Secret Garden

Secret Garden (시크릿 가든) is a 2010-2011 Korean romantic/fantasy drama that has the basic framework of any other Korean romantic drama, but adds things that makes it different and just that much more refreshing. It stars Hyun Bin, Ha Ji Won, Yoon Sang Hyun, Kim Sa Rang, Lee Philip, Lee Jong Suk, Yoo In Na, and Kim Sung Oh. The summary is as follows:

The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won, an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection, and Gil Ra Im, a poor and humble stuntwoman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. Their accidental meeting, when Joo Won mistakes Ra Im for actress Park Chae Rin, marks the beginning of a tense, bickering relationship, through which Joo Won tries to hide a growing attraction to Ra Im that both confuses and disturbs him. To complicate matters further, a strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies.

You know what bothers me? Even though summaries give you a hint of what goes on, it's really not that accurate. I don't know why I started this drama, but I do remember that I began it approximately two weeks before my arrival date in Korea (yes, I'm in Korea now and have been for the past two weeks). No wait, I was stuck on hulu.com for dramas because of the good quality of the videos; the commercials I could ignore and if I could see the pores on the actors' and actress' faces, all the better. Anyway, the summary didn't really pull me in though it did intrigue me. What? Romance and some fantastical idea all in one? O_o So I decided to try it out.

First off, the acting's superb. The switching of the bodies showed their talent and when Joo Won reverted back to his 21-year-old self, that was a testament as well. The plot was great as well, even though it seems a bit generic at first. I mean, it's a poor, orphan girl who gets noticed by some privileged guy. Then you learned a bit more: it's a stunt woman (who's pretty kick-butt if I may say so) who has a firefighter for a dad with a CEO for a lover and to-be husband. There are plot twists and I love how the roles are reversed where you see the guy going against the very fabric of his being and chasing after the girl. It's so romantic. Personally, the 17th and 18th episodes are my absolute favorites and you know what? The ending isn't all happiness and butterflies in a meadow full of blooming flowers. They're together (which is what's important - it seems like the main theme was how love could surpass all in the end solely by itself) and it shows a bit of life after marriage, but - well, you'll see. ^^

Anyway, I highly recommend it. One more thing: the body-swapping seems completely random at the beginning, but it all makes sense towards the end (sort of). :) It also links in references to fairy tales via Disney princesses which is sweet.You can watch it on hulu (but as hulu doesn't stream outside of the US, I finished it here).

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Sungkyunkwan Scandal (성균관 스캔들) is a 2010 Korean period drama; a romantic comedy following a girl who disguises herself as a man in order to make ends meet and the group of friends she meets while masquerading in a Confucian school, known for producing government officials. It stars Micky Yoochun, Park Min Young, Song Joong Ki, and Yoo Ah In. The synopsis is as follows:

Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo, revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin.

First off, what drew me to this drama was not the cast - though I surely grew to love them as the drama progressed - it was the plot. I'm a sucker for girl-masquerading-as-a-guy plotlines and having a straight guy question his own sexuality and all the humorous events that ensue in due course. That being said, although I know of DBSK and I do like some of their songs, I don't know much about them. Now, I can say that I definitely know Yoochun, though. ^^ My favorite's still Yoo Ah In... but that's not the point. There were a lot of comments about Yoochun's lack of acting skills, or so I remember when it had first started airing. Even so, I didn't see it as a hindrance. I still loved the drama and it tickled me funny. He's not the most expressive guy, but when is that important? The message got through. Cute moments are plenty but it also touches upon the more serious topics of social and gender equality, which was fairly nonexistent in the time setting of the drama.

I have to say it wasn't all that painful to watch, romantic-wise, so don't be afraid to watch it if you hate the roller coaster ride of feelings romantic dramas tend to take you on. There's unrequited love, for sure, but I seriously had no love for the other girl - she annoyed me - though I did feel for the other guy. It wasn't unbearable, though, since that left him all to myself. ^_^ Anyway, I love the plot and the plot twists and the riddles here and there; it keeps you guessing. There is action as well, so it's not all fun and games and such. As usual, I'm surprised she stayed a secret for that long, but it is a drama, so it's a given. All in all, I really did enjoy this drama - the filming, the message(s), the plot, the eye candy...

I watched it on hulu, since the videos are high quality, though there are commercials.

Playful Kiss

Playful Kiss (장난스런 키스), or Mischievous Kiss, is a 2010 Korean romantic comedy and the Korean version of the Taiwanese It Started With a Kiss (2005) as well as They Kissed Again (2007) and the Japanese Itazura na Kiss (1996). It stars Kim Hyun Joong, Jung So Min, Lee Tae Sung, Lee Si Young, Jung Hye Young, and Kang Nam Gil. It also features Korean indie band Bye Bye Sea (안녕바다) that I rather like. The summary is as follows:

Based on the popular manga, Oh Ha Ni is a clumsy student who falls for the perfectionist, Baek Seung Jo. However, Seung Jo is indifferent towards her and rejects her love. When Ha Ni's house collapses, she and her father moves into his long-time friend's house. It turns out that Seung Jo is the friend's son and Ha Ni is given the opportunity to be near the guy she loves. Will she be able to move Seung Jo's heart?

When I first caught wind that a Korean version of ISWAK would be coming out, I decided that I absolutely had to watch it; there was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Of course, this doesn't mean that I wasn't apprehensive. ISWAK took us on for a long ride and there were plenty of moments where I experienced a lot of second-hand embarrassment, courtesy of the female lead, but I guess it was her "charm." It doesn't hurt that Kim Hyun Joong would be playing the male lead either. ;) The ratings for the drama weren't very good at the beginning due to other popular dramas (i.e. Kim Tak Gu) and some comments weren't very positive about Kim's acting, but I still went on with it and I'm glad I did.

The drama pretty much squeezed most of the events from ISWAK and a part of TKA into 16 episodes when compared to the 40 or so total episodes of the Taiwanese version combined. Because it was shorter, it wasn't that painful watching Oh Ha Ni finally catch Baek Seung Jo's eye, but I feel that the ending could have ended with more closure. Then again, I was watching this drama with the Taiwanese series in mind which was much longer. The acting wasn't horrendous - isn't he supposed to be a cold and stoic guy anyway?? - and I felt that the foreign girl, Chris, was rather likeable and her Korean sounded much better than the foreign girl in the Taiwanese version, but I'm not an expert in Korean so that's just how it sounded to my inexperienced ears. ;) The last episode didn't leave you hanging - it did show snippets of everyone else's love life, which I thought was cute, but it really was just a hint. Hints are nice, but I also like nice, long stories that show you everything; you tend to get more involved. ...On the other hand, it's a good thing that Playful Kiss was shorter. I really can't have my Internet lagging for too long. >.>

To sum it up: if you love ISWAK and want some semblance of it back, you should totally watch this. If you haven't watched ISWAK, you should still watch this (as well as ISWAK). If you're just lazy and don't want to go through the 40-odd episodes of ISWAK + TKA, then you should watch this just to get a good idea of the plot. When you have and decide that you want to see a more in-depth version, then watch ISWAK. :] This seriously hooked me in, haha. And even though it took me a year to complete ISWAK and TKA because it was that painful to watch the girl for the first couple of episodes, it really is a good series.

I watched it on hulu because the quality was excellent as well as the subtitles. I attempted to watch it on MySoju and DramaCrazy but the videos kept on getting all wonky. :/

King of Baking, Kim Tak Gu

King of Baking, Kim Tak Gu - or Baker King, Kim Tak Gu (제빵왕 김탁구) - is a 30-episode long, 2010 Korean family and romance drama with a ton of melodramatics thrown in, as if that's a surprise. ;) It stars Yoon Shi Yoon, Eugene, Joo Won, and Lee Young Ah. The following is the synopsis:

Kim Tak Goo is the eldest son of Goo In Jong, the president of Samhwa Enterprise, a legend in the baking industry. Although he is an extremely talented baker and seemed destined to succeed his father as president, Goo In Jong's family plotted to rob him of his inheritance because he was born to In Jong's mistress. Tak Goo's determination to become number one in the baking industry drives him to rebuild his career from scratch despite the many trials he faces.

This is actually one of the few dramas that I decided to watch while it's still airing; in fact, the last episode aired last Thursday and I just finished it late last night when I found out that the subbed version was finally out. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, based mainly on an article I found that speculated on how one of the OST songs was sung by Kyuhyun of Super Junior and then another article that confirmed it. ^^ Anyway, I decided to give it a try and I had to admit that the first three or so episodes were a little too melodramatic for me, but I kept on going. It was just heartache after heartache, obstacle after obstacle - but then again, the entire drama appeared to be that way with the exception of half of episode 16, which was probably my favorite. I think what made it different was that the first couple of episodes detailed the background information of the four main characters of the younger generation and followed three of them as they grew up. I do like how we got to know everything as it "happened" and not just through flashbacks, though those did occur, but at the same time, it was like a hammer just banging down on the head of the nail, not letting up for one bit. It was when the kids were all grown up that I got really into it. ^^;

The drama basically follows around the members of a certain dysfunctional family due to the idea of competition and the idea of "I must win, for if I don't, it means I lose" that half of the members had as their motto. There was a ton of that between the mothers as well as the brothers, though it was more one-sided when it came to them. It was sort of frustrating as it was basically one person trying to one-up the other while the other may or may not do the same all in the name of revenge and/or being the Top Dog. Then there was the love from within the "sides" that enabled all of it. Even so, I loved every minute of it; I even ventured to watching some parts of the raw episodes in an attempt to know what would happen next. It really was torture to wait for the episodes to air in Korea, then get subbed and released. There was a moment where the Chinese-subbed versions were released days before the English versions so I just stuck with those -- until they stopped, that is. Anyway... like I said, it was a ton of frustration wrapped up in a 30-episode drama with a sprinkling of light-hearted moments as well as some budding romance and love triangles all about. There's also a lot of bread that made me want to make bread, haha.

Anyway - and here are some spoilers - it actually ends happily. Well, for most of them, at least. The last episode had quite a bit of waterworks, though not as much as there could have been. The "evil" characters got their dues for the most part and those that were "evil" but only due to circumstances eventually found their happiness as well. However, it struck me as odd as how the two main rivals acted like they were best of friends, exchanging sidelong glances and secret smiles. Don't get me wrong; it made the fangirl in me all giddy, but at the same time, the more realistic part of me was all like, "What? Is this some alternate universe?" I could see it happening, but not without a longer timespan in between - there wasn't even a subscript that stated "[Insert Number Here] Months/Years Later" - they were just happily working together. Perhaps I'm just thinking too much and making it more complicated than it is, haha.

In short: I loved this drama and it was pretty good. The acting was good, the plot was very nice (though the backstabbing never seemed to stop), the romance was there but it wasn't the focal point, the characters were well-developed and some were very complicated (i.e. Ma-jun, Yu-kyung), and the bread was delicious. Well, at least they looked it. If you're one of the ones that goes for good ratings, it ranked as the number one drama for its timeslot from the 6th episode onwards.

You can watch it at both MySoju and DramaCrazy.

Take Care of the Young Lady

Take Care of the Young Lady (아가씨를 부탁해/Agassireul Pputakae) is a 2009 Korean romantic comedy drama. It stars Yoon Eun Hye, Yoon Sang Hyun, Jung Il Woo, and Moon Chae Won. The summary is as follows:

Of the high-rolling top 'hot celebrities' of the wealthy upper class in Korea's high society, Kang Hye Na is the one desired by the men, feared and hated by the women. Being the only successor to the largest conglomerate company, Kang San Group, Kang Hye Na has both the looks and the background. She is the owner of the ‘Lady Castle’ and lives a ‘princess-like’ life with her servants. Until one day, out of pure coincidence, she comes across Seo Dong Chan who turns her life upside down. Not only does he make her do community service, he even kidnapped her... and now he's the new household manager!!! Even after stepping on him, crushing him and biting him, he still doesn't run away. She may have finally met her match...

I originally decided to watch this because Yoon Eun Hye was in it and after watching her in Coffee Prince, she became one of my favorite Korean actresses and I felt like I should support her. Plus, I knew that her role in this drama was completely different. It also helped that the summary appeared to have some potential. :) Well, I have to admit that the first 3 or 4 episodes dragged a bit for me but I'm fairly sure it was because I was still stuck on the last drama. Another factor was the fact that it took some getting used to Eun Hye's character - she was rude, arrogant, and pretty much had the biggest attitude problem ever, although it changed throughout the series. I did like the feisty-ness of it, but compared to her old character as Go Eun Chan, it was opposite in most every way. Anyway, once I got into it, it turned out to be pretty good. The acting was good (as if it could be bad with Yoon Eun Hye in it) and the romance going on was a bit different in a sense but she did eventually end up with the main male character. There were the characteristic cute and sweet scenes that I never get tired of, no matter how many dramas I watch, and I loved how the two eventually got together (even though I was originally rooting for Guy Number 1).

All in all, I have to say this drama wasn't a waste of time and deserves to be seen and at only 16 episodes, it's not that long. You can watch it at MySoju (with bordering-on-mediocre subtitles) but as of today, episodes 1-5, 10, and 15-16 are all listed as "broken" so I downloaded those particular episodes.

You're Beautiful

You're Beautiful (미남이시네요/Minami Shineyo) is a 2009 Korean romantic/comedic drama. It stars Jang Geun Suk, Park Shin Hye, Lee Hong Ki, Jung Yong Hwa, UEE, and Kim In Kwon. The summary is as follows:

Tae Kyung and On Yu are in search of a new member for their idol group, A.N.JELL. However, Mi Nam suffers an injury at the last moment. So Mi Nyu, his twin sister, is asked to step in for her brother. The rest of the drama follows the behind-the-scenes life of an idol group.

I've actually heard of this since it first came out because I listen to FT Island, of which Lee Hong Ki is a member, but when I first heard of the synopsis, my first thought was "...behind-the-scenes life of an idol group...?" Well, I finally caved in and as my first drama after over a month of being drama-less, I say it's a good pick. First, the actors (and actress) are not all that bad to look at. The OST just ROCKS (I immediately got hold of it after just the fifth episode and it's currently on my playlist). The acting is quite good as well. And the plot? Well, it seems like there are more and more dramas out there with a girl playing a guy (which is sort of ironic since historically, males played both female and male parts) but I like it. The whole "idol group" part of it made it different instead of having school as a setting. Of course, there are the mandatory cliche obstacles found in dramas and I was so fed up with [insert person's name here] that I fired off my mock gun at [insert person's name here] several times.

HOWEVER, I can guarantee a happy ending (big surprise), though with a large amount of twists and turns to finally get there. Park Shin Hye, who plays the twins, makes a good girl and guy. My sister actually got it right the first time and saw her as a girl, but the next time around, she totally mistook her for a guy - in fact, she went all "That guy in the glasses is SO CUTE." She's also adorable. All the guys have their trait characteristics and brings flavor to the story... although it's strange that [spoiler] they all end up liking her [end spoiler]. Anyway, I couldn't stop watching this even though half of it does scream of a generic drama and even though it took me a grand total of three days to complete, I blame it on the fact that amidst all this, I was packing and coming back home as well as hanging out with the family. And I was busy for half of today.

Favorite points:
(1) It made various parodies of songs with dance routines to go with it. ^_^
(2) It acknowledged the existence of fanfiction (or panpick). haha...
(3) I seriously love that scene in the market in Episode 11. That made me squeel.

You can watch it at either MySoju or DramaCrazy.Net and there's a total of 16 episodes.

That Fool

That Fool (그바보), also known as The Accidental Couple and Six Months (식스먼스), is a 2009 Korean romantic comedy drama with a total of 16 episodes. It stars Hwang Jung Min, Kim Ah Joong, Joo Sang Wook, Lee Chung Ah, Lee Soo Young, Baek Sung Hyun, and Jun Mi Sun. The synopsis is as follows:

Goo Dong Baek is an honest and good-hearted postman. One day he encounters with Han Ji Soo, a top celebrity. However, an ordinary man gets no chance to show his feeling to this top actress who everyone loves. Six months period of time with her elapses like a midsummer night's dream. But he cannot just end up his love like a “dream”. Shouting out love! His love has just begun.

At first, I saw this with the same plotline as other dramas such as Full House and Smile Pasta where a celebrity and a "commoner" meet up in certain disastrous circumstances and are thrown together in a marriage contract or something of the sort that causes them to live together for a period of time - then romance blooms. Generally speaking, the plot is based on that but it's the little things that make it different. The main male lead is a good, kind man who works as a civil servant and is always thinking of others - and I mean always (perhaps too much). The main female lead is a normal girl turned celebrity who is cold at first but turns out to be playful and somewhat childish when one gets to know her better. The way their relationship devlops can be connected pretty well so there are no surprises and though I believe Goo Dong Baek could grow a backbone at times and a female admirer and co-worker of his could just butt out, it's really quite nice. Even though the drama lasts for 16 episodes, I didn't feel like it was dragging or too excessive.

Of course, it helps that Han Ji Soo's younger brother (played by Baek Sung Hyun) is rather easy on the eyes... nevermind the fact that he's younger than me by a year. :)

You can watch it at either MySoju or DramaCrazy.

1% of Anything

1% of Anything (1%의 어떤 것/1% eh uh ddun gut) is a 2003 Korean romantic comedy drama. It stars Kim Jung Hwa, Kang Dong Won, Han Hye Jin, Lee Byung Wook, Kim Ji Woo, and Kim Seung Min. The summary is as follows:

Kim Jung Hwa is a young and sincere middle school teacher, who has little interest in money. She is also extremely warm-hearted and loves to help other people. When she helps carry an elderly man's belongings from the train to another location, the elderly man is extremely thankful. This grandfather turns out to be the extremely rich owner of a well known conglomerate. His grandson, Kang Dong Won is a quick-tempered businessman who rivals his grandfather, but in an almost comical way. In an order to "tame" his favorite grandson, the grandfather agrees to give his entire fortune to the person who marries Kim Jung Hwa, therefore forcing Kang to meet the girl whom his grandfather chose. Although at first Kim and Kang don't get along because of Kang's extremely cute but bad temper, their arguments bring them closer together. Kang starts to get jealous when Kim's fellow teacher starts liking her too. Through the clever conditions that Kang's grandfather makes, Kang starts a relationship he does not look forward too. However, what looked like a relationship that would 99% not work out, turns out to be the "perfect" match, the 1% chance.

I watched it as something to take up the time while waiting for the next episode of Atashinchi no Danshi to come out. It was pretty popular on MySoju so I decided to give it a try - not to mention it sounded like it had potential. Honestly, it wasn't bad. It had it's cute and funny parts with the usual misunderstandings, but it was sort of drawn out (with a total of 26 episodes). I think it could have been cut a little shorter and been even better, but what I enjoyed about it was how not only did the story focus on just one main couple, towards the middle/end of the series, it started to expand towards other couples, instead of leaving them in the periphery.

However, I think that it sort of stretched itself thin. The main couple had already married, then we get a series of people getting married or having plans of getting married for the next five episodes or so. It's sort of overwhelming. I'm sure this kind of explosion of "wedding fever" might have actually happened somewhere, but to me, it's somewhat unrealistic even though they all have to go through some sort of obstacle, usually the parents' disapproval. In saying that, the end sort of took a nosedive though I didn't skip through it or anything. I was determined to see it till the end. Maybe all this is just me. I'm not saying I didn't like it - only it could be better, but don't take my word for it. Many others seemed to like it quite a lot. :)

You can watch it here.

The First Shop of Coffee Prince

I just finished watching my first Korean drama and it was rather good. I suppose this will be a start to me watching Korean dramas, instead of the Japanese and Taiwanese ones I tend to go for. It's titled The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (커피프린스 1호점 ), or simply known as just Coffee Prince (wiki version here). It stars Yoon Eun Hye (윤은혜), Gong Yoo (공유), Lee Sun Gyun (이선균), Chae Jung Ahn (채정안), as well as Kim Jae Wook (김재욱), Kim Dong Wook (김동욱), and Lee Un (이언) as the other Coffee Princes. The summary from DramaWiki is as follows:

The life of Go Eun Chan is not easy; she works many jobs to pay off debts and even gave up her feminine image. Choi Han Kyul is the heir of a big food company, but his grandmother wants him to settle down, so she arranged many dates for him. After Eun Chan bumped into Han Kyul and was mistaken for a boy, Han Kyul decided to hire Eun Chan to be his gay lover in order to avoid the arranged dates. Desperately in need of money, Eun Chan had no choice but to accept. Han Kyul's grandmother also made Han Kyul in charge of a filthy coffee shop in danger of being bankrupt. Eun Chan begged to work at the coffee shop, and not long after, feelings start to spark, except, how would Han Kyul accept his "homosexuality"?

I actually had a pretty good impression with this as my first Korean drama. It was very nice and slow-moving - though in a good way (the characters were believable and relationships seemed real). The situations were sweet and there were many funny moments. I found myself pausing the scene and running around the house when I was just too excited for the characters or if I couldn't believe if something happened. :) Needless to say, my emotions got really involved! Even so, that love... square type thing gave me a bit of a headache - but it was a drama. And, of course, there were those moments when the people are happy for practically two minutes then something comes up. I did love the entire drama, though, and even though Go Eun Chan did look like a boy, when she dressed up - she was totally believable as a girl. That must have been hard!

One last thing on this: when it ended I was sad, because I really love the drama and it was at a close. It also has a potential for a sequel, though I recall reading somewhere that it might not happen or will be postponed as Gong Yoo, one of the main characters, will be joining the army. >_<>