#seung hyo just fell in love with her all over again

[inpursuitofnunchi]

SEOK RYUUUUU MY BADASSS QUEEENN BWAHAHAHAHA I BOW DOWN TO YOU

[ohifonlyx33]

So so so much to love about Love Next Door.

Its a story about a boy falling in love with his best friend, it's a story about a girl fighting her struggles and finding her path in life, it's about families coming to heal and support each other, its about friendship, its about finding your own family when you've lost your own... it's about being open and honest, about giving and receiving love, about overcoming pride or shame and just letting people see the parts of you you want to hide so you can share your burdens.

The entire cast had so much chemistry as friends, family, and romantic partners. The drama, with a few notable exceptions, felt natural. The episode 8 plot twist especially revealed a darker layer I honestly wasn't expecting, but it added so much. I liked the main couple and the secondary couple both. The parents were all mostly interesting and fun (although probably at least a little bit on the abusive side). Even these kids cracked me up and stole the show...

But I do take a few issues with it.

It's just a little annoying because I know with a few small tweaks here and there these issues could be resolved.

One being the fact that it didn't know how to end, which is a common problem with a simple romance and family drama. I literally went "what wait that's it?? That's the end?" Because I thought there had to be at least 15 minutes left for SOMETHING. But no, they actually decided to go for the fast-forward time jump... but for what?

We don't even see the main couple get married. Which, I WOULD BE TOTALLY FINE WITH.... trust me, the wedding episodes often make me cringe. Except, why have the flash forward at all, if nothing happens *after* the flash forward?

We could have set up another small dramatic hurdle for the main couple instead in the last 2 or 3 episodes... (I personally would have gone with the "do you want kids?"/"yeah, I think that'd be nice... do you?"/"yeah maybe...but what if I can't have them because cancer is high risk?"/"then that's ok too" route then to flash forward to them at Kang Dan-ho and Jung Mo-Eum's wedding 1.5 years later, with a little baby girl. 🥺

It definitely feels like the only reason we didn't see either of the main couples get married was because they wanted to be "different" by leaving it open... and AGAIN... I am fine with avoiding all the slow, sappy, overly-the-top clichés and pacing pitfalls of the wedding episode. but tbh, the last episode was just as slow and clichéd as any "wedding episode" just without the main couple getting married.

Don't get me wrong I liked seeing Choi Seung-hyo's parents renew their vows... but it was not something I NEEDED to see.

Another thing is the balance in the main couple... occasionally it felt off.

Now overall, I did feel like the main couple were a great fit, well-balanced and suited for each other... truly I loved them most of the time... but I just wish we had seen more of how Bae Seok Ryu came to terms with her feelings for Choi Seung-hyo or seen from her POV how she avoided developing them as a kid, the same way we clearly saw Choi Seung-hyo pushing his feelings away.

We saw poor Choi Syeung-hyo agonize over his feelings for about a dozen episodes and then struggle waiting for Bae Seok Ryu... but then we spent so long learning about how Bae Seok Ryu and her ex-fiance were actually a decent, happy couple... and the show refused to show more than 2 minutes of why they broke up or fell out of love. They easily could have had a QoT style Kdrama of their own about how they get back together, etc.

at least with Choi Seung-hyo's ex gf, we saw that they both moved on pretty easily without much attachment because really they were never that serious or special... it had been a while and they were both over it too. But with her ex-fiance, it was still a recent break up of an otherwise-strong relationship. So it seemed like they could have done more to convince us they had enough reasons to break up... like IDK when she stopped loving her ex and started loving Choi Seung-hyo because it's rushed and unclear what she is feeling... I also did not like that her ex pointed out that it looked like she'd already found someone when she herself had not come to that conclusion with any certainty.

I guess I just feel like all her thoughts and feelings about Choi Seung-Hyo were often hidden. Maybe to make the viewer feel suspense... but even after they got together, it felt like he told her how he felt and she avoided it. Then a few petty fights and a talk or two later she just agreed that she did like him after he convinced her... and when she ran to find him, even then—still—HE kissed her. And she's left to mutter about banana milk.

She does show her love for him later, and expresses it clearly. But even later, he proposes on a whim, before anyone even knows they're dating, and she rejects his proposal... and then immediately caves in after he convinces her... the whole timing does feel off. But it also just feels like we see the relationship more from his perspective than hers.

Like the romance is HIS plot line and the cancer is hers.

Then there's the brother... he didn't do much, his plot went nowhere, and I really only liked the scenes that brought out the contrast between his failures and Bae Seok Ryu's successes....

Then there's the way they set up Jung Mo-Eum and Kang Dan-Ho... it was a little forced, especially with her immediate (and a little bit creepy) interest in Yeon-Du and the whole "Mudflat Man" which was maybe taken a little too far. But I loved their family dynamic and their chemistry.. Just felt like their love story was a little underdeveloped... And really sending Jung Mo-Eum off to Antarctica for a year, right after they stared dating, and not even seeing her reunite with Dan Ho was not my favorite.

[butterfly-child99]

Welcome to my first Drama review – I have been watching Kdramas for a few years now but never thought to review them but I love them so much I want to share my insight. I am going to have to go back and watch my favourites again so I can review them, oh what a nightmare 😂 Kidding, I rewatch my faves all the time.

Warning for you all – I don’t like “spoilers” in a review so there won’t be heavy content on the whole recap/synopsis side of things, I may give you some insight to parts I like, the characters etc but if you want a run of what happens or a play by play, this is probably not the place for you. I just would like to share my opinion and if you’ve been considering watching a kdrama and haven’t been sure, I’m hoping my reviews will encourage you to give them a go. I will talk about some parts of the shows, but not heavy on the spoilers.

I know some people are put off by the subtitles, but if you watch enough, it really does become second nature to watch and read at the same time. K-dramas can be dramatic, fluffy, cute, sweet, sensitive, dramatic and exciting and are totally worth the watch if you can get past the subtitles.

Anywho, onto my first Drama Review:

I’m not a Robot

Cutest leading couple I ever did see.

Drama in one sentence: A highly Intelligent but lonely business man suffering from an allergy to humans meets and falls in love with a Robot which is actually a human pretending to be a Robot. 

Honestly though, this synopsis does not give enough credit to how beautiful and emotional this series was. I wasn’t sure how I felt about a drama based around a robot at first, especially a human pretending to be a robot and another human falling in love with it. But the cast and the storyline in I’m not a robot make it so much more than that.

Aji-3 – AI robot or human playing was a robot?

The human allergy aspect played remarkably by leading man Yoo Seung-ho  helped make the storyline much more believable. The whole thing could have been unbelievable, unrealistic and silly, but seeing how Kim Min-kyu had not had physical human contact for years and had closed himself off from the world, the whole thing became much easier to believe. I absolutely love Yoo Seung-ho, he brings a beautiful smile, an innocence and beauty to this role. If the character had been played by anyone else, I think I would have struggled to dispel all the things that could have gone wrong with a human being tricked into thinking a robot did all the things Aji 3 did, but as he is so adorable, innocent and unspoilt by human contact, it’s totally believable.

The story itself is what I’ve stated above mixed in with the usual drama trope of man meeting woman, falling for her, betrayal, anguish, hope and finally happiness all rolled into a very unique story, as we have the robot aspect to take into account. Overall, I think the plot could have been a nightmare but the leading cast made it a beautiful story, that I fell in love with.

Cast

There may be slight spoilers ahead as I do a run down of the cast / characters but only from the initial episodes as I think you should decide if you want to find out more about the series yourselves and watch the episodes. If you have seen any k-dramas before, you will undoubtedly be able to figure out how this series might go, so without many spoilers here but a little hint, here is the good, the bad and the on the fence characters in my opinion, it doesn’t mean they are always good/ bad or on the fence. This is just my opinion from the get go.

The Good

Yoo Seung-ho as Kim Min-kyu

  Leading man Min-kyu is a highly intelligent business who has suffered with a terrible debilitating human allergy for the last 15 years. He has lived on his own, with only  a butler for company. He is the son of one of the founding members, a majority shareholder in the company and I want to say Financial director (?), he has earned a lot of money for the company, but has a unique way of doing business as he can’t really interact with people, although I don’t think anyone knows his issues, so people just think he is weird.

He wants to perform his military duty but cannot as his illness can cause him to die, so he is struggling internally with this. Also, within his business there is some angst, as there is always someone trying to take over businesses and using someone else to do this.

In his personal life, he is an avid collector, which is how he originally meets our leading lady. And he has been in love with an old family friend for a long time but has never made a move.

The company he owns is also in the process of buying into a small AI company, the Santa Maria team, whom have built a robot – Aji 3. A very human like Artificial Intelligent robot. He wants to test the robot and asks if he can see how she works, which is how the story begins.

If you do not fall in love with his beautiful smile and cute little ways, then well, I don’t know what, because he is fricking adorable. Every time he looks and smiles at Aji-3, oh my heart!😍

Chae Soo-bin as Jo Ji – ah and Aji 3

Leading lady Chae Soo-bin plays not one but two very exciting and interesting characters. She brings a real spark and sassiness to the robot Aji 3 – which does take a bit of suspended belief to accept that Min-kyu falls for the ruse – but if you can get over this then Soo-bin plays the part beautifully. In her main role as Ji-ah, I love her, I really do. She has this unique quality which makes her a perfect combination of adorable, sassy, interesting, hardworking and passionate.

Ji-ah lives with her brother, his heavily pregnant wife and niece as she lost her dad in her teens. She is an aspiring inventor and entrepreneur. She has made a fair few inventions but unfortunately none of them has ever taken off. Her brother at first does not seem very supportive and seems to heavily criticise her life choices. She seems to have a few various part time jobs but is on the whole a really happy and kind character. If you don’t fall for her, almost instantly you may be watching the wrong series.

One of her part time jobs, is buying rare and collectible items for people. This is how she first runs into Min-kyu, and their first meeting although memorable in some ways, is not a great start.

She is also linked to the Santa Maria team through the head professor, as he is her ex boyfriend, and he is how she is pulled into pretending to be a robot.

Santa Maria Team

consists of:

Um Ki-joon as Hong Baek-kyun. Ji-ah’s ex boyfriend and world renowned but shamed robotics professor and leader of the team. At first, I couldn’t see any potential in his character and was a little bored of him, but as the series got going, I loved how they didn’t necessarily go for the straight forward lead / second lead fights for girl. Baek-kyun genuinely wants to know how and why things went wrong with his relationship. He’s also very sweet and the more I watched, the more i realised my initial opinion of him was off.

Park Se-wan as “Pi” Angela Jin. I think she is the second in command in the team, she is highly intelligent and appears to have a lot of control over the team, making sure they stay on point and focused etc. Blatantly, and this isn’t really a spoiler as you’d have to be blind not to see it straight away, she is in love with Baek-hyun. The best part is she knows he still has feelings for Ji-ah, but she doesn’t act jealous, she doesn’t dislike Ji-ah or Baek-hyun for this though, she accepts this and does her best at work and is there for the professor regardless. She’s a really good feminine but in control of her life character.

Song Jae-ryong as “Hoktal” Kang Dong-won and Kim Min-kyu as “Ssanip” Eddie Park. I feel like these two definitely need to be talked about together, there is definite bromance going on here, and I am here for it. They’re super geeky, but super adorable. I believe they are the “comedy relief” in the series, although later on they do have some beautiful scenes, that may or may not have made me cry, a little bit. Both single, hardworking professors in robotics, they have their own little quirks they have “input” into Aji-3, which make her more human, and make these two so sweet and cute.

Secondary Characters: 

Um Hyo-sup as Doctor Oh. Min-kyu doctor who has been treating him for the last 15 years, trying to help control and eventually, hopefully beat the allergy. He also seems quite close to Min-kyu.

Kim Ha-kyun [ko] as Butler Sung. Min-kyu butler and well at the beginning of the show, if you don’t accept the robot hoover as a friend, his companion and friend.

Seo Dong-won [ko] as Jo Jin-bae. Ji-ahs brother and I am not 100% sure what he does, but he also works for Min-kyu and seems important to him.

Lee Min-ji as Sun-hye. Ji-ahs best friend and she owns a coffee shop where the Santa Maria team starts to spend a lot of time at. May also be a romantic interest to some of the characters.

Yoon So-mi as Hong-ju. Jin-baes wife, Ji-ahs best friend from school and is currently heavily pregnant.

Lee Han-seo [ko] as Jo Dong-hyun (8 years old). Jin-bae and Hong-ju’s wife, Ji-ahs adorable and very perceptive niece. Also suffers with some allergies, although not as severe as human allergy.

The Bad

Son Byong-ho as Hwang Do-won

President of KM financial, the company Min-Kyu is director of. He is the father of the CEO of the company Yoo-chul, whom was also the best friend of Min-kyu growing up. in think the families all would have been close growing up. As with all dramas, he isn’t happy with what he has and inevitably wants more.

Lee Hae-young [ko] as Mr. Yoon.

KM groups maaging director. He is definitely up to something, You can tell from the get go! All I need to say. He just looks suspicious. 🙂

The On the Fence

Kang Ki-young as Hwang Yoo-chul.

KM groups CEO, childhood best friend of Min-Kyu. He doesn’t look like a bad guy, and I get the feeling he doesn’t want to be part of the bad guy team, but you never know in a Kdrama, they can surprise you. You will have to watch to find out. Surprisingly, he is a second male lead so will he get the girl??

Lee Byung-joon as Ye Sung-tae.

Founder of the KM group. Father to Re-il, Min-Kyu’s childhood friend, crush and first love. He looks like he could be a bad guy, but seems to get along with Min-Kyu from the beginning.

Hwang Seung-eon as Ye Ri-el.

Re-il is the second leading lady. She is Min-kyus first love, childhood friend and crush and was best friends with both Min-Kyu and Yoo-chul growing up. Second leading ladies often get brushed with the scary, angry, jealous characteristics, but I don’t want to believe she is like this. Again, you will have to watch it to find out. She doesn’t look bad, but as with everything, you never know.

In the end.

Don’t worry I am not about to spoil the ending for you. I think this series is well worth a watch even if you’re not into k-dramas as its a really lovely storyline. It takes a little to accept the robot side of things, and to dispel reality for a bit and accept that anyone would be lonely enough to believe the decidedly human attributes Ji-ah brings to AJi-3 are in fact a robot, but if you can get past this, and accept it all. It is a truly beautiful, romantic and wonderful story. Its all about the characters for me and the chemistry they bring. All the characters in this drama bring something new and different and I absolutely loved following all their little stories, and that is why this is a good  drama. the business side of the story, doesn’t really do it for me, but its tolerable when you get to see the excitement, happiness and chemistry between the characters. Especially the two lead characters, their chemistry and relationship is truly wonderful. I love the actors playing the leads and to see them act together is beautiful.

How he ever believed she was a robot though? Really?

I hope you give this drama, or any drama a go. You will probably lose sleep as it is a common side affect of getting into Kdramas, that you will inevitably try to fit whole series into one night of viewing or you will try to talk yourself into thinking you can fit two more hour ling episodes into the next half an hour and still wake up at 7am to go to work. But k-dramas are just a really enjoyable way to spend some spare time.

5/5 finger hearts

I am giving it 5 finger hearts because its a really cute drama and the leads make it even more compelling viewing! They are definitely one of OTP’s!

Enjoy! Drop your comments below, have you watched I’m not a Robot? what’s your thoughts? Any recommendations?

See you soon, K-Drama fans!

Butterfly Child (Tina T)

    **KDrama Review** First drama review - I'm not a Robot - I really enjoyed this show! I hope you like my review! But check out the show #kdrama #koreandrama #neflixandchill Welcome to my first Drama review - I have been watching Kdramas for a few years now but never thought to review them but I love them so much I want to share my insight.

[asiandramastoke]

Synopsis:

Joo Joong Won is the stingy and greedy CEO of Kingdom, a conglomerate that includes a major department store and hotel. He meets the gloomy Tae Gong Shil, who started seeing ghosts after an accident. Their lives take a new turn as they work together to deal with the terror and sadness brought about by the spirits, while delving into a kidnapping incident in Joong Won’s past. And unknowingly, they fell in love with each other.

Excerpted from: My Dramalist

Words from Me:

The Hong Sisters outdid themselves, again. For a creepy-horror-romcom-drama genre, Master’s Sun was awesome. I am not crazy on horror themed shows but horror mixed with comedy and romantic scenes? I’m sure I have a huge space for something like that to fit into my scheduled drama watching. Truth be told, I am not a So Ji Sub or Gong Hyo Jin fan. I only watched this because of a friend’s recommendation and out of sheer curiosity, then after checking it out, this is what I get: Pure satisfaction for the year of 2013. That year’s drama season had a lot of good drama’s to offer. I can’t believe they are making good Kdrama’s again after the drama slump from 2012.

This drama’s story line isn’t very original, however the characters are very interesting and although plot lines are freaking full of cliches as what the Hong Sister’s usually do with their drama’s… the heck! It doesn’t matter because they use all cliche stuff in their full potential. Episode 1 was a strong entry for this drama and as for a sucker of romcom, it hooked me so much I had to watch episode per episode, week by week. Which is very unusual of me because I usually watch a drama when it’s done airing and all episode/subtitles are out. The last time I did that was when Hana Yori Dango was aired in Japan and that was the year 2007! So this drama is dear to my heart because I felt the potential from episode 1 and it never disappointed me until episode 16. However that specific episode sort of felt like a filler that’s why I had to rate it an over all of 9/10. BUT! Episode 17 made up for it so their’s no point in worrying for just one episode.

The characters were very solid, I loved the mannerism Ji-sub came up for his character Joo Joong-won. He had that hand gestures which I find rather appealing for the type of guy he was portraying. An egoistic rich guy who cares less as for whatever happens in the world as long as he gets his money, he’s okay with everything else. Though he’s like this, he has a weakness and that’s dyslexia. He couldn’t even read his name but that doesn’t mean he can’t function as a big time boss, because he still could. There’s a reason behind his problem and that’s something to look forward to in this drama.  Then there’s Gong Hyo-jin, she was very convincing and really catchy as Tae Gong-shil nicknamed Taeyang, the counter part for Joo Joong-won. There’s a good reason why she stuck herself with him like a glue and she also thinks he’s pretty special, that one of a kind person whom she couldn’t get away from not because he’s rich or good looking but because of that specific reason which is a clincher for the show. Without it, there’s no story at all.  I totally love the way Taeyang clings on Joong-won as if her life depends on it, well it actually sort of does. Although within the drama there were sudden shifts in her character. I am not referring to the times she was possessed, I’m talking about when she’s being the strong/angry type of Taeyang and not the seemingly sweet-naive-candy type of Taeyang. There were sudden changes in her character’s attitude and it was pretty annoying because it felt like she was getting out of character. I think I had to find that fault in the writers or director, it was a bit frustrating to see the sudden changes. I think that if her character was the soft one – it has to be consistent all through out. If they were going to make her strong… that personality had to stick-like in what they did to episodes 16 and 17. But when her character shifted to a strong one in around episode 11 then revert to her old self at episode 12, it was a bit confusing. If you get what I mean… and because of that I had to give another 9/10 for the story because the character is based on that.

There were supporting casts that also shined through in this drama and that was Seo In Guk as Kang Woo, he’s the security guy who falls for the weird Taeyang. He’s so cute in this drama because even if he’s trying to act all cool in front of the woman he likes, he also has a weakness and it has something to do with what usually chases after Tae Yang. Then there’s the girl who was full of insecurity even though she’s a popular actress, she hates the fact that she was being compared to Tae Yang when they were younger and her surname doesn’t help because her name is Tae Yi Ryeong which was acted by Kim Yoo Ri. This actress is so pretty and had so much potential that she was able to deliver her character spot on. Her character was someone I could have easily hated and loved at the same time. Lastly there are the two cute kids who live in the same building with Taeyang. I can’t get enough of them because I always enjoy the conversation they have with her. Lee Seung Mo and Lee Seung Joon were portrayed by child actors Lee Do Hyun and Hong Eun Taek. Both children have so much acting skill and they look so natural that I hope they grow up to become popular stars in the future.

Now that being said and done, I have to give compliments for the music, because it was catchy and unforgettable. It’s like nostalgia sticks to the music and as for the re-watch value, I say… HELL YEAH! I am going to watch it over and over again, never mind those ghost infested scenes since they aren’t really scary if I don’t think too much about it. If someone out there is a fan of romcom and of the Hong Sister’s writing style, I am highly recommending this drama. It’s going to be worth it.

  The Master’s Sun (Korean Drama 2013) Synopsis: Joo Joong Won is the stingy and greedy CEO of Kingdom, a conglomerate that includes a major department store and hotel.