Dream

드림 (Dream) is another drama that aired in the awesome year 2009, from July 27th to September 29th. It also has a length of roughly 20 hours.

Story: Nam Jae-il is a sports agent who once was really successful but when one of his clients gets involved in a drug scandal he gets fired by the company he's working for. When he lost everything he meets Lee Jang-seok who is a huge trouble maker. Because of his good fighting skills he wants to become a K1-fighter. With the help of Park So-yeon Jae-il tries to make that happen and also earn money and get back to the top once again.

Cast: Since I'm a huge fan of Kim Bum who's character Lee Jang-seok is one of the main characters in here I decided that it's a must-watch. I knew Son Dam-bi as a singer before but never were a huge fan of hers. However, she's doing a good job as Park So-yeon and was also one of my favorite characters. Joo Jin-mo as Nam Jae-il became almost a father to Lee Jang-seok. The deep friendship those three show in the series is actually awesome. Park Sang-won as Kang Kyeong-tak is the bad guy who's close to loosing everything because of Nam Jae-il and he's desperately trying to keep his empire.

Soundtrack: Let me just mention that SHINee sang a song called "Countdown" for the soundtrack. I liked that song a lot because it fits the drama after all. And Bobby Kim sang "죽기 아니면 살기 (Die or Live)". I admit that I don't remember a lot about the soundtrack so the lack of memorability is definitely a minus but at the same time I've never hated any of the songs so after all it's really good.

After all I enjoyed this one a lot though it was different from what I've expected at first. It's still nice. But took me ages to finish this, I don't understand why.
Rating? 8/10 please, just because some things aren't perfect but in the end it's still nice.

IRIS

아이리스 (IRIS) is another drama that originally aired in 2009 (and I start to believe I've watched too many dramas that aired then..)
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy love stories but as much as I like romantic comedies I need some more action in my life.
The first season aired from October 14th to December 17th on KBS and has about 20 hours of material to watch. It was also summarized within a movie - creatively called "IRIS: The Movie" but I'll talk about the movie later.

Story: Two close friends, Kim Hyun-joong and Jin Sa-woo, who are actually working for the military in the beginning are brought into a secret organization called NSS. Both of them fall for the analyst Choi Seung-hee. Hyun-joong is brought into a solo mission in Hungary which makes him a culprit so that a lot of people are after him. He then tries to find out who put him in that position and stumbles upon a top secret organization called IRIS and tries to figure out what they actually want.

Cast: The cast is actually incredibly well-known nowadays. The main cast consist of Lee Byung-hun as Kim Hyun-joong. Kim Tae-hee who is known as one of the most beautiful actresses in Korea took the role of the female lead Choi Seung-hee. Jung Joon-ho acted as Jin Sa-woo. Kim Young-chul joined the cast as Baek San whose intentions are a huge mystery to the viewer at first. And please, let's not forget about T.O.P as Vick.

Soundtrack: While after some time some songs might be quite annoying I have to admit that the whole soundtrack is at least alright. Especially the instrumental pieces are quite similar to those you find in action movies. As for the other songs I enjoy "잊지말아요 (Don't Forget)" by Baek Ji-young a lot nowadays but while watching the drama and it was played like every 15 minutes it was way past annoying. However, I am a huge fan of Big Bang's "Hallelujah" and that's pretty surprising since I'm not a huge fan of Big Bang after all.

In the end one could guess that I really liked this drama. Well, I did like it - but sometimes the balance between the love story and the actual political and economic issues is kind of.. weird. The political aspects are complicated enough. And I admit that those love story scenes were really boring compared to the rest so I started to skip it bit by bit. That actually influences the rating a lot. So my personal rating is 6/10.

You're Beautiful

미남이시네요 (You're Beautiful) is another Korean drama that aired in 2009, to be exact from October 7th to November 26th on SBS. Unlike Boys Over Flowers this one wasn't a remake but later, in 2011, a Japanese remake called Ikemen desu ne (美男ですね) was produced. In 2013 a Taiwanese remake followed.
I know that many, and I mean many, people loved this drama a lot. So actually I thought "Well, it has to be good". Obviously my expectations were too high and I've seriously thought about dropping this one a few times. To be honest I can't really explain why, but maybe after writing the full review I can understand myself what made me feel that bored.

Story: I've mentioned before that gender-bend stories aren't that uncommon and maybe this time I thought it was kind of boring because I've finished another drama with that characteristic not too long ago.
Basically a girl, Go Mi-nyeo, has to replace her brother, Go Mi-nam, in a band, A.N.JELL. Since they're twins it's possible but Mi-nyeo isn't a huge fan of the idea. Later she agrees anyways because that'd be an option to find their mother. Once again there's this bad and moody male lead, Hwang Tae-kyung, a nice supportive character, Kang Shin-woo, and the bright and cheerful Jeremy. As the story evolves Hwang Tae-kyung becomes attracted to Mi-nyeo but wouldn't admit it. At the same time Mi-nyeo likes Tae-kyung. Oh, and then there's Shin-woo who likes Mi-nyeo but unfortunately is stuck in the role of the second male lead and - therefore - the friendzone. Like you might notice there are many typical elements again.
While watching a lot of problems occur but what I really didn't understand: Though they're twins actually Mi-nyeo and Mi-nam would've different voices, especially because they're fraternal twins (Obviously, otherwise they'd have the same gender). Actually the fact that they have to be fraternal twins means as well that they would not look exactly the same. F**k logic? Yeah, true, one can be like this, sometimes it works for me as well but since I'm pretty much into voices I actually thought about that difference at first.

Cast: The cast consists of quite popular actors or singers, depending on whom we're talking about. First there's Jang Geun-suk who acted as the male lead Hwang Tae-kyung. Though I'm not a huge fan of his, mainly because of the characters he's playing, I think he did a good job in here. As the female lead we have Park Shin-hye as Go Mi-nyeo. No, I don't hate her, let me clear this up first but I think her acting is incredibly boring. Same expression all the time and she always gets those clumsy, helpless, "damsel in distress"-characters which I happen to dislike. It's not her fault, I know, but this is also just based on my personal opinion.
The other two band members are played by actual singers. Jung Yong-hwa as Kang Shin-woo and Lee Hong-ki as Jeremy. I was actually cheering for Shin-woo a lot, I would've hoped for a better ending for him but after all - you might know what happens to second male leads and if you don't you'll find out soon enough. Jeremy is less serious and an incredibly playful character which made it a lot of fun to watch him but sometimes he reminded me of a monkey (don't ask me why, I don't know myself and am laughing about it).

Soundtrack: Well, the soundtrack included tracks by all those named above. I only think it's quite sad Jung Yong-hwa didn't have any solo track while Park Shin-hye had two, Lee Hong-ki as well I think, and Jang Geun-suk had like three or something. To be honest I don't remember any song clearly and that is what I think is quite surprising since I'm a huge music lover. I only remember that Miss $ made a song called "하늘에서 내려와 (Descend from the Sky)" with Oh Won-bin and since it was performed by Miss $ it has to be good.


So, I was really wondering about how I should rate this since it has been one of the most popular dramas and maybe it was partly my fault to watch similar dramas like To The Beautiful You and Boys Over Flowers before but I think there might also be some things about the cast, the typical story and the soundtrack that just I simply can't remember.
I think 4/10 is still a nice rating compared to what I've just talked about. Though compared to most dramas that get quite good ratings it's actually not that good.

Boys Over Flowers

꽃보다 남자 (Boys Over Flowers or Boys Before Flowers) is the Korean remake of the Japanese dram Hana yori dango (花より男子) that aired originally in 2005 and 2007 in Japan. The Korean remake first aired from  January 5th to March 31st 2009 on KBS.
As far as I remember it's one of the most famous Korean dramas internationally and I think I haven't met anyone who didn't watch it.


Story: Oh, if you hear about the story now - believe me, it'll seem quite familiar to you. Why? Uhm, well, that's simple. In short a poor girl, Geum Jan-di, is delivering dry cleaning for her parents shop. One day she saves a student of the prestigious Shin Hwa High and gets a scholarship because of being good at swimming. Being the poor girl surrounded by rich students she has to deal with some issues. Soon she gets terrorized by the leader of the F4, Gu Jun-pyo. He and his friends are the most popular and richest boys in school. While bullying her Jun-pyo begins to realize he's attracted to Jan-di, but Jan-di has a crush on his best friend, Yoon Ji-hoo. And so the drama starts.
If you're looking for THE typical K-Drama - well, congrats, you've found it, though it's actually based on a manga and the Japanese series. Don't believe me? Well, look at this:

Please pay attention to.. well, almost all of those points explained on there. You'll understand when you've finished this drama.
Don't get me wrong, talking about Boys Over Flowers as THE typical K-Drama makes it sound worse I think. Because actually I really adored this one. I remember I had trouble with the first episode and had to wait a few.. well, weeks, until I started the second. But after watching the second episode I've finished the drama in around three days (which is a lot considering I've watched 23 episodes in three days, makes about 8 episodes per day.. now you can guess what else I did during that time except for sleeping and eating and watching this drama).
I admit there are a lot and I mean a whole freaking lot of misunderstandings and after some time you might feel like it's just a strategy so they can produce more episodes and therefore make more money - which might be true up to some point - but everything actually makes sense.

Cast: When I started watching this I didn't really care about actors at all. Sure I knew that Kim Hyun-joong as Yoon Ji-hoo was in it but that was basically everything. Oh, and I've heard about Lee Min-ho who took the role of the male lead Gu Jun-pyo here before but couldn't really connect him to any popular drama. However, this drama was the first one I've watched with Kim Bum who's my absolute favorite actor. As So Yi-jung his smile made my heart melt like.. icecream. This sounds weird but it IS actually really weird (and I'm embarrassed to admit that I was really squealing like a 12-year-old back then). Anyways, the last member of the F4 missing on here is Song Woo-bin played by Kim Joon. Sadly I couldn't find that much info on Kim Joon, the last thing I've heard was that he went to the army after his group T-MAX disbanded (they were good, I remember I've downloaded some songs).
Well, after mentioning all of the F4 now we can't leave out our Geum Jan-di played by Koo Hye-sun. I admit I've also become a fan of hers, I like those princesses who can protect themselves. Don't get what I mean? Watch the first few episodes of this drama and you'll understand that.
The last one I'll name on here would be Kim So-eun who took the role of Jan-di's best friend Chu Ga-eul.

Soundtrack: Well, the soundtrack.. While I sincerely loves some songs like Lee Jung-sik's Saxophone instrumental "I Know" and Kim Bum's "지금 만나러 갑니다 (I'm Going To Meet You Now)" there were some songs that seriously pissed me off after hearing them about 15 times per day just like T-Max's "Paradise" which is the title song. Listening to it now it's actually a good and cheerful song but used way too often. And that's weird because the actual soundtrack consists of two CDs with a total of 26 songs PLUS there's an F4 Special Edition which includes 10 tracks as well. Why did they have to overuse one song that much? I really don't know and I'm not sure if I'll ever find out.


So in total I gave 9/10. Like, come on, I've already told you how fast I've finished that. If that doesn't qualify as being addicted to a drama then.. I don't even know.

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:

Shut Up: Flower Boy Band

닥치고 꽃미남밴드 (Shut Up: Flower Boy Band) is the second part of tvN's "Flower Boy" series and aired from January 30th to March 20th 2012.
Now you can make a guess why I wanted to watch this so bad. Is it about L? Hm, probably but also because I love everything connected to music. And since this one involves music I sincerely loved it!

Story: The whole story evolves around the members of a band called "Eye Candy". When their school gets closed they have to transfer to another school, Jungsang High. After a confrontation with the leading band of Jungsang High, Strawberry Fields, they decide to continue going to highschool.

Cast: The main cast includes Sung Joon as Kwon Ji-Hyuk who becomes the male lead after a tragic incident, Kim Myung-soo (L) as Lee Hyun-soo (excuse me, I was dying from time to time because of that smile), Lee Min-ki as Joo Byung-hee, Lee Hyun-jae as Jang Do-il, Yoo Min-kyu as Kim Ha-Jin, Kim Min-suk as Seo Kyung-jong and Jo Bo-ah as Im Soo-ah.
I can't remember disliking any acting though it has been a while since I've watched it. Though some characteristics might seem quite faked.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was one of the best soundtracks ever. Sung Joon's "무단횡단 (Jaywalking)", "Wake Up", "오늘은 (Today)" and "몰라야 할 말 (Words You Shouldn't Know)" are all quite good songs. "Love U Like U" sung by Kim Ye-rim and Kim Myung-soo is an awesome duet track included in the soundtrack as well.


After all this was a quite good drama I enjoyed a lot but it was somehow confusing after the first few episodes but once I understood what actually happened it was easy to follow. 8.5/10 would be my rating. And I think once I've watched all dramas on my list (which will probably never happen, Korea, y u produce so many awesome dramas?) I would definitely watch this again and again and again.

To The Beautiful You

아름다운 그대에게 (To The Beautiful You) was the first Korean drama I've watched and basically the only drama I've watched online while it was aired. 
Why did I watch that? Oh, well, that's a good question. I've been into K-Pop before, SHINee were the first K-Pop group I've known and after I started studying Korean I thought it might be helpful to hear the language more regularly through - right, dramas. Also, one of my friends loved Hanazakari no kimitachi he (花ざかりの君たちへ), the Japanese version of this drama, a lot.
I've finished this drama in October 2012 after it aired from August 15th to October 4th 2012.

Story: The story is about a girl dressing up as a boy to be close to her 'idol', who, in this case, is a competitor in a high jump competition. While she's living in an all-boy-school and dormitory a lot of trouble is caused because she's hiding her real gender.
Those gender bend stories are old? Yes, absolutely. I don't even know how many dramas exist with girls acting as boys and falling for the male lead. But to be honest this one is not as boring as one might expect but this might be just me because I didn't watch any dramas before and because I didn't watch the Japanese version either.

Cast: The cast is quite awesome for K-Pop fans. Choi Min-ho as Kang Taejoon was the reason why I wanted to watch this drama and I think he did a quite good job. Sulli of f(x) took the role of the female lead Goo Jae-hee/Jay Dawson and I also liked her quite a lot. Lee Hyun-woo was really adorable as Cha Eun-gyeol, the second male lead, and I enjoyed his acting. The cast also includes:
Seo Jun-young as Ha Seung-ri 
Hwang Kwang-hee (ZE:A) as Song Jong-nim
Kang Ha-neul as Min Hyeon-jae
Yoo Min-kyu as Jo Young-man
Kim I-an as Na Cheol-soo
Ki Tae-young as Jang Min-woo
Kang Kyung-joon as Byeon Gwang-min
Kim Ji-won as Seol Han-na
And let me take a minute to mention the dog called Sangchu. It's a fluffy white dog, I love it. >3<

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is filled with songs by SM Entertainment artists. Though I'm not a huge fan of SM Entertainment I admit that their artists are good at singing. I enjoyed the soundtrack as a whole. J-Min's song "일어나 (Stand Up)", the title track was my personal favorite.


After all this drama was alright. My rating would be 6/10, it's not that high, I know, but maybe because I've watched a lot of dramas later I've corrected the rating a few times.

 

Intro

This blog suddenly appeared on the internet because I was bored - yes, a university student might end up completely bored.
You can read a lot about me in the 'About' section, so no need to explain who I am and how much I love my so-called "homework" - watching Korean dramas.

I mostly watch pretty new dramas, usually from 2008/2009 or newer but there are a few dramas from 2004 I want to watch. And one from 2002.
Why did I call this blog kjcdrama.blogspot.com? Because I watch every type of Asian dramas but I can actually talk about doing my homework for only Korean and Japanese. And since I'm most actively following the Korean media there'll be more posts about Korean than Japanese or Chinese dramas on here but I think it'll be alright.
Ah, there'll also be some movies. And I did watch some of those Boys Love movies years ago. Yes, I will review them. You don't need to watch them anyways and if you're not interested in that kind of movie at all, fine - but I'll post the reviews anyways.

All of the ratings for those drama series are based on my opinion - and only my opinion. Nothing you can do about it. The system goes from 0 to 10 with 10 being the best rating possible. Since I don't drop dramas it might be that someday some drama will manage to get a 0 but I don't think I've rated everything with less than 4 until now.

About my watching habits? I watch almost everything but refuse really long dramas with about 100+ episodes. Unless there's a really goodlooking and talented reason.
My favorite genres actually are crime and action but I also watch a whole lot of romance dramas. So you'll probably find everything on here.

Cheers to everyone who stumbled upon this blog.