for those who have a second male lead syndrome and want some unique story with a likeable heroine

Have you ever had a filling that a heroine and a second lead are meant to be together? They have great chemistry, understanding of one another and generally bring the best in each other? Yet for a reason as old as kdramas, they won't ever end up together?
So what if these characters were given the mind of their own? How would story unfold then? Well, thats basically what this whole kdrama is about and you know what? It is genious.
The writer/director very successfuly captures the basic criterias for usual cliched love triangles.
Now, we have two love triangles:
1.
Kyung - the typical jerk male lead who is cold towards heroine yet is excussed because he has a tragic past
Dan oh - clingy heroine who loves ml no matter what and has health cindition
Haru - second lead who is mature and caring and has kind of bromance with ml.
2.
Namjoo - popular and rich ml
Jooda - poor and submissive fl
Dohwa - cheerful and charming sl
This drama perfectly portrays everything wrong with such triangles. It shows how fls are often owershadowed and consumed by ego of mls. You could say that whenever they have scenes together, its always about mls and their wishes. Drama does a great job exposing how in these typical relationships, a female leads wrong being benefits male lead since heroine becomes dependant on him and stuck with him.
Things are completly different when fls are with second leads. They are equal with them. Yet it is never meant to be. I especially liked how well the story is packed in a way that it was able to convice me as a viewer that Haru is not what is meant to be a ml.
Extraordinary you is first and foremost a romance story. I do enjoy this genre but im very critical of it since i rarely encounter a story which is both engaging and believeable without being sexist. I ended up being very satisfied with romance in this drama. It is hands down, one of the most beautiful and tragic romances in unconventional way.


The theme is not the old and tried amnesia. Its more about author/character relation which takes inspiration from absurdist literature. It is quite tricky subject and i was surprised how well it was explored.
Along with criticizing traditional kdrama pairings, this drama also criticizes repetitiveness and unwillingness to chance even if story itself requires it. So, constant memory loss serves the purpose of showing us how author takes the freedom away from their creations by putting them in cliched positions.
In the end tho, (spoiler) Dan Oh and Haru won. Since they are nameless in new manhwa and can be free.


Acting is great. Really natural and without exggeration. I was surprised that Haru is played by an idol. Actress who plays Dan oh managed portraying bigger than life, cheerful, stubborn and determined heroine without comic exaggeration and it didnt feel forced at all.

As for characters, they are definitely the higlight of the series. Especially Dan oh which is rare because usually in kdramas fls dont get much character with complexity ( its changing now tho ). Dan oh is funny and extra yet she is not annoying or naive. She deals with existential crisis throughout this drama.
As for Haru, he is everything we love about second leads. He is caring and kind towards Dan oh and their relationship is based on trust and understanding. Their scenes together were so heartwarming and chemistry was just electrifying.
Kyung, he is the ml out of the triangle in the comics world and supposedly second lead of this drama but it doesnt feel this way at all. In this Dan oh centered story, Haru and Baek seem to have role of similar importance. It is good decision on the writers part for two reasons: first, this way sl isnt there just to create mild obstecle for ml. He and Dan oh have a special bond. Second, this way we still have feeling that he is the one who is supposed to be a ml.

Soundtrack is very balanced. I usually dont like how overly dramatic and always present the soundtrack is in kdramas but this one had a very good choice of songs that captured the mood of the drama.

This drama had great potential and it exceeded expectations like no other drama i have seen. It started with good quality and remained such throughout the drama. And believe me, as a experienced series viewer, from star trek tos to westworld, i know thing or two about good quality series.

In short, it is one of the best kdramas out there even in non-kdrama standards with a very original and kind of philosophical themes such as free will/determinism and the dilemma of whether or not being awarne of your fate is worth it if you cant do anything about it.

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I will be harsh but honest here.

First, let me say i'm very disappointed in the MDL users' judgement. They will trash some excellent dramas but then rate highly the very average ones. I'm sorry, but i have to say, i'm glad that the MDL doesn't set a standard for the Korean dramas, and the MDL users' takes are not being considered when making the dramas, not to mention that what many people here seem to think the "Westernization" means is actually a creative freedom and a less conservative approach to the m/f dynamics which is ridiculous. If i see one more comment saying that they don't want the international streaming services to make Kdramas less "pure", i will explode. But then the same people will demand that Kdramas have less romance which is exactly what the Western series are lacking. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with this particular drama, but i just had to say this somewhere.

Moving on, i have lots of complaints regarding this drama. If i were to summarize my point, i'd say that this drama is too focused on telling its' audiences that it is good, without actually trying to be good. It takes itself too seriously but never takes any risks or makes any bold choices. Which is a pity, because this drama had a great potential but it got wasted because approach was bad and i fully blame the director.

The first episode felt very "grand" and larger than life but then it continued like your regular Goblin knock-off fantasy drama. The pacing was bad, not because it was slow, but because it felt like the storyline was going nowhere. It felt tiring (you know how HBO's Euphoria is very exhausting, but it's intentional, because we are supposed to be exhausted by these characters, the intentionality matters). There were too many flashbacks. I'm usually against the usage of them because just like the laugh tracks, they look down on the audiences' intelligence and mostly feel out of place.

The story felt empty and unsubstantial. I love a good enemies to lovers story, this is my favorite trope ever, but in this case, the range and hostility felt too one sided. Initially, i mostly felt protectiveness over the FL against ML because she felt too helpless. She didn't reciprocate his energy in a satisfying way. The director did not manage to communicate their special bond to me. And in my opinion, it would have been a lot bolder and more interesting if FL's past life actually was a bad guy who had a grudge against ML's past life (which is what i thought was going on).

The standard for the famale characters of Kdramas is higher than it has ever been, but unfortunately, this FL felt like she belonged to the older dramas. There was nothing distinguishing about her. Yes, the same goes with ML. I believe both Lee Jin Wook and Kwon Na Ra are the good actors (Lee Jin Wook was great in Sweet Home), but they did not bring the characters to life and again, i mostly blame the director and the writer.

Overall, no character was truly well-rounded and no dynamic had a truly captivating chemistry.

Okay, moving on to the good parts. Man, oh man. There are the average actors and there are the good actors, but then there are the great actors and Lee Joon is one of them. Believe me when i tell you i had a wide grin each time he came on screen because his acting was something redeeming about this drama. Not just redeeming but great. Even his voice acting alone felt more masterful and skilled than the acting of the rest of the cast and i'd say it takes a great talent to be this good when your director and the script are "meh". I really hope he will take up the great roles from now on, in more well-made projects where his talent could be fully utilized. Lee Joon is great in the roles of psychos so i wouldn't mind if he keeps being cast in these roles, since all his villains feel different.

Yeah, i rate this drama - 7, all of its' aspects being somewhere in between the 5-7,5 rating, aside from Lee Joon's acting which is a solid 10.

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This Drama Is One Of The Kind.

I don't know where even to begin. One thing is for sure, the 15 episodes if this drama are one a whole different level from many other dramas out there. 2521 set the standard too high and I really hope more dramas are going to be this good.

I probably have never watched anything filled with this much genuine love for life, realistic optimism, tear jerking nostalgia and hearful motivation to have a dream as 2521.

2521 reminds us that it is important to have a purpose in life. It fills us with all the emotions is intended to enwoke and succesfully deliebered everything it wanted to deliver. It is very rare for a film or series to achieve this, to be this genuine and impact the viewers this strongly.

I don't think I could came up with any other kdrama acting duo that had this much chemistry. Tae Ri and Nam Hyuk managed to so believably deliver the feelings and connection their characters had, it's crazy. Their chemistry was one of the most electric and captivating not only in the kdramas, but in the tv series generally speaking. I would put them up there with Joe/Cameron, Fleabag/Hot Priest, Sylvie/Loki, - pairings that just oozed chemistry.

Okay, now let's touch on the biggest, and pretty much the only flaw of 2521. The ending.

My problem with the ending isn't that it was bittersweet. In fact, I'm a sucker for a good bittersweet ending and I had expected it after ep.15.

The issue is that the leads felt really out of character. Also, their relationship was never "inherently" romantic, as time passed, they would've reconciled, at least as the friends. It didn't feel "realistic", it felt forced.

Like, the last episode was the opposite of "realistic" because it was not believable at all. These two people didn't want to let each other go, and they were shown to still harbor feelings for each other in the future. It didn't feel like "things change but life goes on", it felt like "people do things they regret", and I wouldn't have an issue if that was what the writer actually wanted to say, but I doubt that, it just came off as that.

Listen, all that matters in fiction is a good storytelling, 2521 definitely had an exceptionally great storytelling up until ep.16. The thing is, while this fantastic drama's rating shouldn't drop just because one episode, it is tricky when it comes to the last episodes, the bad last ep is going to leave a sour taste in the viewers' mouths. Objectively speaking, the last ep was not written well and not delivered well storytelling wise.

I liked the idea of "they break up to protect the purity of their love and leave only the good memories" but again, didn't came off as that. It didn't feel right and it didn't make much sense and the whole thing had a bad packing.

The 15 eps of 2521 made the drama one of the very best series in the recent years, but ep 16 was rushed and forced.


It was incredibly ironic how it felt like they were forced to part their ways by the outside forces rather than on their own accord.

I would actually say this makes this pair all the more exceptional in the dramaworld. And even generally speaking.

No, the ending was not written well, but the previous episodes seemed to have given the characters so much life that the conflict between what was the authors' intent and the unbelievable sequence of events was too apparent.

YJ and HD's separation would have made sense if they did it to save their friendship, to make sure they can preserve what they had.

And again, it is realistic that people part ways, but it is not realistic that people just give up on those they loved deeply, without really any strong reason.

Unlike many people, I don't really mind HD's husband staying unrevealed, he was never important to the story. What irritates me is the fact that we don't know if she's still married or divorced. She isn't wearing a ring (I think), her daugher is way too invested in her mom and her ex's story without any bitterness, HD's mom mentioning YJ, ect.

I agree that it seemed like the writer was playing something like "what happened to YJ" and maybe throwing confusing details in the future plotline. I personally dislike this tactic because it's only worth anything wile viewing the series for the first time. A good series is as good when re-watching it, and 2521 is most certainly a very re-watchable drama, but the future line, just like the last episode, is a mess and could have been better.

I'm glad they showed us HD becoming a professonal furniture maker instead of a housewife or something though.

Anyways that's it. I'm happy I watched this drama and I will he re-watching it again, maybe just skipping the ending.

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