Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021)

Relaxing drama full of emotions

l don't know where to start with.

l just finished the drama and l really loved this one. It has to be my most favorite drama of year 2021 coz' it just has everything l expect from a drama.

Starting with the story , l think the kdrama writers really know how to just play with our minds. sometimes they just make us feel so overwhelming that you just cry along with the actors but thenext minute there comes a character with enough humor to just make you smile.the only thing l didnt liked was the backstory of du-sik as that wasn't in need of being so harsh but still the end neutrilizes it.

The cast and chemistry is the best thing this drama has. l love all the couples and even the kids.Every character involved is worth appretiating. I have not watched any work of both the main leads but l seriously love the dimple-couple and now, l'm really a big fan of shin min-ah. And not to forget the best part , ahjumahas' trio. they are literally the best one l have seen after from the one in reply 1988.
Their chemistry was awesome and their story literally made me cry.

The only thing which at first attracted me towards the drama was the gongjin village.
l love nature , especially the water bodies. Everytime the sea or the mountains were shown in the scenes paired with so relaxing and calm OSTs, l just use to rewind those for like most of the times.

Overall a relaxing drama to watch when you want to feel some realstic emotions and some lively time alone but l would really recommend to watch this one with your partner!!

l don't mostly advice rewatching it coz' l know sometimes we just feel to skip after we watch like 4 to 5 episodes when you already know the plot so when you are watching for the first time , relax and enjoy watching it peacefully and don't worry even if you missed the premiere coz' that really doesn't matter!

These were my honest opinions by the fangirling drama-addict part of me.

l really don't bother about budget and all coz' it doesn't even matter to me and l am sorry but l'm not well known with the directors and writers.
This was my first time writing a review and l think this was is a good one to start with.

Have a great time watching !!

Leia Mais

For the longest time I’ve been looking forward to this show to finally finish airing. Having looked up some spoilers in the comment section, things seemed more than great, yay happy ending, yay no breakup, yay wholesomeness. As such I could not help myself and hopped on the hype train and so I ended up having too many expectations leading to some disappointment. Don’t get me wrong HomeCha is a great kdrama, but it’s not nearly as great as I hoped it would be.

About the Kim Seon Ho - Shin Mina OTP pairing, I can only say that I have seen onscreen couples with better chemistry before, but it was fine. The rest of the cast did a phenomenal job. I liked every single supporting actor with one exception and that exception is only due to my personal bias, so I won’t elaborate on that. Even the child actors were surprisingly good.

The story is typical romcom story, without the downright magical setting I don’t think I would have praised it, but It worked very well for the most part.
I have two major problems with the story. Firstly the love triangle felt very artificial. Yes it’s great how and how fast they wrapped it up, it’s also great how civilized the characters were about it and even the bromance aspect of it was decent. I felt the only point of the triangle is that Soompi could write an exciting article about how we should look forward to it. Oh well, I realize I’m probably being unfair with this statement. So feel free to ignore this point, overall this triangle execution is still above average. The bigger issue is episode 15, or more specifically the reveal of the main mystery, why is Hong Doo Shik living the life that he is living, why did he retire to his hometown. Frankly the whole explanation made me angry. It’s beyond nonsensical. Not only did he turn the other cheek again and again whenever someone blamed him, but he also blamed himself for such a stupid noble reason. I guess I could say that I had my concerns about his characterization before, but when the final reveal came I could only roll my eyes in frustration. I think the writer herself had no idea what tragic backstory she is going to go with up until that point, so she kept procrastinating as long as she could and in episode 15 she handled it like a technician, by then knowing that the show was already an unbreakable success. I wish I had known in advance, I would have just fastforward buttoned all those flashbacks, oh well.

The product placements were often pretty immersion breaking. The writing interns were not on top of their game, at least when it comes to the smart incorporation of product placements. PP should be out of the way, not directly influencing a main characters personality and that’s exactly what happened here. The whole explanation about Hye Jin liking brandname stuff, designer bags, designer shoes is just too much. There is also that scene, when she bought a 5 million Won necklace, despite being in the red. (and later on said necklace reappeared again in a comparably stupid way) So yes the drama is so full of product placement related content, that at times I felt I should be paid for watching it, not the other way around.

The most comparable kdrama that I’ve seen is When the Weather is Fine. The story is pretty similar overall, but I think that drama is much better up until the production team COMPLETELY ruined it somewhere near the end. Homecha despite not being quite as good in the early episodes at least provided us with a nicely wrapped up happy ending & I can grumble about ep15 all I want, but that’s not nearly enough to ruin the drama for me, so with that in mind I’ll go with the rating of 8,5.

Leia Mais

A very good time spent!!!

Is it possible to have a drama without so many clichés and be wonderful? I think it is.
Even this drama has the boring love triangle (very slightly) and a criminal (also dispensable), the mais story is simple. And, in this kind of romantic dramas, simplicity is the best.

STORY - an heart warming story, with two beautiful people surrounded by nosy, loud, crazy but wonderful neighborhood!
And that's it! Even if the main couple is sweet and interesting, the other couples and people are amazing.
We have the girl that is a k pop fan, the old singer with dreams of fame, Hye Jin best friend and the police relationship, Director Ji and the filming stuff, and lots of friendly characters and stories...

ACTING - wonderful acting by almost everyone

MUSIC - good music also

REWATCH - why not, in front of a fireplace and a glass of wine and good company

OVERALL - a nice and cosy drama to have good feelings. As I always knew, I don't have to be stressed by criminals, love triangles or squares or pentagons or other boring clichés to have fun.
Please watch

Leia Mais

Just the right amount of everything

I had to wait until it's last wk of showing to watch this series on NF. At the time i was watching Squid and Mad Dog, both heavy in their genres. So when i was done i was quite ready for a refreshing, light watch. Hometown couldn't be any more perfect for that!

And i found it to be really refreshing, first literally. I mean views of the sea, surfing, laidback country life are my absolute definition of refreshing. Of course there will be plenty of old folks, gossip and cliches. The series made sure each episode has all of those. Emotionally, there is nothing overpowering until towards the end. We should all cry at that point if we are human! But we don't dwell and soon flowers are abloom again!

I have to confess i wanted to watch this so i can finally feel at ease knowing Good Boy (Start-up) can get his girl. I wanted so bad for him to get his love! I have a feeling it's not just me. This actor can really effectively win you over to his side to root for him. His overall visuals in this show is also quite refreshing.

The lead actress in her role here is a far cry from the mischievous Gumiho, chubby Venus, and brokenhearted wife in Tomorrow with you. She's a more regular person here, and very relatable. I mean we all had to run away at least once in our lives to get away from so much stress. And we all are guilty of being snubby at least once too. So i could very easily see myself in her.

The things that our minds can do to us! And the things that our hearts can do too! That's why i love this series.

Leia Mais

Satisfied!! Loved it!!!

I have no words to describe what im exactly feeling after i had finished the 16th/final episode. All i can say is im satisfied....there is a relief that all end well in du sik's life (chief hong) !!!!

What i loved is it stick to its story conceot didnt drift away...its sure a healing drama but one of my reasons overall and rewatch value,i gave 9 is because triggering scenes like especially 14 and 15 i could only watch twice time but then at the end i wouldnt watch that part after a certain times (i hope you can understand)....i cried with hye jin and du sik those who have watched it may relate to this.

Story concept and its direction and production was very good. No doubt that all actors and actresses put their level best in their respective chatacters.

Each character in this drama had a story or something to learn from and the story had everything it didnt leave out or miss out any characters story plot till the last episode. At first i found loop holes some questionable doubts. Tbh at the 16th episode i dont even remembers those loop holes or que....it doesnt matter too. At the end that didnt matter coz i felt satisfied. This is like for me one of the kdramas i see in which the finale episode is so precisely shot. In 16th episode , we get to see almost characters ending plot as some of them had their in few episodes early but at the they all have a scenes which makes it special....everhthing is special.

This drama will gives you happiness, cringiness or shivers or hair standing on your hand ( coz of cuteness overload of hye jin and du sik which is still so CUTE) ,overload cuteness and love but also a trigerring points or downfall of that person too...what they are always outside cannot be always be same in inside. Everyone has different healing methods. And this story/kdrama showed it PERFECTLY!!!

I at first didnt like when du sik kept on blaming himself but in 15th ep i was able to connect the dots and understand well well. The story was detailed and very nicely written. Even if you find loop holes ,it may be not important or doesnt bug you much.

Ost is just amazing matches very well with the scenes. This songs are so soothing , jusg live it!!!! All im wanting is the cute dimples of the main leads.

From 1 to 16th episode ,idk how it went by tbh. I wasnt even planning to watch but when i saw multiple clipping od hometown cha cha clipping i just couldnt resist but try out the 1st episode and hear i am, I actually wait for drama to finish but for this i waited eagerly for weekends to watch this. It kept my mind light but at the same time what happened to du sik made me sad but i was happy for to hye jin at the same time. And du sik influence hye jin's life.

Its worth watching, ome of the best healing kdramas you can find...try it out once if you havent and you wont regret it!!! There is more to write but if i keep on writing it will turn into a book. So try it out. I hope you all like it !!!

Leia Mais

So good but that's it

I was the only cast-off here who didn't watch "Hometown cha cha cha" but finally I did.

While everyone was whizzing over this show , I wanted to feel head over heels, I wanted to be mad like everyone else but
honestly, I loved this drama it was so good but that's it.
The hype doesn't make sense to me the way people call it a masterpiece trust me I wanted to get that feeling but never mind.
First, let's talk about the things I like :

-FL's character was my favorite
-The simple yet cute story
-The forwardness of the story
-The cinematography was so serene
-Romance that was so sweet and cute

_The things I don't like ;

-Hong's backstory and the way they legislated his past were mythical.
He was so traumatized by it during the whole show and they covered it in 30 to 40 minutes !!!!!!!!!!!

-Secondly, hye-jin's character expanded throughout the show as we all know and that was conceivably the plus point of this drama but at some time it surged and kinda pressed ( to me ) like the confession and the proposal.

-Lastly, the lesbian facet I mean what was that tho ( ?!?!?!??!? )
That was so undue and hasty ( for me )


Overall I loved this drama couple was so cute and the romance was wholesome, there was no negativity in it and all caressing.

Leia Mais

my heart is about to burst

this was so so so so SOOO GOOD i cannot breathe. new favorite kdrama!!!!
it was so cute and funny and interesting and exactly what i needed. it filled me with dopamine and serotonin and all those other hormones that cause happiness. hye-jin and du-sik were adorable and cheesy and cringe and made me so jealous
side characters were also masterpieces. this show made me ask myself "should i become a dentist?" and "should i move to the countryside?" (still debating). and alongside all the heartwarming romance this made me bawl my eyes out. i wanted to hug du-sik and make him forget everything that happened to him and make it all better because he is such a cutie and deserves none of that
eun-cheoul (i'm probably spelling his name wrong but i'm talking about the policeman) was so CUTE i can't even speak i loved his relationship with min-seok and side note she is an absolute rizz master when she was in the back of the car i forgot her exact words but damn she had me folding too
ju-ri is us personified i feel her. oh yoon - cutie
grandmas were also wonderful characters
i almost forgot but oh my god cho-hui. she is so brave and my girl also deserves a happy ending AND GO SCREENWRITER/DIRECTOR/WHOEVER FOR THE REPRESENTATION!!;!;
bo-ra supermarket lady and hardware shop guy are also very babe. the latter was a /bad word/ in the later episodes (if you've watched i think you'll get what i'm referencing) but got better and i LOOOVEE their relationship
(i-jun and bo-ra spin off?? pls)

overall best drama ever if you haven't watched you're seriously missing out would sell my organs and first-born child to rewatch for the first time again

Leia Mais

I just finished this drama. I liked the scenery but I had problems with some of the characters.

First, I could not fathom how the ML character fell for the FL as quickly as he did, or at all, to be honest. Maybe it was her super cute dimples. Or that she seemed to be the only young, single woman (other than her friend) in the entire town. Or that they had the mysterious Korean childhood connection that makes a later pairing inevitable. (Poor Yi Jun will be stuck with shouty Bora for the rest of his life.) But the FL was also kind of a judgmental snob, who seemed to decide that the ML was good enough for her only after she found out that he graduated from Seoul University. She routinely underestimated him, so much so that she turned her back when he needed her the most. I assume that we were supposed to appreciate her character growth but she disappointed me over and over again. He, on the other hand, was smart, kind, and funny, although he had a tendency to overestimate his power over other people’s lives (hence his sense of overwhelming guilt). And he also was an amazing physical specimen with broad shoulders, a megawatt smile, and the ability to cry prettily. Which he demonstrated often. I did enjoy his interactions with Gam Ri and Director Ji but I felt that he deserved better than the FL.

I also wish that the writer and actors could have shown more nuance when contrasting the villagers to the supposedly sophisticated city folks. With the exception of Gam Ri, Hwa Jeong, and, of course, the ML, the villagers were stereotyped as uncouth and somewhat dim innocents with hearts of gold.

Finally, Domino’s Pizza must taste a lot better in Korea than it does in the US.

Leia Mais

Should you watch this drama?! Definitely YES.

Woow...
Couldn't be better..
The story is awesome...
So enjoying and also sad.(yeah, life has both)
This drama mainly said us, everyone has regrets in life, and had difficulties in different ways but they seeked happiness in life to live..
The actors acting is on next level that if they smile you smile and cry if they cry..
The side characters or no less..
This drama had equal role to everyone not just the main two characters..
You will become one of the village citizens when seeing this drama..
You must watch this...
No regrets of seeing this drama but I regret that I posponded these many days for seeing this drama..

Leia Mais

Hometown Cha-Cha-Wah??

This is a show that largely has two different halves to it, one before and one after our main characters become a couple. This review is going to be largely contrasting the pros and cons of the two through condensed points, with an (*) on what I believe is the most important pro and con to mention. With that being said, let start!

Story()-
Cons:
-I found the show conveying Doo Shik as a jack of all trades felt kind of unbelievable, but the real problem is him always being the only person to service any of those jobs. Its how the writers force interactions between our main characters after Doo Shiks cold introduction to Hye Jin, but it just feels like sloppy writing and can take you out of the immersion of the show.
-The series loses some flare after episode ten or so. The last half doesn't convey much more development between our main characters and they just become quite mushy for the rest of the series, with there relationship moving unbelievably fast in this period.
-After Hye Jin and Doo Shik decide to start dating there are a multitude of flashbacks to push the narrative of the two being destined to be with each other, it was a bit cheesy and unnecessary. We get solid build up till that point between their related trauma and social chemistry, the audience already had enough development to appreciate their connection. This time could have been used elsewhere.
-They also try to force the unwrapping of Doo Shik's past in a short period during the end of the show, with him getting over his deep trauma incredibly quickly(inspite of him being blamed for everything when it wasn't his fault), it feels the purpose was just a way to keep the viewer invested, instead of actual development of his character.
*-After our main characters become a couple they are faced with multiple struggles that makes the viewer wonder "are they going to break this relationship off?" only for them to decide to get married within a few episodes after. That pacing is crazy and ruined the development that was built up to that point making it unrealistic and difficult to wrap your head around. I personally lost all I had invested in the main relationship at that point.

Pros:
-The part of this show that drives home uniqueness is the partnering of exciting side characters with the set. with all of the side cast being store owners, you get a deeper idea of their past as well as the towns through the various shops. Giving the plot a sense of vibrancy early on without trying.
*-Fantastic at responding to the main love triangle, it makes you sympathize with Sung Hyun nicely while still being satisfied that Doo Shik gets the girl. This makes ep9 the best in my opinion, It sells the message that not everyone gets the results they want and/or deserve conveying sadness. But most importantly, in a beautify way makes you appreciate how relationships can consolidate as well as break apart, displaying its not all doom and gloom for Sung Hyun.
-With that being said it has good romantic elements in the first half but it gets brownie points for setting up four separate relationships with arguably the side three being more satisfying and what holds up the series till the conclusion.


Cast/Characters(9)-
Cons:
-As mentioned in the story section above, the second halves focus is put more on romance. This should be fine, but because of this, all the great side characters that were built up in the first half get push by the wayside, only being gossip hounds for the majority of the second half of the show.
Pros:
-The side characters are fantastic, all bringing a unique element that makes the world conveyed feel colorful.
-All the acting and casting was done very well. I often found myself surprised at how the side characters could steal scenes.
-Inspite of the poor treatment of the side cast during the last half of the show, they get a final bang in the last 20mins of the show bringing a feel good ending, but also leaves more to be desired from these characters.



Music(6.5)-The music is not bad, but the soundtrack is what can make or break a show into being truly memorable and iconic. I felt that job was done much better by the unique set, not the music. To note I personally liked the opening, "Here Always" and "one sunny day". That being said the soundtrack was decent but nothing to call home about. I felt the sfx did a better job at elevating scenes.


Rewatch Value(7)-The unique set makes it an interesting show. But the side characters are really the heart and soul, so with them being mostly absent and with a weak second half of Doo Shik and Hye Jin's relationship its hard to give a great rating here.


Overall(7.5)-This show has two very different sides. In the first half our main characters and side characters get good development. But in the second they are lost for the most part. The one benefit being the three other side relationships that develop and get a satisfying resolution. Where many romantic K-dramas can end in a whimper, this one ends slightly better. It does lose the main relationship to poor writing and pacing, but the trade of developing the other three relationships, in a weird way keeps you invested. In many ways its all over the place with there always being something to like and dislike in the second half. Overall id recommend, but i don't think its nearly as good as the common consensus.
I hope you found my review helpful. Have a great day!

Leia Mais

Refreshing and new story line with lots of cute support characters

Refreshing story due to the plot and scenery. Watched this during COVID and it uplifted me to see the scenes near the water.
This story is more like real life in that we are friends with people of all ages and enjoy community activities. Maybe it is my Western way of thinking, but the ML should not have felt responsible for the impact of the loss of money of the security guard. He freely chose to put his savings on the line. Why do the blame the ML ? Also, the car accident wasn't directly his fault. I am not saying to not take responsibility for your actions but really...... he was not the cause of the problems of others just a cog in the wheel. Both leads and the other actors were interesting characters to get to know- did not fast forward at all. The problem now is that this is not such an enjoyable show to watch again due to knowing the background on the ML. no surprises now.

Leia Mais