Twenty Five Twenty One is a tale of youthful romance set in late '90s
Twenty Five Twenty One is a romance drama about a hardworking young man who seeks to rebuild his life and a teen fencer who pursues big ambitions. They first meet when they are 22 and 18 years old, and fall in love when they meet again at age 25 and 21.
The first two episodes have recently been made available on Netflix. Here are four things to know about the 16-episode series.
1. The story is set during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Twenty Five Twenty One makes an eye-catching opening with a '90s filter and a retro-looking square aspect ratio, before the story flashbacks to a period during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The nostalgic setting sees not only historic events in Korea, such as the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which will go on to affect the lives of the characters, and the gold-collecting campaign, but also old-fashioned gadgets and technology, like pagers and bulky computer monitors.
2. It follows the story of a high school fencing athlete Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri).
Kim Tae-ri, who played the badass Captain Jang in the Netflix film Space Sweepers, turns into a cheery and passionate fencer Na Hee-do in Twenty Five Twenty One.
She has an idol who she is excited to see (read: stalk) every Saturday: the national fencer from a neighbouring school Go Yu-rim (Bona).
However, the financial crisis has prompted her school to cut some budget and remove the fencing team, leaving her exasperated at the ruthless decision. Her dreams of becoming Yu-rim’s rival are dashed, but her never-say-die attitude leads to her joining the same school fencing team as Yu-rim.
3. It also stars Nam Joo-hyuk from Bae Suzy’s Start-Up.
Nam Joo-hyuk, who starred in Start-Up, portrays Back Yi-jin, the eldest son of a wealthy family. His life is turned upside down when his father’s business goes bankrupt during the financial crisis. Struggling to make ends meet, he takes up part-time jobs like delivering newspapers and manning a comic book store, which Hee-do frequents.
After multiple encounters with the bubbly Hee-do, the troubled Yi-jin seems to brighten up a little and regain a little of his former self.
4. It illustrates the complex relationships among the five main characters.
As Twenty Five Twenty One has a slow start, it is still unclear where the story is headed. But it has carefully laid out the introductions to the five main characters. Apart from Hee-do, Yi-jin, and Yu-rim mentioned above, there are also Yu-rim’s classmate Moon Ji-woong (Choi Hyun-wook from Racket Boys) and Hee-do’s class president Ji Seung-wan (Lee Joo-myung).
Ji-woong, known as the class’s pretty boy, is interested in Yu-rim for “her image as a pretty girl” and befriends Hee-do, who is on the same fencing team as Yu-rim. On the other hand, Seung-wan shares the same house as Yi-jin, not knowing that he used to be the popular, handsome and rich senior in her school.
Judging from the current story development, the characters’ intricate relationships will possibly spin a youthful tale of laughter and tears, the moments in life that you will reminisce about fondly.
New episodes of Twenty Five Twenty One will be available every Saturday and Sunday on Netflix.
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