About My Girlfriend is a Gumiho -- if you ever feel like giving it a chance, after the first few episodes, the supernatural stuff really takes a back seat. I mean, it's always there, but it's just a story-telling device. Kind of like the court-room scenes in I Hear Your Voice. The Gumiho herself is so adorable as she becomes more and more human-like, and Daewoong grows up a lot, and it's sweet and funny. The first two or three eps don't give you a good idea of what will happen next.
Thank you!
I hope you don’t mind me replying publicly (message me and I’ll take the ask down).
I love k-drama fans so so much! It’s such a nice community. I’ve gotten asks before about not giving up on a drama (“it gets better!!!”). Everyone here is so nice; they just want others to experience the dramas that they love. I totally get it. I feel like people are missing out when they don’t watch my favourite dramas.  Especially when I think that they WOULD love that particular drama if they just gave it a chance or understood how incredibly funny/deep/special/progressive/etc the drama really is… Which I guess is why I’m writing reviews (though I’ve been super busy lately and haven’t been able to sit down long enough to have actual thoughts to write down).Â
Anyways, that’s interesting to hear, I love unconventional story-telling devices! IHYV does it both with the court-room scenes and Park Soo-ha’s mind reading and in Pinocchio (which I recently finished) it’s hiccupping.
Maybe I’ll move MGiaG up to the “on-hold list” for a rainy day when I need something sweet and funny. Like I said, I really like both Shin Min-ah and Lee Seung-gi and there are so many people who love this drama which speaks well of it.Â
Awesome review! I’m waiting for a second season...
Wow, a musketeers themed tumblr! =)
At least we'll have BBC's The Musketeers season 2? And I'll keep hoping for a miracle. I'm with Misaeng's Director Sun here: even if it's empty I'm still hungry for any sort of hope ;)
Maybe this isn’t the time for a review of The Three Musketeers (or maybe it’s the perfect time for a review of The Three Musketeers) since this projected three seasons epic seems to have landed on a one season prequel – BUT I DON’T CARE. It was still one of my absolute favourite dramas of 2014 and all hope is not lost! It hasn’t been OFFICIALLY cancelled as far as I know. It can still make a come-back! Please?
Plot: Anyone who has read the classic Dumas novel (or seen any of the numerous screen adaptations) is going to recognise both the characters and the overall plot. But for the rest of you:
Park Dal-hyang/our d’Artagnan (Jung Yong-hwa) is a poor country boy determined to pass the military examination and make it as a palace official – all for the love of a noble woman (Seo Hyun-jin) he met five years earlier when her family passed through his village. She promised to wait for him and with that in mind he sets out for the capital city and the military exams. Unfortunately things do not go as planned. After two months on the road Dal-hyang arrives in a city that is not quite what he expected, with less money than he had at the start, he encounters three strange, but capable men (our three musketeers: Crown Prince Sohyeon/Athos (Lee Jin-wook), Heo Seung-po/Porthos (Yang Dong-geun) and An Min-seo/Aramis (Jung Hae-in)), and he finds out the love of his life has not, in fact, waited for him and has been married for close to five years – to none other than the Crown Prince.
Of course the story doesn’t end here. Dal-hyang passes his exams, gets involved with the Prince and his men, keeps loving the Princess, the King is unstable, the Prince has a dark past and war is brewing.
Discussion: I love the original The Three Musketeers, I’ve read the novel and I’ve watched quite a few of the adaptations (I recommend BBC’s The Musketeers for fellow fans) but I think this might be my favourite adaptation. Who would have thought a novel set in 17th century France would work so well in 17th century Joseon? Obviously the drama’s been adapted to fit the setting, and there are a few typical k-drama tropes thrown in (I’m not complaining – that’s part of what makes it special).
This drama did a lot of things right:
The high budget shows and the drama is beautiful
It’s FUNNY
Both overtly and, um, introvertly? My favourite thing will always be imagining the court gossip:
What is up with the Crown Prince?
Why does he keep secretly disappearing?
Where does he go?
Why doesn’t he like the Princess?
Why are there no royal babies?
Why does he surround himself with pretty men he picks up along the road?
Why is he suddenly so obsessed with a poor country boy he stands up to his father to make sure the boy passes his tests, starts sending him secretive (and heated!) looks, gives him his SWORD and sends all his men away so that he can have a secret “conversation” alone in country boy’s room.
The audience of course knows the reason for all this but I just like to imagine what they would talk about in court. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if that head eunuch did not have at least three contingency plans for when the Prince was caught in bed with another man I’ll be severely unimpressed.
The action scenes were so much fun to watch and I loved the choreography
Everyone’s acting is very engaging
I had never actually seen Jung Yong-hwa act before but I still managed to be pleasantly surprised. He might not be amazing at every single acting technique but he manages to engage the audience, his physical acting is impressive, his comedic timing is good but most of all – he has an incredible rapport with every single one of co-actors. That’s important.
Watching Lee Jin-wook in this actually made me look up both Miss Granny and Nine: Nine Time Travels which says something about his acting and I was amazed when I realised that Yoo In-young (who plays Jo Mi-Ryung or Milady de Winter) was Han Yoo-ra in My Love From Another Star.What a chameleon! I want to watch her in everything. Seo Hyun-jin as the Crown Princess slowly but determinately learning to survive, navigate the palace politics and most importantly – be happy, did an amazing job to draw the audience in and be on her side. It wasn’t easy, given that the Crown Princess spends a lot of time hiding who she really is and what she desires.
The characters!
The characters are my favourite thing (out of many great things) in this drama.
Innocent country boy Park Dal-hyang: Destined to become a great general! Stands up to the Prince (gasp!)! Provides emotional support for the Princess! No one (absolutely no one) can resist him! Spunky and loyal!
Dead-eyed smiling, secretive Crown Prince Sohyeon:Â Is he a sociopath? No? Yes? Who cares?! No, it was just his terrible past! Was that a joke? No? Yes? Who cares?! First loves (bleurg)! Second loves (yay)! Accidentally liking his love rival better than his wife (although he comes around)!
Secretly the strongest character Crown Princess Yoon-seo: Character growth! Making the best of a really, really unfair situation! Learning to stand up both to her husband and to her enemies! Great chemistry with everyone! Loyal!
Cutie pie An Min-Seo: Cutie pie!!! (Did he really take the time to stop, take out a handkerchief and wipe Dal-hyang’s forehead clean of blood in the middle of hunting a murdering general whose escape could very well mean war? Cutie pie!!!) Shocked and appalled reaction faces!
Always laughing Heo Seung-po: Wohoo, drinking and gambling! He can’t tell his children apart! His wife is ugly! Haha! (No, but seriously, he wasn’t that bad)
Milady, my love, Mi Ryung: Mi-ryung! She got character assassinated. I should have expected it, given the novel, but I was still sad. She could have been so much more. **SPOILERS** For the longest time I was holding on hope for the happy ending to be Crown Prince and Mi-ryung making up, faking their own deaths (which would have taken care of that pesky historical death of Crown Prince Sohyeon) and Dal-hyang and the Crown Princess running off together. I’m not claiming to be realistic.
Everyone else: While the King was not exactly a good guy, he wasn’t exactly a bad guy either and I think the drama did a good job of portraying a person with serious anxiety issues (not that that is an excuse of his behaviour) and how that impacted on his ability to rule. I came to really like General Ingguldai and where there more seasons I would have liked to see him and Dal-hyang interact more (though I like to see everyone interact with Dal-hyang).
So what did the show do wrong then?
Apparently a lot according to the Korean audience, given the low rating the future seasons being postponed indefinitely, but according to ME, who watched faithfully every week, even staying up until 4 to catch it freshly subbed?
Mi-ryung
**SPOILERS*** I loved her character. Resourceful, intelligent and driven. She was another character (besides the Crown Princess) who made the best of her situation, using whatever means were available. I’m never going to blame a woman (be she real or a fictional character) for using her body to survive. But I knew as soon as I saw that scene that Mi-ryung would be “lost”. I’ve yet to see dramaland “redeem” a character after that. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t hoping! But she fell further and further and soon she was just a villain and not a complicated female character with a potential future.
Hmm, that’s it.
What can I say, I love this drama. I heard people were complaining about the pacing, that it took too long setting up the plot and the relationships but I don’t agree. By the time of the final episode the relationships felt earned, in a way they wouldn’t had everything worked out in episode 5. What, the Crown Prince was just supposed to let go of his past? Dal-hyang and the Crown Princess were just supposed to fall out of love? Dal-hyang should just trust everyone immediately? Nah, they needed to work on it and that took 12 episodes. I buy that.
So, in conclusion: I enjoyed every second of this drama. Everything wasn’t great all the time, but at least it was entertaining. The drama probably would have been better had it gotten all the seasons that were planned (and now I’m never going to see my bromance in China :´( ) but I think the one season works as a stand-alone. A+, would recommend to anyone, especially if you like action-adventure.
chibimiso reblogged your post Dropped dramas and added:
Loved reading your reviews!! Totally agree! Although you may want to give Faith a try again. Personally for me (not huge...
Thank you! It obviously is a subjective list and everyone won't agree. We all have dramas that just don't appeal to us and tropes or characters we can't stand. Although I admit I sometimes laugh at myself, I feel so strongly about some things (like the verbally abusive prime minister in Prime Minister and I) but I'll totally look the other way only mildly uncomfortable when Kim Joo-won calls Gil Ra-im fat and ugly in Secret Garden (not that he was my favourite character - Seeeeeul).
I think I will try Faith again! At least transfer it to my mental On-hold list. And I heard the ending wasn't bad, which is nice for a change.Â
I tend to give out high grades to the dramas I review (with the one notable exception). That’s not because every single Korean drama is great and it’s not because I’m amazing at judging a book by its cover (or a drama by its summary). It’s because when a drama is bad (or it doesn’t appeal to me, it doesn’t have to be objectively bad. Though let’s face it, some dramas really are objectively bad) I’ll drop it like a hot potato (I won’t drop it like it’s hot, since that apparently is a good thing. I’ll drop it like it hurt me and I’m in pain and I want someone else to pick it up and throw it in the trash where it belongs).
(I have a second list that consists of dramas “on-hold”; dramas that I started watching but for some reason didn’t finish even though I liked them. Maybe the stars weren’t right.)
This list is obviously going to be subjective and will range from “Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I remember it, I might try watching it again” to “Just seeing the title hurts my soul”.
High School King of Savvy (2014)
(watched 6 episodes of 17)
Plot: A romantic comedy about a naive, immature, and clueless high school hockey player who somehow ends up working at a company in place of his brother. He lives a double life as a student and a high positioned office worker then falls in love with a woman who is a temporary employee at that same company. – DramaWiki
Discussion: This is a bit of cheating. I watched the first few episodes, decided this was just not for me (I disliked both main characters and was uncomfortable with their level of maturity and eventual relationship) but for some reason I couldn’t let this show go. I had to know how it ended. Unfortunately I made a slight mistake and thought episode 15 was the last one, so I watched it, realised there were two more episodes and I ended up watching them as well just to know the ending. Can’t say that I regretted my decision to drop the show. In the end I still didn’t like the main characters or their relationship (**SPOILERS** Please grown up people, don’t marry seventeen-year-olds! At least she also had the maturity of a teenager).
I think the premise of the drama is hilarious but it wasn’t utilised in a way that I enjoy. It would have been unrealistic but I just wish the main character could have been secretly smart (like his brother) and have actually done well (I mean, kdrama loves the secret genius trope). Or at least learnt something (other than how to do presentations). And I don’t buy that people thought he was an adult. Please.
I really enjoyed Yoo Jin-woo (Lee Soo-hyuk), though. I would say that I had a serious case of second-lead syndrome, however I did not want him to end up with the female lead. Such a maturity disparity. She really was closer in emotional maturity to the teenager, even though I find their relationship yucky (to be mature, myself). I would have watched this show from start to finish if Jin-woo was the lead. Lee Min-seok (I love Seo In-guk, btw. I think he has the makings of a great actor and he’s super charismatic) could have been in the show. He could have been the second lead and his story would have been about him working on becoming a hockey player (I’m biased, I love hockey), crushing on Jung Soo-young (and they could have gotten together like ten years later) and bromancing it up with Jin-woo.
Good Doctor (2013)
(watched 5 episodes of 20)
Plot: A medical drama about a man with autistic disorder, who has mentality of 10-year-old, overcomes bias and discrimination by the society and becomes a pediatrician by utilizing his exceptional abilities that the illness brings.- KBS World via DramaWiki
Discussion: I’m just going to start by saying that Joo Won (whom I keep trying to call Jon Woo) is an amazing actor and this was the drama that convinced me.
But I was bored by the format and (maybe most importantly) I was uncomfortable with the budding romance between Cha Yoon-seo (a doctor) and Park Shi-on (who if you read the plot summary HAS THE MENTALITY OF A 10-YEAR-OLD – please stop romanticising relationships between adults and people who think and behave like children and are treated like children by their love interest (I’m also looking at you, Cantabile Tomorrow)!). No. Just no.
I liked the professor and his girlfriend, though. And I do think it’s important to include neuroatypical characters in dramas and try take away the stigma of mental disorders. But maybe not by implying they can be cured by love.
Myung Wol the Spy (2011)
(watched 4 episodes of 18)
Plot: An elite North Korean spy, Han Myung Wol, and her partner, Choi Ryu, infiltrates South Korea on a mission to disrupt the Hallyu Wave by kidnapping one of their top stars, Kang Woo. Despite her proficiency at her job, Myung Wol’s one weakness is her uncontrollable curiosity. Hijinks ensue when she falls in love with Kang Woo instead. – DramaWiki
Discussion: I wanted to like Myung Wol the Spy but it was just too ridiculous. Not the worst thing I have ever seen (that honour goes to Dr Jin) but it wasn’t for me. I tried and failed.
The Moon that Embraces the Sun (2012)
(watched 4 episodes of 20)
Plot: The story of the secret love between Lee Hwon, a fictional king of Joseon, and Wol, a female shaman. Wol was born as Heo Yeon Woo, the daughter of a noble family who won the love of the crown prince, Hwon. Her enemies, jealous of her family’s position in court, schemed against her and wrestled away her rightful place as crown princess and nearly takes her life. Years later, an embittered Hwon meets Wol, now a female shaman who has no recollection of her past. – DramaWiki
Discussion: I didn’t even get to the adults, I gave up when they were still kids. I might finish this some day but I’m not a big fan of “first love” and I just have a hard time buying the premise that these little kids felt so strongly about each other the prince is going to grow up and not care about anything other than his dead girlfriend until he meets his not-dead girlfriend as an adult. He is a prince, he is supposed to be able to look at the bigger picture! Obviously depression is a real thing but this is a drama. Get over it!
Prime Minister and I (2013)
(watched 3 episodes of 17)
Plot: Kwon Yul, a South Korea’s youngest Prime Minister who is 100% capable in his work but 0% capable in parenting, he struggles in raising his 3 kids alone. Nam Da Jung, a young reporter who full of enthusiasm but always ends up missing big scoops. She accidentally gets into a scandal with Prime Minister and to keep his position, they get married. She enters his house and becomes a young affectionate mother to his kids like a Christmas present and that’s when the love story begins. – DramaWiki
Plot: I wanted to like this. It’s such a romantic comedy plot (scandals! Misunderstandings! Marriage contract! Step-mom!) but while I liked Yoona’s character (and could aaaaalmost believe she was supposed to be 28) it was not enough to make me stand the prime minister. What an awful, abusive human being. I’m assuming he improved eventually but I just couldn’t stand how he treated Nam Da-jung and his kids. Especially his kids. No excuse! And the power difference was too much for me, I don’t mind the age difference but as a prime minister he had too much power (just look at how their contract was basically all about him even though Da-jung was the one doing him a favour). Yuck!
Faith (2012)
(watched 4 episodes of 24)
Plot: This drama shows the romance between a warrior from the ancient times and a female doctor from the modern times, their love transcending time and space. It will also tell the story about the process of making a true king.
Yoo Eun Soo (Kim Hee Sun) is a 33-year old plastic surgeon in the year 2012. She was originally a general surgeon, but quickly found that it was an overworked, under-paid profession and jumped ship to plastic surgery. Her dream is to someday open her own practice. But one day, Choi Young (Lee Min Ho) kidnaps her and takes her back to the Goryeo era, requesting that she use her medical skills to save the life of the Queen. Their ensuing love story is a long journey of faith that spans centuries and transforms them both, as Eun Soo finds true purpose in her medical knowledge for the first time while Young is inspired to live again through Eun Soo’s determination, indefatigable cheerfulness and love of life. – DramaWiki
Discussion: I don’t remember why I dropped this. Should I start over? Why didn’t I like this? I love time travel, I love doctors and while Lee Min-ho is 50/50 for me I kind of liked him in this. I also enjoyed the political side plot. Oh, and the doctor (stunt guy from Secret Garden).
I think it might have been the fantasy elements that turned me off. I can deal with ONE fantasy thing (like time travel or telepathy or seeing ghosts) or pure fantasy but this middle thing? Random people with random powers in real life history? And that dude with the obvious wig. Not for me.
Arang and the Magistrate (2012)
(watched 2 episodes of 16)
Plot: The beautiful Arang, the daughter of a magistrate during the Chosun Dynasty, is brutally murdered. The woman returns from the dead as a ghost, still full of light-hearted mischief and spirited fun. When she meets a young magistrate, Eun Oh, she discovers that he has the unique ability to communicate with the dead. She convinces him to help her uncover her killer and bring the person to justice. Can a ghost and a magistrate team up to solve a murder mystery and punish the wrongdoer? -KimchiDrama via DramaWiki
Discussion: I feel a little bad about having this on my “Dropped” list. Maaaaybe it belongs on the “On hold” list? It wasn’t bad at all, I love Shin Min-ah and I don’t dislike Lee Joon-gi. The story just didn’t grab me, I think I watched at least three or four episodes but they were just on in the background. I listened to them while doing something else and when I heard something interesting going on I’d watch that scene and then keep on doing whatever I was doing. So I realised I just wasn’t into this show (despite Shin Min-ah). I’m not going to force myself to watch something I’m not feeling, I do have a life that consists of other stuff than drama (I promise!).
I definitely wouldn’t warn people off this drama, it’s beautiful, good characters and actors. It just wasn’t for me.
Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy (2005)
(watched 2 episodes of 16)
Plot: Na Bori (Gong Hyo Jin) is a 25 year old woman who desperately wants to be a teacher at the high school she was kicked out of due misunderstanding with her teachers over injuring a group of male classmates. After getting her GED, she rejects job offers from other high schools and works on becoming a teacher at her old high school so she could work side by side with her high school love interest, the art teacher Ji Hyun Woo (Kim Da Hyun). However, the only thing that enables her to get the coveted job is by signing a contract to essentially babysit Park Tae In (Gong Yoo), a troublemaker who attends the same high school. Tae In, a lonely youth, quickly becomes the “jjang”, or “king” of the high school, and enjoys playing mean tricks on Bori whose easygoing personality attracts the majority of her students. Noh Jemma (Choi Yeo Jin) is jealous of the relationship between Bori and Tae In, and goes out of her way to get Bori kicked out but she’s not the only one against them… – DramaWiki
Discussion: I keep trying to watch these kinds of dramas (because I love Gokusen and Shin and Kumiko) but I can’t! Don’t fall in love with your student!! Noooo! (Also, the art teacher (who also fell in love with his student – but didn’t act on it!) is the perfect dude, why couldn’t she just be with him?).
Big (2012)
(watched 2 episodes of 16)
Plot: Da Ran (Lee Min Jung) is a girl who is engaged to the brilliant Dr. Seo Yoon Jae (Gong Yoo). She is going to start her work as a temporary teacher in a school and by accident meet a transfer student from USA named Kang Kyung Joon (Shin Won Ho) and because of some coincidences they get to know each other. Recently Yoon Jae behaved coldly to Da Ran and Kyung Joon finds out how much she suffers so he try to help her improving her relationship with Yoon Jae, but he and Yoon Jae are involved in a car accident and both fall into the river. Yoon Jae trys to save Kyung Joon. In hospital Kyung Joon wakes and find himself in the body of Yoon Jae, as his body is lying in hospital and everybody thinks he is in a coma. The only one whom he can tell that he is not Yoon Jae is Da Ran.
How he should act as Yoon Jae and not young Kyung Joon and how Da Ran should behave him from now on? – DramaWiki
Discussion: Another student-teacher drama (but with a twist) that I couldn’t finish. But this wasn’t just about the relationship making me uncomfortable, this actually (IMO of course) was a bad drama. And the kid behind Gong Yoo’s face is just too young! Just look at him! Eeeeew.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)
(watched 2 episodes of 16)
Plot: Cha Dae Woong (Lee Seung Ki) is an immature and spoilt college student who comes from a rich family. He dreams of becoming an action star the level of Jackie Chan. During a visit in an old temple, he accidentally frees a Gumiho (Shin Min Ah) from a painting five centuries old. In his bid to escape her, he sustains some serious head injury. Miho takes pity on her saviour and shares her magical bead/energy to return the favour. When Dae Woong finds out her true identity, he is terrified and tries to escape her but is met with a dilemma. In order to be fit enough to audition for a coveted action film, Dae Woong would need Miho’s bead which then forces him to live with her. Miho, on the other hand, needs him to carry her bead for 100 days in order to be human. As they spend time together, they fall in love with neither knowing that in order for Miho to be human, Dae Woong would have to die. – DramaWiki
Discussion: Shin Min-ah! Lee Seung-gi! I love them both, I actually think they are two of the most charismatic actors there are. And they had great chemistry.
But I didn’t like it. It’s just not my genre. I love gumihos, but I think they belong in fantasy or in historical dramas (with fantasy elements). I don’t like urban fantasy and that’s kind of what this is. Fantasy creatures belong in the woods, not in town!
Witch’s Romance (2014)
(watched 1 episode of 16)
Plot: A drama about the romance between a younger man, and a woman who isn’t able to open up her heart to others after her to-be-groom suddenly left her right before they were about to get married. – DramaWiki
Discussion: Just couldn’t get into it.
Fashion King (2012)
(watched 1 episode of 20)
Plot: Fashion King tells the story of young aspiring designers in Dongdaemun Market as they dream of success, and the relationships, love, and challenges they face along the way.
Kang Young Gul has never had any goals or dreams for a bright future until he meets Lee Ga Young. Together they work towards their dreams. – DramaWiki
Discussion: I did it for Yoo Ah-in, but not even Yoo Ah-in could save this train wreck. I also checked out the ending, after having already checked out of the drama, and what? Just what. This entire drama: what?
The Heirs (2013)
(watched 1 episode of 20)
Plot: A romantic comedy about high school students living in top 1% high society, learning about love and friendship. Things get turned topsy turvy when the students end up getting tangled with a girl from lower class who is the heir of “poverty”, and romance unfolds. –DramaWiki
Discussion: No. Ugh. Maybe I’m just too old?
I like Park Shin-hye so thank god she’s the female lead in Pinocchio, a drama that has a strong, physical female character (an acting style that imo suits her very well), and hopefully a director who tells her when she’s about to be forcefully kissed by her co-star.
Time Slip Dr. Jin (2012)
(watched 1 episode of 22)
Plot: Jin Hyuk is a genius neurosurgeon with a cold and severe attitude in his interactions with other people due to his personal pursuit of perfection. Through a mysterious power, Jin Hyuk finds himself transported back in time 150 years. He begins treating people there, but the lack of necessary implements and rudimentary medical knowledge of the period forces him to seek new ways to aid the sick. Through this challenging process, Jin Hyuk eventually becomes a genuine doctor. – DramaWiki
Discussion: This is almost bad enough to be entertaining, but just almost. Instead the first episode was probably the worst hour of television I have ever seen. Who greenlit this drama? And let it go on for 20 episodes? Was there anyone out there who liked this drama? I know these actors aren’t catastrophically bad but if this was the only project of theirs that I’d seen that’s what I would have assumed. A magical fetus in the brain?? Whaaaaat? Everyone needing brain surgery all the time? The facial expressions of Song Seung-hun.
I do think everyone should watch at least one episode of this drama just to add to their mental reference library. It’s important to be able to rank dramas fairly and to do that you need to know what is a 1 on the scale.
Like:
How great was the acting on a scale between Dr Jin and Secret Love Affair?
How cool was the main character on a scale between Dr Jin and City Hunter?
How realistic was the show on a scale of Dr Jin and Misaeng?
How well was time travel used as plot device on a scale of Dr Jin and Queen In-hyun’s man?
I could keep going all night but you see what I mean.
Boys Over Flowers (2009)
(watched 1 episode of 25)
Plot: Geum Jan Di is an ordinary girl whose family owns a dry cleaning store.
While delivering dry cleaning to a student at the prestigious Shin Hwa High School, she saves his life by stopping his attempt at jumping off the roof and is given a full swimming scholarship.
She attends Shin Hwa High and soon is terrorised by the leader of F4 (the four richest and most popular boys at the school) Gu Jun Pyo.
Although Jun Pyo persists on bullying her, he begins to find himself attracted to Jan Di. However, Jan Di has a crush on Yoon Ji Hoo, Jun Pyo’s best friend.
When she realises that Ji Hoo is merely a close friend and that she really loves Jun Pyo the couple are thrown into a dilemma as Jun Pyo’s mother sets out to break them up and find a more suitable match for her son. – DramaWiki
Discussion: I loved the original Hana Yori Dango and a lot of that is because of female lead Makino (Inoue Mao) (although I have to admit I was a teenager at the time). I only watched one episode of Boys Over Flowers, and maybe I made a hasty judgement but I just don’t think Geum Jan Di lives up to Makino’s legacy. Normally I tend to think the Korean version of a drama is a little more understated (at least if it based on a manga, I’m not talking about the serious Japanese dramas which are definitely serious (actually, Misaeng (my favourite drama at the moment) reminds me a little bit of some of the Japanese dramas I’ve watched, especially with regard to the subtleties in the acting and directing)) but in this case I think Inoue Mao’s Makino was a more realistic, strong and likable character than Koo Hye-sun’s Jan Di. Also, I’ll take Matsumoto Jun over Lee Min-ho any day.
Jang Ok Jung (2013)
(watched 1 episode of 24)
Plot: This drama tells the story of Jang Ok Jung, known as Lady Jang Hee Bin, one of Korea’s best known royal concubines of the Joseon Dynasty and famous for her hunger for power and ruthless plotting. However, this drama will tell a completely new interpretation of the infamous royal concubine Lady Jang Hee Bin and show the story before she became concubine and how her involvement as a fashion designer and cosmetics-maker during that era. This drama will also highlight the love story between Jang Ok Jung and King Sook Jong. – DramaWiki
Plot: Like with Fashion Prince I did it for Yoo Ah-in and like with Fashion Prince it just wasn’t enough. Plus I didn’t need to watch the last episode to know how this drama ended, history already spoiled me.
In conclusion, was 2012 a bad year for Korean drama, or just for me?
Wow, if you can’t stand blood this is not the movie for you. Don’t like watching domestic abuse – not the movie for you. If you feel weird watching beloved child actors in mature (and seriously bloody) roles – this is not the movie for you. Actually, I don’t know who this movie is for. It’s bloody, gory, women are abused, children are abused, all the relationships makes me profoundly uncomfortable, it is weird seeing young Dong-soo kill people, and still I really, really liked this movie. I don’t quite know what that says about me.
Plot: Hwayi (Yeo Jin-goo) grows up with five men he calls fathers. The men are all part of a violent, murderous criminal gang but while Hwayi certainly knows his way around a gun and a lock-pick, he’s been kept mostly out of their criminal dealings. He grows up respectful and thoughtful, he makes sure to buy his pseudo-mother (Im Ji-eun) the oranges she enjoys and he hesitates at the thought of killing someone. Everything changes when Hwayi gets forcefully dragged into his fathers´ violent crimes and starts questioning where he comes from and whose son he really is. For the first time Hwayi finds himself on a different side from the family he grew up with and he’s going to need every skill his fathers’ have ever taught him if he’s going to be able to stay there.
Discussion: **slight spoilers** I will say it again – this movie is super violent and there are some tremendously unpleasant scenes, especially those involving women (there’s a woman kept as a slave for goodness sake). Hwayi starts off a relatively nice person (or as nice as he can be growing up the way he has) but he does not end up that way. His dads aren’t good men (for simplicity’s sake let’s call them Psycho Dad (Kim Yoon-seok), Pervert Dad (Cho Jin-woong), Smart Dad (Jang Hyun-sung), Violent Dad (Park Hae-Joon) and uuh, who’s the last one? Whatever, he’s not important, we’ll call him Redundant Dad (Kim Sung-kyun)) even though they’re on a sliding scale of awfulness with Psycho Dad firmly the king of the hill. While I do think it’s good advice to tell people to face their fears I don’t think “look the monster in the eyes” is great advice to give to a five-year-old while you lock him up in the basement with his fears actually taking form as a monster. I don’t think you should coddle children but even I think that’s a bit of an overkill.
(Am I the only one who thinks this poster looks more like an ad for dubious porn than an action movie?) Anyways, top row from the left: Pervert Dad, Smart Dad. Bottom row from the left: Violent Dad, Psycho Dad and Redundant Dad.
So why do I like this movie? Let’s not delve too deeply into my psyche and let’s just say that I really enjoyed the actors and the action. It was weird to see young Dong-soo/prince Lee Hwon in this kind of role (I hadn’t looked at the cast when I picked up the film) but I got over it pretty quickly and started to appreciate Yeo Jin-goo’s acting and the character. Obviously Kim Yoon-seok was great but I can’t really complain about anyone. I liked the ending, that doesn’t happen a lot.
I love action movies; always have, always will. This was a great example of what I appreciate: great action sequences (and how weird isn’t it to suddenly see every gory detail (and every knife!! Not blurry!!) when you’ve grown accustomed to censorship?), engaging and morally ambiguous characters, an interesting storyline and a twist.
Like everything I love this movie is all about relationships – the relationships between Hwayi and his kind-of-mom (true love),
Hwayi and Yoo-kyung (played expertly by Nam Ji-hyeon, who by the way played young Dong-soo’s love interest young Ji-sun – I know I liked her for a reason),
Hwayi and Pervert Dad (who for some reason seems to be Hwayi’s favourite dad? I don’t get it, I’m more partial to Smart Dad, myself) and the rest of the family,
 Hwayi and his “real” parents (short and rather one-sided as it might be),
but maybe most importantly the relationship between Hwayi and Psycho Dad and Hwayi and his monster (intimately connected, I’d say)
This is a boy with daddy issues. And for once, legitimate daddy issues. His dad is crazy and although Hwayi is reasonably well-adjusted considering his upbringing (and his Psycho Dad) I think he would do well with therapy. Years of therapy.  I don’t want to get into psychology, since that isn’t my strong suit, but I think it’s pretty clear that monster they’ve both been seeing is the embodiment of some pretty serious issues. And while becoming a monster yourself made it possible for Hwayi and Psycho Dad to finally look their fears/issues in the eyes I also think that that could have been accomplished through therapy. Or not growing up around horrible people who lock you in the basement, beat you, beat the closest thing you’ve got to a mother and make you kill people. Just a thought.
**SPOILERS** But Hwayi and Psycho Dad’s relationship is fascinating to me. They make a point in the movie of separating Psycho Dad from the other dads (for example by having Hwayi call him father as opposed to dad) and though Psycho Dad at first appears to be the least affected by Hwayi’s defection he ends up being the crazy obsessive one (“I only need you. Only you.” – Really, Psycho Dad? That’s something you say to your son while creepily touching him and planning to murder his almost-mom? After having already murdered his real mom? Does that sound healthy to you? Dirtying him up so you can be together and so that he won’t have to be afraid anymore? THAT IS NOT A HEALTHY FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP! But it is an interesting one.).
**SPOILERS** The treatment of women in the movie is disturbing and not something I’m really qualified to comment on rather than to say that I feel a little torn. On the one hand, I love Yong-joo, how much she loved Hwayi and how much he loved her. What they would do for each other. That she was put in an awful situation and survived. On the other hand, I physically recoiled seeing a woman in chains. Her helplessness hurt me and was for me the most disturbing part of a disturbing film. I’m so, so happy they got out together.
Yoo-kyung was pretty amazing. She was bright and she was smart and she saw Hwayi. She was freedom and normalcy.
Hwayi’s mom… That was just awful. She gets raped, her son is kidnapped, her husband is murdered (by her son), she tries to kill herself and she gets murdered (after being told by her rapist that he was the one who kidnapped her child). I don’t have a lot to say. Her suffering was mostly used as a device to drive Hwayi’s story forward. On the other hand, this movie is all about Hwayi’s story. But it was difficult to watch.
In the end, I can’t really say what hooked me about this movie, but there was something.
Lastly, I repeat: THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. But this was a movie for me. And if you’re anything like me: this is a movie for you. I’m definitely going to re-watch it. You make your own judgement.
I Hear Your Voice (or I Can Hear Your Voice – I prefer the first so that’s what I’m going to refer to the drama as) is the perfect example of when the sum is greater than the parts. Parts: legal drama, noona-romance, SERIAL KILLERS, first love, AMNESIA, love triangles, TRAUMA, humour. Oh, and telepathy. Why not throw in a supernatural aspect as well, that will seamlessly blend in with everything else.
And it does! I really don’t understand how, but everything does work together and this drama ended up being my favourite in 2013 and in my top 10 of all time. I think a lot of the drama’s success (I wasn’t the only one who fell for it, ratings were on average around 20%, and more than that the last eight episodes) can be attributed to the amazing characters and the actors who played them. MVP was naturally Lee Bo-young and her Jang Hye-sung (or Lawyer Jjang as I will always think of her)  but Lee Jong-suk has received a lot of attention after this role and I think there are few that can argue that he doesn’t deserve it.
Plot: Jang Hye-sung is a cynical young lawyer in her late twenties who seemingly cares more about money than her clients – in fact, she is known for using the same 30 second defence regardless of client. Park Soo-ha is a young man in high school. He keeps to himself, not because he doesn’t like people but because he can’t help hearing their thoughts. The two meet when one of Hye-sung’s cases brings her to Soo-ha’s high school and Soo-ha immediately realises Hye-sung is the woman he has been searching for for the last ten years – the woman who bravely testified against the murderer who killed Park Soo-ha’s father. She turns out to be not quite how he remembered her but Soo-ha still decides to stick around and to protect her, and together they fight crime. And serial killers. And other love interests.
Discussion: I hesitated to watch this drama for a long time because of one summary that I read which said the lawyers and Park Soo-ha would “team up to find the justice in the courtroom and solve the toughest cases with less than 1% chance of winning” which made me picture some kind of “top team” court drama procedural and not, eh, whatever this drama really is. I maintain that it is quite difficult to classify but I think courtroom drama, even though it’s an aspect, is the least of it.
This drama mixes a lot of genres (some of which I hate) and tropes (some of which I also hate) but somehow manages to use all of them effectively.
Park Soo-ha’s memory loss isn’t just for ~drama, it’s intimately connected to Hye-sung’s character growth and to one of the drama’s central questions – what does it mean, morally, to be a defence attorney? Is it more important to acquit the innocent or to incarcerate the guilty?
This is the best use of the romanticisation of “first love” I have ever experienced in a drama! Soo-ha has this completely unrealistic fantasy of who Hye-sung is, based on his experience as a nine-year-old (not uncommon in dramaland), which he holds on to for ten years, not letting anyone else into his heart (also not uncommon in dramaland). BUT it takes him only a few moments to realise the grown up Hye-sung isn’t what he was expecting and even better – he falls in love with the real Hye-sung, not the fantasy version. He holds onto his promise to protect her from ten years ago but he is protecting the adult, self-preserving Lawyer Jang, not the young brave witness.Â
I love noona-romances if they are done well, and I really think this one was done well. Park Soo-ha isn’t a child: he has been taking care of himself for years and he is emotionally mature (sometimes more mature than Hye-sung). The age difference is just a romantic obstacle – Soo-ha has to convince Hye-sung to see him as a man and not a little brother. He needs to prove to her that they are equal and that she doesn’t need to go on a blind date with a man with muscles (I love how that’s her requirement), he can protect her.Â
I also love that the age difference adds a little of (maybe manufactured) uncertainty of whether or not Hye-sung and Soo-ha will end up together. I’m also so tired of traditional love stories; I need something to spice things up!Â
The serial killer added suspense and plot, in my opinion. I usually watch dramas for the characters and relationships but sometimes I end up thinking what was the point? What did I watch for 18 hours? It doesn’t have to be bad, there’s nothing wrong with just simply enjoying oneself, but occasionally I just have a feeling that something is missing. Nothing is missing from I Hear Your Voice.Â
I had to turn off my brain for the court cases and just think of them as a vehicle for character growth. I can’t help cringing though, remembering some of them. This drama is not The Good Wife, luckily it’s not pretending to be that, either.
The drama is called I Hear Your Voice and that’s obviously (unless I’m misunderstanding the Korean) a reference to Park Soo-ha hearing other people’s thoughts. It’s also (I’m assuming) a reference to the need for a lawyer to hear the voice of their client, and specifically for Jang Hye-sung to start listening to those around her: her clients, but also her friends, family and co-workers. No man is an island (unless you’re Simon or Garfunkel. I touch no one and no one touches me) is something that both Park Soo-ha and Jang Hye-sung learn over the course of the drama.Â
I love Soo-ha’s telepathy, but I also love magical realism. I think the important thing in regard to magical realism is that it adds something to the story and if there is anything that should be added to a story about learning to hear other people’s voices it’s telepathy.
In the end this drama was about friendship, growing up, finding love and finding yourself. It asked some tricky questions (is it wrong to change your moral philosophy when it’s personal? Though this probably wouldn’t have been a problem if there had been more than three defence attorneys, two prosecutors and one judge in Seoul) and it had one of the best main character I have ever encountered (Lawyer JJang – I love you…).
The supporting characters were stellar as well, both Soo-ha’s friends (and I was so happy he had actual friends) and the law people. The relationships between Hye-sung and Shin Sang-deok, Hye-sung and Kim Gong-sook and especially Hye-Sung and Seo Do-yeon gave me life.
I actually just re-watched this so it holds up even on the second viewing. If you haven’t seen this one – run, don’t walk! 10/10 – would recommend.
While there are tropes that come and go (one year time travel is all the rage, another you see ghosts everywhere) love triangles in dramaland are eternal and unescapable. They’re as unavoidable as sand in your shoes after a beach trip or soggy socks after having been surprised by the rain.   Â
I’m not saying you have to love them to be able to watch romantic k-dramas (in fact, I don’t, I really don’t) but you do have to accept their presence – or you’ll end up constantly disappointed. The only recent drama I remember watching without a love triangle is King 2 Hearts. In between assassinations, new kings, war and arranged marriages I don’t think I could have handled a pining second lead as well.
I would argue there are three main types of love triangles which keep popping up (obviously I’m oversimplifying: only talking about two guys, one girl and ignoring the fact that nowadays there are usually more love squares/pentagons/hexagons etc.).
One man is the obvious leading man, the female lead only has eyes for him, the other guy pines endlessly from the side lines. Probably the second lead is the better person.
Two men are given almost equal screen time, the female lead has a hard time deciding between them, the audience has a hard time deciding between them.
A combination of 1 and 2. One man is the obvious leading man with whom the female lead is obviously going to end up yet she’s drawn (or wants to be drawn) to second lead and only makes up her mind at the end.
Your mileage may vary in how you classify different relationships.
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I don’t hate class 1 and 2.
If I have to choose I prefer class 1 (examples of class 1 love triangles are Lee Sun-joon–Kim Yoon-hee–Moon Jae-shin in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Do Min-joon–Cheon Song-yi–Lee Hwi-kyung in My Love from the Star and maybe Eun Dae-gu–Eo Soo-sun–Ji Gook in You’re All Surrounded andLee Yoon-sung–Kim Na-na–Kim Young-joo in City Hunter). You know how it’s going to end, there’s no need to be invested. When the female lead is so summarily uninterested in the second male lead you can’t even think he is so much better for her, they would have been so happy together because they wouldn’t. She’s not interested, they wouldn’t have been happy because the lead is just not into him. If it’s respectfully done, like in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, the female lead isn’t even aware of the love triangle and no friendships are ruined and everyone can walk away with their dignity intact. Â
The rejection hit Lee Hwi-kyung hard, he’s a psychopathic serial killer now.
Of course, sometimes 1 is not done well and you’ll end up suffering from the dreaded “second lead syndrome”. I usually avoid this by just exiting gracefully if I realise I think the main couple are bad for each other and I prefer the second lead. I’ve learned my lesson the hard way – I spent the entire 24 episodes of Goong desperately hoping Shin Chae-kyeong wuld just dump Lee Shin and take up with Yul. And where did that get me? Nowhere. I’m still bitter. Although this might be more the case where I just thought the main lead would be happier elsewhere. With anyone else. Seriously, anyone. The same thing applied in Playful Kiss. I didn’t ship the two leads with any one in particular – just not with each other.
Obviously it’s possible to like the second lead better than the first without wanting him to end up with the female lead – that’s how I felt about City Hunter. I was way more invested in the prosecutor and his story line, that didn’t mean I wanted him to end up with Kim Na-na. Thankfully that wasn’t a relationship that was pushed at the audience; in fact they dropped that pretty quickly. I hesitated to include it at all since the prosecutor’s real love interest was the veterinarian (whom I ended up more invested in than Kim Na-na). Â
A Frozen Flower is a movie all about the love triangle, though I think it’s a little too complicated to classify into a 1, 2 or 3. There are certainly strong, passionate feelings involved in all the relationships but I think it’s up to the viewer to decide which (if any) were true love.
(Song Ji-hyo, I love you)
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The love triangles I tend to hate are the ones that could be classified into 3. I just don’t see the point. Why? Why have Jang Hye-sung flirt with Cha Gwan-woo when she’s obviously ending up with Park Soo-ha in I Hear Your Voice? Or Yang Eun-bi with Choi Kang-hyuk when Cha Chi-soo is the obvious leading man in Flower Boy Ramen Shop? What is the point of Yoon Ji-hoo whatsoever?
 I don’t know if it’s to demonstrate that love is a choice? Or that love isn’t? To me it just creates unnecessary drama and takes away from the main couple (which is going to be my focus, otherwise I won’t be watching the drama). If I end up liking the second lead I’ll just see him end up hurt and in many cases the female lead’s entire (non-romantic) relationship with the second male lead is ruined. I find this emotionally exhausting and not rewarding at all.
I think I will just have to get over it. Some love triangles are worse than others (for me) but it’s like any other aspect of dramas – don’t like, don’t watch applies. And maybe one day they’ll surprise me and a love triangle is going to end in a happy threesome. That would be emotionally satisfying. One can only hope.
Hmm, since it’s been about 30 hours since I last slept it seems suitable I review something that I watched at the end of my last bout of insomnia. Lack of sleep tends to heighten emotions, so funny dramas seem really funny (did Flower Boy Ramen Shop actually speak directly to my funny bone, or did I spend the majority of the episodes laughing out loud because I was watching them at 2 am?) and sad dramas seem really sad (might explain why I couldn’t even read the recap of the final episode of Equator Man without crying. And I don’t even go there! I just wanted to see if it was worth watching!).
Anyway, A Werewolf Boy certainly doesn’t fall in category one. In all honesty, given that I still can’t talk about Hachi: A Dog’s Tale without tearing up, eight hours of sleep more or less probably wouldn’t have made a difference on my ability to keep my feelings on the inside. This wasn’t a case of a beautiful single tear slowly rolling down one side of my face, this was straight out ugly crying – snot and all. Less Suzy in Gu Family Book, more Joo Won in Bridal Mask (**SPOILERS** in the links, btw). I don’t know what I was thinking. I wanted to see Song Joong-ki act but Nice Guy was too much of a melodrama (so instead I chose to watch the highest grossing melodrama in Korea? The movie that according to Wikipedia “cemented Song's image in the press as the "savior" of the melodrama genre both on the big and small screen”. Smart.).
Plot: A woman in her sixties (young Kim Sun-yi played by Park Bo-young) living in the US is suddenly called back home by a phone call, detailing the sale of her childhood home in the South Korean countryside. She brings her young granddaughter to spend the night in the old house and as they arrive she is reminded of the short time she spent there in 1965. She remembers the feral orphan boy (Song Joong-ki) her family took in despite his inability to speak, read or write and the close bond she came to form with him.
Discussion: This is a movie so there will be **SPOILERS** all over this discussion. Though honestly, there isn’t that much to spoil – the title is kind of a big clue. And even if I hadn’t already been over my hysterical crying, nicely illustrated by Joo Won, the fact that this is a giant melodrama kind of tells us as viewers were we’re going to end up, emotionally.
There were a lot of things I liked about this movie, first and foremost the stellar acting all around. I mean, obviously Song Joong-ki stole the show – but he was supposed to. The POV character might have been Kim Sun-yi, the main character is still Chul-soo. Everyone keeps raving about Song Joong-ki’s acting (and I mean, I liked him in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, he was my favourite, but that role wasn’t going to win him an Oscar-equivalent heavy acting award – you know what I mean) but I don’t have the energy to take on Tree With Deep Roots for like four episodes of Song Joong-ki and like I said earlier: Nice Guy is just too much melodrama for me, at least for the moment. My point is: nice to see that people weren’t making things up.
I also super liked the concept of the movie, which surprised me since I normally hate werewolf movies the most out of all supernatural-creatures-movies (and I hate them all). But this wasn’t the typical handsome but troubled loner with a seeeeecret (even though Chul-soo was in fact a handsome troubled loner with a secret… But this is a different vibe! This obviously isn’t Teen Wolf). I guess what made it click for me was that Chul-soo wasn’t a man that was sometimes a wolf; he was a wolf that was always a little bit of a man.
This brings me to what I didn’t like, which was that totally unnecessary transformation scene. I already knew he was a werewolf, it’s in the title. At least they kept his face mostly in the dark. This is personal preference, but I would have much preferred to have been kept guessing about Chu-soo’s true nature – making assumptions based on his strength and behaviour (and the title…) – until the end. I also could have done without the pseudoscience explanation (which I tuned out). I would have liked him to be some sort of mythical inexplicable creature rather than a typical werewolf-lab rat.
Concerning the “romance” I feel a little torn. Mostly because I just couldn’t view it as a romance! I just saw a girl and a dog. Chul-soo loves Sun-yi and she is the most important relationship in his life. So much that he is willing to wait loyally for 47 years (like Hachiko – I’m going to start crying again) and it’s inferred no one will ever measure up to her. He is a One Man Dog. (And that scene where she tells him to go and that she hates him = every sad movie about dogs ever?) Which of course makes it even more heart-breaking that she didn’t see it the same way. He was her first real relationship (be it as friends, lovers or something different), and she remembers him fondly, but she was a teenager and is able to move on. Which is healthy! She didn’t waste away pining for her first love, instead she lived a full happy life. She even forgot the note she wrote Chul-soo (“Wait for me. I’ll come back for you”). Good for her!
But not for me! It’s super distressing for me (and other viewers, I suppose)! He is like a loyal dog! I couldn’t imagine abandoning my dog! This is my nightmare! This movie is like the horrible love child of Hachi: A Dog’s Tale and A.I. Artificial Intelligence – the two movies that has made me have to “look for something in my purse” because I teared up in public. At least he wasn’t a real dog. I would still be blubbering if that had been the case. Luckily they didn’t go there.
In the end I suppose this was a good movie. It definitely induced feelings. The acting was great, the cinematography was beautiful and the story was moving. I could have done without some parts but what movie is perfect (except The Fast and the Furious – that movie is perfect, I would not cut a second)?
Go see it if you recently fell through the ice and just want to feel something. Or whatever, you like werewolves. Or melodrama. Or good acting. Or Song Joong-ki. Or you’re bored. I don’t judge. Don’t come crying to me, though, if you find yourself unable to sleep, thinking is he still there? Is he still waiting? I’ll just whisper back: probably, and we’ll cry together. That’s not going to help anyone.Â
What was this crap that I watched for 16 hours? I want my life back.
Plot: (from http://wiki.d-addicts.com, I don’t care enough to summarise the plot myself): Playful Kiss is based on the Japanese shōjo manga, Itazura Na Kiss.
Oh Ha Ni is a sweet lively and happy high school student yet she is definitely not the sharpest crayon in the box.
She has a crush on Baek Seung Jo, the smartest boy in school despite being chased loyally by Bong Joon Gu herself. When she confesses to Seung Jo through a letter, he brings it back to her, after grading it harshly and commenting that he hates stupid girls.
When Oh Ha Ni's new house suddenly collapses her father's friend offers for him and Ha Ni to stay with them. Unknown to Ha Ni, her father's friend is actually Baek Seung Jo's dad.
As they continue to live under the same roof and attend Parang University together, Ha Ni continues to show affection for Seung Jo although he seems to be more interested in the equally clever and beautiful Yoon Hae Ra.
Discussion: When something sucks this bad I usually back-button pretty quickly; I have a looong list of dramas I have tried to watch but ultimately failed out of (High School King of Savvy, Dr Jin, Gu Family Book, Faith, Boys over Flowers, Big, Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy, Prime Minister and I, the list goes on). I don’t know why I decided to give this one a chance. I would like to say that I was young and naïve but it was like a month ago so probably not.
There is so much I dislike about this drama. The main female lead is the ultimate example of characters I hate. She is stupid but cheerful and always works hard. I’m not saying that that is something to be ashamed about in real life or that I would dislike her if we were working together (though, let’s be real, I probably would) but it is definitely not a person I want to watch on my TV for sixteen hours (but why didn’t you just stop watching? I DON’T KNOW, OK). And Baek Seung-jo is even worse. He is just such a horrible person. Normally he could be saved (see Flower Boy Ramen Shop) if he was paired with a girl with a backbone and if he was willing to change – but no. That would be asking too much. Instead we get sixteen hours of emotional abuse. If I was the mom I would have called the cops, not tried to get them to marry each other. Why would you condemn someone you actually care about to a life with an abuser? I don’t care if it’s your son, it’s not like mom didn’t like Oh Ha-ni better than her son anyway. Ugh.
Not that Oh Ah-ni wasn’t scary with her stalking routine. At the start I was actually sympathizing with Seung-jo, he had told Ha-ni multiple times that he wasn’t interested and still she kept persisting and following him around, sabotaging his dates. That is not a healthy behavior. I would have called the cops on her as well. I don’t blame him for being rude to her at the beginning, he was being forced to live with and socializing with his stalker and she was obviously not getting his hints or accepting his rejections. But once they entered a relationship he should have stopped. There is no excuse to emotionally abuse your girlfriend.
And **SPOILERS** why marriage? Why?? Not only were the main characters physically young, they also had an emotional maturity of a twelve year old.
Maybe they deserved each other? Was that the point? They were both horrible people and should be kept away from actual decent people? In that case, sure – the drama succeeded in driving its point home. Anyways, would not recommend, would not watch again.
Haha, I’m doing it again, talking about a Japanese show, and again, one that aired over ten years ago. But this one is important to me! I think (think) this was the very first Asian drama that I watched.
Not that I hadn’t watched a lot (a lot) of Hong Kong-action movies before this. This was at a time of video rental stores where you’d walk in, take a look at the wall of VHS-tapes and pick the one that looked the most exciting.
Like maybe this:
Or this:Â
By the time Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released I was hooked, and forced every friend and family member to come with me to the cinema.
I was also watching Japanese movies (btw, was I the only one who felt The Hunger Games was a total Battle Royale rip-off?) and I’d acquired quite the taste for Akira Kurosawa by the time I was a teen. At some point I’m going to talk about The Returner and my everlasting love for Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Anyways, Gokusen certainly made an impact. I’m pretty sure my love for noona-romances can be traced right to this source.
Discussion: I love this show (though I should admit I only watched the first season)! It’s funny (if you like this kind of almost physical comedy), has a strong female lead (both figuratively and literally) and the focus of the show is friendship. It’s obviously aimed at an audience slightly younger than I am now but that doesn’t mean I can’t re-watch the show and still like it. It’s also the only Japanese drama that has ever made me go read the manga it was based on because I wanted more.
**SPOILERS** I’ve already talked about how this drama is probably the source (the root of all evil?) of my love for noona-romances. That being said, there is hardly any romance in the show! I was watching this and thinking I was going insane (kind of like when you think they’re hinting at homosexual feelings: Are they going there - nooo? Or wait, did he just – noooo? But it really looks like…) trying to figure out if Shin was supposed to have feelings for Kumiko. Were they going to go there? Answer: sort of.
**STILL SPOILERS, PROBABY NEVERENDING SPOILERS** Shin is carrying a torch for his teacher (and it is only confirmed in the last few minutes of the drama, he doesn’t even tell her), she on the other hand has no idea and spends the drama crushing hard-core (although innocently) on a police detective.
I’m really glad they didn’t have an explicit romance between Shin and Kumiko (student-teacher relationships make me super uncomfortable) but I would have wanted to see more. That was the reason I went looking for the manga, I had heard that their romantic relationship (although mainly unrequited) would get more focus – and it did! Yay!
The reason I got so invested in this romance despite shuddering at the idea of a teacher dating his or her student is probably because Shin and Kumiko doesn’t have much of a student-teacher relationship (despite Kumiko pissing Shin of by constantly calling him and the others her “precious students” and ruffling his hair). Shin is basically an adult: he may be in high school but he is living by himself, cooking his own food and is the unmistakable leader of the class. Kumiko tends to treat him as an equal: she holds him responsible if his classmates screw up, she calls him when she needs help (for example babysitting) and she obviously doesn’t consider it strange showing up at his apartment and making him dinner. Shin is also intelligent enough, and Kumiko upright enough, that Kumiko being his teacher doesn’t give her that much power over him. He sleeps through the lessons, never opens a book and still scores perfect on the tests. She is a Math teacher. She would have to work really hard to justify giving him a bad grade if she wanted to abuse her power (which she wouldn’t). I really think they are truly equals despite their circumstances.
The romance is more fleshed out in the manga, super cute and not shudder-inducing at all. I love how everyone in the manga (Shin’s classmates, Kumiko’s fellow teachers, the principal, Kumiko’s family) is aware of Shin’s gigantic crush on Kumiko except for Kumiko and they all expect them to end up together – except for Kumiko.
I don’t feel comfortable rating the drama since I haven’t watched it for so long but if you read the review you know I have strong feelings. Friendship! Yakuza! Kumiko kicking everyone’s asses and saving the day! Supercool Shin falling head over heels for tracksuit-wearing dorky Kumiko.
What’s not to love?
P.S. Here are two cute Shin/Kumiko youtube videos, in case you weren't convinced by my review:
If My Love from the Star re-started my obsession with Korean dramas, Sungkyunkwan Scandal certainly cemented it. I’m stuck and can’t get out. Or rather, in the immortal words of The Grey “the hardest part in all of this is: I know my way back, I don’t want to go”. Seriously, I want to stay in this world of feisty cross-dressing genius girls and their dorky school nerd boyfriends forever.
Plot:The incredibly intelligent Kim Yoon-hee (Park Min-young) grows up in the late Joseon era. Were she rich and a man she would have been presented a world of opportunities, as it is she has to make do. To support her mother and ailing brother she has to resort to dressing up as a man and making use of her intelligence and writing skills by working for a local bookstore owner with questionable morals and respect for the law. Running into Lee Sun-joon (Park Yoochun), the upright son of a high-ranking minister, while taking a university entrance test for money leads to a set of circumstances culminating in Kim Yoon-hee being forced to attend the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University, all while keeping her identity as a girl secret. While Kim Yoon-hee would prefer to let her time at Sungkyunkwan pass by without any stir, she can’t help being thrown immediately into a political game. Together with Lee Sun-joon, the perpetually drunk and disordered Moon Jae-shin (Yoo Ah-in) and Moon Jae-shin’s old friend, the never serious Gu Yong-ha (Song Joong-ki), she finds herself dreaming and fighting for a brighter future for all.
Discussion: I had such a great time watching this show. I tend to watch TV shows for the characters rather than the plot and boy did this show deliver in terms of characters (honestly, the plot was rather weak)! I tend to pick shows based on whether or not I think I’ll like the female lead; nothing will make me back-button faster than a leading lady I don’t like.
Kim Yoon-he really came through for me. She is whip-smart (a genius, or at least a girl with a photographic memory, I assume based on her ability to copy texts without using references), not afraid to stand up for herself or others and a perfect, slightly more realistic thinking, foil to Lee Sun-joon’s naively privileged moral character. Moon Jae-shin keeps winning second lead popularity contests I see, which is well deserved. Not only is Yoo Ah-in an amazing actor (I would follow him anywhere, I’ve tried to watch a lot of his crappy shows, just for him) but Moon Jae-shin is the traditional hero. Which only makes it better that the first male lead is the nerd (honestly, Lee Sun-joon: “There is someone here trying to defile the examination grounds with illegal means. It is me, as well as all the students here, as well as yourself”. You might just as well have reminded the teacher he forgot to hand out the homework assignment. I bet you did that at some point, Lee Sun-joon, you gigantic dweeb). And Gu Yong-ha, my favorite asshole. He is actually one of the first characters we meet and I remember being slightly concerned, when I noticed the camera linger, that this porn-addicted pervert was going to be the main lead. Little did I know he would turn out to be one of my all-time favorite drama characters.
The strength of the show, and they’re not really trying to pretend otherwise, are the main characters and their bond. I love it, so much bromance (and I’m including Kim Yoon-hee in this)! Of course, romance is part of the group dynamics and naturally they had to include a love triangle. Why can’t someone think outside the box for once and maybe nooooot have two guys fighting over a girl? At least once? What I did like about the love triangle, though **SPOILERS** was how respectful Moon Jae-shin was. He didn’t particularly like Lee Sun-joon at the start, but that had less to do with Kim Yoon-hee and more to do with Lee Sun-joon’s personality (and political affiliation, I suppose). In the end the four of them were friends first and foremost (bromance!). He didn’t push his feelings onto Kim Yoon-hee either, which is a pet peeve of mine. “Love me because we’re friends and you feel sorry for me”? No, Moon Jae-shin is way too good for that! He was respectful and I totally believe they could stay friends even after the love triangle came to its end, something not every threesome can handle.
Speaking of romance, no one will ever be able to convince me Gu Yong-ha didn’t canonically have the hots for Moon Jae-shin. Unrequited, but definitely there on the side of Gu Yong-ha. “You want to get close and touch? Of course, I’ve experienced that before. With Geol-oh”. And boy is he over-compensating with all the porn and the gisaengs. When we see him alone with Cho-sun (Kim Min-seo), though, they’re dressed and hanging out; obviously there were no naked shenanigans going on there. He says “Hating people is a sin. How could liking them be one?”. Obviously I’m going to choose to believe he is talking to himself as much as trolling Lee Sun-joon.
I cared about the side characters, as well. I’ve touched briefly on Cho-sun, whom I think was awesome although underutilized. I would have loved to hear more about her story. Maybe they could have used their extension on that rather than the mess that the last episodes turned out to be. I also really liked the evil student body president Ha In-soo (Jun Tae-soo), his sister Ha Hyo-eun (Seo Hyo-rim), and his incapable henchmen (they really should have taken better care of Gu Yong-ha, he was the only competent part of that group).
**SPOILERS** What dragged down my enjoyment grade from a 10 to a 9 was without a doubt the ending and the epilogue. What on earth was that? I feel mislead! I really thought this show was building up to the four main characters realizing that their differences (both in background but also in outlook on life and political affiliations) could be their strength if they worked together. That together they could work on changing Joseon for the better, maybe not going as far as the King was thinking but at least to work officially towards a brighter future for everyone, not only men and nobles. Together they were the leaders of the Sungkyunkwan scholars, I assumed that was hinting at them being leaders, together, of the Joseon people. But no. Gu Yong-ha, the political mastermind and master manipulator did not go into office. He became a designer? Trader? Like the rest of his family? Despite working so hard to escape the limitations of his social class? And Moon Jae-shin went into the military? Even though he had an authority problem bigger than his head of hair (which was big) and the king he came to trust was presumably dead? Wasn’t a major conflict in the beginning of the show that Kim Yoon-he couldn’t drop out of Sungkyunkwan University because then her brother would not be able to use his name in any future examinations/official jobs. You don’t think it will be a problem for him to use his name when his sister is already using it for the foreseeable future as a teacher? Ugh, I did not appreciate the epilogue. Other than the call-back to Gu Yong-ha’s porn and the fact that Kim Yoon-hee used to copy down erotic literature. That was cute.
Anyways, it was a fun ride. A+, would ride again, though maybe skip the epilogue and write my own. The Jalgeum Quartet rides off into the sunset, set on changing the world. Together, as they should be.Â
To quote Cassandra Clare: “I’m desperately in love with you”, Warrior Baek Dong-soo. I don’t know if you deserve it, but that’s how it is. Too late to do anything about now.
Plot: It’s a 29 episodes long fusion action historical drama with a million characters. At its essence, I suppose, is the story of historical folk heroBaek Dong-soo (Ji Chang-wook) and his journey towards becoming the best swordsman in Joseon (and, you know, a folk hero).
Baek Dong-soo is born deformed and the son of a convicted, although innocent, traitor. His mother dies giving birth but Dong-soo is saved by Kim Gwang-taek (Jun Kwang-ryul), a comrade of his father. He is also the Sword Saint, the best swordsman in Joseon. Unfortunately he accidentally loses Dong-soo and Dong-soo ends up raised by another comrade of his father,Heuk Sa-mo (Park Jun-gyu). Dong-soo grows up loved but physically weak, working hard to earn the respect of his peers and to become stronger. He meets Hwang Jin-joo (Yoon So-yi), a daughter of a bandit and they become friends.
Yeo Woon (Yoo Seung-ho, our second lead) is the other side of the coin. At his birth his father has a vision of a killer star, and intending to kill his new born son the father accidentally kills Woon’s mother instead. Woon grows up isolated from other children with his abusive, alcoholic father and spends every waking hour practicing his martial arts. One day he encounters Chun (Choi Min-soo), lord of the assassins, who offers him an alternative and takes Woon with him to Heuksa Chorong, the assassin’s guild.
Eventually Dong-soo and Woon meet, get sent to training camp and after a somewhat rocky start (“He looks like a male prostitute”) grow up together and become best friends and together with Yang Cho-rip (Choi Jae-hwan) they graduate top of their class. On their first mission they meet Yoo Ji-sun(Shin Hyun-bin), an apprentice nun with a secret and ties to the Crown Prince Sado (Oh Man-seok) and re-encounter Jin-joo, now a bandit herself, and Gwang-taek, who is back after 20 years.
The plot is set in motion when the boys are stationed at the palace and Woon is reminded of where his true loyalties should lie. It’s fate, after all.
Discussion: The heart of the show is definitely Dong-soo and the relationships he forms with the other characters, especially with Yeo Woon.
It’s such a common trope – best friends torn apart by betrayal, have to fight against each other – and I have seen it a million times. What I haven’t seen a million times, however, are friends who work this hard on keeping their friendship and not fight, despite betrayals, secrets and lies and being on the opposite of every line. The fact that Dong-soo spends the entire show begging Woon to come back, regardless of what Woon has done (and what Dong-soo thinks he has done), and that Woon works so hard (albeit in the shadows) on coming back to Dong-soo is really heartwarming. And sad. But mostly heartwarming.
“Friendship and all that were erased a long time ago” – Please, Woon, try that on someone who can’t see your gigantic (bro)crush on Dong-soo from space. Like a blind person. Or someone who is dead, that’s probably safer. A blind person can still hear you whisper “I want to come back, Dong-soo”, “[Dong-soo] is the one person I can’t kill”, “My only safe refuge was you, Dong-soo” – you get my point.
Obviously my favorite part of the show was Baek Dong-soo and Yeo Woon and their relationship (and I don’t think I’m being subjective by calling that the main story line – they are after all first and second lead). They both drive the story forward, usually parallel to each other - Dong-soo in the light, Woon in the shadows. However, I love everyone in this bar! Mostly everyone, at least. Jin-joo is the bandit queen of my heart and one of my favorite K-drama women. She gets interesting storylines independent on being someone’s love interest (which shouldn't have to be a pleasant surprise but still is). Chun is of course amazing (and Choi Min-soo is unsurprisingly excellent) and the relationships between the older generation is its own show well worth watching. I have a soft spot for Kim Da-yeon so painter (and historical figure) Kim Hong-do was a pleasant surprise. I even came to care about Jang Mi-so (Ji Yoo) even though she didn’t get that much screen time. Oh, I almost forgot about my favorites in Heuksa Chorong, Goo-hyang (Choi Yoon-so) and loyal background assassin (who’s name I’ve totally lost. But he is awesome. Stabs someone in the back for implying Woon is a traitor. I mean, Woon is obviously a traitor but that doesn’t mean he needs to hear it. He feels bad enough about it as it is).
A notable exception here is Yoo Ji-sun, whom I have conflicted feelings about, to say the least. Mostly I feel like they wasted her character. She had so much potential but was relegated to love interest (and was I the only one who felt no chemistry between Shin Hyun-bin and Ji Chang-wook? Probaby not, when even Ji Chang-wook admitted he would personally have chosen Jin-joo). Then all her plot lines were dropped and she spent the second half of the show showing up for a couple minutes per episode to maybe have a stilted and awkward conversation with Dong-soo. So why not give her a good story line? Why? She was an expert bowman, and apparently (and inexplicably) had an incredible pain threshold. Maybe there could have been a story there? Maybe?
My point is: this isn’t a perfect drama. After re-watching it several times I still don’t know why the bad guy is bad or what his plan is because I keep zooning out when he talks if none of my favorites are in the scene. And I feel like they were building up to something that didn’t happen. In my opinion**MAJOR SPOILERS** the plot climax fell a little flat. What was the big counter plan that you’ve worked on forever, Woon? Were you really going to kill a hundred people by yourself? Or did you just want to die with Dong-soo? I really expected the Shadow People to come into play, but nooo. Maybe I should re-watch and see if I missed something.
Ending:Â
**MAJOR SPOILERS**Â
I honest to god didn’t mind Woon dying (despite not so secretly considering him the real hero of the story) and I definitely saw that coming (I ugly-cried the entire last episode). I thought it was the right decision for that kind of character and where he was heading, the alternative would have been to let him wander around in China? By himself? I wouldn’t have considered that a happier ending and it would have cheapened Dong-soo’s rise as the greatest martial artist in Joseon if Woon was still around somewhere. Dong-soo had to win a fight against Woon to be able to claim that title.
I would, however, really have liked some emotional response from the other characters. They were his friends after all and at least Sa-mo knew Woon as a child and Mi-so was nursing a pretty bad crush on him for quite a while. It just felt emotionally and narratively jarring to have this giant death scene of the second lead and then a super happy epilogue when everyone is suddenly paired off and riding off into the sunset. And did Cho-rip face absolutely no consequences? That was a major betrayal and the person with the strongest sense of loyalty in this entire show was Dong-soo. I was honestly disappointed that he survived and that his betrayal wasn’t part of an evil plan (which I assumed and was delighted by when he first suggested Woon’s death) but simply Cho-rip making an ice cold risk assessment and forgetting about friendship.
Actually, looking back on the show makes me wonder if this was brewing for a long time (or if the writers just panicked and had to kill off Woon somehow in the final episode). Cho-rip was definitely a good friend to Woon and Dong-soo (Woon brings up their friendship several times in the final episode) but always treated slightly lesser. Woon and Dong-soo are the “first and second best swordsmen in Joseon” and Cho-rip has to jokingly ask if he’s the third best, Woon keeps running after Dong-soo telling Cho-rip to stay and as they enter the palace and start a fight Dong-soo asks Woon to join him and Woon even throws his sword at Cho-rip, expecting him to hold it for him while he fights with Dong-soo. I can see how that would brew resentment. Especially since Cho-rip is actually a competent fighter (the only one to graduate together with Dong-soo and Woon – both of whom are considered “one in ten thousand”).
But I was still left with questions at the end. Did Dong-soo still believe that Woon just went crazy one day, switched sides, killed everyone and became an assassin? Did no one tell Dong-soo about Woon’s childhood? Making that kind of decision before you’re able to understand the consequences is pretty understandable, especially given how Woon grew up. I would have liked Dong-soo to realize that. And all the people Woon secretly saved. Did none of his friends ever find out? I’m going to pretend that my favorite loyal assassins sent everyone a stern letter some time later detailing all of Woon’s great deeds.
Do I even need to warn for **SPOILERS** anymore?
One of my favorite, although heartbreaking, parts of Dong-soo's and Woon's relationship was exemplified by Cho-rip's line: “Dong-soo, that’s your problem. You don’t care if Woon speaks the truth or not, you won’t hear it as a lie”. What Cho-rip means is of course that Woon cannot be trusted and that he will betray Dong-soo if he makes the mistake of believing him. And yes, Woon does lie to Dong-soo and lets Dong-soo draw the wrong conclusions. But it’s not for Woon’s benefit, it is for Dong-soo’s. Woon taking the responsibility for various heinous acts and murders is what spurs Dong-soo into action and allows him to fight Woon (who is obviously never fighting back when it matters). What’s heartbreaking is the fact that despite believing Woon is capable of murdering the Crown Prince and even Cho-rip Dong-soo still desperately want Woon to come back, and he’ll keep waiting, never giving up. He doesn’t realize Woon is never coming back, because Woon never left. Woon didn’t “change”, he was an assassin when they met and after he left he kept protecting Dong-soo, his friends and even his victims, albeit slightly more discreetly.
In the end it is Woon who ends their relationship and his life (Dong-soo is closing his eyes, prepared to die), finally taking control of his faith.
Which brings me to another thing I truly liked - the running theme of faith. Do we choose our fate or does it choose us? The best example is of course Yeo Woon (but Ji-sun, Ji and how the younger trio partially paralleled the older). Woon is such a great example of a self-fulfilling prophecy (which **SPOILERS** Woon eventually realizes himself). He grows up being told he is a murderer, he meets Gwan-taek who tells him he is a murderer and Chun most definitely tells Woon he is a murderer and Woon start believing it himself. I’m personally convinced Woon’s father’s “vision” was alcoholic delirium, Gwan-taek’s “killer aura” was due to understandable reasons and that Chun is a manipulative asshole. All this feeds into Woon’s own insecurities and he ends up fulfilling his own prophesy. It doesn’t help that the story is working against him – when he tries to leave Ji ends up stopping him, speaking from experience.
As he grows older he finally realizes he has made all his choices himself and that he can control his own fate (just like Dong-soo has always told him). In the end hi fate isn’t happy, but at least he chose it for himself. “I thought that for as long as I could be together with you I could live under the sun. At least I experienced this little bit of happiness. That is enough […] Thank you”.
Ah, so tragic! But I loved it! [10/10] would watch again! I want everyone to watch this show and suffer with me.
My Love from the Star (or My Love from Another Star or You Who Came from the Stars…) was the first Asian drama I had watched for years and it really kick-started my obsession again, which came back worse than ever. I just really, really enjoy the format of especially Korean dramas, with generally 16-24 mostly well-written and tight episodes and then a resolution. No will they-won’t they, no (or at least few) filler episodes, no shows that should just end but goes on forever (I’m looking at you, Grey’s Anatomy). I also have such a weakness for many of the tropes that galore in K-dramas (girl dresses up as boy, birth-secrets, noona-romances, secret geniuses, torn apart by fate and so on, more on that later). My Love from the Star was an excellent jumping-off point, there is a reason after all why everyone and their mother loves this show, I hear they’re even making an American remake.
Plot: Our main leading lady is Cheon Song-yi (Jun Ji-hyun/Gianna Jun) who is just that: a main leading lady. She is a top star and has a team of assistants, a manager, her mother and her old friend from high school (who has an undying and unrequited love for her) to make sure she always has everything she needs. Being a star since her teens has arguably made her into a somewhat disagreeable person and on the surface she comes off as self-absorbed, rude and occasionally stupid. Nobody knows how much she struggles with cruel comments, nasty rumors and family troubles. When Cheon Song-yi moves into a new apartment building she meets her new neighbor, our leading man Do Min Joon (Kim So Hyun). He soon turns out to be not only her neighbor, but also her professor at university and (unbeknownst to Cheon Song-yi) an alien sent to earth 400 years ago. I don’t think it will be a spoiler to say that they fall in love, and that it won’t go smoothly. There is also a murder mystery, if the whole alien-actress love story wasn’t enough to hook you.
Discussion: I think a lot of my love for this shows stem from my love for this kind of main character. I love Cheon Song-yi (and Jun Ji-hyun is an excellent actress)! She has such a dynamic personality. She is far from perfect: she can be overly confident, self-absorbed to the point that she can’t see that her best friends are hurting and her personal choices aren’t always stellar. BUT you can’t help adoring her and everything she is. I will take a thousand blunt, confident Cheon Song-yis over a single always cheery in the face of adversity, lets the male lead walk all over her kind of traditional K-drama female lead. Jun Ji-hyun and Kim So Hyun have great chemistry too, by the way.
I normally hate love triangles (which is a real chore if you’re into K-dramas because they’re EVERYWHERE) but I think it worked out ok in this one. I actually really liked the resolutions to everyone’s love affairs, which is unusual. I also hated, hated, hated the old friend with an even older crush on Cheon Song-yi (Lee Hwi Kyung played by Park Hae Jin) when I first started watching but I grew to really care about him and his storyline.
This isn’t my favourite drama of all time but it was enjoyable (I didn’t fast-forward at all) and a very nice way of easing into Korean dramas. I give it a solid 8/10 in both enjoyment and quality. Probably won’t re-watch but would recommend to others, especially beginners.
This is a little weird, starting off with a review of a Japanese tv-show that aired ten years ago. If you can even call it a review, it’s mostly about my feelings. My very old feelings. But still, I need to ease myself into this, so why not with a show that was part of my first-wave East-Asia drama watching.
Hah, I watched this show back in 2004 (wow, ten years already), while it was airing. It was torture having to wait for subtitles and since this was before streaming and, well, fast internet it would take hours to download each episode. But it was worth it, I was obsessed!
I can’t tell you today if the obsession was due to having to wait (new episodes and their subtitles were not posted regularly once a week but could show up anytime between a day and three weeks after an episode had aired, so you had to check the forums constantly) or because the show was simply that good. I’m honestly afraid to re-watch it, just in case it doesn’t live up the memory.
Plot: Our main character is Kozue (Esumi Makiko), a house-wife in her thirties. Before her marriage she had a promising career but once she got married she decided to quit her job and focus on her family. It’s now seven years later and Kozue and her husband still have no children and have drifted apart, communicating mainly through Kozue’s parents. Kozue decided to go back to work (against her husband’s wishes) and starts working part-time at her old magazine. It’s not easy, though. Her former subordinates are now her superiors and she’s been out of the loop long enough to have a hard time contributing worthwhile material. One rainy day on her way home from work she meets Takuma (Yamashita Tomohisa), a high school student and former competitive ballroom dancer. Because of a recently discovered heart disease, which he keeps secret from everyone around him, he is allowed no strenuous exercise and the dreams he’s put all his effort into achieving are now lost to him. He feels just as adrift as Kozue. They meet, sparks fly and they are unable to stay away from each other despite the many reasons they should.
Discussion: I obviously loved this show, and enjoyed it immensely while I was watching it. I was **HUGE SPOILER** not happy with the ending, being a teenage romantic, but I did really love the show up to that point. And looking back on it as an adult, maybe that was the best ending they could have. Although, I still think they kind off threw Takuma under the bus and didn’t allow him a happy ending. I guess this is where I would have liked a k-drama time skip to see that he grew up and was happy. But the focus was on Kozue and while I would have wanted them to be happy together I can understand how that wouldn’t be the best thing for Kozue, and probably not even for Takuma. I do think the feelings they felt were real but I also think they were both using each other as means of escaping their real lives and creating a fantasy world that wasn’t conductive to living in the real world, growing up and moving on. They both had real life problems to deal with and they couldn’t do that only holding on to each other. But still, I would have wanted them to move on together. I guess I just have to pretend they meet again in five or ten years, happy, and can start over as healthy adults.
