Itaewon Class (2020)

it was okay

me sorprende un montón que las reseñas en inglés más votadas le ponen una nota tirando a baja y señalan todas las flaquezas (que también le he encontrado yo) a este drama y sin embargo las reseñas en español son todo nueves y dieces... así que me he sentido un poco en la obligación de escribir la mía

vale, primero que todo
me costó un montón ver los primeros capítulos, ha sido de los pocos kdramas que he estado a puntísimo de dejar simplemente porque me aburría demasiado pero finalmente decidí esperarme hasta al capítulo 4 o así y ciertamente la serie empieza a despuntar a partir de ahí, se hace entretenida, etc. sin embargo hacia el último tercio vuelve a decaer (literalmente hay un secuestro y yo ahí ya marco la línea definitiva donde cualquier kdrama descarrila).

pros:
- diversidad (por fin!!)
- hay un par de personajes secundarios por los que daría todo
- el sentido/importancia de la amistad, lealtad, etc

contras:
- los main characters
- el romance es forzadísimo e innecesario
- el personaje principal no avanza, sigue psicológicamente igual de moralista y pesao
- la venganza como único plot conductor de la trama es agotador y repetitivo

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Debo decir que comencé a ver este drama porque Park Seo Joon salía en él. Soy su fan, amo su trabajo y habia quedado fascinada con su trabajo en What´s Wrong With Secretary Kim (excelente drama por cierto) así que OBVIAMENTE debía de ver este nuevo drama.

Es un drama que te atrapa desde el principio. Su personaje te atrapa, por tanta injusticia que se nos muestra en los primeros capitulos, tanta cosa fea que le pasa a él y a su familia solo por el hecho de que se metió con las personas equivocadas (tipico coreano que porque mi papa es dueño de una empresa super importante en Corea puedo hacer lo que se me hinche un...) y él es fiel a sus principios y hace lo correcto ocasionadole grandes consecuencias.

El drama en general nos demuestra que con paciencia, esfuerzo y sobre todo, tener siempre estar tranquilo sin caer en provocaciones. A mi me sorprendió mucho, los personajes que metieron como "principales". El chavo que es transexual (el papel lo interpreta una chica), y un extranjero, una persona de color, que se nota que no es actor, porque no me gusto su actuacion, sin embargo el verlo ahi y que hablara coreano me sorprendio y me parecio novedoso.

Ya necesitaba una protagonista fuerte, ya saben, no la tipica chica que esta en peligro y el protagonista la viene a rescatar. Amé mucho el personaje de YiSeo, es independiente, sabe lo que quiere, y es noble, quiza un poco directa, sn pelos en la lengua como decimos en mi país pero es su fuerte.

En cuanto a los antagonistas, empezemos con Soo Ah. La odie desde el episodio donde supuestamente ella le habia hablado a la policia para decir que habia menores de edad bebiendo en Danbam, y aunque despues resulta ser que no era ella, el odio se me quedó. Si hubiera querido se hubiera ido del grupo Jangga desde que Seori regreso y abrio el bar. Algo que me gusto de ella es que al final delata todas las cosas que el grupo Jangga realizaba ilegalmente. Y a pesar de que tuvo roces con Yi Seo, ellas pueden compartir un espacio si me explico? Creo que si nos adelantamos en el futuro yo creo que ellas serian grandes amigas.

De Geun Won , bueno, realmente el solo es un idiota. Se esforzó demasiado para poder tener la aprobación de su papá pero realmente nunca lo logro (también el señor era bien caca con él, digo ya no pudo comer pollito nunca mas haha) . Sentí muy feo cuando el papá lo entrega a la policia para no perder su empresa. Va a la carcel y de ahi se pudo haber ido a otro lado , dejar las cosas atras pero es demasiado rencoroso y busco venganza, no podia soportar que Seo Ri haya tenido exito en su plan.

El presidente de Jangga , una persona muy ambiciosa, en un principio defendiendo a capa y a espada a su hijo porque para la familia es lo mas importante ( y por eso mandas a tu hijo a la carcel despues) y los mismos pensamientos del hijo, yo tengo poder, yo hago lo que quiera. Fue buen contricante, tenia jugadas muy buenas, pero como siempre truinfa el bien y este señor acaba pagando todo, y valio la pena esperar a uno de los ultimos capitulos donde el se arrodilla pidiendo perdon y el SeoRi le dice algo como esto sollo haces porque tu empresa ya se fue al ca... y se va asi con la musiquita (Take that bitch) y se queda ahi llorando en el piso.

Finalizo con el pobre de Geun Soo que lo unico que quería era a la YiSeo, y realmente no es malo, solo se dejo llevar un poco por la ambicion pero al final el si recapacita (aprende Geun Woo) y termina por irse a estudiar al extranjero (para nada un cliche coreano).

Historia 10/10
Actuaciones 9.0/10
Music 10/10 I can fly the sky ~ woh!
Volverla a ver. Si lo haría pero ahorita no, la acabo de terminar hace como 3 días , quiza en algunos años, pero si.
En general un 9.5. ♥

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Itaewon class reseña

A pesar de no tener el 10 en puntuación para mi, es de mis dramas favoritos de Park Seo Joon. Me gusto la historia en términos generales, es cierto que lo que me hizo quitarle varios puntos fue la parte de la historia entre los protagonistas. No veía gran química entre ellos y realmente no llegué a conectar con esa parte. A pesar de ello me gustó mucho aunque lo dicho anteriormente hay ciertas partes que si hubieran sido diferentes pero bueno. Aún así en un drama que recomiendo y que hay que ver si o si. Este es uno de esos dramas en los que hay disparidad de opiniones, por lo que yo recomiendo que se vea para hacerse una idea porque lo que no les gustó a otros o lo que si gusto puede que no sea lo mismo que te pase a ti.

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Me salió en recomendaciones de Netflix. Vi el tráiler y me gustó, así que decidí verla. Al comentar en un grupo de discord que iba a comenzarla, me dijeron que ellas se la habían dejado porque no les había enganchado (cuestión de gustos), pero que si a mi me gustaba se lo dijera, para darle una oportunidad.
Desde el minuto uno, tanto la trama como los personajes te atrapan. La interpretación por parte de todo el reparto, es maravillosa.
El único punto negativo que le sacó es que puede llegar a hacer algo repetitiva, porque sientes que no avanza en su objetivo, aunque realmente sí, pero se plantea de tal forma, que a mi me hace sentir que lo que ha pasado ya lo he visto antes.
Lo que más me sorprendió, fueron los últimos capítulos porque no me esperaba que pasase algo así.

Como conclusión: Sí, la recomendaría ver.

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Empece a ver esta historia por la música, es la primera vez que quedo enamorada de unas canciones coreanas, las he cantado dos semanas seguido, jajaja. Y cada vez que la ponían en la serie trataba de cantarla, por supuesto que se reirían de mi con mi pronunciación, jaja
Al principio no le tenia mucha fe, sobre todo por las reseñas. Me costo engancharme, la deje a veces. Y reconozco que siempre volví porque la actitud del protagonista era intachable, sueño que haya gente tan correcta com él en el mundo, así que seguía viendo para ver como lograba sus sueños. No soy partidaria de la venganza, y generalmente cuando hay venganza cosas malas pasan, y me decepciono de las personas que tratan de hacerla. A cada capitulo que pasaba me interesaba más dejando muy de lado la venganza. Creo que la historia se contó bastante bien, ya que aunque fuera una historia de venganza quedo como en segundo plano, mientras veíamos como se iba haciendo exitoso.
Reconozco que a veces era muy lenta y perdía la concentración. Creo que con menos capítulos con la historia mas condensada hubiera sido mejor. Igual la disfrute, sobre todo con el final.
El desarrollo de los personajes que son sus amigos y se transforman en su familia estuvo muy bien. Ver el amor incondicional siempre es un agrado.
Por toda esa inspiración y esa sensación de realización la recomiendo.

SPOILERS
(Al final lo que mas me gusto fue que la supuesta antagonista, lograra ganarse el amor de Park Saeroyi, eso me pareció fantástico, realmente se merecía mucho mas quedarse con él. Nunca había visto una historia coreana, que pasara esto, fue inspirador. Y que al final se diera cuenta que nada de esa venganza valía tanto la pena y prefería el amor, Me emocionó responde muy bien a su naturaleza de un ser tan correcto y genial).

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Ha sido una serie preciosa, espero que mucha gente la vea y la disfrute

Las actuaciones no podían haber estado mejor defendidas ya que el reparto estaba maravillosamente escogido.
El argumento está basado en un webtoon muy interesante y en cuya trama se defienden unos valores que ojalá tuviéramos más presentes en nuestras vidas
Por otra parte, la OST ha sido insuperable y la recordaré durante mucho tiempo

Todo el mundo debería ver esta serie. Puede que no enganche desde el primer capítulo, pero antes de llegar al tercero ya estás deseando que todo le vaya bien al protagonista.

Al final he tardado dos días en acabarla y para mí ha sido la mejor serie que he visto en lo que llevamos de 2020

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I was drawn to this because the vibe seemed so different from most KDramas, and I really liked that, but Itaewon Class is the kind of drama that I think tries too hard to be cool and relevant. I like that it tackled a few topics like race, gender identity, ageism, and social status, but it also does it in a way that was too corny for me to take seriously. I still want to give it an E for effort because I liked the idea of the diversity and inclusive vibe of Itaewon. What initially drew me in about the story was the revenge plot, which sadly got overshadowed by an annoying love triangle... square... pentagon... which eventually ruined everything for me. The only consistent likable thing for me throughout was Park Seo Joon as Sae Ro Yi.

I think Sae Ro Yi is a great character. Watching him navigate epic hardships and relationships with an endearing stubbornness and loyalty was my favorite thing about the show. I've loved Park Seo Joon in so many dramas, he never disappoints, so this drama just solidifies what a great actor I think he is. Surprisingly the one area where he is weakest in this drama is the "romance" aspect, but that's not his fault. From "Witch's Romance" to "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim" it's obvious to me that he is a great romantic lead, but the problem here is that the romance plot is the weakest part of this drama. His relationship with Nara as Oh Soo Ah had an initial spark of chemistry but was soon too repetitive, and I thought his relationship with Kim Da Mi as Jo Yi Seo made absolutely no sense! They had no chemistry but seemed to appease some fans so it felt like it was forced into a story that didn't need it.

More than romance this drama focuses on friendship and loyalty. The cast is full of interesting characters who learn to accept and depend on each other with Sae Ro Yi as their guide. I liked the supporting cast in general, even if their acting skills weren't all equal. My favorite performance of the supporting cast was Lee Joo Young as Ma Hyun Yi, and sadly my least favorite was Chris Lyon as Toni (who's Korean was way more impressive than his acting... but I don't speak Korean so that's just a guess lol). I also thought Ahn Bo Hyun was great and consistently unlikeable as Geun Won, and Yoo Jae Myung was epically evil as Jang Dae Hee, and I love epic villains worthy of epic revenge! I can't really say that anyone was bad, but many in the cast were more decent actors than amazing.

The breakout star is clearly meant to be Kim Da Mi as Yi Seo, but she was not my favorite. She's a great actress, and was an interesting character in the beginning, with her sociopath social media savvy persona, but she soon became annoyingly obsessive and childishly whiny. I wanted to root for her being a young empowered and clever female lead character, but instead, she felt needy, self-involved, and just too hard to like at times... most times. The forced love story definitely didn't help me like her character. I guess some people found her devotion cute, but I thought it was creepy. I think people liked her IDGAF attitude, but I found her selfishness irritating, which overshadowed anything I liked about her initially.

That brings me to the plot, which was just messy! It starts out as the motivational story of a pied piper of misfits bringing random people together to create his dream to fulfill his epic plans of revenge, and suddenly focuses instead on a really bad love story. I can't blame the age gap, because the first drama I saw him in was a romance with a huge age gap. I just think the match didn't work and was so awkward to watch no matter how hard they tried to make it a thing. Then evil characters started to be less realistic and more cartoony, and things suddenly resolved and fell into place way too easily. Even though there are many moments I still liked, overall the script is more bad than good. I waited to watch the last 4 episodes because I stopped caring, and the last 2 episodes were so painfully drawn out and dragged so much that I was tempted to drop the drama with only 30 minutes left in the last episode. Even all of the confrontation and fight scenes that the show was building up to were boring to watch.
This has the same Director as " Big", one of the most ridiculously awful dramas I have ever watched, so maybe this turn isn't surprising after all.

Would I watch this again? Obviously not, and I almost wish I would have dropped this sooner, but I was still too invested in Sae Ro Yi and all he went through to give up on this completely. The ending was good about addressing everything that needed to be addressed and had a few moments that I liked but It still was not satisfying enough to make me like this drama as a whole.

Overall, I was excited by the beginning but the thrill didn't last till the end. Yes, there was an overall message that I am not mad at... about friends like family, what real power is, and what really matters in life, but the weak love story, rushed character development, predictable resolutions, and lack of emotional depth didn't execute those themes well enough in the end. It looked visually cool, but the substance felt too immature and unrealistic for me. I wouldn't personally recommend this drama, but I can understand how people can like it more than I did, especially if they liked Kim Da Mi's character a lot. For Park Seo Joon fans it may be worth it to watch even just the beginning, then decide on your own if it's worth your time. Personally, I wish I could edit out whole parts of the drama to make it better, but instead, I will move on to something better while looking forward to the next Park Seo Joon drama instead. It did make me curious about visiting Itaewon when I finally make it to Korea, because they did make it look cool, so I guess that's a good thing too.

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Itaewon Class was an emotional ride with an especially promising start. Just after the first two episodes, I felt immensely attached to the main character, Park Saeroyi, and was looking forward to following him on his journey. Throughout the 16 episodes, I definitely learned a lot from his hardwork and values. Park Seo Joon did a phenomenal job with his character and left me in absolute awe. Whether it may be understanding the beauty of life or being reminded the importance of hardwork; I was thankful to be able to get to know and learn from Park Saeroyi.

However, apart from Park Saeroyi, I did have a few complaints for the other characters. Some characters were especially annoying, and lacked development. I did like that the drama showcased imperfect characters, but it also sometimes excused the ignorant behaviour of these characters - almost making it seem that such behaviour was appropriate to viewers. Some characters were especially inconsistent, and just seemed random. This switch was really annoying to see because it didn't make sense. I think these characters had a lot of potential to really compliment the story, but the writer just changed them randomly in order to make Park Saeroyi look good. I wish the side characters had contributed a little more to the overall plot but unfortunately we were unable to see that as viewers.

The show also became a little slow in the middle, but then quickly picked up its pace later. I was disappointed with the last two episodes as I felt that there were unnecessary additions to the plot. However, the ending was still quite nice and most questions were answered.

Overall, this was definitely a meaningful and enjoyable watch. The reason why this show is receiving such a high rating (from me) despite its flaws is because of the lessons it served. As I saw this show and went about my life, I found myself thinking about Park Saeroyi and the importance of hardwork. Even if it was fiction, I really learned a lot from this drama and was thankful for the insights I gained. In addition, Itaewon class held some especially beautiful scenes that had my heart racing and gave me goosebumps. The OSTs were beautiful, and I know I will play them countless times in the future! Itaewon Class may have been lacking in some areas, but it was still a great show that managed to keep me eagerly waiting for new episodes each week ((:

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Is SEO-JOON enough for you to watch a series?

Netflix aired this show WHERE i lived 2 episodes behind Korea - I went from looking forward to fresh episodes (even trying to find the latest episodes online) to completely forgeting there were new ones.

The series started out great, the first few episodes were standouts, the problem was it wasnt able to continue the momentum. It felt like the rest of the episodes dragged on that i was wishing the series would just end. It didnt feel like the show is reaching a climax and by the end i was bored.

Id only give this show an overall 7.5 just because of PSJ, he did, after all, acted his ass off in this drama. Yoo Jae Myung is amazing. I feel like Kim Da Mi is far too young for PSJ and to tell honestly, their chemistry a bit lacking. I love Lee Joo Young but why does a real woman play a transgender woman character??? Her beauty is distracting that i find it hard to believe she is a transgender.

Would i reccommend it - if you're a PSJ fan, yes. If not, you can skip it.

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This show is fantastic; it's something new. This is among, if not the best, kdrama I have ever watched. Although I do have a few sentiments to share: (1) The show had an extremely strong beginning, however somewhere in the middle, it felt lukewarm. It did pick up again eventually. (2) I almost dropped it out of annoyance towards Yi Seo because of her obsessive tendencies and unnecessarily rude attitude. I had to continuously remind myself that she was sociopathic to rationalize the way that she was acting. One thing I cannot forget, however, is the scene where she kissed Saeroyi without his knowledge. That was creepy and unneeded. I would remove that, if I could. (3) There was a lack of romantic development between Yi Seo and Saeroyi. I wish the build up were shown more gradually and naturally because I never really figured out when Saeroyi started feeling differently. Was Saeroyi already lovestruck when Yi Seo confessed her feelings? If not, then when did he fall inlove? I don't know. I don't know if it was done purposely as romance is not the storyline's focus, but the romance between the two came out forced.

Despite what I've said, I absolutely loved watching this. It was a wild ride, and it made me feel so intensely. It isn't surface level. It is above and beyond Saeroyi's relationship with Yi Seo. In fact, it tackles many aspects of being human exceptionally - the importance of bonds, the sturdiness we should possess in hardship, the search for meaning, the effort it takes to abide by our principles, the way that everything else gets clouded in pursuit of something, the effect of upbringing to one's viewpoints, self-interest, dehumanization. Not to mention it also touches societal issues such as racism, bullying, and the scorn that transgenders receive. It's just so well-made and well-executed. Moreover, the casting is simply outstanding, both the protagonists and antagonists are effective. They give full justice to their roles.

All the characters are flawed, and while they are unconventional, they are also substantial. They are oftentimes irritating, self-serving, and unreasonable - but that's what makes them all the more enthralling. While they undoubtedly manifest all these qualities, they continue to move forward, gasping, struggling, improving themselves in their own way, seeking for reasons to continue on, even if their reasons are repugnant, such is life.

The plot encapsulates being human in such a spectacular way, and I truly admire that. You would find yourself disagreeing with plenty of things. You would encounter absurd worldviews. You would question your own morals. And you won't even notice it, but you would find yourself engrossed and attached. The flow, the storytelling, the dialogues, the OSTs - everything is impeccable. The ending was pure satisfaction.

Needless to say, watching this has been a great pleasure to me. Give this show a chance to prove that it deserves the hype.

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