Thank god is friday. thats all i have to say

Finally, I have made it through another week. But I still need to get paid!!!!!!!! (sigh)
Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy.

I've been watching Queen of Housewives because of your recap. Are you going to continue recapping?

They were selling My Girl and Goong at my local Best Buy. it makes me wonder if kdramas can be big as anime in the US.

Hey Javabeans TGIF!
I was wondering... are you gonna get to finishing up painter of the wind. I was really into your recaps and then they just stopped. =(
Love your SITE!!

Today is good friday! I actually had an off-day from school today

I'm so happy coz today i finished Sassy Girl Choon Hyang i know that was like 4 years ago but it was still amazing XD

Have a Happy blessed Easter everyone!!

I truly enjoyed your site this week, aside from the long debate about 200lbs beauty. I'll go with SERE's argument, the movie did leave a bad taste in my mouth after the whole debate, other than that I enjoyed reading everyone's opinion..

Dear Javabeans,

I just finished the movie Frozen Flower, in the scene after JIS escaped from the prison through the help of his 4 trusted co-bodyguards; he just got off the horse and he was helped by two of his co-bodyguards. On his left is the actor from " My Precious Child" currently showing in our country through KBS channel, on his right, I am dying to know the name of this actor. His a hottie!! : ). Can you give me his name and what other dramas or movie he has worked in. BTW Frozen Flower is a great movie, superb acting by both JIS and JJM. Hoping someone will sub it, though. Finished watching it though I hardly understand Korean.

Yay, Happy Friday. Happy GOOD FRIDAY to everyone as well!

It's my day off, and so I'm glad to spend time on this website (not that I don't spend half my day on the website anyway during the work week!). Thanks JB for your excellent site. =)

So, where was I? Oh, yeah - the k-drama series, Sweet Spy... If we did an analysis to see who was more wooden - Dennis Oh (O'Neil) or a piece of wood, I think the results would be too close to call. Dennis was so bad that I watched the last 3-4 episodes without sound and just in 3x fast forward mode.

This series also sort of tainted Nam Sang Mi, who was hot/cold in Gourmet (some scenes, she was really interesting and really good, and then, in other scenes, hmmmm.... not so much). And so I was beginning to think that maybe I'd not put my "a favorite of mine" label next to Nam Sang Mi on my big board of Korean actors and actresses....BUT, then we watched a drama series where she lit up the screen and she and Kim Myung Min just duked it out for best acting chops in every scene. A 100% turnaround! What's this great series?

Yep, it's Bad Family! And yes, it was really great! =) For those who don't know, Bad Family is about a little girl (Nalim) who loses her memory in a car accident that wipes out her whole family, and she can't remember who or what caused the accident. And so her only living relative (who is suspicious of this one evil guy who benefited from the accident) hires a bunch of screwy misfits to pretend that they are her family, to try to get her to remember who she is, and to keep her hidden and safe from the evil guy who caused the accident in the first place).

The ensemble cast was really decent. Not as uniformly good as, say, Coffee Prince Shop #1, but good enough on their own. Like Coffee Prince, each of the extended cast has their own little stories to deal with, and so all of the characters are fleshed out. And Kim Myung Min, wow, he was just stellar. There were three scenes with Kim Myung Min that were top notch, and two of the three scenes that were as good as the ones in Coffee Prince Episode 12. That's how good Kim Myung Min was. I was totally surprised, because I'd not expected that level of acting from him.

Oh, and my wife thinks that Nalim (Bad Family) is cuter than Mi Joo (MNIKSS)...... and I might have to agree? So to sum up - you got great acting. You got a great character played wondefully by Kim Myung Min. You get Nam Sang Mi doing a great, endearing job. You get a CUTE CUTE little girl who melts your heart. The drama is funny, sometimes hilarious, always interesting. And it can make you cry (or tear up at least, as I did a few times). The soundtrack is a little lame, but who cares.

So for the last few weeks, I've put up my list of dramas that we've watched recently and then I've ranked them. Needless to say, Sweet Spy is dead last and won't be going anywhere. But Bad Family leaps up my rankings!

***

The Best of what I've seen:

1. My Name Is Kim Sam Soon
2. Coffee Prince Shop #1
3. Bad Family
4. My Girl

Worth watching, fun to watch, don't miss these:

5. Super Rookie
6. Full House
7. Delightful Girl Choon Hyang
8. Goong
9. The Grand Chef
10. My Love Patzzi
11. Save The Last Dance For Me

Mostly worthwhile, especially if you like to throw things at the TV:

12. Bimil

Not worth watching. I paid like $70 for this drama series, and so I will continue to rip Sweet Spy until Dennis Oh writes me a check for $70:

13. Sweet Spy

***

Up next for us, Mixed Up Investigative Agency and Soulmate, and then maybe we take a break and watch Korean movies for a week.

-Samsooki

The best "yikes! Plastic surgery" movie I've ever seen is Kim Ki-Duk's, TIME. The debate on 200 Pound Beauty totally reminded me how very creepy Plastic Surgery can be, and why I'll never do it.

@ Boraah (#5)

Wow! Do you perhaps live on the West Coast?

@Samsooki,

Great lineup of drama to watch! I enjoyed Mixed up investigative Agency and Soulmate. But I got to admit, it took me A WHILE to finish Soulmate. I was on the verge of quitting it several times. But I stuck through it b/c of all the positive reviews. The soundtrack ost was really great, one of the better ost from Korean Drama. If you have a chance, please check out "Thank You" and "The Last Scandal." The Last scandal was the last drama that Choi Jin Shil was in before she died and she did a fantastic job in it! As for Thank You, Seo Shin Ae, she melts my heart! I love that little girl so much.. and.. If you enjoyed "Delightful Girl Choon Hyang" and "My girl", you might also like "Fantasy Couple" and "Hong Gil Dong", since all four drama were written by the lovely Hongs Sisters.

FREAK YES, FRIDAY.

I have a research paper due on Tuesday on the treatment of Chinese immigrants and Chinese-Americans in 19th-century America, and another research paper due in two weeks on the changing perception of women in India film. I haven't even started on the latter, and I've only just started on the former. Boo.. Anyone want to write these papers for me? :P

Today, my Chinese class decided that we don't want to have class, so instead we're going to watch Jay Chou's film "Secret" and then drive an hour to go to this amazing Chinese restaurant out of town. (Which reminds me--I need gas!) I really love my Chinese class.. We've pretty much decided that we're not going to do anything for the rest of the semester, so we're basically just playing around. Love it. :3

So right now, I'm watching Ms Kim's Million-Dollar Quest, How To Meet A Perfect Neighbour, and My Sister-in-Law is 19. Ms Kim's is entertaining, although it's not the best show I've ever seen.. I didn't really like the main guy at first (I kept getting distracted by how enormous his jaw is XD), but I like Ms Kim, and the side characters are pretty cute. HTMAPN is pretty good (I like character studies), but I'm dreading what's going to happen when Yoon-hee's boss realizes that she's really not as great as he thinks she is. This makes me sad, because they're SO DARN CUTE TOGETHER. ㅠ_ㅠ But alas, I know it needs to happen so she and her reformed-playboy best friend can finally hook up. And as for MSiLi19..it's so cliche-tastic that I don't even know where to begin. I started watching it for Yoon Kye-sang, and he's incredibly adorable in it, but the rest of the drama makes me die a little inside. Seriously, it's like a trainwreck. A hilariously cliche trainwreck. SO PREDICTABLE. Birth secrets? Betrayal? Contract relationships? Brothers fighting over the same girl? The "so-many-years-later" plot device? Both brothers are potential chaebols? (I can't really tell how wealthy their family is, but they're pretty damn rich.) Love quadrangles? Ridiculous sidekicks/siblings? WINNER. I can't look away. It's so magically insipid, I have to turn off my brain when I watch it.

THREE WEEKS UNTIL THIS SEMESTER IS OVER. I think my brain is melting, ewwwww..

lol.. anyway, TGIF!!! 3 more days until our Vegas trip! So what is everyone planning to do over the weekend?

@14, Smiley6rl:

I'm a little scared of Soulmate, to be honest. I am always a little skeptical of new or trendy or different, because usually, if it fails, it's not pretty. But given the number of people who say it's great, we are getting it. I think DVDAsian has it for $80, which is a bit on the high side, but if its good, then we'll have it in our library.

As for Last Scandal, I am not sure I want to watch this. Like other guys who followed Korean pop culture back in the day, Choi Jin Shil was the girl made of dreams. And when she passed away, a lot of dreams died with her, both in Korea and other places in the world.

I'm not sure if I can watch Last Scandal for that reason.

-Samsooki

Happy easter weekend all... :)

Happy Easter in advance :)
It seems like everyone is having a good day...except me haha organic chemistry is ruining my life!!!!

I can't wait to start watching dramas again when school and exams are OVER.
YAY :D

maybe because i'm new to the genre, but my goodness Korean dramas are addicting. i just finished Soulmate a day or so ago. I can see a tiny bit how people would compare it to Sex in the City or Friends....but not by much. It reminded me much more of the first season of the English show Coupling, especially with the intertwining of relationships between the characters. It was really hard to see the chemistry between Dongwook and YuJin, they just come across as friends. Not even really good friends, just tolerable friends. She really felt like one of those desperate girls who just wanted to nab a man, pretty much any man. It truely came across like she felt less of a woman without a man besides her.

Overall, i did enjoy the drama, especially the ending. Not all dramas/shows need to have everything wrapped up in a pretty bow. This was just wrapped up enough that you rather felt the bow would come at somepoint.

The music was great, and really fit in well. There was a few things i didn't get culturally, but at the moment i can't remember what they were.

Now i need to find my next drama, which i won't start until AFTER my taxes are done, cause i know i will want to use the little free time i have to watch. I'm considering the Sam Soon drama next.

I suppose I'm in a minority of 1 in not having enjoyed Delightful Girl Choon Hyang. I found the two leads supremely annoying (I really don't know who I disliked more out of the two), the story bizarre and inconsistent (I watched this drama almost 2 years ago and yet I am still baffled and annoyed by the very strange wedding scene they had at school. They had been bickering non-stop up to that point, barely able to stand each other's company and then suddenly their friends - who are aware of their mutual antipathy - throw them a surprise ceremony at school which they thoroughly enjoy despite having protested against this forced/arranged marriage. And then after the ceremony, suddenly we are back to bickering. I know I was supposed to be all "awwww their friends are so cute for doing this for them" but instead I was more "WTF? this doesn't even make sense!!" ). Frankly the only character I liked was Uhm Tae Woong's character, and that was only for shallow reasons. Knowing that he wasn't going to get the girl only further irritated me and I made it up to episode 12 before I got too angry to continue. Due of all the rave reviews, I'm tempted to give it another try - and then I remember how I sputtered at my screen during the wedding scene and I decide against it.

I need to work on my taxes this weekend but since its Easter I think I might have to wait until deadline! lols. Major procrastinator!

I think I might be the only person who did not enjoy watching Soulmate. I couldn't get into it. I gave it so many chances but I still could not like it for the world! It is actually playing on IATV here.

Watching Cain and Abel now...I like it but then again I like most if not all medical dramas. Lots of politics involved! Maybe since its my profession I tend to like watching those.

Have a great weekend everybody!

@21....

i too find myself becoming more interested in k-pop, though i don't understand a word of korean...

anyways, if u like R&B, i suggest 'wheesung'/ 'hwiseung' (the spelling differs, i have no idea which one is the correct one). his latest song "insomnia" is amazing. his other songs like angel, dilemma and fading star are also on my playlist. i guess you can youtubed him and have a listen to a few of his songs.
uh... 'fly to the sky' is not too bad... (an R&B duo).

@23soysauce

I watched Frozen Flower at youtube, but no eng sub. If you are Korean then no prob. Enjoy!

Yay for Open Thread!

My comment is for those who have seen Soulmate.

Am I the only one who felt bad for the 3rd person involved? Seems like everyone enjoyed watching this drama, well, I did too, but I was a tad bit bothered by how the two lead characters dealt with their feelings even if the 3rd person (sorry, I don't wanna refer to that character's name to avoid spoiling it for others who haven't seen it yet) was still in the picture. And the relationship between 3 and 2 shouldn't have been disregarded. I mean, c'mon, what gives?

But at the end of it all, I'm glad this is just a tv drama. :D

It is Good Friday here in the UK which means ... NO WORK DAY! YAY! But in true English style as it is a long weekend and all, the weather has decided to take a turn for the worse with rain, winds and grey skies. What happened to the sunshine and blue skies that were present during the rest of the working week?! Bleh ... why do I bother complaining? I've lived here long enough to know that you can't expect great weather when there is a long weekend! :D

So what have I been doing all day to amuse myself? Started to watch Return of Iljimae and reading your recaps. I'm liking Jung Il-woo so far and am hoping that he will become as great an actor through this series as Lee Min-ho did in BBF. I'm quietly optimistic about the new wave of Korean actors coming through and hope that the writers and directors can/will produce memorable characters and stories through which these actors can develop and pursue fulfilling careers. Fingers crossed!

I've also recently acquired an external hard drive now to store my kdramas and have realised that a terabyte drive is not enough! Whilst transferring my kdramas to the external drive, reality bit ... I've watched A LOT of kdramas over the years. What is even more disturbing is that I have an even longer list of kdramas that I haven't even seen! What to do?? With time being so precious these days, do I just watch:

1. recommended dramas (i.e. recommended by you, javabeans)
2. dramas with actors I've loved in the past
3. modern day dramas as I tend to not like period dramas, although what category is Return of Iljimae?

The thought of committing myself to at least 16 hours of my life (one hour for each episode) to a new drama without any promise of enjoyment has led me to actually watching k-movies (as they are only 1-2 hours long) or re-watching some oldies (but goodies) and skipping to the bits I like best :p . I know, I know. It is a waste of time and I could probably have finished another series by now. But now with the benefit of hindsight (and a lot more kdramas under my belt), I feel that I can be a better kdrama critic and re-assess my initial thoughts on a kdrama or, in the case of Joo Ji-hoon (Goong), see how far they've come (Antique). It's like a trip down memory lane.

I've just realised last night that my trip to California just misses the Korean Music Festival to be held at the Hollywood Bowl on May 9. Ah, shame. Not that I would have gone but the thought that I could happen across Kim Hyun-joong in LA was an entertaining thought ... especially after spending the last 3 months looking at him (and reading about him) daily on my computer screen!

Have a great weekend, javabeans, and other regulars.

Hello everyone~
I finally finished New Heart. Very entertaining drama, I would suggest it to anyone :] (I already suggested it before in another open thread, lol.)

Anyways, after watching New Heart, I was excited to get started on yet another medical drama - White Tower(because I heard that Kim Myung Min did some excellent acting in there).

However, in the first five minutes, I have to say I was disappointed. They were performing open heart surgery, and I was looking forward to seeing the heart; but they just showed close-ups of Kim Myung Min's face(I'm not complaining about that though) lol. I just wanted to see more... graphic surgery scenes. I must say, that New Heart has raised my expectations of surgery scenes exponentially.

I'm not sure if I would be able to watch another medical drama.(Because I'm obsessed with watching open heart surgery)

Does anybody know a good medical drama perhaps(with graphic surgery scenes)? :]

-hyein

I am totally loving JiSun's solo album. Polaris is my favorite song. Today I got my grad announcements and I am sooooo excited because in a few weeks I will get a diploma.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!...and i have to study damn it!

@22, Liv -

You know, you are right. I had a more difficult time with this particular drama than the others that I liked, in terms of sticking with it.

But, if you can find something you like about a particular drama, then that's what you focus on.

For me, it was Jae Hee. In the beginning I thought he was Mr. One Note (sort of like Bi, in Full House), but he really has some decent comic timing to go along with his serious acting, martial arts ability. It's a potent mix.

Han Chae Young was a little bit annoying in the beginning too, but she also grew on me. Not that she had to do very much in this drama with her serious scenes, but her comic timing and her hilarious accent kept it interesting too.

The DVD box set has the interviews and special shows that cover the drama, and watching all the extras, you can understand more about the drama. I watched all the interviews that they had, and I don't think Jae Hee and Han Chae Young really knew each other or had acted together previous to this drama, and I think that was sort of reflected in the awkward acting in the begining. In the behind the scenes stuff, they didn't really look at each other or talk to each other that much in the beginning, but at the end, when they were doing their last few scenes, they were joking around and interupting each other's interviews, etc. (sort of like the comraderie and horsing around that happened between the actors after MNIKSS, during post interviews). Chemistry between actors is important, and I think it might have taken a bit of time for them to gel, before they really were comfortable in their roles.

As to my rankings, I still rank Delightful Girl Choon Hyang #7 because the ones below it had bigger issues. But, of course, #5 through #11 are still all worth watching.

For example, #8 Goong sort of dragged towards the end, and because I didn't believe Lee Yool's character at all. Not that Kim Jeong Hoon did a bad job, but his character was a lunatic and contradictory in an unrealistic sort of way..

#9 Gourmet was really, really good, but two of the main characters, Bong Joo (Kwon Oh Joong) and Joo Hee (Kim So Yun) were relatively boring compared to Kim Rae Won and Nam Sang Mi. Not that it wasn't fun and the stories of all the different random people that Kim Rae Won were really interesting, but it would have been ranked higher if Bong Joo and Joo Hee were more...something.

#10 My Love Patzzi deserves to be higher, but it is a little short (10 episodes), the characters are kind of static, and there's not much to the story. BUT, Jang Nara does a GREAT JOB, and that more than makes up for it. I will debate anyone who disagrees with me.

#11 Save The Last Dance For Me is your standard k-drama, complete with amnesia (twice, once to forget where you originally came from, and then after a year of developing new memories, a second round of amnesia which makes you forget the year of new memories), love rectangle, rich guy, poor girl, disapproving parents who try to buy off the poor girl, etc. But does it work? Oh hellz yeah. Hehe. Eugene, she is so cute here, makes me forget about her ill-spent days as part of the treacly group SES.

-Samsooki

I just started watching GOONG for the first time last week and I'm already half way through the series. So far i'm loving it - It's beautifully shot, Shin is becoming more charming as the story unfolds and chae-kyung is just as cute as ever! I loved yoon eun-hye ever since Coffee Prince, but in Goong, she's even more adorable (maybe a lot of it has to do with the character she plays) although i find her being a little too cute sometimes to the point where she seems kind of... ditsy? But I love the entire concept of the make-believe monarchy system in korea, although I think some of the outfits are a bit ridiculous... I don't think people would still wear that stuff in the 21st century even if it's in the palace! I LOVE the queen mother I think she's playing the character every well and she's very entertaining especially when it's so hard to like an older character in a young drama like this. I can't wait to get out of work so i can finish this drama already!

anyways, i'm starting to run out of dramas to watch, with BBF and East of Eden over...any recommendations as to what else I could watch? I'm into any kind of romance in terms of genre-as long as it has hot guys in it lol. Seriously, what's a k-drama without eye candy?

by the way, DRAMAFEVER is the SH*T!! I hope they upload more dramas!

@Snikki,

I felt bad, but there were other signs of that person having met their soulmate (but not knowing it yet), so I thought that things would work out eventually. That person even showed some signs of forgiving the other two, so it made me happy : )

Arguh. Im heading down to the waterfront for fish and chips tonight and it's raining. Stupid city. We've had beautiful weather ALL week, so of course it has to rain now. Maybe it'll stop in time for dinner...?

@Samsooki -

I feel for you with the whole 'Sweet Spy' ordeal. I watched it as well and because it was early on in my drama watching days (having only seen Full House and Super Rookie at the time), I wasn't as indignant about the bad acting, bad plot etc...I kinda thought all K-dramas were over the top! I was so naive...

Then, theeeeeen, I watched some really good ones with some soul and felt rather duped by the 'Sweet Spy' production company for placing such amazingly handsome bad (soooo bad) actor in a lead role in order to get me to watch it...the bastards! *shakes fist* (I fall for it every time Daniel Henney is in a movie/drama too - I hope he steps it up for 'Wolverine')!

Oh, and before I mentioned that it was 'My Sassy Girl' I didn't like because of the lead actress, but I made an error...it's actually 'My Love Patzzi'. I don't know what to do to get through that one. Maybe I'll just shelve it with my copy of 'Really, Really Like You' and write them both off as a loss. If anyone on here wants them, I'd be happy to trade for something else (mine are copies though)!

As for what to do with your 'Sweet Spy' dvds...you can use them as coasters! They'd be excellent conversation starters for when company comes over and think of the satisfaction you'd get every time you place a nice heavy mug over Dennis O's face!!

Happy Easter everyone and thanks Javabeans for all of your hard ass work!! Woo Hoo!

: )

Blessed Easter everybody!

It's already Saturday in Malaysia so. yeah. So your open thread happens on Saturday instead of Friday, but doesn't matter. :)

Was reading Soompi and not studying! sigh.

Finally got Jang Yoo Jung's track from My Precious You OST. Love that song.
but does 내가 못난 때문인걸요 (the track title) means 'because i'm a fool'? My korean is really bad so can someone help me here???

thx!

#30 Dele: I LOVE POLARIS AS WELL! But i like almost all of her songs in the album, especially polaris, goodbye heart, he doesn't love you, windflower, phony war.....hehe. Congrats btw. :)

#15 Kender: what do you think of "Secret"? i think Jay Chou still can't act but he at least directs well. the story is quite interesting when you watch it for the first time. i needed the second time to understand fully what the whole thing was about though.

@Samsooki I literally clapped when I saw your list and the shows you've picked next. I saw Soulmate not too long ago and fell in love.Got my friend hooked too. Its actually become a verb in our converations. Plus, its a show that truly does have it all, though it is on the modern side. The music is out of this world and 100% worth the watch.

@Liv -No you are not the only one, though it wasn't the actors entirely that made it hard, it was the story. The repetition, the undecisiveness. The one thing that I have to constantly check when watching these dramas is my own Americanization. At times, this gets the best of me and others I have to concede that culture is no excuse for the poor choices of the characters. Jae Hee is amazing as always to me and honestly, I would watch him laugh, cry and make faces at a paper cup for 16 eps. The problem to me was the writers constant merry-go-round of emotions and ridiculous and rather non-substantial obstacles to their relationship. All in all I like the show but the problems abound greatly!

@Sere, Samsooki and Javabeans
Thank you so much for the 200 Pound Beauty discussion. I have to say that I'm glad that I wasn't the only one with issues with the movie. Though I enjoyed, I had a lot of problems with the message, fanatasy, plot devise or not.

As for me, I'm still working on Nine Tailed Fox, its good but I know it won't end well, so I needed to take a break. (And I'm not someone who wants a happy ending all the time but in this situation, things continue to mound so a break was the only solace I have.) I should pick up with ep 13 today. Finished Witch Amusement and was livid! I am still angry about the last 3 eps that just didn't make sense to me. Not that I expected too much but some things were just outrageous. Motivation, consistency, plausibility...these are things that I need to at least make sense of and COULDN'T! Yes, I was not rooting for the main couple but by ep 12 I think we kind of had no choice, so I accepted it. I just couldn't accept everything the show threw at me from that point on. Furious! If not for Jae Hee, sporting a new haircut and a black suit, I might have stopped watching altogether!

I'm excited about the Queen of Housewives recaps, for though I am not going to watch every week, I will check in from time to time because the show is enjoyable.
Started Flowers of My Life and I'm am loving it!!!! Excellent show!
Also started Princess Ja Myung Go and Return of Iljimae. Now The princess show I'm not loving(not that the show itself is bad but I don't like the premise. Don't like the character of the male lead, so probably a waste of time, right?) but Iljimae I want to give a chance. The first ep was good and catching. Going to watch ep 2 and decide. The only thing is that the main male lead may be a little too attractive. Sounds weird, right, especially coming off the BOF combustion of irresistable eye candy but this show isn't supposed to be about that and I don't want to be distracted.

Hopefully these shows can keep me entertained until TRIPLE TRIPLE TRIPLE. And maybe I will watch Tae Hee's newest...we'll see.

Happy Christ Resurrection Weekend!
Enjoy yourselves! Celebrate!

You guys are pretty fast. I go away for a couple of hours and then this happens.

@Samsookie. Re: Bad family

Hee! I loved that series too. Nam Sang Mi was very nice in that one, and Kim Myung Min was really amazing. The way he moved and talked? Holy wow! The drama was surpringly heart-warming and cute.

You know, Mi Joo and Na Lim are equally cute, imho. Only thing is, Na Lim had a bigger role you could appreciate her for a lot longer. But Mi Joo's smiles? So cute.

@Snikki re: soulmate

Eh, the person you mention is actually my fave character from the drama and while I appreciate the freshness of the ending, I kind of hated what they did to her. I wanted a happy ending for her! I mean, it was ,sort of, but not completely, you know? And ok, talking about a drama without actually mentioning names is oh so hard.

@Nea. You're welcome! :)

***

I've been watching The painter of the wind. I LOVE it...it's beautifully shot, the story is compelling, the art is great...and I'm not even squicked about the age gap, which I thought I'd have a problem with. It's addicting! Thing is, the subs I have are less than great. Mind you, I'm grateful there's subs at all, but...I'm pretty much ignoring them and I only know a word or two of Korean. Meh.

Hello, everyone! It's my second time posting in an open thread. I finally have time to read all the posts since I'm finally done with school. Yeah!

@ Samsooki -

I haven't read you mention Dal Ja's Spring. Have you watched the series? Javabeans recapped it. You definitely need to check it out if you haven't. It's in my top five dramas.

@ Tippy -

I watched " I Really, Really Like You" and like what Samsooki said, if you find a drama that you're having a hard time sticking with it, focus on something you like and with this series, I focused on Lee Min Ki. I absolutely love him so it wasn't a surprise that I really love Dal Ja's Spring too, since he's the lead guy.

Anyway, I just realized that everytime I post here, it has something to do with Lee Min Ki. Haha!

@33 Samsooki

Fair enough - Delightful Girl Choon Hyang was flawed (very much so IMO), but I can understand it being ranked fairly high when you start doing rankings - I know there are some barely average dramas that would get very high rankings on my list just because they were so much better than other stuff I've watched.

I dunno - if it wasn't for Coffee Prince, I think my drama watching appetite would have subsided substantially. Your top two dramas - which happen to also be my top 2 dramas - are just worlds apart from the other dramas I've watched. MNIKSS was the 2nd drama I ever watched - and it got me hooked. Following that, I watched a number of dramas - many I've enjoyed, even more I've tolerated and several I've passionately despised. But there was nothing that captured my heart like Sam Soon...until Coffee Prince. I just love that show - wholeheartedly, unabashedly, maybe even blindly - and after watching that, my enthusiasm rocketed. And again - I've really enjoyed a lot of dramas since then (and NOT enjoyed several) but I always have to watch with that little voice that likes to criticize and nitpick turned off. I always have to make allowances and let things slide - I haven't felt completely invested in a storyline the way I did for CP in a while. I suppose 2008 was a low year for dramas and 2009 is already looking better, at least from an entertainment POV, if not for quality. I'm really trying to tamp down my anticipation for Triple though, because this is what I'm hanging all my hopes on now. I really *really* want Triple to be good - and isn't that almost certainly dooming myself to disappointment?

I've been procrastinating for the whole day when i really should have been revising. In fact I've basically spent the majority of the afternoon catching up on cain and abel...(which is terrible!) I don't think i can keep watching it just for the sake of so ji sub's hotness. I'm also getting rather sick of amnesia being used as plot device for quite a number of korean dramas, not to mention leukemia as well!

Re: SOULMATE Drama

I've seen the photos and read the synopsis of the drama but for whatever reason, it just never caught my attention until recently. I admit I was dreading to watch a drama that was going to waste my time...It was one of those moment where I felt that the drama could either be bad or be REALLY bad based on the synopsis. Preconceived opinion...not always good to have....

HOWEVER!

I finished the series a little over two weeks ago. I still rave about it and listen to the soundtrack or watch the fanmade MVs. It's true that it may lack in some things but it is also refreshing, lighthearted and makes you crave for -something- more, type of drama. Even my boyfriend enjoyed it and he’s an martial arts-suspense-comedy movie type of guy.

RE: prior comments re: happy ending. It really is all relative and that is why YOU should watch it and include your two cents! :P

Last thought: And of course...aside from the eye candies...If you’re into detail, this is a drama you may want to really consider watching. Not just detail in music but in dialogue, script/story and filming.

hey guys! i've been reading this site for such a long time, but have never commented. i might as well join in now on an open thread. =)

so, the hana yori dango story has been successfully made into dramas in taiwan, japan, and korea. have you guys ever watched the hana kimi ones? there are taiwanese and japanese versions. could this be a good kdrama too?

The first kdrama I saw was Coffee Prince, and I'm glad about it.
It's definitely on of my faves.

l liked MNIKSS, but for some reason I just don't think it was THAT great.
Maybe because it was so simple, lol.

I still need to Goong, because I keep getting contending reviews.
Some say it's good, some say it's bad, so meh.

As for Delightful Girl, I started watching it but I don't really feel like finishing it.
It wasn't bad, but I found nothing to get me hooked.

I started Last Scandal, and I got through like the first 5 episodes.
I honestly don't see what was so great about it.
Maybe I need to watch the whole thing.
Should I finish it?

Now, Soulmate.
I loved it, and I thought it was great.
I feel heartless saying this, but who cares about person #3 xD
I mean, that person obviously got over it in the end, so meh.

@44 lulu

Yep, I've watched Hana Kimi, the Japanese version. It was very much manga-like, if you know what I mean? With exaggerated reactions etc. It was very light and fun, kind of silly sometimes, but I liked it, though I'm still more of a Kdrama girl than a Jdorama one.

Nakatsu (Ikuta Toma woohoo) is one of my fave j-characters. Horikita Maki is no YEH or Moon Geun Young, but she portrays a guy in a fairly good way and FYI, Maki is one of my fave japanese actresses. BTW, if you watch dramas for the eyecandy, there're many many guys. Just thought you should know. ^_^

ETA: *headdesk* I missed your question. *headdesk again* Hm, if Hana Kimi was remade in Korea, it may be more focused on the love story and love triangle, which would be great, I think. But hmm, I don't know if the drama would translate well. Unless of course the K-production doesn't tone down the manga-like aspect? For some reason, I think that kind of humor works only in Jdoramas.

@44 Lulu

RE Korean HanaKimi. Let me begin by saying I really enjoyed HanaKimi - in part because I love love love Oguri Shun :D However, I do not think HanaKimi is as good a story as HYD - the reason the series was so enjoyable was due to the kooky plotlines and bizarre characters - and this zany type of comedy is something done more successfully in jdorama than k-dramas in my opinion. Like, without the surreal subplots and wacky characters, the drama would have been sort of ridiculous. But because you get so caught up in the slapstick fun, the more "serious" parts (which are effectively every scene with Oguri Shun) are a welcome relief. Additionally, and maybe this is my bias speaking, with Coffee Prince having been done so recently and received so successfully, I don't think a Korean HanaKimi would do very well (for those who haven't watched HanaKimi, the female protagonist disguises herself as a guy to attend an all boys boarding school, because she is obsessed with a guy who goes to school there). People would inevitably contrast the acting of the 2 leading ladies in both dramas and the HanaKimi role could not avoid coming off worse, not least because her character is so much less layered than Eun Chan in Coffee Prince. Essentially she is just a high school girl who has a crush on a hot and talented guy - that puts her at a distinct disadvantage when being compared with the Eun Chan. I haven't watched the Taiwanese version of HanaKimi though - how did that go?

@Liv

I agree mostly. It all depends if an hypothethical K-Hana Kimi production would just use the original storylines for inspiration and then develop the series much further (ie making the characters more complex and layered) rather than stick to the kooky plot, which oh so wouldn't work in a Kdrama. If they were to do like BBF, then I surely wouldn't watch.

Also? The point you were making about Eun Chan makes sense. There's just so much love for that character and YEH and...well, comparisons would surely be made. That said, the cross-dressing theme is not new and personally, as much as I love CP (and I do. It's my favorite drama ever), there are other dramas that tackle it well. I'm thinking, for example, of Painter of the Wind and Moon Geun Young, whom I lovelovelove in Painter.

@Jessica,

They sell K-dramas at my Best Buy now. Borders has a really large selection, and one of the other days, I saw some dudes (and I mean white dudes) eyeing My Name is Kim Sam Soon. A lot of MBC shows, subbed in English, are available from their site now too. For people who have MBC-D, Coffee Prince is now airing Mon/Tuesday.

I don't think K-dramas will ever be as big as anime (though that's also stalled a bit the past few years) in the States. Japanese and Korean people may outgrow their cartoons, but American surburbia won't ever. :D But K-dramas (or moreover the distribution community behind it) have become a brand of "Asian entertainment" (i.e. Hallyu) that more directly promotes Asian culture. (Or in Asia, it's an ambassador of Korean culture.) Of course, there's also good and (perhaps very) bad aspects to that.

@lulu,

"have you guys ever watched the hana kimi ones? there are taiwanese and japanese versions. could this be a good kdrama too?"

Yeah, but I think Coffee Prince was kinda given the "okay" by MBC as a response to the "boy-girl"/tomboy craze of 2006-07. Initially, when CP was announced, people checked whether this would be a Korean remake of Hana Kimi.

The one to remake would be Gokusen. Not just because you can use it as a SM Entertainment front for their 2nd tier boy bands, but because Gokusen can be translated into a noona drama (My Name is Kim Sam Soon), or a drama where there's a strong noona vibe (Boys Before Flowers, Full House.) This was tried out in Hello My Teacher, and I know they were thinking of remaking Dragon Zakura starring Park Hye Jin. But the emphasis is to have dreamy bishis en masse, a miasma fondue of shawty shawty shawty, who are incorrectly yet devoutly in love and in hot for miss serious teacher. Replay, replay, replay. The fangirls don't feel threatened (because she's a noona); ajumma connect with too-young boy by noona proxy. Surprise ratings!!

@Sere,

"For some reason, I think that kind of humor works only in Jdoramas."

To a degree, that's true. It's not only the cartoony slapstick (which is more based on timing than the overreacting you see in K-drama <-- Kim Sun Ah's comic genius is in how she fuses the inevitable forces of "full on ajumma" with the structure of Japanese comedy and pantomime <-- the way she talks to herself in a hyperspeed, atonal mumble is VERY J-drama), but that a lot of the jokes are built around call and response. One person says something; the entire class goes "eh?" at once; pause; everything goes back to normal; hilarity ensues. When you think about it, half of J-drama jokes end with "eh??!!!!!" as a punchline.

But I also feel Kim Hee Chul levels everything. :D Kim Hee Chul would have been all sorts of awesome playing Ikuma Toma's character as the uhhh "confused" other guy.

I'd love to see a remake of Nobuta wo Produce. Just because I love that show. And I bet Korean "Nobuta Power" would involve a body roll. :D

@Sere

Agreed - cross dressing is not a new theme (in fact, part of the reason why my BLASPHEMOUS friend said she wasn't hooked by Coffee Prince, was because she said she was tired of this idea). But I think Painter of The Wind and Coffee Prince are sufficiently different enough genres that either the audience that watched one might not watch the other, or (and Im suspecting this might be you), you put on one type of thinking cap when watching one versus when watching the other. But with a Korean HanaKimi, unless they did follow the manga/jdorama version and went for slapstick (and we are agreement that this would likely not work out well), this would probably be a rom-com, i.e. the same genre as CP. So the comparisons would be inevitable, and HanaKimi - such a delightful jdorama - might fail as a kdrama.

Since I'm obviously not doing any work today, I'll mention one other random thing. So after the mentions of Antique Bakery being up and subbed in the last OT, I watched it last weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it consciously, but on a subconscious level I must have been traumatized because I had a nightmare about it that night, which looped in Mystic River (the Clint Eastwood movie) and I woke up *really* disturbed. ****SPOILER**** The child abuse/kidnapping story was an unexpectedly dark element in this movie (I guess if I'd watched the Jdorama or read the manga, I would have been expecting this...) and really got to me. But Kim Jae Wook and Joo Ji Hoon were so cute - I didn't think Joo Ji Hoon would do comedy so well (I'd only watched Goong prior to this)