a webtoon, although I cannot see that they are two different worlds as in drama W.

Story:
The story is very interesting, because in this drama it puts the main girl (Eun Dan Oh) as a secondary character in the webtoon, in my opinion it shows that it is not necessary to be the main character to be a great drama. It is also curious to see the relationship that this character will build with the main boy of the drama (Ha Ru) because he is just a costume that later becomes a main character. For me the most interesting part is when she and he discover their true past in another webtoon, and the ending is just magnificent.
In short, the story is basically they begin their mysterious adventure to discover the secret of the world of cartoon romance and try to regain their independent lives.

Acting:
They have extremely captivating characters and a couple with beautiful chemistry.
- Eun Dan Oh, is a high school girl, the only child of a wealthy family, who has a congenital heart disease, is also very excited about everything.
- Ha Roo, he is a secondary character than Dan Oh herself, initially he was a character that had no name, Dan Oh herself was the one who gave him. She realizes that he can change the story when he intervenes and to change the reality of Dan Oh, Ha Roo does everything to help her, he, unlike her, is a very calm and peaceful character.

In addition to these, more, of course, but I wanted to mention these two characters more because they are quite interesting.

Filming:
All the scenes filmed are of good quality and have fantastic transitions, each important scene is very detailed, romantic scenes are well designed the temperature of the shoot gives a certain comfort to those who are watching.


To conclude, I highly recommend this drama, for those who also like some twists in the drama it is advisable, apart from that it is a very funny drama.

Lire davantage

It's good but not that moving...

The story starts so well and interesting. But coming to the end, it becomes poor and not really impressing, especially after DAn Oh fell in love with Haru - it turned into hopeless romantic. They rarely changed the story but more like war about love, the FL is sad about her future and so pessimistic. Why is she just optimistic when being with Haru, but don't put attention into changing the story; then she wondered why Baek Kyung act like that, etc. I'm just a girl - a teenager who loves these school drama so I'm pretty satisfied, that's all. But I appreciate other things - their acting, interesting story, OST is good too.
And love Juda's shadow, it's suprisingly attractive to me.

Lire davantage

This drama is the best thing I've ever experienced in my entire life. The cast was perfectly picked as if they were each destined to play these roles! The story was well thought out and the ending is ever so bittersweet that it makes you want more! When I watched the last episode I was brought to tears that I would have to say goodbye to this beautiful drama. The story was amazing, no plot point was ever dragged and even the side characters had amazing closure. Even the OST was crafted to perfection. I have no complaints for this drama! It's easily one of my favorite dramas of all time! I would've given the rewatch value higher score but this is truly a once in a lifetime experience! I recommend this drama to everyone! Really good drama!

Lire davantage

School Fantasy Romance done RIGHT

It was such a fresh and cute story, mixed with OUTSTANDING acting by the female lead, and also by all of the background characters. The FL was just SO brilliant. Love this show.
The show drew me in from the very fist episode. It was a series of repetitions at first, to make the audience understand the jarring feeling of being in the same place in your life again and again and experiencing the boredom of everyday life helplessly, as told by a manga writer who has to go through countless drafts to get the final right story-line.
The girl realises her predicament when she breaks out of her 'character' and realises that she has practically no control over her own story, she ends up at different places at random points while she's in the middle of doing something else (like looking for her mystery man), but because she has become 'sentient' so to speak, she breaks out of that pattern to create her own reality, away from the toxic male lead that was 'meant' for her, and also makes the 'true female lead' realise that she has a choice in choosing her love life too.
The parallels they showed between the ' true leads' story and that of most old kdramas was hilarious to watch.
Overall, a great watch.

Lire davantage

BIG WASTE OF TIME

I don't understand why people create mystery/thriller shows when they only how to create intrigue and have no idea what so ever to resolve any of them.
The message with which they started was really very good but they totally completely absolutely missed the point.
I assume that they wanted to show that if you have confidence in yourself and continue to follow your heart you can defy your fate and create your own life but boy oh boy .. what a disappointment
There are so many questions and none of questions are answered and the viewers are left in WTF state and think why the hell did we waste so much time on this utter rubbish.

Lire davantage

Amazing concept ruined by same old k-drama cliches

I am giving this show an early review because I am not sure whether i will continue watching it or not. Yes! I am on the edge because sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s soo lame that I can’t watch another minute of it. I read some reviews to understand what the problem might be! And no, the problem is not repetition in scenes and dialogues. Majority of the repetitive scenes occurred in the early episodes yet i still enjoyed them.

The problem seems to be with the main lead couple’s chemistry and their backstory. For me the driving force to keep watching a show is the lead couple, I didn’t feel much chemistry between the lead couple and they fell in love way too quickly. I couldn’t understand exactly at what point it happened that they are mad for each other!! The 2nd lead characters love triangle was more interesting to watch than the main couple.
And haru was such a weak character,he didn’t give off main lead vibes as he had no character development, his character was living off of past memories, which turned lame. I don’t understand why there is a past connection in a comic story. Was that necessary 😭😭 Why can’t k-drama writers move past this overused past connection trope? Every unique concept is ruined by this same old trope.
Also kyung was soo aggressive. It automatically made me angry seeing him on screen. Why was he throwing things in every episode! He had serious issues. Do hwa was the best character. He should’ve been the male lead. He was such a cutie and he looked good with the FL.

Lire davantage

A ideia até parecia legal, mas não rolou. A trama fica cansativa bem rápido, me arrastei até o final. Totalmente desnecessário esta quantidade de episódios, poderiam ter terminado no ep. 10 já estaria de bom tamanho, muita enrolação com poucos resultados. Chega um ponto em que só corre em círculo, é bem irritante.

A história do "palco" é uma cópia barata e mal feita de BOF/Hana Yori Dango, é bem bobinha, brega, clichê e sem graça. Não tiveram a dignidade de pelo menos mostrar uma amizade forte como os F4, a relação de "amizade" dos A3 é bem superficial. Se a intenção era fazer uma sátira aos clichês de BOF/HYD não colou, não teve graça.

Quanto aos personagens:
- A protagonista é maravilhosa, não tenho dúvidas, sua interpretação foi muito boa e sua personagem é realmente muito fácil de gostar.
- O Haru parece um robô é bem irritante de assistir como ele se movimenta.
- Amei o Do Hwa, coitadinho (injustiçado).

No final você tem a estranha sensação de ter visto muito sem ter visto nada! Talvez este drama funcione melhor para uma faixa etária de até 17-18 anos. Sinceramente, se você já assistiu a dramas escolares como: When We Where Young, My Youth, Atention, Love!, Sassy, Go Go não perca seu tempo com este drama.

Lire davantage