Title: 이번 생은 처음이라 | Ibeon Saeng-Eun Cheo-Eumira | This Life is Our First | Because This Is My First Life
Genre: Drama | Romance | Comedy
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Network: tvN
Broadcast Period: October 9,2017 to November 28,2017

Synopsis:

Nam Se Hee is a good looking and smart IT developer. He could have been any girl’s dream except he is detached, unemotional and a bit anti-social. The most important thing with him are to pay up his loan to his house he cherishes as his own and to take care of his beloved Kitty. He rents the other room of his house to help him pay his house loan but has difficulty of finding the right roommate that will suit his lifestyle and needs until he had Yoon Ji Ho as his tenant. Yoon Ji Ho is a cute, bubbly woman who longs to be recognized as a writer. She works hard and do her best in any situations until an event made her see the importance of belonging somewhere and can call her own. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have much to find an ideal place until she found a chance to live at Nam Se Hee’s home. Together they found a way on how to make it work by getting into a contractual marriage. Both discovered that what they initially agreed may turn out not to be a simple as they thought it to be especially when emotions gets in the way.

Characters:

• Lee Min Ki as Nam Se Hee
• Jung So Min as Yoon Ji Ho
• Kim Ga Eun as Yang Ho Rang
• Kim Min Suk as Shim Won Suk
• Esom as Woo Soo Ji
• Park Byung Eun as Ma Sang Goo
• Kim Eung Soo as Nam Hee Bong
• Moon Hee Kyung as Jo Myung Ja
• Kim Byung Ok as Yoon Jong Soo
• Kim Sun Young as Kim Hyun Ja
• Noh Jung Hyun as Yoon Ji Suk
• Jun Hye Won as Lee Eun Sol
• Kim Min Gyu as Yoon Bok Nam
• Choi Dae Sung as YOLO Café Manager
• Lee Chung Ah as Go Jung Min
• Hwang Suk Jung as Writer Hwang Se Hee
• Kim Wook as Assistant Director Kye Yong Suk
• Jang Won Young as Director
• Yoon Bo Mi as Yoon Bo Mi
• Yoon Doo Joon
• Yoon So Hee as Herself

My Review:

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I watched this k-drama. Although, I know the leading actress and somehow familiar with the leading actor, they are not my favorites that I would wait for their k-dramas be shown and anticipate to watch it. But, alas, this is one of the k-dramas that took me by surprised, and must say, pleasantly at that. This k-drama is like a breath of fresh air when it comes to trying to depict what is real in life. Unlike other k-dramas that wants to achieve to tell a story about real life wherein some even seems to have achieved exactly that in terms of ratings and awards but this one, for me is different. It not only depicted what is real in relationships and life in general but at the same time delivered a light feel to it so as not to totally lose as well its value of entertainment to people like me who watch k-dramas precisely to escape sometimes the harsh realities of life and not dwell on it by watching it on the screen.

So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?

(1) All the actors are great but I must say that I truly admire Lee Min Ki as Nam Se Hee in this k-drama. He may not be the typical heartthrob I long for to watch but he got Nam Se Hee and who that character is to a T. In fact, precisely because of his character that made the entire k-drama not a snooze fest, interesting and fun to watch.

(2) Nam Se Hee’s dialogues and thoughts of Yoon Ji Ho were written so well that the lines and messages of what they speak gives one food for thought. In fact, the assessments and facts about life as analysed by Nam Se Hee are often true. These are realities or facts of life that most people hide behind in the words of love, marriage, family, needs and dreams to delude what’s true. Humans indeed often romanticised a lot of things to make it palatable and acceptable as a norm and , although, it may not be all the time, that it’s indeed hidden in hypocrisy and may do reflect ones real and honest good intentions or emotions, at the end of the day, this k-drama through logic assessment of Nam Se Hee’s dialogues were able to show a reflection of this side of humanity.

(3) I enjoy the supporting characters and their side stories because it allows to show the process of what really goes through in any relationships and marriages. It has shown the vast difference of culture in a conservative versus liberal society. I love that this k-drama wasn’t afraid to show different ways of looking at things such as the extent of parents of having the rights to give undue influence on their children’s lives especially since that the culture in Korea is majority conservative in way of thinking. This k-drama bravely shows different ways of looking at things and wasn’t afraid to tackle sensitive topics that’s currently prevalent to what’s happening now such as sexual harassment and rights of women.

(4) I enjoyed Esom as Woo Soo Ji and Kim Min Suk as Shim Won Suk as supporting characters. I believe they are a few of supporting characters that I truly indeed like to watch and don’t find boring as they provide depth and flavor to the story. Jung So Min as Yoon Ji Ho, as the lead character, is a far cry different from her stupid character in one of the popular youth k-drama that I detest, “Playful Kiss”. In this k-drama, she’s her own woman and she defines what makes her happy and who she is as a person. It is also noteworthy to say that Kim Min Gyu is one fine young actor. Given an opportunity to have more roles in the future and gain experience, he can probably turn out to be a great actor. It also helps he already has the good looks to add icing on the cake.

(5) It is one of the few real life depiction k-dramas that I immensely enjoy. Unlike the popular “Fight My Way” k-drama, that I can feel every length of its episodes as it is too much depiction of what’s real and as if it is actually running in real time, this k-drama has successfully gave something entertaining to watch about real life. It held my interest on all 16 episodes because it was well written and maintains to give you some hope in the midst of what’s truly real in this world.

(6) This is one of the few k-dramas that really showed a real kiss up close and personal. Daebak!!!

What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?

There’s not much I don’t like in this k-drama. Although, I sometimes didn’t like the often use of repeating scenes from previous episodes as flashbacks, it didn’t really affected as a whole my love in watching it.

Would I recommend this K-Drama? Yes

My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 5/5 Stars

OST:

01. Star Figure – UJi
02. Everyday – Hae Bin of Gugudan
03. I Want To Love – MeloMance
04. Marriage – MoonMoon
05. This Life – Moon Sung Nam of Every Single Day
06. Shelter – Song Hee Jin feat. Lee Yo Han (OFA)
07. Tomorrow – Ryu Ji Hyun
08. Can’t Go – Ben
09. Because You’re Here – Jung So Min
10. Two Rooms – Various Artists
11. Star Billy – Various Artists
12. Live Actually – Various Artists
13. Welcome – Various Artists
14. Star Picture Strings – Various Artists
15. Jungle Gym – Various Artists
16. Halfway – Various Artists
17. Loner – Various Artists
18. Star Game – Various Artists
19. Red Cloud – Various Artists
20. By Chance – Various Artists
21. Some Where – Various Artists
22. Odd Neighbor – Various Artists
23. Fall – Various Artists
24. Wake – Various Artists
25. Star Swing – Various Artists
26. Fresh Horror – Various Artists
27. Empty Brain – Various Artists
28. Once Again – Various Artists

For Lyrics in English, Romanization and Hangul, CLICK HERE