The World, All At Once

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love romance dramas. As I neared the end of my drama watchlist last year, I scoured the web for dramas coming out in 2021 so that I could prolong my list's lifespan. The first of such additions was none other than She Would Never Know  (or directly translated to  Senior, Don't Put on That Lipstick ), which is based on the webtoon of the same name by Elise. I can't stress just how much I waited for this drama to be released, partially because of the cast, with  Won Jin-ah  ( Life ,  Melting Me Softly ) as female lead YOON SONG-AH and SF9’s  Rowoon  ( Where Stars Land ,  Extraordinary You ) as male lead CHAE HYUN-SEUNG, but mostly because the drama's premise is just something that appeals to my soft heart. Let's dive right in.  INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT) Older women romances, more commonly known as "noona" romances, aren't new concepts in K-dramas. While my research about the preva...

If you searched up romcom in a dictionary,  A Love So Beautiful  would probably be the accompanying definition. It's everything people would want in one, filled with lots of cheesy romance and cute fluffy scenes. The interactions between our leads are super cute to watch, and a lot of what happens makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like I mentioned in my initial thoughts post, the nature of this drama plus its short runtime made it feel more like a high quality web drama than something on cable TV. This worked especially well for this series, probably due to the crazy number of high school romcom web dramas populating the Internet. Without further ado, let's dive right in.  SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT) As I watched this drama, I kept saying the same thing with a stupid huge smile plastered across my face. Shin Sol-i is unironically and undoubtedly the cutest female lead out of all the K-dramas I've seen thus far. So Ju-yeon has done an excellent job in ...

KakaoTV has jumped on the drama train in the past year, even partnering with Netflix on dramas such as  Lovestruck in the City . Similarly,  A Love So Beautiful  (or directly translated to To Us Who Were Beautiful ) is another of these Netflix Originals. More of a short form web drama with each episode being 30 minutes or less, this drama is based on a 2017 Chinese drama of the same name, which in turn was based on Zhao Qianqian's novel To Our Pure Little Beauty . This coming-of-age romcom focuses on the time-old trope of high school romance and follows the growth of our leads into adulthood. Starring WEi’s  Kim Yo-han  in his drama debut as male lead CHA HEON and  So Ju-yeon  ( Dr. Romantic 2 ,  Lovestruck in the City ) as female lead SHIN SOL-I, I'm intrigued to see where this drama brings us, especially since I'm a sucker for romcoms. Let's dive in. INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT) I actually thought this drama would have the leads...

Like I mentioned in my initial thoughts post,  Lovestruck in the City  is undoubtedly one of the most unique and entertaining dramas around. If I'm being completely honest, it's really more like a high budget web drama if you will. It was very engaging to follow the stories of our leads as if they were real people and the interview format gave a lot of heart to the series, making it feel very personal to viewers. Let's dive in.  SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT) The general idea of this drama is such. What do you think about love? Even though we're given six leads with differing love stories to follow, the point the director and screenwriters are trying to push across is that we're supposed to form our own views. By not only showing us all the different scenarios like a normal drama but also letting us understand things from the characters' perspectives by putting them through interviews, it helps us to grasp the situation better, thereby allowing us ...

I've seen many many K-dramas over the past few years but this might be the first time we get something totally new and fresh. Another Netflix Original,  Lovestruck in the City  (or directly translated to  How to love between men and women in a city ) is a romance drama that tells its story by having our leads go through a series of interviews by an unknown party. These interviews are interspersed with normal scenes that are then weaved together to form the final product. Starring  Ji Chang-wook  ( The K2 ,  Melting Me Softly ) as male lead PARK JAE-WON and  Kim Ji-won  ( Fight For My Way ,  Arthdal Chronicles ) as female lead LEE EUN-OH, this is undoubtedly one of the most unique concepts that a drama could have. While I've only finished episode 1, I feel like the inception of this drama could revolutionise the romance genre by breathing new life into something that's been done to death. Let's dive in. INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER A...

It has been ages since I properly followed a drama as it aired and I can't believe that after so long we've finally come to the end of  True Beauty . It's so surreal because it feels just like yesterday when I first came across the webtoon and never would I have thought that this is what it would lead to. The experience of waiting for every new week with two brand new episodes is both fulfilling yet agonising and it's been really fun, a true double-edged sword. I've had a lot of time to really process my thoughts and feelings about this drama adaptation, and I've taken a good look at how it compares to the webtoon so it's time to dive into this series retrospect.  SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT) While the webtoon is still ongoing, as of now it's split into three distinct arcs, the first two of which are complete. I will refer to them as Su-ho, Seo-jun and Ju-kyung, with each arc placing the most focus on the named characters and their relati...

On first glance, you might think  Run On  is simply a romcom and while you wouldn't be entirely wrong, this drama is so much more than that. Behind the fluffy love stories and the romance-generated angst, we got a good look at the importance of self-love and learning how to put yourself first. It's a heartwarming story and while this drama does suffer from the K-drama syndrome of "rushed happy endings", I was very satisfied with not only how it ended but also how we touched on our characters' stories. Let's dive in.  SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT) Many times a drama focuses heavily on the leads' backstories and oftentimes we find that their stories will intertwine in convoluted ways all the way from childhood till the present day. It's a trope that happens almost every drama and we've seen it so many times. That's why I find it super interesting that  Run On 's screenwriters have decided to not focus on our leads' backstor...