Boyfriend on Demand Review – A cute but slow-paced romance drama
Hello folks. Today I’ll be reviewing Boyfriend on Demand. This is one of the K-dramas that piqued my interest this year. I’m all about workplace K-dramas – especially ones that centre around technology and apps, and are quite futuristic too.
This one kind of didn’t meet my expectations for a number of reasons, which I’ll get into. The romance also didn’t make much sense to me, and overall, it was lacking in a few other areas, but it did have some good aspects about it too.
Boyfriends on Demand Facts:
- Genre: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy
Episodes: 10
Cast: Jisoo, Seo In-guk, Yoo In-na, Ha Young
Creators: Written by Namgung Do-young and directed by Kim Jung-sik - Where to Watch: Netflix
What is Boyfriend on Demand About?
Boyfriend on Demand follows the life of Seo Mi-Rae, a webtoon producer who has been unlucky in love. Between work, sleep, and the little time she has left to relax, dating feels almost impossible and not really worth her time and energy. Especially after a painful breakup, Mi-Rae has little interest in romance.
Her work life is just as demanding, and she constantly clashes with her co-worker, Park Kyeong-nam. During one particularly hectic day, she is offered the chance to test a new virtual dating app that introduces her to the men of her dreams. They all seem perfect, but everything changes when Kyeong-nam confesses his feelings for her.
Will Mi-Rae finally find true happiness after overcoming heartbreak, or will she continue down a path of escaping reality through her dreamy virtual boyfriends?
What I Liked About it:
Mi-Rae’s character progression — From the very first episode, Seo Mi-Rae is pretty miserable, still hung up on her ex, and she finds her work boring and unfulfilling. However, throughout the ten episodes, things quickly begin to change for her. She becomes less awkward around her co-worker and “nemesis” Park Kyeong-nam. She grows more self-assured, and we finally get to see her open up about her worries and fears. I also liked that we had a voice-over for her, allowing us to hear her inner thoughts and understand how she truly felt about people, life, and her dates.
Cute guys – Because some of the plot takes place in the virtual reality of Boyfriend on Demand, Mi-Rae meets a bunch of attractive Korean men. My favourite was the character Seo Eun-ho, played by Seo Kang-joon.
Humour: For me, a good kdrama is one that can make me laugh out loud. I felt the show did exactly this.
Park Kyeong-nam point-of-view episode — the way I cackled, kicked my feet, and generally enjoyed this part of Episode 7 was the best. Kyeong-nam outwardly is very awkward and unreadable, but he’s good-looking. It’s very hard to know what he’s thinking, so this episode literally made so much sense because we got to see how he began liking Mi-rae and the type of guy he is — basically someone whose actions speak louder than words, with his quiet yearning showing through. I loved every part of it, even the struggles he faced, like being rejected or how he went out of his way to find Mi-rae after she went missing from the office after-party.
The dates themselves – I feel like a lot of the dates Mi-Rae that she went on in Boyfriend on Demand were really fun to watch. She had a lot of chemistry with the “boyfriends.”
The pacing – the pacing of the show was really good, particularly when it picks up after episode 5. So if you do find it very slow to start with, it does eventually get better.
Park Kyeong-nam was my favourite character by far – I just loved how patient and kind-hearted he is. He’s the kind of male that will take notice of the small things, and is so cute with his acts of service towards Mi-Rae.
What I didn’t Like About it:
The CGI was terrible – I was genuinely cringing every time Mi-Rae entered the virtual world in Boyfriend on Demand. It could’ve looked so much better. The visuals honestly just disappointed me for this bit.
The romance didn’t make sense at first – The romance trope in Boyfriend on Demand leans more into the enemies-to-lovers trope. I’d definitely say it’s also a mix of workplace rivalry and a one-sided love story. Mi-Seo doesn’t really like Kyeong-nam and he’s harbouring a secret crush on her. Howver I’m not quite sure how they suit each other anyways as Mi-Seo has a specific type in the show which she makes very evident and he doesn’t match it.
The plot is very slow at the beginning – I can’t believe it took so long to get to any real bits between our two protagonists. Everything else just felt really irrelevant.
Poor plot devices – I really didn’t see the point, however, of Mo-Rae getting going on so many dates, they didn’t necessarily fully add to the plot either apart from her last one. Could’ve worked with just one or two and left more room for her scenes with Kyeong-nam. Also, the stuff with her ex didn’t feel fully resolved either.
Overall thoughts
I would definitely give Boyfriend on Demand around a 6.5 out of 10 rating. I wouldn’t say it overall bad or extremely good either.
It’d say it definitely had some cheesy and cute moments, which I found great. I loved the chemistry between Mi-rae and Kyeon-nam. For 10 episodes, it worked well but I feel there was also too many random side plots and characters.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy watch, I would recommend this for you. I don’t think this would be a standout kdrama for me simply because it’s not strong enough in terms of storyline and the romance element.
I did like some of the OST for this series. Especially the one they played during the emotional and cute scenes. It isn’t all bad. You can watch Boyfriend on Demand on Netflix now.
