[FIRST IMPRESSIONS | DRAMA - SERIES]: MOMENT OF THEIR YOUTH, AT EIGHTEEN (ONG SEUNG WU, KIM HYANG GI, SHIN SEUNG HO)

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

Youth, there's something about that age, that phase. Everyone has their story about youth maybe it be good or bad or maybe neutral. If you're going to ask me, well... I didn't consider my youth as bad or good maybe I'm the type who goes along with my friends, the timid one in the group. I admit that if I only break away my shyness maybe my youthful story could be meaningful & dazzling too. Enough with my sentiments, I'm going to share my first impression with JTBC's new youth drama called 'At Eighteen' 'Moment of Eighteen' (I like this title more and I will use this more often).

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

I'm a fan of Wanna One and when the boys separated their ways as their contract already expired, I knew from the start the Ong Seongwu will take the actor path & occasionally sings too. Ong, has that actor aura and vibe since he first auditioned for Produce 101 S2 and it's a plus that he is talented too.  What made me happy about his first project after Wanna One is that he took a project as an actor in a youth drama and for me, I think it's a good choice since he is now building his profile as an actor. Ong really suits being in a youth drama, I love it for him. 

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

What also picked my interest with this youth drama is that he acts along with Kim Hyang Gi, she is known as child actress with solid filmography in her profile and I love the fact that she took this youth drama since this year she's turning into a young adult and this drama seems like a graduation drama as a high school student for her and maybe in the future she will accept other roles other than playing a high school student. I'm looking forward to Ong Seung Wu & Kim Hyang Gi's future projects. I'm new with Shin Seung Ho but I'm looking forward to him in this drama since he's playing a complicated character here.

 [photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

At Eighteen/Moment of Eighteen is about the story of youths in their age of eighteen as they experience different encounters in life towards family, school, friends. 

I guess that's how I will put out the gist of it since we are still in the second week of this drama as they aired four episodes already.

My first impression with the first to second episodes, it got me wanting to see and know more of the character's story. There's something about with the flow and cinematography of this drama that matches with the youth genre. The color tones for this drama seems toned down a bit but it also means that this drama also explores the youth's life in the other side of the coin like you'll see the characters struggling with certain conflicts, the dialogues are straightforward and honest.

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

The pacing is not slow nor fast, to be honest, I thought that they already plotted a potential main conflict on the first episode and I wonder how this youth drama will offer more but there are bits of other conflicts that could open more with certain characters especially with our mains. 

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

The cast is all in sync with each other, I like how they are natural, you won't feel cringe or you won't feel like certain acts were forced. I also love the chemistry between Ong Seung Wu and Kim Hyang Gi, whenever they have scenes together, there's something soft and light between them, rather than pushing a potential romance but it's more like a first crush, first love thing, the cute and sincere type which I love because nowadays with dramas, it's hard to find a pure type of romance (I don't know how the story will go but I'm claiming it and I will root for them).

[photo sourced from the official site of At Eighteen JTBC]

We still have more episodes to go and to see how these youths will face their struggles and to see how they will resolve it. Life at eighteen is that phase where we decide things as we enter young adult life; we choose what university to go and what course and major we want to take. Youth, you meet different people with a different personality that they could be your friends or not. Youth at eighteen doesn't have the same stories, they have different stories to tell, different struggles they going through but for sure being eighteen sure is not an easy phase for some but we still keep going.

At Eighteen/Moment of Eighteen airs Monday-Tuesday nights in JTBC but you can watch the episodes with subtitles at Viu (No! this is not sponsored, I just share were to legitimately watch this kdrama :)