Love Revolution: Premiere Impressions
As a web drama adaptation of a popular webtoon of the same name, Love Revolution, produced by Kakao TV, is one of the more buzz-worthy topics this September. With an impeccable casting made up of idols and rookie actors, Love Revolution is the go-to drama for teens and idol fans who simply want a laugh or to experience the heart-fluttering sensation of puppy love.
Synopsis
Gong Juyong (Park Jihoon) forgot his wallet on his first day of school and is unable to board the public bus. Wang Jarim (Lee Ruby), who happens to be right behind him, decides to pay for his bus fare. It is love at first sight for Juyong and he tries various methods to get her interested in him with little success. Despite this, Juyong remains optimistic and resilient—marking the start of a hilarious romantic comedy.
Accompanying the both of them are their close friends and played by familiar faces of the K-pop scene, most notably The Boyz’s Younghoon and Cosmic Girls’ Dayoung as Lee Kyungwoo and Oh Ahram respectively. Lee Kyungwoo is Juyong’s best friend since their elementary school days. Although he assists his buddy in his quest for love initially, it is hinted that he will develop feelings for Jarim in the near future. Ahram, who is Jarim’s close friend, will also be doing her part to bring the two leads closer together.
Impressions and Thoughts
For a webtoon adaptation, things are looking good with the series following closely to happenings and events of the source material, save for several drama-original tweaks. While the webtoon is bare and minimal-looking, the production of the drama is a solid pass—filling in details and world-building for the otherwise scant backgrounds of the original webtoon. This truly makes the series more believable and immersive and makes this drama a good entry point for non-readers of the original webtoon. Even the recurring colors of the shots are bright and airy and extremely pleasant to the eyes.
With each episode lasting only a mere 20 minutes, there is not much story progression in the premiere episodes as expected—which is fine, since the whole series will run 30 episodes long. Another standout feature which we should address is the casting and styling of the cast. Without even watching the episodes and simply examining the promotional materials, one can easily discern the roles of the characters with every physical and styling detail nailed down perfectly—a commendable effort by the creators and team behind the drama.
When it comes to the leads’ performance in the series so far, both of them do not disappoint. For Park Jihoon, he began his career as an entertainer as a child actor while he was young. It is not until Produce 101 Season 2 that his popularity truly took off being known as the “ending-wink-fairy” in the “나야나 (PICK ME)” performance and subsequently debuting as a member of WANNA ONE. Following the disbandment of the project group, Jihoon continued to promote as a soloist and an actor, appearing in Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency. On the other hand, this is Lee Ruby’s first prominent role, having only appeared in the K-Drama Memorist briefly. Despite the bulk of the cast not having any representative work of their own, their acting in the premiere episodes are of decent quality and fitting of the series’s lighthearted nature.
Specifically for Jihoon, he truly brought the role of the dorky and lovestruck Juyong to life and managed to pull off many ridiculous gags while retaining a sense of purity and sincerity central to his character. In fact, many of the gags do feel much more humorous and enjoyable to watch as delivered in the drama than in the webtoon itself. This is not to discredit the source material in any way, but the drama’s ability to convey the essence of the webtoon without coming off as cringey is remarkable, and perhaps a sign of more good things to come.
Conclusion
The key strength of the web drama is definitely the source material that is beloved by the Korean netizens. With a story that is already a proven success as a webtoon, this web drama is likely to do well so long as it stays faithful to the central plot of the webtoon. However, the webtoon’s ongoing status (and seemingly not ending anytime soon) may spell trouble the second half of this series. Creators of Love Revolution have to scramble to write a drama-original conclusion that has to engage new followers and appease original webtoon readers, which is no easy feat. Hopefully, Love Revolution will be able to avoid this horrible fate which befell on the Cheese In The Trap drama adaptation.
Since the series is still in its early stages, interested viewers need not worry far into the future for now. Why not spare an hour of your time and check out the ridiculous and hilarious antics of Juyong in his pursuit of Jarim for yourself?