시맨틱 에러 S1

I thought I’d try watching this since I’d read the webtoon in English (and plan on reading the web novel in Korean at some point). Knowing I prefer webtoons over dramas anyway, I tried to approach the show with low expectations. At first, the awkward acting made it difficult to watch (just checked and the lead actors are Kpop idols, so no surprise there), but the show did grow on me after a few episodes.

Language-wise, it’s not particularly difficult. The video game development aspect of the story is largely glossed over, probably due to time constraints, so you don’t have to worry about technical vocabulary. There are a few scenes in which a lot of text is displayed on-screen but disappears quickly, such as conversations through text messages.

Something that was a bit of a strange choice for a drama but useful for language learners is that in many scenes, there is little to no background noise. Considering the show is set in a university, it seems a bit incongruous (and conversely, there’s one particular scene in which the characters are being really loud in the library but no one around them seems to notice or care). However, since the actors aren’t competing with music, background chatter, and general noisiness of a more natural setting, you can hear what they’re saying really clearly.

It’s not terrible, but it’s not particularly great either, especially if you compare it to the webtoon. That being said, it is a relatively short series, with only eight 20-minute episodes, so it’s not a huge time investment if you do decide to watch it.