Age of Youth (2016)

Age of Youth had been recommended to me by a friend multiple times, but I had kept putting it off for one big reason: I knew that the story didn't focus on romance, and I was ALWAYS in the mood to watch romance.

And when I finally got around to watching it, that was still a problem, but not in the way I'd expected. There was enough romance—the problem was that it wasn't for the characters I wanted, Yi-Na and Ji-Won.

Those two were my favorites, followed by Jin-Myung, and then Ye-Eun and Eun-Jae. Let me go over my thoughts on each character separately.

Yi-Na: I loved her. Her character was the perfect blend of tragic backstory, badassery, and self-reflection, and her character development throughout the season was extremely strong. I loved how straightforward she was, yet how subtle she could be in her support for her friends. I so wish she had a romance plotline, especially how we were teased with it near the end.

Ji-Won: I loved her too! Her character had a little less depth than Yi-Na's which is the only reason she's second. Otherwise, her personality would be ranked first for me. She was always so adorable and upbeat, yet surprisingly insightful when it came down to it. It pained me that the character who wanted to find love the most was the one kind of left without it—even though there were some hints for this as well that I'm hoping are expanded on in Season 2.

Jin-Myung: This character really had to grow on me, but when she did, I grew to love her a lot as well. Even though she was a little bit of the cliche, tragic character, I thought she was extremely strong and her character development was great to watch as well, especially when she was connected with Yi-Na. Her romance plotline was nice too, but predictable.

Ye-Eun: I'm sure a lot of people were annoyed with this character, and I was too. She was very whiny and shrill. I will admit though that I really appreciated her plot and development, and she was surprisingly strong and logical about what a healthy relationship should be—which I'm glad wasn't dragged out.

Eun-Jae: Ugh. My least favorite of the five, and the one who got the most screentime and was the MAIN MAIN character. She was frustrating to watch at first because she never spoke up—understandable. But as the series went on, something about Eun-Jae just never sat right with me. I kept feeling secondhand embarrassment, the acting was a little awkward, and her entire personality was just the least interesting. Because of her, I couldn't really enjoy her romance plotline, which sucked because the love interest was the kind of teasing, playful male that I'd been looking for in kdramas. One scene that I did enjoy, though, is the one where she finally calls out her mom—another character that annoyed me to death. I know that the actress for Eun-Jae is different in Season 2...I'm partly thankful, partly worried that it'll throw me off.

Overall, it was still really refreshing to watch a drama with strong sismance, which kdrama doesn't usually have a lot of.

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I just love this drama. It was so pleasant to watch, all the differents characters, with they're own personnalities...
First I was not very satisfied, or, just... In the story ? Some characters were boring, and actors (actress) doesn't show something that could possibly hit me.
But, very fast, I was really in. Like "WOUAAAAAH, IS IT POSSIBLE ?", "NO, WHAT, IT CAN'T BE !" or just, laughing during 10 minutes.
So, evry episode is a little dream, you can watch it with smile. But that is not because that's a comedy, oh no no. By a certain way, is it a "melodrama".
For OST, some makes you smile (or dancing if you're strange, like me). Because some are in english you can sing it more easily, and that it pleasant too.
I think you can rewatch an episode with smile on a sunday, just for smile.
THE MAIN WORLD OF THIS CRITIC IS SMILE. OK. WATCH IT IF YOU WANT TO SMILE.

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I started to watch because I wanted to see Ryu Hwa-young's (Kang Yi-na)acting performance. She is from a K-pop group named T-ara.

Without knowing the shows premise, I started to watch.

I was impressed. This was my first K-Drama ever.

If you read this, just watch this show. Lights out at home, in your car, wherever you can. Season 02 is great. But

Season 01 is better in my opinion...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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WHAT A BEAUTY!!!

First of all, although it is slice of life type drama, but it is not that traditional melancholic types. Every character has an interesting story to tell.
It's the story of 5 girls who share a renting house, and bond over time with each other, sympathising with each other, cheering upon on one another .

I think this is the drama, whenever I'll watch it, I'll become a person better than the present version.
This drama has made me think and feel so much, that I don't have words to express myself.

Music was perfect. The whole album is just so precious, and it is still on my playlist. Actors did a perfect job.
Frankly speaking, everyone should atleast watch this drama once in their life.

I would very soon go to watch this again!!!

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I'm surprised I haven't written a review for this by now considering I was so entranced by this drama from start to finish. It's very unusual to find dramas about real people and real stories told through such unartificial means. Most of the time, we're given a set of stock characters and stock situations that may or may not deliver on their promises. Age of Youth aspired to do something different. I won't say that it exceeded in every respect. There are too many loose ends once the story wraps, and sometimes the pacing is weird. One plot line comes completely out of left field and still frustrates me even though I will concede that they found a way to make it work. But what Age of Youth brought to the drama table is something we don't see in other dramas.



They brought real people.



And I love this drama for that.

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Cutest cast!

Loved the connection between the main cast (especially Kang Yi Na and Jung Ye Eun)! The cast absolutely blew my mind with acting which made the characters feel so alive and relatable. Kang Yi Na was so caring for others, and had (in my opinion) the saddest past of them all, where she even blamed herself for surviving instead of someone's daughter, and let the daughter's dad resent her because she believe it was her problem when it clearly wasn't. Also rooting for her relationship with Seo Dong Joo!!! SO CUTE TOGETHER! THEIR CHEMISTRY IS SUPERIOR! Jung Ye Eun might have always said the wrong things at the wrong time, but you can tell her sincerity and care towards her housemates, even her abusive ex-boyfriend. Loved her self-love at the end where she finally found happiness because of Kang Yi Na🫶

Plot was very slow, though, with no real climax. I think the climax was meant to be the dad's death which they don't specify whether she killed him or not? Really wish they put more work into making some things more dramatic and understandable. Gave it a higher score for the cast, hope the second season is worth it! Once I start I cannot stop haha.

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This was not at all what I was expecting. I wanted some light comedy to cheer up my week, nope this wasn't it. Right now I'm struggling with the flu as well, so quite honestly this wasn't much fun to watch sans the first few episodes. So 4/10 for enjoyment in my current situation, i'm giving it a 9, because this hard to define genre is not something Hallyu can pull off well, in fact this might be the first (Korean, there are some similar animes out there)dark spice of life drama I've seen that managed to deliver. Sure it has a lot of stuff that I don't like to watch, such as domestic abuse, but overall objectively this drama is very special. The cast is truly outstanding, the OST is nothing much, but it fits just fine.
The ending was okay and I liked how the supernatural element was dealt with, I understand why meany viewers were disappointed with this, but I felt this was just perfect. I'm going to remember this show for a very long time, bittersweet as it was.

Would I watch this again? Probably not.
Am I going to watch season 2? Probably not either, because based on reviews it's even darker & I really don't like actor swaps..

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The Maze of Adulthood & The Importance of Friends

"If you stay in one place for too long, you can get lost too."

So, to start off, this is not a light drama. It deals with domestic violence, toxic relationships, sexual harassment, and suicidal tendencies. Definitely be cautious if you're sensitive to these sort of things.

The story deals with the in and out daily lives of five girls who live together, all with varying ages, and all who have a hidden secret. It's essentially a coming of age story that deals with the growing pains of becoming an adult, and all the things others don't tell you about life. It was an up and down journey, one full of the worries of life, secret problems, tears, and laughter. And I felt it all along with the character's in the story. The back stories behind all the character's could have ultimately been a little bit more fleshed out, but at twelve episodes they did a fantastic job of of pacing the storyline. It didn't need any fillers as there's a lot to keep track of with the different lives. This is food for the mind, and not really a pure entertainment drama for sure. Along with all the problems they portray, they really did well indicating the importance of the people you surround yourself with. Life is tough, but it get's easier and more enjoyable when you have people to fall back on. There is seriousness here, but also the joys of friendship.

The acting was really good, and very believable. I thought only one actress was a little lacking, but I think that might just have been the shallow-ish character she was portraying. There were so many emotions in this, and all of them were evoking. I enjoyed the acting along with the copious amounts of lessons in this. The music was nice. Though it was nothing too groundbreaking, they definitely set the moods well.

All in all, an enjoyable drama that was a roller-coaster of emotions, and one I would recommend. It's not a fun filler drama though, and should be approached with an open mind.

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Deceptively slice of life, take care of the trigger warnings they neglect to give

The first season of this show was incredible, I loved all of the girls and was interested in their stories. It really draws you into their lives and relationships.

I feel like there should've been better warnings about the triggery stuff that happens later on in the season, however. The character we're introduced to first gets the least screen time and seems to shift into an entirely different person off screen with no explanation, which is frustrating. Most of the story lines could use a lot more screen time and some of the editing decisions are absurd and add unnecessary confusion which breaks the suspension of disbelief.


However, I do genuinely like this show. I think if it ended at the first season I would regard the whole thing as a dated but enjoyable binge watch. And since MDL separates the seasons as though they're different shows- so will I.

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Deeper than I was expecting

This drama had me in tears. I thought it was going to be light-hearted and fluffy, but unexpectedly it touched on some very serious topics.

I loved all of the five main girls. They all had different backstories and secrets which made the show more interesting than I thought it was going to be.

It started off with Eun-Jae moving into the share house so I thought it was mainly going to focus on her, but then the second episode starts and it's all about Yi-Nah being a prostitute. Ooof, wasn't expecting to see this in a K-drama. However, I liked Yi-Nah's character as she had a powerful presence and liked to stick up for her girls.

The relationship that formed between Jin-Myung and Jae-Wan was so sweet. Jin-Myung's boss at the restaurant was a real creep and I wasn't expecting the show to take the path it did there. That was the first instance when I realised it was going to be more serious than I thought. Her Mum killing her brother was not a shock but it still made me sad.

Eun-Jae's relationship was also sweet, and the height difference between them was just!!! Ugh! She's so smol that it's cute! The secret about her 'killing' her Dad was odd and it didn't really feel like her character. Her backstory seemed weird.

I really like Ye-Eun and was not expecting her boyfriend to turn crazy abusive towards the end.

Poor Ji-Won - I felt sorry for her because she seemed like the third-wheel type person. It was especially hard/sad to watch when the girls were at the hospital and all of their mans come in to see them and she has no one. But when she calls the guy she relies on, he answers her but then hangs up! I hope to see her in a relationship by the second series - she deserves it.

The ending where they were all worried about the whereabouts of Eun-Jae had me shedding a tear, and it was so sweet when they all hugged her when she came home. The friendship between them all grew so much stronger throughout the show. I loved this!

I really hope series two is just as good and if not better!

I definitely picture myself rewatching this in the future.

-E

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This is my first review but I thought this drama was worth writing one for. I will remain very broad in my review, but hope to get the essence of the drama across.

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I stumbled upon this drama while scrolling through Netflix and could not be happier that I did. It has become one of my favorite dramas.

Many of the girls’ problems are relatable and grounded in reality which makes for great stories. At first, its hard to like some of the characters, but each ends up capturing a part of your heart. I become especially fond of Kang Ina and Yoon Jin Myung. Throughout the drama, I was always pulling for Jin Myung to find a sliver of happiness and was glad she did by the end. There were many times when I wanted to punch the manager and co-workers in their mouths.

The growth of the characters is probably the most satisfying aspect of the story. Of course they still had a lot of growing to do even at the end, but compared to the first episode, they all grew tremendously. Life is full of development and that is reflected in this drama.

Finally, the relationship between the 5 of them was phenomenal. About midway through we could see that each one cared for each other, even if they didn’t know how to show it. It was frustrating at times but they came together and became a family.

In conclusion, there were many heartwarming moments and many agonizing moments. I thought the journey through each girls’ hardships and worries was great. Definitely worth a watch! I’m excited to watch S2 even with the actress changes. I’m not ready to give up these characters yet.

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