Jiu

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

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

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

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


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

The Master's Sun

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

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

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

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

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

ended up like THIS

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

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.