Boys Love 2 - Schoolboy Crush

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

BOYS LOVE 劇場版 (Boys Love, the Movie; later retitled as Schoolboy Crush) was created after the success of the first Boys Love movie. It was released in 2007.
However, except for sharing the title both movies are different, therefore you don't need to watch one part to understand the other.

Story: Kairo Aoi is a teacher at a prestigious all boys school. After he gets dumped by his ex-girlfriend he spends some time with Sora Amakami, a young man who's selling his body. Soon after that, the two of them meet again - Sora transfers into his class so Kairo has to deal with the possibility of being caught having a personal relationship with a student.
Sora's roommate, Ichiyou Mizuki, is one of the best students and falls for Sora. But Riku Hanazono, whose relationship with Ichiyou is complicated, ends up being jealous of Sora.

Cast: There is indeed something - or rather someone - connected to the first movie in this one. Once again Yoshikazu Kotani can be seen as one of the lead characters, Kairo Aoi. Comparing this one to the first part, he seems to be more comfortable though his character still shows some strange behaviors - but that's okay since his character finds himself endangered. The other male lead character, Sora Amakami, is played by Atsumi Kanno - and he is self-confident in this role. Sure it's about the confident character but he definitely knows how to leave a good impression in this movie.
Other than that we have Yuuki Kawakubo as Ichiyou Mizuki and Kazunori Tani as Riku Hanazono. While the relationship between their characters seems to be a mess at first and Riku definitely isn't a charming character, there was something about their acting that captured my attention.
After all I'd say the acting in this one seems a lot better and more natural than in the first movie though sure there are some exaggerations.


Personally, I gave this movie a rating of 8.5/10 because actually I think the taboo of a teacher-student-relationship is something really interesting. It even inspired me to write some stories but then again I admit that it's not a really unique story. However, watching the movie again after four to five years definitely won't influence my rating for the worse - I actually gave an even better rating nowadays than I did earlier. Some parts made me laugh, others were really sad, but this moving definitely has a story deeper than the first one.

Vampire Prosecutor (Season 2)

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Vampire Prosecutor (Season 1)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boys Love

!Warning! This is a Boys Love movie (which is actually quite obvious in this case)! Don't like the genre? Then just ignore it.

ボーイズ ラブ (Boys Love) is a Japanese movie that was released in 2006.

Story: The story starts of with Taishin Mamiya interviewing model and artist Noeru Kisaragi. They soon fall in love with each other and Taishin finds out about the reasons why Noeru meets up with various men for sex.
Soon they get along and they could be rather happy if it wasn't for Chidori Furumura, Noeru's childhood friend who has a crush on him. This love develops into an obsession that becomes a huge problem for Taishin and Noeru.

Cast: Yoshikazu Kotani accepted the role as Taishin Mamiya. I don't really know what to tell about him. I think his acting in this movie wasn't too bad but sometimes a little overdone and still not completely perfect. As Noeru Kisaragi we see Takumi Saito. To be honest I didn't really understand his character and that one scene when he was crying was just.. meh. That actually goes for both actors but then again I wonder whether they couldn't do better (which I highly doubt) or whether it was about the director pretty much wanting them to do it like this. The last one is Hiroya Matsumoto as Chidori Furumura. To be honest I came to dislike his character but his acting was definitely better than what we've seen from the lead characters. The insane and obsessed friendzoned guy seemed a little bit.. too crazy from time to time but then again that is definitely my opinion and it was easy to believe in his acting.


Though this was one of the movies I've actually liked a lot about five years ago, accept for the ending, my rating today is 6/10. The story actually is good - just a little bit overdone here and there, the ending wouldn't have to be that way. Plus, what actually makes me furious is the fact that it seems too rushed, way too fast. There are so many things that happen within the last five minutes. And then I start to question logic. Usually, when anything like that happens, you'd go to the hospital. But of course a promise is way more important than at least trying to save a life.. That logic.
The cast isn't perfect but then again as someone interested in Japanese culture and society I don't blame the actors, I just wonder if they were uncomfortable because of how Japan deals with homosexuality.
I honestly also think that the usage of quotes is a good idea but then again I feel like they've been using too many quotes in some scenes. Three quotes whithin five minutes? Is that even necessary? But it's fine, it's at least something I haven't seen that often.

Lie to Me

내게 거짓말을 해봐 (Lie to Me) is a Korean drama series that aired from May 9th to June 28th 2011 on SBS.

Story: Gong Ah-jung is a woman in her late 20's. Her best friend stole her first love, and when she meets her best friend and her first love who got married one day, she tells the lie that she got married before as well. Without mentioning whom she got married to, the small lie develops into a big issue and rumors are spread of a civil service officer being married to World Hotel's president Hyun Ki-joon. In order to avoid the truth being exposed, the two of them come to an agreement. Signing a contract, the two of them are married for a certain time to protect Ah-jung's pride and to help Ki-joon to sign with Chinese investors. As if it'd be as easy as it sounds.. Yoon-joo, Ki-joon's ex-fiancee appears, and also his younger brother comes back and so the chaos evolves.

Cast: The two main characters Gong Ah-jung and Hyun Ki-joon are played by Yoon Eun-hye and Kang Ji-hwan. Those two actors have a great chemistry and I really hope I'll see them once again in a drama that might be a little better to show off their great chemistry and abilities. Sung Joon appears as the second male lead character Hyun Sang-hee, Ki-joon's younger brother. While I totally fell for his character in the first few episodes, it seems as if the writer's simply forgot about him later and his acting seemed a little bit.. forced? The same issue appears when it comes to Oh Yoon-joo played by Jo Yoon-hee. Probably the last two characters I'd count to the main characters are Chun Jae-beom played by Ryu Seung-soo and Hong Soo-hyun as Yoo So-ran. To be completely honest those two seemed to be way more important characters than Sang-hee and Yoon-joo somehow, and I admit that I loved to hate So-ran but I seriously don't get who thought about the sudden change of her character.. what in the actual world happened?! Oh, right, the write changed after episode 10 I think..

Soundtrack: The OST is one of the better parts of this drama for me. I'll tell you more about what I personally think about this drama later but M to M's "안녕 정말 안녕 (Goodbye, Really Goodbye)" is pretty much awesome, beautiful and definitely not overused. Probably one of the best drama OST song's I've ever listened to. Comparing it to other ballad songs used in different dramas I definitely fell for this one. I also really liked Kim Hyung-joon "이 밤이 지나가면 (Midnight Passes)". Except for a few really adorable things about the theme song by Yoon Eun-hye and Kang Ji-hwan themselves called "Lovin' Ice Cream" (who in the world thought about that title? geez) and the OST itself I personally feel like the ballad songs were definitely the better choices in this drama.


Conclusion? If someone dares to mention "Lie to Me" around me it's the best to hide because my only reaction by now is:
YES! I'VE MADE IT! HA! I'VE FINISHED THIS DRAMA AS WELL.

Honestly, I've never dropped a drama I've started - not even You're Beautiful which has a really critical review and the lowest rating I've ever given a series - but I was so close to just stop watching this.
I readily admit that this drama has it's up's and down's - and I admit that the kiss scenes are pretty much awesome (I would've loved to add a gif of one of those scenes but such a spoiler would be unfair). What is sad, is that the down's appear about 100 times more often than the up's.
In fact I feel like I would have to rate two parts of the drama. I remember until episode 8 everything was fine. Episodes 9 and 10 were okay. But following episode 10 I found myself thinking "Why am I even doing this to me?.."
The first part definitely deserves a rating about 7.5 or 8/10 because it's cute and funny, a typical romance-comedy serie, nothing special in the plot but at least entertaining.
The second part therefore would get a rating of 1/10 maximum just because there are some cute things about it - but the characters completely change, the story loses it's natural and adorable flow.
Just look at this.. ew. Ah-jung was so strong before and then suddenly people ask her what's wrong and that's her answer? Ew, ew and ew.

As for the rating, the average of those makes 4.5/10. The last episodes ruined that drama for me, I just didn't want to watch it but I kept telling myself that it might get better. In the end. And well, at least the scenery was beautiful from time to time, so there were actually interesting things to look at.

At least it is not completely bad - it also might appeal to those who are new to K-Drama - but I refuse to even consider watching this again. Yes, some scenes, maybe in youtube compilations. That's all.

Anyway, this is just my opinion. Maybe I've finished too many K-Drama's before and couldn't deal with this because it's so much of a typical K-Drama (look at the entries about 'tropes' I've written earlier - everything is included in this one) but also be reading other reviews I've seen some mixed opinions. People either love it or they hate it. Easy as that. I belong to the latter category.

And this picture is perfect to show me while watching it..

Dr. Frost

!Warning! This post may contain some ranting, fangirling, spoilers and everything that just comes out from me being in a love-hate relationship with OCN!

닥터 프로스트 (Dr. Frost) is a South Korean television series that aired from November 23rd 2014 to February 1st 2015 on OCN. The series consists of 10 episodes with a duration of about 60 minutes.

Story: Baek Nam-bong became a professor of psychology at an early age. After some traumatic events in the past he lost his emotions and studied psychology in order to get to know himself and other humans better. After being asked to work there he becomes a counselor at Yongang University and works as a bartender at night. Working with Teaching Assistant Yoon Seong-ah, he helps the police to solve cases. While he has problems sympathizing with other, Seong-ah is an emotional person and therefore helps him to connect with others.
While a mysterious case of manipulated memories appears, Dr. Frost and the people around him also find themselves in danger.

Cast: Song Chang-eui took over the role of Dr. Frost. And let me tell you that I had a really interesting time analyzing this character. I'm not a psychologist and far from knowing a lot about the human brain but just by observing we can usually figure out some things. Now, in this drama, the mask was basically perfect. But it's good to see a completely different side of the character in the end.
Jung Eun-chae becomes similar to an interpreter to Dr. Frost as Yoon Seong-ah. Does anyone on here know the US series Scorpion? There's a reason why I mention this on here. The team in that series consists of four geniuses but because of a high IQ, their EQ (emotional quotient) is rather low so they need someone to help them understand the world. While Seong-ah couldn't think this logically without Dr. Frost, he actually needs her to understand emotions. Their relationship doesn't seem like sympathy but because of different characteristics, they're an incredibly good team.
Sung Ji-ru as Detective Nam Tae-bong is their connection to the police. At some point we get to know that he has been working with Dr. Frost before but we don't know when they met and why or how exactly their work started.
Others in the main cast include Lee Yoon-ji as Song Seon, Choi Jung-woo as Professor Cheon Sang-won, Song Jong-ho as Moon Sung-hyun and Lee Shi-kang as Detective Cha.

Soundtrack: How I'd wish I could listen to the OST on CD or anything else.. there are very few songs but just by listening to the instrumentals while watching the drama, I loved how the music supported the atmosphere, be it mysterious or calm. The last two songs that are actually song by female vocalists in the end wouldn't have been necessary at all but since that's pretty much popular in Asia, I'm alright with that - and I can proudly say that there was no song that pissed me off.


My rating is a definite 10/10 and there's no need to discuss that.
But then again I am in love with crime series. If you want to watch this drama, give it a shot but there is no 'real' love story - people just love to interpret some things.
If you enjoy the American series Lie to me (not to be confused with the Korean series that has a completely different story!) and Sherlock Holmes this drama is like perfect for you.

The only thing I need to mention is the end again.. OCN, you seriously want to drive me crazy? It's not like I've been waiting for TEN's 3rd season now for a loooong time already - now you want to drive me nuts while waiting for a 2nd season of Dr. Frost as well?! If they continue like this, my hair will become as white as his just because of frustration..
Oh, mentioning white hair - there are two possibilities. Either I didn't realize the reason why his hair was white even at an early age or they didn't mention that at all. As a naturally curious person I need to figure that out..

Long story short: Great series, many mysteries left, now the long wait for a second season starts - if there'll ever be one. If they don't give me a second season, I might start seriously hating OCN but their OCN Original series are just way too good to be true. I'll just drown in feels and look for the next series to watch so I want fall into the post-drama depression.

Protect Me!-Female-Lead

If there is something I started to dislike about female lead characters in Korean dramas, it's the point that most of them seem to be the kind of girl that desperately needs a man to take care of her.
That doesn't mean they directly ask for the male lead to protect them but just that they seem helpless and somewhat clueless from time to time.

That being said, I like princesses. More specifically I like princesses that outdrink the dragon, beat up the evil witch and don't need to wait for the prince because they're going out to get him.

Once again this is about Korean culture. In almost every country women weren't that emancipated through the centuries. In Korea, the feminist movement started as late as in the 1970's, following the democratic movement. It has only been around 40 years so it is not surprising that we still find the typical gender roles in Korean society.
Do you know what the word "oppa" actually implies? Yes, directly translated it refers to a girl's older brother but is used for older males a girl is close to as well. However, what leads to the use of this term basically is "I'm a helpless and cute girl, oppa, please take care of me". Women are expected to be cute and helpless up to a certain point to make the older males feel like they're needed. (I've got this information from a good friend of mine who's a Korean male - he himself explained the meaning to me like this and said that it's actually not a good implication.)

So analyzing the culture it's not surprising at all. Remember, there were times when we had rarely any sexy girl groups in K-Pop as well. The culture is changing but in dramas the writers seem to simply stick to the classical roles.
There are a few female characters that belong to the type of princess I prefer - just look at Jan Di in Boys Over Flowers. Now that could be me. But they are not as common as the type of female lead mentioned in the head line. Don't believe me? Well, just some examples.