news: Drama Bites

Asian drama land has been a bit promising lately.  Not that it’s been completely down in the dumps, but if I’ve read about sixty books to the one (or maybe two) drama series I’ve watched in the past few months, then either I’m really just a professional book nerd (which I am, I don’t deny that) or drama land has been a bit bland since the year started.

Going back and trying to review the first half of this year, it seems like I’ve really averaged about one drama series (from South Korea) per month, if even that many.  And if my viewing stats on MyDramaList.com is any indication, I’ve really only watched two full drama series all year to completion, both from South Korea.

Hong Kong has long since dropped off of my radar (or well, let’s just say that I still pay some attention, but I’ve been avoiding them like the plague), and Taiwanese series are hit-or-miss for me since I finally grew out of all that “Idol Drama” stuff after immersing in it for so long.  Japanese dorama was really only a one time Ikuta Toma-sama fangirl phase...

In fact, aside from being oh so excited about a new book release, my wall of anticipatory drama series looks like child’s play.  The ratio comparison:  I’m anticipating the release air date of two drama series as compared to the eight books I’m looking forward to reading for the rest of the year.

Yea... I think drama viewing has been quite bland.

The last week, however, has proven to be a little different for me, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve burned out on books (pfft, as if that could happen!), or because there are actually some series that are catching my (overly snobbish) eyes... finally.  In total, I’ve been hooked to one K-drama that will be ending this week, and I’ve picked up several other dramas (both Hong Kong and Taiwan) which are in their debut weeks right now.  And I haven’t been excited about several Asian dramas all at once in a long time.

It may not sound like a big deal, but this is very big for me.

I mean, yes, I get excited about one or two series every so often, and they’re usually from South Korea and there are usually less than two.  All year, so far, it’s been like that, with Gu Family Book, with Flower Boy Next Door...  (which are the only two series I’ve actually watched ALL of...)

Anyway...  This is in no way a return to regular drama blogging for me.  I think I always try too hard to make things structured in my own logic that I get overwhelmed and start to sway.  Which explains the extended hiatus.  So I’m just going to treat this like my own personal blog now (which, technically, it is), and just chit-chat dramas, movies, and general entertainment industry galore and news whenever I feel like it.  Seems simple enough.

Moving along to the Drama Bites part:

Accordingly, I have listed three series I’m currently watching.  I usually only do this if I have the intention of continuing to watch the series.  Whether or not I finish them is something entirely different.  And as opposed to reading books, I can drop a drama series so quickly that you don’t even realize I’d even started watching at all.  (Books, I tend to try to give more of a chance and will very rarely drop unless I’m just really NOT getting into it and realize that I have no idea where the plot is going.)  In fact, I had never liked the idea of dropping drama series before and will trudge all the way until the end so that I don’t miss the opportunity for a series to get better and prove me wrong.  As a lot of other bloggers out there point out, I don’t go into a series expecting it to fail; I would rather go into a series hoping that it’s excellent.  But there’s nothing worse than always expecting a series to fail because things just aren’t up to standard anymore.

So I remain hopeful.  

Just as I continue to remain hopeful that one day I can revive my love for Hong Kong TVB’s productions.  I grew up with TVB and they are my life; I used to know all the pop culture surrounding everything that had to do with ANYTHING in TVB.  I knew all the actors and all their roles, I knew who was a newbie in improvement, I knew who attracted the best ratings, I knew whenever a newbie was being promoted heavily (as per TV politics).  But lately, I can’t even tell a newbie from someone who’s been acting for a full year in TVB productions and who is just a singer trying their luck as an actor... and vice versa.

So with Triumph in the Skies II, I really continue to hope that my love can soar (terrible pun intended, don'cha know) again.  The last time I even made mention of a series from TVB, it was Three Kingdoms RPG, and well... since I don’t blog as often anymore, let’s just say that that experience was a major heartbreak for me.  And I don’t like heartbreak when it comes to TVB because I love TVB so much that it hurts to be disappointed over and over again.  I had all my hopes set on that series because it was an interesting concept, and it starred my all-time favorite TVB artists of my generation: Raymond Lam and Tavia Yeung.  The disappointment still stings a bit.

I get my TVB sampling snippets from my parents whenever I’m randomly wandering around the living room.  My parents are still avid TVB fans, if only because it’s more preferential to them to watch drama series in their own native tongue.  They are of the “I hate having to read while watching television so I will sit through crappy dubbing as long as it’s in my language” camp.  I’m in the “I would rather see the series in its original glory and so would prefer subtitles” camp.  Besides, after you watch enough series in a foreign language, you start to pick up recycled phrases and a pretty hefty vocabulary, even if you can’t quite string together a proper complete sentence.

But nonetheless, I digress...

Whenever I see a TVB series that strikes me as potentially good, I read up on it and consider watching it.  But that’s really as far as it goes, because it doesn’t strike my fancy enough to actually take the time to watch it.  After all, there are so many drama series to watch and so many books to read and so little time to accomplish both that I’ve become pretty picky about my viewing standards.  Each episode of a series is approximately one hour long.  I’m sleeping at least six of the twenty four hours daily and I’m working for eight hours.  It takes half an hour for me to drive to and from work.  I need to filter out time to eat and shower and take care of household chores.

So in essence, I may be left with little less than four to six hours of drama series viewing time.  And that’s assuming that I actually feel like watching an episode at that moment.

There just aren’t enough hours in a day for everything I’d like to be doing.  Unless I’m hooked and I end up doing a marathon and get no sleep over it.

So what finally drew me back into a TVB series after so many years?  I’m going to be totally honest about this, but it was a rather superficial reason: In the second episode of Triumph in the Skies II, Chilam Cheung’s character Jayden Koo says the following line with all of his charm, smarm and witty delivery:  “I might be a pretty boy, but I’m not an idiot.”  And it wasn’t just the line itself, since the words are rather mundane.  It was the way in which Chilam delivered his line along with the perfect facial expression (even behind a freakin’ hot pair of shades) and the tone of voice that does it for me.  In that one line alone, I already pegged his character and fell in love with him.

I mean, it’s freakin’ Chilam Cheung (Julian Cheung for those of you not familiar with his Chinese name), and not only is he eternally baby-faced and handsome, but he’s never failed to be a good actor, in my eyes.  He’s of the older generation level of actors (which to me, means that I’ve been watching him since I was a tween back in the good ol’ days of Condor Heroes glory and the like, as opposed to the actors I started watching when I was in college who were more my age, such as Tavia and Raymond), and to be honest, sometimes these guys just do it right.

Anyway, I’m only three episodes into this series, but it seems promising so far and I intend to continue on.  The chemistry and witty banter between the characters (yes, I’m in it now for more than just Chilam’s smarmy charm alone) is so much fun and hilarity that I’ve been doing a lot of laughing out loud.  I haven’t done a lot of laughing out loud in a long time to certain drama series and I honestly appreciate a series with heart that can also make me laugh out loud due to witty banter.  

As an added bonus, one thing that Hong Kong definitely DOES do properly is their research and their attention to detail concerning their television drama series.  When they latch onto a specific profession or a genre as the central theme of a series, they put so much attention to detail into it that it isn’t outrageously obvious that the central theme is just there as a background.  No, in Hong Kong series, the central theme has enough footing to stand on its own and you don’t find yourself questioning the integrity too much, even if a few flaws tend to surface every so often; which is more than we can say about some other series’ (**coughcoughKdramacoughcough**) and their handle on certain professions in the drama world.  Because in K-dramas, even if I love the series, sometimes I still end up questioning the dramaverse background professional logic; but in TVB dramas, I don’t think I’ve ever truly had to question their dramaverse background professional logic as much.  In fact, Hong Kong is also known for their brief “informercial” material at the end of certain series that are based on some present-day issues, so we know they’ve put a lot of effort into making the series as realistic as possible without actually putting their writers and actors through the true professional training.

As an example:  I Can Hear Your Voice is a K-drama I’m obsessed with right now.  However, our professionals, the public defenders as well as the rest of the legal system makes me a little worried for South Korea as a country if THAT is how law enforcement really proceeds with their work.  I mean, a murderer who is only given ten years in prison?  Police officers who treat proper citizens like they’re the criminals and don’t take threats seriously and who lose their guns?  Criminal court cases that aren’t thoroughly investigated properly before going to court?  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a criminal case in real life that was completed within one day and I’m not sure I’ve seen criminal cases in court where the investigating detective wasn’t involved.

But I digress...  again...

As far as TVB goes, I’m still setting a probational eye on their productions.  But my parents have informed me of the series they think is where TVB “got their groove back”, called A Change of Heart starring Michael Miu, Bosco Wong, and Niki Chow.  And the premise sounds intriguing, and Niki and Bosco are both also two of my favorite TVB artists of my generation... so I’m considering.  Otherwise, that’s all there is right now.

As for the Taiwanese front, I’ve recently taken interest in two particular series.  I’ve always been on the lookout for something in the Idol Dramas arena that would catch my eye, cause something always does.  You can’t say no to an interesting, light, breezy rom-com even if you tried, and when all the right elements line up, I will most certainly cave and give the series a chance to entertain me.  Yes, I’m still extremely biased against Idol Dramas because they are exactly as they are depicted: Idol Dramas have always been light fare, showcasing beautiful people in beautiful romance stories, meant to hook the fangirls.  They recycle the same formulas (although I will argue that the love lines in Taiwanese dramas have thus far been more desirable than what I’ve been seeing in Korean dramas) with the same types of plot twists.

BUT, they are enjoyable in a lot of their stilted glory.  I watch them for fun, not for inspiration, but I become quite elated when I DO get inspiration.  And to be totally honest, with the exception of few, Taiwanese idol actors are some of the least natural actors I’ve come across.  I haven’t been able to pinpoint why, but sometimes I can’t quite take them seriously because they’re either too over exaggerated, or way under emotive.

I’ve picked up Just You starring Aaron Yan and Puff Kuo.  And yes, my main reason for picking up this series might be due to Aaron Yan.  I mean... Aaron Yan!  I love him.  He’s so cute and adorable, and now he’s all grown up out of his initial Fahrenheit, baby idol role.  But his small eyes and his small mouth... and his cuteness...  And now I’m gushing!  But I’m not going to deny that his acting is still a bit wooden at times and over-the-top at others, and all around a bit unnatural..  I mean, he’s as natural as the rest of the Taiwan acting standard; he’s decent enough to lead a series with great facial expressions every so often... but I’ve seen better.  He knows what he’s doing and he knows how to do it, and yet I still get the feeling that he’s too over-conscious about his own acting.  Like, you can actually see the gears turning in his mind trying to figure out how to look handsome and act well at the same time (which sometimes doesn’t mesh well).  

Just... OMG!  So cute!

But still... Aaron... sigh...  

I don’t know who Puff Kuo is, but I’m sure to find out soon, though this series may possibly be one of the worst examples of good acting representation since it’s a standard rom-com and girls are always expected to be cutesy and over-the-top and loud and excited... as she is proving so far.  It just bugs me a little bit with the loud baby voice in a lot of the girls... though I suspect it’s a “thing” in Taiwan right now.  I will reserve other comments for after I’ve watched a few more episodes.

Also, what's up with that bowl cut-do?  O.o

The other series I’m considering picking up is Fabulous Boys, which is the Taiwanese remake of K-drama You’re Beautiful.  I’m conflicted.  You’re Beautiful was so much fun despite the standard rom-com stereotypes.  And I love Park Shin Hye!  And the best parts of You’re Beautiful had been the comedy, honestly.  And Taiwanese drama series tend to lack a distinct laugh-out-loud humor factor (with few exceptions) and instead end up being kind of tacky, half-assed humor.  And of the first few minutes of the first episode I watched so far, my first chuckle came about due to Park Shin Hye’s guest appearance as the girl in the church listening to loud music; and then her sad puppy declaration of “This isn’t how You’re Beautiful starts.  Hyung-nim...”  Again, I’ll reserve my criticism of the series for when I actually start watching it officially.

But until then, I’m just commenting as someone who is familiar with Jiro Wang acting (I’ve watched three of his series so far).  And to be honest, out of the four member boy band Fahrenheit, he has the best acting skills.  But that really isn’t saying much in terms of “in comparison with the rest of the acting community just in Taiwan alone”.  I mean, in his defense, he knows what he’s doing and he does it properly, much like his fellow group mate, Aaron.  He exhibits the emotions he requires and he becomes the character he’s playing -- unlike Aaron, I don’t see as much of the gears turning to calculate the best acting tacts.  But that’s pretty much it, because in the end, I really still only see his characters as “Jiro Wang playing such and such character”.  I’m not seeing the character by himself (something that an extremely talented actor is able to do is bring a character so much to life that you no longer see the actor anymore and sometimes forget that this guy also played so-and-so in that other drama series; awesome example: Chilam Cheung in Triumph in the Skies II who so thoroughly becomes Jayden Koo and brings Jayden Koo to life that I forget that he’s really Chilam Cheung).  And unfortunately, I haven’t gotten that vibe from Jiro yet.  Now, the girl, Su Li Wen, who gets to be our cross-dressing heroine seems rather promising (in fact a lot of the Taiwanese female artists seem more promising when paired with a really popular male idol) and I’m interested to see her take on Gao Mei Nan (Go Minam’s Taiwanese alter ego).

So... we’ll see how this goes.

Finally, in the K-drama front... well, I’ve always followed K-drama news ever since I first started watching them like an addiction.  So there’s really little news except for a brief shout out to Lee Jung Seok and the series he’s currently headlining, I Can Hear Your Voice (which I used in an example above).  This series is so seriously awesome that I have no words.  It’s almost over, and I can’t contain my excitement for the finale week since we’ve got conclusions and promises and reveals and an end to the ongoing conflict.

There are other series that seem promising, for instance I’m interested in Who Are You and Master’s Sun, both with the same premise of the female lead being able to see dead people.  This will be interesting, cause as much of a weenie as I am when it comes to horror, I love me a good ghost story... always!

Anyway...

Asian dramaland, here I return!

You're welcome.

first impression: Skip-Beat! (Taiwanese)

Also known as Extravagant Challenge
華麗的挑戰 -- Hua Li De Tiao Zhan

What Taiwan does happen to do well is take a manga story line and adapt it into live action pretty decently. The characters will always stay in character, and the setting doesn't stray far from the original manga story. It's only unfortunate that the embedded humor of Japanese manga cannot seem to be captured very well by Taiwan's adaptations. For instance, Hana Kimi, though having its own charm, was never really able to convey that subtle hilarity and cutesy sweetness that the original manga was loved for. Instead, the supposedly funny moments end up kind of awkward and tacky.

This is one of the things that Taiwanese drama rom-coms have never really been able to capture quite accurately: a sense of actually funny humor. The only series I've seen so far that has been able to do as much is Miss No Good (but only because Rainie Yang is charming and Wilber Pan has a natural sense of comedic timing in his expressions). Brown Sugar Machiatto and its sister(?) production The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalries were both rather comedic in execution (much more so than most Taiwanese comedies), but I don't really count those two as drama series -- they're more like promotion shows for the young idol groups Lollipop and Hey Girl.

And so we end up with not so much a romantic comedy, but a romance strewn with tacky and awkward moments trying to impersonate humor. And honestly, what good is a romantic comedy if it isn't even really that funny?

When I first heard about Skip Beat! being turned into a live action adaptation by Taiwan, I was curious, only because Skip Beat had been one of my most favorite shoujo manga stories. Taiwan's drama series aren't half bad most of the time and I've already enjoyed a select few during the past year. While they all seem to be the same rom-com formulas with the same over-exaggerated acting and story pacing, there have been some rather good series.

Taiwanese Skip-Beat! doesn't stray far from the typical Taiwannese Idol drama series, show-casing beautiful people in a rom-com aimed at young teenage fangirls. People who are already familiar with Skip Beat! manga already know the details, the story and the character fairly well. For those who haven't been exposed to the original manga, though, here's a short and brief synopsis:

Basically, Mogami Kyoko is a girl who has spent her life devoted to Fuwa Sho, pretty much sacrificing her youth and her time and her energy to take care of his lazy ass so that he can focus on becoming a famous musician. Unfortunately, all Sho has ever thought of her as was just a live-in maid he can boss around regularly. When Kyoko learns of this and how Sho never really cared about her as a girlfriend, she vows vengeance, letting her Pandora's box full of demons out to play. In order to bring him down to nothing, however, Sho challenges her to enter the entertainment industry as well; it will be the only way she'd ever be able to touch him at all.

So what does Kyoko do? She accepts his challenge, but along the way towards her ultimate revenge, she slowly learns to appreciate her own life and her own individual person, finding reason for herself outside of Fuwa Sho.

There are a lot of reasons why Skip Beat! manga was one of my favorite stories. For one, Kyoko isn't your typical pushover of a female protagonist; instead of moping like a damsel, she chooses to take action. Secondly, in the case of the manga, I had loved watching Kyoko grow as a person from someone who has based all of her actions around one man, and into someone who can find her own way in life for herself.

Taiwanese Skip-Beat! is cute. So far this is the only thing I can really say about it. Much like when I watched Hana Kimi's live action adaptation, I found it cute... but that was about it.

Ivy Chen is Gong Xi (Mogami Kyoko) and while her over-the-top performance works quite well for Kyoko's enthusiastic personality it almost seems a bit too much. Still in the process of critiquing her performance, however, I haven't really found much outstanding about it save for the one moment wherein Gong Xi finally breaks down with her crying slash laughter, letting out those anticipated Xiao Xi demons (Kyoko demons). There are moments during Ivy Chen's presentation that I keep thinking about Amber Kuo's role as Wu Shan Bao in Woody Sambo. While it fits Kyoko's personality, I'm hoping that I don't keep flashing images of Wu Shan Bao during my viewing of Skip-Beat!, otherwise it could get a little old. Also, I'm interested to see how Ivy Chen will convey Kyoko's ever changing moods and personalities. Kyoko is essentially an extremely innocent young girl who never got to live her youth to its fullest before being thrust into the world in such a cruel way. Despite her anger and cynicism, there are still a lot of moments when she resembles any other young teenage girl who buries herself in Fairy Tale fantasies. And hopefully Ivy Chen can pick up on this part of Kyoko -- she's not simply a cute and bubbly girl trapped inside a vengeful, angry exterior because she's got so much more depth that slowly form in the inner workings of her mind.

Korean idol group Super Junior lends two of their famous members, Choi Siwon and Lee Dong Hae for the roles of Dun He Lien (Tsuruga Ren) and Bu Po Shang (Fuwa Sho), respectively. The one thing I'd been worried about for these two roles was the need for Mandarin dubbers to cover both men's voices so that there can be consistency. It would be rather strange if our main female lead spoke Mandarin while the two male leads spoke Korean. So far I don't have much of an impression of either Choi Siwon or Lee Dong Hae, and the dubbing doesn't really bug me too much either. The only thing I will mention, though, is that Lee Dong Hae's presentation of Bu Po Shang's strangely cute actions when he's NOT trying to maintain his cool image was actually quite adorable. While I had always found Sho to be an annoyingly irritating rat bastard of a man, I'm somehow finding Bu Po Shang not as detestable. (A salute to the beauty of Korean idols, maybe?)

Choi Siwon radiates Ren's arrogant professionalism quite well. Idol stars have always had disadvantages of being scrutinized for being nothing but a pretty vase. So I look forward to seeing how well he does with Dun He Lien's role since he's had various other acting roles in K-dramas before.

As for the rest of the cast and characters, I'm really much more interested in the appearance of Bianca Bai, who is cast as Jiang Nan Qin (Kotonami Kanae), the girl who joins Kyoko in the LME LoveMe department. Her arrogance and strangely indifferent kick-ass-ness is what I'm looking forward to seeing since I've always enjoyed Kanae's presence as Kyoko's reluctant best friend.

Jin Qin is Dun He Lian's manager, known as Yashiro Yukihito in the original manga, and has alwyas been a great source of comedic relief. Even though it's been a while since I last looked over the manga (about a year or so, methinks), I remember liking this character because he amused me immensely with the way that he easily picked up Ren's feelings and intentions before Ren could even pinpoint them himself. There's nothing more fun than an omnicient manager at hand who also plays the mother hen to an otherwise domestically incompetent superstar who can't even take care of himself properly. Jin Qin was also in the role of Manager Ke Yi Zhi in Taiwanese drama ToGetHer to main character Zhaung Jun Nan and he was a very amusing and awesome person. I think I'm going to like his role here in Skip-Beat! reprising another manager role (especially for one of my more favorable characters from the manga).

Finally, Tsai Yi Chen (better known by her stage name Wu Xiong) is cast in a character role not present in the original manga. She is a girl named Wan Zi who works at the small restaurant called Bu Dao Weng (Darumaya in the manga) with Gong Xi and also seems to be playing the part of Gong Xi's only friend at present. I'm not sure where the series is trying to go with this extra role, but I hope it's a good direction because I like Wu Xiong and I'm hoping that she gets more screen time and continues to be Gong Xi's supporting friend in the background.

Unfortunately, with Wan Zi's presence, it only means that Gong Xi (Kyoko)'s journey to learning how to love herself is a bit stunted. The entire basis of Kyoko's depressing life is that her one and only childhood companion has always been Fuwa Sho -- she has lived her life for Sho, losing out for herself as well as never making any true friends (most of the girls in her childhood hated her because she was close to Sho who happened to be popular among the girls). Her entire life has been devoted to one day becoming Sho's wife and helping his parents take over their inn in Kyoto. Her mother had abandoned her when she was a child and her father has always been absent and so she knows about nothing but her life as the future innkeeper for Sho's family. When Sho betrays her at the beginning of the story, Kyoko loses all faith in any kind of love. For this very reason, she doesn't understand the emotion of love: to be loved by others as well as to be able to love others.

So while I really enjoy Wu Xiong's presence in this series (she's coming off a lot more likable than anyone else in the series as far as Episode One goes) I hope it doesn't deter the personal journey that Gong Xi (Kyoko) must go through to find her way in life.

This first episode of Taiwanese Skip-Beat! had taken me about three separate sittings during the evening to finish watching. I don't know whether it's because I already know the story line really well, whether it's because the anime already did a rather good job capturing the story, or if it could really be that the drama itself isn't conveying the glory of Skip Beat! to a decent enough level. There are a lot of really wacky CG inclusions that make for the cheesiest attempts at humor which kind of bemuses me, but may also end up grating on my nerves. The pacing and editing isn't too bad since it's following the original story line quite closely (aside from Wan Zi's presence); but the acting is almost too exaggerated and may turn out to be a problem for me.

Nonetheless, I will continue to give Skip-Beat! a chance if only because I'm a fan of the original manga. Let's hope that the live action adaptation can do well.

On a side note, the opening theme and the closing theme are both quite catchy -- sung by Super Junior-M and Lee Dong Hae respectively. The insert song, I'm recognizing as A-Lin's voice, but I might be wrong, but it's very pretty and I hope to hear more of it.

2011 End of Year Reflection, Part 1

It's kind of stupid for me to be doing an "End of the Year" reflection piece, really. I haven't even had this blog for that long and my K-drama obsession has really only been less than half a year long. And while this blog is mainly for all things Asian drama and entertainment, let's face it, K-drama has been dominating for the most part. Before August, I was happily fulfilling my empty brain with finicky Taiwanese Idol entertainment.

But it's not like I didn't enjoy myself.

I spent around two months in the time right before K-drama immersing myself with the likes of Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang (模范棒棒堂) and Wo Ai Hei Se Bang Bang Tang (我愛黑澀棒棒堂), and other things TW Idol entertainment. I slept through a lot of it since TW Idol drama series run the same formula back and forth. So it's not like the beginning of the year was really THAT exciting outside of some time spent convincing myself that this old woman wasn't too old to enjoy some young teenage fluff of TW Idols. And so there will be mention of a few of the TW drama series I actually enjoyed and found wholesome rather than just full of pretty flower vases.

Plain Love II -- one of my favorite TVB productions from years past

In keeping with my fully Asian drama and entertainment oriented blog, I will also make mention of anything TVB (Hong Kong) related as well. I know that I've at least watched one Hong Kong drama series this year (but of course, I had to actually look it up since I wasn't sure if it was this year or last year) and have tried to start watching about three of them (with no success). I'm still a TVB hopeful, seeing as how I AM Chinese, I speak Cantonese, and I grew up watching TVB productions for as long as I can remember. So I after I ramble senselessly about the K-drama obsessions and whatnot, I'm going to also give a short span for TW Idol dramas as well as those HK dramas that I managed to look at for 2011.

This End of Year Reflection piece will be a two part, maybe three part article with this first article detailing more of my 2011 experience with Asian drama land.

And since K-drama was what ended up spicing up the end of 2011 for me with the likes of Lee Min Ho in City Hunter, CN Blue music with gorgeous Jung Yong Hwa leading them, Park Shin Hye's charming Heartstrings presentation, Lee Seung Gi and his music, and so on and so forth, the bulk of my reflection will include Korean entertainment. Because in the end, I really only have been keeping track of what K-dramas I've been watching; I don't even remember what TW dramas I've touched this year outside of a few of the 2011 ones (none of which I've managed to finish -- I'm so sorry to Love Keeps Going!!)

Excluding Coffee Prince, which I watched nearly a year before, I've totaled 18 Korean drama series that have been completely viewed and finished. Notable mention include such series as City Hunter, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Hong Gil Dong, You're Beautiful, and Girl K, which rank among my most memorable. Then there were also the classics like Goong, Brilliant Legacy, Delightful Girl Choon Hyang and My Lovely Sam Soon, which were all good in their own ways. And then there were those I like to call sleeping dramas wherein you're not really paying much attention because very little is going on, but you still want to finish the entire show: Hero, God of Study, and the last half of Heartstrings.

My list could go on, but if I just keep throwing titles out there, what is there left of my rankings and listings later on? Well, it would cut short this incessant rambling, I guess, because, let's face it, I love to write until it gets a little (read: very) out of hand. There will be a proper listing of which of these 18 series I found better than the rest and so on and so forth.

Anyway, my list is not as many as others probably get through, but that's still quite a bit for five months of time considering other netizens get quite worked up over having watched around 20 or so within the year. And I'm thinking that I probably would have been able to squeeze some more into that list as well, but I dilly-dallied between series, not quite knowing where to begin my next journey. I haven't quite chipped the bulk of the 2011 drama series like the majority of K-drama elite viewers have done: Thousand Days Promise, Man of Honor, Dream High, Baby Faced Beauty, Sign, The Princess' Man, and so, so many more that, when I look at the list on AsianMediaWiki, I balk.

Have people actually managed to go through a lot of these?

I had even intended to try watching some series so that I could have it finished before the end of the year; sadly, I don't think that's going to happen.

I've considered watching Dream High, I've started on 49 Days, I've checked out Protect the Boss, and I've even stared at the poster for Thousand Days Promise multiple times. Instead, I ended up testing out OTHER drama series which didn't land in the year 2011 category.

And then that led me into the list of 13 drama series that I started watching, but never got around to continuing or finishing -- and for the most part, only two of the 13 have actually managed to get me passed the first episode: Damo (Episode 2) and Exhibition of Fireworks (Episode 8). Both of these series were incomplete for two VERY different reasons and only one of them will actually be finished (or neither, cause that conclusion is still up in the air).

5 of the 13 series I began never even got me to finish the first episode, but not all for the same reasons. The curiosity series include The Return of Iljimae, 49 Days, and Coffee House of which I DO plan on finishing. I watched the first ten to twenty minutes of these three episodes just to check out the subtitle quality as well as to see what type of setting or mood the series was going to convey. These three series I DO hope and plan on continuing to watch soon. The other two of this little group would be When It's At Night and Chuno (yea, I know) wherein I managed to get through the first ten minutes of both and then had to call it quits cause somehow, I just wasn't really figuring it out. We may or may not revisit When It's at Night in the future since I've grown an attachment to Kim Sun Ah. Chuno is a different story altogether and unless I end up growing a passionate love for Jang Hyuk's handsome wonder, I probably won't touch it again.

The rest of the 13 were the one episode curiosities, all of which I have the intention of continuing, but few of which I might actually do so: Secret Garden, Iljimae, Full House, Once Upon a Time in Saengchori, Protect the Boss and Joseon X-Files. I know for sure that I want, dearly, to finish Joseon X-Files and I also know that I'm 90% close to just giving up considering Full House. I also know that Secret Garden is a sure in for watching, but there's no telling WHEN I'll get around to it because it's just not enticing to me at the moment. As of the publishing of this article, I have already managed to jump into Protect the Boss, reaching Episode Three; I continue to be curious about Once Upon a Time in Saengchori.

Finally, the list of 18 Korean dramas viewed within these past five months doesn't even include the two that I've begun watching and are still ongoing: Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and Me Too, Flower. Both of these series, I will address at the end of the K-drama reflection (Part 2 of these articles). There's also Tree With Deep Roots, which could go under the category of the One Episode Curiosities, but since it IS still ongoing, I might end up watching the rest of it, notably for the first few episodes of Song Joong Ki, as well as to check out the wonders that netizens have been raving about concerning this series.

The only unfortunate aspect about me watching a historical Korean drama series is that the term "lost in translation" becomes a bigger barrier than if the series were more modern. Tree With Deep Roots is a thriller and mystery surrounding the creation of the Korean alphabet system, which I'm sure will involve a lot of language knowledge that may not carry over into English. Joseon X-Files is ingenius and deep, which has so far managed to lose me a few times within the first episode alone; it's intriguing and I WANT to watch it, but I'm worried that I may not understand its glory just because I don't understand the language. Series like Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Hong Gil Dong, The Return of Iljimae and Iljimae were more fusion with modern characteristics and so the language doesn't bother me. As for Chuno... well, it DOES depict more action and adventure than politics and the like, so it wouldn't really bother me either.

Since the year is yet to be over, there are still new series beginning that I haven't had the chance to touch yet. For one, I am totally going to start watching Color of Woman, which just began airing not long ago. I'm becoming more and more curious about Vampire Prosecutor if only because I love the case-by-case criminal investigation types, which from what I've read about it, is what Vampire Prosecutor is going for. But other than that, I haven't quite established what other series I'm going to be watching as well within that pile of Completed K-dramas that I've been considering since I fell into the obsession in July (Yes, the blog began in August, but that's after a month of viewing and planning).

In fact, I currently have a slight conflict concerning two pretty boys and which one of their recent projects I may pursue as my next watch. Being that I'm currently basking in the delights of Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and Me Too, Flower!, I've come to fall for both main leads in both of the series. Jung Il Woo is cute and wonderful with his vast range of emotion and expression concerning Flower Boy Ramyun Shop's Cha Chi Soo. I'm pretty much in love with that spoiled brat in spite of all of his abnormal qualities. Yoon Shi Yoon plays a character who is almost the opposite of Cha Chi Soo, a young man named Seo Jae Hee who has spent his life building an empire of business with his talents while struggling through his past horrors to survive. His range may not be as vast as Jung Il Woo's, but his emotions are still conveyed really well through his actions, his expressions and ESPECIALLY his eyes. I love a man who has sharp eyes that emote like there's no tomorrow (Lee Min Ho happens to be one of those). And so without even needing words, Yoon Shi Yoon brings a story to the screen.

It's only unfortunate that while one character has depth and unpredictable goodness, the other is starting to fall into a more standard male lead type than what I'd been expecting. Nonetheless, I've still come to like both of these actors for superficial reasons (The Pretty) as well as more "professional" reasons (The Acting).

And so I'm stuck on the decision for my next watch. Will it be 49 Days or The Return of Iljimae for more Jung Il Woo goodness? Will I try my hand at my first ever Korean makjang series with Baker King Kim Tak Gu for Yoon Shi Yoon's expressively hot eyes? On a completely off-subject side note, I DO find Yoon Shi Yoon's adorable, pretty and cute look more attractive than Jung Il Woo's more refined, handsome and hot look. But that's not really going to sway my decision on which way I end up going... so it's a moot point. I just wanted to be superficial for a few seconds, so let's continue on.

At the finish of this article, I've already given the first episode of Baker King a glance at for ten minutes and HOLY darn if I don't understand the makjang concept yet! Within that first five to ten minutes, I already figured out exactly what was going to happen just because the devices are so, so, SO standard. And so what did I do? During the entirely serious plot building device of those first ten minutes, I was laughing my ass off at the predictability of the entire situation and I understand what the equivalent of Korean makjang is to Hong Kong's "Grand Production" series is now.

I totally thought of TVB series Heart of Greed when I  saw Baker King's poster.
The "sequel" spin-off to Heart of Greed called Moonlight Resonance also uses the same poster set-up, but let's just leave it at that.

Hong Kong TVB is totally guilty of overdoing the typical cliches for the most dramatic effect in a lot of their Grand Production series; I don't even know if we have a word for it outside of Grand Production (maybe 争鬥; zang dau in Cantonese, which means struggle or war; in this context it depicts the power struggle among family which is the most common plot device employed in these series). In truth, Grand Production is typically used as a term to describe the series that TVB dumps a ton of money into (including gathering some of the most high-dollar actors and actresses in the company) in order to create an outstanding, highly anticipated series (but for the most part, high dollar productions does not equal great drama series). Grand Production always associates with predictable story lines though, that stem from predictable plot devices running on predictable cliches for twists and turns in the telling (for example: birth secrets, secret affairs, half-brother power struggles, over-powered mistresses, poor family daughter or son with a passionate desire for revenge against the rich family for tearing his or her family apart, rich and poor sons switched at birth by a manipulative mother, stealing of children to use against social enemies... I could go on).



I long ago stopped watching these TVB Grand Productions just because I got tired of the standard power struggle cliches. I think the last one that I actually watched and enjoyed from TVB was Cold Blood Warm Heart (天地男兒) in 1996. After that one, the following Grand Productions began to twist their logic and endings to ways that I was never able to accept. These types of series really aren't for me, I found out.

And so basically what I'm trying to say (after a long detour) is that if I'm going to watch Baker King, it will one hundred percent be for the sake of Yoon Shi Yoon. Yes, I can guarantee that I will love him THAT much to go through that; much like I would sit through more makjang for Yoo Seung Ho's Flames of Ambition (although I've heard that this one's actually not bad and so we've got another dratted series thrown onto my list).

On top of these two Pretties, I've even also chosen two other series that I would like to watch as well. I'm being drawn closer to Protect the Boss (by continuing it) just because it's been hyped about and Ji Sung is good looking and Choi Kang Hee is rather cute and I'm intrigued by Kim Jaejoong's break-out performance... And then there's Dream High for some giddy, teeny-bopper-ish crack-like fun that people are also raving about (I'm not really a fan of 2PM, so it's not really like I'm in it for Taecyon, so there goes the Pretty reasoning out the window).

And so I think these past five months of K-drama viewing have been pretty good. The next couple months of K-drama viewing will be even better (which tells me that I've fortunately made it passed a five month mark and will continue this obsession, unlike my manga and anime plight).

Not all of this five months had been spent watching just drama series, though. There's also the massive amount of time I spent watching 53 episodes of Running Man variety program and 20 episodes of Strong Heart talk show. I've also spent some time perusing K-pop like I've always been interested, and had taken a break from drama to finish reading two non-Asian media related books. I spent a lot of time reading recaps and Korean entertainment news from various sources and I've also spent a lot of time writing my own discussion articles, summaries, random thoughts, and then screen capping the heck out of drama series for all the pretty pictures to share.

These past five months in K-drama land have been quite productive, I will say. There have been moments where I've gotten so lazy that I just don't care anymore, but then one or two drama series just manages to hook me right back in. I end up forming opinions, I end up writing it all down, and when the article is done, I go on ahead and collect my screen caps and finish up the article while I'm on a roll. Unfortunately, there are currently around ten or so articles I've already finished writing. They aren't being published any time soon because I've been too lazy to collect my screen caps for them; these are older series that I keep telling myself can wait another day or two or thirty.

And so thank goodness for all the great series I've been coming across that are currently airing. If not for Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and Me Too, Flower!, December would have been pretty quiet. If not for Warrior Baek Dong Soo, October would have been a rather uneventful posting period. And I don't even know HOW I got through November, but I did, so it's all good.


As a conclusion to this first part of my End of Year Reflection, I might go ahead and include some outlook for 2012. Now that I've sort of gotten a good foundation down for the drama zone, I'm planning on slowing my postings down quite a bit. I've got a lot of articles that need to be finished, but I've come to the conclusion that the more I force myself to finish something, the more I rebel against myself. The currently airing series are typically more attractive to me and motivate me to get discussions written and out there just because of the ongoing current status.

Since I ramble on uselessly for the most part, what started off as an introduction to my End of Year Reflection turned into an entire article post (it's probably long enough to be a post on it's own), so I won't drag it out by including my view on specific series as well as listing my favorites of 2011, my favorites of all 19 K-dramas (which includes Coffe Prince, if anyone is wondering) I've seen so far, and any other Korean entertainment indulgence I might have had.

This reflection will be a three part article only because of this introduction piece, followed by my opinions on my first "year" of K-drama obsession, finally ending on a more thorough reflection to my growth and development with Hong Kong drama series.

Stay tuned...