We're here for romance, right?

Not sure why this drama gets so much hate from some people. Perhaps they expect Korean culture to be something its not? Perhaps they hold the Mi Rae character to unrealistic standards? There are a lot of comments saying its a 'damaging message' and the leads can't act etc. I can understand that response in some people, but I loved this drama, personally.

This drama starts off with an emotional bang; it's a little trite but everyone has gone through pain like Mi Rae (not maybe to the extent she has) growing up, and it hits home in a painful way. I found myself hooked and bawling after the first ep. It does such a good job of setting up the story, and the first half of the drama is good at showing the internal struggles of Mi Rae and the hateful things she endured as a teenager.

And I think this is where some people get lost. The issue is that the drama sells itself as a coming of age story about a girl who was bullied and is learning to love herself-- and yes it is totally that-- but ultimately at its core, the drama is a love story. And if you are going into it hoping that it will be a massive life-changing drama where the protagonist makes leaps and strides and grows as a person and says, 'eff society, eff beauty standards,' etc, you will be disappointed. It's not really that. I mean, it is powerful in its message, and it effectively saying that but not very directly. Yes it makes a comment on superficiality of people, and It's also about how personality trumps beauty... and characters do grow etc, but its not a massive feminist message. As for a strong female lead.... well, the lead is strong, but she is also a late bloomer and very beat down. She is incredibly stunted in the beginning and there are some 'damsel in distress' moments in this, especially in the first half of the drama, but these fade away as Mi Rae finds her courage. But if you hate damsel tropes, this is not for you, as there are many of them in this drama. There is also a lot of meek attitudes. However in the context of the society in which its taking place, the deference makes sense to me. There is a scene in the start where awful stuff is being said by seniors, and none of the freshmen speak up towards them--in the comments section of those episodes people were incredulous about this. I wasn't-- Cultural hierarchy is a big thing in Korea-- As an example, there was a tragic plane crash in Korea where the co-pilot couldnt stand up to the Captain because of this kind of cultural deference, despite the fact their lives were in peril. In that context, people not speaking up makes sense to me. Though they actually improve in this and many characters grow a backbone later on, I understand the initial hesitation. Not only are cultural and sexist roles at play, peer pressure is also a thing.

In fact, this drama benefits from people viewing it from the lens of Korean culture in general-- its not really trying to stand up against plastic surgery or anything like that. Like it or not, Korean culture is obsessed with beauty and plastic surgery-- its emphasized in the beginning where the mother and daughter walk through Gangnam station and there are massive ads for plastic surgery places everywhere. Furthermore, there are many many shameless moments of vanity by various people in the cast, not just the college going males who objectify the girls they go to school with, but even Mi Rae's mother who constantly comments on both her daughters beauty "Now she's pretty...." and the beauty of guys that like Mi Rae. This is definitely annoying, but it isn't addressed in the drama at all. I mean, why objectify men when Mi Rae herself has been judged so harsh? But in the end, it IS realistic. These are the way people view each other; it's not ok, though, and it is called out in some ways, but in the end, just like in society, objectification and judging of peoples appearances is just something you cannot eliminate. No matter what you look like you cannot escaped being judged.

So again if you want a strong feminist message, this isn't the drama for you. If you want a semi-realistic story about an incredibly insecure and stunted girl who falls in love for the first time and the cute moments that ensue because of that, then maybe check it out.

I personally enjoyed the story; though its not perfect and there are a lot of gaps in it. In the end they seem to cram a bunch of side stories to a close all at once and dont do a great job of resolving them, and there are major characters they stop using and/or only use when it suits them. This is disappointing because the cast is huge and the side characters are great; perhaps there are too many? There is a cute friend character in the beginning that you think will have a B story but halfway through you stop seeing here. All the 'B' stories kind of suck in my opinion; mostly because they don't really gain traction like they should and are executed badly. Again as I said at the beginning-- this is ultimately a love story, so in that context its understandable the other plots dont line up in a great way, but I would have liked a few solid B and C stories, honestly.

Moving on. I personally thought the acting was great; Im Soo Hyang shines as Mi Rae-- her character grows with her. At first it seems like she perhaps doesn't have much range, but I think this is intentional. Mi Rae's self esteem has been completely flattened, despite being feisty inside, and the drama does a good job of showing this. Someone said that Im Soo doesnt look like someone 'overly done' so that peoples judgments dont make sense, but I disagree. She (while still extremely pretty) does fit the ideal of a 'Gangnam Beauty' to me, and yes she looks a bit older, but in the context of the story it makes sense.

A lot of the comments criticize Cha Eun Wo's acting in this and I disagree heartily. Yes, his character is distant and wooden, but it is intentional. If you think that Cha Eun Wo can't act then you totally missed the point of Do Kyung Suk's character--he is a guy that has learned to repress all feelings and he is very direct and reactionary. The point is that he is also emotionally stunted-- despite being opposite ends of the spectrum looks wise to Mi Rae, they are actually very similar internally. His friend comments at one point that Kyung Suk has no friends as he never lets anyone in; that he is unapproachable and distant, and Cha Eun Wo does a great job showing that. His micro-expressions convey it all; especially at the beginning where he goes from blank to a flash of anger when a side character is being antagonistic towards him. His character is especially intense, and it is again, intentional-- you can tell by the fact the director gives the young versions of Kyung Suk the same blankness. Also, As Do Kyung Suk grows and such, he shows more and more emotion, and his aloofness fades somewhat.

If you take this purely as a squee-inducing love story then its a 10/10 though. This has some of the cutest moments (even if they are tropey) of any drama I've ever seen. Some bits are even cuter than my holy grail of dramas 'A Witch's Romance' -- that's the gold standard of love stories for me, haha. So this drama is really seriously cute. But the slow burn is incredibly slow, and almost painful, but worth it in my opinion. I didn't fast forward once, even though I was eagerly awaiting the cute parts. Moreover it makes sense-- these may be college students but they are shy broken and inexperienced people in various ways and it makes sense that their love will not all be immediate and smooth sailing. I also wanted more-- the chemistry is there between the leads, but they dont give it as much passion. Thats my only gripe with the love story. Its passion is hinted at only briefly, and I would have liked more.

Another niggling criticism for me, that there is not a lot of depth to anyone except Mi Rae-- you dont get into the thoughts and feelings of many of the other characters except a few. This makes it feel more like a shojo manga than anything, though it makes sense if it was based on a web toon. I would have liked more development in this area, personally. It makes everyone, especially the love interests to Mi Rae, seem kind of unreal. Even the TA character, who is extremely nice and personable, lacks depth sometimes. You know he's nice, but you dont know why or who he is really. Same with Kyung Suk; this lack of depth almost makes him feel like a mary sue sometimes.

Still, a cute drama, I recommend. I would love to see a sequel but I'm not sure how that would work, but I really did enjoy the world and the characters a lot. Check it out if you want an adorable romance between beautiful people.

Read More

Charming, solid plotline, cute and intense moments, but lacking in a subtle way.

So, I've always been a fan of older lady-and younger guy love stories. Maybe its because it's unrepresented in Kdramas and maybe I like it because I'm in an age gap relationship myself, but I always like watching dramas with this premis to see how they are going to do them. I found this drama while searching for these type of stories, and after all the glowing reviews and the supernatural element I was super excited going into this.

'I Hear Your Voice' is a really good drama and I enjoyed it immensely. But in my humble opinion (which as you can see many disagree with) it could have been better. Why? Maybe my expectations were too high after reading these reviews but... well, my biggest disappointment with this drama is that I feel like the leads lack chemistry. As I watched, I was sold on the male lead loving the female, but I didn't quite get the same intensity from the female lead towards the male. Maybe its because I watched 'A Witch's Romance' just before this drama and their chemistry in that is the best i've seen in a Kdrama EVER-- its hard to top that level of interaction and chemistry and perhaps I went into this a bit spoiled. But in 'I Hear Your Voice' the FL falls in love very subtly, and as such, maybe its too subtle. The ML feelings are immediate and intense, they are a core part of the plot, and at first she isn't on the same page, but when she catches feelings, it seems a bit forced. And while it was nice watching them those feelings play out, I kept hoping they'd have super heart-stopping romantic scenes and they never truly did. I mean yes there are many cute moments between them, but as someone who loves to internally squee at cute scenes, there just wasn't enough for me, and this made me sad. And part of the problem might be that the second male lead is a great match for the female lead too, in terms of personality and chemistry--so it's almost difficult to root for the main male over the second lead at times. In the end, I felt like I wasn't given enough GOOD reasons to want the two leads together, even though Jang Hye Sung seemed to be drawn to Park Soo Ha, I would have liked to feel it from her more intensely. Ultimately she treats him like a child for a lot of it (and he acts like one too sometimes) and I never felt the drama managed to quite break that dynamic for me-- perhaps because Park Soo Ha's actor comes across as so young in this. His inital attraction to the FL starts as a crush when he is a boy, and the drama (in my opinion) never quite shakes this-- He really does seem like a High School Student with a long-lingering crush. Dont get me wrong, the love story is cute AF, but I would have liked to see their love evolve and feel more 'real' and I was disappointed in that respect personally.

Other things I didn't like were just tropey things that plague most dramas-- the 'horror movie' trope where people do stupid stuff instead of running away, taking precautions, etc, are par for the course for kdramas so it was fine, but they did rely on it a bit to advance certain dramatic plot points, which was frustrating. Also some of the courtroom stuff was kinda laughable in the way it was dramatized-- they tried really hard to make the legal stuff seem realistic, but they definitely broke/bent the law in this drama to fit the plot and it is a tiny bit silly at times. That said, the second female lead-- the rival lawyer of the LF was great though, and they do an amazing job of turning her from conceited villainess to a real person with real feelings. And the main villain really shines too--- he is terrifying at times, and is a real highlight of the show. In fact, all the acting of the side characters in this is really solid, and at times they outshine the leads.

The plot itself was very different and rather cool with the supernatural element in it, and the premise itself is where the drama shines. Its very clever and riveting and it makes you sad and mad and all at once. I was stuck on the edge of my seat for a lot of this drama. I was not bored at all and I dont think I fast forwarded unlike I usually do with other dramas. The flashbacks of the female lead are also where this shine, Kim So Hyun does an amazing job as the young version of Jang Hye Sung, and those scenes stood out to me as really memorable.

Over all, it was a pleasant drama with a great premise, intense moments and quite good acting. It's a good first step into noona-type romance kdramas. If you are a fan of that type of kdrama definitely give this one a try! The suspenseful story will keep you hooked for sure. It's not my fave Kdrama but its definitely worth watching.

Read More