Just finished watching my first Koreanovela this year: Oh My Venus. It had most of its run during 2015 but its last two episodes were released last January, so I could be flexible about it and qualify it for 2016 TV (It’s my blog anyway; I make the rules. Lol).
Oh My Venus follows the story of a 33-year old lawyer named Kang Joo-eun (Shin Min-a), who used to be a heartthrob during her teenage years, earning her the nickname “Daegu’s Venus.” However, at present time, she has gained a lot of weight, and is dumped by her boyfriend of 15 years. She gets a shot at regaining her former glory after a fateful airplane ride lets her meet Kim Young-ho (So Ji-sub), a chaebol heir who happens to be harboring a secret life as “John Kim”, a mysterious and highly sought personal trainer. Discovering this, Joo-eun obliges Young-ho and his friends to help her lose weight. As Joo-eun and Young-ho labor for the former’s metamorphosis, they learn to fill each other’s emotional gaps and eventually fall in love.
OMV is a cheesy but cute by-the-numbers romantic comedy with a simple plot that doesn’t always make sense. It lacks sophistication and thoughtfulness; in fact, among the Koreanovelas I’ve watched so far, OMV has the least depth. If it had been another time, I would have hated OMV. However, since my tastes have become accustomed to Koreanovelas, I actually found it entertaining and funny. Being cute is its main redeeming factor – and it was surprisingly enough to compensate for most of its flaws.
Furthermore, even though OMV doesn’t offer anything of profound substance or originality, it never pretends to be something more. And I appreciate that. Oftentimes, when a production aims for a loftier aspiration and misses, I find it pretentious or unsatisfying (*cough* Hyde, Jekyll, Me *cough*). By avoiding doing this, I then had no disappointments with it. And even though it’s pretty dumb, the amount of dumbness is within the acceptable dosage for what it is.
OMV does actually tackle a couple of weighty themes, but it does not make it a point to be unnecessarily dragged down by them. It maintains being a light-hearted, upbeat romantic story despite some melodramatic moments which the genre mandates for. It didn’t impress me much, but I did get to enjoy it in general due to its sincerity for what it is and its overall cuteness.
OMV does actually tackle a couple of weighty themes, but it does not make it a point to be unnecessarily dragged down by them. It maintains being a light-hearted, upbeat romantic story despite some melodramatic moments which the genre mandates for. It didn’t impress me much, but I did get to enjoy it in general due to its sincerity for what it is and its overall cuteness.
Miscellaneous musings:
- I didn’t buy actress Shin Min-a as a high schooler.
- I felt the character of Kim Young-ho was packaged as the “most perfect guy ever.” Doesn’t make him the “most interesting character ever” though.
- It’s the first time I encountered a “bed scene” in a Koreanovela.
- Next to the “dimple kiss” (see GIF above), Shin Min-a’s catchy “Rose of Versailles” ringtone is my most favorite thing about OMV. I want to adopt it as my own ringtone, but I can’t find one (Youtube only has the original anime theme).
- The OST is also pretty catchy.
- Kim Young-ho’s grandmother reminded me of my former boss. Lol.
- Here are the 2016 Koreanovelas that I’m looking forward to, though there’s no assurance that I will watch and review all of them: Signal, Neighborhood Hero, Madame Antoine, Descendants of the Sun, and Goodbye, Mr. Black.
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