Who Are You: School 2015 Thoughts & Feelings (with spoilers!)

Whew, I haven't written a post on a current drama in a long time. I'm actually watching a ton of Kdramas this season and I really wanted to write about them but I just had no time. Anyways, I finally have a little bit of time and I just finished Who Are You: School 2015 with a lot of thoughts I want to share.

First of all, because of the crazy shipping war, I'd like to make it clear that I ship Eunbi and Yi An (YiBi). Honestly, I like both Yi An and Taekwang for Eunbi but I would say I like Yi An a little bit more because he is more of my style in real life and I would choose him if I ever had the change (T.T). On top of that, I like YiBi because they like each other and I think that's all that really matters. But there are a lot of things that went wrong with this drama in terms of the romance and I wanna address some of those issues. Even though I have my own ship, I'm going to try to be as unbiased as possible in this post.

Now I don't like to participate in shipping wars but I do love to read drama forums, especially the ones on Soompi. I've been following the forums since the beginning of the drama and I've seen a lot of comments that kinda irked me. It seems that there are a lot of crazy shippers from both ships that seemed to have lost the ability to think logically. 

There are a lot of people who ship Taebi only because they like Taekwang. Taekwang is a very sweet guy who has always known Eunbi for her and supported her throughout the whole drama. But Eunbi doesn't owe Taekwang her feelings just because of everything that he's done for her. She never showed any romantic feelings towards him or gave him false hope--she rejected him 3 times. I've seen comments calling Eunbi a bitch right after her long awaited confession to Yi An and even ones telling her to go die. I really don't understand how anyone with a right mind can tell a fictional character to go die just because a drama didn't play out the way they wanted to. Its both absurd and ridiculous. Eunbi isn't a bitch just because she doesn't like your oppa back. It's her feelings and she gets to choose. Of course I know these comments don't represent the majority of shippers but only the really crazy and illogical ones. 

Although it was unreal that Yi An, who liked Eunbyul for 10 years, suddenly fell for Eunbi, it was still believable and not all that surprising. First, he has said to Eunbi (who he thought was Eunbyul at the time) that he likes the her after her memory loss more. Second, its very possible that his feelings for Eunbyul stemmed majorly from when they were younger. They have grown up and changed a lot, just as Eunbyul said, and feelings can change without knowing. When you've liked someone for so long, it kind of turns into a habit and you don't really stop to think about your feelings. Eunbi is what made Yi An stop and think about his true feelings.

I've also seen people call Taekwang abusive and forceful which is also very absurd. Just because he confessed more than once? Just because he kissed Eunbi on the cheek? Honestly, there is no rule that says you have to stop chasing a girl just because she rejected you. And it wasn't like Taekwang kept telling Eunbi that he liked her. Taekwang has always supported Eunbi from behind and Eunbi knows that as well. He even knew that Eunbi was feeling sorry and stepped back himself. Thats definitely not abusive or forceful. It's wrong to hate someone just because he is the rival of your favourite. Same for both sides.

One last thing I'd like to address is the ending. Some people think that ending was an open ending in terms of romance when it really wasn't. Eunbi rejected Taekwang. Eunbi confessed to Yi An. She told him that although she likes him she isn't ready to accept his feelings and has to find herself first. Yi An gave Eunbi the medal and told her to give it back to him when she is ready to accept his feelings. After six months, Eunbi comes back to Sekang High and gives Yi An the medal on the bus, meaning that she accepted his feelings and they are together. There weren't a lot of lovey dovey scenes for them in the end but its obvious that they ended up together.

Honestly, all these problems stem from the writers. The writers are the ones who gave TaeBi shippers false hope. Because Taekwang was more popular, they used him for ratings and milked the TaeBi couple up until the very end. Why would you do that if you weren't going to make TaeBi endgame? What they should've done was reduce the scenes between Eunbi and Taekwang after the first rejection and get more give more time for Yi An and Eunbi to develop their feelings further. School 2015 is pretty much the worst drama in terms of playing with the viewers. It even tops Doctor Stranger. I shipped Lee Jong Suk's and Kang Sora's characters so hard and I felt so frustrated because the writers would keep giving us more of their scenes week after week. But at least there it was made obvious that Jong Suk's character had no romantic feelings for Sora's and that they wouldn't be endgame early on. I'm really disappointed that the writers for School 2015 went for ratings over quality.

Forgetting about all the dumb ship wars, lets talk about how amazing Kim So Hyun is. For such a young actress, she is well beyond ready for more leading lady roles. Her portrayal of the twins was simply magic. I could tell straight away when it was Eunbi or Eunbyul even if they were pretending to be each other. Aside from the obvious makeup and hair differences, Kim So Hyun even spoke differently for each role. From her gaze to her subtle actions, I really can't imagine anyone else other than Kim So Hyun who can pull this off. She's always been one of my favourite actresses but this makes me beyond excited for her future works.

Nam Joo Hyuk was pretty good but there weren't enough chances for me to even judge. His character was very poorly developed beyond the romance part and I blame it all on the writers. Because of Taekwang's popularity, Yi An pretty much had almost no scenes for the last few episodes. I would've liked to see more on his dreams for swimming and his relationship with his father. Yook Sungjae did a great job and he really shined in his role as Taekwang. He seriously made my heart flutter and had some of the best lines of the whole drama. Raise your hand if you squealed when he said that time can only go faster when he's with Eunbi *raises hand* Taekwang really grew throughout the drama and I almost cried when he finally shared a meal with his father after all that time.

Jo Soo Hyang, who played Kang So Young, also shined a lot in this drama. It actually takes some talent to make people hate you and she did just that. I literally wanted to rip So Young's face off every time I saw her and I was hella glad when Eunbyul came back and finally gave her a taste of her own medicine. I felt that Lee Pil Mo was largely underused until the end which was pretty unfortunate because he had so much potential. Plus, where do you find such a cute teacher in real life?

As compared to the previous School instalments, this one definitely sticks out. It's definitely not as realistic as the previous dramas and it had a lot of plot holes. It also focused a lot on romance, which I personally don't mind. Despite all this, it still took me on a very emotional ride with how it depicted bullying and parental issues from both sides. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this drama. It had some plot holes and some untied loose ends but it still managed to keep me entertained and moved every week. I'll end it here with my favourite OST. All the songs from the OST are amazing but this one is my personal favourite!

N no Tame ni (Review)

Hola, this is a review for N no Tame Ni. I’m actually writing this only because it was such an outstanding drama that gave me SO MANY FEELINGS. I’ve been super busy with school and exams that I pretty much missed 2 whole seasons of Jdramas. I managed to squeeze in Subete Ga F Ni Naru (because of my never-ending love for Takei Emi and because dramafever was subbing it) and I just recently watched N no Tame Ni because a friend recommended it. I started with one episode just out of curiosity and then I found myself blowing off my homework just to watch it.

Anyways, lets get to the review aka me throwing buckets of my feelings at you ;)

Synopsis

Taken from Jdrama Weblog:

University students Sugishita Nozomi, Naruse Shinji, Ando Nozomi and Nishizaki Masato end up coming upon the scene of the murder of the Noguchi couple, because of a plan they had devised. Nishizaki is arrested at the scene and is given a 10-year prison term because of his voluntary confession. 10 years later, Takano Shigeru, a former police officer who has misgivings about the verdict of this case, starts to pursue the truth. He is convinced that it all began as a result of an incident caused by Nozomi and Naruse on an island in the Seto Inland Sea on the summer 15 years ago. "They committed a crime at that time. It was for the sake of each N."

Cast & Characters

Eikura Nana plays Sugishita Nozomi. Not sure if you guys knew but I actually really disliked Eikura Nana before. I watched a few episodes of Mei-Chan and hated it sooooo much that I swore off both her and the drama. She is a good actress indeed but I just didn't like the vibes she gave off. Obviously I regret it now because I pretty much love her now. This entire drama just made me fall in love with both her character and her. It really goes to show how drama choices can make or break a person. Well for me at least. Anyways, Eikura does such a great job at conveying the feelings of Nozomi. Seeing her character grow up seriously made me tear up because of all the hardships that she had to go through. This is one character I'll never forget. It's really rare to find such a well-written character and have such a great actress play the part as well.

Kubota Masataka plays Naruse Shinji. Kubota is another sorta newbie actor in my book since I first saw him in the mess that was Summer Nude and then he had a supporting role in ST: Scientific Task Force. I did develop a liking for him through ST since his character was really cute. Buuut, I disliked his hair in both Summer Nude and ST to the max, so its safe to say that I was SH-OCKED at how handsome he looked in here. I was so pinning for Kaku Kento since he's always been one of my favourites but right off the first episode, Kubota got me like "Kaku who??" Naruse is probably my favourite character along with Sugishita and that's majorly because of Kubota's portrayal. Although his development slowed down a little after high school, I never forgot about him because of the impression he made while on the island. Needless to say, Kubota has shot of my favourites list with this drama just like several others. I'd also like to mention that his voice is just SO nice to listen to lol. 

Kaku Kento plays Ando Nozomi. I've always liked Kaku Kento since his days in Asuko March but his character didn't hit me as hard as the others. Ando is the typical good guy character and I do admit the way he cares about Sugishita is pretty heartwarming. Buuuut since I loved Naruse so much, I did push Ando to the side a little bit at first. It wasn't until the scene where Ando brought Sugishita on the building lift where he kind of tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. His love for Sugishita is for sure touching but since I'm not a big fan of the one sided pining for a love, I much preferred when the drama focused on Sugishita and Naruse's personal development. 

Koide Keisuke plays Nishizaki Masato. Koide is new to me as well. I might've seen him in other shows since I tend to see a bunch of the same actors scattered around in shows but I don't remember him at all. The problem with Nishizaki isn't with Koide's portrayal but rather with how the character is written. I really do not understand how he could love Naoko that much that fast. I do understand his choice to take the blame for the murder because of his past with his mother but I did not get his infatuation with Naoko. Eh, it's probably just me. Anyhow, it's quite interesting to see how every character has somewhat of a dark past and I think Nishizaki has probably had the worst. 

Review & Thoughts


This drama falls under the mystery genre and I did like the suspense in guessing the truth, but what impacted me the most was the relationship between the characters and their own development. This is one of those dramas that give off that nostalgic feel because you can truly see how each character has moved on and grown up past their dark pasts. Friendship also plays a big role and we can see that from the strong friendship between Sugishita, Ando, and Nishizaki as well as the strong relationship between Sugishita and Naruse. Sugishita is definitely the true main of this drama as we see her change the most. From the island to Tokyo, her every experience impacts the audience in some way. I cried as she cried and I laughed as she laughed. That kind of connection with a character is completely based on the character itself and the actor. I would say I'm a pretty sympathetic person but when watching Sugishita, I just wanted to reach into the screen and pat her on the back. Towards the end of the drama, you can really see how many people she has met and became a support for her and it just made me tear up *sniff* *sniff*.

The episodes that took place in the island were my favourite. The relationship between Sugishita and Naruse just seemed the strongest to me. I realize that it might not fully be love in the end but their understanding and past with each other just trumps everything. That scene where Naruse was leaving the island and saying goodbye to Sugishita was just perfect. It was probably my favourite scene in the whole drama with the very last scene in the finale as a close second.

I really didn't think much about this drama as I began it but it really did blow me away. IMO one of the most important things about a drama is how it affects the viewers emotionally. In this case, the theme song played a really big role in giving me all those feels. The title song is called "Silly" by Leo Ieiri and it fits the drama perfectly. I found out about Leo Ieiri through her awesome theme song for Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo so I've been following her music. When I first heard "Silly," I totally wasn't aware it was for a drama and found the song to be just okay. Of course after watching the drama the song went from just okay to amazing. This is one of the reasons why songs from dramas have more impact for me because I always think back to the drama whenever I hear the song.

Something else I want to point out is the amazing scenery. Ever since Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo, I've been obsessed with Japanese islands. You get a lot of nice cinematography during the episodes on the island and whenever a drama has great cinematography it just makes my day :)