Love Alarm

Love Alarm - worth watching?

I did not see this drama in 2019. When I noticed it on Netflix in April 2021 and that it had only 8 episodes, that made me motivated enough because it means I could probably watch the whole thing in 2 days. Not to mention that I have this great interest in teenage love dramas. I’ve already seen Kim So Hyun in other dramas, including River Where The Moon Rises, which was still ongoing. I also saw Song Kang in Navillera, also still ongoing. So I thought, this drama must be a good one since I like both of their acting.

I read both good and bad reviews about this drama, but never mind, I’ll just watch it anyway. So in the first episode we are introduced to this cool phone application called Love Alarm, where you get notified if someone within a 10-meter radius likes you. Then we get to know three students, Kim Jojo, Hwang Sun-Oh and Lee Hye-Yeong who goes to the same school, and as you could probably guess, would get caught in a love triangle.

There were so many questions in my mind about the three of them. Jojo seems to have gone through a traumatic childhood, which I never understood exactly, until I got the answer in episode 6 of Season 2. Hye-Yeong as we know is childhood buddy of Sun-Oh, the son of a wealthy politician and beautiful actress. We then understand that Sun-Oh has a dysfunctional family, with self-centered parents who can only care about their public image.

Then we get to know that Hye Yeong’s mother works in their mansion, more like a head housekeeper, and so basically they live in the same house, but different quarters, but not much do we know about the family background (until Season 2)

I have seen some Song Kang’s temper tantrums as Chae-rok in Navillera, where he still remains to be a good boy, but the character Sun-oh in this drama was so unbearable to me. Sun-Oh was a rich, good-looking guy but he was also arrogant, conceited and somewhat bossy, as if the world revolves around him. He was annoyed that Hey-Yeong did not pick him up at the airport when he returned from the US. He also didn’t approve Hye-Yeong working part-time in a restaurant, because he wants Hye-Yeong to spend more time with him.

What I found also really annoying was he even stalked and kissed Jojo, whom he barely knew, and he already knew that she was Hye-Yeong's object of affection. How could you do this to your very best friend? But then again, I thought, this is a teenage romance drama. You do all sorts of stupid stuff when you were young and immature, and this was part of growing up. So I thought this would be the core of the story, a love triangle among Jojo, Sun-Oh and Hye-Yeong.

The script was a bit disappointing though, and sometimes confusing. We keep on seeing the same flashbacks of Jojo’s childhood, but as each episode continues, we still don’t get a grip on what was going on. Jojo’s cousin, Gul-mi (another annoying character) kept on mentioning about what happened in Jeju with her parents, and even threatened to tell people about it. Still we never understood what happened, and surprisingly, I was not that curious.

Anyway, Love Alarm showed the usual ingredients for teenage drama: love triangles, unrequited love, school bullying, family matters, and the ups and downs of friendship. This was illustrated using the usual K-drama formula, but there were more serious issues on the dark side which were touched briefly, such as school bullying, homosexuality (or more likely gay bullying), suicide (and mass suicide), murder and data privacy.

So how would I rate this drama? I think the acting was superb, but the script needed more substance. I don’t even know what it is, but it seemed like it could be done better. I must say I do like the soundtrack songs (some were in English) and might google to find them after this.

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No

Just No.

What is this? Was it written by amateurs or were the actors that bad? I'm definitely sure the concept of this drama is unique and promising.
What the...hell. It is one of those dramas that you have to immediately drop before any more precious moments of your life are lost watching this boring masterclass of a drama.
Why does it feel like they didn't match the theme with the directing?
For the first 40 minutes of the show that I managed to watch, I felt I was watching a "movie" because of the cinematography. Extremely slow paced and totally no harmony between the "love alarm" and the totality of the shots with the music.
And most importantly...the characters. God please make them actual characters....they totally feel shallow and artificial.

Just what were they trying to do here? Were the screen-writers, directors or producers too ambitious? Was it the "realistic" shallow acting? Was it the slow paced direction?

I don't know, and defining it won't change the fact that this drama exists. I wish rookie directors and writers will look at the first episode of this drama, as a guide on "How to NOT make Good Dramas". At least it will serve a purpose....

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This One Was ...... Different

This isn't your typical drama.

As I watched this, I wondered how much of the Webtoon story the Producers and Writers retain for the Drama because the story has some definite problematic issues.

Song Kang probably had a hard time portraying this character and I do not for one bit fault his acting. Sun-oh was ...different, pushy in a way that can be a turn-off. Buuuuut, I didn't hate him, and that's probably why this drama gets an Overall 8 for me. I was still rooting for their relationship with Kim Jojo. I thought Jojo did not have a legit reason for the breakup...I mean for the level of heartbreak involved, hers was too flimsy a reason. Otherwise, this drama drew me in completely. I am glad I waited for both Season 1 and 2 to air before starting because I do not know how I could have endured the wait.

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Aburrido como ninguno

Me pareció algo aburrido por lo que no pude entender su gran éxito y aceptación por el público en un principio, hasta que vi la segunda temporada.

Aunque le tengo cierto cariño a este drama -pues no se puede negar que la trama basada en la app es de lo más genial e innovador- la verdad es que ni siquiera recuerdo haberlo disfrutado, sin embargo la segunda temporada me gustó tanto que estoy dispuesta a ver nuevamente todo el drama a ver si cambia mi percepción de la primera temporada. Por lo que si estás dispuesto a ver 8 capítulos no tan buenos (por no decir super aburridos) de la primera temporada, para luego ver 6 capítulos buenísimos de la segunda temporada, te lo recomiendo, pues los últimos 6 capítulos valen la pena (por lo menos para mi) y después de todo, para ver la 2da temporada, 1ero necesitas ver la 1era.

Sinceramente, para mi, la 1era temporada cobra sentido con la 2da, la 1era temporada sola (sin la 2da parte) no tiene sentido, es casi una pérdida de tiempo, por lo que si llego a cambiar mi opinión de la 1era temporada al volverla a ver (lo cual dudo mucho porque realmente me aburrió) es definitivamente gracias a la segunda temporada.

Nunca me gustó Sun Oh (me cae muy mal) así que soy team Lee Hye Yeong.

P.D: no entiendo la comparación con True Beauty, Belleza Verdadera es otro nivel.

Por cierto, si te gusta la comedia (como a mi), probablemente este drama no sea para ti, pues Love Alarm no es ni lo más mínimamente cómico, y talvez es por eso que se me hizo tan aburrido a pesar de ser un drama bastante corto.

Enserio tenía altas expectativas, todo el mundo habla de este drama, me quede muy decepcionada, es uno de los dramas más aburridos y peores que he visto.

Lo vi todo en un mismo dia y me dió sueño. Love Alarm lo tenía todo para ser un gran drama, algo espectacular, logró mucho éxito, pero no logró ser un gran drama para mi.

No me gustó (entre otras muchas cosas) que a ambos chicos les gustara la protagonista desde antes, o sea, comienza el drama y ya les gusta jojo.

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The first season was good. But...

“If you go by what everyone says about this drama, I wouldn't have watched it. Its story is captivating and throughout the narrative, the characters develop in perfect synchrony. The love triangle that exists, made me ask several times who Jo Jo would be with. But my dorameira heart screamed louder, and for sure, I liked the couple Jo Jo and Sun-Oh better.

I would like to add in this analysis that there were indeed moments when I wanted to put Sun-Oh in a pot, because he is so human and a typical character who respects women, in addition to his way of enduring and waiting for Jo Jo's summer love ( this really is cliché!).

In principle, another character that brought a very good analysis was Jo Jo herself, with her game of coldness and fear of giving her heart to Son-Oh.

Another factor that I have to detail is the use of the application for the purpose of finding 'who loves you' (fictional), which is the main mechanism for the story to revolve, but which, in a way, showed its development and despite everything I liked it . Furthermore, it itself provides a warning and raises questions for the public, such as: - every media or digital world -
"how far does your mind go within technology?" or "Are we influenced by all kinds of data/apps?"

Kisses, bye-bye!!

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Bu diziden çok umutluydum. Harika bir konusu vardı ve bunu mahvetmişler. Konu çok iyi ama konunun iyi olduğu kadar karakterler berbattı, tek iyi ve düzgün karakter diyebileceğim kişi Jojo'nun kuzeni. Onun dışında çekim efektleri ve ortamlar çok iyiydi hatta serinin tek iyi yanı görsel bir şölen olmasıydı. İlk defa bir seride lead erkeği destekledim. Bu seriye arkadaşımın önerisiyle başlamıştım ama sinir olmadan bitirmek mümkün değildi. Müzikler hiç akılda kalıcı değildi güzel de değildi.
Bütün olumsuzluklara rağmen izlemenizi öneririm çünkü zaten kısa bir dizi ama sakin kalabileceğinizi söyleyemem.

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¡Ganas de la siguiente temporada!

Comencé a ver Love Alarm por la tarde y al día siguiente por la mañana ya la tenía terminada. Es un dorama corto y de duración ronda sobre los 50 minutos los capítulos.
La historia me parece real y un reflejo de la sociedad. Puesto desde el punto de vista de una app pero podemos aplicar esos '' A 10 metros hay una persona que te quiere" como un me gusta o mil me gustas en las redes sociales en la realidad. Siempre pendientes de quién tiene más o quien menos, y si han recibido los mismos me gustas en una foto que en otra.
El secreto de Jojo está muy bien llevado a través de los capítulos. En cada uno te van introduciendo poco a poco pistas de lo que les habría pasado a sus padres y cuál había sido su final. Además, los comentarios de su prima te hacen tener más intriga sobre lo ocurrido. Algo negativo de la historia, que realmente no se sabe cuál ha sido el problema que lleva a los padres de Jojo morir. Durante la serie solo dicen los cambios de la madre o las deudas para poder mantener a su hija.
Algo que no he entendido es si Dug-ku se suicidó o no. Porque la escena aparece y se menciona que nunca más se le ha visto, pero a mi me da la sensación de qué es el detractor de la aplicación.
Es un dorama que vería de nuevo sin dudarlo.
Votación negativa a la música, porque ni siquiera he estado atenta. No me ha llamado la atención ninguna.

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J'ai des sentiments très mitigés concernant Love Alarm. Ce n'est pas un mauvais drama mais je ne vois pas ce que les personnes lui trouve de si formidable.

Concernant histoire, l'idée de parler d'une application permettant de connaître les sentiments des autres est effectivement originale. On se questionne sur ce qui est le plus important : aimer l'autre, faire sonner sa love alarm ou les deux ? On voit bien tous les effets secondaires et négatifs que peuvent provoquer cette application. Mais je n'ai pas compris son fonctionnement et la façon dont elle peut réussir à analyser les sentiments des individus, ça reste un mystère. Mais si l'on fait abstraction de l'application, l'histoire reste extrêmement banale. On a un triangle amoureux, une héroïne pauvre et maltraitée qui repousse bêtement son petit ami pour soit disant le protéger alors qu'elle le blesse encore plus. Si le jeu des acteurs n'était pas mauvais, j'ai trouvé l'ambiance du drama très fade et nostalgique. C'était sûrement volontaire mais cela accompagné de flashbacks incessants et de gros moments de creux (voir de vide intersidéral) ont rendu ce drama de seulement 8 épisodes très lent. Ce n'était pas du tout équilibré, des fois tout s'accélérait avant de s'éterniser pour au final tourner en boucle.

La romance ne m'a pas touchée, je n'ai pas vraiment senti d'alchimie entre les deux protagonistes. J'ai cependant aimé la manière dont leur histoire commence : par un baiser. Cela renverse l'idée qu'on n'embrasse la personne qu'après être en couple etc. Ici on prend les choses à contre courant, on cherche l'autre. Pour le reste, à part les trois personnages principaux et la cousine, les autres personnages disparaissent assez vite d'une moitié du drama à l'autre et il n'y a pas de personnages secondaires particulièrement attachants. La réalisation est jolie et épurée.

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Cuando el amor se mide en notificaciones

En un mundo donde una app revela si alguien cerca de ti está enamorado, Kim Jojo, una estudiante con un pasado doloroso, se ve atrapada en un triángulo amoroso entre Hwang Sun-oh, un modelo rico y popular, y Lee Hye-young, su amigo de toda la vida.
🔹 Puntos clave de la trama:
- La app Love Alarm suena si alguien a menos de 10 metros te ama
- Jojo decide instalar un “escudo” que oculta sus sentimientos
- Sun-oh se enamora de Jojo, pero ella se aleja tras un accidente
- Hye-young, enamorado en silencio, intenta conquistarla sin usar la app
- La historia explora cómo la tecnología distorsiona las emociones humanas

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Trama muito bem elaborada e intrigante

Sei que tem pessoas que tem ranço dessa série, mas eu particularmente gostei e muito.
A trama envolta de uma nova rede social e como a sociedade começa a se reestruturar a partir dela, conforme vai crescendo e ganhando importância, é, para dizer o mínimo, fascinante e foi muito bem elaborado.
O romance é o foco da história, o que faz sentido, porque trata-se de um triângulo amoroso e como ele evolui de acordo com esse novo aplicativo de métricas de amor.
Há um claro furo de roteiro na forma como foi elaborada essa nova rede social, o Love Alarm, porque mistura-se o conceito de atração sexual, paixonites e amor sincero. Não sei se foi intencional, mas de qualquer forma é confuso colocar conceitos tão diferentes em um mesmo saco. Isso não dá pra ser ignorado e de fato diminui um pouco a qualidade da história.
Na segunda temporada, a trama ganha ainda mais complexidade devido a uma adaptação de algoritmo e novas funcionalidades e isso influencia diretamente na vida da personagem principal, Kim Jo Jo, que personifica, sem querer, a figura do "bug" do aplicativo. É muito interessante de acompanhar.
Confesso que não gostei de um dos atores principais, o Jung Ga Ram. Mesmo tendo uma boa atuação, ele fica meio ofuscado perto do gigante Song Kang, acho que poderia ser outro gigante, como Ji Chang Wook, Byun Woo Suk ou Nam Joo Hyuk.

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Difícil?

Eu acho que a cultura da Coreia cria jovens fracos emocionalmente, entendam que não é uma crítica destrutiva, quero fazer uma comparação à minha própria vida, onde me sentindo sozinha, totalmente largada, apesar de ter família, precisei ser forte até meu último fio de cabelo e na época, exatamente como a Jojo eu não era ninguém e tive alguém financeiramente bem, bonito, era realmente muita areia pro meu caminhão, mas que se dane, pensei, nem que eu carregue balde por balde a areia era minha, ele me escolheu, ele sabia o que eu vivia, e ainda assim decidiu ficar comigo. Joguei pro alto tudo, a família dele era contra, eu não era "suficiente" para ele me diziam, ele "merecia" coisa melhor. Mas isso foi a nossa força, nos unimos mais, era um pelo outro, com pais narcisistas, juntos saímos de tudo isso, não foi nada fácil, mas já estávamos até o pescoço de lama, o que era dar um mergulho? Aqui no Brasil o número de órfãos de pais vivos é tanto quanto na Coreia, mas nosso instinto de sobrevivência nasce com a gente, você já sai da barriga da tua mãe sabendo que o mundo vai te socar até você aprender a ser gente, na marra. Então Jojo foi covarde, quando ela teve Sun Oh do lado dela, e tenho certeza, que ele iria ao fim do mundo por ela, mas ela escolheu se vitimizar. Vitimismo, a pior posição para um ser humano, vamos dizer que é ponto final da autoestima.

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