I like the overall drama but I can't seem to feel the chemistry between the main leads, I don't know why. I like the other couple much more because for me they are much fun to watch. I did read the webtoon and in fairness they followed the story just that there was a wrong character. tsk.
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A gumiho-themed fantasy romcom done right
The story is pretty straightforward and lighthearted. It's also very funny. The story doesn't take itself too seriously and totally owns up to its genre. Some cliches are played up a notch and it shows that the show knows exactly what it's doing. The casting is done right and the cast has done their job very well. The cinematography, costume design and styling are done beautifully and suits each character. No unnecessary drama. The leads are actually likeable.What I liked :
1. The ML is great. He's decent, charming and respectful but can also be funny.
2. FL is the equivalent of a no-nonsense modern college student. She's realistic, funny and not cringey.
3. SML is nice too. It was satisfying when he actually retreated after realising that the FL wasn't interested in him.
4. The FL doesn't drag the SML along. The love triangle doesn't get dragged beyond necessity.
5. Secondary characters are great and well-written.
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This review may contain spoilers
A new favorite and a MUST WATCH for fantasy lovers!
Wow. All I can say is wow. I just finished this series after starting the final episode and then deciding I needed a full night's sleep so I'd have the energy to finish this series.There's so much I want to say about this series. The acting, the production, the story, the characters, EVERYTHING. Everything was so high quality I loved it so so much. If you are like me and you love a good fantasy drama, this one should definitely be on your list.
It is a wonderful story and I think it is really great. It had just the right amount of drama, not too much, but just enough where you're probably in tears during the last two episodes like me. Hye Sun and Jae Jin's relationship was so sweet, I'm really glad they kept that through to the end and gave them a happy relationship. Dan and Seon Woo's little sister was a cute thing to start as well, and Soo Kyeong and Seok finally realizing their feelings, just so much love in the air! I almost wish we got a tad bit more for these new couples but all in all I think a happy ending is implied for those.
I almost wish the story didn't make Seon Woo so likeable, because part of me was really sad that he was alone in the end, I wish he could've at least got someone and not wound up alone, I really enjoyed the development of his character so much, yet he didn't get a happy ending :( All the side characters really added something special to this story.
Now... the main event.. Dam and Woo Yeo. WOW. Their on screen chemistry is truly magical. I enjoyed every second of their relationship throughout the entire show. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt towards Woo Yeo, as he was a character with which I had never seen before, but after finishing the series, I really love him. He was written differently from any other main character I had seen, and thats probably because he is 999 years old. I love that over the course of the story, he goes from being indifferent in his life, to learning how to become human, how to feel emotions, and learned love, sacrifice, and found his meaning in life and his will to live. Dam helped him discover that, and their relationship blossomed because of it. It was just such a good story, I loved every second of it.
Also shout out to the mountain spirit who I hated at first because of the whole red thread thing, but he actually ended up helping Woo Yeo. Making him think he was going to disappear helped him treasure his time with Dam, and use the last of his magic to save her, was genius. All in all, everyone got their happy ending. I thought it was cute that Hye Sun used her Bead wish to keep Jae Jin with her. My only question that remains, is Woo Yeo not granted a wish because his bead was cracking, and he used the wish to come back and be with Dam? Either way, I was very pleased with the ending, and this story. I will definitely be rewatching this one.
If you're on the fence whether to start this or not, watch it!! It truly is a story that will make you smile, cringe in embarrassment, and cry all in a few episodes.
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C U T E and heartfelt, with a logical fantasy romance!
This show was cute, the female lead was ADORABLE and she reminded me so much of Kim Hye Yoon (the lead from Extraordinary You) because of her adorable bubbly nature and infectious spirit.She was sweet, hilariously innocent and very S M O L especially in front of 'sir' Jang Ki Young. She was cute enough to make anyone want to just eat her up, and I guess that's exactly what JKY did too LOL
Overall a really heartfelt and innocent yet mature and logical romance all around. Many of the misunderstandings that came up in the show were cliched but all of them were cleared up soon after they were introduced in a very logical, straightforward matter, and our female lead specially never left any loose ends in expressing her feelings.
She kinda reminded me of Cameron Diaz's character from the American movie 'My Best Friend's Wedding', earnest, brave, and genuine.
Also the actress who played this character was frankly too damn SWEET for me to not fall for her! She has an adorable smile, and an adorable voice, and an adorable personality, it just draws you in, and makes you want to eat her up for real (I know I'm repeating myself but it's too damn true).
Special mention to Sun Woo, he played a really convincing role of someone who falls into bad habits because of their privilege and society, but realises it and grows out of it to become a better person.
He clearly explained that his 'playboy' status was practically handed down to him (born rich, good looking, and smart, and SO many girls will play down their own self-respect to be seen with him no matter how he behaves with them etc. etc.), and he wasn't necessarily a jerk, just arrogant and ignorant, both of which he overcame. Not excusing his behaviour, but he became better in a very realistic manner, which I liked.
An easy 9/10. for me.
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Good Enough
Korean Drama ' My Roommate is a Gumiho ' has a strong start, but gets tedious after a while. Actually, the only thing that kept things interesting on the second half was the second couple, which was adorable. Other than that, the twists were repeatable, the ending unoriginal and the whole gumiho story boring and wasn't expended enough to have a proper worldbuilt, even though there was a lot of material to work with.Nevertheless, the first half was pretty great. The comedy was entertaining, the characters cute and likable, they had chemistry and the cohabitation was spot on. Also, another nice point was that the girl's behavior towards the gumiho was kind of realistic, as she didn't play it up and become the hero and oppose everything. Rather, she knew with whom she was dealing with and she knew where she stood until she got to know him enough to be more friendly with him. So, that was a nice touch and refreshing. But, it should be pointed out that even though the leading lady did a great job with her performance, her character was given too many comedy aspects to make her a caricature more often than not. The male lead was also enjoyable, funny, quiet and sweet. The second lead had potential, but the love triangle was a dead end to begin with.
So, overall, five out of ten.
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Let's trash all the fantasy rom-com cliches
First of all, this was not a drama, it was a MUKBANG and I loooooved it! All the food ...I was in foodie heaven.Oh my gosh...there are so many incredible things about MRIAG....
- the FL! Lee Dam was chef's kiss and now one of my absolute favourite actors...I mean, she was a fabulously written, immaculately executed character. Quirky, straightforward, no BS, no pretense, straight-up hilarious FL. Someone just give Lee Hye Ri a medal
- the writing! This drama just cements Baek Sun Woo, and Choi Bo Rim as my favourite k-drama screenwriters (actually, I picked this drama because of the MDL "watch a drama by the same writer as one of your favorite dramas" Challenge because of WWWSK and Touch Your Heart and wow....another winner guys)
- the comedy in this drama...sheeeesh (cue my brothers rolling their eyes in the morning because I was laughing out loud in the middle of the night again)
- tooooo many awesome scenes (evidenced by the numerous screenshots) and while this drama may have started out slow, there was no boring moment
- Jang Ki Yong *bats eyelashes* I am having an aegyo moment rn. I didn't think he started out strong but olala....just giving him points for all the times he had me melting. I love nice male leads! You're polite and respectful...you gat me.
- and finally my absolute favourite thing about this drama - it took all the usual cliches and threw them out the window. Let me tell y'all, I did not see that SML plot twist coming...I was so bamboozled by that, I'm still reeling. I was waiting for FL to change the rude SML and transform him into a good guy and then we all have SL syndrome....Nope not this time (but did they really do that to Seon Woo ?....it was still heartbreaking) This drama also threw out the SFL as the rude we-hate-her type who antagonises the lead couple as the ML romantic interest...Instead we got an amazing old-couple bickering kind of friendship between the ML and the SFL....and the amazing dynamic between Lee Dam and her friends ...loved it
This was a winner....go watch it. It's absolutely worth your approximately-16 hours.
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A RomCom That Deserves The Title
This story is not unique by any means, but its execution here was taken to the next level by the outstanding performances. The lead characters played off each other exceptionally well which gave the show all the life it needed to keep me coming back for more.There was a lot of well-executed humour in almost every episode which I found refreshing cos sometimes these shows forget the 'com' part of ROMCOM, and it just becomes a draggy love story. This was a funny, lighthearted, warm drama with a simple yet profound message.
I absolutely enjoyed my time with it and I recommend it for anyone looking for something that will put a smile on your face and a glow in your heart.
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Cottoncandy fluff continuously poked by an icicle
To be honest nothing in this drama is great, nothing is perfect, and there is probably only one character that I truly loved all the time. the side characters stand for allot of wonderful friendship moments, great humour but also have some immature and at times annoying tendencies yet managed to stay on my good side for delivering some great lines, fun moments and sweet, sweet love making them great as supporting cast and doing a great job assisting the storyline. This drama shows that boys and girls can be friends as well as some pretty amazing chosen family/friendships. The relationship between the two Gumihos would make any biological siblings jealous.Midway thru the drama I could not have cared less who the female lead would end up with seeing all the options had their pros and cons (sigel, gumiho or bad boy gone soft). Chemistry wise I actually think she had more with the bad boy gone soft than her beloved gumiho. They exchange allot of fun banter and she feels more natural with him. There scenes where a feast for the aye jut enough to make it enjoyable but not to much to arouse sympathy or give me SLS.
While I am a great succer for romance and often fraun upon comedy this dramas stars are all about the comedy and less about the romance. This drama has great lines, though it may not always be sophisticated the level of comedy is still kept above the cringey annoying humor that can be seen in other dramas giving this drama some well earned extra stars)
This drama also had high predictability and ALLOT of wonderful cliches. So if you hate cliches move along there is truly nothing for you to see here. But if you are like me and love seeing them played around with twisted and enhanced then do proceed to watch this cliche feast of a drama.
P.s there is a spoiler in the comment section ;)
Oh and I loved seeing Go Kyung Pyo... even if it was just for a short while so keep your aye out for him and also you may enjoy how they references other dramas when they show gumihos past.
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Basic and formulaic in the best ways
Honestly speaking, I am a rather pretentious person and I tend to be pretty snobbish about the dramas I watch, but I am pleased to announce that My Roommate Is a Gumiho reminded me, that I am in fact not too good for basic cheesy romance.This is in no way a flawless or even remarkable show but I started watching this because I was craving something sweet and simple and this drama definitely served its purpose.
While My Roommate Is A Gumiho was unoriginal and quite predictable, I still wasn’t bored once through the entirety of the show. This is an incredibly charming, basic romance drama and I feel like its appeal actually lies in its simplicity. I’ve never gotten Korean humor but I also found it quite humorous as well at times. The characters were all very lovable, the actors had great chemistry, it was pleasing to look at, there’s really not anything to be mad about here.
If this drama had one weak point it might have been the love triangle, which I couldn’t bring myself to care about. I didn’t dislike the second lead, but I also didn’t really care for him and since it was pretty clear to everyone, who the main character would end up with, there really wasn’t a real point in stretching this B-plot for as long as this drama did, except for the sake of a conflict, this show didn’t need in the first place. The whole plot point about the red string seemed a bit like an afterthought to me. I didn’t hate it, but it was introduced to the drama fairly late and I really could have done without it. But I am nitpicking here, this is a romance K-drama after all and they can’t do without their love triangles, so I knew what I was getting into.
Should you watch this? Sure, why not. It’s not life-changing, but does it need to be? There are stories that stay with you, and I doubt that when I lie on my deathbed, that I will remember anything about My Roommate Is A Gumiho, but that doesn’t change the fact that for the past month this was drama was one of the few things that put a smile on my face. I thoroughly enjoyed this for how simple it was. Honestly, there’s really not a reason to NOT watch this drama unless you’re looking for something new, because this is everything but.
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I've never simped so hard
This drama actually made my heart skip multiple beats. Rarely do I ever get to watch such a well crafted storyline including mythical creatures and actually be able to follow along 100% of the time. The plot's very light, enjoyable, and even comedic. Both the male and female leads played their parts very well, and so did the supporting cast! Maybe the male lead did a little too well of a job; mans got me crying over him 4 episodes in a row ;-; Best 16 hours I've ever spent in my life, I'll probably come back and spend another 16 hours rewatching it in the near future.Was this review helpful to you?
Little Mistake
I have already watch whole episode, and I have already watch the whole episode, from what i see in the ending a gumiho cant turn into human after 1000 years or until 9th tail was born, but the mistake is: In the episode 1 Shin Woo-yeo already have 9 tail, it's kind of funny. I was realize this part after replaying the first episode, I can't moving on after watch the end of episode (almost in tears)Btw i love the whole story.
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This review may contain spoilers
A show with clear strengths and weaknesses both taking turns overtaking eachother per episode.
My Roommate is a Gumiho is quite the predictable show. You can figure out the ending after a couple episodes and even the lessons it's trying to teach you are quite... shallow may not be the right word but it's so simple. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing it does mean that what will define the quality of the show is in it's execution above all else. Which was lacking, at times.The first episode was great. Awesome setup for the rest of the story.
Then the second and to a lesser extent third episode came and the writers decided to add in terrible comedy. Like, I get that comedy/humour is subjective but this is that typical ''We're playing funny music and even though nothing funny has happened yet we want you to know it's funny and it's going to be funny''. More drama's do this. It's a cheap trick to lure you into a false sense of comedy, like setting the mood similar to the ''now sad music plays and we want you to know what's going on is sad'. It's like dividing parts of the episode into sections that scream some forced inclusion of comedy rather than letting the viewers themselves decide whether something is funny or sad. Except that seriously just went on for half the episodes if not longer. The female lead making over the top faces or eating disgustingly on purpose. I'm sorry it just doesn't work whatsoever. Luckily the show tones down on this a lot after the first couple of episodes because holy hell I was on the verge of quitting the show right there.
With that out of the way the rest of the show was a mixed bag but it did have more positive moments than negative moments as the show went on.
BY FAR the biggest strength of this show is in the two leads. But for me that's also where part of the weakness was.
Allow me to elaborate on the strengths.
The lead's relationship progressed quite nicely. Yeah some predictable breakup/misunderstandings we've all seen a hundred times before happened but I think what truly made it greater than the show itself is the way the female lead was written.
Most of the reviews mention the realism of the female lead and I would have to agree.
Have you ever watched a relationship in a kdrama and got really annoyed that the characters weren't talking?
Yeah, that doesn't really happen in this one. Conflicts are resolved incredibly quickly in a natural way; ''hey, this is going on and I want to know why/what's going on''.
Very refreshing. This is by far the greatest strength of the show. The female lead was in character untill the very end and because of this the show was a lot more enjoyable to watch.
I didn't however really feel the chemistry between the two leads, I felt it a lot more with the second leads.
Chemistry, however, is subjective. I think many people will be able to feel it and therefore enjoy their relationship a lot more. While I think the feeling of love was acted well by both leads I didn't feel a spark. It felt like they were desperately trying to create that chemistry and the acting certainly wasn't at fault it just... I just didn't feel it, you know? Ultimately just a subjective observation that will be different for other people.
Regarding the story it was quite bare bones. Though it didn't have to be very detailed to begin with. The whole gumiho plot wasn't really explored at all. It just existed because that's what the show was about. Perhaps It's just my lack of knowledge of gumiho's and for koreans it will all make sense but I would've liked a bit more exposition and world building.
Lastly, there's an age gap. The male lead is about a thousand years old but his character is in his thirties while the female lead is early to mid twenties? Do with that information as you will. Age gaps quite literally never bother me if it's between two consenting adults because I've got better things to do than spend my time judging why people should or shouldn't love based on some arbitrary reasoning. The reason I bring it up is simply because many people do care. So be warned/informed.
Some smaller things about the show;
Soundtrack was non existant. Nothing memorable to the point where I can't even remember a single melody despite finishing the show only 10 minutes ago.
Production quality was up to standards. Mind you I've got 0 experience about directing or cinematography but if nothing stands out as poor to me then I will consider it a job well done.
TLDR: Average show. Strengths are in it's characters and relationships while it's flaws lie in the very mixed comedy, non existant world building and barebones predictable plot .
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