(Updated Review 2022)

Over the last few years, I've begun to re-watch some of my favorite dramas, the ones I've loved and cherished since I first watched them, and each time, I'm anxiously hoping they'll still live up to those feelings. So far, I've been very lucky. I've remembered why I loved a drama so much and my love for it has been renewed. I've even re-watched a couple dramas that I didn't like/didn't get the first time and discovered that the problem had actually been me all along. I finished my most recent re-watch, Weightlifting Fairy, this past week, a drama I utterly adored the first time I watched it, and I'm happy to say that the streak of good drama re-watches has not been broken.

First off, I have a newfound appreciation for everything that goes on outside of the romance. I was once one of those drama lovers who (mostly) only cared about romance, and while I didn't have anything I disliked about Weightlifting Fairy the first time I watched it, I definitely didn't give the other plotlines the attention they deserved. But now that I'm more seasoned and have developed an appreciation for stories that aren't solely about love, I found each separate plotline equally engaging to watch. There are no lulls or plot holes or draggy story points. From getting a glimpse into the weightlifting world to the heartbreaking struggles of the second female lead, there isn't a single plotline that ever feels wasteful or like a detour from the purpose of the drama. They all tie together and complement each other to provide meaningful contributions to the overarching messages of the drama. And I can't forget to talk about the characters, all of whom I love. Each and every one of them is charming and fun, Bok Joo and Joon Hyeong and their group of friend's chief among them.

But I think the thing I love most about this drama is the way it makes me feel. It's uplifting and hopeful and deeply earnest. There are heartbreaks and struggles to go around but threaded throughout is a sense of optimism and possibility, a belief in tomorrow. The story tells us this is hard, but the characters can overcome it. You can overcome it too. And I like stories that make me feel that way.

In closing, I'll leave you with this. There's a certain feeling I want to get from a drama once the story is over and there are no more episodes left to watch, a feeling that kind of takes over your body, your being, and for a moment, you and that feeling are the same. I don't know what you would call this feeling or how to describe it. Maybe peacefulness or satisfaction or a sense of completion but tinged with sadness that it's over. All I know is this drama left me feeling this feeling both times I watched it.

Weightlifting Fairy is a story filled with sweet moments and lovely characters and a genuine sense of earnestness, and I love it for it.

Original Review:
There's a certain feeling I want to get from a drama once the story is over and there are no more episodes left to watch, a feeling that kind of takes over your body, your being, and for a moment, you and that feeling are the same. I don't know what you would call this feeling or how to describe it. Maybe peacefulness or satisfaction or a sense of completion but tinged with sadness that it's all over. All I know is this drama left me feeling this feeling, and I don't get to say that often.

There are no lulls or plot holes or draggy story points. Only sweet moments and lovely characters and a sense of earnestness. And honestly, that's really all you need.

I'm sad that this drama is over, and I'll probably need a few days to recover.

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If you're looking for something cute and easy to watch that requires low-commitment, then this is a good drama for you.

Yoon Jeong Sook is feisty, brave, opinionated, and doesn’t let Kwon Hyuk Joon boss her around. I loved everything about her, even if she mellowed a bit towards the end. Hyuk Joon is a genuinely stand up guy. He definitely has a, ‘I’m a man. You’re a woman. We should fulfill those roles' attitude, but there’s a sense of decency about him that makes you like him. I hated most of the members of Kwon Hyuk Joon’s family (except for precious grandpa, even if he went on about Ji Hye fulfilling her duties as a wife a little too much) as there was always a lot of talk about being a ‘good wife’ and having lots of babies, etc., and Yoon Jeong Sook definitely gets put through the ringer a couple times, but there whining and complaining and trying to manipulate from behind the scenes has no impact on our main characters and their lives, so it's easy to tune out.

What makes this drama so easy to watch, at least for me, is that from the get go, I wanted our leads together. They just made sense as a couple. There’s some really great chemistry between them, enough chemistry in fact, that our leads eventually got married to each other in real life. Granted, they got divorced later on in real life too, but I don’t think that has any bearing on the future of our dramas characters.

Right?

Overall, it was an adorable drama. It wasn't perfect, but it kept me coming back. So if you're looking for something fun that you can watch without too much stress or aggravation, I would definitely recommend this one. I don’t consider this one of my favorites, but I definitely think it was worth the watch.


Super short review coming through!

Fluffy and cute, and I wouldn't rewatch it even if I rewatched dramas, because his family drove me insane.

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I honestly don't know how to explain this dramas plot. There were confusing birth secrets. (Illegitimate children everywhere. Everywhere illegitimate children.) There were too many women for Ma Te to learn from and not enough time spent with each of them. There was a password/passcode thing that ended up serving no purpose. There were corporate machinations that ended up just being confusing and silly. (And really, really boring.) And there was no romance, absolutely none, until the very end of the drama. And by That point, the story had fallen completely flat and the only reason I was sticking around was for Bo Tong.

First, I don’t like Ma Te. He started out as your typical 'good-looking' guy who thinks he's the bees knees, God's gift to humanity, the greatest thing since sliced bread, and to be fair, he's clearly never had anyone tell him otherwise so why shouldn't he believe that about himself? But really, he was pretty boring...and annoying...and kind of dumb. (And not the slightest bit attractive but what do I know. [They would give him a nice hairstyle, and I'd start to come around, then they'd screw it all up by turning his hair into a mop. Seriously, who was coming up with those hairstyles?!])

But he wasn't an awful character. In many ways, he was a good character. He was arrogant in a way that was sort of comical. Every time something didn't work out how he wanted, I was pumping my fists in excitement. His character was at his best when he was failing.

But failure came very rarely for Ma Te. Things were way too easy for him. Every woman he encountered fell for him. Every time he faced some kind of challenge at the company, it miraculously worked out in his favor. Granted, it was often because someone else with actual power and influence fixed things, but even then, Ma Te got all the credit.

He did get a 'final hour' emotional growth spurt, but it was completely unearned and I disliked him too much by then to care.

As for the entire conceit of the drama, the women (minus Bo Tong), each felt alternatively dynamic and boring. Sometimes the lesson Ma Te was meant to learn from them was clear, and other times I was scratching my head wondering why this random woman had wandered onto my screen where she clearly did not belong.

Then there's David. David broke my heart with all his heartbreaking wonderfulness. Which made it Oh So Frustrating when he turned into That character. You know the one. You’ll find them in every Asian drama known to man. They’ve been rejected. They’ve been turned down. They’ve been ignored. The lead has made their stance known, and it’s time for them to raise the white flag. But they refuse to let go.

I don’t know if the writer’s were just so in love with David that the only way for them to justify not giving him the girl was to make him look like a baby so they didn't have to feel bad about their choice or if they were just suffering from such an acute case of second lead feels that they got temporarily lost in those feelings, but they spent so much time on Bo Tong and David and David's inability to just move on that they did next to nothing to move Bo Tong and Ma Te's relationship along. And you might say at this point in the review 'That's hypocritical. You like Bo Tong, and she's every bit as much That character as David, so what gives?' What gives is I like stories where the jerky, self-important character gets a dose of their own medicine and finds themselves falling for someone they think is beneath them and through falling for them learns to be a not terrible person anymore, and you can't make me feel bad about that, so there.

Ultimately, the only thing that made the anguish that was watching this drama the slightest bit worth it, was Bo Tong. I frickin’ love Bo Tong.

Frickin’.

Love.

She was the only consistent character in the entire drama, she had GREAT fashion sense (FIGHT ME ON THAT), she was delightfully quirky and optimistic without being ridiculous, she was over the top, and I loved it.

Also, IU is such a good crier. My gosh.

To sum up, I think it's clear the writers bit off more then they could chew with this story. 10 women was too many. 6 would have been more doable. The lessons Ma Te was supposed to learn from each of them weren't always clear or even interesting. The family drama was ridiculous and confusing and added very little to the overall story. The illegitimate children plot was confusing, and the secret code concept was completely wasted. The business machinations made me roll my eyes. And there was no romance until the final hour. Tell us the truth writers. Did you actually have any sort of plan for this drama? Did you really want Bo Tong and Ma Te to end up together? Does any of it even matter? For my part, the answer is no.

(Rewatch is 1 because I can't choose zero.)

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(Updated Review 2022)

Wow. What a difference time (and age (I’m getting old, folks)) makes. I don't remember when I first watched this drama (pretty sure the date for my original review is wrong), but my thoughts today are so vastly different from what they were then, that all I can say is.... I was wrong. Very wrong. Like cringing with embarrassment as I read my old review through my fingers, wrong. (You can also cringe-read that review below this updated one, as I've left it up for posterity's sake.)

Sometimes you have an inaccurate understanding of a stories characters, their motivations, their life experiences, what the writer is trying to convey/portray with their actions, and I would say that was definitely the case for me with this drama. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, including the leads. I found the romance unbelievable (I couldn’t see him falling in love with her, even when I held up a microscope). I wanted to throw the secondary leads into a fire (I mean, what’s new with these old-school dramas, lol). Basically, I DETESTED this drama.

But I was also in my rom-com’s only, don’t really care about what’s happening outside of the romance, only secondary characters who are happy and fun please, phase. There's nothing ultimately wrong with this, in my opinion, and I still very much have that side of me at times, but I’ve definitely changed as a drama-watcher since first watching Personal Taste. I’ve expanded my list of genre’s I’m willing to sit down in front of my computer for, I’ve found I actually enjoy stories that aren’t solely about romance or maybe don’t have romance at all, I’m genuinely interested in all of the side characters and watching their story arc progression, and I’ve even become more open to understanding the ‘evil’ secondary leads and seeing them as 3-dimensional characters rather than simply ‘the bad guy(s) out to stop my OTP.’

I was unsure going into Personal Taste a second time if it was really worth it to give the drama another chance, but I was also very curious to see if my perspective had changed. And I'm here to say that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this drama. Not only did I not need a microscope to see the romance, I Liked the main couple. A Lot. All of the stuff with the house and the competition and trying to figure out the perfect design bored me before, but I was firmly invested this time. The heartbreaking circumstances of the death of the female lead’s mother and her subsequent feelings of guilt and self-loathing and worthlessness struck a real chord with me. And believe it or not, I found myself feeling sympathetic for both secondary participants in the drama’s love octopus. The second male lead has a fantastic period of growth in the story where he becomes just plain likable. They kind of ruin it for a bit towards the end, but they do ultimately choose to leave him a redeemed man, which I’m happy with. My sympathy waned over time for the second female lead as the writers don’t do a lot to make her particularly sympathetic, but her motivations made sense to me, and I pitied her to a certain degree.

Overall, this is just a much better drama then I gave it credit for before, and I’m glad I re-watched it, because now I can set the record straight on how I feel about it. I think it’s pretty dang great, and I recommend it.

Original Review:
I don't remember most of what happened in this drama as I found the whole thing completely uninteresting.

The leads had Zero chemistry. Like, none. They put in an admirable effort, but it was just not there. Which is disappointing, because more chemistry between them might have made this a better drama for me. (Being able to believe in a romance is key.) But I couldn’t believe in them as a couple, and watching them be romantic with each other quickly went from cute to awkward, and then from awkward to uncomfortable. The final scene…made me want to close my eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening.

I have No idea why this Love Octopus (love triangle) existed. Park Kae In being hung up on him, sure. I can understand that. But why was he so determined to get her back???

HE DIDN'T LIKE HER, FAM.

He should have been tossed in a fire and never seen from again.

The second female lead? I’m honestly not even sure why she dumped the second male lead to begin with since she knew the whole time she was dating him that he was seeing her ‘best friend’ too and didn't seem all that upset about it. Just marry the dude and get it over with. The two of you clearly deserve each other. (Hate is Not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about the secondary leads.)

And does it not seem a little unrealistic that after all those years of living in that house that she would have never moved the pallet out of the middle of her living/dining room and seen that there was a glass floor underneath? Did she never spill her food and have to clean it up? Like ever?

Honestly, the farther away from this drama I get…the more I hate it. Very little chemistry between the leads. The secondary leads were awful. The Love Octopus should not exist. The overarching storyline was uninteresting. The ending was completely awkward and lackluster. And you would think with those two living in close quarters like that, we would get more awkward, romantic, run-ins. But no, the drama denied me that.

This is not worth the watch, in my opinion.

At least her house was pretty though?

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Updated Review 2023:

I just finished my first re-watch of this drama (and I say first, because I will certainly be re-watching Fated to Love You many more times in the future), and oh my goodness. This drama is even better than I remembered.

I believe I watched this as it aired (probably on Dramafever), but I can't be sure as MyDramaList had some sort of glitch or something at some point, and a bunch of my completed dramas now show themselves as completed in 2016, this drama included. (I definitely did not watch the number of dramas in 2016 that MyDramaList says I did.) Regardless, I greatly enjoyed Fated to Love You the first time I watched it, although I had some complaints as well.

I remember finding the amnesia and everything around the Gun's illness after his bout with amnesia to be really frustrating. It was the same old noble idiocy trope all over again, and for what felt like no reason. After re-watching, however, I have completely changed my opinion. I think I (and many other Kdrama lovers) had grown over-tired of amnesia and noble idiocy and forced separation tropes in dramas, and that affected at least my feelings about the drama. But Gun's fear of his illness rearing its ugly head and hurting the ones he loves is a very believable, and understandable, fear. Especially as he experienced that exact thing with his own father. The story also addresses, towards the very end, how his choice to run away was actually the wrong one, and he shouldn't live his life afraid of what might happen but rather enjoy his life in the here and now. So after this re-watch, I have a fuller appreciation for what the drama was doing.

Another big complaint that I've completely 360'd on is my thoughts on Mi Young in the second half of the drama. In my first viewing, second half Mi Young and first half Mi Young felt like totally different characters, and I disliked how different they felt. I LOVED first half Mi Young with all of her tenderheartedness (and super cute fashion sense), and second half Mi Young seemed to have lost that. But re-watching has given me a far better understanding of second half Mi Young, and I have to admit that I was completely off-base before. Jang Na Ra did a truly impressive job with Mi Young, showing this timid, shy, easily pushed around woman who goes through real tragedy and comes out the other side a woman who has been through pain and loss but has also grown exponentially as a person and has not lost any of her kindness despite what she's been through. She's merely gained an inner strength. I'm still sad that her wardrobe became somewhat boring and less colorful, but I guess you can't have everything you want in a drama, lol.

Finally, if you read to the bottom, you'll see in my original (very short) review on this site that I was disappointed by the finale. I now think I was completely bonkers for ever feeling that way. The finale made me happy, happy, happy!

There are only two things, TWO, that I found a little frustrating with this drama in my second viewing. When their marriage contract becomes known to the family and the company's board, Gun doesn't stand up and say 'I made a mistake, and I regret it. I don't want to get divorced anymore. I love Mi Young and want to stay together.' I don't know that there would have been a way for the writers to have him say these things and then make the subsequent amnesia and Gun deciding to let her go due to his own fear make sense, so I recognize, from a writing perspective, why they didn't have him speak up. But it was frustrating to watch him not defend their love.

And lastly, grandma's conspiring in the finale (with Gun's Secretary and faux brother) to get Mi Young pregnant on the honeymoon when Gun expressly told her he wanted them to have 6 months together as newlyweds before they think about kids. The resulting pregnancy didn't end up being upsetting for Gun or Mi Young, but I think grandma had it in her to be patient the 6 months.

I 100% think this is the best version of this drama out of all the versions out there. I'm currently watching the Chinese version (ep. 25 as of this review), and I've seen both the Japanese and the Taiwanese original (the Taiwanese was my first drama). This version did something none of the other versions have done. It put meat on the story's bones. It created livable, breathable characters, a romance with legitimate reasons to root for it, and it didn't give us unnecessary drama but instead gave us real tragedy and heartbreak and real joy and happiness. Fated to Love You is a romance, and a story, worth watching and loving. And I hope everyone does. (Future Edit: I forgot there is another version out there of this story, and I have not seen it, but at this point, I think this version will still be my favorite once watch that version.)

Original Review:
SO. MUCH. BETTER. THAN. THE. ORIGINAL! Complaints? Not as addictive, still suffered from mid-quarter shenanigans (like most dramas), finale episode was weak and disappointing. But overall, a much more satisfying story.

Links to my reviews for the other versions:

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/review/22006

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/75009

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/274737

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I have not watched the original Korean drama yet, but I'm glad I watched this version first. If I had watched the original first and loved it, I probably would have been disappointed by this version. This version is nothing more than a middling remake with very little to really recommend itself. As such, I feel pretty secure in the knowledge that I will most likely like the Korean version much better.

This version felt a lot like the Jdrama, Oh! My Boss!, which came out earlier this year. With the same setting of a fashion magazine and the same major sublot of needing to save said magazine from being shut down, it was kind of a redux of what Boss! had already done. And while I don't think Boss! is a particularly great drama, it did this premise better. On the same note, while I ended up not being all that interested in the romance in Boss!, at least it's couple experiences some real level of relationship development. The couple here feels like they're just jumping from story beat to story beat without anything meaningful happening in-between.

It was when the male lead fainted at the end of ep 8 that I was out. It was such strange timing to me, clearly thrown in for a little drama, and I just didn't care. I didn't care about the character's health, I didn't care about the fashion magazine, and my care for the romantic pairing was meager at that point. If I had thought the drama would do something a little creative and let the magazine be shut down, maybe I would watched the last two eps, but I highly doubted that would happen.

If you want to watch a recent Jdrama with the same Fashion Magazine Trying to Survive storyline and don't need it to be something spectacular, watch Oh! My Boss! instead. Or better yet, you could just watch a drama like Pretty Proofreader (Jimi ni Sugoi!) that both features fashion heavily And is stellar drama. A win-win, in my opinion.

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This story is, simply put, magical.

It is not, nor is it meant to be, an accurate depiction of what it's like to live in a mental hospital or have a mental illness. Instead, it looks at those who suffer from mental illness through a kinder, much more gentle lens, presenting their way of seeing the world as simply unique. The story is never disrespectful towards those who suffer with mental illness, and there is an understanding throughout the film that our lead character is never going to leave the hospital, but it is very much a story of joy and hope and even love.

It is in my top ten favorite romantic comedies of All time and on my list of films I believe everyone should see at least once in their lives.

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I wasn't going to write a review for this drama, because I didn't have a lot to say. I dropped it two episodes before the end, because I wasn't enjoying it anymore and it's the kind of generic that if you aren't enjoying it, there's no point in watching it. So I figured I would just leave everyone else to their gleeful enjoyment since the comment section on MDL was overwhelmingly positive and g find something else to watch.

Then I was struck with a sudden craving to finish it, so I pulled it back up on MDL to look through the comments again and maybe get myself a little hyped up, and Wow. It's a good thing I did that, because now my decision to drop it seems like a wise one. I'm also fired up now to write that review I wasn't going to write before, lol.

Upfront, before we get any farther into this review, no, this is not a good drama. It is extremely cliché, and I don't think it necessarily does all of the clichés well. But! It was entertaining for much of it's run, so that kept me around. The thing, the Two things, that ultimately made me stop watching are the male leads behavior and some second lead nonsense that was far more dramatic than it deserved to be.

First things first, I found the male lead to be just way too mean. It starts out fine. He's rude but you can look past it, because there's room for growth in his character. Then it just goes a step too far for me, and I had a hard time not being frustrated with him. And even when our leads get together, the writers still manage to engineer the situation so he Has to continue to be mean or else everyone else in the office will know that they're dating.

Now, It's funny for two characters trying to pretend in front of others that they don't have a relationship to be mildly (or maybe even a little more aggressively than that) rude towards each other as a cover.

It's not funny when one of those characters is really only being their normal self.

So I didn't enjoy that, and if you can't enjoy the main couple, what really Can you enjoy that will make you want to stick around?

This is where the second thing comes in. The second male lead has been nursing a crush on the female lead the entire drama, but he hasn't managed to work up the guts to tell her. This is all pretty sweet and endearing and likable for the most part, even if it is hard at times to feel totally sympathetic for him when he continuously passes up his chances to tell her how he feels. But then he finds out that she's dating the male lead, and instead of the writers treating this like the unrequited Crush that it is where he would have a good sulk for a few days and then move on, instead...

They Hit Him With A Car!

Now, this isn't really your Kdrama truck of doom as we don't see the accident happen, and he has only minor injuries, but good Lord in heaven is this a level of drama that this boy's crush did not deserve. And it ended up being the catalyst for the leads breaking up for no gosh darn good reason too! And this is why I dropped the drama. Because I don't care about this. I was ready for our leads to start just being together for a bit without having to pretend they aren't dating or having one of them talk down to the other. I was ready for some cute romance!

Knowing now how they ended this drama which is a whole thing in and of itself, I don't think I'm going to bother watching the last two episodes. I've got other dramas to watch and not enough time to worry about this one. So goodbye, Monthly Magazine Home! May you find your home elsewhere.

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I'm still somewhat new to Jdrama's, as I've only been truly seeking them out often to watch for two or three years now. But wrapping my head around the fact that this drama was made in the same year as We Married as a Job (Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu) really throws me for a loop. We Married as a Job is one of my favorite dramas of all time. It's stellarly written and paced with an absolutely charming and sweet and thoughtful romance. And it is so incredibly different from Please Love the Useless Me. We Married as a Job feels modern and current while Please Love the Useless Me feels old-school and a bit dated. And yet, something about Please Love the Useless Me charmed me. Do I think they spent too long on the second male lead love interest when they weren't actually going to end up together? Yes. Did they forget to spend much if any time at all developing a romance between the leads? Yes. Did I find the constant focus on treating virginity as something to be embarrassed of and done away with forthwith and oh no! she has yellow panties! annoying??? Absolutely yes. (Don't get me started about the panties.)

The story is quite flawed and silly. But still...I enjoyed it, lol.

A lot of people are going to call the male lead a jerk, and they're not exactly wrong. He says rude things. But I do think a lot of people misunderstand just what kind of jerk he is. It seemed kind of obvious to me that the intention with his character was for him to come across as rough around the edges (because of his high school days as a Yanki), and he's probably that way with everyone, but it comes from a well-meaning place. Unfortunately, Dean Fujioka just does not look the part of a reformed but still a little rough Yanki, and I don't think his acting really sold that aspect of his character either. But...it's Dean Fujioka, so I kind of have to give him a pass, lol.

An equal number of people are going to dislike the female lead, because she comes across as dumb and too self-sacrificing and too insecure. But I don't need my female leads to be super-smart, I like characters who are self-sacrificial, and I relate to characters that are insecure and struggle with figuring out whether someone is trustworthy or not. She's clearly not wise in who she chooses to trust, but she wants the best for others, and I love that. I connected with her on an emotional level, and that matters to me most in my drama female leads. She also consistently gives it back to the male lead any time he's rude or dismissive, which I liked.

I read in the MDL comments that they cut out all of the romantic bits from the original manga, which is frustrating. The story needed some actual romance between our leads. We get plenty of shots of both of them looking at each other, shots that are obviously intended to convey that they have feelings for each other. They also do nice things for each other throughout the series. But we get way more insight into the female lead's feelings than we do the leads, and apart from the looks and some nice gestures, there is essentially no romance. They also apparently killed off the brother in the drama. I can't fathom why that decision was made, but if I find out it was so they could create the male leads crush on his brother's widow, I'm gonna be irritated. That's probably my least favorite part of the drama.

Given what I read in the comments about the original manga and the way this drama still managed to charm me without it really deserving to, I really want to read the manga now. While I got enjoyment out of the drama, it would be nice to read a version where there's actually some romance.

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This drama shouldn't work. Truthfully, I'm not even sure if it does. It's odd, strange, confusing, sweet, humorous, light-hearted, quirky, illogical, satisfying, perplexing; a real head-scratcher. There are lots of really great messages about life and love and loss and purpose. There are sad events that really pull at your heartstrings and make you feel all the emotions associated with them. The leads are all Intensely likable and precious and wonderful. The dad wins dad of the year for Life.

There is also a lot of odd.

Akiko is like a block of wood 90% of the time with her expressions and mannerisms. Which is 100% intentional but you also never get used to it. They kill Miyuki's father off halfway through the story, which I knew was going to happen because spoilers, but it still was jarring (and devastating) to experience for myself. Once married, Akiko quits her extremely high paying job in order to be a stepmom then instead of going to back to her job after the father dies, she......stays home and does day trading. Then later on starts working at a bakery??? (I really don't understand her career trajectory.) They set up a potential romantic pairing for Akiko in the second half only for them to cut it off at the knees, lol. (And just when I was coming around to it!) Miyuki is like a completely different character as a teen compared to her child version, and it sticks out the entire time, but both versions are extremely likable, so I don't know what to do with that.

The story switches track multiple times, and every time on purpose, and I don't even know if I can criticize it for it because they clearly had a vision and went for it with all cylinders firing and even in the midst of my confusion, I was feeling all the feelings.

This drama's just an odd experience, and it does it in a way that only a Japanese drama can.

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A lot of web-dramas are pretty throw-away. While often quite cute and fluffy and fun (unless that's not in line with their particular genre, of course), when you analyze their stories objectively, they have no real substance. They try to do too much with their limited screen-time, and what they do end up doing is pretty shallow. That's definitely not the case with Society Obsessed with Love. SOL takes a simple storyline, and instead of over-complicating it with too much superfluous bits and bobs, it commits to simplicity. It's a story about contentment with one's life, even if that life doesn't look like everyone else's, and there's no need to dress that up or overdramatize it.

I would recommend this web-drama to anyone but especially anyone who lives and enjoys the single life, or to those who are maybe feeling a little down about their singleness. You'll definitely enjoy it.

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FUTRE EDIT: I recently re-watched this drama and now feel compelled to come back to my old review and make amendments, as I made some criticisms that I simply don't agree with anymore.

Original Review (now with amendments):
I'm gonna give you one suggestion before you start this drama. Disregard everything about Do Min Ik being a face genius. It's superfluous information that has no bearing on the overall story, and you'll enjoy the drama better if you just ignore it.
EDIT: I completely renounce this suggestion. While there are still some issues with this part of the plot, I don't think him being a face genius at the start is as big of a problem to the story as I once did. I address said issues a little further down in my original review. :FINISH EDIT

As for the rest of this drama, it has an old-school style filled with small, but important, twists on a classic formula. A male lead who's not really a jerk, just starts off a little thoughtless then quickly becomes the cutest puppy you've ever seen (and I mean Quikly). A female lead who's a candy but not, who stands up for herself repeatedly and doesn't let anyone push her around and is very proactive in her own life. The use of disability(ies) in a way that is thoughtful and kind, even if not very accurate (looking at you, face blindness), and that isn't used as a plot device only to be reversed later (ie. not giving characters disabilities only to take them back at the end in order to achieve a 'happy ending').
EDIT: I STAND BY EVERYTHING IN THIS PARAGRAPH. :FINISH EDIT

There's an office plot outside of the romance, but that's gonna be really hit or miss for a lot of people, and probably more of a miss for most. It's not a typical office plot, in my opinion, and I really appreciate where the writers were trying to go with it, but it does have some glaring flaws that keep it from being as compelling as it could have been.
EDIT: I really liked the office plot the second time around. It doesn't go the direction you expect it to (I suspect because one of the actresses playing one of the secretaries central to this plot had to leave the drama due to a family scandal and this required changing the storyline unexpectedly), but I actually like where it ended up going. It's not super high stakes or exciting or intriguing, but it's very realistic and conveys a very strong message. :FINISH EDIT

The two main problems with this drama though are going to be this:

1) Making Do Min Ik a 'face genius' worked against them when they took away his ability to recognize faces, as he should have had no real trouble recognizing the people around him via their voices, mannerisms, way of dress, etc. (as is implied he was very good at when he was a 'face genius'). Yet he can't recognize any of these things about people, and there's no reason given as to why, which makes you strongly question just how much of a 'face genius' he was before. This is why I said to completely disregard this part of the plot as it's unnecessary and you'll enjoy the story more without it.
EDIT: I mostly stand by this. It doesn't make sense that he was so incredibly good at reading people and then when he lost his ability to see faces, he lost everything else as well. At the very least, he should have been able to recognize people's voices. I can recognize my parents' coughs and sighs and sneezes when they're on different aisles of the grocery story. Surely, he could have recognized people's voices. :FINISH EDIT

2) People are tired of dramas where the main conflict is dragged out longer than necessary, and this drama definitely makes you feel like the main conflict is being dragged on longer than necessary and can make you really dislike the female lead even though you clearly aren't meant to. (I never disliked her as the lie itself never upset me to the level it did everyone else, but I definitely felt the frustration many felt over her not ending it sooner than she did.) But once you get past this part of the story, and the writers finally give you an explanation for some things, you do understand why they chose to go this route, and it makes a lot of sense.
EDIT: Again, I mostly stand by this, but I also felt a stronger empathy and understanding for Gal Hee this time around. Truthfully, some of the blame should be on Veronica as well, as her way of punishing Gal Hee for deceiving Do Min Ik...was to make her deceive him some more. She should have been held at least partially responsible for that. And even though the lie goes on overlong, I also think it was consistently well-utilized. There aren't any scenes where I felt like 'This is unnecessary. This harms the drama/the story.' The conflict I experienced was that I understood and appreciated the decisions the writers were making with the lie while also knowing and anticipating and being already heartbroken that Do Min Ik was going to be gutted when he found out. And he was. :FINISH EDIT

What I would have liked to see in this drama:

1) Gal Hee's mom should have been a central character from the beginning. The drama starts off with mom playing a more central role in the early episodes as a sort of voice of wisdom to Gal Hee, but then she sort of disappears for awhile for no explainable reason. She starts popping up again in the second half to have little, private conversations with Gal Hee about things, and it adds So much to the story as you get to see into Gal Hee's mindset and why she does the things she does. The first half would have greatly benefitted from more of this, and I think people's anger at Gal Hee's character would have been cooled by it.
EDIT: I don't know what I was on about. Mom was actually very well-utilized throughout the story, and I don't know why I remembered her only showing up toward the beginning and the second half. I'm also not sure if the story would work as well if mom showed up more often. I liked her a lot, but it probably worked better for her to pop in periodically rather than every, or every other, episode. :FINISH EDIT

2) I don't mind that Do Min Ik couldn't tell that Gal Hee and 'Veronica' were the same person. The explanation we get later on as to why works for me. There just needed to be more insight early on into what was going through Do Min Ik's mind to help us understand why he never recognizes how similar Gal Hee and 'Veronica' are to one another and why he has so much trouble choosing between them. It would have gone a long way to easing the frustration a lot of viewers felt over his not being able to figure it out.
EDIT: I agree. :FINISH EDIT

And that's ultimately where the split is going to be in this drama. Either you're going to be frustrated with Gal Hee for not ending the lie sooner or you're going to be frustrated with Do Min Ik for not recognizing they're same person. But at least for my part, I don't feel like either of these things should deter anyone from watching this drama. I fully admit that my rating for this drama is based purely on my enjoyment of it and not it's flaws. Despite the flaws and some frustration in the middle bit, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. It's fluffy and lighthearted and not meant to be taken too seriously. The writers know exactly what kind of story they're trying to write, and they don't try to be anything they're not. At the same time, they managed to take an old, tired formula and make it new and refreshing and full of little twists here and there and filled with characters you can't help but fall in love with. (You will love Do Min Ik. You just will.) It also has possibly one of the greatest final scenes in all of dramadom. Literally. That. Was. The. Moment. To. End. The. Drama. On. That last scene….was perfection.
EDIT: My rating for this drama is because this drama is wonderful, and the flaws are not nearly as large as I once thought, and the emotional heart of this story is compelling and strong, and the leads are incredibly sweet together, and I stand by this statement, Dang It. :FINISH EDIT

I highly recommend this. It's too cute not to.
EDIT: HECK YEAH, I DO! :FINISH EDIT

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