AH

Thank you Alysha Johnson and tofuscramble. The voice adds a lot to the character, so I thought it might be done by a professional voice actor like Wang Baoshun. I'm impressed that it's all him.

Is Xiang Liu voiced by Tan Jian Ci or is he dubbed by a voice actor? Such a good voice.

My favourite Shakespeare play doesn't have a tragic ending. It's memorable, enjoyable and re-watchable. Can't say I feel the same way about his plays with tragic endings.

That's fine. To each their own of course. I personally liked the last arc.

My wanting to show the FL in the later episodes to people is less about wanting people to like the FL (while I would hope some of the people who hated the FL's character in the beginning might like her more after her character development, I wouldn't be surprised if most didn't) and more about wanting to show people that the FL behaving the way she did in the beginning was an intentional acting and writing choice that emphasized the FL's development, which is really apparent when you compare the FL in the early episodes to the FL in the later episodes.

Plan to watch

Every time I (a serial romance drama watcher) see a new gifset of Hong Sae being unconditionally caring and supportive, I feel like putting this drama at the top of my PTW list. Then I come here again and re-read the synopsis, the genre tags and the general tags and remind myself it's not that kind of drama. Rinse and repeat.

It makes me sad to think about all the people who dropped this drama because they didn't like the innocent, naive, and child-like version of the FL in the beginning so they never got to see her evolve into more mature versions of herself. I wish I could show them.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxbHIcNs8ClK5NVKrRr6sepnKals-SnZzD

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxJ_ilhdKJCPSxRsouIw3BSf1v4WIKx5kD

In the first few episodes, yes. The SML makes himself obsolete pretty quickly.

My recipe for mostly enjoying this drama: (1) keep expectations low - reading spoilers ahead of time helped quite a bit; (2) take all the moments where the leads make bad / selfish / incomprehensible decisions, put them in a bucket labelled "blame the writers who thought this was necessary for the plot" and try to move on / not overthink it; (3) fast forward often and skip all the scenes without the leads (with very limited exceptions - like the office ladies gossiping); (4) seriously, if the ML starts to feel creepy, hit that fast forward button; and (5) enjoy the moments where Rowoon is actually allowed to do what he does best: play a very sweet, sincere and loving golden retriever.

Thank you for posting this thread!

Yes. I dropped it and never rewatched it, so I don't remember the details that well. Would it fit category 3, similar to Love O2O?

I came here to write exactly this.

Thanks for the comment. I didn't include Hwarang because I felt like it didn't fully meet the prompt. From what I remember they barely lived together and didn't know each other very long. Haven't seen LBtI so not sure about that one.

Thanks love. I don't normally add dramas I haven't watched to my lists, but appreciate the comment.

The trailer for Yoo Teo's romance movie Past Lives is out if anyone's interested ^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA244xewjcI&ab_channel=A24

This drama (Love to Hate You) wasn't directed by a female director, and most of the western series I mentioned had women involved in the writing and directing stages. The Vampire Diaries had a male shower scene and the others famously have male wet-white-shirt scenes.

So I'm not sure I'm following your point. It sounds like you're saying you (a person who happens to be female) don't like the content in western dramas (because it's disgusting?) but you do like the content in Korean dramas (because they include male shower scenes?). I don't think that necessarily equates to "ONLY k-drama is made for the female gaze", but maybe I'm nitpicking. I'm glad you've found content that you like.

Plenty of western dramas that are adaptation of books are catered primarily to female audiences (the Vampire Diaries, Outlander, the Bridgerton series, any Jane Austen novel...). But there are definitely big gaps that korean dramas fill well.

https://mydramalist.com/list/b3EKBgD1

For real XD He says he first fell for her when she threw the boomerang, but really the *romantic wind chimes sound* first plays right after she first twists his arm and makes him scream in pain.

At the very end of the drama, the FL's most recent ex (who becomes one of her colleagues) works with more of her colleagues to help find women from her past to testify that the FL helped them by punishing their cheating or abusive boyfriends so they can improve the FL's reputation in the public's eye. I guess you could say that sort of sanitizes her cheating and high body count by turning it into a righteous act... but near the end of the drama the FL also has a conversation with that ex where he asks if she dated awful guys on purpose, and the FL says (with no shame or remorse) that cheaters are easier to seduce, fun to hang out with, and dumping them was fun. So not all that sanitized really.

I'd say at the end of the drama the FL is still careful about trusting men (and still doesn't want to get married), but she no longer believes that 100% of men are completely untrustworthy. She can now say "I love you" (and mean it) to the ML at least. Separately, she's definitely still a feminist (meaning someone who believes that men and women should generally have equal rights, opportunities and treatment) at the end of the drama. That part of her worldview never changes.