How to Be Thirty (2021)

Il senso arriva in zona Cesarini

“Getting moderately smart, and moderately crafted. How to be Thirty.”

Se questo drama riesce a risparmiarsi una completa Caporetto lo deve solo alla tagline conclusiva, che sbuca a sorpresa fra i titoli di coda dell’ultimo episodio. “Non ti credere di diventare adulto, a 30 anni sarai appena appena più sveglio di quando ne avevi 20”: dopo 15 episodi in discesa libera regista e sceneggiatrice rassegnano le armi; non è colpa del soggetto, c’est la vie.
Tralasciando la provvidenziale epifania finale, HTBT cammina sulle uova già dall’episodio 10, incasinando psiche e sentimenti dei suoi protagonisti in modo completamente inverosimile. Peccato, perché l’idea di partenza è buona, i primi episodi avvincono (complice l’insolita durata di 20 minuti), il cast convince, le attrici sono pure vestite bene. Però davvero la relazione fra Seo Ji-won e il suo main leader è un mix di Lady Vendetta e un dramma borghese dell’Ottocento. Per non parlare della coppia n. 2, vivacizzata da un affascinante toy boy profondo d’animo e infante nei modi, che non sarebbe credibile neanche se lo show si ambientasse al quartier generale dell’ACR.
Insomma, un’occasione persa di cui consiglio la visione solo alle fan più accanite di Kang Min Hyuk, che vogliono recuperare tutta la sua produzione, anche quella in cui fa la parte del pirla.

Leggi di Più

It's all mess here

So it was all mess. Nothing particularly good I would say kind of a waste of time. Thank god it was short series or it would have been the worst outcome. Though genres are romance, comedy in the end it turned out to be a real headache. The FLs character isn't likable or I'll say I didn't like her decisions. The main love story between leads is the failure of the show and wait what? twisting rom-com like a thriller, action isn't a good thing at all. I mean the last twist damn I was frustrated because of it.

The things I liked were the second couple (I would have loved if they were leads) well they definitely were show-stealer, the friendship of the trio was admirable. Liked the character development of some characters. So there wasn't anything better than this for me. Well yeah, it does have visuals so you can watch it for it.

So overall it wasn't that good though it's a short drama, I won't recommend it for sure!

Leggi di Più

It's real life and it's okay!

I'm satifasted with the drama. First of all, the cast is amazing! I was impressed with the debut of Baek Sung-chul. He and Hani were the best couple EVER!
Then, the stories unfolded evenly, giving us the information to keep up with the gaps. The ending was, at the very least, interesting, simple and real. I wish she was already very well with the director? Clear. However, how unrealistic would that be, considering all the trauma of past relationships? Min Hyuk, I was angry with you, but it just proves how good the plot was and you are an excellent actor! In short, this k-drama is adult, realistic and even simple. I thought it was well distributed in its episodes and was very consistent. And I recommended for those who are not looking for a drama of great events, but an easy and light entertainment to watch.

Leggi di Più

This Kdrama was worth it!

The cast really managed to pull off their characters, which are also very relatable. It's a break from dramas that have a certain level of cliche in the storyline. Their reactions and emotions are very realistic. I would recommend this drama if you want to watch a light-hearted drama that's warm and very straight to the point. Even if it was a mini web series, you will really be able to appreciate the effort the whole crew put into the drama. Overall, you should watch this drama <3 It's a subtle reminder that even adults don't have the answer to all the questions that younger people expect them to have.

Leggi di Più

It's good. Its also short so its binge-able and above ALL, portrays reality

Its a good drama that portrays a pretty realistic situation in which the timing for a relationship doesn't work out.

It's a drama that deals with mature themes (nothing too sexy if that's what you thing mature means). But if you are looking to watch a perfect-ending, cookie cutter drama... this is not it for you baby girl. You might cry a little bit but if you stick around, you might even learn a thing or two about real love and maturity as an adult.

Even though two people obviously love each other, sometimes the circumstances can't be ignored and it would be wrong for them to date under those circumstances. A person also can't ignore his or hers morals in order to make a relationship work. Cheating is simple wrong (which is technically what happens in this drama)

I really enjoyed this drama because of the writing. Everything was executed in a realistic and mature way so that the character s didn't look childish unintentionally or unnecessarily. Everything was under control (from the looks of the drama from my point of view of course)

So I would really recommend it.

Leggi di Più

So moist!

The premise had so much promise but didn't live up to any of it.

Think of this 'drama' as extended product placement - for some low-brow serums and other desperate-for-cool advertisers - and you won't be disappointed.

On the plus side, the leads are nice-looking, the kisses are real-looking and . . . that's it.

On the distaff, there's only a wafer-thin plot, largely unsympathetic characters, and massive over-use of 'flashbacks' to scenes you've watched 5 minutes ago (presumably to give us more scenes of serum applying).

And the 'acting' is some of the worst I've ever seen - there are lots, and I mean LOTS, of wordless staring into space scenes, much repeated by characters who look drunk, stoned, or in a brain fog. I fully expected drool to start appearing.

Ugh, avoid.

Leggi di Più

tried too hard

this drama tried too hard on three aspects, one it wanted to be "mature", two it wanted a cute "fluffy" romance and three it wanted to pull a move I actually like so I didn't mind xD


one; it's as if cheating and complicated romance makes it more mature. on the other hand this also wanted to show that 30 year olds are still clueless and naive
the thing is, the ML was toxic from the start, he played push and pull with the FL while he was in a relationship. so not only did he keep confusing the FL, he then proceeds to blame her for everything
after she took courage to confess and they spend a night together, he doesn't call! then he goes to her house unannounced and yells at HER for not calling! but even worse after he made her insecure, taken aback, he proceeds to tell her I like you.
that's legit toxic behavior, the problem didn't even start with the fact that he was already dating, he never respected women

after a while they show how all his life girls confessed to him 1st, then he only dated his gf just becasue she was yet another fangirl, so even if their relationship was never serious, it was not an excuse to pursue the FL and confuse her even more while they were "dating"

here the writer wanted that "1st loves don't work out" with a touch of makjang so I actually liked that message xD


the 2nd problem was the second couple, that dude was 21 pretending to be 24 but acted like a 15 year old! I have nothing against age gaps, hani's character too needed a cutie more than a controlling "oppa", but this was a severe case of miscast, I could take his actions, but I could not take the aegyo or the way he talked, I could not believe a 30 year old wants that... there's a difference between age gap and mental gap, they could have a 10 year gap and still match intellectually


the 3rd part was the "2nd lead gets the girl", it's a thing with song jaerim xD I actually not only preferred him, but I'm all on board the "get rid of the jerk ML and choose the sweetie 2ML" :)




a good point would be that this was short but the bad point would be this show repeated scenes way too much ;)

Leggi di Più

Good character doing stupid shit.

You can't help but like and understand the female lead, but at the same time it's extremely frustrating, specially when she's a grown ass adult. (sorry for the word choice, but I just finished this so I'm in the heat of the moment right now)

I personally love Kang Minhyuk (CNBlue fan right here), so I was completely biased and rooting for him.. til there was NO EXCUSES LEFT. I actually liked the plot about him cheating on the girlfriend. It wasn't something you see often in asian dramas, but it DOES happen in real life. People are human, we all make mistakes and hurt other people. I didn't hate him for that. I hated for how he dealt with it afterwards.

Overall, I enjoyed the first half of the drama very much, and it felt new to see the ML screw up and not being a misunderstanding as it would be on other dramas. So, despite the cheating, I would have preferred to see them deal with the situation, but he didn't do ONE THING right to support her. Instead they all patronized the ex girlfriend after she stalked, threatened and exposed the female lead, letting her do everything she wanted. Like, REALLY? And anyways, she should be going after the ML, Korea need to learn about sorority.

In the end, it gets kind of cliché, the FL ending up with the "perfect guy who did nothing wrong ever in his life". Woo-hoo.

Leggi di Più

a big waste of time

First thing that I have to say it's I had a lot of expectations about this drama, and all of it was destroyed in a million pieces before halfway, I forced myself to end up clinging to just a few characters.

Do Hoon was my favorite, and I believe his performance was good. His development was smooth, he could had something more and that made me very frustrated. From the beginning, you could see that it would have relevance in the protagonist's life, so i confess i hoped they would get closer and develop some romance and a happy ending for him. But that didn't happen, too bad.

My second favorite was Ran Joon, I just started watching because of her. I really love Ahn Heeyeon. And this character had a fun development, smooth and good. She had the best happy ending in this drama and it was fun watching her scenes.

And I admit that I liked the main character a little. Ji Won was cute and adorable character, but her love story with Seung Yoo didn't make me feel anything. He was a character that I didn't like from the beginning, it bothered me the way it was written and I didn't feel any empathy. He was boring. The character I liked least.
Seung Yoo It could have had a great performance, a great development, but his script was a little annoying. As if he didn't have a personality or something that made us want to see more, him cheating on his girlfriend with his first love and screwing it up is not the biggest problem. The thing that I hated was his personality, his character construction.

I have to say that the entire construction of the script was a little disappointing. I would definitely not watch it again. The scenes were not very well fitted and it was extremely tiring to watch. This was a drama that left nothing no feeling. totally forgettable.

I wouldn't even recommend it.

Leggi di Più

I'm glad I tried this

A miniseries that overperformed thanks to two superb actors that completely stole the show: Jung In Sun (the FL) and Song Jae Rim (the SML). I am familiar with the brilliant as always Song Jae Rim but this was my first drama starring Jung In Sun - she is great and I cannot wait to see more of her work! Kang Min Hyuk (the ML) also showed great acting, but I absolutely hated his character. Normally it takes me a while to notice toxic traits in a character but for me I found this character to hold a bunch of red flags. Nearly all other characters I did like however. I loved Song Jae Rim's character.

This is also a rare occasion where I would have preferred more episodes, but liked the episode duration length. The 20 minute episode length was perfect, and it complimented the drama really well, but it could have had at least five more episodes, especially to give more depth and closure with the supporting cast.

Re-watch value is quite high for my usual rating standards as the pacing was perfect for Korean language absorption.

I recommend people to give this a try, especially if you like to watch dramas with a shorter length.

Leggi di Più

What a journey of emotional growth!

How to be thirty! Realize that you don't have to put up with emotionally unavailable and dishonest guy even when that's your childhood crush. Realize that the women that guy was with was not your enemy, just another victim of not loving yourself enough and not having enough self respect to walk away from the wrong relationship after being treated poorly by the guy. Realize that you have to use your head as well as your heart when choosing a partner. Realize that you have the power to start again after painful breakups. Realize that you have the power to hurt others and own up to your mistakes as well as realize that you have the power to protect yourself from being hurt over and over again. Realize that being emotionally vulnerable and saying sorry is a very mature and right thing to do. Realize that you need to take responsibilities for your life instead of blaming someone else. Realize that the right guy has no agenda and may be having been by your side the whole freaking time.

Leggi di Più