Comparison of 'Lovely Runner' to 'Someday or One Day'

Ever since the drama aired, there have been a lot of comments talking about its similarities to 'Someday or One Day'. If you search on Naver or Twitter, people who have watched both dramas mention how similar they are.

SOOD: The female lead works at a record shop run by her uncle

LR: The female lead works at a DVD rent run by her mom

SOOD: While working at the record shop, the female lead closes her eyes and hums, and the male lead and male sub-lead quietly enter the shop

LR: While working at the DVD rent, the female lead dozes off with her eyes closed and the male lead quietly enters the store (The scene overall is quite similar)

SOOD: The drama is set about 20 years in the past, and it featured songs that were popular in Taiwan at that time

LR: The drama is set about 15 years in the past, it also featured the culture and songs that were popular in South Korea at that time. Especially by using Kim Hyungjoong's 'Maybe'. (In the original Webtoon, the story is set about 6 years in the past)

SOOD: The female lead struggles with the male lead's death, travels to the past

LR: Same

SOOD: The female lead tries to prevent herself from being murdered

LR: Same. (In the original Webtoon, there's no murderer)

SOOD: The male sub-lead exists to protect the female lead from being murdered

LR: Same (In the original Webtoon, there's no male sub-lead)

SOOD: The male lead gets seriously injured or dies

LR: Same

SOOD: The male lead secretly waits 21 years for the female lead to return to their original timeline.

LR: Same, but 15 years

SOOD: The female lead cries whenever she sees the male lead as she time travels, there's a line where the male lead asks 'Why do you cry whenever you see me?"

LR: Same, also with the same line. 

SOOD: There's an 'umbrella scene', where the male lead falls for the female lead. Later, he paints this scene and features it in an exhibition. Even in the movie version, he remembers this scene even after losing all his memories.

LR: There are a lot of 'umbrella scene's and even their first encounter involves one, where the male lead falls for the female lead. 

SOOD: After the incident, the older version of the male and female lead who knows everything about their past, meet. However, their happiness is short-lived, prompting the female lead to time travel again.

LR: Same

SOOD: The male lead was mischievous when he was young, but matured as he waits a long time for the female lead.

LR: Same

SOOD: They barely manage to meet in the future, both aware of the past events, but the female lead is threatened again, and the male lead dies while chasing the culprit.

LR: The male lead also dies, the murderer holds a grudge against him because something that happened in the past and go find the male lead. tokill him.

SOOD: The culprit is a psychopath.

LR: Same (In the original Webtoon, there's no murderer)

SOOD: The male lead initially doesn’t believe the female lead is from the future but eventually does and tries to save her from death.

LR: Same

SOOD: They realize the truth about time travel at the airport.

LR: (Not exactly the same, but similar) They realize the truth about time travel at the airport.

SOOD: The male sub-led notices the differences between the original female lead and the time-traveling version of the female lead, believes in her time travel experience earlier than the male lead.

LR: Same

SOOD: The female lead takes over a person in the past who looks exactly like her.

LR: The female lead returns to her own body in the past, but her personality and behaviors are different. Later in the storyline, the original version of the female lead pushes the male lead away.

SOOD: The male lead decides to attend the same university as the female lead.

LR: Same

SOOD: The female lead begins time-traveling with a cassette tape given by the male lead.

LR: The female lead begins time-traveling with a watch given by the male lead.

SOOD: The cassette tape, as a medium, gets damaged. The female lead, crying and desperate to save the male lead, finds a way to fix it.

LR: The watch, as a medium, gets lost. The female lead, crying and desperate to save the male lead, finds a way to retrieve it.

SOOD: The female lead’s parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother and younger brother. Her mother is very strong and capable.

LR: The female lead’s father died in an accident when she was young, and she lives with her grandmother and older brother. Her mother is very strong and capable (there is no brother in the original Webtoon).

SOOD:

-Drama version: To break the time loop, they destroy the medium and erase their meeting. All memories are lost.

-Continuation from the drama in the movie version: Although they lost their story in the drama, they fatefully meet again in the movie and are drawn to each other.

-Movie version: They keep sacrificing their lives to save each other, continuing the loop. However, as they can’t find a loop where they both survive, they reset everything to the beginning and make themselves forget each other.

LR: As of episode 13, despite the female lead erasing the story to prevent the male lead’s death that never changes, the male lead is still drawn to the female lead.

Here are the similarities so far...

I hope the male lead in 'Lovely Runner' doesn't time travel. Also, the childhood subplot hasn't been revealed yet, but in 'Someday or One Day', there's also a subplot about the male and female lead meeting in their childhood. 

From the beginning, there have been comments saying things like 'Lovely Runner is the Korean version of Someday or One Day,' 'Lovely Runner is more like Someday or One Day than the actual Korean remake of Someday or One Day,' and more. Are these settings just really common in time travel stories...? If an average viewer finds them similar, I think the writers of SOOD would also find them similar. It feels like all these little things add up to make the overall atmosphere very similar. But as someone who enjoys both shows, it’s a bit unsettling when they become too similar...

+ I have no intention of mocking or criticizing anyone...

theqoo

-I really enjoyed watching SOOD, but what about it is similar to Lovely Runner...?ㅋㅋㅋ Is it just because both dramas are about time travelling?? 

-I have to admit that I thought of SOOD while watching Lovely Runner

-There are some scenes in Lovely Runner that remind me of SOOD, but I personally think those scenes are very common in dramas with same genre, so it could be coincidental.

-I think Lovely Runner's writers might have used SOOD as their references while adapting the Webtoon to the drama. I don't know about plagiarism, but Lovely Runner does remind me of SOOD.

-What are you talking about? I've watched both dramas and they're completely different.

-These two dramas are completely different. Are you sure you watched the same drama we're talking about here?

-Wow... It's quite similar. 

-You can't fix stupidity.

-There’s context and background to each situation... If you generalize everything as the same, is there any drama that isn’t similar?

-In SOOD, the female lead enters the body of a different girl who looks exactly like her in the past.

-I really love dramas about time travel, so I've watched both. In SOOD, the female lead doesn't go back to her own body in the past. She possesses someone who looks like her. This causes inner conflicts since the personality of the person she possesses still remains inside that body. Also, the way the male sub-lead and psychopath are portrayed is different. In SOOD, the psychopath's actions are not connected to the female lead's past. 

-..?

-Stop being so ridiculous.

-I love SOOD, but this is nonsense.