Coffee & Vanilla

 Japanese title: コーヒー＆バニラ

10 episodes

Aired on MBS from 2019 July to September

Main cast:

• Fukuhara Haruka as Shiraki Risa
• Sakurada Dori as Fukami Hiroto
• Kuroba Mario as Akutsu Takaaki
• Ogoe Yuuki as Yoshiki Tsubasa
• Hama Shogo as Ichiyanagi Yuki
• Kita Noa as Ashiya Natsuki
• Tokoshima Yoshiko as Kitajima Akane

 Production credits:

• Original work: Manga by Akegami Takara
• Screenwriter: Shimoda Yuko, Date Sorami
• Producer: Kamiura Yuna, Furukusa Masami
• Director: Smith, Tsubakimoto Keijiro, Totsuka Hiroto

Notes:

• So I watched this one on Viki, and the only reasons I made it to episode 4 is that episodes are short and comments were really funny.
• Usual disclaimer: I haven't read the manga it's based on. I think I may have tried to read it because the title and the first episode remind me of something but I probably bailed early. 
• Warning: I don't know the rating but it's clearly not for children. It's not explicit but don't watch if you don't want to be exposed to mature material.
  

 

Review: DNF

Title: The title refers to a coffee shop but also to the main characters, male lead being coffee and female lead being vanilla, which is not exactly subtle symbolism. But it makes sense and it's not made too obvious in the drama so it's fine. 

Girl: She's a super shy student, "pure" in every aspect (some would say naive).

Boy: He's like 10 years older and lets say... a weird mix of considerate and overwhelming.

Other boy: He's a student too and... he likes to cook.

Plot: Plot, what plot ? Sometimes in these reviews, I write that the plot is the relationship but this drama takes it to the next level. The drama starts with Boy and Girl in the most passionate love relationship you can imagine. At least, it's different to a lot of dramas, in which it takes sometimes 20 episodes to kiss but it makes you think: "Umm, I wonder what will happen in the 9 other episodes?" The answer is: "basically nothing" except cliches second lead who goes from 0 to 100 then back to 0 in one episode, then a bad boy rival and then I stopped watching. The plot summary teased "secrets" about Boy but nothing in the first episodes made me believe that they would be interesting.

Relationship: I'm not a fan of insta-love and this one is insta-love on crack. The point is not to have two people falling in love but watching two people declaring and consummate their love over and over. Also Girl is so shy that even when she's into it, she looks like she's not, so it can be uncomfortable.

Other characters: For once, I didn't have to cut into the cast list from DramaWiki, that's how underdevelopped this universe is. The most interesting character is Girl's friend who is the audience's surrogate telling Girl that she should run from this insane, possibly murderous guy.

Funny? Not really.

Cliches: Insta-love. Shy young woman/experienced older man. Every guy is in love with her.

Music: Nothing to say in particular.

Bottom line: No real plot. Underdeveloped characters. Wish-fulfillment fantasy. DNF.

Coffee Prince

Korean title:  커피프린스 1호점

Other title: The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

Aired on MBC
From 2007 July to August
17 episodes

Main cast:

• Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan
• Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul
• Lee Sun Kyun as Choi Han Sung
• Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo
• Kim Ja Ok as Han Kyul's mom
• Choi Il Hwa as Han Kyul's dad
• Kim Young Ok as Han Kyul's grandmother
• Park Won Sook as Eun Chan's mom
• Kim Chang Wan as Hong Gae Sik
• Kim Jae Wook as No Sun Ki
• Kim Dong Wook as Jin Ha Rim
• Lee Un as Hwang Min Yeop
• Yoon Young Ah as Go Eun Sae

Notes:
- This is the very first drama I watched back in 2007! I watched all of it in one day in one sitting after coming back from watching the sunrise, on the recommendation of Korean friends. It's the first time time I've rewatched it since, so it was funny to see what I remembered and what I had totally forgotten.
- It has Wikipedia pages in several languages!

 

Review: +

Title: Most of the drama revolves around reviving and working at "Coffee Prince" so it's appropriate.

Girl: She's boyish looking and acting so Boy thinks she's a boy. She's hard-working, strong-willed but also warm and she makes people feel at ease.

Boy: He's from a rich family but doesn't feel like marrying and working for the family business. He's a bit older than Girl but can behave quite like a child. He's affectionate and intense in his feelings.

Other boy: He's a composer and Boy's cousin. Unlike him, he knows from the start that Girl is... well a girl. He's more laid-back and friendly.

Other girl: She's a painter and she's in love with Other boy. Maybe flighty is too strong a word to describe her but she's a bit of that.

Plot/Relationship: Building the relationships and going through the hurdles. The plot is good but then gets less intense. I was less in a hurry to watch the next episode but I was caring for this couple so I would still watch it to the end. And when it was the end... i felt some withdrawal. The chemistry between Girl and Boy is strong and they feel perfect for each other. They are so cute together. Apart from finding each other, they also both find careers they like.

Families: I appreciate that his family wasn't the typical cold, affectionless rich family. And her sister was less annoying that I remembered!

Other characters: Mostly the guys who work at Coffee Prince. They each have their personality and their interactions are interesting and funny.

Main cliché: Girl pretending to be a boy.

Funny factor? Not really but cute bantering: yes.

Music: understated but nice.

What the...? One character is quite gross (like "please, I'm eating!") and I will never understand why Korean dramas insist on showing us people on toilets.

Bottom line: It's an excellent drama. I actually started watching  Cyrano Dating Agency and I thought of rewatching Coffee Prince. Result: I completely stopped Cyrano Dating Agency to watch all of Coffee Prince. It deserves the success it has had (+)

Coffee House

Korean title: 커피하우스

Aired on SBS
From 2010 May to July
18 episodes

Main cast:

Kang Ji Hwan: Lee Jin Soo

Park Si Yeon: Seo Eun Young

Ham Eun Jung: Kang Seung Yeon

Jung Woong In: Han Ji Won

Park Jae Jung: Kim Dong Wook

Jung Soo Young: Oh Hyun Joo

Ahn Kil Kang: Kang Jin Man

Kim Ji Young: Hong Bong Nyeo

Kim Min Sang : Kang Seung Chul

Hello Grandmother from Full House!

Review: Maybe a +? a +/- ?AND SPOILERS

Title: Coffee house. There is a coffee library owned by Girl and they talk about coffee. That's still random because it's not a plot point and they don't spend that much time in coffee houses. At least similarly titled Coffee Prince made sense.

Boy: He's a famous writer with odd habits. He hates promoting, doesn't own a mobile phone and just disappears when he feels like it.

Girl: She is Boy's publisher but also his friend of 10 years. She's likable. She has her own mind, she's vulnerable but not weak.

Girl: She is Boy's assistant. She is 25 years old at the beginning but she moves and behaves more like a child or a puppy. She's likable because you can't hate puppies. Boy is kind of abusive to her in their work relationships in that he berates her. I guess it is not as disturbing as it should be because Girl actually takes his words as advice to progress. In real life, her self-esteem would be crushed but hey! it's a drama.

Other boy: also known as Jackass Stalker. Girl's former boyfriend who had an affair. Yes, he is a cheater too. She dumped him and doesn't want to see his face but Jackass Stalker is persistent. And annoying. To the characters and to me. He gets humanised and bearable but it takes many épisodes. It's never really clear why he considers himself a friend of Boy who clearly doesn't like him. I guess he's delusional too.

Relationships: I have to say, I wasn't invested in the relationships but I was still looking forward to the next episode so something was right.
I wasn't invested because the drama takes several episode to hint at romance, some motivations are unclear or don't really make sense. I also wished for more flashbacks to have the full picture of what happened between some characters. Finally, there's another reason but I'll discuss it after the jump.

Other characters: Other other boy is interesting though saddled with an unnecessary development in the last part of the drama. Typical drama family for Girl but not annoying like it is in other dramas. Also, Girl's employees at her publishing company and at the coffee library.

Funny factor? Yes! Actually, the first episodes are more comedy than romance and I loved a 1st ep scene involving an outline and a glass of champagne. Comedy comes from various sources but mostly via embarrassing situations and Boy playing Girl who can be quite dense.

Music: As usual in Korean dramas, it's good.

What the? (it's a new category: random things that makes no sense) Boy studied medecine? Why? It's so random and it increases the mystery of how Boy and Other Boy got to know each other since Other boy definitely didn't study medecine (probably business or stalking).

Bottom line: It's the first time I'm not sure of a grade at the end of a drama. I know it should be a + because the comedy is quite good, compared to other dramas, and you want to know what's next, characters are interesting and evolve (though making it happen off screen is easy) and it plays on our expectations. But in the end, it plays too much on our expectations and it wasn't satisfying so I want to +/-.

To discuss it, let's head to the spoiler space after the jump.

Normally, I would say "do not proceed" but I was myself actually happy that I had been slightly spoiled before watching it. Had I not been, I would have felt stronger discontent. Anyway, you read this review, you might have noticed there is something different, that's because the drama tries something different. Now you can watch the drama with adjusted expectations.

OK, now, seriously, do not proceed if you haven't watch it. When you do, come back to vent or to defend the drama choices. I want to do both.