always something to read u_u

i should NOT have read this when i was so aglanaxa-pilled (read: very into missed timing/second chance romances) but i maintain that even if i hadn't been, i would have still disliked the main couple in this lol. office romance is fun but i remain assured that my favorite types of romances are ones in which both characters are very emphasized to be each other's equals. This webtoon features workaholic 29 year old mc and her 27 year old nepo baby love interest who grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, has never worked a proper office job in his life, and generally acts so childish that i was aghast when his age was revealed. that makes it sound like i really hated him, but he was actually a pretty funny character! its just................. they have no romantic chemistry to me. zero. it's such a basic dynamic and i really shouldnt have expected more from a romance webtoon, but the main guy is like. her direct subordinate. once he decides he likes her its scene after scene after scene of the corniest romance tropes and hr violations alike. she picks up on the fact that he likes her but doesnt draw a line even though she decides she would. this is my least favorite thing about romance manhwa w/ this kind of no-nonsense female lead. they never commit to this shit and so she ends up being some half-hearted tsundere... it makes me mad!!!
on the other hand, the setup she had with the 2nd male lead was so so fun and i was so obsessed w/ the flashbacks to them of the past... her confessing her feelings and asking him to reject her in one go, not letting him tell her how he felt so she wouldnt ever know.. its so PEAK. and then in the present the two of them are equals, and her feelings might have been a burden on her ambitions in the past but now he can show her how much he still cares in a straightforward and assured manner...................idgaf... i really dgaf.. ugh. its not fair!!!!

nothingburger main couple aside, i really really really loved. the side couple. ouhg. their romance is (recent) exes-to-lovers and it was sooo cute. theyre so cute. the tension between them was so fun, i was kicking my feet and giggling every time they were in a chp together.. i just really like premises where both characters in a relationship misunderstand the other's motives and think of themself as the person more invested in a relationship, and they executed that really well here. the chapter where we uncover the way they fell apart was fun for exactly this reason. seeing how they got together was also so cuteee 😭. i love them. theyre also just such a pretty couple lol, i love how both of them look... gongieous... will probably not keep up with this one (partially bc its on hiatus now lmao) but will check back in for side couple. my beloveds

short 6-ep drama i picked up because the premise was so lukerosa-core i legally had to. [fill rest of this later]

This show had a promising start with the quirky small town setting & loveable characters. I liked the casting a lot for the main leads as well as the rest of the town, and the characters in general were very charming and funny! unfortunately, it took only a few episodes for the early conflicts to run their course as "entertaining" and switch over to "grating"... I wanted to really like the FL but so much of the story early on is her screwing herself over by being insensitive and then refusing to back down from her position until the ML smooths things over for her. She does have her moments, but i got tired of this plot very fast. The romance was also lacking in a lot of genuine feeling imo. We get to see moments the two of them have together, but it was hard for me to envision the way their feelings for each other grew into what we see on screen. They flip over abruptly from getting along decently to ridiculously-corny-in-love once they get together, & it made them even less compelling as a relationship to me. The best part of this show for me was the relationships between some of the side characters; i really liked the thoughtfulness with which each character's personal life was explored, even if briefly. The director was my favorite character, and every scene he was in with the main leads made me like them so much more.. he was so charming and he somehow had better relationships with each of them than they had with each other!! I did really like the ML for the first 3/4s of the show, but the twist in the final few eps didnt really do it for me. I disliked that the FL had a lot to work through wrt to her own biases about others and her outlook on life, but there wasnt so much for the ML to work through aside from.. recovering from the trauma of a situation that he wasn't at fault for at all. I wanted there to be more for them to learn for from each other, instead of just the FL. ultimately that was the core of my problem with this show, that the main relationship just didnt have much to offer to the audience. overall, i kinda wish i didnt watch this show because i didnt really get much out of it, but i did like the small town cast & setting quite a bit, so it wasnt all bad!