Sin Embargo (2021)

Nevertheless is definitely one of the most-talked about K-drama here in Malaysia during its broadcast. First reason, Song Kang and Han So Hee are the main leads. Let's admit it. Their visuals are no joke. Second reason, well, the 19+ scenes. When it was announced that Song Kang and Han So Hee will be having a show together, I was really rooting for it even though I don't know the story yet. I just want to see their chemistry together. I didn't even read the synopsis of the drama. So, I literally have no idea what the story is all about, which makes the drama more interesting to me.

Slow-paced series
A lot of my friends know that I am not really into slow-paced dramas. Because I easily get bored with those kind of dramas. But let this be an exception. The slow-paced storytelling made me connected with the characters more. I was able to feel the heaviness they felt.I really love it when there is an ample time for this kind of stare. Those voice-overs during these scenes makes me more immersed with the situation. And this one of the reasons why Nevertheless is a realistic one for me.

A realistic story
Although I really wanted to slap Nabi for her poor decisions in life, I can't totally blame her. She came from an abusive relationship. She was healing. She was lost. It's really easy for us to say who to choose and who will be better because we're not in her situation. We don't know what's really happening on her mind. Or what her heart really wants. Same goes with Jae Eon. I believe that he also don't know what he wants. He always say that he don't want to be in a relationship. But I think, deep inside him, he wanted to be loved. He's just afraid? I don't know. But that's what I feel for his character. It's just that, the way he reacts is on a toxic way.

Both characters are lost. And when we're looking for answer on another person, we'll end up hurting them or hurting ourselves. But that's the reality of life. We always get hurt with our decisions. Because even if we know it's going to affect us negatively, we'll still push through.
-- Spoiler Alert --
I remember the quote, "I'd rather have 'oh well's than 'what if's". This is a great example of that. Nabi knew that Park Jae Eon will eventually hurt her. But she decided to continue liking Jae Eon and be in a relationship with him. At least, they tried making it work.

Another second lead syndrome
The feelings I felt while watching Nevertheless was the same feeling I got when I watched "A Love So Beautiful". My heart goes for the second lead, the good guy that the main lead didn't choose. Aside from the fact that I liked Chae Jong Hyeop, (come on! Look at his pretty smiles) I really liked his character here in Nevertheless. Yang Do Hyuk knows what he really wants in the first place. He likes Nabi. He wants Nabi to be happy. He is honest with what he feels. And because he loves Nabi more, he decided to let her go at the end. I really feel bad for him for choosing someone who doesn't love him.

During the first few episodes, I really wanted to ship him with Nabi. But while the story progresses, I stopped shipping him because I believed he deserves someone better. Although his love life wasn't a success, his career is. We don't know what happened next to him but I just hope that he will also find his happiness.

The scene stealers
Aside from the main leads' story, we are also rooting for these characters. They have their own story to tell. They also have their own struggles. Nevertheless showed us that there are different kind of love stories, different kind of struggles. These pairs made Nevertheless more interesting.

Final Thoughts
For me, Nevertheless is actually a good drama. But it may not be everyone's cup of tea. It really depends on you if you would love the flow of the story. For me, the drama has ended well and I don't see the need for another season. To be honest, I wanted Nabi to not end with anyone. But the ending somehow was justified because at least she was able to voice out what she really wants. And that is to be with Jae Eon even if Jae Eon might hurt her in the future. She took the risk.With this drama, I learned to understand people more, especially with their life choices. We're all lost and we're still figuring things out. But I hope we can all be strong to face those struggles may it be in love or in life, generally.

This series is available on Netflix.

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Nabi

I really liked this one, but it lacked a few things (like the ending, which wasn't the best), but other than that, the development of the main characters was good, the secondary ones were really good, the couples that didn't have as much focus as the main one still had a lot of things talking about them, that said 8.5/10, I don't give a higher score because of the ending that could be better.

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Can you handle story with indecisive main leads always breaking up and getting together?

firstly Han So Hee is one of mine fav actresses. This drama cant be compared to Soundtrack#1, but still its not as bad as ratings goes. Whole drama got quite nice cinematography its quite good to look at. At other hand it got alot slow scenes.

Whole drama is about college life at art school and relationships of students. For korean drama its surprise that they pushed into it mature content, but at least its some innovation.

Story of main pair is sadly, about guy which cant give girl he likes feeling of security, cause his own emotional immaturity. It makes whole story quite toxic and relationship going in circle get together X breakup. Still I got no problem with watching it.

plot - FL is art student in college and just break-up with her ex cause he cheated her. She soon got together with young man[ML] in bar, which as she gets to know latter happens to be student from same college.

genre - romance, college, art

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It’s realistically true, Nevertheless

Love has always been a complex topic which draws a great amount of interest in every audio visual art form. It is also the case with Nevertheless. The story revolves around multiple youthful, free-spirited, reckless love from diverse characters in a homogeneous college environment. The kdrama itself came in a short, seemingly compact 10 episodes which aired weekly (a short 6 episodes and held a difference from the usual 2 episodes per week usual Kdrama formats). Although with the unique format, the love adventure is not as solid as they making it out to be.

Disclaimer: Nevertheless is based on a webtoon from the same name, however I never read nor had any interest on the said e-comics. This review is based on my personal preferences.

Nevertheless tells the story of multiple Sculpture major students — emphasis on love stories — but it mostly focuses on a senior student, Yoo Nabi, and her junior yet-the-same-age-and-a-player, Park Jae-eon. Other than our main couple and the dynamics of Nabi’s friends, we also learn about an additional main character Yang Dohyeok which happens to be Nabi’s long-lost childhood friend (whom had a crush on her).

The premise of Nevertheless offers simplicity. Within all the relationships, every one of them has their own unique up and downs. Firstly though, let’s focus on Yoo Nabi and Park Jae-eon. The main couple of the story speaks to the audience as they were relatable to recent dating trends. Either you hate commitment, disbelieve in fate and coincidences, vent some sort of lust, or unconfidently stand on your own two feet of principles, they offer a realistic approach to all of those. While being realistically enchanting, the plot execution of Nevertheless fell flat especially towards the end. The early stages of Nabi and Jae-eon’s relationship felt nerve-wrecking. However, other than feeling anxiously excited for each other’s next moves, it comes off as jitty — thanks to Jae-eon’s over-the-top red flags in almost every love-related scenes. We also got a too-kind hopeless romantic second-lead — that the female lead seemed to be more comfortable with yet didn’t end up with. Out of many possible outcomes, if anything, Nabi could’ve been a miss independent in order to obtain her dreams and a stable life. Yet, she ends up with Jae-eon declaring her willingness to regret the relationship if necessary. Nabi’s plot is indeed, dryer than I thought it would be, except for that one time her piece being broken.

Fortunately though, Nevertheless showed redeeming qualities when it comes to the side couples. Although I would point out firstly how it felt a little too exaggerated that every single pairing is on a timid and homogeneous environment, a Sculpture Major in a university. Starting off with Oh Bitna (the Gretchen Wieners of the university) and Nam Gyuhyun (a decent guy, though he seems to do mansplaining to Bitna quite often) whom had the best friends turned lover trope. Being a side plot, their arcs didn’t do much but the simplicity revolving around them was enjoyable. A major downside when they edited the guy out of the frame on episode 8 and 9 due to his personal life scandal. Being best friends since childhood, the cute yet possessive Seo Jiwan plus settled and though Yoon Sol is another story. In the act of South Korea becoming slightly more progressive, the addition of this LGBTQ+ couple actually felt enticing as the characters didn’t overdo neither half-assing their actions. Last but not the least are the double decent seniors, Ahn Kyungjoon and Minyoung. I never really understood their presence in the university, lack of details there, yet this couple felt effortless and natural. Sadly, the duo didn’t really connect with the main plot and felt more like a filler. I might missed some couples but those four are the necessary ones. Aside from the characters mentioned earlier, the extended characters that were not affiliated with the main couples are lively — especially the bubbly assistant and Seo Jiwan and Yoon Sol’s witty male friend.

Other than the love stories, I found Nevertheless to be lacking in plot with the corresponding settings that it had. The drama clearly had potential with exploring the life of university, specifically art department, multiple students which basically means multiple personalities and lives, yet they didn’t explore those much. The writers should have given opportunity for the viewers to learn about sculptures and art rather than leaving the topic as a bypassing. A few times Nabi and other students had to present their projects or art related materials but those were left unseen. The background stories of everyone except Nabi were not explored at all: their families, earlier education or experiences, etc. Moving on, some gatherings or group hangouts being offered, although the act of group talks while eating felt too repetitive throughout the series. Though with the negative points I had mentioned, the glimpse of university life depicts a proper life without pandemic very well.

As I have had mentioned by the show having a great potential, it truly did when it comes to the supporting elements. The OST is terrific, definitely one of the best among this year’s Kdramas. All of songs are notably easy-listening while adding flavor to the stories (special mention to Sam Kim’s Love Me Like That, Kimmuseum’s We’re Already, and J.UNA’s Butterfly). Another excellent point is the cinematography. Every single shot expresses the situation, expressions, and additional meanings of the characters’ actions immensely. Although I found many vents on social media regarding Song Kang being lacking in acting or other stuffs, the portrait shots are excellent. Another thing I would like to point out are the sets that felt natural whether it comes to the studio, the hostel when the students went to another city, or many others.

The story of Park Jae-eon and Yoo Nabi might have left mixed impressions among the viewers. However, the whole journey was quite enjoyable. I watched Nevertheless mostly as a side drama and just once a week while watching other series that were “darker”. So this one was a nice fresh breath of air. Perhaps, one of the reasons I quite enjoy this drama was because I never really take things as seriously and overly passionate as heavier series. This drama can be classified as just *another* kdrama with the final result, nevertheless it had a cute run.

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loved the side characters more, Neverthless

ahem ahem finally...like you wouldn't believe how crazily I waited for this show to air with only one ep a week yep if was difficult.
So the thing here is that this is most probably the first and only show where I was shipping our second male lead so hard cox obviously our potato boi deserved it all.
I was more invested in the side couples than the main couple.
Sol and ji wan yes HELL YES they made me crazy for them, I always had my heart eyes while watching them in screen:)
Oh Bit na and Nam Gyu had the whole wattpad I am in love with my best friend trope going on as well like sol and ji wan but man oh man we all need a guy who looks at us like Gyu looks at Bit na!!! Like honestly it was so obvious from ep 1 that the guy was madly, hopelessly in love with her and it broke my heart when I saw them part ways but it was soo funny seeing both of them pretending that they don't care about each other and then doing everything possible for each other's affection.
Now now coming to our seniorssss this couple of my so underrated I swear, I searched for idek how long to find their edits on YouTube like seriously watching them made my heart flutter and even made me scream that how more obvious should the other person be for the one of them to understand that they are in love with each other ;_;
Nabi and Jae Eon were two individuals which I think made us feel like being in a spiral. Nabis desperation to hold onto him wasn't something that I felt was wrong. It is what it is in real life as well, it's hard, hard to the point that one can lose themself in order to hold onto that one person and I respect that about the actors as they were able to potray it so well.
I wanted Nabi to be happy and end up with our potato boy as i thought it's for the best but honestly yes was deeply in love with our butterfly boy so yeah one is senseless in love and we get it but it ended with literally like no visible character developed just the sheer need and vulnerability to stay with Jae Eon and honestly out side couples having a happy ending mattered more to me than the lets date ending of our main lead.

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the ML is toxic and the FL is too weak

i dont get how people are romanticizing park jae eon behaviour. he isnt interested in dating but keeps wanting to claim nabi in his territory. he kisses girls here and there then said that oh they're just playing games like what kind of excuse is that lol.
and nabi, she literally just broke up with her trashy ex but how can she be so innocent and kept falling into park jae eon "trap". sorry to say but nabi's character is damn weak here, she basically couldnt resist, even once, her lust for park jae eon no matter how really confusing his behaviour is to her.
thank god there's another couples going on in this drama and their stories are good.

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Here's My Opinion!!!

When I watched episode one, I thought their chemistry is beautiful my whole body was anxious and I wanted to see the next episode because episode one was very good to me and I thought everyone was going to like this to how realistic it is, but everyone was/is criticizing it and the reason behind that I think it may be too realistic because things like this have happened to people before and even though they know that/the person who they like is toxic they still want to be with them NEVERTHLESS,

And I also think most of us can agree that the reason why the show is called NEVERTHLESS is because as Nabi grows which she's already has a little as we’ve seen you see that she knows the type of person of that PJE is, but she still wants to be with him NEVERTHLESS hence the name of the drama.


Also, my review value is 1.0 to re-watch because I know I won't be watch this after I get the whole storyline.

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Without prejudice, everything is understandable and realistic.

There are so many people who has an open relationship or no relationship at all. Some people choose to hang out and nothing more. Because relationship are hard to handle and that give you so many responsibility and so many people don't want that. And this is not something wrong. Just because you are in a relationship doesn't make you right, having a open relationship/just hanging out doesn't make you wrong.
If you consider the actors' positions and perspectives on life, not your own life while watching the series, I'm sure you will be able to look at them without prejudice and understand them.
If you look at it individually or internalize the subject, it will be difficult for you to understand. Everyone has different opinion about love and it doesn't make anyone wrong.
Thank you.
(Normally I don't rewatch dramas that much that is why I gave it 5.)

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NEVERTHELESS,

So okay, i can guess why is "everyone" so mad with this drama's ending but I personally liked it. I find it realistic and common to be in this kind of toxic relationship around this age.
Most of all, do you have to date someone you want to get married? Why can't she just date him a bit, just because she loves what she feels when she's with him, she knew from the start just what type of person he was and what type of relationship he'll want ans she was okay.
Why is it so wrong to taste all the flowers in the garden before you settle for one?
Do you have to make wedding plans at early twenty-some ?

The story was good, a bit slow paced in some episodes for all the couples but they were easy to follow, enjoyable and relatable. Nothing too cringe (thankfully), what I liked the least was the love triangle between Park Jae Eon, Yun Na Bi and her childhood friend, I personally hate love triangles.

The acting was good for everyone, they all had great chemistry but I personally liked the best Han So-hee and Song Kang's but also Kim Min Gwi and Yang Hye Ji had good chemistry too. Song Kang's expressions in some scenes were superb, like really good! I like how much he has improved all these years, he really has worked hard!

The OST were beautiful my favourite one is LOVE LIKE THAT by Sam Kim, I'm always listening to it 🙈😂, great songs for this drama. You really should give them a try.

That's all for NEVERTHELESS, I had fun watching this drama so I can't say i don't like it because i really do. It's the most realistic romantic drama koreans have ever done, so yeah I ship.
I'm not even going to justify my likings 😂😂

Let's respect everyone's opinion and discuss in a beautiful and respectful manner. Thank you everyone, I hope this has been of help to anyone 😜🥰💕

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