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Pierce Conran

2.5/5 stars
Lead cast: Jisoo, Seo In-guk
Coming just two weeks after Love Phobia, Boyfriend on Demand is the second K-drama of the year to focus on AI dating.
With Netflix behind it and the star wattage of Blackpink’s Jisoo (Newtopia) and Seo In-guk (Death’s Game) leading the cast, this new show is undoubtedly the bigger production, but it approaches its timely subject matter in a similarly muddled fashion.


Though not based on a webtoon, the series takes place in the world of digital comics, with Jisoo and Seo portraying Seo Mi-rae and Park Kyeong-nam, rival producers at the Naemo publishing house.
Mi-rae only gets a couple of hours of downtime between working long hours managing webtoon projects and ensuring writers meet their deadlines, during which she unwinds by watching horror films. She has stayed out of the dating pool to focus on work since going through a painful break-up a few years earlier.
Handsome, aloof and supremely competent, Kyeong-nam is popular in the office, despite his poor social skills. Naturally, Mi-rae cannot stand him, especially when their boss Hwang Byeong-hak (Cho Han-cheol, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) plays favourites.
This becomes glaringly obvious when another producer on the floor quits, leaving the notoriously difficult writer Yun Sung (Gong Min-jeung, Marry My Husband) in need of a new minder – a task that conveniently falls to Mi-rae.

The assignment also connects her with the tech firm behind the brand-new service Boyfriend on Demand, a virtual reality dating programme populated by ideal AI partners.
The company wants to license the protagonist of Sung’s popular series The Man to Know, and a representative asks Mi-rae to be a beta tester for the service for one month.
To say the least, Mi-rae is sceptical, but she eventually puts on the headset and gives it a try. She is immediately immersed in a fantasyland, where she is swept off her feet by the protagonist of The Man to Know, played in a cameo by Lee Soo-hyuk (Doom at Your Service).
The platform boasts 900 of these ideal male dating partners, each with their own K-drama-ready scenario, often played by major stars in cameo roles, such as Seo Kang-joon as a hunky college student and Lee Jae-wook as a brilliant doctor.

Mi-rae’s nights become consumed by her virtual romantic adventures while her days are spent wrangling Sung and going head-to-head with Kyeong-nam, especially after their biggest titles are moved to the same publishing day, each vying for the top spot.
When her free trial ends, Mi-rae cannot help but sign up for the premium tier, despite its staggering subscription price, which starts at 500,000 won (US$340) a month. However, as she gets deeper into this virtual world, she is surprised to discover unexpected feelings for a certain office colleague.
Boyfriend on Demand arrives in increasingly uncertain times for digital communications. Yet while elements of its hypothetical scenarios feel worryingly close at hand, others already seem dated, like the way the much-ballyhooed metaverse has quickly faded into insignificance.
When this show was being developed, there was a lot of excitement surrounding virtual reality worlds, particularly in South Korea, always at the vanguard of new technology adoption.

On paper, the show’s concept is compelling. Take a popular female star and run her through a range of fantastical romantic scenarios with limited stakes. Director Kim Jung-shik, known for Strong Girl Nam-soon, has spoken of the appeal of this “anthology-like” romance structure.
However, Boyfriend on Demand is too beholden to the traditional K-drama romcom model for that to really work. Early on, Mi-rae has a couple of AI dating experiences, but by the back half of the show, her excursions into this dreamverse are merely to consult a character who acts as an agony aunt for her.
By starting with this concept but benching it at halftime, the show also avoids engaging with the ethical dilemmas posed by this kind of technology in a world where people are increasingly struggling to make real connections.
The show eventually has some fun when Mi-rae’s friend Lee Ji-yeon (Ha Young, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call) emerges from the background to embark on her own Boyfriend on Demand adventure, furiously cycling through romantic partners and loving every minute of it.

Stripped of its hi-tech conceit and star-driven gloss, the show ultimately proves disappointingly conventional, unable to follow through on its own idea as it defaults to a hodgepodge of recycled romcom tropes.
Boyfriend on Demand is streaming on Netflix.


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Seo Kang-joon (left) as AI-generated ideal male partner Seo Eun-ho, and Jisoo as Seo Mi-rae, in a still from Boyfriend on Demand. Photo: Netflix

Jisoo as Seo Mi-rae in a still from Boyfriend on Demand. Photo: Netflix

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Blackpink singer stars opposite Seo In-guk as woman dating AI-generated men in a show hampered by its adherence to the K-drama romcom model


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Blackpink singer stars opposite Seo In-guk as woman dating AI-generated men in a show hampered by its adherence to the K-drama romcom model

Blackpink singer stars opposite Seo In-guk as woman dating AI-generated men in a show hampered by its adherence to the K-drama romcom model