Even in the worse movie storylines, there are lessons to learn from them. I was going to stop seeing this series in the first two episodes but somehow I got hooked and finished it, I realized what I could have missed if I had let the boring or confusing start drive me away. Nobody told me about this series but I was interested in the story.
A story about body swapping? I thought it's be a good thriller series to check out and the male lead turned out to be one I liked his role in "Revenge of others", the first and only series I've seen him in before this one. I got interested in both reasons but right now, I have even more reasons to recommend this series to you all.
"Branding In Seongsu" is a 2024 Korean series that covers the Romance and Thriller genres starring Kim Ji-eun, Park Solomon, Yang Hye-Ji and Kim Ho-young as the main cast. It's a story that explores the marketing/branding world, betrayal and revenge. The series is made of 24 episodes (each episode is for about 30 minutes).
Kang Na-eon, a marketing brand manager and presumably evil personality lady accidently swaps souls with So Eun-ho, a free spirited young man with hidden agenda, through a kiss and both have to live each other lives until they are able to swap back. Both work in the same marketing company, Na-eon becomes free spirited while Eun-ho becomes the strict one after their swap.
So Eun-ho, before and after the swap gave me all the comedy I needed to lighten up in this story. At a point, it got confusing with their swap but I could still figure out who the other is because of their very distinct character display. The workers knew Eun-ho to be free spirited so it was a funny one to watch how they try to adjust around a now strict Eun-ho who actually is Na-eon, really funny.
Because of a past event, Eun-ho hold grudges towards Na-eon but the body swap which happened to them unexpectedly made things both easy and difficult for him as he slowly understands and began to fall in love with her. It's worth mentioning how he acted out two personalities so well, being himself and Na-eon.
Kang Na-eon is the female character I honestly didn't like from the beginning of the story but thankfully, the story gave me time to fall in love with her slowly like the male lead did. Her role is one that blends well with "slow burn" and I like her personality switch when she became Eun-ho.
I'm not familiar with how marketing works but after this series and watching her role closely, it's a really interesting world for business persons. She is a star in the branding business even after the swap and there were good display of her works, from rebranding big hotels to small shops.
I think the supporting characters especially the face behind the rabbit mask from the first scene were the main reason for calling the story a thriller. It was hard to figure out who could be behind the mask or behind the murder attempt on the female lead, Kang Na-eon but that made the whole experience very exciting and thrilling.
Towards the end of the movie, I kinda felt the whole purpose of the tension wasn't worth it because of what the truth turned out to be but for what it's worth, I had a good time in the suspense it gave. There's good comedy, romance wasn't as romantic as many other stories but still good and I'll recommend this series with a rating of 7/10.
Images used are from Imdb.