Edit 12 hours after watching episode 8: Okay, I'm sorry but this review is getting longer and longer! I've had a few hours now for me to let this show marinate in my brain and work out why I felt let down by it. I'm still trying to dissect it but I think I have a clearer idea of why it failed to resonate with me. I'm going to do my best not to put any spoilers for the show here, but there will definitely be spoilers from the manhwa.

My first experience of Semantic Error was not in actual fact the manhwa, but 3 x 3 minute anime episodes of it floating around quietly in the dark recesses of the webisphere. It was visually stilted and amateur and it was really just three little glimpses out of the whole story. In spite of all of this, the chemistry was pure FIRE. I was stunned and hooked, and this was what led me to the manhwa, which, as it turns out, was also FIRE. The premise of a highly-intelligent, super-OCD socially awkward guy falling for the charms of a popular, handsome and sunshine-y hyung was told in a laugh-out-loud funny and really creative way. With the sheer amount of high school and university romances out there (especially rampant in the BL world), this stood out because of its vivid characters, humour and ... yes, wait for it ... sexual tension.

Choo Sang Woo is correct to a fault. His day is perfectly mapped out down to the second. So when Jang Jae Young shows up and starts to ruin his well-laid plans, he is pissed. Like royally pissed. But what is even more of a "semantic error" for him is how his body starts to respond to Jae Young. In one of the many library scenes sitting next to Jae Young in the comic (yes, the library scenes were almost completely left out of the show) he literally runs out of the library to the toilet because he's sporting a massive boner and cannot understand it. In his mind, sex is merely a biological mechanism that humans partake in to further the continuation of the species. The way that he starts to want Jae Young does not make any sense at all and we see him battling with this throughout the story.

So what did we get in this live action show of Semantic Error? Well, we were never gonna get the high-heat, of course. Unlike Thailand, Taiwan and Japan, South Korea generally doesn't go there on screen, even if they do in a big way in other mediums. Still, we have certainly seen South Korea do sexual tension without needing to be explicit. Was it necessary to the storyline? Let's take just one example in this show (small spoiler alert, sorry): Jae Young taking Sang Woo's cap off and patting him on his head in a "Nawwwww, you're so cute I want to pat you like a puppy" way is inherently not the same thing as Jae Young taking Sang Woo's cap off in a "I want you so badly right now that I'm going to take your cap off and mess your hair" kind of way. There was an implied power play there between two very masculine guys which was totally subverted in this live-action interpretation. I understand the need to tone down the heat for the masses, but I also think there could have been a happy middle here.

So, was the show bad? No, it was for the most part okay. Returning to my original thoughts 12 hours ago, it was a good boyband bright, cute and fluffy version of the manhwa. They chose the grumpy cute puppy coupled with an aggresively charming seme route and clearly ticked all the popular boxes, given how on fire the fans are over this one. Yes, it was cute. Yes, the leads had good chemistry. Seo Ham as Jae Young had great charisma and did a solid job being the smitten hyung. I also thought the female supports were really well-casted and brought a lot to the show. There was nothing special in the cinematography and the pacing was off in parts - it never fails to baffle me why these filmmakers think we still need flashbacks when all we’re getting is 8 x 20 minute episodes. The music was unremarkable but at least not annoying like it can be in these types of shows.

So, was it for me? Sigh. I guess I was just after a grown up version that was never going to be … and seeing as everyone else seems to think it deserves a 10/10, I must be the super odd one out.

Still, I will stick to my guns and call it like it is: cute, fluffy and a fun ride, but by no means game-changing. And most definitely not a 10.

A solid 7.5 for me.


***


Meh. So I don’t usually start any shows if they haven’t finished airing yet but I just couldn’t wait with Semantic Error. I stumbled across the manhwa a few weeks ago and it was incredible - the pacing, the art, the two leads were electric together, and the comedy was laugh out loud funny. So when I discovered we were going to get a live action adaptation, I rejoiced and counted the days.

I’m sure my experience of this has been coloured considerably as a fan of the manhwa, but let’s be honest here - even by BL genre standards this is okay so far but not a 9.8, come on people. Sure, it might be a bit of a higher budget than many of the Korean BL exports, and the acting is good so far, but we’re two episodes in and it has yet to match the chemistry in To My Star or the meticulously gorgeous visuals of Light On Me - both solid 8-9 stars in my book.

In saying that, it’s not yet fair to give it a proper rating until it’s complete, so let’s all give Semantic Error a chance to be what it wants to be and score it in a few weeks time. Until then, let’s not be too hasty. I’m still hopeful! 🤞🏼