I finally gave in and watch "Reply 1997"and I absolutely love it :)
I have always wanted to watch it since reading about it in Korean entertainment news websites because the main cast consists of mainly Kpop idols. But after watching the first episode, I got caught up with some work-related stuff. When I finally had the time to continue the show, I found out all the videos on the online streaming website disappeared! Sob :( It would take me another month to finally find another website that hosted this drama.
I love all the 90s' influence in this movie because they bring back some great memories. In 1997, I was almost finishing primary school, so I remembered those moments quite vividly still. It was also around that time I discovered Kpop music, thanks to a little show called, "Pops in Seoul" (Arirang) back then. I still remember the excited feeling waiting the same time every week to listen to Big Bang, Epik High and Super Junior, etc.
Tamagotchi! Omg, how can one forget this fond childhood item? I still remember when it first came out and I was reading about it inside the newspaper. Back then, the people who got it earliest were the rich kids so it was kind of like something that defined your social status. Something like Iphone right now (although almost everyone has Iphone now so maybe that doesn't count). My first Tamagotchi was a puppy lol. My mom bought it for me during her business trip to Beijing. I was so happy because I did not expect her to buy one for me. I remember being so addicted to my digital puppy - feeding it, cleaning her poop, and playing games with her non-stop. When she died, she will become an angel and I would be so sad when she did. After a while, just like every other fads out there, my interest in Tamagotchi died too. Partially because the battery keeps dying too. After Tamagotchi, there was also Digimon (which my cousin bought, btw). Unlike Tamagotchi, Digimon can be attached to another opponent's Digimon so they can battle and play games with.
In 1997 was actually the year I had my first computer. Yes, who can forget those bulky desktop PCs that was once a dream for all young tweens back then. In this movie, one of the things that made me smiled was listening to the internet dial-up tone. Lol. Last time, we had to connect the phone line and wait for the dial-up tone before we can have access to the internet. The sound was pretty annoying but good memories, nevertheless. And floppy disks! I used to have so many of them when we had to do assignments in secondary school. They come in many bright colours too I still remembered. Alas, my desktop has now been replaced with a laptop. Those infamous dial up tone has now been replaced with wireless internet. Floppy disks has long been replaced with pendrives which can stored more memory.
Music has always played a major role in my life, even from a very young age. No, I don't play any musical instruments but I LOVE listening to music. This hobby actually developed since the 90s'. Who can forget those middle hair parting, baggy clothes, swag dance moves from those boybands of the 90s'? Backstreet Boys, 'NSYNC, Westlife, etc. were just some that I can recalled right now. CDs were way more expensive than casette tapes so I could not afford them with my student allowance. Some of my earliest casette tapes were mainly compilation hits since I thought they have more hit songs for the price of one. I still keep those casette tapes although I have now converted to audio mp3. I still buy CDs but only from artistes that I fancy. One thing has not change, I still suffer from shortage of cash lol.
Music also became the common ground for meeting new friends. All the girls my age back then were fangirls of many bands (much like Shi Won in Reply 1997). Feeling awkward to start a conversation, but the moment you catch a glimpse of their casette covers or magazine covers, you instantly turn to music. That has not changed, thankfully. Even now, music brings everyone together :) But I have moved mainly into Kpop music now.
Honestly, I wasn't sure my expectations from this movie, especially when I read about the cast being mainly first-time acting idols. Plus, the idols represented here were not even my favourites. Seo Inguk is always the ballad kind of guy (since he has such an amazing voice) and Eunji from A Pink is the cutesy sweet girl group type (which I cringed at, sorry!). Both were definitely not from my favourite genre of music. Hoya from Infinite - I was like who? Because Infinite's debut song, "Dorawa", had such an annoying chorus that I had already crossed Infinite from my fangirl list (lol) back then.
But alas, I am so impressed with their amazing acting ability, especially Seo In Guk. Who knew guys with such small eyes can show such big emotions (sorry sounded kind of bias there). The best part of this drama, more than the romantic story, are the humorous parts! I love that their jokes seemed so natural and down-to-earth, not like those stereotyped ones written so desperately to make people laugh. The jokes had such good timing and the actors potrayed them so well that I was laughing so hard in almost every episode. The goat sounds had such a great effect too, who knew!
Anyway, to talk about all my favourite scenes in this drama will take me all night. I totally get Shi Won's fangirl mode because that was so like me whenever I go to any Kpop concerts. The love for our "oppas" is universal for all fangirls out there lol. Yoon Jae's confession was also very touching but I am glad he did it, although I doubted he ever moved on after that. But I think the character everyone feels sad for is defintely Joon-hee's. If you imagined for a moment that Joon-hee was actually a girl, you would realized that he(she) was actually in the same situation as Yoon Jae. So although Yoon Jae finally gets his first love, Joon-hee never got his. And he was always there for Yoon Jae too, which makes it even more sad to see his love unrequited.
I think I would enjoyed this drama more if I recognized those music from the 90s' but alas, I didn't listen to any H.O.T. music before. However, I still really enjoyed myself with this drama and definitely recommending it to my other fangirl friends (omg, I do sound like a fangirl in this post)!
