Minha Juventude Corajosa (2020)

Friendship and Growing Stronger

I really enjoyed this drama. It was one of the ones where I started out thinking "I'll just watch an episode or two here and there; it'll be a good filler when I don't have time to invest in longer episodes, or when I want a break from my main drama," but it ended up capturing all of my attention around the 10~20-episode mark and refused to let go until the final episode. It was an easy watch, with good pacing and a light, digestible story.

The core theme of this drama is definitely friendship, as at its essence is the group of six girls whose trials and tribulations we follow as they graduate university and begin their official adult lives. It was an utter joy to watch these five friends interact, and their dialogues felt very natural and realistic. Their total loyalty for each other was very touching, yet at the same time, they also went through the head-butting and arguments that all friendships have to endure in order to become stronger.

One of the things I liked best about this drama was all the scenes felt intentional, and almost every action had a subsequent consequence. The drama felt well planned out from the beginning because of this connection between scenes -- sometimes scenes that took place tens of episodes apart from each other. Also, most of the main characters (with the exception of one of the girls) had complete character arcs that exhibited their character growth as they become mature adults.

Out of the five, I liked Qian Man the most from the beginning - she has a good, reasonable approach to dealing with her often too-head-strong friends, and is a good balancer, which also having a straight-forward personality of her own. Maggie is just a complete sweetheart who suffers blow after blow but ends up growing into a strong person without losing that heartwarming sweetness. Tian Tian is adorable, and the way she strives to be the best she can to achieve her dream and take care of her single mom is admirable, and she slowly learns how to rely on others more through quite a shocking and heart-wrenching series of events. Ming Shan I had to warm up to as she's has a bit too all-holds-bards approach to doing things, not giving enough thought to the consequences or after-effects on either herself or others, but she also slowly learns how to take a step back and assess before jumping in feet first. Dan Fang got kind of the short end of the stick development-wise, but she's very loyal to her friends and her family and grows out of her semi-spoiled rich daughter status.

While the focus of the drama was on the journey of those five friends, the guys involved in their lives also got a good amount of attention and their own arcs. In full honesty, I didn't really like Shi Ye / Tian Shuo at first, but by the time he started melting his outside wall and letting Ming Shan in, I also began to grow to like him and understand why he acts the way he does (though, a little to my frustration, some of the reasons behind his actions, of which have enormous effects on the core story, aren't explained at all; rather, answers are just hinted at). I appreciated his character by the end, though, and I love the way he interacts with Ming Shan and the understanding, respectful, and mature relationship they end up having. Ah Sam became one of my favorite characters pretty early on -- I loved his humor and the way he deals with Tian Shuo's hard-edged comments and harsh words; he has a kind of lackadaisical attitude that I admire. Yue Fang had such an interesting backstory that was slowly unveiled as we learnt more about him, his background, his beliefs, and what makes him who he is today. His unveiling is a bit slow but worth the wait. Yin Ze, Ming Shan's boss, also comes with some surprising developments of his own, and the way he's introduced becomes the antithesis of his actual personality. I also grew to like him and his over-exaggerated way of dealing with things, though that development felt a little heavy-handed by the writers. Kai Yu was a goofy bundle of goodness as well, though his act could get a little tiresome at times, he made of all things goods, so I couldn't help but like him.

I think another theme that they did a good job of exploring was "Starting Over." There are many characters in this story who must be given a second chance, who make the wrong decisions at first, sometimes to dire consequences, but are able to make amends or restart through their own effort and reforming their mindset. Especially towards the end, the last big conflict in the story involves someone who has made a lot of mistakes, but upon realizing the error of their ways and asking Ming Shan for advice about what they should do, Ming Shan tells them (heavily paraphrased): "Just start over. One step at a time, day by day, try to be a better person tomorrow, and an even better person after that." There are many scenes like this that had good advice and adages that could be applied to real life, and I think that is also one of the strengths of this drama.

Overall, I had fun watching this drama, and I'm sad it's over. While there were some faults I had with it -- it tried to be an action drama at times, which it was most definitely not; characters would disappear for episodes at a time without explanation, etc. -- the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I recommend giving it a shot if it sounds interesting to you!

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