ashnoelle
Dear My First Love ?? Not too bad at all Jaehyun
I don't normally write reviews for shows, but for Jaehyun, I will flush out my opinion as best and articulately as possible.
Story/Overall, 9.0:
Honestly, I rate purely on enjoyment and vibes so 9.0. It was easy to watch and something I really enjoyed. Although the misunderstanding trope is used, and essentially, there is no "surprise" on who ends up with who, I still liked the storyline. I do warn that for those who don't like unnecessary conflict in terms of romance, this might be one to skip, but the drama was too fun to watch for me to give a low number. It's an excellent university drama. It kept my attention, and it was a show where I looked forward to watching each episode. It is NOT a PERFECT storyline, but again, I'm only here to have fun. I apologize that I'm not a connoisseur and rate purely based on my own feelings.
Acting, 8.0:
Let me address the two main leads first. Aside from Jaehyun being the loml, I tend to be a critic of idol actors. I don't think that being an idol's first role as an actor should be used as an excuse for bad acting. I tried my best to go into this drama without any bias whether positive or negative because I wanted to take his acting for what it is. That being said, Jaehyun pleasantly surprised me. As a role overall, he portrayed Cha Minho extremely well. In the beginning, I did find certain areas to be a bit awkward, but I also felt that his character was a good cover for the awkwardness. As the drama progressed, the awkwardness went away, and I can't imagine anyone playing his character as lovable as he did. Cha Minho was my favorite character. Jaehyun definitely has the dorky, sweet, and naive role down.
Putting aside Park Hye Soo's scandal, her portrayal of Ma Joo Ah was fine. Although my feelings about her acting might admittedly stem from Ma Joo Ah being my least favorite character. I felt that Joo Ah lacked any depth. Her character leans too much on the cliche of being cheery and not particularly smart. Her struggles just fell flat for me, and her storyline was the one I least looked forward to seeing. I wanted to understand her position, but I felt she took for granted some of the things she had and never recognized them until they benefited her. I understand that every character has flaws, but maybe it's because her cliche is just seen too much. Everyone else takes care of her, and I can't really understand why. I dislike female leads who act like her and add almost nothing to the show except just to be the girl the guy likes. Luckily, the redemption comes from Seo Jimin and Hwang Bo Young.
Speaking of, the other actors did a wonderful job with their portrayal. They kept the show running at a good clip during such a huge portion of the time. I have never seen Love Playlist, but from the opinions of friends who have, Roh Jeong Eui played Seo Jimin extremely well. From an outsider's opinion, I really liked Jeong Eui's character and her portrayal. She ended up as my second favorite character. The other storylines and characters were all interesting and well developed (especiallyfor a university drama). Again, the portrayal of Hwang Bo Young was really strong, and I loved her. Lee Jin Hyuk/Mokjin, dare I say, I kept forgetting he was an idol himself because of how good his acting was. Bae Hyun Sung/ Park Ha Neul was honestly really cute, and his acting made me sympathetic to the character the entirety of the show.
I wish that there might have been some version of seeing consequences at the end of one of the characters, but regardless, I was already expecting everyone to end up with who they ended up with. In the end, there were almost no surprises, but I enjoyed the ride so I'm not at all mad.
Music, 6.5:
There are very few OSTs (if more than one?) to even speak of. There were covers of songs, but the only true OST that's constantly mentioned, I've yet to hear the full version. Not very memorable, but I'm not sure it was needed. I have to admit Jaehyun's singing was something I was desperately hoping for (and got in the form of song covers, but very beautiful song covers that I will be replaying on YouTube for the next year).
Rewatch 7.5:
I honestly might watch it again after a while. I'm not really much of a rewatcher for shows, and I consider this rating on how I would RECOMMEND it as a rewatch show. It went by extremely fast, and I would almost wish there were more episodes to watch if I didn't hate dragging storylines so much. The length, truthfully, was pretty much perfect. It's something I'll have to recommend to people who enjoy web dramas because that feeling is present throughout. It's cute, sweet, and pretty short (which means less time commitment or possibility of drag for me, very much a plus in my eyes).
Story/Overall, 9.0:
Honestly, I rate purely on enjoyment and vibes so 9.0. It was easy to watch and something I really enjoyed. Although the misunderstanding trope is used, and essentially, there is no "surprise" on who ends up with who, I still liked the storyline. I do warn that for those who don't like unnecessary conflict in terms of romance, this might be one to skip, but the drama was too fun to watch for me to give a low number. It's an excellent university drama. It kept my attention, and it was a show where I looked forward to watching each episode. It is NOT a PERFECT storyline, but again, I'm only here to have fun. I apologize that I'm not a connoisseur and rate purely based on my own feelings.
Acting, 8.0:
Let me address the two main leads first. Aside from Jaehyun being the loml, I tend to be a critic of idol actors. I don't think that being an idol's first role as an actor should be used as an excuse for bad acting. I tried my best to go into this drama without any bias whether positive or negative because I wanted to take his acting for what it is. That being said, Jaehyun pleasantly surprised me. As a role overall, he portrayed Cha Minho extremely well. In the beginning, I did find certain areas to be a bit awkward, but I also felt that his character was a good cover for the awkwardness. As the drama progressed, the awkwardness went away, and I can't imagine anyone playing his character as lovable as he did. Cha Minho was my favorite character. Jaehyun definitely has the dorky, sweet, and naive role down.
Putting aside Park Hye Soo's scandal, her portrayal of Ma Joo Ah was fine. Although my feelings about her acting might admittedly stem from Ma Joo Ah being my least favorite character. I felt that Joo Ah lacked any depth. Her character leans too much on the cliche of being cheery and not particularly smart. Her struggles just fell flat for me, and her storyline was the one I least looked forward to seeing. I wanted to understand her position, but I felt she took for granted some of the things she had and never recognized them until they benefited her. I understand that every character has flaws, but maybe it's because her cliche is just seen too much. Everyone else takes care of her, and I can't really understand why. I dislike female leads who act like her and add almost nothing to the show except just to be the girl the guy likes. Luckily, the redemption comes from Seo Jimin and Hwang Bo Young.
Speaking of, the other actors did a wonderful job with their portrayal. They kept the show running at a good clip during such a huge portion of the time. I have never seen Love Playlist, but from the opinions of friends who have, Roh Jeong Eui played Seo Jimin extremely well. From an outsider's opinion, I really liked Jeong Eui's character and her portrayal. She ended up as my second favorite character. The other storylines and characters were all interesting and well developed (especiallyfor a university drama). Again, the portrayal of Hwang Bo Young was really strong, and I loved her. Lee Jin Hyuk/Mokjin, dare I say, I kept forgetting he was an idol himself because of how good his acting was. Bae Hyun Sung/ Park Ha Neul was honestly really cute, and his acting made me sympathetic to the character the entirety of the show.
I wish that there might have been some version of seeing consequences at the end of one of the characters, but regardless, I was already expecting everyone to end up with who they ended up with. In the end, there were almost no surprises, but I enjoyed the ride so I'm not at all mad.
Music, 6.5:
There are very few OSTs (if more than one?) to even speak of. There were covers of songs, but the only true OST that's constantly mentioned, I've yet to hear the full version. Not very memorable, but I'm not sure it was needed. I have to admit Jaehyun's singing was something I was desperately hoping for (and got in the form of song covers, but very beautiful song covers that I will be replaying on YouTube for the next year).
Rewatch 7.5:
I honestly might watch it again after a while. I'm not really much of a rewatcher for shows, and I consider this rating on how I would RECOMMEND it as a rewatch show. It went by extremely fast, and I would almost wish there were more episodes to watch if I didn't hate dragging storylines so much. The length, truthfully, was pretty much perfect. It's something I'll have to recommend to people who enjoy web dramas because that feeling is present throughout. It's cute, sweet, and pretty short (which means less time commitment or possibility of drag for me, very much a plus in my eyes).
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