Boys Over Flowers

This famous K-drama was just another thing recommended to me by my friends at CVM. Apparently, all the girls are in love with this show and I had to see why. I found out that a TV company here acquired the rights to broadcast the series in the Philippines (dubbed in Tagalog of course) and since then it’s become really famous here. All the girls go gaga over the boys in this one, and as a guy myself, I have to say that I’m not surprised. As much as it pains me to admit it, the guys in Boys Over Flowers are extremely handsome. I’m sure that many girls would swoon just seeing them.

To put this in perspective, here’s a short synopsis of the drama:

The ‘Iconic Love Story’ for those who wish to stay young at heart forever!
‘Boys over Flowers’ is the highly anticipated remake of the famous Japanese comic book series. Jan-di, the Heroine, is the poor but bright girl who has a strong sense of justice and full of vitality. She transfers to an exclusive high school where only the rich go. In there, she encounters with the four rich and quirky boys and experiences love and friendship.
The storyline illustrates the supreme fantasy that a drama can bring out the most. Each of us probably has an experience of admiring or dreaming of something. The drama ‘Boys over Flowers’ is the concentration of the admirations.

As the synopsis reads, the story itself is an adaptation from a Japanese manga (Hana Yori Dango) which ran from October 1992 to September 2003. The cast involves Koo Hye Sun who plays Geum Jan Di the protagonist, as well as Lee Min Ho (Gu Jun Pyo), Kim Hyun Joong (Yoon Ji Hoo), Kim Bum (So Yi Jung), and Kim Joon (Song Woo Bin).

This drama is the last one I’ve completed so far and is by far the longest. It spans 25 episodes at 1 hour and 10 minutes a piece. That’s over 29 hours of drama, right there! This took me about two-and-a-half weeks to finish but again it was worth it.

The story revolves around an simple commoner (Jan Di) and her entanglement with the famous F4, a group of students who are deemed the richest and most famous and influential students at the school. This group consists of Gu Jun Pyo, Yoon Ji Hoo, So Yi Jung and Song Woo Bin. After an accidental encounter with a student at Shinhwa High School, the most prestigious (and expensive) school in the country, Jan Di causes controversy and is admitted to the school to help quell it. Her interactions with two of the members (Gu Jun Pyo and Yoon Ji Hoo) spark off a lot of interesting drama while a lot of comedic actions are intertwined as these rich individuals get used to dealing with love. A more detailed synposis lies here, but don’t read it if you don’t want the story to be spoiled.

The story is very long, which mostly revolves around the interactions between Jan Di, Gu Jun Pyo and Yoon Ji Hoo. Kim Bum also has a little side-story with Jan Di’s best friend while Song Win Boo does not have much story associated with him during the drama (although he still plays an important part in the F4). I think you can imagine where the story goes when such rich teens get involved with common girls. As inheritor of the most powerful business conglomerate of the country Gu Jun Pyo’s family plays a major part in the story as well, mostly trying to void the relationship between him and Jan Di.

While the drama is much longer than the others I have watched so far, I really did feel for Jan Di during the story, as well as the other F4 members. The more time I spent watching the characters the more engrossed I got in it, to be honest. I didn’t mind that the drama was much longer than the others because I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Towards the end I really felt like I had learned a little bit about hardship and such and so it was an enjoyable drama.

Boys Over Flowers is definitely on the list of recommended dramas I’d suggest to you if you are like me and interested in romantic comedies. The comedy here is usually lighthearted, with all the other themes surrounding them. I found myself laughing out loud, tearing and yelling at the screen while I watched this drama. I never knew I’d have such a reaction to a drama, but this one really was worth the watch.

I’m sure a lot of you would enjoy it.

Now that I’ve covered my thoughts on the dramas I’ve watched so far, I’ll need more suggestions on what I should pick up next! If you have anything, then leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear what you have to recommend to me.

And with that, I think I’m going to take a nap… I’m kind of tired. I will talk to you guys soon!

Who wants some Coffee… Prince?

So next up on my list of three dramas is my take on Coffee Prince. In reality, the title of this show was called the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, but since it’s release it’s just been widely known as Coffee Prince. This show has seen much popularity since it’s release in July of 2007 being broadcast internationally in countries such as the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Israel, Thailand, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.

The drama stars Yoon Eun Hye from Goong or Princess Hours, Gong Yoo from One Fine Day, Lee Sun Gyun from White Tower and Chae Jung Ahn. The drama revolves around a tomboyish girl that meets a bachelor and coerces him to help her out with her financial situation. The entire drama has a lot of “pseudohomosexual” themes, as the girl does not tell the truth of her real sex to the bachelor for most of the story.

Here’s a more clear synopsis, if you’re interested:

Choi Han Kyul, played by Gong Yoo, is the cocky son of a very rich family who runs a damaged food corporation. He doesn’t believe in love and certainly doesn’t want to get married despite his family’s requests. On the other hand, Go Eun Chan, played by Yoon Eun Hye, is a 24-year old tomboyish female who gets mistaken as a guy quite often. She takes up every job possible — waitress, food deliverer, etc — and has the responsibility of taking care of her mother and younger sister. Eun Chan accidentally meets Han Kyul twice, once on a delivery and once during a robbery. During the robbery, Eun Chan’s delivery motorcycle ends up being damaged. Han Kyul, not knowing that Eun Chan is actually a girl, decides to hire Eun Chan as a false “lover” so that he can escape the blind dates arranged by his grandmother. Meanwhile, Han Kyul’s cousin, Choi Han Seong, is an established music producer and his ex-girlfriend Han Yoo Joo, who Han Kyul secretly loved for nine years, is a famous artist who studied in New York. The two were lovers for about 8 years but their relationship ended when Yoo Joo broke up with Han Seong. Two years after they separated their paths cross again when Yoo Joo returns to Seoul.

After getting an ultimatum from his grandmother, Han Kyul takes over a run-down severely damaged old coffee shop, later renamed Coffee Prince, to prove his ability, both to his grandmother and Yoo Joo. In order to attract female customers, he only hires good looking male employees. In a struggle with money, Eun Chan, whom Han Kyul has already mistaken as a boy, hides her gender identity to get a job at Coffee Prince. Soon feelings start to spark between Eun Chan and Han Kyul. Because he’s unaware that Eun Chan is a girl, Han Kyul starts to question his sexuality.

One of the reasons that I watched this drama was because my Korean friend at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Jae Hyung, was actually a childhood friend of Gong Yoo (Han Kyul), the lead actor in this series. There are many pictures of Gong Yoo and Jae together, and thought it was awesome that I knew someone who knew someone in such a successful drama. And I have to say, I’m glad I watched it.

Honestly the first time I started watching this drama I was thinking to myself, “Wow, another girl-has-to-act-like-a-girl story?” I thought I was on a roll… or that Koreans just in general liked the theme of girls masquerading as guys.

All in all the story was pretty sweet. Unlike the girl in You’re Beautiful, I could actually see Yoon Eun Hye being mistaken as a guy. She can look the part if she wanted to, although she’d be a really thin guy with soft skin… :)

While the story does have other Coffee Princes, including Kim Chang Wan as Mr. Hong, Kim Dong Wook as Jin Ha Rim, Kim Jae Wook as Noh Sun Ki, and Lee Eon as Hwang Min Yeop, the story really revolves around the relationship between Han Kyul and Go Eun Chan and Choi Han Seong and Han Yoo Joo. These two couples get intertwined in the middle of the story making for a lot of good and interesting drama. The Coffee Princes themselves though are a great addition to the cast, adding a lot of comedy and side-stories to this show which help to pass the time while the main characters figure out their problems.

I unfortunately learned however, while reading up on this show that one of the Coffee Princes, Lee Eon (Hwang Min Yeop) passed away in a motorcycle accident not too long after Coffee Prince was released. It’s quite sad to find out that one of the people in a drama passed away, especially in such a horrific turn of events. He played the simple-minded guy who had a love for Go Eun Chan’s little sister, and he was a lovable character. May he rest in peace.

Coffee Prince in general isn’t so much about the coffee, but about what the coffee shop itself brings together. You’ll see a good development of the characters and their relationships while they sit, talk, drink, walk, paint, clean, eat, and yell in and around the cafe.

It’s a lovely drama and I’m not surprised why it’s been acclaimed internationally. Coffee Prince will really entertain you as a romantic comedy. There are 17 episodes with an addition of an 18th special edition episode, where the cast talks about their experiences on the set of Coffee Prince. That was one thing I liked about watching K-dramas. At the end of the story you’ll always find out a little something about the actors and the production team themselves, for a little behind the scenes action. And you really get to see what the cast felt like while filming particular episodes. It makes for a better ending episode because you get more closure on the drama and see a little bit about what it took to put it all together.

All in all, Coffee Prince is a great drama and will make you laugh and teary eyed, and may do so at the same time. Although this is an old drama, I would surely recommend this to anyone who’s willing to give it a try. Even if you don’t drink coffee, I suggest you try it out. I’m sure you’ll be satisfied.

You’re Beautiful

This will be my first post talking about a Korean Drama (K-drama) that I’ve watched. Truthfully, I’m actually a newbie to this scene although I know that people have been following this for years. I’ve only watched a few K-dramas completely thus far (only 3) but the first one that I completed was You’re Beautiful (Minami Shineyo / May also be known as He’s Beautiful or You’re Handsome).

Here’s a short synopsis of the drama:

The management company of the idol group A.N.JELL insisted on adding a new singer to the group as the lead vocal, Tae Kyung’s voice was hurting. However,the new member, Mi Nam, had to go to the States to repair a botched eye job just before signing the contract. His agent came up with the idea of having his twin sister, Mi Nyu,to stand in for him and pretend that she was her brother. The two of them grew up in an orphanage and Mi Nyu, who was all set to become a nun, agreed to this charade as she didn’t want to spoil her brother’s chance of fame which would make it easier to look for their mother.

Cast of You're Beautiful

This drama is actually a fairly recent one, just being broadcast from October to November of last year (2009) in South Korea by SBS. It’s a romantic comedy (I admit I like these a lot) and I had a lot of fun watching this. I picked up this series about 2 months ago and finished it in about 2 weeks. The one thing I realized about Korean dramas is that each episode is extremely long, ending at about 1 hour and 10 minutes for each episode. That’s without commercials. In this particular drama, there were 16 episodes, so that means 18 hours and 40 minutes of drama. Now that’s a fair amount. It took me about 2 weeks to finish this drama, but the story was good.

Park Shin Hye plays Go Mi Nyu (female) and turns into Go Mi Nam (male) to help cover for her twin brother who has been rushed to the States to fix an eye problem (which is quite funny when you find out what it is). She signs the paperwork and enters into A.N.Jell which is the newest and hottest boy band around in South Korea. Anyway, as you can probably tell, this spirals out of control when she mixes in with the other 3 male members of A.N.Jell, who all start to have feelings for Go Mi Nyu and of course the news of a female being in a boy band is media worthy so problems arise from that also. A lot more stuff happens in the drama which I can’t tell you without spoiling it for you, so I suggest you pick it up and watch it if you have a chance.

Watching a full K-drama is just like watching a very long sitcom. I felt like the episodes themselves could’ve been split into even smaller parts, but I heard from my Korean friend that Koreans don’t like commercials and they like to sit through long episodes on TV. I have no problem with that, it’s just that I find it takes a very long time to finish these dramas. However, it was worth it! You’re Beautiful is a great romantic comedy. But I have to admit that I’m a sucker for that genre… haha.

You’ll find a lot of familiar faces if you’re a fan of K-pop. UEE from After School is present as the somewhat diabolical Yoo He Yi, as well as Jung Yong Hwa from the newly debuted CN Blue as Shin Woo and also Lee Hong Ki from FT Island as the adorable Jeremy. Also, K-pop artist and actor Jang Geun Suk plays the leader of A.N.Jell, Hwang Tae Kyung.

I think one of the only problems I had with the drama was that Park Shin Hye who plays Go Mi Nam really looks like a girl. She’s supposed to look like a guy when she fills in for her twin brother, but c’mon, even when they dress her up in guy’s clothing, she still looks like a girl. And a pretty one at that! I mean, look at her!

Too pretty!

I think that’s really the only problem I had with this drama… haha. The girl who’s supposed to play a boy is too pretty for her own good. But I guess there’s nothing really to complain about. The drama was well written and it was enjoyable. I just thought that it could’ve been split up into many more shorter segments. But then again it’s good to know that you have only 16 episodes and that the story is complete. Sometimes with other sitcoms they just keep releasing more and more episodes which are basically just full of filler. The good thing about these types of short series is that once they’re done, that’s it. You’ve enjoyed a long story and you’re free to move onto the next one.

Which I realize could be a deadly perpetuous cycle if I continue to get caught up with these dramas. They’re really well written though and more interesting than other dramas I’ve watched! Seriously, I found myself laughing out loud during many segments of these things (not the “lol” type where you just type it and not actually do it… I mean the kind where I actually DID laugh out loud). Very funny drama. I’m a light hearted kind of person. (Did I mention how I love romantic comedies? No? Well I do. :) )

If you enjoy a good romantic comedy then look no further! You’re Beautiful might be what you’re looking for. :)

As I said before, I’ve completed 3 K-dramas so far. I’ll be talking about Coffee Prince and Boys Over Flowers in my next few posts, so keep a look out for those. ;)