Drama binge
May. 12th, 2007 01:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieWent on a major shopping binge and bought the following dramas.
Chinese period sword-fighting/forbidden love ones:
Handsome Siblings (Nicholas Tse, long hair, swords, OTPs, come onnnn!)
The Patriotic Knights (bizarro names, but promises lots of fighting and romance)
Romance of Red Dust (ditto. Especially angsty luuuurve, yay)
Modern stuff:
Corner with Love (it sounds awesome and I adore Barbie Xsu and romantic awesomeness rocks)
My Boyfriend is Type B (because it sounds like a cute Korean movie)
Hanazono's Secret Garden (everyone kept reccing this jdrama)
Crazy for You (kdrama. Sounds angsty and awesome and he falls in love with widow of guy he accidentally kills? YES)
This means no drama shopping for rest of May and June as I maxed out my drama shopping allowance. Oh well. The only ones I'd even want to get now are Hotelier and the ones that just finished and they are a while from DVD. Plus, I have a humongous backlog anyway. But you all are to talk me out if I want to buy more dramas. I mean, I probably have at least 30 I haven't watched that I own
Chinese period sword-fighting/forbidden love ones:
Handsome Siblings (Nicholas Tse, long hair, swords, OTPs, come onnnn!)
The Patriotic Knights (bizarro names, but promises lots of fighting and romance)
Romance of Red Dust (ditto. Especially angsty luuuurve, yay)
Modern stuff:
Corner with Love (it sounds awesome and I adore Barbie Xsu and romantic awesomeness rocks)
My Boyfriend is Type B (because it sounds like a cute Korean movie)
Hanazono's Secret Garden (everyone kept reccing this jdrama)
Crazy for You (kdrama. Sounds angsty and awesome and he falls in love with widow of guy he accidentally kills? YES)
This means no drama shopping for rest of May and June as I maxed out my drama shopping allowance. Oh well. The only ones I'd even want to get now are Hotelier and the ones that just finished and they are a while from DVD. Plus, I have a humongous backlog anyway. But you all are to talk me out if I want to buy more dramas. I mean, I probably have at least 30 I haven't watched that I own
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 05:56 am (UTC)does htis mean I'm not to try to find Chinese Paladin for you?
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Date: 2007-05-12 12:58 pm (UTC)And don't worry about CP for now. I think I am up to my ears in doramas now :) Aby more and I'll drown :)
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Date: 2007-05-12 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 06:03 am (UTC)i'm the same way, with doramas and asian movies!
i guess there is no hope for us. we need to put up a "doramaholic anonymous" support group. ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 12:57 pm (UTC)This said, suggestions:
Korean:
Lovers (20 eps, angst, happy ending). He is a big mobster (not literally, he's quite trim :D) she is a doc who patches him up, lurve, suits and awesome kissing. Click on my lovers tag because I had posts with the kissing vid which was whoa...
Spring Waltz (16 eps, angst, happy ending). He is a pianist in Austria, she is his childhood love, neither knows of the fact right away, messed up identities and childhoods otp awesomeness
Save the Last Dance for Me (alternatively known as The Last Dance is For Me, 16 eps, angst happy ending): Guy estranged son of rich bastard, car wreck, forgets who he is, recuperating in husband of adorable girl. If you click on relevant tag, there are some cute mvs for it which are good as samples
Green Rose (22 eps, angst, hea): Count of Monte Cristo done Korean style. Protagonist who is dating daughter of company presdient gets framed for murder + attempted murder of her Dad, escapes kail returns years later to seek revenge on evil parties. But he also is dyiiiiiing insiiiide because he has to pretend to be someone else to the woman who has still luuuuurved him (the daughter of pres) for years.
Snow White (alternatively known as Taste Sweet Love. 16 eps): this one is not as angsty as the others, more light. But it does have angst and also has yummy yummy Lee Wan (I'd recommend Tree of Heaven as it's my fave serious kdrama and it's with him but it doesn't have happy ending. It's about stepsiblings in love with each other and they separate and years later reunite and he is a big time mobster). SW is about a plain girl who's always loved her oblivious best friend. So she agrees to house the best friend's little brother for a bit. She discovers three things as a result: a. if you are in a kdrama you'll get a makeover that will make you pretty, b. this is the guy she got into a huge altercation in Japan and c. she is falling for the younger man!
My Girl (16 eps): Arguably my favorite kdrama ever. It is lighter than the angsty ones, but the middle episodes have plenty of angst. I cried and cried. Happy ending of course. The story starts when the hero hires this wacky, awesome girl swindler to pretend to be his cousin to fulfill the wish of his dying grandpa to find his long lost granddaughter. Seriously, this is my number 1 rec. If you click on a tag there should be MVs for it.
Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang (Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang, 17 eps): By the same writers as My Girl, this one is also awesome awesome awesome. It starts out light, makes me bawl like made in the middle and has happy ending. It's sort of a modern take on the classic Korean legend. Chun-Hyang and Mong-Ryong meet in hish school and become friends but are still not keen on the fact that for certain cicrumstances, they are forced to enter into a fake marriage. They fall in love eventually of course, but his ex and more importantly this older, creepy guy who is in love with CH will do anything to break them up. The drama spans 10 years and is funny and awesome and romantic and I can't really describe it well. But I posted some MVs of it.
Goong (Palace; Princess Hours. 24 eps): *meep* *meep* I sort of get incoherent about Goong. I posted youtube vids about it if you want to take a peek but it's basically a story about an AU Korea which has constitutional monarchy and our protagonist, the bubbly Chae-Kyung is arranged in married to the crown Prince, the icy (but hot) Shin. Not much angst at the beginning, but compensates for that later. Plus, boasts IMO the worst drama Dad (Shin's). It's just much much much too awesome. And hey, the male lead is the psycho lawyer from Devil, only not evil :)
OK, I better stop with the Korean ones.
To be continued in another post as I maxed out character limit
Recs part 2
Date: 2007-05-12 12:57 pm (UTC)Forbidden Love (Witch's Amusement, Temptations of a Witch, 11 eps): 26 year old female teacher falls for 17 year old student. Angst, happy ending, and one of my favorite dramas, period.
Kurosagi (11 eps): My second favorite jdrama. Protagonist is a swindler who is traumatized by brutal deaths of parents, next door neighbor is an idealistic girl and Yamapi is the hottest thing ever as the swindler (I feel like I am writing TV blurbs)
Tatta Hitotsu No Koi (Just One Love). I love this. Rich girl, poor boy, she is over protected, he is struggling to support his family and dealing with suicide of Daddy, awesomeness, happy ending.
Beautiful Life: OK, I love this drama about a male heirdresser (played by Halu from Pride) and a handycapped librarian but the ending is not happy. But still, it's awesome (if you don't mind unhappy endings, I got oodles more Korean/Japanese/Chinese dramas to rec).
Taiwanese:
Hmmm, all the ones I can think of I either not completely subbed yet, angsty endings, or too goofy-light.
But I am on four hours of sleep, so watch this space, something would come to me.
I started and love Handsome Siblings but I haven't seen it all the way through so no idea on happy endings or whether it will continue to be awesome the whole way through. Go to
I'd say The Outsiders or Kid from Heaven but they aren't completely subbed yet. I adore Smiling Pasta and Hana Kimi but they are crack, not angst with HEA. Silence is too angsty (though Vic! Yum!) and I haven't seen The Hospital yet. It Started with a Kiss is awesome awesome awesome but it's light on the angst and some people find the heroine a dishrag.
Re: Recs part 2
Date: 2007-05-12 07:12 pm (UTC)Just to prove I'm not wedding to happy endings I've seen Beautiful Life - and quite liked it. Not as much as I liked Long Vacation, but close.
Re: Recs part 2
Date: 2007-05-12 08:27 pm (UTC)The edition of SW you bought is likely to have weird subs in the later eps. If that proves to be the case, let me know. There is a new edition that has awesome subs the whole way through and I can show you either what the box set looks like or where to get good burned copies.
Argh, that was me
Date: 2007-05-12 08:34 pm (UTC)If you don't mind unhappy endings, I want to rec Snow Queen (just be careful which DVDs you get. Any box set is likely to have weird subs in later eps. If you want, GoksDVD (I don't have the link right away but you can google them, if you don't find let me know and I'll link) has copies with good subs throughout.
It's an awesome Korean drama about a young math genius who is haunted by the suicide of his best friend so drops out of school/college etc. He becomes a small time boxer (because his friend wanted to be one) but then his paths cross with the spoiled, sickly rich 'princess type' girl and anyway, it's awesome and the OTP is to die for. It's in my top 10 kdramas. If you lcik on the tag, it should have youtube vids and pics. But I bawled like a baby at the end.
Typos to die for
Date: 2007-05-12 08:36 pm (UTC)for Save the last dance for me. That might make a veeeery interesting (and explicit) gay drama but honesty compels me to admit that I meant 'house of adorable girl' :)
Re: Typos to die for
Date: 2007-05-12 11:33 pm (UTC)Or just strange and creepy as the hero goes around wearing the husband.
Typoes are terrible in comments; I know why they don't let you edit but still it seems cruel given some of the madder ones I've written. Thanks for all of the recs again.
I am so tempted by Silence but I know the ending and I am not sure I could deal with it!
Re: Recs part 2
Date: 2007-05-12 10:59 pm (UTC)'What Star Are you from' (alternatively 'what planet are you from') It's a kdrama about a guy who loses his otp at the beginning and some time later discovers a girl who looks like her but a wildly different personality. Angst and otpishness :)
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Date: 2007-05-12 10:37 am (UTC)How could you buy it, though? It's not been fully subbed AFAIK yet. Fansubbed at least.
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Date: 2007-05-12 01:08 pm (UTC)Re: DVDs. It's either going to be rips from hers I suppose or partially good subs and then the dvd makers trying to come up with their own. I don't mind as I plan to get a better set later but this will do for now. I really like to watch as little as possible on comp.
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Date: 2007-05-12 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 12:03 pm (UTC)Oh and I hope you will love Hanazono ^^. I loved it to pieces :).
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Date: 2007-05-12 01:06 pm (UTC)Hana Kimi: ask [Bad username or site: : @ livejournal.com] for more convincing because she adores it to pieces but it's about a girl who crossdresses as a boy to go to an all boys school with her 'idol'
Smiling Pasta: it's like a total tongue in cheek crack amalgamation of all dramas I can think of. We have heroine who is 'cursed' to never have a bf for longer than 90 days who gets fake engaged to a famous singer. This singer has a troublemaking younger brother who stole his previous gf as revenge and there is family angst and what not. But wait, they all also go to college etc. So you get famous/groupie drama, college drama, and family drama for the price of one and it's hilarious and awesome. Plus, the lead guy is one of the few drama leads I'd take home.
Corner with Love: they bicker they fall in love, she is rich he ain't blah, blah. It's awesome.
It Started with a Kiss: she is not too bright but cheerful and determined girl who is in love with the smartest, iciest boy in school. I reall cannot describe the insanity. Watch the opening scene and tell me you don't love it. A sequel is being filmed right now.
Mars: OK, it's not fluffy but I have to plug my all time favorite drama. And it does have a happy ending and is not depressing and there are plenty of happiness between crises. They both go to college. She is an artist so shy she barely speaks, he is the much too risktaking troublemaker. Both have some horrific things in their past and they learn to heal each other. This is probably the best OTP I've seen in dramas. Interestingly, he ends up saving her (from not living, only existing, into becoming a 'person' again) but she more than returns the favor and it's just...OK, I get incoherent, sorry. Click on the Mars tag there should be MVs that are awesome as trailers.
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Date: 2007-05-12 01:12 pm (UTC)And I need to finish Hana Kimi ^^.
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Date: 2007-05-12 01:15 pm (UTC)I am totally not the person to ask though as these will be my first Chinese period dramas (I've only seen one Korean one so far, Damo, which I loved but it doesn't have a happy ending).
The person to ask is
Hey,
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Date: 2007-05-12 03:51 pm (UTC)*has been paged by mousie*(part 1)
Date: 2007-05-12 04:36 pm (UTC)For cdramas, I've seen 5(Seven Swordsmen, Chinese Paladin, Lost in the Chamber of Love, The Gentle Crackdown, and Strange Tales of Liao Zhai)
Seven Swordsmen is my favorite, about 4 swordbrothers who have lived in seclusion in the mountains for years being persuaded by a former executioner and two young men from a rebel village(the other three titular swordsmen) to join a rebel cause. The two major themes are, of course, heroism, and what the world does to the men once they've left the isolation and innocence of the mountain. There are 3 major plots inside the main one and 2 love triangles(both of which I had a hard time with...period cdramas do WAY too good a job of making you want both sides of the triangle to come through) It's hard to go into more detail woithout exceeding the entire character limit on just this, though. I did post a few MVs and a link to my(very long) post of it the other day, though.
Liao Zhai I only just finished this week, so the first page of my LJ should be full of posts about it(the first post has Xiao Qian on it...if you don't see it, then just go back a page) essentially, It's a collection of three supernatural stories set in ancient China. All but 1 of those is a romance and all but 1 of the romances ends happily(after tons of angst)
Chinese Paladin is a medieval fantasy about a young man whose aunt(and only relative) is poisoned. He goes to an island where the fairies there(in Chinese myth, it seems fairies are just women-sometimes immortal-with magical powers) are supposed to have a cure. While there, he falls in love with the princess and they're married, but the people who sent him there were using him so they could invade and destroy the island, and the boy is stripped of his memories of his time there. They're reunited,though, and even though he's forgotten her, he agrees to help her find her father's kingdom, and along the way they meet 4 other young people and they all become friends. The two leads are actually my least favorite of the 6 main characters-she spends about 20 episodes being whiny and self-centered and he starts off really bratty, though both get much better. It's stuffed with sides stories based on Chinese myth, and I really like the backstory about Ling'er's(female lead) mother and the man who loved her. It starts a comedy but ends in a giant ball of angst.
Lost in the Chamber of Love is about 2 couples...the prime minister's daughter is kidnapped and rescued by a young lantern maker and martial artist. They fall in love, because hey, savior/savee, not realizing that her maid is in love with him already, and soon after thatthe prime minister's daughter meets the emperor(who's disguised as a merchant) and he falls for her. It's obvious who should be with who early on, it's just getting there. My favorite part, though, is the subplot about the lantern-maker's younger sister and a bandit he befriended who reforms for the two of them even though he doesn't think he's worthy of either the friendship OR her, not that she puts up with that(or her brother, either, but they aren't OTP) It has more than its fair share of angst at times, but ends happily(actually, that'ssomething I've noticed about cdramas...they either end in giant balls of angst or with EVERYONE but the Big Bad happy and paired off)
*has been pages by Mousie*(part 2)
Date: 2007-05-12 04:37 pm (UTC)Gentle Crackdown is about an official who comes to a town that's run by a corrupt police force and a corrupt former official and, with the help of a girl who's the only GOOD cop around(she's the daughter of a legendary cop and a Robin Hood-esque heroine, not that she knows about her mother's past) sets about fixing things. It's pure cracky comedy, and is one of those where the girl saves the guy a lot. The guy's wig is laughable, but I love the show...it's one i tend to randomly put in for a bit when I need a pick-me-up.
Right now I'm watching Handsome Siblings, about a prankster swordsman and an overly serious swordsman raised to be evil(but is so far just kinda anti-social) who become friends not realizing they're twins separated at birth. I'm 4 eps in and I love it so far. it's the latest couple enties on my LJ.
Everything but Chamber and Crackdown have tags at my LJ...those 2 I watched when I was only posting tothe dorama_chat community, but they should be tagged there(if not and your are curious, I shall hunt them down for you)
Re: *has been pages by Mousie*(part 2)
Date: 2007-05-12 06:25 pm (UTC)I'm going to read some of your entries in your lj to make a choice and will tell you ^^. Thanks mate :)!!
Putting a couple of cents in
Date: 2007-05-12 08:30 pm (UTC)Also, Koreans do awesome period dramas. In addition to Damo, meganbmoore is very found of 'Emperor of the Sea' (angst and navy and male bonding) and Hwan Jini (abou a famous courtesan). They also made uber famous ones like Jumong (The Book of Three Han) and Dan Ja Geum which I haven't seen but supposed to be really good.
Re: Putting a couple of cents in
Date: 2007-05-12 10:39 pm (UTC)*goes back to handsome siblings post*
Re: *has been pages by Mousie*(part 2)
Date: 2007-05-12 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-12 03:28 pm (UTC)but you bought a lot of good ones and hanazano's on my list as well
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Date: 2007-05-12 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-13 06:41 pm (UTC)and tell me if the others are worth watching