ilovedramas293

Really bad subtitles there confused me too. The answer is given to you in scenes right after though. Hongrang is supposed to be allergic to it, and Jae-yi realizes she was misremembering it.

She gets what she deserves :)

I feel you. The netflix subtitles are so bad and it's really frustrating

There's playlists on spotify and youtube with all the OSTs

That's fair, but I think you might be misunderstanding it. I'm not sure if you've seen the trailer, but it's hinted that there's no blood relations, so they're not even half-siblings. There's no way there would be romance if they were at all blood-related. It's all a farce for political gains. I think people are just really sensitive about the ratings on this particular drama, because they don't want it to be neglected because of certain inappropriate rumours or misunderstandings behind the siblings leading to rating bombs.

Also, I think it's just generally known now that anything lower than an 8 is not worth checking out. I would be fine with even a 8.1, but if you check it out, the production and acting alone are on par with dramas that are rated 8.5+.

odd

No, I think something is just wrong. With the amount of praise this is getting, the rating doesn't add up. The episodes are also individually rated high, so this is very odd. I don't trust site ratings either, but they're never this far off. Anybody can see that this deserves a higher rating for it's production, sound, and acting alone.

9/10 Huge fan of LJW since AOS who watched all his other roles after, and I think he really stepped up his game in this. I'm glad he's getting main roles now as he's been super talented from the start. I love Jang Uk and I felt I wouldn't be able to see Hong Rang differently, but at times I forgot it was LJW. He's so hyperactive and silly behind the scenes, that it's unbelievable for me to see him pull off such an intense, serious, and heavy role to perfection. I think this is easily one of his top performances, and aside from LJW, I want to praise everyone else involved. It's clear to see how much they prepared to fully immerse themselves into their characters, and it really shows in those quiet, intense scenes throughout.

As everyone else has said, the cinematography, set pieces, and directing are perfect, and the OSTs are masterpieces that I will likely never get over. I will be playing YOAMJAE for a while until I am able to settle my heart and move on from the amazing time I've had with this. I'm sure this has lots of rewatch value too, so I'll rewatch this again soon as I really want more of this world and it's characters. The only part I'd say that was lacking was the story, as I found that 11 episodes was not enough for them to perfectly pace it. Nevertheless, I didn't find it confusing at all. It all tied up wonderfully in the end, and the chemistry between the leads was immensely perfect.

Maybe he lost the weight? He tends to gain or lose weight depending on the role he plays.

That's great to know! I'm not familiar with this director's work. Also, I agree about the 18+ scenes. They don't have to go all out or even show it much, as long as they don't cut out any of it from the plot. AOS did this wonderfully with their one important 18+ scene in the flashbacks with Dohwa. However, I haven't read Dear Hongrang, so I wouldn't know how different it is in this. I just know all this from deep diving.

https://kovia1.blogspot.com/2025/04/Dear-Hongrang-fliming-locations.html

I'm even more excited for this after reading about what the meaning of the title Dear Hongrang ("swallowing gold") actually is, and all these filming locations used! This is so promising and I hope they manage it well in just 11 episodes. I'm not sure if it will be as dark or adult as the 18+ manwha, though, seeing that this is just for 15+. I do hope none of the important plot-related sexual content and violence is cut out, as I really want the full experience.

Way too narrow of a perspective on suicide, and it felt wierd to chalk up everything to suicide being a selfish decision. I also suspected something else a lot more depressing happened when he jumped off the building, but my guess turned out wrong. Overall, it was still a wild ride, and I'm glad I was here for it. This had excellent production and cast, but a poor and very mixed message. I'm going to read the webtoon since I heard it's darker and a lot more fleshed out.

You know this is going to be sad when the FL already has tears in the teaser poster.

I really dislike how so many kdramas are shifting to 8 episodes now. I've enjoyed so many kdramas with 20+ episodes, let alone 16. It can absolutely work if the writers have enough material, and I love slowburns where I get to really spend time with characters and the story to get me invested. Right now, I'm seeing a lot of recent dramas being rushed to the end and not reaching their full potential, because of the lack of episodes and time for writers to work with.

This is super entertaining. KHY hard carries this at first with how she easily jumps from silly to serious in the beginning moments, and really makes you invested in her story. I especially loved how hilarious her meta commentary is as she points out how cliche and terrible some romantic scenes are as she's forced to go through them. I fell in love with JGJ, LJW, and RW's characters too. These four are the absolute standouts especially Kyung in the latter half who I found way more interesting than Haru with his acting and writing. To be honest, Kyung/LJW was the main reason I even continued till the end.

The first half of this was a 10/10 for me, however, it gets really repetitive in the second half with repeated amnesia plots, boring hand grabs, and it becomes less about the fantasy and about the love triangles. Kyung was my absolute favourite character by the end, even though Haru is meant to be more likeable. I had to fast forward a lot in the second half because some plots became too unnecessarily serious and draggy, and I think there should have been more focus on answering questions about the fantasy. There were a lot of unanswered questions about who the writer is, the portals that were appearing, Ju Da's role in this, etc. Very unsatisfying, happy ending. A lot of wasted potential but still worth watching!

Thanks for sharing! Wish I understood Korean :(

I just started this, and the first game was literally an exact copy from the Liar Game manga so I knew the strategies and tactics. Liar Game did it much smarter and better though. This was still interesting, but I hope the other games won't be copied from other fictional series too. I've read and watched way too many already.

I'm glad you finished. Also no, I doubt anyone would have enjoyed that ending. Those last 10 minutes of EP 16 were out-of-character and absolute garbage. The whole tragedy plotline in the last two episodes was terrible and unnecessary.

I really enjoyed this. This would have been an easy 11/10 (top tier romcom) if I could omit the last 10 minutes of that finale. I am going to miss the Eunpo gang a lot, and all the secondary couples and side characters really grew on me more than I thought they would have. I normally find myself skipping secondary couple scenes in other romance dramas, but I loved the characters so much in this, and wanted everyone to have an happy end. It was really enjoyable seeing the FL turning everything upside down and livening people's lives, while she also matures, faces hardships for the first time in her life, and learns a lot more about the real world.

Trust me that the FL is really annoying in the beginning, but she really mellows down, matures, and becomes more independent and less selfish by the time you get to the middle of the drama as she experiences more and more hardships and kindness. I've never seen the actress in anything else, but I found her acting very good, and her chemistry with LJW is amazing. Also, I swear nobody expresses quiet pain and loyalty in a slowburn with their emotions like LJW -- I've been a fan since AOS and this man destroys every role he's in.

There are a lot of great plot revelations all the way until episode 15 which is the big climax for me personally. I don't think you should watch Ep 16 (or at least the last 10 minutes of it) at all unless you want an ending that will crush your dreams. I hope whoever wrote that ending was fired. This would still have been perfectly bittersweet if they wrapped it up on episode 15 or even followed through on the tragic ending they clearly built up, but then taking it all back in the last 10 minutes and shoehorning a happy ending with no consequences for that is the dumbest thing you can do. Those last 10 mins of Ep 16 are so out-of-character for both the ML and FL and it's horribly written just to give the audience an emotional shock. It's so painfully terrible, absurd, and senseless.

Did you continue? I felt the same way, but she really matures, becomes less selfish, and a lot more independent by the middle of the drama. I didn't regret sticking it out for the earlier episodes, and there's quite a lot you learn about the backstories of the characters later on, and why exactly they put up with her naive and selfish attitude in the beginning so much.