It is difficult to not compare this with the original but I watched it with an open mind. I did find this to be a good take of the original but it lost a lot of the great things the original have.
For me...
- It failed to build the solid and profound relationship between the male leads. It really wasn't as meaningful as the original.
- Things are more spelled out in this version. The dialogues explain what is going on. The original version on the other hand compels the audience to put the puzzle together because clues are definitely there. The audience becomes more of the mystery-solvers.
- Some of the characters, though existed in the original, did not play a role in the drama (ie. The brother)
- They reduced the adventures of the teens. The adventures of the original shows a before and after situation - and that changes the characters. Because this version had less of it, it is very weak in setting a distinction between two characters. The distinction was instead made in the dialogues (spelling it out)
I like that the drama stayed true to the original for the most part. But its weaknesses were the removal of the some of the greatest aspects of the original. There's a lot going for this drama, and it could have been better - it being a remake. It just didn't dig enough as profoundly as the original.