Something about 1 Percent

1%의 어떤 것 ‧ Drama ‧ 2016
Completed
MariliT
0 people found this review helpful
Apr 8, 2025
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Interesting idea

Things I liked:

1 The heroine's character. She was smart and assertive most of the time.

2 The progress of their relationship. Although fast it felt real.

3 The romance and the kisses. Not enough but better than in other series. There was chemistry between the leads.

Things I disliked:

1 It took me a while to warm to the actor. I'm not sure I care to watch other series with him, although he's a good actor.

2 I think his character sometimes was great and sometimes overbearing. It was difficult to deal with some scenes and it rubbed me the wrong way.

3 The time it took to find out why she was chosen. I think the story would be better if they spent more time on this.

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Completed
slightexag
0 people found this review helpful
Sep 3, 2025
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

A lot of fun early, pretty decent later on

I'm a sucker for the enemies-to-lovers contract marriage trope and so was predisposed to like this going in. If you've seen that plot before, this has absolutely zero curveballs; it's a well executed version of something very typical. The leads have great chemistry, though it was more interesting when they were still in the early stages and there was tension. FL is so cute, it's ridiculous, and ML is good at playing both jerk and cute in a believable way. Their banter especially early works well, though I felt like when the drama gets really serious towards the end, it's not as engaging. The external conflict is the typical chaebol stuff (petty aunt, competition over inheritance, ex-fiance, sick patriarch, house break-in, etc). This is such an old drama I'm willing to give a bit of a pass for all the cliches. However, several of these conflict points are pretty weak, like the aunt, the cousin who oozes 2ML vibes, and the ridiculous ex who has a one-track mind over ML for no reason whatsoever. The main romance is cute, even if there's a bit of boundary crossing and emotional immaturity throughout.

One thing that persistently annoyed me through this is how pushy ML is--he literally drags her everywhere, grabs her arm, uses his body to block her path, gets jealous whenever she talks to literally any man, forces her to do things she doesn't want to do, etc. I know he's supposed to be the arrogant jerk kind of character, but there's a lot of toxic stuff that happens between them that the drama does not treat as toxic, but rather normalizes.

Still, when they're flirting, I found myself smiling every time and since that is the dominant appeal of this and it lands, I'm more willing to be lenient in my score than otherwise. The leads won me over and the other stuff is just okay.

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Completed
vivee
0 people found this review helpful
May 20, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

Touching Warm Romantic Story

I watched this series multiple times. There were things in the story that really bothered me, but overall the positives outweighed the negatives.
What I like:
- sincerity and the good-nature personality of the FL. I could sense how ML was falling for her
- FL's responses to the love rival was gold and not the typical K-drama reactions
- SML was not evil and ended up with the best friend
- ML being honest in the end of what married life would be like for her
- Sweet kisses

Cons:
- the skinship in the beginning was bothering me because at that time it wasn't clear yet that they liked each other. So it felt like ML was taking advantage of the FL . I don't understand how they could said they would date "seriously" while also putting a time limit. Time limit negates any type of "seriousness" in the relationship.
- I really appreciated ML's honesty in outlining the challenges in being his wife, and yet I felt after the wedding the opposite situations of those challenges were shown (for example we didn't get to see her spending a lot of time alone, surrounded by bodyguards, etc.)

Overall, still love it, and would re-watch many more times I'm sure in the future.

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Completed
JanuaryWonder
0 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2017
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
LOVED this, after seeing Scarlet Heart: Ryeo I really needed something on the easy side, and got way more than I bargain for with 1%. The leading lady was wonderfully contemporary and behaved like an adult, and Ha Seok-Jin is just GORGEOUS (and, more to the point, I loved his acting). It was whimsical, short-but-sweet and there wasn't too much unnecessary drama and plot-twists. Loved this to bits.
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Completed
Taraleeha
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 24, 2018
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 10
I never thought I would give this high rating to a drama which has every single thing in the storyline that a cliche storyline could have! It has rich guy-middleclass girl dilemma, it has arrogant guy – sweet girl conflict, it has contract dating and what not in its storyline. Yet I couldn’t but fall in love with this drama; just like the protagonists fall for each other in this drama!
I was randomly checking out youtube videoes when the first scene of the 4th episode of this drama caught my attention. I got hooked up in no time and finished this within two days. So what made me fall for this drama? Well, here are valid points:
1. The drama is pretty short. Even though it is a 16 episodes drama, each episode is of around 30 minutes. Because the drama is not lengthy, I didn’t lose patience while following the cliche storyline.

2. Usually, in pure romance based drama, the female lead is either pretty crybaby or pretty rebellious, pretty rebellious in the sense that they show a tendency to overreact in even normal situations. In this drama, the female lead is pretty well-balanced in term of showing kindness, sweetness and her rebel side.

3. In this drama, there is no unnecessary misunderstanding to annoy the audience. In pure romance based drama, there is a tendency to create misunderstanding between the leads which misunderstanding can easily be sorted out by a simple text or phone call. In this drama, the two leads maintain communication despite having their busy schedules and sort out misunderstandings.

4. In most Korean dramas, the way how female lead falls for male lead is pretty abrupt, as if one fine morning the female lead decided that she loved the male lead. Here, the creative team has come up with an awesome dialogue to validate this emotional transition, which dialogue is now one of my favorite quotes, “Suppose, there is this person with 99 good traits but he has one bad trait. You’ll come to detest him eventually over that one bad trait no matter what he does. But there is this other person with 99 bad traits and one good trait. if that one good trait catches your attention, that’s what you’ll fall for; because that’s his charm!” So true and simply explains why people often fall for one with traits which they hate normally.

Jun So Min has a pretty innocent look which perfectly complements the character of the female lead she has played here. Her co-star, Ha Suk Jin stated in an interview that Jun So Min’s real personality also resembles the female lead character of this drama which explains her natural acting. As for Ha Suk Jin, I’ve come to know of him for the first time through this drama and simply loved him. His acting is so natural, specially his smile.

If I’m asked to figure one negative aspect of this drama, I would point finger at the acting skill of the actor who has played the role of the grandpa here. He simply overacts and it feels pretty obvious that he is ‘acting’. I felt Sung Dong II would be the best option for this role.

In a nutshell, if you are tired of over-drama in dramas tagged with ‘melodrama’ genre or if you’re looking for something light, refreshing to lighten up your mood after being done with a twisted, complicated drama, then ‘Something About 1 Percent’ would be a good pick.

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Dropped 16/16
Kia katty
0 people found this review helpful
Jul 29, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 7.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

Watch on your own risk

Drama is cute and simple but not captivating...storyline is basic....acting is gud ....if you don't have anything to watch you can go for this.....I liked the FL more than ML she is cute, outgoing, stubborn...her innocence is the most adorable thing to see. The ML is typical rich heir who have his way in this drama....I think their chemistry was bit awkward as if they have been forced....there was no natural love present...At the end I felt like stopping...it's not that interesting...but still you can give this drama a chance
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Completed
PHope
1 people found this review helpful
Jun 5, 2017
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 2.5
In this drama, everything that is considered romantic happens. It's like a mush up of all the rom coms that there are out there, well, short of. Fortunately, the couple had some chemistry and that worked out for their favour. The whole contract, business relationship was a bit awkward, as well as the "class gap" between them that both characters loved to constantly remind us. Some of the twists of the story were corny as well, but, like I mentioned previously, the couple had chemistry. Plus, the romantic tension between them was there, and they didn't fear to kiss or hug, when many dramas leave you with just a kiss to seal the whole romantic relationship. Other than that, it was a cute drama, though it was very obvious. So, 3.5 out of 10.

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Completed
VinayakBhatt
1 people found this review helpful
Feb 15, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 10
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers

Story

Something About 1 Percent (also known as 1% of Anything) is a 2016 South Korean romantic comedy that takes a classic "fake relationship" trope and injects it with a healthy dose of humor, family drama, and heartwarming moments. Buckle up for a review of this charming series!

The Plot:

Lee Jae-in, the arrogant grandson of a wealthy conglomerate, needs to get married to inherit his grandfather's fortune. Enter Kim Da-hyun, a kind-hearted elementary school teacher who becomes the unlikely candidate for a six-month contract marriage. As they navigate their pretend romance, sparks fly, secrets unfold, and both must confront their true feelings.

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Ongoing 13/16
S Q
0 people found this review helpful
Jun 15, 2023
13 of 16 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 6.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.0

mediocre and boring

The male leads are ok, but the FL is quite unappealing, trying too hard to be funny and acting like a kid. Fake, in my opinion. Hardly any chemistry between the leads. The plot is hardly there, just some boring love dates. Very cliche while pretending not to be.
The teacher FL is a kind of Mother Theresa, all the cast is there to admire and adore her. Her "teaching" means playing with primary school kids - once in a blue moon - while also tutoring in Math? Her parents oppose the marriage because the guy is RICH? Puhhhleasee spare me the nonsense! I really dont wanna see a mature intellectual woman pouting like a baby all the time and pretending to be cute while doing so. She is not even pretty with those exophthalmic eyes (sorry, no offense intended for those with this condition!).
Reviews keep saying that the FL is a strong woman. How is she strong if she needs to be saved from thieves or whatever and "feeling safe" at the ML's house? Same ML that spends a lot of money on her...
Also the supposedly rich, arrogant, overbearing, PLAYER ML seems to not have seen another woman before, the development between the leads is more or less ignored. The ML must be seeing another movie than us, his actions are full of lust towards this plain, prude woman like he is just back from the army. I really cannot...
A romcom as enjoyable as an old pair of slippers.

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Dropped 5/16
ammmz
6 people found this review helpful
Aug 13, 2019
5 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 1.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 3.5
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.5

a hilarious satire about what happens when you encounter rich people

i have tried with this drama multiple times and my review is mostly because, for some odd reason, the majority of the comments in feedback over this deservedly not well known trainwreck is positive. it was only when i was bored and heard praise of it either here or on DB or both that i started it and one out of a bunch of comments no an aggregate streaming site mentioned how horrendous this is. and the emphasized like truly horrendous, more than usual, and that's some pretty big bouts of being horrendous if you have seen a romcom ever.

that did not prepare me for the absolute insanity that i would try to witness

story?

a teacher who has a cute disposition and fun personality meets a nameless rich man who decides the second he meets her that he is now her abuser and she's like "well alright you got money tho right?"

when i say that this man is out of his mind he is out of his everloving mind. i'm fuzzy on the details but i'm sure he is a great poster child for what a man with extreme narcissism looks like. this came out in 2016 and it is more misogynist, insulting, sexist, patriarchal, horrendous in merging the content, characters, and production than two of the worst dramas i can remember existing with these issues which is "Pasta" and "Lovely Kim Sam Soon"

i was not the person i was when i watched this, not by a long shot, so for past me who was an avid fan of romcoms and was until around early 2017 so i have witnessed some bullshit that i don't like and now think EXTREMELY differently about even more now could. not. sit. through. this. LKSS was one of the most jarring examples i saw especially because of the physicality and Pasta with the verbal and psychological abuse

but this man? this man?

the thing is, it could be way less worse than i remember (it isn't) but it's the deception of the show that gets to me and then the interpretation of it and the "romantic" aspects and praise. this dude is terrible.

you like her in the beginning because she's very likeable but the show has a conservative tone to it in the palette and just in general and it's based on a novel made into a kdrama and this is a remake. lemme just try and speed this up

you think it's cute and you like her so ur trying to deal with this insufferable thumb looking motherfucker (the actor as his character i'm calling ugly not the actor himself, ya feel?) and then you're just like wait why am i dealing with this dumb bitch too? she agrees to things and we have to find out that she's so altruistic and doesn't care about money which go off but not in the fun anti capitalist way but in the way that women get to just stand there and be moved around. every woman in this show has to be taken down a peg or two and then on top of that they want us to be feel bad for this narcissistic man child because he had a bad childhood or whatever.

i'm gonna say that 99.999999% of the time parents are in the wrong and children get screwed over but i would hate him too if that were my son. she saw the evil in him early (i think it was his mom? anyway who cares a woman ruined his life) and so now he hates every single women he encounters especially ones he wants to have sex with which is another accurate portrayal so word

for some odd reason though they look the same age he is 6 years older than her which doesn't help the story at ALL and shows me that this is basically a wattpad story. men are fucking everywhere and tho her best friend is a woman bc he literally forbids her from havingg any male friends but also friends in gen lbr they talk about? men

and on top of that these actors hvae chemistry. in another drama it would be lovely to see them but here it gets wasted because he is an abuser, he hates her, he hates everyone, he's so insecure and crazy and she's a dumbass and they always do this where theyll remember women have agency and give a bit of push back but then you remember she agreed to pretend they were getting married and demanded no money even though he's getting money and essentially was like "uh give my school some stuff and this boy i know some help" and he was like "got it so i'm not gonna do that probably and also you cannot talk to that boy that's in our contract now congratulations you now have a dad i mean husband"

it's patriarch city and every time you see them the whole interaction is ruined by the absurdity. before they kiss, even though it's playful, he notices she put back up a poster on the wall of this superfluous (all f them are) dude and the kiss is good but the lead up is u realizing that this man really does not want this woman to live her life like he might murder her if any penis is in her vicinity i think the dog would have to be "female" and i honestly

wish
i was joking

the whole thing is INSANE it is insane and it is so confusing and i know why we see it as romantic but it doesnt serve a purpose anymore and this as a genre is just so lazy and it's unfulfilling. i do not want to see a man treat a grown-ass woman like a fucking toddler and lace that in with sexual chemistry. he honest to god drags her around is very physical, yells, doesnt like anything she likes but then they're cute and kiss then you go through that again and then he's covering her up if she isn't in a nun's outfit but also he's attracted to her but really he wants to control her?

it's weird and it stops being romantic when you realize that you've seen it all before and it's honestly just stifling and abuse when het stories could be more than cisheteronormative garbage and they have the capacity to display that and they waste it by making us watch a grown ass man try and put a blazer on a grown-ass woman bc her shoulders were showing and other eyes saw her IT'S GETTING WEIRD IT'S JUST WEIRD

so be warned sure like romantic i guess but not really and this dude SUCKS that's what ruins it he just sucks. and youhate her for being with him and the world for condoning it and it isn't worth it because it gives us nothing new and the good feelings are constantly ruined so it's a waste of film and time i cannot tell you how this man would have to be put down if this happened to me

anyway if you want 16 eps of 40m of a man abusing a woman he wants to fuck and her being like cool with a very bland palette and victorian esque themes then sure but it isnt warm cute or romantic and he is horrendous and his life should suck more

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Dropped 9/16
8392225
2 people found this review helpful
Jan 28, 2023
9 of 16 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 4.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 4.5
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 3.5
I watched the 2003 version, so FULL of fake/missed kisses (even very good drama can become ridiculous if a passerby must knock or car must loudly pass or flowerpot must fall each time the characters are about to kiss... repeated for the 20th time, it can change the piece's genre) that it made almost sitcom out of it. Else the old version was cute. Didn't really need a remake.

Now. Ha Seok Jin is hot. I noticed him well in 'D-Day'. It's a bit different now that instead of a serious doctor he's a spoiled bussinessman, but... If this beats the old version in the kiss department, then it's not in vain;-)) His partner Jeon So Min can be called many things, "hot" sadly not being one of them. Best example are her eyes. Those eyes remind you of old woman. So, while I appreciate casting Ha Seok Jin in a romance with kiss scenes, his partner I had to kind of tolerate/ignore.

Okay, 1st kiss is far from passionate, LOL. But it comes as early as in episode 4, so there can only be progress. It's cute, how completely unrealistic story this is. In reality, the woman would have ZERO chances with a guy so attractive like Ha Seok Jin. And that's not counting the whole money plot. Epi 5 there's the 2nd kiss, and it's also the little peck kind. The 30 years old woman certainly had no reason to get flustered (I think the original version girl wasn't this old, by the way). The plot is still the same old like 13 years ago. If the woman had no interest in the money or in the guy, she had no reason to fake/date him for 1 single day. Not really.

Main guy first takes main woman on boring dates like classic music concerts or art galleries. Then he has a conversation with his friend about what people should do on dates, and the friend insists on things like going into amusement park, watching a movie together, holding hands, calling each other on a phone at night, or buying flowers. Like any of that is original and less boring, lol.

Best example is when the woman attempts to show up in "sexy" dress. The dress is still quite conservative, it's of kinda beige, unobtrusive colour which underlines the actress' own pallor, yet one guy whistles after seeing her and the main guy tells her that she can't "go around half naked". It's like they don't suppose viewers have eyes. There's nothing much to see on the woman while she's wearing her regular clothes. When she tries to wear "attractive" dress that show more of her, we can see that there's really nothing. That's all. Perhaps that's why they put so many cartoons into the gallery for this drama, lol.

Nevertheless, main guy almost blushes looking at some pictures of her, which looks kind of ridiculous given that Ha Seok Jin is like 34 in this. If he was in his twenties, like the 2003 version guy was, perhaps it would look more understandable. When he misses their date because of a bomb thread in his hotel, she's all sulky, which I would also understand if she was 20, not 30 years old, AND living in today's times when security threads are not looked upon lightly. They have a moody argument like two youngsters would, while it's late at night and both of them have the looks of professionals tired from work. She's supposed to be special person who changes the main guy. After 6 episodes, she doesn't look like it.

Episode 7, there's a hug scene. In a way, it's better than the 2 previous kisses, which looked similar to how he'd kiss a small child. Then they have another date, in a park. Main guy comes dressed in a suit of such style and colour that only the attractiveness of Ha Seok Jin saves it (I'm not even commenting on HER clothes). Seriously, I would "love" to see the costume designer for this drama. Instead of trying to drive attention away from this flaw, the drama flaunts it by the main girl's best friend being a clothing store manager or owner or smth. The people in this drama should better sh*t up about clothes. All that all the characters wear is horrendous. Also main girl repeatedly treats main guy like one of the children in her care (she works in a middle school). It's funny one time, kinda awkward repeated times. She then makes him celebrate his birthday the corny style, and he tells her it's also anniversary of his brother's death. Speaking of awkward. Things get hot for one moment and he plain asks her to kiss him. She doesn't, then when they're parting she gives him a shy peck. It's now 3rd one in a row.

Watching episode 8... It's like watching a story which was supposed to have a different cast. Because these two really don't fit it. The guy is very attractive, but clearly different age than the role. The main girl... well, woman... also looks absurd answering questions of her super worried mother, who is all concerned her daughter is seeing a wealthy guy for a contract. Like she might lose her virginity to some vile rich guy, lol. He appears all moody on her doorstep, feeling neglected (because she didn't answer his text), demanding she at least takes a walk with him... Perhaps this is all adapted from the earlier version where the guy was a youngster (I don't remember it to the detail, it's been a while since I watched the old show). She goes with him, wearing something that looks like a hospital gown... It's all so weird to watch. Not that I'd wish to re-watch the previous version where a simple kiss was a problem, but at least, there one could understand the flaws: that show is DATED. What was going on HERE is beyond me.

And kisses? Episode 8 finally delivers, it happens on the children's playground. The two of them look like they are fighting some early middle-age crisis there though, lol.

Episode 9... I know I should be enjoying myself, but I'm not. I'm bored. I'm not even swooning over Ha Seok Jin anymore. He looks like a thirties daddy already. Perhaps he should be cast in some family comedy, now.

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Completed
Jay noona
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 13, 2017
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
really very cute & superfine drama
although it's a Consumable idea but they made it in a very lovely way
easy, smooth & catchy
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Something about 1 Percent poster

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  • Score: 8.2 (scored by 28,522 users)
  • Ranked: #1724
  • Popularity: #323
  • Watchers: 55,055

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