Marshmallow-Chocoholic

Respectfully understand some of the reasons for this controversy ( aside from sexuality changes) with KBS. Honestly if you’re enjoying the ride or the drama so far, good on you. Criticism, however, does not just come from the romance factor but also the “ real content” being churned from previous youth and slice of life dramas. If you want to understand why people get irked at these story points at times , look into some critically-acclaimed predecessor works such as ‘ Misaeng’ , ( which the drama has desperately sold itself as in production and failed to miss the same mark for some viewers), the ‘ Reply’ series , the ‘ School’ series, ‘ Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo’ , ‘ Age of Youth’, ‘ Heartstrings’ , ‘ SKY Castle’ and even ‘ Cheese In The Trap’ and you’ll understand some of the irritation.

There is very rarely an original take with romance storylines which haven’t been done or seen before (including some of the more “ well-received ” classic romance dramas). Where differences diverge and criticism becomes apparent amongst fans is what screenwriters take or can add onto these storylines or tropes. Everyone has admittedly different feelings and thoughts to dramas , and I appreciate if you find these traits appealing. However, I believe one thing which is growing apparent for more critical comments is pointing out that the development between characters and their friendships/ pairings as well as character writing, has really hit a slump for some viewers.

The symbolism in the recent episode is a perfect example of your point when Jae Eon enters the room with the butterflies and opens the door to the outside world. All of the butterflies ( possibly symbolising all the women Jae Eon is /has been leading on) have the perfect opportunity to escape from the room to freedom, but none of them do. In fact one lands perfectly on Jae Eon’s hand ( possibly symbolising Nabi literally falling into his hands) . This seemed to be a subtle yet evident hint towards Jae Ron’s true nature as a manipulator.

The show could still go one of two ways as we are only at the halfway point still. I agree that it would be a disappointing ride if the drama does go down the route of Jae Eon being “ Mr. Nice Guy”. This isn’t so much to do with the webcomic, but rather just how the drama has built itself up on more subtle hints and symbolism of Jae Eon becoming ultimately anticlimactic and presenting arbitrary red herrings from earlier episodes . I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

It’s easy to say not to hold ‘ prior biases’ but we still don’t entirely know the direction of the show. The drama might do an entire 180 on us and present Jae Eon as a “ better” person ( to which there are still evident issues here also), or still as the individual from the webcomic. If you’re able to pick up on it, there are ambivalent and nuanced actions and symbols throughout the recent episode which seems to support that the show could go either way with Jae Eon.

This is down to preference of character writing. Very few people really
“ hate” Mi Joo, but rather the direction that the screenwriter has taken her character. I appreciate you may feel differently and like Mi Joo, however, I believe a lot of people do feel strongly about Mi Joo’s lacklustre development.

This is dependent on age groups and your own personal judgement also. The series (whilst on the milder side), does cover some hard-hitting issues such as abuse, suicide, violence, neglect and financial troubles. If you’re watching with young children or members of your family who may be sensitive to these issues, then you may want to watch a few episodes yourself in order for you to decide yourself whether you think it’s appropriate to watch it with them. If you’re possibly watching with an older audience or members of your family who are less sensitive towards some of these issues, then it could be possible to watch it with them.

I don’t entirely know what you mean by this comment. However, I’ll presume you’re either talking about fantasy dramas being compared in the recommendations ( to which yes they do have fantasy elements but have often stuck out with more versatile concepts and plot premises ), or K-dramas in general. ( The answer to this one is evidently “no”- they are often evidently fictionalised or dramatised, but there is a lot of diversity with genres out there.)

Definitely more on the romantic factor, but the piano does play a big part with the FL and her storyline.

Respectfully I’m going to guess that you maybe haven’t seen many of the fantasy dramas ( not necessarily in the recommendations) which have been mentioned or been compared by watchers. I am enjoying the show also. There’s a lot of brimming potential and nor am I trying to dismiss your own preferences , but admittedly it has pretty much covered the base so far for all your typical fantasy K-drama tropes.

It is sort of undeniable to compare certain elements lol but so long as they are able to learn from previous strengths and pitfalls in fantasy dramas , then this has the potential to be good.

As a lot of people have pointed out already in the comment section, the drama seems to be trying to imitate predecessors such as ‘ Mystic Pop Up Bar’ or ‘ Witch’s Love’ with a more macabre ‘ Hotel Del Luna’ twist. This doesn’t mean the drama is bad or disappointing per say - the first few episodes made a really good job with establishing the main cast of characters, the plot is intriguing enough, the acting isn’t too bad and there is a good assortment of potentially brilliant character development. What the drama really needs to do is to be able to stick out with some originality is learning from the strengths and pitfalls of past fantasy dramas, not least being able to establish good chemistry between the characters as well as being able to explore and develop their sense of identity and backstory in good time also.

Definitely is an unusual recent pattern for K-dramas. Even less than 2-3 years ago, seeing a smoking scene would’ve been deterred by some action of a main character, blurred out by censors or the rating would have immediately skyrocketed. This seems to indicate that even in a short space of time, attitudes towards smoking have changed a lot by it no longer remaining such a “ risky” threat or issue especially for younger South-Korean youths. Therefore including these scenes of characters with a cigarette or an actor smoking onscreen is no longer such a problem to include in mainstream dramas and channel productions.

Unlikely to happen, but it feels as though this show could just do with a really good reboot by another network. Don’t get me wrong. There are some elements such as the acting front and the palette cinematography which KBS have really hit the mark with their drama version of ‘ At A Distance, Spring Is Green’. However controversies aside, the storyline just doesn’t have the same spark of life as the webcomic. Potentially intriguing characters are bogged down with lacklustre pairings or motiveless reasons, with very little sense of a build-up of chemistry or character development, and there have been times where the storyline truly just hits a rut in the middle of episodes due to slow pacing. It truly is a shame that the drama hasn’t had more to offer us as viewers.

It isn’t inherently unheard of for more recent K-dramas to have intimate scenes, but it depends a lot on the production and channel. Often K-dramas have always had a bit of a rep for being more conservative with these types of scenes in mainstream romance shows. ( Hence why there are a lot of mixed comments and responses about the nature of these scenes.)

That’s a disturbing yet intriguing thought. In terms of the series like a lot of dystopian settings, I believe “ The Devil Judge” is just supposed to be set “ in the not too distant future”. However on a more realistic note, there are many scientific/ mathematic models carried out through simulations and predictions by scientists towards probable causes of society crumbling down. Intriguingly it is reckoned if a scenario like this did cause instability, society and governments would turn to ruin and anarchy would take rise in less than 3-4 weeks.

I get what you mean but I think one of the biggest things that the storyline is trying to show is that attraction is not always necessarily built upon healthy development. In reality a lot of individuals find themselves in this position of “ casual dating” or sexual intimacy and struggle to get past those stages of something more. Nabi seems aware that it’s too good to be true as she seems to have been in this position with her past relationship trauma before, but she still yearns for something more and cannot quite reach it . I suppose that even in the webcomic we only really get one side of the picture with Nabi and little about why JE sleeps around and targets different girls around campus so much. ( It would have been interesting to have found out of this was embodied in the ideologies he was raised with, or something more.) However the other side of the coin is that JE isn’t really supposed to be anything more than a “ moral lesson” for Nabi towards the problem of fickle relationships ( hence the butterfly symbolism ; forever out of reach, and too good to be true).

Whilst “ Nevertheless” does have the romance tag, the storyline is supposed to convey a more “ problematic, realistic, toxic and psychologically complex” romantic pairing between the main leads Nabi and Jae Eon . The storyline is based upon a popular webcomic which presents similarly profound messages about more “ realistic” relationship attributes including the concepts of sexual intimacy, negative emotions and emotional , mental and verbal abuse. So long as the series doesn’t stray from the webcomic ( which it hasn’t done too much so far), then you should expect a happy ending in a more bittersweet way. However if you’re here for a sugary sweet romance between the leads , then this might not be for you.

Admittedly, My Roommate Is A Gumiho has several notable different storyline directions ( not least being based on a webcomic unlike ), but I do agree it is very unusual for TVN to clash an airing period with similar-style genre dramas. This would sort of seem to suggest that TVN didn’t want to delay the airing schedule for future projects and slotted them in at the same time in order to avoid problems.

No need to apologise :)! It is nice to come across someone who is able to define and critique their views also. I maintain the same ideology as you; I will discuss a drama based upon how someone can articulate their argument. It doesn’t matter to me if someone doesn’t feel the same way ( in fact I’ve come across a lot of people who don’t necessarily see eye to eye with me on watching shows, but can present really strong and intriguing arguments), it is what they can present as an argument . It really is a shame in my books about Mi Joo. She has the potential to be a well fleshed-out character , but is ultimately reduced to the equivalent of cannon fodder by the screenwriter. I enjoy the drama for similar reasons also :). Whilst I must be honest by saying that I’m critical with So Bin as a written character and her relationship with Joon, I love the enticement of Joon and Soo Hyun’s friendship and even Young Ran is a fairly likeable character . Hopefully the ending will close off some of these more prolific writing issues, but sadly I believe that it is incredibly doubtful that they will do so either.