Sakura of DOOM

This is a 2006 drama about the life of Hwang Jin-Yi, a Joseon period gisaeng who was famous for her poetry, art, music, and dancing. We begin with wee!Jin-Yi, who has been raised in a Buddhist monastery, as her mother, a gisaeng herself, wanted Jin-Yi to be able to escape gisaeng life. Unfortunately for the mother, Jin-Yi ends up watching the performance of a gisaeng troupe and immediately deciding that that is what she wants to do.

So far there are:

• Dance training sequences involving being hung upside down by the foot


• Steadfast friends who matchmake


• A demanding taskmistress who feels that suffering pain will only make your art greater!!!, and whatever, what is life being married on a farm when you could be MARRIED TO YOUR ART?!


• A rival troupe, lead of course by the old rival of Jin-Yi's troupe leader (aforementioned demanding taskmistress), who is determined that she will BEAT HER FINALLY! And if she can't do it, she will get in the way of anyone else who tries to!


• A rivalry between the most promising girl of the rival troupe and Jin-Yi, in which the rival girl is horrified to hear that Jin-Yi is too sick for a competition because she wants to beat her fair and square as an accurate measure of their talent!!


• Societally forbidden love with a yangban boy


• The tragedies of gisaeng life and having to sleep with whatever man has enough to purchase you for the night


• And I can't even describe how much costume porn

There is so much costume porn I would probably watch this solely for the costume and dance scenes even if the rest of it weren't good, but the rest of it is very good!

Jin-Yi herself is awesome and as stoic as only Ha Ji-Won can be and firmly within the shounen sports manga school of "I must perfect all the dance by any means necessary!" and I'm also enjoying how they're slowly fleshing out some of the other gisaeng as well.

( Spoilers )

And on a totally random note, I am amused that a ton of stuff in this drama and in Arang (and possibly most sageuk?) is filmed at the 한국민속촌 and that it's always attributed as such!

Or: What I Did for Winter Vacation
Subtitle: Kdramas, I missed you so much!!!!

(My sister and I started Secret Garden as well, though I got yelled at when she realized I had started her on an as-of-then incomplete drama.)

Anyway, this drama continues to be incredibly funny, but as it goes into the big romantic complications section of the plot, it turns alternately heart breaking and hilarious and so close to life. As long as it doesn't completely mess up the ending, I think this is a series that will be up there with Dal Ja's Spring and Coffee Prince as one of my favorite trendy dramas.

It helps that all the romantic heroes are of the "bare my heart and lay it on the table" mold, and they all manage to go after women who reject them in a mostly non-stalker-like manner, instead choosing vulnerability over command.

( Spoilers are absolutely adorable )

There is probably a ton more to comment on, but we watched so many episodes in the past week that I don't quite remember what all the developments are. Oh, I do wish it weren't as heteronormative and middle-class as it is, but ah well. As trendy dramas go, this is a really good one so far, with main characters I love all around, plot twists that are largely organic and not based on people not talking to each other, and quite a few romances I adore.

I'm doing (yet another) presentation on kdramas for Korean class and was wondering off I could get anecdotes from people.

Frex, have you heard of kdramas? What are your general impressions? What kinds do you like? What have you seen?

Also, what vocabulary have you learned? Are you Korean? Are kdramas popular in the country you're from?

I won't individually identify people in my presentation, but I'll probably summarize
and paraphrase things in Korean.

Also also, please feel free to pass this around as much as possible!

(original title: 아직도 결혼하고 싶은 여자)

This is about three friends—Lee Shin Young, Kim Bu Gi, and Jung Da Jung—and their successes and failures in love and work. I think this has been billed as Korea's Sex in the City several times, but a) I've only seen bits of the show, b) what I did see I wasn't a huge fan of, and c) and I hate the "[name], [country]'s [famous USian thing]" formula. The three friends are all 34-year-old career women who haven't had a lot of success in their love lives.

Shin Young is the Everywoman character who wants romance but also doesn't want to sacrifice her job; in her backstory, we discover that she's chosen career over a boyfriend before, and while she doesn't regret it, she also wishes it weren't an either-or. She's also currently being set up with young rising indie (for kdrama values of indie) star Min Jae, who is ten years younger than she is. Kim Bu Gi is the sophisticated and cool friend who has written off romance and goes for one-night stands. She's the most practical and put-together of the three. Jung Da Jung is an internationally successful interpreter, but she wants to get married to the right guy—older son, lots of money, taller than her, not balding, etc.—rightthissecond. She's the kind of character I would usually hate, except she is so hilariously funny that she is currently my favorite. Shin Young is extremely sympathetic and real, and Bu Gi is who I want as my personal advice giver, but Da Jung makes me fall off the sofa laughing.

The plot is fairly standard, and while this drama doesn't break any genre conventions, its characters are extremely likeable, it features quite a few women who talk to each other about a variety of things, and although it's not radical in its politics, it deals with issues that are very relevant to me. I have to say, although I love my high school shoujo manga, I am so happy that there are quite a few kdramas that cater specifically to young working women. I wish there were more catering to older working women too, though.

This reminds me a great deal of Dal Ja's Spring, which is a huge compliment. Min Jae is nowhere near as cute or as loveable as Tae Bong, but the show makes up for it by spending more time on Shin Young's friends. So far, there hasn't been quite as much intergenerational relationships, but I'm only six episodes in, and there's already a plot line that's promising.

( Spoilers )

Most of all, the show makes me laugh. The first six episodes have already had at least three separate scenes that nearly made me fall off the sofa (asphalt, noraebang, and home spa), and I really need that these days. Also, I love that the love interests don't seem to be in the alpha male category.

All in all, very promising. I just hope it ends as well as it begins!

(original title: 9회말 2아웃)

The title translation's supposed to be something like "Bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs."

Hong Nan Hee is turning 30, and she's still unmarried, living with her mother, and she hasn't done anything about her dream of being a published writer. (I am not sure if the living with her mother is a bad thing in Korea; my guess is the stigma isn't so much living with your mother so much as being unmarried?) And she's dating a baseball player 8 years younger than her. Her best friend since childhood, Byun Hyung Tae, isn't as worried about turning 30, although he is a bit of a womanizer, probably due to Backstory Angst.

They end up living together due to unforeseen circumstances!

Like most trendy dramas, you know where this is going. The pleasure lies in the characters, and luckily, I like all of them so far. The bonus is that the first few episodes almost feel like the middle of other dramas because Nan Hee and Hyung Tae have known each other for so long; there's no meet cute or getting to know you phase to go through.

Both Nan Hee and Hyung Tae's characters aren't as interesting as the leads in Coffee Prince or Dal Ja's Spring, but so far, the series makes up for it in charm. I love watching Nan Hee and Hyung Tae talking to each other; there's a palpable sense of trust and comfort that's very enjoyable. I also like friends-to-lovers stories, so this show hits a few buttons of mine as well.

The baseball player Jung Joo is surprisingly cute, and I think the writing does a good job showing both why Nan Hee's attracted to him while also showing the problems with dating someone at a different life stage than you. The current other side of the quadrangle, Hyung Tae's co-worker Jin Su, also doesn't annoy me, and the show gets around my squicks about working romances (she's an intern, he's a mentor) by having them hook up before she starts work there.

Also, did I mention how cute Nan Hee and Hyung Tae are together? They lounge around the apartment in sweats and glasses and bring each other food and call each other all the time! I'm sure Big Misunderstandings will come in sooner or later, especially when both of their first loves show up, but for now, I'm enjoying just watching them hang out.

So far, this isn't a stellar or groundbreaking show, but it's comfortable and cute and fun, and that's really all I'm asking for right now.

Watch this (legally!) at Drama Fever (US, Canada only)!

(Original title 아가씨를 부탁해, also known as Take Care of My Lady)

Kang Hae Na is the extremely rich heir to the Kangsan Group; she lives in a giant, castle-like manor and has been going through butlers like Kleenex. Seo Dong Chan is an ex-host-club-host currently part-timing at the flower shop of his childhood friend and auntie. They meet! She tries to run him over! He makes her do community service! And after all that animosity, he decides to become....

HER BUTLER! As one does when one must pay off a massive debt.

(Or possibly valet, a la manga. It's hard to tell. The Korean is "집사" if I heard it correctly, but I have no idea if it's the same as a butler or if there is a Korean traditional role that is more a blend of butler and valet.)

The other sides of the romantic rectangle are Lee Tae Yoon, a human rights lawyer who has disavowed his rich family, and Yeo Eui Joo, Dong Chang's aforementioned childhood friend. Amazingly, I actually like all of them.

So far, the series isn't amazingly good or anything, but it amuses me to see Yoon Eun Hye trying to be snobby and mean while wearing fashions that make me raise an eyebrow (I'm not sure what's worse, gold lame leggings or largely patterned leggings). Dong Chan is also buffoonish-ly likable, probably because his attempts to seduce Kang Hae Na are terrible. And they butcher a ballroom routine.

Also, I'm interested in how it turns around the usual drama trope of the snobby rich guy and the poor hard-working and earnest girl. In most dramas, Tae Yoon would be the hero (although he would be meaner) and Eui Joo would be the heroine. It reminds me a great deal of Fantasy Couple, except here, the poor guy is transported into the world of the rich, as opposed to vice versa. (And Yoon Eun Hye is not as good as the hair-tossing and nose-in-the-air as Han Ye Seul.)

I was also wondering why it is that the rich heroines are always snobby and jerkish and abuse everyone, whereas rich heroes are more frequently played as desirable and mean to the heroine, but nice to others. At least here, Hae Na has Secret Angst that explains her meanness, much like most kdrama heroes.

And finally, Dong Chan constantly saying something like, "Of course you can depend on me. I am... your butler!" amuses me every single time.

I admit that I may have watched basically every single angst-laden scene between Cha Song Joo and Lee Su Hyun two or three times in the past few days.

But! The UST! OMG! They just exchange significant glances questioning each other and then they do that whole not touching thing and clearly neither of them is capable of expressing their feelings on pain of death! And then they not touch some more while exchanging significant glances AND significant words that could be read differently! And then one of them invariably quietly leaves the room!

It is awesome. I love it.

Emo porn! Frequently better than sex!

( Spoilers are very spoilery )

In conclusion: there is no way I am not requesting this for Yuletide.

This drama is a very odd combination of revolutionary politics and trendy drama romance sequences. Amazingly, this combination works for me, although I sometimes wish there were more revolutionary politics. But then Wan is cute and wins me over.

I am such a marshmallow at heart...

( Spoilers learn about revolution )

I know I say this about pretty much everything ever, but this is really the BEST THING EVAR OMG! At least so far!

It's the 1930s, and Korea has been under Japanese occupation for about twenty years. Sun Woo Wan is a playboy and all-around wastrel who doesn't care at all about liberating Korea, but unfortunately, he's briefly mistaken for a resistance member by Na Yeo Kyung, an old-fashioned young woman who is extremely idealistic but occasionally naive. Then there's the gisaeng Cha Song Joo, who seems to be platonic friends with Woo Wan, and Security Force member Lee Su Hyun, who seems nice but has secret backstories and works for the Japanese.

Together, they... overthrow Japanese imperialist rule?

At least, that's what I'm assuming will happen!

Even though this is a historical drama, the draw for me is how different it feels from the few sageuk I've seen (Damo, some of Hwang Jin Yi, some of Dae Jang Geum, one episode of Painter in the Wind, and... does Legend count?). First, there's the fact that it's not set in the Joseon Dynasty! Also, as opposed to what I hear about most sageuk, historical accuracy is... really not the strong point of Capital Scandal. I can see this as being very annoying to some people, but I am mostly enjoying the ridiculous outfits that are supposed to pass as 1930s clothes, the bad swing dancing, and the slapstick.

My favorite outfits so far are the bright red fedora paired with a turquoise suit jacket, the pink fedora paired with an all-pink suit, the fedora made out of what I assume is Korean or Japanese patterned silk, Song Joo's awesomesauce red dress (sadly paired with a pink hat instead of a frothy little red number with a veil), and of course, Yeo Kyung's schoolgirl (?) hanbok and Song Joo's gisaeng hanbok. And Yeo Kyung cross-dressing in suspenders and... formal shorts. And maybe Song Joo's patterned black dress with a slit up to her hip. And maybe Woo Wan's lavender shirt when he is boxing. And maybe Su Hyun's tidy three-piece suits with pastel ties.

shewhohashope has picspam of episode 1!

So far, Woo Wan and Yeo Kyung are the antagonistic slapstick couple. She mistakes him for a resistance fighter! He loses his stash of porn to her! She punches him in the face! She pulls a gun on him! She steals his shirt! He stops her from punching him again! She headbutts him! Also, he takes on a bet to woo Jo Ma Ja (her nickname meaning "Joseon's last woman") not knowing it's the woman who's tried to shoot him twice! And if he loses, he has to become an independence fighter. We all know how this will end...

Cha Song Joo and Woo Wan seem to have a platonic relationship right now, though I have no doubt that they will either pretend to be in love or be mistaken as a couple in order to further the plot. I actually very much enjoy their scenes together, particularly when Song Joo orders Woo Wan to walk Yeo Kyung home or help her out because she's staked several bags of rice on his bet.

Yeo Kyung and Su Hyun so far have one of those "nice guy meets nice girl" relationships, although I think that will change once she discovers he's working for the Japanese!

And Su Hyun probably has the best role so far, since he has angsty backstory not only with Woo Wan (it involves a sepia-toned photograph of DOOM!) but also with Song Joo!

I was a little surprised by what I assume with be the secondary couple (Su Hyun and Song Joo), but once I learned the drama was based on a novel written by the same person who wrote the novel Coffee Prince was based on, I was surprised no longer. As such, I'm guessing there will be a similar dynamic with the ingenue-ish character and the womanizer as the main couple, and the slightly older couple with history having a little more angst. I'm very much hoping that both of them are handled well and am now more confident of this after knowing the Coffee Prince writer is involved.

The bonus I hadn't been expecting was Song Joo helping Yeo Kyung out at times, and I really hope the two of them will get more scenes together. The world-weary courtesan keeping secrets for the idealistic young independence fighter! Awesome.

And I am sure it surprises no one that my favorite character so far is Cha Song Joo.

( Spoilers have angsty backstory )

I just hope the rest of the drama stays this awesome!

I watched the first eight episodes last year around Christmas and was not particularly inspired to finish until my group did a kdrama parody skit for Korean class.

To recap: Han Tae Woong is a genius mathematician who turned boxer and renamed himself Deuk Gu after the suicide of his high school friend. Kim Bo Ra is a rich, spoiled, somewhat suicidal woman living with chronic illness. They meet, and she is cold and bitchy, though he manages to melt her exterior in scenes involving many references to "The Snow Queen" story. So far, I think there have been several Big Misunderstandings, several cases of mixed-up identities, three suicide attempts, one instance of kneeling at your parent's feet, and two instances of waiting in the rain. (I may be a little off, because I watched eps. 7-8 a year ago.)

In these 10 (or 8, see above parenthetical) episodes, we add a major case of identity reveal, a tragic wasting illness, running away from home, more kneeling at your parent's feet, lying to your loved one and hurting them for their own good, and about 5 changes of heart. Sadly, there is no secret incest, cross-dressing, or amnesia (the one trope we forgot to put in our parody skit).

( Spoilers, although I am not sure it is possible to spoil this show )

As you can probably tell, there is no redeeming feature in this whatsoever. The plot is horribly hackneyed, Hyun Bin has about two expressions and horrible hair (although he's at least dressed better than he was in Kim Sam Soon), the actress who plays Bo Ra has about two expressions, everyone develops undying grudges then forgives and forgets as the plot dictates, there is the merciless tugging of heartstrings, and mean, cold Bo Ra turns into a saint. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Still, it has a cold heroine whose heart is thawed by the Power of Love (and maybe by Hyun Bin's facial scruff), references to "The Snow Queen" (the manhwa tagline: "Gerda came for Kay, but who will come for the lonely Snow Queen?"), and I loved every second of it and cried buckets until I could not breathe through my nose even as I was snorfling at the nineteenth cliche the writers were piling in on the last ten minutes.

So: not recommended, but damn, that was fun.