I wanted to watch a drama again because I hadn't done so in a long time, hence I purposefully chose one with a high rating: 18 Again. I was slightly disappointed, but I still loved watching this episode.

The plot is straightforward: a middle-aged man is unhappy with his current life and wishes to return to his glory days. There are love triangles, misunderstandings, and familial moments, among other things. Nothing new here, but the amazing cast more than makes up for it. Hong Dae Young bonding with his children, Shi Ah and Shi Woo, is one of my favourite plot lines. To be honest, I wanted to fast-forward through any moment in which Dae Young was not interacting with his children lol.

As previously stated, the cast is outstanding, as is their acting. The standout is Lee Do Hyun. He does an excellent job of portraying a 37-year-old in an 18-year-old body. I'd also like to commend Kim Ha Neul. I was skeptical of her acting at first, but later episodes proved me wrong. She portrays a strong-willed, tenacious, and hardworking lady who never gives up on her aspirations. The ones portraying teenagers performed excellently! I enjoyed how Shi Woo's (Ryeoun's) eyes changed when he was playing basketball. I didn't like Kim Dang Hyun's overacting, but I suppose his character, Go Deok Jin, is more to blame.

There are 9 OSTs in total.
➀ Soyou - 'The Only One'
➁ Sohyang - 'Hello'
➂ Choi Nakta - 'If Only It Was You'
➃ Solji - 'One Person'
➄ Sondia - 'How To Love'
➅ Jukjae - 'Becomes A Memory'
➆ Clara C - 'Somebody' :
➇ Yoon Sang Hyun - 'If We Love Again'
➈ Every Single Day - 'First Time'

Out of the 9, my favourite is ➆ Clara C's 'Somebody.' I adore this part: "Moment to moment, today yesterday, love is the only reason to stay." Her voice there was *chef's kiss*
My least favourite would have to be ➄ Sondia's 'How To Love.' It would be good for a lullaby, however, I thought it was too repetitive.
I liked ➁ Sohyang's 'Hello' at first, but the show overplayed this song so much. Now the phrase "hello, hello" lives rent-free in my head and not in a good way :/

I don't rewatch shows but I feel as though this would be an okay drama to rewatch again and again.

There were a couple of things that bothered me. In episode one, for example, Hong Dae Young (Yoon Sang Hyun) asks his son Shi Woo whether he wants to play basketball. He also asked his daughter, Shi Ah, about her future plans. They both replied no (Shi Woo doesn't want to play and Shi Ah doesn't have any plans yet), but they were obviously lying.  This entire exchange foreshadows future plots. As his classmate,  Dae Young realizes that his son wishes to play basketball.  Shi Woo's whole plot revolves around him gaining confidence and joining the basketball team. You'd assume Shi Ah's plotlines would center around her future plans, right? Nope. Her plotlines are more focused on a superfluous love triangle. It didn't help that the end-game has very little chemistry. Nothing against Ji Ho though lol. Dwelling on a love triangle rather than her future aspirations and dreams limits the character development she could've had.

Second, the writers treated Shi Woo as an afterthought. Shi Ah was given all of the emotional scenes. Even in flashbacks, only his sister appears, not him. They could have done a lot more with his character, but instead, they leave him in the dust once the basketball plotline is over.

Third, I didn't enjoy the editing, notably the portions when they repeatedly replay a scene. I'm quite sure this is something that all dramas do, but it irritates me. Something I previously mentioned is an example of this. When Shi Woo plays basketball, his eyes change. It was supposed to be a cool moment for Shi Woo, but the scene is repeated so many times that it becomes repetitious, cringy, and degrades what was supposed to be a cool moment for Shi Woo. A once-bullied student becomes a basketball team ace. Ugh, what a waste.

Finally, there's a lot of filler. It was obvious from the start that this was going to be a problem. It was never going to be easy to turn a 2-hour film into a 16-hour drama. Perhaps I'm simply a fan of shorter dramas, but 12 episodes or less would have sufficed. The Il-Kwon story point was especially useless.

I'd still suggest this show due to the valuable family teachings it contains. I sobbed in four different episodes, which was rather surprising for me. P.S. The two secretaries are the true stars of this story lmao

aight byeee~