I recently watched the Korean drama I’m Not a Robot which was cute, witty and compelling. I give it a 9/10 for these reasons and because I think it was perfectly executed.
It wasn’t technically flawless, but as a rom com with a generic formula that added in its own variables, it was thisclose.
It made me happy, made me laugh, and made my heart a little sad during the inevitable moments of conflict. The writing was good, and the leads were great.
The story is about a President of a company (yes, the oh so popular Chaebol) who is planning to demo an AI robot. Except the robot short circuits before the AI team can get it to him and in order to try to salvage the business the teams leader talks his ex girlfriend who the robots features were modeled after into pretending to be the robot.
The girl is not a fan of her ex-boyfriend or the Chaebol and has her own reasons for agreeing to the plot. Of course hijinks, drama and romance ensues, especially since the Chaebol has an allergy to people and can’t touch them with the exception of one. There is also a business related plot towards the second half of the series that is fairly interesting.
Special mention goes to lead actress Chae Soo Bin who did a fantastic job. Note: She has been good in everything she’s in, this included.
If you are one of the 5 k-drama fans who hasn’t seen I’m Not a Robot yet, you should watch it ASAP because you are missing out!
Choosing a drama is a lot like deciding what to eat for dinner or where to go on vacation. There are a lot of variables and in the end it’s usually about what I’m craving most. Some days a light, fluffy romace is the best thing on earth and other days something with more depth or comedy is up my alley. In this vein, I thought I would share with you all my steps for choosing a drama.
What am I craving? i.e. what type of drama am I in the mood for. Whatever it is I am a happy ending girl, so anything I watch has to have that.
2. My first choice is usually Chinese. The irony in this is that Korea has more dramas and they’re generally better and there are good Thai and Filipino dramas too, BUT, I’ve been learning Mandarin so I try to find c-drama’s whenever possible so I can practice.
3. Does the plot sound good?
4. What rating does it have on My Drama List, since I’ve found that the ratings and reviews are usually on point (with a few exceptions). I try to stay at 7.7 and up unless I really love the plot and/or the actor/actress so I don’t waste my precious time.
5. Is the lead guy even remotely attractive >>> because I’m superficial I have a hard time watching romances where the guys are not my cup of tea.
6. How many episodes is it <<< Since I have to plan how I spend my precious time
7. Can I find it eng subbed
I dont know if anyone else uses this method, but it works pretty well for me.
I recently watched the c-drama About is Love. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much. I actually thought I would likely change it after an episode or two based on the plotline and pics which looked really cheesy, but I was pleasantly surprised.
This drama wasn’t perfect and I will share why in a moment, but it passed my completely unscientific good drama test. It was addicting, I liked the main characters and I wanted them to be together.
The plot which either steals from a number of others or was stolen from is about a guy (young head of a company – of course) who can’t have physical contact with people, but finds someone who is an exception and tries to get her to help him treat his condition. Except he goes about it the wrong way and has to learn top be more considerate and apologetic in order to get what he wants. As a result they become friends and start to care more about each other.
What I liked: The lead girl is nice and had a backbone, the story has some cliches, but was generally unique, the lead guy is pretty lovable, and the story regarding the leads bff was good and added to the drama, instead of taking away from it. And I loved the old school video game scenes. (Note: It took me forever to figure out that the lead Yan Xi was a contestant on China’s Super Idol. I kept thinking he looked familiar, but couldn’t place him since he is a little older in this.)
What I’m so-so on: The fashion was ok. Most (not all) of the guys clothes were flattering and modern, but the girls usually looked like she dressed herself in the dark. There weren’t enough shirtless guy scenes, which was a shame because Yan Xi’s build was, in my opinion, the most attractive thing about him. And one of the supporting characters love stories kind of annoyed me because I believe in the “bro code,” and I think they broke it.
What I didn’t like: The lead girl was painted as an idiot (as so many Asian dramas do, a plot device that I as an intelligent female in a world filled with intelligent females HATE) even though most of her actions were pretty smart. Also, the leads took too long to figure out how they felt about eachother, since it was obvious, and the ending was pretty anti-climactic. I sat through at least 30 episodes to get there and expected that the investment would pay off in full, which it did not. It wasn’t the worst ending, but could have been so much better. I feel this is a trait of c-dramas since almost all of them have left me slightly unfulfilled at the end, maybe because I grew up on Disney where they always live happier ever after.
Overall I recommend this show, which will give you hours of mellow and pleasant entertainment.
Yesterday was my birthday, and it validated something for me. I am completely arrested development i.e. a kid at heart. The only reason you dont see me skateboarding down the street, playing on a big wheels or hanging at the mall with my friends is that I am adult 😦 which means responsibilities and public shaming if my inner kid comes out too often.
I am technically told old now to watch high school shows or read YA (young adult) fiction and yet I persist because I have apparently never passed that age mentally. I’m like Tom Hanks in Big, a kid parading in grown up clothes. Because of this, I have no idea how I’ve somehow become a good parent and professional. It’s magic.
Anyway, what did I want to do more than anything yesterday? The answer: Watch one of my favorite shows. One whose viewer demographic is most likely half my age because it’s based on a manhua, and about school age kids, but it makes me laugh – A LOT!
It’s a Chinese show called Big Boss, which is about a girl named Ye Mu Xi who is basically a fun slacker who cant seem to get away from her very smart neighbour Liao Dan Yi, who she considers her shadow, and her enemy. Plus the hijinks they and their classmates get into.
Every episode is hilarious (makes me LOL) and very cute. I love the lead character, Ye Mu Xi, maybe because she reminds me a little of myself at that age or maybe because she’s just awesome. I will be a fan of Eleanor Lee who plays her forever. The lead boy is completely lovable despite being overly serious and studious. Maybe because he refuses to give up on Ye Mu Xi. Plus he (or more accurately the actor Huang Jung Jie) is really good looking. I say this as someone who isnt blind, not as a cougar or anything (which I am not, except for 6 out of 7 days of the week;). I think they might be my favorite on screen duo.
The OST is also really good.
I really want to recommend this show to you all, but honestly if you aren’t 16 or suffering from arrested development like me I have no idea what you’ll think of it. Me, I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT and am only sad that it doesnt have endless seasons, because I would watch them all! So I’ll have to be satisfied repeatedly marathoning it every year until I grow up 😉
The sad part is this drama has a high production value and the acting is pretty good, but I still hated it.
I think the kiss of death for any drama is unlikeable leads or supporting characters that are more likeable than the leads. That’s what what was wrong with this show.
I spent the whole drama trying to figure out why the lead was so special – and failing. She was fairly average, self absorbed and completely insensitive to her best friend. And maybe because of this, the best friend, although not perfect, was multi-dimensional, and an underdog, which made her more interesting to me.
I won’t give away the whole plot, just say it was a coming of age drama that started in high school (with actors that looked college age. sigh.) and showed their development as professionals. And as adults who, in my opinion, didnt always make the best decisions.
And as the drama came to an end, and a happily ever after seemed imminent for people I wasn’t that invested in, I lost complete and total interest in it, even loathed it a little and with 2 episodes to go, ditched it completely.
Lately I’ve been trying to watch the dramas whose summaries didn’t really do it for me when I first read them, since I’ve recently learned the life lesson that they are usually much better than they seem like they’ll be.
As part supernatural thriller, part mystery, part romance, part comedy with some action sequences and dysfunctional family dynamics thrown in it stayed interesting until the very end. And sweet. And funny.
I didn’t think I was much for the supernatural type stories, but this one was so much fun to watch.
The friendships and romance all grew organically the way they do in the very best dramas, the ghosts were both funny and scary,and the actors were all great in their roles.
Lead actress Kim So-Hyun is everything good. Funny, sincere and a badass, and omg is she pretty. She’s looks like a doll.
Kim So-Hyun
Actor Ok Taec Yeon was good too. And his black suit was on point!
I also love Kang Ki Young’s acting, in this and anything he’s in.
If you’re like me and the plot summary didn’t float your boat when you read it, give it a chance. I promise that you won’t regret it.
I finally got around to watching Kill Me, Heal Me which is much beloved by many drama watchers. I liked it, but didn’t love it.
What I liked: The plot, the intrigue, the comedic elements, Park Seo Joons acting (as always) & SHIN SE GI.
Pure comedy
What I did not like: That the leading lady dressed like one of the homeless people with the shopping carts that I’d see when I lived in San Francisco. Her style couldn’t have been any worse. It included awful fake fur coats, crocs, and hair bows, even though she looked 30. Not to mention her hair 😦😕😫😖 which looked like a wig or a helmet. I genuinely had a hard time following the plot because I was so distracted by her ‘I dress like a blind Ajumma’ look. I mean, at one point she had a hair clip on that made it look like she had a dead mouse on her head.
And the lead guy (and by this I mean Cha Do Hyun) was bland and boring compared to his baddy altar ego Shin Se Gi, who made guy liner look hot, so I had a bad case of second character syndrome the whole way through. I pretty much cheered for Shin Se Gi and waited for his reappearance the whole show. And it hurt to see him rejected, although the leading lady couldn’t handle him anyway, and she didn’t deserve him. She really was more suited to Mr. Vanilla.
Shin Se Gi
Unfortunately my disinterest in the end result of the love story between the leads caused the drama to lose some of its luster and had me fast forwarding a lot towards the end, since I wanted to see the mystery solved, but didn’t feel like focusing on helmet hair and the boring guy she liked so much.
I still recommend this drama. I mean it cracked an 8 score, so it’s not all bad. You just have to have a high tolerance for doctors who dress like homeless people and don’t start crushing on Shin Se Gi the way that I did.
Also, I am trying not to feel lasting trauma from the fact that the brother and sister in this end up a couple later on (in She’s was Pretty). Hopefully I don’t end up blocking it out by creating multiple personalities. 😉
Boss and Me is another classic drama which I feel obligated to review, because it’s a classic, and because it gave me the title for this blog.
The title comes from the lead females clothes, which are fantastic – the cutest! Especially her jackets, the kind I have always loved. What I associate most with C-Drama’s are the perfect smile of my secret crush and one of Shan Shan’s amazing jackets. Since one of these great things is a secret, my blog name came from the other 🙂 See some of her adorable clothes here: https://hui3r.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/boss-me-fashion-accessories-pictorial/
The show (for all 2 people in the world who haven’t seen it) is about the head of a company (note: Youngest company leader in China or something like that) who falls in love with an assistant named Xue Shan Shan at his company who got the job because she donated her rare blood to his sister.
The guy (We’ll call him Lǎobǎn) falls for her after watching her eat lunch outside his window in a simple, joyful way which makes him feel happy and less alone, since it’s apparently lonely at the top.
The assistant is less sure about her feelings for Lǎobǎn and then of course after feeling more sure of them, the oh-so-popular love triangle begins.
There are a number of cliches in this show, but there is also a level of depth (which I love) and it plays on some very modern themes (which I also love).
I don’t know how I feel about Lǎobǎn. I wanted him to get the girl despite the fact that he wanted a girl who wasn’t his intellectual equal (not a fan of this) and looked kind of like a walking zombie.
I give this drama the same score as My Drama List, an 8.3/10.
This 2018 drama from Korea is pretty good. I am not rating it as high as My Drama List does because there were a couple things I didn’t like. Overall I’d give it an 8.2/10.
The story itself was interesting, better than I thought it would be based on the summary I read before watching it.
I also liked all of the characters and thought the actors that played them did a good job.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a girl who goes into a coma when she is 17 and wakes up when she is 30 and tries to adapt to life as a 30y/o when she still feels like a teenager. She also doesn’t have any support when she wakes up and in trying to find some ends up in the orbit of two guys who are related to each other plus their friends etc.
Of course there was a love triangle, which was the vehicle that I think highlighted what I consider the main weaknesses of the show.
The weaknesses (in my opinion) were that the character Yoo Chan (support role) was actually a better fit for the main female protagonist Woo Seo Ri, played by Shin Hye Sun than her other suitor. Honestly if I just watched the montage of their times together I would have considered them to be a really strong k-drama couple. There was a reason they couldn’t be together without pushback so realistically I know why they were doomed to fail, but I ended up heart broken that they were.
I think this is because Ahn Hyo Seop who played Yoo Chan did an incredible job. He truly stole the show. I thought I might be alone in thinking this until I found out that he would be starring in Abyss with Park Bo Young who is one of my fav actresses. He must have wowed someone to get a role that coveted. (PS This is the upcoming show I am most excited about).
The other issue was that although actor Yang Se Jong did a great job playing the male lead Gong Woo Jin (tho technically if he just smiled his amazing smile through the whole thing I’d probably say the same thing lol), I don’t think the writers sold me on the romance between the leads. I got that they were attracted to each other, but they were soo emo all the time, especially building up to their confessions that they never seemed to have much fun together and I really didn’t get what else they saw in each other. I guess it was fate (eyeroll for that neverending cliche)
Other than that, and the fact that it could have been four episodes shorter without losing any depth, it really was a good show.
To be honest, my first impression wasn’t great (don’t tar and feather me yet #Yanfans). In the first scene the man had more makeup on than a pageant queen and his clothes were just as frilly. For this reason, I didn’t find him at all attractive. I also assumed he was a boy who liked boys. I don’t know if that was based on his costume or if my uber fantastic gaydar, which is always on point was going off. Either way, I found out about the scandal with his bf later on and it all made sense.
Truth is, I believe wholeheartedly in #loveislove so I am neutral on his orientation, but feel heartbroken for him that he got kicked out of the closet the way he did. I also feel bad that he has to make a living kissing girls, although that won’t stop me from watching him do it (bad me ;). That said, I will hope beyond hope he does a BL drama one day which would be the most epic BL ever.
After my introduction to him, Aaron Yan grew on me FAST. The first half hour ofFall in Love with Me included a shower scene, where his six pack abs were in full view, and if you all haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a MAJOR sucker for some rock hard abs. Then Yan switched out of the froofy clothes since he played an Ad Exec. pretending to have a doppelganger – for a fringe, glasses and student clothes, which, although not my type, made him way more attractive to me.
Then I was acquainted with, what I now think is Yan’s very best quality. He has the ability to act using only facial expressions. It’s amazing!
Basically, what I have realized is that despite being typecast into certain kinds of dramas, he is a really and truly talented actor. He is the reason why I watched every episode of Fall in Love with Me, despite the story getting overly dramatic and draggy towards the end, because he continued to wow me. I also recently found out that he did the OST, which is pretty good.
I followed it up with a Yan weekend, which included Just You and Refresh Man. I liked both plots slightly better than Fall in Love with Me, although I did like FILWM’s actress Tia Li.
Refresh Man was interesting to watch, with an actual plot involving a company where people actually did work (hard to find in dramas amirite?), and of course Yan repeatedly did his yearning face, which is all it took for me to root for his relationship with Zhong Yu Tang, played by Joanne Tseng.
Then I fell completely in love with Just You. Aaron Yan + Puff Kuo are a fantastic combination, one I hope beyond hope to see again. The story was cute, interesting and funny.It is my favorite Yan drama so far and one of my favorite dramas period.
Oh and apropos of nothing, I give Aaron Yan the prize for best kisser of any Asian drama star. Let me know if you have other nominees (My runner ups are Koreans Ji Hyun Woo and Lee Min Ki and Thailand’s Off Jumpol Adulkittiporn and Lee Thanat Lowkhunsombat). Not that I pay attention to any of that lol. Yan is also the very best at “whoops, I accidentally fell on you and now we’re in lust”, which he has perfected into almost a stunt move. His only downfall, in my opinion, are his clashing suits and his dancing on fast songs, which is just too awkward to watch.
In short, I’ve become a giant #YanFan, desperately waiting for his future projects to come out. The next one I am watching is Please Give Me a Pair of Wings where it looks like he gets to highlight his acting abilities in a more serious drama focused on a really important topic, and I can’t wait to see it.
SHAN SHANS JACKET 