Poseidon

포세이돈 (Poseidon) is a South Korean Drama that was aired on KBS2  from September 19th to November 8th 2011. It consists of 16 episodes with an average duration of 60 minutes per episode.

Story: Poseidon is the sea special attack team of South Korea and directly connected to the Coast Guard. Kim Sun-woo joins this unit after being a troublemaker in his school days. Because of an incident he is sent to Gunsan city until Kwon Jung-ryul who formed a new crime investigation unit in Incheon asks Sun-woo to join. The purpose of the unit is to stop the "Heugsahoe", an organisation led by Choi Hee-gon, but officially the investigation unit is responsible for unsolved cases.
This drama is pretty much a crime and action drama that could be compared to other crime dramas easily. While I did enjoy the story by itself and I loved the action I feel like it was just too long for the story. I occasionally found myself getting bored and playing with my phone rather than watching the drama. While it is also supposed to be directly related to the coast guard many parts of this drama actually have nothing to do with the coast guard or the sea in general so I would describe it as an ordinary police drama.

Cast: Lee Sung-jae as Kwon Jung-ryul. It hasn't been too long since I first saw Lee Sung-jae in a drama and while I do like his acting I'm not overly impressed. His acting in this drama, too, was good or okay but not really outstanding.
Choi Si-won as Kim Sun-woo. The same could be said for him. He pretty much carries this drama (at least internationally he's the reason why most people even know about this drama, let's face it) but it's not the best role he played in his life and I certainly think that he improved in the dramas he starred in later. In Poseidon, his acting was decent but could've been better.
Lee Si-young as Lee Soo-yoon. I pretty much hated her character. Usually female characters in action or crime dramas should be smart and tough but she is so dumb and makes so many dumb decisions that sometimes I ended up sitting here wondering how someone like that was able to become a police officer. The acting might have been okay but I just couldn't stand her character. Simple.
Jung Yun-ho as Kang Eun-chul. Yunho is the other actor pretty much bringing attention to this drama and I did enjoy his acting probablythe most. There is no real issue with his character or acting and I probably liked him the most when watching this drama.
Jang Dong-jik as Kang Joo-min. Ooh, one of the charismatic characters in this drama with a quite dark and mysterious aura but I really did like him in some twisted way. The acting pretty much delivered exactly that, and it was more than a solid performance.
Other actors in this drama include Han Jung-soo, Jung Woon-taek, Jin Hee-kyung, Lee Byung-joon, Son Jung-bum and Park Sung-kwang.

Soundtrack: The whole OST sung by Yang Yo-seob, Jo Kyu-hyun, Lee Hae-ri, Heo Ga-yoon and Navi was pretty much love but the instrumentals made it perfect. I loved the music and can't really say anything else about it.


6.5/10
Yes, this drama was okay but it was dragged quite a bit and certainly failed the topic. It wanted to be a coast gard/marine drama but ended up being the normal police drama one can think about. Once again the main character has a personal story and is obsessed with catching the criminal because he was harmed. And Lee Soo-yoon as a character was more or less unbearable.

If you're a fan of action dramas you can watch this and might enjoy parts of this drama but if you're not that much into this genre you might just dislike this drama.

Monsters

MONSTERS is a Japanese crime series that aired on TBS from October 21st to December 9th 2012. The series consists of 8 episodes with an average duration of 45 minutes.

Story: Kosuke Saionji is designated to the best investigation team and is close to fulfilling his dream but he ends up assigned to Heihachi Hiratsuka, a top class detective who was working alone, he needs to take care of because of Hiratsuka's loud and impolite personality and his possible secrets in solving crimes. Every episode follows another crime and the investigation led by Hiratsuka.

Cast: The very first thing I need to say about this series is that it seems to be satirical. Everything is just a little overdone from acting to the way the cases are shown. In its own genre mixing up comedy and crime it is not bad but if it was a real crime drama it would lack some seriousness. This shows extremely well in the eccentric character of Heihachi Hiratsuka played by Shingo Katori. His acting in the eccentric way is good as well as some of the serious parts are great, too. As an actor I don't remember being familiar with Katori but I enjoyed his acting in this drama.
Tomohisa Yamashita as Kosuke Saionji is the helpless subordinate type of character and I honestly don't think this drama shows the strong side of his acting but it is a different side of what I've seen in most dramas he was starring in (that I watched so far of course).
Other characters were rarely in the focus as this drama just evolves around these two but other actors in this drama include Kenichi Endo, Tomoya Warabino, Daisuke Kikuta, Tatsuya Hino, Tomoya Shiroishi, Yasukage Hinaka and Makoto Otake.
 
Soundtrack: I totally loved the soundtrack and the music played in the episodes. I can't really explain why but I think it did highlight the atmosphere very well.


In total I rated this drama as 8/10 as it is not a full crime drama but includes comedy so the eccentric and over-the-top parts were intended to be that way. The crimes in each episode were interesting but sometimes it was a little obvious what might have happened. I would recommend this if you like the type of satirical crime dramas but if you only watch this for Tomohisa Yamashita you might be disappointed as this is not his best drama.

Confession of Murder

내가 살인범이다 (I'm a Murderer; Confession of Murder) is a South Korean movie directed by Jung Byoung-gil released in 2012.

Story: Lieutenant Choi Hyung-go is chasing the serial killer who killed 10 women one rainy night. During the chase he gets a scar after fighting with the murderer.
Later, Jung Hyun-sik, the son of the first victim, who became close to Hyung-go after the cases commits suicide.
In 2007, two years after the statute of limitations that originally was 15 years ended, Lee Duk-soo publishes a book with the title "Confession of Murder". He describes the murders and states that he needs to talk about it because of the guilt. The book turns him into a bestselling author but also gets him kidnapped by the family members of the victims, among them Han Ji-soo who still tries to find her daughters' remains.
During a live debate broadcast with Lee Duk-soo and Choi Hyung-go another man who only refers to himself as "J" calls and asks questions to which only the real murderer can know the answers. Now everyone is carefully trying to find out who is the murderer and what will happen.

Cast: Jung Jae-young as Choi Hyung-go. He was brilliant in the role, I totally believed every little bit of this even though I only fully understood it in the end. While he can portray the rough cop and the poker face I honestly did like the emotional side as to why he can't let it go, too.
Park Si-hoo as Lee Doo-suk is a perfect flower boy in his role. I think that the part of the "nice killer" fits him in this drama and that he also portrays it in a believable manner while sometimes the way he uses to ask for forgiveness seems a little bit ironic and not serious. I'm talking about a specific scene with the doctor, if you watch the movie you might understand where I'm coming from.
Jung Hae-kyun as J. He was barely seen without a mask for the most part of the movie so judging facial expressions is more or less impossible. However, the way he talked he didn't seem to be a normal criminal but totally insane. I don't know if that was how the character was written or if it was his acting but yeah..
Kim Young-ae as Han Ji-soo was awesome especially in the end but also in the flashbacks. A mother in grief trying to find her daughter so she can let go peacefully. All the sides of her character seemed more or less realistic.
Other actors in this drama include Jang Gwang as the director of the broadcasting station, Jo Eun-ji as Choi Kang-sook, Choi Won-young as Jung Tae-suk, Kim Jung-goo as the snake hunter and Min Ji-ah as Jung Soo-yeon.


So I personally think this movie is interesting but not one of the most mind-blowing I have seen in my life which is why I rated it with 8.5/10. The main reason is that some of the chases just seemed kinda overdone and totally unrealistic (you will get me, I just mention the ambulance so you know which chase I mean).
What I can say for sure is that in this movie nothing is what it seems to be. It surprised me quite a lot how the mystery was solved but you will have to watch it yourself to find out. I recommend this movie to lovers of crime and suspense stories with a lot of action.

Jiu

ジウ　警視庁特殊犯捜査係 (jiu: keishichou tokushuhan sousakei; Jiu: Special Investigation Team) is a Japanese drama series that aired from July 29th to September 23rd 2011 on TV Asahi and consists of 9 episodes.

Story: Motoko Izaki and Misaki Kadokura couldn't be anymore different. One is a tough fighter, one of the strongest in her police unit SIT and prefers to take action to protect people. The other is a gentle and calm girl also referred to as "Miss Cannes" and wants to be responsible for negotiations - her job is talking. After an important incident both of them are transferred to different units and work to track down the mastermind behind the plan. All that is known about him in the early stages is the name "Jiu", a good-looking young man with blonde hair usually appearing in white clothes. But is he really behind all those deeds? And why do people follow him if they aren't doing it for money?

Cast: I know what people want to hear but I will just start off with Meisa Kuroki as Motoko Izaki. She is actually a singer if I'm informed correctly but she rocks her role in this drama. As a tough and fit woman Izaki is definitely someone I would look up to. Mikako Tabe as Misaki Kadokura on the other hand is the gentle and kind, naive girl who tries to get along with everyone. I know that this type of character does have a certain difficulty to it so I respect the actress but it is just the type of character that is popular among males for the fact that they are so cute and usually willing to follow.
Yu Shirota as Takashi Amamiya is a character that is just suspicious from the beginning. I don't fully know why but I never trusted his intentions in this drama, just the beginning and the first episode made me doubt everything but he added something to the story that was important. As for the acting, it was very secretive and mysterious and totally worked with the overall atmosphere.
Yukiya Kitamura as Hiroki Azuma did a good job overall trying to protect Kadokura while trying to solve the case of Toshinori and track down Jiu, the mysterious man he sees behind all the happenings. The acting was good but seemed a bit hesitant to me from time to time.
And lastly, yes, I have to mention Kim Myung-soo or L depending on what you want to call him as Jiu. Now first some questioning: Why in the world did they name the drama after a character that rarely appears until episode 7 or 8? And why did they need to use a Korean idol in an all Japanese drama? While I don't really mind it, let me talk about my theory: Attention. They just wanted attention from Korean fans of Infinite by making him the character that also gives the story the title. What they get especially on MDL are bad ratings by disappointed fans and I do believe that many people will just watch his scenes specifically. Anyway, I considered his acting to be good as far as he was shown but then again most of the time I think he had to stand somewhere with no expression on his face.. which can be difficult to but I got a feeling that he's good at standing somewhere with an emotionless face.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is hardly memorable. The only thing I remember is the ending. Seriously, Lady Gaga? Edge of Glory? Now it is one of the songs I don't hate but I don't get how this is connected to the drama at all. Plus, since it plays while the last minutes of the episode are airing, it was sometimes too loud so it interrupted the dramas flow.


I personally didn't find this drama to be as boring as many other people but then again I didn't have that high expectations. However, sometimes I just wanted to scream because of the side characters. It seemed more like a piece played in theatres. A person finished a sentence, and the next action takes place two or three seconds later - they obviously waited and sometimes too long so it was just obviously faked.
But then again the mystery in the plot and the characters made up for some negative stuff which is the reason for this drama getting a 7/10.
I DON'T recommend to watch this only for L/Myung-soo.

Flower Grandpa Investigation Unit

꽃할배 수사대 (Flower Grandpa Investigation Unit) is a South Korean drama series that aired on tvN from May 9th to July 25th 2014 every Friday and consists of 12 episodes.

Story: Three detectives in their late 20's transform to 70 year old men overnight after getting in contact with a weird liquid. Only the fourth member of the team, Park Jung-woo, doesn't transform into an old man for an unknown reason. While trying to get back their youth and finding an option to become their original age again, the Grandpa unit together with Park Jung-woo and Jung Eun-ji solve crime cases with Lee Joon-hyuk's intellect, Jeon Kang-seok's strength and Han Won-bin's charm.

Cast: For obvious reasons - there are so many people in the cast that it is really difficult to name and rate all of them separately.
Lee Joon-hyuk was portrayed by Lee Soon-jae and Choi Jin-hyuk in the different ages. Personally I think they did show a difference in portraying the character. While Choi Jin-hyuk made Joon-hyuk seem more cold than Lee Soon-jae, they both made him a little bit sarcastic and therefore someone others would hate but I used to like especially for this. The difference in their portrayal doesn't really bother me much since it is something also about the actors and what the audience wants to connect with them.
Byun Hee-bong and Park Min-woo both acted as Kang Won-bin who made this drama hilarious in his own way. Being a flower boy in his first age Park Min-woo portrays the shallow and popular guy very well as a little arrogant and obsessed with his own looks and skin care. Byun Hee-bong did well showing the personal crisis he experienced when Won-bin noticed he got old - wrinkly skin and not the usually perfect hair style was a horrible thing for him. Both actors did well while showing the arrogant and shallow aspects - as well as Won-bin being after pretty much every beautiful female.
In the role of Jeon Kang-seok Jang Kwang and Park Doo-sik both did well. As the character is strong but not really bright he had his own moments to shine and make the audience laugh. The most interesting thing about him was the fact that the character loved A Pink which led to a really cute behavior and a lot of aegyo the actors showed.
Kim Hee-chul of Super Junior is in this drama as Park Jung-woo and I personally think his acting was really good in the emotional parts. He did a very good job in this series and I think I would watch other comedy dramas with him, too.
Lee Cho-hee as Jung Eun-ji was really good, too. Her love for food and her ability to tell smells apart easily seems just a little weird and not really useful for a crime part at first even though it is entertaining but she turns out to be very helpful. As for the acting it was very solid, it somehow worked together even though I wasn't blown away by her acting.
Kim Eung-soo as the leader of the investigation unit Kim Young-chul was very interesting in his grumpy acting while also at some point caring for team members and their safety. The acting was really nice to watch.
And I need to mention Lee Ki-woo as Park Tae-min. I can't help it but I think after The Virus I developed a small weakness for Lee Ki-woo as the intelligent but slightly... crazy doctor or scientist. I think he is doing well in those rather serious roles and I was so happy when I saw him in this drama that I was almost jumping up and down because I got so excited.
Other actors in this drama series include Park Eun-ji as Han Yoo-ra, Kim Byung-se as Choi Jae-wook and Park Hyo-joo as Jun Hae-jin.

Soundtrack: I personally did like the instrumentals in the drama but not so much the songs by K-Pop/K-Indie artists Ladies' Code, Rumble Fish and Sun Woo. It is not a big minus though since I loved the rest of the music.

In total this drama got a 8/10 rating from me. It is a good crime and comedy mix that offers plot twists and a good cast. BUT what leads to this not being perfect is about some aspects that made it too ridiculous to be taken seriously even in a minor way. Sometimes the outcome was obvious while they were still investigating which is a spoiler within itself. Those are some things that did bother me but in the end this drama was still a good, funny and somehow light watch but had his serious moments.
Recommended to fans of comedy and crime in one!

The Technicians

기술자들 (The Technicians; also known as The Con Artists) is a South Korean movie directed by Kim Hong-sun that was released in 2014 with a running time of 116 minutes.

Story: Lee Ji-hyeok is a safe cracker and counterfeiter - one of the best in his field - and works with Koo-in who introduces him to Park Jong-bae, an elite hacker. Together, the three plan to steal diamonds worth 500.000$. After that Chairman Cho of Chinatown wants them to work with him to steal 150 billion won. But Ji-hyeok and his comrades make their own plans instead which gets them into some trouble..

Cast: Kim Woo-bin as Lee Ji-hyeok was really good in this movie. He played the smart and cocky character so well that I can hardly imagine someone else in this role.
Lee Hyun-woo as Jong-bae was really good, too. He looks so innocent so it was pretty much against the typical cliché but he did well and the role of the youngest of the team who always gets accused of being a traitor somehow worked well for him.
Ko Chang-seok as Koo-in was somehow the naive part of this trio even though he is the oldest and has the most contacts in his field. The acting was really good, especially when getting mad at Ji-hyeok at one point.
Jo Yoon-hee as Oh Eun-ha is the typical helpless female character we all should remember from K-Dramaland I think. There is nothing special and I think her performance was okay but definitely not the strongest.
And I can't leave out Kim Young-chul as Chairman Cho. I recently feel I stumble upon his name way too often and in this movie I think it is one of my favorite roles. He's definitely a good villain and a good actor in my opinion.


8.5/10 was my decision for rating this movie. It is good, definitely on the better side of the scale but some parts of the plot were too obvious - which isn't bad because it is still very strong and has his strong parts. Especially the acting and the characters but also some unique twists make this movie good. Highly recommended!

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?

Voice of a Murderer

그놈 목소리 (Voice of a Murderer) is a South Korean crime-thriller drama movie that is the fictionalized version of a real kidnapping in 1991. The movie was released in 2007.

Story: Han Kyung-bae is a famous news anchor of the 9PM news. His wife Oh Ji-sun is a Christian who tries to make their chubby Han Sang-woo lose weight. One day Sang-woo goes out to the playground and doesn't come back home. His mother tries to reach friends and family but during the night it becomes clear that Sang-woo disappeared without a trace. The kidnapper calls the father and gives clear instructions on what to do so the parents will get their son back alive. However, soon Ji-sun informs the police and a special task force is set up under detective Kim Wook-jung to find the young boy.

Cast: Sol Kyung-gu as Han Kyung-bae and Kim Nam-joo as Oh Ji-sun were really good in the roles of the parents who try to do everything to save their son. It was a realistic way of portraying desperate parents and both actors put their feelings into those roles.
Kim Young-chul as Kim Wook-jung was also really good when it came to portraying the feelings of his personal situation - for example in a trunk to always be with the father in his car - showing how much energy this case cost the police force as well. While he was of course not as emotionally involved as the parents having a child himself he did work hard to try and get the boy back.
Ko Su-hee as Cha Su-hee brought some funny aspect to this movie in parts while it still kept it's serious atmosphere. Song Young-chang as Captain No tried to keep a rather calm atmosphere around him and to give the parents some hope and safety.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Kwang-gyu, Kang Dong-won and Yoon Je-moon.

So I did like this movie in some way. The story was interesting and it is definitely not something to take lightly. It was good to watch but left a bitter taste behind. Some parts were filmed very shakily so it would've been nice to hold the camera a little more still and pay more attention to the way it was filmed. As the story, setting and acting were good I would give this a 7/10 rating.

Reset

리셋 (Reset) is a South Korean drama series that aired 10 episodes on OCN from August 24th to October 26th 2014.

Story: Cha Woo-jin is a prosecutor who lost his first love Seung-hee because she became the victim of a crime. After that he devoted himself to violent crime cases and tends to solve them with the help of a special hypnosis. Being able to get the criminals to tell the full and true story that way his success rate is quite high.
The female high school student Jo Eun-bi becomes involved in one of his cases. She reminds Woo-jin of Seung-hee and he decides to protect her and prove her innocence together with Section Chief Han and Officer Ko.

Cast: Chun Jung-Myung as Cha Woo-jin is a character that is so typical for OCN dramas that I can't do anything but like him a lot. The charismatic strong male lead with good intentions fighting evil while he himself has a dark past he just wants to forget. The acting was really good, he did portray the very rational parts just as good as the parts of the character that were lead by his emotions. Kim So-hyun portrayed both, Jo Eun-bi and Choi Seung-hee, in this drama. As the clear female lead it is somewhat unclear what exactly her relationship is with Cha Woo-jin since they have a good chemistry but a huge age difference that would complicate things and makes me believe that chemistry was intended but not as much as there was.
Park Won-sang as Officer Ko was a good friend to Cha Woo-jin and helped him protecting Eun-bi even when one of his rather illegal secrets was revealed and it almost got him killed. The acting of a character that knew he did wrong but still works for the state and the prosecutors' office impressed me a bit to be honest and he definitely brought the character to life and offered good views to understand him.
Shin Eun-jung as Section Chief Han is a female who doesn't have any children. And the way she starts to interact with Eun-bi after some time makes one feel like they are mother and daughter and in that way they do have a great chemistry in this familiar way. Again as a character with personal issues I think Shin Eun-jung was able to portray her character well.
Song Ha-yoon deserves an honorable mention as Choi Yoon-hee. The younger sister of Seung-hee who fell for Woo-jin and can't let go even though he told her 15 years later that he still couldn't let go of her sister. A tragic and sad story for her but eventually the acting was good, too, so it did not bring anyone down.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack in this one was good but not that outstanding. As usual also there isn't a quite huge OST so that makes things a little more difficult to judge. Anyway, it is not a bad point.


So in total I rated this one as a 9/10. The only things I can criticize are some minor issues for me.
It doesn't really make sense they always go out to investigate alone - which is the reason for most of the dangerous incidents I would say.
The soundtrack was okay but it could've been better. However, it is not really a deal breaker for me.
The last point is the fact that Eun-bi's character changed a little bit too fast in certain aspects. Of course they didn't have much time which is why I'm willing to forgive this but it is something I'm thinking about.
Recommend this to crime and thriller fans who are not too much into ghosts/vampires but can handle people hypnotizing each other.

Vampire Detective

I bet some of my regular readers have been waiting for this and totally saw this review coming up this year. While I actually finished this drama back in June or July, I just placed the review in November because I already had too much stuff planned and written before.

뱀파이어 탐정 (Vampire Detective; Vampire Personal Investigator) is a South Korean drama series that consists of 12 episodes that were aired on OCN from March 27th to June 12th every Sunday.

Story: Yoon San has a police/military background but ends up working as a private investigator with Yoon Goo-hyung after some tragic events. One day he gets involved in a case that changes his life completely and gets him turned into a vampire while looking for Han Gyeo-wool's brother. Han Gyeo-wool joins the team to find out what exactly happened to her brother and so they solve different cases. Doctor Hwang and the nurse Se-ra offer the medical support when needed and support them with connections as well, while Detective Park delivers information based on the data the police collected on certain people or incidents before.

Cast: I think a reason why many people ended up watching this drama is or was Lee Joon as Yoon San. His acting was really good in this series and I believe that he is doing way better as an actor than he was back in his idol days. Also his role in a crime series seems to work well with him in general so while I was a little bit skeptical in the beginning I did enjoy his acting in this series.
Yoon Goo-hyung played by Oh Jung-se got me shaking my head from time to time. His methods are not the common ones and he's not the brightest light around but it works somehow - and he cares for San a lot. The acting itself was good enough to get me into the story and to sympathize with him, especially in one of the episodes that shows a deeper side of his character (I think it was episode 6 but I don't remember that clearly). The actor(s) (since there was Oh Hee-joon as the younger Goo-hyung in that one episode) did a good job portraying the character in his different ways and it all fit together somehow.
Lee Se-Young as Han Gyeo-wool was outstanding in my honest opinion. Very smart and a rebel she represented the kind of female characters I really like in dramas and movies. She is willing to fight and her sarcastic nature makes it even better to watch. As for the acting Lee Se-young definitely delivered a great piece of work and made her character become real.
I was a little bit surprised when I saw that Jei (Kim Jin-hee) of FIESTAR is in this drama. She was the exact opposite of Han Gyeo-wool as Se-ra. Quite honestly I would say she played a pretty but dumb nurse that was mainly in this drama for being able to sympathize with others and to appeal to the male audience. As of now I'm still not sure what to think about idols in OCN dramas since I personally love the idols they choose but hate most of the (female) characters those girls play. Her acting wasn't too bad - she portrayed the dumb but pretty female perfectly. Actually so good that I'm seriously hoping she's a lot smarter in real life.
Kim Ki-moo played Doctor Hwang, a character that just seems to be around for some minor stuff in the beginning as well but not only turns out to be a good friend but also gets his time to show the depth of the character and the behind story. I was quite impressed by the acting and the story build around the character so I couldn't help but appreciate the fact he was part of this drama.
An Se-ha really had a minor role in this movie though. Detective Park mainly eats and delivers information which is important but somehow his role lacked something. The acting also brought a comedic aspect to the series which was a great thing to losen up the atmosphere at times.
Since this already got too long I just want to say that Lee Chung-ah was in this drama as Yo-na, a character that still makes me thing about certain issues. Kim Yoon-hye as Jung Yoo-jin did her part but I think she lacked chemistry with San even though there was something supposed to be. And Jo Bok-Rae as Kang Tae-woo managed to become one of the male character I hate the most - out of all dramas I watched.

Soundtrack: I wish I could tell you more about this but everything is explained by: it's OCN. They are so good in supporting a dark atmosphere with music that I usually love each and every soundtrack. As for this one, I didn't listen to the titles specifically but I can tell that it is a good soundtrack as usual.


So how did I rate this? 8/10. Now many people might wonder why after all the positive stuff I said which is totally legit and I will gladly talk about my reasons for not rating it as good as other people would expect.
One part, even though a really weak reason, is the fact that I'm still mad at OCN. If they don't deliver a damn good series instead of finally finishing the other dramas they have with a last season I do think that it is something I do unconsciously.
I do know OCN can do better than they did with this series. After all I had a hard time finishing this not because it was uninteresting. But once I stopped watching it for a few days I had to force myself to continue - and then watched at least two or three episodes in a row. But it still made watching this drama a little bit more difficult than others.
A whole episode consisted pretty much of past events. It was just too much at once. Having parts of this spread throughout the series would've helped a little bit and the viewer would not have seen everything at least two to three times in this series.
The reason for the whole chaos in my opinion also was pretty much a personal thing that makes people do a lot of stupid stuff but come on - they couldn't come up with anything deeper but it can all be brought down to jealousy?
And in the end the chemistry between Yoon San and Jung Yoo-jin was almost non-existent for me - I think there was way better chemistry between San and Gyeo-wool so I don't quite get it..

After all OCN this one isn't bad BUT OCN does have more exciting and better series. This is by far not bad though and definitely worth a watch even though the vampire-part didn't add much to the story in my opinion.

Soul

혼 (Soul, also known as Possessed) is a South Korean drama series that aired on MBC from August 5th to September 3rd 2009. The series consists of 10 episodes with a duration of approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes.

Story: Ha-na and Doo-na are sisters but one day Doo-na dies a terrible death and her sister cannot safe her. Her ghost comes back to take revenge and possesses her sisters body - the main problem is that not only Doo-na can possess her sister but also other ghosts. Ha-na rarely remembers what happens when ghosts, or souls, take over her body. One day criminal psychologist Shin Ryu becomes involved and soon he's one of the few who can actually help Ha-na but a tragedy in his past and a chance to take revenge might make things even worse.

Cast: Lee Seo-jin is really good as Shin Ryu. I liked his acting overall even though I found his character a little difficult to understand I just really thought he was an interesting character. As for Im Ju-eun as Yoon Ha-na I think they just solved the puzzle too fast to keep her character interesting for a long time. The possessed acting was a little weird but good in the end so there's nothing I can really complain about.
T-ARA's Park Ji-yeon as Yoon Doo-na was good but neither the best nor the worst character. Since this was one of her first roles in a series I think she might have improved a lot as an actress but I also think she wasn't one of the main characters regarding her screen time in this drama. Now this could be discussed of course.
And also Supernova's Park Geon-il is in this drama as Jung Shi-woo. He has some characteristics of a typical second male lead but at some point I feel like he's more extreme when it comes to protecting and helping Ha-na no matter what. At some point the innocent high school kid seems to be obsessed with the idea of doing anything for Ha-na. The acting was pretty good but again he seemed a little too insane sometimes.
And of course I need to mention Kim Gab-soo as Baek Do-shik whom I wanted to see punished until the very end. Now I don't know whether that worked or not but I still have hope. Somehow.
Other actors in this series include Yoo Yun-suk as Baek Joong-chan, Lee Jin as Lee Hye-won and Kim Sung-ryung as Ha-na's and Doo-na's mother.

Soundtrack: Personally I enjoyed how the music created the atmosphere at times so I think there's nothing to complain about. The number of songs that were actually sung by some K-music artists is pretty low though, there's only one song Yangpa performed so if you prefer soundtracks with more songs that are actually sung this might not be that much to your liking.


Overall I think this drama is solid for fans of unusual K-dramas that aren't all lovey-dovey. A 7/10 rating from me just because it failed to deliver the "horror" but that might only be me. And that's okay since me reviews are also based on my personal opinion. It's worth watching though and I might consider rewatching it at some point.

Hidden Identity

신분을 숨겨라 (Hidden Identity) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 16 episodes that aired on tvN from June 16th to August 4th 2015.

Story: The story follows Investigation Team Five, a special team that is said to be nonexistent even in police records. Since it is a secret unit that doesn't always obey the law in order to get what they need, they tend to be criticized for their methods. But only Investigation Team Five led by Jang Moo-won can deal with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations led by the Ghost. It is just natural that the members of the team get themselves into huge trouble as well as personal affairs while working.

Cast: Cha Gun-woo played by Kim Bum is a rather complicated character. I really liked the acting all the time, especially when the past became relevant to him again. While I'd say the acting was great (and I might be biased, I won't even deny it), some of his fight scenes were just funny. Someone who has been through military training and manages to deal with.. a group of people at one time can't even deal with one person later on? To me it seems like someone didn't think about this.
Park Sung-woong as team leader Jang Moo-won was a pretty cold character most of the time. The type of team leaser we often get presented, taking responsibility for everything but not getting too involved. The acting was good, including most of the action scenes but sometimes there was something missing about the character itself. I totally blame the writing for this though.
Jang Min-joo is one of the characters I don't really understand. She has a sense of loyalty and sometimes that seems to be the only reason why she accepts things the way they are. However, Yoon So-yi delivered a solid performance in the end. Yes, sometimes she seemed to accepting though she was opposed to the idea of Gun-woo joining the team (you will understand that later, not in the first episodes) but it's not that bad and her acting therefore wasn't too bad either.
Lee Won-jong as Choi Tae-pyung is someone who already has some experience acting in a crime series. His acting was good, his character a little weird but loyal and there's actually nothing I can complain about.
Kim Tae-hoon is in this series as Min Tae-in and while I wasn't sure about his character in the very beginning I came to like him and was hoping for something more. His character is probably the one suffering the most and I just felt sorry for him. His acting was good regarding the fact that he wasn't around all the time.
Lim Hyun-sung as Jin Deok-hoo was simply lovable, I was happy to see him around. The acting wasn't anything special but worked well with the story and the team.
Other actors in this series include Lee Kyung-young as Choi Dae-han, Choi Jung-woo as President Lee (I simply forgot the rest of his name), Kang Sung asYoo Jin-woo and Heo Jae-ho as Jung Sang-joon.

Soundtrack: I personally came to like the OST even though I wasn't impressed at first. The songs go well with the atmosphere of this drama and I especially liked Chul Gu's "신세계 (New World)" and Mad Soul Child's "It's Over". After all it's not one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard but pretty good.



My rating for this series is a 8/10 after all. There are some things I really enjoyed, a lot of things I just accepted and things I didn't like at all. So what is it I criticize the most?
1. The logic. Mostly it's about the fights. Usually the agents are quite good but all of a sudden they lose each and every single fight? Once again, if someone has been through military training the person usually is good at fighting but still loses against some gangsters? And, if you lose against someone while fighting three times, does it make sense to even fight one more time instead of simply using your gun? Because as far as I've seen they do have guns. The fact that it's a serious drama makes the logical flaws worse.
2. The story itself. This drama was said to be about undercover cops. And that's misleading in fact because only one of them has been undercover. The others usually just take roles for a few hours, maybe a few days, but I wouldn't define that as an undercover thing.
Some things were obvious, others were only added to make the story longer than it actually would have been. Was it really necessary to make Jang Min-joo's father a part of the story? The family background didn't help the whole story.

Those are the things that bothered me the most. I also noticed that it started off pretty fast and exciting, lost it's pace somewhere around Ep.9/10 and started to change again in Ep. 15. Episodes 13/14 were the weakest point in my opinion since the suspense is destroyed when one figures out who's involved with the Ghost.
What else can I say? Regarding the whole "undercover" description I've had high expectations and thought it would be somehow similar to Line Walker but it wasn't.
Do I recommend this? If you don't expect much you won't be disappointed and I openly admit that this drama has a rewatch value solely because of the music, the cast and some interesting things within this series itself.

My Beautiful Bride

아름다운 나의 신부 (My Beautiful Bride) is a South Korean drama series that aired on OCN from June 20th to August 09th 2015.

Story: Kim Do-hyung is a manager for at Singuk Bank and leads an ordinary life until one day his fiancee Yoon Joo-young disappears. At first the police refuses to help him but after noticing who it is about Detective Cha Yoon-mi decides to help finding Joo-young. As events developed, the bank manager and the detective become involved with loan sharks and an organisation known as the "Shadows". Do-hyung is willing to do everything to safe Joo-young - and that means he has to find and destroy the Shadows to create a place that's safe for Joo-young.

Cast: Firstly there's Lee Moo-yeol as Kim Do-hyung and let's just admit that for a bank employee he's kind of an interesting character. The acting after all was on spot in most of the scenes though I think as a character he seemed too cold. The situation in this series is a highly emotional one and therefore it just seemed kind of difficult to understand some parts.
Go Sung-hee as Yoon Joo-young is one of those characters I actually can understand but then again she's not cold enough as a character herself. The acting was nice to watch and well done, especially the emotional struggle in the end.
Lee Si-young as Cha Yoon-mi really got on my nerves at some point. Not because of the acting. It was in fact good enough but that being said I hated how unprofessional they made her. Always acting without a partner/ other detective, blindly trusting Kim Do-hyung who was a suspect at first even though she knows about the "Shadows".
Park Hae-joon as Detective Park Hyung-sik was too obvious. The first time I really noticed his character was in Episode 2 (I don't remember if he appeared in the first episode already since I've watched it two months before caring about the rest of the series) and I was able to figure out what exactly was his role in this. I don't know if it was the acting (which I didn't find too impressive after all) but I just KNEW.
And guess what everyone? I was surprised to see Ryu Seung-soo in this series as Seo Jin Ki! I've seen him in a few different roles already and this one might not have been the best but he's doing well as one of the antagonists as well. I'm slowly becoming a fan of his solely for his acting in various different roles. Well, the character in this one though? One can hate him easily but that usually works for the bad guys, doesn't it?
Others in this drama include Jo Han-chul as Park Tae-gyu who's really important in the end(!) and Lee El as Son Hye-jung who once again is nice to see in a role more likely to be an antagonist.

Soundtrack: At first I was kind of scared the soundtrack would be more like an average OST but in the end it's a nice one. The soundtrack consists of only three songs, and none of them is Korean. I came to love at least two of the songs, "Eclipse" by Patrick Joseph for it's calming sound after all and "Stay" by Steelheart. However, the other song by Elsa Kopf, "Days and Moons" isn't bad either. So it was in fact unexpectedly good.



But even as a fan of OCN, this drama can't get a rating better than 7.0/10.
Yes, I love OCN. They create a strong atmosphere in their dramas. The action scenes are some of the best in Korean dramas. The acting is strong and on spot most of the time.
But that being said, this drama lacked a lot of things. Starting with Detective Cha being probably the most unprofessional detective ever. I know that OCN can portray detectives better and therefore this is a huge no-no.
After some time things became repetitive. "Oh, there she is! Aaaaaand gone again... another chance to get her! Oh, sad life, bro~"
And some things were just too obvious. Starting with Detective Park and ending with the fact that the head of the "Shadows", Chairman Kang, is shown too soon. It's too soon that the viewer finds out what they're doing and I also think that it wasn't hard to figure out what's behing this organisation which basically... ruined the suspense.
And then the weirdest thing I've seen in a drama - he's going that far to get his fiancee back though she basically ran away and tried to make him think she died? Actually I would make a guess and argue that if she wants me to think she died she doesn't want to see me anymore. That might be too simple (this drama shows that it indeed is) but that would be the most logical thing.

(The second gif basically represents me while watching roughly 80% of this series..)

L: Change the World

Lの本当の秘密 (L: Change the World) is a spin-off and the last movie to be released belonging to the Death Note-series. The movie was released in 2008.

Story: After Watari's death L receives a "gift" - that's actually pretty much alive. L gets to know that the child he received as a gift is the only survivor of an exterminated Thai village. Behind the exermination of the village is the last enemy, the "Death", a virus created by humans with no vaccine yet.
While taking care of the little boy another visitor drops in. A girl named Maki who's father has been working on biological weapons, to be more exact he created the virus himself. In order to stop terrorism he infected himself and destroyed the only vaccine he had created that far.
The terrorists appear looking for the virus and L puts everything on the line, trying to protect the children, stop the virus and solve his final case - while he has only 6 days left to live.

Cast: Basically the only character remaining in this series is L played by Kenichi Matsuyama as always. And what is obvious is, that after two years as L, he did a pretty amazing job in this one again. Even if I don't want to think like that, to me, L and Kenichi Matsuyama are basically the same person.
Youki Kudoh is in this series as basically the main antagonist - while the other members of the group are dangerous as well - her intelligence makes Dr. Kimiko Kujo even more dangerous.
Masanobu Takashima is the second antagonist as Daisuke Matobe who makes things a little more interesting. If I remember right, greed was his main reason though he also claims to be a member of the "Blue ship" but then again the viewer doesn't really know if saving the planet through destroying humankind is really his goal or if it's only about money for him.
Mayuko Fukuda as Maki Nikaido is the key to the mystery around the virus and also the vaccine. While she's after Dr. Kujo for her revenge as well her acting is really good to watch, she's one of the few characters that make this movie for me.

As I don't know that to tell you anymore, I'll get straight to the point: the rating. 5.5/10.
In the very beginning I thought it would be worse but the ending of this movie was actually a good one. However, I do think that this has nothing to do with the first two movies released and that it should have been more clearly seperated. Also, in the beginning, the scenes seemed to be nothing but a mess. Nothing made sense at all, and when those scenes appeared showing that village in Thailand I felt like I was watching a completely different movie.
The movie itself is enjoyable. It is not outstandingly good but then again it does have some interesting scenes, especially in the latter hour. But honestly, 129 minutes were too long for this movie, the story wasn't created to fill two hours but probably 30 minutes left.
That being said, I sometimes just had to laugh about how the events were shown because it was ridiculous and also that enviroment-protection-whatever-group made me crack up. As much as you hate humans for destroying this planet, I cannot imagine such an extreme would ever happen so I just couldn't help laughing about them as well.

Death Note: The Last Name

Death Note: The Last Name is a Japanese movie released in 2006 based on a manga series:


Story: As in the first movie, Death Note, L and the team of detectives trying to find kira. Light joins the special unit after the death of his former 'girlfriend' Shiori. Now being placed next to L, he wants to get rid of the ones in his way. As L is still suspicious he decides to observe Light closely.
Suddenly another kira appears and needs to be found. Both owners of the Death Note's together would be even more dangerous since one of them is a good strategic player while the other seems to see the name of the victim..

Cast: Okay, so I have no idea what I should really put on here. The main cast is of course the same as in the first movie. Kenichi Matsuyama as L and Tatsuya Fujiwara as Light Yagami. While in this movie Light seems to be more insane than in the first one which makes the acting more intense it's as good as in the first movie as well.
And let's not forget about Erika Toda as Misa Amane. While I love her style I think she's a little bit too psycho in a different way due to a trauma. All she wants is to be loved after all.
And there's Nana Katase as Kiyomi Takada who would do basically anything for her career.


I personally really liked how things involved. Many things were easy to understand because of the connections between the characters. Nothing seemed to be just fate but a plan carefully made.
The story is a little bit too crazy later though. This might be a spoiler but Light seems to have gone completely mad.
So my personal rating is a 7/10 which is not as good as the first movie but still not that bad.

Rough Cut

영화는 영화다 (Rough Cut; also known as A Movie is a Movie) is a South Korean movie that was released on September 11th, 2008 with a runtime of 113 minutes.

Story: Gang-pae is a gangster and has risen to one of the highest positions in his gang. He's known for his violent nature but at the same time has a side appreciating arts, especially movies.
On the other hand, Jang Su-ta is a popular actor who's known for his short temper. A few days after beating up his co-starring actor he goes drinking with the director and meets Gang-pae in that bar.
While filming a fight scene a few days later Su-ta beats up another actor again and no one is willing to take the co-starring role after that. When he remembers that Gang-pae actually has been acting in a minor role in a movie before, he calls him and offers the gangster the co-starring role. Gang-pae agrees to this - as long as they are really fighting..

Cast: As for the cast there are only Gang-pae and Su-ta in the focus though there are a lot of other characters we meet from time to time. However, I think it's the best thing to focus on the two main characters.
So Ji-sub accepted the role of Gang-pae and the first thing I need to admit is that I seem to have a weak spot for So Ji-sub in suits. Besides, the gangster image totally fits him. As you might remember I really liked A Company Man, a movie I've reviewed some time ago. While the topic in this one is kind of different, the "gangster" image works well for So Ji-sub. His acting was on spot most of the time showing his soft side as well as his rather cold and serious side.
On the other side we see Kang Ji-hwan as Jang Su-ta, an arrogant actor with a somewhat violent side and he just can't hold back when it came to the movie they were filming. His violent part gets him into serious trouble and his company even gets into financial problems due to the money they have to pay to keep the reporters quiet. While fighting with Gang-pae he seems to grow as a person though and it seems like he's becoming a little more open towards Gang-pae later in the movie, almost as if the two of them became friends.


The movie in itself is strong, the cast is quite good as well and people - THIS is a gangster movie. While there were some things in the background story that seemed too much, this movie still got a 9/10 rating from me which is actually pretty good.
What I found to be rather funny about this movie in general is how they chose the names of the characters. Gang-pae in fact is the Korean word for gangster and Su-ta the Korean pronounciation of "star", and it's actually kind of funny that they did even use the names reflecting the characters that good.

After all a strong movie I'd recommend to those who enjoy exciting fights or just fans of the actors!

Oh, and at the very end - can we PLEASE talk about how everyone in this movie is watching Green Fish? I can't stop laughing about this fact.

Liar Game

라이어게임 (Liar Game) is a Korean drama series that aired on tvN from October 20th to November 25th 2014. The series itself is based on manga.

! I do not know the manga or the Japanese version of this series so I will write this review without comparing the plot and actors. !

Story: Nam Da-jung, an innocent young woman, is asked to help an elderly woman one day. After that woman disappeared leaving her alone with a bag full of money, Da-jung takes the bag home but her conscience tells her to take the money to the police station the next day though she could pay back her debt. By returning that bag filled with money she gets pulled into a TV show called "Liar Game" hosted by Kang Do-young. Since Da-jung is too innocent to win that game and the 10 Million dollar the final winner will receive, loan shark Jo Dal-goo tells her about a smart guy he met in prison - Professor Ha Woo-jin. Since she desperately needs help, Da-jung starts looking for Woo-jin the day he gets out of prison, and though he doesn't want to help her at first, the two of them become a team. Innocent Da-jung learns about people betraying her and that, in order to win, those who betrayed her need to be punished so she finds a circle of players joining her team. But is it right for her to trust all of those people when in the last round 10 Million dollar can be won? And why of all people was she chosen for the show? Was it a plan to get Ha Woo-jin to participate in the game as well?

Cast: The first character to name is Nam Da-jung played by Kim So-eun. While I really liked Kim So-eun since Boys Over Flowers I still liked her - but not that much in this drama, her acting was alright but her character horrible. While I heard people say she's not innocent enough (compared to the Japanese version, that is - found the statement on Mydramalist.com) I wonder how she could be more innocent and even more DUMB. It's not even naive anymore but sometimes I started wondering whether she was just left out when brains were given out for free. Seriously, the one thing that was horrible in this series was how stupid and naive Nam Da-jung was.
Luckily, the main antagonist Kang Do-young played by Shin Sung-rok was awesome. Talking about the actor, can we please talk about his role in You Who Came From The Stars? He was a great villain in a rather basic rom-com series but this time he was even better, maybe because of the setting. I got scared of him in front of my laptop. Kudo's to Shin Sung-rok for creeping me out though I'm still 8000km away. As a character, I enjoyed watching Kang Do-young and Ha Woo-jin caught up in their battle with Woo-jin protecting Da-jung.
Lee Sang-yoon as Ha Woo-jin is someone I've seen for the first time ever in a drama so I might not be able to tell you much about his other series and that is not necessary either. He had this kind of.. aura around him in this series that made me forget that it's actually a K-drama and as I stated above, I loved watching him and Shin Sung-rok in a dangerous battle. While I feel his acting itself was pretty good the combination of two main characters with incredibly charismatic actors made it perfect.
Of course there is a great number of actors involved mainly because of the number of participants as well as the people involved in the production of the show "Liar Game". For example we have Cha Soo-yeon as Lee Yoon-joo who is responsible for the program. At first everything's about the rating for her but she changes and suddenly finds her self under pressure to safe the TV station JVN. Choi Jin-ho as Director Jang is responsible for the pressure and he tends to manipulate what's going on to keep the show interesting.
Among the participants are Lee Si-hoo as Choi Sung-joon, Jang Seung-jo as Kim Bong-geun, Jo Jae-yun as Jo Dal-goo, Lee Cheol-min as Bulldog, Park Jae-hoon as actor Goo In-gi and Lee El as Oh Jung-ah or Jaimie, a character I never thought I would come to like as the series progresses.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack for this series wasn't too special. As far as I remember there was only Dear Cloud's "Liar" that really caught my attention and that is not much but at least that song even made it up to my list of my personal favorite OST songs of all time. But since this drama is filled with suspense I would've wished for something slightly more mysterious. I don't know if you get what I mean but bands like Nell or Hlin would've completed that soundtrack perfectly..

Overall I did enjoy this series a lot but it still only gets a 9/10 for mainly two reasons. I was really bothered by Nam Da-jung's stupid and naive behavior and I just cannot look past that fact. The other reason is indeed the soundtrack. I explained it before in the post regarding my favorite soundtracks I think and the OST can in fact save a series - or kind of destroy it. Now the music did not destroy this but it's a minus for me.
There's only a hint of romance in this series - if you want to see it like that so I think you can very well ignore it if you don't like it.
Some people said that certain aspects of the games were hard to understand without knowing the Japanese version - but I do not agree with this. Yes, I sometimes needed to rewatch a scene because I didn't really get the explanation but as soon as examples were shown it made sense.

As far as I've heard many fans of the Japanese version didn't like the Korean version and that's okay but standing for itself the series is definitely worth watching. It's interesting, suspenseful and will keep you excited if you like this kind of series.

I'll just leave you wiht some gifs you will understand after watching the series - the last one was one of my favorite scenes in the whole 12 episodes.