Devil Beside You: cracktastic.
I've caved in and bought a lovely official version of A Love to Kill which also has excellent quality subtitles. It's the version that also has Japanese subs, not Chinese. Haven't seen those on ebay so had to pay the full price, eeeek! But well worth it. That way I can watch it on my lovely big TV screen. And it will get here hopefully early this week as I sprang for fancy shipping. YAY!
What that means though is that for now I am pausing my ALtK watch, until that point later in the week (I still have 10 eps to go, yay). So I have started watching A Devil Beside You instead. The problem is ALtK has kinda ruined me because this is fun. Lots of fun. But a part of me is all 'but I want to see the angsty pretty artiness with filters.' Or maybe just Rain shirtless..
Devil Beside You is a Taiwanese dorama. The set-up is deliciously cracktastic. Our heroine, Xiao Yue (nicknamed Yue Yue), is a college student who's finally decided to give a love letter to her long term crush, the handsome and sweet-tempered captain of the basketball team, Yuan Yi (played by the really hot Kingone). Unfortunately and by a cracktastic mistake, the letter ends up in the hands of Ah Meng, the oddly dressed, off-kilter troublemaker (played by so hot it should be illegal Mike He). Ah Meng, who clearly likes Yue Yue but has never made it past the elementary school stage of showing that like through pulling pigtails, uses the existence of the letter (by threatening to reveal it to the whole school) to make Yue Yue into his subordinate (get your minds of of the gutter, I mean as in fetching him lunch and taking notes for him in class). Well, feisty Yue Yue not only doesn't stand for his bossing her for long, she actually *gasp* after a few twists and turns, finds out that she has fallen in love with Meng, who underneath his tough guy exterior and dreadful fashion sense is actually a sweet guy. This being a dorama based on a manga, their problems are just starting however. Like the fact that his father and her mother are engaged and they might just become siblings for real.
The first two eps were very off-kilter. Quite funny in a tongue-in-cheek exaggerated kinda way (fake thunder!). Which was OK and even funny (even though Ah Meng leering got a bit old after a while), but you know me. My liking for this show only really kicked in with ep 3 where we settled down to the serious business of mushy delicious angst (and Ah Meng acquired other facial expressions!). I am severely amused at how they portray Meng. I mean, his ideas of social interactions aren't mine, but look: he protects fat kids from bullying! And rescues birds from dynamite! And he plays a guitar for his friends' band even though his hand is horribly injured (from the above mentioned bird incident)! While wearing a mask! And with Yue Yue's scarf wrapped around his hurt hand (he just took it from her neck without asking)! And then that scarf ends up tucked under his pillow! And he gets embarassed by his father in an adorable way! And his mother ditched him! Heeeee. Show, much as I love all of those (and oh boy, do I!), you didn't have to do it. Even with the odd hair, he still looks like Mike He, so you don't have to try so hard to convince me he's hot and OTPable. He is. Very. He is totally adorable brat.
I have to admit personal preferences go with Yuan Yi though. He is a sweet, quiet guy who is clearly amazingly decent (he tells YY about the bird thing eg as YY is yelling at Meng because she is assuming he was bullying the kid who was engaging in that nasty behavior). Also, not a problem child. But they are clearly setting him and YY's best friend to hook up and I am all for it.
The scene with YY and Meng's first kiss is cracktastic. She apologizes to him for thinking he was the one who publicized her letter and telling him off in a horrid fashion and says that he can hit her. So he tells her to close her eyes and then pulls her to him instead and kisses her. EEEEE! Of course, Yuan Yi sees blah blah angst ensues. But what I really love is the scene after that where Yuan Yi is all 'aren't you set to become brother and sister?' and Meng replies 'we want to be that kind of dangerous siblings.' As YY just glares at him, appalled. Heeeeeeeee. I do like that they don't drag out who does she like or doesn't as YY tells Yuan Yi that she is in love with Meng in ep 3. Yay.
And whoa, two kisses in three eps! That's a good record: when they crash on his bicycle and end up on the road and she asks him 'why is danger always around when you are?' and he replies he can't control what's around but he'll protect her and then there is snogging. Horizontal. On the road. With cars all around them. Good for them.
Fave scene though is when YY is staying at Meng's house (because of the parents thing) and she ends up putting salve on his injured hand (in his bedroom!) and he is just staring at her with this adorable expression on his face and then he pulls the blanket over both of them as if they are playing tent, and tells her it doesn't hurt any more and then as she turns her head to look at him, he is fast asleep. And she gets up to try to go to her own room, but he is holding on to some part of her clothing really tightly so she can't. And she ends up waking in his bed in the morning and he is just looking at her and awwwwww. Cute.
A Love to Kill is genuinely amazing. I mean, it's good even if you don't like the genre of doramas. DBY isn't in its league, but it's not trying to be. What it is, is a delicious mushy melodrama, tongue a bit in cheek and angst and cheese mixed into an irresistable spread. So yeah, it's not ALtK or Mars or Majo No Jouken. But oh boy, am I glad I found this one! Delish. Cheesy and delish. And no, I am not just referring to Mike He.
More pics for DBY are in the humongous Mike He spam I did a few days back. Just click on the 'mike he' tag.
And a couple of Mike He pics just because:
What that means though is that for now I am pausing my ALtK watch, until that point later in the week (I still have 10 eps to go, yay). So I have started watching A Devil Beside You instead. The problem is ALtK has kinda ruined me because this is fun. Lots of fun. But a part of me is all 'but I want to see the angsty pretty artiness with filters.' Or maybe just Rain shirtless..
Devil Beside You is a Taiwanese dorama. The set-up is deliciously cracktastic. Our heroine, Xiao Yue (nicknamed Yue Yue), is a college student who's finally decided to give a love letter to her long term crush, the handsome and sweet-tempered captain of the basketball team, Yuan Yi (played by the really hot Kingone). Unfortunately and by a cracktastic mistake, the letter ends up in the hands of Ah Meng, the oddly dressed, off-kilter troublemaker (played by so hot it should be illegal Mike He). Ah Meng, who clearly likes Yue Yue but has never made it past the elementary school stage of showing that like through pulling pigtails, uses the existence of the letter (by threatening to reveal it to the whole school) to make Yue Yue into his subordinate (get your minds of of the gutter, I mean as in fetching him lunch and taking notes for him in class). Well, feisty Yue Yue not only doesn't stand for his bossing her for long, she actually *gasp* after a few twists and turns, finds out that she has fallen in love with Meng, who underneath his tough guy exterior and dreadful fashion sense is actually a sweet guy. This being a dorama based on a manga, their problems are just starting however. Like the fact that his father and her mother are engaged and they might just become siblings for real.
The first two eps were very off-kilter. Quite funny in a tongue-in-cheek exaggerated kinda way (fake thunder!). Which was OK and even funny (even though Ah Meng leering got a bit old after a while), but you know me. My liking for this show only really kicked in with ep 3 where we settled down to the serious business of mushy delicious angst (and Ah Meng acquired other facial expressions!). I am severely amused at how they portray Meng. I mean, his ideas of social interactions aren't mine, but look: he protects fat kids from bullying! And rescues birds from dynamite! And he plays a guitar for his friends' band even though his hand is horribly injured (from the above mentioned bird incident)! While wearing a mask! And with Yue Yue's scarf wrapped around his hurt hand (he just took it from her neck without asking)! And then that scarf ends up tucked under his pillow! And he gets embarassed by his father in an adorable way! And his mother ditched him! Heeeee. Show, much as I love all of those (and oh boy, do I!), you didn't have to do it. Even with the odd hair, he still looks like Mike He, so you don't have to try so hard to convince me he's hot and OTPable. He is. Very. He is totally adorable brat.
I have to admit personal preferences go with Yuan Yi though. He is a sweet, quiet guy who is clearly amazingly decent (he tells YY about the bird thing eg as YY is yelling at Meng because she is assuming he was bullying the kid who was engaging in that nasty behavior). Also, not a problem child. But they are clearly setting him and YY's best friend to hook up and I am all for it.
The scene with YY and Meng's first kiss is cracktastic. She apologizes to him for thinking he was the one who publicized her letter and telling him off in a horrid fashion and says that he can hit her. So he tells her to close her eyes and then pulls her to him instead and kisses her. EEEEE! Of course, Yuan Yi sees blah blah angst ensues. But what I really love is the scene after that where Yuan Yi is all 'aren't you set to become brother and sister?' and Meng replies 'we want to be that kind of dangerous siblings.' As YY just glares at him, appalled. Heeeeeeeee. I do like that they don't drag out who does she like or doesn't as YY tells Yuan Yi that she is in love with Meng in ep 3. Yay.
And whoa, two kisses in three eps! That's a good record: when they crash on his bicycle and end up on the road and she asks him 'why is danger always around when you are?' and he replies he can't control what's around but he'll protect her and then there is snogging. Horizontal. On the road. With cars all around them. Good for them.
Fave scene though is when YY is staying at Meng's house (because of the parents thing) and she ends up putting salve on his injured hand (in his bedroom!) and he is just staring at her with this adorable expression on his face and then he pulls the blanket over both of them as if they are playing tent, and tells her it doesn't hurt any more and then as she turns her head to look at him, he is fast asleep. And she gets up to try to go to her own room, but he is holding on to some part of her clothing really tightly so she can't. And she ends up waking in his bed in the morning and he is just looking at her and awwwwww. Cute.
A Love to Kill is genuinely amazing. I mean, it's good even if you don't like the genre of doramas. DBY isn't in its league, but it's not trying to be. What it is, is a delicious mushy melodrama, tongue a bit in cheek and angst and cheese mixed into an irresistable spread. So yeah, it's not ALtK or Mars or Majo No Jouken. But oh boy, am I glad I found this one! Delish. Cheesy and delish. And no, I am not just referring to Mike He.
More pics for DBY are in the humongous Mike He spam I did a few days back. Just click on the 'mike he' tag.
And a couple of Mike He pics just because: