My Korean Drama La La Land

Not much, but here is but my personal recommendations for Korean Drama to watch.

Melo-Drama

Winter Sonata - if this is your first Kdrama to watch, do not start. This drama requires patience, depth and heck of love for the dramatics. It is a long.... long... series. But I personally say, it is worth it.. You have to know how to appreciate real drama to finish this.

Love Rain - This is the second and last melo-drama I watched so far. I watched it for 2 reasons.(1)Director, (2)Jang Keun Suk. It is not as deep as Winter Sonata. I was kind of disappointed. But it was a good venue for JKS to explore his acting skill. If you miss JKS... this is one of your pick. Just do not expect much of your Tae Kyung fun.

Romantic-Comedy

You Are Beautiful - If you are a BOF fan, then, do not watch this just for the sake of  comparison and the hoopla. I watched BOF with open mind.. and even finished the series. Also, if you watched Heartstring already, then I warn you that you will regret that you did not watch this first before HS. YAB is simply hilarious, strong and a hoot. If you want just real crack of the day, this is the drama for you. Check out dramafever.com, YAB is still the most watched. Hence, I need not say more.

Goong/Princess Hours - With Kdramas, I hate the 3-sided love, the 4-sided, or the blindsided love affairs. With Goong, I simply love the fact that she stood by him, no matter what. As much as I hated him for taking forever to let go of that past connection with his ex, still, he never let the crowned princess feel ignored. They both have such a strong grasp of respect for each other, I rarely see this on other dramas. It is that silent commitment for each other that made me adore this drama.

Lie To Me - I know that a lot of k-addict would refute me on this one, but I just love the cracks of laughter Yoo Eun Hye could evoked from me. I know the plot is weak like crazy, but her acting just sends me to the roof. With rom-com, I sometimes kind of throw the drama-line/story-line out of my brain-window and just let go of that appreciation for wit and fun. This drama is just crazy fun.

Coffee Prince - I love this and I hate this. Maybe because I watched this after I watched YAB that I hate the fact it took forever for the plot to reveal her identity. Kind of ruined that beautiful casting because I cannot get over the fact that he was clueless until almost the very end. Still, I would recommend this to anyone because it was good acting and just a heart tugging and laughter-jerker. If you watched Goong, you should NEVER miss this. :)

Romantic Drama

Secret Garden - After Winter Sonata, this is the other drama that made me cry like I almost died. Tears flowing, can not breath kind of crying. I can not describe this drama in any other way, except for it being just real romance and real drama.

Being-A-Fangirl Drama

Personal Taste - I avoided any drama with Lee Min Ho on it because Jandi from BOF just kind of ruined everything LMH in my heart. At first I felt like I am watching Jandi impersonating the female lead here on this drama. But my friend told me to give this drama a chance. So I did everything I can to finish the series. There are  2 things that made me finished up and made my while worth it... (1) Yoo Eun Hye guest appearance (2) Lee Min Hos dimples and his smile. The Jandi personified in Ka Ins role is totally forgotten, as long as I can see more of his smile. I cud even appreciate the bromance more than the romance itself. Again, I am an official ruins of Jandi.

To The Beautiful You - If you have not heard of Shinee and Kang Tae Joon and is interested with this series because of the Jap Version, Hana Kimi, do not worry, so am I. Tae Joon is like an eye-candy, that chocolate-melts-in-your-mouth kind of way. He is just totally cute and a beaut to watch. He has little acting skills... but I finished the series because I just want to see his adorable face. So if you ask me about the story line, forget it -- I have no idea what happened, but I do recommend you to watch Hana Kimi, Coffee Prince,  or You Are Beautiful.

Historical Drama

Hong Gil Dong - I love how the characters evolved on this drama. The play of an idealist vs pragmatist factor on this drama is both a struggle and a joy to watch. The relationship between the Prince and Gil Dong is debatable evolution but for me, it was that relationship that glued me up to the finish. Not one of JKS acting best, but memorable.

Addicted to KDrama: You're BeautifuL/He's Beautiful

I was not really into (Koren)KDrama.

I wen't home to Philippines last year, 2011, and I stumbled unto this Filipino-dubbed Kdrama, Marry Me Mary (aka Mary Stayed Out All Night) on tv. It was not even the drama itself that got my attention. It was the OST (Soundtrack) - My Precious  that got stuck into my head. Sang by the lead of the drama, Jang Keun Suk, despite it being Korean, I did found myself humming it here and there ... and sang the line "my precious.... ". Very weird!

Coming back home to California, I checked out TFC guide if by any chance they will show the drama. Silly me, of course, it's not. I ended up googling it and again, found myself watching the last few epi in youtube.

Then an FB friend highly recommended that I watch "You're Beautiful/He's Beautiful", another KDrama starred by JKS as well. 

I gave it a shot. And despite my hesitation, YAB kept me glued to my computer. 

I've heard of Boys Over Flower (BOF). Heard of the hoopla around it. Saw the parodies. But didn't really got into watching the drama.

When I started YAB with it's first epi, I got hooked. The first epi itself is a blast. 

GoMiNam/Min Nyu

The character of Min Nyu/Go Min Nam as a nun and up to the point when she has to disguise herself as her twin brother was very    well portrayed. I liked her clumsiness, her naivete, her spontaneity, and the fact that she act stupid and dumb even if you'll end up hating her for it. The stuffs she did, you can actually relate. She is so misguided for coming out of the convent and play her twin-brother that she ended up being so dumb. Oh, how funny to read the haters comment about how they hate her character. How helpless she is. How clueless. Seriously, why would she act otherwise? She's suppose to become a nun. Do you really expect a nun-in-training to act the wiser??? You expect her to act the groupie? Or worldly? She is suppose to go to Rome. With that alone -- you have to stop expecting.

HuangTaeKyung

The leader of the band. Uptight. Boiled up with emotions you can't even dig. Suppose to be all-knowing. Suppose to be an All-That. And yah...he is all-that. And more. I would say, HTK was made for JKS, and JKS perfected HTK. The way he adapt to the role... is beyond words. How can you act uptight and make your viewers cry watching the conflicted emotions in your face, as well as act out a very serious scene then end it with a hilarious bang? Really, I could list all these memorable scenes in my sleep and make me rewatch the entire series again just for a good laugh. Above all, TaeKyung and OCD (Obsessive, Compulsive Disease) is a perfect fit for a clumsy, clueless GMN. The love they eventually feel for each other was perfectly cooked up for the viewers. I know a lot would prefer Shinwoo to end up with MiNam... but seriously, TaeKyung deserves some lovin', too. After all, he is suppose to be all-that. LOL.

Shinwoo & Jeremy

I am never fan of K-Pop, but after getting addicted to this drama, I end up gooling for CN Blue(Shinwoo, Jong Hwa) & FT Island (Jeremy, Lee Hongki). Who would not love them? Jeremy is adorable, you just wanna squeeze him, kiss him and adopt him. His dog, Angelina Jolie, is even a hit. When he cried on the bus, confessing his feelings for MiNam, he stole my heart. And adorable as he is, you will love him more for giving it up for TaeKyung. Why can`t he just love me, right. 

As for Shinwoo, what can I say, I want him up - buttercup. A bestfriend for life, who fell in love with you, is what all girls dreamed of. Unfortunately, he went for the friend-kill, as oppose to being upfront right from the start. He lose his chance when he decided to procrastinate in being honest with his feelings. So many chances, what a waste! But a drama needs a drama.. or else nobody gonna be hating the lead characters for choosing their choices.

Why I love this drama.... 

• Well, the hilarious scenes are to die for. Will give you a perfect reason to replay the episodes again and again.
• That feeling of loving someone whom you thought would not like the idea of loving them. High School.    First relationships. Crushes. Dream guy. You can surely relate.
• Hating the lead guy for always getting the girl. And rooting for the second guy because you know he will never get the girl. Very ordinary, but seriously, 3 guys of wonderful character -- who would you choose.
• The drama -- the pain. The conflicted emotions that could tear you to pieces. You keep on screaming, `Make out already`. Or ``What the eff`!!! Did she just do that!!!!!!``. Or ``I wanna kill the Mom, or drug her! Or Poison her!!`. You will even hate the second lead girl whom you will scream at with words like ``Get a life!!!``, ``I wanna Kill You!!!, `Fake Fairy Dieee!!!!``
• Seeing TaeKyung was chased by a pig -- is epic. Never see that one coming!!!
• The OSTs -- Without Words (by Park Shin Yee & Jang Keun Suk), Always (Hongki and AnJell`s version), Goodbye (JKS)... and What Should I Do (JKS)
• And of course, I wanna get one of those PigRabbit!!!!

Thank goodness for sites like Viki.Com, I can always watch this drama again, and again, and again!!!

Note: Last year, 2011, a Japanese version of this drama was released in Japan, titled - Ikemen Desu Ne. I watch half of the series. I still liked my YAB. 

Season 2, anyone....