I need someone to just cut and splice all the scenes with this couple together so I can watch them on repeat.

@azzo1 You hit all the key points of why we love them so much. Gang-doo and Moon-soo will always be one of my favorite OTP.

@azzo,

Thanks for your essay. Congratulations for being published! I've watched through episode 13, and have been thoroughly enjoying JUST BETWEEN LOVERS. It is truly one of the best dramas I've seen in a spell, and is in very good company with MAWANG / THE LUCIFER.

Considering what these characters went through in their young lives, it is a blessing that their paths crossed. It truly "takes one to know one." I like how it is the small, mundane moments of near-normalcy that keep them going.

I'll have to check back when I finish the show. ;-)

Ah Gang Doo and Moon Soo seriously have been one of my favourite OTPs among the recent kdrama couples! Thanks for writing this @azzo1 :)

Though I wouldn't have mind reading about you and PHJ either! After all that is one of the most famous DB OTP, right next to Mary and her oppa! :P

(P.S. @azzo above is clickable too! How did that happen? But it's not coming as a valid tag in comments)

Congrats on getting your article published. Brings back all the memories of discussing it with you and other beanies. Just one word for this- PERFECT

Very well written. @azzo1
what i had in mind you brought them out in such wonderful words.
At the beginning coz of its melodramatic genre I was apprehensive to watch it but as all the beanies praised it I took a chance and loved the drama so much.
Thank you, Beanies. :)

Thank you, azzo! This was a beautifully written piece. I started this drama, but only got to the tragedy before turning it off, it was a bit too much at the time. I will return to it though, when I need a real relationship to watch, and your essay has made me that much more excited she. I can watch it!

OMO, it's here, it's here, it's really here! This article is published on Feb 14th! Dear DB editors, Do you finally admit that our Moon-soo and Gang-doo is the ultimate OTP of all OTPs? Or is it your way to give shout-out to our beloved drama?

Oh god, was i the only one who cried while reading your article? (It mightve helped that I was coincidentally also listening to the OST of the show at the same time while reading it) I love your title as well, because that's exactly what I felt whenever they found each other : relief. Not anticipation, relief.

Not you giving me the feels again for these two. I was recovering well! I was moving on! (I was not moving on.)

Beautifully written 💖, bravo and thank you @azzo1 😘 I read it while listening to the OST : you described their relationship so well 😌.
No need to add anything to such a good post, maybe just that "I love men who eat carrots" 😉 ㅋㅋㅋ

Thank you @azzo1
It’s so beautiful ❤️
I LOVE THEM and I MISS THEM 😭😭

A great article ! Couldn't agree more with you, especially about their love not being loud and not about grand gestures. Everything about this drama is so understated, it's one of its strength and charm.

Haven’t read the write up yet but seeing this post made me so happy @azzo1 😍❤️❤️

Amen to everything you said! And yes, I teared up even just reading your essay. Don't know what else to add because they were just perfect. I wish the actors could read this and the comments and know how much they were appreciated and how much they made us believe in their characters.

Azzo, congratulations for being published! 🎉🎊🎉

My love for Moon-soo and Gang-doo might not be as full and brimming as yours, but I love how you dedicated this whole essay for them. Thank God they found each other and also their much deserved happiness. For once, the Fate was being sympathetic enough to grant them a second chance at life, which is a miracle in its own right.

I'm on episode 14 of this drama, but I have to agree this couple was special. Their persistence for each other won me over.

@azzo thank you for submitting this piece about Gang doo and Moon-soo.

Thanks @azzo for your great essay. Seeing that first screen shot totally sucked me in LOL!

I'm still thinking about this amazing drama and this OTP and of course about Gang Doo, the ultimate (to me), among many characters most deserving to be loved. Why? Because in so many ways, he was so good (although not perfect) and remained consistently others-centred giving and not demanding, in spite of being provoked, in spite of receiving new wealth and having matters work out for him. Because he blamed no one but took responsibility, even beyond his means, out of selflessness.

And when I consider how MS was able to come as far as she did while walking on eggshells around her mother, suffering the breakup in her family and feeling that she ruined the lives of others, to the point when she could face Sung Jae's mother and painfully complete the Memorial, I feel so proud of her.

I love how MS and GD's relationship moved from awkward strangers and forgotten co-survivors to tried and proven couple-dom, through many little moments, rather than grand gestures. I am ecstatic over the arc of growth from self-blame/self-harm to self-love and so being able to accept love from each other.

The wonderful reciprocity of each taking turns to save each other, to offer a shoulder (literally and figuratively), to remain steadfast in the face of rejection without being pushy or manipulative and to offer healing at the appropriate times, warms my heart no end.

If ever there was an OTP who was meant to be together, emotively as well as 'realistically', with their shared tragedy, it was this one.

Thanks once again for highlighting all the lovely parts of this OTP and giving us a chance to relive the sweet, quite realistic moments once again. 😄

I'm still going through JBL withdrawals, so I'm happy to see an article on our OTP here on DBs. I can't really put into words how much I love these two without sounding like a protective mother hen lol. But truly the best thing about this show was how I didn't have to choose between having a great story or a great OTP. So often in kdrama I always have to make that choice between watching a well written story but with a meh OTP, or suffering through below par writing just for the sake of the OTP lol.

But with Just Between Lovers, I got to have my cake and eat it too, and that led to such a fulfilling 2 months that now I can't even enjoy any other drama I've tried to start. The chemistry between Junho and Jinah was perfect, the story was beautiful and it really makes me want to think that there is a pair of lovers called Kangdoo and Moonsoo out in the real world, just living their lives out together. Man, I really miss them lol.

I wish the site have a share button so i can directly send the page link to friends through FB or messenger…

Anyway… i love how you put things together — this pair who are scarred souls finding comfort on each other. Finding their way to love through simple gestures, getting used to each other, missing one another.

Like their way of answering the question why they love one another — "just because…" — open, immeasurable, intangible.

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
WILL NEVER BE OVER THEM

You summed up all those comments and hours of discussions perfectly. Now I miss them all over again! *sob*

The more I hear about this couple, the more I regret not live-watching this show. But it is on The List.

Needed this .. Thank you so much . Agree with pretty much everything u said. Miss my Gang Doo and Moon so ! I think very few other couple can be on their level. They are soul mates.
I still haven't watched the last two episodes (though i knw what happens). I have a bad habbit of not letting my favourite characters go because in my head if i watch the last two episodes, its done, completed. I have to come in term with it and finish it.

Beautifully said :D I think that's my favorite thing about them too, all those little moments like the hand-holding and encouraging words that were so sweet and heartwarming ❤️

This so perfectly describes how I feel about JBL and the relationship between Gang Doo and Moon Soo. Words can't even express how much I was rooting for them throughout the whole show! They're definitely my favorite OTP of all time as well! Everything about their relationship was just so heartwarming and I finished the show sad because it ended, but so incredibly happy that they were together and could help each other heal and love each other forever! (I know it's fiction, but it felt so real to me haha). I don't think I've ever been so emotionally invested in a show before. I almost felt exhausted when it finished because I had invested myself so much into the show haha. Thank you @azzo1 for writing this! JBL will be a show I will remember forever and rewatch many times to come! :)

Wahhh! Their scenes seem to flashback to me as I read your post. GD and MS just went up to my all time fave OTPs in dramaland because of how perfect they are for each other. And you just describe why they are that kind of couple. Thank you!! I want more people to get to know about this couple and you made that happen @azzo! Yey. Congrats! <3

Awwww beautifully written indeed
The community of JBL beanie lovers would be be so proud. I know i was when i saw the title. Is it to much to ask for abaeksang nomination at least? I think this is a rather uncommon topic covered by any drama I've seen.
Well done once again

I mean who can resist a man who loves carrot? XD

Great write up! Guh, how I envy all these writers with their magical words, perfectly describe our feelings and thoughts. Sigh.

I love that for this quiet couple, the reason for them to hesitate or waver is somehow logical, nothing too artificial, it feels real.

And I love that when one of them is backing away, the other will patiently assure them, that they want to make this work, to stay together in everything, it's so beautiful T_T.

Such a nice write-up, @azzo !!!!
One thing I do have to disagree with you about our beloved Ice Cream Couple is that Moon Soo's noble idiocy near the end, for me at least, was totally uncalled for and her reasons were pretty selfish: She basically downplayed the whole collapse and, in quiet prideful fashion, made everything about herself, and it wasn't until she (by the making of Kang Too, thank goodness) FINALLY saw things from the perspectives of those left behind, that she realized her thinking was wrong T.T

nice write-up!

JBL was populated by flawed but lovable characters, great cinematography and believable acting! i was rooting for these lovebirds to get their happy ending, just because... wish granted!

Beautiful essay, @azzo1. You put into words all the reasons Moon Soo and Gang Doo are one my favorite OTP.

Cannot agree with you enough. There was something so very refreshingly real about this drama, its story and this couple.

I was so excited to see their pic as the main poster image, and then was so pleased to see the article was just about them!

Honestly, since finishing the drama and commenting on some initial reactions, I haven't been able to read or write anything about the drama. It hit me that hard, that it feels taxing to even revisit. So when I read your article (which perfectly captures both the characters and their relationship) I was so flooded with emotions and memories, all that sweet ache that comes with thinking about their sad lives and their beautiful love.

There have been couples I've had more fun watching, couples I thought had more sparkling chemistry, but there has never been a couple that felt so right together, that I have wanted--NEEDED--to be together. You could feel the longing of their very souls for each other, and I was so happy that in the end they were able to come together and offer love and comfort in a way that no other person really could have. ACK. ALL THE FEELS COMING BACK.

Thank you for this, it was really well done.

@azzo1 I read every word of your awesome, thoughtful and heartfelt essay even though I haven't watched the drama, and haven't decided whether I will ever watch it. But you seem to love it almost as much as you love Oppa....and I'm still struggling to believe the impossible *gasp*

Congratulations on making it to Theme of the Month! I can't wait for you to write another essay on "The Oppa You Love the Most and 10 Reasons Why There Can Be No Other".

@azzo this was so brilliantly written! I haven't watched JBL but I was definitely drawn to it and have it on my watch list. I'm glad to hear such good reviews on it...and I'm glad to hear that this is a good melo. I always want rom-coms but when a melo is done right, it can have my heart fully captured as this one seems to have yours. <3

Well, I am still so full into this drama, because I am watching it in my spare time for the second time. Beautiful. I agree with everything said in your article, @azzo1, and also in the comments.

Love this!

Well...I feel your love for it @azzo1 and that's all that matters!!

Wonderful piece my dear @azzo1 you have captured why most of us loved GD and MS and why we kept coming back in each episode in spite of the overall melo mood of JBL - heart breaking but hopeful always, hilariously crying at times but never traumatizing.

Thank you for sharing and
🎉🎊congrats!🎊🎉 on getting published

The very first thing that attracted me to this drama was actually the reverse role between the leads. The female lead was more superior than the male. But it's not a noona romance either where usually the male lead is ready to embrace the female's lead superiority since the beginning of their romantic relationship.
They are both the same age, so they have been trough similar milestone in life. It's refreshing to see a young woman who's looking for a partner in a guy, and not an oppa, sunbae, sajangnim or other male dominant figure.

@azzo1 Thanks for this and for reminding us of just how special Gang-doo and Moon-Soo are.

ugh, i miss these guys.

@azzo1! How lovely is this? How lovely were they? Answer to both questions: VERY. It’s such a nice surprise to see your writing being featured on here. Congrats to that! I, too, loved and adored this couple right from the get-go. It was even better because I came in with little to no expectations and in came this piece of gem with such rawness and charm—both in its story and its actors. Thanks to this drama, I was able to recognize Junho as the capable actor that he’s becoming and of course, for letting me discover the lovely Won Jin-ah. These two were so good together that when they did go through the noble idiocy phase (not once, but twice!), albeit for good reasons, I just wanted them to stop forcing themselves to be apart from each other and just be together already because their love is literally the kind that heals—them and us. Side(ish) note, seeing Gang-doo all scratched up in the first photo reminds me of when Moon-soo said to herself as she caressed his face that she never realized how handsome he was because he was always covered in scratches and bruises. Also, the last screenshot is one of my favorite moments of them because gah, that’s such a romantic and cute move! I’m glad this drama and its OTP gets the love they deserve. This was a job well done, Azzo. A+.

Beautiful couple. Beautiful review @azzo1 there’s really nothing more to add. I couldn’t have said it better myself. They are the realest, truest, most realistic and most beloved couple I’ve seen in a kdrama. And I’m not exaggerating! I’m trying hard to think of a kdrama couple that comes close to being as true as Moon Soo/Gang Doo are and nothing comes to mind.