Imiteisyeon

A must see kdrama if you're passionate about music (KPOP), dance, and finding who you are/your identity. I loved this!

It started out promising but progressed very slow, and when the leads finally kinda got together their relationship was unrealistically fast out of nowhere. Lots of mistakes/holes too, such as why did the FL cut her hair short only to suddenly start wearing poorly done tacky extensions all the time? They never explained this. Acting isn't great either. Sorry to disappoint but really a subpar drama.

While you don't have to be a fan of actual K-pop idol groups to enjoy the show, having just a bit of knowledge really does make all of the subtext and in-jokes so much better!

Pretty much all of the actors are existing members of groups, or have been at sometime. There is so much joy involved in watching them perform as characters rather than as their standard on-stage personas, as most of them have been cast opposite to their usual 'type'.

There is also the meta aspect of them representing an industry that has truly had issues with how trainees and artists are treated. This meta becomes a major part of the narrative dynamic, but they also have fun with it. Eg. Going on real talk shows as their Imitation character, and then as the characters commenting that they only know cover dances from the band that they actually truly belong to (!) or releasing character'fan-cam' videos on real YouTube channels.

The only bad thing about the show? It's only releasing one episode a week! It's absolute torture to have to wait a whole week and only get one hour at a time in this fabulous world.

The story itself is interesting, however there is no chemistry between the two main characters, both need to improve their performance as actors a lot.

The cast boasts of a very varied and impressive idol cast with a very seasoned FL. However the idol actors take away the show and the Female lead is left lacking and at times either over acting or under acting.

The story touches upon many aspects of the idol career but somehow ends up drawing everything to a romantic angle which aren't completely required. The kiss scenes are cringey at the least and the chemistry between the leads end up lacking. The ML does and amazing job but the FL can't keep up.

The drama could have been kept longer than 12 episodes so that they could hash out the side stories because they had so much potential, in many places much more than the main storyline of the FL&ML. The suicide story line was very well done and Chani again while being a supporting actor becomes the main character and holds the whole storyline.

The cast as we can see are mainly idols ( baring two characters) and are able to flesh out those characters very well

Ryok - Jun - U kiss La Rima - Jiyeon - T ara Yujin - Yunho - Ateez Hyuk - Johngo - Ateez Se young - Seong hwa - Ateez Min soo - San - Ateez Eunjo - Chani - SF9 Lee hyeon - Hwiyoung - SF9 Hyun oh - Su Wong - Boys Republic

Ri ah - Minseo - Superstar K7 participant Doojin - Yuri - Produce 101 participant

The only two idols in the show who aren't really idols in real life are the FL and the Shax leader. It's very evident in the way they perform, both while singing and dancing. The Shax leader can get off with it because they try not to focus on him during the performance shots but with the FL they have to show her no matter how much they try to avoid it during the performances. And it makes it very evidently awkward.

While I like the whole drama and the acting, in my opinion they could have done with a different female lead because even though most of the cast idol actors they genuinely overshadowed her by miles. Also while she's cute and all she doesn't give off that idol vibe. No bashing on her, she's an amazing actress in the other roles she has done but this role didn't suit her.