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.

Killer K

소녀 K (Little Girl K, Killer K) is a South Korean short drama series described by channel CGV as a TV movie consisting of 3 episodes. It aired on CGV from August 27th to September 10th 2011.

Story: Cha Yeon-jin is a highschool student who was taught various martial arts starting from her childhood. One day she meets her friends at the port and in a shooting where many people get killed she and police officer Choi Tae-young are the only survivors.
In the same night, Yeon-jin's mother disappears and the young girl who got suspended from school tries to find and save her with the help of Yoo Sung-ho, an old friend of her mother.
Two years later, Yeon-jin is supposedly dead and sneaked into SS1 to get revenge. Going by the name Kim So-yeon she is a professional killer taking out those who are working against the company. Chief Min Ji-young took care of and trained her during the past years which gives Yeon-jin professionalism even though she wants to stop working for the company.

Cast: This drama was the first role for singer-songwriter Han Groo as Cha Yeon-jin and it was just a badass but also multidimensional character that her acting was awesome for a debut.
Kim Jung-tae as Yoo Sung-ho was also very good as a protective father-character. I would've wished to know more about his background though, and why exactly he decided to leave SS1 back in the days.
Baek Do-bin as Choi Tae-young gave it some comedious feeling which was just nice and refreshing to watch in a series that is 95% based on action (what I'm totally in for though).
Park Hyo-joo as Min Ji-young was definitely also a character that was so badass in so many ways. The acting was great but I would've loved to know more about the character and why she started working for the company.
Kim Roe-ha as Jang Se-wook was just annoying me so much. The acting was great but I was hoping for someone to at least make him shut up.. Probably not a character you will be able to stand if you like religion as much as I do.

Soundtrack: Oh, the soundtrack.. a very difficult thing. I loved the music they used but of course there aren't many songs you can listen to to remember this drama since it is only short and the OST literally consists of two parts. However, the instrumental music was good and I really enjoyed it.


In total I rated this drama as a 8/10. It is packed with action and an independent female lead, it was interesting and also included some lighter scenes like highschool lovey-dovey but it also had dark moments. While I personally really enjoyed the story I couldn't stand Jang Se-wook and was close to turning off the sound.
Another problem about this series was the lack of background information. It wouldn't have been that hard to give some more information in one or two lines. Oh, and making the mother that stupid (yes, she's worried about her child but runs into a trap) was just unnecessary. So it could've been better but that still doesn't mean it is bad.

That was me in highschool every single day when I was finally allowed to go home!

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.

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.

The Target

표적 (The Target) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2014. The movie directed by Director Chang has a runtime of 98 minutes and is a remake of the French movie Point Blank.

Story: Baek Yeo-hoon is followed by men in the beginning and gets into an accident. Ending up in a hospital, Lee Tae-joon becomes his doctor. Soon Lee's wife is kidnapped and he needs to get Baek Yeo-hoon out of the hospital to safe his pregnant wife. Through this crime Yeo-hoon and Tae-joon find themselves in the middle of police officers working for their own benefits.

Cast: Lee Jin-wook is in this movie (again~? I feel like I've been watching a lot of his works lately) as Lee Tae-joon. His performance in this movie was quite good though his character was the type of character I usually like, more like a too unrational person.
Ryu Seung-ryong was a more interesting character to me. While at first his intentions are pretty unclear, this is exactly what makes the character as interesting as it is. A sad family story in the background, he tries to protect his brother Sung-hoon who suffers from the Tourette syndrome played by Jin Goo. Yoo Jun-sang as Chief  Detective Song also did a good job in my opinion though I think it's natural to not really like his character. In general it was believable though.
And there's Jo Yeo-jeong as Tae-joon's wife Hee-joo, a psychiatrist, who really seems to live up to her role. I enjoyed seeing her in this movie a lot.

Soundtrack: Nothing was off, everything was where it had to be - that's literally all I can say about this. It's definitely a nice action soundtrack.


Please note that I did not watch the original movie. Therefore, I cannot compare this movie to the French original.
In general this movie was good, a 7,5/10 rating is still pretty nice regarding the fact that the story wasn't mind-blowing. It's a story that's quite common. The acting and soundtrack were good though and the story wasn't boring either so I will forget about some flaws.

Recommended to fans of action movies!

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.

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.

Ghost-Seeing Detecitve Cheo Yong

귀신 보는 형사 처용 (Ghost-Seeing Detective Cheo Yong, also known as simply Cheo Yong) is a South Korean drama series that aired from February 9th to April 6th 2014 on OCN.

Story: Detective Yoon Cheo-yong was born with the ability to see ghosts. Seven years ago after the death of his partner he quits the W.S.T and works as an ordinary police officer. However, because of a mysterious case he decides to help the responsible unit and meets Han Na-young, the ghost of a high school girl who's caught in the police station. Together with Detective Ha Sun-woo and with Na-young occasionally helping him by taking over Ha Sun-woo's body.

Cast: Well, the cast was alright I guess. I did enjoy Oh Ji-ho as Yoon Cheo-yong the most. The cold wall around him trying to not lose another person due to his special ability and the danger he always sees because of that is something understandable and I'd argue it's actually human. Though he's not a character one gets to like in the very beginning, I think it's okay.
Oh Ji-eun did a really good job as Ha Sun-woo (and sometimes also Han Na-young when the ghost managed to take over her body) which is quite enjoyable but at first I just thought that she was annoying. To be honest I don't really know why but trying to make Cheo-yong accept her as his partner.. In the very beginning I actually thought Sun-woo as a character was more involved with Cheo-yong's former partner but - at least in the first two or three episodes they managed to lead me into the wrong direction.
Talking about Han Na-young.. I love Jeon Hyo-sung of Secret a lot. She's beautiful and has a nice body and voice and I admire her but I honestly don't know whether her acting sucks or if it's just her character. Many people say Na-young is cute but I just found her to be overly annoying and childish - and not even like a high school student but more like some girl who hasn't graduated from elementary school yet. It might be just me though but I just would've wished for at least a character who is a little more serious.
In the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency we see Yoo Seung-mok as team leader Byun Gook-jin and his character made me wonder if someone even has to work hard to become something like a team leader in the Korean police agency because he seems so stupid as a character. Sadly, that's not the only character I seriously don't understand. Because the same goes for Yeon Je-wook as Detective Lee Jong-hyun. So. Stupid. It seems like he just wants to prove he can do well, too, after Cheo-yong came back and actually the character seems to be some semi-intelligent person one would love to beat up. And also about the third member of the team, Yoo Min-kyu as Park Min-jae I could say the same thing but he has some bonus - he's a lot younger and therefore a lot less experienced than his seniors so I do think it's forgivable that his character isn't the best detective (yet).
Now I need to mention two cameos of characters that are necessary for the story in the background. At first we have Baek Sung-hyun as Jang Tae-suk, Cheo-Yong's former partner. Thanks to this guy I cried a river. Again. It's not like I've never done this before. What I really enjoyed about his character in this drama is in fact that he shows the same ability Oh Ji-eun does - being possessed by a ghost at least for some time. But let me admit that he's freaking sexy in that black trenchcoat with this stone-like gaze. And his character probably wouldn't have been that important if it wasn't for Choi Deok-moon as Yang Soo-hyuk. I don't want to tell you too much about his role in this drama but from a human point of view I just can't see him as an evil spirit. I just can't stop myself from pitying his character in this series a lot.

Soundtrack: Speaking in all honesty the soundtrack isn't bad but definitely not my cup of tea. There were some enjoyable tracks, some nice instrumental pieces, yes, but that's that. About the two songs that appeared in the drama, there was nothing memorable.



Now is this a bad series? 7.5/10 for an OCN series is rather on the worse side of the scale, that's true, especially since I'm a huge fan of OCN Original series. But I did hear from many people this was rather weak. (I had to watch it though just because.. you know.. Baek Sung-hyun.)
Talking about the positive and negative aspects, some cases were good. Especially the one with the ghost of that young girl protecting her brother, I think it's Ep. 7, was touching and had an interesting story, and Ep. 8 just killed me. It was sad but at the same time I was swearing at those guys. You will understand what I'm talking about when watching this. But sadly I had a feeling there were some episodes just added to fill the quota, the stories weren't that good or catchy.
Another point is the atmosphere. I had the feeling the atmosphere was rather light with most of the scenes being shot during the day. As for a drama that should cause something like suspense or a thrill this was rather weak. And of course some overly melodramatic things (which I did enjoy, yes, but don't expect to be in a drama about mystery, crime or suspense) didn't really do any good about this.
And there's one point in logic I don't get. All of the other ghosts seem to remember their story and are trying to help and find their murderers. But then there's Na-young who doesn't even remember her name at first nor what happened to her? Logic?
The end didn't really make sense to me either. I don't know but there's only one question left - why did Sun-woo change like that?! Except for that fact that drama has ended. There are no questions left. But why do they need to air another season of this series? I sometimes really don't understand writers nor OCN.

If you like ghosts and detective series, go for it. Watch it. It has some ups and downs and it's not that bad at the end of the day.
And if you're a fan of Baek Sung-hyun, just like I am, I'd also say watch this. But only if you're really a huge fan of his because he hasn't that much screen time so...

God's Quiz 4

신의 퀴즈 4 (God's Quiz 4) is another season of OCN's popular medical crime series and aired from May 18th to August 3rd 2014.

WARNING - The GIF's at the end of this entry might give you a huge spoiler. If you don't want it to be like that, please just don't look at those files.

Story: Once again the team around Dr. Han Jin-woo tries to solve cases related to rare diseases. But this time, Jin-woo's mother and an "experiment" of hers appear. Those seem to be related to the file of an unsolved case Kang Kyung-hee received from one of her highschool friends, Prosecutor Lee Jae-joon, which also turns out to be connected to a case she couldn't find enough evidence for in the past. When the other members of the medical team find out, they're already in danger, also because of Han Shi-woo's curiousity.

Cast: I need to complain a little bit first. As you might have noticed, yes, I do love Ryu Deok-hwan as Han Jin-woo and I'm happy Yoon Joo-hee is back as Detective Kang Kyung-hee (though I did enjoy the third season a lot as well even if she wasn't there) and also Park Joon-myun is still there as Jo Young-shil but I want Kim Sung-do back! As a character, I loved this researcher and his random cuteness related to adult contents. Another thing I've never thought would happen in a rather serious drama is actually the participation of idols. Don't get me wrong, I like Kim Jae-kyung and admit that Lee Dong-hae is handsome but their acting in this drama seemed kind of awkward to me. As for Jae-kyung, her character Lim Tae-kyung is a former idol. An idol turning into a researcher working in a forensic office? Who thought about that and why did they have to turn both, Han Jin-woo and Han Shi-woo, into fanboys? Speaking of Dong-hae's character Han Shi-woo - we don't really get to know how old he is but since he has been studying medicine he's probably not 20 years old anymore but he behaves like a 5-year old boy from time to time. While it was cute it did ruin the atmosphere.
Another new addition to the cast came with Kang Sung-pil as Detective Nam Ki-yong, Kyung-hee's senior. It took me a few episodes to understand him, and in the end I couldn't help but love his loyalty and the way he's caring for the detectives. And his lisp.. well, it makes him somewhat cute though I can't really explain why.

Soundtrack: Compared to the first season, I feel like this soundtrack focussed more on the ballad part. Which is absolutely okay for a romance drama but I don't remember any stronger music used for any fighting scenes. Sure the instrumentals were alright but not memorable.



So to me, this is the weakest season of God's Quiz with a rating of 7.5/10. While I did enjoy the fact that this was more crime than medical (yay!) as well as the meanings hidden behind some of the cases, especially Ep. 7 "X", (yay!) and the atmosphere overall but especially in the last two episodes (yay!) some plottwists as well as the overall background story were just too obvious after some time (I figured out what's going on in Ep. 7 and Ep. 11 before half of the time had passed). Also, this series doesn't seem to have any connection to the other three seasons as well. Sure, it's the team around Han Jin-woo solving cases but it has a completely different feel so it doesn't feel like... God's Quiz anymore. (Does this even make sense to those who are reading this?!) And the fact that they've been focussing on the relationship between Kyung-hee and Jin-woo as well as some family story makes the change just too obvious.

So if you like romance and crime mixed or if you just enjoyed the other seasons of God's Quiz just give it a try but if you loved the other three seasons don't expect top much, the thrill is missing somehow.


[AND NOW THE SPOILER GIFS, if you don't want to see them...]

This is sad.. it somehow broke my heart but wasn't surprising..

Missing Noir M

실종 느와르 M (Missing Noir M) that aired on OCN from March 28th to May 30th 2015.

"사라진 사람, 숨겨진 진실" (the sentence on the poster) directly translates to "Missing People. Hidden Truth." So you might make a guess if this drama is appealing to you just by knowing that.

Story: Gil Soo-hyun (or James Gil) is an extremely intelligent former FBI agent who attended Harvard University at the age of 10. Because of Lee Jung-soo, who only wants to talk to him, he comes back to Korea and solves the first case with the help of Detective Oh Dae-young and hacker Jin Seo-joon. Those three become the Special Investigation Unit for Missing Persons. As they solve cases, they also discover rather personal cases as well as dark family backgrounds and the fact that power can be more important than the law.

Cast: I openly admit not knowing much about the actors and I'll just talk about what I see in this series. Kim Kang-woo as James Gil Soo-hyun is extremely fascinating in this drama. I just wanted to know more and more about him and noticed that there's another drama with him in the main cast I am planning to watch. Anyways, what was the most fascinating except for his well-hidden past is actually his eyecolor. I know this sounds weird. But especially in Ep. 9 I noticed that it's almost a mix of gold and brown and I really find this interesting and beautiful. (This is not intense fangirling though, so please forgive me..)
Well, Park Hee-soon... is it weird that I just noticed I've watched another drama with him before? He looks so different as Oh Dae-young, I never would've noticed that without MDL and/or asianwiki. I love the way he's portraying the veteran detecive (who is a typical character in every OCN series in case you missed it). Long story short, I loved his acting. A lot.
The last person who's around almost all the time is Jin Seo-joon played by Jo Bo-ah. She is really beautiful. That's what I'm going to admit first. Her acting wasn't bad but I felt like her character wasn't shown enough to really judge her as an actress - sure there was one outstanding episode and I loved her in that episode but the rest of the time she's just a typical team member following what she's told to do by her seniors and her acting seemed a bit awkward or.. rather monotonous? Does that make sense to those who are reading this?
Anyway, others in the cast include Kim Kyu-chul as Park Jung-do and Park So-hyun as Kang Joo-young. They both were good in their respecitve roles, and Park Jung-do as a character even managed to surprise me in the end.

Soundtrack: The music in this drama deserves 10/10 without a doubt! This is one of the few dramas only including one song, "자각몽 (Lucid Dream)" by Kim Yun-ah, but this song is great and atmospheric. But as much as I love this, the Original Score owns this drama. The song that really makes me shiver is actually "Was Justice Delivered" by No Hyung-woo but also "Story of the Victim" is a great instrumental. However, if you're not that much into instrumentals and classical instruments, there is a chance you might not like this at all. The atmosphere those pieces (as well as most of the others on the Original Score) deliver still makes me shiver.



So do we need to talk about my rating? It's a definite 10/10 and I'm not joking when I say this is one of the best crime series in Korea as well.

The atmosphere becomes darker and darker, some cases basically killed me inside (I think especially Ep. 5 or 6 did an awesome job living me behind as an emotional mess). The cases are great and filled with suspense so you won't end up bored. Some plottwists seemed individual and I didn't expect some things at all. And you know, this series is probably more realistic than others and not always comes up with a happy ending.
Looking at my notes, the only negative things I wrote down always ended with "But that's SO OCN! I hate them for doing this.." while I still love this channel more than any other. Okay, I still criticize that we only get a tiny little bit of background information about James. And OCN still leaves an option about Oh Dae-young as well. I would've loved more concrete facts but then again we'll probably get a second season and therefore there is a chance we get to know more then. Which leads to the point that I hate waiting for episodes. Especially, if two episodes are directly connected and you just want to know what's going to happen next. Which leads to the next point I more or less criticize - TOO MANY SPLIT CASES. I do understand that not every episode could have a duration of two hours but waiting for the second part drove me nuts (since I've been watching this drama while it was airing). Now all the episodes are up and the problem just disappeared, yay for those who were able to wait.
Just one thing I found to be rather acceptable - there are some English parts when it comes to FBI stories. Which are messed up. It sounds too clear and too simple. But then again it's not surprising - productions from other countries would probably mess up Korean worse so I'm willing to forgive them since it's not complete nonsense either and we can understand it.


Watch this if you like crime, suspense and thriller. It's worth it.

Oh, and the last GIF - that's almost the way I used to sit there after finishing this drama. Severe Post-Drama Depression.

Bad Guys

나쁜 녀석들 (Bad Guys) is a Korean drama series that aired from October 4th to December 13th 2014 on OCN.

Story: The title 'Bad Guys' basically describes the team perfectly. Commissioner Nam Goo-hyun asks former detective Oh Gu-tak to help solving a serial murder case. Oh Gu-tak chooses gangster Park Woong-cheol, professional killer Jeong Tae-su and psychopath and serial killer Lee Jeong-mun as the 'bad guys' who are the best for this job.

With Park Woong-cheol's strength , Jeong Tae-su's skill and Lee Jeong-mun's intellect. Mix those together right and there won't be a criminal under the sun they can't catch.

Getting out of prison whenever they have a case, the team members decide to do something useful with their abilities - and figure out the truth behind a serial murder case.
Detective Yoo Mi-yeong is there connection to the police and helps to solve the cases though she's an ambitious person willing to do a lot to get promoted.

Cast: At first we have Kim Sang-joong as Oh Gu-tak, the 'Mad Dog'. Just the way he was planning everything through the first two episodes made me feel uneasy about the character, I could never guess what he was up to. But then again, as an actor, Kim Sang-joong deserves all my respect for playing this role that well.
As Park Woong-cheol we see Ma Dong-seok. Yes, the character isn't the smartest person on earth.. definitely not, but strong and therefore a good addition to the team. About Ma Dong-seok - I don't remember him playing any other main roles before and this one was really good as well. It somehow suits him, and I can't really explain why.
Jo Dong-hyuk accepted the role of Jeong Tae-su. Except for him being hot and classy as a contract killer (I can't help it, I just loved the serious businessman-look he was wearing all the time.. and I'm still a young woman after all), I think his characters' history was one of the most interesting I've ever seen. And there was one scene (I seriously cannot spoiler too much about this) when I was really crying because of his loss.
As genius psychopath Lee Jeong-mun we see someone who might be the reason for many girls to watch this: Park Hae-jin. Now, after watching this, I'm definitely impressed with his skills. From a second male lead desperately in love in You Who Came From The Stars his character in this drama is a psychopath who was one of the youngest serial killers ever. There's a huge difference and I love the fact he's not sticking to one of the character types but actually tries something new - and definitely succeeds.
Others in the cast include Kang Ye-won as Yoo Mi-yeong (I came to dislike her character from time to time..), Kang Shin-il as Nam Goo-hyun and Kim Tae-hoon as Oh Jae-won (and I hate making good guesses about something fishy sometimes).

Soundtrack: One thing OCN is incredibly good at are sound effects. Sometimes the music and the sounds they used were just creeping me out. God, I hate you for doing that, OCN, I hate you all so much. But then again, when it comes to a series like this, it's necessary. Cute or cheerful songs or heartwrenching ballads wouldn't support the rather dark atmosphere.

As an overall rating? Ha ha, funny, you can make a guess. It's OCN Original and I have nothing really negative to say about this series.
10/10.
The only thing I wasn't happy about were the melodramatic happenings during the last episodes. But then again, this is also a charming point of this series - the way the characters change.

I'm still laughing about the person who had the idea to censor knifes, but not guns, in a drama that's rated 19+. Like, come on.. we all know there's a knife and we all know someone gets stabbed. So why do you have to censor the knife when this is a series for adults..? Tsk. I don't get it. It's somewhat cute.

Did I miss out on anything? Well, this series deals with the dark sides of human souls in the end. If you have a weak heart, this series probably wouldn't be a good recommendation. Otherwise, go ahead and give it a shot because it has a different charm with being impressive especially when it comes to plot and character development.

And did someone mention a possible Season 2?! Yes, please! Just.. OCN, please don't make me wait four years or something..

Vampire Prosecutor (Season 2)

Please note that this entry may involve fangirling, ranting and cursing about a TV channel. Don't mind me, it's just me freaking out because of frustration.

뱀파이어 검사 2
(Vampire Prosecutor) is a South Korean drama series that aired on OCN from September 9th to November 18th 2012.

Story: Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon is a vampire using his special abilities to solve crimes and catch the criminals. However, he stumbles upon another vampire in is series that becomes more commonly known as "L" who seems to enjoy playing games. Trying to safe his team consisting of Detective Hwang Soon-bum, Prosecutor Yoo Jung-in and Choi Dong-man, he solves some cases with them but has to deal with the final enemy on his own..

Cast: We see Yeon Jung-hoon again as Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon. His acting is just awesome, I seriously fell for his character but then again the end left me seriously frustrated (I won't say anything else about this). As Yoo Jung-in we see Lee Young-ah and I definitely prefer her in this season. It's just like her character isn't nagging as much as I remember from the first season so that might be the reason. Lee Won-jung appears as Hwang Soon-bum again and after this season I somehow find his character more and more interesting. Sure he doesn't seem to be an incredibly smart detective but then again, with his good instincts, he's an important member of the team. Choi Dong-man was played by Kim Joo-young again and I seriously came to like his character for lightening up the dark atmosphere in this series.
Lee Kyung-young is new in this series as Jo Jung-hyun. And this man.. I don't know what I should think about him. Weird but effective and him not being a part of the team anymore will be a huge loss? Not the most charming or lovable character but his love for Kim Ji-young as Lee Ji-ae is really touching. I think you'd need to watch the series to understand what's behind this but it's adorable how much he's caring for her.
Kwon Hyun-sang appears as "L". So, except for me wondering why there are so many characters named "L" in Asia (is this some nickname based on stereotypical features?), his madness is damn well acted. I loved to hate him. But he seriously had too much time making plans and observing his enemies.
Others in the main cast include Jung Hwan as Park Hoon, Park Jae-hoon as Ra Jae-wook, Yoshitaka Yuriko as Luna (and seeing a Japanese fortune-teller made this series a lot better in my opinion, I loved her character) and Kim Bo-young as Chief Prosecutor Joo Hyun-ah.

Soundtrack: The ending theme is "Danger" by MC Sniper. Now I'm not a huge fan of rap but I came to like the rock and crossover influence in this song. It's not used that much in the drama though and only appears at the end. As for the instrumentals, they worked well - supported the atmosphere. Watching the drama without sound would make most of the scenes less atmospheric.


My personal rating is a 9.5/10. There was one episode (I think it was Ep. 8, Rude Min Tae-yeon) that seriously got on my nerves. Yes, the last five minutes are important. The rest of the episode seems to be a complete joke. I'm not saying that a few scenes that make you smile or laugh are bad but this episode just didn't fit the overall atmosphere at all.
We get some more information on the characters though, and that is actually really well-played by OCN. Since I've heard that they're still talking about a 3rd season (as of January 2015 it might be aired in Summer/Fall 2016) they need to keep people interested. Same with the ending which seriously leaves me frustrated. If they would liked an open ending or a cliff hanger, I think about 2 minutes earlier (right after the explosion - I hope I'm not saying too much about this) would have been better in my honest opinion.

Overall I'd definitely recommend this to people into crime, mystery and some 'hinted-romance' stuff. While it bothers me that the hints become actually really strong in this season (I prefer my crime series without romance at all), others seem to like that a lot.
But if you want to watch a typical vampire-teenage-romance, this is definitely not the right drama for you.
One more thing I have to add: The fights were awesome. Just awesome. Loved it more than anything.

Vampire Prosecutor (Season 1)

뱀파이어 검사  (Vampire Prosecutor) is a Korean drama series that aired from October 2nd to December 18th 2011 on OCN.

I'm not a huge fan of vampires. Like not at all. Personally, I think that since Twilight it's already a good sign if vampires don't sparkle. But then again, thanks to this topic being used over and over again after the hype a certain movie series caused, I just came to think that it's all about popularity and I probably shouldn't watch anything involving vampires anymore except for the good old horror movies.
So how did I end up watching this? Just by reading the first paragraph of this entry, you might be able to notice something. It's an OCN Original series, and that's basically a guarantee for a crime series with 100% quality.
That being said, this entry might include fangirling, ranting and cursing because of a certain love-hate-relationship I've mentioned already like ten times before.

Story: Prosecutor Min Tae-yeon becomes part of a Joint Investigation Unit consisting of detectives and prosecutors. He seems to have worked with Detective Hwang Soon-bum before who's one of the few people who know Tae-yeon's secret: The prosecutor, after being bitten by someone he doesn't know one day, became a vampire and uses his abilities to solve mysterious cases. Soon, he figures out that a serial murder called the 'Vampire case' from years ago was committed by a vampire and while solving some cases with his team, he tries to find the other vampire.

Cast: Yeon Jung-hoon accepted the role of Min Tae-yeon, and to be completely honest, if vampires would be like this - I'm want them to come out, we need them. Speaking all honestly I loved his acting from the first minute to the last. It's as simple as that. Lee Young-ah as Yoo Jung-in is the female member of the team, and she's one of the strong and confident female characters in a drama series that I come to like a lot usually. Lee Won-jung as Hwang Soon-bum is a detective who works well with Min Tae-yeon. After having roughly 25 years of experience, he has seen a lot of things. To be honest, after watching the first season, I still wonder why he knows of Tae-yeon being a vampire and basically no one else does but then again I'll try to be patient and I hope I'll be able to figure that out when watching the second season.
Kim Joo-young joined the cast as Choi Dong-man. Though the use of his character might not be that obvious at first, I found myself thinking that he lightens up the atmosphere with his bright and somewhat funny character.
Jang Hyun-sung can be seen as Chief Prosecutor Jang Chul-oh, and while one cannot understand his intentions at first, I was confused even in the end. But nonetheless, I feel like this role was perfect for him, the whole atmosphere fit well. So either he's just good at playing that kind of characters or he's simply a really really really good actor.
As the bartender Ra Jae-Wook (and yes, I did look this up because I think all we get in the first season is "Mr. La") we seen Park Jae-hoon. Sure he did something bad when he was still a doctor but then again I seriously can't judge him for doing that and as someone who has been helping Tae-yeon all along I really liked this role as well.

Soundtrack: Oh, there was a soundtrack? Okay, okay, joking, I did notice like one song and after looking that up I think it was performed by Lee Jung but that's basically everything. And since it is not used that often, it doesn't get boring. I'd love to listen to the instrumentals played during the action scenes though since especially crime series tend to have a quite interesting and exciting soundtrack.

Conclusion? 9.5/10. The first episodes seemed a little bit chaotic to me but good nonetheless.
But then again I'm a huge fan of crime series and to be completely honest I think the 'vampire'-element wouldn't have been necessary. They could've just used a human who's good at observing as well so I think THAT actually was to get attention for the series. And that's not bad at all, sure they need people to watch a production.

*I never thought that a Korean with bright blue eyes could be that attractive since I usually prefer dark eyes but then again it's perfect.

**One of my favorite scenes, I had to laugh so hard and that smirk is seriously worth to capture.

***Excuse the quality of those screenshots, and yes, it's pretty much not my style but I've been watching a few episodes online due to some technical issues. BUT why am I sharing those screencaps? To be completely honest it's just because.. I went to that place. And my friend and I took a photo using that mirror as well. Forgive me, I was pretty much done seeing those pictures in a drama series now.