Hello? It's Me! (2021)

soft and funny

I hadn’t originally planned to watch Hello, Me!, but I was in the mood for something lighter, so I decided to give it a go. And I’m glad I did! This drama was so much fun! It’s lighthearted with so much comedy gold as well as a nice helping of heart. Count me as surprised!

You all know that I’m pretty particular with comedy and what I find genuinely funny. Well, this drama was exactly my comedic style. The humor is zany and fun, and it’s present in the bulk of the drama. I laughed so much! Seriously, this is the kind of comedy that I wish there was more it. It just leaves me feeling happy.

While not exactly old school, Hello, Me! does have a more classic feel to it in terms of overall tone. Of course, this was something I quite enjoyed, and it made it feel more refreshing compared to the style of dramas of the present day.

I loved the fantasy aspect with 17 year old Ha Ni meeting the 37 year old version and spending the entire drama together. That’s actually a pretty unique concept in Dramaland, and I really enjoyed it.

A major theme of the drama is the exploration of Ha Ni as an individual. She gets to see what she lost to time as well as what she has gained. That also gives her the opportunity to get support from her younger self and slowly regain her confidence.

These two bickered a lot, but they also cared for each other deeply. It was unique relationship for sure. It’s a lovely journey to see play out, and the drama is filled with wonderful positive messages about self-love.

We get a bit of romance too as Yoo Hyun falls for Ha Ni. It’s not really swoony, but it’s pretty cute with Yoo Hyun being a puppy with his devotion to Ha Ni as well as very supportive of her. I enjoyed watching this couple grow close and to see their relationship develop.

There’s a lot of fun to be had around Anthony too. His character was slightly annoying at first, but it didn’t take long before I found him hilarious. His personality in general gives way to a lot of jokes. Combine that with his interesting relationship with Ha Ni, and there were plenty of laughs to be had. The younger version of Anthony (Kim Song Woo) was also delightful in his very quirky way.

Another highlight is the fun relationship between Yoo Hyun and his father Han Ji Man (Yoon Joo Sang). Ji Man actually turns out to be the rare nice chaebol. These two have the best bickering chemistry which I thoroughly enjoyed. Ji Man really cares for his son though, and it was evident. I smiled a lot watching this duo.

There are many other funny and interesting supporting characters too. Anthony’s team is hilarious. Ha Ni’s co-worker and old friend Ji Eun (Kim Yoo Mi) had her own nice story arc to explore involving both her friendship with Ha Ni as well as with her husband (Ji Seung Hyun). Plus, there are lots of great other family members and co-workers. So many wonderful characters!

Since I liked all of the characters, this made every scene enjoyable. I definitely laughed a lot with all of the zany comedy and hilarious situations these people got into. The heart also came through too. There were definitely feels as several of the relationships were explored.

Even though I would consider this a feel good drama, it does have a few slightly more serious parts concerning some of the issues various characters are facing. The last quarter of the drama definitely gets more serious as many of these things come to a head and have to be addressed while also dealing with a villain and some corporate power shenanigans.

I personally didn’t feel like any of it was out of place, and it was all a natural progression of the story. I liked how they handled many of the issues, and there were plenty of warm fuzzies to be had between the various characters.

I would also recommend not taking the time travel aspect of this story too seriously. It mostly serves as a vehicle for getting the characters in the right place for fun and character exploration. The time travel stuff mostly happens quietly in the background until the end of the drama. You will find some plot loopholes involving this element, but I still thought it was well done and succeeded in delivering its overall message which was obviously what was most important in this drama.

Hello, Me! really was such a pleasant surprise. It brought me a lot of joy, and I laughed a lot. I came to like all of the characters and enjoyed their personal journeys of growth. There was a nice helping of heart to provide the feels too. I liked this drama more and more as it went, and it left me feeling very satisfied.

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Great character development

To be frank, I was surprised by the writing of the show and didn't expect that I'd like the story line this much. The focus on the characters' internal developments and how they stayed the same/differ from their past selves were a joy to watch. I love the dynamic between the teenager Ha-ni and adult Ha-ni, learning about the moments that shaped who the adult Ha-ni's life choices. I also appreciated that the romance line going on is a sub-plot and that there are actual progress of the two falling for each other. The only major issue I have regarding the storyline is the time skip at the end, the way the ending went doesn't makes sense based on how traveling generally work (if you change something in the past, the future will change). I suppose it's ok for having a very nicely tied up ending.

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cliche but super fun and heartwarming. first of all i just want to say, i don't expect that i will love this drama so muchh. the story is cliche but the feeling and emotion was definitely more than that. first half, it was a really light, fun, bright and cute. i don't know how this story will turns out, but it gets better each time. second half, was more heartwarming, deep, you know like families and hardship things like that. and the whole drama has this fluffy vibes, idk how to explain but it was comforting and very bright and positive, i feel like the vibe is like a marshmallow haha. i especially love the chemistry between current bahn ha ni and the 17 years old bahn ha ni. in every episode there's some like hardship or event that the lead has to go through, and we can see how the characters really grow and developed throughout the series, not just the leads but other characters as well. and for me this is the point of the drama, looking back to the past and be better in the present. i really love everyone's character except of course yu hyeon's aunt, but everyone else was relatable and their character development ugh amazing. anyways watch it please, if you need fun comforting marshmallow vibes watch this.

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Primarily A Healing Drama

I don't like the categories for rating on here. My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

When viewed strictly as a "healing drama", it's pretty good. It's all about dealing with grief and guilt and learning to accept the bad things that happen in life, to forgive, and to love yourself again. I think it gets this message across well. If you expect a romance, it's disappointing. This drama really isn't about that and it takes a major back seat to the main goal of the drama. This is a bad thing and a good thing - bad because I wanted a cute romance with 김영광 (Kim Yeong Kwang) and good because the two leads really didn't have enough chemistry for a romantic relationship.

Acting/Cast:
I watched this solely because 김영광 (Kim Yeong Kwang) is one of my favorite actors and this is another drama that shows the reason for that. His acting and his character carried the drama. He did so well in his portrayal of a cute, innocent, carefree, goofy young adult that his good acting only made the poor acting of other cast members more noticeable. Most notably, the female lead's acting was...stiff and strange. I'm not sure if it's the actress (since I've only ever seen her in Mystery Queen, which I really liked) or a directing choice. But, whatever the reason is, her "acting style" became increasingly annoying as the drama went on. I'll just give a quick example of what I mean: Someone will tell her something emotionally heavy (like a confession/apology) and she'll stare at them the whole time they tell her. Then, immediately after they've finished speaking, she quickly says something like "that's ok I forgive you/not your fault/etc." while still staring at them without any change in facial expression. It's as though she's just waiting to read her lines. But also, the lines don't even feel very natural as to how someone would actually respond. I also don't feel as though the female and male leads had much chemistry. Especially, when you compare the male lead's chemistry with his dad, his minion, and even with the lunch ladies. I even think the female lead's younger self displayed better chemistry with the second male lead. 4/10

Writing:
Like I mentioned above, some of the dialogue from the female lead specifically, didn't feel authentic. The writers may have been going for a super feel-good story where everyone has super awesome communication skills and can understand each other as if they can read each other's minds, but it's not realistic. And really, I think that taking out the realism--using the characters to model healthy behaviors for the viewers--ultimately takes away from the healing message of the drama. It won't feel like something that's obtainable to the viewers because none of us are nearly that perfect in real life. By the end, I started getting bored...I felt like I was watching an episode of Full House or Barney or an after school special. Regarding the fantasy aspect of the plot, it remains a mystery - there is no lore, no rules, that can help us make sense out of the situation. That's ok, the story isn't really about that either, it's about the healing. But, I wish we could have just made peace with that right away instead of being given the run-around in the beginning, thinking we can figure out what's going on. The focus should have only been on her younger self's purpose for showing up in the future instead of wasting time on how she can go back. 3.5/10

Direction/SFX/Music:
Like I said before, I don't know if some of these issues are directing choices or bad acting. I want to blame the direction. Music was nothing special. Regarding SFX, no issues stood out. OH YEAH...this bothered me...So there's this scene in the beginning where the female lead is outside in the sun, in nature, around wild flowers taking photos and she has her hair in a long, single braid over her shoulder. She also had these freckles that go well with her look. I'm sitting here literally thinking about how beautiful her hair looks. And then, later on, she's basically told she's ugly...so she gets a makeover, cuts all that pretty hair off, and replaces it with a short, flat, predictable hairstyle and covers her freckles with concealer. I was so annoyed. Actually, now that I think about, that's when my interest in this drama started declining. It's like that was a metaphor that signaled that they were removing the personality out of the drama. 3/10

Entertainment Value:
It was a rough start, but the male lead single-handedly kept me from dropping this drama in the beginning. The younger self character and her relationship with the female lead grew on me and helped me keep interest in the drama. In the end, surprisingly it was Anthony (the second male lead) and his story that kept me interested in finishing the drama. So I guess, the baton was handed off a few times during this race. Ideally, everyone should be running together and crossing the finish line at the same time, but at least I was able to make it to the end. I was pretty bored through those last few episodes though. 3/10

Overall, I gave this drama a 3.5/10 mainly due to the weird acting/dialogue in the second half of the drama, the lack of chemistry between the leads, and the lack of interest I had toward the end. However, I think it had a really good message as a healing drama.

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Could have been better

To my regret, in my opinion, some points were not right with this show. The story is quite promising, but after only a few episodes it is clear that the script itself does not know where it wants to go. The story lacks the necessary stringency to consistently honour the great drama of the events.
Supposedly, a crucial event could not be corrected, and no one questioned this statement. Well, that is the internal logic in the story - but after the younger self of Ban Ha-Ni knows the future and understands why the older Ban Ha-Ni had mourned and sunk into depression for 20 years, and she is back in the past to live her life again, nothing changes about the future in the end. The young Ban Ha-Ni's new experiences, knowledge and insights have apparently not changed anything about the old Ban Ha-Ni's personality! Impossible! I think with an initial story like that, you can't focus on one detail and not pay attention to everything else.
As for the choice of actors, unfortunately the chemistry between the couples was not right. In my opinion they are not a good match. Sometimes I thought the actress of a supporting role was a better match for the lead actor. Also I really wanted to witness that, like in the well-known fairy tale, the ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan in the end. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

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Fun, Exiting and Refreshing

The shows I like watching now are usually high tension, so watching hello me was a good way to break up the tension. Every episode was fun to watch and there was never a day when I told myself I don't think I want to watch it because of how addictive it is.
All of the main/recurring cast members have their own edge and could have their own spinoffs based on their adventures but I like how they are all in one drama and the focus is today's bahn Hani meeting bahn Hani from 20 years ago. This is good because we get to see retro scenes and the cast interact with the same person in different forms.

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Sort of about time travel...still good

There were a couple of minor things that detract. First, there's time travel involved but the characters seem strangely disinterested in the ramifications. Second, there's a deadline with potentially deadly consequence that again the characters largely seem to ignore...even when it gets down to seven days they pretty much futz around with other things. There's some chaebol drama that is unnecessary as well. In short, this is not really about time travel.

The rest of it is mostly light and fun with just enough drama for variety. Lee Re is particularly funny in many scenes and is well paired with Choi Kang Hee in the older role.

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Nice theme, but boring...

The main theme is 'Guilt can be an obstacle if you cannot manage to forgive yourself'.
This theme is executed and we all felt it, but in the end the drama was really boring for me.Company politics felt like a filler, still, it wasn't enough to fill 16 episodes.
Should have been a movie.
As for the acting, the female lead's way of thanking even became really annoying as the drama neared ending, I didn't enjoy her acting at all. The male lead, a.k.a. Blue Bird, reminded me the Big Bird of Sesame Street, the cuteness was overacted and became funny-and not in a good way.

The best two things of the drama was, Re Lee's phenomenal acting- she played the part of 17 year old Ha-ni; and the morning company dance, which I found hilarious, brilliant and uplifting all at the same time.
Can't say that I recommend this.

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Something boring is boring no matter the sugarcoat

This is only my second ever drama that I have 'dropped' unfortunately...as I do not continue watching a drama if it falls below a 5/10. Now let me tell you why - and I'll even include the parts that I did enjoy.

What I enjoyed:
The ML (acting and character)
OST

That's it. Everything else falls into my 'average' or 'dislike' category. I think a big problem was how the FL (both versions) made me want to not care for her. Also, I am very bored while watching the episodes, and the script...it feels like lazy writing, with some dialogue in certain scenes feeling really awkward and amateurish.

I welcome people to still try out Hello, Me! But don't say I didn't warn you. I feel you'll find yourself dropping it too.

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