Translate

Thursday, January 31, 2013

I Miss You

This drama was intense and sucked me in on the first episode. Especially, when you see how the two children connect and become friends even though everyone discriminates the girl for being a murderer's daughter. It was very interesting and the child actors did an amazing job in the beginning few episodes. They were extremely cute and outstanding in this drama making me ache for them and fall in love with their relationship with one another. This drama has a lot of sad moments and also some intense moments throughout the drama. Not to mention, the OST is amazingly good and so full of emotion. 
Synopsis:
           This story starts with when our main characters were teenagers (15 years old). Su Yeon is the girl. She is well-known around her area and is bullied at school because she is the daughter of a murderer. Students avoid her and they act as if she isn't there. They are also scared of her and humiliated of the fact that she attends their school. So she's a very quiet girl and she's never called by her real name by other students. Han Jung Woo came from the states and meets her at their neighborhood park at night. He calls her by her name leaving her stunned and as it was raining, she got him an umbrella. He just so happened to start attending her school and was going to return the umbrella when he saw a group of kids, refusing to go into a room because of the murderer's daughter. Upon seeing this, he refuses to get close to her also which hurts  Su Yeon's feeling but she was expecting it in a way.
           However, feeling ashamed of the way he acted towards Su Yeon, he goes to find her in their neighborhood. When he found her, he saw the victim's mother come and fight with Su Yeon's mother. He sees chaos and Su Yeon's pain that she had to deal with after what her father had done. With this, the two become close friends. He always tries to protect her from bullies buts she didn't want him to get bullied either and so she stood up for herself many times. Su Yeon and Jung Woo start crushing on each other. However, one day when Jung Woo was getting kidnapped by other people, Su Yeon ran after the people. The two people both got kidnapped. Jung  Woo was beaten up and Su Yeon was raped and traumatized. Jung Woo left  Su Yeon alone as he escaped to get help. Su Yeon believed that she was abandoned managed to leave also and almost got hit by a car. With this accident, the two separate and go different ways.  Everyone believed that Su Yeon was dead. However, Su Yeon called Jung Woo once and it made Jung Woo realize she wasn't dead and he was determined to find her. 
   They become adults and Su Yeon has a boyfriend and a new identity of Zoe.She is now a fashion designer who seems to have a bright personality but still has a lot of scars from her painful memories of her past. She is also constantly brainwashed by her new boyfriend who knows of her past and who also knew her when they were children, because he kept saying that if they cared about her, they wouldn't have left her alone in that house and abandon her. Meanwhile, Jung Woo is now a detective, still trying to find Su Yeon. They meet again through destiny. Harry, Su Yeon's lover, was the boy that Jung Woo and Su Yeon had helped back when they were children. Harry appears to be gentle, warm, and kind. He also appears to be caring. He has a desperate need to hold on to Su Yeon even though he knows that Su Yeon still likes Jung Woo. In extreme measures, he does whatever he can to take vengeance upon Jung Woo even if it means using Su Yeon and making her appear guilty. Harry is a pretty scary character. However, this was a very intense/interesting drama.
                                                

Monday, January 28, 2013

Nice Guy/Innocent Man

Great drama! To those who didn't watch this yet, you really should. This was a really good drama and I enjoyed it. I felt the ending could've been a little better but nonetheless it was a cute drama. Song Joong Ki and Moon Chae Won did a great job and they look like a real couple on camera. The chemistry was great but there was a lot of intense moments throughout the drama and I felt our main leads did a great job. The actress who played Han  Jae Hee (the bad lady) also did a great job in acting because she really made you hate her. I felt bad for attorney Park because he never got the girl in the end.
Alright, enough of my opinions on actors and the drama, I'll give you a synopsis:



              The background information of how this drama continues starts when Maru was still with Han Jae Hee. Maru, a promising medical student and already in the third year of medical school, lives with his younger sister Kang  Choco and his friend Jae Gil. His sister Choco has poor health. Maru and Han Jae Hee share a relationship. They are both from poor family backgrounds, try hard to achieve their dreams, and they love each other. Maru wants to become a doctor and Han Jae Hee wants to be an anchorwoman and is currently working as a reporter at HBS Broadcasting Company. Maru was hopelessly in love with Han Jae  Hee and would do anything for his first love. One day, she calls him on the phone, frantic, asking him to come save a man. When he does, he immediately rushes over to help, even leaving his sick sister alone. However, when he found Jae Hee, she was scared and there was a dead man lying there on the floor. She had killed the man. Maru told her to go turn herself in but she refused to as it would ruin her career. Maru, then ended up taking the blame for Jae Hee.
           Eun Gi, is the smart, accomplished successor to her family's company. Her family owns a large corporation called Taesan. She shows little emotions and started working as a businesswoman at a young age. Her father had even thrown away all her dolls when she was a little saying that the path she is going to take isn't one for a girl. So she's a pretty strong and cold character in business. Jae Hee ends up marrying Eun Gi's father. Jae Hee told Eun  Gi that she did the unthinkable to protect Taesan and that what she did harmed the man that she loved the most. However, Eun  Gi is still unable to accept Jae Hee and afterwards, her son, that she had with Eun Gi's dad. Eun Gi treated them as if they weren't even human, being cold, harsh, and mean.
            Six years later, Maru travels to Aomori, Japan after a 5 year prison sentence. He goes to Japan to get the money from a woman who had tricked his friend Jae Gil. Maru seduces the woman and retrives the money stolen from his friend. At that same moment, Eun Gi and Jae Hee were also in Aomori, Japan. Maru and Jae Hee met on the plane when Eun Gi collapses. Her condition worsens and people were asking for a doctor on flight. Maru comes up saying that he isn't a doctor but he dropped out of medical school in his third year. He helps Eun Gi and also meets Jae Hee who says that she is Eun Gi's mother.
          From then on, Eun Gi and Maru met a few times. Eun Gi fell in love with Maru.  However, Maru was confusing as he was still in love with Jae Hee and was kind of using Eun Gi to get revenge on Jae Hee. The share a lot of memories. However, it was later revealed to Eun Gi that Maru had had a relationship with Jae Hee. Eun Gi's father also died because of Jae Hee. With that all happening, while she was driving in one direction and Maru going the other direction in opposite lanes, Eun Gi changes lanes and accelerated at Maru's car, resulting in a car accident.
        Both suffered from brain injuries. Maru was severe but it didn't affect him much but his doctor kept saying that he should get surgery. Eun Gi, lost all her memories and her brain was also damaged and she had to start all over and learn how to write and everything. She didn't even know what her own name was and her personality was different. Eun Gi goes to find Maru after seeing a picture of them together on her camera. Then with the help of Attorney  Park (who secretly likes Eun Gi and always by her side) they devise a plan to bring Eun Gi back to Taesan to take over the company that is now run by Jae Hee.

        Maru plays her fiancĂ© in this act. At first, he used Eun Gi to get revenge on Jae Hee. However, he slowly finds himself falling for her. The two share a really sweet connection. However, Eun Gi started getting her memories back and everything. Once, Jae Hee was telling Eun Gi that Maru was just using her and it reminded Eun Gi of past memories of when Jae Hee had said that to her too. With that, she falls as a lot of memories flood to her. Maru takes her to the hospital, but Eun Gi had another breakdown where she couldn't recognize Maru. Maru actually started crying in the bathroom by himself. However, afterwards, she gets all her memories back and they both start pretending to love each other while both knowing the truth of one another (Maru knowing that she had gotten her memories back but was just acting and Eun Gi knowing of his past relationship with Jae Hee).
       However, the two ended up truly giving in to their true feelings at the end. The ending was cute as it showed all the characters and how their life became. However, I felt the Maru-Eun Gi couple could've had a better and longer ending. Great drama though!!!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Brown Sugar Macchiato


If you want a humorous drama to watch that has to do with love, hate, comedy, and takes places in a school, this may just be the drama for you. This is called Brown Sugar Macchiato and it has been out for a long time now. This is a Taiwanese drama and it was really humorous and cute.


           There are six main characters in this drama, since it talks about all of them. These six main characters are boys with different personalities, backgrounds, likes and dislikes, and so forth. One loves motorcycles, another loves his sports car, another loves music, one is childish, and another loves his bicycle, and so forth. They find out that they are actually half-brothers and that they share the same father. The father, apparently, had a lot of affairs. The father gathered all six together and through his video he tells them that they are all entitled to a huge inheritance. However, in order to be qualified to receive that inheritance, they must attend the same school and live together in the same house for a year. They are total strangers to each other and two of the brothers even often get into fights. With the help of their adorable maid, Ya Tou, with her child voice, they get used to life in the new house. This drama is called Brown Sugar Macchiato because Ya Tou always made brown sugar macchiato for them in the morning.
          In the beginning, none of them were used to anything. Ya  Tou went over how everyone had their own toothbrush and everything through a speaker and you can see the six brothers being utterly confused. Like one guy, was brushing his teeth and went to flush the toilet. When he did so, his toothbrush fell in...so he took someone else's and then that dropped in the toilet too. Two other brothers wore each other's school uniforms and much more. The six brothers get to know each other and adapt according to the situation. They began to get closer.
          However, they were faced with more problems at their new school. In the school it is ruled by ten girls that are extremely mean and manipulative towards the boys in the school. Their names are Da Ya, Gui Gui, Tong  Tong, Xiao Xun, Xiao Man, Apple, Mei Mei, Xiao  Jie, and Ke En, and Ya Tou is also a part of them although she isn't as mean. Ya Tou is a part of them because they all attend the same class and they also considered another girl a part of their team just because she was the cousin of one of the girl's. However, no one knows that Ya Tou is actually the housekeeper of the six guys and their mansion.
         So the girls did what they always did, they went to go bother the six brothers. Gui Gui was the first to bother them. She pretended to be a strict teacher even punishing them to do squats just because of the way they looked. The girls were determined to make school life a living hell for the six brothers. Despite all these problems, they continue to stick together to get that inheritance. However, someone else is after their inheritance and trying to make them break their contract and sending people to the school to do so during the process.
         The brothers begin to become closer and they all share a strong bond, often helping each other out, and everything. They also fall in love with people in the school (mostly the girls that had bullied them in the beginning). This was a really cute drama and it is definitely worth a watch because I enjoyed watching it :)

Friday, January 25, 2013

Playful Kiss

This came out after the Taiwanese version of this, It Started With a Kiss (I done a review/synopsis previously). Playful Kiss was better in terms of visuals since the scenery was always so colorful and bright. It also had its own humorous moments. However, I felt, in terms of acting, It Started With a Kiss was better. So why not check out both and decide for yourself?


            Our main character is named Oh Ha Ni. She is in the bottom of her class and not very smart yet she has a crush on Baek Seung Jo. Seung Jo is a genius and extremely popular. She wrote him a love letter to confess her feelings but was rejected and Seung Jo even tells her that he dislikes stupid girls and the sad part about it was that he corrected all the mistakes in her letter before returning it back to her. Talk about embarrassing!
            Then Oh Ha Ni's home gets destroyed by an earthquake. Oh Ha Ni's father managed to meet up with his old friend and they allowed the two to live with them. However, it turned out the friend of Oh Ha Ni's father's, was actually Seung Jo's father. During the time at Seung Jo's home, she falls in love all over again even though he was cold to her and they often had disputes. The mom, like in It Started With a Kiss, continuously tried to get the two together and helped Ha  Ni a lot.
           He helps her in school and her grades increase. They get to know each other and he gets to understand her a bit more. The two then continue on to university and Seung Jo meets a girl named Yoon Hae Ra. She is a genius also and gorgeous. This made Oh Ha Ni feel threatened and upset. Bong Joon Gu who has been friends/classmates with Oh Ha Ni liked her and continued to like her even though she never reciprocated those feelings. I always feel bad for the guy who plays this character. Then more things occur that bring Hae Ra and Seung Jo together. When Seung Jo's father went to the hospital, he took over his father's gaming company for the time being. He was then introduced to the investor's granddaughter who just happened to be the seemingly perfect Yoon Hae Ra.
          Oh Ha Ni starts to lose all hope as she cannot possibly win over Hae Ra. At the SAME TIME, Bong Joon Gu proposes to Oh Ha Ni. Seung Jo hears of this and waits in the rain asking what her answer was. She doesn't tell him asking him why he wants to know when he should be minding his own business with Yoon Hae Ra. The two start arguing and then Baek Seung Jo kisses her. Ooh lala! Then they go home and Seung Jo says that he wants to marry her. They get married.
        In It Started With A Kiss, after the marriage, the season 2 which is They Kiss Again, they go into details on their honeymoon and marriage life. In this one, it kind of put everything together. They go to the honeymoon and encountered another couple. The girl started flirting with Seung Jo making Oh Ha Ni left out...on her honeymoon! The girl went further, pretending to be sick after hearing Seung Jo majored in the medical area in college. This made Oh Ha Ni jealous and Seung Jo gets upset saying that if she can't handle him aiding another woman maybe they shouldn't be together. This made Ha Ni upset and she runs out of the room. When he finds out that the woman was only trying to flirt and have alone time with him, he immediately leaves to go find Ha Ni. The two get back together again and are back to being in a good relationship.
        Towards the end, a foreigner who is half Korean comes. She begins to crush on Boon Gu who refuses to accept her feelings as he swore that he only had feelings for Ha Ni. Ha Ni, wanting to be with Seung Jo, transfers to the major of nursing. She keeps working hard to try to get into that major but she wasn't that good considering that she's not academically smart. Then on a date, she witnessed an accident which needed CPR and decided to save the person even if there is a risk that she might not do it correctly and the person dies ands he'd get arrested. She actually manages to save the person and when she got back to the date, she was late, but the guy was waiting for her which was really cute. Then it kind of briefs the ending on what happened for each character. For example, Boon Gu finds himself start to fall for the foreigner. Hae Ra falls in love too with a guy that liked her for a long time and even visits him as he does his military service. Basically, our main character lived happily ever after. However, I wished that Hyun  Joong who acted as Seung Jo put a bit more emotion into it like the guy did in It Started With a Kiss. In Playful  Kiss, you couldn't really tell if he liked Ha Ni or not. In It Started With A Kiss, you notice a change.

Either way, you people should just watch both versions and decide for yourself.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Time Slip Dr. Jin




Song Seung Hun was in this drama. He played the role of Jin Hyuk. He is a brilliant neurosurgeon. The drama starts off with him waking up in a forest and seeing a battle between people dressed in historical clothing. He wonders if they are doing a drama shooting and as he runs away from the fighting and everything, he nearly falls of a cliff but gets saved by a man. He passes out when he is saved and it goes back to modern day to show how he came to go back in time.

          It all started when a patient came in with a severe brain injury. Jin Hyuk does the operation, to find that inside the brain, was a tiny fetus. He puts it into a jar for further examination later on. However, upon finding this fetus, he has a sharp pain in his head (headache) that passes and then goes away. After that, he celebrates his birthday with his girlfriend, Mina (played by Min Young). On the day that he wanted to propose to Mina, a child got a brain injury and then died. Mina was watching over the two children (one of the child getting injured) and she got angry at Jin Hyuk for not saving the child. Jin Hyuk explained that the child was going to die even with an operation. Angry, Mina goes and drives off, to cool off. He watches her go, letting her have some space to deal with this tragic loss. However, he came to witness her get into a car accident just as she left. She goes into surgery with her last words saying that they will meet again. However, after the surgery, Mina goes into a coma.
         Later that day, he goes on the roof, depressed, and is just sitting there thinking about the events that happened. Then a patient walked out on to the roof. It was the patient that Jin Hyuk had done brain surgery on and removed the fetus from.  That patient was about to jump off the roof with the fetus in the jar. In the struggle, Jin  Hyuk managed to push the patient away but the fetus fell over the building. In attempt to grab the fetus, he falls off the building. The fetus in the jar then turns into a porthole that sends him back in time. He begins to follow the man that had saved him from falling to his death.  He was wanted for murdering an official and was in trouble and he was easy to detect from his clothes since he was wearing a doctor's uniform. The man that he was following, was willing to help him, and quickly got him new clothes to disguise himself as a normal commoner. His medical knowledge wins the trust of the Joseon people especially since he knew how to save them during desperate times such as when a guy chokes.  
            During the time in the Joseon era, he came across a young woman named Hong Young Rae who looked exactly like his girlfriend Mina. Hong Young Rae is extremely skilled in needlework and is from a noble family. She is smart and kind-hearted. However, she is betrothed to her brother's friend,  Kim Kyung Tak, yet she does not love him. Kim Kyung Tak, however does. In the meantime, Jin Hyuk is being hunted by an officer/magistrate. (The magistrate was played by JYJ's Jaejoong, by the way). Jin Hyuk also found out that the man who helped him was related to the royal family.  Hong Young Rae and Ji Hyuk managed to meet one another when Ji Hyuk found Hong Young Rae's brother out in the street, injured. Upon that, he begins treating people of the era and he even had to develop medical devices and medicine by himself and find new ways to help aid the sick. He managed to become a real doctor with the help of Hong Young Rae. The two start to form a romantic relationship and it is a very odd relationship as the two are from different eras. However, his actions begin to interfere with history and new characters are revealed showing that there are a lot of time travelers. For example, Choon Hong is a mysterious gisaeng who is a time traveler. She falls in love with Jin and she recognizes him from modern time. He had saved her when she was a child (she was the girl with the Rubix cube in the beginning of the drama).

To be honest, this drama bored me at times. So I skimmed through a few episodes. But after watching it, I still felt that it was an okay drama. Also I took into account that there were many people who liked this drama so I don't mean to offend anyone when  I say that this didn't make my favorite dramas list.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Secret Garden


So, today, as you can see, we are doing a drama synopsis on Secret Garden.


         The main characters of this drama are Gil Ra Im and Kim Joo Won. Gil Ra Im is a stunt woman. She has a lot of bruises from her stunts. Kim Joo Won is an arrogant CEO who has a really odd fashion sense. They have a bickering relationship. They didn't get along and yet they kept meeting each other over and over again. Joo Won starts to have an idea that he might be in love with this woman. However, he didn't expect what happened between them to occur. The two went into the mountains once and entered a strange house and ate chocolate that was offered to them. The next day, they found that they had swapped bodies. They became closer and there were humorous moments when both were telling the other not to look at their body. It was also amusing when Joo Won was like, "Do you call this a woman's body? Look at all these bruises." The relationship between the two was mistaken by other people. With this incident they got closer and began to fall in love with one another. This was a rather romantic love story with different twists that you didn't expect. Most people like this drama and it got pretty high ratings.

By the way, a lot of their kiss scenes were really cute. There were a lot of cute moments like when he was doing the sit ups and whenever he completed one, they would be face to face. It had a lot of romantic scenes.

However, in all honesty,  I didn't see what the hype was about. This drama was extremely popular among many people but I wasn't that invested in this drama and it was not my favorite.

Beijing Youth

This started off to be a really interesting drama. It was good in the beginning.  However, it got  a little bit weird when the four cousins all decide to quit their jobs to go out into the world to figure things out. I mean...they had such good jobs and they just quit them like that even though their parents disapproved that and even got mad at them. All the cousins form relationships and afterwards return back to their jobs, but the process in between was what this drama is about. It was really funny during their journey because they were going around to different places and met all sorts of different things like finding new jobs and also having a girl who was a little bit crazy follow them. They also had a lot of love connections which was really cute.  The acting was really nice though for most of the actors. I just felt the story line needed improvement. This drama was really good and humorous and I enjoyed watching it.
                 The four cousins are out to find out what is more to their life and want to travel around China and experience new things. The four cousins are called He Dong, He Xi, He Nan, and He Bei. At first, it was only the oldest cousin who wanted to do this. His name is He Dong. However, he managed to get his other cousins all tangled up with him. The four cousins set out on a journey followed by the girlfriend of He Bei. They also found a young girl who was a bit crazy after being dumped by her love and the girl began to follow around one of the cousins named He Xi thinking that he was her boyfriend. He Xi, however, was in love with a doctor from work and didn't know what to do with one girl always following him around. He Bei sometimes had problems with his girlfriend but the both are still in love. As the cousins are out finding meaning to their lives, they face problems, understanding what was better, and also falling in love. This was a really good drama because all the brothers have a distinct personality. However, I did not like one of the cousins because he didn't act that well. I think he was called He Nan.
            The girls also had their own problems as they find themselves falling for the guys that they liked. He Dong was going to get married when he called it off saying that he wanted to find more meaning. The girl cut her hair and began trying to find a new life in a way. Then she began to tag along with He Dong and the two fall in love all over again. The doctor with He Xi faced a heartbreak before in which the guy dumped her before they got married and wasn't able to trust again until she found He Xi. As for the crazy girl, Ren Zhi  Liao, she was holding on to a love that left her all alone in a place by herself after she cut ties with her family for him. She went crazy and afterwards had to go to a mental hospital and got better. She became everyone's good friend after she got better and moved on with her life. Either way, this drama was pretty interesting to watch with a unique storyline.  The characters were all rather distinct. The ending was also really sweet also and the actors and actresses suffered in the cold for that scene because they actually went to climb a snow mountain, and then had to wear dresses and act happy. I admired their hard work in trying to complete this series.

It shows that sometimes change can be a good thing as you experience new things.

Drama Go Go Go

                             

Drama Go Go Go! This was a romantic comedy with some good actors in it like Jiro Wang and Lin Gengxin. Lin  Gengxin debuted in the drama Bubujingxin (did a review before) and did really well in it considering it was his first time acting. This drama, he also did a great well. And as usual, Jiro did really well with some of those exaggerated and comedic parts where his acting really reminded me of the times when he was in ISWAK and TKA (also reviewed before).

Synopsis:

         Ruby  Lin plays the main lead of this drama named Wang  Ming Ming. She is a woman in her 30s and considered old by the people around her and her fashion sense is really bad. She is a scriptwriter and never had real loves or dated officially and still dreams of romantic meetings and accidental kisses. She lives her romances by writing them in the scripts she writes for dramas. However, she gets romantically involved with three men at different ages. One man in his 40s, the other in his 30s, and another in his 20s.
         Wang Ming Ming crushes on a washed up singer named Eason. So for her drama, when they are searching for people to play the male lead, she suggested Eason. Everyone were shocked and tried to replace him constantly considering that he is no longer popular and is making a living selling shoes in street markets. Eason and his manager think of this as a good chance to bring back his popularity. They work extremely hard in the drama even though everyone else wanted him to be written off the drama when the lead actress threatened the producers that she won't act in the drama. In order to stay on screen, he begins dating Wang Ming Ming to stay on the drama. Meanwhile, a family friend and loyal admirer, called Tong Shao Tian also likes Wang Ming Ming and watches out for her. He warns her that Eason may be just using her but she pushes him off. She doesn't like Tong Shao Tian and only thinks of him as a little brother.
           In a complication of different love relationships, Wang Ming Ming finds who is really in her heart. Eason also finds himself falling for Wang Ming Ming even though that was not part of the plan. This was a really interesting drama because as the drama progresses, you realize how each character has their own unique style of loving a person and how each character had their own problems and ambitions they want to reach.

        

The Princess' Man

 I really liked the Princess' Man because of the characters and how distinct and interesting they are to watch. It is a historical drama and I watched it because I saw a lot of comments online about how this drama was a really good drama and how they wanted to see more like this. Therefore, I wondered for myself, and decided to take a look at how good it really is. This drama is basically the story of a Joseon Romeo and Juliet. There were so many intense moments (especially in episode 14).

Synopsis:
                I really liked the love line in this drama. However, their love is so firmly tied to the greed for power. Basically, the king is worried about the political environment and hopes that it would be stable when his son, the crown prince, inherits it after his death. The king's brother Suyang is the father of our female main character. He is the bad guy in this drama because of his want of power. His biggest rival is Kim Jong Seo, who is the father of our male main character. Se-Ryung is our female main character, she is a very care-free girl and is doted by her father. She has a kind heart and wants to try to ride the horse, to find a good memory to hold on to when she gets married and has to stay in the house. She was supposedly engaged to Seung Yoo, the son of Kim Jong Seo. However, Kim Jong Seo was wary of Suyang and suspicious of his motives.
                Se Ryung is friends with the princess named Kyung Hee, since they are technically cousins since their fathers are brothers. The princess is very gorgeous and is a very strong character, willing to sacrifice herself to ensure stability for her father, the king, and for the crown prince. Seung Yoo was supposed to be the new lecturer for the princess. The princess didn't like the lectures and so she always found a way to get rid of the teachers by using her beauty. The princess didn't want to attend the lecture and so Se Ryung suggested to go in her place saying that Seung Yoo is supposedly her future husband and she wants to take a look at him herself. That was how they meet. They trade places for a day and the Se Ryung's first impression of Seung Yoo was not good. She found him pompous and also was shocked to see that he came into the palace with a lipstick mark on his neck. He didn't know about the lipstick because he was asleep when a gisaeng who liked him, kissed him there.
              Afterwards, Se Ryung attended the lectures for the princess. Se Ryung and Seung Yoo got closer when he found her outside the palace on a horse. He asked why she came out of the palace and she continued to lie, because faking the identity as a princess can be punishable by death. They begin to connect through those meetings and got to know each other better. Then the two began to fall in love. The king heard of Suyang's scheming and decided to cut off all his ties by making his daughter marry Seung Yoo. The problem with that was Se Ryung still thought that Seung Yoo was going to be her future husband and continued to fall deeper and deeper in love. Seung Yoo, still believing Se Ryung was the princess, allows himself to fall deeper in love once he heard of his engagement to the princess. However, he soon finds out that Se Ryung isn't the princess when the princess herself reveals it. The princess had to reveal it for she was supposed to be engaged to Seung Yoo after the engagement between Se Ryung and Seung Yoo was refused. They made up another lie saying that Se Ryung was simply a palace maid and was sent to some other place.
          Seung Yoo and Se Ryung met again. They started courting each other and were in love with each other. The entire time though, Seung Yoo thought Se Ryung was a palace maid and even thought of marrying her disregarding the class divide. Suyang was starting to plot against Kim Jong Seo. Su Yang also finds Se Ryung a new match, the magistrate, Myun, who was also friends with Seung Yoo. Due to Suyang's plotting against Jong Seo, Seung Yoo did not marry the princess either. Instead the princess married Seung Yoo's friend. The princess was extremely cold to the poor man and the guy continued to love her whole-heartedly and respect her. He continued to try to prove to be a good man and overtime, even though he started off being the most immature among the three friends, he became really mature as the drama progresses. However, I really admired the personality of the princess. In the end, she full heartedly loved her husband and was willing to even go on her knees to beg to let him live. He managed to survive but he sure went through a lot of pain due to Suyang. However, once again, the couple is threatened and what came to be of this couple, I will leave you viewers to watch for yourself. Let's just say, tears shall be shed.
           Throughout the drama, you get frustrated, you just want to make Se Ryung reveal who she is to Seung Yoo. But she doesn't....and in the meantime, she is also very harsh to Myun causing him to even turn against Seung Yoo as a rival. When she heard her father was planning to murder Seung Yoo and his household. She tries to stop it but gets locked up by her mother. Using her own blood, she writes a letter to Seung Yoo to get him out of the house to save his life. In the end, he finds out who she is and her identity. He refused to be with her from then on because he felt that he was betrayed by his best friend (the magistrate) and also used by her.  He managed to survive but was injured and left to die. He begins to feel hate toward Suyang and his entire family. He didn't know how hard Se Ryung tried to keep him from being executed by her father, even risking her own life so that he can live. Her father keeps on promising to keep him alive and Se Ryung never saw the dark side of her father. Her father even purposely said that they were banned to another island but then thought of something else, like the ship sinking on the way there, to hide the fact that he would not give up killing Seung Yoo.
         Seung Yoo returns, after being declared as dead, and he is ready to get revenge. His main goal is to kill Suyang and also his entire family. By doing so, he kidnaps Se Ryung. Se Ryung, finding out her love was still alive, willingly allows herself to be handled roughly and kidnapped. When her father comes to save her, he is wearing an armor underneath his clothes. The father doesn't know who the kidnapper is, no one does but Se Ryung, because Seung Yoo had his face covered. So even when Seung Yoo fired an arrow at Suyang, he was still fine. However, the magistrate and his army was also there, hiding. When he shoots an arrow at Seung Yoo, Se Ryung quickly uses her body to block the arrow and then Seung Yoo managed to escape. She wanted him to live.
          After much more obstacles, the two finally managed to get together. Se Ryung cut a bit of her hair in front of her father, representing cutting ties between them. However, by the ending, because Seung Yoo was captured later on, he was beaten and so in the end he was blind. Both taken as dead, with the help of Se Ryung's mother, they are sent out. Se Ryung and Seung Yoo had a happy ending though. They were poor but lived happy lives. This was truly a story like Romeo and Juliet. However the characters were a lot stronger with a lot more intense moments.

Great drama but I don't think I liked how they made him blind at the end. I wanted an actual happy ending after all the chaotic events they had to go through. It just didn't seem fair to make him blind and without a reason.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Shut up Flower Boy Band



                This drama was very interesting as it was filled with a lot of intense moments. There were moments, however, where I got tired of watching it. We all differ in tastes of dramas because my friend loved this drama.  However, I felt that I could've been improved and I felt like there were some parts where I wanted to stop watching it. However, I continued, and was definitely shocked at how the person I started falling for ended up not being the lead...when I thought he was going to be the lead. It totally shocked me and I actually liked how it really messes with your emotions and keeps you on the edge in the beginning. It was also very humorous just how bad these students who played in an underground rock band were. There are definitely a lot of good looking boys in this drama. It is a good drama to pass the time with. Also the boys in this drama look good but act like gangsters.                                                               
            This drama was a total shocker because in the first few episodes, just when you feel that Joo Byung Hee is going to the main character of the drama, it ends up being totally different. Just when I started falling for the character of Joo Byung Hee because he was so charismatic and nice to the girl that he called his "muse" that it left me in shock when I saw what happened to him. However, either way, he wasn't the main lead since he died in a tragic accident. I don't understand how his friends are not scarred for life as they saw him, all beat up, and then get hit by a truck when he stood there in the middle of the street. However, that kind of started the story in a way. Since originally Joo Byung Hee was the leader of the group these six friends formed called Eye  Candy. Before Byung Hee died, the six boys were sent to a prestigious school as no other school wanted to accept them.
            In that school, they found their rival that was called Strawberry Fields. This drama talks about how they have to deal with rivalry, friendship, love, and also to continue down the path of music. However, with Byung Hee's death, they faced a lot more problems as they continued to perform their music for their passion. However problems rose overtime between love and the girl that Byung Hee had liked begins forming a relationship with another member. Other members also get new relationships and INFINITE L (who was in this drama) played a member who wanted to continue down the path of music, even dumping his friends at one point, and forming a very odd relationship with another female singer. I felt that L could've improved his acting but he did pretty well in this drama also. There was a lot of intense moments in this drama but also sweet and humorous moments where the members either fall in love or just spend their time together like little kids, laughing and goofing off. However, they also had their arguments and fist fights and each had different family problems. Even the girl (the muse) had family problems as she was supposedly a rich young girl but became poor due to family issues. It also turned out that there really wasn't a main character as it tells the story of all characters and how they all bond.
                                                     

May Queen

                                          
           I watched this drama because I really liked the children actors and actresses of this drama. I really liked their outstanding performance and what is also nice about this drama is that they spent a lot of time on the childhood moments. It lasted for about 5-6 episodes until it showed the children all grown up. The childhood moments were extremely sad and touching though and you really felt bad for the main female lead because she suffered so much heartache when she was a young child. I really despised the stepmother but loved the stepfather who took care of her and raised her like his own child. I will get into a synopsis, but I actually enjoyed this drama, during the childhood moments. However, I can sort of see where this was going to lead up to, especially since most of the kids had an interest in ships.

Synopsis:
             The parents in this drama had a really weird feud in the beginning of the drama and it was the cause of all the problems for their children as they grew older. Our main character starts off as a young girl named Hae Joo. She is bright and kind and knows how to work hard to save enough money for her family ridden in debt and constantly beaten by loan sharks. She is always positive even though the conditions of her life and family weren't that good. She was not the actual daughter of the family she was living in but her so-called father took care and loved her like she was his own child and so she didn't know that she was actually not their child at all. However, she had a feeling that her "mother" was her stepmother and she even told her step father that she knew but she thought that she was maybe only related to her step-father. Her mother was extremely rude to her and always took care of her children first. She works hard to get on the good side of her step-mother but it doesn't exactly work. She loves boats and ships because her step-father was once a sailor and her dream was to make a boat for her step-father that she loved and who reciprocated those feelings. She continued to strive forward even when her beloved step-father passes away and continues to support the family as the head as she matures into a young woman.
        However, in her childhood, she made 4 friends, two who were actually rich. Kang San (was played by the actor who acted as Jan Di's brother in BOF) was extremely sweet in this drama. He liked Hae Joo and did everything he could to help her. However when she said that she wanted to work using her own hands to earn money, he pretended to leave, but afterwards bought all sorts of things and then set it free out into the wild and smile when Hae Joo believed that she caught so many fish etc. He is very talented, smart, and liked Hae Joo in middle school. They were separated as children and lived their own lives and afterwards were reunited in which he begins to fall for her all over again.
       Kang San, though, also has an admirer. A snobby, whiny, little girl named In Hwa.  She is rich and spoiled. She grew up having everything that she ever wanted for her parents doted her and loved her. She liked Kang San at a young age and wanted to marry him. She became friends with Hae Joo and when she wants to be honest and sweet, she truly is likable...but her personality from being spoiled all those years cannot change much. She knew that Kang San liked Hae Joo and feeling that she was inferior to Hae Joo, she ended up with Chang Hee's first love when they grew up.
        Hae Joo's first love is called Chang Hee. He is a very smart boy who gets good grades. He comes from a poor family also. His father is the butler at In Hwa's house. In Hwa's mother was actually Hae Joo's mother and Dohyun is a really evil man. Chang Hee's success was mainly tied to the family because his father sinned to make sure his son had success. In the end, he couldn't face Hae Joo for reasons (you'll understand if you watch the drama) and so in the end, even though he loved Hae Joo, he got together with In Hwa and become Dohyun's son-in-law. This drama was actually really interesting and I liked how there were many episodes about the childhood of the characters.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Baker King Kim Tak Goo


          This drama was extremely interesting because it had a lot of components of love, revenge, determination, betrayal, friendship, rivalry and so forth. However, it also had a lot of bread since the whole drama mostly revolved around the baking industry. Now for the synopsis:

   This story begins 12 years prior to when Kim Tak Goo was born. Mrs. Goo wanted desperately to have a son for her husband. However, she gave birth only to girls. In her frustration, she goes to find a fortune teller who tells her that she will not have a son with her husband but with another man, she can. In the meantime, Mr. Goo, SAMHWA food cooperation chairman, had an affair with the family maid named Kim Mi Sun. When they found out that she was pregnant with Mr. Goo's child, Mr. Goo's wife, Seo In Sook forced Mi Sun out of her house. The maid went off to a simple village and raised her son Kim Tak Goo by herself. Meanwhile, Ma Jun is born into Mr. Goo's family. He is a boy because Mrs. Goo also had an affair to give her husband a son.

         Most people can probably view Mrs. Goo as a very despicable and evil character. I feel that she is a very misinterpreted character. In order to give her husband and his mother what they wanted, she even had an affair with a man she had no interest in, whatsoever, to give them a son. She wanted to do whatever was possible to keep Ma Jun the heir of the company. However, 12 years later, Mi Sun brings Kim Tak Goo to Mr. Goo's birthday party to formally announce Tak Goo as the legitimate first son of Mr. Goo. However, due to Mrs. Goo's anger, he is driven out of their house again later on.
          Kim Tak  Goo is originally the successor of his father being that he was older than Ma Jun. However, Mrs. Goo went all out to make sure that Ma Jun has that place of successor. Thus, he begins to rebuild his career from scratch to become a top baker/king of the baking industry. He is a very honest young man and works hard, learning new techniques, from his teacher. He faces a lot of problems along the way, including love problems. During the drama, he is caught between his childhood love interest and the girl that he constantly interacts with at the place where he bakes. He had to deal with the fact that his first love betrayed him for Ma Jun for her own interest and the other woman who will always stand by him, supporting him, even though she is hurting also.
         Throughout the drama, you see love and trust, determination and will power, rivalry and friendship, and also from hate to love. You also see those few moments when Ma Jun slowly starts to connect with his half-brother Tak Goo. This was a very sweet drama and It was really interesting.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Meteor Shower 1 and 2

Okay, I believe this version was not actually licensed. However, it follows the  Boys Over Flowers theme but it had a lot of different parts to it. I watched it and realized that though it has the same components of Boys Over Flowers, it had a lot of twists and new love interests and so forth. It has 2 seasons in which I will go over in this one post.

Season 1:
         Our main character is  Chu Yu Xun. She is poor but a very hardworking girl. She dreamed of getting into Aliston College which is a very prestigious school and she has very high grades. In Aliston College, all the people that attend are rich. She managed to get accepted and worked very hard in the school. However, when she went to go take a look around the school, she was riding her bike and got hit by a taxi in which Yun Hai (our main guy) was in. She was fine but he was extremely arrogant as he tried to offer her money and in the end she had to take him to the place he wanted to go since he was in a cast. Afterwards, she goes to the school to look around and as she was looking around, she catches a shoe that was about to be thrown on this weird guy's head. Everyone was shocked and they were more shocked when she caught the next shoe thrown down. Apparently, it belonged to F4 and they were trying to punish their victim.
        Within F4, the four people are Murong Yunhai, Duan Mu Lei, Shang Guan Rui Qian, and Ye Shuo. They were all rich. Three being successors to businesses and the other helped create his brother's business that was a big hit. They were pressured into going to Aliston to study things like business and so forth. They didn't want to go and would do anything to be expelled and so they do a lot of pranks and also target students. Yu Xun fights against them and she becomes their next target as the whole school also bothers her. While being rivals, Yunhai finds himself falling Yu Xun and Yu  Xun finds herself falling for  Duan Mu. Yu Xun, in this drama, rejected Yun Hai so many times it was sweet because he kept asking.
       Finally, the two became an item and face more problems including Yun Hai's mother's blackmailing. The couple face many obstacles, get back together, only to be faced with another tragedy.  Yun Hai, losing his memory in an accident. Yun Hai's mother begins to use this as an opportunity to get him a new girlfriend while Yu Xun couldn't do anything. However, Yun Hai a sense of familiarity when he crashes into her by accident while she was riding her bicycle. But still isn't sure of who she is. That was the end of season 1. Yes, it is a cliffhanger as you don't know if he remembers her or not.
           Also I really liked the minor couple in this drama too between Shang Guan and Xiao Yu (Yu Xun's friend). He was extremely nice to her (and he looked good too).


Season 2:
Now, we continue from Season 1.
                 Now, Yun Hai remembers everything from the past...except for Yu Xun, which totally sucks. He keeps dreaming about a girl but he doesn't know who she is. He keeps feeling empty and lost. So he tell his mother about this dream and asks to be let out of his home. She refuses to let him go outside, for her own personal reasons, as she knows about his past. (OH AND JUST A REMINDER, THE ACTRESS FOR THE MOM CHANGED). So anyway, Yun Hai throws a tantrum in his room and then disobeys his mother anyway  by sneaking out of the house. He decides to travel to find the girl and takes his mother's platinum credit card. He goes to Singapore and befriends a girl named Jiang Yuan. He starts to like her and begins to wonder if she was actually the girl he was looking for. Jiang Yuan also finds herself liking Yun Hai. Jiang Yuan gets them both a couple charm bracelet to prove that they are now a couple. Yun Hai, still thinking that Jiang Yuan was the girl in his memory, accepts the bracelet.
          He comes back to China with Jiang Yuan. Yu  Xun sees him with Jiang Yuan is really upset. She starts scolding him and then screaming his name which made him had a flashback of a girl that looks like Yu Xun. He doesn't believe what Yu Xun was saying and later asks the other 3 guys. This hurts Yu Xun to know that he remembers everything else...but not her. F4 tries to explain who Yu Xun is to Yun Hai at the dorm. However, he still can't remember. When  Duan Mu, in anger and frustration, punches Yun Hai. Yun Hai remembers everything between Yu Xun and him. He instantly asks F4 on how to win back Yu Xun. They manage to get together and begin dating again. However, they now have one more problem to deal with...Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan does everything she possibly can to separate the two.
         However, this couple also has a problem. They get jealous of each other easily. I mean for the couple Shang Guan-Xiao Yu, its normal...because Shang Guan is a player. But for the main couple, they obviously are devoted to each other, yet they get upset and jealous really fast and over the smallest things also.
Also, not to mention, throughout season 1 and season 2, you'll see how cute Shang Guan and Xiao Yu are together. The two constantly have arguments as Shang Guan is a player. They also face problems in which Xiao Yu gets upset easily. When she does, Shang Guan instantly goes to F4 to ask for help on how to get Xiao Yu to forgive him. It is very cute how this couple bickers a lot but always sticks with one another in the end. I really liked this minor couple a lot. I mostly stayed to finish this drama for this couple. They were just so cute together.

Boys Over Flowers

                                   
I'm pretty sure that most of you know Boys Over Flowers. This is the Korean version, by the way. It aired in 2009 and like the others, is based on the Japanese manga series. This was the third version out after the Taiwanese and Japanese versions. At this point, writing three very similar storylines...and one more to go, is very exhausting. However, this one is a bit different from the others, like I said on the Hana Yori Dango one, each drama has its own twists and turns.


            The setting starts off at Shin Hwa School. It is a school for rich people and is very hard to get in and there is a huge line of people wanting their children to attend  Shin Hwa School. The four people that basically "rule" the school because their parents were rich and offered a lot of money to the school are  Goo Jun Pyo, Yoon Ji Hoo, Soh Yi Jung, and Song Woo  Bin. They attend this school and they are known as F4, basically meaning Flower 4 (to show that they all look good).
      Goo Jun Pyo is the leader of F4 and is totally arrogant. He is a very unique, curly hairstyle and is very rude to others as he is rich. Our main character, Geum Jan Di, is very poor and her family owns a dry cleaning business. One day when she went to  Shin Hwa to give a student there his clothes that he wanted to clean, she saw him standing on the edge of the school ready to commit suicide. He wanted to commit suicide because he somehow got on the bad side of F4 and thus the whole school began to bully him in such cruel ways. Geum Jan Di saved him and to quiet down the publicity this bullying incident caused, they decided to let  Geum Jan Di attend Shin Hwa.
       The entire school treat the F4 like gods. The guys cannot wear the same clothes as F4 and must respect the F4 and all the girls wanted to date them. All except for Geum Jan Di who just can't get used to their way of treating others. She tries to stay quiet in fear of being bullied by the whole school. However, when her friend faced problems with the F4, she couldn't help herself but stand up against F4. From then on, she become the main rival of  Goo Jun Pyo and the whole school turned on her. Even though she was constantly bullied, she would not bow down and while she was bullied, Yoon Ji Hoo comforted her and became her source of help.
        Even though, this story starts off with hate, Goo Jun Pyo slowly finds himself falling in love for Geum Jan Di for the first time. He never dated anyone before, so he was totally devoted to Jan Di once he realized his feelings for her. Geum Jan Di, however, started to like Yoon Ji Hoo who had always been there for her. Over time, she gets to know F4 more and then starts dating Goo Jun  Pyo. They have a very cute relationship but face a lot of obstacles (mainly caused by Goo Jun Pyo's mother who disapproves their relationship). However, the two managed to face those obstacles and stay together for their love. Also, Jan Di's friend from work (since Jan  Di also worked at a porridge shop), Ga Eul, also got to know F4. She truly was Jan Di's friend and worried about her wholeheartedly, always supporting her, and even getting mad at F4 when she heard that Jan Di was bullied. Ga Eul and Jan Di shared such a strong friendship in which they both protected each other. Ga Eul worried about Jan Di and Jan Di beat up Ga Eul's cheating boyfriend when they ran into him with another girl and he said that he didn't know who Ga Eul was. Their friendship was extremely sweet. Ga Eul, heartbroken at what her boyfriend said, walked around the streets and encounters Yi Jung (she previously met him a few times before also). He asks her what was wrong and she bursts into tears. So he took her to get a makeover and went to go find her boyfriend in which they got back at him where they pretended to be a couple when the boyfriend wanted to get back together with her (since she looked pretty) and she said that she didn't recognize him. However, after that, she slowly started falling for So Yi Jung and confesses to him. In the end, he also realized he liked her also. I totally rooted for the So Yi Jung and Ga Eul couple along with the Jan Di and Goo Jun Pyo couple.
          I felt kind of bad for Woo Bin...he was the only member in F4 that did not have a love line. Ji Hoo didn't get the girl but he still had a love line with Jan Di at one point of the drama. Yi Jung had Ga Eul and Goo Jun Pyo had Jan Di. Poor Woo Bin!

Hana Yori Dango

This was the second version out of Boys Over  Flowers and it aired in 2005. This drama had a lot of really sweet moments in which the guy always was there for her, protecting her and loving her. I felt like this drama was really sweet and it really makes you fantasize about what it would feel like to have such a caring boyfriend.
       
         Our main character is Makino  Tsukushi who is poor and doesn't understand why the rich girls in the school Eitoku Gakeun all had brand names. The school was rich and the four people that ruled the school are Domyouji Tsukasa, Hanazawa Rui, Nishikado Sojiro, and Mimasaka Akira. They are known as the F4 and all are to be future heirs of different businesses. Tsukasa is to be the heir of Domyouji World Finance Group, Hanazawa Rui is also going to be inheriting a large company, Sojiro is a player but the heir of a tea ceremony school (so he always woos the girls by saying things like how their skin is soft like tea leaves or whatever), and Akira is a player with older women and is linked with underground business. Either way, these four people are not to messed with at the school. If they are, that person becomes the victim of the entire school once they receive a red card/notice from F4. In the end, that person, to avoid the bullying, will leave the school.
         Makino, knowing about this, doesn't want to draw attention and wants to attend school quietly. It has been her family's pride to know that she attends a school for rich people even though the family is poor. They literally brag about it to everyone (they show it in the drama). However, one day, her friend got up to throw out her lunch and accidentally bumped into Domyouji when she turned, dirtying his shirt. He asks her how she is going to pay and Makino, upset, stands up for her friend. With that, she becomes the one who is bullied. However, she refuses to back down and continues to go to the school. She also meets Hanazawa Rui a few times and falls for him. One day, she had had enough and punches Domyouji in the face and declares war on F4. For some odd reason, it reminds Domyouji of his older sister and he starts falling for Makino. The two become an odd couple and he protects her and also the two have to face his evil mother who keeps trying to separate them. And it also turned out her friend was evil but either way, the couple was adorable together.
                                             

Meteor Garden

This was one of the first Boys Over Flowers version. It aired in 2001 and it is the Taiwanese version. This drama had Barbie Hsu and Rainie Yang in it. It was so awkward to watch Rainie Yang in this drama because it was when she still wasn't that good of an actress.

Anways, the storyline is pretty familiar to most people.
           Our main character is played by Barbie Hsu and her name is Shan Cai. Her family is poor but her parents still make her go to a university for rich people. Her parents are hilarious and exaggerated in this drama. The university that she goes to is ruled by four male students who are the heirs to four rich and influential families in  Taiwan. They all look very good and are known as F4 (Flower 4). Their names are Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Mei  Zuo, and Xi Men. For anyone that gets in their way, they would hand out red cards and that would cause the whole school to bully those victims until they leave the school.
           When Shan Cai's friend receives a red card, she goes up to confront the leader of F4, Dao Ming Si. By doing so, she received a red card also and had to deal with the bullying of the whole school. However, she refused to bow down, and decides that she will battle with the F4 leader and declared war against him. She gains respect from F4 as she never gives in and Dao  Ming Si finds him falling in love with her. Shan Cai refuses at first because she likes Hua Ze Lei, the quiet and calm member of F4. However, in the end, she became a couple with Dao Ming Si and shared a really sweet relationship in which he takes care of her and also does anything in his willpower to keep her from danger. They faced a lot of obstacles and a lot of heart wrenching moments throughout the drama that tested their love for one another. I felt like Dao Ming Si was better portrayed in this version than all the others. In the others, you see an arrogant guy instantly turn good and well-behaved with a girl that she likes. However, if a guy has been arrogant all his life, it isn't going to change with just one girl. In this drama, it shows him still showing love to Shang Cai but still have his arrogant side to him and the thing in which he always has to have his way of things.
           However, I was utterly annoyed at the fact that he slapped Shang Cai during one scene because she was saying some things that truly were harsh. But then again, that is a part of his personality as he used to do that to other people even before he met Shang Cai which is why I thought the character of Dao Ming Si in this version was portrayed really well. However, there was a lot of comedic sides in which he acts like a little kid when Shang Cai keeps teasing him about liking him or not. He actually stands, pouting like a little kid, until she confesses out loud to him. It was really cute. I also thought that Shang Cai looked really pretty in this version. Anyways, its worth a watch even if this is old, it was the first version out, anyway.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Butterfly Lovers

                                                                
             This was mentioned in the SungKyunKwang review earlier. This drama is a classic love story that was extremely sweet and romantic. It which also had a girl cross-dressing to go to school. In Butterfly Lovers, she becomes friends with a handsome bookworm who is kind of poor whereas she is a young lady of a rich household. The bookworm is called Liang Shang Bo and the girl is called Zhu Ying Tai. Pretending to be a guy, Zhu Ying Tai pretends to be a "brother" friend to Liang Shang Bo. Afterwards, she wanted to marry him and told him that she had a sister back at home that looked exactly like her. Throughout the entire time, she keeps hinting to him that she is a girl and likes him but he doesn't get it as he is a bookworm and doesn't suspect that his sworn brother was actually a girl. In the end, he found out that she was actually the sister and hurried to go to her house, happy. However,  the girl was facing problems herself as she was supposed to marry someone else. When the bookworm found out, he was in utter despair and ended up even getting sick and dying. The girl, finding out, goes to his grave and commits suicide there. Then from the grave came two butterflies thus the two are known as the butterfly lovers. This is a quick review. But I thought that this was a really cute love story that would be a pleasant watch. 
     

SungKyungKwan Scandal

I really enjoyed this drama as it had an interesting concept for a historical drama of the girl cross-dressing to attend school for personal reasons. It reminded me of the classic Chinese story that also has a drama out about it, Butterfly Lovers, as it also had a girl cross-dressing to attend school. In SungKyunKwan Scandal, it was fascinating to watch how the characters connected and how their relationships differed from hate and love. I also liked the distinct characters and it was interesting to watch. Also, for all those BOF lovers, its funny because some people referred to the 4 guys in this drama as the Joseon F4. Let's get started on a synopsis, shall we?
Synopsis:                                             
        This takes place in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era. Due to lack of money to support her family and the fact that her family is on the verge of being evicted from their house due to their lack of money, a unique young woman named Kim Yoon Hee has had a variety of jobs even though she is  mostly at the local bookstore. She even gets offered a chance to increase her earnings by becoming a substitute test-taker for the upcoming entrance exam at Sungkyunkwan. Even though she needs the money, it is clear that this is illegal. However, she is caught by Lee Sun Joon who notices her smarts and tells her to enroll into the school. He didn't know that she was a girl as she was dressed in men attire. 
       Kim Yoon Hee, enters the school under her brother's name of Kim Yoon Shik. She has a lot of different connections within the school and a lot of events occurred overtime. She has to bear with Gu Yong Ha's mischief, who was extremely adorable in this drama as he was played by Song Joong Ki. She also had to deal with the weirdly dressed and shaggy Moon Jae Shin who is her roommate. She also had to avoid getting found out by Ha In Soo who constantly bullies her as he is the student body president. Over time, she also begins to fall for Lee Sun Joon as she spends a lot of time with him.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Princess of the Returning Pearl/HZGG

This story was full of elegance, humor, and the main character called Xiao Yan Zi has a lot of spunk and is very feisty. This can be known as HZGG or  Princess of the Returning Pearl. However, I liked the original cast more which is why I am going to do a review on the original. This is the original version. Now there is a new version, but as usual, the new versions can never beat the original. Not to mention, I even met one of the actors in this drama. I met Alec Su and I even got to talk to him and take a picture with him. So I decided to do it on this drama when he was much more younger. So I'm going to give a quick synopsis and this was a great drama to watch. Now all these people acting in this drama, are older and Vicky Zhao playing Xiao Yan Zi even has a baby daughter. So, this drama is kind of old. So let's get started:

Synopsis:
           Xiao Yan Zi, played by Vicky  Zhao is a common girl who is good at martial arts. She is feisty and full of spunk and a little bit crazy in her own way which makes you laugh. She uses her martial arts to earn money and sometimes even steal. She acts like a tomboy and is like a boy as she brags about things that she is good at. She has mainly street smarts and has no bad intentions at all except for earning/getting money to survive. She is a very care-free and childish character.
              One day, she meets a elegant young lady with her servant. This young lady is Xia Zi Wei. Xia Zi Wei is played by Ruby Lin. Her mother had had an affair with the emperor and she was the result. So she had come to the capital city to find her father after her mother passed away. Her father just happened to be the Emperor, with the evidence of the poem he wrote to her mother and everything, she sets out to find him and be with her father. However, no one listened to her or took her seriously and shoved her aside. She doesn't know what to and her loyal servant looks after her young mistress well. Then, they met Xiao Yan Zi and they talked for a while and they become friends.

           For the time being, Zi Wei and Xiao Yan Zi got very close and pledged to be like sisters from then on. The two had completely different personalities; one was wild and like a boy and the other an elegant and young lady. Xiao Yan Zi decides to help Zi Wei get to her father. Xiao Yan Zi believing Zi Wei's story decides to help her. Xiao Yan Zi finds a way to sneak into where the Emperor hunts by climbing through a mountain.. However, Zi Wei and her servant couldn't handle the tiring and dangerous mountain climb. Xiao  Yan Zi took Zi Wei's evidence of being the daughter of the emperor and said that she will go explain for Zi Wei and sets off. However, the Emperor was hunting and Xiao Yan Zi got shot by an arrow by the fifth prince. She was unable to explain her story and it made the Emperor mistaking her for being the princess. He takes care of her after her wound is taken care of which makes Xiao Yan Zi feel loved as she never felt fatherly love before and did not reveal the truth and even labeled as the princess that returned resulting in the name of "Returning Pearl Princess/Princess of the Returning Pearl."
          However, Zi Wei believed that Xiao Yan Zi had betrayed her. As Xiao Yan Zi gets used to the life in the palace for she lacks in having proper manners and knowledge of books, she ends up befriending the fifth prince. On the other hand, Zi Wei is confiding in Er Kang who is friends with the fifth prince and much admired by the emperor. She explains her story and he decides to help her. When Xiao Yan Zi finally was able to get in touch with Zi Wei, she explains the situation and Zi Wei forgives her and decides to continue with the plan in order to save Xiao Yan Zi from death for pretending to be the princess. Xiao Yan Zi forms a relationship with the fifth prince and Zi Wei with Er Kang. Zi Wei works as a maid for Xiao Yan Zi and because she looks much like her mother, the emperor even starts to like her for her looks and elegance.This drama is about people getting their proper places, possibility of getting a death sentence of anyone lying to the emperor, an evil Empress who is suspecting of Xiao Yan Zi pretending and will do anything to torture Xiao Yan Zi about it, and a lot of jealousy as Zi Wei was constantly hurt by the Empress because she was believed to be liked by the emperor. How things resolve will be up to you to watch as I thought this drama was really good.

City Hunter

This was a great drama because it had cute scenes, intense moments, and I really enjoyed the chemistry between the actors. Also, not to mention, Lee Min Ho was in this with  Park Min Young. Not to mention, KARA's Goo Hara also acted in this drama as a bratty, rich girl. However, she was a rather minor role. This also had a concept of revenge in this drama.

Synopsis:
            In this drama, it first shows a story of Lee Jin Pyo who started this revenge thing. He vows to avenge his fallen comrades (it shows in the first episode) and kidnaps the infant son of Moo Yul (you'll understand if you watch it). He then flees to the Golden Triangle to raise the boy and he trains the boy in combat and also treats him as his own child. After an attack on the village they were living in, Jin Pyo tells about his revenge plan to the child, who grown up is played by Lee Min Ho, called Lee Yoon  Sung.
            Seven years later,  after graduating college in the United States from MIT, Yoon Sung comes back to Korea ready to finish the revenge that his father had set out for him. One of the rules from his father when he came to take revenge was to not trust anyone and to not fall in love. This is because it can put other people around him in danger when he begins the revenge.
            Kim Na Na played by Park Min Young is working as a body guard at the Blue House and even watching over the president's daughter played by Goo Hara. She meets Yoon Sung once in a while. Their first meeting wasn't very good. Kim Na Na went through a lot as she has to earn money and her mother is dead while her father is in a coma and not waking up. After constantly bumping into each other and getting to know each other, hey begin to fall in love. In the end, the two both are in on the revenge as they both had a similar goal in mind. Slowly, problems began to occur and there was even a part when Yoon Sung doesn't want to continue the revenge plan and even turned on his father once.
       However, this drama was intense and hot. Especially the part where he helped save Kim Na Na from falling to her death by pulling her to safety even with a wound on his arm. This is a great drama because it guarantees thrill, suspense, and a cute love story that is a little complicated. The ending wasn't what most would expect of a romance drama however I felt like it fit for the story. Therefore, for those who haven't watched this yet, I recommend this. The chemistry was also great because at that time Lee Min Ho and Min Young started dating or something like that. But they broke up now.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

To The Beautiful You

This one has f(x) Sulli and Shinee Min Ho playing the lead roles. This has the girl pretending to be a boy theme, by the way. I'm sure most of you have already watched it. However, here is quick synopsis and review.
             Sulli plays a young high school girl named Jae Hee who will do anything to get close to Tae Joon, a pole-jumping gold medalist. She idolizes him and to be near him, she dresses up as a boy  to attend the same high school which was an all boys' school. She has to try to blend in with the people and still try to hide her identity. She is faced with problems like swimming and sometimes even passes out because the binding was too tight. She tries hard to keep her identity a secret but it is hard and it isn't easy to do either. As some people begin to crush on her, she has to try harder to make sure her secret isn't known. Throughout the drama, Tae Joon and Jae Hee get closer as they shared a room together. Tae Joon also found out that she was a girl but with a similar theme to You're Beautiful, a well-known gymnast likes Tae Joon and will not let Jae Hee block her way. A few people find out that she's a girl, including the school's doctor, but they are keeping the secret for her. What happens next is up to you to watch.
          I felt that this drama had a very similar theme to You're Beautiful. I thought it was really interesting and it was funny seeing SM artists acting as a couple (Shinee Minho and F(x) Sulli) I thought they did a pretty good job and I admire that in order to do her job well, Sulli actually cut her hair. However, I don't understand why it is so hard for the guys in this drama to detect that Sulli is a girl...but then again, dramas don't really work on real life. I liked the other guy that liked Sulli though, he was so childish and sweet.

You're Beautiful

This drama was very interesting. It was a good drama but it doesn't make my personal top of the list. However, it is a very well-known drama among people. Jang Geun Suk acted in this. Park Shin Hye played the main character. Other people acting in this drama are some popular Kpop stars: Hong Ki from FT Island, Yonghwa from CN BLUE, and UEE from Afterschool. I thought they were all pretty good in this drama and I thought UEE did really well as her evil role. So here is the synopsis:

             Go Mi Nyu is a young girl training to be a nun. Her twin brother (who looks exactly like her) called  Go Mi Nam, had passed auditions for the musical band A.N.JELL. However was not able to be there for the time being and so people find Go Mi Nyu and ask to take her twin brother's place for the time being. Therefore, dressed as a boy, she enters the group as Mi Nam and meets the members of A.N.JELL. There is the cold-looking Hwang Tae Kyung (Jang Geun Suk), the warm hearted Kang Shin Woo (Jung Yong Hwa), and child-like Jeremy (Lee Hong Ki). The band, at first were very cold, demanding that she sings to see if she's suitable to be in the band or not. Having no choice, she sings the only kind she knows...choir music.
            She manages to stay in the group even though the members had a really hilarious reaction to it because they were not expecting it out of their new GUY member. In this drama, they made it seem like idol stars are really rich, living in a big house together. But it was all for drama purposes. At first, Tae Kyung doesn't like Mi Nam and makes her life really hard. Shin Woo is friendly to her and Jeremy is just childish...almost like a little brother. Shin  Woo was the first to discover that she was a girl but doesn't reveal it and even starts to fall in love with her. Once when she was in her normal state (by herself) dressed as a girl, he pretended to be somewhere else while still phoning her, telling her all the cool places to go and stuff. I totally fell for this Shin Woo character because he was so nice to her.  Tae Kyung, later on, discovers that she's a girl and threatens that he will reveal it. Jeremy had no clue whatsoever until the very end when they disclose it but he was scared about the feelings he was feeling for Mi Nam as a guy member the entire time, HAHA!
           During the time, Mi Nam starts to like Tae Kyung. To make her secret harder to keep, Yoo He Yi, an actress who is totally different on and off camera, likes Tae  Kyung. She is nice in camera and is the nation's fairy but in person, she is mean, arrogant, and rude. He constantly tries to humiliate/disclose Mi Nam's identity as a girl. Then it was finally revealed that Mi Nam was a girl after He Yi forced Mi Nyu to confess that she is actually Mi Nam's twin and that was how Jeremy found out. By then, Shin Woo was already deeply in love and Tae Kyung had also started to like Mi Nam also. The three guys all promised to keep her secret. Afterwards, the real Mi Nam comes back and enters the group and Mi Nyu exits the stage. When the paparazzi, who had suspicions of Mi Nam being a girl, ripped off the shirt of Mi Nam, they only found bulging muscles of the real Mi Nam. Mi Nam ends up falling for Yoo He Yi (which I totally don't understand) and then Tae Kyung ended up being the one winning Mi  Nyu's heart.