I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of quality when going into this drama considering its age and the fact that I’d never heard anyone talk about it before, but I’m really glad I gave it a try because it turns out it’s fantastic! Sure, some aspects are undeniably dated, like the cell phones, fashion, and moments of obvious overacting for comedic effect (which thankfully don’t happen too often), but the story honestly feels like something that could’ve come out nowadays. The female lead isn’t a helpless doormat, the male lead isn’t a domineering jerk, and overall they handle the various problems thrown at them with remarkable maturity.

The general tone of the drama is lighthearted and manages to avoid getting excessively angsty or sappy even in its more serious moments, and while the plot itself isn’t particularly complex the strong writing and acting make the story engaging. One impressive aspect of the writing is how it plays around with expected gender roles and various tropes, with perhaps the biggest example being how the female lead contributes more to her and the male lead’s shared income and is therefore the boss of any business ventures between the two, while the male lead continually acts as her rock. It’s also shown that the male lead isn’t conveniently an expert fighter, and in the relationship between a couple of the supporting characters, it’s the girl who happens to own a car and therefore drives the guy home after work.

Most of the characters feel like real, nuanced people as well, but the two leads in particular kept me hooked. The female lead isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and call people out on their bullcrap, and she’s resilient in the face of all the problems that beset her while still showing how much she’s struggling to keep herself together. She’s also remarkably perceptive, unless it involves noticing people’s emotions. The male lead, for his part, doesn’t wallow in self-pity when he’s suddenly hit with major financial problems and instead throws himself into earning money however he can, motivated by his devotion to his mother and desire to keep her in the family home she’s emotionally tied to. He’s an unapologetic player, but he’s also goofy and softhearted. The two characters have a sometimes teasing, sometimes testy relationship with one another, but they develop a mutual reliance and respect for each other. The secondary leads have a somewhat unusual dynamic to their relationship that made it interesting to watch unfold, too.

Of the supporting characters, the standout to me is the male lead’s mother. Most of the time she comes across as sweet but kinda spacey, but every now and then her reaction to a situation was wonderfully surprising. The loan shark who regularly tries and fails to be suave and his silent yet loyal right-hand man were constant sources of entertainment, as well.

As far as the music goes, it isn’t my favorite but it did grow on me after a bit and it does compliment the show nicely.

Overall the drama never felt draggy to me and I really enjoyed the entire thing. The endearing characters, excellent writing, and fun tone kept me absorbed throughout, and I can definitely see myself revisiting this sometime down the line.

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While I can tell from an objective standpoint that Secret Angel isn’t the highest quality production overall, it manages to be sufficiently endearingly charming and entertaining that I don’t mind any shortcomings it may have. The plot is pretty straightforward—it’s really just an innocent love story that develops between an angel and human while the angel does her best to protect the human from the machinations of a death god—and in this case, it works. It’s not a series I get heavily emotionally invested in when I watch it, but I always enjoy the ride.

The story is what draws me in every time, and the actors all played their roles convincingly enough. It’s interesting to watch the various characters cope with the situations thrown at them, from the more humorous moments like the first official and exceedingly awkward meeting between the human and angel after she’s charged with protecting him, to the more serious aspects like the death god being all too aware that slowly becoming human means gaining unwanted human emotions.

The music suits the drama pretty well, though there are only about two or three songs with lyrics throughout the whole show and those are mostly limited to the beginning and end of each episode. Even so, the opening song in particular is so cheerful and upbeat that I’m perfectly willing to keep it in my head for a few days.

As for the subject of the male lead’s voice getting dubbed into Korean, I can kinda see both sides of the issue. On the one hand (assuming the actor wasn’t proficient in Korean) it would be odd if only one character were speaking in another language and it wasn’t acknowledged by any of the other characters, and if it was acknowledged it would’ve almost certainly distracted from the story’s intended focus. And to be fair, I think whoever provided the dubbed voice did a solid job on conveying the appropriate emotions for the character in any given scene. On the other hand, it was kinda distracting to be able to tell the words I was hearing didn’t quite match the movement of the actor’s mouth, and I would’ve liked to be able to hear the actor’s own intonations and how he chose to deliver the lines.

So ultimately, would I recommend this drama to others? Absolutely! It’s sweet, charming, and has a touch of melancholy to it without ever getting too dark, and at only two and a half-ish hours total it can be completed in one sitting. I’ve rewatched it multiple times over the years and I’ll probably return to it again in the future.

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