Record of Youth (2020)

Cute and not horrible!

A couple things about this drama, and if you watch a lot of kdramas, you’re probably used to way more drama. This is definitely not that kind of drama!

First, This is a feel good, watch characters develop, grow and overcome the pressures elders put on them growing up. That alone is inspiring and eye opening for young people trying to break through different social classes… YOU CAN DO IT!

Second, the cast is seriously amazing. They seem to work so well together… from the main characters to support characters, everyone plays their part well… well enough to hate some of them. Even those hated characters!

Third, it wraps up nicely. This is not a drama that will leave you hanging…. Though episode 12-15 are a bit boring, you see pain and growth in this time.

If you’re looking to take a break from those tear jerking dramas and just want to root for characters that you know will succeed, this is your drama!! Plus, swoooooon over the amazing cast!!!

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I saw in it something else

Again, I am going up the river of dissapointed reviews. Again, I saw in this drama something else and I don’t regret it. Again, I want to be that weird one and give you my opinion which will be totally confused.

I know I often focuse on psychology of characters, which is pretty basic, but I have feeling that this part of this subject doesn’t take much of our attention. Which I don't like much, maybe. Supressing emotions, communication that no longer works as before, personality problems and more. These are topics I would love to see more in dramas. And yeah, Record of Youth gave me this in full experience, that I was anxious. Maybe I liked it because I saw myself in main characters, maybe. Or maybe not and I loved it for thought which created this story.

Record of Youth doesn’t tell a story about romance which never won’t die, we won’t get many miracles here and also not many dramatic scenes that we are used to from dramas like It’s okay to not be okay and so on.

I can understand why many people don’t like it, second half just hits differently and even though this part of the story gave me headache and I was feeling like I was watching my life crushing, the bigger impression from this show I have. In second half, story turns of, it’s not about a girl, how she falls in love with boy in real life and the same goes for him, we follow life change: Hyejun starts to be more popular and their relationship begins to stagn, it is on place where way out of it isn’t that sure anymore. They didn’t communicate about their hardships and they are with themselves pretending they are okay. She doesn't want to burden him, he does the same. It was amazing watch how it doesn’t work anymore, atmosphere of their relationship got me, not happy anymore, it was just sad and even sadder was how they couldn’t talk it out.

Every character has his space, not much, but has. In the end, yeah, I didn’t get answers on all of my questions, but this is again something, which I somehow like. There were plots which were only outlined, but not finished, still it suited the story so much. Because timing of everything was off and story told us everything is not that easy and it definitely can’t be.

This show definitely has lacks, I admit, but the thought which it gave me was more important. We got a story about a topic that is not discussed very often, I am reminded of "At a distance, Spring is Green", these shows work differently and maybe people are not ready for it or maybe I am just weird, I don’t know that yet. But I love it.

Also big applause for cast, Park Bo Gum gave his best and Park So Dam was fabulous as lead heroine, Heo Hyo was for other people plain, but I saw his internal struggles and again, here we are, with supressing emotions, not talking about it that much. Every character somehow won me over.

I definitely recommend it, but also – you need to have similar thinking as me to like it, it’s a little hard to watch, but worth it.

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Better than its rating suggests

Cursory watch.

There is a lot of meat on this despite it having a lot of flaws. The two leads are great, the many dysfunctional family dynamics are intriguing, although some of the actors are underwhelming or seem to be acting in a different, comedy script while this is clearly a drama. I like how both lead characters never resort to screaming and try to stay calm, collected, kind and thoughtful while navigating job and personal troubles that are infuriating. I like how these infuriating issues are thrown at the viewer in a manner that deems them mature enough to work through it and never give them an easy out.

The treatment of the lgbt storyline is despicable, it seems this writer is so sexuality/gender illiterate that they can not even make the distinction between workplace harassment and merely being gay, one is bad, the other is not. There are not enough characters with an explicitly lgbt friendly stance. This is just not good enough in 2020.

On the whole there is a lot of good, some bad, but this drama gets an unfairly bad rep.

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Are you surprised with the high rating that I give, I have my reason ⬇️

When the most simple scene helps you reflect on the thing that you do, you know that it’s sincere.

This drama is full of sincerity and that what unite all the pieces you’ve seen throughout the story. When I first watched the teaser, I question the genre, “would it be romance? Why does it only look like a slice-of-life drama to me?” Well, it does feel very slow-paced and “boring” in the beginning but later you’ll see that every scene matters. Every character in this drama might show you every side of yourself. Yes, you. In one scene you’ll feel like you know Hye Jun like you’ve been in his shoes, on another scene you’ll feel like no one know you better than Hye Hyo does. Yes, everyone is so relatable as the writer shows everyone’s story.

Can you imagine being all wet after enjoying some "good rain"? You will catch a cold and feeling all uncomfortable, but you glad you took the chance to have fun there when it happened. Watching this drama feels like that to me, so does everything that happened in the story. You will wonder if you've done the right thing, regret it, but you then think you might probably do the same thing if that would ever happen to you again.

I appreciate the writer for appreciating every character in the movie. Although there’s nothing new here, the plot feels like it was not made to satisfy the viewer, but to let the characters be honest with themselves. That’s cool, tho! — OOT but, from this drama, I realized that people can stay being who they are but their thought & action toward certain things (and or people) can change. That is a realistic yet hopeful point of view. Love it, hehe.

This might not be most people's cup of tea, however...if you have not watched this drama yet, I would still recommend this! Who knows that this drama would help you appreciating a silent night and your own room like never before.

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IT REALLY ISN'T THAT BAD.

I was really put off by the show because of all the really bad reviews but not everyone is the same so I decided to move forward and watch it for myself and I don't regret a single minute/second of it. This show truly isn't as bad as people are making it out to be but I also mean; to each their own. I've watched so many dramas and sometimes it's so repetitive and we expect so many things but when people see big named Actors like Park Bo Gum, they instantly have high expectations but I go into shows with the minimal and let it speak for itself. I think when it came to this show, so many people saw big names and instantly wanted to be wowed and was let down because they didn't really pay the story much attention and to me, it was a really nice story. There was a lot not explained and so that may have been a little off putting but it honestly was such a good show, I am not disappointed at all.

It starts off with 3 people that have a dream, your ML who is an aspiring actor, your FL lead who wants to be a huge make up artist and the SML who is in the spot light the and ML is kind of in his shadow, not because he's not good enough but because he's genuinely a good person and just sees the good in everything and everyone and that's a down fall. I'm glad there truly was not a love triangle, because maybe then I would've been pissed but the SML really laid back and it wasn't terrible except for when he wanted the pity because of his downfall but really, he needed to figure it out on his own, he wasn't a bad person though. I loved the ML and FL together, not the chemistry we expect but they had a decent connection and worked well together and I liked it. Now the ending wasn't what we wanted or expected but honestly, I was not disappointed at all, I was hoping and praying that the ML got his big break, that he was finally going to make it and make himself happy along with his family, especially his grandpa and that's literally everything I wanted out of this show and more.

The acting truly was great. I don't expect anymore or any less from Park Bo Gum and Park So Dam, they truly are a beautiful pair in their own acting style and I appreciate it to the end. I also really enjoyed Byeon Woo Seok and their friends. I really liked everyone. The family, the extras, it was all exciting.

The music was fantastic! I love this OST.

I personally may rewatch it down the road but I'm not sure when, I think the downfall of this was like any drama where they ran out of things and needed to spice it up so they did what they did. With the extra drama when he became big and etc; also let's not forget their relationship, but I mean, I understand why it happened and the choices and I stand by it.

Overall, I personally enjoyed it and thought it was binge worthy; I see SOOO many terrible reviews and opinions and honestly, don't let that determine whether this was good or not because it truly was a good story, with good actors and actresses and though not mind blowing, still a all in all good show. I think so many people went into this show with the highest of expectations because of the names and really held it to such a high standard and you really just cannot do that with any show you watch tbh. Every persons piece of work and style is different and you just can't expect the same again and again. I liked that it had a normal feel to kdramas but also it's own unique story like I said. I really did enjoy it.

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It had potential

This is the first drama that I watched while it was airing. This was definitely an interesting experience, and I’m almost certain that this skewed my overall opinion of this drama in a positive way. Because I never had to watch the drama for more than two episodes a week, there was no way I’d get tired of the mundane storyline that some people in the reviews are claiming for this drama to have. While I definitely agree that watching only two episodes a week helped me break up the drama into watchable chunks, I do still believe, looking back at the drama now, that the story in the second half never really progressed anywhere. The beginning of this drama was beautifully executed. The conflicts that both of the characters were facing were not exactly creative or new, but they felt fresh nonetheless. Watching a wannabe actor struggle to get hired for even the smallest role was extremely interesting, and I waited to tune in to every new episode to see Hye Jun finally achieve all of his dreams. I will only briefly address the fact that his rise to fame was extremely unrealistic. I don’t believe that a small role in a drama and a cute face are enough to turn a desperate actor into a national superstar, but I’ll just attribute that to the magic of kdramas and move on. Jeong ha’s character was quite different from your regular kdrama female lead because she was independent and wasn’t willing to give up her ambitions and beliefs even in the very last episode of the drama. Nevertheless, I got slightly frustrated with her when she said something along the lines of, “I like honest people,” or “I never lie to people” for the THIRTIETH time in a row. While my engagement with the drama went up with every single episode even in the second half, I will admit that the first half of the drama is really where it shined. While the tensions in the second half went up dramatically, they never led anywhere, and I was left with a feeling of unfulfillment when the final episode ended. I realize that the writer was probably trying to leave the ending open, but she wasn’t quite able to pull it off the way she tried to, so the viewers were left confused and unsatisfied. None of the side stories really amounted to anything, either, and I wish there was a proper conclusion to the second romance story arc and Hae Hyo’s internal struggles with his self esteem and his relationship with his mother. As a last random concluding point to this review, I would just like to bring up the awkward crying scenes in the drama. I want to say there were at least 4 different characters that had a “crying” scene in this drama, and I swear to god, every single one of them made me cringe SO HARD. Anyway, I’d still recommend this drama for Park Bo Gum (how fitting that his last drama before his military service is a drama about a character who left to do his military service at the end of the drama) and Park So Dam (She’s so cute what the heckkkk). Just don’t get your hopes up and have a good time with it. The drama had some very nice moments if you look past the disappointing ending.

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Must watch

A very good drama frankly. The story is not common ... I expected their friendship to the three guys to be broken, accompanied by brawl, hatred, revenge but everything is settled unexpectedly ??? ... I expected to have second lead syndrome since the woman is not going to like it back but they presented the scenes in a sweet way frankly ... the story didn't focus on that. The ex of the lead role, not at all viper ... I love ... there were more big-hearted characters. The family reunion was just touching. Friendship and family was just magical ... I highly recommend it ... it is a must see ... you will not regret it.

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Realistic and Relatable

I really enjoyed this drama. I will surely miss it! The characters are relatable, this made me reflect on my life as well. My goals, dreams, and other stuff in life. I learned a lot.

I liked that this wasn't just a love story, it's also about family relationships and friendship.
I understand that many people are disappointed maybe because it's too realistic and can be boring for some, dramas are usually dramatic and exaggerated to be entertaining but this was a fun ride for me.

The romance part was also realistic, that's how celebrities love life normally are they don't last long, they break up because of busy schedules, but of course, in this drama, it was more than that. You can't just have it all at once, that's life. Also, I love the OST.

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The Title is Correct

This series was like an entire journal entry of someone's 20s. It went through the emotions and changes that can occur during young adulthood. Although I knew by the end of episode 14 that this drama wasn't going to give the typical ending, I still held out hope that I was wrong.

Acting:
Park Bo Gum. - this isn't the first film I've seen him in but omg can we talk about these guys acting. SUPERB! legit makes you FEEL everything. great acting and directing!

The friend Group - I appreciate that this time i watched a drama with a group of male friends, I loved their chemistry and how they portrayed their characters.

Female actresses: played their roles. I respected Park So Dam's acting but her character just made me so annoyed sometimes.

Recommendation:
I am not rewatching this. I much rather watch something new.
I am not going to say it was a waste of time, because I enjoyed the first 14 episodes.
It can be watched as a filler when waiting for a new drama's episode or if you want to watch something that won't leave an emotional imprint on your soul - like the typical kdramas

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PARK BO GUM NAILED IT ! AND TRIO OF THE BOYS ♡

its a inspiring drama so maybe many people did not liked this drama. But for me this drama is worth watching and i binge watched this drama.. all the male leads were handsome and there friendship and carrer literally helped me alot for my carrer. FL did a great acting. specially the role of mother's and all family members of both male leads were literally stunning. i gave 9.5/10 because ending was somehow incomplete and maybe rushed. i did not satisfied with ending but i can move on because of whole series. it was good experience watching this series. ♡ IT IS ACTUALLY WORTH WATCHING INSPIRING DRAMA ON CARRER AND DREAM. GIVE IT A TRY WATCH IT WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND IF YOU WILL WATCH THIS DRAMA FOR FUN MAYBE THEN THIS DRAMA IS NOT FOR YOU. ♡

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A really beautiful and comprensible love story

This is my first time reviewing a drama because even though I didn't a gave the highest score doesn't mean that I don't think you (my beautiful people, that are reading this❤️) shouldn't watch this. You all shall see!
I did enjoyed this drama so I don't understand the low reviews. This is a story about 2 normal people that understand and love each other. It's a very plausible love story with some ups and downs but nothing over the top, this is the type of love that I want to have in the future (my single ass hoping for me to find a Park Bo Gum in Portugal ) I know that some people love the cliché - the cold CEO that is fond for his sweet secretary (including myself ?) or the big "star" that has fallen in love for a girl when he was in elementary school (and for some reason they lost contact) but still after 15 years, he still love her (totally love it?).

- : the casting is awesome (me evoking Vvveeeerrronnniiicccaaa Park -TSLoMS) Park Bo-gum and his sweet and lovely eyes and Park So Dam with her carismatic presence, both of them are great actors. they did acted so well the lifes of two young lovers that understand each other and are struggling to be someone better or to achieve a goal. I did liked the friendship between ML and his friends, the love of ML for his family and the FL. Loved to see how independent and goal focused is the FL, she isn't expecting to receive any kind of favor or benefits just because she is dating a famous, the only thing that she is expecting is his caring and love. She is girl that without stopping to support her lover she can make time for her friends, family and work.
I liked the main story but really liked too the others "universes" in the drama ML's family, the second lead story and his family.


Overall I am a weirdo with Netflix in home that is obsessed with Asian dramas.

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