Favorite drama of the year so far?

[dangermousie]

Seeing that we are 10 months into the year, favorites are bound to shape up. So - what has been your favorite drama this year so far?

For me, the answer is easy - Chuno a.k.a. Slave Hunters.



The only drama this year that made it into my all-time Top 10, Chuno was perfect. I loved everything about it, from the story to acting to cinematography to its driving pace (this is a rare drama that feels as if it should have been longer, even at 24 eps). Even the seemingly extraneous parts (the humor interludes at the inn or slave revolt) ultimately fit into the greater whole and made the world more real. Jang Hyuk gave an unforgettable performance as the broken, dangerous, unpredictable Dae Gil, but I confess my heart belonged to Oh Ji Ho's slave-general Song Tae Ha, righteous but having to navigate his blind acceptance of the prejudices of his time.



By the end of the drama he became my biggest ever drama crush. I also adored Lee Da Hae's Un Nyun - I know she was polarizing but I loved her as someone waking up after a decade of being frozen and finally freeing herself from being dictated either by fate or men around her.



Lee Jong Hyuk was mesmerizing as a tragic villain - he was despicable yet I could not help but pity him. The secondary characters were all top notch. All the tragedies and tangled destinies and politics and true love and points about societal limits and those amazing amazing fights. It's my perfect drama. (It is also one of only two kdramas Mr Mousie has been able to enjoy watching). And yes, it did feature my favorite OTP of the year - I did not know this was what I always wanted in an OTP until Chuno gave me Tae Ha/Un Nyun.



What is yours? It doesn't have to be a kdrama.

Comments

[autumn-yaar.livejournal.com]

For me, the answer is easy - Chuno a.k.a. Slave Hunters.

How surprising! ;)

I haven't really loved anything this year, though I am watching Playful Kiss right now and greatly enjoying. I only have watched through ep 2 though because I know if I keep going I will get behind in school. :(

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think for a time Chuno totally took over my LJ :)

PK is so adorable.

[bae-mac.livejournal.com]

OH, this got me thinking - and that, I think is not a good thing. The fact that I have to contemplate about it is telling that while I may have enjoyed, spazzed a lot about a certain drama, it still wasn't that good to stand above the rest. Ugh. Or maybe, it's all because I still have alcohol in my system atm. I shall get back to this once I'm sober enough. XD

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL, back yet?

[(Anonymous)]

Me I liked God of Study the best this year. Yoo Seung Ho was really charismatic there- Boy's eyes can speak I can't wait to see the intense pair with SW, Bae Doo Na was so funny, Go Ah Sung sure can act- one of my fav female of this year...Kim Su Roo has not Abe Hiroshi charisma but he was not bad. The acting was very good, the show did not drag and I connected with each character. This is a very good school drama which focused on friendship, family, life, relationships... like Jdramas and unlike Kdramas
Therefore my fav drama of this year is GOS.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I meant to check it out but never got to it. Hmmmm.

[ejekyll.livejournal.com]

i coulda maybe come up with a favourite 10, but just the one? this is a toughie! and there are could be favourites already lined up for the end of the year - Athena, and Paradise Ranch... Right now, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is in the lead, because much as I love Itakiss, Gumiho made me laugh and cry, despite my lack of fondness for its leading man. And close behind, I am not ashamed to say, would be makjang baker, Kim Tak Gu and SKK Scandal. Its all the recent ones that I've liked, though the Woman who wants to marry and Coffee House was pretty cute. so in order, for now, my 2010 list would be:

1. My Girlfriend is a Gumiho
2. Kim Tak Gu
3. SKK Scandal (but there are chances that it might go up the scale!! It's not over yet!)
4. Playful Kiss
5. Woman who still wants to marry


You might note the absence of both sagueks and several big dramas of the year, including Giant, Comrades, Runaway, Chuno etc but what can I say, they just didn't work out for me! Or in the case of the Giant and Comrades, I haven't had the time to start....

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmm, if I had to make my top 10, it would be:

1. Chuno
2. SKKS
3. Pick the Stars
4. Giant
5. Baker King
6. Coffee House (though I need to watch more)
7. PK

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I think 2010 has been a decent year for kdramas, but nothing earthshaking. There has been a lot of potential and excitement, but mostly they've turned out mediocre or even a letdown. I've enjoyed a few, but I'd struggle to name more than 1-2 that I REALLY liked enough to put it on a list. Don't think I'd put any of them into my Top 5, either. Maybe Top 10, but I never think that far because it's too hard to work it out, LOL.

Right now, Sungkyunkwan Scandal is probably the stand-out. I don't know whether it'll improve even more later on, and I certainly hope it won't falter, but for now it's probably my favourite this year. And then maybe OB-GYN. That one's never going to be a critic's favourite, but I can say for sure that I really enjoyed it, and that's more than I can say for most other dramas this year.

Now, if you asked me to name a list of dramas I was hyped about but either disappointed me or I lost interest and never finished, I could give you a huuuge list! Kim Man Deok, Hero, Kim Soo Ro, I Am Legend, Oh! My Lady... it goes on~

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, so much yes to your list of disappointments.

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Yup, Chuno hands down for me too. I've enjoyed/enjoy several others as well but Chuno so far is in it's own league entirely. A very well balanced drama over all.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes

[rainy-coffee.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...so THAT is a difficult question. I think 2010 was a rather good year, dramas-wise. I've enjoyed many of them...by the way, I haven't watched Chuno -not yet.

So my favorite drama of the year was hard to pick, but after thinking about it quite a lot, I would say Baker King Kim Tak Gu. Why ? The family story, the complexity of the characters (except for Tak Gu, who is rather simple), the metaphor with bread/life, the rivalry between Ma Jun and Tak Gu,the angst, the hurt, jealous and crual Ma Jun, me shipping Ma Jun/Yu Kyung like mad... I really had a huge crush on this drama, which surprised me at first because it is not the kind of drama I usually watch.

At second and third place come Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Bad Guy, even if I do know that the latter has many flaws (especially story-wise, but character-wise and dialogue-wise I was awed).

If I may ask, what were your favourite k-drama characters this year ?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

My favorite character this year was Song Tae Ha from Chuno with Tae Kyung from Bad Guy a close second (I agree, a flawed drama but when it was good, it was amazing). Also the other two main characters from Chuno, Min Woo and Miju from Giant, Ma Jun from Baker King, Sun Joon and Yoon Hee from SKKS, heroine of Pick the Stars (blanking on the name), and probably the leads of Daemul if it keeps up.

[(Anonymous)]

"My favorite character this year was Song Tae Ha from Chuno with Tae Kyung from Bad Guy a close second (I agree, a flawed drama but when it was good, it was amazing)."

OMG ditto! Song Tae-Ha and Hong Tae-Sung are probably two of the best written (and very sexy) characters for me. I love Oh Ji-Ho but the man has always been more known for his beauty than artistic skills. With Song Tae-Ha he did undergo a bit of a startling transformation - although not on the level of Robert De Niro yet hehe. But he made up for any unintentional blandness with his highly combustible chemistry with co-star LDH and was overall pretty savvy with the sword.
But Hong Tae-Sung, ahhh... wouldn't be HTS without the gorgeous/talented Kim Jae-Wook.

[rainy-coffee.livejournal.com]

For me, this year at first place it was Hong Tae Sung from Bad Guy and Gu Ma Jun from Baker King. Then, without any particular order, Shin Yu Kyung from Baker King, Moon Jae In from Bad Guy, Yoon Hee from SKKS.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love your list

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmm. Yes.

[lightsjustright.livejournal.com]

Huh, that's weird. I feel like it was a good year but more than anything the dramas I fell obsessively in love with at the beginning but were letdowns. Like Cinderella's Sister, Bad Guy, or Personal Taste to a lesser degree.

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is pretty awesome although I need to catch up on it. Hotaru No Hikari 2 was cute but I fell behind with that too. Likewise with that Matsujun one with the hideously long name. Gloria is cute too right now but I don't think it will be a favourite.

The way it's going I'd choose Playful Kiss although that sounds trite even saying it. MGIAG after that.

Can I just say Love Shuffle? :P Okay, it didn't air this year but I watched it this year and it just owns.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Love Shuffle is amazing.

Bad Guy was so disappointing - but I don;t mind because the amazing parts made up for the useless ending.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, Personal Taste, that turned out to be such a letdown. By episode 12, I was literally fastforwarding chunks at a time and hoping it'd just end and stop wasting my time. XD I think the only thing that kept me going was that I was close to the finish line and I was slightly invested in the main couple. I wasn't even that into them, actually, but I liked them enough to try and finish it.

[lightsjustright.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I doubt I even watched half of it with how much I had to ff. I basically just watched because of Lee Min Ho's smile but, like, I can't exactly last on that.

At least it had a good kiss.

[hanjae.livejournal.com]

I probably would have gotten more into it if I was able to find Lee Min Ho attractive, but while I thought he's good-looking, I never went, "OMG HOT" or anything similar. Probably because his mannerisms in the drama was even more feminine than Son Ye Jin's? Or those too-tight, too-short pants around his stick-thin legs? His head being too big for his skinny body? LOL either way, that drama didn't work for me on almost every level.

[lightsjustright.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was necessarily a bad drama... but it was never really exciting either, you know? And yeah, I wasn't a big fan of his dress - but the other dude wore green jeans haha! ♥

He hasn't been in a good drama yet but I still seriously just think LMH has the cutest smile. I don't know, I find him hot. Maybe because, despite the crappiness of BBF, I found him pretty endearing in it? Plus he's tall!

[rainy-coffee.livejournal.com]

I watched Love Shuffle last year. It is one of my favourite J-dramas, the characters were all lovely and very human. Kairi and Ojiro were the best for me.

[elizabennet69.livejournal.com]

My favorite this year is Chuno by far. Not only the story was good but also the cinematography and the action careography were excellent. I have a soft spot for Jang Hyuk (despite Windstruck) and he was excellent, I also like LDH, that woman knows how to cry on screen. Actually there isn't anyone I didn't like. The only exception being Oh Ji oh since his performance was way below everyone else's. I liked the character but he couldn't give it any depth. And probably because of this I was team Daegil all the way.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I was team Tae Ha but I adored Daegil :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I agree. When all is said and done, this is probably one single drama I was obsessed with the most in my 4 years of drama watching. And it is so beautiful, from start to finish.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes

[issy-chan.livejournal.com]

totally agree w ith everything you said about Chuno. my favourite drama of this year is Chuno too. i never thought that i can love a drama and its characters with such a passion and Chuno made that happen. and STH, probably would be my most favourite fictional character of all time. no doubt about it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh so much yes.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

Of the ones I finished this year: IRIS (k) and JOKER (j) (I like the detective/spy/cop dramas, okay :)). Of the ones currently running: Joseon X-Files (continues the trend with an sf plus included).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to watch more of JXF

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm...I don't think I can pick just one drama from one country!
Japan- Hotaru no Hikari 2. I thought it was just as loveable as the first season. I love Buchou and Hotaru!
Taiwan- Autumn's Concerto. I love melodramas and this one appealed to me in every aspect. It truly deserved the high ratings it received in Taiwan.
Korea- If I had to choose one drama as my favorite this year... I think I'd have to go with Will it Snow for Christmas. I fell deeply for that drama and it took me months to get over it. I started watching Giant originally because of the WISFC kids, Kim Soo Hyun and Nam Ji Hyun, were casted as young Jung Yeon and Sung Mo. And I couldn't miss the opportunity to fangirl over them again! ;) (Although they ended up not having any scenes together. >.< That didn't bother me at all because I had already decided I was going to watch the drama regardless. By the end of episode 8, where the adults came in, I was already sold!) Now Giant has been my favorite weekly drama for months now. Based on where Giant is now (in regards to the writing quality) I think I'd rank that (Giant) and Baker King as my second and third favorite korean dramas this year.(So far...that could change.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, this is a great list