Be Arrogant

도도하라 (Be Arrogant, Be Proud) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS Plus from October 27th to November 24th 2014.

Story: Hong Ha-ra is a bright, energetic and sweet girl working as a tour guide for Chinese tourists who happens to send her boyfriend 5000$ one day. After that he disappears and took all her deposit money. One day she has to move out of her room but doesn't have anywhere to go. The only place she can think of is the house of her boyfriend's sister Do Ra-hee. It turns out that her boyfriend Noh Cheol has been in a relationship with the woman he always called his sister for more than 6 years but she doesn't know where he currently is either. To make money the two women start an online business called Dodohara. When Cheol appears again the three of them live together in the house and get into a complicated relationship based on friendship and love.

Cast: Okay, so at least there are some familiar faces in this drama, let me be happy about this! At first there is Shin So-yul as Do Ra-hee. I honestly enjoyed seeing her in this role, the hot temper was great with her acting and I really liked it how she was not the typical female character in a drama.
On another corner of this love triangle we have Kim Ah-young better known as Yura of Girls Day. I think she did well in the cheerful part but also managed to show the more serious emotions and the temper she developed living with Ra-hee and Cheol.
Yoo Min-kyu as Noh Cheol was another familiar face in this drama. I personally think the flower boy role suits him but something about his character and his indecisive acting didn't really click for me. Maybe it was the way his character was written between those two women but it might have also been his acting.
Go Se-won as himself was the only actor in the cast that appeared frequently that I was not familiar with. I think his acting seemed a little bit less expressive than I would've expected in some parts of this drama and maybe that is his style of acting I didn't quite enjoy in this drama.

Soundtrack: I don't know much about the OST (again) but then again I'm pretty sure it wasn't bad or I would remember that part at least. It's just nothing I would listen to outside of the drama either so somewhere around average.


After all I rated this drama as a 7.5/10. I didn't have high expectations to be honest and that made this drama probably better than it actually was. Such a short drama with 10 episodes and 20 minutes per episode doesn't leave much space for character development but the humor and the way the characters dealt with problems was interesting.
It delivered a solid story line and three entirely different characters who somehow ended up living together and have to sort out their personal lives while earning money. It might not be the best drama ever but if you have some spare time and are looking for something short to watch this drama is not the worst choice.

One Night Only

!Warning! This is a Boys Love movie - don't like it? Then ignore it.

원나잇온리 (One Night Only) is a Korean movie that was released in 2014. It consists of chapters, each about 30 minutes long, and therefore gives a hint on the lives of a few young man.

Story: The first story is called "Night Bug". Han-jae organizes meetings in a bar in Jongno for gay men with a group of others where they get drunk. He and his 'business partner' then take their money. Not long ago he met Hoon who became his bait. With Hoon longing for his love it's easy for Han-jae to control him - but maybe also to lose him.
The second story, One Night, deals with the hopes of three students from the a Southern province who want to go to Seoul to be able to date properly, at least compared to the rather small town they're living in. One day, Geun-ho almost gets into a car accident but a man, Joon, saves him. Later that day they meet in a small gay bar again and Joon takes Geun-ho to Seoul the next day. But isn't it naive to trust someone you barely know and leave with him?

Cast: The cast of this movie consists of, as far as I know, rather unknown actors, most of them acted in a few movies but only as supporting characters.
In the first part we have Jang Yoo-sang as Choi Hoon and Park Geun-rok as Han-jae. While I did like their acting Han-jae as a character seemed too cold and only opened up in the end when you feel like it's too late.
The second part evolves aroung Geun-ho played by Yoo Min-kyu and his friends Yong-woo played by Jo Bok-rae and Sang-soo played by Kim Dae-joon. And the characters have been too sassy from time to time! WHY? I actually did like the story. But come on, gay men aren't like that. At least not the majority. That's why I actually liked the sometimes really shy but cute Geun-ho, and of course Jeong Won-jo as Joon. They're acting felt much better and the behavior of the characters seemed way more natural.


Why did I rate this movie with 7/10? Well, it's worth a watch but I kept wondering why they just put both parts in one movie. Of course it's not helpful that the audience is only introduced to the characters for one night.
But we would need to analyze the reason why this movie was made at first - to show how gay men live in Korea? Simply to talk about a topic that was and still somewhat is a taboo? Some more plot or even info on why exactly they put to completely different stories together would've been nice since it didn't feel like a clear cut to me.

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...