Are You Human Too? (2018)

This drama exceeded my expectations so much and is definitely a new favorite of mine. This is less because of the story, even though a romance involving a robot is an interesting premise, and absolutely about Seo Kang Joon as Nam Shin III. This is a character that I won't forget, and his performance is amazing!

"Are you human too?" is a sci-fi drama that plays brilliantly off of the current AI trend. The story explores the idea of androids blending into society, to the point of being mistaken for actual humans, but it does it in a unique way that combines thriller, romance, melodrama, and even comedy. I won't go much into the specific plot, because I think it's fun to watch all the elements unfold, but expect to laugh and cry and swoon. Even the melodramatic and completely unrealistic parts of this story work well because the acting and storytelling are that good.

I've already mentioned how brilliant Seo Kang Joon was as Human Nam Shin and Android Nam Shin III, but it's worth repeating. He manages to make both characters so different that they felt like they were played by completely different people. His leading lady is Gong Seung Yeon as Kang So Bong, which is a part as weird as it may sound, but she manages to make this story seem completely plausible, and their amazing chemistry helps. There were moments when Kang So Bong got on my nerves, but that was because of the character, not her acting. Just like there were moments when I completely loathed Nam Shin because Kang Joon plays a jerk so well. The rest of the cast is pretty brilliant too.
Lee Joon Hyuk as the Secretary was definitely one of my favorites in the cast, and I got my villain fix with Park Young Kyoo and Yoo Oh Sung. Then there's Kim Won Hae who's always good for comic relief. I think there was only one character I couldn't stand at all, and that was Reporter Jo, but maybe that's because her acting as a pretty awful friend was just way too good.

I was tempted to give the story a higher score because it kept me engaged and excited for each new episode from start to finish, but some parts of the story are so over the top ridiculous that sometimes the story felt silly when it wasn't supposed to. The entire drama has a comic book feel, with over the top characters and scenes, so it does work. I just felt like some plot moments were a bit too much.

For romance fans wondering if they will get their romance fix watching this, I say yes, especially if you are willing to be open to what romance can mean. One theme this show explores is human emotions and relationships. Watching an android navigate through this theme definitely made me think about how we connect as humans and what feelings actually mean. This gave even the seemingly superficial moments in the story much more depth and gave all the characters' choices more depth too.

I will also admit that I needlessly worried the entire time watching this about how it would all end, afraid that the ending would be too corny or make no sense, but I actually liked how it ended. There was no rushed or convoluted ending or glaring plot holes, and the story never lost its momentum. It was also emotional without feeling too melodramatic, even with over the top character choices and just a few tropes. I just decided not to think too hard about the logistics of what would happen after the ending. Sometimes thinking too hard about "reality" ruins the magic of the drama.

Overall, I definitely recommend this one to sci-fi fans, romance fans, or any drama fans looking for an interesting drama to watch, and a non-traditional character to root for. Of course, this isn't the only android themed drama out there, but I would dare say that it's one of the best.
I'd certainly watch it again, just for Nam Shin III, because he's that likable. I'm even a little curious to know what a sequel might look like, but I was satisfied with this drama just as it is.

This was definitely some good programming! Get it? *hangs head in shame* Sorry.
Now what will I look forward to at the start of the week... *sigh*


Side note: Korea really should do something about their white truck problem... I'm just saying...

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I anticipated this drama to come out ever since the news of it came out last year. I really had the highest expectation not only because of its high ratings but they already started filming this last year which makes it somewhat of a post production drama. I have to be honest, this drama did not lived up to the hype. With that amount of preparation I thought I was going to see epicness ala WESTWORLD. You take the robot element out of it and you're just left with another chaebol drama with cheesy romance on the side.

pros
1. I can always rely on KBS dramas to give me stunning sceneries as they love to film abroad all the time(too bad it was only for one episode)

2. Kong Seung yeon. I love a strong girl. I'm so glad that she's not a damsel in distress and not afraid to get down and dirty. love her since circle

3. Kim won hae. I mean it is KWH, the chameleon, whatever role he chooses to play he always slays it.

cons
1. everything happened too suddenly. I mean what's the rush? the meeting of the two nam shins, the reunion of the mother and son, the switch up and his fake identity getting busted.I wished they could've built up the tension a few episodes more. the storyline didn't got a chance to fully developed. it was all half baked

2. how I wish we got even just an entire episode getting to know more Nam shin 3, on how he lives his life in seclusion and how he deals with everyday life

3. I was disappointed that the plot revolved around the greed for power once again. This wasn't the drama I had in mind all this time. it's already so tiring to see the same plot over and over again even some of the actors are playing the same roles

4. I wanted SKJ to act more robotic as nam shin 3, I mean he's a robot after all. To me Chae Soo-bin (Aji-3) was more convincing as a robot (sorry I just have to compare them both)

5. how can a robot harbor such human emotions and how can a robot swim in water without malfunctioning?

6. okay let's say he was a state-of-the-art, high end and one of a kind robot then why does everyone around him acts so carelessly? his mother is an AI genius but for sure is pretty dumb when it comes to other stuffs. His identity is supposed to be top secret and he's supposed to be this fragile/precious thing however they just let him wander around freely and going on dates

7. It lacked depth and originality.The pilot episode gave me that feels but with each episode I find myself face palming more often because it's slowly turning into one of those medicore dramas

8. this was a sci-fi drama but I only got a little out of it. the first episode showed promise, I was intrigued and excited because it gave me the EX MACHINA and some BICENTENNIAL MAN vibes but the following episodes wasn't able to sustain the moment. CIRCLE and DUEL were both underrated but were far more amazing sci-fi kdrama that'll leave you at the edge of your seat every single time

This was by far the biggest disappoinment kdrama for me because with others I can already tell whether it will work or flop but with this I expected epic proportions, for a kdrama at least.

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Are You Human Too has been a fun summertime drama, most noteworthy for not one but two brilliant performances from Seo Kang Joon.

STORY

The plot was surprisingly weak for a pre-produced drama. The pacing was a little off, and the final episodes in particular seemed to suffer for it. What should have been satisfying conclusions were reduced to off screen deus ex machina, and emotional beats were glossed over rather than allowed to resonate.

Still, I definitely enjoyed the drama overall. It’s beyond easy to fall in love with Nam Shin III, and his antics and changing dynamics with the characters around him are in itself a great way to spend a half hour, each episode.

ACTING/CAST

As mentioned above, Seo Kang Joon is the glue that holds this whole drama together, and he could carry it alone, honestly. But fortunately, a number of the supporting cast also had interesting turns in their own characters. Lee Joon Hyuk and Park Young Kyoo in particular were great to watch.

I liked Gong Seung Yeon, but have to admit I agree with what others have said before that her acting wasn’t up to par for this role. It leaves me wondering how much more I would have loved the drama in the hands of a more believable female lead. I’m sorry to say it, but yeah.

MUSIC

The score was appropriate and supported the plot without drawing too much attention to itself. And a couple of the tracks from the OST have even made it into my regular playlist rotation, which is just about the highest compliment I can give on this front!

CINEMATOGRAPHY

It was beautiful, just gorgeous. So many sweeping, memorable moments and interesting framing.

REWATCH VALUE

Not very high. It was a fun ride, but I’ll likely only revisit scenes to make gifs.

OVERALL

Maybe worth noting: this drama didn't do much delving into the theory of robots, or even too heavily into the themes of what impact there may be to humanity when artificial intelligence exists, which are so predominant in other AI stories. I'm on the fence as to whether this made the story weaker or stronger, but I lean towards the latter if I concede that this show never really seemed to aim to such lofty concepts in the first place. If you're looking for that, then maybe you'd need to look elsewhere.

Basically, I recommend this one for anyone who loves Seo Kang Joon and/or wants to fall deeply, desperately in love with a fictional robot. :) Good luck!

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Well, I was pleasantly surprised by how I liked this. It was very fluffy but not overly sweet for me. Seo Kang Joon was amazing in this one! For him to create such a big difference between Robot Nam Shin and Human Nam Shin is just amazing!!! I absolutely loved the parts where he faced himself head on. So Bong on the other hand, I'm sorry but I mostly disliked her here. I thought that being a female bodyguard would be empowering, but in the end, she wasn't even able to show her skill as one. She and Nam Shin had a good chemistry though, so I'll give her that.

Next, I want to mention as well the amazing acting of Yoo Oh Sung. He did a stellar job as the antagonist, and really really got into my nerves as a bad guy. The faces of annoyance he makes is just so fitting of his character!

Lastly, I want to mention my favorite character of all here: Ji Yeong Hoon. Ngl I've been in love w Lee Joon Hyuk already before this so there's quite the bias but his role here is basically wiping everyone's butts after they poop, I am serious here hahausksks Anyway, he deserves what he got after all he's been through! And that's actually the thing I liked the most about this drama.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that human Nam Shin doesn't deserve any redemption. The fact that he had a happy ending pissed me off, because they really just forgot that he almost killed 2 people? Like.. okay I understand his actions of rebellion toward his grandfather and all the hatred inside him, but many character in the series warned him to not go that far, and yet he still did. He deserves jail time in my opinion, and thats that.

I was surprised to see this drama had a lot of OSTs, unfortunately I did not pay attention to it that much and I felt like only a few stood out. I did, however, listen to the full OST playlist and the songs are good.

One last thing, I couldn't help but compare this to Absolute Boyfriend, which I really liked when I was younger. I was afraid of how the ending would be because of that, and yeah the interactions between robot Nam Shin and So Bong just reminded me so much of Absolute Boyfriend aksksks

All in all, good drama, kinda predictable but with the stellar acting chops and chemistry it's easier to overcome what shortcomings I have of it. Well, except that I still strongly believe that human Nam Shin deserved to be in jail, if he did, I would probably rate this a little higher.

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Fantastic storyline and excellent actors....have been watching it on repeat...I am in love with robot Nam Shin (Every girl's crush and ideal husband)
The robot posesses all the qualities that a human should..which unfortunately doesnt exist anymore among humans like honesty, kindness, courage, empathy which makes the robot attractive and charming????
Seo Kang Joon never dissappoints with his perfect acting skills....He perfectly acts differently for two versions of the same character
Unlike other dramas about robot , i like the fact that this robot is similar to humans at the same time he also has robotic powers..
Technology is protrayed at its best
I am glad Go-Ara refused the role for the lead actress because the present actress matches perfectly with Seo Kang Joon in looks and acting
Music by VIXX is the best ost of this drama
I am going to miss this drama after it ends????
I hope it achieves the highest rating for 2018

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Depending on what kind of drama you want to watch, it can either be a hit or a miss. If you want a nice romance with a plot that (more or less) makes sense, Are You Human Too? will make you happy. If you are a big sci-fi fan and that's the reason you want to watch it - it might not meet your expectations.

THE GOOD

Likable characters with realistic flaws.
The majority of the motivations make sense and we can clearly put ourselves in the characters’ position. Some are better developed than others, but it's something we can't avoid in dramas. As long as the mains are there making sense, I am content. Not to mention how refreshing it was to have so many moraly gray characters.

The romance.
If you like fluff and cute stuff, this will be one of the nicest shows you have seen. I could clearly see the chemistry between leads, and there isn't any unnecessary love triangle. It's hard to describe the growth of emotions in terms of Nam Shin 3, but we can clearly see that in our human protagonist So Bong - how her relationship with NS3 develops and how slowly her feelings change. The acceptance that she loved a robot and not a human was nicely presented.

Cinematography.
Being a person who values the visuals of the dramas, I must say this one was extremely pleasing to the eye.

The emotional aspects.
Basically, this drama is good at 'playing' with your emotions. In a good way. The pacing was fine and they didn't randomly change from sad to funny scenes. Since the characters were gripping, I could easily empathize with them, which made the watching that much more enjoyable.

THE BAD AND LESS CONVINCING

The villains.
I truly loved what they did with Nam Gun Ho. The way he played people around him to be played at the end. That said, the true main bad guy of the drama disappointed me. His motivations did not make much sense. They tried to frame him as a heartless person, but then introduced some scenes clearly showing that he is not as bad as portrayed and even he wants to protect people important to him, so in the end, it wasn't consistent.

The romance.
While for a fluffy part it was amazing, I believe they did not explore the robot-human relationship to the full potential. There are many questions that they never delivered answers to. How will society react to that relationship? Will So Bong be happy with a robot that might never truly love her back? Why had they never talked about getting old and how will they work it out? What will happen to Nam Shin 3 after So Bong dies? Is So Bong going to be okay without any intimate relationship? The relationship was cute, but the social commentary about it could have been deeper.

Real Nam Shin .
How much I loved his character and how much I did not want the writers to give him a quick last minute redemption arc . After all the bad deeds he did, we don't really see much change in his character. Instead of showing us the aftermath of his decisions, we get 'one year later' with Nam Shin being fine and everyone accepting him. No true apology, no reflection on what his choices brought on people he claimed to care about. The writers were so fixated on giving us a happy ending they did not stop for a second to think if it would make much sense.

Ending.
If for you, getting a happy ending is the most important part, you won't be disappointed. If you rather have a bittersweet ending that fits the plot and is consistent with the characters, this might make you angry. The last ten minutes of the drama introduces even more questions than all the preview episodes combined, and gave no answers. We don't know what happens with the majority of side characters. What will happen to M-City? How were the legal aspects resolved? Why only few bad people who broke the law were punished for it? How is society dealing with AI being a real thing? The ending was a big plot hole.

Unresolved moral and social issues.
I would have no problem with drama not dealing with those deeper problems if they weren't introduced in the first place. But they were, so they should be explored more. When the robot is not just a robot? How human the robot must be? Is being conscious enough? Do you need to be able to feel emotions too?
Another EXTREMELY interesting plot point that was not explored at all: is the creator responsible for everything their creation does? If said creation is self conscious, can the creator control all aspects of its life? How far can the free will go? What is free will? The whole sci-fi aspect of the drama, instead of driving drama forward, has been just a plot device created as a background for the romance.

Ignoring the characters’ traits when they are not necessary for the plot and forgiving characters without a reason.
So Bong is a fighter, a really good one. Former athlete, currently bodyguard. And it's all ignored later in the drama. She does not fight, does not defend herself. The whole skill set is simply non existing. Reporter Jo is another character that has no place in the drama. She is suppose to be a funny friend of So Bong, but is she really? She kept getting everyone into trouble, manipulated them and used So Bong for her own profit. The fact that So Bong kept her as a friend till the end is irrational.

Overall, if you are searching for romance driven drama with emotional baggage that is not too heavy, go for it and you will love it. If you want more sci-fi, give it a try for a few episodes, but don't have high expectations. This drama presents many amazing dilemmas, but never explores any of them, and that was the biggest problem I had.

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I've watched 31 kdramas so far and to be honest this drama is not in my top 10 dramas in my opinion. I binge watched it in less than a day (yes, that's possible in my case even though there are 36 episodes). The beginning was promising and I enjoyed the unfolding of the story but by the 20th episode I started to get bored and skipped through the episodes up until the last 2 episodes. The actors acted very well but there was just something missing for me so I wasn't fully satisfied. Overall, I highly appreciate and respect the effort that was put into the making of it because some scenes were amazingly done.

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The robot we all would like to see

I love robot dramas when romance is involved. It makes for an exciting story and gives the writer flexibility to take romance to unusual places. It’s not something you see every day. This drama is no exception. Girl falls in love with a robot, and you have sparks of romance everywhere.

A fantastic story of a unique robot who becomes part of a conglomerate and learns to love. This drama has suspense, surprises, and villains galore. Add in some comedy and lots of unusual romance, and you have a blockbuster.

The acting was just superb, especially Seo Kang Joon, who performed two roles. Switching between a robot and a human, and making it seem real, is not easy. His performance made the entire drama fun to watch. However, the woman that loved the robot was every bit as good. Gong Seung Yeon was brilliant in her role as Kang So Bong, the bodyguard protector of Ham Shin the android. Her romantic chemistry for her robot was believable and heartwarming.

You will find that this drama flows easily with the short episodes. The music was good. The story had moments that will make you stop and think about the AI world.

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Seo Kang Joon was excellent

Seo Kang Joon did a good job of playing a dual role. The human was a real jerk and the robot was lovely. I tend to like to watch actors show their acting chops by either playing two disparate roles, or by changing completely from the beginning to the end of the drama. I just didn't find the storyline that entertaining and believable. I'm all for being willing to suspend disbelief, but I just couldn't believe that she would be satisfied with loving a robot. It seems awfully sad to me. This is one of those shows that I had such high hopes for, and was so disappointed.

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