So I Married an Anti-Fan (2021)

Oh good, another Ode to Female Martyrdom. We needed one of those, it's been at least a month or two.
Geun Young is the eponymous Antifan who signs up for a show called 'So I Married An Antifan' - as the Antifan - and then finds herself viciously betrayed by being portrayed as an Antifan.

*cue martyr face*

It's an expression you'll get familiar with as it's one of only two expressions she has. The other is a grimace she reserves for when nobody is looking so we can see just how much hard work she's putting into enduring all of the injustices the world has undeservedly thrown at her.

It hasn't of course, most of her victimhood is entirely a choice. In fact if anybody is married to anything in this show, it's the female lead to her victimhood. How dare the reality show she signed up for portray her as smart, fun and in control of the situation she's in? Don't they know she's a VICTIM?!

She becomes homeless for no clear reason I can see and the male lead, Hoo Joon, lets her stay in his house. Instead of taking a bed, she bunks down in the laundry room so we can see just how hard her life is despite living in a mansion, getting an agent, and starring in what could possibly be a hit TV show with a major celebrity.

As for Hoo Joon himself, he's a dick. A famous and rich one so of course he's just misunderstood or something. He's not a real person anyway, just a cardboard cutout of an Idol. The female lead seems outraged by the idea that most of his life is performative despite that being the literal job he has. Of course his life is performative, HE'S AN IDOL.

Apart from our main couple, we have an excruciatingly-boring second couple constituting Hoo Joon's limp, wet lettuce ex girlfriend and former best friend turned greatest nemesis. Like most second leads, these two desperately need to get a life or at least a personality other than 'future violent stalker and domestic abuser'.

The worst thing about this show - apart from the acting, which is at all times bland - is that the premise is excellent and could have been used to spark a fantastic enemies-to-lovers dynamic from this mismatched pair. Instead, from the minute she gets him to do the show by hunting him down and begging, we know exactly the dynamic the show is going for. She's the perpetual victim of injustice, long-suffering and noble. He's hot and rich and always in control.

Can't wait for the sequel - So I Married A Martyr.

I hear she endures that with fortitude as well.

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Sweet Cliché! Second Couple Redemption?

The show, basically what you expect form the title. A contract relationship, now let me say, ever since that one show "I hear You" I HATED contract relationships with marriage involved. But this show, made me kind of like contract relationship with marriage involved. Although this show did drag out a certain thing.

The story was alright, the male lead was a d*ck at first, obvious, then became soft. The female lead, eh? Like I don't know what to say about her other than her being a huge eater? That's much, she was weak at first and kind of became strong towards the end? Still weak though but just got a tiny tiny TINY bit stronger.
The whole second couple stich was done so bad. Would've gave a 9 but those two just made me give it what I gave it today. I also personally think they tried to make EVERYBODY and meaning EVERYBODY have a happy ending. They even had Geum Young's ex manager have some "good" to her? I knew it was cliché but making everybody have a good ending? boring much tbh.
The whole JJ jealous of Hoo Joon got dragged out, too far. Episode 10 and the plot with JJ, Hoo Joon, and Inhyung got no where, JJ still hating him, etc. And they try letting people feel bad for JJ. I personally think it worked a bit for me but not all the way.

The acting was alright! By the way, people hating on Choi Soo Hyung, have you guys seen her on Run On? She's literally TWO different characters! Loved her especially in Run On. Okay you don't have to like her role here but come on, you're over the top if you hate her acting, it ain't that bad. I literally only came to watch this show for HER yet didn't regret it.

The music? I don't know why people hate the music, maybe because I'm young but the music isn't that bad, I especially loved the intro music and always loved dancing to it every morning watching this show.

I would definitely re watch this show! The development in the male lead I could watch all day! Besides him I could re watch for Chan Sung over and over!
In total, this is light and fluffy ig but it's just cliché much so if you're not into this, don't even think of watching and giving it a one knowing you hate these kinds of shows.

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A curate's egg

I ended up liking the middle segment of this show after a wojus beginning. And then it arrived at an inglorious and tedious end.

Full disclosure: After jerk male leads I really, really hate female leads who are screechy, violent drunks, particularly those who go on to blame everyone else for their subsequent predicament. There's something weirdly misogynistic about the way that this is being served up as the new normal, anti-Candy for heroines. So the first couple of episodes realised all my worst fears.

PROS: Luckily, the character of Lee Geun-young started to calm down, become more real - and more compassionate - and even, eventually start to take responsibility for her own actions. I also think that Choi Soo-young acted well - even if that meant making the character unlikeable. I also liked some of the side characters - her friends, the production team, though would have liked to see those characters fleshed out a little more. And Hwang Chan-sung made a convincing antagonist. I also think it did a good job at sketching out how 'reality' TV works and how much it manipulates our perception.

CONS: The leads had zero chemistry. They were saying the right things by the end but it wasn't convincing. And despite this being 2021, I noticed that she kept he mouth tight closed during the kiss scenes, as if she wished she were somewhere else. I never really got a sense of who Hoo Joon was, either. I didn't think he was a jerk, but he was relatively opaque. I don't know if that points to the writing, directing or acting. Also, the father/ring part of the plot - what did it add to the story? And the plot holes/omitted narrative - Hoo Joon's mum, his previous 'relationship' (if any) with Oh In-hyung. I also think they wasted the character of Go Soo-hwan (he was barely in it) despite him being cited as a main character.

OVERALL: It was all a bit 'meh'. I won't remember it in 3 months.

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Average Drama With A Couple of Cons

At the start of this Kdrama, it was really promising but it moved kind of slow. It wasn't bad because we were still learning the background of the story and it was getting into its flow.

I loved the premise of the anti-fan. I was craving a Cold Rich Male Lead drama and this hit the spot with extra brownie points. However, what irritated me to no end was how the second FL (2FL) had more chemistry with the ML than the actual FL. (spoilery) They invested so much time in the backstory of ML and 2FL I actually started to like them more than the main couple.

Every single character was so spiteful and vindictive that it was painful to watch. It felt like the characters were playing the game ' Who can be more hurtful and self-destructive than the other.' Every character was either mean-spirited or had no self-awareness. but man even with all my complaining I was HOOKED and could not let go.

Overall I enjoyed my time watching it but probably would NOT choose to watch it again.

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Laughably mediocre. Lacks story and chemistry

I don't know where to begin with this mess. So I married the anti-fan was so mediocre that I almost wish it was just bad so I could have an easy explanationfor my distaste for this drama. It's pretty clear that this was a hot mess and most likely the reason it was put on production hold for 2+ years. If you would have told me this series was made in 2008 I would believed you because it really feels out of date and badly written, produced, acted, all of it, drama. The premise was great. Enemies to lovers, easily done right? Only... They somehow managed to mess that up and make it extremely boring. There is next to no chemistry between the 2 leads until 2/3 way through, and when it is presented it feels very forced because its out of nowhere.

The music, I can't even describe how hilariously bad. At one point I paused because I realized they were playing horrid out of tune music with a recorder. As in, the exact same music that is played badly on purpose for memes O_O Even when the main lead plays his music it's bad. And we're expected to believe this man is the #1 idol? There's no way. When he sings (which is only 2 scenes in the entire show) he just stands there and has a couple dancers behind him. I kept pausing to laugh. Theres no way this mediocre man is the #1 idol. Not with idol standards, and I'm very sorry to say... but not with that face. It's just not believable.

Besides all that, the storytelling is all over the place too. The second leads are somehow very dramatic and very boring at the same time. They spend each episode rehashing the same thing and I honestly had no idea if I was supposed to support their relationship or not because they were so toxic for no reason.

Would I recommend? Not unless you want to waste 16+ hours of your life.

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This drama deserves its anti-fans (and yet I rewatch it repeatedly!)

In a quick summary, this drama is 50% great and 50% awful. Sadly, the awful parts are so bad that it's impossible to recommend watching them - which means that less than half of the drama is actually worth viewing. And yet!

And yet I have re-watched those good parts multiple times because they've hit that sweet spot of "conceited jerk meets bumbling manic pixie dream girl and everyone falls implausibly in love" that I sometimes crave.

I will say that the romance of our main characters is based in nonsense and wildly chaotic, but it has heart-fluttering moments that are grounded in two people who don't really know how to be around people very well but somehow fit each other. Once they start connecting, it's really very charming. Both actors do a great job with some very wacky material, and have a natural feeling connection. I felt that they both grew into functional adults on their own and through their relationship with each other.

However! The second leads, who are central to the MLs backstory and cause mess for the FL, are horrific. Their relationship is so abusive I couldn't handle even their first scene together, let alone the absurd situation they end up in. The character of JJ is beyond awful. The unfortunate SFL is so broken by her circumstances that I just wanted to reach into the screen and take her away from everything she was dealing with. That poor girl made me so sad and angry that people can treat people like that.

Back to the good points, I have to give love to our MLs manager - I adored him and his knowing smiles. Stick with him, our mains, and the FLs besties, and you're in for a good time.

The music is sweet, as befits a story about a pop star. I actually enjoyed several of the songs quite a lot.

Overall, half of this drama was quite good, good enough to rewatch. With aggressive use of the FFW button, it is a fun, lightly melo drama.

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If you are looking for a healthy relationship, you won't find it here

Let me begin with what I liked – the ending was really cute. I also liked cameo appearances of some of the actors I’ve seen in other dramas. And the music was good. The acting was okay, which I will cover in greater detail under CAST.
WRITING: I felt that the growth between the two characters was sorely lacking. The only time they communicated was when they were drunk, and they were drunk A LOT. There were too many unlikeable/pitiful people, and sadly this included the lead characters. There should be someone at the beginning of the story that you want to root for, and I didn’t feel that way about any of the characters. The show was rife with the standard K-drama tropes - wrist grabs, drunk confessions, bullying (sorry, but it’s NEVER acceptable for a man to hit a woman), parent troubles, brother troubles, misunderstandings due to lack of communication, best friends becoming enemies, enemies becoming lovers, crooked CEO’s, tragic medical conditions, love triangles, time jumps, rushed endings. You name it, you’ll find it here!
What stuck out most to me was how dysfunctional the relationships were. Granted, this show is about three years old and was just released, but even three years ago I would hope that writers would start to address the importance of honesty, respect, and communication in a relationship.
MAIN COUPLE: He was a mess, and was not nice to her in any way, shape or form at the beginning. Jumping to conclusions, emotional blackmail, and shutting yourself off from someone that you supposedly love to disappear and handle problems on your own, are not signs of a healthy relationship. Sadly, K-dramas use the time jump in almost every show, and it just doesn’t ring true that when you’ve been desperate to win the love of your life that you’d disappear for months/years at a time to “resolve” things and then just show up out of the blue without having contact with your significant other. In this age of cell phones, texting, social media and FaceTime, this is definitely an overused ploy. She was a mess and a doormat. She was pretty much treated badly by everyone, and she just took it. Get a spine!
SECOND COUPLE: Just no! This was the epitome of a toxic relationship and the police should have gotten involved.
CAST: Choi Tae Joon as idol Hoo Joon. I didn’t feel that he was strong enough to carry the role of male lead. He lacked “presence”. I found myself watching everyone around him in the scenes he was in. I’ve seen him in other things and enjoyed his acting, but this wasn’t a good fit for him.
Choi Soo-young as Lee Geun-Young. I had more problems with the way her character was written, rather than her acting. She is a beautiful woman, and there is an intrinsic sweetness about her that was a positive addition to her character.
Chansung as JJ. As an abusive, possessive, jealous boyfriend, I felt that he was a bit much, but it was the way he was written. However, I will say that toward the end, when something happens to him, that is where his acting really shone. He did a wonderful job of displaying the fear, despair, and vulnerability of his character which actually made you somewhat change the way you thought of him.
Han Ji An as Oh In-hyung. Of all the characters, the writers fell down on the job most with In-hyung. She was spineless and an emotional wreck and I couldn’t believe that anyone would fall for her or that she had the strength to take on being an idol star. Add to that Ji An’s acting, and I felt like it was a bit of a train wreck. Her facial expressions were flat throughout the show and her doe eyes just screamed “poor me”. There were a couple of scenes where she was walking away from the actor she had been talking to, and even her gait was unnatural.
Again, the ending was the saving grace.

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Oof...

Within less than 3 minutes going into the first episode we were presented with these goofy and silly sound effects for every motion and laughter. My expectations were nullified immediately which definitely helped to endure it. The interactions between the characters were painfully artificial and static, which made the dreadful cheesiness even worse than it already was. This is how it seems from the surface but the content is much more revolting and ugly. Highly not recommended!

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Surprisingly this series brought me on an emotional roller coaster ride

Have yet to read the manhwa for this series; nonetheless was excited due to the casts! There is a really fine line between love and hate! CTJ played his character really well as expected. The character HooJoon has many cute sides you wouldn’t expect. As for Sooyoung, her character Geunyoung is someone that I really like; not an overly cutesy character but someone who goes at her own pace and know what she wants and to see it through the end.

The only downside (not really a downside per se) is that I feel towards the end it felt a little ( really just a little ) rushed. Would loved it even better if more was explored

It’s a relatively good drama, I mean KDramas seldom disappoint (IMO)

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This drama was a huge disappointment

This drama was absolutely RUBBISH. I completely wasted my time watching this drama. It was so hard to watch that I just skipped the majority of the drama. It felt as if the drama came out in 2016. The storyline was meh, and the music was average. The acting was questionable
Not to mention that the characters were horribly portrayed.
First of all the ML lead is toxic. The FL is stupid and embarrassing. She was also a pushover. The SFL AND THE SML were uninteresting the SML was also abusive as well as the ML.
I honestly regret watching this so just don’t waste your precious time on this.
Anyways let me know if you found this review helpful

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Cliche plot, questionable acting, and subpar production

Let me start off by saying that I really tried to give this drama a fair chance and that everything in this review is based on my subjective and personal opinions and viewing experience and in no way is meant to slander anyone involved in the production of this drama.

I forgave the tiresome OST and overplayed sparkle sound effects but am still left frustrated and disappointed by this drama. I liked the casting of the main female lead, but the acting was nothing refreshing and sadly exactly what I expected from a cliche rom-com. This goes for the male lead as well. The dialogue was delivered with the stereotypical conveyance of tone and facial expressions that I have seen time and time again from early 2010 dramas, even though this was shot in 2018. The friends of the main female lead were the boring cookie-cutter male and female friends with nothing to give that really added to the plot.

The main soundtrack was boring, overdone and I sighed every time it came on, which was probably a good handful of times every episode, even felt like every time the main leads made so much as simple eye contact. The sound quality of production was not on par with other dramas from the same era - echoey and hollow, with louder background and action sounds than the dialogue at some points.

The two second leads were entirely uninspiring. Their storyline was never not problematic and the acting was really not what I would have expected. The intensely emotional scenes felt empty and hollow, and each delivered with the same facial expressions and tones as the previous one. After episode 13, I started skipping past any scenes that included the 2nd leads. The casting of the 2nd lead male did not work in my opinion. I was more interested in the 2 producers of the reality show storyline than the second lead storyline.

Something I enjoyed was the idea of the reality show, but this part was not done as well and explored as much as I thought it could have been. The wardrobe was passable and thankfully not completely outlandish or unrealistic, and the set designs were also more realistic than some other dramas.

All in all, I enjoyed some of the moments between the 2 main leads, but felt the drama as a whole could have been better executed. The best actor was by far the main male leads manager.

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