I finished a rewatch of Six Flying Dragons and after that magnificent emotional rollercoaster (it’s still my favorite historical kdrama of all time, btw), I knew I wanted something light and fluffy to clear my mind, so I randomly picked Spirit Fingers thinking it would be a drama about cheerleaders (I blame the movie Bring It On for this and it’s running gag about spirit fingers).

Spirit Fingers is not about cheerleaders. It is about a group of individuals who get together every weekend and practice art. Specifically, they practice quick figure sketching.

And it was one of the best kdramas I have seen in years.

This drama is based on a very popular webnovel of the same name by Han Kyoung Chal (한경찰) – which I read after I watched the drama and also highly enjoyed (there’s definitely enough material for a second season if they wanted to make one). It’s a story that just proves you can have a simple plot and even some well-worn tropes and still create an absolutely amazing, immersive, unique tale that will capture your attention and steal your heart.

It’s basically a coming of age story about a young lady who has just been going with the flow, overwhelmed with school work and trying to please her parents and just get by in life. One day she accidentally stumbles across this small group of artists and is asked to stand in as a model for them – something she never would have volunteered to do but agreed since a handsome man asked her (you are real for that, my dear). From there she is charmed by this random group of artists and decides to join the crew which they call Spirit Fingers.

The Spirit Fingers art group is the core of the drama. There are members in their 40s, their 30s, and their 20s – and each has a moniker, or nickname, in the group. Blue Finger, Mint Finger, Black Finger, and so on. Our protagonist becomes the youngest member, Baby Blue Finger. This eccentric small group of artists will absolutely win you over within a very short amount of time. They each have their own lives and stories outside of the sketch group, but come together each week to have a moment to shine – to be creative, wear costumes, escape the stresses of their lives, and draw (however they want to – their drawing styles are all uniquely different).

Our wallflower girl slowly gains confidence and new experiences as she becomes involved with this group. In particular, with the other teenager who starts out as one of their models but decides to join the group after he becomes fixated on the female lead.

The romance is spectacular. It’s the classic opposite’s attract pairing. He’s the super tall, super confident, super outgoing youth who doesn’t care too much about studying as he’s already successfully pursuing a career in modeling. She’s the short, shy, introverted one who is too flustered by him to take him seriously. They’re such a cute pair and their love story was genuine, with believable set backs and obstacles between them.

All the characters are grounded in realism and we are shown aspects of their personal lives outside of the drawing group. We get glimpses of where they work and live. They all have such distinctive personalities too, which really add to the group dynamics as you have all these perspectives and voices on whatever they are talking about together. The older members act as mentors but also as they are not parents or coworkers they are more casual with the younger members, able to joke with them and give them space to make their own mistakes without being overbearing or overly concerned.

Both the male and female leads have their own groups of friends, too, who have their own story lines. We are treated to many enjoyable scenes of teenagers stressing out and slacking off and just doing all the things that teenagers do together.

We also get to follow the storyline of the female lead’s family, which includes her parents and two siblings.

Though this sounds like a lot going on, it’s so perfectly integrated that it’s never overwhelming or confusing to have all these different people popping up.

The entire show is only 12 episodes and I was thoroughly engaged throughout it’s runtime. Sure, there were aspects that seemed implausible. Sure, some of it was a little too perfect. But it’s a romance, not social commentary, so I don’t expect 100 percent realism. Give me the impossibly large and always empty cafe with its multiple themed rooms for our artists to draw in. Give me a group of people who always fully commit to their costumes each week and show up in elaborately cool outfits to sketch. Give me that earnestly cute love story of the super hot guy who becomes impossibly smitten by the shy wallflower. I want all of that! I have zero complaints.

Watch it if you just want to be happy.

Rating: 10/10. A Feel-Good Story About Coloring Outside the Lines.