Basic entertainment

For those that have watched the anime, you'll be disappointed. For those that haven't, it's entertaining enough if you go with low expectations.
I'm somewhere in-between. I watched the anime growing up but I was never a massive fan of it, I generally found this type of anime where fights take episodes to be a basic ok but not much more for me. I liked the world building the most. But alas, I felt the nostalgia and I didn't have anything else to watch at the moment so I decided to check it out.

I don't understand though why they decided to even make this series if they were only going to bother making 5 episodes. It's a case of if you don't have really the budget maybe don't butcher a series with thousands of fans?

I had low expectations since from the trailer it felt cheap and because usually live actions are always pretty bad compared with the original material. It happens here too as expected.
Some of the costuming, and especially the wigs, are cheap and made it look worse than it could have been. CGI was about passable. If CGI has to be immaculate for you then I would say give this a miss.
Acting was ok at some points, at others it was not great, with actors being just standing there expressionless.
Characters are very underdeveloped, I guess can't be asked more for a 5 episode series but it still was disappointing nonetheless. I also think overall it would have been better in my opinion if they had a retro feeling to the whole thing and had more accurate hair to the anime.

Points go because is generally cohesive and the story flows despite the gaps in it and in the characters development, because the action/fighting is entertaining enough and because it's generally passable as a whole.

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Entertaining and easy watch but comedy can be a bit too juvenile at times

I recommend this show, it's an easy watch, quite fast since the episodes are not too long and the series only has 12. It's entertaining, funny at times and the characters are fairly diverse and even given its short run time you do learn a bit about most of the characters what I feel even long dramas sometimes don't achieve.

I think the character of Aziz stole the show though, he was very funny and one of the most sane persons in the show. I also liked the chaebol related comedy, and Baek Ma Tan was the second funniest to me in this show.
The show made me laugh and chuckle many times, but I do have to admit it made me cringe at others for having too much of a juvenile humour for my taste that had me looking like Sung Hyung Mi. If you do like that type of humour then you'll enjoy all of it though.

The pacing was generally ok but for some reason certain parts of some episodes were a bit more boring. The first two episodes are an example of this, especially the first one, mainly because I didn't find it funny when they tied Lee Sang Shik and left him in a room. Generally the bullying in that first episode was not very good taste and kind of problematic to pass it as comedy to me.

The main couple here is all right and overall enjoyable but I think the shortness of this show makes that relationship suffer. Things go from one side to the other quickly and it makes you question their feelings (especially his). I liked more the developement of the second couple, it was more interesting and entertaining to me.

Other than that the show was enjoyable and it had also cute and even good cheesy moments. So if you're looking for a light romance and comedy this is for you.

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Entertaining and easy-watch

I came to this drama with zero expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. It's entertaining, it's an easy watch and it's more mature than other shows I've seen recently and I very much welcome it.
It's not one of those overly cheesy, love-explosion dramas, so if you're looking for something like that this is not it. The relationship here grows step by step, flowing from dislike to tolerating one another to friends to love.
FL is a strong character, so if you prefer delicate/weak female characters then this drama will not be for you.

There are a few things I found to be a bit lacking but I understand because of its run time. I think overall the length was good and if it had been longer it would have dragged way too much story wise. The start felt a bit not so interesting to me but then it picked up. Last two episodes are a bit dragged and unnecessary in a way, and it's clear they're there to create the final drama.
Characters are good and more typical of romcom, so not a lot of nuances are presented in them, it's kept light.

I don't think this drama was presented as a "all men are bad, all women are good" at all, there were plenty of good men in the show apart from the main two leads, even the FL's ex was not presented as a complete jerk despite of cheating and they remain friends throughout the drama. Except for maybe a couple of comments all coworkers at the firm were also nice and welcoming.
FL has flaws and they're presented in the drama, FL's friend had also flaws and in fact she was a bit tiring with her back and forth when it came to the second ML. The first girlfriend of ML also had many flaws as did the actress FL represented legally. People be seeing a strong FL and already give a tag and run with it...

I liked the relationship of the two ML in the beginning, very healthy bromance, and I kind of wanted more of that, it was cute, but it was soon put to the side.
I did think second ML had more charisma and more depth in his character than the ML, I find this tends to happen in this type of romcoms, they want ML to be perfect so they give more realism and nuance to the friend, what is a shame.
A couple of things that irked me a bit were that the turning point of the show is a gay scandal (I get it, it's Korea afterall, but...) and the trope of "you're not like other men/women".
That being said, I have to applaud this drama for tackling a bit certain aspects of patriarchy and abuse in a country where sexism, gender inequality and domestic violence are high. Sure, it could be better, and it could be sooooo much more in-depth, but considering they're walking a fine line and that it's not the main plot of the drama, it's still commendable.

I think the ML and FL were a good fit together. Not so much the second couple, but mostly because of the way they decided to portray that relationship than the characters themselves. Do Won Joon didn't seem that much into Shin Na Eun, and she was into him but the way of showing it was anticlimactic and a bit of a mess.

Overall I would recommend, it's easy watchable, not long and it's entertaining.

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The cliché of amnesia as plot device

The good thing for me in this drama was the music, as someone that has listened to Hikaru Utada for decades. That's where it ends.

The cinematography (landscapes, mood, light, colours) was good and I enjoyed some of the scenes purely because of it but it's not enough to recommend this drama to anyone.
The story is based on the very cliché amnesia trope, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see that plot device used again ever but here I am. Everything else is pretty much destroyed for me because of that, everything becomes absurd and ridiculous and very easily solvable but they keep hammering their heads against a wall in veeeery slow motion, because the show is quite slow (and I say this as someone that enjoys slow shows/movies when they're done with grace and purpose). This show could have been a film, would have been better.
I get they're trying to appeal to the nostalgia of that type of shows, amnesia trope was so overused in late 90s and early 00s in everything so I had my fair dose of it and got very tired.
Something that also irked me was the zero resemblance of the main character with her younger self, I could kind of see it or imagine it with him, but her younger self was just complete opposites and made no sense.
I liked more the little story they showed of the son with the dancer.

Overall I regret wasting the time watching it, but it also brought me down memory lane with the music. That being said, I still would have preferred to spend my time listening to the music alone than watching it (because it's not like they used all her music for the show either so it did get a bit repetitive in that aspect as well). So, unless you like amnesia as a plot device I can't recommend.

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