I stumbled upon the world of Korean dramas accidentally, when I had traded for some Japanese dramas, and the person threw in some Korean dramas as well. The first Korean drama I ever watched was Country Princess, with Bae Doo Na. I thought it was wonderful, and there started my interest in Korean dramas. Well, that and the fact that Korean dramas are so much easier to watch online than Japanese dramas, with much easier availability. With Japanese dramas, it seems that the producers of those are very vigilant in protecting their copyrights. Such a shame really, as they are closing off their product from gaining new fans.

Anyway, a few months ago I started watching Bae Doo Na's newest drama Gloria on CrunchyRoll, and I didn't even realize that the series was still airing in South Korea at the time. So, basically, once I got to episode 24 or so, I had to go elsewhere to find the latest episodes, as of course, I had to know what happens next. I watched all the way up to the latest airings and found myself having to wait for a week between episodes, so I started watching Bae Doo Na's other dramas, Someday and How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor. These are my reviews of all three of these series:

Gloria - Gloria is a 50 episode series centered around the main character of Gloria, who works in a nightclub. She supports her mentally disabled sister who was brain damaged from a car accident that also killed their parents. Life is pretty hard for these sisters, especially when the younger one has to take care of her 40 year old sister. Not to mention, they are dirt poor, with Gloria taking three jobs at one time. One night at the nightclub, the singer doesn't show up and they need someone to replace her. After much prodding from her friend since childhood and co-worker, Dong Ah, she takes the stage to sing the song Gloria. She starts out lip-syncing, but then actually starts singing the song. See that scene below:




From that performance, Gloria is bitten by the singing bug and decides she wants to be a singer. She convinces the nightclub owner to let her be a singer at the club and with the help and guidance of Yeo Jung Nan, a former singer and mistress of a rich man, she tries to make her dream come true. There was a lot of elements to this series, including many sub-plots, love triangles, unrequited love, murder, revenge, intense jealousy, family obligations, adultery, and on top of it all is the story of Gloria trying to make it in the music business. There's a lot here and some may be turned off by all the concurrent stories, however, I was not. I enjoyed all of it, except for near the ending when they bring in a whole new character for the revenge plot, that I don't think made a whole lot of sense. Also, the villain was crazy, maybe a bit too over the top. However, as usual, Bae Doo Na kept me glued to my screen throughout, and I loved the supporting cast, pretty much every one of them. I enjoyed almost all of the stories. This 50 episode series will make you laugh, make you cry, make you angry... Rating 9.0/10



Someday - Someday is a very quiet, understated drama about a young manga artist. Bae Doo Na plays Hana Yamaguchi, a half Korean, half Japanese woman who was fired from her job as a manga artist because she refuses to write stories about love, which she doesn't believe in. Part of this is due to the fact that her parents left her when she was young, and she has had to live with her grandmother. One day, the man who sweeps the streets outside her house every morning collapses and dies. He has no family, so the neighbors take care of settling his estate and cleaning out his home. While cleaning the house, Hana discovers a diary, which tells the story about the man when he was young and the love of his life, who happens to be the lady who lives across the street. While on a trip to Korea, Hana decides to follow up on this story. While in Korea, she meets two men, one is a doctor and the other is a young and troubled "people finder". She hires the young man, Seok Man, to find the old woman, who left Japan and went to Korea with the old man's ashes. This begins a love triangle between the three. This drama takes some time to get going but once it does, it's quite good, very charming and quirky. However, if you don't like slow dramas, and are easily bored, you won't stick with this one, but patient viewers are rewarded with a subtle but enjoyable romance. Rating: 8.8/10



How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor - Yet another Bae Doo Na drama, this 2007 series is about the people in a neighborhood, hence the name. This one is really hard to summarize. I'll just say that I enjoyed it, and as always, Bae Doo Na is great. There is a whole love triangle and scams and scandals and all sorts of things. Some of the story doesn't make sense to me, especially at the beginning, so points off for that, but I liked most of the characters and I was unable to predict the ending, which went a different way than I thought it would. A solid, though not extraordinary family and romantic drama. Rating 8.3/10

Just last night, I finished watching this drama from Fall 2008, called Beethoven Virus. I didn't read any reviews of this series at all, I just looked at the synopsis, thought it sounded interesting and decided to give it a try on CrunchyRoll. Well, I am so glad I did. I thought it was a wonderfully made drama about a subject that you don't see dealt with on TV much, ie, classical music. I do recall the Japanese manga based series called Nodame Cantabile, which was so horribly overacted that it was difficult to watch. That was definitely a series made for teens.

I'm happy to say that Beethoven Virus is quite a world away from Nodame Cantabile and is much deeper. The story centers around an underdog orchestra loaded with amateur performers and professionals past their prime, and the conductor who is hired to conduct them for a symphony performance. I found the whole story about how they came to be together rather flimsy, with too much focus on the lead female character of Rumi and her being scammed or something. I still don't understand what happened there, but nevertheless, the character of the conductor Mae Kang is introduced, and what a character he is. It's been a while since I found a character to be so fascinating. First of all, Mae Kang is very harsh with how he talks with people. He tells people off, he tells them how awful they are, and he does it in a way that makes some of them cry or even quit. Yet underneath it all, he is actually very kind and generous, but certainly doesn't want that side of him to be known. The guy has no problem belittling people, yet when he accidentally poisons his dog with sleeping pills, the man completely falls apart.

Mae Kang is one of the most complex characters that I have seen in any Asian drama, and of course, so much of this is due to the absolutely wonderful performance given by Kim Myung Min. I've never seen him in any drama before, but will definitely look up his other dramas and movies soon. Mae Kang is captivating when he is on screen, as you don't really know what he will do next or how he will react to a situation. The acting from the seniors in the drama is wonderful as well. However, the other main character of young Gunwoo Kang, that kid was only 22 when filming this series and his inexperience with acting shows. He's basically blown off the stage in his solo scenes with Kim Myung Min.

This drama was not perfect, there were some loose ends to the story that I thought should have been tied up in the ending, and like so many other Korean dramas, the ending seemed abrupt to me. I really felt they could have and should have made this series longer, but as it is, it is an engrossing peek into the world of classical music and the character of Mae Kang lifted this series up quite a bit from the actual story. Rating: 9.0/10

Coffee Prince, also called, 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, is about the son of a rich family (Han Kyul) and this girl who is pretending to be a guy so she can keep her job. One day, Go Eun Chan, a tomboy who is often mistaken for being a guy, runs into Han Kyul by accident when her motorcycle is damaged in a robbery. She keeps trying to get Han Kyul to pay for the damage to her motorcycle, and instead, he ends up hiring her to be his date of sorts, since he thinks that she's a guy! This is all to fool his grandmother, who keeps trying to get him married off and make him more responsible. To try and teach Han Kyul responsibility and to allow him to prove his worth, his family entails him with the running of a coffee shop. The shop is run down, and has little business, but Han Kyul takes on the job and begins turning the shop around. He notices that the area the shop is in has a lot of females, thanks to an all woman's college being nearby. So, he decides to hire all good looking guys to staff his shop to appeal to them. He also hires Go Eun Chan, because she needs a job, and also because she's a guy, or so he thinks. Han Kyul and Go Eun Chan begin to get close, though they both insist it's only a friendship, they are both secretly in love with each other. Only, Han Kyul starts to question his sexuality, since of course, he thinks he's falling in love with a guy! There is also subplot that involves Han Kyul's cousin Choi Han Seong, who knows that Go Eun Chan is a girl, since she made deliveries to his house during one of her many side jobs. At one point, there is a love triangle, or quadrangle even.

I enjoyed the subplot, as the acting was excellent, but the main plot was what keeps you watching this one. It's funny, charming, touching, basically a truly excellent romantic comedy/drama. This was well acted and well written all around and moved at a surprisingly good pace, I never felt it dragged out too long at all, unlike other dramas of 20+ episodes, they made them all count. The supporting cast is all excellent. If you're into Korean dramas or are just looking to get into Korean dramas, you will not be disappointed with this one. There's a reason that Coffee Prince is on so many favorites lists. A must watch. Rating: 9.7/10

Here's two more Korean drama reviews:

Bright Girls Success - This drama is also referred to as "A Bright Girl's Success Story". It's about this country girl who meets a rich guy. She lives with her grandmother, since her irresponsible parents ran away to hide from debt collectors. One day, she is bathing in her front yard, out in the forested country hills of rural Korea, and Han Gi Tae, who was, if I recall correctly, hang gliding or something, he lands directly in her bathtub while she's taking a bath outside. Yes, these people are that poor, that they take a bath outside in a metal tub. So anyway, the girl, Cha Yang Soon takes care of Han Gi Tae. He happens to be a rich, spoiled brat who is the head of a big fragrance/beauty products company in Seoul. It gets a bit convoluted, but basically Han Gi Tae ends up having Cha Yang Soon as his maid, because Cha Yang Soon has to pay off her parent's debts. As you can guess, they fall in love, only it's love/hate at first. There's a ton of comic relief, but also plenty of serious drama, as Han Gi Tae is trying desperately to hold on to his position at the company. I really enjoyed Bright Girls Success. It's a lot like some of those "underdog overcomes the odds to be a success" type dramas you see a lot of in Japan. Well acted overall, keeps your attention, but isn't too serious or depressing. The relationship between Cha Yang Soon and Han Gi Tae keeps you watching. It's a wonderful romantic comedy/drama. Rating: 8.6

Soulmate - This was about 20 episodes, but it was easy to watch since the episodes are only half an hour. This is a romantic comedy/drama about a group of friends, acquaintances and ex-lovers, some of whom are roommates. This series has a sort of mystical quality to it. There's nothing supernatural or science fiction at all, but coincidence and dreams play a big part in the story. Who is your true soulmate? Will you ever find them? Maybe they are right in front of your nose, but you don't know it? I highly recommend this series if you like romantic comedies or romantic dramas at all. Easy to watch, enjoyable, well-acted, engaging and surprisingly believable. Not predictable! This series is about the search for love in a complicated world. Rating: 9.1

Here's a big catch up post with short reviews of the latest Japanese dramas that I have watched completely:

Cheap Love - This is one of those rare dark romantic dramas that the Japanese make from time to time. It stars one of my favorite actors, Sorimachi Takashi and Tsuruta Mayu. Junichi is one of those guys who hangs out on the street trying to recruit girls to make money being a night club hostess. He gets paid for each girl he finds that actually becomes a hostess. Tsuruta Mayu plays Nanami, a straight-laced junior high piano teacher. This is one of those opposites attract sort of stories, where two people from opposite sides of the tracks fall in love. Can they make it work? Nanami goes for it, and throws away her job, her arranged marriage and her family to go and live Junichi. Does it end tragically or can they make it work? I loved this drama and I thought the ending was kinda perfect. 8.8/10

Tokyo Wankei - It's weird but, this drama and Cheap Love are in very much the same vein. An opposites attract love story, where all kinds of obstacles are thrown into the path of their happiness together. This one stars one of my favorite actresses, Yukie Nakama, well known from the Trick series, as well as Gokusen. She plays a woman of Korean descent, so her father insists she marry a Korean man. Naturally, she falls in love with a Japanese man, so trouble ensues. I found this drama quite enjoyable, very well acted and I thought the ending was good. 8.5/10

Wedding Planner - Wedding planner centers around a, you guessed it, wedding planning business and the way a wedding is seen through their eyes. There is no shortage of stars in this one, with favorites, Abe Hiroshi and Satoshi Tsumabuki playing supporting roles and Yusuke Santamaria and Iijuma Naoko the main characters. Overall, this drama was quite lightweight. It seemed like a Japanese version of Love Boat to me, with some family problem being solved by the wedding planning crew in every episode, helping the couple to have a perfect wedding by the end of the episode. Very corny. Wouldn't go out of my way to watch this one. 7.0/10

Brand - This was another adult romantic drama, a sort of May-December romance between a younger man and older woman who work together in the same office of a fashion design company, hence the name Brand. This drama is more straightforward, and you do end up rooting for them to be together. Enjoyable enough if you like romantic dramas. 7.8/10

Seikei Bijin - This drama was a pleasant surprise to me. The title translates to "Artificial Beauty", because the main character is ugly, or so she thinks and decides to go away for a few months to get plastic surgery to look pretty. When she comes back, her family doesn't even recognize her. Of course, she has a twin sister, who is still ugly, so she goes out of her way to make sure people don't meet her family, lest they find out that she's an "artificial beauty". Of course, she falls for a grand master of flower arranging, who has no idea she has had all the plastic surgery. Will they be together and what will he do if he finds out about her secret? Very funny, well acted, highly enjoyable romantic comedy drama! 8.9/10

Lovers in Paris is basically a love triangle. The story centers around Tae-Young, who is studying in Paris and in the first minutes of the first episode, she messes up at work and is fired. She had to find a job again soon otherwise will be evicted from her Paris apartment. So she finds a job as a maid to a Korean businessman named Ki-Joo, who is also living in Paris. Around the time she meets Ki-Joo, her boss, she also meets his nephew, Soo-Hyug. Naturally, they both fall in love with her. After a few episodes in Paris, which were very well done, I might add, the story continues back in Korea, where family secrets, business and jealousy come in to play.

I very much enjoyed the beginning to this drama, I think the first three episodes that were filmed in Paris were quite good, and draw you into the story. However, once they all go back to Korea, the story moves along at a snails pace. It doesn't start to get good until episode 17 or 18. By then, I thought, wow, OK, this is heading for a great ending, since I had read this was a fabulous drama and very highly rated. However, episode 20, the finale, was a huge disappointment! I won't go into details, as to remain spoiler-free, but I thought the ending was boring and silly. Terrible, terrible ending to a below average drama. I was very disappointed in this one, especially since it started out so good and it had great ratings on Korean drama sites, with many people putting it into their top 10 dramas! Though the acting was pretty good, out of all the Korean dramas I have seen, I'd rate this one near the bottom. Overall, I'd rate it a 6.9/10.

I've watched a number of dramas since my last post and just want to list them here so i can review them when I get a chance.

I received an iPod Touch for Christmas last year and so I've been watching dramas through the CrunchyRoll app. Sadly, they don't have much in the way of Japanese dramas (practically nothing!), so I've mainly been watching a lot of stuff from their Korean dramas section.

Japanese Dramas Finished/To Review

Cheap Love (LOVED IT!)
Tokyo Wankei (LIKED A LOT!)
Wedding Planner (OK)
Brand (OK)
Seikei Bijin (VERY GOOD)

Korean Dramas Finished/To Review

Bright Girls Success
Soulmate
Coffee Prince
Snow White
My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Dramas I started and haven't finished yet:

Keizoku (almost done, but I cannot find the final episode to this!)
Virgin Road
News no Onna
Shotgun Wedding
Omiai Kekkon (the picture quality is terrible!)
Overtime (the picture quality is terrible!)
H2 (the baseball theme is not engaging me)
Hatachi no Kekkon
Homework (again, missing an episode to continue)
Honesty (this seems so depressing)
Ice World (dvd is scratched!)
Delicious Proposal (waiting for it to get good)
Double Score
Asunaro Hakusho
Star no Koi (almost done)
Bus Stop (really enjoyed the first 2 eps, but i can't find episode 3!)
Lovers in Paris (read rave reviews, but it's not living up to them so far)
I Really Really Like You (started out good, but i lost interest)
Change
Mr. Brain (on episode 4)

Then there's dramas I started but immediately didn't like:
9 Tailed Fox (really?)
Capital Scandal

Take equal parts Good Luck and Attention Please and throw in a touch of Hotelier and you have the Japanese drama from the early '00's called Big Wing. This drama starred the guy from Shota no Sushi, which I loved, and a girl which I know I've seen before but can't think of her name. Anyway, the episodes were mostly self contained, except for the final 2 episodes. Basically, this drama is about a group of workers in Haneda airport near Tokyo. They work at the airport, helping people at the tour desk, giving directions, helping passengers etc. The drama centers around Kumiko, who joins the company because it's been her dream since she was actually born there. This girl really cares about satisfying the customers, so she goes to great lengths to help people who she thinks might be in trouble. Whether it's repairing family relationships, returning a lost child to her mother or taking an ill passenger on a tour of Tokyo, she tries very hard, so hard that the other employees hate her for making them look bad. Often she interferes in things she shouldn't be interfering in, so there are some comedy elements as well. I did enjoy this drama, though I wouldn't recommend going out of my way to watch it. Kind of predictable, but if you enjoyed Good Luck or Attention Please or are a fan of Takashi Kashiwabara, this is worth a watch. Rating: 7.2/10

Last Christmas is a Japanese drama from the early 00's that stars Oda Yuji. I was familiar with him from Tokyo Love Story, which I loved, but was very upset by the horrible ending. Perhaps that played a part in me not enjoying this drama too much. I had read lots of great reviews of this drama, so was definitely looking forward to it. I even decided to start watching it a couple days before Christmas last year to really get into the spirit of it. So that fact that I didn't bother finishing it until June, 6 months, later tells the story of how much I enjoyed this one. That said, I did very much enjoy the supporting characters and their love stories. The story with Tamaki Hiroshi and his on again/off again romance with the character Ritsuko was good. Tamaki Hiroshi is quite a good actor, and I've see him play a wide range of characters so far, all convincingly. Not the easiest thing to do! The other love story was between the amazing Moriyama Mirai, who I remember fondly from Waterboys, and Megumi's character, who doesn't want to marry for love, but for money. Mainly so she can take care of her family, and she makes no secret of it! There's also the boss man, played well by Ihara Tsuyoshi, who I have also seen in many other dramas, perhaps most notably Love & Fight, which happens to be a favorite of mine.

Anyway, about the drama. It's basically a love story. Only of course this love story has to have the "dying of an illness" twist, which I am supremely tired of, especially coming off watching Korean dramas like Stairway to Heaven and Snow Queen which seriously know how to do the "dying" twist. I think that after you have seen Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, with Ayase Haruka and Yamada Takayuki or even Beautiful Life or any of the many Korean dramas with this twist, you can never enjoy one again, and I didn't. However, if you've never seen these other dramas I have talked about, Last Christmas will probably be right up your alley. It was a pretty good love story overall and the holiday theme was nice. I was surprised at the ending... which I thought would be predictable, but it wasn't! Overall, a good drama, but I didn't enjoy it as much due to dramas I have seen recently with the same types of themes. Also, I did enjoy the Christmas music they played throughout. I never, ever thought I'd enjoy a Wham! song. Rating: 7.9/10

Bodyguard is a Korean drama about a nice guy who can't turn down anyone who needs help. This drama is 22 episodes, with a bit of action, car chases, fighting sequences, murder, kidnapping, extortion, corruption, a love triangle, political intrigue, comedy, rock solid and longtime friendships... there's just a lot going on in this drama. And that is the main problem with this series, there are too many concurrent storylines going on.

Basically, the main character jumps from job to job, usually quitting because he doesn't like the boss or can't stand taking orders from anyone. Finally, he becomes a bodyguard and decides that is his calling. The story revolves around him and this girl who he is trying to protect, since she happens to be the illegitimate daughter of a presidential candidate. Of course, if anyone finds out this fact, his political career is over, so many people try very hard to keep this secret, resorting to murder, kidnapping, burglary, assault, you name it.

SPOILERISH STUFF BELOW ---

What shocked me the most was the ending. It just kind of stops like a regular episode, leaving some stories hanging. No closure! I was very surprised it ended like that. Also, near the middle, I found myself getting into the love triangle. I was rooting for Park Yu-Jin to be with Kyung-tak, yet the guy is so dense and so one dimensional that he never shows ANY interest in ANY woman whatsoever throughout the entire series. Is he a puritan or asexual? Regardless, he was a poorly written, one dimensional character with nothing going on in his brain besides protect people. You see little to no emotion from this character and he's the main character! Perhaps it was the actor? I don't know. They had two girls fall in love with him and they both know that the other one is also in love with him, yet NOTHING comes of it, AT ALL! I wonder why they bothered with it.

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Anyway, the supporting cast was far better and quite excellent. The woman who plays Park Yu-Jin played her part perfectly, with a cold as ice exterior but with tenderness and vulnerability just below the surface. She was certainly the most complex character and my favorite, by far. Also, both parents, his sister, longtime friend Man-bok, Han Sung Soo, Captain Choi, even spoiled brat Sin-ae were far superior actors and characters. The other weak part of the cast was Na-young. She's supposed to be 20 years old, yet the actress plays her like a meak, weakling of a little girl of 15. I was not a fan of this character at all.

Overall, this was an entertaining enough action/comedy drama, but with lots of holes in the story and some poor writing. Rating: 7.1/10