This review may contain spoilers
With technology being on it's current peak right now, Love Alarm will surely be a hit for young people, and even young at heart. It's a light romance drama with two good looking male leads, and a good actress in Kim Sohyun. At times, it's making me wonder what if this application really exists. I wonder how could it be on real life.. It's just a pity that it ends on 8 episodes, and Season 2 is not yet sure :(Story:
The beginning plot is very promising. For me, it's an easy hook. I finished 8 episodes in a day. Not too much complicated, but still enjoyable to watch.
Acting / Cast:
Kim Sohyun is an instant check. I'm pretty sure you might check this out because of her, but the two male leads is also good actors. They weren't as good as So Jisub level, *kidding* but, they sure have potential. Song Kang will surely get popular anytime soon.
Music:
There's not much OST for this. So I don't really remember any songs that stands out.
Rewatch Value:
I might rewatch it, when they release a 2nd Season to get refresh on the new one. But not on a rewatch list atm.
Overall, if you're just killing time and want to watch something light and new, I recommend this one.
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shut off your brain, ignore logics and you might like it
You know how you used to love Boys over Flowers and Playful Kiss back in the days, but once you actually go back to see it, you realize how little it makes sense, how much stupidity is screeching through the roof and the only way to be able to enjoy them again, is if you shut your brain off for the duration of the viewing while expecting next to nothing? Well imagine that, but 2019 version, and you pretty much get Love Alarm.I gave this drama a 4.5 and I'm still contemplating if I'm being too generous. Now, with all due respect to the original webtoon writer, the premise was great, but the execution...? Not so much. I mean, the idea behind it had so much potential and then it drove down the hill, crashed into a lake and never came back up. It turned into our everyday love triangle story. Poor girl with a tragic past, rich male lead who's a jerk, and then second male lead with a heart of gold. Like tell me something I don't know. You probably saw that I dropped this at episode 2 so now you're wondering who tf am I to judge. Yeah, except I already know everything that's going to happen and how it will all play out because I am one nosy ass bitch who likes to spoil shit for myself. Also because my younger sister finished the drama already.
That brings me to my next point, which I am pretty sure the show is as popular as it is because it targets a younger audience. I mean, I get it. Young people likes this stuff. That's why while I was sitting through the show with my 12 year old sister who titled this her favorite drama ever, me on the other hand, was suffering through the whole thing. It legit got so ridiculous that halfway through episode 2, I just decided to embrace the ridiculousness and had to mentally ignore logics for a while.
First of all, most of the characters are so unlikeable. It's not the actors fault, because if there was anything redeeming out of Love Alarm, it'd have to be the actors casted, which Kim Sohyun, Song Kang, Go Minsi, Jung Garam and Shin Seungho are all very promising... but all of their characters planked so hard. Even characters that are written to be nice are still so punchable. The only character that was genuinely likeable was Dukgu but he wasn't part of the main cast although he does play a major role in Love Alarm itself BUT if the trio we're supposed to be focusing on are as bland as a dry sponge, then what's the point?
- Jojo is utterly so unappealing as a character. Like with 0 brain cells I tell you. This girl cannot make up her mind for shit and she needs a dictionary to look up the word "No" so she'll know wtf it means so she can actually use it. Bc it's like she never heard this word in her entire life before. Because guess what... she never uses it. She is a cheater on period and it doesn't matter if her and her boyfriend didn't genuinely like each other, she was still in a relationship. Her lip mutters I don't want it, but her eyes says go for it. Jojo honestly need to to learn how to be alone and independent for once. She gets into relationship after relationship and is so indecisive, she leads people on and makes choices that makes no absolute sense. I'd honestly hate to be in a relationship with someone like her who's the definition of a noble idiot.
- Sunoh... oh boy. Where do I even start. Before I say anything, just know that I LOVE Song Kang as an actor, but Sunoh is a whole ass mess. Sunoh is simply a little bitch who thinks the world revolves around him. He is unsympathetic and an asshole. If I ever meet someone like him IRL I'd very much like to shove chopsticks up his arse. He has absolutely NO RESPECT or boundaries for Jojo's privacy. We have a word for people like him who likes to pursue other people who's already in a relationship. Yeah, it's called a homewrecker. Sunoh, to describe him in the most straightforward way, is a homewrecker. He tells Hyeyoung just because she's in a relationship doesn't mean her and her boyfriend actually likes each other? Like ok and? Bitch you ain't a mind reader, sit down. Not to mention, he actively went for someone he suspected his BEST FRIEND liked. AND THEN KISSED HER TOO? KLSSDALDAKLSDAKDSAASDO Bitch bye. Idgaf if you're trying to prove something, YOU JUST DO NOT DO THAT! It's common sense! But then Sunoh doesn't have much of it so I'm not surprised. Also, you literally knew nothing about this girl except for a few eye contacts you made with her and that your best friend likes her. Why are you acting like this girl is some angel sent from heaven with the cure for cancer. AND YALL BARELY DATED FOR LIKE A MONTH OR A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN THAT?!!! GET OVER IT! IT AIN'T THAT DEEP! I'm sorry... I'm well aware that sometimes IT IS possible but this dude legit held onto a puppy love from high school for 4 YEARS! It'd make more sense if there was more context but from how I see it, it was only infatuation and puppy love. Sorry. If you want to see Song Kang in his full potential, then just go binge 'Sweet Home', cause his character here does him absolutely no justice.
- And Hyeyoung bruh... you need to grow a fucking backbone and a spine. I honestly just don't get it, like... he never talked to Jojo before but only admired her from afar, so pretty much for most part, she was only a pretty picture. Why. are. you. so. held. up. on. her. This is what the show failed at so badly. Development, reasoning, exploration. The show did none of these. We are just expected to know Sunoh's so in love, to know Hyeyoung's so in love, to know Jojo's so in love... but why? WHY ARE THEY IN LOVE! It's like some sort of love demon just appeared one day and cast a spell on all of them. Sunoh was Hyeyoung's BEST FRIEND! Why is he hiding his crush?! To his own best friend? He treated Sunoh like some stranger he just met yesterday instead of someone he knew for years.
It's. Just. All. Very. Confusing. And. Nothing. Makes. Sense.
Sorry for the long review lmao. But pretty much, go into this show with absolutely no expectation at all and you might enjoy it. If you have even the smallest of expectations going into this, haha... prepare to be disappointed.
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a light drama to watch
I just finished watching this drama. Its a nice, easy and light drama to watch. It does have all the ingredients any drama has. I watched it on Netflix and I was a little bit disappointed with the fact that they used voices over instead of closed captions. In my opinion a lot of the beauty of the movie was shadowed because of it. I have watched quite a bit of cdramas. kdramas, jdramas, tdramas and I not only got used to hear the actors voices, but even more to hear the original language which gives the movie a different depth. It feels more profound. Listening to the voices over it really took away a lot for me. Some of the more sentimental scenes lost their beauty because the voices over. The voices didn't matched with the actors and they felt cold and blank at times with no nuance in them. As for the characters at first I had a little bit of mixed feelings but I have to say I am a sucker for happy endings and that is why I would like to see JoJo and Son-oh end up together. I know a lot of the comments here were criticizing Sun-oh but I can see where he was coming from. The first night he came back and he saw her I think he either had a crush at first site or he felt infatuated with her. Either way after seeing her at school every day his feeling only grew stronger. I don't think he really went behind his friend back since before he did any move he kept asking Hye-yeong if he has feelings for Jojo and Hye-yeong kept saying no. Where he didn't play full honesty was where he did declare his feelings for her first and not at the same time with Hye-yeong as agreed upon. But at the time he declared his feelings to Jojo, her heart belonged to him so Hye-yeong didn't had any chance. Hye-yeong lost his time. He had two years before Sun-oh came back to say something to her but he choose not to. I don't know why but I don't see Jojo and Hye-yeong together. I can even understand why he told Hye-yeong that he used him and all the hurtful things. All those things that he said were coming from a man hurt in love, a man that is still in love with that person. A man that is frustrated and angry and says things at anger but he didn't really meant it. Any way I am afraid that in season 2 the producers are gonna shock everybody and like a lot of this dramas the results are not gonna be what a big number of viewers are expecting which is of course Jojo and Sun-oh together. I am waiting for the release of season 2 and I hope that Netflix will not use the voice over but they will use the closed captions and I really hope to see Jojo and Sun-oh together. It will be disappointing to let us see how the love between the two of them grew so strong just to hit us in season 2 with them not ending up together. Four years had past and they couldn't forget about each other. He still rings her love alarm and her heart is still beating pretty fast I am sure. So don't disappoint us and separate these two in season 2. Go team Jojo and Sun-oh. I have a bad feeling I'm not gonna see them together. I will wait.Was this review helpful to you?
It was quite confusing at times but overall it makes sense .
But I wish that in season 2 the story could be more interesting and I hope that jojo ends up with Hwang Sun Oh . I really really hope so !!
I loved the chemistry between these two actors ♡ and looking forward to watch more .
The story was unique and didn't clash with other dramas. The story was quite revelent to real lives aswell .
Waiting for the next season to release.
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But with that said, i hate the characters so much (read the most upvoted review i agree with him/her so much). There was a lack of character development and felt that more couldve been done to allow viewers to understand the characters more so we could understand why they make certain decisions. Hopefully, these will be addressed in season 2.
The actor acting as sun oh also has very awkward acting? i feel super uncomfortable watching him during the whole of 8 episodes.
Although there were these problems, 7.5/10 might rewatch it because it has few episodes and i really like the concept of the app.
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WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLOW TWIST?!?
First of all, I really enjoyed the plot twist, but honestly at first I thought it would be a love story and happy ending with the main lead..but HERE IS THE PLOW TWIST! WAA They just getting separating.. and DAMN!!second lead is coming out like 'main lead' omg!It's NOT an ordinary love story what I expected. This first season makes my brain blew up and my heart got a huge emotional roller coaster.
Personally I don't really love that when they just start jumping in the time. I mean I just getting a little lost in that time.
But I loved it but at the same I was a bit suprise about that when during a scene they was highlighted a part when two guy got a call on they Love Alarm.
And the rerason is: South Korea is a pretty conservative country and the fact that the director had instead on portraying it, makes me realize their society is becoming more accepting.
(honestly I'm really happy about it (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ) So yeah not an ordinary series.
The actors:
Honestly now exceptionally I like this, when second lead became 'main role'. I don't know why but I don't care, I just like it soo much aw.
Now I am happy about the plow twist. I know so many people don't like it, but this is just my personal opinion about the series. (Thank you for read my rewies~ (◠ω◠✿) )
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Just as the headline suggests, I was wrong... Sure there were elements of a light and fluffy romance but what I was quite surprised about was how deep and much darker this drama showed to be. I would say I went into this with a pretty open mind as I tried to stay away from edits but some edits that I had seen had drawn me in and had, in turn, made me more curious about love alarm. I already knew that only half of the show was released... Not sure I like this concept I'd rather have it all out in one go or at least on a consistent and regular schedule.
It would be easy to say that I was quite conflicted throughout and easily swayed. I couldn't figure out if I liked Sun Oh and I was really mad that he courted Jojo knowing Hyeyeong liked her, do you need him to say he doesn't like her to make yourself feel better about it? But I couldn't be too mad because I liked them together he was SO nice to her and it made all the difference with her pretty sad life. Then came the problems which I feel we whizzed past through (which I guess I'm thankful for the fact that we didn't have to deal with too much angst). Hyeyeong even mustered up his courage to court her and I was so happy. It's hard to say who I want her with. It would have made all the difference if he told her from the beginning or it was clear that he'd liked her even before Sun oh came along.
I really feel for her Sun oh's new partner too especially after the last episode. She's such a sweety as well :(
What I'm really curious about is Duk Oh :( I want a bit more on his story. It feels very plot holey. Also, who is the creator now? If not him.
If you guys have watched school 2015 (Kim So Hyun's in that as well), I had major flashbacks to that show whenever I saw how badly Jojo's cousin and aunty were treating her. Her ex-bestie was so mean to her as well, It really made me frustrated and feel for her. I can see her growing a backbone in this and that makes me happy :')
Doesn't Hyeyeong look like Kim Soo Hyun!!
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Future Sun-Oh was just the selfishest. Man, he though Jojo broke up with him because she stopped liking him. Why THE FUCK would that be her fault with it was true? The way he yelled at her and made it sound like she was a monster and have done terrible things or whatever and then later on just pops up out of nowhere confessing to her like he wasnt acting like a jerk just before that??? Oh, dont misunderstand me. I definitelly prefer her with Sun oh and still think hes a babie but still???And i actually understand Kim Jo Jo tho. I also have experienced traumas in the past and i know how hard it is to emotional connect with people. Is a balance between desperatelly needing love and panicking when it actually appears. I already have bailed in important relationships to me before because of my emotional baggage, so i get it the pain she was going through loosing that relationship and the way it affects our emotional and mental health. No one that doesnt went through it actually fully understands the pressure and the panic attacks that comes with this condition, so i was really happy to actually seeing that represented in the screen for the first time, even tho they could´ve dealed with it better and made it more clear, since some people intrepeted the worst way possible.
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I think that what sold the show for me was the concept: the plot is so intriguing and you want to keep watching to get to know the characters better. Also, it is very aesthetically pleasant: the main leads are stunning, everything that's connected to the app/technological part of the show looks great, the sceneries are breathtaking. I also liked the main female lead, which doesn't happen often; she was pitiful but vey strong, in my opinion. I wouldn't have been able to go through everything she has gone through!
However, this show has many flaws. Some of them could be spoilers so I won't mention those. Here are some of them:
1) The friendships: I simply hate the friendships in this show. Whether it's between the girls or the boys. They did things that friends simply would never do (real ones, at least). The two boys look so close but then... I don't know, I didn't like it in the first episode and I didn't like it in the last. The main lead seems very selfish when it comes to the person he likes... I won't go on and on about this because I said I didn't want to include spoilers in my review but I think the show could have done a better job at this since a good friendship is needed in every show.
2) Most of these girls are just mean. Everyone at this school seems very judgemental and mean but the girls in the show are just... yeah, very mean. Which makes it seem a bit unrealistic...
3) Some parts of the plot were frustrating. Hopefully everything will be clarified in the second season.
I really do hope that the second season solves these issues because I'm giving this show 9 stars counting on the next season. I wish this was 16 episodes from the start like it usually is because 8 episodes aren't enough to develop the characters and create a good story; something is obviously missing but I'm counting on the second season to fill up the gaps. If that doesn't happen, I'll probably lower my score!
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Silly but super cute
This is just a fun story, a silly but cute and sweet time to just enjoy escaping the world, though it is quite young adult themed, there are heavier topics discussed and in between the lines, have powerful meanings. This is my second time watching because season 2 just released and I never truly valued Song Kang' character or his acting. Sun oh was so sweet, so respectful, so caring, so generous. Yes he is rich and privileged, but he was unloved by the people who should've have even made me doubt their love. How much he respects jojo and just the way he treats and looks and smiles at her is so beautiful. He's gonna be a brilliant actor, he already is.Was this review helpful to you?
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first of all this went quite well with the high school romance thing. Tbh the concept's really good and unique which they pulled of with the concept of a love app. But i don't get why they had to still keep on with the love triangle. The female lead's backstory is quite common but i find there no shame to be open about it the drama to the main male lead. And there's no logic in her breakin up with him in the first place when he loved her alot. I felt a lot bad watching the male lead love her till the end after trying so hard to get rid of his feelings. The female lead suddenly having no feelings for him made no sense at all and how tf was it even possible? The most common theories contain the disapprovals of the well-off family sides which isn't even prevalent here so i see no logic behind the female lead to suddenly give up on him. And the second thing is the second male lead. I'm kinda unhappy with the cast since they could've added a slightly more good looking person as the 2nd male lead since they had to keep the love triangle going. His acting skills are really good but his visuals don't go along the main male lead at all. I mean there is something called "COMPATIBILITY" and if they were supposed to create rivalry they should've maintained that. However i hope the 2nd season wouldn't disappoint :) Was this review helpful to you?
