Korean dramas

The time travel one does sound interesting and the other does sound like it could be way more melodramatic that I like,doesn't it?

I took a shot at a couple of the Taiwanese shows, PS Man and Easy Fortune Happy Life (or something like that) and Substitute Princess. In those, I noticed that scenes of illness, death or certain kinds of confrontation go on much much longer than I find comfortable.

Just had a major WTF moment on Drama Fever. Boys Before Flowers 2 with Psy and Dakota Fannning? Bwahahahahah.

There's a second one?

Sure that's not an April Fool's joke?

OH it totally is, but it made me laugh really hard.

Urgh, Boys Over Flower. Hated that show so much.

It does seem to be a "love it or hate it". I watched some of it, but jumped around a lot and didn't finish it.

Of all the things available, nothing is jumping out at me. I've never cared for historical dramas in any culture and that takes a lot off the table. I probably should give them a try.

I tried watching Boys Over Flowers, couldn't stand it, and dropped it almost immediately. Still don't get why it's so popular (other than the Fanservice, that is).

have you tried watching any fusion saeguks? I've never been able finish a pure saeguk but I liked several fusion ones. Something like Queen In-hyun's Man or Arang and the Magistrate or Secret Investigation Record, maybe?

Yeah, the last crop of dramas was pretty lackluster. Hopefully this round will be better. I've heard some very good things about The End of the World, and I'm waiting for Nine to finish airing before checking it out.

edited 6th Apr '13 2:13:59 PM by whimsyful

Can I ask why you disliked BOF? I loved it. I thought it suffered from a few problems — seriously, the entire second season could've been avoided if Jun Pyo and Jan Di just sat down and had a conversation — but it's the one and only Korean drama I've ever seen and I thought it was great. I figured it was just the style. Like they took the amusing misunderstanding that happens in romantic-comedy movies and then dragged it out for twenty-something episodes.

And Jan Di is the cutest girl I've ever seen, no contest. She kept me watching.

edited 7th Apr '13 4:59:45 AM by Guest1001

Hey I saw that Golden Time is out in Crunchyroll now. Here we go, trauma center.

I really liked Golden Time but then I really like Lee Sun Gyun.

I read the recap of the first episode of Gu Family Book on dramabeans and it seems a little violent, I'll wait to see how it progresses.

@Guest1001 I personally dislike the rich-arrogant-jerk-falls-in-love-with-poor-hardworking-girl type of rom-com unless it's done very well, so I didn't like Boys Over Flowers all that much. Part of it was also probably the Hype Backlash.

Gu Family Book looks gorgeous, but I'm really nervous about the writer.

Any particular reason? I looked at their credits and I don't think I've watched any of those titles. Maybe parts of Hotelier if it is about some people who work at a hotel and the former manager was fired and in Las Vegas at the beginning of the show. If it is that one I watched parts of two episodes and called it done. I know that Baker King: Kim Tak Goo won some prizes but it's never appealed to me.

I'm poking at History of a Salaryman. I liked Jung Rye Won in What Planet Are You From and King of Dramas. I always get kind of impatient with shows that have more than 16-18 episodes, unless there are some really compelling secondary plots.

The writer previously did Man of Honor/Glory Jane, which was a mess.

I loved History of a Salaryman! The first half is stronger than the second (I don't think it should have been extended), but it was pretty good overall and definitely one of the more unique kdramas I've seen. Jung Rye Won was great in it — actually the entire cast was very good. I should add a page for it sometimes.

Just watched episode one of History of a Salaryman. So far, this is exactly my cup of tea. All of the conventions of a whodunnit/spy caper tipped over and smeared all over the damn place. I also like odd ball characters and people that aren't conventionally good looking.

I just set up a trope page for When A Man Loves - yes, it's a fairly predictable fanservice show, but after the last couple of serious ones (Gaksital and King 2 Hearts), I'm ready for fluff and a Shirtless Scene or two. I'm also watching Gu Family Book, but it hasn't hooked me yet.

edited 24th Apr '13 9:40:10 AM by Shukmeister

I saw the first two episodes of the silliest drama ever, Nail Shop Paris. OK maybe not the silliest, but it's pretty silly.

Three flower boys working in a nail art shop. One is the hero, another is broody and the future love triangle contender and the third is a blond happy person that I would call a keet if this were a manga.

The heroine is a writer accused of plagiarism hoping to rescue her reputation by switching her stories from things about gumihos to real people. Like a flower boy who works at a nail art shop who studied Chinese medicine and had an accident and now is a popular nail artist with a fan club, and looky here, the shop is hiring! She cuts her hair and binds her boobs and is off acting like the girliest damn girly girl boy ever.

Oh, and there may or may not be a gumiho.

Yoon Eun Hye from Coffee Prince will always be my favorite cross dresser.

That sounds like it should be part of tvN's Flower Boy series.

I like Park Min Young in Sungkyungkwan Scandal, though I don't think she was all that believable as a man. Then again, the actual guys in that drama were so pretty she fit right in.

After watching the third episode of Nail Shop Paris I am kind of changing my mind. There is definitely a supernatural element to the story telling. It looks like each episode has a mystery that is resolved but there are some continuing mysteries about the characters and the shop itself. The show is only ten episodes long.

I still find the nail art shop part a little silly.

So after a while I got back to Golden Time. It has some of the best wham moments I've seen. Like at the end of episode 6.

Finishes rewatching last 10 minutes of episode 6. Holy shit, I forgot about that.

Definitely a wham.

Watched the first episode of Cyrano Dating Agency. It looks cute.

I had been watching the Taiwanese drama Substitute Princess and stopped at about episode 12. It was supposed to have twenty episodes, but they added a 21st at the last minute. Wow. Fans get upset. They also really like their ships.

Caught a few eps of Cyrano's Dating Agency and found it nice and light and fluffy. Also saw the first two eps of I Hear Your Voice and really liked it — hopefully it'll stay strong. Am planning to watch Shark and Cruel City for my revenge and noir fix once I have more time.

Started A Gentleman's Dignity and it really makes me laugh.

I'm beginning to think that A Gentleman's Dignity may be one of my favorite dramas ever.

The characters are likable and flawed. Always good.

The story doesn't meander around itself too much. Also good.

I think that the May/October romance between Ma Ri and Yoon is believable although she cries way too much and I kinda wish they would stop treating her like a kid.

And one of my all time favorite exchanges is from this show:

Did you find out what happened?

Yes, and I was charming.

Is funny as all hell.