Do you enjoy swimming or going to the gym? Are you a sporty person? Then this is the Korean TV show for you.
Find out more about this South Korean Drama below. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
♣ The Cast ♣
This KDrama series has four main cast members plus several supporting actors. Here are my choices as the ones worth mentioning.
(Photo credit: MBC via DramaFever)
◙ Lee Sung Kyung plays Kim Bok Joo
Kim Bok Joo is a college weightlifting student who experiences her first love and heartbreak and then a real relationship. She juggles all that with her dream to be a top weightlifter in the future.
◙ Nam Joo Hyuk plays Jung Joon Hyung
Jung Joon Hyung is a popular swimmer in their university. Popular in a sense that he is a really fast swimmer during practice and yet come competition time he always makes a blunder. He's got mother issues too.
◙ Lee Jae Yoon plays Jung Jae Yi
Joon Hyung's cousin a.k.a. brother who is a weight doctor. He is very nice and kind and never says a bad or rude word to anyone. Such a gentleman really. Due to his kindness, Bok Joo couldn't help but fall in love with him.
(Screencap by ArtGirl: MBCDrama via YouTube)
◙ Kyung Soo Jin plays Song Shi Ho
Joon Hyung's ex who has a moving on issue, thus caused trouble in Bok Joo's life. She's a gymnast but she turns up to be Bok Joo's roommate. After all the ruckus she caused, everything turned out well in the end.
Here's a bit more information on the lead star of this series.
(Video credit: WhatsUp Pinoy via YouTube)
♣ Synopsis ♣
(Screencap image by ArtGirl: ABS-CBN Entertainment via YouTube)
Kim Bok Joo is a college student training to win a medal in a major weightlifting competition. She lives in a university dorm and is considered one of the best weightlifer by her professors and peers.
(Screencap by ArtGirl: KOCOWA TV via YouTube)
Female weightlifters have conflicts with gymnasts particularly due to the sports lifestyle difference. The gymnasts are told to diet while weightlifters eat a lot. Thus each group seem to naturally hate each other.
(Screencap by ArtGirl: KOCOWA TV via YouTube)
One day Bok Joo almost got run over by a biker. He turns out to be a popular swimmer, Joon Hyung. They didn't start off liking each other that much at all. He eventually realizes that the former fat kid who saved him from serious fall injury has turned into the tall and strong weightlifter. Upon discovery, he began to tease her with an old "fat" nickname just for fun.
Basically it is a coming of age story of college students who do their best to excel in their sports field. When Bok Joo "falls in love" with a weight doctor, she lies about who she is. She was not confident to be known as a weightlifter and so says she plays the cello instead. This causes her to struggle as she goes through her everyday weightlifter life. Eventually Joon Hyung falls for her and they get into a relationship. The end.
♣ Trailer ♣
Want to know more? Watch the extended trailer below.
(Video credit: DramaFever via YouTube)
♣ My Review ♣
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (WFKBJ) is all about Kim Bok Joo and the life of weightlifters. Not only that, it also deals with the sports and life challenges they experience.
There's no fantasy, magic or robots involved here, just mere humans and the complications of life. Watching this series did not really make me feel all sorts of things. It's just a nice and light slice of life story.
(Screencap image by ArtGirl: MBCDramavia YouTube)
◙ Characters & Story
The characters and their back story seem to be well-developed but there is still something lacking for me to really rave about this show. Maybe I just cannot relate to them as I am not sporty at all. I do like to be in water though and I can understand how hard it can be to be a swimmer. Considering the male lead character has been swimming since childhood, I have an idea how it was for him growing up.
(Photo credit: MBC via Soompi)
WFKBJ is inspired by the life story of Jang Mi Ran, an Olympic gold medalist. The story however doesn't have anything to do much with sports but more on the life circumstances of the characters. The gymnastics angle had a much better sports focus by showing how it can be difficult. Maybe because the lead actress is a model that's why we don't really see how hard it was for her to be a weightlifter.
Sung Kyung did say she had to gain weight fast for the show because of time constraints. Looking at her height and model frame it does seem difficult to build some muscle immediately. She looked fit enough in the scenes and didn't have too much fat or muscles as far as I can tell.
WFKBJ deals also shows how it is to be a woman in a male dominated sports. It's much like how there are more men studying engineering and architecture than women. Kim Bok Joo trains to be an award-winning weightlifter and eventually wins a competition gold medal.
(Image credit: MBC via allkpop)
The only thing I like best in WFKBJ is all the food they were eating. Haha. If you're a weightlifter, of course it's expected that you eat a lot. Weightlifter diet is different from the usual. They eat a lot of carbohydrates and meat like chicken in the show not just because Kim Bok Joo's dad owns a restaurant.
Actually the reason I watched this series was because of their expression, "Swag!" I thought it'd be fun to see why they keep saying it. They do say it a lot of times but it's not really something to focus on. Lol.
Perhaps they wanted to bring attention to how women can also become weightlifters. It does make one wonder how their daily life goes. At least by creating a show like this they bring awareness that women can be strong and that weightlifting can be good for physical fitness too.
◙ Acting
If there ever was an award for this series, I will give Lee Sung Kyung the best in acting trophy. Her mannerisms here are almost completely different from her annoying bad girl character in Cheese in the Trap. It just goes to show that she can definitely act and be a nice and lovable girl too.
The next best one would be Lee Jae Yoon. It's my first time to watch him in a KDrama so I'm not a fan. My impression of his acting here is, it's understated but strong. Like, you wouldn't really notice he is acting at all.
As for the rest of the characters, they did good. Not that they are the best but they are enough to portray the characters. They all didn't really make me cry even in the sad or crying scenes.
◙ Cinematography, Production Design & Music
Nothing spectacular here although they do have wonderful scenes showing the nice weather too.
(Screencap image by ArtGirl: DramaFever via YouTube)
The university grounds are picturesque too. All the wonderful greens are just lovely to look at.
(Screencap image by ArtGirl: johnxr23 via YouTube)
◙ Rating
Because it is a slice of life story, I didn't really find it that amazing. (If you want a great slice of life show, watch the anime Honey and Clover.) Combining all the factors I stated here, I give this KDrama a 6 out of 10 rating.
* * * * * * * * * *
For my other TV Series and related reviews, click below:
- ArtGirl's KDrama Review: Are You Human Too?
- Scrubs & Community: 2 of the Best American Comedy TV Series
- Game of Thrones Primer: 6 Things You Need to Know
- 10 Things a Non-Fan Should Know About Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Series (Spoiler alert!)
- Hunter X Hunter and Naruto: A Closer Look and a Comparison Between Two Amazing Anime
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