I've just finished watching
Solomon's Perjury when suddenly I craved to watch another kdrama that's not too centered around romance. Some people recommended me to watch
Defendant,
Signal, or
White Chrismas. But I craved to watch kdrama that's centered around friendship more at the moment. And my decision fell to Reply 1988. When the drama was a big hit last year, I wasn't that interested to watch it. I don't know why, maybe because I thought there's nothing I could relate to the drama that took place mostly in 1988. I mean, what do I know about 1988? The characters (not the casts, ofc) were born in the same year as my parents. The same thought crossed my mind before I watched
Friends which later turns out to be one of my fav tv show.
Ok. Let's skip the chit chat. Here's my personal opinion on this kdrama.
First thing first, I must admit that I was wrong about this drama. I shouldn't judge something before I know anything about it, anyway. I fell in love precisely after I watched the first episode. It shocked me how I can relate with so many things in this drama. It potrayed the beautiful and bitter-sweet of being in a friendship, love, and family perfectly, imo. It's just complete, the feels that it brings. In fact, it brings so much nostalgic feeling even though I wasn't born on 70s or 80s. It's perfectly the kind of drama that I wanted to watch atm. They also showed us details of daily life in 1988-1994 (mostly) which for some people they may be boring but they weren't for me. They were what made me interested, actually. Each episode has approximately 1.40-1.50 hours. It's longer than mostly dramas that I've watched. But I think it's worth the time as I keep wanting to see more of the scenes. Now now, let's talk about the characters. Yass. I always love writing about characters' traits.
1. Jung Hwan
Why is he the first thing on my mind when I write this? I don't know. Phsycally, he looks cool (at least he is, for me). But, seriously, he's so cool. Cool on the outside, cool on the inside. As for Deok Sun, she said he was a dog, not completely a human. Maybe because they argued a lot? He may look like he doesn't care about the people around him, but he does. Dong-Ryong said he's not a romantic person. It's true that he doesn't show much of how he feels inside. But he's sweet on the inside, trust me. Added to the good side, is that he's rich and is smart.
2. Deok Sun
People who know her praised her for having a good, bright heartwarming personality. She maybe good at heart, but not at studying. Among her friends (except for Dong-Ryong, ofc), she has the lowest rank at school. She's that kind of girl you'd feel comfortable with. It's not hard to make her smile or laugh. Although she's sweet, she can swear and being angry too. In fact, she argued and screamed at her friends a lot, especially with Bo Ra, her older sister. She's just a normal person, anyway. When she's happy, she smiles and laughs. When she's sad or angry, she doesn't try to hide that either.
3. Choi Taek
The most introverted among his friends. Among the others, he was the last one who moved to their neighborhood not long after his mom was gone. Being a professional-international Go player, he won tons of Go matches. According to his friends, he's only genius when it comes to games, but clueless about any other things. He's an innocent and smiling puppy, maybe that's why his friends protected him the most and treated him the nicest. He's left-handed, almost always use sleeping pills to help him sleep, can last a day without eating anything (bby, it makes me sad:(
4. Sun Woo
A class president, a model student (he and Jung Hwan are smart, spend his day to read books or studying in study room). Just like Deok Sun, he's praised for his good and polite personality. He doesn't hesitate to show how much he loves his family. And you know what? It's so cute that he loves his sister so much he took care of her and kissed her everytime he's about to leave the house. But just like Deok Sun, don't expect him to always be good and all. He can be upset and swearing too. What I'm trying to say is, yes, he's perfect but also know that he's not.
5. Dong Ryong
Cheerful and the most talkative among his friends. He gave up going to college while Jung Hwan and Sun Woo are all about studying, and so he always remind his friends to have some fun. He likes to dance and sing and his laugh sounds so weird but funny at the same time. He may be the clone for his friends, but he's a nice person to talk to.
Actually, this drama has a lot of interesting characters other than those five leads but if I write about them, it could make this such a loooong post. What I love about the drama?
- It's interesting to see how people interact before modern technology take over the world. Books, radio, and a small screen tv are what kept them entertained, other than concert. I couldn't imagine.
- It's important! This drama doesn't just focus on the five leads, but also their families. Each family members has a chance of spotlight as this drama is just not about the friendship between the childrens, but also the friendship between the moms, and the dads. Childrens like to hang out and play together, moms like to make food together, and of course they like to talk about their childrens and their husbands. Whereas dads like to hang out and drink together, talk about work, family, and wifes
- And so they showed us life through children's eyes, life through father's eyes, and life through mother's eyes so we can understand life from each perspective.
- The meaning of a family that implied in this drama, that despite everything, family is a home to come back to. And that is a true quotes, indeed.
- The casts act naturally and the script potrayed the trueness of relationship. That us humans sometimes argue with our closest ones, screamed at each other. Sometimes when one's sad, we're willing to be sad too with them. And truly, we want each other to just be happy and so it is a task for us to remind each other that there are happy things to celebrate everyday.
- Boy! I mean, those boys, they care so much for each other even when they argue a lot. And it's so cute seeing them sleeping together (OFC it's only happened when they stay overnight in one's house, gosh) and doing boys talk.
- Someone once said "boy best friends may say mean things to you, but what they do to you are sweet". The boys may mock and laugh at Deok Sun but there's no doubt they love Deok Sun sincerely at heart and ready to protect her anytime. This is why people say us girls should have boy best friends.
- Bonus: cute scenes of their love lives❤
- Anything else that I love about this drama? Everything.
My last thoughts about this drama......is it makes me hurts to reach the final episode. I don't know what to do about my life anymore. Someone, pls tell me what to do?!