Imitation (2021)

Steady story with a simple plot; not bad.

To be very honest, I assumed Imitation would be a musical Kdrama just because I saw that the major cast are all singers, but to my utter disappointment it turned out to be a drama on the life of kpop idols which casts real kpop idols. But anyways, judging as a drama, IMITATION is not a bad drama and I actually liked it even though it had nothing much to offer. I mean the plot, story and screenplay are in fact not something very new to the industry of Kdramas.

STORY & PLOT:
As the synopsis says, Imitation is all about the life of Kpop idols, on individual levels as well as a group, the kpop industry, it's management and also the kpop fandom culture. The major plot involves 2 kpop groups: "SHAX", a 6yo boy group of 5 members who are well established and considered the best kpop band AND "Tea Party" a rookie girl group of 3 members who go through back to back mishaps to debut and struggle in the huge ocean-like industry of kpop. They have some past, separately and together and they help each other grow while facing odds from the management, industry happenings, media and their fans. While the 2 lead characters fall in love and go forward in their relationship secretly, they also find unsaid truth about their pasts and with the help of their fellow teammates, try to resolve it through music.

CAST & ACTING:
Well, I am not sure about others but I honestly did not expect much in regards of acting since the people casted for the major characters are either rookie actors or are with less experience in the industry. So judging from that pov, they've actually done an moderately average job playing their respective roles. SF9 Chani despite playing small roles in many dramas has actually improved a lot and I loved him the most in the drama. After him was Park Ji Yeon noona (T-ara) who is somewhat experienced
also did good in her supporting role. I have seen Jung Ji So in some other dramas and I actually like her acting. Lee Jun Young (U-kiss) and Jung Yun Ho (Ateez) as main characters were good if not more.

I think Danny Ahn (Ji Hak) is the most experienced actor in this drama but he had very less scope to perform. I was a simp for this drama because. Additional character actors like Choi Jong Ho (Ateez), Im Na Yong (IOI), Hwi Young (SF9), Kim Min Seo, Ahn Jung Hun, Park Seong Hwa (Ateez), Lee Soo Woong (Boys Republic), Choi San (Ateez), Park Yu Ri, had very less role to play and they were not actually bad but I won't judge their acting, haha.

I night actually look funny while mentioning all these names but I am a kpop hardcore multifan as well and this drama is like an eye candy for me, particularly because of my love for ATEEZ (cries under the blanket).

DIRECTION:
Not sure whether I can tell much about it but I think it was moderately average because there was no scope in the story to begin with. It's not bad but as a Kdrama fan I can't say it's something very good as well. It could have been unique if it were a musical Kdrama and they had that chance because of this huge kpop idol starcast but I think they somehow failed to utilize the resources well. But for the screenplay editing, I'd say it's okay-okay and not flawed. One episode in between (don't remember which one now) felt a bit off, like slow development but manageable.

OST and Edits:
Ummm, yeah! OSTs are good; some are catchy, some are heart touching and some are melodious but again, not something I can call very great. I am happy with the SHAX tracks though and I have grown fond of "If We Were". The bg score and OST edits in the drama are good and have been done properly. Screenplay edits and organization are okay too.

CONCLUSION:
I actually don't know what else to say because it didn't have much content either. It is a 12 episode drama with almost nothing new or unique to offer but It was at least a good watch. I won't come to rewatch it ever but it's definitely worth a one time watch. I started because of the kpop idol full starcast and thinking it would be a fun musical which it actually wasn't hence the disappointment but go ahead and watch it if you're into Ateez or a hardcore multi. At least this ended well and didn't feel rushed.

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Starts boring, then interesting then boring again??

The first time I watched Episode One, I was bored. Not really bored but just bored, but since EP2 was coming out in two days I said "let's give this drama a chance." And it was amazing! For the first part...

The story is suppose to be a life as a idol, or at least that's what I think. Does this drama portrayed that? I'm not an idol so how would I know? But I could say the drama handled it pretty okay? I was thinking the show would put limelight into the idol life and how hard and stressful it is. I mean it did that, but only for some scenes. Most of this turned into a rom-com.
But that's not my main problem. It's just some relationships I don't like and have a problem with.

MA-HA AND RYEOK (Main couple)
I could say they're pretty cute. The only problem I have with them (well really Ryeok) is how Ryeok breaks up with her (Ma-ha) EP9 because he's worried about Shax's. Then literally the NEXT. The NEXT episode, they get back together? I get they're 12 episodes but come on, what the hell was the point of the break up then? For tension? If so, their was barely any. I get the breakup's are suppose to be like a "Oh my gosh NOOO!" for the viewers moments but if they broke up, at least give them 2 episodes to get back together? The romance with them felt kind of force? I did admit they're pretty cute but the first few episodes I couldn't really say 'aww" to a lot of their moments up until EP4 or EP5.

RI AH AND LEE HYUN
I personally can't say much about them, they barely get any screen time soo... They would look cute together though. Don't really love them but don't hate them either.

HYUN JI AND YOO JUN
Oh my gosh does this couple suck. No offense to any of you guys who like this couple nor any disrespect to the actors but I see no chemistry at all. It's obvious Hyun Ji has feelings for Yoo Jun but him? No. It looks like he doesn't even like her romantically. They barely even had interactions together, unless it was just him asking about Ma-ha. I really didn't like these two, by EP9 I was hoping they would get more development as a couple but nope. nope nope nope, did they not.

LA LI MA
I love her so much! Her character AND her actor! At first, you probably think (if you didn't read the webtoon) that Li Ma will be the antagonist/jealous SFL (second female lead) of the show. But it's really not like that!

FLAWS
Only flaw I can find (other than some of the actors acting) is the relationship between Hyun Ji and Yoo Jun. And some more duration time into the episode would've been great for character/relationship development. I mean that's a lot of problems with 12 episode shows, character development.

SHAX'S FANS
Oh my gosh do I hate the main three fan girls. So annoying! But they also do show something, They show a lot of real fans out their of real idols. Some fans actually do stalk their favorite idol and get way to much into their personal lives. As much as I hated the Shax fans, I'm glad they got showed.

EUNJO AND ANNIE
Honestly, yes they have a sad story but their plot reminds me of At a distance, Spring is Green with Yeo Jun's family problems barely being apart of the plot even though there's a lot of flashbacks. The same thing with Eunjo and Annie, their plot is barely brought up and resolved easily by 2 episodes.

Honestly when it starts getting boring is around EP10. Even though their was some REALLY GOOD ost in that episode!

The acting was good! I willingly just watched this because it was an upcoming drama, knowing none of the actors! Some scenes had some average acting, some bad and some good.

The Music. OH. MY. IS IT GOOD! I love ALLL of the ST (sound tracks) played in this show! This is mostly why I'm giving it what I gave it. I’m mostly biased here since I'm a huge k-pop fan.

Am I rewatching? Yes but not all episodes. As I did state I didn't like a lot of the relationships here. I'll rewatch episodes like EP4, EP7 and more.

SUMMARY
In total, the show is about a rising girl group, a popular boy group, and an average boy group all trying to make it bigger and bigger into the industry while obviously having a bit of drama and relationships on the side. I recommend to stay for the music if you hate the relationships as some relationships suck/have no development or are just average and have cute moments.

Anyway. Consider yourself lucky if you didn't watch this while it was airing, the torture of waiting every Friday for 1 episode. ONE.

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Idols With A Twist…

With a predominantly idol actor cast ( aside from actual actress Jung Ji So) and respectfully a lot of hyped fans of these idols watching the drama, it does objectively brand the question for a lot of drama-watchers ( especially those who aren’t interested or a part of idol fanbases), whether ‘ Imitation’ is actually worth watching as a storyline , or is a waste of time.

There is a balance of good things and more critical points when it comes to ‘ Imitation’. On a strong note ‘ Imitation’ has a prominent message about problems with the idol industry and does not shy away from tackling themes such as corruption, the media, toxicity present in idol fanbases , mental health and hardships . What resonated even further was undeniably having a predominantly idol-cast playing in those roles. However, the show often did fall short with how consistent it was trying to be with conveying these messages through writing and character writing also.

Let’s start with the main female lead Ma-Ha. Ji-So is a good actress, however, although initial introduction wasn’t terrible, it didn’t quite embody her role either. It had nothing to do with Ji-So not being an idol. After all she takes on roles in order to adapt herself to becoming someone else onscreen whilst the cameras are rolling. That’s her job. Instead, its rather the fact that Ma-Ha was always a character who you should’ve felt sorry for with her hardships, but often it was easy to grow detached from the FL with Ji-So’s lacking vitality invested with her given - performance. This isn’t entirely the actress’ fault, as this was also sparked by screenwriting problems also .

As viewers there’s a lot we are supposed to like about Ma-Ha. She’s not only the female lead of the drama, but the “ underdog” archetype who takes a central position as a member of her girl group and desperately yearns for the group to become famous. These goals were easily likeable traits, but then when we actually exposed to her reasons for “ becoming an idol” as well as her “ will they, won’t they?” lacklustre onscreen chemistry with popular Shax boyband member Ryeok ( Jun from U-KISS), her character simply became uninteresting for the most part. This is because rather than depending Ma-Ha’s own sense of purpose outside of the group in early episodes , the female lead’s entire being was pretty much defined by romantic tropes, than actual character development.

Oh boy, this leads us onto the romance elements and setups of the show. Tackling this topic in a drama about idols evidently isn’t a crime. After all, a lot of idols have love lives and date in secret but the problem with “ Imitation”’s depiction of the turbulent love lives of idols was that it lacked a lot of depth. There were multiple opportunities for us as viewers to perk up and take note of what really happens in the lives of idols, when the spotlight and cameras aren’t rolling. However, instead “ Imitation” was focused nearly entirely upon bringing in pairings which were fairly dull.

This is even case and point with our main pairing between Ma-Ha and Ryeok. Jun is a really good actor alongside Ji-So but the tropes and cliches soon diminished a lot of onscreen chemistry between them. This was because similar to Ma-Ha, Ryeok’s original character was fairly interesting. He had clear goals and motives, as well as presenting an evident contrast to Ma-Ha due to being successful and suffering under a lot of emotional burdens. Yet rather than connecting these characters under their similarities and learning to symbiotically “ lean” upon one another gradually from their “ hate to love” relationship , the drama attempted to present too many cliche “ differences” between them, which often fell short due to questioning why on earth these characters should have been together if this was all their relationship equated to.

Similarly one of the most poorly-written couples in this drama was Hyun Ji ( Lim Nayoung )and Yoo Jun ( Hwiyoung). Hyun Ji was by herself an interesting character alongside fellow member of Teaparty Ri-A ( Minseo). However, her pairing with Yoo Jun? It was incredibly enforced to say the least. Hyun Ji’s feelings for Yoo Jun were fairly unrequited as Yoo Jun, rarely reciprocated them romantically. Their screen time interactions were minimal and when they were together, the topic was usually just about Ma-Ha. If the show had developed this couple more, or had just disregarded entirely and explored Hyun Ji’s relationship with her fellow members then it would have been a lot more coherent than the pairing we were presented with onscreen .

Aside from the romantic factor, the biggest flaw in this show was undeniably disregarding the seemingly “major” established storyline around Eunjo and Annie. Now this was an interesting part of the show, however, it was nonsensical and seriously bad writing to disregard these characters, bring them up for a few seconds when it was called for and then anticlimactically solve the case, without rhyme or reason .

Perhaps the one character who you surprisingly grow to love as a viewer is solo singer La Li Ma( Jiyeon from T-ara). Ji Yeon really gave a dynamic performance as the soloist, and her character takes some surprising turns away from the stereotypical “ catty second female lead” trope that she was presented within in the first few episodes. It was oddly refreshing and enjoyable to see this character grow.


So, is “ Imitation” worth watching? The drama presents some fairly hard-hitting issues about the idol industry, but sometimes struggled to convey these meanings due to the heavy investment of romance as well as disregarding major plot lines and character development also. The acting is a mixed-bag. There are times where the acting front is really good, and other scenes where it is questionable . The OST is okay also -a little generic, but certainly nothing wrong with it either. Overall, certainly not a bad show but dependent on what you’re looking for. If you’re watching for the idol cast and themes about music, idol and cutesy couple moments, then you’ll absolutely love this one. If you’re not a major fan of them and where enticed by the darker storyline topics, then you may be a little disappointed.

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Interesting Premise that Ends Up Falling Short

When I first heard about this drama and the influx of supporting idol actors, I was very skeptical.
The beginning was extremely painful and it only got interesting around episode 4/5.
I think the storyline could have discussed Eunjo and Annie's circumstances for longer, especially focusing on the mystery of Eunjo's disappearance.
Maha and Ryok's romance was lackluster, they had chemistry but the writer's skills were lacking a bit. I was far more interested in the friendships of the different idol groups than the romantic relationships. Certain things were not making sense, but it seemed that the writers' purpose was tie everything into a pretty bow which ending up leaving a lot of plot holes.
The music production was terrible for almost all the groups except for Tea Party which was disappointing but I'm assuming that budget was smaller than they had anticipated.
Overall, it was better than I thought, but the ending was lackluster and I probably would've rather binged the show that spending 12 weeks watching each episode.

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Don't waste your time

The two leads created the most depressing characters I have ever seen. I don't think either of them smiled until the end of the last episode. I was smiling then, too, because I didn't have to watch any more of this. I hadn't realized it was only 12 episodes, so I'd decided to drop it. The music was unremarkable, although the finale song was nice.
I suppose the point of this is to shed some light on the abuse of trainees, especially sexual favors demanded. It's a retelling of the tragedy of Sunny, Jang Ja-yeon. If you are new to K-drama, look her up on Wikipedia. As such, this show brought no new insight, and it's a retelling of something that happened 12 years ago. It offers no solutions or productive actions. Between the borrowed (stolen) plot, dismal performances and so-so music, this isn't worth your time. It certainly wasn't worth mine, and if there had been much else to watch while this was running, I wouldn't have bothered.

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Failed to become what it really could have been

The reason the drama failed for me is, because the main plot of the drama was Eun Jo's side of the story but the majority of drama was focused on the rom com genre(romance between Ma Ha & Ryok). So when I watched the whole drama I just couldn't have idea of what this drama is actually about. The main leads romance is not that much interesting whereas Eun Jo and Annie's side of story is not really focused much to feel connected with it.If they wanted to show struggle of what Eun Jo and Annie had gone through, by making main couple go through similar experience, I think they failed to do so. It could have been better if the main couple had taken more time to breakup their relationship and also taken more time to reconcile ( through series of realization of what Eun Jo and Annie must have gone through.) Their reconcilation after break up could have been used as an act of rebellion against the industry's system and practice and against injustice towards Eun Jo and Annie. The problem is that the problem gets solved too easily leaving no space for an interesting plot twist. Overall I just couldn't connect with the story.

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La Ri Ma’s supremacy.

What could have been an interesting take on the reality of idols, turned into a cliché rom-com with important issues as background noise. Pure escapism without much logic.

The show opens with the mysterious disappearance of Eunjo and the tragic end of Annie. One would think this is going to be an important element of the plot - it’s not. They bring it up a few times for a few seconds, and then solve it by the end, without any solving actually happening.

For the majority of the show, we follow Tea Party as they struggle trying to make their debut work for the 2nd time, but…. There is not much of a struggle going on. Every problem and conflict they face is solved right away without many lasting consequences.

They hint some problems idols might face like not getting paid for the training period, or even after debut (because of the training debt), how rookie idols can be used to bury bigger scandals, even if it ruins their careers, how idols might be viewed as products that can be easily replaced and not as individual people, obsessed and possessive fans, and many more… but all of them are just mentioned with one or two lines and not properly explored.

The main focus is the relationship between Maha and Ryok, which is so lukewarm and boring, I had to watch it at 1.5x speed. They hit too many cliches that are not well executed, it’s sad to watch at times, especially since both Jeong Ji So and Jun are rather talented actors that can do more than this.

Of course, how it always is with teen/young adult romance stories - no one can be single, hence every Tae Party member gets their own love interest.

Even the main love triangle is there… and then one day it’s not. There is no tension, no conflict between interested parties… no nothing.

The best character with the most interesting story, charming personality and depth was La Ri Ma. She could easily become the main character, coz even as a supporting role, she overshadowed everyone. Without lying, I survived this show mostly for her (and one of the side couples, that overall, throughout the 12 episodes, had not more than 6 minutes of screen time together).

Production wise… I do have my complaints. The budget could not have been high, looking at the Award Show at the beginning. If you can’t make it look realistic (whenever the reason is lack of money, or the pandemic), don’t do it. There were other ways to show who is the top idol and respected performer. Another thing was the distracting, poorly done make up. Ma Ha looked like her lips kept bleeding, and Jun at times could play a 30+ years old guy.

With all that, I somehow got attached and the last episode made me slightly emotional, especially the scenes of the few characters I liked.

Overall: Honestly speaking - waste of time. I was initially interested because of the mystery element and more realistic portrayal of the idol's life, but it was all gone by episode 3. I don’t even want to talk about acting. Some of the idols did better than others, but damn, the majority of supporting roles of the two boy groups were not great.

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Interesting but Boring (if you get what I mean)

Let's breakdown the story. It was a cliche rom-com; even more cliche because every side character ended having a romantic partner unless they were used for comedic relief. I got huge second-lead syndrome, but one thing that the writers did well this time was to let the second-lead come to peace with himself and move on. I honestly don't know what I expected when I started this drama, but it was definitely up to par for the "idol image." I love how this story gave us a so-called 'sneak-peak' at the behind-the-scenes of the idol industry. However, even though I haven't experienced it personally, I feel like some of it is exaggerated to an uncomfortable point.

Moving on to the cast, come on... we came for them. It was perfect that almost the entire cast are/were idols or at least had some experience in the idol industry. That being said, the dancing was up to par. I wasn't a big fan of the stage, songs or the choreography, but I guess that was inevitable when they had spent a lot of their budget (assumed by me) hiring these idol actors. On the topic of idol actors, I was pleasantly surprised by all their acting skills; it still radiates 'cute lil webdrama' vibes, but they definitely raised my expectations. I had actually started watching for Yunho (my ATEEZ bias along with Mingi) and Jun (been following him ever since the Unit and watched his other dramas), but Jiyeon made me stay. Her character surprisingly wasn't pitted to be the 'mean rich girl;' even if she had been, she still would've been my favorite character. Although I wished to see more Chani, I feel like the amount of screen time he had was perfect or else the acting-level gap would have really shown among the cast members. Two members of the cast that really stood out to me (and not in the best way) was Hwiyoung and Nayoung. Now don't get me wrong~ this isn't hate to the either of them; in fact, Hwiyoung is my SF9 bias, and I've been keeping up with Nayoung's other dramas (e.g. Summer Guys). Nayoung's acting just seemed a bit stiff and awkward especially in the scenes with Yunho. As for Hwiyoung, he just seemed tired all throughout this drama; I don't know if his character is written to be like that, but he really needed to get some sleep. I know they were filming this while "Kingdom: Legendary War" was airing, so he may have looked really worn out because of that.

Overall, I would NOT recommend you to watch this unless you are into these idols (me lol)! Toodles~

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One of the best Idol life story dramas I've seen

Although I barely watched dramas on k-pop idols, I liked this drama very much. The story was very well written. At first it kind of started slow but later grew over me. I had never seen any of the characters before except for the sf9 members. So, I did not have much interest to start watching it. When the story started developing I was waiting so hard for the next episode that I watched the released episodes for 2-3 times. All the actors acted their roles very well so now I am planning to watch some dramas of the actors who have worked on previous dramas before. I think the story will be very relatable for the k-pop idols and most of the members from the cast are already idols or wannabe idols so I think they could relate to the story very well . It covers all angles of k-pop. The k-pop industry may look all bright to some people but no one know the effort and the behind-the-scenes of their lifes. Some parts could have been better written but I am very satisfied with the drama. All the ost's are also really good. I listen to all the songs atleast once or twice a day. I hope many people would watch this. I kind of feel bad for the idols after watching the drama as I stan around 16 k-pop groups and I hear a lot of k-news so whenever I hear about the groups which disbanded or about the mistreatment by the idols' I feel so sad. I hope through this people can understand the life of the idols better. Thank you for reading my review.

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It's AWESOME

I've tried to include very less spoilers in this review so you can read it dw I hate spoilers too-
It's like the CUTEST drama I've ever watched.
Like many others I watched it because of the kpop idol groups' members starring in it but it was so much more than that.
It shows facing hardships and it also has the best ships everrrrrrrr.
The 3 bands SHAX, Tea Party [formerly: Omega III] and Sparkling along with the legendary La RiMa are the centre of the story and all of the members are prolly your biases from their bands if you're into kpop.
It's shorter than average dramas but worth watching.
I binge watched it in a day and loved it <3
It's a MUST WATCH.

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My heart fluttered... and it was nice

This is a story about the humans behind the idols and trainees. The secrets, the pain, the struggles... the evil media, evil ceo and of course the evil fans who seem to forget that idols are humans too... But most of all this is a story about friendship, falling in love and moving on... With lots and lots of pretty faces, music and shiny stuff... With more or less predictable twist and though there is a lot of shiny stuff things are not always so bright...

I admit it I am a huge sucker for this type of dramas, and have had the male lead in this on my crush list for quite a while... the female lead was pretty decent but nothing wowed me about her... though she did have her moments the over all impression was good enough... however her group mate Yu Ri Ah and the at times slightly evil second female lead La Ri Ma stole my heart... and well so did the boys groups such sweethearts the whole bunch...

It was a lot of fun to watch the main couples way to becoming a couple and try to figure things out.It was especially fun to watch the male leads shift from ice cold to completely obsessed to cold as ice in the same scene... As well as the way he looked at anything that had to do with the male lead with melting eyes... she on the other hand was not as easy to read as the guy... However once they did they became kind of meeh...

What never became a meeh was the interactions between the group members, as well as the other couples... they were all lovely.

There are very few annoying elements in this drama, but there is some cringe that should make me take away stars but my new found crush on half the cast kind of made up for those parts. So Is this drama actually worth 9,5 stars... probably not, but it is highly bingable, highly entertaining and just my cup of coffee...

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One of the best idol drama out there

I just don't know why there is so much negative or low rating of this drama. I just finish the whole series today. I would like to say its worth watching. It really got me hooked. I have watched nearly all the popular k-drama, c-drama this year, but I would like to say that this is one of the best series this year. Scenes are not too cliche, sometimes unpredictable. I would agree that some of the acting could have been better, but OMG one of the best line-up. There's T-ara, SF9, U-kiss, ATEEZ, IOI (pristin), what could I ask more Idols acting Idol drama. Seriously, you guys out there who gave this a low drama really need to revisit and watch the drama again. Its worth watching.

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