Short: Short but well paced romantic drama that traces a group of people from their mid teens until their early thirties, focusing on the two leads and their long romance. Most of it is primarily from her perspective, but the final episode is all from his and explains a lot. Brilliant performances particularly from So Ju Yeon who is a young actress who manages to pull off such a wide age range really well. This is just pure fun really!

Detail:
To be honest, I wasn't going to watch this one for a while because it's another school romance and... I've watched a couple of school dramas lately and was looking for something a different, but with So Ju Yeon in it I decided I'd give it a shot and see how it went.

Opening scenes and her character is just solid sugar, she's squeaks when she talks and is just a non-stop walking cute-monster - which isn't meant to be a compliment, I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with this character but decided to stick with it.

Took about by the end of that episode for her silliness and genuineness of her character to come through and I started warming to the show and the other characters as well.

This story tracks them from 2006 to current day as they are in school, going through something like four years of school and graduating, going to university and entering their careers. We see a relatively high speed (though it doesn't feel rushed) snapshot through their lives and it ought to be inspiring to younger viewers to see this development in such a short space of time - if you're ever in school wondering if it will ever end, or if what your life will be like afterwards, while it's not exactly documentary-level, it's an entertaining glimpse into the transition that young adults make as they grow, including when things don't go according to plan.

The majority of the story is essentially from Sol I's perspective (the female lead), as she opens the whole drama by declaring her feelings for Heon (the male lead) - who immediately rejects her flat - and then spends the majority of what follows utterly relentlessly chasing him down despite what seem to be his best efforts to gently ignore her.

There's a love triangle in it, and this is the second drama in a while where i've honestly felt that the second lead is an incredible human being in general. Part of me was hoping against the writers wishes that the better man, the second lead, would get the girl, because he really was just a better person in my eyes. Alas, first leads always get the girl, I don't consider that a spoiler, it shouldn't come as any surprise. :)

I had some real problems with Heon's character and his actions. He teetered on the fine line between being assertive and red-flag-aggressive. Maybe i'm just too sensitive to such things, but it was part of what made me start rooting for the second lead.

Up until the final episode of this drama I was going to give it maybe a 7.5 ? Mostly because of my concerns with Heon and the unbalanced nature of the whole thing. Then the final episode comes on, and it's HIS side of the story. I won't go any further, but, balance restored.

I come out of this drama warm and fuzzy, it was entertaining and I was always looking forward to the next episode and i'm a bit sad having spent 14 years with this characters that I now have to say goodbye, but, that's what I have to do. To me, that's the sign of a good story and is why I give it a higher grade than most people seem to have. Swimming against the tide? That's me :)

Characters are all great and the secondary arcs are enjoyable. It's great seeing all their friends later in life and how various stories have played out in the background. There's one moment where there's a bit of a reunion and you genuinely feel almost like you're part of that experience, seeing this characters again and reminiscing about old times.

So - don't be put off by school drama (it isn't all in school anyway), and stick with it to the end - that final episode made a big difference for me and was beautifully written.

Watch it again? Heck yes, this one's full of the warm fuzzies, particularly after you know the full story and can then enjoy it more fully on subsequent rewatches.