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idiosyncreant) wrote2011-09-03 01:00 pm
K-Drama Hit-List
EPIC DRAMA LIST OF EPICNESS or, My Hit List of To-Watch Dramas, 1.0
some shorthand I used:2X: I rewatch episodes of this drama. This almost never happens. Not an indicator of quality, but junk-food-comfort
swing points: themes that will make it awesome for some people, and not-awesome for others.The Pertinent Facts of K-Drama
Korea does variety shows in multi-seasons, and then soap-opera-style dailies that run over 100 episodes, but most prime-time programming is a 16 or 20
episode closed series. Popular shows are sometimes given extensions of one or several episodes.My Drama-Watching Leanings
Keep in mind I like to watch comedies, rather than melodramas, and tend toward “trendies” as they say at DramaBeans.com, light romances
with chick-lit sensibilities.Before Consuming, Read Label
K-Dramas love tropes. They exist in between them, as it were, and you will have to get past any prejudice against seeing them pop up all the time: a sweet guy who loves the heroine but is doomed to never win her, the hero's birth family screwing over his chances of happiness by killing/cheating/kissing his girlfriend's parents, the usually only annoying first love/ex-girlfriend/family-approved fiancee, and insolvent parental units.
now, for the list itself, sorted by general appeal...
Gateway-Drug- Dramas
These are ones that both excel in their field, and that I'd feel comfortable telling practically anyone to watch an episode or two, see if they like it. Also, kind of like crack.
Coffee Prince 2x
Plucky tomboy is man of the family, badgers her way into a job as a “prince” at a cafe. She and her boss start to have a bromance-gone-understandably-awry...
the way to go esp. if you're familiar with shojo manga or anime tropes. And like them, of course.
swing points: cross-dressing, gay themes, shouting and crying for LOVE (not just the romantic kind!), delicious drinks
Sunkyunkwan Scandal 2x
Bright girl masquerades as her brother to earn money as a scribe, gets unwillingly enrolled in the government official school of the nation, where her roots as not just an oppressed commoner but commoner FEMALE create some interesting clashes of culture with her roommate.
A great Korean culture snapshot, and fun with ninjas! Intrigue! Fantastic traditional hats! Short on love-line crying (yay!), long on bromance arguments about philosophy (even more yay!)
swing points: historical culture immersion, gay themes, cross-dressing, Confucian schooling, dorm-drama
Dream High
An opera student has to enroll in a show-biz-feeder school to put off her dad's creditors, and despite being a chilly snot makes friends and frenemies and develops humanoid behaviors.
A show-biz high school drama with tons of realistic high school drama, unrealistically hilarious teachers, a posse of kids with a lot of talent, and themes that are explored without the cavalier flippancy that could have made this just another teen-drama. Some of the performance parts still haunt me, strangely.
Swing
points: musical triumphs, flash mobbing, irresponsible adults, K-Pop idols, sexual harassment plot-point
Devil Beside You 2x
Our heroine hands her love-letter to the wrong guy—the terror of her school! He seems to get away with anything, and has now determined
to make her life hell. Oh, by the way... he's going to be her new step-brother.
This is my idea of the story Hana Yori Dango and Marmalade Boy could have been if they were way more awesome...
swing-points:
[prospective] step-sibling love, violent tendencies, crying and shouting for LOVE, Taiwanese drama=hotter skinship, Rainie Yang
Mindless Fluff! Sometimes, We Need It
these are shows I am not going to claim have literary merit, though I have other excuses for loving them, be it actor performances, trope-busting, or general good humor. They're just fun times.
You're Beautiful 2x
a nun-novitiate is pressured into playing her twin brother who was recruited into a famous boy-band, and then gets stuck trying to balance pleasing the band-leader, her own secret, and a weird electric-shock feeling she gets when she looks at a certain someone...
swing-points: cross-dressing, show-biz hijinks, irresponsible adults, MOM DRAMA
My Princess
A happy-go-lucky orphan is discovered to be the heir of the old Korean monarchy. Too bad the handsome grandson of the tycoon who is trying tore-establish the throne isn't happy about giving up his inheritance to a cute but stubborn nobody...
swing-points: crying and shouting for LOVE, floofy dresses, political intrigue
Himitsu no Hanazono
a young fashion editor is at loose ends when her magazine closes—except her ex-boss has provided her a job in the same publishing house. In
the manga division. Her very first day she's assigned to the infamous Miss Hanazono...only to find a houseful of guys to assist?
swing-points: making fun of manga, trope-twisting, ojisans plotting, Japanese drama=little romance
Down With Love!
An uptight lawyer is trying to raise his niece and nephew, while running a high-power firm. His money-obsessed secretary offers her sister as the next nanny-victim when he can't find anyone who will put up with the little monsters AND not make a pass at him. No problem! Her tomboy sister's a lesbian! Except that's not true...
This show never lingers too long over any one trope, which keeps it bouncy and fun.
swing-points: dishrag ex-GF, totally hot doomed Hero's Bestie, Taiwanese slapstick, tough and slightly dense heroine, Taiwanese drama=hotter skinship
Miss No Good
A somewhat tacky young gal meets an rich childhood friend who's always loved her--and he's become svelte and deboinaire fella! Too bad he thinks she was dressed for a costume party...she enlists a stylist for a rich-man's-girlfriend makeover. He's a close friend of the guy, though, and isn't sure what to do about this gold-digger who needs the most basic etiquette lessons... So they end up spending a lot of time together, of course.
Wilbur Pan has a delightful voice and ability to deliver things in a way funny to someone who does not speak Mandarin. What is it with me and Asian rappers?! Seriously. Rainie Yang acts a completely over-the-top character with a panache unique to her, too.
Not My Usual Style, But Worth It!
City Hunter
Our hero's adoptive dad is on a mission to reveal the officials behind an assassination of men sent on a mission against North Korea just after the cease-fire. To do so, young dashing MIT-grad Yoon-Sung gets into the capital's security team--and meets a female Secret Service agent he keeps running into while on the more skeevy errands of his cover-life...
A revenge tale with no useless damsels, no overextended plot-points, and lots of exciting derring-do. The first episode is great because it's unflinching in setting up the gritty, painful tone of the themes, and also the resilience of the characters, the pretty, flavorful settings.
swing points: intense action, unflinching emotional stakes, Lee Min Ho, ajussis plotting, a heroine with guts AND martial arts expertise.
Fugitive: Plan B or Runaway Plan B
Another revenge mystery—in fact, it shares a lot in common with City Hunter as far as basic draw: lots of intrigue, pain, and action, though this is more camp kung-fu-movie style while City Hunter tried to keep it natural and streamlined. Rain plays an irrepressable (illicit) P.I. investigating a family being killed off, meanwhile on the run from a cop who thinks he killed his partner.
swing points: Rain cheese, intense action, emotional stakes, lots of assassination, tons of often hilarious chase scenes
One Last, with Reservations
Hello, My Teacher!
or Star-Candy and Biscuit Teacher or some other translations of that
A young teacher is determined to teach at her own former high-school—from which she was expelled. When she makes it, a condition is that she keep one troubled student in line.
If you want to see Coffee Prince's hero in another show, this is the one to watch, I think. Until, please the fates, he gets cast in another rom-com drama involving petty bickering and vast chemistry. Till then, the movie "Finding Mr. Destiny" is the best substitute...
Disliked how long she liked the other guy, btw, that kinda dragged...
I need to make a complete list of all the dramas I've ever watched, so I can
Sorry if you saw this while I was trying to fix the cut. Also, if the formatting is still not coming through inside the cut.
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I approve of all your gateway drug dramas (except maybe Devil Beside You, which I gobbled up and then decided was supremely stupid. Not that that stopped me from using a line for a paper title. Twdramas and I don't often get along, though, so there's also that to consider).
Speaking of twdramas and City Hunter, have you seen Black & White?
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As for Devil Beside You -- I have to say, the essence of that story really is dumb. But I really liked the manga, and I liked the dynamic between Rainie Yang and Mike He, as well as the fact they both have crews of friends who are involved in the storyline.
Something about it just appeals to me. Since it is one of my favorites I go back to I had to put it on the list, but I couldn't find a good category to put it in, and just shoved it there. XD
...I take Taiwanese shows as a very particular kind of junk-food. And most of it I don't care for, as is also the case with junk food...
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That said, Black and White is essentially City Hunter if Yoon Sung and Hot Prosecutor developed an officers-of-the-law bromance, Lady Vet was a forsenics expert, and Nana was a mob princess. IT'S GLORIOUS. Plus the basketball hottie our heroine meant to hand her love letter to in DBY is there as an awesomely psychotic villain. And the best friend guy from MARS (have you seen MARS? I think maybe you mentioned you hadn't) is the best secondary character EVER. SERIOUSLY HE IS AMAZING. Xiao Ma ♥
Do you read
Cap it all off with gorgeous cinematography--this is a pretty, pretty drama--and a cheeky soundtrack. If twdramas are a particular kind of junk food, Black & White is GLORIOUS ADDICTIVE PIE. Uh, if pie is your thing, as it is mine.
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I have only seen Kingone as the pathologically nice second-lead guy, so seeing him as an actual villain would be nice! In "Drunken To Love You" he plays a cheater, albeit one that didn't mean to, so he gets a *leeetle* bit of a complex character. But still.
And gorgeous cinematography? Man. I can number on the fingers of one hand how many T-dramas I've seen that I can say that about. XD
Oh man, I'm trying to figure out which of the Mars actors I'm looking at is the secondary character and I can actually imagine all of them being as you describe... is it this dude? http://www.mysoju.com/star/xiu-jie-kai/
Because he's really good! I <3 him in Easy Fortune, Happy Life, he played a guy who's letting people think he's gay (and he IS a wedding designer) but then pretending to his parents he's trying to seduce away the heroine (she's getting him and his cousin's fortune--it's a long story XD) and is both playful and sympathetic and yet not shallow or a pushover.
AMAZING.
Ugh. You actually had me at Mob Princess, but let's pretend this extremely cool review you referred me to intelligently persuaded me...
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...okay, I do understand my own idea of a fun time is mostly at fault here.
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Yup. The budget for this one must have been astronomical, because it's gorgeous, and I don't just mean the people. (But speaking of them: gorgeous! Also, Vic Zhou's wardrobe: you will be vastly entertained!)
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yaaaaay!
I love
Having good material for my K-drama Reviews via clothes blog!
Hah. Someday, I'll need to get a hobby that makes sense to a normal person... Today is not that day.