lighthearted stretched out romance

the show is lighthearted. even at the most 'thrilling' moments, the show doesn't really take itself seriously that way. those moments are a shock value at best.
watch if you want a feel good but mildly complicated mildly funny show. the romance is like high school romance x idol-fan romance. fluffy puppy love?.
plot:
it's nothing new. but some elements in the first episode drew me in. like a fl in a wheelchair. i liked her acting. but this angle wasn't explored much, to my disappointment. All other serious topics like suicide, suicide prevention etc are also conveniently wrapped up, and discarded. TBH, if the first ep wasnt so serious-like i wouldnt have watched the show.
romance is the center in this drama. literally, the side characters' arcs are all over the place. There are many 'twists', that seem very unnecessary. They drag the show on and make it very tiring. i feel like the show could've been a lot more crisp.
similarity with extraordinary you:
KHY's character, IS is the heavy lifter of the show. she's running around and doing all of the 'stuff'. others just exist or show up in the nick of time. The tunnel focus on the romance is also similar in nature. There's also no villain per say.
that is why I feel like the target audience of the show must be younger people. like middle schoolers. the pining nature of the romance, the stretched out length, slight sprinkle of danger, whiny dialogue delivery (much to my chagrin). yaah.
nature of romance:
since romance is the centre point, i feel like it deserves a section. Both fl and ml are really into each other. They have good chemistry. I didnt find any glaring problematic sequences of mistreatment or abuse. The ml is green flag. The poor chap is clueless all the time, yet he figures what the fl is upto just by observing her. He's into her that much. They both put the other before themselves, so it checks out. The theme / flavour of romance changes according to the setting. idol x fan, next door neighbor, school sweethearts, longtime flame. Highlights a 'against all odds approach' . "No matter what the situation or stakes, my choice shall be the same". It was heartwarming to watch.
honorable mentions:
Tae song, his arc changes quite a bit. not explored much
In Hyuk, ultimate wingman.
Grandma, attempt of writers to make sense the 'twists'.

If you liked extraordinary you i think you will like this too. Dont go in expecting something serious. Its all just very lighthearted. not serious at all.

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Slightly overrated if you ask me

So there are many reviews gushing about this drama. I feel a little meh about it.
The drama delivers what the summary/introduction promises. Just that its almost only that much nothing more. plot-wise.

The world building in this drama was really lacking and left my head scratching.
It seemed really christian cosmos inspired, and what bothered me that they seemed to be using legit demon/-ve christian cosmos characters (idk really cause im not christian). I feal that they couldve made the names up for the 'aesthetic' that they clearly wanted instead of using actual ones- cause names carry power. And on the other hand they used only one +ve one.
Putting that point aside, many major plot points where left unanswered.

The show really showcases vigilante justice - tit for tat instead of reform. Large parts of screentime is given to FL just beating up various villains. The gore and blood are supposed to probably elicit a feel good response from the viewer. That made me a uncomfortable- especially since the pain of the survivors ('victims') isnt really the concern- their closure isnt really the concern, but just 'u did wrong so u'll pay for it' is. There arent many emotions involved. Its all very cold. And in this regard- there is a story arc, a character arc. We witness her becoming a feeling demon judge from a cold unfeeling judge from hell. She acknowledges that just beating criminals up and punishing them in the shadows of the night isnt enough to provide justice - closure to grieving families.

The romance in the show gets very little screentime, and is more present just to be a driving force behind her character arc. Her forbidden 'human feelings' for the ML become the reason she starts feeling empathy for aggrieving families and the people around her. All other side characters (including ML) are just present and doing their thing. There isnt much focus on them at all.

You should watch this show if-
1. You like vigilante justice, are ok with skipping forward or watching scenes of criminals just being beaten up, tortured and killed for their crimes.
2. Like wacky FL
3. ML is very smart and persistent. He is so secure that hes fine with dating a demon who's actions are quite often in direct conflict with his job. He's very clear with himself about his ethics system and boundaries.
4. Want to watch a mock- mystery thriller. the only thrilling part was the score. No need to apply brains. Infact it is better if u dont apply brains, otherwise u will notice too many plotholes.
5. The 'action' genre mention refers to the torture scenes ig.
6. Openish HE

Special mention to FL's character- why i watched the show-
I was obviously very unimpressed by the show. It also got really boring past few episodes. But what kept me from dropping it was Kang Bitna's sass. It was very fun and almost inspirational (minus the vigilante justice part). Especially the way PSH smiles/smirks with the score playing in the background, or her boredom and straightforward mannerisms of dealing with everyday boring situations was very endearing and refreshing. Kang Bitna is a 'psycho' , is a little socially challenged, but she is smart, not dull. There is also some comedic effect in the show with its various side characters, mostly in the scenes outside the courtroom and torture.

Special mention regarding 'vigilante justice'-
TBH what's shown in the show isnt really what comes to my mind when i think of vigilante justice - like robin hood. They mostly try to pass on torture as VJ. Criminals who are unrepentant, dont have ability to feel empathy or even comprehend why what they did was wrong, just torturing and morbidly killing them isnt going do anything. I wasnt going to type this out since this is just a show, but unfortunately this is the axial of the show which is baffling. Major screentime is given to these scenes. There remain lot of actual real world questions regarding this particular form of VJ, but be warned that it takes center stage in this show.

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Not good.

the story follows the entrepreneurial journey of fl ji xing. also follows her friends and colleagues.
romance is the central theme of the show.
A lot of filler content. the pacing is slow.

my huge problem is the ml. lot of red flags. as an investor in fl's company, his intentions are muddled. he himself isn't clear if he invested because it's fl's company, or he wants to buy and destroy competition. doesn't follow simple ethics. lies to the love of his life to leverage her work for his benefit in sibling power play. doesn't disclose conflict of interest while doing business. talks down to fl. is very cold and arrogant, very "I know better". there isn't much of a character arch there. with so much screentime given to their relationship, which is a sham in name of romance, I had to drop the show. the writers continue to frame as ml's self serving actions as 'he was just looking out for her'. when the fl confronts him about his exploitation and betrayal, and turns away, the ml says "in my life, love isnt everything."

disappointing.

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Dont take the trailer seriously

Originally i had meant to pass this show, thinking it to be one of those low budget, over-the-top , silly dramas that have no plot or acting, cause the trailer totally gave those vibes. The only reason i gave this a try was because of the high rating score on viki. Im glad i did.
The regular cdrama warning of "Dont get attached to any character" can be taken lightly.
The acting of every actor in the drama is nice. The actress playing the FL can emote very well with her eyes. All actors have good chemistry.
The story is fast paced and tight-knit. The drama is like one of those goodish web dramas but with some fleshed out story by adding some side-story and context. There are some filler parts that may be skipped, but dont feel very draggy overall. The 24 episodes length seemed perfectly adequate. According to me when we have a smart emperor character, the story is generally nice.
The drama is mostly centered on FL-ML romance, ML bromance, and FL bromance (she has a brother). The FL's brother is really goofy and kind-hearted. He's her ultimate support system. I wish I had a brother like him.
The ML-FL romance is written well. We dont get to see a damsel in distress scenario at any point. The ML and FL are written to be well matched, equal characters. This is also the 1st time ive seen the ML take cognizance and protect the FL's dignity. I dont mean it as a euphuism in-leu of sexual consent or virginity or 'reputation', because dignity of a person is more than that. It also relates to social standing, ambition and many more things.
There are some minor misunderstandings between the leads but the get resolved very quickly. The message there being they love each other so much, and have such good tacit understanding, even with radio silence and misunderstanding, they still cant be separated.
Overall the drama maintains a very light-hearted tone, despite of dealing with very serious topics like racism, inequality(and that too not frivolously).
It is a lowish budget drama, as noticed by the limited wardrobe of the characters, but honestly that felt a little realistic.

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Boring

I havent read the original book series.

For the show as a standalone, I found it very hard to sit through. The central romance plot is a guessing game/ misunderstanding. In this quest sometimes it seems as if the FL is trying to scam the ML. This plot point was dragged throughout the show, when they should have wrapped it neatly earlier on and then focused on something else. And the score make everything worse, adding a 'humour' sign to everything. I was cringing and face palming almost the entire time. There was a lot of 2nd hand embarrassment that i felt because of the FL. Someone had commented that the title of the series should have been "only For Work" instead, and i agree. The makers tried to portray FL and ML as aspiring hard working career driven people, and so the viewers have to sit mostly scenes about their projects, and work related drama. It seemed like how they show random hello world code and keyboard tapping to represent programmers and hackers. aka, im not sure of the credibility of the info, so how is it of any use to me? Is needed tutorial on how to take a business interview, run a large corporation or write a economics article i would be looking it up elsewhere, not watching your show.
We have 3 couples in focus. 3 girl-friends and 3 guy-friends. The friends give wrong advice, and misunderstandings keep getting prolonged. The 2nd lead couple has some commitment issues. The 3FL is a little naïve but has her heart in the right place. There are some other side couples too, and everyone is falling in love.

The FL doesnt really have a personality, she's just reacting to things happening in her life, and taking bad advice from her friends. Its almost as the makers made it such that the target audience may live vicariously through the FL (almost?).

The ML is a kind of secure man, who is very calculative and smart. Which makes the misunderstanding plot device more frustrating because the whole humour point is supposed to be "you thought he didnt know but he knew all along" type. He is a man of a few words, little snobbish. "Always watching you from behind", "got your back" kind of attitude towards the FL. And there is a lot of manhandling in the show. It is supposed to appear romantic.

I gave it a chance only because of Bai Lu and Dylan Wang.

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very underrated- Dont watch the compilation

The storyline is really nice. The main thing that was likable was the backbone of the female lead. I really liked her character. Unfortunately, i watched the compilation instead of the individual episodes, which i strongly do not recommend doing. please watch the individual long episodes from the get go. Towards the end, we see a lots of philosophically charged moments, and i think that this show handled this genre of "im just a character within a story" much much better that even mainstream and popular shows like extraordinary you- albeit lacking a bit in the production quality.
We do see some problematic tropes- like forcible kissing and all, but they seem to be used so commonly to depict a 'love-but-hate' relationship that i just skip them. It rare to find a show that doesnt have them at this point.
Daisy Li playing the FL is also quite good- with her performances always being nice. I hope she gets main roles in bigger and better dramas.
Ill admit that i found the ML's performance to be a little woody and not in the same frequency as the FL, but thats ok, cause he's almost a side character, and the story doesnt really focus on him. Although Liu Shang Lin playing Prince Chun, emoted wayy better in the even shorter screentime given to him. idk. The other side characters were ok-ok. FL is the main focus.

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Very Overrated

The story is extremely slow. Nothing actually happens. the length could be restricted to max 3 episodes even with fillers.
I think there was a vague concept of how unchecked human desires cause to become monsters (in various senses). But it was not touched upon, at all. There was close to no plot in the show. Everyone was just trying not to get killed. ML's backstory is touched upon a bit, we see the BEGINNING of a character arc towards the end of the show. The whole concept of why ML is special is because he literally has no thoughts, cause his mental health was already very bad, before the pandemic/acopolypse hit. So he doesnt have desires. So he cant turn into a monster. (like go crazy and kill other people)
And reading on the reviews of the following seasons, i gathered that s1 is actually one of the better seasons.
So im gonna stop here.
Theres nothing sweet about this home. It not even homely..
All the side characters (almost all) are killed. Even the ones with interesting backstories and possibilities of role in the story arc.

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Slow comfort?

Well, the sub-genre of the show is not new. Like welcome to samaldari . Problems in life, kids come back home, they have a village full of support system. Everyone has their own problems and grudges, and everyone gets angry at each other and solve each others problems, sticking to each other when times get tough.

Considering that the title if "love next door", and one assumes that it is romantic and not famial love or community warmth, i feel like this drama really decenters the main leads romance. I would rather say that they main leads are each others support system. The romantic feelings dont really come out till even ep 6 or 7. and nothing productive happens about it, even 2 sided acknowledgement till ep11. This drama is slow burn ultra pro max.
Its not bad at all, there are many sub-plots and the side characters are all of veteran actors who we've all seen somewhere before.
One may want to watch it for its community warmth, but the drama was too melodramatic for me to be healing. Im sorry but i dont consider alzhimers (probably), or cancer or even the threat of those looming around be an environment that i could relax in. Both our ML and FL have their own set of family issues to deal with. Distance in marriage, lack of work life balance, financial stress, health issues, inferiority complex in male breadwinner. And while i think that regret among family members (parents) was shown, it was too wishy-washy, abrupt and swept under the carpet. It didnt have that feeling of catharsis at all. The moment such situations happened, the tone of the drama suddenly lightened up, out of nowhere. And when your finally beginning to laugh and have fun, ur hit again with something sad, that cant be taken lightly. It all gave a whiplash and stressed me out. The pacing is also very slow. I found myself skipping large parts ahead. There was a lot of filler content.

Things i liked:
-the ML and FL's acting. Like i said, the main leads go through a lot, or express and admit that they have been through trauma, and the other appears to be there for the other (there is span where the ML is going about being very rude to the FL but for the sake of writing something +ve we're gonna overlook that).
-The FL bff. The 2nd leads? I was actually more invested in their romance. the 2FL is also very level headed character, as a member of audience sometimes her dialogues were my thoughts. I also really liked how they put a light focus on her work as a paramedic. It was cool. Paramedics are cool.
-Lavender group or suk sisters. They were cute.

You should watch if:
-You are new or ok with the tropes of this sub genre.
-Are ok with very slow almost non existent romance.

Its actually not bad at all, theres nothing majorly problematic. I just found the way they went about various challenges extremely distasteful. If the cast hadnt been so good at acting, and i hadnt seem shorts gushing about this drama i wouldve dropped it at ep 1. I wished they couldve focused more on such family issues which they put in so much large qty in the drama with some depth , and added some nuance and resolution.

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