Thinking about watching a light romance Korean mini drama series? Then, you should try watching Romance Full of Life. Starred by Yoon Si Yoon and Cho Soo Hyang – both of which are already known for their appearance in some of renowned dramas – this mini drama series is a good pick if you want to watch a light drama that doesn’t force you to think as in detective drama; or cry liters of tears as if you are watching a melodrama.

Romance Full of Life is a kind of short drama series that owns romance and fantasy within its story line. It simply highlights youth romance, the journey to achieve one’s dream, and a pinch of fantasy in the making. Not to forget, with the insertion of comedy to the story line, this drama is a perfect drama to watch especially for your weekend drama list.

The drama itself was first aired in 2017 on Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). It took the Thursday slot of 11:00PM evening drama starting from February 16 and was aired until March 2. This drama is a three-episode drama series with each play extended to an hour.

 

Romance Full of Life Drama Profile

This drama was titled Saengdongsung Yeonae in its origin language (Korean). The ones behind this drama script are Park Eun Young and Park Hee Kwon. The former screenwriter was also the person behind the success of Hwarang, a 2016-historical drama starring actor Park Seo Joon and Go Ara (and a bunch of visuals as their casts!); while the latter screenwriter was handling this drama as her debut in drama screenwriting. Before this, she wrote the script for three movies dated in 2008 and 2013.

Romance Full of Life was the second part of three-color fantasy series aired by MBC in the same year. Before this drama, the slot was taken for another drama ‘The Universe Star’ which was starred by Suho of EXO. While after this drama was completed, the slot was continued by the drama ‘Queen of Ring’, starred by Ahn Hyo Seop and Kim Seul Gi. These three dramas have colors each based on its running time. The colors are white, green, and gold.

These accompanying dramas were also taking the same slot as Romance Full of Life, which was Thursday night at 11:00PM. Well, although the rating for these three dramas did not reach the top 20, these fantasy drama series, Romance Full of Life specifically, should be on your next list to watch of you love a light drama with the topic mainly lies on youth life and love. Moreover, who doesn’t love fantasy stories? Yes, since it is being one of the three fantasy MBC series, it is no doubt that this drama also has fantasy as its genre.

 

Who are the Casts?

Casts are what makes drama more interesting and alive. Casts can also give an effect on how successful will a drama be. Also, with the good casting, one drama will feel more special especially if the drama is filled with famous actors and actresses.

In terms of the casting of Romance Full of Life, below is the casts of this drama

  • Yoon Si Yoon as So In Sung

Yoon Si Yoon is quite popular as drama actor. Several dramas that have him as the actor will include the 2018-drama from SBS ‘Your Honor’, a 2016-drama from JTBC ‘Secret Healer’, and the latest one in 2020, ‘Train’, which was aired in OCN. He once won an award for his excellence while taking the role in ‘Your Honor’ as Han Kang Ho/Han Soo Ho.

  • Cho Soo Hyang as Wang So Ra

Cho Soo Hyang, or also written as Jo Soo Hyang, is an actress well known for her role in ‘The Tale of Nokdu’ as Kim Sook. Aside from that, she also had played in several other drama series such as Something in the Rain, Duel, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, and Who Are You: School 2015 – in which she had an antagonist role as a bully towards the main protagonist played by Kim So Hyun.

  • Kang Ki Young as Jo Ji Seob
  • Kim Min Soo as Kong Moo
  • Jang Hee Ryung as Kim Tae Yi
  • Ji Dae Han as convenience store owner
  • Woo Do Im as Song Ae Gyo
  • Hwang Young Hee as In Sung’s mom
  • Woo Hyun as In Sung’s dad

There are also several more additional cast members playing as cameo and supporting roles for drama Romance Full of Life. More interestingly, the main leads of this drama, Yoon Si Yoon and Cho Soo Hyang are also cameos playing for the replacement drama, Queen of Ring.

 

The Synopsis of this Drama

The story of Romance Full of Life revolves between the lives of So In Sung (Yoon Si Yoon), a nerdy awkward guy who planned to be a police officer. He has been living in Noryangjin, a place where people who dream and learn to be a civil worker. He works part time in a minimarket, is paid low wage and has to limit his expenses by eating expired sandwich, kimbap, or milk. No matter what strikes him, he is a positive and bright person.

However, this guy fails the civil service examination to become a police officer for eight times, which means he had failed for four years. Following that, he also gets dumped by his girlfriend, Wang So Ra (Cho Soo Hyang) who happens to live in Noryangjin as well. So, with such continuous bad luck he got, he felt like he is on the lowest point of his life.

Then, a beam of light appeared: there is a unique medical experiment with a totally unbelievable payment for the ones willing to participate. Attracted with the sum of money he was offered, In Sung joined the medical experiment. After he joined the medical experiment and got the sum of money promised, he finds himself with super senses that make him capable to turn his life around. He is no longer a nerd, awkward guy that looks weak with big glasses to cover his eyes.

With his newly found capabilities, he is a superhero-like person who has excellent vision, so that he doesn’t need his glasses anymore. He too becomes someone who remembers every detail of something and this makes him confident that he is able to turn around his failures in taking the test. After his break up and his amazing turn-around into someone he hasn’t been before, many girls are attracted to him. One of these girls is Tae Yi, a chic and rich girl who is head over heels to In Sung. While at the moment, So Ra is dating Gong Moo who has succeeded his civil worker test.

Wondering how the story continues? Well, it’s better if you watch the drama yourself. It has a touch of comedy so the drama will not bore you at all.

 

What about the Ratings?

Although Romance Full of Life didn’t make it to be the top 20 in terms of rating, from personal reviews people have posted on their blogs, most people rate the drama gets 4/5 reviews. People also rate the drama on websites like Asianwiki – 84/100 from 467 votes. Meanwhile in IMDb, this drama got 6.6/10 ratings from 77 user’s vote.

The ratings of Romance Full of Life may not be good enough to upstage other dramas aired at the same time slot. Moreover, the drama has only three episodes which did not make it glued into people’s mind, unlike those longer dramas. However, since people can watch the drama from Naver TV, people start to love this drama and even write it on their blogs.

 

What People Say about This Drama

There are upsides and downsides on people’s review on the internet. Hopefully, these reviews will help you to decide whether to watch Romance Full of Life or not. For the upsides, the story revolves between the lives of a non-prominent, not rich young person who dreams to reach their dreams through hard work. Moreover, the jokes along the drama are fresh and executed in such a nice way. Then, the concept of changing the main lead’s life is unique. It seems like no one has ever thought about that before. Moreover, the pace is relatively fast.

Meanwhile for the downsides, the main lead choice, for some people, is not too good. Aside from that, the chemistry between two main leads and two second leads is not that great, especially in the second half of the episodes (note that in Naver TV it was aired as half an hour for each episode; hence it was transformed into a six-episode drama series).

Despite the super senses that the main lead has, he is still a bit clumsy. In addition, there is a concept of disloyal and arrogance which are not suitable for the main lead. For some people, such concept feels like too far from the main personality of the main lead.

Well, after reading the synopsis, you should be interested in watching this drama. Even with those downsides, Romance Full of Life is still a recommended show to watch, especially if you are in need of entertainment with light and funny contents.