Tae Ho
In the shining galaxy of A.N.JELL, Bangtan Sonyeondan & CNBLUE
Actually this drama is not bad at all. The story may be light and fluffy, but that is not everything there is to it. It's warm and reminds us of the meaning of love very successfully especially considering the path that the writer has chosen at the end.
I came into this drama for Yeo Jin Goo, and he definitely did not disappoint. In fact I could not think of other replacements for any of the other actors who played the main characters from Ma Wang Joon, Eum Da Da and to Diana. They really did justice to their parts, although admittedly their characters can be lacking in many ways which would be explained below.
First off, some people are bothered by Ma Wang Joon's action as he acted as the over obsessive guy who could not accept that his ex-girlfriend has moved on. Indeed, he can be a very annoying pushover at times, but his actions are well justified for anyone else who would have been at his place. Therefore, although I understand why some people may be really bothered by him, I am by no means annoyed at his character and actions.
Second, Diana's character is the one that has the most potential to really elevate this drama but was wasted and under-utilized. Diana has motives, but the background to the present self was bland and uninteresting, and that was exactly how they concluded her character in the end as well. She said sorry for her evil actions but certainly did not look regretful at all. It's a real pity that such an opportunity to create an interesting character out of Diana was not properly delivered.
Eum Da Da and Young Gu's relationship feels nice and warm, but there is still the unavoidable lingering question of whether or not their love was real. I get it that the writers tried really hard to make us believe that their love was real to stay true to the original premise of the drama, but I can't help but find it a bit superficial. An AI robot may be able to gather the data intelligence about what is love and what maketh love among human, but he would never be able to experience the feeling. Therefore instead of thinking that Young Gu is Eum Da Da's real love, I would think that it is actually more appropriate if the writers make it clear that Young Gu's purpose is more to teach her about love, rather than give her love. That part just doesn't seem right to me.
In that sense, I am more in resonance with how the writers of Are You Human Too has made the character of Nam Shin III a bit more realistic, where he admits that he knows what is love, but he can't give it back because he does not know how it feels until the end. What he was able to provide instead was accompany, support, comfort and friendship which could have also worked very well here in this drama, instead of trying to convince us that they Da Da and Young Gu are indeed a couple in love.
I also have a discussion with fellow MDL user (Kate) who mentioned that the gradual process of learning, understanding and developing human-like feelings by Zero Nine felt more ambiguous in this drama, and not as good as expressed in Are You Human Too (Nam Shin III) where he learnt human emotions by asking a lot of questions mainly to his eomma, David, Kang So Bong and his secretary.
Another thing I was really bothered by was the lack of attention to detail with regard to how Zero Nine's skin actually looks on screen. Even when I am streaming at 480p definition, I could clearly see the textural impurities of Young Gu's facial skin especially in the second half of the drama onwards. This frustrated me to no ends because only a human's skin can have such textures! In that sense, the visual director in Are You Human Too did a much better job in comparison because I remember they completely airbrushed the facial skin of Nam Shin III compared to the human character.
Other than that, I'm actually glad I watched this because even though the rating in South Korea was really bad that they had to cut down four episodes, it was not entirely nonsensical, and there are many love lessons that were delivered beautifully in this drama, such as the importance of appreciating and spending quality time with your partner while you are together, always caring for the other person when you are in a relationship, and being respectful of your friend's decision and continue to advise/support them, but remember that you cannot control their lives. The way the main character's relationship was written may be lacking, but the storyline itself is pretty solid and satisfying.
The BGMs are fantastic, in fact I will remember this drama for a long time because I really love their OST especially by Lena Park - Like a Starlight. Rewatch value is average-to-high for me because I think I will miss the early happy and cute parts of Young Gu and Da Da at some point and will certainly revisit them in the future.
Note: I actually watched this drama twice because I mistakenly watched the cut 36 episodes version instead of the international version of 40 episodes (both versions are available on the streaming site so it was confusing). Nevertheless, I can safely say that you won't miss anything important if you watch the 36 episodes version only.
I came into this drama for Yeo Jin Goo, and he definitely did not disappoint. In fact I could not think of other replacements for any of the other actors who played the main characters from Ma Wang Joon, Eum Da Da and to Diana. They really did justice to their parts, although admittedly their characters can be lacking in many ways which would be explained below.
First off, some people are bothered by Ma Wang Joon's action as he acted as the over obsessive guy who could not accept that his ex-girlfriend has moved on. Indeed, he can be a very annoying pushover at times, but his actions are well justified for anyone else who would have been at his place. Therefore, although I understand why some people may be really bothered by him, I am by no means annoyed at his character and actions.
Second, Diana's character is the one that has the most potential to really elevate this drama but was wasted and under-utilized. Diana has motives, but the background to the present self was bland and uninteresting, and that was exactly how they concluded her character in the end as well. She said sorry for her evil actions but certainly did not look regretful at all. It's a real pity that such an opportunity to create an interesting character out of Diana was not properly delivered.
Eum Da Da and Young Gu's relationship feels nice and warm, but there is still the unavoidable lingering question of whether or not their love was real. I get it that the writers tried really hard to make us believe that their love was real to stay true to the original premise of the drama, but I can't help but find it a bit superficial. An AI robot may be able to gather the data intelligence about what is love and what maketh love among human, but he would never be able to experience the feeling. Therefore instead of thinking that Young Gu is Eum Da Da's real love, I would think that it is actually more appropriate if the writers make it clear that Young Gu's purpose is more to teach her about love, rather than give her love. That part just doesn't seem right to me.
In that sense, I am more in resonance with how the writers of Are You Human Too has made the character of Nam Shin III a bit more realistic, where he admits that he knows what is love, but he can't give it back because he does not know how it feels until the end. What he was able to provide instead was accompany, support, comfort and friendship which could have also worked very well here in this drama, instead of trying to convince us that they Da Da and Young Gu are indeed a couple in love.
I also have a discussion with fellow MDL user (Kate) who mentioned that the gradual process of learning, understanding and developing human-like feelings by Zero Nine felt more ambiguous in this drama, and not as good as expressed in Are You Human Too (Nam Shin III) where he learnt human emotions by asking a lot of questions mainly to his eomma, David, Kang So Bong and his secretary.
Another thing I was really bothered by was the lack of attention to detail with regard to how Zero Nine's skin actually looks on screen. Even when I am streaming at 480p definition, I could clearly see the textural impurities of Young Gu's facial skin especially in the second half of the drama onwards. This frustrated me to no ends because only a human's skin can have such textures! In that sense, the visual director in Are You Human Too did a much better job in comparison because I remember they completely airbrushed the facial skin of Nam Shin III compared to the human character.
Other than that, I'm actually glad I watched this because even though the rating in South Korea was really bad that they had to cut down four episodes, it was not entirely nonsensical, and there are many love lessons that were delivered beautifully in this drama, such as the importance of appreciating and spending quality time with your partner while you are together, always caring for the other person when you are in a relationship, and being respectful of your friend's decision and continue to advise/support them, but remember that you cannot control their lives. The way the main character's relationship was written may be lacking, but the storyline itself is pretty solid and satisfying.
The BGMs are fantastic, in fact I will remember this drama for a long time because I really love their OST especially by Lena Park - Like a Starlight. Rewatch value is average-to-high for me because I think I will miss the early happy and cute parts of Young Gu and Da Da at some point and will certainly revisit them in the future.
Note: I actually watched this drama twice because I mistakenly watched the cut 36 episodes version instead of the international version of 40 episodes (both versions are available on the streaming site so it was confusing). Nevertheless, I can safely say that you won't miss anything important if you watch the 36 episodes version only.
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