~New Korean Dramas I’ve been checking out~

As the Summer comes to a close and Fall is in the air I find myself wanting to curl up with my crochet project and watch some Dramas. I renewed my Dramafever account and dived into the new shows I have missed. Here are a few i’ve been watching.

Cinderella and Four Knights: This is a cute drama that is currently coming out on DramaFever. It centers around a hard working girl who does not have a great home life and three well off cousins who each have their own lives and issues. She finds her self thrown into the middle of the cousins with the mission to change them for the better and stop them from misbehaving. You will have your favorite cousin for sure and find yourself laughing and feeling bad with the characters.

Scarlet Heart: Ryeo: This one caught my eye because of some scenes posted on DramaFevers facebook page. It is a period drama taking place in the Goryeo period of Korea. A modern day girl finds herself thrown into the past and around several princes whose fate she knows a little about. She knows that something bad occurs during this time involving the royal family. She finds her self growing closer to the royal family and learning more about them as individuals. Who is your favorite Prince?

Bromance: This is a Tawainese drama that aired in 2015 and man I got hooked on this and binged the whole series. It’s a funny/serious/complicated gender-bender romance that involves gangsters, sworn “brothers”, and several romances. The main character is a girl who has had to live as a man for 26 years because of a fortune. She is so close to being able to live as a girl when she rescues a gang leader and becomes sworn brothers with him. This complicates her life since people are not supposed to know she is a girl until the time is right. She becomes best friends with the Leader and gets thrown in a lot of drama involving several other characters. If you like gender-bent dramas then this is one to check out.

What Dramas have you been watching? Let me know so I can check them out!

~First Impressions: Stranger Things~

This last month brought forth an AMAZING Netfllix Original Series “Stranger Things” and the social medias have been reeling from it. After seeing so many great things on Twitter and Facebook I had to check this series out.My hubby and I sat down one evening and pressed play, I must say no regrets. From the first episode we were hooked. My husband was a child in the 80’s and so he really appreciated the many throwbacks and references to 80’s movies, games and other pop culture.

This series embodied many of the best things from some of our favorite movies like: “Alien”, “Aliens”, “The Thing”, “Stand By Me” and many others. Every episode was good and the end of each one left us wanting more. The young cast did a fantastic job and pretty much out shined any of the older actors. You defiantly form favorites.

The series was good throughout and has a lot of possibility for a continue of greatness in the next season. There are so many things that could be explored and touched upon. I eagerly await the next season, it could not get here fast enough.

What did you think of this series? Who was your favorite character? Let me know in the comments!

~My love from another star~

Okay so I just began watching this series about three days ago and right away am extremely impressed. It is very well written and put together. The director has done a great job and the story is fantastic. The characters all have very individual personality’s and its not just another fluffy romance drama. It is serious and has a lot of darker things in the background.

It centers around a cold and distant alien from another star Do Min Joon who has been on earth for 400 years, he once loved a young girl that he met when he first arrived. The girl died from helping him and so he is against interfering with other humans. He begins to change however when he meets the famous actress Cheon Song Yi who years before the main story time looked exactly like the girl he loved 400 years before.

Song Yi is arrogant and a little dumb often misspeaking and then having to deal with the tornado of rude, cruel comments from people online judging her every move. Song Yi is close friends with Lee Hwi Kyung who is the second son of a large corporation, he has also been in love with Song Yi for nearly 14 years. He is protective and a little pushy when it comes to Song Yi, he does not like Min Joon at all. Hwi Kyung has an older brother Lee Jae Kyung who you realize right away is not a good guy, in fact he is a very bad man who kills anyone who gets in his way.

There is a lot of awkwardness here and there when it comes to Song Yi’s somewhat ignorant attitude but after awhile you find yourself liking her a bit more. There is a lot of things going on right off the bat and find yourself pulled into this fantastic drama.

Have you watched this drama before? What did you think of it? Did you like it or maybe not? Let me know in the comments! :3

K-pop The Ultimate Audition (aka Extream Survival)

This series came out in 2012 and aired 14 episodes. It has recently been put on Netflix so I decided to check it out. My first impression of the story was that is was very much like “You’re Beautiful” however much more awkward. Some of the characters are just not as likeable and seem a little off compared to many other dramas.

It follows a girl Sueng-Yeon who plays classical piano because of her parents wishes, she however has a deep love for hiphop type music and fails a test at the classical school she was attending. She isn’t able to return home to her parents for fear of the trouble she will be in and instead decides she is going to do what she wants. She helps her close friend get into a band in training that he has always wanted to be in, she gets in too even though its a boy band.

The juniors have to deal with the sweet on the outside M2 band leader Woo Hyun who is selfish and cruel in attitude. He and Sueng-Yeon have several clashes. From the beginning you know that Woo Hyun is going to be the jerk who softens because of the heroine and you grow to like him. However my impression was “Im not sure if he will ever be very likeable”. There are a lot of rushed through storys and many things that aren’t explained.

I wasn’t super impressed with this series but I didn’t dislike it.

Have you watched this series? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

Say “I Love you” live action

I really enjoyed the manga and anime series of this but the live action version kind of fell flat for me. It was okay and followed the story well but seemed somewhat slow going and dull. It was fairly awkward to me but still cute.

I’m very interested in knowing other thoughts on this movie, so please let me know what you thought. Did you like it, not like it, let me know in the comments!

The Heirs

This Korean Drama came out in late 2013 and consists of 20 episodes. It stars a fantastic cast which includes: Park Shin Hye, Lee Min Ho, Kim Woo Bin and several others who did an amazing job.

Cha Eun-sang is a poor high school girl who lives with her mute mother, they both work very hard just to get by. Cha Eun-sangs sister has gone to America and Cha Eun-sang follows her only to catch her in several lies that hurts her very much and she is left alone in a foreign land. After she gets into some trouble Kim Tan a boy around the same age helps her out and they get to know each other over a few days. He lives in the lap of luxury and just plays around not taking things seriously. Very quickly he begins to fall for Eun-sang but has to say goodbye as her best friend comes to save her and help her get back to Korea. They figure there is no way they will ever see each other again and their days together were simply a dream.

Back in Korea Eun-sangs mother has moved in to be a live-in maid for her employers, the Jeguk company’s head. Eun-sang has to live there as well and help out while also holding 2 jobs and study for school. The Father of the family is ill and lives with his 1st son who is the standing CEO of the company, and his Mistress who is basically trapped in this large house. The 2nd son returns from over seas from his enforced banishment to be back home with his family. Of course it is Kim Tan who is the illegitimate child of the Jeguk group but is registered as the child of the legal wife. His brother Won fears that he will try to take the company from him and is very bitter and hateful towards Tan even though Tan loves him above everyone else. Won moves out angry that Tan has gone against his wishes and returned home.

Tan quickly finds out that he is living with Eun-sang and sees his chance. Eun-sang gets put in the Jeguk’s group private school and thrown into a world of privileged, spoiled, bratty teenagers. She becomes the point of affection for not only Tan but his rival and former best friend Choi Young-do. Young-do is the Heir to a large Hotel and is very cruel and rough most likely because of his bitterness towards his horrible abusive father and that his mother ran away years before. He resents Tan thinking it’s his fault for missing his last chance to see his mother and so takes it upon himself to constantly harass Eun-sang. It is quickly seen that he does have real feelings for Eun-sang but doesn’t really know how to show them and so he acts out and does bad things just to get her attention.

Eun-sang has to deal with the hierarchy of the school and because of Tan has to lie about her place in the ranks so she wont be picked on. She has to deal with Rachel, Tan’s fiancé who is a big b**ch. Everyone is all tied together in this small world of Heirs. There are arranged marriages, company marriages, love triangles, affairs, relationships, servitude and several other connections. It’s a hard world to be thrown into when you are from a serving background and have to work every minute of everyday to live. Eun-sang has a rollercoaster time and drama is around every corner.

There is so much that happens in this series I couldn’t get enough of it and consumed it in just a few days. I loved the characters and the acting was great. This series defiantly has made it on the top 5 K-dramas list for me. My favorite character was Choi Young-do and I wanted him to catch a break sometime. He was a horrible person in the start but really evens out and is kind and helpful though still an ass much of the time. There were several background characters, all with stories and ties and I think it was very well written.

What did you think of this series? Who was your favorite character? Let me know in the comments!

You’re Beautiful

Oh man this series is great. I kinda dropped off the drama scene for awhile but this one got me back in the game. This series broadcasted in 2009 and gained a pretty big fan base and also made Jang Kuen-suk’s career take off. “You’re Beautiful” consists of 16 episodes and has several well known kpop singers as part of the cast.

Go Mi-Nyeo is a nun in training and an orphan. She has a twin brother who is trying to become a famous singer to find their mother. Something happens and her brother isn’t able to go to his big break so after much coercion Go Mi-Nyeo becomes Go Mi-Nam and takes his place in hopes of finding their mom. She clashes with the lead singer Tae-kyung of the band she has joined. Tae-kyung is more than a bit rough around the edges, he seems obsessive compulsive and selfish and just a big butt. He has it out for Go Mi-Nam from the very beginning and it doesn’t take long to find out “his” secret.

While Tae-Kyung bullies Go Mi-Nam another band member, Shin-woo is kind and watches out for her from the get go. The last member is Jeremy who is not the brightest and doesn’t find out till much later that Go Mi-Nam is not a boy. They all grow closer and Tae-Kyung finds himself watching over her against his best wishes. The two of them are quite the comedy duo and you find yourself routing for them to stop being stupid and get together.

I squeed and laughed and may have teared up a few times. I couldn’t stop watching once I started and consumed the entire series in a few short days, I find myself going back to watch my favorite scenes over and over. The music was catchy and the sound was pretty good throughout, I’ve been wanting to get the OST since watching it.

Did you like this series? Who was your favorite band member? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

~How I got into Asian Dramas~

I love Asian Dramas! There is not enough time in the day to watch them all! >_<

The first time I watched an Asian drama was when I was in 8th grade and obsessed with all sorts of anime and manga. One of the series I was really into was called “Hana Kimi” it’s a manga series and I was bummed that there wasn’t an anime. While looking for an anime for the series I came across the “Hana Kimi Taiwan drama” and thought it was cool that there was a live-action. From the first episode I dived in head first and never looked back. I would spend hours watching the series and would get in trouble on more than one occasion for taking so much bandwidth up from the internet . I loved the actors who portrayed my favorite characters and began to want to know more about them and the other things they did.

From “Hana Kimi Taiwan” I found the Japanese version and slowly just started to watch all sorts of dramas that were usually based off of manga series. After awhile I backed off the dramas until I was in 10th grade. During this year I met some great friends from Korea while they were here with an exchange program. I quickly became fairly close with them and they would talk about a specific Korean drama sometimes called “Boys over Flowers”. After finding out I liked Dramas we all started watching the series when the episodes would air and then talk about them at school. We would usually chat about Lee Min Ho’s character Jun Pyo with his beautimus curls >_<, no matter what country you are from girls will be girls.

It was great that we could all share something like this drama and it was a great connection. I’m still friends with them and talk to them often over Kakao Talk, I ask them which Dramas they are into and they will suggest several which I will then go start watching right away so we can all talk about them ^_^.

I watch a lot more now being pulled into them again with much intensity because of the series “You’re Beautiful” and “Absolute Darling”, these are some of my favorite series I just watch over and over (mainly just my favorite parts. I find myself cracking up much of the time and have been caught by my husband bawling like a baby other times while watching Dramas. They are fun and light but also serious, I love the stories and like finding a few select actors I take a shine to.

Do you like Asian Dramas? What are some of your favorite series and actors? Let me know in the comments!