What an amazingly beautiful, intense Korean-Japanese romance drama, based on a popular novel co-written by Korean author Kong Ji Young and Japanese author Hitonari Tsuji, published in 2005. I loved every episode and watched the whole drama in only two days. Mesmerizing! Directed by Moon Hyun Sung and produced by Coupang Play, it was so lovely to enjoy two international settings during the story, in both Japan and Korea. The production team filmed part of it during cherry blossom season in Tokyo; they also visited scenic Kyoto, and of course all that vivid nature beauty made me melt watching it! The international cast and crew was so large for this drama that the end credits of each episode played longer than most theater movies' end credits. I didn't mind, though, the music that played over the end credits was exquisite!

What Comes After Love (2024) boasted gorgeous cinematography, wistful, haunting music, and a bittersweet romance. It often reminded me of a similar international cast in the beloved 2002 classic drama Friends. Both dramas had the same kind of gentle, poetic ambiance and sensitivity. Except in Friends the male lead actor was Korean, Won Bin, and the female lead actress was Japanese, Kyoko Fukada, whereas in this drama, What Comes After Love, the female lead was Korean, Lee Se Young, and the male lead was Japanese, Kentaro Sakaguchi.

I love when Korea and Japan join forces for the arts today, especially considering the friction between the two nations that took place in the first half of the 20th century when Japan occupied Korea and ruled over it quite inhumanely. The extra poignancy of these modern international drama collaborations between the two countries often stands out as quite profound compared to the typical Korean dramas we watch with only Korean actors in the cast and filmed only in Korea, mostly Seoul. As soon as this drama was over I wanted to watch it again! I also loved it when I saw that the leading lady character's favorite poet was none other than Yun Dongju. How to make Jill melt again: bring up Yun Dongju's poetry in a drama!

At one point the characters even visited his memorial monument at Doshisha University in Kyoto where he went to school and they put flowers on it ... and I cried like a baby. The characters would recite his poetry while walking down old-fashioned boulevards. Probably very few American viewers of this Asian series had a clue what those scenes meant, but I was an exception, since I own his poetry book Sky, Wind, Stars and Poetry in my bookcase at home, translated into English. Yun Dongju was tortured via cruel medical experiments and killed by the warring Japanese military in 1945 and he never saw the end of the war and the liberation of South Korea but he was a born again Christian, went to heaven with Jesus, and his legend lives on. 

The Story:

In early flashback scenes we meet a nineteen year old university student majoring in literature named Choi Hong (Lee Se Young, The Crowned Clown, Kairos, Memorist, Trot Lovers, I Miss You, Haneuljae Murder) who lives with her stern homemaker mother Lee Young Suk (veteran actress Lee Il Hwa, Midas, Queen Of Ambition, Doctor Stranger), her kindly Dad Choi Han (Jo Seung Yeon, Beethoven Virus) who is a book publisher, and her younger sister Choi Rok (Lee So Hee) in a nice modern apartment home in Seoul.

Choi Hong is not a happy camper, though; her Mom is overly controlling and Hong longs to escape and have a solo adventure to spice up her life. Because she had spent her elementary school years living in Japan with her parents she is pretty proficient in the Japanese language so the language difference wouldn't present a problem for her if she traveled to Japan to have her adventure. She longs for some excitement before graduating college and starting graduate school.

Hong secretly arranges to fly to Tokyo, Japan and live with a long time Korean girl friend named Park Ji Hee (Mi Ram) who has an apartment there to share. Once there her friend tells her she has to earn some money to help pay the rent each month and Hong agrees. She makes the rounds of restaurants in Tokyo and finally lands a job as a waitress in a diner serving both Japanese and Korean food. She does have one regret though: she got the job when a young man she had met at the airport who had been kind to her, named Jungo Aoki (Kentaro Sakaguchi, who was in the Japanese version of the very first K-drama I ever watched, I'm Sorry, I Love You), lost his job there for demanding that a rude customer apologize to her.

Jungo Aoki seems as taken with Choi Hong as she is with him. He gets another job nearby at a hot dog restaurant and they keep running into each other. Literally! (She loves to run in the nearby park and he tries to keep up!). Coincidence, or fate? She also learns he is a university student too and is majoring in literature, just as she is! What a small world! He confides in her that he wants to be a professional fiction writer in future and she encourages him in that endeavor.

They soon fall head over heels in love with each other. A year of relationship bliss goes by and they even consider marriage. However, there is trouble on the horizon, including an emergency in Hong's family back home in Korea, and concerns about finishing up their Bachelors and Masters degrees; also a basic disagreement arises on whether true love exists in the world and whether it will prove to be permanent in their own lives. Sadly, they eventually break up due to their different ideas about love, some hurt feelings due to Hong's loneliness living in a different country, and because of life's practical problems interfering in their romance. Hong returns to Korea and Jungo remains in Japan; both in their own quiet ways are heartbroken.

Five years later our literature loving couple meet again, this time in Korea, both having finished their educations. Choi Hong has become a department head at Sodam Book Publishing Company, owned by her Dad, and Jungo Aoki has become a successful novel writer like he always dreamed he could be when he was younger. His new best seller is titled What Comes After Love. Sodam Books is publishing it and the execs want to interview him. However, he has changed his name professionally to Sasae Hikari so when Hong is asked to meet this Japanese author at the airport and act as his interpreter for the Sodam Books' staff she has no idea she is going to meet Jungo again after five long years.

 

Both of them are shocked to see each other, and it is plain as day both of them still harbor unresolved feelings for one another. He starts calling her Beni again, her name in Japanese translation, and she thinks of him as Yuno, his name in Korean translation. Now every time he looks at her longingly again she tries to fight back memories of their tender loving relationship years earlier that had ended so abruptly. They both begin to wonder again if there is such a thing as "everlasting love." She tells him she will be married soon to her longtime male friend, medical intern Song Min Joon (Hong Jong Hyun, Scarlet Heart Ryeo, White Christmas). He backs off and grieves in private at this news. It is obvious, however, that the affection Hong has for Min Joon is not the passionate kind she had had with Jungo; rather it's more of gratitude that he had helped her Dad heal from a medical crisis. Soon Min Joon realizes who this "Sasae Hikari" really is and confronts him, telling him to go away, that he and Hong are to be married soon.

 

Jungo is sad and lonely as he waits to finish up his publicity work with Sodam Books and return home to Tokyo. An old girlfriend named Kanna Kobayashi (Anne Nakamura) who is visiting Korea at the same time throws herself at him. He gently tells her there is no future for them. His heart is obviously still with Hong, no matter the stubborn obstacles still existing between them.

Hong eventually finishes Jungo's novel which is all about their love affair, only he had given his novel a happy ending. It remains to be seen if Hong will give Jungo and herself a new chance to achieve that happy ending. What really comes after love? Recriminations and regrets, or peace and understanding?

This drama is definitely the most romantic drama of 2024 for me! Actress Lee Se Young never disappoints her audiences and Kentaro Sakaguchi's acting was sublime and hypnotic. They both deserve top awards for their acting. They both made me tear up multiple times with their superb performances here. You can enjoy this masterpiece currently on VIKI at this link HERE. Don't miss it! Enjoy!  

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