Fight Song

My drama bent right now is human stories, stories that give you a glimpse into another person’s life, their struggles and challenges and relationships, in a way that is both heartwarming and honest. I spent a long time watching almost exclusively Kdramas, and most of the dramas I watched were 1. heavily romanced themed, and 2. certainly not makjang (not if I could help it, anyway) but still often dramatic in some way. I still enjoy dramas like this (I’ll always be a lover of the romance genre), but I’ve begun to appreciate dramas that are more interested in telling realistic stories about realistic people without all the high stakes or added dramatics.

Fight Song definitely fits the realistic human story description. The female lead has an interesting balance between vulnerability and softness mixed with mental and emotional toughness. The story addresses issues such as being an orphan, death of a parent, child abandonment, dealing with the possibility of losing one of your basic senses (your hearing), family and found family, overcoming difficult trials, and learning how to embrace/accept/make peace with what life brings. And all of this plays out over the backdrop of everyday people going about their everyday lives in the way most of us do. I loved all of the messages this drama presented, the gentle and kind way it treated its characters, and how down-to-earth everything about it is.

I have one caveat, and that is that the age gap between the leads was difficult for me. I came around to it by the finale, because you take the age gap away and you have an extremely likable couple that you can’t help but root for. But it still took me till the end to do so, and that’s because I just don’t see why there had to be such a vast age difference between them. I guess, technically, he would have to be older than her to some degree in order for her to have heard and cherished his song when she was a child, but I still think the writers could have found a way around this.

That being said, I still have to praise this drama. I can’t say I love it as much as dramas such Neechan no Koibito and Shizuka-chan to Papa, which both deal with serious topics in an equally heartwarming/healing manner, but I greatly enjoyed Fight Song and all of its characters. Its message was one of perseverance and hope, and I can always get on board with that.