Kdramas I’ve Been Watching

It’s been nearly two months since my first semester exam ended and I have been lazing back at home doing absolutely nothing much except watching dramas, movies, and reading books. At first, I was relieved to have some free times on my own away from school works, but now I’m getting restless for having nothing to do. Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t finish most of the dramas that I have been watching. Before, I attempted to catch up with the latest popular kdramas, but now I rather spend my times watching back older dramas – the ones which I truly enjoy watching and don’t need the urge to start pressing the forward button on the remote control or on the media player. I did managed to finish at least one new drama, which I bought immediately after it arrived in ‘Tokyo’ DVD shop. That drama is none other than “My Girlfriend is a Gumiho”.

At first, I thought about writing about the drama separately, but as usual, I’m too lazy to capture the pictures and it would take a long time to search for them on the internet. I won’t bother with drama summaries since they could be easily found of dramawiki and other blogs.

MGIAG is by far the best drama I have seen this year although I still enjoyed “Personal Taste” and “The Woman Who Wants to Marry”. I have always been a fan of Shin Minah ever since I saw her in “Punch” drama on MWD. When I read the drama recaps by javabeans and girlfriday, I’m surprised to see that some of the people who commented didn’t know who she was. As for Lee Seungi, I have watched a couple of episodes of “Sharing Inheritance”, but I ended up watching the ending with my mother and my cousin so I still haven’t managed to watch back from the start. Maybe, some day, I’ll try to watch it back. “Famous Princess”, in which he co-starred as this bratty university student who had to marry the youngest sister of the family, is getting popular here, but I can’t seem to like his character. For me, I only enjoy watching him in MGIAG. The only thing I didn’t like about MGIAG was that it was a bit too melodrama – those separations were too sad for me. Even so, I’m already thinking of repeating it before the second semester starts again. I am already starting to forget some of the scenes and I need to refresh my memory.

These captures are from episode 15 where Byun-soo and Sun-nyeo daydreamed about ‘the unimaginable’ after receiving the wedding invitations.

Just when I was feeling sad because of the melodrama, their imaginations were outright hilarious.

-This is the scene where Dae-woong grabbed Dong-joo at the wedding altar.

-But of course, the last one, “The three of us are siblings. We have to get revenge for our parents” was just pure genius.

In MGIAG, the stars of “You’re Beautiful” appeared as cameos for brief moments in the drama. Ever since seeing Park Shin Hye and Lee Hong Ki, I was determined to watch back YAB, which I finished just recently. It’s my third time watching back the drama and I’ll never get tired of it. During my first time, I was more focused on JGS and PSH, but on my second time, I started to pay more attention to JYH and LHK. Now that I’m a big fan of C.N Blue, I think I paid more attention to Yonghwa this time.

While watching YAB, PSH reminded me a lot of Eunhye so after I finished it, I’m now watching Coffee Prince again. Unlike YAB, this is only second time watching it although it’s my favorite kdrama of all times. It’s nice to just watch back my favorite couple and the coffee princes while listening to the Indies music featured in the drama. I only felt sad sometimes whenever I see Lee Eon, who had passed away two years ago

I also bought “Playful Kiss” immediately on the day it arrived at ‘Tokyo’ DVD shop. I had to pay twice the amount because it came in 2 discs. At that time, I didn’t mind paying because I was anxious to watch the drama. So, for a couple of days, I was hooked to the drama and it was painful to de-attach myself away from the TV screen to do some errands for my mother. The drama was light and fun, at first, and I thought the couple’s relationship will develop after their first kiss, but I was wrong. I won’t lie when I say I started disliking Seung-jo after he started university. His cold attitude towards Hani was really getting on my nerves and I kept shouting in my mind to Hani to forget about him and find someone who will love her back.

I mean what’s so great about Baek Seung-jo? I know he’s extremely smart and is good in everything including cooking. After all, he’s a character from a manga. I started doubting whether I might still hate him if I read the manga or it was because of the script and KHJ’s acting. I’m not saying he’s a bad actor, but his robot-like character was killing me. So, I have stopped watching the drama after episode 11 and I skipped to the end and watched a bit of it. Now that I know how it ended, I’m not interested to finishing the rest of the drama. Like I said, it is just too painful to see him tormenting the girl and I also got frustrated with Hani for knowing only to follow him wherever he goes.

After getting frustrated with Playful Kiss, I attempted to watch “Oh My Lady”, but I have started to lose interest in the drama too. The only reason I started watching the drama was because of Cho Si Won, but in the end, my favorite character is his character’s cute daughter and I was only watching the drama for her sake. I can’t seem to think of him and Chae Rim as a couple, but they look more like mother and son. That thought never occurred to me when I watched Kim Bum and Park Jin Hee in “The Woman Who Wants to Marry”. I think the age difference between that couple is greater than CSW-CR couple, but they seem to match each other quite well and I recall many moments in which I was jealous of PJH when she was with Kim Bum. I also dislike Park Han Byul’s character a lot. She reminds me of her character is “Fantasy Couple”. I still call her ‘Flower Pot’, a name which Anna (Han Ye Sul) gave her in “Fantasy Couple”.

“Cinderella’s Sister” is also top in my list of unfinished dramas, because I have only managed to watched two and a half episode after buying it two months ago. The reviews aren’t that great so I am never in the mood to return to it even though I like the casts (except that annoying Cinderella).

Perhaps after I finished watching Coffee Prince, I’ll shift my attention back to American dramas. I should finish watching Vampire Diaries and watch the dramas Phantom burned for us a couple of months ago.

God of Study

I wasn’t really planning to watch this drama for the holiday. In fact, I was watching The Return of Illgimae and I also had to finish watching The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry. However, when I read the description on the back of the DVD I bought from Chinatown, I knew I had to watch it because it was a Korean remake of Dragon Zakura. So, before I watched God of Study, I re-watched Dragon Zakura and maybe it was a bad choice ‘cuz I ended up comparing the two dramas even though they are not exactly alike. Truthfully, I prefer the Japanese drama because it was more funny and short to the point. I prefer the unemotional face of Sakuragi Sensei ‘cuz it made the drama more interesting.

So, before I rant on, here’s the storyline from wiki.d-addicts.com for those who haven’t watched neither of the drama.

Kang Suk Ho is an ordinary lawyer who decides to take up a job at the nearby high school. After seeing the conditions of the school and the poor grades all the students have, Suk Ho decides to create a special class promising admission to the most prestigious college in Korea, “Chun-Ha-Dae University.” Five of the most laziest students – Hwang Baek Hyun, Gil Pul Ip, Na Hyun Jung, Hong Chan Doo, and Oh Bong Goo join the class to in order to prove that they can do it with hard work and dedication.

I’m not saying this drama isn’t good. It’s just that I knew the story ahead, just like when I was watching Boys Over Flower, so it was predictable. It was less fun than the Japanese drama ‘cuz the teachers are more serious about the study.

I must admit that I am starting to have a crush on Yoon Seung Ho. I have always liked him as a child actor, especially in ‘Heart Is’ movie. (Gosh, I cried bucketful of tears while watching that movie.) I only have to stop seeing Yamapi in his place in order to enjoy his character.

My favorite character is the drama is actually Go Pulip, whose role was performed by Go Ah Sung. She is just so adorable. I didn’t like Ji Yeon that much as Na Hyun Jung until she cut her hair ‘cuz she was trying too much to be cute, unlike the cute girl in the Japanese drama. Her character was combined with the cute girl and the jealous girlfriend since there was only five students chosen for the special class. The same goes for Lee Hyung Woo as Hyung Chan Doo ‘cuz sometimes I was feeling undecided about whether he’s really cute or acting to be cute. I didn’t recognize him as the kid from The Legend and The Return of Illgimae until I read his profile on wiki. Lee Chan Ho (Oh Bong Goo) isn’t that bad, but sometimes his acting needs improvement especially when he cries. Sorry, he really didn’t touch my heart like Lee Hong Ki did in You’re Beautiful.

I was happy to see Bae Doo Na as the assistant teacher, but I wish she was more like Ino Sensei. Again, I kept comparing to the original drama, but she would have been more funnier. I almost didn’t recognize Oh Yoon Ah as Jang Ma Ri. I watched her in Surgeon Bon Dal Hee before, but she was so different in that drama.

What I really didn’t like in this drama is the so called love triangle or rectangle or whatever. At first Baek Hyun and Pulip were into each other, but then suddenly after the event with Na Hyun Jung, their feelings for each other seemed to have disappeared among the chaos. Also, why bother to show that little love triangle between Kang Suk Ho, Han Soo Jung, and Jang Ma Ri if none of them ended up with each other at the end. Oops..sorry…

The ending was a bit confusing for me ‘cuz while a person can study vet medicine in Chun Ha University, one has to go to another university to take up medicine studies (sorry..another give away.)Also, I don’t like the fact that just because one university doesn’t accept a student, that person has to try again next year. Why can’t he/she (see, I’m not trying to give away the ending) attend another university instead? After all, they did get good grades on their university exam. Even in America, one can apply to several universities and choose the one which accepted them, right? In Myanmar, no matter how much scores you get on the exam, as long as you passed it, you can apply for university, but of course you won’t get into the university you desire. The total marks for UFL and Medical College is the highest in the country. The top universities accept students based on their exam scores so those that didn’t score much has no choice but to take distant education. Even in distant education, there are still limits. It was only in my year that they accepted many students to major in English. Okay, I’ll stop now and get back to the drama.

It still was educational for me ‘cuz I was now motivated to pick up my 1100 words vocabulary book and start studying five words per day. Well, I try to study, but sometimes I just study 20 words in one day ‘cuz I forgot to study regularly.

As for the OST, I was pretty getting weary of hearing ‘Because I’m Weary’ all the time and the other songs didn’t attract me that much. I really didn’t know Ji Yeon was Na Hyung Jung even though she sang in the ost.I thought she was another girl from Kara. She really looks like her. Gosh, I can never tell these girl bands apart aside from Wonder Girls and 2NE1.

I found some cute manga pictures for God of Study on Facebook.

Source:

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/God_of_Study

God of Study Fan Page on Facebook

The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry

When I first heard of Kim Bum being cast in “The Woman You Still Wants to Marry” as a guy who fell in love with a 34 years old woman, I was skeptical about the outcome. I thought it would be a disaster. I couldn’t really imagine the sweet and boyish actor to be paired with someone who’s way older than him.

However, when I started watching the drama, I was so drawn into it that I forgot that Kim Bum was in it until he appeared at the end of the first episode. Even though it was just a few minutes appearance, I overacted like a teenager. And I grew to love him more and more as the plot line thickens. Plus, he can sing . I love his song “The Woman Who Broke My Guitar”. “Gobaek” is also good, but I prefer the original singer from “A Wolf’s Attraction” OST.

My favorite character beside Min-jae is Da Jung. She’s just really adorable and all the mess she gets into herself, not to mention getting her friends also in trouble is really hilarious. Shin-young is pretty hilarious, but Da Jung stole my attention whenever she’s on screen. Bu-ki is the calmer person among her friends, but I couldn’t believe she would dance around with Da Jung after Ban-seok told Da Jung that he loves her (after he left of course).

Right now, I’m stuck on episode 10 since I can’t find no newer episodes on DVD. Yeah, you won’t believe it, but I could find its DVD (although not complete) while it was still airing in Korea.

Love & Marriage

I have finally finished watching “Love & Marriage”. Some of you kdrama fans might be thinking, Love & Marriage? That is so 2008. Yeah, this drama was released last year, but I never found the time to watch it until now. The drama has been even aired on MWD long time ago, but even then I made up the excuse of studying for exams to pay attention to it (even though I studied at the last minute). I usually finish American TV drama in short time, but for “Love & Marriage”, I watched only two episodes per day, to savor on the special moments and think about them while smiling like an idiot all the time. Even now, I can’t wipe that goofy smile off my face and that’s how good the drama is.

I would just cite the synopsis from http://www.hancinema.net since most kdrama fans might have watched it already. If you haven’t, I totally recommend that you give this a try.

Synopsis

What would happen if a couple manager and a divorce lawyer fall in love? Couple manager’s task is connecting peoples’ love, and divorce lawyer’s job is detaching people’s relationships. Nevertheless, the two jobs share the same conclusion; it’s love. Ganghyeon is a ‘couple manager’. She manages peoples’ arranged marriages, but dreams about her love marriage. She gets out from work for a marriage fraud, and starts to work as a remarriage couple manager. Unmarried woman, who failed in love, enters into the world of remarriage. Hyeonsu is a ‘divorce lawyer’. He married through the arranged marriage, and got divorced. He’s got the wounded heart about the divorcement, and doesn’t know what true love is. Ironically, he needs to help those who have the same pain and trouble that he has.

“Boys Over Flower” may be the most talk-about drama (at least in Yangon), but I didn’t feel the same way as I did when I was watching it. I finished all the episodes in like four days and I can hardly any special moments between the two main leads, but then again I was paying too much attention on Kim Bum instead to notice them.

What I like about L & M is that the couple actually acts like real couples. They frequently hold hands, kiss each other (or try to kiss whenever they got the chance) and Kang Hyun sits on Hyun Soo’s lap a lot which is something I’ve not seen in other kdramas. But if I ever see any girl sitting on any guy’s lap outside, I might not feel the same as I did when I watched on L & M. There are just too many countless cute moments that I like a lot including Hyun Soo’s version of Cindrella lolz.

However, L & M makes me feel sad because I know that a character like Park Hyun Soo is too good to be true. He may have some flaws – he’s divorced and had a problematic brother, but even then he’s just way too perfect. But then again, it’s because he’s played by Kim Ji Hoon. I like him too much. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even watch that long family drama that is airing on MWD. I dislike the actress and only watched it frequently to glance at his face. I think I’m going to watch “Flowers for My Life” later on as he’s a second lead in that drama.

As for now, I have to finish watching “4400″ to return them back to a friend and maybe I’ll watch “My Fair Lady” afterward. I’m really surprised to find this drama in YGN only a few weeks after it has finished airing in Korea.

25th Birthday

I’m 25 today and I feel older than I was a year ago (of course). Compared to last year, I have no permanent job but I have got the chance to attend two diploma classes and I can look forward to getting a master degree in English now. I never would have thought that I will have a chance since my grades from UDE were extremely low. And now, I get a salary which is higher than my previous job and it is less tiring also. Of course, I have to find books and read ahead. I think I spend more time on doing my homework for my tuition than for my diploma class. I barely study unless there’s a tutorial.

Nothing much happens today. Just the same old Monday Blue. I didn’t feel like doing anything except to go back home and read books. My sister got me (not exactly but I asked for them) an early birthday present, which are Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. I’m only missing the last book, Breaking Dawn. She also bought DVD sets of Meteror Garden I & II and Boys Over Flower. Talk about F4 craziness. But I can’t watch MG I & II as there’s no English subs. I doubt that I can find the subs online.

Rest in Peace Lee Eon

Yesterday, my sister told me that Lee Eon (Min Yeop from Coffee Prince drama) died in a motorcycle accident. I was really shocked to hear the news. As you might already know, I am a big fan of that drama and I like all the casts including the coffee princes. I am really sad now

He’s the one on the right side, in case you don’t know.

May he rest in peace, Lee Eun!

Song for the day: Monday Kidz – The Day You Left

Japanese Remake of Goong

I’ve just heard about the Japanese remake for Goong drama. When I looked at the castings, I am overjoy to see Yamapi as Shin and Oguri Shun as Rui. I am not that familiar with the actresses but the lead actress was from 1 Liter of Tears. I still haven’t watch that drama yet.

I wonder when they will start filming the drama. Right now, Myanmar fans are obsessed with Goong as it’s airing on MRTV. The amazing thing is all 3 dramas by Eun Hye are being aired on television. The Vineyard Man is aired on MWD and Goong and Coffee Prince are aired on MRTV. It’s too bad that they are aired on MRTV ‘cuz MRTV’s censoring is worse than MWD.

But still you can buy all three dramas as dvds. Right now, I’m trying to finish watching The Vineyard Man. I have to watch with computer ‘cuz the subtitle isn’t that great in the dvd. Thanks to Ko Someone and Ma Yee Mon, I have the original dvd version of Goong and the Coffee Prince is nice to watch also ‘cuz the subtitles are exactly from d-addicts. I know they will pissed off to hear that their fansubs are being used for pirated dvds but for me, it saves the trouble of having to rip and watch with the computer.

[2007 Drama Highlights] Best Kiss scenes

The drama market of 2007 had been flooded with a large number of high-quality dramas, range from large-scaled dramas of billion dollars worth production cost to much smaller-scaled, but of rich content dramas. Among these great ranges of dramas, the TV viewers had been laughing with character’s happiness, crying over their heart-broken love story and were raged with unrealistic settings. Kiss scenes and crying scenes are necessary for the actors to express the complicated internal state of their character as realistic as possible. Following is a list of best kiss scenes chosen by general TV viewers.

Unexpected kiss scene (“Prince Hours”) – While singer Se7en’s transformation into an actor attracted attention, his love story with Heo I-jae was entertaining. The couple seemed to unable to overcome the difference in their social rank as a Crown prince and a court lady. However, Se7en’s tough kiss at the end was enough to make the viewers excited.

To kiss or not to kiss (“Thank you”) – Jang Hyeok was touched with compassion toward Kong Hyo-jin who had to suppress the pain of being a single parent. Even though there was no kiss, the way Jang Hyeok wiped Kong Hyo-jin’s tears was much tingly than a passionate kiss.

Love is wafted on the rain (“Que Sera, Sera”) – Eric Moon’s love confession was followed by Jeong Yu-mi’s kiss, in which the couple re-confirmed their love towards each other. The impressive kiss scene made the fans wildly excited.

Wretched tearful kiss scene (“Merry Mary”) – The love story between the two poor youths satisfied the Merry Mary manias. The sincerity of the scene was enhanced when Lee Ha-na’s tearful love confession was followed by Ji Hyeon-woo’s tough kiss.

Refreshing Cucumber flavoured kiss (“War of Money”) – Kiss while eating cucumber. Despite its awkwardness, the viewers commented the way Park Shin-yang and Park Jin-hee confirms their love for each other was as refreshing as a fresh cucumber.

A low-rated but heart-fluttering kiss (“Capital Scandal”) – This couple fall in love while having quarrels. A kiss followed by Kang Ji-hwan’s love confession to scrupulous Han Ji-min. When compared to bold kiss scenes of current melodramas, the scene is low-rated but was enough to flutter the viewer’s heart.

Gong Yoo’s coming out (“Coffee Prince”) – 2007′s most precious couple. Gong Yoo couldn’t resist his attraction toward Yoon Eun-hye, a woman in man’s disguise, and end up declaring his coming out, “It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or an alien. I don’t care anymore. Let’s go together, as far as we can go!”, made the fans, who wished for their love, to shiver with happiness.

I haven’t really watch any other dramas listed above except for Coffee Prince. I am thinking of checking out Thank You and Capital Scandal someday. I saw Merry Mary out on dvd but I didn’t think the drama was popular as I rarely read about it anywhere else.

source: http://hancinema.net

Lee Junki’s New Drama

Lee Jun Ki who rose to stardom with his feminine clown role in “The King and the Clown” is returning to a historical drama series in an opposite persona.

Lee Jun Ki has been cast as the leading role in “Iljimae” a 20 episode historical drama series to be aired on SBS. He will display his strong charisma through ‘Iljimae’ who is considered a chivalrous robber of the time.

Lee Jun Ki’s manager Kim Woo Jin commented, “He has selected characters that emphasized his manliness since ‘The King and the Clown’ and this character seems to be at the peak of his efforts.”

In the drama series “Iljimae,” Lee Jun Ki will play a character who acts as a usless gangster in the marketplace by day and a chivalrous robber by night.

The series will start filming in November with a location shoot in China as well.

source: BroAsia

Coffee Prince

I’ve just finished watching Coffee Prince up to episode 15 now. Since they are dating now, there isn’t much in the plot but still I can’t help smiling and laughing. They are just so cute together. I even started to feel a bit of jealousy in episode 15. It is too much to ask for someone like Han Kyul to exit in the real world? J/K. He’s just too perfect and these kind of guys only appear in movies, dramas and books. I have been pretty much spamming my other blog with Coffee Prince related posts. I have been collecting the lyrics for some of the songs from the drama. I will share them pretty soon after I upload the songs on fileden. I want to share songs with Myanmar web surfers and I think fileden will work for them as it’s pretty simple to download from.

Aside from Coffee Prince, I haven’t really watch any other dramas except 2 episodes of Liar Game but I have stopped watching now to wait for the episode 11 subtitle release. I don’t really feel like watching anything else beside Coffee Prince. At work, my winamp playlist is only Coffee Prince Ost and songs featured in the drama. When I get free time to surf the net, I have been surfing sites related to Coffee Prince. This craziness is similar to what I felt when I was obsessed with Goong and I know my Goong obsession didn’t die out so soon. The drama has finished airing now but I too felt like other fans who didn’t want it to them. When Goong finished airing, I also felt the same depression. I thought no other drama can replace Goong but actually I moved on to other dramas of course. But then it’s still my favorite drama after Full House. So I wonder what place is Coffee Prince in my top 10 Kdrama list now. I can’t decide whether I like this better than My Girl or not which is my 3rd fav drama.

I will stop with my spamming about Coffee Prince for now but I’ll be back with posts related to Coffee Prince later