Drama Thoughts: Lucky Seven (2012) + Bring it On, Ghost! (2016)
Welcome to Drama Thoughts! As the title may suggest, these are my thoughts on dramas and movies I have recently finished. They are not thorough reviews and probably contain spoilers, so I don't recommend reading them if you haven't watched the show/film that's being covered. These posts are just a means for me to record my impressions, however brief, so that I can look back on them later and remember what I liked or disliked about a show/film.
This time on Drama Thoughts:
Lucky Seven (2012)
My Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Country: Japan
Type: Drama
Episodes: 10
Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Eita, Matsushima Nanako, Naka Riisa
It's already been a few weeks since I finished this one, but I'll try to write down what I remember.
I started this show for both Matsujun and to cover another genre on my list for this year's Drama Challenge, but it's a show I had been meaning to watch for a long time anyway. Maybe because of that, I had a completely different impression of it before starting. I thought it was about a bunch of detectives (from different agencies) competing with one another, and then are forced to join forces when all their cases merge into one big mystery. Admittedly, the summary online says something to this degree too, but it wasn't quite like that in the end.
Anyway, the first half of the show was kind of so-so for me. I didn't hate it, but I felt it was lacking a lot. And though I started this partially for Matsujun, it's not like my sole focus was on him. Despite that, I felt kind of disappointed by his character. Eita's Nitta stole the show for those first five episodes and Matsujun's Shuntaro just felt like second lead to him. Speaking of Eita, I had heard about him a lot before now and I thought this was my first time seeing him in a drama, but when I looked him up again, I saw he played Mine in Nodame Cantabile! He looks totally different here.
After the first half, Nitta surprisingly disappeared and didn't really return until towards the end. This would be a risky move to make in some shows, since he was such a primary character during those first five episodes. However, his departure turned out to be a good thing, because Shuntaro took the spotlight from that point onward and actually filled the lead role really well. You could see he had grown as a detective during his time as second lead and the cases he got to cover, along with the others, were more interesting than those during the first half.
I liked the other detectives at the agency too, especially Naka Riisa's Asuka. The whole group started to grow on me during the second half, especially with that family-like feel. The cases they covered were usually interesting as well. I appreciated that it did not have as much of a case-of-the-week type feel to it as I had expected. The format was a bit looser than that, and most of the cases were meaningful to the development of the characters. Some highlights for me were the episode with that actor who plays a detective, Asuka's episode, and the one with the sweet old lady.
So overall, a pretty good show with some fun moments and interesting characters, but nothing spectacular. There's a special that came out a year later and I'll get around to watching it eventually.
Bring it On, Ghost! (2016)
My Rating: 8/10 (Very Good)
Country: South Korea
Type: Drama
Episodes: 16
Cast: Kim So Hyun, Taecyeon, Kwon Yool, Kim Sang Ho, Lee David, Kang Ki Young
In case you didn't know, I'm a major sucker for ghost comedies, or just things involving ghosts in general that aren't strictly horror. Two of my favorite K-Dramas are The Master's Sun and Oh My Ghostess. I have at least two stories featuring characters who can see and communicate with ghosts. In one of these, the character was supposed to be a more minor role, and her ability not a huge presence within the story, but she and her ghost buddies have slowly taken over multiple plots since first appearing, and even have nabbed starring roles in some of my future stories within that series. I just...really love ghosts for some reason. Maybe I just have some sort of bizarre obsession with the afterlife, because I'm also a fan of stories about shinigami/grim reapers. And when I was younger, I was really into angels, too.
But of those life-after-death type characters, ghosts are the most prevalent in fiction, and Drama Land especially loves them. It seems like they have a new ghost drama coming out every few seasons these days, particularly after the success of The Master's Sun in 2013. Not everyone loved that drama, for sure, and I myself wonder how much I would like it now, considering I watched it before beginning to consume dramas regularly, and therefore had less to compare it to than I do now. However, the rest of the show aside, I can't deny the special fondness I have for these style of ghost stories.
Bring it On, Ghost should have been no exception to this and, for the most part, it wasn't. This was one of those pleasant dramas that started out decently enough and, shockingly, never dragged. Watching it was an easy ride from start to finish and I never fell behind on episodes. The best part was probably how it mastered what I've come to call the "danger zone" -- but more on that later.
Like many others, I wasn't initially happy when I heard about the casting of Taecyeon. I don't dislike him at all, but there are dozens of actors I would rather see on my screen than him. He was surprisingly good and likeable in the role in the end, but I still feel I would have been drawn more to the character would it have been played by someone else. He's just not my type of lead role guy.
Kim So Hyun, on the other hand, can take ALL the roles as far as I'm concerned. I wish they would keep her in roles that suit her age, however, and this character was quite a bit older than her towards the end. But I have this feeling she'll look exactly the same when she actually does reach that age, lol, so maybe it doesn't matter. What does matter is matching her with an actor who is ten years her senior while she herself is still a teenager. This really needs to stop, please and thank you, but unfortunately it's a returning trend in K-Dramas lately. Sigh.
Age issues aside, Kim So Hyun was great and I liked her character. In fact, watching her kick butt in the first episode is probably what made me decide to stick with this show despite my reservations about Taecyeon.
The first few episodes almost had a ghost-of-the-week format to them, but it didn't continue that way long enough to get boring. A brief love triangle showed up, as is typical of K-Dramas, but what was nice was that it didn't last long and was never a major conflict. In fact, the second lead girl gradually disappeared from the show after filling that role, so the love triangle was more of just a way to push the leads together.
The main couple was nice and sweet, but I was never super into them. Though I liked their characters and relationship, they lacked a lot of charm for me, so I only ever had lukewarm feelings about them. That's probably what made the show suffer the most, though everything else was done so well that I never felt put off enough to drop it. The writing stayed good and well-paced from start to finish. In fact, that brings me to my earlier mention of the "danger zone"…
What is the "danger zone", you ask? Well, while any drama can start off slow or even just plain bad, I have found the majority of them suffer the most somewhere between episode 8 and 12. Most dramas are not planned or written completely in advance, so this seems to be where the writers start running out of ideas and realizing they used up too much material during the first half, so things start to drag in order to make it to that sixteenth or -- god forbid -- twentieth episode. The result is much suffering on my part and likely a dropped drama that had seemed so promising to start out with.
In the case of Bring it On Ghost, the writing was still going strong by the halfway point, but then the writer's pulled something that would have saved it had they fallen into a slump: they pulled a plot-changing twist. Ok, admittedly, I 100% knew Kim So Hyun's character was in a coma since the first episode. For one, she always looked and acted different than the other ghosts, and there were various other hints this was the case. Secondly, it was the only way this drama could have a happy ending, not that Drama Land is shy about sad ones. It just seemed unlikely here.
Anyway, having that revelation fall during the "danger zone" was a really sweet move on their part and I hope other drama writers take note. Where before that point, I had just felt good about the show, I started to actually get excited for it again. And what was unexpected during that twist is that not only did they reveal the coma thing, but they woke her up from it at the same time. So there was even something in there that I did not predict, since I thought that would come a bit later in the show.
While I was lukewarm about the lead characters, I ended up liking the other characters a lot. This was a rare show that kept a lot of its focus on the main two characters without dragging, and yet, somehow, the other characters got enough screentime without them ever getting annoying or making me feel impatient to get back to the leads. I think a huge part of this was because all the other characters and their scenes were related to the main storyline; they didn't have plots of their own or scenes that were completely pointless and boring.
The two comic relief characters played by Lee David and Kang Ki Young actually became my favorite part of the show. They were just so cute and funny together. Kang Ki Young has been a funny character in just about everything I've seen him in lately, but Lee David as his other half was the perfect duo. And like I said, they were side characters who played roles in the main story, not just extras thrown in to fill up screentime. Their "Ghostbusters" team with the two leads was total #squadgoals lmao.
I really liked the Monk in this show too. Often, adult characters in a show filled with youths are just there to be mentors or pains in the ass (lol), but he wasn't flat like that. By the end of the show, I was fearing for his life, though. I was glad when he took part in the final battle and made it out alive.
Kwon Yool played the creepy second lead/villain well. This was a rare case of the role not being involved in a love triangle with the other two leads (not really, at least). His whole role like this, however, reminded me a lot of Oh My Ghostess, so I can't help but wonder if they copied it from there. Then again, this is originally based off a webtoon, so who knows.
Alright, this is getting too long. This always happens though, doesn't it? I come here with five things to say and end up writing fifty. I'll wrap up the rest in some quick bullets:
Note: My ratings are based on a combination of "quality" (story, characters, pacing, originality, etc.) and my own personal enjoyment. Dramas lacking in one area of "quality" may therefore be rated higher simply because I had fun watching them. I also tend to change my scores over time, as some dramas leave a lasting impression while others become completely forgettable. (Note that ratings here on Livejournal may not match those on MyDramaList as I don't come back to change them, so the ratings here reflect my original impressions.) Generally, anything with a score of 7 or higher had some "quality" to it and was enjoyable for me. Scores below that were lacking in too many areas and had little to no enjoyment factor to make up for it. Even so, I try not to rate too harshly unless I have been really disappointed. Otherwise, I think I am a fairly easy-to-please viewer.
This time on Drama Thoughts:
Lucky Seven (2012)
My Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Country: Japan
Type: Drama
Episodes: 10
Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Eita, Matsushima Nanako, Naka Riisa
It's already been a few weeks since I finished this one, but I'll try to write down what I remember.
I started this show for both Matsujun and to cover another genre on my list for this year's Drama Challenge, but it's a show I had been meaning to watch for a long time anyway. Maybe because of that, I had a completely different impression of it before starting. I thought it was about a bunch of detectives (from different agencies) competing with one another, and then are forced to join forces when all their cases merge into one big mystery. Admittedly, the summary online says something to this degree too, but it wasn't quite like that in the end.
Anyway, the first half of the show was kind of so-so for me. I didn't hate it, but I felt it was lacking a lot. And though I started this partially for Matsujun, it's not like my sole focus was on him. Despite that, I felt kind of disappointed by his character. Eita's Nitta stole the show for those first five episodes and Matsujun's Shuntaro just felt like second lead to him. Speaking of Eita, I had heard about him a lot before now and I thought this was my first time seeing him in a drama, but when I looked him up again, I saw he played Mine in Nodame Cantabile! He looks totally different here.
After the first half, Nitta surprisingly disappeared and didn't really return until towards the end. This would be a risky move to make in some shows, since he was such a primary character during those first five episodes. However, his departure turned out to be a good thing, because Shuntaro took the spotlight from that point onward and actually filled the lead role really well. You could see he had grown as a detective during his time as second lead and the cases he got to cover, along with the others, were more interesting than those during the first half.
I liked the other detectives at the agency too, especially Naka Riisa's Asuka. The whole group started to grow on me during the second half, especially with that family-like feel. The cases they covered were usually interesting as well. I appreciated that it did not have as much of a case-of-the-week type feel to it as I had expected. The format was a bit looser than that, and most of the cases were meaningful to the development of the characters. Some highlights for me were the episode with that actor who plays a detective, Asuka's episode, and the one with the sweet old lady.
So overall, a pretty good show with some fun moments and interesting characters, but nothing spectacular. There's a special that came out a year later and I'll get around to watching it eventually.
Bring it On, Ghost! (2016)
My Rating: 8/10 (Very Good)
Country: South Korea
Type: Drama
Episodes: 16
Cast: Kim So Hyun, Taecyeon, Kwon Yool, Kim Sang Ho, Lee David, Kang Ki Young
In case you didn't know, I'm a major sucker for ghost comedies, or just things involving ghosts in general that aren't strictly horror. Two of my favorite K-Dramas are The Master's Sun and Oh My Ghostess. I have at least two stories featuring characters who can see and communicate with ghosts. In one of these, the character was supposed to be a more minor role, and her ability not a huge presence within the story, but she and her ghost buddies have slowly taken over multiple plots since first appearing, and even have nabbed starring roles in some of my future stories within that series. I just...really love ghosts for some reason. Maybe I just have some sort of bizarre obsession with the afterlife, because I'm also a fan of stories about shinigami/grim reapers. And when I was younger, I was really into angels, too.
But of those life-after-death type characters, ghosts are the most prevalent in fiction, and Drama Land especially loves them. It seems like they have a new ghost drama coming out every few seasons these days, particularly after the success of The Master's Sun in 2013. Not everyone loved that drama, for sure, and I myself wonder how much I would like it now, considering I watched it before beginning to consume dramas regularly, and therefore had less to compare it to than I do now. However, the rest of the show aside, I can't deny the special fondness I have for these style of ghost stories.
Bring it On, Ghost should have been no exception to this and, for the most part, it wasn't. This was one of those pleasant dramas that started out decently enough and, shockingly, never dragged. Watching it was an easy ride from start to finish and I never fell behind on episodes. The best part was probably how it mastered what I've come to call the "danger zone" -- but more on that later.
Like many others, I wasn't initially happy when I heard about the casting of Taecyeon. I don't dislike him at all, but there are dozens of actors I would rather see on my screen than him. He was surprisingly good and likeable in the role in the end, but I still feel I would have been drawn more to the character would it have been played by someone else. He's just not my type of lead role guy.
Kim So Hyun, on the other hand, can take ALL the roles as far as I'm concerned. I wish they would keep her in roles that suit her age, however, and this character was quite a bit older than her towards the end. But I have this feeling she'll look exactly the same when she actually does reach that age, lol, so maybe it doesn't matter. What does matter is matching her with an actor who is ten years her senior while she herself is still a teenager. This really needs to stop, please and thank you, but unfortunately it's a returning trend in K-Dramas lately. Sigh.
Age issues aside, Kim So Hyun was great and I liked her character. In fact, watching her kick butt in the first episode is probably what made me decide to stick with this show despite my reservations about Taecyeon.
The first few episodes almost had a ghost-of-the-week format to them, but it didn't continue that way long enough to get boring. A brief love triangle showed up, as is typical of K-Dramas, but what was nice was that it didn't last long and was never a major conflict. In fact, the second lead girl gradually disappeared from the show after filling that role, so the love triangle was more of just a way to push the leads together.
The main couple was nice and sweet, but I was never super into them. Though I liked their characters and relationship, they lacked a lot of charm for me, so I only ever had lukewarm feelings about them. That's probably what made the show suffer the most, though everything else was done so well that I never felt put off enough to drop it. The writing stayed good and well-paced from start to finish. In fact, that brings me to my earlier mention of the "danger zone"…
What is the "danger zone", you ask? Well, while any drama can start off slow or even just plain bad, I have found the majority of them suffer the most somewhere between episode 8 and 12. Most dramas are not planned or written completely in advance, so this seems to be where the writers start running out of ideas and realizing they used up too much material during the first half, so things start to drag in order to make it to that sixteenth or -- god forbid -- twentieth episode. The result is much suffering on my part and likely a dropped drama that had seemed so promising to start out with.
In the case of Bring it On Ghost, the writing was still going strong by the halfway point, but then the writer's pulled something that would have saved it had they fallen into a slump: they pulled a plot-changing twist. Ok, admittedly, I 100% knew Kim So Hyun's character was in a coma since the first episode. For one, she always looked and acted different than the other ghosts, and there were various other hints this was the case. Secondly, it was the only way this drama could have a happy ending, not that Drama Land is shy about sad ones. It just seemed unlikely here.
Anyway, having that revelation fall during the "danger zone" was a really sweet move on their part and I hope other drama writers take note. Where before that point, I had just felt good about the show, I started to actually get excited for it again. And what was unexpected during that twist is that not only did they reveal the coma thing, but they woke her up from it at the same time. So there was even something in there that I did not predict, since I thought that would come a bit later in the show.
While I was lukewarm about the lead characters, I ended up liking the other characters a lot. This was a rare show that kept a lot of its focus on the main two characters without dragging, and yet, somehow, the other characters got enough screentime without them ever getting annoying or making me feel impatient to get back to the leads. I think a huge part of this was because all the other characters and their scenes were related to the main storyline; they didn't have plots of their own or scenes that were completely pointless and boring.
The two comic relief characters played by Lee David and Kang Ki Young actually became my favorite part of the show. They were just so cute and funny together. Kang Ki Young has been a funny character in just about everything I've seen him in lately, but Lee David as his other half was the perfect duo. And like I said, they were side characters who played roles in the main story, not just extras thrown in to fill up screentime. Their "Ghostbusters" team with the two leads was total #squadgoals lmao.
I really liked the Monk in this show too. Often, adult characters in a show filled with youths are just there to be mentors or pains in the ass (lol), but he wasn't flat like that. By the end of the show, I was fearing for his life, though. I was glad when he took part in the final battle and made it out alive.
Kwon Yool played the creepy second lead/villain well. This was a rare case of the role not being involved in a love triangle with the other two leads (not really, at least). His whole role like this, however, reminded me a lot of Oh My Ghostess, so I can't help but wonder if they copied it from there. Then again, this is originally based off a webtoon, so who knows.
Alright, this is getting too long. This always happens though, doesn't it? I come here with five things to say and end up writing fifty. I'll wrap up the rest in some quick bullets:
- The music wasn't memorable except this haunting song that played mostly during the first half.
- The ghosts were actually pretty dang creepy in this. I couldn't look at them for long and always watched this show first thing in the morning to avoid encouraging nightmares, lol.
- Kang Ki Young and Lee David (badly) singing 2PM's Heartbeat at karaoke in front of Taecyeon was golden.
- Kim So Hyun's character interrupting Taecyeon and the second lead girl at a restaurant, WRIST-GRABBING HIM, and then dragging him out of the place in a complete role-reversal of K-Drama leads was the best thing ever.
Note: My ratings are based on a combination of "quality" (story, characters, pacing, originality, etc.) and my own personal enjoyment. Dramas lacking in one area of "quality" may therefore be rated higher simply because I had fun watching them. I also tend to change my scores over time, as some dramas leave a lasting impression while others become completely forgettable. (Note that ratings here on Livejournal may not match those on MyDramaList as I don't come back to change them, so the ratings here reflect my original impressions.) Generally, anything with a score of 7 or higher had some "quality" to it and was enjoyable for me. Scores below that were lacking in too many areas and had little to no enjoyment factor to make up for it. Even so, I try not to rate too harshly unless I have been really disappointed. Otherwise, I think I am a fairly easy-to-please viewer.