This Korean remake called Operational Proposal is based on a popular Japanese TV drama from 2007 and this Korean version came out in 2012. This coming of age drama starring: Yoo Seung Ho and Park Eun Bin is a  really cute show and I watched it many times over because I enjoyed it so much. I didn’t regret it at all because it was my absolute favorite drama that Yoo Seung Ho was ever in. I really love the time travel element and the way they execute the relationship between Yoo Seung Ho and Park Eun Bin’s character through time traveling.

Kang Baek Ho (Yoo Seung Ho) is  a talented baseball player and he really cares about his childhood friend Ham Yi Seul (Park Eun Bin) very much. Kang Baek Ho is  in love with his childhood sweetheart but unfortunately she is about to get married to his coach by the name Kwon Jin Won (Lee Hyun Jin). Baek Ho regrets that he never is able to share his feelings with Yi Seul, so he makes time travelling happen and with this, he tries to change the past many times by doing this. Baek Ho wants to go back to the past and make things right with his first love from his childhood days.

Kang Baek Ho has been playing  baseball since he’s  a young boy and he is  very passionate about the sport. There is  something else that he is enthusiastic about besides baseball and that is Ham Yi Seul which is his childhood sweetheart and these are the two things that has a hard time maintaining. Baek Ho is  goofy and very playful towards his close friends: Ham Yi Seul (Park Eun Bin),Song Chan Wook (Goh Gyung Pyo),Joo Tae Nam (Park Young Seo) and Yoo Cheri (Kim Ye Won). These five youngsters have been  friends since grade school and remains a tight friendship throughout adulthood.

Baek Ho is the type that  always wants to be part of it whenever his friends are involved. If his friends are out there being punished by their teachers for doing wrong he would want to be a part of that as well, even if he has nothing to do with it.Kang Baek Ho is  a loyal friend to his close buddies and he also happens to be the mood maker of the group. The parties or get togethers are  never the same without this guy. This young man is talented when it came to entertaining his friends but he keeps on making the same mistakes regarding his two passions in life: Ham Yi Seul and Baseball. Baek Ho is a little slow in the department of love and  Yi Seul is the type that would show her love for Baek Ho through her little actions rather than words. After All, women like to hear the  3 letter word  because to them it’s like a confirmation but Baek Ho does not have the guts to spill the beans.

Action speaks louder than words and taking this saying into consideration, both Baek Ho and Yi Seul tend to follow this path. They are both good to one another and they do like to prove their love through the little gestures they perform  but both kids are so stubborn that they just can’t seem to be true themselves,let alone to  each other.

Yoo Seung Ho does such a wonderful job in this coming of age drama. I really enjoyed watching Seung Ho playing baseball, just the thought of him playing sports was such a hot idea but him getting in action just got me to have googly-eyes. Also, this guy looks so good in uniform, especially, baseball uniform nonetheless. I always wanted to watch a show with him where he is in some sort of geeky coming of age drama or even coming of age romantic comedy and my wish came true when I discovered Operational Proposal and I am so glad I did. Yoo Seung Ho tends to be good at whatever he does and whatever he is in and this was no exception. He makes his character, Kang Baek Ho come to life and this boy seems to be good at spicing up his character no matter what drama he is in. This might seem like just blindly praising him because I’m a fangirl and all but that is not the case. No matter who I am fangirling over, I try to be as fair and objective as possible.

Yi Seul is a very kindhearted girl and she thinks about others before herself. I really enjoyed this character despite the fact she could be a little goody goody two shoes. I think Yi Seul goes through similar stuff as Baek Ho since they are both not very good at sharing their feelings with one another. Yi Seul has a hard time saying anything to Baekho regarding her feelings but she is good to him in so many ways. Yi Seul is almost like a mother figure to Baekho.This girl is always there for our male lead. Yi Seul is  the type of person that would give her umbrella to a stranded puppy on the street,on a rainy day, and she would get all soaked and wet instead. Yi Seul is no different than Baek Ho when it comes to saying the words she needs to say. The girl would rather show how she feels through her deeds more than her words.Ham Yi Seul does remind me a bit of Hermoine Granger from the Harry Potter series with her really prim and proper personality. She is there for the underdogs and so is Hermoine from Harry Potter and this is why Yi Seul made me think about the upright HP character.

I’ve seen Park Eun Bin in another drama and in that she is  also a love interest of Yoo Seung Ho’s character. Maybe Eun Bin and Seung Ho have a natural chemistry because they have previously worked together a few times. This girl is not the best actress and she can’t be compared to Seung Ho but I think that she still does a wonderful job as Ham Yi Seul. I felt like she wasn’t really acting. Ham Yi Seul came off like a real person than a fictional character.

Joo Tae Nam is a boy that never gives up on love and no matter what his girl is doing he is always there for her. Tae Nam seems like a guy that believes in unconditional love since the girl he loves could be a bit selfish but this boy doesn’t seem to mind it. Also, he is not the best looking chap, at least compared to his two guy friends: Baek Ho and Chan Wook. He gets teased a lot because he is not as tall as his two male best friends and he kind of looks old compared to his age. I did like the banter between him and the owner of the restaurant that they go to fairly often. Joo Tae Nam and the restaurant owner do little skits based on the dramas they’ve watched. Also when Tae Nam talks to the restaurant owner they like to use random English words like: Amazing and Terrible.

Park Yeong Seo is the guy that played Joo Tae Nam. I have seen him in Great Queen Seon Deok along with Yoo Seung Ho and Park Eun Bin. I think this guy is good at being the comic relief. Even in  Great Queen Seon Deok he was more or less the silly man of the bunch. In Operational Proposal he is pretty much the same but funnier.  

Yoo Cheri is pretty vain. This girl is all about the surface. Glamour and fanciness is the name of the game for this lady. She likes expensive things and everything that looks luxurious. Sometimes I wonder about her though. She doesn’t even mind getting attention from other men, even if they play her, or they are not that good looking for someone like her, it doesn’t matter because she would go after them anyways. I wonder if she is trying her best to ignore Tae Nam’s feelings for her so she keeps on dating guys that are really bad for this lovely dame.

I am not too familiar with the actress that played Yoo Cheri. Kim Ye Won is the person that played this character. Even though I don’t know this actress too well, I still liked her performance. She is  able to make me believe that she can  very snooty and at the same time be charming too.

Song Chan Wook is the nerdy guy of the bunch. He is an aspiring filmmaker and he carries around his camera just about wherever he goes. He is tall and handsome looking, although not as cute as Baek Ho (Completely an opinion here) and he is pretty level headed for the most part. There is this little restaurant that him and his friends go to, that’s very quirky and cute, it’s like their main hangout place, there is a girl that works there and she is the niece of the owner. The girl really likes him but he is a little clueless or even dense.

Just like the girl that played Yoo Cheri, I am not familiar with the dude that played Song Chan Wook and his name is Go Gyung Pyo. I liked this guy because I felt like he was just being himself without feeling gimmicky. Well, that goes for all the actors in this show.

The coach by the name Kwon Jin Won is probably one of my favorite male rivals in these Korean dramas. A lot of the times the rivals in these kinds of shows get easily dramatic. I mean, I am okay with the over excited characters but sometimes it can be too over the top for me to even take it seriously. However, this coach character is a breath of fresh air since he is so cool headed, well mannered and not overtly dramatic. It’s  strange at first because I’m not used to seeing male rivals in K-Dramas that are so chilled. I guess it’s strange for me to see the competition of our male lead that is so level headed. I realized how lucky Ham Yi Seul  is since she has two people that genuinely care about her but she deserves it though because she is very caring towards others.

Lee Hyun Jin played, the coach, Kwon Jin Won. I was surprised to find out that he was in a Korean gay movie called: Boy meets Boy back in 2008. The coach that this guy plays is  awesome. He might be too perfect or maybe even boring to some but is very  refreshing because he doesn’t show over the top competitiveness over someone he loves. Lee Hyun Jin made an impression by being so down to earth so that’s why I decided to look him on Google and found out  about the film Boy meets Boy. Sorry for rambling on, there is so much to talk about regarding this drama.

I really dig the time travel element and each and every part of Baek Ho going back to the past is very engaging to me. Every single time our male lead goes back to a certain time or situation, he gets stuck and has to deal with new problems. Another thing I really like about this show is certainly  the side characters,especially the parents.

Usually, in many Korean dramas the parents are so bad. They are either over the top or they just lack sense in many areas, however, Ham Yi Seul’s parents are really cool. I really love the mom. She is pretty soft spoken and she rarely loses it.I don’t mind people losing it when there is a reason for it but in a lot of Korean dramas these adults like flip out for the smallest things. Ham Yi Seul’s mom is an exception though.

Ham Yi Seul’s mom played by a veteran actress named Lee Eung Kyung is such a cool character. She takes care of Baek Ho and this boy needs a lot of support since his parents aren’t around to be there for him. Yi Seul’s mom rarely to ever yells or does anything crazy. She genuinely cares for the boy and is willing to lend an ear when the kid needs it. When Baek Ho was a young boy, Yi Seul’s mother cooked for him and looked after him. I think that Yi Seul and her mom resemble each other in a way since they seem to like looking after other people. The dad might be slightly on the jealous side  at times but he is also very sweet. He is not like those overtly rigid and strict dads in these Korean drama madness. I have to say that Yi Seul’s mom and dad are my favorite parents out of all the Korean dramas I’ve seen thus far. I would love to see more parents like these folks.

I would love to discuss about two more side characters that I adore from this show. One is the girl that likes Song Chan Wook. I like her because she has this strange anime/manga/manhwa style to her. She is  very awkward and because of her extreme shyness she even covers up her face. There are a lot of awkward and shy girls like her in cartoons but it’s not that easy to spot a girl like her in live action shows, at least the Korean ones anyways. So she is  a breath of fresh air since she was a little unusual for a female character in the K-drama world. She seems to have great musical abilities, has a beautiful singing voice while this shy girl also has a super power and that is being a psychic.

One last character that I will talk about in this review regarding this beautifully made drama and there is this mysterious character called: ‘The conductor’, this gentleman seems to have abilities that allow Baek Ho do go on a journey as a time traveller. What does this man have anything to do with Baek Ho? I won’t tell you that, you have to watch the show. I love the relationship between the conductor and Baek Ho. It’s almost like a person having a very close relationship with GOD or the Heavens. Okay, that is  the last of the character description and now we will move on to other things.

I really love all the characters in this show. None go to waste. A lot of the times in these Korean Drama madness you either can’t stand anyone or you just hand pick a few that you like. However, in Operational Proposal all the characters shine and the respective actors do a real good job in portraying them. It’s not overdone or even underdone. It’s just right. I would like to use the analogy of cooking. When you use too much salt it’s super salty but not enough would make the food very bland. However, when you use the just the right amount of salt, the food  becomes very tasty. I think it’s the same with the actors that portray the characters in this show. Everyone seems to be natural. It doesn’t seem like they are acting. You become a voyeur by going on a time travelling journey with our Kang Baek Ho and see what life is like for them through the main boy’s eyes.

A lot of the times the writing is strong but the actors can’t pull it off or it’s the vise versa, where the writing is awful but somehow the actors make the drama even better than originally intended. Operational Proposal has very strong and quirky style of writing while the actors are able to enhance it in a natural sense and with this, you feel engaged as if you’re being lured in by some supernatural force.

I really love the music. I hate to say this but  music has been my pet peeve with Korean dramas for the most part. I get so tired of hearing the same sappy ballad music throughout the whole drama. Honestly, it gets old and boring. However, the music that plays in this is very cute. It’s kinda like a cute classical tune for children, it kind of reminds me of certain anime tunes, which I like. Also there are other songs playing throughout the drama and this one is bit of a mild punk rockish type of song. This brought a lot of energy to it. I really do think that K-dramas needs to work on reconsidering the type of music they put on their shows. Variety is the spice of life they say and maybe they should venture out and play some other music besides the sappy ballads. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do listen to sappy ballads from time to time but it’s not all of the time and K-dramas need to play sappy songs only in a few dramas instead of a lot of them.

The editing,writing,cinematography, makeup and clothes were pretty cool in this little flick. Obviously the budget wasn’t huge but they were able to make due with what they had. The editing isn’t  choppy and despite having time travel elements, everything feels pretty smooth in the transition. I love the writing because  It’s fun and quirky. The dialogue is  entertaining and meaningful at the same time. The characters are  very natural to one another and in order for this to happen, the writing needs to be strong and solid.

The camera work is  pretty, it isn’t  super fancy but it still looks nice. I felt like they weren’t overdoing it but the images don’t look like they’re  lacking either.

I love the clothes, especially the clothes that Yoo Seung Ho or rather Kang Baek Ho wears and I guess it looks even better since Seung Ho is presenting the clothes.I think that Seung Ho looks the best in Operational Proposal because it’s just my type of style when it comes to men’s clothing.

When it comes to makeup and hair everything looks so natural. Yes, they look trendy but yet they don’t over do it.

The characters don’t  look hideous or over done. the way the people in the drama looks feels just right. The only thing about the makeup is, Yi Seul looking a little too white at times but other than that it’s just natural all the way.

One last thing I would like to talk about as far as the technical aspects of this drama. I am sure there are  a lot of special effects with this drama since it has time travelling and all but the effects they used for the time travelling scenes go hand in hand with cinematography  but either way they are  able to harmoniously make the drama look like high quality, despite what the budget might be. The reason why I know  that it’s low budget isn’t because of the way this is  made, but more because of who made it come to life. Tv Chosun was the network that allowed this show to air and they are not a major broadcasting company in Korea.

Another part of special effects that I like is  the potion that Kang Baek Ho drinks to go back in time and also whenever the camera flash goes on while taking a photo,Baek Ho goes back in time again. I not only do like the effects but also the concept behind it all. It’s really quirky and cute. Those are the words that I can’t help but to use since they describe this drama the way I see it.

I read in an interview with Yoo Seung Ho saying that this drama came out to be only 1% as far as viewership rating goes. It’s sad how Korean dramas have to be judged by its ratings. Now, I don’t mind ratings but when that’s their only focus and goal then this could stress out the actors that are working their utmost best. Despite the ratings, I really love this drama. It is a fantasy romantic comedy but it’s refreshing to me. The content and the way they execute everything is just right for a person like me. In other words, it’s right up my alley. I have been so tired of  watching the same family drama kind of stuff so that was getting really old for me so this type of romantic comedy was just such a nice breeze.

I’m not criticizing K-dramas as a whole since that wouldn’t be fair but at least a lot of the Korean dramas I’ve watched thus far have similar stories and concepts. I think that I’m kind of burnt out with the whole family themed dramas and melodramas. Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I think those kinds of shows that I have named above have value but all I’m saying is that there should be different types of Korean dramas then the same old melodramas that have sappy and predictable stories and also family dramas where the people fight over the stupidest things. This is why Operational Proposal was a fresh concept as far as Korean dramas go. Even though it’s a remake of a Japanese drama called: Proposal Daisakusen but Korea does it good in their own little ways.

Operational Proposal is a coming of age drama. It is quite different from melodramas, however, it still has the elements of a rom-com. Through time travelling you see the characters build their relationship over time. They could have done this in a linear fashion but I think it’s more interesting by using time travelling. I really love the group of 5 kids that are there for one another through the thick and thin. You get to see these youth  from High School on to their adulthood. They have a very tight friendship but at the same they grow apart here and there.

This is not just about relationships or even friendships. This show talks about how to be true to yourself and to one another, otherwise you would have nothing but regrets and would have to even resort to relying on time travel to fix everything because you couldn’t initially make the decisions to go for it, whatever that passion might be at the time.

I like the fact that this show talks about the change of each character through different parts of time and with time travel you get to see how things change and at times they would have to make difficult decisions regarding their lives. The time they start from is 2012, when Yi Seul’s about to get married to the coach and then from there it hops all over the place but the timeline is basically from 2001-2012. However, there are moments when they even go back further when Baek Ho and Yi Seul were just little children,first grade to be precise.

I think that this drama has a great balance in characters. In other Korean dramas you usually get to see just the main characters. In a typical melodrama setting you have 3 main people which is the main protagonist and then the antagonist who is a rival of the same guy or girl they are fighting over. This formula has worked in the past and still does to a degree but I think I got burnt out with this so this drama spoke to me in such an awesome way. It’s not just about Baek Ho and Yi Seul, their 3 friends are affected as well. You see a good balance of the two main people that like each other, along with other people which are their friends. This is perfect balance in characterization at work.

I like all the all the actors. There are  chemistry between all the main people. Also, Yoo Seung Ho and Park Eun Bin look perfect together and they are the only couple I ship in the K-drama world. Seung Ho and Eun Bin are very  natural together . There is  this kissing scene when they’re in Cheju Island, and it shocked me because it just felt so real  and not forced. It kind of reminded me of Reply 1997 because in that particular show the actors: Seo In Guk and Jung Eun Ji looked very realistic with their kiss scene.

I am very interested in time travelling in itself so it was cool to learn about these lovely youngsters through going back in time. It’s a neat concept but this drama seems to be talking about going for it when you believe in something, otherwise you could deeply regret it later. Even if time travelling exists and you could go back in  time to fix whatever you didn’t do but that doesn’t mean that you should put it off in something you strongly believe in. This drama has a message for young people to just be true to themselves. If they are convicted by something, don’t hesitate and just give it a go, otherwise you would feel bad about and would have to use time travelling to get things done. So therefore, if you have the guts to do certain things initially then you wouldn’t have to go back in time.

I forgot to mention this but there is another thing that caught my attention. This drama uses baseball as an analogy for life. When you think about it certain things about life can be somewhat similar to baseball. I thought this was a neat idea by comparing life with baseball.

Would I recommend this show to you? Yes, Yes and Yes! I have reviewed so many dramas for my blog and this is one of the few dramas I would recommend without hesitation. Like I said at the very beginning, this is my favorite drama with Yoo Seung Ho. He is my favorite actor in Korea so I would more or less watch everything he is in but this by far is the best thing that he’s ever been in. Also, in other dramas he is usually the main side character or the 2nd lead but in this he is the main guy.  I urge you to stream this show in whatever streaming site you go to. It’s available on Dramafever, Hulu and I think even Crunchyroll.

The Photo belongs to Tv Chosun and I do now own the image.