Well, this is a bit interesting because I literally changed my mind about third place yesterday. My initial third place winner was bumped down to fourth by this show and there's really one reason for it. Whenever I watch asian drama, I'm always alone. This is because no one else I know has any interest whatsoever in other-language television in general, let alone crazy romantic-comedies (fair enough). However, I recently forced one of my friends to watch an episode of the drama You're Beautiful with me as I thought it was the drama she would most relate to.
Strangely enough, watching the drama with someone else makes it almost double as hilarious. It helped as well that I just came off watching the first few episodes which are definately the best ones. But anyway, that explains the abrupt rank change and my change of writing...
So now to talk about the actual drama itself.
You're beautiful is the usual cross-dressing story (that makes it the top 3 =) where nun in training Go Min Nye (or Gemma) pretends to be her brother Go Min Nam so that he can join top rock band A.N.JELL. She meets band members Tae-Kyung, the control-freak lead singer, Shin Woo, the charming bassist and Jeremy, the adorable drummer.
The first time I saw this show I was put off by the fact that Tae Kyung looked like an asian Severus Snape that I couldn't pay attention to anything else. Once I got used to it I was happy to instead watching Jeremy and Shin Woo instead, but as the series progresses they naturally lose screen time as Tae Kyung's romance with Go Min Nam/Nye progresses.
And right there is the week point. The drama begins filled with joyous comedy, helped along with a delightfully slap-sticky turn by Go Mi Nam's manager and A.N.JELL manager who enjoys attempting to speak English at random times. Combined with the cuteness of Go Min Nam and the sexiness of Jeremy, and Shin Woo's 'get in my pants' looks, everyone is happy.
Even Tae-Kyung's character works nicely into the mix. This drama falls down when, like most dramas, it attempts angst. The story and character connection isn't deep enough for anyone at all to care about everyone's relationship troubles. The only person I ever felt sorry for was Jeremy and that's because no one should ever hurt Jeremy.
Okay, I might be a bit Jeremy biased.
Just a bit.
But overall, it's got some great moments, such as the immaginary fan fiction sequence in which Jeremy confesses his feelings to Tae Kyung and Shin Woo overhears and says he will destroy them whilst in a jealous rage. Similar moments occur throughout the series, but the angst dappens the mood a bit. As does the constant playing of the song "promise" by A.N.JELL - seriously, enough is enough.
Irritatingly, the villains of the peice are annoying but not really to the point where they become hateable. Although, of the dramas I've reviewed so far, this is the first to actually have at least one clear cut villain, which is interesting. (If you are a villain fan, stick around for #5)
All I can say is that this is worth watching for the cuteness of all the leads, plus a generally interesting plot, and the amazing adorableness that is Jeremy.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
#2 - Coffee Prince (K)
Okay, so I promised I'd make a list, and make a list I have, as I hinted at in my last blog, my number 2 favourite drama, a Korean one this time, is Coffee Prince. Coffee Prince is a very highly rated Korean drama, which leads a lot of people to assume that it is a trashy drama like Boys Over Flowers, another crazily successful K-drama. But it is a big mistake to discount coffee prince. Whereas other dramas involve cross-dressing to add to a comedy storyline, coffee prince is all heart, with a touch of comedy.
Despite what is a crazy storyline, coffee prince somehow manages to make it seem plausible, or at least I found I didn't strike me as fake. The series follows Go Eun Chan, a delivery girl who is chronically mistaken for a delivery boy, causing much awkwardness when she enters the ladies baths to deliver lunches. She is even used by her sister to shake off unwanted suitors by implying that Go Eun Chan is her boyfriend. When Choi Han Kyul meets Go Eun Chan after believing she was involved in the robbery of his friend (and love-interest)Han Yoo Joo, he makes the same mistake.
Initially he hires Eun Chan to act as his gay lover in order to sabotage marriage meetings set up by his mother and grandmother, and later, Eun Chan becomes employed at Choi Han Kyul's new coffee shop 'Coffee Prince' where only 'princes' (good looking males, basically) are employed.
The drama follows the friendships of Eun Chan and her fellow princes, as well as her relationship with Han Kyul. In the meantime, Han Kyul still suffers from an unrequieted love with Yoo Joo, who has a tumultuous relationship with Han Kyul's cousin, Choi Han Seong. To spice things up further, Eun Chan coincidentally forms a friendship with Choi Han Seong, who she meets on a delivery run, the only person to recognise from the begining that Eun Chan is in fact a girl.
As what can only be called a love square heats up, realtionships struggle and hearts change, Han Kyul gradually realises his feeling for Eun Chan and is forced to confront the idea that he is homosexual.
Whilst Yoon Eun Hye actually plays a convincing male as Go Eun Chan (so much so that I kind of wanted her to actually be a male...), the real star of the piece is Gong Yoo's Han Kyul, whose incredible ability to convey his emotions through the camera had me in tears more than once. Even though I was initially skeptical about Gong Yoo's abilities, by the end of the series I just wanted to hug him. A lot. Far far too much.
Basically, whereas I love Hana Kimi for the craziness and funniness, Cofee Prince I love for its realness (as strange as that sounds, since objectively, it's still very ridiuclous storyline wise) and cuteness.
All in all, if you do not fall in love with the character Han Kyul, you are a cold-hearted stone gargoyle.
Despite what is a crazy storyline, coffee prince somehow manages to make it seem plausible, or at least I found I didn't strike me as fake. The series follows Go Eun Chan, a delivery girl who is chronically mistaken for a delivery boy, causing much awkwardness when she enters the ladies baths to deliver lunches. She is even used by her sister to shake off unwanted suitors by implying that Go Eun Chan is her boyfriend. When Choi Han Kyul meets Go Eun Chan after believing she was involved in the robbery of his friend (and love-interest)Han Yoo Joo, he makes the same mistake.
Initially he hires Eun Chan to act as his gay lover in order to sabotage marriage meetings set up by his mother and grandmother, and later, Eun Chan becomes employed at Choi Han Kyul's new coffee shop 'Coffee Prince' where only 'princes' (good looking males, basically) are employed.
The drama follows the friendships of Eun Chan and her fellow princes, as well as her relationship with Han Kyul. In the meantime, Han Kyul still suffers from an unrequieted love with Yoo Joo, who has a tumultuous relationship with Han Kyul's cousin, Choi Han Seong. To spice things up further, Eun Chan coincidentally forms a friendship with Choi Han Seong, who she meets on a delivery run, the only person to recognise from the begining that Eun Chan is in fact a girl.
As what can only be called a love square heats up, realtionships struggle and hearts change, Han Kyul gradually realises his feeling for Eun Chan and is forced to confront the idea that he is homosexual.
Whilst Yoon Eun Hye actually plays a convincing male as Go Eun Chan (so much so that I kind of wanted her to actually be a male...), the real star of the piece is Gong Yoo's Han Kyul, whose incredible ability to convey his emotions through the camera had me in tears more than once. Even though I was initially skeptical about Gong Yoo's abilities, by the end of the series I just wanted to hug him. A lot. Far far too much.
Basically, whereas I love Hana Kimi for the craziness and funniness, Cofee Prince I love for its realness (as strange as that sounds, since objectively, it's still very ridiuclous storyline wise) and cuteness.
All in all, if you do not fall in love with the character Han Kyul, you are a cold-hearted stone gargoyle.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Korean Shortage
I have realised, much to my dismay, that despite having recently watched a number of k-dramas, I have still watched far more Japanese dramas and so my blog will be slightly skewed. There are a few dramas that I am watching now that I will hopefully have finished by the time I have to write the further down end of the list, and luckily most of the k-dramas I have already watched rate up there in the top ten. There are also a few Korean shows that I stopped watching because they are often longer and more drawn out, whereas their Japanese equivalent is a lot less painful to sit through.
I finished ranking all of the dramas I have watched so far last night, and it was more difficult than I thought. Many of the more recent dramas one points simply for being more aesthetically pleasing. Initially I was going to try to base my rankings solely around how good the drama was, but if I do that, past selection seven or so, I'll hit a bit of trouble, because honestly, after that point, if you're not a hardcore fan, don't be watching. So instead it's based solely on how much I like it, for whatever reason that is (I will mention why each drama was awarded the rank it recieved).
Some of the dramas that have been rated highly on other sites I just don't get, just like some of the acting people say is brilliant I find shallow and awful, but there you go, I guess that's how things work out. Besides, sometimes it doesn't matter how poor the acting or how bad the storyline, if it has hot guys, it'll probably make the top ten. Not that I'm shallow...
Another thing is, it could be coincidental or it could be that they are just legitimately awesome, but every drama I've seen which involves females cross-dressing as males, I have loved. And each for a totally different reason. So there you go, a common theme. My number 1, as previously listed, involves cross-dressing, and so does number 2, but where as number two is a crazy comedy from Japan, number 2 is slightly more on the serious side, and is a product of korea.
If you know anything about korean drama, what I'll write next will totally give away my number 2, so here you go, a clue:
The korean drama was released in 2007 and was one of the most popular drama of the year.
Well, until next time =)
I finished ranking all of the dramas I have watched so far last night, and it was more difficult than I thought. Many of the more recent dramas one points simply for being more aesthetically pleasing. Initially I was going to try to base my rankings solely around how good the drama was, but if I do that, past selection seven or so, I'll hit a bit of trouble, because honestly, after that point, if you're not a hardcore fan, don't be watching. So instead it's based solely on how much I like it, for whatever reason that is (I will mention why each drama was awarded the rank it recieved).
Some of the dramas that have been rated highly on other sites I just don't get, just like some of the acting people say is brilliant I find shallow and awful, but there you go, I guess that's how things work out. Besides, sometimes it doesn't matter how poor the acting or how bad the storyline, if it has hot guys, it'll probably make the top ten. Not that I'm shallow...
Another thing is, it could be coincidental or it could be that they are just legitimately awesome, but every drama I've seen which involves females cross-dressing as males, I have loved. And each for a totally different reason. So there you go, a common theme. My number 1, as previously listed, involves cross-dressing, and so does number 2, but where as number two is a crazy comedy from Japan, number 2 is slightly more on the serious side, and is a product of korea.
If you know anything about korean drama, what I'll write next will totally give away my number 2, so here you go, a clue:
The korean drama was released in 2007 and was one of the most popular drama of the year.
Well, until next time =)
Friday, February 11, 2011
#1: Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (aka Hana Kimi) (J)
My favourite drama of all time is as above, the first drama I ever saw, and the one that will always remain in my heart, whether or not it is truly the best.
When I first grasped the concept of Hana Kimi, it was different to anything the western world had ever had to offer me. A girl travels from America to Japan, cross-dresses as a boy, to attend an all boys school (only for attractive boys, hence the tagline "ikemen paradise" or "hottie paradise") to convince a young japanese high-jumper to return to high jump.
That's right, I said high jump.
Does anyone actually follow high jump? Seriously?
The beauty of Hana Kimi doesn't lie within the love triangle between main characters Ashiya Mizuki (girl), Sano Izumi (the high jumper) and Nakatsu Shuichi (best friend), although it can be extremely cute - mainly due to the adorable Nakatsu. No, the show's real potential comes from its abundance of crazy and lovable side characters, from the man-whore Namba Minami, to the dramatic, cape-brandishing Oscar M. Himejima. No one can forget the helpful exorcist/medium/psychic Kayashima, the crazy violence of the martial arts captain Tenouji, and the cute but bitchy Nakao.
My favourite personally is the lovable plot-explainer Sekime, whose name no one can quite seem to recall.
Where the romance between an awkward Ashiya and stilted Sano falls a little flat, the humour injected by a love-struck Nakatsu who becomes extrememly confused about his sexual preference, fills the gaps. With a wacky storyline that doesn't even try to be sensible, a cast that never made sense and a script that was surely writeen by someone on drugs, Hana Kimi is still the cutest, funniest and craziest drama I've ever seen...
...and I haven't even mentioned high-jump rival Kagurazaka (who does not look in any way Japanese, let me just say) and the slightly scary but super awesome school doctor Umeda Hokuto.
As Ashiya tries desperately to convince Sano to rejoin the high-jump team and struggles to conceal both her gender and her growing love for Sano, she faces family issues, injuries, self-doubt and life at a school filled with crazy (but hot) guys.
How can you not watch?
Best moments: Any scene with Nakatsu talking to himself, and Sekime's exclamation in the final episode (but that's just because I'm a Sekime fan =)
When I first grasped the concept of Hana Kimi, it was different to anything the western world had ever had to offer me. A girl travels from America to Japan, cross-dresses as a boy, to attend an all boys school (only for attractive boys, hence the tagline "ikemen paradise" or "hottie paradise") to convince a young japanese high-jumper to return to high jump.
That's right, I said high jump.
Does anyone actually follow high jump? Seriously?
The beauty of Hana Kimi doesn't lie within the love triangle between main characters Ashiya Mizuki (girl), Sano Izumi (the high jumper) and Nakatsu Shuichi (best friend), although it can be extremely cute - mainly due to the adorable Nakatsu. No, the show's real potential comes from its abundance of crazy and lovable side characters, from the man-whore Namba Minami, to the dramatic, cape-brandishing Oscar M. Himejima. No one can forget the helpful exorcist/medium/psychic Kayashima, the crazy violence of the martial arts captain Tenouji, and the cute but bitchy Nakao.
My favourite personally is the lovable plot-explainer Sekime, whose name no one can quite seem to recall.
Where the romance between an awkward Ashiya and stilted Sano falls a little flat, the humour injected by a love-struck Nakatsu who becomes extrememly confused about his sexual preference, fills the gaps. With a wacky storyline that doesn't even try to be sensible, a cast that never made sense and a script that was surely writeen by someone on drugs, Hana Kimi is still the cutest, funniest and craziest drama I've ever seen...
...and I haven't even mentioned high-jump rival Kagurazaka (who does not look in any way Japanese, let me just say) and the slightly scary but super awesome school doctor Umeda Hokuto.
As Ashiya tries desperately to convince Sano to rejoin the high-jump team and struggles to conceal both her gender and her growing love for Sano, she faces family issues, injuries, self-doubt and life at a school filled with crazy (but hot) guys.
How can you not watch?
Best moments: Any scene with Nakatsu talking to himself, and Sekime's exclamation in the final episode (but that's just because I'm a Sekime fan =)
Monday, February 7, 2011
J and K drama
I have to say, my obsession with Japanese drama began a few years ago now, when I was first introduced to a drama called 'Hanazakari no Kimitachi e' (or 'Hana Kimi' for short) by my year 12 Japanese teacher. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. Storylines didn't make sense, dialogue didn't make sense, and it didn't matter! It was amazing and magical and the closest representation to the television show of my heart that I have ever seen. Combining bizarre writing with crazy characters and unnecessary costumes, j drama was what I had been waiting for.
However, it was greatly difficult to obtain. I managed to find my second drama, Hana Yori Dango, quickly enough, but it was a while before I decided to search the internet for more amazing shows. It took me about two years actually, but when I finally did, I discovered Korean drama. It was beautiful, the perfect counter to the crazy humour of japanese drama.
You see, korean drama, whilst still having similar crazy storylines, has heartfealt characters with real emotion, and futhermore, often quite decent acting (no offense Japan, you know it's true). So still crazy, but only, serious? How does that work?
And yet somehow it does...
So I decided I'd write a blog for all the people out there who love asian drama as much as me. Who need to share the joy and the craziness of Japanese television and the emotion-charged wackiness of its Korean counterpart. A.k.a. me, MangoMan.
Korean drama has a good review site called Dramabeans, which I myself enjoy reading, but it is limited to Korean drama, so in the weeks following, I will write similar sorts of reviews for both Korean and Japanese drama, for the enjoyment of myself. And you, if you are reading this, person reading.
Now I'm off to watch me some drama.
However, it was greatly difficult to obtain. I managed to find my second drama, Hana Yori Dango, quickly enough, but it was a while before I decided to search the internet for more amazing shows. It took me about two years actually, but when I finally did, I discovered Korean drama. It was beautiful, the perfect counter to the crazy humour of japanese drama.
You see, korean drama, whilst still having similar crazy storylines, has heartfealt characters with real emotion, and futhermore, often quite decent acting (no offense Japan, you know it's true). So still crazy, but only, serious? How does that work?
And yet somehow it does...
So I decided I'd write a blog for all the people out there who love asian drama as much as me. Who need to share the joy and the craziness of Japanese television and the emotion-charged wackiness of its Korean counterpart. A.k.a. me, MangoMan.
Korean drama has a good review site called Dramabeans, which I myself enjoy reading, but it is limited to Korean drama, so in the weeks following, I will write similar sorts of reviews for both Korean and Japanese drama, for the enjoyment of myself. And you, if you are reading this, person reading.
Now I'm off to watch me some drama.
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