So I Married the Anti-Fan

I love the Webtoon that this is based on and have been reading it for quite a while. I had known that there was a show based on it but was putting off watching it because my life was kind of crazy at that time. When I finally sat down to watch it, I was disappointed immediately. The female lead is super adorable, but the actor who plays Who Joon does not live up to my expectations. To be honest, I was expecting a super hot, charismatic hunk and this Who Joon just didn't give me that. Most of the side characters have annoying personalities and are kind of bad at acting (sorry!). The FL and Joon are too different from what they're supposed to be as per the webtoon, and Joon's basically bipolar in the show. There's too many cliche scenes, I'm not satisfied with their chemistry... I could go on and on. After the end of each episode, I would sit there and think, "What did I just watch?"

Don't watch it unless you're really into cheesy, half-put-together romantic stuff.

SIMTAF happens after a clash between a reporter and a pop superstar that ends with her getting fired. Next, she seeks retribution - through social media and VERY public demonstrations. The whole spectacle was on display for fandom to devour. What usually follows a spectacle these days? The reality show. The pop star will marry his anti-fan. He quips: 'Anti-fans are fans in a way after all, aren't they?'

Proximity Alert! The best way to overcome prejudices is through exposure, or proximity. The more we're around somebody, the more we'll see them for who they are instead of what we chose to believe before we knew the person better. (As an aside, color is one of the first things we don't see anymore once we get used to being around a person. There's a few things that are less important than the shade of someone's skin). The more we're around somebody, the more their looks change based on their inner beauty whether for the better or worse.

That's the set up. He's basically a decent guy who's gotten a tad spoiled from being a star. She's an aggressive, intelligent reporter who is the opposite of spoiled. They detest e/o. Thus the show promises us some 💥-sparks-tension-🔥-PASSION, but we get very little of that. They start with the marriage, which is a sham. She gives him a good scare as she peels out in the convertible: The show creators, thus, reiterated their promise (fib) that 🎆fireworks🎇 are to follow. And... there's almost none💢. It's really perplexing as to why they didn't show them bickering while filming their show. That would have been so much more fun. The 1st episode is disjointed, sloppy, and unfocused. It lags. What they ended up with is a time-killer; nothing special. The FL, Lee "Geun" Young, is played by Choi Soo Young, who is special. They squandered her talent. She stole the show, Run On-7, as half of the 2ndary romance. They tossed in the MSP trope (Missing or separated parent(s) which doesn't do much to enhance the plot. The show borders on bland, but it has its moments. The leads are competent and likable, while the writing is insightful in places, and those serve to guard against total floppage.

Choi Tae Joon (Suspicious Partner, Ugly Alert) portrays ML, Hoo Joon. Hwang Chan Sung (True to Love, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim-6.8, My Holo Love-6.8) is JJ / Choi Jae Joon. Han Ji An (Oh Seonam Girls High School Investigators, The Vanished) is In Hyung. Her character drags the series down a peg. I hate the look on that girl's face. She's trying to make her singing career work and it's not going well. As her character is under tremendous stress, she holds her mouth tightly and always looks anxious. She's so stiff that she looks like she has a neck and shoulder injury. She's always skulking with her shoulders drooped and her head down, always looking like a chipmunk that's about to barf, which was difficult to watch. She seems to see herself as a powerless victim. At no moment is she engaging, relatable, or sympathetic. I felt uneasy every time she was onscreen. She gave us a gift, in the end, though: In Hyung concludes that while she's dreamed of being loved by many people, she realizes that she's not a person that knows how to give or receive love. Few people reach that level of internal honesty.

It seems like it was shot as a reality show. There's nothing slick or smooth at all. There's little soundtrack, even though we're following the music industry. It's nearly lifeless. Geun is always beautiful, but some of her outfits are atrocious.

There are worthy themes. "In real life we all cover ourselves with prideful wrapping paper." His pride. Her prejudice. They need to crumble. One of the friends is full of hatred and bitterness over a past event, which he seems to have misunderstood, to a certain extent, on top of it all. Things became worse over the years, not better, because his anger couldn't be mollified and it hardened into bitterness. He let a person live rent-free in his head for years! That's the same as enslaving oneself. Don't let that happen. How lying isolates us in the middle of the wilderness is another theme. "I came a long way on wings made of lies. But I realized I had nowhere to return to on wings of lies. Whether they are exposed or not, at some point our lies run their course. We who are fortunate reach our dead-ends with enough time left to do some good." That quote is more profound every time I read it.

To the final shot, though, this could have been tighter, neater, funnier, fit together better, and it could have had a better flow. It could have been a lot better, yet it still wasn't bad. As I write this I'm trying to decide if this show is worth watching at all? I'm wondering if I should have abandoned it. This might be worth watching for their first kiss. It's well above average - an 8, minimum. They think no one is watching, and nobody was, but the cameraman left the camera rolling. They are so exposed, snagged, ~oh snap~ Well, lookie here. The fans are going to lose their minds!

QUOTES🗣

Things that don't fit always become a problem.

You have to tell seven lies to make one lie work.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬6 🖊〰6 🎭 73 💓68 🦋7 🌞7 🎨65⚡4 🎵/🔊73 😅45 😲35 😭35 🤔64 💤5 🔚74

Age 12+

Re-📺? Pass

It's the we've-been-forced-to-live-together trope! Similar offerings:

My First First Love-8, A Witch's Love 7.8; Playful Kiss-7.3, My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9, Crash Landing On You 9.1; Oh My Ghost 10; Mr. Queen 8.5; Romance is a bonus book-7.9, Hotel del Luna-8.4, Because This Is My First Life-7.7, The Bride of Habaek-7, That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,

🇯🇵Mischievous Kiss Love in Tokyo-7.8

🇨🇳Well-Intended Love-7.5 19 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine, Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9; The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8; The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 - arranged marriage loosely fits in this category.

I'm not going to sit here and say this Asian drama is perfect. Honestly, I'd probably give it an 8.5 stars if I could, but I'll be nice and round it up.

I watch a lot of Asian dramas, like many others, and a lot of them I eventually stop watching and never finish the ending because it's so cliche. I get so tired and bored of the typical Asian dramas so this was refreshing. I do read the webtoon, and that's what made me interested in the drama.

I binged it. I have not binged and lost sleep on a drama in a LONG time. Very long. Even though there's some cringey moments and cliche scenes, I overly did enjoy this.

I find that most dramas SooYoung acts in are pretty good, but the main actors have really good chemistry together and it made it feel so much better.

I think this drama came with a really good concept. But chemistry Between main character was totally disappointed. Just sudden kiss can't start a love story,they need to know. I don't know why they ended this drama just like one side love. Even at the last moment of this drama,main actress was still confuse is she really love him or not or is she really his girlfriend. And i personally didn't like her facial expression after their real love story begin.

I am binging episode 4 now and i love the drama so far. Hope they keep up the good work and hope for the best.

This part is added right after finishing the whole drama.

I still stand on my opinion . It was wrapped up really nicely and the story was healing and soothing in a unique way. Even the cliche romantic scenes were beautiful . Support the drama because it does worth that much.