Let's just cut right to it, this show was painfully boring. There, I said it. A story built around partial amnesia has real potential, but between the choppy scene structure and random flashbacks thrown in constantly, the whole plot ends up feeling more tangled than it needed to be. The romance doesn't fare much better either, it's written so poorly that I never really found myself invested in this couple. Both leads come across stiff on screen and deliver their lines in a really awkward way. The show runs 8 episodes, each somewhere around 30 to 35 minutes. Hanuel, a 29 year old language teacher, wakes up after an accident only to realize his memory stops at age 19. It turns out he'd been in another accident back then too, which is why his memories cut off at that point. He has zero recollection of the fact that he's currently living with his childhood friend Saebyeok, who's now a huge celebrity. That makes the whole situation even harder for Hanuel to wrap his ...
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Dong-ku is a teenager who wants to live as a woman. He's stuck at home with a father who drinks heavily and only sees his mom every now and then. Before school he works down at the docks hauling rice just to scrape together some savings. Then, with some help from his oddball best friend, he figures out there's real money to be made by winning the national scholastic sumo championship, so he decides to go for it. He's obviously a total outsider in this world and the other wrestlers can't figure out why he's even there, but his coach believes in him regardless. From there we watch him slowly build up his physical strength and prove that with enough determination, dreams really can happen. None of it comes easily though. He deals with fighting at home, getting bullied at school, watching his crush on his teacher fall apart when she gets married, getting beaten by his dad whenever he catches him dressed as a girl, and constantly doubting whether he's cut out to be a wrestler at all. But despite everything stacked against him, unexpected kindness from his teammates helps build up his confidence, and with enough training, he eventually becomes the champion.
The story itself is pretty easy to see coming, but the lead performance is genuinely something special, carrying a real sense of self assurance you wouldn't expect given everything the character's up against. He's completely sure of who he is and what he wants, and nothing is going to get in his way. It's a genuinely fearless performance, and he actually convinces you that this is someone who feels like he was born into the wrong body, helped along by the fact that it's honestly not normal for a guy to dance as well as he does here. Like most films, this one's got its strengths and weaknesses, but the good clearly outweighs the bad. It's a genuinely funny movie, and the jokes land more often than not. The comedy tends to be exaggerated and very visual in its style. There's a scene where Dong-gu fantasizes about his Japanese teacher, complete with cherry blossoms drifting down while he talks seductively, and that had me cracking up completely. It's really well done. The training montages are a highlight too, and the other wrestlers are funny and stick with you, including one who ends up developing feelings for Dong-gu, which is a nice touch, even if I wish they'd pushed that a bit further. The final showdown between Dong-gu and his father could've hit harder than it did. Overall it's a story full of highs and lows that takes you through a real range of emotions, but leaves you with a genuine smile by the end. (5/10)
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