Night Watch

불침번을 서라 (Night Watch, also known as Neighborhood Watch) is a South Korean drama special that was aired on KBS2 on August 7th 2013 and has a duration of 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Story: Kim Hee-chan is an unpopular novelist and usually stays at home during daytime. On the other hand, his wife Jo Min-sook works during regular work hours. One morning she leaves for work and finds a blue bag filled with food trash tied to her car. She suspects Kim Soo-ji but the next morning, Soo-ji finds a blue bag like that next to her door and assumes it is revenge. However, during the next few days, blue trash bags appear in front of other neighbor's doors as well and cause a lot of suspicion and even one accident. Trying to find the "culprit" the residents start to check the CCTV and literally go on night watch.
I'm not fully sure if I understood the point of this drama. Yet it is a cute watch and keeps you busy for 1 hour. I actually caught myself being suspicious of everyone at one point and trying to figure out why someone would place trashbags in front of random doors.

Cast: Ki Tae-young as Kim Hee-chan. I don't really know what I should write here, it's not like I did not like his acting but more that it was again over the top and I think it was supposed to be like this to light up the mood a bit but.. I wish the whole special would've been just a tad bit more serious. But after all it was good and I have no idea what to criticize.
Lee Seung-min as Jo Min-sook. Oh, I liked her acting but not her character! I guess I just generally have a problem with female characters in dramas sadly but the jealousy was no joke and I hated it.. Well, I can't change that at least but a part of her character was actually understandable.
Kim Yoo-hyun as Kim Soo-ji. I found her character to be much more interesting for a female character. I can't pinpoint what it is but maybe it was just that she actually seemed interested at one point and wanted to find out what was going on (if I remember right).
Kwak Hee-sung as Kim Jin-hyuk. Oh, his character is a sweetie in this one and he reminded me of a puppy, especially the way he cared for his parents even though they were not present in this drama directly was quite sweet. I fairly enjoyed his acting, too.
Keep in mind that after just 1 hour you're usually not able to talk a lot about acting skills unless you really focus on that.


6/10
This was an entertaining, light-hearted watch but I probably wouldn't rewatch it because yes, it got me bored here and there and I still don't understand what the big deal is about a trash bag if you carry out your trash every single day anyway. I probably wouldn't bother to do research but rather rely on surveillance cameras or anything but I certainly wouldn't care enough to sit outside during nighttime and observe the building.
Also, parts of this looked more like a play that could've been performed on stage but not really like a drama special. This bothered me slightly but it wasn't terrible.

Queen of Ambition

야왕 (Queen of Ambition) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from January 14th to April 2nd 2013 and consists of 24 episodes with a duration of approximately one hour each. This drama is referred to as "makjang", a genre that is not easy to explain so I might write an extra entry on this one day.

Story: Ha Ryu and Joo Da-hae grew up together in an orphanage until Da-hae was picked up by her mom and her stepfather. A few years later, Yang Taek-bae goes to a house to collect money with Ha Ryu and surprisingly enough they find Da-hae next to her mothers corpse. After this event they stay together and Da-hae lives with Hong An-sim and Ha Ryu and studies for the university entrance exam. After she passes they face the problem of money and Ha Ryu decides to work for Da-hae's tution. They live like this for a while until Da-hae's stepfather who supposedly abused her comes looking for her and the tragic story starts.
Again, a few years later, Da-hae and Ha Ryu have a daughter together and Da-hae gets the chance to work at a huge company. The son of the owner shows interest in her and wants her to go to the US with him to study. Da-hae talks about this to Ha Ryu who decides to make more money and sent her abroad to study. After she comes back, she breaks up with him to follow her ambition and make it to the top of the social hierarchy in South Korea.
Actually there is so much to this story but I don't want to spoil anyone so I'm trying to not give you a lot of information. Just be warned, this drama turns out to be a battle between Ha Ryu and Da-hae with them having nothing to lose in the end. This is much more than a melodrama or a family drama in my opinion but has some thrilling aspects as well even though it is not a thriller.

Cast: Soo Ae as Joo Da-hae. After seeing her in at least two dramas I think she is not a bad actress, no, but in this drama many things seemed a little bit off or unnatural to me. Yes, of course that might be because of the way her character was written and not about her portrayal of the character but it is still not easy to fully point out what it was. As far as I remember she occasionally seemed stiff. It still did not bother me enough to fully hate her acting though.
Kwon Sang-woo as Ha Ryu/Cha Jae-woong. I quite loved everything about his acting to be honest. A loving father and "nearly" husband (or long term boyfriend), a tough enemy and a fighter as well as a good friend. I just really can't find anything I could criticize about his acting.
Jung Yun-ho as Baek Do-hoon. Let's face it, once again many people will watch this drama solely because their beloved idol is in here. Now I have to say that his acting was good enough and if there was something I missed I could usually say that it was based on the way his character was written - carefree and lacking seriousness. Nonetheless I do not think it is worth to watch this drama solely because of him. Yes, he does have a lot of scenes but I think you might start to hate Da-hae at one point.. maybe episode 16 or 18? I'm not sure anymore.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Sung-ryung as Baek Do-kyung, Kwon Hyun-sang as Yang Taek-bae, Go Joon-hee as Seok Soo-jung, Sung Ji-ru as Uhm Sam-do and Lee Il-hwa as Hong An-sim.

Soundtrack: There was not one moment in which I thought the music was terrible or unfitting to be very honest. However, my favorite track has been (long before watching this drama Ailee's "얼음꽃 (Ice Flower)" and this drama changed how I personally interpreted the title of this song without ever reading the translated lyrics (or translating it by myself). Still a very beautiful song I will probably love for the next few years as well and loved ever since it was released.



9/10
Remember when I said I don't like melodramas? I still stay with that. This drama is so much more than a melodrama even though it is usually referred to as one. It has this special, evil twist that is not necessarily about fate or a disease but about a person and her desire which causes the evil in this drama.
If you dislike dramas with a darker atmosphere, this one might not be for you. As all of my regular readers know I love crime, suspense, thriller and horror if it makes you shiver just because of the atmosphere and this drama did not go that far but gave me goosebumps, too.

The Suspicious Housekeeper

수상한 가정부 (The Suspicious Housekeeper; formerly known as House Keeper Park Bok Nyeo) is the South Korean remake of the Japanese drama series 家政婦のミタ (kaseifu no mita; I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper). It was aired on SBS from September 23rd to November 26th 2013 and therefore consists of 20 episodes with an average duration of 60 minutes.

Story: Woo Sun-young, mother of Han-gyeol, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol and wife of Eun Sang-chul suddenly passes away. 49 days after her funeral Sang-chul tells his children that he hired a housekeeper to help them out while he is busy at work.
Park Bok-nyeo is an extremely serious person that never smiles, has all sorts of things in her bag and does everything she is ordered to do - going as far as killing when she is ordered to do that.
All of a sudden the family receives letters that their new housekeeper is a murderer. The children try to figure out what happened on their own after a fight with their father but even though they keep on following Park Bok-nyeo, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol fail to find out about her secrets. Bok-nyeo threatens to quit when the children won't stop asking her private questions so that the family who learned to appreciate their housekeeper as a kind of second mother, especially Hye-gyeol, stop and ask Bok-nyeo to stay. But the curiosity stays for sure.
At first this story really sounded interesting to me, especially the title. I never watched the Japanese version so I can't compare them at all and didn't know what I was getting myself into. This story itself is like a rollercoaster - at first it goes up all the way just to let you gain speed during the first drop. When that excitement disappears you have some time to calm down and just let it flow before it picks up speed again to get you to a second exciting point - and after that it slows down and slowly takes you to the end. This was my impression after 11 episodes and after finishing it I can say that the second "drop" is actually really interesting and probably one of the reasons why I kept watching. The main problem I have with this drama, however, that the slow paced parts of the track are just too much. There are so many stories and you know they are just supposed to make this drama longer. It cannot keep up its pace for 20 episodes and that makes it lose some quality.

Cast: Choi Ji-woo as Park Bok-nyeo. Thinking about it Park Bok-nyeo is not the most exciting but probably the most developed character. The background story and the effects she experienced all make sense and I couldn't help but pity her. As for the acting, I think it was outstanding. I see why people might disagree with me but emotionless acting to me would be incredibly difficult. Always maintaining the exact same expression for - just guessing, I don't remember the exact episode - 10 episodes is extremely hard to do. Still, the chemistry (not in a romantic way) she had with the children, especially the youngest daughter, made it seem as if there were some feelings shown. It is difficult to explain but it really impressed me.
Lee Sung-jae as Eun Sang-chul. As a character I still don't know what I should think about him but the development the character went through - from a terrible husband and father to an actually caring person who tries to do what could be best for his children - was a huge step. So I kinda admired the character in that way. From one of my most hated characters he made it to one of my favorites. As for the acting, it seemed true to its nature. Lee Sung-jae was good in this role but I wish he would use stronger facial expressions from time to time. However, it was still a solid and actually good performance.
Kim So-hyun as Eun Han-gyeol. Han-gyeol is a typical teenage girl going through puberty and her first love while being the oldest daughter of the household and somehow taking the role of the mother and a student before Park Bok-nyeo starts to work for the family. The rebel character actually suited Kim So-hyun and her expressions, especially the huge problem with her father, were good. I enjoyed her acting in this drama and don't think they could've found a better actress for this role.
Chae Sang-woo as Eun Du-gyeol. As the oldest son he feels like he needs to act as the head of the household when his father is gone. However, his biggest issue is that he feels like he can't do anything and that gives him quite a hard time. I would say he is going through puberty as well and has to find himself and his dreams. Chae Sang-woo did well in this role, playing sometimes the tough guy and sometimes the emotional boy Du-gyeol is according to his age. So he was good in this role.
Nam Da-reum as Eun Se-gyeol. The younger brother is the opposite of Du-gyeol. Se-gyeol can't fight but is extremely good at studying and wants to make his deceased mom proud while being probably the most rational sibling in this drama. I really imagined Nam Da-reum to be Se-gyeol. Maybe it just suits his character, maybe he's just a good young actor but Se-gyeol was great.
Kang Ji-woo as Eun Hye-gyeol. The youngest sibling, Hye-gyeol, suffers the most after losing their mother. Her character is heartbroken and accepts Park Bok-nyeo as a "second" mother soon. While sometimes children can be quite annoying it was heartwrenching to watch her in this drama. Kang Ji-woo is incredibly cute but she did so well in this drama and was either getting along quite well with Choi Ji-woo or they both are just great actresses. I sometimes wonder how child actors even manage to deliver really good performances but she did.
Other actors in this drama include Wang Ji-hye, Song Jong-ho, Jung Moon-sung, Park Geun-hyung, Shim Yi-young, Kim Hae-sook and Jang Seo-won.

Soundtrack: Actually the soundtrack of this drama doesn't include many songs. About the instrumentals I really loved the one playing everytime Park Bok-nyeo was about to appear - I guess it's one of the Park Bok-nyeo themes.
As for the songs sung for this drama by idol singers my favorite is "Twilight" by Yoo Sung-eun. Except for that, Lim Kim sang a song titled "부탁할게요 (I'm Asking You)" which I personally liked, too. The song I can't stand, however, is sadly the one on the drama performed by Kim So-hyun and the band. I don't know why but I'm not a huge fan of her singing or the song.


5.5/10
I see why the rating might seem bad but it's mostly because of the long times without anything happening that was worth noting. I found myself on my phone way too often while just listening to what was said but this drama failed to keep me focussed. Now you can say that it is just not the perfect drama for me - while I love the mystery and suspense I found myself bored by the daily life of the family and the hint of romance that were supposed to be there but probably wasn't. And for the story itself 20 episodes were too much, 14 to 16 would've been completely fine. The length however might be the main problem about the episodes that were just used to fill in without anything, really. Plus, I personally found the first two episodes incredibly boring so I wasn't sure if I should continue watching at all. I'm still glad I did though as this drama has more to it than one expects.
Recommended to fans of family and melodramas. According to what I heard and read the Japanese version is much better so if you know and liked that maybe you should skip the Korean version as most people were disappointed.

Psychometry

사이코메트리 (Psychometry; also known as The Gifted Hands) is a South Korean movie with a runtime of 108 minutes that was directed by Kwon Ho-young and released in 2013.

Story: Yang Chun-dong is a rather unsuccessful detective. One day he takes on the case of a missing child but is unable to find her for one month. He is the only one willing to work on it so there is no special task force but alone he is unable to find the girl alive. 30 days later she is found dead at a playground not far from her home. Trying to find the murder Chun-dong remembers an encounter with a young man in an alley. The graffiti painting the men created looks exactly like the playground which of course leads to the man, Kim Jun, as a murder suspect. But since he was suspended, Yang Chun-dong investigates only with the help of Yang Soo. Soon the two know that Kim Jun has a secret but only his highschool classmate Kim Seul-gi can give Chun-dong a hint on what is going on with Jun.

"Psychometry, also known as token-object reading, or psychoscopy, is a form of extrasensory perception characterized by the claimed ability to make relevant associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object."

When another girl, Yoon Da-hee, disappears, Yang Chun-dong decides to use Jun to find the little girl before she dies.

Cast: So at the very first we have Kim Kang-woo as Yang Chun-dong. I admire this actor in crime series since Missing Noir M and this role is totally different but very well played. The struggle with the past and the determination to find Da-hee while also protecting Jun are portrayed in a way it kept me hoping for the best.
Kim Jun was played by Kim Bum and he is literally my favorite actor since I started watching K-Dramas. So of course I had to watch this movie and he didn't disappoint me at all. His acting involving the psychometry power was a little bit as if he was obsessed - but I have no other idea on how else it could be portrayed so he honestly got even more respect from me now.
Lee Joon-hyuk played Yang Soo and while he personally isn't a very likeable character I think the acting was good, too. It is just that Yang Soo wants money and is responsible for a bad situation Chun-dong is in so that is how Yang Soo gets dragged into this case.
Kim Seul-gi isn't a major character in this series - but I recognized Esom right away and in her very short scenes she also did a solid job but of course as a side character she is not really important and only appears in a few scenes.

And little Da-hee was played by Kim Yoo-bin. She is so cute I was really praying for her safety until the end. It is hard for me to rate her acting but it seemed like children would really behave that way so it was good, too.


This movie. I just hated it on many levels during the last minutes because it was so exciting. I don't quite know why but it has potential to be one of my favorite movies. The supernatural effect, the suspense, the bromance (no, it is not even close to gay and doesn't disturb the movie), the mystery and the thrill - it was a great movie and deserves its rating with 9/10 quite well. I love it and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested either in supernatural or crime or.. both?

Rough Play

배우는 배우다 (Rough Play; An Actor is an Actor) is a South Korean movie directed by Shin Youn-shick and released in 2013.

Story: Oh Young is a young actor who suddenly becomes very popular but his character changes due to his fame. He starts to work with a group of gangsters and gets involved in scandals which not only almost destroys his career but also could get him killed at some point.

Cast: Oh Young was played by Lee Joon whom I personally consider a good actor nowadays. In this movie his performance within a performance is good, and that deserves some attention in my opinion.
Seo Bum-suk as Kim Jang-ho was the manager who started the spiral in this movie. While I'm not totally sure about his intentions anymore the acting was totally fine.
Seo Young-hee as Oh Yeon-hee was barely memorable in any way to me. Not because her acting was bad but I'm not lying when I say I really don't quite remember her character in this movie which is.. a little bit weird since she was important.
Ma Dong-seok is in one of the character types he can play well in this movie - a gangster boss just somehow seems to fit him well so I remember him a lot better than some other actors.
Other actors in this movie include Kang Shin-hyo, Yang Dong-geun, Oh Gwang-rok and Kim Hyung-jun.
In total I think the cast delivered a performance I would rate as 'okay' - some did better than others, can't deny that, some were hardly memorable and again others just seemed to be there.


In the end this movie left me a little bit wondering about... everything?
What was the purpose of the sexual scenes? Yeah, it showed that Oh Young lost it a little bit after being successful but it wasn't necessary at all I think. I guess they just added that to make fangirls watch it.
The beginning and the end were a little bit chaotic and confusing. I was guessing it might be some infinite loop of events but I don't quite know what to think about it.
What happened to all the other characters in the end? There were so many characters that just disappeared without any explanation at all.
So the story is okay. So is the movie but I definitely had higher expectations so maybe that's why my rating is only a 6/10 and I probably won't watch it again.

Unemployed Romance

실업급여 로맨스 (Unemployed Romance) is a South Korean drama series that was aired from October 5th to December 07th 2013 on E Channel every Saturday. The drama therefore consists of 10 episodes.

Story: Im Seung-hee dreamed of becoming a famous writer but due to an injury she couldn't paricipate in a contest and is working for a small company. The company's owner ran away with her car without paying her and her colleagues. Now that the company is bankrupt, she has to go to a government office responsible for giving out unemployment checks. Her first love, Kim Jong-dae, is currently working there and a lot of memories come back.

Cast: So the female lead character Im Seung-hee is played by Lee Young-ah and this honestly wasn't her best roll. Seung-hee is, at least in the very beginning, such a naive and annoying person that I actually thought she needs some guidance. About the acting itself, the scenes of Seung-hee crying were just way too much, it was so obvious that it was fake so that definitely wasn't her strongest job but then again.. I've seen actors and actresses do worse. As the male lead, we have Nam Goong-min as Kim Jong-dae in this drama and his acting was alright but nothing more or less either. Again, in some scenes I couldn't even pity his character because it was just too weird - because people know how to think. Well, most of them.
Actually both of the lead characters are far from being successful and I really felt like they were giving up on some point which annoyed me.
In the rows of the second leads we have a heavy second male lead syndrome (yay, tropes!) named Song Wan-ha or Seo Jun-young, an actor whom I really learned to like. He's not that bad but it's sad that it's obvious even in the very beginning that he's going to be the poor guy. His acting was quite good I'd say while his character was probably a little naive as well. He's not really a victim though so actually he's a likeable character as well as a good actor. After all my favorite in this series.
Now I would say we have two female-second-leads. Bae Seul-gi as Moon Seon-joo is the typical second female lead. Yes, one can understand her up to some point since she felt betrayed in the past but then again it doesn't make up for what she did wrong. As for the acting, it was sometimes a little too much again, especially her break down in one of the latter episodes. Sometimes it seemed to me her character was already cold enough in the beginning to make a guess what went wrong but maybe that was just my feeling, I don't really know about that. The other one is Jung Seung-ah as Oh Yeon-woo, a naive but cheerful girl, her father has money and influence and tries to make Jong-dae stay with her for exactly that reason. Her character is simply immature, and that's what the acting delivers. It's not really bad but nothing surprising.
Lastly there are Park Woo-chun as Park Gwang-pal and Kim Kang-hyun as Uhm Hyo-sang. The first is a typical player and because his mommy has money he's just playing around. While it was kind of funny, it's actually really sad because people like him exist. The acting therefore was kind of on spot but the expressions again were a little too much only to turn his character into a funny one. As for Uhm Hyo-sang, all I can say is that he's kinda pathetic in the end. He wants a girlfriend but never had one as far as we know and which is also connected to his friend Gwang-pal.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack in fact isn't bad but please - I didn't even notice other songs except for T.O's "거짓말 (Lies)". Yes, M.Pire actually make a guest appearance in the beginning in this series but this song keeps playing all the time so I didn't really notice anything else. Why did they release other songs in the first place if that's the most memorable song included in the whole series? I don't know. However, there was nothing annoying about the music itself so I'm just glad they played such a nice song all the time.



Even after watching this drama with low expectations, I decided to give it a 5/10 only because there's hardly any change in the characters. And the only special thing was the ending when I wasn't even sure whether everything before was just written by Seung-hee or happened a long time before and she just used her real story. Nevertheless, it is in fact kind of confusing. Some things are supposed to be funny but were nothing more but the basics we've seen dozens of times before.
While I did like the flashbacks used in this I also thought that two episodes only consisting of the past story weren't really my style since it wasn't that funny either.

If you like something cute and slightly funny just taking a little more than 8 hours you should give this one a try but if you're looking for something special, something different from the ordinary rom-com stuff, this might not be your style either.

An Ethics Lesson

분노의 윤리학 (An Ethics Lesson; also known as Ethics of Anger) is a South Korean movie released on February 21st 2013 with a duration of 110 minutes.

Story: Jin-ah is a popular girl desperately in need for money. That's how she got in touch with loan shark Park Myung-rok. Her neighbor Kim Jung-hoon is a police officer who's spying on her in her apartment. Her former boyfriend Han Hyun-soo who still loves her visits her apartment frequently and hears her with her lover, married Professor Kim Su-taek, one night. After fighting with her Hyun-soo kills Jin-ah and Professor Kim gets arrested. Jung-hoon, who recorded the murder, is contacted by Hyun-soo. Myung-rok meets Jung-hoon when he's trying to remove the camera and the microphones in the middle of the night. This is how the men get involved with each other, except for Professor Kim who doesn't know what's happening to him.

Cast: Lee Je-hoon as Kim Jung-hoon delivers what he's supposed to do though it does not become clear why exactly he has been spying on Jin-ah. There are signs that he had a crush on his beautiful neighbor but then again the viewer doesn't get to know this for sure. After all his acting is quite satisfying.
Kim Tae-hoon as Han Hyun-soo seems to be a good actor as well but, and this is only my opinion so don't hate me for that, he seems to be a little too old for such a passionate and at the same time sometimes just.. stupid character. Usually one would expect someone younger when it comes to really impulsive and passionate characters but then again his acting fits his character after all so that's not much of a problem at the end of the day.
Jo Jin-woong as Park Myung-rok made me crack up, for a loan shark he's quite funny but also has his options to make things go his way - or to at least try that. As a loan shark and a gangster I really had difficulties to take him seriously.
Then there's Kwak Do-won as Professor Kim Su-taek. While him cheating on his wife is definitely something about morals it doesn't make him a charming character. As for the acting, I loved the way he developed while being interrogated over days or weeks.
Lastly I need to mention his wife, Sun-hwa, played by Moon So-ri. She doesn't have many scenes so there's no development and her character appearing in the end makes it seem incredibly random like -  "oh, we could add a little bit of a wife seeking for revenge as well!" but her behavior in that one scene is interesting. It doesn't seem like it's her first time dealing with.. uhm.. sudden circumstances.




Now my personal rating? As you might have noticed I found the movie at least enjoyable but it still only gets 6/10 from me because it seriously missed the point. A movie that's supposed to be a crime and maybe even melodrama movie isn't supposed to be as hilarious as this movie is, it just seems like a whole parody of another gangster movie. If its aim was to make the audience crack up the rating would have been better but since it is supposed to be a rather serious movie (as far as I've read) it turned out quite bad.
That being said, I like the way the scenes were used. For example in two scenes, when Hyun-soo calls Jung-hoon we see what Hyun-soo is doing first and hear Jung-hoon through the phone, in the next scene it's the opposite, we see Jung-hoon. It's actually pretty nice but can turn out kind of repetitive it it's used too often.


If you're looking for a good laugh you definitely should try this movie but if you're looking for a serious gangster movie, this one is not for you.

Vampire Heaven

ヴァンパイア・ヘヴン (Vampire Heaven) is a Japanese drama series that aired from April 12th to July 5th 2013 on TV Tokyo. It consists of 12 episodes with an average duration of 24 minutes.

Story: The count is a vampire who wants to marry Sakurako. When she decides to go to see him, her best friend Komachi, also called Koma-chan, gets her out of there and the two of them run away together. They end up in contemporary Tokyo and meet Hayato with whom Sakurako falls in love. Living with a young human, Kentarou, and working for Midnight Cafe's owner Aoi the two find out they're not the only vampires in the human world - the count is looking for his fiancee Sakurako...

Cast: At first let me say that there is nothing outstanding about the acting in this one. Aya Oomasa as Sakurako was somehow the typical naive female you find in lots of dramas. I didn't really like her character until the very end. Tsubasa Honda as Komachi was just incredibly cute. While I really really really loved her character, her acting wasn't too special either but then again she was the most refreshing part about the 'main cast' in this series. Yuta Hiraoka did well as Hayato though but then again I don't know whether his acting was that special - sometimes he just seemed to be too calm about things, especially in the end.
Noriko Eguchi was somehow awesome as Aoi though. Or maybe I just found her character to be pretty appealing because she was just cool about almost everything. Especially when she was talking to Kentarou and telling him her 'secret' she seemed to see it as an almost funny thing (which it indeed was). Speaking of Kentarou, Satoshi Tomiura seemed like a 13 year old boy most of the time. I don't want to sound rude but his voice didn't really change the effect, and at first I was confused because he looks so girly in this and his voice is so high but.. Ken is a male name. Oh well, once you get used to it.
Lastly, there's Eisuke Sasai as the count. I don't remember ever hearing people using his name but though he was supposed to be a villain I couldn't help laughing from time to time about him being so damn stupid. It was funny to watch anyways.

Soundtrack: Please let's not talk about the opening and ending songs. I don't really like the Japanese idol culture so the first time hearing the opening song I was like "Okay... well, whatever" but after hearing it three times I wondered if they couldn't do better..


After all this drama is a 5.5/10 for me. I know people are criticizing it for it's basic plot, pointless romance, lack of story and character development and of course the fact that they aren't following their own rules! Saying vampires need to take care because of the sun but then again when they just lose a scarf or anything nothing happens. Sure it does have it's flaws, and there are a lot of those (though I think there is a story actually). It's nothing but the usual vampire stuff with only the fact that there's a female vampire now.
But then again, it's entertaining, and the whole series doesn't take longer than six hours to watch. It's perfect for a weekend if weird effects and even weirder fighting scenes make you laugh - and it's not as bad as many people make it seem. Especially those two spying on Sakurako, Aoi and Komachi for the count. THESE GUYS made me completely crack up.
I honestly found the Komachi and Hayato to be good characters, so maybe I'll rewatch some scenes just because of them.

All About My Romance

내 연애의 모든것  (All About My Romance) is a South Korean drama series that aired on SBS from April 4th to May 29th 2013.

Story: Kim Soo-young is newly elected into the national parliament as a member of the Great Korea Party, the most conservative party with the largest number of members in the parliament.
While trying to breaking into a room where the GKP No Min-young, a member of the minor party, hits him with a fire extinguisher and the two of them become known as "the fire extinguisher couple".
No Min-young entered the political world after her sister, a member of the parliament, died in a car accident.
Somehow the two of them start developing romantic feelings but after all their love is forbidden since their ideologies are too different...

Cast: So Shin Ha-kyun accepted the role of the male lead Kim Soo-young. He has a killer smile, that's true, and actually the rather cold politician can actually be such a charming man. I only think he looks completely different with his hair cut short in later episodes.
Lee Min-jung can be seen as Lee Min-young she's such a cute and cheerful woman in this drama and I would so wish for her to date Shin Ha-kyun for real! They make an awesome couple in this drama but then again, I shouldn't confuse actors and their characters.
Park Hee-soon acted as Song Joon-ha in this drama, and all I say is second male lead. That already explains everything else. He's doing an incredibly good job though, I like him. As the second female lead An Hee-sun we have Han Chae-ah. A rich child of a company she's not used to not getting what she wants and is deeply hurt because she cannot get Kim Soo-young.
Others in the cast include Jin Tae-hyun as Kim Sang-soo, Jang Gwang as Maeng Joo-ho, Cheon Ho-jin as Ko Dae-ryong, Gong Hyung-jin as Moon Bong-shik and Kim Jung-nan as Go Dong-sook. But there are so many characters in this one (regarding the drama is set in the parliament from time to time) that it's impossible to list all of them.

Soundtrack: Regarding the season in which this drama aired it's not surprising the title track is cute, cheerful and refreshing. The first track on the OST that appears in the drama quite often is performed by Baechigi and Shin Bo-ra and is called "사랑하니까 (Because I Love You)". Yes, after hearing it a few times in the drama one gets tired of the song but it is actually such a perfect song for the spring season that I can't help but listen to it. Tiffany of SNSD performed a nice ballad track for the OST, as well as Shin Yong-jae of 4Men. Those two songs appear in the rather sad and confusing parts of the drama but both of the tracks are pretty solid.
Another quite well-known track is called "I love you" and performed by Akdong Musician. The song as well as the MV is incredibly cute and once again perfect for the spring season and you should definitely check it out. And just because I have to mention it about cute, bubbly and spring as well - Dal★shabet performed a track for the OST as well and it's also worth listening to.


My personal rating is 8/10 but I really liked this one as well. It's just that there are too many characters and it's hard for me to follow the political stuff but it's actually a cute story and worth watching if you don't watch dramas only for young actors.

You Who Came From The Stars

별에서 온 그대 (You Who Came From The Stars/ My Love From Another Star) is a Korean drama series that aired on SBS from December 18th 2013 to February 27th 2014. The drama consists of 21 episodes, a special episode was aired on February 7th 2014 as well.

Story: Do Min-joon is an alien who came to Earth 400 years ago. In the past he experienced that his extraordinary abilities can cause him a lot of trouble so he's trying to stay on his own without getting involved with humans too much.
Actress Cheon Song-yi ends up in his class in university and by chance also moves into the apartment next to his so the two of them get to meet often. Since Cheon Song-yi is the reincarnation of a girl Do Min-joon used to know he tries to protect her as good as possible and therefore has trouble hiding his true identity..

Cast: Kim Soo-hyun accepted the role of the cold-hearted alien Do Min-joon. What can I say? He's good and he knows that.. now I really want an alien invasion because come on, those abilities are like super cool, plus, his body isn't getting older. At least in the drama. Jeon Ji-hyun can be seen as Cheon Song-yi. She's pretty, and the role of an arrogant top star is definitely made for her, it was indeed realistic. Her acting therefore is great! Park Hae-jin as Lee Hee-kyung is the heir of a company and has been in love with Song-yi for ages. He actually does a really nice job as well seeming like a lovesick fool from time to time but he's cute the way he is. Yoo Se-mi played by Yoo In-na has been Song-Yi's best friend for a long time and she has been in love with Hee-kyung for a long time as well. So in this drama we have a love triangle that's more complicated than the usual triangles are.
But every drama with more than 10 episodes needs a crime story in the background, right? What makes it more complicated in this drama is, that the people involved are siblings of some of the main characters - or close friends.
Lee Jae-kyung, Lee Hee-young's older brother, played be Shin Sung-rok is involved in the whole thing as well and finds himself in a conflict with Do Min-joon because of it (a war he obviously can't win if you ask me). On the other side is Oh Sang-jin as prosecutor Yoo Seok, Yoo Se-mi's older brother.
As you might see by reading this cast/character part the relations between the characters are way more complicated than they seem to be. All of the actors were amazing though so the cast is a huge plus for this drama, I just feel like a correlation chart would take about half of my wall because there are so many characters and they all are somewhere connected to almost everyone else..

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is love, okay?
It's just the typical effect for me - the most played song in the drama which happens to be "My Destiny" by Lyn happened to get on my nerves like nothing else after some time. Personally, I'm in love with the two songs performed by Kim Soo-hyun himself, "너의 집 앞 (In Front of Your House)" and "약속 (Promise)". But sure with vocalists like Huh Gak, K.Will and Hyorin singing songs for the soundtrack it can't be that bad.

So at the end of the day the drama is good. Yes, it's a basic and romance-comedy drama and it's definitely worth watching it. But my personal rating is 8.5/10 though. Yes, I like it but I don't get the hype about this. Someone please tell me why like everyone said it was soooo amazing and definitely the most amazing drama ever and so on and so forth. I can only guess that it's like this because of Kim Soo-hyun and Park Hae-jin (they both make fangirl hearts flutter) and Jeon Ji-hyun and Yoo In-na for the fanboys (they ARE pretty, omg..)

What made this drama as successful as it was? I'm really curious but we'll probably never know.

Flower Boy Next Door

이웃집 꽃미남 (Flower Boy Next Door/ My Flowerboy Neighbor) is a Korean drama series that aired from January 7th to February 26th 2013 on tvN. It's the third part of the Oh! Boy series.

Story: Go Dok-mi lives at Ocean Village's apartment #402. She works as a freelance copy editor and rarely leaves her apartment. She has been secretly watching Tae-joon who lives across from her.
Suddenly she finds herself surrounded by flower boys living in the same building.
Enrique Keum, a video game designer, just came from Spain to Korea and stays in Tae-joon's apartment. Web comic writer Oh Jin-rok and his assistant Yoo Dong-hoon stay in apartment #401. Fascinated by the shy women living in #402 he writes his new web comic based on observations. Also Watanabe who came to Korea to learn the special things about the Korean cuisine lives next to Dok-mi.
The men gather in front of her door because Enrique caught Dok-mi peeping into Tae-joon's apartment and the noise he caused in front of her house..

Cast: So we have Park Shin-hye as the female lead character Go Dok-mi. I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous post but her expressions stay the same all the time. I really can't tell if it's about the type of characters she tends to play but it's really boring to watch her (or her characters).
As Enrique Keum we have Yoon Shi-yoon and yes, he's cute and a flower boy but then again his character is quite complicated and seems so childish and cheerful about 95% of the time - the other five percent of the complete time he's a rather sensible and somehow hurt character. Once again I feel like the expressions were incredibly overdone but then again it's probably what the producers want. Compared to Dok-mi it's rather easy to figure out his thoughts but he tends to hide them with his smile as well from time to time.
Oh Jin-rok was acted by Kim Ji-hoon who's a victim of the Second-Male-Lead-Syndrome again. Ko Gyung-pyo can be seen as his assistand Yoon Dong-hoon. Kouki Mizuta accepted the role of Watanabe and he's adorable, he seems more helpless than he actually is but he's willing to learn a lot. At last I need to mention Kim Jung-san who's the object of Go Dok-mi's affection as Han Tae-joon.


Soundtrack: The soundtrack might also be a gift to fans of Park Shin-hye who performed the song "Pitch Black". But then again the song isn't that special, there's nothing really great to me included in the soundtrack.
There's one really cute scene with Yoon Shi-yoon singing at a campfire though and I really like this song. The music is just used to highlight scenes in dramas, I know, but I would want a lot more of that.
The other songs are mostly romantic-cute songs. Once again, it's not bad but there isn't really any highlight.

After all this one got a rating of 8.5/10 as well from me.
Yes, there are some typical aspects and somehow either the female lead character Go Dok-mi or Park Shin-hye ruined it a little bit for me but it's a cute and funny rom-com drama. And I couldn't help but like Enrique as a character even more because of Dok-mi giving him a hard time. And the dog! Excuse me but it's fluffy and I love it.

Almost as much as I love and want the panda hat. Isn't it somehow awesome?
Now if those flower boys would live in my neighborhood I'd probably be interested in going out instead of spending my time watching Korean dramas, studying languages and writing drama reviews.

Two Weeks

투윅스 (Two Weeks) is a Korean drama series that aired on MBC from August 7th to September 26th 2013.

Story: Jang Tae-san is a small time gangster. Years before the main story starts he met Seo In-hye who saw his good heart. Once she got pregnant he prepared to leave the gang but was blackmailed by the boss who wants Tae-san to go to prison for him. So Tae-san broke up with In-hye and went to prison for several years.
After being released Tae-san runs a small pawnshop. In-hye suddenly contacts him because their daughter, Soo-jin, has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Since Tae-san is the only positive match around them, he wants to do something right and meaningful with his life. The transplantation is scheduled to take place in two weeks. But Tae-san is arrested by Detective Im Seung-woo for the murder of an undercover agent who was ordered to enter the gang by prosecutor Park Jae-kyung.
Afte escaping because of an accident the police car had Tae-san is haunted by the police and an assassin but he has to stay alive somehow for those two weeks..

Cast: At first we have a really good male lead character and actor. Jang Tae-san actually is a rather round character, I'm actually fascinated by Lee Joon-ki's acting in this drama since the role of a minor gangster who's treated like garbage but who seriously wants to at least save his daughter. Park Ha-sun accepted the role of Seo In-hye, Tae-san's ex-girlfriend. To me, her character wasn't that important - she's a worried mother after all - and always says she's over Tae-san. (well, if you think so..). One of my favorite actresses, Kim So-yeon, took the role of prosecutor Park Jae-kyung. She's overly ambitious, yes, that's true, and sometimes you just want her to leave the others alone but after all she's doing her job and trying to find out the truth. Detective Im Seung-woo who became more like a father to Soo-jin and has been with In-hye for quite some time was played by Ryu Soo-young. Caught somewhere between his love for Soo-jin and therefore the will to protect the person who can save her life and his duty as a detective. I think he did a good job portraying the almost 'split' personally who tries to manage his career and his emotions at the same time though it actually wouldn't work together.
Others we see? We have Jo Min-ki as the bad guy and gangster boss Moon Il-seok, and damn, his character made me go wild sometimes. He's trying to avoid going to prison but won't stop killing people. Tsk, tsk. That won't work for long, Sir. Another actor I just need to mention because of his rising popularity lately is Song Jae-rim as Killer Kim. And despite for the fact that this quiet character fits almost too well with his looks, I really enjoyed seeing his character's plans in general, it was interesting to watch. I would've liked some more screen time for him.
And the cutie Seo Soo-jin was played by Lee Chae-mi. She's... adorable, Soo-jin is like the cute and bright sun in the middle of a huge chaos and investigations.

Soundtrack: This drama is a perfect example for the use of sounds and music.
First I need to mention the instrumental parts. I think I forgot to mention it in my IRIS reviews but I have to talk about it here - the instrumental tracks that are used everywhere in the drama are well-placed, so is the silence that is used. Many producers seriously should reduce the number of songs performed by singers and add more instrumental tracks to highlight the feeling of a scene.
Talking about the 'normal' OST works fine for this drama as well. At first, my favorite track was "가슴을 쳐봐도 (Hitting My Heart/Heart Hurt)" by Kim Bo-kyung just because I was and still am a huge fan of her voice. And this song still gives me goosebumps. But by now I'm completely in love with Nell's "Run", I would've loved to see an MV for this song. After all the other tracks by The One, Dickpunks, Yoo Seung-woo and Toxic were also great. I mean for sure it's not the typical poppish soundtrack many K-Pop-fans would love but then there's me who's also a huge fan of rock music and the OST was my favorite OST of 2013.


My personal rating is 8.5/10 mostly because I think some scenes didn't really fit the drama and some other didn't really do anything for the story so.. there was some unnecessary. And this drama indeed failed to make me cry (a cute child has leukemia and has to go through a lot and I'm cold as stone.. something's seriously wrong with me..) but it is quite good and enjoyable if you can deal with some melodrama.

(*come on, this second gif is incredibly cute, lovely, adorable, sweet and I love it)

The Master's Sun

주군의 태양 (The Master's Sun) is a Korean drama that aired from August 7th to October 3rd 2013 on SBS.

Story: Tae Gong-shil who was called "Tae-yang" (which means 'Sun', just in case you didn't notice that while watching the drama) when she was younger because of her bright mind is involved in an accident and wakes up with the ability to see ghosts. Ghosts go to see her and ask for favors which makes her life a lot harder so she can't go to university. Also drinking alcohol is a baaaaaaad idea because some crazy ghost might take control over her body. One day she meets chaebol Joo Joong-won who spent his whole life making more and more money. Because of a trauma in the past he has built a cold exterior that no one, not even his father, can get through.
In the first episode while being out to help a ghost Gong-shil jumps into Joong-won's car. Though he was not willing to take her back into town, Joong-won gives in when she fearfully screams because of a ghost appearing in front of her. Tae-yang realizes at some point, that, whenever she touches Joong-won, the ghosts just disappear. And so he becomes her 'secret hideout'.
The love story that evolves around those two definitely is not one we've seen 20 times before. Tae-yang's ability to see ghosts makes things a lot more difficult and puts them in danger from time to time as well.

Cast: The main cast consists of So Ji-sub as Joo Joong-won (who makes a perfect cold-hearted chaebol, it's really easy to believe he really behaves that way) and Gong Hyo-jin as Tae Gong-shil/Tae-yang. If you want to see a bunch of charisma, here you go~ they make a great onscreen couple and it's also really easy to believe that Gong Hyo-jin is really a confused, lost and desperate young woman who is so definitely not willing to let go of her secret hideout!
Seo In-guk can be seen as Kang Woo, who's the poor second male lead - or not so poor in the end because of the second female lead (and why are those second female leads either annoying as hell or just bad characters? Can't there be someone who's less annoying?) Kim Yoo-ri as Tae Yi-ryung. Not to forget: We see Choi Jung-woo who acts in a lot of SBS dramas as Kim Gwi-do (and basically the first person to ship Joong-won and Tae-yang, I always imagined him standing there like a cheerleader) and L or Kim Myung-soo who appears in a few scenes as the younger Joong-won.

Soundtrack: The OST is.. okay, let's just stay with this. Except for me not being a huge fan of Gummy (why is she featured in this many OST's anyways? Not hating, just wondering) my personal highlights were Hyorin's "미치게 만들어 (Driving Me Crazy)" and Hong Dae Kwang's "너와 나 (You and I)". Though I actually like the song itself as well, I just don't feel like Melody Day's "All About" fit the story or the drama and actually this song was so annoying while watching the drama.
Other artists who recorded songs for the OST include T-Yoon Mi Rae and Seo In-guk.

Though it does have some flaws - I'm not even denying that it's one of my favorite K-dramas and therefore has a rating of 10/10. Yes, we do have some typical things - Second Male Lead-Syndrome, bitchy second female lead, traumatic events in the past, love triangle (one should think this gets boring someday but it obviously still works relatively well) - but at the same time it is different from what I've seen in K-dramas before. Maybe it's because of the touching stories some ghosts tell, maybe it's simply because the whole story is about a woman who's able to see ghosts and therefore - pardon me - ends up like a crazy mess. Oh, and maybe it's just because we seriously want to know how
THIS

ended up like THIS

But this drama made me realize that I'm weird. The story of a dog's ghost made me cry an ocean but Ep. 12 (? You'll know what I mean when you see that scene) leaves me completely emotionless like "Oh, yes, good job, you did protect her, now what?"

That Winter, The Wind Blows

그 겨울, 바람이 분다 (That Winter, The Wind Blows) is a rather well-known drama that originally aired from February 13th to April 3rd 2013 on SBS and consists of 16 episodes.
The drama is based on the Japanese series 愛なんていらねえよ、夏 (I Don't Need Love, Summer) that was aired in Japan in 2002.

Story: Oh Soo is on of the best gamblers in the Cheongdamdong neighborhood but lives a rather meaningless life: He was left behind by his parents under a tree when he was a baby and lost his first love. There's another man called Oh Soo who takes care of his home.
The gambler Oh Soo is in a relationship with the actress So-ra who's nearly obsessed with him and doesn't realize that he doesn't love her as much. When she has to leave for one year, she plans to get him arrested for embezzlement afraid he might leave her for another woman when she's not with him.
One day, Oh Young, the heir of a company, appears at Oh Soo's apartment door and asks for him but he realizes that he's looking for the other Oh Soo. Later he reads out a letter the brother of that woman wrote to her because she is blind but has to run away soon. The other Oh Soo returns and dies. At the same time Oh Young's father passed away and she left.
One year later Oh Soo is in a difficult situation but suddenly a company attorney appears mistaking him for the dead Oh Soo who would've been another heir for the same company as Oh Young since they were siblings. Thinking he might be able to repay a debt he has left because of So-ra he decides to become the Oh Soo that died one year ago..

Cast: The cast is actually a really good one, the main reason why I watched this drama. At first we have Jo In-sung as Oh Soo. I've never heard about him before but I think it was actually a good drama for him to become more popular. Song Hye-kyo is seen as Oh Young. I don't know if it's really that difficult but I still think it's rather hard to act as if you're blind. I mean you can't show any reaction to the things you can't here and feel and remaining emotionless while 'looking' straight ahead needs a lot of proficiency. Oh Soo's best friend and partner Park Jin-sung was acted by Kim Bum, the main reason why I watched this drama. He's not a coward, quite the opposite, and he wants to take every risk to save his life. I quite like Kim Bum taking the roles of impulsive characters, it fits him well. Especially if he's confronted with a woman like Moon Hee-sun who was played by Jung Eun-ji of A Pink. Watching the two of them fight is actually one of the funniest things in the drama. And yes, Eun-ji did a good job as well.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was performed by good and popular ballad singers who participated in many many many soundtracks before. My favorite track was sung by Yesung of Super Junior and is called "먹지 (Gray Paper)". I've been listening to this song without a break for hours because it's so beautiful. Another really good song was "그리고 하나 (And One)" by Taeyeon of SNSD. Though I'm not a huge fan of SM Entertainment artists, I really liked those two songs. But I'm not that much into the ballad genre so to me, the OST was a little bit boring after some time.


My personal rating: 6/10

Why such a 'bad' rating? It might be because it's a melodrama but from time to time I almost fell asleep.. some dialogues were written in an incredible boring manner, there weren't that many exciting scenes - and usually I've heard a melodrama should make people cry? If that's the case it definitely didn't work. I think it's good if you're into that genre but I doubt I would've finished this if it wouldn't have been for the cast who put a lot of effort into this. The soundtrack is nice but if you're more into dance pop or rock ballads it's definitely not the right OST for you.
On the other hand, the scenery, the filming and the characters are nice so.. take those really beautiful gifs for now.

Sirius

시리우스 (Sirius) is a Korean drama special that aired on KBS2 from January 6th to January 27th 2013. It consists of 4 episodes in total.

Before starting the review I have to mention this
(←) awesome picture they used. I really think the whole card design looks awesome and I could talk about my interpretation for hours - maybe I'll do that in the last part of my review - because it leaves a lot of impressions.

Story: The story evolves around the identical twin brothers Do Eun-chang and Do Shin-woo. Thought they are twins, their characters were always different. Shin-woo got into trouble a lot, while Eun-chang was a good and bright person and a good student in his teens but went to jail for his brother. So Eun-chang's life changed a lot.
On the other side Shin-woo always felt inferior to his brother but his feelings changed after Eun-chang went to jail. Now a chief detective of an investigation team, Shin-woo works mainly with drug investigations. Eun-chang, after being released from prison, works as an errand man. But due to a plot planned by Ko Seok-min the two brothers change their positions. While Eun-chang accepts the current state, Shin-woo tries to get his position back.

Cast: Both twins are played by Seo Jun-young who manages to play both different characters quite well. Especially since they aren't close at all I think it requires a lot of skills to do this job well. ZE:A's Park Hyung-sik accepted the challenge as well taking over the teen roles of the twins.
The main gangster Ko Seok-min is played by Ryu Seung-soo. Two female characters appear as well and so we see Uhm Hyun-kyung as Kim An-na and Jo Woo-ri as So-ri.

After all it's a 6/10, though I think it's still a rather good 6~ basically I think it's too short, I would've wished for more contexts and by far more story. Because actually this drama special has so much potential! Regarding the dark angel Shin-woo and the white-winged angel Eun-chang more information would've been a good thing but obviously the producers only wanted a short drama special so - they should've either turned this into a mind-blowing movie or just use the story for a full drama, at least 8 episodes would've been possible to answer some question and to give the viewer some more insight-

The Virus

더 바이러스 (The Virus) is a Korean drama that aired on OCN from March 1st to May 3rd 2013. Like most OCN dramas it's rather short and consists of 10 episodes.

Story: The Special Infectious Disease Crisis Response Team (who can remember this name for God's sake?!) led by Detective Lee Myung-hyun has to investigate the case of a mutant virus that has a 100% fatality rate and there are no survivors. Finding out that actuality humans created the mutant virus. Investigating who's behind the production of the virus and fighting the evil becomes the main objective.

Cast: The cast includes some rather well-known actors, and - oh, their acting was perfect in this drama! It seemed as if the whole scenario was real, a dangerous and frightening reality indeed but nonetheless a real scenario. Uhm Ki-joon accepted the role of Detective Lee Myung-hyun, Lee So-jung as Jeon Ji-won. Lee Ki-woo makes a really good doctor as Kim Se-jin, Ahn Seok-hwan can be seen as Kim Do-jin. Park Min-woo acted as Bong Sun-dong. Lastly we have two rather familiar faces, one of them being actor Jo Hee-bong as Ko Soo-gil and Wonder Girls' member Yu Bin as Lee Joo-young.

My personal rating is 8/10 but the drama is awesome nonetheless! Don't get me wrong, my rating is based on a few factors. One of them being that I'm usually not that much into those apocalypse scenarios. Another thing I criticized was the lack of story involving the pharma industry. But the weirdest part is that I actually think the powerful people on this planet would make this possible - and it's scary that I wouldn't be surprised if that would happen someday..

Special Affairs Team TEN (Season 2)

특수사건전담반 TEN 2 (Special Affairs Team TEN 2) is the second season of the TEN series that airs on OCN. The second season was aired from April 14th to June 30th 2013.

*Please note that the main cast is exactly the same as in the first season so I might just copy and paste some parts. Just to mention the cast in this entry as well.*

Story: Team TEN is back! Yeo Ji-hoon, the leader of Team Ten suddenly disappeared. Soon the confused team members find a note about his intentions and start working on their own, especially on a serial murder case known as the "F cases". But as they get closer, the team itself is in a dangerous situation and experiences a shock.

Cast: The whole cast is doing an awesome job. At first we have Joo Sang-wook as Yeo Ji-hoon, "the monster who catches monsters". He's a really good cop and team leader with an impressive logical thinking. I think that's exactly what makes the character Yeo Ji-hoon as attractive and impressive as he is. The acting itself definitely is amazing, I sometimes had to remind myself that it is actually a TV series..Jo An excepted the role of Nam Ye-ri. She's pretty but what's more interesting is her skill when it comes to observation and interpretation of contexts. The smart female member of the team, such an awesome combination.
Than there's Kim Sang-ho as Baek Do-shik. You wouldn't expect a veteran cop to be as good as he is, and he's indeed really important for the team with his experience and knowledge of humans. Some people might argue OCN could've found someone to get to the female audience as well but come on, that's superficial. The character as well as the actor have other qualities, it's like impossible to separate the actor and the character, they're the same person.
The last member of the team is Choi Woo-sik as Park Min-ho. In the beginning one might say he's acting too cute and too much like a puppy (which might be partly true) but he's courageous and smart and has a great logical understanding - and well, rookie officers need to learn and someone needs to do the running work. Plus he's developing quite fast and has some other.. 'reasons' why he's even more important for the team itself.

Soundtrack: Once again the soundtrack isn't overdone but I don't remember songs that returned over and over and over again. The main reason could be the different natures of the cases.

This season got a 10/10 rating from me. It's perfect, I was close to a mental breakdown during the last two episodes because those were some of the most exciting events I've ever seen in a TV series. This thin line of excitement and fascination is what actually makes a drama really good, especially if one can connect with the characters. Plus, since this crime topic is kind of new in Korea, especially without any love story included (though I ship Ye-ri and Min-ho a tiny little bit), it's even better HOW good this is.

There's only one frustrating point left. OCN confirmed a third season. Actually planned for late 2014. Then it was postponed to early 2015. And since they now need to film two completely new drama series (which I am going to watch anyways because OCN is awesome) it is said the third season might start airing in January 2016. Thank you, OCN? *Sarcasm*

Looking Forward To Romance

연애를 기대해 (Looking Forward To Romance/ Waiting For Love/  Hope For Love/ Expect To Date) is a Korean mini drama series consisting of two episodes that aired on September 11th and September 12th 2013 on KBS2.

Story: The drama centers around Joo Yeon-ae who is a romantist in a world where dating is about money and brain. Though she has the looks and a good personality she never gets the man she wants and is therefore quite unexperienced when it comes to relationships. Cha Gi-dae is a dating coach and starts to coach Yeon-ae through SNS. Though he is an expert at dating he has trouble getting the girl he wants as well.
This drama focusses on the love stories that evolve between two young adults and their different views on relationships.

Cast: At first we have Boa as Joo Yeon-ae. Though I'm definitely not one of her fans (one of my friends once asked me how I can be a K-Pop fan but not care about Boa at all) I think she really did a good job in this series. It was fun to watch her. Choi Daniel accepted the role of Cha Gi-dae and watching him was definitely entertaining, mostly because of his sometimes overly self-confident character who claims to be an expert at dating but fails to get the woman he wants. I think his character was really awesome. Im Siwan of ZE:A was acting in this drama as Jung Jin-gook and.. he's adorable in this drama, I totally fell for his character though I can't really explain why exactly. And last but not least is Kim Ji-won whom I've seen in To The Beautiful You before as Choi Sae-rom. As far as I remember (yes, it has been a while since I've seen this drama) her character in this series wasn't annoyingly cute but pretty much alright. She'll probably never be one of my favorite actresses but hey, her acting was good, not that much overdone.

After all this series got a rating of 8/10 from me but that's mainly because I'm not that much into love stories, especially not into the typical ones. It's something I definitely would rewatch (maybe just with a better subtitle or in a few years completely without subtitles) around Christmas because that's the only time of the year when I end up completely overly emotional.

Adolescence Medley

사춘기 메들리 (Adolescence Medley) is a Korean drama special consisting of four episodes that aired from July 10th to July 31st 2013 on KBS2.

Story: Choi Jung-woo has transferred schools for seven times and finally learned that it's easiest to live as if he was invisible and to not get involved with anyone. But after transferring to Namil High School Yang Ah-young talks him into doing lots of school chores. Meanwhile his seatmate is bullied. Though he doesn't want to get involved he ends up yelling at the bullies and gets into a fight with "Brown Bear", a school legend at fighting.
When he learns his father isn't going to be transferred to Seoul Jung-woo can't run away from his problems anymore and therefore has to face those.

Cast: Kwak Dong-yeon plays the teen Choi Jung-woo. Personally I like the way he's acting in this drama, sure it's the role of an impulsive teenager, maybe because he was 16 when this drama was filmed and aired as well. Lee Se-young as Yang Ah-young is the one talking him into school services and also the one he asks out for his revenge. Kwak Jung-wook as Im Deok Won is the bullied seatmate because of whom Choi Jung-woo becomes active.
Others include Choi Tae-joon as "Brown Bear" Lee Yeok-ho, Park Jung-min as Shin Young-bok and Baek Sung-hyun as adult Choi Jung-woo.

Skipping the part soundtrack because I can't really say something about that, I really like this drama, it's the story of a loner who suddenly sees himself confronted with the world and has to deal with the consequences. Friendship and first love - completely teenager things but I still think that this drama is nice compared to others.
With a rating 8/10 I think it's really a good way to spend a day.