2010 Viewings
2010 honor roll:
Smile, You (only for Hyun Soo being the best oppa to ever oppa and for Jung In being basically forever awesome, and for the two of them developing into the greatest, cutest, healthiest relationship ever, despite their moronic, interfering families)
Invincible Lee Pyung Kang (their determination and affection was epically cute)
The Vineyard Man (I wrote a song, it goes like this: Taek Gi, oh Taek Gi, find me a farm and take care of me)
Love Shuffle (!!! how so amazing!!!)
Honorable mentions: Bicheonmu for kicking so much ass, omg, and the Tiger and Dragon special for being kickass in other, equally important ways.
Movie-wise, the honor roll:
Oto Na Ri
Shindo
Fish Story
My Mighty Princess
Movie honorable mentions: Chocolate, I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay, Guns & Talks, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (the anime, not this new live-action), Antique, The Miracle on 1st Street
~*~~*TV in 2010*~~*~
Long Love Letter. So weird. So, so weird. And yet, so likable. But so weird. Spider-humans, what??
My Sweet Seoul. I quite liked this. I liked imperfect, blithely selfish Eun Soo and I liked Choi Kang Hee's portrayal of her, and I liked Tae Oh and Ji Hyun Woo's portrayal of him (even if sometimes his facial expressions are downright insipid) and I really liked their relationship, how it came together and evolved and eventually fell apart, and I really liked Young Soo and the overwhelming sense of steadiness and peace Lee Sun Gyun gave that character, and while I was not sold at all on what happened with his character, getting a nicely built-up side story about Yoo Hee went a long way to making up for it. So, well done, show, I'm glad I spent the time with you.
Seigi no Mikata. So I saw this recommended somewhere as Why Why Love minus the surprise!illness hairpin curve at the end. Except but no, it's nothing like that at all. At all. And I guess it was kind of funny, but wow, I was so pissed off at being so severely misguided that I don't even know beyond that.
Katagoshi no Koibito. After the INFIDELITY, INFIDELITY EVERYWHERE! beginning, I really enjoyed this drama and the looks it gave us at the characters' growth and questioning of their own and each others' beliefs and expectations from love, family and friendship. Moe and Ruriko's relationship was so interesting and it felt so honest for a show to portray it the way it did.
ROMES. The panopticon plus love story. (Yuya/Sunamura, their love is forever.)
Playful Kiss. Well, I finished it, which is more than I can say for the Taiwanese version. Beyond that, nothing. I feel absolutely nothing for the story, for the shell of a girl so obsessed with that boy, to her own detriment, and for that snarky, hateful boy. Nothing. Well, okay, maybe a little distaste.
Coffee House. Heeee. I enjoyed this a lot, just remembering it makes me smile. I did start losing interest about halfway, but it picked up and the ending didn't disappoint in the least. Good show, Coffee House.
Love Shuffle. YES, PANDA, FOREVER YES. (Also, bumped Karina to the top of my list of girl crushes.)
Down With Love. So cute and fun! I have absolutely no memory of how it ended! Happily, I presume!
Fated to Love You. Noooooo. I was not fated to love this show.
Unubore Deka. Pretty fun and lively, and some damn good humor and comedic timing. But also... I got a little bored. Until that last episode. That dance sequence revived the whole thing like there were folks hallelujah'ing in a tent outside.
Last Scandal of My Life. Far and away more satisfying than Oh My Lady. Way cute, and Dong Chul really charmed me, but I wanted to see a lot more of the gay love story between his two assistants.
Hotaru no Hikari 2. I am so sad to say was so uninvested in this. It just seemed like such an unnecessary epilogue to their story. I mean, I didn't even wait for subs of the final episode to come out; I just watched it raw, that is how thoroughly not-into HnH2 I was. Although I will always treasure the opportunity to see Buchou goro-goro-goroing around, so thanks for that, show.
Powerful Opponents. Wow, this was a lot of great. I am still chewing on the lack of closure, but if a show is to have such an ending, this was the perfect place for it.
Virgin Road. lol lol lol, I don't know, it was on The List of Stuff To Watch, and I was bored, and it felt sooo oooold, it was amusing in that way. Also, her perm killed me. But as much as I kept a pretty great ironic distance, I also enjoyed a lot about this one: the family dynamic, for example, added a nice layer to the story rather than detracting with annoyances. It was interesting, too, to see how different outsiders fit within that family interplay. The affection and physicality between Kaoru and Kazumi was really sweet, too. But oh my god, that theme song, whaaaaaat.
Natsu no koi yadda yadda. I did not think I would like this at all. I went in with incredibly low expectations, excited and curious as I was for its potential. But I gotta say, the characters really sold this story to me. I completely bought Taiga and all his quirks, and I really got Shiori and enjoyed her as a nicely, well-fleshed out woman, and Umi remained adorable and pretty much grating-free throughout.
City Hall. It was actually recommeded that I avoid this movie because of my aversion to infidelity getting all up in my dramas, and I can see why, but for whatever reason its somewhat-presence didn't throw me off. I was really okay with this. More than okay, I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this show. It was one I really took my time on and paid a lot of attention to, and that's saying something, given my viewing habits.
My Lucky Star. Started off okay-ish, but wound up boring me to tears and I couldn't wait for it to end.
Yankee Bokou ni Kaeru. A little After School Special-ish, but still a touching, and I found myself feeling pretty attached to several characters. (Also, Nanae + hulking Yakuza guy = twoo wuv, and he really needed to get over the ex-wife and get on that, y/y?) All I'll say about the special with Sho and Matsuda Shota is that it was highly regrettable, and now I'll go back to pretending I never saw it.
Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu. Right up my alley and rather satisfying, even if the ending is almost entirely rewritten within my head.
Around 40. Interesting. Somewhat unexpected in ways, and in other ways exactly what I would expect, in very disappointing ways. Also, it was just plain weird to see Fujiki Naohito playing this kind of bright-faced, youthful, optimistic man. But I think that's just me.
How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor. I get the ending, I even appreciate it in a way, for feeling pretty true to life, but damn. Still, a thoroughly great series, and I'm sorry it doesn't seem to get talked about more. My affection for it is similar to my affection for Alone in Love and 9 End 2 Outs, I think.
Oh My Lady. There is no way I would have stuck with this had I been watching as it aired and had to wait for subs to be released. As it was, zipping through ep after ep like the series was a box of candy was a satisfyingly empty-headed way to spend a weekend afternoon and evening. Didn't go in with high expectations, didn't walk away disappointed.
Alone in Love. I got really wrapped up in this, which is surprising on the one hand, considering how much I can tend to pull back from and get all cynical about dramas all about love and partnership and marriage, but I went into this one expecting it to be a little more grown up and mature about those ideas, and tossing about divorce and the loss of a child and questioning childish, storybook ideas of "true" love, and whether love can ever last forever, and. Yeah, well. It didn't disappoint.
Bicheonmu. So much love for so many secondary characters: Yahoolai, Chang Ryong, Ah Xin. Even Sa Joon. I was surprisingly caught up in the story and did not mind the angst, probably because it did not feel like forced or needless angstiness. Also, there was very little crying. Yeah. This, I liked quite a bit.
Tokyo DOGS. I don't know if the overall story was worth watching this whole series when I only stuck around each episode for the one or two sequences of rapid-fire banter between Oguri Shun and Mizushima Hiro. Fortunately, they were, you know, present, to help pad out the rest of the show. But still. Not quite enough.
Himitsu no Hanazono. (rewatch) Here's a rundown of thoughts on that.
Goong. Irritating for a variety of reasons. Through no fault of dude the prince--him, I totally got. And I rather enjoyed all the palace intrigue. Except for how I couldn't keep anybody straight on account of everyone's name being something-or-other-Mama.
The Vineyard Man. So satisfying, to my very soul. Makes me want to go outside and spread my arms open to welcome the sun and dig my toes into the earth until I take root.
Attic Cat. Delightful Girl minus the really despicable bad guy? Kept hold on the light-hearted, fun vibe throughout. The move in-move out-move back in cycle got tiresome, but still, a win.
Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang. The first third flew by as generally light-hearted and cute fun. And while there were bright spots throughout, I was definitely ready for it to end. Although secondary guy was a helluva great character, a villain I could really get behind.
Smile, You. My fondness for this show almost entirely hinges on Hyun Soo and his relationships with Jung In, his family, and her family. I find it hard, though, not to resent writers, directors, whoever for dragging it down quite a bit with poor focus and sloppy storytelling. Kind of frustrating, really. But I imagine I'll always harbor a big ol' soft spot for it regardless.
Haikei, Chichiue-sama. Ippei was a really interesting narrator for this story, and I liked the whole atmosphere.
Untouchable. Plus extra credit for the nearly unbearable coolness of one Takafuji Shinichi.
Hi My Sweetheart. (dnw) No. Just... no.
Who Are You. I forgot I watched this and found this longish write-up of thoughts, so. There was a lot I liked about this show and there was a lot that did not work for me at all. Yoon Kye Sang played his character perfectly, it really was nothing short of amazing getting to watch him. Jin Yi Han set up the beautiful complexity of his character marvelously. I was not very moved by Go Ah Ra, but really, I can't even comment on her acting because I really think it was the character itself that irked me, if anything. (She struck me as so bratty and immature, to the extent that I didn't even have fun watching it. Compared to the bratty immaturity of Jung In, for example, in Smile, You, which came off as endearingly sharp... Ah, I don't know.) But her two friends, played by Lee Un (the dumb guy in Coffee Prince! So sweet and cute and steady here!!) and Lee Min Jung (none other than Jung In in Smile, You!!) were great extras to the story, sweet and stabilizing presences in the craziness that Young In's life became after her father's death. Furthermore, the resolution was simple and moving. Even the several monologues in the end were lovely. All that! All that going for it, and yet something really did not click for me. I think it boils down to Young In. For me, her relentlessly cruel behavior toward her father was unforgivable. Yet throughout the show, people kept referring to how kind she was. And I was left wondering Really? Where's the evidence of THAT? because I had none. No indications of such at all. Sure, we got some flashbacks of her singing and dancing with her dad, but a couple brief flashbacks of decent events does not a good person make. I was cold and largely unsympathetic to the character, and felt she deserved few of the breaks and strokes of good luck she got from the story. So there we have it. Blame the brat.
Devil Beside You. I possibly treated this as more of a comedy than was strictly fair. It has some very winning qualities, but it's not something I could take seriously at all, even when (I think) I was supposed to.
Invincible Lee Pyung Kang. Starts off airy and light and enjoyable enough and by the end will charm your pants off and you will part with them willingly and not even wonder where or when they went. Couldn't get enough of SUPER OTP Pyung Kang and Ohn Dal.
I Really, Really Like You. Long, and I had to force myself to sludge through the midway episodes of infidelity-ish. Lee Min Ki is solid, though, and totally enjoyable, as are the many likable and interesting side stories and characters.
Why Why Love. Cute and wacky and feisty. My first Mike He experience. Blindsided by a bit of a hairpin turn towards the end, but rather succeeds in sticking it.
Uta no Onii-san. Could have been four episodes instead of eight, and I probably would have been far less bored and slightly more charmed by it.
Spring Waltz. So, so beautiful. Jae Ha made my heart swell--those eyes, those lips, oh my. Eun Young is one of the least abrasive, most charming (spunky, even!) female leads I've had the pleasure to watch. Other adjectives I'd use to describe the joy that is this show: graceful! moving! riveting! so. damn. pretty! Heady stuff. I want more. Of that. I was not so impressed by the secondary characters, but they served as necessary vehicles, I suppose.
~*~~*Movies in 2010*~~*~
Unstoppable Marriage. (D)
Oto Na Ri. (A)
Boxing Gloves Rag Dolls. (A)
Boku no Kanojo wa Cyborg. (WTF)
Speedy Scandal. (B-)
Mulan (A)
Dear Doctor (B)
Saigo no Yakusoku (C)
Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai (A)
Me...Myself (B)
Ditto (C)
The Great Happiness Space - Tales of an Osaka Love Thief (A)
Almost Love. (B)
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. (C-)
Shindo. (A)
100 Days with Mr. Arrogant. (C)
Hold Up Down (A)
Winter Game (Fuyu no undokai) (DNF)
Instant Numa (A)
Hello Schoolgirl (B)
Kiss Me, Kill Me (B+)
Heartbreak Library (B)
Iron Ladies (A)
Tokyo Sonata (B)
Drugstore Girl (A)
Tengoku de Kimi ni Aetara (B)
Fish Story (A)
Chocolate (A)
I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay. I have issues that make it impossible for me to grade this.
Fly, Daddy, Fly (B)
Sleeping Bride (C)
Kiiroi Namida (C)
Spring Bears Love (B)
The Art of Seduction (C)
The White Dragon (C)
Tiger and Dragon (SP) (A)
Yatterman (D) Oh my god.
7 Days of the Kobe Shimbun (B-) Okay(ish) for what it was, I guess.
MW (B-) Sloppiness detracted from what could've been really, really cool and gripping.
Ultra Miracle Love Story (B-) What.
Guns & Talks (A) Yes!
Dirty Carnival (B-)
The Coffin (C)
See You After School (B)
I Come With the Rain (C)
Failan (C)
Goemon (B)
200 Pounds Beauty (B+)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (A)
He Was Cool (C+)
Kagehinata ni Saku (B-)
My Mighty Princess (A)
Someone Special (C)
My Tutor My Friend (B-)
The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan (A-)
My Boyfriend is Type B (C)
Too Beautiful to Lie (C+)
Sepet (C)
Antique (A)
Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru (B)
Hard Luck Hero (B)
My Little Bride (B+)
Linda Linda Linda (B+)
Install (B-)
A Wolf's Temptation (B-)
Swallowtail (Yentown)
Why Did You Come to My House
Death Note
Oishii Man
A Man Who Was Superman
Taipei Exchanges
Koizora Fucking Koizora.
Innocent Steps
Kamui Gaiden
S Diary
My Tutor Friend II (cuter than the first one, and tidier as a narrative)
Miracle on 1st Street (cute and funny and touching, then utterly heartbreaking, then concludes with utterly unrealistic sappiness, and yet I pretty much adore it)
Love Phobia (BETRAYAL)
A Moment in Time (MORE BETRAYAL)
8uppers
Punch Lady
Magare! Spoon (has become my favorite Christmas movie. ...Not that that's saying a lot... more like, I'm just saying.)
The Perfect Couple (the lady with the voice from Bad Family and Gong Chan from My Girl are now totally my OTP forever)
The Peter Pan Formula (Uh. Too deep for me, I guess. Because no. Not even with adorable-faced kid. ...not even with adorable-faced kid jerking off with the neighbor lady's pristine white panties, no yeah, WHAT.)
Hooked On You (GODDAMN IT, ENDING, WTF, AGAIN I FEEL SO BETRAYED.)
Romantic Island (Cuuuuuuuuute.)
Love So Divine
The Intimate (oh my.)
~*~*~Abandoned~*~*~
Que Sera Sera. (2.5/) (ABANDONED, got distracted)
Miss No-good. (4/) (ABANDONED, shitty)
Wish Upon a Star (4/) (ABANDONED, boring and trite and predictable)
The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry. (6/16) (ABANDONED, but it was totally enjoyable! I just got a little bored and easily distracted because it was feeling just a bit too much like DJS minus Tae Bong. Will probably pick up again, because I am awfully curious about how it will resolve. Or I may just spoil myself and be satisfied with that.)
Easy Fortune Happy life (11/17) (ABANDONED, but possibly will pick up again now that more eps appear to be subbed)
Kamen Rider Kabuto (1/a billion) (whenever)
Evasive Inquiry Agency (totally enjoyable, but I'm not all that invested in it either)
Yasashii Jikan (kinda bored me to tears...)
Smile, You (only for Hyun Soo being the best oppa to ever oppa and for Jung In being basically forever awesome, and for the two of them developing into the greatest, cutest, healthiest relationship ever, despite their moronic, interfering families)
Invincible Lee Pyung Kang (their determination and affection was epically cute)
The Vineyard Man (I wrote a song, it goes like this: Taek Gi, oh Taek Gi, find me a farm and take care of me)
Love Shuffle (!!! how so amazing!!!)
Honorable mentions: Bicheonmu for kicking so much ass, omg, and the Tiger and Dragon special for being kickass in other, equally important ways.
Movie-wise, the honor roll:
Oto Na Ri
Shindo
Fish Story
My Mighty Princess
Movie honorable mentions: Chocolate, I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay, Guns & Talks, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (the anime, not this new live-action), Antique, The Miracle on 1st Street
~*~~*TV in 2010*~~*~
Long Love Letter. So weird. So, so weird. And yet, so likable. But so weird. Spider-humans, what??
My Sweet Seoul. I quite liked this. I liked imperfect, blithely selfish Eun Soo and I liked Choi Kang Hee's portrayal of her, and I liked Tae Oh and Ji Hyun Woo's portrayal of him (even if sometimes his facial expressions are downright insipid) and I really liked their relationship, how it came together and evolved and eventually fell apart, and I really liked Young Soo and the overwhelming sense of steadiness and peace Lee Sun Gyun gave that character, and while I was not sold at all on what happened with his character, getting a nicely built-up side story about Yoo Hee went a long way to making up for it. So, well done, show, I'm glad I spent the time with you.
Seigi no Mikata. So I saw this recommended somewhere as Why Why Love minus the surprise!illness hairpin curve at the end. Except but no, it's nothing like that at all. At all. And I guess it was kind of funny, but wow, I was so pissed off at being so severely misguided that I don't even know beyond that.
Katagoshi no Koibito. After the INFIDELITY, INFIDELITY EVERYWHERE! beginning, I really enjoyed this drama and the looks it gave us at the characters' growth and questioning of their own and each others' beliefs and expectations from love, family and friendship. Moe and Ruriko's relationship was so interesting and it felt so honest for a show to portray it the way it did.
ROMES. The panopticon plus love story. (Yuya/Sunamura, their love is forever.)
Playful Kiss. Well, I finished it, which is more than I can say for the Taiwanese version. Beyond that, nothing. I feel absolutely nothing for the story, for the shell of a girl so obsessed with that boy, to her own detriment, and for that snarky, hateful boy. Nothing. Well, okay, maybe a little distaste.
Coffee House. Heeee. I enjoyed this a lot, just remembering it makes me smile. I did start losing interest about halfway, but it picked up and the ending didn't disappoint in the least. Good show, Coffee House.
Love Shuffle. YES, PANDA, FOREVER YES. (Also, bumped Karina to the top of my list of girl crushes.)
Down With Love. So cute and fun! I have absolutely no memory of how it ended! Happily, I presume!
Fated to Love You. Noooooo. I was not fated to love this show.
Unubore Deka. Pretty fun and lively, and some damn good humor and comedic timing. But also... I got a little bored. Until that last episode. That dance sequence revived the whole thing like there were folks hallelujah'ing in a tent outside.
Last Scandal of My Life. Far and away more satisfying than Oh My Lady. Way cute, and Dong Chul really charmed me, but I wanted to see a lot more of the gay love story between his two assistants.
Hotaru no Hikari 2. I am so sad to say was so uninvested in this. It just seemed like such an unnecessary epilogue to their story. I mean, I didn't even wait for subs of the final episode to come out; I just watched it raw, that is how thoroughly not-into HnH2 I was. Although I will always treasure the opportunity to see Buchou goro-goro-goroing around, so thanks for that, show.
Powerful Opponents. Wow, this was a lot of great. I am still chewing on the lack of closure, but if a show is to have such an ending, this was the perfect place for it.
Virgin Road. lol lol lol, I don't know, it was on The List of Stuff To Watch, and I was bored, and it felt sooo oooold, it was amusing in that way. Also, her perm killed me. But as much as I kept a pretty great ironic distance, I also enjoyed a lot about this one: the family dynamic, for example, added a nice layer to the story rather than detracting with annoyances. It was interesting, too, to see how different outsiders fit within that family interplay. The affection and physicality between Kaoru and Kazumi was really sweet, too. But oh my god, that theme song, whaaaaaat.
Natsu no koi yadda yadda. I did not think I would like this at all. I went in with incredibly low expectations, excited and curious as I was for its potential. But I gotta say, the characters really sold this story to me. I completely bought Taiga and all his quirks, and I really got Shiori and enjoyed her as a nicely, well-fleshed out woman, and Umi remained adorable and pretty much grating-free throughout.
City Hall. It was actually recommeded that I avoid this movie because of my aversion to infidelity getting all up in my dramas, and I can see why, but for whatever reason its somewhat-presence didn't throw me off. I was really okay with this. More than okay, I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this show. It was one I really took my time on and paid a lot of attention to, and that's saying something, given my viewing habits.
My Lucky Star. Started off okay-ish, but wound up boring me to tears and I couldn't wait for it to end.
Yankee Bokou ni Kaeru. A little After School Special-ish, but still a touching, and I found myself feeling pretty attached to several characters. (Also, Nanae + hulking Yakuza guy = twoo wuv, and he really needed to get over the ex-wife and get on that, y/y?) All I'll say about the special with Sho and Matsuda Shota is that it was highly regrettable, and now I'll go back to pretending I never saw it.
Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu. Right up my alley and rather satisfying, even if the ending is almost entirely rewritten within my head.
Around 40. Interesting. Somewhat unexpected in ways, and in other ways exactly what I would expect, in very disappointing ways. Also, it was just plain weird to see Fujiki Naohito playing this kind of bright-faced, youthful, optimistic man. But I think that's just me.
How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor. I get the ending, I even appreciate it in a way, for feeling pretty true to life, but damn. Still, a thoroughly great series, and I'm sorry it doesn't seem to get talked about more. My affection for it is similar to my affection for Alone in Love and 9 End 2 Outs, I think.
Oh My Lady. There is no way I would have stuck with this had I been watching as it aired and had to wait for subs to be released. As it was, zipping through ep after ep like the series was a box of candy was a satisfyingly empty-headed way to spend a weekend afternoon and evening. Didn't go in with high expectations, didn't walk away disappointed.
Alone in Love. I got really wrapped up in this, which is surprising on the one hand, considering how much I can tend to pull back from and get all cynical about dramas all about love and partnership and marriage, but I went into this one expecting it to be a little more grown up and mature about those ideas, and tossing about divorce and the loss of a child and questioning childish, storybook ideas of "true" love, and whether love can ever last forever, and. Yeah, well. It didn't disappoint.
Bicheonmu. So much love for so many secondary characters: Yahoolai, Chang Ryong, Ah Xin. Even Sa Joon. I was surprisingly caught up in the story and did not mind the angst, probably because it did not feel like forced or needless angstiness. Also, there was very little crying. Yeah. This, I liked quite a bit.
Tokyo DOGS. I don't know if the overall story was worth watching this whole series when I only stuck around each episode for the one or two sequences of rapid-fire banter between Oguri Shun and Mizushima Hiro. Fortunately, they were, you know, present, to help pad out the rest of the show. But still. Not quite enough.
Himitsu no Hanazono. (rewatch) Here's a rundown of thoughts on that.
Goong. Irritating for a variety of reasons. Through no fault of dude the prince--him, I totally got. And I rather enjoyed all the palace intrigue. Except for how I couldn't keep anybody straight on account of everyone's name being something-or-other-Mama.
The Vineyard Man. So satisfying, to my very soul. Makes me want to go outside and spread my arms open to welcome the sun and dig my toes into the earth until I take root.
Attic Cat. Delightful Girl minus the really despicable bad guy? Kept hold on the light-hearted, fun vibe throughout. The move in-move out-move back in cycle got tiresome, but still, a win.
Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang. The first third flew by as generally light-hearted and cute fun. And while there were bright spots throughout, I was definitely ready for it to end. Although secondary guy was a helluva great character, a villain I could really get behind.
Smile, You. My fondness for this show almost entirely hinges on Hyun Soo and his relationships with Jung In, his family, and her family. I find it hard, though, not to resent writers, directors, whoever for dragging it down quite a bit with poor focus and sloppy storytelling. Kind of frustrating, really. But I imagine I'll always harbor a big ol' soft spot for it regardless.
Haikei, Chichiue-sama. Ippei was a really interesting narrator for this story, and I liked the whole atmosphere.
Untouchable. Plus extra credit for the nearly unbearable coolness of one Takafuji Shinichi.
Hi My Sweetheart. (dnw) No. Just... no.
Who Are You. I forgot I watched this and found this longish write-up of thoughts, so. There was a lot I liked about this show and there was a lot that did not work for me at all. Yoon Kye Sang played his character perfectly, it really was nothing short of amazing getting to watch him. Jin Yi Han set up the beautiful complexity of his character marvelously. I was not very moved by Go Ah Ra, but really, I can't even comment on her acting because I really think it was the character itself that irked me, if anything. (She struck me as so bratty and immature, to the extent that I didn't even have fun watching it. Compared to the bratty immaturity of Jung In, for example, in Smile, You, which came off as endearingly sharp... Ah, I don't know.) But her two friends, played by Lee Un (the dumb guy in Coffee Prince! So sweet and cute and steady here!!) and Lee Min Jung (none other than Jung In in Smile, You!!) were great extras to the story, sweet and stabilizing presences in the craziness that Young In's life became after her father's death. Furthermore, the resolution was simple and moving. Even the several monologues in the end were lovely. All that! All that going for it, and yet something really did not click for me. I think it boils down to Young In. For me, her relentlessly cruel behavior toward her father was unforgivable. Yet throughout the show, people kept referring to how kind she was. And I was left wondering Really? Where's the evidence of THAT? because I had none. No indications of such at all. Sure, we got some flashbacks of her singing and dancing with her dad, but a couple brief flashbacks of decent events does not a good person make. I was cold and largely unsympathetic to the character, and felt she deserved few of the breaks and strokes of good luck she got from the story. So there we have it. Blame the brat.
Devil Beside You. I possibly treated this as more of a comedy than was strictly fair. It has some very winning qualities, but it's not something I could take seriously at all, even when (I think) I was supposed to.
Invincible Lee Pyung Kang. Starts off airy and light and enjoyable enough and by the end will charm your pants off and you will part with them willingly and not even wonder where or when they went. Couldn't get enough of SUPER OTP Pyung Kang and Ohn Dal.
I Really, Really Like You. Long, and I had to force myself to sludge through the midway episodes of infidelity-ish. Lee Min Ki is solid, though, and totally enjoyable, as are the many likable and interesting side stories and characters.
Why Why Love. Cute and wacky and feisty. My first Mike He experience. Blindsided by a bit of a hairpin turn towards the end, but rather succeeds in sticking it.
Uta no Onii-san. Could have been four episodes instead of eight, and I probably would have been far less bored and slightly more charmed by it.
Spring Waltz. So, so beautiful. Jae Ha made my heart swell--those eyes, those lips, oh my. Eun Young is one of the least abrasive, most charming (spunky, even!) female leads I've had the pleasure to watch. Other adjectives I'd use to describe the joy that is this show: graceful! moving! riveting! so. damn. pretty! Heady stuff. I want more. Of that. I was not so impressed by the secondary characters, but they served as necessary vehicles, I suppose.
~*~~*Movies in 2010*~~*~
Unstoppable Marriage. (D)
Oto Na Ri. (A)
Boxing Gloves Rag Dolls. (A)
Boku no Kanojo wa Cyborg. (WTF)
Speedy Scandal. (B-)
Mulan (A)
Dear Doctor (B)
Saigo no Yakusoku (C)
Kimi ni Shika Kikoenai (A)
Me...Myself (B)
Ditto (C)
The Great Happiness Space - Tales of an Osaka Love Thief (A)
Almost Love. (B)
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. (C-)
Shindo. (A)
100 Days with Mr. Arrogant. (C)
Hold Up Down (A)
Winter Game (Fuyu no undokai) (DNF)
Instant Numa (A)
Hello Schoolgirl (B)
Kiss Me, Kill Me (B+)
Heartbreak Library (B)
Iron Ladies (A)
Tokyo Sonata (B)
Drugstore Girl (A)
Tengoku de Kimi ni Aetara (B)
Fish Story (A)
Chocolate (A)
I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay. I have issues that make it impossible for me to grade this.
Fly, Daddy, Fly (B)
Sleeping Bride (C)
Kiiroi Namida (C)
Spring Bears Love (B)
The Art of Seduction (C)
The White Dragon (C)
Tiger and Dragon (SP) (A)
Yatterman (D) Oh my god.
7 Days of the Kobe Shimbun (B-) Okay(ish) for what it was, I guess.
MW (B-) Sloppiness detracted from what could've been really, really cool and gripping.
Ultra Miracle Love Story (B-) What.
Guns & Talks (A) Yes!
Dirty Carnival (B-)
The Coffin (C)
See You After School (B)
I Come With the Rain (C)
Failan (C)
Goemon (B)
200 Pounds Beauty (B+)
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (A)
He Was Cool (C+)
Kagehinata ni Saku (B-)
My Mighty Princess (A)
Someone Special (C)
My Tutor My Friend (B-)
The Accidental Gangster and the Mistaken Courtesan (A-)
My Boyfriend is Type B (C)
Too Beautiful to Lie (C+)
Sepet (C)
Antique (A)
Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru (B)
Hard Luck Hero (B)
My Little Bride (B+)
Linda Linda Linda (B+)
Install (B-)
A Wolf's Temptation (B-)
Swallowtail (Yentown)
Why Did You Come to My House
Death Note
Oishii Man
A Man Who Was Superman
Taipei Exchanges
Koizora Fucking Koizora.
Innocent Steps
Kamui Gaiden
S Diary
My Tutor Friend II (cuter than the first one, and tidier as a narrative)
Miracle on 1st Street (cute and funny and touching, then utterly heartbreaking, then concludes with utterly unrealistic sappiness, and yet I pretty much adore it)
Love Phobia (BETRAYAL)
A Moment in Time (MORE BETRAYAL)
8uppers
Punch Lady
Magare! Spoon (has become my favorite Christmas movie. ...Not that that's saying a lot... more like, I'm just saying.)
The Perfect Couple (the lady with the voice from Bad Family and Gong Chan from My Girl are now totally my OTP forever)
The Peter Pan Formula (Uh. Too deep for me, I guess. Because no. Not even with adorable-faced kid. ...not even with adorable-faced kid jerking off with the neighbor lady's pristine white panties, no yeah, WHAT.)
Hooked On You (GODDAMN IT, ENDING, WTF, AGAIN I FEEL SO BETRAYED.)
Romantic Island (Cuuuuuuuuute.)
Love So Divine
The Intimate (oh my.)
~*~*~Abandoned~*~*~
Que Sera Sera. (2.5/) (ABANDONED, got distracted)
Miss No-good. (4/) (ABANDONED, shitty)
Wish Upon a Star (4/) (ABANDONED, boring and trite and predictable)
The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry. (6/16) (ABANDONED, but it was totally enjoyable! I just got a little bored and easily distracted because it was feeling just a bit too much like DJS minus Tae Bong. Will probably pick up again, because I am awfully curious about how it will resolve. Or I may just spoil myself and be satisfied with that.)
Easy Fortune Happy life (11/17) (ABANDONED, but possibly will pick up again now that more eps appear to be subbed)
Kamen Rider Kabuto (1/a billion) (whenever)
Evasive Inquiry Agency (totally enjoyable, but I'm not all that invested in it either)
Yasashii Jikan (kinda bored me to tears...)