I skipped the recently concluded prime time K-drama Are You Human Too but from the small but vocal viewers who loved it perhaps it’s worth diving in for a marathon. Consider me surprised since I always thought K-netizens didn’t like Seo Kang Joon, I’ve always enjoyed his potential even from the early days of Suspicious Housekeeper to What’s With My Family all the way to his controversial role in Cheese in the Trap. To hear that K-netizens really praised his dual role as the human and the robot in the drama makes me happy, he’s always been more than just a pretty face and it’s not his fault when a role gets more screen time because fans like it. He’s done with Human and diving into jTBC drama The Third Charm with Esom, but first the ubiquitous photo shoot for winder outerwear, this time for the brand Millet.
Like him also..certainly. A new phase in his career and going places…Great to see the praise as he earnt it with this one. ?
One of the few kdramas that I finished in 2018. I wish the direction didn’t emphasize romance in this drama particularly on the part of the leading lady and limit it to platonic love.
On the other hand, I agree on the knetz. Seo Kang Joon did a fantastic job in this drama. The praises for him were well-deserved. Since Cunning Single Lady, I find him to be one of the good and charismatic actors of his generation.
I agree with you. It’s the show that got me completely hooked this year, but I never liked the romance. If the robot and the female lead were just platonic, this would have been among my all-time favorites.
I thought I was the only one who doesn’t like the romance in AYHT. As much as I love Namsin 3, I just dont understand the possibility of romance between human and robot. My gosh.. how I desperately wished Namsin 3 is a cyborg instead of a robot only. But then.. when they have a baby, it’s gonna be a cyborg, right? Lols..just kidding.
He is a-ma-zing in Are you human too and his performance deserves all the awards. There is not enough praise I can give, you just should check and see for yourself how good he is in the dual role.
I enjoyed the drama a lot, it’s really good, but it’s a pity that maybe the topic does not attract the masses. I hope that at least people learn about him being a very talented actor. I liked him since Cheese in the trap, he can give depth and heart to his characters and knows how to be subtle too. I’m already looking forward to have him back with a new series.
The drama had a strong start but the last four or so episodes were kind of meh. He was good in this so regardless of ratings, he should get a boost.
To be absolutely fair about Cheese in the Trap, didn’t the controversy happen in the first place because the fans themselves weren’t that into his character? I saw School 2015 around the same time and that also had an expanded role for Yook Sungjae, only that was never controversial because the fans actually liked him more than the main guy there. See also: Ji Soo in Angry Mom (comparing fan-preference reactions).
Glad SKJ has done a good job and got that praise though.
In Cheese in trap, it was either SKJ performance made the viewer drew in to his character or PHJs interpretation of his character too boring and unlikable.But one thing for sure Jung was totally an unlikable for a main lead character.
What I’m saying is, if he had actually been a fan favourite to the extent of being preferred over the male lead, it would never have been a controversy at all.
I just pointed out two other cases where Yook Sung Jae and Ji Soo’s second lead/supporting characters were much more liked by viewers than the male 1st leads in their dramas and no one said anything bad about those two. The issue with the SKJ thing, looking at old posts, appears to be the director forcing it when fans didn’t actually want it.
Are You a Human Too had a great postproduction and SKJ was really great in both characters.
I like him too. I think he had a nice chemistry with Nam Ji Hyun in What’s with my Family and I would to see them as main couple in a drama.
In CITT, it was the fans of Park Hae Jin who were very angry but I thought he did a great job as Baek In Ho.
It was the fans of the original source material who were furious. Yes the fans of PHJ were irked as well, but I remember most of the angst coming from people who loved the original.
I don’t blame the actors on how that went down but I loved the first ten episodes and it did fall apart narratively for me because of the changes made.
I have actually only seen Seo Kangjoon in k-ent gossip and news sites before, and known him as the guy whose face everyone raves about, but I never understood the hype. Despite disliking the show overall, I am glad to have watched it because Seo Kangjoon was a revelation. I know him now as both a really handsome and amazing actor. I love how he paid attention to even the smallest details to differentiate his characters: tone of voice, way of speaking, even the way he moved his head. It was a fun experience to watch him, and I’m reminded of how much I loved Ji Sung in Kill Me, Heal Me.
If you’re not a fan of robot love stories, it’s not a drama worth recommending. Even besides that, there were glaring plot holes and odd writing choices especially in the last 4 episodes that turned my earlier fondness for it into dislike. Anyway, I can’t wait for The Third Charm. At least the male lead is a human this time lol.
I highly recommend Are you human too? if not for the story at least for seo kang joon’s portrayal of the two characters. He is talented and good looking. ♡
I love his acting in this robot drama…we all know he is beautiful in a manly way unlike a lot of the so called flower boys. Now we know he is talented as well.
Robot love stories just dont do it for me.It seems like although they put out so many, Korea isnt into them either because none have managed to pull the masses.I think id rather watch robots in an action or thriller movie.
For some reason Seo Kang Joon is also one of those artists I just cant get into, despite of how hyped his looks are.However, he seems like a hard worker seeing how he doesnt take long breaks within projects.It looks like he will be doing another drama soon.So I respect him for that.I wish him well.
In addition, kdrama industry(and movie needs new talent too).Not same old.same old.I would like to see more actors in his age group romancing the likes of hyeri, Nam Ji Hyun or even the younger ones like kim yoo jung, kim so hyun and others instead of mature actors like ji sung in “entertainer”,jo jung suk in “two cops” or lee byun hun in “Mr Sunshine”.Even the hallyu batch in the army is all in the early 30s(lee min ho, ji chang wook etc) now.There is need for more 20s actors to compliment the 20s actresses since koreans love lovelines and romance so much.This too big age gaps make it harder to buy the chemistry and difference in acting experience is even more magnified in most cases..so the less experienced ones always end up being on the chopping board when its not really their fault.
I agree about the too-big age gaps. Though to be fair, Park Bo Gum (who is exactly the same age) has been paired with Kim Yoo Jung and you still got people here pretending that was as bad as the case of Kim So Hyun and Kim Sae Ron being paired with guys aged 30+/nearing 30.
It baffles me why real age of the actors are important. I don’t mean to be rude but such mindset is just so shallow. Actors will be playing the characters not their own real life persona. Mr Sunshie is am exception as LBH were no able to deliver his character well. He just look too old for KTR. Or KTR could be partly to be blamed as her portrayal makes the character so much younger than what’s written. Thus the leads visual of Mr Sunshine look mismatched.
….you really don’t understand why people are bothered by the casting of underage girls to play love interests to men pushing 30? Must be nice.
That is why it’s called acting. They are portraying a role or someone they are not. Brilliant actors can even portray a baby or a teenager even they are in their 50s.
I think Before CITT, I’m not fond of his acting. And I can see why some people keep saying he can’t act. LOL ” I watched some of glimpse of his old drama, miniseries include, and he is strugglinf to emote. CITT caught me by surprise because he is so damn good. Basically, he is completely outshining the male lead in terms of acting, which I actually won’t be surprise he got more screen time because of that. He is really reliable at emoting in that drama and show some fire..
as Nam Shin 3, he required more subtle acting approach because he is suppose to can’t feel emotion, but have to make sure the audience know what his character feel despite he is being a robot.
I think at first he is struggling to adjust once the human NS wake up. but that’s fine…
people are so blinded by his look, his acting is not that good yet, he’s pretty boring in AYHT
Well I’m glad majority of the masses think otherwise. I’m tired of him being slept on. The biggest mistake his company ever did was put him in Roommates where his boring, quiet, often meek personality overshadowed the talent he had in the acting department. In fact Room mates derailed his progress as an up and coming actor, he was so raved about after his showing in MBS’s TV movie Memories of Murder, and Suspicious Housekeeper where he took the eye candy role from a more famous child star Park Ji Bin and stole all the scenes. The fact that he is able to pull off roles so far away from his real life personality is a kudos to his acting prowess. Salty people can keep throwing shade his way – but what I really like about him is his ability to keep friends. He is still very close to all his fellow dwellers from roommates (Youngji’s cameo), meets up with the CITT cast as well, TVN and production companies choosing to work with him over and over again, renewals of his CFs, it speaks volumes to the person he is and the favour that he has. He’s going to be in 2 more productions and hasn’t stopped working because of his passion for acting. These are all virtues to be celebrated and the fact that he’s improved so much from each production speaks volume to me. Haters gonna hate… Just live your life man (thank you bts)… I’m just gonna keep supporting this young man and watching him put his naysayers to place
great you can continue watch his boring acting then, he just continue getting the offers as the popular actors still enlisting now, and he’s actually always known to be very popular with his look (that’s why producers keep getting him cast and he has very influential agency to keep him getting all the work compared to actors from small company) back then he was popular with his lack acting skills. I would say he improves but he still boring in my eyes with his dull acting skill.
He will be enlisting pretty soon being a 93 liner. Btw you’re wrong about his powerful company. Its the pits company with literally every entertainment association blacklisting them since early this year. Its obvious you probably don’t know much about the korean entertainment scene as well. THIS EXACT reason makes everything even more admirable because producers and directors alike are all trying to still work with him despite the boycott and the trouble they need to go through just to work with him. Not sure why you need to be pissing on him so much – if you’re one of those PHJ fans – please bugger off. He’s suffered enough by those so called rabid fans who are obviously just keyboard warriors without the pennies to support their own idol since the CITT movie tanked to below the abyss.
I hate PHJ too,the fact that he only good playing psychopath character than romance makes SKJ shines more than him in CITT. Fantagio may not sounds like a big company for you but to be truth there’s still a lot other smaller companies than Fantagio in K-entertainment industry, I’m one of those smaller agencies’ actor stan, I know how hard for them to get leading role and become popular. Unlike SKJ his agency has prioritized him ever since he debuted in that actor singer group? He and the rest of the group still doing well now, why? thanks to their agency which is also home to other big famous actors. SKJ still a mediocre actor and in AYHT he has reached his limit and iI doubt he will improve much as an actor in his next project.
He will… Seo Kang Joon has sincerity in his acting. His acting it’s not police yet. He show some fire, his emoting is pretty credible Too. Something which is rare for male actor around his age. Meanwhile Park Hee Jin… Well…. He is limit and I don’t think he will improve soon. Since he is ls getting older.
replying to Missjb below, SKJ way of emoting is not that rare especially among actor his age, there’s other credible and way better actor younger than him, and also same age as him, it’s what makes me don’t think he’s at that level yet, yes he has a lead role face, and kdrama acting skill, but that’s all. I don’t see any wow factor to him yet, despite AHYT rave or dramas before that. Meanwhile being in big agency sure profiting him a lot even with that mediocre acting skill, yes the world is unfair but I hope the next ‘it’ actor would be really good at acting,don’t care if he’s handsome or not, maybe the next Ryu Junyeol. I don’t want to see mediocre actor gracing the screen and get all the attention because of his face, not because of his work, sometimes I think he got the praise because he’s really bad in dramas before that and seeing him improve a bit made people praise him here and there, I could say in AHYT he’s not that impressive, just right, not better and still pretty boring. Or maybe my benchmark preference has been set up up high
To be fair to SKJ, he is a better actors than many amongst his age bracket. From Cunning Single Lady, he overshadowed. Sorry PHJ fans. I love JSW since a million years ago but chemistry wise SKJ had better chemistry with LMJ in that in CSL.
I’m not PHJ fan, I’m sad of being accused as his fan, but it’s good since SKJ fans won’t harm my real favourite actor
Fantagio is a mess now following the management shakeup but for years it was one of K-ent’s biggest acting agencies just like SidusHQ or KeyEast, and trust me, when those agencies go all-out for you, they are a huge advantage – people like Kim Woo Bin, Park Seo Joon and SKJ have succeeded because of their management, not despite it (prior to the recent scandal with Kang Hanna).
What Fantagio can’t do right is run idol groups, apparently. But they were great at boosting and supporting acting careers, and they had the star lineup to prove it (eg Ha Jung Woo). But with what it’s become, who knows, SKJ might want out aoon too.
Ha Jung Woo was long gone from Fantagio even before the mess. He is now with Lee Jung Jae’s agency if my memory is correct. All the big actors are gone as most these actors have more flexible contractual arrangements and even as good as independent artists.
Wonder if my fave Park Shin Hye is still the lady endorser of Millet….I’ve noticed she had various partners each year . From LJS to Top then Jisoo…..now the male model is Seo Kang Joon. Can not wait to see a pictorial.
I asked the same question, too.. its good if Park shinhye can do photoshoot or cf video with him, just like her doing it with Jisoo
She’s not endorsing it anymore. I think hes the sole endorser.
Roboshin namshin III had the sweetest smile and an innocence that touched his eyes. Human shin I just wanted to punch even before he says a word. That about sums up Seo Kang- Joon awesome acting
I concur fully. Even the end scene when he spoke to So Bong I wanted to punch him. Then sweetie robot with the pure eyes and smile came up… and yay to a sweet ending ^^
The writing was so weak in the drama.They spent so much budget but they couldn’t hire a competent writer. Ugh. SKJ saved this drama with his acting tbh #tea
A rule of thumb in the showbiz is that if you rely on your good look, you are not here to stay. There are so many handsome and pretty young ones showing up, you need to have talents, good attitude/manners, strong mind and work like a cow to survive. Kang Joon’s list of project and CF endorsement means he is more than a handsome face, he needs to deliver in order to be demanded. As an introvert, he might not have shown his best in Roommates but it means more when he showed a completely different person in drama from his real self.It means he can really act. BTW, I appreciate people who have good manners and stay humble, who treasure friendship, is sincere and love animals. It seems Kang Joon is exactly this kind of person who I like