February K-drama haul

It's been soooo long since I've actually did a k-drama haul. I think my last one was in October or November last year. Not too sure.
Anyways, I've been super busy since then and now. So I finally had the chance to do a February k-drama haul :). I know that some of these have finished airing a long long time ago, but like I said, I was super busy to be able to watch time. So bare with me :).

Cheongdamdong Alice

Is a 16 episode drama starring Moon Geun-young, Park Si-hoo, So Yi-hyun and Kim Ji-seok. The synopsis of this drama is a hardworking fashion designer who tries to enter into the fashion world. In this case, Cheongdamdong in South Korea. Her life is changed by a CEO of a multinational distribution company of luxury goods. Through this drama you meet various 'Alice in Wonderland' characters such as the queen of hearts and the white rabbit.

MY OPINION
This drama kinda captures the struggles of trying to enter into your dream job. For example, someone who dreams of becoming a world class fashion designer, doesn't become a world class fashion designer overnight. They also don't enter into the fashion world without any help. They have to create contacts with other world class designers to make it up that ladder. And this drama is no different.
This drama got slightly confusing for me. I initially thought that the 'white rabbit' would be set to one character but the 'white rabbit' kept changing between another character. Also with the 'Queen of Hearts'. However, the main character - Alice - was played consistently throughout the drama.
I would give this drama a 7 out of 10.

Romance Town

  

Is basically  a 16 episode drama that revolves around a housemaid named No Soon Geum for a rich household. She dreams of being rich and living a grand life like Cinderella, but that dream slowly becomes true.

MY OPINION
This drama was a fun and sweet drama. Yes, it did get a bit boring for me, but it was a good drama. What motivated me was the fact that money was the base concept for this drama. Everyone including the maids and the house owners, all want money. Greed was also a theme in this drama and reflects on what you end up with when greed takes place. For this drama I would give it a 6 out of 10.

May Queen

 

Is a 38 episode drama that centers around the ship building industry and a girl named Chun Hae Joo. The story tells about a young girl, named Chun Hae Joo, who tries to make a name for herself in the ship building industry. When she was young, she was taken away from her birth mother in order to save the kidnapper and herself from an evil man. She was then adopted my a family whose mother hated her but the father loved her as if she was his only daughter. Through her life she lived in poverty and was forced to stop her education because the family was poor. Few years past, and she finally tries to make a name for herself with the skills that she learnt through her various jobs/ careers. She is stuck in a love triangle with Park Chang Hee and Kang San.

MY OPINION
I loved this drama. It is considered one of my highly recommended dramas to watch. Even though the drama has 38 episodes, it doesn't bore you out. I was literally thinking that the drama was going to end around episode 36 but after episode 37 that was a huge secret leak that made me wanting more and more of the drama. I will put my hat down for Kim Yoo Jung (the girl that played the younger version of Chun Hae Joo and she's also seen in The moon that embraces the sun) because she is such a amazing child actress. I fell in love with her character. Also for the younger actors who played Kang San and Park Chang Hee when they were young, you played the part very well. I would rate this drama a 9 out of 10.

Innocent Man/ Nice Guy/ There is no such thing as a nice guys

This is a 20 episode drama that centers around a smart medical student named Kang Ma-ru. He is on love with his next door neighbor Han Jae-hee and would do anything for her. One day she is involved in a murder case and before the police came, Kang Ma-ru comes to save her. few years past and Kang Ma-ru is now working as a bartender and is a gigolo. He finds out that Han Jae-hee had been living with a rich CEO, while he was in prison. Kang Ma-ru decides to take revenge by dating the CEO's daughter Seo Eun-gi and making Han Jae-hee suffer for the pain she brought him.

MY OPINION
This is the first drama that I've watched that stars Song Joong-ki and also Lee Kwang-soo from Running Man. At first this drama was interesting, but slowly lost me. I wasn't motivated to watch it every week when the english subtitles where added. So when the drama finished airing, I was bored so I watched up to the episode that I left off. With that, it slowly became interesting, but then lost me again. So for this drama I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

October k-drama 2012 haul

I know that I'm kinda late with the whole k-drama haul and that some of these dramas have actually finished airing about a month or 2 ago. But nevertheless, here is my end of October review on the dramas I've watched so far ....

Bridal mask (also known as Gaksital).

It is a 28 episode drama based around Korea during the 1930s, during the Japanese colonial era. The story overall is about a guy name Lee Kang-to (his name changes to Lee Young/ Sato Hiroshi) - who is a rising star in the police force who works with the Japanese police (even though he is Korean) and is against the Korean freedom fighters. His initial aim is to catch Gaksital (also known as Bridal Mask) - who is a mysterious freedom fighter. A twist in fate causes Lee Kang-to to change his perception of the Japanese and become a freedom fighter.

MY OPINION: I personally like this drama a lot. It did to me drag on a little too much, but the overall storyline was pretty good. Even though it was mainly about the Koreans trying to gain freedom from the Japanese, there was also a love story line between Lee Kang-to, Kimura Shunji and Oh Mok Dan (name also changes to Boon-Yi/ Esther). The ending is quite sad, in my opinion (trying not to give away too much) but my overall rating for this drama is a 8.5/10

Ghost

Ghost is a 20 episode drama that is based around a police cyber investigation squad. It is mainly based around the hidden secrets of the cyber world.

MY OPINION: This drama to me, dragged on wayyyy tooo long. It did focus on the cyber police squad's position and what they did, BUT the main story line just went on way to long OR had appeared way to late into the whole drama. It is a good drama if you are into the whole cyber investigation type dramas :) My overall rating for this drama is a 7/10

Time Slip Dr Jin

This is a 22 episode drama based around the Joseon Dynasty period. It is based around a neurosurgeon called Jin Hyuk. He gets this mysterious power that allows him to travel back into about 150 years. While back in the Joseon period, he starts to treat people using his 21st Century skills by adapting to the lack of medical equipment made available. And like the saying, you shouldn't mess with the past, his actions starts to interfering with the course of history. 

 

MY OPINION: I will admit, this drama isnt for those who have a weakness for surgery. Through this drama there were scenes of actual operations that Dr Jin performs (using props of course). There were a few times that I actually had to cover almost half the screen (only letting the subtitles appear) because the operation scenes were just to horrible to look at. The storyline was ok, it mainly talked about Dr Jin's attitudes towards helping others and also about government power. I would rate this drama a 7.5/10

 

Panda and Hedgehog (also known as Ms Panda and Mr Hedgehog)

This drama is a 16 episode drama that is based around a patisserie who became a orphan at a young age and has a prickly personality (hence the name hedgehog). He meets a girl named Panda who owns a cafe called Cafe Panda. The cafe isnt going too well, until she meets hedgehog who helps her makes the cafe a success.  

 

MY OPINION: It is a sweet drama. Firstly, after watching a few episodes, I fell instantly to the cakes and sweets that we produced. It made me want to stalk a Cafe here in Perth that had the same cakes as the ones in this drama. Secondly, the sweet and lovely storyline of meeting your first love after 15 years :) and also establishing the saying 'No matter how far you go, home is always there'. There wasn't much of a big storyline apart from starting small and then aiming high. My overall rating for this drama is a 8/10.

To The Beautiful You (also known as Hana Kimi/ 

For You In Full Blossom)

This is a 16 episode drama. It has the same storyline of the Japanese version of For You In Full Blossom and Taiwanese version - Hana Kimi. Slight difference is that Goo Jae Hee comes to the boy school to help Kang Tae Joon - who is the high jumper - that is suffering from a career break down after his mother died when he was participating in the Olympics

MY OPINION: This drama is no different from the Japanese and Taiwanese version. It also had significant events that were the same in both the other versions. For example, the 3 dorm competition and the Miss Idol competition. I personally dont think that this drama didnt have the random quirkiness and sitcom personality like the other 2 version. It was more plain and simple and very similar to the romantic comedy type dramas. I would rate this drama a 7.5/10


So that's it for my latest updates on the dramas I've completed so far. At the moment I'm watching a 32 episode drama called May Queen - which I'm liking at the moment; Ohhlala Couple, Five Fingers and Innocent Man.

So until next time, take care xx