Aged pretty well
The story relies on miscommunication and coincidence, which are two formulaic tools I abhor.Still, I kept watching, and the second half of the drama was much better than the first.
Without spoiling it, I liked the fact that the drama went 'meta' on the bad guys : that was satisfying to watch.
If, hoping for their comeuppance, you were able to keep watching the bad guys getting away with everything in the first few episodes, you probably should keep watching.
I only recently got into K-drama, so I don't know when K-drama cliches/formulae were born. To me, it felt like an honest piece of work.
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Hilarious drama with a unique atmosphere
What a blast!This drama starts with a bizarre atmosphere that could be off-putting to some viewers, but then evolves into a more familiar action/comedy setting. It stays funny throughout. Remarkably (for a kdrama), the comedy relies more on witty writing and comedic timing than on loud or potty jokes.
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Falling High School Girl and Irresponsible Teacher
1 people found this review helpful
Unique
While the story is nothing new, there is a je ne sais quoi about this drama that makes it stand out.It avoids most pitfalls usually found in forbidden love dramas.
In their own way, both characters are mature and confident. They're both smart and communicate well. They both understand that they love each other and that, to protect that love, they must hide it. And, because they both nonchalantly accept that reality as a matter of fact, their love, in turn, starts feeling oddly real and undeniable.
There are no annoying misunderstandings, no loud scenes, no real challenges arising in the way of the overall narrative arc.
I guess, in that sense, it could be boring to some viewers. But it is also funny and constantly surprising.
Will definitely watch again.
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Natural 10
My Mister... It's not easy to express how good this masterpiece is. Just WATCH IT.It is, by far, the best k-drama I have ever watched.
Every character has its own consistent arc. And those arcs interact in such a beautiful way that, little by little, well, a magnificent show unfolds.
The actors, too, obviously know this is no ordinary drama : chemistry abounds. The soundtrack is almost too memorable. The photography is mesmerizing. Every frame is beautiful.
The direction is brilliantly ambitious. With slow, long, scenes. Close-ups. Banal humiliations. Every-day frustrations. All turned, by some kind of magic, into the most moving piece of work I can remember.
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A good J-Drama turning into a bad K-Drama
This drama started well: lonely, disillusioned ML meets heart-broken FL. Love at first sight, straightforward communication, benevolant entourage. Plus, both are talented.The story writes itself from here, one would think. But, for whatever reason, the writers decided to complicate things.
Midway through the drama, this cute little jdrama turns into your typical annoying kdrama, where the story jettisons half of itself and its characters, gives up on plausibility, and soaks itself into the unimaginative whim of the writers.
Miscommunication, noble idiocy,...
If you get annoyed at some point, please be aware that it will not get better. I was hoping for a white truck appearance late in the drama.
For those learning Japanese: FL uses a dialect from Kyushu. At my level, I found it hard to understand sometimes. Good practice in that regard. Japanes Subs are on Viki.
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Cliche story and lackluster execution
The title ("Business Marriage: If We Fall in Love, We'll Divorce") says it all. Anyone who's seen one of the many dramas based on that silly premise can guess what's going to happen...Indeed, the story is utterly predictable. Which could be fine.
The issue is, the execution feels lazy and cheap. No fun/cute side characters to root for, low production value (most of the drama is shot in that one horribly decorated apartment), no side story to distract us from the tedious flow of the main one.
This drama felt formulaic and impersonal.
For those learning Japanese: it is on the easier side. Day-to-day Japanese spoken at a normal pace. Full Japanese subtitles on Viki.
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Unpretentious entertainment
This drama is a light-hearted take on the "two strangers fall for each other, but some obstacle makes their love impossible" formula, with a side of bento.The two leads are very cute together. Their honesty to each other is refreshing.
The supporting characters are just that: supporting characters. With the exception of the two over-the-top rival bosses, they mostly come to help advance the story, and then disappear without much development. I felt this was a shame because some are really lovely and deserved more screen-time.
The writers spared us most of the annoying tropes such as love triangles and silly misunderstandings. As a result, this drama is a frustration-free, easy-to-watch and ease-to-forget, cute little drama.
For those learning Japanese, this drama is on the easier side. It's day-to-day Japanese delivered at a normal pace (except maybe for the manga-ppoi rival bosses!). It's also a fun opportunity to learn more about the different sorts of bento. Viky has Japanese subs.
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Entertaining
The story, overall, is weak.But the tone is wildly unpredictable, and the show is mostly fun to watch. The expected frustrating tropes are there, but, thankfully, they are (mostly) resolved quickly. I never felt overly frustrated.
Most characters, except for the obvious villains, are charming and fun to watch. Each viewer will have his own favorite, probably.
For a learner of the Japanese language, it was on the more difficult side: for comedic delivery, a lot of lines were super fast. Vocabulary wise, there were a lot of Buddhist related terms, and some Kansai dialect.
Overall, funny with a hint of frustration at the weakness of the story.
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Almost good, but terribly frustrating to watch
The beginning of the first episode had me hooked. Unfortunately, it was a letdown from there.I was hoping for a strong dynamic between two smart leads. But both leads, and their relationship, quickly became annoying. ML enters panick mode and becomes essentially useless as soon as things go wrong. FL is more resourceful, so she essentially becomes ML's babysitter. That could have been cute, but was mostly annoying because of the lack of communication between the two. But mostly, yeah, ML is very hard to like.
On top of that, many of the plot twists rely on totally unbelievable events. The whole thing quickly becomes frustrating to watch, a good plot idea ruined by a writing that is lazy to the point of being insulting to the viewer.
If you enjoyed the first 2 or 3 episodes, then you probably won't regret watching to the end. Be warned, though, that, as other reviews mentioned, the last episode takes the frustration to the next level.
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Predictable story
The premise of the story is an impossible misunderstanding, and every single opportunity of easily resolving the misunderstanding is interrupted by some ridiculously cliché plot twist.Frankly, I felt insulted by the writers' lack of sincerity. This drama is but a boring sequence of failed attempts to weave a nothing-burger into a story. The diva model bit was particularly poorly written, and an embodiment of this drama's silliness.
As for the actors. I disliked ML with a passion. FL made the best of her poorly written part. 2ML was great as the proverbial puppy friend. I didn't care about 2FL.
I was glad the co-workers NPCs were friendly to FL from the get-go (I dislike the "hostile -> some bs event -> friendly" NPC arc. That's one cliché we were spared :)).
What's great about predictable dramas is that you know from the first episode whether it is for you or not. This drama is one of these.
I deliberately scored this drama 1 point lower than I would normally have, because the current average (8) seems too high to me.
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Cute rom-com
The story is nothing to write home about. It is your run of the mill blessing/curse/forbidden love story, with no surprising twists to speak of.Still, I binged through it smiling.
It does not take itself too seriously. It sometimes felt like it was making fun of the very cliches it relies on (such as the hilarious misunderstanding involving the second couple).
The secondary characters are hilariously quirky. I laughed out loud at the "Korean culture for the Japanese" youtube bit :) And Yamashita Mizuki's interpretation of 2FL is comedic gold!
While I found FL a bit bland, ML was adorable.
Overall, it is a light-hearted, unpretentious, often hilarious rom-com.
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A sincere drama, that may probably leave you unsatisfied
Because of the mixed reviews, I was hesitant to watch this drama. In the end, I did watch it only because IU (Cindy) co-stars in it. In that regard, I may be biased : she was stunningly beautiful in every scene. The vulnerable-yet-strong persona suits her beautifully. If you are fans of IU and watch this drama, you probably won't be disappointed.I liked The Producers, but I was left with the frustrating sentiment that it could have been so much better.
This is not, by any means, a bad drama. Both the writing and acting are sincere. The characters are flawed in very relatable ways, and the depiction of their interactions, aka the story, mostly steers clear of the heavy-handed tropes (unlikely coincidences, misunderstandings, unrealistic change of character,...) that tend to plague k-drama. The comedic moments were hit-and-miss, but most were light-handed enough, and some were hilarious enough, that I did indeed laugh out loud once in a while. Kim Soo Hyun (Baek Seung Chan) truly shone in that regard.
The first few episodes felt like a Korean take on The Office, and the newbie's confrontation with the "real", petty world of business felt, at least in a comedic sense, right: because his own reasons for joining this world were so childish and misguided, his ordeals were funny. I can't spoil the show, just let me say that this arc becomes far reaching (not as a character arc, more as the conceptual arc of making life-defining choices based on the ground of love) in a scenaristically brilliant turn of events.
What makes me sad about this drama is that, while it is always respectful of its audience, it did not commit to writing a meaningful resolution for its characters.. There were so many dots let to be connected.
My guess would be that the writer had the perfect drama in mind, but that, ironically, some producer ruined it.
Or, maybe, it was the writer's intention that so many likable characters should be left hanging. A slice of life...?
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Slow and boring
This drama could have been a movie. The story is stretched thin and nothing much happens.After fast forwarding through episodes 13 and 14, I finally dropped the show when I realized there had not been one single satisfying/exhilarating scene so far.
Because this drama targets mainly younger folks, I was expecting some silliness, and was fine with that. The boredom, though, was too much...
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Predictable story and loud, unfunny gags
I dropped this drama after a few episodes.The plot revolves mainly around the characters' inability to communicate, which is one trait of many k-dramas that I just can't stand. Each and every scene involves characters blabbering half-truths at each other, or putting themselves in obnoxiously implausible situations that, supposedly, some reviewers found funny. Frustrating and, ultimately, simply painful to watch.
It is loud, unfunny, and utterly predictable.
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