javabeans: If American comic book-dom is perpetually confronted with the question “Who’s better, Superman or Batman?” then dramaland is equally confronted with the question… “Who’s better, Superman or Batman?” Because really, they sorta all fall into those archetypes. Just also wearing hanbok and manes o’ glory. Okay, with a fair dash of Robin Hood sprinkled in.

girlfriday: The most famous heroes in Korean folklore are all Robin Hoody types, really. There’s a whole lot of thievery goin’ on among the good guys, though it’s all to restore the balance and punish the corrupt, of course.

javabeans: Because they are all Robin Hood, we almost have to strip away that layer (mm, stripped hero layers) to do any comparing, since that’s just going to be a built-in trait. But who’s got the best cover? The niftiest tricks? Whose revenge cuts deepest?

girlfriday: Who’s got the best girlfriday? The flowiest hair?

javabeans: So many Things, so many other Things to compare them with.

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Read the rest of Thing vs. Thing: Comic book heroes of sageukland (1,527 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2013. | Permalink | 82 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: conversation post, featured, Gaksital, Hong Gil Dong, Iljimae, Jeon Woo-chi, Return of Iljimae, Strongest Chil Woo, Thing vs. Thing

Annnnnnnd another year comes to a close.

Big thanks to our recap minions HeadsNo2, gummimochi, and kaedejun for sharing their reviews with us and joining the spirited discussion for the Editors’ Picks this year. There wasn’t even any hair-pulling, and only one person lost an eye! It’s been a great year for K-dramas and an even better one at Dramabeans because of all our readers, so thanks to you guys for making this community what it is. Okay, enough mushy stuff.

And the winners are…

SONG OF THE DAY

Queen In-hyun’s Man OST – “내 남자, 김붕도” (My Man, Kim Boong-do) [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2012 Editors’ Picks [Year In Review, Part 6] (4,080 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 315 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Dr. Jin, Fashion King, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, Nice Guy, Padam Padam, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, year in review

If there’s anything that Santa has taught me over the years (other than a musical mnemonic about single-malt scotches), it’s that Christmas is a time of giving. Dramaland gives us so much throughout the year, that I thought it was finally time for me to stop being a grinch and give back, out of the goodness of my heart. *waits for credit*

So this year I’ve made a Christmas list, and every drama I’ve watched this year is on it. Because everyone deserves presents. Yes, even you, Show.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

The King 2 Hearts OST – “Hang-ah’s Dream” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of Dramaland: The gift that keeps on giving [Year In Review, Part 5] (8,856 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 138 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Gentleman's Dignity, Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Faith, featured, Gaksital, I Do I Do, I Miss You, I Need Romance 2012, King of Dramas, Nice Guy, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The Chaser, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, To the Beautiful You, Vampire Prosecutor 2, year in review

My first year-end review!

I was so excited for this opportunity that I decided to watch as many dramas as I could in preparation this year, and all but forced myself to doggedly stick with obvious train wrecks because I figured, “Hey, at least it’ll give me something to write about.”

If I learned anything, it was that I should never do that again. That’s a life lesson every drama viewer should learn early in their infancy, so I’ll just chalk it up to some late blooming on my part. Ergo, take some of these review choices with a grain of salt and (hopefully) not as a pure representation of taste.

This was the year for time traveling heroes, questionably nice guys, single-minded kings, guardian angels, reapers, rockers, brothers, heroes, and hanbok-wearing chickens. Not every year has a bandwagon, but 2012 sure did; there was more time traveling than you could shake a stick at. And for most of those offerings, you’d be shaking that stick pretty angrily.

Since hindsight is 20/20, I’m riding out this year’s trend by posing this question to each drama: If I could turn back time, what would I do differently?

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Read the rest of If I Could Turn Back Time [Year In Review, Part 4] (7,565 words)

© HeadsNo2 for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 154 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Dr. Jin, Equator Man, Fashion King, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, Love Rain, Nice Guy, Oohlala Spouses, Operation Proposal, Padam Padam, Queen In-hyun's Man, The King 2 Hearts, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, To the Beautiful You, year in review

Looking at the buffet table of 2012, I’m left in awe at the vast array of possible selections before me. The sheer number of choices is growing every year and I feel like I have to taste-test the premiere and make a quick decision of whether to keep digging in or move on. Sometimes you don’t just know for sure until you’re left with the aftertaste.

And because some dramas that fall within the same genre can have unique flavors, I’m using a Taste O’Meter to assess this year’s dramas. Was it sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or savory? Maybe more than one?

Like any “Thanks to…” in a good Kpop album: My unending thanks to javabeans and girlfriday for the opportunity to let me write about what I love; to HeadsNo2 for the squee-fests and love of makgulli; to kaedejun for the laughs, hugs, and love of Oppa; and last but not least, to YOU GUYS for being awesome readers. I put in a good word for y’all with Santa but he may have used my note as a coaster instead. Or a tissue.

The series below include the ones seen in its entirety, listed chronologically(ish):

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Read the rest of A Variety of Flavors in 2012 [Year In Review, Part 3] (4,403 words)

© gummimochi for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 130 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, featured, Full House Take 2, Gaksital, I Do I Do, Marriage Plot, Nice Guy, Operation Proposal, Queen In-hyun's Man, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, The King 2 Hearts, To the Beautiful You, Vampire Prosecutor 2, year in review

Review extravaganza time!

I know: Already? It feels like just the other day I was killing myself to corral all my thoughts in coherent fashion in a monster review of 2011′s dramas, and already it’s time to lose sleep wrangling my thoughts together for 2012. Time sure flies when you’re having fun, or old. Guess which one I am?

These days I shy away from blanket statements like “This was an awesome year” or “This was a terrible year.” Dramaland has been putting out so much material that all the nuance gets sucked out of a flattening statement like that. If anything, 2012 was the year it overflowed with variety—so yes, there were terrible shows, and there were awesome shows, and there were shows every step in between. But thanks to the explosion of cable programming—aided by the launching of not one, not two, but four new cable stations boasting big drama lineups—there was just about something for everyone.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Shut Up Flower Boy Band OST – “Jaywalking” [ Download ]

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Read the rest of 2012: Something for everyone? [Year In Review, Part 1] (9,584 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 260 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Arang and the Magistrate, Big, Color of Woman, Dr. Jin, Dream High 2, Faith, featured, Gaksital, History of the Salaryman, I Do I Do, Ma Boy, Nice Guy, Oohlala Spouses, Queen In-hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, Standby, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Vampire Idol, Vampire Prosecutor 2, year in review, You're Here You're Here You're Really Here

We’re a bit overdue for a podcast, which means that this one’s super long. In our defense, there was a ton of ground to cover. And yeah, so maybe we just had a lot to say about Gaksital. I was SO determined to make this podcast fit into one reasonably-lengthed entry… but who was I kidding? It was over with ‘reasonable.’ Two parts it is! And we weren’t even drunkin’ it.

Podcast #14, Part 1

Running time: 67:40

In which we:

• talk about the disappointment that was Big and why the Hong Sisters didn’t deliver (3:10);
• begin the very long discussion on Gaksital, beginning with overall impressions and how we rate the show (9:53);
• discuss Gaksital’s dealing of historical events and people, with a brief mention of The Princess’s Man (16:40);
• still Gaksital: its technical merits, why the director rocks, why the action scenes are meaningful, and how it went dark (20:35);
• move on, finally, to Answer Me 1997, why we loved it, and where it faltered (32:35);
• wonder about To the Beautiful You, where characters act like aliens (43:50);
• puzzle out the dichotomy of Faith of its potential versus execution (49:19);
• and discuss its lead stars Kim Hee-sun and Lee Min-ho (60:06).

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Read the rest of Dramabeans Podcast #14, Part 1 (140 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 118 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Answer Me 1997, Big, Faith, featured, Gaksital, To the Beautiful You

We’ve covered the hero, so next on the Gaksital interview circuit is villain Park Ki-woong. Well, next and last. It’s a short circuit.

I have loved watching Park Ki-woong come into his own over the past several years, even though he’s been around for close to a decade at this point. He was first seen in 2004 in a K2 music video for “I Hear Love” (you can watch here, though the video itself is pretty lame), and made his acting debut in a 2005 Japanese horror movie [괴담 / 怪談] that seems to be, from my inability to rustle up much info on it, a project that faded into obscurity.

But it was a 2006 CF for a Sky cell phone that launched him to stardom, hilariously (watch the awesomeness), and he followed that up with a leading role in My Tutor Friend 2, which was a cute fluffy movie co-starring Ramyun Shop’s Lee Chung-ah. He was cute as the second lead in 2008′s rom-com Love & Marriage (where he had a very sweet parting with the heroine as they left their first loves behind to go on to their next).

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Read the rest of Park Ki-woong interview: Two-faced never looked so good (2,177 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 101 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gaksital, interviews, Park Ki-woong

Gaksital may be over, but the hit drama has left dramaland a few stars richer, namely its two leads, Joo-won and Park Ki-woong. Not that neither were stars before, but I think it’s safe to say this drama has taken them one step further, graduating them into bona fide leading men status. Both actors have been the subject of numerous interviews (and I mean a TON) since Gaksital wrapped two weeks ago, and the following is a collection of several interviews featuring Joo-won (Park Ki-woong interviews forthcoming).

Joo-won has had a rather meteoric rise to fame, considering that his first drama was a mere two years ago. Here’s how one article introduces him:

He doesn’t know failure. He debuted on television with 2010′s Baker King Kim Tak-gu. He had previously made his debut in musicals in 2006 and drew notice for his strong acting skills and good looks, but it was after he made his television debut that he gained name value.

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Read the rest of Joo-won interview: Ratings man and aegyo boy (2,157 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 93 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1N2D, Gaksital, interviews, Joo-won

I have good news and bad. The bad: Gaksital has to end, and today’s the day. The good: It is damn good, all the way to the finish line. Brace yourselves, citizens. This show hasn’t let up for one moment, and it sure as hell isn’t going to start now. Prepare your tears and your fists, and reserve a hug from someone close for the aftermath.

The finale aired at a series high of 22.9% ratings. Here we go…

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Read the rest of Gaksital: Episode 28 (Final) (5,153 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 332 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Gaksital, Han Chae-ah, Jin Sae-yeon, Joo-won, Park Ki-woong