I just finished Melting Me Softly and have a lot of thoughts to share.
What is Melting Me Softly About?
It stars Ji Chang-wook as Ma Dong-chan, a 32-year-old creative director at a broadcasting station, and Won Jin-ah as Go Mi-ran, a 24-year-old university student.
Both characters agree to take part in a cryogenic experiment that’s supposed to freeze them for 24 hours.
However, things instantly go wrong and they instead wake up 20 years later.
After waking up two decades later, Dong-chan and Mi-ran return to a world that’s completely changed.
Their friends and family have aged, their careers and relationships are no longer what they used to be, and they must now follow strict medical guidelines just to stay alive—including keeping their body temperature under 33°C and managing their heart rates.
Is It Worth Watching?
I went into this one pretty excited – the whole frozen-in-a-lab-and-waking-up-20-years-later thing seemed pretty cool.
And after watching Ji Chang-wook in Suspicious Partner, I was eager to delve into this one. However, after finishing it, I didn’t enjoy it as much.
The show is a mix of different genres, blending romance, comedy, mystery, and sci-fi all at once.
Unfortunately, the execution just doesn’t quite hit the mark, and I would’ve preferred it to have been a romance mixed with some mystery.
The pacing starts to drag early on, and I found myself predicting major plot points after the first episode.
In terms of characters, Go Mi-ran (Won Jin-ah) was annoying at the start, meanwhile Ma Dong-chan (Ji Chang-wook) felt weirdly unemotional and awkward —especially during the romantic scenes.
I usually root hard for K-drama couples, but here, I felt it was impossible to do so.
That said, I don’t think the show is all bad. Around episode 4, things start to pick up a little.
There are a few sweet and emotional moments that land well, and the OST is super cute -it fits the tone of the show perfectly. Ji Hun’s character was definitely a highlight for me; he was a bit more sarcastic in the last few episodes, though I wish that was shown at the start.
So, is it worth watching? I’d say maybe. If you like your K-dramas light, a little quirky, and don’t mind a slower pace, you might enjoy it. Just don’t go in expecting something groundbreaking.
Melting Me Softly had a great idea, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.
Rating
Where you’ve seen Won Jin-ah…Won Jin-ah is a South Korean actress known for her roles in both film and television.
She appeared as a nun in the espionage thriller The Age of Shadows (2016), and played Ryeo Min-kyung in the political action film Steel Rain (2017), which explores inter-Korean tensions. In 2019, she starred as Park Si-eun in Money, a movie about financial crime, and also took on the role of Kang So-hyun in the action-comedy Long Live the King.
More recently, she appeared in the thriller Voice (2021) and the romantic comedy A Year-End Medley (2021). She is also set to star in the upcoming film Secret: Untold Melody (2025).
The actress also had incredible success in TV, including her role as Ha Moon-soo in Rain or Shine (2017), a story about grief and love after a tragic accident.
She also appeared as Lee No-eul in the medical drama Life (2018), and as Ko Mi-ran in the romantic comedy Melting Me Softly (2019). In 2021, she starred as Yoon Song-a in She Would Never Know, a series centered around workplace romance in the cosmetics industry. Currently, she stars as Kim A-hyeon in the action thriller The Defects (2025).
Where you’ve seen Ji Chang-wook….Ji Chang-wook is a popular South Korean actor known for appearing on screen across different genres, including action, romance, and thriller.
He rose to fame with leading roles in television dramas such as Smile Again (2010) and Healer (2014-2015).
Ji Chang-wook continued to soar in the industry, including starring in Suspicious Partner (2017), a legal thriller with a strong romantic subplot, and Melting Me Softly (2019), where he starred alongside Won Jin-ah about characters frozen in time.
In addition to TV, he has appeared in films like Fabricated City (2017), and Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island (2015), a period comedy-mystery.