Age of Youth (2016)

Deeper than I was expecting

This drama had me in tears. I thought it was going to be light-hearted and fluffy, but unexpectedly it touched on some very serious topics.

I loved all of the five main girls. They all had different backstories and secrets which made the show more interesting than I thought it was going to be.

It started off with Eun-Jae moving into the share house so I thought it was mainly going to focus on her, but then the second episode starts and it's all about Yi-Nah being a prostitute. Ooof, wasn't expecting to see this in a K-drama. However, I liked Yi-Nah's character as she had a powerful presence and liked to stick up for her girls.

The relationship that formed between Jin-Myung and Jae-Wan was so sweet. Jin-Myung's boss at the restaurant was a real creep and I wasn't expecting the show to take the path it did there. That was the first instance when I realised it was going to be more serious than I thought. Her Mum killing her brother was not a shock but it still made me sad.

Eun-Jae's relationship was also sweet, and the height difference between them was just!!! Ugh! She's so smol that it's cute! The secret about her 'killing' her Dad was odd and it didn't really feel like her character. Her backstory seemed weird.

I really like Ye-Eun and was not expecting her boyfriend to turn crazy abusive towards the end.

Poor Ji-Won - I felt sorry for her because she seemed like the third-wheel type person. It was especially hard/sad to watch when the girls were at the hospital and all of their mans come in to see them and she has no one. But when she calls the guy she relies on, he answers her but then hangs up! I hope to see her in a relationship by the second series - she deserves it.

The ending where they were all worried about the whereabouts of Eun-Jae had me shedding a tear, and it was so sweet when they all hugged her when she came home. The friendship between them all grew so much stronger throughout the show. I loved this!

I really hope series two is just as good and if not better!

I definitely picture myself rewatching this in the future.

-E

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This is my first review but I thought this drama was worth writing one for. I will remain very broad in my review, but hope to get the essence of the drama across.

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I stumbled upon this drama while scrolling through Netflix and could not be happier that I did. It has become one of my favorite dramas.

Many of the girls’ problems are relatable and grounded in reality which makes for great stories. At first, its hard to like some of the characters, but each ends up capturing a part of your heart. I become especially fond of Kang Ina and Yoon Jin Myung. Throughout the drama, I was always pulling for Jin Myung to find a sliver of happiness and was glad she did by the end. There were many times when I wanted to punch the manager and co-workers in their mouths.

The growth of the characters is probably the most satisfying aspect of the story. Of course they still had a lot of growing to do even at the end, but compared to the first episode, they all grew tremendously. Life is full of development and that is reflected in this drama.

Finally, the relationship between the 5 of them was phenomenal. About midway through we could see that each one cared for each other, even if they didn’t know how to show it. It was frustrating at times but they came together and became a family.

In conclusion, there were many heartwarming moments and many agonizing moments. I thought the journey through each girls’ hardships and worries was great. Definitely worth a watch! I’m excited to watch S2 even with the actress changes. I’m not ready to give up these characters yet.

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It took me 30 Minutes...

...to absolutely fall in love with this show. Could it be, that I myself am in my twenties and really felt understood through the themes, hardships, and happy times in this drama? I don't know. Due to the plots and Storyline being this relatable, I was able to grow through this show, mainly because it pointed out how insecure and below our worth we present ourselves sometimes. It taught me and brought some healing in certain areas because I felt understood and less alone. If there are Dramas about situations that we feel lost and completely alone, there must be others out there feeling the exact same as I do, making the same mistakes not once but maybe twice.

This Drama showed me the beauty of friendship and how you grow not only within yourself but within your group of friends if you're ready to fight and make up. To speak your mind and have each other's back even in times where you'd rather slap the other silly.

I can only recommend watching this Drama. Not only because of the (literal) paragraph written previously but also because of chemistry amongst the cast, the production, and the many many many jokes and funny arguments.

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AOY is a very realistic portrayal of youthful, 20s life. Realistic in the fact that it doesn't try to hide ugly truths as you will see for yourself when you watch this drama. Personally, the problems that each of the characters face are very relatable: first love or even finding a romance that's right for you, poverty, self-confidence, self-value and so on. It is a drama that will make you cry, spoiler alert. I, myself, shed plenty of fat teardrops. It's a drama with a very dramatic plot and very intense because what could have been a 24 episodes long drama is squashed into 12 episodes of comedy, romance, heartbreak and sibling-like love between friends. You will miss out on a lot if you don't watch this drama honestly.

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Tekrar tekrar izlesem hiç sıkılmam. Kore dizilerini öyle kolay kolay sevemiyorum normalde, ama buna gerçekten bayıldım. En sevdiğim diziler arasına girdi. Zaten kız gruplarından oluşan dizi ve filmlere bayılırım.
Karakterler çok sevimli, özellikle de Song. Her birinin birbirinden farklı kişiliği olması ve hepsinin çok gerçekçi işlenmiş olmasına bayıldım. Oyunculuklar abartı ve samimiyetsiz değil, çok güzeldi. Hepsinin giyim tarzları, yaşam tarzları, fikirleri birbirinden farklı ama hepsi birbiriyle çok yakın arkadaş. Kavga edip küsseler de en nihayetinde barışıyorlar, her daim birbirlerine destek çıkıyorlar. Arkadaşlıkları çok tatlıydı.
Evleri çok şirin. Bir Kore dizisinden beklediğim atmosfer yakalanmış. Eşyalar, kıyafetler, çekimler... Hepsi birbirinden şirindi. Tarzıma çok uygundu. Biraz fazla efekt konmuştu ama olsun.
Her bölümde başka bir duygunun/konunun işlenmesi çok güzeldi. Hikayenin devamlılığı var ama her bölümde başka bir his işleniyor. Kıskançlık, bencillik, sevgi...vb. İnsan gerçekten bir şeyler öğreniyor diyebilirim.
İlk bölüm benim için çok özeldi. Yeni gelen kızın hissettiklerini tamamiyle anladım çünkü aynılarını senelerce hissettim. Sonra o hatasından ders çıkarırken ben de hatamdan ders çıkardım.
Dizide kadına şiddet, cinsiyetçilik, slutshaming, tecavüz, lgbt gibi konulara değinilmiş. Hepsi de doğru işlenmiş. Çoğu Kore dizisinde erkekler kızlara eşya gibi davranıyor, bu beni en çok iğrendiren şey. Bu dizide kesinlikle öyle bir şey yok. LGBT'nin üstünden çok hafif de olsa geçilmiş olması beni memnun etti.

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This drama is indeed something fresh and new.

It's a slife-of-life story about five female roommates between 20 and 28,, and every one of them has a singular character and background story. We see them struggle with romance, money, fate and life in general. Oh, and there is the "ghost", of course...

While especially in the first half of the drama I cannot deny some dragging moments, it was still entertainning because of the very unique and quirky humour. Talk about sex and armpit hair shouldn't ruffle your feathers. There are dark plot aspects regarding the girls' pasts, but it stays mostly light and you don't have to be afraid of the ending.

I'd say the rewatch value is really high, because all these small moments are so entertaining, that it doesn't matter whether you know how the drama ended.

Yeah, definitely a breath of fresh, pink air :)

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I hadn't watched a Korean drama for a long time now, and I'm glad after this long hiatus Age of Youth was the first one I watched. It's a great slice-of-life drama that captures 2016 western spirit. It was obviously written from a feminist point of view. Although the Korean somewhat sexist life style shows itself now and then, overall it does a great job demonstrating modern women's everyday struggles, and how a strong independent woman should be proud of herself. I also love that it wasn't all comedy, or all tragedy. It was a real, beautiful drama. I laughed with the girls and I cried with them. The actors are as perfect as the writing. I totally recommend it.

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One of the best slice of life kdramas!! I love and enjoy slice of life genre, but some are too slow it became frustrating for me. But not for this age of youth!! The pace wasn't too fast or too slow (might slow at some point but bearable). Since there are 5 characters and 5 different story there wasn't a scene that you feel like it was unnecessary. But the best part of this drama is how RELATABLE they are, from the characters to their stories to how the cope with their issues. Since I'm currently a college student and experience living with housemates, this drama is top tier relatable to me. All of the 5 girls stories were very interesting, I always want to know more about them. The casting was of course amazing too, I can literally imagine this is how they are off camera as well. Overall, the drama was very fun, light, relatable at its finest and teach you some life lessons. Amazing! love it

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Age of Youth draws parallels to any slice of life anime. There is no coherent plot, just a nice flow of events to help you not only relax but think about life. I picked this show up thinking it would be similar to Waikiki, as it involves a group of roommates. While Age of Youth does have its comedic moments, the show touches on various real world topics. While watching the show it does not feel like I am watching a drama, but more so a reality show focused around 5 girls who live together. Each one has their own story, their own hardships and struggles, their own challenges to overcome, and we get to see how they tackle these issues first hand.

Each character distinguishes themselves throughout the show and the viewers get to understand them at a personal level. The only reason I gave the show an 8.5 instead of a 9, is because in my opinion, one of the main characters Eun-Jae was very boring. I personally found nothing about her or her story arc interesting, her personality is very bland compared to the rest of the cast, and her relationships with her boyfriend and mother aren't that interesting. The only part I enjoyed with her was during Episode 11, where she steps in to stop the kidnapper.

Despite that, I did enjoy the rest of the cast very much, they all had quirks about them that made them likeable, and I loved how the writers included their ugly sides as well, depicting that nobody is perfect and we all have our flaws.

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I think it's a credit to the actors, writing and story that I was able to resonate heavily with a show that's mostly young women and their problems. The men that were mostly familiar with are either vengeful or out-right creeps, although there are a few gentlemens thrown in so it's not totally bad. The stories and plot is super relatable in that way. The characters were all different and interesting in their own ways. Their relationships with each other were fascinating. They didn't all like each other and that was refreshing. Everyone went on their own journey's, discovering inner feelings and giving themselves new openings to life.

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“You have a face that says, ‘kick me’”.

“I searched for love like a madman all my life, but I’ve never loved myself.”

I like how the girls watch each other’s lives like it’s part of their daily television viewing.

The girls’ personalities are so different. We've got the doormat, the man slayer, the quiet one, the bossy one and the princess. They have a hierarchy of course with the two main seniors, and the three younger ones. But I liked seeing them cross the boundaries to team up together.
I think the main thing about this drama is that since we have five heroines we get a lot of personality. Things that we don’t usually get to see in Kdrama heroines, because obviously they all have to be different not the same cardboard cut out copy.

The girls have different combinations of dynamic because obviously the girls aren’t always all together at the same time.

Eun Jae
Eun Jae is the seriously boring one who is so meek and mild and the only interesting thing about her is her love interest and her backstory. So weird that such a personality has a mother like she does. The story starts and ends with Eun Jae though, and in a way, it kind of wraps it up nicely for me. We underestimate her screen value for most of the drama.

Yi Na
Senior Kang is the man slayer, and even though she was the second to arrive at the apartment, she kind of reminds me of the oldest sister. Taking everything for granted but secretly protective over the other girls.

Jin Myung
The quiet one is my favourite. Because she isn’t exactly exaggerated quiet. She’s just no-nonsense and dignified, and I loved her so much. I like how I’m surprised every time she speaks or smiles and jokes around, but she totally owns it. I really felt for her as she cuts off romance before it has time to do anything, it’s totally something I would do. There are so many things about her that I really could associate with. I had such a girl crush on her. Everything she does is awesome. The other girls also act like Jin Myung owns the house. It was sweet how much they thought of her and how she didn’t even realise how much they respected her. In a way she’s so gentle but she’s for sure the scariest of them all. Even though she’s the reserved one she has no problem being part of the girl team and being one of them.
Jin Myung’s dreams and longings are so intense and unattainable for her. She wants so much but feels she can’t ever get there.

Ji Won
Then there’s the bossy one. She’s also the eccentric one but I liked how she was the comforter of the group. She had the biggest heart and stood up for justice and all. She observes and understands people. She’s also desperate for a man, she’s everything and she tries to be so friendly and I also feel that annoyance when you try so hard to make someone like you and it just doesn’t go down. I like that Senior Kang wasn’t the only one who could talk with guys. Ji Won is so confident she kind of overpowers her men, is all.

Ye Eun
Actually, she probably bored me the most. I was really glad that she broke up with her douchebag.

Romance
It was also really great getting interested and involved with the girls’ love lines.
I could kind of see myself in all of the girls and the way they approached romance. From Senior Kang’s trust issues, to Jin Myung's too-busy excuses, Ji Won's forwardness, to Eun Jae's awkwardness, and Ye Eun's attempts at putting on a show.

“A party?”
“Yeah. They’ll be a cute girl, a lovely girl, a glamorous girl"

This drama has a bunch of fresh faces. Sure, I recognised a few here and there, but it was nice to see nobody that I already knew from another drama.
Also the fact that there are a lot of get-to-know-you relationships in this drama, it was cute and fun to see how they developed from shy or antagonistic or friends-to-lovers (“Friends shouldn’t photoshop the reality of their lives to one another”). Korean love interests, are such softies, so innocent and nice, it’s very satisfying. Also, they’re tall haha.

Even the landlady was so funny with the way she threw things at the men who lingered around the girls’ door. I really loved that part near the end when all the love interests show up one at a time to check on their lady love and each lady is so surprised to know that she has a gentleman who would bother to show up.

There’s very little soundtrack involved, which is refreshing.

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