Nevertheless,

Irresistible Compulsion

Have you ever had an obsession, a craving or an addiction where you know, logically, this is not good for me but the impulse over rides the thought? This drama explores, from the FL point of view, how she becomes ensnared by the handsome ML. The attraction is intense, illogical and all consuming - when she is with him. There is a comment she makes about missing his smell that leads me to think pheromones are in play here.

On the surface Yoo Na Bi, played ably by Han So Hee , is attracted to handsome fellow artist Park Jae Eon (Song Kang whom I loved in Navillera) and he gives the impression he is interested too.

Where the drama gets interesting, for me, is in the psychological disparity between the actors intentions and actions. We learn very little about the motivations of the ML and are privy to the turmoil generated in the FL by her accepting the relationship limits.

Lots of good secondary relationships keep the story padded out in a good way. The 'hot' scenes are passionate and for their age context very realistic. There is some bad behaviour but then these are typical, flawed humans.

I found the drama mesmerising and even agree with the ending.

Read More

It would be a great drama about toxic relationship, if romance wasn't prioritized

A cozy k-drama, filled with beautiful music. A lot of frames were cropped, it was a great idea, I focused more on my own emotions while watching, not actors' facial expressions. They left me puzzled, melancholic, dissapointed, annoyed, thinking what is the true nature of characters' feelings. Scenes with Na Bi's ex were especially catching — his whole face were never seen, only mouth and rarely — his eyes. Drama tells about art students and looks like an art itself, it's pleasant to watch.

At the same time I couldn't help, but be dissapointed in main lead. Yoo Na Bi had everything on her hands, but she trusted her sudden attraction to a guy who never shared enough of himself, was a mystery all along and promised nothing serious (though stepped in when other males showed her attention), who were always busy, but never told what he was busy doing, who told sweet and shallow things. Na Bi's ex was a manipulator, at some point she couldn't stand it anymore, left him, and the next time she fell in love at first sight and fell even deeply when he did nothing, just appeared next to her, touched her, flirted, but kept at arm's length. I was happy to see she didn't roamed much in her previous relationship, but sadly she was just busy thinking about new ones, confused whether Jae Eon likes her or not, they are sex friends or more. This isn't a pleasant feeling and I guessed she would recognize the manipulation, but she liked the feeling of being cherished too much to see through it (again).

She heard a lot about Jae Eon and believed it, the next thing — she sees him and discards her doubts. It's good to criticize what others say, but she didn't have any proof, just couldn't think in his presence. And god, every time she was alone, Jae Eon showed up and touched her. They attended the same university and didn't met before, why he is everywhere now, it's creepy? They talk a lot about fate that brought them together, but in fact he stalked her all the time. And why it's so easy to change her mind? She literaly cut things with Jae Eon (she called him a liar, he changed his number), avoided him and decided they could be friends and work together when she's not over him, all in the same episode.

The guy isn't any better, he wants everything, doesn't feel responsible at all. He comes when he's not wanted, tries to get closer when pushed away. He is stone when talking to guys, but flirt with every girl naturally and can't keep his hands to himself. Na Bi talks with other guys — he's pissed. When they are with friends, he stares at her not blinking, while everybody have fun, when they're alone and she has something to say, he tries to kiss. His selfish 'I missed you' and 'you're beautiful' are nothing romantic, he treats women just like his butterflies he keeps at home with a promise to release them one day.

All their relationship with Na Bi are — he flirts, she is happy, people tell her 'he isn't serious', she feels played, pushes him away, he tells how deeply it hurted him, she is confused till same people tell 'oh, he likes you', and the guy appears again. Repeat 20 times. No development. Somewhere in between they find new possible love interests — and the jealousy machine launches. All main story builds on love triangles and jealousy. Themes like egoism, abuse, friends-with-benefits-relationship are brought up, but in the end it's all about how they see each other with another person and can't live with that.

I am glad I watched the drama too — and a lot. Characters have different personalities, their stories are unique, not boring and they don't exist for the sake of jealousy of Na Bi. Gender isn't something important there — female characters are just as strong as male ones, and they all can love, learn, have fun, suffer. You can change their genders, but stories would be the same. Also it's refreshing to see k-drama where people have sex life not somewhere in the future after marriage (and then they will be embarassed to talk about it); and not all of them seek for relationships. It's strange though how supports (like Bit Na) have their own storyline, but when focus shifts on Na Bi, Bit Na exists just to remind her about Jae Eon. Their friendship doesn't feel real.

Sol and Ji Wan relationship is another great thing. Friends since school, they are expected to face their new reality where Sol have many options both in relationship and studies and eventually cut their ties, but they don't want to lose each other. As time comes, unsaid things pressure their friendship more and more to the point where all they had crushes, and it can't be solved till they talked their fears. Overall supporting cast are way more interesting than the main couple.

To conclude, I believe it would be better, if episode 9 was the last one. Maybe it should've been a web-drama with shortened length too, because many cycles of main relationship only damage the whole picture. Jae Eon changed in the end (it's pretty for his development and cliched at the same time), but Na Bi who took over most of the drama, she stayed the same — and it was reffered as a happy ending. She had many opportunities to change, her desicion to move forward from this relationship would be a more positive outcome.

I think the main problem is not in characters, but rather in the choice of priorities. Na Bi and Jae Eon could be all the things I mentioned - weak and problematic - and be a good portrayal of people stuck in toxic relationship, but in the same row with other couples it seemed like they could have a happy ending too. No matter how often she repeated 'I know it, nevertheless', last episodes make it look like a bittersweet love story.

Read More

why all these haters?

The story is nice and truly realistic. For sure way more realistic than the stories on which are based the 90% of the k-dramas available for the vision, which I find sometimes too much conventional and over-filtered in terms of contents and topics.
That said, I can understand who does not feeel comfortable in watching the show because feeling irritated by some of the characters, but that's it reality. You can make a choice: watching a k-drama because looking for a fairy tale or watching something more real life related, where (surprise!) people is just normal people: can be fragile, boring, messed up, idiot, brilliant. But just normal people. And, in our case, just youths witht their cumbersome luggage for the life filled with fear, enthusiasm, uncertainty, youthness.
Han So-hee perfectly suited for her role. I like her way to act. I'm less positive for Song Kang, instead. Sometimes he looks too much stunned. I liked also the supporting roles and the fact that (very likely because based on a webtoon) sex and thorny topics like homosexuality were included in the show. (Yeah: they're part of the real life too). Very nice the OST

Read More

Couldn't decide whether to root for them or not

Halfway through I wasn't sure how this was going to go and read some reviews which made me worry that it was going to be a depressing, miserable ending in which we pitied the lead woman. But, I actually really liked it. It was a little slow - which was probably when I started checking reviews and wondering if I really wanted to be watching it - but I think it shows people coming to terms with their emotions and figuring them out quite well. That seems to be mostly what's happening. It had a few unanswered questions - I wish they'd answered what exactly one of the person's relationship was with the other at one point rather than keeping that all quite vague.

I liked the first half - not just because it was 'new love' and felt really happy but the second half was less good, and I had to play that one 1.5x speed because I wanted to know what happened but found it was really labouring it and felt very slow. I also couldn't quite decide - maybe like Na-Bi - if I wanted to emotionally invest in the ML & FL in the second half. In that way, I suppose it was pretty effective. I liked seeing Jae-Eon emotionally evolve a little bit, finally.

The other couples, I loved. Especially the GL.

Read More

Art , Romance , Toxic

How can I move on? I found a best tone controlling drama. OST are gorgeous. 10 episodes was too short for this relationship and because of female director, every frame and angles is so aesthetic. casting 박재언 and 유나비 is so flawless. their behind the scenes was cute too. My friend recommend this to me last year but I was busy, now I understand her why she crazy about this drama a lot.

I'm writer and artist. so every time, I love when two characters spend time together likes Jae-on and Nabi in Jae-on workshop or just lay down and drawing each others in Nabi apartment. That's very touched.

Read More

wheres the soljiwan spin-off?

the first half of nevertheless was genuinely promising. i appreciated its willingness to explore unconventional relationships and dive into the realities of toxicity in romance—something most dramas tend to romanticize or avoid altogether. the cinematography was stunning, the pacing felt natural, and there was even a slow-burn lesbian subplot that had so much potential. i was intrigued and hopeful.

but then came the second half, and it felt like a completely different drama. things started to feel rushed, important emotional beats were skipped over, and the plot devolved into tired clichés without any real buildup. the love triangle became the main focus, and the second male lead was not only annoying but also felt entirely irrelevant. the same could be said for some of the side couples, who added little to nothing to the story.

that said, there were a few side couples worth caring about—and i honestly wish more time had been dedicated to them. especially soljiwan. they carried the show, hard. their friends-to-lovers arc was beautifully done, full of quiet yearning, emotional depth, and a refreshing sense of healthiness that the main relationship severely lacked. they deserved more screentime, more intimacy, and more bravery from the writers. honestly, every star i’m giving this show is because of soljiwan. they were the heart of this drama, and without them, there wouldn’t have been much worth watching.

Read More

My first review for a show I do not appreciate.

The kdramas I watch I actually like most of them. This one is my first that I loathe. I think it's nonsensical, the writing is abysmal where our main woman lead is walking around miserable for the last like 4 episodes of a 10 episode series, and she decides to get with the man who made her miserable and says she knows he'll cause her pain but she'll do it anyways. I guess that's supposed to be deep, but... it isn't. Not even slightly.

I love Han Sohee and Song Kang but this wasn't it.

What I will give it props for is basically EVERY other character in this show besides our two leads are pretty enjoyable. I mean all of them, they are all just fun or cooky or interesting.

Read More

Side Characters carry this Drama

I’ve watched this show when it just came out and sort of rewatched it now. I’m saying only sort of because all the scenes of the main couple are a skip for me. It was my first k-drama and when I was watching it I quickly became tired of it and didn’t even realize when it ended because I wasn’t paying attention.

Nevertheless, (haha funny joke) I must say that the two side couples are worth watching it. The lesbian love story was genuinely the only reason I even started watching the show and I think they really did a great job with this one. But while watching the show I also came to love the other love story of the two friends falling in love. They may have been a little toxic and I may only like them this much because friends to lovers is my favorite trope but still it was way more enjoyable to watch than the main couple.

Furthermore, I really dislike the role of the male lead. He’s just a fuckboy and I don’t really fw Song Kang (sorry). Also the female lead is not really giving much personality. However, I really liked the second male lead because he was such a cutie patootie and in general just a really nice guy. I do get why the female lead chose the toxic fuckboy over the cute potato boy because her boring ass life needs a little excitement in it. Also no idea what the whole plot with the other love interest or whatsoever of the male lead was as I said I couldn’t watch any scenes of the main couple.

What I really do have to emphasize tho is the beautiful cinematic of this drama and I also deeply fell in love with the OST. The song “So Tender” literally became one of my favorite songs and all the other songs are also so good. Sadly it doesn’t make the story any better or the main couple more bearable.

As a conclusion I would say if you’re into a toxic love story this drama is definitely for you and if you’re not I would recommend you skip the scenes of them because the side couples are really worth watching.

Read More

Art University Coming of Age Story

I love how the cinematography captures the air and space of the various settings. The best kind breaths life into every shot without overtaking it, it's harmonious in the storytelling with the characters who are at the center of them. The tension and the chemistry between the main characters works really well because beyond just the physical attraction, they are navigating learning about themselves through their interaction with each other. I really love that the women in the series have sexual autonomy and aren't shamed for it nor is it exploitative. Both the women and the men get to be three dimensional people exploring life experiences of young adulthood. I really like how their art major is actually part of the story, they go to class and work on their art projects.

Nabi is pressured into sex by her older boyfriend that is a teacher at an academy and is implied to be a mentor if not her teacher at some point who is also controlling and uses her as his model for an explicit art that depicts her completely exposed in every way during an intimate act with her real name attached to it without her consent or knowledge for any part of it. She finally dumps him when another student clues her in that he's also cheating on her with his other academy students. This is her first relationship and a toxic one that she survived to be more wary. She enters a casual relationship with Jae Eon with eyes open as to his preference of not putting a label on their time together. She is fully aware and she gave it a try with consent. Ultimately she wants wants a relationship that is more concrete. I like that she goes out on a date with the freshman and recognizes while it's the regular feeling she enjoys she doesn't have the spark. It doesn't work out because he immediately chooses the girl he's had a crush on for years. Nabi realizes she's a rebound and it stings. He knew that he was her rebound too though when they went on their movie date and she rejected his kiss by laughing. Her high school bestie has the worst timing of everything, he didn't tell her his feelings because she was already with someone, which could be her creepy older first boyfriend. Maybe if he had confessed earlier, a romantic relationship between them might have had a chance. I like that Nabi comes to life in friendships with people and she has kept that spark despite what she had endured. She is no pushover either, when Seol Ah, one of Jae Eon's ambiguous non girlfriends girlfriends comes to campus to be territorial, Nabi tells her not to cut her hair because Jae Eon likes to do it with the hair tied up, that was spicy.

Jae Eon has always had a distant relationship with women beginning with his own mother who is a successful dancer always on the road. He's effortlessly charming and straightforward, but withholds giving away too much of himself which eventually becomes off putting to them women who were initially attracted to his looks. He's always had an obsession with butterflies, keeping a walkable terrarium of them in his apartment. Both Nabi and especially him are very middle class well off, being able to afford being art students with nice apartments provided to them without the struggle that their female TA has to find affordable living quarters. He first sees Nabi when she's in the agony of public humiliation at the exhibit of her creep ex-boyfriend. By chance he runs into her again at the bar and then at the school that he transferred to from a different major because he's legitimately talented in art. He's by all means attentive to her. He learns that his feelings for her is different that when he's with other people, he can't keep her at a distance, he wants to be with her and wants to put a label on the relationship for her. He's not a perfect guy, his jealously seeing her high school bestie show up near her apartment being the partial reason to lead him to this epiphany. When she's not ready, he does his best to help her to reassemble her final project that was smashed due to a freak accident at school, and tearfully keeps his word to leave her alone. That was a beautifully heart wrenching scene. They run into each other at the final project exhibition long after everyone has left. Jae Eon is there to see their finished work with out bothering her while unknowingly granting her wish to see him again. She acknowledges that there will be pain in their relationship. She doesn't idealize him or their relationship, but she's going to be with him.

While they were the most intense relationship in the show, they are partly mirrored by Bit Na, a free spirited person enjoys friendships with attractive men and casual dating as well who is akin to Jae Eon, so it's ironic that Bit Na was the one initially warning Nabi against him, while Kyu Hyun is like Nabi who wants to be treated as more than just a sex partner. Jae Eon asks Kyu Hyun's perspective to understand more of Nabi's point of view. While it's fair that he deserves to be treated better than just for sex, the show could have done a better job showing that he's not in the right to tamp down the rest of her personality. The relationship of the the TAs were very typical kdrama fare with co-habitation to development of romantic feelings. The lesbian storyline with the best friends to lover relationship would have been great if they had gotten even a measly romantic kiss. I really like that their gender was never in question and their realization was developed organically. They should have gotten that kdrama kiss.

Read More

yeah....

nevertheless, i actually liked it.when this drama was airing i heard so many bad opinions, about the project in general and the characters/relationship. i watched the first episodes and then dropped it because i wanted to prioritize others dramas that i liked more, but than this year i thought "why not" and i enjoyed it, the acting its really good with all the actors and actress, the cast is good and the couples matched perfectly, they all had the chemistry needed. but there some things that i didn't liked, obsviously.of course all the couples had their problems, ji wan was incredibly dependant emotionally on sol, so much that it was annoying. it's ok to like someone like she liked sol, but she didn't want sol to live like a normal person, having other friends besides her, going in places without her like GURL what the hell, your friend/lover have a LIVE, she wanted sol to live for her and in any point the drama talked about this.well, so going further to the other couple, bit na and the bald guy, i hate her chatacter, i hated her personality, she was arrogant, greedy and didn't like gyung hun for what he was, she just wanted to go back with him because she saw she was losing him for good and i bet, people like her (and like jae eon) they don't change, its really hard for a person like them change so fast like they tried to show on this drama. and going to the our main couple, i liked their chemistry and i liked both of them, but not together and not as a couple. i couldn't be mad a na bi for once because i'm a borderline person, so i can't judge her for her attitudes, i did the same as her so many times, with so many boys, i put myself in so many ridiculous relationships because of my problem. i really did envolve myself with guys like jae eon, some worse than him so i saw myself on her so many times. it was really annoying seeing how he manipulates her so she would feel wrong to treat him the way he needs to be treated at (like the time she "broke up" w/ him) and the times the story makes us feel pity for him when he starts to "really" like her and notice that HE was wrong all the time, but like i said, people like him, guys or girls like him doesn't change quickly like they tried to show on the story. or not. because until the end she says "i'll regret being with you, but i'll still do", she knew that, she was aware of that but the lack of self love it was her ending, when someone with this lack of love like she has and i do meet someones that doesn't want to envolve themselves in a relationship and just want to hang out with everyone, this happens. jae eon was romanticized by her the whole time, she knew but couldn't get out of their relationship because she was traumatized by her last relationship, a toxic one, and she put herself in another toxic guy, because when u get out of one, its so easy to put yourself in another closed to the last, so yeah, i couldn't blame her.and what i liked the most about this k-drama was not just the aesthetic pleasantly sets, places and the art, but how realistic the drama is, even hating some characters sometimes, the relationships, the friendships and everything was so real, i saw their groupd of friends, their personalities, the bad things they do and i can see clearly my coleagues, my friends. thats the world, the yound adult world. so yeah, i liked the drama for that and i don't recommend to everyone. and besides everything i think its so easy to romanticize jae eon chatacter because of song kang, its a good looking guy (that hardly you'll meet in your real life hahah but yeah...). so 7/10 because the production is good, the cinematography is so good, the art, the aesthetic and everything about it was cool to watch :) and the OST is amazing, definitely going to listen day by day.

Read More

Nevertheless, : 11/28/2022 - 12/01/2022

This is probably one of my favorite Kdramas even though the relationship itself is very toxic. It shows what love can look like in a realistic sense, and while things are still dramatized it feel more real compared to other dramas. Especially love during college, when people are young and still trying to figure out who they are. Many people aren't ready to settle down which leads to other getting hurt, it not all sunshine and rainbows. I also like the ending because while the 2ML was the better choice in the sense he treated her better, you can't control who you love and so sometimes you will choose the one people may not agree with. However, this is the person you love so you will do what you need to make it work.

Read More

a story that leads nowhere

the drama's story is not the best, but it could be a lot better if the script was better. the main couple (nabi and jae-eon) are literally the most boring characters, even so the side characters have more charm than them. nabi, initially, looks sane and all, but she's just SO confusing. to the point she looks kind of dumb, really dumb. she says to herself that she will not fall into jae-eon's tricks and later she changes her mind when he kisses her. there is no reason to why she likes him, he literally does something nice for her sometimes and that's it. his character is really annoying and touched her all the time, even when they just met, and it was a bit hard to watch them together because she looked too shy and uncomfortable. she knows that he's not committing to any closed relationship and it's sad about it, she knows he can't make her happy and still decides to stay with him at the end. he did a lot of bad decisions throughout the drama and said some manipulative things as well. at some point the two were unbearable to watch, they had no chemistry besides their physical attraction to each other. she just likes him because she finds him attractive, even though he's kind of a jerk and has no personality (except his quirky character trait of liking butterflies). she rarely looked really happy when she was with him, always with a distressed expression worrying if he's worth it. i don't understand the point in dating someone if you'll be worrying if they're a good person or not all the time and doubting them.
the good part of the show is the side characters. they have interesting and dynamic personalities that go well together and creates great chemistry. bit-na is very outgoing and social, she knows everyone. sometimes she was annoying but it's normal to have some defects. her actress made a good job incorporating the character. her boyfriend was ok too and they looked cute together (mainly towards the end). now, sol and jiwan; they're the best couple in the show, in my opinion. they're really cute and they seem really close (the actresses had so much chemistry and it didn't looked forced at all). their relationship is simple and adorable, and i liked pretty much every dialogue they had. sol was cute in every scene, her character is chill and she looked really natural all the time; she was kind of oblivious but it was cute. jiwan could be annoying sometimes but it's just the way she is, and she's really funny; sol likes her this way. their way of showing affection had me crying. sol is very subtle and kind, but she was always thinking about jiwan and doing something nice for her, even if it seemed small (getting her a plush of the character she likes, getting her candy, wrapping her with the blanket on a restaurant). she was just naturally attentive towards her. jiwan was always leaning towards her, too; but she showed it hugging sol and always taking care of her (even if it didn't look like it), she was easily jealous too but it was because she didn't know how to deal with her feelings for sol at first and was confused about it.
the other couples are fine too, the couple with the ones who both had glasses were so funny and really seemed like they were married. they had more chemistry and personality than the main leads.
to sumn-up, this drama was very hard to watch when the main characters were together on screen. it just got boring and they never had a great dialogue whatsoever. but when the side characters were on screen, it was very light-hearted and nice. do-hyeok and the other guy who also liked nabi were cute and they should've ended up with her, she was not as boring as she was with jae-eon.
also, towards the end, when jae-eon free his butterflies, i thought it would be a metaphor for him leaving nabi alone and acknowledging that he's not the best partner for her. but it was not and it was really just meaningless. the message of the drama is "even if someone is not making any good for you and actually making your life worse, if the person is attractive, it's ok" and nabi's life went downhill when she got to know him.

— story: 3/10; bad storyline that leads nowhere, really repetitive.

— acting: 7/10; it's good but didn't stood out that much.

— music: 3/10; really plain.

— rewatch value: 3/10; thanks to soljiwan moments.

Read More