Youth Report (2020)

PBG Fans this is THE drama for you!!!!

Okay. Admittedly I watched this drama mainly because of PBG!!!!! I think that speaks for itself. But I stayed because of the story.

While watching this drama I first thought it was about youth romance between the ML and FL but as the story unfolds more each episode I got a feeling that it was more than that. As the story gets deeper, I realized that this is about the life of the ML and what he was going through during his "youth", his 20s. As someone who's in my mid 20's, I found his character very relatable. The way he was going through his quarter life crisis just seemed so real. The pressure he felt to prove his self to other, the time management, building his career, finding love, and basically just finding balance in things.

One thing that I really really loved in this drama is that it showed the versatility of PBG as an actor. Since he was playing as an actor here, he was able to portray a variety of character within the drama. Hence, making this drama THE drama to watch for his fans. It was seriously like a fan service served on a silver platter!!!! <3

There's actually only one thing in this drama that I didn't like, at some point - especially the ending- it felt like the drama was cut short. I know that from the beginning it was really a 16 episode drama, but even though the ending was okay and realistic, after getting attached to other character I felt that their stories were cut short. It felt like the major supporting characters that we saw in the beginning became extras towards the end. There was really no growth. Like for Haehyo, we don't know actually know what happened to his career after. How is his relationship with his mom now. How Jinu and Haena are doing. The Grandpa and HJs dad, his mom, his brother, what are they doing after 2 years passed.

The ending left more questions asked than answered. You know if they made this drama a 20 episode one I really wouldn't mind <3 hehehehe but yeah that's just me lol

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How I view this drama (Updated)

How I viewed this drama before I completed it and had only watched 8 episodes:
Original ranking:
Acting 8.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch 9.0
Overall 9.0

This drama is slow and medium-hearted. It depicts the life of the two main leads, who are fighting to make a name for themselves in a job they are passionate about. It is a drama that focuses on the real-life struggles of the leads, and the people that surround them. As a result of this, not everyone will find this drama interesting or enjoyable and that's okay.
Secondly, the acting by the cast is enjoyable and helped make the plot stand out a little bit more. As I watched the currently aired eight episodes, I did not feel uncomfortable by the way the actors chose to represent the characters, nor did I feel like one actor was outshining another, so I applaud the actors not only for their chemistry but for their ability to provide such a comfortable performance for myself as a viewer.

Thirdly, the script and plot so far, is it unique? 50/50. There are a few other dramas out there that depicted the struggles and life of someone in the entertainment industry, and the struggles of their female counterpart, however, the parts of this drama that do make this plot unique in my opinion, is the approach the writers have taken to touch upon the human aspects of some of these characters. In these types of shows, it isn't unrealistic to see the 'mean, rude, obnoxious' character(s) that constantly appear over and over and that constantly make the plot more generic. This drama does have obnoxious, rude characters, but thankfully it isn't the initial focus of the drama. Because the writer chose to focus on the humane aspects of the characters, we get a broader glimpse into the struggles these characters are going through, and rather than having them build up a facade for the public, they choose to continue to be as true to themselves as they possibly can.
Lastly. The way the overall plot is executed and the speed of the drama is slow but not too slow for my liking. Rather, I find it at just the right pace of not too fast nor too slow, to properly dive into the stories of the characters. Take note that as I stated, this is a humane drama about the struggles of the leads in their desired workplace, if the pace was too fast we would lose a majority of the plot and barely understand the key aspects of the overall story, let alone the relationships between characters wouldn't seem as genuine as they are at this moment in time. To sum it all up, I believe this drama is great for those who want to watch a nicely paced and humane drama, either as background noise or as something to just relax to.

How I viewed this drama after I completed it (UPDATED REVIEW):

I'm sorry but what the absolute hell was the writer(s) thinking? They completely lost their way the second half of the drama. The at first humble leads, who communicated quite thoroughly in the beginning, then changed and struggled to communicate and treated each other appallingly.
The various plot barriers (conflicts) thrown at them were quite lackluster as well, and the majority, if not all of them weren't needed!

I am absolutely astounded at how the writer(s) who had a perfectly somewhat realistic, and humane drama, in the beginning, could completely throw it all under a bus story-wise, and instead focus their resources in an attempt to 'cause drama and keep it entertaining' for views. As a result of their decision, the characters became really bland very quickly. Did the writer(s) even care for their characters?! As a writer myself (ie. Fanfiction and some original) I genuinely care about my characters and where they are going to end up, even if it's all fictional. Meanwhile, these writer(s) seemed to write willy nilly and destroy the original intent of the story. To summarise it all: I am severely disappointed.

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RIP to my expectations.

I'm writing this only to get rid of my anger and frustration, i was so in love with the drama at first, the cast was good the story was good, everything was good until about episode 8.
After episode 8 the writer started creating a lot of unwanted problems, the chemistry and understanding between the lead couple disappeared, the friendship between the main leads everyone adored was all gone. The whole story went down hill still i forced my self to watch it till ep 15
later i found out the disappointment of an ending and didn't bother to watch the last episode.

my many problems with the story
1) hye jun and jeong had such beautiful understanding between them i was impressed, but the writer completely killed that after episode 8

2) jeong ha never actually fulfilled her dream, they should have focused on her character development but they didn't at all, it was as if she was a supporting character after episode 8.

3)hye jun's and hae hyo's friendship was so lovable at first, and i understand it all went downhill for reasons but neither hye jun nor hae hyo tried to retrieve it, years of friendship just worthless

4) Hae hyo's father was introduced in the plot so he should have had a bigger role in changing the mother and supporting the children correctly.

5) jeong ha's mother was introduced but the did nothing special with the character she was just a way to kill time and extent the episode to one hour

6) hye na's relationship with jin woo should have had a better story surrounding them.

the reporter lady was just annoying to the core, i didn't like min jae's character after a while either

the writer had such excellent ideas but why did she create problems she wouldn't be able to solve?
I'm more angry since they practically wasted PBG and PSD's talent , i had so much expectations but in the end all went down the drain where i didn't even bother to waste my time on the last episode.
i need my 15+ hours i spent on this drama, I'm so annoyed and i definately would not recommend

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Record of Absolutely Nothing

I was really excited to start watching this drama and the beginning didn't disappoint. Right off, I could tell that this was different. There was no unnecessary drama. No ridiculous misunderstandings to keep the two leads apart just for the sake of it. No mysterious past connection that either one can't remember. This might be one of the most realistic relationships I've seen in a kdrama so far. Just two people who meet, start to like each other, let each other know and start dating and fall in love. It was so sweet. Annnnnd that's pretty much it. I can't remember exactly what episode it was, I think the episode that ended with them dancing in the rain. I feel like it should've ended there because everything after that was just so blah. Nothing really happened. Hye Jun became famous but that was to be expected. I feel like this drama was full of nothing. Relationships that didn't really lead anywhere, friendships that didn't really change. I gave it a 6.5 because overall this wasn't a bad drama, it was just a nothing drama with really good acting.

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Kilka chwil przed szczytem.

Okey, bez zbędnych ceregieli. Emocji miałam dużo. Negatywnych oczywiście po ostatnim epizodzie, który ściął mnie z nóg. Ale za chwilę dojdziemy do tego.

Coś o fabule.
Record Of Youth mogłoby się po tytule wydawać, że będzie jakimś powiewem motywu z Reply albo Age Of Youth, no bo w końcu Youth - Młodość. Hye Jun jako model dąży do bycia szerokiej sławy aktorem, a Jung Ha teoretycznie chce być makijażystką, ale skrycie marzy w pierwszym epizodzie o spotkaniu ze swoim idolem którym o dziwo właśnie jest mało popularny jeszcze Hye Jun. Szybko wywiązuje się między nimi przyjaźń i co można przewidzieć miłość. ( I to dość szybko przyznaje tu wychodzi)
Hye Jun przechodzi nie lada wyzwania i kilkakrotne upadki zanim staje na czerwonym dywanie. Zapewnia mu to ciągle gderająca rodzina (oprócz kochanego dziadziusia) byli szefowie i ciągle wygrywający z nim w przedbiegach Hae Hyo - najlepszy przyjaciel. Do tego wejście w progi aktorstwa wiąże się z niejednym skandalem z którymi przychodzi się zmierzyć Hye Junowi. Oprócz zmagań głównego bohatera dostajemy szeroką dawkę historii postaci drugoplanowych, których po ilości czasu antenowego wcale bym ich tak nie nazwała. Serio, nie spotkałam się chyba jeszcze z dramą w której połowa czasu antenowego leciała na każdą inną osobę oprócz głównej pary. A są nimi rodzina Hye Juna, rodzina Hae Hyo, menedżerowie i każda z osobna postać z ów wspomnianej rodziny. Jak wiele osób gdzieś pisało, historie tych osób zostały wprowadzone i kompletnie nie rozwinięte. Zaczynając od samego Hae Hyo, który błąka się ze złamanym sercem między matką a główną parą a kończąc na rodzinie Jung Ha o której wiemy tylko tyle co się pojawia i znika. Z moją skłonnością do przewijania prze nudnych wątków, w tym wypadku musiałam naprawdę niejednokrotnie sporo przewinąć. Może do tego też przyczyniły się dialogi albo generalnie tempo dramy które potrafiło się przy innych wątkach strasznie wlec... Nie wiem, może to tylko ja, ale nie chciało mi się poświęcać uwagi na coś co nie było tym wątkiem głównym.

Co mnie tak boli...
Wracając do głównej pary, poza karierą która razem starają się sobie ukierunkować i spełnić wedle swoich oczekiwań uwagę zwraca ich związek, który teoretycznie od początku solidnie zbudowany z niewiadomych przyczyń ulega jakiejś cichej destrukcji. Destrukcji której nie umiem pojąć, zresztą jak wszyscy recenzenci których czytam.
Jak para, która jest tak dogadana pod każdym względem, zrównoważona, wyrozumiała praktycznie do samego końca w ostatnim niemalże odcinku się wypala i to z takim spokojem? Z początku spodziewałam się, że to ten wątek miłosny między gwiazdą a szarą myszeczką nie wypali, albo ich przerośnie. Dojść można do takiej w sumie konkluzji, że to własnie był ten powód. Naszemu hallyustar zaczęło solidnie brakować czasu, a JH mogło to nie satysfakcjonować.. Jednakże jak sama przyznała, sama miała pełne ręce roboty ze swoim nowo otwartym salonem. Związek zrobił się taki jakby długodystansowy, ale wciąż. Oboje zdążyli zauważyć, że fajerwerki już miały swój czas i trochę pod górkę się zaczęło. Wszystko miało solidne uzasadnienie, w takim układzie będzie ciężej. Kto tak nie pomyśli wiązać się z aktorem? JH nagle zmienia się w sentymentalną materialistkę, która mówi finisz. I co ciekawe, szybko im przechodzi po tylu romantycznych scenkach i żarliwych "Kocham Cię", co to nie spotkałam się jeszcze w dramie.
Sami to oceńcie. Żal mi że tak mi się naświetliły oczy ich uroczym widokiem dla takiego zakończenia.
W sumie, można też zasmucić się nad wątkiem siostry Hae Ny i Juniego, którzy również tak po prostu zrobili finisz w ostatnim epie ze względu różnic społecznościowych.


OST:
Bardzo przyjemny, nutka Wheein albo Baekhyuna wpadła mi solidnie w ucho. Zobaczymy na jak długo. Wszystko miało dobre zabarwienie i dawało odczuć jakiś sentymentalny klimat jakby właśnie do młodości nawiązywało.

Co ja powiem więcej o tej dramie. Nie udało mi się jak dotąd skończyć inne pozycje od tejże scenarzystki aż wreszcie zrobiłam to tutaj. Czy jestem zadowolona z tego? Raczej nie.
NIe znoszę, nie trawię takich niezrozumiałych zabiegów w serialach gdzie coś co ma solidny grunt znikąd zostaje pogrzebane. Wątek romantyczny w tym wypadku był naprawdę takim głównym wątkiem i tworzył cały klimat tejże historii. Pozbywanie się go na ostatnią chwilę bez zastanowienia zrobiło zamęt i zmyło cały nastrój jaki w odbiorcy wytworzył się podczas tych 14 epów. Myślę, że gdyby któremuś z bohaterów nie wypaliła kariera nie zrobiło by to takiej dziury jak zrobiło zerwanie SHJ z AJH.
Czuje że piszę strasznie chaotycznie, ale tak. Ta drama wiele nie daje poza głębokim urokiem z którego ktoś cie na siłę
brutalnie budzi.

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I’m not really sure what I just watched. I mean it was a series but I’m a bit confused. It was airy! There didn’t appear to be a plot. The synopsis is accurate but just no there is nothing more to it than that. Series is about young adults in the modeling industry, 2 models/actors, a photographer and a make up artist. It was okay but noting happened.

What you’ll get is a struggling actor trying to make it, a successful actor who is greatly supported. The series is unique in the sense that the 3 males all appear to be really good and loyal friends since childhood. Our female lead is new to the circle, kind of.

There was so cute moments but mostly tears from their struggles or peculiar family.

I can’t recommend this. I sort of feel like I just watch a long fashion ad without a chance to see full ad. This is not really romantic although the bond between the males is refreshing.

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I don't understand what happened

Yes I "watched" the entire drama and there are a lot of people who already shared a similar opinion as mine but I just have to get this out of my head. I was so excited as I heared about the cast and also the OST and the actors also very did well.... But the story idk. The first 7 or 8 episodes were amazing in my opinion and then nothing. I think that was because they were very fast forward with the characters relationship in the first few episode. It felt like they have nothing to tell anymore afterwards and I was bored while watching it, which lead to skipping through most of the side characters scenes. I also disliked the male lead in between because it was so cliché. Idk

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Phew... Such a rollercoaster. Of disappointment.

This drama stole 4 month of my patience, so I gonna be brief and pinpoint. I was surprised looking at low ratings when I was on the first episodes but by the end I think that even low ratings are too high for it.

🔸️For me it's obvious that the main character Sa Hye Joon is based on Park Bo Geom, or at least relies heavily on his persona. He just finished his service the last year right after this drama. I was never a fan of him but I see how his fanbase ramped up the ratings. 8.7% wouldn't be possible with such crooked storytelling if there weren't the two Parks (Park So Dam).

Now, facts only:
▪︎Hye Joon's dad looks like Kim Jeong Il.
▪︎After the 8th episode Hye Joon already achieved everything somehow and starts earning millions and riding a luxurious car out of blue because the drama producers have signed a promotion contract with BMW.
▪︎The story goes nowhere after he reaches success. Hye Joon obviously doesn't give a damn about scandals, so why should I?
▪︎Endless dialogues about feelings and morals that sound like even the actors are sick of them. As if the characters were zen Buddhist monks. Cut to 1 hour per episode, nothing to lose.
▪︎Army sucks. Stealing 2 years of life. I got it.
▪︎WTF? "Hi how are u"? This is the ending?!?

I started watching Record Of Youth when I felt bad and needed motivation. Mistake. Please, don't watch this drama if you're having hard times. It's not motivating, it's manipulative.

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Gets boring as it proceeds.

This drama started as a good one. It had everything, start actors(PBG and PSD) good story(only for few episodes) good music and direction was okay. But all these things got bad after episode 7-8. There was no development between the two leads, the whole drama was mostly focused of ML while the FL seems to play a supporting characters instead of main. The bad guys were just bad and the good guys turned bad were going no where. The families will get on your nerves.
This drama is a big disappointment and huge waste of talent. The writer did a really terrible job. It's not the actors fault they are just doing whatever the script has.
If you ask me that if I should recommend this drama, I will say hell no. Don't waste your time on this you will be disappointed.

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I think that "disappointment" is the word for my feeling now watching the end of "Record of you". Certainly not just for me, based on the many comments that I saw here on MDL and in some other places, but I will try to explain what made me feel like this.

When I started this drama, I was in the same vibe that most people were. The story, the romance and chemistry of the main couple, the way how we could saw another face of the entertainment industry... Everything catches me at the first sight. I really love the way how they construct the need for persistence and work to catch your dreams, the first episodes create an amazing image to the show. I think that maybe this was one of the factors that we can feel this feeling of frustration: the expectations. Mostly on Park Bo Gum and Park So Dam's performance, but also in the story and the promise of something great. With so many expectations, some script choices made the story lose its shine. One thing that disturbs me was the relation between Won Hae Hyo (Byeon Woo Seok) and Ahn Jung Ha (Park So Dam). I'm not talking about the plot itself, but the fact of this started with so much strength and in the middle of the process just was faded. We couldn't see a satisfactory closet to the feelings of Hae Hyo or an exposition of this, and the things just go on. Jung Ha doesn't show strong refuse to these feelings but also doesn't make this clear... I don't know. For me, this was very weak. I could point some others loose ends, but this isn't a spoiler review. I can say that many things are left without a good closer and leave a bitter taste on our mouth. I know that is an "adult drama" with real stuff and a really interesting message, but this isn't an excuse to sloppy with the story.

About the acting, I already said that I didn't know Park Bo Geum's work before, but I love him on this character. The way how we could saw the kindness and sweetness of Sa Hye Joon through his eyes was beautiful. Park So Dam also did a great job, but as I said, I couldn't embrace her character with all my strength. Something didn't catch me on Ahn Jung Ha, but this has nothing to do with Park So Dam's performance. Some characters seemed a little out of the story to me, like Kim Jin Woo (Kwon Soo Hyun) that had quickly moments on screen. When I thought that his plot would go deep, everything just vanished. The same for Jung Ji Ah (Seol In Ah) and Lee Tae Soo (Lee Chang Hoon) that could be great antagonists in the story, but just lose power in the process. With Won Hae Hyo (Byeon Woo Seok) the path was inverted... I started disliking him, but in the process, I could appreciate some characteristics of this character. I still don't like some attitudes, but I thought his plot the most coherent until the end. Honorable mention to my precious cameo: Park Seo Joon. My love. Owner of my heart. LOL.

I'm a little sad about the inconsistencies in the story and the high expectations made us a little frustrated with this show... But I still thought this a GOOD ONE (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★). You won't find a surprising story here, but for sure you will see some life lessons and get emotional with many moments.

See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.

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Não é um drama ruim, só é decepcionante

No começo tava tudo perfeito, as mil maravilhas mas sinto que depois que começou o ano de 2020 no drama as coisas começaram a desandar MUITO.
Eu me senti perdida na historia, tudo estava muito repetitivo e se eu pulasse um ep nn faria diferença nenhuma.
Os personagens tbm me decepcionaram bastante, parece que o diretor esqueceu as personalidades deles e mudou completamente. Isso me deixou meio desanimada, toda semana nada de novo acontecia então nn tinha mais aquela empolgação na hora de começar um novo ep ou um frio na barriga quando eu via a previa do próximo. Tudo parecia estar tão monótono que eu já sabia oq ia acontecer na próxima semana.
Sem contar que o drama se encerrou sem dar explicações de varias coisas, acabou deixando pontas soltas que com uns 30 minutos eles conseguiriam resolver!

SPOILER

Pontos que na minha opinião poderiam ter ajudado o drama a me cativar mais:
*Maior desenvolvimento do Hae Hyo
*Menos enrolação no romance da Jeong Ha e do Hye Jun
*SEM REPETIÇÃO DE ACONTECIMENTOS
*SURPRESAS

Vamos lá explicar os meus asteriscos:

* Ele tinha muita coisa para desenvolver, eu gostei bastante de como o ciclo dele se fechou mais ficaria mais feliz se eles tivessem trabalho isso aos poucos ao longo do drama. O que eu senti foi que eles basicamente ignoraram o Hae Hyo em alguns episódios para focar no romance da Jeong Ha e do Hae hyo o que ficou repetitivo (Falo sobre isso no próximo asterisco) Se o desenvolvimento dele tivesse sido mais mostrado ao longo desses últimos episódios a minha toa com certeza seria maior, o final dele foi bom mas nn precisava ser contado somente nos últimos minutos!

*A enrolação pra mim foi algo que aconteceu muito nesse drama, teve enrolação de historia, enrolação nos sentimentos dos personagens...
O relacionamento dos dois tinha me cativado no começo, por ser algo um pouco diferente do que vems nos dramas atuais. Parecia ser realmente uma relação que satisfazia as duas partes de um modo positivo. Nessa parte eles conseguiram acertar, mas dps eu senti como se o drama fosse somente sobre isso. Sobre eles se desencontrando sobre a agenda de trabalho.

*A historia daquela repórter que ficava publicando matéria sobre ele me deu muito vontade de gritar, era a mesma historia em TODO ep! Nada de novo acontecia! Eram só matérias diferentes mas o desenvolvimentos foi sempre o mesmo. Isso me deixou frustrada, eu nn tava aguentando mais a mesma historia, eles poderiam mt bem ter contado das outras dificuldades em ser famoso como: Assedio dos fãs nas ruas e nas redes sociais, o padrão da mídia, as etiquetas a serem seguidas.... E muito mais, não precisava ter focado somente naquela repórter doente!
Nesse ponto podemos destacar também que eles poderiam ter tido mais cenas de interações dele com os fãs. Eu senti falta de uma cena onde descobrem onde ele mora e se questionam pq ele nn aluga uma mansão... Umas coisinhas bobas nesse estilo que me deixariam mt mais feliz. (EU IA AMAR UMA CENA EM QUE PUBLICAM UMA FT DA JEONG HA COM O HAE HYO E UMA DELA COM HYE JUN E A MIDIA TENTA DESCOBRIR DE QUEM ELA É NAMORADA E ENTÃO O HAE HYO IA FINGIR QUE ERA NAMORADO DELA SÓ PARA NN ACABAR COM A BOA IMAGEM QUE O HYE JUN TINHA _Não custa sonhar gente_)

*Nesse ultimo ponto é basicamente oq eu disse acima, eu queria surpresas! Eu sei que esse drama não é um Thriller nem nada parecido com isso, mas eu queria surpresas no romance mesmo. Queria que acontecessem coisas interessantes com eles, eu terminei esse drama com ódio pq eles nn me entregaram a cena que eu pedi da Jeong Ha comendo com a família do Hye Jun. O próprio Hye Jun conhecendo a família dela. Coisas diferentes da mesma enrolação de antes.

CONCLUSÃO FINAL:
Decepcionada com esse drama, mas se você não se importa com as coisas que eu desenvolvi acima e quer assistir um drama para passar o tempo. Eu recomendo Record Of Youth, sem falar que as Ost são incríveis eu me emocionava na hr de ouvir a abertura!

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The best actors, the worst story

I had high hopes for this show, I saw Park Bogum and Park Sodam and expected a top tier drama to match this top tier actor list. But what did I get? Boring predictable drama. I like that they tried to keep it on a mature level, but the story was so predictable it was hard to sit through, and the characters were so ridiculously scripted into cliche characters. I dropped the show for a bit after episode 11, and ended up skipping all the way to the last episode. And guess what, I wasn’t even surprised that all the stuff they mentioned happened, and I wasn’t surprised by the ending either. I was so disappointed.

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