Thai low comedy taken to the extreme

In Italy we have the so called "cinepanettoni", films that usually come out during Christmas time based on low comedy and sexual innuendos. You need to like this genre to enjoy them or to be in the right mood. This series is like a loooooong cinepanettone taken to the extreme. At times I almost wanted to scream for how silly some scenes were. Only the story between Tutor and Fighter kept me going on and a few scenes between Zon and Saifah that were less cringy than the most of the series.
Whatching a thai drama for me is always challenging because I never know if I'm going to stand their low comedy or not and in this case I barely could.
I gave an overall 6 just for Tutor and Fighter and for the wonderful songs.

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Rating may depend on if you have already seen the other adaptations of the orginal manga..

If it's your first adaptation of Hana yori dango manga..then...it may be a 7..the story has its flaws, sometimes it is unrealistic, there's a lot of gratuitous and unjustified violence, but the acting is good and, in the end, it is a classic impossible love story between two people belonging to different worlds. The "everything is possible if you hold on and really believe"-feeling is always catchy.

If you have already seen other adaptions as I did (started with Chinese Meteor Garden, passing through Korean Boys over flowers and Japanese Hana yori dango before this one)..well...for me it's a 10..the focus is more on the main couple and their personal struggles, less space given to side stories and therefore less wasted time. Gorya and Thyme are better described and also their thoughts and reasons are better explained. This couple is also the one with the best chemistry and they seem not to be stuck in some simple stereotypical character.
Special mention: Gorya's best friend..finally she has some dignity and, even if she appears a little less than in the other adaptations, she is not a simple naive teenage girl passing by and falling blindly in love for the pretty and rich one.

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A standard cdrama with all its flaws, but...

As may cdramas, useless scenes and a lot of product placement make it too long and sometimes boring or annoying, but the develpment of the love story is so good!
For the first time we witness the growing of a credible relationship. You never ask yourself why they are together or why they love each other.
They go from being strangers meeting by accident and disliking each other to love in such a natural way. Sport is the common ground, most of their dialogues are about this, they share passions and difficulties how a real boy and a real girl would in the same situation. Common experiences lead them to become friends and then lovers for a reason and not "just because" as many kdramas tell us.
Unlike many cdramas, the whole cast is so good and the only weak point (bedised the ones mentioned at the beginning of this rewiev) are close-ups on "action" scenes..a bad slow motion in front of a just as bad background.

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A drama to be seen without biases or high expectations

This was a nice drama to watch, a plot that merges comedy and more serious parts. I found a lot of food for thought but the funny scenes made the drama enjoyable and not too heavy or boring.
By the way, talking about the balance between funny and serious parts, PHS acting reminds me a lot of Jim Carrey and his versatile talent.
What bothered me were the too many drinking scenes (I don't think that drinking so much alchool is suggested when dealing with depression and taking drugs) and the fact that a lot of subjects where brought up without really focusing on one or the other remaining on a shallow level.
Lastly...the sub-plot of the friend betrayal was really unecessary.

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Deceiving from the start..

At the beginning of the show Yoon Jae Gook says something like "let's love while we are breaking up"...the phrase should have been "let's struggle and suffer by ourselves while breaking up". They had more chemestry in the first episodes while they were not together rather then when they're a couple. They never really face their problems as a team, but they seem to leave one another out of their struggles, like they need to face everything on their own.
And the plot is so frustrating! All the world is against them and their love in a way that is unreasonably fierce. Maybe the cultural gap between Western and Eastern culture makes it hard for me to understand completely why they act like this, but only in Itaewon Class I found a similar harshness. I mean, ok, ok being mean at the beginning, but at a certain point it all becomes unbearable and unjustifiable.
Thank God we had the secondary couple lightening up the scene.
Anyway, despite many reviews stating the contrary, I found the acting of Song Hye Kyo very good and credible most of the time, above all when portraying both the happy and the sad moments of the relationship with her friends and family.

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Why r u so short?

The biggest flaw of Korean BLs is their lenght. They put a lot of stuff on the table but don't take the right time to develop anything.
The scenes pass from one to the other without a real connection just to speed up the plot and that's a real shame. I hope to see a 16-episode K-BL soon with episodes lasting at least 45 minutes like classic kdramas.
If you have already watched the thai version you can't help making comparaisons and, even though the basic story is the same, there are a lot of differences in managing the plot that almost make of them two completely different series. The lack of sexual tension in the Korean version is balanced by the astonishing acting when it comes to showing the feelings.
While I watched the thai version only for Tutor/Fighter storyline, in this Korean version I enjoyed Jung Lee Won story the most because it felt like the K versions of Zon and Saifah did justice to their relationship and somehow filled the gaps of the thai plot.

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All we need is love

Romance drama with capital R. The story is a little complicated, time shifts make it sometimes hard to follow, but if you are looking for romance you absolutely cannot miss it!
The chemistry between ML and FL is awsome and their acting is sooo good. I could feel every single feeling they were representing.
Also the theme of the outcast is well portrayed and describes in a very realistic way how too many teenagers, but also adults, feel about themselves and the people around them. Maybe this aspect was solved in a too simplistic and rushed way, but this because the focus of the drama was mainly love and predestination I think.

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What's wrong with these Asian screenwriters??

I started watching this movie while I was ironing clothes and I didn't have any particular expectation. Halfway through the film I grabbed the iron backwards and burbed my hand so much I was captured by the plot, I was enjoying the funny scenes and the acting..and then it happened again..
Ok sending ML away and having him disappear at a certain point, it may happen, I can take it...but why did he have to die???
In Western films and series, the great problem would have been the reaction of the best friend when realizing that the boy she likes fell in love with FL and was reciprocated. Here she acts so mature (as they always do in kdramas) and friendship is saved, so why did it have to end like this???
I think I will watch this film over and over again, but alway stopping at the train station scene. A goodbye is always better than a farewell.

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