I'm Completely In Love With Panda and Hedgehog :)
To be honest, I was a little skeptical when hanjae raved about the drama when she posted spoilers for the last two episodes so I decided to check it out myself, see if she was right.
People, she was completely right.
I haven't really sat down and watched many Korean dramas this year. I mean, I read recaps and put them on my list to watch if I like them but I've been re-watching my favorite dramas so far. With that said, I don't know why exactly I decided to watch Panda and Hedgehog instead of just putting it on my list of dramas to watch. Whatever the reason, I'm glad I did! I haven't felt this much love for a drama since Ojakgyo Brothers ( hmm, was that this year too? Well, whatever.) Considering the fact... no, regardless of the fact that most Korean pop idols turned actors are uncomfortable to watch, the list of the exceptions to that rule keeps rising and now I can add Super Junior's Donghae to my list of Yoochun, UEE, Eun Ji, etc.
I'm trying to find words to explain why I loved it so much that I'm on my 3rd re-watch and I only first watched it on Friday. It doesn't hurt that its only 16 episodes, unlike the 58 episodes of Ojakgyo Brothers that makes re-watching for the sixth time a little bit inconvenient especially since I have and exam tomorrow. But the feeling I got, watching Panda and Hedgehog, is the feeling I get when I watch a really good Taiwanese drama (and those are a little bit hard to find). I laughed out loud on numerous occasions and I cried at the emotional scenes and yet I didn't feel like a ping-pong ball subject to that racket of the writers. Though the story is anything but original (and I understand its fairly reminiscent of the writer's previous work It's Okay Daddy's Girl which I didn't watch but heard not-so-good things about), there's a lot to say about the enjoyment of a predictable story. Not to spoil it if anyone decides to watch but you kind of knew which way the toast would be buttered by at least the second episode. By then, however, I was a little bit too interested in Donghae's character that I overlooked it.
Simply put, don't miss out on such a refreshing drama like Panda and Hedgehog because of the actors or the story. Watch for the characters and their relations with each other. I mean, there's a love triangle that doesn't turn out the way the girl in it thought it would. If that does not intrigue you, I must be missing something!!