Love for Love's Sake (2024)

Definitely a good watch!!

Usually don’t write reviews but I had to for this one. Loved this show overall, the chemistry between the characters, the seemingly never ending subplots. The one thing that did throw me off was that it felt like the writers had too many ideas for this show and not enough time to fully flesh them out. Somehow they fitted a sci-if plot with a dying grandmother, an alcoholic father, and mother who abandoned her son and made a new family w/o him, a social media influencer plot, and way more into just 8 eps. Not to mention woongis character’s abroad boyfriend that was never spoken of again. Love for loves sake would’ve really benefited from something like 12 hour long episodes rather than 8 thirty minute ones. Other than the pacing, I would really recommend watching this. I was invested in the characters from start to finish and the guy who played yeowoon had my full heart. Loved his acting and portrayal of sadness, especially in the break up scene.

Read More

Liked it ok for love's sake

With all the glowing review and the current high rating on MDL, I expected much more than this. But even without those expectations, I would still consider this drama as a disappointment personally. Let's just start with things that were done right:

1. Very strong premise and theme. This drama hooks you right from the beginning and keeps you engaged throughout. Seeing the world through Myung Ha's lens (or more correctly a VR game lens) started the drama on a very lighthearted note and disguises its darker themes which I enjoyed. The depiction of emotional turbulences through "system error" is a very good choice in my opinion - it really got me on the edge of my seats and gets me anxious to see whats going to happen next. The way they inserted the mental health theme, loving yourself, and finding a constructive community for yourself is well introduced, although this could have been expanded more if they had more episodes.

2. Some characters are multi-dimensional and well written. Yeo Woon's progression from distaste to liking the feeling of having company is so so so sweet to see. I also love how Sang Won develops from just a rich brat who is a bit of a bully into someone who helped teach Myung Ha how to receive love and help. Myung Ha is the most complex character of all - he started out the journey thinking that this is a self sacrificing journey where his end goal is to make Yeo Woon happy and to save Yeo Woon, but was actually put in this journey to learn how to love himself. I do love that he is so ready to do anything to save YeoWoon but my heart bleeds for him because he just can't extend the same kindness and love to himself.

3. Homophobic bs does not fly in this series! I love how Myung Ha just does not stand for any type of homophobic remarks made towards himself or others. It is rare to also see a character like Sang Won so ready to accept the fact that he likes men that easily. Is it the most realistic depiction of self discovery? Probably not for most people but I don't care. This is the ideal world that we should be working towards anyways - where kids are not afraid to express themselves because all sexual identities are normalized.

Things that did not tick my box:
1. Myung Ha still having the 29 year old mentality while dating an 18 y.o. I understand that he travelled back in time. But maybe get him to start forgetting that he was 29 y.o at some point? There were so many moments where Myung Ha and Yeon Woo's interaction felt paternalistic which was actually expressed by multiple characters. I just could not buy their relationship as a romantic one because of this. In the end, he was given a chance to fully go back and live his life as a 19 y.o, so in my head I am just believing that he will lose his 29 y.o mindset and perspective and start actually living life as a 19 y.o.

2. Series is way too short to successfully execute the intended themes, premise, and character development. This is such an interesting story and there is potential for this series to be iconic. However due to the length of the series, everything felt rushed and nothing was fully resolved. They had so much potential with the mental health and self love themes, and I guarantee that with 8 more episodes and proper character development, this would have been a solid 9/10 from my end.

Yes, there were more positives than negatives, but the rushed execution is just too jarring for this series to be anything but average. The actors were excellent though and I am so looking forward to watching their future projects.

Read More

The Midnight Library.

I was fooled into thinking that this was some isekai style comedy drama, but oh no. It sits right up there with 'Oh no! Here Comes Trouble!' -- dramas which are disguised as comedy when in reality, they hold a much deeper meaning.

The drama opens with a despondent 29-year-old Myung Ha (Lee Tae Vin) in a bar, reading his senior's soon-to-be-turned-to-a-game novel about a couple who finally get their happy ending. He is dismissive about the HE, and points out that Cha Yeo Woon, a supporting character with no 'happily-ever-after' is the one whom he pays attention to. His senior asks Myung Ha whether he would be the one to give him a happy ending -- Myung Ha soon falls asleep drunk and wakes up as his vibrant 19-year-old self... right in the middle of the said game.
His task? Save Yeo Woon within 300 (?) days or face death.
As Myung Ha tries his best to bring a suicidal and lonely Yeo Woon back to life, we slowly begin to learn about who Myung Ha is.

The gaming aspect is strongly welded to Love for Love's Sake -- there is not a moment where I forgot that Myung Ha was not even from the gaming world. What is intriguing is how we discover small snippets of his life through various incidents. Yes, Myung Ha's ultimate task is to unpeel Yeo Woon's various layers and make him choose the things he genuinely cares about. But, what does it ultimately bring for Myung Ha, who doesn't even exist in the first place? And what will happen, when Yeo Woon starts to develop feelings for him?

The answers to several questions were slammed down on my head in the penultimate and final episode, and I still do not know whether to be happy or sad. It was a bitter experience, watching them.

Myung Ha must've been one tough character to play because out of everyone portrayed, he had the most secrets. Kudos to Lee Tae Vin, particularly for the last three episodes because no one call pull of that feeling without understanding the character.
Cha Joo Wan convincingly played the role of a cold tough guy to an honest and strong individual quite well. I liked his sincerity and straightforwardness.

Myung Ha's two other friends and the little sister brought a sense of normalness and 'familial' feeling to what would otherwise have been a rather lonely drama. His relatiobship with his grandmother was what I liked the most -- she was the link which existed in Myung Ha's life, both the virtual and the real one.
[The Midnight Library is a book by Matt Haig by the way. Love for Love's sake, despite it's flowery title reminded me of this book.]

I think for one has to watch this drama by self to experience it -- pretty sure that this is the type of story that is either a hit or miss. Either you understand it or you just don't. It strikes a deep cord and might not resonate with many, but ultimately it definitely is a different story for such a short drama.

Read More

in an industry where there is a lack of well-developed stories (because unfortunately we still haven't overcome the bls with like 6 episodes that lasts only 20 minutes...), "love for love's sake" debates important themes that are not usually portrayed in other korean bls, at least not with too much depth.

talking topics such as the fear of letting yourself feel and not letting yourself love and be loved, as well as addressing homophobia (finally!, because i particularly don't remember a korean bl talking openly about this), i believe that the bls industry, not only in korea, but also in the rest of asia, will have to work hard to be able to make something good as what "love for love's sake" was able to provide.

SPOILER (?) AHEAD:

and we had a bisexual main character everybody cheer !!!

Read More

Cathartic, yet equally as frustrating

I'm a bit of an inexperienced BL watcher. I do watch BL, most of the drama I consume is BL content, but I am definitely more unfamiliar with it than a lot of other people are as I am not always the type to watch dramas. That being said, I was compelled by this one. I have followed Woongki for a couple years and this left me with a lot of intrigue. Now that I've watched it, I have a LOT to say about this show.

I'll start with the positives of this show - this show has some of the strongest chemistry and acting I've seen in a while. Every character is cast brilliantly and their portrayals of their respective characters allow me to understand each character to an amazing extent, an understanding that allowed me to feel a really close connection towards them. Lee Taevin's performance as Myungha is one of my favourite portrayals of a character in all the BLs I have watched and you can tell that he cared about this show and character, as in each and every scene you could easily make out his emotions, his intentions, his everything. Cha Joowan does an amazing job as Yeowoon as well and he is probably my favourite character to watch because I relate to him a lot, and he is a very enjoyable character. Heck, every main character in this show is great, but it is clear that the main couple really steals the show.

For me, this show is so, so close to getting it perfect. The core storyline of this show is not one I thought I would enjoy, but it navigates it brilliantly to the point I found myself engaged. I picked this up after the release of episode 1/2 and was drawn in immediately, then was further drawn in by episode 3/4. What this drama has as a shortcoming, however, is the plotholes it creates in its progression of the story after we see Yeowoon finally warm up to Myungha after episode 4.

Episode 5 is the beginning of the shit this show brings in to spice things up and give a bit of shock value, which I heavily disliked. This episode feels so, so rushed. The added storylines could've easily been added at an earlier date to give Yeowoon's character more depth as up until now he was a mystery. On top of this, the confession scene is unnatural - which ties into my first point. Why on earth would someone's first thought be to confess their love after going through something traumatic like that? I understand the release of emotion, the want to get rid of stress in your mind, but I feel like if they wanted to deliver that, they needed to sell into Yeowoon and his emotions as a character. Make him break down, make his emotions clear. In this scene he is stagnant and it happens out of nowhere. I feel the same way about the kiss scene, which feels forced and out of place. It did not need to happen here and feels added in purely to make the fans happy, which is honestly a horrible position to place it in especially given how PERFECT it would be if they held off on kisses until the final episode.

Episode 6 introduces the social media star storyline which is easily my least favourite aspect of the show, because not only does it not really make any sense in context of the show (obviously the end point does, but even so I have my gripes with that), it feels forced. There is really no need for this episode at all, you could skip all the way up until the ending section and you're really not missing out on anything major. You might be confused for a second or two when they mention stuff about stalkers in future episodes, but there is really NO need for this story at all. In fact, it frustrates me why it was even included because it is such an uncomfortable watch. I was genuinely really on edge watching it and not in a way of anticipation, I was just constantly waiting for it to end. Which, for a show that had been mostly flawless up until the last two episodes, is NOT a good look. That being said, I understand the inclusion of these as storylines. In the drama they are portrayed as side quests, and it makes sense for them to be added, but they are just... uncomfortable watches.

Episode 8 is, however, probably my favourite episode of a BL in ages. The cinematography in this was AMAZING and I would love to see a BL shot in a similar way to Myungha's past life scenes for its entirety. Those scenes reminded me a lot of 'Saltburn' which was a movie I could just NOT stop looking at. They were shot absolutely beautifully and I could not keep my eyes off of the screen, I was peeled. Additionally, the story of it was brilliant. I loved how it was executed, and I think it was the perfect way to end this series. I am not a crier but I did shed a tear seeing them run down the beach together, and it was such a cathartic moment.

As frustrating as this series can be to watch, I am so happy to see that so many people are enjoying it. Do not take my review as the bible, as I think I do need to rewatch this to fully appreciate what it has to offer. However, do definitely give this one the time of day. This is an extremely enjoyable watch and definitely going to be a BL favourite for many, and for good reason. Just maybe not fully for me, but that's my personal gripes as I prefer a story that flows coherently.

Read More

An Amazing series

First of all let me say life will not always be happy but it is the happy moments in it that should be reflected on when we are sad; it is the series, books or movies that make us happy that we should engage with because everyone deserves happiness. If you are struggling please talk to someone. With that said:

Love for Love's Sake 9/10

Wow, what a watching experience. It has been a while since I just laid down and binged a series without interruption. I managed to navigate the game theme without much confusion. I love that when the game started to glitch and the server started to malfunction we the audience got to experience it. At first it seemed as if I was being thrown random fragmented scenes but then I realized I was experiencing the glitch with the characters; it was like being put into the series itself. For lack of a better term, it was the opposite of "dramatic irony"; with dramatic irony the audience is aware of truths that the characters are not but in this case both the audience and the characters were thrown for a loop and conscious of the what was happening. I appreciated how each scene fragment I was thrust into gave a different emotional impact, for example when all of a sudden it was grandma sick in the hospital and Cha Yeon Woon was dead on the floor, this sudden scene was emotionally jarring and thought provoking which kept me on the edge of my seat. The glitch provided a constant switch between happiness and sadness which I believe to be symbolic of the central message which is life won't always be happy there will be sad moments, sometimes when we least expect it, just as how we could not predict whether the next scene the glitch gave us would be sad or not. Whitney Houston once said, "The Greatest love of all is learning to love yourself", and I believe this series is testament to that. Tae Myung Ha knew how to love and care for others but he did not know to accept love and let others care for him because the one person who is supposed to love you unconditionally abandoned him, his mother. Due to this sense of rejection every struggle he and his grandma went through, every breakup, and every sad moment in his life felt like a rejection until it seemed to him that life itself was rejecting him; and to him if life did not want you and even took away the one person who kept him, his grandma, then why live, so he walked out into that sea thinking that maybe somewhere beyond this life there is a place where it does not hurt so much. However the power of love made him want to stay; because every sad moment and rejection could not amount to the feelings of happiness Cha Yeon Woon brought to him; it gave him a reason to live, and he made friends that supported him; so maybe he won't always be happy but now there were people to cheer him up and turn that frown upside down.

Now the romance and affection captured me in every way. I love that we got to see them be a couple, they held hands like breathing and the kisses were not lewd or sexually just purely loving and affectionate and that made them special to me.

I truly enjoyed this series and I am glad I spent the time today and finished it; its not everyday I get to watch a series I think is over a 8 star rating so thank you to the producers, writers, directors and actors who made this beautifully deep series. The acting was amazing, every tear shed by the actors held true emotion and grief which made the scenes palpable. The cinematography was excellent every scene looked clean and aesthetically pleasing which only added to the feeling being poured out on screen because setting gives words and actions a place to live to truly evoke emotions from the audience.

I did not get my "special 10 scene", but this series is an amazing one.

Well done Love For Love's Sake

Read More

Great plot, too little time.

I jumped into this show completely blind, and boy did they take a completely different route compared to your usual K-BL Drama! In terms of the core storyline, I wasn't quite sure I would enjoy it. But to my surrpise it sailed through it brilliantly and had me hooked from the start. From the the game inspired notifications and glitches that occured throughout the series, to the more realistic scenarios. It was very cool & fresh to see them try something new!! I also found the production and cinematography to be quite good overall. It was the plot holes that would later appear that I was most diappointed with.

They may have gotten a little ahead of themselves with the plot.. There was so much they wanted to convey, but we're given too little time to properly execute most of it. Which led to a lot of unfinished storylines. Even though they had a longer run-time than most other KBLs, it seemed to me like they tried to cram a lot of stuff into a small timeframe.

On the positive side, Taevin's acting was really good! His acting really made the show worthwhile. His desire to try and make Yeowoon live a happy life and learn to love himself more was really sweet. But what about the side characters?? I feel like they became more & more forgotten as the story progressed. Kyunghoon for example, wasn't his whole purpose to become closer with them and form a bond? We got to know very little about his character. (Except the fact that he's in a long distance relationship with someone, somewhere...) As for Sangwon, his story was barely touched on as well. Initially, I assumed he would be a love rival! But he was also just shoved to the sidelines. They just existed, I guess.

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy watching the show though! There were many aspects and things I liked, it just felt a little rushed towards the end and it's sad they couldn't reach their full potential. If it was a bit longer with more room for development in the side characters, I might have given a higher score. But it is still a show I would recommend others to watch ^^

Read More

Game of life....

Apparently, I completely misunderstood this drama. To my defence, I never read the webtoon so I judged it upon watching. I don't know if the plot is clearer there but I was quite confused with the ending.



First of all, I loved it: it was beautifully filmed and skilfully acted. The director loves original angles, ceilings and shadow contrast shots: excellent camera work! Actors are just as amazing: rarely have I seen such emotional, true acting in one of these web series. Music was nice and not intrusive, so we could really enjoy the plot and try to figure out what is what! LOL

Secondly, the plot was original, a device seldom used in k drama: transmigration. I said seldom, not never, and not as much as in c dramas. A 29 yr old sad and depressed man criticizes his friend's novel which is about to be turned into a game. After drinking too much, he wakes up inside the game as a 19yr old high school student, but with the life experiences of a 29yr old, and if he wants to live, he has to complete different tasks. When he leaves the game he is deleted from it but a couple of characters still vaguely remember him; How? Why? Then he kills himself (apparently he never learned anything!) and he is sent back into the game.
The biggest part of the series takes part inside the game. That's the problem I had with it: is the game real or is it an allegory for afterlife (since at one point, the ML comes out of the game and promptly kills himself! Or does he?) or is it that his friend based a character in the game on him....I don't know!
I was expecting a different ending. Something along these lines: ML learning to know himself through the game and finally realize that his novelist friend was in love with him (the vibe was of stratospheric proportion in the first episode, the chemistry hot and therefore I suffered from second lead syndrome!LOL That never turns out well in K dramas!).

Finally, in spite of the lack of straight explanation, as I see it, and after being told off, I am just going to take it literally, in the sequence and do not think about it logically! I was told that the game is the afterlife and that the ML was dead from the beginning. That's not what I saw. I'd like to say it is open to interpretation but...forget it!

Read More

Emotional Lava

my only complain about Kdramas always has been the coldness ..every character comes as uptight and cold.. but WTF here the melting is real.. the process of turning ice to emotional lava through the 8 episodes were amazing and glorious. and all this came in a video game format is the strangest ever ..
because the unique narration of this drama and following the lead (game) instructions to the big reveal they didn't lose me for a minute ..I was there with him and I loved it
I must confess that "the eighth sense" is my least fav. drama and I don't understand the hype. the treatment of sadness and loneliness is better addressed here.. maybe that emptiness and robotic feeling can also be consoled by love and finding true friends. while I cried my heart out in "a shoulder to cry on" (no. 1 for me ever and ever) I didn't cry here cause I think the makers wanted that. They wanted to illustrate how hope is not cruel at all, and nothing is hopeless you can start again every time.
the acting superb the music was good but the handling of the story was something else.

Read More

Nothing is topping this

I was so incredibly moved by this story that I'm writing a review months after watching it and failing to find another series that has made me feel the way Love for Love's sake did.

The cinematography and interesting video game concept reels you in initially, and you'll find yourself thinking about how cute these two high schoolers are for the first few episodes. Soon, you come to find that this story is not just a simple high school romance. Rather, it's a story about depression, loss, and the way we so freely love others when we can't even seem to love ourselves.

By the end of the show, you might be confused and hoping the story truly did have a happy ending.

Either way, I think the show's lesson is that even if you don't have the full picture, you can still choose to be happy. You can still have a second chance.

Read More