First love is reckless
This took longer today because:
1) Football! Barça won the Champions League! YAY!
2) Every time I tried to search the quotes or images for this post, I ended up having a huge revival of my feelings for the show at hand, I think I need help.
ANYWAY! Here I go. There are no spoilers (or not important spoilers at least) in this post so if anybody comes for recs or finds out now that wants to watch a kdrama and doesn't know where to start, you can use this as a rec post!
June 06.
luxos asked: What are your top 5 kdramas?
This selection was difficult to come up with because my relationship with kdramas is complicated. On one hand, I absolutely love watching Korean dramas and they've been my guilty pleasure for years now. On the other, I love to shred them to pieces because often they're SO BAD, so corny and ridiculous. They often linger on boring relationships, have couple dynamics I have to raise three eyebrows at, or go terribly wrong halfway through (when there's not cancer! long lost siblings falling in love! people running over other people with their cars!). You may not believe this but it's actually super hard for me to love-love dramas.
However, when I do love a drama, oh boy, how I love a kdrama when I love it hard! And the thing is, I've been watching kdramas long enough now, and I've watched enough of them, that I do have a handful of kdramas that could make this list (aka, more than 5), so it's been a hard selection, save for three of them who were in right away. In any case, here is my list, in no order other than chronological (as in, which ones I watched first), with pretty gifs and a list of honorable mentions.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Coffee Prince, Secret Garden, Dream High, White Christmas, Queen In Hyun's man.
SHUT UP! FLOWER BOY BAND
"What's the point of trying to hold onto someone who wants to go?"
SUFBB was my first surprise in kdramaland. I'd devoured dramas before (Dream High or Boys over flowers), and I even had a favorite (Sungkyunkwan Scandal), but SUFBB was the first kdrama I expected nothing from and gave me everything. EVERYTHING. Things I didn't know I wanted from a drama. I do mean it, however, when I say I expected nothing of it; I only put it in my to-watch list because a cutie from a boyband I loved was on it, and I only watched it because the girl who recommended me my first drama ever (Dream High) told me I needed to watch it.
OH BOY.
I fell hard. I could talk about SUFBB for hours, but instead I will link you to this rec post I wrote years ago when I was at the height of my obsession. TL;DR however would be: this show had it all. It's about teenagers but it has a compelling plot even if you're not, the characters and relationships are complex and realistic, you're gonna LOVE the boys, and the show has a heart like few other dramas I've watched. It has good music and a good dose of that heartbreaking teen angst lots of us went through. I'm still in love and more than 3 years later, this is still probably my favorite show. Who would have thought?
ANSWER ME 1997
"First love is reckless. Without calculating, it throws everything in with pure passion, and inevitably fails. But that’s why it’s dramatic - the reckless tales wrapped up in experiences or feelings that you can never have again."
Talking about surprises. I watched Answer me 1997 one for two reasons: a cutie from the same boyband as above was on it, and the nostalgia of watching something set in 1997. Plot is simple: there's a high school reunion in Seoul in 2012 and a group of friends remember together the old days of fangirling over boybands, pinning after best friends, and falling in love for the first time.
There was something really heartwarming about seeing a group of friends reminiscing their teen years, their ridiculous moments and their emotional encounters, and seeing how their bonds evolved for better or worse through the years. I think that was my favorite part. There was some added nostalgia when Tamagotchis or VHS related problems appeared, and Shiwon's absolute craze over her boyband was super endearing! There was fun, there was serious stuff, there were laughs and there were some tears. There was a gay character, which if you're new to dramas you should know: it's rare, but it was well done. It was, honestly, just a lovely, heartwarming show that I think everyone who's into kdramas should give a chance to.
OH! MY LADY
OH! MY LADY IS JUST SO FRAKKING CUTE! Plot goes like this: famous star discovers he once had a daughter when said adorable and silent kid is dropped at his door, ahjumma accepts to help him and hide her from the public, a lot of cute ensues, Raquel squeals a lot, spoiled star learns a couple of things about himself, KID IS THE MOST ADORABLE YOU'LL SEE (and I don't like kids), and in the meantime, some love ensues! By the end, Raquel is sequealing hard at her screen and has tears in her eyes. True story.
The thing about Siwon (who plays the spoiled star) is that whether you think he's a good actor or not, he is GREAT at being silly and cute and ridiculous (I mean it, and that works great here, especially in his scenes with the kid. Chaerim plays the ahjumma, and she's got a great dynamic with both the kid and Siwon. It plays with the adorable, and dad responsibilities and lack of wanting to get anywhere near them, and with the ahjumma trying to put some adulthood into this idiot's brain, and it's really cute and fun! It's my to-go drama when I need something sweet that will cheer me up!
By the way, she was also the noona in the love story in the 2007 drama Dal Ja's Spring, which I also recommend.
MARRIAGE NOT DATING
"My aunt is behind us. Don't look around!"
"Your family stalks you?"
"It's a family full of love."
I did a super short rec post about MND a while ago. Marriage not dating has one of those crazy plots where the lovebirds have to pretend to be a couple before they can even tolerate each other, and it works it amazingly well. I watched this by mere coincidence, and was super surprised after finding out that this show is everything a rom-com should be.
This show is funny, sometimes a little crazy, cute, romantic, a little angsty on occasion and beautiful. I kid you not, I don't always like the aesthetics of dramas, but here everything is pretty. The make-up is pretty, the clothes are pretty, the shots are pretty, even the decor is pretty! Everyone is so human that even the sort-of-antagonists you can understand a little, and all the cast has such fantastic chemistry. Bonus point due to actual decent kisses and quite the amount of skinship!
Han Groo, the main girl, is AWESOME, and she also starred in Girl K, a 3 eps long drama where she kicks ass.
HEALER
"When two predators meet, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t fear. Everyone is afraid. However, it is the one who shows fear first that will lose their life first. Therefore, if someone is coming after you before your weakness are revealed, attack them first."
If any drama is to fight SUFBB and 1997 as my favorite, it is HEALER. This one I watched because someone on my twitter TL wouldn't stop talking (fangirling) about it and when I asked her about it, she used this asshole to convince me. I was bored, he was cute, I had no clue about the plot, so I watched! AND I FUCKED UP.
IT IS SO GOOD. I AM NOT EVEN LYING. IT IS SO GOOD. THE PLOT IS GOOD. THE ACTORS DO GREAT WORK. THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN ALL OF THEM, COUPLE OR NOT, IS AWESOME. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP WATCHING. THERE'S A PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN ANGST, CUTE, FUN AND ACTION. LOTS OF ACTION, WHICH IS GREAT AND I LOVED. LOTS OF CUTE. JI CHANG WOOK LITERALLY PLAYS THREE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS AND I LOVED THEM ALL. THE KISSES ARE GOOD. THE INTIMACY BETWEEN THE COUPLE IS GOOD. AND INSTEAD OF GOING DOWNHILL, IT ACTUALLY HAS A GREAT ENDING.
BASICALLY: YOU. SHOULD. GO. WATCH. Or rescue me from rewatching all of the episodes again cause I already was doing that last night.
And... that's it! For now, I guess. So, what are your favorite kdramas? Have you watched any of these? Or actors and actresses! I'm always here to fangirl about kdramas. Help me, save me from kdramas. I WASN'T EVEN AS CHEESY AS I AM NOW BEFORE I GOT INTO KDRAMAS. Oh lord.
1) Football! Barça won the Champions League! YAY!
2) Every time I tried to search the quotes or images for this post, I ended up having a huge revival of my feelings for the show at hand, I think I need help.
ANYWAY! Here I go. There are no spoilers (or not important spoilers at least) in this post so if anybody comes for recs or finds out now that wants to watch a kdrama and doesn't know where to start, you can use this as a rec post!
June 06.
luxos asked: What are your top 5 kdramas?
This selection was difficult to come up with because my relationship with kdramas is complicated. On one hand, I absolutely love watching Korean dramas and they've been my guilty pleasure for years now. On the other, I love to shred them to pieces because often they're SO BAD, so corny and ridiculous. They often linger on boring relationships, have couple dynamics I have to raise three eyebrows at, or go terribly wrong halfway through (when there's not cancer! long lost siblings falling in love! people running over other people with their cars!). You may not believe this but it's actually super hard for me to love-love dramas.
However, when I do love a drama, oh boy, how I love a kdrama when I love it hard! And the thing is, I've been watching kdramas long enough now, and I've watched enough of them, that I do have a handful of kdramas that could make this list (aka, more than 5), so it's been a hard selection, save for three of them who were in right away. In any case, here is my list, in no order other than chronological (as in, which ones I watched first), with pretty gifs and a list of honorable mentions.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Coffee Prince, Secret Garden, Dream High, White Christmas, Queen In Hyun's man.
SHUT UP! FLOWER BOY BAND
"What's the point of trying to hold onto someone who wants to go?"
SUFBB was my first surprise in kdramaland. I'd devoured dramas before (Dream High or Boys over flowers), and I even had a favorite (Sungkyunkwan Scandal), but SUFBB was the first kdrama I expected nothing from and gave me everything. EVERYTHING. Things I didn't know I wanted from a drama. I do mean it, however, when I say I expected nothing of it; I only put it in my to-watch list because a cutie from a boyband I loved was on it, and I only watched it because the girl who recommended me my first drama ever (Dream High) told me I needed to watch it.
OH BOY.
I fell hard. I could talk about SUFBB for hours, but instead I will link you to this rec post I wrote years ago when I was at the height of my obsession. TL;DR however would be: this show had it all. It's about teenagers but it has a compelling plot even if you're not, the characters and relationships are complex and realistic, you're gonna LOVE the boys, and the show has a heart like few other dramas I've watched. It has good music and a good dose of that heartbreaking teen angst lots of us went through. I'm still in love and more than 3 years later, this is still probably my favorite show. Who would have thought?
ANSWER ME 1997
"First love is reckless. Without calculating, it throws everything in with pure passion, and inevitably fails. But that’s why it’s dramatic - the reckless tales wrapped up in experiences or feelings that you can never have again."
Talking about surprises. I watched Answer me 1997 one for two reasons: a cutie from the same boyband as above was on it, and the nostalgia of watching something set in 1997. Plot is simple: there's a high school reunion in Seoul in 2012 and a group of friends remember together the old days of fangirling over boybands, pinning after best friends, and falling in love for the first time.
There was something really heartwarming about seeing a group of friends reminiscing their teen years, their ridiculous moments and their emotional encounters, and seeing how their bonds evolved for better or worse through the years. I think that was my favorite part. There was some added nostalgia when Tamagotchis or VHS related problems appeared, and Shiwon's absolute craze over her boyband was super endearing! There was fun, there was serious stuff, there were laughs and there were some tears. There was a gay character, which if you're new to dramas you should know: it's rare, but it was well done. It was, honestly, just a lovely, heartwarming show that I think everyone who's into kdramas should give a chance to.
OH! MY LADY
OH! MY LADY IS JUST SO FRAKKING CUTE! Plot goes like this: famous star discovers he once had a daughter when said adorable and silent kid is dropped at his door, ahjumma accepts to help him and hide her from the public, a lot of cute ensues, Raquel squeals a lot, spoiled star learns a couple of things about himself, KID IS THE MOST ADORABLE YOU'LL SEE (and I don't like kids), and in the meantime, some love ensues! By the end, Raquel is sequealing hard at her screen and has tears in her eyes. True story.
The thing about Siwon (who plays the spoiled star) is that whether you think he's a good actor or not, he is GREAT at being silly and cute and ridiculous (I mean it, and that works great here, especially in his scenes with the kid. Chaerim plays the ahjumma, and she's got a great dynamic with both the kid and Siwon. It plays with the adorable, and dad responsibilities and lack of wanting to get anywhere near them, and with the ahjumma trying to put some adulthood into this idiot's brain, and it's really cute and fun! It's my to-go drama when I need something sweet that will cheer me up!
By the way, she was also the noona in the love story in the 2007 drama Dal Ja's Spring, which I also recommend.
MARRIAGE NOT DATING
"My aunt is behind us. Don't look around!"
"Your family stalks you?"
"It's a family full of love."
I did a super short rec post about MND a while ago. Marriage not dating has one of those crazy plots where the lovebirds have to pretend to be a couple before they can even tolerate each other, and it works it amazingly well. I watched this by mere coincidence, and was super surprised after finding out that this show is everything a rom-com should be.
This show is funny, sometimes a little crazy, cute, romantic, a little angsty on occasion and beautiful. I kid you not, I don't always like the aesthetics of dramas, but here everything is pretty. The make-up is pretty, the clothes are pretty, the shots are pretty, even the decor is pretty! Everyone is so human that even the sort-of-antagonists you can understand a little, and all the cast has such fantastic chemistry. Bonus point due to actual decent kisses and quite the amount of skinship!
Han Groo, the main girl, is AWESOME, and she also starred in Girl K, a 3 eps long drama where she kicks ass.
HEALER
"When two predators meet, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t fear. Everyone is afraid. However, it is the one who shows fear first that will lose their life first. Therefore, if someone is coming after you before your weakness are revealed, attack them first."
If any drama is to fight SUFBB and 1997 as my favorite, it is HEALER. This one I watched because someone on my twitter TL wouldn't stop talking (fangirling) about it and when I asked her about it, she used this asshole to convince me. I was bored, he was cute, I had no clue about the plot, so I watched! AND I FUCKED UP.
IT IS SO GOOD. I AM NOT EVEN LYING. IT IS SO GOOD. THE PLOT IS GOOD. THE ACTORS DO GREAT WORK. THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN ALL OF THEM, COUPLE OR NOT, IS AWESOME. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP WATCHING. THERE'S A PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN ANGST, CUTE, FUN AND ACTION. LOTS OF ACTION, WHICH IS GREAT AND I LOVED. LOTS OF CUTE. JI CHANG WOOK LITERALLY PLAYS THREE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS AND I LOVED THEM ALL. THE KISSES ARE GOOD. THE INTIMACY BETWEEN THE COUPLE IS GOOD. AND INSTEAD OF GOING DOWNHILL, IT ACTUALLY HAS A GREAT ENDING.
BASICALLY: YOU. SHOULD. GO. WATCH. Or rescue me from rewatching all of the episodes again cause I already was doing that last night.
And... that's it! For now, I guess. So, what are your favorite kdramas? Have you watched any of these? Or actors and actresses! I'm always here to fangirl about kdramas. Help me, save me from kdramas. I WASN'T EVEN AS CHEESY AS I AM NOW BEFORE I GOT INTO KDRAMAS. Oh lord.