Jung Yong Hwa as Lee Shin
Park Shin Hye as Lee Gyu Won
Song Chang Ui as Kim Suk Hyun
So I Yeon as Jung Yoon Soo
Woori as Han Hee Joo
Kang Min Hyuk as Yeo Joon Hee
For more information on Heartstrings: Heartstrings @ dramawiki
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As an introduction, this is the first of the "intro info" articles for my drama series. It really is just a means for me to make sure I can introduce any series with a summary and brief thoughts without giving away too much of the plot (of which I ended up doing in my more in depth thoughts articles). Each series I write about will include this brief introductory piece along with the more in depth analysis and extremely detailed opinions that I give.
In addition, I will include in these particular articles the link to each new related article that I add to my blog. Each new article added about a series will ultimately include a link at the beginning that guides any possible reader to the intro info post for the purpose of not giving away spoilers too early until the reader is ready to read the more detailed articles.
So... without further ado... or something like that...
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Taking from my first impression post, Heartstrings is summarized as a college romance that takes place in a fine arts university wherein music is incorporated as a background theme. To put it simply, the story line basis for Heartstrings is first and foremost a sweet and fun little love story between the long awaited favorite onscreen couple by fangirls all over the world who obsessively followed the You're Beautiful popularity.
Lee Shin is a student of applied music theory, the leader of a band called The Stupid, and an extremely popular campus celebrity among the girls. Lee Gyu Won is a student of traditional music, the unofficial leader of a group called The Windflowers, and plays the gayageum, an extremely large stringed instrument that must be played sitting down, as a result of her grandfather's influence.
In the typical romantic comedy formula, Heartstrings starts off our main couple as two people who just can't seem to get along with each other. For the most part, because Lee Shin is a very indifferent, heckcare type of guy, he doesn't see any reason to be nice to people who aren't important to him. While most girls seem to fall for this type of guy as law, Lee Gyu Won enters the scene comprising of the one and only girl who doesn't care for his arrogance and uncaring attitude, especially during situations that seem to matter to her. Watching him very rudely reject girls and then blow her off as just another girl vieing for his attention, Gyu Won is determined to hate this guy. But as fate would have it (as dictated by the ALMIGHTY DIRECTOR) Lee Gyu Won eventually ends up falling for Lee Shin's mysterious and somehow attractive bad boy attributes after becoming his slave for one month.
Having been described as a girl who easily puts people's hearts at ease as her main attractive trait, it would only be a matter of time before Lee Shin also falls for Gyu Won.
Included in the story line alongside the main love story are two other side romances as well as the 100th Anniversary Celebration musical for the college to participate in. Kim Suk Hyun, a successful director who just returned to South Korea from Broadway, has been asked to help put together this musical because he is an alumn from the university. A predictable meeting with his ex-girlfriend, Jung Yoon Soo, currently a dance professor, catapults old feelings as well as the anger and sadness from their unsettled break-up from long ago when Yoon Soo left him to pursue her dancing dreams in New York.
Yeo Joon Hee is the adorable young drummer of The Stupid who has the appetite of a starved bear and always runs around dressed like a mess unless he's performing with his band. After a chance encounter with Han Hee Joo during her dance practice, it seems to be love at first sight as Joon Hee immediately claims her as his goddess and pitifully follows her around, deciding that they are meant to be a couple. Han Hee Joo, unfortunately, seems to think differently, only caring about her dream of becoming famous. As the daughter of the school board director, she has been given the advantage in her dreams as well as a spoiled and arrogant personality that pretty much causes her to have no friends or allies in her battles.
Heartstrings had started off as a gift from Korean drama to insiginificant little me, just as it had been for nearly all the fangirls out there who hoped and prayed for the fated pairing of Jung Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye after their excellent chemistry from You're Beautiful. It was a delight just to be able to watch these two people interact as the developing main couple and when the time came for them to officially get together, I'm sure all fangirls were squealing in delight.
It is unfortunate, however, that Heartstrings is just like any other romance series with the same plot devices and the same formulas, following along the same predictable trail. After the couple got together, while there were a lot of entertaining and fun, sweet moments, the series itself seemed to lose all steam. In fact, even before the couple got together, Heartstrings was slowly becoming "just another common anecdote on the streets." Without a fairly stable, strong story line to follow, I suddenly began to recognize this series for it's intended value: a place where everyone's favorite people could come together and tell an attempted outstanding story; a place where everyone's favorite couple could become a love story.
This is not to say that I didn't really enjoy Heartstrings... because I did find it a nice experience from beginning to end. There were not too many complicated love triangles or strange conspiracies, and aside from the ending, there weren't too many unnecessary conflicts occurring. This story, was a straight forward, "How we got together" type of deal and it worked out just like that. It touches slightly upon the importance of pursuing one's dreams and how hard work and persistence may or may not pay off in the end. But then again, what series doesn't touch upon some inspirational quote like that sometimes?
The actors were good solid talent as far as Asian drama standards, although there was a lot of stiffness coming from some of the more amateur actors such as Jung Yong Hwa and Kang Min Hyuk, one who seemed to have trouble conveying more than one emotion and the other who seemed like the was simply reading directly from the script, respectively. Park Shin Hye was her utmost charming self as a more experienced actress among the crowd and sparkled in her role. The adults were kind of insignificant, really, and the Kim Suk Hyun/Jung Yoon Soo romance really didn't do anything for me.
The music was wonderful to listen to as it was probably the more significant element in the series, comprising of songs sung by Jung Yong Hwa, Park Shin Hye, C.N. Blue, F.T. Island, and many others. I especially liked to hear the combination of The Stupid and The Windflowers playing, fusing modern music with traditional music, giving off some very beautiful sounds for the audience to enjoy. Comedic antics weren't always the laugh out loud type, but were nonetheless good attempts at humor, and the chemistry between the cast members was undeniably wonderful.
While not the best drama series this year, it is an enjoyable experience if you're looking for something entertaining to keep you occupied before the next big thing.
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Related articles:
thoughts: Heartstrings - a more in depth look at the series in discussion
first impression: Heartstrings - a first look at the series from day one
news: Heartstrings dropped to 15 episodes
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love this drama much..and love ur info intro bout it ^^
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