Sorry For Absence!

Sorry for my absence. I've been really busy moving back to my university town and getting through classes and books and so much money loss because of that. I will eventually find the time to do more reviews. Though I doubt there's many who read this. Especially since i only have 3 posts...Anyway, enjoy your summertime!

Protect The Boss

Protect The Boss

Just so you know, I'm not doing this drama just because it airs in City Hunter's spot. I've been hyped for this ever since I heard it was going to be made. And I'm ashamed to say I originally was hyped because it has Kim Jaejoong, my... em... bias...

Hey, he's got looks, a golden voice, and a pure heart. Who could blame me?

But really, this drama is more than that.

So what's the plot? Basically the female lead has a bit of a punk past and is trying to find a job.

Totally in the job description.

Because of her spunk, she's hired by the company to be the secretary of the president's heir.

Maybe someone told him she was the doppelganger from a girl in Girl's Day

Only this heir has run into her before, something that had resulted in him getting beat up, his father getting revenge on the thugs who beat him up, and the media getting ahold of the whole deal, resulting in a huge loss. So hot water? Yep.

Now have we learned our lesson? Good.

Oh, and there's more. The heir has agoraphobia, hypochondria, and maybe a bit of OCD. Which he doesn't want to tell his family about.

One word for this drama: hillarious. As in my father kept looking at me as I laughed for a minute straight at my laptop screen. The humor's a mix of slap-stick, sarcasm, dry humor, and action comedy. The actors act like kids half the time. As in like elementary school kids. This includes sticking out tongues, fighting to get through doorways, fighting each other in the hallways, attacking each other's butts with ice cream, and sneaking out of the office while dad's not looking.

The the old let Grandma think the dog ate her favorite high heels...

So, what about the acting?

It's actually very good. The characters are very playful and believable. The main lead, Ji Sung, stays true to his phobias usually and is very talented at the near bi-polar actions of his character. "Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?" Split second later..."Did you sanitize my office?"

And of course, the kid-like behavior:

True quote, well, from the best of my memory: "I'll never let you take over the company. Because all this just screams fraud and money laundering." (sorry if I misquoted)

The female lead, Choi Kang Hee, is also amazing since she embodies a poor ex-punk trying to turn into a business woman. And she stands up for herself. As in, any ounce of sexual harassment is met with your arm being shoved up your back and your wrist close to broken.

Though with that sense of fashion, one wonders why she would get harassed.

Her only major flaw came near the end. Bascially, this drama was reading peoples' minds. I watched it on viki which has comments on top during the streaming and whenever someone said, "this is too tacky" or "that's really stupid" or "they should just *blah*", it happened. It was scary at times. But near the end, in order to create more of a sense of drama, the writers went a bit looser on the realism. For the first time, there was drag in the story line. I didn't watch past ep 14 for like 2-3 weeks, it lost it's pull (I'm also a college student but even tests can't keep me away from a good drama). But I prevailed and the ending wasn't too bad. Not as good as the beginning, but the beginning was eic in it's own right. ^^

And lastly, Jaejoong, who is actually the bad guy of the drama. Truth be told, he's a bit stiff on his acting and doesn't show a whole lot of emotion. Then again, he's not a professional actor. But one thing he can always does is act sexy and like a child.

O.o...

You just thought this was a selca, didn't you?

Yes, the bow is actually in the drama. And on his head. Don't worry, Yoochun beat him up afterward to give it back to his girl.

*For those who don't get this, Yoochun aka Micky, fellow bandmember of JYJ*

But I digress.

Basically, his acting isn't very good at the beginning, but as the filming goes on and he gets more sleep (panda eyes are not very becoming on you, Jaejoong), he makes great improvements. He became very respected by the professional actors and actresses on the set since he worked with a very focused and diligent spirit.

The last point I want to make about this drama is the drama elevator.

Basically, it's standard office protocol to go into the elevator and let out your emotions. While your secretaries try to block the CCTV in the corner. There's crying, hitting, yelling, and some light touching even in this elevator. But the ride only lasts 2 minutes at most, so as soon as they're closing on the floor, they automatically stop and fix their suits, instantly composed. Which I find weird, because whenever I get into an elevator I can't go more than like 4 floors before someone gets on. But maybe this one's special-use-only.

So basically, if you want a drama that will make you laugh until you fall over and has a handsome cast, this is for you. If you're looking for a serious business drama with crying every episode, I'd stick to King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo.

Overall rating: 9/10

City Hunter

The drama this summer that took Korea by storm! And why? Is it just because of Lee Min Ho’s hot body or Park Min Young’s previous success in Sungkyunkwan Scandal?

Okay, those reasons do have some point to them...

But it's far from the setting of Boys Over Flowers. City Hunter is a revenge tale with twists of humor and romance. And just twists in general. It has blood, guts, drug cartels and even a guy getting his leg blown off by a landmine! Definitely a step up from freezing one's butt off waiting for hours in the snow.

That's not tomato sauce...

The Acting:

Lee Min Ho captures a completely different image. Yes, Goo Jun Pyo is revived in some cases since he acts like a snobby, weak, rich genius playboy as his cover. But it was a shock to see him also act the innocent happy boy or the determined badass fighter. And the fighting looked fairly really. Granted, some of it was of course a bit too hyped, but overall it was very well done. And the good guy actually gets hurt several times. But no worries, we still have his flower-boy looks and it doesn't hurt his fashion sense.

He's a ninja, right? Right?

Because ninjas totally have high-end jackets. And just think how short Personal Preference would have been had his sneaking skills been this good.

But enough about Lee Min Ho. We also have Park Min Young, the lead actress playing Kim Na Na. I'm sorry to say the only other thing I've seen her in is Sungkyunkwan Scandal since she may well be one of my favorite Korean actresses.

How dare you fool me...

Her character is surprisingly strong, a 3rd degree Judo body guard for the President's daughter. And she even has her own side-story that plays into the overall plot. Then there's the fact that she actually saves the lead during the drama.

You owe me.

Favs:

1. Sniping.

There's a snipper shooting scene. That automatically vamps up the awesome.

What did you say about my acting?

2. Gun shots.

People get shot. People dig out the bullets by themselves. People have residula pain from said injuries. It's actually partly realistic. Granted, sometimes the main lead forgot his arm had been made into swiss cheese and clothes-lined someone, but otherwise they played it real.

3. Deliveries.

Every time the revenged-upon is caught by the city hunter, he's delivered to the DA office. Usually in interesting wrappings.

Flaws:

With every drama, there's something in it that just isn't right. Or just bugs you. Or is left open-ended. City Hunter can claim a few on its own.

1. The beginning.

The one thing that annoyed me was how language worked while the City Hunter is a boy in the Golden Triangle. In a country with a completely different language, Lee Song Sung and his father apparently have no need to speak the native language. Instead, they speak the entire time in Korean. And this wouldn't have pissed me off much except for one scene. The American ex-soldier one.

There would be a picture here but the internet

didn't understand what I wanted. T-T

Now, I'm not saying that he should have spoken in Korean or Thai. And really, he wasn't the flaw. The flaw laid in him being spoken to in Korean and having him respond in English. Because apparently if you're a US merc, you can hear Korean and understand but can't speak it back. And if you're the leader of a drug-business in a foreign country, all your employees must automatically understand everything you say so you don't have to stoop to speaking another language.

Don't make me repeat myself.

2. The History

Okay, maybe it's because I'm not Korean, so I didn't learn all about their history or politics. But seriously, sometimes it can be a bit overkill on the whole thing. It also didn't help that most of the subbers I saw this from got hella confusing when it came to these parts. And then there's the business jargon. And parts where I'm sure there were leaps in the rungs of power to make happen.

Yes, we did get the search warrant you ordered.

I typed it up after my lunch break. It's totally legit.

3. The Final Twist (definitely a spoiler...)

*Seriously, skip unless you want to get spoiled*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are all the not-wanna-be-spoiled people gone? Okay then. My thought is that the final twist in this drama was really too much. The president's bastard son? Who just happens to also be the last person he needs to take revenge on? Really?

I thought for sure it was this guy.

It also didn't help that through most of the drama, his half-sister was hitting on him.

Don't care. I can still call him oppa.

But moving on...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, spoiler over.

Overall though, this drama was very action-packed. The acting was good and it's not for the light-hearted. And then there's the moral issues of the drama, since the City Hunter is using drug money to do his whole operation. Still, with cliff-hangers at the end of each and every episode, it can lead to watching 5-6 episodes straight through and then remembering you have to eat.

Also, I've heard that it's similar to Iris. Since I haven't watched Iris yet (it's on my list), I can't really say much on it. But if someone has seen it, please state your opinion below.

Overall rating: 9/10

Hello K-Drama Fans!

Hey guys!

I've been watching K-dramas at a tiring rate for the last nearly 2 years. As well as Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese dramas. And since this summer is full of amazing K-dramas by top actors, I felt like it would be a good project to let my opinions be known. Not just on new dramas, but old ones as well.

Don't worry, I serve with limited fangirl squeals.

For anyone who wants to see what dramas I have finished, you can look here on mydramalist.com, though note that I didn't list all the ones I want to watch for obvious reasons, mainly because I have an excel file for that with over 100 titles.

Granted, I know I'm not the authority on K-dramas for watching a few of them, nor should I be since I'm not actually Korean and rely on the internet and ebay for gaining access to the shows. Anything I state here is purely my opinion. And I apologize if I bash anything here; I understand that the staff and actors who make these dramas work very hard and don't want my opinions to reflect on their hard work ethic but rather on the end result.

Let me say it!

So I hope anyone who happens to land on this blog can be entertained or at least get ideas for dramas to see in the future. I'm also an avid K-pop fangirl, but don't worry, I watch more than just idol dramas.

Em, this will be a guilty pleasure...

So enjoy! ^_^

~

Picture 1: Screen-capture from Pasta, No Min Woo

Picture 2: Drama promotional picture for Protect The Boss

Picture 3: Drama promotional picture from Mr. Idol