Korean Wave (Full Fan Ravings Version)
I'm seriously into Korean pop culture right now. 8D
It all started about a year ago. I was looking at a list of the most popular anime themes which included Laruku's "Ready Steady Go," and I discovered Younha's "Houki Boshi." I really liked her Japanese album even though her song "My Lover" sounds way too similar to "DIVE TO BLUE". I decided to check out her Korean albums, and I liked them even more, especially "Password 486" and "Memory (feat. Tablo)." That was my first introduction to Korean music, which I found is a great combination of Asian and Western music. Later, Younha was featured in Epik High's "Umbrella," which I love, so then I got into Epik High's soulful sound. I usually don't like rap, but their songs have great melodies, addictive beats, and deep lyrics. Their single, "One," is an all-time favorite song now for me and Rachel. It features Jisun, the singer from the band Loveholic.
I had actually already heard of Loveholic, as they did the ending theme, "Shinkirou," for the anime Black Blood Brothers. When I first watched it a few months ago and heard that song, I instantly fell in love with it, as if it was an old favorite that carried feelings of melancholy, so beautiful. Forget LOVE ADDICT, I became a Loveholic. ;-P Jisun is one of the best vocalists I've heard (she has the smoothness of Sarah McLachlan but the character of an indie chick), and I really like their unique style, mostly pop-rock but with some dance, R&B, jazz, retro, cutesy pop, or Beatles-like inspiration. Besides "Shinkirou," my favorite songs of theirs are "Chara's Forest" (like "SHINE," it makes me feel like my heart is soaring), "Sky" (Koreans are masters of beautiful tragedy), and "Flower Pot" (a sweet love song that feels like another "old fav"). I adore all three of their albums. (It's such a shame Jisun left last year. She has a solo career now, and I think the band is continuing with guest vocalists as Loveholics though.)
Then my next taste of the Korean Wave was about a month ago and was actually sent to me by my dad, who is a YouTube addict that constantly searches for old Chinese songs and randomly ends up with Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Korean music, as well. o_0 Anyway, he found this crossover tenor singer who is like the Korean Josh Groban. His name is Im Tae Kyung. My mom, Rachel, and I were pretty impressed by him. He sings "You Raise Me Up" very well (and looks very handsome, too, which helps). He also sings broadway, old standards, and opera. When I listened to some of the well-known Korean ballads he sings, I realized that Korean music is really good because they're not afraid of sweetness and earnest feelings that are deemed too cheezy in Western music. (This is also when I realized that Koreans have a real knack for stage settings and lighting. ...Just saying.)
My dad also tried to get me to watch this famous Korean drama, Winter Sonata. I watched the first episode, and the acting and directing were good (again, they're really good at cinematography, music, and atmosphere), but it felt too long and slow, and the story sounded too depressing (like I said, Koreans are good at tragedy), so I didn't want to watch anymore. I had heard that Korean dramas were very popular now, but I figured if they were all like that, I wouldn't want to watch any. Oh, how wrong I was...
A few days later, while looking for Loveholic on YouTube, I happened to come across a fanvid for the Korean drama version of Hana Yori Dango, Kgotboda Namja or Boys Over Flowers. Curious about the idea of mixing my new favorite band and my new favorite manga, I clicked on it. It was so good, it really made me want to watch the drama all of a sudden. ^^; When Rachel saw it, she wanted to watch the show, too, even though she'd only heard bits and pieces of the manga story through me. So we started watching... and we couldn't stop! XD I had to rush to finish the manga series before the show caught up with it. lol. Now I understand why it's become a huge phenomenom in Korea as well as the rest of Asia. Honestly, Boys Over Flowers is one of the best shows I've even seen. <3<3<3 (Click the link to watch the whole series with English subtitles on YouTube!)
We finally finished the series a week ago, and I'm still mourning its end. TT_TT I cried a lot at the finale. I'm glad it had a very satisfying ending, but like all fans, I really, really hope they make a second season! X) Although there's no more manga story to cover, I think it was left open enough to continue the story, and the writers are fantastic (dare I say, better than the manga author?!). I need more Boys Over Flowers!! *crosses fingers* (I was considering watching Meteor Garden, the Taiwanese drama that came first, but I don't really like Chinese drama acting, so I'll probably skip that. tsukikei recommended the Japanese version, so I might take that up. I don't know. *sigh* I doubt it could top the Korean one though. <3)
Because I read the HYD manga, I was always a supporter of Jan Di (Makino Tsukushi) ending up with Jun Pyo (Domyoji Tsukasa) because they obviously belong together duh. ;-P Rachel, on the other hand, was instantly and quite strongly a fan of Ji Hoo (Hanazawa Rui) and wanted Jan Di to choose him instead. This led to constant bickering between the two of us throughout the series. lol. Everytime Jan Di/Jun Pyo got a scene, I was happy and Rachel would complain that Ji Hoo is so much better. Everytime Jan Di/Ji Hoo got a scene, Rachel was happy and I would complain that the show focused too much on their relationship and not enough on the main couple's love story. Though minor, that was my one issue with the adaptation, that the writers really pushed the love triangle and made Ji Hoo especially wonderful for more drama, while in the manga, Rui's one-sided love isn't even featured much. But their tactics totally worked because even I fell in love with Ji Hoo and became torn between the two! =X In the end, I was happy with the way things turned out (I think even Rachel was okay with it), but surprisingly, Ji Hoo turned out to be the dreamiest most captivating character and gave a lasting impression after the show's end.
And by "lasting impression," I mean every female falls madly in love with his ridiculously charming and oddly charismatic actor. With BOF over, I've now become obsessed with Kim Hyun Joong, the actor who won the "Popularity Award for Television" for his role as Ji Hoo. He's my new idol (we're the same age!). Quoting Rachel: "Hyun Joong is like a Korean hyde." It's true! He's appealing on so many different levels; he's simultaneously beautiful, cute, handsome, and sexy, and at any given moment can be very dorky, cool, childlike, mature, funny, smooth, or random. He's straight-forward and honest to the point of tactlessness, he's kind of a space-case, and he's so random it's weird, but no matter what he does, it's charming and fabulous. lol. It's hard to describe, but we're totally head-over-heels for him. =} Now we're starting to watch him in the Korean reality show We Got Married, where he and a female singer six years his senior have to act like a newlywed couple. This show was actually what made him very popular and landed him the BBF role that shot him to super-stardom. He's really funny and cute (and hot) in it. XD
In addition to Ji Hoo's wonderfulness, the BOF drama also had a really good soundtrack. Sure it was kind of repetitive and sometimes humorous to hear the same songs pop up over and over (Rachel and I would laugh everytime we heard the theme song's opening line "Almost paradise~" come up in a scene), but that's probably because we watched so many episodes in a row instead of one per week. XD' In any case, if I had my laptop, I'd download all three OSTs. <3 There are so many great songs (including a very beautiful one from Jisun).
The best, however, is the ending theme "Because I'm Stupid" by SS501. I really love this song. It's perfect boy band, irresistibly catchy, full of sweetness and longing, with a little "classical" sound sophistication and heavy heartfelt lyrics. X3 (And the acoustic version that Ji Hoo sings in the drama is absolutely beautiful and swoon-worthy! <3) Somewhere along my discovery of Korean music, I'd heard of SS501 before, but I'd never bothered to look into them til then. When I YouTubed them, I thought the three guys singing were pretty cute. I found out that there were usually five guys but the other two members were busy doing solo projects. One was performing the lead in the Korean production of Grease, so they got points for that because I love that musical. The other, it so happens, was Kim Hyun Joong, playing the wonderful Ji Hoo (so that's why he sang the song in the show)! So not only did SS501 do the lovely ending song, but their leader, Hyun Joong, wonderfully starred in BOF! They got like a million points. lol.
The more I see from them, the more I like them. They produce pretty good songs, and they're very cute together, like Backstreet Boys, striking just the right balance between ballad cheeziness (e.g. 98*) and badass cheeziness (e.g. *N Sync). =P (Side rant about boy bands: Despite the obvious cheeziness, I've always had a soft spot for overly-earnest boy bands with their ultra-produced and predictably-arranged love songs, matching outfits and expressions, cute dance routines, and laughable music video emoting "acting." I used to love Boyzone and Backstreet Boys. ^_^; I never thought I would become a fangirl for a boy band again though. I feel myself regressing. -_-; I'm probably going to become one of those slightly disturbing 40-year-old mothers who fawn over boy bands and chitter about wanting them as sons-in-law but really just adore them like their teenage daughters do. XD;;)
Anyway, I really enjoy watching SS501's live performances because they always have such cool dance routines. I find myself mesmerized by the intense and complex choreography. (Well, "Because I'm Stupid" doesn't have a dance, but it's still their best song.) My other "Double-S" favorites, "U R Man" (it's supposed to be "Your Man" >_>;) and "A Song Calling For You" both have very fun dances that I try to do when no one's looking. lol.
So that's how I got swept up in the Korean Wave. :D