Honey and Clover

I never finished this and I don't think I will ever try to. I love two guys in the cast. I was really surprised when I realised it was the two of them! The reason why I watched this because I've always thought Honey and Clover was a popular manga/anime because I've always known the title but had no idea what it was about. I'm into episode 5, and I still have no idea what it is about.

Sypnosis(from dramawiki)
Honey and Clover follows the lives of five college students and their love triangles.


sami's note: zzzzzzzzzzzz. shortest sypnosis ever.



Cast
Ikuta Toma (Hana Kimi 2nd male lead)
*Mukai Osamu (Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Atashinchi no Danshi)
*Narimiya Hiroki (Bloody Monday, Innocent Love)
Narumi Riko (One Litre of Tears- younger sister)

Ratings: 2/10. It was really quite bad. I forced myself to watch till episode 5 because of the two guys.

i just found out there was a taiwanese version. just what is nice about the story?

You Are Beautiful

The last episode ended in Korea last Thursday. How depressing, now, i feel empty. The reason why I stopped my drama marathons because I want to dedicate my heart and mind to You're Beautiful.

It's the best kdrama I've seen over the years, even exceeding Boys Over Flowers and Shining Inheritance.

Even though its an Idol drama and might sound really cliche, it was a really light-hearted comedy romance series done by the Hong Sisters (my girl, fantasy couple, etc)

Usually I wouldn't complain if there're 16 episodes, my ideal drama is short and sweet, but for this, I cant help but wish it was much longer. However, because IRIS was their competition, the highest ratings that You're beautiful in Korea ever hit was 11%. I'm going to start IRIS after this because of TABI.

Main reason for watching: LEE HONGKI and JANG GEUN SUK
But I grew to love Jung Yonghwa after this show. The lead singer of CN Blue who just debuted in Japan. So, this is his first stint at acting and he really was quite impressive. ^ ^


Sypnosis(from Soompi)
A story about the behind-the-scenes life of an idol group. Jang Geun Suk and Lee Hong Ki are in search of a new member for their idol group. However at the last minute, the member suffers an injury and his twin sister has to step in disguised as him.
Park Shin Hye'll play Go Mi Nam (male) & Go Mi Nyu (female), a pair of twins who ends up switching places when Mi Nam gets into an accident after being selected as 1 of the four members of a idol group. Jang Geun Suk plays Hwang Tae Kyung, a village boy turns idol star who is constantly at odds with Mi Nyu. Lee Hong Gi plays Kang On Yu who is the lead singer of the group. Filming'll start after the final member of the group is found. In the SBS drama 'You are beautiful', Uee is playing the role of "Yoo He Yi", the 'national younger sister' who has the nation's love since she was young and worked hard to become a top star


The cast for this drama was perfect!
Park Shinhye- (Goong S, Stairway to heaven)
Jang Geun Suk- (Baby and I, Hong Gil Dong, Beethoven Virus)
Lee Hongki - ( FT Island's lead singer, also child actor)
UEE- (After School singer)
Jung Yong Hwa- ( CN Blue's lead singer)

UEE: I was really impressed by UEE's acting. Even now, I still can't shake off her evil image, you want to hate her, but then you couldn't really bear to.

Lee HongKi: His acting never disappoint me. I did have high expectations for him and he really shined despite the insignificance of his role. You'll definately fall for his cuteness and can't help to cry with him when he starts crying. I cried when he started singing a happy song in tears, while confessing his love.

Jung Yong Hwa: think Ji-hoo sunbae's (BOF- Kim Hyun Joong) role. the perfect guy whom you can never hate.

Jang Geun Suk: What more can I say about him, without him, there wouldn't be You're beautiful. There's too much about him to be mentioned. A really queer character who is night blinded, a clean freak who would die after eating sesame, shrimp.

Park Shin Hye: I can't say I'm a fan of her, because I'm so jealous of her. HAHAHHA ok, i've definately got to give credit for her acting too.


Ratings: 100/100. if you liked Boys over Flowers, trust me, this is 10 X better.

Take care of the Lady

Take care of the lady, lady castle, my fair lady, take care of agasshi. There are so many title for this drama that I'm so confused. Just like the many confusing titles, the drama is confusing and irritating. Which leads me to a question, why are kdramas so terrible now? I had not found one that is even close to Shining Inheritance.

Since this is Yoon Eun Hye's first drama in years. And I've liked her previous dramas alot, I perceived that this would definately be a good drama. GAH i was wrong! The greatest thing that kept me going on was the clothes she was wearing. Just like in Goong, the clothes she wears are too darn chic and unique and not to mention that they're all designer wear.

The main male lead was a pain in the ass. I did not feel for their romance and infact, i fastforwarded ALL of their scenes together. which defeated the purpose of watching the drama. Here's another butler story.... why are there so many ladies falling for their butlers stories!? it's too unrealistic and it definately low chance that it would happen in real life. The main reason why I detest him was because of one of his drama I watched years back- Exhibition of fireworks. Though it had been years, I still remember him as a jerk.

Ratings: 4/10. Sucky beginning all the way to the end.

Orthros no Inu

Another Ryo's drama. Whenever I started watching a Ryo drama because of Ryo, at some point of time I would like another male character. The only time which I solely focused on Ryo was One litre of tears, after that another male character would steal my attention.

If you were to read the storyline of Orthos no Inu, you'd definately be interested.

Sypnosis
Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses a “God Hand”, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient, is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the “Demon’s Hand”, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the demon meets the God, a fatal battle begins…
Detective Hasebe Nagisa gets caught by the criminals during a deep cover operation. Ryosuke, a man she does not even know comes to save her and she witnesses his “Demon’s Hand” in action. Thereafter she discovers by coincidence the existence of Shinji’s “God Hand” and brings the two together. Little did she know that this would cause great disorder to the world and even to her own life…


God's hand and the Demon's hand. Takizawa Hideki is hot! i know he's a johnny boy, but who cares. The first couple of episodes were captivating and mysterious. However, the downfall came when it became really repetitive.

Ratings: 6/10

L: Change the World

I'm sure almost anyone would have heard of L from Death Note. Now death note was quite a good show, but L the movie was completely filmed just to ride on the popularity and the huge hit of the amazing guy, L. The storyline was absolutely disappointing, why, because besides the story not coming from the manga, the whole movie was utterly boring.

Yea, like I mentioned how Singapore always have rubbish movies in the theatres, this is another perfect example. WHY would they want people to pay to watch this trash instead of other good shows? Which is one of the reason why I seldom watch asian films in the theatres.

I know I sound harsh, but I'm sure any death note manga fans would be mad at the storyline. 1 episode of Bloody Monday is 10 times more exciting than this 1 hr + movie. However, I can't blame Kennichi Matsuyama because he was still excellent and brillant as L.

Ratings: 3/10. Media's too hyped up over this rubbish movie.

Handsome Suit

This movie was in the theatres in Singapore but I missed it. Heard several reviews that the movie was hillarious. Sometimes I wonder why aren't the good shows shown in the theatres. Handsome suit wasn't THAT nice and THAT funny as many people think just because it was promoted in Singapore.

The story line was once again VERY predictable and it wasn't even funny enough to be a comedy. Ugly guy puts on a 'special' suit and transforms to be a very handsome man. The 'handsome' dude was the homo weird doctor in Love Shuffle, maybe that was one of the reason why I did not enjoy it.

There was nothing special in the cast except Yusuke had a minor role but he wasn't impressive.

Ratings: 6/10. forgettable and very predictable.

Buzzer Beat

Just finished Buzzer Beat a few minutes ago. Finally I'm over and done with it! Not that it's a bad drama, it's just that I shouldn't have started watching it before it finishes airing in Japan. A drama is best watched when I could go on for more than 5 episodes in one go.

Back to Buzzer Beat, because it's a Yamapi drama, it's a predictable, weak story-lined idol drama. His acting skills did not shine here, i loved him best when he was akira in Nobuta wo Produce and hope he would act crazy instead of trying to be cool in ALL his recent works.

Coach-sama is HOT! Another plus point is the romance in the drama got me tingly, which I haven't felt so in a long time. Good kissing scenes was another major plus point since we RARELY get romantic kisses in jap dramas. sigh, even rare in kdramas too.

But please don't make yamapi wear purple ever again. I know it's the colour of his bball team but the PD really overdid it.

Ratings: I'm going to give a high one for the romance. 7/10. typical and pi wears TOO MUCH PURPLE IS ANNOYING!

Speedy Scandal

Any show by Cha Tae Hyun is excellent. Speedy Scandal is another example. The cast is un-known but with the appearance of Cha Tae Hyun, it became a well known show. The reason why I watched this was because I chanced upon this show in HMV and I knew I couldn't miss this because of Cha Tae Hyun. Almost anyone would have watched his shows before- yes, the main lead in my sassy girl.

Sypnosis
Former teen idol Nam Hyeon-soo (Cha Tae-hyun) is now in his thirties and working as a radio DJ.A young woman named Hwang Jeong-nam (Park Bo-yeong) sent a story to the radio station Hyeon-soo worked at, telling him she is going to meet her father. He finds out that he is the father of Jeong-Nam. Not believing it, he goes through a DNA blood test,and the results say that they're related. Later on he tries not to create a scandal with what's happening to Jeong- Nam and himself.

P.S (Cha Tae Hyun's going to appear in Family Outing as a guest for a second time! He's one of the funniest guest ever and gosh, i can't wait!)

A comedy but I teared alittle = a great show. It's seldom to see me crying these days. But I've got to mention this little boy.
Child actor Hwang Seok-hyeon, face expressions!
http://asiacue.com/persons/Hwang_Seok-Hyeon.html
http://www.hancinema.net/korean_Hwang_Seok-hyeon.php?nopage[8]=1
http://www.hancinema.net/chanmi-s-movie-news-child-actor-hwang-seok-hyeon-face-expressions--17131.html

He is an amazing child actor! by pure coincidence, I was watching My fair lady until ep 5 and this kid had a role as a rich kid, his facial expressions were so hillarious that if he wasn't in the show I would have gave up on My fair Lady. Then in the evening, I caught this movie, where he portrayed a completely different role. Aigoo, he's almost excelling baby moon in my 'adorable kid actor' list.

And, a couple of youtube videos of this kid. You definately do not want to miss this!

on star king with nickkun- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcVU5WhYHiI&fmt=18
cut on speedy scandal- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krkmY6GJP2k&fmt=18
him singing:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtilM4G8jvc&fmt=18

Ratings: 8/10 could be draggy in few parts.

Love shuffle

The only reason which I watched this was because of 'chiaki senpai' from Nodame cantabile. Pretty disapponted again because I love to see him cool and smart, not silly and stupid. The storyline of love shuffle is pretty refreshing, but not very entertaining and disappointing for a Japanese drama with a pretty well-known cast.

Sypnosis from wiki
Usami Kei is a salaryman who has risen in status due to his engagement with Mei, the wealthy daughter of his company's president. Shortly after she breaks off the engagement, a power failure leaves him stuck in the elevator of his apartment building. Trapped with him are three others living on the same floor - Airu, a trilingual interpreter, Ojiro, a model photographer, and Masato, a psychiatrist. While waiting, their conversation hits upon their love lives and the question of whether there is truly only one fated partner for everyone. As a result, they decide to try "shuffling" their relationships with each other.

To summarise it, it's about 4 neighbours who came up with the idea of exchanging partners in their relationships. A pretty stupid idea to be the main basis for a drama because I soon got tired of it.

The only person who caught my eye in this drama was Matsuda Shota, a.k.a. Sojiro in Hana yori dango. Though I didn't quite like him in HYD, he was perfect in Love Shuffle. The badboy with a soft side- totally my kind! Plus, his hair in Love shuffle was much better than his weird hair in HYD.


Ratings: 6/10.

I've been hitting the rough patch of terrible dramas this week. aish.

Koizora [movie] +[drama]

Somehow, before I started out on this show, I've seen the posters and was under the impression that this was quite a 'not-bad' show. Throughly disppointed for both drama and movie. The movie fared fairly better than the drama because I think I caught the movie before the drama. The storyline is exactly the same. Which is why I wonder why they made a drama and a movie with different cast plus it wasn't all that nice to begin with.

Koizora means sky of love, and it's a high school teenage love drama. Two teenagers falls in love, got pregnanted, lost the kid, the guy discovered he's down with a terminal disease, blah blah. The story is very typically korean, but it was so predictable, and the romance portion was lacking.

Here you go, a better summary from wiki
Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..Tahara Mika is an ordinary high school girl. One day, out of the blue, one of her classmates kisses her. His name is Sakurai Hiroki also known as Hiro. Hiro stands out because of his bleached hair and piercing. Apparently he is also dating someone. Mika is shocked and hurt that her first kiss had to happen this way. She desperately tries to forget about it. Then, her friend tells her that she should find somebody else and suggests Tatsuya, another boy in their class. However, before she even realizes it, Mika is already in love..

Anyway, the male lead in the movie was Haruma Miura, the amazing kid from bloody monday.

Ratings: 5/10

Bloody Monday

My luck had been running really well. The past few dramas which I've caught were excellent! Nodame and now Bloody Monday. It's one of the best, if not the best Japanese drama ever. Think along MR BRAIN, but now the police seemed so darn stupid.

The cast seemed rather boring, but now I understand why they did not require a star-studded cast. It is because the storyline is terrific! For 11 episodes, it felt like every episode was an action-packed movie filled with intense suspense and drama. There was absolutely not a single dull moment but really good enough not to give me serious heartattack for each episode.

Bloody monday is damn bloody nice that I'm even downloading the manga now.

To think I was still rather reluctant to start because of the cast, sigh. I did not know what I missed out for that year, deprived of such a good drama.

Sypnosis:
After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday."


Here's the sypnosis, I'm not a fan of these kind of storyline, but the first minute the show started, i was HOOKED.


Ratings: 100/10. YOU JUST ABSOLUTELY CANNOT MISS THIS.

p.s the evil guy is Narimiya Hiroki, who looked so hot that i absolutely could not bring myself to hate him a single ounce.

Nodame Cantabile + Europe special

Just right after I watched Last friends, I watched Nodame Cantabile. Wrong move though, because I would have appreciated Last friends more since majority of the cast appeared in both dramas.

Nodame Cantabile is an excellent, classic show. I'm surprised I did not catch it sooner. I've always known the title of this show, always seen the soundtrack in almost all major music stores. I didn't know it was THAT GOOD. IT'S A BIG SHOW. Like one of the few good Japanese shows to make it to the theatres (SOON!), the SP episode did not disappoint unlike MOST of the SP of other shows.

The lead actress, Ueno Juri is amazingly cute and hillarious. You just could not believe she is the same person in Last Friend where she acted as a Tomboy about to under sexual change. She is the same person in Rainbow song! She's currently on top of my list of favourite actresses. As Nodame, she's so much like me.... in the mess department. My room would probably end up like hers if I don't have a neat-freak sister, still my territory is very very much like Nodame's. Even though I bathe every single day, I hate washing my hair, -so very Nodame. =).... so where's my Chiaki Senpai?


The storyline is very much like Beethoven virus (korean), but obviously Beethoven virus tried to copy Nodame Cantabile but they failed. I couldn't even finish Beethoven virus. I've always thought orchestra music and conducting is extremely boring, but in Nodame Cantabile, the orchestra gave me goosebumps. It is no wonder that why the OST is in major stores.


Ratings: 9.5/10 Hillarious, romantic, extremely exciting.

My School ET

Ever since Family outing, I've always wanted to catch a Kim Sooro film. He's a character whom grew in me so much. He was actually my least favourite family member at the start, but now, without him, the show would seem stale.



Anyway, back to the film. Reasons for catching this: Lee Minho (yes, Goo Jun Pyo) and Kim Sooro.



Lee Minho looked really good. Sometimes I wonder if he did not happen to be Goo Jun Pyo, what would happen to the korean entertainment world. So, this show was several years before Boys over flowers and his acting skills were already polished back then, his role was similar to TOP's role in I AM SAM (which he coincidentally appeared in too)





Not an excellent korean movie, but passable and watchable if you really want to watch Lee Min Ho.



Ratings: 6/10. I almost gave up and fell asleep halfway.

Last Friends

Managed to finish this drama within 2 days. Not because it was a really nice one, but because I was fastforwarding it so much that I finished it in such a short time. A total of 11 episodes, I was actually wishing for more twist and excitement.

Main reason of watching: RYO-chan

Sypnosis for Last Friends from wiki
Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlour assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life.

Yup, it all revolves about domestic violence. I'm currently in the midst of waiting for Orthros no Inu to finish airing and Ryo looked so good in there! Ryo looked good in Last friends, but i ended up hating his character and that is so unhealthy! It totally spoilt his image (for me that is).

Overall, this drama is weird. I think its from the same production as Innocent Love which is why I didn't quite like this.

edit:
I just realised that one of the female lead, Ueno Juri (the boyish girl) is actually the girl from Rainbow song with Hayato Ichihara and I totally loved her in that movie!

Rating: 4/10. no romance. boring plot. violent ryo =(

Detroit Metal City

I enjoyed Detroit Metal City more than I thought I would. The promoting poster looked weird and a little lame but after reading the sypnosis, it seemed interesting.

Sypnosis from wiki
Soichi Negishi is a shy and gentle young man who dreams of a career as a pop musician. Dreams don't pay the bills, so he's ended up as the lead singer and lead guitarist of a death metal band called “Detroit Metal City.” In stage costume he is Johannes Krauser II, rumored to be a terrorist demon from hell. Negishi despises DMC and all that it stands for, but so help him, he's a terrific performer and can't walk away from that. As DMC's star rises Negishi tries to satisfy both worlds, but can't.

Now the main character is L. While watching it, it would be hard to believe that it's actually the same person. Kennichi Matsuyama, ok his name is really long, is actually a really good actor. I was really surprised by him being able to act 2 opposing roles that well.

Just watch this, its hella funny as well.

Ratings: 8/10

NANA 1 & 2

NANA 1

Loved everything about this movie, from the clothes Mika Nakashima wore, the music they played, the cast was pretty awesome too. The guy from L was actually a bassist and he looked really good. Back then, I guess he was still a nobody which was why I think few years after he got popular, he was not in NANA 2. And of course Narmiya Hiroki, the guitarist had a total different image from the one in Innocent Love.

Ratings: 9/10


NANA 2

The change of cast was a total put-off. There weren't much development in the storyline, they managed to get their fame but since there were too much changes in the cast, I kind of hated this.


Ratings: 5/10

Innocent Love

I have absolutely no idea what made me started this drama and what was it that I was able to finish it. This is one of the worst Japanese drama ever.

It should have been Maki Horikita show which made me start to download this series. Thinking that she had ALWAYS acted with cute/hot guys, i presumed that Innocent Love might have a cute guy. Okay, the cute guy existed, but no the main lead.

The only kind of cute guy in this drama was Narimiya Hiroki as Segawa Subaru. And he's gay.. zzzzzz. Nevertheless, he was the main factor that made me started watching NANA. He was amazing in there! (will post NANA in the next post)

The title of the series titled Innocent Love is nowhere near innocent love. Which is why I couldn't quite understand from the start almost to the end.

Sypnosis from dramawiki
An arson took it all away from Akiyama Kanon seven years ago. Her parents died in that fire, her brother was arrested as the prime suspect and her carefree life disappeared from that instant. She was shunned by the town as the sister of a murderer, yet she believes in her brother's innocence and often pays him visits with words of encouragement. As life gets harder when nobody is willing to give her a job, Kanon decides to try her luck in the city and there she meets the man of her destiny...


Ratings: 4/10. waste of time. waste of time. waste of time.

Kami no Shizuku

Kami no Shizuku is all about wine. Nothing else, just wine. Main reason for watching this, KAME. he's gained abit of weight over the years and he looked really good in here!

The cast was pretty unknown. So I'm not going to talk about the cast.

Sypnosis: (credits- wiki)
The story revolves around Kanzuki Shizuku, a young man who was estranged from his father, a world-famous wine critic. When his father passed away, he left behind a wine collection worth a fortune, but in order to inherit it, Shizuku must solve a series of puzzles left by his father to identify 6 wines. His competitor was Tomine Issei, a prominent wine critic, whom his father adopted before his death.

Sounds pretty interesting, but it got really boring after the first two episodes. It's more of like a repetition and it's easy to predict what might happen next.

I'll keep this short because there's really nothing I could talk about. It's all about wine. Okay, there's slight romance but the last part was darn ackward.


Ratings: 5/10 Watch if only you really like Kame.

MR BRAIN

My first drama with Kimura Takuya. I know he's really popular and despite watching so many Japanese drama, this is seriously my first with him.

He's really good looking but he reminds me of Yamapi.

Sypnosis: (credits wiki)
Tsukumo Ryusuke is a quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist working for the National Research Institute of Police Science. Wielding a unique perspective and psychology, Tsukumo tackles the nation's most baffling crimes and scandals, going head-to-head with the most brilliant and twisted criminal minds. But his eccentricities and poor social timing can also aggravate people and circumstances, further complicating matters.

Just think CSI in Japanese form. This show emphasises on the human brain and scientific stuff, so there wasn't a moment of boredom. (I did not fastforward!)

The best part of this drama was the appearance of SOOO MANY GUESTS.
Main cast- Hiro Mizushima

Guests- (I recognised alot of people, but i'll just mention the more popular ones)
Kame from Kat-tun
Gackt
Nakama Yukie (the Gokusen lady)


Once again, Hiro was disappointing. Kame looked abit strange. The guest appearance I was more shocked/pleased was Gackt. I'm not a fan of his music, but i'm still really pleased to see him in there.

Ratings: 9/10. A MUST WATCH.

Shining Inheritance

Lately, all the dramas I've been watching are all Japanese because I think I kind of lost hope in the recent korean dramas. But then, i decided to try Shinining Inheritance because of Han Hye Joo and Lee Seung Gi and mainly because of the high ratings they achieved even though the cast wasn't that well-known.

I'm really glad I started this show. The moment I started, I was stuck on wanting to see the development of Han Hye Joo and Lee Seung gi's characters that I stayed up till 5 in the morning!

Here's the sypnosis: (credits wiki)
Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Despite this, Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to fulfill her dreams. When the CEO of a food company, Jang Sook Ja, suffers amnesia and can't remember who she is Eun Sung takes her in. However, Eun Sung does not know that she is the grandmother of Sun Woo Hwan, the man who she switched bags with at the airport. How will their constant bickering lead them to realize that they care more about each other than they let on?

It may sound really typical and everyone seem to know each other or is connected in some way, but overall it is one of the better dramas (i think i can say it's even better than BOF). Not much surprises and twists, but the romance largely make up for that.
Romance bar: 8/10.

I wasn't expecting much from Lee Seung Gi as he's better known for being a ballad singer with good ballad hits. So I was really pleased to find out that he delivered his role well. As a rich spoilt kid who doesnt have respect for anyone, to someone passionate.

Han Hye Joo, now i'm so jealous of her. WHY DOES SHE GET TO KISS SO MANY CUTE GUYS! Jaejoong, Lee Junki, spring waltz guy, and did she get to kiss Daniel Henney too? Okay, despite all that, you can't really bring yourself to hate her. She's been really hardworking to be appearing in so many dramas, but why isnt't her status increasing?

The really good guy who was always there for her.. Haven't seen him before but he's got really gentle eyes and I'm a little sad because he deserved better.


Ratings: 7.5/10. I was fastforwarding too much from episode 15 onwards. There were too much scheming from the evil people.

Gokusen 2

I started watching this really old drama because I was waiting for the download of my newer dramas to complete and Gokusen2 had been lying around in my HD for the longest time and I wanted to watch the young Jin, Hiro, Kame.

SIGH. about Hiro....... He only spoke a line in the drama and sometimes I can't even see his head but his annoyingly bright green shirt he wears to school everyday.

Still, nothing to worry about, I have Jin and Kame. While watching this, i seriously couldn't decide who i like more. Kame was way too skinny then, Jin looked really good but he didn't shine much like Kame.

I'm sure you know how popular this show is. There are 3 seasons and now there's a movie coming out. wait, i think it's out already. But still, it was like a worse and lame version of Rookies. I know, Roookies is probably inspired from Gokusen, but I can't stand the music and the way yankumi unties her hair and removes her specs.




however, i'm looking forward to the movie hopeing it might be good. Kame is looking so damn hot these days!


Ratings: 5/10. did not even finish the finale.

Cinderella Man

Not going to add any link or pictures for this.


Cinderella man was quite good in the beginning. At the very least, I was able to finish it. It turned quite boring towards the end. Comparing that I dumped Beethovan Virus and East of Eden, Cinderella Man is considerably a 'good' show in the current Korean drama market since I did not ditch it.

Kwon Sang Woo received a fairly disappointing role, I think he could have done better. He did cry, but it didn't make me feel like my heart was going to burst. I read somewhere that he lowered his fees for this show. I wonder?, he gotta support his kid? However, he's still one of the really good korean actors out there. I actually like his twin who died. The story line was pretty interesting, but not fantastic.

Now about Yoona, NOT a fan of her, *sorry snsd fans*, firstly, she's too young to be casted to be the lover of Kwon Sang Woo. What's the age gap? 10? And she didn't quite have the qualities that could make 2 guys fall for her. Too plain, too plain, too plain, too plain. She's a designer, but why are her clothes so.. plain?? why was her hair so.. plain? One of her qualities I really like was only the scenes where she was designing clothes. Thats all.


Why are korean dramas so disappointing now??

Ratings: 6/10

Mei-chan no Shitsuji

Here's a drama which I randomly chanced upon on. Well, actually I saw that Hiro Mizushima was the main character. He's married already, can you believe it?!?!

But anyway, remember Zettai Kareshi, the robot story. No robots this time. It's BUTLERS. I don't have to say how cheesy the storyline is built on, but the butlers are good-looking and does whatever the master orders them to, perfect. (almost like robots?)

Mei-chan no Shitsuji sypnosis (from wiki)

The story revolves around a young woman named Mei, who was rescued as a young girl by someone calling himself her "butler." With only a vague memory, though, the experience seems like just a dream. But one day, after her parents' accidental death, he appears: Rihito comes from a line of outstanding butlers, and he has been appointed to serve her! Now her ordinary life has completely flipped, as she discovers that she's actually the heiress to a fortune, and is forced to transfer to St. Lucia Girls' Academy, where all the students have butlers! As a result, her childhood friend Kento decides to enroll in a butler school so that he can stay close to her.

Overall, the cast was pretty new to me. Only for a few exceptions, the leader in Hibari 4 (hana kimi), dorm head 1 (hana kimi). PLUS the guy with dreadlocks in ROOKIES. He was actually quite good, but I was pretty put off by his crooked front tooth and height, not mentioning how tall Osamu and Hiro are (THEY'RE TALL BASED ON JAP'S STANDARD HEIGHT). And if you notice, the banner of the drama is so similar to Hana Kimi. But I'm glad it isn't as overrated as Hana Kimi.

The main female wasn't excellent, but I would definately choose her over Maki.

And, Osamu Mukai, I was screaming when I saw him! He looked too cool! And then, I realised he's the villian. But still hot. Almost overshadowing Hiro.

Hiro was amazing at first, but then I started to realise how stiff is his acting. He was frowning most of the time. Still forgivable for being so dreamy.

Each episode almost always ended with a cliff hanger so I managed to finish it within 2 days. I'm sad over how fast it is over. The sad thing about good Japanese dramas is the number of episodes are too little.

Ratings: 9.5/10 MUST WATCH!

Atashinchi no Danshi

I almost gave up this show when I was halfway watching through episode 2. Glad I did not stop! Aside from the really cheesy storyline, it was a really terrific show despite the fact that I do not like Maki Horikita(The main female in Kurosagi and Hana Kimi). I simply couldn't quite understand why she gets really good roles when she's acts as stiff as a wooden puppet and she isn't really pretty to begin with. Yet again, this is another show with Kaname Jun.

Atashinchi No Danshi summary (from wiki)

Maki Horikita stars as Chisato Mineta, a 20-year-old homeless girl who moves about from parks to net cafes. Her mother died due to an illness, and because of her father's disappearance after earning an incredible 100 million yen debt, she is chased out of her home. Every day, Chisato must fight a battle with this debt, until one day she meets the president of a huge toy company, who agrees to pay off her debts if she marries him. Chisato now finds herself as the young mother of six eccentric sons, all adopted by the head of the company as successors to the company. However, each son has had experiences in the past that caused them to trap themselves in their own worlds. Will Chisato be able to open up their hearts and turn these strangers into a loving family?

Just like any other good Japanese drama, there's a twist in it. And most importantly, there's romance!!! *notice the 3 exclaimation points* We seldom find romance in Japanese dramas, so extra points for this.

I'm not gonna spoil the show by saying who she'll end up with, but actually almost all of them actually felt something for her. But, here are my favourites...

Osamu Mukai!

and here, a sneak picture of him in Mei-chan no Shitsuji. Love his hair here..

My first time seeing him, and he appeared in my next drama, Mei-chan no Shitsuji! (posting it next) He's really tall with a cute smile, though he is quite old in my range of pretty boys, he still qualifies.

Mukai Osamu as Sho Okura

25 years old.

The Third son of the Ookura family.His occupation is that of a host.The establishment he works in moves from place to place, but he constantly stays the number 1 host due to his outward appearance and art of conversation.Shou grew up in an orphanage and got adopted when he was 10 years old.He never had a family and therefore he respected his new benefactor a lot.However, something caused a breach in their relationship when he was 18, so big that he left from home.After that he started to make a living by working as a host.On the surface he seems like a cheerful character who is easy to make happy, but he's actually a realist.He's working recklessly, because he believes that all he needs is money.What he hates the most, is when somebody makes fun of him by calling him Ookurashou (former Ministry of Finance).He became an assertive man with his motto, "If you have time to do it, do it."
credits: crunchyroll forum

Yamamoto Yusuke

The really cute ghost guy in Hana Kimi. The cool guy in Rescue, and now, the gay in Atashinchi no Danshi. I can't say he's gay, he just have a phobia with female and he wears blue eyeshadow. Not my favourite role of him, he had some cute moments but the blue eyeshadow killed it. ARGHHHHHHHH!

Yamamoto Yusuke as Masaru Okura 22-years-old,

The Okura family’s fourth son.He's an exclusive model for fashion magazines and very charismatic.His popularity is really incredible and yet he's still a virgin...At work he's the cool and attractive man, but in reality he's indecisive and a man of gentle manners.He's really shy, especially of other people and panics, if a woman comes within a 1m radius around him.Masaru got treated really cruelly during his first love and that experience left him with a trauma.It's also rumored that he only became a model to take revenge on that girl...He basically has no self-confidence at all and sometimes can be really menial.Both of his parents died very early and he was left in the custody of his grandmother.His grandmother also died when he was 8 and that's when get adopted by Shinzo.He's now living in the "Trick Heart Castle."At first glimpse he really seems like a gentle person, but he's actually very egoistic and unsocial.He doesn't have any friends either.
Credits: crunchyroll forums

Ratings: 8/10. Kinda draggy in the beginning and I still do not like Maki Horikita *don't you think her smile is really annoying?*

Ryusei no Kizuna

This show was lying around untouched in my harddisk for more than 3 months and I thought I would never watch it. But i'm sure glad I did because i found my love for Ryo again! It's strange how I could like Ryo everytime I watch a drama he's in. Which is why one of the main reason I watched this.

Ryusei no Kizuna Summary(From wiki):
When we grow up… We’ll kill him together”. Koichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna are three siblings whose parents had been brutally murdered when they were just in elementary school, and they vowed to avenge their death. Fourteen years later, their vengeful plan unravels countless new facts. A shocking revelation leads to an overwhelmingly emotional ending. What will become of the siblings who have lived their lives solely in reliance of their bond alone?

Not a really good summary from wiki. But that's the storyline- seemed predictable and cheesy. However, the ending was very shocking and all in all it was an excellent jdrama. Another thing that was more shocking to me was the appearance of the very very cool singer Mika Nakashima (known for her role in NANA). Though her role was terrible- one who appears at the strangest timing (for ratings? nah guess not, they have Arashi!)

And the main lead, sadly wasn't Ryo... was one of the Arashi's guy- Nino something. He was darn cute! Why hadn't I noticed his existence when i was busy criticising Arashi? *sry fangirls* I thought Nino wasn't a very good actor but in one scene when he burst out at Ryo, it gave me goosebumps, so he's fairly good i guess?- Good at making the pathetic look which was so cute..

Lastly, this is another show Kaname Jun acted in. My least favourite role out of the three shows I've watched this month. Downright annoying and too clingy.

I must say it was a really good show, better than I've expected. With a huge cast- Ryo, Toda Erika, Nino, Mika, I'm sure many wouldn't want to miss this.

Ratings: 8/10. There were some parts which I fastforwarded.

Boys Over Flower

OH MY GOSH. I absolutely i cannot believe I actually forgot to blog about this drama the moment I finished this series. I must have been that busy then!

Anyway, I was the faster batch to catch onto the F4 craze when it was still airing in Korea. The day it was broadcasted in Korea, I watched it the exact following day. I was THAT desperate to watch. The craze reached almost the same level as Goong in SG which is considerered a huge success in my nation.

I've watched everything about Hana Yori Dango (from the manga, TW ver, all of JAP versions) and I'm definately stopping. No way am I going to watch the Chinese version. So, goodbye F4 for good!

But still, its muchly over-rated and there were some scenes of bad acting, bad cutting - the scenes don't match at times.

As you all know, the storyline is the same.. Four perfect rich guys. blah blah. However! This time round, I was a complete SO-EUL MATE! Meaning- Soujira + Yuki. / Ken Zhu + Rainie romance! Who cares about Domyoji + Makino, their story had been known forever.

So here's my favourite couple..

I was soooo into them, that I was reading their fanfictions almost everyday!

AND! I almost forgot about Lee Min Ho. aka Domyoji. he was never popular until this drama. I still remembered him looking darn cute in I am Sam beside TOP! The best domyoji ever. He's nothing stupid like the Japanese one, only that he's darn afraid of flying bugs. HAHAHA!

Ratings: 9/10 lots of scenes didnt match and I wanted to kill the PD for failing to make Ga Eul and Yi Jeong kisssss!!!

Rescue

Had been awhile since I watched any drama and since recent korean drama had been disappointing, I decided to start on Japanese dramas.

This was quite a bad choice, but I still managed to finish it since japanese dramas are short. The story line is similar to Code Blue, but more amaturely done. The cast wasn't very impressive and there wasn't any very memorable scenes.

The reason why I decided to watch Rescue was the cast of the main characters of Masuda(NEWS), Nakamuru(Kat-tun) and Yusuke (ghost guy from hana kimi). Masuda and Yusuke were alright, but Nakamuru was downright annoying. *sorry to kat-tun fans, but i'm a fan too* He was constantly overacting and he looked comical to me when he was supposed to be very serious.

The only person who caught my eye was Kaname Jun (Top second from right) and he happened to be the main cast of the past 3 consequtive Jdrama I watched. Talk about coincidence- who watches three consequtive dramas with the same actor without realising he is casted.

Ratings: 4.5/10 waste of time.

Antique Bakery

Firstly, I watched this show because of the hot cast. Antique Bakery turned out to be much more deep than I had expected. I was fooled by the lovely pastries and cakes, never expected a dark and murderous side in the movie. Originated from a Japanese Yaoi* manga, the storyline is rich and did not disappoint.
*homosexual


I thought, what good could come out from a model-turn-actor cast. But surprisingly, I was really satisfied with how they filled in their characters. It's labeled as a 'homo' movie. So yea, no main female character. I was waiting to be really disgusted by their homo display, but it all turned out pretty fine. Gross 'gay' level- 1 out of 5.


Moving on to the cast.. I'm sure you would be pretty familar with a few of them.



TOP: The hot japanese dude in Coffee Prince. If you caught that show, you just got to watch him in Antique! Because, he's so gay you can't believe its the same person. And I totally love his fashion sense in the show.


2nd from TOP: Don't really know him, moving on..

3rd from TOP: The main guy. If you've caught the korean drama which EVERYONE watched, you'll know him. Right, he's Shin-goon/Crown Prince of Korea in Goong. With addition to his newly grown moustache and him clutching a cancer-stick. This guy can really act man.

Lastly: The mute bodyguard from Time between Wolf and Dog. He actually spoke in this show.






Ratings: 9.5/10. Be prepared to crack your brain towards the end of the movie. Who is the kidnapper?


Spoilers(Highlight to read)
my take on the kidnapper:The strange man who Jin Hyuk was strangling at the end of the movie seem to be the old man's son who 'died'. When his wife talked about the 'death' of the son, it might have been when he lost his mind.

East of Eden

Take a look at the cast, you would probably know more than 50% of them. The cast is remarkable. Lee Da Hee, Song Seung Hun, Han Ji Hye, Yun Jong Hoon, they were all from popular movies/series. Right, and I almost forgot hot American/Korean Dennis Oh (the guy who can't really act, but eye-candy worth)

However, East of Eden was such painful drama to watch. I stopped at EPISODE 24 because it became such a chore to finish and that i was fastforwarding 80% of each episode.
Still, I had to say that what kept me going on was the first 5 episodes. I even went around telling people how great this drama is. Looks like I'm terribly wrong. There's so much angst and revolves mostly on revenge revenge revenge.(o so boring. i need romance!)

Here's a short sypnosis taken from wiki:

The drama will be about two men whose fates are crossed from the very first day that they were born. Both men were born in the same hospital. When he was a teenager, Lee Dong Chul witnessed the death of his father. From then on he promised to seek revenge on the man who caused his father's death, Shin Tae Hwan. But unbeknownst to everybody is the fact that Dong Chul's younger brother, Dong Wook, was switched at birth with Tae Hwan's son, Myung Hun. Dong Wook grows up to become a prosecutor and vows to help his brother seek revenge. But what happens when they find out that they're not brothers? What will Dong Chul do when he finds out that his real brother was raised by Shin Tae Hwan and that the brother that was beside him all these years is the son of his enemy?

The only good stuff in this drama:

- The storyline was pretty gripping at first.
- Kimbum was such a great actor even though he only appeared in the first few episodes as the young main lead.

credits to jaycee05

Talking about Kimbum, he's way beyond awesome. I found myself comparing between Song Seung Hun(who is a MUCH more experienced actor) and Kimbum when Song Seung Hun started to cry. GAH, terrible crying compared to Kimbum.

Photo taken from his wiki page. Doesn't do him much justice, but he's cute! Even much more cuter in Boys over Flowers whereby he portrays a cassanova. Look at the difference between both characters! One's a little boy who is so poor that he had to risk his life to save his family. Another one who is 'Prince' whose family is the pillar of Korea and owns a museum.

His rich boy image in BOF. I promise there will be more eyecandies once I'm done with Boys over flowers!

Sorry, this is such a Kimbum-centred post. Back to East of Eden..

Just don watch it unless you have plenty of time on your hand. I can't stand the thought of watching another 25 more episodes (50+ episodes for this )@(#)@ drama!) unless Kim Bum is gonna appear again(highly unlikely).

Ratings: 5/10 (gotta give credit to the cast and first few episodes) not for romantics.

Code Blue SP

Something good/bad with Japanese series, they might have a special episode. I'm still waiting for rookies. In my opinion, I don't think they do as well in their SP compared to their normal series run.

I just noticed that my last post was on 28th Dec, it isn't that I've stopped watching any dramas, but i'm watching so many at the same time that its hard to even complete one.! Currently watching: East of eden, Boys over flowers, Family outing. All of these three dramas/variety hasn't even finished airing.

See post on Code Blue. The drama series was REALLY GREAT. There wasn't any significant dull moments. However, I was throughly disappointed with the SP episode and I found myself fast-forwarding alot! The good parts were nonetheless their rescue antics, though still not as heart-pumping in the drama.

On Yamapi, I'm so sick of his frown and if you're looking for a smiling Yamapi, watch him in Nobuta wo produce. It's probably my favourite drama of his.

Sad to say, I seemed to realise that during those dull moments, I never had a favourite character but after the SP episode, I came to like Toda Erika.

All in all, what a disappointment that it was such a filler episode. And still no romance.


Ratings: 6/10. You would still want to watch it after you've watched the drama.