Sparkling Watermelon (2023)

SEMPURNA

FIRST IMPRESSION
Kaget liat cerita ini setelah muak melihat Indonesia selalu membuat film dengan bumbu film horror namun, setelah melihat series ini jujur bisa buat merefresh otak kalian. Dari segi vfx, bgm, cast, dsb itu bagus banget. Terutama Shin Eun Soo sebgai Chun Ah itu casting dan feel dia dapat banget. Namun terkadang dibeberapa episode ada yang color gradingnya cukup bocor sampai wajahnya terlihat ungu sekali.
PERASAAN KU SAAT MENIKMATI CERITANYA (SEDIKIT MENGANDUNG SPOILER)
Pada episode awal-awal jujur perasaan ku cukup kesal mengapa sih ayahnya bersikap gini banget kepada anaknya, namun setelah melanjutkan ceritanya akupun cukup dibuat kesal dengan sifat Eun Gyeol disaat ia dimarahi oleh ayahnya. Jujur saja aku terbawa suasana saat itu namun, setelah Eun Gyeol balik ke masa disitulah perasaan aku ku sebagai penonton perasaanya dibuat campur aduk karena kita melihat sikap, dan nasib Yi Chan yang berbanding terbalik dengan kehidupan di masa depanya Yi Chan pada saat itu terlihat sangat bahagia namun sedih juga ketika mengetahui ia tinggal dengan neneknya saja. Pada episode akhir aku sebagai penonton dibuat nangis karena ternyata ada sebuah takdir yand tidak dapat dirubah oleh sang anak.

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youthful, romantic, comforting.

I'm not the biggest fan of time travel dramas, but this was one made me reconsider my opinion of it. I mainly watched it because of choi hyun wook as the other characters were slightly unfamiliar to me and it also included a hearing impaired character which always intrigued me whenever they appeared in dramas but I stayed until the end as the presence of the other characters made it even enjoyable.

The mixture of friendship, high school, family and love was nicely potrayed. The most I enjoyed was the chemistry between yi chan and cheong ah. I loved and adored them very much!! Learning about cheong ah's past was aslo very interesting.
All the characters, especially the students were refreshing and heartwarming to see.

Honestly, I loved the setting whenever it took place in the past rather than in the modern days. The modern day scenes just seem a bit awkward to me for some reason. Maybe because I'm such a nostalgic person ^_^. So if you are one, you should definitely give this drama a chance.

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It is a good drama.

It's a good drama; it's funny and quite entertaining. I liked the acting of little Eun gyol. it was refreshing to watch it. The visual, acting and OSTs are the best. The relationship between father and son. It was a reality check that our parents too have gone through tough times , it is us who are taking them for granted. There are things that they did not get but tried really hard to give us the love and safety. They are willing to do anything for us, they too try hard to be a good parent. But there are many things that remain unanswered and kind of feel like a plot hole for me.


Spoiler alert:-




1. Eun Gyol, the fact that he knew he was in the past and kind of accepted it, but still, he called Se Kyoung "ajumma" and wanted to hear answers from her about the things she did in the future. Like, bro, how is she going to answer it?

2. On Eun Yu, She got into time travel after finding out that her dad was cheating on her mom. First of all, she wasted so much time on finding 'her mom's first love'. After finding out that her mom's first love is her dad, she never even tried to know her father or follow him; she saw him flirting and all, but never checked what her father is doing. It was as if her whole point of going to the past was pointless, except for being a love interest of Eun Gyul.

3. If Eun Gyol and Eun Yu were supposed to go to a place together to meet the master, But for Eun Gyol it was the same bookstore from where he came from the future, If that was the case, then wasn't Eun Yu supposed to go to the airport since she came to the past from there?
 
4. The ending was so rushed that many things just got lost. Eun Yu never found out what her father was doing with the women. What happened between Choi Se Kyeong and her biological father? 

5.Yoon Cheong Ah's father said that they are never coming back to korea, so how did they ended up in Korea? Where and when did Yi Chan and Chung Ha meet and get married?

6. We know what Eungyol's life is like at the end. But what about Eun Yu? How is her life going?

7. The fact that Ha Yi Chan and Yoon Chug Ha's love story starts after 10 episodes. when they are supposed to be the main couple.

8. What about Eun Gyol's brother? Does he still like Eun Yu?

These are my opinions. I liked the drama, but the fact that there are so many questions that are not answered and it made the ending really rushed and forced. The whole drama revolves mainly around Eun Gyol. We did not get the story of the other side characters.

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WATERMELON....SUGAR!

Surprisingly this is a good drama, the best of this drama was the casts. Everyone had genuine smiles and great collaboration between them. I would give credit to the main actors who made this drama special.

Ryeoun as Ha Eun-gyeol
The only hearing person in a deaf family (Mom, Dad, & older Brother). Eun-gyeol was a perfect model student by day, but at night he lead a double life as a talented guitarist in a band. After having an argument with his father, where his father learned of his musical interest, he time slipped to 1995 and met his parents when they were Junior in High School. He surprise to know that his dad wasn't deaf but a hot-blooded youth whose in love with a girl from Seowon Arts HS, Choi Se-kyung: a student major in cello not his mother. Eun-Gyeol also learned there's accident causing his father lost his hearing and stirred his attention to the deaf girl Yoon Cheong-ah as he knew her as his mother. He strive to create a different outcome of his parent's future and to avoid the accident. ***Ryeoun was a delight to watch, he's not only great play guitar but also sign language, it wasn't fake sign language - no! He knows it well. His expression was excellent & great smiles, speech deliverance is awesome.

Choi Hyun-wook as Ha Yi-chan
A hot-blooded youth whose worry nothing but so cheerful and confident. He lives with his grandmother who owned an accommodation house named Snail House. He's in love with beautiful Choi Se-kyung: the cello goddess of Seowon Arts High School. Choi Hyun-Wook made a bet with Se-kyung he would be in a band and made her girlfriend. The bet was on, but out of the blue a crazy boy Ha Eun-Gyeol show up challenged him of her heart. With some reason that strange boy Ha Eun-Gyeol kept follow, helping & protect him. He finally warmed-up to him and they became good friend. ***Choi Hyun-wook is full of energy, has beautiful voice, good in play guitar.

Seol In-ah as Choi Se-kyung / On Eun-yoo
Se-kyung was a person considered to be everyone's muse with her beauty, talent and elegant aura, but she would have an unhappy marriage that made her a controlling mother to her only daughter On Eun-Yoo. Eun-Yoo was on the same situation as Eun-Gyeol, she determined to change her mother's love life so she would have a happy marriage, she looked for the man of her mother's first love. Eun-Yoo and Eun-Gyeol had an understanding to help each other shaping different destiny for their parent. ***Seol In-Ah beauty and sunshine character are significant with character she's portraying.

All ends well, great drama.

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Não é para tanto que foi sucesso de audiência

Quase não assiti por causa do nome...rsrsrs

Cativante com uma narrativa sensível, te prende em todo o momento, pelo menos foi assim comigo.

Você consegue sentir junto com os persongens cada cena. Eu consegui sentir a pressão que Gyeol sente em ser o único a não ser surdo na família, os traumas que é ouvir e depois perder a audição, sofrer preconceitos quando ninguém sabe se comunicar com um surdo, isso é só um pouquinho do que Melancia Cintilante te passa e te mostrar que o amor pode superar tudo.
Adorei as atuações de todos os personagens, Gyeol com um sorriso lindo e cativante, Yi Chan com uma energia sensacional, Cheong Ah frágil e forte ao mesmo tempo, só não gostei muito da Se Kyeong acho que foi uma personagem sem muito a acrecentar.

Indido, indico e indico!

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Mastercall

It has been a staple ever since I remember, that K-dramas are associated with, corny, mid, pacey, and shallow stories on the level of every other bland soap opera trash show. With all the rosey plots that have the same characters, the same build-ups, and the same resolution. They feel like lazy reskins of otherwise, very boring third-grade media releases. Or so I thought, prior to watching Twinkling Watermelon.

Before watching, or even attempting to give this show a go, I was recommended to do so, but to avoid looking at any posters, or reading the synopsis, or even looking up the tags or the genre. I went completely and utterly blind on the show, and I think, that was the best way to experience it, as those mentioned give off way too much about the whole mystery running the narrative.

Think of it as the coming-of-age story that would change your outlook on all sorts of levels. Family, friendship, education, compassion, and dreams.

For me, this show taught me not just about life, but also that I shouldn't underestimate Korean dramas anymore, because this has been peak television.

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I feel like I want to eat watermelon too

when I saw the dragon studio logo, I was obviously going to watch the drama. At first I wasn't interested but there are lots of videos on TikTok showing footage of the drama which looks warm.

Sure enough, when I watched episode 1, this drama was already very interesting. Maybe the plot was a little slow in episode 1 and almost made me distracted, but in episode 2 it started to get more interesting.

I appreciate the acting of all the actors in this drama which is very soulful and beautiful. The sign language they displayed really made me want to remember the sign language lessons I had studied.

I really enjoyed the acting, ost, storyline, production and all the details. I hope this drama will get an award because it is very beautiful and heartwarming.

thank you to all the crew and cast for creating this very beautiful drama.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Twinkling Watermelon '' is a slice of life, music, and fantasy drama.

The drama uses time travel to its fullest, smoothly using it to push the story forward, without forgetting about it once the plot starts unfolding. Rather, it is always there, and spices up the story here and there.

Also, the family drama was at its finest, intense enough to keep things dramatic, but also with sensitivity and sweetness throughout the family interactions.

The music, in addition, was pretty enjoyable, as were the performances by everyone in the cast. And even though the romance was cheesy and not its strongest suit, it was nice enough.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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A High Quality Drama But The Emotional Weight Is Not As Consistently Strong As You Would Hope.

I’ll start by saying I put off watching this one. I purposely did not watch it while it was airing. There are certain dramas that I know I won’t get the most out of them if I don’t watch them at a time I am most receptive to them.

Disclaimer * I don’t think this was the most receptive time either, even though I enjoyed watching it. I plan to watch it again in the future to see if I can get more out of it.

That said, for now I think it is a 9/10 drama and not a 9.5 or a 10/10 drama. The positives for me are what makes it a 9/10 and not the usual 8.5/10 that I give to solid k-dramas is that it is a heartfelt story, the plot is pretty solid and the acting is pretty good. The reason I won’t elaborate on the positives is because I’ll be honest; apart from recognising it as a solid production, this story did not get me as deep as it ought to have. I’ll go into why I think this was.

Starting from episode 2, although I was aware that time travelling was involved, the abrupt introduction of the time traveling element at the end of ep 2 felt like a sharp turn transition wise. It was not smooth at all. It was like being in a race car and suddenly making an extreme turn with little to no preparation, except this was done with the theme. Usually in dramas that include fantasy, they sprinkle a little bit of the fantasy elements in the lead up to the full blown reveal of the fantastical part of the drama. With this one, it was almost two full hours of a slice of life family drama that seemed rudely interrupted by the fantasy element suddenly being dropped in. And this was my reaction as someone who WAS waiting and expecting the fantasy element.

Another thing was, I couldn’t help but feel like this drama was an amalgamation of several movies, music and popular culture storylines and references, all pieced together. It made a huge chunk of the drama feel like a knock-off, ensuring that I could never really get into it as all I could think was, “they’re copying so and so”. I don’t mind things serving as an inspiration for others but you really have to make it your own and create something new with it, but with this drama, a lot of the concepts and scenes seemed borrowed. Whenever I was drawn into the drama, I’d notice that a scene or concept resembled something else and it would immediately take me out of the scene.

I have a minor point to make about the way the scenes were cut/edited together. It didn’t affect the majority of the drama much, as it fit that youth-indie style type of visual aesthetic but when it came to the emotional scenes, it felt somewhat choppy aka not-so-smooth transitions. It meant that the emotions didn’t hit fully 100% because the viewers weren’t able to sit with those scenes and absorb the depths of emotions before it suddenly changed to another scene. Typically for emotional scenes to work best, there needs to be a build up of emotional tension that is finally released and the cameras should not cut away in the middle of that emotion being expressed. For example, the cameras should not cut away in the middle of someone’s heartbreaking crying scene as it’s like cutting off the climax of emotion right at the top, which results in an immediate plateauing of the emotional weight built up when our focus is shifted to another scene. Instead it should be like a hill with a slow rise to the climatic top and a smooth decent to the other side of that intense emotion. This must be done in order to properly build and sustain the emotional weight of what the characters are experiencing and their plight, to help forge the bond between the viewer and the character and to allow the viewer to really connect to what the character is feeling.

This fourth reason was the most jarring for me. I have to preface this by saying I’m not trying to assume what’s best for the hearing impaired community, I’m coming at this solely from the perspective of someone who knows what storytelling mechanisms resonate with an audience. That being said, the thing about this drama that made it the hardest for me to get into it was the fact that they dubbed the deaf characters. I can understand from a practical pov why this was done but surely someone in the creative chair should have known how much of the connection and the power of the performances of the actors playing the deaf characters would have been lost by doing this. If you don’t understand what I mean, go watch CODA and tell me that by having the focus of communication solely on the deaf characters’ facial expressions, the movements of their hands and only the silence to convey their ‘lines’; you didn’t feel everything they signed just a little more deeply. That you didn’t feel the frantic and the hard hitting angry signing or the soft signing in tender moments that much more. That you couldn’t feel the frustration of the characters through their hands more than with a dubbed voice overlayed on top to explain what they are saying. I’m sure it was useful for Korean viewers to not have to read subtitles but I’d argue they lost some of the power of the performance by doing this. Of course, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have dubbing. I understand that having dubbed dramas makes it more accessible for different types of audiences such as vision impaired viewers. I’m not saying dubbing should not be available. Just like I’m not saying subtitles should not be available. I know these are both very useful features for making dramas more accessible to others. What I’m saying is that these should have been optional and the drama should have been released un-dubbed with the option to select dubbing as needed, as you do with subtitles.

If at the end of this you are wondering why I rated it so highly if I had so many critiques. It’s because of three things. One, this drama had excellent characterisation. Like truly excellent (especially the father and son). Two, I did enjoy watching it. It won’t make it on my favourites list but I really did enjoy it. And three, I like to give dramas and movies their dues. Even if I don’t fall in love with a drama, I still rate them objectively by what they have to offer and what they do well. This drama was a solid, above average and at times, truly above average, drama.

If you ask me what could have made it a 10/10, I’d say, not rushing past the emotional scenes too quickly, not dubbing the deaf characters and finally; trusting the foundation of the story more - which was a story about a boy’s love for his father and vice versa, while grappling with the difficulties of being a CODA. If they did this without trying to borrow from other films, dramas, music or American popular culture; it could have been a 10/10 drama that stayed with me.

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