With all the glowing review and the current high rating on MDL, I expected much more than this. But even without those expectations, I would still consider this drama as a disappointment personally. Let's just start with things that were done right:

1. Very strong premise and theme. This drama hooks you right from the beginning and keeps you engaged throughout. Seeing the world through Myung Ha's lens (or more correctly a VR game lens) started the drama on a very lighthearted note and disguises its darker themes which I enjoyed. The depiction of emotional turbulences through "system error" is a very good choice in my opinion - it really got me on the edge of my seats and gets me anxious to see whats going to happen next. The way they inserted the mental health theme, loving yourself, and finding a constructive community for yourself is well introduced, although this could have been expanded more if they had more episodes.

2. Some characters are multi-dimensional and well written. Yeo Woon's progression from distaste to liking the feeling of having company is so so so sweet to see. I also love how Sang Won develops from just a rich brat who is a bit of a bully into someone who helped teach Myung Ha how to receive love and help. Myung Ha is the most complex character of all - he started out the journey thinking that this is a self sacrificing journey where his end goal is to make Yeo Woon happy and to save Yeo Woon, but was actually put in this journey to learn how to love himself. I do love that he is so ready to do anything to save YeoWoon but my heart bleeds for him because he just can't extend the same kindness and love to himself.

3. Homophobic bs does not fly in this series! I love how Myung Ha just does not stand for any type of homophobic remarks made towards himself or others. It is rare to also see a character like Sang Won so ready to accept the fact that he likes men that easily. Is it the most realistic depiction of self discovery? Probably not for most people but I don't care. This is the ideal world that we should be working towards anyways - where kids are not afraid to express themselves because all sexual identities are normalized.

Things that did not tick my box:
1. Myung Ha still having the 29 year old mentality while dating an 18 y.o. I understand that he travelled back in time. But maybe get him to start forgetting that he was 29 y.o at some point? There were so many moments where Myung Ha and Yeon Woo's interaction felt paternalistic which was actually expressed by multiple characters. I just could not buy their relationship as a romantic one because of this. In the end, he was given a chance to fully go back and live his life as a 19 y.o, so in my head I am just believing that he will lose his 29 y.o mindset and perspective and start actually living life as a 19 y.o.

2. Series is way too short to successfully execute the intended themes, premise, and character development. This is such an interesting story and there is potential for this series to be iconic. However due to the length of the series, everything felt rushed and nothing was fully resolved. They had so much potential with the mental health and self love themes, and I guarantee that with 8 more episodes and proper character development, this would have been a solid 9/10 from my end.

Yes, there were more positives than negatives, but the rushed execution is just too jarring for this series to be anything but average. The actors were excellent though and I am so looking forward to watching their future projects.