Age of Youth (2016)

First of all, the number one reason to watch Age of Youth is that it's the rare k-drama that's entirely female-driven and, on top of that, isn't driven by romance.

Of course, there are plenty of great k-dramas out there where women drive the plot; in those stories, though, the female protags usually share equal space with male leads. And there are a few gems I've come across that aren't about romance, but these examples are very much male-driven (Misaeng, SUFBB, White Christmas — all of these shows respect their women, but none of them are *about* the women).

Age of Youth, however, is an anomaly in revolving around a main female ensemble with all male characters being pushed down to supporting character rank (just check out the cast list here). This is in itself is a little bit momentous, and it's the kind of thing there should be more of.

Don't get me wrong, in general you can count on k-dramas for female characters with points-of-view. Still, the bulk of them follow the YA novel tradition of revolving around *one* girl, meaning that relationships between different women are rarely fleshed out (or at least, not as fleshed out as that of the female lead/male leads). Age of Youth, however, isn't about one girl. It's about five girls — five girls with their own inner lives, goals, and ghosts-in-the-closet (thanks to Jiwon for that unnecessarily dramatic metaphor). These stories might feature romantic subplots, but they're not the main event. The way these girls relate to one another is the real emotional core of the series.

Since I've sung my praise, for the sake of fairness I'll touch on a couple of the show's weaknesses.

Being such a short drama, AOY is definitely hurt by trying to do too much with a lack of time. The upshot is it suffers from the typical ensemble show problem of uneven character work. While some arcs are fully realised and flawlessly constructed (particularly, the growth of Hwayoung's character), a couple of others sadly fall to the wayside. (Han Seungyeon's character is the most egregious. If I didn't know there'll be a season two, I'd find the lack of time given for Ye Eun's post-traumatic arc absolutely unforgivable. Since there *will* be a season two, though, I aggressively expect this to be the #1 priority.)

My other gripe is about tonal inconsistency. Again with the trying to do too much, AOY teeters between realistic slice-of-life and... dark psychological thriller? Let it be said that it's much more successful at the former. Some of the darker story-lines work because they're *character-driven* (again, not sorry about Yina's narrative), but most of the show's dips into other genres are unfortunately half-baked. Considering that lack of time thing, AOY would have been more cohesive by cutting the excess.

THAT BEING SAID, these flaws stick out only because AOY is so quality in every other way. If you want a drama that actually cares about women's stories (and why wouldn't you), you arguably can't do better than Age of Youth.

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I haven't watched a lot of kdramas, this one was the second and I started watching it by chance because it was on Netflix. It captivated me in the first episode, some of the scenes has an european cinema scent, for example the way they talk about sex or the way they show common things like going to the bathroom or having your period. The serie itself doesn't have a strong rythm until the last two or three episodes but the pace isn't boring at all, the construction of each character is wonderful and the production helps a lot, each chapter focuses in one of the five protagonists and the way it get interrelated with the stories of the other four girls. I usually look for dramatic series with strong dosis of romanticism, but this one about five young women living together, struggling to overcome their days and their fears and dealing with the little stuff of life like the convivence between young adults is just too enchanting to not fall in love with this kdrama. The cast is super good, I especially liked Han Ye Ri (Yoon Jin Myeong) and her stoic and yet moving acting, I couldn't control my tears when she was suffering in silence viewing how hard her life was, and Park Eun Bin (Song Ji Won) with her silliness and her existencials talks -I feel represented by her, that's maybe why-. The only one I didn't like that much is Park Hye Soo (Yoo Eun Jae), she's a bit plain and way too innocent for this kind of kdrama which hasn't have the typical girl protagonist with tons of aegyo, but anyways she won't be in season 2 so it's okey. The boys in this serie are lovely, enchanting and the chemistry with the five girls is good. The music fits perfectly but for me is not too remarkable. I'm really looking forward season 2. GO WATCH THIS, you won't regret it!!

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I'm not often so impressed by a drama that I write a review in recommendation of it. But Age of Youth is definitely something special.

Age of Youth has an interesting and engaging story line that doesn't really drag at all. It's very well cast and well acted. Especially the five girls. Some (one) of the guys didn't impress me so much, but everyone else was fantastic. I like how character driven the drama was rather than being entirely plot driven. By the end the girls don't feel like character tropes, they feel like they could be real people.

The OST is full of really fantastic and well chosen music. The music fits the mood but never overpowers. I find a lot of dramas have that one repetitive song that's either super addicting or super grating or that kinda becomes a part of the idenitity of the show. Age of Youth the background music stayed in the background. That was actually extremely refreshing.

What impressed me most is it's entirely female lead. When I read the synopsis for the first time I automatically put it on my Plan to Watch list. While it isn't strange to have an ensemble cast in a drama and have multiple "leads" with their own individual fleshed out arcs, it IS a bit out of the ordinary for the story to center almost exclusively on a group of female characters. And that's not unique to Korea either. It's fairly out of the ordinary even in western television. Sure we get little glimpses into their romantic and sexual relationships, but that's really not the focus. The focus is on their relationship with each other. The series portrays female friendship in a much more realistic way than most other media. That alone is worth watching it for, if only to say "We want more like this."

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I have a short attention span. Because of this, I often drop dramas halfway bc some just bore me to death. So personally, I like shows that have unusual storylines, are packed full of action (not necessarily full of machine guns and sweat, blood and tears... but just a lot going on, you feel?), and elicits my emotions (bc it's not like i'm not damn emotional enough in my own life...)
If you're like me, you'll definitely love this drama!!

I have so many things good things to say about this show, but i'll just talk about some points that i think are worthwhile to know.

- I really like that this show focuses on the theme, 'The Most Beautiful Moment In Life' - a time where there are a lot of anxieties and doubts that youth go through, although also when lots of good memories and stories are made. This theme is reflective in its korean title, 'Belle Epoque', meaning 'Beautiful Age' in French - which is also the name of the girls' house.
- this made the drama realistic and very relatable, as the drama touched on many topics which the majority of the audience will be able to relate to.
- i don't think i've ever cried AND laughed so hard throughout the whole drama like this one. this just shows the extent that a viewer can connect with this drama.
- i appreciate the development of the individual characters, as well as the development of the girl's friendship. they are just so , so precious.
- there are also some characters that hardly change their less pleasant qualities at all. after all, change is hard and can take a long time, and sometimes this change is impossible.
- i really like how each of the girls were completely different, in terms of their personalities and their circumstances. the actresses played their characters very well. Yoon Jin Myeong (Han Ye Ri) was a standout for me!
- how the show was set out was interesting. i won't spoil it so i will just point out where to look out; the openings of each episodes, camera shots, the very very end of each episode (i made this mistake and skipped!! don't skip!! watch until the episode completely finishes.)
- i was so sad that it ended so soon. it was too good. after a while, i'll definitely come back to this drama!

PSA: in the last 2-3 episodes, abuse is featured so please be aware!

(this is my very first time reviewing smth... i signed up just to review this show bc it was just so good and underrated.. i think? smh)

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I think I'm the only one who disliked this drama ..it's very boring and the romance was tacky i really don't like the characters especially "yoo eun jae" and "kang yi na" I don't like this type of girls .. The only one I sympathized with was "yoon jin myung" her life is very hard and i understand her feelings a little bit Also i liked her boyfriend and eun jae's boyfriend they are my ideal type i really liked their personalities But overall the show was very weak and i didn't like the storyline... i really put a great expectatios on this drama but unfortunately, I was disappointed ... I'll never repeat this experience in the Season2

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If more dramas are like this one, we'd live in drama heaven. I can only say this one is a drama for everyone. This drama became such a little gem for me and it will stay as something golden in my heart. Things inside this drama could happen to every one of us, stories of these gorgeous 5 women could every one of us experience, someone already did and someone will do. Realism that surrounds this drama is so high and you could feel it in your bones. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, touching, funny, beautiful and deep drama about 5 girls living together who encounter so many life situations where they become friends and where they share such deep bond that stays for a lifetime. I am so sad that it has only 12 episodes and that some things I wished so hard didn't happen but at the same time I love it for its cool ending, life continues, who knows what will happen with them, their love lives, etc. and we can only wish for the best for them.

Actresses did a really good job, where three of them really got into me, into my heart for real. Han Ye Ri as Senior Yoon- her scenes were the most heartbreaking to watch, her strength, her will, her on the surface coldness and her good heart were shown in every tiny detail, I admired her from the beginning till the end, and Ye Ri is one of my favourite Korean actresses. ? Ryu Hwa Young as Senior Kang- strong, cool, sexy, feminine, interesting, mysterious and so damn beautiful, this girl has won me and I totally fell in love. She was for me the most caring one, the one who was there secretly for all of them doing all that she could, simply a true friend that I'd be proud to have. And Park Eun Bin as Song- oh boy what a unique piece of art, I totally cheered for her 100%, she is crazy, funny, positive, talkative, confident yet shy, she has such a pure heart and always up for some weird and original stuff, she really steals your heart with her charm and wittiness. Yes all of them have their own flaws which is totally normal and I love them even more cause of that, in the end no living creature is flawless. The other two girls were maybe the weaker part for me, couldn't get into their characters nor the way they were dealing with some situations but hey, it'd be a fairy tale if all the girls are strong, smart, confident and cool. This way we get to see 5 different kind of women that slowly start to like each other and become so close.

Side characters were also good, those men have done pretty good job with their roles and I liked that, how every person in this drama had some importance. I had a real feeling like I was a part of that gang, that bunch of not ordinary women and that I am involved with their family and love lives. And I liked their apartment very much and that Belle Epoque's Landlady, she was so awesome.
Music is very nice with lots of wonderful songs, I really find every melody appropriate in certain scene and definitely added a more beautiful feeling.

This is kind of drama that you could talk about all the time, kind of drama that you could watch and rewatch and that every time you see and feel something new, the kind of drama that gives you such insight in how other women or different age live and it will tell you how the real life works, with nothing to make it bubblier of fluffier. If you're curious to see that, then Age of Youth is a perfect choice. Enjoyable, lovely, amazing and precious ride it was for me and I do hope deep inside of my heart for a second season. ;)

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Wow... I discovered a world that was deep, rich, full of sincerity, full of life, real and grounded people and stories. When the last episode played I sat there in awe of the show I had just watched, lived. I watched the credits roll and felt my heart swell and sighed in a mixture of contentment and sadness that it was over. This show was so different than any drama I've watched it existed in a completely different galaxy. It was a true slice of life show. If you like that sort of genre in Western TV then you so absolutely need to watch Age of Youth. The story revolves around five young women and the people in their lives. Each girl is so vibrantly different from the other, and yet, extremely relate-able. They are faced with real life problems of women in their twenties. Things that any one of us could be forced to deal with in our real lives. Perhaps that is what I loved the most, I found something in each of their stories that I could identify with.

From the end of the first episode I was completely hooked! It not only captured my heart but my whole being! I was invested in these woman and lived each second with them. The feels that I felt while watching this show were like a roller coaster, not just for the things they needed to overcome but because I could empathize. The dilemmas they were faced with pulled poignantly at my heart strings.

This show was utterly amazing. For the first time in all my drama watching years I have rated something above a 9. And for me 9 is like the most amazing drama that hit me right in the feels and was perfectly suited to steal my heart. You can't get better than that for me, because most dramas have something that I was was better or different. Now, I'm not saying that this drama was perfect, but it was pretty damn close. It has completely toppled my expectations and set me up for huge disappointment with whatever I watch next. Because I'm pretty sure there's nothing that could match how much I love this show.

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A realistic drama that doesn't overly romanticize the life of a young woman

This hit me in my feels like damn... Believe me when I say that this is underrated shit compared to all that other cliche k-dramas! You actually FEEL this show because it's real and not overly romanticized, because here we see young women from different backgrounds who are struggling in very relatable and relevant issues. If YOU are in your 20's and worry bout stuff like finances, family, love or just yourself then you will relate because this is the most realistic drama you will find.
I could not help but cry when I finished this hidden gem.

Here's some good points to why I gave my rating:

- Girl besties growing together
- Protagonist learns from their mistakes
- Cute guys
- 10/10 acting (minus Park Hye Soo)
- Good background jams
- Not CLICHE
- And in the end we value our friendships

I recommend this drama to all genders<33

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I'm not gonna lie, half the time while watching this drama I was really irritated. This was partly because of the mannerisms of Yoon sunbae and Yoo Eun-jae, I just couldn't relate to them. I know we're supposed to like Eun-jae but I really didn't. Especially her dual personality, she acted so differently when she was with her mother while to everyone else, she always seemed so scared and timid, that puzzled me. I couldn't stand her irritating way of speaking too. Speaking of, Eun-jae's mom was sooooo annoying, I could not stand her either. That said, the acting was mainly really good; shoutout to the actors of Go Doo-young (Ye-eun's deranged ex), Kang sunbae, Song sunbae, and Yoon Jong-yeol (Eun-jae's boyfriend). The only person I had previously watched in another drama was Ji Il-joo who played the role of Ko Doo-young and he did just as well as he had performed in 'Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok-Joo'.

Kang sunbae's story was the most interesting, I always looked forward to her scenes. Yoon sunbae's love interest was intriguing, I'm not sure how I feel about him though, I feel as though the actor could have done a bit better but he was decent enough. His intense feelings for her were never quite justified which made his acting not very believable. To be fair, neither were Yoon Jong-yeol's feelings for Eun-jae but I'm gonna let that slide. There was also never any explanation for Song sunbae's impulsive lying, as a result, I found her annoying at times. Episode 1 and the beginning of ep 2 were really really good but things just went downhill from there, I did not enjoy it from there up until like episode 5. It's safe to say that it took a while to get into as it got better in the second half. With that said, I really forced myself to finish this show. Another thing that really annoyed me was how the genre would switch between scenes, it was so sudden and didn't blend well. 'Strong girl Do Bong-soon' did this too but it worked really well. Also, what happened to the story of the old roommate?? they got us so excited and then just brushed it off. They also set up the housemates in episode 1 to be really mean girls so there's a sort of disconnect from the first episode and the others.

As I haven't watched that many dramas, this is the first one I've come across with only english songs and I'm not annoyed at all, the songs blended really well in the scenes and none of them were annoying. I LOVED the song for the opening sequence, so catchy!

Overall it was a good drama if you can bear the irritating things that the characters did at times and overlook parts of the story that seemed to have been dropped by the writers. If we're being honest, most dramas do this but it's bearable as long as it's not overdone. Personally, I'm not rewatching it, I can't put myself through some of the torturous scenes again (maybe a few scenes here and there though lol). P.S I'm really surprised that this drama has such a high rating of 8.8, guess I just have high standards.

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i was kind of hesitated to watch this drama since i thought it's going to be another romance-only focused drama, and since i haven't seen a lot of the main actresses other drama, i thought this drama does't have any hope, but after i finished the first episode, the story, acting, music was all so good that i rewatch all over and over again until the second episode came out, this drama really suited for young-adult people to watch or even adult

STORY/CAST
the story is really good, it doesn't just show us the good side of each main lead's life, but also show the dark side realisicly, i really like eun jae's story except her family's story, it was kind of confusing for me, but there is just a lot of girls out there are just like her, an introvert who don't know how to get along with other people, i really hope her story end up good and thank god it does. i really like her love line(IT'S MY FAVORITE) i mean, she's just look so cute when she's in love, i've never been so lonely after watching this drama.
Kang yi na is another really charming character, i really love the way she speaks, i can also feel her loneliness in the drama, i'm so glad that she became a better person, i also really like her &amp;quot;friend&amp;quot; and her chemistry, they just look so adorable together
Song ji won... she's a really funny character in my opinion, but instead of funny, i would love to know more about her story how and why is she like that but, the drama doesn't show that much, but she's also a really important character who bought all of them together, i really wish to know more about her if there's second season
Jung ye eun, i'm not really sure about her... i mean, i can relate with her about how people like to lie to make themselves feeling better, but other than that, i don't really like how she like to gossip the other roommate with other people, and i'm not sure has she grown or not throughout the whole series also
Yoon jin myeong is a really look cold at the first glance, but as you get closer to her, she's so warm, she feels just like a mom, an emotionless one, but still really care about other people, i was kind of sad look at her family condition, but, that also show how realistic the drama is.

ACTING
all of them are really good, definitely out of my expectation, especially park hye soo, ryu hwa young and park eun bin i really hope to see her more as main lead

MUSIC
the music is just so good, i really like how they find song from other singer that really suited the drama, i kind of had some hard time fo find all of them though, but they're still really good.

REWATCH VALUE
of course i've got to rewatch this drama, absolutely, however not in this few weeks since i've rewatch every single episode for like 4 times already, but someday, i'll definitely rewatch the drama


ps. this is my first review, i'm really sorry if there's any mistake on the post or i have offended any of you btw, this drama is really good, all of you should check it out

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“Age of Youth” aired July 22, 2016, to August 27, 2016, and had a cast that I am personally not all that acquainted with. There were familiar faces here and there, but it was my first time encountering our 5 female leads, so that was pretty interesting. I’m not one to be a huge fan of the romantic comedy genre, but I have to say I am quite surprised. This drama had me laughing, crying, and sometimes even a little bit spooked and I like that about this drama. However, with all the changing mood shifts throughout the drama, I sometimes found it to be a bit jarring. The first few episodes I couldn’t really tell where and what the show was going for, but after a while, I could see that perhaps it was trying to be a little different than most coming of age melancholy shows. The dynamic between the five women who lived in this house was my favorite part of the entire show itself. The female leads were all distinctive, and had different points of views on life, and lived vastly different lifestyles. The way they all interreacted and how their friendship grew throughout the show was really the most satisfying part. Having seen them grow individually as characters and how they dealt with the obstacles that life threw at them was compelling. I think this drama has some really special qualities about it and I really did enjoy it, but I still have some gripes with it.
The intro sequences were really strange to me, the openings really seemed out of left field. I guess they sort of matched the title of each episode, but I wasn’t really about it. I enjoyed the first episodes’ little drawings incorporated throughout but wished that it would persist the entire drama itself. The ending of the drama was strange to me, it was a little forced to wrap things up, and still left us with a lot of questions. I know there is a season two but for a first-time watcher during the broadcast of the show, we are left wondering so many things. Like whatever happened to the roommate that Jung Ye Eun replaced? We heard a little about her situations but it seemed more serious than that and we never really got anything more about it. They built it up and then nothing really came of it. There are other questions to be asked about each female lead, but I don’t want to really go into spoilers about it so I can’t really talk about it. I felt that this drama dealt with some pretty serious issues but I don’t think that 12 episodes were enough to get fully fleshed out storylines for each of the girls. We would see things happen and situations they were all in, and of course, we got our outcomes, but truly it wasn’t enough time to sort through it all. It sometimes felt just a tad rushed for my liking and I think that perhaps 20 episodes would have done this show better justice.
The female leads in this drama were all great. They all won my heart in some way or another, even though during the first few episodes I was unsure about some of them. I have to say that Ryu Hwa Young as Kang Yi Na was my favorite housemate, and her lifestyle and “job” were my favorite. I know this may sound weird if you have seen it, but I kind of wanted to dive deeper into her lifestyle because I genuinely found it interesting. Han Ye Ri as Yoon Jin Myung was great as well and I think she is a great actress. Her emotional scenes had me in tears and I really want to watch some more dramas with her in it. Park Hye Soo as Yoo Eun Jae was pretty good as well, her character was a little wishy-washy for my liking because she just never seemed very strong and so unsure about everything, that I have to say I was a little annoyed with her. But, I grew to be attached to her character anyways, especially when she had scenes with Shin Hyun Soo as Yoon Jong Yul. Han Seung Yeon as Jung Ye Eun was the girl that I’m sure most were annoyed with. She was the typical Korean female lead that you see where you are just not sure why she is so attached to someone who treats her the way they do. She is whinny and overreacts to everything, but even though she can be annoying she was still fun to watch. She just seemed the most generic to me out of the five girls. Lastly Park Eun Bin as Song Ji Won was great. I loved her character and her personality. Her confidence and boldness was pretty important to the story, and was infectious as a viewer, as she got a lot of balls got rolling which leads to bigger events, and I appreciate that about her character. I just wish the writers would have flushed out her storyline a little more. We just never got enough time with her.
Like I said before the show could have had more episodes to really pull us in and give us more information on each girl; their love and personal lives were all intriguing and I think I would have enjoyed the drama so much more with more development. But with what we had to work with, I’m still pretty fond of this drama. The girls have latched onto my heart, and each of them truly was great characters, I just wish they had more time to shine. This romantic comedy was something that I really enjoyed and may get me more into the romantic comedy genre. I hope that I can watch more of what each of our leads has done because I was impressed by them all. I also hope that season 2 will give us a little more information on some of the girls because the ending was a little too vague. Overall though, I thought it was a pretty great drama that drew you into the world and got you invested into each one of the characters enough for me to want more.

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