Man to Man tells the story of a mysterious and skilled secret agent who becomes the bodyguard (Park Hae Jin) to a top star (Park Sung Woong) who has made a name for himself playing villainous characters.
Park Hae Jin plays our secret agent Kim Seol Woo also known as Agent K. He’s handsome and charming and can go undercover as just about anyone and do whatever is necessary for a mission.
Park Sung Woong is our popular actor Yeo Woon Gwang. He’s a big personality that has the mix of a being a spoiled star who has a good heart. This is exactly the kind of character I like seeing Park Sung Woong play as he is just so much fun when he gets to be lively and animated.
Kim Min Jung plays Woon Gwang’s number one fan and manger Cha Do Ha. Her life revolves around him to an obsessive level. But when the new bodyguard gets in the mix and turns his charms on her, she is left quite confused by her newly developing feelings for him.
Full disclosure, I wasn’t feeling well when I watched the bulk of Man to Man, so that definitely may have influenced my enjoyment of the drama. It’s one of those dramas that seems fine enough as a whole, but I just really didn’t care for it. I wasn’t that into it while I was sick, and then it never really clicked after that. I think by the time I was feeling better, I was so far into the drama that I just really didn’t care at that point.
The drama does have a really nice story that mixes secret agent spy action with romance and comedic elements. The actors all nailed their roles, and the drama looked sharp with pretty good cinematography.
My favorite thing was the fun bromance between Seol Woo and Woon Gwang. They provide some very humorous moments because of the situation and their opposite personalities. Plus, I really enjoyed watching them grow closer in that brotherly sort of way.
I also really enjoy stories where an agent falls for his mark, which ends up being Do Ha. It always creates a fun dynamic as he leads her on and she falls for him, but then he in turn develops feelings for her. Which always presents multiple issues from compromising the mission to when the lies are discovered.
As much as I enjoyed that, I didn’t really feel the romance itself though. Park Hae Jin was quite sauve and charming, but I found Do Ha’s character to be a bit much. I just didn’t really like her. She does improve as the drama goes on, but I just never really felt any chemistry between the pair.
So while on paper Man to Man seems to have all the makings of a great drama, it just felt kind of meh. The story had plenty of developments, but it was presented in a sort of confusing way. The pacing also felt slow. And since I didn’t love the main couple, obviously the romance portion of the drama felt weak. Mostly I was just bored though.
The drama does have plenty of positive elements to tune in for, so it’s definitely worth a look to see if it clicks with you. For me, this drama may have just suffered from being a bit average combined with bad timing.
My Rating: 4/10
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Where did you watch it?
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Netflix 🙂
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Very honest review!! I just watched first episode and female lead really annoyed me, then I decided to drop this drama from my watch list. After reading your review I am happy with my decision. Keep writing kdrama reviews. Fighting!
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Thank you 🙂 Yeah, if you didn’t care for the first episode, it’s probably good that you dropped because I don’t think it gets much better. The female lead does tone down about halfway through the drama, but even then I didn’t really like her. On to better things! 🙂
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i can feel you, kim min jung’s acting is too much. but i watched all of the episodes because park hae jin is too hawt😂 i just ignored the romance haha
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Haha, that sounds like it was a good plan. I focused on the bromance as much as possible 🙂
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Ofcourse it figures…this is a drama I can watch (it is on my Netflix), and it turns out to be not very good lol 😂😂 Typical. I do think it is a good development that more and more Asian dramas are finding their way to Netflix. Too bad this one wasn’t so good. Great review as always 😊
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Yep, that’s how it seems to go, lol. It had a nice mixture of genres and a fantastic cast, it just wasn’t executed well 😦 I’m glad to see more dramas on Netflix too. I’m watching another one on there right now that is exclusive to it, and they recently added quite a few more old dramas. I think they are trying to step up their kdrama game 🙂
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Well…I honestly hope they continue to do that. I missed quite a number of classic shows, so bring it on I would say 😊
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I hope so too. Of course, I’ll never say no to more dramas on any platform 🙂
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I just finished this drama and, you are correct, it was meh. There was a bit of chemistry but no sparks to make it believable. One doubt though, I did not get if the kid was the son of the actor or the millionaire. Maybe I should rewatch the last episode.
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Yep, definitely a disappointment. It had the makings of something great, but is just didn’t come together 😦
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Pingback: Best Korean Dramas of 2017 | Kdrama Kisses
I quiet enjoyed this show.. I see what you mean with the romance being a bit stiff but I don’t think it deserves a 4/10. I don’t think it’s that below average. I gave this show a 7/10 because of the resources put in to make this show, very international, and the actors and actresses portrayed emotions (besides love) very well.
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Glad you enjoyed this one 🙂 Objectively speaking, I don’t think it was a bad drama, just average. The 4 is just my personal rating since most of it just didn’t click with me. I also wasn’t feeling well when I watched it, so that may have tainted the experience too. But all of the actors were great and I understand why some people really enjoyed it 🙂
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First episode was a turn off. But by about episode 3, it gets so so good. Thriller, suspense, action and comedy. Must watch!!!! Thank Netflix @netflix for carrying this!
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I’m at episode 10, and I can see why it’s one of the best Korean dramas for 2017. Captivating and you really start to become fond of the main characters. And the plot twists grab you. Thank Netflix for allowing the international audience to enjoy Man.x.Man.
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Glad you enjoyed this one so much. I too am thrilled to see Netflix carrying more dramas and making them available to more people 🙂
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Just finished this one and after resisting our female lead (who kept switching her character from smug ‘I’m-tough-in-charge-and-in-love-with-myself’ to overplayed innocence and wide doe-eyed awe of both her boss and her crush) I kept my attention on our two bromantic guys who became one of my favourite couples of the year. The supporting characters and the villains were actually quite human & believable. It ended up being a fun romp. I’d rate it 8 out of 10 for both the smiles as well as the interesting gadgets & action scenes. Although, on the topic of Netflix, I’m sad that this big box store is now buying up kdramas and beginning to push out the smaller trailblazing streaming sites that were part of carrying the Hallyu wave so globally. I especially like Viki.com who has such loyal volunteer subbers and still offers fans an opportunity to share our thoughts after each episode. Netflix has short two-liner series reviews on their website, but no real community where often a discussion can get started about what we like or dislike in a drama, who the directors and writers are and what worked or didn’t work well in the writing or filming. Then again…that’s where you come in Kdrama Kisses. Thanks for providing your perspectives as well as the space for ours!
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The bromance was definitely my favorite part of the drama too! I love both of the actors, and they made a fun duo 🙂 Glad it worked out better for you as a whole than it did for me.
And yes, Netflix is certainly changing things up in the drama world. On one hand, it’s great that more dramas are now on such a large platform, but like you said, now some of the original sites have more competition. I think DramaFever has been affected the most as they have way fewer kdramas than they used to.
Viki seems to be hanging in there though some of those rising costs were passed along to us customers. I really hope it never goes anywhere because yes, the interactions and information available are the best. But yeah, at least there are many wonderful blogs and forums out there dedicated to kdramas, so at least we have those avenues to share. Thank you for the kind words 🙂
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The leading lady wasnt the best fit in this drama
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Yes, I’ve enjoyed her in other dramas, but this wasn’t one of her best roles.
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This didn’t sit well with me by calling it a romance, the fact that he seduced a woman that’s 21 when he’s in his mid thirties and lived with her and got engaged then used and discarded her making her witness his death (fake death) and leaving this young woman devastated and him laughing as he walks away watching her cry while tossing the engagement ring into the river. I get he has a job to do but he seems to get pleasure out of hurting the women he seduces. Why do these women fall for it especially the woman he later meets all he has to say is you’re pretty and she’s all die eyed even after finding out he’d tricked her too she’s still all lived up with him. Then there’s the fact there is absolutely no chemistry between the person he supposedly falls for. Hate the fact that this is how women are portrayed in these programs like they’re naive brainless dumb dumbs who will fall for any sort of male attention.
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Sorry about some spelling mistakes the predictive text changed doe to die and loved to lived.
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No worries 🙂 Yeah, I didn’t much like this drama either. It’s definitely common to see women portrayed like that too. Have you checked out some dramas with stronger female leads like Search WWW, Hotel Del Luna, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, or Crash Landing on You 🙂
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