Trot lovers

 Korean title : 트로트의 연인

Other titles : Trot Romance / Lovers Of Trot / Lovers of Music

16 episodes

Aired on KBS2

From 2014 June to August

Main cast :

• Ji Hyun Woo as Jang Joon Hyun
• Jung Eun Ji as Choi Choon Hee
• Shin Sung Rok as Jo Geun Woo
• Lee Se Young as Park Soo In
• Yoo Eun Mi as Choi Byul
• Kim Hye Ri as Yang Joo Hee
  
• Yoon Joo Sang as Jo Hee Moon
• Kang Nam Gil as Choi Myung Shik
• Son Ho Joon as Sul Tae Song
• Kim Yeo Jin as Bang Ji Sook
  
• Shin Bo Ra as Na Pil Nyeo
• Jang Won Young as Lee Chul Man
• Yoon Bong Gil as Lee Yoo Shik
• Park Hyuk Kwon as Managing Director Wang
•  Ji Soo Won as Hwa Soon 

Production credits :

• Production Company : JS Pictures ; Chief Producer: Kim Sung Geun ; Producer: Yoon Sung Sik
• Directors : Lee Jae Sang, Lee Eun Jin
• Screenwriters : Oh Sun Hyung, Kang Yoon Kyung

Notes :

• Hello Father AND Newspaper boss from Capital Scandal ! 
• I've never heard trot songs before (though I knew it was Korean traditional popular songs) and I really like the songs in this drama.
• You might know Jung Eun Ji from K-pop girl group Apink. Since I started to get into K-pop, I pay more attention to idols, and it's funny to realise that Choi Si Won, Micky Yoochun are/were idols. Also f(x) Krystal in the Heirs and AOA Shin Hye Jung in Good witch.
  
• So before this drama, I thought that maybe I was over Korean dramas, after my disappointment with Good witch and it felt like ages since I last watched a drama I really liked. But I really liked this one !!
• This review is from (recent) memory because weirdly I wasn't really inspired to write it. I'm not sure this review will be interesting enough to do this drama justice but I want to share that it was good and introduced me to trot.
  

 

Review : +

Title : Kinda embarassing. Litteral but not totally accurate since only Girl is a lover of trot while Boy doesn't care for it.

Girl : She's confident, headstrong and resilient. She loves singing trot because of how it makes her feel and how it makes other feel. Her energy is communicative.

Boy : He used to be a big star and has been disgraced. He's vain and arrogant but in the funny way, not in the annoying one. He's also talented and has a real passion for music.

Other girl : She's also a singer. She works hard to succeed but it's hard to know what she really wants since her mother (a former singer) is so overbearing. What they do with her character is really compelling.

Other boy : He's the heir of an entertainement company. He's... odd. He does things his way, not caring how he's perceived.

Plot : There is a plot, which is what it is. It's a bit meandering at the beginning and I have to say I skipped some parts, basically all the scenes that heaped misery on misery on Girl. It's handled better, with a lighter touch, later on. Not everything makes sense but at least it shows the struggle to succeed and not everything goes right. I also like how the romance develops and root for these two character's love so that's what I expect from a romance drama.

Other characters : Girl's little sister who is very cute, put-upon assistant, over-the-top mean girl, excentric CEO, nice mentor... most of them are well done.

What the... ? There are "nice gangsters" characters ? They're involved in a very weird scene that's quite dramatic then turns funny but I'm not sure it's successful. I like these characters as comic reliefs but it's not consistent with how they're introduced.

Cliché : The whole premise of you-have-to-help-out-X-in-doing-Y-to-get-Z. And then a "plot" cliché that I can't tell without spoiling that I personally think is way overdone (though I actually like the angst it brings). I groaned when I realised they were going there.

Funny : Yes.

Music : As I already said, music is one of the draw of the drama. Unless you don't like trot. Warning, the same song is used so much at the beginning that I feared they would only use one song throughout the whole drama. Fortunately, it was not the case.

Bottom line : The plot wasn't the best but it was good enough to not distract from the great characters, their compelling relationships, the comedy and the music. + !

Good witch

•  Korean title :  착한마녀전
• Other title : Nice Witch
  
• 40 episodes (but same length overall as 20 episodes)
• 
  Aired on SBS
  
• From 2018 March to May

Main cast :

• Lee Da Hae as Cha Sun Hee / Cha Do Hee
• Ryu Soo Young as Song Woo Jin
• Ahn Woo Yeon as Oh Tae Yang
• Shin Hye Jung as Joo Ye Bin
• Bae Soo Bin as Bong Chun Da
• Ahn Sol Bin as Bong Chun Ji
• Yoon Se Ah as Oh Tae Ri
• Shim Hyung Tak as Chae Kang Min
• Lee Han Seo as Bong Cho Rong
• Lee Duk Hwa as Oh Pyung Pan
• Geum Bo Ra as Byun Ok Jong
• Yang Geum Suk as Lee Moon Sook 

Production credits :

• Director : Oh Se Kang
• Screenwriter : Yoon Young Mi

 

Review : -/+

Title : It's actually referenced several times in the drama. Sun Hee and Do Hee are twins with different personalities and lives. Do Hee has become a flight attendant and the face of the company, but she's known as the cold-blood witch. Sun Hee has to take her place and, as she can't help being kind, changes her image. She's now the good witch.

Girl : I thought she was interesting. She's the super kind girl character but the drama showed how being too nice can also be a flaw she has to overcome while still being true to herself.

Boy : He's good looking, smart, kind, courageous, honest, understanding, loyal, funny. I could go on and on. He basically has every quality there is and no discernable failing (apart from a quirk in the beginning which was his only original trait). The problem is that his character didn't change at all. Now that I think about it, he's like the one-dimensional love interest in action movies, except that he is a main character.

Relationship : I wasn't invested at all in Girl and Boy's relationship since Boy was such a non-entity.

Plot : So I kept watching because of the plot. I was curious to see where it was going and how everything would fall down. Also because of the antagonists. Basically, they were 50% of the reason why I didn't DNF this drama. I was really intrigued by their dynamic.

What the... ? There are some stuff that didn't make sense and instantly took me out of the drama. The first is the whole housemates situation. The second is Girl's daughter. There are precocious child character and then there is this perfect life coach confidente child character. It's like they didn't want to add another character and thought "why not give the role to the 5 year-old kid ?" (I have no idea of her age but the point is that she's way too young to be giving life advice to her mother, expecially about her relationship to her father... yikes).

Funny : Yes, some moments are funny but this drama goes to dark places. There are some heavy betrayals.

Music : Not memorable.

Cliché : See the premise of the drama in title.

Bottom line : If I don't care about the romance and the Boy in a romantic drama, I can't rate it more than a -/+. Besides, the mix of stupid and of well-done stuff was confusing. Still, it wasn't a minus because the plot and most of the characters were interesting. In the end, I don't think I can recommend it : -/+

 

2020 October 24th update : From commentary about Red Velvet Irene's scandal, I've just learnt about the "nut rage incident", which I think inspired this drama. More after the jump (spoilers, though it's about something that happens in the first episodes). 

Down with love

Taiwanese title: 就想賴著妳 (就想赖着妳)

16 episodes
Aired on CTV
From 2010 January to May

Main cast:

Jerry Yan: Xiang Yu Ping 項羽平

Ella Chen: Yang Guo 楊果

Kelly Huang: Yang Duo 楊朵

Michael Zhang: Qi Ke Zhong 齊可中

Chen Zi Han: Ding Hui Fan 丁卉凡

Amanda Chou: Xu Yan Ling 徐雁玲

Gu Bao Ming: Yang Bo Tong 楊伯通

Yan Yi En: Liang Zhi Hao 梁志豪

Notes:
Many familiar faces: Hello Vicky Chen and Amanda Chou who I had seen in The legend of Brown sugar chivalries! Hey Renzo Liu who is always playing lawyers and the cutest little boy ever Xiao Xiao Bin... both of them were in Autumn's concerto.

Review: +

Title: Generic. Shared with a movie starring Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger. No relation, storywise.

Girl: You know the drift. Plain, not particularly smart or educated but nice and energetic. She's passive -but that can be explained by her always having been bossed around by her sister (passive!)- and insecure -but not in an annoying way.

Boy: I won't put Jerry Yan on that list but he would top a list of actors with the best facial expressions. Actually, he would BE this list. I could go to tumblr and find some gifs to illustrate my point but I'm afraid I'd fall into a rabbit's hole and come out tomorrow morning...

Ok, I just went and I'm already back because... there's nothing! How is it possible? Internet, you have failed me.

Um, let's go back to his character. I labelled him "Arrogant jerk" because that's what he's supposed to be but real quick, it's obvious that he's a marshmallow. He's a lawyer, if you care about his occupation.

Other boy: He's an interior designer. He's so charming and how can he be so perfect?

 

Other girl: Narcissistic actress. I didn't like her, in case you were wondering. It was intentional, I think, but why does he like her?

 

Other girl: The aforementioned Girl's older sister. At first, she was a caricature but in the end, I liked her the best. Though she's throughout a very funny character, her personality is straightforward and really strong. She would be terrifying in real life. As a non villain, she's an unusual character.

 

Plot/ Relationships: I was watching the 14th episode and thinking: "How can they be two more episodes?" I have no idea how they managed to make 16 episodes out of this story without ever boring me. So that's a good point. Another one is that the drama doesn't commit the two cardinal sins I've been complaining about recently: out of place parallel story and overstuffed finale. However, I wish the drama hadn't rush that much at the beginning, taking a very cliché narrative shortcut and dropping in a cavalier fashion what I thought was a promising premise.

Romantic, friendly, family connections are mostly well done. The characters don't evolve but they reveal more shades.

 

Other characters: They are everything: Girl's best friend, Other Girl's manager, coworkers, the kids... even one who grated on me at first turned out to be a good addition.

 

Music: WANT.

 

Funny factor? Yes. That may be a reason why this is a Plus. This drama is funny till the end, thanks to its characters.

 

Most egregious cliché: Kids scaring away nannies.

 

What the... ? People coming in and out at during work hours. Super busy lawyer not working at all.

Bottom line: I hesitated between a + or a +/-. In the end, it's a + because I didn't hate anything too much. The good weighted more that the bad. Faint praise, I know. I guess I'm tired of +/-.

Oh! my girl!!

Japanese title: オー！マイ・ガール！！

9 episodes

Aired on NTV
From 2008 October to December

Main cast:

Hayami Mokomichi: Yamashita Kotaro

Yoshida Riko: Sakurai Anne

Kato Rosa: Fuji Mineko

Tomosaka Rie: Yasuno Makiko

Okada Yoshinori: Ishida Ken

YOU: Ozora Hinako

Furuta Arata: Sugawara Hirofumi

Kaga Takeshi: Ishizaka Kazuo

Notes:
- Hello Little Hotaru! And you, co-worker from Star no Koi! Oh! And from Star no Koi there is also in one episode the manager!
- Rewatching

 

Review: +

Title : That’s the kind I remember: generic and nonsensical. Besides, the exclamation marks are ridiculous.

Boy : He works for a magazine writing article but his dream is to publish a novel. Meanwhile he writes cheesy « cellphone novels » which is something you write with your phone on an online platform. He’s an idealist (cynics would say « loser »).

Girl : She’s his 6-years-old niece and before you think "What’s this drama? That'’s illegal and creepy." this drama is not romance. I don’t know what this genre is called but it is the one in which a grumpy old man begrudgingly befriends a neglected cute kid. Except, here, the man is young and handsome.

Back to girl, she’s a child actress, she’s spoiled, she’s very poised with people, unfazed by her fame and a true professional. But she’s still very much a kid : she throws tantrums, sulks and needs to be taken care of.

Girl : She’s Girl’s manager/assistant. Mmm, now that I think about it, she doesn’t have much of a personnality besides doing her best at her job. But it wasn’t distracting while watching and she’s a likable character who felt real. (+)

Plot : Each episode is self-contained while building the overall story. People grow, learn things, there are real emotional stakes, it doesn't strain plausibility too much. (+)

Other characters: There is a single mother who's a co-worker of Boy and his confident. His boss who's too lenient with Boy considering that he skips work a lot. The enemy, a fellow journalist who takes his job seriously so though his personality is quite bad, you understand his frustration with Boy. Finally, there are Girl's mother who is really selfish and the President of their agency. Oh, I almost forgot the neighbours - I think they're supposed to be funny but they were more annoying to me.

Funny Factor? A little.

Music: Good.

What the...?: Girl and her mother live together and no one has figured out that they are related?

Bottom line: Though I was totally shipping some characters, it's more a family show than a romance. It's an enjoyable drama that delivers emotional moments and did not make me cringe. (+)

 

Autumn's Concerto

Taiwanese title: 下一站，幸福
Other title: Next Stop, Happiness

21 episodes
Aired on TTV/SETTV
From 2009 October to 2010 February

Main cast:

Ady An: Liang Mu Cheng 梁慕橙

Van Ness Wu: Ren Guang Xi 任光晞

Chris Wu: Hua Tuo Ye 花拓也

Tiffany Hsu: He Yi Qian 何以茜

Zheng You Jie: Xu Fang Guo 許方國

Linda Liu: Fang De Rong 方德容

Renzo Liu: Lawyer Lin 林律師

Tao Chuan Zheng: He Zhen Tang 何振堂

Xiao Xiao Bin: Liang Xiao Le 梁曉樂

Lin Mei Xiu: Hua Tian Xi Shi 花田喜氏

Amanda Chu: Hua Ci Xin 花癡心

Note: I want to issue a trigger warning: sexual harassment and violence on woman. My memories of this drama were so grim that it's only my second viewing though I was remembering quite liking it.

Review: +

Title: That's what I'm talking about! This title sounds good but makes no sense. I have no idea if this drama takes place in autumn and yes, a piece of music plays a role but I don't think it's a concerto (Wiki tells me it's the second movement in an orchestral suite).

 

Boy: See the label "Arrogant jerk". However, Girl comes to love his sense of right and his passion. He's straightforward, brave and smart (though it's more tell than show, at least we see him at work). (+)

 

Girl: At first, she's kind of perfect and you understand why guys like her. She's kind-hearted, smart hardworking and she never complains. She goes through so much that you just admire her. Moreover, she's not naïve nor dripping with optimism. She is a caring person who has a sense of self. (+)

 

Other boy: Typical I-pine-for-years-for-my-girl-friend-even-though-she's-clearly-shown-me-that-she's-not-interested guy. I didn't like this character because he's too good to have been "friend-zoned" so early, he feels a bit too much like a plot device and that much devotion makes me uncomfortable.

 

Other girl: Her love is not as built as Girl's love but she's so nice and her feelings are so sincere that you feel for her.

 

Plot/Relationship: The plot consists in obstacles thrown the way of the main characters. But it's okay since their relationship is believable and compelling. Unfortunately, there is a mob subplot which is intertwined with the main story but which is too violent for my taste. Also, the ending was totally rushed for no apparent reason. It seemed like they realised at the last minute that they only had one episode left. But good chemistry and building so (+).

 

Other characters: Terrible mother and stepmother, wise aviser, over-the-top villagers, over-ambitious rival...

 

Funny factor? Not really (except Boy's assistant, I <3 you), the Melo factor is high.

 

Music: Yes!

 

Bottom line: This is a very good drama with a convincing couple, generally successful characterisations. The pace is excellent (except towards the end and the mob stuff). (+)

 

P.S.: I advise you not to give up if you're annoyed by the flashbacks in the first episodes. It stops later. But seriously, note to whoever is responsible: flashbacks to an entire scene that happened in the same episode IS NOT necessary (and is not a good way to pad an episode if that was the intent).

Akumu-chan

Japanese title: 悪夢ちゃん

Aired on NTV
From October to December 2012
11 episodes
(A movie seems to be planned for 2014).

Main cast:

Kitagawa Keiko: Mutoi Ayami

Kimura Manatsu: Koto Yuiko

Gackt: Shiki Takashi

Yuka: Hirashima Kotoha

Kohinata Fumiyo: Koto Bannosuke

Update: Akumu-chan The Movie is to be released on May 2014.

Review: + !

Title: Akumu-chan is the nickname that Girl gives to a little girl who has predictive nighmares (akuma = bad dreams).

Girl: She's an elementary school teacher and pretends to be smiling all the time even though it's all fake. Her character is different from all the naturally nice girls in drama and the evolution of her character is really interesting. I love her (but I love Kitagawa Keiko).

Boy: He's a scientist and his true intentions are never clear. I was confused by his character who was nice but also slightly creepy. Maybe I would've been more interested in him with a different actor.

Plot: There is romance in this drama but it's in the backseat. The real stories are the story of Girl and also the stories of her pupils. One episode typically revolves around a pupil's problems and Little girl's dreams about it. There are interpretations of symbols in the dream and the stories are varied so it's really compelling. It's also slightly creepy and... really NTV? This is not a family drama. Though the mediocre special effects aren't scary, the themes can be disturbing for kids. The nighmares are really nighmares: there is physical and (more unsettling) emotional violence committed by children and/or on children. For grown-ups however, no problem.

Other characters: Little girl! So, so cute!! Can I adopt her (legally)?The other school teachers are typical comic reliefs. The nurse starts off weird but she becomes a real character later on.

Funny factor? See other characters.

Music: Serviceable.

Bottom line: At first, I stayed for the stand alone stories and the enigma of what these dreams are about. Then, I got engrossed in Girl's story as well. Though the finale was grandiloquent, I was impressed by how the stories told managed to make sense (I mean, once you've accepted that you can watch dreams in a TV). In the end, a + without question.