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Eva Volin

Bringing the Drama: Master’s Sun

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ANNA: Master’s Sun is a drama from the nearly always excellent writing team of the Hong Sisters, who brought the world the beloved shows You’re Beautiful and The Greatest Love among others. Master’s Sun is the story of an incredibly sleep-deprived woman who sees ghosts, and the arrogant yet secretly vulnerable President of a mega mall, who happens to have a ghost repelling ability and an inexplicable affection for wearing cravats in confusing ways.

I absolutely adored Master’s Sun, from the opening credits to the last scene of the final episode! What are your thoughts?

The-Master’s-Sun-Poster5

EMILY: I was wary going into this drama because the Hong Sisters had a serious misstep with their previous drama, Big. However, after watching this, I can say that they’ve returned in top form. This was a great drama. The characters are all so warm and weird and flawed, and they all really grew and changed as the story progressed. So Ji Sub, who I haven’t seen in any sort of comedic role in – I don’t even know how long – was great, playing his part with a quirky restraint, which allowed the always delightful Gong Hyo-Jin to go all out and be more outgoing and expressive and clingy. And ghost repellent– what a delightful excuse to get all touchy-feely!

Perplexed by cravats!

Perplexed by cravats!

EVA: As you know, I’m absolute crap when it comes to watching shows to the end. I bail at the first sign of boredom. But this time I was hooked. The characters had chemistry, the ghosts were scary (at least during the first few episodes — the horror scaled back quickly), and the side characters were appealing and never overshadowed the main couple. Even better, the plot holes (there are always plot holes) weren’t so deep that I couldn’t step over them on my way to the next episode. And the weirdly styled cravats! And the bad hair! And the impossibly high heels! And the overbearing relatives! Sigh. Oh, k-dramas, how I’ve missed you.

ANNA: I really loved the way the characters were so idiosyncratic. I do enjoy more predictable k-drama shows, but when a show stands out like this for the quality of the writing and character development, it reminds me just how good k-dramas can be! The main couple are both broken in different ways, and their relationship slowly starts them on the path towards change. I thought that that the bodyguard Kang Woo and spoiled model Tae Yi Ryung were also a great counterpoint to the main couple. I loved the way Kang Woo nonchalantly turned down all the attempts to ask him out.

EMILY: True, I do like shows where the female second lead is likable. So often K-dramas will go out of the way to make the male second lead extremely appealing (thus causing second-lead syndrome where fans like him better than the main guy) while the female second lead is stuck being a mean and nasty character. In Master’s Sun, while Yi Ryung was certainly not always friendly, she also had her really cute, sympathetic moments.

Scary ghost shenanigans!

Scary ghost shenanigans!

EVA: Exactly! The only truly evil character was the actual villain (which I won’t name here because spoilers). Yi Ryung is a brat, but she’s not evil and doesn’t try to do evil things. Is she mean? Yep. Does she try to embarrass her nemesis? You bet. But it’s not like she tries to get Gong Sil run over by a truck.

ANNA: I thought the number of times she got turned down in her romantic conquests made her seem much more sympathetic than the typical female second lead. Really, the entire main cast of the show was so quirky and memorable.

I have to say I really enjoyed the way Gong Shil’s need for ghost repellent caused her to get handsy with Joong Won at every opportunity. It was an amusing relationship dynamic that we don’t see very much in kdramas.

EVA: I really liked the way Joong Won’s character developed over the course of the show. Gong Shil’s need for his protection forced him to interact with people in a way he hadn’t since his kidnapping. As a result he learned empathy, humor, and that not all people suck. I was absolutely delighted the first time he smiled. It wasn’t until then that I realized he hadn’t smiled at all (smirks don’t count) in the first, what?, twelve episodes?

ANNA: I also enjoyed the way Joong Won’s character developed! I also thought that the central mystery for the show with the truth behind Joong Won’s kidnapping was well done. I was a little bit disappointed that some of the development towards the end of the series for Gong Shil happened off screen, but she had changed so much already throughout the course of the series.

EMILY: I liked how Joong Won accepted Gong Shil’s eccentricities. Her problem is a bit unusual, but he rolled with it fairly well. In particular, I liked his relationship with that ghost in the mall that communicated via trash can. I also appreciated how blunt he was in admitting his feelings. There was a bit less denial and dancing around emotions in this show than in typical kdramas. Everyone felt things strongly and expressed it right away. I could have done without the obligatory kdrama amnesia plot, but even that was not dragged on for too long. All in all, this is another solid show from the Hong Sisters, who prove once again how good they are at taking a standard kdrama plot and tilting it just a bit to make it fresh and enjoyable.

Bringing the Drama: Mischevious Kiss: Love in Tokyo

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Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo!

Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo!

Mischevious Kiss: Love in Tokyo is available on Dramafever.

Anna: I tend to think of Itazura Na Kiss as one of those eternally fresh manga series just because it has inspired such a wide variety of adaptations in different countries, much like Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers). I was happy when the latest Japanese version was licensed since we don’t tend to get as many Japanese dramas as opposed to Korean dramas and I was also looking forward to experiencing the story of Itazura Na Kiss again. The basic plot about a dimwitted girl relentlessly pursuing a boy who is intellectually brilliant and emotionally distant is something that has been done over and over again in manga, but very few variations actually manage to pull the story off with as much humor and heart as Itazura Na Kiss. What were your initial thoughts about this series? Eva, I understand that you found this series stupefyingly boring! Had you also read the manga, or was this your first time encountering this story? I enjoyed the series quite a bit, but part of that might have been due to being able to see a live action version of a manga I’d read and enjoyed.

Kinnosuke focuses on Kotoko with laser-like precision.

Kinnosuke focuses on Kotoko with laser-like precision.

Nancy: I’m already a fan of the manga Itazura na Kiss, and I do like the Naoki in this version. All the leads were charismatic. I was also impressed with the adaptation until the last few episodes. I thought the story arc of Naoki’s little brother falling ill was done very well. Kinnosuke, Naoki’s rivals, also pretty much steals the show. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the manga.

Anna: I thought that for existing fans of the manga, the casting for this version was just really well done. There wasn’t a single character who I thought was miscast. I thought Kinnosuke was great, as was the captain of the tennis team.

Kotoko and Sudou stalk the objects of their affection!

Kotoko and Sudou stalk the objects of their affection!

Emily: I’ve been a fan of the manga for years, and I also think they did a great job at adapting the story. They hit all the major milestones for the first half of the series. I really look forward to season 2. The casting was well done as well. I was a little bothered by the huge age gap between the leading actors – she is 16 and he’s about 25, but he convincingly fit in with the others and looked good with her. This is a very… shoujo manga… story that may not seem all that original to modern viewers, but I think it’s because this is the series that influenced so many other series after it. Yet at the same time, it does things other shoujo-manga series usually don’t do– it follows the characters into college. How refreshing to see the romance (or lack of) go beyond high school into the larger world of college life.

Eva: I am a fan of the manga, which may be why it was so tough for me to make the move to the live-action show.

I absolutely agree that the show was beautifully cast. Naoki is a perfectly dreadful person with floppy hair and an attitude. Kin-chan takes a healthy bite out of every scene he’s in. Kotoko is as silly and twitchy as she is in the manga. All of these are things I loved in the books and (except for the awesome Kin-chan) are things that made me tired while watching the TV show. Somehow Kotoko’s live-action lack of agency drove me crazy while the same lack of agency was endearing in the books.

Kotoko with Irie's enthusiastic and somewhat insane mother.

Kotoko with Irie’s enthusiastic and somewhat insane mother.

Anna: That’s really interesting! I didn’t have the same reaction, but I can see how something that is easier to take in manga format would become annoying in a live action format. Perhaps because the lack of agency in the manga can be resolved more quickly by moving on to the next chapter, but it might stick around for one or two episodes in the live action version.

Nancy: So that means it’s not just three to one, but four to zero, so people should give it a try. ;) Have we been keeping a record of our tallies?

Eva: Oh, I absolutely agree that people should give it a try. I wish more people would give the manga a try, too. I think it’s been tragically overlooked. But as we know from previous installments, my dumb-threshold is very, very low. Once around the dumb-bush was enough for me.

Anna: My overall reaction to the series was just that it was very adorable and heartwarming. The great casting, and the opportunity to see some signature scenes from the manga in live action format, like the tennis captain Sudou’s transformation into a demon on the court, or Kotoko’s horrible disguises as she stalks Naoki were very amusing. 4 out of 4 of us agree that you should give it a try!

Watch at Dramafever!

Bringing the Drama: Flower Boy Next Door

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ANNA: Flower Boy Next Door has a bit of a quirky premise for a k-drama. Go Dok-Mi (Park Shin-hye) has a severe case of agoraphobia, doing her editing work from her home, and almost never venturing outside. Her main outlet is spying on her handsome neighbor in the next building. Go Dok-Mi finds herself taken out of her familiar surroundings when she encounters Enrique Geum (Yoon Shi-yoon), a famous video game designer who spots her spying on his brother. Go Dok-Mi’s neighbor webtoon artist Oh Jin-Rak (Kim Ji-hoon) silently watches over her, and attempts to make sure her emotional equilibrium as a shut-in isn’t disturbed. Rounding out the cast are Cha Do-Hwi who is Go Dok-mi’s friend turned enemy from high school and Oh Dong-Hoon the assistant webtoon artist.

Flower Boy Next Door is available for streaming on Dramafever.

What did you think of this drama?

Flower Boy Next Door!

Flower Boy Next Door!

EMILY: I’ve really enjoyed this show. It has a very different look and feel to it than many other dramas I’ve seen. There is sort of a low key indie vibe to the production. I guess I’m used to seeing shows where there are chaebol/CEO type guys driving around in luxury cars and everyone has perfect hair and nice clothes (even the characters who are supposed to be poor). In this case, the drama feels a little more gritty. While many k-drama heroines face extreme hardship or past trauma, for the most part, they remain plucky and cute. Here we have a heroine who is actually damaged. She experienced past trauma, and it actually had an effect on her personality and how she lives. She didn’t just ‘try her best’ and keep cheerfully forging on; she shut herself in and hid from the world. Therefore, her character feels more realistic to me than other heroines. Her hair isn’t always perfect (or artfully disheveled) and she wears messy clothing. Her apartment is cluttered.

Bundling up in one's apartment saves money!

Bundling up in one’s apartment saves money!

As for the guys, while their occupations are a bit less realistic, at least they aren’t living like perfect rich guys either. Mr. Webtoon artist has a whole pile of issues of his own, and Enrique also has a failed romance. I really enjoyed watching these three interact and change after meeting each other.

MICHELLE: I love this drama with every fiber of my being. I love that it doesn’t follow the usual Guy #1 (he’s kind of a jerk but you know he’ll ultimately get the girl) and Guy #2 (he’s super nice and therefore you know he’s got no chance) formula. True, Enrique is rich, but he’s also goofy and has uncanny insight into Go Dok-Mi’s true thoughts. He challenges her, and she needs this. Jin-Rak is nice and handsome (and played by someone who’s been Guy #1 in the past) and considerate to Dok-Mi’s plight, but he puts her on a pedestal and indulges her eccentricities in a way that isn’t helping her.

I haven’t finished the series yet, but this is one love triangle that I don’t find predictable in the slightest. It’s so well-done, with more subtlety and depth than the other dramas I have seen (which admittedly is a very small sliver of the population).

ANNA: I liked the series very much but I had a more measured reaction. I thought that the innovative cinematography and storytelling were a bit front-loaded onto the earlier episodes, but I did enjoy the more realistic and gritty vibe of the show. I was genuinely uncertain for a little bit who the heroine would end up with! One storytelling element that I liked a lot was how transparent Cha Do-Hwi’s manipulations were and how quickly the men saw through some of them. Usually no one but another woman would detect the evil strategies of the female antagonist. It was pretty hilarious that after Cha Do-Hwi engineered a broken heel in proximity to Oh Jin-rak in order to have an excuse to summon his assistance, the webtoon assistant Oh Doog-Hoon immediately comments that it was interesting that all her clothes were from the current season, but her broken shoe was so last year in style.

I was also a big fan of the cranky, sleep-deprived webtoon editor.

The artists share a moment with their editor.

The artists share a moment with their editor.

EVA: As usual, I went the other way. I was really turned off by the series at first (slow, plodding character, same things happening over and over, the obviousness of Cha Do-Hwi), but as I’ve gone on (I’m currently on episode 10), I’ve grown to like the characters, I care more about their issues, and I’m loving the non-K-Dramaness (that indie vibe Emily talked about). I LOVE that no one here is living in an inappropriately posh apartment or on somebody’s roof. I LOVE that Oh Jin-Rak’s webtoon editor is an overworked, exhausted crackpot. I LOVE that none of the romances are proceeding smoothly towards a finish line. And I especially love that (with the exception of Cha Do-Hwi, of course) people who say they care actually do care and try to help. It’s refreshing and lovely and I wish more tv shows (American included) were like this.

ANNA: I thought that the reliance on Enrique’s crazy fans as a plot element bogged down the middle part of the series a little bit. Also, I thought that Enrique was cute, but the romance between Go Dok-Mi and Enrique was a bit like showing what would happen if a woman fell in love with cute teddy bear. I much preferred Oh Jin-Rak, but perhaps I just find cranky men attractive.

Keeping tabs on his neighbor.

Keeping tabs on his neighbor.

MICHELLE: Jin-Rak is, by far, the studlier of the two, but I think Enrique is healthier for her. But, that said, he could probably have as good of an influence if he were just to remain her friend. Jin-Rak seems willing to be friends, but it’s more from a place of “it will stress her out if I confess” than any real feeling of contentment with that role in her life.

NANCY: I would watch this drama just for the stressed-out webtoon editor. She was by far my favorite. I liked how this series started out, and the characters were well developed, but I did have issues as the series went on. At first this drama shows a very personal view of a woman’s struggle to rejoin society, and then towards the end we are merely watching from the outside, wondering what her motivations are. They shut us out from the shut-in!! Plus there are many gimmicks used in the last (and first) few minutes of each episode to create false cliffhangers. They have nothing to do with the main plot and actually lessen the integrity of the characters in some cases. I’m also going to show my support for Enrique–this drama would have been unbearable without him.

Everybody's favorite webtoon editor!

Everybody’s favorite webtoon editor!

EVA: Stressed-out webtoon editor is the character I’d be if I were in this series. Her bits of comic relief are some of the best laughs I’ve gotten from this show.

I’ve made it through episode twelve and, yay for man-tears and dry kisses! But, yeah. I hear what you’re saying, Nancy. Go Dok-Mi’s internal monologue and/or the narration of her journal writing gives us an entry point to how she feels about her life as a shut-in, how her expectations have contracted, and how willing to compromise her own desires she is if it means she doesn’t have to confront the world. I’ve enjoyed having that window during the last few episodes I’ve seen.

Also, for the first time in this series, I missed the ubiquitous bitch slap/coffee toss. I wanted more drama during the confrontations between Go Dok-Mi and Cha Do-Hwi. Instead we got silent tears, some fainting, and an unsatisfactory blame toss. These two have history and I wanted to see what happened. But nothing happened! Bah. I’ll keep watching, if only because I hope to see more of a closure to this relationship than we’ve been given so far.

ANNA: I liked the way stressed-out webtoon editor managed to be both hilarious and poignant at the same time. She ends up in a very nice place at the end of the drama, which was nice to see.

MICHELLE: Speaking of hilarity, there were quite a few bits on Flower Boy Next Door that made me laugh out loud, and I’m not the easiest person to make laugh. There’s that absurd moment in which Enrique catches Dok-Mi spying on his brother’s apartment… whilst clad in some weird furry panda hat/cape thing. Or the scene where a drunken Jin-Rak—who I am still used to as the humorless lawyer from Stars Falling from the Sky—decides to go to sleep amidst the building’s recyclables, at which point Dong-Hoon thoughtfully covers him with a stray piece of cardboard. I guess when I describe them, these don’t seem like the most clever jokes ever, but they certainly appealed to my sense of humor.

Enrique busts out his Detective Conan cosplay. As one does.

Enrique busts out his Detective Conan cosplay. As one does.

ANNA: I also loved the bit where the men were all pretending to be Spanish-speaking Italian mafia in order to punk Jin-Rak’s estranged family.

So, check out Flower Boy Next Door if you are interested in a k-drama with a slightly different sensibility than you might be used to. The combination of a gritty setting, camera techniques that evoke indie films, and some engaging characters in unusual situations make this a drama that is well worth watching.

Bringing the Drama: Faith

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Anna: Welcome to Bringing the Drama’s discussion of Faith, the newish show starring Lee Min Ho. Faith centers around the misadventures of a modern day plastic surgeon named Yoo Eun Soo who is kidnapped by a handsome soldier Choi Young and taken back to the Goryeo era, where she is greeted as a doctor from heaven. There are superpowers! Ninjas! Cranky Kings and Queens! Bureaucratic machinations! Faith is streaming on Dramafever and Hulu.

New addition to the Bringing the Drama roundtable Michelle Smith joins us as we ponder the answers to the pressing questions raised by this drama such as:

Are grommets historically accurate? Can they also be sexy?
How hard would you clutch your handbag if you were stranded in the past?
Will you forever be suspicious of people wearing dangling earrings?

What were your reactions to Faith?

Michelle: I’ve not finished it yet, but I’ve certainly gotten farther with it than I have with any other k-dramas. I’d say episode four is around where I started to really enjoy the entirety of each episode, as opposed to just enduring the parts where Eun Soo was particularly loud and whiny. I admit to snickering unkindly about a few things—especially Eum Ja’s unfortunate wig—but on the whole I like it a lot. I’m a fan of political scheming in my fantasy, and Gi Cheol’s multifarious plots supply that nicely.

Lee Min Ho as Choi Young, with his historically accurate grommets.

Anna: Eun Soo is fairly whiny, but I found myself liking her anyway for a few reasons. One is that suddenly being transported into the past would be traumatic for anyone. The other reason is that I was amused by how much she was constantly clutching her handbag. I was actually alarmed and concerned when the handbag disappears later on in the series with no explanation. I also found her weird get rich quick schemes amusing. Her attempts to collect antiques and launch a business in homemade cosmetics were pretty funny.

Eva: Ha! I didn’t notice the handbag clutching until about episode six (I now wonder how I missed it). What made me giggle in the beginning was how every symptom presented by just about everyone Eun Soo treated was likely to cause pneumonia.

Like Michelle, I’m only about half way through the series. As usual, for me anyway, it took a good three to four episodes before I was sure I was going to like the show. And I’ve got to tell you, I’m loving it. I’m not nearly as attracted to crack-for-crack’s-sake shows as Emily is (don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of crack here, just lots of other stuff, too), so the added history, political intrigue, and smattering of romance made all the difference for me. In fact, this show reminds me a lot of Diana Gabaldon’s book Outlander, only less Scottish.

Eun Soo and her Very Important Handbag

Emily: I really enjoyed Faith. While it didn’t “wow” me as much as I had hoped when I read the original premise and news articles about the series, I still found it to be, for the most part, engaging and fun. I think it could have been even better with a more stylish historical look like in another historical fantasy airing at the same time, Arang and the Magistrate. Faith seemed to be reaching for an epic feel, and didn’t quite get there. It was really the main relationship that carried this show for me. Things got bogged down a little in the middle when all the factions seemed to be going in circles repeating the same plot points a few times, but I was interested enough in the development of Choi Young and Eun-Soo’s relationship enough to stick it out. When Lee Min Ho as Choi Young gets serious, he’s very… appealing :) I also greatly enjoyed the supporting characters, in particular, the relationship between the tiny King and Queen. I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t seen all of it yet, so I’ll just add that I also liked the development of the main villains.

Time travel has been one of the most popular plot trends this year. Of the 4 series featuring it (Faith, Doctor Jin, Rooftop Prince, and Queen in-Hyun’s Man) I still have to call Queen In-Hyun’s Man my favorite, followed by Faith, then Rooftop Prince and lastly Doctor Jin.

Michelle: Oh yes, there’s much striving to be epic and it sometimes backfires. I actually think they use musical cues for this a lot. The opening theme is fairly grandiose, but there’s a lot of music within the episode, too. Sometimes it’s awesome, like when it bolsters a triumph for the good guys—I’m thinking of the scene where King Gong Min, having cast aside his Yuan garb, welcomes Wu Dai Chi into the throne room—but it sometimes tries to manipulate the audience into thinking something is, say, romantic, like when Choi Young indulges in a flashback montage that includes Eun Soo stealing vases or whatever.

Anna: I think that for Eun Soo, stealing vases IS romantic! Another reason for the almost but not quite epicness of the show is the tendency of Korean Dramas to frontload most of their budget onto the first couple shows and then back off a little bit. If every episode included special effects of Choi Young using his lightning powers and a random ninja-infused animated flashback, the show might have seemed a bit broader in scale. Overall though I didn’t mind the focus on relationships and I enjoyed the supporting cast in addition to the two leads. I do agree that at certain points the plot did get a bit repetitive. How often can someone get poisoned, kidnapped, or run away only to come back to the palace?

Michelle: Yeah, I was kind of frustrated by that, especially after the king had engaged in all sorts of cleverness to wrest Eun Soo from Gi Cheol’s clutches—though he largely did this to save face with the queen—she ends up spending time with Gi Cheol again because he’s got that notebook of hers. But all the same, I’d see why she’d want to know more about it!

Gi Cheol and his Evil Earring

Really, I find the mystery of how that notebook came to be (I’m not quite done with the series, so I don’t yet know the answer) sometimes more compelling than the relationship between Eun Soo and Choi Young. I love her when she’s serious, and love the conversations they have when she is in that mode, but sometimes I think the actress just isn’t up to playing angry or desperate and it just comes across as whiny. Either that, or those moments are poorly written. I can’t decide.

I agree about the supporting cast. I actually like nearly all the female characters—the queen, Court Lady Choi, Hwa Soo In, —more than Eun Soo with the exception of the mute herbalist, whose seems to’ve only received the direction to “sneer a lot.”

Anna: If someone had asked me my opinion of Lee Min Ho’s career after watching him in Boys Over Flowers and Personal Taste, I would not have predicted that he would suddenly become a believable action star, but with City Hunter followed by Faith, that’s exactly what happened. Faith won’t disappoint his fans and I’m curious to see what type of series he decides to do next.

Watch Faith at Dramafever!

Bringing the Drama: Big

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Big: Not as charming as one would assume from this promotional image

ANNA: For this episode of Bringing the Drama, we are going to talk about Big, which is notable because it is the new show from fan favorite creators the Hong sisters and it also features the return to television of Gong Yoo, who was previously so excellent in Coffee Prince. The series is available on Dramafever and Hulu. Big‘s title and plot is a reference to the classic Tom Hanks movie of the 1980s but in execution the show might provoke more flashbacks to Freaky Friday. Gil Da Ran is studying to be a teacher, and her life seems to be going fairly well because she is engaged to be married to a doctor, Seo Yoon Jae. Yoon Jae doesn’t always seem to be able to find the time to spend with Da Ran, and a shady female colleague wants to break the couple up. Da Ran has an encounter with an overly precocious and slightly obnoxious teenager named Kang Kyung Joon. Kyung Joon and Yoon Jae get into a car accident with each other, and when Kyung Joon wakes up, he’s in the older doctor Yoon Jae’s body! Kyung Joon’s teenage body is stuck at the hospital in a lingering coma. What is Da Ran going to do, with a teenage boy in the body of her attractive and reserved fiance?

What were your reactions to the first few episodes?

EVA: I’m getting more and more used to Korean comedies starting off in tragic ways. Unrequited love! Orphaned children! Accidental drowning! What fun. But this one actually is. I completely bought Gong Yoo as both the doctor and the teenager (in fact, it took me until about halfway through episode three before I gasped and shouted at the computer, “It’s that guy from Coffee Prince!”) and Lee Min Jung’s reactions to both versions of Gong Yoo’s character is convincing. I’m impressed at how well the two actors are pulling this off.

EMILY: The first thing I noticed about Big is that it has a different feel than the other Hong sisters dramas I’ve seen. They usually go for the screwball comedy right from the get-go (just look at the beginning of You’re Beautiful) but this time they went with a more serious first episode. There were hints of humor, but in general, episode 1 plays things straight and sets up the premise of the story. Things start to get funnier in episode 2, but even then, it feels a bit toned down.

I like Gong Yoo in pretty much everything I’ve seen him in. Really, he could just sit there and read the phone book, and I’d probably tune in. In this drama, he faces the challenge of playing two characters- the adult doctor, Yoon Jae, and the teenager-trapped-in-an-adult-body, Kyung Joon. We don’t really get to see him in his role of Yoon Jae for very long, so it’s difficult to get a handle on the character. When he starts acting as Kyung Joon, he really lights up. I think he does fall into that trap, at first, of acting TOO childish, when trying to act like a teen, but he gets over it quickly and settles into the role.

I’m somewhat disappointed in the heroine, Gil Da Ran. She seems like such a cliched naive Kdrama heroine. I like how she acts around her younger brother- feisty and in charge- but everywhere else, she seems to have some doormat tendencies. While she isn’t quite as blindingly naive as Minam was in You’re Beautiful, she still scores high on the unbelievably-innocent scale. I have no problem with the actress playing her; it’s the character that feels a bit weak.

I love Da Ran’s family. They have a wonderful dynamic, one that almost mirrors the situation Da Ran will eventually face. Da Ran’s father is about 12 years older at least than her mom. In fact, they were teacher-student. Yet in spite of the age difference, and lots of parental drama they hint at, they have a successful and loving marriage. Something for Da Ran to keep in mind, perhaps, as she will no doubt become confused by the presence of Kyung Joon’s soul in her fiance’s body.

Thank you, Hong sisters, for all those bare-chested-post-army-body-fanservice scenes of Gong Yoo :)

One of the better things about Big: Gong Yoo and his abs

NANCY: I’m about eight episodes into the drama now, and I still don’t know what to make of it. It is not “Big,” for those who care about those kind of things. I would call it…a half-assed Secret Garden. Harsh, but…true.

I agree with Emily that Gong Yoo acts too childish for a 17-year-old (18 in Korea), and to top it off, his acting in no way resembles how Shin Won-Ho (the “real” Kyung Joon) interpreted the character. Kyung Joon is treated as such a child by Gil Da Ran that it’s impossible to view him as a romantic interest for her. So then is Yoon Jae her romantic interest? But he’s never around, so we have no idea what he’s like. It’s great that the viewer is unsure about Yoon Jae’s true feelings just as Gil Da Ran is—that is what makes the plot interesting—but it doesn’t work beyond that.

This is a romantic comedy without the romantic comedy. There is no couple to root for. I have no idea where this drama is going, and I feel like the drama itself doesn’t know where it’s going either.

EVA: See, here’s where it shows that I’m the noob here: I have no idea what Secret Garden is. But, yeah, this is nothing like Big and kinda-sorta like Freaky Friday.

It’s also clear that I’m (at least with this show) willing to cut the actors more slack than Emily and Nancy are. Yeah, Gong Yoo isn’t portraying the Kyung Joon character the same way Shin Won Ho did. But I was having so much fun with the character the way he decided to play it that I didn’t care. Heh.

ANNA: Actually having no idea where the show will go is mainly what appeals to me for this drama. Being unsure of which couple to root for actually seems somewhat refreshing. I’m sure that there will be a happy ending, but right now I’m not sure what to expect. I honestly am not sure if Gil Da Ran would be better off with Kyung Joon in in Yoon Jae’s body or the real Yoon Jae. She seems to have built much more of a solid friendship and companionship with Kyung Joon, even though she does treat him like a little kid. She really didn’t know Yoon Jae very well, despite being engaged to him. I agree that Gong Yoo’s frenetic little kid act settles down a bit a few episodes in. I’m afraid I’m too much of a fangirl to be all that critical of Gong Yoo’s performance or interpretation of the character, because he’s just so appealing as a lead character.

I feel like I have to give a shout out to Jang Ma-Ri, Kyung Joon’s ex-girlfriend who shows up and quickly suspects that something is wrong. She’s basically like The Terminator with ridiculous hair fashion accessories, and she injects a comedic element into the series that is definitely needed.

Ma Ri: Making Hair bows Menacing!

NANCY: I agree that Suzy as Ma-Ri is a great addition to the series! At first her interpretation of what is basically a sasaeng (crazy stalkers of kpop idols) scared the hell out of me. But once she stops acting like a freak, we see a loyal person who is trying to right a past wrong. She’s charming, and I also feel for Da-Ran’s brother.

Basically I’d like this series a lot more if Yoon Jae would just wake up to fix the plodding pace of this drama. :p

EVA: Ma-Ri is awesome. Once we got past the crazy stalker stage she became, fittingly, the most American of the characters — no noble idiot here. If she wants something she goes for it and damn the consequences. She may be incredibly annoying to the rest of the characters, but to me she’s a breath of fresh air.

I’m still only seven episodes in, so hearing that the show turns plodding is not good news. Emily, is there hope for a turn-around?

EMILY: I finished the series this week, and was extremely disappointed with it. I still love Gong Yoo, and think he did a fantastic job with what he was given, but the writers really dropped the ball here. They just went in circles for so many episodes. There were so many pointless scenes. Heck, all of episode 15 is a waste of time. Even Ma-ri becaume a useless plot contrivance in the last episode- I can’t believe she got away with what she did, good grief. I also can’t believe this is a Hong Sisters Drama. I really enjoyed so many of their other shows (You’re Beautiful, Greatest Love, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, etc) that I can’t understand what they were thinking when they came up with this series. I am usually very easy to please, but in this case, I was just left scratching my head and wondering what the hell I just watched. *sigh*

Still, this has been a good year for dramas over all. I LOVED Queen In-Hyun’s Man, I’m still enjoying A Gentleman’s Dignity (in spite of 1 episode of stupidity, the rest of it has been pretty solid), and there are a bunch of new shows coming that look like they will be fun. That’s the nice thing about the Korean and Japanese TV systems- if you don’t like a show, just wait 3 months, and a whole new crop of shows will start :D

ANNA: Oh, I was hoping it would get better by the end! I was stalled out at episode 10, but I was thinking that the Hong Sisters would somehow be able to pull off the show. My tastes in drama generally tend to synch up with yours, do you think the show is worth finishing, or should I switch over to A Gentleman’s Dignity for more satisfying drama watching?

EMILY: Personally, I would switch. Apparently, the Big ending was a let down to a LOT of people, judging from the flurry of blog posts I am seeing today. Granted, it’s not the worst ending I have ever seen in a drama (that honor goes to the K-drama “Let’s Go To School, Sang-Doo” and the J-drama “Cheap Love”) but it is extremely weak and leaves lots of questions. And important events happen off screen. So annoying.

ANNA: How quickly my excitement over a new Hong Sisters’ drama has turned into crushing despair! If we aren’t going to recommend that people watch this one, what should people watch instead? Coffee Prince, to experience the glory of Gong Yoo in a series with much better writing? Secret Garden, if people are looking for a series about body switching that is less maddening?

EMILY: Watch Coffee Prince for Gong Yoo, Secret Garden for awesome body-swapping, and You’re Beautiful/Greatest Love/Girlfriend is a Gumiho for better Hong Sisters efforts. ^_^

At least we can all cherish our memories of Coffee Prince!

Bringing the Drama: Rooftop Prince

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Rooftop Prince is available for streaming on Hulu, Viki, and Dramafever.

ANNA: I just finished watching the first episode of Rooftop Prince and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. There were so many elements that were all over the place, it is difficult to summarize!

The Rooftop Prince, His Retainers, and Their Tracksuits

There are two parallel stories set hundreds of years apart, cast with the same actors. Is everybody time traveling, or are we looking at some odd cases of reincarnation?

In the present day, Se Na reacts badly when her mother remarries, providing her with a new sister, Park Ha. Se Na torments her little sister, and eventually causes her to become lost. Park Ha grows up in the United States with no memory of her previous family. She finds out that her father was looking for her and travels back to Korea in time to attend his funeral. She’s reunited with her stepmother and evil older stepsister.

The two sisters also exist in the past, with the older one about to be passed over as a candidate for crown princess in favor of the younger one. A horrible accident (or was it?) results in the younger sister being scarred. The older sister becomes crown princess. The crown prince Lee Gak is extremely charming and light-hearted, but when he wakes up to find that his princess has drowned in the middle of the night, he becomes overcome with grief. Determined to find out the truth behind his wife’s death, he puts together an investigative supergroup consisting of a scholar, warrior, and a fabulously fashionable eunuch.

In the present, a rich young man named Tae Yong who closely resembles the crown prince notices Park Ha, but he doesn’t ask her out. He’s betrayed by his cousin and drowns. Two years later, the crown prince and his retainers show up in Park Ha’s apartment. I think I’ve covered everything! What were your thoughts on the first episode?

EVA: You guys promised me a comedy! What the heck, man. The older sister isn’t funny, she’s evil! Awesomely evil, true, but still. Not a comedy!

In all seriousness, though, episode one is full of all the reasons why I usually give a series three chances before committing myself. It is clunky, disjointed, and not at all funny. Because the two storylines, one taking place in the Joseon era and the other in modern day, jump back and forth with no explanation, it’s hard to know if we’re dealing with a case of reincarnation or of doppelgangers. All I know for sure is, if it hadn’t been for the last scene where the prince and his retainers appear in the rooftop apartment after being sucked through a lunar eclipse after fleeing from Korean ninjas (that’s right, Korean ninjas), I’d have thought this show was going to be a straight up mystery.

The Rooftop Prince Scooby Gang

ANNA: I agree that the first episode was a bit confusing. I had no idea what to make of the doppelgangers, and the storylines seemed to tilt towards the tragic with all the bullying and death going on. The sudden switch of tone towards the end of the first episode where the prince forms his supergroup of retainers made me hope for much better things for the second episode, and I found myself liking it much better.

EMILY: Episode 1 was a lot more serious than the plot description I’d originally read of the series, but it is obvious that the whole episode is intended as set up for the hijinks to ensue later. The episode bounces back and forth between the story of a Joseon King, his beautiful Crown Princess, her scarred sister, and the story of modern reincarnations of the same people. Or are they reincarnations? There are a lot of questions and mysteries set up in the first episode. There are also two murder mysteries being set up. One in the past and one in the present. But they both have interesting twists. In the past, we aren’t entirely certain who the victim is, though it’s pretty much assumed to be the Crown Princess. Also, we don’t know who the killer is, though one piece of evidence points to an unlikely suspect. As for the accidental murder in the present, we know who the culprit is, but we aren’t entirely sure the victim is dead and not doing some sort of time-travel thing instead. You never know.

I enjoyed the first episode, and didn’t have any problems following the intertwined plots. I think Micky Yoochun is doing a great job in his role of the time-jumping King. His acting is a lot more animated than I’ve seen it in past dramas, and he sounds very funny with his historical accent (er, not that I’m one to judge Korean accents). I also must say, Micky looks fantastic in historical garb. He should stick to historical dramas forever and ever. Or at least, always wear that hat. I can see it now—Micky in some drama playing a lawyer, but wearing the historical hat. It would be awesome, I tell you.

Episode 1 ends right when things start to get funny, as our Joseon King and his sidekicks end up in a modern rooftop apartment. OF COURSE they land in a rooftop apartment. Given how often they appear in kdramas, the odds were fairly evenly split between them landing in a rooftop apartment, or a plush penthouse suite in a hotel. For comedic value, they obviously go for the rooftop.

Episode 2 promises to be very silly :)

Is it an elevator or a changing room? The modern world is so confusing!

ANNA: What did people think of episode 2? I liked the way it focused on the main thing I enjoyed in the first episode, the Joseon King and his merry band of sidekicks. Putting them in different colored tracksuits for modern dress was inspired, and there were so many funny moments when they were trying to learn how to survive in the modern world.

EVA: Well, I both enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy it. I loved the track suits and hated the slapstick. (I have a very low tolerance for slapstick.) I loved the hate/hate relationship that forms between Lee Gak and Park Ha, but hated how long it took Lee Gak to figure out that he has traveled through time. And, man, is Park Ha’s sister evil. Eeeeeeevil.

Here’s the thing: I know it sounds like I’m doing nothing but whine and complain about this show, but I’m actually enjoying it. I just wish I didn’t have to put my brain on hold to do so. Sure, this is a comedy and most situations are going to be played for laughs. But my ability to suspend disbelief is being sorely tested. As the series progresses through the first four episodes, Lee Gak is way too slow on the uptake. I’ll grant that it takes him a while to figure out the whole time travel/doppelganger thing, but don’t you think that once he understands that there is a guy in this world who looks just like him he’d be able to open his mind wide enough to embrace the possibility that there might also be a person in this world who looks just like the princess? Considering how quickly he grasped the concept of television, this shouldn’t have been such a stretch.

The other thing that’s bugging me are the merry henchmen. In episode one they were described to be intelligent, crafty free-thinkers. Sure, okay, they’re loyal to their king, but once they realized a) there isn’t a king in modern day Korea, b) their constant kowtowing draws a lot of unwanted attention, and c) that their best chance of returning to their time depends on the kindness of strangers, that they’d start trying to fit in? While I love the comedic aspects of the merry henchmen, I do wish they’d start living up to their potential.

A trunk full of adorable merry henchmen

ANNA: Overall, I’m enjoying this drama although it seems to reel me in gradually. I think that anyone considering watching it has to view at least the first two episodes because they are so different in tone. I didn’t feel truly hooked on this series until the very end of episode 4, where we see the dramatic tension of the show ratcheted way up as the whole reincarnation storyline that was introduced in the first series was finally addressed.

I liked the storyline with Park Ha’s business and the henchmen being willing to help out so much. I’m wondering what sort of outfits they will have to wear next, since they’ve already been in tracksuits and furry mascot costumes. After 4 episodes, Micky Yoochun’s performance is really starting to grow on me, and I can see why Emily is such a fan. The time-traveling prince is a tough role to pull off, and it looks like there will be plenty of challenging scenes ahead after the end of episode 4. While I’ve enjoyed this series, I think it took 4 episodes for me to become enthusiastic about it. I watched the first 4 episodes gradually over time, but with the twist scene at the end of 4 (even though it was a bit predictable), I can definitely see myself marathoning the next few episodes as soon as I get time to watch more.

EMILY: I’m having a hard time containing my thoughts to episodes 1-4 because I have gone ahead and watched all the episodes that are out now and am current :) I’m enjoying the show very much. It seems to have several mini story arcs. It begins serious, and then shifts to ridiculous for several episodes, as our spoiled prince and his color-coded Joseon Power Rangers adjust themselves to our times. This is played up for maximum silliness, as the writers find not just the major things (cars, elevators, etc) to baffle our time-travelers with, but also a lot of small details of modern life that we take for granted. From putting out a fire by spitting toilet water, to the deliciousness of omelet rice, to the fabulous black card that will let the prince buy anything (oh, the power of chaebol credit limits) there is a lot to get used to in our time. But once the hilarity ends, things start to take a more serious turn as the murder mystery heats up, the Prince finds his Princess, the villains step up their scheming, and romance begins to bloom. Through all of it, I like the chemistry between Park Ha and the Prince, the antics of the Power Rangers are endearing (poor lovelorn blue ranger), and I don’t even mind the obligatory kdrama Birth Secret that pops up. I will say that the villains in this series are in the running for worst villains ever. She, because of her skill at lying and ability to make me want to poke her eyes out, and him because of his total ineptitude. I don’t think he could manage to kill anyone even if he aimed and shot a gun directly at their heart.

I really look forward to how this drama will play out.

The Rooftop Prince wears a Texas Tuxedo

ANNA: I think you’re right about the series functioning in mini story arcs, as I can see a new arc developing at the end of episode 4 and start of episode 5. In some ways I like that structure because having the story presented in 3-4 episode bursts makes it easy to stop and start the series if you don’t have the time to watch the whole thing at once. I think I will be watching the entire series, even though I’m not going to be able to get through it as quickly as Emily.

EVA: I am glad you two have enjoyed what you’ve seen of the show so far, but the more I think about it, the more sure I become that I don’t need to see the rest of the episodes. Yeah, Mickey’s character begins to grow and the plot begins to thicken, but all the silliness has pulled me out of the story enough times that I don’t think I want to dive back in.

ANNA: So Rooftop Prince is a good show if you enjoy your kdramas with family angst mixed with slapstick, but not so great if you find yourself with a low tolerance for silly men dressed in tracksuits. Have you watched this show yet? What did you think?

Bringing the Drama: City Hunter

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Anna: For our first Bringing the Drama feature we picked the romantic comedy You’re Beautiful, so for our next column we decided to vary genres a bit and discuss a more action-oriented series very loosely based on a manga, City Hunter. City Hunter is the story of a boy named Lee Yoon Sung who is taken from his mother as an infant and then raised in Thailand by an ex-spy turned Drug Triad Boss as an instrument of revenge against the Korean government. Returning to Korea with a doctorate from MIT, our hero promptly gets a job working in computer security for the government and encounters a feisty female bodyguard named Kim Na Na. Together, they expose corruption and struggle with their mutual attraction! City Hunter is available for streaming online on Dramafever, and Netflix.

City Hunter. Hunts in the City!

Anna: Have you read the City Hunter manga at all? I have the first volume and I’ve paged through a couple chapters, and I have to say that there’s not much resemblance between the manga and the drama, other than the fact that both versions of City Hunter wear sharp looking blazers and have womanizing tendencies.

Emily: It took me a while to decide to watch the City Hunter drama (and I still haven’t finished it, though I plan to). I am a huge fan of the manga, and it’s blatantly obvious that the only thing this drama has in common with the source material is the title. I was only really able to enjoy this by telling myself that it isn’t REALLY City Hunter, it’s a completely different franchise, and the name is just a coincidence :) There is no way Lee Min-Ho’s character resembles my beloved pervert Ryo Saeba, that’s for sure.

Nancy: I haven’t read the City Hunter manga, so I didn’t have to battle the same expectations as Emily did. I really enjoyed watching this drama. I usually choose romantic dramas, so the action in this was refreshing. And it stars Lee Min Ho.

Eva: I haven’t read any of the manga either, and now that I’ve heard from Emily, I’m kind of glad I haven’t. While I understand that a book is a book and a television show is a television show and one is never going to be just like the other, if your show is going to be nothing like the book, why bother licensing it?

City Hunter's Daddy Issues

Anna: I thought that this was one of those series where you really have to watch at least 2 episodes in order to get into it. Not that the first episode was bad, but there’s so much tragic back story in the show to start out with, Lee Min Ho doesn’t show up until over a half hour into the starting episode. What did you think about the shift in tone between the first and second episodes?

Emily: I was also worried, after watching episode 1, that this series would take itself too seriously, and be all dramatic action and depressing stuff. That first episode is all back story, and while I suppose it’s useful, I sort of think that it might have also been interesting to open the series with Lee Min Ho’s character just arriving in Seoul for his job at the Blue House, and for them to let us in on his back story bit by bit as we watch him work his revenge. I was happy to see the dreary tone lighten up a little once Na Na arrived on the scene.

Nancy: I think the first episode needed the gritty beginning to prepare you for the political intrigue and brutality ahead. If you can’t sit through the beginning, you may not be able to take the rest of the drama. There will be blood and violence. There will be mean, dastardly men in power. There will be sweet romance too, but this is a bitter, fatalistic drama. That’s part of the beauty of it. You’re not sure how it can end in any other way than tragedy, so you keep watching.

Eva: I was hooked from the first episode, and that’s rare for me. As I said in our discussion of You’re Beautiful, it usually takes me three to four episodes to really get into a kdrama, which is about how long it takes for the writing team to figure out which direction they’re going to take the show. But City Hunter started off with a bang: tragedy! deception! crime! gunfire! more tragedy! It was fantastic! And then, once Lee Min Ho’s character was introduced, we got a much needed humor break and it was fantastic, too! The second episode gave me even more action hero action and I couldn’t have been happier. I mean, I like me some romantic comedy, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing like violence and vigilante-ism to get my heart pumping.

The sad thing about episode two is that Kim Na Na’s back story is so much less interesting than Lee Yoon Sung’s. And the whole Blue House cadre — especially the stupid, stupid, stupid president’s daughter — well, you have to take the bad to get the good, right?

Anna: I feel that any discussion of City Hunter would be incomplete without an examination of how cute Lee Min Ho is. What are your thoughts on this matter?

Lee Min Ho: Great Tsukasa or Greatest Tsukasa?

Emily: Lee Min Ho is very cute, but I admit that I think I liked him best with his ridiculous haircut from Boys Over Flowers. Or maybe I just like him more with his hair off his forehead. I was also happy to see him wearing pants that reach past his ankles. In Personal Taste, his character always wore these floods/highwater type pants that annoyed me so much :) I think he has great chemistry with all of his leading ladies.

Anna: He is my absolute favorite live-action Tsukasa! I agree that he is the type of actor who can manufacture chemistry with anyone. While he wasn’t wearing floods in City Hunter, I found myself sometimes perplexed by his pink pants. They don’t seem like the type of thing anybody would wear if they were engaged in covert action in a city.

Nancy: I really liked Min Ho in this. I think he’s a great action star as well as a romantic lead. At some point you wonder why Lee Yoon doesn’t just run the hell away or off his bastard father altogether, but somehow Min Ho is able to keep you believing in the choices his character makes despite all the craziness happening around him. I prefer him in this to Boys Over Flowers.

Eva: Lee Min Ho is adorable. It’s funny that Emily should mention his hair from Boys Over Flowers, because I was mesmerized by his hair in that series. Lee Min Ho’s hair is about as convincingly curly as mine is (which is to say, not at all), and I loved watching the curls slip slowly down his head whenever the weather was even remotely humid. And that chapter when they were in Thailand? At the hotel right on the water? Hahahahahaha! I think his stylist just gave up at that point and walked away. Hee! It still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

I will say that over the years, Lee Min Ho’s acting keeps getting better and better. He’s earning some comedy chops and I was surprised at how well he has pulled off the action scenes. I still don’t find him terribly convincing during the sensitive, romantic scenes, but that may be due to the fact that he’s freakishly tall compared to his costar. There’s one scene where Lee Yoon Sung comes up behind Kim Na Na and embraces her, resting his head on her shoulder. And even though it can’t be seen onscreen, everyone knows that he’s had to bend so far over to get down that low that his butt must be sticking out into the room behind him. Which, for me as a viewer, kind of spoils the mood.

Anna: One of the things I found amusing in the staging of the action scenes in City Hunter is that it seemed like there were some Bourne movie influences in the way Lee Yoon Sung fought his enemies. There were several scenes where he relied on improvised weapons like a rolled up folder or a random spoon. This also underscored his reluctance to kill, because he wasn’t always reaching for a gun to shoot his way out of tough situations.

City Hunter and His Covert Pants


Anna: The main source of dramatic tension in this series was found in the different philosophies towards revenge that the father and son exhibit. Lee Jin Pyo is determined to carry out his revenge through straightforward assassination, but Lee Yoon Sung wants to expose his adopted father’s enemies to public censure instead. Did this conflict, combined with the detective work in hunting down Lee Jin Pyo’s betrayers maintain your interest throughout the series or however much of it you’ve watched?

Eva: I would have liked to have seen more of the father-son conflict in the series, but then again, it was the action/adventure side of City Hunter that drew me to the series in the first place. Lee Jin Pyo was awesome in his ruthless take-no-prisoners approach to revenge (his smug smile of satisfaction was something I found myself looking forward to towards the end of the series), and the conflicting revenge styles made for good drama. What I didn’t like was when the conflict between father and son became an afterthought. What I kept hoping for was what we had with the show IRIS, where it was the romance that was the afterthought and the intrigue that was, well, intriguing.

Anna: I thought that Lee Jin Pyo was also awesomely ruthless his approach to revenge and his wearing of cravats. I wish that there had been a tiny bit more nuance in his approach though, because it did make his behavior and reactions a little bit predictable.

City Hunter is Surprised!


Anna: Does anyone have any theories about the prevalence of “Daddy Long-Legs” type plots in dramas? Having the righteous young prosecutor sending Kim Na Na anonymous notes of encouragement and presents certainly helped cement the love quadrangle that provides a nice contrast to the father-son angst and action scenes.

Emily: Regarding the use of Daddy Longlegs themes in dramas, I know I have seen the trope before, though a specific instance is eluding me. My impression, though, is that it is usually part of what eventually turns into a romantic gesture (as opposed to a mentor/sponsor adult supporting a child in a paternal sort of way) and dramas usually end up making what could seem like a kind of creepy thing into something kind of sweet. I guess you could consider the super nice supportive second lead guys as Daddy Longlegs characters. Like Shinwoo in You’re Beautiful, when he would do nice things for Minam in secret (and losing the opportunity to reveal himself). The helping-the-girl-in-secret thing is, as I thought in You’re Beautiful, nice, but too passive. Given that kdrama heroines are often naive, the bold approach is better. I think the Daddy Longlegs approach would only work with a stronger, sharper, more assertive heroine, because she would figure out who her benefactor is, or at least would have a funny reaction to all the unwanted help.

Daddy Longlegs, prosecutor, hunter of City Hunter, this guy does it all!

Anna: I think there was a fair amount of Daddy Longlegs in the second lead’s approach to the heroine in Coffee Prince too, since he was generally in the quietly supportive mode, taking her out for a makeover and just generally being her cheerleader.

Anna: What did you think of Kim Na Na’s character arc? I confess that I was hoping that she’d be the focus of more heroic action towards the end of the series, just because so much was made of her abilities as a woman of action in the first few episodes. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised that she ended up in more of a girlfriend role at the end.


Eva: I still haven’t seen the last four episodes, so I don’t really know what happens with Kim Na Na at the end. I’m guessing (this is a Korean drama, after all) that her father wakes up from his coma, that Lee Yoon Sung’s mother goes into remission, and that all four live happily ever after eating food cooked by Bae Shik Joong. But I don’t actually know.

Emily: I have only seen half way through City Hunter, so I can’t comment on the end of Na Na’s storyline. But my impression of her from the beginning is that she is a reasonably strong character (working hard to earn her position, skilled at martial arts, etc) even though she still has a bit of that kdrama-heroine-naivety . She doesn’t seem like the weak type that needs rescuing all the time.

Kim Na Na demonstrates her judo skills


Nancy: I think Kim Na Na’s story arc ended before the series did. She was just hanging around, waiting for the ending, and perhaps that could have been structured better, but I feel her character was consistent throughout and she overcame her own set of obstacles. I was not displeased.

Anna: My hopes were probably raised too high after seeing Kim Na Na throw Lee Yoon Sung around so much at the beginning of the series. Still, I think it is notable that Na Na is able to be as much of an action heroine as she is.

So overall, City Hunter is a show with great production values, a good mix of tragedy, comedy, and action, and it features an engaging cast of characters anchored by the always handsome Lee Min Ho. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! If watching City Hunter prompts you to seek out other action-oriented series, a good one to try next is the spy saga IRIS.

City Hunter

Bringing the Drama: You’re Beautiful

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ANNA: To start out this new feature on Manga Bookshelf, I thought that You’re Beautiful would be the ideal show to discuss, because I think it would be a good first series for anyone to try who isn’t familiar with Korean dramas. There are plenty of plot points in You’re Beautiful that manga fans can appreciate, due to the cross-dressing reverse harem scenario that the heroine has to face.

You’re Beautiful is the story of a novice nun who has to impersonate her twin brother and join a boy band, cross dressing as an idol singer. It is available for streaming on Dramafever and Hulu.

What about You’re Beautiful do you find compelling?

EVA: Of the four of us, I think I’m the newest kdrama watcher. I’m still learning the conventions, quirks, and tropes of Korean television, so many of what you all take for granted I still find either hilarious or perplexing.

What brought me to You’re Beautiful was, if I remember correctly, you and Emily chortling about it on Twitter, then Emily and Nancy coveting the stuffed pig-rabbit that came with the deluxe edition of the DVD set. (I may have my time line a bit skewed. It was a while ago that all this took place.) I figured anything that had all three of you so excited must be worth giving a try.

What kept me going past the first three episodes (I’ve learned that kdramas don’t often get started until at least episode four) was how deliberately silly the show is. Even as a novice viewer it was easy for me to spot many of the things the show parodies. From our heroine’s first appearance on screen as a ditsy nun (a trope that usually drives me crazy), to the boy band decked out in lace and guyliner, to the evil arch-rival plotting against them all, there is nothing about this show that takes itself seriously.

ANNA: I was also inspired to watch You’re Beautiful after seeing Emily post about it on twitter. For me, it was the first drama that I’d watched that wasn’t a manga adaptation, and it ended up being a bit of a gateway drug because I promptly immersed myself in watching many more dramas after finishing it.

Minam is tortured by cute idol singers. Tortured!

Minam is tortured by cute idol singers. Tortured!

I think that You’re Beautiful’s silly tone is one of its strengths. It isn’t cynical at all, which is quite refreshing in today’s world. Even though the characters do plenty of ridiculous things, their actions totally make sense when you consider their personalities. When sheltered Minam has to face entering a locker room filled with undressed men, the mental gymnastics she puts herself through in order to maintain her disguise result in one of the most hilariously surreal scenes I’ve viewed in a TV show.

A.N.JELL lead singer Tae Kyung might be an emotionally distant OCD case with an odd obsession with cowl neck sweaters, but compared to how he might have turned out considering his harpy of a mother he’s actually not so bad. Poor Jeremy wanders around like a lost puppy, wondering why he keeps having visions of his new band mate eating fruit in slow motion, and Shin Woo’s penchant for quiet observation and on-demand emotional support doesn’t further his goals of romance.

So even though there’s plenty of guyliner and ridiculous scenarios, the core cast is remarkably sympathetic in the midst of all the silliness. When the characters do goofy things like pondering the dangerous nature of bidets or getting trapped on a moving truck, they aren’t ever really the objects of ridicule for the audience.

Chibi A.N.Jell

NANCY: Kdrama is the new shoujo manga! At least for romantic comedies. This drama was written by the Hong sisters, who definitely brought the “shoujo manga” aesthetic to this series. There are even chibi versions of the members of A.N.JELL (the fictitious kpop band in the show) that can be seen on merchandise in the drama itself. And that pig-rabbit is merchandising gold–I still want one! Unfortunately it wasn’t included with the YA Entertainment release here.

At the time this came out, I think I was still a bit hesitant about many of the TV dramas because they can reach high levels of tragedy sustained over many episodes, which can be grueling to watch. Like Eva, I wasn’t keen on the “Sound of Music” beginning with the hapless nun, but by the end of the first episode–with its super-shoujo ending–I was hooked.

Tae Kyung, King of Guyliner


EMILY: I’m a huge fan of shoujo manga, something that is chock full of ridiculous situations, unrealistic characters, and romantic comedy. There are also quite a number of series featuring cross dressing idol singers. Therefore, when I heard about a kdrama that embraced these same themes I’m so fond of, I was all over it. As an added bonus, You’re Beautiful is by the Hong Sisters, a writing duo whose work I have previously enjoyed (Fantasy Couple, Delightful Girl Chung-hyang, My Girl) so I had high hopes it would be good. I was happy to find myself hooked rather quickly. You’re Beautiful is silly, and the characters are all so exaggerated, but it’s so much more fun that way.

The Hong Sisters have a way of taking cliched situations and putting just the right amount of spin on them to bring unexpected results, or a surprise laugh. They are masters of parody. And what can I say, I love seeing surly heroes like Tae Kyung (king of all guyliner) be taken down a peg or two, be it from falling for Minam, or being chased by a wild pig.

Shin Woo in a clever disguise!

ANNA: That’s funny that Emily and Nancy were commenting on the similarities of You’re Beautiful to shoujo manga, because for me it was my first time getting sucked in to the kdrama staple plot of the second lead guy’s hopeless romance with the main girl. I really wanted Minam and Shin Woo to end up together even though I knew that wasn’t likely to happen. The Hong sisters really packed this show full of interesting supporting characters and plot lines.

Other than the romance of the main couple, what were your favorite supporting characters or stories?

NANCY: I have to say I was always a fan of the leading man, Tae Kyung, snarls and pouts and all. Jang Keun Suk is captivating, even when his acting is deliberately overblown. I also have a soft spot for Lee Hong Ki, who plays Jeremy. Jeremy is the one who keeps finding his bandmates in suggestive situations with Minam, whom he believes to be a boy. This drama also includes one of the best tongue-in-cheek nods to female fandom. There’s a scene in which Jeremy reads slash fanfic about the band in an online forum, and he then goes on to imagine how it would play out. You then see the three male leads reenacting a love triangle.

Minam’s online test to become an official fan of A.N.JELL is another gem. I feel that I can’t talk about Jung Hong Hwa (Shin Woo) or Lee Hong Ki without mentioning that their bands (Hong Hwa’s C.N. Blue and Hong Ki’s F. T. Island) will be holding a joint concert in Los Angeles on March 9.

pig rabbit

Who wouldn't want a slightly toxic pig rabbit?

EVA: Hahaha! I love how Nancy’s unabashed love of Kpop sneaks its way into every conversation.

It’s hard not to love Jeremy. The adorableness of everything he does is almost cuddly. And the scene Nancy described is one of the standout scenes from the entire series. But my favorite side character is Minam’s archenemy Yoo He Yi, played by Uee. The Evil! It Burns! She’s so effective as the villain because she really, truly thinks she’s in the right, that Minam is the bad guy (girl), and that Tae Kyung just doesn’t understand. Her love is pure, by golly, it’s pure!

EMILY: I’m generally a first-lead fan, so I was Tae-Kyung/Minam all the way. Shin Woo was nice, but was waaaay too passive. It’s funny how he kept trying to be a shoujo manga-type prince, doing all these secretly sweet gestures, but he should have realized that with a heroine as dense, er, naive as Minam, he needed to be a bit more outgoing to make her notice. I felt bad for him, but it also sort of felt like he was stringing her along and getting more personal kicks out of being the secret helper. He put himself on the sidelines, so he shouldn’t be surprised if he ends up there. I think my favorite supporting character was Jeremy. He managed to be really sweet and considerate and likable in spite of the strangeness of his hair. (Seriously, what was up with his hair? Poor guy). And yes, the BL fanfiction scene and Jeremy’s support of it is one of the best moments in the series :)

Jeremy, confused by fruit.

NANCY: Caught by Eva!! I enjoyed Yoo He Yi as well (and Uee happens to be in the kpop group After School–ha ha ha!). I also agree with Emi that Shin Woo was too passive. In a way I feel Jeremy got robbed because most of his time was spent with Angelina Jolie, his golden retriever. He never got the chance to be a serious contender for the heroine, but his scenes are a joy to watch.

ANNA: I totally understand why you’d say Shin Woo was too passive – setting up elaborate scenarios and expecting Minam to guess his feelings was doomed to failure. One of the nice things about the way the Hong Sisters wrote You’re Beautiful is that it is possible to enjoy the supporting cast even when they are portraying characters that might be unsympathetic like Yoo He Yi.

But how do you feel about some of the other characters who are a little more villainous?

Even though Minam’s aunt was a focus of comic relief, she’s pretty much a hypocrite for seeking out her nephew only when she discovers that he’s in a boy band. What about Tae-Kyung’s mother? I pretty much wanted to drop her down a well for her selfishness, even though she is given plenty of back story to explain her motivations for being the Worst Mother In the World.

EMILY: In regards to the villains of the series- they are all so totally selfish!. Tae Kyung’s mother gets ranked high up there on the evil kdrama mom scale. She is even worse than the stereotypical evil kdrama mom type that always tries to bribe the poor girl to stay away from her rich son. In this case, she doesn’t even care enough about her son to go that far. As for the idol angel He Yi, she was a good obstacle in Minam and Tae Kyung’s road to true love, but I did get annoyed at how little she actually had to work to be that obstacle. All this great ammunition kept falling right into her lap without her having to do any snooping or conniving! I would have liked it if she had to work harder to be evil :)

ANNA: I agree that the villains could have used a bit more nuance. Maybe it is just the dramas that I’ve watched, but I’ve found that there isn’t a whole lot of subtlety to be found in the antagonists. I’m not sure what all the evil kdrama moms indicate, perhaps many of the drama writers have mommy issues.

NANCY: I think the evil mother was in there merely for Tae Kyung’s character development and to show why he was a cynical guy in the first place. I did worry a bit that You’re Beautiful would follow the lines of Winter Sonata with his mother’s obsession with Minam’s father, but thankfully that did not come to pass.

EVA: I guess my last question on this topic is: What, if any, kdramas have you watched as a result of watching this one?

I tend to follow actors and actresses I’ve come to enjoy (which is easy with kdramas, since there seems to only be 27 different actors/actresses in the whole country who just rotate around the various channels and genres). I think my viewing flow went something like this: I saw Kim Myung Min in Bad Family, so I followed him to Beethoven Virus. In Beethoven Virus I was introduced to Jang Geun Suk, so (after I heard you all talking about it) I followed him to You’re Beautiful. In You’re Beautiful I was introduced to Hyun Jyu Ni, so I followed her to IRIS where I was reunited with Jung Joon Ho who I had loved in Last Scandal.

Do you three do the same? Or do you have other ways of finding new shows to watch? Which show would you suggest as a follow-up to You’re Beautiful?

ANNA: I went on a major kdrama binge after watching You’re Beautiful, and I can’t trace my viewing flow as exactly as Eva does. But on what next to watch after You’re Beautiful, I think you have the options of following either the actors or finding something similar in tone. I haven’t watched many of the other Hong Sisters’ dramas, but I did enjoy Greatest Love quite a bit, which has the same satirical take on show business with the benefit of having adult as opposed to teen characters.

I did watch Heartstrings solely because of wanting to see Jung Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye together again, but while it was fun to see them overall I thought it was a tad on the inert side dramatically. For a similarly funny drama, I’d actually go with Protect the Boss, which is a hilarious show about a juvenile delinquent who gets a job as a secretary for a spoiled young company heir.

You're Beautiful

You're Beautiful

EMILY: I don’t have an easily followed chain viewing pattern like Eva either, but I do mainly watch dramas for actors I like, and genres I like (romantic comedy), then creative staff. I enjoyed the dramas the Hong Sisters made after You’re Beautiful– My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and Greatest Love. Both were wonderful in different ways. Once again, the Hong sisters take common kdrama cliches and twist them around a bit to make something refreshing. In particular, Greatest Love takes another look at the show business world from a different perspective than You’re Beautiful and manages to have a lot of excitement even without a specific ‘bad guy’ character.

For other crazy romantic comedies, I have to agree, Protect the Boss is fantastic. I love how everyone in it is just a bit insane, plus it has awesome bromance.

Another series that deals with teens trying to make it in show business is Dream High.

Two other series that have a ‘girl masquerading as a guy’ theme are Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Painter of the Wind. Both of them are historical dramas. Sunkyunkwan Scandal has a more fusion-historical-idol-pretty-boys-hijinks-ensue sort of feel to it, while Painter of the Wind is more dramatic. I keep hearing that they are planning to make a kdrama version of Hana Kimi, but I have no idea if it will ever happen.

On a random note, I’ll watch anything with Park Shi-hoo in it because he is the amazing second lead guy who can actually get the girl (he has stolen the girl from the first lead at least twice now).

NANCY: I did watch some of Marry Me, Mary as a result of this drama (also starring Jang Keun Suk), and I may finish it someday. Keun Suk is also in a new drama Love Rain, which I will check out. I usually find kdramas by what people are talking about on Twitter, though I do watch shows with kpop stars too. (Iris is on my list. T.O.P ;))

I think if you like You’re Beautiful, you’ll like the kdramas based on shoujo manga like Boys Over Flowers, etc.

Breaking Down Banana Fish, Final

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Welcome again, and for the very last time, to our roundtable, Breaking Down Banana Fish!

We greet you this month with our final installment, covering volumes seventeen through nineteen of this epic series, as well as two side stories (“Angel Eyes” and “Garden of Light”) which are included in the final volume of the English-language edition of the manga. It’s hard to believe we’ve finally come to the end!

I’m joined again in this round by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), and Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Just a note before we begin, this final edition of “Breaking Down Banana Fish” contains in-depth discussion of the series’ final chapters, including the outcome of the all series’ main conflicts and the fates of its characters. Obviously this means spoilers, so if you’re new to the series we recommend you begin reading along with the discussions listed below.

Read our roundtable on volumes one and two here, volumes three and four here, volumes five and six here, volumes seven and eight here, volumes nine and ten here, volumes eleven through thirteen here, and volumes fourteen through sixteen here. On to roundtable eight!

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Breaking Down Banana Fish, Vols. 14-16

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Hello and welcome once again to our roundtable, Breaking Down Banana Fish!

We continue this month with our new three-volume format, and with just six volumes left to discuss, that means we’ll have the entire series covered by the end of our May installment.

Volumes fourteen through sixteen are action-packed, as Eiji and the others manage to (mostly) pull off their ambitious rescue operation, followed by a declaration of war by Golzine that places all three of our major gangs at the center of a military-style siege. Meanwhile, Yut-Lung declares a war of his own with assassin Blanca on board as his bodyguard.

I’m joined again in this round by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), and Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Continued thanks to these wonderful women for their hard work and brilliance!

Read our roundtable on volumes one and two here, volumes three and four here, volumes five and six here, volumes seven and eight here, volumes nine and ten here, and volumes eleven through thirteen here. On to part seven!

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Breaking Down Banana Fish, Vols. 11-13

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Hello and welcome to the sixth installment of our roundtable, Breaking Down Banana Fish!

This month, we move to our new three-volume format with volumes eleven through thirteen, beginning with Ash’s escape from a government mental hospital. Having been officially declared dead, Ash is able to reunite with Eiji and his gang without the cops on his tail, but a new scheme from Papa Dino’s corner soon has him trapped again, forced back into prostitution, this time of mind instead of body.

With Ash back in Dino’s clutches, it’s time for Eiji to step up and plan his rescue, with no little help from Chinatown’s gang leader, Sing Soo-Ling.

I’m joined again in this round by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), and Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Many thanks to these wonderful women for their continued time and brilliance!

Read our roundtable on volumes one and two here, volumes three and four here, volumes five and six here, volumes seven and eight here, and volumes nine and ten here. On to part six!
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Breaking Down Banana Fish, Vols. 7-8

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Hello faithful shojo fans, and welcome again to our roundtable, Breaking Down Banana Fish!

This month we take on volumes seven and eight, in which Ash brings his war straight to Arthur’s doorstep and Papa Dino’s bank account, playing both cutthroat businessman and cold-blooded killer, while Eiji does his best just to keep Ash human. Blackmail, introspection, and an epic subway battle ensue.

I’m joined again in this round by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), and Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Read our roundtable on volumes one and two here, volumes three and four here, and volumes five and six here. On to part four!
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Roundtable: Gerard & Jacques

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Fumi Yoshinaga’s Gerard & Jacques is a two-volume boys’ love manga that tells the story of Jacques, a young aristocrat swept into a new, terrifying world following the death of his father, and Gerard, the unlikely man who eventually becomes his new family.

Published in English by BLU Manga (Tokyopop’s BL imprint) Gerard & Jacques was recommended highly to me when I first began reading yaoi, but I’ll admit I had some difficulty with it my first time around, due to some specific content in the manga’s opening chapter which kept me from enjoying it at all at the time.

When I began to make plans for this special week of Yoshinaga, I decided to give Gerard & Jacques another try. I was also interested to hear what some of my favorite critics (and BL fans) thought of the work, so I invited a few of them along for the ride.

Joining me in discussion are …

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Breaking Down Banana Fish, Vols. 5-6

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Welcome to the third installment of the Banana Fish roundtable!

This month, we tackle volumes five and six. With Yut-Lung conniving behind the scenes and Shorter’s loyalties stretched to the limit, everyone ends up in Papa Dino’s hands over the course of these volumes, and not all can survive. Ash orchestrates an elaborate escape, but his allegiance with the Chinatown gang may be lost forever.

I’m joined this round by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie C. (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), and Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Read our roundtable on volumes one and two here, and volumes three and four here.

On to part three! …

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Breaking Down Banana Fish, Vols. 3-4

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Welcome to the second installment of the Banana Fish roundtable!

This month, we discuss volumes three and four of this classic shojo series, in which Ash gets out of jail, Eiji and Ibe overstay their visas, and everyone ends up on an ill-considered road trip to L.A., just in time to fall into the hands of a Chinese mafia family’s secret weapon. Topics this round include what makes a shojo manga, thoughts on the series’ few female characters, and everyone’s take on new bad guy, Yut-Lung.

Once again, I’m joined by Michelle Smith (Soliloquy in Blue), Khursten Santos (Otaku Champloo), Connie (Slightly Biased Manga), Eva Volin (Good Comics For Kids), Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights), and Katherine Dacey (The Manga Critic), all of whom graciously found time in their incredibly cramped schedules to indulge me in this discussion. …

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