Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I have watched the first ep of Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, the 2009 version. It was gorgeous but made no sense - I am totally lost as to what is going on or who these people are. I am going to stick with it for a few eps because Return of the Condor Heroes 2006, made by the same people, had the same problem - first couple eps were odd and left me utterly confused but then it just got amazing after that and everything fell into place. Let's hope this follows the pattern. But as for now, it is so incredibly visually beautiful. Just check out the credits.



( Credits caps )

Also, I was rewatching Smile - totally underrated - I really need to do a 'most underrated dramas' list - and have some shippy darlingness from ep 3. I am always so impressed by Matsujun - his gentle, tentative, beaten-down Vito has nothing in common with arrogant, thick-headed Domyouji.



( Cuter than puppies )

And last, but not least, I stole this Mars mv from ambergold. It's so incredible. Mars was my first drama, all these years ago and the reason why I have become a drama nut - I was so obsessed with it. And all these years later, it's still possibly my favorite drama. Ever. Two incredibly damaged people who find and love and heal each other? Oh YES.

I have watched the first ep of Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, the 2009 version. It was gorgeous but made no sense - I am totally lost as to what is going on or who these people are. I am going to stick with it for a few eps because Return of the Condor Heroes 2006, made by the same people, had the same problem - first couple eps were odd and left me utterly confused but then it just got amazing after that and everything fell into place. Let's hope this follows the pattern. But as for now, it is so incredibly visually beautiful. Just check out the credits.



( Credits caps )

Also, I was rewatching Smile - totally underrated - I really need to do a 'most underrated dramas' list - and have some shippy darlingness from ep 3. I am always so impressed by Matsujun - his gentle, tentative, beaten-down Vito has nothing in common with arrogant, thick-headed Domyouji.



( Cuter than puppies )

And last, but not least, I stole this Mars mv from ambergold. It's so incredible. Mars was my first drama, all these years ago and the reason why I have become a drama nut - I was so obsessed with it. And all these years later, it's still possibly my favorite drama. Ever. Two incredibly damaged people who find and love and heal each other? Oh YES.

I have watched all the parts of ep 1 of Next Stop Happiness that are subbed and most of the unsubbed parts.

I am in love.

I am so in love that if the rest don't get subbed soon, I am watching raw - last time I watched twdrama raws was Silence (!!!!!).

So far, I am in love with Ady An's heroine, ridiculously so. Ady is my favorite Taiwanese actress except for Barbie Hsu (it will take an earthquake to dislodge Barbie from number one spot seeing that my first two dramas ever starred her) and she is so good in this - my heart breaks for her - she is someone who lost her family, her privileged lifestyle, and her dream of piano-playing at the same time, as a child. But she is not weepy or weak - she is strong and sunny (without being Pollyannaish about it). She is just so functional.

I can tell it will be one of those dramas which will, for me, be all about the heroine and seeing through her prism. When Vanness' character was being difficult with her my rage was irrational - I haven't felt such burning hate since beginning of Brilliant Legacy and Hwan. Not because he was being particularly horrible (he was being difficult and acting out and a brat, but it wasn't anything in the same universe as Hwan) but because I saw everything through Ady's eyes.

As to Vanness, he is gorgeous and sexy (but when wasn't he?) and (while I can't say I love his character in the sense of wanting to date him) as a character and a drama hero he makes me weak in the knees - he is so angry at the world, and acting out, and not adjusted at all - I bet what will draw him to Ady is her sanity, and her refusing to be either impressed or irrationally angry at him. And her genuineness - he is clearly looking for a connection with someone, anyone, and not finding it (see his fake-natured ex). That boy needs a keeper. And I am finding it so hot, it's disturbing. I am old enough to know that in real life trying to be someone's connection to functioning is unhealthy and acting-out-badboy-with-a-heart-of-gold is a dangerous fantasy, but in dramaland nothing gets me faster, faster, faster.

It's funny, when I look at my favorite twdramas, they all have an acting-out, messed-up underneath his outgoingness, heroes. Hmmm. And strong-willed heroines.

kitkat_cat told me that she saw the shades of both Domyouji/Makino and Mars in this and I can totally see what she meant - the acting-out messed up rich boy and a common-sense poor girl who won't buckle down; the horrible family (including a creep of a stepfather) for the heroine, the hero that seems fine and 'fun' but is anything but, and is looking for limits.

I can't say whether it will be anywhere near as good as Hanadan/Meteor Garden/Mars, because that is a ridiculously high bar to set, but it looks very promising.

Oh, and for those on my flist who are reluctant to check it out because they think it's a terminal illness drama or a miserable end drama, it's not. At least, I would be shocked to find out it is - the whole premise of it is Vanness forgetting Ady (and not knowing about his son) and them meeting years later after she left him and broke his heart for his own good. Much more The Kid from Heaven or My Lucky Star vibe - and neither one of them ended badly. Plus, with a title like that, I think it will end up well. Otherwise, they'd just call it 'Next Stop Graveyeard'. :P

Preview for ep 2:

Yes, I know, I am still working on my 5 favorites meme thing.

( Here are my 5 favorite drama OTPs behind the cut )

Clearly I like mobsters and other violent men as part of the OTP :P And yet, how could I leave out Gong Chan/Yu Ri, or Halu/Aki, or the OTP from Last Scandal? I could not, I love them just as much. Argh, evil question!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we are at it, I saw the 'fantasy drama' thing going around. Well, mine would be a period piece - it is during the period of time when there is more than one Kingdom in the area. One of them is run by an ambitious female ruler who wants to conquer the neighboring kingdom, so she sends in one of her specially trained spy/ninja type people to infiltrate - he is also a sort of 'favorite' of hers (whichever way you want to take it). To be played by Song Seung Heon.

The neighboring kingdom is run by a rather inefficient brother-sister pair and SSH infiltrates the court easily due to his mad skills - let's say he is accepted as a mercenary-general. He is disciplined and a little bit inhuman and very focused on his goals but due to unexpected events in his own kingdom (the Queen is facing some unrest) the invasion doesn't happen really quickly but instead he is left at that court for a while and he actually starts enjoying a human life - before on these missions it was always very quick and he never had time to get attached, plus the missions were never this big or important - sneaking into an enemy castle for a day to learn the layout etc is pretty different. So he now actually starts seeing these people who he is supposed to betray as people and also it's the first time he's been respected and treated as a normal person - back home people either freak about him or the Queen treats him as some sort of an exotic dangerous pet.

Oh, and did I mention that a niece of the King of this Kingdom (or some other member of the royal family) is an outspoken, fun Princess played by Sung Yuri and they fall in love with each other and then the order comes from his own Queen to help the invasion. He actually fights on the side of the 'good' guys in earnest but the damage from him earlier conveying information has been done and the 'good' guys lose and due to some circumstances, the Queen has no idea he betrayed her - but she does know he is in love with Sung Yuri and wasn't as cooperative as he should have been.

So she decides to take him away and punish him but she also takes great pleasure of informing the entire court + Sung Yuri of the true state of affairs as she knows them (i.e. SSH is her infiltrator and played them all) as SSH has to watch her do it. Of course, since she is rather evil, she has a great deal of fun with it and also acts as of SSH is 'hers' in more ways than one just to twist the knife in more in Sung Yuri. And then she takes him away and tells him not to stray any more from what he is allowed or else (it's a kdrama, I am sure you can come up with some particularly gruesome punishment). But despite it all and despite the fact that SSH believes everyone at his host kingdom now hates him, he decides to work to liberate them and expiate his sin. Meanwhile, shockingly, Sung Yuri (who is held in confinement with the rest of the secondary royals) does NOT hate him - she can tell he fought for them in earnest and that he wanted to expiate and she also does not believe he does not love her. She manages escape and soon she is also raising hell...and it goes from there. I want a happy ending, but since this is a period Korean drama, it's dubious.

Yes, I know, I am still working on my 5 favorites meme thing.

( Here are my 5 favorite drama OTPs behind the cut )

Clearly I like mobsters and other violent men as part of the OTP :P And yet, how could I leave out Gong Chan/Yu Ri, or Halu/Aki, or the OTP from Last Scandal? I could not, I love them just as much. Argh, evil question!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we are at it, I saw the 'fantasy drama' thing going around. Well, mine would be a period piece - it is during the period of time when there is more than one Kingdom in the area. One of them is run by an ambitious female ruler who wants to conquer the neighboring kingdom, so she sends in one of her specially trained spy/ninja type people to infiltrate - he is also a sort of 'favorite' of hers (whichever way you want to take it). To be played by Song Seung Heon.

The neighboring kingdom is run by a rather inefficient brother-sister pair and SSH infiltrates the court easily due to his mad skills - let's say he is accepted as a mercenary-general. He is disciplined and a little bit inhuman and very focused on his goals but due to unexpected events in his own kingdom (the Queen is facing some unrest) the invasion doesn't happen really quickly but instead he is left at that court for a while and he actually starts enjoying a human life - before on these missions it was always very quick and he never had time to get attached, plus the missions were never this big or important - sneaking into an enemy castle for a day to learn the layout etc is pretty different. So he now actually starts seeing these people who he is supposed to betray as people and also it's the first time he's been respected and treated as a normal person - back home people either freak about him or the Queen treats him as some sort of an exotic dangerous pet.

Oh, and did I mention that a niece of the King of this Kingdom (or some other member of the royal family) is an outspoken, fun Princess played by Sung Yuri and they fall in love with each other and then the order comes from his own Queen to help the invasion. He actually fights on the side of the 'good' guys in earnest but the damage from him earlier conveying information has been done and the 'good' guys lose and due to some circumstances, the Queen has no idea he betrayed her - but she does know he is in love with Sung Yuri and wasn't as cooperative as he should have been.

So she decides to take him away and punish him but she also takes great pleasure of informing the entire court + Sung Yuri of the true state of affairs as she knows them (i.e. SSH is her infiltrator and played them all) as SSH has to watch her do it. Of course, since she is rather evil, she has a great deal of fun with it and also acts as of SSH is 'hers' in more ways than one just to twist the knife in more in Sung Yuri. And then she takes him away and tells him not to stray any more from what he is allowed or else (it's a kdrama, I am sure you can come up with some particularly gruesome punishment). But despite it all and despite the fact that SSH believes everyone at his host kingdom now hates him, he decides to work to liberate them and expiate his sin. Meanwhile, shockingly, Sung Yuri (who is held in confinement with the rest of the secondary royals) does NOT hate him - she can tell he fought for them in earnest and that he wanted to expiate and she also does not believe he does not love her. She manages escape and soon she is also raising hell...and it goes from there. I want a happy ending, but since this is a period Korean drama, it's dubious.

Twdramas were my first drama loves (Mars and Meteor Garden were my first and second drama, respectively) and you never forget your first love, do you?

That is why, much as I might love the slickness of kdrama and the understatedness of jdrama, few things will get me as giddy or emo as a well-done twdrama.

So, after I’ve done my Top Dozen Jdramas and my Top 25 Kdramas, the next logical step is the Top 10 Twdramas/Cdramas, isn’t it? So I did one over a year ago, but have found that I need to majorly revise it.

So here is my updated Top 10 twdrama/cdrama list. Once again, same thing applies: only finished ones (or nearly), as unspoilery as I can make it, blahblahblah.

( List, with summaries, reasons, pics, and vids )

In conclusion, yes, Vic Zhou is still my favorite drama actor, all these dramas later.

Finished ep 14 of Black and White which is it - 15 and 16 seem to have disappeared from viikii :( It continues excellent and it also made me hunt for a MV of Mars, my first, and arguably favorite drama - all of you who either love or loathe my drama babbling have Mars and its Chen Ling and Qi Luo to blame (otpotpotpotp!!!)

This MV is wonderful:



( My fave mv for the drama is behind cut )

Finished ep 14 of Black and White which is it - 15 and 16 seem to have disappeared from viikii :( It continues excellent and it also made me hunt for a MV of Mars, my first, and arguably favorite drama - all of you who either love or loathe my drama babbling have Mars and its Chen Ling and Qi Luo to blame (otpotpotpotp!!!)

This MV is wonderful:



( My fave mv for the drama is behind cut )

Two episodes in, and it's official: I adore To Get Her the way I haven't adored a twdrama since last year's Why Why Love. The plots of the two are quite different but both share more than just the leading lady. They also have this delightful combination of a sea of fluffiness with a perfectly mixed in underpinning of angst, and an easy, friendly chemistry between the leads. Mmmmmm. In fact, I might end up liking it more than WWL, depending on how it goes, as Jiro > Mike, for me.

I think it was ambergold who said this is like a fluff version of Mars and I can so see that. Of course, Mars was incredibly dark, dealing with child abuse, and suicide and violence issues, and TGH is in another universe from any of that, but I can definitely see where she is coming from: Momo is quiet and in her own world, but the opposite of a pushover. In fact, she is probably the strongest character in this, and won't budge from what she thinks she ought to do. The girl might be tiny but she has the spine of steel. Also, how could I not adore a manga-obsessed character who reads when she walks? And Mars (the character) is loud and outgoing and outwardly very confident (not to mention twice Momo's size) but in reality he is rather a big kid who is incredibly insecure about being liked and has no idea how to cope with his fall from grace. And under the brattiness he seems rather a nice guy and the way he always looks like he can't believe when Momo does something nice for him, in her off-hand, no-nonsense way, is rather adorable.

Did I mention that I adore Momo's friend? I haven't seen something like that in a drama before. Is it me or is he somewhat retarded? I mean not in the insulting sense but a clinical one - stuck at 7 or 8 or so.

Also, I have never seen a twdrama (except for Smiling Pasta) which deals with the drama world/idols before, so this is quite interesting - I can't say it paints a pretty picture, but they should be considering themselves lucky they aren't working for JE - at least in this one the casting couch was ran by a lady :P

I also love the very pretty way it's filmed. Oh, and Rainie's hair, which gives her an almost spaceman image. She is so awesome in this, btw - both odd and closed in and yet warm and human. And Jiro is equally good at goofy and intense.

Anyway, this is a keeper.

But if my crush on Jiro gets any bigger, he'll overtake Wu Chun as my favorite member of Farenheit and I don't know if that's legal.

You know that I did "Top" lists for My Top 10 dramas: Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese. But what's the fun in separating them, the fun is how they compare, right? So I bring you my Top 10 overall dramas, which consists of 3 kdramas, 2 twdramas and a whopping 5 jdramas. And yes, it's a threeway tie for the first place.

Also, if you know me, it's unsurprising that there are only two dramas on the list which may be classified as "light" and one of them is Capital Scandal, which involves assassinations, freedom fighters and torture, and the other is Utahime, which starts out light and funny only to STOMP ON YOUR HEART. I really should do a Top 10 Best Pick-You Up Dramas, too.

Anyway, without much ado, here is my list:

( List with pics and reasons behind cut )