Romance Town unveils its main posters, which are frothy and cute, as I hope the drama also will be. The one above is my favorite, because it conveys a vibe that’s a bit different than what we’ve come to expect of K-dramas. It’s got a bit of old-world elegance, but cheekily positions the help (namely, Sung Yuri and Min Hyo-rin) in the seats of their rich employers, who are standing serving them (Jung Kyeo-woon, Kim Min-joon). It’s a little clever.
I think the upstairs-downstairs dynamic is the most interesting thing about the drama, and will be the thing to make or break it. Chaebols, we’ve seen. Cold Mr. Darcy types, we are intimately familiar with. Poor, plucky heroines, the K-drama landscape is overrun with ‘em. Focusing on the behind-the-scenes staff instead of the uber-rich? That’s a little different.
I hope the drama incorporates some power plays and reversals into the mix as well, since it’s all built right in to the premise, waiting to be explored. We saw a teeny glimpse of that with My Fair Lady, but that drama just treated its butler staff as a gimmick and didn’t explore, well, anything in any meaningful way.
The second poster sorta, kinda incorporates the title into the concept, as Sung Yuri looks down on her little cardboard town like she’s enjoying the game. (Too bad I don’t think the association goes any deeper — not that you could do much with the title Romance Town.)
Last is a standard drama poster featuring the four leads. Ho-hum.
Romance Town premieres on May 11. I wouldn’t necessarily bet on it to be a fun and funny standout in the upcoming rom-com glut, but I’m not completely without hope, either. I thought the teaser showed a breezy, atmospheric tone that’s a little different from the standard trendy vibe, which could be refreshing. It’s also what I said about Triple, so there’s that. Who’s rolling the dice on this one?
Via E Daily
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I think I’ll give the first two eps a go and see from there. Way too many May dramas. Why can’t they spread out the goodies evenly? :/
lol.lol..i was thinkin the same thing, they need to space out these dramas. may is gonna be a very full month
Exactly! All the good dramas are coming out during exam period
I have to restrain myself.
Same here. I don’t even know why I’m on this site right now, I have two papers to finish writing right now.
I know right, my exams start in may too!! But these dramas are way too tempting and who am I to say no to Lee min ho?? It’s gonna be hard and the bright side is that I get to watch the dramas with subtitles and won’t have to wait for the next episode but that’s about it!!
i know right? the past 2 months have been pretty bad… thank god we have 49days.
In a way I don’t mind actually – I’ll follow the two I’m most crazy to watch (Best Love and Lie to Me) and then when I have time to watch the others, they’ll be all subbed and waiting to be marathoned.
God bless the fansubbers! <3
Well I guess there you have the silver lining
Thanks for making me see the positive side 
You’re welcome
That’s what I’m planning to do too. It should be fine as long as we don’t get another bunch of irresistible dramas starting this summer!
Drat…every time I see promo information on Dramabeans I commit myself to another May drama. I’ll need a double life to fit in everything.
The first poster is definitely the best
That’s like 5 new dramas in May rite??? WHY?
I think it’s 7 to be exact
Here is the line-up I made:
Baby-Faced Beauty (KBS) – May 02;
The Greatest Love (MBC) – May 04;
My Love By My Side (SBS) – May 07;
Lie to me (SBS) – May 09;
Romance Town (KBS2) – May 11
City Hunter (SBS) – May 25;
Goodbye Miss Ripley (MBC) – May 30
good luck to the Kdrama world and to all fan-subbers out there…
and to girlfriday & javabeans, what dramas are you recapping among ALL of them???
Thank you for the list…..
Wow so many drama in may,,,,I think not to much but I get wrong
After see trailer,,,main cast,, storyline… I have conclution :
Drama: really-really want to watching : lie to me,, best love
Drama : want to watching : city hunter ,,, goodbye ms ripley
Drama : interesting maybe want to watching : the baby face beauty,,romance town
Not interest : my love by my side
Btw,,, first poster I think cute and the best poster……
Thanks for the list !
OMG so many dramas for may. It’s sure going to keep us busy! i can’t seem to remember what ‘romance town’ is about.
The first poster is cute. I would LOVE to see them explore class in a more meaningful way than, well, every trendy drama ever. They went more into it in Secret Garden, which is one of the things I liked about it, but in the second half that too was swallowed up by The Romance That Solves Everything.
The trailer gives me some hope. But I’m still not betting on it, javabeans. I learned my lesson
I seriously thought it was Jang Nara in the second poster. I was like, Uh.. wrong drama?
Haha! Me too! But then, I often get the two actresses confused. ^^;
Is it just me or is the fly on the standing guy unzipped!
Honestly….I just don’t think I’ll have time….I think four hours a week (Lie to Me, Best Love) will be enough to manage with exam season being RIGHT on top of it (or knowing priorities….on the bottom of it)
SIGH I’m going to watch the Lie to Me trailer again lalala
I still can’t quite understand why Min Hyo-rin’s in a cocktail dress? o_O Maybe it’s speaking to the social climber in her?
If this drama explores ‘Maids’ in a meaningful way, and also some of hotel personals i.e. Butler, con siege, I’m on it! Hotel management always intrigues me. Plus, something diff from Best Love, City Hunter is welcomed.
Too many good dramas coming up, so I guess I’ll save this for sometime in the future. I’m afraid with all the exciting dramas coming up these next few weeks, what will there be left for the fall and winter?!
before i even started reading i said (about the first teaser poster), “this is so cheeky!”
JB, you are my Kdrama soul-sistah from another mistah, i swear.
I think the upstairs/downstairs dynamic will be really interesting too. It reminds me a little bit of Gosford Park (directed by Robert Altman), which is shot from the perspective of the servants of the wealthy elite visiting the manor. The entire film focuses heavily on the “downstairs” world of the lower class and how they are categorized as “higher status” or “lower status” depending on the social class of their masters. There’s this one scene where you see how the servants are ordered to sit in specific seats at the dinner table based on the ranking of their social class (e.g. depending on their master’s social rank).
I’m not a huge fan of the Romance Town cast, but if it can display a similar sort of friction not only between the servants and their masters but also among the servants themselves, it’ll be an interesting plot to follow.
I loved Gosford Park – that’s one of my favourite movies! I don’t think RT will come close to the brilliance of that film, but I too would love to see a similar vibe.
rawr
GO GO GO YURI…
Kim Min Joon!