DramaHeroine

Updated Review 2023:

I just finished my first re-watch of this drama (and I say first, because I will certainly be re-watching Fated to Love You many more times in the future), and oh my goodness. This drama is even better than I remembered.

I believe I watched this as it aired (probably on Dramafever), but I can't be sure as kisskh had some sort of glitch or something at some point, and a bunch of my completed dramas now show themselves as completed in 2016, this drama included. (I definitely did not watch the number of dramas in 2016 that kisskh says I did.) Regardless, I greatly enjoyed Fated to Love You the first time I watched it, although I had some complaints as well.

I remember finding the amnesia and everything around the Gun's illness after his bout with amnesia to be really frustrating. It was the same old noble idiocy trope all over again, and for what felt like no reason. After re-watching, however, I have completely changed my opinion. I think I (and many other Kdrama lovers) had grown over-tired of amnesia and noble idiocy and forced separation tropes in dramas, and that affected at least my feelings about the drama. But Gun's fear of his illness rearing its ugly head and hurting the ones he loves is a very believable, and understandable, fear. Especially as he experienced that exact thing with his own father. The story also addresses, towards the very end, how his choice to run away was actually the wrong one, and he shouldn't live his life afraid of what might happen but rather enjoy his life in the here and now. So after this re-watch, I have a fuller appreciation for what the drama was doing.

Another big complaint that I've completely 360'd on is my thoughts on Mi Young in the second half of the drama. In my first viewing, second half Mi Young and first half Mi Young felt like totally different characters, and I disliked how different they felt. I LOVED first half Mi Young with all of her tenderheartedness (and super cute fashion sense), and second half Mi Young seemed to have lost that. But re-watching has given me a far better understanding of second half Mi Young, and I have to admit that I was completely off-base before. Jang Na Ra did a truly impressive job with Mi Young, showing this timid, shy, easily pushed around woman who goes through real tragedy and comes out the other side a woman who has been through pain and loss but has also grown exponentially as a person and has not lost any of her kindness despite what she's been through. She's merely gained an inner strength. I'm still sad that her wardrobe became somewhat boring and less colorful, but I guess you can't have everything you want in a drama, lol.

Finally, if you read to the bottom, you'll see in my original (very short) review on this site that I was disappointed by the finale. I now think I was completely bonkers for ever feeling that way. The finale made me happy, happy, happy!

There are only two things, TWO, that I found a little frustrating with this drama in my second viewing. When their marriage contract becomes known to the family and the company's board, Gun doesn't stand up and say 'I made a mistake, and I regret it. I don't want to get divorced anymore. I love Mi Young and want to stay together.' I don't know that there would have been a way for the writers to have him say these things and then make the subsequent amnesia and Gun deciding to let her go due to his own fear make sense, so I recognize, from a writing perspective, why they didn't have him speak up. But it was frustrating to watch him not defend their love.

And lastly, grandma's conspiring in the finale (with Gun's Secretary and faux brother) to get Mi Young pregnant on the honeymoon when Gun expressly told her he wanted them to have 6 months together as newlyweds before they think about kids. The resulting pregnancy didn't end up being upsetting for Gun or Mi Young, but I think grandma had it in her to be patient the 6 months.

I 100% think this is the best version of this drama out of all the versions out there. I'm currently watching the Chinese version (ep. 25 as of this review), and I've seen both the Japanese and the Taiwanese original (the Taiwanese was my first drama). This version did something none of the other versions have done. It put meat on the story's bones. It created livable, breathable characters, a romance with legitimate reasons to root for it, and it didn't give us unnecessary drama but instead gave us real tragedy and heartbreak and real joy and happiness. Fated to Love You is a romance, and a story, worth watching and loving. And I hope everyone does. (Future Edit: I forgot there is another version out there of this story, and I have not seen it, but at this point, I think this version will still be my favorite once watch that version.)

Original Review:
SO. MUCH. BETTER. THAN. THE. ORIGINAL! Complaints? Not as addictive, still suffered from mid-quarter shenanigans (like most dramas), finale episode was weak and disappointing. But overall, a much more satisfying story.

Links to my reviews for the other versions:

https://kisskh.at/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/review/22006

https://kisskh.at/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/75009

https://kisskh.at/profile/OhSoEnthusiastic/reviews/274737

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I have not watched the original Korean drama yet, but I'm glad I watched this version first. If I had watched the original first and loved it, I probably would have been disappointed by this version. This version is nothing more than a middling remake with very little to really recommend itself. As such, I feel pretty secure in the knowledge that I will most likely like the Korean version much better.

This version felt a lot like the Jdrama, Oh! My Boss!, which came out earlier this year. With the same setting of a fashion magazine and the same major sublot of needing to save said magazine from being shut down, it was kind of a redux of what Boss! had already done. And while I don't think Boss! is a particularly great drama, it did this premise better. On the same note, while I ended up not being all that interested in the romance in Boss!, at least it's couple experiences some real level of relationship development. The couple here feels like they're just jumping from story beat to story beat without anything meaningful happening in-between.

It was when the male lead fainted at the end of ep 8 that I was out. It was such strange timing to me, clearly thrown in for a little drama, and I just didn't care. I didn't care about the character's health, I didn't care about the fashion magazine, and my care for the romantic pairing was meager at that point. If I had thought the drama would do something a little creative and let the magazine be shut down, maybe I would watched the last two eps, but I highly doubted that would happen.

If you want to watch a recent Jdrama with the same Fashion Magazine Trying to Survive storyline and don't need it to be something spectacular, watch Oh! My Boss! instead. Or better yet, you could just watch a drama like Pretty Proofreader (Jimi ni Sugoi!) that both features fashion heavily And is stellar drama. A win-win, in my opinion.

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This story is, simply put, magical.

It is not, nor is it meant to be, an accurate depiction of what it's like to live in a mental hospital or have a mental illness. Instead, it looks at those who suffer from mental illness through a kinder, much more gentle lens, presenting their way of seeing the world as simply unique. The story is never disrespectful towards those who suffer with mental illness, and there is an understanding throughout the film that our lead character is never going to leave the hospital, but it is very much a story of joy and hope and even love.

It is in my top ten favorite romantic comedies of All time and on my list of films I believe everyone should see at least once in their lives.

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I wasn't going to write a review for this drama, because I didn't have a lot to say. I dropped it two episodes before the end, because I wasn't enjoying it anymore and it's the kind of generic that if you aren't enjoying it, there's no point in watching it. So I figured I would just leave everyone else to their gleeful enjoyment since the comment section on MDL was overwhelmingly positive and g find something else to watch.

Then I was struck with a sudden craving to finish it, so I pulled it back up on MDL to look through the comments again and maybe get myself a little hyped up, and Wow. It's a good thing I did that, because now my decision to drop it seems like a wise one. I'm also fired up now to write that review I wasn't going to write before, lol.

Upfront, before we get any farther into this review, no, this is not a good drama. It is extremely cliché, and I don't think it necessarily does all of the clichés well. But! It was entertaining for much of it's run, so that kept me around. The thing, the Two things, that ultimately made me stop watching are the male leads behavior and some second lead nonsense that was far more dramatic than it deserved to be.

First things first, I found the male lead to be just way too mean. It starts out fine. He's rude but you can look past it, because there's room for growth in his character. Then it just goes a step too far for me, and I had a hard time not being frustrated with him. And even when our leads get together, the writers still manage to engineer the situation so he Has to continue to be mean or else everyone else in the office will know that they're dating.

Now, It's funny for two characters trying to pretend in front of others that they don't have a relationship to be mildly (or maybe even a little more aggressively than that) rude towards each other as a cover.

It's not funny when one of those characters is really only being their normal self.

So I didn't enjoy that, and if you can't enjoy the main couple, what really Can you enjoy that will make you want to stick around?

This is where the second thing comes in. The second male lead has been nursing a crush on the female lead the entire drama, but he hasn't managed to work up the guts to tell her. This is all pretty sweet and endearing and likable for the most part, even if it is hard at times to feel totally sympathetic for him when he continuously passes up his chances to tell her how he feels. But then he finds out that she's dating the male lead, and instead of the writers treating this like the unrequited Crush that it is where he would have a good sulk for a few days and then move on, instead...

They Hit Him With A Car!

Now, this isn't really your Kdrama truck of doom as we don't see the accident happen, and he has only minor injuries, but good Lord in heaven is this a level of drama that this boy's crush did not deserve. And it ended up being the catalyst for the leads breaking up for no gosh darn good reason too! And this is why I dropped the drama. Because I don't care about this. I was ready for our leads to start just being together for a bit without having to pretend they aren't dating or having one of them talk down to the other. I was ready for some cute romance!

Knowing now how they ended this drama which is a whole thing in and of itself, I don't think I'm going to bother watching the last two episodes. I've got other dramas to watch and not enough time to worry about this one. So goodbye, Monthly Magazine Home! May you find your home elsewhere.

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My drama bent right now is human stories, stories that give you a glimpse into another person's life, their struggles and challenges and relationships, in a way that is both heartwarming and honest. I spent a long time watching almost exclusively Kdramas, and most of the dramas I watched were 1. heavily romanced themed, and 2. certainly not makjang (not if I could help it, anyway) but still often dramatic in some way. I still enjoy dramas like this (I'll always be a lover of the romance genre), but I've begun to appreciate dramas that are more interested in telling realistic stories about realistic people without all the high stakes or added dramatics.

Fight Song definitely fits the realistic human story description. The female lead has an interesting balance between vulnerability and softness mixed with mental and emotional toughness. The story addresses issues such as being an orphan, death of a parent, child abandonment, dealing with the possibility of losing one of your basic senses (your hearing), family and found family, overcoming difficult trials, and learning how to embrace/accept/make peace with what life brings. And all of this plays out over the backdrop of everyday people going about their everyday lives in the way most of us do. I loved all of the messages this drama presented, the gentle and kind way it treated its characters, and how down-to-earth everything about it is.

I have one caveat, and that is that the age gap between the leads was difficult for me. I came around to it by the finale, because you take the age gap away and you have an extremely likable couple that you can't help but root for. But it still took me till the end to do so, and that's because I just don't see why there had to be such a vast age difference between them. I guess, technically, he would have to be older than her to some degree in order for her to have heard and cherished his song when she was a child, but I still think the writers could have found a way around this.

That being said, I still have to praise this drama. I can't say I love it as much as dramas such Neechan no Koibito and Shizuka-chan to Papa, which both deal with serious topics in an equally heartwarming/healing manner, but I greatly enjoyed Fight Song and all of its characters. Its message was one of perseverance and hope, and I can always get on board with that.

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I found Why I Dress Up For Love to be a disappointment. The main problem I had with this drama is that it never felt like the female lead was making choices for herself, but rather that she was just going along with what the male lead had to say. The drama, and the male lead, paint the changes the female lead decides to make as her decisions. This is what she wants. But the male lead is the one doing all the driving. He constantly critiques the female leads career choices, making frankly kind-of hurtful and selfish comments about how she lives her life. I think it's clear that we're not supposed to take his comments in the way they come across. He's not intending to be hurtful or dismissive. It's actually part of an intentional character flaw. He's not very good at expressing himself, and he has his own baggage that informs his opinions. But even though the writers aren't intending for him to come across as a bit of a jerk, that's still how he comes across.

What the writers were trying to convey to the audience was that the female lead wants more for her life, that she's not pursuing the things she really wants to, and the male lead is pushing her to try for more. But when all of the female leads questioning over her career and her future happens only after the male lead has made another hurtful (although unintentional) comment, it's not going to feel like the female lead has genuine uncertainty about her life choices. It's going to feel like the male lead is a bully making the female lead feel bad about herself, which is the last thing you want in a romance.

For myself, I don't dislike the male lead. I actually quite like him. You can tell he's been hurt by life and that hurt informs much of how he interacts with others and the choices he makes for himself. You really just want him to be happy. But I didn't appreciate the writers pretending the female lead was at the wheel of her own life when they've played the story out in a way where all of the changes she makes happen only after the male lead tells her she should make them. I do like that she decided to pursue being a purchaser, because that did feel like something she genuinely wanted, and we do see how running her Instagram account takes a toll on her, but we needed to see more of an internal/external struggle. More unprompted self-reflection, more difficulties at her job, more something to convey to us the viewer that she really is genuinely questioning her life path and not just trying to please a guy she's not even in a real relationship with.

This leads me to the second male lead and my other problem with this drama. The second male lead never even puts up a fight! It becomes clear at a certain point that he has feelings for the female lead, and he even seems to want to act on them, but he never, not even once, truly enters the ring. He makes a couple 'declarations' to the male lead about 'If you don't go for it, then I will,' but he never follows through. It makes him come across as weak and mealy-mouthed. Which again, I don't think was the writer's goal, although I'm also not sure what their goal was with him. But just like the male lead, I actually really like the second male lead. He's very good at his job, seems to have strong morals, and he definitely values and appreciates the female lead. I kept hoping he would become a real contender for her affection. Honestly, part of me wanted the two of them together instead. There was something about their potential romance that just felt a little bit electric. But he never rises to the challenge, and this leaves him as a disappointing, and somewhat useless, character.

Ultimately, all of these problems with the central romance/love triangle are a flaw with characterization, not with the characters themselves. All three of them are likable people on their own, and both romantic pairings are compelling in their own ways. So if you can overlook the missteps and see what the writers are trying to do with the story, then you'll be able to enjoy Why I Dress Up For Love. Personally, while I can see what they were trying to do, and I can appreciate the attempt, the execution left me disappointed.

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A lot of web-dramas are pretty throw-away. While often quite cute and fluffy and fun (unless that's not in line with their particular genre, of course), when you analyze their stories objectively, they have no real substance. They try to do too much with their limited screen-time, and what they do end up doing is pretty shallow. That's definitely not the case with Society Obsessed with Love. SOL takes a simple storyline, and instead of over-complicating it with too much superfluous bits and bobs, it commits to simplicity. It's a story about contentment with one's life, even if that life doesn't look like everyone else's, and there's no need to dress that up or overdramatize it.

I would recommend this web-drama to anyone but especially anyone who lives and enjoys the single life, or to those who are maybe feeling a little down about their singleness. You'll definitely enjoy it.

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This is the third version of this story I've seen (don't ask me why I keep watching different versions of this story, cause I honestly can't answer that), and it's definitely not the best version out there (although if we're being honest, every version has major flaws as they are all built around difficult-to-like and sympathize with characters), but this is one of the more light-hearted, fluffy, easy to sit through versions, so it at least has that going for it. If you aren't put off by clingy characters and jerk male leads who don't really ever see the error of their ways, then this drama (and all it's versions) are tailor-made for you.

I'd like to say here that I won't be watching any other versions of this drama. But while I might be able to lie to myself and pretend I won't, I can't lie to those of you reading this.

I might watch another version.

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This movie is a Korean teen classic. This movie will also give you whiplash with how quickly it changes genre and tone and story purpose and shoes and socks and the lint filter in the dryer and the sheets on your bed.

And I fully admit to loving and enjoying it for that very reason.

One minute we're in a typical Korean teen movie love triangle. Next minute we're in a teen gangster movie watching an action sequence. Next Next minute an important character is dying and we're in a melo. Next Next Next minute... Do you see where I'm going with this?

There's a whole, long weird bit (and by long I mean most of the movie) where one character has a crush on another character it is inappropriate for them to have a crush on, and I will say it again for the people in the back, It Is Weird.

But I don't even care. It never goes anywhere, the character they have a crush on never has a clue, and then the movie gives you a reason to be really sad for the character with the crush, so you forget about the Weird Crush altogether and just cry instead.

This movie literally goes everywhere a movie could go, and I love it for it.

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I started writing up my review of this drama a few episodes or so from the end, because I had a pretty good idea of what my overall feelings were going to be once I finished. I was disappointed with the lack of development in Bong Sun and Seon Woo's relationship compared to Sun Ae and Seon Woo. There was not an even split, and it made the viewing experience frustrating. (I took a couple of hiatuses because of it.) It's not that I didn't love every moment Sun Ae and Seon Woo were together, because I did. I love Kim Seul Gi to bits, so I'm never going to complain about seeing her more often or about her characters getting lots of delicious character development. I also enjoyed watching possessed Bong Sun chasing after Seon Woo, and thus by proxy, Sun Ae developing a relationship with him. Minus the ghost issue, she would have been a strong contender in the fight for his heart. I just wanted there to be an even playing field for our two girls, and there wasn't. Only one of them was ever going to have better than a snowballs chance of being with Seon Woo, and she wasn't the one whose romance the writers chose to focus on most of the drama.

Then I watched the next to last episode, and my frustration and disappointment didn't seem to matter anymore. Seeing what happened to Sun Ae, how horrifying it all was, experiencing this flood of gut-wrenching emotions in the pit of my stomach. I was so angry and heartbroken for her, that she had to die so young, and by the hands of someone she cared for and trusted. And then the biggest surprise of all (for me at least), discovering there was still some scrap of humanity left in Sung Jae. The entire drama, we were lead to believe that he was just pure evil, that he had been possessed by an evil spirit for so long that there was nothing good left in him. But in those last moments, what we saw was a broken young man fighting against a destiny that was unfair and recognizing the man he had become and maybe not being so happy about it. He wasn't so far gone that there wasn't still room for redemption.

Of course, then I watched the Last episode, and I was back to being disappointed. Finales are hard for even the best of dramas, and Oh My Ghostess (which I do consider to be one of the best of dramas) is no exception. So much of the last episode felt unnecessary, frustrating, a little confusing. I could have done without much of it, to be honest.

Sun Ae's final day was beautiful and moving, each goodbye a perfect send off to the people she loved, but it seemed a little unfair to me that such an important character should get her send-off at the very beginning of the episode and then be completely forgotten about afterward.

And we have to talk about the forced separation of our main couple. I'm not inherently against main couple separations in dramas. But drama writers always utilize them so poorly or just throw them in for no reason other than it's the finale and they need to fill screen time, and it Really felt unnecessary here. Bong Sun and Seon Woo are only just starting to really get to know each other as people and develop a genuine relationship. Do you really think this is the right moment to separate them? It's just not on.

I think the most confusing writing choice though was what the writer did with Sung Jae. It is hard to be sure just how much was the evil spirit and just how much was him, because the drama never made it fully clear, but at some level, whether conscious or not, Sung Jae was inviting the evil spirit into his life. Even with possession as an excuse, there was at least a part of him that wanted to do some of the things he did. I'm probably in the minority here, but I was willing to forgive him and give him an opportunity to atone for his part in all of the terrible things that were done while the demon was in his body. Just...not that way. That wasn't justice Or redemption. It was just...confusing and weird.

Now that I've finished the drama, I still think my initial feelings were correct, that Seon Woo and Bong Sun deserved more relationship development. And I think the finale did the characters and overall story a disservice in many ways. But I'm also really glad I finally sat down and finished it (and pushed through my frustration during the midway portion.) I think this is a good drama, despite its flaws.

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Updated Review January 2023:

I rewatched this drama last year, and it ended up being a pleasant ride down memory lane. Radiant Office has its flaws, there’s no denying it, but there’s also a lot of heart to be had with this story. That reason alone makes Radiant Office worth watching at least once, in my opinion.

My advice is don’t expect this drama to go in quite the same way as most Kdrama’s of it’s time and genre. The office politics are pretty standard fare (and pretty boring, honestly), but everything else about the story kind of goes its own way. A subtle romance without all of the big hallmark moments we typically expect, a delightful main trio of friends who cheer each other on while also making mistakes but always making amends, and this ever-present spirit of perseverance and determination and belief in one’s ability to overcome struggles. But best and most important of all, a determined and principled female lead who when faced with the prospect of her life being cut far too short, chooses to take it as an opportunity to make the best of the days she believes she has left.

And maybe cause a little righteous trouble while she’s at it, lol.

I’ll say here that a lot of people complain about the last three episodes of this drama, and for understandable reasons. There’s some rushing in the finale, and a particular character finds out some very serious and heartbreaking news pretty late in the story, which some felt should have been brought up sooner and handled a little better. But after my rewatch, I have a deeper appreciation for what the writer was doing, and I now think the episodes played out mostly as they should have.

The other big complaint you’ll probably hear is that the romance is too subtle. But while it is subtle in some ways, it’s not really in the way you might think. There’s pretty consistent build up between the leads throughout the drama as they each gradually come to like each other and slowly find themselves forming a relationship. I think a lot of people missed that a relationship was forming between them, because there aren’t any conversations addressing the changes in their relationship until the finale. But in some ways, it’s sort of truer to life, as many relationships happen gradually over time without all of the grand gestures and pointed conversations we’ve come to expect in dramas. My only complaint about the romance is that we deserved a better kiss at the end. He gives her a mild peck, and that is simply not sufficient, lol.

It's interesting to think about this drama now, 6 years later, considering it was written by a contest winner. It seems they never went on to write anything else, and I often wonder what happened to them. Why did they never write anything else? I assume getting into the industry is quite hard and winning a contest wouldn’t necessarily mean they would go on to lead more of their own dramas. In fact, that probably was always unlikely. But I still wonder if the experience at least got their foot in the door, or if this drama was the only time they got to work on anything. Hopefully, Radiant Office was the beginning and not the end of their drama writing career, and maybe someday in the future, we’ll see this writers' work again.

Now wouldn’t that make a great story?

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