Radio Romance (2018)

Reviewing this drama objectively is a little hard for me, because I always feel compelled to defend the underdog. The drama is receiving a lot of criticism (which, in general, is pretty justified), and yet not only is it one of the rare shows I watched live, but it also drew me from my 2 year long drama slump: I watch way less dramas than I used to and I bet I drop about 80% of what I start, so if I watch a drama until the end it means it really pulled me in. So is Radio Romance boring, as many said? Yes, but not for everybody. It brought me back each week, and I'm not the kind of person to make efforts for a drama, so for me, it definitely wasn't boring.

Many point out the plot was very thin, and I totally agree. It was the same thing that was streeeeetched out throughout the 16 episodes. But I didn't mind that: in real life, things often aren't so fast-paced, and though I enjoy plot-driven dramas it often feels like it comes at the expense of time spent on the characters. Good plot-driven dramas compensate by making their characters vibrant by the writing, but in this one, I wouldn't even say the characters were exceptionally well written: rather, we really spent a looooot of time on them, on their developing relationships, and that, with the excellent acting, made the characters extremely touching for me, in a way that felt natural.

It was my first time seeing both Do Joon and Kim So Hyun. Do Joon (Su Ho) was perfect, and so expressive in subtle ways. Kim So Hyun (Geu Rim) was wonderful as well, in a surprisingly mature way. Geu Rim got under Su Ho's skin from episode 1, and it was thrilling (for me, more thrilling than watching epic action scenes or CGI) to watch all his poorly repressed attraction and affection. Su Ho's villain mother and PD Lee were complex, unusual and endearing characters, as well as a handful of other smaller characters. I must say the casting made it all: Yoon Park, Oh Hyun Kyung, Ha Joon, Kim Ye Ryung and Kwak Dong Yeon (but his talent was wasted!) all struck me as very very good actors, and without their talent their characters would've been one-dimensional and flat. What I appreciated about the drama was that all these characters relationships evolved, but in a way that didn't feel cheaply dramatic. I mean there were no epic misunderstandings, the characters remained coherent with themselves... I always admire characters that resolve conflicts without betraying themselves, and without creating too much damage: there was plenty of that in this drama, to the point that some found it boring. Most characters didn't go off their rails at a conflict. I liked that. Song Geu Rim especially fit the bill in terms of what we want in a modern female romantic lead: sensitive, resolved, competent and grounded.

This drama should really be watched purely as a romantic show. As a romance junkie, I was delighted, but if that's not what you're looking for there's no reason to watch this drama. Radio Romance took a lot of time to detail the different stages in a romantic relationship, pre and post dating. Angsty looks, tender looks, jealousy (and even a little sexual innuendo) galore! Yayyyyyy! They certainly didn't skim the romance in this show, and it was both grand (all that love! all that intensity! all that longing!) and realistic (learning to deal with the possessiveness in the early stages of the relationship, needing some space...). This is what sailed me through the show, despite its flaws, such as: Jason was an odd character played by a talented actor that never truly made sense in the story, there were good but small characters that were sort of dropped along the way (Geu Rim's mom, DJ Moon were great characters that had more importance in the beginning), and there were some pretty cringy lines (but this is an emoooooootional drama hehe, so I can deal with the corniness).

On a purely superficial note, I was in love with Do Joon's style from beginning to end, despite many protests -- I guess I just have bad taste like that :^)

I loved this drama! But not everyone will, hehe :^p

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I honestly think this show isn't as bad as most of the reviews think it is. There's been a lot of negative reviews, but there are shows just as good as this, but just more popular.

The acting was phenomenal. Yoon Doo Joon was great. I was surprised to see the stark difference between him in Radio Romance and Let's Eat. I could truly see and believe that he was sad. Most cold male leads tend to just be aloof and annoying, but he even when he was cold, the sadness seemed to radiate off of him. His character development was definitely the largest in the show, but I think that's because he also just had more room for development.

Kim So Hyun was good as usual. I didn't really notice the age difference till I starting about, but by then it became hard to not notice. Thankfully they stopped perming her hair (which emphasized her age) around that time and she looked more mature. Aside from that one minor qualm, I enjoyed her role. Her character development was there but in a more subtler form. She became a more confident writer, but other than that I don't think she really had much to develop. She was strong, persistent, and hard working. I do feel like she started to respect herself more, compared to the beginning of the show where she threw away her ego in order to the first DJ to be on time for the show or to recruit guests. Don't misunderstand, she's not a timid candy character, she just was willing to go all in to achieve her goals.

The ending felt a bit forced. Ji Su Ho's mother suddenly became viewed in a more sympathetic manner. She supposedly cared about him more than money. I think that if that's the type of ending that the writers wanted, they should have shown some glimpses of her love for him earlier.
It wasn't perfect, but it was satisfying enough.

The only time felt the show was a bit boring was during the later episodes. The beginning and middle were interesting. The shows would have been much better if writers had introduced the sub-plots (backstory/murder cards) earlier and had expanded on it.
The show is a bit cliche, but it's surprisingly not cringy either as I find most cliche shows tend to be.

The OST wasn't super memorable, but I do felt that it fit with the show.

Keep in mind that I also binge watched this, so my experience was probably different than others who watched it while airing.

All and all it's a decent show. It's definitely not the best, but not the worst either. If you're looking for a good old-fashioned romance drama this would be it.

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Watch for yourself

Okay, I made an account just to make a review on this. The story is simple, but sometimes simple is needed. If you go by the reviews you might turn around and not watch it like I did for a while. Yes, it takes a while for them to get together but a slow burn is better than fast paced work. The ML looks at the FL with so much love and they have moments that gave me butterflies. This show also made me look at radios differently, so give the show a chance instead of going by the reviews. (they want 500 characters for excuse this kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk)

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This is a nice romantic comedy with a dramatic twist and a steadfast love story. The leading male did really well delivering his emotional “deficient” character and still showing his heart through his expressions. The leading lady’s actions sometimes didn’t go hand in hand with her loving and warm personality, especially by ignoring Soo Ho’s calls even after they declared their love for each other. Also, too often, her facial expressions and body language were too subtle and lacked empathy demonstration when she was with Soo Ho. The storyline is really nice and Soo Ho’s conflicts were well shown by his demeanor but the leading couple’s chemistry was more the cold and warm relationship than the intensification type. There is also Yura’s character that was purely annoying till the end and a guy that had no reason for falling in love with her. The music was really nice and Park Yoon (as Lee Kang) was a saving grace in this drama. Overall, the drama is a nice series to watch while waiting for a great one to come. Enjoy it!

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Most will not like this story.

I think most people do not like it because who wants to see a ML be depressed for half the series with no progress and he keeps getting misunderstood by everyone. The FL is selfish and takes no interest in the ML until episode 10. Literally no interest, no care for the ML at all even though he is fawning over her like a dog and a bone. All of her emotions are due to her own self-interests and she really does not show anyone compassion, but she is supposedly a nicer person than ML who is stern on the outside due to his pain. The FL says "he is impossible to read" but takes no effort to actually try to understand him until it is right in her face. He obviously cares about her and wants to help her; why else would he sign the radio contract, but she does not take this into account and only sees ML at surface level for over half the series.

The ML basically acts as a simp for the FL which is also annoying to see and only after the FL sees him cry does she start to care for him. All everyone does is use the ML even the FL. When he finally tells the FL he likes her, she brushes him off. Even when she remembers him she brushes him off saying, "did you think i would say i like you when i remembered". Literally took til the end of episode 9 for FL to realize ML was the one hurting the most. Even after she kisses the ML and accepts his feelings, she still goes on a "date" with the SML and the ML even calls her and asks her to not do it but she says "ill do what i want", not taking into account ML's feelings. The FL is honestly grotesque in this story and i have not seen a worse FL in a romantic drama. Even after they are dating when the weird SML confesses to her, SHE ACTUALLY CANCELS HER DATE WITH ML AND HAS TO THINK ABOUT HER FEELINGS and this decision actually hurts the ML deeply. like WTF? are you kidding me....the ML is absolutely obsessed with her and her feelings are surface level. She is so selfish and so uncaring to others feelings, it is actually disgusting to watch. The actress is great but the character is badly written. The actress is great but the character is badly written

You can sympathize with the ML and his traumas, but since there is no progress and he is treated like dirt for the first half of the show; you will lose interest. It feels like when things go wrong, the ML is always the one understanding and apologizing first. The moment when ML met FML mom was a good scene. She was the one person that tried to understand him and said he was a good person. It took til episode 5 for someone to care about his feelings and then right after the annoying SML comes in and ruins the scene. Like can we not get one touching moment with the leads? do we always have to do this BS triangle plot. So many times the ML is gonna have a moment with the FL and then SML comes in and ruins the scene. The SML is actually a weirdo. The FL never once showed that she liked him but he keeps touching her and acting like he owns her. When she gets caught going to a hotel with ML he has the audacity to yell at her like she belongs to him or something. She doesn't like you buddy, move on creep, but at the same time FL is equally to blame. Seems like no-one gives a damn about ML. Even when they get together, the ML does all the legwork in the relationship.

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Nonton ini pas lagi butuh drama romcom karena direkomen sama temen. Awalnya bagus bgt sii karna setting ceritanya belum pernah ada sebelumnya yaitu di studio radio. D Awal cerita d bikin penasaran karna si cowo sepertinya memiliki suatu hubungan dengan si cewe di masa lalu. Tapi setelah beberapa episode terasa bgt bosennya. Alunya sih bagus cuma berasa kurang aja konfliknya. Chemistrynya si cukup dapet tp terasa bgt perbedaan umurnya. Dannnn kurang suka sama second lead cowonya, jadi cinta segitiganya kurang terasa.

Beberapa ostnya nempel di memori, lainnya gk seberapa inget. Peran cewenya bagi kehidupan si cowo emang sangat berperan sii tp bagiku bukan tipe romance yg sweet bgt gitu trus comedynya juga bukan yang favoritku bgt. Tp emang secara keseluruhan ceritanya ringan bgt dan gk bikin mikir. Ada beberapa makna di dalam cerita ini yg bsa d ambil sebagai nasihat

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Clichés done right

*SPOILERS ALERT*

I nearly didn't watch this because of the bad rating but I'm glad I gave this a try because I ended up loving it ! The main plot of the show is the romance so don't expect any action, nail bitting suspense or a real documentary on the radio's world.

I personaly think that all the characters are very well written. The only one I didn't really understand was the doctor. I think it would have been better to erase the part of the whole "I'm gonna send you letters accusing you of a murder that happened 12 years ago because I want to see you cry" and see a real friendship develop between the two instead (it didn't add any real suspense so it was kinda pointless). I loved the relationship between the male lead and his "rival in love". I was scared of the love triangle at first, but the writers handled it well and I didn't have any second lead syndrom (it's often the case for me so it's worth mentioning). Even so, I really liked his character, he was fun and a little crazy but it was a nice contrast between him and the main lead. Concerning the latter, I loved his character development, but I admit I was a little worried when he called the female lead 20 times a day in the middle of the series (fortunately he calmed down at the end and the female lead wasn't afraid to voice her thoughts concerning that !).
The female lead was also the main reason I loved this series. She was understanding at the right moments but it didn't stop her in pursuing her dreams (unlike in certain dramas where the female lead kinda forgets she has a life the second she gets a boyfriend). I personally thought they were very cute and funny together, and some scenes between them were very emotional so what's not to love ?

I wasn't bored at all so I was a little surprised when I saw certain comments saying that but to each their own, it can't satisfy everyone that's for sure ^^ So if you want a cute romance where the relationship between the leads takes its time to develop, with some funny moments and loveable secondary characters, I urge you to give this series a chance :)

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it was not worth watching at all ( skip and watch something else for your own safety)

when I saw the name and the pictures of the drama I thought it would be interesting to watch because I haven't watched any kdramas revolving around a radio station so I gave it a try. Ultimately it was a waste of my time for various reasons,1. the "plot" if I can even call it that was extremely messy in any aspect you can think of. The main leads had absolutely no chemistry and ZERO emotion in their acting whatsoever you could find better chemistry from ROCKS at one point I began to only watch the show for Ji Soo Ho's manager and the actress because they had more chemistry than the MAIN LEADS from ep.11-16 I got mad any time the main leads were on my screens Why do they act their in a relationship with their SIBLINGS if you want to watch something wholesome I recommend that you skip this drama and watch something else. To be honest I wanted the ML mother to send them BOTH away the ending was garbage the acting was garbage, the storyline was trash, the FL hair in the beginning made me mad, the ML hair made me mad everything about this drama made me mad. To whoever wrote this you need to return to school and change careers.

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Como eu posso descrever esse drama com tantos poucos episódios mas que eu já considero tanto? Eu simplesmente me apaixonei por esse drama. É uma história que me prendeu de um jeito que é simplesmente impossível de parar de assistir, mesmo estando em ''On Air'', da vontade até de reprisar algum capítulo. (PODE CONTER UM PEQUENO SPOLIER AGORA, MAS NADA QUE AFETARÁ O RESTO DO DRAMA). E eu fico honrada em fazer parte da equipe da tradução, mesmo ainda não tendo nenhum capítulo por falta de tempo. Mas com toda certeza irei ajudar na tradução desse drama. E eu pensando que ia ser chato, que eu não ia gostar, mas me fez conhecer o ator maravilhoso que Yoon Doo Joon é, eu não o conhecia, mas agora o admiro muito (ainda mais por que ele meio que sofre de depressão no drama, e como ele está sempre sorrindo, mas os olhos dele me transmite uma dor que eu sinto no meu coração, quando os olhinhos dele ficam vermelho e parece que ele vai chorar, me dá um aperto no coração). Mas ele é realmente um ator maravilhoso e eu nem sabia que ele fazia parte do grupo BEAST, então acredito que irei acompanhar ele até na carreira musical, pelo jeito que eu me apaixonei. Os outros atores como a Kim So Hyun, eu já conhecia o trabalho dela e já assisti vários dramas que ela participa, e que pra mim agora ela está mostrando mais ainda esse lado de atriz poderosa que ela tem. E como não falar do Yoon Park? Eu amo esse cara, sério. Mesmo eu tendo assistido muito pouco do trabalho dele, eu to completamente apaixonada, pois ele é muito carismático, o sorriso dele me conforta sabe? E ainda mais que ele como ator é um deus, um oppão supremo que é difícil de largar, estou vendo que nesse drama eu vou me apegar tanto ele (tanto que já fui até seguir ele no Instagram). E como esquecer da deusa Yuraaaa? Além de fazer parte de um dos meus Girl's Group favorito? Estou amando poder ver a Yura nesse drama, mesmo a personagem dela sendo uma pé no saco. É muito bom pode ver esse lado da Yura como atriz, já que é o meu primeiro drama que assisto com ela, depois de We Got Married, eu simplesmente não assisti mais nenhum programa dela, mas agora pode ter certeza que irei apoia-la. E por favor, se tiverem alguma dúvida entre assistir ou não, ASSISTAM! Por que vocês não vão se arrepender, nota 10 por que é amazing! 2018-02-08

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This was a very cute and light drama. I can not really judge on the acting, because over all I am not in the acting field myself to criticize what is good and what is bad acting. The only thing that I kind of had a problem with was the lead actresses hair style. She looked so beautiful with her curly hair and then she starts dating the lead actor and then it gets straightened the rest of the episodes. It seems like a trend with these kinds of dramas. I see the lead actress start the dramas with curly or wavy hair and all as soon as they start dating the hair becomes straight. Do not take me wrong I have nothing against straight hair, but it would be good to see the hair style stick with the lead actresses form beginning to end. That is my opinion.

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I must say, I was really excited to start this drama because Yoon Doo Joon is one of my absolute favourites, words aren't enough to describe how in love I am with him, and I also enjoy seeing Kim So Hyun act. I think she's a talented young lady who is going to deliver better and better dramas as time goes by.


There might be some minor spoilers ahead so please stop reading if you haven't watched the drama yet.

The fact that Ji Soo Ho struggled with depression hit way too close to home because I've been, as well, struggling with depression my whole life. Some days are good, some days aren't but no matter what I do, it's always in the back of my mind. Now, seeing depression presented on the big screen really made me smile because I could see myself in Soo Ho, I could understand him as a person and his struggles. I am in no way one of those people who always complain about under-representation because it's simple: I'll watch it if I like it, I won't if I don't. Producers are in no way obligated to do as I please and I find it really annoying when I see people whine about it so I never expect someone to produce something that represents me, but it was nice to see Ji Soo Ho and how he dealt with his problems.

Song Geu Rim was in no way one of my favorite characters, she might be one of, in my own, personal opinion, Kim So Hyun's most boring characters. She didn't necessarily do something wrong, I just couldn't get myself to like her. I didn't, in no way, dislike, she was just...meh for me.

The romance wasn't something incredible either. The chemistry wasn't off the charts. Most of it was pretty chaste and it's understandable seeing as Kim So Hyun doesn't have that much experience with romantic dramas and the group of people the drama is made for, so I'm not complaining about that. It just didn't make me feel much. They were, however, a good fit.


It started boring me halfway through but I managed to finish it because most of the characters were cute and, as I said before, I really like Yoon Doo Joon and Kim So Hyun.

All in all, it was a nice little drama about love and character development and I would recommend to watch it if you're into cute, puppy-like romances.

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