Olá? Sou Eu! (2021)

Quem nunca sentiu vontade dia ser adolescente novamente reviver momentos que foram marcantes naquela época ou até mesmo reparar erros !
Quando a Netflix escolheu esse drama para seu catálogo dela foi uma tacada de mestre, nesses tempos tão sombrios e incertos, onde eu todo dia somos carregados de Notícias ruins esse drama vem para tirar gargalhadas ao mesmo tempo que faz refletir!
certeza que era para mexer com emocional de todos os telespectadores, trazer à memória de momentos que ficaram Perdidos na adolescência, trazer à tona erros e acertos do passado, principalmente mexer em feridas que achamos que às vezes está curada.

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Primeiras Impressões: Hello It's Me!

Bom, acho que antes de começar a falar desse drama preciso fazer um breve relato da minha vida de dorameira: parece que desde que 2021 começou uma estranha sensação de calmaria se fez presente, me sinto como se estivesse estagnada em um mar sem ondas. O que quero dizer com isso?

No que diz respeito aos doramas, a verdade é que ainda não recuperei aquele ritmo frenético de assistir mil dramas ao mesmo tempo: estar por dentro de todos os lançamentos que virão, contar os minutos para terminá-los só pra poder entrar de cabeça em mais uma jornada dessas, fazer planejamento para bater metas de dramas assistidos em certos intervalos de tempo e por aí vai.

Não sei quanto tempo esse sentimento irá durar, joguei o calendário e a agenda para o ar e resolvi dedicar meu tempo livre ao que me der na telha naquele momento. Isso obviamente fará minha lista de dramas crescer lentamente, mas é o que nós temos pra hoje. Prefiro dizer que aprecio viver cada fase nova sem grandes preocupações, porque é só isso que importa.

Dito isso, talvez eu deva acrescentar que fevereiro representou para mim uma tentativa falha. Isso porque, embora quisesse me aventurar a passar o mês todo só acompanhando dramas em lançamento, acabei vendo tudo e nada ao mesmo tempo. As opções eram bem variadas, as sinopses muito interessantes, a empolgação também era grande, mas quando fui lá assistir não funcionou muito bem.

No fim das contas o que acabou crescendo não fui minha lista de assistidos, mas sim aquela imensa lista de dramas que marco no MDL como "não me interessa", depois de assistir os primeiros episódios e perceber que o drama em questão: não conseguiu me convencer, não faz o meu estilo, não era nada do que prometeu ou não me agradou em nada.

O engraçado foi que quando a lista de dramas do mês saiu fiquei dividida entre vários dramas para fazer esse blog de primeiras impressões e como eles começaram antes do que efetivamente escolhi, cada vez que que assistia os primeiros episódios dos outros me sentia agradecida por não ter escolhido eles, porque não seria nada fácil expressar quanto tédio senti naquelas poucas horas.

Se você tem o costume de escrever blogs já deve saber desse fato: tem certos dramas que assistimos que não nos transmitem nada de relevante. Quando isso acontece parece uma perda de tempo escrever um blog para falar a respeito de uma experiência tão irrelevante assim.

Não sei quanto a você, mas não movo minha caneta sem esse feeling. Acho que tudo tem a ver com inspiração, sem ela o conteúdo não valeria a pena para nenhum de nós, nem pra mim, nem para você caro leitor.

E quando finalmente chegou a hora do assistir: Hello It's Me, me vi em constante conflito a respeito desse blog que prometi fazer. Talvez seja por isso que demorei a postá-lo.

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AVENTURAS DORAMÁTICAS

A essa altura do campeonato você já deve ter percebido que eu sou a doida que escreve as primeiras impressões mais imprevisíveis que você poderia ler.

Não importa se as expectativas são altas, ou se não tenho nenhuma fé na história depois de ler a sinopse. Se escolhi o drama para escrever um blog pode ter certeza que não terei qualquer receio em apontar tudo o que me agradou ou desagradou naqueles episódios iniciais.

Afinal meu compromisso nesse tipo de blog é trazer minhas percepções a respeito do que vi. A partir daí você pode decidir se irá assistir ou não. Essa é minha filosofia de dorameira e blogueira.

Bom, já que esse é um blog mais reflexivo, vou aproveitar a oportunidade para responder aquela pergunta que imagino que você sempre quis me fazer, mas teve vergonha de falar: " Por que você é tão exigente com os episódios iniciais dos dramas? "

A resposta é simples: esse é o mecanismo de defesa que adquiri ao longo do tempo. Depois de assistir muitos dramas, você consegue perceber cada vez mais cedo se o drama conseguirá te agradar ou não.

Eu diria que a impressão que tenho dos primeiros episódios é a chave do sucesso ou fracasso das minhas aventuras doramáticas. Por isso sou tão criteriosa quanto a eles.

Então, se a experiência me ensinou que a chance de gostar de um drama que não começou muito bem era tão pequena que não valia a pena, porque eu deveria insistir no erro?

A exigência é o melhor carinho não se ver presa em algo que não lhe agrada, só porque tem mania de não abandonar nada depois de chegar a metade.

Era muito exaustivo me arrastar até o ultimo episódio de algo que nem estava tão interessada assim, só porque não conseguia superar minha mania de não largar os dramas no meio do caminho.

Foi justamente por isso que comecei a me atentar a todos os detalhes que os episódios iniciais entregavam. A partir daí minhas jornadas doramáticas passaram a ser muito mais significativas.

Não me importo de ser vista como chata por causa disso. Cumprir tabela pra mim está totalmente fora de cogitação. Só me comprometo com dramas que passaram pela prova de 3 episódios com sucesso.

Afinal a vida é muito mais divertida quando passamos nosso tempo livre com coisas que realmente nos agradam.

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SOBRE O DRAMA

Começo dizendo que minha experiência com esse drama foi um tanto estranha. Ignore o fato de que temos episódios de em média 30 minutos de duração em Hello It's Me. Vamos fazer de conta que temos episódios com duração de padrão de 1 hora cada para facilitar nossa vida.

Depois de ter largado 3 dramas em estreia logo de cara, me senti animada quando consegui terminar o primeiro episódio desse aqui. Senti que tínhamos uma boa receita para que o drama se desenvolvesse bem nos próximos episódios.

Mas no dia seguinte, quando saiu o episódio 2 tudo isso parecia ter ido por água abaixo. Me pergunto como algo pode cair no lugar comum tão rápido assim? Por que já tenho a sensação de que estão enchendo linguiça logo no episódio 2?

Seria a narrativa de uma imaginação fértil dos personagens a nova fórmula que a Coreia inventou para fazer a história render? Mas que falta de conteúdo, pra que tanta superficialidade?

As cenas em que a protagonista imagina o que aconteceria se alguém descobrisse que a versão mais jovem dela veio para o futuro são tão desnecessárias que custei aguentar.

O que veio depois não ajudou em nada. Tive esperanças de algo aconteceria para mudar minha opinião sobre a história nos episódios seguintes, mas conversa continuou a mesma no episódio 4. Dá pra acreditar?

Olha que não foi falta de oportunidade, não foi falta de boa vontade da minha parte, acho que minha disposição foi bem grande nesse caso, mas o drama simplesmente parece ter se perdido logo no início.

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QUAL O MOTIVO DISSO?

Pra inicio de conversa, queria muito saber onde está a comédia que nos prometeram quando classificaram esse drama como comédia romântica. Você logo perceberá que o enredo não é leve, muito menos divertido, a história tem um vibe bem forte de melodrama.

Veja bem, não tenho absolutamente nada contra os melodramas, gosto muito deles e assisto com frequência, mas tudo muda de figura quando te prometem uma coisa e entregam outra.

Tudo contribuía para que transmitir a vibe de que esta seria uma verdadeira comédia romântica: a sinopse, os posteres e o gênero. Mas o enredo não te entrega nada disso. Fui pega de surpresa! Mais do que isso, me sinto enganada até mesmo pelo nome do drama.

Outra coisa que me incomoda bastante são os próprios personagens. A versão jovem de Ban Ha Ni é insuportavelmente chata. Aquele projeto de ator que se denomina como Antony é tão superficial que me fazia querer pular todas as cenas.

Para piorar o mimado Han Yoo Hyun contribuía muito para transformar essa mistura em algo ainda mais desinteressante. Queria esganá-lo todas as vezes que ele obrigava a Ban Ha Ni a fazer algo pra ele só porque salvou sua vida naquele acidente de carro.

Pode ser que ele venha a melhorar em algum ponto bem distante da história, mas usar chantagem emocional para "se aproveitar" de alguém que já está no fundo do poço nos passa uma péssima impressão.

Dá pra acreditar como foi bizarra a cena daquele medium prometendo que mandaria a versão jovem dela de volta para o passado se lhe pagasse uma quantia para fazer uma espécie de dança da chuva?

Pra completar essas desventuras em série nos episódios 3 e 4 ainda tivemos umas cenas de dança totalmente aleatórias tal qual geralmente vemos naqueles filmes de musicais que não gosto nenhum pouco.

Ahhh, não me segure que já estou pedindo arrego. Essa foi a gota d'água que faltava para fazer o meu copo transbordar. Esgotei o meu limite de chances com esse drama.
⠀
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FINALIZAÇÃO

Minha intenção era a de escrever algo curto dessa vez, e pra variar quando vi o resultado final não consegui parar de rir ao constatar que miseravelmente nessa tarefa.

Bom, acho que já deu para perceber que minhas impressões de Hello, It's Me não foram nada boas. Já foi pra lista do "não me interessa", porque me recuso a assistir mais um episódio sequer desse Kdrama.
⠀ ⠀

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'Finding Happiness Again'

The New Beginning.
Not having some great story, relatively some or to be honest many plot holes doesn't mean that drama wasn't good, there's nothing like perfection. Having some cons is a good thing from my perspective. So now let's talk about drama. Fluffy, comedy, sweet, light with mild romance (Don't expect too much even romance is in main genres) ... it's the full package fluff drama but it also gives some messages which make us think about ourselves our life and the decision we made.

The story wasn't perfect but the execution was done well, kind of predictable still a fun and interesting journey. Really like the character development wasn't just about only one character but about every... the journey of learning something and it was for everyone that at the end you can see not phenomenal but at least a good change indeed!

Talking about the cast and acting... for me everyone was perfect for their respective roles and characters really liked Bahn Ha-Ni's both version the younger and the present one it's always great to see two different sides of the same character though I can't say they both are same haha.. the ML was definitely chocolate boy, adorable, liked the chemistry between them but still I won't say we get much romance here.

So overall it was a good show indeed won't say very good, coz I didn't get answers for some of my questions and had some plot holes but it's really good and light show indeed!

“We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it's like chasing clouds.”

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The guilt we carry

I love the 37 and 17 year old Ha Nis. I canbonly imagine the older Ha Ni feels, the guilt that made her punish herself that completely changed her core. The contrast between the younger Ha Ni and the older Ha Ni is so vast that when the two characters start merging into older Ha Nis character it is an event to look forever to.

I enjo watching this drama and patiently wait for 2 episodes a week on Netflix. The change in both Anthony and Yu Hyeon is also amazing. I love Yu Hyeons dad, he is a better character than the dad in Protect the Boss whch also stars Choi Kang Hee (Ha Ni). I like Ha Nis mom too and although Ha Nis nephew is still not as good as young Ha Nis acting, I find him cute

Characters I don't like and almost hate are Ha Nis sister and high school friend. I hate the Auntie aka sister in law of the dad. I also don't like the grandmother but can understand her

The ending is a bit rushed but still good. Happy Ending as the 37 Ha Ni finally moved on

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Cheesy And Typical Tropes To Be Expected, Yet Oddly Heartwarming In Parts...

Novice screenwriter Yoo Song Yi and director Lee Hyun Suk tackle the renowned theme of time travel within their storyline with a conglomeration of staid cliches and tropes, plot holes as well as a mixed bag of characterisation. Nevertheless perhaps one thing which should be said is that even in the world of cliche K-dramas, the premise of “Hello, Me! “is pretty out there .

The drama centralises its upon the main protagonist 37 year-old Ha-Ni ( Choi Kang Hee). Once a stunning beauty and popular in her teens, Ha-Ni’s life has hit rock bottom after a tragic event in her life. By a whim of fate, Ha-Ni ends up encountering her 17-year old self ( Lee Re) who has somehow travelled twenty years into the future for reasons unbeknown to both Ha-Nis. As the current Ha-Ni struggles to juggle between keeping the appearance of her younger self from her older sister Ban Ha Young ( Jung Yi Rang) , mother Ji Ok Jung ( Yoon Bok In) and grandmother Lee Hong Nyeon ( Kim Yong Rin), Ha-Ni’s life may just hide a blessing in disguise with a new opportunity coming to rise. In addition to this, the mysterious involvement of younger conglomerate heir Yoo-hyun ( Kim Young Kwang) and actor Anthony ( Eum Moon Suk), reveal their mysterious links and feelings through their shared pasts with Ha-Ni .

The cast of the series were fairly versatile in talents. Whilst main actress Choi Kang Hee admittedly did feel slightly out of place within the series at first, she was able to deliver a brilliant performance which allowed viewers to become attached and feel moved by her character. Arguably, actress Lee Re did feel slightly questionable within her portrayal of Ha-Ni’s younger-self due to certain line deliverances, however, during more angst-ridden moments of the series, the younger actress did capture certainly more heartfelt moments behind her onscreen persona .

Admittedly , Kim Young Kwang and Eun Moon Suk weren’t entirely dire within their performances and did have some genuinely heartbreaking moments onscreen , however as their characters were played more for comedy and as the “ love interests” of the drama, their performances were restricted slightly towards their respected moulds as the “ male lead and second male lead” of “ Hello, Me!” . However, this is not entirely the fault of either actor, as whilst the scriptwriting should be commended for tackling convoluted and realistic subject areas such as bereavement, family , friendship, mental health and the prejudice and difficulties of ageing in South-Korean Society , certain characters felt respectfully moulded into prosaic roles over the course of the series which were hard to renounce.

In particular this can be seen through the younger Ha-Ni. Ha-Ni is supposed to highlight a stark contrast against her older counterpart by her fractiousness , optimism and self-confidence in given situations due to still being young . On the other hand, Ha-Ni respectfully felt overly immature and benign for a 17-year old by her impulsiveness and lacking rationality at times over the course of the series. Whilst admittedly the older Ha-Ni did confess that she was fairly sheltered by her mother and doted on by her father Ban Ki Tae ( Kim Byung Choon) during her younger years, it still felt oddly out of place for a character exposed to social interactions and academic expectations ( which were never really touched upon the series) in high school to not learn to mature slightly as a consequence.

However, over the course of the series and her interactions with her older self, the younger Ha-Ni does learn to become more altruistic by helping others, as well as encouraging the 37 year-old self through acceptance than her earlier snide comments towards older Ha-Ni’s appearance and circumstances. ( Taking “ self-depreciation ” to a whole new level in the beginning of the drama.)Yet this still seems to lead to two possible conclusions; Ha-Ni should have been written as a slightly younger character ( perhaps someone nearer her mid-teens than 17 years old ), or preferably she should have been given more time throughout the storyline to learn to mature slightly from the influences of her older-self.

Naturally, this leads us onto the older Ha-Ni. Whilst the younger Ha-Ni is by default the same individual as the older Ha-Ni, screenwriter Song Yi notably places an emphasis upon the 37 year-old version of the character being strikingly different than her younger counterpart. The current Ha-Ni is more taciturn, lacking in self-confidence and was hinted by her mother and sister to have struggled with depression and loneliness in the past. Annoyingly whilst the series did enjoy placing comic relief upon Ha-Ni’s “ unfortunate circumstances” in the beginning of the series and her naivety for the latter part with the feelings of Anthony and Yoo-Hyun towards her, the older Ha-Ni admittedly did have a lot of character growth from low self-esteem initially towards a more self-assured individual who learns to pursue her dreams in the process.

However, her pairings with the male leads often felt slightly disjointed in the grand scheme of the series. The pairing between Yoo Hyun and Ha Ni felt more fortified admittedly than the more complicated relationship between Anthony and herself ( both younger and older), however, this often resulted in the series struggling sometimes to portray Ha-Ni’s affections and feelings towards either male lead outside of expected plot line and setups.

Perhaps the one element that was tackled well within the drama occurred with Ha Ni’s interactions with her mother, sister and grandmother over the duration of the episodes , shown to grow and developed from slightly estranged ( due to her circumstances) towards more affectionate and trusting over the course of the series. It would have perhaps been slightly more intriguing to have touched upon Ha Ni’s interactions and complications around her grandmother. Although primarily this did serve a major part of the story ( without any spoilers) , this did feel a little underdeveloped towards exposing the more emotional difficulties and challenges ( especially with her mental health ) for the 37 year-old Ha Ni. Nevertheless, it was a refreshing and heartwarming dynamic by the presence of Ha Ni’s interactions with her family allowing her to grow to some extent as an individual, rather than merely an asset for “romantic” plot development.

On the other hand, the two male leads of the series are a little more complicated to address by their debased characterisation in parts. “Anthony” arguably had the most wasted potential as a second male lead and his respected involvement in Ha-Ni’s life due to his “ feelings” for Ha-Ni often being played for comical gags rather than exploring his more complicated reasons, personality and past. The drama did attempt to bring up Anthony’s past haunting him again nearer the ending of the series by this particular storyline (as well of course his earlier interactions with the younger Ha-Ni), however, Anthony never truly felt like a worthy contender of Ha-Ni’s affections due to being severely limited within personal growth and screen time with the main character.

Arguably, against his initial cliche archetype as the “ immature, younger rich male lead” Yoo- Hyun was more well-rounded by his reasoning behind falling for Ha-Ni as well as his primary growth as a character . Without revealing too much about the storyline , there are expected tropes which revolve around Yoo-Hyun over the course of the drama. However against some of his more annoying flaws being his childishness and immaturity at times ( as noted by his father ), he was an incredibly kind-hearted and altruistic individual, making his interactions with the older Ha-Ni fairly sweet. Similar to the older Ha-Ni, however, it was refreshing that the series did touch upon Yoo-Hyun’s heartfelt relationship development and complications from childhood with his father Han Ji Man ( Yoon Joo Sang). Although his relationship with Ha-Ni was undeniably sweet, it did feel underdeveloped for a major proportion of the series, often resulting in their relationship being more “ friendly” than having “ romantic undertones”. Nevertheless, their bond did serve to provide warmth and sincerity into the series.

The side characters of the series were honestly a bit of mixed-bag with genuine development besides our main protagonists. Perhaps the most interesting side character in the series who had notable growth from her initial introduction in episode 1 manifested in Oh Ji Eun. The estranged best friend and shadow of Ha-Ni from her younger years, Ji Eun’s position is reversed in the present by being a successful director as well , in a fairly happy relationship with fellow managing director Yang Do Yoon ( Ji Seung Hyun). However, there’s a lot more than Ji Eun struggles behind the scenes from her initial introduction by struggling with guilt over how she left things with Ha-Ni after they ended their friendship initially, and walking around eggs shells with her mother in law and one of the arguable “ minor antagonists ” of the series, Han Ji Sook ( Baek Hyun Joo).

Whilst it is prominent to see why Ji Eun was forced into the mistakes she made in order to hopefully win the approval of Ji Sook, it felt slightly poorly-tackled how the show left things with Ji Eun. Additionally, the other side characters of the series were mostly played off giggles or to lighten up the mood over the course of the series such as kitchen staff Kang Geum Ja ( Kim Mi Hwa) and Cha Mi Ja ( Kim Do Yeon) , the “ obvious secret couple”, Bang Ok Joo ( Go Na Eun) and Kim Yong Hwa ( Kim Ki Ri) as well as of course the duo Park Jung Man ( Choi Dae Chul) and Min Gyeong Shik ( Kang Tae Joo) consigned as Anthony’s managers also.

On the other hand, the ending for “ Hello, Me!” was fairly appropriate for the genre; predictable, yet nonetheless enjoyable.Ultimately, “ Hello, Me!” was a fairly heartfelt, uplifting fantasy, family story and romantic comedy about self-love and learning to lean on others. It was not a flawless show and some notable implausibilities of character development, a sense of overarching purpose and cliches did ultimately detract from more intriguing aspects of the series. Nevertheless, it was a fairly enjoyable and easygoing watch, perhaps something to easily binge-watch when bored or looking for something to fill-out during a lazy day, holiday or weekend.

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If I'm honest, I think I liked the message more than the show...

"Hello, Me!" is a drama I have mixed feelings about. Although I did love the concept and self-love theme a lot, I could feel myself losing interest in this drama towards the end. In spite of dealing with serious things like grief and guilt, this drama tries to stay lighthearted and "feel good" which I think stopped it from becoming as deep as it could've been. I think playing it too safe and relying on tropes is what made me less excited about what was going to happen, but there was still a lot that I did like, and I'm glad I eventually watched it until the end.

I'll start with Ban Ha Ni, played by Choi Kang Hee. I think she is a great actress, and this character reminded me a bit of her role in "Heart to Heart", which I really liked, but one petty thing was driving me crazy. Sorry, but I just couldn't believe she was 37. Since so much about this drama is about her age, as opposed to Lee Re who is Ban Ha Ni at 17, I just kept wishing they bumped the time difference up to 25 years, which would have been way more realistic. Still, I did like the idea of the major contrast between her past self and current self and thought they were a great match. Lee Re is super cute and obnoxious but likable, which is the perfect contrast to Kang Hee's passive and worn-down version of Ha Ni. I won't go into the details of how and why their paths cross, but the idea of not being a disappointment to your past self was an inspiring theme, and what kept me initially engaged. Many of Ban Ha Ni's moments, at both ages, are silly and over the top which stops the story from ever getting too heavy, but I think that also backfired and made the story feel too repetitive and cliché at times. Convenient connections and "fated" situations became this drama's crutch. I appreciate that this drama wasn't too dark, or depressing, but the over the top comedy was sometimes too much.

Speaking of balance, this drama also stars Kim Young Kwang as Han Yoo Hyun, who was my favorite character even if his storyline was all over the place. He also played a similar role in Pinocchio (another favorite drama of mine) as a spoiled rich heir who is still sweet and considerate. In this drama he thankfully isn't the second lead. He's also cute and cheesy in "The Secret Life of My Secretary", so this is definitely his lane, but any romance in "Hello, Me!" is definitely just implied and that was very disappointing. The chemistry between him and Kang Hee is cute but super platonic. They have cute teamwork moments, and the way he supports Ha Ni is like a loyal puppy more than a love interest. I guess I'm glad they didn't force the romance idea too much, but I wish they made them clearly just friends instead. Any small attempts at romance between the two just seemed too awkward, and forced. He did make me smile whenever he was on screen, which was another thing that kept me watching even when I stopped caring. He has such a great smile! More than with Ha Ni I loved his chemistry and banter with his dad, played by Yoon Joo Sang. Some of my favorite scenes in this drama were random moments between the two of them more than any moment between the leads. If romance is your reason for watching this, definitely lower those expectations.

The rest of the cast was also good but because so much of the story lacked depth so did many of their performances. Ha Ni's classmates and family are all great. Eum Moon Suk as Anthony is considered a lead, maybe even an intended 2nd lead, but as much as his story works as a direct counter narrative to Ha Ni's story, I just never cared as much about him and what happened to him. I also didn't really care about the drama in Yoo Hyun's family, beyond his back and forth with his dad, the fighting for company control trope felt really out of place in this drama. Then there is one Shaman character who feels completely unnecessary. A character that weird and random should have had much better scenes. In contrast, I adored the lunch lady duo. In fact I liked them way more than many of the more prominent characters.

Would I watch this again? I don't think so. I didn't even feel motivated to finish this drama but I still wanted to know what would happen to Ha Ni. I do feel like that part of the story ended well, and I was satisfied with that, but the ways that so many other parts of the drama were resolved were extra corny and predictable. I feel like maybe to counter the sad parts they made sure the ending was extra positive, which felt a little like overkill. I only learned after watching that this was a novel so I'm curious which parts were added to fill in the 16 episodes, because that's what a lot of it felt like.

Overall this drama is Ok. I think I liked the message and idea of the show more than watching all of the episodes. Some parts made me laugh, and some parts made me really cry, and I loved the theme of making peace with who you are no matter what. I wouldn't call this a must see drama by any means, but there are enough good things about it to make me recommend this to anyone looking for something that's not too deep or completely frivolous. If you're a scene skipper, this is the kind of drama that has many skippable scenes. Also, if you are on any kind of diet beware! Snacks and snack love are a major factor in this drama, which felt a little overdone, but I can appreciate the sentiment as a snack lover. This drama itself is kinda like a snack more than a meal. It may not be filling but if you're in the mood for comedy sprinkled with nostalgia and self reflection and with just a slight (very slight) hint of romance it might just hit the spot.

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Good show for trying times

First I'm an average american white male, mostly watch sports but have a wide taste for shows both american & other countries. I value a good story, acting to invest in a show.

I have not watched many Kdramas but with Netflix putting many out they fill a gap when I'm in the mood for something new. Last year I enjoyed Mystic Pop Up Bar. So Hello Me! Had a interesting concept.

I know much of the world has been isolated & dealing with COVID so I tend to look for TV shows to detach from the pandemic.

Without discussing the plot as part of the joy of this show is seeing where it goes, the week between episodes is hard as you are left wanting to see what happens.

Likes:

- funny and many laugh out loud moments, even with major culture difference this show has humor which in a way helps offset the more serious moments

- at its heart outside of the two versions of the same person is a core of how people deal with family, friends, loss and finding happiness. Sometimes its just in a snack and others finding a friend lost.

- enjoy the multi-connected plot & characters, kind of shows the 6 degrees of seperation. Also the aspect of how people make impacts on other peoples lives, which often may seem minor

Dislikes:

- some of the events are the same old ones you see elsewhere, the romance side of this show is pretty weak with the two leads being there to prop up the two main leads (or one)

I look forward to how the show wraps up and update what I thought. I hope they have a season 2 if Kdramas even do that.

Give the show a chance, if anything it will make you smile.

Update 4/11

Well the series wrapped and came back to update. Overall my rating and like for the did not change. I do agree the aunt / anthony subplots did suck time away from the core story but it was nice to have most of the main storylines wrapped up.

I guess this final two episodes were more bittersweet than outright sad. Overall series kept its touching nature and it does make you pause to evaluate your life & relationships.

While I know K Dramas don't do seasons like the US, however there are story lines that could be explored in each time period.

Past - Ba Ha Ni dealing with her life knowing what she does. Maybe the college years.

Present - Obviously seeing current Ba Ha Ni and making the most of her new (restarted) life. I felt there was more meat between her & the HS BFF. The baby, adult friendship etc. I'd also like to see the Aunt return and be given a sub-company to run so she does not live her life with so much hate. She gave up her whole family, future grandchild due to her envy & greed.

If you are unsure, try the show. It was a pleasant watch.

~chill

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Cliched but its magic works!

Hello Me! is a predictable story filled with clichés like a struggling FL, a immature ML, the random job offering, the truck of doom, unwanted misunderstandings, childhood connections, etc.

Yet there are many enjoyable elements in this show. One, the comedy. The scenes between the ML & SML and ML & his co-worker ladies are such a laugh riot. Some of the antics of the Younger Ban Han Ni are hilarious.
Two, the character growth of both Ban Han Nis. Younger BHN is very audacious, outspoken and confident teen. Her actions lead to innumerable troubles. She can come off as an incorrigible person nearly the entire show. But, in odd turn of events, she turns a new leaf and becomes more mature. Older BHN is a broke and ill-fated person. Interactions with younger self, makes her take better charge at life.
Three, the character interactions. Be it interaction of both BHNs with her school friends, and her family, or ML with his "assistant", brother, dad and aunt. Everything is very cordial and warm.
Four, the message "You're doing well. You're the most magnificent star in your life. That is, if you refuse to give up and get back on your feet once again."
Five, the altruistic take on unfortunate events especially forgiving bad people, and supporting family members.

There are hardly any downsides to this show. It keeps you entertained, makes you laugh, makes you feel warm and strive at life.
I had an expectation that younger BHN will mature and change older BHN's life. The story doesn't flow that way which was new take on these past and present self interactions stories.
ML calling FL "Ahjumma" felt comical but it made their relationship more like sister-brother and not romantic. Even romance is barely there.
Anthony's closure felt good but it could have been different. Society requires to "evolve" to be more forgiving. Given the recent events, the social commentary felt coincidental.

The show is well produced. Acting of younger BHN felt a bit dramatic and artificial sometimes. Other actors are really good. Eum Moon Suk's acting style reminds me of his The Fiery Priest character. Music is really good given that the younger BHN is idol aspirant especially the 3!4! song. Rewatch is good for comical scenes.

Hello Me!: Invoke the child in oneself to heal oneself.

Leia Mais

Good Enough

Korean Drama " Hello, Me! " had an interesting story that is not encountered often. The fantasy- time travel element was handled nicely, the family drama was quite impactful and the character development on point. However, the drama didn't manage to leave a mark and it's quite forgettable.

The story, first of all, centers around Ha Ni, who's the complete opposite of who she was when she was a teenager. And, even though the reasons why she turned out to be this way were there, the drama failed to explore them properly, though her family drama was strong and supported masterfully by everyone in the cast. The romance, moreover, was slow, a bit silly at first, and was often left out, set aside so that the slice of life will be more on focus. Also, the love triangle was more enjoyable for the bromance rather than the romantic vibes.

In addition, the relationship between 17-year-old Ha Ni and 37-year-old Ha Ni was more like a mother-daughter than between two people of the same person. But that can be easily overlooked, as the slice of life genre often took the lead, with some heartwarming stories added here and there to enhance the main story and older Ha Ni's character. Also, the character development was just perfect, smoothly done and excellently handled. But, the ending was predictable and felt lukewarm.

So, overall, six out of ten.

Leia Mais

Extremely cliched but Surprisingly Refreshing & Uplifting!

Hello, Me is not very creative as its story renders around typical troupe and Kdrama cliches .
Its storytelling style also makes it predictable and less suspenseful. the pro side is this makes the drama Light and easy to follow as its development and twist has been foretold (or dropped hints in advance).

What makes the drama works is also what could have harm it (its a double edge sword). For me, I liked how the stress from EP 1 to 16 is centering around FL - Ban Han Ni but is also a little upsetting that ML is basically shoved aside and became a complementary piece. A little unexpected how young Ban Han Ni is dominating the airtime (sometimes even more than the ML) but fortunately for me, I grow to like "Scarlett".

Likes/ Strength
Actors are very good at digesting and expressing their roles, it is not easy to act "innocent as a child" with a mature like appearance. Both Choi Kang Hee and KimYoungKwang nailed their roles perfectly.

I like the respectful interaction between ML and FL all the way to the end. Is annoying in other dramas where ML force their way to win FL heart (especially Noona relationship). That usually rubs me off the wrong way.

Music is very powerful in this drama but in a typical way. Instead of romantic/ emo ballads, I am hooked by its uplifting / uptempo cheering life and freedom type of songs. Bonus, the squid dance and Joa office routine song which are not part of OST totally steal the show.

Dislikes/ Weakness
I think too much attention on side story of ML's aunt company stealing plot and Anthony's career as an actor as both of these didnt really make much impact on BHN life and decision. Is very filler like but glad the writer wrapped the subplot up nicely and clean.

Is light and simple, warm, funny but not too cheesy.
Which is why to me, this drama is quite refreshing despite recycling the old Kdrama troupes/ cliches.

Leia Mais

What's great about this drama? The number one thing for me this drama shows is character growth. We see this in older BHN. She goes from living her whole life feeling guilty and always shameful/apologetic to a woman who has courage , determination, and one who finally forgives herself so she'll be able to love herself.

Of course, she was only able to do that with the interaction of her 17 year old self, which started as someone she didn't like seeing and was annoyed of, to eventually loving and caring for. I saw this as how older BHN struggled so much with her past self due to the accident that killed her dad, which is probably why she didn't like seeing her young self, but as time went on, she began to accept her past self and characteristics, allowing those qualities to return in her older self.

While not as strong as BHN's character growth, we do see character growth in other characters as well, including the ML.

There is romance in this drama, but because character growth is the main focus, the romance is at the minimal, meaning no lovely dovey scenes or big heartfelt confessions, or anything like that. Instead, we see a supportive male lead to the female lead. I didn't mind this at all. It was pretty sweet.

What I could've done without in this drama is the greedy old aunt. This part of the story was not needed. It ruined the light heartedness this drama had. I would like to call her the useless character as she serves no good purpose in my opinion. Without her and her scenes, we would've have a great drama but her scenes made things toxic to a certain degree.

Ending was great and happy but could've been a lot better had they shown more scenes of younger BHN's progress, of how she handles things after the passing of her dad. This would've gave me more of a satisfaction to this drama. This was the only missing piece that I felt like the writers should've gave more screen time on in the final episode.

But overall, it's a good, heartfelt, & underrated drama. Just skip the evil aunt scenes and you'll have a good time watching this.

Leia Mais