Hey KFG! I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now and I love your writing! I noticed that you were considering watching Falling Into Your Smile, and I wanted to tell you about my experience watching it. I dropped it about halfway through for a few reasons. Firstly, both main leads are rather stiff, but the female lead’s acting was particularly cardboard-like and difficult to watch. Secondly, the romance isn’t very romantic at all. It’s very textbook, and not a good example of a textbook romance either. Thirdly, there are a lot of intricately animated gaming scenes that are just really hard to follow (I’m not a gamer, so maybe that’s why?) I couldn’t tell what was going on for a solid 5-10 min in some episodes, which was a big issue for me. There were a few things I enjoyed (like our gaming team, and the male lead’s friendship with his greatest rival in terms of gaming) but overall, I didn’t enjoy this one and I doubt you would either.

Hi kfangirl, I was wondering if you or anyone has seen The Ideal City with Betty Sun and Mark Chao. Both leads are fantastic, Betty Sun is known for her strong, intelligent, courageous female roles, not overly sentimental. The rest of the cast is amazing. The plot is politics, machinations, ego in the building industry.
Also another Cdrama The Truth, also great narrative, acting not too sentimental and gushy, very interesting.
I’m also enjoying Jirisan, I really like Ju Ji-hoon (from Hyena, which I know you didn’t love kfangirl, but I did, oh well ) it’s just very different from the usual kdrama, beautifully shot etc etc. Thoughts??

Hey please add dali and cocky prince to your list too.. it is really good till now
balancing comedy and drama
Also kim min jae is good in this & slaying it after brahms

Hi! I’ve been following & enjoying ur reviews for quite a while, i noticed some kind of patterns on ur reviews (the type of drama u like/enjoy, etc) 

And because of that, i have a cdrama recommendation for u which i think u would enjoy, the tittle is Remembrance of Things Past (2021)

it’s a 12 episodes slice of life drama about 4 friends in their 30s and 20s living in a big city (Beijing), it’s a bit similar to Be Melodramatic (2019) & Because This Is My First Life (2017) which u gave high score

The drama got quite high rating on douban which quite rare for a modern drama (8.5). U can watch the drama on YouTube and Mango TV app or maybe some other sites, Here’s the 1st episode’s YouTube link: https://youtu.be/D0S9dSuhoRQ

hope u enjoy the drama!!

Looking forward to your reviews as they are detailed and quite neutral. You lay out what’s great and what’s not. Ever since I stumbled upon your review page a few weeks back I am a fan! I’ll be checking out the other older reviews on the stories I’ve watched (I’ve only started watching Kdrama sometime late 2018, so I’ve only watched 40 — I keep track). Thanks for the reviews.

Kfangurl!! I saw that you had added You Are My Spring to your watch list previously but you took it off ): I know you have many dramas to watch but just really wanted to recommend this one! The ratings weren’t very good, I know, but here’s why I think it’s worth watching:

1. Seo Hyun Jin is great in this – if you are a fan of hers, I think this is just about the realest character she plays (even more than Oh Hae Young!)
2. the OTP is unexpectedly heartwarming and well matched. Kim Dong Wook delivers as usual, and the two of them are so good and cute together ^^
3. the writing, at least for the romance part and how the main characters are built up and their backstories, is really tight. A lot of thought went into crafting each of their journeys and I appreciate that a lot.
4. this drama has a thriller element but the culprit has a character arc too. It’s written in a similar vein as the rest of the drama i.e. focused on the personal journey/trauma, and overcoming it.

overall the pace of the drama is slow, and my personal opinion is that the thriller part could have been weaved in better, but 10/10 for the main romance line. I can understand if this is not everyone’s cup of tea, or your preference for now, but I’d be so glad if you would consider adding it back to your watch list again (: thank you!

Is anyone else enjoying Hometown Cha Cha Cha? Up to episode 4 so far. Here’s the pitch.
Did you enjoy “When the weather is nice” with it’s colorful small town characters and quiet, slow romance? Did you wish they could remake it without the murder/suffering elements to just focus more on adorable small town antics and our OTP. Do you want a drama with no chaebols, celebrities – but just normal people? Did you really enjoy these elements of Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (for about 12-12 episodes, before it ran off the rails and lost this low-stakes small town charm that made it so fun)? This is the show for you. The characters are more assertive and stronger than those in “When the weather is nice” and they have some darkness in their pasts (but it seems like orders of magnitude less so far). I think “When the Weather is nice” also did a slightly better job of making their small town folks quirky and charming, but we’re only 4 shows in, so final verdict pending.

Did you enjoy watching Shin Min-A in her other work like “My Girlfriend is a Gumiho”, and tried to enjoy her work in “Oh My Venus” (whatever they paid her wasn’t enough) but want to see how well she can act with the greater challenge of a more normal character? Let’s assume you haven’t seen her other roles that are more normal, but even if you have, this one still provides the greatest challenge. So far, I’m enjoying all the performances and the nuance of emotions the actors can portray.

If you really need heightened reality and high stakes, this isn’t for you. Otherwise, enjoy.