Surplus Princess

잉여공주 (Surplus Princess) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 10 episodes that aired on tvN from August 7th to October 9th 2014.

Story: Aileen is the 18th mermaid princess and has a crush on Kwon Shi-kyung. She wants to become a human and steals a potion from An Ma-nyeo. The big problem after drinking the portion is - that she has to find true love within 100 days or she will die or, more correctly, disappear without a trace.
She moves into the "Surplus house" and her new housemates are all unemployed job seekers who experience various difficulties together. Trying to hide her real identity Aileen, going by the name Kim Ha-ni,  tries to gets closer to Shi-kyung not only because of her feelings but also to save her life.

Cast: Another drama on this blog with Jo Bo-ah, in this case as Kim Ha-ni or Aileen. I really like her as an actress but I have a feeling the very bright and cheerful (and somehow stupid) character didn't really suit her well. Also the helplessness in some scenes just didn't feel right.
Ohn Joo-wan as Lee Hyun-myung definitely did an awesome job acting in this drama as the hero always around to save the damsel in mistress. Definitely a very likeable and sweet character but somehow his relationship with Jin-ah in the beginning just made him seem too weak.
Chef Kwon Shi-kyung was played by Song Jae-rim and I think he did a very good job regarding the disease (you will find out more about this when watching the drama but it is not thaaaat bad). For a male lead in a rom-com drama he was actually very nice and charming.
Park Ji-soo as Yoon Jin-ah probably became my most hated character in the drama. The acting was really good and I really enjoyed hating her character a lot. I'm just going to mention the second-female-lead-syndrome and I guess many of you actually understand what I mean.
Kim Seul-gi as Ahn Hye-young was just brilliant in my opinion. I really love her as an actress by now, her singing in this drama was also nice and she was weird at first but turned out so supportive. The character was well played and I don't know what else I should say.

Nam Joo-hyuk as Big was the youngest person in the sharehouse. His character was acted well, too, but I feel like sometimes it lacked some depth in writing or acting, I don't know what is the reason but it was just my impression.
Ahn Kil-kang as An Ma-nyeo had the weird darkness that totally didn't fit the drama this much and that is 100% about the writing. The acting was nice and fit the actor but I personally liked the less mysterious parts of him a little better and thought that it works better with this drama.
Other actors in this drama include Jin Hee-kyung, Kim Min-kyo, Kim Jae-hwa and Lee Sun-kyu.

Soundtrack: I don't know how they did it but a lot of songs that were not the OST for this drama were played. However, sometimes it was just not the right timing and sometimes the songs were a little out of place for me but in total I would say they supported the light and humorous atmosphere.


My rating of this drama is a simple 5.5/10.
The reason is simple: I was so close to dropping this drama during the first episodes. Somewhere in episode 4 or 5 it became bearable and I didn't want to kill the main character anymore (yaaay). Still the humor in this drama was so flat in the first episodes that I could just sit here, shake my head and hope the writer stopped taking whatever he or she took while writing the first episodes. If a drama has 10 episodes and I would rate the first 4 episodes as a 0 or maybe 1 of 10 something is seriously off.
However, as I said it became bearable and even enjoyable even though some of the jokes were still stupid but maybe I just got used to it.
The idea itself wasn't bad, it kinda reminds me of the little mermaid, but also has it's differences.
Oh, and what is still in my mind is the ending. I'm not sure if I like it or not but.. it is refreshing but something I would wish for in any drama with those annoying and rude male leads..
I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone, honestly, unless this is totally your kind of humor but.. you know the risk and don't say I didn't warn you.

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 Three Musketeers

삼총사 (The Three Musketeers) is a South Korean drama series that aired from August 17th to November 2nd 2014 every Sunday on tvN. The drama consists of 12 episodes with a duration ~65 minutes.

Story: The story is set in 17th Century Joseon and evolves around Crown Prince Sohyun and his guards Heo Seung-po and Ahn Min-seo as well as Park Dal-hyang, a young man who came from Gangwondo to take the military examination and find his first love. Even on his first day Park Dal-hyang meets the three men who introduce themselves as the "Three Musketeers" and soon he finds himself within a political conflict.

Cast: In the very first place we have Lee Jin-wook as Crown Prince Sohyun. While I don't really understand why his character is the way he just... is I kinda like this rebellious royal thing. It makes his character somehow special since he's not what one would expect. However, in some moments I couldn't really feel the acting, I just noticed that it wasn't real from time to time and I don't know if that's because of the actor or because of the writing. Yang Dong-geun as Heo Seung-po is the son of General Heo and one of the men the prince grew up with. He loves gambling and alcohol and usually is pretty calm about being sent to prison for some time. The acting in general worked with the character and the background. He shows a great loyalty towards the crown prince. The same works for Ahn Min-seo played by Jung Hae-in. Definitely an actor I will look out for in the future! Ahn Min-seo is a rather loyal and smart character and seems to be more pure since he comes from a religious background. The acting connected with the character himself made this character one of my favorites.
Jung Yong-hwa took over Park Dal-hyang's part. Solid acting? Well, his character was a little stubborn and sometimes childish, led by emotions but that's Park Dal-hyang's innocent, childish charm. So for a main character he was actually quite nice to watch and did cause some trouble from time to time. Seo Hyun-jin as the Crown Princess Kang Yoon-seo/ Kang Bin was one of the characters I somehow liked - and at the same time didn't. She's loyal and a horrible liar - and exactly these traits get her into huge trouble while the King tries to find out what's going on. Her acting was nice though her character was really stupid from time to time.
Of course there does have to be a bad witch in a series like this (though she's not exactly a witch but you get where I'm coming from). At some point I was literally waiting for her to just die. Though Mi-ryung/Hyang-sun played by Yoo In-young was beautiful and the obsessed acting was pretty much what I expected. A character you start to hate but one also likes to find out more about why she behaves the way she does.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Myung-soo as King Injo, Jeon Noh-min as Choi Myung-gil, Park Young-kyu as Kim Ja-jum and Kim Sung-min as Yong Gol-dae.

Soundtrack: I personally found the soundtrack to be pretty good. I LOVED the song "All For One" by NOXX and DinDin a lot though I thought they played the song too loud in the drama - it wasn't in the background anymore. The other songs seemed more subtle in a way but then again nothing can compare to a rock song as music played while fighting (at least that's where I saw it in my imagination when I first listened to it).


SO how am I going to rate this drama? 8.5/10 for a solid drama that's somewhat based on Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers but in a Korean background.
I liked it. It's sometimes too funny for a serious historical drama but I think that's what they intended to do and it was nice the way it was. They ended it with an open ending though because there were supposed to be three seasons - tvN cancelled the other two.
A beautifully filmed drama and good acting in general with an interesting story but the last parts were rushed while other things were dragged a little.

I'd consider this drama as highly recommendable though! So give it a try.

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.

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.

I Need Romance 3

로맨스가 필요해 3 (I Need Romance 3) is a South Korean drama series that aired on tvN from January 13th to March 4th 2014.

Story: Once again this drama revolves around a woman in her 30s and her relationships as well as her 'friends' - which are more colleagues in this case. Shin Joo-yeon works at a home shopping company. Because of some bad experiences she just accepts break-up's. She turned out cold and pretty calculating. When Allen Joo returns from the States after 17 years he can't believe that the cold woman is the same person as the girl he knew while growing up.
Lee Min-jeong, Joo-yeon's colleague, finds herself in a love affair and ends up as a pregnant single woman while Jeong Hee-jae and Lee Woo-young end up with some romantic issues as well. Since all of them are working together, the chaos is perfect when Oh Se-ryeong, a woman Joo-yeon was friends with earlier, appears. Se-ryeong was dating Kang Tae-yoon on whom Joo-yeon has a crush without noticing.

Cast: People asked me "Why do you watch it if you just found the first two seasons 'okay' or 'bearable'?" Well. Excuse you. There are four damn good reasons just in the cast. Firstly, Kim So-yeon as Shin Joo-yeon. That woman is my idol. I loved her more in IRIS and Two Weeks but she still did a good job in here, and just by looking at how different her roles in those series are I can assure you that she is indeed an amazing actress. But her chemistry with Nam Goong-min whom I really liked as well as Kang Tae-yoon could've been better. I don't think I could detect any chemistry between their characters at all. At least compared to the chemistry between Shin Joo-yeon and Allen Joo/ Joo Wan played by Sung Joon. While both of them are good at acting I couldn't really understand Allen's character that well though but then again I feel like that's me and there might have been a reason as to why he behaved that way after 17 years.
The character I hated the most in this drama turned out to be Oh Se-ryeong played by Wang Ji-won though. Geez, I wanted to beat her up. Badly. So annoying but I found myself actually liking her during the last episodes. Now I wonder what made her character change that much. Maybe I missed out on something. Maybe she changed because of hoping to get Tae-yoon back. Or maybe the writer just thought it would be a good idea. I really don't know about that.
Actually one of the reasons to watch this drama is Park Yoo-hwan as Lee Woo-young as well. I definitely hope people will stop referring to him as "Yoochun's brother" once and try to see him as an actor. He did well in this drama, especially with Yoon Seung-ah as Jeong Hee-jae. That clumsy but somewhat shy and loveable couple made this drama totally cute from time to time - and funny. Just let me mention the word "group chat" and you will understand after watching this.
Lastly we have Park Hyo-joo as Lee Min-jeong, a woman who has no intention to get married or think about having a family - until she finds out she's pregnant. And Ahn Min-seok played by Yoo Ha-jun is trying hard to become a good father even before the baby's born. He definitely deserved more time, both together with Park Hyo-joo or alone just because his acting and his character were really cute and seemed a little innocent and clueless.

Soundtrack: Thinking about it carefully, I did like one song. Well, two if we count "Now and Forever", the Allen Joo produced (at least they said so) which was originally performed by Jo Jung-hee. Sung Joon's "사랑이 웃는 것 (Love is Smiling)" made this soundtrack good to me. Now there's nothing wrong with all the other good singers included on the OST just like G.O or Lee Hyori but I sometimes just found myself thinking "Wow, that song's pretty boring..". As a huge fan of music that was and still is a deal breaker for me.


After all this drama got a rating of 8/10 from me. Except for the fact that I didn't like the music I just felt like there's nothing really memorable about the story. It didn't make me laugh too hard nor did I feel really depressed. It's enjoyable but nothing special
But I think it's not the I Need Romance we've seen in the first two seasons. Starting with the first episode, this series has a completely different feeling to it. It focusses more on the male lead than the first two series. In this one, the women aren't friends who've met each other back in school and started to work in different feels, the basically know each other because of working together. And while this is actually a charming point it just doesn't belong to the I Need Romance-series fans might expect.  
So if you want to watch this because you loved the first two seasons - be warned.

I Need Romance 2

로맨스가 필요해 2012 (I Need Romance 2012 or I Need Romance 2) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 16 episodes that aired from June 20th to August 9th 2012 on tvN.

Story: Once again the story evolves around three women in their 30's. Joo Yeol-mae and Yoon Seok-hyun have been together - more or less since they broke up and got back together - for a long time. Because of Seok-hyun pushing her away while working with Kang Na-hyun Yeol-mae meets Shin Ji-hoon, the owner of a coffee shop.
Yeol-mae's friend Seon Jae-kyung, a former model, experiences trouble when her husband claims she committed adultery and her business as well as her life itself seems to be endangered. And Woo Ji-hee breaks up with her boyfriend and somehow her new boss knows about the reasons which makes working together a lot more chaotic.

Cast: Jung Yu-mi and Lee Jin-wook as Joo Yeol-mae and Yoon Seok-hyun actually show a nice charisma on-screen. Their acting was good, and, what's most important, it actually kept my attention. I did skip very few of their scenes just because their acting and charisma was great. But also Kim Ji-seok as Shin Ji-hoon did a great job showing some cute chemistry with the female lead. Kim Ye-won as Kang Na-hyun was actually the only one in this kind of love triangle (or square?) who seemed kind of.. off to me sometimes.
Kim Ji-woo as Seon Jae-kyung is the kind of perfect self-confident woman I love to see. Sure she faces some trouble because of her affair with her assistant Han Jung-min played by In Gyo-jin after her husband Lee Jang-woo played by Gong Jung-hwan accuses her of adultery though he himself isn't a saint but with her friends she manages to go through those hardships.
Beautiful and seemingly innocent is Kang Ye-sol as Woo Ji-hee in this drama, who ends up falling for a character we have seen in the first season of I Need Romance before, Kim Tae-woo played by Heo Tae-hee. I did enjoy their awkward situations the most, this couple made me laugh harder than the others, maybe that's why I especially liked them.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack got on my nerves to be quite honest. The title, "Waru Waru" by Han Su-ji only appears at the end and what I've heard already made me decide that I am never listening to the full song. Also the song "I Could Give You Love" by Lasse Lindh appeared way too often. I don't remember any of the other songs at all, they either weren't used that often or couldn't really capture one's attention.


After all my rating is 7.5/10. It's definitely better than the first season to me but then it's not memorable enough and the soundtrack is a huge minus. The most interesting part of this drama is to actually try and figure out why Seok-hyun behaves the way he does.
If you enjoy romantic comedy with some kind of Sex and the City-theme, you would like to watch this probably.

I Need Romance

로맨스가 필요해 (I Need Romance) is a South Korean drama series that was aired from June 13th to August 2nd 2011 on tvN. It consist of 16 episodes with a duration between 40 and 45 minutes.

Story: The story is about Sun-woo In-young, a 33-year-old woman, who has been dating Kim Sung-soo for 10 years when they face a crisis. After he cheated on her for the second time, the couple breaks up but In-young can't forget Sung-soo until she starts dating Bae Sung-hyun.
In-young's best friends, Hyun-joo and Seo-yeon, both also 33 years old, both face difficulties with love at the same time: While one tries to get rid of her virginity desperately, the other has to go to court because of 'adultery' after finding out one of her countless lovers was married.

Cast: The lead 'triangle' was played by Jo Yeo-jeong as Sun-woo In-young, Kim Jung-hoon as Kim Sung-soo and Choi Jin-hyuk as Bae Sung-hyun (who left me with a serious love for his character). While their acting was well done - at least I think so - it might be mainly because of me being able to understand Bae Sung-hyun's reactions. God, how I just wanted In-young to grow the fuck up! (Sorry for using that kind of language but the character seriously got on my nerves). As for Kim Jung-hoon, his 'suffering' was nice in the end but I still hated his character. Full stop. Maybe some of you will understand after watching the drama, some might not be able to. I can deal with this.
Anyway, I happened to find the side story between Choi Yeo-jin as Park Seo-yeon, Ricky Lee Neely as Alex and Lee Kwan-hoon as Seo Joon-Yi the most entertaining part of the whole drama. Though everything 'happens' rather late, I came to not only like their acting but also the development of the characters, especially Seo-yeon who has been present for such a long time.
Also, the relationship between Kang Hyun-joo and Kim Duk-soo played by Choi Song-hyun and Kim Hyung-min was somewhat cute and amusing and Hyun-joo was definitely one of the best and funniest female characters I've ever seen in a K-Drama. Especially the wedding was such a beautiful and perfect 'scene' that I couldn't help but watch it again and again.

Soundtrack: This is once again one of the soundtracks I don't know a lot about. While I did happen to like it somewhat it was too passive, mostly in the background and I just couldn't get used to it. I have to admit that I love the song Choi Jin-hyuk performed in Ep.14 (?) but it's sadly not included in the OST so I can't really count it.


What's left after watching this drama in about 3 days.. is a rating of 6/10. Maybe I lack some kind of sensitivity, that's possible. But:
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD A WOMAN TAKE A GUY BACK WHO CHEATED ON HER TWICE?! WHO WOULD EVEN CONSIDER THIS?!
What the fuck is wrong with this woman? I don't get it. While I do see that it's important to love yourself and your dreams more than a man I wonder what would be bad about staying alone..?

That's actually the main point that bothered me. But when it comes to talking about positive aspects, let's face a fact: When the leads are making out - it IS passionate and it IS awesome to watch.
Some scenes are funny, especially those involving the two best friends.

Would I watch it again? The whole drama? No. Scenes? Yes.
Recommendation? Well, give it a shot if you like Sex and the City and/or romantic comedies. At least if you're not bothered by a female character that doesn't know what she wants you should do well.

This scene broke my heart though, I just cannot deal with this..

Marriage, not Dating

연애 말고 결혼 (Marriage, not Dating) is a South Korean drama series that was aired from July 4th to August 23rd 2014 on tvN.

Usually I tend to write about my thoughts at the end of an entry but this time I need to tell you what I honestly think in a really short summary:

This drama shows Korean romance-comedy at its finest.

Story: Joo Jang-mi has been dating Lee Hoon-dong for a while and wants to propose to him. However, Hoon-dong doesn't even think about it and asks his friend Gong Gi-tae who happens to be in the same hotel to help him out.
Gong Gi-tae is a bachelor who doesn't even think about getting married but his family sends him on blind dates often to make him marry a girl.
After Jang-mi is heartbroken because of Hoon-dong breaking up with her after playing around, he decides to help her with revenge but the deal is that she becomes his fake-fiancee so his family would stop making him go on blind dates. Knowing that his family wouldn't accept Jang-mi, Gi-tae hopes that his family would rather see him staying alone forever than marrying someone like Jang-mi.
But because of Jang-mi's revenge Hoon-dong shows interest in her again, as well as his employee Han Yeo-reum while Gi-tae's ex-fiancee Kang Se-ah keeps being around.

Cast: To be completely honest I think I've seen most of the actors for the first time in this drama. For example Yeon Woo-jin as Gong Gi-tae. He doesn't understand women and openly admits to that at one point. And at some point it is also explained why he prefers staying single. I think Yeon Woo-jin's acting was just very well done and I'll happily watch other dramas with him again. As Joo Jang-mi we see Han Groo. I did not she was active as a singer so I think I've heard about her back in 2012 for the first time but I didn't know she was acting as well. I shouldn't be surprised anyways. In this drama, she's a professional trouble maker you just need to love at some point. And actually she's pitiful. Being in a similar position with my parents I understand her quite well. I could connect with her character at some point. And that's definitely a good point, she deserves a lot of attention for her role in this drama.
Jeong Jin-woon of 2AM is in this drama as well as Han Yeo-reum. Despite for me loving his name (that could also translate to "One Summer") he seems to be the perfect man. He's caring, has a nice smile, knows how to cook and would save Jang-mi whenever he's around. But maybe, just maybe, that's why he ends up in the friendzone. However, he's not a typical pitiful second male lead! He accepts the fact that life goes on though he's hurt at first.
Han Sun-hwa of Secret accepted the role of Kang Se-ah. At first I was willing to accept her. Then I hated her. And in the end, I actually came to like her. The way her character developed was actually good to watch though I really thought the writer went a bit too far giving her the typical Second-Female-Lead characteristics. Sun-hwa is a beautiful woman, nonetheless, and her acting just fit the role, I can't really complain about her acting.
Others in the main cast include Heo Jeong-min as Lee Hoon-dong, Yoon So-hee as Nam Hyun-hee, Lim Ye-jin as Na So-nyeo, Park Jun-gyu as Joo Gyung-pyo and Kim Hae-sook as Shin Bong-hyang. But to be completely honest, there are too many actors involved in this series to even consider mentioning all of them.

Soundtrack: Let me talk about the sound effects first. I seriously loved the way they used. Be it dogs, cats, Kakao Talk alarm ringtones - it was just to funny! Especially when Jang-mi and Gi-tae were fighting.
The soundtrack is nice so far. There are some songs that just make you feel like it's a summer drama (which it indeed is) like Mamamoo's "Love Lane". And there are some wonderful ballads like Son Ho-young and Danny Ahn's "하루만 (Just One Day)". Both songs would be included if I'd ever rank my favorite OST tracks.


At the end of the day, the rating is rather untypical. It's a 10/10, definitely.
Unlike many other dramas, this is not the typical romance-comedy series. Sure, the story isn't the most unique but starting with the setting and ending with the sound effects this drama managed to capture my attention all the way through. And it manages to be cute and funny until the very end. Even the last ten minutes of the last episodes were awesome enough.
What I really enjoyed was the structure of the episodes. In the very beginning, you see an event happening and feel like you've missed an episode or something. How this scene was created - well, that's shown within the episode. And since some of those scenes they used to open the episodes just seemed completely different from the atmosphere you've seen before, you'll want to know what in the world happened.

Much love for this drama. For being different, for being funny, for being cute, with only a few really sad and melodramatic moments!

And a little bonus of Han Yeo-reum and Lee Hoon-dong (or Jinwoon and Heo Jeong-min) bromance. This scene made me laugh harder than I should have.

LOOK AT THIS EXPRESSION! PRICELESS!

Korean TV Stations: tvN

tvN, Total Variety Network, is a South Korean nationwide entertainment network owned by CJ E&M. It was launched in 2006, the current logo came to be used in 2012.

No. 1 Trend Leader

Some of tvN's most popular dramas include the Oh! Boy series consisting of Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, Shut Up! Flower Boy Band and Flower Boy Next Door. Furthermore, Reply 1997 as well as the I Need Romance series aired on tvN.

Flower Boy Next Door

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

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

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


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

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

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

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop

꽃미남 라면가게 (Flower Boy Ramyun Shop) is a Korean drama that aired on tvN from October 31st to December 20th 2011. It's the first part of the Oh! Boy-series.

Story: Yang Eun-bi is a college student preparing for her civil service exam. She wants to become a high school teacher. She starts an internship at a high school run by Chasung company. On the way to school on her first day, she almost gets hit by a car and Cha Chi-soo saves her.
Cha Chi-soo is the only son of Chasung company's president. After returning from New York the only way he's allowed to stay in Korea is going back to school where Yang Eun-bi is his teacher.

Cast: At first we have Jung Il-woo as Cha Chi-soo. Yes, he is a pretty boy so I get why he was casted. And he's actually a good actor I think but I barely found any actors who weren't that good. I just feel like it has to be weird for an adult male to return to being a high school student.
Lee Chung-ah accepted the female lead role of Yang Eun-bi. What can I say.. Eun-bi is actually a naive but cheerful character. But she has this 'annoying female character' aura since she is TOO naive, TOO innocent and it takes a long time for her to expect something fishy.
And when it comes to typical Korean dramas, we need a second male lead, right? Lee Ki-woo as Choi Gang-hyuk appears at some point. He appears as the clumsy and lovable, faithful and honest male many women dream about. But then again, it's a Korean drama.. You know what to expect. But I admit that he did a good job in this drama, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Other members of the cast include Park Min-woo as Kim Ba-eul, Jo Yoon-woo as Woo Hyun-woo and Ho Soo as Yoon So-Yi.
Whenever it comes to this Oh! Boy-series I have to admit the cast kinda safes the whole drama for me. Some scenes are way too overacted and therefore incredibly funny but then again this is hat makes those dramas enjoyable.

Soundtrack: The OST will not attract anyone. Except for Jung Il-woo singing a song on the OST and C-REAL being featured on the OST I've never heard of any of the other artists. The songs are alright, it's a typical romance-comedy K-drama soundtrack, many people enjoy that a lot but there was no song that really caught my attention and that I've listened to after finishing the drama. I wouldn't say it's bad but nothing special either.


My personal rating is 8.5/10 though I have to criticize a few things. And those mainly go back to the fact that it's pretty much high on the list of the most typical Korean dramas. Basically every single typical pattern works for this drama.
Korean viewers love certain patterns and tropes.
The Second-Male-Lead-Syndrome, the Male-Lead-is-a-Chaebol-son who believes he can have everything just by spending money, the Protect-me-Female-Lead, the True-Love-Changes-a-whole-Character-effect.. I don't remember a piggyback ride but I think we have the wrist-grabbing as well. If this isn't your first or second drama you'll get what I mean - and if it is you'll find out a few things when watching a few more dramas later on.
Yes, it is good and funny, especially because of Eun-bi being superstitious but then again some parts are unnecessary and rather annoying.

Secret Investigation Record

조선X파일: 기찰비록 (Joseon X Files: Secret Book / Secret Investigation Record) is an historical Korean drama that aired on tvN from August 20th to October 29th 2010.
It consists of 12 episodes that are relatively independent.

Story: In 17th Century Korea (Joseon Dynasty) strange things happen. Kim Hyung-do's former mentor Lee Hyeong-wook is sent to prison for "aggrandized his report with mendacious claims of a bizarre flying object” and “divine retaliation against His Majesty’s alleged lack of virtue." To save his own and his mentor's life, Kim Hyung-do needs to find an explanation and create a demonstration to a public that's terrified by an Unidentified Flying Object. At the end Kim Hyeong-do becomes an investigator for the secret Shinmuhwe.
During the next episodes the hero and his team consisting of his assistant Heo Yoon-Yi, a librarian, and Magistrate Jang Man is sent to various places to solve mysterious cases about supernatural objects, diseases and phenomena as well as ghosts.

Cast: Kim Ji-hoon did a really good job as Kim Hyung-do in this one. I've never seen a drama with him before but well, I think acting in a historical drama isn't that easy anyways. Im Jung-eun can be seen as Assistant Heo Yoon-yi. Damn, I like her character. Either she's a badass hot librarian or just a perfect not-so-nerdy bookworm but she's really really good. Jo Hee-bong can be seen as Magistrate Jang Man. Sometimes a little cowardly, always trying to save Kim Hyung-do once he's in trouble, so.. a plucky coward? To be honest I had to laugh about Magistrate Jang because it was just completely overdone from time to time. He seemed not to be that smart.. Last but not least I have to name Kim Gab-soo as Ji Seung who's the leader of the Shinmunhwe (if I remember right, however, he's the one collecting the records so.. I don't know how to describe that.)
YES, the acting was good and usually fit the story. It was relatively nice to see only four characters directly involved in the story, it wasn't too complicated.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack supported the drama. No modern pop music, no modern ballads, just some instrumentals and an effective use of silence as well. Nothing I could really criticize about this.

My personal ranking is 6/10 though. The first point may be that I'm usually not that experienced when it comes to historical dramas. Followed by the second aspect which was like "What the heeeell..." because of the effects. While I think they looked like some of the effects used in the 1990's and kind of old school others say those were awesome. Third thing is.. that I seriously couldn't take some things seriously because even if you do believe in the existence of aliens it's completely absurd.
I think the combination of a Korean historical drama and the X Files just didn't do it for me, I think it's more about the story than the actors who are indeed doing a great job.

Monstar

몬스타 (Monstar) is a Korean drama series consisting of 12 episodes that aired from May 17th to August 2nd 2013 on Mnet and tvN.
Just a fun fact: I've watched one episode of this drama on TV when I went to Busan in July 2013.. and it is hard without subtitles but actually kind of funny as well.

Story: Yoon Seol-chan is a member of the popular K-Pop group 'Men in Black'. Once he pushes one of his crazy fans and when it gets viral his reputation becomes really bad. Trying to avoid further scandals his agency tells him to attend a school. In the meantime Min Se-yi who came from New Zealand as a transfer student manages to get attention at school for both, her musical talent as well as her odd behavior. A lot of misunderstandings make things harder for Seol-chan, Se-yi and their classmates but they find out that their interest in and love for music is something they all have in common.
Basically it's about music, love and friendship during times when everything's confusing for young adults.

Cast: Many people did watch this drama because of the main cast. Yong Jun-hyung as Yoon Seol-chan attracted many of BEAST's fans. Do I need to say anything else? Maybe it was because of his role but I really couldn't describe his acting as outstandingly good. But then againAnother idol in the main cast is Kim Da-hee as Kim Na-na. But many people never heard about GLAM before.. well, at least before Da-hee's blackmailing scandal. However, I really liked her acting and her character in this drama and I seriously would've loved to see her in more dramas but I think that's never going to happen. Kang Ha-neul as Jung Sun-woo is also part of the main cast. Come on, he's an actor, and personally I think he's a quite good actor in general but I admit that this is definitely not one of his best dramas as well, it's just 'good', not really 'great'.
Others in the main cast include Kim Min-young as Sim Eun-ha, Park Kyu-sun as Cha Do-nam, Kang Ui-sik as Park Kyu-dong and Moon Yong-suk as Ma Joon-hee. As you might notice most of them are rookie actors but did a nice job regarding their lack of experience. And come on - someday we need a new generation of actors when all the current stars are in the military. I really want to see some of those again in more dramas. Oh, and we have Ha Yeon-soo as the female lead character, Min Se-yi!

Soundtrack: It's a musical drama.. so it does make sense that the OST is actually quite nice. Almost all songs are performed by the actors themselves except for one really really good track called "흩어진 나날들 (Scattered Days)" by Park Hyo Shin (he's a quite popular Korean ballad singer, if you haven't heard about him, check out his songs!) Nearly all songs are fun and easy to listen to, it's more like a bubbly-poppish style. If you like that kind of music, you'll love the OST to death.

At the end of the day my rating is 7/10. I mean it's a good drama but made for teenagers who experience their first love and the importance of friendship. I would recommend it to those who like music though and it's at least not a waste of time but nice to watch.

Reply 1997 / Answer Me 1997

응답하라 1997 (Reply 1997; Answer Me 1997) was aired from July 24th to September 18th 2012. Set in 1997, at least partly, it made me feel quite old somehow. Because I remember a lot of things that were around at that time. (1990's babies will understand what I mean.)

Story: The series follows a female high-school student, Sung Shi-won, who is a huge fan of H.O.T. She's last in her class and instead of focussing on her studies she supports the group unconditionally. She's a straight-forward and sassy character. Yoon Yoon-jae is her best friend and a boy next door. As if it was fate he falls for Shi-won. So does his brother, Yoon Tae-woong. And there's the typical triangle we face in a lot of dramas.

Cast: The cast includes quite a few idols once again. First we have Jung Eun-ji as Sung Shi-won and Seo In-guk as Yoon Yoon-jae. The two of them make a quite adorable couple though they actually aren't a couple. Also Hoya of Infinite acts in this drama, as Kang Joon-hee and he was especially praised for taking the role of a gay character (which actually in our society shouldn't be a huge deal anymore but we don't need to discuss this here).
Also part of the cast are Shin So-yul as Mo Yoo-Jung, Eun Ji-won as Do Hak-chan and Song Jong-ho as Yoon Tae-woong.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack includes a lot - and I mean a lot - old school sounding songs. The most popular song was performed by Seo In-guk and Jung Eun-ji. "All For You" is a cover of a song by Cool released in the 1990s though. Songs by Fin.K.L and Sechs Kies were also included in the soundtrack. Personally, I'm not that much into old school (K-)Pop but I really liked the remakes of 1990s songs, maybe because of an improve in production quality.


Rating this one is kind of difficult. I'd say 7/10 just because after all I'm not that interested in the topic. But it was a really good way to spend my time watching this one. After all it was too good so that I'm kind of scared of watching Reply 1994, thinking they might have ruined the nice story.

And now, some wise words by Kang Joon-hee and an adorable scene: