Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

When a young journalist loses her job after following a story about a famous idol, she is convinced that he is behind her being fired.  Desperate for revenge, she becomes his #1 anti-fan.  When a tv producer approaches her with an offer to appear on a reality show with the singer, she sees her chance to expose him for the jerk that he really is.  But as she spends time with him, she realizes that her assumptions about him may not have been fair and just maybe he isn’t a jerk after all.  

Choi Soo Young as  Lee Geun Young

Lee Geun Young works hard at her job as a journalist, which makes it easy for her boss and co-workers to take advantage of her.  They make her do all the work and then take credit for her great ideas.  In desperation, she chases a story that leads her to Hoo Joon.  But things quickly get out of hand and Geun Young ends up losing her job because of it.  So when tv producers approach her with the promise to pay her generously if she will participate in a reality show with Joon, she can’t resist their generous offer.  Geun Young plans to use her time with Joon to expose his horrible character and redeem herself.  But the more time she spends with him, the more she realizes that her first impressions were all wrong.  Unfortunately, the closer she gets to Joon, the more angry and violent his fans become.  

Lee Geun  Young is a quirky underdog who has worked hard but never been able to get ahead.  Because of that, she is fiercely independant and determined.  But she is also naive and easily taken advantage of.  She desperately wants to believe that if she works hard enough, one day her hard work will pay off.  Choi Soo Young plays this socially akward role well, but unfortunately the story is really about an idol who falls in love.  Her own character gets little development outside of her interactions with Joon.  Even after meeting her parents and best friends, we still see very little about her as an individual.

Han Ji An as Oh In Hyung

Oh In Hyung also traineded with Hoo Joon and the two of them dated before Joon left her and JJ to debut on his own.  Desperate for a chance to debut as well, In Hyung joins JJ’s agency and begins dating him.  But JJ has personally kept her from becoming successful because he is afraid he will lose her.  Now she is just an older trainee who is past her prime.  This may be her last chance to become a singer and she won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way.  

♥ Go Soo Hwan

At last we get a guy best friend who isn’t secretly in love with the lead.  It was so refreshing to have a guy who had two girls as best friends, and never pined or crossed the line with either one of them.  It’s a rare find in kdrama land and I loved him all the more because of it.  I would have loved to see him get a little more story line but he was perfect as the supportive friend who was always available to listen and lean on.  

♥ The Waiting is Over

It bears mentioning that this drama was filmed two years ago, before Choi Tae Joon went into the military.  Faithful fans waited and wondered, for all this time, whatever happened to it.  I am happy that after so long, they were still able to air this drama.  The wait must have been equally disappointing for the cast and crew who worked so hard to produce it.  In the end, we all win now that this one has finally seen the light of day.

Mr. Pink Pants

Initially I didn’t really care much about the story behind the guy in the pink pants who was kissing Geon Young’s boyfriend.  But then Geon Young brought it up again when she thought it might be Joon.  Since they mentioned it again, I thought maybe it was going to be important later.  But then we never hear about it again.  Usually if something is brought up a second time, there is some significance to it, so I just thought it was a bit weird.  

JJ’s Brother

So, huge disclaimer here.  I am a huge Sung Hoon fan, so maybe it’s my personal bias.  But it would have been nice to see some resolution in JJ’s relationship with his brother.  It seems like a wasted opportunity to introduce his character and then just forget about him.  JJ was obviously in need of a lot of emotional healing, and mending some of his family relationships seems like a good place to start.  

“So I Married the Anti-Fan” is full of happily ever afters.  Before going off on his journey to rediscover himself, Joon pays off all of Mr. Bae’s debt, to keep Shooting Star running.  Joon’s biggest fans all speak out in his defense and do their best to restore his reputation.  And Geun Young finally pursues her dream as a writer.  After a three month jump, we find the gang back together for PD Han and Writer Noh’s wedding.  Soo Hwan has opened his own business doing wedding photography.  Mi Jung is back together with her boyfriend, who has given up studying law to become the “Hoo Joon of live streaming”.  Joon and In Hyung’s duet is gaining popularity, but she is turning down agency offers to focus on taking care of JJ, who is finally speaking again.  And our lead couple end the drama with a beautiful proposal in front of a crowd of fans.