Doona! (2023)

The contradiction between the message and the actual execution

The only reason I watched this was because of the stunningly beautiful actress.. It is available on Netflix.

The series is basically a tribute to her beauty, because there is no serious plot, no significant or human dialogues, and certainly no chemistry. The actor is completely out of her league. This could have worked if at least he had an interesting personality, but there was nothing about him, including his appearance, that was worth the heart or moved me. He acts okay, he is overall handsome, but there was nothing that made him attractive enough in a series that mainly does close-ups of beauty and faces.

We certainly got to see every possible angle of the beautiful actress's face, but at the same time, there was really nothing to see when they showed the others.
I was also very, very surprised by her blatant dress style. It wasn't like this in Korean dramas a few years ago. I was very surprised, a lot has changed, and it's a bit hard to digest.

It even contradicted the whole message of the series, where she suffers from being looked at for her body, takes slimming pills, and in the end, they focus on her body.

Another annoying thing was the cigarettes. It was censored until today inSK drama. Suddenly, we see the long continuous advertisement for cigarettes, and it causes more nausea, as if to connect beauty with the stench of this disgusting product.

Leia Mais

Too much “aesthetics” for me

The photography is undeniably beautiful, but they went overboard with the sheer number of completely silent scenes. You can count on your fingers the moments when the soundtrack fills a dialogue-less scene. They went too far in the name of "aesthetics," and sometimes I wondered if I was watching a mediocre alternative indie short film.

About Doona: this is your typical "not like other girls" story, and it's getting a bit old.

Personally, I found her to be an insufferable character - she doesn't elicit any empathy. She's traumatized, selfish, clueless, and has the emotional intelligence of a rock. She refuses to explain herself, making it hard for the viewer to understand her journey and empathize with her story.

Wonjoon ends up being a pitiful character, letting himself be dragged along by Doona even though it's clear she's incapable of relating to others. He takes too long to question her, and when he finally does, he doesn't do it right.

The only thing that made sense to me was the ending. Even then, it was one of the weakest stories of the year.

Leia Mais

Artistically stunning with hidden meanings :)

I don’t write many reviews. I’ve only ever written one before and it was for The Glory. But this stunning drama deserves one, especially as I am upset at some of the comments and reviews made so far.

I am in England, and currently we are having a pretty intense storm so I am home and had free reign over the tv. I had saw this on my Netflix recommendations, so decided given its nine episodes that this would be my treat for the day (alongside wine and chocolate obviously ;)

This drama is stunning. Visually, directionally and its gorgeous writing. The main characters are endearing and free spirited. I resonated to Doona through mental struggles and her cold approach to relationships.

Key to the series here is that Doona is outwardly cold, but inwards she is warm hearted and yearns for love and approval. This needs to be remembered as you go through the series, every decision she makes you need to remember that inwardly she feels so much profound pain. She also loves Wonjun more than anything in the world. But she needs approval, and her career is the only thing that can satiate that need.

Your twenties is a period of change and growth. Ebbs and flows are normal - reviews upset about the ending are not looking deep enough.

Here’s something you may not of noticed. In the last few episodes - After the opening credits, at the beginning. There is a clip, which is very interesting in response to the ‘open’ ending. In the last episode, the clip is Doona and Wonjun meeting in a field of flowers. *look* at the outfits! Wonjun is wearing the suit and coat that he is wearing in the last scenes. When he is smiling at cake, glances at jewellery. Before walking in the hotel, and Doona turns round. Clearly she calls for him, or they are already in some kind of situationship.

The opening credit scene shows after this ‘open’ ending, they do meet and I believe the intention is to be together and make it work.

Because all these years later they are ready for eachother. They have the approval they needed from the world all those years ago. Now they are ready for it from eachother. Early on in the series, Doona says that her personal life and career would calm down after a few years. In 2027, that has happened and she can love freely the person she loves.

Gorgeous hidden meanings and direction. The director is a genius, look at CLOY. People shouldn’t write this drama off, be upset if you were initially- go back and re watch looking at the depth and meaning of words.

It’s beautiful and has enriched me for the better.

I hope it enriches you as well.

Leia Mais

Such a Disappointment……

Ranted in the comments, making it into a review. After reading the Webtoon since its very beginning, I’ve been waiting for a drama adaptation for years. Although the ending may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the rest of the story and plot had such good potential for one of the best rom-coms/slice of life’s this year. Completely ruined the drama with Ira being Joon’s childhood friend, and just not including so many important and memorable scenes like the school festival or Kook Su Jin fanboying over Doona at the shared house. No dream trip to Hawaii either? Wasted cast too, Suzy was the perfect actress for this role, her acting has improved so much over the years and gets dealt a terrible script and story. Ending was terrible too, just let Joon and Ira end up together, why leave it open-ended? Satisfies no one. Only positives are the cinematography and OSTs, great work there.

Leia Mais

Pretentious !

Not one of the best for me . Fortunately it only has 9 episodes so it made it easier to watch .
It is a bit of a cliché , young bright student leaves his town to come to Seoul to study and falls for a type of " femme fatale " girl who happens to live in the same house .
She has problems and issues , she smokes a lot . He thinks he can help and so they fall for each other . He discovers "love " or rather " sexual attraction " , She distracts him a lot and I wonder when he ever found the time to study ! There was little chemistry between the lead actors . He is sullen , she is exhausted most of the time !
His ex-girlfriend is a nice friendly girl who has feelings for him but he rejects her .
The story goes back and forth , not all the issues are resolved , and whether they are still together at the end or not does not bother me . I am glad not to have to see any of them again .

Leia Mais

Bizarre Script and Editing Suppress Excellent Performances

Doona really missed the mark.

Like many Kdramas, the beginning is interesting and draws you in. This is a story about two unlikely lovers: the male lead, a struggling, earnest student/tutor working hard to secure his future who happens to cohabitate in the same house as the female lead, a former Kpop idol who acts brash but hides her vulnerability . For the veteran watcher, this appears to be a healing-love story that you've seen before, but smart, ethereal cinematography and powerful performances by Suzy, Yang Se Je Jong, and the supporting cast make it a special experience.

But unfortunately, a truly bizarre final episode manages to subvert all of the hard work put into Episodes 1-8. I won't spoil it for the curious reader who wants to experience the Kdrama for themselves, but for me, the ending was not earned by the story's progression: characters acted in ways that weren't true to their personalities, and for me, it seemed like the showrunners were trying to put into a double twist-of-fate, but for me, it backfired and just became weird.

Leia Mais

If you want to watch how a toxic relationship unfold, I think it's for you but for me, I'm not really into this type of dramas. It started off really good and I was hoping a character development somehow but no I got nothing I think.

Suzy is somewhat not that effective here for me. I was really amazed with how she acted in Anna and I can see her improvement there but this time around it was hard watching her crying because she is bad at it. I don't know maybe I expected a lot from her already.

The ending is bad, I am really not satisfied with it. I'm happy that they release all episodes in a day because I don't think I would watch this ongoing.

Leia Mais

A fail romance story, that's way too unbelievable technically

Fantasy romantic dramas are a dime a dozen in the Korean TV landscape, and while Netflix’s latest love story, Doona!, isn’t in the least bit supernatural, the story is every bit as fantastical as the time-travel or superpowered romantic sagas we’ve grown accustomed to. As  we’ve come to expect from Netflix dramas, which benefit from the streaming platform’s deeper pockets, Doona! looks the business, with hazy visuals and atmospheric lighting blanketing each frame, but it’s superficial to a fault. The leads were shabbily written and it was hard to root for them, albeit the ending was anyways not pleasing as well.Supporting characters don’t get much of a look-in – not that they are a particularly exciting bunch. I have seen better romance dramas of this year, period.

My Rating : 5/10

Leia Mais

Oh my Doona!

Doona! What a name, it’s unforgettable! Drama was engaging, heartfelt and have moments to reflect on. The ending, omg - crap. It felt so truncated. Being emotionally entrenched and then left high and dry felt like a sense of betrayal.

Props to Suzy. To me, this was her best acting to-date, putting her amongst the upper echelons. Strangely for me, watching her again after ‘Startup’ and feeling all conflicted was such a deja vu. And Yang Se-jong you are no exception with ‘My Country’ and now this. Lol! I guess I’m just a sucker for good endings, but this takes the cream for how sudden it ended or should I say, disappeared.

Leia Mais

SUPERFICIAL IDOL PLOT

If you've read mangas and seen various anime or even some J-dramas, this plot wouldn't be anything new for you.
It's your typical ' A depressing broken Idol lost singing plot where the most normal/bland MC appears, blooms her life and she goes back to her routine life. That's it. '

Now where this drama loses is, Suzy's character lacks depth.
All she did was make a sad face and smoke cigarettes for 80% of her screen time.

Perhaps that's why they cast her, she fulfilled her character's personality. xD

Everyone else was good.

It was a one-time watch
Oh, I still think the manhwa writer stole this plot from a Japanese manga, usually, Koreans don't write/draw in such a setup.

This was definitely a Japanese idol theme rather than Korean.
For someone who's read and seen numerous J plots such as these, you can easily tell.
They even had a dating simulation scenario till episode 5, which was fun to explore.
You root for one girl and the writer, in the end, tricks us, after all the drama is named ' Doona '

The theme had various elements similar to ' A Star Is Born ' as well.

The SFML was the best character in this drama, played by Ha Young. (The girl is really talented)
She's worth looking forward to, the manhwa writer has focused on her in 2 episodes particularly, and she outshines the FML.

Apart from her, in the end, this drama felt superficial.

Now if you want to drown yourself in melancholy for no reason, and be sad, then you might find this drama a bit to your liking.
But that's superficial, there are many more better plots than these.
My suggestion is to avoid watching this sh8t .

Leia Mais