# Twenty Five Twenty One (2022)

> A teen fencer chasing Olympic dreams and a hardworking young man rebuilding his life fall into a first love that survives the years.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/107470

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 75 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, romance
- Created by: Jung Jee-hyun, Kwon Do-eun
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Kim Tae-ri, Nam Joo-hyuk, Bona, Choi Hyun-wook, Lee Ju-myoung, Kim Hye-eun, Choi Myeong-bin, Joo Bo-young
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17513352/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: wistful, tender, bittersweet, nostalgic, intimate

## What critics say

Viewers broadly acclaim the series as a moving coming-of-age romance that captures youthful ambition, friendship and first love against a backdrop of financial hardship.

## Synopsis

Twenty Five Twenty One (2022) is a Korean television coming of age romance drama created by Jung Jee-hyun and Kwon Do-eun, broadcast on the cable network tvN in a single sixteen-episode season. Kim Tae-ri plays Na Hee-do, a teen fencer whose Olympic ambitions drive her every day, and Nam Joo-hyuk plays Baek Yi-jin, a hardworking young man trying to rebuild his life after family hardship. Their story moves between the late 1990s, when a national financial crisis presses on every household, and their adult selves, played in later years by Kim So-hyun as the grown Hee-do. The engine of the show is simple and painful: two young people who want more than their circumstances allow, pushed together and apart by training schedules, money worries, and the choices that come with growing up. Each episode balances sport, friendship, and small domestic struggles with the slow build of a romance that feels both luminous and fragile. The series is a flashback-driven drama, and its emotional register is wistful, tender, and bittersweet, with nostalgia for an earlier version of oneself. Viewers who loved the sports-tinged youth of Reply 1988 and the intimate longing of Normal People will find the same ache of first love colliding with adulthood here. It is a Korean drama that rewards patience and rewards a tissue or two.

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