Category Archives: Drama
This stuff is serious business. Comedic relief is rare, and generally creates a heavy atmosphere.
Boys Love
Contains homosexual situations and nudity
“This is not a tragedy. This is a story of love…” -Mamiya Taishin0
Wiki | Yellow Cinema | Crunchyroll
Where to watch: Youtube
Starring: Kotani Yoshikazu, Saito Takumi, Matsumoto Hiroya
Mamiya Taishin (Kotani) is a reporter who gets the chance to interview popular model Kisaragi Noeru (Saito). Kisaragi is a high school student with a bad attitude and bad habits – the worst of which is bedding a different man every night. A restaurant chat turns into a sexual encounter in the bathroom, and ends up with Mamiya alone and bewildered in his flat. Shortly after, Kisaragi’s modeling agency calls and complains about Mamiya’s arrogant behaviour during the interview, and demands that he make a personal apology. When the two start getting close, Chidori (Matsumoto), a childhood friend of Kisaragi, becomes jealous. Will he threaten the blossoming relationship between model and reporter?
April Snow
AKA: 외출/Outing
“Should we have an affair, too? That’d make them flip!” - Seo Young
Starring: Bae Young Joon, Son Ye Jin
In-su (Bae Young Joon) is a lighting director whose life completely changes with a single phone call. His wife has been involved in an accident, and is in a coma. In the hospital he meets Seo Young (Son Ye Jin), and they discover that their partners were having an affair. As they wait for their respective spouses to regain consciousness, the two gradually become closer and decide to have an affair of their own…
Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru
[AKA: ただ、君を愛してる, Heavenly Forest]
I want to be fooled by your lies just a little while longer. -Makoto
Starring: Miyazaki Aoi, Tamaki Hiroshi, Kuroki Meisa, Koide Keisuke, Uehara Misa, Munetaka Aoki, Oonishi Asae
Sagawa Makoto (Tamaki Hiroshi) has an inferiority complex due to the fact that he suffers from what seems to be a form of eczema. He chooses to skip his university entrance ceremony due to his fear of large crowds and meets the strange and childlike Satonaka Shizuru (Miyazaki Aoi). She manages to get him to open up to her, despite the fact that he’s secretly in love with his beautiful classmate Toyama Miyuki (Kuroki Meisa). Shizuru loves Makoto, and wants to love anybody that he loves and becomes friends with Miyuki. She develops a love of photography because of Makoto, and when he asks her what she wants for her birthday, she asks for a kiss. Shortly after, Shizuru completely disappears from Makoto’s life, leaving only letters and postcards from abroad as a trail for him to follow, only to discover tragedy.
Spider Lilies
“These flowers are the gateway to hell.” – Takeko
IMDB | Wiki | Official site (EN)
Starring: Rainie Yang, Isabella Leong
Webcam girl Jade (Rainie Yang) lives with her grandmother, and is a free spirit at heart. Takeko (Isabella Leong) is a foreigner whose family was shattered when her father was killed in an earthquake, and her younger brother recognizes no one except for the tattoo that his father always wore. In hopes of bringing his memory back, Takeko gets that same design tattooed on herself. When Jade enters the shop, she is entranced by the design of spider lilies on the wall, and begs for the same. Takeko refuses, but Jade leaves her business card anyway. Takeko sees them as flowers of death, but to Jade they are reminders of her first love. Will the two be able to understand each others’ hearts?
Virgin Snow
A love surpassing culture, pure as untouched snow.
Wiki | IMDb | AsianMediaWiki
Starring: Lee Jun Ki, Aoi Miyazaki
Wait a second…Aoi Miyazaki is Japanese! Why is she listed after a Korean actor? And what’s up with those tags?
Boys Before Flowers
“There’s no such thing as Jan Di’s world, or Jun Pyo’s world – just as you and I are of the same world.” – Ji Hoo
Starring: Goo Hye Sun, Lee Minho, Kim Hyunjoong, Kim Bum, Kim Joon, Kim So Eun
Am I the only one who didn’t buy into the craze?
Aishiteiru to Itte Kure
“Deaf people and hearing people aren’t that different, are they?” -Mizuno Hiroko
Starring: Toyokawa Etsushi, Tokiwa Takako, Okada Kohki, Aso Yumi
Hands off, Toyoetsu is MINNNNE. Oh, and there’s skinny-dipping. Betcha you’re interested now, huh?
Boku Wa Imouto Ni Koi Wo Suru
WARNING! This movie contains twincest – an incestuous relationship between twins.
“I know that my love for you is forbidden, but I love you so much, I don’t know what to do.” – Yori
Starring: Matsumoto Jun, Nana Eikura, Ayaka Komatsu, Yuuta Hiraoka
Many cultures consider twins special or possessing mystical powers, or to be linked. This is a story of that special connection taken to the next level.
Golden Bride
Starring: Lee Young Ah, Song Chang Ui, Choi Yeo Jin, Song Jong Ho
Also known as: 황금신부 (Korean title), Bride from Vietnam
DramaWiki | Koreandrama.org | Wiki
I admit that I only looked up this show because Heechul of Super Junior was in it. I was still new to the drama world, as this was my second drama ever. It is also my favorite to date. Honestly, I don’t think that will change for a long, long time.
The story is about Nguyen Jin Joo, a half-Korean, half-Vietnamese girl, who agrees to marry a man she’s never met in order to find her father. That man is Kang Jun Woo (Song Chang Ui), who suffers from a posttraumatic stress disorder after his girlfriend and fiancée, Ok Ji Young broke up with him. She has since married Kim Young Min, a rich man she met while studying overseas in Chicago. Unbeknownst to either of the couples, their families have bad blood because the head of the Kim household was once the boyfriend of Jun Woo’s mother, but was stolen away by another woman – Young Min’s mother.
This drama is on the longer side (64 episodes), but oh my GOD, it is worth it. It is set up so that you mainly follows the two women: Jin Joo trying to help Jun Woo overcome his disorder and win his love, and Ji Young as her past returns to haunt her and threatens to destroy her perfect life. Amidst all the turmoil between the families Kim and Kang, Young Soo (Heechul) and Jun Woo’s younger sister Sae Mi fall in love and decide to marry.
One of the (many!) amazing things about this drama is the issues it brings up related to love and life. Is it okay for a woman to be ambitious, like Ji Young? Intercultural marriage and the stresses involved – can Jin Joo and Jun Woo stay together, even when everyone looks down on Jin Joo? Does the age difference between Won Mi (Jun Woo’s older sister) and Dong Gu (who was previously Sae Mi’s boyfriend, and is around her age) really matter if they love each other? Is the love between Young Soo and Sae Mi not as true or pure because they are young?
I also love how the lives of the two main women are completely opposite from the get-go. Jin Joo shows ambition paired with acceptable qualities ~ a huge heart that loves easily and deeply, the ability to compromise, etc. Ji Young has ambition with all the wrong personality traits: greed (for power and wealth), deception, manipulation. Jin Joo becomes successful and happy, while Ji Young becomes pathetic, and loses everything.
The ending, however, is happy for everyone. It even hints at Ji Young getting a second chance after she leaves the country to reflect on her mistakes and self. There are so many misunderstandings and twists along the way though, folks! Still, if you’re a fan of amazing plot and characters, you have 0.03 seconds to watch this before I hunt you down. STARTING NOW.
Rating: 5/5 (I WANTED TO GIVE IT 1.5 BILLION / 5)
