Dramas whose popularity I do not get
Feb. 6th, 2008 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieNow that I’ve made a list of the dramas (at least Japanese and Korean, Taiwanese/Chinese coming) that are my favorites, here is a different, rather more negative list: Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese dramas I do not ‘get’. Some of them there is a consensus on (I have yet to meet a Peach Girl fan) and in some of them I am a definite minority (Long Vacation) but behind the cut is a list of dramas that didn’t work for me and why. Btw, ‘not work’ does not necessarily mean ‘hate,’ just means dramas I am not as behind as others are. And (I do mean it), I really want people on my flist who I know loved some of them to join in, to make me appreciate them, to see what I missed. Who knows, I change my mind sometimes (I was dead-set against Sapuri and it ended up an ultimate favorite)
JAPANESE
Boku Dake No Madonna: Takki is hot, but the heroine of this is the most high-maintenance, annoying, stalker freak ever. She makes Takki do all sorts of things, house-breaks, imposes, and stalks. She should get meds, not an OTP. Ugh.
Hana Kimi: the stuff I said about HK-twdrama below? Same thing, only much worse because the cool love story is largely absent and the humor is even more ridiculous and OTT. When I watch a drama, I don’t want one long Saturday Night Live skit.
Jotei: dumping on Jotei is like whaling on a cripple, so I won't. All I am going to say is that the drugs the writers were doing must have been GOOD.
Kimi Wa Petto: I will never be able to get past the whole ‘she keeps a young man as her pet and gives him baths’ concept: it’s too disturbing for me. Well that, and MatsuJun’s hairdo from hell.
Long Vacation: everybody loves this one. Everybody but me. I tried twice and never got past ep 3 both times. Sena has hideous bug-like glasses, but worse, Minami is a shrew: too loud, too in-your-face, too high maintenance (my biggest problem with jdrama heroines. I mean, if I were a man who had to put up with her, I’d ditch her myself). And it’s an old drama which shows in washed out colors and cheaper production values.
Nobuta Wo Produce: don’t get me wrong, all three leads act very well and I ended up appreciating the drama by the end. But I never loved it. I admired it, yes, but no more. Maybe it’s the weird pacing: both too slow and not detailed enough. Maybe it’s the weird touches of magic realism. Maybe I am just too old.
Nodame Cantabile: Tamaki Hiroshi is indeed incredibly hot, but Nodame herself is kinda too oddball. A major character who is supposed to be white is played by a Japanese person, which is just as bizarre as Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese. And, most of all, this is so incredibly cartoonish, from actions, to expressions, to plot. It’s like watching an anime on speed. I just can’t get into something so OTT at all. I gave up halfway through.
TAIWANESE
Devil Beside You: psycho popular drama. Yet all I love in it is the secondary OTP. Nothing much happens, there are no obstacles to the relationship, the heroine is a doormat and the heroine is a brat. Neither develops, the haircuts give me hives and the ending annoys the heck out of me.
Hana Kimi: it’s a bunch of amiable characters in search of a plot. I adore Ella/Wu Zun otp, Jiro Wang is also sweet and hilarious etc etc, but I am faced with the realization that nothing ever happens. I need some narrative drive, some plot!
Magic Ring: What a good plot idea. Too bad the heroine is a lying, cheating skank who should be sent to jail and slapped, not end up with the hero. Yeah, insinuating yuorself into a grieving family by pretending to be a pregnant widow of their son/brother is going to get you cookie points. And by being gloating and opportunistic and…don’t get me started.
Magicians of Love: I think if you have figured anything from this list by now, it’s that I don’t like it when my dramas are too cracky. I like them funny but there has to be some sort of reality check. And I am sorry, four macho and hideously dressed male hairdresses, one of whom has a dead twin and one of whom is a mob heir, and all of whom have clothes from hell, sort of broke my brain at some point. I have never been able to finish this drama.
Marmalade Boy: I just want to find a stylist who thought it would be good to have Ken Chu have a sleazy ponytail. And then I’d like to find the scriptwriter who took a story about stepsibling love which almost turns into halfsibling love (and the otp decides to stay together anyway!!!) and made it so wholesomely boring. That’s quite a talent. And then I want to find a river and drown them both.
Peach Girl: I love PG manga and anime but this drama must be burned. They can use the wooden heroine as kindling.
KOREAN
(there won’t be as many of these mainly because kdramas are so long, I don’t start them unless I am pretty sure I will like them)
Love Story in Harvard: I love Kim Rae Won and Kim Tae Hee is lovely. But this thing should be used as an insomnia cure. Is it the bad English? The bland as water plot? The meandering pace? No idea. Millions of Koreans might have loved it, but all I could use it for is a sleeping aid.
My Love Patzzi: It’s only ten episodes long, half the length of a usual kdrama. And yet how much boredom is crammed into those ten episodes. Well, that’s a lie. I don’t know exactly how much, because I gave up halfway through. Kim Rae Won, you are pushing it, honey! Pick better dramas! I mean, even your charm, sexiness, and heart ailment couldn’t save this snooze fest. You know it’s not going to be good when they have performing seals on screen and I am thinking that this would be entertaining as a nature documentary.
My Name is Kim Sam Soon: Grah. Everyone loves it but me. The heroine is whiny, useless and annoying. The hero is an immature jerk (who’d think this is the lovely hero of Snow Queen). The secondary OTP are the only interesting characters. The main otp never learn or grow. Oh, I just want to drown them in a vat of dough.
JAPANESE
Boku Dake No Madonna: Takki is hot, but the heroine of this is the most high-maintenance, annoying, stalker freak ever. She makes Takki do all sorts of things, house-breaks, imposes, and stalks. She should get meds, not an OTP. Ugh.
Hana Kimi: the stuff I said about HK-twdrama below? Same thing, only much worse because the cool love story is largely absent and the humor is even more ridiculous and OTT. When I watch a drama, I don’t want one long Saturday Night Live skit.
Jotei: dumping on Jotei is like whaling on a cripple, so I won't. All I am going to say is that the drugs the writers were doing must have been GOOD.
Kimi Wa Petto: I will never be able to get past the whole ‘she keeps a young man as her pet and gives him baths’ concept: it’s too disturbing for me. Well that, and MatsuJun’s hairdo from hell.
Long Vacation: everybody loves this one. Everybody but me. I tried twice and never got past ep 3 both times. Sena has hideous bug-like glasses, but worse, Minami is a shrew: too loud, too in-your-face, too high maintenance (my biggest problem with jdrama heroines. I mean, if I were a man who had to put up with her, I’d ditch her myself). And it’s an old drama which shows in washed out colors and cheaper production values.
Nobuta Wo Produce: don’t get me wrong, all three leads act very well and I ended up appreciating the drama by the end. But I never loved it. I admired it, yes, but no more. Maybe it’s the weird pacing: both too slow and not detailed enough. Maybe it’s the weird touches of magic realism. Maybe I am just too old.
Nodame Cantabile: Tamaki Hiroshi is indeed incredibly hot, but Nodame herself is kinda too oddball. A major character who is supposed to be white is played by a Japanese person, which is just as bizarre as Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese. And, most of all, this is so incredibly cartoonish, from actions, to expressions, to plot. It’s like watching an anime on speed. I just can’t get into something so OTT at all. I gave up halfway through.
TAIWANESE
Devil Beside You: psycho popular drama. Yet all I love in it is the secondary OTP. Nothing much happens, there are no obstacles to the relationship, the heroine is a doormat and the heroine is a brat. Neither develops, the haircuts give me hives and the ending annoys the heck out of me.
Hana Kimi: it’s a bunch of amiable characters in search of a plot. I adore Ella/Wu Zun otp, Jiro Wang is also sweet and hilarious etc etc, but I am faced with the realization that nothing ever happens. I need some narrative drive, some plot!
Magic Ring: What a good plot idea. Too bad the heroine is a lying, cheating skank who should be sent to jail and slapped, not end up with the hero. Yeah, insinuating yuorself into a grieving family by pretending to be a pregnant widow of their son/brother is going to get you cookie points. And by being gloating and opportunistic and…don’t get me started.
Magicians of Love: I think if you have figured anything from this list by now, it’s that I don’t like it when my dramas are too cracky. I like them funny but there has to be some sort of reality check. And I am sorry, four macho and hideously dressed male hairdresses, one of whom has a dead twin and one of whom is a mob heir, and all of whom have clothes from hell, sort of broke my brain at some point. I have never been able to finish this drama.
Marmalade Boy: I just want to find a stylist who thought it would be good to have Ken Chu have a sleazy ponytail. And then I’d like to find the scriptwriter who took a story about stepsibling love which almost turns into halfsibling love (and the otp decides to stay together anyway!!!) and made it so wholesomely boring. That’s quite a talent. And then I want to find a river and drown them both.
Peach Girl: I love PG manga and anime but this drama must be burned. They can use the wooden heroine as kindling.
KOREAN
(there won’t be as many of these mainly because kdramas are so long, I don’t start them unless I am pretty sure I will like them)
Love Story in Harvard: I love Kim Rae Won and Kim Tae Hee is lovely. But this thing should be used as an insomnia cure. Is it the bad English? The bland as water plot? The meandering pace? No idea. Millions of Koreans might have loved it, but all I could use it for is a sleeping aid.
My Love Patzzi: It’s only ten episodes long, half the length of a usual kdrama. And yet how much boredom is crammed into those ten episodes. Well, that’s a lie. I don’t know exactly how much, because I gave up halfway through. Kim Rae Won, you are pushing it, honey! Pick better dramas! I mean, even your charm, sexiness, and heart ailment couldn’t save this snooze fest. You know it’s not going to be good when they have performing seals on screen and I am thinking that this would be entertaining as a nature documentary.
My Name is Kim Sam Soon: Grah. Everyone loves it but me. The heroine is whiny, useless and annoying. The hero is an immature jerk (who’d think this is the lovely hero of Snow Queen). The secondary OTP are the only interesting characters. The main otp never learn or grow. Oh, I just want to drown them in a vat of dough.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 08:38 pm (UTC)I get what you're talking about with Nobuta wo Produce though. ^^ The pace really was slow, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I still haven't finished Nodame, and I will never even try to watch Devil Beside You. x_x :not a fan of Rainie:
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Date: 2008-02-06 08:39 pm (UTC)HK-tw is close to the manga, but I also gave up in the manga because nothing happened. it was cute but my attention wandered :)
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Date: 2008-02-06 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 08:47 pm (UTC)I think DBY may have turned me off of Mike and Rainie altogether...
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 08:49 pm (UTC)HK-TW is just a bloody good time. And very faithful to the manga, which is more or less essentially people almost finding out Mizuki's a girl, then her getting saved, then some magical thingy proving that Sano and her are MFEO. To put intense drama where there is none, I don't know, I think that's essentially what broke the Japan version (plus the OTT humor just not being funny enough).
I sort of knew you wouldn't fall head over heels for Nodame as she's a weirdo. I think I love her for the same reasons I love Luna (who you also don't exactly love/get).. I could elaborate but this is just one of those YMMV things. Plus these two are like an inch away from my heart, so you know, I can't be very rational. :D
I thought you watched NC all the way through, though. It gets shippy & slightly angsty at the end, which is ace, and the Special is awesomely shippy, too. But I guess if you don't feel it, you just don't. (Also I gotta say, I don't 'get' the actor who plays Streseman - the supposedly white character. Out of all the cartoonish funny side characters, he's my least fave.)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 08:54 pm (UTC)What are some mangas or manhwas that you've enjoyed? I got the first volume of Goong at Borders but they haven't had any more after that. D:
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Date: 2008-02-06 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 09:22 pm (UTC)Nobuta wo produce holds an unshakable place in my personal top 5. It's so refreshing to see a drama about friendship and striving to earn acceptance... Oh, who am I kidding, right? It was mainly worth it for that Seishun Amigo video where Yamapi (he of the swivelly hips) busts into some of the most ridiculous dance moves I've ever seen.
I was also very put off by Kimi wa Petto's premise. One of the rare instances where I wanted to grab MatsuJun's tousled hair and tourniquet him into outer space.
I had the same problem with the girl in Long Vacation: annoying annoying annoying. Oh, and the ubiquitous actor who shalt not be named makes me instantly prejudiced against a drama (and since he stars in about 98% of them...).
Also, I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who didn't get into Nodame Cantabile.
Marmalade Boy makes me want to fix a makeship cross with bits of wood to ward off the evil of the Bad!Drama.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 09:43 pm (UTC)I'm surprised that you're not feeling the TW!Hana Kimi though. I could have sworn you were raving (in a good way) about something Hana Kimi related over the summer but I might have imagined it.
I have a few of those "I don't get it" moments with certain popular dramas as well but the one that would probably make all drama lovers look at me with disdain is my ambivalence towards ISWAK - I like and despise it all at the same time. Please don't remove me off your friends list. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 09:57 pm (UTC)I too don't get the Nodame C hype. Now, I've only watched the first episode, but only found it so so. I also found the lead actress in Boku Dake No Madonna extremely annoying and the plot wasn't all that so I put it down after 2 eps. I doubt I'll go back to it or Kimi Wa Petto (don't even get me started on the awful). I haven't watched Love Story or My Love pattzi, but I did watch Kim Sam Soon. It's really not all that. It does what it does. I don't know if that makes since.It was one of the first Kdramas I watched so it's not even in my top ten now. I've just seen too many that are much more entertaining. I do love Hyun Bin though. I think my Tdrama list is the same as yours, except I really enjoyed Devil Beside You. I think it's one of those dramas that you're either going to really like or really hate - no in between. And omg Peach Girl was soooooooo bad. I only watched two eps, but that was enough.
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Date: 2008-02-06 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 10:57 pm (UTC)That's unfortunate because WWL was awesome.
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Date: 2008-02-06 10:58 pm (UTC)My faves are Wallflower, Ayashi No Ceres, Vampire Knight but I need to think about it more :)
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Date: 2008-02-06 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:00 pm (UTC)I haven't read NC manga, but I found myself getting bored with HK manga and never finished it. Also, I think some things work better on page than screen.
thought you watched NC all the way through,
I gave up on some ep whose number I am blanking on when I realized that I was ffing at 32x speed to get through the eps :) I dunno, people in NC didn't seem real to me: I just couldn't imagine them at all in RL.
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Date: 2008-02-06 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:02 pm (UTC)KwP is creepy.
, and the ubiquitous actor who shalt not be named makes me instantly prejudiced against a drama
I'd faint in shock but I am inured :)
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Date: 2008-02-06 11:03 pm (UTC)Re: ISWAK. That's OK. I like it but also ff through a lot. But then, if I don't remove fenrir_khan for her dislike of KimuTaku, you are definitely safe :P
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Date: 2008-02-06 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:04 pm (UTC)Bdnm is horrid and kwp is creepy, I am glad someone agrees.
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Date: 2008-02-06 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:14 pm (UTC)I was also distracted by KJW: he has the weirdest mouth. One of the rare kdrama leads I don't find attractive. Now, I find Kim Rae Won attractive enough to compensate, but not even he can save something so bland. Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 11:19 pm (UTC)