Just a Heads Up: This review is being written literal Years since I watched this drama. At least ten years now, if my math is right. That means it won't be an accurate representation of what I thought of this drama just after completing it but more of a reflection of my feelings for it now with all the nostalgia, the frustration, and eyes wide open to the stories flaws.

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Ooooooh, Fated to Love You. What a history we have together. You were my first Asian drama ever, where it all began for me. You were the Definition of a crack drama; over-the-top, melodramatic, ridiculous, and yet somehow intensely watchable. Your female lead hit me in the feels so hard I'm Still feeling it. And you were So. Damn. Infuriating.

I loved and hated you at the same time.

First and foremost, I Love Xin Yi as a character. I know mousy, downtrodden, insecure, damsel-in-distress characters are considered passé now, offensive even, but I like them, and I always will. (Judge me all you want.) And Joe Chen's portrayal of such a character is simply superb. When she cried, You cried. (And don't tell me you didn't, cause you're lying.) Of course, Cun Xi is a terrible person, and you hate most of the things he does and frequently hate him himself, but he still made me like him at the same time, and whenever he did something lovely for Xin Yi, my heart melted into a puddle at my feet. (So sue me.) Anna, unsurprisingly, is one of my least favorite second female leads of all time and probably the main source of ire for me in this drama. She's bloody awful, and you spend most of the time she's on screen thinking up creative ways for her to die. And Dylan may have been a nice (ok, he Was nice), but that doesn't change the fact that I find clingy secondary leads annoying on most fronts, no matter how nice they are, and I did find him clingy.

Looking back at this drama now, I fully recognize the myriad of flaws with the story, and if I were watching it today for the first time ever, I probably wouldn't be able to finish it. I actually tried to re-watch it a few years ago, and I couldn't get more than halfway through. There are a lot of things I love about old-school dramas and sort-of miss, but there are a lot of things I put up with while watching them too. Draggy sections, extreme noble idiocy, wringing every last ounce of drama from a situation as possible to the point of inducing intense rage. I didn't enjoy those things then, and I don't enjoy them now. But I put up with them, because the stories made me care. And that's how it was with Fated to Love You. It may have had extreme noble idiocy, and it may have dragged in places, and it may have spent a large chunk of time trying to wring every last ounce of unnecessary drama from some of it's plot points, but it made me care. I wouldn't care Now, but it made me care then.

So I love this drama. And I hate it. And I will probably always feel that way, lol.

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I don't remember anything about the music of this drama, so I've rated it a 1, but I'm sure it was like a lot of dramas of it's time and therefore holds some level of nostalgia/cringe of it's own, lol.

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Original Review:
This is the first drama I ever watched, and I consumed it like it was crack. I both love and hate it at the same time, and it will forever have a special place in my heart.

I tried to rewatch it a couple years ago, and I couldn't get more than halfway through, lol.

Links to my reviews for the other versions:

https://mydramalist.com/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/review/22004

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

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

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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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What a satisfying watch! I haven’t been this thoroughly impressed with a drama in a while. The action was actiontastic. The police work actually looked realistic. (No silly 'drama logic.') The writing was witty and the story tightly plotted. I didn't even mind most of the hammy acting you typically see in a lot of Japanese dramas. It actually Enhances the drama! Does part of me wish the romance had been developed more? Yes, but that’s only because I’m a sucker for a good romance. The drama didn’t actually need it. My only complaint? That villain. He was incredibly smart, but I couldn’t take him seriously because of the actor’s acting. (What was with that goofy smile?!?!) But that father son bromance was everything.

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I don't actually know how to rate this drama. If I went off of my feelings based on the first half and the very end, I would give it a 10. If I went off of my feelings based on the second half minus the very end, I would give it a 5. Like most dramas, it starts off great. It's quirky and charming with (mostly) enjoyable characters, and a story I guarantee you haven't found in any other K drama. But also like most dramas, the story begins to drag halfway through, almost as if they'd reached the wait part of hurrying up to wait, and you start to feel a little tired of carrying it around with you.

There were many beautiful moments sprinkled throughout, and it deals with death and loss with such a deft and gentle hand, so I soldiered on, pushing myself to finish, and this drama clearly did Something right, because I was a sobbing mess the entire final 15 minutes.

That ending Wrecked Me.

I wouldn't put this drama on my list of favorite's. I wouldn't even put it on my list of 'definitely don't wish I could get any of that time spent watching it back.'

But there's something about this drama, even if I can't quite put my finger on it.

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