bokminthe

I'm overall being a tiny bit generous with my rating because I think we need more romcoms like this, that have some unique elements that set them apart from other more straightforward and simple ones. But as someone that has read the webtoon, I can only say that it was close to there, but not quite.

Overall this show is a very good adaptation of the webtoon and everything is more or less there, including a rushed ending, what was the most disappointing aspect of the webtoon.
Characters are pretty close and all the actors did a very good job in their portrayals. I think my only complaint in this matter when it comes to the main characters is the change of Seon Ho to more possessive and jealous towards the end, what even themselves point out in the last episode how out of character it was for him to do that, what it totally was, and it's not how he develops in the original material (or their whole relationship for that matter, not necessarily bad here but much better in the webtoon in my opinion, it's different).

When it comes to secondary characters I do have a few more complaints. I think that overall everything is there once again, but the problem is that they didn't develop most of the side characters much, what I can understand being 12 episodes and reason why it should have been 16 ideally. All Spirit Finger's members have their backstories developed and followed (to varying degrees). I knew from the start they would butcher Black Finger's character because kdramas need to be mainstream and gods forbid you have a punk/kuro lolita on a TV series *cry*.
This actually leads me overall to the aesthetic changes of the overall drama. I understand it from mainstream society standards, don't get me wrong, but it's still disappointing nonetheless. I'm glad they half kept Ji Geong's like for pink and his sleeping bag, but I also wanted way more edgy alternative clothing when he's modelling than what he wore, he could be sooo cool and edgy, it was a MOOD!!! (in fact I missed this of his whole personality, a stronger duality between being cool and edgy at times and so dumb and lost at others). Them trying to sell me "wow look what a model" while wearing a plain suit was extremely boring. I really need some kdramas that start showing more unsanitised and alternative fashion and surroundings. I know it exists in Korea so why are we always presented with the same old same... (even more so in romcoms).

For me though, probably one of the most frustrating aspects of the adaption of this series is FL's mother, and especially what they did there at the end. Her essence is there, but they tried so hard to redeem her and show once again this filial piety thing and I absolutely despise it. Yes, FL's parents do change a tiny bit at the end of the webtoon (more like they surrender a bit), making a bit of effort, but it's not by any means in the way it's portrayed here, especially when it comes to the mother. She's a massive covert narcissist that uses FL as the scapegoat while considers her sons the golden children. She lives off of using their praise as food for her ego (let's remember here that, despite her complaints, FL is second in class, and in the webtoon she was happy when FL's friend moves to Germany so she can finally be first). It's a quite classic narcissistic family dynamic they have and it's one of the things I found interesting from the webtoon for being quite accurate in its representation. Trying to change the mother to being more attached, more emotional and more understanding to try and redeem her misses the point on so many levels and it doesn't give the best of examples if someone relates to FL because of her situation. Yes, the portrayal is quite good, but they changed some things that basically contradict her personality and the way she does things.
This also brings me to the fact that while I understand choosing not to portray the younger brother's obsessive struggle that develops throughout the series, it does also tie to the mother and the family dynamics. And why did they decide to make the older brother interested in photography? They wanted FL to relate to him and it's fair, but I like more the original idea of them not relating and showing the struggle from both parts wanting to be closer to one another but not being able to because of the family dynamics and the barrier that it's the mother.

There are other details related to the story that were changed from the webtoon that well, I can give a pass and I understand because of constraints, but some others did rub me the wrong way simply because they were only changed to follow certain mainstream Korean standards, like for example the fact the talk about makeup and not needing it was changed to show them being way more lenient to the beauty standards and have a scene of them looking at makeup. It's the little things that were changed to follow the mainstream ideals instead of what the webtoon was trying to communicate.
As is, if compared with other kdramas, this is great, but it's difficult to not compare it to the source material when that went the extra mile to show and portray certain things in better ways (in my opinion).

I liked they kept the magic realism as is when it comes to the rooms and the mystery of the café, that I'm very thankful for, as well as the overall dynamics of the club and them dressing in different clothes and, even if left more superficial, that all Spirit Fingers characters are there and the same in essence.

Overall it's a good adaptation, very entertaining, funny, unique, the development of FL as a central point in the story is there and all the elements worked in cohesion and with coherence. I would recommend watching this if you like romcom and whimsical and a FL that is not a damsel in distress and that grows and learns throughout the series paired with not your typical ML and interesting secondary characters.
The webtoon is still better, but this is very good too.