I saw a comment about someone not liking Coffee Prince, and I’m not gonna lie, I felt a little personally attacked.

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    Aha! *cues crowd gasping* how can you NOT like it? I mean, it was kinda slow in tempo than most shows, but that’s one of its charms. I love it. It’s a classic. “I don’t care if you’re a man or an alien!”

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      It was ‘slower’ than most shows but not in a way that dragged, it was perfect for the tone and the emotional punch the show hit you with. I love it so much. Eight years after watching it and it’s still my number one. Ultimate classic. Han Kyul’s inner conflict and then his willingness to go against every social norm to be with the person he loves? Gut meet fist.

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        Exactly, I agree completely. I actually kinda miss that casual, nice, and breezy tone in K-dramas. You don’t get much of that anymore. It was very raw and real. Now everything’s zippy fast. And yes, Han-kyul was perfect. His decisions and reactions were one of the best outta all the “You were a boy/girl this whole time? You lied to me?” trope.

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          It’s also hands down the best gender-bender because of YEH’s complete commitment to the role of tomboy-mistaken-as-actual-boy. It wasn’t hard at all for me to believe that everyone mistook her gender (based on stereotypes about what a girl/boy is supposed to look and act like).

          Very few dramas do raw and real now which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since you can burn out from too much of that. I think the last super raw and real drama I watched was Que Sera Sera. That drama took me two tries to watch because it also packed quite a punch emotionally.

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            Mhm, definitely one of the better takes on the gender bender theme. Coffee Prince did a lot of things right, that’s for sure. One of Yoon Eun-hye’s best work, even to this day. She needs a kickass comeback.

            Yeah, too much of anything is never a good thing, but like you and I said, there’s not a lot of those type of real, raw, and slow toned shows anymore. It makes me miss, appreciate, and love even more shows like Coffee Prince and My Name Is Kim Sam-soon.
            Oh yes, I should add Que Sera Sera to my List.

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          I wanted to continue replying to your comment below but past a certain point the reply button disappears D:

          Funnily enough (and isn’t this ironic because this thread started with someone saying they don’t like CP), I’m one of the few people who couldn’t stand My Name is Kim Sam Soon and had to drop it. >.<

          When you say add to your list do you mean that you've never seen QSS, or, that you have to add it there as one of those raw, slower tempo dramas? Because, if you haven't seen it yet I want to give a warning but only depending on how you feel regarding warnings/precautions.

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            Haha, it’s okay! I’m glad you found a way to reply so that I got a notification that you did. Replying to comments start becoming a challenge after such long conversations, so I’m used to it.

            Oh noes! Sam-soon is such a classic, too. I remember loving it. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but I’m sure like Coffee Prince, it withstands the test of time. I’d love to re-watch all of these oldies, but my goodness, there’s never enough time. Do you remember why you dropped Sam-soon?

            Yes, I’ve never seen Que Sera Sera. Well, depending on what your warning/precaution is… y’know what, hold that thought. Don’t tell me. We’ll talk about it when I get to watching it. I like to go in raw, if I can. Heh. I’ll add it to the list of Shows To Watch, but it’ll probably be awhile until I can get to it, though. I’ll try to remember our conversation when the time comes. 🙂

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          I’m hoping they’ll be able to figure out a way for us to directly message other beanies soon. It’ll make the site even more interactive and it’d be so fun.

          I could not get on board with Kim Sam Soon. I just could not like her character, which isn’t always necessary to continue a drama but there was absolutely nothing about her or her motivations or anything that I could get on board with. Not to mention the way Hyun Bin’s character treated her really rubbed me the wrong way. I was turned off by it.

          As for QSS, I can’t wait for when you see it, whenever that may be. It’s definitely a drama that pulls no punches and doesn’t hold back. The characters are real in the worst and best of ways. When I hear flawed and complex QSS always comes to mind. It definitely has a grittier feel to it than most kdramas.

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            Ooh, direct messages would come in handy, yeah! That’d be cool. In the works, maybe.

            Hmm… maybe Sam-soon is one of those dramas where I remembered loving it, but might feel differently if I were to re-watch it? I remember really enjoying it back then. I’ll have to re-watch some of these old dramas to see if I still feel the same about ’em.
            I re-watched Coffee Prince not too long ago, and I’m happy to report that I still love it all the same.

            Ooh, I love your description of Que Sera Sera! I like the sound of “pulls no punches and doesn’t hold back” and “characters are real in the worst and best of ways.” I’d love to check it out for myself and see exactly what you’re talking about. Maybe I’ll check it out sometime in the near future. 🙂

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          I might have to go back and re-watch MNIKSS to see if I feel the same way or if my age and experiences will change how I view it. I remember absolutely loving City Hunter and held it up as the gold standard of how to do a proper action K-drama. But, recently I re-watched it and while it’s still good, it’s not as gripping as I remember. Although, that could also be because I watched Healer right before (my official #2 right after CP).

          Make a note to come back here whenever you watch QSS! I’d love to discuss it with you as you go through it (but only if you want to)!

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            Ah, I see. Yeah, I think it’d be interesting to see how old dramas that we remembered liking (Full House, Sam Soon, My Girl, etc.) could give us a different feeling now. I’d love to dive into those and find out, but no time!

            Aw, yeah, totally! I’d love that. 😊 And I did make a note! I wrote “merisoo recommended” right next to it to remind myself to talk to you about it. 🙂 And you’ll probably see me posting about it on my wall, too, so you’ll know I’m watching when you see me mentioning you about it in the BEANIES section. Haha.

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        It’s the first drama I watched, and still my all time favourite. It’s such a beautiful story, and the emotions felt so raw and real 😍

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          It’s the second drama I watched (My first was BOF and whoa lol what a complete opposite but fun-cracktastic ride that was). And the first time I was so emotionally gripped by any show American or Korean. I was so invested in their journey and I can literally re-watch it over and over and not get tired of it. That’s why it’s still my number one k-drama.

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