Comments | asianpopshock: Packaging Spotlight 013: Coffee Prince

no1_antielitist in asianpopshock

Packaging Spotlight 013: Coffee Prince

Jan 22, 2011 17:52

Coffee Prince has been one of my favorite dramas (Korean or Japanese) for a long time. Everything from the storyline to the cast (who can keep from loving Yoon Eun-Hye and Gong Yoo?!) to the overall production values makes this series one I keep coming back to watch over and over. It's also a great gateway series for friends who might not have a ( Read more... )

mbc america, coffee prince, spotlight, dvd, feature, k-drama

Comments 7

spacemonkeyluvn January 23 2011, 00:21:43 UTC

I love this show so much. Thank you for the heads up on where to get a copy. I'll have to save a bit for it, so hopefully it'll still be around when I can afford it :D

no1_antielitist January 23 2011, 00:26:49 UTC

When I picked this set up, it was definitely one of the only DVDs I bought the entire month, but it was totally worth it. :D

Since not a lot of people know about MBC America's retail store, I think you should be safe, but I thought it would be better to warn people rather than not say anything at all.

And yay for finding out you're a
Coffee Prince fan! :D

spacemonkeyluvn January 23 2011, 06:10:52 UTC

Yeah it was the first Kdrama I ever watched and it made me fall in love with Yoon Eun-Hye and Gong Yoo. I've watched some other dramas since then and it's still one of my favorites ♥

eyeslikefirefly January 23 2011, 03:18:23 UTC

So I absolutely love this drama and want to get it but I just want to double check... you've ordered from the MBC store, yes? I'm guessing that's why you say it's very reliable? Also, I bought Goong a while back the subs were pretty low quality (at least compared to WITHS2 who also subbed the songs, which I prefer). Is it the same for Coffee Prince or did MBC do better this time?

no1_antielitist January 23 2011, 04:13:08 UTC

Yes, my copy of Coffee Prince was from the MBC America store, and it arrived about 3 days after I ordered it. It arrived via FedEx ground shipping for $5 (if you're based in the U.S. I think it's $5 flat fee no matter where you are). I've ordered a couple other things from them since then, and it's been pretty much the same experience. I've been really happy with them.

As for the subtitles, I'd describe them as being decent. Not too many typos or grammatical errors, and the nuances were OK compared to some other releases I've seen. I think the nuances aren't necessarily what we get with a fansub group, but there are certain freedoms that fansubbers have (that I'm totally grateful for) as far as translations go that official translators often don't.

As a warning, though, I grew up watching some unbelievably bad subs from Hong Kong and have developed a pretty high tolerance for certain things, so I might not be the best judge. :)

The subs were definitely NOT terrible (which is more than I can say for Rain's Full House), but like most ( ... )

eyeslikefirefly January 23 2011, 04:31:53 UTC

Good to know about the MBC store. I'll keep them in my list of shopping sites.

I have a hard time with bad subs, they just really get to me (especially when chunks of dialog seem to go unsubbed or are subbed with the least information possible, which is what the translators for Goong seemed to do quite a few times throughout). I can live without the songs, but the songs usually seem to fit so well with the scenes that I still don't understand why they wouldn't subtitle them. On the one hand I prefer fansubs because of the detail they put into them, but on the other I want to support the flow of kdramas we've been getting...IDK. I think I'll have to sit on it for a bit and then decide.

(Glad I didn't buy Full House, but it was hard to find anyway because it seemed to be pulled from the market)

Thank you for all the information. Definitely very helpful. ^^

no1_antielitist January 23 2011, 04:38:51 UTC

For what it's worth, I've noticed that localization companies (regardless of whether the original subject matter is Korean, Japanese or Chinese) tend to get better as the years go by. Both Palace and Coffee Prince are slightly older releases (not in terms of K-drama, of course, but in terms of how old the translation companies were when those series were brought over) - 2007 and early 2008 respectively.

Most of the K-dramas I've picked up that were released on DVD from late 2009 onward have been pretty solid subs-quality wise, so hopefully you'll be more comfortable with newer titles if you decide to pick them up.