Woah! My first South Korean BL series! Our Dating Sim makes me have hope that others that I check out from South Korea will be just as good!
Similar to the Japanese BL I watched a few months ago, My Beautiful Man, Our Dating Sim was short and sweet. Like, really, really sweet. I also applaud them for getting a story across in such a short amount of time. They truly understand the concept of not wasting any shots. It probably also helped that the story only focused on one couple. Yes, I suppose the story may have been a little simple, but they did such a great job with it that I really have no critiques!
Wan is a graphic artist who is getting ready to interview for a small gaming company after a long-term artist residency program falls through. In this interview he is shocked to see his old classmate, friend, and crush, also in attendance. Somehow he gets through it, which is truly a miracle. Given how the pair left off some seven years prior, I would have probably just evaporated on the spot. Instead, the two seemed to reach some unspoken agreement that they ever knew each other. What I found kind of silly though is that they kept up with this pretense for almost two episodes!
In the end, Wan is completely frustrated with Ki-tae’s behavior and confronts him. What he is more surprised to learn is that Ki-tae seemed to have shared those same feelings all this time. Rather than wait to get an honest response from Ti-kae, Wan immediately interpreted the worst and ran off. It helped that his family moved and he then joined the military, so he would never have to face this humiliating heartbreak. Instead, Ki-tae patiently waited for Wan to come back into his life. It just so happened to take place in the form of a secret virtual connection. He stumbled across Wan’s web art blog and insisted that the company pursue him for the job.
This series was so, so cute. Wand and Ki-tae were absolutely perfect for each other. Even though there weren’t many episodes and they were all around fifteen minutes, the trajectory of this story never felt rushed to me. It’s likely to do with the fact that they’ve been pining over each other all this time. Why waste the reunion with excessive wooing when we could just be getting kisses?! Even the slight drama that unfolded in the final two episodes still revolved around their strong feelings for each other.
My only personal complaint is that I saw there was also an Our Dating Sim movie, only to realize that it was just the show combined into a different format. I would absolutely kill for more story for these two characters, but at the very least I will accept another project with the two of them. This series just came out last year, so I might be made to wait for anything, but I can be patient. Please go watch this if this genre interests you!